21/6/01

Sugar More Harmful Than Heroin?

Did you know that heroin is actually less harmful than sugar!!? And significantly less harmful than paracetamol? - a couple of packets of which I bought only last weekend from the local chemist for my headache.

Did you know that heroin is less addictive than tobacco and alcohol?

Did you know that those nasty physiological consequences that supposedly come from heroin addiction DO NOT come from heroin at all, but from the impurities that arise when criminals get involved in selling it, and from infectious drug needles?

Did you know that heroin, in proper well-controlled dosages, is one of the safest drugs known to medicine - with no harmful side effects?

Did you know that if drugs such as heroin were legalised, the overall crime rates of addicts would plummet by perhaps as much as 70%?

So, ask yourself, who benefits from keeping heroin illegal?

The police. The dealers. The bureaucrats. The lawyers. The government.

EVERYONE ELSE LOSES

I have no doubt that this global campaign of prohibition is the most dishonest and destructive social policy of our time.

Nick Davies (a highly-respected and well-known UK investigative journalist): "I have spent the last 20 years reporting on crime and drugs and poverty. And I have no doubt that this global campaign of prohibition is the most dishonest and destructive social policy of our time.

... I have spoken to four drug constables (policemen) who say that the war is hopelessly lost, and that it is time to make clean heroin available to those who need it. But the politics of the War on Drugs means that they won't speak publicly."

Paul Flynn Labour MP: "It [the War on Drugs] has been fuelled by politicians who are vote gluttons, and who believe, correctly, that there are votes and popularity to be gained by appearing to be tough on drugs. But we have to challenge them and say, 'You're killing our kids!'"

And they are. 

They really are killing many of our kids, and destroying the lives of thousands of others, by placing the manufacture of such substances into the hands of criminals rather than chemists, by criminalising those who have a real problem and so forcing them into poverty and, often, into crimes designed to fund their addiction, by threatening doctors with legal actions for trying to help their addicted patients, by persecuting and/or prosecuting millions of individuals who have harmed no-one, and by creating a vast illegal drug industry which corrupts and criminalises those further MILLIONS of individuals who have yet to be caught.

The real problem is that the hysterical media have truly misinformed the public about the problems of drug use, and they have grossly exaggerated the dangers that arise from it (e.g. see Is Ecstasy that Bad?). 

The public is therefore mostly ignorant about the subject - preferring to believe that horrendous evils stem from drug abuse. And our politicians, rather than studying the problem, and tackling the issues head-on in public debates, run scared, because of the financially-rewarding media 'outrage' that would be purposefully engineered against any of them who might back the arguments for decriminalisation.

Unlike alcohol or tobacco, heroin causes no ongoing toxicity to the tissues or organs of the body.

"Unlike alcohol or tobacco, heroin causes no ongoing toxicity to the tissues or organs of the body. Apart from causing some constipation, it appears to have no side effects in most who take it. When administered safely, its use may be consistent with a long and productive life. The principal harm comes from the risk of overdose, problems with injecting, drug impurities and adverse legal or financial consequences."

Source: Byrne, Andrew, MD, "Addict in the Family: How to Cope with the Long Haul" (Redfern, NSW, Australia: Tosca Press, 1996), pp. 33-34, available on the web at http://www.csdp.org/addict/.

Here are some more facts about heroin.

USA Despite its reputation, then, heroin is neither irresistible nor inescapable. Only a very small share of the population ever uses it, and a large majority of those who do never become addicted. Even within the minority who develop a daily habit, most manage to stop using heroin, often without professional intervention. Yet heroin is still perceived as the paradigmatic voodoo drug, ineluctably turning its users into zombies who must obey its commands. Jacob Sullum - 15 min

Cocaine "Occasional cocaine use does not typically lead to severe or even minor physical or social problems." Ben Goldacre quoting from a WHO report.

Finally, my own view is that, in many ways, there should be a war on drugs; through education, and by giving help to those who need it.

In other words; Not through demonisation and not through criminalisation.

Also see,

The Evils of Cannabis?

S-c-u-m Of The Earth

War on Drugs - Pros And Cons