On ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos, the discussion go to the topic of marijuana…
the country is “probably in the process now of legalizing marijuana,” conservative columnist George F. Will said
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And a bit later in the program:
“Eighty percent of the revenue of the Mexican cartels is marijuana. If you really want to go after the Mexican cartels, and I’m not saying that is the only criterion for public policy, you’d legalize marijuana,” he said.
on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “More that might be useful, Mount Sinai researchers have identified a brain pathway that is affected by addictive drugs: 18-APR-2024–…researchers,…” Apr 18, 23:11
on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “More on opiate receptors. I had a physician who recommended Salvia Divinorum. He later asked me to keep his recommendation…” Apr 17, 11:40 on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “I’ve applied what little mental skills I have to the study of cannabinoid G-coupled protein receptors like CB1 and CB2…” Apr 16, 16:35 on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “University of Leipzig researchers examine the molecular mechanisms of the opioid receptors and their different functions: 12-APR-2024 — Drugs that…” Apr 14, 17:36 on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “Researchers at Dartmouth College reveal Cannabis receptors are among receptors implicated in the way the brain regulates emotions: 3-APR-2024 …”Our…” Apr 6, 09:59 on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “Corrected links: University of Basel: Liberalization of medical marijuana and mental health in the USA Health Economics Policy and Law:…” Apr 4, 19:24 on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “Swiss researchers investigated what effects if any medicinal marijuana had on mental health in the United States. Their results show…” Apr 4, 19:21 on John Walters and William Barr linked to Nazis: “Interesting question. All of it played a role. I think religious differences and conflict are the main motivators behind drug…” Mar 31, 23:17
Why is it that when the topic of ‘drugs’ comes up, some asshat inevitably asssumes that all ‘druggies’ really really really really want to quit? If they wanted to quit, they would. If, on the other hand, they want to keep on taking drugs, they will. Of course, the fact that most ‘druggies’ don’t quit is proof that they don’t want to. Likewise, the professional athletes who are pilloried in the press; If the drugs did as the prohibitionists say, and interfere with getting on with life and getting the job done, those athletes would be culled due to the effects of the drugs. The fact that they continue to perform at such a high level while taking ‘drugs’ is proof that the effects of ‘drugs’ is not at all what the prohibs say it is. Pack of liars.
While Will hasn’t reached “Uncle Walter” stage yet, his comments are tantamount to Cronkite returning from SEA and saying we had lost the Vietnam War. Remember what effect his comment had on President Johnson? Will has done the same thing now. MSM is using the “L” word more and more these days. Something they would never have done one short year ago. It’s good that the population is hearing that word more often. Hearing it, over and over, will be a subtle conditioning experience for most. Thanks, George.
Three DEA agents killed today. In Afghanistan. Raiding drug traffickers. In Afghanistan. 8 years after troops arrived. Why are we still at war in Afghanistan 8 years later? Who are we REALLY fighting? Taliban? NO! We are fighting a drug war in Afghanistan that will never end while there is still prohibiton. Taliban, Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, same thing.
Obama went golfing with women, meanwhile.
The people in this country have gone completely insane. George Will was there a long time ago, but being an Illinois product that can be expected. Its good to see some sanity coming from him and this column.
Yes, there were DEA agents amongst the casualties, and a few months back on DEAWatch there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth about the prospective fates of those who were going to be sent there.
It seems there was some concern back then that those being sent there would become the 21st century version of a forlorn hope, doomed to die by their supervisors. And, lookee, lookee what happens. Yepper, ‘live by the sword’, and all that. And there’s lots of swords in A-stan…not to mention just about every anti-personnel munition imaginable. And these guys got whacked just flying around the country.
A couple fire-fights with what amounts to genetically-derived guerilla fighters, and a few more DEA Agents will doubtless become ‘food for worms’. Let’s see just how long this DEA presence in A-stan lasts. I’m giving it 3 months before they have their own version of a mutiny. Because this time, they aren’t going up against little kids, the terminally ill, the elderly and the disabled. Nope, the ‘Muj’ guys shoot back…and rarely miss.
If you are interested in what our “best guys” are faced with in A-stan, then you need to read the book “Robert’s Ridge.” Unkle Swarmy tried to hide the contact but someone published a book on it. Well written and vets would totally understand what they’re reading. The Tali’s and the Muj’s are NOT what we’re accustomed to.
The DEA has no place in a war zone. It’s a military matter, not a CSA matter! Priority’s, Mr. Agent. Will you be the next one we read about???
On second thought, the idea of sending ALL of our DEA agents to Afghanistan for the next decade sounds appealing.
If only we didn’t have to pay for it.
“If you are interested in what our “best guys†are faced with in A-stan, then you need to read the book “Robert’s Ridge.”
Then read about how our own soldiers (Rangers) shoot up Pat Tillman and try to cover it up like a cat after it has done its business on a tile floor. The Talis don’t even have to be that good, we got troops killing each other and ruining careers doing their jobs for them. Read “Where Me Win Glory” by Jon Krakauer to get the real story of why Pat Tillman died trying to save his friends and brother during an ambush. It made me actually tear up reading the account, it was very hard knowing the outcome.
It’s like Vietnam, only stupider. Obviously, the USA didn’t learn a thing from the Russians but the Talis and Mujis have paid attention during class and are applying the lessons they learned like honor students. This whole debacle is very hard to watch unfold. Like the Pat Tillman story, I think we know what the outcome will be.
Sorry “Where MEN Win Glory”
OOPS
ItsMeDave, at the risk of seeming crass, I am all for shipping as many DEA Agents to A-stan as possible, even at the cost that will entail. It will be a perfect opportunity to witness ‘evolution in action’. Given the expected attrition rate, just from this past week, the ‘learning curve’ will be extraordinarily steep, and many of the Agents will not be able to climb it. Like I said, it won’t be elderly preachers, 14 year old girls and the disabled they’ll be waving their weapons at this time. Which is why I expect more caskets to come back to Dover AFB containing civilian remains.
But before the Agent’s departure to play a role in the conflict they always whined about not being able to “fight the DrugWar like a real war!”, the companies that underwrite their life insurance policies should be notified of their intended destination. I doubt that the coverage includes death by guerilla warfare.
IMO, the best thing that could happen to the Drug Warriors would be for them to lose an arm or leg in Afstan and land themselves on pain meds with chronic pain to the point where they find medical cannabis is the best thing for their pain, only to be denied it by the very same people they worked for. A taste of their own medicine!
hey now…. the DEA was there to make sure the heroin was properly processed and made it back to the USA….. does anyone else find it alarming that the amount of heroin from afghanistan swelled after we invaded there???? does anyone else find it alarming that the price of gas and oil is going up when the demand is going down and our reserves are at record levels???
when is america going to wake up and realize that our government is fucking us anyway they can?
Speaking of DEA/Afghan, did anyone see the CNN Newsroom yesterday around 8 pm EDT with their fresh faced 20-something anchor TJ somebody or other (kid looks kind of like Obama) asking these totally witless questions of a retired DEA agent and the UN UNDOC apparatchik in Vienna about why poppy eradication should be “Job #1” in Afghanistan.
“The Taliban profit from the poppy, heroin is the scourge of the world (well, Russia and Europe anyway), Taliban = Enemy = Kill. Peasants defying our authoritay = kill.
God, that earnest kid was as naive and clueless as a newborn puppy (as Uncle Joe Stalin might have said in his folksy Georgian proverbial way). But of course, young TJ might know what the conventional wisdom and groupthink is, but he wouldn’t know who Stalin is or Vietnam for that matter. You know, guerillas fighting outside imperialists, defoliating, “losing the hearts and minds of the people”.
Why, oh why, must every generation of TJs learn this all over again. (Of course TJ probably already more falls into that hoary 19th c. Upton Sinclair quote “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”. Hear that, TJ?
Hey, one more thing. Ya’ll know about the Senlis’ Council’s idea of just buying up all the Afghan opium and using it for legitimate morphine/opiates (like the Turkish opium crop).
Well, here’s the notion from the non-profit Jackl Foundation think tank: crop substitution, but not impractical things and difficult to market things like wheat, but traditional cannabis and hash. This is not a joke. During the “hippy treking” 60s and 70s, that’s why hippy backpackers by the thousands descended on places like Kandahar and Mas I Sharif. (Those were not only destinations, but names of prevalent conosssuier strains, like “Panama Red” or “Oxhacan Gold”). Those places were the first cannabis tourism places, long before Amsterdam, Negril or Vancouver.
Then, in the 80s, our own CIA trained the Taliban guerillas of their day, the Mujahadeen, how to make nice hash, embossed with the trademark/slogan “Freedom of Afghanistan” (sic). That practical joke on the Russkies drove them crazy and contributed to the toppling of the USSR later in the decade. Well played, CIA.
So that’s what I’m recommending. Down with poppy. Up with cannabis and happy happy tourism and trade. Put money in the pockets of farmers and keep them fed and the Taliban and dissatisfaction at bay. It’s win-win-win.
And then we bring all of these expensive troops home and begin some “New Deal” style reconstruction at home. Put crews to work rebuilding green cities, nature trails in our national parks, art. Pay them a living stipend and subsidized Afghani hash.
Hey, someone’s gotta think outside of the box. (Hey we hit an iceberg with this recession whether we know/admit it or not. We’re all going down. Glub Glub. Sky is falling).
Kaptinemo:
Careful! If you send the DEA en masse to Afghanistan, the survivors will come back even tougher and meaner than they are now.
Seriously, though, the DEA mission in Afghanistan is foolish and doomed to failure. Last year the UK noticed that their billion pound eradication efforts earned them an even bigger crop than the year before. I don’t think they’ve stopped trying, but at least they noticed that it’s not working.
To everyone who is surprised that George Will is against the drug war, you shouldn’t be. He is part of the intellectuals on the Right who long ago decided the drug war was bad. He also has been urging the removal of troops from Iraq for quite some time.
I say again, look CAREFULLY at your politicians and pundits, and don’t assume that the Left/Right label is an easy way to determine who is on our side on this issue. George Will is an ally, and some on the left will be opponents to the bitter end.
Paul, I am thinking more along the lines of what’s been done to our troops again and again in “Eye-rack” with continual rotations.
No sooner will the DEA Agent finish his ‘tour’ than when he’s slapped in the face with another. And another. And another. In this case, it would be because the ones back in ‘The World’ won’t relieve him, as they see what’s happening to him and decide that ‘discretion is the better part of valor’…as many of them had proposed when this insanity of sending the DEA into a war zone was first forwarded.
The morale at the DEA has always been low; the postings on DEAWatch are notorious for conveying that fact, and DEA supervisors are always trying to find out who’s posting there to punish the members. Having a large mass of Agents sent to A-stan and the majority of them coming back in body bags, with the remainder minus important ‘original equipment’ will bring home to them in stark contrast what it really means to make ‘war’ on people…by being warred upon.
If any survive the experience, they’ll probably face health problems, psych problems, financial problems, etc. for the rest of their life…kinda like their victims have. A fitting revenge, if ever.
My old instructors were survivors of the ‘Nam, and they pounded into me, time after time, that ‘what comes around, goes around’. Nothing in my life has taught me otherwise; it may take years, but karma catches up to you. The DEA being sent to A-stan is pure karma…and I think some of them know it.
Kaptinemo:
It has been said that evil is its own punishment, but I’ve always thought it fell a bit short of proper punishment. It could be that a tour in Afghanistan is karma, or at least a cosmic warning of sorts. I don’t know.
Much as I detest the drug war and the true believers (or worse, the hypocrites) who fight it, I really don’t wish any ill on them besides unemployment. Their crimes are between them and God, or whatever power comes next. I’m willing to grant mercy if I myself can be given mercy in this life or the next. Certainly, though, some of them have a lot of explaining to do.
A little off topic, I am surprised Obama is considering staying in Afghanistan for now. Really, what on Earth are we still doing there? What is there to win? The place is an ungovernable wasteland filled with barbarians whose national sport is annual armed skirmishes against one another. We’ve made our point and driven the Taliban into the hills. Let’s get out while the gettin’ is good and declare victory.
Stratfor suggests Obama will put up enough effort to say he tried and then discreetly withdraw at a later date. Sounds reasonable to me.
Is Marijuana Effectively Legal?
youtube October 26, 2009
The Roundtable Pizza Hour
Stepinflopalus, George Will as the “Legalizer”
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