Drugs - pleading the case for more responsibility!

By Matt Rogers
First created 06 November 2008 | Last updated 06 February 2010

I watched the last 10 minutes of a programme on channel 4 a few nights ago called ‘Mum, Heroin and Me’. It was reasonably harrowing, as anything that features the big H tends to be, but one comment from Hannah, the ‘Me’ of the title, really pissed me off. She said that smoking Cannabis was the reason she moved on Heroin. To me, that’s a massively irresponsible statement. I despaired about the people watching who have never taken drugs staring at this poor girl and having their own ill-informed judgements depressingly reinforced.

I’ve pissed quite a few people off myself by saying Leah Betts’ parents didn’t help the drugs situation in this country with their justified but misguided crusade following on from their daughter’s tragic death. While they had every right to stand up and talk about the evils of drugs, their stance did little in the way of appropriate education. After all, it was Leah’s behaviour that led to her death (dehydration leading to panic leading to her drinking too much water leading to her brain swelling), not the Ecstasy tablets directly. It might seem cold and callous to say this, but I’m trying to be realistic.

And that’s the cause of my grievance. A lack of realism, of education. It vexes me greatly that certain sections of our Media and Government bleat about how dangerous drugs can be and how terrible they are, yet blind themselves to the reality of what is happening under their very noses – that hundreds upon thousands of people of all ages are going out every weekend and taking drugs, responsibly and safely. I’m not for one second suggesting its right, but instead of acknowledging this and saying to people, “okay, we know it goes on and we can’t really stop it so here are the cold hard facts to make sure you know what to do if you spin out or take too much…” We are constantly barraged with articles and reports on the dark side of drugs; it feels like there’s an impossible stream of tactless, fact-starved scaremongering while on the TV we then see an advert from Tesco selling 20 bottle crates of Export for £5.

I debated over whether I should write this article because my denouncement of Hannah’s statement dictates that I have to use my own experiences with drugs as a counter-argument, and let’s be honest there’s a chance family and friends might read this! But it’s important to me to say that I strongly disbelieve that smoking Cannabis leads to Heroin. While I acknowledge that in a lot of cases this can be the eventual outcome, I believe it’s everything to do with the individual and little to do with the drug itself.

So here goes. I started smoking Cannabis most days when I was at university. Before then I was an occasional smoker during my 2 years at college. I’d been smoking it for a number of years before I tried Ecstasy, then for about a 4 year period, Ecstasy became the drug of choice for me and a lot of friends (who will remain safely anonymous!). We partied, got mashed, had some horrible comedowns, crazy discos and generally got as blitzed as possible all in the name of having a good time. I’ve tried Cocaine, Speed and Ketamine but they’re not for me if I’m honest. I can also honestly say I’ve not smoked weed properly (for a sustained period anyways) for about 3 years and I’ve only had 1 tablet in 2008. These days I’d rather go out with mates and have a few ales.

At no stage have I ever considered that me taking Ecstasy was because I’d smoked Cannabis. I took it because a lot of my friends were doing it and it seemed logical to join in. I had fears, misgivings; I’d heard the stories (of course all of them came from the irresponsible outlets previously mentioned). Some friends even started to treat us differently when they found out we’d taken drugs, like we’d all become terrible addicts and were too dangerous to hang round with.

Of course, there are addicts and I acknowledge that in the majority of cases they probably don’t go straight in to doing Heroin, starting of with lesser stuff, usually Cannabis. But I stand by saying that it’s irresponsible to say smoking Cannabis leads to harder drugs. I’m proof of that, as are many people I know. I just wish that those in a position of responsibility would stop trying to scare people into believing this is the case. With a bit of education, people might be persuaded to form their own opinions rather than being browbeaten into swallowing the myth that people who take illegal drugs are constantly roaming round for a harder, more intense fix. Why can’t it be accepted that in a lot of cases (I’d argue the majority), people just want to get boshed with their mates.