OurCivicDuty.com: Drugs in America: Myths

Last Updated: Apr 23, 2007.

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Drug Myths

The public holds many myths about drugs. Some are perpetuated by pharmaceutical companies while others are disinformation spread by the "government" in a futile effort to win the War on Drugs.

Drugs are Costly to Produce

Drugs are chemicals. Some are more difficult to synthesize than others, but for the most part, chemicals are very inexpensive to produce. Most require such a small amount to work effectively that dosage is almost always measured in milligrams. Compared to other drugs, a normal dose of Aspirin is quite large at 325mgs. Other drugs are effective around the 1 to 20mg range and cost hundreds of times more per dose though they are often just as inexpensively produced. When looked at objectively, the cost of drugs is arbitrarily set at whatever the market will bear. Pharmaceutical companies justify this by claiming that the cost of finding new drugs and running the costly clinical trials required before a drug can be approved must be financed by the drugs they control the rights to now.

Drugs Laws Make sense

If we look at drug laws, we see that they are simply not logical. Alcohol and nicotine are some of the most damaging chemicals to society and one's health, yet these chemicals are legal and available at every corner story. Heroin, on the other hand, causes no health problems when used responsibly (and yes, it is possible, just don't stick yourself with a needle when you use it).

Legalization Would Harm Society

If all drugs were suddenly legalized, there would be serious problems, but these problems would not be caused so much by the drugs themselves as the general ignorance of drugs that is typical in America. Like all things that can be dangerous, drugs remain even more dangerous because of prohibition. If kids were raised in a society where drugs were legal, they would learn to respect them just as they learn to respect sharp knives in the kitchen or just as many Americans are taught to respect firearms at a very young age. Introducing a child to firearms in a responsible manner leaves the child much more likely to not do something dumb and potentially dangerous with one as he grows older. The same holds true with drugs.

One argument against legalization contends that if we all had unrestricted access to drugs, fewer people would be upstanding contributing members of society. This is simply absurd. When heroin addicts are given methadone, they are able to contribute to society instead of worrying where the money will come from for their next dose, a dose that is needed simply for them to function and not suffer from debilitating withdrawal. (And yes, withdrawal is very debilitating, and nothing to underestimate the power of. Those who have abruptly stopped taking a large dose of a benzodiazepine such as valium or xanax abruptly are the only ones who can relate. If you think you can relate because you drank coffee for a week, quit, and then got a headache, try a benzo or an opiate next time and just try quitting.)

Prohibition is Effective

If you want drugs, you can find them. Importing drugs into the United States is simply too profitable for importation to ever stop. Heroin, for instance, is produced for a few hundred dollars per kilo in Afghanistan and then sold to an importer for a few thousand. Once that kilo hits the streets of this country, the value skyrockets to hundreds of thousands. And then when one considers some of the ingenious methods importors currently utilize, such as embedding the product into cloth and plastics, it becomes clear that stopping the unflux of this drug is impossible.

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Posted by test on Wednesday, 05.30.07 @ 18:32pm | #3

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