An open letter to Bryan Walsh, author of End Times
by Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher
July 23, 2022
In End Times, science reporter Bryan Walsh never mentions the Drug War's role in keeping us from using empathogens, drugs that can help bring human beings together.
Dear Mr. Walsh,
I enjoyed your book on End Times, however I believe you omitted to mention the single best hope that humanity has for avoiding nuclear or biological Armageddon in the first place, and that is to make our species more loving with the help of psychoactive medicines that we call empathogens - i.e., substances that help the user feel compassion and love for their fellow human being. Before we go tweaking the human genome a la your Oxford philosopher to favor empathy (or implanting neuro robots in our brain a la Elon Musk to make us behave civilly) we should first consider the much simpler and more obvious expedient of ending the anti-scientific Drug War, which teaches us to fear and hate psychoactive substances rather than to learn how to use them safely for the profit of humanity at large.
There are two empathogens in particular that have demonstrated their ability to change minds for the better thus far in the 21st century. These are psilocybin mushrooms and MDMA, aka Ecstasy. With regard to the former empathogen, more than half of those who used shroom medicine in Roland Griffiths studies called it one of the most important experiences of their lives. With regard to the latter empathogen, Ecstasy brought unprecedented peace and love to the British dance floor in the 1990s. Here are some comments from DJs of that time as recorded in the documentary One Nation by concert organizer Terry "Turbo" Stone:
"It was the first time that black-and-white people had integrated on a level... and everybody was one." -- DJ Ray Keith.
"It was black and white, Asian, Chinese, all up in one building," -- MC GQ.
"Everyone's loving each other, man, they're not hating." - DJ Mampi Swift.
Imagine if the use of E were actually encouraged in society -- and actually required by those who have been diagnosed as hot heads and loose cannons, like potential school shooters and curmudgeonly political leaders with their fingers on the nuclear trigger.
Of course we assume that governments want peace, love and understanding like this, but not so, Bryan. The British preferred to have a Drug War. And so they cracked down on "E," merely because of a few deaths that were caused, not by E, but by a lack of "safe use" info about E that was a natural result of a government policy of demonizing substances rather than teaching about them. And so the unprecedentedly peaceful dance floor became ultra-violent overnight, as dancers switched from Ecstasy to anger-facilitating alcohol, and concert promoters had to hire special forces troops to keep the peace. Another "victory" for America's war on drugs.
Like all nonfiction authors these days, you write as if the Drug War is an issue unto itself, without any relation to other crucial topics like human survival. But a drug-war society does not provide a natural baseline for scientific reporting. It is rather an anti-scientific society in which we are obliged to completely ignore the power of psychoactive medicine to make positive differences in the lives of humans or humanity, whether we're writing about depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, or the threat of nuclear annihilation caused by hot-headed human beings.
In short, in my opinion, America has got to decide: which do we prefer? fighting a Drug War or avoiding nuclear annihilation?
So far, the evidence is that we'd prefer nuclear annihilation.
Shortly after the Rogue Star incident that almost blew up Pearl Harbor with a nuclear bomb, Nixon launched a Drug War to combat just the sort of peace-making medicines as those mentioned above
Shortly after the Damascus incident nearly blew up Arkansas, Reagan cracked down again on psychoactive medicines, urging kids to turn in their parents should they partake.
Americans, in short, behave like arch Christian Scientists: they would much rather hate their fellows -- than to love them thanks to the use of a "drug."
Sincerely Yours,
Brian
PS I hope you will do your part as a science author to spread the word that the Drug War is censoring your work, by discouraging and otherwise prohibiting the research of certain psychoactive substances. Galileo realized he was censored by the Church. I think it's long past time for scientists to admit that they're being censored by the Drug War.
The Links Police
Do you know why I stopped you? That's right, because the Drug War's turned me into a noxious busybody. That and the fact that I have some more links on the subject of overlooked drug benefits in the days of the Drug War.
Author's Follow-up: January 17, 2024
Like almost all non-fiction authors these days, Bryan Walsh reckons without the Drug War. If humankind is going to be annihilated by nuclear war, it is going to be because we have demonized the drugs that inspire peace. Ecstasy brought unprecedented peace, love and understanding to the British dance floor in the late '80s and early '90s, but British politicians did not want peace, they wanted a Drug War. When they cracked down on ecstasy, the ravers switched to hate-facilitating drugs like alcohol, creating so much violence that concert organizers had to hire special forces troops to keep the peace. Special forces!
Ecstasy is one of the safest drugs on the planet. It is only dangerous to those with whom we have refused on principle to discuss "safe use." Meanwhile Big Pharma drugs like Rinvoq have side effects that include cancer and death, and yet they are advertised openly on prime-time television.
The Drug War has already given a victory to Trump by arresting millions of his opponents and removing them from the voting rolls, Trump, the guy who now wants to kill the minorities that we were formerly happy with merely arresting.
The anti-democratic trend continues. The Fourth Amendment was long ago suspended on behalf of the Drug War. Until authors like Walsh stop pretending that there is no Drug War, nothing is going to change -- except for the worse. To the extent that we are approaching "end times," it is because of the Drug War and the militaristic anti-democratic mindset that it represents. (less)
Open Letters
Check out the conversations that I have had so far with the movers and shakers in the drug-war game -- or rather that I have TRIED to have. Actually, most of these people have failed to respond to my calls to parlay, but that need not stop you from reading MY side of these would-be chats.
I used to be surprised at this reticence on the part of modern drug-war pundits, until I realized that most of them are materialists. That is, most of them believe in (or claim to believe in) the psychiatric pill mill. If they happen to praise psychedelic drugs as a godsend for the depressed, they will yet tell us that such substances are only for those whose finicky body chemistries fail to respond appropriately to SSRIs and SNRIs. The fact is, however, there are thousands of medicines out there that can help with psychological issues -- and this is based on simple psychological common sense. But materialist scientists ignore common sense. That's why Dr. Robert Glatter wrote an article in Forbes magazine wondering if laughing gas could help the depressed.
As a lifelong depressive, I am embarrassed for Robert, that he has to even ask such a question. Of course laughing gas could help. Not only is laughter "the best medicine," as Readers Digest has told us for years, but looking forward to laughing is beneficial too. But materialist scientists ignore anecdote and history and tell us that THEY will be the judge of psychoactive medicines, thank you very much. And they will NOT judge such medicines by asking folks like myself if they work but rather by looking under a microscope to see if they work in the biochemical way that materialists expect.
Psychedelics and entheogens should be freely available to all dementia patients. These medicines can increase neuronal plasticity and even grow new neurons. Besides, they can inspire and elate -- or do we puritans feel that our loved ones have no right to peace of mind?
Alcohol is a drug in liquid form. If drug warriors want to punish people who use drugs, they should start punishing themselves.
"My faith votes and strives to outlaw religions that use substances of which politicians disapprove."
I looked up the company: it's all about the damn stock market and money. The FDA outlaws LSD until we remove all the euphoria and the visions. That's ideology, not science. Just relegalize drugs and stop telling me how much ecstasy and insight I can have in my life!!
Philip Jenkins reports that Rophynol had positive uses for treating mental disorders until the media called it the "date rape drug." We thus punished those who were benefitting from the drug, tho' the biggest drug culprit in date rape is alcohol. Oprah spread the fear virally.
Materialist scientists cannot triumph over addiction because their reductive focus blinds them to the obvious: namely, that drugs which cheer us up ACTUALLY DO cheer us up. Hence they keep looking for REAL cures while folks kill themselves for want of laughing gas and MDMA.
Most substance withdrawal would be EASY if drugs were re-legalized and we could use any substance we wanted to mitigate negative psychological effects.
Clearly a millennia's worth of positive use of coca by the Peruvian Indians means nothing to the FDA. Proof must show up under a microscope.
When Americans "obtain their majority" and wish to partake of drugs safely, they should be paired with older adults who have done just that. Instead, we introduce them to "drug abusers" in prerecorded morality plays to reinforce our biased notions that drug use is wrong.
The government makes psychoactive drug approval as slow as possible by insisting that drugs be studied in relation to one single board-certified "illness." But the main benefits of such drugs are holistic in nature. Science should butt out if it can't recognize that fact.
Buy the Drug War Comic Book by the Drug War Philosopher Brian Quass, featuring 150 hilarious op-ed pics about America's disgraceful war on Americans
You have been reading an article entitled, The Drug War and Armageddon: An open letter to Bryan Walsh, author of End Times, published on July 23, 2022 on AbolishTheDEA.com. For more information about America's disgraceful drug war, which is anti-patient, anti-minority, anti-scientific, anti-mother nature, imperialistic, the establishment of the Christian Science religion, a violation of the natural law upon which America was founded, and a childish and counterproductive way of looking at the world, one which causes all of the problems that it purports to solve, and then some, visit the drug war philosopher, at abolishTheDEA.com. (philosopher's bio; go to top of this page)
You have been reading an article entitled, The Drug War and Armageddon: An open letter to Bryan Walsh, author of End Times, published on July 23, 2022 on AbolishTheDEA.com. For more information about America's disgraceful drug war, which is anti-patient, anti-minority, anti-scientific, anti-mother nature, imperialistic, the establishment of the Christian Science religion, a violation of the natural law upon which America was founded, and a childish and counterproductive way of looking at the world, one which causes all of the problems that it purports to solve, and then some, visit the drug war philosopher, at abolishTheDEA.com. (philosopher's bio; go to top of this page)