Good drugs and Bad drugs by Alan Coxwell

I received a very entertaining and enlightening book for Christmas written by Tom Standage. It is titled A History of the World in Six Glasses. The author chronicles the appearance of beer, wine, distilled spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola while examining how they have influenced the history of the world. Those fluids we humans have sipped on our long march to these modern days have had a profound impact on the world we live in. They shall continue to do so and in these tales there are lessons to be learned.

Perhaps one of the more interestingly futile attempts to control the human consumption of certain beverages was put forth by King Charles II of Britain in 1675. He was suspicious of the freedom of speech in coffeehouses and their suitability for hatching plots. "Charles was particularly aware of this, since coffeehouse machinations had played a small part in his own accession to the throne. On December 29, 1675, the King issued a "Proclamation for the suppression of Coffee-Houses," declaring that since such establishments "have produced very evil and dangerous effects . for that in such Houses . divers False, Malitious and Scandalous Reports are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majestie's Government, and to the Disturbance and the Peace and Quiet of the Realm; His Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary, That said Coffee-Houses be (for the future) Put down and Suppressed.

"The result was public outcry, for coffeehouses had by this time become central to social, commercial, and political life in London. When it became clear the proclamation would be widely ignored, which would undermine the government's authority, a further proclamation was issued, announcing that coffee sellers would be allowed to stay in business for six months if they paid 500 pounds and agreed to swear an oath of allegiance. But the fee and time limit were soon dropped in favour of vague demands that coffeehouses should refuse entry to spies and mischief makers.

Not even the King of England could halt the march of coffee." When authorities fear something they try to stamp it out before it causes them serious trouble. Today we live in the ongoing "War on Drugs" led with righteous certainty by the United States of America. Without really thinking it through, our Canadian leaders bow down to the American propaganda and we spend huge amounts of energy chasing down the drugs deemed to be evil here in the 21st Century. Caffeine is a drug. Alcohol is a drug. Nicotine is a drug.

These are good, legal drugs govenments control and tax heavily. The only thing the laws on "bad" drugs are doing is making organized crime very wealthy. They are omnipresent in our North American society and always will be. Our laws are so absurdly unenforceable that we buy needles to give to convicts in our prisons so they can inject their drugs without fear of getting HIV or hepatitis.

How absurd is that? How can there be so many illegal drugs in our jails? Banning these substances, blowing in from poppy fields of Afghanistan, marijuana fields of Spring Brook and Mexico, or labs in California, will be as successful as King Charles' attempt to get rid of coffeehouses. Government authority is undermined daily. But no politician dares tackle this situation. U.S. propaganda is just too powerful.