PMQs and drugs

PMQs today was interesting.  Of the many things that came up, the one I want to address today is drugs and legalisation.

I have stated that I feel that they should be legalised and regulated, but Starmer raised an important point, that being date-rape drugs.  While his view in PMQ's is that drugs should not be legalised and regulated, I do think that he is right about date rape drugs like GHB and flunitrazepam (also known as Rohypnol).  I had a chat with my daughter about this later in the day.  We both agreed that drugs like this should not be legalised as the idea of legalisation and regulation is about risk reduction to the user. 

It is because of this, that I do not think that there is a point in the legalisation and regulation of anabolic steroids.  Drugs ruin peoples lives, and making them legal will not stop them doing so, but doing so may help reduce some of the harm that they cause. Also, it will probably reduce the rates of drug related crime and has seen to have advantages abroad. 

Sex drugs and rock and roll

As I have discussed before, I think that sex work and drugs should be legalised and regulated.  Doing so would benefit the economy. 

As a teenager in a rough inner city comprehensive in the 1980’s, drugs were not available at school. My children grew up knowing where to get drugs. Basically, we are losing the war on drugs. I feel that drugs cause a lot of harm, but legalisation and regulation would allow the trade to be taxed, may reduce drug related crime and also may help get people into treatment to come off drugs. It has not caused major issues in Portugal.  Lastly, drugs are in effect legal for the wealthy, not for the poor. This double standard is unfair and is reflected in the help the wealthy can get for drugs which most people cannot access as easily.

The next matter is sex work. I mention this (again) due to Bonnie Blue being in the media for her work in this field. As mentioned by JK Rowling, sex work is an industry plagued by trafficking, abuse and this is an issue that has been raised by those who have worked in it.  But, people like Bonnie Blue are in effect working legally as a sex worker, while those who are not as famous are not as protected.  Already, thanks to women like her working in the industry, more and more women are looking at such work as a way of supplementing income. Regulation of sex work can protect the women who are in what is the oldest profession.  The line between what is sex work and what is not can be argued to be blurred with men finding love with women from other countries.  What I want is that women (it is mainly women) who make a choice to work in this area, are offered the help not to do so, and also the help and protection to do so in a safe manner.  I have seen how this can help women, working outside Ipswich.  When the murders happened in 2006, sex work in the area was in effect decriminalised to protect the women working in it.  

The second to last video is of a woman who regrets her work in the industry, one who since leaving it has found happiness.  I believe abortion should be safe, legal, and rare and I think that the same should happen to be an issue for sex work, though I accept that it is not going to be rare.  

13 Reasons Why; Always Waiting for the Next Bad News

Drugs screw up the lives of people.  And it can be very hard to kick the habit.  This episode looks at some of he issues involved, but not the deaths that I have seen due to drugs.

13 Reasons Why; Nobody's Clean

Watching this with my son was interesting.  The two issues brought up were drugs and prostitution.  Drugs have been an issue in other episodes, but here, steroids were discussed.  Buying sex for money was also never mentioned before, and while this episode did not deal with the ethics of this, it did look at drugs.

I have mentioned before, that I do think that drugs should be legal and regulated, but I am not sure about steroids.  The first post-mortem that I saw was of a body builder who had a massive heart due to steroids.  The muscle growth outstripped the blood supply to it and he died.  Since then I have seen ruptured ligaments which do not heal and also others with heart attacks thanks to the use of illegal steroids.  I have suspected that it has contributed to behavioural issues with some, and I see one person on occasion who uses them but has muscles that are so developed, they have joint issues because his body should not have that build.  And he has acne and very small testicles.  Saying that, drugs screw up lives, and just because I think that they should be legal and regulated does not take away from the many lives I have seen ruined by drugs, and too many ended.

As for prostitution, again, this is something I think should be legal, but again regulated. But this view applies to all those who work in the sex industry. Help should be offered to aid those who are forced into sex to get out, or ideally, not to get into it.  The ethics of using a prostitute were not addressed in this episode though.

Needless today, I told my son not to use drugs.  Hopefully he will listen. 

I was thinking about how much money I've wasted on drugs over the years and it really got me thinking. Imagine all the drugs I could buy with that.

Well, drugs have been in the news again. There has been a call to legalise Cannabis, a drug which those who called for it to be legalised are aware that it ruins lives.  It is safer than drugs like cocaine, but it still ruins lives. But the issue that I, like others have, is that the war on drugs is not working. Drugs ruin the lives of those who use them, those who care for the users and also in many cases those who are in nations where drugs are grown. Mexico is affected by drug related gang violence and this is an issue that seems to be getting worse. Since I was a child, drugs have spread and the use of drugs has increased. Which is why I think that the time has come to legalise and regulate the sale of them. Make drugs legal and you take the profit motive out of selling them when it comes to drug dealers. Costs of drugs drop which means that crime and prostitution are no longer an issue in obtaining drugs. And you can educate people more just how much they screw up people.

I walked into a library and asked, do you have a book on drugs? The lady said, yes, it's wandering around aisle three talking to itself.

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.