HYPERBOLE CAN LEAVE YOU JUST AS HIGH (AND DRY) IF THE MESSAGE IS CAST ASIDE

Thank you very much, Steve Fossett. Here I was, in this very spot last
week, writing about how recreational drug takers are no different from
adventurers who risk their lives in search of highs. And then Fossett
drops, like a plane from the Nevada skies, into my lap to prove my
point. As the search for the missing multimillionaire continues
through the rocky terrain south of Reno, my imagination drifts to
consider how this story might be reported if he was brought down by
drugs rather than a single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon.

Questions would be asked. What was wrong with a millionaire who
appeared to have everything to live for and still took crazy risks
with planes and hot air balloons? How can we stop other middle-aged
people thinking extreme sports are OK? Is the health system to blame
for not addressing the underlying issue of undiagnosed midlife crisis?

The obituary, if, God forbid, it comes to that, would be tempered.
Glorifying a man who valued an adrenaline rush over his own life would
be irresponsible.

I am banging the drug drum once more this week. Last week I called for
an adult debate on drugs which recognises both the pleasures and risks
of recreational chemicals.

While it is valiant to discourage teenagers from messing with growing
brains, party drugs are more likely to be used by grown adults, some
of them sensible. The 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey
found that the typical age for first trying ecstasy was 22.8 years.
For cocaine, it was 23.5. Even for cannabis, it was 18.7.

My concern is that hyperbolic government scare campaigns make people
less likely to be safe with drugs if they do start using them at 22.8.
Babies and bathwater and all of that. When the anti-drug message is
too lurid, the whole message is cast aside. Once someone tries a drug
and discovers that it does not always start with nausea and dizziness
and proceed forthwith to prostitution and bodybags, it is easy to
forget that drugs should be handled with care, like crystal vases or
stingrays.

Druggies can end up falling back on hokey homespun drug wisdom, rather
than science, to keep safe. For example, I have heard people say:
"I've heard you can't overdose on cocaine." The reality is that
cocaine was the underlying cause of death for 10 people in 2005,
according to the Bureau of Statistics.

I have also heard people say: "Ecstasy is harmless." The reality is
that studies show there may be a link between ecstasy and memory loss.
A study by the University of Amsterdam, released in June, found that
ecstasy affected verbal memory even when taken for only a short time.
The memory loss link has not been proven conclusively. But anyone who
has tried to count out change within 24 hours of taking a pill
probably suspects there is some truth to this.

The uncritical embrace of drugs is as wrongheaded as uncritical
condemnation. But even if there are health implications, sending users
to jail helps no one.

So what kind of a drug policy should we consider? How can we recognise
that taking chemical pleasures can be a rational choice while also
recognising that drugs destroy the lives of some? How can laws benefit
the responsible while also protect the silly?

We should abolish criminal sanctions for personal drug use and focus
on treatment and counselling instead. We should maintain penalties for
people who use drugs while driving or give drugs to anyone underage.
While we're at it, we should ban donations to political parties from
the drug, tobacco and alcohol industries so that governments are not
beholden to drugs which happen to be legal now.

I have plagiarised all that from the Greens. I love a bit of hippie
baiting as much as the next person, so I was surprised to find myself
so in agreement with their drugs policy.

I was surprised how moderate it was given that the Premier, Morris
Iemma, said during the last state election campaign that the policy
was an attempt to score "a cheap bit of publicity", "an absurd,
ridiculous and disgusting policy" and "unbalanced and stupid".

This insult-throwing is a shame, really. If only some of our political
leaders had some of the courage and daring of Steve Fossett.