Drug War Explained
By Thoreau
A friend who doesn’t pay much attention to law and politics asked me what would happen if he had a marijuana plant in his house. Here’s the answer I gave him:
- Masked men with guns would break down your door.
- They would confiscate your assets.
- They would drag you away in front of your family.
- They would lock you in a cage with violent criminal gangs.
- They would do these things because if you were allowed to grow and use that plant then something bad might happen.
He didn’t quite know what to make of that.
« « You can’t spell “defeat” without D, E, and A | Main | Foreign students good, domestic students better! » »
Comment by Dave W, —
July 21, 2009 @ 12:11 am
Preach it, T. (I luv the Obama era so far)
Comment by Aresen —
July 21, 2009 @ 12:27 am
You forgot the part about shooting your dog.
Pingback by The Drug War In a Nutshell —
July 21, 2009 @ 9:59 am
[...] explains to a friend what will happen to him if he decides to grow a marijuana plant on his [...]
Comment by digamma —
July 21, 2009 @ 10:55 am
You forgot the part about getting your address wrong, breaking down somebody else’s door, and shooting his dog.
Comment by dhex —
July 21, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
and then fine you for having a broken front door and a dead animal on your property without a permit.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
July 21, 2009 @ 3:27 pm
So, how many months do we need to go without a raid on a California marijuana dispensary before acknowledging that Obama has, in the face of the Drug War Industry’s opposition, ended them?
Somebody give me a number.
Comment by cervantes —
July 21, 2009 @ 3:42 pm
Weird it is indeed, but the world has entirely ignored the actual true fact that since January 1, 2009, marijuana possession has been de facto legalized in Massachusetts. Technically, it can get you a citation worth a $100 fine, with no record of the offense, but since you aren’t required to show the cop ID or give your real name, they aren’t even bothering. You can walk down Beacon St. smoking a joint, although I don’t recommend it since the cops will confiscate your weed so they can take it home and smoke it themselves.
But anyway, the point is, we’ve already done this, and absolutely nothing discernible has happened except that the courts aren’t as busy and we have fewer wards of the state. Otherwise, there is no noticeable change to society, or daily life. Kind of like gay marriage, come to think of it.
But if this actual true fact were reported in the corporate media, other states might try the same thing.
I believe that growing pot in your house is still technically illegal but obviously they aren’t going to bother you for a single plant. They could still bust large-scale growing operations but I haven’t heard of them doing it lately. Since they can’t bust users, they can’t flip them to get at dealers, so the whole marijuana prohibition project pretty much isn’t happening here.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
July 21, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
Perhaps the police are being kept too busy by the zombie attacks. Turns out, the wingnuts were right about gay marriage. Who knew?
Is this true? Do you have any sources you could point us to?
It makes sense, but it would be great to have actual data to back that up. Have you seem something, cervantes?
Comment by cervantes —
July 21, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
Well Joe, it’s much too soon to have any statistics on the overall court and correctional caseload, but it’s an inescapable conclusion that there are now zero prosecutions and convictions for marijuana possession. Exactly what that will mean in the scheme of things will be clear in a few more months. Meanwhile, go ahead and light up at the next gay wedding!
Comment by Thoreau —
July 21, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
joe, if somebody else goes off on Obama and you have reason to argue that the criticism is ill-founded, yeah, go at it. But if it’s Dave W., just take a sip of syrup-flavored beverage and move on. Arguing with him goes nowhere good.
Comment by All Your Summer Songs —
July 21, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
Somebody needs to slip Ben Nelson & Evan Bayh some reefer. In no time, they’ll be singing, “I was going to obstruct an up/down vote on health care reform, but then I got, then I got high, I got high”.
Pingback by Mike’s Blog Roundup | My Blog Channel —
July 22, 2009 @ 10:02 am
[...] Unqualified Offerings: Drug War Explained [...]
Comment by TakeOurCountryBack —
July 22, 2009 @ 10:10 am
What’s even more strange…….
marijuana has killed very few if any people, and yet it is illegal.
Hundreds of thousands of people are harmed or killed by pharmaceutical drugs every year, and yet they are still legal.
WTF?
Comment by joe from Lowell —
July 22, 2009 @ 11:00 am
Tru dat.
Is that even true, though? Possession above about a couple of ounces is still subject to the same laws as before. Were there really a large number of arrests for simple possession of less than a couple ounces of pot in Massachusetts before?
Comment by Gus —
July 22, 2009 @ 11:32 am
Not strange at all when you follow the money. If weed is made legal, who is going to make money off it? No one. It’s ridiculously simple to grow with a minimum effort. Or, uh, so I hear.
Comment by TakeOurCountryBack —
July 22, 2009 @ 11:51 am
To Gus;
You sir are correct!
Big pharma can’t make money from weed because it is natural so by law they can’t patent it. It’s the same problem with all natural and herbal remedies. They can’t patent them either so they try to criminalize them outright or criminalize those who would sell them to us.
Comment by The Angry Optimist —
July 22, 2009 @ 12:24 pm
Please, “TakeOur”, this isn’t some Truther-like conspiracy where “Big Pharma” is conspiring against your potheaded self. Next time someone asks you if you want some kush, do yourself a favor and pass: clearly you’ve baked yourself dumb.
Comment by TakeOurCountryBack —
July 22, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
The Angry Optimist Said;, “TakeOur”, this isn’t some Truther-like conspiracy where “Big Pharma” is conspiring against your potheaded self. Next time someone asks you if you want some kush, do yourself a favor and pass: clearly you’ve baked yourself dumb.
Angry Optimist,
You sound like you might work for the drug industry to write something as idiotic as that!
I could accuse you of being a paranoid drug rep, or a drug addled pharmaceutical drug user, but I don’t know you personally. All I know about you for sure is you call yourself The Angry Optimist which by the way is an oxymoron…… And you think I have problems!
where in my posts do you get the impression that I use any drugs?
I don’t do weed or any other drugs for that matter.
I am simply pointing out that Big Pharma sells drugs that are harmful and even deadly and they do it legally and with impunity. Marijuana has never killed anyone but it is illegal. I am not advocating marijuana use, I am simply pointing out the hypocrisy.
BTW there are many studies out there that show that marijuana has medicinal qualities. I don’t have any health issues that would require the use of medicinal marijuana, but if I did I would choose it over a pharmaceutical drug any day.
Here are some real drug facts for you…………..
Prescription drugs are actually the fourth-leading cause of death in this country, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Those are numbers that come out of conventional medicine. The actual number of deaths caused by prescription drugs in this country is actually much higher when you look at independent sources of information, such as the Death by Medicine report, authored in part by Dr. Gary Null. Just type “Death by Medicine” into any search engine and you’ll find that article.
You defend Corporate sponsored mass murder and say that I have baked myself dumb.
You are either clearly uninformed about the subject you are attempting to discuss or you are a right wing corporate sycophant that believes in all things corporate. Either way you should get the facts before making accusations.
Comment by dhex —
July 22, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
i think this is probably a less than useful comparison to draw for anyone not already convinced. for several reasons, firstly being you’re including antibiotics and all sorts of therapies in that giant category versus a single drug.
secondly, turning it into a corporate conspiracy of mass murder presumes agreement on several dozen issues – and across dozens of companies – that are unrelated. it only makes sense if you don’t think about it very hard.
thirdly the comparison you’re trying to make (re: legality and harm) is baseless. alcohol is sold legally and is harmful to the body. but marijuana impairs driving and isn’t the coolest thing to put into your lungs. at this point i know you want to say “but what about big tobacco” but that is a bad strategy as well. just because a is bad to smoke and b is worse to smoke doesn’t mean b excuses the existence of a.
a general statement of “marijuana is far less harmful than many other drugs, and incredibly safe in comparison to other recreational drugs” is both accurate and not-crazy-sounding.
Comment by The Angry Optimist —
July 22, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
“TakeOur” – FWIW, I support the full and immediate legalization of any drug currently in the CSA. There, full stop.
That said, you sound like a nutcase. Pharmaceuticals have saved millions of lives, but to make a political point, you want to talk like a Tinfoil Hatter and blame the “Big, Scary Corporations” for “Corporate Mass Murder”.
No wonder I think you’ve baked yourself dumb: you sound like a drug-addled, braindead hippie or hipster.
Comment by GinSlinger —
July 22, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
Like vitamins and herbal supplements and whatnot? You know, those things you can’t find on grocery store shelves, or in independent storefronts advertising “all natural health”? Or on the Internet?
And while people can grow their own tobacco, we still see Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds on store shelves, even with the ridiculous rate that packaged tobacco is taxed at.
Yep, no way at all that a corporation could possibly profit from legalized marijuana. Or any drug for that matter, just ask Bayer.
Comment by TakeOurCountryBack —
July 22, 2009 @ 4:03 pm
To The Angry Optimist;
You can’t refute the actual statistics so you resort to name calling and slander…….how republican of you!
You can ignore the facts or you can pretend they are not real. It doesn’t change them though!
The CDC reports that from 1999 to 2004, unintentional poisoning death from prescription drugs such as sleeping pills, antidepressants and tranquilizers grew 84 percent to 20,950 deaths, overtaking cocaine and heroin combined as the leading cause of lethal overdose.
The FDA compiled reports from 1998 to 2005 and finds that dangerous side effects and deaths from prescription and over-the-counter medications almost tripled to nearly 90,000 incidents.
That is over 100,000 people killed by Pharmaceutcal drugs in one year. I’m not making that up it come from the CDC.
Since you can’t refute the evidence I’m sure you will have some more droll comments to make and a few new names to call me.
Stick to facts……. If you can
Comment by The Angry Optimist —
July 22, 2009 @ 4:26 pm
I consider “droll” a compliment, but considering your demonstrated intellectual capacity, I doubt you actually know what that word means.
you can recite this figure or that figure all you like, “TakeOur” – that isn’t my point. First of all, I would like to see the methodologies behind the CDC/FDA “studies” you cite: were these intentional overdoses? Failure to heed basic warning labels? Lethal drug interactions?
But, on a larger note, pharmaceuticals (I repeat myself here) have saved millions of lives and improved the quality of life for billions. Sleep aids, cholesterol medicines, BP medications, allergy meds, asthma inhalers, painkillers…all of these things are, on net, a good thing. And, as pointed out, your snake-oil “natural” remedies make profits to the tune of billions from “Big Pharma”.
So, you’re just wrong on two fronts:
1. Big Pharma has no interest in suppressing marijuana; if anything, their ability to capture even more billions in that market when it becomes legal means that they are chomping at the bit for its legality.
2. you’re not wrong in saying that there are many deaths associated with pharmaceuticals, but you’re also absolutely twisting the truth to serve your own twisted ends. The balance of “lives lost” and “lives saved” when it comes to drugs is so tipped in favor of “saved” that you’re bordering on lying when you hyperventilate like a hysterical teenage girl.
Comment by The Angry Optimist —
July 22, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
What?! No it isn’t. You cited 20K incidents in a five-year timeframe and 90K incidents in a seven-year timeframe. That isn’t 100K per annum.
Like I said, you’ve baked yourself retarded.
Comment by Xrepublican —
July 22, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
I used to work for a big pharma company and NO they do not want any competition in any area. The real corporate devils in all this are the alcohol manufactures. John McCain’s wife has $100 MILLION dollars from selling beer in Arizona. Alcohol manufactures don’t want any competition either.
You can throw seeds out your back door for free marijuana but have to pay big money for the RX version, Marinol. A 12 pack of Budwiser is not cheap either. No I’m sorry, free just doesn’t equate to corporations.
Besides we had 10% of the population of the US addicted to drugs (90% of them from patent medicine, containging moraphine and heroin)in the early 1900’s and most of those were American housewives. We have about 10% addicted to drugs today, although not by corporations that make money off other people’s miseries (unless you consider criminal drug cartels corporations).
Drugs were made illegal as a way of controlling minority populaitons. Arizona banned marijuana because Mexicans used it. San Francisco banned opium because the Chinese used it (and they would use it to rape white women). New Orleans banned cocaine because it drove those black men crazy and they were “a rape’n white women”.
Marijuana, a harmless plant used for centuries as medicine but money and bigots make the world go round so we MUST keep it illegal. Wouldn’t it be funny if the taxes generated from it’s use in California was the way it became legal.
Comment by GinSlinger —
July 22, 2009 @ 7:13 pm
Xrepublican,
The beer manufacturers were unable to prevent homebrewing from being relegalized, do they really look like they’re suffering as a result?
Sure, distillation is still illegal, and so are recreational drugs, but the point stands that not everyone will want to continue to grow their own when large scale commercial pot cultivation comes on the market.
People pay a premium for consistency and ease, and there’s little to suggest that should marijuana be legalized, “corporations” won’t make money off of it. They may be reluctant to endorse legalization, but push cigarette taxes up just a little more and PM and RJR might change their tunes.
Comment by ajay —
July 23, 2009 @ 8:22 am
but the point stands that not everyone will want to continue to grow their own when large scale commercial pot cultivation comes on the market.
Another example might be: food.
Comment by dhex —
July 23, 2009 @ 8:34 am
if anything the whole homebrewing thing lead to the popular emergence of the craftbrewing thing, and now the big ole american breweries are playing catch-up to market tastes.
Comment by Professor Coldheart —
July 23, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Late to the party, but:
So, how many months do we need to go without a raid on a California marijuana dispensary before acknowledging that Obama has, in the face of the Drug War Industry’s opposition, ended them?
Somebody give me a number.
Considering that medical marijuana activists are still being raided and convicted (here’s one in July, here’s one in May, one in April, one in March – all of which postdate the Attorney General’s March announcement), I remain supremely f#%$ing skeptical.
But, you asked, and I like the chance to put my beliefs to the test. So I’ll give you a number.
When 48 months pass without a medical marijuana dispensary being raided, I will consider the War on Marijuana over. Not before.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
July 23, 2009 @ 11:55 am
Professor,
all of which postdate the Attorney General’s March announcement
You need to read stories before linking to them. That “July” case was from a raid in March – the last one to take place, actually. You’re “April and May” cased, likewise.
We all know that Obama ordered the raids to end last March, and that the DEA manufactured a tax case to carry out one more. Now, those have stopped, too.
But as for your answer: four years? Four years? If three and half years go by without a single raid in violation of Obama’s order to stop them, you’re still going to be “skeptical?”
That’s not skepticism. Skepticism is a determination to follow the data. If there are three and a half years of data demonstrating that the raids have ended, and you continue to insist that they have not, that is precisely the opposite of skepticism.
Comment by Patrick D —
July 23, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
ajay,
Food? How about selling bottles of potable water (at quite a profit) to people who have ready access to plenty of it at little or no cost?