Pot Growers: Targets in the “War on Terror”
Posted on August 30th, 2007 by bile Categories and Tags: Uncategorized, Bush administration, crime, drugs, federal government, freedom, John Ashcroft, liberty, nanny state, police state, politics, regulation, terrorism, Tommy Chong, war, your rightshttp://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/60854/
Last time we checked in on the bizarro nexus between cannabis and terrorism, it was none other than actor/director Tommy Chong who was feeling the Bush administration’s post-9/11 wrath. In fact, the stoner icon, whose fabled act was concurrently resuscitated for Fox’s drugged and confused comedy hit That 70s Show, was being slapped by John Ashcroft with a nine-month prison bid, a $20,000 fine and over $100,000 in seized assets for selling bongs. The terrorism connection? He was sentenced on Sept. 11, 2003. And if you think that’s a specious connection, it’s only gotten worse since. In fact, over the last few years, “terrorist” has become an epithet for all seasons.
So how does the Bush administration get away with crying terrorist at every opportunity? Say hello to the Military Commissions Act. Thanks to this 2006 piece of legislation, terrorism has become the basis of American foreign and domestic policy. Yes, the term has become equivalent to everything from ideologically driven violence to petty theft, and can be used to incarcerate, exterminate or character assassinate anything in sight.
Is this what people expect from the ‘war on drugs?’ Linked to terrorism? The militarization of the police departments because of the drug prohibition is bad enough but the federal government using laws supposedly designed for dealing with terrorists to put away pot heads is far worse given the scope of MCA and USA PATRIOT Act. The laws were blatantly unconstitutional but ‘they needed more flexibility and power to handle the new threats.’ And no one thought that the federal government would abuse them. That is, no one who bothers to pay attention to history. It’s all really sad… hopefully people will start realizing what’s going on before it’s too late for them. I said this before but The Constitution in Exaile is a great source for PATRIOT Act and related abuses by the federal government. It’s something everyone should read.
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