This morning I went walking (and talking) round the local reservoir with a group of clergy from the local deanery and Ruby the dog.
June is not the right time of year for mushrooms, they come later. But I remember years ago walking around the same reservoir with a group of young people and finding certain mushrooms which are reputed to contain 'psychotropic' properties, the discovery caused great excitement.
Social and recreational Drug use has a history with its roots deep in religious and mystical usage as readers of Frazer's famous and wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, The Golden Bough, will know.
Throughout history from ancient times until now, people have used drugs. they have also misused and abused them.
In our big society we have a confused and contradictory drugs policy.
One the one hand we accept the use of certain drugs and we control the quality and distribution and we impose a tax on the purchase.
The socially acceptable drugs are of course Alcohol, Nicotine, Tea and Coffee alongside drugs prescribed for medical use.
At the same time we wage a 'war on drugs'.
The 'war' is an international conflict which ranges from the poppy fields of Afghanistan and South America to the blighted inner cities of Europe and America.
But as a recent report, from the independent Global Commission on Drug Policy, states unequivocally, the war on drugs has failed.
The report signed by, amongst others, Paul Volcker of the U.S. Federal Reserve and Kofi Annan formerly of the United Nations, makes it clear that the war on drugs has failed to reduce the use and consequences of drug use and caused huge 'collateral damage'.
But politicians love their wars and so despite history teaching us that prohibition does not work and succeeds only in driving usage, whether of drugs or alcohol, underground and creating huge subversive and illegal markets they persist.
But the legalization and decriminalization of drugs makes sense at a number of levels, we can imagine the benefits from changing current policies:
Quality can be controlled and so the fluctuations, from heavily cut to almost pure varieties which appear on the streets and that cause so many unnecessary deaths by overdose, will disappear.
Price can be both controlled and regulated by taxation to produce income for the state to pay for increased medical costs as is now the case with cigarettes.
The arrest and imprisonment of low grade users and dealers will cease thereby reducing the prison population, with the addition of low grade burglary and street crime also being reduced.
Those whose addiction has become medically significant can receive their drugs on prescription with clean needles supplied thereby improving the health and well being of addicts.
The report offers a powerful reminder that in fact alcohol is a drug with much more significant social costs than almost any other drug. The police will often report that policing a town centre on a Saturday is made so much more difficult as a result of drunken behaviours.
In our so called big society we need to take a fresh look at our social policies and programmes and to review them for fairness and effectiveness.
Years ago I read an article in my local paper about a person arrested in night club, he had been selling 'Ecstasy' to youngsters in the club. On closer examination it turned out that the 'Ecstasy' was in fact a dog worming tablet. The supplier thought that he might have got off the dealing charge, which he did, but the Police apparently brought a charge of 'going equipped to defraud' on which the dealer was found guilty......
June is not the right time of year for mushrooms, they come later. But I remember years ago walking around the same reservoir with a group of young people and finding certain mushrooms which are reputed to contain 'psychotropic' properties, the discovery caused great excitement.
Social and recreational Drug use has a history with its roots deep in religious and mystical usage as readers of Frazer's famous and wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, The Golden Bough, will know.
Throughout history from ancient times until now, people have used drugs. they have also misused and abused them.
In our big society we have a confused and contradictory drugs policy.
One the one hand we accept the use of certain drugs and we control the quality and distribution and we impose a tax on the purchase.
The socially acceptable drugs are of course Alcohol, Nicotine, Tea and Coffee alongside drugs prescribed for medical use.
At the same time we wage a 'war on drugs'.
The 'war' is an international conflict which ranges from the poppy fields of Afghanistan and South America to the blighted inner cities of Europe and America.
But as a recent report, from the independent Global Commission on Drug Policy, states unequivocally, the war on drugs has failed.
The report signed by, amongst others, Paul Volcker of the U.S. Federal Reserve and Kofi Annan formerly of the United Nations, makes it clear that the war on drugs has failed to reduce the use and consequences of drug use and caused huge 'collateral damage'.
But politicians love their wars and so despite history teaching us that prohibition does not work and succeeds only in driving usage, whether of drugs or alcohol, underground and creating huge subversive and illegal markets they persist.
But the legalization and decriminalization of drugs makes sense at a number of levels, we can imagine the benefits from changing current policies:
Quality can be controlled and so the fluctuations, from heavily cut to almost pure varieties which appear on the streets and that cause so many unnecessary deaths by overdose, will disappear.
Price can be both controlled and regulated by taxation to produce income for the state to pay for increased medical costs as is now the case with cigarettes.
The arrest and imprisonment of low grade users and dealers will cease thereby reducing the prison population, with the addition of low grade burglary and street crime also being reduced.
Those whose addiction has become medically significant can receive their drugs on prescription with clean needles supplied thereby improving the health and well being of addicts.
The report offers a powerful reminder that in fact alcohol is a drug with much more significant social costs than almost any other drug. The police will often report that policing a town centre on a Saturday is made so much more difficult as a result of drunken behaviours.
In our so called big society we need to take a fresh look at our social policies and programmes and to review them for fairness and effectiveness.
Years ago I read an article in my local paper about a person arrested in night club, he had been selling 'Ecstasy' to youngsters in the club. On closer examination it turned out that the 'Ecstasy' was in fact a dog worming tablet. The supplier thought that he might have got off the dealing charge, which he did, but the Police apparently brought a charge of 'going equipped to defraud' on which the dealer was found guilty......
No comments:
Post a Comment