Well it seems fairly official (again) – Cannabis is hailed as a “wonder drug” by people involved in government sponsored research into the claims of the medicinal uses of Cannabis.http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/nov/04/drugsandalcohol.politics  Every piece of credible research done over the last 40 years has shown much the same. Sometimes this has been countered by claims of mental ill health but (hopefully) this has been put to bed amongst the rational by the Keele Study.http://ukcia.org/wordpress/?p=76

So the ‘time to change’ lobby has yet another piece of evidence to support the view that our current system doesn’t work and is expensive to boot. This bit seems to be stating that some drug use might actually do some good.

It comes as no real surprise to us here at SAdAS. What really does amaze us are 2 things

1. How long does it take for us (professionals and politicos and non drug users) to listen – people have been saying this for years. Other (even less permissive) societies such as some 16 states in the US have realised that their people are entitled to some relief from their ailments, and have gone down the licensed route to allow access to this drug. This produces the somewhat farcical (and expensive?) situation whereby we have seen the establishment of a quasi medical cabal who govern and administer the distribution of the drug to individuals.

2. The reluctance to generalise. Currently we have a government who very sensibly refuses to legislate about everything under the sun. They do not believe, they state, that law produces very effective cultural shift and believe more in nudge theory which relies on gently changing behaviour through tax, downplaying and education – witness the changes with regard to alcohol and tobacco. Now however effective or not these actions are, the principle that personal choice, health, cultural behaviour and norms, are things that should be legally controlled very minimally, if at all, seems to me to be eminently reasonable and produce good government. So why doesn’t this generalise to drugs and their legal constraints. In previous blogs I have written so much about the damage that the legal framework produces and the cost to individuals and society – suffice it to say I can’t really see any logical explanation for the continued illegality of drugs and their use – that it’s about time the same rationale is applied to them.

Equally we are incredibly reluctant to generalise about the drugs themselves. If cannabis has a medicinal value why are we so reluctant to even consider that other drugs do too. If I have a physical ailment we postpone our incredulity – I can get morphine derivatives for my broken leg or my baby delivery – but heaven help me if I use it to treat my memories of rape and abuse so I can sleep without the dreams. If I do this I am a criminal and should be locked up (where my drug need provokes all sorts of undesirable behaviour). So physical pain is ok and psychological pain results in condemnation. Imagine, just for a moment, you suddenly lose your nearest and dearest – wouldn’t you rather have a broken leg?

If I am incredibly shy and withdrawn and have been called useless all my life then is at any wonder that after my first experience of cocaine the confidence it produces prompts me to obtain more asap. If I am considered weird and loony then to disassociate from the whole damn world is a reasonable option to take and I may well find the K very more-ish. The point is that for most of us what is an interesting experience for some damaged, hurt and alienated people is much more powerful. 

Our position is clear – people use drugs at a dependent level because they are trying to deal with the trauma they have experienced – neglect, abuse, violence and fear usually. They need the relief that their drug use allows them for a period in their lives while they are processing this pain and coming to terms with it – then they need help to deal with the resultant dependencies and behaviours at an appropriate time – which is usually between 30 and 40 yrs old. They only do this when they are ready and it is on a scale of pointless to moderately helpful, to try to influence this.

As a colleague once said to me 30 years ago – “we help people to stay alive long enough for them to sort themselves out”.