The War on Drugs is a War on Drug Addicts

"There is no war on drugs, you can't have a war on inanimate objects, what there is is a war on drug addicts. When there is a war on drug addicts, it's very difficult to save anybody."

Gabor Mate

"What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood."

Alice Miller  

I'm very much looking forward to Professor David Nutt's talk – 'The Truth About Drugs', on the Isle of Man next Monday. I wanted to put some stuff on this blog about the drugs war, but I'm going away tomorrow so will only have time to do this one post. I considered concentrating on the economics of the war, but that's really shooting fish in a barrel, we established that prohibition doesn't work (unless you're Al Capone) back in the 1920's.1 Another aspect of this that really fascinates me and makes a farce of the whole thing, is that the same governments that prohibit drugs are often also involved in dealing them. The CIA's role in bringing drugs into the United States has been documented beyond doubt for at least the past twenty years, with Congressman Ron Paul even suggesting that this might be the number one reason why they're criminalised - 'so governments can have a revenue source to do illegal things.' 2

The aspect of the war that most interests and disturbs me however, is that like all wars it has a terrible human cost. Attempting to stop people from using drugs by making them illegal means that those who do must face some form of penalty, usually being locked away in jail. This always struck me as morally wrong, throwing someone in a cage for the 'crime' of ingesting a plant, but just how wrong has been illustrated to me recently by the work of Dr. Gabor Mate. Whilst many people try drugs, not all become addicts, it would seem some people have a higher level of susceptibility than others. Dr. Mate's clinical experience and research lead him to believe that the difference here can largely be attributed to emotional disturbances resulting from trauma in a persons history, most likely in their childhood. He goes as far to say that not one of the most seriously addicted female heroin users he works with in the slum area of Vancouver, wasn't sexual abused in their childhood. The 'war on drugs' is then nothing other than a war on the most vulnerable and abused people in our society -   

“The treatment implication is that if we see addiction amongst other conditions not as a genetically inherited disease but as a problem of brain development, then the question we would be asking ourselves, knowing that the human brain can develop late on in life, if the conditions are right, then the question we would be asking ourselves is 'what conditions do people need for their brains to develop properly, at any age.' Now, the worst possible condition is when you stress an ostracise and criminalise and dehumanise people, under those conditions there's no growth whatsoever. So the war on drugs which is in fact a war on drug addicts which is in fact a war on the most abused section of our population from birth onwards, which is exactly the wrong thing to engage in if you're really intent on helping people and to help redeem them from their addictive habits.”

Gabor Mate

Dr. Mate points out that we can all (himself included) indulge in destructive addictive behaviour to varying degrees, be it shopping or alcohol or work etc. Not wanting to admit to this, society points the finger of blame specifically at those addicted to drugs as a form of scapegoating, projecting blame onto others rather than accepting and dealing with our own issues.

There is a longer TED video, where Dr. Mate talks about his work and his own struggles with addiction, resulting from being born a Jew in Hungary during the Nazi invasion, here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cYcSak6nE  

1 – This piece by Johann Hari really makes the point -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/drug-warriors---its-time_b_743107.html

2 – Someones jut made this rather nice little film running through the history of CIA drug trafficing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJkFZ4W4bjg

The interview where Ron Paul made these astonishing comments can be seen here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hl5zt3MvzE

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'The Truth About Drugs' - A Talk on the Isle of Man

Next Monday the Isle of Man Freethinkers and the Positive Action Group have arranged for Professor David Nutt to visit the Isle of Man and give a public talk on drugs policy. Unsurprisingly, I have some strong opinions on the criminalisation of drugs, and I'll try and blog some of these during the week. For now though here's the advert for Professor's Nutt's talk, which I personally am very much looking forward to attending.

Professor David Nutt is to give a talk at the Manx Museum on Monday 28^th April entitled “The Truth About Drugs: A Basis for a Fair and Rational Policy?”

It was revealed last year that 40% of inmates in Jurby Prison were serving sentences for drug-related offences. And with IoM drug seizures reaching record levels (Ecstasy up 70 fold, Cannabis up 10 fold – Source: Chief Constable’s Annual Report 2012-2013) maybe we should be re -examining our policies and priorities.

David Nutt is Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, and was Chair of the UK Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). He was famously sacked by the Home Secretary for writing a paper comparing the harms of ecstasy with those of horse riding, and for publicly criticizing the Government for ignoring scientific advice by reclassifying cannabis from Group C to Group B indicating increased harmfulness. Professor Nutt has lectured all over the world on the subject of drug and alcohol policy and addiction, and his book “Drugs Without the Hot Air” has been widely acclaimed. He is President of the British Neuroscience Association, Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and Vice-President of the European Brain Council.

The talk, on 28^th April, is jointly sponsored by the Positive Action Group (PAG) and the Isle of Man Freethinkers.

A spokesperson said: "Both groups are delighted to have persuaded such an eminent expert to visit the Isle of Man to question and examine issues relating to a long accepted drug policy. After the talk the audience will have chance to question the speaker in what may well prove to be a lively Q & A session."

Topics to be covered will be:

How harmful are alcohol and tobacco compared to illegal drugs?

Does the “war on drugs” cause more harm than good? How does it affect legitimate scientific research into potentially valuable therapies?

What should you tell your children about drugs, and at what age?

Does prison or a criminal record do more harm to young people than smoking cannabis?

What about “legal highs”

All are welcome and admission is free, but with a voluntary exit collection

And here's an interview with Professor Nutt by the ever interesting guys at London Real - 

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Remembering Mike Ruppert

I was Very sad yesterday to hear that investigative journalist Michael C. Ruppert had taken his own life. I saw Mike deliver his lecture 'The Truth and Lies of 9/11' in Amsterdam eleven years ago, where he laid out the case for elements within the US government having been involved in the events of September the 11^th. Mike was one of the most prominent voices questioning the official account of 9/11 in those early days and his book 'Crossing the Rubicon – The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil', was the first one I read on the subject and I believe remains one of the best. Mike particularly documented the insider trading that went on on 9/11, the unbelievable coincidence of war games mirroring the actual attacks that took place that day and the CIA's connections to international terrorism and the global drugs trade. The latter was a subject he had famously confronted the then CIA Director John Deutch on, publicly informing him of the Agencies long standing role of importing narcotics into the United States.

Mike's erudite research provided a platform for myself and lots of other people to understand the events of September 11^th and wider geopolitics in a much deeper way. It's very sad that this work seems to have taken such a heavy toll on the man himself.

The Libertarian Anarchy Lecture

The videos are here, Professor Gerard Casey's Libertarian Anarchy lecture is now online and available for viewing below.  It's split into two parts, the main lecture and the question and answer session.

And here are some links to subjects Professor Casey mentioned during the talk - 

George Ought to Help - A four minute cartoon explaining the non-aggression principle upon which libertarianism rests and how governments violate this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGMQZEIXBMs

Roads Fit for People - An experiment of what happened when traffic lights at a busy junction were switched off and drivers were left to organise priority between themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi0meiActlU

Professor Casey touched on government control of education.  There're lots of great resources on this, I would particularly recommend anything by the American teacher John Taylor Gatto.  I'll just link to a free book by Libertarian 'guru' Murray Rothbard - 'Education Free and Compulsory'.  Rothbard documents that the State's involvement in education has always been a means of social control, form Sparta to the present day.  As you can see from the opening paragraph, he doesn't pull his punches - 

"The record of the development of compulsory education is a record of State usurpation of parental control over children on behalf of its own; an imposition of uniformity and equality to repress individual growth; and the development of techniques to hinder the growth of reasoning power and independent thought among the children."

https://mises.org/books/education_free_rothbard.pdf

The subject of the environment was raised during the questions, specifically how it might be protected in the absence of a government.  You can hear Libertarian Walter Block discussing this issue and explaining how a free-market has protected the environment in the past and could do so again.

http://www.schiffradio.com/pg/jsp/verticals/archive.jsp?dispid=310&pid=64506

Here's economist Bob Murphy discussing how property rights could evolve to tackle the issue of global warming, without the need for government.  This segment starts at the twenty one minute mark.  (there is however a very interesting discussion on the economics of why slavery couldn't exist in a Stateless society before that).

http://www.schiffradio.com/pg/jsp/verticals/archive.jsp?dispid=310&pid=64588

Finally and perhaps most importantly the subject of Democide was raised, how governments are simply too dangerous to be allowed to exist due to them being the number one cause of unnatural deaths throughout history.  This hard hitting video by Alex Jones documents the murder rate of different State's around the world, it contains some graphic images.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgraVpwiM6Y

Thanks to all those who attended and supported the lecture for making the production of this video possible.  If anyone would like any information on any other topic raised then leave a comment and I'll do my best to to link to some.

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More Tales from the Persian Kitchen

"At a time of increased military tensions, a project which humanises Iranian people, dispels stereotypes, gives a voice to a people rarely seen or heard in the Western media and promotes cross-cultural understanding could not be more important. Saffron aims to do just this, guiding viewers on a fascinating journey into the hearts (and stomachs) of Iranians today."

Yasmin Khan

Last Year I blogged about Yasmin Khan's project to make a documentary film about Iranian cuisine. At the time, she was raising funds on Kickstarter to film a promo in Iran, which she could then pitch to TV companies. That promo is now here, and it's amazing!  Look for yourself - 

The subtle side of this project is to use cooking as a medium to humanise the people of Iran in the eyes of people here. As I wrote last year, 'getting to know a people is a really good cure for being indifferent as to whether our governments want to kill them or not.' Since then, in Britain we have seen the historic vote against a war with Syria, and a growing knowledge and scepticism of the manipulative role Western governments play in events like the current Ukrainian revolution. So rejoice, for the world is changing!  

A question often asked in the alternative media however, is how to connect with more people?  People whom (perhaps sensibly) have no wish to spend their time looking into the nefarious things that their governments are up to. This project maybe a shining example of such a way, promoting a sense of togetherness and our shared humanity with people across the globe, and thereby lessening the chance of future wars without mentioning politics at all!

Visit Yasmin's website to see more stories of her adventures cooking through Iran, and like her page on facebook to keep updated with her progress - 

http://www.thesaffrontales.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thesaffrontales 

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The Revolution will be Voluntary!

Hello Everyone,

I've decided to change the plan regarding the sale of tickets for Professor Gerard Casey's upcoming talk, Libertarian Anarchy. As of now, tickets are scrapped. I am going to attempt to fund the event solely through donations.

Here's why. Just as the minimum wage is a barrier that prevents people from getting jobs, so a minimum charge is a barrier that prevents people coming to events. Obviously I want as many people to attend as possible and therefore it doesn't make sense to me to place obstacles in their way. To me of course, £7 is a great price to hear a lecture on what I believe will be the major emerging political (or apolitical) paradigm of the 21^st century. But of course not everyone thinks of anarcho-capitalism this way, most people have either never heard of it, or if they have they may think it's anything between lunacy or a right wing conspiracy to take social welfare away. I understand this, and I want those people to come along and listen first before deciding if this is something they want to contribute towards or not.

There's a great experiment going on in the emerging alternative media at the moment. The question being ask is what is the best way to get valuable information distributed as widely as possible, whilst still keeping the lights turned on? Can information be made open to all, or does economic necessity mean it has to be locked away behind walls? I don't know the answer to this, but I do want to engage in the experiment. If I end up in the black, I'll do more events in the future, if I end up in the red, I might leave it to people who have big organisations behind them. It's all very exciting!

Regarding the costs, I'm personally looking at a bill of at least £350. And that's without getting the event filmed, something I'd really like to have professionally done so it can be seen all over the world. So I would ask that if you do feel it's valuable to have these kind of events on the Isle of Man, please do make a financial contribution on the night.

As this event will now be co-created by all those who put into it, another way to support it is to tell people about it. It's great if people invite their contacts on the facebook event page (link below) and repost the articles there. I'll be drawing up a flyer too, which I'll try and put somewhere anyone can download.

With thanks,

Richard

https://www.facebook.com/events/1401092116820945/

Gerard Casey- Libertarian ANARCHY on the Isle of Man

Saturday 22^nd March, 7:30pm, Hydro Hotel Douglas. Event Funded Solely by Donations. For further information email deepstatenews.blogspot@gmail.com or call Richard on 476370.

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'Let the Poor Starve!' and other Anarchist Observations

“Political theory and political practice are dominated by a myth, the myth of the necessity and the legitimacy of the State.”

Gerard Casey, Libertarian Anarchy. 

One of the most common objections raised to the idea of a stateless society is that government is necessary to look after the poor and the vulnerable, whom without its protection would be dying on the streets! Professor Casey is going to tackle this problem head on in a new lecture he's preparing called 'Let the Poor Starve!', which is an examination of the welfare state. In this context, 'the poor' include the biggest welfare recipients of all, the big banks and corporations (or hotels on the Isle of Man!). He will also examine how a stateless society might come up with creative solutions for caring for the real poor and vulnerable, solutions that don't include the inefficiency and violence of the state.

You can listen to Gerard Casey being interviewed on this and other aspects of anarchism on the Tom Woods Radio Show-

http://www.schiffradio.com/pg/jsp/verticals/archive.jsp?dispid=310&pid=64445

And to give you more of an idea of what to you might expect if you come along to his lecture next Saturday, here are some quotes from his book 'Libertarian Anarchy'

On Drug Prohibition - 

"Some will reject the charge of false Imprisonment or kidnapping that I lay against the state. People are put In gaol, they will say, only if they are convicted of committing a crime; the fact that they are in gaol means they are criminals The state is not only not doing anything wrong In putting them there, it is doing something positively good by protecting us from these miscreants. This objection, of course, draws our attention firmly to the question of which courses of conduct actually constitute crime. While most people will agree that murder, robbery, kidnapping and assault are crimes involving, as they do, gross interference with the lives, liberties and properties of others, it is not entirely clear just what awful deed is being done by Tom, Dick and Harriet when, for example, they smoke pot in the privacy of their rooms and why it should require violent intervention by the state to prevent it." 

and

“While libertarians may be willing to concede that the use of many chemical substances is individually and socially harmful, they will oppose attempts to proscribe or regulate either drug-taking or drug commerce. This for two reasons The first, principled, reason is that such proscription or regulation is a violation of individual liberty; the second, consequentialist, reason, is that history shows that such attempts at proscription and regulation inevitably make a bad situation worse. Alcohol prohibition of the 1920s was an unqualified disaster and today's so-called war on drugs is no more successful in reducing the incidence of drug-taking. (Isn't It remarkable that whereas in the good old days we used to wage war on countries, nations or states, now we wage war on inanimate objects like drugs and abstract nouns like terrorism?) The 'war on drugs' merely increases the price of drugs to consumers and profits to retailers, corrupts those charged with enforcing the anti-drug laws and ensures that large numbers of people who otherwise would not come to the attention of the police receive a first class criminal training at the public expense in state-run penal facilities. Legal and physical compulsion is not a sound foundation upon which to build the moral character of individuals or a better society.”

On Immigration -

"Immigration? Libertarians, for the most part, will support immigration There's nothing special about the territory of a particular state. If someone Is willing to hire or sponsor an immigrant that should be the end of the matter."

On Bailouts - 

"Bailouts for businesses? Libertarians reject them No one Is entitled to demand that others be forcibly required to support his business, whatever that business may be, whether farming, shoemaking or banking."

On Compulsory School Attendance and Military Conscription - 

"What of compulsory school attendance? Libertarians reject It State- enforced school attendance Is a form of involuntary incarceration that violates the rights of both parents and children. Only the parents or guardians of children and the children when they are old enough to assume responsibility for themselves can make such decisions. What goes for compulsory school attendance goes even more for military conscription. Conscription is sometimes justified on the grounds that we need it to defend our countries. Unless we equate our countries with the states operating in our countries, and putting to one side the obvious point that if there are no states there would be no states to attack or be attacked, the libertarian will argue that conscription is a form of involuntary servitude - more bluntly, a form of slavery - and so is to be rejected on libertarian grounds."

On law and Order - 

“If I can show that justice, law and order can be provided without a state, then the state begins to look like the Wizard of Oz, a small man with a megaphone pulling levers behind a curtain.”

On Society - 

“Much of the inchoate support for the idea of a state results from a conflation of the ideas of state and society. Of course human beings are not Isolated individuals; of course we are born in, live in and can only flourish in society where 'society' denotes the sum of the complex, overlapping system of voluntary relations between individuals. But It IS a gross mistake to conclude from this that because we need society we therefore need the state.”

On Murder - 

“Given that the core function of the state is said to be the preservation of law and order and the protection of life and property, it ss perhaps not irrelevant to note that recent history shows that most killing has been done by one state or another or by some armed group seeking to be the government of a state and to control its coercive apparatus. The number of people killed in the twentieth century in state-sponsored conflicts or state-related victimization is, at a conservative estimate, between 175,000,000 and 180,000,000.”

On Anarchy - 

“The only mode of social organisation that is ethically acceptable is one that respects our liberty, namely, anarchy. Perhaps It may be worthwhile to point out that anarchy is not chaos or disorder or mayhem but the spontaneous order that arises from free and mutually acceptable human interactions, Most human beings for most of human history have lived in a state of anarchy; most of our daily interaction with our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues is framed by anarchy, and anarchy is the only mode of organisation that is consistent with our accepting responsibility for ourselves, our families and our communities in an adult way.”

Gerard Casey- Libertarian ANARCHY on the Isle of Man

Saturday 22^nd March, 7:30pm, Hydro Hotel Douglas. Event Funded Solely by Donations. For further information email deepstatenews.blogspot@gmail.com or call Richard on 476370.

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George Ought to Help - Government is a Mafia!

For anyone who is interested in Professor Gerard Casey's upcoming talk on Libertarian Anarchy on the Isle of Man, if you want to get a feel for the core essence of the idea, I could do no better than to recommended the following short film, 'George Ought to Help'.  In four minutes it strips away the illusion that the State is anything other than a Mafia type organisation, and demonstrates how it cannot operate without recourse to the most extreme forms of violence.  Finally it poses the question, can we create a world built on voluntary exchanges as opposed to coercive violence? 

Gerard Casey- Libertarian Anarchy

Saturday 22^nd March, 7:30pm, Hydro Hotel Douglas. Event Funded Solely by Donations. For further information email deepstatenews.blogspot@gmail.com or call Richard on 476370.

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Barraco Barner - Or Why Voters Should Be Uninformed!

This ladies name is Gemma Worrall, she has recently achieved world wide fame for misspelling the name of the guy who reads a Teleprompter for the corporate elite in the United States, and confusing him with another guy who does a similar job in the United Kingdom.

Ms. Worrall's intelligence has been called into question as a result of this lapse of judgement, but as the following Learn Liberty video demonstrates, she's actually being entirely rational in not knowing anything about politics, if not in her decision to then tweet about it!

And from now on, on this site, the aforementioned Teleprompter reader will always be referred to as 'Barraco Barner'.  I'm sure he'd prefer it to being called Barack the Bomber or Barry Soetoro or anything like that.

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Libertarian ANARCHY on the Isle of Man

On the Isle of Man complaining about Government seems to be the national sport. Whether it's toilet taxes, hotel bailouts or ridiculous over expenditure on capital projects, we all love a good moan about the Gov. But have you ever considered if the problem is not the individuals running government, but rather the very concept of government itself? Do we really need a government at all? Would society fall into chaos without its guiding hand? Would big corporations end up owning everything? Who would provide essential services? Is a stateless society just a utopian fantasy?

On Saturday 22nd of March Professor Gerard Casey will be visiting the Island to present his case that society does not need government to function and in fact we would be much better off without it. Far from being a utopian fantasy, a stateless society based on voluntary interactions and exchanges would be both more moral and functional than our current system of taxation based on violent coercion, and such a society is achievable any time we choose it.

To quote from Professor Casey's book Libertarian Anarchy -

  

"States are criminal organizations. All states, not just the obviously totalitarian or repressive ones. I intend this statement to be understood literally and not as some form of rhetorical exaggeration.

The argument is simple. Theft, robbery, kidnapping and murder are all crimes. Those who engage in such activities, whether on their own behalf or on behalf of others are, by definition, criminals. In taxing the people of a country, the state engages in an activity that is morally equivalent to theft or robbery; in putting some people in prison, especially those who are convicted of so-called victimless crimes or when it drafts people into the armed services, the state is guilty of kidnapping or false imprisonment; in engaging in wars that are other than purely defensive or, even if defensive, when the means of defence employed are disproportionate and indiscriminate, the state is guilty of manslaughter or murder.

Anarchy is the position in which the members of a society naturally find themselves when they are not subject to the power of a state."

Gerard Casey 

Gerard Casey is Associate Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin, Ireland, Adjunct Professor at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, UK, and Adjunct Scholar at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute , Alabama, USA.

The lecture will be highly interactive with audience participation strongly encouraged, so bring your questions criticisms and concerns along.

In the two weeks running up to the event I'll be regularly blogging accessible libertarian anarchist material to help put people in the picture.

Saturday 22^nd March, 7:30pm, Hydro Hotel Douglas. Event Funded Solely by Donations. For further information email deepstatenews.blogspot@gmail.com or call Richard on 476370.

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American Anthrax

Remember the postal anthrax attacks of 2001?  The ones that killed 5 people. The ones that came with notes saying in broken English such things as 'DEATH TO AMERICA. DEATH TO ISRAEL. ALLAH IS GREAT'.  I do.  I was working in an office at the time and we were issued with gloves to open the mail, just in case Osama or Saddam or whoever was responsible sent some anthrax our way.  Actually, it turns out if we had received some it wouldn't have come from the Middle East, it would have come from the United States Armies own bio weapons laboratory, that was the conclusion of the FBI investigation anyway.

Robbie Martin has produced a documentary exploring the strange story surrounding these attacks, ultimately questioning if they were in fact an 'inside job' used to generate a climate of fear and beat the drums of war for Iraq.  Here he is being interviewed on this by his sister, Abby - 

You can watch the full documentary here - 

http://www.mediaroots.org/mr-documentary-american-anthrax/

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Nestle Chocolate Brought to You by Child Slavery

Abby Martin exposing the child slavery behind coca farming in the Ivory Coast, and how we can avoid contributing to it.

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WiFi banned from pre-schools in France

"(NaturalNews) The French National Assembly has adopted a bill to limit exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by wireless technologies - cell phones, tablets, Wi-Fi etc. This bill will mean the following:

• A ban on Wi-Fi in all childcare facilities for children under the age of 3.
• Cell phone manufacturers will have to recommend the use of hand-free kits.
• A ban on all advertising targeting children under 14."

Read the full article here -
http://www.naturalnews.com/043695_electrosensitivity_wifi_French_government.htm

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