For your entertainment, a letter to the editor by Richard Douglas in California
Marijuana contributes to killings
There seems to be a lot of your readers who support “medicinal marijuana.” However, there are some who are against the allowance of dispensing marijuana and each seems to have their own idea as to the harm it causes in our society.
I too believe it is harmful. My main protest is that these people, and the other drug abusers, are assisting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many of them are American soldiers, fighting in Afghanistan and even more are Mexican citizens and American citizens, along our Mexican-American borders.In Afghanistan, there is a civil war going on between the president (some guy named Karsi) and his opposition, called the Taliban. Their main product is a flower called poppies. These poppies are used to make a very potent drug called cocaine. There is a very lucrative market for this drug. The U.S. military is assisting Karsi because the other group, Taliban, are Muslims. It’s the lesser of two evils.
The other group of crooks that the cannabis cohorts are supporting are the Mexican drug lords. There is more than one group of these murderers and they keep trying to kill each other, the police or military and any innocent bystander who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So, if you don’t mind being called a murderer by proxy, go ahead and approve cannabis for everyone to use. Then every time you smoke another joint you can add another tattoo to your arm and show the world how many soldiers you killed.
Hilarious.
Please God, let this idiot be a teenager, preferably one under the age of sixteen. Please. If this horrifically factually incorrect blatantly bigoted garbage was written by an actual adult I might have to go cut off a finger to distract me from the pain in my brain.
Completely brainwashed or completely unaware of everything going on the world.
Cocaine from poppies…. That’s funny!
Voting on Medical Cannabis isn’t the problem. Getting it produced in the US instead of other countries is the problem. Once that’s taken care of, the cartels will have to find customers elsewhere.
People still don’t catch the switch where Medical Cannabis is legal yet the product is still viewed as “illegal.” Now THAT is brainwashing!!!
This is actually quite impressive.
So medical marijuana supports the taliban because the taliban sells poppies to make cocaine and we’re against the taliban because they’re muslim and therfore evil (btw karsai is sunni).
I want to say that it’s run of the mill reefer madness but that’s too incoherent for even prohibitionists.
Outstanding editorial. They should put this guy to work writing the next health care bill. He would fit right in with the good ol boys in congress.
I too,want some cocaine poppies,please. I had thought that in all my drug dazed daydreams I had thought of everything more important than mouse droppings,but this is a new one.
Some corrections to the article, if you please.
Strike “Marijuana contributes to killings.”
Correct to read “Prohibition contributes to killings.”
Let’s get factual here.
This could be the best thing ever written. Ever. In the history of ever. I don’t know if I’m crying from ‘oh the humanity’ or ‘oh the hilarity’. If only there really weren’t real people dying due to this fucking war on everything.
Ignoring the hallucinatory existence of cocaine poppies in Afghanistan what exactly do they have to do with the prohibition of growing your own Marijuana plants in the USA? Oh god, why am I even asking.
Cocaine grows in Afghanistan and Dispensaries sell Mexi brick ! Thank you Mr. Douglas for opening my eyes to the higher education you posses. Everytime I smoke a “homegrown” joint I notch off another dead American soldier.
It’s not all bad.
He wrote “There seems to be a lot of your readers who support “medicinal marijuana.â€
Yep, no argument there. There are TONS of us who support MMJ, more than 50% of the population in my opinion.
He also wrote “However, there are some who are against the allowance of dispensing marijuana and each seems to have their own idea as to the harm it causes in our society.”
Again, no argument that there are differing opinions, and those who oppose MMJ are less in number than those who approve.
Then he brings out the crazy, which is easy to refute.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are right. Greedy teacher unions are ruining this country.
The comments at the linked site are interesting too. Seems there’s a cop over there as well. Most commenters are setting Richard straight.
What I’d like to say is this man is probably in his 70’s or 80’s. His comments demonstrate how effective past propaganda has been. OR this man is like a now dead relative of mine who knew everything about everything and ran his mouth until I wanted to puke. Could be someone said to him, “why not write a letter to the editor” because they were tired of listening to his rant.
Just saying, don’t feel any sympathy for him, if I did feel any it would be because he has made an ass outta himself and is on multiple pharmaceuticals.
It’s not the cocaine poppies that kill, it’s those damned oxycontin plants (multisporiforum oxycontis.)
Oh, and speaking of, on the serious side…got a bulletin from the American Pain Foundation today that talks of a special on Fox Business Channel (not the same as Fox News) Thursday night at 8:00 pm EST. It’s called “Why is the Government in My Medicine Cabinet?” and is an investigative report by John Stossel on how the federal government is making it more difficult for patients to aquire some medications, including pain medications, for legitimate purposes. A must watch for those who care!
Besides just laughing at this guy, we ought to take the lesson that quite a few people are thinking of the drug war at this level of comprehension. There are many more like him, and they get to vote, too.
Our arguments need to be aimed at all sorts of people. I think we have largely won the intellectual, logical argument. We can see all sorts of public intellectuals coming over to our side, and that is the foundation of our continuing success.
However, I think the battle needs to shift to more emotional ground with simpler terms and ideas, now. We must find ways to engage with ordinary people who haven’t given the drug war a lot of thought. They have to be shown how awful it is, what it has done to our legal system, and the immense numbers of lost and wasted lives. Our appeal needs to be emotional and personal to get through to people like Richard Douglas.
That simple argument: support for the drug war = support for the cartels and their massive profits. We want to put them out of business, the drug warriors don’t. Simple and consice.
WWWHHHAATTT ! TTTHHEE !!
Ok I too hope this is just some very misinformed teen That we can set straight. If this is an adult , I hope Richard is just an anomly. Please dont let it breed!!
Really coccaine poppies? Richard , please, do some research man! You got no idea!
He must be one of those poor prisoners in platos parable of the cave…poor soul.
I am just amazed at how clueless people can be about the world around them.
I just see some prohib somewhere wringing his hands saying” Yes Richard drugs and reformers bad , police state good muuuhhaaaaa!!”
This guy got no clue about the war over ther either it seems , let alone the war here. Man if he does some research and opens his eyes , hes gonna have a real jesus moment. “Jesus Im an idiot!”
Cocaine comes from a coca leaf. I’ll have to snort a line of marijuana now.
Heres a little story over at CCM . If our government does things like this with alcohol and cannabis..makes one wonder what else they do.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/02/24/Chemists-War
does this mean I should till under my meth garden? It’s taken 3 years to get the vines trained too… damn it!
I smoked a joint today, then held the door of a restaurant politely for a soldier. He said “thank you”, I said “you’re welcome”.
Politeness man loves his drugs. Who’da thunk?
A commenter on a UK site… Thanks to America winning the war with the B52 ‘flying fortress’ you folks now have the freedom to post the comments you do…
Myself..Am looking forward to purchase a Cessna 150 ‘heavy bomber’ soon. lol
Please, all Drug WarRanters!!!
This news site has open comments! You don’t have to register to tell the writer or the paper what you think. Please, share openly.
Here’s my response to a claim that “Most people like to cheat, steal, and murder.” Hence the gov’t should keep pot illegal.
“To Fed up in Chico:
Legalizing marijuana isn’t right because “most of the people” want it, it’s right because it will reduce the number of killing, cheating, and stealing that exists now. People in the U.S. and Mexico are being killed because marijuana is illegal. The only way to have marijuana any more detached from the crime, disease, and social decay in our nation is to regulate it in legally supervised markets. Its too bad that you think people mostly want to cheat, steal, and kill. I don’t see people like that. But I think the moral differences between killing human beings and smoking marijuana is plenty clear. If laws are the only thing that keep you from killing or stealing then you have way too many problems to be spending your time in an online forum. Seek professional help.
Still, Fed up’s example really got me thinking. Your arguement almost works, but it has a few logical flaws. Mr. Blow and Mr. Weed don’t seem to be shooting at anyone, which Mr. Douglas argued correctly is a problem of the current marijuana market.
Assume marijuana is regulated somewhat like alcohol. If/when the authorities catch up with Mr. Blow, he’ll be required to pay back paxes/fees/fines/etc. Under the current system, the gov’t will spend $20,000 each year it locks him up. Lets assume that Mr. Blow happened to be holding down a job, statistics show us most marijuana smokers do, what are the odds he loses his job? Under a legal model Mr. Blow’s tax troubles make him more dependent on his legal employment, it could make him a more dedicated worker. Under the current system he loses his job, and with his felony conviction he probably loses the chance to have any job thay pays more than selling pot would net him.
So lets review, marijuana is legal. Mr. Blow earns $45,000 a year as a civil servent. He grows a bit, sells a bit, gets caught, has to pay $2000 in fines. Looks like an ass to his peers, gets passed over for a promotion.
Marijuana is illegal. Mr. Blow grows a bit, sells a bit, gets caught, does 10 years for growing a plant. Taxpays spend $50,000 arresting, trying, and convicting, then another $200,000 locking him up. Mr. Blows kids, what, didn’t I mention he has two kids? Its pretty easy to assume that because he smoked pot, Mr. Blow would be an apathetic and uninvolved dad, but it turns out that’s just a stereotype. Mr. Blow was as attentive and loving to his children as we can ask any man to be, and boy did he ever come down hard when he caught his son drinking at 17.
Well the kids are better off because they don’t have a father or lead provider of the house, but its ok because the family plunges into poverty, and taxpayers can spend another $80,000 over the next decade giving them welfare, student aid, and all those other things that Mr. Blow can’t buy them. When he gets out of jail the only way he can look like a hero to his kids again is by paying for his daughter’s third year of college. But the only way he can pay is by growing pot for some very bad people. Great news though. The cops found out about Blow’s grow operation. Another $50,000 to get him back in jail, where he spends the next 19 years, $380,000 there. His kids never talk to him again, but they do go on to bleed the state for another $200,000 in welfare over the next 19 years.
Marijuana legal, cost to taxpayers, minimal, more or less the cost to assess and collect fines. Cost to Mr. Blow, $2,000. Total cost to society: >$4000.
Marijuana illegal, cost to taxpayers $1.16 million over 29 years. Cost to Mr. Blow, $1.3 million dollars over 29 years. Total cost to society: $2.46 million.”
This must be a joke. Clearly this man is being sarcastic. I simply refuse to believe that he means what he wrote. It’s…inconceivable.
Or perhaps this was written by a lobotomized 4 year old on PCP.
This seems to me like the quasi-final, incoherent ramblings of a dying ideology.
OT: A head’s-up from TalkLeft,
A Colorado Legislator sends a letter to AG Eric Holder to get clarification on the recent MMJ raids there.
Just goes to show how difficult our task is. The absolute ignorance is stunning. After decades of propaganda Richard is example #1 of how effective said propaganda has been.
“The U.S. military is assisting Karsi because the other group, Taliban, are Muslims. It’s the lesser of two evils.”
I thought this was the funniest part. Maybe someone should enlighten him to the fact that Hamid is himself a Muslim. Careful though, his brain might explode.
hey Bailey , the story about mr blow is what average joe doesnt undrstand when they talk about mary jane and wanting to keep it illegal….good show man.Keep on educating average joe about mr blow and mary jane. (Couldnt resist the play of words)
OT: Wanna see the original rationale for the drug laws – racism – being regurgitated from a present-day drug agent’s pen? Look no further than the DEAWatch’s “18 Feb 2010, 21:06 PST, 8th Edition “I am not a Kneegrow!!!”:
And keep in mind: we’re paying for the sustenance of this person….
Medicate first, and have eyewash handy; your eyes will feel in desperate need of cleansing after reading it.
Your first link was terrific kaptinemo but the second one did indeed create an uncomfortable feeling (to say the least).
Holy heck, do you think Obama has read that?
Well, at least this guy is a citizen, not a sworn peace officer.
“Bassett says Sevart was moving 20 pounds of Hydro a week earning the street rate $4,000 per pound.
Bassett believes this bust puts a huge dent in the Lubbock drug trade.”
http://www.myfoxlubbock.com/mostpopular/story/21-year-old-Joey-Sevart/SzyySf3GtEysFN_P6ZYKWg.cspx
Denmark, the ugly truth is that what you read at DEAWatch was not an anomaly; on the contrary, it’s been the norm for many years.
As to whether Mr. Obama has read it, I sincerely doubt it. But I can imagine his reaction, after having just nominated Ms. Leonhart to continue running the DEA. “Betrayal” is too mild a word.
I make it a habit to read there now and again, as they are quite open about their dissatisfaction with their jobs….and almost all of it stemming from their ‘leadership’. And, almost every month a reader is treated to a racist screed. It’s showing that the original impetus for drug laws – racism – is very much alive and well amongst the group that is charged with prosecuting those laws federally.
Good O’l Boy Roundups may be a thing of the past, but the sentiment behind them is not. And that sentiment sustains the DrugWar.
Just watched John Stossel’s show on the government and its interference with our lives as far as medicine is concerned. He discussed the number of people who die in pain because the phhysicians of the country are afraid of action being taken against them by the DEA, and yes..they do attack pain doctors.
This is fucking outrageous!!! The myth of a free country has long since passed…thank you Harry Anslinger. As far as the DEA, they should be DEAd. Nixon…I wish I could dig the motherfucker up just to kick his dead ass once more.
In case you are wondering…yeah, I’m pissed.
Good god, the stuff on that DEAWatch site is eyeopening for sure.
Maria, I took a look at the site also. Scary? Absolutely. Justifiable? Hardly.
I really have to wonder…how can these assholes justify their existence? I mean these DEA agents are the equivelent of the Nazi brownshirts. Of course, it’s for the “children”, right?
I stick with the nomenclature: DEAd
WOW – I can now see why everyone wants to get them cocaine poppies for themselves. My garden would absolutely prosper if I had a few. Duh – why do people write before they read. Stupid – Stupid – Stupid. Me, like the other guy, will have to go a snort a line of maryjane – lol.
The ways in which this guy has completely misconceived concepts mysteriously planted in his brain dumfounds me. “Highlarious” indeed, he sounds high to me.
probably a hoax
i think your pretty retarted considering how much more dangerous alcohol is then the reefer. hell cocaines prolly safer too. but the whole point is that your retarted because pot has NEVER killed anyone and all this time it was illegal i dont think people were goin around killing their parents like those commercials back in the day portryed. you need a fat joint and kick in the balls cause you prolly never smoked and your totally dissing. youve prolly never been married and you sound like an ass. know what? you dont deserve a joint you just deserve a kick in the balls
What kind of poppies does cocaine come from?