If you think the United States has a national emergency when its borders are perforated by Mexican drug lords, what about the potential problem that exists along the longest, unprotected border in the world? This border, commonly known as the International Boundary, separating Canada from the US, is 8,891 kilometres of under-protected space.
Drug running – smuggling dope – is big business in Canada. In July 2005 law enforcement personnel arrested three men who had built a 360-foot tunnel under the border separating British Columbia and Washington State, a tunnel that they intended to use to smuggle marijuana. Maybe they were encouraged by the fact that the Canadian public has been equally divided on whether or not marijuana should be decriminalized.
No matter who the drug provider is, it all boils down to money. Be it the consumption of illegal or legal drug use, the bottom line remains: it is a bonanza for pushers. One has to wonder whether the emerging social philosophy of helping people kick the hard, illegal drugs by substituting them with government approved or pharmaceutically provided, soft drugs, isn’t just another way to access underground profit.
I am not sure whether we have really learned from history. In the 1850’s, when trade with the Orient opened up opium addiction, an epidemic hit North America. Addicts were weaned off the drug with a “non-addictive” substitute, morphine. It wasn’t long before morphine was treated with another “non-addictive” substitute, heroin. Heroin, in turn, was treated with “Adolphine,” in honour of Hitler, and was later renamed methadone. Now, there is a “non-addictive” substitute for you. When Ontario, in 1996, took over the methadone treatment program from the Federal government, increasing the availability of methadone for the province’s heroin addicts, the number of deaths increased seven fold among another, newly created drug breed, methadone addicts.
The demand for drugs has not diminished. Holes in the national net remain. In 1994, 28.5% of Canadians consumed illicit drugs by 2004, that figure jumped to 45%. As much as I want the holes fixed, I do not believe that building “shooting galleries” or “safe houses” where addicts can take addictive, illegal drugs, funded by the taxpayer, is the solution.
Drug dependency is on the rise, and few will ever get free from the high hook. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says that if a person takes drugs long enough, the brain will make changes so that it can handle all the extra chemicals being put into it. In an attempt to adjust, the brain will tell the neurotransmitters to slow down the release of certain chemicals in the pleasure circuit.
As a result, normal levels dip, and a person becomes depressed. The addict takes more drugs to feel better, leading to a lower low. When the drug wears off, the addict feels even worse than before and starts to feel symptoms of withdrawal, leading to greater drug use. The human body has a system of checks and balances, but overloaded with other chemicals, like an electrical surge to a computer, the brain shuts down. This leads to tragedy.
The CAGE questionnaire has been used to help people identify their drug problem. They ask four key questions: one, have you ever felt you ought to Cut down on your drinking or drug use two, do you get Annoyed at any criticism three, do you ever feel Guilty about your drinking or drug use and, four, do you ever take an Early-morning drink or use drugs when you get up to eliminate the shakes?
It’s a very helpful questionnaire, especially for those who are willing to be honest with themselves about their addiction. Personally though, I am torn between funding solutions for dependency, drug education, harm reduction programs, police initiatives against trafficking, or returning to good, old-fashioned parenting and house rules that taught a child to say, “No!”
I once read a report of someone commenting on the busting of a Methamphetamine lab that had been found in an old farmhouse. A bystander asked, “Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?” The reply is a classic, and may constitute a missing and necessary part of the Canadian solution.
He said, “I had a drug problem when I was young. I was drug to church on Sunday morning….I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull the weeds in mom’s garden and flower beds ….I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbours to help out someone who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood, and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime for a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.
Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behaviour in everything that I do, say and think today. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroine and, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place. God bless the parents who drugged us.”
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