6 August 1998 Edition
Drug debate must look at all issues
By Michael Pierse
For the last number of months the London-based Independent on Sunday newspaper has been running a high-profile campaign for the legalisation of cannabis. They have organised marches, a celebrity petition, public debates, medical viewpoints and investigated the ``drug war'' to back up their arguments. And what has been surprising is the lack of screaming opposition to their campaign.
Here, even a mere broaching of the subject of cannabis legalisation often provokes a severe rebuttal from many anti-drugs activists in the Dublin area. ``But that money goes to scumbags!...loyalists are profiteering from the sale of hash...where did ya get an idea like that from?'', are amongst the comments that are often followed by a knee-jerk refusal to discuss the subject. But, interestingly, the Independent on Sunday uses these very reasons to argue in favour of legalisation.
Think of the money any government could make from the legalisation of the drug, which according to many is less objectionable than alcohol, they argue. If, for example, the liability of seizures and the massive wages many dealers receive were eliminated from the hashish industry, and the government were to take control of production and sale, then would this not cut out the criminals who currently run the business and simultaneously create well needed revenue to fight the real scourge of heroin? Certainly, that is highly controversial but there is a need for debate on the subject.
Gardaí have used the excuse of cannabis seizures to cloud their utter incompetence with regard to the lucrative heroin trade. Massive hash seizures have been used by the force as a propaganda coup - proving their success in the fight against drugs - but is it a drug worth fighting against when it is heroin that is the deadly killer in our communities?
There is also a class angle to this issue. The drugs crisis existed for a long time, but had been ignored as it had only affected working class areas. Then, with the arrival of ecstacy, a drug well used by the middle classes, it was suddenly a `real' problem, and so it and hash received newfound attention.
Primarily, the real problem has always been heroin. According to statistics, at least 15% of young people in Dublin's north inner city are addicted to heroin - a statistic higher than that in the notorious Bronx in New York. Young people die regularly, often relatively unnoticed, from the abuse of the drug in the area, yet if one middle class child dies of ecstasy abuse it reaches the front page of daily newspapers, operating on a clearly elitist agenda. Such is their irreverence for human life in the lower scales of Dublin's well defined financial classes.
Some might say that cannabis is a `gateway' to further drug abuse. However, it has been argued that this is merely because the drug introduces young people to illegal abuse of substances. It engenders in them that sense of danger always associated with drug abuse and so the progression to other narcotics is no longer so disturbing. This explanation merely re-inforces the argument that cannabis should be legalised, thus eliminating the `danger' element and making the use of the drug socially acceptable - like alcohol.
If we are to solve Ireland's ever growing drug abuse problem then creativity, imagination and open-mindedness will be required. For many young people the legalisation of cannabis would be a progression towards more effective and innovative anti-drugs initiatives, to others the very idea makes their blood boil. But one thing is certain, a thorough examination of the possibilities surrounding the issue would harm no one and as republicans it is our duty to be progressive and revolutionary in all of our thinking. Confronting accepted ideas with a new analysis can often be extremely beneficial.
For the last number of months the London-based Independent on Sunday newspaper has been running a high-profile campaign for the legalisation of cannabis. They have organised marches, a celebrity petition, public debates, medical viewpoints and investigated the ``drug war'' to back up their arguments. And what has been surprising is the lack of screaming opposition to their campaign.
Here, even a mere broaching of the subject of cannabis legalisation often provokes a severe rebuttal from many anti-drugs activists in the Dublin area. ``But that money goes to scumbags!...loyalists are profiteering from the sale of hash...where did ya get an idea like that from?'', are amongst the comments that are often followed by a knee-jerk refusal to discuss the subject. But, interestingly, the Independent on Sunday uses these very reasons to argue in favour of legalisation.
Think of the money any government could make from the legalisation of the drug, which according to many is less objectionable than alcohol, they argue. If, for example, the liability of seizures and the massive wages many dealers receive were eliminated from the hashish industry, and the government were to take control of production and sale, then would this not cut out the criminals who currently run the business and simultaneously create well needed revenue to fight the real scourge of heroin? Certainly, that is highly controversial but there is a need for debate on the subject.
Gardaí have used the excuse of cannabis seizures to cloud their utter incompetence with regard to the lucrative heroin trade. Massive hash seizures have been used by the force as a propaganda coup - proving their success in the fight against drugs - but is it a drug worth fighting against when it is heroin that is the deadly killer in our communities?
There is also a class angle to this issue. The drugs crisis existed for a long time, but had been ignored as it had only affected working class areas. Then, with the arrival of ecstacy, a drug well used by the middle classes, it was suddenly a `real' problem, and so it and hash received newfound attention.
Primarily, the real problem has always been heroin. According to statistics, at least 15% of young people in Dublin's north inner city are addicted to heroin - a statistic higher than that in the notorious Bronx in New York. Young people die regularly, often relatively unnoticed, from the abuse of the drug in the area, yet if one middle class child dies of ecstasy abuse it reaches the front page of daily newspapers, operating on a clearly elitist agenda. Such is their irreverence for human life in the lower scales of Dublin's well defined financial classes.
Some might say that cannabis is a `gateway' to further drug abuse. However, it has been argued that this is merely because the drug introduces young people to illegal abuse of substances. It engenders in them that sense of danger always associated with drug abuse and so the progression to other narcotics is no longer so disturbing. This explanation merely re-inforces the argument that cannabis should be legalised, thus eliminating the `danger' element and making the use of the drug socially acceptable - like alcohol.
If we are to solve Ireland's ever growing drug abuse problem then creativity, imagination and open-mindedness will be required. For many young people the legalisation of cannabis would be a progression towards more effective and innovative anti-drugs initiatives, to others the very idea makes their blood boil. But one thing is certain, a thorough examination of the possibilities surrounding the issue would harm no one and as republicans it is our duty to be progressive and revolutionary in all of our thinking. Confronting accepted ideas with a new analysis can often be extremely beneficial.