Posted on by Nathan Riley

Drug Use Has Comparable Risks To Drinking A High-Ball

Freedom is tied to the discovery of new ideas, what we often call “truth.”

Freedom in the United States is a constant struggle. The most famous and obvious is slavery. Slavery was practiced all over the world, long before it was used to make sugar or grow tobacco. Slaves are a constant backdrop in the Bible. Between 20 to 40% of the Roman population was slaves. Supporters of slavery insisted that once freed blacks would do no work and rape white women. Slavery, we were told, was a pillar of civilization.

As freedom became accepted, slavery conflicted with changing moral standards. Making drugs legal is no greater a change in moral standards than when the United States abandoned slavery or allowed women to vote.

Appeals to freedom, frequently meant changing minds; what was considered “right” became “bad.” Conventional morality opposed a new freedom and then became accustomed to it, even insisting on it.

Freedom permits us to challenge existing ideas; slavery stopped being a “good” and became an appalling evil to many Americans. Freedom allowed reformers to challenge existing ideas and insist on a better reality. Today it is harder to accept that drug use is criminal behavior that good people should stop, an evil that harms us. It is simply untrue that poverty is caused by drug use, multiple reasons are tied to poverty: more people than there are jobs, education that doesn’t instruct many young people, and few programs that help people learn after they are 18 and start to recognize the importance of schooling.

Arguing that drugs are an evil is being challenged. If gambling, overeating and alcohol are addictive it becomes difficult to claim heroin has some special evil factor making it more addictive than other activities. Moreover, drinking, eating, and gambling are legal and most people do not become addicted to these pastimes. People get high at reasonable times in reasonable ways. They do it for the same reason people eat and drink to be merry and have fun. Users feel convivial, have better sex and more fun high.

It’s a pleasure that adults should have the right to enjoy. More and more scientists agree controlled use is possible. Much of the argument gets enmeshed in medical jargon about receptor cells and the way the brain works. However difficult the arguments, these scientific disputes are earth-shattering in their conclusions.

With the same caution that we practice with alcohol, being cautious about how much we consume and when we drink, scientists are telling us that the illegal drugs may foster fun and are just as safe as drinking, which has been legal for nearly 100 years. Many scientists, like Carl Hart in his indispensable book Drug-use for Grown-ups, are saying the public has the facts wrong. Heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, psychedelics, etc. can be used safely, and it’s possible to clearly explain this safe use to the public. In short, there is no scientific basic for making the drugs illegal. The law has got its facts wrong and is impinging on our right to pursue happiness. Freedom Democrats can help persuade the nation to support this reasonable policy. Drug legalization offers freedom to drug users and their suppliers. It is a good thing. It makes sense to weigh the opinion of the scientists; after all, their claim is a breakthrough.

A big mistake is assuming that an illegal drug has the power to control your life. Those of us who live happily with drug users know that people can get high on Friday and be energized for work on Monday. We see this with our naked eyes but public hostility leads us to remain silent. We protect users from the law by keeping them in the closet. This strategy has a bad effect, it prevents the public from seeing the truth. Drug users know that the risk of a highball and a snort are comparable. If drug users left the closet, the public would know that drug users should have the freedom to choose their highs.

A major implication of the scientists’ conclusions is that we overemphasize the dangers of drug use. Focusing on danger moves our thoughts into anxiety, making it easier to accept the false conclusion that this is a high risk activity. A major reason that people use drugs is happiness, a right protected by the Declaration of Independence. Not just protected but one of the three core values in our democracy, “the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Making drugs legal is a simple act of respect, recognizing that the millions of Americans who get high know when they are having fun, and wish to have that feeling again and again. Drinkers know the pleasure of that first drink after work. A decent respect for opinion should make it clear that if drug users say it’s fun they know what they are talking about. The argument for drug legalization is just that simple. Don’t believe it when they tell you drugs destroy your lives. It only happens occasionally and is usually not permanent but just a stage in life. It makes more sense to say, “You should be careful, and learn how to use the drugs safely.”

In turn, it is our obligation to recognize that allowing drug users to pursue their habits is an act of respect. Users should be able to buy drugs conforming to strict government standards. A pill taken to get high should be as safe as a pill prescribed by a doctor. Obviously, there would be restrictions. You wouldn’t want pills that look like candy, you don’t want your children to eat a whole box full. The pills should be child-safe. When it says 60mg of whatever drug, it damn well had better be 60mg. At the same time, the legal drug industry should have the right to recognize that their products are used for pleasure. They should have permission to advertise that people enjoy their products, just as alcohol is advertised with people enjoying themselves.

A debate surrounding the legal sale of drugs that get you high and happy should help protect the users and minimize harms. Legalizing drugs means putting to bed the nightmares that surround the myth of addiction. If gambling and overeating can be an addiction, then it is improbable that there is something especially malevolent in a psychedelic or heroin. Sometimes addiction happens; usually it does not.

Freedom would stop the police from interfering with users’ habits. A decent respect for drug users should recognize their heartfelt plea for civility. We will not harm your children, but we will save the young from the harms of harsh criminal penalties. Instead of threats, we insist on respect and recognition, telling the public, “We will listen to you if you will listen to us.”

{If you think ideas like these can become important by showing how many people think this way, then please contact me. I am 82 and nearly blind and looking for an enterprising person to launch Freedom Democrats.}

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Addiction, Everybody Does It

One of the strangest promises Donald Trump has made is stopping fentanyl. The notion that being mean will stop drugs has never worked.

Freedom Democrats would be familiar with the iron law of prohibition: a more aggressive enforcement brings even more dangerous drugs to the market. When oxycodone was widely available, its safety had been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That many users would experience withdrawal was an unfortunate side effect. That the drug was widely available also meant many persons used it who had received no prescription.

Freedom Democrats believe that the relationship between doctors and patients should be respected, especially by politicians. They have no expertise, and the doctor and the patient should develop their own course of treatment. No drug enforcement agency. No rules about dosage or where the drug’s may be used. That is up to doctors, their patients, and agreements about best medical practices.

Freedom Democrats, had they been in charge, would not have blood on their hands. The politicians who played the blame game are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Lawmakers blamed the pharmaceutical companies for trying to expand their market. In this one sided view, the users had no responsibility; they were simply victims of addiction, had no intelligence, and no will power.

Elected officials accepted the discredited idea that drug users aren’t citizens, have no rights, and are trapped. A nefarious evil captures the user’s soul and deprives them of choice. It’s malarkey; similar ideas have existed for centuries. Witches after all were supposed to exercise control over their victims. Back then, the witches were killed.

Centuries later Democratic and Republican politicians adopted policies that killed the users. They were denied any moral culpability; the drug users were trapped by their “habit.” The politicians dismissed the possibility that drug users were rational and able to control their lives. The way they handled their habit was comparable to the way millions respond to alcohol, food, and caffeine.

The only difference is this group isn’t stigmatized and dehumanized. The effort they put into controlling their habits receives positive reinforcement and often drug treatments.

But the closed-minded lawmakers offered oxycodone users no support; in fact, their one-sided view simply killed hundreds of thousands of users. It should take no brains at all to realize that if a person regularly uses oxycodone you don’t simply say, “You can’t have it. The law says stop.” The law offered habitual users no comfort and legal ways for changing their habits at their own pace. All too often, judges thought it reasonable to tell users you must stop now, a decision that should be made by doctors and their patients.

To nobody’s surprise, Stop Now was a gift to cartels and ingenious people who created alternative illegal supplies. History had repeated itself. Banning marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines had produced illegal markets. In fact, they offered economic stimulus to criminals, and more work for the police. The criminal justice system will thrive.

Not so the drug users. They were too often conned into believing that a pill was oxycodone when in fact it contained a strong dose of fentanyl. The number of victims of the politician’s callousness soared to over 100,000 a year dead from overdoses. More people died in one year than died in the Vietnam War. Freedom Democrats would damn lawmakers for their callousness and cruelty.

This time the witches didn’t die; it was their victims.

Trump displaying the ignorance that is a trademark simply argued that drugs were reaching America because we weren’t really trying. He slammed tariffs on Mexico.

The iron law of prohibition suggests that fentanyl will be replaced by even more dangerous drugs that kill quickly. That drug has already surfaced—nitazenes. Being mean kills drug users.

The very idea that a societal habit like ribald humor can be banned is a joke. For one thing, and Freedom Democrats are an example of this, there is no agreement that drug use is criminal. Another problem is people make money selling banned substances. Banning alcohol in the 1920’s made many fortunes.

Trump’s effort to try harder in the silly hope that the drug will stop reaching the U.S. doesn’t recognize that law enforcement and drug smugglers all too often find ways to share the wealth. Mexico is famous for its ties between law enforcers and drug cartels. Nothing Trump does will change this reality, but we do know that a new drug is here—nitazene.

Democrats of course join Republicans in chasing the impossible goal of stifling the drug trade.

We are still looking for the charismatic and verbally fluent political leader who will support doctors being able to treat drug users without strangers violating their privacy and setting rules that harm a successful treatment.

Obesity is universally recognized as a major U.S. health problem. Doctors understand that many people eat for pleasure; in other words food acts like a drug. It was my habit and mastering it made my weight drop from 270 to 195 and brought a happier life. Dr. Peter Grinspoon’s book Up in Smoke and website makes sensible arguments for allowing doctors to treat patients who use drugs without outside interference.

He makes the point that using drugs is normal. We refuse to recognize that gambling, eating, and caffeine also have addictive impacts. In my case, my addiction to food started in elementary school. I fit Dr. Grinspoon’s theory that “suffering, often alone, feeling bad about myself, in the shadows” drove my eating and explained why diets did not work.

When I was grossly fat, I used to tell people I was addicted, and it was completely visible. Only a few people recognized that I was speaking about my eating habits. People didn’t associate eating with addiction. Addiction is the all-too-common habit of confronting other problems by repetitive behavior that brings no real relief.

Freedom Democrats recognize that drug use and overeating are sister phenomenon. This humane response is alien to Trump’s angry “stomp it out” mentality. It is one reason why Trump is malicious and cruel.

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Overdose Deaths Are Proof That the U.S. Fails To Provide Healthcare to Drug Users

With a drug overdose, a person gradually stops breathing and while it is not true for marijuana, opioid use can be dangerous.

Crossing the street is dangerous—vehicles kill. That is why we have traffic lights and look both ways before crossing. For the illegal drugs we also have “traffic lights:” Don’t do drugs alone. Be sure there is someone there who can help if the user becomes helpless and could die. Have naloxone nearby to interrupt an overdose.

In cities all over the world, drug users inject, inhale, and snort in facilities where a healthcare specialist is on duty and able to interrupt the overdose, or some other health crisis that threatens the user’s well-being.

But not in the United States.

Such facilities are rare and subject to legal sanction because U.S. law can’t distinguish between a crackhouse and a healthcare facility. It’s not just stupid; it’s cruel and all too often murderous.

New York City should have dozens of these programs. Almost every needle exchange program would like to become a healthcare facility where drug users ingest drugs while a healthcare specialist oversees, ready to protect the user if things go wrong. Even with severe limitation the two facilities in New York City have interrupted 1,000 overdoses.

Needle exchange programs set up to stop the spread of H.I.V. faced opposition. “This neighborhood already has too many programs.” Or providing sterile needles and stopping the spread of disease, “Encourages drug use. There is only one message, and that is ‘Just say no.’” Drug use is wrong, accepting the conclusion that illegal drugs must be demonized. Thanks to the public health community and ACT UP’s demonstrations that delivered pithy messages supporting them, needle exchange programs can be found in metropolitan areas all over the United States. Safer consumption facilities should also become widespread.

The neighborhoods survived needle exchange, and the lives of the general public stayed the same. By and large, only drug users and local officials paid attention to the programs. Adding Supervised Injection Facilities would also neighborhood health.

Drug users should have a place to inject drugs away from public view. Many members of the public are disgusted when users take their drugs on street corners or under bridges. A city with drug consumption rooms protects the neighborhood and the privacy of drug users.

The arguments in favor of safer injection facilities are overwhelming. All over Europe, cities have adopted these programs for decades. But not here. A federal judge in Philadelphia has actually found that U.S. law prohibits these programs. Laws intended to close drug dens also stopped health programs.

This situation is more than stupid. It’s deadly. In New York City, on the average, there are about eight deaths every day from overdoses. In 2014, the state comptroller’s researchers reported 2,300 deaths. In 2021, 5,841 New Yorkers died.

Unless something positive is done, 58,000 New Yorkers will die every ten years. The number of deaths in the United States is equally startling. In 2021, 106,719 died in the U.S. That’s a million deaths every ten years.

Nothing, it seems, will persuade U.S. officials to give drug users “traffic lights” to improve their safety. During this time, fentanyl use spread and increased the risk of an overdose.

Fentanyl is easier to smuggle because just a little bit provides a powerful high. If, as Freedom Democrats advocate, these drugs were manufactured by drug companies and prescribed by doctors, only rarely would the prescription authorize fentanyl. There would have been few, if any, overdose deaths from fentanyl-laced drugs.

But because the United States gives illegal operators a monopoly, they are able to add fentanyl. But facts are facts; in the United States people were using opioids when George Washington’s troops were fighting the British, when the Union was battling the Confederacy, and when the United States entered World War I. Opioid use has a long history and will not go away. Policy makers must recognize this reality.

Opioid use is here. And if Freedom Democrats get their way, it will be a safe drug to use. Obviously, some users will want the drug every day; that has always been true, but so what.

Anybody who knows drug users knows that there are depressed people who depend on it. Others want their high right after they’ve been released from prison, forcing them to go “cold turkey” didn’t stop the memories. Indeed, one group who suffer overdose deaths are recently released persons.

Some drug users live disorganized lives, but there are others who support positive change.

Recent news reports describe such a person. Cecilia Gentili founded Trans Equity Consulting, served as director of policy at GMHC, and was board co-chair of the New Pride Agenda. The details of her death are silent on whether she was by herself when the overdose occurred, or whether she was only an occasional user and unused to the potency of fentanyl-laced heroin.

She was in the news in late September 2024 because the two dealers who sold the drugs pleaded guilty in federal court. They face prison sentences well in excess of ten years, an outcome that would probably sadden Cecilia Gentili, who spent her life helping sex workers and transgender persons live with pride. She fought laws that punished persons for their life choices.

We don’t know anything about a person if all we know is that they get high. The U.S. hostility to drug use rests on witchcraft, not science. The United States attributes magic powers to drugs like opioids, but in fact some users have no problems with their drugs, while a smaller group experience fatal consequences.

Freedom Democrats, I believe, should recognize the dangers of many illegal drugs, like heroin and methamphetamine, but society should recognize, with medical care, these drugs are and can be used safely. It makes no more sense to interfere with the doctor patient relationship by prohibiting the medical profession from prescribing drugs that help a person get high than it does to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship surrounding pregnancy.

In fact, the number of deaths from illegal abortions plummeted once government allowed women to consult and work with doctors during the difficult decision about abortion. The same positive results would happen if society allowed doctors the freedom to work with patients who use drugs, leaving it up to the doctor whether the patient will have access to pharmaceutical drugs whose purity has been verified.

It is critical to end the stigma attached to drug use that often forces users to take their drugs secretly and alone. There is no more chance of the United States becoming a nation of drugs users than lifting the stigma attached to homosexuality made everyone gay.

In fact, working with public health specialists it is possible to control drug use and prevent dangerous outcomes. Sixty years ago, on a hot summer day millions of Americans drank beer to quench their thirst. Today they drink water. That is a positive public health result, achieved with a minimum of criminal sanctions. Making drug use a crime causes deadly results. It’s time for us to welcome drug users into society rather than punish them for their habit. The law also ruins the lives of drug sellers with long prison sentences. The only reason they have a market is because the law makes drugs illegal. If drugs were legal, doctors and patients could make their problems manageable.

 Overdoses are proof that society is failing to provide healthcare.

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Medically Supervised Injection Rooms

When it comes to offering help to drug users job one is an elementary obligation used all over the world—giving drug users a safe place to do drugs.

Such a place should be calm, germ-free, and supervised by a specialist who can step in if a person starts to overdose. With safe-injection facilities, users are no longer shooting up on the streets and in back alleys. They have a place to dispose of used needles and paraphernalia. And brings this dramatic benefit: nobody dies of a drug overdose in a safe injection facility. In other words, drug users are no longer treated as a nuisance but find a place that welcomes them.

It doesn’t send a “bad” message. If messaging works, the users would never have acquired a habit. In the United States and all over Europe, people were using drugs when George Washington was President, and they are still using them 240 years later.

Drug users and their allies in the public health community deserve relief from the falsehood that they are solely responsible for their problems. It’s a chance for the users to learn about health tips and find comfort.

Creating this environment is a political problem. Medically supervised injection rooms involve a political choice. Who do you want in charge of providing services? Former users, health professionals, and sensible loving people or judges and cops?

A person has a right to choose how they want to get high, constantly harassing them should be unconstitutional. Drug users are citizens who deserve the same rights as non-users.

We are still in the middle of a crackdown on oxycontin, which is addictive. Private corporations were blamed, and the supply was cut. As a legal drug, the supply of oxy could be cut simply by changing the laws and bringing lawsuits. But in a thoughtless display of callousness nobody offered help to the men and women who had made oxy part of their lives.

With a little prompting anyone over 15 could predict the outcome: some people would stop using, others would use occasionally, and some would buy drugs illegally. This isn’t rocket science.  Users went to the illegal market; remember, the politicians offered them no other choice-stop using or buy illegally-no other options were offered.

Guess what? Drug cartels and fentanyl makers had a larger market and drug overdoses skyrocketed. Every year accidental overdoses of drug users take more lives than the U.S. lost in the Vietnam War.  That is what happens when we ignore the needs of drug users, who are friends, lovers, and often desperately trying to please. Their wishes and needs are ignored. A harsh reaction making drug users into lepers.

Only a political change can make government abandon its belief that drug users cause their own problems and don’t deserve help unless they give up their habit.  It has never worked in the past and it isn’t working now.