What is Digg?114 Comments
- LEAPSpeakers, on 10/12/2007, -3/+138Thanks for all of the support...LEAP has gotten a rash of media calls today--thanks, in part, I'm sure, to you folks here at Digg. But, hey, I'm not the guy running the show--just the guy that runs the speakers bureau. It's exciting work, too, booking these cops, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens and others from the criminal justice system to speak to civic grps, chambers of commerce, church congregations, veterans, senior citizens and more to explain why drug prohibition doesn't work. When it is presented like this, by these experts, people agree. I guess sometimes it's just the messenger.
If you have suggestions for a speaker to do a talk radio show, arrange a newspaper interview or have a venue for our speakers, send me a note.
Mike Smithson
speakers bureau coordinator
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc
speakers@leap.cc 315-243-5844
Syracuse, NY - lordthor, on 10/12/2007, -5/+76This is very important, and I'll do my best to get it out there. I encourage others to do the same.
- lordthor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+64I just called and spoke with the guy who organizes this thing, and he's a real nice fella. His name is Mike Smithson. He hadn't heard of Digg before, but I told him about the site and that he should come and register here and digg his story. :P I am really pushing for this to hit the front page, I hope it does. This is great news.
- asdfasdf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+52Yeah. It's funny how scientists, economic analysts and now law enforcement are talking about legalizing and regulating drugs, but the DEA is still covering their ears, even though many other countries *have* and are in the process of reforming their drug laws. Not that I'm surprised, because the DEA's entire business is at stake here.
- dagonweb, on 10/12/2007, -21/+64Too bad, it will have no effect. Not this generation. You can haul around this video all over the place but it won't do shiit. America is held ransom by a lunatic fringe of rightwingers who have no idea about the real world. They are dedicated to a psychotic religious version of things that is based on dreams and wishful thinking. They actually think they can win this nightmare.
Americans live in a delusional world. A world where they can dictate their version of civilisation to people who have lived in a world of cutting off heads for thousands of years. Americans are spoiled rotten, detached and in denial. Prohibition is one of those issues.
We have nowhere near the problems in the netherlands in terms of violent crime as you idiots have in the US. Our experiment succeeded, yours failed. America needs to whip into place neoconservatives, republicans, lobbyists, corporations and moralist wingnuts. Welcome to the real world.
C L E A N Y O U R H O U S E ! - toppgun, on 10/12/2007, -2/+42thank you for speaking up about this failure
- sweetnuts4sale, on 10/12/2007, -4/+40This is why I love Digg!!! News that matters, real News, unfiltered, and informative. Thanks Digg
- Tobiah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36Thank you Mike, and everyone involved with LEAP for all there efforts. I myself, don't use any drugs (with the exception of Caffeine), but I fully support the removal of all drug laws. I often use your work in my arguments and debates with people on this subject.
/salute. - salivalnz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29Thank you, Mike.
All the best to you and your group. Your efforts are appreciated by the people these draconian laws affect - even those, like me, who are on the other side of the world! - bwjacket, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Penn and Teller do this topic justice...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3653114296815352489&q=*****+war+on+drugs - mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25Definitely the best side of Digg. Getting the real news to the masses, and often the huge news corporations wake up after it gets on digg.
- weaszel, on 10/12/2007, -10/+32dagonweb:
those are some pretty harsh words, especially coming from a person as peaceful and "real" as you make yourself, and your entire country, out to be. i really don't understand your logic -- all americans are idiots because of the administration running our country and because of the laws our politicians have put into place?
next time, why don't you take a little bit more time to think before you go making horribly inaccurate, and downright xenophobic, generalizations about other societies? you won't come across as of much as a jerk. - mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Yeah you don't need to do drugs to understand how bad this is for the country. Just your tax dollars alone that are accomplishing nothing should be enough to wake THEM up. (them = government)
The prohibition didn't work before, and it won't work now. If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, it doesn't make any sense to outlaw weed. - Jadix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24More people smoke marijuana than voted for our president.
- sLydE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20I emailed this to my Governer, Lt. Governer, Senators and House Reps in both the state and federal branches. This is VERY important. Let's make things change!
- coldfirenj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Anyone who thinks government regulation or prohibition of potent drugs works or is worth persuing is beyond reasoning. Once you see the drug culture for what it is you realize what a scam they are running. Most people who have a problem with drugs are sad empty people looking for help in the wrong places... not heartless savages. But, war means money and this is indeed a culture war that is paying off big for the people in charge. I think it will be a long time, unfortunatly, considering the state of this country before people start to figure this out for themselves.
- yoda133113, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18In a nation that claims to promote freedom and liberty above all else, to protect someone from themself is wrong.
- AlanKc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Simply, thank you.. I have never heard of LEAP till now, but Ive been looking for it for awhile.. thank you for speaking out.
- Malakin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17There was a BBC drama-documentary on legalizing drugs which hit the front page of Digg recently; some might also find it interesting.
http://digg.com/videos_educational/If_Drugs_Were_Legal_video - asdfasdf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15If you do a little research you will realize that a lot of illicit drugs have a lower abuse potential than Alcohol, and a lot of them aren't fatal in even massive amounts. For example, it's impossible to smoke enough Pot to die. Likewise, you can't die from an overdose of LSD (it's very non-toxic), nor can you die from an overdose of DMT.
Also, most people who overdose on heroin and die do not die from the heroin, but from the substances it is cut with (cut meaning mixed in with to increase the weight of the heroin, to increase profit for the dealer). In fact - and this surprised me - we don't know the LD50 of a heroin addict. They would need a lot of heroin to overdose and die (but I'm not saying it's impossible! H is dangerous!). Most heroin deaths can be attributed to Quinine or Fentanyl, and some other substances the heroin might be cut with. If we give prescription heroin to addicts, they wouldn't need to commit crime to support their habit, and they would know that they are getting a clean product.
If we want to reduce harm and death from drugs, we should focus on education. We need to teach people about tolerance, dependence, addiction potential, the dangers of poly drug use (mixing drugs), who should NOT use a particular drug, what the real side effects are, and so forth.
Most Ecstasy deaths are attributed to drinking too much water or the drug being laced with something lethal like PMA.
Here's something to keep in mind. Whenever you see a negative news piece about drugs (such as an overdose), ask yourself: Would this have occurred if drugs were legal? - Otto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16>>>This can be related to real life. Acetaminophen/paracetamol (AKA Tylenol) is the leading cause of acute liver failure. Most people think that just because it's OTC, it can't hurt to take a few more pills. They think that the government bans all drugs that are dangerous, and keeps drugs that are safe as being OTC. It only takes a handful (about 4000mg, 1 dose is around 500-1000mg) to cause liver damage. Why doesn't Tylenon have a warning on it?"
I agree with the rest of your points, except this one. The leading cause of acute liver failure is Acetaminophen taken with alcohol.
And Tylenol does have a warning on it. A fairly comprehensive one. It tells you not to take it with alcohol, and to limit your dosage to no more than 2 grams (four 500mg doses per day). If you go over that, then you're an idiot. Don't be blaming Tylenol for idiots who do idiotic things.
The most common single pill form contains 250mg of it. At two pills per dose, you'd have to take 8 doses to reach toxicity levels, and that's only with daily chronic usage over a period of several days. The actual single use toxicity level is 10 grams, or 20 doses, or 40 pills! That's almost an entire large bottle of pills!
Face facts: Acetaminophen is one of the greatest drugs ever created. It's a highly effective pain reliever, it's not addictive in the slightest, and it has no side effects. It is, without question, the safest analgesic available. Just don't be an idiot and OD on the stuff. - Arkonnan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13The only myth is that drug laws prevent "junkies and people who OD" from getting their hands on drugs in the first place.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I can't hear you, what, speak up, you want a seagull wearin pajama, oh... legal marijuana, don't you know that stuff causes you to become a psycho killer? you say scientists agree that its safe... they must be on the stuff... lalala, i can't hear you anymore...
- ISIfunded911, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Entirely true. Even more fundamental is the absolute opposition of the organization that makes more money than any other transporting (with thousands of planes through many covert airlines and flight schools) and dealing drugs: the Cocaine Import Agency, aka the CIA.
"In my 30-year history in the Drug Enforcement Administration and related agencies, the major targets of my investigations almost invariably turned out to be working for the CIA." --Dennis Dayle, former chief of an elite DEA enforcement unit. FROM: Peter Dale Scott & Jonathan Marshall, Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America, Berkeley: U. of CA Press, 1991, pp. x-xi.
The story of a journalist who wrote about the CIA and crack in L.A. in the San Jose Mercury News, and what happened after that (he is dead now, a suicide with two bullets in his head), how the other media reacted (the CIA controls all the prominent people in the media according to a CIA director's testimony in front of the Congress' Church Committee in the 70's): http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/
The link to George Bush (and Clinton...how could the CIA keep on making billions trafficking drugs if the presidents did not agree?): http://www.wethepeople.la/ciadrugs.htm
The CIA, America's Premier International Terrorist Organization:
http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html
MI6, MI5, CIA, Mafia, all in the same bed:
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=35&contentid=3528&page=2
The C.I.A. & Drugs - Narco-colonialism in the 20th Century:
http://ciadrugs.homestead.com/files/index.html
CIA, Drugs, and Wall Street - How much Wall Street needs those hundreds of billions a year (corporate media involved! And how much drug money ends up financing political campaigns, including Bush and Clinton!):
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/economy/dontblink.html - asdfasdf, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17"Watch "Requiem for a Dream" to support this enforcement!"
It's funny that you bring it up because I saw the movie a few days ago. When you watch that movie (or Trainspotting), do you come to the conclusion that drugs should remain legal or not?
Let me use Requiem for a Dream as an example.
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Would Sara (Harry's mom) have psychosis if she was more educated about drugs? (She was taking uppers and downers. Amphetamines and benzos, Valium was one if I recall correctly.) She believed that the drugs were safe because the doctor was giving them out. Harry even warned her that she'll be 'strung out.'
This can be related to real life. Acetaminophen/paracetamol (AKA Tylenol) is the leading cause of acute liver failure. Most people think that just because it's OTC, it can't hurt to take a few more pills. They think that the government bans all drugs that are dangerous, and keeps drugs that are safe as being OTC. It only takes a handful (about 4000mg, 1 dose is around 500-1000mg) to cause liver damage. Why doesn't Tylenon have a warning on it?
We need to spread education about the *real* harm drugs can cause, instead of ***** propaganda.
Sara's doctor should have warned her about the drug, but instead he just read the diagnosis and prescribed the pills without even looking at her. "No problem, we can take care of that." is what I recall his words being when she said she was overweight.
We should focus on THESE dangers. Doctors over-prescribing meds. Patients not having a clue what they're putting into their bodies. 10 year olds with 'ADD' taking Amphetamines?
That being said. She did mess up by increasing her dose. So we can't fully blame the drug in this case. Amphetamines have worked wonders more than they have caused damage (when used medicinally.)
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Would Marion (Harry's GF) have had to resort to prostitution to support her heroin habit?
I'm not saying we should make heroin available OTC for the whole family, but we should have treatment centers where people can go to get their fix under advisement from trained staff and doctors. This would keep the public safe by ending crime fueled by the need to support a habit, as well as putting an end to the Hepatitis/HIV needle sharing problems. This is what harm reduction and regulating drugs is all about.
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Would Harry have had his arm amputated if prohibition wasn't in place?
Would there have been Italian vs black gang gun fights if it wasn't for the War on Drugs?
Read answer above. - uziq, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13> I believe drugs are illegal for that reason alone. To protect people from themselves.
That may be one of the reasons, but it doesn't make it right. - headzoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13@dagonweb - Your comment would have come across better, and would have been more accurate, if you had slipped the word "government" after each "American".
I've traveled all over the world, and I've met people from lots of different cultures, and let me tell you, people are the same no matter where you go. Everyone, in every country, is just working hard, and trying to take care of their family the best they can. That includes America.
You could take a family from the Netherlands, and plop them in New York, and a family from New York, and plop them in the Netherlands, and you won't even be able to tell a difference. We're all on this same ride in life.
Think about that before you start calling all Americans idiots. It has nothing to do with the 95% of us who are just trying to get through life. It's the our governments and corporations that makes these stupid decisions, not us. - Yaki, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11You go... ex law enforcement officers!
- headzoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"Last time i checked, the government was elected by the people."
Ah, if only that were really true. - missflibbles, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12dagonweb, you're doing a lot of dictating yourself.
You make good points, but then you try to make all of us Americans into one person with stupid ideas. We're not all one person. Stop being an *****. - dagonweb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10It worked in the netherlands... Lowest addiction rates of the WORLD.
How about some paradox ehh? - nerd05, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Exactly. A lot of people (save for the real addicts) are using drugs for the thrill value that you are doing something illegal. We spend millions and invest a myriad of man hours into fighting the multibillion dollar illegal drug industry, and we get nowhere. What we need to do is collapse their business model by legalizing the drugs and shift the resources spent on prosecuting drug dealers and those using them and focus more on helping people with serious problems, and increasing penalties for those who endanger others by being under the influence while driving and doing other things. This will plummet the number of drug-related crimes, and if we are stricter on driving under the influence, our roads and cities will be safer. In the end, everything would balance out and we'd end up with roughly the same number of drug users, minus the crime, and that's perfectly acceptable.
- Bobski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9BTW
Here's a torrent for a higher resolution divx version of the movie
http://www.torrentbox.com/download.php/30420/leap_promo.avi.torrent - realyst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Do you have any plans for offices in Canada? While we are a bit more liberal, we still have 99% of the US style drug laws and often 'aid' the US in drug cases. When we tried to decriminalize pot, the american gov't threatened us with just about everything short of war so I'm sure if you at least get the ball rolling down south we'll be able to reap some of the rewards.
No war on drugs == less back alley dangers == less money into organized crime == less incentive for 'rebellious youth' == more money for actual crimes against other people == less vectors for blood-born diseases in my opinion - ddegx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I am very glad that this news about the world wide drug (WWG) problem is coming to the top of the news; thanks to LEAP and Digg.
The war on drugs has been known to be a failure in Latin America for quite a while. The US has had it easy compared to South American countries like Colombia where thousands of people die every year because of the drugs.
You guys are young and have an opinion, please pass it along.
No more drugs, no more VIOLENCE , no more BS about drugs. The best way to fight drugs is education. - yoda133113, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Well, given that it is the majority opinion, the statement "Americans prefer Christianity" would be a valid statement, to say the "All Americans are Christian" would not be true.
And the video doesn't say anything about this being a majority or a minority opinion, in fact I would be willing to be that FAR more than the 5,000 members of this group support such a stance, or at least similar. - indicas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Keep up the *GREAT* work guys. US policy needs to change. Not much else to say - this video tells the entire story. I pray one day LEAPs goals come true - not only will the US gain a huge sum of money to use for other purposes but our society as a whole will benifit medicinally.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12actually, the safest painkiller would be THC, oh, and don't worry about ODing on it, its simply not gonna happen.
as a side effect it can provide entertainment for hours on end - dagonweb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12NOT TRUE.
Most people who do drugs find, for some strange reason, life feels unpleasant. The rest of the world, thinking they are the objective center the the universe, have no idea what the ***** those whining idiots are talking about. But a huge amount of people around you feel as if life itself hurts. They want a solution for that. Drugs makes the pain go away.
Why drink coffee? Because you feel miserable and tired. Why drink a bottle of cheap filthy wine? Because everything hurts and the alcohol makes the pain go away. Why smoke? Because the nicotine takes the edge of things. The same with heroin, ecstacy, crack, cannabis, acid, coke, speed ... they make life feel as if it worth living, even if only a minute. Ignore that at your own peril.
Untill you deal with that reality drugs will be in demand. - Flagg3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Unfortunately, logic has absolutely nothing to do with why drugs are illegal. It's simply a way to control people and to legislate religious morality.
Could you imagine how much money could be saved if we legalized drugs, gambling and prostitution? Ignoring the money that would be saved by simply no longer investigating, prosecuting, and jailing these people, all of these morality crimes could be taxed, and regulated!
Now, yes, I know that these are bad things, and that there are arguments for why they should all be illegal, but the simple fact is that making these things illegal does absolutely nothing to stop people from doing them, it simply makes those people criminals.
Drug use is very dangerous, but the fact is that people who are genuinely addicts simply don't care if they are illegal or not, they will always abuse substances until they get help for the chemical imbalances that causes them to become addicts. (People who are depressed or bipolar are especially susceptible to drugs that raise serotonin levels. SSRIs go a long way to deal with this problem, and can in fact help these people fight the urges that would be otherwise impossible to resist.) The simple fact is that most illegal drug abuse is a form of self medication, for people who are in genuine need of medical help. Is it fair to punish people for their addictions simply because they don't have the money to go to the Betty Ford clinic, or to simply doctor shop for all of the drugs that you desire?
Again, gambling can devastate people's lives, but for those that are truly at risk, they will always find ways to gamble, and the fact that the state promotes and sponsors certain forms of gambling makes anti gambling laws a bit hypocritical. A Long Island, NY woman was recently arrested for embezzling 2.3 million dollars from her employer to buy NY Lottery Tickets! Again, these people need treatment, prohibition does nothing to solve the underlying problem.
And yes, there are countless examples of how prostitution can and does devastate young girls lives, but that is all the more reason to legalize it, so it can be regulated, and monitored to prevent such horrific abuses. It's legal in Nevada, and it should be legalized everywhere to prevent underage prostitution as well as the spread of disease. It's another hypocritical law. Pornography is legal, so it's legal to be paid for sex on film, but it has to be filmed? If we stopped wasting our money fighting victimless crimes, we would be able to help the people who need help, and stop 'helping' those who don't.
Legislating morality is never right. These laws need to be abolished so that we can spend our money fixing the problems, instead of sweeping them under the rug. - milomilomilo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7you point is silly, since he did crack even when it was illegal. That was his choice and he is to blame.
There are many alchoholics who spend their life savings, and beat their family, but if we tell them to stop drinking they'll be making bathtub moonshine by days end. - indicas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@nerd05:
Let us not forget those musicians who used drugs to enhance their creativity and for inspiration. Let us not forget the scientist who discovered the DNA double helix the same day he experiemented with LSD. Some drugs don't nearly fill the void - they expand the void into infinity, which for some, may lead to incredible discoveries or creations. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7My problem is the jails fill with people who got busted with a join, or some seeds, its pointless, its tax payer money going to nothing, these arent bad people, that dont need to be locked up. Without the mafia we wouldnt even have alcohol and cig's isnt that amazing when you think about it? Our gov doesnt need to control what we choose to do with our bodies, if someone wants to shoot up then so be it, its their choice, if they die, oh well, they made the decision. I can see keeping certian drugs off the streets (crack, coke, herion) etc, but the point is, they can try to stop it forever, and it will never stop, or deter someone from doing it , that really wants to do it.
- asdfasdf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Great work!
http://www.govtrack.us
This link was on the front page of digg a while back, but if you haven't seen it, check it out. You can keep track of the US congress.
If you want to find out who your representatives are, then here is a direct link. You can search by state, zip or rep's last name.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd
An even more direct link (just change NY to your own state)
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=NY - Ollin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7You guys a doing a great job and no matter what please don't stop because what your group is doing borders on not just financial change but also SOCIAL change for all of this country. Which is something we terribly need....
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