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WHO RULES: THE ISRAEL LOBBY
OR UNCLE SAM?
The answer
at last! Uri Avnery, former Knesset member, assesses the Lobby's
power. "If the Israeli government wanted a law tomorrow
annulling the 10 Commandments, 95 U.S. Senators (at least) would
sign the bill forthwith." But, yes, in the end the dog wags
the tail.Fifty
years ago Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" blew the cobwebs
out of millions of young minds and drove a stake through the
heart of Eisenhower's America. Lenni Brenner remembers Ginsberg
in the East Village.Dr Mengele died in exile, in disguise. Dr Ishii
died rich and recognized, in his own Tokyo home. Christopher
Reed on Japanese WW2 medical tortures and how the U.S. covered
them up.CounterPunch
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Now!
I do at bit of volunteer work at the
Gift of Hope home in East Baltimore, run by the Missionaries
of Charity. The nuns follow in the path of their founder, Mother
Teresa, as they minister to anywhere from eight to twelve men
down on their luck. Many living in this three-story row house
are addicts, spending their final days withering away from AIDS
The good sisters treat all
the men the same--with dignity.
This sense of dignity makes
me think of the so-called war on drugs that our government has
been waging for the past 35 years. Despite spending $50 billion
annually at the federal, state and local level to prevent the
drug trade, despite putting more people behind bars for drug-related
offenses than any other country, the war has not made a dent
into the drug trade. Business is booming, with up to $200 billion
exchanging hands in this underground U.S. economy (drugwarfacts.org).
I remember back in '88 when
Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke called for treating drug abuse not
as a criminal problem, but as a health issue. Made sense to
me. Most junkies are not bad people; they're just sick.
Any number of politicos pounced
on the proposal like a dog on meat, denouncing it as extreme,
dangerous and insane. Some liberals called Schmoke the most
dangerous man in America. Naturally, the issue faded from our
public discourse.
Kevin
Zeese, president of
the Common Sense for Drug Policy, believes the nation is now
ready for a different approach. That's one of the reasons he's
running in Maryland as an independent for the U.S. Senate. For
the past twenty years he and his organization have been a voice
in the wilderness calling for an end to the war on drugs.
The Takoma Park lawyer labels
the drug war as "laws of unintended consequences."
The man is a walking encyclopedia
on this issue, citing that the United States has 5% of the world's
population yet 25% of the world's prisoners. The Justice Department
reports that over 80% of the increase in the federal prison population
is due to drug convictions.
At a talk at UMBC, Zeese shared
with students the Swiss experience. A decade ago they recognized
that their war on drugs was failing. So they moved to "a
public health approach," making treatment widely available.
Despite their best efforts, hard-core addicts continued their
pursuit of heroin. The authorities decided upon an experiment--
having the addicts go to the clinic where they could get an injection
of heroin under medical supervision. The result of this experiment?
No overdoses or spread of AIDS among the participants. With
the pursuit of heroin no longer a compulsion, their lives stabilized.
Many got jobs and some kicked the habit after a year or two.
Now the Swiss are implementing this approach across the nation.
Adds Zeese: "Most politicians
are afraid to discuss this issue. More of the same is a recipe
for failure; it's time for us to break this taboo and have an
open discussion."
To reduce the ravages of drugs
and free our communities from their bondage, we have to get at
the market; reducing the demand could do that. Attacking the
supply side obviously will never slow the flow of drugs. Think
about all the people who deal drugs in the city of Baltimore.
They are just following what bank-robber Willie Sutton said
as to why he robbed banks: "Because that's where the money
is."
Perhaps we could try something
along the lines of reverse prisons. The only way junkies could
get their dope would be to check in voluntarily. The only way
they can leave is for them to accept treatment. Regardless,
you treat them with dignity. I believe the addicts would come
and the market would shrink accordingly.
Any approach has to be better
than what the country is doing now. Let the dialog begin.
David Bolton is a writer who is president of WrightVentures,
see www.writeventures.com.
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