Ghost of a flea

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity

Conventional wisdom on the relative dangers of different drugs was challenged by British documentary series, Horizon under the catchy title "Britain's most dangerous drug". A list of twenty substances was compared using three metrics: what it does to the person. who takes it, how addictive it is and finally the consequences of its use to society. I am delighted to say I have never heard of Vitamin R, Flatliner or Subbies; my slide into pop senescence is underway! It is an interesting exercise but, given the claimed 40% of tobacco users who supposedly die from its use I cannot see why it is not at the top of the list.*

Then again, alcohol was my guess for No. 1. I am with William Burroughs on the subject of heroin.** From what I can gather, the substance has two side effects, viz addiction and constipation. Otherwise the risk is down to accidental overdose. This is a personal tragedy, of course, but hardly worth the marginal deterrence offered by the law in exchange for entire strata of society dedicated to street robbery, burglary and prostitution. The illicit trade also finances - to point to only two examples among many - the Taliban and the Burmese military junta. When the law is constructed so as to bring about so much misery, and enrich so many of the enemy, one is tempted to conclude there is an ulterior motive. Justifying ever more intrusive government intervention on the part of police and public health agencies leaps to mind; time to apply Heinlein's Razor.

I am in love with the LSD orange girl about 15 minutes in, btw.

* Though the most dangerous drugs are, of course, not pharmacological but memetic; a suicide cult will kill you faster - and do more harm to society - than any drug on that list.
** Related: The Last Words of Hassan Sabbah.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 21, 2008 06:07 AM