Open Thread

A busy week at work for me, and some distractions in the news.


bullet image Are My Methods Unsound? Why ‘Sicario’ Is the ‘Apocalypse Now’ of the Drug War

There’s been quite a bit of talk about the movie Sicario. I’m curious. Have you seen it? And how does it, as fiction, stack up to the realities of our drug war?

I must admit, I’m not rushing out to catch it. In part, because when I go to the movies I usually want to escape. And a movie about the drug war just doesn’t feel like entertainment to me.


bullet image Legal marijuana sales began yesterday in Oregon. Sky fallen yet?


bullet image Can Addicts Finally Force the War on Drugs to End? by Maia Szalavitz

People who use or have used drugs rarely have a seat at the table when policy is set—and are heard from mainly in the form of stories of sin and repentance.

But now a group called Unite to Face Addiction is planning a massive rally in Washington, DC, to attack stigma and call for change. On Sunday, October 4, big names like Steven Tyler, Joe Walsh, Jason Isbell of the Drive-By Truckers, and Sheryl Crow will perform. Speakers will include former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, former baseball player Darryl Strawberry, author William Cope Moyers and current “drug czar” Michael Botticelli, who is in recovery himself. […]

The biggest challenge—other than fundraising—was trying to build a coalition, according to Williams. “How do we get prevention and harm reduction and recovery and treatment people who all disagree, how do we get them under a broad umbrella?” he asks rhetorically.

I’m happy to see this, while also recognizing the challenge. There are huge sections of the treatment industry that are little more than opportunistic mercenaries (like the vultures who send me letters all the time offering to write “free” guest posts about treatment and recovery in exchange for a text link to get better Google rankings for treatment businesses) who publicly push for continued prohibition so they can skim the criminal justice referral cream off the top, and, when they encounter people who really need help, conduct unsound treatment practices that can leave patients more vulnerable to overdose deaths.

Not that addicts themselves always have the right answers. Sometimes those in recovery can be rather religious in their proselytizing about their particular recovery method or about the dangers of “their” drug, not accepting that their story isn’t everyone’s story.

But on the other hand, too often there has been a paternal approach to addicts that says they are unable to speak about their own experience and they must be cared for against their own will.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this event.

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55 Responses to Open Thread

  1. Love this news. Been a long time follower, this is my first comment.
    I’ve used hard drugs most of my adult life, lucky for me white affluent parents kept me out of jail and educated me enough to make good decisions about safety. In the end I settled on speedballs, injected heroin and cocaine. For years my drive to use drugs (addiction) overwhelmed control I had over myself.
    However, with perserverence, I am proud to say I only use speedballs a few times a year, and have been for years. I write about my experiences and views now on my site druggeddiogenes.com (sorry for the plug, only one I promise). While I don’t recommend my path for anyone other than those already dead set on using dangerous drugs, I like to vocalize the possibility of self control over abstinence for those who don’t want to quit.
    All this to say I’ve followed your site a long time, and appreciate your acceptance of me as a human being when it felt like the whole world thought otherwise. It’s hard to feel worthwhile in the world when your self made identity is crimonalized. Posts like this keep me hopeful.
    Keep up the good work!

  2. NorCalNative says:

    Cannabis and Cancer update.

    My dad’s Stage IV prostate cancer long ago metastasized into several of his ribs and shoulder. Recently he had a severe episode of bone pain which resulted in several physician appointments.

    Both docs agreed to supply narcotic meds as needed and his oncologist said the pain “won’t go away.”

    Well, thanks to GW Pharmaceuticals and their drug Sativex (or at least the hippie version) my dad’s NOT currently in pain. He’s now using 3-sprays of the 1:1 ratio, 3x per day and it’s managing his pain well.

    (3-sprays = 7.8 mg CBD/ 7.8 mg THC per dose) Sativex would equal 7.5 mg CBD/ 8.1 mg THC per 3-spray dose.

    Sativex is currently under FDA steps (Phase III trials in the U.S.) for cancer bone pain that opiates will not touch.

    Fuck the Institutionally Retarded Allopathic physicians who can’t be bothered to learn this stuff. Instead of being miserable my dad’s out having coffee with friends and doing his regular routine. Cannabis has given him relief and HOPE.

    Thanks weed for helping to bring quality of life to my old man. You’re AWESOME, let’s go out sometime.

    Mr_Alex and other Sabet fans, this is what scares the shite out of Kevin Sabet and his Big Pharma masters. Kevin calls the people who make the medicine my dad’s using “rogue MMJ companies, PLAYING OUTSIDE THE RULES.

    Can’t you just see the money flying out of Big Pharma pockets? It’s a beautiful sight. Makes me feel all patriotic and shit.

    • allan says:

      positive vibrations!

    • Matt says:

      Is your father taking just the cannabis based medicine or as a combination with opiates and/or other pain medications?

      • NorCalNative says:

        Hey Matt, thanks for your comment. He uses Schedule II hydrocodone as needed but so far he’s been using it sparingly, in small doses.

        He’s getting relief from the cannabis extract so I don’t see a progression of stronger and stronger opiate prescriptions in his future. At least that’s my hope.

        His pain meds are hydrocodone, Celebrex, and cannabis oil.

        • Matt says:

          I need to give something further in the interests of your father’s welfare. You may already know this information. I know you want to believe in the cannabis medication, and that is fine. I am not infering it is not effective for pain. As far as opiates/opioids are concerned, please be aware that the biggest problem your father will face is undermedication.

          1. There is no ceiling level for opiate agonist drugs. That is- there is no level at which they cease to give analgesic effect.

          2. They can be given until pain relief is achieved with no regard to the size of the total dose.

          3. In a terminal condition, dose escalation is required not because of “tolerance”, rather because of disease progression.

          As I have said before, extraordinarily high doses have been given to people in pain. This is not an easy subject to talk about, but I would rather say what needs to be said.

        • NorCalNative says:

          Matt, thanks for the additional info, I appreciate it.

          …I would rather say what needs to be said.”

          Bravo! Good for you, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Having the courage to reach out when the message might not be interpreted correctly takes balls. I like you Matt.

          I would agree with everything you wrote. I’m not a big fan of faith or belief. I’m willing to go to bat for cannabis ONLY in ways that I can find evidence to support.

          Even though I often dream allopathic medicine would just curl-up-and-die off, it would be stupid to ignore the efficacious tools they DO possess.

          If you read this, would you explain to me and the couch what life is like for folks taking massive amounts of opiates? What are common entry-level opiates and dosages for cancer? What might the progression of narcotic meds look like?

          Are they independent? Can they drive a car? Do they sleep all day? Are they able to manage their finances? Do they socialize with friends? How much mental confusion and/or sedation would I be looking at in an 89-year-old man? What’s the rest of the pharma tool kit that comes along in order to manage the side-effects of the opiates?

          I had long experience of morphine at 100 mg. What kind of numbers are we talking about for cancer-pain progression?

          Take care dude.

        • Matt says:

          Hi NorCal, I am glad you reacted in the manner you did. It is accepted that Morphine is the “gold standard” for pain relief. I think I would be safe in saying that there is none better at this point in time for severe pain such as cancer pain. As I understand it, in situations such as severe pain, the “numbers” ie the total dose measure is irrelevant. The dose is adjusted up until the patient is comfortable and without the side-effects being intolerable (nausea, sedation etc). So basically a balancing act between pain relief and unwanted side-effects. The most troublesome side-effect of Morphine is constipation, but in an end of life scenario this is less of a concern. For others, it is somewhat treatable but it obviously is a problem. I have experienced it and it is not good.

          From Fundamentals of Nursing: Human Health and Function- Craven, Hirnle, 5th edition 2007. “There is no ceiling effect or maximum dose for opioid agonist drugs. As tolerance or need for more pain relief increases, doses can be increased. Doses as large as 1654mg IV morphine per hour (37,536mg/day) have been administered”. “The need for an increase in the analgesic dose may reflect other factors, such as disease progression…or new pathology (eg pulmonary embolus). Do not ignore the client’s reports of increased pain. It should be treated while the cause is pursued” All from page 1201.

          So, that is over 37 grammes per day. Obviously, in general terms, morphine does not stop people breathing. The trouble is, there is an enduring myth amongst the medical fraternity and elsewhere that morphine can stop people breathing in small or moderate “overdose”. Again, this is patent rubbish. However, if the doctor or nurse subscribes to the myth, the patient in severe pain may be undermedicated and suffer unecessarily. I have read articles on the internet about people believing that morphine killed their loved one in hospital. The reality is that their disease killed them or they just died, it had nothing to do with the morphine. But people having someone dear to them die tend to lash out and blame something or someone rather than accepting death.

          I am in a group who has a member who is suffering cancer and is quite disabled by it. I don’t know his opioid dose, but he comes to meetings and other functions in a wheelchair. He says he is “stoned”, but he functions quite well. I cant help you off hand with the toolkit of meds for opioid side-effects, but an indication would be available from credible sites or from talking to a doctor. I hope this information helps with your father’s situation.

        • DdC says:

          There is no ceiling level for opiate agonist drugs. That is- there is no level at which they cease to give analgesic effect.

          Except by the DEA restricting doctors from prescribing an amount that could lead to “death with dignity” or “addiction”. I have patients with prescriptions having DEA warning labels on them.

          DEA Restricts Narcotic Pain Drug Prescriptions
          Government Seeks to Curb Abuse of Hydrocodone Combination Pills
          The “rescheduling” means people will be able to receive the drugs for only up to 90 days without obtaining a new prescription.

          The move had been resisted by drug makers, wholesalers, drugstores and patients with pain. They said there were other ways to reduce painkiller abuse and were concerned that people suffering acute pain could be harmed by barriers to treatment.

        • Matt says:

          A couple of things to say.

          1. Morphine is no good as a suicide or murder drug. As discussed, it is however, really good at dulling pain and causing constipation.

          2. We couldnt have people dying with dignity now could we? The Catholic Church and others see to it that most of us end our days full of morphine, paying to use their palliative care services and nursing homes etc. We couldn’t have people signing out at a time of their choosing and denying profit to the health and aged care industries now could we?

          3. The DEA wants people to have to get morphine only from black market sources that they control. We also couldnt have pharmaceutical grade opioids getting onto the market. Wouldn’t be right.

        • DdC says:

          Profit on misery, they create.
          End profits on cures and prevention.
          Wall St DC

  3. jean valjean says:

    I wonder who will be the first prohibitionist to “link” the shootings in Oregon with the start of cannabis sales in the state? My money is on Peter Hitchens.
    And if that doesn’t fly there’s always the fall back that it’s part of the “war on Christians,” with Bill O’ as the likely front runner. Either way, the Devil’s involved…..

  4. claygooding says:

    I feel that if Bowlofchilli and Kennedy are participating they will try to end persecution of all addicts except the addicts not addicted to anything,,marijuana addicts will be ignored because that is the why there is even a drug war.

  5. NotThatYouAlreadyDidn'tKnow says:

    “Vermont is likely going to be the first state Legislature to pass recreational drug legalization, probably before the end of the year. Every tea leaf indicates it’s going to be the case.

    From a historical point of view, in Oregon, with the Legislature moving recreational sales up so precipitously and now seeing the Vermont Legislature probably doing this, that means it’s not just wild-eyed activists or people who want to make money pushing initiatives. Once a state Legislature does it, it will break the dam.”

    http://tinyurl.com/goodtimesisacummin

  6. Mr_Alex says:

    I see the likes of Project SAM and SAM Oregon’s Randy Philbrick has something to hide if they condone the executions that take place on Cannabis users in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and China, they had to wipe out the question on facebook after one of the Project SAM members said YES, if the Cannabis Prohibs in the US support what takes place on Cannabis users in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and China, I see the prohibs as completely as evil

    http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/06/drugs-and-the-death-penalty-in-asia/

    • kaptinemo says:

      Uh-huh. The seemingly rational smiley-face mask slipped a bit, and the authoritarian snarl behind it was briefly revealed…then quickly covered up.

      This is how they are. I said it before, long ago. They want people they don’t like to die. It is that bare-metal simple.

      Another example of Mencken’s observation in his Notes on Democracy. On page 174 he lays out the same kind of observations about those who favor prohibition of any sort, as opposed to those willing to ‘live and let live’:

      “The more obvious the failure becomes, the more shamelessly they exhibit their genuine motives. In plain words, what moves them is the psychological aberration called sadism. They lust to inflict inconvenience, discomfort, and, whenever possible, disgrace upon the persons they hate — which is to say, upon everyone who is free from their barbarous theological superstitions, and is having a better time in the world than they are. They cannot stop the use of alcohol, nor even appreciably diminish it, but they can badger and annoy everyone who seeks to use it decently, and they can fill the jails with men taken for purely artificial offences, and they can get satisfaction thereby for the Puritan yearning to browbeat and injure, to torture and terrorize, to punish and humiliate all who show any sign of being happy. And all this they can do with a safe line of policemen and judges in front of them; always they can do it without personal risk.”

      It is this freedom from risk that is the personal secret of the Prohibitionists’ continued frenzy, despite the complete collapse of Prohibition itself. They know very well that the American mob, far from being lawless, is actually excessively tolerant of written laws and judicial fiats however, plainly they violate the fundamental rights of free men, and they know that this tolerance is sufficient to protect them from what, in more liberal and enlightened countries would be the natural consequences of their anti-social activity. If had they had to meet their victims face-to-face, there would be a different story to tell.

      But like their brethren, the comstocks and professional patriots, they seldom encounter this embarrassment. Instead they turn to the officers of the law to the uses of their mania. More, they reinforce the officers of the law with an army of bravos sworn to take their orders and do their bidding – the army of the so-called Prohibition enforcement officers, mainly made up of professional criminals. Thus, under democracy, the normal, well-behaved decent citizen …is beset from all sides, and every year sees an augmentation of his woes.

      In order to satisfy the envy and hatred of his inferiors and the bloodlust of a bunch of irresponsible and unconscionable fanatics, few of them of any dignity as citizens or as men, and many of them obviously hypocritical and corrupt, this decent citizen is converted into a criminal for performing acts that are natural to men of his class everywhere, and police and courts are degraded to the abhorrent office of punishing him for them. (Emphases mine – k.)

      Not much ever changes. huh? The French have got this one right: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.

      • Mr_Alex says:

        I am quite surprised the prohibs in the US and the prohibs in New Zealand condone the death penalty which is commonly done on Cannabis users in Sinagpore, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, when it comes to Asia, their law on Cannabis are total archaic when it comes to Singapore, China, Malaysia and Indonesia and even Japan’s Cannabis Control Law have been termed as Draconian by some Japanese Cannabis Reform Activists who I know

        • B. Snow says:

          This could get interesting – given the recent statement from the Pope, inferring (more or less):

          Hey, all you miltant pro-lifeers are hypocrites if you support the death penalty, OR disregard the general welfare of the poor, the sick, & others in need, AND – let’s not forget the war-hawks aching to bomb anyone that opposes you, makes you feel threatened, or actually threatens you.

          The last group is often the one people deny being a part of -like John McCain turning a Beach Boys tune into a *filk song* (of sorts)… I can’t look at someone that appears ready to go ‘Slim Pickens’ on whichever Country “gets out line”, and take them seriously when they start talking about God or faith.

          I just don’t see people eager to be riding in on an A-Bomb as a model Christian with a WWJD? bracelet.

          These people give new depth to the concept of bearing false witness = In the opposite sense of a Christian living their life as a positive Christ-like example to others, aka “Bearing Witness for Christ” = in the tradition of (*non-westboro*) Baptist Churches & maybe other Protestant denominations, IIRC.

          This is one unintended consequence of the War on Drugs fought visa the UN & as a result of the Single Convention Treaty = and its one that we must raise in debates surrounding the WoD, what would Nixon think about people being executed for drugs?

          We know Newt Gingrich was totally okay with suggesting it as a solution to help fight the WoD in the mid-to-late 90’s.

          IMO we need to put this question & reality to the Politicians in the run-up to the upcoming Primary and then the 2016 Elections -at all levels of government.

          Sorry for mixing politics and religion in one post – it seemed relavent and wth = its Sunday morning in an open thread.

          *Actually, I’m not sorry!*

          This is important and quite relavent, their religious views are closely tied to the Prohib-Idiot stances = In that, ‘drug use is sinful hedonism’ – Which is contrary to their views, that all decent/moral folks should be living religion-based lives. We have no responsibility to live any degree of a pious life = as they define it.

          That’s what all their “Temperance Movement II” boils down to, a horrible sequel to a rotten original… And that’s an argument we have already won we just have to remind them of that!

    • Servetus says:

      Patrick Kennedy has a new book out about his addiction, as well as some problems his family encountered with drug consumption. In an interview, Patrick said some of his family member are ‘angry’ about the revelations in the book. Apparently, there’s some juicy gossip in it about Sen. Ted Kennedy.

      Citing angry relatives may just be a way to get people to read the book. Defaming one’s relatives to increase book sales and one’s own career as a professional victim, however, demonstrates all too well the feeble character of Patrick Kennedy. Like many career prohibitionists, he’s in it strictly for himself. Along with SAM, he’s building a celebrity status by opposing drug law reform.

    • Nunavut Tripper says:

      I see Bridget Klotz at Stop Pot 2016 is not answering your question regarding the death penalty but she says she has never tried pot and never will so how can she have such a strong opinion ?

  7. jean valjean says:

    Speakers included Kennedy and Botticelli, two business as usual drug warriors. That’s an immediate red flag to me. I hope they are going to take questions but somehow I doubt it. How do they intend to eliminate stigma while continuing to arrest hundreds of thousands of people every year for drug possession?

  8. jean valjean says:

    Face Addiction speakers include Kennedy and Botticelli, two business as usual drug warriors. That’s an immediate red flag to me. I hope they are going to take questions but somehow I doubt it. How do they intend to eliminate stigma while continuing to arrest hundreds of thousands of people every year for drug possession?

    • kaptinemo says:

      Nobody could accuse me of being a Bible-thumper, but my early Catholic teachings caused me to recall a line that I have carried around in my head to remind me of what happens when such as prohibs acquire power:

      Ezekiel 13:10
      “Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash.”

      The prohibs such as Botticelli and the Project SAM crowd are ‘leading people astray’, sweet words of ‘peace’ (‘treatment’) pouring from their lips, but their (now) tacit support for continuing the internecine war on illicit drug consumers shows that they remain liars and frauds.

      And not very good ones, at that.

      They try to fool those who pay the bills into thinking they are building a ‘new’ (Kevvie’s amorphous and nebulous ‘third way’ BS) approach to a wrecked system (the ‘wall’), but instead they are doing nothing but a ‘whitewash’ of a still broken structure.

      Fortunately, the numbers of those who blindly believed in their self-serving crusade and who were suckered by them before are dwindling daily, and those who know their deceptive game are replacing them in the electorate, with the predictable outcome of re-legalization on the advance and prohibition in retreat, everywhere.

      Despite all the decades of whitewash, the underlying cracks and rubble of prohibition’s ‘wall’ are plain to see, now. And no amount of distracting BS will ever change that.

      • thelbert says:

        it’s my birthday today, so thanks for sharing your optimism. it’s as good a birthday present as any. that and all the dope that the caterpillers haven’t eaten. next year: legality and screen houses.

  9. Ben says:

    Saw Sicario last night. Not a good legalize movie, though it does portray the horror and violence of the drug war. But the only big picture moment has one character say what the US really wants is a return to the days of Pablo Escobar, when one cartel controlled everything, because “until we can get 20% of the population to stop snorting this shit, order is the best we can hope for.” I wanted to scream “OR FUCKING LEGALIZE IT!!!”

  10. jean valjean says:

    While you’re reading the Szalavitz article check out the Vice video on the same page, lower down, called “Dying for Treatment.” Puts the dollar sign firmly at the focal point of the for profit treatment industry which will no doubt set the agenda for some of the speakers at Face Addiction. One treatment center owner repeatedly rubs his nose and strokes his face while spouting total b.s. about how he is the only one who gives a shit about the clients and their recovery. The next sentence he’s asked where his clients are which throws him as he has no idea. The last time I saw someone like him he’d just done a sizable line of coke…
    I hope I’m wrong about this but I have a feeling Botticelli and co are trying to co-opt recovering celebrities into knee-jerk support for continued criminality and rejection of regulated legalization….this was Andrea Barthwell’s old play as she appeared to befriend 12 Step groups while hiding her history as a supporter of full criminalization and long sentences for those same people.

  11. Windy says:

    Awhile back someone posted a link to Kevin Sabet being called out on his bullshit by Sen. Booker at a hearing. I bookmarked it and finally got around to watching it just now. The most recent comment (other then my reply to it) was short and excellent.

    “Marijuana is medicine, REPEAL PROHIBITION!!!

    I think only the REPEAL PROHIBITION!!! part, should be the reformers’ rally cry over ALL others because it says, in two words, exactly what is needed, repeal ALL the statutes that relate to the criminalization of this miraculous plant in ALL its forms (they are not laws, people, go research the difference between a law and a statute, to see why it matters).

    • kaptinemo says:

      It’s always worth a replay

      I still can’t get over how expertly Kevvie stuffed his whole foot in his mouth by saying the CARER legislation (which Booker co-authored) is a result of the authors being snookered by reformers.

      It’s a positive joy to see Booker’s reaction; he’s been subjected to what we’ve been given for 40 years. And it’s obvious he didn’t like it.

      No amount of obfuscating ketchup can disguise the verbal shite sandwich Kevvie tried to hand Booker. The smell gave it away.

      • DdC says:

        CARER Still looks like more hocus pocus. While Kevie criticizes any loss of power and profit. This only gives fat pharma a monopoly. All the window dressing about banks and doctors are covered for any schedule#2 drug. Plus it makes it more difficult to bitch about since it will provide cannabis to patients. That is what it is supposed to be about in the eyes of many. Just proves to me professional reformers are paid the same as Kevie. To incrementalize it and retain their jobs. Flat out legalizing it would put them out of business along with sabeteur SAM. Hate to bite the hand that feeds but 50 years is a long time to advocate something that never sees daylight. Maybe it should be called CATERs. It definitely caters to the Incrementalists.

        Whom can be trusted?

        What’s in the historic medical marijuana bill being unveiled

        Under the bill, marijuana would be downgraded one level in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s five-category drug classification system… The bill would reclassify it as a Schedule 2 drug, joining cocaine, OxyContin, Adderall and Ritalin.

  12. Mouth says:

    OT and somewhat old news: But had the two North Carolina black teenagers been white, they wouldn’t have been charged with felony distribution of child porn on their cell-phones. The images they were charged with: their own naked selves at age 16 and charged as adults for the content, based on an investigation having nothing to do with the images on the cell phone. Now the two North Carolina Teenagers, Cormega Copening and Brianna Denson, out of fear of 5 and 2 counts of Child Porn Felony Charges and having to Register as a Sex Offender, have pleaded to misdemeanor counts–suspended sentences and parole. Can we get the Courts to reverse their plea? No expunged juvenile record is a match for background checks for a good job and college . . . the male victim was forced to sit out his Star Football years and change schools. DA, Billy said he was only doing his job because the law is the law, while even the 1990 author of the law says that DA, Billy and Officer Moose were retarded fools for doing so, since that’s not what he intended out of the law. This mocks the real value of the law. Children who are real victims against adults have been denied tons of justice for the law’s misuse, while trivializing real pain and suffering.

  13. kaptinemo says:

    OT: the next time some prohib spouts off about ‘saving the children’ by denying them cannabis, show them this TED on YouTube:

    Why I changed my mind about medicinal cannabis

    If your heart doesn’t break when you see this, you don’t have one and should start digging your own grave.

    • kaptinemo says:

      And more along the same line…from the man who ran the group that developed Charlotte’s Web.

      Look at little Charlotte Figi now. Far cry from twitching and jerking like a nerve agent victim, wouldn’t you say?

      And prohibs want her and others like her to wait until they can make a profit off her suffering so badly.

      If anyone exemplifies the ‘banality of evil’, prohibs certainly fit the description.

      • kaptinemo says:

        Oh, and guess what: Uncle Sam knew about the anti-epileptic properties of cannabis back in 1947.

        I thought I was up on the early science but this floored me.

        1947. It got by Anslinger somehow, but was in his personal papers in the National Archives. He knew about it for certain.

        Looks like the earliest known burial of a cannabis study. More proofs of evil.

        • Atrocity says:

          I hope the story about the 1947 study isn’t a hoax but THC wasn’t isolated until 1964. I can’t tell if they were allegedly talking about THC in 1947 or if that’s the current reporter putting that in there. It’s been a long day.

        • kaptinemo says:

          In 1925, the government learned that asbestos caused cancer, but because of the strategic importance of asbestos to industry, this information was buried.

          In 2000, at the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, Dr. Manuel Guzman thought he had discovered the antineoplastic properties of cannabis…until told by US reformers that he had only re-discovered it 26 years after the US did…and buried the study.

          Granted, these are only two incidences, but given what we know of Gub’mint perfidy, with lie after lie being told to the American people in recent history, the suspicion is a valid one.

          Admitted speculation: It is entirely possible that Delta9THC was discovered much earlier, and Mechoulam only re-discovered it. If true, it is even more evidence of a massive crime against Humanity.

        • Windy says:

          Kap, my dad died from mesothelioma, he spent his working life as a mechanic, working on brake drums is where he inhaled the asbestos. He was born in 1921 so from the time he was 4 the government knew the danger, just like with cannabis and cancer and other patients dying from not being able to access cannabis, my dad was killed by the government refusing to inform about asbestos. The government indirectly murdered my dad and LOTS of other people with its actions on these two substances. How much more are we going to learn it has done (or not done) that endangers the lives of the people who live under its rule?

      • DdC says:

        Yea Kap’t a whole heap of cover up… 1910 they seemed to know about cannabis treating epilepsy.

        The Counterculture Colonel
        The U.S. Army Chemical Corp’s marijuana research began several years before Ketchum joined the team at Edgewood. In 1952, the Shell Development Corporation was contracted by the Army to examine “synthetic cannabis derivatives” for their incapacitating properties.

        Additional studies into possible military uses of marijuana began two years later at the University of Michigan medical school, where a group of scientists led by Dr. Edward F. Domino, professor of pharmacology, tested a drug called “EA 1476” —otherwise known as “Red Oil”

        1898-1952 – Online Dictionary
        n. 1. A strong-smelling Asian plant (Cannabis sativa), also called hemp, from which a number of euphorogenic and halucinogenic drugs are prepared. The euphoric effect is predominently due to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

        Webster’s Dictionary 1952
        Also employed in medicine, for its anodyne, hyponotic, and anti-spasmodic qualities

        CANNABIS – A CENTURY OF MEDICAL USES
        11.1.1 – IT’S MEDICAL USES:
        According to the [1910] textbook “Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Pharmacy” By S. L. Potter; Medical Cannabis was recommended toward the following ailments:

        Epilepsy (pg. 654-656 )

        CENSORED MEDICAL CANNABIS STUDIES, Et Al:
        n 1935 the Farmers Bulletin 663 – entitled “Drug Plants Under Cultivation”, was censored (all references to Medical Cannabis being removed), at the direct request of Harry Anslinger, America’s first Drug Czar.

        WORLD WAR II –
        SECRET DOCUMENTS (now declassified)

        The use of Cannabis during World War II, as a truth serum during the Interrogation of Prisoners of War

        The NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
        Drug Police force N.C.I. (National Cancer Institute) to CENSOR Medical Cannabis Information

        ☛ The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
        ☛ MKULTRA: CIA Mind Control re-investigation by John Kerry while Cheney and Rumsfeld re-covered it up. Cheney also headed Haliburton after they bought asbestos and never released the info. As well as Rumsfeld heading Searle Pharm Aspartame fast track.

      • kaptinemo says:

        Windy, in 1997-98 I cared for a 79 year old woman who later died from mesothelioma, only it didn’t get her in the lungs, but the gut; she had somehow swallowed asbestos many decades before. A tumor had formed on the inside wall of her stomach.

        The surgeons cut her up horribly inside, and she had a equally horrific problem with a remaining tumor filled with fluid, which caused tremendous pain until it was drained.

        I had told her that cannabis might help, but she refused because she was afraid of the police coming and taking everything in forfeiture; she wanted to leave her house to her daughter. Chemo was so horrible that she refused the the second and third rounds, and decided she would try to live her life as best she could. And so she suffered, even with the use of hard narcotics, until the end.

        Multiply that one person’s misery by millions. Tens of millions, over the decades.

        This government has much to atone for, domestically as well as internationally.

        The asbestos workers, the Atomic Vets, the Tuskegee Experiment, Hanford nuke plant releasing radiation over nearby cities to see what the effects might be, giving kids with Down’s Syndrome plutonium-laced milk, injecting adults with dangerous radioisotopes without their knowledge of consent, OPERATION NORTHWOODS planning to kill Americans and blame it on Cuba to start a war (my, doesn’t that sound familiar, only now it’s plural as in ‘wars’), the CIA giving unsuspecting Gub’mint employees LSD as part of PROJECT MK-ULTRA, spraying potentially fatal bacilli in subway tunnels and from offshore ships…that’s the ‘short list’.

        AND WHAT ELSE HAS IT DONE TO US? WTF IS IT DOING TO US, RIGHT NOW? IT SURE AS HELL WON’T TELL US. (And I will not apologize for shouting; we all should be.)

        It is interesting to note that all that and more was taking place during the Cold War, when we excoriated the old Soviets for dong the same things to their own people. After we had imported Nazis in OPERATION PAPERCLIP, in part for their wartime medical information. Information gathered using the same monstrous methods.

        Those of us in the reform community aware of ‘deep politics’ are only too aware of Gub’mint perfidy. And thus are aware of just how deep the evil runs. And a significant part of that evil is drug prohibition.

        • kaptinemo says:

          I got so caught up in answering Windy that I forgot my original intent in returning:

          Home Office drugs adviser Nigel Voden held in crack cocaine raid

          Strange times. Very strange times we live in.

        • Windy says:

          My dad was one of the lucky ones, he’d been feeling more tired than he thought he should for a few months so he went to the doctor, they thought he had congestive heart failure, and that he had a lot of fluid in his lungs, they decided to take him into surgery to remove most of the fluid, that’s when they discovered the mesothelioma. He went home after a week in the hospital, he’d only been home a couple days when he threw a clot and died within an hour. He knew he was dying and told my brother, who was there to check on him. My brother did not want to believe it, Daddy lived in a small town without a hospital, he died before the ambulance got to him. My brother and I are looking into that ad on TV about mesothelioma victims, but Daddy died so many years ago it may be too late to get any compensation.

          Re: the gov
          The stories just keep piling up and people just keep trusting it ??? I don’t understand that trust.

        • Windy says:

          After reading that article, asbestos probably would have killed my mother, too, if her type A personality and smoking 4 packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day hadn’t given her a heart attack at the age of 63. She quit college (with only 15 hours left to graduation and a job as an interpreter in her future; she started UW at the age of 16, btw) to work in the shipyards during the war. My dad was 82 when he died.

  14. Servetus says:

    I watched Sicario today. The movie is the usual Hollywood action-drama, complete with stereotypical depictions of sleazebag drug agents who never obey the rules, or the laws, because their job is just too damned important for such unimportant details. The plot also provides a feminist twist with Emily Blunt as a very capable FBI agent. Emily, being ignorant of how things really work on-and-south of the border, gets to be shocked as the big-man mercenary-type DEA agents go about their business—what business we may never know. It’s always a big secret.

    The movie’s violent action may rate good box office, but for a popular flick, it misses an opportunity to educate viewers about the truth surrounding the drug war in Mexico. It depicts the ‘good-guys’ torturing suspects. It has the typical black-and-white, good-guy bad-guy conflict, plus a few shades of gray. But it doesn’t really mention the drug corruption in Mexico’s government. It never utters the word ‘plazas’, for instance, which is a term used in Mexico to describe the situation that encompasses everyone in the drug trade, including government, police, criminals, military, and ordinary people who are in the business part time, or only occasionally. Much of the drug money gets shared with the non-involved relatives of those in the drug business. It’s a common Mexican custom to share with family. Illegal Mexican itinerant farm workers in the U.S. typically send as much money as they can to their families who remain behind. Once they return to Mexico, the family hails them as heroes for their bravery, sacrifice, and generosity.

    I read somewhere that to make a movie in Mexico requires portraying the government and the country in a good way, otherwise you’ll never film in Mexico again. Movies that scare away tourists are probably the least of Mexico’s concerns, especially when it’s the banks and the upper government echelons that prop up the sagging economy with drug money from the U.S. and Europe.

  15. claygooding says:

    Today someone died from heroin,,

    someone died from methamphetamine,,

    someone died from cocaine,,

    someone died from alcohol,,

    someone died from pharmaceuticals,,

    However Today,,

    Cannabis gave someone their life back.

    Blatantly stolen from FB cause I couldn’t find the “I like the shit out of that button”.

  16. CJ says:

    uh hello there druggeddiogenes… if youve been reading this site for some time, maybe youve seen my posts too and thereby would know ive been advocating similarly as you. i definitely think that 12 step, disease theory etc. has done way more damage then good. The whole black & white, it’s their way or the high way (get it, lol, pun intended) its just garbage. They say an “addict” can never get enough, always wants more, will always want more. Well then what do they say to the heroin maintenance patients who are given the SAME amount of heroin every day and never use more than that and its that way for years? Or the few lucky ones who succeed on methadone maintenance and take the same dose for years?? LOL.

    Maia Salavitz, I’ve read her for years. I think I posted comments on her articles before too… From what I understand, Maia is a former heroin user that went thru it hard way, you know, like, she USED TO live her life the way I CURRENTLY live mine [homelessness, crime strictly to pay for prohibition priced drugs that would otherwise cost 8 cents to manufacture, 1 dollar perhaps to buy a bag but right now 10 dollars a bag, 3-10 bag a day…very hard to do without a six figure income] anyway, the thing with her is I think she got “clean” the “conventional” way… which these people really need to understand it is not likely for most users to get clean that way. However, it seems she advocates for progresive stuff so… but I have to be honest, this group shes vouching for/promoting or whatever… i mean guys, have you read some of the quotes from our new drug czar whose in recovery (traditional, hard liner 12 step recovery is what hes in) and hes homosexual too (so should be able to empathize with the genocide faced by the user) but this drug czar has said NOTHING promising and I said this years ago that one day wed get a drug czar JUST LIKE this and it would, to the uneducated, seem like a good thing… “oh hes in recovery… hell know what to do better than anyone” but no! just like Pete kinda said with the people offering “free” articles to him in exchange for a link, these people in recovery can be just as bad IF NOT WORSE than generic non using non recovering prohibitionists.. Because they are 10 x more stubborn and 10 x more wrong. Theyre like prohibitionists but with an additional deadly agenda and arrogance and ignorance.

    I mean its incredible shes vouching for this group… but the group includes freaking PAT KENNEDY and the new drug czar…!!! two people who need to be kept as far away from drug policy as anybody ! it just cant be good. can it?

  17. CJ says:

    BTW i really like that…. LOL “AA/12 Step/Prohibition Sanctioned Recovery: “ITS OUR WAY OR THE HIGH WAY” ” yes, it is definitely their way or the high way. I will take the high way, thank you very much.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .

      Now that’s just plain funny CJ. I’m on my way to Starbucks So I can give you two thumbs up for that line.

  18. NorCalNative says:

    CJ, thanks for checking in dude. Give my regards to Herr Owen.

    Enjoyed your take on the 12-step dance.

  19. kaptinemo says:

    Johann Hari on RT UK talking about drug prohibition. Anslinger is mentioned prominently. He lays out the various factors (economics, race, money, bureaucratic empire building, etc.) concisely.

    Well worth the time.

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