 How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This? is a Dream Machine SiteThe Dream Machine --- The Imagination of the World Wide Web |
| How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This? is a Dream Machine Site The Dream Machine --- The Imagination of the World Wide Web |
| Home | Current Column | Previous Columns | Other Sites | Libertarian | Feedback |
A Black man...from humble origins in rural Alabama working as a middle manager at a Fortune 500 firm...admitted to Willy in the early sixties that the hardest part of being middle class and owning a house in a prosperous suburb was the obscene number of "details." Due each month were mortgage payments; gas, electricity, water, sewage, telephone bills; shovel the walk in winter, plant the garden in spring, mow the lawn and trim the bushes and trees in summer, rake the leaves in fall, etc., etc.. How does one cope, he wondered?
Well, despite his "certainty" that as a Black man he could never rise very far in industry, advancement through the managerial ranks eventually solved these problems for him...for he could then hire someone else to do all those annoying tasks. Now retired on a "golden parachute," he worries more about stock prices and ailments of the elderly than all those annoying middle class problems. But, then, those items are non-trivial worries as well.
On top of all that, the twentieth century ushered in a long period of warfare that he and all the rest of us could worry about. Not only were some of the most gruesome slaughters in history carried out, but also hundreds of "little" conflicts, killing and maiming "only" thousands instead of millions, mostly civilians. Then there were the derivative wars: the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs...and now...the War on Terrorism. But, these are just examples of how we live in perilous times...or...as the Chinese say..."interesting" times. How DOES one cope?
The answer used to be simple. Every time you got a little "nervous" you would light up another cigarette or stop off at the local lounge for a soothing cocktail. But, human ingenuity and globalized cultures soon added other "solutions." The list of available mind altering substances added marijuana...a byproduct of easily grown weed-like plant, hemp...and laudanum...tincture of opium...also from a plant, poppies. Later, LSD, "magic" mushrooms, speed, downers, tranquilizers, etc., etc. were added to the mix.
Nor did the medical profession stand still. Not only were a large number of drugs produced in laboratories, but new ailments were "discovered" for which these "medicines" were the treatment of choice. Our favorites are Prozac...recently revealed to rival sugar pills in the treatment of depression...you know, being REALLY, REALLY unhappy...Paxil...which is prescribed for generalized anxiety syndrome...you know, being REALLY, REALLY up-tight...and, of course, Viagra...well, YOU know what this "recreational" wonder drug does!
So, it seems that the human race HAS discovered how to deal with the tensions of modern society: drugs, drugs and more drugs. But, wait, there is trouble in our new paradise. While doctors are prescribing literally tons of expensive medications to anybody who walks in off the street complaining of being "upset," hundreds of thousands of people are locked up each year either for self-medication or procuring for others the drugs with which THEY want to self medicate.
What's going on here? In our opinion, the cost of the illegal substances is MUCH lower than and MUCH MORE effective than the legal ones for the very "problems" they purport to address. Heroin cures anxiety much more effectively than Paxil. Marijuana is a much safer and healthier alternative to alcohol and tranquilizers. Etc., etc.
So why are these drugs illegal? The answer is the same, the cost of the illegal substances is MUCH lower than and MUCH MORE effective than the legal ones for the very "problems" they purport to address! It is no accident that the largest private contributors to the War on Drugs are...THE MAJOR DRUG AND ALCOHOL DISTRIBUTORS! While we pretend to be "protecting" our youth from harm with the War on Drugs, we are really directing them toward government approved drug abuse.
So, do we think the solution is to ban ALL mind altering drugs?
Prohibition did not work for alcohol and it is certainly not working for any other drug. The best one can say about the effort is that it has succeeded in putting the clamps on freedom of speech...the freedom to differ with the Drug Warriors in public without fearing government retribution. That is, they have managed to shut us up...until recently. The emergence of the World Wide Web has enabled thousands of us who feared for our freedom...as in getting locked up in jail...are now willing and able to voice contrarian opinions. Enter the words "war on drugs" into any search engine on the Web and tabulate the percentage of responses that oppose prohibition versus the ones that support it. Also, note the authors of these offerings and their sponsors.But, we, the people, are...finally...striking back. Lately, events have begun to move very fast. Throughout Europe, in Canada and even in some states of these United States, drug prohibitions are being challenged and...especially in the case of marijuana, probably the safest and most effective "happy" drug ever discovered...some are being decriminalized.
We strongly recommend that you subscribe to the DRC (Drug Reform Coordinating) Network Newsletter or to Steve Kubby's various offerings out of Canada...where he is a fugitive refugee...to keep abreast of this rapidly developing movement. Counterattacks by the resident perverts in the U.S. government...read: Ashcroft, Bennett, et al...on the West Coast medical marijuana associations...the area most advanced in ridding our society of the hypocritical and destructive War on Drugs...have so alarmed local residents that even staunch anti-drug crusaders are beginning to see the light. There is nothing like attacking people's grandparents...lots of us refugees from the sixties are now among the elderly...to stimulate opposition, especially among our much more prudish children! After all, since we can smoke tobacco and die for our country at 18, drink alcohol at 21, at what age are we old enough to decide for ourselves what else we may wish to do to our very own bodies?
It is time to end the madness of prohibition once and for all. Perhaps it is even time for a constitutional amendment forbidding government to impose ANY restrictions on what people do or do not do to their own selves. If you are among those who believe as we do, but have been afraid to speak out, NOW IS THE TIME. Don't let it pass you by.
Talk to you later...
Visit Write your Congressperson or Senator and DO IT!
Visit Write your Congressperson or Senator and DO IT!
...the best independent ISP in the Twin Cities
The Dream Machine --- Network Services
A newspaper near you.