Posted on 09/16/2002 10:52:55 AM PDT by JediGirl
With the anniversary for 9/11 came the opening of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's "Target America" touring propaganda exhibit.
The taxpayer-funded museum mockery implements the same simplistic logic the DEA loves about drugs and the connection between narcotic trafficking and terrorism, while omitting the real story about the failed U.S. "War on Drugs."
What? Did some Americans say that they would like to see an exhibit that tells the story about that failed war, the abuse of billions of taxpayer dollars to interfere with other nations' governments and to harass and imprison thousands of our citizens? Well, though it isn't funded by millions of taxpayer dollars, the D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project has responded to the targeting of America - and Americans - with its own exhibit that tells a different story of terrorism and the war on drugs.
The exhibit ( at www.mpp.org/TargetAmerica ) is called "Target America: The DEA and You," and deals with acts committed by government agencies that may have the look and feel of terrorism to their American victims.
Subject matter for the MPP exhibit includes the story of raiding legal medical cannabis dispensaries and taking the medicine from the sick and dying, to killing innocent people such as missionaries Roni and her one-year-old daughter Charity Bowers, killed by a drug interdiction flight and 20-year-old Jose Colon who was visiting a friend at a home where police later found eight ounces of marijuana.
The MPP site is dedicated to 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, shot ( in the back ) and killed by U.S. Marines ( The Marines were operating illegally according to U.S. law that does not allow - yet - for our armed forces to patrol in this manner inside our borders, though the Desert Post WEEKLY has received accounts of at least one other recent USMC internal policing operation in California, unverified by authorities ) while tending goats outside his Texas home. Documentation of the coldly cruel harm done to AIDS and cancer patients by the DEA's raids in this state ( leading to the largest number of American citizens seeking political asylum in Canada since Vietnam ), as well as an analysis of the real links between the drug war and terrorism.
This is the brain of drug czar John Walters. Crack. This is John Walters' brain gone mad on taxpayer money, power and greed.
Not pretty is it?
Second: I have no use for anyone who does illegal drugs
Third: If someone causes an accident while under the influence they should be punished to the fullest extent the law allows.
Fourth: Outside of the third statement, it is none of my business what someone else does to his or her brain. There is no law against stupidity.
Now if this is truly a war on drugs, how long is it to be waged? What is the exit strategy? Who defines that the war is won? What Constitutional protections are to be ignored in this war? Does the war on drugs simply increase the cost of illegal drugs thereby increasing the criminal element? Would there be as many drug related crimes if the profit were eliminated? How much will a $200/day habit cost if the criminal element is removed.
Again, I have nothing but distain for a drug user but I am unwilling to sacrifice Constitutional protections to attempt (and fail) to save an idiot from them self. They are all potential Darwin Award contestants.
And why is that significant? Your desire to make the source of the donations the only relevant issue seems calculated to give you the advantage of being able to present a one-sided argument. You can point to Soros, or any other contributor and find something about them you can use to prejudice the issue. OTOH, the opposition to drug law reform is financed from the world's bigges slush fund - the federal budget. Who funds the opposition? Everyone, and no one. You can talk about how much money Soros has contributed without worrying about anyone pointing out how much the government has spend supporting the campaign to defeat the proposals because we don't know and probably can't find out. The federal budget is such a mess it can't even be audited.
It's a clever dodge, but it's still a dodge.
After looking over recent threads on which you've posted it looks like you're into MORE than just drugs: Drugs (still No. 1), defending pornography, and militan vegetarianism (a.k.a. Veganism).
Well, FR needs more "colorful" characters, so I guess you'll do.
Yes, I hear you! Attacking the person is easier than attacking the message. That is why I rarely post on WoD threads, way too much hate and not enough legitimate debate.
Well call me a socialist and execute me at dawn.
I don't know if you saw this, but it's an excellent synopsis of the effects of cannabis, and debunks many of the myths being foisted upon the American people by Walters, Hutchinson, et al.
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