Madam, – I would like to congratulate you for publishing Richard MacCarthy’s article on drug addiction and alcoholism (Opinion Analysis, November 9th), which deals with the social, legal and clinical realities of addiction in ways that are not contaminated by politically sanctioned policies that are only designed to pander to an electorate.
Apart from the fact that addiction is not just a matter of the homeless and the poor, the article states implicitly (but crucially) that decriminalisation and legalisation do not lead to a descent into chaos and destruction, but rather to the enhanced possibility of the regulation or control of drug use and the crime associated with it.
Addiction will socially and clinically always thrive without structure and regulation and it is important not to step into the trap of thinking that criminalisation and arbitrary laws will provide these. Alcohol is legal but, as the article shows, at least as destructive as illegal drugs.
On a social level, regulation of drugs (and addiction) can be provided by bringing drugs within the realm of civil exchange rather than condemning them to circulate within and between groups that largely operate outside the law and thus outside the possibility of control. On a clinical level, structure can be provided by engaging with addicts, which implies that we have to listen to what they have to say about their lives and experiences.
But what chance do we have in a society that effectively encourages us to enjoy or consume?
Dr RIK LOOSE,
Carlisle Street,
Dublin 8.