Although it sounds callous, I believe that drug addicts and alcoholics should not be cat owners. They are simply too unreliable. It depends on the standards of cat caregiving one is trying to attain but these should be high. Being drunk or high on drugs is incompatible with high standards of cat caregiving. Many drug addicts and alcoholics realise this and deny themselves the right to have a pet in an act of animal welfare.
RELATED: Can smoking marijuana around my cat cause her harm?
Decriminalising drugs?
This topic is relevant today as there is discussion on whether drug taking and drug takers should be criminalised. The argument is that drugs should be treated like alcohol and be decriminalised. Drug addicts need help not incarceration.
Well, that proposition became reality in Oregon, USA. In 2020 it became the first state to decriminalise small amounts of hard drugs such as heroin, fentanyl and cocaine under the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act. A referendum was held to seek the citizens’ approval.
The objective: to reduce drug use by regarding it as a health problem not a crime. Prohibited drugs remained illegal but criminal charges were abandoned. This was a case of liberalism and enlightenment. It was an experiment.
Failed experiment
The experiment has failed. The citizens of Oregon have changed their minds after fentanyl overdose deaths have soared by an estimated 42 percent from 2022 to 2023. Portland, the state’s largest city, declared a state of emergency over a public health and safety crisis due to fentanyl use.
Portugal started the revolution in treating drug use as a health problem not a crime in 2001. But the number of adult users of illicit drugs climbed by 12.8 per cent in 2022 up from 7.8 per cent in 2001.
Decrimalising reaction
After the laws were introduced, the following happened:
- The number of people seeking help for drug abuse dropped dramatically as before help was part of the criminal process.
- The number of people openly abusing drugs on the streets has ‘risen exponentially’ (The Times).
- There has been a huge rise in crime.
Amsterdam – the recognised world center of drug taking liberalism – is also backtracking. The mayor has warned that ‘growth of a vast, professional and violent drugs trade risks turning the country into a narco-state.’
And legislation should prohibit the softer drugs too like cannabis because when they are legalised it blurrs the effectiveness of the prohibition of hard drugs. It muddies the water.
So, what about cats and other pets? How many cat owners smoke pot? How many domestic cats in these homes are being poiosoned by cannabis? Far too many I believe.
Or being ill-fed by drunks? The sad or hard truth is that humankind can’t deal with absolute freedoms. Humans have too many demons and weaknesses. Humankind was not ready for the drug freedoms offered by these ‘enlightened’ laws.
Like kids, adults need boundaries to be set by people in authority. Adult are kids in so many ways.
That’s why I think that if there is to be a proper attempt at tackling the excessive ‘feral cat problem’ – far too many feral cats – some strict liability (no defence) laws need to be introduced on cat ownership with some tough punishments. That’ll work.
