Mind Altering Drugs

       The war on drugs is the longest lasting war in the history of our country.  Over a trillion dollars, not to count the man hours, destruction of property, injury of bodies and loss of life, has been spent in this war.  Drugs threaten the very fabric of our society. Families are hurt as well as the individual whose life is ruined by the use of the illicit drugs.  Legalization of drugs may be the expedient answer, however, without the reconstruction of the moral fiber of the general public, it could simply exacerbate the problem.  Without the will power and self control of a religious and moral people, a government based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness cannot be obtained.

        After the civil war, our government introduced heroin (because it wasn't addicting) to get the soldiers off of being addicted to morphine.  Dr. Siegmund Freud thought that cocaine would be a cure for morphine addiction.  In1972 President Nixon declared the "War on Drugs".  Today, over 20 million Americans are estimated to use illegal hard drugs, in addition to the estimated 20 million marijuana users.  It is estimated that another 6 million use psychotherapeutic drugs.  This is the largest per capita use of drugs in the world.  Marijuana supplies about half of the revenue of the Mexican drug cartels.  Apparently the "war on drugs" has been ineffective.

         The immoderate use of alcohol is known to have destroyed innumerable lives.  Prohibition and the war on drugs both have proven to be failures.  A current battle in the drug wars is the conflict between the federal and state governments.  Some states have legalized medical dope, while recently others have legalized recreational use.

 

         According to Rep. Darrel Issa, there are three elements to the drug trade: drugs, guns and money.  Therefore we see that drugs, as well as guns and money represent power. "The only industry that is more profitable than the drug industry is the arms industry." (Jason Howerton)  Power, and the ability to control people, has always been the opiate of the well connected. 

 

Conspiracy theories

1. The CIA runs drugs.  Since the time of President Clinton's run for president, we have heard rumors of our government's involvement in the drug trade. There were also rumors during the Vietnam war.  The CIA may also be involved in the gun trade.  Both guns and drugs bring in large amounts of cash.

 2. The Fast and Furious gun scandal put thousands of automatic weapons in the hands of drug runners.  The congressional investigation into the scandal was stonewalled by the executive branch of our government. 

3. The borders are not secured in order to facilitate the flow of drugs.

4. HSBC, a global bank, is said to have laundered billions of dollars for Mexican cartels.

5. The prison "industry" doesn't want the drug war to end because the prison business is such a thriving industry.  

 

Facts

1. "Coca-Cola was launched in 1885 by John S. Pemberton, in Atlanta, Georgia. At first, it came as an alcoholic beverage, called French Wine Cola, inspired by Vin Mariani, the creation of French chemist Angelo Mariani. Vin Mariani was marketed in Europe since 1863 and contained cocaine (some 6 mg per ounce), with the purpose of enhancing its tonic properties. Vin Mariani was most successful in those years and highly appreciated by such celebrities as Jules Verne, Auguste Rodin, Alexandre Dumas, Thomas Edison, and H. G. Wells. Pope Leo XIII himself awarded Mariani the Gold Medal of the Vatican. However, the French Wine Cola hardly enjoyed any commercial success in the US. When Atlanta banned alcoholic beverages in 1886, Pemberton decided to give up the alcohol in the formula, and maintain the basic elements, extracted from the coca leaves and the kola nut, together with some caffeine, for a carbonated soft drink, who took the name of Coca-Cola.

The use of cocaine in those days was very popular, highly advocated by physicians and pharmacists as a remedy for many conditions. Cultivated for centuries in South America by locals who used to chew its leaves for their refreshing effect, coca was brought to Europe in the 16th century. Isolated and identified by the German chemist Koller in the 1850s, the main alkaloid of coca was called cocaine. Its virtues were recognized by psychiatrists, like Siegmund Freud, who endorsed it as a treatment for morphine addiction. Cocaine also proved to have anaesthetic properties, and it was introduced in the practice of eye surgery. It was also considered very effective against asthma, hay fever, sinusitis, toothaches, indigestion, fatigue, and impotence. William A. Hammond, a former Surgeon General of the United States, suggested it as a cure for stomach irritability, excessive mental exertion, hysteria, and masturbation. Manufactured in various forms, from powder to solutions, and from cigarettes to intravenous injections, cocaine was advertised with slogans like "a brain tonic for exhaustion", " a cure for all nervous affections", "a tonic for elderly people who are easily tired", and "it supplies the place of food, makes the coward brave, and the silent eloquent."

By the end of the 19th century, many American soft drinks contained cocaine (one of them was plainly called "Dope"), and they were served mainly from soda fountains. Coca-Cola only had some 0.75 mg per ounce, but this was still enough to induce obvious euphoric and tonic effects. In 1887, the pharmacist and businessman Asa G. Candler (later to become the mayor of Atlanta) bought the trademark of Coca Cola from John Pemberton for $2,300.

Overlooked for a few decades, the addictive capacity of cocaine became recognized however in the 1880s. Newspaper reports, the description of a "cocainist" delirium case by dr. Freud, and the book of Annie Meyer, "Eight Years in Cocaine Hell" contributed to public acknowledgement of cocaine's harmful effects. As early as 1887, US states begun enacting laws against cocaine abuse. By 1890, the Medical Record reported some 400 cases of addiction to the drug. An investigation by a committee of the Connecticut State Medical Society in 1896 concluded that cocaine was a major cause of drug dependency, and "the danger of addiction outweighs the little efficacy attributed to the remedy." In 1901, a Mississippi law prohibited the sale of cocaine without a prescription. The 1903 "Report of Committee on the Acquirement of Drug Habits" from the American Pharmaceutical Association stated that ninety percent of cocaine addicts "have fallen victim to its influence through use of prescriptions or patent medicines containing the drug", and declared that most users were "bohemians, gamblers, high- and low-class prostitutes, night porters, bell boys, burglars, racketeers, pimps, and casual laborers". President William Taft proclaimed cocaine as Public Enemy No. 1, and in 1914 the Congress passed the Harrison act, which tightly regulated the distribution and sale of cocaine.

It was in 1903 that Asa Candler decided to remove cocaine from Coca Cola. However, at that time Candler only owned the name of "Coca-Cola", but he had no patent on the syrup itself. Therefore, he believed that his product's name had to be descriptive, and that he must have had at least some by-product of the coca leaf in the syrup to protect his right to the name Coca-Cola; the name was the thing of real value, and the registered trademark was its only safeguard. So, the chemists of the Coca-Cola company did their best (with the available technology) to extract cocaine from the coca leaves. After 1904, the beverage only contained molecular traces of cocaine, until complete removal was achieved in 1929. Presently, Coca Cola uses a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.

So, for those who are still fearful of addiction, let them be reassured: there is absolutely no trace of cocaine in our cokes today!" ( by Stephen Janowsky, http://www.helium.com/items/1135114-coca-cola-cocaine-pemberton-candler)

2. "7Up used to contain lithium. In fact, the soda used to be named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda"! This soon got shortened to "7Up Lithiated Lemon Soda," and then just "7Up" in 1936. But why is having lithium as an ingredient strange? Because lithium is used as one of the most common treatments for bipolar disorder!

Its creator, Charles Grigg, included the substance in the soda's formula because he thought it could be used as a selling point. He believed the naturally-occurring lithia found in underground springs that could be promoted as a mood regulator! If you're concerned about the content of the 7Up you're drinking these days, don't worry - lithium was removed from the soda over half a century ago." (http://www.omg-facts.com/Technology/7Up-Used-To-Contain-Lithium/28804)

Drug Addiction Facts

"Here are some facts that may surprise or sadden you about drug abuse and addiction. As with most issues about addiction, there is much that is unexpected; the costs are much higher than expected and much of what people believe to be true about drugs is wrong.

"Marijuana is not harmful or addictive" is often stated by those who use it regularly. Research, that's more than a decade old, shows that in fact marijuana is addictive and in fact is causing one of the highest incidence of addiction in the United States. This shows that we believe what we want to believe about drugs."  (http://www.drug-addiction-support.org/drug-addiction-facts.html)

          As we can see, our country has had a long history of drug and alcohol usage and abuse.  Two of the necessary items to maintain good health for the Pilgrims and Puritans were beer and lemon juice.  Satan has been extremely successful in supplying mankind with things that keep us from living the way our creator would like us to.

          Anything that separates us from the mind of Christ is detrimental.  Hypnosis is a form of sorcery and wizardry and therefore is easily discerned as being other than from the Lord, while drugs are more subtle in their temptation.  It is hard to recognize the voice of our Sheppard when our minds are wandering around in a maze of hypnosis or drugs.

          When God created the world, He gave us everything we need to live life abundantly.  Some things, however, although having advantageous properties do also have undesirable qualities.  Could it be that this is the reason the Bible says "everything in moderation"?  God did say not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: but we did anyway.