"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." Yet California's Proposition 36 has resulted in a policy of forcing drug law offenders to effectively accept religion in return for their freedom. This is accomplished by requiring participation in so-called "12-step programs.” The current system appears to operate under the presumption that drug use constitutes addiction (a truly rare condition, by the way). Or does it presume “if you do not submit, you are either an evil threat or suffering from a mental illness?” At one time, such values would have been righteously scorned; our African Americans might find this interesting, as would be expected of those prizing religious freedom.
A friend of mine was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility after failing to complete a court-ordered 12-step program. During her confinement, she and other inmates were subjected to a program which began with ninety days of isolation from any contact with anyone outside of the facility, and continued with routines that required them to actually stand and chant 12-step doctrine.
The friend, who does not suffer from addiction, was basically subjected to ritualistic cult abuse, requiring that she admit to the crime of addiction, admit to that crime being a life-long, uncorrectable condition, and "turn her life over to a higher power."
By accepting this system as an alternative to punishment, we are making criminals of ourselves. Hypocrisy is not a solution. We are only substituting humiliation, demoralization and destruction of integrity for physical incarceration. And confinement to this "invisible prison" can be a life sentence.
In Big Bear Lake, California, a business known as Operation Breakthrough, with financial assistance from the city, has become the social center in the lives of a remarkable percentage of the population, called their "alumni." One alumnus explains how she "has a three-inch hole in the back of her head where the e-pill scraped off her serotonin." Another explains that the "problem with methamphetamine is that there's other stuff in their that doesn't get across the synapse and just stays there, floating around." Yet another informs us that "alcohol is not really a contributor to motor vehicle related injuries, since more accidents are caused by people who take their eyes off the road to look up an address or something. "Counselors" teach that "you need to learn to put up with your pain - don't take even one Vicodin because it will start your addiction all over." They even contacted every local physician, instructing them to not prescribe Ultram because it was addictive.
A personal acquaintance is denied the right to see his children unless visitation is supervised by Operation Breakthrough, which has instructed them to "shun" him, and instructed his ex-wife to require a hair follicle test. In a recent court appearance, his daughter was prepped coached into a testimony against her father, the message in which came right from the twisted mind of an Operation Breakthrough counselor. This, a case of true child abuse, will soon result in an emotional trauma which will follow that teen through the rest of her life.
We are furiously un-educating, mis-informing and propagandizing our people, effectively at gun-point. The corruption has even reached our medical community, where physicians are deceived or forced into operating in direct opposition to the Hippocratic Oath. Even some of our benefactors in the anti-prohibition movement are compromising their integrity and credibility, as they direct disproportionate attention to marijuana, as problematical as tobacco, over safer and more powerful drugs like amphetamines. Truth is truth. It is not something which one adapts to prevailing opinion.
From The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs, "Amphetamines taken orally can be used in excess with unfortunate results; but enormous quantities of oral amphetamines were consumed in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s with apparently little misuse. As late as 1963, indeed, the American Medical Association's Council on Drugs, while recognizing the possibility of misuse, reported that "at this time compulsive abuse of the amphetamines constitutes . . . a small problem [in the United States]." 1 Much the same finding was reported from Sweden (see Chapter 39)."
Note that the former chief of Scotland Yard's Narcotics Division, upon retirement, immediately went public with a cry to legalize all drugs. Read him here:
http://legalize.org.il/rashut/ellison-eng.htm .
In truth, drugs like methamphetamine and "ecstasy" are powerful tools with the ability to provide remarkable benefits unequaled by substitutes in areas such as pain control, emotional issues, cognition, learning and other quality of life concerns. Methamphetamine remains one of the one-hundred most prescribed drugs in children, and the military hold it in high regard. Take an I.Q. test the next time you are enjoying some meth; you’ll see yours raised 10 to 20 per cent. And meth administration, like Ritalin, in young children, results in the development of cognitive skills which remain with that person throughout life. Look at the obesity crisis that was once controllable by meth, but now has been turned into a never-ending cash cow for liars and frauds, flapping their arms and legs around in pathetic infomercials, or flapping their lips in lies about useless weeds. Though our combat pilots use meth before flying their bombs and guns on mission, the lowly civilian is arrested for using it to improve his driving ability, a use for which it could at one time be prescribed.
Ecstasy was a venerable and respected tool in marriage and relationship counseling. Its empathogenic qualities make it a wonder drug for issues of anger management and social dysfunctions. Yet we see nation-wide television ads show a young lady at a dance party suddenly succumbing to something that looks like exhaustion or sedative/alcohol overdose. Those of us who know would chuckle at this example of ignorance if it was not so tragic. ‘E’ has become the drug of choice in Australia, where its use is socially acceptable.
Opiates are also one of our most important tools. Remember that heroin is available, at no charge, to citizens of Great Britain. Great Britain is a nation where police officers are armed with billy-clubs, whistles and radios; only special response units are issued firearms. People drive, raise their children, work and play - and use heroin. And cops do not need guns.
As a society, we are going backwards at the hands of the insane, often cloaked with the excuse of "religious freedom," who deny science, logic and evidence, while embracing voodoo, myth, greed and deceit. Ignorance and abandonment of responsibility has even made fools of our educators when it was discovered that our public school system was endorsing and promoting an anti-drug program, emerging from the Scientology cult, which taught students such nonsense as using a sauna to remove drugs from the body, forcing them out in the form of colored ooze. Using our schools as a cult-like programming tool, while depriving our students of the capacity to reason, is a tragic and shameful crime, but we "teach" that drug use causes crime! We teach that the billions of dollars spent to incarcerate, injure and kill all over the globe is protecting our lives and freedom! This is as outrageous as non-concepts like "it has to hurt to be good" or "if it feels good it is bad." Note that studies now show that youth who are withheld from public schools and self-educated at home have a higher rate of college admission than publicly schooled youth. And note that the National Spelling Bee a few years ago found a home-schooled contestant taking first place. And second place. And third place. At least in southern California, I suspect that public primary education actually results in the impairment of one's ability to succeed. But with emphasis on self-esteem over knowledge, a generation of people has emerged who are rationally impaired, proud of it, and not amenable to enlightenment. “I think” or “I believe” has become the evidence to prove the incorrect, false or foolish.
Note that in the Netherlands, drugs are legally sold at drive through windows, prostitution is legal and the age of consent is thirteen. That probably explains why they have the world’s lowest rates of sexually-transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and violent crime.
Please remember that science has taught us something truthful and of no little significance: Those who abstain from drug and alcohol use constitute the most emotionally and psychologically unstable, disturbed and unhealthy segment of our population, while casual drug users remain the most healthy. This is a documented fact. The terms of engagement in the drug war certainly pose no challenge to these findings.
Drugs hold a big piece of the future. The control lobby clearly agrees. I will not surrender mine. I fear there is no truly polite manner in which to communicate this, but the fact is that those who “disagree” with the truth of this message have either been made fools of, or are a dangerous threat to humanity. I hope such can learn before it should become necessary to take their robes, spells and cross-sticks away. If push comes to shove, drugs will be the clear winner. Since the days of the Chinese Opium Wars, man has fought and died for his essential drugs. And we will continue to do so. The free world is closely watching a once proud America, now home to the least free, most misinformed and generally stupid population of that free world. They are patient and compassionate, but concerned. And with good reason, as we have seen.
This is not just another political cause. This is not a matter subject to opinion. This is an issue of lives; this is an issue of survival, entitlement and quality of life. Man is a social animal; it is part of our genetic heritage, and social responsibility is a real thing. Please accept yours. You are a fool to take the unpopular position regarding something of which you know nothing. You cannot know without evidence, meaning personal experience. Find somebody who is familiar and experienced, and ask them to guide you through your own learning process.
A personal account of my drug war tragedy appears near the bottom of the page at my web site,
http://b5.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?user=sbcs. It will open your eyes.
Thank you.
Dennis R. Hilton <
drhilton@officer.com>
PMB 152, POB 1989, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315
www.sbcspeakeasy.bravenet.com
Here are a few pointers to concerned thinking people:
The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (www.cognitiveliberty.org)
The CCLE is dedicated to protecting and advancing freedom of thought in the modern world of accelerating neurotechnologies. Our paramount concern is to foster the unlimited potential of the human mind and to protect freedom of thought.
The November Coalition (www.november.org)
Working to end drug war injustice, the November Coalition, a non-profit grassroots organization, was founded in 1997. Members educate the public about destructive, unnecessary incarceration due to the U.S. drug war.
The Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
The Alliance is the nation's leading organization working to end the war on drugs. We envision new drug policies based on science, compassion, health and human rights and a just society in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (
http://leap.cc)
After three decades of fueling the U.S. war on drugs with over half a trillion tax dollars and increasingly punitive policies, our court system is choked with ever-increasing prosecutions of nonviolent drug violations and our quadrupled prison population has made building prisons this nation's fastest growing industry. We have imprisoned more than 2.2 million of our citizens and every year we arrest an additional 1.6 million for nonviolent drug offenses - more per capita than any country in the world. The United States has 5 percent of the population of the world but 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Despite all that, illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and easier to get than they were 30 years ago. Meanwhile people are still dying in our streets and drug barons continue to grow richer than ever before. This scenario must be the very definition of a failed policy.
Current and former members of law enforcement have recently created a new and important drug-policy reform group called LEAP. The membership of LEAP believe that to save lives and lower the rates of disease, crime and addiction, as well as to conserve tax dollars, we must end drug prohibition. The stated U.S. drug policy goals of lessening the incidents of crime, drug addiction, juvenile drug use and stemming the flow of illegal drugs into this country have not been achieved. The failed policy of fighting a war on drugs has only magnified our problems but the U.S. still insists on continuing this war and also pressuring governments of other countries to perpetuate these unworkable policies. LEAP believes a system of regulation and control is more effective than one of prohibition.
The Open Society Institute (www.soros.org)
The Open Society Institute (OSI) is a private operating and grant making foundation based in New York City that serves as the hub of the Soros foundations network, a group of autonomous foundations and organizations in more than 50 countries. OSI and the network implement a range of initiatives that aim to promote open societies by shaping government policy and supporting education, media, public health, and human and women's rights, as well as social, legal, and economic reform.
Religious Leaders for a More Just and Compassionate Drug Policy (www.religiousleadersdrugpolicy.org)
We represent a group of religious leaders both clergy and religious academics who have felt called to speak out on an unpopular and controversial issue: U.S. Drug Policy particularly the "War on drugs" with its unjust and discriminatory laws against drug abusers. These unmerciful and stringent drug laws against users, abusers and sellers have resulted in "cruel and unusual punishment" for people with drug problems...
Veterans for More Effective Drug Strategies (www.vetsformeds.org)
Veterans for More Effective Drug Strategies favors the return of the drug problem to the domain of the medical profession. The 80-year old effort by law enforcement to resolve America's drug problem has failed and drug-related problems are growing steadily worse. Veterans for More Effective Drug Strategies formed as the US plans to expand our military involvement in the Colombian drug war. This is only one example of the increasingly militaristic nature of drug control efforts within the US and abroad. We call upon the men and women who have served this country so ably in the past to once again volunteer their service and experience to end our foreign involvement in the drug war and to determine a more effective drug strategy for this nation.
Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (www.vcl.org)
The VCL is an association of lawyers and judges whose members share strong misgivings about the wisdom and consequences of America's perpetual drug war. While favoring no specific drug control policies, the VCL seeks to promote, within and by the legal profession, informed discussion about the objectives of the drug war and its costs to our cherished institutions of liberty and justice. This is the view of one of our founders, former United States Attorney General, Elliot Richardson. The VCL is modeled after a group of the same name which played a leading role in the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933. VCL members see in modern drug prohibition many of the same harmful and unintended consequences associated with alcohol prohibition. Like our predecessors, we seek to work quietly through bar association committees, encouraging study and discussion of drug policy, especially its impact on criminal justice and Constitutional law.
Judges Against the Drug War (www.judgesagainstthedrugwar.org)
For the past thirty years Judges have looked on as America’s War on Drugs has played itself out before their eyes. They have seen the inevitable increase in police powers and erosion of civil rights needed to facilitate the asset forfeiture. And they have been forced to impose unjust mandatory minimum sentences. They are finally speaking out.
Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (www.wonpr.org)
In 1929 W.O.N.P.R. was founded to rescue America's families and communities from the ravages of ten years of alcohol prohibition. In 2004, after thirty years of a failed "War on Drugs", the tragic consequences of prohibition are back - gang warfare, arbitrary and racially biased enforcement, corruption and broken homes. The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform has been resurrected to return dignity to school children, responsibility to families and credibility to law enforcement.
Educators for Sensible Drug Policy (www.efsdp.org)
Educators for Sensible Drug Policy opposes criminal prohibition of drugs. Not only does it subject otherwise law-abiding citizens to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for what they do in private, but prohibition is a proven failure as a drug control strategy. In trying to enforce the drug laws, the government violates the fundamental rights of privacy and personal autonomy that are guaranteed by our Constitution. EFSDP believes that unless they do harm to others, people should not be punished -- even if they do harm to themselves. Unfortunately, our schools are often times the battlegrounds upon which the "War on Drugs" is waged, with our children always ending up the victims. EFSDP is committed to combating the Higher Education Act Amendment, D.A.R.E. in our schools, and the drug testing of students who wish to participate in extra-curricular activities.
The John W. Perry Fund (www.raiseyourvoice.com/perryfund)
Scholarships for students denied federal financial aid because of drug convictions