Arthur D. Hlavaty

To avoid repeating history, the regulation of medically used controlled substances should be transferred from the D.E.A., a law enforcement agency with no expertise in medicine, to the Food and Drug Administration, which specializes in health. Supply restrictions harm patients who depend on medications, while doing nothing to treat those who are addicted. Doctors must be able to make individualized choices about care and not be hindered by shortages.—NY Times

The American media love to panic over drugs. Being somewhat old, I have lost count of the number of substances that are reported to give superhuman strength to their users. Fentanyl is a really nasty drug, like heroin only stronger (and, like Oxycontin, produced by corporate rather than officially criminal users), and the media have risen to the occasion by making it sound even worse. No, touching it won’t kill you. [Reason; CW: libertarian cooties]

Thanx to RAW Illumination.

Now I understand the shooting of Botham Jean. Having marijuana in one’s home has frequently caused the police to break in and shoot people. It is by far the greatest danger the drug presents. And the police officer is lucky to be the shooter rather than the shootee because living in a place that can be mistaken for one with drugs is almost as dangerous for the same reason.

Massachusetts wants to put you in jail and steal your car for having a secret compartment you might use for ritually unclean substances.

Thanx to Avedon's Sideshow.

Every so often the War on Some Drugs decides to lie about one of the ones it is currently at peace with. E-cigarettes are not a tobacco product. (Not that I’m in favor of them. Nicotine is the one substance I abused that I wouldn’t do again, and probably the one that did me the most harm.)

Thanx to andrewducker

The UK wages war upon psychoactive substances, which of course does not include alcohol and caffeine.

Thanx to andrewducker

The way to have fewer abortions is to give good sex education, to make birth control freely available, and to empower women to say no if they don't want sex and to demand birth control if they do. Anyone who finds that approach unacceptable thinks that there is something more important than minimizing abortion, such as controlling people’s, and particularly women’s, sex lives.

Prescription opiate addiction is a major problem, and the government is reacting the way governments do, by forbidding and cracking down. A study says that cannabis can seriously reduce the use of opiates by chronic pain sufferers. Is there something more important than minimizing opiate addiction?

Thanx to Slate Star Codex

Cold war

Thanx to XKCD

The war on some drugs has always been a war on some races.

Thanx to onyxlynx