America's War on Drugs

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
I just finished watching the first installment of "America's War on Drugs" on the History Channel. Wow! If this show is anywhere near accurate, our own CIA did more than anything to cause this epidemic to occur. This show details the events in the 1960's and 1970's that began this curse the nation finds itself in. The 2nd segment is due to air tomorrow night at 8PM CDT, and you can be sure that I will be watching. It looks like there will be several airings of this show at various times throughout the next few days, so there will be ample opportunities to see the entire series.,,,if anyone is interested. Finally, something worth watching on TV....IMO.
 

I haven't seen it because I don't have cable. But I am a firm believer in decriminalization of all drugs. Portugal did this in 2001 and it has been a huge success.

Making drugs illegal does not stop people from using them. We should probably do away with our minimum drinking age too. That would probably cut teen aged drinking in half if we did.
 

I did watch and intend to watch the remainder of the series. I find the drug situation frightening but I don't think the selling of it is as large a problem as the using of it. As with any product, sales dry up when there are no buyers. I accept that addiction is an issue but it is also a personal decision to actually buy and use.
 
Does it go into the supposed evidence that the coke and crack issues were started by the CIA? Wish all that would be either proven or disproven. If true, the guilty need to be revealed.
 
Does it go into the supposed evidence that the coke and crack issues were started by the CIA? Wish all that would be either proven or disproven. If true, the guilty need to be revealed.

This series makes the claim that LSD was developed by the CIA, in an attempt to find a compound that could be used to control people's minds...and it worked. Hitler developed Meth, and fed large amounts of it to his military, so as to enhance their battlefield stamina, The CIA used its Air America airplanes to ferry weapons to the Laos during the Vietnam fiasco, and was paid off in large amounts of heroin and cocaine...some of which found its way to our own military troops in Vietnam. If just half of what this series is saying is true, our government has been instrumental in building the base for our current drug addiction problems. There is so much information being presented in this series that it is hard to assimilate it all in just one viewing....I may just have to tape it, and watch it several times to fully understand all that is being said here. I just hope a lot of people take the time to watch...and learn.
 
Thanks for the info! Heard a theory that addresses the high suicide rate in todays military. Since they are fighting mostly in "dry" countries and chemical/alcholic party recreationals are not allowed and difficult to find, there is no way to ease the stress of killing or the fear of dying. Vietnam had a large availability of party substances and it seems they were easily forgiven by leadership. Seems the end results are always the same, we are not built to accept our part in any killing, especially if the reasons we are there are uncertain.
 
Thanks for the info! Heard a theory that addresses the high suicide rate in todays military. Since they are fighting mostly in "dry" countries and chemical/alcholic party recreationals are not allowed and difficult to find, there is no way to ease the stress of killing or the fear of dying. Vietnam had a large availability of party substances and it seems they were easily forgiven by leadership. Seems the end results are always the same, we are not built to accept our part in any killing, especially if the reasons we are there are uncertain.

I spent 1967 in Thailand, and the base was pretty much like doing stateside duty...keep the planes fixed, and hang out in the barracks or airmen's club at night, and go play tourist in Bangkok, etc., on days off. I don't recall ever seeing any evidence of drugs there. However, I did pull a 2 week TDY at Da Nang, and that was quite different. Those poor guys, even the USAF, were wound up tight as a spring, and very "testy". I saw several wandering around that acted like they were Stoned...and there really wasn't any safe place for them to go, off base.

So far, what I am seeing in this History Channel series makes a very good case for our own government being guilty of setting the groundwork for this epidemic of illicit drugs that are destroying so many young lives.
 
I also have been watching the series. I knew some of the "folklore" being presented,but to see it all pulled together is quite the eye opener. It is presented as unintended consequences by an agency that has a laser focus on the mission at hand,Damn the collateral damage!
 
I also have been watching the series. I knew some of the "folklore" being presented,but to see it all pulled together is quite the eye opener. It is presented as unintended consequences by an agency that has a laser focus on the mission at hand,Damn the collateral damage!
From Jackson Brownes "Lives in the balance" pretty much says it all:

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interests run
On the radio talk shows and TV
You hear one thing again and again
How the USA stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own
Or the people who finally can't take anymore
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can't be counted on to tell us
Who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

 
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_epidemic


Dark Alliance series
San Jose Mercury News journalist Gary Webb sparked national controversy with his 1996 Dark Alliance series which alleged that the influx of Nicaraguan cocaine started and significantly fueled the 1980s crack epidemic.[4] Investigating the lives and connections of Los Angeles crack dealers Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandón, and Norwin Meneses, Webb alleged that profits from these crack sales were funneled to the CIA-supported Contras.[4] Although Webb never claimed that the CIA directly aided drug dealers, it echoed the Kerry Committee conclusion that the CIA was aware of large shipments of cocaine into the U.S. by Contra personnel.[4] Further, Webb alleges the government offered political asylum to known Nicaraguan drug traffickers, like Blandon, which marked a major break of State Department Policy.[5]

Years ago, when I first heard the story that the CIA started the crack trade in South-Central L.A., I thought that it was fashioned to feed black distrust and fuel rage.
If there is any truth at all to the story, then such distrust and rage should rightfully be felt by everyone.
 
I watched the last part of the series last night, and I am a bit disgusted with the way the CIA has been involved in these "drug wars" for so many years. Our government has fueled this issue, and now we are paying the price. This "war" has cost the nation hundreds of billions...perhaps trillions...and all it has done is create an environment where illegal drugs are more prolific. Our prisons are filled with drug offenders, and are becoming headquarters for the drug kingpins, and costing us 10's of billions per year to warehouse these people. The street and drug gangs rule major sections of our cities, and our hospital emergency rooms are bombarded with those who overdose. The drug companies and doctors have become part of the problem with their manufacturing and overprescribing of various forms of "Oxy" pills, and the overdose deaths are climbing.

This "war" has been a total failure, IMO, and is substantially responsible for the soaring social and criminal problems that currently exist.

BTW, a person can watch re-runs of this series on the History Channel web site, by signing in with your TV provider.
 
IMO, the FDA and the DEA have made Big Pharma & co. very rich, while delivering inconsistent protection to the American public.
 


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