THE DOPING OF AMERICA - PART TWO

What is a crime?

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There are several obvious crimes; others like camping on public lands, having the front of your car too low, these are questionable, with many more. Everyday, laws are questioned, considered, enacted.

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In the Winter of 1975 I was working the 3 - 11 shift as a custodian at a college. I had a partner and we split the building for cleaning and maintenance. I had half the basement and the second floor. We had floors to clean, restrooms, offices. The offices could be interesting, just what one sees, no snooping. I had started to write feverishly a few months previous. I happened to be discussing with a student, a story I was working on (long gone, hardly recall it). She said "you should talk with Doug, the English professor..."

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The professor Doug she was referring to had his office on the second floor. I cleaned it. I left him something I'd written on his desk. The next night was a reply... "he'd be interested in talking..."

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We did talk, became good friends. I consider him one of two college mentors I had between the age of 21 - 24. One issue that might be obvious is at that age sex is on one's mind, and I was lost in that dept. Professor Doug suggested Henry Miller, the author of "The Tropic of Cancer". "The World of Sex", he said, or something like that was somewhere in one of Henry Miller's many novels. I've read 90% of them. 15 years earlier you'd be sentenced to a misdemeanor for having one of his books. They were sold on the black market in brown paper bags. I was talking with the dean of another college I worked at years later and he remembered that. He remembered buying a Henry Miller book in a brown paper bag.

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Now imagine if shagging were a bad word. What the word means is sex outside of marriage . Imagine if it's a crime. based on questionable logic? But it's a crime all the same, and millions of people are locked up and fined. Happens all the time, though not in America.

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No, not America, but what does happen here are millions of people are locked up for drug possession, marijuana especially. There homes are raided, people shot and many killed. The sad truth is the people being raided may be your kindly neighbors, your friend, your co-worker. It's virtually an undeclared war against American citizens, declared only in a boisterous manner by President Richard Nixon in 1971. The "war on drugs" began as part of the Controlled Substances act of 1971 the Tricky Dick signed. That was also when the DEA was established... the foot soldiers masquerading as law enforcement. In truth they're a large federally mandated militia group that infiltrates the entire world, including the USA.

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The ONDCP (office of national drug control policy) is the public relations outlet, who's job it is to simply "lie" and make stuff up that adequately espousing the dangers of "drugs", especially marijuana once again (see my media list for a link supporting this fact). US taxpayer's pay all these salaries... all the expenses. Allegedly, it keeps us safe. Allegedly it's for the public good. Allegedly... !

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Welcome to America... the land of the doped! Where we'll believe anything, or be afraid not to, if our government tells us it's so. This is so weary a game... and it seems, it all began in 1937, the day cannabis was taxed, unconstitutionally (ruled so by the Supreme Court in 1970). The propaganda just keeps coming. The waste in wealth, human resources and life just continues unabated. 50,000 dead in Mexico our neighbor, and the prejudice continues... the same prejudice that was commonplace in the 1930's.

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In a recent ruling in California, a federal Judge ruled against NORML's legal team re: four issues... the one I found most compelling is (click the quote for the link):

Judge Burrell also cited court rulings finding that defendants in previous challenges have failed to meet the “heavy burden of proving the irrationality of the schedule I classification of marijuana.”

Proving "the irrationality of the Schedule One Classification..."??? Duh... Schedule on "drugs" have no medicinal value, and are extremely addictive, the NIH says so. ONDCP says so. Our own government owns a patent verifying extraordinary health benefits. (I'll post the link soon as I find it). There are pharmaceuticals based on cannabis. It's as addictive as coffee.

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RE: Shagging... just don't get caught!

THE DOPING OF AMERICA - PART ONE

Sebastianmarincolo - "Mind Altering Essays on Mind Altering plants". had me going too... his analogy to alcohol was unexpected, poignant and thought provoking.

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"...causes havoc, rape, murders, a lot of crime... the plant that people - millions of people use, everyday".

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I had never heard of the plant.

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My reaction when I first found out the plant was analogous to alcohol use? "You've gototbe kidding..." I didn't see it coming. But it's true.

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What's also true is I have a lot of ground to cover. So let's begin.

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Cannabis. Not anything like Sebastion's mythical plant. Not mythical, and not dangerous. Cannabis, that is.

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Daily, news reports of something termed "drugs" is aired. Often relating to those under 18.

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What's the truth about drugs?

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Well, not alcohol or tobacco. Alcohol is sometimes referred to as a "substance", but never as a drug. Tobacco, chemically processed to yield cigarette tobacco, is not listed as either a drug or a substance. Yet it kills thousands daily. Cannabis has yet to kill one person. Penalty for giving tobacco to a friend - their death. Penalty giving them cannabis... 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Regarding the definition of "doped"? As in, a "Doped America". The USA is the model of democracy. Yet it holds more people in prison than any other country. Many people are in prison for possession drug crimes.

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So I ask again, what is a drug?

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Is a plant a drug? Is heroin a drug? Is peyote a drug? Is alcohol a drug?

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We really don't know, we as a country, so convoluted are our regulations and understanding of drugs.

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There are DRUGS, but cannabis isn't one of them. It's a plant. But continued in my next post, I'll explain how Americans have been doped into believing plants are "drugs".

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In the meanwhile, stay away from the broccoli and spinach... they would be classified as "drugs" given current standards.

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The key question I have for you is, is a plant a drug? Can it be? If true, why aren't tobacco and alcohol products classified as drugs?

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Does integrity not count any longer? Does truth not matter?

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Next Post: The History of Drug Reform and Drug Prohibition...

THE DOPING OF AMERICA - INTRODUCTION

NOTE: Final Edit: March 4, 9AM:

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This topic is perhaps, the topic I was most meant to write. It's very hard to do, or prove, as it seems the definition of say a journalist, a reporter, a "special report", has all but exploded and created a false sense of what is truth, vital news, objective analysis. In other words, we're inundated with truth these days, so to make my case is a phenomenal undertaking.

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I'm fortunate I have a younger brother who was a newspaper reporter for almost 20 years. He knows the rules of proper journalism, helped me write/edit an important contribution to a missing person's case I got involved in, the Brianna Maitland, missing person's case in Vermont, Mar. 19, 2004. I wrote, with my brother's assistance, a "Profile of Brianna prior to her disappearance", that was "pinned" to the Maitland family /Brianna website until the site was taken down around 2008. (Profile available per Request).

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One needs to keep in mind that her disappearance was initially categorized as a "Low-Priority Event"; that she was simply considered a "Person of Questionable Character" and in all likelihood a victim of her own bad habits or a runaway. Initially that's essentially where law enforcement placed Brianna's disappearance... she was a known marijuana user, as were the people she associated with, namely most of her peers, most of the people she grew up with. What we don't accept is that Brianna was doing nothing wrong, nothing different than her peers, or the families of her peers.

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We're taught to believe "drug use" is so rare it's a scandal when it's discovered; yet we're told/convinced it's so common that it's an epidemic. The tragedy is, we don't know the truth anymore... we don't know what the difference is between personal use, drug use, drug abuse, addiction, and acceptable use. We don't know the truth and have been doped for too many years by untruths, lies and propaganda.

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The fact is, there is a "drug problem" in this country; yeah there is. But the truth is, as several recent celebrity deaths have proven; it's more complicated than simply demonizing a plant or a substance or a "drug"... in many cases death is the result of prescription drugs and alcohol, not cannabis. Yet, substance use in this countryis being addressed by our government as a crime! Has been a crime for 100 years... and the cost in human rights, freedom and those harmed is enormous.

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So the fact that Brianna Maitland was known to be a marijuana user, and may have used other substances occurred in tandem with the reality that we - our elected law-makers have made, putting Brianna, and other persons in jeopardy; based on flawed logic, narrow-minded attitudes, capitalism and it's price. Anyone wonder how the tobacco industry has survived so long, given the proof that tobacco use causes harm and slow death? Yet cannabis use shows nothing even remotely as damaging as tobacco use?

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Her story, with additional guest posts by myself, are here:

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Slam Dunk - Brianna Maitland. And the most recent Post here:

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http://theslamdunktrove.blogspot.com/2012/01/more-brianna-maitland-reader-questions.html

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That it was initially believed that Brianna "deserved what happened to her" - that she was responsible for the criminal actions of others, because she used marijuana, this is the sort of assumption a doped society makes, believing without question that "her dress incited the crime". Fortunately, many are not duped, and know the truth, and it didn't take long before Brianna's case was given the proper attention and recognition, albeit, too late to help her.

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I truly believe as a society we've been duped, and lied to. It should come as no surprise to us boomers that the "conspiracy theories" of the 1970's bore actual fruit, but what surprizes me is how many boomers in Congress are so doped up on something, that they've forgotten their roots.

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The tragedy is that people are hurt hundreds of times if not thousands of times daily by these untruths. People are HURT!!!

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Being in a state of "doped" means being incapable of distinguishing fantasy from reality, something our current Congress, especially, has made abundantly clear and obvious, over the past several years, with a (very) few exceptions.

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I think maybe, we can all agree, simply using marijuana does not make a citizen a criminal, nor doped. The meaning of doped far exceeds simply the use of a plant...

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Your first assignment, should you chose to accept it is, to peruse the following link:

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Sebastianmarincolo - "Mind Altering Essays on Mind Altering plants".

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"Watanuga Lahele is radiating. His glassy eyes peep out under a large, conical straw hat, his movements slightly erratic. He has been chewing on a dark-greenish kalangi root and the drug Tetralin it contains now clearly shows its euphoric and mind-altering effects. Lahele sits at a long wooden table at the traditional kalangi root festival in Bomaki, the capital of the Republic of West Africa. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have come here again to get collectively intoxicated."

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"During the festival there are dozens of rapes each year. Many visitors end in emergency rooms after dangerously overdosing the drug. But these aspects are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the destructive potential of Tetralin. Its effects on perception and motor control during strong intoxication are so devastating that tens of thousands of consumers in the Republic of West Africa die or get injured in traffic accidents every year. Tens of thousands die from overdoses or from the consequences of prolonged overconsumption and addiction. Prolonged heavy use can lead to hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, nerve cell damage, psychosis, laryngeal-, liver-, stomach-, or pancreatic cancers, as well as to cardiac insufficiency, depression, and fatal forms of dementia."

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My goal? Provide proof to all of you that Things are Not Always as they seem, and one cannot simply accept truth at face-value, or what we're told is the "truth". It's unfortunate, but that's where we're at as a society. It's easy to twist the truth, create lies that sound truthful. The question is, does a government approved education provide the means to distinguish truth and lies? If not, what good is an education?

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The recent events with the "Arab Spring" provide poignant examples of how the truth has been altered, only to be called out and challenged. Much the same is happening right now in the United States. Actually, has been for many generations... the real question is, are Americans able to recognize "truth" for what it is still today, or have we been duped for so long, we are helpless to see the forest through the trees anymore?

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NEXT: "Part One: The Doping of America..." continues...

UPDATE: PATRICIA SPOTTEDCROW GRANTED EARLY HEARING

Source: Jack Herer.com

*** Update regarding the imprisonment of "drug-Dealer" Patricia Spottedcrow of Oklahoma. I have previous posts HERE... May, 2011 - "TAKEDOWN OF PATRICIA SPOTTEDCROW".

Ms. Spottedcrow - a mother of two living with her own mother, was arrested for selling $31 of marijuana to a (police informant) narc. She lives in Oklahoma and "drug laws" are pretty severe in that state.

She was found guilty of selling a "dangerous drug", with her mother as an accomplice. $31 worth!

Would have to be a seriously "dangerous drug" to get Ms. Spottedcrow 14 years in prison, and her mother 30 years, suspended (to care for the two children).

The "dangerous drug" was, (marijuana) a joint one day, and another joint several months later. [a "joint" is when cannabis herb is ground up, similar to tobacco, then rolled up into a "cigarette shape" which is usually twisted at each end.] A joint generally is half the size or smaller than that of a commercial cigarette. The size of a joint has grown smaller since the 1960's - 70's.

The court was lenient at the time of sentencing, to suspend Ms. Spottedcrow's mother from prison too. Prosecutors argued that there was a "major drug sale operation" - their evidence, two "marijuana cigarettes".

So many more serious crimes occur that I'm hesitant to even speak it: manslaughter, deaths from DUI, assault, domestic abuse (often triggered by alcohol abuse), sexual assault, rape, theft, child abuse... the list goes on. The penalties for these crimes often far less than the crime of selling two joints.

Constitutional Violation? Yeah... Big-Time!!!

Recently a judge granted her a 4 year reduction in her sentence, bringing it down to 8 years. And more recently, according to an update courtesy of Jack Herer.com, a parole board has agreed to hear her case early, and decide whether she is worthy of , well, parole.

There's much in the way of epidemics and deaths due to particular dangers... never have I read cannabis is the cause. How many celebrities of late for example have died as a result of cannabis?

None... Nada.

Best wishes to Ms. Spottedcrow during her upcoming hearing.

Nowhere has it been more obvious that a punishment doesn't fit the crime as in her case.