Methamphetamine

[1stwahine]

Re: Methamphetamine

Why am I not surprised to find out the victim of the Kaneohe Shooting was a Drug Trafficker?

In The Advertiser this morning http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...05230419/1001/

"The victim of a kidnapping and killing in Kane'ohe was shipping crystal methamphetamine and cocaine into Hawai'i in hollowed-out DVD players and stereo equipment, and had drawn the attention of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, according to law enforcement officials."

Illegal Drugs are finding their way in.

It's imperative that Society fights back. It's in our Communities. Quiet streets and busy streets, it doesn't matter. Anything that looks suspicious ~ REPORT.

Don't be afraid. It's when you're afraid ~ they will take over.

Fight back and Make a Difference.

Only easy.

Call 911!!!

Auntie Lynn

[MixedPlateBroker]

Re: Methamphetamine

"How America Lost the War on Drugs" Rolling Stone article by Ben Wallace-Wells -- tapped as Smartest Drug Story of the Year (2007) by Slate.com

This is the story of how that momentary success turned into one of the most sustained and costly defeats the United States has ever suffered. It is the story of how the most powerful country on Earth, sensing a piñata, swung to hit it and missed. ...

Gene Haislip, who served for years as one of the DEA's top-ranking administrators, believes there was a moment when meth could have been shut down, long before it spiraled into a nationwide epidemic. ...

he is still known around the DEA as the man who beat quaaludes, perhaps the only drug that the U.S. has ever been able to declare total victory over. ...

he was present the moment when the United States lost the war on methamphetamine, way back in 1986, when meth was still a crude biker drug confined to a few valleys in Northern California - a decade before the Mexican drug lords turned it into the most problematic drug in America. "The thing is, methamphetamine should never have gotten to that point," Haislip says. And it never would have, he believes, if it hadn't been for the lobbyists. ...

Assembling a coalition of legislators, Haislip convinced them that the small, growing population of speed freaks in Northern California was enough of a concern that Congress should pass a law to regulate the drug's precursor chemicals, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, legal drugs that were used in cold medicine and produced in fewer than a dozen factories in the world. ...

All that was left was to convince the Reagan administration. ...

The bill he proposed was submitted to Congress, requiring companies to keep records on the import and sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

But what Haislip didn't know was that the men in suits had already gone to work to rig the bill in their favor. ...

The result, to Haislip's dismay, was a new law that monitored sales of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in bulk powder but created an exemption for selling the chemicals in tablet form - a loophole that protected the pharmaceutical industry's profits.

The article places the various elements of the War on Drugs in sobering perspective and brings you to the realization that, for all the collective law enforcement action against crystal methamphetamine, HPD/DEA/FBI officers/agents are just so many Hans Brinkers vs. New Orleans levees c. Hurrican Katrina. Without real policy reform, we will never be rid of Ice.

[cynsaligia]

Re: Methamphetamine

"How America Lost the War on Drugs" Rolling Stone article by Ben Wallace-Wells -- tapped as Smartest Drug Story of the Year (2007) by Slate.com

The article places the various elements of the War on Drugs in sobering perspective and brings you to the realization that, for all the collective law enforcement action against crystal methamphetamine, HPD/DEA/FBI officers/agents are just so many Hans Brinkers vs. New Orleans levees c. Hurrican Katrina. Without real policy reform, we will never be rid of Ice.

we bought that issue of rolling stone just to read it on the plane to portland. what struck me most about that piece is are these two points:

1. the meth problem could have been completely avoided if not for the reagan administration giving in to the needs of the pharmaceutical companies (see eric's comments re haislip);

2. drug reform is markedly more effective at reducing the negative societal effects of drug use than is being tough on crime.

many of those who have spent long years fighting the war on drugs agree that lee brown, widely criticized because his reform-focused policies were seen as too soft, was actually more successful in reducing the drug problem than his successor, gen. barry mccaffery.

brown pursued breaking the cycle of addiction and crime. a small percentage of drug users are hard core users, consuming the largest portion of drugs, so getting that hard core group to abstain forever would be a great success. mccaffery, on the other hand, treated the war on drugs as if it were a literal war, even recruiting men from his southern command to help with his objective. mccaffery focused on incarcerating drug users, not rehabilitating them. mccaffery's stubborn adherence to the idea that there are "gateway drugs" and that such drugs lead to more drug use, and more dangerous drug use (a theory now disproved with a decade of research by the RAND corp as well as research by the institute of medicine) as well as his demonization of medical marijuana reversed any headway that brown might have made.

i recommend taking the time to read the rolling stone piece, which appears in its full form at the link eric provided. i'll warn that it's long, dense reading, but it's also well-investigated and enlightening. maybe discouraging, too.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Methamphetamine

we bought that issue of rolling stone just to read it on the plane to portland...i'll warn that it's long, dense reading, but it's also well-investigated and enlightening. maybe discouraging, too.

This is why airlines need to provide better magazines in those front pockets. Maybe an issue of Rolling Stones

In my tongue and cheek response to the War on Drugs...I say we legalize all forms of recreational drug use and prostitution. That way the US Government can tax the hell out of all of the drug dealers and pimps, not to mention regulate them to the point of frustration then finally force them out of a job, killing those industries outright.

[1stwahine]

Re: Methamphetamine

Don't forget Island Recovery Center!
http://www.islandrecoverycenters.com/

Auntie Lynn

[timkona]

Re: Methamphetamine

Since the subject is fresh on the top of the board, I would politely remind those who believe the WoD is worthy that there are two basic questions that will cause a logic loop like a Moebius strip to turn in your mind.

1. If drugs were legal would you start? No.
2. Do you think a user ever stopped cuz of the laws? No.

So if the laws don't affect the users, and the lack of law would not affect the non-users, who do the laws affect?

Logic is difficult when belief is revered.

Meth is the all-american drug, as long as Americans admire hard-work, stick-to-itiveness, perserverance, and drive.

[Nords]

Re: Methamphetamine

mccaffery, on the other hand, treated the war on drugs as if it were a literal war, even recruiting men from his southern command to help with his objective. mccaffery focused on incarcerating drug users, not rehabilitating them. mccaffery's stubborn adherence to the idea that there are "gateway drugs" and that such drugs lead to more drug use, and more dangerous drug use (a theory now disproved with a decade of research by the RAND corp as well as research by the institute of medicine) as well as his demonization of medical marijuana reversed any headway that brown might have made.

I had a CO, Neil Byrne, who'd been involved in several parts of the military side of the war on drugs. He was an enlistee in Vietnam (with all its drug issues) and in 1991 he'd been the PACOM rep to the other law enforcement three-letter-acronym agencies. One of the best COs I ever had, a very commonsense no-BS guy who was too busy making things work to play ego games or go on power trips. Kinda hard to imagine hanging out in bars with him but you'd follow him to war knowing that he'd bring everyone back.

His politics and policies are slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. The John Birch Society turned him down because they think that he's too conservative. He made John Wayne's cowboy characters look like wimps. Yet by the end of his PACOM tour he felt that marijuana should be legalized. He wanted to tax the heck out of pot (like cigarettes) to pay for the rest of the program.

He said that he began to realize that the war wasn't working when he found a picture of two "indicted suspects" standing in a 10'x12' room. They had filled the room with bundles of cash and gone wading up to their necks.

[JamezD]

Re: Methamphetamine

Mahalo Auntie Lynn for your consistent support of IRC. Haven't been here in a while and very pleased to see you staying true to the message. Your Ohana may be pleased to learn of recent progress with Prometa in Hawaii. By the way, "the ledge" last year was awesome in their support. There will be a long list of Mahalos when the time is right, but Hawaii s/b proud of its dedicated legislators, especially in the House...

We've treated several people with the Maui Drug Court and OHA watching the results closely. The patients are doing great. Will ask some of them to come by and share their experiences with you. Believe that you'll be stunned and amazed.

What may frustrate you a bit is the "resistance" and the goofy arguments that people put forth in objection to a medcial breakthrough. We'll deal with that though and the day is coming soon when we can begin to put the meth nightmare behind us...

However, any progress and success we may enjoy will be tempered by the knowledge that we didn't get here soon enough to save so many that have already been lost, perhaps most poignant being Baby Cyrus. We were at a conference at the Capitol with people from the new National Meth Center when news came of the tragedy at the H-1 with baby boy. Was standing with John Mizuno and won't forget the look of sadness on is face as we heard this news... It was so sad and sickening all at once and your mind says, what? and part of your heart just cries...

Anyway, we're in FIPO mode and won't be stopped until we put the islands on a different path..

Mahalo again, Auntie for all of your support.

Aloha, jim

[1stwahine]

Re: Methamphetamine

Aloha Uncle Jim!

So wonderful to hear from you and such great news.

I'm always at your service.

Love and ALOHA,

Auntie Lynn