Why the Lebanese Forces Anti-Drug Campaign Won't Work

Is this Serious? Yes.

I posted the above photo on Facebook yesterday, without a caption to try and not steer the conversation in one direction or the other. Every single one of the comments, was negative.

Some called Geagea "rude" (we2e7), some called out the irony, several asked if this was a joke and some more wished for a society "without Geagea" (the add says "together for a society without drugs").

But, that photo is off his page on Facebook. They have billboards all over the place, held a marathon and even tried to do a "flash-mob" in bad taste and badly covered at USJ.

I've been writing and following up on the issue of drugs in Lebanon since 2011. I feel it is a very important subject and its ramifications are massive when it comes to Lebanese youth, yet, the stigma and corruption make it rarely ever a subject of discussion in public, except for stupid MTV style shit like their claim that "200,000 Turkish people are addicted to digital drugs". Stupid MTV. Sorry, had to let it out. In this post, I'll try to explain to the LF why they got it wrong.

The Real Problem with Drugs in Lebanon

In Lebanon, taxpayers suffer a lot more from anti-drug operations, than the drugs themselves. Just look at how the despicable security forces in Lebanon immediately "urine tested" protesters they were kidnapping off the streets? Why? Cause they knew that actual charges couldn't stick, so they wanted to "fabricate" (like Tamam Salam taught us) evidence to bully people into stop expressing themselves and demanding their rights. Of course, public outrage forced the hand of Mashnouk, and apparently, this illegal practice against protesters that is tantamount to torture, has now stopped. Nauseating to think that it is actually a thing cops here do, and have been doing it since forever...

The Lebanese courts and the ISF have single-handedly driven up the abuse of "hard drugs", like cocaine, ecstasy and others. Why? Because these drugs generally dissipate from urine samples in a couple of days (they only test with urine which they make you pay for, I know it could show up in hair samples). Marijuana though, lasts for weeks and months depending on the person. In the eyes of the ISF, all these drugs are identical, which is a problem. Shooting up heroin is not the same as smoking a joint (nor are their effects on society at large), just like those two aren't the same as having a beer or smoking a cigarette.

We all know someone who has been caught, tortured, unlawfully detained and forced to bribe the police to let him or her go home before having to see a judge again. This, in a country were a law ratified by the parliament clearly sates that drug users that are detained should immediately be taken before the Addiction Committee, and forced to go to rehab if the medical team decides that's what's needed. They shouldn't go to jail, unless they're dealing, which is what happens in many countries in the world one looks up to: personal use is overlooked or legalized/decriminalized, but profiting off illicit substances is still a no-no.

Many people tell me they'd much rather take a pill now, than smoke a joint, which I was horrified to learn. However, I kinda understand where that bad decision came from: smoke weed and stay afraid and paranoid for weeks, and if you're caught, spend months and years in jail before seeing a judge. Or, do hard drugs and lay low for a day or two so you can beat the urine test the government uses to blackmail taxpayers without probable cause (such as what happened with the protesters kidnapped by the ISF and forced to do the tests, when there was absolutely no probable cause). So, instead of the ISF and courts curbing the smoking of weed, they actually helped push many young folks towards hard drugs, that are actually bad and actually addictive (unlike weed).

Stop Misinformation

Misinformation is a huge part of the abuse by police in Lebanon. Corruption and lack of training and ethics are part of it, but those usually you learn on the job with the government. Your biases though, come before the job. An example of where these misinformed and backwards biases add insult to injury, is when cops detain people for being gay.

Of course, that is not a crime, and the penal code article 534 stipulates "no sexual acts against nature". So, one can argue that homosexuality is present in many species in nature, so that article doesn't apply to gay people (and that case has been made by lawyers here, and judges chose to exonerate the "suspects" in two such cases).

However, during incarceration, cops and detectives can do unspeakable things to these taxpayers, because in their mind, they're doing "good". They're trying to "slap the gay" out of them, or worse. They want them to be "upstanding citizens" and "stop hurting their families" ("Mish 7aram bayyak?! Heik tale3 loote!" is what a friend of mine was told as he was tied to a chair and beaten up in a precinct in Beirut. He's now safe and happy in the US, unlike many who still suffer today)

So, when Geagea or whoever repeats the same Reagan-sponsored slogans that "all drugs are the same" and that "drugs kill you, or the person inside you" or that "weed is a gateway drug", only helps and justifies the abuse countless Lebanese taxpayers have suffered. "A kid was smoking weed? That shit is like heroin, let me beat some sense into him!" would sound perfectly acceptable after watching the below, super-awkward and misinformed video (the piano in the background was my favorite part)

Why this and Junblat's Tweets Aren't Helping

Junblat throws bomb shells around on Twitter every now and then, where he supports the "legalization" of weed. But, the thing here is, I don't completely trust his intentions and not because he flip-flops, his pro-drug views I think are one of the rare constants over the decades. What makes me question the motive behind these tweets, is that the branch of police that break the law regularly to entrap, torture and coerce taxpayers, is under his "patronage".

Like everything else in this sectarian country, each sect gets a piece of the pie, even when it comes to police. The judicial police are the folks that employ the "detectives" that look like gang members in plain clothes and cars, that stop and search you while you're leaving Mar Mikhael looking like a hipster whose folks can probably afford the bribe, but not rich enough to get them in trouble from a "wasta" (the same cops that hide when a murderer is stabbing to someone next to their precinct, but act like Gestappo if they think you might have a joint and make them bribe money)

That branch, is under Junblat's patronage. So, I think a phone call to his man and telling him to stop wasting time and resources, and ruining taxpayers' lives for taking a puff or two, could go a long way. So can pressure by the LF's campaign help, instead of shaming users and misinforming people.

So, Mr Junblat, please put your money where your tweets are, and direct our tax liras and police resources into finding who cooked the 2 tons of captagon the Saudi prince was trying to smuggle out, not university kids trying to unwind. Same goes for you LF, all that money spent on a campaign that the average Lebanese couldn't tell was serious or not.

These are the people that should be arrested, not a college kid with a joint. The LF's campaign could have focused on that

What the LF and Government Should Do

Just to be clear, I discussed it with friends of mine who are in the LF cadres months before writing this. So, I'm not just using this campaign to write stuff for fun, I'm just trying to get the message out there to everyone confused about this campaign, even LF members who aren't sure why this issue was chosen and mishandled at such a weird time.

The LF decided not to be in this current government, which makes them kinda the only "opposition" to the political elite at the moment. So, them tackling social issues is part of the deal, since those in power are too busy emptying tax coffers to care. Instead, the campaign has made users seem like the stereotypes you'd see in catholic school presentations or Republican debates (I was imagining the Herman Caine's ads when I saw the Geagea video). Overall, that hurts any efforts being made to stop the police from breaking the law when it comes to users, yet shying away when it's a big-time and violent dealer.

The single biggest reason for distrusting and disliking the cops is how they humiliate taxpayers for no reason. Even if you've never smoked up, you've probably been harassed by the cops trying to pin it on you. All that, while the dealers stay safe and free and often appear in-league with the police (the dealer gives up a couple of kids, the police make money and look the other way about what he's guilty of).

They should start with abiding by the law they always allege to be "enforcing". The law says, users get treatment, immediately, not jail the second the "suspect" or his lawyer says "I want to get treated". So, overlooking all the other laws the police don't enforce, and why they seem so keen on enforcing this one in particular, they're doing it absolutely wrong and are breaking the law themselves (and a host of other laws like no torture, no bribes, etc.). So, a video like the one above, only fuels this macho-man culture where the older, misinformed conservatives (all former warlords and militiamen) think they are better than everyone else, and look down upon people that choose to puff instead of gulp down alcohol, or consider them as good as dead if they actually are addicted to something, instead of providing them with the care they need.

If the cops stop bullying taxpayers, and start arresting the well-known dealers that seem untouchable, maybe, just maybe some of that trust will come back and the issue will become one we all work together to fix, instead of the catastrophic situation at the moment.

Notes

I really don't care about some link you found somewhere that weed is as addictive as crystal meth or whatever absurd lie with no foundation in science. Bottom line, it's not your job to decided what people can do to their own bodies on their own dime in their own houses. No one knocks the beer bottle from your hands, so why would you be ok with someone going to jail, beaten and tortured for doing something less unhealthy and less of a threat to society (drunk drivers, drunk mashekel, etc.)

I also don't care about your theories that "the poor uneducated people" would fall into anarchy if they don't get beaten up for smoking weed. Seriously? What world do you live in? You think there's a majority of people just waiting for weed to become legal and plunge society into darkness? You think many people don't already do? Has society deteriorated into real-life Trainspotting? No, and it won't, as we've seen in every example where weed was made legal or decriminalized, even in countries similar to us in unemployment and corruption and a functional state.

Legal means people or companies can grow and sell legally, and people can consume legally too. Decriminalized means that you won't be tortured, humiliated, blackmailed and robbed for smoking up, but the dealers still get into trouble.

So, please, save yourself the trouble, and focus on the individual rights aspect of this issue. And if you honestly believe the lies you pedal, then you should understand that jailing and beating people won't solve it, but a comprehensive health issue approach should be taken (both as awareness and treatment). So, we're on the same team, and no one's gonna force you to smoke or do anything, just don't stand with the police officers that are making ungodly amounts of cash from the misery of innocent taxpayers like you and me.