Chasing the Flagon

Radley Balko points to a new TV spot [Real] from MADD claiming that "if you think there's a difference" between alcohol and heroin, "you're dead wrong."

Jacob made a similar argument in our June issue, but I don't think that's quite what MADD had in mind…

Comments

[david]

In fact, I believe that heroin (all "drugs" in common parlance) and alcohol ARE roughly equal - the only difference, mentally, is the dosage. Both can be used to alter one's perception of reality - which is never a good thing, unless it is for legitimate medical reasons. I agree that alcohol CAN be used responsibly by most people (or at least "many" people), but the harm it inflicts (via people's piss-poor judgment) far outweighs any benefits.

Before you flame me, please note that I did NOT advocate outlawying alcohol; I am merely pointing out that it is often used for the same reason/s as "drugs."

[Mo]

Now someone needs to come out w/ the flip side of this coin, "Heroin: It's only as bad as Big Macs and Beer."

[Kevin]

Brady:

I probably wasn't as clear as I could have been.
My "they really are two different things" aside was meant to be sarcastic and point out the hypocrisy of those who use the term "alcohol and drugs". I agree with you. Alcohol is a drug. Why so many people don't acknowldege that is what makes my head spin.

[Mo]

Kevin and Brady,
Some of my friends give me dirty looks when I call smoking and drinking my two legal drug habits. Of course, a lot of my friends laugh their asses off when I say that.

[dhex]

oh yes...altering your perception is so bad.

so do you sit in a locked room all day staring at a white wall? no media, no music, no art, no decorations, etc? no religion, no prayer, no information intake. etc.

[steve]

Well, to each his own, Kevin. Bourbon is what makes my head spin.

[M. Simon]

Actually heroin and Big Macs fill the same endorphin receptors in the brain. Which is why Big Macs are addictive and the lawyer suing McDonalds was right.

Here is something I wrote on the topic in Feb. of this year.

http://floyd.best.vwh.net/weblog/2003_02_16_archive.html

So I would say that as this knowledge gets out the "addiction" industry is doomed.

BTW it is my contention that addiction is a result of two things - genetic susceptability and a traumatic experience that embeds pain in the brain. Thus you have people using drugs chronically for pain relief. Doh!!!!

http://windsofchange.net/archives/003980.html

This info is going to take at least 5 years to diffuse through society. As it begins to get traction the whoke drug war will become worse than useless. It will become an embarassment.

[Stich]

Lefty said:

"t's interesting that MADD's founder, Candy Lightner (a reformed alcoholic, if my memory serves me correctly) left the organization several years ago. She said she was against drunk driving, not drinking, and left when MADD started down the prohibition path."

From what I recall reading, she asked the board of trustees at MADD for a pay raise and they said "NO". That's why she left or was muscled out. Now isn't that special? The perks become more important than the mission. How selfless these people are.

[Sir Real]

Mo-

At last, MADD is on OUR side- I wonder what the combined MADD/NORML rally would look like. 🙂

[Mo]

Sir Real,
I'm sure this conversation would occur quite a bit:

Mother: "Jimmy I'm surprised to see you here. It's so great that you're here to oppose drunk driving."

Son: "Uhhh, yeah ... drunk driving, that's why I'm here."

[Anonymous]

Sir Real, a MADD/NORML rally would look much like a midget porn.

[Lefty]

Here's a pretty good rant on how MADD has changed from pissed off mothers to a corporate money making machine, using only 28% of income toward actual drunk driving work and cooking their stats.

I especially like the name of the magazine.

http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/issues/08_02/08_02_fighting_madd.htm

[Mo]

The "best" stat from that article is this one:

"[E]ach year 3,000 people in jail on drinking and driving charges kill themselves while incarcerated. In other words, the number of suicides each year greatly outnumber the innocent deaths [500] caused by drunken drivers"

[Kevin]

I'm continually amazed at the double standard when it comes to drugs and alcohol. The fact that the term "drugs and alcohol"--honest, they really are two different things--is regularly tossed about with no hint of irony makes the hypocrisy all the more obvious. I love the scene in the movie Traffic where Michael Douglas's drug czar character pontificates about the drug scourge while ordering a scotch. At least Steven Soderbergh gets it.

[Jason Ligon]

Just thinking about this. Are organized mothers the political force we should be afraid of?

MADD, Million Moms, I don't know ....

[Brady]

The fact that the term "drugs and alcohol"--honest, they really are two different things...

Actually, no they are not. That is why it is hypocritical to make some illegal and some not. Jacob's book does a good job arguing that the only difference is that some are politically correct, and some aren't, which I totally agree with.

The commercial just plays on the idea that there is some inherent evil in cocaine and heroin that also exists in alcohol. Voodoo bullshit. Really the problem with junk and coke is you are buying it from some guy on the street and have no idea of the quality, strength, etc. But, all things being equal, they are really all 3 about the same.

[Sir Real]

Isn't MADD's 15 minutes of relevance over already?

[Kevin Carson]

Was it Joe Bob Briggs who started Drunks Against Mad Mothers (DAMM)?

Apparently MADD's moved from its initial drunk driving focus to a generally anti-alcohol advocacy. Like the anti-smoking and anti-gun Nazis, they downplay any further social engineering vision beyond the policy proposal currently on the table. But in reality, they always see it as merely the first step.

[Lefty]

It's interesting that MADD's founder, Candy Lightner (a reformed alcoholic, if my memory serves me correctly) left the organization several years ago. She said she was against drunk driving, not drinking, and left when MADD started down the prohibition path.

Crusades are notorious for getting out of hand.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/InTheNews/DrinkingAndDriving/1059064892.html

[Anonymous]

Pharmaceutical heroin in reliable doses and all is actually much safer than alcohol. It's quite benign. (I'm not talking the street stuff here, which is dangerous because of prohibition). So there is a big difference.

Alcohol on the other hand: liver disease, pancreatitis, etc.

[JSM]

Didn't the New York Post recently run a story comparing hamburgers to heroin? How did heroin get such a bad rap? Its brought relief to millions suffering from emotional and physical pain, just like alcohol! Oh yeah, prohibition gave it a bad rap...

[fyodor]

In the cosmic realm, it is all the same, AUMMMMMMM...

[Anonymous]

Anon @ 12:17,

Do you think alcohol cannot be consumed in reliable doses? Should it be prescribed? Can I take all of my reliable heroin doses at once?

[Russ D]

Candy Lightner was against hurting people. Isn't that special? Who isn't? We already had laws on the books to deal with death by automobile, she just wanted to "up the dosage", so to speak.

If Candy only had the sense to understand the slippery slope BEFORE she got so damn righteous.

[Jim Weidinger]

I remember that, a few years ago, I had a conversation with a woman who had lived next door to Candy Lightner at the time the accident happened, which caused her to start up MADD. The woman I talked with said Candy was a hard drinker herself and drove drunk quite often. Also, the woman told me that the reason Candy was drummed out of MADD was that she was arrested for drunk driving while she was president of that organization. She escaped to Arizona to avoid sentencing before she was scheduled to go to court. MADD has never owned up to this. Recently, in response to MADD requesting another donation from me, I wrote to them saying that I would not consider any more donations unless they explained to me what really happened. MADD never responded to me. I believe that the foregoing shows hypocracy by both Candy and the organization, in addition to the liberal press, who didn't want to spoil a good story. If anyone has the resources to fully research this subject matter it would make a good article. It would be great to hear from Candy herself to either confirm or deny this story.