In Praise of Looting

Blaming Katrina's victims for not being rich

"The Iberville Housing Projects got pissed off because the police started to "shop" after they kicked out looters. Then they started shooting at cops. When the cops left, the looters looted everything. There's probably not a grocery left in this city."

The devastation wrought on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina is clearly evident three days after the winds started blowing and the journalists scampered out from their hotels. Most of New Orleans is under water. The Mississippi and Alabama coasts are obliterated. The situation in New Orleans is dire as thousands of people struggle to survive and get out of the worsening toxic cesspool that the city is becoming.

In the midst of all of this pain and misery, the media and the authorities have decided that the central story now is the looting and "lawlessness" that are taking place around the city. The poor, mostly black, victims of Hurricane Katrina are being blamed for their response to the situation. Their logical response to having the homes and neighborhoods destroyed is understandable given that this disaster has been happening for a long time in their neighborhoods and lives. The ongoing disaster that they are reacting to is the catastrophe known as capitalism.

The media knows that playing up the looting on TV plays well in Peoria. Comfortable middle class white people watch the New Orleans situation on TV and resort to simplistic Christian judgments about right and wrong. Some of them understand that the "looters" have a moral right to take food and medicine, but they seize on news that looters have taken guns and TVs as evidence that the looters are bad people. The authorities help reinforce these beliefs with their constant pontification about how looters will be punished. This morning the authorities are further demonizing the poor people of New Orleans by suspending rescue efforts because some person fired at a Coast Guard rescue worker. We all know that if some white dude in a rich neighborhood that was under water fired at rescue workers the rescue effort would continue uninterrupted.

What exactly is so evil about taking a package of Pampers or some cans of food from a Winn-Dixie or a Wal-Mart store? These people are trying to survive in neighborhoods that are under water, with no services of any kind. Are the rescue workers, the media, or the state dropping pampers and bottled water into the flooded neighborhoods of New Orleans? Are the on-the-scene Fox News anchors putting down their microphones, rolling up their sleeves, and helping rescue people?

The media and authorities' obsession with looting is racist, capitalist and simply inhumane. What difference does it make what people take from the stores near their neighborhoods? They have no access to food, clean water, diapers, medicine, shoes, liquor, cigarettes and all the things that they need to get through this crisis. It's not like these corporate grocery stores are going to go bankrupt because hungry people clear out an inventory that will have to be destroyed once the waters recede. People are "dumpster-diving" from stores who are insured, well capitalized, and which will have to throw away all of their stock anyway.

The Government Can't Help You

The failure of the American state to respond to this tragedy is abundantly clear at this point. In its typical fashion, the state will turn the situation into a circus before the capitalist profiteers move in. On Friday, American president George W. Bush will fly into New Orleans to perform a photo op while some residents of New Orleans are still trapped in their attics. Many poor residents will be dying as Bush speaks useless words about the catastrophe. The hungry and wet people won't be fed by Bush's visit, but perhaps if he falls out of a helicopter while surveying the damage, the residents can make a good jambalaya with the presidential corpse. Meanwhile, there are reports that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was laughing it up last night at a production in New York City of 'Spamalot'.

The catastrophe in New Orleans once again demonstrates the inability of the state to take care of its subjects, especially its poorest citizens. For all of the talk about "homeland security" over the past few years, very little homeland security was available for the residents of New Orleans. There are reports now about how the government cut back on programs that would have helped New Orleans weather this disaster. The immediate response by rescue workers was hampered by the fact that the Louisiana National Guard is stuck in Iraq, fighting and losing an imperialist war staged by Bush and his Halliburton cronies. The evacuation plan worked for middle and upper class people with cars, but apparently there was no effort to bus poor people out of the city as Hurricane Katrina approached.

If there is a silver lining in this ongoing tragedy, it involves the small acts of mutual aid being done by New Orleans residents for each other. This includes people rescuing people from flooded houses, people helping move sick people to dry ground, people sharing food and materials with each other, and much more. In times of natural or manmade disasters, humans have shown time and time again their ability to help each other out via mutual aid. These responses play out organically and can't be organized by the state. In many instances, the state's efforts interfere with this mutual aid and make situations worse. It's pretty clear in New Orleans that the state totally failed the poor residents of the city.

Looting is not a problem in New Orleans right now. People have a right to take what they need to survive. Even if they take things that aren't needed for survival, those of us watching from the comfort of our dry homes have no reason to complain about these actions. Finally, let's remember that looting is a form of wealth redistribution. When rich people loot, they call it capitalism, good business practices, third quarter dividends, the new economy and "giving people job." When your neighborhood is under water and there are no relief services in sight, taking diapers from a Wal-Mart is not a criminal or immoral act.

Hooray for the looters!

By Harry Looter 5 September 05

The "Looting" in New Orleans: Not Insane in the Least
Some comments on recent events in New Orleans from an anarchist perspective. Despite the comment from the Philadelphia tourist, I can't find this insane.

Bush Expected to Visit Storm-Ravaged Areas
US: WACO, Texas - President Bush is expected to visit storm-ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast later this week, but first he is returning to Washington to oversee the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

Sludge dirt on Coca-Cola

PLACHIMADA - In the end it was the "generosity" of Coca-Cola in distributing cadmium-laden waste sludge as "free fertilizer" to the tribes who live near the beverage giant's bottling plant in this remote Kerala village that proved to be its undoing. On Friday, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) ordered the plant shut down, much to the jubilation of tribal leaders and green activists who had focused more on the "water mining" activities of the plant rather than its production of toxic cadmium sludge.

"One way or another, this plant should be shut down and the management made to pay compensation for destroying our paddy fields, fooling us with fake fertilizer and drying out our wells," said Paru Amma, a tribal woman who lives in this once lush, water-abundant area. Chairman of the KSPCB, G Rajmohan, said the closure was ordered because the plant "does not have adequate waste treatment systems and toxic products from the plant were affecting drinking water in nearby villages" and that the plant "has also not provided drinking water in a satisfying manner to local residents".

Apparently, the generosity of the Coca-Cola plant was limited to distributing sludge and waste water free, and did not extend to providing drinking water to people seriously affected by its operations. In a statement, Coca-Cola said it was "reviewing the order passed by the chairman of the Pollution Control Board", and that "going forward, we are in the process of evaluating future steps, including a judicial review".

The KSPCB closure order was only the latest episode in a see-saw battle between Coca-Cola and the impoverished but plucky local residents ever since the Atlanta-based company began operating its US$25 million bottling plant in this village, located in the state's fertile Palakkad district, in 2001. Along the way, pollution control authorities, political parties, the judiciary and global environmental groups, starting with Greenpeace International, became involved in the dispute and Plachimada grew into a global symbol of resistance by local people to powerful transnational corporations trying to snatch away their water rights.

Although the local people had begun protesting against their wells running dry months after the plant began operations, serious trouble for the company began a little more than two years ago when a local doctor declared the water still available in the wells unfit for consumption. In July 2003, a BBC Radio-4 report, after carrying out tests at the University of Exeter in Britain, pronounced the sludge as dangerously laden with heavy metals, especially cadmium and lead, and already contaminating the food chain. The sludge also had no value as fertilizer, the report said.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen which causes kidney damage while exposure to lead can lead to mental derangement and death, and is particularly dangerous for children causing them severe anemia and mental retardation. The BBC report quoted Professor John Henry, a leading toxicity expert and consultant at St Mary's Hospital in London, warn of "devastating consequences for those living near areas where this waste has been dumped and for the thousands who depend on crops produced in these [paddy] fields".

In August 2003, the KSPCB ordered the plant to stop distributing sludge to farmers, but then its official, K V Indulal, charged with carrying out the investigations, unexpectedly announced that he found contamination levels "not beyond tolerable limits". Allegations of bribery and corruption by Coca-Cola followed and Indulal is presently under investigation by the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau, which carried out raids on his residence and properties spread across three Kerala cities earlier this month.

The Kerala High Court initially supported the Plachimada villagers and in a December 16, 2003 ruling, ordered Coca-Cola not to mine water through its deep bore wells but allowed the plant to draw water in amounts comparable to that normally used for agricultural or domestic purposes in the area. Coca-Cola approached the court after the panchayat (elected local body) canceled the plant's operating license for mining water and a single judge ruled that the state government had no right to allow a private party to extract large quantities of ground water which it deemed "property held by it (the government) in trust".

But on April 7 this year, a High Court bench allowed the plant to extract up to 500,000 liters of water a day, saying that existing laws on water ownership were inadequate. The ruling angered NGOs and triggered off a series of clashes outside the gates of the plant between agitating local people and police. "The High Court ruling is a great disappointment to everyone concerned with Coke's abusive practices around the world," said Corporate Accountability International's executive director Kathryn Mulvey in a statement.

Mulvey predicted that resistance to Coke's practices in Plachimada and throughout India would only grow. "We join with community leaders and allies around the world in calling on Coke to close the Plachimada facility permanently, and to pay back the community for the damage it has caused," she said. Nevertheless, on the strength of the court ruling, the plant resumed what were described as "trial operations" on August 8 after the 561,000-liter capacity plant that manufactures such brands as Coca-Cola, Limca and Fanta had lain shut for 17 months.

Barely 10 days later, on Friday, the KSPCB stepped in with its closure order for inability to explain the high cadmium levels and for failing to provide piped drinking water to people whose wells had become contaminated, as required by the body. Internationally known environmental scientist and activist, Vandana Shiva, who leads the New Delhi-based, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, has alleged that after Coca-Cola was restrained from dumping sludge or distributing it as fertilizer, it had begun injecting waste into dry boreholes and contaminating deep-water aquifers.

It has not helped Coca-Cola that the discovery of heavy metal in the sludge in 2003 followed findings by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), another well-known, New Delhi-based non-government organization, that nearly all colas and "mineral water" produced in India contained unacceptably large doses of commonly-used pesticides. The CSE findings seriously dented the image of Coke and its rival Pepsi, both of which were banned by nationalist governments for decades in India and allowed to return only when this country began a process of economic reforms following a serious balance of payments crisis in 1991.

Said Veerendrakumar, member of parliament and editor of the influential Mathrubhumi newspaper: "The fact of the matter is that water from underground sources is being pumped out free, bottled and sold to our people to make millions for cola companies while destroying the environment and damaging public health".

"We welcome the order shutting the factory down," said R Ajayan of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee, which was largely responsible for approaching the KSPCB. "We have to continue to work with the state government to ensure that Coca-Cola abides by the order and that there are no more violations."

Coca-Cola is already in deep trouble in India, its sales having dropped 14% in the last quarter (April-June), and the company is presently undergoing major reorganization and changing its top leadership in an effort to stem plummeting popularity. The state government has announced that it will also challenge in the Supreme Court Coca-Cola's claim to extract water, taking advantage of the fact that existing laws on groundwater ownership are vague.

"We welcome the actions by the state agencies in Kerala to stop the arrogance and criminal activities of the Coca-Cola company,'' said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, an international campaigner. "These actions are major victories for the community of Plachimada, which has all along been demanding that the state do what it is supposed to do - safeguard the interests of the community."

Sunita Narain, who led the CSE's high-profile investigation and exposure of the presence of pesticides in colas manufactured in India, said the real value of the Plachimada struggle lies in the fact that it has highlighted the role that local communities can have in protecting groundwater resources. In January 2004, the agitating villagers received a boost when global activists converged on Plachimada for a three-day World Water Conference and joined in demonstrations in front of the main gate of the Coca-Cola plant, one of the largest in its chain of 27 plants in India.

Jose Bove, who leads Confederation Paysanne (a left-leaning union of peasants and farmers in France), declared that the struggle at Plachimada was "part of the worldwide struggle against transnational companies that exploit natural resources like water". Bove was joined by Maude Barlow, the Ottawa-based author of Blue Gold, a book on corporate theft of water resources, in pledging to turn Plachimada into another Cochabamba - the city in Bolivia where people thwarted plans to turn the water supply system over to US transnational Bechtel five years ago.

The question of toxic materials in the sludge distributed to farmers by the Coca-Cola factory as fertilizer was also highlighted, among others, by Inger Schorling, a delegate from Sweden and a green member of the European Parliament. A "Plachimada Declaration" adopted at the end of the conference asserted that people everywhere should "resist all criminal attempts to market, privatize and corporatize water".

By D Rajeev posted 25 August 05

Zero Voter Turnout

Freedom From Delusion

"If voting worked it would be illegal."

The world is populated with knights and angels, demons and vampires. Warriors of God, long in battle, become wary. Their wills constantly attacked by the soul of what some call 'Babylon'- the world of money that thinks a world without money where food grows on trees is absurd and impossible.

'Voting' is a construct invented by a desire to distract and enslave. Freedom has always been easy - just don't claim the land with murderous fervor. A joyous life is to be had by living to live, not living to swim in luxury. The blessing of patience existing to counter any desire unattainable.

The mass of the Earth's population tricked into thinking that freedom means 'freedom to manifest any desire', when, in fact, it means 'freedom from delusion'. The major obstacle being the stubborness that guards the contented laziness of most people- the laziness that allows us to fear. This is why patience IS a miracle, because it is the phenomenon that breeds a desire for the courage to face our laziness.

Given, we have gotten ourselves in a pickle because of a long-time dependency on corruption. Over-population being only one of many many indicators. Voting isn't going to be the cure. The opposite, really.

To bring justice and remember freedom we must have patience and consider the unworthiness of supporting a mindset that pretends it must rape the world to survive; pretends 'across the board' prohibition is necessary.

By destroying our IDs, ceasing to pay taxes and rent, and humbly and politely giving no authority to the police (not fearing prosecution or death) we will begin the process of healing the planet. Moving knowing conscientiousness we respect the real world around us and do not fear violating any law as we assert our right to simply exist.

So, truth be told, we do not have the right to support a system that contents itself with a lie, and voting does just that.

May the next vote be the last. May the next vote not have any participants (as everyone is too busy reclaiming the paradise that is this planet's potential).

Move well and trust that patience is with us,

David Arthur Johnston
Victoria, BC, Canada
Hatrackman@Yahoo.com

Interactive Documentary on the 'Right to Sleep'

By David Arthur Johnston posted 18 May 05

Related:

2nd Renaissance - Beyond Industrial Capitalism and Nation States
Go forward in peace. And always remember the line from Gravity's Rainbow: "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."

Sudanese refugees flood into Chad

Thousands of refugees have fled Sudan's troubled region.

Aid agencies in Chad are bracing for the arrival of more refugees from Sudan's devastated Darfur region.

The United Nations estimates that up to 200,000 refugees have already crossed into Chad from Sudan and fears that as many again are on their way.

Many of the refugee camps are overcrowded, with some families living in makeshift shelters in the bush.

Aid workers are trying to reach all the people in need before the peak of the wet season and trucks are being used to take stranded refugees to camps along the border.

The civilians have fled their homes in Sudan's western Darfur region because of attacks by militias loyal to the Government.

Rebel groups are refusing to take part in peace talks until the militia groups are disarmed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is now using satellite technology to try to find water for the stranded families.

Jane Bean from Oxfam says aid groups are struggling to provide help.

"The level of violence has been so extreme that people have just fled across into Chad and there is really nothing to offer," Ms Bean said.

By Sally Sara 26 July 04

Related:

US threatens Sudan with UN sanctions
The United States has circulated a United Nations resolution threatening sanctions against the Sudan government if Khartoum did not prosecute Arab militia leaders in the western Darfur region.

UN sanctions for Sudan 'unlikely'
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says Sudan has made little progress in curbing marauding militias in the Darfur region but diplomats said sanctions against Khartoum were unlikely.

Sudan rejects human rights report on Darfur
The Sudanese government has slammed a report by Human Rights Watch over the strife-torn western region of Darfur and accused the organisation of attempting to provoke the UN Security Council into imposing sanctions against the country.

African Union tries to revive failed Darfur talks
The African Union (AU) says it has made fresh contact with the government of Sudan and Darfur rebels in an effort to revive peace talks that broke down over the weekend.

Health catastrophe looms in Sudan: UN
A malnourished Sudanese refugee child lies at a feeding centre in Iriba Town in Chad. The World Health Organisation has warned a major health catastrophe could erupt in western Sudan's Darfur region if the needed funds, personnel and supplies were not made available.

Sudan decrees end to relief restrictions
The Sudanese Government, under international pressure to help displaced people in the western region of Darfur, has ordered an end to restrictions on the movement of relief organisations and imports of relief supplies.

Sudan urged to take urgent action to protect refugees
The UN is urging the Sudanese Government to take urgent action to protect more than 1 million refugees.

Terrorism obscuring world crises, Sir William says
The former governor-general, Sir William Deane, has advised Australians not to lose perspective about international crises during the ongoing focus on terrorism.

Health catastrophe looms in Sudan: UN

A malnourished Sudanese refugee child lies at a feeding centre in Iriba Town in Chad.

The World Health Organisation has warned a major health catastrophe could erupt in western Sudan's Darfur region if the needed funds, personnel and supplies were not made available.

Hundreds of thousands of internal refugees are threatened by cholera, dysentery and malaria, two senior WHO officials told a press conference.

"People are dying now because they are living in totally unsatisfactory conditions, but too many more could die in the coming weeks unless we prevent the lack of sanitation, malnutrition, shortage of clean water and the coming rains from combining into a recipe for death," WHO Director General Lee Jong Wook said in a statement.

"We must work urgently to prevent a health catastrophe."

Dr Lee and the regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, Dr Hussein Gezairy, were speaking following a tour of Darfur.

The two noted that some progress was made last month, thanks to joint efforts by the Sudanese ministry of health, UNICEF and other organisations.

But they remarked that the gap between the needs and the available relief is "all too evident".

"There are two dimensions to the crisis in Sudan - a political and a humanitarian one. Hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives are hanging in the balance and they need help now," Dr Lee said.

"We strongly appeal for more external assistance to fill the gap between the needs and the available relief."

The statement said the two assessed the health situation at Kalma camp outside Nyala in South Darfur which hosts more than 50,000 people and receives 300 newcomers every day.

They concluded that as the rainy season peaks in the coming weeks, water and mud would wash over the camp, making it "ripe for a cholera outbreak".

Dr Gezairy told journalists his organisation and partners could work to prevent that by prepositioning supplies and vaccinating susceptible people. "This costs money but is far outweighed by an outbreak of the deadly disease," he said.

Health Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman declared at the joint press conference his ministry's commitment to making available to each one of the three states of Darfur 100 million Sudanese pounds (about $US40,000) per month in support of the health services there.

NGOs have so far offered about $US10 million to back the health and medical services to the needy people in Darfur, Mr Osman said.

By In Solidarity 16 July 04

Related:

Sudan decrees end to relief restrictions
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Sudan urged to take urgent action to protect refugees
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Terrorism obscuring world crises, Sir William says
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Long Bay Prison: The latest inside story

Long Bay Prison:

Private food purchases called Buy-Ups that normally take care of the prisoners additional food nutrition in Jail has been changed.

The IDC Inmate Development Committee have been informed by the Programs Manager that prisoners will be losing all perishable items: meats, eggs, vegetables (fresh and tinned), cheese, dairy products, rice, pastas, (all things that can be cooked by themselves).

Parole Board: Two judges have apparently been dismissed from the Board. One of them Judge Fisher because he was outvoting the Boards majority decisions and a case went to Supreme Court and they investigated it all.

By Safe Cracker 7 March 03

THE RAT: What no cheese? The reason for Buy Ups is the stingy rations at meal times commonly quoted as having no nutrition and no spices?

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Human Rights 'Framed'
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Prison Privatisation: Death camps looming in NSW
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Justice Action criticises Govt's victim voice policy
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NSW education professor warns further commitment needed
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Coalition proposes to exploit children
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Corrections Victoria and criminal acts: SCS-4\320 UPDATE
You have stated "Section 30 of the Corrections Act 1986 and the Information Privacy Act 2000, restricts the release of confidential information regarding prisoners, I therefore am unable to provide any information regarding this matter."

Death camps looming in Victoria
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Jail search finds knives, syringes
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Take crime talk beyond the bars:'lobby group'
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Six weeks, six months, six years: inmates have little chance of making fresh start More than 15,500 people are released from NSW prisons each year, twice the number of 20 years ago. But new research shows many ex-prisoners find it impossible to reintegrate into society and, months after release, are worse off than before they went to jail.

Fiona Stanley, the children's crusader
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Attempted thong theft costs $560
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NSW A-G moves to stop criminals and ex-criminals selling stories
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NSW Govt criticised over criminal justice record
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APPOINTMENT OF KLOK IS: 'DECLARATION OF WAR'
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How NSW Dept of Corrective Services spent $800,000 dollars to rehabilitate a Sydney man sentenced to life for second murder! A spokesperson for Justice Action Mr Pro Grams said, "Well it's your money, how would you like it spent? And what do you think about rehabilitation on behalf of the Department of Corruptive Services?

Prisoners Representatives Excommunicated
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Academic devises scheme for low income earners to pay back fines:
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Dept of Corrective Services: Rotten Ron Woodham on the ropes
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At the Minister's Pleasure The case of Michael Kelly
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EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFE
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ARE YOU INNOCENT?
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RESTORING TRUE JUSTICE:
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NSW Department of Corrective Services attack right to privacy
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Litigants are drowning: in the High Court
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Everyone wants to get out of 'jail' but 'Framed' wants life: Rotten Ron on the ropes On 2 May 2002, Justice Action received a faxed letter from Manager of DCS Operations Support Branch saying that, in his view, articles in Framed edition #42 'lack balance and integrity' and he is therefore 'not prepared to recommend this issue of Framed for placement in to correctional centre libraries.' Prisoners and those concerned about prisoner issues have very few sources of information.

Methadone addicts formed within: 'NSW Prisons'
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Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has [allegedly] led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank.

Medical Records: Alex Mitchell's lost world
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Prisoners can prove innocence for $20?
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NSW opposition pledges review of detention laws
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Civil libertarians condemn planned changes to prisoners' privacy rights The New South Wales Government is using a recent case involving [framed] serial killer Ivan Milat to justify its decision to remove the privacy rights of prisoners. But really just another attack on Ivan Milat from Parliament House.

The punishment: Is the 'crime'
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Mr. & Mrs. Mandatory Sentencing
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Just wipe your arse on Ivan again Minister?
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NSW Parliament Bitter Pills To Swallow?
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NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!
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Black Nexus
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Prison Mind Games-Do they exist?
Directives are given inside the prison system that are not consistent with the law in NSW. And not in the good interests of the health and well being of the prisoners.

The Government is likely to abolish the Inspector General of Corrective Services position The Mulawa inspection report recommendations below strictly illustrate how important he is.

Chronology - A History of Australian Prisons
[Allegedly:] The events that have shaped NSW prisons - from convict days through royal commissions, to the Supermax of today. [I say allegedly because no one should trust Four Corners [Walls], why? Because they spill out the propaganda of the day for the Government, whether it be wrong or right. A government that lies and has no remorse about it.]

Poison Ivy: Drugs and Substances

She's pretty as a daisy, but look out man she's crazy. She'll really do you in, if you let her get under your skin.

Everything is a drug love, money, vegemite, and honey so why the hang up on coke? Things go better with Coke. at least that's what we're told each and every day by advertising. [?] So why the big hang up on alcohol, amphetamines, cigarettes, marijuana, speed, ecstasy and cocaine?

She's common like a rose, everybody knows. She'll get you to look, you can look but you'd better not touch Poison Ivy. Late at night while you're sleeping, Poison Ivy come a creeping around...

More importantly there is a common denominator that can guide us through the maze of indulgence and onto the Ying-Yang of a balanced lifestyle.

Sitting in front of the fridge binging because you're depressed is a drug. Laying in the gutter with a fit in your arm because you're depressed is a drug. Eating royal jelly or taking penicillin can kill you if you're allergic to them.

Measles make you bumpy, Mumps'll make you lumpy, Chicken Pox'll make you jump and twitch. Common cold'll fool you, Whooping cough'll cool you, Poison Ivy's love'll make you itch.

When I was a baby I was allergic to everything on this planet. My mother would make up my meal that included a tiny bit of everything but no more than would send me into a reactive state.

Yep, hives and if I screwed up!

Gonna need a notion, Calomine lotion, you'll be scratching like a hound, the minute you start to mess around

But this wasn't poison ivy it was chocolate cake for me!

So what's the answer?

First 'education' then 'knowledge' about what is being indulged how and why?

By the way, everybody indulges it beats boredom. You name it, everyone somewhere is taking a drug of some form for something. Correct me if I'm wrong?

Identify: What is it your taking? Is it lethal? Do you know? Do you trust the supplier?

Limit: When you indulge. How much do you take at once?

Moderation: How many times do you take it?

Balance: Do you take the same drug to satisfy your needs all the time.

Why change the drug? Vegemite or peanut butter? So you don't get hooked.

Teaching a society to treat all things as drugs means that they're equipped for life.

Lots of people think that taking life is easy. But life is a drug that must be balanced not just taken.

When my mum come into see who had eaten the chocolate cake during the night there was one little boy who felt like he was not deserving because he only got a little bit compared to his siblings at tea time, because of his allergy. But with a quick glance at my face mum knew who the offender was.

Gonna need a notion, Calomine lotion, you'll be scratching like a hound, the minute you start to mess around.

By Gregory Kable & Human Nature 4 March 03

THE HOUND: With me it's insecticide why? Fleas.

Postscript: I get a headache when I drink alcohol because I am allergic to it. Does that mean I get any other legal choice. What other choice is legal? If variety is the spice of life! The local Chemist needs a greater range of drugs, for medicinal purposes?

Did you know, if I heat cannabis herbs in the oven on a temp of 150 for 15 minutes, then put a teaspoon in a cup of coffee, it works for me socially? I mean I don't get a headache. Well, now you know!

Related:

Police selling drugs? Bikies selling drugs? Pharmacies prescribing drugs
Of course there will be criticism when you cross that thin blue line! You have to realise how the government itself has been corrupted because of the drug scene and the money involved.

Drug rehabilitation: Threats, threats and more threats!
But a spokesperson for Citizens Against Being Forced Mr Ihave Amind Ofmyown said, "Major Watters is John Howard's adviser because he's a bully. Citizens make their own decisions about what is best for them and if you don't like that step down."

MPs told of police corruption
Corruption and mismanagement are still entrenched in the NSW Police, and problems at the highest levels are "whitewashed", according to evidence given yesterday to a federal parliamentary committee.

Alcohol is just the beginning
People who start using alcohol by their mid teens are more than twice as likely as others to experiment with different drugs and to become dependent on drugs a major Australian study has found.

Tobacco, alcohol top the drug abuse toll
Tobacco and alcohol accounted for 83 per cent of the cost of drug abuse in Australia, dwarfing the financial impact of illegal drugs, a Commonwealth Government report has found.

NSW police cracked up on antisocial behaviour
Hundreds of extra police will be on the streets of Sydney from this afternoon as part of a major blitz on crime and activities as "antisocial behaviour" says the ABC online last Fri 24 May 2002.

Alcohol pickles your brain
The only two social drugs the Government sanction are cigarettes and alcohol as legal, yet they cause the most damage." He said.