This weblog goes back in time, with newest entries at the top. Older entries are transferred to the archive. If a search engine or a link brought you to this page and you don't see what you're looking for, search the site: You can also go to the Pray for Peace News archive (click here) or an index of everything at this site (click here).
EDITORIAL:
Does Pot Threaten Organized Religion?
In a recent issue of a local publication, writer Vincent Vicara published his thoughts on "Religion in the 21st Century" (Cement Squeeze, Phoenix, Winter 96, #6). It's probably true, people are feeling more spiritual these days, with the 'new age' starting up and all. We especially get 'new age fever' here in Arizona, because Sedona is in our back yard and newageism tends to be contagious. However, many of us have had bad experiences with "religion," and I think V. Vicara described the problem perfectly when he wrote:
"Why is it most organized religions don't prevent violence and hatred? . . . World War I is a good example of the madness of religion on all sides. These highly Christian nations slaughtered their youth by the millions and one wonders where was religion to stop Hitler and Stalin? We find that religious institutions actually tended to side with warriors and encourage the killing of those who were different."
Religious institutions and the people who follow them have behaved miserably in the 20th century and it makes me wonder how the legalization of marijuana would affect mainstream religion. Perhaps the religious patriarches are fearful that intuitive insights from smoking pot would open people's eyes, leading to the unraveling of their institutions. They want parishioners to be devout & attend church, but they hardly expect them to start having mystical experiences. Too much spirituality would rock the boat.
At this time we (old & new hippies) face overwhelming opposition to our form of religious expression, but Pray for Peace News continues to pray for inclusion and acceptance for those of us who use plant sacraments in our practice. America was built on religious freedom & that also goes for minority religions like ours. Let's pull together as a community, to ask for our rights.
Besides religion, there are other industries that would suffer from legalized pot: liquor, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, drug testing companies, prison builders, politicians, and others in the enforcement business. Some industries that would suffer from legalization of industrial hemp: cotton, logging, petro-chemical, agri-chemical, and others.
Editorial: Do We Need a War on Gangs?
In his State of the Union address, President Clinton suggested that the government start a "war on gangs." The United States already locks up a greater percentage of her population than *any* other country in the world, so we wonder if this can actually help. Our elite leaders tell us we are free, but less of us are free than ten years ago.
People join gangs for a sense of belonging when they feel alienated from their communities, or perhaps from their families. Gangs are like small cults that provide a surrogate family; and many of us remember our high school gang as being benign. However, in bad times a gang's isolation and judgmentalism can lead to a way of life that includes drug dealing, violence, abuse, weapon stockpiling, and even murder. The rest of us are imprisoned in our homes for fear of violence on the street; we buy guns to protect ourselves, and this is true cultural poverty. Another war can only make things worse.
Instead of another expensive war, Pray for Peace News proposes an outreach and a truce. Let's work to bring isolated citizens back into the mainstream. It costs less to put a person through college than it does to put them in prison. Providing counseling, job training and acceptance is the answer. Even though it seems impossible to change the course of our warlike government, prayer can help. So can letters, phone calls and faxes.
PFPF News Editorial: What is the Sound of a Big Lie Crashing?
Drug education and drug treatment are buzzwords of the government's war on drugs. But what if the "education" sounds more like propaganda? We read about die-hard drug warriors lying to kids about marijuana, trying to make pot sound like it's as addictive as heroin. We are certainly opposed to minor aged children using marijuana, but will they believe the lies and stay away?
"It's 20 times stronger than what your parents smoked it and causes genetic defects!" Categorizing marijuana with hard drugs is like crying wolf. Many kids will dismiss the hype over marijuana, and likewise ignore us when we talk to them about heroin, cocaine, LSD, methamphetamines, inhalants and dangerous prescription drugs.
Pray for Peace News encourages teenagers to base their decisions on facts, not Reefer Madness insanity. We challenge teenagers: If you dislike chemicals in your air, water and food, then why swallow, sniff or smoke a drug made by chemists and promoted through the AMA, FDA and international pharmaceutical companies?
Pray for Peace News advocates spiritual solutions to the drug crisis. We urge teenagers who drink or use drugs (or anyone with addictive behaviors) to attend 12-step groups, look into what bothers them, and try to work it out. Drug addiction medicates the emotional pain of personal problems. It's based on habit (some people put their kids on drugs from an early age), something the government agencies of the criminal justice system have proven they cannot control.
Pfpf News Opinion:
Marijuana--A "Gateway" Drug?
In a recent column, Ann Landers published three letters pro and con the legalization of marijuana. This was openminded of her, although she takes a decidedly conservative stance on the issue herself. One of the letters, from Senator Paul Coverdell of Georgia, said, "Marijuana is a gateway drug" and "by legalizing it, we would increase the number of cocaine and heroin addicts as well." Another reader asked, "Why not ban alcohol, since most people drink before they start to smoke pot?"
What is it about pot that makes it more frightening than alcohol? To explore this controversy more fully, let us take a closer look at the gateway metaphor. Imagine hideous wrought iron gates at a dark fork on the road, that lead to burning marshes of sloth and drug indulgence. The moral for adolescents is that along the road of life, if they are foolish enough to approach these gates, they will be sucked in by pot's whirlwind, fall into the quicksand of drug experimentation, and be lost forever. At an earlier fork on the same road, a young person may encounter tobacco cigarettes, alcohol, or prescription drugs, but these substances are more socially acceptable. Society excuses these vices as bumps on the path, rather than "gateways" to drug addiction.
So why does pot get all the blame? Antidrug propaganda hypes the plant's "mind expanding" powers to imply that once an otherwise innocent teen has tasted smoke-induced nirvana, their morals will fall away and they will become uninhibited, irresponsible zombies, suddenly vulnerable to all drugs. This is reefer madness propaganda.
Blaming pot for heroin addiction is a form of denial that prevents us from addressing the real problem. In this editorial, PFPF offers a peaceful, alternative metaphor for America's drug crisis. Instead of a "war," let us call drug abuse a "disease," like alcoholism. The abuse of any substance (including pot) can be dubbed a "health care problem," rather than a criminal justice or national defense problem.
Honest and realistic cultural metaphors will foster peaceful solutions to the war on drugs. We hope government officials will stop fueling paranoia and lies about the hemp plant. Instead of wars and iron gates, let's visualize peace and healing, and reach out to those who are suffering from the war on drugs.
Frat Houses Go Dry
Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times Sunday, April 6, 1997, Front Page:
"A fledgling temperance movement is knocking on the Animal House door, arising from a renewed commitment to quell hazing, vandalism, date rape and other misbehavior associated with binge drinking.
"The Greek-letter organizations themselves . . . their leaders and alumni have been sobered up by the cost of house repairs, insurance premiums and the lawsuits that result . . . they talk wistfully of returning to the high ideals of their founding fathers: scholarship, leadership and public service.
"To date, only a few dozen of the 5,700 fraternity chapters have become 'substance free,' meaning no booze, drugs or smoking on the premises. But hundreds are poised to follow."
Pfpf comments: Good work men! Just say "no" to hazing, vandalism and date rape associated with alcohol binges.
Pray for Peace News est. 1995
Pray for Peace News was founded to spread awareness, education and devotion to the Great and Holy Mystery that is God. We accept all paths as true; all religions are but branches of the same tree. We promote interfaith dialogue and exchange programs to develop tolerance between religions.
Pray for Peace News is dedicated to nonviolence (vegetarian diet) and daily meditation. Pray for Peace News editors are committed to the legalization of sacred natural medicines for spiritual healing, for all people.
End the War on Drugs
index
