decriminalizing hard drugs, opiates specifically, is not going to save anybody's life, and the people telling you it will are peddling false hopes and nonsense.

we're probably better off redirecting the policing services. sure. there are other reasons to stop enforcing the law, even if it's kept illegal, technically.

but, the fact is that these drugs are going to kill the people that use them, regardless.

the exception is mdma. if you legalized mdma, you would save lives, because people that take mdma aren't intending to take something harder. but, it's not really a "hard drug" either. i made this point from the start. that is the drug you should target, not heroin and not coke and not even pot, really.

opiates, specifically, build up tolerance levels, so you need more and more to get high as you go. it follows that the sad truth is that it's just a matter of time, unless you deal with the addiction. we can talk about clean needles and all of these kinds of things as risk reduction in the context of cost reduction and that's fine, but giving addicts clean needles and clean drugs is still going to kill them, as the tolerance pushes past the lethal state.

you have to treat the addiction, and you can only do that if it's voluntary. that's what mitigation should be about.

ok, i need to make some calls. let's see what happens.

i'm now caught up to the end of last night. if i skipped your band, it's because i think you suck. sorry.

i'm going to want to push forward at least a few more weeks and ideally until i can find a show to hit until i start writing. right now, i'm looking at either touche amore in june or screaming females in july, bands i've seen repeatedly. i'd like to maybe hit something i haven't seen before. and sooner.

if doing the right thing was popular, it wouldn't be so hard to get it done.

and, that's why we need activists: to stand up against the status quo.

i'm on the right side of history, here.

i'm sure of that.

i'm doing this the right way - through discourse and legal arguments. but, we only have so much time to do it the right way. and, we have to win these battles in the civilized arenas, before it's too late.

islam is a system of violence, hierarchy and oppression.

if you are actually opposed to all systems of violence and oppression - as those on the left are supposed to be - then it follows that you must extend your opposition of those systems to an opposition to islam. you can't claim some kind of common cause, here. it's a contradiction - and you're a hypocrite.

it should not be a complicated thing. but, the media's got you confused, and carrying out acts of terrorism on their behalf.

your kids will thank me for standing up for what's right and pushing back against a system that threatens the freedom of all of us, even as you lack the moral courage to do so, yourself.