With the recent legalization of marijuana for personal use in Colorado, and the continued debate as to whether or not we should simply legalize all drugs I've decided to rant a little bit about drugs in America.
I am going to be including alcohol as a drug in this discussion because of it's affect on people's physiology and it's affects on society.
America has a drug problem. But the drugs aren't necessarily the problem. They are the attempt at solving what I feel the underlying problem is, and that is the constant pursuit of pleasure. Somewhere along the line, perhaps with the line "pursuit of happiness" Americans have a belief that life is meaningless without achieving pleasure. And maybe this extends into other societies as well. The pursuit of pleasure has led us to prioritize pleasure as the most important thing to us. If one is not happy, then something is wrong and/or missing in life. If one has pain, then something is wrong with the body. So we seek solutions to alleviate the unhappiness and/or pain. Somewhere along the lines, in both society and the medical field we've quit addressing the deficiencies that are the root cause of our pain or unhappiness, and we have masked them with drugs.
Now I am not a naturalist. I don't believe rubbing yellow dandelion root on your genital herpes will make them go away. Drugs can and do serve a critical role in aiding recovery, allowing us to perform dangerous surgeries, keep people alive in traumatic situations, etc.... However, it's the dependency on drugs where we fail. Smoking pot, drinking alcohol, or doing any recreational drug does not serve any other purpose than pleasure, or masking pain. Neither of them actually fix anything. Much like our pharmaceutical drugs may alleviate symptoms, they rarely fix the root problem. The root problem for America, IMO, is the pursuit of pleasure. And when that fails; when we are sad, angry, scared, lonely etc.... we turn to drugs. So pleasure is attained, but the root problem isn't fixed. Then we see beer commercials with beautiful women and average guys having a great time, subliminally telling us that drinking beer will make us happy. And perhaps it does, for a time. Marijuana proponents claim all sorts of wonderous reliefs from ailments. But while it may mask the symptoms, marijuana cures nothing. Legalizing marijuana will not solve any real problems, except a few beat officers won't have to bring in some kid with an ounce on him. It won't balance any budgets. What drug that is currently taxed and regulated has ever balanced a budget?
Until we get to the point that drugs are looked at as an adjunct to rehabilitation, rather than a solution for our deficiencies in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we will likely continued to be a nation of people seeking the easy way out of everything uncomfortable in life. What little character we have left as a nation will go up in smoke.
I am going to be including alcohol as a drug in this discussion because of it's affect on people's physiology and it's affects on society.
America has a drug problem. But the drugs aren't necessarily the problem. They are the attempt at solving what I feel the underlying problem is, and that is the constant pursuit of pleasure. Somewhere along the line, perhaps with the line "pursuit of happiness" Americans have a belief that life is meaningless without achieving pleasure. And maybe this extends into other societies as well. The pursuit of pleasure has led us to prioritize pleasure as the most important thing to us. If one is not happy, then something is wrong and/or missing in life. If one has pain, then something is wrong with the body. So we seek solutions to alleviate the unhappiness and/or pain. Somewhere along the lines, in both society and the medical field we've quit addressing the deficiencies that are the root cause of our pain or unhappiness, and we have masked them with drugs.
Now I am not a naturalist. I don't believe rubbing yellow dandelion root on your genital herpes will make them go away. Drugs can and do serve a critical role in aiding recovery, allowing us to perform dangerous surgeries, keep people alive in traumatic situations, etc.... However, it's the dependency on drugs where we fail. Smoking pot, drinking alcohol, or doing any recreational drug does not serve any other purpose than pleasure, or masking pain. Neither of them actually fix anything. Much like our pharmaceutical drugs may alleviate symptoms, they rarely fix the root problem. The root problem for America, IMO, is the pursuit of pleasure. And when that fails; when we are sad, angry, scared, lonely etc.... we turn to drugs. So pleasure is attained, but the root problem isn't fixed. Then we see beer commercials with beautiful women and average guys having a great time, subliminally telling us that drinking beer will make us happy. And perhaps it does, for a time. Marijuana proponents claim all sorts of wonderous reliefs from ailments. But while it may mask the symptoms, marijuana cures nothing. Legalizing marijuana will not solve any real problems, except a few beat officers won't have to bring in some kid with an ounce on him. It won't balance any budgets. What drug that is currently taxed and regulated has ever balanced a budget?
Until we get to the point that drugs are looked at as an adjunct to rehabilitation, rather than a solution for our deficiencies in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we will likely continued to be a nation of people seeking the easy way out of everything uncomfortable in life. What little character we have left as a nation will go up in smoke.
