“It
is the theory which decides what we can observe.”- Albert Einstein

Posted June 13, 2004

Analysis by Richard Cowan Sponsored by Advanced
Nutrients.

See
Science,
Democracy, Ideology and the Prohibitionist Police State. Marijuana Use Doesn’t
Hurt “Thinking Skills” But Prohibition Does. Analysis by Richard Cowan

and
The Crisis in
Democracy, Prohibitionism And The Police Fiasco. Why Will It Work In Iraq, If It
Does Not Work In DEAland?

In both the Canadian and American elections
cannabis prohibition is considered a peripheral issue at best. It is not
something that “serious” candidates want to spend any time discussing, or
they will cease to be considered “serious.”

See
Ottawa
Citizen Practices First Class Journalism
A Brilliantly Insightful Editorial: “Marijuana isn’t just a serious
issue. It’s huge.”

In fact, so long as a candidate supports prohibition, it is better that they
appear as ignorant as possible on the subject. This protects them of any
suspicion of having any latent “tendencies” or secret subversive ideas. In
this regard, the prohibitionist ideology resembles the AIDS virus in that it
shuts down the immune system by which the democratic process protects itself
against anti-democratic nonsense.
See
“A
culture is not healthy when it is built upon a foundation of lies
and when it then preserves itself by
systematically punishing the expression of truths that all can see but are
afraid to acknowledge.”

Consider these recent items from very different sources.

1. Connecticut Congressman Rob Simmons (R-2nd District)
explained his opposition to easing the Federal ban on medical cannabis, “The
problem is the law enforcement community doesn’t support it.
And I take my lead from the state and the police chiefs.”

Never mind that the overwhelming
majority of his constituents support medical cannabis. Never mind that law
enforcement community and the police chiefs have no medical expertise. He knows
who he really represents, and he is obviously unaware that the Constitution does
not begin with “We the Police of the United States…
See
Learning
About Prohibitionism: House Debate on Medical Marijuana Bill Offers New Insight
Into Police State Ideology.

And it is also a problem in Canada.
See
Documenting
The Role of Politicized Canadian Police In Maintaining Cannabis Prohibition.
Canadian Narks Versus Canadian Freedom. Following the DEA Party Line. The Battle
for Canada

2. Friday, The Guardian reported, “Portuguese
police officers will turn a blind eye to England supporters who openly smoke
cannabis during Euro 2004, having decided that a stoned crowd is easier to
control than a drunk one.

Lisbon police confirmed yesterday
that England fans will not be arrested for puffing on joints on the streets of
the Portuguese capital, following a recommendation from the Dutch authorities
responsible for policing the English during Euro 2000.

Four years ago England’s match in
Eindhoven, ironically against Portugal, passed off peacefully as many supporters
took advantage of the Netherlands’ liberal drugs laws. By contrast the game
against Germany in the Belgian town of Charleroi was marred by violence, much of
it fuelled by alcohol.”

See

The
Dutch Demonstrate Common Sense, and the Canadians – Even the Police – Seem
Ready to Learn – 3 Articles

3. The Los Angeles Times reported
today, “Some officers believe that alcohol may have been a factor in the
behavior of guards (at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq) who have been charged with
beating prisoners, stripping them naked, forcing them to masturbate and stacking
them in pyramid-shaped piles on the prison floor. At least one prisoner has told
investigators that he frequently smelled alcohol on the guards’ breath in the
cellblock where most of the abuses occurred.”

See
Abuse
In Prisons: Iraqi and American. Bush says, “That is not the way we do things
in America.” No, That Is Exactly The Way We Do Things in America! Especially
In Texas and Florida.

4. In March of this year, a Pentagon survey showed nearly one in five members of
the U.S. armed forces is a heavy drinker, but of course they are all pee-tested
for cannabis.

5. The journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence reports that that the number of
American adults who abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent rose to 17.6 million
or 8.46 percent of the population in 2001-2002 from 13.8 million or 7.41 percent
of the population in 1991-1992.

See
John Walters Says,
“Prescription Drug Abuse Is The Second Largest Illicit Drug Problem” –
After Cannabis, Of Course! Different Measures for “Success” and Failure.
Seeking New Victims.

Okay, but what does all this have to
do with problems for the Republican Party?

Well, consider that Richard Nixon was
brought down by the Watergate burglary that was led by G. Gordon Liddy, who had
become (in)famous for prosecuting Timothy Leary and had led Operation Intercept,
which closed the Mexican border to marijuana, and created demand for Columbian
cannabis.

And Ronald Reagan was almost brought
down by the guns for cocaine for cash for hostages business run through Mena,
Arkansas. The crack cocaine boom began after Reagan/Bush shut off the supply of
Columbian cannabis.
See
HOW
THE NARCS CREATED CRACK
by
Richard C. Cowan
and
A Great Arkansas
Journalist Examines The Story that Could Bring Down Bush And The Drug War.

And the civilian contractors running the Iraqi prisons were essentially rejects
from the booming American Gulag that has exploded during the Drug War.
See
Prohibition
and The Prison State. “Protecting” Youth and Minorities. In DEAland, The UK
and France Prisons Are Full.

Thus, from Nixon to Reagan to Bush, the control of the Republican Party by the
prohibitionist ideologues in “law enforcement community” – police,
prosecutors, and the prison industry and rehab racketeers – has left it
continually vulnerable to the most ideological and least intelligent elements on
the American right.

See

Conference
On Rehab Racketeers Tied To Bush Will Raise Important Issues: Saving Children
From Drug Treatment Abuse. Saving DEAland from Drug War Lite. A Conference That
Should Embarrass Washington.

As the report from Portugal
demonstrates, the police on the front lines know what the real “drug
problem” is. And so does the Pentagon, for that matter.

“We
are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when
we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we
were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an
indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief
bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.” – George Orwell, “In Front of Your Nose.” — 1946

Nonetheless, most political analysts
are not only unable to connect the dots; they cannot even see them. That is why
I began with the quote from Einstein, although one need not be “an Einstein”
to see the problems the Republicans have brought upon themselves and the world
by their commitment to the prohibitionist ideology.

See
Science,
Democracy, Ideology and the Prohibitionist Police State. Marijuana Use Doesn’t
Hurt “Thinking Skills” But Prohibition Does. Analysis by Richard Cowan

The Republicans will continue to be dragged down by the party of the stupid
until they recognize the wisdom of P. J. O’Rourke’s observation:

“No
drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking
for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should
test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.”
See

Victory for Hemp Shows
Prohibitionist Have Problems With Mandatory Stupidity. The Prohibitionist
Dilemma Is That They Are Addicted to Bad Arguments.
and
UK Law Lord Calls Cannabis
Prohibition Stupid. His Lordship Is Too Kind! Analysis by Richard Cowan
and
“Australian National
Council on Drugs” Wants To Make Cannabis Focus Of War On Drugs. Melbourne
Paper Editorializes Against Move. When Does Stupidity Become Evil?

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