I don't like the drugs

Moving house etc has made blogging difficult. And my new job might make it even more difficult. But that's okay.

I thought this article was interesting.

As for the tragic case of Cassandra Vaicekonis, I wonder whether the anti-drug message is currently too focussed on individual choice, and not focussed enough on a sense of collective responsibility. Instead of urging young people to say no to drugs, or to think about how they can most safely say yes to drugs, taking a much stronger message to their friends might be a handy new addition to combating this scourge.

The only people somebody like Cassandra would really have listened to on this issue were her own circle of friends – the same people who (you would hope) are now looking into their souls and wondering whether they could have actually done something to avert her death on May 23 last year.

Her death will haunt their conscience forever more. It is something which no sane person would ever want to grapple with as they go through life. Getting that message out to other young people, and urging them to act when they see that a friend is screwing themself up on drugs, would do more to change a young person’s behaviour than any amount of Nancy Reagan-style lecturing that it’s as easy as saying no.

An interesting idea. Because the War on Drugs is not being won. Sometimes there are wins and high points, but the War on Drugs is a Long Defeat. I like the point that it comes down to friends taking a stand, rather than relying on people to make good decisions individually. Because people make dumb decisions. But if you have good friends, they can help you out.

If you want an example of amazing levels of reporting in detail of a huge issue, check this LA Times page out. In Mexico, 22,700 people have died since the start of 2007 as a result of drug violence. Imagine if, in the last three years, every resident of Kingston or Burnie was beheaded, shot, stabbed or burned alive. The woman who runs the grocery shop found without a head. The young men who work at the childcare centre shot to death in their homes. The journalists who report on the issue never seen again.

David Penberthy at The Punch wrote this article last year in which he said the clubbers in Melbourne and Sydney should take some blame for those Mexican deaths.

Australia’s sizeable cokehead community - even the casual users who had a discreet line in the loo last night at some groovy Sydney wine bar - should give themselves a quiet pat on the back for the role they’ve played in the deaths of these people. 

The market demand is so great that the risks are worth it. And the profits are so huge that it's worth killing people to maintain or win market dominance.

Do I have a solution? No. Is legalisation an option? I don't think so. I think that would open the floodgates to even more abuse, as well as the costs to society with mental health, domestic violence, street violence, and a still-thriving black market. But is the Long Defeat worth it?