“Drugs are bad.” This is the repeated comment of the Mr. Mackey character on the television series South Park.
But does Mr. Mackey ever explain in great detail why he believes that drugs are bad? Do any of our authority figures?
I’m showing my age here, but I was in elementary school when U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan launched her “Just Say No” campaign against drugs. I was a little older when people in public service announcements smashed eggs to show that “this is your brain on drugs.”
Even as a kid, these campaigns made me angry. Even at that young age, I suspected that drug addiction wasn’t a simple matter of choosing or not choosing to use drugs. I knew it was complex in some way. (Plus, who likes to be lectured and have people make assumptions about you? No one, that’s who.)
Luckily the opinions of some authority figures and opinion leaders seem to be changing. A recent surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, referred to drug and alcohol abuse as a “disease” that needs medical intervention, not a moral failing that deserves criticism or shame. More and more people are beginning to realize that addiction isn’t confined to one group of people. Maybe that’s because more and more people of all walks of life are becoming addicted to prescription drugs such as opiates/opioids.
Of course, everyone’s opinions on drugs aren’t changing. Unfortunately, the opinions of these people hold weight because of the power they wield. For example, Jeff Sessions, who became the U.S. attorney general in 2017, is one such person.
Sessions is vehemently against marijuana. He has spoken out against use of the drug and does not believe it should be used as a medical treatment for different conditions. He even seems to support the prosecution of people with marijuana.
He has said that using medical marijuana to treat drug addiction just trades one habit for another that is “only slightly less awful.” But this vague criticism doesn’t explain fully why Session thinks marijuana is bad. This explanation doesn’t give specific details about marijuana’s medical or psychological impact. It lumps marijuana, a drug with proven scientific benefits and lower risks, with drugs with fewer benefits and more risks.
Jeff Sessions is saying that “drugs are bad” and is telling people to “just say no” without any specific proof. If we don’t have any specific proof about drugs, why should be believe what he or anyone else has to say?
