07 - Recommended reading
Obviously, you don't need to have read everything referenced here to have an opinion on this document. In fact, I will bet good money that some people have an opinion on this document without having even read all of this document. They are probably politicians and rabid wingnuts.
For those of you that have read this document, it is obvious that my point comes from the harm reduction camp. What I will agree with the politicians on is; yes, drugs are dangerous. Where we disagree is about the why.
If you listen to politicians speak - while in power - they will state how harmful drugs are, how many lives lost, how many communities ruined, as if this is an inherent property of drugs. It is not. Asthmatics use steroids and people with ADHD use amphetamines to their great advantage. Safely, and legally. Why? Because doctors have authorised it and instruct them on the safe usage.
Most of the harms of the illegal drug market come down to unsafe use and unknown contents. Heck, the fentanyl epidemic in the US right now is mainly caused by unregulated capitalism and people buying things that they think are non-fentanyl but having some mixed in, because it makes the substance more addictive. Of course, the US response to a medical crisis is to suggest bombing it. They are nothing if not consistent.
I wanted this to be a short chapter, but there I go banging the drum again.
I think that some of the most influential works I have read that bring out the dangers of drugs being illegal are the following. If you want to understand more about the social side of the issue I would heavily recommend you go read them.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets is a memoir written by Sudhir Venkatesh. The book chronicles the life of the urban poor and explores Venkatesh's views on poverty, money, gangs, drugs, and life in Chicago.
Text description taken from Wikipedia, October 2023. Reproduced under CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Original can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Leader_for_a_Day
Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer
While primarily a book about an unsolved set of serial killings, intertwined in the story is how closely linked the use of illegal drugs are. It brings out the link between illegal drugs, prostitution and dangerous behaviours. It is my firm opinion that if drugs were legal, several of those women would still be alive.