Making all drugs legal way to go – eventually

THE EDITOR: I commend my friend Frank Mouttet for advocating publicly that TT should follow enlightened countries like Portugal and make all drugs legal.

This is not a position that endorses the use of drugs but is simply the least worst option available to all countries. In this regard, let us look at a country that takes a real hardline view on illegal drugs and that is the Philippines.

Its murderous dictator endorses the extrajudicial killing of anyone caught using or selling illegal drugs, yet his country is still plagued with the problem.

Other slightly more tolerant nations like the US, Great Britain, and TT spend billions of largely wasted dollars seizing (maybe) ten per cent of the illegal drugs that arrive on their shores.

The irony of the matter is that all of the above countries regulate and tax the most damaging drugs of all, alcohol and tobacco, yet continue with this ultimately futile so-called war on illegal drugs.

The bottom line here is that it is simply human nature to, at some stage, put down the work tools and find whatever form of relaxation suits you, and trying to stop an individual from indulging in the poison of his choice will always provide the State with a poor return on its investment.

Even more importantly, in any civilised state when someone is being charged with a crime, there must be some clearly identifiable victim and when someone smokes a marijuana joint or ingests any other drug, there is no victim. Indeed, offending influential people’s sensibilities should never be a crime, but that is what this unbelievably ignorant war on drugs is all about.

Seriously, when these highfaluting so-called societal leaders, who know nothing about drugs, pontificate on the great damage they do to young people, I just want to scream.

Listen, what is really hurting those drugged up young people is having nothing to do. In this regard, if you had a proper programme of national service and other state mechanisms to ensure that all young people were gainfully occupied, then much of the fallout from excessive drug use would go away.

Now, unlike my friend Mouttet I would not make all drugs legal right away. First of all, you would have to put proper medical facilities in place for treating drug addicts and start ongoing anti-drug classes in every form in every school.

Let these programmes run for three to four years before decriminalising all drugs and then table comprehensive legislation regarding prohibiting the use of machinery when under the influence, along with other sensible regulations, such as prohibiting open drug use in public places.

The end result of this approach will be so much better than what obtains today, but it will never happen, because too many influential people in authority have a more than vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

GREGORY WIGHT, Maraval