Sunday, January 22, 2006

Look at all the 60-year-old hippie heroin addicts! Nathan Tabor is a professional moralist who writes for The Conservative Voice, and he brings us The War on Drugs Update: Each night, network news programs in America turn their focus on the war in Iraq. Yet, routinely, the national news media ignore another war that's been going on now for more than 30 years--the war on drugs. By all indications, we continue to lose this hidden war. And frankly, there are a number of people in the news media and in Hollywood who are actually rooting for the other side. They're the individuals who believe that there is no danger in a 13-year-old smoking pot when he should be in school... a twenty-eight-year-old mother smoking crack... or a 60-year-old ex-hippie who's addicted to heroin. [emphasis added] I'm assuming he's talking about drug policy reformers. But don't you love the examples he uses? As if those three groups represent the drug using population! -- but this is a typical tactic. In actuality, drug policy reformers are actually more interested in preventing the 13-year-old from smoking pot, through a regulated system that actually checks for age (not like our current black-market system). 28-year-old crack mothers are becoming a rarity, and if you find a 60-year-old ex-hippie addicted to heroin who's still alive... you gotta be impressed! The thing is, Nathan's actual suggestions aren't all that bad -- parents talking to kids, schools and churches providing education -- although he injects his own moral values into the solution (like requiring a church-attending two-parent family), and he misses one of the most effective ways of reducing kids' drug use -- after-school activities. We could be on the same side, and yet... He appears to be adamantly opposed to those who would change the laws, despite the fact that he admits the laws don't work. The reason? He fears that even medical marijuana will "make drug use more acceptable to the general public." And after all... And can't even casual drug use destroy marriages, decimate families, and ruin lives? So we see, Nathan isn't interested in the truth, or in really keeping the 13-year-old off drugs. He's more interested in promoting his "morality." 11:44:49 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Guest Rant Just a reminder to everyone that there is the opportunity to add your own Drug War Rant at Guest Rants. The latest addition is The War on Drugs: Problems and Resolutions by Dexter Gilbert. Gilbert discusses his own experience with doctors and pain medication, and gives his thoughts on the problems in both the licit and illicit drug markets (and their relationship). 7:13:05 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Showtime working on medical marijuana documentary Showtime has announced several documentaries in the works, including this one: MEDICAL MARIJUANA In the continuing controversy surrounding the medicinal value of marijuana, seven chronically ill individuals continue to receive medical marijuana from the U.S. government even though the law was recently changed to stop this practice. Four of these seven will be interviewed for this documentary. Their illnesses range from M.S. and congenital cataracts to neurological dysfunction and hyperparathyroidism, incredibly painful maladies which are substantially relieved with marijuana cigarettes that have been provided by the federal government for years. While only these individuals continue to get relief within the law, millions of others cannot. This provocative film explores federal drug policy through the eyes of reform organizations, prohibitionist groups, politicians, drug war critics, scientists, and celebrities in an effort to make sense out of the divisive argument between drug abuse, recreational drug use, and medicine. Star Price serves as executive producer, writer and director with Mark Wolper and Joshua E. Kessler serving as executive producers. I'm guessing that the delightful Irv Rosenfeld will be part of the documentary. Should be interesting. (By the way, I have no idea when this will actually be aired.) 12:37:12 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []