Eeek! Run for the hills (or from them, I suppose)! It’s the evil scourge drug of the decade! One hit will turn you into a predatory raving zombie! There’s no escaping it’s clutches! It’s the evil threat to civilized society we call…
Heroin!
Oh, wait, I was reading my collection of 1970’s media clippings. I meant…
Crack!
Whoops, got mixed up in my 1980’s media clippings. I meant…
Ecstasy!
Dang it, how did the 1990’s clippings get in there? I meant…
Meth!
There we go.
Look folks, calm the flock down. Yes, meth is awful. But the media would have you believe that it’s the dread arrival of Satan himself. Like any other hard drug, there are those like Miss Meth here who get seriously addicted and cause terrible societal harm. And for every one of her there are a majority of users who do not.
The biggest harms of meth come from its prohibition, which leads the drug underground, with no controls for safety or purity, with absurd profit motives for dealing and home labs, with violence to solve disputes, and with users stuck in the closet. Meth wasn’t this much of a problem when it was legally dispensed as “uppers” back in the 50’s and 60’s. We give it to our military pilots for alertness on lengthy missions. I’d rather have the truck driver awake on speed than falling asleep at the wheel. I’d rather have doctors and pharmacies controlling the drug than biker gangs and home labs.
There always has to be some scourge drug epidemic to keep the ridiculous War On (Certain Amrican Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs afloat.
I know of which I speak. You can overcome a meth addiction and it doesn’t always destroy your life.
Wanna seriously combat meth? Legalize marijuana. Milton Friedman and 500 economists have signed on to a study showing that pot decrim would reap $14 BILLION in savings and taxation revenue.
(Of course, that’s another reason why there must be a scourge drug of the decade; so the drug warriors have something truly awful to conflate with the benign herb.)
