Steve Rolles has been one of the best voices in drug policy reform internationally. This fantastic article — Recreational drugs market should be managed by ‘governments not gangsters’, says expert — talks about his book, Legalizing Drugs: The Key to Ending the War. This interview in the Independent is loaded with quotes from Steve that provide a great primer into the futility of the drug war.
In an interview with The Independent, Rolles, who has previously served as an adviser to the Global Commission on Drugs, argues that the “most striking thing about the war on drugs is its spectacular failings on its own termsâ€.
He says the idea behind the policy was to eradicate drugs from the globe in order to create a drug-free world by 2008, with the official slogan of the 1998 UN conference on the world drug problem being: “A Drug-Free World: We Can Do It.â€
“Not only did that not happen but actually things continued to get worse so drug markets were founded, prevalence increased and all the problems related to drug use and illegal drug markets increased as well,†Rolles says. “For a policy that is specifically trying to eradicate drugs from the world, it has overseen the most rapid expansion of drug use in human history.â€
The policy has instead backfired, he points out, leading to the creation of an “enormous illegal market where hundreds of billions every year are controlled by violent gangsters. So we have all of this crime and violence, both on UK city streets and around the world, which is fuelled by the illegal drug trade. We don’t have those issues with legal drugs. We don’t have tobacconists gunning each other down in the streets. All the problems associated with the vast illegal drug trade are essentially a result of prohibition.â€
Instead of protecting the health of the public, the war on drugs has made drugs more dangerous, Rolles maintains. “It’s not deterring youth. It’s not preventing availability of access to drugs. It’s actually making drugs more dangerous.
“All drugs are fundamentally risky but when they’re produced and supplied through an illegal market they become more risky. People don’t know how strong they are, people don’t know what’s in them, their potency can vary wildly. All of the things that that the war on drugs is supposedly achieving in terms of protecting our health or protecting us from crime, it’s actually doing the opposite.â€
Good stuff. And there’s lots more in the article.
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Oh no! Doesn’t Mr. Rolles know that smoking merrywanna can lead to self dismemberment and attempted matricide?
Man Smokes Cannabis Joint, Cuts Off Penis, Stabs Mom Repeatedly
Sure, the first thing everyone thinks is that the man’s name is Oedipus Rex but I made sure that wasn’t the case before I linked this article!! He didn’t stab his mom with the penis either previous or subsequent to it’s removal!!!
This is actually an incident from 2013. In all the original articles (appearing up to two year later) there was absolutely no mention of weed. I’ve tried to post this information on the comment thread but can’t get past the mods. Good luck!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2976173/Student-high-miaow-miaow-stabbed-mother-11-times-cut-penis-pair-scissors.html
When they lowered the classification from B to C if memory serves. The Brits freaked out over the “new” highly addictive psychosis causing “skunk”. They fired Nutt over letting some truth escape. Then the crack of pot, shatter freaked out more. Taking a cue from Clinton and Waldo’s today’s pot isn’t what your grand mother smoked crap. Now skunk has returned to take the fall for everything this kid had going on in his head. No evidence outside of hearsay and the word of someone who just cut off their own penis. Everyone is permitted their own opinions, who needs facts?
☛ Brits Copycat U.S. D.E.A.th… A-Motivated?
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1998
BBC film to show effects of injecting cannabis
Nicky Taylor, a journalist, is filmed smoking cannabis in cafes in Amsterdam before injecting the main ingredient of the stronger … The BBC is understood to be keen to show the film on the eve of a decision by Jacqui Smith, the Home
Secretary, to recriminalise cannabis by upgrading it from C to B status.
June 2, 2017
☛ “Father tells of devastation after son cuts off penis while high”
☛ Freak out over the new crack called “shatterâ€
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/2000
There’s a new drug in town.
Shatter is a potent and highly addictive new form of marijuana.
The Beacon Herald Wednesday, March 18, 2015
It’s called Shatter and it looks like dark-amber toffee. It’s THC, the chemical that causes the high in marijuana, extracted from the plant and has highly addictive qualities, said Stratford police Insp. Sam Theocharis.
☛ Pot Potency? Boomers’ blissfully unfazed by mere facts.
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/363
Or Joe Biden’s RAVE Ax hogwash and the devastation of freaking out over ecstasy. Banning test kits killing kids.
☛ Joe Biden’s Ugly History With American Drug Policy
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1078
☛ New study discovers why cannabis may be causing psychosis.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-BiCNKCEAAIoV-.jpg
What, pray tell is miaow-miaow?
“Meow meow’s scientific name is “mephedrone,” and the drug is a type of designer amphetamine that produces effects similar to those of both MDMA and cocaine, including everyone’s favorite drug byproduct, teeth grinding.”
https://tinyurl.com/nkew9km
Would you please pop over to the article Duncan referenced (I’m blocked) with the correct information.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/03/man-smokes-skunk-cannabis-cuts-off-penis-stabs-mom-repeatedly/
Thanks!
NP
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You know, I don’t think that they’re writing about the same fictional incident. What’s the point of using refurbished propaganda when you can have two separate incidents? Anyway, in a week they’ll print the correction on the proverbial page 64:
http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/51672-msc-jail-guards-firedarrested-for-mmj-butter-rights-violated-by-kent-county-police/
Definitive study about the risks of cannabis use from Greece. Sample size 48 and 16 of these were incarcerated:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28314070
lolololololol
Is nutty Nora involved?
…and the median daily dose was 5.84.4 grams for prisoners, and 4.84.0 grams for non-prisoners…
5-grams per day seems like a lot of weed.
“Governments not gangsters.” With governments headed by the likes of Trump and Duterte, I’m not sure how to tell the difference with that one.
Great article over at Salon:
Trump’s Russia scandal is more like Iran-Contra than Watergate — which isn’t good news
http://www.salon.com/2017/06/04/trumps-russia-scandal-is-more-like-iran-contra-than-watergate-which-isnt-good-news/
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Well the only reason this one is interesting is because someone must have hacked into the Mail’s computer to get it published:
A compound in cannabis is ‘significantly’ effective in destroying cancerous tumours in leukaemia, study reveals
Why the heck do the British have such a weird spelling problem? Didn’t they invent the language in the first place?
Trump Grows Discontented With Attorney General Jeff Sessions
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/us/politics/trump-discontent-attorney-general-jeff-sessions.html?_r=0
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Well this one certainly stirred up my inner zombie. Mmm-mmm…head cheese!
For decades prohibition critics have pounded home the idea that persecuting people for drug use is self-defeating and results in repression and criminogenic laws. Few people deny this. Polls consistently demonstrate a majority of citizens believe drug enforcement is a disaster and feel alternatives should be sought.
Citizens tend to presume their government has their best interests in mind. History says it ain’t necessarily so. Governments focus on their own interests. If a corrupt government can sacrifice innocent people to survive, it will. If it can create a society of poor people begging for jobs at minimum wage because it means all other incomes can be kept low, it will. If it means destroying an obstructive middle class to obtain its goals, it doesn’t hesitate. Our government knows precisely what it is doing. It knows being a despot is easier than becoming knowledgeable and making competent choices about drug issues or anything else.
As the government assumes a plausible disguise of faux-benefactor, the obligation falls upon citizens to identify the enemy and hit back, as their respective governments will no longer do that job for them.
Strikes, boycotts, street demonstrations, public humiliation, exposure of government fraud and deceit are some of the tools that have worked previously. The drug war and governments who support it can be stopped–its drug war progenitors publicly humiliated. It’s happened before. During his occupation of Spain between 1811 and 1813, Napoleon Bonaparte jailed all of Spain’s inquisitors. A fully informed public could accomplish a similar feat. No reason exists not to treat prohibitionists as war criminals under international law as defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute. It merely requires that every pot smoker and marijuana-friendly citizen in the country vote to seize the reins of government. Victory can be achieved if the majority realizes its collective power.
Samantha Bee takes on Sessions’ Drug War and drug test kits.
The War on Drugs Reboot | June 7, 2017 Pt. 2 | Full Frontal on TBS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex-hyHZulNY
Just Say No To Drug Test Kits | June 7, 2017 Pt. 3 | Full Frontal on TBS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE5o4JoyMkE
Episode 1: The Sacred Plant…Revealed
https://thesacredplant.com/docuseries/episode1/?oprid=1112
Thumbs way up.
Episode II will feature the endocannabinoid system.
Researchers from the U.S. and Australia highlight the differences in cannabis versus tobacco policies:
Differences in policies are also determined by the fact that marijuana and tobacco are very different plants that differ in their chemistry and physical effects.
Psychologists note that perceptions of leadership are at stake when politicians use moral excuses. Moral excuses against drug consumption would apply:
Long understood is the difficulty of legislating morality, as new laws alone cannot change what people regard as right or wrong. Under moral relativism, prohibitionists are compelled to make their argument against drugs based solely on the drug’s ill effects on people’s health. When adverse medical effects are absent, prohibitionists create a pseudo-scientific platform to support their moral beliefs, as most morally driven prohibitionists are also anti-science and anti-intellectuals.
Julia Purdy: Impacts of marijuana legalization on our children
-They took my reply down
https://twitter.com/ThinkingKlearly/status/873617592778461184
I thought someone here might be interested. https://vtdigger.org/2017/06/09/julia-purdy-impacts-marijuana-legalization-children/#disqus_thread
Cannabis prohibitionist and moron David Frum seems to believe he is now an anti authoritarian and champion of freedom:
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/873949006946291713
Mandatory Minimum AG Jeff Sessions lets Citigroup’s Mexico-based subsidiary bank slide on prosecuting its bankers in a money laundering scheme:
When people get high, their high can attain up to eleven dimensions. The latest from neuroscience:
Help me out here Servetus, where in those links are you seeing that the “stimulus” is related to drugs or getting high?
Not saying it isn’t, but my tiny brain isn’t finding the evidence on my own. I need some tutoring.
Sorry. There are no direct links from the articles. I regard being high as just another way of thinking and sensing, and how we think relies on the brain’s neural structure and biochemistry.
In the researchers’ case they are closer to quantifying how we all think by using a bit of mathematical trickery to determine the brain’s interconnected geometry. The use of multi-dimensions in math calculations is a tool that’s also used for explaining the universe—string theory in physics is an example, which posits the universe has ten or eleven dimensions based on which string theory turns out to be correct. Thermodynamics is another branch of physics that benefits from a mathematical method found in statistical physics known as six-dimensional phase space.
So when we think, high or not, our brains can now be thought of as operating within an eleven dimensional geometry of interconnected synapses, and that the thinking process is eleven dimensional. Which is fascinating. For unthinking and anti-science prohibitionists, it could mean they will never be able to grasp what being high is all about.
I think it is our duty as patriotic citizens to show them. I may be at odds with prohibitionists but they are technically human. So it is my job to help them shrink their fear centers and treat their clinical endocannabinoid deficiency syndrome. For their own good. Put them into a Scythian tapestry dome sweat lodge and place buds onto hot rocks in a cauldron and let the vapors go to work. For the good of the country and mankind. Stone a Prohibitionists!
No need to be sorry. Very interesting and enjoying read.
A few terms stood out to me: information processing, neural plasticity and learning.
Neural plasticity is the ability to form new neural connections.
“The endocannabinoid system is heavily involved in neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity involves the sprouting and pruning of synapses, changes in dendritic spine density and —-changes in neurotransmitter pathways —– It gives rise to all types of adaptive learning including recovering from a stroke, the conscious act of gaining a new skill; the unconscious acquisition of a new emotional response and it could be a pathological process such as central sensitization to pain.”
“There are multiple mechanisms by which cannabinoids —– modulate neuroplasticity —– including neurogenesis, the formation of new neurons.”
From Dustin Sulak’s course at The Medical Cannabis Institute on the endocannabinoid system.
This algebraic topology appears to be a way to visualize or map the workings of the endocannabinoid system within the brain.
The endocannabinoids ananamide and 2-AG are produced on demand and are short lived. The studies talk about the multi-dimensional aspect as “towers built around a cavity.” They also referred to these multi-dimensional neural structures as “sandcastles,” because they are formed and then quickly disappear.”
I may be wrong, but my tiny brain sees a connection between this work and the ECS.
Yeah, string theory popped into my mind when I saw 11 dimensions.
Coincidentally I was reading an article today about how neural networks can help describe certain states of quantum entanglement. It’s tangentially related to the Blue Brain article.
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-neural-networks-quantum-entanglement.html
Exclusive: Sessions Asks Congress To Undo Medical Marijuana Protections
https://www.massroots.com/news/exclusive-sessions-asks-congress-to-undo-medical-marijuana-protections
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I’m making book that Congress will just say no. After all there are only 6 Senators and a handful of Representatives who don’t come from a State which has authorized at least some kind of limited phytocannabinoid medicines.
@DdC, this might interest you
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/i-smoked-weed-three-times-and-ended-up-in-rehab-hell
The link gave me…
Secure Connection Failed
An error occurred during a connection to http://www.vice.com.
Cannot communicate securely with peer: no common encryption algorithm(s).
(Error code: ssl_error_no_cypher_overlap)
The page you are trying to view can not be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the web site owners to inform them of this problem. Alternatively, use the command found in the help menu to report this broken site.
But its cached,
i smoked weed three times and ended up in rehab hell Google’s cache
Another victim to provide statistics to “court order treat” more victims.
All to “protect” the Cannon Fodder Kids.
One of the means to an end of perpetuating the Ganjawar. Or…
Child Protection Racket (raw)
https://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1634
Sending the messages to the kids that survive the message.
Collaterally Damaged Kids
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/887
Bo Sesspool and Kephen Sabeteurs of Liberty. Desperately clinging with their tiny dirty fingernails. For the profits of lies. With absolutely no cognizant inkling of a thought to the consequences of their vile draconian acts. The Ghost of the Tricky Dick needs a burnt offering.
Nixon lied to schedule Ganja #1
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1650
“If we don’t destroy the capitalist system, we’re gonna go extinct.”
Chris Hedges, in a recent talk in Portland, Oregon.
Here’s the follow-up to that pretty significant statement.
“What does that mean?” “It means that all of our utilities, our railroads, our banks are Nationalized.” “It means that taxes are so punitive on the fossil-fuel industry that it’s not profitable for them to take things out of the ground.”
“It means that the Empire is dismantled and the war machine is reduced to a defensive force that consumes a tiny percentage of our budget.” “It means campaign finance where nobody is allowed to accept money from corporations to run for political office.” “It means a return of justice which will see figures like Lloyd Blankfein and Dick Cheney in some form of punitive.”
“It means free public education, including at the university level for all.” “It means health care as a human right.” “It means a robust system of broadcasting so voices that are not beholden to the elites, have a platform.” “It means a massive funding of culture and the arts.”
“And finally, it means an honest examination of the Nation as who we are as white Americans and what we have done, in the same way that after WWII the Germans unlike the Austrians, looked themselves in the face. And until we as white Americans do that, we are as Baldwin said “We are going to perpetuate this House of the Dead.”
Chris also said that “Evil is actions, but it’s also silence.”
You’re at the Casino. Put your money on Chris, or capitalism?
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Money talks. Bullshit walks.