Usually, when people discuss heroin abuse, their solutions revolve around reducing freedom and ramping up hysterical rhetoric. The solutions offered here will pursue the same goals but by increasing freedom and honesty.
One trust-destroying feature of modern life for kids is “zero tolerance” policies in schools which expels students for bringing Asprin or Midol to school. This demonstrates to kids at a young age that their elders have hysterical, irrational reactions to all “drugs,” and that their words and actions are to be ridiculed, not respected. True messages about the dangers of certain drugs, like heroin, get lost in the nonsense, knee-jerk reactions.
Another example of this problem is treating marijuana like it is a dangerous drug similar to alcohol and heroin. When kids try weed and realize that hysterical foolish adults have been hyping it’s dangers, they naturally wonder what else they have been lied to about. They may try the truly dangerous drugs thinking that they, too, have been over-hyped.
Eliminating these policies, and not “crying wolf” will do much to preserve adults credibility for really important messages. It will not, however, eliminate the heroin problem. Utopia is not an option. Thus, other steps which will reduce morbidity and mortality heroin use, are in order.
First, all regulations on the sale of sterile hypodermic needles should be repealed. Needles should be freely and easily accessible to drug users, in order to reduce the spread off deadly diseases like Hepatitis-C and AIDS, clean needles are as important as condoms, and for the same reasons reasons.
Secondly, the laws forbidding the sale of heroin to addicts should be repealed (more…)
This week’s intriguing installment takes us yet again in a Keene courtroom, this time the Superior branch as Rich Paul stands trial on alleged violations of probation. Accused of possessing a weapon and having a biological system saturated with tetrahydrocannabinol, state actors tried long and hard to succeed on both counts. With an AKPF #1 producer as a witness and a seasoned public defender as his attorney, Rich was ultimately successful in defeating all weapons charges levelled against him. There was no denying the THC saturation, and the judge ultimately sentenced Rich to six months at the Cheshire Spiritual Retreat on those grounds, though remarkably with the liberating condition of probation termination after service of that sentence. Concluding the episode is a sign wave outside of the jail featuring Oscar the dog.
Below are tweets from Rich Paul’s mostly successful VOP hearing where the state failed to prove, even by preponderance of the evidence, that Rich had violated the weapons prohibition! He was sentenced to some time due to cannabis violations, to which he readily admitted, however once he’s out, he’ll be OFF probation! Hooray! Video to come later. Thanks to Darryl for the live tweeting. Here are his tweets in reverse chronological order:
Darryl W. Perry @DarrylWPerry
#RichPaul sentenced to 6 months in the House of Corrections with 37 data pretrial credit
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3h
Darryl W. Perry @DarrylWPerry
Judge is making notes…. presumably calculating the sentence for #RichPaul
3h (more…)
Rich Paul, after checking out of the Keene Spiritual Retreat
After viewing the video of the first attack on local chalkers in Central Square, superior court judge John C. Kissinger decided to set bail for Rich Paul at $500. This is a huge step down from “no bail”, the previous decision by the judge, who at the time had not seen the video and was told by the prosecution that Rich was a menace to society and a threat to public safety – a ridiculous claim.
For those of you who don’t know, I, Rich Paul, have been sitting in the the Keene Spiritual Retreat for the last couple weeks. I am technically in for violation of probation and there are four violations alleged:
1) That when Dorrie O’Meara’s employees/ thugs attacked an artist/ friend of mine by surprise and from behind, I stepped in between the gang of attackers and their intended victim while holding a stick, and thwarted their attack.
This is true, but justified by my inalienable right to self defense and defense of others, I believe that the court will disregard this allegation.
2) That I have not paid the $3,500 in fines that the court demands. (more…)
Friend, blogger, and fellow activist Graham Colson walked into the Cheshire County House of Corrections today. He was sentenced to 60 days for the “crime” of Contempt of Court. Before he checked in, we had a chance to chat about the events that led up to this moment. Ian Freeman and I also reflected on our own jail experiences and reminded Graham that life is always what you make of it–even when you are living in a cage.
Usually, when people discuss heroin abuse, their solutions revolve around reducing freedom and ramping up hysterical rhetoric. The solutions offered here will pursue the same goals but by increasing freedom and honesty.
