2008 Woodie Awards
Editorial
Another Republican double standard: Heroin vs. weed
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Opinions
- Page 1 of 1
President Bush and right-leaning lawmakers continue their ultimate display of hypocrisy regarding American drug policy and our nation's war against terrorism.
Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of poppy plants - which are used to create opium and eventually, heroin - will grow an estimated 9,000 tons of opium this year with a farm value of $1 billion, versus the 185 tons the country produced in 2001.
This opium is shipped through lazy border patrol to Iran, up through Turkey and eventually to England, where it is sold and/or shipped to the United States for a street value mark-up of 360 percent.
The poppy field profits in Afghanistan have assisted the funding of the Taliban long before the U.S. invasion in 2001, providing millions of dollars for weapons, bombs and terrorist training camps.
However, the United States will spend $833.3 million this year in its anti-narcotic trafficking attempts to destroy Afghan poppy fields. With the revenue and amount of opium being produced yearly by Afghanistan versus the amount we spend to sheepishly fight the cash crop of terrorists, how can public officials claim they are doing everything they can to fight terrorism?
While righties like presidential candidate John McCain and President Bush may not be exercising all of our nation's resources in cutting off terrorist funding via hard drug sales, they are doing what they can to prevent paraplegics, cancer and HIV/AIDS sufferers from being able to smoke medicinally administered marijauna.
McCain recently belittled a New Hampshire woman in a wheelchair who politely brought up her use of medical marijuana and asked his stance on it. McCain replied, "You may be one of the unique cases in America that only medical marijuana can relieve pain from. Every medical expert I know of, including the AMA, says there are much more effective and much more, uh, better treatments for pain."
Medicinal marijauna helps those suffering throughout the United States; it gives them moments relief from the pain and dysphoria caused by their life threatening illnesses. Instead of allowing them a peaceful existence, those responsible for allowing the Taliban to continue funding terrorism with smack sales are also sending paraplegics to prison.
Nice work, Bush. Keep spending billions of dollars on a war fighting terror while you continue to terrorize America's own sons and daughters dying from HIV/AIDS. Keep allowing Afghan's "Hell Dust" into the hands of high school students but make sure that Angel Raich, a cancer victim, either obey federal law or risk prison should she go back to using the only treatment that has helped her.
Let us think about this one for a minute, President Bush. How about you spray the terrorists' money crops with some eco-friendly chemicals and then give the farmers a crop they can grow? Work with them on securing future profits that don't involve killing people through addiction or war, and leave the ailing, chronic sufferers to their pot, cannabis, weed, mary-jane, grass, ganj, reefer, bud, herb, sticky icky or medicinal marijauna.
Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of poppy plants - which are used to create opium and eventually, heroin - will grow an estimated 9,000 tons of opium this year with a farm value of $1 billion, versus the 185 tons the country produced in 2001.
This opium is shipped through lazy border patrol to Iran, up through Turkey and eventually to England, where it is sold and/or shipped to the United States for a street value mark-up of 360 percent.
The poppy field profits in Afghanistan have assisted the funding of the Taliban long before the U.S. invasion in 2001, providing millions of dollars for weapons, bombs and terrorist training camps.
However, the United States will spend $833.3 million this year in its anti-narcotic trafficking attempts to destroy Afghan poppy fields. With the revenue and amount of opium being produced yearly by Afghanistan versus the amount we spend to sheepishly fight the cash crop of terrorists, how can public officials claim they are doing everything they can to fight terrorism?
While righties like presidential candidate John McCain and President Bush may not be exercising all of our nation's resources in cutting off terrorist funding via hard drug sales, they are doing what they can to prevent paraplegics, cancer and HIV/AIDS sufferers from being able to smoke medicinally administered marijauna.
McCain recently belittled a New Hampshire woman in a wheelchair who politely brought up her use of medical marijuana and asked his stance on it. McCain replied, "You may be one of the unique cases in America that only medical marijuana can relieve pain from. Every medical expert I know of, including the AMA, says there are much more effective and much more, uh, better treatments for pain."
Medicinal marijauna helps those suffering throughout the United States; it gives them moments relief from the pain and dysphoria caused by their life threatening illnesses. Instead of allowing them a peaceful existence, those responsible for allowing the Taliban to continue funding terrorism with smack sales are also sending paraplegics to prison.
Nice work, Bush. Keep spending billions of dollars on a war fighting terror while you continue to terrorize America's own sons and daughters dying from HIV/AIDS. Keep allowing Afghan's "Hell Dust" into the hands of high school students but make sure that Angel Raich, a cancer victim, either obey federal law or risk prison should she go back to using the only treatment that has helped her.
Let us think about this one for a minute, President Bush. How about you spray the terrorists' money crops with some eco-friendly chemicals and then give the farmers a crop they can grow? Work with them on securing future profits that don't involve killing people through addiction or war, and leave the ailing, chronic sufferers to their pot, cannabis, weed, mary-jane, grass, ganj, reefer, bud, herb, sticky icky or medicinal marijauna.