ok, we are all hung up on MJ. lets limit it to poppy fields then. We make a deal with the producing country that loves our tax dollars (and who’s govt knows exactly where the fields are). they spray some fields and we are happy. the news gets out to the US that some poison cocaine is coming in. whats the big deal. are you going to tell me the benefits of cocaine.( sure a chemist could detect the presence)
so forget the MJ. my mistake. its a great drug.
Um, how do they make cocaine out of poppy plants exactly?
Never mind, never mind. Sorry to expect you to know what you are talking about. But in case you missed it:
Wrong plant, wrong continent, De Medici. Kiss your chances of becoming drug czar goodbye.
Justin, my comment was a joke. I just forgot to append a smiley.
Please tell me that your OP also meant to have a smiley. It was a joke, right?
again retarded.
I will start with the poppy fields… poppy fields produce opiates (morphine, codeine, and heroin), cocaine comes from coca plants.
Next, heroin is directly made from morphine. You would be poisoning potentially legal painkillers as well.
Besides, cocaine and heroin as I mentioned are highly refined/processed drugs. The purification steps are rather involved. It would be pretty tough to dust a field with anything unnoticeable that would get through the purification process in high enough concentrations to be dangerous.
This is only looking at it from a practicality standpoint.
As mentioned by others, the legal and moral hurdles are staggering as well.
Also, cocaine has a number of legal uses as well. It is regularly used as a topical anesthetic in cosmetic surgery as well as for the eyes.
I do have (I think) an idea that would benefit society as a whole much more.
If someone publicly spouts a completely intolerent/moronic idea as identified by his/her peers, that person is just executed. Isn’t that a fun idea?
Yeah man, we poison the poppies and viola! no more drug problem. Only problem, if we do that cello! no more medical grade opiates either - the pharmaceutical companies would be pissed. However, we can get around that with a little help from the FDfrigginA. “Don’t want those poppies poisoned, huh? Well ya’ll got this new drug you want us to approve…hmm. chances don’t look to good for the approval, …unless…”
Better idea, since we have settled on terror, death and murder as a preventative for drug abuse, let’s not screw around with poison. Let’s just shoot 'em. “Hey Bob, if the cops catch you shooting the smack, they’ll bust a cap in your ass”. violin! no more heroin addicts.
Also, instead of spraying the cocoa fields, just have the CIA start flooding the black-market with anthrax-spiked cocaine. It’s all white powder right? No one wants Anthrax right? Upright Bass! no more cocaine addicts.
I’m beggining to like this idea. Radioactive LSD! Explosive crack rocks! Man, the possibilities are endless!
-Beeblebrox
Zaphod grinned two manic grins, sauntered over to the bar and bought most of it."
Thanks Beeb for covering that viola/voila thing.
And, as we all know, I hate to be picky but herbicides kill plants.
Hebocides, I dunno. Kill jews?
The devil is in the details and so is genius.
And why I’m even bothering to post this is another mystery, because the only people who care are the ones who get it right anyway.
Redboss
<Sigh>. I don’t know why I’m bothering, but it’s kind of like slowing down at an especially nasty traffic accident.
Use of poison to kill people, in most states, is one of the ways to boost plain 'ol murder to capital murder. For the government to do this, they would have to pass a law (the “Kill All Junkies Act of 2001”?). Since this law would be depriving people of life or property without due process of law, the Supremes would scratch it before finishing their donuts and coffee. Of course, that’s assuming that such a moronic law could pass through anyway, which it couldn’t.
Also, there are practical and logistical and ethical problems. I find it hard to believe you’re serious, justinh.
Nah. It’d never get past Diana Ross. 
justinh, apart from the fact that your idea has been tried, but failed because no one is insanely murderous enough to carry it to the extent you want, your post raises another important issue:
“why is it a crime to spray a hebocide on an illegal plant in a foreign country?”…“I have seen a lot of lives destroyed by our current plan of swapping thumbs.”…“so forget the MJ. my mistake. its a great drug.”
No, your thought processes cannot be explained by marijuana use. You’re obviously on something far more potent, and I gots to know what it is.
Gee, if taking drugs could get you killed, there certainly would be a lot fewer drug users. It’s too bad that drugs are perfectly safe and no one ever dies from them. After all, if people were constantly dying from some drug related problem… I don’t knwo, let’s call it an “overdose”, if people were to constantly die from “overdoses” and kids were constantly warned of these “overdoses”, and periodically shown news reports of these “overdoses”, that would stop drug use, right? And it would be really great if famous people were constantly having these “overdoses” and dying, right?
Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
:raises hand:
Excuse me, teacher? Can people really be this stupid?
Kyle Mills wrote Rising Phoenix a few years back about a televangelist poisoning the illegal drug supply in an attempt to stop drug use.
I thought it was a pretty well done treatment of the idea.
Of course, I read it in one sitting while spending all night in a Waffle House[sup]tm[/sup], but that’s another story entirely.
Causes of preventable deaths in the United States in 1990, as a percent of all deaths:
Illicit drug use – 1%
Alcohol – 5%
Tobacco – 19%
Cite: Washington State Department of Health
So I’d say there are a few other things we need to poison before we work our way down to coca plants and poppy fields, let alone marijuana plants. (Of course “poor diet & lack of exercise” racks up 14%, so I guess we’ll have to put something in the Twinkies, too, and maybe rig television sets to explode unless they’re playing exercise videos.)
I love the notion of just “spraying the fields with poison” like they are all drawn up on a map or something.
Perhaps we could get customs to poison the drugs when the drug traffickers declare them at the airport.
Or look up “Drug Dealers” in the yellowpages and politely ask them to do it.
I think Justin has been experimenting with this idea first hand. Lay of the herbicides Jus.
OK people dont get your panties in a wad.
Here is the point,
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when I was involved in the scene, I didn’t worry about OD because I could control that (of course everyone thinks that). So the deaths currently attributted to ODs don’t scare people.
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what did scare me was the possibility that the damn CIA was posioning the MJ fields. I did believe they were capable and I knew the growers wouldn’t destroy the crop if they knew it was dusted. They would harvest it and distribute it or mix it in with clean stuff as soon as they could.
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I had the wrong source for cocaine. thanks for the up.
the processing problem could be overcame by poisoning it after processing. you know the story (one cartel poisons the supply of another cartel …) -
Of course the fields are known by the govt of the countries. Do you think that is the problem that nobody knows where the fields are?
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You dont have to poison every field (actually any fields ). its the threat that will scare people. thats where the propaganda comes in. You have to spray some fields somewhere and convince the potential customers that there is bad stuff out there. and you have to show the results of bad stuff. ie, hilite every OD or lethal accident where drugs were involved and tie it to the possibility of poison.
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This threat would only be effective on fringe users or new users. Addicts aren’t going to care. SO this is attempting to dissuade the innocent.
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If the threat was successful at all and the demand decreased then the profits should decrease and that is the key to stopping/slowing it down.
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the herbicide thought (or herbocide) was that would be the excuse for spraying the fields. “the govt was spraying these fields with xxxx to wipe out the crop, but it didn’t kill it fast enough and the growers just harvested it and are now selling it you”
My plan is wild and crazy. but what is an alternative. I know kids getting involved in it today. and they dont see any negative except the high price and chance of getting caught. so if they can afford it(or distribute enough to pay for it) and have a safe place then " why not".
come on folks, throw me a bone here.
How is this not being done with every news report of someone dying from an overdose? If people who are just starting out are not afraid of dying from an overdose when THEY KNOW THAT CAN HAPPEN, today, without poisoning the crops or any government conspiracies, then adding the possibility of added poison doesn’t change things much.
Hello? People are still smoking tobacco when they know it can kill them. People are still drinking and driving when they know it can kill them, and according to a previous post there are orders of magnitude more deaths from alcohol and tobacco than from drug overdose. Do you really think people are going to worry about “gee, I wonder if THIS batch of heroin has poison in it” when it says right on the box of cigarettes, “Enjoy your smokes while you can 'cause they’re gonna KILL YOU!”?
Forest for the trees, man. Forest for the trees.
So are you recommending actually poisoning some of the fields (although we’ve already agreed that you can only do this in the case of MJ) or just spreading propaganda? You seem to be contradicting yourself here.
There are already risks involved with doing chemical drugs that are not in the control of the user. Street drugs are occasionally spiked with impure additives which can kill the user even though he doesn’t overdose. People are willing to take this risk. Sure, if your poisons start killing enough of their friends, they’ll probably get scared and stop. But that turns you into a terrorist, doesn’t it? Your drugs are now weapons of mass destruction. Sure, if that’s what it takes to win this war. That’s probably what bin Laden said as well…
Justin, I used to think you were all right until this. What’s the problem? Are you worried because you have children of your own now and you’re afraid they will get into drugs? You can teach them to stay away from drugs. As others on this thread have pointed out, there is a higher chance that your children will be hurt by alcohol or tobacco than by cocaine or heroin.
I am heartened to see the SDMB finds mass murder as a social engineering technique has major drawbacks.
Justin,
Just as a guideline, you understand, but proposals which begin with "Let’s kill all the . . . " are often fraught with unfortunate side effects, such as the withering of the souls of the supposed good guy side in the exchange. “Let’s make all the . . . [generic bad guys] . . . think we are going to kill them” may seem like an improvement, but we can do better, really.
Let’s not kill all of anything, hmmmm?
And let’s not fantasize about killing all of anything either. I don’t think that’s good for us.
Tris
“The Way of Heaven is to benefit others and not to injure.” ~ Lao-tzu ~