THIS IS YOUR VUE ON DRUGS

If you notice a bit of a common thread running through this week's
edition of Vue, try not to freak out, as it's entirely intentional.
You are not high. Well, actually, chances are you might be, which is
kind of the point. Based on information both official and anecdotal,
it's clear that drugs are, well, everywhere these days. Whether you
blame it on the we' ve-got-money-to-burn, work-hard-and-play-harder
attitude pervasive in our currently booming economy or on increasing
social acceptance of and openness about recreational drug use, the
fact is that more and more people are smoking, snorting or popping
all kinds of things for fun in this town, but thanks to the
(admittedly dissipating, but still very pervasive) social stigma
surrounding the consumption of illicit substances-not to mention the
fact that most are still very much illegal in this country-there is a
severe lack of frank, dispassionate information available about all
of these assorted smokables and snortables and what have you.

This is why we have decided to devote much of this issue of Vue to
exploring the phenomenon of recreational drug use from a variety of
perspectives. Considering how much of this stuff is going on, there
is a noticeable dearth of reportage on the subject, and what does get
printed tends to fall into the pervading extremist dichotomy-you
know, drugs are either "totally harmless and cool, man" or
"destroying the very fabric of our society," depending on who is asked.

The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between, which is why we have
tried to avoid the deeply entrenched biases and assumptions and
simply answer some nagging questions we have about the topic, ranging
from the admittedly irreverent (how would one go about cooking with
marijuana, if one were so inclined?) to the political and academic
(why didn't the planned decriminalization of pot ever happen?), from
the artistic (how did drugs become so intertwined with popular music,
not to mention film and literature?) to the direly important (what
does that pill you bought from the kid selling "vitamins" night
actually contain?) and everything in between.

It goes without saying that Vue is certainly not advocating,
endorsing or encouraging potentially dangerous (and, as mentioned,
unlawful) behaviour. We are, however, approaching the topic of drugs
with the same attitude that has been applied (well, by anyone with
any brains, anyway) to another fun taboo-sex-for years now: the more
information one has, the safer and more informed one's choices will
be. So relax, inhale deeply, try not to cough too much, and see if
some of what you thought you knew about drugs doesn't just go up in smoke.