Posted by dopaminerequiem on August 24, 2007, at 8:54:50
In reply to Re: Parnate/Dexedrine/500 sleeping meds-quintal, posted by jhj on August 24, 2007, at 0:32:16
> Hi Quintal,
> I am sorry for deviating from the main subject.But,yesterday itself i talked to a senior official in "narcotics control beuro" of India.He told me that it is true that it is available in western countries and used for some medical purposes also.But,he also made it clear that opium trading is financing terrorism worldwide.He further said that he is confident that in next five years opium will be off the shelf in all the western countries too because India is lobbying really hard with all these governments and also through United Nations with some success to make use of opium illegal even for treatment purposes.
****Totally OT but one issue that gets under my skin is the so-called "war on drugs." A war that can never be won. A war that has CREATED more victims than saved or rescued them. Yes, I am a former (very severe) drug addict and I believe in drug legalization.
So: opium is not legal in the United States for ANY purposes. Neither is heroin. This is NOT because either of those drugs are necessarily more dangerous than the current available opiates. It is solely a political decision, which has mostly to do with anti-Communist propaganda [the Chinese and their "opium dens"].
Funny, because when you could buy heroin in a pharmacy [for pain relief] and it was even over the counter and when opium WAS legal, the drug problem was not even a fraction of what it is today. By making these drugs illegal, we have forced the drug trade underground, increasing all criminal aspects associated with it and increasing the number of addicts and overdoses as well.
What ARE legal are so-called "synthetic" opiates like Fentanyl (hundreds of times stronger than heroin, thousands of times stronger than opium), OxyContin (which hits your veins just like heroin does and gives you the same heroin nod), morphine (which is the precursor to heroin), etc.
Basically, a scientist took a poppy plant and made opium and codeine. Another scientist took this a step further, did a minor chemical alteration, and made codeine. Same thing happened, and morphine was made. Then, out of morphine, heroin was made. ALL of this [and opium] from a plant!
And yet morphine and codeine stayed legal. Heroin and opium were made illegal. Of course, fentanyl and OxyContin soared through the FDA like nobody's business. If you think that this does not have political undertones, you are out of your mind.
As far as opiates funding terrorism, this is insane. The Taliban actually PROHIBITED drug use and trafficking of any kind and were responsible for some serious heroin droughts on the East Coast, since the poppy plant thrives in Afghanistan. Of course, since no one seems to be able to differentiate between different political groups in the Middle East, everyone says that drugs fund terrorism. Actually, the terrorist groups that the US has targeted - especially the group that we have PRIMARILY targeted - are fundamentalist Muslims, who believe that drug use of any kind (including alcohol and cigarettes) are immoral and did far more to stop the drug trade than anyone else.
Anyway, in today's world, even if all of the poppy plants in the WORLD were destroyed, we could still make opiates using various chemical compounds in laboratories. Fentanyl is diluted and sold as "China White" [an especially strong type of heroin] on the streets. Even the recent drug "epidemic" in the US is because of crystal methamphetamine, which can be cooked up in a bathtub using completely legal ingredients.
I know I went way off topic here but ignorance on this topic is something that really disturbs me. Propaganda is still alive and thriving in both our so-called "war on terror" and "war on drugs."
And to think, before the Bush administration, I would never have been afraid to post something so "inflammatory" on an Internet message board. Why aren't we talking about the "war on free speech and free thought and free public opinion without propaganda"? I can't imagine what it must be like to be psychotic in this day and age, when a posting like this is grounds for CIA investigation merely because I criticized the current administration and suggested that the war on terror and the war on drugs are a facade that has been sold to us via Fox News.
Okay, enough ranting. I'm sorry!
poster:dopaminerequiem
thread:777910
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070824/msgs/778275.html