In the United Sates the two states of Washington and Colorado have just voted to legalise marijuana for personal production and use, with pending court hearings against infringers scheduled to be dissolved. (California recently had the same vote, but it failed to pass.) This flies in the face of the Federal Government's policy of a "war on drugs", in which all forms of illicit drugs and their production are prohibited. Drug toleration or legalisation is not new - several European countries practice it to varying degrees, and a few countries in South America have recently lagalised some drug use and manufacture. But they are already known for their relaxed cultural views (European) or for adopting radical policies (South American), so theirs is more of a small kick-off to revolutionary change. The situation in the US is much different, because it is traditionally conservative in nature - due to its stout religious core - and has a history of being vocal proponents of prohibition. So these two states' new stance against the federal government's - and their entire nation's - prohibition policy is a more significant kick-off to a social revolution. So what has changed to bring this about, and what does this revolution involve?
For a long time there has been argument over whether it is better to outlaw illicit drug use, tolerate it to some degree, or to legalise it. The latter two arguments have gained weight recently due to the shocking levels of drug gang crime and violence in South America - especially in Mexico - where commentators have claimed that the "war on drugs" has failed. But despite the growing voices for toleration or legalisation, most of the world's politicians have remained resolute. The difference has come about from the new perspective on the "war on drugs" afforded by the laws of pain. This system was used to describe in a new way the reasons for illicit drug manufacture and crime, and how it is a repeat of the failed alcohol prohibition of the 1920s. The system also embodies a psychotherapeutic science that can heal drug addiction. So with such a new perspective and healing treatment available, it would be possible for countries to control illicit drug production, reap extra income from its taxing, make drugs safer to consume for users, provide effective healing treatment - and, at the same time, take such control and finances away from drug gangs. This new perspective was picked up by the social grapevine, then similar views expressed by others, and this has all helped to push the toleration/legalisation viewpoint over a "tipping point" and into a stage where it can be acted upon instead of just being vocalised. And so Colorado and Washington have decided to act upon this viewpoint in the case of marijuana. The general sentiments of their populaces are that they are sick of the court misdemeaners and clogged-up jail system. Colorado has adopted similar plans to those described above, while Washington has held back on the commercial production side of things. The states are now nervously awaiting a response from the Federal Government.
So what is the new social revolution about? News articles about these two states' legalisation of marijuana have merely described the event without apportioning any meaning to it. New Scientist, for example, says that it is entering into "uncharted waters". They do not yet see a revolution underway here (in relation to our species evolution). But according to laws of pain science, our original ape ancestors' lost their ability to heal psychoemotional pain, and this set our species on a path of technological evolution rather than continued genetic evolution. As a result, each successive hominid generation lost more feeling capacity - which has culminated in gross acts of violence, such as the killing of megafauna as humans spread across the world at the end of the last Ice Age, the Hundred Years War of the Middle Ages, and the two World Wars of the Twentieth Century. Lack of feeling capacity is also seen in other areas of life, such as in crime and drug use. In summary, then, our species requires psychoemotional healing in order to restore optimal feeling capacity and health - and to be able to parent the following generations properly. So a change in policy to toleration/legalisation of drugs means that drug use (and related violence) is now treated as a health problem rather than a crime, and such affected people are guided towards treatment programs rather than jails. It therefore expands the range of people included in the suffering category, and in need of psychotherapeutic healing, and, so, is a change in accord with laws of pain science.
Since this development is so far part of a "grapevine melange of ideas and programs" - and not directly part of the laws of pain system itself as yet - the main problem will be whether the treatment programs provided by governments will effectively heal addiction or not. Experience of drug treatment programs in Europe and Australia shows that they can be beneficial to some, but that they are not especially effective. If such traditional treatments do not prove effective, then the revolutionary change will stagnate or even go backwards. Only time will tell if this revolution can get off to a good start, accept more guidance from laws of pain science, and develop into something more meaningful for suffering humanity...
