Semi-Daily Journal

Judging from this quotation, Doug Henwood doesn't get it.

The interesting thing about the Bush family's prediliction for illegal chemicals is not whether this is a big deal in itself, but whether well-connected people get sympathy and indulgence for youthful high jinx while the less fortunate get "zero tolerance" and serious jail time.

Our 'war on drugs' is a desgrace, but a Bush going to jail is a good sign. If the rich and powerful find their children ground up, they might change things. Please remember that Noelle was jailed for violating a probation agreement. She had gotten no jail time for altering a prescription (forgery) and attempting to purchase 300 pills (as in 'possession for sale').

... and I wonder what would have happened to history this year if the FBI's resources weren't so much geared towards this ridiculous 'war on drugs'. Is there an estimate about how much it has cost? All I know is that about half of US prison population is in for drug-related offenses...

And when I recall that during the late sixties / early seventies the FBI turned a blind eye to hard drug trafiqing to stiffle the civil liberty movement, then I get dizzy...

Similarly, the Bush government is not into 'nation building', but it is okay to burn billions to dismantle a regime that was put in place by the US itself... (and the same is true of Saddam Hussain!)

Perhaps the concept of cost-benefit analysis should be introduced explicitely in 21st century geo-politics. And for the 22nd century, I suggest factoring in the monetary value of risk besides the obvious political advantage of adopting highly mediatic (if dangerous) strategies.

"For this she needs to go to jail? How many millions of Americans are on Prozac? What a wacko place this is."

A pharmacological, not legal or ethical point:

I too thought that taking a widely prescribed psychiatric drug without prescription was a relatively minor matter. However it has been explained to be that Xanax can be a 'drug of co-abuse' meaning it is often taken to mitigate the effects of opiate abuse.

So if you have a friend who takes a lot of Xanax surreptitiously it is not that they are anxious but unwilling to go to a psychiatrist. More likely they are addicted to heroin or similar substance. A serious matter indeed.

As to the optimal strategy for fighting heroin addiction (and whether co-abused substances should be criminalized or not), I take no position on that. I am just explaining the pharmacology. Prozac is different altogether and is a false analogy.

And when she starts getting Xanax illegally prescribed, it then becomes a crime. You might want to actually read the charges before you make comments of this sort. If you want to argue about the legality of prescription fraud, fine. It is a felony, after all. Maybe we should make it legal to prescribe ourselves controlled substances, as long as they are less potent than Xanax? Really, you ought to think before you post.

When her uncle, her father and her grandfather have made their political careers by being "tough on crime", by pushing for mandatory sentencing and stronger sentences for drug crimes, it's hard to feel sorry for Noelle Bush for getting caught in the trap her family helped make.

I wonder if Noelle would have got probation if she had been poor?

I am charged with 5 counts of prescription forgery right now. I am out on bail. It seemed so harmless I wasn't stealing or hurting, harrasing, or intimidating anyone. When caught in the web of addiction it is impossible to see through the haze which we sabotaged our lives with. Us addicts tend to rationalize our means of obtaining whatever substance makes us feel numb and ultimately normal.