More Problems from the War on Drugs

From the BBC

A senior paramedic has warned that so-called legal highs are leaving ambulance services baffled when it comes to treating casualties.

Sarah Harrison said the complex make-up of the substances is leaving staff playing “catch-up” in the battle to develop effective treatments.

Legal highs exist because of the war on drugs. A drug is made illegal because of the chemical composition. By slightly changing the chemical composition, it’s now legal. But mostly has the same effects. Then the authorities discover that drug, make it illegal, and the producers just modify the drug again.

And one result of that is that there’s little knowledge of what’s being produced. Which means that paramedics don’t have a clue about what to do with particular drugs, and can’t keep up, and there’s no information because it’s all rather secretive. And people suffer and die. Because of the war on drugs.

So, let’s imagine a different scenario: we tear down the drug laws that exist. We have licensed retailers and producers. You can sell cannabis, ecstacy, cocaine, with all sorts of controls on what you can sell. We have a body like the MHRA, but for getting off your face. And then with the range of products available, we can train paramedics in how to deal with the effects of certain drugs. “Legal highs” would disappear because there would be no demand for them if you can just buy an ounce of weed in Aldi or Waitrose.