The Pleasure Principle

[Guest guest]

Someone recently posted about the idea of moderate substance use for

pleasure, and how wrong it is to lump together all use of any kind with " abuse " ,

" addiction " , and " disease " . Well I saw the following British article elsewhere,

and thought it would be of interest on this topic. The title and first sentence

are silly and sensationalistic, but the rest is interesting reading.

~Rita

Pubdate: Sun, 25 Mar 2001

Source: Observer, The (UK)

Copyright: 2001 The Observer

Contact: letters@...

Address: 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER, United Kingdom Fax: 0171 713

4250/4286 Website: http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/

Author: Browne

HEROIN IS SAFE AND FUN, SAYS SHOCK BBC SHOW

Taking cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and even heroin is not dangerous but extremely

enjoyable, according to a controversial BBC television programme to be shown

this week. Smoking a cannabis joint is as relaxing as drinking a glass of wine,

while many people find taking ecstasy the most pleasurable experience of their

lives. Injecting a modest dose of heroin can make mundane but essential

household chores enjoyable, drug users say on Chemical Britannia.

In dozens of interviews the users explain why the popularity of drugs is

escalating, despite the overwhelmingly negative message in schools, the media

and from government.

The number of illegal drug-takers in Britain has risen from around a million in

the Sixties to three million in the Eighties, and to around 10 million now. Some

surveys suggest that the majority of people under the age of 40 have taken

illegal drugs at some point.

Debbie Christie, the executive producer, who used drugs in the past, said: 'It's

an issue that needs airing. It's a responsible piece of television showing why

people take drugs - which is because they like them, not because they are pushed

them.'

The presenter, Mat Southwell, is a former NHS employee who says he has taken

ecstasy for 12 years, and still does so regularly. He enjoys drugs and argues

they should be legalised.

'Most people take drugs because they want to relax and feel good, much in the

same way they might have a drink at the weekend. But while alcohol is socially

acceptable, people are being put in prison for the chemical equivalent of buying

a round of drinks,' Southwell said.

One user on the programme explains: 'Heroin is my drug of choice over alcohol or

cocaine. I take it at weekends in small doses, and do the gardening.'

A regular ecstasy user says: 'Ecstasy is one of the nicest things I have ever

tried. I know it is a positive force.' Another said: 'You can form great

friendships with someone you have never met before. I am in control of what I

have - I don't take it habitually every weekend.'

However, the programme was lambasted as irresponsible by Griffith, chief

executive of the group Drug Abuse Resistance Education, which works in 500

schools to warn children of the dangers of drugs.

He said: 'It's very disturbing that any programme is produced in such a way that

it makes people think there are benefits to taking drugs that may harm them in

the long run. It makes our work harder in making young people realise that most

people don't get involved in drugs.'

But producer Christie denied it would encourage people to take up drugs: 'It

would be remarkable if one programme changed the numbers of people taking

drugs.'

In the UK, all drugs were legal, and used routinely across society, until 1860.

The former Prime Minister Gladstone and Florence Nightingale used opium,

while Queen used cannabis. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a graphic

description of Sherlock Holmes injecting drugs with a syringe as a normal way of

relaxing.

However, the temperance movement succeeded in getting drugs progressively banned

until all but alcohol and tobacco were made illegal early in the last century.

The US went further, banning alcohol during prohibition, until it was forced to

abandon the policy as unworkable.

The show's presenter argues that banned drugs should be made legal again. 'As a

drug user I am sick of having my life attacked and being forced outside the law.

It's time to turn the spotlight on the politicians who, despite all the

evidence, refuse to accept that the war on drugs has failed and, in fact, has

done more harm than good,' Southwell said.

When cocaine was criminalised, global production was about 10 tonnes a year, but

it has since swelled to 700 tonnes a year. Illegal drugs now account for eight

per cent of global trade, making it one of the three largest businesses in the

world - with oil and the arms trade.

Southwell claims that if the banned drugs were legalised and regulated, the

quality and distribution could be controlled, and a large percentage of the

revenue could be spent offering realistic and effective education to young

people about drugs. Legalisation could also make them less dangerous, by

allowing people to seek medical help for any side effects. For example cocaine

users who find that their noses are being burnt by the powder could be given

'nasal douches'.

Southwell insists this is a simple matter of human rights: 'The principle of

individual freedom linked to social responsibility lies at the heart of our

democracy. As an adult and responsible member of society I absolutely assert my

right to take any mind-altering substance, be that ecstasy, alcohol, heroin,

tobacco or cannabis. No one, least of all the state, has the right to tell me

otherwise.'

* Chemical Britannia is on BBC2 on Wednesday at 11.20pm

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