by Chuck Foster

America's world-wide war on drugs by the D.E.A. is buried so deep in political bullshit that it makes this monthly column easy to write, so easy that any writer in this country could write one article per day on it and never reach the bottom of this cesspool. The problem is, most don't.

What's the root of this problem? The problem with digging this evil root up and burning it in the fire it belongs in is the one-sided coin that our government flips in the air, always landing on "heads" for the American media to "awe" at every single time it's flipped. Like most cheap magic tricks performed for an audience by a clever magician, the secret is seldom questioned, let alone answered, by the media.

If you can look beyond what you're told as being "right" or "wrong" for yourself, than think about this statement from the D.E.A. for one brief moment: "Property owned by drug traffickers such as the SeaDoo and drag racer are forfeited through the asset forfeiture program. DEA and other federal and state agencies seize property as well as millions of dollars each year, removing those assets from the hands of groups who are breaking the law. This takes the profit away from those whose lust for money and property results in death and addiction for countless millions."

Let's forget about the asset forfeiture program that seizes millions of dollars each year and focus a little more on the description of the people our government's after: the lawbreakers who lust for money and property that kills and addicts millions every year. Think about why these people, drug dealers if you prefer, are making profits to begin with. Simple enough - there's a market for a product. It happens to be illegal. For those who don't know, our government fought the same losing battle years ago with alcohol. That's different, right? I wonder just how many minds our government could brainwash today with one-sided studies and millions of wasted tax dollars in false ad campaigns against alcohol? Honestly, I don't even want to think about it with new smoking ban legislation now popping up left and right.

Our government doesn't recognize any substantial medicinal benefits from marijuana either, right? I know that's what they say but what about this statement from their site (www.usdoj.gov/dea/): "Medical marijuana already exists for patients who actually need it. It's called Marinol, and it has been tested and approved by the medical community and the FDA. Are those who are calling for Legalizing marijuana really calling for medicine?"

Hmmm... I guess that even though marijuana doesn't have any medicinal purposes our government has allowed pharmaceutical companies to make a drug with the same characteristics of marijuana to appease the simple-minded pot heads. I'm sorry, I thought our government said the problem with drugs was the lust for money and property. I guess that doesn't include pharmaceutical companies who rape the American people's bank accounts with drugs like Marinol and who pay off politicians with hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbyist funds every year.

Let me get back to the one-sided coin again. The D.E.A. web site also claims: "In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of emergency room mentions of marijuana use. From 1993-2000, the number of emergency room marijuana mentions more than tripled, surpassing heroin." If I knew nothing about pot from personal experience I would more than likely be a little concerned by this number, but I do, so I know it's totally absurd.

It doesn't stop there, the D.E.A. site also states: "Furthermore, the DEA recently approved the University of California San Diego to undertake rigorous scientific studies to assess the safety and efficacy of cannabis compounds for treating certain debilitating medical conditions." For some reason this updated web site doesn't give Dr. Igor Grant's finding from this study that found: "cannabis has only a marginally harmful long-term effect on learning and memory." Dr. Grant's study also concluded that marijuana caused no permanent brain damage on recreational users. Oh, I forgot, we're not supposed to question, just believe.

The D.E.A. also likes to use their favorite tactic in this war, the safety of others from the dangerous pot smoker. It claims: "Marijuana affects many skills required for safe driving: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination, and reaction time. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and signs on the road." Once again, our government's concern for the well-being of the public doesn't include tobacco, alcohol, or legal pharmaceutical substances. Why is that again, could it be big pay-offs?

Clogging the drain of this seventy-year-old cesspool of propaganda is the most manipulated truth the government could ever spend our hard earned tax dollars on: "Long-term studies of students who use drugs show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. While not all people who use marijuana go on to use other drugs, using marijuana sometimes lowers inhibitions about drug use and exposes users to a culture that encourages use of other drugs. The risk of using cocaine has been estimated to be more than 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it." For some reason they never mention that more kids try alcohol and tobacco first, which is linked to the death of hundreds of thousands every year.

A summary the D.E.A. site leaves these lies for our citizens to ponder:

• Marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug that poses significant health threats to users.
• Marijuana has no medical value that can't be met more effectively by legal drugs.
• Marijuana users are far more likely to use other drugs like cocaine and heroin than non-marijuana users.
• Drug legalizers use "medical marijuana" as a red herring in an effort to advocate broader legalization of drug use.

Of course, after hearing all this from John Walters in person, you can't blame the American public in states like Nevada for racing to the ballots to fight any kind of legalization initiative; then again, it's not just Walters' fault, the blame lies in the hands of our national media just as much...or is that the same entity, Church, State, and Media?