The Drug Culture

I'm by no means a libertarian in the philosophical sense, having too much evidence available for Original Sin! On the other hand, I think the state takes far too much on itself and should leave people alone to sort out their problems rather more than it does at present. 


I have always been suspicious of the "war on drugs" as an excuse for increasingly authoritarian bossiness. So I was really rather disappointed that the Portuguese effort in decriminalisation appears not to have produced the results claimed for it.

Strange to think that a hundred years ago I could have bought drugs and firearms over the counter with no questions asked yet crime was indubitably a tiny fraction of what it is now. I suppose that people (young men, in particular), were perforce too busy scraping some sort of living rather than bored out of their skulls on social security.

The Devil finds work for idle hands and all that.


Edward Spalton

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Today's Non-Story

My brain's 'faulty' according to scientists who report they have pinpointed a source of nicotine craving in the brain.

The 'fault' leads to an uncontrollable desire to smoke says lead researcher Dr Christie Fowler, from the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, US. "If the pathway isn't functioning properly, you simply take more," she says.

According to Dr Fowler, it's all to do with genetic variation in the alpha5 nicotinic receptor subunit.

The Scripps Research Institute funding:

The Institute's $360 million operating budget includes federal funding, financial incentives from the State of Florida, licensing fees and investment income, grants from health-related research and support organizations, and gifts from private foundations, corporations, and individuals.


According to this report the research, which has only been undertaken on mice, is now to receive funding from the National Institute of Drug Abuse.  No mention of Big Pharma being involved but I suspect it is as the NIDA wants a new category of drugs to combat nicotine addiction.

I wonder if there's a subunit in the brain for food addiction. Discovering that could solve the west's obesity problem.  But I doubt if that's high on the list of priorities as there's too much money still to be made from the diet gravy train (excuse pun).

Actually, I feel rather less of a second-rate citizen because of this research. I can now explain to friends my desire to smoke is because of a 'fault' in my brain. Nobody could fail to be sympathetic could they?

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Drugs Far More Destructive Than Terrorism

Europe, Russia and Iran absorb some 80% of the drugs produced in Afghanistan which is responsible for 90% of the global heroin output.

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan has bred unprecedentedly favourable conditions for the country's drug business which is presently flourishing in the NATO-controlled oasis. While the Taliban banned opium cultivation, the Western coalition brought unchecked freedom to Afghanistan, the result being that that opium production in the country has grown more than 40 times over since 2001.

To justify this, the US claims that for the Afghan farmers poppy cultivation is the only way to make a living.

Currently Afghanistan supplies twice the amount of drugs the whole world produced a decade ago. Most of the cultivation takes place in the Kandahar and Helmand provinces. In 2010, Afghanistan also became a leading producer of hashish - with this year's crop totalling some 3,000 tons. It's easy to guest where the drugs will land as the shortest supply routes run north, via Central Asia to Russia.

At most 8% of the drug business revenues settle down in Afghanistan and the Afghan farmers receive around $200 each annually.

Very recently reports have been publicised which mention the discoveries of minerals in the country. That is for another post, but do consider this - the drug gangs make fortunes selling heroin and hashish with little physical effort. Would these same people be prepared to work in the mining industry, where the work is physically hard, discipline is essential and the financial rewards may never compare with those achieved in the drug trade?

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Scotland's Methadone Prescribing - Worst in Europe

I've never been an illegal drug user, not even to experiment, but I do take drugs. My drug of choice is legal, I have to pay for it and because it's expensive that does control my intake. My drug is nicotine. I'm not in the least proud that I use this drug and I struggle endlessly to finish the habit. One reason I started blogging was to take my mind off the 'need' for a cigarette.

The NHS in Scotland has a methadone problem which is spiralling out of control. We know vast sums of money is ploughed into this problem, we know there are programmes which have proved successful, but still there is no improvement. The Sunday Post has discovered at least twice as many methadone users, per head of the population, in Scotland than in any other European country.

Hundreds of addicts have been on methadone for more than a decade even though experts advise a maximum of two years.

Almost 10,000 state funded methadone prescriptions, costing taxpayers £320,000, are issued by chemists every single week.

The number of people dependent on the highly addictive drug has soared by a third in 5 years.

The probe also revealed that a third of those prescribed methadone are continuing their heroin habit, increasing their risk of overdose.

I've never understood why a highly addictive drug is used to wean users off heroin. That's rather like me changing to menthol cigarettes thinking I'll be able to stop smoking altogether within a short time. I know that's just nonsense and I would, more likely than not, become addicted to the menthol cigarettes.

David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum said "Methadone has helped people escape street crime and stabilise their lives and also played a part in reducing HIV in the 1980."

I'm quite sure he is correct, but surely he recognises those who receive methadone and continue to have a heroin habit, have to find the money somehow. There doesn't seem much point in suggesting users are charged for methadone because many will not have the money. Doctors who prescribe long term methadone start to feed a habit rather than starve it, but GPs say there are no support services available, so they continue to supply their patients. This is all part of a horrible vicious circle which is exceedingly hard to break.

Perhaps the prescribing of methadone should be taken out of individual GPs' hands and centralised. Its distribution would then be much more tightly controlled and addicts may ask for help more quickly rather than languishing in the chemical world of methadone.

The tried and tested programmes are expensive but, in the long term, it would be worth while spending money on these rather than endless doses of methadone. Leaving addicts on this drug is creating a larger drug addictive class in society and the longer we allow it to survive and thrive, the harder it will be to resolve.

Just look at how today's 'benefit culture' developed for proof, if proof is needed.

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