The War on Drugs in Action

[RainDog]

http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-war-victim/







I didn't know about McWilliams. I have his book - I was shocked to learn that he was killed by the very sort of bullshit he pointed out in our society. It's sickening.

Drug warriors - here are some of your kills to mount on your wall.

h/t to iscooterliberally - and a link to an excellent thread that was the source of this op

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=5059011&mesg_id=5059011

[iscooterliberally]

1. I highly recommend reading this page.

"The entire philosophy behind SWAT-style drug raids is that the death of a mother, a child, or the family pet is an acceptable risk to prevent flushing." - Pete Guither

[RainDog]

2. Thank you for posting this link

h/t to you.

[arcane1]

3. To paraphrase Gore Vidal:

The possible presence of a flushable toilet nullifies the 4th amendment

[RainDog]

4. I have to take issue with the trampling of the 4th amendment

when "reasonable" is a major issue with the constitutionality of such action.

since the war on cannabis is based upon unreasonable, or, more to the point, based upon lies about cannabis, how can any search and seizure based upon current cannabis laws be reasonable.

the WoD - specifically in regard to cannabis, has done more to undermine my faith in a functional society than any other issue other than holding the Bush Administration accountable for their actions and lies.

It seems it's okay to live within the big lie if you're powerful enough.

I've sort of had it with that view - and I think the 99%-ers recognize this is the foundation of all of our problems at this time, across a spectrum of issues.

[iscooterliberally]

6. The city where I live has a TANK.

This policy has militarized our local police forces and turned them against every day citizens. Our courts and jails are flooded with marijuana so bad that we now have private corporations running prisons. This should be illegal in a free country. Only the state or the federal government should operate prisons. To make matters even worse these prisons are farming out the inmates to work for other private companies that would normally have to pay workers a living wage. If you are unemployed, this is part of the reason. Why would they pay normal wages and benefits when they have a surplus of SLAVES to choose from. This is a huge racket and we really need to determine who is a prohibitionist and who is not before we cast our votes again. The prohibitionists need to be thrown out of office. The WoD is destroying our country far faster than drug abuse could ever do. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Why does my city need a fucking tank anyway? oh yeah...someone might flush...got it.

[dtexdem]

5. And lots of grandparents raising grandchildren -- because the parents are in jail.

And how many other kids are effectively being raised by no one?

[RainDog]

7. yes. prohibition destroys lives and families

that is the most dangerous part of the entire War on Drugs - the prohibition itself.

[RainDog]

8. His Enemy Was Ignorance: how Peter McWilliams died

I moved this to an OP, here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2308699

[duhneece]

9. Invite a LEAP speaker to an organization you belong to

Have a booth at your county fair. Become a member of your local and state political party and (try to) put it on the state platform. Open up this discussion in your community.

We've done all those things in our little right-wing, conservative, rural community in south central New Mexico.

This IS the most unjust, expensive, failing policy in the US.

I don't want my grandchildren growing up in the war zone that the war on drugs is.

[duhneece]

10. Consider attending the International Drug Policy Reform Conference

in Denver Oct 2013. If this issue is important to you, check it out. Start saving now & apply for a scholarship when the time comes. Become an activist.

[RainDog]

14. good advice

I'm in the process of putting my new little book store biz online. maybe some folks here will help me raise the money by buying books from me. My son's g.f. will be posting as The Book Savoury in the DU marketplace to help me out. anyway, paperwork-ish things are the holdup at this time.

Here's a link to a blog that will be for the same purpose: http://booksavoury.blogspot.com/

there's also a facebook link from the blog.

I'm a rare books/special collections librarian and archivist by training. I've also written professionally across media but stopped for awhile b/c of life issues - I continued to write, I just didn't ask anyone to pay me for the same. Recently, however, an editor asked me to write for his publication and so I'm returning to this first love in a professional way. I'm going to archive my DU journal offsite, too, and clean up some things so that they make sense outside of the context of DU - not to mention that I just sort of toss writing up here and don't always take the time to check for verb/subj agreement, etc. lol. I would never do that if I thought I were "publishing" something, rather than "posting" something. weird, but true.

Don't have a blog set up for that yet, tho.

As a professional writer, it's sort of second nature for me to not directly associate with any particular entity, but, obviously, I have a pov. I'd like to be able to keep that independence but would also like the opportunity to write about this issue as events unfold in real time. I've taken quite a bit of time to learn as much as I can about this issue, especially the science behind it.

[Upton]

11. And both major parties support this crap..

I though we might get some relief with Obama, but if anything he's made things worse. If you want the drug war to end, realizing we are in what is essentially a two party system with both of them advocating for a continuance of this war, where are we supposed to turn?

[RainDog]

15. what irks me is the imperviousness of federal entities

in the face of fact.

honestly, it's like they put their fingers in their ears and go "la-la-la" we don't want to hear you.

you know, as a nation, I think we're ready to say to the DEA and various presidential administrations that we will forgive them for decades of lies if they would just FINALLY choose to DO THE RIGHT THING.

Make amends to those you have harmed, those of you who are addicted to continuing a war on drugs, by making changes in the rescheduling of cannabis. Go after things like meth. Remove cannabis from the products that are sold by those who sell harmful substances.

It's simply the right thing to do.

[southmost]

12. the local news media cycle are feverishly banging the drums of war

down here, they are trying to escalate the war in drugs to Mexico level insanity

[RainDog]

17. it gets tied in with the old prejudices that made cannabis illegal in the first place

honestly, if they want to undercut the cartels, they should remove their biggest source of income - which is cannabis. I'd rather have people growing and selling known products here rather than have people buying stuff that's been grown with pesticides, etc.

but that would be too sensible.

however, we know from the example of alcohol that mobsters didn't stay in that biz when there were legal channels for distribution.

never let the lessons of history get in the way of prejudice, however.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended, you do good work RainDog.

Thanks for the thread.:hi:

[RainDog]

16. Thank you for the kind words, Uncle Joe!

It's always a pleasure to see you here.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!!! WOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Hey, look, there's a cancer granny smoking a joint! Call in the SWAT team and the million-dollar-an-hour chopper flights!

GRAVY FUCKING TRAIN, TIME! $$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!