Safety First

The Drug Policy Alliance just recently updated their wonderful parent-child manual about drug use and abuse called Safety First. I highly recommend this publication for any parent or teacher that wishes to keep kids safe without using counter-productive "Just Say No" scare tactics.

Here is the pdf link to the Safety First booklet. Check it out!

* I think I will add these to my blogroll.

Drug-Driving: Scouge on Society

*If the Tory gov't gets its' way, we will never have to see THIS again.

One of my favorite things to do is to read the drug war news that I get from MAP in my email. I can see all the tactics that the wingnuts use to scare people into fearing drugs and I can also learn all the positive moves that activists are making in support of ending prohibition. It is quite enlightening when you realize how much time, money and energy is wasted on some really pointless measures.

Take the Tories Drug-Driving legislation. Some of the highlights are:

Under the new bill, the minimum fine for a first offence of either drug-or alcohol-impaired driving would be $1,000 rather than the current $600. A second offence would bring a mandatory 30 days in jail rather than 14, a third offence 120 days rather than 90.

In the worst cases, the maximum sentence would be life in prison for impaired driving causing death and 10 years for causing bodily harm.

The Tory bill also creates a new offence of being in care and control of a vehicle while in possession of an illicit dug - something like driving with an open bottle of beer.

The penalty would be a mandatory six-month prohibition on driving, in addition to jail time that could run up to five years. Link

There have been numerous stories about the proposed bill, some in favor and some opposed. My favorite argument in favor of the drug-driving bill reads as follows:

The Prime Minister is striving to make driving while high as unacceptable as driving drunk. This new legislation will not only help to prevent drug IMPARIED driving related crimes, but it will also help to raise awareness about the issue. Link

You mean the Prime Minister wishes to stop me from careening down the highway with beer bong in hand? Years of drinking and driving propoganda have failed to impress upon people the foolishness of driving while impaired? I find that hard to believe. If education is what is required, I fail to see why a new law is needed. Let MADD hand out some more red ribbons and give it a rest. Impaired driving is already illegal. What this really is is an excuse to infringe upon our civil liberties via drug testing that does not detect impairment.

It seems to me that there are far more important issues than trying to pass a bill that Vic Toews' admits was basically identical to the bill written by the liberals:

But Toews admitted, when pressed by reporters, that the core of his legislation - setting out the legal steps police must follow to prove drug impairment - is taken straight from a bill proposed by the previous Liberal government.

"In that respect, it's essentially the same," said the minister.

He went on, however, to point to areas where the Tories had "enhanced" the Liberal approach - mainly by boosting the penalties upon conviction.

The liberals failed, why do the Tories think that the same bill with increased penalties will be successful?

Bah, humbug!

Carson High scraps second issue of student paper

Carson High's student newspaper has run afoul of school authorities for the second consecutive week, this time over articles that argue for legalized marijuana, the benefits of masturbation and greater sexual freedom among teenagers.

After consulting with his superiors, Principal Kenneth Keener decided to postpone Wednesday's scheduled publication. He said that three signed opinion pieces needed better writing and alternative viewpoints.

Last week, an edition of the Trailblazer was withdrawn after publication because of an anonymous article that among other things compared rowdy black students at a nearby Taco Bell to a "pack of monkeys." At the time, all sides agreed that the issue would be quickly reprinted without the offending piece.

But new problems arose because "even if you are presenting an opinion piece it should include pros and cons," Keener said. "The article about legalizing marijuana doesn't talk about any of the consequences of breaking the law or talk about research that marijuana is a gateway to other drugs."

Somebody needs to tell Keener and Co. that the gateway theory is bullshit. Does he not see the contradiction in talking about the consequences of breaking the law in an article about legalizing marijuana? Dude, if it were legal it wouldn't be breaking the law anymore and then there would be no legal consequences. See how that works?

Don't you love how they mention a racist article about monkeys at the local Taco Bell, and then mention the marijuana legalization piece right after that? You know, because being racist is on the same level of stupid as advocating for the legalization of marijuana. Those silly children, where do they come up with these crazy ideas?

Now, I am not a journalist, I am merely a know-it-all smarty pants with a shitty blog that nobody reads, but I do know that editorials do not require offering more than one point of view. I personally could never write an editorial that presented both sides of the legalization dealio because I feel strongly that prohibition is a horrible evil. I don't see two sides of the issue and I highly doubt that most people do. That's like asking a pro-lifer to argue in favor of abortion.

The masturbation piece starts by listing slang expressions for what it calls "America's favorite forbidden pastime."

The article, Keener said, is something "students may be interested in, but was it correct to be printed in a student newspaper?"

OH NO NOT MASTURBATION! We can't have kids touching their own body parts. And then discussing it in a newspaper. This is too terrible to contemplate.

This reminds me of my high school days when we had a very well-intentioned lady, who I suspect had never had an orgasm, talk to us about how sex would infect us all with nasty diseases unless we waited until we were married. When one of us cheeky monkeys asked about masturbation she acted horrified and offended that any of us could think of such a terrible thing. See, the thing is nobody gets sick or pregnant from masturbation, otherwise I would be a diseased mom of 435435 children, I tellz you the truth!

My goodness, we certainly can't have people admitting to having the most natural and beneficial drive known to humanity!

I have never understood the taboo about masterbation and I guess I never will. Everybody does it and if they don't they should. And yes I include myself in that statement.

Great, I just admitted that I masterbate. This is going to come back to haunt me one day.

In conclusion, these free speech-hating school officials and parents need to chill out. I hope these kids fight the establishment and get to publish their controversial articles.

What good is high school if you aren't allowed to think for yourself?

Another Great You Tube Video

GRASS - History of Marijuana Part 1

This is a wonderful look at the history of the prohibition of marijuana. It is quite enlightening.



And here is part 2.