Sunday, July 22, 2012

Where is the information on drugs?

In terms of the National Drug Master Plan of 2006 one of the nine priority areas identified was:
Research and Information dissemination. Where is the research and why is it not being disseminated?

Who should do the research? The Central Drug Authority has a done some "research" into cannabis. This research was pseudo-scientific and for proof consider that the toxicity of the drug is not discussed in the paper. To read this document written in 2004 you will have to download it from Wikileaks - so much for the dissemination of information "priority area".

Medical Research Council have a "module" dealing with drugs. The page has nothing on cannabis. Thankfully the old page dealing with cannabis has been removed, however it wasn't replaced with anything at all. (The old page was more about mandrax than cannabis) Can it really be so hard to find out something, anything, about the most used illicit drug of them all? Apparently yes. Where is the information? What research into drugs has our tax money funded? Where is this research? I know for a fact that no cannabis research on people has been done since the 2006.

Decent drug advice is hard to find. The war on drugs has meant that information has become contested ground. Government have been willing to lie to justify the prohibition.

The abstinence only message also means that the government has nothing of substance to say other than "Don't Start, Be Smart". The staff of the CDA are willing to lie and tell exaggerated stories to the parliamentarians who are absolutely clueless. The other voices we hear are those of people who are involved in running rehabilitation centres which by their own admissions do not work, but again the message is abstinence only.

The best choices are informed choices. Preaching clearly does not work. The children haven't listened to the message and the adults haven't either. South Africans know practically NOTHING about drugs, yet are making decisions about taking them on a daily basis. The government are to blame for this.

The Rave Safe booklet contains decent unbiased information regarding the most commonly available and taken drugs. The information was compiled by people who have experience in the drugs. Real experience, not "I read it in a book" type nonsense. It is drug advice for drugs users by drug users. It really is pathetic that neither the CDA or the MRC have been able to put a simple booklet together, but the drug users themselves managed to get it together some time ago.

More indepth information can be found at Erowid

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