Don't blame all drugs for date rape

Aaron Wells

columnist

Sagebrush, Oct 3, 2000

As I sat down to write a funny column about drugs, several people ran into my apartment shouting about an unfortunate incident involving a frat guy, date rape and drugs. Then they left me alone to write something funny about drugs. This puts me in a bit of a quandary. On the one hand, I still think that drugs are fun, funny and can be a tool to personal growth. On the other hand, this incident points out the sad fact that you can hurt other people with drugs.

Well, in the same way that Inter Fraternal Council is trying to pawn this off as the fault of one frat guy, not the entire fraternity system, maybe I should begin by saying that this is the fault of one small sub-group of drugs, not drugs in general. Not that I want to compare drugs to fraternities, since I have a much higher opinion of drugs (less expensive, less addictive, less social problems). It would be more accurate to say that this is the fault of the frat guy, not the drugs he used.

I have always felt that it's wiser to outlaw the crimes committed while on drugs, not the drugs themselves. Like how it's illegal to run someone over in a car, but it's not illegal to drink or to own a car. Of course there are not a lot of recreational uses for, say, Rohypnol, so... maybe outlaw that.

But while there are some drugs that are strictly hurtful to others, I think it's important to keep in mind that the majority of drugs are only hurtful to the user. Hurtful to the user, and a lot of fun.

It's a point that's often missed in our puritanical society, but fun is a valid justification for things, even dangerous things. We have a tendency to protect people from hurting themselves. It leads to the placement of warning labels on coffee cups, anti-drug laws and playground installations made out of plastic and foam rubber.

So outlaw date-rape drugs, outlaw date rape, jeep people from having fun by hurting others. Just don't outlaw the other drugs, the ones that only hurt the user.