Tag Archives: drugs

400 Words or Less: Why I hate hippies

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In the journalism world, they teach you to fix the headline of a story to be some sort of a one line summary of the piece at large. Two weeks ago, popular Washington Post blogger Ed Rogers boldly declared in a three word headline above his article what many had begun to speculate.

“OWS (Occupy Wall Street) is over.”

Although I’m a few shades more to the liberal side in comparison to Rogers, I’ve got  no other option but to begrudgingly agree with the man. I believe it had all the promise and potential in the world early on, but in the end it’s what you get out of it that matters; not what you put in.

We, the American people, are walking out of this with nothing and that’s exactly what we deserve for letting this movement turn to crap.

The OWS movement was ideologically beautiful; a manifestation of the sing-songy chant, “The people united will never be defeated”. In the end, numbers and standing around were not enough and the movement wielded about as much true influence as Hands Across America in 1986.

I had unknowing written the phrase “in the end” twice within the first 200 words, and it’s telling of the latent sense of demise most clear-thinking Americans are feeling right now. As much as we’d like to metaphorically strangle a few Wall Street execs and see the disentanglement of corporations and democracy, it’s just not going to happen this time around.

Why?

The methods to achieve the final goals were inherently flawed.

My heart absolutely goes out to those who are gathering at points across the country demanding a morally-sound reform. I love it.

But camping out, chanting, walking around in circles, chanting Kumbaya, or generally having a big hippie carnival in front of a building isn’t going to change to world, and you’d be a hopeless romantic to think otherwise. It won’t happen.

Not in a million years.

America has turned it’s back on people living on the streets for years; they’re called the homeless. It’s disgusting that we as a nation have the capacity for ignorance of that magnitude, but it’s the sad truth.

The more the movement grew, the more it filled with folks who’s opinions are not often taken as seriously as others. Our own Occupy Huntington began to abandon itself after drug use and the potential for violence started to grow from within.

Occupy Wall Street was, is, and will always be beautiful to me, but it was ruined by hippies.

This movement was killed by drugs, unwashed hair, and general lack of perception.

Thus is life in 2011.

Drugs and Capitalism: A Success Story

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Each day, I drive out of the dark hills and into the city of Huntington when I go to class. Each day, I pass trailer park meth labs and flop house apartments as I wriggle out of the trees and on to Marshall’s campus. Drugs are ubiquitous; there’s no escaping it.

The War on Drugs isn’t a war, it’s one group of people sandbagging for a flood while another group is swimming in the water. They’re never going to leave, and it’d be in our best interest as a society to learn to live with it rather than against it.

The drug market is capitalism at its finest and very worst: A service provider selling a product to a consumer who has the cash and desire for the goods. Often times, producing and selling drugs is a last resort when making a modest income just isn’t going to happen. This is the case in undeveloped areas such as South America, North Africa and the vast majority of Asia. These people have no other option of making any sort of substantial living other than growing poppies, cocaine or cannabis. There’s no way any amount of regulation or enforcement is going to make them stop pushing the product if it puts shoes on their feet.

Once the shipment has left whichever shady port it’s being hauled into, it takes a stimulant retail associate — known in some circles as a drug dealer — to deliver the product to the costumer. This link in the chain is unbreakable as well because of our own consumerist pressures. In an age where the middle class will burn through eight credit cards for a BMW and hardwood flooring, extra cash on the side selling an illicit product is easy money to make. As Westerners, we’re programmed to constantly buy; we’ll take additional income from source provided it equips us with the means to buy that next nice thing.

Needless to say, most drugs are physically and/or mentally addicting and will always have a steady consumer base as long as they are available. And they’ll always be available. Always. I’m not a fan of it, but it’s inevitable. We’re going to lose the war on drugs.

Locked and Loaded: Why and How America’s prisons are full

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According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 7.2 million Americans are incarcerated. The fact that one out of every 32 adults is behind bars blows my mind almost as much as the scarcity of voices bantering on about how to fix it. How the distant, third most populous nation in the world can consider holding 23 percent of the world’s prison population as if it’s business as usual is ridiculous in my opinion.

Finding a solution to decrease the prison population often gets mixed opinions and even more diverse propositions. One reason for America’s incredibly high incarceration rate is the general length of our prison sentences. The average sentence for burglary is around 16 months in the U.S., while comparatively seven months in England and only five months in neighboring Canada. The same crime lands you over twice and three times as much prison time than in our most culturally similar allies.

And guess what: England and Wales, combined, rank 92nd while Canada sits at 123rd in the world for incarcerations per 100,000 citizens.

America? Of course, we’re No.1!

But why does the land of the free lock so many up?

Some argue it’s because we’re one of the most urbanized nations in the world. Makes sense: More people living together, naturally you would assume more crime. Try telling that to the megalopic Japan and the 62 jailed in Japanese prison per 100,000 heads.

It goes without saying: We don’t live in Mayberry anymore. The “war on drugs” has brought on a surge of violent crimes to the nation. But you’ve got to remember: Drugs themselves don’t directly hurt anyone except yourself. The problems drugs bring are the broken families, the rehab costs, the deals gone bad and so on. The use and possession of drugs is not a violent crime, and therefore should not be treated as such.

The point is, unless you’re jumping on the rights of others, you’re not a true criminal. True criminals belong in jail, and the first step to decreasing our prison population is to make sure only crooks get put inside the barbed wire.

(As with most of my posts, this one was published in The Parthenon at Marshall)