DRUGS OF YOUTH

While the press vilify Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty for being ‘junkie rockstars’ and Gordon Brown changes his mind about the re-classification of cannabis Doctors are prescribing anti-psychotic and anti depressants to children as young as six! These aren’t kids who’ve smoked too much skunk and are suffering cannabis psychosis, these are children who’ve been labelled with ’behavioural problems’ there’s a whole debate there about whether they’re just naughty kids who’ve been brought up on a diet of food additives and the only way to control them is through a ‘chemical cosh’ rather than a clip round the ear and no more Big Macs. I digress from the point that there is a hypocritical view of drugs depending on their definition; Legal or illegal, i.e. whether they are administered by The State or The Individual. It’s fine for the state to control the mood and mind of the individual, but wrong for the individual to make that choice themselves. Either way the end result is the same; people are numbed from whatever pain they are suffering. We are told that illegal drugs are bad , millions have been spent on Campaigns to discourage children from taking them. Just Say No FRANK, but the state is happy to dope up young people on a variety of pills, that often haven’t been licensed for use on children. The harmful side effects of drugs are overlooked by drug companies such as Glaxo in the pursuit of profit, just like the dealer on the estate who doesn’t give a shit what his pills and powder are cut with. The reality is that illegal and legal mind/mood altering drugs can kill in certain cases, don’t just listen to the grieving family whose child has overdosed on heroin, listen to the parents of children who’ve committed suicide after being prescribed Seroxat. So who are the better role models? The Politicians and Doctors who sanction and perscribe the use of drugs on children or Pete Doherty? I know who I’d lock up!