Drugs, secrets and the circling hyenas
backstory.substack.com
backstory.substack.com
> I looked back and there was a hyena loping towards me, a huge bristling monster with a maniacal grin and terrifying jaws. In situations like this it is vital to stay calm, avoid eye contact and make sure that you are walking with someone who is slower than yourself. I was alone. I ran.
Everyone thinks a hyena is like a dog in size. It is absolutely not, it is much larger. I'm Kenyan, and a friend of mine growing up was a boy scout whose troop regularly went camping in remote areas. He kept a steel cooking pot that had been savaged by a hyena when they were camping and someone was stupid enough not to clean it of animal smells. It looks like it had been though an industrial metal shredder. If their jaws can do that, I shudder to think what they can do to flesh and bone (actually, you can easily find out by Googling images, but I'd suggest against doing that if you ever intend to fall asleep again)
Coca, khat, and ephedra are plants traditionally chewed, resulting in a mild stimulant effect from doses of cocaine, cathinone, or ephedrine(an amphetamine analog.) Those plants are processed to get pure cocaine, various "bath salts" and amphetamines.
Coffee is boring in that regard. Caffeine just kills you or makes you incredibly uncomfortable as doses get higher. The others can be consumed in concentrated forms that alter health and behavior outcomes in a huge way. Under their model, it does make sense to ban qat/khat but not coffee.
Despite that, what we need is better education about drugs and substance use. Legalize everything and divert a portion of the enforcement and bureaucratic budgets to health and education. Stop criminalizing and stigmatizing users, creating black markets and enforcing ignorance. The harms of prohibition and the drug war are about as obvious as anything can be... so let's stop digging and crawl out of this goddamn hole already.