Doing some research I discovered some ridiculously messed up and inconsistent things about our drug Scheduling system. First it is important to know what Schedule I means. Schedule I chemicals are those illegal in all circumstances and are designated as follows: No legit medical use, high potential for abuse.
Schedule II substances are controlled substances which are said to have legitimate medical use, but also a high potential for abuse. Schedule III is like II but is in 'theory' for less addictive substances.
Anyhow when you see what drugs are deemed the most dangerous it becomes apparent that the scheduling system is based on politics and not medicine. These are all Schedule I substances: Marijuana, LSD, Peyote, MDMA, Psilocybin, Ibogaine, 2c-b and via the Analogue Act any other possible chemical that resembles these. Lastly we have heroin.
In Schedule II we have: cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, PCP and morphine. The irony here is that almost all Schedule II substances have a higher potential for addiction and more adverse physical effects. The saddest part is how both LSD and MDMA have been demonized by prohibition authorities with far flung and unjust associations with PCP, and yet you can actually obtain PCP legally while you can't MDMA. In fact, it is possible (though difficult) to get a prescription for Methamphetamine.
Indeed more disturbing is that most Schedule I chemicals HAVE had legit medical use. LSD and MDMA in particular were both considered revolutionary advances in the field of psycotherapy before outlawed. Even the government will tacitly admit marijuana can have some medicinal value. And yet according to the law all of these have less legitimacy than cocaine or PCP? Even Judge Young who presided over the MDMA Scheduling hearings recommended it be placed in Schedule III. The DEA overrid him and placed it in Schedule I anyway.
The only substance that actually makes sense being Schedule I is heroin. However, there are many newer and more efficient opioids such as Oxycodone that are Schedule II and III. What this means is that addictive opioids are not something that necessarily earns the governments prohibition, but instead the name recognition of Heroin and the notoriety that goes along with it. Heroin is illegal while stronger opiates are not because of the public perception about it. It's politics.
What we ultimately see is that the one unique characteristic of Schedule I substances is that they are percieved as threatining to the Establishment and majority culture. Thus Schedule I is really like the part of the jail for political prisoners. Schedule II drugs have caused many problems, like violent criminals. But the harshest punishment is reserved for those who are on the political blacklist, without regard to whether or not they are actually dangerous or have done wrong. So it is with the war on drugs.
-------------------- 1. "After an hour I wasn't feeling anything so I decided to take another..." 2. "We were feeling pretty good so we decided to smoke a few bowls..." 3. "I had to be real quiet because my parents were asleep upstairs..."
Edited by Divided_Sky (03/25/06 09:30 PM)
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