The worst drug

Last week was eventful.  We witnessed the horror of the Norwegian mass killings, which have left everyone, and I mean everyone, deeply shocked. The thing that is most disconcerting is that Breivik's logic is twisted and deranged but... the opinions he holds about a white Europe cleaned up of Muslims and blacks are unfortunately shared by a sizable minority. And to me that is the most unsettling and worrying thing.  When I posted the photo below on deviantArt I was appalled at the number of racist comments it attracted.
Better writers than me have commented at length on Norway and the implications of the killings so I will not elaborate further except to say that I hope and pray we can all put this behind us and heal the deep wounds, somehow.
Another sad event of last week was the death of the very talented but so very troubled Amy Winehouse. At 27 she joins the so called "Club 27" made up of artists, especially rock musicians, who died at just 27, following a self destructive path laced with excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol.  It seems that Amy died of alcohol poisoning. Despite all the attempts at cleaning up, Amy really stuck to the idea of not wanting to go in rehab, as she famously sang, not really, despite various attempts, including one in May this year, when she apparently arrived at the Priory clinic totally drunk and semiconscious, as reported by newspapers.   Could her death have been prevented?  Was it an accident? Was it deliberate? We will never know.


I am ambivalent about suicide. I do believe that people do have the right to choose for themselves whether they want to live or not. But it should be a rational choice, not something that people do out of desperation, because someone or something has pushed them into it , no matter how unwittingly.  I cannot comment on Amy's reasons because I did not know her personally, nor do I know what it is like to be famous and be crushed by the weight of that fame and its demands. As many have said, her death  really seems a complete waste of talent and beauty. I am truly sorry to see her go and I hope that wherever she is, she can now find some peace.
What worries me out of all this is the fact that most people continue to ignore that alcohol is a killer. Alcohol poisoning is far more common than one would think and it causes death. People pass out and choke on their own vomit, especially if they are alone, with no one able to raise the alarm. Many a college student have died after binge drinking, yet I feel that this has not been adequately discussed and publicised. Alcohol is a legal drug, freely available from licensed stores, found in most homes.
According to statistics recorded by Drinkaware about 157 people a week die of alcohol poisoning  in the UK - this seems to be an average figure and it keeps on growing. Most of them are young people who indulge in binge drinking.
There are people who live a  life of alcohol addiction for years eventually dying when their liver gives in.  But many more people die of alcohol related deaths, which may include accidents caused by the effects of alcohol on reflexes.
So alcohol is the worst drug of all and it is legal. My question is: if other drugs too were legal, including heroin, would that make it worse? Or would it help the fight against addiction? I would really like to know.

( Model Alex B.  Photos by Alex Ingram )

Comments

  1. You may have heard that some US states have legalized marijuana/cannabis for medical purposes. Yet the federal government continues to feed us the line that "marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug." Hypocrites! As you say, alcohol--and tobacco--have caused, are causing, and (unless society changes drastically) will keep on causing incalculable harm to individuals, families and institutions.

    And it's easy enough to see that, just as the Constitution's Eighteenth Amendment led directly to the terrible gang violence of the 1920s and early '30s, the irrational prohibition on marijuana and other "illegal" drugs is directly responsible for the ongoing violence on the US-Mexican border, which has already taken hundreds if not thousands of lives and destroyed many more.

    It's time for a different approach, one that aims not at mindless prohibition but at personal change.

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  2. P.S. I have always love that pic of you and Ciby! It's a real icon. And the two by Alex Ingram are wonderfully beautiful too; the first especially, where we see you from behind, makes you look girlish and playful. What a great co-artist you are!

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  3. I really like that pic too! it's wonderful

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  4. I found the photo of you and Ciby on someone's Tumblr blog tonight and re-blogged it from them. As a 53 year old woman, I often look for photographs that realistically and lovingly portray mature women for their beauty and *still alive*! This photo does that wonderfully as well as being so provocative. And of course you are a woman of remarkable beauty, so that doesn't hurt a bit! I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I've spent here tonight looking and reading, thank you so very much.
    Jill

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