Great stuff and very concise especially that last paragraph.

How can I Digg this editorial?

Yes Dave, That was very inspiring. A perverted morality has us where we are. It's everyone's moral duty to oppose drug prohibition.

This is so right on the money, some of the best concise explanations for ending the drug war I've ever seen.

I always say, "The drug war causes more crime than what is was meant to stop."

Please, everyone get involved in this effort!

We can bitch at our corrupt government officials all we want, but they will continually ignore sanity, because a free nation means nothing compared to the profits they make off this perverse War on Drugs. Anybody that opposes prohibition basically just gets labeled as "some damned pothead" looking for a high without having to worry about the cops. That is SUCH GARBAGE!

I spent roughly a year getting my taste of the drug culture, and even now that I'm clean, my opinions have not swayed one bit! It should ALL be legal. Granted I don't think entheogens should be stocked on the shelves across from toys and candy where kids can get a hold of it. Just regulate it a bit, like alcohol.

In the upcoming presidential election, there is only one candidate I have seen that has no apprehensions about completely opposing the Drug War. That would of course be Republican candidate Ron Paul. If you want to know more about Ron Paul's actual political positions, and not just the propaganda spewed out by every other worthless candidate in this race, you can read about him on Wikipedia:

Ron Paul's Political Positions

I agree very much with the list presented here.

Before I took the wider view to legalize all drugs I made this list just for cannabis:

1. Democratic values of freedom are more important than the risks involving use
2. Prohibition discriminates against minorities
3. Prohibition damages exceed those of the drugs in themselves
4. The eradication strategy doesn't work
5. Legalization is a condition for constructive solutions.

(Ironically, adding heroin and similar drugs to the list have, paradoxically, made my conviction stronger - because the REAL dangers are found among the drugs that kill you. Unclean cannabis is just a nuisance and a minor irritation on the lungs, but unclean heroin will kill you, and then it's suddenly not so innocent to "oppose drugs".)

Besides this somewhat older list I also wanted to bring attention to something a lot of people don't realize: that the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, has a hard-coded ideological slant that simply CUTS OFF certain solutions no matter how effective they may be.

As an example the UN International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has frequently opposed "fixing rooms", ie. facilities manned by skilled personnel that can help the addicts get clean, sterile equipment, tend their wounds and see to it that they don't overdose. To create such a fixing room is, in fact, a violation of our international obligations.

The horror is two-fold. Not only does the UN oppose such fixing rooms (and many other things), and as a result they actually prohibit solutions that could be effective in reducing harms to our citizenry. But in addition a strict adherence to the UN convention would actually PREVENT proper scientific inquiry into harm reduction approaches. In my country, Denmark, I have a word for it: Danish Sharia. Yes, that's right: this is pure faith based morals that have been codified into Law, and just like in the Middle Ages those rules trump rational, pragmatic solutions.

This unreason needs to end.

UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs:
http://www.incb.org/incb/convention_1961.html

by Richard Gicomeng

What really gets to me is that chemical corporations can turn acres of pristine land into a useless swamp, killing plants, trees, and wildlife that inhabit the area. They pollute our waters, leaving fish belly up in the sludge and displace thousands of residents after exposing them to some carcinogenic matter that cuts their lives in half... and what they'll get from the government is a tax break. Then a decent, law abiding citizen with ADHD, for example, will not be able to get Desoxyn from a clinic, so she meets a friend with crystal meth and it works to prevent the daytime sleep attacks so she can work. If she is trying to purchase the drug or has some in her possession and maybe tries to sell some of the excess she has, she might be caught and could be sentenced up to life in prison without parole.

First of all: We live in the Electrochemical Age; (not the Information Age as some of our politicians would like for you to believe so they can continue the war on drugs without anyone bringing this into question).

Drug use is not a crime, disorder, or disease... why are we incarcerating individuals who consume chemical substances when that's normal behavior for the people living during the Electrochemical Age...?! There is absolutely no one in our society that doesn't consume a chemical substance every day unless they are so poor they can't afford to eat. And even then, they will induce some type of chemical while breathing no matter where they are in the world.

Drug abuse and drug misuse are teaching disorders... If we fail to educate people how to use drugs correctly, naturally these problems are going to develop. The drug war spawns ignorance and ignorance is the foundation for abuse and misuse.

Anti-drug disorder is possibly the number one psychological problem in our society. It is a sociological-born phobia that fortunately, people are overcoming as the population of drug users expands. Today, we really have no way of determining how many drug users there really are since many people conceal their drug use. For example, many people who use the chat lines will advertise themselves as non-drug users. That doesn't mean they don't use drugs. It just means that they don't buy drugs; they use the drugs of those who are open about their drug usage. In fact, as a rule of thumb, anyone who mentions emphatically that they don't use drugs, are either "jonesing" for some drug or in recovery but still thinking about the drug. Why else would someone go out of their way to state: "ABSOLUTELY NO PNP..." If they mention it, it's on their minds.

There are so many things wrong with the war on drugs. Peel back the layers and you will see just how corrupt our government really is. For example, we keep hearing about drug-related crime and in 2005 when Senators Diane Feinstein of California and Tom Harkin of Iowa introduced the Methamphetamine Control Act of 2005 (a program that took $99 million dollars of taxpayers’ hard-earned money and tossed it into the toilet) they mentioned "meth-related" crimes like robberies, burglaries, and domestic violence. But what they don't mention is that our government triggers these crimes by taking away programs from drug users and abusers that surface. Drug users/abusers who are caught or honest about their habits are cut off from receiving government benefits. They cannot receive food stamps to buy food. They cannot receive SSI/SSDI... The jobs they can get are limited because pre-employment drug screens impede their ability to pass drug tests unless they are really savvy drug users and know some of the ways to pass drug testing processes. The instinct to survive is going to lead these people to commit crime, and the government knows it. So, in a sense, if you are the victim of a "drug-related crime", it's good ole Uncle Sam that staged it. It happens every day in our courts and in our corporations and it's not just drug users/abusers that they do this to. Today, an increasing number of US citizens are self-medicating because their doctors refuse to write prescriptions for controlled substances for fear that they will be targets of law enforcement themselves. I don’t understand this because wasn’t the original reason for the war on drugs to get people to use FDA-approved drugs rather than illicit substances developed in clandestine labs?

In addition to the $70 billion dollars a year of taxpayers’ dollars used in funding the drug war, consumers are charged with an estimated $190 billion dollars a year that's added to the cost of products and services of companies performing drug screens. In companies that perform random drug screens, whole departments were being shut down and there was a loss of productivity as a positive test result meant an employee was booted, such that several of these companies had to lure back employees that left. The policy quickly changed and these companies decided to first offer drug treatment as an alternative to dismissal.
When will we ever learn?
Drug abuse is NOT a disease or disorder! It is normal behavior.
How do you treat normal behavior?
You educate drug users how to use drugs properly. In the absence of such education, those employees who would not accept treatment, bolted from these companies anyway and needless to say, random drug testing is disappearing very quickly. What we are about to see emerging are new companies that will attract the cream of the crop employees by offering higher salaries and they will be producing products and services that are better.
Why?
Because the money they save from making companies like ChoicePoint and Quest Diagnostics fat and happy can be used to make better products, increase salaries, and – as a result – increase their profit margins.

Today, small and middle-sized companies are coming to their senses as they see that the only thing that drug screens are doing is preventing them from hiring the A-level candidates.
Did you ever stop and think that its the MROs that are staffing today's corporations?
That got me thinking. All it would take is just a few terrorists plugged into the right positions and they could potentially destroy corporate projects, and even bring a corporation to its knees. Unless we end the war on drugs and set the focus on a DEFENSE against terrorism, we will be creating a foundation for the same type of situation that now dominates Iraq with its complex infrastructure that makes a war with them so tedious.

If terrorists really want to create an impact in this country, all they would have to do is have a network of medical doctors set up practices throughout the US. Those doctors can then selectively sabotage electronic medical records (EMRs) of our educated youth and those employees who require a security clearance to do their jobs. Just think what 50 doctors in the Washington DC area alone can do to weaken the country as these cradle-to-grave EMRs are used to ruin the careers of current and future top government officials by simply writing "SPEED ABUSE" into an EMR. It doesn't even have to be true. By the time that someone discovers what's stated in his or her EMR, it will be too late. And, of course, the physician wouldn't be penalized because our drug laws don't just permit this, they encourage it! Compared to suicide bombing, the war on drugs (WoD) over EMR (WoE) is a more intricate means of terrorism that focuses on paralyzing a nation by expelling key figures from technology, security, and intelligence sectors, along with the nations’ youth. If you think this is impossible. It isn’t. It’s been occurring since at least 2003 albeit for other reasons. But today, localized and paper-based medical records are hardly the same as a patient EMR that follows a patient throughout a lifetime across a proposed national healthcare network.

The war on drugs is far more ridiculous and tragic than the witch hunt in Salem during 1692 in which a mere 20 persons were executed before Thomas Brattle penned his famous letter that brought the judges to their senses. The war on drugs has resulted in over a 100,000 casualties that we know of, more than 500,000 incarcerations in the US alone and millions of Americans whose lives have been adversely impacted by the war on drugs. In fact, just about every US citizen is -- in some way -- a victim of the war on drugs as are many others throughout the world.

If you want to see for yourself just how idiotic the war on drugs really is, do an Internet search of two words. First, on your search engine, type in the word DESOXYN. The abstracts of what you will get in return describe a drug that is safe... prescribed for children as young as 6 years old as treatment for ADHD, obesity, and narcolepsy. Next, perform an internet search on the word METHAMPHETAMINE. What you will get back are abstracts that describe a drug of abuse... an illicit substance that highly addictive, causing damage to the body and brain of an adult if just used one time. Because Desoxyn is methamphetamine hydrochloride, that is clearly indicative that the war on drugs is nothing but a hoax. Today, the US presidential candidates are spending so much time working on their exit strategies from the war in Iraq, that they aren't even considering how we're going to exit from a war that is about to send our country into a tailspin.

We are the victims of propaganda, led to believe that by ending the war on drugs we will be increasing the drug problem to the point where drug users will be changing the façade of our nation by lying on sidewalks, making the world unsafe. The antithesis of this is true. Today, there are about 19 million Americans suffering from chronic disorders that require controlled substances which are becoming harder for them to obtain. As it does, these people become disabled and unemployable. Narcoleptics who are untreated become a danger when we drive on streets and highways as we face daytime sleep attacks without medication. Many of us have compensated and found other ways. Some are able to use medications that are not controlled by the government. But many of us that require a controlled substance, have found limitations in our healthcare system that don’t permit this. Are options are to work with health educators who seek out equivalents sold by drug dealers. The inconsistent quality and cost of these illicit “homemade” drugs has been discouraging as is the fear of law enforcement. Another option is to continue trying to find a doctor who will prescribe drugs like Xyrem (sodium oxybate aka gamma-hydroxybutyrate, better known as GHB) a drug once sold in health food stores that is known for providing the most natural sequence of sleep to narcoleptics…

Not long ago, the United Nations World Health Organization ranked 36 nations above the US for healthcare. Based on what I have been through during the past five years, I would have to say that the WHO was very generous to place the US at number 37. It’s tragic when you realize the impact that the war on drugs has had on the medical community here in the US with physicians overregulated by our politicians that often approach matters of scientific importance with the mentality of Archie Bunker. That is not intended to be an insult. It’s just the way it is.

For this reason, I have borrowed ideas from the true experts in the field and produced a proposal for Drug Use Education (DUE) (http://www.gicomeng.com/). My vision is that by providing a 13-year healthcare and pharmacology program for our youth from grades K through 12, thus graduating students from high school with LVN and RN degrees, we will be able to improve our healthcare system, teach our kids how to use drugs properly, eliminate societal fears about chemical dependency, eliminate drug abuse by 2020, and stimulate better research. We cannot accomplish this within the mindset and framework of the war on drugs. It must end. This cannot be a piecemeal process. We must free non-violent drug offenders from our prison system and restore lives of those penalized by the war on drugs. The cost to taxpayers for DUE will be a fraction of what we are spending to police the public. We cannot continue the insanity of a witch hunt. It is bizarre. It is making our nation and our world weak. Every day there might be millions of new drug users. We can’t have our physicians prescribing new medications that might cause a deadly reaction when taken by a user of an illicit drug. Our physicians are not psychics. The information we tell them about our drug usage – illicit or not – helps them to make appropriate decisions. However, in today’s world, when you tell a physician that you are using an illicit drug, you are subjected to live the rest of your life with that blemish on your medical record. You are not able to discuss ways to properly administer medications, and you are forced to rely on the knowledge of drug dealers.

Perhaps the greatest detriment the war on drugs is causing is to our clinical research efforts, regulating what they can do, what they can say, and how they can say it. So far, the war on drugs has set our pharmacology and healthcare into regression, wasting dollars on repetitious projects that focus on the side effects of drugs we have heard over and over again, rather than moving forward to discover just why certain chemical substances are being consumed by the general population and allowing our medical community to work freely with people whose only goal is to enjoy the benefits they get from drugs when properly used.

Today our world is a Class 0 civilization that is destined to become a Class 1 civilization. We cannot engage wars and expect to achieve that goal. We must discourage other nations to engage wars and we must set that example by utilizing our Department of Defense wisely. Diplomacy and common sense are the tactics we must follow. As painful as we might find that to be sometime, it is time for the human race to work collectively. If we don’t, we are only leaving our future generations to survive on the Earth that is a single point of failure by itself. Our space programs will be of utmost important to future generations as we proceed to populate other planets that are perhaps so far from the Earth that they cannot be detected by our current telescopic arrays.

As we proceed beyond the Earth, our world will expand to cover new territory. What today’s drug users hold for our clinical researchers is critical to the understanding of the human brain and body and how it is adapting to changes in our environment today, tomorrow, and where we will inhabit in the future. Accuracy is of utmost importance and we cannot succumb to the fears postured by our ignorance.

So, now that you know something more about the war on drugs. Go find the presidential candidates and clench your fist, banging it on a hard surface such as the edge of a podium or a desk or chair and tell them you want to know their exit strategy for the war on drugs. Remind them that history is repeating itself and that our prisoners of the war on drugs need to be released because they are reminiscent of the prisoners who were locked in cells during the Age of Enlightenment and those prisoners came to settle in this country where they could be free. We have no right to lock up their descendents simply because this country decided to put a moratorium on the evolution of humanity.

Richard Gicomeng
richard@gicomeng.com
http://www.gicomeng.com/

I began using stimulants in my early teens, finding speed was a stroke of luck. For reasons unknown to myself at that time, I was failing school, too tired to socialize, and gaining a reputation as a delinquent from parents and teachers. After taking my brothers Ritalin, I became a straight "A" student, was socially outgoing, and considered a model example of responsiblity. The change occurred literally over night. Because of the social stigma, I kept my drug use a secret from everyone. During the following 15 years I graduated at the top of my class and achieved personal and financial success. I married, had two children, and established myself as a business owner. My husband was the only person who knew the extent of my drug use, because I purchased the drugs I needed from him. We built a lovely family together, and became financially secure.

The marraige ended badly, and my enraged husband set out to destroy me. It was only then that I began to understand my drug use would end up being his most effective and deadly weapon. To make a long story short, I was slandered professionally, he obtained full custody of our children, and with the help of the courts, I was destroyed in every sense of the word. California's "no fault", "50/50 split of marital assetts", was a joke manipulated by the Judge, and delayed or postponed to draw the whole affair out to 18 years. When my husband refused to pay the ridiculous pittance ordered by the Judge, we returned to court only to have the same Judge amend his own order. Labeled a "drug addict", I got what was coming to me. During this time I worked jobs that didn't drug test and managed to get on with my life. Several times I attempted to stop my drug use, each time ended with the same conclusion. Without stimulants I couldn't wake up.

Between the years of 1998 and 2001, I was arrested and charged with three drug felonys. I was a confidential informant magnet. Rather than go to work for Law Enforcement, I went to prison, and everything else that choice entails. I was released in 2003 and my youngest son moved in with me after 10 years apart. To my utter dismay, I began to recognize that he was trying to cope with the same hypersomnia and fatigue symptoms. After asking the Parole department for help to determine the meaning of our symptoms, and being denied any assistance, I searched the internet for answers. Narcolepsy was the best fit. The symptoms my son and I have are much more subtle than what is most often described, but after paying the ridiculously pricey diagnostic test, we were both diagnosed.

After the diagnosis, I expected people in Law Enforcement to show some kind of curiousity, questions, some kind of interest in what I then assumed was an unusual situation. I was released from parole within the week, over the phone. After researching the statistics on Narcolepsy, having personal knowledge of a Narcoleptics attraction to illicit methamphetamine, and my personal certainty there are many others trapped in the system: these facts speak volumes about Law Enforcements refusal to acknowledge the possibilities. I have written letters, personally spoke to Public Defenders, and various members of Law Enforcement, alerting them to this huge flaw in reasoning, and educating them of the legitimate medical use of Methamphetamine. They can't seem to get past thier own misinformation.

I wish I could say that since diagnosis my life has become a higher functioning existance than what I had before. That I can now legally obtain the drug that allows me to lead a normal life. Unfortunately the truth is just the opposite. My Doctor's view me with suspicion and will only prescribe the lowest dose of stimulants. Rather than prescribe patients the amount of medication they need to acheive normal wakefulness, they are expecting patients to get by on the lowest dose possible. Though Desoxyn has historically proved to be the most effective stimulant-with the fewest side effects, it is rarely prescribed.

Physicians have been contacted by DEA or State Attorney Generals offices and informed that they are prescribing controlled substances to a person of "high abuse potential". Physicians are intimidated and avoid prescribing drugs that might draw DEA attention, or for amounts that DEA will investigate. Despite everything I have endured, and that I have followed procedures as instructed, I still walk away feeling the same stigma. I have a verifiable diagnosis for Narcolepsy and my government stands in my way of obtaining adequate treatment. There is no cure, it is life long, and If I can get a prescription, it will only cover 30 days.

If I get frustrated with the options allowed me, and I once again take matters into my own hands, I will certainly be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.