National Geographic Explorer: Heroin vs Meth vs Marijuana

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 Intro

Last night, I watched three back to back Explorer episodes on National Geographic. Heroin Crisis looked at heroin around the world, the second episode was The World's Most Dangerous Drug (methamphetamine), and the final episode was titled Marijuana Nation.

Heroin Crisis

I knew a lot about heroin already. One thing that stood out to me was when the program got into the manufacturing side of heroin. Afghanistan was producing 30% more heroin than the actual demand. While I didn't know that, I did know that Afghanistan was indeed responsible for producing 90% of the world's heroin. In fact, I wrote about: Wakeup: Back to Reagan's Drug War.

You see the Taliban had crushed the drug trade in Afghanistan in 2001. They tortured and murdered farmers to get their point across (much worse than the DEA's torturing and murdering of American citizens over marijuana). Then, the first coming of the idiot-Christ, President mis-Elect Bush, came around, guns-a-blazing, to shut down the Taliban. That's when poppy production went BACK into overdrive.

Question: Why did we decide to go into Afghanistan? Al Qaeda? Osama Bin Laden? Does it even matter?

World's Most Dangerous Drug

Methamphetamine (crystal meth or meth) scares me! Simply put, it's a frightening drug. I'd heard a lot about it. But, being that my one and only interest is and will always be marijuana, it didn't make sense for me to gather more information about this drug. But this Explorer program gave me that view of meth that set me straight about it once and for all. One thing that stood out to me more and more were the before and after images of meth users. Strong healthy people now looking thin, emaciated, and gaunt within a matter of a few months to two years. Not even cocaine or heroin is that bad on the body. Don't get me wrong. I grew up in the Bronx, New York City. I've seen first hand the destruction cocaine and heroin can do to a community. But, meth is a beast unto itself.

Anyway here's a Youtube video of meth users, before and after. As much as I hate to use these people because they demonize a harmless plant along with other man-made chemicals, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Marijuana Nation

Finally, we get to Marijuana Nation and I am happy, yet pensive due to the twisting and spinning of information by police and DEA agents. I have a problem stomaching the ignorant and arrogant ranting of bold-faced habitual liars.

Let's think about it critically for a minute.

Who do you believe, or side with, in the War on Marijuana? Would you side with marijuana growers and traffickers over the DEA and police when it comes to legalizing marijuana? I'd side with the criminals because it's a question of who will lose if marijuana is legal.

First and foremost, criminals - growers and dealers. They lose because if marijuana is legalized, prices drop. That's not good for a would-be former criminal's pocket. If you're in the business of selling marijuana, you'd want to keep the prices high so that you can profit as much as possible. However, that will be difficult to do when you can buy a pound of decent marijuana in Zimbabwe for $20. You see where I am going on the criminal side of things. Yet, it's the criminals, like Marc Emery, that want it legalized. People don't sacrifice themselves unless it's important to them, morally important.

Secondly, the police and DEA. As I watched this program, comparing it to the other two, I realized there was an incredible bump in the amount of money and resources used for marijuana eradication. But, they lose if marijuana is legal because marijuana accounts for a high percentage of their work. If marijuana is made legal, it would be difficult for the DEA to account for the expenditures they currently use $70 billion annually. In other words, they'd be losing jobs.It's in their best interest to keep the pressure high on marijuana demonization in an effort to paint themselves as saviors and worth the cost. On top of that, if they're not concentrating on petty marijuana crime, they'd have to actually do real police work like solving murders or catching rapists.

Who wins? Scientists and Researchers. Doctors and medicinal users. Casual Users. US citizens in general who don't like the criminal element (the DEA) nor the wayward and errant dealers on the corner. And yes, even police. Remember Al Capone, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables? Alcohol Prohibition in the 1920's? There's a lesson the authorities of the United States should study extremely carefully because they're already repeating the past. If that's the case, we know the inevitable result.

Anyway, Marijuana Nation was good even if it rehashed a lot of the old stuff (old to me, at least) - Marc Emery (BC3 and Cannabis Culture), indoor and outdoor grow operations, and of course the obligatory save-my-DEA-job lies.

Last Puff

It's a wonder why people continue to lump marijuana in with heroin or methamphetamine. The substances are so drastically different on so many levels. It's like comparing water to nuclear runoff - one's safe and naturally occurring and the other is fatal and man-made. If you "enjoy" a cup of nuclear runoff, you're going to need lots of help. And, the people of this world, all nations, fail at the job of helping one another. We can't continue to murder, torture, and imprison our way out of our problems. It's the very reason they keep coming back. These people - friends, family, and others - need help in the form of common sense policy through education (which has worked for decreasing tobacco use). We can also put some of that DEA largesse into healthcare and addiction treatment. And, at $70 billion a year, we could probably provide free healthcare for all Americans as well.

Wakeup: Back to Reagan's Drug War

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 In this war on drugs, there is one question that every poor Black and Hispanic person in the inner city - the dealers, the users, and the innocent bystanders - wants answered, "How do these substances get into our neighborhood?"

This question comes about because there is a disconnect in the flow of drugs. For example, if you wanted to track how a car got into your neighborhood, you can track it from the manufacturer through the distribution system - trucks, trains, planes, and car salesmen - into the hands of the owner. However, when it comes to drugs we don't know the distribution system. The one question that always comes up is, "if the US government wants to stop the flow of drugs, why don't they go after the manufacturers instead of the low-level dealers?"

The answer: The US government IS the distribution system that facilitates the flow of crack, cocaine, and heroin into the nation and the inner city.

I know it all sounds like a conspiracy theory - "Oh, the big dangerous government is out to get us!" Sure, it sounds crazy. Unfortunately, it's so crazy that it's true. Listen to former DEA agent Celerino Castillo tell you about his experiences in Central and South America. It's a two part video, about an hour long total.

Folks, it's important to understand that this is NOT coming from the mouth of some paranoid crackhead. This is from the mouth of a man who was IN it all. Here are the video interview of former DEA agent Celerino Castillo:

The one thing that stood out to me before the end of the second video is that Mr. Castillo confirmed the fears that I had about heroin production in Afghanistan. I watched news reports that the US military wouldn't destroy poppy fields as they showed clips of US soldiers walking through. The one thing I knew about the Taliban in Afghanistan, they are staunch Muslims. They fought drug dealers in Afghanistan and punished them harshly with death. All of a sudden, the US comes starts the War on Terror and Afghanistan is now producing 90% of the world's heroin.

Folks, this is NOT Usher and Tameka getting a divorce. This is NOT some celebrity sex tape. This is NOT the latest Hip Hop beef. This is the Reagan era revisited. This is the crack/cocaine/heroin epidemic. This is high levels of unemployment and depressed individuals looking for an escape. This is blood-stained sidewalks and kids dying over cheap gold chains and nice sneakers. This is what I remember from the 80s under two terms of Ronald Reagan and one term of George HW Bush. We're going back to these times thanks to two terms of George W. Bush.

The only thing that's truly going to save our communities is the will to resist. We've got to be reminded of the harm done to us by this fake war on drugs. We have to be stronger than our parents were during the 80s. We have to make sure to NOT succumb to the ease of drug money and NOT look for escape in substances. This shit is coming to our doorsteps. The best thing we can do is be prepared.