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Title: The State Will Never Win the Drug War
Source:
The Bob Circus 3.0
URL Source: http://home.att.net/~bob.wallace/index3.html
Published: Oct 22, 2006
Author: Bob Wallace
Post Date: 2006-10-22 09:32:19 by YertleTurtle
Keywords: None
Views: 174
Comments: 12
There are several reasons why the State will never win the drug war, but one not often discussed is the Arndt-Schultz Law. It is a biological law that states, "Small doses stimulate, medium doses poison, and large doses kill." Probably the best-known examples of this law are vaccines. They are small doses that stimulate the body's immune system to defend against disease. A medium dose of the vaccine would poison, and a large dose would kill. The Arndt-Schultz Law is also the reason why homeopathy works: a very small dose (in homeopathy's case, vanishingly small) stimulates the body to heal itself. As for illegal drugs, coca leaves would be considered a small dose, cocaine a medium dose, and crack a large dose. Or, opium would be a small dose, morphine a medium dose, and heroin a large dose. Each succeeding dose is more concentrated than the one before, and therefore "larger." This applies to alcohol also: beer and wine are small doses, the liquors are medium, and the hard liquors are large doses, because each one is more concentrated and potent than the one before. Apparently the same thing has happened to marijuana; growers have learned to breed the plants to greatly increase the THC content in them. When this law is applied to the misnamed War on Drugs, what smugglers do makes a great deal of sense. It is, obviously, much easier to smuggle a small amount of heroin and crack than a large amount of opium and coca leaves. If you were a smuggler, what would you rather do – try to sneak in a truck-load of opium or coca-leaves, or a tiny amount of heroin or crack? The tiny amount, obviously. It's smaller, easier to conceal, and worth just as much, if not more, money. What the War on Drugs has done, then, is two things: it has made it easier to smuggle, and it has increased the potency of the drugs! Making drugs illegal has made them more powerful. One of the problems with Americans is that we think there is a solution to every problem: some of us think we can eradicate the drug problem in this country. But as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, sometimes there are no solutions; there are just trade-offs. There are, unfortunately, some people who are always going to use drugs. My experience with them is that their use isn't a criminal problem; it's a medical and oftentimes a spiritual problem (William James once commented the best cure for "dipsomania is religiomania"). I think Jesus' saying about the poor always being with us wasn't directed at people without much money. It was directed at those who are poor in character. Since these kind of "poor" are always going to be with us, the question is: how do we reduce their numbers as much as possible? The solution? Legalize drugs, and let drug users have access to opium and coca-leaves. Those who argue against legalization claim it will reduce the price and increase the potency of the drugs, and therefore increase addiction. My answer: how much more potent and cheap can illegal drugs get? As for availability, I have people on the street-corner trying to flag me down. My experience with addicts is that they are self-medicating. I have known people who have used everything I have ever heard about. If they had legal access to less powerful drugs (such as coca leaves) many would choose the more mild, less dangerous, longer-lasting high than the horrendous up-and-down that crack brings. The same with heroin: many might choose the opium over the heroin. The people I know (the ones who are still alive) used the harder drugs because they didn't have access to anything softer. They told me this. Under this scenario, drug smuggling would vanish overnight, and much of the crime associated with addicts attempting to get money for their habits. Addiction would go down, not up. There were turf wars over booze during Prohibition, but not anymore. The same would apply to now-illegal drugs. I have never seen a shoot-out over Ripple or MD 20/20. It is impossible to seal the borders. Even if the government strip-searched every person coming into the country, drugs would still get through, somehow. Not once in the history of the world has any government stopped drug use and drug smuggling. As things stand right now, we are throwing billions at a problem we can't fix. The government might as will burn the money for all the good it does. There would be some more added benefits if opium and coca leaves were legal, none of which have anything to do with Arndt-Schultz, but which have everything to do with self-responsibility and being treated like an adult. Several months ago I injured my left shoulder, which put me in the emergency room. The doctor felt around on my shoulder and announced I had tendonitis. I was given a shot, some pain-killers, and told it would go away in a few weeks. The bill: $508 for half of an hour. The doctor looked at my shoulder for less than five minutes. Why could I not have paid $50 for his five minutes and then gotten some opiates for $5 at the corner drugstore? Is it any wonder health costs are sky-rocketing, when everyone is considered too stupid to medicate themselves? What do they think? I'll smoke opium everyday and try to write a modern version of Kubla Khan? The same thing happened a few years ago when I developed a kidney stone. I told the admitting nurse I had a intense dull ache in-between my hip and lower rib. Without blinking an eye she said, "You have a kidney stone. If you drink a lot of water it will pass." Since I could not get ahold of any pain-killers (in which case I would have gone home and drunk a few gallons of water), I instead ended up on a gurney in a hallway with pain-killer dripping into my arm through an IV. The cost for one-and-one-half hours: $2100. If I had walked out after the free diagnosis, and could have gotten some opiates, the cost would have been $5. However, all of this is too simple and too smart, and the State, unfortunately, is neither.
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#1. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
Beg to differ. While the State is not simple, the people "working" for the State are certainly smart enough to create a lucrative industry out of the chimerical enterprise of protecting us from ourselves.
It was never meant to be won. It was/is meant to exert control over the population. It was/is used to prop up the federal law enforcement behemoth. It was/is used as an excuse to militarize local and state law enforcement. It was/is used to slowly erode the Bill of Rights. It was/is a way politicians can pander for votes by using fear tactics to scare the greatest parasite generation (the largest voting block). It was/is a way to line the pockets of politicians both through bribes by drug cartels and by lobbiests. Last but not least, it was/is a way to fund illegal covert operations. The last figure I seen (and this was many years ago) stated that the worldwide illegal drug industry produced 500 Billion dollars of profit every year. The Good Lord only knows what that figure is today. Regardless, no one will ever convince me that with that much money being exchanged that the United States government is not involved up to their neck. The same goes for illegal arms sales. In others words, the government benefits much more with drugs being illegal than legal.
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments. Benjamin Franklin
It's just lucky that street drugs are safer than the ones big pharma dispenses.
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." Samuel Adams
Governments "wars" on anything are never "won," except to the extent that they create more of whatever "problem" that they were supposed to stop. It's just another control scam. imo
That's what they're for.. It serves as a good cover for their own participation in whatever the "war" is about.
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" - Patrick Henry "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote" - Ben Franklin
I have been of the opinion for many years that most that we need to heal ourselves exists in nature (maybe not everything though). Most prescription drugs are based on plants, with a few molecules changed so they can be patented. This includes such "drugs" as peyote and hallucinogenic mushrooms, which I suspect under controlled conditions can be used for psychiatric disorders. They have been in the past, and are, even today. Of course, on the other hand, we can continue to feed people anti-depressants, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic drugs. And, of course, use Ritalin for kids.
"We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." -- Marshall McLuhan, after Alexander Pope and William Blake.
According to Scripture we were given ALL we need. Changing a "few molecules" puts it into a whole different realm. The difference in gold and lead is much less than a few molecules... Look in a Physician's Desk Reference and check out the side effects of ANY pharmaceutical. It's no mistake that they create more problems than they treat. It is intentionally designed to keep big pharma and their lackeys (more commonly known as doctors) in business, and it's working. The Greek word for witchcraft is pharmakia. And we are told in Scripture to avoid witchcraft (pharmakia).
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" - Patrick Henry "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote" - Ben Franklin
That makes perfect sense. I've always thought the idea of "witchcraft" (in the Harry Potter sense) was nonsense and no threat at all. But, on the other hand, if "witchcraft" involves the improper use of various drugs, then we're looking at a real problem!
"We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." -- Marshall McLuhan, after Alexander Pope and William Blake.
The reason the State WILL win the "drug war".
The mind once expanded by a new idea never returns to its' original size
The severe pain from kidney stones is a result of the stone being stopped by the constriction of the ureter. Had TheStateInc allowed you to have your own opiates, you could have self-medicated with these narcotics [which is actually what makes the ureter relax so the stone will pass] and been fine. Instead, we're forced to go to ER's for the same stuff and the same result and a thousand times the price.
too simple and too smart, and the State, unfortunately, is neither.
#2. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
The State Will Never Win the Drug War
#3. To: leveller (#1)
#4. To: Everyone here (#2)
Excellent thoughts and points all.
#5. To: lodwick (#4)
Governments "wars" on anything are never "won," except to the extent that they create more of whatever "problem" that they were supposed to stop.
#6. To: noone222 (#3)
It's just lucky that street drugs are safer than the ones big pharma dispenses.
#7. To: YertleTurtle (#6)
I have been of the opinion for many years that most that we need to heal ourselves exists in nature (maybe not everything though).
Most prescription drugs are based on plants, with a few molecules changed so they can be patented.
#8. To: innieway (#7)
The Greek word for witchcraft is pharmakia. And we are told in Scripture to avoid witchcraft (pharmakia).
#9. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
#10. To: YertleTurtle, *LEAP* (#0)
Since I could not get ahold of any pain-killers (in which case I would have gone home and drunk a few gallons of water), I instead ended up on a gurney in a hallway with pain-killer dripping into my arm through an IV. The cost for one-and-one-half hours: $2100. If I had walked out after the free diagnosis, and could have gotten some opiates, the cost would have been $5.
**LEAP**
"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. Government will lead the American people, and the West in general, into an unbearable hell and choking life.
-- Osama bin Laden
"A prohibition law strikes at the very principles upon which our govt was founded."
- Lincoln
All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.
--William K Clifford
#11. To: IndieTX (#10)
It was a sonofabitch. I don't cry when in pain, but for me to make gasping noises, as I was doing, well, that's a lot of pain. And to have to drive to the hospital in that condition...the whole time I was thinking, "All I need is a little bit of pain-killer, and I'll be fine." And I couldn't get any. Talk about agony.
The severe pain from kidney stones is a result of the stone being stopped by the constriction of the ureter
"We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." -- Marshall McLuhan, after Alexander Pope and William Blake.
#12. To: YertleTurtle (#11)
If the damned doctors, who are always afraid to prescribe them because you might get addicted!!! [bullshit] would just let us kidney stone sufferers keep a stash on the shelf for attacks, we'd never even need to go to the ER. Once the narcotic kicks in, the pain goes away, the ureter relaxes and the stone stars to move on through. It's the worst pain in the world I know..and when it starts, I know exactly what is coming. I despise prohibition for more than one reason and this is one of them.
**LEAP**
"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. Government will lead the American people, and the West in general, into an unbearable hell and choking life.
-- Osama bin Laden
"A prohibition law strikes at the very principles upon which our govt was founded."
- Lincoln
All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.
--William K Clifford
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