I had a nice one-on-one interview with a High School student (set up by his teacher) who is doing a project on drug policy reform for a sociology class. It was really great to see his passion and enthusiasm for learning more about the subject.
He was light years ahead of what I knew at his age.
When I was in High School there was hardly the possibility of having access to information on drug policy, let alone writing about reform. So while it still may be taboo to some to talk about legalization in High School (as my interviewer mentioned), we’ve come a long way.
As long as there are young people who want to know more, we’ll be there to help give them the facts.
(Oh, and when you finish with that project, if you want to stop by and let us know how it went, we’d love to hear.)
About 12 years ago, my son’s friend came to me wanting information to use in his high school project. He was attending school in the US, I believe in the Dakotas, but wherever it was, he described as a real unenlightened area. I turned him on to drugwardistortions.org and drugwarfacts.org as well as the Schaeffer library. He did the research from there. His essay, which he read out in class, included lots of hard facts, quoted studies etc. Of course it was rabidly anti-prohibition. He told me about it next time I saw him. He said that his teacher was super cool, but the other students’ jaws dropped. They had never heard such before. He also received a high mark on the project. I felt pretty good about that. One must sow seeds where one can, and the young minds are the most fertile ground. I have wondered how that one episode might have affected the thinking of his entire class, and their electoral choices since.
Each day prohibition lights fuses for those who then seek legal reform, people whose interest in law and politics might not have been sparked were it not for some unpleasant encounter with the drug war.
This situation makes drug wars the perfect birthing-ground for revolutionaries. The rebellious and incendiary influence of the rising rebellion is destined to spread and obliterate every corrupted, anachronistic species of government-mediated social control it encounters. In the future, How-To-Manuals on overthrowing failed governments will begin with “Chapter 1: End a Drug Warâ€. The consequences of this new and ongoing political influence will be as fun and spectacular as a 4th of July celebration.
Gene Sharp at the Einstein Institution has “198 methods of non-violent action” that is a part of his teaching on how to start a non-violent revolution.
It’s worth checking out for suggestions useful in public as well as the internet. Old Albert and Gene were friends and Einstein wrote some introductory material in one of Gene’s first books.
He’s currently teaching at UMASS.
He’s got a lot of material worth reading. Based on your comment history I’m confident you wont be wasting your time should you choose to visit Mr. Sharp and his institute.
truth and time are on our side
At this point, the truth is almost irrelevant. The changing perceptions are the real nails in the coffin.
We live in interesting times. The internet helps bring rapid change — why else would governments want to regulate it so badly?
The damage is already done, all that’s left is the bleeding.
For a few years now, I’ve been asking youngens and anyone who has influences over the yute of America (and 20 somethings as well)–to get them interested in some aspect of public/national service i.e. Law Enforcement, military, Fire Departments, Park Rangers, Habitat, Red Cross etc. The purpose: to dilute the system from the inside. I don’t think it would be impossible for a cop to boycott illegal laws like the drug laws . . . the more of our kind who are eligible to join up will make it harder for a ‘free-thinking’ officer to get fired or punished. I believe service grants one more respect and influence in the community, while teaching the individual what kind of grease the gears need and what kind of parts to make the machine move. If I was legally eligible to, I’d so be a police officer for a few years.
“So while it still may be taboo to some to talk about legalization in High School…”
It may also be forbidden under some schools’ Zero Tolerance policies. Just a guess, but from what I’ve seen, entirely plausible. Heard anything like this, Pete?
I wouldn’t be surprised, but I would imagine such a thing would likely be a misinterpretation by administrators who can’t understand that talking about changing the law isn’t the same thing is advocating drug use.