Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Letter to the Birmingham News

Dear Editor,

In response to 'Addiction experts say' (12/30/2007)I submit the following.

The article mentions an increase in young people abusing prescription drugs. Is anyone surprised by that? Hey, at least they aren't smoking evil pot right? Great job government! Demonize the one natural plant that can't possibly kill our kids or anyone else and constantly advertise to kids the nifty little pharmaceutical drugs that will kill them. They're ok right? They came from a government licensed pharmacy after all.

Speaking of pot, Beth Gregory drags out the tired old argument that "This is not your father's marijuana",stating that it's more potent and can be laced with other illicit drugs. What she and others fail to see is that increased strength and adulterated product are both a direct result of the prohibitionist laws they support.

Back during alcohol prohibition people went from drinking beer and wine to drinking whiskey. Why? Because whiskey was more concentrated, stronger and easier to smuggle and hide from the revenuers. It's no different with illicit drugs. We also had bathtub gin and rot-gut whiskey that would kill people or make them go blind during alcohol prohibition. Adulterated marijuana is a direct result of prohibition. With no market or safety regulations in place you never know what you'll get. Whenever something is driven underground this is what happens.

If you are a supporter of drug prohibition then you are getting exactly what you asked for.

Respectfully Submitted for publication,
Loretta Nall









6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so right on the effects on Prohibition. The economics of smuggling ensured that liquor grew in popularity.

Also partially because of Prohibition, American beer went from being a diverse industry with hundred of microbreweries to a mass-produced, mass-advertised industry dominated by 2 or 3 companies that sells cheap, tasteless swill. Instead of a delicious beverage, most beer in the US today is designed to be as "smooth and light" as possible to facilitate those who want to slam down 6-12 servings and get drunk.

Thanks, Prohibition.

Loretta Nall said...

When I lived in Germany each small town had its own micro-brewery. The beer was absolutely delicious. It was like food. Rich and tasty. Generaly one only needed to drink one or two for the relaxing effect. Even the beer dispensed in paper cups at McDonald's was good. My personal favorite was and still is Parkbrau. Mmmmmmmmmmm........mmmmmmmmmmm. Can't get it in the states though.

Don said...

Yeah, that German beer was great stuff even in the tiny villages. When I was there around 52-53 they kept beer in kegs in the cellar until they needed to tap another keg, and in wintertime it was really cold when they brought it upstairs. The locals would heat little metal rods in a teapot of water on top of a wood stove and then stick a rod in their stein before they drank it to warm it up. We liked it cold, but the owner of one place insisted we chase the beer with schnapps so we wouldn’t get sick……and provided the schnapps free. Whoopee!

Loretta Nall said...

When I was in Germany we had a beer man. No, really, we did. He would come to our apartment building once a week and offer for sale cases of beer, bottled water, sodas and boxed milk. He'd let military run a tab by the month and would collect when he knew paychecks had been distributed. Hell, if he had sold munchie action we might never have had a reason to leave the house.

Don said...

I was stationed at Panzer Kaserne near the village of Boeblingen a few miles out of Stuttgart, but we traveled all over on maneuvers.

Anonymous said...

At least they aren't smoking that evil reefer . . .
--- As student drug-testing becomes more common, those who are trying to avoid showing up "positive", (due to the long detection "half-life" of INACTIVE marijuana metabolites), WILL tend to gravitate towards other, MORE DANGEROUS / DAMAGING, yet LESS DETECTABLE SUBSTITUES, such as prescription sedatives / tranquilizers / pain-relievers / etc, "over-the-counter" medications, alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and solvents / inhalents; All which clear from one's system much faster than the INACTIVE "detectable" METABOLITES of MJ do, (usually 48 hrs or less).
---