http://coldfury.com/reason/comments.php?id=P1084_0_1_0

Arthur Silber touches on something which needs to be addressed -- and that is the idea of pain.

Before we even get to the idea of the so-called "recreational" use of drugs (ostensibly for "pleasure"), we ought to be clear about what is meant by the term "pain."

For reasons not entirely clear (perhaps because modern medical science is better able to locate causes for it), physical pain is conventionally thought to be "real" pain, whereas mental or emotional pain is thought to be more ethereal in nature, and less "real."

In any event, narcotics excel at treating both. Indeed, narcotics do not act as direct pain killers; instead they deaden the emotions, and this eases physical pain by allowing the person having pain to not be troubled by it -- even as he feels it.

If there is any moral distinction between these two forms of pain, I am at a loss to understand it. In fact, I am not sure the concept of morality even applies.

Posted by Eric at October 15, 2003 06:06 PM | TrackBack