Fighting drugs has become as much an addiction for government as heroin is to the habitual user, if not more.  And it is that addiction which must be broken first, cold turkey style.  Getting government out of the drug business, and returning it to the free market system where it belongs, and began, is the only responsible course of action.  But as a first order of business, we must demand an end to one of the more insidious aspects of our drug policy, the psychological warefare of propaganda.  We simply must quit telling lies.

Drug propaganda has become slicker and subtler since Reefer Madness days, but the lies remain the same: just one puff, just one pill, just one line, just one time and your life hangs in the balance.  Propagandists pry open our purse strings by tugging at our heartstrings, often shamelessly, as exemplified by a recent TV ad citing MDMA as the sole cause of a teenage girl's tragic death.  She was portrayed as the quintessential girl next door, and I have no doubts she was exactly that.  But I have serious doubts she consumed unadulterated MDMA, or in the massive dose necessary to cause death.

More likely is that DXM, known as the most common and most dangerous adulterant in street ecstasy, played the causative role.  But that doesn't make good TV.  And this was good TV.  It was impossible to watch without experiencing great sadness for the family, and hearts all over our nation went out to them.  My heart was no different.  But my head knew it was propaganda.  And that's what made me angry.  Angry at a government that exploits the tragic results of their failed drug policies, pointing the finger everywhere but where it belongs, serving no higher purpose than fear-mongered fundraising.

Because our government knows that unless they keep us sufficiently frightened, we will no longer fund their drug war follies.  So their propaganda machine continues to roll, filling their coffers and our cemeteries.  How much longer this goes on is entirely up to you and every other American, but we'd better get our big butts moving.  Rumor has it frustrated drug warriors are determined to end the war once and for all, calling for measures making today's methods seem like a day at the beach.  And the only thing pretty about it will be the propaganda, very slick and subtle and delivered in 30-second sound bites.

Propaganda is all about the message, and our government's message is all about how drugs are ruining America, with nothing short of our future depending on the creation of a drug-free society.  Pot won't kill you they admit, almost reluctantly, but leave no doubt it will kill your ambition and any chance of real success.  All the other drugs, well, that's a different story.  It's a short one, and you die in the end.  So you better Just Say No, OK?  Being force-fed this steady diet for so long has inoculated us from the truth, immobilizing us, demoralizing us and, most sad of all, dehumanizing us.  Propaganda: it's what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner.