THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Greatest intoxicant is the deadly global drugs war 

Greatest intoxicant is the deadly global drugs war 

Re: “Major offensive in Thailand’s war on drugs”, Have Your Say, September 13.

Krataiboy correctly states that the highly lethal drug alcohol is freely available, and even glamourised in some societies, but devastates whole communities. He might have added nicotine and gambling, equally cataclysmic in their own ways and, in the case of the latter, openly endorsed on English Premier League football shirts and at other major sporting events.
Let’s face it, the so-called “war on drugs” is unwinnable, and legitimises the wholesale slaughter currently being prosecuted by the likes of the rabid Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines.
In demonising marijuana, Krataiboy conveniently overlooks the proven medical benefits of the substance, as recognised by several US states where it is now legal. He also warns of populations “zonked out” and thus made malleable for “unscrupulous political leaders”. He might wish to cast an eye around the world at several recognisably odious regimes now, with not one spliff in sight.
I would suggest that he updates his reading and gets his head around Thucydides, Hobbes and Machiavelli, whose thinking is far more firmly rooted in reality than Huxley’s. This applies particularly to Hobbes’ depiction of life as “nasty, solitary, poor, brutish and short”.
Dr Frank
Bangkok

nationthailand