Please - it's just another drug

Had a call from the local press this morning - did we know anything about meth-amphetamine as the police are organising a big conference about it? The machine is cranking up. That is the publicity machine and as is often the case it's driven by the police. This happens with every 'new' drug, we get a scare which succeeds in:

• Raising interest and curiosity in the drug.
• Marketing it.
• Frightening Mums and Dads
• Increasing calls to treatment agencies from the worried well, the press and so on.

Of course the police would argue that they are putting a vital message out to the public aimed at preventing the spread of the drug's use. Which is very laudable but never, ever works. What it does do though is:

• Advance some people's careers as they become the local 'expert' on this new threat to civilisation.
• Attracts funding - e.g. specialist anti-meth squads are set up.
• Loses sight of the real risks of the drug in a fog of myth-making and error.

In previous blogs I have metioned the risks of meth-amphetamine, but if I hear once more that it - or any drug, is instantly addictive - somebody shoot me and put me out of my misery. The biggest risk associated with it is disinhibition and increased sexual risk-taking which can lead to unpleasant diseases. As can injecting it or any other drug. So let's all sit back and watch the next drug panic lift-off.