America and Drugs, Some Facts and Thoughts

For more than 40 years, going back to Nixon, America has been fighting a so called War on Drugs, and losing. We have spent an amazing amount of money on law enforcement and treatment centers and we have a bigger problem that ever. One would think that one of our leaders would say, "Hey, we need a new approach," but, alas, no. Instead, they wring their hands and bemoan the problem and promise action and then continue doing the same things. Such madness must stop.

I am going to write a series on drugs and try to tell you folks the truth about them. You see, much of what we have been taught about these chemicals is nonsense. I am not anti-drug, but I am against ridiculously harmful drugs and I am against the mis-use of any drug. I have a bit, well okay, a lot of experience with these various substances, some personal and some from dealing with the problems of my friends and families.

First. let's be honest. We all, with only a very few exceptions, use drugs. Just today, I have consumed nicotine, caffeine, naproxen, pseudoephedrine, and soon will have a little alcohol, and trust me, many, many folks will have similar patterns of consumption and we would not be considered to be drug users by most people because we do not consume illegal drugs. Yet, if I upped my consumption of those chemicals by just a little bit, I could catch a fairly good buzz. We all use drugs, we just have to use them wisely and we cannot do that until we learn about them.

Over the next few posts, I will cover, depressants, stimulants, inhalants, delirients, tranquilizers, opiates, and hallucinogens. I will also touch on drugs used by psychiatrists and give special attention to two drugs that are hard to classify, alcohol and marijuana.

I hope you will read this series because it is important that we develop a realistic approach to drug use. These chemicals should not be irrationally feared nor should they be taken haphazardly and, of course, many of them should never be touched. One thing for sure, what we are doing is not working.