OVO

1919 circa-prohibition poster

WendyMcElroy.com: Would this make you give up or take up drinking?

President George W. Bush has granted pardons to 14 individuals and commuted the prison sentences of two others [...] On the latest pardon list were: Andrew Foster Harley of Falls Church, Va. Harley was convicted of wrongful use and distribution of marijuana and cocaine; Robert Earl Mohon Jr. of Grant, Ala., who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana; and Ronald Alan Mohrhoff of Los Angeles, who was convicted for unlawful use of a telephone in a narcotics felony. Bush also commuted the prison sentences of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit, Mich. Both were convicted of cocaine offenses.

[Article continues at link. Bush has admitted using marijuana and cocaine. So has Obama. Bill Clinton admitted to using marijuana. If a user of marijuana and cocaine can become the President, perhaps there is some hope for an end to prohibition. Or is it just a new level of double standards? - Trevor Blake]

Take a look at the picture of the statue of Hoagy Carmichael in this article. Now take a look at what must have been the source photograph here. Notice anything missing? Maybe this image will make it more clear. Hoagy’s cigarette is gone. I think if a person does or did smoke, there’s no use pretending they don’t or didn’t. Bette Davis looks like she is holding her hand in a funny way in this postage stamp until you realize her cigarette has been removed from the image. I’m kind of sad to learn this topic has a Wikipedia entry. People were smoking before mass media so it can’t be they were made to smoke because of mass media. Mass media doesn’t cause people to look fashionable, say funny things, crash cars or live in the USA so why should anyone think mass media can cause one to smoke?

Here is a public secret: advertising doesn’t work.

Ketamine for depression and LSD for improving brain power; meet the lady who funds the science that no-one else will do, Amanda Feilding is on a mission to unlock the secrets of the mind

Can illegal drugs help depression? – Times Online

It has long been suspected that humans have an ancient history of drug use, but there has been a lack of proof to support the theory. Now, however, researchers have found equipment used to prepare hallucinogenic drugs for sniffing, and dated them back to prehistoric South American tribes.

Stone Age man took drugs, say scientists – Telegraph

All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

Hedge Fund Manager: Goodbye … And Think Pot – General * US * News * Story – CNBC.com

Tobacco smuggling causes around 4,000 premature deaths a year—four times the number of deaths caused by the use of all smuggled illegal drugs put together [in UK]

Tobacco Smuggling Is Killing More People Than Illegal Drugs, Experts Claim

It is in line with the sharp distinction in the Qur’an and Islamic tradition between believers and unbelievers: since the buyers were non-Muslims, they had no problem selling the product.

Jihad Watch: Taliban rakes in $100 million a year from drug trafficking

Relatives beat a Malaysian couple to death in a ritual apparently meant to help the man to stop smoking

Couple beaten to death in stop-smoking ‘cleansing ritual’

Henry Earl (born October 24, 1949) is a homeless man from Lexington, Kentucky famous for his extensive police record. Nearly all of his arrests have been for public intoxication, with a few charges of disorderly conduct, third degree trespassing, second degree trespassing, and apparently one count of begging. The Fayette County Detention Center’s website, showing Earl’s arrest record from 1992 to present, indicates that he has not been arrested for theft or any violent offences. [...] In 2008, Earl was arrested for the 1000th time since 1992.

[Article continues at link. Perhaps a better use of the limited resources of Fayette County could be found. Prohibition is not serving Mr. Earl or the taxpayers of Fayette County well. - Trevor Blake]

A homeless man in Brussels was beaten to a pulp this past Friday. His assailants were arrested and will presumably be charged with assault and battery soon, but what’s genuinely shocking is the reasoning behind the attack. You see, the two assailants were Muslim men, who when walking by in the street, became enraged that this homeless man had the sheer audacity to drink during Ramadan.

Celebrate Diversity : Proper Behavior on Ramadan · Snapped Shot

In 1950, Marlboros were promoted as a cigarette for mothers.

Quit Smoking Painlessly Now! » Marlboros for Mummy?

Practising drugs safely? | MetaFilter

Atheism, Climate Change, Drug War, Atheist, Religion

Black Sun Journal

Almost 12 percent of the deaths among Native Americans and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related — more than three times the percentage in the general population, a new federal report says.

1 in 10 Native American deaths alcohol related

There is no religious right in Arizona to possess marijuana, the state Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, saying freedom of religion is not the same as freedom of action. [Peyote and wine are okay, though. Yay theocracy, yay prohibition.]

Arizona Ruling: No religious right to marijuana

I’m most interested in the fundamental question of whether the War on Drugs worked. That is, to reduce drug use in the US. For those who believe it has not worked, I have a few figures I would like explained to me.

DrugMonkey : The War on Drugs Didn’t Work, Eh?

Golden Dragon Group Ltd’s Ruyan cigarettes are battery-powered, cigarette-shaped devices that deliver nicotine to inhalers in a bid to emulate actual smoking.

Chinese e-cigarette helps you stub out the habit | Lifestyle | Living | Reuters

The skin has joined the growing club of organs that is known to produce “endocannabinoids” — the body’s own reefer. The biggest producer of endogenous pot is the brain.

Skin churns out marijuana-like brain chemicals – Skin and beauty- msnbc.com

Flickr took down Dutch photographer Maarten Dors’ pictures of a Romanian teenage boy smoking a cigarette, arguing that it broke the site’s rules for appropriate photos.

Reason Magazine – Hit & Run > “Don’t Forget the Children”