Wonder, I've done some research on this for one of my essays. You're certainly right about the main causes of criminalization being ethic and economic. Harry Anslinger, the founder of the Bureau of Prohibition, the parent of the DEA, in the '20s is quoted (and documented) as saying, "Marijuana must be outlawed because it makes degenerate races feel equal to white."

But the causes of grass criminalization is obviously manifold. My claim is that theocracy played a role because of the reasons I stated. As depicted so beautifully in 1984, people are much more controllable dumbed down. It was once in this country illegal and punishable by severe crimes, to teach slaves to read.

Are you familiar with St. Augustine of Hippo? He founded numerous monasteries and told his followers that curiosity is malevolent and the monks should simply accept the words of their superiors without question.

@Aristopus The criminalization of weed has a lot to do with theocracy because right-wing Christians that made the law didn't want the public feeling human and thinking analytically.

Naw.

It was the brewers and distillers lobby that was originally responsible for the criminalization of drugs. Before drugs such as heroin and marijuana were outlawed it was cheaper to stay stoned than drunk. Some drugs were tied in with ethnic/racial groups to make it more popular to outlaw them. We'un's got to outlaw cocaine for those black guys and outlaw marijuana for the Mexicans, don't 'ya know?

The history of drugs in gringo land is mostly a rich tale of big bucks in actio

Ignorant fundamental literalists are everywhere. At least 1/2 of humans in the democratic countries. More than 80% of the world's population. We are in deep doo now that these barbarians have modern weapons.

Here's an excerpt from Pot Stories. In the play Jessica and Lorenzo are standing on a dreamy footbridge reminiscing about the past. The Shakespeare is in quotations.

“Hey, remember when we recited that beautiful scene from The Merchant of Venice between Shylock’s daughter and her boyfriend Lorenzo? I was helping with your French lesson.”

Kelly took a deep toke that early December morning in Manhattan. We could see the Plaza Hotel doorman ceremoniously opening the cab door for some hotshot guests across the street. The city was serene and still, so the doorman became the focus of attention of anyone still awake. A few of the horse carriages were there trying to entice some extra late night work. The familiar farm smell was there but not as strong as in the old days.

“I still remember it though my French isn’t so good anymore… but I remember it in English,” she said, pressing me closer and pulling my suede coat around her waist to keep warm.

Her gentle, girlish voice was as sensually pleasurable as the crackle of a clear mountain brook at dusk.

“The moon shines bright: In such a night as this,
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees
And they did make no noise, in such a night
Troilus methinks mounted the Trojan walls,
And sigh’d his soul toward the Grecian tents,
Where Cressida lay that night.”

The language was so mellifluous and sweet-sounding— no wonder Hector Berlioz inserted it into the fourth act of Les Troyens. What a score, what a feeling of nocturnal peacefulness and well-being. The most rewarding pleasures in life are intellectual, I thought.

“In such a night
Did Thisbe fearfully o’erstrip the dew,
And saw the lion’s shadow ere himself,
And ran dismay’d away.”

Kelly continued with an oh-yeah confidence. I'll out-night you yet.

*“In such a night
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand
Upon the wild sea-banks, and wav’d her love
To come again to Carthage.”

The point is what laws of human behavior were we doing disobeying. That's what it's like in a theocracy. We almost got arrested and thrown in the can downtown.

A bunch of backward hicks in one of the poorest, least educated states passing a law that will be shot down the first time it is challenged is hardly heading toward a theocracy. We have a long, long way to go before we're even close to countries like Saudi Arabia, with their religious police and executions for violating religious law.

Scary

I try not to speak in generalizations, because I don't find it fair.

But man, do I deplore the South and Midwest.

I read a little about this and it looks like the governor still supports abortions in the case of rape and incest, although this bill restricts all accept in cases where the life of the mother is at stake. The objective here seems to be challenging Roe vs. Wade, and possibly overturn / update it.

As far as theocracies go, I have a friend who turned down a $200,000 a year job because he would have spent 6 months a year in Saudi Arabia, a modern theocracy. They have all sorts of laws that we would find ridiculous in the west, like bacon and flogging.

You got a problem with that?

Robert Reich:
So let me get this straight: It’s a crime for a woman to make decisions about her own body, but it’s not a crime to collude with a foreign power to undermine our democracy or pay off a pornstar to influence an election?

"Abortion illegal in Alabama! We're heading toward theocracy..." All the slutty women should get ready to be "Handmaidens".

It is sad. Women need to have a choice. If they prosecute the woman, they need equal punishment for the sperm donor.

I see "The Handmaid's Tale" as a cautionary story about Theism.

From what is beign reported on NPR, the purpose of the Alabama law is to try to get th fetus declared as a person with rights.

Of course we all know that most of those pushing the legislation would fidn a way around the law if their own daughters (or wives) got pregnant from beign raped.

Sharia much?

When the majority of eligible voters do not vote, simply because they think it makes no difference, this is what we end up with. The fundies vote in mass and vote as there authority figures dictate.

Roe v Wade will be overturned within a year.

...and I suppose a lot of the other southern states will follow suit. How fucked is that? How can America get itself out of the Trump mess when it can’t get fundamental human common sense right?. I hope this contagion doesn’t spread to other Western countries.

#ForcedBirth #ShariaComesToAmerica #ChristianFlavoredShariaLaw #FuckingGOPHypocrites