UK Drug Tsar Becoming A
Leftwing Bill Bennett;
Combining Puritanism, Irrationality and Class War -- 2 Articles
(Marijuananews note: When Hellawell was named
Blair’s Drug Tsar, people who knew him told me that he had privately spoken out
against marijuana prohibition, and so his appointment was viewed with some optimism. Alas,
it seems to have been entirely unjustified.See
London Times
And UK Drug Tsar Follow DEAland Party Line; UK Drug Use "Worst In Europe"
So Marijuana To Be Lumped With Heroin In Prohibitionist Propaganda For Children;
And Lie About the Dutch, Of Course! -- 4 Articles
The two articles here paint a picture of a man so caught up in self-righteous zeal that
he does not seem to recognize that he is guilty of precisely what he accuses others, like
Bennett who -- as George Bush’s drug czar -- was on nicotine maintenance while he was
denouncing drug addicts.
Hellawell arrogantly denounces the arrogance of people who do not bow to his view of
chemicals. Then to prove to students the danger of drugs, he sites the dangers of
prohibition.
As he restricts freedom, he compares those who want to be free to the Taliban
totalitarians.
The common theme here is his focus on people who either have not be damaged by their drug
use, or who have the resources to take care of themselves. They aren't hurting the public
and they don't need public help so he want to hurt them and put them in prison at the
public expense.
This animosity toward those who don't need government
help is an echo from Old Labour, meaning the class war of the pre-Blair party. They
don't love the poor; they just hate the rich.)
January 5, 1999
From The Daily Telegraph
dtletters@telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
By Jessica Callan, Entertainment Reporter
DRUGS TSAR ACCUSES STARS OF ARROGANCE
SHOWBUSINESS and professional figures were criticised yesterday for talking about using
drugs such as cocaine and accused of being guilty of "intellectual arrogance".
Keith Hellawell, the UK Drugs Co-ordinator, said they were wrong
to think they were not damaging society because they did not have to resort to theft in
order to finance their use. He told the Today programme on Radio 4: "I wish
they’d stop it, there is this arrogance - I call it an intellectual arrogance.
If they are dealing with my pension fund on the dealing floors they could be causing
me damage. It isn’t a joke, it’s deadly serious."
(Marijuananews note: Of course, if they are hung over from the most
commonly abused drug, or groggy from using an antihistamine, or just sleepy from having
been up all night with a sick baby, the results are the same.)
Rock groups such as Oasis, The Verve and Primal Scream have all alluded to drugs in
their music and in their private lives. Noel Gallagher, of Oasis, was criticised for
saying drug taking was so common it’s "like having a cup of tea". In 1997
he told Radio 1 that if he was made Mayor of London he would legalise drugs.
(Marijuananews note: Of course, having a cup of tea is "drug
taking." Also, what the Tsar is complaining about is that it has become a common
practice. Notice the equating an opinion opposing prohibition with drug use. So, an
accurate observation, a correct comparison, and an opinion against current policy is
"arrogant.")
The pop star Brian Harvey was temporarily dropped from the group East 17 after calling
Ecstasy "safe" and condoning the rave drug in a radio interview. He said:
"If it brings out the better in someone and, in the long run, it’s a safe pill
and it isn’t doing you harm, I don’t see the problem. I’ve done pills
myself, I’ve done 12 in one night, loads of them."
Richard Ashcroft, the singer from The Verve, who achieved fame with the hit song The
Drugs Don’t Work, said: "They make me worse. But I still take them. Out of
boredom and frustration, you turn to something else to escape."
(Marijuananews note: This is a common reason given for drinking,
smoking tobacco, even drinking coffee.)
Bobby Gillespie, from Primal Scream, described drugs as an alternative to watching
television. He said: "If you’re on a council estate what are you going to do?
Watch Emmerdale re-runs or get smashed out of your brains? We get really excited when the
drugs turn up."
(Marijuananews note: Yes, people use alcohol and other drugs to
escape boredom.)
Copyright: Telegraph Group Limited 1999
From The Independent
letters@independent.co.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk/
January 11, 1999
By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent
DRUG TSAR TO TARGET ‘RICH KID’ ADDICTS
YOUNG middle-class "recreational" drug users are to be
targeted in a national anti-drugs campaign that will stress the harmful impact on the
environment and human rights of taking illegal substances.
Warnings about the long jail sentences that drug convictions can carry and
the dangers of driving while under the influence of drugs will also be used to frighten
off "recreational" users, including university students. The switch in tactics
is to be introduced by Keith Hellawell, Britain’s drugs "tsar", following
concern that campaigns are failing to reach young "achievers" and clubbers.
Mr Hellawell, in an interview with The Independent, also revealed that he will
encourage the makers of television soap operas, including Coronation Street and
EastEnders, to include story lines that highlight the consequences of taking drugs.
See
How Marijuana
Prohibition Corrupts All Of Our Institutions
– Medicine, Law Enforcement, Journalism
And How That Corruption Sustains Prohibitionism
(Marijuananews note: This is the complete Americanization of the
UK drug war.)
He is to meet regional newspaper, radio, and television editors to urge them to include
more information about the long prison sentences involved and the medical and social
repercussions of drug-taking. Schools will also be encouraged to teach students the jail
terms drug offences carry.
The move is an attempt to persuade what Mr Hellawell terms the "rich kids",
university students and clubgoers, into giving up drugs. He is
particularly worried that research suggests that heroin is being used as a
"recreational" drug and that the young "achievers" believe they can
take substances, such as ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis, without harmful effects.
(Marijuananews note: Notice the equating of cannabis with cocaine. No wonder that more
people are turning to hard drugs. They use American methods and get American results.)
Mr Hellawell, the UK’s Drugs Co-ordinator, said: "I am talking about a group
of ‘rich young kids’ - young achievers in their late teens and early 20s who
don’t have to commit crime to pay for their drugs.
"They are critical of people who drink and drive, of human
rights and pollution." He added: "If you look at why most people are
involved in drugs you find deprivation, lack of care and social exclusion."
But there were others, he said, who used drugs recreationally who do not come from that
deprived group.
"It’s quite a substantial group that’s a more recent phenomena. But they
don’t necessarily need the same initiatives as the first group. The issues that seem
to work with this group are the medical, legal and social consequences."
On environmental issues, he said that millions of drug needles end up in
children’s playgrounds, on beaches and in the countryside.
"Human rights is another issue - you can explain to young
people that some organisations involved in drug production have appalling human rights
records. They are supporting these people by using drugs."
He gave the example of the Taliban, an extremist Islamic group who control most of
Afghanistan, which produces much of the UK’s heroin.
The Taliban has banned women from working and forced them to cover up, banned music,
television and alcohol, and ordered men to pray five times daily in a mosque.
(Marijuananews note: This is bizarre. They have banned alcohol!!! This is a violation
of human rights? Yes, it is. But then, so is banning cannabis!)
He believes most young people are ignorant of the law on drugs.
He cited the example of two recent visits to a comprehensive school in Middlesbrough
and a private school in Solihull, near Birmingham, where he asked
groups of 14 to 17-year-olds what was the maximum penalty for being caught in possession
of 12 ecstasy tablets.
The answers ranged from a "slap on the hand", to two years’
imprisonment. "They were visibly shaken when I told them they
could get life in prison," said Mr Hellawell.
(Marijuananews note: They should have visibly shaken. They
were in the presence of a very dangerously irrational man, who does not know the
difference between the harm caused by a substance and a harm caused by his own policies.)
Clubbers switch to cheap cocaine
LONDON clubbers are rejecting ecstasy amid growing fears about the dangers of the drug
and switching to cocaine as its market price falls, according to a new survey.
(Marijuananews note: But we just heard the Tsar equate ecstasy with
cocaine and cannabis. Are the risks not all the same? Also, if the market price of cocaine
is falling as demand is increasing, this must mean that the supply is increasing even
faster. But over 70% of UK drug arrests continue to be for cannabis.)
See
And Now, How The
Narcs Created Crack -- In Belize
and
Customs
Service Press Release
Shows How Increased Enforcement of Prohibition Encourages Hard Drug Use
and
Crime Rates In
England Reported Higher Than US,
So Government Wants To Ban Marijuana Seeds To Give Police Something To Do – 2
Articles
Researchers from the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence say that cocaine is
increasingly viewed as a fashionable substitute for ecstasy and amphetamines, the two
drugs most often linked to the club scene.
Young people in London are said to be switching to it as prices of the drug,
traditionally associated with rock stars and the jet set, tumble.
About half of a group of 350 recreational drug users aged between 16 and 22 said they
had tried cocaine, a class A drug which can lead to mental breakdown. Only 1 per cent said
they had taken heroin, another class A drug.
"Cocaine may be becoming a popular choice for young drug users in the capital, who
worry about the quality and dangers associated with ecstasy and who regard amphetamines as
a poor substitute," say researchers.
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
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