true, but in reality drugs are actually controlled rather than prohibited outright. it is the level of control which is contentious and peoples lack of self regulation.
A shaman is a very disciplined and educated type of person – they also add value to their community by carrying out a lot of functions a doctor, vet or a social worker would normally do!
They don’t actually lick the toad, they stroke it under the chin (no kidding!), extract the venom and then let the creature go and ensure that it is otherwise unharmed. (it takes a month for the venom to build up – during which the toad is without its natural defences and vulnerable to predators, so wise shamans create safe environments for the toad and/or try to encourage harmony amongst the creatures in their vicinity – hence all the cultural stereotypes of wizards and witches having a strange collection of “pets” and/or shapeshifting into animal form..
If the pill head in the club turns up for work on Monday and isn’t below normal performance due to sleep deprivation they won’t attract hassle – the problems leading to drugs control have arisen when greedy people have harmed themselves and others.
in the late 1990s (early Blair era) pills were near good as legal as Blair was too busy trying to get the youth on his side to enforce drugs laws (despite all the bluster from the government) – those of us in our 20s at the time thought there was even a chance of EU-wide soft drugs decriminalisation!
Then 10 years later mephedrone was sold unregulated and the authorities only started getting paranoid when the hospitals started to fill up. Sadly in both cases all that transpired was it showed many people are too stupid to treat legalised drugs with respect.
As for alcohol I am a recent member of CAMRA (they do a very good job of encouraging responsible use of a legal drug!) and you’d be shocked at how many attempts to further restrict alcohol use have been fended off by them in the last few years. Already the late licensing (which has allowed a lot of rave nights to happen) is under threat…
