DEAN BECKER: (00:00)
Hey, my friends, thank you for being with us on this holiday edition of Moral High Ground, soon to be a, a cultural baggage show as well. Uh, I'm happy to have an old friend of mine, uh, a compadre, a traveling partner, if you will, uh, across America for the, uh, caravan for Peace, justice and Dignity, uh, featuring, uh, poet, uh, Mexican poet Javier Cecilia, and, uh, a hundred of his friends who had lost loved ones in this drug war to the cartel violence. Lemme just go ahead and introduce my friend, Mr. Neil, for Franklin Major, Neil Franklin. Hello, sir. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (00:39)
Hey, Dean. How are you today? 

DEAN BECKER: (00:41)
I'm good. Uh, Neil, it's, it's good to be speaking with you. I, I wanna read something. I, I've been doing some writing and it revolves around this. It's just a short paragraph I wanna share with you. Uh, see if I can get the mic turned here. Classism has many faces, uh, fascism, racism, sexism, colonialism, uh, so many isms always made, uh, by a coalition of authorities who claim the right to govern the lives of others. This includes government and religion, stilted science and medicine, and especially the media, and as well as the police and the, uh, military in most cases. And this quiver fills itself with arrows of authority, blessed as being sacred and eternally necessary. Rights and recourse are reserved solely for members of the powerful class. Now, classism doesn't quite fit with prohibition, but I'm gonna say prohibition is another, uh, means of gathering these authorities together to, uh, combine forces and moral imperatives, or whatever you wanna call it, that they have the right to decide things for the rest of humanity. And I think that's exactly what the drug war has. Well, it has always been, but it has been showing itself to be more and more. Would you speak to that thought, please, sir? 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (02:11)
Yeah, yeah, I agree, Dean. Um, as you put it, prohibition ism, um, it, it, it, it gives the, the fascists and those more power and control over people, right? So you prohibit those things that people do, um, and then you can go after them with the law. Um, it, it makes it palatable for society, um, I guess to, to embrace, um, you know, because like here in the United States, and you'll hear the term law and order all the time. Um, and of course, if, if you create a statute, um, you know, enforcing these, these prohibition policies, then you can legally it justifies in a sense, those people, those fascists going after the, the, the, you know, for instance, in the, the users of a particular commodity of product. Um, it's not really about the product or any potential danger of a particular product. It's, it's about controlling the group of people. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (03:38)
Um, especially when you have a culture, uh, that would use a particular product, say for instance, for religious, uh, purposes. And, and, and now when, uh, as you said, a another term you used was colonialism, right? So when you have a group of folks coming in to colonize another group of people, their religious practices can be, in a sense, prohibited, which now gives you legal control over the group of people that you have colonized. Um, so it's basically about control. Um, it's about, uh, oppression. Um, it's about placing yourself the fascist above the folks that you have colonized above the people that you desire to control and to do it according to the law, the letter of law, the law of the land, if you might say. 

DEAN BECKER: (04:43)
Well, and it, it, uh, occurs to me that I, I think in included in that little paragraph, was a, a reference to what, what were the words, uh, the rights and recourse or reserved solely for members of this ruling class, if you want to call it that. Mm-hmm . Who run this ism. And, and my radio shows have proven that more than 10,000 times now, that there is not one person, not one priest, not one politician, not one member of the major media. Um, no, no one is willing to come on this show and defend this one question. And that is what is the benefit of drug war for mankind? Because there, it's, it's a hope, a dream in many, many different directions. But there is no, no real benefit for the average human being. I, I close this show with the thought that, uh, you know, euphoria is a blessing. I think it was pres pre presented by God himself to alleviate pain and, and other symptoms for humanity. And it should not be deemed a crime, and people locked up for wanting to feel better. It's in the, uh, uh, declaration of Independence. We have the right to happiness here in America. And that has been taken away by this quote, moral imperative of these, uh, prohibitionist, um, folks. So your response, sir? 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (06:14)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, because when you look at these prohibitions that have come about over the decades, um, and as we were talking before about cultures, uh, just to name a few, let's start here with our, our Native Americans, the true Americans. Yeah. Um, and their use of peyote, their use of those things that were given, given to them by God, I'm talking about plants. I'm talking about things that just grow naturally in the wild, whether we're talking about, uh, mushrooms, peyote, whether we're talking about cannabis, whether we're talking about the cocoa plant in South America, how many of these cultures have used these plants, um, religiously they have used them, for instance, in South America, uh, the coco leaf to so that they can, can endure high elevations. Um, many, many, many reasons. Uh, even as we talk about opiates and, and the, and, and the problems we are now seeing with synthetic opiate products such as fentanyl, which in my opinion would not even exist if it weren't for the prohibition of pure opium, um, even opium, the natural remedy for dealing with pain. Um, but our policies of prohibition have just pushed it into a, these, these, these plants into another realm. Um, so it, it, it, I'm just so baffled at how, um, society has allowed certain classes of people and governments to move down this path of prohibition to a level where it, it, it, it literally has devastated cultures and communities, um, when, when these products, these plants, were virtually given to us, uh, by God through nature. 

DEAN BECKER: (08:24)
Yes. Tha thank you. Uh, again, we're speaking with, uh, Neil Franklin. He's former executive director of, uh, law Enforcement Action Partnership, uh, uh, 34 years, uh, as a law enforcement officer. Is that still correct? Are you still 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (08:38)
Training? That's, yeah, that's, that's right, Dean. Yeah. As a matter of fact, I, I still, uh, on the private side, I worked with a couple of companies in law enforcement training, um, leadership training, use of force training. So, yeah. So I guess, uh, when you, when you, when you, I began in law enforcement in 1977. So I guess in a sense, even though I've, I've, my last sworn position was in, uh, um, wow, 2010. Um, I'm still actively engaged in that area of policing and improving, um, the policing conditions across this country, police reform, police training, still actively involved, but, but from a, a private, uh, position at this point. Yeah. 

DEAN BECKER: (09:31)
Not, not wearing the badge, but still training those who wear the badge. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (09:35)
Absolutely. All right. Trying to, trying to educate them. 

DEAN BECKER: (09:38)
Now, you mentioned something that triggered something in, in me that, uh, I remember when the colonial powers, I don't know, uh, took over these America, American countries. I, how am I trying to say it? Um, the, the Portuguese and the, the English and the French, and, and, you know, came to this, these two continents and, and claimed this country and that country. And, and as you mentioned, they, they tried to change the, uh, the Well, no, they did change the laws, but the, the ways of the people did not quite work out. Uh, I wanna use Bolivia as an example. Yeah. That Bolivia to this day still choose the coca, still believes in the coca. Every person I met when I was in Bolivia, from the justice Minister to the Christian minister, to the prison warden, to every individual I met, was chewing a white of coca on the side of their cheek there. 

DEAN BECKER: (10:36)
And, um, and they call it mother Coca. They believe in it. And as you said, it helps you to breathe better and to work harder and, and just to have a better life in those high altitudes. And, and another one that triggered for me back in the, uh, 17 hundreds and before, of course, but, uh, uh, Thomas Jefferson had a garden outside his Monticello home. And in that home was a large tract of opium poppies, which he would extract that, that opium gum and make medicine out of it. It was very useful for everyday life, but it was, I'm sure it was very instrumental in, uh, relieving pain during the revolution itself. And it was in 1968 or 69, the DEA realized there was opium growing outside Jefferson's house, and they cut it down and it, it, it is just exemplary of, uh, just the gall of certain people. Right. And your response, please. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (11:37)
Yeah. You know, I, I I wanna comment on what you said about Bolivia and the cocoa plant and, and their culture, and, you know, the fact that, uh, the colonization, um, but mainly the United States through the un move to prohibit a lot of these products, including Coca. And, and a few years ago, I, I remember President Morales of Bolivia going to the United Nations because we moved these prohibitions through the United Nations, and I remember him going to the United Nations and presenting before the United Nations, and he stands up there and he pulls out a coca leaf and starts to chew it right in front of the United Nations, uh, as he is preventing it, presenting, and pretty much making the case and saying, how dare you, how can you prohibit this, this plant, which is part of our culture? How can you attempt to prohibit it? 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (12:41)
Our use of it through the United Nations? And I stand here before you, I'm chewing it today to, to pretty much say to you, it's not going to happen. We're going to continue to use it in our culture. We're gonna continue to use it to make tea. We're going, continue to use it in its natural state and its natural form, despite what you want to do here in the United Nations. And I believe the end result was at the United Nations didn't make way for them to do that. Um, so, uh, I I thought it was a bold move on his part, a very important move, and I applaud, uh, his creativeness and in doing that to make a point that this is our culture, and you're not going to infringe upon our culture. 

DEAN BECKER: (13:28)
No, exactly. Right. Now, I, I want to kind of address that thought that after World War II in particular, I mean, the drug war had kind of started very, mm, tangentially, but just barely before, uh, the World War ii, uh, came along. But after we helped everybody, we had, we gave them money and weapons and people, and, and, uh, became kind of the dominant force on the planet, uh, at that particular moment after World War ii. And it was at that point that we began to move this leverage, uh, onto these other countries to embrace our ideas, become, you know, prohibitionists, join the, the force, if you will. And, and, um, as Harry Anslinger, um, the marijuana guy that, uh, convinced the un that it was time to move in that direction. And we, we, we, the situation by saying, if you don't go along with this idea of creating prohibition in your country, well, we're going to lessen or curtail the funds we provide you during this time of recovery. And, uh, it's, it's been, it's, it's an American creation. Is it not 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (14:42)
100%. It certainly is. Um, back in the late 18 hundreds coming into 19 hundreds, uh, none of none of this was illegal, right? None of it, um, even here in the United States, uh, heroin was legal. Um, cocaine was legal. Uh, uh, cannabis was legal. It all was, um, and you mentioned an important name, uh, in this effort to prohibit, uh, these products across the country and then internationally. Um, and that's Harry Anslinger, Harry Anslinger, who was deeply involved in alcohol prohibition, which was one of the first major prohibitions, um, we experienced in this country when that was rescinded, um, through Congress. Um, Harry Anslinger, uh, saw his dynasty collapsing right before his eyes. Um, and he decided to take on a new effort, which was to become our nation's first drug czar. Um, and, uh, he, he was successful in doing that. And he went after heroin, he went after cocaine, he went after cannabis. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (15:50)
Uh, but more importantly, he used that, um, to go after people. He used that to, to demonize, uh, our Mexican brothers and sisters in the southwest part of the country. He used it to demonize blacks here in the United States and, and, and jazz music. Um, one of his favorite targets or victims was Billie Holiday. And a lot of people still don't know this, that he went after her with literally the, the full force of the, the federal government. Um, she was so popular, and, you know, she was this beautiful jazz mus, uh, vocalist and the words of her music, uh, many of her songs were actually protest in a sense. So it was a way that he could go after her. He could silence her voice. He could make an example of her by going after her and her heroin use. Um, and there are many who claim to this day, and I've, and I've done some reading on this, um, who claimed to this day, and I believe it to be true, that he and his henchman were responsible for her actual death. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (17:08)
Um, I, I, I, I would, I would encourage that your listeners read, uh, Johan Hari's book, chasing the Screen, and, um, they will see for a fact that, um, um, we believe this to be true. But I just say that, that you mentioned Harry Anslinger. He was, he was the main one behind all of this effort here in the United States to prohibit these products and then move it in, into, onto the international, um, playing field through the United Nations. And it was all because he had lost his, he, he saw himself losing his dynasty and control within the federal government. Um, and, uh, he took on a new, new effort going after, uh, different drugs. 

DEAN BECKER: (17:54)
Yeah, I, uh, Billie Holiday, she was, uh, quite a, a, a person, a, a pioneer, a a a rebel, if you will. Yeah. Uh, one of her songs, I, um, I don't wanna butcher, but, uh, something about swinging in the breeze, talking about the hanging of a black man and, uh, the, the, in essence celebration that many of the whites had for that scenario. Uh, she, she was busted in Houston. I know that there, there was a pretty big story, I don't have it in front of me, but she was busted in Houston back when as well. You know, again, the colonialism, uh, it was almost like the federal government in the, well, every time they bring forward an idea for a drug law, they present a doctor and a scientist, and I don't know, some ra uh, radio reporter or a, you know, a TV producer or somebody who has a story to tell, and they, they make it sound so horrible and so necessary, and, and so on down the line. And, and especially when they began with the Harrison Narcotics Act in 1914, they were impressing farmers and storekeepers and, and the, the low educated people of America at that time with their supposed intellectual superiority and the need for these drug laws. And they kind of latched onto it. And, and it's, it's kind of just extrapolated, expanded ever since. Uh, just, um, I, I, I don't know. It's, it's taking advantage of , the less educated. That's what this drug war is about, isn't it? 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (19:32)
Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think they realize, even, even today, I think those in certain positions of power who are trying to move policy, trying to create policy, they realize even today that the, the vast majority of our population don't do a very good job educating themselves on subject matter, right? They, they tend to receive what information they get on a particular topic from one source, you know, very, a very narrow focus. Uh, people who are really good at educating themselves. Unfortunately, there's not enough of these folks, um, obtain their information from many sources. They read books, they, they, today, it's, it's about electronic information on the internet, you know, podcasts, uh, different forms of social media and different platforms. But those people who are good at educating themselves today, they pull their information from many sources, whether it's from the internet, whether it's podcasts, whether it's reading books, whether it's, uh, the media, whether it's cable news, and all the many channels that you can watch and, and what they do. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (20:44)
They're really good at saying, okay, this is what I'm seeing consistently across all these forms of, of, or, or, or platforms or sources of information. Okay. I can see that to be true. But basically what I'm saying is they don't rely on a single source of information. They're very good at, at collecting information, dissecting that information, and arriving at what is probably a high percentage, a high probability of being true and accurate information. Unfortunately, most of us don't do that. And we're very persuasive. I mean, we're, we're easily persuaded by people who want to push us or pull us in a particular direction, right? So I encourage your listeners to do a, do the best that they can at educating themselves, use many sources of information for educating themselves, and then dissect that information and do, do the best that they can in evaluating it and, and determining what is most likely to be true. 

DEAN BECKER: (21:51)
No, so true. Uh, we have the classic example just happened in, uh, November. I think that, uh, a a lot, a lot , a lot of people, uh, tend to listen to Fox or, uh, Sinclair, I think, or I don't know. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (22:07)
Yeah, Breitbart, uh, you name it, all these different, 

DEAN BECKER: (22:10)
And, and get their, their perspective really from that one source without having a chance to examine the rest of the world's possibilities. And, um, a classic example is being played out, uh, this past week where, uh, soon to be, what's his name? Uh, our president, um, was saying he can't predict the future. He doesn't know if he can lower grocery prices, just as an example of what I think helped to earn him that, that win. And, and now we have billionaires coming forward to be the cabinet and, and to rule the Congress. And, and, and, and all of these people, you know, he's not a Jedi master. He's not a genius. He's a crime boss. From my perspective, wielding that power, just like it was a weapon to, uh, to rule the day, and everyone bows before him. Well, nearly half the people bow before him. And, 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (23:17)
And it, so here's something, go ahead thing. I'm, I'm so glad you mentioned this, because here's something that clearly demonstrates whether, uh, we are a country where the people decide our direction or whether it's going to be one person who decides our direction. Right? And I would hope that your listeners and most people in this country want us, the people as it says, and demonstrates in the Constitution that this is a country about the people and the people directed establish its philosophy for operating. So here's a, here's a clear indicator what you were just saying. We have our incoming president who is not selecting people for his cabinet, these important positions for running our government. He's not selecting people primarily on their experience, their areas of expertise for the positions that he is putting them into. It's all about loyalty. It's all about who is going to do my bidding, who is not going to push back against what I say. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (24:32)
I'm going to call all the shots, pull all the strings, and I need you, my loyalists to do my bidding. That's one person running this country. It's not, it's, it's not a group of people who are the brightest, the smartest for a particular discipline, the most talented. It's about who's going to do my bidding. Um, that's not a good place for us to be. And now that's, that's why even though he's selecting the people for his cabinet, his those important positions, that's why the Senate has to approve them. Yeah. Because that's a check and balance that has been put in place. But when you have a Senate that has now become an or or becoming another group of loyalists to the President, now, we don't have those checks and balances, right? It, it, you know, for ensuring that we have the best and brightest people in these important positions, such as the head of the Department of Justice, which should be operating independent of the White House, you know, or, or whether it's, you know, our, our Department of of Health, whether it's our Department of Defense, you know, and the many other important positions and, and, and organ organizations that have to operate, departments that have to operate. 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (26:06)
We need the best and the brightest, not those who are just going to be loyal and do the bidding of the person in the White House. We need checks and balances because we can get into serious trouble very quickly here in this country. And that's something I, I don't think any of us want. 

DEAN BECKER: (26:23)
I I just don't trust humanity that much anymore. I feel we're slipping into some sort of an abyss. That's just my take on it. All, some closing thoughts from you, major Neil Franklin. No, 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (26:34)
I, I, I think what you just said there goes back to the beginning of our conversation about, you know, what you just said here about humanity and slipping into this, this place of darkness. I think it goes back to what you were saying at the beginning regarding, um, the narrow, uh, narrow sources of information that people are getting, right? They need to broaden their sources of information. They need to do a better job of educating themselves, uh, about what's out there, using many sources of information, many different platforms from the left, from the right, from in between, um, no matter what your political bent is, uh, you just need to be aware of what's out there and, and then do your best at analyzing that information so that you will have a better idea of what the facts are, um, regarding any, any, any topic, any particular topic. So I think that's where it goes. Um, until we collectively do that, and we do it at a high level, um, who knows where we'll end up. Um, but I guarantee you it's not gonna be a good place. 

DEAN BECKER: (27:49)
No, I, I hear you. Well, Neil, once again, thank you. And, uh, once again, folks, I urge you, please visit the, uh, uh, law Enforcement Action Partnership website. It's out there, atap.cc, that's the simple one, uh, or law enforcement, what is it? The long one, 

MAJOR NEIL FRANKLIN: (28:09)
Law law enforcement action.org. 

DEAN BECKER: (28:12)
Okay. And, and again, friends, I thank you for listening. Please do your part. Uh, if I don't speak to you till next year, please have a safe holiday season. And remember that because of the stupid prohibition, you never know what's in that bag of illegal drugs. And I urge you to please be careful and always remember that euphoria is a blessing according to God and Benjamin Franklin, and anybody you want to ask besides the DEA and, uh, it's not a crime to the Drug Truth Network listeners around the world, this is Dean Becker for Cultural Baggage and the Unvarnished Truth, the show produced at the Pacifica Studios of KPFT, Houston Tap Dancing on the Edge of an Abyss.