The Pope has made it clear that he’s completely clueless about drug policy, adding just one more data point to the list of the Catholic Church’s embarrassing blunders throughout history (hello, Galileo).
RIO DE JANEIRO – The legalization of drugs will not reduce the problems of addiction, Pope Francis said Wednesday at a hospital in Brazil dedicated to the rehabilitation of drug users.
“A reduction in the spread and influence of drug addiction will not be achieved by a liberalization of drug use, as is currently being proposed in various parts of Latin America,” the Pope said.
“The scourge of drug-trafficking, that favors violence and sows the seeds of suffering and death, requires of society as a whole an act of courage.”
Yes. And that act of courage just happens to be legalization. What did you think it was?
What the Pope does here is simply mouth some non-sequitors and meaningless platitudes, along with using strawman arguments.
He should be embarrassed, but quite frankly, I doubt he’s aware enough.
And so, if his words are followed, the drug trafficking organizations will continue to use violence to get rich and the governments will use violence to go after them and the people stuck in the middle will die.
maybe the big drug cartel bosses donate enough to “the church” (yes, those are ‘scare’ quotes) that Popie has no qualms about strengthening the cartels’ grip on the drugs black market… in fact maybe owes a favor or twelve (like apostles or eggs in a carton, donuts in a box…)
Speaking of not saying stupid things, this was response to a comment I made about Hillary Clinton over at Huff Po:
http://goo.gl/mmhvxq
And this was my comment to which she replied:
http://goo.gl/22lj5I
I think what he means by an “act of courage” is Caldenon’s carnage in Mexico. Or Singapore style drug laws.
and OT… remember our friends in ID that had their kids taken away, Lindsey and friends? Well, they are trying to escape the horrors of ID and seek assistance:
http://www.gofundme.com/3lm7vw
as always mates, help as, when and where ya can
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Regardless of the stupidity of the Pope, he still has great sway over public opinion in Latin America. It’s very sad that so many people are so very stupid. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that his opinion is not as important as it used to be. But catholics have a very different point of view from the rest of the world and sensible will never be an adjective that is accurately attached to catholic dogma.
The Pope has the right idea, but the wrong conclusion. The idea is not to get more people using drugs.
That’s what prohibition does. I can’t completely fault anyone for being confused after 80 years or so of reefer madness stories.
I wonder what Bill Maher will say about his buddy now.
This is an organization that for millennium has been cravenly manipulative of “ordinary people”. I don’t hold my breath when any of the elders speak.
H.L. Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
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…and the winner of the best comment in a comments column under under a propaganda article about merrywanna for July 2013 is…(the search warrant please)… cheech1975:
“In another related test, researchers discovered that teens are more prone to like cheese, and live inside walls… and also may develop a phobia of cats.”
Study Suggests that Baby Mice Shouldn’t Do Bong Hits
http://tinyurl.com/m7vp7xk
Neither should dogs, my vet says they’ve had lot of cases of liver toxicity in dogs from ingesting raw marijuana since I-502 passed, and many prior to that, too.
Taken from the study:
“In the adult mice exposed to marijuana ingredients in adolescence, we found that cortical oscillations were grossly altered, and they exhibited impaired cognitive abilities,” says Ms. Raver. ….
I was not very familiar with what cortical oscillations were so I looked it up. Here is what I found:
Neural oscillations have been observed by researchers but their functional role is still not fully understood. A major area of research in neuroscience involves determining how oscillations are generated and what their roles are. Oscillatory activity in the brain is widely observed at different levels of observation and is thought to play a key role in processing neural information. Numerous experimental studies indeed support a functional role of neural oscillations; a unified interpretation, however, is still lacking.
My question is this. How can a definitive statement be made about cognitive abilities and detrimental effects of marijuana by studying cortical oscillations when a unified interpretation about neural oscillations and their functional role is still lacking?
The authors conclusions are obviously not only premature but motivated by prejudice.
Well it’s not hard to see that you’re one of those fruit loop wacko lunatics who thinks that people have to learn the alphabet before learning how to read & write!
A world-shaking discovery has been made in plant biology:
A marijuana plant that fixes its own atmospheric nitrogen will reduce the need for fertilizers, and make marijuana cultivation more environmentally friendly when it’s grown in wilderness areas.
Most of the potential environmental problems with growing cannabis are caused by indoor grows…if it could be grown outdoors like any other crop it could be inter-planted with beans, which would fix nitrogen in the soil through their roots. The cannabis plant could even be used as the pole for the beans, like the corn in “Three Sisters” plantings. Put some squash and pumpkins (the third sister) in between the cannabis and bean plants and the soil would be kept cool and moist and weed free, and animal pest would be discouraged by the squash prickles. The drug war is inherently damaging to the environment…
hey Jean, don’t forget the dead fish under those 3 sisters. You been reading back issues of Akwesasne Notes or Native Self Sufficiency?
planted my first three sisters garden this year and its awsome. got me thinking of other ways to grow sustainably. i ll check out those sources
ps i used well seasoned cow manure instead of the dead fish for the first year as the beans take a year to fix nitrogen. like much native wisdom myth and practicality go hand in hand
as such things interest you, also check out the small book, A Basic Call to Consciousness, put out by the Iroquois Confederacy (Hau de no sau nee) in the ’70s.
Azospirillum Brasilense has been known about for years. I have a big ol’ bag of it in the garden right now. It is not enough to provide all the nitrogen needs of cannabis, I’m afraid. But it sure seems to help.
Rave on Sylvina Mullins Raver…
Well, if that whole pope thing doesn’t work out for him, he’s definitely got the qualifications for drug czar.
(BTW, what kind of a weirdo chooses to go by the name “Francis”?)
And what about the mad woman locked away in the attic, otherwise known as pope benedict?
give him two choir boys and call in Monday
“And so, if his words are followed, the drug trafficking organizations will continue to use violence to get rich and the governments will use violence to go after them and the people stuck in the middle will die”
You mean the Catholic Church is supporting policies that empower organized crime and enable state violence. I am shocked!
As a former Catholic (now one of “the fallen”) I assure you that anyone who defends concepts like transubstantiation is capable of believing any number of ridiculous notions.
‘transubstantiation’… is that like Calvin and Hobb’s ‘transmogrifier’?
Ha, no that’s the whole doctrine about the wine and bread (if you can call that shit bread) actually turning into the body and blood of Jesus. This is why there was talk about Catholics promoting cannibalism for years. I mean, its not a totally irrational accusation if you think about it.
Its a spin off on the idea that you are what you eat.
You would think the Pope would be huddled up with other Vatican wankers discussing how to more effectively hide the problem of pedophile priests. But no, a little public diversion making strange sounds about the drug war is much more popeadelic. Onward through the papal fog…
And this cult of personality stuff with religious “leaders”, WTH?
Humanity is still infantile when it comes to religion. Though some of us have grown up and don’t believe anymore.
One more corrupt cop/informant story:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/surveillance-video-shows-police-informant-planting-drugs
Posted to Digg, Twitter and Facebook.
It’s not hard to imagine that a Pope originating from South America would be so naïve as to miscast drug warfare as something tolerable. The DEA is doing the bidding of the Holy See by prohibiting and eradicating indigenous plant substances that are useful as medicine, or for mind expansion; drugs the Church has feared since the Nicene creed assumed the reins of Christianity in 325 C.E.
Pope Francis failed to comment on current events. For instance, the DEA’s operation in Honduran Moskitia that killed four indigenous Miskitu civilians is back in the news again:
Seems the State Department and DEA are doing everything possible to cover up their crimes , including destroying any evidence.
Pope Francis is either an old fool, or the NSA tapped his phone and he’s being blackmailed by the CIA. It’s possible, therefore it’s probable.
The Vatican has anything but clean hands when it comes to drugs…and banking, which is heavily reliant upon drug prohibition and all its’ attendant sub-industries, like gun-running:
Who Killed Calvi? Reopening the inquiry into the ‘suicide’ of ‘God’s banker’ has exposed links with the mafia, masons and Vatican fraud, writes Nick Mathiason
The genesis of drug prohibition can be found in the actions of Episcopalian Bishop Charles Henry Brent, in the Philippines during the late 1890s. He believed the custom of Catholic Filipinos smoking opium made them impervious to conversion to the Episcopalian faith, and petitioned, some say blackmailed, President Roosevelt into supporting the first international conference on the scourge of opium, held in 1901 Shanghai, which ultimately led to the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914.
The irony I see in Pope Francis coming out against the evil of drugs, if one is to assume Bishop Brent was actually correct, is that without opium the heavily Catholic Philippines would be now singing in the Episcopalian choir.
You didn’t quote the most important part of the Pope’s statement. He has a simple one-step plan to solve the drug problem:
Problem solved.
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
I want to see the Pope and every religious leader that claims cannabis is evil and must be banned explain to their God why cannabis is exempted from the above decree.
And it is a decree,,not a vague anecdotal verse that could be applied to many interpretations about any substance.
As an agnostic verging on atheist, I LOVE using the words of the Bible to throw at religious nuts when they want to defend or impose some government prohibition of behavior and/or activities because of their puritan roots, their (twisted, IMNSHO) “morality”.
Good comment, claygooding.
Morganthau or Anslinger?
A new look at the record questions the degree of Anslinger’s role in masterminding U.S. marijuana prohibition, and places much of the blame on Treasury Secretary Morganthau:
http://tinyurl.com/l3todpl
I never thought of Anslinger as anything but a tool,,any way to find out if Morganthau was in business with Dupont or any other historical leaders of Reefer Madness?
It would probably require a lot of digging in the National Archives, submitting FOIA requests, etc.
“Morganthau or Anslinger?”
Probably more like Morganthau and Anslinger — and a host of others. Including some temperance groups to help stoke the fire. Anslinger was the carnival barker. Surely there were others behind the scenes either generating, or assisting in generating, the wonderful propaganda and the lasting results we live with today.
It’s worth reading the legislative transcripts that led to cannabis prohibition. I’ve told many doubters over the years that the process that led to cannabis being outlawed is probably the most ridiculous and embarrassing act of “governance” this country has ever embarked upon. That might be a bit hyperbolic, but not by much.
FTP.
I wish we could find a link between Bayer and the prohibition,,it is just too coincidental that they were manufacturing hash oil until 1942 when the FDA pulled it off the shelves and now they are partnered up with Sativex.
Bayer wasn’t a fan of prohibition – it halted their sale of heroin, which, along with every other narcotic, was available at corner drug stores and from the Sears catalog. To think the pharmaceutical companies would oppose rejoining that market after prohibition repeal is silly.
That was not my tact,,,I was more along the line of Bayer having the hash oil pulled because it was so easy to produce and too many people knew how to do it,,wouldn’t they also open a lot of markets for themselves trying to create medications to replace what the hash oil treated?
We need a whistle blower from Bayer to leak the amount of money Bayer has spent for the last 40 years trying and failing to copy hash oil.
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Bayer isn’t partnered with Sativex for the U.S. market. The U.S. is owned by Otsuka. Bayer did buy Canada and the U.K. Ever since I learned that I’ve wondered if the U.S. will ever schedule Sativex and allow it to be prescribed. There’s no doubt in my mind that Bayer doesn’t think it likely or they wouldn’t have let Otsuka buy the market from GW Pharma.
There is a significant lack of arbitrageurs playing GWP. I don’t think I’ve ever before seen such a spread with nobody stepping up to take the profit. Short 1 GWPH and go long 10 GWPRF. Another example that this medicine gets no respect, no respect at all.
Kev Kev has a piece at Huffpo,,comments closed,,I suppose he got tired of having his ass reattached.
Colorado Fails to Regulate Marijuana — and Colorado Springs Decides Not to Take Their Chances With Legalization At All
http://tinyurl.com/p4xnuz4
“”Though voters in Colorado and Washington officially legalized marijuana in November, most of us have known for a while that marijuana has enjoyed de facto legalization status in a few places for a long while now (you know who you are). One of those places is Colorado, where anyone with a little back pain and some cash can get a legal recommendation for pot shielding them from any legal sanction. But unlike in California, some Colorado officials have taken it upon themselves to try and regulate this trade, hoping for tax revenue and some control over the very strange and wild world of medical marijuana.
Their hopes have been dashed.””
Perhaps the state governments hopes are dashed but the citizens of CO don’t have to got to rehab or jail because they have a joint.
Kevin is like the incompetent boss who shows up halfway through a project and decides it’s all a failure because he can’t understand it, all because it’s not completed yet.
Expect Sabet’s obsessive, infantile behavior to get worse. It’s tough watching your chosen profession shrivel up and die in front of you, just as you think you’ve made it to the top of the tool kit.
I’m really ordinarily a polite fella. back-bendingly so most of the time, but I got a double middle digit salute for Kev-kev, in the opening paragraph:
Eat my shorts Kevin. Over 1/3 of US workers suffer from work related pains and the effects of work related injuries (allan raises his hand). You simpering twit, if you had to work for a living you’d smoke pot too. Asshat.
sigh… on to the second paragraph. At this rate it’s gonna take all night to read Kev’s stupid piece.
… crikey… what a crock. Were it not for federal prohibition virtually ALL of the problems he mentions would not exist. I’ll wager small breweries are pretty well regulated in CO.
Long a stumbling block for me… capitalists who aren’t when it comes to cannabis. Sure, frack the earth and pollute aquifers – as long as it’s for-profit. Grow pot and it’s “oh my god they want to make money! Evil rat bastard druggies!”
C’mon, Kevin is really Calvina, right? They/he/she is some cross-dressing moral busy nose anti-pot nut, right?
And again I must ask the question that seems to suit Kev-kev to a T…
How can someone with their head so up their ass still manage to stick their foot in their mouth?
Gotta go see if I can find an email addy for Kevin, often it is in the little box describing the “credentials” of the author of the piece. Should I (or anyone find it) we should slam his inbox with the comments he refuses to allow on his op-eds.
Nope, no email, if you want to contact him you have to go to his webpage and click on the contact button then fill out the form. But that does work, just write what you want to say elsewhere then copy it and paste in his stupid little box, do the captcha thing and hit “send”.
Comment closed for his post? Kevie has chosen the echo chamber approach — just the sound of his own voice reverberating around him.
What an absolute coward.
And he brings up Colorado Springs as valiantly standing up to the raging dopers. Colorado Springs? What a beautiful setting — and chock full of more than their fair share of batshit crazy religious ding-dongs. Keep shooting yourself in the foot Kevin. It’s got to hurt though, but no med cannabis for you…
As a UF alumni it pains me to no end that he’s affiliated with that university. Not long ago I received a plea for donations for a particular project the school is hoping to fund. I wrote them back: As long as Kevin Sabet is allowed to roam the campus grounds, no money from me. I’ll send some to FSU instead (oh, the humanity!).
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I do find it morbidly amusing that Kev-Kev and his fellow prohibitionist parasites think that the powers that be are reflecting what the voters want, or that those local authorities are doing anything except trying to monkey wrench re-legalization. It would have been nice to be able to point out that in 1997 the Oregon Legislature voted and the Governor signed a law re-criminalizing cannabis. Then on Election Day 1998 the voters kicked that law to the curb by a margin just a short hair less than 2:1.
Prohibitionist parasites acting like prohibitionist parasites is no surprise. It most certainly does not mean that the people agree with the prohibitionist parasites like Mr. Sabet.
They overturned the re-criminalization law, but did they also boot the politicians responsible for writing, promoting, passing and signing that into law?
Colorado Springs ay . . . home of a lot of Vets with PTSD. Let’s use some correlated logic with Kevin: Legal pot in Colorado could be a beacon for other states and the Feds to likewise legalize cannabis . . . if other states and the Feds legalize it, other nations might be highly influenced to legalize it as well . . . legal Cannabis is the gateway legislation/actions to legalizing drugs like cocaine, heroin, meth etc worldwide . . . an end to this evil Drug War. The Black Market in those other nations (including illegal Cannabis sales) is why those Vets have PTSD: Drug money financed Terrorism/insurgencies . . . Kevin knows that Drug money kills and wounds and sends soldiers to fight . . . Kevin knows legal weed in Colorado will be the first step to legal heroin in Russia (after many decades of course –but a first step is a first step), yet Kevin believes legal cannabis is a bad thing and is obviously happy over Colorado Springs (home of severe PTSD vets from Ft. Carson), therefore he champions the use of drug money in the hands of radical terrorism and he is a champion of Vet (22 a day) suicide. Radical terrorists would want vets to suffer and would want them to die from drug money financed weapons and fighters . . . therefore Kevin is a closet Radical Terrorist Sympathizer and he’s less than one notch below the evil of the former drug money wielding villain, Osama Bin Laden . . . Kevin’s very own created consequences or his cause and effect approach to the War on Drugs means he has more in common with the brothers who bombed Boston than he does to an honorable and good hearted man.
“Organized Crime is why any of you are in Iraq.†I’ll never forget those words upon our mission briefing . . . never in my wildest did I ever expect to know of the Russian and Italian Mafia –Asian Triad, Latin American Smugglers and Nigerian Gang members to be prisoners inside the Iraqi Prison I worked in. Someone told me that they’ve got video footage of Kevin masturbating to the news of Darfur genocide and images of 9/11 and various market bombings in Baghdad . . . people have spotted Kevin masturbating in public to the long funeral processions with roads flooded full of bikers and cars accompanying dead soldiers to their final resting place . . . Kevin is so foul, that Westboro Baptist stand at least 25ft away from him. I’d rather drink dumpster water than to take a look at his face.
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Well Colorado Springs certainly isn’t going to be having a cannabis shortage because the lawmakers are dolts. I really do want to figure out when the sycophants of prohibition get the idea that if they don’t know where people buy pot that it means that there’s no pot available.
There is evidently a not insignificant number of military personnel stationed within the local economy. Having lived less than 3 miles from Fort Knox for a couple of years I’m certain that I understand why even the farfetched possibility that the military will abandon their town gives a lot of the locals conniption fits. Oh, when I was in Radcliff the military was in the process of deciding which military bases were going to be shut down (BRAC) so the locals actually had good reason for worry. Sheesh, who needs an impenetrable vault in a heavily armed installation to guard a bunch of IOUs? It’s been a long time since there was any gold in the vault at Fort Knox.
Of course when the decision was in the Army actually decided to significantly increase the Fort Knox numbers both military and civilian support personnel. Those idiots didn’t have anything to worry about. There aren’t that many communities who would be willing to have the Army blowing up their ordnance every flippin’ afternoon from 1600 to 1800 hours. I just about soiled myself my first afternoon there. I thought that the commies had finally invaded Kentucky.
The really sad thing in CS is that BRAC is over and done with and all in all it took the military about 15 years from start to finish. In Radcliff it was still being planned. The people in CS are idiots to worry about the military pulling out. While the locals may be idiots I’ve no doubt that the Army knows that wherever they establish a base in the civilized world that there will be cannabis available locally.
I will admit that the Army is run by idiots. There is an indoor pool at Fort Knox and it’s open to the public at a very inexpensive price. To date it’s the only indoor pool in the world of which I’m aware that shuts down if there’s lightning in the sky.
“Sheesh, who needs an impenetrable vault in a heavily armed installation to guard a bunch of IOUs? It’s been a long time since there was any gold in the vault at Fort Knox.”
I’m stealing that from you Duncan.
educational jaunt down history lane over at NPR:
The Mysterious History Of ‘Marijuana’
Good read! Thanks for the link.
Pope Francis SJ continues Rome’s Pharmacratic Inquisition
http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-pope-supports-drug-war-status-quo.html
Pete, it’s spelled “non sequitur”. And that is definitely what he uttered… unless he considers fostering the power and influence of violent drug cartels an heroic act.
It was pot wasn’t it. Link to a hyperactive OCSheriff in need of funding and free toasters. Long trail of victims http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Syracuse-Mayor-s-receptionist-fired-after-being/AU3CGhx_70K6uvAANpLN0Q.cspx
Obama spends $180,000 a DAY to undermine State Medical Marijuana laws.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steph-sherer/obama-medical-marijuana-cost_b_3443095.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false
“Treyvon was me 25 years ago” -Bambi
If you want people to think you’re infallible…
Maybe you also want people to think you’re invisible…
Proverbs 29:12
“If a ruler hearken to lies,
all his servants are wicked.”
Nearly 250,000 Killed in Colombia Fightin
“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 witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches.” ~ Steppenwolf
Weed Beat the Recession in Denver
vs 60,000 Dead Mexicans
“I like your Christ,
I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Pro-Pot Ad Debuts At NASCAR Race, ah sorta…
☛I was takin’ a trip out to L.A. toolin’ along in my Chevrolet Tokin’ on a number and diggin’ on the radio Just as I crossed the Mississippi line I heard that highway starting to whine And I knew that left rear tire was about to go
☛So, I just reached out and kicked old “Green Teeth” right in the knee Now, he let out a yell that would curl your hair But before he could move I grabbed me a chair And said, “Watch him folks, ’cause he’s a thoroughly dangerous man Well, you may not know it, but this man’s a spy He’s an undercover agent for the FBI And he’s been sent down here to infiltrate the Klu Klux Klan”
☛”Would you believe this man has gone as far. As tearin’ Rmoney stickers off the bumpers of cars. And he voted for Obama for president. Well, he’s a friend of those long-haired, hippie-type pinko fags And I’ll bet you he’s even got a commie flag Tacked up on the wall inside of his garage He’s a snake in the grass, I’ll tell you guys He may look dumb, but that’s just a disguise He’s a mastermind in the ways of espionage…
☛They all started lookin’ real suspicious at him. And he jumped up and said, “Just wait a minute, Jim, You know he’s lyin’, I’ve been livin’ here all of my life. I’m a faithful follower of brother John Birch. And I belong to the Antioch Baptist Church. And I ain’t even got a garage, you can call home and ask my wife”…
☛NASCAR would’ve sure been proud. Of the way I was movin’ when I passed that crowd. Comin’ out the door and headed toward me in a trot. And I guess I shoulda’ gone ahead and run. But, somehow, I just couldn’t resist the fun. Of chasin’ them all just once around the parking lot…
“Uneasy Rider” charliedanielsexcerpts
Pope Francis has officially condoned drug warfare directed against otherwise law-abiding citizens. He enters the ranks of despicable villains within an institution displaying a long criminal record involving such activities. Other villains include:
The list goes on. Too bad Pope Francis chose drug war over drug peace. Now the whole sordid history of his papal fiefdom, its influence over international drug policy, will be scrutinized, revealed, and condemned by the web. It’s a horrendous burden the Holy See must bear amidst the imploding influence of the Vatican’s other problems.
Indict the Pope, anyone?
Couldn’t we just play “Find the Popes in the Pizza?” The winner gets a gross of Pope on a Rope Soap and free pizza for life from a pizzeria to be named later.
hmmm… Pope-on-a-Rope soap… I wonder if it’s made by the same folks that make Dead Cat Soap – ‘there’s a dead cat in every bar’?
Indict the Pope, anyone?
Considering how much of the Vatican’s operation is dependent upon banking, and how much international banking is dependent upon laundering dirty drug money, the question shouldn’t be rhetorical. It’s more than valid.
Suffer from kidney disease? aussie naturopath tells all – how his patients avoid dialysis