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7DVT
Member since May 31, 2017
Recent Comments
Re: “Media Note: Sanders Aide Accuses VTDigger of 'Systemic Racism'”
I don't believe this accusation of racism is particularly credible within the present context, but I have found the politically motivated censorship of reader comments on VTDigger's web site to be quite severe and unjust on many past occasions -- yet the casual observer will never notice this censorship because they do let some of the less important and relevant comments go through. Their pet peeve seems to be anonymous comments: they are fully cognizant of the fact that whistleblowers and other critics of public officials are frequently subjected to many forms of harassment, yet they still insisted that legal names be used (which often makes candid, free speech impossible.) I don't know if this policy has continued because I got so turned off by the ham-handed censorship and excessive editorial pandering to corporate sponsors that I just quit reading the rag altogether, and stopped forwarding articles to my associates. So I had to laugh when I heard they were asking for people to donate $156,000 in the next two weeks. They will get nothing from me, ha ha!
Posted by
7DVT
on 05/13/2019 at 5:48 PM
Re: “Hooked: How So Many Vermonters Got Addicted to Opioids”
Why is there a heroin epidemic? The answer is simple: PROHIBITION. Opiate abuse was never a really serious problem in the United States until opiates were restricted and criminalized !!
Prohibition does not prevent drug abuse, it just makes drugs more dangerous and addictive because vendors will create more concentrated versions that are easier to smuggle and conceal. In places where illegal drugs have been decriminalized in a meaningful way, we see a corresponding DECREASE in serious forms of addiction because those who need treatment are no longer afraid to come forward and seek help.
Let me explain how this works in the simplest terms: You ban something that is relatively harmless (like opium smoking) and you get something much more dangerous (like injecting heroin.) So you ban heroin, and then you get something even more dangerous (like black market fentanyl.) On and on it goes, until you realize that repeating the same mistake will not create a different outcome. The "war on drugs" can never be won because prohibition just inflates prices, and that attracts more suppliers (both inside and outside government) who cannot resist the incredible black market profits.
Another tragedy of prohibition (which is all too often ignored) is the millions of people who are forced to live without treatment for severe chronic pain. The "war on drugs" is really a war on human rights that creates more problems than it solves. Our government does not recognize a distinction between pain management and addiction -- and where we do make some effort to treat addiction, the absurd restrictions on HOW (and with WHAT) we can treat it reduces the number of positive outcomes. This society is clinically insane, and its addiction to the abuse of power is the most serious epidemic of all.
Posted by
7DVT
on 05/13/2019 at 4:36 PM
Re: “Hooked: How So Many Vermonters Got Addicted to Opioids”
Why is there a heroin epidemic? The answer is simple: PROHIBITION. Opiate abuse was never a really serious problem in the United States until opiates were restricted and criminalized !!
Prohibition does not prevent drug abuse, it just makes drugs more dangerous and addictive because vendors will create more concentrated versions that are easier to smuggle and conceal. In places where illegal drugs have been decriminalized in a meaningful way, we see a corresponding DECREASE in serious forms of addiction because those who need treatment are no longer afraid to come forward and seek help.
Let me explain how this works in the simplest terms: You ban something that is relatively harmless (like opium smoking) and you get something much more dangerous (like injecting heroin.) So you ban heroin, and then you get something even more dangerous (like black market fentanyl.) On and on it goes, until you realize that repeating the same mistake will not create a different outcome. The "war on drugs" can never be won because prohibition just inflates prices, and that attracts more suppliers (both inside and outside government) who cannot resist the incredible black market profits.
Another tragedy of prohibition (which is all too often ignored) are the millions of people who are forced to live without treatment for severe chronic pain because of this mindless "war on drugs" (which is really a war on human rights that creates more problems than it solves.) Our government does not recognize a distinction between pain management and addiction and where we do make some effort to treat addiction, the absurd restrictions on HOW (and with WHAT) we can treat it reduces the number of positive outcomes. This society is clinically insane, and its addiction to the abuse of power is the most serious epidemic of all.
Posted by
7DVT
on 05/13/2019 at 4:30 PM
Re: “Retail Marijuana Sales Bill Clears a Key House Committee”
As we have seen in other states, the primary seat belt law is just a revenue raising measure (and another pretext that dirty cops will use to make unconstitutional traffic stops without a legitimate public safety foundation.)
Posted by
7DVT
on 05/13/2019 at 1:37 PM
Re: “Retail Marijuana Sales Bill Clears a Key House Committee”
The danger of this inaccurate saliva test is that people who were involved in a minor accident and NOT impaired could be prosecuted as if they were. Scott is being intellectually dishonest here: the saliva test will not only end up perpetrating many injustices -- his claim that we will need this test AFTER the repeal of prohibition is based on a false insinuation that prohibition is being obeyed right now. In reality, prohibition is roundly DISOBEYED, yet we are not seeing a problem because cannabis does not impair drivers like alcohol does.
Scott is relying on scare tactics here: he pretends that we cannot punish careless driving without a drug test, and falsely insinuates that cannabis makes bad drivers, when it generally makes them more careful and polite. (Cannabis actually reduces road rage incidents, for example.) It does not increase traffic accidents in the aggregate because a slight reduction in reaction time is typically offset by a decrease in speeding and a greater amount of attentiveness to the task. If you want to be honest and realistic, you can just continue to issue citations for careless driving the same way you did before legalization.
We are not trying to promote cannabis use but we cannot ignore the fact that people are going to use it with or without prohibition, and it has not produced the kind of chaos which the far right is trying to scare us with. Scott does not really care about public safety, he is looking for plausible excuses to reject the bill because he fears that he will lose the support of the many religious bigots in his party if he concedes another front in the culture war. Scott is "willing to listen" alright... but he is never willing to be REASONABLE.
Posted by
7DVT
on 05/13/2019 at 1:22 PM
Re: “High THC Cannabis Found at Farm Linked to Champlain Valley Dispensary”
Thanks to political pressure from the voting public, you can now grow high THC cannabis in your house -- but you still cannot grow it on a commercial scale because mass production of a natural pain reliever competes with the patent medicine cartel. Like many other states, the Vermont state government is infested with mobsters who represent an entrenched corporate mafia first and foremost. They also enjoy the support of many religious bigots (who pine for the days of slavery and regard your body as their property.)
Posted by
7DVT
on 05/13/2019 at 12:46 PM
Re: “Vermont Senate Votes to Legalize Marijuana Sales, Setting Up House Fight”
So as it stands now, we would have to wait until the end of Q1 / 2021 before towns could even THINK about holding a referendum to restore freedom, while people in other states are setting up shop as we speak? It seems like Vermont is bound and determined to reject every potential advantage and every opportunity for prosperity which happens to come its way. It's the economic equivalent of self-flagellation.