The front page of the paper here on Monday said “Everyone Is On Ecstasy”. I knew right away that wasn’t true, because I didn’t feel warm and euphoric, and then I realized they meant it less literally, like ‘more people then you think are taking ecstasy.’
A 14 year old girl died. She took too much, probably danced too hard or didn’t drink enough water, and her heart stopped. (click here to read the story.) Drugs can be dangerous. Which is why children need to be educated about them properly. Schools don’t have drug education, they have anti-drug education. But kids don’t listen. Adults don’t even listen… people take drugs. And they aren’t going to stop. If this girl knew more about the safety of ecstasy use (because lets face it, research has shown that MDMA, in standard recreational doses, is not that harmful to the human brain), then maybe she wouldn’t have taken six pills and died. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think 14 year old kids should be taking drugs, but I don’t think that means we should withhold knowledge from them that might save their lives.
The parents of the girl believe the pills might have been triple strength. The problem with illegal ecstasy (one that the police and anti-drug groups constantly spout) is that you never know how much MDMA, or meth, or DXM, or whatever else might be inside them. If MDMA legal, and sales were controlled to those over 18, maybe dealers outside of the arcade at west edmonton mall wouldn’t be selling triple strength pills to 14 year old girls. I know they could still get the drug, but i… hear that it’s often easier for underagers to get weed, E, coke, or mushrooms than it is to get alcohol or cigarettes. And if these 14 year old had gotten their hands on some semi-legal, lab-made, safe, standard dose MDMA, there’s a good chance we’d have one less dead body.
By legalizing ecstasy (and other drugs), and restricting their sale, we could redirect the funds being used to fight the drug war to helping addicts regain their lives, and educating (not encouraging) people how to use them safely. We could even identify problem cases, by keeping track of who and how much of these powerful recreational drugs are being sold to each person. These people would be encouraged to enter treatment, and investigated for possible sales to underagers. Lastly, legal ecstasy could have helped another kid another kid who got caught in the crosshairs and ended up in the hospital, the dealer. I know most people wouldn’t feel much sympathy for him, even if he is in the hospital after “collapsing” when the police put handcuffs on him (I wonder what made him collapse… I didn’t think handcuffs caused this), but I’m a humanitarian, and I don’t think he ever intended for this to happen, and probably isn’t a terrible person. He was listed as critical, but it apparently getting better. So he can be blamed for the death of a girl that isn’t really his fault.
