the truth“Virtually ever ‘fact’ testified to under oath by the medical and criminological experts in 1924…was unsupported by any sound evidence,” says Professor Arnold Trebach, specialist in illegal drugs.“We cannot find any medical research from any source which will support the international governmental contention that heroin harms the body or the mind of its users,” concluded a recent Guardian \ Channel 4 investigation into heroin. “Nor can we find any trace of our government or the American government or any other ever presenting or referring to any credible version of any such research. On the contrary, all of the available research agrees that, so far as harm is concerned, heroin is likely to cause some nausea and possibly severe constipation and that is all.”Heroin generally does not cause malnutrition, moral-collapse, or sickness. Death by overdose is possible but not that common, thanks to the wide safety margin between a therapeutic and a lethal dose.One thing causes heroin related illnesses, crime and death: the black marketthe black marketHeroin only becomes dangerous when it is made illegal. “There is no drug known to man which becomes safer when its production and distribution are handed over to criminals” says Professor Norman Zinberg who led a study into drug addiction at Harvard Medical School.Criminals dilute the purity of heroin, cutting it with baby milk powder, starch, curry powder. Adulterants injected into the veins of users cause sores, septicaemia, blood clots, and gangrene. Dirty needles add collapsed arteries, hepatitis C, and HIV to the mix. Overdose is a real threat to street users who deal with fluctuating heroin quality, varying wildly between 20% and 90% pure. Black market prices force addicts to steal or go without food to pay for their habit.“For those who are addicted, prohibition inflicts danger and death. Needlessly. Water would become dangerous if it were banned and handed over to a criminal black market.”Governments manufacture myths to support their actions. The first casualty of war is the truth. The War On Drugs, by prohibiting, penalizing, and withholding information about drugs, is creating the very problems it is attempting to stamp out.
^Hmm, don’t take that heart medication, or TV advertised “pain medication” then, even if the doctor says it’s good for you, ‘cause he’s just trying to kill you!
Yes, keep controls on dangerous narcotics, and part of that plan would be getting addicts into treatment program, like even supplying them their drugs FOR FREE (yup) so they won’t be robbing people to pay dealers, who would be gone if their product could be gotten for free.
Interesting points. A good example was Dr. Tim Leary’s work, which produced a recidivism rate of less than 5%, much less than our current 85% for untreated convicts. But we made him into a pariah, kidnapped him from South Africa where he was vacationing, and put him in solitary confinement while trying to think of something to charge him with. So goes the war on drugs.
And something I noticed last night. I was watching a show on CNN, where panelists were discussing the problems of drugs and the results….all very predictable.
Commercial break: an ad for a new drug to relieve the pain of arthritis. A woman gushes, “The more I take, the better I feel.”
stamps over 10 years ago
And this has what, exactly, to do with heroin?
cripplious over 10 years ago
Guess in conolly’s mind one drain is as good as another.
Jason Allen about 10 years ago
My understanding is that the rise in heroin use is attributed in part to a trend in mixing it with a prescription painkiller.
eugene57 about 10 years ago
the truth“Virtually ever ‘fact’ testified to under oath by the medical and criminological experts in 1924…was unsupported by any sound evidence,” says Professor Arnold Trebach, specialist in illegal drugs.“We cannot find any medical research from any source which will support the international governmental contention that heroin harms the body or the mind of its users,” concluded a recent Guardian \ Channel 4 investigation into heroin. “Nor can we find any trace of our government or the American government or any other ever presenting or referring to any credible version of any such research. On the contrary, all of the available research agrees that, so far as harm is concerned, heroin is likely to cause some nausea and possibly severe constipation and that is all.”Heroin generally does not cause malnutrition, moral-collapse, or sickness. Death by overdose is possible but not that common, thanks to the wide safety margin between a therapeutic and a lethal dose.One thing causes heroin related illnesses, crime and death: the black marketthe black marketHeroin only becomes dangerous when it is made illegal. “There is no drug known to man which becomes safer when its production and distribution are handed over to criminals” says Professor Norman Zinberg who led a study into drug addiction at Harvard Medical School.Criminals dilute the purity of heroin, cutting it with baby milk powder, starch, curry powder. Adulterants injected into the veins of users cause sores, septicaemia, blood clots, and gangrene. Dirty needles add collapsed arteries, hepatitis C, and HIV to the mix. Overdose is a real threat to street users who deal with fluctuating heroin quality, varying wildly between 20% and 90% pure. Black market prices force addicts to steal or go without food to pay for their habit.“For those who are addicted, prohibition inflicts danger and death. Needlessly. Water would become dangerous if it were banned and handed over to a criminal black market.”Governments manufacture myths to support their actions. The first casualty of war is the truth. The War On Drugs, by prohibiting, penalizing, and withholding information about drugs, is creating the very problems it is attempting to stamp out.
Dtroutma about 10 years ago
^Hmm, don’t take that heart medication, or TV advertised “pain medication” then, even if the doctor says it’s good for you, ‘cause he’s just trying to kill you!
Yes, keep controls on dangerous narcotics, and part of that plan would be getting addicts into treatment program, like even supplying them their drugs FOR FREE (yup) so they won’t be robbing people to pay dealers, who would be gone if their product could be gotten for free.
I Play One On TV about 10 years ago
Interesting points. A good example was Dr. Tim Leary’s work, which produced a recidivism rate of less than 5%, much less than our current 85% for untreated convicts. But we made him into a pariah, kidnapped him from South Africa where he was vacationing, and put him in solitary confinement while trying to think of something to charge him with. So goes the war on drugs.
I Play One On TV about 10 years ago
And something I noticed last night. I was watching a show on CNN, where panelists were discussing the problems of drugs and the results….all very predictable.
Commercial break: an ad for a new drug to relieve the pain of arthritis. A woman gushes, “The more I take, the better I feel.”
Hello? Is there ANYONE paying attention?
lonecat about 10 years ago
I forgot to have my heart beat. Silly consciousness, forgetting something so important.