Joe Biden’s Ideal Drug War

Pot Bombs

Framing US drug enforcement as a war creates an excuse to upend self-governing customs that protect human rights. Part of prohibition’s survival strategy encourages rights violations when it enlists laws to shield drug war ideologies from critics.

Nothing is perfect, including ideologies. Confronted by imperfections, some ideologues panic. They fanatically defend their own fact-free ideological social identities. Some of the more crazed idealists even launch wars to reach the unreachable reality of their ideal—for example, a drug-free society.

One of the drug war’s ideological lynchpins was ushered into existence during the Reagan era formation of the ONDCP with the help of then-Senator Joe Biden. In addition to Mr. Biden coining the term drug czar, a new and peculiar statutory clause blocked or bottlenecked federal research funding that might prove the government wrong in its declarations of the dangers of schedule I substances. A Controlled Substances Act (CSA) stipulation authorizes, if not encourages, researchers and drug enforcement officials to misrepresent the physical effects of marijuana and other medicinally useful schedule I substances:

The Director shall ensure that no Federal funds appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration.

Ideally, ideologies shouldn’t exist within viable legal systems. Ideals ordinarily don’t represent reality. Neither should laws entangle citizens who reject anti-drug ideologies, or disavow people preferring thoughtful persuasions that might otherwise guide citizens to pursue their own best health and happiness.

Mr. Biden’s ideals encourage governments to publish disinformation about controlled substances—propaganda that can turn deadly. His habit of pandering to drug enforcement will harm his chances in 2020 should the arch drug-war-architect run for president.

In Joe Biden’s 2017 e-book—likely published in anticipation of a presidential run—scanning for the words ‘marijuana’ or ‘cannabis’ produces no results. Much is said instead of his son Beau Biden’s untimely death from brain cancer, and the conventional and experimental, non-cannabinoid drugs Beau received.

The Biden memoir also links illegal drugs to the existence of non-drug crimes. Mr. Biden boasts of how he helped put 100,000 new police officers on the streets and how much it reduced crime. No mention is made of the resultant overcrowded prisons holding drug war convicts, nor the lives of US citizens and internationals wasted in a bloody and pointless conflict targeting the use of benign and useful medicinal substances.

If Democrats aim to give Joe Biden a shot at being president in 2020, they might take a few moments to disable prohibition’s pivotal war propaganda vehicle—the cited schedule I drug research exclusion clause. The CSA language threatens Mr. Biden’s political campaign. The clause is toxic enough to threaten any political entity refusing to abolish it.

A healthier, brighter and more peaceful future is possible as more voters choose to support political candidates and legislators favoring laws assuring truthful drug and chemical information is made freely available to American citizens and the world.

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21 Responses to Joe Biden’s Ideal Drug War

  1. NCN says:

    Just say NO to Joe.

    • WalStMonky says:

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      What if his opponent is one of the turkeys in the White House?

      I wonder if VP Biden taking a position which supports the regulated re-legalization of cannabis is even within the realm of the possible.

      What is very much in the realm of the possible is one of the candidates including comprehensive cannabis law reform as a significant part of the candidate’s campaign platform. I mean who’da thunk it possible that any candidate for Governor would do that? But today we’ve got (in no particular order) Jared Polis in Colorado, Gavin Newsome in California, Kate Brown in Oregon, Phil Murphy in New Jersey, Ned Lamont in Connecticut, J.B. Pritzker in Illinois, Janet Mills in Maine, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Jay Insley in Washington, Ralph Torres in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Tim Walz in Minnesota, Steve Sisolak in Nevada, Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico, Gina Raimondo in Rhode Island and Phil Scott in Vermont.
      Marijuana In The Governor’s Mansion: Record Number Of Candidates Say Legalize It

      What does that say to me? That being in favor of regulated re-legalization is no longer political suicide.

  2. kaptinemo says:

    It is pretty much a given that the dominant element in an culture gets to dictate that culture’s mores…and its mores are reflected in its laws. The dominant element of the culture at the time Senator Biden threw the switch animating the Frankenstein’s Monster we know as the ONDCP was represented by the iconic fictional character ‘Archie Bunker’.

    Although intended as a caricature deserving of scorn by its creators, it nonetheless was embraced by those it was intended to mock as being an accurate representation of their mores. Mores that included drug prohibition.

    It goes without saying that the character’s consumption of alcohol and nicotine hypocritically undercut his position about other drugs, but the character’s mental retinal blind spot regarding such hypocrisy matched that of the cohort he was meant to represent.

    But now, every day the Grim Reaper swings his scythe, and the number of those whose mores justified drug prohibition are dwindling rapidly. They are being replaced by those whose mores are powered more from an insistence on factual information underpinning their laws rather than deep-seated racial and ethnic bigotry, which were in no small part the rationale for the drug laws in the first place.

    This is being reflected by the ever growing number of States that are passing legislation to ameliorate or outright remove those laws, and are only resisted by a dwindling rearguard of prohibitionists who cannot conceal their self-serving agenda for doing so from scrutiny by a public which has more reason than ever to look.

    Biden, Pelosi, et al put up a brave front, acting as if they do not feel the GR’s bony fingers on their shoulders, but they cannot dodge the fact that politically they are being faced with younger challengers who seek to usurp their positions, even as this is being written. Younger challengers that, true to their mores, want none of their predecessor’s DrugWar, and seek to end it.

    ‘Archie Bunker’ is dead, as are many of those he represented, and with them, the mores for justifying drug prohibition and the political force to maintain it. It’s long past time our political system paid its final respects and acceded to the reality.

  3. hohoho says:

    “Archie Bunker is Dead”
    The perfect sign to take to any future Biden presidential rally.

  4. darkcycle says:

    Here it is, a Thanksgiving tradition…The entire WKRP “Turkeys Away!” episode. Hope all have plenty of food, and abundant supplies of appetite enhancers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR6yA59LcRQ

  5. divadab says:

    Thanks for the reminder about Joe Biden’s authoritarianism and prohibitionism. He’s also responsible for making student loans undischargeable in bankruptcy – relegating millions of aspiring middle class college debt-owers to indentured servitude – forever.

    That anyone is taking the prospect of Joe Biden as a candidate seriously is pretty bad. Trump’ll tear him to pieces, as he deserves to be.

    Anyway, happy thanksgiving. I’m thankful for re-legalized cannabis in my jurisdiction, despite the best efforts of Joe Biden and his ilk.

    • WalStMonky says:

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      Balance transfers to a credit card makes the debt dischargeable. Taking advantage of promotional APRs can result in de minimis interest charges. Of course this has to be done when the debtor still has a good FICO score.

  6. primus says:

    Comment from TylerPoody contains a link which leads to a porn site.

  7. darkcycle says:

    It’s “The Daily Mail”….but holy hell….utter garbage. Teratogenic LITERALLY means “cancer causing”. The reefer lies are thicker than I’ve seen them in years here.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6423269/Could-medical-cannabis-new-thalidomide.html?fbclid=IwAR3lu5qvoUOu1-RsbNyx6_kWsGDFhWY-Sv32Tr-P3MVe-dj_aQJZRs6vUuU

    • DdC says:

      How low can they go?

      Thalidomide was promoted by Clinton/McCaffrey as an appetite stimulant after patients were found using Ganja for Wasting Syndrome. Thousands of years of Ganja use by pregnant mothers is enough Science for me to see the Prohibitionists have no souls. Careful DC, reading the daily dribble can cause blindness and hairy palms.

      Thalidomide v Cannabis 04/08/02
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1106
      Thalidomide: New Results
      In January, a thalidomide developer, Celgene, of Warren, New Jersey, announced that the data from its trial in 99 people with AIDS wasting showed a statistically significant weight gain. The company seems to have “jumped the gun,” as one person close to the trial put it. No data were yet available from the trial to justify Celgene’s press release.
      Drug company rebuked for marketing thalidomide as cancer fighter

      THE THALIDOMIDE TRAGEDY: 02/13/04
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1147

      Ganja Mothers, Ganja Babies
      http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/1999/01/01/1422

      Text of Jamaican Study on Prenatal effects
      Pediatrics, February 1994, Volume 93, Number 2, pp. 254-260
      http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/medical/can-babies.htm
      Measurements and main results. Exposed and nonexposed neonates were compared at 3 days and 1 month old, using the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale, including supplementary items to capture possible subtle effects. There were no significant differences between exposed and nonexposed neonates on day 3. At 1 month, the exposed neonates showed better physiological stability and required less examiner facilitation to reach organized states. The neonates of heavy-marijuana-using mothers had better scores on autonomic stability, quality of alertness, irritability, and self-regulation and were judged to be more rewarding for caregivers.

      Conclusions. The absence of any differences between the exposed on nonexposed groups in the early neonatal period suggest that the better scores of exposed neonates at 1 month are traceable to the cultural positioning and social and economic characteristics of mothers using marijuana that select for the use of marijuana but also promote neonatal development. Pediatrics 1994;93:254-260; prenatal marijuana exposure, neonatal outcomes, Jamaica, Brazelton scale supplementary items.

    • WalStMonky says:

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      If hysterical rhetoric were an Olympic event the Daily Mail would win all the gold medals.

      Did anyone point out that thalidomide is an FDA approved medicine?

  8. strayan says:

    “A dog can’t tell you, ‘Hey, I smell marijuana’ or ‘I smell meth,’” said Tommy Klein, Rifle’s police chief. “They have the same behavior for any drug that they’ve been trained on. If Tulo were to alert on a car, we no longer have probable cause for a search based on his alert alone.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/business/marijuana-legalization-police-dogs.html#click=https://t.co/IWI0NhOUDL

    Law enforcement finally admit that they cannot communicate with animals.

  9. DdC says:

    I’ll stick with the buds…

    The Rare and Unusual Moss That Mimics Cannabis
    https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/rare-unusual-moss-that-mimics-cannabis
    Researchers found that synthesized forms of PET bound to the same brain receptors as THC and activated cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2. However, PET was observed to be less potent than THC with much weaker psychoactive potential. Regardless, researchers noted similar effects to THC when tested on mice, such as lowered body temperature and slower movements.

    A Bud by Any Other Name: Check Out the Israeli Flower That Smells Like Weed
    https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/cannabis-by-any-other-name-the-israeli-flower-that-smells-like-weed

    There’s A ‘Legal High’ You Can Buy Online, And It Isn’t Cannabis
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2018/10/28/theres-a-legal-high-you-can-buy-online-and-it-isnt-cannabis/#63a22d1f3d80

    Cannabis’s Entourage Effect: Why Whole Plant Medicine Matters
    https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/cannabis-entourage-effect-why-thc-and-cbd-only-medicines-arent-g

  10. DdC says:

    From Joe Biden’s Lies into RAVE Act Legislation…

    United Nations Drug Report Disappointing
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/2059
    Joe Biden’s Ugly History With American Drug Policy
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1078

    TO…

    PRESS RELEASE: Participant Screening Begins in Phase 3 Clinical Trials of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD
    https://maps.org/news/media/7466-press-release-participant-screening-begins-in-phase-3-clinical-trials-of-mdma-assisted-psychotherapy-for-ptsd

    Recruitment has begun for MAPS’ much-anticipated multi-site Phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03537014

    The research will take place at 14 sites (listed below) and enroll 100-150 volunteers with severe PTSD. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and have been diagnosed with PTSD, and must be in good physical health to participate.

    This study will compare the effects of three experimental sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy versus placebo. The treatments will take place during an approximately 12-week treatment period, which includes three preparatory sessions, three experimental sessions, and nine integration sessions.

    This will be the first of two Phase 3 trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD conducted under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. The second trial will take place after an interim analysis of the data from the first trial, and will enroll an additional 100-150 participants. European trials are planned to start in 2019.

    If the Phase 3 trials demonstrate significant efficacy and an acceptable safety profile, FDA approval is expected by 2021. Once approved, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy would only be available by prescription in supervised therapeutic settings from specially trained mental health providers.
    https://maps.org/research/mdma?pk_campaign=2018-11-Email-Phase3-Recruitment&pk_kwd=text-MDMA-assisted-psychotherapy-2021

    The following sites are now accepting enrollment inquiries from individuals living in or near the following locations: North Hollywood, California; Boulder, Colorado; Fort Collins, Colorado; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03537014

    The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
    https://maps.org/

  11. DdC says:

    An Apology from Joe Biden for His Drug War Sins
    Would Be Nice
    https://t.co/ka5eYzaqXC

    “Joe Biden: Mass Incarceration Zealot”
    https://twitter.com/DendeCannabist/status/1085971648820305920

    Biden needs to apologize a lot. Whenever he gives a speech, is being interviewed or pretty much any time he opens his mouth in public, he should say he’s sorry for the bad drug laws he helped create.

    • Joe's underpants says:

      This skidmark, this foul “stronzo” on the body politic, this spawn of Joisey racism…. if the Dems dare to put this neo-fascist up for president they might as well have four more years of Trump. Seems like the same shit….

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