War on Drugs

Timothy Leary

tells us about the following books on this topic in his "ChaosAndCyberCulture" book.

• "Dealing with drugs : consequences of government control" By: Ronald Hamowy Publisher: Lexington, Mass. Lexington Books, 1987. ISBN: 0669156787
• "Why we are losing The Great Drug War And Radical Proposals That Could Make America Safe Again" By: Arnold Trebach Publisher: New York, The Macmillan Company,1987 http://quinnell.us/politics/essay/drugs.html
• "Breaking the Impasse on the War on Drugs" by Wisotsky, Steven (ed). Greenwood Publishing Group. October 1986, 279 pages.

In this provocative new study, law professor Steven Wisotsky takes a sober look at the consequences of the Reagan Administration's intensified "War on Drugs." He points out that, while drug arrests and drug seizures are on the rise, drug imports have reached record levels. Presenting a powerful case that the War on Drug has worsened the problem, he argues that the conceptual basis of the present approach to drug control is wrong and in need of radical rethinking.

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Bill Hicks

Some thoughts on the war on drugs by Social Satirist Bill Hicks:

• "George Bush (Senior) says, We are losing the war on drugs.' You know what that implies? There's a war being fought, and people on drugs are winning it. Well, what does that tell you about drugs? Some smart, creative people on that side. They're winning a war, and they're fucked up. Hah!"

• The war on drugs to me is absolutely phoney; it’s so obviously phoney, ok? It's a war against our civil rights, that's all it is. They're using it to make us afraid to go out at night, afraid of each other, so that we lock ourselves in our homes and they get suspending our rights one by one. - Revelations (1990's comedy routine)

• "They lump all drugs together: it's not gonna work. Pot and crack? Hey, hey, hey, dude -- don't put pot in the drug category. It's an herb, man. Like tea."

• "Why is pot against the law? It wouldn't be because anyone can grow it, and therefore you can't make a profit off it, would it?" -Revelations (1990's comedy routine)

• Did you ever see a good drugs story on the news? Never. News is supposed to be objective. Isn't it supposed to be THE NEWS? But every drugs story is negative. Well, hold it: I've had some killer fuckin' times on drugs. Let's hear the whole story. Same LSD story every time, and we've all heard it: 'Young man on acid. Thought he could fly. Jumped out of a building. What a tragedy.' What a dick. He thought he could fly? Why didn't he take off from the ground, and check it out first? You don't see ducks lined up to catch elevators to fly south. How about a positive drug story for once? Wouldn't that be newsworthy? Just once? To base your decision on information rather than scare-tactics and superstition and lies? Just once? I think it would be newsworthy." "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.... Here's Tom with the weather.

• "Why is the drug czar of this country (USA) a cop? Why isn't he instead someone who's been through recovery, who has had an alcohol and/or drug addiction and overcome it?... Putting sick people in jail -- does that make sense?"
  • (ed. note: The US has a 'drug czar' in charge of drug enforcement. Yes a drug 'Czar'. Great connontation, huh?)

• "The War on Drugs is hypocrisy, man. That's why it's not gonna work: it's a fucking lie. Alcohol and cigarettes kill more people than crack, coke, and heroin combined. Oh, wait a minute, Bill. Alcohol's-an-acceptable-form-of-social-interaction-which-for-thousands-of-years-has-been-the-norm-under-which-human-beings-congregate-and-form -- Shut the fuck up. Your denial is beneath you. And thanks to the use of hallucinogenic drugs, I see through you"

• "All day long we see those commercials -- Here's your brain, here's your brain on drugs; just say no; why do you think they call it dope? -- And then the next commercial is: This Bud's for You...."

Robert Anton Wilson

August 29, 1996 A.D. I suggest a simple experiment. Everytime you hear the expression "the war on drugs," change it mentally to "the war on some drugs." At the same time call up to mind all the Drug Stores and Bars/Saloons in your town or neighborhood and all the cigarette shelves in your friendly supermaket and remember that the government has started no war against them. When you understand that we have no "war on drugs" but only a "war on some drugs," consult the passages on double-think and duck-speak in Orwell's "1984" for further enlightenment on neurolinguistic mindwarping.

taken from rawilson.com

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