Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

The title links to a LEAP promotional video. This wonderful organization is made up Law Enforcement officers that believe that the War on Drugs is an extremely harmful social policy. In summary, they believe drug prohibition leads to institutional racism, with 4919 black males per 100 000 incarcerated. Police officers become corrupt and dip into the piles of drug money during a drug bust. Who is going to stop them? Billions of dollars have been spent on drug prohibition and we have just as many drug users. When the police work hard to bust a drug gang, another one takes over where they left off. It's like trying to bail the ocean with a coffee mug. But don't take my word for it. Stop reading this and watch the video. Go go go!!!!

Red Ribbon Week is Over

I complained about Red Ribbon Week before. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with teaching children to be safe and to stay away from drugs. However this whole Red Ribbon thing is very distasteful. It boils down to giving kids a red ribbon to wear and this is all you need to do to keep your kids safe. It also is a case of the school system giving tacit approval to the War on Some Drugs rather than pointing out how futile it is to lock up non-violent people in the first place.

" Stay away from alcohol, tobacco and drugs, " Hunton said. " For you all to be successful, you need to try your best to stay clean. "

Reh said this year's speakers did a good job delivering a drug-free message to students.

" They all volunteer their time to be here, " she said. " They're drug-free adults, and they're letting the kids see that you can have a great life if you stay drug free. "

Link

Except that a lot of adult role models do choose to have an alcoholic drink, smoke a cigarette or smoke the occasional joint and still manage to lead successful and happy lives. Do you think it is possible that kids are going to grow up, realize that they have been mislead and disregard the entire "drug-free" message? I know I felt the same way when I read unbiased information about marijuana and I found out that everything I was taught about marijuana was completely untrue. The school system misleads children and this makes me quite sad. I hope that it does save at least one child from doing drugs so they can justify the existence of these feel-good do-nothing Drug-War loving programs but I doubt it.

I would be in favor of having a Green Ribbon campaign to go along with the Red Ribbon campaign to commemorate all the people killed and harmed by the War on Drugs.

Although I am not sure why they would include pre-schoolers in all this. Does a pre-schooler have the ability to understand an anti-drug message?

There are many stories show-casing children and their commitment to stay drug-free, as though students in grade five are going to keep these promises when they become teenagers. Fighting THE MAN is a normal part of becoming an adult and doing ILLEGAL drugs is a cheap way to show that you are so much better than your parents. If drugs weren't illegal, would it be as tempting to show your independance by doing drugs? Drug use is not effected by draconian American prohibition any more than it is effected by the relatively liberal drug policy employed by the Netherlands.

I want to protest something

The situation in Colorado interests me greatly. It has been a pretty ugly fight so far, with lies being thrown around by prohibitionists. In the following video, take note of the high horse that the governor of Colorado is sitting on. He says to the camera, "Look at the people standing up here with me and the people shouting us down and not allowing us to speak."

Yes, governor, you are right that pot people are angry. We are shouting and acting inappropriately. Prohibitionists have been lying to the public for years, pulling at the public heart strings and pandering to the publics' fear in a bitter attempt to justify a horribly flawed law. They have indoctrinated school children and locked up so many people all in the name of the War on Drugs. They have demonized marijuana. Harry Ainslinger, the very first US Drug Czar used to claim that "Marijuana makes a negro look at a white woman twice." He also said "Marijuana makes darkies think they are as good as white men." He said it like equality is a bad thing!

Racist, heartless, non-thinking government officials get to have their say and ignore the opinions of the people that they represent. Why doesn't the Governor ask himself why so many people are angry? Why is this so important to so many people? It's just marijuana, surely there are more important things in the world than legalizing this plant.

I get that all the time. "Why do you care so much? It's so easy to get anyway." That is true and it shows the strength of my position. We have been following the same tactics for years and we still have 90% of high school seniors telling us that marijuana is easy to get. Let's cut the bullshit and legalize already.

I wish I could have been there protesting with them. I feel so useless sometimes, writing a shitty blog that nobody reads and feeling like I have no idea how to be an activist. At least waving signs around and yelling would be lots of fun. I just wonder what the public would think after watching that video clip. Would they understand why pot people are angry or is this issue going to get written off as only effecting a small number of people and not very important in the whole grand scheme of things.

Video Link

Nevada gets even closer to pot legalization

Nevada is going even further than Colorado by putting question 7 on the ballot in November's election. The following video summarizes what question 7 will accomplish:

Video Link

Nevada will allow retailers to sell up to an ounce of marijuana in state-regulated outlets. Driving under the influence of marijuana, use of marijuana by minors, selling marijuana to minors and using marijuana in public would still be illegal.

I shouldn't be surprised that Nevada would be the most progressive. None of the other ballot measures go as far as allowing a legal supply of marijuana and it is wonderful to see that activists are fighting the drug war in such an effective way.

There is the predictable backlash from prohibitionists such as "all seven Clark County commissioners, six of 13 Nevada university regents, Washoe District Attorney Dick Gammick and Las Vegas police Lt. Stan Olsen".

In response, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana is taking them to court for breaking a law that states that elected officials may not use tax dollars to oppose a ballot initiative. Read the whole story.

Just another reason to watch the November elections.

Prof asks university to take high road on prescription pot

A Toronto professor wants to smoke his prescription pot at the university where he works and is refusing to step onto campus until he can.

York University professor Brian MacLean says he has clearance from Health Canada for medical marijuana use for an undisclosed illness, but there is no place at work where he can smoke it.

"I have to medicate a lot," he says. "There's no issue here, well, can I restrain my medication on campus? No, I can't."

I am finding it very satisfying the way educators are getting involved in the fight to normalize and legalize the use of cannabis. This is the second time I have read about a university prof using marijuana as medicine and it is really nice to see.

I just wonder what is going to happen when it's an elementary or high school teacher that steps outside to use medical marijuana on a coffee break. I suspect there would be howls of outrage and more pleas for somebody to please think of the children.

And of course the 4:00 Friday "choir practice"* will continue unabated and unquestioned. I would still like to show up for choir practice with a bag of pre-rolled reefers but I suspect hell will freeze over before that happens.

* choir practice is the friendly euphemism announced on school intercoms on Friday afternoons which means, send the kiddles home and let's meet at the local pub for a refreshing alcoholic beverage, to celebrate another successful week of educating children.

Peeing in a Cup

Looks like drug testing little old ladies is backfiring. The words of the following volunteer comes pretty close to expressing my thoughts about drug-testing:

"It's not like we are a high-risk group for coming in drunk or high or stoned or whatever," said one volunteer. "This is just a common-sense issue - why are we spending tax money to test 75-year-old grandmothers for marijuana? We should be using that money to buy more books and computers."

Amen sister! Of course this begs the question, "Why should a public institution spend any money to drug test employees or students?" Schools can find money to get teenagers to pee in cups when it could be better spent on books, computers or pay raises for teachers.

Speaking of teachers, a school principal in Charleston was arrested for alleged cocaine possession. Oh goodness! Won't someone please think of the children? Oh the audacity of the authority figures entrusted with the care of our children, to be as fallible and human as the rest of us.

Besides the safety issue, what kind of example is being placed in front of our students by personnel — whom they are told to learn from, respect and hold up as role models — who are breaking the law?

Random drug testing of school teachers and principals is the predictable knee-jerk reaction. It is apparent that the author of the editiorial did not give any thought to the negative consequences to implimenting random drug testing. Such as the excessive cost and the invasion of privacy.

At least there is a little common sense to balance out the lunacy. An editorial from the Charleston Daily Mail expresses the opinion that random drug testing is an expensive and unwarranted invasion of privacy. Let's hope that common sense will prevail, but if that were the case we would never have declared a "War on (Some) Drugs" in the first place.

Ordering Blood and urine Samples Unconstitutional

Pretty surprising stuff. Requiring random blood and urine samples as a condition of parole has been quite common until now. But that is about to change.

It is too bad that this ruling came about to protect the rights of a convicted home invader.

Score another bitter-sweet victory for cannabis people!

Canada Troops Battle 10-foot Afghan Marijuana Plants

From CannabisCulture

The brave soldiers faced a ten-foot foe that they just could not conquer. The Taliban fighters took cover in a forest of ten-foot marijuana plants. Our brave boys attempted burning the plants, with predictable and hilarious results.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

I should "Support Our Troops" by sending those boys some Twinkies and Cheet-os. I doubt very much fighting happened that day. I know I would have shoved a few handfuls of bud in my pockets. Nothing better than Afghani. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Stumbleweed stumbles

Debunking bullshit drug propaganda designed to terrify teenagers is one of my favorite things. I love it almost as much as tormenting the eardrums of my dog with my terrible clarinet-fueled musical styling.

There is just one thing I must do before I get to the fun part where I lambaste morons and make myself feel important. I must point out that the sheer volume of bullshit propaganda pretending to be education is so vast that this blog can only be a pin in the proverbial haystack. However, for the sake of my sanity and to give me good practice writing and arguing with my imaginary friends, I must give it an honest attempt.

The magazine in question is entitled “StumbleWeed” which is linked to http://www.justthinktwice.com/ It uses the same scare tactics that are used unsuccessfully by abstinence-only “educators” and it contains many lies and exaggerations and very little content.

The overall tone of the magazine is preachy, judgmental and misleading. Where do I even begin?

How about with the obnoxious cartoons? They look like something out of a Christian children’s’ coloring book.



Isn’t it cool how they use patronizing acronyms like U and R on the front page? What a great way to show teens that we are one of them!!! The marketing geniuses that worked hard on this must really be patting each other on the ass right now. The following quote is taken from the first page:

“Truth is, marijuana is not just a plant.”

If it’s not a plant, what is it? Even though the media frequently shows grow-ops being dismantled by people wearing protection equipment that looks suited for a space launch, this does not refute the fact that:

MARIJUANA IS A PLANT!

How do they get away with putting a blatant lie in the very first sentence of this booklet? This is supposed to be factual material designed to educate students about the real dangers of drugs. Instead we have a booklet designed to convince teenagers that marijuana is not a plant.


But if you read on it gets even worse. It would take too long to debunk every single stupid thing that was written so I am just going to show you the “short list” and the truth about each erroneous claim being made:


DEA: “The THC content of marijuana has increased dramatically since the 60’s and 70’s. The higher THC levels make marijuana far more powerful-and dangerous- for young people whose brains are not fully developed.”

TRUTH: While it is true that the potency of marijuana has increased somewhat since the 60’ and 70’s there is no reason to believe that this makes it more dangerous for consumption. The user tends to smoke until the desired effect is obtained. There is a very good reason to believe that stronger pot may in fact be less dangerous than less potent pot, since the user of stronger pot will be exposed to far less burning plant material. It is impossible to ingest enough marijuana to cause a fatal overdose, unlike alcohol, so why the fake concern over increased potency?

DEA: Over the years, as marijuana’s potency has grown, so have emergency room episodes.



TRUTH: If you look at this chart, you might mistakenly believe that marijuana must be a terribly harmful substance to result in so many emergency room visits. What they fail to mention is that these statistics are based on the number of times patients mention marijuana use. It does not necessarily mean that marijuana was the cause of the emergency room visit. They also fail to mention that nobody has ever fatally overdosed from the use of marijuana.

DEA: Many teens believe:
- there’s no penalties for growing and dealing.
- that driving after smoking pot makes them better drivers.
- Marijuana is harmless.

TRUTH: Any time broad sweeping generalizations are made about a large and diverse group of people, it should set off your bullshit detector. It is quite insulting and presumptuous to talk about what “many teens” believe. If they are uninformed about the legal, social and physical risks involved with using marijuana, then parents and the education system have failed to teach them. The solution would be teaching teens the truth and ensuring that they read Stumbleweed and recognize lies and misinformation when they see it.

DEA: You can lose your student loan if you sell or grow marijuana while you are receiving educational assistance from the government.

TRUTH: It isn’t just growers and sellers that are at risk of losing funding. You are also at risk if you are convicted of possession. I wonder why they do not include this fact on “Stumbleweed” but rather rely on the reader to click their link to find out the truth. This is especially interesting considering that they have a disclaimer in regards to the validity of the information on external web sites. It doesn’t seem like the DEA wants teens to know the entire truth after all.

DEA:

Smoked Marijuana is not medicine

Even though some groups have endorsed smoking marijuana for medical use, major medical organizations do not agree. This is what they say:
• The American Academy of Pediatrics “opposes the legalization of marijuana.”
• The American Medical Association rejected marijuana as medicine.
• The Glaucoma Research Foundation calls medical marijuana a “poor choice” in treating glaucoma.
• The National MS Society says that there is “…insufficient data to recommend marijuana…for treatment of multiple sclerosis.
• Even the Supreme Court rejected medical marijuana.

TRUTH: The ongoing fight to allow sick and dying people to use the medicine prescribed by their doctors is complicated. The use of medical marijuana is endorsed by many organizations. There are at least 10 states that allow medical marijuana users access to their medicine despite the federal prohibitions against the use of marijuana as medicine. Although the DEA continues to enforce state laws by enlisting armed jack-booted thugs to endanger the lives of medical patients, these actions are opposed by many state governments.

The DEA must think the educational system has done an extremely poor job teaching critical thinking skills if they think your average teen is not going to recognize this booklet for what it is-propaganda. It is quite apparent that the DEA should leave drug education in the hands of educators.

For anyone interested in learning about the truth about marijuana and the risks it poses to teens, I highly recommend Safety First.

* All images taken from the Stumbleweed site

Amendment 44 is heating up

I finally understand why the DEA is so upset about the ballot initiative in Colorado that is intended to legalize possession of one ounce of marijuana for adults over 21 years of age. I was concerned that perhaps Federal prohibitions against marijuana would still be enforced. But that is not the case. According to CBS4Denver, it would be impossible for the Feds to enforce the law.

"There aren't enough federal resources on the entire planet to handle ounce size marijuana possession," Jeffrey Sweetin, a DEA agent said. "Your viewers should understand if this passes, we're really legitimately legalizing an ounce of marijuana. They're not going to be prosecuted."

When reading editorials, make note of the claims made by the prohibitionist. Read the following passage and try to figure out why it is suspect:

• It is not true that marijuana is a harmless alternative to alcohol. Alcohol is dangerous when abused, but marijuana can be dangerous, too. Too many people become psychologically addicted to its drug. Some users get into accidents or otherwise endanger themselves. Some become intrigued with harder, more addicting drugs and begin to experiment with them.

Link

The author makes a lot of claims but with no evidence to back them up. Notice that the claims are very vague and difficult to prove. They can not come out and say that marijuana causes more accidents or is more addictive than alcohol because those claims are easily refuted. And we are still hearing about the disproven "gateway" theory. in the same way that some Christians still cling to Intelligent Design, prohibitionists cling to the gateway theory.

They better get those "but what about the children" editiorials published despite the fact that the current laws don't prevent children from using drugs.

I hope that in a months' time when the voters get to cast their ballots I can happily report to my non-existent readers that possession of an ounce of marijuana is no longer illegal in Colorado. In the meantime, I have a bit of advice for prohibitionist-minded editorialists.

Sign your letters. This might give you the appearance of credibility.

My LTE appeared in Saturday's Star Phoenix

I wish I could find a picture of the cartoon that inspired me to send off an angry email to the paper. In any case I can assure you that it was stupid enough to justify my letter that mocked it. Without further ado, my letter:

Newshawk: CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap
Pubdate: Saturday, October 7, 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Contact: spnews@SP.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Author: Tanya Derbowka

Dopey thinking behind cartoon on medical pot

I wish I could say I was amused by the cartoon in the Sept. 28 edition of
The SP that portrayed a couple of "typical" stoners discussing the loss of
funding for medical marijuana research.

The loss of funding is another underhanded attack on medical marijuana and I
wouldn't be surprised if the existing medical marijuana program is the next
thing on the Tory chopping block.

It is despicable that only 1,306 terminally ill patients across Canada have
legal access to this medicine, which has proven beneficial to people
suffering from various chronic ailments such as cancer, AIDS and multiple
sclerosis.

The lack of access by sick and dying people to medical marijuana is a highly
contentious issue and is the reason the majority of patients are still going
to the black market to gain access to their medicine. Portraying cannabis
consumers in a stereotypical negative light does nothing to help their
cause.

And you think potheads are the dopes?

Tanya Derbowka
Saskatoon

Beauty pageant for cocaine mules in Peru prison

Beauty pageant for cocaine mules in Peru prison. When I first saw the title of this story I thought they were talking about a horse-donkey hybrid. I never would have guessed they are talking about human beings from the headline.

The gist of the story is just as stupid as the title suggests. Fallen women get to show the world that they are still human by participating in a “beauty” pageant. I personally do not see what is so beautiful about glorifying fake femininity.

This story sickens me on so many levels that I don't know where to begin. Here are more examples of people that are caught by the War on Some Drugs. First the government invents a crime. Banning opium and marijuana was implemented by the government in an attempt to control the activities of Latinos and Asians. What better way to find an excuse to lock people up than to persecute them for the use of drugs not condoned by the dominant culture? Do you really believe it is a coincidence that tobacco and alcohol are legal for consumption and those are the two drugs traditionally favoured by white Europeans? People of color are overrepresented in the prison system and the War on Some Drugs is the reason why.

For another thing, I wonder how long these women are going to have to wait until they have a chance to defend themselves in a court of law. Three-quarters of them are still waiting for a trial. The police love to persecute small-time drug offenders like these women because they are too inept to find the men that actually run these drug-peddling organizations. The police get to pat themselves on the ass and feel like they have accomplished something. They know that these women are easily replaceable by their boyfriends and husbands. Nobody really cares that they will waste a lot of time in prison and it will have no impact the flow of drugs. Is the public really made safer by jailing these women?

Then to add insult to injury they doll them all up and parade them around for the benefit of pathetic wankers. Glorifying consumer-augmented, Cover Girl femininity is never a good thing. In this case, it should be criminal.

via Feministing

Drug Users= Terrorists

*This is what a filthy terrorist looks like.

I’m inspired to write this post after reading this. The author acknowledges two solutions to breaking the connection between opium and terrorism: “decriminalization of drugs or much more aggressive policing”.

Equating drug users with terrorism is nothing new. The Bush administration ran ads during the Superbowl equating marijuana smokers to terrorists. Goodness! I better put down my beer bong and my crack pipe* and stop supporting the filthy terrorists. I mean, this couldn’t be a gross oversimplification of a complex issue, could it? Maybe we should run commercials equating drug prohibition with terrorism. Sales of alcohol and tobacco don’t support terrorism, since terrorists could never provide a cheaper product than the legal market.

It just goes to show how deeply the drug prohibition mentality is entrenched in society when a thread about the connection between opium and the Taliban debates the "morality” of legalizing drugs. What does morality have to do with it? I thought we were talking about taking profit away from terrorists. Are we so committed to a failed ideology that we can’t even have an honest debate about this issue without talking about morality? I don’t agree with the morality of Catholicism (or any other religion) but I sure would never suggest making the practice of worshipping illegal.

If you really believe that the law has any impact on the habits of drug users, you are sorely mistaken. It’s not as though there are thousands of people waiting for the day when they can start a dangerous drug addiction as soon as they get government permission. Rates of drug use seem unaffected by our laws.

Instead of wasting more money on a failed policy we need to talk seriously about hitting terrorists where it really hurts – in the pocket book. “Much more aggressive policing” is just more of the same failed and wasteful policy that has had no impact on use rates. Unfortunately, none of the federal political parties in this country has had the courage to tackle this divisive and controversial issue.

Salon ran an excellent piece about the Superbowl ads. Read it here. They assert (quite convincingly) that all consumers of gasoline are aiding and abetting terrorism. Salon rules!

* I stole that bit from Futurama. I watch entirely too much television.

Russell Barth on CTV news

Here is Russell Barth, a marijuana activist who also happens to be legally allowed to use marijuana. He talks about the recent cuts to the edical marijuana research program by the conservatives. Will legal medical marijuana be the next on the chopping block? Let's hope not.

The List of Things That Kill More People Than Marijuana

It is going to take a lot of doing for me to come up with a comprehensive list of all the things that kill more people than marijuana. But I have to give it a shot. Since marijuana was banned because of how dangerous it is it only makes sense that all the things on this list should also be banned as well. I think I will update this list from time to time when I am too lazy to write a real update.

1. Shoelaces
2. Pets
3. Police
4. Lifesavers
5. Chewing gum
6. Children
7. Sex
8. All motor vehicles
9. Peanuts
10. Tampons
11. Pets
12. Jelly Beans
13. Alcohol
14. Antifreeze
15. Reefer madness
16. Toilets
17. Allergic Reactions
18. The Drug Enforcement Administration
19. Airplanes
20. Stingrays
21. Water
22. Aspirin

Red Ribbons

I have always viewed the various ribbon campaigns with a bit of suspicion. All you have to do to help cure breast cancer, AIDS, drinking and driving or *insert good cause here* is wear a pretty, colorful ribbon to show your support. I have always wondered if wearing a ribbon does anything more than assuage the guilt of healthy people.

Now we have a brand new ribbon campaign. So far this is an American campaign sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration and aimed at teenagers. With any luck this foolishness will not come here. But with our Canadian habits of capitulating to misguided American trends, I am not feeling optimistic. Look forward to high school students hawking Red Ribbon merchandise. You read it here first.

Red Ribbon week takes place from Oct. 21 - 29. It includes typical overpriced Red Ribbon merchandise, misinformation falsely called education and a prayer campaign. We all know that a completely "drug-free" lifestyle is both possible and ideal! And what campaign to support an unworthy cause would be complete without a racial minority poster boy? I am speaking about none other than Enrique "Kiki" Camerena. See? There are good Mexicans and here he is. You must wear a Red Ribbon to show that he didn't die for nothing!

What the world really needs is a Green ribbon campaign to raise awareness of the casualties of the war on drugs. We could sell all kinds of green gear and we could have our own poster-boys and girls to end drug prohibition. How about a picture of a pregnant drug-addicted woman giving birth in a dirty jail cell? Or maybe we could collect pictures of all the innocent people killed in late night no-knock raids? The pictures would be mostly minorities. The Red Ribbon campaign has showed me that its good to showcase members of minority groups to support a good cause.

Maybe I am on to something here.

Drug dealers: Good, bad or necessary?

I have mixed feelings about drug dealers. Obviously if people want to smoke pot there has to be people willing to grow and sell pot. If cannabis consumers want to smoke they need a steady supply and drug dealers do a very fine job of providing a valuable product.

I suppose it’s the term drug dealer itself that has gotten a bad rap. “Drug dealer” evokes the image of a young man getting rich from the proceeds of crime. Does anybody stop to think that drug dealers are created by the war on drugs? In a legal sense, anybody that provides a controlled substance to another individual is a drug dealer. Everybody who has ever smoked a joint with a friend is guilty of “trafficking“.

I personally am all for free enterprise and I have no problem with an entrepreneur who creates wealth through hard work. But I definitely have a problem with the type of person that cares only about the bottom line. They may realize in an abstract sense that drug prohibition is bad but they have absolutely no interest in seeing the legal status of cannabis change. They do not wish to be a member of a political party because of “the heat”.* This drug dealer knows that in a legal environment a one ounce bag of plant matter is not going to be worth hundreds of dollars. Prohibition allows an individual to make exorbitant profits from growing plants. These are also the same types that will sell you a quarter ounce bag of utter wet shwag that is a gram short of the proper weight. They do not take pride in providing the customer with a quality product.

Then you have drug dealers like Carol Gwilt or the BC3 that flout the law and do what they can to make change. Now I certainly don’t expect people to accept jail time as a way of supporting the cause of repealing prohibition. But there certainly are things that an individual can do. There are many fine organizations and individuals fighting on behalf of cannabis consumers. Like the BC3, NORML, LEAP and SKMP* (just to name a few). It is a sad fact that many of the people that would like to support repealing prohibition rightly feel that it would be dangerous to join one of these organizations. However, monetary support is one way that a person can support activists that are making real change. A recent example of this is SAFER, the organization based in Colorado that has successfully gotten drug reform on the ballot. It was the hard work of volunteers and monetary donations that made this happen.

So there you have it. I love drug dealers as long as they see the futility of drug prohibition, provide a high quality product at a reasonable price and support the repeal of drug prohibition.

I may be asking too much!

*The member list of a political party is a highly guarded secret. If the list were ever made public, the repercussions would be horrendous.

A Description of the Habits of a Drug user

I always get discouraged when I see a story like this. To summarize, the article is the story of a drug addicts' struggle to throw off the terrible shackles of marijuana addiction. The author describes the rages he went into when he suffered from a lack of weed. The author's downfall is a common story that we have all come to expect. He pawned his entire philosophy of literature collection and eventually his professional photo equipment in order to afford his expensive drug habit. He had difficulty finding a dealer and coming up with the cash to pay for his habit. Yes, typical drug users pawn their valuable possessions. At least this guy wasn't breaking into houses and shooting his best friend! Redemption comes at the end of the article when he quits smoking pot, despite the ineptitude of so-called drug counsellors that liken smoking pot to using heroine and cocaine.

Isn't it interesting that the author begins with the article describing how pot is addictive, despite the claims of outspoken potheads, yet manages to escape the clutches of marijuana on his own accord? Sounds to me like a severe case of reefer madness.

I feel the need to counteract this story by describing my personal drug habits. I highly doubt that my story would be interesting enough to publish in the newspaper. My story does not include pawning my things or prostituting myself to support my habit/s. Nobody gets killed or screamed at. It's frighteningly mundane.

I started smoking pot when I was introduced to it by my ex. For the record, this is the only positive thing that he has ever done. I was a university student and as we all know, "the time and place for drugs is college"*. I smoked my first joint and immediately felt a sense of peace and calm that I hadn't felt in a long time. It also made everything better, food tasted better and colors seemed more vivid.

I continued to enjoy marijuana throughout my adult life. I save it for special occasions and I am an extremely moderate smoker, by just about any standards. I also quit during my two pregnancies, even though I highly doubt that marijuana is harmful to foetuses. But the last thing a woman wants to be is a bad parent and abusive to foetuses, so I digress.

I have found that marijuana is the best thing to ease PMS cramps and insomnia, far better and cheaper than any legal medicine available to me. Does this make me a medical marijuana user? Not by the governments' standards. Oh sure the government lets sick and dying patients have medical marijuana. Exactly 1306 Canadians have access to medical marijuana. I am sure that there are only 1306 terminally ill patients in Canada that would benefit from medical marijuana, right? Because I am not dying and I have not swam through their river of shit and bureaucracy in order to gain gov't approved access, I am a law-breaker!

In all the time that I have used pot I have had several long periods that I completely quit smoking. And I can honestly say that running out of pot was far from being a catastrophe. I have never felt the need to go to any drastic measures to get marijuana. Running out of potato chips is more likely to cause me panic than running out of pot.

So there it is, my drug habits posted for the entire world to see.

*South Park reference!

Racism: Part 1

Racism: Part 1

It would be quite presumptuous of me to pretend that I know what it is like to experience racism. I am off-white. Not alabaster but I am certainly not brown or black or yellow, by any means. I used to think that racism had all but disappeared but every so often something small will occur in everyday life to remind me that being the wrong color can be just as bad as belonging to the wrong sex. It can be an off-hand remark like, “Those native kids gave my kids lice.” As though lice prefer long, black Native hair to Caucasian hair.

The moment when I realized that racism was real came when I was a happy, care-free school girl. We were discussing our “roots” for social studies class. Everybody piped up about being Ukrainian, Scottish, German, English, French and other acceptable white origins. I piped up that I had Cree origins, that my mother was raised out in “the bush” and could speak fluent Cree.

The looks and the stares and the whispers that I got from that simple realization! Of course I took advantage of it and called my friends white trash. My real friends responded with good-natured ribbing about being a wagon-burner. Everybody else seemed to see me in a new and muddy light. It made me think really hard about what people of colour must deal with every single day.

Now it is no secret that Canada has a history coloured with both overt and underhanded forms of racism. We interned the Japanese in camps during World War II, we applied head taxes to the Chinese and killed them off during the construction of the national railroad.

The drug laws would be an example of covert racism. Not many people make the connection between banning drugs and racism. Is it a coincidence that the two drugs traditionally used by white, male Europeans, being alcohol and tobacco, are legal for recreational consumption? Opium and marijuana are two examples of drugs used by people of the wrong color that were banned as a result. The racist ranting of Nellie McClung about the degenerate races is what inspired Canada to follow in the misguided footsteps of the Untied States. Sadly, this was not the first or the last time that Canada followed a foolish American policy simply because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Thanks to the woman who made the case that women are indeed persons, many disenfranchised groups have been jailed or worse.

I will continue ranting about our racist drug laws tomorrow, when I am well-rested and not annoyed at my drama queen child who is frantically running around the house in preparation for her three day camping trip. This blogging crap is not for wimps.

A flyer from the Hon. Carol Skelton

I just got an interesting flyer from our conservative MP in the mail the other day. you can find the images here and here. So I took the opportunity to write Ms Skelton a letter. I still have to print it and mail it but I will do it as soon as my sweety gets home and fills the ink cartridge. Anyway, without furher ado, here is my letter.



September 23, 2006


Hon. Carol Skelton, PC, MP
904E 22nd Street West
Saskatoon SK S7M 0S1


Dear Ms. Skelton,

I recently received your flyer in the mail entitled “Tackling Crime: Gangs and Drugs in Saskatoon” and I welcome the opportunity to air my concerns about drugs and crime in my community. I applaud your efforts to reduce the impact of crime in Saskatoon and we can all agree that this is a very important issue. I agree that community-based initiatives like employment programs and education will go a long way towards preventing our youth from falling into the trap of gang involvement.

However, I am concerned that the root cause of gang and drug-related violence is not being adequately addressed. I am quite concerned and disappointed that the conservative government has not followed through with the recommendations of the Special Committee on Illegal Drugs. We are still punishing non-violent drug users and suppliers without solving the cause of the extremely lucrative drug trade, which is often run by gangs. As long as it is extremely profitable to produce and sell drugs such as marijuana, any efforts that we make towards reducing the influence of gangs will be futile. Wasting our precious tax dollars incarcerating non-violent drug offenders does nothing to insure the safety of Canadians. "The continued prohibition of Cannabis jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians much more than does the substance itself." - Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 2002

I believe that giving Canadians the choice to ingest marijuana legally would go a long way towards crippling gang-related activity. If a safe, legal and affordable supply of marijuana was available, gangs would no longer have the vast financial resources that the drug trade offers. Marijuana is far safer than any of the legal intoxicants that are presently available including both alcohol and tobacco and has never caused an overdose death.

Thank you for your hard work representing my riding and for listening to my concerns.