Drug War Profiteers Named And Shamed..more Proof Of The Lies And Why They're Told

[LongHairBri]

original link

 

://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2013/03/25/drug-war-profiteers-named-and-shamed

 

I know, it's the same song and dance. the loudest voices in the continued war on drugs are the ones with the most to gain. THIS is one of my pet peeve issues. it's disgusting, it's disturbing, but the world needs to wake up, please read along and share

 

Substance use and abuse news site The Fix lays out some of the more obvious ways drug warriors turn a profit punishing medical pot patients.

Two of the loudest anti-marijuana spokespeople are two elder drug warriors, Peter Bensinger (DEA chief, 1976—1981) and Robert DuPont (White House drug chief, 1973—1977), who run a corporate drug-testing business.

“Their employee-assistance company, Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, the sixth largest in the nation, holds the pee stick for some 10 million employees around the US. Their clients have included the biggest players in industry and government: Kraft Foods, American Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, the Federal Aviation Administration and even the Justice Department itself," writes Kevin Gray for The Fix.

"'These are not just old drug war architects pushing a drug war model they’ve pushed for 40 years,' says Brian Vicente, a Denver lawyer and co-author of Colorado’s Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use. 'These guys are asking Eric Holder to pursue prohibition policies that line their own pockets.'"

We're getting played.

The revolving door between the public and private drug war has room for plenty of folks. There's former George W. Bush deputy drug czar Andrea Barthwell, past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, who believes cancer patients and AIDS wasting victims should be jailed for growing and smoking some pot — unless they buy it from her new employer, GW Pharmaceuticals.

Then there's the mandatory rehab laws for first-time pot possession that send millions of kids into places like those owned by Mel Sembler, a Florida shopping-mall magnate who founded Straight Inc. "a drug-treatment program that used sleep deprivation, beatings and psychological abuse to treat" 10,000 teenagers at $1,400 a month plus a $1,600 per patient evaluation fee before he was shut down for abuse. The Semblers are major Republican Party fundraisers who help bankroll front groups composed of "concerned parents".

Those are just the celebrities. The Drug War is big business for every police station in the country: law enforcement agencies could lose as much as $11 billion in taxpayer money if marijuana prohibition is repealed, Harvard economics professor Jeff Myron estimates.

And don't forget for-profit prisons: "Corrections Corporation of America (CAA), the largest operator in the US, with 60 facilities and a 90,000-bed capacity, had $1.7 billion in tax-payer-funded revenue last year."

CCA writes: "Any changes [in laws] with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them.”

[shredder0911]

I knew it wouldn't take long before the politicians tied to GW Pharma would start to get uncovered. This is a good one!

[solabeirtan]

A truly critically flawed absurd paradox that we are faced with. This is why we pay taxes and support their economies?

 

Paradoxical Absurdity... 

and absurd definition,

 

good find Bri, gracias

Edited March 28, 2013 by solabeirtan

[greenbuddha]

When 'greed' becomes a 'moral' that some men and woman live by, we have to do what we can 'peacefully' do to change that situation.

 

But be sure, Bri, that right along with you, there are many of us out here doing what we can to make that change.

 

And changing the cannabis laws is one of those things that can be done.

 

We are doing it.

 

Thanks for the post.

[ilynnboy]

This is exactly what I posted about in the Legalization/Decriminalization thread.

These supposed reform people just want to imprison us.

Eff U pal.

There are a Lot of Very Deep pockets who would stand to lose untold Millions if we get our way.

I for one will not give in or give up.

As a matter of fact I am going to call my US representative right now to voice my opinion on the bill to force the Feds to relinquish control of cannabis.

What about you?

Have you made the call yet?

This will not be my first call to his office.

Freedom isn't Free. We must work for it .

Edited March 28, 2013 by ilynnboy

[ilynnboy]

Email sent call made. Come on people.

They are not in session right now.

Call them while they are in your neighborhood.

We will get absolutely nothing if we do absolutely nothing.

[greenbuddha]

Email sent call made. Come on people.

They are not in session right now.

Call them while they are in your neighborhood.

We will get absolutely nothing if we do absolutely nothing.

 

If we just sit back, nothing will get done.

 

Our reps in both Washington and Lansing will do nothing unless they think they can lose votes.

 

As other states continue to pass MJ laws and the momentum is there, we have to let our reps know that we have a vote that COUNTS.

[t-pain]

watched some documentaries / news pieces on straight inc.

straight inc might have gone away, but they reopened under a different name.

 

crazy bunny muffin, look it up.

[Chauncy Gardner]

Sickening. Who could have known  that jailing people for profit wasn't a good idea? Kinda like engaging in wars for profit. It just sounds so logical. It is, after all, about "helping" people, right?