Danny at Transform Drug Policy Foundation blog has a fascinating and illuminating post on “securitisation.” Note: he does give the post a “policy nerd warning,” but despite the academic language, the thrust is easy to follow and so completely explains the world-wide expansion of the drug war and its exemption from the need to prove its value or efficacy (the same principles can be used to explain at a more local level the way the drug war has progressed in the U.S.)
Securitisation is described as “the move that takes politics beyond the established rules of the game and frames the issue either as a special kind of politics or as above politics†(Buzan et al. 1998: 23). By declaring something a security issue, the speaker entitles himself to enforce and legitimise unusual and extreme measures to fight this threat. Referenced from here.
Rita Taureck of the University of Birmingham describes securitisation:
“The main argument of securitisation theory is that security is a speech act, that alone by uttering ‘security’ something is being done. “It is by labelling something a security issue that it becomes one.â€(Wæver 2004a,) A securitising actor, by stating that a particular referent object is threatened in its existence, claims a right to extraordinary measures to ensure the referent objects survival. The issue is then moved out of the sphere of normal politics into the realm of emergency politics, where it can be dealt with swiftly and without the normal (democratic) rules and regulations of policy making. For the content of security this means that it has no longer any given meaning but that it can be anything a securitising actor says it is. Security – understood in this way – is a social construction, with the meaning of security dependent on what is done with it.†[…]
The inherent nature of a securitisation is anti-democratic, in so far as it is “the move that takes politics beyond the established rules of the game and frames the issue either as a special kind of politics or as above politicsâ€. That is why evidence is anathema and why the political rhetoric around drug policy is so irrational and populist in tone. Once an issue has been securitised, a system of propaganda must be maintained to hold it within that framework.
Which leads me to one last point. When a securitisation has been in place for as long as the one relating to the non-medical use of drugs, progressive reform in itself becomes a ‘threat’ – a ‘threat’ to a long standing mission and some very well resourced agencies, charged with fighting the drug war. Now we see that what is actually under threat is an inflexible world order. A world order, whose long standing international relations, and indeed, national domestic social policies are predicated on fighting a futile war on drugs, are fundamentally threatened by a reform process that undoes its foundations.
I think you’ll find the whole piece quite interesting.
Marijuana has been repeatedly proven to NOT cause cancer, heart disease, brain damage, liver disease, emphysema, or overdoses, and its addictive potential is about on par with coffee. The DEA is 100% misinformed when it calls marijuana “extremely harmful”!
The marijuana prohibition empowers drug dealers and cartels, and makes our children LESS safe! Because of the failings of the prohibition, our children now have easier access to marijuana than to alcohol! We parents have been patient long enough, we must speak up and demand that marijuana be legally sold to adults in gas stations and supermarkets just as beer and wine are today!
We need laws based on logic, not ideology! We need to Legalize Adult Marijuana sales!!
As usual, the kicker is saved for last:
“It is time that those pursuing a threat-based approach engaged in genuine debate regarding the outcomes of the extraordinary measure of prohibition and explored whether legally regulating drugs could deliver the kind of security outcomes that meet the needs of ordinary citizens in Colombia, Afghanistan, Mexico and West Africa.”
But…this is exactly what said threat-based forces do not want to do.
Just the concept of debating the issue is intensely threatening to the prohibs, for in merely suggesting a debate, the validity of the ‘existential threat’ they rely on for their justification is, itself, questioned. Think Galileo and the Cardinals; “I don’t need to look through your damn’ telescope!” (Because by doing so, my faith in my ‘world order’ will be rendered suspect.)
Needless to say, such a ‘world order’ encompasses a ‘culture war’ against those who do not share the underlying views and beliefs of those espousing that ‘world order’. At which point, the concept of ‘eliminationism’ comes into play.
Those who hold different beliefs – such as questioning the validity of the foundation of that ‘world order’ – and dare to offer challenge to them are, perforce, viewed as part of the problem. None of this is new; see Themes in Chemical Prohibition By William L. White. Such thought processes are exemplified by former head of the DEA, Robert Ingersoll:
“Not only are we here to protect the public from vicious criminals in the street but also to protect the public from harmful ideas.”
Needless to say, when an emotional investment in that ‘world order’ has been maintained for a long time, long enough to be enshrined into policy, and when it’s combined with a financial incentive, it usually takes the elimination of the source of that financial incentive before the policy is finally subjected to the scrutiny it has been able to avoid due to that ‘securitization’ acting as a shield to deflect criticism. Which is roughly where we are now.
Galileo was a baseball fan?
They were in the Flat Earth Series against the Angel’s, after beating the Padre’s. Lost so bad Galileo went into exile. Pope bet on the Saints. No one had the guts to tell him the truth that they were a football team. The Vatican wanted to know who took the bet and started an Inquisition. As it turns out the man was honest and never took the money, to this day some people still wonder aimlessly praising the deeds of the Good Bookie. Still thanking gawd Galileo was discovered before he spread such notions. Comfortably numb on their flat earth following the gossip polls religiously. I found a few places in Florida that had alternative views… Maybe the purple ring shrooms?
Koreshan State Historic Site
In the following year he discovered that the Copernican theory of the world was wrong; that the world was concave and limited in space.
The Coral Castle
It is past time that they ‘engaged in genuine debate’. It is now time that they are held to account for the horrors of prohibition; one of the most destructive global orders ever.
:0)
Outstanding wrap on the question of Galileo and baseball DdC!
That part of things was a hole in my history, I’m glad you filled in the blanks.
Funny stuff too!
Ah, so… there is a word for that which we’ve seen developing for the last cuppla decades. I would like to point out that the word securitisation in the drug war context is best used as a phrase – excremental securitisation. Because in my mind it’s impossible to thunk on this and not see a growing pile of bullshit…
Good article,this Securitisation apply’s also to Environmental Issues all around too. Yes just has Kaptinmeno thread states(Just the concept of debating the issue intensely threatening to the pro-hibs for merely suggesting a debate) There’s definitely a parallel with environment and Drug War albeit yes Swat tactics and fines Prison time have been used for both the Drug War and Environmental Laws. The Drug War is by far the way more harsh.
True this enshrined policy is being chipped away at daily,but more in your face calm logical debate is needed on air,Yes It is quite difficult to engage Prohibs they think of us has vampire and they are Von helsing there’s no middle ground,but dammit Drug reformers do like tireless ANGELS, find it and succeed on occasion.
I do think there are a few holes in that secritisation but in near coming years big holes are needed and will the world wide monetary problems push it looks like it helping a little maybe.
Not just environmental, practically every issue these days is subject to “securitization”. Terrorism, immigration, even a bill aimed at killing online poker could only be passed when attatched to a port security “must pass” bill. The Bush White House greatly expanded the right of politicians to control any issue in the name of security and it is a legacy that politicians of either side want to hang on to and expand.
Thanks pt, I was going to say just that. Government has become very good at twisting words to fit their agendas. Its time these words have no power, its time to take away their toys.
How about manufacturing a bust? Tired of those old political opponents beating you silly in the elections? Try sneak and peak. Competition taking your profits? Sneak and peak. Old lady wanting a divorce. want to find out if she’s true? Sneak and Peak is the tool for you! They don’t only find drugs, they plant them. Keeping the untied state of anemika safe. What’s giving up a little liberty for temporary safety anyway? Not like we use the rights they give us, might as well trade them for security insurance.
sneak and peek…democrazy in Amerikkka
Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And ’til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog
And though the past has it’s share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it’s protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it’s a monster and will not obey
(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it’s keepers seem generous and kind
It’s leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won’t pay it no mind
‘Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it’s all just an echo of what they’ve been told
Yeah, there’s a monster on the loose
It’s got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin’
Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin’ the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can’t understand
We don’t know how to mind our own business
‘Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who’s the winner
We can’t pay the cost
‘Cause there’s a monster on the loose
It’s got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching
(America)
America where are you now?
Don’t you care about your sons and daughters?
Don’t you know we need you now
We can’t fight alone against the monster
Steppenwolf – Monster 2b
‘Securitization’, it’s not just for packaging sub-prime mortgages to spread bad risk into the economy, like an infectious disease. Now it is the asphalt used to pave our road to fascism.
‘Securitization’, a way to mix a teaspoon of sh*t into a milkshake and still call it a milkshake.
.
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Don’t you mean mix a teaspoon of milkshake into a pitcher of defecant and still call it a milkshake?
We really do need to defecate the entire country.
Humm…then I would like to defecate street cannabis(and hard drugs) by regulating them and allowing cultivation for personal use.
Didn’t that happen in Cheech & Chong’s “Up in Smoke”? You remember, the big joint in the car that Tommy rolled with a Labrador/Maui Wowie blend…
I’ve never seen it discussed like this, but this is basically why our government declares “war” on various things. Like terror or drugs. When we’re at war, we are expected to give up some liberties in return for our safety. No need to worry though, as soon as the war is over, we will once again be free. Except these so-called wars never end, and once a right or freedom is lost, it’s nearly impossible to get it back again. It’s a tried an true strategy that works every time. And why wouldn’t it? Anyone who is against the war is unpatriotic and doesn’t want what’s best for their country.
This is why people declare “War” on things. In a state of emergency traditional rights and principles must be set aside. At least until the war is over. But when the war is unwinnable…
And that’s the beauty of it. You can suspend reflexive questioning in a warring society because you’re caught up and busy fighting (acting) rather than thinking too hard. That’s exactly what’s going on with the drug war. People get up and scream “you’re thinking to much, we have to fight here!”
You can see a perfect example of it here when an academic presenting evidence that contradicts the drug warrior is shouted down:
“WE ARE NOT A DEBATING SOCIETY WE ARE TRYING TO SOLVE THE WORLD DRUG PROBLEM!!!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjgzgRvHHwI
HA ! typical politician…silence those that oppose you no matter if what they say is true or not.
AHH but the world is changing , politicians can no longer hide.
Ironically Securitisation is exactly why Medical Marijuana is so widely accepted in this country. It can go both ways if people know how to use it. It all comes down to framing the argument. Up until now prohibitionists have been freely aloud to fear monger with no opposition except logic and reason, which as we have noticed is highly ineffective against those who play the heart strings of American Citizens like a fiddle. But Medical Marijuana was a game changer because it moved the issue above politics. It was no longer about whether or not an everyday citizen should be allowed to choose something that is empirically safer. It was now about ensuring the sick and dying received medicine to relieve unimaginable suffering. A perfect example just happened in the last few days. The reason the Indiana Senate Comity gave for why they advanced a bill to asses the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana was because a fellow member of their congress expressed his desire to use it to cease his suffering from his illnesses. Not because it would save millions, not because it is ethically, morally, and constitutionally right, not because it could save our country from collapse. Because a sick friend, whom they have seen suffering, believes it will help alleviate his suffering.
This is the key to reaching regulation and legalization of drugs. Framing the issue in a manor that makes every day citizens emotionally involved. So emotionally involved that any dissent from the belief that drugs need to be regulated causes violent outrage. I spend a large amount of time attempting to convince highly religious social conservatives here in south Florida that we need to legalize cannabis. For the first two years I had no success because I approached it the same way I approach my vocation, logic and science. In the last two years I have had great success because I approach it by intertwining it with what is important to them and by coming from a stand point of Compassion. The greatest trick this country has played involving drugs is the War on Drugs. A war means you have to pick sides. It forces drug law reformers to call out prohibitionists as their enemies, which is calling America your enemy. (or that is what the prohibitionists say to get people to despise us) When I talk to people I never condemn the Drug Czar or the DEA or any other agency or individual, I have learned I don’t even need to condemn the outcome of their actions. When I used to approach people and end up saying something about how the DEA is killing people with botched raids they would always say back “Well that is sad but” and follow up with “collateral damage is better then children addicted to crack” or “it is his fault for doing drugs, they are still illegal and he broke the law” or some other justification for why the DEA was not in the wrong. People do not want to believe their government is bad and they automatically identify a part of the whole with the whole. But, I discovered if I approach people and discuss the success this country has had in keeping certain drugs out of the hands of children, tobacco and alcohol, and inform them that these programs can be expanded to include other drugs, cannabis, and this will not only save money but bring in revenue they are cutting me off to see if I have a website where they can get more information or if I have something they can sign to support this. I have seen that this has a tendency to lead people to become emotionally involved as they discover on their own that the DEA and the ONDCP are aware of these facts but do nothing about it. Which leads them to single out the part of the whole (DEA, ONDCP, Et Cetera) from the whole and view it as a cancerous growth that needs amputating.
When I approach people with true compassion, I have found they open their hearts and minds. Whenever I wish to indulge in hate towards the selfish men who destroy and oppress the lives of those less fortunate then themselves for their own selfish gain I remember the words of Doctor Martin Luther King in his speech A Time To Break Silence
“When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality…We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.”
We will succeed in drug law reform. There is no doubt. The gears of justice are larger and slower then those of greed, ignorance and fear. But those large gears turn with a force far greater then any other, they are unstoppable. Whether it be tomorrow or 100 years from now will depend on the path we choose to take and the means we use to take it. Keep up the wonderful work everyone. It makes my heart sing to know how much we have change, how much we are yet to.
Well said.
“If the people knew what we had done,
they would chase us down the street and lynch us.”
~ George H.W. Bush to journalist Sarah McClendon
Pro Life? Not even anti abortionists
Wall street’s Spontaneous Abortionists
Toke-A-Day May Keep Old Memory Functioning
Con Flicts of Interest Bush Barthwell & Drugs
A Lie College Students Might Want To Tell
Wow, when I read the first sentence I thought he was going to blame the banksters.
Everything you have said is wise and truthful,Of course all the logic and reason will not change minds or hearts, Folks cannot be preached too,you attract more bees with honey attitude and slowly convince folks and they think it was of their own volition to fully change course on prohibition, not pressure from some pro-drug person in their mind,and Medicinal Cannabis has done that.
I think most of us here deep down now this. Only speaking for myself I can get damn sarcastic about everything,Its frustration and impatience, yet we know in our everyday dealings that we must act in accordance to what you stated Julian that compassionate spark of love it does change hearts eventually. Although I will state I do get very sarcastic at times, it just gets damn fucking tiring after 100 years to be treated like Human debris by those who seem so self-righteous angry and with indignity at those who choose to use A whole array of Chemicals to relax,have fun or self-medicate for psychological and chronic physical pain.
Yes in the end patience,compassion with sick putting a personal face on it and love wins out.
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Frankly I think the game changer is the Internet. When Len Bias died of an orally ingested dose of cocaine in 1986 it was somehow used to crack down on crack cocaine. I’ll bet dollars to dirt that most people who are aware of that sad saga in American history still believe he died from smoking crack. I doubt that the concerted publicity that led people to that erroneous belief could happen today.
In November 2010 in Colorado a fellow fell from a great height to his death. In December the coroner released the toxicology report which showed he had trace amounts of cannabis in his system. The Denver Post ballyhooed that half truth in a story published late last month. It was so easy to find the coroner’s report, post a link to it in the DP’s own comments section and point out that the coroner didn’t mention cannabis as a contributory factor to the man’s death, but they did see his 0.294 BAC as helping him over the edge. Propaganda discredited. Funny that the DP left out that sniggling little detail about the man’s BAC, eh?
Story: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17046261
Coroner’s press release:
http://tinyurl.com/hes-dead-jim-dead-drunk
In 1980 the best that we could have done is an LTE which might have been published a week later if we were lucky.
There’s no way in hell that the Len Bias/crack cocaine hysteria could be repeated today, because they couldn’t get away with blaming it on crack.
See the Federal “Len Bias Law” for details.
http://www.answers.com/topic/anti-drug-abuse-act-1986
Most drug worriers think words are the devils tool and get their reality from Fox and Friends like oxy Rush, Calvina and Johnny Pee. The net has given us a resource but the mudea is still owned and controlled by the drug war vested interest. The public airwaves ain’t never been public. But the people are catching on to the fishy smelling red herrings agenda…
The Kerfuffle in Wisconsin
The flat earthers continue to recycle gossip… because they can. Because we don’t hold the media, politicians or corporations accountable. We buy their products. We vote and we subscribe but most avoid the controversy. The controversy that is perpetuated to maintain the war and the profits.
Study finds that Marijuana use may speed psychosis 02/08/11
Pot Use May Mellow Out Men’s Sexual Function 02/14/11
New York City: Pot Arrests For 2010 Top 50,000
It is all in the spin and I am sick of spinning.
Medical Marijuana Advocates to Hold 1st Ever Virtual Conference
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/index.php
“”As the issue of medical marijuana heats up across the country, leading patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will hold a two-day interactive, virtual “Boot Camp†February 19-20 to train hundreds of U.S.-based activists in skills-building and strategic planning.””
See you all there. Maybe we can learn some more advanced spin etiquette.
re Strayon’s comment on UN undersecretary general antonio-maria costa’s support for prohibition. Costa evidently thinks it a good thing that criminals operate a massive alternative banking support system:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims
Costa is a disgrace. He needs to be brought to justice for the staggering destructiveness of his policies.
Yes Duncan of course the NET is the big game changer,that’s why government would like to get their grubby little hands on more and more of it.
Hey look at this Republicans are going to try and defund Obama’s Czars, Of course I doubt,the Drug Czar is included in that defunding.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/144961-house-republicans-vote-to-defund-obamas-policy-czars
Look, I would be shocked if H.r.I Made it through from R. Paul and J Polis to eliminate Drug Czar funding.
@ DdC
If I’m not mistaken, the WOD preceded Fox News and the rise of conservative talk radio by several years and even decades, which means the original “marching orders” in support for the WOD comes from some other source. Although it is true that Fox opinion talkers like O’Reilly and Hannity are enemies of reform, other Fox shows are friends of drug reform (ie. Red Eye, Freedom Watch on the net, and John Stossel on Fox Business).
The reason we have a drug war is that we live in a part of the world dominated by a religion that claims it is wrong to coerce people to believe in this religion, yet find it their duty to punish those who don’t live up to the religion’s dictates. This religion views recreational drug use (except for alcohol) as a sin and the sinners must be punished.
To put it another way, they believe in freedom of conscience, but not freedom of action. All this really means is that they really don’t, in fact, believe in freedom of conscience because freedom of conscience means nothing if a person can’t act on it without fear of some sort of punishment for acting on their conscience.
Sadly, this religion began (and accepted it as good) it’s physical coercion of people so long ago that most of its adherents can’t see it. They use coercion to enforce “self-disciplne”, which is moronic in that if outside punishment is needed for self-discipline, then it really isn’t self-discipline.
Ironically, the founder of their sect spoke out for true, uncoerced self-discipline, arguing that forcing everyone down the narrower religious path negates the importatnce of choosing the narrower path freely. IOW, if a person chooses the narrower path merely to avoid punishment because the path is denied to him by law, it loses all religious significance because it wasn’t chosen freely. The only way to know for sure that a person is walking the narrower path freely is to have a much wider path that is lawful but sinful.
I refer to Christianity, of course. If Christianity had remained faithful to its roots, vice laws would be non-existent, but they didn’t and vice laws, including the WOD, exist.
For the last several centuries, in those places where Christianity is the majority religion, the true message from Christians to their fellow countymen has more or less been “We can’t make you beleive in our God or religion but we expect and demand that you live your life as if you do believe”. Long gone is the notion of “pick up your cross and follow me”. So sad and so much more evil brought into the world because of it.
To aid in our efforts to end the WOD, we need to challenge them head-on and calmly and rationally show Christians how they error. One way is to present to them my critique above, if you are conversant in religious themes, that is.
Along with the critique ask them the following:
Why do you expect lost people (aka all non-Christians) to live like Christians? Is that fair, considering that Christianity teaches the only way out of sin is to freely accept Christ and choose the narrower path freely?
Doesn’t the Bible teach that the lost are pre-disposed to sin because they don’t know they are lost?
Why do you demaind Christ-like behavior from those that, by their sinful actions, demonstrate their rejection of Christian beliefs and mores in part or in whole?
Don’t you understand that requiring everyone, by law, to bow to Christian morality in their lives, you render meaningless your claims that you walk the path by faith? Isn’t obvious that as long as consensual sins are deemed crimes, Christian claims to abstaining from sin by faith are dubious? Isn’t the real reason you support these laws is to remind yourself not to sin? Can’t you see this is the opposite of “self-discipline” and what Jesus taught?
Why do some Christians consider alchol intoxication within the boundaries of good Christian living yet insist other intoxicants are criminal, even if done in moderation? As alcohol and MJ are both used for mood alteration and therefore share the same moral implications, isn’t the legal differentation between the two purely arbitrary and therefore unjust??
Christians think they occupy the moral high ground on this issue and others because the beleive the fiction that Christianity does not act coercively. We have to point out the truth. It’s a rough road, but there it is. And even if many Christians continue to deny their coercion, some will see the truth and others besides will hear and understand and act accordingly.
My apoligies for being so long-winded here. 😉
No apologies needed Randy. Thats a very good piece. I guess the thing is, they dont care if you freely go down that path as long as you go down it and obey…whether you like it or not…hence wars around the world in the name of that path. Just obey or else.
I do apreiciate this veiw you have shown here , I just wish government see it that way. Then maybe this would truely be a world worth living in.
Thanks.
I wrote this because in my estimation, the two sides talk past each other as we argue from reason and they from religious moral authority (politicians pitch the WOD as needed social control, but the political support is formed from religious views on drugs and sobriety). If we can argue cogently that Christian support for drug laws negates the non-coercion teachings of Jesus, the sooner this war will end. The point here is not to argue that Christianity is false, but rather that Christianity strayed from the non-coercion teachings of Jesus and they need to regain that. And make the point that the only way to get back the Christianity of Jesus is to legalize consensual actions, including the repeal of prohibtion and replace it with regulations mimicing alcohol.
But be forwarned, you need to know your religious “stuff” and be able to clearly demonstrate the religious coercion present in our criminal code quite well in order to argue with an authoritarian Christian on this issue. After all, you are now arguing against a worldview that they believe is rock-solid.
One more series of questions to put to Christian WOD supporters when discussing reform with them:
Which do you think is more pleasing to God, abstaining from MJ because your afraid of arrest and punishment under drug laws or abstaining from MJ out of obedience to God’s law? By supporting drug laws aren’t you in fact saying that Jesus is wrong and the reason one obey’s a religious law is irrelevant to God? Wasn’t Jesus claiming that God is not impressed when people only obey his law out of fear of corporal punishment from earthbound authorities? If so, doesn’t that mean that the wider, sinful path needs to be legal in order to make choosing the narrower, Godly path a true act of free will?
“Medicines often produce side effects.
Sometimes they are physically unpleasant.
Cannabis too has discomforting side effects,
but these are not physical they are political”
The Economist March 28th 1992
@Randy Same source different pigeons delivering the message. The message the Romans inculcated and even symbolized with the fasces. It’s always been a culture war and the bottom line has always been cheap labor. Fox fiends are just the most recent fascists doormats. Including Hitler’s Youth League at redeye. No one on TV is pro anything concerning real America. Each has their own agenda and at best they are enemies of our enemies. Some are less against, but when the roots are poison, so is the fruit. This Ganjawar is only one leg of the beast. It has many legs. Some sell out for it and some succumb to it and most kick back and pop a top, turn on the tube and forgetaboutit.
Propaganda, Military, Prison, Pharmaceuticals and Wallstreet in general are even more corrupt than ever and GOPerverts try each day to remove more checks and balances. Now some other groups are witnessing the underhanded tactics of the shiteaters. Women are seeing what stoners have been dealing with through the backdoor policy GOPerverts try to push by. Wisconsin is another. Dominated by a religion? Religion is only a tool the same as prohibition and slavery, racism and stigmatizing. Cutting student aid or pisstasting. Cheap Labor. The church hasn’t had “power” since the reformation. Influence but little power outside of their own corporate ties. Religion views recreational drug use the way they’re told. Same as the Pope concordance with hitler. Same as when Jefferson wrote about them always siding with the despots. They should believe in Free Will. Dude all religion is about cheap labor. Lincoln was no humanitarian, the industrial revolution produced machines that were cheaper labor than housing slaves. Hemp was removed by Anslinger and from school books by Bennett.
I thought moneysluts were retarded to protest clean air and now its protesting teachers and firefighters collective bargaining? Need more cheap labor. The Supremes decision to sell the country to the highest corporate bidder. Many red flags red herrings and redeyes divert. Stossel’s an idiot selling the same venue as Harry Browne Rivers RIP. Oh they think prohoibition should end? Well whoopie ding dong glad they see the light but they refuse to see why its prohibited and therefore will never actually see it legitimized. Perpetuate is the game, Winning is as bad as losing. If it ends, so do the profits. When you get out of school you might see how it really is. Shuck and Jive and ConPromise.
Both sides sell parts of the tree, but it still originates in poison. Meaning both sides profit and perpetuate the profits with tools like propaganda, lies, intimidation, prison rape, forfeiture, mandatory minimums and confiscations, cash in the pocket. But no amount of debate or compromise will add harmful entities to Ganja, just to justify lies. Again, prison slave labor or NAFTA/GATT or racism or union busting and the latest cheap labor GOPerversion is defunding Plan Parenthood when abortions have been banned from Fed funding since the Hyde act in 76. More cheap labor in the poor sections.
You refer to Christianity… No connection with Jesus. Same Roman Sanhendren and now Corporate Fascism. You seem to have a fair grasp of the propaganda but miss the point of who, what, why, when and where. The Christians, like the racists, are taught. They learn their wicked ways and its not to make children mean and nasty. Its profits. If I can degrade you then I get the job, the raise or the position. Or I keep you at low wages and no health care. Or send jobs to India and on top you find the same results as putting a Pot grower in jail for 10 yrs MM. Cheap labor = More profits. Actually Uncle Obombo gets more taxes if you’re in prison than if you work at Burger King.
The drug war keeps competition off the market and profits coming in on war paraphernalia. Appeasement is what most call “reform” You can’t ConPromise on reality and end up with sense. Face it the Nazi’s didn’t loose the war they only moved HQ. Now they get people sick and sell them treatments. They invent crimes and rent cages to house the infidels. Nixon lied, that’s it. Ganja has been physically and medically tested for hundreds of years and anecdotally tested for thousands of years. It is or it ain’t and no debate is going to change the tensile strength or potency or attributes. Nixon lied and compromising with liars leaves you with lies… I listed hypocrisy as the GOPerverts most valued virtue. More abortions with pesticides and wars than RvW. Yet no one talks about it or that Hemp doesn’t require the 90 million pounds of poisons cotton does. Sprayed in op rescues back yard. They just change the name. Or against gays but not prison rape? Or conserves are traditional but not enough for veggie plastic over iraqi crude oil plastic. I always stand by my posts dude. You’ll have to better than showing me the Sunday paper or TV newz.
Al Capone and Watergate were red herrings to divert the countries attention from the Fascist acts of eliminating competition. Booze/Ethanol or Ganja//Hemp.
“There is a duty in refusing to cooperate in any undertaking that violates the Constitutional rights of the individual. This holds in particular for all inquisitions that are concerned with the private life and the political affiliations of the citizens.”
— Albert Einstein
Hypocrites and their Apologists… tsk
includes the ever popular…
Flush Rushbaugh Still Reigning Junkie Pig
Draft Dodger Chickenhawks… Propagandists on Crank
Ditto’s are Self Imposed Slaves, not impressive.
Why Support Cannabis Prohibition?
It’s the money stupid!
GOPatriots? Jerking Iraqi crude oil plastic flags doesn’t mean patriotism.
Many Veterans are the Enemy of the D.E.A.th War
Sam Stone came home, To his wife and family After serving in the conflict overseas. And the time that he served, Had shattered all his nerves, And left a little shrapnel in his knee. But the morphine eased the pain, And the grass grew round his brain, And gave him all the confidence he lacked, With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back. continued…
The Nation of Apathetic Puppets By John Pilger
Long before the Soviet Union broke up, a group of Russian writers touring the United States were astonished to find, after reading the newspapers and watching television, that almost all the opinions on all the vital issues were the same. “In our country,” said one of them, “to get that result we have a dictatorship. We imprison people. We tear out their fingernails. Here you have none of that. How do you do it? What’s the secret?”
The secret is a form of censorship more insidious than a totalitarian state could ever hope to achieve. The myth is the opposite. Constitutional freedoms unmatched anywhere else guard against censorship; the press is a “fourth estate”, a watchdog on democracy. The journalism schools boast this reputation, the influential East Coast press is especially proud of it, epitomised by the liberal paper of record, the New York Times, with its masthead slogan: “All the news that’s fit to print.” continued…
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Philipino’s and Entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”
~ Harry Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics testifying to Congress on why marijuana should be made illegal, 1937.
(Marijuana Tax Act, signed August 2 1937; effective Oct.1, 1937)
Why Do You Think They Call it DOPE?
* Cannabis Hemp: The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
* The Elkhorn Manifesto
* Marijuana and Hemp: The Untold Story
* The Nation of Apathetic Puppets By John Pilger
* Maintaining Dysfunction
“Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism
because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
~ Mussolini
God these posts have been good folks a pleasure to read. I hope visitors read,may not agree but at least come away thinking a little deeper all around.
QUOTE FROM:Ddc(Hemp was removed by Anslinger and from school books by Bennett) Yeah same has I discovered about 10 or 11 years ago that tons of incredible stuff was missing from bible like JESUS praying to Mother Earth, not just Our father in Heaven, and missing gospels like gospel of Thomas kinda talks of Meditation a more true mystic Jesus that;s been squelched by bureaucratic manipulating churches, and talk of using Milk,honey,laying nude in the Sun Hello Vitamin D, also using all the Herbs and plants found in Essene Gospel books the Churches have keep hidden from public.
Yes the Fraking Scoundrels.
Like I have said once before here Jesus would have used Cannabis for healing.
Of course some will froth at mouth because of my last statement. So be it.
Blasphemy
“It is by labelling something a security issue that it becomes one.â€â€”(Wæver 2004a, 13)
“There were neither witches nor bewitched until they were written and talked about.â€â€”Antonio Salazar de Frias, Junior Inquisitor, Tribunal of Logroňo, Spain, (c. 1609-14).
Salazar investigated claims of witchcraft in the Basque region of the Pyrenees at the behest of the Spanish Inquisition. Remarkably, by using methods that today would qualify as a valid scientific inquiry, he concluded the accusations and rumors were an hysterical response spread by the Inquisition’s own investigations of witchcraft in the mountainous area.
Salazar’s 5000 page record, now preserved at the University of Madrid, includes his practice of sampling alleged witch’s brews and ointments to determine their psychoactive effects, if any. He found no psychoactive effects, thereby contradicting a few modern historical theorists who view witch hunting episodes as an assault upon archaic shamans and/or their prohibited medicines.
Further information on Salazar’s amazing trek can be found in Gustav Henningsen’s excellent book: The Witches’ Advocate: Basque Witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition (1609-1614).
Latin American countries have been enduring USA cynical policies to “secure its backyard” for centuries. So the whole ‘securitisation’ issue smells of old wine in new bottles.
But praised be the “formalists” for their attempt to recycle old practices and insufflate them with new air.
What is crystal clear is that developing countries have paid too high a price to “secure” the backs of our countries, the drug consuming countries. In the meantime, we remain oblivious to the calamitous effects our War on Drugs has had and continues to have on those countries.
Gart Valenc
http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org
(I’ve reproduced the comment I made on the TFDP blog webiste)
You people blow me away. When i got involved with reforming our drug laws I had a narrow view of whys, hows and such(And sometimes still a narrow view). As time has passed, being involved with drug law reform has opened up my understanding of the world in general. Understanding of what government acctually has done to its people, understanding of my own lack of knowledge of why the world is the way it is.I trust no one veiw but, I know truth when I see it.
Keep up the good work, there may still be a chance of making this world worth living in.
A prosecutor making sense!
US WA: OPED: Washington State Should Lead On Marijuana
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n109/a10.html
Here’s a direct link if anybody want’s to read the amazing and informed comments to that article.