Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Reason's Jacob Sullum tries to wade through the bullshit:
So the government creates a black market that disproportionately hurts poor people, enforces its drug laws in a way that disproportionately hurts poor people, and responds to the resulting violence and disorder with police tactics that disproportionately hurt poor people. When civil libertarians object, they are dismissed as privileged pointy-heads who do not understand the problems of poor people.
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When I was growing up I remember learning that as a society, we held police, elected officials, and other authority figures to a higher moral standard. Now we justify barbaric behavior with the "Drug War," which is really just a war on the American People. Like our imperial foreign policy, we've allowed the ends to justify the means.
Hat tip: The Agitator
I only wish this was a work of fiction but it is not. When it comes to drug raids (often no-knock raids), suspects (whether guilty or innocent) are treated with a different standard when a life is taken by mistake.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
In this Bush economy the government continues to oppress us by limiting the types of economic stimulus we could provide ourselves. There are people starving in the world and we're converting corn to fuel. At the same time a true industrial crop isn't allowed to be grown, even in climates where it would be the most ideal crop. Hemp is forbidden, not for any rational reason. It doesn't contain the medicine found in its sister plant. The innovations stifled by these arbitrary and capricious regulations are immeasurable.
Lotus announces hemp-based Eco Elise: a new type of ‘green’ car:
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Although U.K.'s Prime Minister claims that the cannabis found on the street is of "lethal quality" and the White House is getting hysterical about the "dangers" of potent pot, the evidence refutes those claims. In fact alcohol and prescription drugs remain, by far, the deadliest substances. Cannabis, however, remains harmless.
Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal, Florida Says - NYTimes.com: "The Florida report analyzed 168,900 deaths statewide. Cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines caused 989 deaths, it found, while legal opioids — strong painkillers in brand-name drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin — caused 2,328.
Drugs with benzodiazepine, mainly depressants like Valium and Xanax, led to 743 deaths. Alcohol was the most commonly occurring drug, appearing in the bodies of 4,179 of the dead and judged the cause of death of 466 — fewer than cocaine (843) but more than methamphetamine (25) and marijuana (0)."
A Grandfather Looks Back on 40 Years of Happy Pot Smoking:
"Father's Day 2008 My Dear Ones,
Marijuana has been proven one of the safest therapeutically active drugs known to mankind. I have used it with little or no harm for 40 years. My mind still finds cannabis fun and enlightening after decades of inter-cranial adventures, and, as an adult, should you choose to employ a drug for such purposes, marijuana is the only drug I would recommend. For me, pot is fun and is very easy to walk away from, if need be. Also, cannabis possesses healing properties I'd ever dreamed or suspected possible. And as I continue to age, and I require more healing from my sports and work-related injuries, trusty cannabis helps me maintain my quality and love of life.
Much Love,
Dad (and now Grandpa)
Friday, May 30, 2008
Here's Memphis own Frayser Boy, from the Academy Award winning group Three 6 Mafia, from his latest album Da Key with Hood Thang.
Al Kapone, featuring Three 6 Mafia and Young AJ with We on Deck from True Underdog album to be released later this year.
I was going to feature a pretty hot rapper out of Texas, I even had a cool post title already picked out, but Universal Music Group seems to have disallowed embedding their YouTube videos. Sucks to be them because it prevents me from promoting their goods. Hey, UMG, you're hurting artists punishing your customers and their fans!
I've discontinued the use of "Funky Friday" for the cannabis related alliteration "Four 20 Friday". Like always, I'll usually post it in time for 4:20 on Friday afternoon and tag it "music" so you can search later. Formerly I tried to post my music recommendations at 4:20, but that really doesn't give you any time to queue up the track and roll one. As a courtesy to the artist and my readers, I'm featuring I've now added a Amazon store link to buy the album containing my featured track, when available.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Psychwatch, the psychology watchdog blog, writes about "add on" drugs which are slightly different, to retain patent protection, but no more effective than the original drugs. By slightly changing the chemical makeup of the drug pharmaceutical companies can manipulate doctors in to prescribing the "new and improved" version instead of an old formulation which would be filled with a generic. By using technicalities written into the patent law Big Pharma is bilking the patients and insurance companies out of millions in generic drug savings.
Patent law's intent is to protect the little guy from the competition stealing his/her idea. Now the US Patent and Trade Office serves to protect the revenue streams of the largest corporate patent holders. If we're going to have patent law at all it should be written to encourage innovation, not prevent it.
I blame modern medicine, specifically pharmaceuticals, for creating superbugs like MSRA, which incidentally kills more people than AIDS. MSRA is is a form of staph bacteria that is resistant to most common antibiotics. Not only are most antibiotics ineffective at treating MSRA they are unnecessary to treat most skin infections. An MSRA skin infection and is killed within days with a Tea Tree Oil based salve available at Wild Oats/Whole Foods for about $15. That's less than my office visit copay.
Slate.com has a piece on the overuse of antibiotics, specifically pressure felt by the doctor from patients who believe antibiotics are necessary to cure common ailments. Now, a placebo is being marketed to parents to fool their children into thinking that they need a pill to feel better. Do we really want to foster drug dependency in our children? The ONDCP believes that now America's pill popping is becoming a problem, but the government's management of the pharmaceutical industry, and western medicine's disdain for anything alternative, natural, homeopathic, or herbal that exacerbates the problem. The answer is to deregulate the medical industry, both conventional and alternative medicine, and let patients and doctors, rather than legal standards, decide the best and most effective course of treatment.
Pill popping is extremely dangerous and the risks are well documented but rarely taken into consideration by doctors looking to satisfy patient demand. In comparison alternative herbal remedies like medical marijuana are extremely safe and non-toxic to the human body. Of course what makes cannabis unsafe is the threat of government breaking down your door at night.
Hat tip to the Drug Roar blog.
