Protestantism

» redback - My Assumption

"My observations exactly."

While I was careful to focus on the addict and their dependence, I saw a subtle shift in your approach...from the "driven" addict to those who simply use thus have greater control and insight into the consequences. All of the examples I gave above ARE exposed addicts here. I'm sure many more examples can be found among the "hidden" users who have and think they have, control.

If we talk about drug use and abuse more generally, tis a multilayered concept. I'm not weigherd down by religious and moral baggage.

"Why do our various media treat illegal substances as they do?"

This is one of your pet subjects so many answers already lie under the surface of your question. "As they do" is varied and inconsistent" kinda like politicians and their collective political will. Populist reporting according to the noise they perceive from the responses they get??

I see a great range of 'treatment' for any number of motives. And that's just in the media I access. Do we expect all the media to return to the good old days of investigative journalism or do what many do now..simply report back what they think they see with their myopic vision? I for one don't sense the power of the media to dictate my responses, although I'm sure there are affected souls "out there."

Once I learned the impact of drug use on the first psychotic episode in a person's life and in fact, the onset of chronic mental illness...I'm not inclined to promote their relative safety features until that known risk is far better quantified.

Illegal substances fit into the cycle of crime I referred to earlier. If it is 'decriminalised', what happens to the cycle? Will it remove psychotic behaviour resulting in jail, family distress, job loss etc? Or consistently better quality drug production that users will need to adjust to?

I really doubt on all the quality evidence, that drug use has no cost to mental health and no cost on sound judgements needed for a myriad reasons in our lives. And I don't look to the media for guidance here.

-- posted by redback