Durgz

I'm getting a little bit pissed off with the government's most favourite of excuses for justifying screwing over the poor and the young; they're all on drugs. They're all just feral junkies, there's no point giving them anything because they'll just spend it all on drugs anyway. In fact, it's better to keep them poor, because then they won't be able to afford all those drugs!  

Let me take this opportunity to tell a truth that no-one seems to be willing to say. No shit. Of course we're on drugs. We're destitute. We have nothing much to look forward to. If someone told you "Hey, miserable guy, eat this. It'll put you really happy mood for about an hour, guaranteed." could you really say no? 

They say time heals all wounds, and this is true in many cases. But when time itself is the wound, when its slow but steady passage is the problem, then it becomes unbearable, and seemingly inescapable. Take the youth of today. We know what's going on, we all have internet access. We can Google. Some greedy rich people lost all their money doing dodgy deals, and now all the poor people have to pay for their failure. We have no jobs, no prospects, and no future. And there is no reason to expect that this will ever change. So with no future, there is only this moment, only now. So why not feel good in the now, damned be the consequences? With youth idolised and age despised, why care about your health? "I hope I die before I grow old" is a very old lyric. "I don't wanna live forever" is another golden oldie. Telling someone that they will die if they do something is not a deterrent, it's often a path to a form of martyrdom. "I told you I was hardcore!"

But it's not just us. It's all of you as well. We're all on drugs. We have our reasons. What are yours?

There are those that will even protest that they're not on drugs. It's the hypocrisy more than anything else that gets me. Alcohol, which in my opinion should be at least class B (because an overdose can kill you) is completely legal and a-ok. Tobacco is fine, despite the fact that I can easily identify the addictive cancer-causing chemicals in it. I could just point out the large cyanide content. And that's all acceptable, because society says so. But we have to lock up the ravers and the stoners, it's for their own good. Don't forget to add it's for their benefit, all for their health and safety.

"I believe there is no safe drug." This, coming from alcoholic politicians! You really want to live drug free? Then stop breathing the air. There are drugs in it. Stop drinking the water. There are drugs in that too. You can even absorb drugs through your skin, so careful with what brands of washing up powder and washing up liquid you have. 

Seriously though, after watching an advert for shampoo with taurine in, it has become obvious that people really don't have a clue. Taurine is a stimulant similar to caffiene, that was originally extracted from a bull's testicles. It's bullock bollock juice. You drink it, it keeps you awake. You don't rub it on your head. There's no such thing as coffee shampoo or caffeinated shampoo, that sounds stupid. But Taurine is a turbo-charged wing-giving ultra-amazing super-miracle! So putting it in a shampoo makes sense, right? It'll make your hair go!

People are ignorant about drugs all right, they don't even know what the word "drug" means. It means "a chemical that has an effect upon the body". And the context is important to. Like the drug cabinet in the hospital? Everyone condemns the smack head for using heroin to blot out emotional pain, but as soon as they get a compound fracture somewhere you watch that same person scream for morphine to blot out the physical pain. Well sorry, it's a drug, remember? It might be dangerous. You might get addicted. So enjoy the slivers of bone slicing into your muscle and nerve. Don't you feel so pure and drug-free?

I mean even from an economic point of view it's laughable. "You, poor person! You are forbidden from setting up a lucrative business even though you have massive demand for your product!" And in truth, it's not those who are already poor who try to profit from selling drugs. They can't afford the capital to start up the enterprise. It's those who have money now but who are at risk of becoming poor. Like the policeman who just got fired, but who knows all the tricks. Or the ex-nurse that just got laid off due to the cuts to the NHS. Or the ex-soldier.

In a recession, even those who have moral qualms are finding their qualms calmed by impinging poverty. When it comes down to having to sell the family caravan, or using it as a hydroponics bay, it seems that most well-educated middle-class conservatives choose to go hydro. Ethics are nice, but money buys things! Money gets you status, makes to someone of worth. Someone that is worth something, because without money then you are someone who is worthless. At least in the eyes of this society.

And that, I believe, is the real problem here. The judgement of our society is incredibly schizophrenic when it comes to these things. As is often the case with too many parents who discover that their kids are addicted to something that they clearly can't handle, they try to hide it from their friends. There first impulse isn't towards their child's medical condition, its towards their own social status. "What will people think?" The obvious conclusion, the conclusion that you have just made. That you're a bad parent, that you don't know what your child gets up to and you can't control them. That may be true, but it's nothing to do with control. Your problem is that you cannot communicate with your child. You don't know them, and you don't want to know them because their culture scares you. It's alien to you, and you don't understand it. You tell yourself it's a phase, and that there's nothing that you, the parent needs to do to understand the child. No, it's the child that will suddenly, miraculously upon their 18th birthday "grow up" and immediately understand you. Because we all become telepathic on our 18th, right? 

Well, no, we don't. And we don't really "grow up" either. My mum still goes to the Rocky Horror Picture show. In a black corset. Honestly, I respect her more for that than her many years of being punctual at work, or having a tidy house. You want to know why the kids do what they do? Grow a pair, walk up to one of the scary hoodies, and ask them. You will probably get a polite response, even if it is using local slang. Try not to be too offended, the meaning of words do change, as does the context in which a word is used. Sometimes the word "fucking" is an adjective, not a verb.

Seriously, I dare you. Ask them the biggie, the elephant in the room. Why? Why are our children doing drugs? 

Perhaps it's because we like to escape the polluted, war-torn, ultra-materialistic hyper-corporate world that we have been dumped with. You want to be an artist? Tough, only Maths, English and Science count at school now. You want to be free from this modern world and live in a field with a tent and a cow? Well that's illegal, your trespassing. You haven't paid council tax. The Unreal Kafkaland will not let you find peace, it will squeeze you till you pop. And then charge your next of kin for the privilege of disposing of the body. 

And so we escape. We drink, we smoke, we feel good and we live in the moment. Because what else is there? If you paid attention at school, then more fool you. You're still going to end up working at McDonalds rubbing shoulders with those that didn't care and had a laugh. So why bother? The system has forgotten you, so forget about the system. Live outside the box. It's a much happier place. 

It's just a shame that serenity is illegal.