The War on Drugs

please read THIS
before continuing further...

Let's consider the following photographs:









If you didn't follow my suggestion to read the article at the above link, then you are the ideal candidate to ponder this question:

In what part of God's green Earth were the above photos taken?

Was it Iraq?

Was it Saudi Arabia?

How about the Gaza Strip or the West Bank?

If you read the article, then you already know the answer to the first question. The above photos were taken at the now infamous "Utah Rave" right here in these United States. What legal rationale was used to unleash multiple SWAT squads well eqipped with tear gas, clubs, and canines onto a crowd of "ravers"? What was the nature of the "threat" that compelled numerous law enforcement agencies to engage the crowd in such a hostile manner?

What is the nature of "freedom"?

The "War on Drugs" is a militant glorification of ignorance. It profoundly strips away the very essence of American Constitutional "freedom". During a time when our government policy makers are trumpeting the virtues of "freedom" and "democracy" abroad, at home we are losing contact with what it means to be "American". Law is mythological. Like politics and morality it is sustained within the fabric of culture by living and evolving human minds. Because "law" is a product of the human imagination, it is also subjected to the flaws and limitations of human perception. There exists within the countless cultural taboo closets of human society a body of knowledge capable of freeing the individual from the confines of social enculturation (cultural programming). Since the birth of civilization, the authorities of centralized "state" societies have been at odds with the entropic forces of "counter culture". Today, our "War on Drugs" is an extension of this conflict. The "War on Drugs" is the paradigm for a culture at war with itself.

The "Rave" is essentially a "postmodern" shamanic trance ceremony, yet without the intimate cultural framework required to avoid the pitfalls of "psychotropic" experimentation. You see, good reader, "shamanism" is essentially humanity's oldest and most widespread religion. We have militant Christian fundamentalism (i.e., the Spanish Inquisition) to thank for "demonizing" the practitioners of shamanism. With the supression of shamanic ideology, centralized state authorities (like the catholic Church, and now the U.S. Government) virtually erased most "western" knowledge of psychotropic "medicine". On the edge of extinction rests tens of thousands of generations of indigenous cultural knowledge pertaining to the potential and function of earth's flora and fauna. Without this knowledge, humanity bears the agony of omnipotent addiction.

It might seem obvious that "drugs" are problematic, and therefore need to be banned from social consumption. Indeed, "drugs" can be problematic, but the NATURE of the problem is not the "drug" in question but rather whether there exists within the mind of the drug user the proper cultural knowledge essential for managing the mind's natural propensity for addiction. In the context of the human experience, EVERYTHING can be addictive. An individual can be addicted to another human (lust, love), or to sex, or to sports, or to buying consumer products. On an individual level, our behavior, and even our identity, is determined by our never ending quest for "pleasure", "escape", "security", or "power". Some people become athletes, some people become musicians, others become stock brokers, politicians, mothers, or doctors. Consider the widespread "binging" of alchohol, tobacco, soft drinks, coffee, video games, television, shopping, and food munching, and what you might find is that our society is repleat with addictive potential. It is my opinion that our American society (specifically) encourages to a high degree the unavoidable tendencies of "pleasure" addiction. In a world filled with human "consciousness" addicts, a relative few become "illegal drug" addicts.

Within a shamanic paradigm, an individual struggling with a psychological disorder (like epilepsy... in our world this might be "ADD", "depression", "bi-polar disorder", "schizophrenia", etc.)) often passed a right of passage involving isolation, shamanic mentorship, and "psychotropic" plant medication. The neophyte shaman learned to "self medicate", and thus mastered the techniques of "spiritual" enlightenment. Using this knowledge, the shaman would become a religious leader, medical healer, storyteller, spiritual guide, and mythological legend. Within the shamanic experience, the individual experienced a reality that transcended the "natural" state of consciousness and descended into a radical multi-dimensional universe within the dreams of the unconscious mind. These experiences would assist the individual in his or her personal growth. By engaging in self-induced altered states of consciousness the oppressive boundaries of mainstream culture dissolve and the individual can experience a reality within the human mind without arbitrary limitations. Before humans invented civilization, we had mastered the chemical mechanics of our miraculous minds.

"Illegal Drugs" like cannabis sativa, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and DMT-containing flora have a long history of ritualized use. These plants acted as a catalyst for religious experience long before The American Bill of Rights professed the inalienable right to religious expression. The most fundamentally uniting truth underlining our Constitutional rights is the Freedom of Thought, or, the ability to THINK as the individual chooses. Indeed, this is the very essence of America.

Americans need to come to terms about the "TRUTH" about drugs. Our society is OBSSSESSED with drugs. The national news is commercially segmented by ads urging consumers to try Viagra, Cialis, or any other "pill" designed to help ease the physical and psychological stresses of our dynamic society. The pleas for "go on, try it!" resonate with the wishes of the illegal street pusher. Humanity has a LONG and profoundly significant relationship with "drugs". Our drug problem is not a problem of chemical substance, but rather one of proper cultural knowledge. By applying the creative power of our minds to the problem of "drugs", we might find highly adaptive solutions. For example, by legalizing hemp, marijuana, peyote, lysergic acid compounds, and MDMA we will most certainly open up new markets in medical and psychiatric treatments. The manufacturing potential for hemp alone could expand markets and provide new jobs in agriculture, and biofuel, paper, and rope industries. Overall, the tax revenues generated by these markets could vitalize our public education systems and provide universal healthcare for children under 18. Finally, by legalizing these "drugs" we might protect our founding father's vision for the freedom of religious experience.

The War on Drugs is unconstitutional. If our American legislators TRULY cared about the health and prosperity of U.S. citizens, it would ban NUCLEAR WEAPONS. No, instead, "The War on Drugs" perpetuates a system of oppression that arbitrarily criminalizes its citizens based on how they induce altered states of consciosuness. The War on Drugs sacrifices our freedom of thought to perpetuate a dogmatic status quo. Its time we "just say no" to political ignorance.