… Alcohol serves at the pleasure of the players on both sides of the game, its virtues those indicated by Seneca and Martin Luther, its vices those that the novelist Marguerite Duras likens, as did Hamlet, to the sleep of death: “Drinking isn’t necessarily the same as wanting to die. But you can’t drink without thinking you’re killing yourself.” Alcohol’s job is to replace creation with an illusion that is barren. “The words a man speaks in the night of drunkenness fade like the darkness itself at the coming of day.”
The observation is in the same despairing minor key as Billie Holiday’s riff on heroin: “If you think dope is for kicks and thrills you’re out of your mind. There are more kicks to be had in a good case of paralytic polio and living in an iron lung. If you think you need stuff to play music or sing, you’re crazy. It can fix you so you can’t play nothing or sing nothing.” She goes on to say that in Britain the authorities at least have the decency to treat addiction as a public-health problem, but in America, “if you go to the doctor, he’s liable to slam the door in your face and call the cops.”
Humankind’s thirst for intoxicants is unquenchable, but to criminalize it, as Lincoln reminded the Illinois temperance society, reinforces the clinging to the addiction; to think otherwise would be “to expect a reversal of human nature, which is God’s decree and never can be reversed.” The injuries inflicted by alcohol don’t follow “from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing.” The victims are “to be pitied and compassionated,” their failings treated “as a misfortune, and not as a crime or even as a disgrace.”
… Whether declared by church or state, the war against human nature is by definition lost. The Puritan inspectors of souls in seventeenth-century New England deplored even the tentative embrace of Bacchus as “great licentiousness,” the faithful “pouring out themselves in all profaneness,” but the record doesn’t show a falling off of attendance at Boston’s eighteenth-century inns and taverns. The laws prohibiting the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the 1920s discovered in the mark of sin the evidence of crime, but the attempt to sustain the allegation proved to be as ineffectual as it was destructive of the country’s life and liberty.
Instead of resurrecting from the pit a body politic of newly risen saints, Prohibition guaranteed the health and welfare of society’s avowed enemies. The organized-crime syndicates established on the delivery of bootleg whiskey evolved into multinational trade associations commanding the respect that comes with revenues estimated at $2 billion per annum. In 1930 alone, Al Capone’s ill-gotten gains amounted to $100 million.
So again with the war that America has been waging for the last 100 years against the use of drugs deemed to be illegal. The war cannot be won, but in the meantime, at a cost of $20 billion a year, it facilitates the transformation of what was once a freedom-loving republic into a freedom-fearing national security state. [++]
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Nine former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration are standing in our way to legalize marijuana in three states this year.
In Colorado, Oregon and Washington, ballot initiatives will let the voters decide whether they want to legalize marijuana in their states. These former DEA officials are so scared that the public will vote to legalize that they sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to oppose all the ballot initiatives.
Let’s show the Attorney General that our voice is stronger than former drug war generals. Urge Attorney General Holder to let states decide their own marijuana policies this November!
In the past few years, the states have been on the front lines of marijuana legalization. We’ve seen 17 states and the District of Columbia legalize marijuana for medical purposes and 15 states have effectively decriminalized marijuana possession in small amounts. More than half of all Americans support marijuana legalization. And the ballot initiatives in Colorado, Oregon and Washington have promising chances of passing.
The people who want to maintain marijuana prohibition are afraid. That’s why supporters of the drug war status quo are urging Holder to speak out against marijuana legalization. They’re desperate to block our progress, and they want to overshadow all the work you’ve done getting to this historic moment. They know if even one of these states legalizes marijuana, it would change the future of drug policy in our country — and we know it would be change for the better.
"Nothing changes when it comes to the drug war. Just more death and destruction — and corruption, robberies, muggings, overcrowded prisons, gang wars, and violence, all with no impact on the supply of drugs. They kill one smuggler or they bust one drug cartel, and ten more pop up. Decade after decade after decade doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. Like the Energizer Bunny, the drug war just keep going and going and going."
Bill Would Lift Medical Marijuana Evidence Ban In Federal Court
Late on Tuesday, U.S. Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) and 18 co-sponsors (15 Democrats and three Republicans) introduced HR 6134, the “Truth in Trials” Act, bipartisan legislation to allow defendants in federal criminal prosecutions the ability to use medical marijuana evidence at trial, a right not currently afforded them.
Because of a June 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Raich, the government has the discretion to enforce federal marijuana laws even in medical marijuana states. The Raich ruling also allows federal prosecutors to exclude all evidence of medical use or state law compliance in federal trials, virtually guaranteeing the convictions of medical marijuana patients and providers.
“The federal government has tilted the scales of justice towards conviction by denying medical marijuana defendants the right to present all of the evidence at trial,” said Congressman Farr. “My bill would restore due process rights to law abiding citizens acting within the parameters of state and local laws. Juries should hear the entire story of a patient’s medical marijuana use before choosing to convict, not the heavily edited version they currently hear.”
“It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution or proceeding under any federal law for marijuana-related activities, which the proponent must establish by a preponderance of the evidence, that those activities comply with state law regarding the medical use of marijuana,” the bill states.
The government is threatening and raiding even the most professional and well-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries in California. Recently, the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban all dispensaries and the federal government threatened the nation’s largest dispensary, Harborside Health Center. This federal crackdown runs roughshod over the will of voters and the repeated promises made by President Obama, Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice to defer to responsible state and local regulation of medical marijuana. Take action and urge your legislators to support a new bill in Congress that could stop the federal threats on medical marijuana.
The Flower: Drug War
MARCY DOLIN: I’m lying on my bed, smoking a joint. I smoke about eight a day, and eat a marijuana cookie before I go to sleep at night. I like the peanut-butter ones. I’ve been using marijuana for about 35 years, ever since I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It takes the pain and muscle spasms away. Without it, I would be living on morphine and other horrible drugs. I couldn’t do that to my family. That’s no life, and I would have ended it. That’s the truth. I used to take a drug called Neurontin, and I just never stopped crying. I was in a fog, totally depressed. I told my doctor that I was going back to just marijuana; he said he would have me arrested if he could. What are they going to do? I’m 71 years old. Are they going to put me in jail? I’m not hurting anybody. It’s just here in my own house.
Welcome to DPR [Drug Policy Reform]
In this blog you will be updated with news on the ‘War on Drugs’, general prohibitions throughout the world and their drug policy progress and demises. It will also focus on the benefits in sensible policies and examples in which it has worked, as well as examples in which our current Drug War fails and causes more problems rather than reparation to our society and economy.
With major highlights on the current unrest happening in Mexico thanks in part to the United State’s irrational drug policies which aid drug cartels and gangs whom sell to anyone including kids, and drug war fueled gangs which thrive from our country’s insensible prohibitions for example drugs like Cannabis and other drugs like Shrooms, which have been show to carry a slew of medical benefits from authorized agencies and officials in the field.
Politicians and congressmen as well as corporations are currently and illogically neglecting these senseless laws that if lifted, could give a rise to a healthy economy, greater products, millions of benefiting medical patients that can extend their lives with the usage of many of these illegal substances. Our main motto here is ‘If these prohibitions were going to work, they would’ve worked by now — legalize’.
Gonna need some avid and knowledgeable writers on this team who are informed of many aspects on the war on drugs. Anyone interested just message me and would be awesome to show me some of your previous writings or articles posted by you on this subject.
The White House’s attempt to censor popular questions about marijuana policy was foiled.
Obama’s Opportunity: Will the White House Snub Marijuana Yet Again? | NORML
Last week, the White House launched the next in its long line of social media engagement initiatives, this one entitled “Your Interview With the President.” The concept was simple, anyone could upload their question to the President on YouTube, others would vote on them, and the highest rated ones would be posed to the Commander in Chief in a Google+ Hangout on January 30th.
This seemed to be a logical opportunity to ask the administration about marijuana legalization. Last Tuesday, I posted NORML’s question to the White House YouTube page for consideration. We asked, “With over 850,000 Americans arrested in 2010, on marijuana charges alone, and tens of billions of tax dollars being spent locking up marijuana users, isn’t it time to regulate and tax marijuana?”
The reception was overwhelmingly positive, in just several hours the question received over 4,000 “thumbs up” votes and was one of, if not the, most popular question on the service. Then a peculiar thing happened, the question was removed. After becoming the most positively voted upon question in less than a day, the White House removed the question, deeming it “inappropriate.”
We informed our audience of the censorship and encouraged them to engage the White House on their own, using our question or a one of their own choosing. Over the next several days the program was inundated with marijuana law reform questions. At first, many met the same fate as our original question and were removed from the site. It seems our persistence ended up paying off and the page administrator finally gave up trying to censor the incoming questions and most marijuana inquiries have remained up since.
Voting closed last night at midnight and I made some rough calculations of the final results to see how we performed. Of the top 160 questions asked, marijuana reform questions accounted for 105 of them. Reposts of our question brought in an estimated 17,524 up-votes in addition to the 4,028 the original received before being removed. Combined, that is over 21,000 votes for one question, which is 5 times as many votes as any other question on the page. The 105 marijuana reform questions in the top 160 brought in over 74,000 votes, dwarfing any other topic. Our friends at LEAP posted a question as well and it ended as one of the top rated questions. You can read their coverage here.
Now, we wait. “Your Interview With the President” is scheduled to take place tomorrow, January 30th. Considering this is the same individual who previously stated that, “we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws” and that legalization is a “perfectly legitimate topic for debate,” maybe he will take this opportunity to address the issue seriously for once. In an election year, this could go a long way towards winning back those who feel disenfranchised with the administration over a perceived lack of progress on the issue and amped up raids on medical programs in states such as California and Colorado.
The American people are ready for our debate Mr. President, are you?
The war on the truth about drugs | The Guardian
As a country, we look back in horror now at the delusions of other eras – when it was illegal to be gay, for instance, or when women could not vote. Yet we do not stop and see that we are living through another one. Decriminalisation would end the violent illegal drug trade; drug treatment and prescription for addicts would prevent them from committing crime. Both measures would make gigantic savings on the cost of policing and imprisoning offenders, and on clearing up the consequences of their actions. They would also end the outrage of people being locked up for the crime of seeking mostly harmless fun. It’s our laws that are destroying lives. +
"The drug war is not a failure; rather it works perfectly for its intended purposes. It generates billions of dollars for government agencies at all levels, employing millions of people. It created and supports whole industries such as drug testing, and has enhanced the drug rehabilitation industry. The drug war also protects other industries such as tobacco and alcohol, and even legal medical drug companies. It also protects the lumber and oil industries. The drug war even drives this Nation’s foreign policy. The drug war also funds gang violence at home and terrorists abroad, creating even more American jobs needed to combat these threats. The drug war also has the added benefit of conveniently side stepping Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and liberties, allowing government to control even the most intimate facets of citizen’s lives, increasing government’s control. The drug war also guarantees a ready supply of drugs for children, guaranteeing an endless supply of new participants to support the prison industry, lawyers, law enforcement, etc. The drug war also provides government the opportunity to marginalize those considered undesirable, take away their ability to vote, find employment, get an education, take their children, seize their property, etc. Who in their right mind could possibly want to do away with this cash cow, and return to a time when there was no illegal drug use in this country?"
"The drug war is not a failure; rather it works perfectly for its intended purposes. It generates billions of dollars for government agencies at all levels, employing millions of people. It created and supports whole industries such as drug testing, and has enhanced the drug rehabilitation industry. The drug war also protects other industries such as tobacco and alcohol, and even legal medical drug companies. It also protects the lumber and oil industries. The drug war even drives this Nation’s foreign policy. The drug war also funds gang violence at home and terrorists abroad, creating even more American jobs needed to combat these threats. The drug war also has the added benefit of conveniently side stepping Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and liberties, allowing government to control even the most intimate facets of citizen’s lives, increasing government’s control. The drug war also guarantees a ready supply of drugs for children, guaranteeing an endless supply of new participants to support the prison industry, lawyers, law enforcement, etc. The drug war also provides government the opportunity to marginalize those considered undesirable, take away their ability to vote, find employment, get an education, take their children, seize their property, etc. Who in their right mind could possibly want to do away with this cash cow, and return to a time when there was no illegal drug use in this country?"
Child rapist to get less time than pot grower | The Province
09/21/11—Prime Minister Stephen Harper is getting tougher on pot growers than he is on rapists of children. Under the Tories’ omnibus crime legislation tabled Tuesday, a person growing 201 pot plants in a rental unit would receive a longer mandatory sentence than someone who rapes a toddler or forces a five-year-old
How Does Drug Prohibition Affect You The Citizen In A Negative Way?
By (Ken/cwl)
Exactly and with no exaggeration it has been a century, one hundred years of Cannabis prohibition. Despite all credible Health and Medical agencies recognizing Cannabis as a completely safe, non-lethal plant that does in fact carry a slew of medical benefits far exceeding that of many pharmaceutical drugs that are sold over the counter, it is still kept away and made illegal in the Federal level. This denies states citizens the freedom of Cannabis usage as Federal regulators tout and recite old, outdated propaganda long ago disproved by science, experiments and pure data. But you’re just a mere citizen, and may not even care for using Cannabis, so..
How Does Cannabis Prohibition Affect You Negatively?
Consider this, our country is in great debt, it owes far too much than it can pay, which of course our government saves the businesses. The citizens get the bitter end of the deal by literally being born into debt. As this progresses, we, or should I say our “loyal” representatives at congress who continously vote NO,NO, NO on just about anything that makes sense to be voted on FUCKING YES. From Educational, Scientific, People’s Rights, Transportation, Environmental budget slashes to lack of funding in them, to the one I am getting to, prohibition of a multi billion dollar industry that could save us from debt as we look for Economic alternatives, as well as a real stop to crime.. The Cannabis industry.
A Quick Look Back: Alcohol Prohibition of the 1920-30s
Remember when the United States also placed a prohibition stamp on Alcohol? Not too long ago our government thought it would be a good idea to play Big Brother and place a no-no stamp over Alcohol usage by banning it. This would surely teach those crazy alcoholics to quit while they’re at it no? Exactly, No. This action gave rise to one of the most vicious, greedy, and dangerous crime bosses the states have ever seen, the citizens again took the bitter end as crime grew rampant across the streets now that money from the alcohol was going unregulated, in mass, and straight to these crime bosses and businessmen who sold to whomever showed the cash. So in 1933, the ban on Alcohol was lifted at the federal level. This restored the alcohol industry and gave better regulation to it with official vendors requesting identification later on.
Did You Know?
The founding fathers were in fact huge fans of the crop Hemp which is part of the Cannabis plant. Hemp is and was always said by experts to be a revolutionary plant for farmers and industries alike. Not only because you can replace the usage of trees for hemp, but it can be used for virtually many replacements that now thrive on the market. On top of this, it left nothing after harvest and can be planted soon after that last harvesting. In fact, President Abraham Lincoln would enjoy some Cannabis of his own on his front porch as he played his harmonica, he wrote of this. Many of the founding fathers expressed great interest for this crop, so much that it was made illegal NOT to grow it.
Deja Vu! I’m Seeing Two
How do you make the same nonsensical and unfounded mistake twice? Simple, grab the same crop that our founding father praised right? Now, if you’re a big business tycoon and you’re scared of competition just say that Cannabis is actually this nutty Marijuana plant that due to racist times “makes white women have sex with black men” (Not my word, as it was literally put at the time). Then, since you own the print press you make prints bashing this awesome crop and turning it into a bad one in the image of many. And so it was, Cannabis was banned, made illegal. Thus giving a new rise to thugs, gangsters, and greedy businessmen in our own and south of the borders. This effects you directly because it is these same people that are selling drugs to kids, no matter the age as long as there is money. Which overall extends corruption to the youth, which then grows up being that corruption in an ongoing deadly cycle we allow.
Because of this prohibition we are not making the best out of this lovely billion dollar industry that can be the citizens. Legalizing Cannabis and Hemp all together just seems like the right thing to do if you understand how this all works and plays out for you. You would literally be benefiting from this whether you are for it or not because everyone would benefit from the gigantic revenues. We could be saving thousands of trees and the fact that growing cannabis can all be done with renewable energy and eco-friendly solutions it seems like the safe way to go environmentally. So what are we waiting for exactly? Are we the government’s child to be told what we can have or not? Then why do we continue to allow this ban on something almost everyone seems to have enjoyed and bonded with.
We are aware, We know it’s safe, We’ve seen its Effects, We’ve witnessed the cure.
Legalize Now.
