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Terrorism-Drug Money Commercials

This brings up a slightly related event where my Health teacher went rant-like and started to yell at us for no reason.

Kid: Are drugs really that dangerious/bad?
Teacher: ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?!? IF YOU TAKE ONE PUFF OF ONE JONT YOU WILL DIE INSTANTLY! Or IF YOU DON'D DIE INSTANTLY YOU WILL DRIVE YOUR CAR INTO A BUS FULL OR PRIESTS, OR WORSE!
Another kid: I really doubt that is gonna happen Ms. _____ (name withhelp).
Teacher: IT IS TRUE, I can bring in TONS of articles where people who take drugs either die themselves or kill other people *Right* after taking.
Other kid: I really want to see more than 10 articles saying that a small amount of weed is gonna kill me instantly.
Her: I WILL BRING IN ARTICLES
:bell rings:
Her: REMEMBER CLASS IF YOU TAKE DRUGS ONCE YOUR GONNA DIE!

I was shocked how much mis-infomation was in that class, so much brainwashing and stuff.
 
Originally posted by medea
Hey there is another way to make sure terrorists don't make illegal money from the selling of illegal drugs, don't do them.....dumbass.....
It's like saying, sure I had to buy these nukes off a terrorist organization, but if the government just made it legal to own your own nukes I would'nt have had to support them.....
Click to expand...
If this is supposed to be an argument against legalization, it's pretty feeble. Hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars wasted says that prohibition DOES NOT WORK. We are not talking about nukes. We are talking about recreation. Get real.
 
Originally posted by Roger1
I put the meth comment in there for no particular reason. :)


Click to expand...



Remember, bathtub meth & crack are like moonshine...they wil lose popularity in a post prohibition era.
 
Originally posted by MrMacman

I was shocked how much mis-infomation was in that class, so much brainwashing and stuff.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there was a southpark like this recently, the kids thought if they touched a joint they'd become lowlifes or die or something. Then when they didn't, they didn't know what to think. I try very hard to understand people's reasoning... i think in a lot of cases, even people who have *tried* pot as kids are brainwashed themselves into thinking that it's 10x more potent, or laced, or something... Sure pot today is a little stronger than in the '60s, but it's not nearly as potent as the hash that floated around so much in the late '60s and 70s. Most places, you can't even buy hash today, you have to make it...

as for the gov'ts stance, i think they're just afraid to admit that they're wrong. These people cannot believe what they're saying, especially since they have the numbers and facts right in front of them. But they continue a 80-year prohibition that's failed for 50+ of those years. It's very much like the alcohol prohibition, when you illegalize it, people still use, only it was dangerous (bathtub gin was rumored to cause blindness) and organized crime supported it. It's how the mafia became so well-rooted in American culture. that's what continues to happen today; gangs and "lowlifes" (no offense satanicpoptart, you know what i mean) deal it, people use just like always.

i urge you all to support your local chapter of NORML. It's not just for hippies anymore; and they're the only organization offering real resistance. You don't have to smoke weed to know that *everyone* would benefit from legalization...

And Roger1, i just wanted to clarify that, it was hard to understand your meaning... no offense, of course...

:)
pnw
 
I'm always a skeptic

One man's terrorist is another's entrepeneur.

Phillip Morris has been accused, on more than a few instances, and with quite a bit of supportive evidence, of using some pretty seedy groups to circumvent other countries tobacco regulations and taxes, Canada being a prime example.

The US government, contrary to international law, has done little to prosecute Phillip Morris because, I suppose, of the immense lobbying money dumped on our legislators.

Truth be told, the world loves our American ideals, and hates us for our lip service to them when it isn't convenient.

If drug's were legal, they would be cheap, and bureaucrats and criminals would have to generate income elsewhere. Talk about a symbiotic relationship. Its almost as lame as Bush and Saddam, or maybe more appropriately, Bush and Osama.
 
Re: I'm always a skeptic

Originally posted by TMay

If drug's were legal, they would be cheap, and bureaucrats and criminals would have to generate income elsewhere. Talk about a symbiotic relationship. Its almost as lame as Bush and Saddam, or maybe more appropriately, Bush and Osama.
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Cocaine costs $60 a gram, and people who want it will find it.

Pot costs $40 for several grams, and people who want it will find it.

Industry can produce the products for pennies a gram, and make healthy profits, the gov't can make heatlhy taxes, and the products won't be 'cheap'.

A pack of cigarrettes costs $5, but a lone cigar might cost $8, and a bottle of wine can run from $5-5,000. These are prices people will pay.

If drugs were legalized, they should cost more than they do now (for 2 or 3 years) to discourage curious users. Then, they should settle into realistic market prices (what people will pay), based on market conditions (inclusive of taxes).
 
I'd easily pay $50 for a pack of 20 medium grade joints. They could have different brands that are different strains, or different potencies... i agree, let the government control it, i don't want another Phillip Morris to deal with... it would be huge revenue, maybe resulting in tax breaks for the impoverished...

You know, the canadian government has underground caves full of different strains, being grown for medicinal purposes and eventually mass sale. What i wouldn't give for an hour in one of those caves...

They say Phillip Morris has equipment set up and ready for mass producing marijuna cigarettes... i doubt it, but who knows.

I just hope they get all the seed fragments out ;)

pnw
 
Latin America

Drug money from cocaine is and has been fuelling vicious civil wars and domestic terrorism. If you want to see the extent of what this funding is allowing the cartels to do read this.

Mean while America sends a large amount of military aid down there in the form of helicopters and "advisors." More money is sent to aid paramilitaries and cartels in the form of cocaine purchases by way of the general public. If you ask people fed up with the mess down there, what would you like America to do inorder to help the answer is "stop buying this sh*t."

I think the PSA with the two older gentlemen is targeted towards WASP coke users and their ilk not college kids smoking the stuff their friend grew in his closet with a few lamps.
 
Back when I smoked weed, most of it came from eastern KY! Kentuckians are too damned stupid to be terrorists. I'm sure a few eastern KY terrorist drug dealers have been working on their 1983 Olds Cutlass and had the battery explode on them, but other than that, I don't think they are capable of making bombs.

But really, all the commercials that show people smoking pot and wrecking their cars and running over kids only show that alcohol should be illegal. Alcohol does all the same things to you. If the government were given the choice to either ban alcohol again and lose all that tax money, or legalize marijuana, I think we know which choice they'd make.
 
If you don't think that drug money is creating a lot of problems throughout the world, you must be seriously misinformed. Money from heroin and opium grown in the Golden Triangle in Burma has created a class of druglords who are carving out their own fiefdoms and turning them into virtual drug factories. (Read a recent article from Time about this subject here.) As another previous post had mentioned, cocaine money in Latin America has fueled many civil wars. The druglords are undermining Latin America's civil society and political institutions by using their money or guns to bribe or scare any opponent. Imagine if any corporation in America had its own private army to scare or kill any of its opponents (real or imagined) with impunity and undermining the liberty and freedom of people. This is the situation in many parts of the world today.

I agree that marijuana should not be classified as a Schedule 1 drug and that alcohol and cigarettes are arguably more destructive. However, do we really want to legalize something like cocaine and heroin, which are very addictive and whose effects are very harmful?

I don't know why many Americans think that legalization of drugs will necessarily eradicate the drug problem we currently have. Yes, I do believe we need to re-think how we are fighting this "War on Drugs", but do we realize the reprecussions of full legalization? A good case in point is 19th century China, where opium was legalized after the British and other Western powers won the Opium War. Millions of Chinese were turned into opium addicts, creating many economic and social problems.
 
Most of us don't want Heroin or Crack legalized (they are very dangerous, duh). But saying if you do Pot, all of these bad things will happen and you're supporting terror is just unproductive (and a waste of time and money). Oil does support terror much more than the drugs kids are doing do. Not that we should sell cocain to kids, but it's not like the target audience are actually the ones paying thousands of $$$ to have the really bad stuff manufactured and smuggled in.

I don't do drugs (well, I've tried some stuff, wasn't impressed but I speak from experiance) but I know a lot of people that do. Most of them are just trying to relax and have fun (even though some of them fast become losers, most of them aren't exactly going anywhere good anyway). Most of it is homegrown. These kids aren't gonna take these commercials seriously, and that's the point of this thread. Just saying "drugs are bad" over and over again won't work. The government in losing the war on drugs, and a lot of it is bad decisions like these.

Besides, by that logic, cigarettes and alcohol are much worse and can be considered "gateway" drugs, too.

There aren't any easy answers, but so far what they're doing isn't working.
 
like solvs said, no one here wants heroin or any of the hard drugs legalized, least of all me. Arguing that these drugs do socio-economic damage is redundant; we already know this, it's not being debated. What IS being debated is whether marijuana contributes to these problems. Marijuana import from these unstable regions of the world would not be cost-effective, it's all done locally, most of it within the US. A small amount continues to be imported from mexico and canada. It *could* be argued that marijuana does social damage to Mexico, but even if the trickle of pot that comes into the US stopped, it would hardly hurt their pot production.

Actually, the more we hear on the subject of hard drugs, the less it makes sense that pot is illegal. Why spend billions annually and endless manpower to put nonviolent marijuana users in jail, when we could be better putting those resources to use fighting the hard-drug problem within our own borders? We can't fix the rest of the world's problems if we're still contributing...

:)
pnw
 
Originally posted by Sun Baked

Legalize marijuana, crack, heroin, oxycontin, etc and you'll have more DUIs driving around than you do now.

It'll get very dangerous to walk or drive around, watch COPS and how many idiots do you see with drugs in the car now. Now imagine if drugs were legal.
Click to expand...

Illegal drugs are much more potent and more abused *because* they're criminalized. Teenage binge drinking has gone up dramatically since they upped the drinking age to 21 *because* it's illegal.

I mean, look, alcohol is an extremely potent and poisonous drug, and having it be legal hasn't led to the downfall of society. Why? Various reasons. But the most important one is this: most people only drink in moderation. Ultimately drugs are just a form of escapism, and anyone who wants to find some form of escapism, chemical or otherwise, is going to find it no matter what the government does. If someone has positive things going on in their life: career, family, friends - they're not going to want to fritter away precious life getting high all the time.

So legalizing drugs will NOT lead to the downfall of society - the U.S. is a workaholic, high achieving culture in general. Instead, much more damage is being done by criminalizing drugs, thus glamorizing them and supporting violent crime syndicates.

The U.S. will never, never, never, never stop the flow of drugs or get people to stop using them. Haven't we tried that already? How much is enough? If the U.S. really want's drugs to stop funding terrorism it should decriminalize them. Is money from your local liquor store going to terrorists? No, because it's a legal enterprise.


P.S. any MR members from the Netherlands care to chime in on this issue? I saw a report on Dateline NBC that called the decriminalization of marijuana and "tolerance" of heroin use an unqualified success and questioned the effectiveness of the U.S. drug war. But I'd like to hear an insider's perspective...
 
I think the Travel Channel has done a tour of the drug ravaged countries that supply hard drugs.

Now those shows would be a eye opening basis for a good series of commercials.

But like the series of Red Asphalt movies for driver education, people would probably just shrug it off.
 
Originally posted by paulwhannel
like solvs said, no one here wants heroin or any of the hard drugs legalized, least of all me. Arguing that these drugs do socio-economic damage is redundant; we already know this, it's not being debated. What IS being debated is whether marijuana contributes to these problems. Marijuana import from these unstable regions of the world would not be cost-effective, it's all done locally, most of it within the US. A small amount continues to be imported from mexico and canada. It *could* be argued that marijuana does social damage to Mexico, but even if the trickle of pot that comes into the US stopped, it would hardly hurt their pot production.

Actually, the more we hear on the subject of hard drugs, the less it makes sense that pot is illegal. Why spend billions annually and endless manpower to put nonviolent marijuana users in jail, when we could be better putting those resources to use fighting the hard-drug problem within our own borders? We can't fix the rest of the world's problems if we're still contributing...

:)
pnw
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Hey man, don't speak for me :)

I'm all for decriminalizing ALL drugs: heroin, crack, crystal meth, you name it. Keep in mind that if drugs were legal they would also become less potent. Why don't more people drink Everclear or 152-proof rum? Hey, more potent, right? More bang for the buck, let's go get TOTALLY hammered! Yeah! Why don't people in general do this? Because alcohol is legal and people are used to taking it in moderate doses. Creating a criminal element to these drugs gets people to try them, and in high doses, *because* it carries an element of danger.

I would predict that the total amount of drug use would go DOWN if all drugs were legalized, and the average potency of drugs would go waaaaaaay down. Look, in the Netherlands you can go to a cafe and legally smoke a fat joint (for probably less cash than a freakin' overpriced Starbucks frappuccino!), and yet the rate of marijuana use by Dutch teens is FAR lower than in the U.S. Why don't Dutch kids spend all their time and money toking up in these cafes? Because, in the words of one Dutch official "we've succeeded in making pot boring". Think about that one for a minute.

Would more people experiment with drugs if they were all legal? Maybe - but keep in mind that since it was legal their first try would be with a small, safe dose (since drugs and their content would be regulated like alcoholic beverages are now). And I still maintain that the number of "hard" drug users and drug addicts would go down. Yes, down. And the amount of societal damage that could be reduced, when you take into account the criminal element, is mind-boggling. I'm telling you, if we lived in a rational society at all, drugs would be decriminalized immediately.
 
Also bear in mind that if the hard drugs weren't illegal, maybe the huge profits would not be available from their distribution to destabilise and corrupt the producing countries.
 
paul- i like your style, you seem to be quite the cool guy-- you are right, in most cases selling pot isnt that profitable, average i make about 20 dollars a sale, and i dont actualy make money for buying other things, i just buy more drugs with the surplus for myself...

that one guy who compared drugs to nukes sounds like he must do alot of hunting and heavy church atending

nipsy- 40 DOLLARS FOR A FEW GRAMS OF POT? HUHBUH?
hydro for 40 an 8th
kind for 20 an 8th
swagg for 10 an 8th
 
Originally posted by lmalave
Why don't Dutch kids spend all their time and money toking up in these cafes? Because, in the words of one Dutch official "we've succeeded in making pot boring". Think about that one for a minute.
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That's really the perfect quote. If you want to reduce drug use as much as possible, this is the route you have to take. You can't go half way and say "We'll legalize some drugs but make them more expensive" or "We'll legalize the gateway drugs but not the harder ones." You really do have to go all the way. Imagine the glamour of coke if it were sold alongside flour and baking powder for $.99 a hit at the supermarket.

Legalization makes less sense if it's accompanied by a price increase. If a drug costs $20 a hit illegally, but you want to make it cost $30 legally, that's not smart because what we're trying to do is pull the rug out from underneath the cartels and existing illegal distribution networks. The best way to do that, and the only way to do that, is with a fierce price war.
 
WHAT?!

nipsy- 40 DOLLARS FOR A FEW GRAMS OF POT? HUHBUH?
hydro for 40 an 8th
kind for 20 an 8th
swagg for 10 an 8th
-------------


What?

20 for an 8th of Kind bud? r u serious? it's 20 a gram around here. 50 an eighth. 65 for an eighth of hydro. dammit. Maybe it's cuz the demand around here is so high that prices stay high. But 20 an 1/8 for KB? jesus.
 
around here, schwag goes for $40/quarter and kind can easily go for $40-50 per 8th... if you can find it... which is quite rare...

there's only a handful of suppliers in iowa, and they keep prices right around that, no matter what.

Which is why people take so many roadtrips to colorado...

you know, they've made an anti-paraphenelia law here in iowa, so you can't even buy things for tobacco use. and thanks to that law, they could charge you for posession of paraphenelia for owning a salad collandar, a garden hoe, or a roll of tin-foil if the cops felt so inclined.

:rolleyes:

satanicpopart, i should look you up if i'm ever down that way :) you sound like my kind of guy...

pnw
 
nice

I live outside of Boston. the mother of all college towns. So I dunno if that's it. But that's still strange. I guess it's prolly just cuz of demand around here. Wakefield, Massachusetts (the town I live in) is far beyond the other suburbs around here in drug use. Back in 1968, Life Magazine did a story on it cuz it had the highest percentage of drug users in the nation. #1 beating out Oakland for #2. That's prolly just cuz there are only around 20,000 people here so for the percentage to go up a much smaller amount of people have to start using than in Oakland.
 
many of the posts concerning legalizing hard drugs (crack/cocaine, heroin, etc) should consider this...
when i say decriminalize, i'm referring to a reduciton/elimination of judicial standard punnishment for drug users. I have one friend who suffered for years with drug addiction. It's not a pretty sight. He did three stints in jail for either selling marijuana or using cocaine. Jail time did nothing to disuade his use of cocaine. It was readlily available inside prison, and he was able to maintain his habit, which sent him back into the business upon his release.
We should treat drug addiction much the same way we treat alcoholism. They are the same disease, and should have the same treatment standards.

The "legalization" of hrad drugs is a strange issue. These are drugs that can kill a curious user, but that may only be due to the conditions the drugs are packaged in. If we had sterille labs and FDA scrutiny (i guess it would be ATF, actually), perhaps heroin wouldn't kill so many people. Remember, people overdose on alcohol all the time.
 
THE PLOT THICKENS!!!!

today, the major morning news outlets (today, good morning america, etc) showed a public service announcement that runs thirty seconds and indicates that suv's and oil support terror!
the commercial follows the same format as the drug money-terror ads do, only this ad indicates oil executives, saudi arabia and iraq, and Joe Q SUV Owner in the terrorism funding ultranet.
Here is the rub:
television stations are refusing to run the ads because they are "too controversial"....

hmmmmm. anyone else smell something?
 
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