America's Obsession with Fascist Drug War Movies
by Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher
April 7, 2021
Interesting. Most movie producers seem to be stuck in the '80s, determined to toe the party line that psychoactive medicine from Mother Nature is devil spawn, which is a lie scientifically, historically and cross-culturally speaking. In "Running with the Devil" from 2019, CIA agent Leslie Bibb tortures one "drug suspect" and murders another in cold blood, shooting him at point blank range while she's puffing the hell out of her ever-present cigarettes. If a Drug War makes sense, then she should be the first one to be shot, since her drug of choice (nicotine) kills far more than the stuff she's cracking down on. The message of these movies 1 2 is insidious: it says basically that America should declare martial law and simply kill everyone who dares to sell Mother Nature's psychoactive plants. Funny, I missed that part in the US Constitution, the part that calls on us to exact barbaric justice on folks who dare to use plant medicine of which politicians disapprove.
Then there's the 2022 film 'The Runner' in which the WASP hero (Detective Wall) calls a black teenager a "waste" and a "scumbag" because he's selling plant medicine that has been used responsibly by other cultures for millennia. And (spoiler alert) Wall gets a medal for killing the black kid later in a poorly conceived SWAT raid. But not to worry, the raid also killed the obligatory adult Hispanic drug dealer, so Wall can take credit for doing more than killing children.
The Links Police
Pull over to the side of the web page: topic-related links coming through viz. the media and the way they misunderstand the Drug War:
?151?
?269?
?275?
?300?
?31?
?325?
Notes:
1: Glenn Close but no cigar DWP (up)
2: Running with the torture loving DEA DWP (up)
Ten Tweets
against the hateful war on US
John Halpern wrote a book about opium, subtitled "the ancient flower that poisoned our world." What nonsense! Bad laws and ignorance poison our world, NOT FLOWERS!
Outlawing drugs is outlawing obvious therapies for Alzheimer's and autism patients, therapies based on common sense and not on the passion-free behaviorism of modern scientists.
Americans think that fighting drugs is more important than freedom. We have already given up on the fourth amendment. Nor is the right to religion honored for those who believe in indigenous medicines. Pols are now trying to end free speech about drugs as well.
There are hundreds of things that we should outlaw before drugs (like horseback riding) if, as claimed, we are targeting dangerous activities. Besides, drugs are only dangerous BECAUSE of prohibition, which compromises product purity and refuses to teach safe use.
Many prohibition haters have their own list of drugs that they feel should be outlawed. They're missing the point. Drugs cannot be judged up or down. Prohibition is the problem. Say otherwise and you open the door to endless substance demonization by politicians.
NIDA is just a propaganda arm of the U.S. government -- and will remain so until it recognizes the glaringly obvious benefits of drugs -- as well as the glaringly obvious downsides of prohibition. We need a National Institute on Drug Use, not a National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"The homicidal drug is booze. There's more violence on a Saturday night in a neighborhood tavern than there has been in the whole 20-year history of LSD." -- Timothy Leary
Drug War propaganda is all about convincing us that we will never be able to use drugs wisely. But the drug warriors are not taking any chances: they're doing all they can to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The benefits of outlawed drugs read like the ultimate wish-list for psychiatrists. It's a shame that so many of them are still mounting a rear guard action to defend their psychiatric pill mill -- which demoralizes clients by turning them into lifetime patients.
Now drug warriors have nitrous oxide in their sights, the substance that inspired the philosophy of William James. They're using the same tired MO: focusing exclusively on potential downsides and never mentioning the benefits of use, and/or denying that any exist.
Click here to see All Tweets against the hateful War on Us
Capitalism and the Drug War
How Ecstasy could end mass shootings
This site uses no cookies!
This site features no ads!
Thanks for visiting The Drug War Philosopher at abolishthedea.com, featuring essays against America's disgraceful drug war. Updated daily.
Copyright 2025, Brian Ballard Quass
Contact: quass@quass.com
(up)