It's sad that so many people think alcohol and drugs are "cool" without realizing how much they can hurt people. Even if a person "under the influence" doesn't hurt anyone else, they are hurting themselves.
However, what many people don't realize is that the opposite viewpoint ("people who do drugs are evil and should be in prison") is just as harmful.
We can learn a lot from Gerard, but we can also learn a very important lesson from his tour manager: don't be judgmental. Gerard was using many harmful drugs, including cocaine. He could have been arrested, which would ruin his life even more.
Gerard's story may be one of the most important reasons why I don't like the war on drugs. It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on people. I tend to think that drugs should be dealt with similarly to how self-harm is dealt with (assuming the person hasn't harmed anyone else). It wouldn't be right to arrest someone for self-harming. If a person is going to be punished for using drugs (again, assuming the person hasn't harmed anyone else), the punishment should not make it even more difficult for them to turn their life around.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should help people who use drugs to turn their lives around rather than ruining their lives even more.
No comments:
Post a Comment