Should drugs be legalised II

Dunno. Really.

Jake Coe died a few days ago, reportedly of an overdose. He was not Chatterton, a blazing star across the sky, but a gifted man who had developed his talents after becoming addicted in youth. “Going off the rails” I wrote, and deleted, because it is more complex than that. We need to escape reality. Human kind cannot bear it.

We need to escape reality, because reality is difficult and painful. S was off the booze for twelve days, but is back on it, I hear. Her parents told the corner shop not to sell booze to her, so she would have to walk a mile- not having a car- to the next shop to buy it. The pub on the corner closed.

We need to escape reality, and when working I would eat with a friend on Friday night and have half a bottle of wine, occasionally a whole bottle. There are better ways of relaxing and recovering. Meditation, perhaps. Truth-speaking from a meditative state is valuable. What do you most want to communicate?

We need to lose control, because the human being acting spontaneously is a wonderful thing. I wrote one of my best poems when drunk, but Dylan Thomas wrote immortal poetry drunk. We go from creeping along, testing every footstep for safety, to Being. Gloriously. Alive, to Flying

unless that is an illusion, a siren dream

LSD can create a sensation similar to a Spiritual Experience. I get them in my Quaker meeting occasionally- there’s the one like Being at One with the Universe, and the one like All my Senses Coming Alive, and others- they are lovely, and they may even have a lasting effect on me. Licia Kuenning, former girlfriend of Timothy Leary, started talking to God- Jesus, she told me by email, had written that email through her- about something preposterous and wonderful and beautiful, and divorced from reality. I can hardly imagine her joy when she became convinced of her personal revelation. I think she has talents which might have been better used.

We need to escape reality, so the problem is the need rather than the method. Make reality unbearable- school tests for four year olds, hours of homework and constant competition, the knowledge that success is impossible- and you create the need. To survive in this competitive world you need to be in control. We need to lose control, and that can be so utterly threatening that we can only do it with chemical assistance.

My friend’s son became paranoid on weed. His parents, friends, toulemonde were out to get him. He made the connection after two experiences of this, and gave up. There are risks in the ways we escape reality. Of course heroin is legal, but only prescribed by doctors in restricted situations, as “morphine”. There was no harm in my mother being addicted, as she would die of cancer within months.

We need to escape reality. We need to lose control. When these human things are transfigured, there will be no Drug Problem.

Jake Coe’s video, again. Link for those who receive this by email.