I have been around the planet for a lot of years.I was one of the so called hippies of the 1960's that supposedly lived free and drugged daily.I won't even mention the sex except to say that it was before aids,chlymidia,herpes and all the other untreatable std's that plague todays youth.Back in the day there was a kind of methamphetamine that was so pure that an ounce consisted of a crystal rock that resembled a diamond.Back in the day we never even heard of a filter for injectable drugs as most injectables were so pure that they dissolved at contact with water or with the application of a little flame.So what,we had some good drugs?The thing is,I have been watching A&E network's programs on meth and how it's such an unbreakable habit and how people are losing their children and their families for a dirty test after a prison sentence that would make a Canadian weep.The huge industry that's grown up around the meth problem and the funds being spent on fighting this insidious drug.We had a street in Kitsalino, hippie central,that was called chemical row.It was on a two block stretch of 7th avenue,along some train tracks that hadn't been used for a while.It started out like the rest of what was called the 4th avenue area but morphed into a speed row where eventually every house was full of speed cranking hippies.There were no rehabs in those days,drugs were virtually unknown except to that select few who had dropped out and were experimenting with all manner of drugs,mostly psychadelics and marijuana with just about anything else thrown in for specific reasons(like downers for bad trips or valium for coming down off of just about anything.)My point here is,that eventually,speed became such an obvious bad trip that everyone moved away and cleaned themselves up.I imagine others,like myself,became hooked on heroin.This came much later and I feel was as much a result of the pressure of the lifestyle(the police treated all drugs the same and doors were coming off all the time)Undercover busts were common and would result in things like 178 arrests and 276 charges etc,etc.People,unused to police tactics were turning against their best friends and paranoia was rife,not only because of the drug busts and constant harassment but from political pressure.It was an all out culture war with the government using all the insideous and underhanded tactics you've all read about by now.I apologise for the rambling nature of this blog but I've been feeling like hell lately and am faced with having to scrub my computer and start over as I messed up in the initiation phase.My point is that methamphetamine,the kind that's being made in back yards and kitchens is not pure meth and perhaps that's why people find it so hard to kick.I think people have just been brainwashed by ONDCP into thinking things are much worse than they really are.I have seen the worst case senarios that are always featured in stories about meth and I was involved enough to know that it can be a very seductive drug and can really destroy your body and mind.I just don't see it as the plague the government portrays it as.We had two blocks plus of multiple room homes,mostly three story,full of speed freaks who mostly quit on their own and moved on.I am in no way down playing the danger of any drug to people with compulsive personalities.I just don't understand how people,once removed from the influence of the drug for a period of time,can go back to doing something as destructive as speed.I know the problem took care of itself back in the 60's and I was amazed to hear that it was making a comeback.Then I began watching these shows and the speed was dirty and muddy and needed filtering and who knows what's in that stuff?It's just not that much fun doing speed.It's obviously a big problem and I would advise anyone hooked on speed to get away for a while till your mind clears.I just don't get this in and out of prison and still going back on the drug?There's something else going on here.I refuse to believe that if people had a constant supply of good quality speed that was available on demand that they would continue to use it.Like everything else in the drug war,the seduction seems to be in the game more than in the drug.I'm not naive,I've done speed,a lot of speed.I just had no problem realising that it would kill me and so I quit.I understand it's even making a comeback in Vancouver because it's an all day high and it's dirt cheap.This is the result of the pressure on heroin that dropped the quality down to where it was too expensive and it was easier to do speed because you can go out and pick empties and pay for a days speed.Back in my day there were a few hard drugs that a very small percentage(1-1&1/2%)of people did and they wre pretty much contained.Now we have drugs of all kinds,some more dangerous than anything we were exposed to,being done all over the place.The prohibition model is a self perpetuating perpetual motion machine and all you have to do is look at the speed problem to see how impossible it is to contain.They take cold meds off the shelves and the Mexican and Canadian gangs take over.Most people will never even experiment with drugs of any kind.Those that do it seems will do anything to escape the reality they just can't bear.These figures are virtually unchanged,when you factor in population growth,from before drugs were banned.All we seem to have done is push people from one drug to another in an ever growing circle of treatment,prison,rehab,courts,relapse,more rehab,more prison.Anything we do that's different,would be an improvement as things always seem to be getting worse the harder they crack down.Meth used to be something that people could kick on their own with little difficulty.Now,it seems to be as hard to beat as heroin with the added factors of being destructive to the human body.I have no explanation for this.I just wish we had been listened to back in 1974 when we suggested a heroin maintenance program for addicts,as at that time heroin was the one drug(besides alcohol)that was virtually unbeatable.Why people are now finding meth and cocaine just as hard to beat is beyond me.Why a successful heroin maintenance program was allowed to die without any study of the data is obvious.Just read Stephen Harper's confirmation that his government was responsible for the mail out that called addicts a plague that needed to be separated from society and isolated till cured or dead and you see where the problem is.Addiction is a disease,even Harper &co admit that.They would just rather kill the disease by eliminating the stricken,like the bombing of the village in Outbreak.You can write people off by treating them or by isolating them for life.The first is less expensive and far more humane.The latter is the moral and righteous approach.There's no question which way our current group of supposedly born again Christians wants to go.As for meth,The current approach is not working.The United States has shown that stiffer sentences is no answer.Unfortunately,our Prime Minister doesn't believe in science.He believes it's all in the hands of God and that he and his government are God's instrument.