Prohibition Kills

… in so many ways.

17 people in Scotland and Ireland have died from fake ecstasy tablets.

The green pills, with a Rolex crown stamped on them, often contain a dangerous chemical called PMA.

They cause extremely high temperatures, hallucinations and convulsions.

When drugs are legal and regulated, these deaths don’t happen.

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32 Responses to Prohibition Kills

  1. claygooding says:

    I suppose we should start a new mantra to be chanted at all future protests and cannabis events to wit:

    Drugs are dangerous but prohibition kills!!! would be easy to remember,,even baked.
    Now to wait for our more prolific couch squatters to fine tune it.

  2. Duncan20903 says:

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    Does anyone else recall a tainted batch of ecstasy (maybe) or some other substance on the naughty lists that was circulating here in the U.S. and killing people, but authorities declined to issue a warning like the one above because they were worried that it would “signal” approval of using non-tainted drugs? I seem to recall that happened but can’t track it down.

    **************************************************

    What I am about to post may well be the most profound platitudinous aphorism of the century vis a vis the campaign to re-legalize cannabis. So hold on to your hats because otherwise they might pop right off of your heads like in the classic cartoons.

    Q) How do you eat an elephant?
    A) One bite at a time.

    (Thanks to Aaron Houston and SSDP for applying that old chestnut to the campaign to end the idiocy of prohibition.)

  3. claygooding says:

    A tracer keeps running through my mind about a recent comment made concerning the number of American citizens that work for the government in one way or another,including contact laborer help like the DEA field agents program or perhaps Mark Klieman and Kevin Sabet whom I am sure receive a check monthly in their bank accts.
    Our government has become one of our largest employers and my concern is are they feeling they’re jobs are being threatened because we are trying to legalize a substance that a lot of them know they’re job depends on remaining illegal. They are not anywhere near a majority but the eat in the cafeterias and mix with,party with and share with the majority. Are the DEA/DOJ/NIDA employees poisoning the well on reform,,,damn I hate those tracers…

    • stlgonzo says:

      “We can’t end prohibition because it will cost to many American jobs…..”

      What did Hillary say, we cant legalize MJ there is too much money in it….or something like that.

  4. ageduncle g says:

    Unfortunately, moralists and prohibitionists will see this more as a justification for their views – ‘See what happens to drug users. They should’ve listened.Drugs are bad.’

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
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      .
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      I was curious & bored, so I asked a prohibitionist for some inside information:

      Q)How many prohibitionists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

      A) None. We told you those things would fail and that we should stick with candles. But you wouldn’t listen to common sense and now look where you’ve gotten us!

  5. Servetus says:

    The Netherlands’ harm reduction policy allows for testing of alleged ecstasy pills. MDMA info and test kits are available online from the Netherlands that distinguish MDMA from paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA), and other chemicals.

    A humane society would make MDMA test kits easily available. The kits could be retailed at local smoke shops. They could be made available in the same way Naloxone is made available to counter opiate overdoses. But since U.S. drug policy is intentionally inhumane, information and the tools necessary for safe Ecstasy consumption are typically quarantined by our corrupt and oppressive government. Individuals are made responsible for their own safety, with the underlying hope being they will kill themselves, and thus fulfill the eliminationist goals of prohibition, one of which is to provide proof to people that some illicit drugs are actually dangerous.

    The inhumane character of U.S. drug enforcement is one which taints its image throughout Western civilization. As noted in 1948 by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall:

    Governments which systematically disregard the rights of their own people are not likely to respect the rights of other nations and other people and are likely to seek their objectives by coercion and force.

    There can be no resolution of the inhumanity of certain governments until prohibition itself is declared inhumane.

  6. jean valjean says:

    reminds me of reagan when told that hundreds of homosexuals and drug addicts were dying og a new disease (aids). he replied ” so whats the problem?”

  7. Jean Valjean says:

    OT
    … excerpt from RISE OF THE WARRIOR COP: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces by Radley Balko

    ‘What troubled her was that while the sex crimes unit had to find funding on its own, the SWAT team was always flush with cash. “The SWAT team, the drug guys, they always had money,” Taylor says. “There were always state and federal grants for drug raids. There was always funding through asset forfeiture.”’

    http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/police-brutality

    • Jean Valjean says:

      ps
      “During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama criticized Bush and the Republicans for cutting Byrne, a federal police program beloved by his running mate Joe Biden. Despite Tulia, Hearne, a growing pile of bodies from botched drug raids, and the objections of groups as diverse as the ACLU, the Heritage Foundation, La Raza, and the Cato Institute, Obama promised to restore full funding to the program, which, he said, “has been critical to creating the anti-gang and anti-drug task forces our communities need.” He kept his promise. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act resuscitated the Byrne grants with a whopping $2 billion infusion, by far the largest budget in the program’s twenty-year history.”

      • B. Snow says:

        I’m really hoping that ending Byrne Grants will become a new “litmus test” for Political Candidates on the Non-NannyState Left, the Fiscal Conservative Right, the various Libertarians & Centrists/Independents in 2014 & 2016.

        I think Obama **totally caved** on this “promise” = In order to secure Biden as a VP-Running-mate & the blue-collar white/old-ish folks in the ‘swing-vote’, mid-west & ‘rust belt’ states in/around PA, DE, MD, etc.

        The Day before Obama announced his VP pick, Biden was stopped by a news crew (in his driveway I think or someone else’s) – and when asked whether he’d consider running for VP and he commented, “I’m not that guy…”

        It could be the blanket denial that most people give until the offer/pick is official… But I don’t think so.

        Biden is an “O.G. Drug Warrior” = his version of *criminal justice reform* is ‘Drug Courts’ & was ‘eliminating the crack-vs-powder cocaine sentencing disparities’ (eventually settling for a reduction from 100-1 to roughly 18-1, 80-something percent less racist was good enough I guess.)

        That “policy platform” was all over Biden’s Delaware Senate website, and it was transferred (just shy of a blatant copy/paste) to the Obama/Biden campaign site almost immediately – after he accepted Barry’s offer.

        That’s why there’s moist likely No Way In HELL I’d vote for Biden in 2016, & at this point I’d need a realistic drug reform/legalization promise written in blood – From Hillary Clinton before I’ll vote for her in 2016 = largely due to her semi-infamous “there’s too much money in it…” quote.

        Living in Texas, it may not matter too much… Although that won’t stop me from hounding and/all future political candidates on their positions, (on Cannabis Legalization & a handful of other issues). I may end up voting for Gary Johnson again – 2008 it was obvious that Voting anything but ‘Red’ would likely matter in my District/State… I convinced a few people to NOT vote -(for McCain/Palin)- and felt like I’d done enough at that point.

        And it makes me sick (figuratively) having to go vote at my local polling place, FTLOG = its a damn church! (It’s not in the main sanctuary – not anymore. But it WAS a few years back, technically the machines were in a little side-room with retractable/folding walls that they probably have sunday school classes in or whatever – but the line ended up going right down the middle aisle of the sanctuary & thru a couple pews. *sigh*

  8. Howard says:

    “When drugs are legal and regulated, these deaths don’t happen.”

    One would think the head-in-the-sand prohibitionists would concede this notion from our OTHER prohibition experiment. Wait, what am I saying? Their collective amnesia allows them to avoid conceding anything. Especially when the government ‘of the people'(hardy har) engaged in this wonderful activity;

    http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.html

    -excerpt from the article;

    Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people into giving up illicit drinking. Instead, by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the federal poisoning program, by some estimates, had killed at least 10,000 people.

  9. Daniel Williams says:

    Not that long after the DEA banned it in 1985, MDMA virtually disappeared across the globe. The MDMA I did in 1971 was pharmaceutical and simply exquisite – an experience denied to most every ecstasy comsumer.

    What a pity…

    • allan says:

      one of those substances I have yet to sample, but on my list.

      • Windy says:

        I also had a quality connection back in the 80s, she was a good friend, a geologist, and her supplier was a licensed chemist, we called her Mrs. Medication. Lost that connection after a few years, when she died (in her 30s) from pancreatic cancer. Haven’t had MDMA since then, and won’t try the stuff they sell as XTC today, it’s got other stuff in it that makes it more dangerous and less the pure experience I would want from it.

    • darkcycle says:

      Yeah….X was real then, and not some mix of unidentified and questionable substitute chemicals. I had a quality connection in ’85-86. I stopped doing it when he stopped.

      • claygooding says:

        I was that way when Quaaludes were banned,,when my pharmaceutical connection ran out I quit them and never tried the chalky replicas that appeared within a week of his running out and he didn’t sell them.

        I have to admit though I did try the replica whitecrosses once and they were mostly caffeine or antihistamine and made you nauseous. The original WC’s were just right for kicking aa Sat nite into high gear,,one as you left the house and one about two hours later and you were good for 4 am without trying and all night wasn’t out of the question. $12 for 25,,ahh,the good old days

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
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          Some people leaning in favor of re-legalization might find a song called “War on Drugs” by Laughing Colors entertaining. Keep in mind that this song wasn’t from Guns’n’Roses and it’s name isn’t Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Roll. That’s just a very widely believed urban myth.

          Man, don’t tell me about love and peace
          When one of the Joneses
          Has a handgun pointed at me
          Don’t tell me to “Just Say No”
          I’m an addict
          I say no to letting it go
          What ever happened to Sex, Drugs, and Rock’n’Roll?
          Now we’ve just got AIDS, crack, and techno

          linky

  10. Pingback: Conspiracy Theories! | Prohibition Kills – Drug WarRant

  11. claygooding says:

    I am sure by now all government records of why Tylenol was added to codeine medicines have been deleted but my doctor warned me about the hazards of Tylenol because it was added to my cough syrup. I asked that Doctor if the Tylenol would help my cough syrup work better and he said no,so when I asked him why it was added he said government regulations.
    How would we find out who ordered the addition of Tylenol,,I am sure a pharmaceutical company would still have their paper that ordered them to add it but no way to get one,,,yet.

  12. DdC says:

    Thank Joe Biden

    So a lie by Nixon classifying Ganja as a schedule #1 narcotic can not create dangers down the line. Lies are not based in reality and intangible objects can not be made into policy, except for unscrupulous goals by profiteers left unchecked. Corruption in the highest places and a ban on transparency. If that ain’t clearly a red flag, you might be a redneck. Getting busted for gutter science numerous times and no consequences. Falsifying documents banning RAVE’s only jailing activists and abuse of the 1st amendment rights of promoters and groups to assemble and speak out. Biden failed 3 times to pass the RAVE act until the DEA sent meth to be tested as ecstasy, twice they were discovered and twice it was delayed being made public until after the RAVE Ax was tacked onto the Amber Alert bill. Fast tracked on hysteria. Lies. Same lies Rayguns used suffocating monkey’s to count dead brain cells and prove Ganja caused brain damage. To expand the piss-tasters profits on whiz quizzes. Guaranteed pecker checker peter piper’s piss taste profits for most corporations doing business with the feds and most government blue collar jobs, thanks to nancy no no. Kaching… Fardup!

    Dance Safe!
    Drug Information and Harm Reduction Resources

    I remember after the fake tests and hysteria on TV over x. The idiots started banning bottled water, in case someone overheated. Banned glow sticks, seems they are only made for kids at RAVE’s and Dance Safe test kits. Can’t get these kind of headlines without harming someone. Same mindset as the Ganjawar.

    Ban Fossil Fools for the Sake of the Children huffing it!

    United Nations Drug Report Disappointing XTC v Meth!

    According to the report, ecstasy users risk suffering the effects of early decline in mental function and memory, or Alzheimer-type symptoms.

    The report was released just weeks after scientists at Johns Hopkins University retracted their research findings that suggested that a single evening’s use of ecstasy could cause permanent brain damage and Parkinson’s disease. The scientists admitted that they utilized the wrong drug in their studies.

    The UN report makes no mention of the retracted studies.

    Critics are calling the federal government’s current anti-Ecstasy campaign overhyped “scare tactics” based on faulty science

    Drug labelling error forces retraction…After RAVE Ax Passes

    SECOND ECSTASY STUDY RETRACTED Mon, 15 Sep 2003
    Johns Hopkins scientists find new error involving vial mislabeled in the first experiment.

    The Rave Act stops NORML benefit concert
    The reason being of course that due to the RAVE Act anyone caught on the premisis with marijuana would automatically subjects our generous venue to a fine of $250,000.

    Synthetic Marijuana Memorials
    THE Leading Source of Synthetic Drug Information and Education

  13. Duncan20903 says:

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    Let’s for a minute pretend that you had $3.3 million in borrowed money laying around and decided that it would be a jolly good idea to sponsor a “five-year study of medical marijuana and its impact on drug use and physical and psychological health among young adults in Los Angeles.” Wouldn’t you naturally pick a research facility in Pennsylvania to do the job?

    First Large Public Health Study of Medical Marijuana Use in Young Adults to Begin with NIH Grant to Drexel

    Every time I think to myself, “OK, this is it, surely no one will ever be able to come up with something more stupid than this,” the prohibitionists feel compelled to prove me wrong.

    **************************************************

    Well speaking about “being compelled to prove me wrong”

    Seattle’s marijuana problem: Pets getting stoned

    Fuck the children, what about the poor canines? Doesn’t anyone care about the puppies?

    Well now there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re in the end times and the rapture is in fact imminent. Well I’m comin’ home to see you Jesus. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

    • claygooding says:

      It sure didn’t take long for the prohibs to use dogs or pets as their hand wringing ploy,,just today the Police Gazette recommended no more shooting private citizens dogs,,period,,I see a major funding of police depts on handling aggressive dogs. Only we are broke,,oh well,,Medicare won’t need those funds.

    • Windy says:

      Duncan, my younger dog had to go in to the vet yesterday for her rabies booster (won’t need another for 3 years now), while there I asked my vet about dogs and cannabis and if he’d read anything by the vet in CA who recommends cannabis for some dogs’ issues. He told me that they do see a lot of dogs coming in with toxicity issues from ingesting cannabis; and believe it or not, he said they have more of a problem with dogs ingesting raw cannabis than with them getting into edibles. Apparently, since most of the edibles they get hold of are brownies, the chocolate gives them diarrhea, so the toxic part passes through them quickly not going through the liver, and it is the liver toxicity which is harmful to the dogs. Luckily, neither of my Chihuahuas is attracted to cannabis, either in the raw or edible form, but people should beware leaving such in the vicinity of their pets.

  14. Citizen Teus says:

    This is why I don’t use anything other than pot and mushrooms. I’d love to try some of the things I’ve read about on Erowid or even just score some good old LSD, but I just can’t trust the producers with something I value as much as mind.

    • claygooding says:

      I don’t do anything but the same anymore,,even pharmaceuticals scare me and I sure ain’t doing anything anyone mixed up in a 2 litre coke bottle.
      Someday LSD will return,,someday,,it too is non-toxic,,someday people will realize what non-toxic means and how rare it is to find anything that is.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
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        From some of the crap I’ve read out of the prohibitionist there was one guy producing approaching all of the LSD in the U.S. perhaps the world. He was operating out of a modified corn silo somewhere in flyover country. In almost all cases I’d dismiss that as nothing but nonsense but in this case if I consider the difficulty of producing LSD, the fact that it’s measured in micrograms so less than 100 gallons could probably supply the country for a year, and the fact that the LSD supply virtually disappeared overnight after he got busted by the Feds in 2000 makes me unable to dismiss the claim out of hand. It’s the only bust I’m aware of since the early 1980s that actually had a visible effect on supply.

        I wouldn’t necessarily reject something just because it’s made in a 2 liter plastic “laboratory” especially if I knew what I was doing. But I must say that I find it very disturbing that it’s called the Nazi Method. Is it common knowledge that Mr. Hitler was a dedicated fan of methamphetamine?

        I’d still like to know why there’s such a dichotomy of demand for meth between the east and west coast. I was watching a re-run of Law & Order SVU which was so far out I skipped the last half. It featured a meth lab in a day care facility in New York City. I demand that my fictional dramas at least bear a passing resemblance to reality. SAMHSA says that in 201 there were 1,250 in “treatment” for amphetamines out of 291,967 in “treatment” for any substance. I’m pretty sure that isn’t exclusively meth.
        http://wwwdasis.samhsa.gov/webt/quicklink/ny12.htm
        Contrast that with California where 41,956 out of 156,051 were in “treatment” for that category.
        http://wwwdasis.samhsa.gov/webt/quicklink/ca12.htm

        Meth most certainly is the sore spot in California’s very successful reduction in State residents level of addiction. However, that category has been reduced 41.035% since its peak in 2006. Yes, a reduction of 29,198 actual human beings not in “treatment” with most likely approaching 100% of them not in “treatment” for meth.

        When we consider the existence of the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 which requires those convicted for possession of substances on the naughty lists (1st & 2nd time) to be sent to “treatment” in lieu of incarceration makes California’s reductions in the incidence of State residents in “treatment” even more mind boggling. Meth addiction DOWN over 40%, opioids and cocaine addiction DOWN almost 50% and yet people still consider drug abuse out of control in California.

        If you came to DC I could (but almost certainly would not) tell you where to go to buy crack, powder coke, or heroin and you could have it in hand in less than an hour. I haven’t a clue where you’d go to buy meth.

        Why in the world hasn’t SAMHSA given meth its own category?

        • Daniel Williams says:

          The silo bust you reference stopped what was then the world’s largest LSD lab. A young woman named Krystle Cole was involved with the owner of the silo/lab, a nasty dude named Skinner (she runs NeuroSoup, a web site devoted to drug education and the marketing of psychedelia). One of the participants in the lab, William Leonard Pickard, is serving life in an Arizona federal pen. I met Leonard back in 86 (87?). We are pen pals, speak on the phone, and I plan on visiting him in early 2014.

          Google him and the silo bust – it is an interesting and sad story.

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