As promised...

For one reason or another, presumably the forthcoming election, drug abuse is back on the agenda in the media.

Usually, I'm averse to bandwagonism, but here's my two-pennyworth for the hell of it:

I'm not a user. Never touched a pill or a powder or a needle in my life. I was once offered a wrap of speed in exchange for bus fare. I turned it down because I wouldn't have had a clue what to do with it.

What I do like, however, is half a joint before bed. That's it. A very mild marijuana cigarette. I've been laughed at for how little I put in. I get more of a buzz off a pint of beer to be honest, but it's a pleasant and satisfying way of relaxing before bed. It's not something I miss when I run out.

Out of sheer curiosity and to see if it was possible without all the growlights and hydroponics and tinfoil, I once grew a couple of plants. I wasn't secretive about it, it sat on my living room windowsill, it was lovely and bushy and it produced nice strong stuff. I called him "weedy" and he was my friend. Unfortunately, cannabis plants have a limited life on British windowsills, especially considering how much pruning takes place, and he ended up dying and being all smoked up.

Anyway...

Lots has been said over the years about the pros and cons of legalising hard drugs like Heroin and Cocaine. The cons all allude to the death of modern society and anarchy and rampant addiction. What they seem to be forgetting is that not so long ago, all these drugs were not only legal, but were being used in pharmaceutical products and food. Famously, cocaine was part of "original recipe" coca cola, Speed was used as a slimming drug, heroin (or morphine) is still used in all kids of healthcare products: Codeine turns to morphine in your brain and cocaine is called novocane when the dentist injects it into your gums.

The fact is that these drugs have been or still are perfectly legal and society didn't come to an end.

Drug MISUSE, which is what the debate is all about, is a direct result of the profiteering immorality of the dealers.

Legalising and regulating hard drugs can only have a positive effect. Why would anyone go to a shady dealer for their £20 bag of horse laxatives and crushed paracetamol when they can pop to the local chemist for a hit of pure stuff for the same price or less?

The authorities are losing the war on drugs, the dealers are increasingly violent and drug abuse now affects every corner of our society. It's time to take a new angle, because what we're doing now just isn't enough.

You can't control something by driving it into the hands of more and more desperate criminals.