Most mainstream discussion about drug use from politicians and the media shows little interest in trying to understand why people take drugs. To properly acknowledge the social context of people who are often looking for release from the stress, depression or boredom in their lives, is to expose the terrible powerlessness and alienation we experience under capitalism, a system of colossal inequality which fails the vast majority of people..

We see for example how heroin use in the UK has soared in areas where working class lives and jobs have been destroyed, such as former mining areas. Or in the US, addiction to opioids is worst in states where industry has been smashed, or in occupations like construction were opioids initially offer a way of coping with the pain of back-breaking labour. And the opioid crisis has been manufactured by big drugs firms seeing an opportunity to cash in on people’s despair - pushing claims for example that drugs such as Oxycontin were both effective and non-addictive, despite knowing that this was the opposite of the truth. Those falling into addiction find that that there are very few free or affordable rehab centres across the US.

Drugs abuse reflects what’s wrong with the society we live in. Yet the response from our rulers tends to be one of criminalisation – rather than treating it as a health issue requiring the introduction of universal health care. Scapegoating drugs users is another way of distracting from their own culpability and hypocrisy and encouraging us to punch down, not up. The ‘war on drugs’ is a mechanism for harassing and hounding working class, poor and black people.

Come along to this meeting to discuss these and other issues – all welcome. Hosted by Bristol Socialist Workers Party.

Entry requirements: no age restrictions — Read more — Read less