Category Archives: Drug War

The Blond Squad & The Economcis of Contraband

Conservatism, Crime, Drug War, Free Markets, Gender, Intelligence, Regulation

Brains are a hindrance to advancement in the age of the idiot; being a lightweight blond is helpful. Heredity is handy too.

Margaret Hoover “is an American political commentator, political strategist, and blogger. She is the great-granddaughter of former President Herbert Hoover,” a factor which probably explains her popularity on Fox News, for it is certainly not humor, originality or cerebral agility that explain the ubiquity of the Blond Squad (BS) on Fox News. O’Reilly especially prefers his women guests to be his inferiors.

In any case, the Blond Squad brainiacs–also called Culture Warriors (comprising MH and another compromised blond)—were bitching in unison about one of Obama’s praise-worthy initiatives. (The first of which was not doing squat about the Iranians’ revolt. I’ve documented the others in successive posts.)

This particular rare good news story the BS was condemning was the decision by the Obama administration to cease “criminalizing cancer and AIDS patients for using a substance that is (a) prescribed by their doctors and (b) legal under the laws of their state. …”

When I told Sean the reason Hoover gave for her objection to decriminalization, he rolled his eyes. I’m sure you will too. According to this woman’s calculus, once you decriminalize a drug, criminal enterprise corners the market.

Babe, it’s exactly the opposite. I know, it’s a hard concept, but the section “THE COSTS OF ILLEGAL MARKETS” in “Addicted To The Drug War” may help (on the other hand…):

“Prohibition—not drug use—is responsible for the current crime and chaos. Prohibition makes the price of drugs far in excess of their cost of production. The production costs of common drugs are low. These chemicals are derived from hardy plants. A poppy is not an orchid. Neither is cannabis a particularly fragile plant. As with other illegal commodities, the price is pushed up by the high costs of circumventing the law as well as by the reduced supply brought on by prohibition. The price of pure heroin for medicinal purposes is a fraction of its street price. The difference amounts to a state subsidy for organized crime. … When supply is reduced … prices shoot up. And what happens when prices go up? The potential profit causes a renewed influx of dealers into the trade, resulting in more crime. In the war on drugs, success is failure. A free market in drugs, however, will bring prices down drastically, inclining fewer pushers to enter the trade.”

Blonds would be more fun if idiots were not so scary.

On Roadkill Radio

Addiction, Drug War, Ilana On Radio & TV, Pseudoscience, Psychiatry

Tonight, I’ll be reconnecting with a Canadian friend from the past: Terry O’Neill, one of the former editors of the ground-breaking BC Report, who now hosts a show: Roadkill Radio.

The BC Report—it morphed into a later, but not paler, version, The Report—was one of the best paleoconservative news and commentary magazines I have read. Moreover, it lacked the weird, anti-Israel element afflicting The American Conservative. So, in that respect, it presented a more coherent defense of the West—with a big emphasis on West Canada.

Terry had remembered that back in 2000-2001, I had argued forcefully against the disease model of addiction. Now, in 2009, some Johnnie-come-latelies have added their voices to a debate my good friends Drs. Stanton Peele and Thomas Szasz began and settled, to all intents and purposes.

The topic tonight: “Addiction: disease or choice?”
The time: 8:45 Pacific.

Terry’s co-host is Kari Simpson. Tune in (And do forgive me if I’m a rusty on the topic; it’s been some time since we in the US have had the luxury of dealing with a minor issue such as addiction and the Diseasing of America.)

Update III (12/12/018): Swine Flu “Patient Zero” (The Swines Are AWOL)

Constitution, Drug War, Government, Healthcare, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Propaganda, War on Drugs

By the dictionary’s telling, epidemiology is “the branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.” During an outbreak, that necessitates tracing “Patient Zero,” the “single individual who bears the unknowing responsibility for having introduced the disease” to a certain population.

The AIDS outbreak in North American, as documented in the late Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On, was traced to Gaetan Dugas, a dashing, promiscuous Canadian flight attendant. Dugas had had approximately 1000 sexual partners.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a preliminary update as to the status of the investigation into “Human Swine Influenza.”

We are assured that, “Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses.”

Will the Gaetan Dugas of the Mexican swine flu outbreak be identified to the public? Somehow I doubt it.

Just the other day, passive American tokers and dopers were blamed for the fact that Mexican murderers were killing one another over drugs. Like Bush before him, Barack and Madam Hildebeest, will find a way to saddle the US for the spread of another disease.

Updated I (April 26): The Swines Are AWOL. I said it in my latest column, “To Bug Or Not To Bug Abu Zubaydah’s Cage.” You can trust the government’s untrustworthiness–always. Whether the enemy is a human or a viral invader, “America’s deracinated elites [will never fail] to elevate the interests of the enemy above those of the people.”

We accuse China of not looking out for its people, but as Drudge reports, “in Hong Kong, health officials said checks at border crossings had been stepped up and that airlines had been asked to broadcast messages on all flights coming direct from affected areas.”

“In Japan, airports tightened checks on passengers arriving from Mexico, with quarantine officials giving out face masks and using thermography imaging cameras to screen for passengers with a fever.”

Bloomberg: “Russia suspended imports of all meat from Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, California and Kansas.”

Reuters: Even Guatemalan mask-wearing health officials “interview passengers arriving from Mexico.”

Drum Roll: “US says not testing travelers from Mexico for flu.”

Enforcing the borders and preventing a foreign invasion is perfectly within the purview of the “night-watchman state of classical-liberal theory,” in the words of the late philosopher, Robert Nozick.

Constitutionally, that is the most basic role of government.

Update III (12/12/018): Finally, a real and honest doctor, Jane Orient, looks at the diseases, many deadly like Polio, coming into the USA with the migrant caravan invasion. But it’s worth it, right? For our values:

Update II: Swine Flu "Patient Zero" (The Swines Are AWOL)

Constitution, Drug War, Government, Healthcare, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Propaganda, War on Drugs

By the dictionary’s telling, epidemiology is “the branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.” During an outbreak, that necessitates tracing “Patient Zero,” the “single individual who bears the unknowing responsibility for having introduced the disease” to a certain population.

The AIDS outbreak in North American, as documented in the late Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On, was traced to Gaetan Dugas, a dashing, promiscuous Canadian flight attendant. Dugas had had approximately 1000 sexual partners.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a preliminary update as to the status of the investigation into “Human Swine Influenza.”

We are assured that, “Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses.”

Will the Gaetan Dugas of the Mexican swine flu outbreak be identified to the public? Somehow I doubt it.

Just the other day, passive American tokers and dopers were blamed for the fact that Mexican murderers were killing one another over drugs. Like Bush before him, Barack and Madam Hildebeest, will find a way to saddle the US for the spread of another disease.

Updated I (April 26): The Swines Are AWOL. I said it in my latest column, “To Bug Or Not To Bug Abu Zubaydah’s Cage.” You can trust the government’s untrustworthiness–always. Whether the enemy is a human or a viral invader, “America’s deracinated elites [will never fail] to elevate the interests of the enemy above those of the people.”

We accuse China of not looking out for its people, but as Drudge reports, “in Hong Kong, health officials said checks at border crossings had been stepped up and that airlines had been asked to broadcast messages on all flights coming direct from affected areas.”

“In Japan, airports tightened checks on passengers arriving from Mexico, with quarantine officials giving out face masks and using thermography imaging cameras to screen for passengers with a fever.”

Bloomberg: “Russia suspended imports of all meat from Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, California and Kansas.”

Reuters: Even Guatemalan mask-wearing health officials “interview passengers arriving from Mexico.”

Drum Roll: “US says not testing travelers from Mexico for flu.”

Enforcing the borders and preventing a foreign invasion is perfectly within the purview of the “night-watchman state of classical-liberal theory,” in the words of the late philosopher, Robert Nozick.

Constitutionally, that is the most basic role of government.