Under the Influence? God & Intoxication

It’s almost impossible to have a reasonable discussion about drugs in this country as their mere mention causes hysteria and panic. A politician being able to say that they smoked marijuana at university but didn’t inhale is the stupidest thing I’ve heard and demonstrates perfectly the cul-de-sac we’ve got ourselves into when debating drugs. I don’t see the point of writing a blog in such a climate where I’m unable to write honestly about my experience, So for the next 5 minutes take your fingers away from the hysteria button and lets discuss drugs like adults rather than like a schoolgirl with a mouse in her satchel.

My drug of choice is alcohol. I enjoy drinking a wide range of wines, beers and spirits. In particular I love drinking real ale – I am a member of CAMRA (the campaign for real ale). My habit is socially acceptable but I have no qualms about categorising alcohol alongside the illegal drugs, as I know the effects they can have and the only real difference is that alcoholic drinks are legal.

Since the mid 90’s I’ve moved around on the edges of the music scene and as such I’ve witnessed the effects of drugs first hand. I’ve seen people take every drug with the possible exception of crack. If you get chance to observe it and they’re not trying to hide the fact they’ve taken something there’s a very obvious before and after. On the whole it doesn’t bother me, if you want to take something it’s your choice to take the risks, but the only drug I’m scared of is heroin.

In 1996 a film was released which caused a media storm. ‘Trainspotting’ was accused, by the popular press, of glamourizing heroin and the resulting publicity made it one of the biggest British films of all time. There’s a quote fairly early on in the film – “People think it's all about misery and desperation and death and all that… which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn't do it. After all, we're not stupid.” And here lies – in my opinion - one of our biggest mistakes when it comes to drugs. We are so scared of drugs that we can’t contemplate that there is anything positive to be said about them. In schools we drill home the message ‘drugs are bad’ and believe we are having a positive effect. But I doubt we are. I think our fear of drugs is transparent and results in the education we give lacking credibility. Surely it would be better to take a more honest approach and treat people like they’re not stupid.

The drugs debate can be split into 2 distinct camps, those against and those for. There are very few people who sit in the middle. Each camp has it’s own myths as the taboo nature of drugs has meant that very little money has been put into actual research on effects and addictions. The above argument that all drugs are evil is countered by a belief that they are harmless (often just a user in denial). This is particularly true of cannabis users. They will argue that cannabis is non-addictive and less harmful than alcohol. This much is probably true, but they will go on to say that there are no proven deaths from cannabis. This claim I cannot believe. Whereas it is possible to give yourself alcohol poisoning and drink yourself to death through excessive alcohol consumption I don’t think it’s possible to smoke yourself to death: but to claim that that there are no cannabis fatalities is a rose-tinted view. Cannabis alters your state of mind, dulls your perceptions and slows your reactions. Surely someone will have had an accident whilst high and died from their injuries. Prolonged excessive use of cannabis has also been linked with schizophrenia, an illness which has caused a number of deaths. Most people smoke cannabis with tobacco. Many cannabis smokers will hold the smoke in the lungs to give the THC the maximum amount of time to be absorbed into the lungs. This also lets the over 200 harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke chance to be absorbed as well, so maybe you can say that cannabis hasn’t directly caused deaths, but to claim that it’s harmless and no-one has died as a result of taking cannabis is naïve at best. The anti-drug lobby also point at cannabis and claim that it leads onto harder drugs. Again this is a half-truth. I know many people – myself included – who have smoked cannabis and have no interest in anything harder than that. Taking cannabis doesn’t have to be a slippery slope to hard drug addiction. More often than not it isn’t. I would actually say that if you asked hard-drug addicts what the first drug they tried was, most would say cannabis, but revise their choice to alcohol if it were made clear that it was included in the list, and yet alcohol doesn’t get that kind of reputation because it’s legal and socially acceptable. Some of the pro-cannabis lobby uses that half-truth to argue for the legalization of cannabis arguing that when you go and buy your eighth, if the opportunity to buy something harder were removed fewer people would make the jump.

My biggest problem with drug taking is the illegality. Not really because it’s against the law, but because it’s in the hands of criminal elements. The money you spend on your chemical hobby is going to end up making money for people you wouldn’t invite into your home. There is no kite mark for drugs, no quality assurance. When you’re about to inhale your white powder what you’re ingesting will have been handled at some point by people with no moral scruples. It’s fairly well documented that harder drugs are cut with many different chemicals which bear a resemblance to the drug in question, and these are going to take their toll on the body as much as the drug is. At least with my alcohol habit being state endorsed I know that what I’m buying is what it’s supposed to be.

There will be those reading this who will want me to say to young people ‘Don’t do drugs,’ but I don’t believe that would make the blindest bit of difference if I did. But I will say this. The fact is that there are risks to drug taking, regardless of the drug in question. Whatever you choose to use – be it legal or illegal – be aware of the risks, and be aware of what it does to you. Use intoxicants responsibly - the same drug has different effects of different people. We’ve all seen news footage of fights in town centres on a Saturday night caused by people drinking too much. Alcohol doesn’t make me aggressive, but if it did I hope I’d have the sense not to drink it. Look after yourself and those around you make sure you don’t develop a problem. Don’t kid yourself that what you’re doing has no consequences.

There is a problem in this country with drug use. It stems from people not realizing that recreational intoxication is a serious business.