Sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll

By means of Bert Hetebry

If you want to hang out, you gotta bring her, cocaine

If you want to lie on the ground, cocaine

She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie,

Cocaine.

Cocaine (JJ Cale. 1976)

Children are different these days, I hear every mother say

Mom needs something to calm her down today

And although she’s not really sick, there’s a little yellow pill,

She runs to the hiding place of her mother’s little helper

And it helps her on her way, helps her through her busy day.

Mother’s Little Helper (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards. 1965)

Let me run with you tonight

I’ll take you for a moonlight ride

There’s someone I used to see

But she doesn’t care

But let me get to the point, let’s roll another joint

And turn up the radio, I’m too alone to be proud

And you don’t know how it feels

You don’t know what it feels like to be me.

You don’t know how it feels (Tom Petty, 1994)

Only a few songs about illegal drugs. The October 2015 issue of Rolling Stone magazine noted 20 Amazing Numbing Love Songs. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll seem inextricably linked, according to Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1977. But the attraction is much greater than for people who like sex and rock ‘n’ roll.

The history of drugs is long and interesting. It goes back to ancient times, when indigenous peoples were aware of the therapeutic and hallucinogenic effects of the plants in their region. There were also cannabis plantations of sultans in bloom, where slaves ran naked through to collect the sap from the flower heads. Today, there is a huge illegal drug trade with criminal gangs and international associations running this very lucrative business.

Aside from the apparent mountains of illegal drugs seized by federal law enforcement, drugs remain readily available to anyone who wants (or needs) them, and the quality of the drugs sold is so variable that overdoses are common, even among hardened addicts, so much so that there have been calls to make the overdose medication naloxone freely available, without a prescription, for those who have unknowingly taken a tainted drug. It seems that despite the billions of dollars in drugs being seized, the demand is still being met, so it seems that the occasional loss of a ton or so of uncut drugs is an acceptable loss; the amount that slips through must be profitable enough to offset those losses. The headlines announcing a drug seizure will include an estimate of the street value of the seized drugs, but not what the value of the loss is to the criminal enterprise bringing them in. I shudder to think of what the storage might be.

According to the article in today’s Guardian, more than a million people in Australia have used cocaine in the past year, that’s about 4% of the population, in addition about 400,000 people have used ecstasy. It seems we have a problem that the current laws and system cannot control.

In addition to the illegal drug trade, there is a thriving legal drug economy, and I don’t count prescription drugs in that. Alcohol sales continue to grow, beer labels and boutique breweries have turned beer drinking into a taste experiment, with so many different flavors it’s a bit like a candy store experiment for kids. There also seems to be a growing trend to knock back drinks as a competition. See how many shots can be downed between beers.

A recent trip through the wine regions of the Southwest US showed that you can go from wine tasting to wine tasting and get very excited about the free tastings as you drive from winery to winery.

In addition, there is the legal and increasingly illegal trade in tobacco products and e-cigarettes.

It seems that we can’t enjoy ourselves enough without the high that drugs can give us. Furthermore, there are plenty of people willing to risk long prison sentences to meet the insatiable demand.

No population group is immune to the addictive pleasure that drugs provide. Money or lack of money is no barrier, the difference can lie in the drug of choice. For example, cocaine is the choice for those with some extra money, alcohol is ubiquitous and freely available, and marijuana is also easily available.

The problem is that when a politician is seen looking ‘unwell’ on a Canberra pavement, it makes headlines for a moment and is quickly buried. The jokes about former prime ministers asking for a nauseous bag on a Melbourne to Canberra flight before the plane has even taken off, or walking around a hotel without pants on, or otherwise a senior politician looking a little too full for his own good, are just fodder for the mill. That’s just what people do, isn’t it?

But when a politician or a candidate running, as here in the West, is known to be a cocaine user, yet is the favorite to win the seat he is running for and ostensibly seeks a leadership role in the party that supports him, then we have a politician who is advocating criminality and supporting the criminal network that supplies our communities with illegal drugs.

Enough complaining, Bert. Are you going to offer solutions now or just point out the unsolvable problems?

Okay, what can we do about it?

Here too, history can be a teacher.

The Prohibition Era in the US failed miserably to control alcohol consumption. For thirteen years, while alcohol was made illegal, criminal gangs thrived. The quality of alcohol varied and so did the health effects on the drinking population. But criminals made a lot of money. To combat the criminal activity of dealing a drug that was legal, the FBI was created. At the end of Prohibition, instead of being disbanded, the FBI was put in charge of policing other, newly criminalized substances, including cocaine and marijuana. Coca Cola was forced to change the formula they had been using for their popular soft drink, removing the “coke” and replacing it with even more sugar.

Could legalizing currently illegal drugs work? And what benefits could come from legalization?

If we look at the controls on tobacco and alcohol, we see that distribution is through licensed operators, the quality of the product sold is controlled and clearly stated on the packaging, and sales tax is collected to help pay for the ongoing health problems caused by the addictions. The closest we get to the criminals who run these businesses are the executives of large corporations who are only too eager to appear as legitimate businessmen, respectable members of the upper echelons of our society. And they pay taxes, albeit the bare minimum they can get away with while they pay thousands to clever accountants who help write the tax laws to file their tax returns.

In Portugal, the government has decriminalized drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamine, and at first it seemed to work. HIV rates dropped because needles were less likely to be reused for injections. Now, however, there is a backlash because theft and burglary are on the rise. The problem is that the distribution of the drugs has remained in the hands of criminal gangs, street vendors and “speakeasy”-style drug dens.

The same goes for Amsterdam, where marijuana has been decriminalized for consumption in coffee shops since 1976 and that has been extended to the rest of the country. In addition, there are strict controls on cultivation, testing and distribution, and on the labeling of the amount of THC in the product sold. Possession for consumers is limited to 5 grams.

The objections in recent years have been that Amsterdam has become a tourist destination for “pot heads,” but overall the plan has been successful in controlling the distribution, quality and sale of marijuana. The laws have not changed for other drugs.

The legalization of medical marijuana is increasing worldwide and with that comes control over quality and distribution. However, it does not address the recreational market and limits legalization to just one drug, while the market is much broader.

It will be interesting to see if the politician I was talking about, if he gets the position he is seeking, has the courage to change the law and decriminalize his alleged addiction.

(Personal note: The only medication I take is a statin or placebo for a controlled medical trial conducted by a university. I do not smoke, drink alcohol, or use other drugs, except for a daily dose of coffee.)

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