Well, I thought that with the death of Amy Winehouse, this would be a good time to make a post about the evil of drugs.
Her death was a tragic event, someone so talented, but, and I am sorry if this was sounds cynical, it was only a matter of time before it happened.
The simple message is that drugs screw people up. Yes, I know that with her, alcohol was an issue as well, but with her, it appeared that both were responsible for killing her. I work in health-care and see the harm that both drugs and alcohol cause. While alcohol in moderation is not a problem, so long as it is drunk in a responsible manner, people still have problems with addiction to it. And the simple fact is that drugs have a much more addictive nature. I have seen harm come to users, and I have seen the damage that it does to the family and friends of addicts, both of alcohol and narcotics.
Many argue that cannabis is not harmful, but they ignore the issue that it is a mind affecting drug. And there is a concrete link between cannabis use and schizophrenia. Mild use is deemed by many to be harmful. Personally, I am not too bothered if someone smokes the occasional joint. Not that I ever have (when in Amsterdam with friends, I went to a cafe and was the only person there drinking coffee, my friends all smoking a joint). But people who state that it causes no problems are not aware of the risks it has. I have seen people who have had problems after just one joint, and I have seen people who have become addicted to cannabis.
As for heroin, cocaine and other drugs, again I have seen the problems that they cause. While cannabis is not a problem for most, and stronger drugs are not a problem for a few people, all these drugs ruin lives.
Drugs ruin lives.
Which makes my views on drug legalisation strange to some. I am in favour of legalisation of drugs, but also regulation. We are not winning the war on drugs. When I was a child, in an inner city school, drugs were not a problem. Go to my old school now, and you will find that it is more of an issue as it is affecting the young more than it has in the past. I was aware about drugs, and living in inner city London, I of course was 'exposed' to drugs in that I have been in places were drugs have been taken (again, not by me), but it is far more of a problem now.
Drugs fund terrorism, they fund crime and they ruin the lives of many of those who use them, and those who care about them, innocents caught up in drug related crime, and of course, those who grow them and others in nations where they are grown and nearby. The thing is that heroin and cocaine have medical uses. When made legally, they cost the health service pennies. But, due to them being illegal, people have to pay inflated costs to buy them. And when you are addicted to drugs, you have to pay for them, which means that for many, you have to engage in crime to fund your habit.
The profit from drugs being illegal means that drug barons and others who profit from the drugs trade will make money, loads of money. In order to get money, drug wars take place, which would not bother me if they only harmed those involved in the drugs trade, but they do not. Make drugs legal, and regulate them and you take away the profit motive that drives the crime associated with the movement of drugs from one country to another. And make them legal, and there will be far less of a profit for those who grow them.
I once had the chance to talk to Brian Paddick (an ex-senior police officer) and his view, despite his actions on drugs when he worked in London, was that drugs should not be legalised due to the harm they cause to the people who use them (and those around them). And if legalisation is to take place, that is a very important message to keep telling people.
Either way, while addicts have to want to be treated, it would be of use if there was more help for those who do want to come off drugs. That way, god willing, the deaths of other addicts may be prevented.
But the bottom line is that the current approach is not wining the war on drugs. We need a new approach, to prevent lives being ruined by them.