Regarding refined variants of natural drugs that provide that rush better than the natural state: Thrill seeking individuals by nature are going to seek the most intense rush possible. Only the threat of consequences will turn them away, and for some not even the consequences are deterrent enough. These individuals are self-destructive. Let's confine them to their own little corner and let them destroy themselves if they are dead set on it. The best we can do is offer them help and protect others from them. What we should not be doing is allowing these individuals to define a mainstream market by cutting off legitimate responsible users from the preparations most suited for legitimate, responsible use. And that is exactly what we are doing with methamphetamine. It's not like anyone is pushing it; it sells itself by virtue of its utilitarian aspects as well as its thrill seeking aspects. Unfortunately, it is far too easy with black market meth to cross over from the utilitarian to the thrill seeking, and that is the road to destruction at the hands of meth.

Meth is never going to go away until people realize injected and snorted meth is simply bad news, and until our society places less of a value on workaholism. The sooner we realize this and partition off legitimate use from illegitimate/dangerous use, the better off we will all be.

And yes, people still distill spirits on their own. So what? Doing so does not pose a danger to the neighbors or the children who live in the house. The point of selling meth over the counter is to remove any possible profit motive for these dangerous labs to make it. When the profit motive does not exist, the existence of such labs will be minimized.

A very different animal than heroin, I think most of us would agree. Just like chewing cocoa leaves. Or drinking cannabis tea.

I think it should be legal to grow any herb you want as long as you grow it in a manner that the more dangerous ones don't present too much danger to children ( like Castor beans, perhaps). If someone wants to go to the trouble of refining them into a potent drug for their own use, well, that's their business.

I think it's fine to have laws regulating, maybe banning, the selling of these refined products. But I think doctors and/or clinics should always have access to them for treating addicts.

That's just my feel about all this. I think drugs like meth are pretty nasty and I certainly don't want them sold next to the cigarettes. Of course, I consider tobacco one of the most addicting and deadly drugs out there, and it is only lightly refined. With alcohol, a pretty natural drug, a close second. Meth probably pales next to this combo.

So I am confused about what the best market solution is - free or controlled. But when it comes to growing botanicals, I have no confusion whatsoever: let it grow!

-CQ

Thank You and Amen

gw

still standing by the river

Let's see, two stolen presidential elections, government complicity in 9/11, an illegal,preemptive war waged in our name with our money,increased persecution of medical cannabis patients...if only folks were as outraged by the things that are even more outrageous.

It wouldn't surprise me if his comments were timed just to keep the media distracted from the fledgling civil war in Iraq, the downfall of DeLay and Frist and also Bush's and Congress' plummeting poll numbers.

8 Million faces of our boy Bill

Today I purchased a $5 lottery ticket. According to Bill, that must make be morally bankrupt. He dumped about 8 million sneaking in and out the back doors of Las Vegas casinos.

I think of the ads on the boob tube, "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas". How come they didn't keep him.

(Compare that with Clinton, now doing everything he can to help homeless and hungry Third World kids healthier and more prosperous).

http://cbs4boston.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_274141456.html

I have a better idea. It would have been better if all Republicans would have been aborted starting some sixty-eight years ago. Crime would be non-existent.

It will be a better world with the 'Republicans' out of the way. The sooner, the better. It is time to start to ignore anything they have to say. They don't merit discussion.

But he did not contradict the original statement, which is that aborting black babies would reduce the crime rate. This is by definition a racist comment. He did not say aborting inner city or lower class babies would reduce the crime rate. He said black babies. That is the problem I have with his statement.

He may try to wiggle out of it by saying that well, since the black crime rate is very high, then it follows that aborting black babies would reduce the crime rate. There are several problems with this argument. First, it is a post hoc fallacy. Just because the black crime rate is very high does not imply that the nature of being black causes you to commit crimes, and there is no obvious evidence to suggest causation there. Second, this doesn't take into account profiling tactics which subject minorities to higher arrest and incarceration rates. Finally, maybe the crime rate is actually fixed given a particular level of law enforcement, and reducing the number of black youths will only create more opportunities for white youths to become hoodlums.

Hard drug users like herion users should have clinics to get their stuff, not a free for all, as you say. The most important thing is to get the police out of the drug problems except where truly needed, the current system is counterproductive.

Nobody should start using crystal, it is truly the poison that the claim pot to be. Except for the gateway effect, most of the reefer madness lies actually do apply to meth. Brain damage, harsh addiction, bad teeth, killed liver, stressed heart, bad skin, lesions, etc. There are people drooling for the rest of their lives in institutions because they got hooked up on meth. It causes many deaths as well. I think the only reason I never tried it was the stories my brother told me when I was young. Without scaring me, he scared me. He talked about his experiences and some of his dead friends. I believed him... I have since seen the effects first hand.

Now of course we'll hear the other "sicko Bill", O'Reilly that is, condemn Bennett on his show even though in private I know he is capable of saying the same kind of thing (or worse?). He's a little less sloppy than Bennett though.

An Open Letter to Bill Bennet