The rubbish that gets talked about drink and drugs is a growing source of annoyance to me. The first thing that grates is the lack of distinction between use and abuse. Taken in moderation as stimulant, for social purposes or therapeutic reasons, for entertainment or simply for altered consciousness, drink and drugs can be fine. That would be use. Abuse is all the various forms of addiction, over-indulgence, inappropriate consumption and the terrible fall-out that can ensue.

In the discourse there is often no distinction made between use and abuse. They are considered the same especially where drugs are concerned. Ignorance of the culture around drug consumption means that broader society, with its tacit nod to drink-sodden values, tends to assume that alcohol is okay not taken to extremes and even then the occasional bender is acceptable, whereas drugs are probably bad taken at all outside the medicinal.

Truth is, both have their particular benefits and dangers. I think both perform a similar function, at root the psychological one of inducing altered consciousness. They provide a ready way of bringing relief from the perpetual stresses of ordinary life and the attendant emotional problems. Drawing the good/bad distinction is one of morality. To have drink acceptable and drugs not is a nonsense. Yet there's an entire lexicon, much of it jovial, around the consumption of alcohol and its binge excesses. There is no end of jokey terminology that expresses the drink experience. Drugs on the other hand are thought to be dark and dangerous. This reflects a widespread ignorance of their use and effects which are largely misunderstood. That heroin and marijuana for example are just as likely to space people out such that they would be less prone to violence is not appreciated. Yet someone being out of it on marijuana is sometimes held to be the direct cause of a criminal act. Now, perhaps a smack-head’s lifestyle will involve criminality but that is as much to do with illegality itself and the means of procurement than the actual drug. Alcohol by contrast is well associated with exuberance, aggressiveness and deviant behaviour often in individuals who are otherwise quite placid and conformed.

What I'm saying is that there needs to be more insight brought to the business of drink and drugs. Answers to questions need to be found such as why the innate need for altered consciousness and what are the underlying emotional problems that lead to over-consumption? The distinction of drink okay, drugs not okay should be eradicated. At some point this probably means legalising drugs to take away the added problems of making criminals out of people who need help. These steps might make individuals more aware and responsible for their own consumption and better capable of identifying the point at which use merges into abuse which surely must be the desired end of an enlightened attitude to this perennial problem.