Drugs: Damned if you do, damned if you don't
- Agha Dadashli
- Dec 4, 2023
- 4 min read
As the world progresses and societies and governments become more open-minded and caring of people, there is this emergence of grey areas in subject matter that is, traditionally speaking, taboo. These include the likes of abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, as well as the topic of this post, drugs. With the rising death toll from overdoses, especially from Fentanyl, and the even higher number of health issues, long and short term, caused by drug use is what drew me to write about it.
To understand the effects of drugs, we need to look at what a drug is at its most basic. At its simplest, drugs are substances that alter a person's state of mind after taking it. There are many categories of drugs, such as stimulants, depressants, and opioids. Stimulants enhance CNS activity and give you a burst of energy. Stimulants include the likes of caffeine in your coffee to drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine. Depressants are drugs that suppress CNS activity and give you a relaxing feeling, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines. Opioids are sometimes referred to as painkillers due to the fact that they suppress physical pain. Examples include morphine, oxycontin, and fentanyl. Opioids will be the main focus for this post, particularly fentanyl.
To understand the scale of the problem, it is important to look at some stats. A total of 1,904 apparent opioid toxicity deaths occurred from January-March, 2023. This is an average of 21 deaths per day. 81% of these deaths were caused by fentanyl. Why fentanyl is a question that can be answered by what fentanyl is at its core: it's synthetic. This means that fentanyl can be and is made in a lab and can be mass-produced and distributed. Drugs such as cocaine can be laced with fentanyl and cause death, since a very low dose of fentanyl is enough to be lethal. To put it into perspective, fentanyl is transported in kilograms by drug dealers, and 1 kilogram of fentanyl can kill 500,000 people. Fentanyl that weighs the same as a ukulele or a bag of rice can take out 80% of the population of Hamilton, ON.
Since the beginnings of the opioid epidemic and the rise of oxycontin and other opioids, there has been many attempts and methods to help save as many people as possible. Everything from education to the distribution of naloxone, as well as ideas such as don't do any drugs if you don't want problems. While the latter is the most common response to drug problems, it is rather too simple. If you feel ill or have a headache, do you not take Tylenol? That is technically a drug so why take it? Are you recovering from surgery and the pain is too much to bear? Can't take morphine then, since it is a drug, one that comes from a family of very addictive drugs. This argument may be a bit silly on a grand scale, but this leads into my disagreement over this stance AND most blanket statements. Statements like this assume that ALL drugs are bad for you, but there are many that people take for health reasons that are prescribed by pharmacists. Blanket bans also don't discourage drug use, rather it discourages drug users from getting help due to the fear of punishment. People with addictions to anything will always find a way to access their addictions, it would be much better to help them deal with their addictions than to banish them for it. Blanket bans will lead to more overdoses than it is created to prevent.
I believe that there should be a more case-by-case approach. While some drugs, such as meth, heroin, or fentanyl are extremely addictive and worthy of banning, certain drugs should at least be decriminalized and that's a view I think is fair. I personally am not a fan of the decriminalization happening in BC, as 2.5 grams is a lot for hard drugs. 2 milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose, and 2 mgs is 0.002 grams of fentanyl. Fentanyl is also commonly mixed with other drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, and 1 milligram too much can be the difference between life and death. A much reduced barrier, around 0.5-1g at most, is fair in my opinion. It is impossible to prevent all drug uses, but it is possible to prevent the deadlier uses. Naloxone training is very effective and helpful, and can prevent a lot of overdoses. While it may be way too soon to normalize drug use, at least talking about drug use shouldn't be. Any help is good, such as naloxone training as well as transparency in substances used. I would rather live than die over the fear of punishment. It is also important to remember that help and hotlines are confidential. If you are a drug user that needs help, don't be afraid, there are resources to help you. There are many other socio-economic reasons for how drugs and drug-related issues are spread, this is just a very small view. Here is a link I hope you find helpful:
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