I say this not because i think drugs are great, but because an examination of it reveals the prejudicial attitudes on which it is predicated, and because i am sickened to see the many lives that have been sacrificed on its altar.
The War on Drugs is predicated on the idea that drug use is indication of a "moral failing." Person X lives a somehow "degraded" life (and we can therefore pity or despise her) and "turns to drugs" to "escape the harshness of her life." Or, alternately, person Y is a bored suburbanite teenager "lured" to drug use, like sailors drawn to the rocks by the siren song, pressured into trying it by his peers ("if it weren't for that kid with funny hair and ex-hippie parents, my child would never have tried them").
This is the way drug use is portrayed by the malestream media, projecting this moralistic analysis from the safety of gated communities far from the 'iniquity' of urban life, and thus, presumably, far from anywhere drugs are commonly used or sold.
It is but one brick in a wall built to disguise an authoritarian kyriarchal agenda, a power grab by the elites of this society predicated on racism, classism and sexism. It is a bandage covering a festering wound and soaking up the pus without allowing efforts to heal it by addressing its cause: oppression and exploitation. The "Drug War" is a way of pretending that oligarchical collectivism and cronyism can exist in a civilized society, by othering the victims and labelling them immoral.
This becomes obvious when we see that the addictions that are tolerated are precisely those that mask people's feelings and thus make people more pliant and/or hard-working. Caffeine and nicotine are more dangerous than THC or opium and are more habit-forming, but they are the "socially acceptable" addictions. Other "acceptable" addictions include several SSRIs and other prescription medications, which can also have more dangerous side effects than THC or opium.
The previous paragraph is not meant to promote pot or heroin, but just to point out that the "Drug War" rationale of protecting people from harmful substances is utter hogwash. Where was this rationale for the 38,000 people killed by Vioxx in four years? Other myriad dangers of drug use are the direct result of efforts to ban them.
Some therapists refer to drug use as "self-medicating," because the main reason people form drug habits is to feel normal. There are exceptions, of course, people seeking pleasure or thrills. But lots of people try many different drugs and don't form addictions because, nice as it may make them feel, they don't need it to correct dopamine-receptor imbalances caused by long-term physical abuse, or to mask emotions they feel required to hide from friends and partners, or to get through long hours of dehumanizing work.
It's long been noted that drug war punishments are disporportionately directed at people of racial minorities. This is a typical "one-two punch" pattern of cannibalistic oppression: to treat the often necessarily drastic and long-term-self-destructive survival tactics of people in oppressed minorities as though they are moral failings, and then punish them.
I touched on this issue a few weeks ago with my post on "options and empowerment." If you have an imbalance of this kind in your life, the solution is not court-mandated therapy, but actual changes to your life and environment. Drug users cannot make the real changes that they need in their lives, because decisions about how we are going to live and survive are not up for democratic discussion. Those decisions are hoarded by those with the power to decide where jobs will be located, with the power to hire and fire.
On another dimension, the "Drug War" is an attempt by authoritarians to control what substances people put into their bodies. Historically, psychoactive substances have sometimes played a role in revolutionary awareness (recognizing this is somewhat of a shift from my previous thoughts on this matter), and guiltless pleasure has the potential to undermine the militaristic tone of an authoritarian culture.
crossposting to my journal and crossposting to
kyriarchy
The War on Drugs is predicated on the idea that drug use is indication of a "moral failing." Person X lives a somehow "degraded" life (and we can therefore pity or despise her) and "turns to drugs" to "escape the harshness of her life." Or, alternately, person Y is a bored suburbanite teenager "lured" to drug use, like sailors drawn to the rocks by the siren song, pressured into trying it by his peers ("if it weren't for that kid with funny hair and ex-hippie parents, my child would never have tried them").
This is the way drug use is portrayed by the malestream media, projecting this moralistic analysis from the safety of gated communities far from the 'iniquity' of urban life, and thus, presumably, far from anywhere drugs are commonly used or sold.
It is but one brick in a wall built to disguise an authoritarian kyriarchal agenda, a power grab by the elites of this society predicated on racism, classism and sexism. It is a bandage covering a festering wound and soaking up the pus without allowing efforts to heal it by addressing its cause: oppression and exploitation. The "Drug War" is a way of pretending that oligarchical collectivism and cronyism can exist in a civilized society, by othering the victims and labelling them immoral.
This becomes obvious when we see that the addictions that are tolerated are precisely those that mask people's feelings and thus make people more pliant and/or hard-working. Caffeine and nicotine are more dangerous than THC or opium and are more habit-forming, but they are the "socially acceptable" addictions. Other "acceptable" addictions include several SSRIs and other prescription medications, which can also have more dangerous side effects than THC or opium.
The previous paragraph is not meant to promote pot or heroin, but just to point out that the "Drug War" rationale of protecting people from harmful substances is utter hogwash. Where was this rationale for the 38,000 people killed by Vioxx in four years? Other myriad dangers of drug use are the direct result of efforts to ban them.
Some therapists refer to drug use as "self-medicating," because the main reason people form drug habits is to feel normal. There are exceptions, of course, people seeking pleasure or thrills. But lots of people try many different drugs and don't form addictions because, nice as it may make them feel, they don't need it to correct dopamine-receptor imbalances caused by long-term physical abuse, or to mask emotions they feel required to hide from friends and partners, or to get through long hours of dehumanizing work.
It's long been noted that drug war punishments are disporportionately directed at people of racial minorities. This is a typical "one-two punch" pattern of cannibalistic oppression: to treat the often necessarily drastic and long-term-self-destructive survival tactics of people in oppressed minorities as though they are moral failings, and then punish them.
I touched on this issue a few weeks ago with my post on "options and empowerment." If you have an imbalance of this kind in your life, the solution is not court-mandated therapy, but actual changes to your life and environment. Drug users cannot make the real changes that they need in their lives, because decisions about how we are going to live and survive are not up for democratic discussion. Those decisions are hoarded by those with the power to decide where jobs will be located, with the power to hire and fire.
On another dimension, the "Drug War" is an attempt by authoritarians to control what substances people put into their bodies. Historically, psychoactive substances have sometimes played a role in revolutionary awareness (recognizing this is somewhat of a shift from my previous thoughts on this matter), and guiltless pleasure has the potential to undermine the militaristic tone of an authoritarian culture.
crossposting to my journal and crossposting to
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