Opinions - Politics of classes of drug users?

[bravedog]

It is reasonable to suspect that as with most other legislation, major political and economic interests' perceptions of drug laws' impacts on themselves may have a strong hidden influence.

For instance, in rejecting his marijuana commision's recommendation marijuana be decriminilized, Nixon tapes show
"The marijuana issue also played into the culture wars of

the time. President Nixon saw a connection between
civil rights and anti-war demonstrators and marijuana
use even though the Shafer Commission tried to
minimize the differences in lifestyle and the effect of
marijuana on social order.14 Nixon discussed this with
entertainer Art Linkletter claiming: “. . . radical
demonstrators that were here . . . two weeks ago . . .
They’re all on drugs, virtually all.”15

14 National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, “First
Report,” page 92. "Concerns about marihuana use expressed in the
1930s related primarily to a perceived inconsistency between the
lifestyles and values of these individuals and the social and moral
order.

15 Oval Office Tapes, May 18, 1971, 12:16 pm - 12:35 pm -- Oval

Office Conversation No. 500-17."

Similarly, the relationship between psychedelics and left-leaning politics, while not universal, seems strong. If real, major entrenched interests have a pragmatic economic and financial interest in opposing psychedelics use.

On the opposite side, I have read unsubstantiated speculation that the US govt. was more willing to form alliances with heroin smuggling allies during the Vietnam war and the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and accept concomitant increased heroin use by its soldiers and citizens, and to support continued legal use of alcohol in the US, because these drugs may lower political involvement and opposition to entrenched interests.

Without affirming the validity of any of these specific ideas, it seems objectively clear that for decades politicians and political thinkers have considered the possibility that use of different classes of drugs are associated [perhaps causally] with political stances which have the strong potential to influence political and thus economic power in the US and other countries. I find it unlikely that political interest think tanks have not attempted to objectively examine the politics and degree of political involvement, and potential effects on the entrenched interests which fund them, of classes of users of various legal and illegal drugs. But perhaps because I haven't found the best search terms, I'm unable to find much objective information on the poiltical leanings and activity of the classes of users of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, tobacco, antidepressants, opiates, etc.

I would be most interested in info anyone has on any research which has been done relevant to this topic. Thanks

bravedog

Reputation Comments on this post:

good one

[stoneinfocus]

I was at a barbecue last week and literally all of them were on drugs. -true.

Literally all of the love and peace generation are on drugs, that are little more elaborate than the CH3CH2OH molecule. True.

So how could we possibly fuck those up?
Easy!

[old hippie 56]

Hard drugs like speed what screwed up the Haight-Ashbury scene in the late sixties, plus thousands of homeless kids that came to the Bay area for the wrong reasons.

[stoneinfocus]

Mistakes are common with new things, adn mostly it´s that is has not been integrated into the social enviroment that well.

the techno youth learned and managed to get along with all drugs but not the laws against it, as their motto was not being against the society, but showing that everything would work very well within their integration of own culture in this society... and they´ve shown it works, like: earning money and having their own culture of understanding, care, love, joy, sex, party -all the things that automatically simply imply hard work, most of the time.

the 60ies revolution was a revolution that bred from a praepaleonthological view of their peers and was more prone to mistakes and selfdestruction, as it was a very young revolution within very young modern sciences and most of these groups had a very nihilistic point of view concerning their participation in the system, which equated more to:"I won´t go to war and kill people, I´d rather experiment with drugs and sex and do nothing for this system, leading to a nihilistic point of view in regards to their own life itself(we all want to be accepted by the society we live in for our own contribution to it), which was, or is different within the techno-youth, showing, how everything is working out well if we keep peace and hard work up, like we were doing for some decades.

Despite of a cold war we were living in, we had at least good economics and no weapons fired between europe and america and russia and a youth to which a participation in war was unkown.

this equation would suggest war to be a major tool, leading to selfdestruction of the peace-loving individual and its working way of life and it seems to be very logic, doesn´t it?

[silentghost]

Oooo yeah, the "revolution" of the 60's. Good one. We are facing conservative backlash because of people like David Leary and his "acid for everyone" tours.

The government doesn't have a lot to do with your life. Sure you pay taxes and have a file, but theres really nothing stopping you from getting a marijuana license or narcotics prescription.

A conservative government at least advertises small government and individual rights. Sure we have a War on Drugs/Terrorism, but you should keep your guns and drugs at home anyway. It hasn't stopped our republican politicians from stacking up on vicodin and xanax, and it hasn't stopped SWIM either. For all you doom-sayers, all I can say is learn to play with the new rules.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	who the hell is David Leary... I believe you mean Timothy. Please research your posts, a quick google check insures accu...
	hard to play by the rules when they're always changing

[stoneinfocus]

This swiy says now, until they come knocking at your door and your job, driving license and thus life´ll be gone.

Oh, well, they won´t get you, you´re smarter and will never be the weakest link, right? -so why care about all the bums and the drug-deaths, that could be easily avoided?
Why care about a generation, doing the "best" to serve, shut up and earn money, bending a little freedom-law so you´re in hell, for the best of all of us?

Someone not seeing this trend .. well oh, yes, it was Leary in a regular test with LSD (was this the sacrifised lamb, the jew for the Vietnam-oponents?), like it was and is done a million times before and today with millions of drugs, including steroids, ritaline in elder people, asthmatics and all those who´d like to participate as a chance of healing and contribution to sciences..

A whole generation in jail beause of weed... no job, no nothing.. normal for a country like US and A? Who cares? we are smarter until ...they fucked you up... and swiy begs for a dime because you dared to posess weed and gto no right for an own home in the richest countries of the world? Yeah, right-on!

Oh and let the G8 play a littel with conventional arms again and the term "terrorist".

We are mistaken int the way that we´re told we´d end in hell if we let "excessive" freedom and peace and happieness happen, whilst not recognising, _this_ could be (and is to the richest) the most efficient, free and peacfull times to live in, if we´d just started caring for the weakest link in our societies -which merely is weak, but our greatest chance for progress in this consense, but then the powers would fear loosing their influence, and that´s why every party, standing for social engagement and liberty is fought like the personal-/institutionalised beginning of doom, by all the corrupt, educationally brain-washed politicians, the bought off media and supporters and as soon as the crowd seems to get a clue on what´s going on, some psycho-population shows off(backwahn, scientology etc), with just the right attitude in discussion, demosntrating to us all, that this really is some madman´s stuff to choose and follow.

In contrarym the conservatives are not standing for minimum control, it´s popular now to stand for ultimative security and observation for prevention, as a conservative has nothing to fear from it,except soem kids going crazy with guns and some terrorist-bombing, leading to an agenda of synergistically arranged, world wide police/military operations (SA/SS and Wehrmacht) and even some military clearance flights inlands over G8-demonstrants. Well, normal cooperation in Guantamao and other concentration camps, of course, is cool, the CIA shredding documents,... no demos, no youth, no students, no intellectuals no media about all that´s missing... cool... we have the same problems as in 1932.. yeah sure, we know about yesterday, so we don´t know about today... that´s cool, that´s the attitude.

Kurds, once gassed, by Saddam, now terrorists, when being attacked by turks, Georgia, first a country, but terrorist when being attacked by Russia.Serbia, the re-invetion of Nazi-Deutschland (not Tudjman) blacks, poor africans, but evil drug dealers around here, dying chronically in detention for trial.
You, sitting in a jail, for smoking weed.. yeah, cool, keep it conservative, get your degree and play along. *lol*

Israel being attacked, just swaps the role and takes some of syria, by the way, and later turns one of the most peaceful people to "terrorists" and a promagnion-culture by its military means, kids getting a transgender operation, because we allow ourselfs to care for every jota of the shades of an individual´s needs, whilst others living from rubbish on the streets. what a joke.. oh wait, I will win in lottery, it´s fair game, as i sufferd a lot and it has to and will end this way...I still believe...everything´s to the best, I just didn´t recognise it, hey, these guys are professionals and I elected them to serve for my best, but why am I so quite and paralysed by fear, why do I feel like being beaten-up constantly for my way of life... why do I feel so bad?

Reputation Comments on this post:

damn good one

[El Calico Loco]

I think the drug war is more cultural than political. It's the joyless, uptight square who run the world versus the hippies, slackers, psychonauts, punk rockers, bikers, musicians, minorities, hobbits, and other lesser beings. Nixon despised the drugged-out youth.

Left-leaning politicians don't seem to care much about the drug situation. It's been argued that it's only on account of it being a third rail issue, and some have mumbled that maybe pot smokers should just get a fine instead of going to jail, but make no mistake: many of them don't like us any more than the conservatives. Right-wing conservatives hate the counterculture because it's not like them; left-wing Yankee puritans hate it because it revels in the joys of the flesh and doesn't live up to their standards of health and sanitation.

Remember that Prohibition was a progressive issue.


ECL

[stoneinfocus]

I see your point Calico and was thinking of that this nite, but at least the "sanitation" isn´t enhanced by a religous fanatism of misusing your god-given body and an overly alert panic-making; all left- wing parties around here are at least, if not more-so, against criminalisation of soft drugs, and/or for treatment and legal options on hard drugs as well, respectively.

I was therefore just searching about drugs in the political program of some left wing o alternative parties, and as this issue isn´t very popular, I had to do several searches on this , on the left wing party program, as they haven´t already made it into the government, conrtary to the öko-alternative party, which is in the parliament here, strictly emphasising their engagement for a liberal drug-policy eg free MJ and shrooms and x-tasy) and came across a paper of a multi lateral economic act (MAI), that´s aiming to put all trading countries under pressure of the G8 and wordlwide players and forces them to give all industries the same support and oppotunities, like subventions, as the they give their settled industries.

Further, it will force the governments of any trading counrty to open their markets to the world industry, especially the 3rd world (think about non-legal generic & affordable medicine in south-america, the chanceless agriculture in Africa, etc.) giving these not onyl the same financial support, but are to agree on free money and profit transfers of these global players, leaving the waste in their countries and these will transfer the money, subventions and profits made.

this means also, all patents being applied in these countries on medicine, heavy industry, on plants, genetic pools, and drugs -and in the party´s program, explicitly citing drugs as a way to personal freedom, and that now capitalism begins to blackmail the whole world and individual freedom and autonomity.

Strangely, such things don´t seem to make it through to the media, as the most stupid, ignorant inbred would then begin to realize what it´s all up-to, and swim thanks Nokia, for doing, what they did in germany as this is all there´s is to it.
Brave New World...

[El Calico Loco]

Forgive me, my post above was distinctly American in its flavor. Other Western countries tend to have far more variety in their parties than we do. We generally get to choose between the uptight conservatives of the right and the uptight conservatives of the left. I don't know where you are, or if you have the equivalent of Yankee Puritans where you live, but trust me: strident, self-righteous, pleasure-hating leftists are every bit as horrible as strident, self-righteous, pleasure-hating conservatives. It's just a different flavor of horror.

Those of us in the misfit population aren't well-represented. We tend to skulk about in the Libertarian and/or Green parties, which have zero votes in most legislative bodies. Normal people give me a blank stare when I tell them I don't see much difference between Republicans and Democrats, regardless of which side they favor. They don't get that, for the matters which concern me most - imperialism, the drug war gulags, backwards taxation, deficit spending, unsound currency - there's not a dime's worth of difference between them.


ECL