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Timothy Leary died as weirdly as he lived.
Near the end, Leary considered committing suicide and broadcasting the event over the Internet. Later, he wanted to have himself decapitated, so that his severed frozen head could be reanimated and interviewed. Finally, he settled on -- I'm not making this up -- having his remains incinerated and launched into outer space.
Dennis Rodman is way out of his league.
However...
Normally, speaking ill of the dead is considered only slightly less rude than, oh, throwing an elbow to the face of a second baseman. But Leary would be the first to persuade us he's probably floating around the ethereal reception line, playfully slipping blotter hits on some still-adjusting ValuJet customers.
So here's the downer: Leary was a showman, not a shaman. And drug law reform advocates are reflexively dismissed largely because of a stereotype Leary helped create -- Activist equals User.
It's almost impossible to propose changes in our drug laws without people assuming you're a spiral-eyed hedonist drooling bromides about freedom as a ruse to assure better longer bong hits. That's like thinking that everyone who believes in the right to die with dignity wants to invite Dr. Kevorkian over for crackers and some CO2.
Here's why the drug laws suck:
*The drug laws are useless: 60 million of us have used illicit drugs, including the current President and the Speaker of the House. (Bill Clinton, in fact, may not have inhaled after all. I bet he just ate the damn thing.)
*The enforcement is racist: while most users are white, a disproportionate number of prisoners are black. The penalty by weight for inner-city crack is 100 times the penalty for similar-potency powder cocaine used by suburban whites.
*Interdiction creates more crime: cutting off supply of any commodity for which steady demand exists causes the price to skyrocket, creating incentive for more entrepreneurs to join the market. Call it drive-by capitalism.
*The economy is being crippled: without making a dent in rates of crime and drug use, we've wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and tripled the prison population. Many areas are actually cutting school funding to build more prisons.
*The Bill of Rights is dying: for example, your home can now be entered and searched with no warrant, and all of your assets can be seized and auctioned, prior to your conviction of any crime.
Needless to say, these arguments are rarely made in media outlets financed largely by tobacco, alcohol, and pharmeceutical profits. Check it out -- the back page of Time is almost always a tobacco ad; "Just Say No" and "This is Your Brain" were both products of the Partnership for a Drug Free America, a bullshit PR lobby financed by Philip Morris (Marlboro), Anheuser Busch (Budweiser), and Eli Lilly (Prozac).
Why the PR?
According to the FBI, fewer than 10,000 Americans die annually from the effects of all illicit narcotics combined. How many die from from causes directly related to cigarettes, alcohol, and other legal narcotics? Over 500,000.
In any twelve years -- like, say, the Reagan/Bush era -- that adds up to an American death toll the size of the Holocaust. Right here, right now.
Faced with all that, how can anyone possibly think we can improve the world simply by Turning on, Tuning in, and Dropping out?
You'd have to be on drugs...
Original file name: Harris -- Leary in the Sky
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