Why did the War on Drugs fail?
posted by yellowseed | November 2, 2010
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Icerocket—Chief Dan George
When we want to solve a problem, we deal with the cause, not the effect.
The cause of drug trafficking and violence is the demand for drugs, not the production.
The global drug problem was not, cannot, and will never be solved on the side of the supply—it can only be solved on the side of the demand.
We do not wage war on addictive behavior. We regulate, research, educate, and overcome.
Comments
We are stuck in this pattern
— Nov 02, 2010
We are stuck in this pattern in which if you do something wrong... wrong according to society you get punished... which is the same as hiding the trash under the rug, it doesn't disappear...
Yes it must be treated on the side of the demand... it is not drugs what ppl want... so what is it?
Peace
SeRgIo
exactly
— Nov 04, 2010
It's up to our generation to pull it back from under the rug now.
And that is the question: what do people want?
Drug addiction is only one of our culture's addictions. Why are we so addicted?
I'm thinking I'll be doing some research next year related to this. What do you think people are after?
Gracias Sergio.
—ys.
The Dis-covery of Man
hmm
— Nov 05, 2010
Pues.... I honestly think its because (and this is a big generalization) ppl are mostly numb... work, eat, sleep, fuck, have kids, pay taxes, pay taxes, war, you see the pattern... life is sooooooooooo dull and monotonous and repetitive ... Thanks Industrial revolution!!! or not... and don't get me wrong I don't have anything against technology or progress etc BUT when we become servants of that supposed progress,,, then I have a huge problem...
So yeah all the rant above is to say... that our lives for the most part have become predictable, boring, full of stress and drugs take all of that away... at least temporarily...
So the real need behind the drug addiction IMO is... We yearn a life full of awe, mystery, and guess what some physical pain... I'll post my take on why I think we need some suffering in our lives in order to be full (hope I don't forget)...
Viva Colombia!!!
SeRgIo
yea
— Nov 11, 2010
I think it all goes down to coping with stress and anxiety.
Viva Mexico cabrones!
—ys.
The Dis-covery of Man
blame the governemtn
— Nov 02, 2010
I blame the government. People don't get addicted to psychedelics, the drugs that are illegal. They get addicted to the legal shit that doctors are mass producing, like pain pills, benzos and amphetamines. And if you ask me, cocaine and the government probably have something in common. I mean, look at the psychedelic revolution! Look what drug blocked that out.. amphetamines and cocaine.
I agree
— Nov 04, 2010
But it is no good pointing fingers. Don't fight the culture, change it. Those of us who are past the research stage must get on the educating and overcoming.
Thanks.
—ys.
The Dis-covery of Man
New zealand had an
— Nov 04, 2010
New zealand had an interesting idea about how to work with their meth problem... they realized the demand was high so they replaced meth with a legal and effective alternative that had low abuse potential and neuological problems connected to its use. They used benzylpipperzine and other like based stimulants it was very helpful, reduce meth use dramatically. The problem was members of the new zealand goverment still saw this as drug use and got rid of the program and out lawed the drug as well... meth use was renewed and became just as big of a problem as ever. This sort of drug replacement strategy had never really been tried before, and it showed to be successful. It is probably one of the best ideas any one has come up with IMHO...
I could see something like that occuring with kratom for opiate dependancy... but the problem would still be, abuse of substances and how ourt socieity relates to that. currently they are not relating to it very responsibly.
wow
— Nov 04, 2010
Thanks, that is certainly uncommon and very interesting. Looks like they only went halfway though. What addicts need is not another fix, but intensive therapy. The whole culture does...
Peace
—ys.
The Dis-covery of Man
As some one that does
— Nov 05, 2010
As some one that does intensive therapy with addicts in not certain I fully agree with you... what the addict needs prior to becoming an addict is a method of healthfully intigrating psychoative mind altering substances or practices into their lives...
Also I see that there is nothing wrong with addiction it is VERY stigmatized in our society today... if the social relationship to addiction and addictive substances changed what would things look like then? Is is the addiction that causes the problems in peoples lives or is it the prohibitive legislation and stigmatization of the addiciton?
hm
— Nov 09, 2010
What kind of therapy do you do? And what do you mean by a "method of healthfully integrating..."?
That is sort of what I'm getting at. Addressing the problems not pretending they're not there. But I wouldn't go so far as to say there's nothing wrong with addiction.
—ys.
The Dis-covery of Man
Well, not to be overly critical...but...
— Nov 05, 2010
Your idea stipulates that drugs are bad and the drug war is valid. Simply shifting emphasis to demand still perpetuates the war. Should there be a war in the first place? Knowing that it was begun to attack political enemies, and not drug addiction, how can we continue it?
Charles Shaw
Author - Exile Nation
No
— Nov 09, 2010
I can see how it may be read like that but that's not what it's saying. Shifting to the demand is not war it's research and education. What's your take?
—ys.
The Dis-covery of Man
