The war on drugs is pivotal for most countries. We see how all countries, from the US to China, have struggled with it. While China and most countries won that war. The US is now in a critical state.
By Christian Pavón, staff writer for NewsVoice | This article has previously been published on Substack
Drug politics is a tough field. All countries have their own drug problem. Alcoholism, for example, was a big problem in Sweden, Finland and Russia. 70+ years ago, millions of men in those countries were alcoholics. Mostly men, since it was more accepted than for women, weirdly enough. But these countries came to terms with their problem and started to solve it.
In other countries, for example, China and the US, the drug of choice is mostly Opium.
Opium has been used in many countries, and the Opioid crisis in the US today is actually very reminiscent of the opioid crisis in China.
Of course, there are different nuances to the problem. China had a domestic opium problem when the British came. But the British popularised it to sedate the population and make them not want to rebel.
In a twisted irony, the British also started to like the opium craze that they had rejuvenated in China, and they eventually poisoned their own society with it.
With the boats home from China, the colonisers brought back their own poison. Not before long, every shady London street corner had an opium den…
In Sweden, we were pretty much free from hard drugs until the 70´s. The 70´s brought amphetamines and other hard drugs. In the famous movie A Decent Life, it depicted people called Mods, a kind of hippie in lack of a better English term, that became addicted to drugs during the 60´s as a part of the cultural “revolution” that that age brought with it.
During that time, a truly remarkable person emerged to shape our politics around narcotics. His name was Nils Bejerot. It was a Swedish physician and social worker who formed our policies on narcotics, and why we have been so successful in combating drug abuse, compared to many other countries. Of course, now, Nils’ politics has been harder to maintain due to mass immigration, but his doctrine is very successful if it is applied correctly! To summarise it, Nils believed that drug addiction was a social contagion that needed to be stopped socially first and foremost. This is very true and has shaped our politics on narcotics to become very successful!
Nils was a Maoist. And he is often attacked by his critics for that. The fact is that it is a very bad attack, because Mao was indeed the person who helped cure China’s opium epidemic.
To come to terms with drugs, you need two things:
You need to combat the drug dealers very hard. Often, you have to resort to both extrajudicial executions and sometimes even torture. It is not nice, but sometimes necessary. Trump is in the first part right now. Mexico has been successful in this first step, but i do not know how successful they have been in the second part.
The second part, and the most important, is to alleviate the causes of drug abuse. Meaning that people’s social circumstances get better, and the need to do drugs is heavily diminished. Drug addicts will always exist in all societies to some extent. But if you have many drug addicts in your country, you can´t just blame the drug-dealers, but you have to look inward at your own country’s/society’s problems.
Mao did both and therefore China today have a very low number of drug addicts.
As of 2022, China had only 1,12 million drug users. This may be contrasted to the fact that China is a country with over 1,2 billion people, meaning that less than 1/1000 of its population is addicted to drugs. Needless to say, this figure is far below the average for the vast majority of countries.
Many will now claim that: Well, since China is a dictatorship, a one-party state, then it is understandable. But no, many such countries have problems with drugs. What makes China so successful is that they have both stamped out the criminals but also given people meaning in their lives. China’s unemployment rates are very low, just 5,3%, which is a very low figure for a population that big.
So the solution is that we must first crush the narcotic gangs, so to speak. Then we must implement social measures, giving people meaningful lives is something pivotal in the war on drugs, and that is what the US must implement to be successful.
This is where I am afraid that the US will fail. To win the war on drugs, you will have to cut the head of the hydra. The head of the hydra here is social misery, bad mental health. You will never have zero addicts in your country. But by both implementing force in combination with social measures, this combination will generate the best results! But they are both useless on their own and have to be combined.
This is where I am a bit sceptical about whether or not the US will implement the social measures needed. Like Nancy Reagan said, “Just don´t do drugs!” will not help to alleviate the situation.
The man in the picture is Nils Bejerot. The father of Swedish drug policy.
By Christian Pavón, staff writer for NewsVoice
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