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Monday, March 13, 2006

Smart Talk about the Stupid Drug War

Posted by on March 13 at 16:33 PM

Attention responsible pot heads and those who love them/appreciate their jokes: Tomorrow night—that’s Tuesday, March 14—the University of Washington’s Kane Hall will be hosting the seminar Marijuana, the Unnecessary War, sponsored by NORML and hosted by PBS’s endearingly dweeby globetrotter Rick Steves, who’ll devote his wordly knowledge to contrasting the relative tolerance of European drug laws with the punitive approach of the U.S.

It should be a good, enlightening, and infuriating evening, plus it’s a benefit for NORML. $10 general admission, and the talk starts at 7pm…

In the meantime, check out this long-ish but illuminating video about the stupidity of the American drug war. Best in show: Former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, who calls the War on Drugs the most evil and damaging American policy since slavery. Enjoy!


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Rick Steves is also the Grand Marshal of this year's St Patrick's Day parade.

Wow, that guy really DOES love the green!

DAVID SCHMADER Wrote:
"Attention responsible pot heads and those who love them/appreciate their jokes: Tomorrow night—that’s Tuesday, March 14—the University of Washington’s Kane Hall will be hosting the seminar Marijuana, the Unnecessary War,..." SNIP


Great Timing. Unfortunately the UW is in the middle of Winter Quarter final exams this week.

---Jensen

I would highly, highly recommend the Atlantic Monthly's two-part article "Reefer Madness" to anyone interested in this topic. It won all sorts of awards and just really gets you riled up about the insanity of the drug laws in this country. I'd post a link here, but somehow that seems verboten. Good hunting!

"Reefer Madness", the article by Eric Schlosser, was also included and expanded upon in a book by the same title. Great stuff. Mark Young is currently serving life without the possibility of parole in Ohio for providing some financing for a pot deal. Completely insane, as is the notion that the sheriff can just confiscate your car, boat, HOUSE, with virtually no evidence, even if you never had anything to do with drugs, but, say, your son got busted for pot there, and KEEP IT even if you and everyone concerned is eventually found "not guilty".

Quote from Rick Steves's out of the Seattle Times -
""Pot causes us to enjoy the Beatles."

"even if no Beatle music is playing within earshot".

Schlosser's "Reefer Madness" article, along with some material The Atlantic Monthly printed but omitted from their Web version of the article, is available at the Portland NORML site.

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