What the case of Claire Brosseau tells us about the drug-hating madness of the west
by Brian Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher
February 22, 2026
The Case of Claire Brosseau demonstrates how insane North Americans have become thanks to drug propaganda. Even the Cato Institute is supporting Claire Brosseau's right to kill herself, thereby sending the clear message that it is better to die than to use "drugs" that would cheer one up in a trice. There is a potentially endless list of drugs that could improve Brosseau's mood dramatically, yet I am the only one in the world who is pointing this out -- in essays, of course, that are buried alive by Google's inherently conservative algorithms. But I have sent personal emails to the movers-and-shakers on this topic, and no one has replied. They are all determined to frame Brosseau's case as a fight for assisted suicide -- when it should be an enormous red flag that drug prohibition is denying Claire the right to take care of her own health as she sees fit. In other words, Claire and her allies should be fighting for an end to drug prohibition and not for her right to assisted suicide.
How do you change minds in a world where everyone now believes that it is better to DIE than to use drugs?!
Self-medicating is just a pejorative term for taking care of one's own psychological health. Doctors demonize the practice for obvious financial reasons.
Clearly, the answer has got to come from outside the United States. Some country has got to speak up for drug re-legalization on behalf of the citizen's right to take care of their own health as they see fit. Of course, Portugal is a small step in this direction, but the Portuguese system is really just a "kinder, gentler Drug War." Their system still assumes that drug use represents a pathology -- as if it is a disease to attempt to take care of one's own health without the permission of the self-interested healthcare establishment.
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Alcohol makes me sleepy. But NOT coca wine. The wine gives you an upbeat feeling of controlled energy, without the jitters of coffee and without the fury of steroids. It increases rather than dulls mental focus.
This just in on the drug scene: A new New York Times report shows that America has been flooding the world with antidepressants, alcohol and cigarettes!
My impression has been that the use of cocaine over a long time can bring about lasting improvement..." --Sigmund Freud, On Cocaine, 1884
We're living in a sci-fi dystopia called "Fahrenheit 452", in which the police burn thought-expanding plants instead of thought-expanding books.
I have nothing against science, BTW (altho' I might feel differently after a nuclear war!) I just want scientists to "stay in their lane" and stop pretending to be experts on my own personal mood and consciousness.
The real value of Erowid is as a research tool for a profession that does not even exist yet: the profession of what I call the pharmacologically savvy empath: a compassionate life counselor with a wide knowledge of how drugs can (and have) been used by actual people.
Drug Prohibition is a crime against humanity. It outlaws our right to take care of our own health.
Mayo Clinic is peddling junk. They are still promoting Venlafaxine, a drug that is harder to kick than heroin.
Big pharma drugs are designed to be hard to get off. Doctors write glowingly of "beta blockers" for anxiety, for instance, but ignore that fact that such drugs are hard -- and even dangerous -- to get off. We have outlawed all sorts of less dependence-causing alternatives.
Endless drugs could help with depression. Any drug that inspires and elates is an antidepressant, partly by the effect itself and partly by the mood-elevation caused by anticipation of use (facts which are far too obvious for materialists and drug warriors to understand -- let alone materialist drug warriors!).
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