Comments on: Drug Legalization 1970

By: Franz

Franz — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:26:28 +0000

“Last year when the supply of Mexican marijuana was slightly curtailed by the Feds…”

Yup, I remember “last year” (Vidal means summer/fall 1969) as if it were, well, last year.

There’s a story behind that story.

Remember the constant rumor that “Vietnam” was really not a war to fight communism, but actually a ruse to gain control over the opium supply of the Golden Triangle? CIA flights during the war support at least part of the rumor, but mostly it’s another dumb conspiracy THEORY, for once.

But there WAS the business in 1969 that remains fresh in my memory. I was a young sailor stationed at an East Coast supply squadron, going up & down the coast was a blast. Plus, I knew high school classmates then going through places like Columbia University, right there in NYC.

Paranoia was born right in front of me in the summer of ‘69. Grass was scarce and worth its weight in gold, but horse and speed were all over the damn place. I couldn’t figure it out.

Then I found out who was in charge of the US security state & under WHAT capacity and all the dots just jump up and connected themselves.

In the end we’ll know what the OWNERS of the US want us to know. But the possibility that the US Security State agencies, in particular the CIA, were starting their own version of the Opium Wars right here in American while Vidal was penning this article is very sobering.

It’s not as outlandish as it once may have seemed: There is agreement among the wise that the curtailment of American freedom started with the Drug War, so called. The earliest version of the Drug War was started under Dick Nixon during the years of peace, love and baloney, right there between the First Two Dubyas (Woodstock and Watergate.)

Who knows?

By: Seth Anderson

Seth Anderson — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:13:20 +0000

Ahh, thanks for that link.

By: Cannabis

Cannabis — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:53:21 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/vidal-drugs.html

By: Red Green

Red Green — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:43:41 +0000

I read this article when it was published. The thing makes MORE sense now. Vidal thought it obvious. Prohibition does not work! Except for those who make money from it… politicians,bureaucrats,prisons, police,criminals..etc.

By: DdC222

DdC222 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:21:20 +0000

We all thought Carter would remove the penalties. I remember a full page ad in the NY Times I believe of signatures of celebrities wanting to end this prohibition around 1970ish? Can't find it online. I do have this and other Life Mags though. So close. Then everyone got mass amnesia I guess through Rayguns Bush and Klintoon then they rub salt in the wound giving us a nazi like Waldo. Ain't that America in their little pink houses.... Marijuana: the law vs. 12 million people pg. 25-35 Life magazine Cover: Oct 31, 1969 Drug War Heresies By Robert J. MacCoun, Peter Reuter Pot Potency? Boomers' blissfully unfazed by mere facts.

By: Guam in 1974 at B12 Solipsism

Guam in 1974 at B12 Solipsism — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:58:58 +0000

[...] 1974″, url: “http://www.b12partners.net/wp/2008/08/08/guam-in-1974/” });Footnotes: I had fun with yesterday’s blog from history [↩]never heard of him, actually, but he was the director of Friends of Micronesia in Berkley, [...]

By: Seth Anderson

Seth Anderson — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:40:51 +0000

I was not old enough when this was published, but I’ve heard the argument, as you say, in bits in pieces. Still makes sense, even 38 years later.

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:05:28 +0000

I was a freshman in high school when this came out. People all over have been citing this editorial in bits and pieces since then, and most probably without knowing who the author was or where and when it was published. So, good for you for educating us.

Sometime I must tell you my business plan for legalized cocaine parlors. (I don’t do cocaine, never have, never will.)