Opium, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, LSD, PCP, meth, molly, speed, and fentanyl

Fun fact: Did you know San Francisco is the birthplace of illegal drugs in America? "In the United States, the first drug law was passed in San Francisco in 1875, banning the smoking of opium in opium dens," says Wikipedia.

A century and a half later, drugs remain a serious problem. 

Surprise!

Drugs will always be a serious problem, until we adopt the obvious solution that's worked with alcohol and is working with marijuana in America's saner states: End prohibition, and instead legalize, tax, and regulate drugs for safety.

If America's decrepit leadership had compassion and a sense of right and wrong, there'd also be free drug counseling and rehab, and safe use spaces, and drug education wouldn't be riddled with lies, like this — from San Francisco again — via the news on TV:

On one day recently, CNN watched as task force members arrested a suspected drug dealer accused of selling meth and fentanyl. Inside a plastic bag: 33 grams of fentanyl that CHP officer Andy Barclay estimates, at its worst, could potentially kill thousands of people.

"We're looking at around 16,500 fatal doses of pure fentanyl in that small bag. Yes, 16,500 people could potentially die," Barclay said. 

Stick a microphone in a policeman's face after any fentanyl bust, and they'll claim they've prevented thousands of imaginary deaths.

There was one report after a raid some months back where a cop said they'd prevented half a million deaths.

It’s all bullshit, like the War on Drugs hysteria always is, but thanks for the laughs, Officer Andy.

Look, drugs are bad, m'kay? But humans have always enjoyed mind-altering substances, and they're not going to stop. Could we ease the perpetual panic?

After the opium panic and those first laws against drugs, there came the marijuana panic, and panics over heroin, and cocaine, and LSD, and PCP, and meth, and molly, and speed, and undoubtedly other drug panics that have slipped my mind this morning.

Each panic comes with lies about the drug we're panicked about, so even when the drugs are dangerous, you can't seriously believe Officer Andy and all the other liars. After all, they're the same folks who lied about the epidemic of marihuana maniacs, and crack babies, and people on acid thinking they could fly off of balconies.

Each panic always requires mass arrests and imprisonments, with more and more lives ruined.

And not hypothetical lives, like the ones saved from fentanyl on CNN, but actual lives of actual people.

And not merely thousands, but millions, many millions — more than can accurately be counted.

Here's another fun fact: The people getting arrested and imprisoned for drugs usually aren't white, and that's not an ongoing eternal coincidence.

Destroying black and brown people's lives is why we have drug prohibition.

This year's panic, fentanyl, is a genuine problem. I've seen it, and so have you.

But bringing in more police to arrest and imprison more dealers and more users is the problem, not the solution. The arrests and the panics and all the official lies are why we can't have sensible conversations about the dangers of drugs, and sensible regulations, and actually help people who need help.

Instead we go on destroying lives, for 150 years now.

9/4/2023   

 itsdougholland.com
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