Well, it is important for many different reasons: not only does education help us acquire the capital required to participate on the labour market and provide a potential livelihood for us and our family; not because of the desire to prove ourselves in front of the others; least of all because with knowledge we can gain the force and power used for good or evil. In fact, education helps us understand all that was previously written, as well as our views on it.
We completely agree with Pierre Bourdieu that a person begins his/her education from birth, passing through several processes of conscious or unconscious acceptance of knowledge that continues to reshape and reformulate. The acquired knowledge manifests in the objective reality and influences human behaviour and inter-human relations.
The relation society has towards people who use drugs, which is based on superficial and distorted information, is unjust and endangers their life and health. However, forcing these people on the margins, the constant police tyranny and limiting their access to the social and health services reflects and endangers public health and the general wellbeing.
With this issue of “Drugs – Policies and Practices” we strive to maintain our awareness on why the magazine was established. The other idea was also to elaborate our views as a process of acquiring knowledge within the family and at school. Education for us is the comprehensive process of acquiring knowledge from all available sources and conscious processing of the received information in a manner useful for the individuals and the community. Therefore we strive for constant broadening of the opportunities for formal and informal education and access to different sources of relevant information. This is why education is important for us. We believe that liberal education contributes towards developing social awareness, and also awareness of the need to introduce humane drug policies.