This is your war on drugs.

Since the Michael Phelps "thing" - the picture of him holding a glass waterpipe to his lips - the cannabis community has been in overdrive, boycotting Kelloggs for being so backwards as to not renew his contract, lambasting the Sheriff's office in the tine South Carolina town where the sheriff was mulling extraction of Phelps from another state JUST for this picture.

The internets have been filled with commentary - from the "right" as well as the Left - regarding the utter stupidity of enforcing marijuana laws and noting that the sheriff must have nothing better to do with his time and resources.

Because, after all, IT'S JUST POT!

The United Nations International Narcotics Control Board, in reaction to this outpouring of truthful information and enthusiastic, serious discourse, has elected to spew reefer madness onto the internets and into the mainstream media.

In this essay I am going to post passages from a Raw Story write-up and comment on each one of them.

This is the normal effort we have had to do to deal with the MSM's unquestioning lapdoggie relationship with cannabis prohibitionists - which are almost invariably Republican, and are made up of essentially Republican "talking points".

Here we go! Number 1:



VIENNA (AFP) – A UN drugs agency warned Thursday against underestimating the dangers of cannabis. "The international community may wish to review the issue of cannabis," the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) wrote in its annual report. "Over the years, cannabis has become more potent and is associated with an increasing number of emergency room admissions," the report stated.

Ok. "Emergency room admission is pure reefer madness propaganda. Click the link and scroll down to Number 6. Essentially, since the mid 1990's the Reefer Mad (the ONDCP and others)have been really focusing on getting data from ER's detailing "mentions": of marijuana.

It works like this: You get hurt doing something and you go to the ER. When they take a health history from you they ask if you ever smoke pot. You say yes. VIOLA! Your trip to the ER has generated a "mention". That is the sort of data that makes up this specious, deceitful, mean-spirited, and misleading claim.

It's utter bunk that can ONLY be uttered by people with no sense of "shame".

Number 2:



Cannabis was often the first illicit drug taken by young people and was frequently called a "gateway drug," in that it could lead to later use of hard drugs.

Unmitigated Assholiness.

This nonsense has been debunked so many times, but since propagandists get unfettered, unchallenged, FREE access to the media - a central issue in getting the law changed, really - all they have to do is post one sentence like that and restart a debate that nobody should respond to. Only prohibitionists and people who just don't know any better still make this ridiculous claim. We reforms then have to scurry and post factual refutations to this that are essentially lost on those who still believe this false tripe. Long and short: If you buy this "gateway bit" you aren't smart. You CANNOT trust the "government" on this. You are DUMB to trust them if you do.

Period.

Lastly they take a swipe at medical marijuana. Number 3:



Indeed, many countries allowed the "recreational" use of cannabis, and public perceptions of the so-called "medical" uses of the drug and its recreational use "are overlapping and confusing," it said.

Translation: anybody who is smoking pot and not going to jail is setting a bad example for the children. This is what "confusing" means.

To answer the question in the back of your mind, "Yes....you really are supposed to believe this."

The INCB is really little more than the US DEA with a posh Swiss office and outrageous fake accent - and massive budget. It produces little more than regurgitation of the standard, predictable DEA/GOP party line. they spew it to the lapdog media that, in turn, merely rolls over and does it's trick for them.

Medical marijuana laws and Michael Phelps damage the propaganda stream and the INCB has released this bullshit press material in an attempt to squash the current enthusiastic public discourse.

The recent online uproar is a very good thing and it should continue.

Dumbass agencies like the INCB and the DEA need to write to us MORE so people can really see how their tax dollars are wasted reproducing unbelievable drivel in the name of "protecting the community".

The raw fact is marijuana is not a threat to our community, if tobacco and alcohol are legal and tolerated to the point of glorification.

People are free to believe anything they want to and free to express themselves; but if what you say you believe is known to be amazingly stupid, you might want to check your facts sometime.

The DEA and the INCB should be defunded and dissolved.

They accomplish absolutely nothing.

This is your war on drugs.

_______

@xxdr_zombiexx



About author Doc is a licensed professional counselor who writes about the reform of marijuana laws and attitudes.