Words matter

The old saw: actions speak louder than words. True enough as it stands, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

Words matter too. Words, properly chosen, can change an old english myth into King Lear. The writer of John ecognized this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Any animal can act. Only humans (and a few chimps trained by humans) can use words.

Words are used to pass knowledge between strangers, canvassing the globe. Words are even used to slip the bonds of time, passing wisdom between generations.

Words can be especially important when uttered by those controlling the reigns of power. And have terrible implications when misused.

I'm not speaking now of our Dear Leader's difficulty with language, though the implications of his disassembly of English may yet have consequences beyond his own embarrassment. No, the linguistic abuse I have in mind predates BushCorp™ by decades.

I'm speaking of the War on Drugs.

What's implied by this phrase? First and foremost it means literally a war against chemicals, inanimate objects with no volition or emotions. Drugs are the enemy.

I'll leave aside for the moment commenting on the hypocrisy of this caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, viagra immersed society claiming any sort of a serious War on Drugs.

Instead I'll note that the current war leads us to ban drugs that are not currently making American pharmaceutical companies billions of dollars. A case in point is marijuana.

Marijuana, though relatively innocuous in the pantheon of chemicals both legal and not, is one of those chemicals the US has banned as dangerous. Of course the dangerousness claim is questionable. But regardless, its use is now illegal, by the wisdom of the Supreme Court and the US Congress, in all cases.

And so, because there is a War on Drugs, banning this drug is entirely logical.

Now what if, instead of a war on drugs, we were fighting a war on drug abuse?

In that case, potentially dangerous substances would not be banned per se, only their misuse would be. And this makes eminent sense. Americans currently imbibe thousands of chemical substances which, if abused, are potentially dangerous, even fatal. And yet by their measured use, under medical supervision, the suffering of millions of people is alleviated.

So it could be with marijuana.

But alas, our war on drugs continues, ineffective and unabated, its collateral damage all those who suffer needlessly because our government has chosen its words so poorly.