Sending the wrong message on drugs

It appears that our government has once and for all admitted that it has run out of ideas and given up on ever winning the battle against narcotics in Malta.

“Drugs have been with us for a very long time, but never before have they featured so prominently in our lives. Cocaine used to be a special occasion drug and we used to be shocked to learn that people were using it at weddings, baptisms or village feasts.”

The recent proposed adjustment to the law, widening considerably, the brackets within which someone who is caught trafficking hard drugs would be considered a trafficker or a user, is the ultimate wrong message to our children.

Government tried to defend its position with a complete series of legal gymnastics, trying to convince us that this was meant to give a second chance to users who end up pushing the substances themselves.

I am all for second chances, and users should be seen as victims most of the times. In fact, most users will tell you that using drugs was the biggest mistake of their lives.

There’s no need for me to stay going in to too much detail about the devastating effects of drug usage. How it sends otherwise stable families into disarray, how it forces people to do the unimaginable to secure their next hit. How it breaks down the very soul of people, turning them into shadows of their past selves.

Drugs have been with us for a very long time, but never before have they featured so prominently in our lives. Cocaine used to be a special occasion drug and we used to be shocked to learn that people were using it at weddings, baptisms or village feasts. Today it isn’t even a weekend drug anymore, as many people are resorting to it on a daily basis. Many people will admit that they can no longer function properly without having a line before entering an important meeting for example.

The scene has changed completely, and probably the legalisation of recreational use of marijuana had a great deal to play in this. With the legalisation of marijuana, kids were delivered a very clear message, that smoking pot was perfectly fine. I wonder how many teens and young adults picked up the habit, who otherwise wouldn’t have, since the legalisation of the drug.

Let me be clear, drugs are not all the problem. Perfectly legal tobacco and alcohol can be just as devastating, as much as any other illegal drug when abused. In fact, since they are consumed in the light of day, we know exactly the tragic consequences of such substances and how many people go through hell because of them.

The difference is that while in the past 30 years we have seen tobacco adverts being pulled practically from everywhere, including the very same tobacco packaging, on the other hand we have seen places advertising complete set-ups to grow your own weed, and now these law changes, proposing the widening of brackets for pills, cocaine, and heroin.

What message are we sending our kids? That using these poisons will be fine? That our courts will at the end of the day be lenient with them? I wish we were sending much more positive messages to our children, messages based on hope and chasing natural highs, rather than resorting to artificial substances that make us forget our problems for a while.

Yes, life can be hard sometimes, and we all need to release our stresses, angers, disappointments, and anxieties sometimes. But drugs are scarcely the solution. We need to rediscover the joy of a natural high, which could perhaps be achieved from exploring new talents, making new friendships, seeking new thrills, travelling and the lot.

As I said, it is all a matter of sending the right messages, and sadly government has been sending all the wrong ones.