Too many supporters of the decriminalization of marijuana take the wimpy route when it comes to harder drugs. Needle exchange programs are a political taint, no matter how well they achieve their aims.
But hard drugs like smack and crack don't create hard criminals; the criminalization of drugs creates them. Sure, many cokeheads and/or junkies are assholes you would rather not be around, but drunks aren't exactly good company either.
And don't tell me about your best friend who stole from you to support his habit. If the shit had been available at the liquor store for the price of a bottle of Jim Beam we wouldn't be having this conversation. Just imagine the CIA having to make deals with the likes of Nestle as well as Afghan farmers.
Before Dame Winehouse's autopsy results are revealed, we cannot say for sure whether her death was an overdose. I will state with no uncertainty before the fact, however, that even if she did take the golden boot out, that it was just as much the alcohol part of her addictive personality that ultimately did her in.
Scan a list of those famous for substance abuse and you'll find a lot of them having drowned face-down in water or face-up in puke. And nary a one wasn't drunk first. Talk about a waste: I cannot imagine anything that would ruin a perfectly good heroin high than being all liquored up.
The other common denominator you'll find on the Fiend of Fame is old junkies who wouldn't die. William Burroughs isn't the only one to live into his eighties. And though Del Close died in his sixties, emphysema killed him, even if it was a morphine drip that put him out of his misery. As a matter of fact, the list of junkies who kicked alcohol to live into retirement is a hell of a lot longer than the number of rock stars who croaked at 27.
But hard drugs like smack and crack don't create hard criminals; the criminalization of drugs creates them. Sure, many cokeheads and/or junkies are assholes you would rather not be around, but drunks aren't exactly good company either.
And don't tell me about your best friend who stole from you to support his habit. If the shit had been available at the liquor store for the price of a bottle of Jim Beam we wouldn't be having this conversation. Just imagine the CIA having to make deals with the likes of Nestle as well as Afghan farmers.
Before Dame Winehouse's autopsy results are revealed, we cannot say for sure whether her death was an overdose. I will state with no uncertainty before the fact, however, that even if she did take the golden boot out, that it was just as much the alcohol part of her addictive personality that ultimately did her in.
Scan a list of those famous for substance abuse and you'll find a lot of them having drowned face-down in water or face-up in puke. And nary a one wasn't drunk first. Talk about a waste: I cannot imagine anything that would ruin a perfectly good heroin high than being all liquored up.
The other common denominator you'll find on the Fiend of Fame is old junkies who wouldn't die. William Burroughs isn't the only one to live into his eighties. And though Del Close died in his sixties, emphysema killed him, even if it was a morphine drip that put him out of his misery. As a matter of fact, the list of junkies who kicked alcohol to live into retirement is a hell of a lot longer than the number of rock stars who croaked at 27.
