How can we win? The
first thing we need to do is start using a little
different language when it comes to our fight with the current governmental status of "drugs."
The use of the word "drugs" is pretty loaded. Let's face
it, the public has been effectively (although patchy and
somewhat faltering) brainwashed that drugs are "evil,
wicked, mean and nasty." We need to use different terms.
Like when I am discussing the entheogens that we use for
spiritual reasons I call them "sacraments." In a
population where 90% believe in a Deity and 80% that
considers themselves to be religious and 70% that pray
at least occasionally, who would be opposed to someone
taking the sacraments? Tell the Catholics they can't
have their wine and wafers and see what war that would
begin. This is a little harder to do with things like
cocaine, speeds, heroine, and the other various
chemicals that definitely not only have stigmas
surrounding them but definite medical and social
problems surrounding them as well. While it would not
really hurt my feelings if these were not re-legalized
the simple fact is prohibition does not work and the
fact they have been criminalized is currently leading to
horrific crime and the underground that goes along with
the black-market. Why not refer to these as OTC
medications? All of them do have a legitimate usage --
speeds do help those with allergies, asthma, ADHD/ADD
and people driving to vacation spots, heroine helps
those in chronic pain where morphine tolerance it too
high as with cancer patients (the government is actually using
it some now) and the other chemicals do have medical
uses-- but the key with these is the same key to OTC
medications: they are for use not abuse. As a general
rule OTC medications are not abused. The same would be
true if all the non-entheogenic chemicals were
re-legalized -- at least abuse would drop but there are
always people who will abuse things. I hear of people
taking way to many vitamins and laxatives which is abuse
and causes just as much damage as the criminalized
non-entheogenic chemicals (OTC medications). The second
thing is that "drugs" have been legal for thousands of
years. It has only been the last 90 years that cocaine,
heroine (& opium) and 35 that the others have been
made illegal to secure political power against the
movements in the 60's. This needs to be brought out very
clearly. We need everything re-legalized, not
decriminalized or legalized -- we want them
re-legalized. It might not seem like a big difference
when reading this, but psychologically it makes a huge
impact in the thinking models people use. It also
demonstrates that they were legal until the recent past
and reminds people that all their illegality has done is
take away our freedom and create the current situation.
Forgive me for this little rant, but I truly believe that
much of what is causing our "side" problems with our
movement is the language we are using. If "they" define
the language they will always win. Language is the heart
of communication and thought. If we re-define everything
with language that suits "our" side of this war then we
will have won one of the hardest battles. From that
point on, we will begin dominating the thought/thinking
and communication that surrounds the subject. We will
also be free of the limitations that the brainwashing of
the past 35 (to 90) years has instilled -- people are
against drugs, not sacraments or OTC medications. People
are against crime and the black-market, which surrounds
drugs, not medications and sacraments which needs to be
something that is brought up constantly -- without drugs
there is much less of a black-market. If anything, money,
power and privilege are drugs and I agree that we should
all "just say no" and make the actual drugs illegal.
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