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TAKING THE CURE

Heroin is a hard problem. Addiction to heroin is very hard on the user if
the only source of supply is the black market. Heroin is much less of a
problem if the user can get a cheap pure source of supply and clean needles
for those who are drug injectors.

But what about those who want to get clean? What about those who are tired
of heroin. Here the news is bleak. If given treatment the success rate is
about 5% a year. Given no treatment the success rate is about the same.
What some people say in the face of these facts is that the best we can do
for these unfortunates is to reduce the harm of their habits and just wait
for the 5% a year to get the drug free life they want. Altogether a rather
dismal prognosis.

Perhaps it is time to look into the past for a cure. What was used before
the criminalization of heroin to wean the user off heroin? None other than
the miracle drug marijuana. In those days it was thought that the marijuana
high substituted for the heroin high. This relieved the cravings for heroin
and since marijuana was much safer to use than heroin the users were much
better off.

But in our puritan zeal to prevent non-pharmaceutical company supplied
chemical happiness the idea of substituting a less dangerous pleasure for a
more dangerous one went out the window. This was made official in 1937 when
marijuana was banned by taxing it out of existence.

There is some new research out that shows that in fact the way that
marijuana works may not be just as a substitute. This research was done on
cocaine.

Let me describe the research. US and Dutch scientists addicted some rats to
cocaine and then deprived them of the drug for two weeks. They were then
exposed to environmental cures associated with taking the cocaine. These
cues often cause relapse in human addicts.

Rats injected with cannabinoid receptor blockers were much less likely to
go back to drug injecting. Fifty to sixty percent less likely. The studies
were done in the US by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and in
Holland at Vrije University. Unpublished studies done by the same groups
show similar results for heroin.

If the results hold for heroin that means reducing the relapse rate fron
95% to about 50%. An astounding result. Taco deVries of Vrije University
says relative to relapse:

"Right now there is not much available. You can give anti-depressants to
help with the symptoms of withdrawal but they don't seem to work very well."

Mr. de Vries also says that marijuana might help with alcohol addiction as
well.

So we have another case where relative to everything else available,
marijuana is a wonder drug. Perhaps the free availability of this wonder
drug in Holland for over twenty years is the reason the average age of
their heroin addicts is 35 and rising while in America where marijuana is
illegal the average age of heroin addicts is 20 years and falling.

To read more and get references for further study go to:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1739/a08.html

Saying of the week:

The triumph of capitalism is living proof that you can't beat the laws of
supply and demand. Drug prohibition is proof that some people will try anyway.

Don't forget to ask a politician(send a postcard-letters are being opened
and delayed due to the anthrax scare):

Do you support drug prohibition because it finances criminals at home or
because it finances terrorists abroad?

David Winters - House District 69 3444 N. Main Street Suite 80 Rockford,
IL 61103

M. Simon is an industrial controls designer and independent political activist.