… because you need one.
I’ll be back posting tonight or tomorrow – a number of things of interest happening out there.
- DrugWarRant.com, the longest running single-issue blog devoted to drug policy
Join us on Pete's couch.
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and suggestions to: Recent Comments
on Anti-marijuana quack Dave Weldon to take over CDC: “I strongly disagree with Servetus’ statement about Dave Weldon. His views on marijuana are not only outdated but also harmful…” Dec 17, 07:40
on Anti-marijuana quack Dave Weldon to take over CDC: “Brain volume changes seen in opioid users: 10-Dec-2024 — OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine…” Dec 12, 22:14
on Anti-marijuana quack Dave Weldon to take over CDC: “If you thought Bondi and Weldon are bad, I know plenty of Louisiana politicians in both parties who are even…” Dec 6, 11:26
Portugal’s drug policy pays off; US eyes lessons
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/26/portugals-drug-policy-pays-eyes-lessons/#content
Most comments post immediately; links and very long comments may not post though.
Some other reading material:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/world/26wikidrugs.html?hp
WOW! Talk about RED MEAT! We knew the cables would shine a light on the incredible corruption that prohibition creates, and boy were we not disappointed. That NYT article is great, and it is only based on the fraction of the cables that have been released.
I loved the part in the article where they were drawing the clear link between insurgents and drug money, but then stepped back from that assertion by saying terrorist charges are often linked to drug charges to get harsher sentences. Another shining example of the fact-less world of the institutionalized prohibition machine. If we need to trump up charges on someone, there is an unmistakable link betwaeen them and a terrorist organization. If we want to prove that shutting down the blackmarket drug business would hurt the terrorists financially, they only claimed the terrorist link for sentencing and extradition. Oh the hypocrisy.
Great article, hope more to come. God save Wikileaks!
The Wikileaks’ drug war cables illustrate vividly that among the greatest threats posed by prohibition is its tendency to be used for everything but its intended purpose.
Prohibition is a critically useful tool for racial, cultural, political and religious oppression; as a mechanism enabling murder, torture, blackmail, terrorism and espionage; as a funding source for shooting wars, colonial imperialism, illegal international interventions, and the maintenance of a vast prison industrial complexes for the benefit of profiteers; as a means of eliminating or overriding basic civil liberties and 4th Amendment protections; as a means to invade personal privacy, to intervene to disrupt alternate lifestyles not fitting a fascist and/or corporatist model; as an excuse to topple legitimate governments; and as a means that allows Big Pharma to subject citizens to inadequate and inferior medical treatments at exorbitant personal costs.
Corrupt governments do not give up their corrupted powers willingly. Such power must be taken from them in a revolutionary movement that addresses all issues simultaneously. Wikileaks will be critical in that process both now and in the future as the revolution heats up.
have the New York article posted and receiving several comments on it. Had to post Pete’s quip about:
No government in the world can compete with the black market in financial compensation for police officers.
There have been rumors at the DEA blog that the entire El Paso DEA regional office is corrupt. They really flew when the DEA office boss was agreeing with the city council that legalization was the best way to hurt the cartels.
But that was before Rand shrunk the amount of marijuana exported by the cartels from 40 billion dollars worth a year to 1.5 billion a year. And the El Paso DEA boss was on one of the NATGEO docs,reporting that marijuana was the backbone of the cartels operations and that the money
the cartels make off of the marijuana funds the other drugs trafficking.
Since the ONDCP needed that kind of info kept away from the public,he is probably catching hell for that one.
Hope the drive was good for you and your mom Pete. Driving, and I’m guessing you did all the driving, can take its toll on the body.
Found your parrot experience inspiring to read ezrydn.
Denmark,
My little buddy is very inspiring when you learn the entire story. He’s a gem, to say the least.
@pt-
You also have to remember that Jan of Homeland Security has already labeled we post-vets as “possible terrorists.” Why? Because we learned what the US taught us and we learned it well enough to stay alive.
Ezzy, if you were with SF or did a Secondary Dispensation to any alphabet-soup agency (me), they actively keep track of you.
In an interesting twist of irony, Merle Haggard today endorsed re-legalization of cannabis. One of Mr. Haggards more popular musical numbers was released in 1968, and titled “Okie from Muskogee”.
http://www.theboot.com/2010/12/27/merle-haggard-willie-nelson-arrest/
For those unfamiliar with the song mentioned above, here is a video of the Beach Boys getting on stage with Grateful Dead to perform Mr. Haggard’s song back in 1971..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_3nYixwNn0
It seems this completes the circle.
Now he decides we’re right. Forty-some years after the fact.
Rep. Jared Polis calls for regulation and taxation of cannabis on the House Floor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogluk4VjPiM
And for a good laugh: “Top Cop’s House used as Cannabis Factory”:
http://www.thcfinder.com/marijuana-blog/news/2010/12/top-cops-house-used-as-cannabis-factory
I’d also like to submit this happy ending to a racist cop’s personal vendetta:
http://www.thcfinder.com/marijuana-blog/news/2010/12/asian-with-57-pot-plants-victim-of-racial-profiling-judge-says
Pete, it get’s boring around here on your couch with you gone….plus, your refrigerator is empty, and, dude, you took your car, so we’re out of Cheeto’s and can’t get to the store. So I hope you don’t mind I took the liberty of adding some diversion. P.S., I hope you and Mom missed all the awful weather and had a great trip.
No problem, darkcycle. I count on you guys to keep the conversation going any way you wish when I’m gone.
It was tough not having wifi for the past four days. Even when I’m on my Arizona trip next week, I should have wifi and can hopefully post.
Over Christmas, all I could do was read comments on my iPhone with a slow non-3G (Edge) reception.