My First Anti-Drug Testing Graphic

A Venn diagram showing how drug testing lies where security theater, the failed Drug War, and the surveillance state merge:

Feel free to use it!

No Sympathy for Harry Anslinger

I just started reading an excellent book exposing the origin of the failed Drug War, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari.  At the start of Chapter 1: The Black Hand, he details Anslinger's early childhood experiences with addicted loved ones, and at the end of the chapter he says:

It is easy to judge Harry Anslinger.  But if we are honest, I suspect that everybody who has ever loved an addict*--everybody who has ever been an addict--has this impulse in them somewhere.  Destroy the addiction.  Kill the addiction.  Throttle it with violence.  Harry Anslinger is our own darkest impulses, given a government department and a license to kill.

 And...I give him this, I almost had sympathy with Anslinger, this monster whom I have come to hate more than anyone in history, who has arguably victimized, destroyed, and murdered more innocent people than Hitler could have dreamed, reading about his frightening childhood experiences with addiction.  I still disagree with him and I still see him as having been dangerously wrong and having launched one of the most evil institutions and societal endeavors in history, but at least I could feel a bit sorry for him.  My own mother grew up dealing with alcoholics--which is also an addiction that is, in many cases, far more common and damaging than any illicit drug--and can understand him too, but she was able to understand that alcohol was not to blame in itself and that most people can have a drink without having a problem with it.

Then I read the rest of the chapter, which detailed not only his lenience and kindness toward white people with addiction while persecuting Billie Holiday to her death even as she asked for help to kick her habit.  It is made extremely clear that Anslinger was not motivated by "love of an addict" or "desire to destroy addiction" but to use the boogeyman of addiction against black people.  His motivation was rank bigotry and racism and the desire to control the increasingly "uppity" black people.  If he was motivated to fight "drugs" or "addiction", he wouldn't have exhibited that blatant double-standard between the treatment of white and black people with addiction.

Not only that, he didn't persecute Holiday for having an addiction, he persecuted her for singing "Strange Fruit", a song about lynching.  He ordered her to stop singing a song that an oppressive white culture found uncomfortable and upsetting and used the criminalization of drugs and addiction to silence her, to make an example of her to silence others like her.

Any sympathy he could have gotten from me is erased completely by how he went about furthering his cause.  And all of this is just from the first chapter--further reading into Chapter 2 has also detailed his witch-hunt techniques, his illegal activities, his outright lying and persecution, and other evil methods he used to push his wrong-headed hate-filled agenda, but I wanted mostly to address this particular entreaty of the author to have sympathy for poor Anslinger after clearly showing us exactly why he deserved no sympathy whatsoever.

Harry Anslinger was a monster, and I can't wait until we bury his child, his legacy, the Drug War, deep into annals of history as the massive and immoral failure it is.  I can't wait to further piss on his grave by seeing his name go down in history as the villain he was, and it's only too bad he can't see it.

*I wish the author would not refer to people struggling with addiction as "addicts".  This is a damaging term that is often used to dehumanize and demonize such people, as if they are entirely defined by this one issue in their lives.  I have been trying to eliminate this term from my own vocabulary, and if I miss it anywhere in my writing, I encourage readers to point it out.

I Shall Return!

Okay, I'm not that narcissistic, but I am coming back soon.  I've been having kind of a meltdown, but things are starting to go semi-good again.  Got a new job that would be perfect if not for the distance and the BS drug testing, over which I've been loathing myself as a disgusting sellout.  But at least if I do eventually decide to look elsewhere, I'm not as likely to have my resume chucked due to the many McJobs following a long bout of unemployment, so there's that.  If they dropped the testing, I'd definitely do my best to make the distance work.

And I joined a newly-formed chapter of NORML in my area!  And there were two to choose from!  They are popping up all over, or so it seems!  I'm definitely hoping to be able to utilize the skills learned in college to further the cause--and by skills I mean art skills, of course.

So I guess I needed a time-out--everyone gets to that point from time to time--but I'm feeling a renewed need to fight again, and to speak out, and to destroy everyone who ever supported the Drug War.  Especially that pig Michele Leonhart.  We're gunning for you, pig.  That is, we're gunning for your job, gunning for your life's work, gunning for your good name in the history books, not directly at you.  We're not sociopathic monsters who shoot innocent people to further our own careers...or in other words, you.  We just want to destroy everything you ever believed in and make you watch your life's work go up in smoke and go down in the history books as one of the biggest mistakes this country has ever made.  And even that is more than you deserve.

You pig.

If this isn't a tantrum...

...then I don't know what is.

I know this is probably a bit old, but I find myself still chuckling over it.  Portland, Maine is going to vote on ending marijuana prohibition in their city and, as is their right, the anti-prohibitionists put up advertisements raising awareness of the facts and persuading people to vote in favor of legalization--and instead of just putting up their own prohibitionist ads full of lies, as has been their tradition for forty years, they tried to force the ads to be taken down.

Is that rich or what?

The fact is, the anti-legalization crowd no longer has any weapons.  Their arguments were based from day one on lies and fear and ignorance, and as the population begins to lose their ignorance about drugs and therefore lose their fear, the lies no longer have any power.  The pro-legalization side is getting their message out, and the pro-legalization message has the benefit of not only being new and different, but effective and based on fact and science.  The pro-legalization side is not only well-informed but well-connected with one another and can easily combat lies from our opponents over our networks.  Former prohibitionists like CNN's Dr. Sanjay are switching sides, adding even more credibility to those who oppose the Drug War and its many failures.

Let's face it.  At this point, posting more lies we've already heard and seen debunked about the "dangers" of marijuana are not going to work anymore.  And spreading lies about what various pro-legalization bills will do to hurt marijuana users and businesses (such as those that helped them win Prop 19 in California in 2010) will not work anymore either.

They have been reduced to throwing a temper tantrum and demanding that our side no longer be allowed to speak.  And they got shot down, as they should have.

It is definitely a sweet thing to think about, that they have so little left with which to fight us that they must resort to trying to strongarm us into silence.  It shows not only how much they are losing, but how much they actually know it.  They know that in ten years' time we will all be pissing on the grave of the failed Drug War and their undeserved money train, and they can almost taste it, it's so close and so very inevitable.

I feel like Cartman at the end of "Scott Tenorman Must Die", don't you?  I can't wait to taste their tears of unfathomable sadness, the tears of Drug War profiteers who now have to go out and find real jobs--in a world that will show them no sympathy for all the years they violated our flesh and terrorized our population and destroyed the futures of our children.  I personally hope that every person who worked in a Drug War profiteering company is entirely unemployable when this war ends.  Poetic justice.

Have I said that before on this blog, or was that in a comment on NORML?  Well, I don't care.  It bears repeating.

False Dichotomy and Witch Hunt Tactics in Practice

Okay, this is sick.  This one North Jersey District is wanting to implement random drug testing, which is hugely opposed by the majority of students and no small number of parents.  Now studies have shown routinely that drug testing does not discourage drug use among either students or workers in the workplace and, in fact, increases hard drug use, but for some  reason those facts elude a number of the fucking liars who stood up to support this violation of the kids.

BTW, the only reason schools are trying to push drug testing across the board is to try and acclimate students to violations from future employers and, in my own opinion, to make some desperate prohibitionist last-stand.  I think they are trying to force this issue because in some part of their tiny authoritarian minds they think "if we can stop marijuana users from using, they will immediately become prohibitionists and we can turn the vote that is inevitably going to destroy the failed Drug War and all our profits!"  It won't work, but it's not like authoritarians are smart or anything.

Anyway, the prohibitionists who favor the a priori criminalization of all citizens because of some completely baseless and unscientific intuitive "knowledge" that drug testing will "dissuade" drug use despite all reliable studies showing that it will definitely not dissuade drug use, are sinking to some incredible lows.  They are exaggerating statistics when they aren't outright lying about them, for example.  But what I want to talk about is this practice of False Dichotomy and the Witch Hunt, both favorites of the pro-drug testing Drug Warriors.

You will notice the dirty underhanded ad hominems being thrown in the way of any parents who dare to oppose drug testing by calling them "parents who smoke pot with their kids" and telling people around town that opponents of drug testing "support and encourage teen drug use".  Now neither one is true.  The opponents of drug testing are opposing it because it is an unacceptably invasive violation of basic civil rights in the name of a failed authoritarian cause, the Drug War.  They oppose it because it does not fix the problem at all and studies have shown that it actually exacerbates the problem.  They oppose it because it usurps their authority over their own children and pre-criminalizes their children, putting them in an early mindset that they are all, as citizens of the United States, guilty until "proven" innocent by an inaccurate and unreliable method of criminal investigation and physical violation, and that no matter how many tests they pass they will always at any moment be required to "prove" themselves again and will never be exonerated for these crimes they did not commit and of which they were a priori convicted.

But notice what the drug testing liars are doing:  they are pushing a false dichotomy, the same one on which drug testing first took off, namely, "If you are not with me, you are against me."  They are pushing the idea that anyone who opposes drug testing could only be opposing it because they are, themselves, drug users and want to promote drug use.   They are pushing the idea that there is absolutely no other possible reason someone could oppose drug testing, and pretending that the position of "no, I'm not in favor of drug addiction but this method is not only ineffective but counter-productive and there are better methods that are also not humiliating, insulting, and criminalizing".

Personally, I think everyone who supports drug testing with these arguments should be charged with slander, because that is what it is.  But what is more is that it is a method for creating fear in the minds of people who oppose them.  They are trying to make opponents of drug testing afraid to speak out for fear of being branded as users themselves, much as the witch hunters of old made people afraid to speak out against their methods for fear of finding themselves on the rack, and much as the Communist witch-hunters made people afraid to speak out against the extreme persecution of the Red Scare for fear of being called a Communist themselves and being wrung out to dry.

The False Dichotomy can exist on its own, but no Witch Hunt can really exist without this fallacy of logic and thought.  The False Dichotomy is one of the most important weapons in the bags of angry authoritarian cowards everywhere, particularly the ones who are liars like these pro-drug testing parents are.  You will notice that no one on the side of legalization and the side of opposing drug testing has to resort to these underhanded tactics to get their point across....because we have the facts on our side, both the scientific, the logical, and the ethical.  The pro-drug testing side has nothing but lies and fear, and when push comes to shove they push the False Dichotomy even harder than before.  Because in the end, it's all they know how to do.  When your position is based on fear and lies and was so from day one, you eventually find the ground crumbles under your feet and leaves you with nothing to stand on.  They could possibly grab the rope we throw, the rope being all the facts, and admit they were wrong and be pulled to safety, but no.  They will spew their hateful fearmongering lies and their slander of their opponents right to their death, because authoritarian idiots are nothing if not terminally proud.

I say let 'em die.  The world would be a better place without them.  And it will be.  I'd like to send all those pro-drug testing parents a pack of adult diapers with a note encouraging them to save them for use on that day when marijuana is fully legalized, the federal enforcement (both the DEA and the schedule) disintegrate, and the country is finally on a reason and science-based drug policy focused on the public health issue it really is, and these parents and their ilk will no longer have the opportunity to stuff their metaphoric finger up the urethras of other people in the name of some cowardly ill-formed authoritarian notion of "safety" and "security".  Because when that day comes, I imagine these stupid putrid cowards will be pissing themselves with fear--even as the statistics for drug use actually plummet like they did in Portugal.

For example, this excerpt is promising:

The Northern Valley school board meeting on Sept. 23 drew more than 70 students and parents. Only a small number publicly supported testing, and more than a dozen spoke against it, to applause and cheers. A proponent of testing, Julie Gleason, said she thought other supporters mostly kept mum because they did not want to be condemned.

“Believe me, it’s not that easy to speak when you have 20 people behind you glaring at you,” she said.

 POOR Julie Gleason, you lying little monster.  Wah-freaking-wah.  You know that is not true.  The only people who have been forced to keep mum for forty years are the people on our side of the equation.  Now that people are seeing the truth behind your precious failed Drug War and its myriad failed methods like drug testing, you pretend that your numbers are greater than they are.

Oh, you don't like speaking when people are glaring at you?  Try being an opponent of drug testing like me for the last thirty years and see what it's like having people assume you are a drug addict or that you must be a dealer who supports drug use, having people treat you literally like an outcast, having to fear speaking out because you might be targeted by your employer as a drug user and lose your fucking job.  Try having an entire nation think that is perfectly sane and fair that your employer targets you, that it "makes sense" that only a drug user would ever oppose drug testing.  Try having an entire nation of people ready to murder you for not supporting drug testing and believing you don't deserve to work or eat if you don't support drug testing.  I would take "20 people behind you glaring at you" at a PTA meeting in a heartbeat.  You don't know how good you have it, and that's because your kind has controlled this discussion for forty years, suppressed information that showed you are wrong, and demonized anyone who spoke out.

Your day is going to come to an end.  Enjoy your tantrum.  It won't do you any good.

And may I say to Jason Baretz and his family:  You guys are heroes, and keep on fighting the good fight.  Don't let the liars like Schettino and Fable discourage you.  They are losing and they know it.  They are doubling down on the only methods they have ever had on their side: fear, lies, and demonization, and it's not working anymore like it did for them in the eighties.  Like the prohibitionists who tried to forcibly prevent the legalization groups from advertising publicly about the legalization issue in Portland, Maine, they will be shot down.  Our momentum is rising, and they know they cannot stand against it.  Keep going and always remember you are real American heroes.

Where o where have all the drug users gone?

Remember how they forced everyone on public assistance in Florida to take a drug test as a precondition of receiving said assistance, based on the premise that everyone on public assistance must be on drugs because after all about 98% of all working people are drug testing six ways from Sunday?  And then it turned out that only 2% came up positive?

Where are all the drug users then?  Seriously, if drug testing is as accurate as the drug testing industry claims and most misinformed Americans assume, then we should have seen a 98% positive rate and not a 2% rate, since the workplaces are nearly totally saturated with piss testing.  That is a logical prediction based on the assumption that drug testing is accurate and that it prevents drug users from finding work.  If those assumptions were actually true, we should have seen a much different result from that governmental violation of the less fortunate.

Why is this so invisible to people?  Why is this extremely logical conclusion completely eluding people?  If drug testing is accurate and is pretty much universally practiced across the board, then it stands to reason that all the drug users must be unemployed (though how they'd be expected to afford their drugs is beyond me).  If 98% of welfare recipients are not on drugs, based on the results of the drug tests and the assumption that such tests are accurate and reliable, then where are the drug users?

It is fairly clear from the evidence that either the numbers of drug users in the country are wrong or that drug testing is inaccurate and unreliable.  Either we don't really have a drug problem in this country at all and the statistics are exaggerated or just outright fabricated, or drug testing is a scam.

So here is my challenge to all you benighted people who actually believe in the efficacy of drug testing:  I want you to find these drug users and present them to the world.  I want to know where they are all hiding since, assuming drug testing works, they can't be in the workforce and they can't be on welfare or public assistance.  So where are they?

I'd like a non-convoluted answer to that, but I don't think you have one to give me.  Because charlatans are based on fabrications and fast talk, with neither fact nor logic to back them up.

Your day is coming to an end within the next ten years, right about when you can no longer pad your numbers with marijuana users and your scam is exposed for what it is.  I hope you bastards in the drug testing industry are saving your pennies for your inevitable unemployment--or incarceration, depending on how involved you turn out to be when they finally seize the drug testing industry's records and discover the corruption you've been engaging in for the last thirty years.

Have fun.

How long do they think they can last?

Unfortunately I was delayed in posting due to getting sick, and I might be a bit delayed this week because I'll supporting a friend who was wrongfully fired by a dishonest employer (and I'm still getting over this cold or flu or whatever it is).

That said, I do have a few words about some recent developments on the failed Drug War front...

After all the great news about the great progress made in the area of legalization by NORML, the DPA and the MPP, I was stunned to hear that the US Supreme Court is going to uphold the baseless scheduling of marijuana as having "no medical utility or adequate safety".  This despite a myriad of studies showing definitively that marijuana has many valuable medical benefits and uses, as well as being infinitely safer than alcohol or tobacco.  This on the heels of the news that Texas, long held up as the most backward right-wing authoritarian state in the country, has a 58% majority supporting full legalization of marijuana.

Who do these charlatans in the DEA  and the Supreme Court think they're fooling with their lies?  And how long do they think they can keep this charade up?  I know, I know, as we all do, that the only reason they're upholding this decision and the lies on which it is based is because they are bought-and-paid-for commodities of a variety of Drug War profiteers, but they can't believe they're going to win this.  Even many Southern states, normally a haven for backwards policies, are putting out majorities in favor of legalization, and the government has decreed that they will not interfere with state legalization, which is going to create one hell of a burst of legalization success across the board--after all, a lot of the arguments I've heard against legalization even from pro-legalization people is that if we legalize we're inviting some federal police state in our communities, and this eliminates that concern.  This country is going to go green so fast it'll make the DEA, the Supreme Court and all the Drug War profiteers' heads spin like tops.  And efforts at drug law reform to reflect the reality of drug addiction being a public health issue and not a law enforcement issue in other, wiser countries than ours is going to prove time and time again to the population that the Drug War doesn't work, not just for marijuana but for anything.  And new studies about the "hard" drugs like cocaine are showing that a lot of what we believe about the harmful nature of those drugs is based on lies and propaganda or skewed data (deliberate or just based on scientific incompetence)--not that those drugs are great, but that the vast majority of people simply do not have the terrible addiction reactions that we have been trained to believe are standard.

When are you bastards going to give in?  I know you're riding your dishonest money train, but how long do you think it's going to last at this point, with this sort of trend towards the people learning the truth about your lies?  Just like with voodoo, fraud doesn't work when people know the facts and cease to believe in it anymore.  At some point you'll have to give in and admit you were wrong (even if you won't admit you were engaging in treason, propagating lies that harmed the population while empowering the drug lords to harm us as well, while you and our enemies both profited off of our pain.)

Well, it'll happen.  You will eventually reschedule marijuana out of schedule 1, and for the same reason you crooks are falling over yourselves to reform drug law, eliminate mandatory minimums, etc, and touting decriminalization as the "ideal" solution when only years ago you wouldn't even consider any of these things and considered them non-negotiable.  You will be trying in vain to compromise with us in order to maintain the schedule itself, just like you are trying in vain to compromise with us by granting us the half-measures we had been requesting years ago, hoping that we'll settle for decriminalization and just shut up and let you continue your little moneymaking scam.

In a few years you will be racing to reschedule marijuana and will be calling it the "ideal" solution in a vain attempt to protect your job security.  And we will laugh in your face, because when that happens it will only be because you are on the verge of losing your entire scheduling system.  And you know it.

Enjoy your temporary victory for now, Drug War scum.  You won't have it for long.