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From lumping all branches of therapy together, to erasing the racist history of drug prohibition, to promoting addiction, this thread is one of the most harmful things I've seen on Twitter in a long time and today we're going to unpack all of it.
Okay, let's start off with giving their argument the fairest look we can. First of all, they're saying that social work is inherently capitalist, and designed to turn everyone into the perfect worker. For them, this includes therapy.
This is untrue. Wolfgang Huber helped create the the Socialist Patients Collective, a group who saw many of the problems of mental illness as coming from capitalist oppression. While described as "anti-therapy" the patient care by laypersons, living... https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/22/spk-complex-berlin-film-festival-socialist-patients-collective-terrorism
... together with other consensual people with mental health problems are actually really common techniques in modern therapy. Feminist Theory challenges the prejudices of psychiatric profession as well, by centering the voices of the marginalized in understanding their pain.
Psychiatry is not some sort of 1940's style electroshock business but a discipline with tons of people trying to challenge the way we look at mental illness and society.
https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/Feminist-Therapy-Chapter-1-Sample.pdf
https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/Feminist-Therapy-Chapter-1-Sample.pdf
Lastly, the idea that anything "under capitalism" is bad strips people of their autonomy and requires erasing the work of thousands of radical activists who are building a socialist future under the noses of the elite. It's a complacent nihilistic attitude which encourages...
...people to wait around and do drugs until the system collapses for them, rather than having to do anything to build a better tomorrow. Pretending that people can't create anything under bad systems discourages anyone from trying.
Next we come to their second and maybe even worse tweet. Here albie says ketamine and weed were made illegal because they actually make you happy, unlike ssris which makes people numb and thus compliant to capital.
First of all, this is a terrible reading of why weed is illegal. It was first banned by Harry J. Anslinger because it was a drug mainly used by black people and Mexicans. He marketed it by arguing "Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men." https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-marijuana-illegal-in-the-us
Nixon replaced this prohibition with a new one in 1970. Despite the science saying Marijuana was comparatively safe, he went ahead with it anyway to go after his two enemies "black people and the anti-war left" according to his top aid.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-the-dea-s-long-war-on-marijuana/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-the-dea-s-long-war-on-marijuana/
Erasing the racist history of the war on drugs is just lazy analysis and bad praxis, especially if you're just going to replace it with "The Man just doesn't want us to feel good, man." If you want to talk about systems, you have to talk about who they're designed to target.
Secondly, albie doesn't go into some of the harmful effects of either substance if abused, or the way capitalism and white supremacy have influenced them both. While I believe both should be legalized even for recreational consumption, you should still know the risks.
First of all, Ketamine is actually a legal substance for medical procedures, unlike marijuana which is still completely illegal in 8 states. I couldn't find any countries where it's actually banned totally, although it is pretty restricted in the UK.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/302663
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/302663
Secondly, ketamine has sort of become a drug fad. While there have been some promising studies, places like Kalypso Wellness Center are selling it for $495 an infusion while being handed out by untrained people who don't know how to help patients cope with the side effects.
To me this sounds like Capitalists are exploiting a drug fad to make lots of money of people who are too desperate or ignorant to know the risks of what they're doing to themselves. https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/24/ketamine-clinics-severe-depression-treatment/
Ketamine is a useful drug, but not a cure. It's good for a temporary burst of happiness, not preventing long term mental health problems.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/behind-the-buzz-how-ketamine-changes-the-depressed-patients-brain/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4544340/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/behind-the-buzz-how-ketamine-changes-the-depressed-patients-brain/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4544340/
Next we come to marijuana, and honestly I think there's no better example of a gentrified drug. 81% of Marijuana business owners are white in a county where only 60.4% are white. PoC were the targets of drug war, now white people reap the rewards.
https://mjbizdaily.com/chart-19-cannabis-businesses-owned-founded-racial-minorities/
https://mjbizdaily.com/chart-19-cannabis-businesses-owned-founded-racial-minorities/
It's gotten so bad that Marijuana companies are employing John Boehner, Republican speaker of the House and fervent opponent of legalization, to help grease the wheels of their ever growing profits.
Also Cannabis is a pretty mixed cure for depression. There's been some research on animals that it can help alleviate stress. However, there's also been studies showing a link between regular Cannabis usage and depression.
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/medical-marijuana-for-depression#research
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23795762/
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/medical-marijuana-for-depression#research
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23795762/
In conclusion, Marijuana and Ketamine face the same problems with being exploited by capital and gentrified as therapy often does. Instead of switching up our consumption, we need to actively resist the system that causes these issues in the first place!
You might be wondering "Lapis, why waste all this time and energy on a Twitter thread. It's not that bad." This is why. This person knows what they're saying is half baked, but instead of restarting, they blame everyone but themselves and give up.
Even without strawmanning their position "as do drugs, not therapy" the thread still fails as a critique of society and a critique of drug prohibition. It's blind to the way capitalism actually functions.
But more than anything else, it has one glaring flaw: Apathy
But more than anything else, it has one glaring flaw: Apathy
Apathy to resisting capitalism. Apathy to racial injustice. Apathy to the complicated science behind drugs and depression. Apathy to listening to the voices of others.
If you take away anything from this thread, let it be this:
We can all do better than apathy. [END]
If you take away anything from this thread, let it be this:
We can all do better than apathy. [END]
