Aug 18, 2007
Use, Overuse, and Abuse
As a species, we will continue to play with half a deck as long as we continue to tolerate cardinals of government and science who presume to dictate where human curiosity can legitimately focus its attention and where it cannot. Such restrictions on the human imagination are demeaning and preposterous. —Terrence McKenna
Lately there have been several articles in the mainstream press discussing the merits of legalizing marijuana and other intoxicants. While most politicians remain obdurate on the subject, the mere possibility of having a frank and spirited public debate, free of “just say no,” knee‑jerk hysteria, is encouraging.
This article is not an advocacy of intoxicant use, nor a denial of the very real problems of abuse and addiction. It is a plea for consistent, humane, and effective substance use and abuse policies. Our current policies inflict unnecessary suffering — on users, abusers and nonusers — while utterly failing to reduce substance abuse and addiction. It is time to try something different; let’s wind down the drug war and get on with the more rewarding work of teaching tolerance and the free pursuit of happiness.
For clarity’s sake this article is limited to a discussion of intoxicating substances. These same arguments can also be applied to the use, overuse and abuse of certain intoxicating activities, such as having sex, watching television, gambling, wielding power, and spending money.
Human beings are drawn to intoxication. For better and for worse, we choose to ingest certain substances that affect our minds and bodies in intoxicating ways.
Some say that any desire for intoxication stems from weakness or immorality and that most, if not all, intoxicating substances should be forsworn by the individual and prohibited by society. Yet history has shown the unintended consequences and ultimate failings of such repressive strategies. Since the use of various intoxicants is common to virtually all societies, past and present, we would do better to accept and learn from the human desire for intoxication, rather than struggle in vain against it.
The dictionary loosely defines an intoxicant as something that makes one happy or excited; that has a poisonous effect on; or that affects one so as to cause a loss of control. Anything that affects us in such ways is an intoxicant. This includes alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, cocaine, marijuana, stimulants, depressants, and a long list of other drugs, as well as some foods, such as chocolate and sugar.
If ingesting the substance makes us happy, and/or poisons us, and/or causes us to lose control, then it can be considered to be an intoxicant. Moreover, this definition indicates that with any such substance there are degrees of intoxication ranging from beneficial use to questionable overuse to destructive abuse.
Use
Throughout history intoxication has functioned like the basic drives of hunger, thirst or sex, sometimes overshadowing all other activities in life. The solution to our drug problems begins when we acknowledge the legitimate place of intoxication in our behavior. —Ronald—Siegel,—PhD
We use intoxicants because — used rightly — they can enhance our happiness. Some intoxicants fill the ‘body with pleasure while others send the mind on fanciful flights. Some intoxicants lower inhibitions while others raise self‑confidence. Some grease the wheels of social intercourse while others expand the vistas of personal solitude. Some invoke our creative muses, others are essential to our meaningful rituals, and still others embellish our favorite celebrations. Some take away physical pain, some relieve emotional stress, some ease mental anxiety, and some do all of these things and more.
Intoxicants can enhance happiness and the free pursuit of happiness is a vital part of being human. For thousands of years, men and women have assiduously pursued happiness while turning barley into beer and grapes into wine, while tasting and testing nature’s leaves, flowers, seeds and mushrooms, while experimenting with countless potions for altering mind and body.
So much art and science, so much honest industry, and all so thoroughly intoxicating — is this weakness and immorality? Or can we accept that there is indeed a right use of intoxicants?
Most of our inveighing against any right use of intoxicants stems from the Judeo‑Christian tradition. Yet there is the constant use of wine throughout Jesus’ New Testament travels, including such key acts as the miracle of turning water into wine and the ritual drinking at the Last Supper. The intoxicating properties of wine were accepted by Jesus and his followers and were embraced as sacramental.
For many Native American cultures, tobacco is likewise sacred, to be smoked in peace pipes and offered as the highest blessing. For shamans around the world, psychedelic plants have been the bringers of essential dreams and visions. For Rastafarians, marijuana is a gift from God. When we look beyond our cultural biases we find that most intoxicants have similar histories. All intoxicants are potentially servants of human happiness.
