ALL DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGAL.
That’s right.
All of ’em.
Let’s start with the wisdom of time:
Universal truth 1 — If something makes people feel good, they will want it.
Drugs make people feel good.
Universal truth 2 — You cannot stop people from doing drugs with law, only education.
It should be an undeniable and basic human right that I should be able to put whatever I want into my own body.
Is it possible to even dispute this?
Is there a single counter-argument?
Someone step forward and defend any reason why someone else, whether government or family member, should have the ultimate say over what I choose to ingest, inhale, inject, snort, etc.
The Drug War has done absolutely nothing but mangle society from the street up.
There is not a single reason why this waste of a program should exist, as it was founded on nothing more than fear-mongering and control.
The Global Commission on Drugs came to the painfully obvious conclusion that the War on Drugs has failed.
The problem I have with this is that I never see any definitive solution as to what should be put in place, or at least a general philosophy or explanation on how things should be done.
I am all for calling bullshit on failed policies from people or governments. It’s easy.
What we really need is an entirely new way of thinking that demolishes everything that has been put into place while erecting a far better and more effective system that reflects an awareness of reality.
You’ll never get this from a politician.
You’ll most likely get it from someone that is an experienced and responsible drug user.
What’s that? A drug user?
That’s right, people who have actually taken the time to safely experiment with drugs to gain the ultimate level of knowledge on the subject.
“Go for direct experience…” ~ Terence McKenna
It’s time to explore the legality of drugs in depth, from a rational point of view, understanding the overall impact of the insanely idiotic behavior that has occurred within the last century.
Our “leaders” need to be hung out to dry.
You cannot “save people from themselves” by mandating laws that remove undeniable freedoms.
You can only educate.
With education, people make better decisions.
These better decisions impact society as a whole.
When you deny people basic freedoms, you destroy the framework of efficiency and happiness and cause a colossal amount of collateral damage in the process without even knowing it (apparently).
Or, you simply just don’t care that you destroy lives because you’re in it for the money and control.
What side do you think the government is on?
Before we get deeper into this, I would like to acknowledge that fact that right now I can head down to the local liquor store, buy a few bottles of Jack Daniels, chug it, and die.
I repeat.
I can walk into any liquor store, buy an excessive amount of booze. Consume. Die.
There is no law to discourage me from doing this, unless I am under 21 years of age. And we all know how well that works.
Yet when I debate people on the legalization of heroin, their argument is always that “you can’t let people have access to such a dangerous drug.”
But I can walk into a liquor store right now, buy Captain Morgan. Chug. Die.
Please, continue your “save me from myself” argument.
Hypocrisy is not the ultimate sin here, but it smacks you right in the face.
It’s no longer tolerable to be this stupid.
Plenty of adults responsibly consume legal booze, a certifiable killer and enormous cash drain.
Why the hell can alcohol be legal while other drugs are not? There is essentially no difference.
Since many of you can barely fathom the idea of legal drugs everywhere, let’s start somewhere easy.
Weed
It’s obvious that we are finally headed toward the legalization of cannabis, but any fool could’ve spent the time to research the history of cannabis. You would already know that it’s mind-numbingly stupid that it was ever illegal.
Also, here’s a nice writeup of the two goons who essentially set us way off course in the early 1900s — Harry Anslinger and William Randolph Hearst.
Humans have been using cannabis for thousands of years.
All of a sudden, in the last century or so, a few opportunistic men decided this should end.
Thousands of years of culture, learning, and ancient wisdom were discarded, or more likely were not even really known or understood.
I’m not going to spend the time to get deeper into this aspect of the problem.
We were screwed, and we need to fix it.
Prominent Figures in Favor
Marijuana is awesome.
It puts you in a powerfully introspective state, heightens the senses, and creates a more powerful awareness of your surroundings.
It can be used by any individual to great advantage, for reflection and for enhancing life.
Anyone that claims otherwise is WRONG.
You are wrong, and I don’t want to hear “I have so many friends that ruined their lives smoking weed on the couch all day.”
You’re not supposed to smoke weed on the couch all day.
It’s really only acceptable in “happy beginner phase.”
You move on, evolve, and use it creatively and responsibly.
Music sounds “full.”
Sex is phenomenally more intense.
Dialogue about the nature of being seems to flow freely.
Think I’m making this up?
Here’s Carl Sagan on the subject: http://marijuana-uses.com/mr-x/
Another noteworthy figure on this topic is Lester Grinspoon. He spent a lot of time looking into the health effects of marijuana use. Research his name and read his stuff — http://norml.org/about/item/lester-grinspoon-md
If you still don’t get it, I’ll let Bill Hicks take your scalp:
When it comes to marijuana (and psychedelics in general) we are way overdue for massive change.
It’s taken forever to legalize it, but what should really occur is this:
A process would be put in place for people to experience and understand marijuana when they reach a certain age, much like a “rite of passage” that eases them into the use of cannabis with comprehensive education and more importantly a good, well grown product and not some black market turd grass.
If you said this to anyone from the “Reefer Madness” era, it wouldn’t fly. Too brainwashed.
But for those of us that have maintained our own opinions, this is a far better course of action.
In my opinion, we are missing something essential from our ancient past, some sort of relationship with plant life that has been completely lost.
It may even be an essential part of our makeup or existence, but it’s been completely eradicated from our day to day lives (outside of going our own way).
We have to get it back.
Hippies have for the most part always known this and they often get too much of a bad rap in my opinion.
The Way Things Should Be
Marijuana would not only be legal, but it would be encouraged.
Education would be very sophisticated, focusing on every aspect of the experience from how to grow it, use it, and how to avoid abuse.
I imagine a program where young people (maybe around age 20) are taken on a week long trek into the woods.
A team of shamans (let’s be serious, that’s what the role is) would walk them through a step by step process that correctly introduces them to the plant while maintaining safety and looking out for everyone’s well being.
The new recruits would learn about the ancient history of the plant. How it was used. What it offers. How to properly ingest it.
The product would be top notch. Think about it.
If this is a program that is encouraged and highly advanced, wouldn’t we obviously put our best growers on the job?
The plant would be super healthy and as properly cultivated as can be.
Doctors would know about it.
I repeat. Doctors would know everything there is to know about the the particular grow, and they will have ideally have experienced it for themselves.
This way if there ever was some sort of medical incident, they would be more informed and prepared to handle the case on the fly.
See how this is all coming together? We haven’t even gotten that deep into it yet…
Those new to marijuana would go through the motions — how to smoke, how to listen to music, how to walk through nature (incredibly exciting!), how to think creatively, etc.
After this program, they would return with a tremendous understanding of the power of this plant.
They would know how to grow it. They would know how to smoke it or make edibles.
They would know where to safely obtain a good product.
I’m sure a counter-point to this might be, “well, now you will have people getting stoned all the time, at work, in school, which would detract from their duties.”
While this seems valid, I think the educational program would be designed to cover this.
One of the main tenets would be — “you shouldn’t get stoned everywhere at all times.”
In fact, it should be something like — “you should learn to get stoned during periods of reflection, at home relaxing, or with friends on a camping trip.”
Poor choices would be highlighted and discouraged, such as driving while stoned, going to school stoned, operating machinery stoned, etc.
You can see that this kind of process is years away, but I believe it is ultimately what will happen.
Balance will be restored.
A Typical Day Buying Marijuana — Reality
I’ll share my experiences while being a stoner for the last ten years or so.
Buying weed is annoying as hell, for the following reasons:
It’s a waste of precious time.
If I want some herb, I need a connect. If the connect is reliable, I could get it within a decent amount of time, but it often requires an unnecessary trip.
Point is, I can always get it eventually. Drug war doesn’t work, fools.
At the same time, delivery is unreliable, exchange of money often requires a trip to get cash, and general coordination is painfully out of whack.
I should be able to run down to the local “joint” to buy some weed, small amounts or large.
I would return home and carry on my day, no jostling schedules, running around, getting stuck in traffic, or whatever needs to be done to try and obtain a damn plant.
Time. Saved.
Quality of product would be excellent and not completely unknown.
Right now, here are the choices:
Weed is illegal, but millions of people want it. Therefore, the black market fulfills the demand. Since this operates in the criminal underworld, it’s only about greed and cash.
Sure, quality product matters. But who the hell is keeping track as it changes hands over and over? Do you think the people peddling this shit ultimately carry what you think about it?
I buy a bag from my buddy, but he gets it from some guy. That guy gets it from some guy or maybe he grows it.
Who the hell knows what’s been done to it by the time it gets to me.
Let’s say something happens, a medical emergency or issue arises (related to weed, or unrelated).
I go to the doctor.
While I’m there, the doctor asks me what I ingested.
I tell him weed. From the black market of course.
Wouldn’t it be great if the doctor knew exactly what you smoked, or perhaps could quickly access a database where he can do lightning fast research?
He can’t though, so he has to guess.
Unnecessary treatments might be subscribed. Problems misdiagnosed. Countless more hours and money wasted on all fronts.
Buying Weed — How It Should Be
I need to pick up a small amount of marijuana for personal enjoyment.
I head down to the local startup business, and buy some of their expertly grown, premium bud. It has perhaps even been certified and inspected by a representative third party.
It’s good stuff, so I am a repeat buyer, free market.
Taxes are collected on the exchange.
I drive back home and carry on my day.
Later that day, I have a possible health scare.
I go to the doctor. He asks if I have taken any “drugs” lately.
I tell him I bought some quality weed called ______ from the local business.
He hops over to his database to do some quick intelligence gathering if need be, but is relieved that the product was something locally grown and likely cared for.
At the end of the day, a more accurate assessment could be made on my current state, related to the ingested bud or not.
I would not be afraid to talk to my doctor about it (I’m personally not as it is, but for the sake of story). No one would necessarily freak out or become worried, because it’s acceptable behavior now in society. Adults may use as they see fit.
How the hell is this not the better option?
According to politicians that don’t understand the plant, using drugs is using drugs. Alcohol is OK, though. Of course. Why wouldn’t it be…
Psychosis?
I’m not going to lie.
In my opinion, marijuana can definitely trigger some form of psychosis.
I’m not a doctor, folks. I want to make that clear. This is not a medical opinion.
However after years of first hand experience with great product to bad product, I believe that somewhere along the way I went a bit astray.
Young minds are very malleable and can certainly be affected by a mind altering drug like marijuana.
There is a dangerous point when the intersection of hard times and psychedelics meet.
Weed is a very mild psychedelic and without proper education, young minds can be led astray.
In the same way we discourage young people from abusing alcohol, we would educate young people on the fact that marijuana can go both ways.
In this case, I believe the dark side is one of the deep mind, and that’s where hell can potentially be found.
If the education system I described is in place, we could potentially reduce the amount of semi-psychotic episodes that might occur from poor, uneducated use of cannabis.
The Choice is Clear
Do I need to explain again which scenario is better?
All things being equal, in all situations, can a single person tell me that the first (black market) would be the better reality?
I should be able to buy it as needed in the free market, painlessly and easily, while not wasting time and paying necessary taxes. When it comes to health, I’d be far more confident in some sort of local business or expert grower than a black market operation.
Concerts
They sell beer at concerts, which is notorious for making people slow, dumb, and aggressive. Sure, there are plenty of responsible users.
In my world, concerts would have an entire section dedicated to use of cannabis to enhance and enjoy your time at the show.
Music and weed are without a doubt tremendously complementary.
We are missing out on an enormous opportunity to create a greater sense of happiness and enjoyment at concerts.
— Opinion —
Quite frankly, it would also wake people up to the fact that much of today’s music is soulless trash, because you wouldn’t feel the music like you do from a soulful song or performance.
Weed connects people. Music is a universal language. With it, soul speaks to soul. Most of the music from the “psychedelic” 60s-70s is just more powerful and more soulful. End of story.
— end rant —
I imagine a world where we are free to experiment with marijuana or psychedelics at a concert in order to maximize the joy that comes from it. Anyone opposed to this is an enemy of the human spirit.
Marijuana was instrumental in my journey from not knowing a thing on guitar to playing in a band like I always dreamed. You can read about that journey in my ebook.
The Plan
Every human being has the right to use marijuana when they so choose.
An educational and “rite of passage” system would be put into place to properly educate anyone interested, so young people wouldn’t have to learn from drug dealers, inexperienced peers, or college frat parties. It would happen anyway, but the point is there would be better choices.
Product sales would go through a free market system that is competitive and encourages a highly sought after and quality product. Taxes would be collected and reinvested into education.
Any health related issues could be treated with a greater degree of certainty. If marijuana is a factor, doctors could specifically identify the product, access data and history, and make an informed decision without guesswork.
Massive amounts of time, energy and money would be saved.
Hard Drugs — Heroin & Cocaine
Let’s think about how this might work for heroin, one of the most dangerous drugs in the world.
Despite the enormous and devastating consequences, people still do it. Remember the universal truths established earlier.
Heroin is described as one of the most incredible feelings in the universe.
If this feeling exists, people will want it.
Making it illegal is not going to solve a single problem. Someone will fill the void and play the role of provider.
This is the endless cycle of prohibition, and it’s why alcohol prohibition failed.
But the problem of heroin addiction and its effect on society requires a massive change, not some “tweaking” of the system.
The massive change is legalization, followed by smart handling of the situation with awareness of how people behave.
Let’s think about how it might go down…
It is apparent to me that the only way to stop the widespread problem of heroin addiction is to accept it and strive for better therapy or abstinence programs combined with education.
If you give the black market control, then you are asking for disaster on multiple fronts.
Consider the marijuana situation described above, but worse due to the potential hazard to an individual’s health.
On the black market, the product is inevitably suspect.
Do you think drug dealers care more about someone’s health, or the money they can make?
Dumb question.
Heroin and cocaine are cut with other substances to increase payloads to sell more product.
Heroin junkies need their fix so they’ll buy from drug dealers without even thinking.
Now you have people injecting themselves with who the hell knows what, instead of definitively knowing what went into their body.
Don’t you think that an honest doctor would like to know as much as he/she can about what your situation is during a crisis of health?
What fool would think otherwise?
Right now any doctor would have to simply guess and possibly mis-diagnose symptoms.
Does anyone else think that that alone is pretty fucked up?
If we have to pick from the lesser of two evils, I would rather it be some sort of facility that addicts have available to visit and buy a safer, known product.
Not to mention the added benefit of clean needles and other associated paraphernalia.
While there, they can choose to get help.
Let’s say addict “Johnny” is craving a fix.
In the black market world, his only choice is to find a connect and buy a potentially tainted product, unless he’s very sure of the source. Let’s assume the worst.
In the all-drugs-legal mindset shift, he has a local clinic to visit and purchase a very clean, known dose.
It would be strongly recommended that Johnny no longer spend his money on this habit, but “to each his own.”
There could be a door right there that says “enter here to begin your road to recovery” where he elects to get help right on the spot from a professional.
Product pricing and overall clinic logistics would need to be determined and there’s no way to know the optimal path from the get go.
But how is this not a better option?
Could tax money be reinvested into continued education and further treatment options as time moves on?
Why the hell would you send people to the black market to buy something they will inevitably want?
Remember, you can’t make something illegal and hope it erases itself from existence. It will never happen.
Some opportunistic rat bastard will find a way to make a profit from human nature.
Imagine if Johnny had a health issue, and had to go to the hospital.
The doctor says, “what happened?”
He might say, “I took some heroin from the local clinic. I may have taken too much…”
The doctor accesses his database or perhaps is already familiar with the substance, knows its makeup, and recommends the exact course of action that has relieved patients in a similar situation.
Now he can move on to the next patient without spending too much time trying to figure out what the hell went into Johnny’s body, or why he is showing strange symptoms.
The best thing we can do is acknowledge the existence of heroin, cocaine, and similar hard drugs and simply do everything possible to provide education.
Once again, we would save an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources, in this case save lives.
Psychedelics — LSD, Mushrooms
The world is due for an enormous mind-shift on drug use as a whole, especially psychedelics.
This is a much more complex issue and I’ve already written a post on why LSD should be mandatory.
Similar to marijuana, psychedelics should be embraced and heavily researched for a number of incredible benefits.
Unfortunately, LSD and shrooms are very efficient at doing one thing…
Your cultural operating system and social conditioning can be temporarily wiped clean, revealing “another world” apart from reality.
The government can control sheep.
They have far more trouble controlling psychonauts.
All I will say is this.
The world is in desperate need of a psychedelic revival, where the role of Shaman is restored as one of the most important roles in human society.
When a person comes of age, they should go through a minor psychedelic experience in a controlled environment with expertise and wisdom guiding their way.
This is so unfathomable to most people and that is exactly why it is so far off, if already totally lost.
When things go wrong, you need a revolution or a massive reboot.
Small changes in the law or the revolving door of incompetent politicians as “leaders” will lead to nothing but an endless array of problems with no solution, because the solution is actually seen as part of the evil.
That’s how far we’ve come.
The solution is actually considered evil…
I’ll leave you with that.
A true leader will acknowledge a problem and set forth a plan that addresses every issue until it is resolved, maximizing time, energy and resources in the process.
One or two horrifically bad policies can set the world on a course for total annihilation, which is where we may be headed anyway.
All drugs should be legal, with a system in place to handle addicts, control the flow of cash, and allow doctors access to the most accurate information possible.
Education would be of paramount importance, as it’s the only way to stop people from using drugs.
The War on Drugs has failed.
Who will set things straight?
This article originally appeared on AlphaDark.com
