Drug Rehab, Teenage Torture, And Brainwashing 10/11 by Kenneth Anderson | Blog Talk Radio

Drug Rehab, Teenage Torture, And Brainwashing 10/11 by Kenneth Anderson | Blog Talk Radio
Torturing children in the name of treatment is mistreatment.

Repost ; The Deluded Mantras of Addiction by Stanton Peele

From the Huffington Post The Deluded Mantras of Addiction

Dr. Peele drops some more mad science on the treatment world exposing their fallacies and even calling harm reductionists to task. If you understand the full ramifications of what he is saying then you might perceive the depth of the injustices perpetrated on drug users in the name of "treatment". The disease model of addiction is a lie used to justify the drug war.

Current Obstacles to Drug User Activism in the U.S.A.

     As it stands today the drug user groups in the U.S.A are few and far between in comparison to the millions of drug users present throughout the entire country. It is important that supporters of drug user activism spend time speculating as to why this is the case. By comparison, drug user unions have been present in Europe for over thirty years and have been increasingly effective in influencing government policy as well as providing services for their members during that time. Drug user unions in Canada have also been arguably more active and successful in organizing larger numbers of drug users .
    The exact reasons as to why there are such differences is not clear presently. There are however, several aspects of American society that may contribute to the current lack of drug user activism. Number one is the fact that we live in a police state. Incarceration levels in the U.S.A. are at their highest levels ever. The number of drug users in prison for non violent drug related crimes is grossly underestimated at 500,000. To identify as a person who has used or does use illegal drugs is to become a target of the prison industrial complex. That's in addition to the psychologically traumatizing cultural stigmatization imposed on drug users whether they have been clean 10 years, ten minutes, or never. The issue of how drug user activists identify themselves will have to be resolved in order to encourage a broad spectrum of drug users to participate in the movement.
     The second reason for a comparatively inactive movement here in the U.S.A. may be the trend in american politics to discourage it's citizens from engaging in that same political process. American laws that prevent felons from voting are but one example of the disenfranchisement of drug users. With the notable exception of the marijuana legalization movement (more on that in a later blog post), users of other substances have not been supported vocally or financially in their quest for civil rights or decriminalization. It is a new idea to think of the millions of drug users as a political force and it is a new experience for the drug users themselves after generations of mind numbing oppression.
    Hopefully if enough drug users are encouraged to throw off the shackles of marginalization they will recognize their strength in numbers and organize throughout the United States of America. In places where the idea of drug user activism and organizing has so far been nonexistent the message of empowerment will be welcomed by communities sick of the failed drug war. Drug use is no longer an excuse for apathy that lie is dead. Drug users are becoming the enlightened community leaders forging a new paradigm. Join us.

Iran's children look on and families cry for pardons at daily hangings

Repost from the Guardian UK  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/iran-public-executions-hangings-human-rights 
"A number of crimes such as murder and rape – and even homosexuality – can send a convict to the gallows, but it is the drug-related offences that accounted for more than 80% of the killings in the country last year. Latest figures on the number of executions that are known to have been carried out in 2011 globally indicate that half of the killings took place in Iran, although China, which considers the precise figures about its use of death penalty as a state secret, is not included in the calculation and still remains at the top of the list."

HRI in the News: 'Has Britain's war on drugs led to more executions in Iran?' The Observer, Sunday 16/09/2012 | Harm Reduction International

HRI in the News: 'Has Britain's war on drugs led to more executions in Iran?' The Observer, Sunday 16/09/2012 | Harm Reduction International

Drug User Organizing Pre-Conference - Harm Reduction Coalition

DURAN will be there with bells on!
Drug User Organizing Pre-Conference - Harm Reduction Coalition

Report: Ban on medical care at drug rehab centers must end | California Watch

Report: Ban on medical care at drug rehab centers must end | California Watch Did you think we were kidding about human rights abuses of drug users here in California? It is just as bad here as anywhere on earth. What passes for treatment here equals psychological torture and criminal negligence.

"In several cases clients died, according to the report:

• At The Living Center, in Modesto, a marketing staff member admitted a man who was shaking, couldn't walk and whose skin was yellow. He was later sent to a hospital, where he died, the report says. The marketing employee who admitted the patient said that “unless a client fell down during time of admission, he would not see a need for medical attention,” the report says.
• The state medical board alleged that a 29-year-old woman who drowned in a bathtub was too sick to be properly treated at Bay Recovery in San Diego. Dr. Jerry Rand, who treated her, denied responsibility for her death. Another patient died before the state suspended the program's license.
• At A Better Tomorrow in Riverside County, a man who needed an oxygen tank was admitted to the program, but his oxygen was not supplied. He died one day later. It was the fourth death at that facility.

State officials eventually revoked the license of the facility, but A Better Tomorrow continues to run other homes.

Two former program staffers told Senate investigators that even after the fourth death, the program administrators “ ‘pushed people’ who appeared too sick to be in the program.”

One former staffer said a woman with a medical condition that required an adjustable bed was promised one and then given a normal twin bed. The program admitted another woman who was delusional and so lethargic that she nearly fell asleep in her food. Former program employees said the woman wound up later spending three days in an intensive care unit."