In response to Neil McKeganey: Drug abuse is a crime issue, not a health issue, tiger wrote:
As a pharmacist of many years experience I shudder at the prospect of liberal drug policy.
First off, all medicines are poisons. The dosage makes them useful.
Cannabis has been studied to death for decades. Any medicinal benefits that it can deliver are inferior to synthesised medicines already available and in use.
Morphine-derived drugs are highly addictive and induce rapid liver enzyme metabolisers. This means tolerance to them builds rapidly, requiring ever higher doses to attain the same effect. However the fatal mean dose does not rise accordingly. At some point the heroin user is going to take a fatal dose.
I have also worked with narcotics enforcement. Successful combating of illegal drug use requires the political will to combat it and to deploy the necessary resources to take down the traffickers. It can be done but requires dedicated officers to run intelligence-led operations.
History is littered with civilisations brought down by drug use. Recreational drug use is a symptom of a sick society. Young people should have a life to look forward to, not a life that they wish to wash away with mind-bending narcotics. The politicians are looking at the results of poor societal situations, not the cause of them.
