UN Recommends Busting Celebrity Drug Users
You know you've hit rock bottom when the United Nations is complaining about you:
Leniency towards drug-abusing celebrities is sending out the wrong message to children and young people, the United Nations drug control agency said today.The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned that allowing famous people to get away with drug crimes had a damaging effect on impressionable youngsters and undermines faith in the criminal justice system. [The London Paper]
It's always cute when drug war supporters read between the lines and catch on that the massive international drug war hasn't stopped the party. Unfortunately, this realization often leads to bizarre proposals like biological warfare or mass-arresting famous people.
This absurd scheme, like every other dubious drug war idea, will fail for all the same reasons it failed before. The drug war is simply not effective against wealthy privileged people. Those with the resources available to conceal their law-breaking from the prying eyes of police will continue to party in private. You can't deputize the paparazzi to pop Paris for pot and you can't railroad rockstars in drug war kangaroo courts. Just try it, and the number of 90210 zipcodes in the StopTheDrugWar.org membership database will soon crash our servers.
It would be vastly more effective, though still futile, to ask that the press kick its habit of turning every wasted starlet into front-page news. The relentless trainwreck that passes for entertainment media on both sides of the pond is just as nauseous and predictable as its subjects, thus the apple can't be expected to fall far from the tree.
It's all fun and games until LA SWAT raids Paris Hilton's house on a tip from Tara Reid and is forced to shoot a chihuahua in self-defense.
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Comment posted by Giordano on Fri, 03/07/2008 - 12:48amThe use of punishment in the drug war is bizarre enough. As if I or anyone else will throw out their stash just because Kate Moss gets burned at the stake. I mean, I like Kate, and I wish her well, but she’s not me. The lesson by isolated example just doesn’t work.
The INCB talks about sending out the wrong message to children, and those other ‘young people’. OK. So let’s get the cops to bust someone’s favorite movie idol for simply partying.
This act will truly prove how just and rational our government can be—and will exemplify the kind of justice and rationality that was used to bust actor Robert Mitchum on September 1, 1948, for smoking a joint at a party. The Mitchum conviction was overturned on January 31, 1951, after the bust was exposed as a set-up.
Yes indeed, the Mitchum set-up was a real propaganda coup against later consumption of marijuana by ‘young people’. It truly instilled faith in the justice system.
Overall, this looks like another attack on Hollywood by the purity inquisitors. Which raises certain questions such as: who and what makes up the INCB; and who or what pulls their strings?
Giordano
Q: "What will the Elliot Ness wannabees think of next?"
Comment posted by jackl on Sat, 03/15/2008 - 11:11amuh, prostitutes?
That's the least of it.
Comment posted by sicntired on Sat, 03/08/2008 - 1:25amsicntired This is the most amazing lack of responsibility on the part of the UN in a while.I guess they haven't been reading the papers recently.At a recent conference on the UN and drugs one of their reps assured us they had no interest in trying to bully countries on their drug issues .They were feeling a little contrite as the world was supposed to have been drug free by '08.That was by edict but as it obviously wasn't going to happen,the oratory was being downplayed.They seem to have climbed up on their bully pulpit again and have even asked for the closing of the Vancouver,safe injection site.The site (INSITE) has submitted 24 studies showing favorable results with no downside.I would ask anyone that is in support of harm reduction to contact the federal health minister or the prime minister and tell them that you support INSITE.The scientists at the site are feeling very frustrated.The location for the Canadian government is @parl.gc.ca .There have been 1000 lives saved from overdose alone at insite since it's inception.