cannabisnews.com: Our Visionary Drug Czar





Our Visionary Drug Czar
Posted by FoM on January 21, 2000 at 13:48:52 PT
A Satire by Paul M. Bischke
Source: DrugSense
Can you say "drug czar?" Journalists use the term because no one can remember the alphabet-soup in the phrase "Director of the ONDCP." But this week after revelations that Gen. Barry McCaffrey has been paying the networks to inject his reefer-madness world view into primetime TV shows, the abbreviation is obvious: it's the Office of National Drug Censorship and Propaganda.
We now know that those scary overdose scenes on "ER" were bought and paid for out of McCaffrey's billion-dollar drug-war-chest. What kinds of drug-scare themes and Drug War endorsements can we expect on TV shows in weeks to come? How about a Martin Luther King special that shows racial profiling and high African-American incarceration rates in a favorable light? Perhaps a 4th-of-July TV movie endorsing no-knock drug raids, clarifying the logic of seizing property from legally innocent citizens, and featuring a cameo appearance by Georgia Congressman Bob Barr to show how free/fair elections can be cancelled for the good of all citizens.Maybe we'll see a light-hearted "LA Law" episode on those wacky cops in the Rampart precinct of Los Angeles. Student study guides, supplied by the DEA, will include "Knowing when extortion should be ignored" and "Corruption? What the heck. It's for a good cause."For the edification of Californians and those in other states that passed those pesky medical marijuana bills that McCaffrey hates so much, CBS will feature the authoritative legal documentary "States-rights: Old idea, bad idea."And for his grand finale, to be aired nationwide on Veterans' Day, Gen. McCaffrey can rig a heroic script for a TV mini-series depicting a full-scale military invasion of Colombia. The "TV Guide" program synopsis: "Watch piles of coca leaf blazing in the tropical sun while peasants scurry into the jungle to plant corn and beans instead." According to confidential sources, the Clinton administration, having defended McCaffrey's payola program, is planning to use his novel approach to aid enforcement of other laws, as well. Their priorities are predictable. For programs to air between April 1 and April 15th, broadcasters will be paid hefty sums by the IRS to insert subliminal messages into prime-time shows: "I WANT TO PAY MY TAXES. I WANT TO PAY MY TAXES."An anonymous Clinton aide projects wide applications of McCaffrey's approach in government. "An ounce of brainwashing is worth a pound of enforcement," he said. American law and politics may never be the same. Thanks, Barry!McCaffrey's ostensible "anti-drug" messages are also pro-Drug-War messages supporting a burgeoning federal drug-enforcement bureaucracy (at $18 billion it's 36 times the size of the inflation-adjusted 1970 drug budget). Irrational fear of drugs leads to an irrational embracing of a Drug War which, in its totality, is morally questionable at best, and morally reprehensible in many respects. U.S. media should spend as much time describing the drug prohibition problem as they do the drug addiction problem. They are equally serious.In his Drug War zeal, McCaffrey has betrayed democracy, which thrives on the free flow of information and opinion. Government-hired speech defeats the First Amendment as effectively as direct censorship. In a free society, the government must follow, not shape, the will of the people. McCaffrey should resign. Click the link to read all of DrugSense Weeklys Update News:DrugSense Weekly - January 21, 2000 #133http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n133.htmlCannabis News Related Articles:Skip the 1st Amendment, Just Give Em Their Profits-1/19/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4377.shtmlTV, Drugs & Civil Liberties - Ministers of Truth-1/18/200http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4370.shtmlSalon Magazine Articles:Washington, 90210 - 1/21/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4413.shtmlWhite House Defends TV Drug-Ad Deal - 1/15/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4324.shtmlWashington Script Doctors - 1/13/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4291.shtmlDrug Money, How the White House Secretly Hooked TV-1/13/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4290.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #1 posted by J.R.BobDobbs on January 23, 2000 at 10:35:39 PT:
ONDCP-approved
  I wonder if Barry McCaffrey's crew approved of the South Park episode where Mr. Mackey lost his job and experimented with drugs and alcohol? After all, his view of the subject, both before and after, was always, "Umm, drugs are -bad-, mmmkay?"
[ Post Comment ]

Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: