alon frydman

Monday, July 28, 1997

Substance abuse one choice everyone must make in life

DRUGS:

Individuals have sole responsibility for deciding values of
right and wrong

The Drug Enabling Association, Cocaine Insertion Agency and the
Federal Bud Inspectors work diligently in the never-ending war on
drugs. However, one problem always exists: the war is being fought
against each individual’s right to do what he chooses with his
body.

Choices and decisions are the things that life offers; whether
the decision is right or wrong is a matter of personal taste. Now
you’re thinking, "Oh no! He’s condoning drugs, he wants to stuff
our little babies with all those disgusting needles." Wrong. I just
think that everyone should have the opportunity to do as they
choose with their bodies and, more importantly, do what they think
is best for them.

The world of drugs is undeniably destructive. I have seen
firsthand the effects of both soft and hard drugs ­ neither is
a pretty sight. Some start off by smoking a bowl at a small
get-together, maybe some hot box a friend’s car late at night, or
even get the family dog a little hip to the way of the walk. The
hazy afternoons are nice for the average guy, but for others, the
need, the yearning for the ultimate and the nagging of curiosity
plagues the mind. The needle finds its way through the haze and the
addiction takes over.

I once went into a hospital ward where a man lay, eyes
half-open, mouth drooping with saliva slowly tapping his chest. The
contours of his body screamed as his bones tried to rip through his
skin. The IVs surrounded him like vines in a jungle, he laid there
in a stupor with his fingers curled. My mind raced with the
possibilities of what could have happened, including that he was
the victim of a bad torture scene from some sick movie. Before I
could arrive at any other conclusion, the nurse simply said,
"Heroin."

The choice was made, the man had entered a world that consumed
him. Nevertheless, it was a choice that he had to live with; at
least it was his own decision.

If you’re asking, "What about the children? They can’t resist
influence," you’re right. But then again, that’s what parents are
for. Choice holds a great deal of responsibility. Responsibility is
the ability to choose for oneself what is right or wrong, something
that can only be learned through experience. Experience does not
mean that a person should try everything, but that he should know
enough about himself and his life to make the decision that is
right for him when he reaches a crossroad. If he decides to go
ahead and take drugs, then that is the choice that he believes is
best befitting his lifestyle and his future. We cannot judge the
decision as right or wrong because that would be applying our
values and our perceptions to someone else.

Value judgments obscure the true problem. The reason drugs are
illegal is not because they are bad for you and not because the
government cares if you have a tummy ache. It is because the people
who vote have a general interest in keeping a functional society in
which their workers remain efficient producers and live in their
communities undisturbed. If the entire middle class were to get
high every weekend, the work week wouldn’t be very productive. If
people were to trek through Brentwood screaming, "purple haze,
purple haze!" as some rich lawyers’ children sipped lemonade, I’m
sure property values would be a little hazy too.

People pay to live in neighborhoods that offer them the certain
illusion that they seek, whether it be the fast-paced metropolitan
area that suits today’s modern man or the quiet, clean community
that’s just dandy to raise Beaver Cleaver in. If you come strolling
along, eating your happy-time brownies as you contemplate why all
these people seem really bummed, you’ve just shattered their
illusion, and they can’t get their money back any more. No one
cares what you do with yourself as long as you don’t crash into his
or her world and destroy the happy illusion they’ve worked to
establish.

Both those who use drugs and those who are against drugs have
illusions ­ both are just as addictive, and both have the same
right to exist. The problem is that when these illusions happen to
run into each other and both are destroyed, the one that costs more
money is the one that isn’t illegal.

If we want to pierce ourselves or tattoo every square inch of
our bodies, people may cringe and stare, but no one calls the
police. People may think it’s disgusting and think that it’s
nothing they would ever do to their own body, but that’s where they
acknowledge the fact that their body belongs to them and them
alone. With our bodies belonging to us, we should have the freedom
to take a trip, whether it be in the car on the way to Tijuana or
on a couch going to the dark side of the moon.

It reminds me of the time one of my old high school friends told
me that my body really wasn’t mine but an investment that belonged
to society. This friend told me that I owed it to society to keep
its investment in good condition and, most of all, alive.
Investment my ass! If I want to go into the woods, find a nice
tree, invest a few dollars in an 1 1/2 inch nylon rope to hang
myself, society could bill me later.

If society really has a stake in every person who lives within
it, why does it leave some investments to fail? Why are some left
to starve under a streetlight on a damp concrete bed, talking to a
beady-eyed rat as if it really understands? Well that’s because
that starving person is not in the neighborhood. As people pass by,
they tell each other that that’s the way he wants to live, that’s
what he decided to do with his life. They don’t approve of his
decision, they don’t condone it, but they still respect the fact
that it is his decision.

Give it up, what people wish to do to themselves and their
bodies is their choice. If the problem with drugs is all the crime
that comes with it, then I’m sure that the legalization of all
forms of drugs would enlarge the market enough to make today’s drug
companies find a way to serve the masses. If the problem is a
society of addicts, then the problem is with the individual not the
method. If the problem is freedom, then we truly have a
problem.

The bottom line is that the choice to do drugs should be
afforded to every person, regardless of what type of person they
are. Whether you purchase your drug illegally on the street or with
a signature in the office of a real estate broker, use your
illusion, but don’t let it use you.