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American City Homicide Awards 2021

by Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher

August 6, 2022




ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the American City Homicide Awards for 2021, brought to you by drug prohibition, doing its part to keep the guns firing fast and furious in the 'hood. Now here is your host, Paxil Buspar.



PAXIL: Paxil Buspar here with co-host Adderall Zoloft, and it's an exciting night here in the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.


GUNSHOT



ADDERALL: Oh! It sounds like someone's trying to make sure that Atlanta, Georgia, comes out on top tonight when it comes to the homicide totals.




PAXIL: The joke is on them because it's already 2022, so any murders that are committed tonight are going to have no effect on tonight's award show.


"Yeah!"



ADDERALL: Speaking of which, it's going to be a close competition tonight.




PAXIL: That's right, Adderall. Now that Covid restrictions are easing up, we're seeing record homicide numbers throughout the country, and not just in the usual cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.



ADDERALL: That's right, Paxil. Homicide totals are up all over the country, including in unlikely cities like Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; Detroit, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin...




PAXIL: Yes, we get the idea, Adderall.



ADDERALL: ...Portland, Oregon; Toledo, Ohio; San Francisco, California; Memphis, Tennessee...



PAXIL: Enough, already.



ADDERALL: ...Springfield, Missouri; Billings, Montana; Davenport, Iowa; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Berkeley, California; Chattanooga, Tennessee...



LAUGHTER



PAXIL: Long story short, Adderall...



ADDERALL: Yes, Paxil?




PAXIL: ...if it's a city, it's a deathtrap.




"Word"



ADDERALL: Well, you've got to give a lot of credit to America's War on Drugs, Paxil.




PAXIL: That's right, Adderall.



ADDERALL: In fact, do you know what Heather Ann Thompson wrote in the Atlantic in 2014?




PAXIL: What's that, Adderall?






ADDERALL: She wrote, and I quote... ahem! ahem!
"Without the War on Drugs, the level of gun violence 1 that plagues so many poor inner-city neighborhoods today simply would not exist."2






PAXIL: Nice impersonation.




ADDERALL: Thanks, Paxil.





PAXIL: All in the name of the God-fearing Drug War, Adderall.


CHURCH ORGAN PLAYING




ADDERALL: Amen.






PAXIL: Could you hand me the envelope, please? Oh, this is so exciting.


ENVELOPE CRINKLING




ADDERALL: Do you need some help with that?



PAXIL: No, thanks, I've got it.




The American city with the third-highest homicide rate per capita in 2021 is...



DRUM ROLL PLAYING



...Detroit Michigan...



CHEERING



...with 309 homicides out of a population of just over 630,000. Accepting the Silver Bullet Award on behalf of Detroit is gang member Reginald Perez from the Fiver Percenters.




REGINALD: Yo, I'd like to thank the DEA for outlawing Mother Nature's godsend medicines.



PAXIL: Oh, yeah?





REGINALD: Are you kidding me? It opened up endless entrepreneurial opportunities in the 'hood.





PAXIL: Opportunities in which guns came in handy, right, Reginald?





REGINALD: The white lady knows whereof she speaks.



CHEERING




ADDERALL: Okay, now it's my turn, Paxil.



PAXIL: Say the magic words, Adderall.





ADDERALL: Oh, great. I've always wanted to say this. Ahem. May I have the envelope, please?

ENVELOPE CRINKLING



What kind of envelopes are these, anyway? Guess they made it out of some kind of funky organic material, like seaweed. Here we go.



DRUM ROLL PLAYING



The American city with the second-highest homicide rate per capita in 2021 is New Orleans, Louisiana...



CHEERING



...with 218 homicides out of a population of 384,000. It looks like New Orleans has been pulling out all the stops...



CORK POPS





PAXIL: And all the AK47's, for that matter.


ADDERALL: To accept tonight's award on behalf of New Orleans, I'd like to welcome Tanya Wingate to the stage. She's chairwoman of the Stop the Violence Campaign in the city's historic 9th Ward.



CROWD MURMURING




What's that? Oh, that's terrible. I've just gotten word that Tanya was killed by a stray bullet while she was pulling out of her driveway this morning to catch a plane for Atlanta.


PAXIL: Oh, God, that is awful.


ADDERALL: Well, I guess I will accept this award on behalf of Tanya's next-of-kin.


PAXIL: Good idea.



ADDERALL: And congratulations once again to New Orleans for coming in second place in the 2021 homicide awards here in Atlanta, Georgia's State Farm Arena.



PAXIL: That's a hard act to follow, Adderall.



ADDERALL: I know, right? Especially if you're not wearing a bullet-proof vest.

LAUGHTER




PAXIL: But it's time now to announce the winner for the American City Homicide Awards of 2021.




ADDERALL: Here's the envelope, Paxil.




PAXIL: Nice try, Adderall, but you're not going to deprive me of the opportunity of saying those magic words once again tonight.


ADDERALL: Oh, right.


PAXIL: May I have the envelope, please?



ADDERALL: I thought you'd never ask.



ENVELOPE CRINKLING



PAXIL: Excuse me just one moment.



CHAINSAW BUZZES




There.

DRUM ROLL PLAYING


And the winner for the American City Homicide Awards for 2021 is... St. Louis, Missouri...





CHEERING



...with 195 homicides out of a population of just 300,000.




ST. LOUIS HOMEBOY: St. Louis does not accept your stupid award.





ADDERALL: And who might you be?



ST. LOUIS HOMEBOY: I might be the guy that's gonna shove that microphone down your throat if you don't stop glamorizing gun violence 3 .


AUDIENCE GASPS


PAXIL: You should be happy. Your city won the American City Homicide competition for 2021.



ST. LOUIS HOMEBOY: Yeah, but only because the racist Drug War incentivized drug dealing, thereby filling my hometown with guns.




PAXIL: You say potato and I say potahto.



ST. LOUIS HOMEBOY: Say what?




ADDERALL: Can we get some security officers up here, please?



PAXIL: Well, I'll tell you what. I used to live in St. Louis myself so I will accept this Silver Bullet Award on behalf of my former hometown.



ADDERALL: I didn't know you used to live in St. Louis.



PAXIL: Oh, yeah, I grew up there.




ADDERALL: Why did you leave?




PAXIL: Because between you and me, it was way too violent.



CHEERING


ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the American City Homicide Awards for 2021, brought to you by Drug War prohibition: helping to keep the 'hood exciting by incentivizing drug dealing among the poor and powerless. Do your part to marginalize and kill American minorities: tell your Congress people to ratchet up the patriotic War on Drugs today. The War on Drugs: proudly keeping Mother Nature's godsends from the American people for over 100 years.







Notes:

1: Firearm Violence in the United States Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Johns Hopkins University (up)
2: Heather Ann Thompson. 2014. The Atlantic. The Atlantic. October 30, 2014. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/10/inner-city-violence-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/382154/. (up)
3: Firearm Violence in the United States Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Johns Hopkins University (up)








Ten Tweets

against the hateful war on US




The proof that psychedelics work has always been extant. We are hoodwinked by scientists who convince us that efficacy has not been "proven." This is materialist denial of the obvious.

If psychoactive drugs had never been criminalized, science would never have had any reason or excuse for creating SSRIs that muck about unpredictably with brain chemistry. Chewing the coca leaf daily would be one of many readily available "miracle treatments" for depression.

If we can go overseas to burn poppy plants, then Islamic countries should be free to come to the United States to burn our grape vines.

Science knows nothing of the human spirit and of the hopes and dreams of humankind. Science cannot tell us whether a given drug risk is worthwhile given the human need for creativity and passion in their life. Science has no expertise in making such philosophical judgements.

Mad in America solicits personal stories about people trying to get off of antidepressants, but they will not publish your story if you want to use entheogenic medicines to help you. They're afraid their readers can't handle the truth.

Drug war pundits need to stop using the word "snorts" when it comes to cocaine. We "take" our "meds," and yet we "snort" cocaine, just like a pig. That is NOT neutral language, folks!

"My faith votes and strives to outlaw religions that use substances of which politicians disapprove."

There are definitely good scientists out there. Unfortunately, they are either limited by their materialist orthodoxy into showing only specific microscopic evidence or they abandon materialism for the nonce and talk the common psychological sense that we all understand.

Drug Warriors never take responsibility for incentivizing poor kids throughout the west to sell drugs. It's not just in NYC and LA, it's in modest-sized towns in France. Find public housing, you find drug dealing. It's the prohibition, damn it!

We have to deny the FDA the right to judge psychoactive medicines in the first place. Their materialist outlook obliges them to ignore all obvious benefits. When they nix drugs like MDMA, they nix compassion and love.


Click here to see All Tweets against the hateful War on Us






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Copyright 2025, Brian Ballard Quass Contact: quass@quass.com

tombstone for American Democracy, 1776-2024, RIP (up)