Legalise drugs to avoid another Scarlett

Vrinda Sharma

Cases like that of the death of Scarlett Keeling, raise a question; does prohibition of substances like tobacco, liquor and drugs do more harm than they themselves can?

Scarlette Keeling's alleged murder has started a debate on the legalissation of drug trade in the country.

The 15 –year old British was not killed by drugs but by the criminalisation
of drugs. The subsequent cover-up attempt by the local police fuelled speculations of alleged collaborations with drug mafias. The drug mafia in Goa makes money from the foreign tourists who visit places like Goa looking for the drugs.

Drugs by themselves may well be less harmful, addictive or life-threatening than either liquor or tobacco. What is more harmful and affects larger sections of society is the criminalisation of drugs. For example, Marijuana has proven medical benefits, including giving relief to cancer patients in pain. Cocaine has been used as a cure for many neurological disorders.

In Indian tradition, drugs like charas are routinely used by sadhus and tantriks, and bhang (a drink made out of opium leaves) is a norm during Holi. Still the society treats liquor, cigarettes and French fries to be “less harmful” and “less immoral” than drugs. A dope fiend is deemed athreat, both to himself and to society, than an alcoholic, a chain-smoker or a glutton. This is mainly because taking or dealing in drugs is seen to be a criminal act, while using liquor or tobacco is not.

Medical evidence suggests that tobacco, liquor and excessive fatty food have more long-term deleterious effects on health than most, if not all, drugs. Nicotine, which constitutes 3 per cent of dry tobacco’s weight, is said to be several times more addictive than Heroin. Despite this, drugs are almost universally banned, and equally universally used, while liquor and tobacco are more or less freely available in most parts of the world.

Based on the principles of free will and free market, citizens and tourists have the right to determine what they consume, as long as it does not harm others. The moral authority of the government cajoles it to regulate the production, distribution and consumption of drugs.

People questioning Scarlett’s character by detailing her sex life and liquor addiction forget that tourists need not be moral and ethical as per our country’s standards. As a country where ‘the guest is ‘next to god’, the least we can ensure is that the god returns back to his/her home, if not satisfied, then at least alive. One way to ensure security of millions of drug users is by legalising drugs.

For too long policy makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to avoid addressing the social and economic factors that lead people to resort to drugs. Attempts at prohibition have only cultivated into organised bootlegging, rampant corruption, gang wars and liquor deaths caused by ‘toxic moonshine’.

With profit margins ranging from 5,000 per cent to 20,000 per cent, there is too much money being made through drugs in Goa, and elsewhere. The United Nations office on Drugs and Crime published’The World Drug report’ in 2004 which estimated that the international drug trade was $400 billion that year, a sum which constitutes 8 per cent of all global trade, 7.5 per cent of all textile sales and 5.3 per cent of all automobile sales.

By driving drugs underground, its dealership goes into the hands of criminals rather than entrepreneurs who are accountable. Prohibition increases the risk factor, not just for drug users but also for the community as a whole, which faces the consequences of organised crime networks on the one hand, and corrupt ‘enforcement’ machinery, on the other.
Legalisation is not a cure-but it does allow the addressing of many problems associated with drug use.

Legalisation will provide an effective policy to reduce harm and dangers of the criminal-supply nexus. It may sound like a scandalous idea, but not more scandalous than Scarlett’s death.