GOOD DRUGS AND BAD DRUGS

I received a very entertaining and enlightening book for Christmas
written by Tom Standage. It is titled A History of the World in Six
Glasses. The author chronicles the appearance of beer, wine,
distilled spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola while examining how they
have influenced the history of the world.

Those fluids we humans have sipped on our long march to these modern
days have had a profound impact on the world we live in. They shall
continue to do so and in these tales there are lessons to be learned.

Perhaps one of the more interestingly futile attempts to control the
human consumption of certain beverages was put forth by King Charles
II of Britain in 1675. He was suspicious of the freedom of speech in
coffeehouses and their suitability for hatching plots. "Charles was
particularly aware of this, since coffeehouse machinations had played
a small part in his own accession to the throne.

On December 29, 1675, the King issued a "Proclamation for the
suppression of Coffee-Houses," declaring that since such
establishments "have produced very evil and dangerous effects for
that in such Houses divers False, Malitious and Scandalous Reports
are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majestie's
Government, and to the Disturbance and the Peace and Quiet of the
Realm; His Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary, That said
Coffee-Houses be (for the future) Put down and Suppressed.

"The result was public outcry, for coffeehouses had by this time
become central to social, commercial, and political life in London.
When it became clear the proclamation would be widely ignored, which
would undermine the government's authority, a further proclamation
was issued, announcing that coffee sellers would be allowed to stay
in business for six months if they paid 500 pounds and agreed to
swear an oath of allegiance. But the fee and time limit were soon
dropped in favour of vague demands that coffeehouses should refuse
entry to spies and mischief makers.

Not even the King of England could halt the march of coffee."

When authorities fear something they try to stamp it out before it
causes them serious trouble.

Today we live in the ongoing "War on Drugs" led with righteous
certainty by the United States of America. Without really thinking it
through, our Canadian leaders bow down to the American propaganda and
we spend huge amounts of energy chasing down the drugs deemed to be
evil here in the 21st Century. Caffeine is a drug. Alcohol is a drug.
Nicotine is a drug. These are good, legal drugs governments control
and tax heavily.

The only thing the laws on "bad" drugs are doing is making organized
crime very wealthy.

They are omnipresent in our North American society and always will
be. Our laws are so absurdly unenforceable that we buy needles to
give to convicts in our prisons so they can inject their drugs
without fear of getting HIV or hepatitis. How absurd is that? How can
there be so many illegal drugs in our jails?

Banning these substances, blowing in from poppy fields of
Afghanistan, marijuana fields of Spring Brook and Mexico, or labs in
California, will be as successful as King Charles' attempt to get rid
of coffeehouses. Government authority is undermined daily.

But no politician dares tackle this situation.

U.S. propaganda is just too powerful.