THE DOPING OF AMERICA - INTRODUCTION

NOTE: Final Edit: March 4, 9AM:

***

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.

***

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).

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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?

***

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

:

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

:

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

***

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.

***

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.

***

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

***

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.

***

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...

***

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

:

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

:

"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."

;

"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."

***

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?

***

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?

*

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