cannabisnews.com: War on Drugs, War on Government War on Drugs, War on Government Posted by FoM on September 09, 2001 at 07:33:17 PT Editorial Source: Kalamazoo Gazette Draconian laws do little to curb America's drug appetite. Did we learn nothing from Ruby Ridge and Waco? Will Rainbow Farm become the next byword for excessive government force against people who don't share our beliefs?We hope not. But it is not hard to see that, in our zeal to eradicate drug use, we are abandoning some of the ideals of progressive democracy. Drugs are harmful to individuals and society. We do not support the legalization of either "soft" drugs like marijuana, or "hard" drugs like cocaine or heroin. But after watching events unfold at Rainbow Farm in Vandalia last week, in which two advocates of marijuana use are dead and the campground burned to the ground, we are beginning to wonder if this nation's War on Drugs is becoming a War on Drug Users.Some are already likening Rainbow Farm to Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, where federal agents have been accused of using excessive force in the deaths of people defying the government.Grover "Tom" Crosslin and his companion Rolland Rohm were shot to death by law enforcement officers after Crosslin and Rohm allegedly pointed guns at them, perhaps a kind of suicide by cop.Crosslin and Rohm, who were vocal advocates of marijuana and hemp use, had a right to free speech and to call for marijuana legalization.As far as is known, until a week ago Friday the two men were peaceful advocates who hosted concerts and festivals at the campground property.Unfortunately, their operation went beyond that.They ran a campground, Rainbow Farm, where, according to undercover investigators, drugs and drug paraphernalia could be purchased and used, and where minors had used drugs.Investigators said Crosslin and Rohm had been growing marijuana under artificial lights in a basement.And they did it all quite blatantly, almost daring the government to do something about it.The government did. But it was like killing a rodent with a bazooka.The government prosecuted the men on drug charges, won the forfeiture of Crosslin's property and had Rohm's minor son removed to foster care before the confrontation came to a head last Friday.It was the end of Crosslin and Rohm as peaceful marijuana advocates and the beginning of their violent end.Instead of attending a court hearing Friday on his drug charges, Crosslin instead began burning buildings on his property. Shots were fired, possibly by Crosslin or Rohm, at an undercover police helicopter over the Rainbow Farms property and at a news helicopter.In the end, it appears Crosslin chose to end his own life Monday by pointing a weapon at officers, certainly knowing officers would gun him down. Rohm chose the same fate for himself the next day.A generation after Woodstock, when young people thought drugs were a harmless diversion and a youth culture glorified drug use, we are older and wiser now. We have no illusions about the toll drugs have taken on individuals, on neighborhoods and on society.And yet our draconian War on Drugs has been unsuccessful. No matter how much property is seized, no matter how many drug users are thrown in prison, Americans' craving for drugs continues.There are other weapons, besides an iron cudgel, to combat drug use. Treatment, as is offered through Kalamazoo County's drug court, instead of knee-jerk imprisonment, is proving to be successful. America's jails and prisons now hold a record number of people, largely because of zero-tolerance drug policies. It is time to rethink a policy that treats drug use with jail time instead of treatment.It also is time to retool property seizure laws, which some have described as unduly harsh and others have claimed border on being unconstitutional.Crosslin and Rohm flouted drug laws for years and needed to be penalized. It is not a stretch to say they chose their own fate.But the outcome of this War on Drugs two men dead and Rainbow Farm in ashes has left a community traumatized.And, in the end, it could add Rainbow Farm to the list of incidents that have become justification for those with twisted minds who want to wage their own War On Government.Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)Published: Sunday, September 9, 2001Copyright: 2001 Kalamazoo GazetteWebsite: http://kz.mlive.com/Forum: http://kz.mlive.com/Contact: letters kalamazoogazette.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:Rainbow Farm Campgroundhttp://www.rainbowfarmcampground.com/Tom Crosslin & Rolland Rohm Memorialhttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/rb.htmFond Memories of Rainbowhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10858.shtmlRainbow Farms Standoff Sparks Talk, Opinionshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10857.shtmlCannabis News Articles - Tom Crosslinhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Crosslin END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by kelly on September 14, 2001 at 22:19:11 PT: drug war/war war First of all, cannibis is finally prescribed for medicinal purposes; but not in Texas, and so highly regulated.I've had UK friends call, kids hysterical wondering if I died; so confused. Muslim friends can't go out for fear of their lives. Other confused friends, arguing with me (doh, I aint Pres. Bush), about how the United States is going to start WWIII. NYC best friend lost a shitload of firefighter friends.My dad flew B17s in WWII, 35 missions, and he's upset too. We ALL are.I'm hanging in there via music, basically. (PEACE SELLS...BUT WHO'S BUYING?)My sympathies to Rainbow Farm:(Cheers,Kelly Kelly's Webpage (IE) [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by slick on September 10, 2001 at 20:55:43 PT: Kzoo Gazette This is so typical Kalamazoo Gazette. Ride the fence all the way. Admit the War on Drugs isn't working and then turn right around and say they are not in favor of marijuana legalization. Not a whisper about the PRA campaign in Michigan which will decriminalize marijuana leaving the reader to wonder where the Gazette stands on that issue. Just the same warmed over apologies for the WOD--we admit it isn't working but are too timid to try anything else [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on September 09, 2001 at 18:26:53 PT pissedonandoff Hi pissedonandoff,Here is the one I found so far.Johnson, DEA Head Debate Mondayhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10869.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by pissedonandoff on September 09, 2001 at 18:24:33 PT: Freedom says reform Things are way bad when one million people are in jail over substance abuse and huge chemical companies were allowed to makde PCB's to be intentional introduced into the environment and now even threaten the entire spieces of orkas. What people once thougt of pristine Peuget Sound is contaminated by a concentration of PCB's that have now settled. I think Dupont is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the PCB's in the Hudson rivers. I would like the government for cleaning up the environment.Ok government, now that I have praised you, the war on peace has shown its folly. Property seisure laws only make our civil servants want our property for their own greed. It is a complete corruption of what is proper.Can anyone please post about the debate tomorrow with Governor Johnson and Asa Hutchinson. Tomorrow is the beginning of an honest debate. Do you think the black market and imprisonment will win the debate? [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by dddd on September 09, 2001 at 13:46:23 PT E. Johnson Thank you for the outstanding commentary...it's excellent...when you think about it,,,this shouldnt be that surprising,,afterall,,war was declared,,an "enemy" was conjured up,,,and theenemy is eliminated.....it's just a shame that we couldnt findroom in the budget for the "War on Corruption" in the government....Tap Cheneys phone,and send in a SWAT team to surround theWhitehouse,,,lob a few concussion grenades,and incendiarydevices through his window....make everyone come out with theirhands up........put all the crooks,including dubya,in the slammer...yup,,,they would be facing mandatory minimums under the newcorruption laws,,,with enhanced sentences due to the conspiracyand racketeering laws.......and of course,,the whitehouse wouldbe forfieted,and returned to the people.....dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on September 09, 2001 at 13:05:31 PT Inadmissible >>In the end, it appears Crosslin chose to end his own life Monday by pointing a weapon at officers, certainly knowing officers would gun him down. Rohm chose the same fate for himself the next day. Objection! Hearsay! Your honor, where is the proof? This version of events was manufactured by the same governmental agencies which pulled the trigger. Where is the proof? Where is the footage, the audiotapes, the bystander eyewitness, the... ANYthing?? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by E. Johnson on September 09, 2001 at 10:54:14 PT It's just like the witch hunts in Europe The witch hunts in Europe were not what people think they were. It wasn't mob viooence fueled by ignroance and superstition. The War on Witches was a carefully creafted episode of social engineering designed to rid Europe of specific types of people and marginalize and spread suspicion on certain types of opinions and behaviors.The European witch hunts was a social control movement supported by the most learned men in both the religious and secular legal and intellectual worlds.In that case, the target was women. The first target of all women were the women who handled herbal medicine. The midwives who knew how women could control their fertility using herbs.This was at the time when professional medicine was just beginning. That was part of why they hunted midwives as witches and called the agents of Satan. The Church had a monopoly power over universities back then, and anyone who wanted a medical degree had to be loyal to the Church.Women were barred from univerities, and that reinforced the idea that midwives and herbalists represented unclean, unholy knowledge of medicine, whereas male doctors certified by the Church represntec knowledge that was safe and clean and certified by God.The European witch hunts were not irrational, they fulfilled a rational plan of the ruling forces in society at the time to marginalize and disempower certain classes of people, mostly women. (abpout 85-90% of those executed were women.)The standard of a socially ideal woman BEFORE the witch hunts was a lusty women who was large and gifted with many skills, who knew how to use herbs for healing the sick. Back in that period a large fraction of businesses were owned by women. Women were also taking up preaching.In one English city they banned women from wearing men's clothing, because there was so much gender equality that women were just abandoning any pretense of obeying social restrictions on their clothing and behavior.Tha standard of a socially ideal woman AFTER the witch hunts were over was a frail thin helpless creature who would faint at the mere mention of anything related to sexuality, who was driven to hysteria by any physical labor, who was Christian to the point of absolute sexlessness, who would never dream of donning male attire, had absolutely no knowledge of any herbal potions, and deferred completely to male doctors for everything concerning her body and mind.The War on Dugs, it is not hard to see, has been largely a war against MEN. Black men, mainly, but also Hispanic men, and then in the hippie era, a war against white men who were seen as a threat to the traditional military power system.Yes, those damned anti-war protestors.Marijuana has been demonized beyond all reason, so in some way the war against pot seems irrational. But at a social and political level it is not irrational at all, not any more irrational than were the European witch hunts.Look at a before and after picture and you can see the reason behind it. The Drug War has been a force running in the oppsoute direction from the Civil Rights movement. How many black men have lost the right to vote thanks to the crack laws?And can anyone imagine asking workers in 1968 to pee in a cup when applying for a job?There would have been urine riots if drug testing had been suggested back then.I am smiling now at the thought of a urine riot. Wouldn't that be nice? Why don't we all make a giant urine collection and mail it to Washington DC to Asa Hutchinson? The world's largest urine sample! Before the Drug War, nobody peed for a job. Now we're all willing to pull our panties down and let Uncle Sam into our urethra.It's a complete parallel to the intimidating, tranformative effect that the European witch hunts had on women. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Doug on September 09, 2001 at 09:47:31 PT I suppose this is Progress I'll be generous and consider this editorial a little more liberal than the usual treatment of the Drug War that we've seen for the last forty years. But still, they've got a long way to go.Prominent in this editorial, and all the others I've seen here and on MAP is the "Blaming the Victim" syndrome. This is very common in American journalism, and almost always bad form. Not only that, but it is extremely disrespectful. It is a way of maintaining that all the rest of us are innocent and not responsible: Saying "You did it yourself, and you have no one else to blame" lets us off the collective hook. But until we as a public can take responsiblity for the Evil, and this act at Rainbow Farms was truly evil, things like this will continue to happen. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Robbie on September 09, 2001 at 09:09:23 PT All must be allowed A generation after Woodstock, when young people thought drugs were a harmless diversion and a youth culture glorified drug use, we are older and wiser now.That's right. We know that drugs a harmless diversion and we're much less frightened by and controlled by the government. Except, of course, being shot and killed for disagreeing with the system.We have no illusions about the toll drugs have taken on individuals, on neighborhoods and on society.You mean drugs-WAR don't you? Get your approach straight before you try it out on the public. Drugs would not be the scourge that they are without the "ninny-nanny Puritannical hysterical War on the Drugs that you don't like and demonize." Remember, black markets come from ILLEGAL activities, not legal ones.I love these people who hate and demonize drugs, yet continue to state "Why don't we just give up on this stupid war?" It's the former belief that fuels the intolerance.LEGALIZE IT ALL. WE CAN DEAL WITH THE REPERCUSSIONS LATER! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by bruce42 on September 09, 2001 at 08:47:45 PT kaptinemo I never ever recall seeing an anti-drug campaign commercial about just drugs. ever. Every anti-drug propaganda I see or hear is about drug-users, junkies, or how your kids can turn into bloodthirsty/stupid/lazy/f'ed up druggies. Does anyone here recall ever seeing propaganda about just drugs, not the people involved?Apparantly, giving the public an informed choice concerning the treatment of their own bodies and minds is un-American somehow. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on September 09, 2001 at 08:40:14 PT: Wayl, Gollee-dayee! 'Scuze me while I shake the hayee-seeds outa my hahr....after watching events unfold at Rainbow Farm in Vandalia last week, in which two advocates of marijuana use are dead and the campground burned to the ground, we are beginning to wonder if this nation's War on Drugs is becoming a War on Drug Users.Mighty slow on the uptake, to have to take this long to make that determination.It has ever been so: The DrugWar has never been about inanimate objects but repressing, incarcerating, and murdering flesh-and-blood people. And these people are just tumbling to this, now, after 87 years?Well, at least they're awake. Hopefully, they'll remain so. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment