Opinions - Pharmacotherapy and the Future of the Drug War

[Toma]

An intheresting synthesis by the CCLE. Pretty old but unfortunately actual.

Pharmacotherapy and the Future of the Drug War: A report by the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics

Summary:
Over the next decade an increasing number of new “pharmacotherapy” medications will become available with the potential to tremendously impact the use and abuse of illegal drugs and the overall direction of national and international drug policy. These pharmacotherapy medications are designed to block or significantly reduce the “highs” elicited by illegal drugs. Used as part of a drug treatment program, pharmacotherapy medications may provide a valuable aid for people seeking a chemical aid in limiting or eliminating problem drug use. However, the tremendously politicized nature of the “drug war,” raises substantial concerns that in addition to those who choose to use such medications, some people will be compelled to use them. In the absence of extraordinary circumstances, governmental action compelling a person to use a pharmacotherapy drug would violate a number of constitutional guarantees and other legal rights protecting people from forced medical treatment. Among the rights potentially implicated by compulsory use of pharmacotherapy drugs are the right to informed consent, the right to bodily integrity and privacy, the protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to freedom of thought.

Full version:
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/issu...cotherapy.html

[Solidly-here]

Toma is giving previews of Coming Attractions: "These pharmacotherapy medications are designed to block or significantly reduce the “highs” elicited by illegal drugs."

The MAIN problem with this is: These drugs do not make the person WANT the drug any less.
So, while this will be an adjunct to getting "clean" ... it won't make the person want to get clean.

Then: He claims that "some people will be compelled to use them."

Well, this isn't gonna happen. The ONLY time the gov't can force a drug on a person is when that person is in "custody" (in Jail, or a Nut Ward ... maybe as a term of Probation or Parole).

Truly, if Uncle Sam wanted to force people to take anti-Drugs, the Courts would strike that law down.
People have Constitutional rights, and this would violate them.

And, EVEN if the Courts allowed this, that person could just take a different drug, and get High on that one.

[Toma]

This wasn't my summary, it was copied and pasted from the CCLE's website. Read the full report for details.

And yes' that's what they say, that basically if you get caught with something, you may be forced for a long duration to take these buzzkill drugs.

But that's not the problem. They are developing VACCINES against drugs. And we all know that vaccination is already compulsory for childred, don't we? It would be a small step in the Drug War to extend vaccination to stop the Drug Epidemic. It's just for the good of the children. Who would oppose?

As I said, read the full report.

[Solidly-here]

OK, Toma, I read several pages of the Report (9 of them, to be exact).

But I did not see what you are talking about.

Please give me specific pages numbers which explain your issues.
Make it easier for us to understand what you are trying to say.

In the meantime, when they predict what scientists will discover 10 years into the future, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Toma]

Page 9, section 1.22 - cocaine vaccine
Page 11, section 1.24a) - nicotine vaccine
Page 18, section 2.1 - the propaganda groundwork initiated by your government in order to introduce compulsory pharmacotherapy.
Page 23, section 2.22.a) - the vaccination issue

" Please give me specific pages numbers which explain your issues."

Fortunately these are not my issues. I live 5000 miles from the good old US of A.

"In the meantime, when they predict what scientists will discover 10 years into the future, it should be taken with a grain of salt."

As far as I understood those pharmaceuticals are in clinical trials with good funding behind them, and your government has been preparing for them for a long time.

[Solidly-here]

OK, I read the sections of the Report.

They are not saying that they think these things are going to happen.
It's more like, if we don't watch out, they might happen.

They talk about Chemical Castration for rapists, and suggest that Parolees might need to take anti-Drugs.
Then they use the Slippery-Slope argument, and worry about all people eventually being forced to take anti-Drugs.

I see where you got your idea.
This would have a hard-sell with law makers. Many of them take Drugs, or their kids, friends ...
Then, the Courts will have to dis-band our Right to Freedom (when the law is appealed).
This sounds a bit like 1984; it was a good novel, but it probably won't happen.
I mean, it could happen, but I am not going to stay up late and worry about it.

[darawk]

This raises another interesting question though. What if there were a vaccine that could be given to kids that would permanently prevent them from getting high on say, cocaine? Should it be legal for a parent to administer this to one of their children, given that the drug will continue to effect them after they have become a legal adult?

It seems like this sort of question would come up(in relation to other things) all the time in medicine, but i've never really heard it discussed.

I don't think it likely that it would ever be compulsory to take these sorts of anti-drug vaccines...but I do think it likely that they would be made widely available for those who 'chose' to use them, or give them to their kids. And even parents who don't mind drug use would probably be pressured into doing it, this is what really scares me.

[El Calico Loco]

I've seen a few articles on these anti-dope vaccines. It seems to be a real near-future possibility.

Let us pray that some brilliant underground chemist discovers an antidote.


ECL

[Paracelsus]

These kind of vaccines can be forced upon kids. Just like kids are obliged to get some other vaccines against several diseases. The only thing the government will have to do is saying that drug use is a serious threat to public health, and these vaccines will stop this, so they HAVE to be forced upon the entire population for their own good. This is a terrifying thing to think about.

[Darksanity]

There will always be some drug or another that cannot be vaccinated for.