What I read
In "'One of our biggest nights': Police brace for spike in family violence," Melissa Cunningham and Chloe Booker (2018) report that police in the Australian State of Victoria blame alcohol and the high emotions for the 20% increase in domestic violence on the night of the Australian Football League (AFL) grand final, which is similar to reports by English police for major football games and the even larger increases in violence seen in New South Wales crime statistics for their State of Origin football game days. This is sharp increase in violence in families is exceeded only on New Year's Eve, with a 50% increase. The writers say that police are encouraging fans to keep their mates from drinking excessively and getting caught up in disputes.
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My response
I chose this article because reading a few of the blog posts from last week, it appeared that some people think alcohol a less harmful drug than most, or possibly all, illegal drugs, and I'm sure this is wrong.
That alcohol is a common contributing factor in fights, domestic abuse of wives and children by drunk husbands and boyfriends, also wives and mothers, is well known. And in Thailand, such national celebrations as New Year and Songkran are famous for the horrifically high number of road deaths, in which alcohol is again a major contributing factor to destroying families, inflicting serious injury that puts massive costs on health care, and other harms to society.
Since these facts are clear, it is hard to see any good reason that can justify treating alcohol differently to other popular drugs that Thai people enjoy, such as yaa baa, marijuana or whatever. I'm sure there are still a few people who enjoy using heroin and opium, but the popular drugs I regularly read about in the news are yaa baa, or amphetamines, and marijuana. In fact, every week in the Bangkok Post, there are reports of massive seizures of these two highly popular drugs, usually with a photograph of lots of police standing around the proof of their failure to eradicate these popular drugs. These repeated reports show that the current drug policy is a total failure that is against the wishes of a very large percentage of Thai citizens, who are the willing customers for these harmful drugs, although an even greater number of Thai citizens are eager to harm themselves and society with alcohol.
Surely if the producers, dealers and users of less harmful drugs such as marijuana and heroin are arrested and imprisoned, the people responsible for producing and dealing alcohol, all those wine, beer, whisky and champagne dealers, should be in prison for much longer periods!
I can only think of one reason why many popular drugs of addiction are illegal when alcohol is not: for some reason, the politicians who make up the law are eager to support mafia groups and corruption, both of which are obviously thriving under the encouragement of the monopoly that the law makers have kindly given them. To support mafia and corruption at such high costs to everyone else in society seems to me insane.
And now I'm wondering why so many people seem to think that current drug laws make any sense either rationally in view of the evidence, or morally in view of the unequal treatment. To lock people up for using or dealing in something less harmful than alcohol, whose super-rich producers are admired for their wealth, is bad morals; in fact, the phrase that comes to my mind is moral corruption.
That alcohol is a common contributing factor in fights, domestic abuse of wives and children by drunk husbands and boyfriends, also wives and mothers, is well known. And in Thailand, such national celebrations as New Year and Songkran are famous for the horrifically high number of road deaths, in which alcohol is again a major contributing factor to destroying families, inflicting serious injury that puts massive costs on health care, and other harms to society.
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| More of the regular proof of failure. Source: Bangkok Post, 2018, September 26 |
Surely if the producers, dealers and users of less harmful drugs such as marijuana and heroin are arrested and imprisoned, the people responsible for producing and dealing alcohol, all those wine, beer, whisky and champagne dealers, should be in prison for much longer periods!
I can only think of one reason why many popular drugs of addiction are illegal when alcohol is not: for some reason, the politicians who make up the law are eager to support mafia groups and corruption, both of which are obviously thriving under the encouragement of the monopoly that the law makers have kindly given them. To support mafia and corruption at such high costs to everyone else in society seems to me insane.
And now I'm wondering why so many people seem to think that current drug laws make any sense either rationally in view of the evidence, or morally in view of the unequal treatment. To lock people up for using or dealing in something less harmful than alcohol, whose super-rich producers are admired for their wealth, is bad morals; in fact, the phrase that comes to my mind is moral corruption.
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My question
Should the sale and use of the addictive drug alcohol be criminalized in the same way as marijuana, yaa baa, heroin, cocaine and other drugs?
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Reference
- Cunningham, M. & Booker, C. (2018, September 27). 'One of our biggest nights': Police brace for spike in family violence. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/one-of-our-biggest-nights-police-brace-for-spike-in-family-violence-20180927-p506ax.html
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