Open Thread

bullet image Kudos to Rachel Hillier Pratt for responding so pleasantly to our post about her article, and for having the integrity to agree to correct her article once informed of inaccuracies.

bullet image We’ve got some fascinating discussions going on. David Raynes continues to insist that there’s no point in dismantling the criminal black market since there will still be some criminals once we’re done. It appears that he’s planning on declaring victory in the “debate” and going home. RCS takes me to task for incivility in the Caballes Revisited post, but BruceM and Allan explain to him the difference between incivility toward a person and properly (though colorfully) describing their work. Note: James Johnston pleasantly replied to my request, but it seems unlikely that he’ll be stopping by.

bullet image Must-read: CNN-Money.com: How marijuana became legal: Medical marijuana is giving activists a chance to show how a legitimized pot business can work. Is the end of prohibition upon us?By Roger Parloff, senior editor. Extensive article, very well written.

bullet image TNR interviews the Border Czar Alan Bersin in a video: We Will Not Even Consider Legalizing Drugs. Bersin claims that legalizers want the cartels to win, but the interviewer corrects him, pointing out that legalizers want to put the cartels out of business..

bullet image More opportunities missed. Topical use of cannabinoids could reduce reliance on antibiotics. [Thanks, Mike]

bullet image Argentinean Archbishop Luis Villalba:

“Drugs are evil and facilitating their consumption is not good, it is evil and goes against the fundamental principle that man has been created for life and not for death,” he went on. “Drugs are synonymous with death and young people must not be led into them, they must be steered away,” the archbishop warned.

Since alcohol is a drug, does that make communion evil? Not to mention those who facilitate it… What about Christ, when He turned water into wine. Was He committing evil acts? Just curious.

bullet image DrugSense Weekly – a weekly review of the most interesting or relevant articles in the press and on the web related to drug policy reform.

bullet imageDrug War Chronicle – weekly update of drug war news and analysis from Stop the Drug War.org.

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6 Responses to Open Thread

  1. Voletear says:

    In re the Archbishop, Pete wrote: “What about Christ,…” and pointed out the obvious problem His ***Holiness ignores with the drug alcohol. Christ’s monks and priests were also among the most adept Grow-Ops and and Ethlab operators. Where would weddings be were it not for the clandestine drug lab work of Pere Dom Perignon? Many other wines and liquors were conceived by monks and priests.

    Perhaps the most interesting Christian connection, however, is the “Gall” Christ was given on the cross. I think it was in Jim Hogshire’s book “Opium For the Masses” that a very plausible scenario was given wherein this substance was the same stuff Roman soldiers regularly gave to crucifiction victims. It was based on vinegar and opium in a solution. If memory serves there was also a relation between the Hebrew or Greek word for the stuff and the word gall. If this is true, of course, manipulating simple facts about drug-substances in order to conform to some ulterior agenda goes all the way back to the earliest days of the Archbishop’s Church.

  2. Chris says:

    on the (very well written) cnn article:
    By Roger Parloff, senior editor
    September 11, 2009: 4:20 PM ET

  3. DdC says:

    Puff Daddies By Daniel Engber
    CN Source: Slate Magazine September 10, 2009 USA

    At the time, Mom’s question caught me by surprise: “Have you ever tried marijuana?” she asked, sloshing her coffee around in a mug as we stood together in the kitchen. My mind went blank. Could this be the fabled “drug talk” that parents are supposed to give to their teenage children? If so, why was I getting it at 30? It turned out my mother was less interested in my drug use than her own. When I told her I’d smoked pot in college, and a bunch of times since, she took the news in stride. The thing was, she and my father were hoping to score some weed. Did I know anybody?

    Nixon Started ‘War On Drugs’ by Gwynne Dyer
    CN BC: Column: Trail Daily Times 10 Sep 2009

  4. Peter Ramins says:

    Drug Czar Alan Bersin: “I wouldn’t concede on this one at all.”

    Well fortunately for us citizens, Mr. Bersin, you don’t have to concede anything. You simply have to follow the laws and policies as we set them.

    I am somewhat troubled by the way your attitude suggests that you control and create the law, however.

  5. In “Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use” Jacob Sullum shows clearly the many, many passages in the Bible that balance the black and white view of alcohol that’s held by certain Christian believers (esp. those that arose when “temperance” began to mean “teetotalism”). The Bible simply does not uniformly point in one direction on this topic.

    Indeed, the word “balance” seems to be the key ingredient missing from a lot of the anti-drug rhetorics. Smart too, since an absolutist, black’n’white world effectively asks you to think no further. Nobody reflects over the pros and cons of the Absolute Evil …

  6. DdC says:

    “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” Marijuana Author Jack Herer Collapses After Stage Appearance at Portland Hempstalk
    (PORTLAND, Ore.) – The most well known person in the world on the subject of marijuana, author Jack Herer, had a heart attack Saturday, after a fiery speech at the Portland Hempstalk Event at Kelly Point Park.

    This video clip from Saturday, recorded about two hours before Jack suffered a heart attack, shows him explaining to Dr. Phillip Leveque of Salem-News.com how how he has been feeling better recently

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