Troy Ange and Zane Kaleem Get It (almost)
in their article 'We Must Legalize Opioids Now'
by Brian Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher
July 5, 2021
Just read an article by Troy Ange and Zane Kaleem on Medpage Today entitled "We Must Legalize Opioids Now."
I kind of agree. But Troy and Zane fail to understand that the opioid crisis is just one of many inevitable results of substance prohibition itself. And since legalizing opioids is such a big ask already, they might as well go for the brass ring and pursue the legalization 1 of all naturally occurring substances, including opium itself.
My views on this topic are perhaps made somewhat clearer in the following comment I posted beneath the article above cited, though my comment was really in response to another comment by a certain Dr. Michael Atkins, who IMHO betrayed his allegiance -- consciously or otherwise -- to a variety of Drug Warrior lies.
Does Michael not realize that no one in their right mind would use a super-addictive opioid if all psychoactive plant substances (like opium , pot and mushrooms) were legal -- like they have been thru 99.9% of recorded history, until America, the one nation founded on Natural Law, decided for racist reasons to start outlawing plants in 1914? It is the outlawing of all natural mood-affecting psychoactive substances that has incentivized bad guys to profit by selling highly addictive synthesized drugs. The result, Michael? We have an all-out war in Mexico, prisons full of minorities, a self-proclaimed "Drug War Hitler" in the Philippines, and movies 2 3 in which Americans are encouraged to cheer on DEA agents who are gleefully violating the US Constitution -- a document which they obviously hold in disdain. Besides, doctors have no leg to stand on in denouncing addiction, since they tell addicted psychiatric patients like myself to "keep taking our meds." After 40 years of addiction to doctors' brain-numbing drugs, however (oh, pardon me, their "meds"), I am as depressed as ever and longing to be able to use opium weekly instead (to better enjoy a concert, a la De Quincey). If I'm going to be addicted for life, I would prefer a substance that can assist my creativity and insight. Besides, opium is NOT addictive if used properly, whereas Big Pharma 4 5 antidepressants 6 are addictive BY DESIGN. They're meant to be taken every day of one's life! Marco Polo enjoyed opium 7 . As did Benjamin Franklin and Marcus Aurelius. If someone they knew had died of an overdose, they would have blamed a lack of education, both about substances and about life in general, rather than superstitiously blaming the death on an inanimate substance called a "drug."
Notes:
1: National Coalition for Drug Legalization (up)
2: Glenn Close but no cigar DWP (up)
3: Running with the torture loving DEA DWP (up)
4: How Drug Company Money Is Undermining Science Seife, Charles, Scientific American, 2012 (up)
5: Why Is Biopharma Paying 75% of The FDA’s Drug Division Budget? LaMartinna, John, Forbes, 2022 (up)
6: Antidepressants and the War on Drugs DWP (up)
7: The Truth About Opium by William H. Brereton DWP (up)
Ten Tweets
against the hateful war on US
We need to stop using the fact that people like opiates as an excuse to launch a crackdown on inner cities. We need to re-legalize popular meds, teach safe use, and come up with common sense ways to combat addictions by using drugs to fight drugs.
The FDA tells us that MDMA is not safe. This is the same FDA that tells us that "shock therapy" is safe.
Today's Washington Post reports that "opioid pills shipped" DROPPED 45% between 2011 and 2019..... while fatal overdoses ROSE TO RECORD LEVELS! Prohibition is PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE.
The government causes problems for those who are habituated to certain drugs. Then they claim that these problems are symptoms of an illness. Then folks like Gabriel Mate come forth to find the "hidden pain" in "addicts." It's one big morality play created by drug laws.
The drug war encourages us to judge people based on what they use and in what context. Even if the couch potato had no conscious health goals, their use of MJ is very possibly shielding them from health problems, like headaches, sleeplessness, and overreliance on alcohol.
Today's drug laws tell us that we must respect the historical use of sacred medicines, while denying us our personal right to use them unless our ancestors did so. That's a meta-injustice! It negatively affects the way that we are allowed to experience our world!
The outlawing of coca and opium is a crime against humanity.
The Drug War treats doctors like potential criminals and it treats the rest of us like children. Prohibition does not end drug risks: it just outsources them to minorities and other vulnerable populations.
The term "hard" is just our modern pejorative term for the kinds of medicines that doctors of yore used to call panaceas
Here's one problem that supporters of the psychiatric pill mill never address: the fact that Big Pharma antidepressants demoralize users by turning them into patients for life.
Click here to see All Tweets against the hateful War on Us
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Copyright 2025, Brian Ballard Quass
Contact: quass@quass.com
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