Capitalism, Pain and the War on Drugs

Here is a piece I did for Winds of Change when Joe was just starting to have guest bloggers.

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Let me start this little essay with an idea. A very simple idea. An idea that strikes at the very heart of the drug war and its moralistic foundation. The very idea that those who use unapproved drugs are the lawful subjects of religiously motivated government persecution.

What we call addiction is in fact self-treatment of undiagnosed pain. I know from experience that this idea is hard to accept, so let's talk about some concrete examples.

Take this article, for instance: "Experts say U.S. soldiers likely will suffer emotional trauma." This article discusses the shell shock (now called PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome) that will need to be dealt with in the aftermath of the war. This issue has never been a factor in the post war reconstruction from previous wars. In so many ways, we are doing much better in this war than previous wars. What this article fails to mention is that a lot of PTSD sufferers turn to drugs such as pot, heroin, or alcohol to ease their pain. The Israelis get it and are trying to do something about it.

Soldiers aren't the only ones with this problem. We also have victims of sexual abuse. About 70% of female heroin users are victims of sexual abuse.

Police have this problem as well. It causes drug use, alcoholism, and divorce. It is a huge problem for them.

This whole drug enforcement and anti-tobacco regime amounts to a kind of genetic discrimination against pain sufferers. Some people get over their PTSD in a short amount of time. For others the problem is life-long. The time it takes for pain memories to decay depends on the severity of the trauma and the genetic make up of the individual. About 20% of the population can have long term problems.

Here are some good articles on the decay of pain memories. It varies with the level of pain and the genetic makeup of the individual. All humans show fear reactions to dangerous situations. However, in the case of one out of ten people (surprisingly the same percentage of people who are susceptible to substance addiction) the fear does not die down in the absence of the dangerous situation. The fear stays at debilitating levels even in the absence of danger. These people have a definite, if ordinarily invisible problem.

Here is what the professionals think. What they think is that there are two components of addiction (as opposed to habituation which is a short term phenomenon and is fixed by a detox regimen) trauma and genetic susceptibility.

Of course, if as I posit addiction is just another form of self treatment for pain, then what the DEA is doing is simply malicious rather than helpful. That concept comes through most clearly when The DEA makes war on sufferers of physical pain to "protect" them and others from addiction... for example, their prosecution of "medical marijuana" cases where the drugs are used by cancer and AIDS patients. I contend that the difference between these cases and "ordinary" addiction is merely one of circumstance.

Look at what people other than drug addicts do for their pain. Think endorphins. Think runners high. Think food. Greasy sugary food. It ain't pretty.

On Wednesday, you heard what a police officer familiar with all the above material had to say about the drug war.

The drug war is unwinable. People in pain will do almost anything to relieve their pain. That's why torture gets confessions. Even untrue confessions.

Drugs are about relief from pain. Any one who believes that after 80+ years of fruitless effort we can now succeed in reducing the flow of drugs is delusional. All we accomplish is to provide a price support mechanism for drugs, which by its very nature funnels significant funds to all kinds of criminals and terrorists.

The whole drug business is a perfect example of socialism vs capitalism. The capitalists are winning. Supply always meets demand at a price. No surprise there. What is so surprising is that so many pro-capitalists support the socialist system of prohibition. Ironic. Do they misunderstand the nature of drugs, or the nature of capitalism?