Part of a Nutritious Breakfast, page 2.
A bit of a personal story to further my questions on this matter: The first time I ever tried a drug, was when I was 18. It was morphine, a substance that shares some slightly common traits with heroin. I had it injected into me, in a hospital, after I'd had my apendix taken out of me.
Now, I used to be one of those people who had a big ugly fear of needles. I could never understand people who shot H, I'd turn away and squirm in my seat when folks did it in movies. Just the shot of a thin sliver of metal getting pushed under skin... Not a happy thought. How people could have their lives absorbed by something that seemed so ugly was beyond me.
A handful of morphine shots into my arm and ass later, and I had a slightly different take on things. I suddenly understood how a person could push a dirty needle into the soft red skin around their eyes. I understood their rational, their reasoning. And the reasoning was that... it felt fucking great. Teaches you a lot about judging a person or a substance before walking that path yourself for a bit. Well, it taught me a bit anyway. Last time I checked, there were still plenty of good clean folks who'd never so much as burnt a stick of incense who were ready to condone all drug use. Which is a great idea; nothing like total fucking ignorance to give a person a really good idea as to where to stand on an issue. You can read all the doctors reports in the world. Keep your fucking mouth shut until you're a bit more willing to put your money in its place, I say.
The day before I left the hospital, a nurse came in. She asked me, "Would you like some Tylenol 3s, or another shot of morphine?" Shit baby, give me the shit that I can't just buy at the drug store. Give me the shit that's going fuck my head right up, and lift me a level or two out of my physical form. Forget drinking a beer or smoking a joint, stick that fucking needle into whatever part of my body can take it, and leave it their for a while.
Nice story, huh? But, the fact remains: It doesn't seem right to have our rules and laws about drugs dictated by people who don't know what they do. Give me a doctor who's tried cocaine under a series of careful tests, not just some rich bitch who just doesn't like the way poor people smell.
Is there a war on drugs, or a war on the right to choose what's right and wrong for yourself? And are we, as a society and as individuals, even ready for such a right? That's not really for me to say, I can't speak for you or anyone else who isn't me.
And maybe nobody else really should be, either.