Philosophy Now Forum

I would like to point out that America began its war on drugs,
during the Raygun era.. the 1980's... and it was continued until recently...

Now this war on drugs asks two question, one. why did the war fail?
and two. why does America have such a drug problem? more so than
any other country.... what is wrong with America that it needed a
war on drugs? and why did that war so failed? I have my own answers
which I will bring to bear later... (wife and I are going to Monterey/Carmel today
and we are leaving shortly)

I think the answers to both the war on drugs and why it failed are instrumental in
understanding what it means to be an American..

Kropotkin

It certainly failed from my persepctive and I'll say why in a bit. But I think we often assume the best. Like really they had good intentions and they didn't realize decision A would lead to X, Y and Z, when in fact they wanted X, Y and Z.
So, I think the war on drugs succeeded for those who like to have a strong police presence, especially in poorer neighborhoods. For those who wanted to create an extra income for police departments - who can seize vehicles and house with incredibly small finds of drugs. It was also an incredible boon for the prison industry which privatized a lot in the last 4 or 5 decades. That's an industry with great lobbying power and connections to the elite makers and shakers. It could also be used for military interventions in other countries which makes some people happy for a variety of reasons. There's more I could say on this but from some people's perspectives this has been a great success. And we should remember that the early form of the drug war in the US was explicitly racist. IOW the idea was to dominate and intervene specifically in minority groups/neighborhoods.

So, I think it is always a good idea to ask: Cui Bono?

So, why is it a failure or I think I'd prefer to say 'Why is it terrible?
It criminalizes personal use and this has done untold damage to individuals and families at tremendous financial cost to taxpayers. It is based on idiotic ideas about addiction and ignores research in England, Uruguay, Portrugal and Switzerland where addicts (even) were allowed to get access to medical versions of their drugs and even heroin addicts in nearly all cases were 1) able to keep jobs 2) be successful members of families and 3) (get this!) most people weaned themselves off heroin after ten years on their own initiative. Much of what is damaging is the illegal market of drugs, the quality of drugs, the getting those drugs and so. No one mentions in the news that Portrugal made all personal use of drugs legal. And the hardest critics like the head of the Narcotics police now agree that it is much better now. Much fewer people die. A few more people try out the drugs, yes. But less end up dead or seriously ill. Crime in general dropped radically. And there is less violence around the drug trade. They cannot believe other countries have not switched over. And it's not a coincidence we don't hear much about these things. In England a certer running much like the one in Switzerland was shut down even though giving people their drugs saved lives and reduced crime and save the tax payers lots of money.

There's a lot more reasons this drug war has been terrible, but that's a start.

that is an excellent reply... and it brings up some points I am heading for...
for example, why does America have one of the worse drug problems in the world?

I believe it arises from several factors.. One: the emptiness of our lives...
we are a capitalistic society... and our only goal is the pursuit of money....
which means nothing has value unless it is money related...thus the
goal of our society is the gaining of wealth and material possessions...
that has left us with a hole in our soul...and we try to fill that hole
with drugs and other addictions...until we admit that the pursuit of
money has left us empty and hollow... the first step in any problem solution
is to admit that there is a problem...and we are not yet there...
we think money will solve all our problems when in fact money and
its pursuit of money is part of our problem...

the next factor is religion.... Americans often say we are the most
religious country in the world (spoiler alert, we aren't)
today pastors around the country in talking to their flock,
report that the very words of Jesus is being rejected as being too passive..
that Jesus isn't "masculine" enough... and pastors have even said to their
members, these are the words of Jesus, and their members outright reject
those words and yet, they still call themselves Christians...if you reject the words
of Jesus, you are not a Christian anymore...but more to the point, is
the fact that in every poll done over the last 25 years, the number of
atheist has risen...depending on the poll, up to 30% of all Americans now
claim to be Atheist..

So, we have another split in America.. one that is just as profound as the political
split... we have a religious divide that has shaken what it means to be an American...
the right wing holds to this statement: GOD, COUNTRY AND GUNS...
and we have a substantial portion of the country that opposes two
out of three of these ideals....

and this impacts the "war on drugs" and drug use in America....

let us look at the states with the highest drug use in America...
and the majority of them are red wing states...
and California? the poster child of all that is wrong in America today,
at least by the right wing? we are 39 in drug use..

and the top ten....

1: New Mexico
2: West Virginia
3: DC
4: Louisiana
5: Colorado
6: Missouri
7: Arkansas
8: Nevada
9: Oklahoma
10: Michigan...

this is according the "WalletHub"
a look at this list, a couple of things stand out...
these states are, by and large, poor states...except DC...which is poor,
and these states are, again by and large, religious states..
with few exceptions, the most religious states are the ones with
large black populations.. as a rule, the black population is the
most religious group in America...In the prevalent use of drugs among races,
blacks seem to ''use'' slightly less than whites...
(this according to the ''National Library of Medicine'')
but you wouldn't know this from the media...which has its own agenda...

but what can we gleam from these facts?
that drug use seems to be more prevalent in poorer states
and that whites are using drugs more than blacks...

given that the majority of the GOP/MAGA party resides in these states,
I find it interesting that drug use is higher in GOP/MAGA areas....
that Socio-economic factors into, plays a role in drug use shouldn't really
surprise anyone... and part of that is within capitalism itself...
the idea that anyone can succeed has been quietly debunked...
hard work will not help anyone succeed.. and that notion plays
a role in our drug problem... why spend a lifetime working
and killing oneself if we cannot succeed? drug use is, to many,
a far better use of our time...

so, we have rejected two of the three pillars of the American society,
the religious aspect and the capitalistic aspect...and what of the
political? Again, we have no voice in America today... what exactly
was the result of the BLM movement? an awareness of police
violence and an uptick of police being punished for violence
against the citizens... but in reality, the BLM movement didn't
really do much... and that was with millions of people marching...
raising their voices against police violence and very little happened...

what is the point of acting for a change in society/the state, when
nothing happens?

I hold that this point is also a factor in the drug use in America today...
we have three points of contact in America... the religious, the
political, and the economic... and in all three, we are powerless
and voiceless...and given those three points, I can totally see
drug use increasing in numbers.. and they will as long as
we continue to have Americans being powerless and voiceless
in their lives in regard to the political, the religious and the economic...

drug use is not about what is as much as it is about what isn't...
we take drugs to avoid things, not to rush to things...
drug use is avoiding something, not about reaching for something..
it is negative and not positive...we take drugs because it will
make us feel different than what we feel right now...
and we don't feel good about being an American or we don't
feel good about the religious or the economic side of being
an American...for if we did, we would turn to those things, but
we don't..

the religious, the political and the economic have all failed us,
and so, in response we turn to our addictions, drugs being one...
give people something to live for, or to hope for, and the drug
use will fall.. and until then, we shall be a country that
depends on our addictions to get by...

Kropotkin

so if we accept this idea that what has failed in America is
the dreams and hopes of what can be achieved..
if you have no hopes or dreams to follow, then drugs is just as good
of a way of wasting as anything else... following our addictions is
just as good as anything else if we have no hope or path to follow
or god to follow.... or said another way, the ism's and ideologies of
the last 200 years have failed... communism, capitalism, Romanticism,
nationalism, white supremacy, and all the other ism's have failed...

If we have no hope or future to guide us... and then the answer of drugs
is just as valid of an answer as anything else... the modern age is
a nihilistic one, as Nietzsche prophesied... and why is this so?
Because the values we do hold are nihilistic values....
and what is the answer?

Nietzsche, as usual, points the way... he began by thinking about
ethics and morals in a no-god world...what values and ethics can we
hold, or what values and ethics should we hold in no-god world?

His answer was frankly, wrong, but at least he tried...

and my answer is to hold to values of life.. in other words, live
out our values.. so, let us take love as a value we hold...
then we don't just hold to love as when it is convenient,
but we hold to love as a ''way of life".. what is the right action
to take in any given situation, we hold to love as a value as
the answer to what is the right action...
or we can take justice or charity or peace or we can pick one of a hundred
of values worth living for, worth dying for... and that is what we can do to
overcome a nihilistic age....to pick a value and then live that value as the
primary value within our life...it is no longer about ''what would Jesus do"
but about what would we do living within that value... every single
action we take is about the value we accept and live by...
we can think about it this way.. for all you Science Fiction fans, like me...
the Klingons have as their value, honor... honor about all else...
and they live and die by that value... and we can do no worse than
that by living our lives, individually and collectively, within a value
worth living for....as noted, I have chosen to live by two values,
peace and justice.... but I could have just as easily picked love
and charity or even three or more values like honor or justice or
peace or integrity.. to name just a few values we can live our lives by...
but the key point about values is that they must be positive to have
any effect.. the values we choose cannot be negative values like
hate or anger or lust or greed or any of the seven "sins" of the bible...
only positive values will have a positive effect on our lives...
negative values lead to a negative effect on our lives...

so, we no longer choose an ism or ideology to follow, but
we choose a value to follow...and hopefully, we can, collectively,
choose a value that all Americans can follow..
and once again, I choose a value like justice.. but I can live by
whatever value we choose as long as it is a positive value....

and that is how we solve the "war on drugs" by engaging in values
that bring us and our lives into hope and having something to live for....
for that is, in part, why Europeans have a better outlook than Americans..
for they have something to live for.. whereas we don't...

Kropotkin

another way to think about this, is by thinking that
negative values will not lead to positive results...

the conservative lives with negative values... the values of
Machiavelli for example.. that once a man has been born, for evil
or for good, that is how he is all his life... that there is no
possibility for transformation in our lives...and the conservative
focuses on the evil person, instead of the good person....
that man was born into being evil, as so said the bible...
that we are evil until redeemed by god... that is not a positive
attitude by conservatives...look at how conservative have portrayed
and continue to portrayed cities in America today... they hold to
and have said that BLM and liberals have burned down ''entire cities"
which is not true... and that cities are, at least liberal cities,
are in a state of collapse... and I have pointed out several times,
that those cities are facing national problems that cannot be
solved by the local cities... we cannot solve the drug problem with
local answers.. and we cannot solve the poverty issue or the income
inequality problem by any local means... a national problem requires
a national solution.. which the conservative is unable to see or solve...
because their focus is on the local community or the one....
they view the world as diseased and corrupt and evil...
and within that viewpoint there is no joy, or hope or love
or redemption...they view the world negatively and that
a negative viewpoint cannot solve any solutions.. for
a negative viewpoint can only lead to a negative solutions
whereas only by a positive viewpoint can lead us to
positive solutions... a negative viewpoint cannot lead us
to a positive solution...

so will a negative attitude of people are evil or full of sin,
solve the drug problem? so will a negative attitude of
people cannot ever change their "spots", will that solve
the myriad of problem we face today?
by closing off hope and possibility, does that solve any problems
we are facing today?

I can't see it.. but giving people hope and increased possibilities,
that can help bring back hope into the lives of people...
which in turn can lead them away from the addictions of our lives....

to solve the world's problems, we must begin by giving people
hope and the possibility of change and an optimism that there is
a better future by following the path of positive beliefs...
we have no future to strive for today... just more of the same,
more money, more fame, more material possessions, more titles,
more power... all of which leads us to a barren and hopeless future...

we can return faith and a positivity by being positive and hopeful
within having a future worth living for, worth dying for, if need be...

this morning I read a report that said suicide has increased from
1999 to 2016, every single year... and that is not just from mental illness,
but from the lack of purpose and having something to live for in our lives...
and having a negative opinion about what it means to be human cannot
be helpful in preventing this rise in suicides...

the path to having a successful and powerful society, state, civilization
begins with us having positive and hopeful values... the rise of
negativity has impacted us in ways we haven't even understood yet...
but the rise in drugs and suicides, indicates that we have lost
hope in our future... we can return to hope by no longer having
conservative values like we are all born guilty and have only sin
to our name.. and that all men are evil...and if believed enough,
then if we are all guilty and full of sin, addictions and death starts
to sound good...

if you want to end addictions and stem the tide of suicides,
we must begin by an attitude change that we are
good and we can change who we are and we can become
who we were meant to be... by overcoming our indoctrinatations
we can change toward becoming positive, hopeful human beings....

Kropotkin

and we can make this change by not becoming religious or
believing in negative values...

the path to becoming a more successful human being lies in
our walking away from negative values and beliefs...
we can change and we are good, the vast majority of
people are good and honest and decent...
and it is not about their religion or their faith or their political
viewpoint, but those people simple listen to their inner voice...
we, each of us, have a voice in us that feels guilty when we
do wrong to others.... many of us silence that voice with
lies and denial and believe that what matters is our own
success and safety requires us to act selfishly...
we can succeed and prosper by acting together and as one...

hope and love are choices too.... and we can choose to have
hope and love before hate and anger... but Kropotkin,
someone may take advantage of us.... and so the fuck what!
what does it matter that someone might, MIGHT take advantage
of us... are we so weak and feeble and frail that we must always
be successful and ''win''... those who only accept winning are also
those that are insecure and unsure and hesitant.. that we are so
insecure that we cannot under any circumstances, be second or
not win?

truth be told, it is the ones who can accept being in second place
that are secure and at peace with themselves... look at
IQ45..he is so insecure and frightened that he cannot under
any circumstances, accept a loss, any kind of loss is a threat
to his manhood and his viewpoint of who he is....
I am secure enough today to take second or even last place in
any kind of contest... I was, for decades, an athlete, engaged
in winning... and yet, today, I am far more secure and in touch
with who I am, then I ever was... it won't shake me to lose
a contest for I have a secure enough faith in who I am.........unlike
IQ45 who takes every loss as an attack upon who they are....

truth be told, I am a far greater human being than IQ45 ever was or
ever will be, because I am secure in who I am and what is possible for me...
and I am secure in my own skin and where I am today... unlike IQ45..
who is always discontented in who he is and what he is about...

the path isn't to win the game, but to become a better person, a better
human being..... and that takes a positive understanding of what it
means to be human...

Kropotkin