Moms Say, "No More Drug War!"
"Mothers throughout history have come forward for the sake of their children," says Gretchen Burns Bergman, executive director of Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing (PATH). "We're coming forth saying that the drug war has been more damaging to our families than the drugs themselves."
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is well-known for helping push forward Prohibition in the United States. But perhaps less well-known are groups such as the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform who were instrumental in the effort to repeal the 18th Amendment.
In that the tradition, Moms United to End the War on Drugs gathered on the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse to deliver a message this Mother's Day: no more drug war. Reason.tv was on the scene to talk with mothers who'd had their families torn apart by U.S. drug policy.
"You don't realize the drug policies in this country until they have an effect on you," says Lorraine Rebennack. "And when you lose a child, your life is never the same. Nor is your family."
Produced by Zach Weissmueller.
Approximately 3 minutes.
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4 teh chilrunz?
We have to reverse "4 teh chilrunz" legislation, 4 teh chilrunz.
It's just crazy enough that it might work.
I bet these mothers haven't ever had to drive their children to soccer practice, all the while navigating the through drug dealer after drug dealer, each of which wanted to get their precious cargo hooked on the drugs. They don't understand that if you make drugs legal you will just have illegal drug dealers IN OUR SCHOOLS.
Happy Mothers Day!
I don't think you understand that legalizing it will put those dealers out of business as people will be able to get it legally for much less at a special location like a liquor store or bar.
And I don't think you understand Fist's brilliant use of sarcasm in that post.
Not at all! I was sincere in wishing all a very happy Mother's Day.
Tell me about it. The biz'll become so boring, you'll actually yawn when you plow throught the drug purveyors' 10Ks.
I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not, Fist. But you damn well know, there are plenty of dealers in the schools, now.
Words like 'liberty' don't represent sacred concepts to the prohibitionists among politicians and law enforcement -- they're just surefire political scorers to them. Fuck them all the way to hell.
What will it take to end prohibition?
Any ideas on what it would take to end prohibition?
No thinking, just emotions. Even if they come to the right conclusions, this is some appalling epistemology.
It is also (unfortunately) the very beating heart of politics.
Reaching the correct conclusions through incorrect reasoning? I don't know. Sometimes, many times, emotional responses can lead one seek logical reasoning. In fact, I've said many times that emotions allow us to recognize a problem, and logic facilitates our ability to solve a problem. The "trick" is making that jump from emotion to logic.
I'll take the right conclusion reached by emotion over the the wrong conclusion reached for the 'right' reasons, everytime.
Then again, I'm not a theologian.
I don't see where there is no thinking on their part. For something that is so personal to many of them, they seemed pretty eloquent to me. And they speak logically about the failures of the drug war, such as that prohibition has not prevented people from obtaining drugs, nor has it made neighborhoods safe. If these are the ostensible objectives of the drug war, then they rightfully conclude it's a failure. They used empirical reasoning to reach this conclusion.
One person's emotionalism is another person'd data.
A major argument against the WOD has been the negative effect it has had on families. These mother have given a thoughtful (not emotional) testament to how the WOD has personally affected them and their families. It is appalling for you to castigate their testament as thoughtless, emotional hysterics. Get over yourself.
Reactions like this are why politicians, when they are proposing something unpopular, are told "what are you going to attack next? Motherhood and apple pie?"
The problem with a rally like this is that you could very easily assemble a mirror group of people who are holding up pictures of their children who OD'd, or are still addicted, or are LEOs who could be shot in the line of duty.
Also, if you think, e.g., the woman speaking from 1:25 -1:40 is being "not emotional," then I'm not sure you understand what that word means.
You're right. It wasn't Mrs. 1:25 I was speaking of when I said the moms were not overly emotional. Regardless, why do you discount their opinion just because they have a very personal experience in the issue at hand?
Why do you hate teh momz?
Mrs. 1:25 makes an argument that is based on the principle that people should not be jailed for nonviolent crimes later in the video.
"No thinking, just emotions."
!(?x) != ?(!x), you fool.
Honestly, yonemoto, I have no idea how you look, but formal logic makes me hard. If you also have a penis, I'll go bottom (unless you prefer otherwise).
OK, so put both groups in a room for a while. What compromise would they agree on?
So what? Take a group of people who claim to argue their point from unemotional logic and you could easily assemble a similarily unemotional and logical group of people to argue the opposite side.
Seems like pretty good reasoning by these moms. It is the same message that libertarians have been using for years but libertarians get ignored because they are libertarians. Maybe these moms will get more respect?
Maybe these moms will get more respect?
From your lips to GOD's ears. On the other hand, The Republican Moms for Marijuana have yet to make a difference in the Drug War.
I freely admit that the Debate Club style that predominates among (mostly male, mostly aspergers) libertarians hasn't got very far.
I guess my complaint is with the human race. I wish we were a little less sentimental, a little more Spock.
How do you know neither of those things has made a difference? How do you know what things would've been like without them?
Which Spock? Dr. or Mr.?
Mr. Spock, the one with the ears.
It had never previously dawned on me but human culture is characterized on a Dr. Spock to Mr. Spock spectrum (Spock-trum?). Weird.
Benjamin Spock was earless?!
If that's the spectrum of human culture, then...argghh!
Any ideas on what it would take to end prohibition conclusively?
The drug warriors completely dismiss all the lessons form alcohol prohibition.The reductions in murder and deaths through making it legal mean nothin.They actuall say is had no effect in crime rates and dicount the number of people killed by bootleg booze.They will not make the connection
Repeating the mistakes of the past? Is that even a thing?
I love these moms!
MILF: Mother I'd Like To Foster
(foster was the only supportive word starting with 'F' I could find quickly)
"We're coming forth saying that the drug war has been more damaging to our families than the drugs themselves."
But if it weren't for drugs, we wouldn't have the drug war!
In the spirit of Fist, Happy Mothers Day!
Mother's Day in prison
They don't say what these people are in for but I think I can guess.
Have A Happy Celebrating Mother's Deployed Over Seas Day, Everyone!
I cried a bit.
"You don't realize the drug policies in this country until they have an effect on you"
... and that is the problem in a nutshell: when a policy is opposed because of the effect on the individual, instead of on principle, only the affected individuals will try to change it. (Some? most? of) these same mothers happily voted for War On Drugs hawks before their children got into trouble.
It's a little like TSA.
Most Americans don't fly anywhere in a given year. For them, it's totally worth it for flyers to get groped or pornoscanned so that they never have to witness the horror of 9/11 on their tee-vee ever again.
I hate the human race and I look forward to the near future when we are ruled by a breed of newly-thumbed dolphins.
?But look at the other side of it: Those affected adversely will be more highly motivated to do something about it than those who are unaffected, who won't care as much.
Unfortunately though, women are the biggest demographic against the legalization of drugs.
This is basically a case of small sample size.
The reason answer is taking away women's right to vote - if you think about it, that's basically when demography jumped the shark.
That should be the "real answer".
Yes, I'm being hyperbolic, but it really was the root cause of a lot of unpleasant laws and government expansion.
I've noticed, but how are you going to do it? Once they're holding the gun, how do you get it away from them?
Come to think of it, that points the way. They're for gun control, so we accede to all guns being taken away. Then we beat them into submission.
+3.6 innernetz
Damn. I've been waiting for Juanita to chime in on this post all day. She's so seeeeeeeeeeely
Sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders.
http://www.Privacy-Folks.tk
Top 4 columbus fugitives wanted for drug violations. Glad they caught all the murderers and rapist.
http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/201.....r-1034805/
Just one more reason I'm glad I escaped from Columbus.
But, #4 could be kind of hot.
Yeah, that guy was going nowhere. What'd you do, sail back to Portugal?
Swam.
There's a fucking peeping tom in the top 10 FBI's most wanted list. I've often joked that making women uncomfortable was a bigger crime than murder in this country. I guess it's no longer a joke.
"You don't realize the drug policies in this country until they have an effect on you," says Lorraine Rebennack. http://joyss.edublogs.org/ "And when you lose a child, your life is never the same. Nor is your family.
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"These prohibition laws have hurt us more than the drugs themselves. http://www.findrxonline.com This has to stop."