THE SEPARATION OF DRUGS AND STATE
by Andrew Williams

It is a phenomenon more predictable than Old Faithful, Halley's Comet or
George W. Bush lying through his cornpone-infested teeth. Whenever the
topic of conversation turns to drug legalization, health or a hundred
interrelated subjects, whether at a party or a panel discussion, someone
will utter the phrase "alcohol and drugs" or "alcohol, tobacco and drugs"
as if there is a philosophical or pharmacological fact that justifies this
separation.

I puzzled about this misconception for years. "I puzzed and puzzed 'til my
puzzler was sore," just like the Grinch. Then, thanks to my old buddy Bill
Hicks (R.I.P.), I saw the light of Truth. As he explained to me in his HBO
One-Night Stand episode, "Nicotine and alcohol--good drugs.
Coincidentally, *taxed* drugs...Those untaxed drugs--those are the ones
that are bad for you."

So the separation in people's minds is arguably not based on psychoactive
properties or chemical constituents, but on much shakier economic grounds.
And I've heard legions of people make this mistake, from single and
double-digit IQ types to double domes who really should have known better
and would have if they had thought instead of reacting.

Another problem with this semantic shortcut: which drugs? Illegal drugs?
Psycho-pharmaceutical pablum? Without differentiation, everything except
ciggies and booze gets lumped into one set. It's this kind of blinkered
thinking that led to the War on Some People with Some Untaxed Drugs and
keeps it going.

The idea that Prozac is better than pot simply because it's legal and
taxed, that pot and acid have no potential theraputic value because they
are black-market substances, is rooted in their untaxed status. Keeping
pot et.al. illegal--untaxed--keeps them beyond the pale in most minds.
"Anything illegal is bad; therefore 'drugs' (meaning, potentially, almost
everything from acid to yage) are bad."

Personally, I don't prefer alcohol or tobacco--drink gives me sinus
headaches and the number of cigarettes I've ever smoked equals the number
of joints Frank Zappa smoked. But I'm not about to reinvent myself as a
21st century Carrie Nation or, like the late Alice Helm, blame my health
problems entirely on second-hand smoke. One thing everyone should realize
is that a War on Nicotine will fail as resoundingly as Prohibition.

I do have a strong suggestion for everyone reading this: either start
referring to all psychoactive substances as drugs--lump everything from A
to Zoloft in one set--or be specific. The next time you hear somebody say
"alcohol and/or tobacco and/or drugs," point out the illogic of their
statement and ask them to be specific. If more people are aware of this
semantic fallacy, that's more people who will be aware of the inherent
fallacy of fighting a War Against Some People With Some Untaxed Drugs. And
myabe--just maybe--we can persuade a majority of the American people that
this cruel, arbitrary and capricious War on Some People with Some Untaxed
Drugs must end *now.*

"You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
and the world will live as one."
--John Lennon