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The Racist Drug War killed George Floyd

by Brian Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher

June 4, 2020



One of the cops on the scene for the George Floyd murder actually had the sick sense of humor to tell the onlookers to "just say no to drugs." That's a very telling comment, because it is the Drug War that first made it acceptable in America for the police to treat suspects like dirt. Just watch any cop show or movie about the Drug War: the good guys are those who call the bad guys scumbags, rough them up, kick down their front door, stomp through their house like the proverbial bull in a china shop, and do everything that they can to violate their constitutional rights. Why? Because the Drug War mentality tells them that it's all right to be as evil as they want to be whenever they're dealing with suspects who dare to sell Mother Nature's plant medicines to their fellow earthlings.

Of course, the George Floyd killing itself had nothing to do with so-called drugs, but the contempt that the officers showed for human life is precisely the kind of behavior that Americans celebrate every time they watch a cop show or a movie about the Drug War. This is because Drug Warriors have convinced us to forget about human rights when fighting so-called drugs. It's little surprise therefore that racist police officers embrace that sick attitude toward suspects even in cases that have nothing to do with drugs.

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LETTER TO Virginia Senator TIM KAINE about the murder of George Floyd by racist police officers.

Politicians need to show the link between the Drug War and George Floyd's murder. One of the accomplices taunted the crowd by saying, "Just say no to drugs." That is no coincidence, Senator. It is the Drug War that first empowered police to treat suspects like scumbags. The Drug War mentality says that all extreme measures are welcome when fighting those who trade in Mother Nature's plant medicines. Americans actually celebrate and "cheer on" this behavior in cop shows and Drug War movies 1 2 3 4 (like "Running with the Devil," in which the DEA agent freely tortures and murders drug suspects -- and yet she is the heroin 5 E of the film!!!)

Though the murder of George Floyd was not connected with "drugs," it was made possible by the callous attitude that cops have been taught to adopt when dealing with drug suspects. It's no surprise that racist cops would feel free to adopt that same callous attitude, drugs or no drugs, when they're dealing with suspects from racial groups that they have learned to dislike.

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^{The Drug War taught cops to treat suspects like scumbags. No wonder that one of the accomplices in George Floyd's murder taunted the crowd by saying: 'just say no to drugs'.}{

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June 1, 2022

The first step in fighting substance prohibition is to admit that it exists. That's not going to happen as long as reporters like Lisa Ling do documentaries about Chicago violence in which they never even mention the Drug War: .


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Notes for essay entitled The Racist Drug War killed George Floyd:

1: Glenn Close but no cigar DWP (up)
2: Running with the torture loving DEA DWP (up)
3: Blast-off for Planet Hypocrisy! DWP (up)
4: Drug War Quotes in TV and Movies DWP (up)
5: Hall, Wayne, and Megan Weier. 2016. “Lee Robins’ Studies of Heroin Use among US Vietnam Veterans.” Addiction 112 (1): 176–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13584. (up)




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Ten Tweets

against the hateful war on US




In response to a tweet that "some drugs cannot be used wisely for recreational purposes": The problem is, most people draw such conclusions based on general impressions inspired by a media that demonizes drugs. In reality, it's hard to imagine a drug that cannot theoretically be used wisely for recreation at some dose, in some context.

The media called out Trump for fearmongering about immigrants, but the media engages in fearmongering when it comes to drugs. The latest TV plot line: "white teenage girl forced to use fentanyl!" America loves to feel morally superior about "drugs."

Most psychoactive substance use can be judged as recreational OR medicinal OR both. The judgements are not just determined by the circumstances of use, either, but also by the biases of those doing the judging.

It's almost impossible not to have a problem with drugs in a world in which the government is spending over $50 billion a year to render drug use problematic.

Imagine if we held sports to the same safety standard as drugs. There would be no sports at all. And yet even free climbing is legal. Why? Because with sports, we recognize the benefits and not just the downsides.

I have nothing against science, BTW (altho' I might feel differently after a nuclear war!) I just want scientists to "stay in their lane" and stop pretending to be experts on my own personal mood and consciousness.

The best step we could take in harm reduction is re-legalizing everything and starting to teach safe use. Spend the DEA's billions on "go" teams that would descend on locations where drugs are being used stupidly -- not to arrest, but to educate.

I'm going to get on the grade-school circuit, telling kids to say no to horses. "You think you can handle horses, kids? That's what Christopher Reeves thought. The fact is, NOBODY can handle horses!!!"

The International Observer says the "core issues" causing Mexican drug violence are: "corruption, inequality, and the demand for narcotics in the U.S." Wrong, wrong, wrong. The core issue is DRUG PROHIBITION.

My impression has been that the use of cocaine over a long time can bring about lasting improvement..." --Sigmund Freud, On Cocaine, 1884


Click here to see All Tweets against the hateful War on Us






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Unless otherwise indicated, no AI is used in the creation of site content. These essays represent the original ideas of their author and not the ideas that the author SHOULD have based on an algorithmic parsing of existing data. For more on this subject, consider the AI-related viewpoints to which the author subscribes as delineated in the New York Times opinion piece entitled "What 370,000 College Essays Tell Us About A.I.’s Effects on Creativity" by Rebecca Winthrop of the Brookings Institution.

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