Century of Lies, December 23, 2008

The failure of Drug War is glaringly obvious to judges, cops, wardens, prosecutors and millions more now calling for decriminalization, legalization, the end of prohibition. Let us investigate the Century of Lies.
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Dean Becker: All right, folks. The holiday season is upon us but I’ve got a bunch of new content to share with you this week: a report from Paul Armentano of NORML and we’ll also be hearing from Mr. Al Byrne of Patients Out of Time. We’re going to kick this off with Rusty Fleming.

Dean Becker: Week in, week out, we try to bring you the unvarnished truth about the Drug War and I’m glad to tell you that I’ve found a movie that going to tell us a whole lot about the Drug War. It’s produced by a fellow Texan and he’s produced a new movie: it’s called “Drug Wars: Silver or Lead.” You long time listeners to the Drug Truth Network know what he’s talking about. With that I’d like to introduce out guest, Mr. Rusty Fleming, the director.

Rusty Fleming: Hi, Dean. How are you doing?

Dean Becker: I’m good, Rusty. You guys have begun premiering this in cities here in Texas, right?

Rusty Fleming: That is correct.

Dean Becker: And I think it shows the gritty, just dirty situation we have going with this Drug War, right?

Rusty Fleming: Well, it’s absolutely incredible, Dean.

Dean Becker: Now, you guys are going to have a panel at the premiere at Victoria on December 30, right?

Rusty Fleming: That’s correct.

Dean Becker: Now, we’re all invited, right?

Rusty Fleming: Yes. It’s open to the public. We are showing the movie, documentary “Drug Wars,” and immediately following the showing of the film we are going to have a panel discussion with several people, some of which actually appear in our film, a counter-terrorism expert and a representative of some kidnap victims and law enforcement officials.

Dean Becker: Now, it’s good to hear that the law enforcement officials are participating because it impacts them in many ways more than it does the rest of us, right?

Rusty Fleming. Oh, absolutely. I mean, these are the guys that, Dean, are putting their lives on the line combatting these narco-insurgents that are literally making war as they traipse through, not just northern Mexico, but right on into the United States.

Dean Becker: And we’ve heard the stories of Mexican Federales helping smugglers, at times, to ferry the shipments across the river, right?

Rusty Fleming: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, that happens. But we can’t stop there: let me tell you, there’s plenty of federal agents on the United States side that are involved in this as well. You know, typically, people think of Mexico as ‘they’re all corrupt,’ and they typically look at the U.S. as ‘we’re all clean,’ and it’s simply not true. There’s law enforcement on the other side of the river that are good, courageous people. And we have people on this side of the river that are just as dirty as the most corrupt cops in Mexico. And in our documentary, and my book as well, I expose both ends of this. And I truly believe, Dean, that we’re never going to be able to address this problem until they acknowledge what it is. And until we take off the blinders, until we look at this for the reality that it is, that it’s not just a Mexican problem -- it’s our problem; that there are several things that drive this, you know, naturally it begins with the demand that we have here in the U.S. for narcotics, and simply put, as long as there’s that demand somebody’s going to supply it. Now, I can tell you that, you know, one of the first things I used to hear when I started traveling in Mexico was ‘now look, if ya’ll didn’t have the demand we wouldn’t have the supply problem.’ That is a truth but let me give you another one: there’s a demand for child pornography, too -- does that make it OK to supply it? You know, I mean, it doesn’t. And, you know, so using the excuse of the Americans always blaming the Mexicans and the Mexicans blaming us -- that’s got to stop. That’s getting us nowhere. We’ve got to address this issue because it is a serious threat to our national security. There are paramilitary groups, armed and trained, in the United States -- these are not Mexican nationals, these are Americans. They are recruiting American kids and American adults, both, within their ranks and these people are operating right inside our borders.

Dean Becker: Well, there is this liaison, this situation, where they need those ‘soldiers,’ so to speak, on the ground here in the U.S. and as long as they have the money, some say fifty, some say a hundred billion dollars a year, from this drug trade going to Mexico, they’re going to be able to afford to hire these ‘goons,’ are they not?

Rusty Fleming: No doubt. No doubt. It’s the money driven strictly -- I shouldn’t say ‘strictly’ -- but the vast majority of the money that these organizations amass comes from the trafficking of narcotics.

Dean Becker: Now, I’ve heard some say that ‘well, gosh, if we legalize drugs or somehow tax, regulate, and control it, that these gangsters will just continue their other efforts, like kidnapping or extortion,’ and though that may be true, it would kill their fattest cash-cow, right?

Rusty Fleming: Oh, there’s no doubt. And, Dean, you know, I have to tell you: I’m a former drug addict, I’m a recovering drug addict, and I, when I first started this documentary I was not at all ready to embrace any kind of legalization or regulation or whatever you want to call it.

After I’ve seen these guys at close range, I mean, I embedded with one of these cartels for nearly a year, and knowing the business model that they have assembled, I truly believe that it’s time to have a serious discussion about the regulation of narcotics in this country. Let me just give you one example: if you took -- marijuana, for example -- if there was a policy in this country to regulate or legalize, decriminalize, whatever word you want to use, just marijuana, that marijuana represents sixty to seventy percent of their bottom line.

Well, you take any multi-billion dollar fortune five hundred company and you rip seventy percent off their bottom line, they’re going to file a BK in the morning. Now, is that going to stop heroin and cocaine and crystal methamphetamine from coming into this country? No. But will it make these powerful drug trafficking organizations, will it bring them to their knees and make them regroup? You bet it will. Because they’ll still have all the same expenses of trafficking those other narcotics, to getting those other narcotics into this country.

It would also give law enforcement on this side, it would free up seventy percent of their resources to go and pursue those other narcotics or other crimes. If the kidnappings are going to occur, fine, now law enforcement has seventy percent more time and resources to protect us and to solve those crimes.

I don’t think that, personally, I think that the thing of ‘these guys will go into other crimes and it’s just going to be worse in another way,’ I think that’s a pretty intellectually lazy argument. I really do.

I don’t think that, particularly on this side of the border, I don’t think that they could get away with that kind of mass campaign. Mexico has already become the kidnapping capitol of the world: that is driven largely, not solely, but largely on the drug trade itself.

It would cause these big organizations to have to seriously regroup. It would damage them. We would do more to them by that one move than anything we’ve done in the last thirty-six years, since the War on Drugs was declared by President Nixon.

Dean Becker: Well, I’m looking at an email that indicates that this premiere of the movie in Victoria’s going to be December 30 at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts and we want to come down there and talk to you and the panel and bring back some more information for our good friends here at the Drug Truth Network. Any closing thoughts you’d like to relay, Rusty?

Rusty Fleming: Well, I just want to say that, and not because I made the film, but this is an extremely important topic. We have concentrated so much efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq to combat terrorism when we have some of the most powerful terrorists on the planet infiltrating our country through the southern borders and, you know, it’s becoming a domestic problem at this time.

And this is the best educational tool I have ever been a part of and I have people -- I have seasoned law enforcement professionals telling me that this is, without a doubt, the most powerful tool they’ve ever seen. And, you know, I just encourage people to see it. They can get copies of it on our website: it’s DrugWarsTheMovie.com. My book is available there. It’s also available on Amazon.com.
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[DTN PSA]

[Printing press starts and gains speed]

Rolling, rolling, rolling.
Keep those presses rolling.
The treasurys not all stolen, free ride.

We stole seven-trillion-dollars
Don’t let the people holler.
Let’s find a way to keep them on our side.

Through scandals, lies and rip-offs,
Don’t let them see the flip-flops,
I need a billion by my side.

[Presses keep rolling]

Yep. At least seven trillion dollars frittered away on this ‘recovery.’ Pretty soon that’s going to amount to some real money.
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Paul Armentano: I’m Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML and the NORML Foundation in Washington, D.C. and for those listeners out there who may not be familiar with NORML, we lobby the federal and state governments to reform America’s punitive marijuana laws and we engage in quite a bit of public outreach, to educate the public as to the need for ending what we like to call ‘America’s longest war.’

Dean Becker: Now, Paul. You have, over the years, observed this situation as good as anybody I suppose. You keep having articles posted on Alternet and other websites and I just kinda wanted to get a snapshot of you, of what have we accomplished this year, what’s going on with the Administration, how’s it look for next year?

Paul Armentano: Well, you know, here we are, about six weeks or so after election day, and there is really no way to downplay the importance and the significance of what the voters did on election day. And I’m not just talking about voting in America’s forty-fourth president. And specifically I’m talking about what the voters had to say when it came to amending America’s drug policies.

In two states, in Michigan and in Massachusetts, you had more than sixty percent of the electorate say that they want a significant change in the way America deals with marijuana. In Michigan you had sixty-three percent of voters say that a patient should be able to possess and use marijuana under their physician’s supervision.

And in Massachusetts you had sixty-five percent of the voters say that adults should be able to possess and use marijuana for any reason they choose and that should not be a criminal offense; at most, it should be an infraction punishable by a hundred dollar fine. Marijuana law reform got more votes in Michigan and in Massachusetts than did Obama, despite the fact that he won both of those states.

And locally, we had a good seven or eight local initiatives that also passed by overwhelming numbers. It could not have been more clear what message the public was sending this past November to this new administration and that message is: it is no longer the drug war as usual. The American voters expect this administration to objectively and rationally and scientifically deal with the marijuana issue and they want this administration to stop arresting adults who use marijuana.

That’s the message they sent and this administration better be listening loud and clear because if they’re not they’re going to be in for a long and hard four years.

Dean Becker: Now, you bring up the fact -- we have this new administration coming in, there are some indications they will at least nuance the approach. And you mentioned the overwhelming votes in favor of marijuana in those two states, more so than Obama.

And yet there was a recent posting on their website, Change.gov, the very top request, if you will, from the American people dealt with the subject of marijuana, and yet they, kind of, discounted that. They had better pay attention to those votes in Michigan and Massachusetts, right?

Paul Armentano: One certainly thinks they ought to. And I’m glad you brought that up, Dean. You know, Change.gov -- the official website of the Obama transition team -- a couple weeks ago, they asked the general public for their input. They said ‘what public policy issues really matter to you?’ And there were over seven thousand specific public policy questions asked of the Obama Administration.

And there were over six hundred thousand votes on those public policy questions. And the number one question as tabulated, when all the votes were counted and all the votes were in, had to do with whether this administration would stop arresting adults who use marijuana.

In fact, over, nearly twenty of the top fifty questions dealt with the Drug War in general but two of the top ten, including the top question, specifically dealt with this issue of why are we arresting hundreds of thousands of adults every year on marijuana charges and -- you’re right. The Obama Administration essentially dismissed this question with a one sentence answer that said ‘President-Elect Obama does not support legalizing marijuana.’ That’s not going to cut it.

There’s another website poll going on right now on Change.org, which is a social networking website that works on progressive causes, and they intend to take the top ten vote getting public policy questions and hand those to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day.

The marijuana issue is the number one question on that website as well. Once again, the American public, through the grass roots, could not be sending a stronger message to this administration. What these politicians, and this administration in particular, need to learn is that this is not a political risky issue. While campaigning President-Elect Obama talked about the need to reform marijuana laws, specifically those that prohibit the use of medical marijuana, but he hedged at the idea of using political capital to get that done.

This is what he doesn’t understand. This is not a political liability. He does not actually have to use political capital to get this done because the American public is demanding that it be done. That’s why every time this issue goes to a public vote it wins overwhelmingly.

The irony, of course, is that it does have to go to a public vote; that simply tells me that politicians aren’t doing their job. They’re not honoring the will of their constituency. That’s what needs to change in 2009.

Dean Becker: All right, my friends. We’ve been speaking with Mr. Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Paul, I want to wish you and all the good folks at NORML happy holidays and, please, send us off with your website where folks can learn more.

Paul Armentano. Sure. If they go to www.NORML.org they can get in touch with us, they can drop us a line, they can also check out our blog that we update almost everyday to learn the latest on marijuana policy and marijuana law reform. And, Dean, I want to wish you and all your listeners a great holiday as well.
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Dean Becker: You are listening to Century of Lies on the Drug Truth Network and Pacifica Radio. My name is Dean Becker and our next guest is Al Byrne.

Al Byrne: This is Al Byrne. I’m a cofounder of Patients Out of Time. We’re a 501-C3 educational charity that, our main focus of work is the education of health care professionals, mainly in the United States, about the therapeutic uses of cannabis. We also, of course, want to pass that information along to the general U.S. public.

Dean Becker: With the end of 2008 fast approaching I thought it appropriate to talk to many different groups about what’s on the plate for them, what they have done this year and, perhaps, what’s going to be done next year in regards to medical marijuana.

Al Byrne: Well, a quick synopsis would be this past April in Monterey, California we held the fifth in a series of conferences designed to do that education work I explained. This was in conjunction with the California Nurses Association and the University of California’s San Francisco School of Medicine.

The doctors and nurses that attended this conference received continuing education credits that were approved by the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association. The same type of conference will be held, number six in our series, will be held, not in 2009, but in the Spring of 2010 in the Providence, Rhode Island area.

And that will be in conjunction with the Rhode Island Nurses Association, the Rhode Island Medical Association and some other folks, including the University of California’s School of Medicine at San Francisco. In the ensuing time, 2009, our plans are to continue to post video lectures on both Google and YouTube. The keyword there would be ‘Patients Out of Time,’ when seeking these videos.

And to continue what we have already established which is some fifty or so videos that explain, using professional researchers and academics, explain the various clinical applications of cannabis as it may apply to cancer treatment or pregnancy or glaucoma or any of the wonderful places that cannabis seems to help the human body.

And that’s, we’re going to stay right focused on that video project throughout 2009, possibly adding as many as another forty or fifty videos.

Dean Becker: You know, I attended the 2008 conference out at Asilomar. It was a wonderful event. You even had Dr. Donald Tashkin, who works for NIDA, and many other professionals who put forward the information that’s being utilized by various states. New Jersey is now trying to become the fourteenth state to allow for medical marijuana and I like to think that much of the information that you guys have been disseminating has been of use and of import in making these, or in allowing these states, to take that bold, if you will, step.

Al Byrne: Yeah. Well, thanks for the compliment, and you’re right. Most of the work that we have done has been duplicated, shown, used as reference material, whatever, by state activists such as Ken Wolski in New Jersey.

In Rhode Island, where we’re going to go next with our conference, it’s the Rhode Island group of patients that have pushed the issue there, they’ve used our information to educate their senators, their representatives, their members of health committees, et cetera. And this information is pretty much irrefutable. It’s blessed by the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, as I said, who are our leading experts in the health field.

The lectures are given by noted researchers from around the world, like Donald Tashkin, and will continue to do so. Our next conference will include Professor Mishulam, from Israel, who was the original researcher that has found the active ingredient in cannabis, THC.

He’ll be coming over from Israel to talk about his more recent work with the use of cannabis in Post-Traumatic-Stress folks. We have two researchers coming from Brazil who will discuss the uses of cannabis therapeutically for emotional uses like ADHD and those types of issues. Mark Ware, a noted physician in Canada, will come down and speak about his work with Health Canada on the use of cannabis and pain.

And that’s just an example of the folks that will be coming. The issue here is the education of everybody, just not the health care professionals. And even though our conferences are mainly attended by those health care professionals, interested patients and a lot of press, it’s the videos that are produced from this exercise that we are putting up on Google and YouTube that allow the general public to pick up on this knowledge, and it’s all free.

Dean Becker: Well, you know, it’s wonderful to see and hear this information and it helps so much to counter the postulations of the Drug Czar who says there is no medical use for cannabis.

Al Byrne: That, of course, is a bogus argument. It’s the only thing they can say. It’s patently wrong. Obviously, the states that have authorized its use are in total disagreement with that theory. The rest of the world, who is conducting research all over the place, from Spain to Japan, completely disagrees with that theory.

The fact that Canada is now using Sativex®, an oral-mucosal spray, for multiple sclerosis pain, and it’s working, is in direct refutation to the fact that it’s not medicine. It is medicine. The federal government refuses to acknowledge it and I’m hoping that a change in administration that we’re about to see here next January will actually be an administration that actually pays attention to science instead of disregarding science.

Dean Becker: All right. Once again, we’ve been speaking with Mr. Al Byrne of Patients Out of Time. Al, you want to point folks toward your website?

Al Byrne: Yeah, thanks, Dean. We have two websites I’d like people to go to, our Patients Out of Time website is MedicalCannabis.com. And there is a lot of information about the research done on cannabis therapeutically on DrugScience.org.
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This is Terry Nelson of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. I’ve spent more than three decades in the War on Drugs and eight years in El Paso, directly across the border from Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. And I testify that we will never arrest our way out of this problem. The massive amount of money that is received by the drug cartels insure that they can continue to bribe officials and corrupt the system to their advantage.

The violence of the drug cartels threatens the security of Mexico as well as the Mexican/American border. Daily death threats are directed at police and politicians to influence their decisions.

On December 19 the Associated Press reports “a senior police commander's bullet-riddled body was found in the same spot where an apparent hitlist naming 26 officers was found days earlier. Roberto Ramirez, who headed up the Delicias precinct, was the sixth Ciudad Juarez officer killed this week.

More than 40 Ciudad Juarez police have been killed this year, many in attacks blamed on drug gangs battling over territory. Some officers have quit, fearing for their lives after their names appeared on hitlists. Across Mexico, more than 5,300 people have died in gangland-style killings in 2008 — more than double the number last year, according to government figures.”

This violence will inevitably cross the border when the cartels feel that their biggest interests are threatened. The corruption will also cross the border and our public officials will be infiltrated by the cartel representatives.

The only way to defeat this violent group is to totally legalize all drugs and thus cut off the funds that are pouring into their coffers. Legalization of drugs would greatly reduce the crime and violence here in the United States as well as in Mexico. We could then use the funds we waste on this futile policy to do research into cures for addiction, provide credible education and eventually fix most of our drug problems.

All of us must take the action necessary to convince our elected officials to end this madness before it does irreparable harm to our country and our society. One thing you can do is contact your government officials and tell them that prohibition is not working and this violence must be stopped.

We did it once before and we can do it again. LEAP has done the work for you and all you have to do is go to www.WeCanDoItAgain.com, fill out the form and hit ‘enter.’ Let’s spend the money on education, research and treatment instead of incarceration. We all want a better future for ourselves and our children.

Speaking for LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, at www.LEAP.cc, this is Terry Nelson signing off.
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Dean Becker: I hope you enjoyed this edition of Century of Lies. Everyone at the Drug Truth Network wishes you and yours a very happy holidays. Be advised that we do produce transcripts of all our programs: use them in letters to the editor. In this holiday season I hope you realize the importance of YOU doing your part to bring about the end of Drug War.

And, as always, I remind you there’s no truth, justice, logic, scientific fact, medical data, in fact no reason for the Drug War to exist. We’ve been duped. The drug lords run both sides of this equation. Please, do your part to end the madness. Visit our website, EndProhibition.org.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukah.

Prohibido istac evilesco.
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For the Drug Truth Network, this is Dean Becker asking you to examine our policy of drug prohibition.

The Century of Lies.
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This show produced at the Pacifica studios of KPFT, Houston.

Transcript provided by Gee-Whiz Transcripts. Email: glenncg@zoominternet.net