Prohibition Is Not Over

"Prohibition" on PBS - TV schedule

Cross Posted at Power and Control

Liberty

Now there is a novel concept. Practically unknown in America these days. The subject came up because of a comment TMI made to Eric's post the feather yankee doodle stuck in his cap is now a federal felony!. Let me quote the bit by TMI that is pertinent:

Gary Becker’s seminal work in crime and punishment are tested, nearly every day, by Simon. What are the things that make behaviours shift? What are the things that make behaviours exceed the range of normal law enforcement? And, have we adopted ranges of “normal” law enforcement and subsequent punishments in line with the policies we have legislated?

Imagine, if simple possession of marijuana was a death offense, and the likelihood of experiencing the death penalty within 120 days of the discovery of the offense was assured. At or near one-hundred percent. How many of us would be willing to purchase or hold marijuana?

My reply went something like this:

TMI,

Thank you.

These days I'm more interested in the moral dimension. I have good evidence that the idea of "addiction" is an incorrect concept. Drugs do not make people "addicts". Pain makes people addicts.

To wit:

People in chronic pain chronically take pain relievers.

The question for me then is: is it moral to punish people in pain for relieving their pain with drugs?

The problem is that most people of my generation +/- don't consider PTSD "real" pain. i.e. "emotional" pain is not real. "Real" pain only comes from visible wounds.

If you look at the whole Drug War through the lens of pain what "addicts" do makes a lot of sense. No other concept explains why the laws don't work.

As to sure punishment. It won't work either. Pain is a very powerful motivating force.

====

So let me ask you: is it the right thing to do to put to death women who relieve the pain of childhood sexual abuse with drugs?

You can't just work in the economic dimension. That is a sterile approach.

====

Bottom line is: if you formulate the problem incorrectly the solution will not work.

The proper question is: what should be done with people in pain? How much pain for how long?

Morphine for a stubbed toe is obviously not a very good idea.

=====

The best idea I can come up with is that each adult has to decide for himself what the best course of action is in his own case. Liberty.

A Gringo In Mexico Gives Advice

Fred On Everything (FOE) has a most amusing post up and you should read the whole thing. The post is about the drug WAR generally and how to win it. He has lots of suggestions. I liked this one particularly. First the set up:

I see that I may have to take over drug policy for the United States. Maybe not, though. I’ll hold off if I get a call from Michelle Leonhart, who runs the Drug Enforcement Administration, asking me how she ought to do her job, and what she ought to think about Mexico, and what is wrong with Washington’s whole approach to mind candy. (I’m expecting her call any day now.) I will answer as follows:

Now, look here, milady. You need to re-think this drug thing. It’s not going well. It isn’t going to go well. The Bare Skirmish on Drugs (BSkOD) may have seemed a good idea when Reefer Madness came out, or even in the Sixties a half century ago. Now, no. Everyone with the brains of a microwave oven knows that DEA serves only to keep prices up so that the narcos in Mexico can afford classy military weaponry and gorgeous mansions.

Well he goes on a ways in the same vein and then he comes to what I think is his most brilliant suggestion.

So you see, Michelle, the DEA is like a man sitting on a raft in mid-Pacific, trying to outlaw water.

Now we come, tangentially anyway, to Mexico. It is being torn apart, toward God knows what future, because it lives next to the world’s most gluttonous market for drugs. It seems to Mexicans that Washington is forcing them to die for a BSkoD that Washington won’t fight on its own soil.

Is this unreasonable, lady? A couple of things you might do to persuade Mexico that you really want to do your part.

First, why don’t you put a youngish DEA guy, or gal, in each of about ten universities chosen at random: say, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Harvard Medical, Julliard, Haverford, Berkeley, UCLA, and Dartmouth. (I say they’re random). See, young agents could rig their apartments for sound and video. In six months you could arrest hundreds of children of senators, Fortune Five Hundred CEOs, and people high in the Executive branch. You could give them the same sentences that slum blacks get. Think of the headlines: “Senator’s Kid Gets Five Years in the General Population in Leavenworth.” Is that a concept or what?

Yes Fred. It is a concept. I like it. Why do Black kids get herded into prisons for 5 to 20 and the Upper Crust (is there something wrong with their plastic teeth?) get slaps on the wrist or a month or two in a plush private rehab? I guess it is a WHIP type concept. We cycle the poor into jail and the rich stoners can become President. All to better to beat the poor into submission. And WHIP? It is a very old story. Wealth Has Its Privileges. The best money can buy.

Another thing you could do to demonstrate your good faith: You could ask Congress to legislate that people selling drugs to children in high school be tried as adults. Since most of these dealers are themselves in high school, you could put the daughters of lawyers in women’s slam in places like the Cook County Jail. Think how many interesting things they could learn about compulsory lesbian sex.

I mean, you are sincere about wanting to punish dealers, aren’t you?

I'll bet the jailers could make a fortune selling the videos.

And here we come to the crux of the matter. A war with Mexico.

OK. More and more I see suggestions that the US send troops to Mexico to Right Wrongs and make Mexico into Iowa. The Pentagon is sneaking psychopaths of the CIA and “retired” military men into the country, apparently wanting to showcase its systemic incapacity to win any war against anybody at all. Here is a chance for you to do something useful. DEA agents are not idiots, but colonels are.

You might try to drill into the Pentagonal mind—I would suggest a cold chisel and a sledge hammer—that Mexico differs in a fundamental way from the military’s other comic efforts at martial enterprise: The narcos have a million gringo hostages. Or maybe five hundred thousand. Nobody is sure exactly how many Americans live in Mexico. They—we—are very soft targets. We live in a sort of sprawl across Mexico, concentrated in places well known, grouping in known bars, unarmed and utterly defenseless.

A minor contact I have with the bad guys says that, now, attacking Americans carries a death sentence from people who would carry it out with a blow torch over a period of days. “Oh no. Don’t fuck with the gringos,” says this guy. Like most Mexicans, the narcos figure the US is looking for a pretext to invade. They are happy with the current semi-partnership with Washington and don’t want interference.

I'm not going to tell you how it ends. You are going to have to click the link and find out for yourself.

H/T Classical Values commenter Frank via e-mail

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Real Purpose

Patriot Action Network is going on about the Government plan (implemented) to deliver guns to the Mexican Drug Cartels.

One commenter said:

The real purpose of "Fast and furious" program was to shut down the Texas gun shops.

To which I responded.

The real purpose of the Drug War is to attack the 2nd Amendment.

Had enough yet?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A Local Comes Out Against Marijuana Prohibition

As you may or may not know Black support for the pResident is falling off a cliff. If the Head Man doesn't do something about it soon he is a goner in 2012. So imagine my surprise when a local Black who writes an editorial column for the Rockford Register Star, Ed Wells, has come out against Marijuana Prohibition. You can find details at the link.

What other Blacks are against Drug Prohibition to varying degrees?

The NAACP

Blacks in Government

Charles Blow at the New York Times

Wilton D. Alston at Lew Rockwell

It looks to me like the Black community is begging the President to change his tune on Drug Prohibition. It will shore up his waning support among Democrats and if the discussions around here are any indication it will split the Republicans. The Republicans who stick with Prohibition will be branded racists. That should motivate college kids who are itching to recreate the anti-racism of the 60s. Not to mention that enforcement is targeted at their age group.

The President will have a perfect opportunity to change his tune following the showing of the Ken Burns movie “Prohibition” about Alcohol Prohibition airing on PBS starting on this Sunday 2 Oct. Check your local listings. And follow the news on it (I probably will be posting copiously on it - sorry about that).

It should be a very exciting election season.

H/T a friend.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Beaten For A Bulge

Who did the police beat? A Man With Downs Syndrome.

"The family is very upset and really shocked, to be honest," attorney Philip Gold said Wednesday. "They can't believe that this could have happened, let alone to their their son who is an innocent, sweet individual with Down syndrome."

Gilberto Powell, 22, was stopped by officers in the area of Southwest 111th Place and Southwest 138th Street around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, according to a Miami-Dade Police report.

The report said officers spotted a bulge in Powell's waist band and when they tried to pat him down, he tried to flee. Police say Powell broke free as officers tried to place him in handcuffs, hitting his forehead on the ground.

Powell hit one of the officers in the chest and continued to struggle until one of the officers "struck [Powell] in the left side of his face with an open hand in an attempt to subdue him," the report said.

After Powell was finally handcuffed and questioned, the officers realized he was "mentally challenged, was not capable of understanding our commands, and that the bulge in his waistband was a colostomy bag," the report said.

What ever happened to the concept of Peace Officer?

It happened to Kelly Thomas too, in Fullerton, Calif. Only he didn't survive. Don't click on the link if gruesome photos make you sick to your stomach. Because the one they have there will make you wonder what kind of animals could do that to a human. It was videoed too. And his last words were a cry for help. "Dad. Dad....."

We have a war going on against Americans in this country. Everyone is under suspicion for contraband. And some folks around here wonder why that war makes me crazy. It makes me crazy because police have an attitude because of that war. And it is not a good attitude.

Look around for the Kelly Thomas video and see if you can stand hearing him call out to his dad for help. I have sons. And it breaks my heart. Unfortunately my heart is not made of stone. Probably a personal defect. Why should I care about a stranger?

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:19

If Christians celebrated Passover in the Hebrew way (some do) we might see a lot less of this sort of thing. Because we Jews read this verse every year at Passover. And we make it personal - "Because of what God did for me..." Not my ancestors. Me. Personally. He lifted my burdens and made me free.

Time to get back to the old time religion. If it was good enough for Jesus.....

Update: From the The Passover Hagadah

We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the L-rd, our G-d, took us out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then we, our children and our children's children would have remained enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. Even if all of us were wise, all of us understanding, all of us knowing the Torah, we would still be obligated to discuss the exodus from Egypt; and everyone who discusses the exodus from Egypt at length is praiseworthy.

Further:

In every generation a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had come out of Egypt, as it is said: "You shall tell your child on that day, it is because of this that the L-rd did for me when I left Egypt."

The Holy One, blessed be He, redeemed not only our fathers from Egypt, but He redeemed also us with them, as it is said: "It was us that He brought out from there, so that He might bring us to give us the land that He swore to our fathers."

Thus it is our duty to thank, to laud, to praise, to glorify, to exalt, to adore, to bless, to elevate and to honor the One who did all these miracles for our fathers and for us. He took us from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to festivity, and from deep darkness to great light and from bondage to redemption. Let us therefore recite before Him Halleluyah, Praise G-d!

Just reading that has made my tears flow like rain. Because He saw my burden and lifted it. And thus I am obligated to lift the burdens of others.

“If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?” - Rabbi Hillel

As I have said often, "I'm not much of a Jew." But when He speaks to me I listen. And crazy as this sounds (we live in a Modern Age after all), He has spoken. This will not stand. You hear that all you mofo supporters of this abomination? The Wrath of the Maker is headed your way. For you have been unkind to the stranger. And mistreated the afflicted.

And just to get all ecumenical. (in case there are some Christians still reading):

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40

H/T The Agitator

Cross Posted at Power and Control

Veteran's PTSD Treatment Currently Inadequate

The New York Times reports.

Drugs widely prescribed to treat severe post-traumatic stress symptoms for veterans are no more effective than placebos and come with serious side effects, including weight gain and fatigue, researchers reported on Tuesday.

The surprising finding, from the largest study of its kind in veterans, challenges current treatment standards so directly that it could alter practice soon, some experts said.

Ten percent to 20 percent of those who see heavy combat develop lasting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and about a fifth of those who get treatment receive a prescription for a so-called antipsychotic medication, according to government numbers.

The new study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, focused on one medication, Risperdal. But experts said that its results most likely extend to the entire class, including drugs like Seroquel, Geodon and Abilify.

“I think it’s a very important study” given how frequently the drugs have been prescribed, said Dr. Charles Hoge, a senior scientist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, who was not involved in the study but wrote an editorial accompanying it. He added, “It definitely calls into question the use of antipsychotics in general for PTSD.”

Links at the article.

Maybe this explains the recent FDA approval of a study of the effectiveness of marijuana for the treatment of PTSD. Of course the DEA hasn't given its stamp of approval to the study so it is only a paper study so far. Despite the fact that information like this has been around for over 5 years: PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System.

I look forward to my statist social conservative friends screaming bloody murder to our government because our vets are not getting the best treatment known to man (so far) for the condition. Say. Who am I kidding? What am I smoking? Fighting dopers is way more important than treating our veterans. Or other victims of PTSD. Like abused children. Letting abused children suffer is OK as long as it keeps one doper from getting his dope. After all it is for the children. So I'm told. Like every day lately by a certain friend of mine.

So what religion is in the trenches fighting this injustice? The Damn Jews. Reform Jews had a year of outreach on the subject of medical marijuana.

"...members cited Jewish tradition as well as contemporary medicine. "According to our tradition," read the resolution, "a physician is obligated to heal the sick." The resolution cited Maimonides as the Talmudic authority. Less authoritative for the association was the state of research on medical marijuana."

And the Orthodox? They are selling the stuff. Like Einstein I'm not much of a Jew. And like him I am very proud to be a part of the Jewish tradition.

Heck even the Ron Paul site likes the Jews on this one. What you are about to read next will probably stir a LOT of cognitive dissonance. It did for me. BTW it is spelled Mitzvah buddy. You should have had a Jew give your article a once over.

Both Orthodox and Reform Jews believe Marijuana is a Mitvah. A Mitvah holds all the weight of the commandments. A Jew is Obliged to Disobey the Law to fulfill a Mitvah as a mandate of the faith.

Marijuana must be rescheduled to schedule 3 per Federal Law, yet the Republican leadership through the Attorney General , Secretary of State, and President and Party Platform have continued to pursue a draconian policy straight out of the inquisition.

Marijuana is NOT a 3rd Rail Issue. The Party Leadership have however been brainwashed and pursue that perfiduous programming with great zeal completely ignoring and distorting Federal Law. While Frankly Torturing and Murdering Sick People

And that Federal rescheduling he talks about? That would be the proper response to the DEA Judge Young Decision.

I'm still wondering about all that Judeo-Christianity I have heard so much about. From what I see there is a lot of Judeo and not much Christianity. Perhaps the Anointed One will come back and fix what He started.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Hebrew Etymology

Commenter Randy suggested I do some etymological research. So I did. And found something very interesting.

In 1936, Sara Benetowa, later Known as Sula Benet, an etymologist from the Institute of Anthropological Sciences, in Warsaw wrote a treatise, "Tracing One Word Through Different Languages." This was a study on the word Cannabis, based on a study of the oldest Hebrew texts. Although the word cannabis was thought to be of Scythian origin, Benet's research showed it had an earlier root in the Semitic Languages such as Hebrew. Benet demonstrated that the ancient Hebrew word for Cannabis is Kaneh -Bosem. She also did another study called Early Diffusion and Folk Uses of Hemp. There is a reprint of this in Cannabis and Culture. On page 44, she states, "The sacred character of hemp in biblical times is evident from Exodus 30:23, where Moses was instructed by God to anoint the meeting tent and all of its furnishings with specially prepared oil, containing hemp." On page 41 Sula Benet writes, : In the course of time, the two words kaneh and bosem were fused into one , kanabos or kannabus know to us from the Mishna. According to the Webster's New World Hebrew Dictionary, page 607 the Hebrew for hemp is kanabos.

Sara Benetowa discovered that the Kaneh-Bosm or Cannabis is mentioned 5 times in the Old Testament. The first occurrence appears in the Holy Anointing Oil as Calamus, (Exodus 30:23). Sara argued that the translation of Calamus was a mistranslation which occurred in the oldest Bible the “Septuagint” and the mistranslation was copied in later versions.

But what is the effect to the baptism?

You may argue that the Anointing with the cannabis based oil has no redeeming value. I would like to point out that all Orthodox Churches practice the Chrism anointing. What started me into The Fire Baptism and the Lost Sacraments is that not one Church uses the Holy Anointing Oil as described in Exodus 30:23 even with the Calamus translation.

The Bible is very clear that this was the only oil to be used.

A Sarah Benetowa article can also be found at the site. Read the whole thing.

The irony is of course hilarious. Those most identifiably against cannabis tend to be on Christian Right these days.

Update: There has been some controversy in the comments. Here is a video discourse on the latest etymological research on the subject:



Continued here.

Also for your amusement my recent article on the religious revival of the 60s: The 60s Actually Did Work Until Crony Religionism Killed It

And a video from the Christian perspective:



Roger Christie - THC Ministry - Holy Anointing Oil Recipe - video

The Hawai`i Cannabis Ministry

You can help Roger Christie by donating to him directly through the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Please send funds to Roger at the address below - [see the link above for details]

Hey maybe it is time to get back to the Old Time Religion. If it was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for me.



“Are you unwilling to be anointed with the Oil of God? Wherefore we are called Christians on this account, because we are anointed with the oil of God.” Theophilus of Antioch (181AD)

From Is it Christ or is it Anti-Christ???

The Holy Anointing Oil of God is described in Exodus 30:23. Take thou also unto thee three principal spices, of liquid Myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet Cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet Calamus (Kaneh Bosem in Hebrew) two hundred and fifty shekels, and of Cassia five hundred shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin. And thou shalt make it an oil of Holy ointment compound after the art of apothecary: it shall be a Holy anointing oil. Exodus 30:22-25

And:

But as “Christ” means “the anointed” What does “Anti-Christ” mean? “Anti” in Greek means “Opposed to” or “Instead of”. The Anti-Christ would then mean “Opposed to the anointed” or “Instead of the anointed”.

For false Christ's or (false anointed ones) and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect. Matthew 24:24

Today the Roman Catholic Churches, use Pure Olive Oil, sprinkled with powered Balsam, and blessed by a Bishop at lent. Here we find the “instead of anointing”.

The Coptic Orthodox use a Myron oil which consists of over 30 spices. The Myron Oil is based on a tradition that Saint Mark took with him the spices used at Jesus burial to Alexandria. Whether or not this is true is unknown, but here again we have the “Instead of Oil”

There are other Churches that boil down various other configurations of the Holy Oil. Some include wine, salt, and other ingredients, boiled with oil, as the “instead of Holy Oil”.

Most protestant Churches offer no anointing at all. Here we find the “opposed to anointing”.

It appears, that in the Christian World, so preoccupied with calling themselves, Christians or “The Anointed Ones”, we have no place for the “Holy Anointing Oil of God”, as described in the Exodus 30:23

Could it be that the Churches have been deceived, regarding the anointing? If this is so, surely this would have been prophesied.

Further update: In the comments some one said I ought to get over attacking Christians. I said I thought that was a good idea and I would look for some dirt on the Jews in relation to the material at hand.

Here is something I found. I'll look for more. Orthodox Jews run a medical marijuana collective in Berkeley, California and also sell a religiously inspired cannabis cream. Here is the url of the collective: Doc Green's

Not exactly about Jews: Jesus 'healed using cannabis'

Jesus w as almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month. The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings.

The anointing oil used by Jesus and his disciples contained an ingredient called kaneh-bosem which has since been identified as cannabis extract, according to an article by Chris Bennett in the drugs magazine, High Times, entitled Was Jesus a Stoner? The incense used by Jesus in ceremonies also contained a cannabis extract, suggests Mr Bennett, who quotes scholars to back his claims.

"There can be little doubt about a role for cannabis in Judaic religion," Carl Ruck, professor of classical mythology at Boston University said.

Referring to the existence of cannabis in anointing oils used in ceremonies, he added: "Obviously the easy availability and long-established tradition of cannabis in early Judaism _ would inevitably have included it in the [Christian] mixtures."

Mr Bennett suggests those anointed with the oils used by Jesus were "literally drenched in this potent mixture _ Although most modern people choose to smoke or eat pot, when its active ingredients are transferred into an oil-based carrier, it can also be absorbed through the skin".

Quoting the New Testament, Mr Bennett argues that Jesus anointed his disciples with the oil and encouraged them to do the same with other followers. This could have been responsible for healing eye and skin diseases referred to in the Gospels.

"If cannabis was one of the main ingredients of the ancient anointing oil _ and receiving this oil is what made Jesus the Christ and his followers Christians, then persecuting those who use cannabis could be considered anti-Christ," Mr Bennett concludes.

More etymology by Chris Bennett (mentioned in several of the above videos). I'm still looking for dirt on the Jews.



Part 2 of the Chris Bennett interview

My Hebrew name is Moshe משה (English Moses) often Maish, which would be a nickname. My English name is Michael.

I'm still looking for dirt on the Jews. And all I came up with is the Orthodox guys again.

It’s not an uncommon sight in the East Bay — home of the country’s first cannabis trade school, Oaksterdam University — but an hour later Green is doing something a bit more out of character for the Bay Area: He’s wrapping tefillin and davening mincha, the afternoon prayers.

In Northern California, even the religious Jews light up.

Green, 32, is a founding member of Doc Green’s, a medical marijuana collective established by Orthodox Jews, who, like the late kabbalistic rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, believe that cannabis was one of the ingredients in the holy anointing oil described in the Torah.

I used to wrap tefillin and daven mincha when I was a kid. I may still have the tefillin from my youth around somewhere. I'll have to ask the first mate if she put them somewhere.

Anyway I'm tired of looking for dirt on the Jews. It is hard to find. If anyone has a link I'll add it.

I did find this from Above Top Secret.

Aloha. I just bought a book on the advice of a dear friend. In my opinion, it will help to open the big door of cannabis prohibition, once and for all.

The book is Webster's New World Hebrew Dictionary by Hayim Baltsan published in 1992. The ISBN number is 0-671-88991-5. It cost me $18.00 plus tax.

On page 650 there is the definition of 'marijuana'. It says 'kanabos'. The Hebrew word for it is there for all to see.

It's the SAME WORD that appears for the definition of 'hemp' in the Ben-Yehuda Hebrew-English Dictionary on page 140. This book cost me $7.00 plus tax.

Together, these dictionaries help to prove that cannabis - kanebosm - kanabos - is the missing ingredient in the holy anointing oil of Moses and the Christening oil of Jesus.

Where Is It?

Here is a test for Constitutional Conservatives:

I never noticed a Prohibition Amendment. Except for Alcohol.

That question/statement separates the Constitutionalists from the poseurs.

The Hippies say that Drug Prohibition is a usurpation of power by the Federal Government.

Which side are you on?