It is
our
belief that the pursuit of creative expression is an
excellent outlet for an individual's emotions, imagination, and
intellect.
In
our opinion, the creation of art is an excellent tool for
combating negative drug abuse. Rather than internalizing the
conflicting emotions of adolescence, artistic outlets instead allow a
positive release of the feelings that are going on
within a person's mind.
Far
too often drug abuse is not a purely hedonistic pastime; in
many
cases, drug abuse is the result of disastrous attempts to
internalize the confusion that entails existence in our modern world.
Therefore,
it is imperative that workable alternative be developed to address the
material needs of aspiring artists. Providing a co-operative
workspace for our artists has been a long-term desire since the
foundation of PEB.
Project
Energia Buran is striving to
be a part of the answer for our community, and our success as a
not-for-profit organization will help to assure the future of
progressive artists in the Shenandoah Valley.
In
general, PEB maintains a conservative stance of neutrality towards non - physically addictive recreational
drugs. There are certainly compelling arguments for the medicinal
usage of marijuana for those whom suffer from chronic pain and a severe
lack of appetite due to cancer treatments, the end stages of AIDS, and
other terminal illnesses.
However, it is most certainly our official
opinion that physically addictive "heavy"
drugs, such as methamphetamines, cocaine, crack
cocaine, heroin, and other notorious "money - makers" of the illicit
drug world only
serve to further destroy American society, and serve no positive
purpose for any individuals when compared to the introspective results
of some non - synthetic psychedelics, disassociatives, and
cannabis - related drug
products.
The inner - city blight plaguing so many American
metropolises is both
senseless and tragic.
Logical, well - organized bureaucratic efforts during
the early 1980s
very well may have derailed the ravaging effects of the first waves of
crack cocaine epidemics in our country. Unfortunately, the "War
on Drugs" has not succeeded in rehabilitating areas of cities impacted
by long - term gang control. Prisons are beyond their intended
capacity and at this stage in our country's history, do not have
adequate resources to even begin to attempt to "reform" any of its
inmates. They merely act as holding pins, and often release
criminals with far more expertise for committing crimes than they knew
of prior to imprisonment. It is indeed a frightening situation.
American policy makers in the Federal arena were quite
aware in 1979 of
the transformation of the rare practice of traditional free
basing
of cocaine into a far easily imbibed product. But the thinking of
the time was that the unusual practice of heavily
concentrating cocaine, and then
free basing it, was
only
a problem to be found among a minority of South American farmers of the
coca
plant.
The drug - fighting forces of the 1970s and early 1980s
failed to
envision the
devastation this formulation of the coca plant could produce if it ever
managed to find its way into American neighborhoods. They simply
failed to conceive that there ever may be a "market" for such a heinous
product. It was simply unimaginable to lawmakers during that
time, as it was for a vast majority of average Americans.
Tragically, national naivety set a course for crisis by the mid -
1980s.
In a short
span of three years, the ubiquitous white rocks in plastic bags would
evolve into an easily distributed re-invention of powdered
cocaine.
It was a dream product for the drug pushers in our
streets, a miracle
product
with unimaginable levels of rampant and quick addiction rates among
users.
As "crack", the newest repackaging of cocaine, began to
flood inland
from Miami and up along the Southern parts of California, too little
was done far too late to ever understand the devastating potential of
the drug upon both users and the communities in which they lived.
In short, it is redundant and of no use to try to "point fingers" at
any singular person or group as being responsible for the
mis-management of the "War on Drugs". Each of them had good
intentions, but a dearth of real data that was representative of what
was really happening in inner cities.
Thus, from "inside the beltway" of Washington, D.C.,
laws and policies
were developed in the early 1980s with the best of objectives.
However, much of the planning was flawed and incongruent with the
reality of collapsing urban neighborhoods. This disconnection led
to a system of "combating" drugs that, in retrospect, made numerous
errors in philosophy. Those practices and systems are much
unchanged even today in 2008.
During this decade, and the next, something drastically
different needs
to be done to impede any further erosion of America. It will
require patience and cooperation, and there is no place for any type of
prejudice in the encompassing efforts we each need to try to take part
in.
In the Literature Section, you can find several other
articles and PEB
opinions presented regarding specific drugs and various ethical
issues.
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