Those Annoying White Racists Are At It Again...

The Times alerts its readers to the latest abuse of white privilege:

In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE  OCT. 30, 2015

...

When the nation’s long-running war against drugs was defined by the crack epidemic and based in poor, predominantly black urban areas, the public response was defined by zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. But today’s heroin crisis is different. While heroin use has climbed among all demographic groups, it has skyrocketed among whites; nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.

And the growing army of families of those lost to heroin — many of them in the suburbs and small towns — are now using their influence, anger and grief to cushion the country’s approach to drugs, from altering the language around addiction to prodding government to treat it not as a crime, but as a disease.

I foresee a long, cold winter for objectivity as the New York "Black Lives Matter" Times views every story through this new prism.

But do let me note - it is quite obvious that, forty years into it, the public attitude towards our War on Drugs has changed.

As to the notion that the crack epidemic started this, my goodness, what else do we need to forget?  Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs in the early 1970s. New York's Rockefeller drug laws were passed under - wait for it - Governor Rockefeller in 1973.

And lest you wonder, in the 1970s heroin was a scourge in inner city black communities and there were prominent black leaders, such as Charles Rangel, who were all in favor of tougher drug laws and more vigorous policing.

Here is WNYC News:

In March 1971, New York City faced a growing heroin epidemic. That year, Charles Rangel — then just 41 years old — was part of a delegation of newly-elected black congressman who won a closed-door meeting at the White House with President Richard Nixon.

It was a historic moment. Nixon had already begun the process of criminalizing drugs in new ways, ramping up the federal effort to crack down on dealers and addicts. Over the decades that followed, those policies would send millions of young black men to prison. Some African American leaders were already voicing doubts and concerns. 

But during the meeting, Rangel didn’t urge Nixon to rethink his drug war strategy. Instead, the Harlem Democrat urged Nixon to ramp up drug-fighting efforts more aggressively, more rapidly.

“We could bring a halt to this condition which is killin off American youth,” Rangel told Nixon.  

In their encounter, secretly taped by Nixon’s White House recording system and broadcast here for the first time, Rangel called on Nixon to use America’s military and diplomatic power to stop the importation of drugs.

He urged the the president to view the spread of heroin and cocaine as a “national crisis” and warned that if Nixon didn’t act fast, more Americans would demand that narcotics be legalized.    

“It seems to me that more white America is saying, let’s legalize drugs because we can’t deal with the problem,” Rangel cautioned.

...

Rangel would later write warmly of his partnership with Nixon on drug war issues. “Nixon was tough on drugs,” he recalled in his 2007 memoir.  “[We] worked closely together on what was the beginning of our international war on drugs.”

In the decade that that followed, Rangel himself emerged as one of the black community's toughest and most persistent voices on drug issues, pushing for more money and manpower for the police, and for more military drug interdiction overseas.

He lobbied for the creation of a special House subcommittee on narcotics and then served as its chairman, using the post to support creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency and a national Drug Czar.

Under his leadership, many members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted in favor of some of the most punitive drug-war era legislation, expanding mandatory minimum sentences, funding more prisons and boosting penalties for crack cocaine. 

In a profile in Ebony magazine in 1989, Rangel bragged about pressuring Nixon and President Ronald Reagan to get even tougher on drugs, blasting them for what he called a “lackadaisical attitude.”

Even as questions and doubts about the drug war grew, Rangel wrote editorials mocking the idea of drug decriminalization and describing narcotics as a "genocidal" poison.

It is tricky to track the players without a scorecard but do keep in mind - to some black leaders (e.g., Stokely Carmichael, Ebony June 1970 "Blacks Declare War On Dope") the availability of drugs was a white plot to weaken and enslave the black community and the police role was to look the other way. Locking up the dealers need not be entirely at odds with that, but why bother?

And the Times reviewed a recent book, "‘Black Silent Majority,’ by Michael Javen Fortner, describing black support for tough-on-crime policing. The gist - "Black Lives Matter" notwithstanding, it is not only rightwing pundits that have noticed that the biggest victims of crime are blacks; back in the day many black leaders noticed the same thing.

Is a picture worth a thousand words? From the 1970 Ebony article:

Let me highlight "We are calling for Federal troops, state and local law enforcement forces to move into the streets of Harlem and New York City now and clean it up".

I should add that education and treatment were also emphasized as part of this 1970 black war on drugs.

But today it is all a story of white privilege, racism and indifference. Whatever.

DON'T USE THAT PRIVILEGED LOGIC ON ME... from the Times story I infer that some people think a middle class kid with a family support structure, no criminal record other than the drug use and the financial means to afford rehab should be treated differently from a kid from a violent neighborhood and broken home who is supporting his drug habit by a mix of petty and violent crime. Yeah, go figure.

Meanwhile, this former urban youth was in a drug diversion program until he shot a cop and this nice suburban addict killed his parents and left their bodies hidden in the wilds of Connecticut. Which proves nothing, since anecdotes make for bad policy, but still.

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

First?

[rse]

I have this ongoing discussion with Red. One that all the attention-deficit drugs created a precedent for mood altering drugs and that they have frequently been a gateway.

This is the generation that cannot legally drink at 18. Having made drugs and alcohol equally illegal, what is easier to obtain becomes the question.

[Jack is Back!]

Holy Moly - Asutralia making this world cup verrrrrry interesting. 21-17 New Zealand but the men from Oz are on a roll.

Don't think there is much of heroin or drug problem among these warriors.

[Beasts of England]

China white privilege?

[Jack is Back!]

All Blacks win. Was close for about 12 seconds, then nothing but Dan Carter and Bowden Barratt. Carter's left footed drop kick from 40 meters out was a thing of beauty. I don't thing Paul Hornung or Doug Flutie could have pulled that off.

[henry]

Heroin is a big problem in suburbia and rural WI. Much todo about which laws to pass to cut the death tally from ODs. Now a dealer that has an OD in his drug house can call 911 to save the poor soul -- they used to abandon ODs in place or dump them in parks. Plus EMTs and police can now carry nalaxone injectors -- the quantity of ODs is that high. You don't see this covered on tv or in the Journal Sentinal (too busy conspiring with Chisolm), but all the politicians talk about it as a major problem. The last couple weeks had a batch that wiped out all users -- on radio news but not tv or the papers.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

For those of us plague led to receive the dead tree edition, right next to the "drug war is racist" story is one about racism in the mortgage industry. Let's recall that it was bogus "evidence" for discrimination in mortgages that was the first spark in what became the subprime crisis. But it seems the MSM is going to flog racism no matter what the evidence or consequences.

[The Infamous Ignatz]

A possibility in the difference might also be that white punks on dope don't kill and maim each other or third parties with quite the alarming frequency blacks on crack do. It wasn't white people being protected by the incarceration of violent crackheads.

Meth is largely a white phenomenon and I don't see anyone pleading for long stretches at country estates with tall fences for meth heads, precisely because violent crime is endemic to that culture as well.
Check your lib stupidity.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

Plague led should be plagued.

Also plagued with autocorrect.

[Joan]

I've never understood why people didn't view drugs as scary and dangerous. I realize it's the era I grew up in, but back then getting hooked on heroin seemed to be viewed as a road straight to hell. We called them dope fiends because it seemed that so, so many of them were nihilists, pessimists, people who had no joy or hope or love of life. They were wasted people. It's quite provincial, but I always thought of heroin users as extremely skinny, sunken cheeked, stoop-shouldered white guys with scraggly beards, bad teeth, dirty clothes and shifty eyes. Didn't want anything to do with them. :)

Today's addicts, what are they thinking?

I feel the same way about marijuana's casual use and the way its acceptance has swept our culture and the nation. I'm all for it to be used medicinally, but I don't understand why people use it for fun. Because it's forbidden? (or was for so many years.)

And, when you start talking about cocaine and meth, and what they destroy, I remain puzzled. Cooking ingredients like brake cleaner, engine starter, rubbing alcohol, batteries, fertilizer, plus ephedrine, and then snort or smoke or inject it just seems crazy.

I guess my point is, what do users think will be the end result when using a highly addictive substance THAT IS ILLEGAL?

I know this is way long, but this issue has puzzled me all my life. I can, though, understand how black and/or extremely poor kids whose parents do drugs, abuse them, or are not there, and who live in run down, ugly, decrepit, blighted, rusting ghettos get into that way of life.

I have no answers. Just thoughts. :)

[narciso]

Yes I noted that jimmy, it's like we're trapped in a moebius loop, fortner's is the first really interesting take since epstein and then nadelman dismissed the validity of the drug war.

Ironic how they dismiss anslinger for dealing with organize crime as they deride Hoover for turning a blind eye, one can never win.

[The Infamous Ignatz]

Heather Has Three Mamacitas.

[Miss Marple 2]

Off topic, but this is a stunning visual. Scroll down to see the moving map. Very scary!

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/this-is-an-astonishing-visualisation-of-the-refugee-crisis--Zy19M6pB_e

[Jack is Back!]

Joan,

Don't forget bath salts. Turns you into a naked, raving cannibal. Creepy as hell.

[Marlene]

There have been a record 43 meth lab busts in Maine this year. The meth labs are usually in ramshackle trailers or apartments and the people involved are the dregs of society. It is not charitable to "avert your eyes"but some people are beyond help.

[Miss Marple 2]

Meth is like a virus. It's so addictive that once people get on it it only takes a couple of uses before they are hooked. Then they deteriorate in mental and physical condition.

Around here they have found meth labs everywhere from trailers and motel rooms to the house in the suburbs right across from my grandkids high school!

[lyle]

Heroin is a BIG problem in Boise. One of my best friends had to completely disown and cut off all contact with his middle son who is a full blown addict. Very affluent family, btw.

[Marlene]

Today at Bath Iron Works,an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer was christened the USS Rafael Peralta,by Peralta's mother Rosa. Sgt.Peralta,a naturalized citizen,was killed in the second battle of Fallujah in November 2004. He absorbed the impact of a grenade and saved his fellow Marines. His brother said at today's ceremony that his brother was proud to be a U.S. citizen and a Marine.
The ship will be launched in the Kennebec River tomorrow.

[Jack is Back!]

It seems everday in the Jacksonville area they find portable methhe labs set up in motel rooms. Some of them because they just explode and the motel catches on fire. The other day I heard on NYC radio that the cops had pulled over a car someplace that had a chemical smell coming out of it and there they found a truly portable Meth lab.

The photos of people hooked on meth should be plastered on every wall in every school in America. If that doesn't change attitudes about drugs then we are truly lost.

[DrJ]

Jane,

Cooking ingredients like brake cleaner, engine starter, rubbing alcohol, batteries, fertilizer, plus ephedrine, and then snort or smoke or inject it just seems crazy.

I've reviewed some of the street procedures to make this stuff. I'd never do it in my lab -- it is far too dangerous as written.

[Jane]

I don't think I said that Dr.J.

[DrJ]

My apologies, Jane. That was Joan that I quoted.

[lyle]

Jane. Joan. What's the dif?

/I keed!

[matt]

The same holds true with some of the ultra pure cannabis products. Druggie go boom! Darwin's law.

JiB, I wish it was that simple. The addict brain is not logical, and all it takes sometimes is one or two experiences and the individual is well and truly hooked.

There is no logic to the addict brain. When hunting for a high there is no common sense or fear in most cases. They will do anything for the high. Robbery, prostitution, theft, and more creative crime are all part of the program if you're not Philip Seymour Hoffman or wealthy. Even then, the money usually runs out. I can't imagine Lamar Odom with much left.

It takes at least a year to descramble the addict brain after detox. Physically, one can see the damage in an MRI. The long term success rate for heroin addicts in staying clean is 3%. It's better for meth and coke, but it still isn't pretty.

There are now a lot of people attacking 12 step programs as ineffective. The thing is that they are the most effective tool for rebuilding shattered lives.

One of the essentials of these programs is faith in a higher power, which is why I believe that Satan is stalking the land.

This, physician assisted suicide, abortion, gay marriage, etc all tear at the fabric of a society for 3,000 years that was proven to work. The entire Greco Judeo Christian ethical system is under attack.

The Hippocratic Oath's first sentence has been turned on its head and addiction is a modern plague. The 7th Circle of Hell is now also populated by Gramsci, Derrida, Foucault, Marx, and Nietzsche.

We are called upon by our faith to become our better selves, and a willful, societal turning away from this is at the core of the cancer eating away at our culture.

[Jack is Back!]

matt,

My idea is to pre-empt the addict brain before they lose it not while they have it. I agree once they are hooked it is a very expensive remediation in terms of time, resources and commitment.

I would rather stop the temptation than deal with the consequences later. If it saves even 10% those are lives worth saving.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Rugby...

[clarice]

Criticizing the NYT is like shooting elephants in a kiddie pool for TM.

[Frau Orlofsky]

DrJ - I found your gift of the Kleiber "Fledermaus" overture a day late and really enjoyed the music and the conducting. I've always loved that operetta and was singing along with the music. (o je, wie rührt mich dies)

[DrJ]

Frau,

Thank! Fledermaus is one of those trifles that hits the spot every now and again, and no one does it better than Vienna. And do look for a male Prince Orlosfsky in the performance!

[Jack is Back!]

I am so important, people like Reince Priebus are trying to find my email addresss, just like Ambassador Stevens trying to find Hillary's.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Reince Priebus
Date: October 31, 2015 at 1:42 PM
Subject: Please reach out to John
To: Katie Walsh

Katie, I don't seem to have John’s email address in my contacts. Will you please email them and ask for a quick contribution before the end of the month? They have supported us in the past and I know we can count on their support now.

Let me know as soon as you hear from John.

Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone

Which is BS, of course, since I haven't given GOPe a buck since 2004.

[clarice]

I guess having spent a couple of years on an all gay approach, the NYT is now aiming for an everything is racist narrative.

[clarice]

When I drive out to the near countryside I see teens hanging around with nothing much to do--there are no community centers or programs for them outside of school. They seem rather lost and prey for narcotics pushers. The focus is so much on urban youth, these kids seem really neglected. Do you see that where you are?

[Man Tran]

Also DrJ,

Your comment last night re Grieg: I visited a cousin a couple times back the the early 80s who has lived her whole life just across from Grieg's place. Truly an idyllic place. Snapped one of my best portraits in her home with the low available light.

ps. Just noticed that Grieg died just before my dad's first birthday.

[Beasts of England]

Heroin is big here, as well. Glad I'm afraid of needles or I'd have given it a try.

People do drugs for a variety of reasons: some truly like the rush, or the time out of mind; some just want to hide from the cruel reality of their lives.

Be careful judging drug users. Most that I've known - including myself - have endured some circumstances that y'all don't even want to consider, let alone endure.

I'm glad I'm clean, but it won't ever remove me from understanding the humanity involved.

[DrJ]

Well said, Beasts.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

We need as a nation to get back to honoring the family. I just became acquainted with this group recently (World Congress of Families) and was very impressed, very inspired. Their speakers are wonderfully prepared and articulate. And of course, the left DESPISES what this organization is doing and how quickly they're growing:

http://wcf9.org/

It's a start - we must fight back against our hedonistic culture. It all starts in the family.

[DrJ]

Frau,

I'll recommend a Fledermaus version, if you don't have one in-house. Try Kleiber, Bayerisches Staatsoper, on DGG. You do have to understand German to get it, but I think you do.

[Jack is Back!]

I see Hollyweird can't seem to help themselves as their latest prospective blockbuster will be "Trumbo". Dalton Trumbo, boo hoo. HUAC asked him and he refused to name names even when he was still a member of the Communist Party USA.

And in NYC, Alexander Hamilton is now a hip-hop star. Cheapest tickets I can find for our next trip there in late November is $435 in the nose bleed section.

[Ann]

JIB,

I got the same email. I replied:

TRUMP doesn't need my money.

[Miss Marple]

Rehydrate do they send those lame emails?

I would like to see the difference in on line donations between people who go voluntarily to a web site to donate and people who reply to those emails. I bet very few donate via those emails.

[Miss Marple]

Why do they send...

iPad drives me nuts.

[narciso]

Trumbo who pushed to keep us out of the war 39-41, per party directives.

[GMax]

And my quote for continuing my superduper healthcare plan thanks to Zero and the Liar Party, came today. Last year $3300 quarterly for a very high deductible plan. This year $4400 quarterly. I think that is a 33% increase.

where did I put that tar bucket and feather pillow?

[matt]

clarice;

It is in every town, every race, every economic strata. Out here, we live in denial. One of the things I'm trying to change.

Even the medical professionals outside of mental health and addiction treatment community have huge knowledge gaps.

We live in a society that has become ever more specialized and so ever more focused, which I believe is one reason we have so many educated idiots. They all feed at the same news trough.

But in mental health and addiction the work being done with various brain scanning technologies is just the tip of the iceberg so far. They are seeing the re-wiring of the brain based on dopamine levels and receptors that drugs and mental illness affect.

It's sort of like having a 1932 road map of the United States in 1942, if you will. A few people are beginning to do real time scanning, which should reveal some very interesting results.

But the biggest truism is that idle hands are the devil's workshop. The only real exceptions to this from a streeet level seem to be the kids who are prescribed (or overprescribed) various mood altering drugs or opiates. 30 Vicodin for a root canal is a good way to get addicted.

one or two or three oxycontin can lead to addiction. One bad experience with Ecstasy can rewire one's brain so the effect is like suffering from cerebral palsy.

20% of the human race is predisposed to addiction. The studies are pretty extensive.

And once that monkey is on their back, recovery is difficult. There is hope, but it takes realization that what you're doing isn't working and then praying to a higher power for support and healing.

Dr. Harold Koenig at Duke has done a lot of work on the power of faith in recovery and the stats are there.

And yes, BTDT, the disintegration of the family is at the center of the crisis. Moynihan knew that in 1965 and still no one wants to listen.

[Ann]

Sadly, Governor Walker is also emailing for GOP money and Reince Priebus is sending a copy of his letter to NBC begging for more.

I relied to Reince: YOU SHOULD QUIT!

[narciso]

Seriously, Ann, they went recognition for a decision, they were wrong to make in the first place.

[Jack is Back!]

Once you sign up to contribute online to any candidate they all get your email and you're dead. Even unsubscribing doesn't help.

You should read my replies especially those to the RNC:) But like every masochist they just keep asking for moar. And like the good sadist I am I keep giving it to them.

Katie and I are in a S&M kind of relationship, you might say.

[Ann]

Oh, and Happy Belated Birthday to Beasts and pagar!!!

[Jack is Back!]

For Stephanie and me,

Florida is putting hurting on the Dawgs. Damn. When people say coaches can't make difference. BS. All the same talent Muschamp had but now they are in the right place, condition and confidene.

[henry]

I think those email blasts give campaign consultants something to bill the campaigns for. I still get the regular mail weekly begs, and Ron Johnson's campaign must send 3 or 4 emails a day. Then there are the phone calls.

If they had bothered to cut government and related taxes, I could afford to send a small contribution to the website of my choice. Unfortunately, the DC guys are happy with Obamacare and insane spending. Thus their campaigns are my first budget cut.

[Frau Orlofsky]

Thanks, DrJot - My undergraduate German profs were Viennese. Graduate reading included Nestroy, Schnitzler, Zweig, and other lesser knowns. I became, however, a faux-Rhinelander by marriage.

[Jack is Back!]

Frau,

Wondered how you were so coversant in German especially those delicate idioms from a marriage. Didn't know you were a student.

Verwirren Sie nicht mit Frau (or something like that, I hope:)

[Frau Orlofsky]

JiB - I bet Miss Marple could still go into a German market and buy groceries. Her time in Berlin must have been interesting. Daddy, of course, speaks German Bier internationally.
Prost! Gsuffa! Zum Wohl!

[Frau Orlofsky]

I can't understand why anyone today would begin smoking tobacco or start taking drugs. Look at photos of Miley Cyrus; is that attractive? Does anyone really want to be like her?

Anyone who has lost a close one to drugs is repulsed by them.

[Thomas Collins]

Thanks, American Pharoah. Great way to go out. Also a great way to increase your stud fees.

Not even close. I'm sure it wasn't as easy for Espinoza as it looked.

[Miss Marple]

Frau,

I probably could muddle through, but my lack of use has made me pretty rusty. It's been over 40 years since I was there.

[GMax]

Any Marshall Tucker Bank fans here? I just found an awesome version of Cant You See on Youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlc6xCPx60U&feature=youtu.be

Toy Caldwell could play a little guitar, God rest his soul. Never bothered with a pick. Some haunting flute on the tune too.

Enjoy found this when on a hunt for something else...

[Thomas Collins]

Well, Victor said it was easy. And he's the expert.

[Janet]

For Extraneus - http://pamelageller.com/2015/10/lesbos-lifejacket-mountain.html/

[Joan]

I didn't mean to "judge" people whose lives are lived in despair and who turn to drugs, that's why I tried to differentiate between people a bit, when I mentioned the kids/people who live in ghettos, with no parental support, and who have it in their culture. I can see why they chose something to soften hopelessness, desperation, anguish or abuse.

I was thinking of the middle class or upper middle class kids who want a thrill, who use no judgment.

Just like the girl who surprises herself and gets pregnant having sex without using birth control--what does she think makes a baby?--I don't understand regular people (not in extremis) who shoot up or snort heroin or meth or cocaine. The information is all out there everywhere about addiction. Newspapers. Television. Schools. Drug classes in schools (which were given at my kids' middle school.) Just the reports of people dying from an overdose ought to clue people in that they're dancing with the devil when they take an addictive substance. I said I wasn't judging, it probably appears I am, but I just wonder why aren't they scared they'll destroy their lives? Being hooked must be hell.

My dad was an alcoholic (bad one.) My older sister was addicted to prescription drugs all her life. Her son was a hard drug user and died of an overdose. Very sad.

Our state instituted the first laws about putting the cold/allergy medicine behind the counters and only allowing a person to buy one pkg. at a time a long time ago. Cut the meth labs and meth deaths to near zero. Now meth is imported from Mexico and is much stronger and more lethal.

Our society needs to continue educating kids/teens/adults about the perils of addiction. It's really sad and scary to see your dad come in staggering and drunk every so often. It's even more scary to come to the point when you can't even tell he's been drinking, because he's drunk all of the time. Though I will say, alcohol doesn't scare me like drugs do. Many alcoholics can function in society and manage their jobs and lives.

[Buckeye]

GMax

I am a fan. Heard them live, outdoors in a little park for free in Charleston, SC. Probably a year before the video.

[GMax]

To tie into the drug discussion. We no longer have the talent of Toy Caldwell due ti cocaine. He stopped breathing in his sleep. Cocaine found in his system...

[rse]

Some of us though are at the opposite extreme. Acute pain sending blood pressure sky high and opiods barely working.

Do you know what a doc thinks when you say nothing works very well? I did get treated with oxycontin and kept telling the doctor I was not getting relief. Doctor decided I was lying to get high. Couldn't make me high. So I quite taking the highest dose cold turkey to prove my point.

Note to self: things can be physically an issue even when they are not psychologically one. Still had a script for another month. So I realized my body had gotten used to the drug at the same time I had no relief from the pain. Terrible combo.

Now I live in fear which of my kids will have the same genetic trait.

[Buckeye]

I imagine there was some drugs being done in that park that day.

[GMax]

Yeah Toy was from someplace around Columbia, so that makes sense. I saw them live in Lansing while still in college. Probably 1975 but I dont remember for sure...

[DrJ]

I did get treated with oxycontin and kept telling the doctor I was not getting relief. Doctor decided I was lying to get high.

She Who Is Perfect In All Ways had the same issue. She found a Cervesa helped a lot.

[Janet]

Here's an update on the gender insanity that came out of nowhere in Fairfax County, Virginia. - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/31/va-schools-implementing-gender-identity-policy-cha/?page=all#pagebreak

"But several emails and documents obtained by concerned parents through Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Judicial Watch this week, revealed that on the night of the vote, school administrators had already hired a consultant.

In addition, school board members have been paying the consultant with taxpayer money without a written contract."

Where would we be without Judicial Watch????

[Johns_Creek_Bill]

Joan,

I hear you. I live in a fairly affluent neighborhood. The families living behind us and down 3 houses up have kids who became heroin addicts. We are attending a party around the corner of a family whose oldest son got a girl prevent, got addicted to heroin and is now doing hard time for trying to hold up a Quick Trip.

I wonder if the growth in middle class drug use is some how related to video games.

[Janet]

Here's the guy that was hired - http://www.air.org/person/jeffrey-m-poirier

part of this organization - http://www.air.org/

[The Infamous Ignatz]

There sure are a lot of African American white supremacists committing crimes against other blacks these days.

[henry]

Video games? Maybe the way schools mess with adolescent brains to stop innovative intelligence? If you are forced to be a SJW robot, a drug of some sort may be the only way to get the promised "feels" of a bankrupt ideology.

[rse]

Dr J-straight scotch. Before we knew part of the problem was an undiagnosed broken bone had healed and now the bone was rubbing, I told my kids I wasn't a very good role model to make a drink at 4 but I did not know what to do.

The bone was affecting the circulation though and doc realized that hand was markedly colder. After the surgery nothing worked until finally methadone did. Never made me feel anything except not in acute pain.

It is a very real phenomenon and dangerous because the meds not working can still stop breathing.

It's time for anonamom to weigh in.

[Jane]

Beasts,

DO you think they should legalize drugs? I did my fair share in the day (a long long time ago) and think to this day if I'd had any money back then, I would have become a coke whore.

I am not a big fan of legalization but not for any reason that seems particularly valid. Like alcohol you can waste your life on it. But I like alcohol so that is a bit of a double standard.

[GMax]

Methadone? A heroin derivative, and its addiction curve is steeper than heroin. Hard to believe we used Methadone as a drug to ween heroin addicts. Glad you beat the pain and missed the addiction and its negatives...

[GMax]

I wonder if the growth in middle class drug use is some how related to video games.

Nawww I am sure you can point at global warming. Its the cause of damn near everything I am lead to believe...

[Jane]

I wonder if the growth in middle class drug use is some how related to video games.

Someone made the same comment to me yesterday re: gun violence.

I'm on a "it's all the fault of broken families" rant these day. But I have no idea.

[Jack is Back!]

I have a 12 year old. In a previous life I had kids that are now 43 and 40. No drugs. Why?

Because it does start at home no matter if it is a little dysfunctional but as long as the conversation is positive on life and negative on a gutter life. That and religion, faith, belief in some supreme being who loves you and wants you to live a life of good.

I see so many parents today who just say, "what the hell, let them have fun". No way. I want Frederick to have fun but understand where it stops and his own intellect takes over. So far, so good. But I will be the first to admit that the outside influences are out there and you just have to keep the conversation going every day.

I have been lucky. 3 kids with heads on their shoulders, doing great and in one case raising 3 great kids who are accomplishing life in the fast lane without a speeding ticket.

[Jack is Back!]

Oh, BTW, Go Gators! Not pretty if you are a Dawgs fan.

[Johns_Creek_Bill]

When was the last time there was a "hate crime" that was not a set up by an SJW?

[sbw]

I wonder if the growth in middle class drug use is some how related to video games.

I’m more likely to believe it comes from packing kids in cotton wool and never letting them grow up.

We all did chores. We had working papers and worked.

[narciso]

The times doesn't like anyone of middle class sensitivity, it can stomach the rich oligarch for whom they beg their support, they extoll the poor, for which they seem to create the conditions for more of them, but not the petit bourgeois, hence their loathing for the tea party.

[narciso]

For Nixon and reagan, for carson, Cruz and palin. Whereas a fatous wastrel like the bieber of Montreal they slobber over.

[Rocco]

Thank you Gmax, that was nice. Unfortunately, I was listening to this too. Happy Halloween all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1tGNk1d5gI

[Buckeye]

Drug use is escape in the hood and entertainment in the burbs.

In the hood kids have time on their hands because prospect of getting a job near zero. In the burbs, the interest ingetting a job near zero.

[rse]

I have told that story to surgeon friends, especially ones that are older, and they all said yes, it works well. It is not in the normal toll basket but how it works must be different. It can silence the screaming nervous system without making you feel any way that would make you want more as pain winds down.

When Red was a teenager she had major surgery as some here may remember. I had to walk through this with her surgeon so he would be ready if it came up. He said the same thing. Sometimes methadone is the only drug that seems to block the pain signal adequately.

It's not ideal, but it does continue to have real medical uses. I would love it if someone would explain the chemistry of this to me. It can be like living in the twilight zone when something bad happens.

[lyle]

I did a lot of blow 30 years ago. Glad I stopped although a friend gave me bump about five years ago and really enjoyed it. Not enough to go get any, though.

As for the money that went up my nose, it can't even come close to the coin I've spent on building my wine collection. Sigh. Ah well. It's not like I'm living in the street or gambling. Yet... ;)

[Jack is Back!]

rse.

I hope I never have the chance to explain that to you.

[The Infamous Ignatz]

Some pencil neck eunuch at The Guardian says "It's time to do away with the concept of 'manhood' altogether."
That seemed like an awfully short stop at the 'anyone can identify as anything' whistlestop before we hit the tracks for 'you can identify as whatever gender you want so long as it's not male' one.

[Miss Marple]

What is the difference between a kid in the ghetto left to fend for himself while his mother cleans hotel rooms and a kid left by himself in the burbs while parents are both at work?

Why is one child's loneliness and aimlessness which gets him into trouble scorned, while the other's ignored?

Why is peer pressure an irresistible force for one child and not another?

I don't know. I come from a family which had addictive tendencies. Mine surfaced in smoking. My son got into trouble with marijuana, although now only drinks beer. My daughter didn't have problems at all.

I cannot cast stones at others. You can do the best you can with being home, having them at church and scouts and sports, and they can still go off the rails.

[Jane]

Changing the subject.

Lots are comparing Obama's Syrian escapade to Viet Nam - and how we got in.

What do you think?

[sbw]

"It's time to do away with the concept of 'manhood' altogether."

It’s time to do away with someone presuming to tell someone else what to do away with.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Ah, here's an Rx high for everyone:

http://www.tutorialous.com/this-drug-commercial-is-gonna-blow-your-mind-p1869

[Threadkiller]

We already did away with "natural born," so why not?

[The Infamous Ignatz]

NZ Lesbian Couple Seeking Sperm Donor: Must Be Kind, Intelligent — But NOT a Daddy
Author makes the seldom heard point that the mommies can say to Heather as often as they want 'you're just a squirt to him, he's not your dad' but from the kid's perspective of course he is. And wishing it away may make Heather's two mommies feel better but Heather has to deal with it her whole life.

BTW quite a waste of that cute little Kiwi on the right.

[Threadkiller]

You are a good dad, JiB.

[The Infamous Ignatz]

--Lots are comparing Obama's Syrian escapade to Viet Nam - and how we got in.

What do you think?--

The situation now is very unlikely to proceed as Viet Nam did because it was only 12 years ago that we fought a major war in the ME whereas in east Asia, prior to 1962 we hadn't fought in.....hmmm, wait a minute, maybe there's more to it than I thought.

[BB Key]

The U goes up 14 on Duke and the refs level the playing field

[The Infamous Ignatz]

The science is now settled;
Your Cat is Neurotic, and Yes, It Wants to Kill You.
Sleep well.

[The Infamous Ignatz]

JiB is no doubt a great dad and intact, healthy families are indispensable but as MM notes and I'm sure JiB acknowledges a good family only lowers the chance of heartache and dysfunction.
There are millions of addicts and other broken people from great families.

[clarice]

narciso, yes--the middle class is an enemy to the NYT.