The Drug War

Did you know that the drug companies spend more than $15 billion USD every year promoting their products? Imagine if Raul from down the street could lobby congress for HIS products. The question makes you think, doesn't it? Now I realize that most people buy into the propaganda about drugs. In fact I remember my step-grandfather running up to his room to check his things when he found out I was left alone in the house during a vacation a few years ago. Okay like fifteen years ago, but who's counting? Anyway it turned out he got some second or third-hand information about me experimenting with weed and he went off the deep end. All his hours spent 'witnessing' to people in prison had apparently taught him you 'can't trust a drug addict as far as you can throw them.' He is a full-time minister, by the way. He helped to found the church my Mom gives her life to. The point is, where does this idea about people who use drugs come from? What causes someone to immediately associate people who choose to violate the law in this aspect, with people who will violate any law just as quickly? I smoked like a freight train in my late teens and early twenty's. But I never robbed a convenience store in all that time. Not even one. I am living proof that not all drug users are criminals. What makes a man a criminal?

The drug company's have a cartel worth more than any other organized crime racket in history. They have a lock on a market so huge it makes your head spin. If they can afford $15 billion a year on advertising alone, imagine what their bottom line looks like. They have the money to do pretty much whatever they want. I would suggest that everybody read "Natural Cures" by Kevin Trudeau. While it isn't the fix-all implied by the title, it is a good source of information. The fact is our government is run by men with money. A lot of them choose to invest that money in company's that make half a trillion dollars a year. Does anyone want to guess how many of them own stock in big drug company's? What about the guys over at the FDA? Did you know that the employees of the FDA are allowed to buy stock and be involved with the drug company's, while at the same time being solely responsible for regulating them?

Look at it like this. What if the cops in Chicago were allowed to invest in the street drug trade? Imagine if they could sit together in expensive bars discussing their respective ideas about business in the city. I personally doubt they would waste their time shooting each other in the streets. They would probably rival the pharmaceutical industry in a year. Drugs are not illegal because they hurt people. The only drugs that are illegal are the ones that people want the most. This is not an accident. Think about the drugs that are prescribed by the millions every day in this country alone. Drug company's spend billions on research and development and they know how to run a business. They are up to their elbows in the mire of mammon. If you ask me they are brilliant. They even show doctors how to cross drugs to cancel the negative side effects. This of course brings on a whole new slew of side effects, which are being researched right now so another drug can be developed to fix them. It is a sick and twisted cycle, developed to make people rich.

Cocaine was prescribed for decades as a pain reliever. It used to be a major ingredient in Coca-cola and was used widely to treat common ailments. If you found this blog you can probably do the research needed to prove I speak the truth. The ONLY reason cocaine is illegal is because it's formula is so wide-spread and it is relatively easy to make. The instructions are even available on the web, if you were so inclined as to want to cook some up. I don't recommend it, but if you did what gives the federal government the right to determine what I should or should not ingest, smoke, or otherwise imbibe? There is no federal power given by the constitution to regulate any drug. If in fact we want to be a people that imprisons men and women for victim-less crimes should it not be for the states to decide? The answer to this is never really discussed in the media. They help to portray what happens to people that get hooked on something that is illegal. The TV show 'COPS' has become famous for it. But who speaks out for people who are hooked on legally prescribed medication? No one, because that is their intent. To keep you off the stuff you aren't paying them for, and on the stuff your government says is good for you. Marijuana is a prime example of this. Since there is little funding for research in this area we don't have a lot of numbers. What we do have are thousands of first-hand accounts of positive medical uses for what is now an illegal substance in most states. The theory is that if they made pot legal, then they would have to make all illicit drugs legal, and we would all be sitting on our front porches corked out of our gourd on crack. From my perspective however, it seems to me they are just pissed because if they make pot legal they would lose billions in sales. The only real side-effect we know of about canibus is an increase in appetite. Listen closely to the next drug commercial you see, and tell me whether you would trade that list of possible side-effects for the munchies.

So, let's say for a moment that I have proven the drug companies have a financial interest in keeping street drugs, specifically pot, off the market. Let's look at who else benefits. On the other side of the world from the FDA exists a different law-enforcement body. Created by the Reagans in the 80's, the war on drugs eventually brought us a brand-new trillion dollar bureaucracy. The DEA, or drug enforcement administration. This arm of federal power consists of a modest-sized army, who's supposed aim is the eradication of illegal drugs in the US. This costly monster has seized billions of dollars worth of real-estate and other assets from convicted drug dealers and people involved with drug-based crimes. While they play games in the streets with the gangs and the dealers, the real losers are the tax payers. If you think for a moment the intelligence gathering power of this nation couldn't shut down the dealers if they really wanted to, I can't help you. It seems obvious to me that no one is serious about really shutting down the flow of so much money. Where does it all go, I wonder?

We have become a nation derailed by it's own government. Fed lies for generations about what is 'good' for us we have become totally dependent on this beast for nearly everything. Some people say that the war on drugs was a prelude, possibly even a bit of a training exercise for the war on terror. I think it's worse than that. This particular war was declared on my homeland. Against it's citizens. There are 1.75 million people rotting away in prisons in this country. Hundreds of thousands more are injured or dead. How far are we willing to go? How many people will we make worse by exposing them to a prison system that is well known to to make monsters out of non-violent offenders? To me the answer is clear. Just as it was during prohibition, so it is now. People want to get high. They want to choose an escape from their troubled lives. If this choice hurts them, then that is their problem. But if this choice costs John Q Taxpayer millions of dollars in return for creating a monster, then I say legalize the drugs and treat those with control issues. It only makes sense, does it not?

Are you a "Christian?"

In these troubled times, people all over the world are searching for the answers to their problems. Many, because they know no other way, turn to buildings with little signs out in front to find those answers. If you are one of the many men and women who believe that "church" is a building with a steeple on top filled with well-dressed saints, then let me be the first to enlighten you. While it is not always the case, most often these are denominational churches which belong to larger groups. For instance if you darken the door of a southern baptist church, this usually means that the church supports the 'Southern Baptist Convention.' This is a lobbying group mostly, and has elected leaders and a hierarchy of its own. Upon its foundation the SBC sought to unite baptist churches in the south to pool resources which were then used for missionary work or to support smaller groups in rural areas who couldn't afford to build a 'decent church.' These days the SBC has become a governing body in many ways. The annual meetings often spiral into useless arguments about intangible differences in doctrine. They have, over the years developed a list of qualifications which define the kind of church they will accept as part of the organization. These divergences have led many churches to flee the parent organizations, but most still contribute to some degree. There are similar 'lobbying' groups for most large denominations. The United Methodist Church is one such group, but there are many others. Over the course of the last three quarters of a century these groups have rallied under the umbrella of larger organizations like the National association of Evangelicals. The result has been to turn the worship of God into a back alley brawl. It seems the only two issues these people can agree on are gay rights and abortion. Thusly, the 'conservatives' have made these the 'hot button' issues of the day and ignored completely what the body of believers are supposed to be about the business of doing. The 'church' is no longer the body of Christ, its is now the body of fundamentalist political organizations.

In the simplest of terms, 'church' is defined in most people's minds as the building you go to to sing hymns and 'worship God.' In point of fact, however, the true definition of 'Church" is the body of believers themselves. The Church is in you! How many of us have been to a church that cares more about the way people are dressed than they do about their soul? A dear friend of mine told me earlier today that she stopped going to church because her pastor called her out of the choir loft to complain about the 'pants suit' she was wearing. He told her if she ever wore pants into his church again, she would not be welcome. In addition her husband was told to find a suit and tie to wear!

Think of it this way. Assume for a moment that you are the enemy (satan) and that your sole motivation is the total destruction of the object of God's affection (us, his creation). Would it not make sense to attack the churches first? I believe that for the most part church has become more of a distraction than it ever was a solution. Yes, we are commanded to gather together. But the goal isn't supposed to be a fashion show. Nor is it a place to keep count of who is attending and who isn't. I remember when I used to go to a small church in Brunswick county, NC. My own uncle was the pastor there. I was related to almost every member there either by blood or marriage. On the wall outside the sanctuary there was a 3' by 4' sign. Each week someone would update it to show attendance and offerings for the previous Sunday and the present one. I used to think, even as a child, that keeping track of such things was such a waste of time. Measuring the success of a gathering of believers by these standards makes them little different than any other business. I mean, who else keeps track of who is there and who is making the greatest monetary contribution?

I don't mean to knock all churches everywhere as evil, or misled. Most of my family attend church regularly. I have 2 uncles, a step-father, and a step-grandfather that are ordained baptist ministers. But even their churches are steeped in controversy and dogmatic doctrinal thinking. As a friend once told me, it isn't the doctrine that saves you. The acceptance of Jesus as your personal savior doesn't require a monthly contribution. Nor does the bible say anything about what to wear when gathering, or when, or how often. These are rules we have placed upon ourselves. They remind me of the ceremonial law in the rabbinical texts. What we have become is a group of modern-day pharisees! Arguing over what color the pews should be while children in our own neighborhoods go hungry.

The word 'Christian' literally means 'little Christ' or "Christ-like." It doesn't mean "i go to church three times a week and tithe." It means that you have placed your life in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus. It means that your motivations are His, your actions are His....your very LIFE is His. What happened to doing the work of the lord? Simple. Our Pastors go to college (seminary) to learn how to fleece the flock, and how to sound persuasive in the pulpit. Our 'leaders' are so corrupt it is hard to imagine another term for it. Look at people like Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, and the late-great Jerry Falwell. When a non-believer hears the word "christian" that is who they immediately think of, because these are the people who represent Christianity, and therefore Christ, to the world. The lies, the hatred, the evil of these men, these things are well documented. In later posts I will attempt to explain how corrosive and cruel living by their example can be. But for now let me close with an invitation. If you have felt these feelings. If you know that your church has begun to serve Mammon and rejected the Lord, then please do us both a favor. Open your bible yourself, at home. Read what the Lord has to say to you, without interpretation from someone else. See for yourself what kind of world we live in through the eyes of the prophet Daniel, and in the letters of Paul. Read Revelations, and watch the news. The time you could be spending at home, teaching your children the truth is worth much more than the time you spend deciding what to wear to church.

I look forward to your comments and/encouragements. May the Lord bless and keep you, until next we meet.

StevenM