Pubdate: Sat, 04 Dec 2004
Source: St. Augustine Record (FL)
Copyright: 2004 The St. Augustine Record
Contact:  http://www.staugustine.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/771
Author: Peter Guinta, Senior Writer
Referenced: Christine Kenneally's book review 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1834/a07.html

Perspective:

JOURNEYS DON'T ALWAYS MEAN LEAVING HOME

In New York Times reporter Christine Kenneally's remarkable review in 2002
of "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics," by Richard
Davenport-Hines, she sets out the scene in a vivid manner.

It begins, "In a sunless room in Bengal in the 1670s, a group of
English sailors enacted a scene that would, in spirit, be repeated in
basements, bedrooms and alleys of the Western world for centuries.
First, they each swallowed a pint of Bhang, a local drink. One of the
sailors then sat and sobbed all afternoon, another began a fist fight
with a wooden pillar, yet another inserted his head inside a large
jar. The rest sat about or lolled upon the floor. They were completely
stoned."

Bhang's crucial ingredient was cannabis, Kenneally said. The
eyewitness report by merchant Thomas Bowrey, who watched the sailors
and their behavior, was the earliest historical account by an
Englishman of recreational drug usage.

"The Pursuit of Oblivion" is a history of drug-taking that concludes
that intoxication is not unnatural or deviant, Kenneally said. The
author sees it as "part of the repertoire of normal human
activities."

Looking at that conclusion from a nonindoctrinated perspective, it
makes perfect sense. The desire to escape present circumstances --
without actually going anywhere -- is as old as humanity. The ancient
haiku masters of Japan wrote of their intoxication on rice wine.
American Indians had their peyote religious ceremonies, until that was
severely restricted by the suspicious white government.

Who knows what visions those people will see?

South American indigenous peoples have their own hallucinogenic
substances, as do the voodoo priests of Haiti.

America has booze. Perhaps that's why we're sometimes seen from
outside our borders as a violent, dissolute nation. We working folks
don't think anything's wrong with being loaded up with red meat, guns
and beer. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I don't have a gun, but
I often keep company with the other two.

Kenneally reports that Davenport-Hines assembled strong evidence that
"criminalization has created the modern drug problem."

"Enforcing laws against drug trafficking actually increases the
economic reward for those willing to run an illegal business," she
observes.

A recent National Public Radio report said opium production is at
record levels in Afghanistan right now, despite worldwide efforts to
wipe it out. Coca production doubled between 1985 and 1996, the book
says.

All these arguments came to light this week as I dug into my files for
Kenneally's review. The medical marijuana issue is before the Supreme
Court, and will probably fail.

The Bush administration, being wagged by the tail of the Religious
Right, is playing hardball on the drug issue.

Kenneally ends her review by asking this question: "After all, who
hasn't longed for oblivion or dreamed of ecstasy? Who hasn't wished
for something, anything, to take the edge off daily life?"

Those individuals who are captivated by their religion already have
their escape. Oblivion and ecstasy are key words to them. Their
insights come from a known location.

But a growing number of people are not religious in the conventional
sense and would like to walk through the doors of perception, as
Aldous Huxley put it.

I think they should be free to do so without risking criminal
sanctions.

I doubt that will happen. There is a three-legged cabal keeping this
nation safe from hallucination -- a well-financed alcohol lobby, an
entrenched legal and law enforcement lobby and (this is The Big
Kahuna) organized religion. They'll keep a lock on the minds of
Americans for decades to come.

It is just irritating that tax dollars pay for anti-drug ads that lie
so blatantly. Drug usage may not be smart, but there's nothing immoral
about it. Any definition of "freedom" probably has the word "choice"
in it somewhere.