The End of Drugs

I remember once being told how one friend's mother reacted to the Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon. The book goes through the converging crises that "threaten" (one might call this is justice) civilization. As I recall he talks about peak oil, climate change, overpopulation, you know the usual. Anyway in response to the book's title, my friend's mother exclaimed: "Where's the upside?"

Though I view any kind of civilizational collapse as the upside because it will force us to behave as other beings do on this planet or die, the other day I thought of an upside.

Right now, tens of thousands (probably more) people are involved in the production of "illegal" drugs like heroine, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, acid and probably a whole lot more that thankfully I've never heard of. These drugs are highly addictive and destructive and we should all pity those who become ensnared by them. Most of the abovementioned drugs require industrial processing techniques to produce and, as I mentioned, a large workforce to grow, harvest, process and produce in labs. Right now all these people can produce these ultimately useless products because they are supported by cheap energy which provides them with food, heating and clothing and more.

But imagine in a few years when energy costs are much higher than they are today. The people involved in the drug trade, both producers and consumers, are going to have to think a lot more about where their food comes from. Do you think they are going to have time to sit in a lab and produce their quota of ecstasy when their stomach is rumbling continuously? And what kind of market do you think you'll have when your customer base is chewing tree bark? If they are stupid enough to even be thinking of drugs then happily for all of us, they won't be passing on their useless genes to the next generation.

So an upside to down. Many addictive and destructive drugs are going to disappear. And as a bonus, the human population is likely to decline because many addicts are going to die (sorry if I upset you but really there are way too many humans, it's time we accepted this and stopped valuing human life above everything). Maybe I'm wrong and somehow one can overcome a crippling addiction to become a succesful hunter and gatherer or permaculturist in the post-crash world. I just don't think addicts of such potent drugs will be able to go cold turkey.

Having said all this, I still think there will be drugs available but people will likely produce them themselves. Marijuana, mushrooms, opium, alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea will likely still be consumed as they require fewer energy inputs and can be produced at home without high technology (depending on where you live).

Once again these thoughts make me realize just how much of an aberration the past century has been in the history of our species. Fast cars and deadly drugs.

Twentieth century go to sleep.