{quot}You may see me tonight with an illegal smile. It doesn't cost very much but it lasts a long while. Won't you please tell the Man I didn't kill anyone. No, I was just trying to have me some fun... hot dog fun... your sister's a nun.{quot} - John Prine
In a setting where drug use is illegal, people do {quot}recreational{quot} drugs for three reasons: rebellion, to get high, to change their perception. In places where drug use is not illegal it is not an act of rebellion. If your social reality is not depressing and in need of alteration, there is no need to get high. If everyday life is not marred by glaring ugliness, violence and pain, then one can see clearly and need not change one's perception.
cjd
p.s. vices in general in Europe seem to be considered part of a general economy. The idea that a European country (or many Asian countries for that matter) would launch a {quot}war on drugs{quot} is, quite frankly, laughable.
>From: Erik Hoogcarspel
>Reply-To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: RE: Drug Gaze
>Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 12:46:04 +0200
>
>Well, I live in Holland, so I can tell from experience. Softdrugs are
>permitted for recreational use, you're allowed to posses one or two
>marihuanaplants and just enough to serve yourself and a few guests. It's not
>permitted to deal. But everyone knows that you have to buy your supply
>somewhere, so there are 'coffeeshops' as they're called, where you can buy
>small quantities. What happens at the front door is officially permitted,
>but what happens at the back door not. Suppliers are illegal, but necessary.
>Coffeeshops and suppliers are 'tolerated'. If the police discovers
>commercial production, all plants are distroyed and the owner is mildly
>punished. You can however buy all the cultivation equipment and seeds in
>specialized shops. Being a small densely populated country which you can
>cross by car within three hours from Southwest to Northeast, Holland has
>developed an allergy for antagonism. So 'tolerance' is a very widely applied
>principle. I'm not sure if anyone, even the Dutch themselves can understand
>the logic of this. The defenders of this policy say that it's better then
>the alternative: complete criminalisation. They have a practical point,
>because in Holland there're less drugrelated casaulities and illnesses
>compared to other countries where all drugs are strictly forbidden. And even
>the French gounvernement is beginning to see the practical advantages.
>About the origins of drugculture there's much more to say. I insist that you
>have to look also at the other side of society. In the U.S. there was the
>McCarthyperiod and the managerial revolution. The dominant discourse was of
>domination and control, but there was also a counter discourse, i.e. Erich
>Fromm and Herbert Marcuse. There was theosophy and allready in 1893 the
>Indian swami Vivekananda had become famous. Some influence might have come
>from France where the hasjish was known among intellectuals. I think the
>discourse of control and production created the counterdiscourse and the
>drug are a powerfull weapom aginst the physical discipline of present
>organised labour.
>
>erik
>
>| -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
>| Van: owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>| [mailto:owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]Namens francisfarrell
>| Verzonden: woensdag 2 juli 2003 7:09
>| Aan: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>| Onderwerp: Re: Drug Gaze
>|
>|
>| I don't think marijuana has been legalised in Holland. It is tolerated in
>| certain places in certain cities, as I understand it.
>|
>| regards,
>|
>| Francis
>|
>|
>
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