When I hear someone talking about the "dangers" of marijuana use or about how LSD will make you jump out of a window, the first thing I think is "why am I listening to this person." The next thing that hits me is an understanding of the profound ignorance of their anti-drug arguments. It is true. Listen to any strongly anti-drug individual and you will hear little more than myth and misinformation. It does not shock me when a professional propagandist spreads propaganda. That is, after all, what they do. Interestingly (and depressingly), I often get the sense that the people who are actually charged with pushing the propaganda on the on the ground are true believers (or useful idiots). That's right, the people who are most often given license to educate the public on drugs are the least informed on the subject and actually believe the lies that they push.
I remember setting through more than my fair share of anti-drug presentations. The worst of these was given by a P.E. coach during my eighth grade year. I, being fourteen years old, didn't know a lot about drugs but I knew enough to know that what I was being told was incorrect. She told us that people start by becoming "addicted to marijuana" (at this point, I knew that things were going to get stupid). Once one is hopelessly addicted to marijuana, according to her, he or she will find that it is "not enough" and go on to doing harder drugs. This poor soul will then find them self "injecting heroin and smoking LSD." You didn't read that incorrectly, by the way. She actually told us that people smoke LSD. As ridiculous as all that sounds, she absolutely believed everything she said. You may say that maybe she was just dumb. Well, I would agree with that statement but mostly because she also told us that one could get pregnant from butt sex because "the sperm will find a way." She is not alone, though. I have seen countless true believers be completely misinformed while claiming to speak with authority and it is a problem (for reasons I covered in the last installment of Drug War Stupidity).
These misinformed "educators" are a sad result of prohibition. It stands to reason. The people who buy the propaganda when they are young grow to be very motivated to oppose drug use. They consume more propaganda without questioning it because they already "know" that drugs are bad. They seek out positions that allow them to spread the lies that they believe to be true and through their effort many people are lead down the path of ignorance.
This issue occurs by design. The drug war creates a system in which the only people who are allowed to advance in fields like drug education are the ones who actually believe the propaganda. The propagandists love these "useful idiots" because they bring the passion of belief to the cause selling falsehoods. If the poet Milton can be trusted (he seems like a smart guy, anyway), Falsehood cannot stand before Truth. If you see these lies being spread, try to correct them if you are able. Let us fight their falsehood with our truth.
Peace
This was another installment of a continuing series of posts that are intended to highlight some of the dumber things to come out of the war on drugs. If you liked this post, please feel free to check out my page for more similar content.
Unless otherwise credited, the images in this post are sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.
The work by Milton that I referenced is Areopagitica for anyone who is interested.
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If they wanted to get rid of weed they could totally destroy the outdoor with ease. Male plants pollen can be poured out a plane to pollenate all the outdoor plants. So the drug war to me is a huge lie. To much money thst is not totally accounted for. If 5 million is found only 2 million is reported. This commen in law enforcement. Avererage pay is 34k a year so it is very plauseable.
M
Last indoor harvest
Very true. They don't actually want to stop anything. It is about control and little more.
Cash is important to have in a tight situation. But its horrible how misleading everything is. I believe that my post on the jesuit order explains in detail that we have no control whatsoever. Thanks for getting back. Godbless
No problem and thanks for reading.
As a side note whenever some metions jesuits I think of this YouTuber named Gail Chord Schuler (I think that is the right spelling) she has some mental condition and makes these videos about her delusions that are a weird blend of Star Trek, Christianity, and homo erotic forced sex but she always casts Jesuits as the villian which is why she comes to mind. There readings of her book that are worth looking up for a laugh. Oh yeah she also thinks Jesus, Putin, and actor Brent Spiner are in love with her and will eventually marry her.
That's not to say that everything of that nature is crazy but Gail is super crazy regurdless of how you look at that stuff.
I was raised in the catholic church and while i dont practice their rituals i dont believe catholics are bad or unsaved. Its Just that history doesnt lie and i have covered the Rothchilds to the Bush family to chemtrails. Everything always lead me to the vatican. It all depends if your a believer. But i did a post on the matter check it out. Thanks for chatting
https://steemit.com/nwo/@johnbcheffin12/the-history-not-taught-in-school-the-hummungbird
No problem. The conspiracy stuff isn't really in my wheelhouse. I only happend to stumble across that lady's channel because she was featured on a podcast that I used to watch.
As far as that stuff goes I can't speak with any real authority one way or the other but what is without question is that the powerful will work to maintain their power by whatever means that are at their disposal. To my mind that does not necessarily mean an organized group working for that goal but it doesn't rule it out either.
I'll check out your stuff.
A "license" is nothing more than paying blood money to engage in licentious behavior. It doesn't ever mean that person is qualified to fulfill the role, it just means they have paid the extortion tax to be able to do something that would otherwise be illegal by statist decree...While reading about your D.A.R.E. (or equivalent program) instructor being a P.E. coach also, I laughed because I had a similar scenario in Jr.High but with sex/ed in place of D.A.R.E.
The lady that taught the class ended up being the town mayor a few years later. I just found that to be a little bit odd.
Haha very true. That is the way it goes those people always seek power when they can.
Pretty much any public school class besides English, history, math, and that type of stuff is ususlly a complete dumpster fire from what I remember of my school days so it doesn't shock me when I hear other people tell me about stuff like that. The funny thing, in my case, was that we also had to sit through a good sex ed course from planned parenthood and that coach had to sit there with this salty look on her face while we were given actually useful facts lol.
I just saw that you resteemed this. Thank you.
You're welcome, I always try to support good content. To me, it doesn't really matter what the content is as long as it shines a light on something that needs to be addressed in this world. Before Steemit, all I've done is absorb and take in everything that is wrong with the world, I had to process it all and comprehend how things fit together before I was able to start helping to open the eyes of others.
Thank you.
As I gain more clout on this site I hope to do the same. Right now the best I can do is pay to have good content resteemed by a service if I have the SBD on hand to do it which, until recently, was rare. There is a movie reviewer who I followed the first week after I got here whom I did that for. He makes good, thoughtful content and gets 0.003 on posts so I put up the .7 and had one of his reviews resteemed through hugo4u.
What you do is great for sure and I am glad to see that there are people on this site that do that type of thing because it helps the creators have their work seen and it helps readers/viewers find good content.
I retired in the Philipoines. I took a taxi home from the airport and I tried soeaking to the taxi driver about Cannabis. I said that it’s used as medicine in USA and i used foe many many years. He then said very firmly that mj makes people crazy and that it’s a terrible drug. I asked how do you know that. He said because peope in my town smoke mj and it makes them crazy. I had to stop because he was so very convinced of this. Sometimes you just cannot reason with people.
True. Some people just can't see past what they are told and go on thinking what they think even if the truth is right in front of them.
I think the most crazy man about mj in the philippines is their president. Be aware not to take mj in the philippines.
Sure thing. I am very afraid.
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It's hard when you try to talk to people who associate weed with just getting high or they think people are drug addicts for taking it, it's just ironic how they could call you a drug addict and then they are on 10 differrent pills referred by their doctor...
Weed has been used for ages as medicine in many parts of the world and with it having so many benefits no wonder big pharma and the government make so much propaganda and give it a bad image.
Very true. For most illegal drugs there is a legal equivalent made by the pharmaceutical companies. They lobby to keep everything illegal because they don't want the competition. I don't necessarily think all drugs are good but no one should go to jail for using them and most do have some legitimate uses like cannabis and psychedelics are obvious examples but even the drugs we think of as "bad" might have a use in a different context. The example I like to give is having a tooth pulled. If my choice is nothing for the pain or rubbing some cocaine on my gums I would choose the cocaine even though I don't think using it as a party drug is super cool. I don't necessarily agree with this argument but I have heard a very compelling case which asserts that heroin is a superior pain killer to morphine for medical applications because its intoxication is less debilitating. I don't have the knowledge to properly assess that argument but it makes one wonder how many illegal drugs might out preform the legal ones at one thing or another.
Thanks for reading.
They just want to make money and keep patients coming back, it's quite sad to be honest but that's life , we obviously don't have medical knowledge but more people are starting to realize that cannabis and other drugs that are illegal have medicinal effects.
You have some great posts looking forward to reading more👍
Thank you.
We need to have patience with the misinformed and educate them about marijuana and its potential. Cool post, looking forward to reading more stuff from your perspective in the future.
Thank you. That is true the more people know about cannabis (and all drugs really), the harder it is for they to justify the drug war. Cannabis laws will be the first to addressed (rightly so, it's harmless and useful) but the other laws need to be fixed too. I would discourage using many of the drugs that are on the market but no one should go to jail for having or using them if they choose to.
Completely agree!
When i was about 14 i smoked mj already. When my mother found out she went to a social worker who was responsible for the youth in our town. And he told her that it is indeed better to smoke than drinking alcohol. So my mother accepted it and a few years later she just ate one of my cookies even though i told her what's in it :). That was a funny day for her ;). Luckily we had a good informed and open minded social worker in our town.
For real. That could have gone badly.
The late great Bill Hicks had an excellent line about the whole acid/window deal. I’m paraphrasing but essential he wonders, if this first attempt to fly revolved around him leaping from a roof, and not flapping around his arms on the ground.. well.. maybe the acid isn’t the issue! But to address the piece as a whole, again well written and necessary. I only wish people could come at this subject from a place of acceptance rather than judgement, but unfortunately it is all by design. People will never know better if no one ever tells them. Keep it up man.
Bill Hicks was great.
True, that judgment it a problem I try to frame it as a personal freedom argument. One should be able to treat their body and mind however they wish even if they do something we don't like.
Thank you I will keep writing these as long as someone keeps reading them.
I definitely agree with that. Then again I’ve known some guys who don’t react well to acid after some prolonged use, and have kind of gone off the deep end. The issue is just so complicated. At the end of the day it should only be a personal desision. Your body your choice. That being said, it would be nice if everyone had the self awareness to know what is and is not ok for them. Live and learn though I suppose.
And yea man keep on writing what you write, I can tell it’s something that matters to you, so naturally it will
matter to others. Keep doing what you do homie.
Truth and thank you.
Yeah some people don't handle psychedelics well. I have seen a few freak out too but I never saw any lasting damage done. When I say psychedelics are safe I usually mean they won't harm a person but they still might mess with their head a little bit.
Thank you. If there two things I like to write about they are drugs and fiction so I do this type of thing and some movie and TV reviews. Oddly I see a strange kinship between drugs and fiction in the sense that both have the power to alter thought (for a while). The only difference is drugs alter thought from within and fiction is external or that's how I look at it, anyway.
For sure man! And I don't think it's odd at all that you'd see a connection between drugs and story tellers. Find me an author who doesn't partake in such substances of a transformation nature, and quite frankly I'd be surprised hah.
Truth.
"why am I listening to this person." because you are an open minded person and have not shut your mind's door to what could be new information. Yes?
To use or not to use has become a moral issue not unlike politics or religion or Global Warming. Open minds are not allowed to engage in the debate. The if you are not with us you are automatically against us mentality thrives it seems in the moral tugs of war. Pushing moral values on others just never goes over well. To ignore objective information that does not support your position is just as bad as manipulating information to support your position. This debate about victimless crimes has raged for decades and decades and I'm sure that as long as there are people who feel compelled to control others for self-righteous reasons it will continue.
Very true.
The desire to alter ones mind seems to be a part of human nature but we have attached unnecessary meaning to certain drugs. If one drinks coffee he or she is a productive citizen, if that person drinks on the weekend they are blowing off some steam, and if they ingest some LSD they are a criminal. In my way of thinking, however, personal freedom should supersede social norms. That being said, you are right. Authoritarianism is a part of human nature too and there will always be someone there to say that their way is the only way. The question is, do we stand in opposition to the authoritarians or let them trample us underfoot?
Thanks for reading, by the way.
Thank you for the reply!
Authoritarianism is typically reference for a defective government. My preferred term to bring it to a more personal condition is "Control Freak". However, a cluster of control freaks can be a government IMO.
That is a good way to put it. Yeah it may not be the best term here but it is a strong one and it sounds nice. Control freak is more accurate though.
Propaganda has been going on for tens of years - it is high time ;) to change drug policy around the world!
Truth.
There are two sides two practically every issue. The idea that those who disagree with you are stupid is itself stupid.
I am a libertarian in my methods and a conservative in my values. I oppose the use of all drugs (ALL drugs, including nicotene and caffeine and sugar). Notwithstanding my strong libertarian orientation, I would make an exception and use the coercive power of the State to reduce the availability and use of cognition altering drugs.
I, you, and millions of other poor souls had to put up with that bullshit. I don't know your age, but when I was in junior high we had to watch movies that were narrated by Sonny Bono. It was like two or three years after Sonny and Cher had quit making hits, but before they had their stupid TV show. I guess ol' Sonny needed the cash and the US Propaganda Agency (USPA) needed a stooge who they thought was a role model for the kids (a dude who had his last big hit when the kids watching the films were in third or fourth grade - ancient history for them). I think it was just before Nixon announced the War on Drugs!
The teacher in charge of the propaganda class was a female coach and a 'health' teacher (like yours). She didn't have a clue what she was doing, while 1/4 of my class had already turned by then and knew it all was government propaganda designed to convince us that if we wanted some way to relieve the strain of raging hormones and teenage angst, the 'safe' way was to do what mama and papa did: get blitzed on fermented juice produced by mega corporations! Stay away from the stuff that needed little processing besides water, sunshine, maybe a little fertilizer, and could be grown by practically anyone. To protect your health and the profits of the big pharmaceutical and liquor companies, the government had no choice but to lock you away for years. Good ol' Uncle Sam (or any other government that is a signatory of the U.N.) at work for the benefit of everyone. It was blatant propaganda about drugs and the disaster of the Vietnam War that made be realize at a very early age: don't trust the government.
What a damaging disaster this prohibition has been to millions. Now with the opioid epidemic rampant in many countries largely due to the pharmaceutical monsters, more people have realized that Class One drugs like cannabis may have positive benefits after all.
There was an old Blue Cheer song that had a line: "oh pleasant hope, when we gonna get our dope." That was written in 1970(?). What is this: 48 years later? At least, 8 or 9 states have finally legalized it. 48 years later. Fuck.
Thank you for the reply. That was a little before my time but I remember the same type of thing from the late 80's and beyond. I recall being forced to watch a feature length PSA called Cartoon Allstars to the Rescue when I was in elementry school where a bunch of popular cartoon characters show up to stop a kid from doing drugs (I'm pretty sure its on YouTube still and its pretty funny to watch as an adult). I can't say if it is any better for the kids now but I doubt it.
You are right. This has nothing to do with health and everything to do with protecting the legal drug dealers in society. I know how freely they give (or used to give) out pain killers. I one woke up on a saturday morning with an infected wisdom tooth. The dentist was closed until monday so I went to a walk-in clinic to get some antibiotics. I told them I was in a lot of pain (which I was) and needed something to get me through the weekend until I could go have my tooth taken care of and I was given more pain killers than I got after my knee surgery (I think it turned out to be a 90 day supply). That's the real drug problem in this country.
Thanks for reading.
Probably the Sonny Boner films are on YouTube as well. I'll check in a couple of days and let you know.
Thanks. That stuff is always fun to watch. Haha Beavis and Butthead used to call him Sunny Boner too.
That's because that was common in the early 70s. They used it on that animation probably do to the writers having to sit through those same films when they were in junior high.
That's history, eh?
Truth. Mike Judge was just about the right age for that too.
I hate to bother you, but I'd appreciate it if you'd check out the book I'm uploading to Steemit. It's called, Wackos to Obliterate. Book Two has a subplot that ties in with your focus on cannabis awareness.
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Marijuana is forbidden only because a plant can not be patented and pharmaceutical industry has a lot to lose with it if people could cure themselves only with a plant they can easily grow in their garden. But not only mj could have benefits for most of people health's problems but hemp could also be an alternate and ecological solution to fossile fuels, deforestation ( to make paper ), and even Monsanto GMO to feed safely the planet. Instead we have all these capitalist industries of death distributing suffering, misery and poverty throughout the world, only because they couldn't keep the benefit of its complete legalization for them. And the most funny is that fiat money paper contains hemp fibers because of its high durability (another reason why industrials hate that plant).
Agreed.
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