“'We are not waging a war on drugs; we are waging a war of defense -- a defense of the basis of humanity, and that is our brain,' said Dr. Bertha Madras, the White House deputy drug czar in charge of reducing demand for drugs.”

Well, I know I’ll sleep better at night knowing Dr. Madras is on the job defending…what was it, again?  The basis of humanity?  Sounds to me as if it’s a big job.

And I’m truly happy Dr. Madras says we’re no longer waging a war on drugs.  That war was truly starting to suck.

But a defensive war for the basis of humanity that is our brain?  Is Dr. Madras’ brain on the defensive?  Perhaps it goes on the defensive when it comes to her explaining or actually succeeding at her job of reducing drug use.  But what her brain actually does remains a mystery.

For one thing, a defensive war is no way to wage a war.  Would General Ulysses S. Grant have fought a defensive war against the Confederacy?  Hell no.  General Grant would have proclaimed, “Get me another bottle of whiskey from the case the President sent me!  I’ll show you a f%#king war!”

A really offensive war against the human brains of drug users is more descriptive of the policies supported by Dr. Madras.  With little or no apparent social conscience applied to the psychological consequences of arrest, incarceration; social, political, legal and professional ostracism, legal fines and costs, and whatever else current legal policies bring to bear in the endless persecution of the drug user, Madras’ favorite brain war machine continues to devour its own children.

Giordano

The brain is where your thoughts reside. Czar (King) has no deputy king. It must be difficult to defend such a mindless entity, as the war on drugs. They think that if they reframe the picture, they will get a different picture?

"We are not waging a war on drugs; we are waging a war of defense" -- Bertha Madras

The best defense is a good offense. Regulate and tax those dealers out of the market. No need to treat kids like they are on probation or in jail.

Parents need to grow up. If parents want to drug test their kids, then they should accept the responsibility for doing the dirty work, not some gym teacher.

Here in Texas, school districts are spending an average of $150K a year on drug testing to find 10 students with THC in their urine, while their drug use surveys show very little difference in youth drug use from previous years without drug testing.

If these medical results are supposed to be confidential, the following highlights a serious and potentially detrimental problem in the way school districts follow-up on the results.

Excerpt from article:

But coaches, principals, teachers and students acknowledge there is little privacy within the school community. A kid tests positive and isn't suited up for the big game, everyone knows why.

"If they are embarrassed because everyone knows, maybe they won't do it again," said Rangely's Boulger, who knows of two kids who were nabbed under his school's testing program. "Drugs are illegal. Nobody forced them to do it. They made the choice, and they pay the consequences."

It's that lack of privacy that worries opponents. "They say it's confidential, but that doesn't mean it is," said Mike Krause with the Independence Institute, a Golden policy research organization that is critical of expanding the role of government. "This could really screw a kid's life up if they get flagged and it comes back to haunt them in 20 years."

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9298492

to raise more profits for ever hungerypolice courts and others who profit from prohibition .its just a war against innocent Americans people are just pawns in this never ending war for profit.its disgusting and must end.we the people are not just collateral damage

"It's not a war on drugs, It's a war on personal freedom thats what it is, ok? Keep that in mind at all times, Thank you" - Bill Hicks

You know, I think Madras actually believes what she said, to her very core. She has to.

It's a common psychological phenomenon among zealots and fundamentalists of all stripes to wrap their beliefs in an epic context. Just as both Osama Bin Laden and Jerry Falwell see the Iraq War as an epic battle between good and evil that will determine the fate of the universe, so do Drug War zealots see their fight through a holy lens. Indeed, they must see it this way, in order to justify the atrocities carried out every day in the name of "defending the basis of humanity."

Ironically, I actually agree with her. This fight IS about defending the basis of humanity. And the basis of humanity is cognitive liberty. Once we no longer have sovereignty over our bodies and minds, our humanity is ceased -- we become drones.

So bring it on, Bertha. Humanity's worth the fight.

It is so disgusting the cruel way alcohol users lord it over people who use other drugs. The treatment of users of hard drugs is the most despicable part of it, because penalties for mere use (or small scale dealing to support use or addiction) are so draconian, and there's the racist disparity between the two types of cocaine. Alcohol supremacism over cannabis is the most ludicrous part, because alcohol is indisputably far, far more dangerous to life and limb than it's main competition.

"So no, she's actually not very interested in "defense" against the harms of drugs."

Ahhhhh, but she explicitly stated that THAT was not her goal. She was talking about the "basis of humanity, and that is our brain". Let me translate this modern-day sentence into how it would have sounded in the Middle Ages where such euphemisms were not so prevanlent:

"The basis of humanity" = morality
"Brain" = soul

She is a religious crusader doing her Inquisition thing. If that requires us to fling a gagged and bound witch into a lake to see if she floats or drowns, so be it. The loss of her LIFE is of so much less RELEVANCE than her immortal SOUL.

The piles of crap have shiftet a bit around and some of the stuff has different names. Yet it's the same thing happening all over.

Abolish the ONDCP and we get rid of the Drug Czar and the entire BS associated with this bureaucracy.

Abolish the damn thing. Been waiting on this for years. Looks like Obama may want to abolish. I know ,I know, what about the children..... the children are for abolishment too!

The drug war is just a consequence of the federal government not following the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Both of these documents give the individual the right to his/her own body.

Unfortunately, many opponents of the drug war have been proponents of limiting other rights involving life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Private property, the right to keep and bear arms and so on are important. BTW, a candidate with the views of Obama openly espouses the continued expansion of government.

The United States is a Constitutional Republic, *not* a Democracy (Majority rules). If the majority rules that your religion, your political views or your possessions are bad, they do not have the moral, legal, or Constitutional right to infringe upon you unless you are imposing yourself on others.

Why is someone in a Constitutional Republic appointed a "Drug Czar". What is next, the "Food Fuhrer" to make sure only approved foods can be chosen?

And call these people what they are: murderers. The drug warriors killed my stepson, just as certainly as if they had tied the rope around his neck, and I am well beyond cutting them any slack for their support of the WOD. Each and every politician and bureaucrat who supports the WOD bears collective responsibility for every death related to it. I never miss an opportunity to say that to their faces, in public: "You, sir, are a murderer. You, personally, killed my stepson, and I will use all means at my disposal to assure that you will eventually answer for it. How can you sleep at night, knowing that you bear responsibility for these crimes. MURDERER!

A retired cop.

[email protected],Vancouver,B.C.Canada I lost count of the friends and acquaintances I've lost to drug overdose.It sure did cure them from their drug abuse.Hearing someone say something as evil as this makes me wonder what rock she crawled out from under.