The following piece was produced by HuffPost's OffTheBus. A related post can be found on Send the Right Message.
John McCain does a lot of town hall meetings, and he's usually quite pleased to get questions from law enforcement officers, firefighters, and military personnel. Sunday evening at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, NH, may have provided an exception.
It would be an understatement to observe that this was not the usual question: "I've served here in my state as a law enforcement officer for going on 9 years now, and after nine years working the street, I've come to the conclusion that the War on Drugs is a terrible failure... I have seen firsthand that the War on Drugs causes crime, it causes children to have access to drugs easier, and it does nothing to curb the problem of drug abuse. Just like Alcohol Prohibition after the the 18th Amendment passed, the country wised up and we passed the 21st Amendment which curbed the violence problem in this country greatly. What is it going to take for powerful politicians such as yourself to realize that the War on Drugs is a failure and we need to... we need to get smart about drugs, not tough. We need to be smart."
McCain responded: "Thank you, sir. It's going to take a lot before I adopt your viewpoint."
This drew some laughs and scattered applause from the crowd. But it was only the beginning of a three minute answer.
McCain rested the first part of his rationale for the War on Drugs on the pharmacological differences between alcohol and drugs. He claimed that most experts agree alcohol is fundamentally different in that only alcohol can be moderately consumed.
The senator did say he would support a small increment of reform. "I will agree with you to this extent, that too often we put first-time drug users in prison," he said, and was quickly interrupted by applause from a smattering of college students.
This drew a smile and a joke from McCain, who then went on to say he supports a program in Arizona that gives first-time offenders a treatment option. McCain said such a program should be implemented nationally.
"We have too many first-time drug offenders in prison," he repeated. "I think we all know that."
But McCain cited policy experiments in Europe which he said were a failure, and he said the U.S. should work with Mexico to do continuing battle with drug cartels.
"I will do whatever I can to help you combat these drug dealers, these terrible people who prey on America," he told the officer.
The New Hampshire police officer questioning McCain was Bradley Jardis, a speaker with the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (L.E.A.P.). Jardis rocked the boat earlier this year when he testified in favor of ending Marijuana Prohibition before New Hampshire legislators. He says he enforces the laws because it's his job to do so, but he feels it is his duty as a citizen to speak out against a policy which he says needlessly destroys lives.
McCain then directed a question at Jardis, continuing the exchange:
McCain: I just want to ask one other thing. Do you think methamphetamine ought to be legal?
Jardis: I think what we need to look at is the drug policy.
McCain: Yeah, but you know, it's one thing to talk about policy. It's another thing to talk about specifics, and with all due respect, do you think methamphetamine ought to be made legal?
Jardis: I don't think that if someone gets caught with methamphetamine, we should be putting them in prison, period. We should be helping them. We should help people who are addicted to drugs, not spend $69 billion a year to put people in jail. If you arrest somebody, it does not solve the problem. You just said that there are drug cartels. There would not be drug cartels if we were to regulate drugs. In Switzerland they have public heroin clinics where people can go and get help with clean needles to come off drugs There's no doubt that drugs are dangerous, but our policy does not do anything to help people who are addicted. If you arrest a 16-year-old for possession of marijuana, and they get a criminal conviction, you can get over an addiction but you can never get over a conviction. They lose their funding to go to college, and no one could ever say that keeping a kid from going to college accomplishes something good. Not at all.
McCain: (interrupts) Thank you very much. I'm sorry you didn't have a position on methamphetamine, but I do agree with you. I do agree with you strongly. As I said, we have this program in Arizona that I'd like to see adopted nationwide that first-time offenders are given an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and to have a clean record. I thank you for your service, and I appreciate the discussion, and I look forward to continuing this dialogue because I in no way... do I in any way mean to diminish the magnitude of this problem and the terrible tragedies it inflicts on America every single day. Thank you, and thank you for your service.
At the event's conclusion, Jardis approached McCain, shook his hand, and handed him a L.E.A.P. DVD to watch.
It's just Daddy fascism "protecting us from ourselves".
What is an individual life for? Who owns the human sense of spirituallity or religious autonomy? Does an individual owe the most private life bits to government? To culture? To family?
The antibaptists were not up against any less because the real issue is not medical. It is instead about control of common reality. In the end it's about keeping taxes flowing. Isn't it always?
This explains why primal cultures, that is, cultures that require few taxes, also encourage ordinary people to go looking for their own, original reality. Gods still speak to them. Such people don't require priests. Life is an experience, not a theory. Or not. Stay asleep. Let Big Brother tell you what life is. I say this because this culture is no less friendly to any experiential religion (i.e. Buddhism) than it is to drugs that shatter common reality.
You might note here we are not putting Buddhists in prison. No, not yet. The common reality leaders like to talk about mind eating drugs like meth, but those are not the drugs they are really afraid of. The worst drugs from their point of view will always be drugs that create alternate cultures.
"There doesn't have to be a conspiracy. If enough people agree, not a word needs saying."-me
"You can say anything you want in this country right up until people start listening to you". -angela davis
"It's a culture war." -pat buchanan
Our election process machine is set to "sound byte" rather than "logical discussion." Until the selector gets closer to the latter, we are stuck in a rut of slow evolution toward Jardis's "smart" policy.
If we made smart, considered, and discussed policies in this country, well, that would resemble democracy in ideal form.
How do we move toward this?
Pot cures 3 types of cancer and grows nuerons (a treatment for alzhimers.) These are well known govt studies done as early as the 70's.
abovetheignorance.org
Not only that hemp / pot is 5 times more efficient than corn in making ethanol and has thousands of industrial uses that replace crude oil.
go to abovetheignorance.org and learn the truth.
Hemp is illegal because oil and pharmacutical companies want it illegal.
McCain, Romney, Giuliani are all ignorant Jackasses who just like Hitler want to control peoples lives. Karma dictates that they die of cancer or alzhiemers. They are immoral putting people in prison who harm no one.
The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb!
AND END OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREING OIL.
http://abovetheignorance.org/hemp.html
People shouldn't have to show ID and sign for a 10-day-maximum supply of Claritin-D. I understand that meth dealers use PSE to synthesize meth in their kitchens. Guess what! They still do! Meth dealers have friends to go shopping for them. Meth dealers have fake ID's. Meth dealers can go to Mexico.
This policy is stupider than making people remove shoes at airports. It's a pointless inconvenience disguised as good government. That and a pile of dog droppings gets you a stinky, messy shoe.
As long as lawyers are law makers who write legislation that clearly benefit lawyers, the war will continue, in other words, forever.
What struck me first on this article though was McCain and his response. I used to have a lot of respect for McCain, even if I didn't always agree with him. But he is just getting weird now. And typical of most politicians - instead of the "straight shooter" he used to be - he never completely answers a question, goes around and around on something "safe". He just doesn't seem to be in touch with reality (like when he went to Iraq and harped on about how SAFE it was). I thank him for his service, but I think it is time for him to retire.
Can you imagine all the advertising that would occur if all of a sudden you could sell any drug to anyone for anything. No prescription required.
The Viagra ads would pale in comparison to the new ads for meth. The anti-depressant ads would also just become a small annoyance, as opposed to a major one.
I have never understood why we legalize alcohol and we put people in jail for marijuana. But then again, I don't understand how drug companies can put ads on tv that discuss the duration of a hard-on, but singers are punished if they show their breast for one second. It's a weird world.
Prohibition in the name of regulation is illegal.
He and his ilk should be arrested and held accountable for crimes against the Constitution and u.s. citizens!
After we let out all victims of victimless crimes we may have enough room to incarcerate most mainstream prohibitionists.
MuzzleFlash
Many dictators throughout the world enjoyed some of the best US trained armies which they then used to oppress their people and enjoy American support so long as these dictators played ball with the US i.e Panama's Trujillo.
Just like the war on terrorism, it is unprovoked and can not be won militarily. It also requires a political solution wherein the US uses diplomacy and economic incentives to convince countries whose economies depend on drugs as cash crops to forgo them as a source of revenue.
Reducing the flow of drugs to the US by convincing drug producing countries to abandon them rather than locking up fifteen year old kids and adults who blow a fatty now and then or incarcerating African American males who smoke crack while sentencing their White coke snorting counterparts to bed without their MTV is no solution.
The billions used for military "Enter Dick-tion" could better be spent on prevention and cash assistance to cooperating governments.
McCain, like many of his Republican cohorts, believe that the solution to every problem, from terrorism to global warming is to send in the army. We know all to well how successful that remedy has been in both of these two issues.