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The Daily Dose/June 4, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
DULY NOTED: A group called The Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report this week. Not too surprisingly, the report is on the drug policy, specifically, the criminalization of narcotics.
Brass Tacks: Basically, the report says that drug criminalization does not work and that this planet would do well to consider the legalization of drugs.
The report, which, as a service to you, we read in its entirety, is thoughtful and cogent, deserving of consideration by any thinking human. Needless to say, it was dismissed by almost everybody, including the Obama Administration.
Get Your Official Writer's Shack Policy Right Here: The time has come to legalize whatever human beings want to introduce into their bodies.
Stop Us If You've Heard This Before: What people do in the privacy of their own home is their business. Morality laws do not work. They never have and there is no reasonable expectation to think they ever will. We went through this in the 1920's with Prohibition, which didn't stop people from drinking, it merely created another class of criminal and it is continuing with a drug war that does not produce winners, only losers.
Oh Yeah: We've said this before, in a variety of contexts: just because something is legal, doesn't make it mandatory. If you don't want to smoke weed, don't worry about, you wouldn't be obliged to.
Leading Off: The report gets right to the point, too. This is from the very first paragraph:
The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.
Preaching To The Choir: Since this is our theory, too, we were inclined to skip the rest of the report, but our dedication to you, our reader(s) is such that we read the whole thing.
The report makes some points that are plain to any thinking citizen: that drug laws do not prevent people from using drugs, it merely creates another class of criminal, not to mention making drug cartels rich. Not only that, as we are seeing in Mexico, the corruption and violence is causing more harm than the actual harm caused by the drugs themselves.
Ladies And Gentlemen Of The Jury: Does anybody really think that the drug violance engulfing Mexico right now would be going on if drugs were legal? Come on. That is almost beyond comprehension.
Aichiwawa: The reported also cited Portugal's 2001 legalization of drugs, noting that country has not gone completely to hell during this time, and, while drug use has increased somewhat, the figures are well in line with the increase in drug use in countries where such use remains illegal.
Yeah, This Will Happen: This is good, too. It's from page 12, the same page the Portugal information is on:
Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won.
Since the trait of "courage" is cited, you can forget that ever happening in the United States. We've noted before, this country hasn't been led since Kennedy, we've been managed, pandered to and told what we want to hear, as opposed to what this nation needs to hear.
Yeah, Well, You Know: Since we appear to be content with that, we only need to look in the mirror to find someone to blame.
Don't Take Our Word For It Though: Read the report for yourself and draw your own conclusion. No matter your position, if you read the report your conclusion is, by definiation, informed, so what the hell, pay yourself the compliment of a considered, informative opinion. It won't hurt.
The report can be found by clicking here.
YE OLDE RECORD BOOK: What was then the longest game in major league history is played on this date in 1880, as the Chicago White Stockings and the Providence Grays play to a 16-inning, 1-1 tie. The game was called because of darkness. The record would last until 1882, when Providence beat Detroit 1-0 in 18 innings.
FunFact: Providence pitcher Monte Ward went the distance for the Grays in both of these games. A couple of weeks later in 1880, Ward also pitched the second perfect game in major league history.
Great, They'll Just Vote However Their Husbands Tell Them To: The United States Senate approves the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on this date in 1919. It had previously been approved by the House of Representatives and was then sent to the several states for ratification.
The Senate had rejected similar proposals in 1887 and 1914. The House did their part, too, rejecting the measure in 1915. In 1918 the House passed it, but the Senate rejected it, and the Senate had also rejected it earlier in 1919.
Dry, Technical Matter: Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan would all ratify the amendment on June 10th, and the 19th Amendment became law in August, 1920 when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.
Great Moments In Repression: The Chinese Army forcibly removes protestors from Tiananmen Square on this date in 1989. The exact number of civilian deaths still isn't known with any certainty. The protests had begun on April 15, the day before the funeral of a former Communist Party general secretary who had been purged for favoring political liberalization in China and been purged from the Communist Party.
Oh Yeah: One of mankind's most iconic events, that of the lone Chinese protestor blocking the way of army tanks in Tiananmen Square, wouldn't happen until the following day.
Thought For The Day: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. - Henry David Thoreau
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The National League record for most home runs in a career by a designated hitter is 10, done by both Mike Piazza and Barry Bonds.
Today's Stumper: Who is the only person in major league history to collect both 100 wins as a pitcher and 2,000 hits as a batter? Answer next time!
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
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