The High's and Low's of Highs

A long time ago back in the misty haze that were my student days, I like a percentage of the population of students got introduced to a variety illegal substances. Experimentation was on the agenda of many a student back then. Each encounter was fulfilling in some ways and for the large part the majority of the experimentation was a once only. Once was definitely enough. This was down to education, commonsense and self awareness. Anything that is pleasurable is surely good for you right? Wrong. Not always. My parents taught me to be self aware and aware of others. They equipped me with enough commonsense not to fall into the traps that I saw others fall into.

Modern society as much as it struggles to accept modern day illegal drugs can never get past the barrier of the harm it does to people. Cocaine/Heroin/Acid/Cannabis/Ecstacy addicts. These people cannot stop the self abuse. Why? Because no one ever taught them how to use it responsibly. What about alchohol? Yes that too. But the government doesn't seem to recognise this substance as harmful enough to ban it. As much as the aforementioned drugs drive some people to self neglect, neglect of their friends, family members and children, so does alchohol. I won't linger on this subject for too much longer as I'm straying from my point. The drugs I have mentioned are highly potent. The effects are in the extreme. While at the time they are pleasurable when taken in moderation, they are addictive.

Nicotine too is addictive but the dependency on the revenue through taxation makes it acceptable to the government to fuel peoples addiction to it. The government only takes a very flimsy, insincere moral high ground toward tobacco by advertising the dangers of smoking. If they really cared, then surely a ban is the only way to go. Ask a smoker if they really enjoy smoking. Most of the time they are miserable and resentful for being dependent on the weed.

The people I knew and indeed the people I used to join in with all the fun of taking this that and the other have long since vanished out of my life the moment I stopped taking those subtances and like dark shadows receded away everytime I saw them. They saw me as someone to harm them, someone who looked down at them. There were times when they resented me leaving their circle so much that they often used to give the impression to other people that I infact still did it to deflect any attention away from their alter-ego existence, befriending policemen hoping that it would somehow provide them with credibility. What a joke. This is the extent they would go to. to protect the addiction and circle. What a shame.

Illegal drugs are soul destroying. I have met people who have even been addicted to cannabis. One drug that I thought couldn't possibly be addictive. But true it is. I had a friend of mine who was and probably still is, a car mechanic. A man working with dangerous machinery and on parts of a car such as brakes and fuel lines. Things vital to the safety of a car while smoking skunk. Amazingly stupid. Ironically he used to lecture about the evils of drink driving which of course is true. But getting stoned on skunk, working on a customers car and then finally driving the ten mile journey across London home? I never knew quite how he managed it. I suppose just like a drink driver who somehow manages to get away by driving home without crashing.

Finally, I get to the really interesting developments that have recently come to light in the newspapers and a certain scientific publication. Legal Highs. What? Yes. Legal herbal mixtures in pill form or dried leaf extract. All those hardcore stone heads out there are thinking "what a waste of money. You want the real thing mate." Yes these are the kind of people who are too hooked on the illegal stuff to even want to bother trying it. I came across an article in New Scientist magazine which caught my attention about legal highs. There is talk of a plant called Salvia D. which provides short bursts of hallucigenic feelings. I'd never heard of the thing by it is legal (at the moment). It is not addictive and there is no chance of an overdose. There are pills with combinations of herbal extracts and synthetic chemicals which produce the same kind of effects as magic mushrooms and ecstasy and acid without the terrible paranoia, addiction and feeling of general crappiness the following day. To me this all sounded a load of marketing rubbish. Now I am normally quite the optimist about the world but this brought out the cynic in me. A family relative once told me how they tried cannabis once and said that it didn't to anything for them to which I immediately thought they weren't smoking the real deal and infact it was probably po-purri. I decided after reading the article to research some more on the wonderful invention they call "the internet". I came across website upon website selling all kinds of magic pills from party pills to purple ohms to strawberry fields (how original) and Salvia D. Still no personal accounts of people who have taken these so called magic pills. This began to reinforce the cynic in me. Finally after fine tuning my google search field did I uncover a couple of sites where people have written in about there experiences. One writer described Purple Ohms. I read that one and then another and another. Mr Cynical kicked in and again I thought nothing more that a marketing ploy. Another way to rip off people to wanted to follow the legal road to getting high.

The scientific mind in me decided not to dismiss it outright. After all it was legal and I could quite happily dangle a couple of packets of this stuff from my ears and nobody including the police would give a damn. So I emailed my local "Head Shop" to enquire about the availability of a couple of the interesting sounding things that I'd read about. A reply came so down to the head shop I went. The gentleman behind the counter was a very helpful pleasant chap and after a conversation about the how's and what's I decided on my selection and waved goodbye. After much house work (to clear my mind of any guilt should this stuff actually work) I settled down for the evening and followed the instructions.......

......What a load of crap. They didn't work (one hour in). I decided to go back to the Head Shop the next day and complain. Half and hour later, I changed my mind. Can it really be legal? The whole of the night was amazing. I'd recommend some good music. Lights low. Nothing else beats it.

This brings me to my final point. What are the decisions behind legalizing or illegalizing recreational drugs? Is it a moral judgement? No. If that were so then perhaps alchohol and tobacco should be instantly banned (which I think is no bad thing). Is it a medical judgement? No. If that were so then perhaps alchohol and tobacco should be banned. A combination of the two? Maybe. The truth of the matter is that alchohol, tobacco and legal highs are all subject to taxation. This is what makes them legal. What are we suggesting here? The only difference between legal and illegal is revenue from tax. No not quite. If it weren't for the criminal association with current illegal drugs then I think one by one some of the illegal drugs mentioned earlier would then be de-classified. The argument against legalisation? Damaging to mental and physical health. There are many more people who die of alchohol and tobacco related illnesses than of drugs. The difference is that one alchohol and tobacco prolong the agony while drugs takes a shorter time for addiction or death. My Dad said to me that too much of anything is bad for you. Indeed, it is possible to kill yourself by drinking too much water.

I am in no way condoning the taking of drugs but I am reinforcing the irony that exists today. Like alchohol addiction doesn't effect everyone, neither does drug addiction to the majority of sensible people out there. But there is a problem. Addiction. Address why some people are more prone to addiction then you many have an answer or part of one.


CLICK HERE for the New Scientist Article.