Deprivations, the Devil, Drugs plus Imaginary Friends and Psychos...

Drugs.

The above photo shows John Lydon at Question Time on the UK BBC1 back on Thursday 5th July 2012.  There was a brief statement by a young woman in the audience expressing that no one was looking at the reasons why people go for drugs.  There was little response to that statement.  The disquiet and controversy about drugs and continues.

The futile international fight against drugs has always been present in our recent history.  Only quite recently it was expressed "The United States is Losing the War on Drugs in the Americas".

• Last week, the Trump administration issued a stark warning to Colombia: Unless it improves efforts to reduce coca cultivation and cocaine production, it runs the risk of having “failed demonstrably” to adhere to its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements.
  
• It was an unprecedented admonishment of the strongest U.S. ally in Latin America. Colombia’s commitment to eradicating and seizing illegal drugs has been nothing less than heroic for nearly two decades. Regrettably, however, the warning was unavoidable.

[http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/18/the-united-states-is-losing-the-war-on-drugs-in-the-americas/]

Let's face it with a President like Trump, getting high on drugs may be very attractive to some people. 

Question:  are we better allowing people to be 'shooting up' with drugs or allowing people to shoot loads of other people with guns?  Think about the 59 people killed and 527 people injured in Las Vegas on the evening of Sunday 1st October 2017.  (Disturbingly I found this incident almost forgotten when I Google searched the headlines then but then Americans often try to forget issues where they've failed to win - on a bigger scale, think about the Korean or Vietnam wars.)

This is actually related to the prejudices against LGBT people:

• Gay and transgender health is one of these issues. This issue brief examines the disproportionately high rates of substance use by gay and transgender people, which is a significant impediment to the health of this group. Although data on the rates of substance abuse in gay and transgender populations are sparse, it is estimated that between 20 percent to 30 percent of gay and transgender people abuse substances, compared to about 9 percent of the general population.
• The stress that comes from daily battles with discrimination and stigma is a principle driver of these higher rates of substance use, as gay and transgender people turn to tobacco, alcohol, and other substances as a way to cope with these challenges. And a lack of culturally competent health care services also fuels high substance-use rates among gay and transgender people.
• In order to lower these rates, our health care system needs to better meet the needs of gay and transgender people, and our government needs to advance public policies that promote equality for this population.
  

[https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/reports/2012/03/09/11228/why-the-gay-and-transgender-population-experiences-higher-rates-of-substance-use/]

Will my books help with this situation?  They include situations concerning some LGBT issues (particularly transgender identities) but not in an obvious, almost pontificating way.

I prefer to engross people with exciting situations in my novels and enhancing diversity awareness is an almost unconscious consequence.

I certainly seem to be having that kind of positive effect upon readers.

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I've certainly approached gender issues in very different ways in both of these books.  But the common theme is highlighting factual situations.

Like in The Devil's Sister novel I do touch upon the actual issues of prostitution in New York City.  Prostitution is a controversial issue with LGBT communities, particularly those with drug abuse problems.

But of course I'm actually writing about the overthrow of the Devil in the novel.  But then, am I actually meaning the Devil is involved with prostitution as well?

I'll leave up that up to you to decide when you read the book.

Of course I've got to include this incredible review about The Devil's Sister:

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Have I forgotten my writing about drug abuse in this blog?

No I haven't.  In my third novel - Imaginary Friends and Psychos - I'm actually writing about drugs in a rather unusual sort of way.  You see, part of it derives from my own personal experiences with drugs years ago.  I'm not going to say any more than that.  I'll leave that you to discover when I've finished and published this novel.