alec ramsdell wrote:
> I thought I'd post just a little more from Klein's book...
>
> ... The great Puritan repression began by seizing and manipulating the
> attribution of the word *drug*, defining it narrowly and abusively
> extending its connotations to a vast variety of substances.
Two comments. First, and perhaps trivially, it is bad history to use "Puritan" for this purpose. One would more accurately say (to broaden the category) "Christian," or to narrow it, "Addisonian/Victorian."
But secondly I wish to point out a sometimes tragic effect of the substantive point Alec (or Klein) makes here, on what might be called the "aroma" of the word "drug." Though current medications don't work at all for some 20-30% of victims of depression, and only uncertainly for another (say) 30% (including me), I have met all too many people, especially some college students, who will not even try medications, with often avoidable fatal results. Those who oppose medications for mental illness (esp. schizophrenia, bipolar, or depression) ought in all consistency be fans of Kervorkian, only criticizing him for not going far enough.
Carrol