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Ending scourge of opium a worthy goal
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.
I was intrigued and surprised by a Las Vegas Sun editorial in Monday’s paper, “Request is out of line,” which criticizes Russian authorities for asking that the U.S. try to eradicate opium poppies from the air.
Drugs such as heroin, which derives from opium, are the scourge of all humanity. They reduce people to the lowest base levels of existence and desperation, and money generated therein supports the Taliban and other terrorist organizations the world over.
There can be no legitimate defense for not seeking to prevent the wide-scale production of heroin, a tremendous fraction of which originates in Afghanistan. Russia has much experience in Afghanistan and was holding things together there reasonably well three decades ago, until the U.S. began supporting the Taliban (stinger missiles, etc.) opposition.
If President Barack Obama is really serious about resetting relations with Russia, this would be a golden opportunity for him to rebuild the spirit of cooperation and mutual trust by partnering with Russia to eradicate the source of much of the world’s heroin in Afghanistan and helping farmers there transform their crops into other profitable but legal commodities (perhaps tobacco or nuts?) appropriate for the climate and terrain. We could offer generous aid to Afghanistan farmers to help offset their losses until they successfully convert their crops.
It makes no sense to try to stop drug production in Colombia but not do the same in Afghanistan.
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The war on drugs. Forty years and still looking to win a battle!
Given the allegations made by the San Jose Mercury News paper in 1996 about covert CIA involvement in supplying drugs to our inner cities for quick cash as well as this recent issue, I wonder if we ever really wanted to win it.
You know what' If people would just stop putting this poison in there body's this problem would just go away on it's own.
"Drugs such as heroin, which derives from opium, are the scourge of all humanity. They reduce people to the lowest base levels of existence and desperation, and money generated therein supports the Taliban and other terrorist organizations the world over.
"There can be no legitimate defense for not seeking to prevent the wide-scale production of heroin..."
Pravica -- your eyes must be brown because you're so full of it.
Opium, heroin and their derivatives are completely natural. They come from plants. There's a worldwide shortage of opium-derived drugs in the "legal" markets _ http://www.csdp.org/news/news/heroinupda...
WillieTanner, pravica are right on here. The casual, recreational drug user has NEVER been an enemy to this country, never has been. The drug war itself, taken in the context of the civil liberties every government official and law enforcement officer have taken oaths to protect, is indefensible, criminal and stupid. Go to _ http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/ _ and educate yourselves on facts, not propaganda.
"The Fuhrer is always right." -- Joachim von Ribbentrop, the 1939 Konigsberg address
KillerB:
My Mother was a nurse for over 40 years and for many of those years, she worked as the Head Night Nurse for the Drug and alcohol unit at a major Veterans hospital. She saw the direct effect of drug abuse and always told me as a child that "your brain will turn to mush if you use drugs." I never believed her until I actually saw a brain from a deceased drug user. Yes, heroin is natural (unless it's refined in a pathetic excuse for a drug dealer's "laboratory"), but so is poison ivy, snake venom, black widow venom, and a host of other "completely natural" poisons. Opium was used by Britain against the Chinese to try to enslave them and provoked the "Opium wars" in the 19th century. Some things never change. Take away the source of the drugs and you will reduce drug use. Reduce the drug use and you will have better-thinking and truly free human beings who will awake from their drug-induced stupor and see just what's really going on in our world. For the sake of the survival of America's democracy which requires proper debate, please try to be a bit more civilized and less Neanderthal in your postings. My eyes are green.
pravica -- personal drug use is part of every person's liberty. What you're actually talking about here is one's personal choices. I also see you failed to mention anything about the ravages of the current "legal" drugs -- caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and prescription.
Isolating drug use/abuse as a cause from the other forces moving on an event, like the British - Chinese example you mentioned, does not positively serve this Discussion. An example I would use is the complete lack in the popular media of even anecdotes of responsible drug users. Worse is how in the public eye marijuana is still lumped together with the hard drugs and treated equally.
The ghost of Harry J. Anslinger has got to be laughing its ectoplasmic ass off.
I'll drink to that.. Hey, I wasn't shooting needles, just trying to kill beetles.. I have been out weeding in the yard. got feeling kind of sick from the insectide, , To overdose on that stuff is a hard way to go.. I might have a habit, stop me before I spray again. In Tehran, you can't go to a disco, heroin is cheaper than beer and insecticide. In Moscow, where petro dollars are filling up the pockets of many, they still drink like fish. Tobacco kills millions a year. which in my opinion tobacco and hot dogs are the big no no's heroin shmeroin, just stay away from hot dogs, and insecticide
Killer8:
The brain is as far as we know the most complex machine in the Universe. It has resulted from billions of years of evolution and/or Creation and is a complex mix of chemicals and electrical impulses that somehow give us consciousness. Tinkering with the incredible homeostasis of the brain's biochemistry whether by taking Ritalin, PCP, LSD, Heroin, Lithium, glucose, or other drugs, risks irreparably damaging this amazing homeostasis. Yes, everything you ingest, including oxygen can be considered a drug. You truly are what you eat! However, hallucinogenic drugs can have especially disastrous consequences for the brain and impair the brains ability to function normally. Though consuming alcohol is a personal choice, driving a car and consuming alcohol on public streets is WRONG and illegal not matter how you want to look at it because it affects the personal freedoms of others. Like cheap mortgages, hallucinogeic drugs such as heroin are highly addictive and thereby can be used to control populations. If Americans truly cherish their freedom, they should NEVER use these horrible drugs. And, as far as I know, the drugs are illegal and thus, though you can use your drugs "recreationally," you risk incarceration which will result in loss of your freedoms.
pravica -- all good points. Good to see you're more than just one of the copy-and-paste-buffoons common here.
I've got a huge wrench to throw into your logic, though -- one of the guarantees of our Constitutions is to protect our bedrock freedom to pursue happiness. The point is my brain, my body are mine, not yours, not the state's. I decide what kind of happiness to pursue. My view is the state's violence and coercion in the name of the drug wars, and whatever else it decides is for my own good, is a gross violation of the very freedoms all governments were constituted to protect.
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others." -- Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82"
"The best hemp and the best tobacco grow on the same kind of soil." -- Thomas Jefferson
Hey KillerB:
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil. . ." 1Peter2:16. Don't hide behind the "hey, we are free" argument to espouse stupidity. God gave us freedom, but with that freedom comes responsibility. When you argue against the common sense that Pravica is stating, you give cause for despots like Hitler to justify his barbaric control over the masses, since ah hell, their too stupid to know anyway. Dr. Ron Paul is against the war on terror but for very different reasons then you're advocating. As a doctor, he would certainly counsel someone NOT to use any mind-altering substances. The state telling someone not to do so is a different issue. But he wouldn't personally advocate altering the delicate chemical balance in the brain. That's playing with fire.
Sorry, in the above comment, I meant to say the war on drugs, not terror, although Dr. Paul has many issues with that as well.
krankins -- our freedoms didn't come from any "God," we were all, each of us, born with them. Big difference.
Where you get Hitler from anything I've posted here is a leap into the absurd.
Ultimately, of course, opinions vary. That's why we post here. At least I can document mine with founding principles of freedom, not your book Jeffereson called "dunghill."
Your one redeeming feature is referring to Rep. Paul. Have you read his address to Congress about America becoming a police state? Words to pay attention to.
Killer8:
I know where you are coming from and do have sympathies with your point of view - certainly regarding our Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms which are slowly being rescinded without us being fully aware. However, though you in some sense have a right to desecrate your body if you wish, the problem is that with these kinds of hallucenogenic drugs, you often can't predict their effect on one's biochemistry and behavior. As a result, with something like LSD or PCP (for example), you may have a "bad trip" which could result in a violent episode which either kills you or someone else. These drugs also distort one's perspective of right versus wrong/morality. During the civil war in Croatia, for example, Croatian soldiers were given these drugs to make them feel less guilty about slaughtering 90 year old Croatian Serb farmers in Krajina. When some of these soldiers ended up on our soil, they continued slaughtering Americans here. Drugs cause some people to be horribly violent and though I understand your need to be free, I also understand the need of of law-abiding citizens to be free of the menace of drug-crazed addicts who steal, kill, and commit all sorts of other amoral acts of desperation and insanity for the next hit. We must transcend our animalistic "pleasure-seeking" nature because it's destroying our society.
pravica -- obviously drugs push your buttons.
I don't subscribe to your opinion of drugs causing people to do anything. Unless forcefully or deceitfully injected/ingested/whatever, people do these things themselves. Drugs are just an enhancement to gain a desired effect. That's why I have no sympathy for drunk drivers, people who sue tobacco companies because they got sick, and people on coffee withdrawal. Only when a person commits an actual crime under the influence of their drugs does the state have any legal interest whatsoever to intervene.
I do subscribe as a life principle to that ancient physician's creed -- "Primum non nocere" -- "First do no harm."
Killer8:
Your "dunghill" comment is a complete lie which either you created or are blindly passing on, putting Thomas Jefferson in a false light. Do a little research and you'll come across actual quotes, from his very own writings which say things like: ""Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?" Don't just get fat on propaganda. Well, you may not have time to do actual research since you need the time to get high. I can see the drugs are already having a very negative effect on your thought processes.
krankins -- you're wrong on Jefferson. If you knew anything about him you'd know he was a deist, not a theist, who detested both dogma and chrisianity.
As for the rest of your infantile comments -- bite me.
KillerB, thank you for so beautifully proving my point!
Uh, by the way killerb, a deist is a type of theist. You won't learn that from your drug dealer.
krankins -- riiiiight. I'm finished with you.
KillerB:
Obviously discussion of stopping drug production pushes your buttons as well. Yes, I am passionately against drug use because I care about the welfare of my fellow Americans as a Christian. FYI, you might be interested in the following article which states that more people now die from drug use than car accidents in 16 states in the US.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13457274?so...
We can agree to disagree - that's democracy - you have the right to be wrong. But drugs are dangerous and unpredictable - there's nothing debate there. America would do well to prevent this epidemic from getting further out of control as George Soros and others seek to destroy this great nation and turn us all into mentally-challenged slaves.
now fellas in this sandbox, every one has a right to say what they mean, and mean what they say. The article stated that we need to do more to eradicate poppies, and I believe the author had good intentions, for a communist sympathizer. We need to blow up poppy fields cause we want to, not because Russia wants us to. If russia asked us not to blow up the fields, then of course we would blow the smithereens out of ..wait haven't we bombed afghanistan enough? shouldn't we learn anything from iraq? oh well, I need to take my meds. some morphine sulphate sounds good about now, smoke a cig, have a hot dog, what a life..
"But drugs are dangerous and unpredictable - there's nothing debate there."
pravica -- of course there is something "debate here." Start with you're wrong -- some drugs may be dangerous, and their effects unpredictable, but it's actually the effects of their irresponsible use on others that is the danger. The substances themselves are not to blame.
When my kids were toddlers we put child guards everywhere to keep them out of the dangerous household substances (drain cleaner, etc.) and object (knives, etc.). Nothing was wrong with the substances or objects, only their use in young, ignorant hands.
For we adults it's not only wrong but criminal to tell us what we can and cannot do, so long as we do no actual harm to others -- the incredibly stupid anti-marijuana criminal laws are just one example. Like why is it illegal to grow just plain hemp, the gods' botanical gift to mankind? Or why the awesome benefits of THC -- like helping AIDS, chronic pain and chemotherapy sufferers -- are criminalized? Two words -- propaganda and Harry J. Anslinger.
Ugh, killer8 actually spawned offspring?
Cactusdan:
Ahh, yes, the "good" old days of McCarthyism and anti-communist fanaticism. I guess you remember them well! Though Russia is a nominal even if marginal democracy, that wasn't good enough for the Western Oligarchs who plundered Her people causing the suffering of millions. When the Russians resisted the theft of their resources, suddenly, all of the immature anti-communist rhetoric returned in the Western press. Don't worry, you may get what you wish for very soon with these attitudes: WWIII. Then the drug "debate" will be truly moot. Let's go against Christian Russia and Serbia to support Islamic terrorists in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and elsewhere and of course receive the 9/11, stinger missile, etc. blowback. Way to go!