Paths to cleaner living

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

One has to admire an individual who realises that he/she has a personal problem and takes corrective action. As a species, we are often quick to see the faults of others yet are blind to our own shortcomings.

There are always hurdles to overcome on the path to cleaner living ...

Beer barrios

When it comes to drug addiction or simply just bad/self-destructive habits with mind-altering substances, be they legal or otherwise, stopping the rot can be particularly tricky.

With alcohol consumption, the widely accepted socialising drug, a heretofore regular drinker may have to change his/her life considerably, at least initially, to say no.

Personally, if I decided to cut beer drinking entirely from my life, I think I'd have to leave Bogotá. Or at least move out of my current barrio. This is because the majority of my socialising revolves around the tienda and with it a few litrazos (a litre bottle, that is) of Poker.

I hasten to add that this isn't a daily occurrence. Two or three times per week, max. And, with age, I'm getting better, for the most part, at knowing when I've had my fill even if, to use an Irish word, the craic is mighty when I decide to head home (do note, craic here means 'enjoyable social activity', lest one think of something else).

It's because I'm more in the jomo (joy of missing out) camp these days rather than with the fomo (fear of missing out) brigade.

'From a marijuana chain smoker and seemingly daily beer drinker — not a good combination for a taxi driver — to a fundamentalist Christian (of sorts) in a few weeks.'

Yet, for those who have trouble knowing when to stop imbibing and the like, a lively-ish city with a beer-drinking culture can be quite a dangerous place to be. There are, quite literally, temptations at every corner.

Thus, in such circumstances, when one reaches a point where it's a case of 'make lifestyle changes now or be left with no life', it requires quite an amount of willpower to overcome the "demons".

Christian convalescence

Some, as I touched on a few years ago in Strength in belief, find the answer to their problems in God.

One barrio friend has recently taken this path. From a marijuana chain smoker and seemingly daily beer drinker — not a good combination for a taxi driver — to a fundamentalist Christian (of sorts) in a few weeks.

While I may not agree with his new-found religious beliefs — or if not exactly new-found, at least renewed enthusiasm for Christianity — I am impressed with the transformation. Considering his previous form, it could be said the end — in this case, being "clean" — justifies the means.

What's more, he has changed his ways without becoming a recluse. Apart from a few weeks back in the land of his birth on Colombia's Caribbean coast, he's still to be found socialising in the barrio, just this time with a gaseosa (fizzy drink) in hand rather than a beer (we'll cut him a little slack for the dangerous sugar indulgence).

As I've mentioned above, I'm not sure if I could do the same; hang out in the barrio and not drink beer. Not indefinitely in any case. I'd simply prefer not to go out.

I like to think that if I decided to go cold turkey, I could do it more easily in the countryside. A rural retreat, removed, as best one can be, from other human beings with fewer potentially harmful temptations.

There is another school of thought suggesting that if one were to "settle down" i.e. enter a relationship, this would also "tame the beast" so to put it. Whatever the dubious truth of that, one may be just too accustomed to singlehood for it to happen any time soon.

So Mother Nature and a modicum of isolation; I see that as my path to cleaner living, should I decide that it's needed. That's the theory anyway.

City life, its many evils notwithstanding, does, however, still have its advantages and appeal. At times.
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Let's talk (reluctantly) about sex

I came across ... ... No, let's use a different phrasal verb considering the subject matter here. I stumbled across — much better — a quote from John Bayley, the (long-suffering?!) husband of the late Irish-British novelist Iris Murdoch. Bayley thought that sex was "inescapably ridiculous", in contrast to Murdoch who, it is said, had multiple affairs with both men and women.

Indeed ... (Image from me.me)

Bayley's "inescapably ridiculous" reference to sex resonated with me. 

I've had a number of sexual partners, the majority being more one-night stands than anything more regular albeit, and I struggle to remember a time when I found intercourse truly enjoyable. Most previous 'engagements' were more like jobs that had to be done rather than immensely pleasurable acts.

More by accident than design

This isn't to say I was purely "selfish" about it, just in a race to reach my climax, to heck with her. Well, perhaps it was less so than by design in all honesty, but I did satisfy my playing partners before I was "done" on a number of occasions — unless they're good fakers/liars, which would never be the case, surely?

Of course, the men's problem, if we view it as such, is that when we reach the "point of no return" so to put it, we have to wait a while to get going again. Women, so it goes, can have multiple orgasms if men (or whoever) can be bothered to take them there.

"Having sex is not the be-all and end-all."

The thing is, referring back to Bayley, I don't tend to long for sex. When I see friends basically fretting about how long it has been since they last did it, I'm rather indifferent. It's not, quite literally, something that keeps me awake at night.

It could be that I just haven't met the right person to properly "get it on with". I could equate it to the time I explained to a friend that my feeling when taking a certain drug was usually unspectacular at best, he suggested I hadn't been getting it at the right potency.

Yet, my own experiences and the relationship hardships I've seen other acquaintances deal with would make me believe that the right person is a bit of a fantasy. You have to let a lot go, settle for certain things if you want to convince yourself he/she is the right person. The way it is for many things in life, really.

Avoidably ridiculous

Now, my rather conservative Irish Catholic background undoubtedly plays a part in this sex indifference (Colombia is traditionally a Catholic country as well, but as I wrote before, that influence has manifested itself quite differently here in many aspects).

The mere mention of the word makes Irish people of a certain generation somewhat uncomfortable. This doesn't mean, however, that they don't enjoy it.

For me, it's certainly not the be-all and end-all as some of my peers seem to believe.

Unlike Bayley, though, I view it as "avoidably ridiculous" these days. For now at least.
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'Make mine a shot (rather than pot)'

Colombia’s Minister for Health and Social Protection, Alejandro Gaviria, created a mini-stir recently by claiming that alcohol consumption was more harmful than smoking marijuana.

His remarks come amidst moves in Congress here to legalise the use of the drug for medical purposes.

Well, they do say we should get more 'greens' into us ...

Mild marijuana

In one sense, it’s a bit puzzling to understand why what he said caused consternation in some circles; in reality, it was far from shocking. For from a societal point of view, he’s probably not far off the mark. Excessive alcohol consumption is very often at the heart of violence both here in Colombia and across the globe. It can destroy families and friendships.

In contrast, you’d do well to find an aggressive person high on pot; rather, such people are generally very placid.

So looking at it that way, if we are going to indulge in some sort of drug, perhaps we’d all be better off smoking marijuana instead of gulping down bottles of beer. ‘Make peace, not war’ and all that jazz.

However, at the individual level, anecdotally anyway, regular pot smokers tend to be quite lazy and lack motivation to do even the simplest of things. Maybe that’s just my bad luck and experience? There are, though, at least some supporting studies.*

On the contrary, and again this is a personal observation, consistent drinkers – not out-and-out alcoholics that is to say – seem more proactive when it comes to work and day-to-day activities. (They might just be a little crankier than non-drinkers, at times.) It could be argued that this is down to many societies’ long association with alcohol. Our bodies have learnt to cope better with it than other drugs.**

What’s more, the idea of consciously inhaling damaging fumes into your body isn’t exactly the most natural or life-prolonging thing to do. Although, in a city such as Bogotá, puffing on a joint mightn't do you much more harm than breathing in the urban air.

On the other hand, we all must ingest water to survive, the chief component of most alcoholic products. Plus, in the right amounts – as can be said for marijuana, too, of course – the likes of beer and wine can be beneficial for your health.

Bavaria, the home of beer in Colombia. Sure when it's free ...

That’s pretty much the case for most things in life: Whatever you’re having, have it in moderation; 'less is more’. Knowing your limits is the key.

Bearing all that in mind, if I was pushed to choose either alcohol or marijuana as my regular vice, I’d be firmly siding with the former.

It's horses for courses, I guess.

The bottom line with all these things should be that if there are harmful effects, it's the individual user who bears them. Alas, that's not always the case.

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*For example, see Regular pot smokers have shrunken brains, study says.

**The Koreans obviously don’t believe this though: ‘Irish alcoholism nature’ reason for job rejection for Irish teacher in South Korea.

Colombia's good cops

OK, credit where credit is due. We can all be quick to criticise but slow to give praise where it is warranted. 

In this regard, since this writer first uncovered the simple delights of Bogotá's less-than-safe (to say the least) barrio of La Perseverancia, the lack of a regular police presence for such a notorious spot has been frequently mooted on these pages and elsewhere.*

It might look like something from Fr. Ted, but this CAI unit does make a difference.

So the recent arrival of a new mobile CAI (Centro de Atención Inmediata or Immediate Attention Centre – basically a small, 24-hour police station) is something to be applauded. For sure, I'd like to take credit for this, believing that my constant reminders to the Colombian police force via Twitter and other sources were a factor. Somewhat unlikely that, though. 

A recent protest march by the residents of the adjoining, more affluent – and thus more influential – La Macarena neighbourhood to do something about the poor security in the area was a more forceful message you'd have to think.

Those of a more cynical nature about this, such as a somewhat left-leaning friend, say it's quite telling that as soon as ex-mayor Gustavo Petro was finally disposed of, more police were put on the beat. Surely coincidental, right? It couldn't be a case of a political game being played with such an important issue?

On another point, while the extra police presence on that side of town generally gives a safer feel to the place, it hasn't come without some drawbacks for the local revellers. The biggest one of those is that officers are quick to stop people from drinking on the street outside the little tienda bars. On a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon that's a bit of a pity for the likes of Don Fernando's (aka 'La Panella'). But we can't have it all our own way.

Of course, some say that a more visual police presence, especially in Latin American countries, doesn't mean much. That is, you can't trust many of the upholders of law and order in these parts.

Personally, however, I have always found the Colombian police to be decent – perhaps overly so on occasions considering what their duties are – and trustworthy. Indeed, there have been times when officers here have taken a much lighter approach to some late-night antics compared to what my native Irish police would have done when faced with the same scenario.

In fact, a lot of the time Colombian police behaviour mirrors that of the local population here at large: they are much kinder and more helpful towards foreigners than they are towards their own. One just needs to pop over the border to Venezuela for an opposite example. There, a foreign face generally guarantees extra heat from state authorities.

Venezuelan cops: A little harsher on foreigners? (Pic from Facebook.)

So it is quite off-putting to see what basically amounts to giving Colombian cops the middle finger by outsiders who have benefited from their leniency. 

When you've just been let off the hook for not only driving without a licence but also driving under the influence of illegal drugs and breaking red lights while at it, you might think the least you could be is quietly thankful you weren't charged or deported. 

Moreover, you should be grateful that nobody was killed because of your stupidity.

But no. For one particular Nordic expatriate here, he found it appropriate to publicly post on Facebook the above misdemeanours. 

In an arrogant and rather condescending, yet at the same time childish comment, he wrote how the police were happy to send him and his accomplices away with a 'hope you've learnt your lesson' telling off. This he clearly hasn't done, considering the style in which the post was written.

Hence, while the light-touch approach taken by many Colombian cops towards some foreigners may be welcome, there are times when you wish the letter of the law was applied in full.

Lessons might be learnt then.

And the police would be deserving of a bit more hard-to-come-by credit.

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*A good place to start on the La Perseverancia front is In defence of hoping (and fighting) for, at least, a 'Freer Bogotá'.

Of course, there's always work to be done in keeping things safe, as stated in Bogotá's 'dark side' rises.

Colombia's path to peace?

We’re not big fans of hyperbole here and, thankfully, most Colombians appear to be that way too. 

Hence the somewhat indifferent reaction from many locals to the official revelation of what has been one of the worst-kept secrets in recent Colombian politics: President Juan Manuel Santos’s government has had preliminary discussions with the country’s long-standing left-wing guerrillas, Farc.*

El Presidente: Can he really make peace with the Farc?

Depending on whom you speak to, this indifference to the news verges on the slightly optimistic to the pessimistic. One thing’s for sure, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anybody overjoyed that ‘proper, full-scale’ peace talks are in the offing. 

It’s all down to reconciliation weariness really – Colombia has been here before on many occasions. The fact that the Farc is still involved in bombings and kidnappings tells you just how successful those previous attempts at fostering peace went down.

So what, if anything, has changed this time around? Well, of course, there’s a different administration in place intent on ‘learning from the errors of the past’. It’s the very least President Santos and his team could try. He certainly is saying the right things in this regard. 

He made it clear in his state broadcast that the country’s military would remain in 'every centimetre of national territory'. That was an obvious reference to the failed strategy of former President Andrés Pastrana who, in 1999, demilitarised a vast zone in the south of the country to facilitate peace talks with the rebels. 

While negotiations did take place, this buffer zone allowed the Farc to rebuild, recruit and reinforce itself in relative comfort. The legacy of this is still being felt today as it is in this area that the group remains at its strongest.

Now, while Farc may still have strength in its unofficial safe zones, generally speaking it would appear to be at the weakest point in its history. 

It has suffered key military setbacks against the state’s armed forces in the last few years with the recent upsurge in its attacks seen by some as the desperate last kicks of a cornered beast. Sitting down with the government could be its best option right now. Time will tell how sincere the group is about the whole process.

'The Path to Peace': Far from straightforward.

However, as in any peace talks, one must ask the question, can an essential balance be found that would be key to any potential lasting settlement? 

From this remove, it would appear that the government – and, by extension, the vast majority of the country’s inhabitants – has far more to gain. Obviously, if Farc agrees to lay down its weapons and cease attacks that’s good news for all who want peace. 

For Santos, if things go that well so soon, it should do his faltering approval rating no end of good, helping him in his quest for re-election in 2014. 

Peace negotiations have been part of his manifesto – quite apart from his predecessor, the hard-line right-winger Álvaro Uribe who has been very vociferous in his opposition to talking with ‘terrorists’, attacking the current administration’s policy at every opportunity.

A military-defunct Farc is clearly the very least the Colombian government and the majority of the country’s electorate will look for in any agreement. 

In such a scenario, the Farc, in some form, would surely look for political legitimacy and perhaps immunity from prosecution for some or all of its top members. This is looking at it from a political-conflict point of view.

Yet, the days of this struggle being purely about political ideology – if they ever were – are long gone. There is a far more powerful agent at play and it is this that is at the crux of the issue here: the control of the drugs trade. 

For Farc to go legit and allow unrestricted official access to its white-gold territories will be the equivalent of signing its own death warrant – mainstream political presence or not. 

While we might know what comes out of the depths of Colombia’s jungles, what actually happens inside them and exactly where remains about as mysterious as the inner workings of a rugby scrum. And for those working in the illegal drugs trade, that’s the way they want it to remain.

The 'white gold' in its ore form, the coca leaf.

It has been mentioned on these pages before that the current strategy by most elected governments, Colombia included, in tackling the narcotics underworld is not working (see ‘Dealing with the Dealers’: http://bit.ly/NXGLEl). 

Calls for a new front in this war, however, are gathering pace, not least in Latin America (Santos himself has spoken of the need for a new approach), a land that knows more about this issue than most. 

Take the illegal drugs trade out of subversives’ hands and their power and wealth are greatly reduced. In fact, for most underworld operators, their raison d’etre practically disappears.

So while there will be much focus on the political manoeuvring in the upcoming dialogue between the Colombian government and Farc (with the ELN, the country’s second-largest rebel group, indicating it also wants to be part of this process) the weight afforded to the drugs issue will be interesting to see.**

You can only ignore the white powdered elephant in the room for so long before it starts blowing in your face.

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* Farc stands for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in English.
** ELN stands for Ejército de Liberación Nacional or National Liberation Army in English.

For another article on a related theme, see: ‘Dangerous Colombia Part II’ http://bit.ly/OyCBRS  

Dealing with the dealers

It was Albert Einstein who mused that the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It seems pretty obvious, right? If your approach didn’t work the first or second time, there is a very high chance it won’t work the next time either.  

However, for something so cast-iron clear, many people fail to avoid it. Take the war on illegal drugs, for example. The strategy used here, which is virtually universal, is to tackle consumption and production to the point of elimination. 

After decades of employing such tactics, the results are paltry to say the least. Yet the fight goes on – and at quite a cost, not just financially speaking but also in terms of personnel. So is a new line of attack not long overdue? Or at the very least shouldn’t we start trialling one?

'Crime doesn't pay.' But drug dealing? Ask the Escobars.

The most obvious fresh approach is to begin a process of legalising heretofore banned drugs. By taking control of production and supply, individual nations will be in a much more powerful position to monitor and manage consumption. 

Not only that, but with such a move you would practically wipe out one of the main revenue sources for vicious criminal gangs across the globe. And what you take away from the underworld you can add to the state’s coffers (although considering how some countries are being governed at the moment, we’re not too sure how positive a move that is). 

Outside of the actual direct revenues that would be garnered from legalisation other savings would include the freeing up of prison spaces and the removal of a major burden on court time, to name just two. 

Now, while there is nothing new in such thinking, it does seem to be gathering – if only very slowly – more mainstream attention. Quite pertinently, a former drugs minister in the UK, the Labour party’s Bob Ainsworth, recently voiced such opinions. 

More significantly, though – surprisingly so, perhaps – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has also come out in support of the legalisation route in the effort to ‘win’ the war on drugs. Now we say surprisingly here because, despite most Westerners preconceptions about Colombia, the vast majority of locals are completely against illegal narcotics. The fact that the country has bloodily suffered more than most in the drugs war is one of the main reasons for this. 

Bearing that in mind, the thoughts on this matter of the pro-United States President Santos carry more weight than many others. He is seeing first-hand the futility of the old-school approach and has realised it’s time to change tack. He also knows that for such a policy to succeed, it has to be adopted across the world. It’s all or nothing.

Australia's Nimbin - leading the way?

In one sense it’s a case of ‘what have we got to lose’. There are those who argue that if we go down the legalisation route substance abuse will increase significantly. Such a stance seems to ignore personal choice. Just because something becomes available to all, does not mean all will take it. Indeed, for some, in such a case, the product loses a certain appeal. 

It also has to be said that right now, those who want illegal drugs, can get them relatively easy. The trouble is, as alluded to above, is that they must deal with dangerous characters in dangerous places in order to get them, keeping alive these murderous underworld empires. 

Indeed, one thing that the anti-drugs lobby and the dealers they so despise have in common is a desire to, more or less, maintain the status quo.

So after years of fighting an endless, winless war is the smart move not now to change the focus of attack - to take away one of the main raisons d’etre of the vast majority of criminal gangs. 

As Hollywood might put it, ‘it’s time to clean out the dealers’.