I’ve looked at Mike and Galloway’s sites – they both seem to have friends who’ve died of overdoses ( or so it seemed to me). I once worked in an area up North where I met lots of people who grew up on council estates ( apologies – I’ve never on one) and there seemed to be a frightfully high no. heroin takers and overdoses. At university and in the ‘media’ posse I met so-called ‘high-flying’ cocaine users – I thought a lot of these people were messed up as they were keen to look ‘cool’ and ‘in’ and I’m not much of one for looking cool. I smoked a lot of pot at uni with lots of people who are now artists, writers etc. Pretty high achieving people in artistic ways, though not in your standard sense.
I guess what I am thinking is that context seems to make a big difference in substance use/abuse. Take the ‘loafers’ on the side of the street and alcohol – students again drink plenty – and I’m not saying that isn’t a problem for some – i.e. those who may not actually want to imbibe that much but feel they must if they want to be a ‘lad’ and not be seen as a wuss ( hehe meself included) – but I never heard people say..oh.alcohol should be banned because look at those old people on the side of the street. Even though a lot of people are very critical about giving them money as they’ll only spend it on ‘alcohol’. So people do appear to understand that using a substance (e.g. alcohol) isn’t necessarily going to lead to decline, but that if you have a whole host of problems and possibly are depressed, unmotivated etc. those same substances can make your life a lot more difficult.
Ah. I personally think education and awareness are two of the most important things. And not allowing dodgy criminals of the highest order to profit from young kids – why give them such a lucrative source of income? Legalize and tax – and control it. make it the same as ‘caviar’ or something. Sell it in Harrods or sth in a ‘controlled’ fashion. {I don’t hear of kids drinking champagne on Council estates..they won’t be as tempted when they think its something old ponces do..} Governments can also monitor what’s going on that way. For young kids, the thrill of an illegal substance is pretty much on par with with the actual high. And of course the problem with narcotics vs. psychedelic drugs is the physical addiction – and if you’re a disturbed young kid with nothing to do it’s easy to get on that ladder. Plus the lure of an easy income of drug dealing is really what seals it for lots of people.
Detach drugs and crime and half of the problem is over. Introduce young kids to intellectuals who have the odd spliff. ( In the same way, kids from certain countries who have similar ideas re: alcohol – when they go to france or italy realize it’s not such a big deal)
Posted by S 
Posted by S 
