Friday, November 17. 2006
How exactly is the war on terror supposed to stop terrorism? Terrorizing people with "shock and awe" destruction clearly rallies the soldiers -- those willing to inflict injury and death on others under orders for a 'greater good', as was seen after 9/11 and the flashy invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. War is incapable of stopping people desperate enough to give up their own lives from doing so in an effort to fight against an occupation, we already knew this because of the occupation of Palestine by western supplied and backed Israel. In order to prevent terrorism it is absolutely necessary to address what lies at the root of the problem, whatever it is that motivates people to fight and die, beyond the rhetoric about the religions used to justify it. There's a reason people do desperate things, call it insane all you want but it doesn't change the reality for those carrying out the acts. Most people understand this reality in their day to day lives, such as it makes much more sense to have a dialogue with some party you are having a dispute with rather than immediately taking them to court or trying to kill them. Of course as you can see, the larger an entity you are, courts and war seem less costly an option, the reason corporations are to happy to sue media fans and empires are eager to wage endless wars and create global corporate friendly "free trade" agreements without input from ordinary people.
What's the war on drugs supposed to be all about? Drug abuse, right? Well, as it turns out they seem to think it's just about drugs, the abuse is just a consequence of using drugs in their uneducated minds. The consequence of the policies put in place to enforce prohibition of certain drugs has been to create a booming underground economy that supplies much of the funding for gangs to buy guns, as well as a huge economic deficit with the enforcement and punishment of users and dealers. What they don't realize is that people abuse drugs because of social, spiritual and emotional issues. Getting people off illegal drugs and on to legal drugs, such as alcohol, tobacco or prescriptions of synthetic chemicals doesn't change the situation, and quite often makes things much worse by trading a less harmful illegal drug for a more harmful legal one. If anyone actually wants to get serious about cracking down on drugs, start by addressing the issues in people's lives that lead them to abuse drugs, such as poverty, war in general but especially the war on drugs and freedom in all it's disguises. There's no other way to end the cycles of violence.
We aren't actually learning though... A new war is being launched in an effort to control what we think and how we share information. Copyright laws are being warped into draconian war-on-drugs style criminal offenses that will be punishable with 3 year or more prison sentences and fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range, on top of the civil cases the copyright owners currently launch against media users. It's a systematic process of mass manipulation using the corporate media and well greased political will to absorb a huge swath of population into the prison industrial complex and legally eliminate many of their rights permanently. It also gives the government and corporations a valid reason to fully regulate internet traffic, ultimately completely eliminating access to uncensored information.
Keeping in mind that when a large enough percent of the population find a law to be unworthy of upholding it is our duty to stand up against it before it's too late, before everything changes and we go through it all again and then have to start hearing things like this applied to those evil media pirates:
He argues that taking the crime out of drug use could be a simple solution to a complex question, but says: "I welcome debate because the lack of robust, balanced, public debate has bedevilled this whole issue. It shows a tremendous courage by the police federation to bring someone with such radical thoughts, because that is what you need to stimulate debate." His caveat is that Cole and his colleagues "muse about Utopia, but I have to live in the world as it is".
THE REALLY TOUGH WAY TO CONTROL DRUGS IS TO LICENSE THEM
30 YEARS ON, WAR ON DRUGS AN ABYSMAL FAILURE
DRUGS DON'T SEEM TO BE THE ENEMY
by Tim Tracy, (Source:Collegiate Times)
16 Nov 2006
Virginia
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Nat Sherman Lights. They're New York cut, luxurious and delicious. The fresh scent of additive-free tobacco echoes through the foamy filter and into its buyers' soon-to-be milky lungs. It's friggin' beautiful. You light, the tobacco sparks, the paper crinkles and glows as nicotine rushes through you. Frankie says relax, and you do.
Smoking may not be for everyone, but then again what is?
It's dangerous, repugnant and the precursor to a myriad of terminal diseases. But the question remains, is it safer than other drugs?
No.
The traditional argument between wrong, right and stupid continues feverishly in our nation's capital over the legalization of marijuana as a recreational substance. We're talking about a drug that's been in use by dozens of cultures for thousands of years for medicinal, ceremonial and religious reasons. It has yet to kill a single individual and poses a quarter of the health risks associated with alcohol and tobacco. Am I missing something?
The debate doesn't end with cannabis. Mushrooms, LSD and other herbs have also been used to enhance the human spirit and open minds to new ideas and cognition. Granted, I do not expect these substances to be legalized, I still consider them as an invaluable artistic tool. How else would we have traveled with Alice down the rabbit hole?
People underestimate the power of moderation. How often during the weekend do you see ambulances rushing into campus to take away some poor bastard who drank him or herself into oblivion?
Knowing how, and when, to stop, in any aspect of life, results in healthy living. It is easy to bash substances for what they do to people, for how they alter human consciousness. Substance abuse, however, poses a problem for anyone and transcends legality.
Stigmatizing people for dabbling in drugs also seems blindly hypocritical, even fallacious. At any given party, the two immutable concerns for virtually everyone are "How much can I drink?" and "Will the alcohol keep flowing?"
Freshmen, sophomores and even underage juniors can be seen stumbling outside DX or down Main Street in a haze. Authorities overlook this form of substance abuse, internalized by the population as socially acceptable. Keeping other drugs illegal simply for their social stigmas is not only ridiculous, but completely illogical.
Then again, logic has never played much of a role in politics or the media. Such is the case with drugs. In a material world where the average teenager sensationalizes brand awareness, cultural trends and Paris Hilton, the moral agenda of our youth is ambiguous and politically apathetic.
The freedom to vote and push for change, activities pursued by earlier generations, have been trivialized. Drugs are a non-issue in that they will be pursued regardless of the restrictions imposed on them.
Ever seen the commercial where the one boy kills the other inadvertently with a gun because he is high? What the creators don't show you is the behind-the-scenes footage where Jess and James eat Doritos and play Super Smash Brothers before vegging out to Chapelle.
I'd like to think the parents are to blame for giving the young man such easy access to a firearm. Fear can be a wonderful motivator, even if it delineates complete and utter ignorance. What's next? A chimp choking on bark because it decided it was too heady for bananas? High people don't shoot other high people because they're high. That's what cocaine is for -- and those shootings aren't by accident.
Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" details the journey of a journalist and a lawyer on a hallucinatory trip into Vegas. As the trip continues and the pair descend further and further into a mescaline-like fantasy, the presence of narcotics takes second to a cultural statement made by Thompson.
Drugs are not the enemy. They aren't worth the fight, the time or the hype. Drugs are what they are for better or for worse. Some people trip on God, others on drugs and others over their own two feet. Whatever your poison, never go quietly into the night. That is the American Dream.
SUBJECT DRUG WAR TO THE IRAQ WAR TEST
by Nolan Finley, (Source:Detroit News)
19 Nov 2006
Michigan
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Now that Washington is awash in rare bipartisan logic about evaluating the goals and strategies of the Iraq War, the same reasoning should apply to the other conflict America is hopelessly mired in: the war on drugs.
The parallel between the two is undeniable.
Like Iraq, the drug war has been pressing ahead at enormous cost and destruction without a pause for an honest assessment of whether the tactics are working, or will ever work.
Yet while it only took three years for the American people to lose patience with the Iraq War, the drug war has been dragging on virtually unchallenged for three decades.
Given the cost, it's baffling that taxpayers haven't demanded more accountability. State and federal drug fighting efforts cost roughly $1 billion a week.
Here's the return on that money: Zero. Despite keeping more than 300,000 people locked up for drug offenses, narcotics use has held steady for 20 years.
And despite a global interdiction effort bankrolled by the United States, only 10 percent of heroin imports worldwide are intercepted and only 30 percent of cocaine imports.
That means anyone who wants drugs, can get drugs.
The drug war has ruined America's cities. Gangs terrorize neighborhoods and catch innocent residents in their crossfire. Up to half of the homicides in urban communities can be traced to drug trafficking. Police forces have turned into paramilitary units that are often as menacing as the hoodlums.
The war has also destroyed families, particularly among our most vulnerable populations. One in 20 black males is behind bars, with drugs the primary reason. It's not just an urban problem or a black problem -- rural communities are being decimated by the crystal meth epidemic.
New Strategy Needed
It's changed who we are as Americans.
In the name of the drug war, we've forfeited civil liberties, vastly increasing police powers and tipping the balance toward the government and away from the individual. Half of the wiretaps approved each year are for drug cases, and the law has been rewritten to allow their OK on the scantest of evidence. There's no question that illegal drugs are a scourge on the country. Drug abuse is the direct cause of 17,000 deaths annually.
For the health of the nation, we have an obligation to discourage drug abuse, just as we do alcohol and tobacco abuse.
But this drug war is senseless. Its main focus remains marijuana, a drug less harmful than alcohol, which can be bought over the counter on nearly every block.
Of the more than $50 billion spent to fight the drug war, two-thirds goes to law enforcement efforts and one-third to treatment.
That's been the formula since the beginning. But attacking the supply hasn't worked and never will.
The focus should be on decreasing demand. Devote the bulk of the money to more and better treatment programs.
The drug war should face the same scrutiny the Iraq War is undergoing.
If we know the strategy isn't working, change the course.
If that approach makes sense for the Iraq War, then it surely makes sense for the drug war.
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