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Jan. 5, 2007 The biggest problem along with pollution during the later part of the twentieth and early twenty first century are drugs. Most crime nowadays is drug related. Why were drugs not so prominent in other ages among the criminal classes? During the Victorian period drugs were legal and consumed by some with hardly any comment beyond the odd smirk. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century laudanum and opium were freely available and have left not much of a trace in the literature of the age. (Yes I know about Coleridge’s Kublai Khan and The 'Rhime' of the Ancient Mariner, but this was not typical). Also ancillary to the lack of any record of drug induced anti social behavior is the fact that life was much harsher then. During the time of Daniel Defoe the penalty for a second theft offence was hanging, those committing their first offence getting off with transportation to Virginia. Women pleading ‘their belly’ (pregnant) could also be deported. The police forces as we know it were not in place for much of the period, the vigilance of the public the main guard against crime. When a person became aware that he had lost his watch or wallet he only had to cry 'stop thief' in order for the culprit to be apprehended and carted of to Newgate. What had this to do with drugs? Well in order to be successful a thief would have had to have a clear head and good judgment. Some one waking up out of a drug induced stupor venturing out into the street in order to pull a job would have been more likely to have been caught than some one who did not use drugs. Over time the less successful thief was either hanged or deported. (Does this have some bearing upon the fact that the hippie movement began in the USA? probably not). In the US, with mandatory drug testing for employment, and now to drive a vehicle, those who use drugs, (of course excluding the Hollywood crowd) are falling ever and ever lower on the social ladder. This in turn has combined to bring about an increase in mental illness(including among those in the Hollywood crowd). I do not remember when I have seen so many mumbling derelicts wandering around as I have during the present day. The government in order to combat this upsurge in social disintegration has invested in all types of social programs ,all of which seem to fail. There is no cure .The descendants of the hippie will just wither on the vine to eventually disappear, in much the same way as did their predecessors. Can the modern addict look forward to similar fate. Already I have noticed that the glamour has gone out of the drug movement. When I was young to consume drugs was the mark of the intellectual. Now we just politely walk away from these prophets giving them a polite smile, and maybe some change.
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