IMAGINE...NO BEER...NO WINE...  
NO WAY!!!??    WELL, OUR LAWMAKERS DID IT!

It's 1920, and after pushing for a long time, the Women's Christian Temperance Union finally succeeded in convincing congress to pass a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to ban the mass production, sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.   

The photo at right, when we look at it from today's point of view, is that stupid or what?  Because of religious influence in government, these guys are pouring perfectly good beer down the drain!  And worse, they're getting paid to do it!

It was many years of wasted money with Elliot Ness type cops going after bootleggers, mob deaths and illegal fortunes made before lawmakers finally came to their senses and repealed what was probably the most stupid law that lawmakers ever perpetrated on the American people. 

Our forefathers and foremom's had to put up with 13 years of prohibition, right into the Great Depression.  Then along came Roosevelt and he figured everybody was bad off enough with no work and no money, didn't also need no beer.  

AND HOW DID THE AMERICAN PEOPLE RESPOND? 

THEY ALL KEPT PUSHING UNTIL THE LAW WAS CHANGED

Then there was the numbers racket, more mob killings and more fortunes made, more wasted money with cops chasing down the bad guys, prosecutions and keeping people in jail.  Now we have legal numbers rackets.  They're called 'lotteries', and we even have a California Daily Three numbers racket here in CA, and of course there are Lottos in states all around the country. 

And let's not forget gambling, card gaMes, slot machines, these were outlawed everywhere until gambling became legal in Nevada.  Now in other states such as here in California we have Indian Reservations where everyone can go gamble. 

So what's illegal today?   The main one is the biggest cash crop in the country at 32 billion a year - marijuana.  And today we have more cops chasing down more 'bad guys' and more money wasted.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS: -  AROUND Two million people WERE arrested LAST year over drugs?  The Office of National Drug Control Policy puts the cost of the whole drug problem at somewhere around 145 billion a year!!  

And this isn't about bank robbers, murderers, child molesters, wife beaters, child abusers, swindlers and other real criminals who seriously hurt people.  Yes, some of these drug guys are really bad dudes and need to be put away.  But the others?  Many drug arrests are about victimless crimes. 

So here we go again, like booze and numbers rackets and gambling before they became legal, we're spending billions of dollars a year chasing people, and many of them didn't hurt anybody.

So do I support legalization of all drugs?  Absolutely not!  Take a look at the photos below and you'll see why. 

Here are some more facts and statistics to keep in mind as we consider this plan - Massachusetts recently decriminalized the possession of an ounce of pot or less for individual use.  Twelve other states have already de-criminalized it.  In California it is medically legal and people are allowed to grow small amounts for their own 'medical' use.  Here is some other information to keep in mind. 

Attorney Hints the Era of DEA Raids May Be Coming to an End

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #522, 2/8/08

"Incoming US Attorney for Northern California Joseph Russoniello held his first press briefing January 31, and during that briefing, he suggested that raiding and prosecuting medical marijuana providers is a waste of resources. That's a bit of a surprise, given Russoniello's history as a hard-line Republican prosecutor, but could augur a new day in Northern California.

"Although personally opposed to medical marijuana and openly skeptical that many who claim to be using the herb medicinally are not really ill, Russoniello suggested that trying to prosecute dispensaries out of existence was akin to trying to plough the sea. 'The overwhelming majority of people in my view who are so-called patients are not,' he said, but he added that cracking down on dispensaries was futile. 'We could spend a lifetime closing dispensaries and doing other kinds of drug enforcement actions, bringing cases and prosecuting people, shoveling sand against the tide. It would be terribly unproductive and probably not an efficient use of precious federal resources,' said Russoniello.

Russoniello has other, higher priorities, including gun crimes, hard drugs, gangs, and child pornography, he said. 'Guns which are a scourge to communities, which combined with the twin poisons of gangs and drugs are literally enslaving whole neighborhoods,' he said.  Russionello took over as US Attorney for Northern California early last month. He also spent eight years in that position under President Reagan in the 1980s."

Marijuana: Zogby Poll Shows Majority Support for Taxing and Regulating Marijuana on the West Coast, Support Climbing Nationwide

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #573, 2/20/09

Support for taxing and regulating marijuana has climbed above 50% on the West Coast, according to a national poll of 1,053 registered voters. The poll was conducted by Zogby International and was commissioned by California NORML and Oakland's Oaksterdam University.

The poll found that 58% of West Coast respondents agreed that marijuana should be "taxed and regulated like alcohol and cigarettes." Only 36% of West Coast respondents disagreed.

On the East Coast, 48% supported legalizing marijuana. In the south and central US, support fell to 37%. Overall, 44% of respondents nationwide agreed that pot should be taxed and regulated.

That's roughly in line with a CBS/New York Times poll earlier this month that found 41% of Americans favored legalizing marijuana, up from just 27% in 1979. That, said national NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre, is a good thing.

"Public support for replacing the illicit marijuana market with a legally regulated, controlled market similar to alcohol, complete with age restrictions and quality controls, continues to grow, and appears to have achieved majority support on the West Coast -- where many voters are already familiar with the state-licensed use and, in some cases, sale of medical cannabis," he said.

"As voters and legislators continue to look for alternative ways to raise tax revenue for public services and reduce law enforcement costs in this troubled economy, we expect the public's support for taxing and regulating cannabis to continue to grow -- not just on the West Coast, but nationwide."  Marijuana plants (photo from US Fish and Wildlife Service via Wikimedia)

DRUGS TO LEGALIZE

The photo at right shows a very dead John Courtney, 21, a talented UK soccer player clutching the syringe of heroin that killed him.  Look at the track marks that cover his body!  How can any of us not want to do everything necessary to keep our country's sons and daughters from a similar tragic end?  (Photo ©North News and Pictures printed in the UK Daily Mail). 

To see what meth does, click on these photos and you'll see what can happen to someone in just a matter of months.  They're from www.drugfree.org and came from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office "Faces of Meth" Program.  Hit the back button to return to this site. 

Because of drug tragedies like these, for me there are just two drugs to look at, and personally I think anyone who suggests legalizing incredibly destructive, dead-end drugs is out of his mind.  We should redouble our efforts to destroy the sources of these drugs and stop those who manufacture and sell them.  At the same time we must redouble our efforts to educate young people about the dangers of all drug use.  

Some people argue that if drugs were legal then everybody would start using them.  How so?  Smoking is legal but most people are concerned enough about their health and know smoking will kill them so they don't smoke.  Alcohol is legal but most people do not abuse it and many people do not drink at all.  Everything in life has to do with training and self discipline and it will be no different with drugs. 

Whatever action we take to help, there will always be those like John Courtney who can't be reached.  Sad as it may seem, it is simply the nature of all species on our planet sometimes to make the wrong choice and end up dead.  But many have been saved by our efforts and we must continue to do all we can to prevent these tragedies.     

You might want to check out the two articles below to get a better perspective on all this.  Some of the information above is from a Shirley Skeel article in msn money.  She quotes Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman and others and gives a lot of information on both sides of the equation about legalizing drugs.   http://moneycentral.msn.com/money.search?q=legalizing%20drugs 

There's another article with a lot of information to check out on msn.  One of the subjects is alcohol and the problems from its use - it causes over 100,000 deaths in the US and Canada every year, is the drug most abused by children 12 - 17, leads to use of tobacco and other drugs and is the major cause of teen age deaths through car accidents.  The whole article is at http://health.msn.com/print.aspx?cp-documentid=100058729&page=0

SO WHAT'S THE PLAN?

While known for elevated tar content over cigarettes, for creating short term memory loss, and in some users arousing paranoia, marijuana has surprisingly few serious negatives.  This may be from its major effect on most people using it which is to calm and relax them.   

You don't hear of people at a pot party getting into fights as you do where alcohol is the drug of choice. 

You don't hear of 'binge pot deaths' as we hear often occur from 'binge drinking'. 

You don't hear of tens of thousands of deaths every year and billions of dollars lost in pot - related traffic accidents as is the case with alcohol, as shown in the photo at left in which young people in the service were killed.   

There are no 100,000 people a year dying from pot in the US and Canada today as is the case from alcohol, nor are there the  tens of thousands dying nasty deaths from cancer and heart disease related to smoking.   

As medicine Marjuana has many benefits.  For medical uses in California, marijuana is available in pill form which removes the dangers from smoking it. 

TO LEARN SOME OF THE OTHER BENEFITS OF MARIJUANA'S MEDICAL USE, CHECK OUT http://www.wamm.org/medicinalbenefits.htm. 

Because of its calming effect, along with therapy marijuana has been shown to help addicts recover from serious drug addiction so you see: we can help the John Courtneys and meth users of the world!

I REALLY WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS SAVED FROM REALLY DANGEROUS DRUGS, THE WAR ON DRUGS WON, AND ALL STATES AND OUR COUNTRY GETTING FINANCIALLY STRONG AGAIN.  MY PLAN WORKS TOWARDS ALL THESE GOALS. 

IF YOU HAVE A BETTER PLAN, LET'S HEAR IT!  IF NOT, PLEASE HELP PUSH THIS ONE.  I'M DIRECTING THE LETTER BELOW TO MY GOVERNOR HERE IN CALIFORNIA, BUT IT IS INTENDED FOR ALL OF YOU WHO CAN HELP WIN THE WAR ON DRUGS AND STRENGTHEN OUR COUNTRY.

An Open Letter to Governor
Arnold Schwartzenegger

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28354324/

THERE ARE TWO OTHER MAJOR INCOME GENERATING POSSIBILITIES FOR OUR STATE 

GAMBLING

For me, one of the most confusing things is that we allow gambling on Indian Reservations in California and let a few people get rich.  Why do we do this?  It's time for us to accept that just like Lotto (which as Californians we own), numbers, horse racing etc that have become legal, maybe it's time also for gambling to be legal in our state. 

The State (which is us) would control it, we would own it (like Lotto) and the money would go to help all of us (like education or paying off our State debts).  This is our State, it's our money and we need to keep the main revenue to benefit all the people in our state and yes this is socialism - it's where you and I own it and help determine where the profit is spent too. 'We the people' own Lotto and the money goes to help education.  Let's face it, we already have a degree of socialism in California as well as in our USA, and I agree with that, and so do the people of ours state or we would change it.  Social Security is socialism and I'm sure that if you get them, you're not going to start sending back your monthly social security checks, nor are you going to refuse Medicare.

Let's do the same with gambling as we did with lotto.  We just need a couple of places in San Francisco, LA and San Diego run by private enterprise for us, for the benefit of our state.  The private enterprise managers who run them get their cut and 'we the people' get the rest to help pay the state bills.  It's that easy.

COCAINE

Before getting into this subject, let me talk about driver's licenses, social security and Medicare cards.  All people who drive or who work in this country or are over 65 have one, two or all of them.  These allow the government to collect taxes, train people so they operate safely on the highways, allow companies that give us credit to know where we are, and the government to provide health care and financial support.  We allow our fredom to be limited in this way, and we allow our democracy to contain this much obvious socialism.  This is not restraint of freedom.  Our country has to have order and a way to reach us, and there is no other way to do it but to 'tag us', the same way we tag fish or birds or animals to keep track of them. 

I suggest the government should also require licenses ( tags) for drug users.  We will then have an organized drug industry, know where users are, and we wil be able to train and in other ways help them.  It is the same as here in California today where patients can get prescription cards to buy medical marijuana from local pharmacies.  With these controls for drugs in mind, now let's take a look at another drug that like marijuana is never going to go away - cocaine.   

Let me again repeat that I am totally against legalizing all drugs.  Here is one example why - meth.  It is said to be so harmful because the 'high' supposedly only lasts a few minutes.  Users are constantly chasing the high.  Then the body builds an immunity and it takes a stronger and stronger dose to get the same result.  Meantime the body is being seriously harmed and here are some more photos to show the results. 

Natural cocaine has a longer high, but users have many of the same problems that occur with meth.  Like meth, coke also kills people and people kill each other over it.  Statistics show there were some 6000 murders relating to the drug trade along the US/ Mexican border in 2008 when I first wrote this page, and now the body count as we begin 2010 is over 13,000.  It's become a war out of control. 

Cocaine is expensive compared to meth and that's why meth is considered a poor person's drug.  It costs insurance companies tens of billions of dollars a year to cover losses from thefts of those looking for money to buy their next high.  As you read above, 17% of state criminals and 18% of federal criminals are in jail for crimes committed to get money to buy drugs.  So here's the plan.

THIS IS A RADICAL IDEA, BUT PLEASE CHECK IT OUT

SINCE IT IS NOT ADDICTIVE IT CAN'T BE CLASSIFIED AS A 'DRUG' BUT AS A 'STIMULANT'. 

California needs to review the tests, and if they show this synthetic cocaine is as presented, get a license to manufacture it.  As with medical marijuana here in California, we need to make it available at low cost or free of charge to meth and heroin users - maybe it will save their lives.  We also make it available to casual users at reasonable prices, distributed through drug stores like medical marijuana.  It will provide another income stream for the state as well as save enormous costs.  This is another area in which California could be the 'test state', embarking on a sensible approach to another 'inevitable' - the continued popular use of cocaine. 

Just like marijuana, cocaine is never going to go away.  It is not as destructive as heroin or meth, and if it really is available in a non-addictive form could be immensely helpful for present hard core addicts.  And since it is possible to make it in a chemical lab, this synthetic cocaine can be manufactured under strict quality controls and in whatever quantities are required. 

With regards to deaths from its use, like marijuana, cocaine is safer than alcohol and cigarettes.  !3,000 people killed along the Meexican border in the drug war is a long way from the 100,000 people who die from alcohol in the US and Canada every year, and the billions of dollars in property damage and tens of thousands who die every year from alcohol-related traffic accidents, and all this is besides those who die from smoking related illnesses.   

All of the strict control laws for alcohol and as suggested for marijuana production, distribution and retail sales would apply in this case as well.  Synthetic cocaine could become another income stream for local, county, state and federal governments, as well as an industry that creates new jobs. 

CONCLUSION

Let's face it - life is really hard, and for us to kick back with a beer or a glass of wine and relax is totally needed and totally acceptable.  We have to relax and do whatever we can to help our lives along in this human condition.  Drug companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to come up with new ways to make us poop, not poop, relax, be energetic, sleep, wake up, stay thin, gain weight, feel better, reduce pain or get it up - we're completely a drug culture.  For us to continue keeping marijuana illegal just makes no sense at all.  It has been used since ancient times and does not need millions of dollars spent to develop it.  Nature already made it.  Let's legalize and regulate it and for those who want to use it, let its relaxing affect work for them. 

In my view, beside the logic of the 'Back Fire Strategy' to cut some of the huge expense of the war on drugs, it really is a sensible solution to end the Drug Wars.  Maybe as 'new crops' and 'new industries' marijuana and synthetic cocaine really will do the job that years of expensive law enforcement have not.   

So let's get all these 'victimless criminals' out of jail and back into society.  We need their contribution to help build our new society. 

Let's in a new way help all the people who do have problems with drugs - by making less harmful drugs and free counseling available to them until they can be content enough within themselves to be free of all drugs.     

Let's get these new industries up and running with many new jobs for our state, and get some money rolling into our state and national bank accounts to benefit all of us. 

There will never be a time of greater financial need or a time of greater social crisis than we have now to push all of us for an intelligent solution.  The traditional response to the drug war has not worked, in fact we're losing the 'war on drugs'.  From articles I have read, we have in fact already lost the war on drugs so we must try something new. 

The main fire is already burning and out of control.  Let's get it under control with a 'Back Fire' and then maybe we can put the main blaze out.  If we have the courage to try something new, and do it quickly, we can win. 

It really is time for a new strategy.  This page was designed as a marketing tool to generate support for the Back Fire Strategy.  Please use it. 

Become part of the army that works to win this war!  Please post it on Facebook and MySpace, email it to everyone so we can build support to get things moving. 

Let's not leave the drug wars for another generation to solve.  We can do it now!  Call your lawmakers.

Let's gather our forces, get our support base together, push our leaders to take sensible action for legalization and at the same time win the war on drugs once and for all. 

PappyOne

Information source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine
Photo Seminole County Fire Department