Busy time here with the last week of school and finals.
Had an interesting and somewhat frustrating set of discussions dealing with people who seemed to think that attempting to prohibit substance use for college students during their final weekend of school was a practical (or even possible) idea. Clearly, however, harm reduction, reducing binge drinking, and providing safe and supportive environments is the far smarter approach if you really care about the well-being of the students.
I wish marijuana was legal so substitution could be actively encouraged.
Exerpts from Last Nites Think-Tank;
“Bletsch KitseemaH!” (Warned you not to trust Kirk! HAHAHAaaa!..)
“Keh SgblorgGkocH!” (Even Joined at Hip with BORG, You shall FAIL!!..)
“Yaww” (Bwahahahaha)
Hello
Reach Higher
Vote YETI
Thank You
Goodbye
A not bad piece at the Brown Political Review, somehow Kleiman is the only “ex-spurt” used by the writer:
The War on Drugs: Coming Soon to a Suburb Near You
The title is pure Klieman,,insinuating that the wosd isn’t already in every neighborhood,,next thing you know he will be blaming pot users for making cops work all those overtime hours and training Jack Russells as targets.
My comment has spent 10 hours there patently awaiting moderation.
Kindly google “Kleiman is a prohibitionist†and you’ll see articles going back decades.
“Third, even on those rare occasions where Kleiman does not endorse prohibitionist policy, his analysis is infused with a prohibitionist morality. In his often superb chapter on marijuana, his evidence forces him to consider alternatives. Yet he is reluctant at every turn. He brings himself to admit that the costs of the current prohibition (e.g. each year 350 000 arrests and up to 10 billion dollars in enforcement costs and lost revenue) are probably too great for the ‘benefits’ received. But he still conceives of the alleged deterrent value of prohibition as a benefit, and again implies that he believes marijuana use is in itself somehow ‘bad’.â€
—Prohibitionism in Drug Policy Discourse by Craig Reinarman, University of California, Santa Cruz,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY, 1994. VOL 5 NO 2.
“He also bases his support for prohibition on the fact that the criminal justice system does not do a good enough job of preventing drug-related crime. Most informed observers, however, trace many of the problems in our criminal justice system to the burden and corruption placed on it by narcotics prohibition. Finally, I would note that even Mr. Kleiman realizes that only a small percentage of the population develops abuse problems with any specific drug and that we do not know what makes a given person have an abuse problem with a given drug. Why then does he recommend a nationwide policy that is oppressive, impersonal, and ineffective?
—Mark Thornton, Auburn University.
A Review of Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results, 1992.
Make no mistake, Mark Kleiman is a typical parasitic-gravy-trainer who has spent his whole life leeching off the government (our) purse. Do not expect him to do anything to derail his own gravy train!
“Kleiman is a tee-totaler sado-moralist who believes intoxication is a disease.â€
—Allan Erickson, The Media Awareness Project
“I’ve been going around the country trying to convince people that knowing the unsatisfactory results of marijuana prohibition doesn’t prove that any specific implementation of legal marijuana will turn out to be an improvement.â€
—Mark Kleiman, 2013
“I’ve been going around the country trying to convince people that knowing the unsatisfactory results of alcohol prohibition doesn’t prove that any specific implementation of legal alcohol will turn out to be an improvement.â€
—Mark Kleiman’s grandfather, 1933
This Tyranny is Getting too Expensive. I Suggest Motion to Scrap It.
I’ll second..
I’ll third. Motion carried.
It has been cruel entering GeezerHood. A wagging Boney Finger and Hurtful Gaze are having to take the place of Administering Beatings. It hurts to say, but I also support an ending to the Hostilities.
ooh ooh! Calvina’s latest offering:
Action Alert – Reject HR 1635
This is one of those mass letter campaign things. What some of us have done with her previous similar efforts is to edit the letter to fit our stance and then send it on. Have fun!
here’s my edited version:
>
I put it where it can be copy/pasted after deleting the one they wrote,,nothing beats sending it through them
Bravo Allan,
May I add an additional tag to your re-write? (there may be a more succinct way to say this, but I think my point is clear):
And it’s worth mentioning that the way drug laws are being and have been enforced has maintained/created de facto ‘legally sanctioned’ racism in our society and justice system, a class of policies we had otherwise (wisely) abandoned many moons ago, and certainly would rather not admit to perpetuating, nor sanctioning now.
(End of addition.)
The racist elements are another HUGE ignored elephant in the room for me, pink or otherwise. Since these laws (apparently) cannot be enforced with racial equality, it’s just another reason they’ve got to go.
I LOVE doing that! The most recent case in which I turned a petition or letter writing campaign around on the group promoting it was the anti-gun (liberty hating) Mayors, I edited their form letter to a pro-gun stance and sent it to my Senators. Glad to do this one to my Rep., too.
A drug effect is discussed at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz called the ‘nocebo’ effect:
What the research implies is that prohibitionists who cite the ill effects of certain recreational drugs may influence people to believe, and thus act out, the said effects through a kind of auto-suggestion. A complete novice to a particular drug experience who is told by prohibition propagandists that a particular drug makes people violent, crazy, or lethargic, might thereby act accordingly. This could be another example wherein false claims made by prohibitionists are potentially dangerous.
Well there’s no doubt in my mind that the egg came first.
Nope, it was the rooster. The rooster came first.
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Well primus, I never would have pegged you as a creationist. So tell me, why the heck wouldn’t an omnipotent being create an evolutionary system? It would be a heck of a lot less work you know. It also accounts for the duck billed platypus.
Not creationist. Just have ‘different’ sense of humour. Joke relates to when you get an order of eggs in a restaurant with uncooked white on the top; Rooster cum.
Mark
You sir, are a Godless Philistine! Sodom and Gomorrah love folks like you, and all your commie sidekicks, (oh crap, I gotta go), ‘HEY AIRPLANE FLYING OVERHEAD, IM COMMIN ABOARD”, (Im hevin me one a them thar FLASH BACKS,
cuz I usedtobe one of yew dope smokin HIPPIE commie types! TELL CAPTAIN KIRK AND THE MOTHER SHIP ILL BE UP SOON, “BEAM ME UP SCOTTY”
Seriously, you are correct, marju-AN-a is one of the best “drugs” I have ever used. Makes you sleepy, relaxed, hungry, and feel great the next day. I believe the legalization of it is long overdue. The Kennedy liquor faction hates the idea, cuz you can pahk the cah in the haba, and drown your secretary, but don’t legalize anything that competes with liquor!
you left out the fact that booze may have caused teddy’s brain tumor. he sure had an unlimited supply. plus free medical at taxpayer expense.
Sociologist Howard Becker expressed similar ideas in some of the essays in Outsiders, particularly with regard to marijuana and LSD.
Of course he’s right.
The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that local municipalities can legally ban medical marijuana dispensaries, dealing a massive blow to the burgeoning industry that’s exploded across the state since 2009.
The ruling in City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patient’s Health and Wellness Center (PDF) boils down to whether the California constitution trumps provisions in the state’s medical marijuana laws.
California Supreme Court Deals Massive Blow To Medical Marijuana Industry
In several West Coast cities, federal officials are initiating a new round of crackdowns against dispensaries that are seemingly complying with state medical marijuana law. In Seattle, 11 dispensaries received shutdown warnings. In San Francisco, almost half of the city’s small number of state-licensed dispensaries received similar warnings. And in neighboring cities like San Jose, several others were warned.
Feds Ramp Up Crackdowns On Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
It’s all about deliveries now. Mobile dispensaries are hard to target, and there’s really nothing to seize regarding asset forfeiture.
Brick n Mortar dispensaries are sooooo yesterday.
I love capitalism
Rumor going around in my town claims dispensaries will be closed by feds here, too, on the 20th. Where do they intend to get the personnel to do this? Local LE will NOT cooperate or comply (tho knowing our Sheriff, who does NOT honor his oath of office, he may choose the feds over the County residents, though individual Deputies may balk).
Windy,
Is that your 2014 target?
Pingback: Reject HR 1635 - Grasscity.com Forums
Seattle landlords got letters that are rather more harsh than the last round. Landlords are now being threatened with 40 years in jail. Problem is, this means the landlords are being forced to evict these tennants in violation of State law, which requires 30 Days notice PRIOR to eviction papers being served. ALso, State law does not allow a landlord to TOUCH the tennant’s stuff (IE, physically evict) for 90 days AFTER this 30 days has expired. And the State Courts are enforcing STATE law when these cases are coming to courts. Leaving the landlord swinging, with no legal way to remove these businesses from their premises. Real bastards, they are. Still attacking the people who are most at risk, but least culpable. http://www.alternet.org/40-years-jail-landlords-renting-legal-pot-dispensaries-massive-new-federal-crackdown-legal-marijuana
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The tenant can agree to move voluntarily too. to the best of my knowledge they haven’t made a move against Harborside’s Oakland landlord and it wasn’t able to evict and nobody has mentioned Harborside voluntarily relinquishing the property.
Now remember that the only thing that kept Harborside from being evicted was the fact that they didn’t fib, fudge or lie on their paperwork. Given the nebulous legal status of “collective gardens” in Washington over the past couple of years, what are the odds that the lessees involved there were as forthright as was Harborside?
Then there’s different Courts. In California if someone steals your medicinal cannabis then their home hazard insurance will treat it as a covered loss. In Washington the last ruling on that issue says that because its Federally illegal it has no insurable value.
Are you sure that the same rules apply to commercial leases? There are lots of consumer protections that people think are across the board that really aren’t. Consumer credit, auto insurance, and home mortgages all have laws governing them that just aren’t in place for businesses. The bank can’t call me up and tell me I have to pay off my mortgage, but they sure can call up a store owner and do that if he holds a commercial mortgage.
I surprised that no one’s been talking about these C&D letters from the DEA. Since when does the DEA offer to let drug law violators slide if they just shut down? In the past they just show up one day, shoot the dogs, steal or destroy the property and then hand out mandatory minimums to everyone in sight. Isn’t the fact that they’re offering people the option of walking away a significant departure from past policy?
dang those pesky studies:
Bladder Cancer Risk Lower in Pot Smokers
almost forgot, a word from today’s guest sponsor, Johnson & Johnson:
Boys! Are you disappointed that after all those bong hits you still haven’t grown breasts? Well we have good news! Try Risperdal®, it works! And yes, you may grow breasts up to a D cup. Think of the hours of fun you’ll have, all by yourself…
Having smoked weed for almost forty years now, I’m happy to report that I’m finally starting to grow those man-boobs I was promised so long ago. Funny — I had assumed they would be perkier!
Collected Quotations Of The Dread Pirate Roberts, Founder Of Underground Drug Site Silk Road And Radical Libertarian
I think I have a new hero.
If I could figure out the Tor browser, I would check it out, just to satisfy my curiosity. But I cannot make TOR work on this piece of shit Dell.
(hint hint…any help?)
Can’t Understand a Word, Almost Clicked it Off, But, In this Rare Gem, She Mentions America and Melts Yours Truly into Puddle of Love, Gotta Be A Good Thing.
http://youtu.be/Ie-zPDqx6N4
After reading through Pete’s last post on Mexico and a number of other stories in the comments I’m struck by how much support there is for legalizing cannabis, while at the same time very little support for legalizing anything else.
It’s interesting how there are a number of organizations that advocate for the rights of cannabis users but comparatively few for the users of other drugs. Sometimes I hear people argue that heroin or cocaine should remain illegal for this reason. I find this argument specious, it essentially says heroin users do not deserve rights since they do not (collectively) demand them.
It does beg the question as to why there are so few within the US. There are drug user unions in many other countries. It’s hard to say exactly why that is the case, but in reading some of the forums where opiate users post, I have noticed a greater degree of guilt and shame coming from North American posters compared to those of other countries.
I agree with Peter Cohen in his essay, Junky Elend, (“junky misery”) that junkification is largely a result of our drug policies.
Before opiate prohibition, users and even addicts, were not ostracized from their communities. Today in the US, being the spiritual home of drug prohibition, persecutes opiate “abusers” to a greater degree than other countries, and hence more junkification. The numerous functional addicts out there stay in the closet, because the opportunity oost of “coming out” is too high. And so the only opiate users that make the news are the accidental overdoses (like Heath Ledger) and the most dysfunctional cases.
I think this may explain why there isn’t a NORML or MPP for opiates (NOROL doesn’t have the same ring to it, perhaps something along the lines of “We Demand Opium Prohibition End” or “WeDOPE”). There was the Pain Relief Network but their focus was on chronic pain sufferers and not really junkie advocates. And even then the government sought to silence Siobhan Reybnolds’ message.
It’s gonna be hard to get opiophiles and junkies to organize like cannabinophiles. There’s not as many of us, and too many get taken in by the propaganda of the treatment industry and end up becoming tools for prohibition. Many chronic pain patients, who should be allies, seem bent on scapegoating junkies for the hysteria and crackdown on prescription opioids. And of course many are so busy with the daily hustle, feeding the beast that is the human metabolism (staving off withdrawal) that they have neither the time nor energy to organize politically. I fear that, at least within the US, policy will have to change before opiophiles are able to find their collective voice.
Opie, while not news to you I’m sure, I would suggest riding along w/ LEAP. No other anti-WOD org has the profile. DrugSense and Drug Policy Alliance are also about ending the WOD/Prohibition II. Rally around what support already exists that parallels your needs.
I do follow LEAP’s blog and get their newsletter. Frankly I think LEAP is probably the most powerful voice for reform, too often conversations about legalization get bogged down in discussions about pharmacology. LEAP makes clear the fact that the more dangerous the drug, the greater the need for control. They also consistently say that decriminalization does not go far enough.
On 4/20 I attended a rally and heard Jack Cole speak, and afterward was able to shake his hand and thank him for the incredibly important work he does.
On the issue of harm reduction, I feel like the DPA has become stuck on methadone and syringe exchange. Nowhere does one hear about opium, or coca for that matter. Most of the harm comes from the black market nature of the drugs (high cost, no quality control, push from plants to concentrated powders) and our draconian policies. In some ways the Transform organization is more consistent in their ideology, their blueprint document is fantastic. I link to it all the time when people ask how would legal heroin or cocaine work. I don’t see why the DPA could not have published something similar a long time ago.
I’m familiar with the organizations you mentioned, as well as the other links on the side of DWR. They are all important and do good work, but it is frustrating that there aren’t organizations specifically for non-cannabis, illicit drug users.
Drug User Unions are more like consumer unions than trade unions. Its members are consumers of drug treatment, drug policy and yes illicit drugs. DUU’s can, for example, provide reviews of treatment services, identifying the one’s run by authoritarian assholes who care more about telling you how to live your life than they do about reducing the harms of your addiction. DUU’s could set up a general fund to bail out their members after an arrest so at least they wouldn’t have to detox cold turkey. Like cannabis collectives, DUUs could grow poppy and perhaps coca or khat. A small farm could supply hundreds of users for little or no charge. If users could organize politically, perhaps these ideas could be tried on small, local scales.
NIMH Distances Itself From DSM Categories, Shifts Funding To New Approaches
http://t.co/hPA0xrenyQ
If NIMH is dumping the DSM, how is that going to affect the new drug plans? Is that how they are getting away with the Obama administration defining regular pot users as people with brain diseases?
http://t.co/BcjjvxLIDK
That is insideous. The problems with the new DSM are many, and the addiction definitions are only the tip of the iceberg. It catagorizes normal grieving now as a depressive disorder, for instance, and allows doctors to treat it like an illness (by medicating it). The problems with DSM aren’t that it’s too fuzzy (it is). It’s that DSM V both medicalizes normal human issues, and goes too far in it’s atomistic approach. Instead of recognizing the social nature of many mental illnesses, and the roots of them in the structure of our social fabric, they push the “disease” model to the breaking point. It is VERY unfasionable in psychology to suggest anything but a genetic or “chemical imbalance” as a cause. The NIMH just announced that they don’t think the APA has gone far ENOUGH…
You should start fearing being swept up in the mental health system, if you don’t already. They are widening their net to sweep as many in as they can. It’s a boon to both the profession AND the pharmaceutical companies.
I am so glad to be away from that field. It’s becoming so bad I don’t even want to tell people what I used to do for a living anymore. It used to be enough to simply say “I left the field”, but now just the association is a black mark.
The so-called ‘progressives’ are finally warming to the idea: End the war on drugs for pity’s sake
On nearly every ‘progressive’ site I frequent, whenever I bring up the subject, the treatment has almost always been a sneeringly condescending observation that they have better, more important things to do…despite all the evidence that the DrugWar has been the font of nearly all the mutilations of our civil rights they so loudly complain about.
I can’t tell you how many times I was told, for example, that I should shut up about talking about drug law reform during Mr. Zero’s first campaign, as that would hurt the prog’s chances of getting ‘their man’ in the White House, and that “Don’t worry, he’ll do something about drugs in his second term.”
(Contemptuous, mocking laughter aimed at progs) Yeah, he sure did. He sicced his DoJ dogs loose on the dispensaries, and makes as if he can’t call them off. It was only when the people, themselves, took action in WA and CO that any steps towards reform were made.
I can never forget that it was the progenitors of today’s progs that got the DrugWar Juggernaut’s engine cranked up and running for the first time, way back in the first two decades of the 20th century. And it’s today’s progs that have kept it running, by refusing to deal with this issue forthrightly.
If they are now crying liberal tears over the scores of thousands of Mex dead, they better not try use their hands to wipe them away, away; those hands are already dripping blood from those same dead, lost in no small part due to their damnable political calculus in not wanting to deal with this issue in the manner it demands.
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Paul Chabot got a message from yesterday’s California Supreme Court ruling and is feeling his oats. Apparently the California Supremes were speaking in a code only he can understand because he sure got a message that doesn’t appear consistent with the words they used. WTF?? Did he really steal a line from Mr. Bush the lesser?
Is that the face of steroid abuse?
That is so detached from reality, I actually thought it was funny. The very idea that the Pot Lobby has outspent the Federal Government on cannabis is going to cause me to smile and shake my head for the rest of the day. They’ve spent over a TRILLION dollars on the drug war….and it’s failing. Badly. I’ve givien about $500 so far this year to legalization. But I guess we’re the moneyed elite, folks.
I going to go dream about what I’m going to spend my fortune on. (probably diapers)
I’ve said many times before that the more the prohibs lose, the more they get backed into a corner, the more foaming, rabidly irrational they’ll become. It’s happened before; it will happen again.
They threw away reason by refusing to even cursorily examine the monumental amount of evidence that disproves them; all they have now is emotion. And since at the heart of that is hatred, a hatred for those who will not conform to their idea of a (chimerical) Drug Free Utopia, that will become ever more evident.
Do that a few times in front of the voting public, let the public see what’s really behind their (increasingly cracking) smiley masks, and they’ll be shooting themselves in both feet for us.
YES!
Amendment 64 Repeal Dies: Colorado Lawmakers’ Effort To Reverse Course On Marijuana Legalization Fails
Yeah, except for one minor detail = I don’t live in Colorado…