Four decades of drug war tyranny may come to an end with Ron Paul's new effort to legalize marijuana

Natural News
By Mike Adams, The Health Ranger
Thursday June 23rd 2011

(NaturalNews) Four decades of the so-called "War on Drugs" has led only to the suffering of millions of innocents, the crowding of our prisons with non-violent citizens, the utter waste of billions of dollars on law enforcement and the (in)justice system, and the enriching of underground drug gangs who thrive on violence. The outlawing of marijuana in America has been a disastrous political policy and an insane medical policy. It has labeled biochemical addicts "criminals" and thrown them in prisons to be treated like dogs.

The War on Drugs, through interdicting street supplies of drugs, has only made the drug gangs wealthier by driving up the value of the drugs that remain readily available. And it is now admitted that the ATF actually placed tens of thousands of weapons directly into the hands of Mexican drug gangs, giving rise to the very gang violence the agency claims to be preventing (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011...).

The U.S. government, it turns out, is actually contributing to the drug war violence!

Ron Paul, Barney Frank join forces to end the insanityIn an effort to end the insanity, Rep. Ron Paul has joined forces with Rep. Barney Frank to introduce legislation legalizing marijuana in America. President Obama, you may recall, promised voters on the campaign trail that he would do this, too, but it seems he's been too busy bombing Libya and using the U.S. Constitution as a floor mat to bother keeping any actual promises. (GITMO is still open for business, too, in case you haven't noticed...)

Of course, the War on Drugs is a very effective tool of tyranny to be used against the American people. It empowers the DEA and the federal government to conduct surprise searches of any home or business for any reason whatsoever (even without a warrant), it keeps the prison industry overflowing with endless cheap human labor, and it grants the big drug companies a monopoly over all those recreational drugs that are now sold as pharmaceuticals.

"Speed," for example, is now sold as an ADHD treatment for children. Big Pharma is also going after THC chemicals in marijuana and hopes to sell them as prescription drugs. By keeping the War on Drugs in place, Big Pharma is assured a monopoly that even the drug lords haven't been able to accomplish.

An issue that crosses political boundariesOne thing that's especially interesting about the so-called War on Drugs is how the best-informed people on both the left and the right now see it all as a complete fraud. Perhaps that's why Rep. Ron Paul (Republican) and Rep. Barney Frank (Democrat) are the perfect sponsors of this bill. Each has staked out positions on the opposite ends of the political spectrum for some issues, yet they both agree that it's time to end the failed Nixon-era policies that have only brought this nation suffering and injustice.

Ending the failed War on Drugs is not a conservative idea nor a liberal idea; it's a principle of liberty whose time has come in America.

Because in observing the War on Drugs, the prison crowding, the drug underground economy and all the other unintended consequence of marijuana prohibition, we must ask the question: Is society served in any way by criminalizing marijuana smokers? How does taking a medical addict and throwing them behind bars accomplish anything at all?

The prohibition against marijuana accomplishes nothing for societyFor starters, it halts the contributions of a tax paying citizen. Most pot smokers actually have jobs and pay taxes. They are functioning citizens -- lawyers, accountants, musicians, administrators and more. By throwing them in prison, you're destroying their own ability to participate in the economy while actually placing a new cost burden on the rest of society.

Secondly, from a moral perspective, pot smokers need medical support, not criminal indictment. If someone is suffering from a substance addiction, how does throwing them in prison and surrounding them with other addicts and hardened criminals serve any positive purpose whatsoever? Today, U.S. prisons actually function more like criminal training camps where people come out as far more violent criminals than when they went in. So the justice system actually ends up capturing people who are relatively peaceful, tax-paying citizens and then turning them into hardened criminals who are eventually released onto the streets.

How insane is that?

Wouldn't it make more sense to allow them to continue to function in society but help them with their drug addiction through a medical / health perspective? Addicts need support, not incarceration. And today's justice system does absolutely nothing to rehabilitate prisoners. It only makes them far worse criminals.

And finally, from an economic perspective alone, can any U.S. state really afford to continue incarcerating people for non-violent crimes that have no victims? Who is harmed with a guy down the street lights up a joint? No one. There are no victims. There is no crime, either, other than the fictional crime the State fabricates to incarcerate people.

A "real" crime is a crime that has a victim: A rape, a burglary, a mugging, or a murder. Those crimes deserve proper consideration by the justice system, and people who commit such crimes are precisely the kind of people society can justifiably put behind bars. But carrying a few ounces of marijuana in your pocket -- or even lighting up a smoke -- violates no person or property. Nor does it violate any moral or ethical principle. It is, in every way, an act that is improperly and unjustifiably criminalized through legal fictions engineered by the state.

The solution to marijuana prohibition is finally at handIt is time to end those legal fictions and end the War on Drugs in America. The solution is to:

#1) LEGALIZE marijuana across the country.

#2) REGULATE marijuana and allow it to be sold through licensed retailers.

#3) TAX marijuana sales and use the tax proceeds to fund addiction support programs for those small percentage of users who end up addicted.

The results of these actions will be:

#1) A COLLAPSE of the drug gangs. If marijuana is suddenly legal, who would bother buying it from a street dealer?

#2) A COLLAPSE of drug profits. If it's legal, the price goes down. Suddenly there's no more money in trafficking the drug, either, so the drug gangs are instantly out of business.

#3) A HUGE INCREASE in revenues to the states from collecting taxes on the legal sale of marijuana.

#4) A REDUCTION in young people trying the drug. What teenager wants to try something if it's LEGAL? Legalizing pot takes all the "fun" out of it for many young people. It's no longer cool. Kinda boring, actually. And it makes you cough.

#5) A SAVINGS of billions of dollars off all the money states are right now spending arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating people for possessing marijuana. This money could be used to build schools, roads, job re-education programs and more. And don't court judges have better things to do than sentence pot smokers?

#6) AN END to prison overcrowding. End the sentences for those incarcerated merely for marijuana possession. Set them free and end the prison crowding. Save the prisons for the real criminals such as murderers, child molesters and Wall Street bankers.

#7) A FREER, more just society that respects human dignity. If you treat addicts like criminals, you take away their dignity, and your entire society suffers a net loss. By recognizing the humanity behind the addiction, we can restore human dignity to the entire process of how we deal with drug addicts in society today.

Action item: Call your Congressman to support this bill!Here's what you can do right now to help support this bill: Call your Congressman in Washington D.C. and tell them you want to support the bill to end the federal ban on marijuana.

The switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

If you live in the U.S. or are a U.S. citizen, call this number now, ask to be connected to your Congressperson, and verbally express your support for the bill to legalize marijuana across America.

It is time to end the failed War on Drugs, stop the useless incarceration of millions of innocent people, and halt the tyranny of the DEA and other federal agencies that waste billions of dollars every year stalking and assaulting people who merely want to smoke a weed.

I don't smoke weed, by the way, but as a person who believes in the principles of freedom and liberty, I fully support the rights of others to smoke marijuana if they so choose. Similarly, I don't drink alcohol, but I support the rights of other to drink alcohol if that's their decision. As a nation, we tried prohibition with alcohol and it was a disaster. Now we're living through the era of marijuana prohibition, and it is a disastrous failure as well. Isn't it time we grew up as a nation and allowed people to take responsibility for their own actions as long as they aren't harming anyone else in the process?

Smoke all you want, folks! I'm gonna have a superfood smoothie instead.

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Disposable coffee cups, carryout containers filled with cancer-causing agents

Natural News
by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Friday, June 17, 2011

(NaturalNews) Millions of people eat and drink from plastic and styrofoam cups and containers every single day, and the US government now admits that many of these consumer products contain known cancer-causing agents. The formaldehyde preservatives found in many disposable coffee cups and foam take-out containers, as well as styrene, another chemical additive used in such products, have both been added to the federal government's list of known or suspected carcinogens.

The addition of these two chemicals, as well as six others, to the carcinogen list this year was reportedly a reluctant decision made by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which has been pressured by the chemical industry for years to delay coming forward with this information. Nevertheless, both formaldehyde and a chemical known as aristolochic acid have now been categorized as "known human carcinogens," while captafol, cobalt-tungsten carbide, certain glass wool fibers, o-nitrotoluene, riddelliine, and styrene have been dubbed "reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens."

"Reducing exposure to cancer-causing agents is something we all want, and the Report on Carcinogens provides important information on substances that pose a cancer risk," said Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of both the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP). "The NTP is pleased to be able to compile this report."

You can read the full report, entitled 12th Report on Carcinogens, here:
http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/roc12

The chemical industry was quick to denounce the findings, of course, claiming that there is no significant danger from exposure to these chemicals. And some federal officials seem to be kowtowing to this pressure by telling the public that the main concern is the industrial use of these chemicals, rather than consumer use. Even the American Cancer Society (ACS) has urged the public not to worry about continuing to use plastic cups or foam containers, despite the fact that many are loaded with some of the chemicals in question.

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Japanese scientist creates edible meat alternative made from recycled human waste

Natural News
By Ethan A. Huff
Thursday June 16th 2011

(NaturalNews) If you think meatless, genetically-modified (GM) soy food products are a poor alternative to real meat, wait until you see the latest in vegetarian meat replacement technology. According to a recent Inhabitat report, Japanese researcher Mitsuyuki Ikeda has developed a new kind of meatless burger made from soy, steak sauce essence, and -- brace yourself -- protein matter extracted from human excrement.

Ikeda's poop burger is literally derived from "sewage mud," which is just a nice way of saying that it was created from human waste. By extracting the protein and lipids from this "mud," Ikeda was able to take these components, add a reaction enhancer to them, and process the slurry into a meat-like product. Ikeda then added a steak flavoring agent, soy sauce, and food coloring to the mix, and voila, an imitation meat product that he says tastes just like real beef.

According to reports, the final meat-like product is 63 percent protein, 25 percent carbohydrates, nine percent minerals, and three percent lipids.

"I admit that few people would be keen to eat it knowing it's made of human excrement," said Ikeda in an interview. "As far as the cost is concerned, because at the moment it includes the cost of research, our artificial meat is 10 or 20 times more expensive than normal meat. But once the research is complete and it's put on the market, we'll probably be able to price it at roughly the same level as normal meat."

Ikeda added that, because his turd steaks are low in fat, they will supposedly be of interest to those who love to eat burgers but who want to watch their calorie intake.

You can watch a video explaining Ikeda's process of turning stool samples into savory steaks here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1N6QfuIh0g

Sources for this story include:
http://inhabitat.com/poop-burger-japanese-researcher-creates-artificial-meat-from-human-feces/

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Whole Foods admits its organic foods contain genetically modified ingredients

Natural News
By Tara Green
Tuesday June 7th 2011

(NaturalNews) Genetically modified foods have become so ubiquitous in the US that even the grocery store 'Whole Foods' now admits it cannot keep biotech foods off its shelves. A representative for the corporation acknowledged in May of 2011 that the realities of the marketplace have forced a shift in the company's previous no-GMO's policy.

Joe Dickson, quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods Markets, notes that GMO's dominate the market, especially for corn, soy and canola crops from which ingredients in most processed foods are derived. "Until there's federal government mandated labeling of GMO ingredients, there's no way to tell if packaged products contain GMO ingredients," Dickson said. "Our approach is to work in the spirit of partnership with our suppliers ... to encourage them to take active steps to avoid GMO ingredients."

In spite of public skepticism about GMO foods, the FDA has backed Monsanto and other corporations, declaring that modified foods do not require special labeling letting consumers know they are eating Frankenfoods. This is in contract to the European Union, where public concern over health issues resulted in a moratorium on GMO's. Many European countries, including France, Germany, Greece, Austria and Luxembourg have banned genetically modified foods, while other countries in the EU permit their sale only when products include clear labels of GMO ingredients.

Whole Foods' recent admission proves how successful the biotech companies have been in their efforts to replace foods unadulterated by hormones with Frankenfoods. The fact that one of the best-known purveyors of natural foods has decided to throw in the towel rather than holding the line against biotech foods means consumers will have fewer places to go in their quest to buy non-genetically engineered foods.

Jeffrey Smith points out in his book Seeds of Deception, the biotech industry has co-opted the watchdog agencies of the federal government and sought to silence critics in the media and the scientific community who question sloppy science which they use to "prove" the safety of Frankenfoods. Natural News readers should read Smith's book to understand the efforts Monsanto and others have gone to -- including smear campaigns and threats against those who seek to present other points of views and the theft of research materials contradicting their biotech claims that Frankenfoods are completely safe.

Even the long-standing EU "zero-tolerance" policy on biotech foods has shown signs of cracking in the past few months, as the Union considers lifting import restrictions which formerly kept US-grown GMO's from being sold in Europe. As reported on Natural News late last year (http://www.naturalnews.com/030828_G...), the forbidden information which surfaced through Wikileaks included documents revealing that the US government has conspired with the biotech companies to pressure European countries on the issue of genetically engineered foods.

Move past the propaganda put forth by Monsanto and their government lapdog agencies by educating yourself on the dangers of GMO's both on this website and in Jeffrey Smith's books and website. Try to keep your diet Frankenfood-free by finding a local food coop whose "quality standards" do not involve caving in to the biotech companies.

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Scientists push to implement edible RFID tracking chips in food

Natural News
By Ethan A. Huff
Friday June 3rd 2011

(NaturalNews) It will monitor your calorie intake, show from where your food was sourced, and even let you know when the food in your fridge is about to go bad -- these are some of the enticing claims made by the developers of a new system that embeds edible radio frequency identification (RFID) chips directly into food. Its creators insist the technology will revolutionize the way humans eat for the better, but critical-thinking onlookers will recognize the ploy as just another way to track and control human behavior.

Developed by Hannes Harms from the Royal College of Art in London, the "NutriSmart" system is based on the idea that RFID wafers injected directly into food can help better track the food supply chain, further automate the supermarket shopping experience, and simplify the eating experience by programming data into food so that humans essentially do not have to think about what they are
doing.

The technology makes both eating and dealing with food in general mindless, as a person simply needs to plop an RFID-embedded food item onto a special RFID-laced plate, which then tells the person all about the item and how much of it to eat. RFID ovens and microwaves also eliminate having to think about how long to cook an RFID food item -- simply put it in the RFID microwave, oven, or toaster, and the machine will know exactly how long to cook the item.

As interesting and novel as this might sound, such technology is actually quite frightening when taken to its logical ends. NaturalNews previously warned that mad scientists have already developed edible RFID tags for use in pharmaceutical drugs (http://www.naturalnews.com/028663_h...). These tags, of course, can and will likely be used to monitor patients' compliance with doctors orders, and alert authorities if a patient refuses to take certain pills as prescribed.

And if such technology also ends up in food, it is safe to assume that evil powers will seek to control the food supply with it, as well as monitor the types of food people eat. In other words, if authorities one day decide that vitamin and mineral supplements are off limits, which is what is currently happening in Europe (http://www.naturalnews.com/032389_h...), it is plausible that RFID technology can assess illegal intake of such nutrients, and immediately send this data to the appropriate enforcement agencies.

This 1984-esque scenario appears to be more than just science fiction -- it is unfolding before our eyes just a little bit more every single day. And the NutriSmart system is just another piece of evidence that those in power wish to micromanage every single aspect of our lives, from the drugs we take to the foods we eat.

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78 percent of Pakistani children with polio were given polio vaccines

Natural News
By Daniel Erickson
Thursday June 2nd 2011

(NaturalNews) In the last year, as Pakistan has lost favor with the US and UNICEF, polio virus has paralyzed increasing numbers of Pakistani youth, casting doubt on the good intentions of those who fight polio. To make matters worse, most of the new cases have occurred in children already vaccinated. Is the US attempting to fight Pakistan by tainting inoculation doses?

The medical data suggests that the vaccine has changed in its efficacy against the disease. Last year, there were 136 cases of infected youth, and 107 of these had been administered multiple polio vaccinations. These figures are the largest the Polio Global Eradication Initiative has seen since 2006, despite heavy treatment in the most affected areas, South Punjab and the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA).

Even the more peaceful provinces have suffered. As reported by the Pakistan Daily times, there were 10 cases of polio in Sindh province in the first four months of the year. The article morbidly notes each of the cases, citing the children's names and the number of vaccinations they had received before the onset of polio virus: "Mohammad Asif, aged 40 months with all his limbs affected... was administered oral anti polio vaccine (OPV) four times... The three and a half years old Ameera... had one of her arms and legs paralyzed... Ameera was first of the confirmed cases of polio during the current year."

As one might imagine, Pakistani citizens are beginning to suspect foul play. Dr. Mazhar Khamisani, a manager of the health department in Sindh has noted that he has seen Pakistani parents begin to refuse treatment and do so on repeated occasions. And how could we, when confronted with the facts, ask them to do otherwise?

The type of polio vaccine administered may be a significant cause of the problem. There are two main types of polio vaccine, Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). The first of these uses dead cells of poliomyelitis. IPV was developed by Jonas Salk before being disseminated throughout the US in the 1950s, to quell the outbreak that was then infecting roughly 22,000 American children each year. Within 20 years, polio was all but forgotten in America.

However, The Polio Global Eradication Initiative chooses to use the second type, Oral Polio Vaccine. OPV was developed by Albert Sabin and runs the virus through a number of animals in order to weaken the strain rather than kill it. The weakened strain is then injected into children, whose immune systems are strong enough to defeat the infection. It is easy to see how treatment could backfire, in cases when the strain has not been weakened enough for human contact.

Despite the fact that it was not widely disseminated in the US, possibly because of the dangers associated with its use, OPV is the vaccine of choice in countries like Pakistan because, soon after vaccination, weakened virus can be found in children's fecal matter. Immunity can then spread to communal water sources and increase immunity for greater portions of the population. So even if parents refuse OPV treatment, their children may still receive it indirectly through the drinking water.

Historically, there have been cases of outbreak when a weakened strain becomes strong enough to infect rather than immunize. In these cases, OPV is typically replaced by IPV because it is no longer considered safe. But OPV is still the vaccine of choice in Pakistan, even as it continues to prove its potency to the Polio Global Eradication Initiative. Why?
One explanation is that researchers have not collected enough data yet to say with certainty whether the vaccine is causing the outbreak. But how much longer will this go on?

It is equally plausible that the vaccine is not being handled properly. If the requisite temperature is not maintained, the vaccine can be rendered completely ineffectual. In remote areas, where power can be disrupted for hours and even days, the OPV treatments may have exceeded their temperature requirements and consequently lost their usefulness from temperature fluctuations. But surely, medical practitioners would know if their vaccine had potentially been compromised.

Unfortunately, both of these possibilities point to some kind of negligence. Either the doctors administering treatment are aware that their vaccine may not have the capacity to immunize their patients, or the people in charge are disseminating harmful vaccinations, then playing the victim to the 'inconclusiveness of the data' when it is clear that something has gone awry.

The Polio Global Eradication Initiative receives the majority of its funding through UNICEF and the US, both of which are beginning to look at Pakistan as an enemy, rather than a friend. Are political relations trickling down to the medical practitioners who are supposedly fighting a disease, not a country?

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Psych drug doctors now pushing to add lithium to drinking water

Natural News
By Ethan A. Huff
Thursday June 1st 2011

(NaturalNews) Chlorine, fluoride, and the various other chemical poisons already added to the nation's drinking water supplies are apparently not enough for the self-appointed experts whose insatiable lust to force-medicate the world is never satisfied. A recent report in The Daily offers credence to the insane notion that adding lithium, a drug currently used to treat mental disorders, to drinking water will be beneficial in helping to reduce suicide and violent crime rates.

Much like fluoride, lithium alters the brain's normal production of serotonin and norepinephrine, which in turn artificially alters the way an individual thinks and how he or she feels about a given situation. Lithium is literally a mind-altering, antidepressant chemical substance that those promoting it openly admit modifies brain function. And yet they purport that forcibly inducing these chemical changes on the unwitting populations of the world is a good and acceptable idea.

"Lithium certainly dampens impulsivity, which would explain how it reduces suicide rates," said Dr. Allan Young, a psychiatry professor at Imperial College London and big time promoter of lithium-laced water, to The Daily. "When you change these resilience factors in the brain, you see other changes too. People are less timid and shy, for example."

And in the same conversation with that reporter, Young humorously wonders with seemingly insidious arrogance why he has received slews of angry letters from the concerned public about his proposal to mass-medicate the world with this new type of drug. Could it be, Dr. Young, that people would rather think for themselves without having self-appointed "experts" like yourself superciliously play the role of God by deciding for others what they should and should not consume of their own free will?

In his push to begin poisoning water supplies with lithium, Young also cites Americans having been easily swayed to accept genetically-modified (GM) foods as a reason why the US is a "likely candidate for early implementation" of lithium-laced water. He and others are openly pushing to get lithium in the water as soon as possible in order to, as The Daily puts it, "cultivate a more serene social order."

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