POLITICAL: Why legalize drugs?

http://mobile.alternet.org/alternet/#!/entry/why-good-parents-should-support-drug-legalization,51856679da27f5d9d0ba39d9/7

Why Good Parents Should Support Drug Legalization

May 4, 2013 |
A friend of mine used to laugh when I said I was in favor of legalizing all drugs. He just couldn’t fathom such a position. He told me that if they legalized drugs, “It would take all of the fun out of it.”

Three years after he died of a heroin overdose, I wonder whether he’d be alive now if drugs had been legal.

As a father, I sometimes find myself on the receiving end of an argument that’s a perennial favorite [3] of the hardened drug warrior: Why would I, the father of a nine-year-old girl, advocate for a society awash with legally available drugs?

The answer is simple: My daughter is already growing up in a society in which illegal drugs are easier to procure than alcohol. Unlike the guy behind the counter of my local liquor store, I’ve never known a drug dealer who checked IDs.

***

If you buy alcohol you know it’s not cut with rat poison.

If I had a kid, I don’t want the to die for a mistake.

Similarly, I don’t what them to spend time in jail for what is basically a medical condition.

And, like in Prohibition, all the killings are from drug dealer’s turf war.

So I want Walmart, Walgreens, and RiteAid to be the nation’s drug dealers.

We’ll all be better off!

–30–

POLITICAL: The Drug War; caveat emptor?

http://ncc-1776.org/tle2012/tle688-20120916-01.html

Marc Victor on the “Drug War”

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The “Drug War” is really a war on people who voluntarily choose to peacefully use drugs. To be free, competent adults must be allowed to decide for themselves what substances they put into their own bodies. Focusing on unhealthy or harmful consequences of drug use is focusing on the wrong question. There is no question but that the use of certain drugs is harmful and unhealthy. Indeed, the use of certain drugs can cause death. Moreover, no person has a right to endanger another person as a result of one’s drug use. If a drug user becomes impaired and operates a motor vehicle recklessly resulting in injuries or violence to another person, that person ought to be subject to criminal charges. Rational people do not disagree on these points. 

*** end quote ***

What someone voluntarily put in their own body is their own business.

To ay otherwise implies that someone else is in charge of you.

Of course, there are a huge number of politicians and bureaucrats who will collude with the illegal drug dealers to keep “Prohibition” in effect. It benefits everyone, but “We, The Sheeple”!

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INTERESTING: Prohibition and Drugs

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/KenBur

Prohibition, Civility, and Political Discourse
Ken Burns
National Press Club | Luncheon Speech

Ken Burns talked about his PBS series, Prohibition, which chronicles the ratification, implementation, and eventual repeal of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the era in which the movement took place. He also responded to questions from the audience.

# – # – #

An outstanding discussion of Prohibition and how it relates to our current state with the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”. While I was aware of the relation between the Women’s Rights Movement, I was unaware of of the relation between the Progressives with the Income Tax and the Dry’s who wanted to eviscerate the reliance of the Federal Government on the booze industry taxes. Worth an hour and you can see that past is prologue.

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NEWJERSEY: Partially good; partially dumb

*** begin quote ***

Community Message has been issued by the South Brunswick Twp Police Department.

Monday July 11, 2011 11:20 PM EDT

FATHER CHARGED WITH ASSAULT BY AUTO, CHILD ENDANGERMENT FOR ACCIDENT THAT CRITICALLY INJURED DAUGHTER

A Somerset County father has been charged with second degree assault by auto and second degree child endangerment, as well as drunk driving and reckless driving following an investigation into a May 21, 2011 accident. The accident took place at the intersection of Ridge Road and New Road in the Monmouth Junction section of the Township. The accident happened when Sarathe Gunaskera age 56 of Bedminster drove his 2001 Lincoln Town Car on New Road through a stop sign and into a Ridge Road home.

The intersection requires drivers on New Road to make a left or right onto Ridge Road. At the time of the accident Gunaskera told officers he drove straight because his GPS did not tell him to turn. An investigation by Officer Monica Posteraro and the South Brunswick Traffic Safety Bureau uncovered evidence the GPS was not to blame. The investigation discovered that Gunaskera was intoxicated at the time of the crash and had just left a gathering near the scene of the crash.

The accident severely injured Gunasekera 13-year-old daughter. She suffered a head injury and multiple facial fractures. His wife was also injured in the crash suffering a severe head laceration. Both have been released from the hospital.

Gunasekera was charged after blood samples submitted to the New Jersey State Police laboratory came back showing his blood alcohol concentration was above the legal limit. The severity of the charges was increased because the accident took place within a 1,000 feet of an elementary school.

Gunasekera surrendered at South Brunswick Police headquarters at 4:20pm Monday afternoon. He was released after processing and posting $50,000 bail.

*** end quote ***

Now I think DUI with it’s numerical limits is dumb.

In this case, there was damage and injury. That’s serious stuff.

In this case, there’s restitution due to all the victims.

The case is probably open and shut. Drinking and accident with personal injury and property damage.

Should throw the book at him … …

… … but not because it was within a 1k feet of a school?

There are hospital bills and emergency services expense that need restitution.

So, “We, The Sheeple” need to be protected from this menace, but it would be interesting to see what really happens.

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TAGONIST: Wrong door raid in the Hudson Valley

The DEA has apologized for the wrong door raid in the Hudson Valley. John P. Gilbride, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, issued a statement Friday clearing Spring Valley resident David McKay and his family of anything to do with the series of drug raids that took place early Thursday in Westchester and Rockland counties. “We sincerely regret that while attempting to execute an arrest warrant for a member of this drug trafficking organization, the innocent McKay family was inadvertently affected by this enforcement operation,” Gilbride said. “Though we take many precautions to prevent this type of incident from happening, drug investigations are very complex and involve many fluid factors,” Gilbride said. “DEA will continue to pursue these criminal organizations to protect the public from the scourge of drug trafficking.”

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PRO-TAGONIST: I’m just glad they were working to stop drug traffickers. Collateral damage is often a byproduct of good yet dangerous work. It’s not like math, 2+2=4, it has many variables, is very risky and uncertainty. But in the end, the more criminals we can stop…some collateral damage along the way is acceptable, to me anyway. It’a like a drone that takes out Al-Qaida terrorists planning an attack. Sometimes there is collateral damage there too, but when compared to the potential loss of lives the terrorists could have done, it is a win. No loss of life or liberty is a good thing…but it’s a mean world out there.

AN-TAGONIST: Little hard if you’re the “collateral damage”! Argh, makes me sick. The family in the Hudson Valley had Fourth Amendment rights to be secure in the home. Sorry, but I’d PUBLICLY discipline folks. If I was the Head of the DEA, I’d put at least a Letter of Reprimand in every single file of ANYONE involved in the raid. Including my own! I’d probably reassign the “Special Agent In Charge” to where ever the North Pole office was located. Nothing will send a message to bureaucrats as a threat to their beloved livelihood of “lifetime employment”. I’d put every other SAIC that a repeat blunder will result in termination. That’s what happens in the real world. One strike and you’re out! Argh! Legalize drugs; we’re all the “collateral damage” in the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”.]

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RANT: Let’s get adicts “pure” drugs and treatment

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Gerry-Ryans-cocaine-was-laced-with-worming-powder-113063449.html

Gerry Ryan’s cocaine was laced with worming powder
By CATHY HAYES , IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Friday, January 7, 2011, 4:59 AM
Updated Friday, January 7, 2011, 5:01 AM

*** begin quote ***

Gerry Ryan’s autopsy report showed that cocaine he has consumed contained trace amounts of the veterinary drug Levamisole, usually used to treat parasitic worms in cattle and sheep.

*** end quote ***

A good argument for legalizing drugs and allowing the marketplace to protect these poor unfortunates from adulterated drugs.

# # # # # posted 2011-01-07 16:57

POLITICAL: How about we end the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”?

http://goo.gl/eVrk

*** begin quote ***

Vatican City, Oct 31, 2010 / 06:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has announced his prayer intentions for the month of November, calling for an increased focus on victims of drug and other substance addictions as well as prayers for the well being of the Church in Latin America.

Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for November is: “That victims of drugs or of other dependence may, thanks to the support of the Christian community, find in the power of our saving God strength for a radical life-change.”

*** end quote ***

Now don’t let the milk on your cereal shoot out your nose, BUTT (there’s always a big but) how about we end the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”?

So, you logically ask, “how does that help”?

First, and foremost, we give people liberty and freedom. That’s always good.

Second, there is a “natural rate” of addiction that doesn’t change much. Some people will become addicted regardless of what we do. Let’s focus on that. So how does locking them up in jail help? The Gooferment can’t even stop drugs in their prisons.

Third, by ending the PWOSD, and putting WalMart, WalGreens, and all the other legitimate ‘drug dealers’ in charge, drugs will be cheaper. Seriously MJ is a weed. I’ve read knowledgeable pundit who say that the currently “illegal” drugs will be priced like generic aspirin. This has four immediate benefits: <a> addicts will not have to commit crimes to get the exorbitant sums needed to feed their habit; <b> we will immediately drain the profits from Drug Gangs (What does a Drug Kingpin do next?) making or streets safer; <c> pure ‘safe’ drug will be available so, that if someone does decide to experiment, they will not die from a ‘hot shot’ or rat poison; <d> now ‘no longer illegal’ drug will lose their ‘bad boy’ allure as it’s no longer ‘kool’, but boring.

Fourth, by pardoning all the non-violent drug offenders, we will free up needed prison space for violent felons. Also, perhaps, some of the prisons and the associated bureaucrats will no longer be needed and can be freed up to do more productive work.

Five, all those ‘savings’ can be aimed at studying how to effectively ‘cure’ drug addiction — probably a mixture of brain chemistry, chemical engineering, and the assumption of personal reliability.

Six, it would end the corrosive effect of corruption in out police forces. And, it would end the militarization of our police force, as the “war” gets more violent. We can get our Fourth Amendment rights back and return to a peaceful civil society.

Time to ‘solve’ the drug problem by ending the PWOSD!

By the way, where in their precious Constitution did they get the power to outlaw a weed and create this whole mess?

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POLITICAL: Police want an intrusive capability

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/08/669723/lists-of-pain-pillpatients-sought.html

*** begin quote ***

Sheriffs in North Carolina want access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances.

*** end quote ***

You’re gonna be in that database! What people put in the body is nobody’s business. Unless, they hurt others or expect “We, The People” to clean up after them.

Sorry, but what the economists call “the natural rate of addiction” hasn’t really changed since the Ancient Greeks. New drugs, new laws, new approaches — no difference. Even in China. where they had the death penalty for it, and they STILL have the natural rate of addiction.

And, we have to endure civil strife. End the psuedo drug laws, put WalMart in charge of selling “illegal drugs” and let’s all live in peace.

Argh!

Let’s put the various “Drug Lords” out of business! The various Czars as well!!

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RANT: The Clemens case is dumb

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/sports/baseball/20clemens.html

SPORTS | August 20, 2010
Clemens to Be Indicted for Perjury in Doping Testimony
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

*** begin quote ***

Roger Clemens will be indicted on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to people briefed on the case.

*** end quote ***

(1) Who cares!

(2) Who’s business is it what anyone puts in their body?

(3) Where was his lawyer? He should have just taken the Fifth like ANYONE should when speaking to ANY costumed thug.

(4) Perjury is a good nullification topic? If Clinton can flat lie and get away with it, why not Roger?

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RANT: Good sumation about the (psuedo) War on (some) Drugs

http://freekeene.com/2010/08/13/n-david-krouses-closing-speech-in-nashua-district-court/

N. David Krouse’s Closing Speech in Nashua District Court
August 13, 2010 by N. David Krouse

*** begin quote ***

The destruction and damage to peoples lives far in excess of anything a drug itself does, must stop. Drug prohibition has gone on long enough and must end, and the struggle to end it must start somewhere.

*** end quote ***

Like (alcohol) Prohibition, Drug Prohibition must end.

It’s no one else’s business what some one puts in their body.

Don’t ask me to pay for cleaning up after your bad choices. And, especially, don’t force me to pay to cage these people.

Focus on the criminals who initiate force or fraud upon peaceful people.

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LIBERTY: The pseudo “War” on (SOME) drugs

http://freekeene.com/2010/08/03/keenes-latest-drug-war-victims/

Keene’s Latest Drug War Victims
August 3, 2010 by Ian Freeman

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If there were no War on Drugs, drugs could be sold legally anywhere. People could go to the corner store, for instance, to buy their marijuana and other drugs. They would be manufactured safely and distributed with usage recommendations, just like aspirin. They’d also be cheap because in the regular market competition brings prices down when the distributors aren’t jacking their rates due to risk of arrest.

Since unfortunately there IS a War on Drugs, criminal thugs are frequently the only way to acquire the drugs that people are looking for. This is because criminals are the ones most willing to risk arrest to do business. Since people are going to do drugs regardless of their legal status, this puts a lot of buyers in serious danger of being ripped off, or worse. The Keene Sentinel reports on the “or worse” part of drug prohibition. When was the last time the clerk at Walgreens beat the shit out of a customer trying to buy some aspirin?

*** end quote ***

This sparks my continued opposition to the PWOSD (“Pseudo War On Some Drugs”).

As usual, I’ll trot out my big three points: It’s immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. As with all Gooferment efforts as well as anything based on other than voluntary agreement between two or more people, it just doesn’t achieve the stated aims.

IMMORAL

Do you own your own body? If so, then NO ONE has the right to tell you what you can or can not put in your body.

A gangs of costumed people kill and maim in our name. Funded by wealth stolen from us. All under the guise of “savings us from the scourge of drugs”.

Prisons a full of minorities. Full of non-violent offenders. And, the inner cities are destroyed by the PWOSD.

INEFFECTIVE

The addiction rates have been constant over eons. How can they claim the PWOSD has any effect.

Children die from drugs cut with rat poison or drugs with unknown potency. “Illegal” drugs kill. There’s no second chance form that mistake. Legalization would put “clean” “safe” drugs out there.

Drug Lords and Terrorists are empowered by the money funneled to them by “illegal” drugs. Let WalMart put them in the poor house.

Doing “illegal” drugs has the allure of the forbidden. “Legalizing” eliminates the attraction.

INEFFICIENT

Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol; it CAN NOT work for some drugs.

The militarized police are running roughshod over the citizens’ rights.

Graft subverts the police, politicians and bureaucrats.

“Illegal” drugs should cost should be comparable to aspirin. At those prices, it should be able to hold a job while being an addict.

Money spent of punishment could be spent on rehabilitation.

AND IT JUST DOESN’T WORK

Can anyone think it does? Children tell me it’s easier for them to get pot than alcohol. How can that be? It just doesn’t work. Put WalMart, Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS, … in charge of selling them and I’m sure they can do a great job of keeping it out of the hands of children. Prohibition doesn’t work. Ever see kids with cigarettes?

Argh!

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INTERESTING: Genetic testing already shows promise; except the Gooferment wants to control it

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/should-you-be-allowed-to-know-whats-in-your-dna/?singlepage=true

Should You Be Allowed to Know What’s in Your DNA?
“You can’t handle the truth!” That’s the federal government’s latest message to Americans seeking to learn the content of their own DNA.
July 15, 2010 – by Paul Hsieh

*** begin quote ***

Opponents of direct-to-consumer genetic testing typically raise three standard objections, including: (1) the test results may be inaccurate; (2) even if the results are accurate, customers will not know what to do with the information; and (3) customers may learn about genetic defects that could make health insurance prohibitively expensive or impossible to purchase. However, a truly free market in health services and health insurance would address all of these concerns.

Customers concerned about the reliability and accuracy of their test results are best served by a free market that subjects products to the pitiless scrutiny of consumers seeking the best value for their money. Of course, if an unscrupulous company makes fraudulent claims about its services, it should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Protecting consumers against fraud is one of the proper functions of government. But if personal genomics companies otherwise truthfully describe the capabilities and limitations of their tests, then the early adopters should be left free to exercise their best judgment as to whether they wish to purchase those services.

*** end quote ***

If it’s my body, who is the Gooferment to interfere?

Prevent force or fraud, fine. Keep me from making a mistake, not so good. Tell me I can’t have the use of my own body, tyranny.

Time to pound the FDA back into historical irrelevancy. Who would you trust with your health? (1) Politicians and bureaucrats; or (2) a free market with Walmart, Walgreens, and innumerable competitors “supervised” by Consumer’s Reports, Underwriters Laboratory, the media, the general public, and the Trial Lawyers?

Give me the market any time. Keep your Gooferment “help” to yourself.

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POLITICAL: I’d prefer USP, UL, Consumers Reports, doctors, and WalMart over the FDA

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic-businessman-battles-als-prepares-for-eternity/

Catholic businessman battles ALS, prepares for eternity

By Spencer S. Busby

*** begin quote ***

San Diego, Calif., Jun 6, 2010 / 01:19 pm (CNA).- Three years ago, Shane FitzMaurice was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The rare neurological disorder is typically fatal within five years of diagnosis.

*** and ***

Initially, the diagnosis felt like a death sentence. “At first, I was in denial,” FitzMaurice said, “feeling all doom and gloom and ‘why me’?”

But then he decided to fight back. Last August, he traveled with his wife to Monterrey, Mexico, to undergo an experimental procedure that implanted his own body’s stem cells into his brain. While FitzMaurice was pleased that he took action by undergoing the procedure, he admits that it has resulted in only limited improvement.

Still, FitzMaurice believes such therapies should be more freely available in the United States. “People with a terminal diagnosis should be able to sign a waiver with FDA to be guinea pigs, because we do not have the time to wait.”

*** end quote ***

We know so little about our own bodies.

And it’s a terrible disease.

That being said, the man has a great point. Why should the FDA keep interfering? Are they protecting him from something worse? What could that be?

TIme to nuke the FDA!

They are just a bunch of bureaucrats captured by Big Pharma.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Thalidomide? That happened with the FDA. And they used it to slow the process and make it more expensive. It’s not like we don’t have drug disasters anyway. And, what good drugs have they prevented by making it too slow and too costly.

I’ll take faster and cheaper. USP, UL, Consumers Reports, doctors, and WalMart will do a much better job of keeping us safe.

Argh!

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POLITICAL: End the War on (Some) Drugs now

http://www.thedailybell.com/1071/Hugo-Salinas-Price-Silver-Should-Be-Legal-Mexican-Currency.html

*** begin quote ***

Hugo Salinas-Price: The drug war is mainly between those who are in the drug dealing business and are fighting over territory. But this war also breeds criminals who take up other ways of getting money, by assaulting peaceable citizens. A US President once told a Mexican President: “Mexico is the spring-board for drugs into the US.” To which our President at once replied: “If we are the spring-board, you are the swimming pool.”

Legalization of drugs would greatly diminish the problem of outlaw drug lords in Mexico – but I mean, legalization in the US. We have a drug war, because drugs are illegal in the US and thus fetch a very high price. Legalize the business in the US and the price of drugs will come down to the price of corn. Mexicans will go back to raising vegetables. Remember, it was Prohibition that made Al Capone rich.

*** end quote ***

WalMart, Walgreens, and whatever drg company you can name can put the drug cartels OOB (out of biusiness) in a heartbeat.

Repeal ALL the drug laws today; end of drug violence tomorrow.

Will kids buy drugs? Sure. Who cares. They will be SAFE drugs. No more hot shots, ODs due to unknown strength, or drugs cut with rat poison.

Sad to say, but from time immemorial, we have had substance abusers. Nothing we can do about it, but get them help. Or, out of the gene pool. Tough love.

WalMart will be able to sell a carton of cigarettes cheap and easy. MaryJane is a weed; has to cost less than butts or beer. And, the “hard stuff”, less than the cost of aspirin. (Which is hard to make!)

Will drug use expand? I have no idea. I do know we will NOT have violent turf wars just like Prohibition.

The only question is what will all the unemployed drug sellers do? Get a job!

Argh!

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GOVERNACIDE: The “War on (some) Drugs” kills people

https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/109

Help End the Mexican Civil War

*** begin quote ***

How do you weaken the drug traffickers? You take away their obscene black-market profits.

Al Capone and the mafia got rich running alcohol during Prohibition. When Prohibition ended the violence ended too. Jim Beam distributors don’t do drive-by shootings on outlets that sell Jack Daniels. And neither Jim Beam nor Jack Daniels are killing politicians, policemen, journalists, and private citizens.

Black-market drug profits fund criminal enterprises that threaten your safety, not only at home and in Mexico, but around the world. Taliban warlords in Afghanistan and Pakistan fund much of their operations through the illicit drug trade.

The solution to the coming spillover of the Mexican Drug War is simple: Stop doing the same failed thing over and over again. Do something different. End drug prohibition in the United States, and thereby defuse the Mexican Civil War and defund the terrorists in Afghanistan.

*** end quote ***

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Please bring peace to both Mexico and the United States by ending the War on Drugs.

We, as a nation, didn’t learn from (alcohol) Prohibition. Let’s get smart now.

Repeal the federal “war on drug” statutes. (Advise President Obama to pardon ALL non-violent drug offenders.)

Call the big Drug Companies and the big Retailers and the big Drug Vendors up to Capitol Hill and tell them they are now responsible to keep drugs out of the hands of children. And you don’t want to see ads on TV! (You can threaten to make a law; that’ll scare the you know what out of them.)

Let’s try freedom. And, bankrupt our enemies.

(I always was upset when children are killed by “bad drugs”. Cut with rat poison, of unknown strength, or even unidentifiable. We can avoid killing and maiming our progeny by simply recognizing human nature. We can’t control what people will put voluntarily in their own bodies.)

Repeal the Drug War laws. They’re ineffective and inefficient.

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POLITICS: the pseudo “drug war”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s39VUAJE8-A

Buy American Pot: A Special Message From the AMGA, Dedicated to Keeping Pot Illegal & Profits High!
From: ReasonTV | November 19, 2009 | 9,907 views

*** begin quote ***

We all know that a lot of people are harmed by prohibition, but who benefits? Strangely enough, some of the biggest beneficiaries are the bootleggers. Sure, they take a big risk, but black marketeers don’t have to pay taxes, they’re protected from foreign competition, and they benefit from artificially inflated prices. Talk about protectionism.

*** end quote ***

One has to laugh at the pseudo “drug war”. All it does is keep the JBT in power. Kids die from adulterated, impure, or unknown strength products. It transfers American wealth to Columbia Drug Lords and Third World terrorists while making our inner cities a free fire zone from waring gangs. Just like in Prohibition. And, it is easier for children to get than booze. So how about some common sense. Let’s turn the problem over to WalMart, Walgreens, CVS, and 7-11. Now “illegal drugs” will be the cost of aspirin and all the money we are dumping into prisons can go to treatment. You are never going to “prevent” someone from ingesting or inject stuff into themselves. Sohow about we try “freedom”. Could it be ANY worse?

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POLITICAL: End the psudo-Drug War now

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1009/1009drugwartaliban.htm

How our foolish war on drugs resurrected the Taliban
By Raymond Richman and Howard Richman

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We have confused a war for survival with a failed war on drugs. Our inability to control the domestic consumption of drugs led Congress and administration after administration to externalize it, wasting tens of billions of dollars in an endeavor that was doomed to fail because our interference in the internal affairs of nations for our domestic reasons alienated large numbers of their population and resulted in the election of leaders hostile to the U.S. in such countries as Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador and destabilizing Mexico.

*** and ***

Let us recognize the fact that prohibition did not work with alcohol and has not worked with cocaine, marijuana, or heroin. Instead of wasting money as we have been doing for decades, we shall gain revenues instead. We shall gain friends instead of making enemies abroad as we have been doing.

We believe the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida is unwinnable as long as the drug war continues in Afghanistan. ESR

*** end quote ***

What will the unemployed Drug Kingpins do? Go into Medicare fraud.

End “Drug Prohibition” now. Save the children in the cities from the violence.

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RANT: Killing our troops in a failed policy

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski237.html

Is McChrystal Reading LewRockwell.com?
by Karen Kwiatkowski

*** begin quote ***

Not likely.

But I was heartened to see that when we abandoned the military outpost in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, we destroyed the base, lighting afterburners, the smoldering waste of one more failed experiment in colonialism in our rear-view mirrors.

We departed this small base days after one of the deadliest Taliban strikes against our occupation forces there. Officially, our departure had been planned for months. Any bets that the leadership will take a hit for that bit of poor planning?

Not likely.

*** end quote ***

The People have to end this nonsense.

Afghanistan has been the deathbed of empires for eons.

We can safely withdraw if we do two things: (1) pull back all our troops from around the globe; and (2) end the war on drugs. Then the Afghan farmers can grow all the opium they want. AND, all the countries, who’ve been living under our protection, can pay for their own defense.

Not likely!

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RANT: We need to “liberate” drugs

Don’t give in to the state
Dallas Libertarian Examiner
by Garry Reed

*** begin quote ***

“Libertarians who fight for marijuana rights should never compromise on rights. They should never meekly beg to be legalized and taxed and regulated. They should never give in to the state. It’s the state, after all, who’s in the wrong, so make the state give in to you. That means demanding your rights as free and sovereign individuals, long and loud and persistently. And when the state finally comes around, offering to compromise its position by legalizing and taxing and regulating medical marijuana, take it. But never take it as an end, only as a step. Then keep demanding your freedom, long and loud and persistently.” (08/02/09)

http://tinyurl.com/nvfp78

*** end quote ***

The gooferment has no role in drugs. Other than to screw things up. Non-violent drug “offenders” should be pardoned.

Let’s shut down the FDA. All they do is slow stuff down on its way to market. Killing sick people in the process. And, making everything more expensive.

Argh!

And think of all the youngsters hurt or killed by impure “illegal” drugs. If they are going to take drugs, and I hope they don’t, let’s make sure they have pure “safe” ones. I think WalMart can put all the drug dealers out of business. Remember the gang wars of Prohibition? Coke and Pepsi. Bud and Miller. No shooting. Just competition.

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POLITICAL: Teen Age Driver’s decals are age-ism!

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090531/OPINION02/905310313/-1/STOCK01

Decals for teen drivers bit silly, don’t you think?
May 31, 2009

*** begin quote ***

There has been a great deal of debate about the efficacy of placing decals on the vehicles of drivers under the age of 21. Apparently the reason is that other drivers will know that vehicle is being driven by a young driver and, as a response, alter their own behavior. Otherwise, what is the point? A plausible argument can be made that this legislation does not go far enough. It should be implemented worldwide for American citizens.

Many of our Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees patrolling the streets of Mosul and Abu Hishma in Iraq are being driven by young soldiers. How many Abrahms tanks are being driven in the mountains of Afghanistan by Marines under the age of 21? Here in New Jersey we know these men and women are not smart enough, as my mother always says, to come in out of the rain. After a combat tour or two, they can come home to New Jersey and buy a soda and talk with their friends down at the local teen social center about buddies who lost limbs or were killed in combat. On the other hand they are not mature enough to vote, purchase alcoholic beverages or buy a pack cigarettes.

As for driving a car, they are not to be trusted. Navigating the mean streets of Manville or Raritan is far more dangerous and complicated than driving through a combat zone in Iraq or Afghanistan with an insurgent sniper drawing a bead on your left eye.

As a country that prides itself on truth and fair play, don’t we owe it to the Taliban and al-Qaida to let them know when a Humvee they are about to blow up with a roadside bomb is being driven by a person under the age of 21? When the insurgents are planning an ambush, they need to know if the soldiers are under 21 so they can be careful.

Sometimes those kids drive a little too fast and that throws the timing of their IEDs off. Not fair play.

What we need is an ad hoc coalition of concerned citizen volunteers from New Jersey to go into combat zones and affix decals to vehicles being driven by American GIs under the age of 21. Any takers?

AMBROSE J. NELSON
South Amboy

*** end quote ***

Yes! I think we should round up all the Trenton Politicians who voted for this non-sense and ship them to AfPak for “labeling” duty.

I’ll go one step further.

As a little L libertarian, I think we need to eliminate ALL drug, licensing, and most of the other “laws”.

If you’re not ready to go that far, see if you’ll take this FIRST step.

We “ask” children to go fight for us. Whatever age we “allow” someone to go get killed “for us”, then they have the RIGHT as a full citizen. Period! No restrictions.

If you agree with that first step, how about this SECOND step.

Our culture doesn’t teach youngsters to drink alcohol responsibly. So let’s take the age restriction off completely. Let’s encourage experimentation and education, long before they get to college. There they kill themselves drinking with their new found freedom.

If you agree with that second step, how about trying a THIRD step.

The pseudo “Drug War”is killing children is so many ways. Drug overdoses are a direct result of impure mislabeled and / or adulterated products. They are “products”. Just because they are “illegal” doesn’t take them off the market to children. Most will agree that MJ is MORE available than beer. Our prisons are filled with non-violent drug offenders. The addiction rate is far above the “natural addiction” rate. So, let’s get real here. The DEA is a total failure. They say insanity is “doing more of the same and expecting different results”. Lets admit defeat in the drug war. From Afgan to Columbia, a bunch of bad guys are profiting from our stupidity. And the children are the casualties in this war. It’s estimate that if “drugs” were not illegal, the cost of “drugs” would be comparable to aspirin. So let’s turn loose our “secret weapon” on the Drug Lords and Gangs … … WalMart! If drugs were a legal product, they’d take care of the problem. We’d turn prisoners into patients.

Laws aren’t the answer; common sense and liberty is the only workable answer.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Legalize all drugs

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/026340.html

April 15, 2009

Ron Paul on Drug Legalization

Posted by Lew Rockwell at April 15, 2009 10:22 AM

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Nixon’s Drug War!

Fill up the prisons, hurt sick people, and empower the “drug cartels”.

Stop it!

Drug addiction is a medical problem; not a legal problem.

Too many bureaucrats and politicians are making aliving off the stupidity fo the American voter.

Prohibition. Didn’t work for alcohol; doesn’t work for other drugs either.

It’s no one’s business what people put in their own bodies. And, we shouldn’t try. Or, pay for the results.

Argh!

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The Government is arming the drug cartels?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gaddy/gaddy54.html

Who Is Arming the Mexican Drug Cartels?
by Michael Gaddy

*** begin quote ***

Wednesday, on MSNBC, in an interview by Andrea Mitchell, New York Congressional Representative, Nita Lowey stated 97% of the guns in the hands of the Mexican drug cartels originated in the US. Representative Lowey, in her support for a new Assault Weapons Ban, alleges these firearms are coming from the American gun owner. She is correct in her assertion many of the firearms being used by the cartels are coming from Americans. They are, but, from the American taxpayer, not the American gun owner!

The fact is: the Mexican authorities have refused to release the serial numbers of weapons confiscated from drug cartel members. Releasing the serial numbers would implicate the corrupt governments of the US and Mexico and their involvement in arming the drug cartels.

Considering the above, it is my belief the Mexican drug cartels are procuring a large percentage of weapons from the world’s largest supplier of these weapons: the United States government!

*** end quote ***

Certainly sounds like it.

We could eliminate this non-sense by ending the “drug war” in the US.

Imagine a country where what you put in your body was your personal business.

End welfare and then there’s no illegal immigrants.

End the drug war and let WalMart become the nation’s “drug dealer”.

Bet they do a far better job of cleaning up the problem.

Bud and Miller route salesmen don’t shoot it out.

No more drug overdose deaths from drugs cut with rat poison or not cut at all.

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POLITICAL: How to stop the drug wars?

http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13237193  

Failed states and failed policies
How to stop the drug wars
Mar 5th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Prohibition has failed; legalisation is the least bad solution

*** begin quote ***

A calculated gamble, or another century of failure?
This newspaper first argued for legalisation 20 years ago (see article). Reviewing the evidence again (see article), prohibition seems even more harmful, especially for the poor and weak of the world. Legalisation would not drive gangsters completely out of drugs; as with alcohol and cigarettes, there would be taxes to avoid and rules to subvert. Nor would it automatically cure failed states like Afghanistan. Our solution is a messy one; but a century of manifest failure argues for trying it.
*** end quote ***

If I was President O, after releasing my birth certificate, I’d declare that we had “won” the drug war. Consistent with other victories, I’d:
(1) pardon all non-violent drug offenders;
(2) direct all federal prosecutors to stop prosecuting the same;
(3) direct the Congress that they would be in session until they pass a decriminalization of all drug prohibition (the President can summon Congress back into session!);
(4) direct the DEA, FDA, and all federal agencies that they are no out of the “prohibition business”; and
(5) convene WalMart and the major drug companies to a conference at the White House and ask them how they are going to supply the nation with it’s previously illegal drugs.
(Expecting that the drug gangs will now have a FORMIDABLE competitor. Hard to run a gang when WalMart drives your “product’s” price to that of aspirin! And, makes it USP pure.)
Like this is EVER going to happen!
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RANT: Gun quote send me on my Drug War rant. It’s all connected.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gaddy/gaddy49.html

Another Bright Shining Lie
by Michael Gaddy

*** begin quote ***

The state has many weapons in its arsenal to keep Boobus ignorant of their illegal, unconstitutional activities and in compliance with its confiscatory tax and slavery system. In all likelihood, the two most often used of these weapons are fear and prevarication.

Our new US Attorney General/Race Agitator, Eric Holder, last week used a bright shining lie in his advocating the introduction of a new Assault Weapons Ban. (AWB) He stated:

“Putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border. I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.”

What a crock; believing the fantastically wealthy drug cartels actually secure their weapons from America is analogous to taking a hamburger to a steak dinner. The drug cartels use their millions, if not billions, to purchase some of the finest weaponry that can be had, far exceeding the firepower of their state-armed opponents in both Mexico and the US.

*** end quote ***

I agree that Holder is peddling “barbara streisand”!

We could pacify the Mexico, Columbia, and Afgan drug lords with one stroke of a pen.

End the psuedo-Drug War now!

What does a Drug Kingpin do when WalMart becomes your competitor? Drive a cab.

All we have to do is recognize that people make bad choices. We just don’t have to use the guns or government to inflict more pain on everyone.

I’ve read estimates that there is a “residual addiction rate”. Some people you will just be unable to keep from being addicted; no matter what you do.

I’ve seen estimates that ending the drug prohibition will actually reduce the addiction rate to the residual since there will no longer be the allure of “doing something illegal” to the young people.

I’ve read estimates that the cost of “illegal” drugs will drop to the cost of aspirin and that the marketplace’s (i.e., WalMart, RiteAid, Walgreen, CVS) “drugs” will be USP grade. (No more deadly overdoses from too strong street drugs or side effects of it being cut with rat poison.)

And, what does the gooferment have to do to accomplish this. Absolutely nothing but pass a law decriminalizing drugs. Closing the DEA, BATF, and FDA would also be a good idea.

Why won’t they? Money, power, and a scary “issue”.

President Obama could pardon ALL non-violent drug offenders.

And a cow could jump over the moon!

It’s all “barbara streisand”!

The powers that be like it this way so this is the way it will stay.

We have to end this nonsense the same way “We, The People” ended alcohol prohibition. In the jury box.

When you’re in the jury room hearing a drug case, and no one got killed, vote “NOT GUILTY”. Don’t discuss it. Don’t preach. Don’t say anything but “The State didn’t prove their case!”

The Drug War will be over in a heartbeat. The Gun Violence will follow soon after that.

WalMart will be selling drugs. Think they will sell to children? Think they won’t offer help? THink that they will have gun battle with the near by WalGreens?

Over stuff that has the profit margin of aspirin?

It’s all “barbara streisand”! And, we put up with it!!

Argh!

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POLITICIAL: Ron Paul on Bill Mahr simple and direct!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5lb0l3sYBo&eurl=http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025457.html&feature=player_embedded

Ron Paul rocks on Bill Mahr’s show!

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