TRYING TO THINK ABOUT DRUGS, II

WHAT'S BAD ABOUT drug abuse? It might be useful to start there. Ignore
the strange distinction between legal and illegal drugs; consider the
nature of all recreational chemicals and how they harm society.

That means, for the moment, ignoring those malign effects caused by
the criminalization of certain drugs. Gang warfare, crimes by addicts
to get money to pay the inflated prices of street drugs, stuff like
that. Those are real problems, but they are caused by social decisions
rather than chemical reactions.

Recreational chemicals reduce inhibitions. They impair judgment. They
promote impulsive and sometimes destructive behavior. Drunken driving
is a good example. Bar fights. Spousal abuse.

Chemical dependency also destroys families. An addict always has
another lover, another home. An addict cannot do the hard work of
raising a child or tending a marriage because an addict is doing the
hard work of being an addict. People tend to forget how much time it
takes to nurture an addiction.

By far the greatest damage done to society by recreational chemicals
is child abuse. When those inhibitions go down, the urge to strike out
- -- and every parent has felt that urge -- is not mitigated by love or
common sense or fear of consequences. It turns into physical violence.
The self-loathing that comes with addiction is easily transmuted into
rage, and the rage becomes violence against those unable to defend
themselves.

And what do we know about abused children? They become abusers
themselves. They also become criminals; the statistics on this matter
are overwhelming.

THEREFORE, THE MOST rational thing we can do to improve society is to
protect our children. We can take all the money going to vast
interdiction and law enforcement programs -- programs that have
created needless suffering while failing to solve the problem -- and
use it instead to help the children.

Rather than targeting drug pushers, we target abusive parents. Rather
than looking for stashes of marijuana, we look for bruises on the
bodies of children.

Take it as a given that human beings will want to experience pleasure
using chemicals. If the pleasure does not result in violent behavior,
ignore it. Concentrate on protecting the children.

There is a role for jails and prisons, and here it is -- lock up the
people who hit kids. Because the abused child is the greatest danger
to society that we know.

ONE OTHER THING: Overwhelmingly, it is young men, 14 to 26, who commit
violent acts. The drugs just make it worse because young men are
aggressive and judgment-impaired on their brain chemicals alone.

It is time that we understood that young men are an at-risk
population. They are being betrayed by their own hormones. They are
rutting in the fields and blindly fighting for territory according to
genetic imperatives older than any culture.

So if we want to protect society, we want to keep drugs out of the
hands of young men. That's where the damage is done. Perhaps we need
some kind of huge program, the Young Males Reclamation Act, to
intervene with guys and make them understand the nature of their guyness.

Take all the money that goes to warehouse the men in prison, and apply
it to a program that would reach every male in this country when he is
12 years old, some combination of group therapy and a bar mitzvah.

Educate parents about what it means to have a son. Start male studies
programs at every university. These strange and violent people walk
among us, confused and enraged -- why would we not reach out to them?

Think of drug diversion programs in terms of monster truck rallies,
video games, boxing, safe sex, hostile takeovers, the modern biathlon,
an entire sublimation infrastructure. Keep the young men sane, and we
can all get some work done.

Checked-by: trikydik@inil.com (trikydik)