‘Hard’ drugs

Watching “Thirteen Reasons Why” at the Netflix, the dialogue between two of the main characters Clay Jensen and his lawyer mother caught my attention. “Don’t do hard drugs…better yet, don’t do drugs at all!” the mother telling her son as she allowed him to join high school students’ dance gathering.

It reminded me of the first time I came across the term when Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar mentioned it during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last week. When Andanar adverted to “hard” drugs instead of illegal drugs as we usually call it, naturally it roused my interest why suddenly hearing a different terminology.

So I asked Andanar if the change of terminology has anything to do with obvious attempt to address the concerns by the international and local human rights advocates on the government’s war against illegal drugs. The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has been under fire for the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the conduct of its campaign to stamp out illegal drugs.

All this time, we simply call it illegal drugs or just narcotics. From Google, “hard drugs” are defined as drugs that lead to physical addiction. Many countries do not allow people to make, sell, or use some of them, other than for medical purposes. Classified as “hard” drugs are cocaine, heroine, methamphetamine (shabu) and opium – addicting drugs capable of producing severe physical or psychological dependence.

Andanar explained their use of the term “hard” drugs instead of illegal drugs was in order to clarify that the Duterte administration’s war does not include “soft” drugs that in some states of the US as well as in the European Union (EU) and other Western countries allow the use and sale of, including cannabis for medical purposes.

“You know those who attack our government, they are also the proponents of decriminalizing illegal drugs, the use of illegal drugs,” Andanar cited. “In their part of the world, more than 52 percent wants to decriminalize drugs which is a policy our President will never support in our country,” Andanar pointed out.

There is also a raging debate in the United Nations, Andanar recalled, for or against decriminalizing drugs. “Now, they want to change that view. It’s really a debate,” he conceded.

President Duterte, however, is unperturbed over the continuing EJK accusations against his administration’s avowed policy of no mercy to shabu users and peddlers. President Duterte is also consistently decrying there are about 3.8 million Filipinos addicted to illegal drugs. The figure he admitted was his extrapolation of the drug addiction incidences in the country out of the data he got from former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Dionisio Santiago three years ago.

Based from official records of the Philippine National Police (PNP), it appears an average of nine persons who allegedly fought it out with policemen conducting anti-illegal drug raids were killed daily nationwide during the first year in office of President Duterte. Per PNP report, there were 3,151 people killed, or an average of nine persons daily from July 1, 2016 when PNP first launched its “Oplan Tokhang.”

Under the #RealNumbersPH Data on Anti-Drug Campaign of the government, the PNP conducted a total of 62,751 anti-drug operations that led to the arrest of 84,467 drug suspects. Another 1,306,389 were logged as surrendered drug personalities for the same period.

These statistics are among those presented in the on-going 13th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Fact-Finding Committee to Combat the Drug Menace being held in Manila starting yesterday until July 8 which the Philippines incidentally is hosting.

But human rights watchdogs were un-impressed. They insist there are more than 7,000 drug-related deaths that have already occurred since President Duterte started his war to rid the serious drug abuse problem in the country, now specifically referred to as “hard” drugs. 

The term “hard drugs” usually refers to drugs that are seen to be more dangerous and more likely to cause dependency. A “hard drug” is a scary substance with a high potential for abuse, death, or severe addiction.

By this definition, classified also as “hard” drugs are nicotine and alcohol. Some quarters argue tobacco and alcohol are far more harmful than the so-called “hard” drugs, heroin and cocaine. While also a kind of addiction, the consumption of nicotine and alcohol are allowed or tolerated because these are products legally produced. In fact, we even impose taxes on producers and sellers of tobacco and alcohol which are aptly called as “sin” products.

In contrast to “hard” drugs, the opposite classification is “soft” drugs that include cannabis or marijuana, mescaline, psilocybin, LSD or Lysergic acid diethylamide, and Dimethyltryptamine or DMT.  Both LSD and DMT are hallucinogenic drugs.

They are called “soft” drugs because they can be consumed as a powerful psychedelic drug and has historically been prepared by various cultures for medicinal and healing purposes. Marijuana is usually the only drug included within the category of “soft” drugs.

In fact, there is pending bill at the 17th Congress that seeks to allow the use of marijuana needed for medical intervention. Titled as “The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act,” the proposed House Bill 4477 seeks to legalize its use by those needing it as part of treatment. It was filed last year by Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano and remains pending at the House committee on health for review.

Before the former Mayor of Davao City took over the reins of government, then president-elect Duterte posed no objection to proposals to allow the use of medical marijuana usually prescribed to ease the pain for cancer patients and other medical cases needing relief from the use of marijuana.

“What I will not allow is smoking it,” he said at that time.

There are schools of thought saying marijuana is a “soft” drug because it can be used for recreational purpose without having any risk of addiction. However, the other school of thought subscribes to the danger of marijuana as a slow poison that ultimately kills you. 

But whether they are called “hard” or “soft” drugs, substance abuse can affect one’s health and state of mind. Even if purportedly for medicinal or healing purposes, as Mrs. Jensen aptly put it, “don’t do drugs at all.