I was always taught in school that the prohibition of alcohol during the 1920’s was one of the worst actions ever taken by legislature as it caused an unprecedented rise of crime and violence across the States, hitting the big cities especially hard. It also caused a rise in alcoholism as the casual drinker was forced to drink in secret, private places where the law wasn’t watching, and would drink powerful spirits to get drunk quickly, as opposed to the casual beer that the drinker would usually take. The Moralists, the teachers would tell me, were wrong in their assumption that banning alcohol would bring a greater good upon America.

      I was also taught in school that drugs like marijuana, mushrooms, cocaine, opium (in all most of its forms), and all the other “illicit” substances were evil and wrong. And if you put any of these things into your body, you are not deserving of being a part of the rest of society and should be locked up with all the other scum of the earth.

      I was always a hard-line cynic, and this inconsistency in my forced schooling only made my cynicism all the stronger. If we’re going to sit around and torture ourselves over the past so the mistakes cannot be repeated, then why are we throwing the dope fiend behind bars? Why do we insist that putting a certain substance in your body is evil? Are we not a society of reason? Or are we a society of superstition and so-called morality?

      It’s clear what the effect of prohibition of some drugs has had on our society, only an utter fool could not see it. Thousands, nay, millions are in prison. Harder and harder drugs are being concocted each year so the dope fiend can “get more bang for the buck”, resulting in substances that are more addictive, and more deadly. I have my doubts about the validity, but the first man to die from cannaboid poisoning (overdose on marijuana) has been reported in Britain. In-fucking-credible. For the first time in the 8,000 (maybe 10,000?) year relationship between this plant and humanity, has anyone killed themselves on it.

      The War on Drugs? No, the War on Humanity. The War on the Subjects of the Empire known as CIVILIZATION. Those in control desire more control much like the way a junkie desires more junk. And now they found a way to make their drug of choice stronger, more pleasurable. Use the thing the subjects crave for as a way to control them. The CIA ships the drugs in, the government sells it to the thug, and the thug sells it to the addict at an insane price. Anyone trying to move in on the drug business by themselves will find themselves being locked up by the MAN.

      This war must end. If we call ourselves good people, then we have an obligation to bring it to an end, whether the MAN likes it or not. If we call our society a free one, then we have no choice but to end the war. Every man, woman, and child should have the right to choose what S/He does or does not consume. Why make what you and I consume the business of the MAN? We are the sole masters of our bodies, goddamnit. No third party should make it their business of what we consume. We can get by just fine making the decision for ourselves.

            It’s inevitable. The Moralists of the 1920’s eventually had to resign to the stark reality that their crusade caused more harm than it did good. It will happen again. It’s the right thing to do.