Cut Sentences for Low-Level Drug Crimes by the Editorial Board.
Now that Congress is within sight of passing the most significant federal sentencing reforms in a generation, it’s worth taking a closer look at where the legislation falls short.
The main driver of the federal prison population is, by far, the dramatic increase in the time people spend behind bars — specifically, those convicted of drug offenses, who account for nearly half of the nation’s 199,000 federal inmates. From 1988 to 2012, the average time served for drug crimes more than doubled in length, according to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. That increase in the length of drug sentences comes at a great expense: an estimated $1.5 billion each year, based on how much it costs to keep a federal inmate behind bars.
The new sentencing-reform bills now moving through the Senate and House would help reduce some of the longest mandatory-minimum sentences, including ending the use of life without parole for drug crimes, and would give judges more power to impose a shorter sentence when the facts of a case warrant it.
But these fixes do not reach to the heart of the problem, which is that the vast majority of federal drug offenders serving outsize sentences are in for low-level, nonviolent crimes, and have no serious history of violence. […]
Making any real dent in the federal prison population will require broader reforms than those Congress is currently considering.
Inhumane sentencing is one thing that clearly needs addressing by Congress, but are only a part of the vast damage done by the drug war. There are many millions of people who have had their lives hijacked by prohibition laws including immigrants banned for life, parents who have had their children stolen, students denied loans, families evicted from housing, job opportunities shut off, assets forfeited, the list goes on and on. I can see a time when drugs are legalized but many of these drug war land mines are still on the books and still claiming lives long after the war is over.
.
.
Did someone leave some Toklas® Hashish Fudge in the break room at the Times?
———
But since we’re on the subject of Ms. Toklas, I’ve just received quite a shock. Before a few moments ago I had thought that Ms. Toklas was a fictional character, not the author of one of the best selling cookbooks of all time. The American edition of her cookbook was sanitized to appease the foaming at the mouth prohibitionist cohort.
[On topic = maybe we should insist that we all rethink what specifically constitutes a *Crime*!]
Oh my goodness… Reading the Wikipedia entry for the cookbook – I was greatly amused, reading a snippet that includes the following ‘cautionary warning’ (of sorts) that poor Ms. Maureen Dowd and others unfamiliar with edibles could’ve benefited from.
IF the book hadn’t been simultaneously – BOTH – publicly taboo & semi-common knowledge (which ironically later on became more ‘1 part urban legend’ & ‘1 part streetwisdom’…)
I remember people joking about “Alice B’s cookies” and not thinking twice about it.
It wasn’t until later that it became an *unfunny issue* officially = in the “Just Say No”/D.A.R.E./”Rock Against Drugs” Era.
I suspect that it was around that time such (previously funny) stuff was cast down into the ‘Sending The Wrong Message Oubliette’…
(I could go on but won’t = I figure I should keep a few stories to share for the big ‘get togethers’ we have should/will have once we get cannabis legalized.)
Anywho, in the music for Thanksgiving department – I found a working link for a song that would be appropriate – both now and in future years…
Imagine, the first annual “Couch Thanksgiving”, that’s something I’m really looking forward to here’s my first choice for the music playlist:
‘Save Your Seeds’ – Peter Wilde = its a functional link, the sound quality isn’t great = but it’s free.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Why move..we can get marijuana in any town in America and those new G-8 LED’s with 60″ canopy penetration will stop the need for trying to hide indoor grows or have them considered huge electrical hogs.
“Making any real dent in the federal prison population will require broader reforms than those Congress is currently considering”
Ya well making a dent in any real problems is pretty much beyond that pack of bribe-taking hucksters.
OT, A story of thanks.
Had an interesting read last night going through some of the comments from past years. Discovered that many couch members in the past who are currently regulars have tried to “take-on” DdC over his comments.
Let’s get this part out of the way. I consider him both friend and asshole, and I’m fine with that. He brings stuff to the table that other folks may not be aware of and I’ve taken advantage of his efforts.
What the couch may be interested to know, is that PhD’s and MMJ physician’s are LINKING to info that DdC is putting on the web.
In a recent Cannabis Now issue a Phd from the Society of Cannabis Clinicians linked to a Thomm Hartman show that featured a DdC-created graphic about the fact ONLY 13% of medical schools are teaching any part of the endocannabinoid system. Why this is a big deal to me, is that DdC is smart enough to “repeat” good basic fundamentals and the people “linking” to him in this case have heeded the “CALL” for Medical-Cannabis education for physicians.
This MMJ doctors group, The Society of Cannabis Clinicians has created a the first comprehensive Continuing Medical Education courses (CME units) through a partnership with U.C.S.F.. So, just FYI, our word-salad-boy has some historical standing in the movement to bring human rights back into medicine.
If you visit the Americans for Safe Access site you can find several videos. Their 2015 gig in Washington D.C, featured a lot of the big heavy-weights in cannabis research like Ethan Russo. While watching one of the presentations, they were talking about Kevin Sabet briefly and used a slide “CREATED” by DdC of Kevin Sabet titled “Chicken Little.”
The medical cannabis community has found DdC useful to “OUR” cause. So thanks for snorting all that coal-dust in mommy’s womb, dude sometimes you rock.
Okay, why this matters to me. I studied the shit out of neurochemistry and neurobiology after learning about full extract cannabis oil. I needed to know where I stood on the food-chain so-to-speak, so I enrolled my ass at THE MEDICAL CANNABIS INSTITUTE accredited by the University of California and so far, I’ve completed two courses and two CME units for physicians.
I’m spending my weed-money on weed education.
DdC helped me get there, and I’ve got to tell you, knowledge of cannabis and the ECS has become like food and water to me. I like to give credit where it’s due and I owe him thanks because his posts helped get me moving in a very exiting direction.
So thanks asshole, hope you have nice holiday if that’s your thing.
To the couch, you people inspire me and give me courage. Pete has created a place to learn-and-grow and that’s pretty special. Peace.
i concur, DdC deserves all the cannabinoids he can get and then some. thanks DdC
😉 Aw shucks.
As I see it we are all helping each other to become better reformers. Thanks all.
Agreed. I find myself utilizing DdC’s work at my own job when trying to convince co-workers about the facts. Yesterday I was telling one of them about the Cancer industry and the FDA, just from his website and how sickness makes more money than cures. Plus the data he has on the endocannabinoid system.
Yes we have butt heads really hard because of our unique views of the Middle East: where the drug war sent him rushing to books, history and activists, the war on drugs sent me physically rushing to a Middle East Prison belonging to the American Military, Iraqi Government and the CIA (I’ll go to my grave claiming ISIS is financed by drug money as well–and will pay big big bucks for my tombstone to read so . . . McCain may have given them the structure boost needed for existence, but they’re smart enough to realize that money does grow on trees, while also coming up black from the ground as well).
You can reduce the sentences or change from incarceration too rehab and as long as the DOJ/DEA use marijuana arrests for qualification for grants,seizures and military surplus the war on marijuana will continue on the streets and our judicial system will still be logjammed with marijuana cases.
As fast as the feds release marijuana criminals law enforcement will try to refill them.
Damn….why did that take three tries to get this at the bottom of the thread?? I had to place it as a reply to Duncan!
#Edit# Oh Damn. There we are again, three comments up from the last post. What gives, Pete??
OT: maybe Russia plans on getting revenge for the Crimea War of long ago. Now that Britian, France and Turky are located in the Middle East along with Russia at a very unique spot, which includes Ukraine and Gerogia possibly being a part of the Middle East now. This time, cannabis can be the Florence Nightengale for wounded soliders and civilians. Only the Kingdom of Sardina is missing in action. Should we organize a hemp blanket donation to the Ukrainians with the natural gas all but gone for this winter?
Ontario – Using Medical Marijuana Now OK in Public Places
The Emerald Cup
Area 101 Presents America’s Longest Running Cannabis Competition.
Celebrating 12 years of California’s Outdoor Cannabis Culture.
Hemp Clothing
Wear these hemp and organic cotton pullover tees for days on end! You’ll stay fresh and “aroma-free” because hemp kills bacteria, staff and fungus for the life of the shirt.
Is Kevin Sabet aka KevKev more than DISHONEST?
The answer is yes, back in July he admitted to knowing about the abuse that happened at Straight Inc and has resorted to blocking anyone that questions his integrity again can Kevin Sabet be trusted after he admitted to knowing the abuse that happened at Straight Inc, I THINK NOT
puppy-killers at it again:
http://blog.puppycidedb.com/graphic-video-shows-delaware-police-shooting-a-fleeing-dog-during-a-swat-style-raid/
Those fucking parasites and their sketchy statement after the fact. Check it out:
http://blog.puppycidedb.com/mark-reedy-delaware-state-police-dog-shooting/
Federal Study Will Pay You $3,000 Per Week
to Consume Cannabis
by TheJointBlog November 25, 2015
The relatively high pay scale of $3000 per week is just more propaganda bs. The have to convince the public that these brave volunteers are taking a great risk with their health by consuming large amounts of cannabis every day.
.
.
Actually, the true object of the study was to find out just how many stupid potheads would fall for such an obvious work of fiction.
I’ve seen that a few times and always thought it was a bit sketchy.
PROPAGANDA ALERT: A new study at King’s College London claims smoking high grade “skunk†marijuana does damage to the brain’s corpus callosum:
There aren’t enough participants in the study, and England is notorious for producing incompetently done, biased research on marijuana. The study needs to be replicated by someone with cred. Then someone needs to explain how a higher mean diffusivity affects people in their daily lives. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m perfectly happy with the functioning of my corpus callosum.
King’s College Press Release: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/news/records/2015/november/Study-shows-white-matter-damage-caused-by-skunk-like-cannabis.aspx
Publication: Rigucci, S et al (2015) ‘Effect of high-potency cannabis on corpus callosum microstructure’ Psychological Medicine doi:10.1017/S0033291715002342
Kings again? When will the tax payers get fed up with this extortion racket? Cannabis might possibly lead to less funding of quacks if it is ever truly evaluated.
Prefered Treatment of Racketeering Opponents
of a 4 yr old girl using cannabis for Epileptic seizures
Important Safety Information and Indication for Aptiom (eslicarbazepine acetate)
☛ Suicidal behavior and ideation
APTIOM may cause suicidal thoughts or actions, depression, or mood problems. Call your doctor right away if you experience these or any other effects or reactions: thoughts about suicide or dying; attempting to commit suicide; new or worse depression, anxiety, or irritability; feeling agitated or restless; panic attacks; trouble sleeping (insomnia); acting aggressive; being angry or violent; acting on dangerous impulses; an extreme increase in activity and talking (mania); or other unusual changes in behavior or mood.
Marijuana Stops Child’s Severe Seizures
46,471: Drug Overdoses
Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns
Drug Worriers preferred methods of treatment…
Ambien, delusions,dementia,lack of feeling or emotion,thoughts of killing oneself,confusion,shakiness…
Celexa, lack of emotion,loss of memory,Behavior change similar to drunkenness,convulsions, (seizures)….
Adderall, Blistering,peeling,loosening of the skin-difficulty breathing,speaking,swallowing-dizziness….
Xanax, changes in patterns and rhythms of speech,clumsiness or unsteadiness,difficulty with coordination,shakiness and unsteady walk,feeling sad or empty,trouble performing routine tasks,burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling, “pins and needles, or tingling feelings,confusion about identity, place, and time
Prozac, inability to sit still,difficulty with concentration,drowsiness,mood or behavior changes,purple or red spots on the skin,continuing vomiting
Zoloft, very stiff (rigid) muscles, high fever, sweating, confusion, fast or uneven heartbeats, feeling like you might pass out; agitation, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, feeling unsteady, loss of coordination; or headache, trouble concentrating, memory problems, weakness, fainting, seizure, shallow breathing or breathing that stops. decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm…
Paxil, unusual bone pain or tenderness, swelling or bruising; easy bruising, unusual bleeding (nose, mouth, vagina, or rectum), coughing up blood;agitation, hallucinations, fever, fast heart rate, overactive reflexes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of coordination, fainting; slurred speech, severe nervous system reaction, uneven heartbeats, tremors…
Ganja 4 PTSD & Depression
Someone should remind King’s (Collage) of cut and pasted propaganda not to repeat too soon.
So smoking skunk causes psychosis, but milder cannabis doesn’t?
The Mail on Sunday (15 February 2015) has shouted that ‘cannabis TRIPLES psychosis risk’ and that skunk is to blame for ‘1 in 4 of all new serious mental disorders’. Is this what the study they cite shows? Well, no, but it’s really interesting research which could advance our understanding of the relationship between cannabis and psychosis.
New study discovers why cannabis may be causing psychosis.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-BiCNKCEAAIoV-.jpg
Pot Could Save Your Life: 4 Ways Cannabis is Good for Your Brain
Harvard: Marijuana Doesn’t Cause Schizophrenia
Modern research is showing that cannabis extracts protect and benefit the human brain. Here’s four amazing ways scientists are showing that cannabis actually helps to keep your brain safe from disease, dementia and even death!
Marijuana Compound Treats Schizophrenia
with Few Side Effects: Clinical Trial May 30, 2012
Those silly Brits, still trying to push their own variant of the old US ‘crack-vs-cocaine’ strategy, for their UK drugwar = the ‘skunk-vs-cannabis’ a flawed/false analogy really, IDK how many Brits/UK really believe that nonsense?
“Skunk” is dangerous and spooky, we promise, you’ll see… Be Afraid, VERY AFRAID!
It doesn’t make any sense – at least with crack there was “secret process” – (baking soda, water, heat, stir…)
“Skunk” is… *More Potent* = Really? Different strain, that smells slightly different. A different strain of a virus or bacteria can be scary.
Or a different sort of mushroom okay maybe, a different strain of a field grass/plant/weed? That’s akin to trying to say certain types of “Hay” will kill your horses or goats = Ludicrous Nonsense!
They’re not truly fooling much of anyone are they? IDK, maybe they have some uber gullible people over across the pond?
The DEA Has Failed To Eradicate Marijuana
http://cannabisnews.com/news/28/thread28748.shtml
Last year the DEA spent an average of roughly $4.20 (yes, really) for each marijuana plant it successfully uprooted.
Cannabis Eradications 99.28% Ditchweed – 03/07/00
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/649
Spraying Ditchweed Could Devastate Game Bird Populations
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/430
Mon$anto’$ WoD on Ditchweed
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1251
92.28 % ditchweed. Nothing sums up the drug war make-work scam better than that statistic.
The new G-8LED 450 watt lights that work using 110>220 volts furnish 60″ of canopy penetration.
HID and MPS will become obsolete and indoor grows will no longer be considered energy hogs..not to mention that they are undetectable by infrared scans.
A person producing enough for themselves won’t even make a bump on the grid.
I can actually double the size of my cabinets or a bedroom grow could prolly use two on a rail system.
Do you have any links that you could share?
The problem with that is having a place to live that’s not subject to forfeiture – I don’t have a ‘spare’ house/residence to risk atm…
And there’s always the issue with needing someone to come in and fix something = a hail damaged roof, heating or cooling systems, tax assessors/appraisers, and any other sort of local contractor to fix/upgrade cable/phone/internet lines – etc.
There’s a nearly endless list of people who could & will go directly to the cops if they suspect you’re don’t want them nosing about in some area of your house/apartment for any ‘shady’ reason. I’ve known of many people who got screwed over when a painter or plumber or whoever = stumbled into the wrong room of a house…
Granted, this was in the late 90’s mostly – I knew alot of people back then that were convinced that local task forces were offering “bounties” or “finder’s fees” to those sorta folks.
Especially in smaller towns were it’s hard to keep any kind of secret to begin with, where the rumor-mill can get a new scandalous breakfast-time rumor across town before lunch & by supper wellover half of the town will know about it – and if it’s interesting everyone else could/would read about it in the newspaper the next day.
I’ve seen cabinet grow setups in magazines & some tent-based setups that claim to prevent the smell from giving you away to the neighborhood, and every pizza/package delivery person who comes to the door.
They’re pretty damn expensive and ordering one via mail with a CC# seems colossally stupid to me, IDK?
But, The minute they’re legal I’ll make or buy one and stick it in the garage – ASAP!
I understand your concerns. One thing a grower has always needed was the skills of a handyman. You are right, if you do not have an active “union” in your town (or you aren’t yet a member) you will have to make your home repairs yourself. Unless uou have one of those cabinets, or place it in an obscure closet, that is. Don’t worry about using a card on one of those, though…the makers know the value of discreet billing and shipping. Your statement will reflect the purchase of an ice cream maker or refrigerator, or some sort of innocuous item.
I know the risks because I live in TX and got caught growing my own medicine,,when busted I made sure they knew it was being used as medicine and that none of it was leaving my house.
After watching my house for two weeks prior to their raid they knew I didn’t have enough traffic to be selling anything and that my cabinets would never produce enough to sell anyway.
After a year a deputy came by and told me to pick up my belongings seized by the police,,minus grow lights and equipment used to grow marijuana with.
That was appx 5 years ago,,in TX,,so times are changing.
Marijuana Grow Closet:
Interviewing the Mastermind Behind D.C.’s Next Best Amenity
The problem of corrupt judges and prosecutors who violate defendants’ rights in drug trials and other prosecutions is addressed by op-ed contributor Brandon Buskey in the New York Times.
In “How to Prosecute Abusive Prosecutors â€, Buskey notes that suing under Section 1983 of the federal civil rights code doesn’t always turn out well. He recommends prosecutions against officials take place under a criminal code, Title 18 Section 242:
The great trial attorney Gerry Spence once noted that he never tried a case in which the police had not broken the law in some way. Police corruption always helped him win his cases. I suspect drug cases are particularly susceptible to legal misconduct by authorities, given that the laws started out as a means of targeting minorities and rebellious teenagers. Title 18 Section 242 is the remedy that exists.
Interesting news/developments I thought it’d be good to share with. I want to assure you all what I’m about to say is 100% the truth insofar as it happened and what I’m going to tell you was genuinely said to me.
So long story short most long time posters here know my story, 12 year heroin lover/purveyor/user etc whose been homeless most of that time, legit cardboard on the sidewalk, cardboard sign in marker (“ANYTHING HELPS, GOD BLESS” “EVERYONE NEEDS A LITTLE HELP SOMETIMES” etc. etc. etc.) have seen and done almost everything in the underground world of substance use. So what that means is i’ve also experienced everything that comes with it, dealing with various institutions/programs/organizations, done a million different rehabs, detoxes, methadone programs, suboxone (which is the most evil thing in the world and so are the prescribers and promoters of it) and the usual effects this all has with one and their friends and family.
But then some stuff changed, regarding the family thing, so my father is 30 years in AA, and so you can imagine for the longest time how things were between us. I kept trying to reason with him over the years, explain the evils of 12 step, the INSANE failure rate of 12 step, the HORRIBLE success rate of 12 step (5 %) the DISGUSTING things the founders did and the SHADY, CRIMINAL beginings of that organization.
I’d tell him and really alot of people, that whole “tough love” thing kills. I’d say, “you treat people like they’re dead long enough and it shouldn’t be a surprise that they wind up, actually, dead.”
And you can imagine, all the “traditional” people in my family and friends lives encouraging them to treat me like that. Watch shows like intervention, etc. you get the idea.
But then something started to happen a few years ago and especially my father started to treat me different. He started realizing that, when he treated me in the so called “harm reduction” way, well, things started to improve massively for me in my life and in our relationship.
I can proudly say that today he is a HUGE proponent of heroin maintenance and he is now trying to begin an organization to get heroin maintenance into the US. Using all his resources. So then the other day I saw this article:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/19/md-legislator-proposes-free-heroin-for-addicts
I showed it to him and he was elated with it. So much so that, I had no idea but he actually somehow found the legislators phone number and called the guy.
He told me that they had a very long and very awesome conversation. He said that, the guy told him he is very close to drug czar Boticelli and that he personally handed Boticelli all the data etc. to show the benefits of heroin maintenance. Just a monsterous amount of data like the results of the NAOMI and SALOME Canadian trials, the New England Journal of Medicine article on Heroin Maintenance and just tons of stuff.
So my father told me that the dude said that Boticelli is actually all for it. He said that the real problem is the White House itself, the people in it (I’m assuming that means Joe Biden and his camp) and the white haired old men in congress, stuck in their ways.
I mean, take it for what its worth, I can’t prove what I was told but I can assure you thats what I was told.
Of course Im not surprised that theres factions in the administration, its just a shame because I think to myself how many lives and how much suffering specifically with this issue would be eleviated if there was no Joe Biden and his like to screw things up. Meanwhile come to find out his nieces etc. are massive drug users, one in fact an avid opiate user in the pain killer form.
Thank you, CJ & dad!
from my former editor at CannabisNow Magazine (and another new addition to Oregon’s DPR community), Angela Bacca: Anti-Marijuana Group Project SAM Uses Federally Funded Non-Profits to Push 2015 Legislation
Strange that Utah is getting upset about CBD. The state is renowned for its thriving vitamin and food supplements industry, something Sen. Orrin Hatch made it his own priority to protect during his term in the Senate.
Stranger still to see how SAM manipulates goofy prohibitionist NGOs into becoming SAM’s proxies in its attacks on human rights. SAM et al. doesn’t seem to care that an FDA approval process takes up to seven years and costs millions for some drug company that will need to sell CBD pills for $750 each to recoup its costs. In that time, children will die from lack of access to an ancient remedy, or they or their caretakers will be forced to break the law to save their lives.
So what is SAM, and what are they doing, really? We know SAM operates strictly on fear mongering. The fear mongering terrorizes Utah parents, and others, who fear they might thereby lack the opportunity to treat their epileptic children with a known remedy. And all because CBD availability might end up fueling a further utilization of the marijuana plant for medicinal purposes.
This kind of behavior is unacceptable, if not simply crazy. SAM is some kind of hate group, or maybe a terrorist organization designed to harm American citizens. The FBI needs to do an immediate investigation of Kevin Abraham Sabet-Sharghi, as well as any other political operations being administered in the United States by the sect known as Bahá’Ã.
And, of course, you have to ask: just how much is Project SAM itself receiving from Uncle?
Uncle is still acting like a drunken sailor after payday, despite the worsening economy, and still showers many groups with funding for activities that are demonstrably self-serving as far as the directors of those programs are concerned…and demonstrably against the express wishes of those paying the bills, namely, the clear majority of the taxpayers who want cannabis legal again. Lotsa juicy red meat for such as Booker, Gillibrand, Blumenauer, Cohen, et al to chew on, there.
Ten years ago, the group Citizens Against Government Waste published a report regarding the slippery nature of ONDCP’s use of cherry-picked data to ‘justify’ its continued budgetary survival.
This was during Kevvie’s tenure there, of course. It was after the CAGW and later GAO reports that he began his BS ‘third way’ blather. Kevvie learned at the knee of experts. He is only attempting to camouflage his efforts a little more subtly, but the slime trail is unmistakable and leads always back to his erstwhile(?) employer.
But this attempting to use public groups this way is only the latest of chess moves: recall also that a certain Mr. LaNier of the White House’s ‘National Marijuana Initiative’ was attempting to use environmental groups as ‘useful idiots’ in a gambit to maintain the DrugWar.
Leopards don’t change spots, and prohibs can’t jettison their manias…or modis operandae. Deception is at the core of all they do, as they’ve been lying about drugs from the very inception of their agencies.
To expect Kevvie to ‘come clean’ concerning his dealings with such taxpayer-funded (and in my eyes, mercenary) organizations peddling his particular brand of bilge for a buck is hardly realistic, for as Hillary so famously noted, there’s too much money in it’…for the (ahem) ‘anti-drugs’ bureaucracy as well as the narcos they ‘fight’. Her Freudian slip was surely showing that day.
That’s something I think Herr Doktor Professor Kev-Kev never needs to consider, as I still think his family has its own money, IMHO. He’s an ambitious little twit, probably narcissistic, but the Baha’i are not known for being impoverished.
I’ve noticed a pattern. Remember Dr. Gabriel G. Nahas? He and Kevin had the same experience growing up. Each of their fathers took them to skid row in some city, saying to the impressionable youngster gazing upon the decrepit multitudes of society’s outcasts, “this is what happens when you use marijuanaâ€.
The example comes to mind because I once knew a Jewish refugee from Zambia whose family fled the country’s revolution. His father took him into rundown areas of Zambian villages, telling him the slackers and derelicts were there because they smoked hashish.
This father-son pattern appears to be a means of anti-cannabis control on the African continent for whites and colonial foreigners, which I think may have been a big factor or influence in Kevin’s Baha’i, multi-national upbringing, in Indiana, no less.
Servetus, many thanks. I am always learning something new from you, an experience I am sure many on The Couch share.
I had no knowledge of Naha’s early anti-drug ‘education’, but your having related it only buttresses my theory about a generation whose authoritarian outlook allowed it to disseminate lies about drugs as being acceptable behavior. It goes back to something DdC posted long ago, a quote from former DEA head 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. (Emphasis mine – k.)
This, then, is the naked, stinking, scrofulous underbelly of the ‘bright, shining lie’ of ‘drug control policy’: people-control policy. In a word, fascism.
Ingersoll might have taken great umbrage at being compared with Nazis, Commies and Fascisti, but he revealed his basic worldview was no different from theirs when he uttered those words.
A worldview shared by the majority of the (dying) generation that supported drug prohibition policies we still suffer from today and the tiny portion of this latest generation that still supports drug prohibition.
This worldview says in essence that it is okay to engage in what would normally be morally reprehensible behavior to ‘save’ (kiddies, society, Western Civilization, take your pick) from themselves. The unspoken assumption is that ‘they know better’, are the Straussian ‘Wise Men’ who are, from their Olympian view, the only ones qualified to determine what is good and right for society.
This attitude flows from the heights of power down to the drug cop in the street. It also reeks from Kevvie’s written and oral musings. For never once do they or he ever dare entertain the idea that they might be wrong. Doubt for them is equivalent to psychic death; their whole lives are tied up in the perception that their ‘sacrifices’ (made on behalf of those who did not ask them to) must not be in vain…though, demonstrably, year after year, decade after decade, they have been.
Now, with the passing of that generation, and the sea-change evidenced by the passing of more and more re-legalization plebiscites and legislation, the attitude of de facto fascism inculcated in LE by that generation is meeting up with the the reality that it no longer warranted…or wanted. Hence we have LE making whining noises about the ‘war on cops’, when it is only the natural backlash against that incipient fascism by its traditional victims…who have been savaged by the drug laws used to implement that fascism.
The Olde Order passeth, and those who’ve benefited from it are now in the uncomfortable position of facing those that Order hurt and killed, and there’s no backup from that Order, anymore. Any wonder why they are doubling-down on getting shriller and crazier by the day?
WTF:
Texas DEA head’s daughter arrested as “Most adorable drug king-pin”. What are the chances she WONT get life without parole like many other Texans in the same predicament?
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/worlds-most-adorable-drug-kingpin-actually-daughter-texas-dea-head-honcho
Pingback: Federal Study Will Pay You $3,000 Per Week to Consume Cannabis - YaHooka Forums
Wonderful take down of that King’s College “research”: https://michaelvipperman.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/kings-college-london-causes-psychosis-with-anti-marijuana-propaganda/
Racketeering police exposed [again]….whistle-blowers busted [ditto]:
‘“These suits are a clear message that people’s constitutional rights are being violated by the Steamboat Springs Police Department under the leadership of Joel Rae,†observed Kleiber. Significantly, Rae – a Marine Corps veteran who, per Kleiber’s account, sports an incongruous SS tattoo, actually compelled his officers to swear an adulterated oath of office and required them to defy Colorado’s marijuana laws.”‘
URL says it:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/two-brave-cops-under-attack-exposing-militarization-and-corruption-their-department
CITY TV Ontario Allows Use of Medical Marijuana in Public Places 11.1.15
REVIEW: The Unmentionable Mann, by Brian Alessandro
Many explanations have been offered for the persistence of the US drug war. Racism, some point out: early prohibitions against opium and cannabis were thinly-veiled attacks against immigrants from China and Mexico; and in the wake of civil rights reforms which aimed to improve the lot of African Americans, the drug war became the new Jim Crow. Others point to greedy corporate interests which targeted cannabis to protect their ill-gotten gains from petrochemicals, paper and pharmaceuticals.
Bernie Sanders’ Latest Proposal
Could End Drug Testing for Weed Thu Nov 26, 2015
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has become a superhero of sorts to the stoner nation by recently vowing to end marijuana prohibition across the United States.
Members of Congress Hope to Slash DEA’s
Cannabis Eradication Budget November 29, 2015
The federal government is still spending millions of dollars eradicating marijuana plants, even spending money in states that have legalized cannabis.
Most Cannabis Academics Ignore Medical Autonomy
By David Malmo-Levine on November 10, 2015
11 Free Articles by Hunter S. Thompson
That Span His Gonzo Journalist Career (1965-2005)
It’s all about the dosage. Silicon Valley has discovered microdosing LSD (10 micrograms) as a means of enhancing productivity and creativity:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Some-SIlicon-Valley-tech-workers-are-taking-LSD-6660115.php#photo-9026802
Pingback: Handyman Repairs Pacifica