Everyone frowns upon drugs, especially in the "real world". I know quite a few people who if they found out their best friend or someone close to them was doing drugs they would be disappointed or ashamed. I know there are people who might find it "cool" or "hard" but I'm sorry to say that's probably because they are or haven been in the drugs scene themselves. Outsiders, usually, frown upon them and disapprove. (There are exceptions, I mean I myself am starting to believe there could be a correct way of using drugs. But I'll get to that later.)
However, for celebrities it's a whole different situation. We idolise and give major publicity to drug using celebrities such as Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty and whenever a star admits there is a problem and trundles off to rehab it's plastered over magazines for days, with continuous updates of how they're doing. Drugs give fame, perhaps not the right kind of fame, but fame none the less.
So there's one reason in favour, if you're fame hungry and all that. But that isn't my main argument. My main argument is drugs, hallucinogenic drugs especially, give a person creativity beyond human realms. I mean, I'm a writer and personally drugs aren't for me , but I would say I do possess some creativity without them. It's not like I'm saying drugs = creativity it's just you can't deny some of the pure genius that has come as a result of drug taking. For example, The Beatles and more so "Yellow Submarine". This is one of their most popular songs and I think it's pretty safe to say they were off they're faces when they came up with. "We all live in a yellow submarine"... come on. But despite this that song and it's logo get everywhere. I mean when trying to buy a ladies fit Beatles t-shirt it's pretty much the only one available. (Trust me...)
Also, in the more "high brow" part of culture there are still drug influences. One of my favourites is a poem called "Kubla Khan" or "A Vision In a Dream: A Fragment." (http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/coleridge.html) As the mini biography in that link suggests, poet Coleridge was "addicted to opium. He claimed that this poem came to him in an opium dream." Evidence that drugs were involved in a widely appreciated poem and one that is still taught in colleges today.
Ok, so many I do sound like I'm being ignorant to the consequences and bad side of drug taking but it's just so heavy emphasised with any mention of drugs that I thought the brighter side needed a little bit of fame. Also, I do have a counter argument about these negatives aspects.
The main danger with drugs is the risk of getting hold of and taking unclean ones. The famous yet tragic case of Leah Betts, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/13/newsid_2516000/2516593.stm, is an example of this. In the article here it states that police believe that the pill "may have been contaminated. "
I've heard stories of everything and anything, including washing powder, being used to create contaminated drugs and why? Because they are illegal and hard to get hold of but make good money. So why not make some duff ones and roll around in the profits?
I think that right there is the problem, not drugs themselves. As it was discussed in lecture, if drugs were made legal surely the number of tragedies concerning them would decrease because drugs from well known pharmacies, such as "Boots", would be clean and also include instructions of use like all legal drugs do. Also the appeal of drugs may decrease because they were no longer "bad" etc and yes the government could tax on them. Plus it allows creative souls to freely experiment and create beautiful things without restrictions and none drug users still have the option of saying no. It's just a thought and this happens in other countries and from what I've heard it's only holiday makers, such as us Brits, who abuse the privilege. Wouldn't making drugs legal cure a lot of the problems that surround them in present times?
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