Yet the ONDCP seems to be oblivious to the fact that it is not users of illegal drugs who are supporting terrorism, but the ONDCP’s own prohibition policies. By its very nature, drug prohibition creates inflated prices and a black market through which billions of untraceable dollars flow. One need only look at the failure of alcohol prohibition, which created domestic terrorists like Al Capone, to see that it is not alcohol and other drugs, but rather prohibition that feeds the coffers of terrorism.

As proof that drug prohibition, rather than drug users, funds terrorist activities, one need only note that beer-maker Anheuser-Busch Co. has purchased ten Super Bowl ad spaces, far more than any other advertiser. Alcohol is a drug, yet profits from its sale make American companies rich rather than terrorists because alcohol is no longer subject to prohibition.

Another disturbing facet of the ONDCP’s multi-million dollar advertisement campaign is the magnitude of money, which could be better spent. According to NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), the average cost for a full year of methadone maintenance treatment is approximately $4,700 per patient. That means that for the cost of these two ad spots, not including production costs, the government could instead be treating 680 heroin addicts. For an agency that designates as one of its foci, to “reduce health and social costs to the public of illegal drug use by reducing the treatment gap,” this expenditure on propaganda seems ludicrous. But then again ONDCP’s entire drug prohibition policy is ludicrous.

Americans have used drugs for centuries and will continue to do so. By restricting individual choice in the matter of what one takes to alter his or her consciousness, our national drug policy stomps on the exact freedoms it claims to protect. Rather than paint illegal drug use as unpatriotic, the U.S. government should recognize that the freedom to control one’s own consciousness is a fundamental right—one which a rational and sustainable drug policy must acknowledge and respect.

Zara Gelsey: zara@cognitiveliberty.org is the Director of Communications for the Alchemind Society: The International Association for Cognitive Liberty.

To let the ONDCP know of your reaction to their campaign, you can send an email from: http://www.mediacampaign.org/contact/index.html or http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/contact/index.html

Complete Title: Pricey Prime Time Propaganda: Anti-Drug Adverts and The Super Bowl

Source: Alchemind Society (CA)
Author: Zara Gelsey
Published: February 01, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Alchemind Society
Contact: info@alchemind.org
Website: http://www.alchemind.org/

Related Articles:

Government's Anti-Drug Ads Labeled Super Bust
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11901.shtml

White House Spends 3.4M for Super Ads
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11898.shtml

Nice to be able to get a card with famous leaf on it. I recall one bank in England that will only do business with companies that are environmental sensitive. I do not see why someone cannont set the business up in term of ending on "WOSD"

People who support our cause have always been in total disarray, their energies and resources unfocused for fear of identifying themselves. It's understandable, and drug warriors bank on it.

But a credit or debit card system would focus the financial resources of millions of people, and lookinside's example shows how that money would add up. We all know that cannabis users are not lazy or irresponsible. They're productive and energetic, and as a group they have money and resources far in excess of their present representation. These resources need a channel for focusing on the drug war. Otherwise, true patriots will always be beaten down one at a time by armed SWAT goons and groups of dumb bullies who for but the drug war would be doing our yard work and hauling our trash.

I am reminded of a statement Bob Costas made on a TV interview about walkers in the Olympics. He said something hinting at the fact that it was not much sport to walk during his coverage of the Olympics and got all kinds of flack. He said they might not have much of a following but they sure are vocal.

As my stance becomes more hardened I feel compelled to take the case to people I come in contact with. Just yesterday a neighbor stopped to ask about buying a right-of-way and I could not help but mention that marijuana should be legal. I was in a car with a friend of mines brother and he wanted to stop at a convenience store and get soda and snack. I said I did not want anything because I tried not to involve myself in the economy whenever possible. They raised the 6% sales tax here in NC to 6 1/2 and I do not want them to have the money. Nor do I want to support the government by making any more money than possible because they will just waste it on Super Bowl ads and jail time for sick people. The peolpe that call on the phone are going to get a blast from now on.

Lehder: I hope someone here has a direct link to Soros...Your idea is an excellent one. The CC companies charge 3-4% for purchases. I run about $2000 through my cards. That's $60-80 bucks a month. A million people do that, We could run a 1/2 hour Infomercial during half time!

I know how to make money, and plenty for others, too.

I've been doing it for quite some time, and people that I help are pleased with what I can do.

However, one way of doing business is to watch others go broke.

Overspending is bad medicine. Enron is a shining example.

Waste not, want not.

Look before you leap.

I like your idea, posthole. I won't go so far as to louse up my credit rating, but your line of thought suggests another tactic to me.

I'm preparing a short letter that explains my frugality and I'm going to send it to each of the banks and companies that have issued me a credit card. I will further promise that the first among them that gathers the courage to publicly oppose the drug war will enjoy 100% of my purchases on credit.

A few months ago, an Internet company that hosts a web browser deleted my nicely worded comment critical of US policies. It had no problem letting stand a loutish retort from a name-calling superpatriot. I still use their web page and search engine, but wrote to them that I would never ever post another comment and I would never ever click on any of their ads. I've kept my word.

I'm expanding that tactic now, and will write to each of the main search engine hosts to explain that I am similarly boycotting them. And the first of these companies that takes a public stance against the drug war will become my browser's home page.

They may not count our votes, but they do count dollars and clicks.

Pay your bills only when the money is demanded. Never on time.

Corporations will experience a cash flow crunch which will bend them severely.

Reduce your consumption to a bare minimum.

The house of cards will fall.

Reduce your income to a level that is untaxable. Reduce your consumption. Take the money away.

Vote them out.

I will tell you that you have been slated as a raving lunatic.

Best of luck

Must order more truth serum, it is running low. Guantanamo Bay and all.

Enough of this ability to reason and have arguments that make sense. What is needed is eco slaves (prisoners) and automatonic drones, don't you know.

Now, get back to work.

"Work, work, work, work, work, work, work."

Dear Sirs:

I am writing to express my extreme disdain for your ad placement during the Super Bowl. I find it insulting to my intelligence that you should use my tax money to tell outright lies to me on television.

Your office has a continuing policy of ignoring plain facts. I am speaking specifically about the way you are trying to relate illicit drug use to terrorism. It is a very well-documented fact that it is not the use of illicit substances which fund terrorism, but rather the misguided policy of prohibition, which creates the artificial prices and black market which enable so much money to be made. Probably the same would happen for any thing which is made illegal, and which is still craved by numerous people.

My point is that if you are not aware of these facts, then you have no business making "policy" concerning drugs. If you are (which I assume) aware of these facts, then you are perpetuating a lie which destroys families and, yes, kills people - for it is your office and others like you which are funding terrorists, not drug users.

Drug users are simply exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to the pursuit of happiness, a right which you and your ilk seem bent on revoking or destroying whenever possible.

It is precisely because of these reprehensible policies that I live in terror, fearing for my life and that of my family, lest some zealot (ie. patriot) should come kick my door down and haul me away for expressing "un-American" views. Note that since you are causing me to live in terror, you are thus a de-facto terrorist.

How does it feel to be accused of being a supporter of terrorism? Well, at least I'm not using your money in order to implicate you.

Mind Control tactics at work.

Now quit thinking, get back to work. The state where you reside is now a concentration camp.

If you remain complacent, we will let you live awhile.

Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?

Bush: I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in god is important to me.

Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?

Bush: No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/aa011.htm

If I had a child today I would be sure and tell him smoke all the MJ you want but stay away from alcohol and places where people consume alcohol. It is the wrong crowd. I do not keep alcohol at my place nor do I let people consume it here. I am old enough to know that alcohol and drunks are just bad news. Legalize MJ and the alcohol problem will be lessened if for no other reason those trying to escape its control will have a simple alternative with almost no side effects.

In a comment in a following article, I think it was goneposthole that mentioned the link http://www.deism.com and the following quote by George Bush(which one?. Where can I find a source for such a ludicrious statement? "I dont't know that athiests should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."- George Bush

I guess it comes down to how they've treated other people's children.

By Michael Van Sickler, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 2, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- The state attorney's office won't seek jail time for the daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush, after she was arrested this week on a felony charge of prescription drug fraud, State Attorney Willie Meggs said on Friday.

Instead of the maximum five years in prison, Noelle Bush, 24, is facing mandatory attendance at a Leon County drug court for up to 18 months, Meggs said.

.........more.............