'Spice' Hits Russia, and American Legalization Starts to Crack

 

The synthetic drug called Spice is ravaging Russia

 

The Vice Channel is reporting that the 'designer drug' known as Spice has hit the Russian streets.  Heroin is doing what it has done in the US: the bad effects are becoming widely known and unpopular, so as the users die off, new ones are less likely to get started.

 

Spice hit the US streets a few years ago, but its 'bad trips' have helped curtail its abuse.  Besides, with marijuana legalization basically a reality in much of the US, pot is still a much more attractive alternative.

Of course, Russia is also fighting an additional battle, one that we in the West are also dealing with, but in a different way.  If you watch this RT video, you'll notice one of the dealers has a 'Salafi-style' beard:

 

Russia: Watch Moscow cops bust gun-slinging SPICE drug ring

 

Russia has a large Shia Moslem community, which the Saudis have spent years infecting with Radical Sunni (a.k.a. Salafi, Wahabi, etc.) Islam.  Saudi success meant years of conflict in Chechnya.  If these guys are Salafis, then chances are they are tangled up in Russia's own 'War on Terror.'

 

Of course, the Great Legalization Crusade in America is happening at a time when, as the same channel reports, the Dutch are gradually shutting off the spigot on marijuana:

 

Amsterdam's war on weed

 

The rest of Europe is tired of dealing with the expenses of Holland's permissive attitude.  There is also the growing sense that the time to play is over as the 'guest workers' are gradually becoming a force of their own to be dealt with and, after this summer's race roils in France, Sweden, and Italy, Europeans are beginning to realize that they might have to come back from holiday and start doing something about their culture of infertility.

 

As for the US, Colorado is already starting to have its regrets over the legalization process, which now has a majority of the consumption not in cigarettes and pipes, but in 'edible' forms to avoid the nasty smoke.  Attempts to stop the distillation of marijuana have been stymied, and for good reason: the only reason anyone uses marijuana is to get high.  Again, that attitude with any other drug, or alcohol, would get you public consternation.  Here, we accept that it is nothing but an intoxicant.

 

While other states are toying with legalization, the fervor is over as other states see Colorado's problems.  Already, people are now worried that these edible marijuana products are going to end up in Halloween treats for children.

 

Is that far-fetched?  With so many people hyping the benefits of marijuana, even for children, how many people out there might try to 'share the benefits?'

 

The mental illness of the drug world is tragic.  We will just have to wait and see.

 

 

 

 

 



'The Pill'

Yes, I am still alive.  Doing a lot of thinking, which actually is not as conducive to writing as much as one might expect.  In this format, 'thinking out loud' can lead to all kinds of mostly-permanent problems.

 

The internet has its own 'permanent record.'  And, particularly these days, few humans seem to possess the 'mercy gene' which allows for minor foibles to go unpunished.  There is a totalitarian mentality these days, perhaps mostly because we are so much more afraid of the world than we were before.

 

However, that's not what I'm posting today.  Rather, a reader of this blog sent me a very interesting article:

 

The Pill That Will Help Us Say ‘Not Tonight’ to a Drink

 

Of course, it contains all of the usual bromides... the 12 Steps are too hard, the overall success rate of AA is only 5-8%, etc.

 

Another bromide is that 'harm reduction is successful with heroin addicts.'  That should be rewritten to say that harm reduction is successful at making addicts slightly less of a public nuisance.  They are still addicted and are not free.  It is like having padded manacles or gentle slavery. 

 

So, a pill is developed that will 'help' reduce the effect of alcohol, thus reduce the amount of drinking.

 

I swear these folks have never talked to an addict.  It isn't about the drinking.  Or the using.  It is about the suffering.

 

Sure, the pill may reduce the effect of alcohol, particularly on those alcohol abusers and hard drinkers that get carried away like the way many people lose themselves occasionally at the dinner table.  That's not addiction.  It is gluttony.

 

The addict will find a work-around.  Sure, he may stop drinking with the pill, but watch his pantry or his computer screen or his bank account... the addiction moves into another activity that releases the endorphins and 'relaxation response' that drinking once did without the pill.

 

Addicts don't need alcohol to get high.  They just need a high, and they can get it lots of ways.

 

Heck, I've seen raging alcoholics give up their drink overnight and remain on a rage bender for years.  yes, there's another pill for that, and soon our friend can take a whole pantry of meds and literally fry his liver doing what the 12 Steps do organically.

 

Maybe that can be AA's new message-sharing strategy-

 

The 12 Steps are the Green way to recovery.

 

Yes, I am kidding.

 

Sure, the recovery rate in AA is low... because the meetings are open and most people take years to get to a point of willingness.  AA is meant for the 'hopeless alcoholic,' not the newbie abuser with plenty of spunk and lots of ambition.  Read the histories written by Dick B. and you will see that AA has changed dramatically in that respect.

 

The 'pill' does not rebuild the relationships broken by addiction, nor does it cure the inner suffering the Steps address.

 

No pill can replace the healing of repentance and conversion.  No pill can make your amends for you.  No pill can replace the sense of God's love and mercy.

 

No pill can make you Sober.