8 replies to this topic

[Guthlac]

http://hitchensblog....nabis-cult.html

The tempest of raving, enraged and (in most cases) logic-free and fact-free comments on my criticisms of ‘Sir’ Richard Branson are most interesting to the intelligent and informed mind.

First of all, what is their purpose? It is plain that most of these people have been guided to this site by other sites, and urged to post abusive messages. They probably haven’t read what I actually wrote. Nor have they read anything written here before. As I write, the first of many dim and boring  'Wot abaht alcohol, then, eh? eh? ' comments has appeared, and its author is hugging himself in the belief that he has said something pithy and original. Oh dear. The index, the index, the index. It's all there.

Why do they respond like this? The pro-drugs movement has won almost every propaganda battle of the last 50 years and is accustomed to the faint-heartedness and cowardice of old-fashioned Toryism, and presumably hopes that it can browbeat or insult me into being quiet as well. And one contributor, in a very important unintended giveaway – actually calls for opinions such as mine to be banned by law.

I have no doubt that something of the kind will eventually happen. The only question is when it will come.  I regard my life as a race between the grim reaper and the forces of political correctness – will I die before they can find an excuse to put me in prison?  I am by no means sure which will win.

But this raises the fascinating question of why drug-abuse is not just a disgusting and rather shameful private vice, but instead is a political and social movement.

I first realised that this was a problem when people write to me saying they couldn’t understand how I could be in favour of liberty of thought and speech, and against identity cards, and simultaneously in favour of criminal punishments for drug users.

I grasped at that moment that drug abusers actually see the taking of drugs – especially cannabis – as an exercise of civil liberty.

This is plainly ludicrous. Drug-taking makes its victims passive, fuddles their ability to think and makes their speech incoherent. It is , in those ways at the very least, the ally of authority and the enemy of thought and speech.

I then found that Aldous Huxley had understood this many years before.

His fictional drug ‘Soma’ is actually a means of social control in ‘Brave New World’, Huxley’s extraordinarily accurate prophecy of the death of civilisation.

At one stage a riot is quelled when police spray vaporised Soma into the air and the rioters instantly become happy and begin weeping and embracing each other. In later works and lectures (as readers have told me) Huxley became convinced that rulers would use drugs and unrestricted sterile sex to persuade people to love their own subjugation, and this isn’t a bad picture of modern Western societies, where we all do as we’re told and think as we’re told, amid the ruins of free countries – Parliaments that don’t debate or decide, media that parrot the ruling party’s line, parties that represent the state to the people rather than the other way round. Meanwhile the principal occupations and diversions of the masses are internet pornography, banal social networks which incidentally provide the state with a window into our lives and souls,   and various forms of bread-and-circuses drivel on the TV, not to mention the bizarre new paganisms of football worship and brand worship, with Las Vegas as a sort of Plastic Parthenon of this ghastly cult.

Well, if people love their servitude, and they do (for true liberty of action guided by morality and conscience is quite hard work, and  often rather frightening) , what are they going to do to those who point out to them that they are serfs?

Lock them up, when they can. In the meantime, they’ll infest this weblog with insulting, brainless comments. Far from putting me off, it encourages me. I have recently restarted work, after a long interruption, on my book ‘The War We Never Fought’, about the ludicrous lie that our society is conducting a war on drugs, when in fact they are half an inch from being formally legal, and Britain probably has the most relaxed actual drugs regime (especially for cannabis) on the European continent.  

I don’t suppose anyone will pay much attention, as both the new establishment and the masses have an interest in having as many people happily stupefied and passive as possible. But real freedom shouldn’t just go down without a fight, if it is ever to be revived in the future. Civilisations which go gently and willingly into extinction, as Winston Churchill once rightly pointed out, disappear forever. Those that go down fighting have some hope of rebirth.

[Aelfcynn]

I agree. I had this discussion with a friend today - by email (i.e. after 2 replies from me he changed the subject) - who comes out with some fucking rubbish at times. I mean, I've known him a long time but really...! Anyway, his argument was that if drugs were legalised, they could be taxed. Yep - that was his only argument!

This isn't about money. Even if the revenue generated were a substantial one, then what would it likely be spent on? Government campaigns AGAINST drug use? The NHS, to sort out the health fuck-ups? Victim's shelters to help broken families? The minute you legalise a vice, you create an aura of moral acceptability about it, regardless of the fact that the actual effects remain unchanged - and this means more people ending up dependant and exploited. And alcohol doesn't create the instant physical hit that drugs do. You can remain in control for a while, and you can stop anytime you want. You can enjoy one glass of wine and be none the worse. I've never taken drugs (never will) but I doubt you have the same options. It's normal -> offyerface in moments.

And I see no-one mentioning the culture that has spread around the use of drugs. I don't think a few mafia dons and countless drugs barons are suddenly going to become upstanding citizens because of a little change in the law.....the industry's based on fear and dependancy with them at the top as the ruling class. Mafia don for PM!? Might as well o/d now and save them the bother....

Of those who condone the legalisation of drugs, how many actually take drugs? Would they take drugs if it were legal? That, frankly, frightens the living crap out of me.

I think this would be the last nail in the coffin, really. It's bad enough having to pick my way through the piles of near-corpses in town on a weekend night, so drunk they don't know they're in the gutter with their knickers christ-knows-where and some stranger slobbering on them. Even if they stayed home to get drunk, they have the constant internet gambling adverts to tempt them further into perdition....

...how did the American settlers suppress the Native Americans? With strong drink, guns, and casinos. It's not 'freedom'. It's slavery.

You know, as long as there are people willing to speak against this lunacy, there is still hope. My fiancé gave up smoking, both marijuana and tobacco, at my insistence. He gave up drinking having come to the conclusion that did him no favours either. I got one person. I can get more!

[Andy]

Legalising drugs is all about big business making money from peoples addiction.  They dont wont to legalise them because they are harmless big business know that it can make millions.

We made the middle east rich with oil money and we will make them richer through drug money.

[Guthlac]

Aelfcynn, on 03 February 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:

I agree. I had this discussion with a friend today - by email (i.e. after 2 replies from me he changed the subject) - who comes out with some fucking rubbish at times. I mean, I've known him a long time but really...! Anyway, his argument was that if drugs were legalised, they could be taxed. Yep - that was his only argument!

This isn't about money. Even if the revenue generated were a substantial one, then what would it likely be spent on? Government campaigns AGAINST drug use? The NHS, to sort out the health fuck-ups? Victim's shelters to help broken families? The minute you legalise a vice, you create an aura of moral acceptability about it, regardless of the fact that the actual effects remain unchanged - and this means more people ending up dependant and exploited. And alcohol doesn't create the instant physical hit that drugs do. You can remain in control for a while, and you can stop anytime you want. You can enjoy one glass of wine and be none the worse. I've never taken drugs (never will) but I doubt you have the same options. It's normal -> offyerface in moments.

And I see no-one mentioning the culture that has spread around the use of drugs. I don't think a few mafia dons and countless drugs barons are suddenly going to become upstanding citizens because of a little change in the law.....the industry's based on fear and dependancy with them at the top as the ruling class. Mafia don for PM!? Might as well o/d now and save them the bother....

Of those who condone the legalisation of drugs, how many actually take drugs? Would they take drugs if it were legal? That, frankly, frightens the living crap out of me.

I think this would be the last nail in the coffin, really. It's bad enough having to pick my way through the piles of near-corpses in town on a weekend night, so drunk they don't know they're in the gutter with their knickers christ-knows-where and some stranger slobbering on them. Even if they stayed home to get drunk, they have the constant internet gambling adverts to tempt them further into perdition....

...how did the American settlers suppress the Native Americans? With strong drink, guns, and casinos. It's not 'freedom'. It's slavery.

You know, as long as there are people willing to speak against this lunacy, there is still hope. My fiancé gave up smoking, both marijuana and tobacco, at my insistence. He gave up drinking having come to the conclusion that did him no favours either. I got one person. I can get more!

Good post Aelfycnn.

Though I use to like a drink. Done within a friendly environment and amongst freinds, it is an age English social bonding custom (not forgetting the water use to be so bad the beer was the healthier option). Though done in an unfriendly environment and for all the wrongs it can lead to harm.  I still like a drop at Yultide and birthdays.

[Eassex cempa]

I think in all fairness it should be mentioned that the media portrayal of the druggie points to the crime driven oik in a hoodie. I know many many respectable business people that like to have a joint or two to chill out after work.
I used the weed myself years ago and to be honest I could not be arsed to get into situations where trouble might be encountered.

Well I have grown up a little since then and I would rather go out as I am rather than a spaced out something I am not.

Being honest and putting my hands up to having smoked rather a lot in the past I will offer my opinion of the two biggest weed lies.

1) Weed is addictive, yep but only if you have an addictive nature. the person with an addictive nature will get hooked on booze, sport, a cause etc just as fast.
2) Weed is the reason I did the crime, No you did the crime because you are  a weak willed lowlife that wanted something you didn't want to work to get.

That said and knowing what I know from personal experience would I say it should be decriminalised, HELL NO, my family, friends and love ones are out there and I dont want any little shit head wannabe gang-banger to think he is cool robbing, hurting my lot and thinking he/she can blame the weed and get a light slap on the hand.

Just the fact that there are weak willed idiots out there should be all thats needed for the powers that be to keep it against the law.

E C

[Andy]

I used to work in Rave clubs, the only trouble we had that was drug related was the sellers.

The users were too busy chewing their faces

I hated the people taking 'poppers' because I had to smell that shit that they were using and it used to give me a terrible headace.

[Guthlac]

I knew plenty of people who used weed and it is addictive and causes a range of mental illnesses. None of the people I knew were weak willed or had addictive nature. They simply used the stuff at first because they thought they were being a bit rebellious, cool and peer pressure. Some who were having problems took drugs because they thought it would make them relax, feel and be happy (they old pusher line 'take this it will make you feel good, dont worry about it its clean and natural it cant hurt you. Let me know when you want some more/need more). All my friends were regular users and the drugs simply worked on them and altered their cognitive function to the extent it was impaired permanently and snowballed down and hit the fan.

I've been on training counselling courses and seen the results of taking drugs. And as always with these people, apart form those who have deeper understanding of what happing to themsleves and sought help, they are in denial. No one likes to admit have messed up big time, have done damage to themselves and other lives and are not in control. And their lives revolve around the drugs. And as is the case with these things, what you see on the outside is not necessary the case. Someone may look and act in control on the outside but inside they are a wreck. (You dont have to act like a complete wreck and mess to be one).

I saw friends end up in mental homes, attempted suicides, and they were committing serious crimes to feed their habit because they were desperate to get their next fix, all reasoning had gone from them. Before they took drugs they were some of the nicest folk you could meet. As I said none of my friends were weak or had 'addictive natures'.  And the others I knew went on to harder and harder drugs basically  becoming walking dead.  ....My friends that did mange to come back from the brink all these decades later are still suffering with cognitive and emotional problems.

Drugs are for idiots. Supported by criminal gangs and  terrorists. The lowlife who say decriminalise these addictive poisons are those who are making money out of them, or wish to make money out of them, those who are messed and in cuckoo land because of drugs but won't admit it or dont even realise it and by impressionable trendy folk.

I was one of those idiots who did use drugs because I thought I was being rebellions and cool. Fortunately I looked around and realised the change that was happing to my friends, their thoughts and actions were becoming unrecognisable from the folk they use to be. That is when I thought stuff this for a lark and stopped I do not want to end up like that.

[Eassex cempa]

Guthlac,
In one line you prove my point, your friends went on to harder drugs you say. So they then left the weed alone.
I used skunk for around 10 years, around 18% THC, and would get through about three 8ths a week. My friends at the time were members of the biker community and NONE of them are messed up. I also am not messed up. I keep in touch with almost all of them and the hundreds of bikers we party with at scooter/ biker meets over the year.
As for the criminal aspect of your post, I disagree. It costs about £10 per gram these days so put that up against the price of a good night out and it is far from over priced when looked at in light of government drugs like beer and fags. Wow, I smoke 30-40 fags a day, cant give them up to save my life but the weed after 10 years was no problem.
Why then did a survey called for by the government find that weed is far less harmful than booze or fags and even has benifits to some health problems.
By the way I used weed to get over a problem I had because I dont do perscription drugs, shit, you just dont know whats in them.
I am sorry for your buddies but  I CAN tell who is fucked up and I dont see any of the people that I know that either did or do still smoke weed in that number.
I still would not like it on the open streets though.

On this we shall have to agree to disagree.

E C

[Guthlac]

Hello EC.

I said some of my friends went on to harder drugs. Those that only used weed did all what mentioned. While others went on to harder stuff i.e. got addicted and messed quicker.

Drugs are sold to make money and those who want to decriminalise them want to make money, open market. I have not met one person who has done skunk who is not in some way still effected.  And I too also knew and know folk who were and are in biker gangs. Concerning the survey by the government what would you expect from a corrupt government who are a bunch of criminals, money makers, racketeers and are seeking new ways to make money and control the population, hence their support for drugs. Many of whom are or have been drugs users hence them being incompetent at their jobs their inability to make sound, rational and moral judgements.  By smoking folk risk all sorts of illnesses, none mental to what I'm aware off. By smoking weed you risk cognitive imparement and emotional health as well physical disease. With alcohol there are health risks but takes it longer to take effect and longer to become addicted.  All those I have come across who have used drugs regularly (and I'm no spring chicken) are altered in some way.

As for the criminal aspect of my post.
Fact - criminal gangs have drugs rings and fight and kill over ground and the most profitable areas.
Fact - the original countries where these raw substances are made are controlled by crime-lords, with the makers and innocent locals being killed as a results. Not forgetting how these drug lords are taking over parts of the Amazon and Latin America by driving out the indigenous population from their native lands or by forcing them to make the base drugs.
Fact - terrorists are also heavenly involved in the drugs trade, which fund their arms buying and campaigning, including the mohammedans and ira who not only swamp our streets with the drugs but also murder English folk. A double bubble for terrorists because they are able to create addicts, help increase crime rates and murder via bombings and shootings at the same time.
Fact - many many drug users turn to crime including violent crime to get cash or stolen goods so they can buy more drugs. They have become so incapable they cant be employed nor seek employment.
Fact - the governments want everyone stupefied on drugs, whether from the chemist or by illegal drugs to make us more malleable to their liberal ideologies and schemes. And to line their own pockets somewhere in the food chain.
Fact - Women are stupefied on weed by pimps in order to get them hooked on even harder drugs and forced into prostitution.
Not forgetting all the suicides.

All drug users should take responsibility for all the above because we all have a moral and social responsibility. And a responsibly not to mess up the country any more for those generations to come. And I was one of those selfish irresponsible folk.


Sorry to hear about your health EC. I  know someone whose uses weed because of heath, though they use the medical kind.