News – The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.
Interesting dynamic. Legalize it all. Remove the power of the black market, but then of course we'd be killing a tens of billion $ industry. No more black funds to fund black ops, less $ spent on prisons, less $ spent on DOD, less $ spent on law enforcement.
Ironically, this is the true conservative approach to the problem. The current approach has been attempted for almost 90 years with little or no return for the effort.
Let's see, what business would pursue such a program for 90 years with no return on investment or progress in solving the problem? Is our current approach part of the problem?
There's been lots of returns to the: big daddy government, prison industry, the cops, the judges, those that make stuff to spy on us, the lawyers, the CIA and so on.
I'm more conservative than most Republican poseurs on this website.
That's nothing to be proud of.
The returns or the conservative part?
the netscape part
I'm the last true conservative. I never could understand how someone could be in favor of some freedoms and not others.
walden3
That is so much b.s. that I won't even neg that remark. lol
What that I'm the last true conservative or that I can't understand how someone could be in favor of some freedoms, but not others?
Be clear man.
Walden: Regarding your comments on this issue, I strongly agree with you on all points.
I personally, however, prefer the word "decriminalize" as opposed to "legalize" even though the intent may be the same. We don't have to legalize something to simply not waste billions trying to enforce the unenforceable.
What's in a word? Sometimes a lot.
Oh no, I'm into legalizing many, many substances that are now illegal - control it and tax it. Decriminalization doesn't do much to eliminate the black market.
I'd like to see what your definition of conservative really is.
It's too hard to put in one sentence. As for me I'm pro-freedom, pro death penalty, pro nuclear power, pro choice, anti-interventionist, small military, fiscally conservative, no longer police force of the world, anti imperial, pro government spending on new technologies and start up businesses, definitely pro business, pro second amendment, pro gay marriage, anything between consenting adults is fine by me, pro legalizing prostitution, I believe in the power of government, I love the flag, America and apple pie.
Forgot to mentions pro civil liberties and pro privacy against government intrusion into our private lives.
That's my idea of conservative.
Sounds good to me. Too bad our government is structured in a way that neither party seems to want to embrace that direction.
Add to that the simplification of government, especially taxation.
Doesn't look a whole lot like today's Republicans aye? The willing to turn anything over to the government. Strange for people who allegedly think that government is the problem.
Those in power want to stay in power. My rep, Steve Latourette, was elected to the House in '94 with the class of Contract for America republicans. He supported term limits and pledged to not seek re-election in 2004. Needless to say, a broken promise. He has had his own Bill Clinton moment and he's still our rep. In many respects, the possibilities and potential that the '94 congress had have been gobbled up by governmental greed. It isn't an exclusive one party or another problem. It is a problem of the government. Governmental growth empowers the members of the government. Smaller government is not in their best interest in their desire for maintaining or growing power.
There is nothing conservative about the majority of today's republicans. I was excited about McCain in the late 90's. Today, I am appalled by what he has become.
I agree totally with gradual legalization of all sorts of drugs.however this should be accompanied by public education about narcotics, beginning , say 5th grades and higher. I have never used any drug in my life, totally drug-virgin, but I know MORE than enough about the drug culture, subculture, their operation, spread of the addiction and the whole nine yards to come to conclusion that as long as drugs are not being legalized don't expect much better. A case in point is Iran. In the past thirty years Iran has lost 3000 troops to the drug war and yet it has a HUGE drug problem now. They are beginning to register addicts and give them legal doses of home grown pseudo-opium. But they need to let it all be legal. I dont expect this to happen anytime soon but the sooner the better.
If you have eaten chocolate,you have ingested an addictive and lethal drug.
I do eat chocolate too but very rarely..I bought a half gallon of ice cream more than a year ago..lil bit still is left in the freezer...(maybe bad by now) ...i eat lot of fruits and vegies but when I eat chocolate for a while I don't feel like going near fruits and vegies...
But I am still drug-virgin..ok I take it back...I just remembered they did shoot me some ( a lot of ) morphine when I thought I was going to die from pain...I was pretty happy afterwards, i was saying hi to everybody in the elevator while they were wheel chairing me to a hospital room...but never used for fun.... But I am VERY familiar with the dimes and nickels of the business and all the u turns and stop signs. Drug never had any appeal to me for what ever reason.
I was just pointing out that many people think they are drug free and still try to support jailing people for such ridiculous things as marijuana when common substances like chocolate are much more dangerous.
And MilesAway...if you don't believe it then maybe you should do a little research of the FACTS...try starting here...
The idea hs been floated in the UN to buy all the opium produced in Afghanistan for the purpose of stocking it in the supply of opiate based drugs for the World Health Organization...but the drug warriors in DC are against that idea...they would rather continue the failed fight to stop production by eradication methods that have been proven not to be working.
Yes, legalize all drugs ... maybe with the possible exception of meth, because that stuff is so insidious and a much quicker path to death.
It is utterly insane for our OWN government to wage a war on drugs here and at the same time let Afghanistan freely produce opium.
But, I have a very cynical view of our "war on drugs". Politicians keep it going, via their self-righteous 'stand' of how evil these drugs are, when at the same time they get significant campaign contributions of laundered money from drug cartels.
Those cartels make billions and its all TAX FREE.
This situation with Afghanistan has to be on of the most blatant displays of hypocrisy by the self-serving Bush administration.
If this doesn't convince people how incompetent and crooked the Bush administration is, then I guess nothing will.
You cant bash Bush for this! Any president should have made the choice not to destroy the fields. Were trying to "win the hearts and minds", not make more enemy's at this time. Lets beat the Taliban here first, then maybe show the farmers a better more profitable way to farm their land. I do like the idea of buying all the opium for legal medicinal use before it hits the black market. That would put a little extra money into the hands of the farmers and maybe help swing their alliance to us. Which would in turn help drive the terrorist away. So go bash Bush somewhere else. That should be an easy find.
"Any" president didn't send troops to Afghanistan to 'defeat' terrorism.
We cannot have it both ways. We 'support' the growing of poppies to be sold as opium, which is illegal in our country, and by the way does fund al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The Afghan farmers can be taught / educated / helped to grow DIFFERENT crops. Poppies are not the ONLY thing they can grow.
I will bash Bush...so you want to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan?...well what about right here at home?Bush doesn't seem to care about winning hearts and minds of Americans when he is going full steam ahead with arresting legal medical marijuana suppliers and terminally ill patients.And try growing a field of harmless hemp to use for biofuels...you'll see an army charging at you with no hesitation.Maybe he could save the taxpayers a little cash and use it to pay more soldiers to go after the real enemy.
If I wanted to win the hearts and minds of a nation I think I would send armed men there to shoot up the place, disrupt its society and economy, and do a little random killing. That should work. Then I would try to set up a powerful central government in a place where tribal loyalties are the only important ones. Yep, got that one all worked out.
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We're off to see the Wizard , the wonderful Wizard of , of , of , ID .
Opium is used in a wide variety of perfectly legal (so long as it is prescribed by a doc) pain medication, such as Morphine and codeine.
Somehow, I suspect that even if pharmaceutical companies were to purchase the entire Afghanistan poppy crop, the crop next year would mysteriously increase to support demand of other uses.
lol...you can't be serious. We both know that most 'opiates' are sythethic now and that most of the opium produced in Afghanistan turns into illegal heroin...lol. ur funny...lmao.
"libsRfunny" wrote: "Opium is used in a wide variety of perfectly legal (so long as it is prescribed by a doc) pain medication, such as Morphine and codeine".
HELLO!!! Afghans' opium is more expensive as illegal heroin and is sold on illegal market... maybe you get your 'painkiller' there when you make so 'dull' post. Try to change to synthetic and LEGAL, instead.
There was NO drug problem UNTIL prohibition.
http://www.drugs-forum.co.uk/opiates.html
"So Natural Opiates are Morphine, Codiene and Thebaine.
"Semi-synthetic opiates (or semi-synthetic opioids) are Heroin (diamorphine), Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Dihydrocodiene, Hydromorphone, Oxymorphone, Buprenorphine, Etorphine, Naloxone and Nicomorphine."
Yep, keep up the BS, goof balls LOL
Interesting that you would pull up a UK site...
The UK produces ALL of their own opium poppies in fields inside the UK. I guess they wouldn't be buying any from the afghans... or is it Cheney/BushCo Pharmaceuticals?
libs
Hydrocodone is synthetic codiene,but you are correct that opium is the natural base for opiate drugs like codiene and heroin...BTW-Heroin is a legally prescribed pain killer in many countries including England.