Coyote's Den

War on Drugs?

War on our wallets you mean...

Our courts and jails are already taxed and inefficient. The "War on Drugs" has spent ridiculous amounts of money and resources attacking a problem that is dwarfed by other problems. Worse, the "War on Drugs" has been used as an excuse to insidiously chip away at basic civil rights and due process. I feel that while some good may have been done... far more ill has come of it. Worse... anyone that is against the "War on Drugs" is taken to be someone who is "for Drugs". If you feel the war on drugs is too extreme, you are made out to be some kind of evil person who believes children should be allowed to smoke crack.

No-one rational, I'm sure, wants their child (or adult relatives) to destroy their lives with drug abuse. However the tactic of painting anyone who opposes extreme legislation that is injurious to civil rights as "Pro Drug", seems to be widely used.

Needle-Exchange programs

Some people are against needle-exchange programs. As far as needle exchange, the sentiment, hidden under the guise of not "encouraging" drug use, seems to be "Let them kill themselves off with disease". Well... those "druggies" who catch diseases make it more likely that innocent people will end up with a disease. Each person infected is a possible vector for illness that otherwise would not have one. Many of these people have children that would be at risk of not only having a drug-abuser for a parent, but an infectious one.

Many drug abusers DO respond to help and treatment. Illness makes them less likely to get clean. Not only does it reduce quality of life so that drugs are more attractive, but it means, ultimately, that public funds will be spent on caring for drug abusers that ALSO have hepatitis, or other blood-borne diseases. That will be FAR more costly, and less humanitarian than a few needles. Drug users are GOING to use drugs. Period. Clean needles reduce the likelihood of disease transmission. They also provide a means of possible outreach. If they will accept a clean needle, they will sometimes be more receptive to the idea of recieving other forms of help.

Dangerous compared to what?

I do not do drugs. Nothing worse than coffee anyway. I do not like to feel impaired. I am leery of introducing foreign substances into my body. I even use _aspirin_ in moderation. I make an exception for coffee, because I enjoy coffee. I know its health dangers. Same can be said of everyone I've met that smokes pot.

But it seems to me that there are lots of things that are illegal, with DIRE punishments are prescribed for their use... that are relatively harmless. Sorry... I suspect that pot is no more dangerous than cigarettes OR alcohol. It may be less dangerous. And both of those killers are legal.

Marijuana, for instance, has medicinal uses, and does not itself promote violence that _I_ can see. (Trust me... I've seen plenty of people stoned... they are generally about as violent as mildew or other things that don't move). How many people have died from pot, and how many have died because it was illegal? Hmmm?

It's probably got uses for people with stress-related diseases... it can be used to great effect to control negative effects of chemotherapy, and can be used to treat glaucoma.

It's okay to give people chemicals with all sorts of side effects for stress-related disorders, but not pot? Why? Pot can be addicitve? So can the drugs that are prescribed. Pot has side effects? Hah! Those multisyllabic chemical monstrosities do not? I wish someone had given me pot to smoke instead of the antidepressants they gave me as a kid. I might be able to remember 8th grade.

Recreational Use

Does it hurt me if someone smokes a joint to get high? No more than it hurts me if they drink alcohol. Mushrooms? Who cares if someone wants to do mushrooms? I think there's a big difference between use and abuse. I don't do drugs, but MOST of my friends, especially the ones in college, have either experimented with them or do them on a regular basis. Some of them went through a phase where they overdid it... but they stopped when they realized it... and partly they slowed down when their friends, who could give them realistic and understanding advice, told them it was affecting them badly.

I think if someone does something illegal or stupid under the influence of any drug, legal or not... they should be punished. And should not get to use the excuse of "I was high on and didn't know what I was doing."

But... if they use them responsibly, and don't bother me... it's none of my business, now is it?

You want me to pee where?

I have refused work at several companies, because they wanted me to urinate in a cup or submit to some other drug test. I don't even _do_ drugs, but I'm not peeing in a cup to prove it. I think it's totally disrespectful to ask me to do so. I think it's demeaning and dehumanizing.

I've heard the argument "businesses lose lots of money to drug users every year". Well, if you cannot tell whether I abuse drugs by my actions, then I don't think they influence my actions enough for it to be any of your business.

And to sum up....

None of the people I know who have been harmed by drug use (directly or indirectly) were protected by the "Drug War". The illegality didn't stop them from taking drugs or being harmed by others. It's not working anyway folks. Wouldja mind spending my tax money on something useful? I don't mind paying taxes, I really don't. I just mind how they're spent.

I know an author... he writes beautiful stories... he is in jail for life because he had a joint in Ohio. More than once. Big deal. Not only is that a travesty and an injustice... but we all have to foot the bill for it. I feel like every year, I'm paying a little bit of my tax money to keep that guy in some horrible prison, and it makes me feel soiled. I don't want to be an accomplice to that.