Little Packets of Madness

Today's first from Peter Hitchens, and do read the entire column:

Smugly and with a superior smile, liberal Britain looks down on those trigger-happy Americans and their loudmouth politicians. What happened in Tucson could never happen here in our nice, civilised, gun-free, peaceful country we assure ourselves. It isn’t so simple. Nowadays, we suffer plenty of gun massacres and rampages of our own.

Yet back before 1920, when Britain’s gun laws were more relaxed than Arizona’s are today, the only major shooting episodes involved foreign terrorists (as at the famous siege of Sidney Street, 100 years ago). And harmonious Switzerland is full of powerful guns and ammunition, stored in almost every home, thanks to its sensible military service laws. If the USA is a more violent country than some (and in parts it still is), this has less to do with the presence of legal guns than it does with the bitter heritage of slavery which will divide and sour that country for centuries to come.

But – without that excuse – we are quietly catching up with America in the violence league. As a people, we are far readier to resort to the fist and the boot – and the knife – than we were 30 years ago. Our suburbs are much less safe than America’s. And, as guns seep into the bottom edge of our society, our criminals will also be readier to use them. Hardly any crime is committed in this country with legally held weapons. Lawbreakers use illegally obtained guns, not legally bought ones. And the criminal gangs of our big cities know very well how to get such weapons.

There is another aspect of this case that the smug media seem to be avoiding. Look at the strange picture of the alleged killer Jared Loughner. He has just been arrested for a crime for which he could be put to death, if convicted. And he is smiling. From this, and from many other things we already know about this man, it seems likely that he has lost his reason. Why and how? The most likely cause is Loughner’s daily cannabis-smoking habit. The link between this drug and serious mental illness grows clearer every day. Wickedly, the dope lobby still tries to deny this and seeks to legalise it.

Loughner has been, for much of his short life, a habitual smoker of this so-called ‘soft’ organic drug. This is not in doubt. Police records, the testimony of U.S. army recruiters who rejected him partly on these grounds, and the accounts of several friends confirm that Loughner is a marijuana victim. Yes, I know. Not all cannabis-smokers lose their minds. And not all cigarette-smokers get cancer. But in both cases the risk is enough to cause concern. When police caught him driving a car that stank of marijuana, Loughner was let off, as he would have been here. So much (as usual) for the non-existent ‘war against drugs’.

Cannabis is now effectively legal in Britain and in several parts of the USA, where this dangerous and unpredictable poison is ironically permitted for ‘medical use’. Arizona voters, fooled by years of cynical and shameful ‘cannabis is harmless’ propaganda, approved just such a stupid law in November. The town council of liberal Pima (scene of the murders) last week took the first step towards licensing ‘dispensaries’ for dope.

Arizona has always had plenty of guns. America has always had heated political rhetoric. What is new is that it now has legal dope as well. Those who are seriously interested in public safety should worry less about guns and radio shock jocks, and more about the little packets of madness on sale in every school.