On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 06:55:47AM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
Quoting Craig Sanders (cas@taz.net.au):
for cannabis, it is. in some states. but there's still cocaine and amphetamines and heroin and ecstacy and lsd and others to provide a plentiful supply of slave labor in privatised prisons.
One step at a time. Cannabis has been the huge money-maker for the police departments and prison industries, so the police departments of states that propose legalising marijuana issue dire warnings of disaster: When voters pass reform anyway and disaster does _not_ follow, people have finally started noticing they've been lied to, and the movement gains momentum with each counterexample.
The voters are also starting to see through the civil forfeiture scam.
i'm sure that'll work, just as video cameras are stopping cops from shooting unarmed blacks in the back...and sees them not only charged with murder but convicted and sentenced. wishful thinking. unless the individual cop is extremely unlucky, they'll just lose their job and be found not guilty and then sue for compensation and/or their job back. or get another job as a cop in a different jurisdiction. obedient uniformed thugs are a very useful private army for the 1% and like to know that they'll be protected when doing their job of suppressing the poor. but, more relevantly to the drugs issue, they just shift the goalposts as needed. if marijuana is deemed to be OK, then ice or something else will be the evil gateway drug and all-round scapegoat. with all that money, there's plenty for propaganda campaigns.
In infer that the next battleground will be opiates, judging by the Establishment campaign to convince people there's an 'epidemic' of prescription pain reliever abuse that must be controlled.
in this country the current so-called epidemic is "ice". which is somehow magically different from the identical crystal meth that's been around for decades and is, according to our really truly well informed prime minister, the worst drug ever. there's been a moderate increase in users smoking meth rather than snorting it or injecting it (as was previously popular for heavy users in search of a greater rush), but the actual level of usage in the country has remained unchanged at, iirc, around 2% for a very long time. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> BOFH excuse #377: Someone hooked the twisted pair wires into the answering machine.