Speaking Truth to Power

In the current issue of Drug Sense, Bryan Brickner has a feature article: Speak Truth to Power, where he talks about his experience in the debate that I moderated last month.

Great moments, like the ending of the drug war, will perhaps be inaudible to us. In other words, we often do not sense the meaning of moments as they happen. That being the case, when speaking truth to power, one should watch for when “the spell” begins to break.
The spell? The spell is the spell of power. It begins to break when the appearance of the reasons for believing become unbelievable. In the case of the drug war, the reasons for fighting it no longer produce fear. Without the fear of the illegal drug user — in oneself and in others — power has only one remaining effect, that of force. […]

There’s also an interesting juxtaposition in the section of the Drug Sense newsletter dealing with schools, and the levels of powers abused in the name of the drug war. On one hand you have the schools attempting to control what students say (Bong Hits 4 Jesus, the Carson High newspaper article on marijuana legalization and, from some weeks ago, the students who wore a marijuana leaf to support the medical marijuana bill in S.D.), while from a different abuse of power you have the student caught goofing around and pretending to snort Smarties candies who was told by the Principal that he’d have to go undercover and be a narc to avoid suspension.