Recently while doing a bit of reading and research about alcohol treatment and rehabilitation, I stumbled upon a few very interesting articles and then I followed the threads from there, and into what seems to me a fantasy world of delusion and denial. From there it went into one of perverse irony and implausible denial.
Let […]
Hey everybody, I know it’s been quite a while but unfortunately things like the time to write here are a luxury. Such is life.
Since I last wrote here I’ve stumbled upon a few interesting web sites that folks who stop here and read might enjoy visiting once in a while or even more regularly than that.
The first site wants you to vote, and to vote your conscious at that. Now while most voting has mostly some form of political agenda in mind this site promotes a sensible and logical idea, one that contains more than just a modicum of common sense Vote hemp.
Over the past 18 months there has been a murmuring of the press that the war in Afghanistan is not going well and Iraq is taking the focus off Afghanistan. If the rapidly increasing exported poppy crop is anything to go by, then the drug war in Afghanistan is certainly on the back foot.
Unfortunately that side of the coin doesn’t really get a lot of main stream press when there are more newsworthy items about terrorism to be told of.
The inherent link between drugs and terrorism is mentioned only in passing most often.
Well it’s been a fairly wild ride since we started this site and to be honest, the response to it has been fantastic.
We’ve seen some great posts from new bloggers and started more than our fair share of debates, arguments and rants. The traffic has grown steadily and the site seems to be on the radar of a few prominent people in the debate.
But to be honest, Luke and I burnt ourselves out with our hectic schedule of writing in the first few months of the site. So much so that for the last month or two we have selfishly relied on Steve Strommer to update a lot of the content (for which we are eternally grateful).
That’s just the way it goes. Life isn’t fair, so suck it up and admit it. It isn’t anyone else’s fault that you drink or dope too much, and the holidays are the time of year when everyone else does too. They (or at least they think they can) handle it and you couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t want to and now here the holidays are again, for another year, just like the next, and the year after that about to foist all your social weaknesses, foibles and shortcomings out there for all to see, or ignore or to talk about behind your back, or whatever the case may be.
The bottom line is this, whatever the substance of choice is for anyone with an addiction, whether sober or still waist deep in the pudding, the holiday season can present a nightmarish dilemma for many. Temptations abound, rationalizing can be manifest and old habits can die hard. For some it can be a time of happiness and joy. For others it can be a downward spiral of despair, and for others it can be an orgy of unbridled indulgence, usually followed by some magnitude of regret.
With the date swiftly approaching for the late October release of “Cocaine Cowboys”, the documentary about the impact the cocaine trade had on Miami in the ’80s and beyond, more and more promotional and background material is becoming available on the internet.
At the website of Rakontur, the production company of director/producer Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman, is archived a bunch of reviews, news articles and features on the acclaimed film, as well as links to several relevant blogs. (You can also find out about their first film, the controversial “Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent”, about an alleged rape at a University of Miami fraternity party captured on videotape, which is due to be released on DVD in October.)
The indefatigable Pete Guither of DrugWarRant.com isn’t happy with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) exhibition that just opened this Friday at Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry and will run until the third of December. And, in conjunction with Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, he has set up a website and will hand out flyers this weekend at the museum to counter what he sees as self-serving DEA propaganda.
“Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause” was created a few years ago by the DEA Museum and Visitors Centre as a travelling exhibit. After an initial showing in Arlington, Virginia, it has been open to the public in cities like Dallas, New York City and Detroit.
It was only a matter of time before someone finally got the right idea when it came to educating kids about drugs at an early age. Even the standard “Talk to your kids about drugs” and it’s wisdom is starting to be questioned by some researchers, some saying it might even plant the seed into action for some who are not doing drugs. And this from people studying advertising and it’s power of suggestion. But that’s for another time.
Ricardo Cortes is the author of what is turning out to be a pretty controversial read, not because it’s about marijuana, but that’s it’s a children’s book about marijuana! This has garnered everything from severe consternation from American legislators and pundits to open applause and kudos from more sensible and reasonable minds.
I always got a chuckle sitting at the bar when some old rummy would take a sip of his drink and say with incredible satisfaction “Ahhhhh mothers milk!” I also remember hearing from my mother (Of seven) that her O.B. doc back in the day used to tell her, and I’m sure other mothers that it was a good idea to have a beer or two if you were nursing your baby. Back then it was about ingesting enough fluid and to also help calm a cranky or colicky infant.
Now it sure seems as if the medical establishment is reneging on that advice and coming around full circle. This isn’t actually anything super new in concept but the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on drugs has in the last few years issued a policy statement with regards to breast feeding and transmission of drugs and other chemicals into human milk.
The Drug Czar (or the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy), currently John P. Walters, had a blog launched in December 2004 called “Pushing Back”.
According to its blurb, it “provides up to the minute news on the Drug Czar, his staff, and other national efforts that “push back” against the drug problem in America.” Once, sometimes twice, a day. Dry stuff, naturally. All, as you would expect, from the viewpoint that the official