Cocaine

My good friend Duncan showed me this movie the other night and I laughed out loud almost the whole time. Not only is it funny because the writing is good but it’s funny because its true…sadly,sadly true. It didn’t get huge distribution but for those of you with Netflix you should be all set. For those of you without Netflix, join us in the 21st fucking century and get Netflix for christ’s sake!

Last week I watched a documentary, on CBC’s The Fifth Estate, on one Sam Brown, a thrill seeking, award-winning, mountain-biker from Nelson BC, who found the greatest thrill was hauling hockey bags full of pot across the border to the US.

Sam didn’t fancy himself a drug dealer and would be offended at the suggestion. In his mind, he was just having fun. The more dangerous the mission the better. He revelled in pushing the limits and fancied himself as quite the tactician. And as time went on, the rewards got bigger.

Sam surrounded himself with fancy bikes, fancy sleds and fancy girls.

But the risks got bigger too. Soon enough, Sam was not only dropping off pot, but hauling back coke on the return trip, hundreds of kilos worth.

Even his Dad figured something was up when Sam came home one night with a helicopter for his Dad to fix. You’d think Dad would say something like, ‘What the hell are you doing with a helicopter. Are you out of your frickin’ mind. Do you know what the American’s will with you if they catch you? But instead his attitude was, ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’. “I’d rather aid and abet my son’s illegal activity, than watch him crash because of faulty equipment”.

As it happens, one of Sam’s associates found herself with faulty equipment caught in the wrong place at the wrong time by the Feds and doing time, awaiting trial in the US. With the heat on, Sam starts wondering whether maybe he should quit while he’s ahead. Plan B was to cash out and maybe find something a little more mainstream. But, of course, there would have to be one last run to raise money for his associates’ legal fees.

As it happens, the DEA was on his tail too… and on that fateful night, with darkness falling and wind and snow closing in on him, he flew right into the web that his captors had set for him. Long story short, when they stuck this young man in the local jail, his characteristic bravado nowhere to be found, he hung himself with a bed-sheet.

Lyndon Mackintyre who I have always found to be an excellent journalist ends the piece with a sob-story about how this is his handler’s fault, the American’s fault, the drug culture’s fault, his parent’s fault. Everyone is to blame, except Sam. I nearly threw up.

But then I though, maybe I’m being a little too judgmental. So, I’m exploring the topic today in QuestForFire because it brings up a number of issues that I think are at the heart of our societies current ambivalence towards addicts and addiction.

My sense is that people are drawn towards one side or the other based on their inherent capacity for empathy.

On the one side, those who do not fell for Sam, see him as the master of his own fate and as awful as it may seem, shed no tears for the daredevil drug dealer. This is the side to which, I must say, I gravitate to, at least initially. It’s not so much that I have no empathy for him, but rather that I have more empathy for the drug users who end up homeless, psychotic or in a ditch somewhere, as a result of the crack, that Sam was able to supply them with. As an addiction specialist, I am only too familiar with the shattered lives that drugs (and alcohol) leave in their wake.

On the other side, are people who feel sorry for Sam and his family. They see Sam the victim, the young man with poor judgement. “Everybody makes mistakes”, they say.

Sure, everybody makes mistakes. But this was not an act of impulse. This was a repeated and persistent pattern of willful anti-social behaviour.  Sam was happy to enjoy the fruits of his labour and even took umbrage at being labelled a trafficker. But that’s what he did without any thought of the consequences to himself or to others.

Some have said, he was just looking out for number one. And if he didn’t deliver those drugs, well someone else would. And that’s true. But it doesn’t change the fact that it was wrong, and he knew it.

But there is another way of looking at it… that was not raised in that very long list of viewer feedback on the CBC website. Sam Brown was a daredevil, a thrill seeker, an adrenaline junkie. He had to to push the limits, because doing what everyone else does, the way everyone else does it, is just too boring. I know the type. I work with them every day. As an addictionologist, understanding this, is my stock in trade. Maybe Sam Brown was just a different kind of addict.

There is quite a bit of science that says that Sam Brown was likely suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He has all the hallmarks: He was smart, but did not do well in school. He was hyperactive, never could sit still. And he was impulsive, to the nth degree. About 50% of ADDers suffer from one or more addictions (if you include nicotine) and probably higher if you include behavioural addictions such as compulsive shopping, gambling, gaming, sex and eating.

Addiction and ADHD have a lot in common. They are both associated with dysfunctional dopamine circuits. (read more about it on my web-site, northshoreadhd.com. I won’t go into anymore detail on that, but suffice it to say, both addicts and ADDers have chemical imbalances that lead them to be easily bored, to be unlikely to learn from their mistakes, and to have difficulty saying, “no” to temptation. And that leads them to make exceptionally bad choices, and to have the kind of poor judgement that can kill you.

So, I guess, if I think about it, maybe I can find some empathy in my heart for Sam Brown. I certainly feel for those who lost a friend or a family-member.

As a physician, I find myself wondering, “what if”. What if someone had seen the ADHD pattern and directed him to some treatment. Or what if he had been able to stick to a less dysfunctional addiction such as extreme mountainbiking.It would have been nice to have been able to help this young man before he felt so desperate that he ended up taking his own life. I now if he were my patient, I would be able to look past his poor judgement and focus on the future. As long as he was willing to take some ownership of his actions. Let he/she who has not made mistakes cast the first stone.

You’ve got to salute anyone taking the plunge into paper at a time when magazines meet their makers faster than the startling, saddening number of A, B and C-listers over the last five months. That’s not to say that just because you’re bloody minded enough to swim against the deadly swells of the magazine industry’s slow decline your publication will be any good, but it’s admirable nonetheless. With any luck, the new breed of editors and publishers will possess a single percent of the lunacy of Tom Forcade rather than sitting blandly in an office of vintage Eames pieces, stroking a vintage Woolrich coat.

For those of us a little bored of “you weren’t there maaaaaaaan” yippie types talking about dropping out and pranking folks, it’s nice to hear about something genuinely subersive, and the origins of High Times are just that. Tom started the magazine in 1974 with 12k and the proceeds of a drug deal and what could have been a burn-out fanzine, was a glossy creation, well-designed, hiring the best writers and at one point carrying over a hundred staffers. The professionalism of the Trans-High Corporation just made it all the more subversive.

Reading through Martin Torgoff’s excellent ‘Can’t Find My Way Home,’ his section on the magazine’s genesis with contributions from onetime High Times editor Glenn O’Brien who testifies as to just how manic the offices were and that the mysterious Mr. Forcade was very much the real deal, shifting and smoking a serious amount of dope, and suffering extreme mood swings that left him acting like a weed-addled Howard Hughes, even rocking a Fu Manchu ‘tache. How the hell did he get away with it all? Maybe the whole operation worked under the notion that authorities would never accept that the rag would be so closely affiliated with shifting weight, as that would be too obvious, and noone in their right mind would take a risk like that. Tom wasn’t in his right mind though, and reportedly attempted suicide a number of times, suffering depression over the death of his friend Jack Coombs in a plane crash during a smuggle gone wrong, and shooting himself on November the 19th 1978.

Tom was a product of the ’60s who left the army and became heavily politicised, before becoming THC’s own Hefner but rehashing (get it?) his life story here would be pointless, as friends and associates tell it a lot better in pieces like this George Petros piece, talking to cartoonist John Holstrom (‘Punk’ magazine and Ramones covers). The magazine industry needs mavericks, not business planners and reverential fanboys. Without Tom’s direction High Times entered an interesting phase – from 1979 to the mid ’80s, it added yayo to the table, (Holsteom cites the coke period as being 1981 to 1985, we’ll use the October 1979 issue’s freebase kit ads) with it superseding the weed focus; a sign of the times, think disco, Studio 54 and Hollywood’s blizzard, but it was Tom’s passing that opened these floodgates.

Perhaps for all his madness, he was keen to keep the class-As to the background. That’s not to say tooters, Triple-Beams and even Methaqualone-themed paperweight weren’t sold in the legendary ads section of the magazine, but cooking coke brought a certain darkness to the proceedings. For that half of the ’80s, writing for the magazine reportedly became an embarrassment to match Allan MacDonell’s Hustler tenure, as documented in ‘Prisoner Of X,’ (much to Larry Flynt’s displeasure) and removed the journalistic stepping stone it provided the previous decade. There was a LOT of cocaine coverage. Glenn hastily left. But here’s the thing – the content became even more morally murky, and with five years of great cover art under its leaf-buckled belt, High Times’s covers during the coke-era were pretty batshit crazy too, less subtle, but vastly superior to the current lurid look of the magazine, which seems to have stayed static since the ’90s. There’s a scattering of coked-out covers below.

The infamous Ohaus Triple-Beam

It doesn’t end there though. Journalist Steven Hager’s entry into High Times and as a documenter of subcultures is invaluable. You should know him as one of the first to get the term ‘hip-hop’ printed, and his fine 1984 book ‘Hip Hop’ remains hard to obtain. He also wrote the book ‘Art After Midnight,’ documenting NYC’s avant art scenes.You should probably give them a read, and help is at hand, as the very much in-print, ‘Adventures In The Counterculture’ incorporates both essays that made up the backbone of each book.

Hager is also quoted in ‘Samo Is Dead,’ Phoebe Hoban’s Basquiat story for New York magazine. Steven took over as editor of High Times in 1988 and his first editorial move was to focus on bud, and jettison opiates and cocaine from the magazine, taking it into the Cannabis Cup era. Steven’s hip-hop credentials, and the rise of blunted rap meant more rap talk in the magazine and a new audience of readers during the early ’90s willing to pay a Tower Records markup price because of a mention in The Source’s ‘Media Watch’ column.

Now High Times seems to be showcased locally in the racks outside gaudily decorated head shops, it’s great that it’s still going, but in 2009 a publication dedicated to weed feels like it page upon page of a stoner colleague crowing about how they hotboxed all weekend and were, like, stoned for three days solid and ate nine pizzas etc. etc. etc. Smoke the shit – don’t talk it. But High Times was the vessel that created that overfamiliarity with THC-babble, so their longevity is well-deserved. Long may it run three thousand word pieces on secret harvests, and break down lighting technology with alarming levels of detail.

There’s a great film to be made from Tom Forcade’s life story – aspiring publishers should be thinking in terms of their own biopics after they pass. Are your day-to-day antics maniacal enough to fuel a film? On a lighter note, there’s a great documentary in there too, charting the friendy softball tournament rivalry that High Times’s ‘Bonghitters’ squad maintains with fellow New York magazine Vanity Fair and their ‘Veefers’ who frequently marvel at the stoners’ sporting ability.

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about Kate Moss  mentioning the infamously pro-anorexic motto “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” during an interview with WWD (Story here). While I don’t think that Moss intended the comment to be serious lifestyle advice for the masses, the truth is that people, particularly the crazed, young women striving to look as starved and anemic as she is, are probably going to take it as such. I mean, a model’s primary professional concern is his or her body, so it’s not that far-fetched to believe that some people would mistake it for expert advice. Anyone with even a slight tendency to eat badly, however, will tell you there are plenty of things that taste better than skinny: bacon, Ben and Jerry’s, pizza, Junior’s cheesecake, bagels, mashed potatoes, fettuccine alfredo, and those gold-wrapped round chocolates from the gods, just to name a few.

Speaking of weight and food that’s bad for you, I heard something interesting on the radio recently about the other end of the eating disorder spectrum:

A new study done on rats suggests that unhealthy, but delicious, food can actually be as addictive as (gasp!) heroin or cocaine (side note: Kate, remember when you were in the midst of a highly-publicized coke scandal in 2005? Nothing is better than how being high off coke feels, right?). According to really smart scientists at Scripps Research Institute in Florida, rats who were exposed to “high-fat, high-calorie food” ate increased amounts as “the pleasure pathways in their brains became less and less responsive, forcing them to consume more to get the same amount of pleasure.” Even when the researchers paired the junk food with a mild shock, the rats still chose it over a nutritional alternative. And when the junk food was removed altogether, the rats preferred to not eat at all rather than eat the nutritional alternative, which is pretty indicative of addiction.

In other words, a person addicted to junk food would probably prefer to be tasered and still receive a Big Mac than have to eat a Kashi granola bar and an apple. smh.

I LOVE energy drinks, almost more than alcoholic drinks. And I have to tell you, I find these facts amusing as hell.

Energy Drink Heaven

The Boston Globe had this to report:

Since the 1980’s, the government and media have warned the American people about the dangers of drugs like cocaine, heroine and LSD.  The Reagan administration even went so far as to call the anti-drug crusade the “War on Drugs.”

Hard drugs like crack, PCP, and methamphetamines are dangerous, not to mention morally wrong.   However, I believe that all drugs should be legal because the collateral damage from anti-drug legislation does as much or more damage than the drugs themselves.

According to the United States Department of Justice one out of every fifteen U.S. citizens will serve time in a state or federal prison at some time in their life.

The problem is even more appalling among men and minority communities.  A 2000 study by the Department of Justice estimates that 18% of all African Americans, over 11% of all men, 32% of all black men and 17% of all Hispanic men will serve prison time.  Of the 1.3 million American citizens these numbers represent, 21% of state and 57% of federal inmates are serving time for a drug offense.

There are two major flaws in the reasoning behind the war on drugs.  First, people assume that harsh penalties will deter young people from becoming involved in the drug trade – the opposite is true.  Second is the assumption that eliminating drug dealers eliminates drugs.  In actuality it simply creates a job opening.

Many drug dealers sell drugs, often on a smaller scale, for the first time as a young child.  As anyone with children will tell you deterrents are at best only partially effective on young people.  Children have no concept of time and no concept of their own limitations.  They also rarely understand the long term consequences of their decisions; that is what parents are for.

These kids may only make a couple hundred dollars a week selling drugs, but ask any thirteen year-old to choose between doing their homework or making $300 and see what they say.  While a rational adult may see that those couple hundred dollars aren’t worth sacrificing an education, for that child, especially a poor child, school takes on a less important role.

By the time many of these kids are seventeen year old crack dealers they’ve been selling drugs for the better part of a decade, have little in the way of an academic knowledge base, and still are too young to be expected to understand the consequences of their actions.

It is ludicrous for our society to expect a poor teenager, let alone a young child, to be deterred by the long-term disadvantages of dealing drugs especially with cocaine priced at between $12,000 and $35,000 per kilo, according to a study by the DEA.  It’s equally unrealistic to expect a teenager with no options to give that kind of lifestyle – one in which they may make as much money as a doctor or lawyer – up for a job at Burger King.

The idea that putting dealers behind bars will stem demand is even sillier.  Nobody stops using drugs because their favorite drug dealer has been locked away; they just go to someone else.  Drug addiction is much too powerful to be stopped by inconvenience, as are the underlying issues that lead to drug use in the first place.  The only way to rid ourselves of the problem is to study and treat drug users.

By outlawing drugs, we’ve simultaneously fueled gang violence, driven prices down, increased production and created and unregulated black market for the banned substances.  It is no coincidence that gang violence surged to unprecedented heights in the eighties and nineties as crack became king of the American underbelly, nor should this link surprise anyone.

The key to understanding why the war on drugs has failed is simple economics.  In a free market economy, which is what we’re talking about in its most pure form, competition drives price down and quality and convenience up.
That is why, according to a report by Mary Cooper, drugs are more pure, cheaper, and easier to find than ever.  It’s also why more drugs are being cut with Drain-o and rat poisoning – drug dealers need to cut costs.

Competition also causes is conflict.  People fight most ferociously when something tangible is at stake.  Pride or respect may be the focus of romanticized Hollywood movies on the subject, but money transformed the American gangbanger from neighborhood ruffian into cold-blooded killer.

The lack of regulation, however, has been equally important and has had equally tragic results.  Overdoses kill thousands of people each year.  If drugs were legal, purity could be regulated and drugs would be cut with benign substances people would have a better idea for how much they were taking and overdoses would become far less common.

Luckily, the problems caused by the war on drugs can be fixed fairly easily: by legalizing, commercializing, and regulating all drugs.  Many of the proposed changes, especially those related to marijuana, are similar to policies regarding alcohol.

I propose that marijuana use be restricted to adults aged eighteen and older and that hard drugs be restricted to those twenty-one and older.  Furthermore, it should be illegal to use marijuana outside of one’s own residence and specially-designated clubs as the smoke may cause others to become intoxicated.

While marijuana may be treated in much the same way as alcohol, it is actually less dangerous and much less addictive, hard drugs are an entirely different animal.  Drugs like crack and heroine are dangerous, overdoses often result in death, and they are very addictive.

Commission of any crime while under the influence of hard drugs should result in a significant extension of the normal sentence.  The amount of time added should be doubled in the event of a serious violent crime like murder, rape, attempted murder, or any crime involving the use of a deadly weapon.

Overdoses would be greatly reduced by rating (and restricting) the purity of drugs and this information would be clearly indicated on whatever container is used for public distribution.  Limitations as to what drugs may or may not be cut with would serve to further protect the public.

Heavy taxes and difficult-to-obtain distribution licenses (for hard drugs) would facilitate a swift takeover by large corporations or government-owned monopolies.  This would eliminate small distributors and, therefore, allow for strict government and quality control.

Our country would also reap the benefits of what Cooper estimates as a 400 billion dollar industry which, given time, could be entirely home grown.

In addition to the enormous new revenue stream provided by taxing that industry, our government could less on prisons ($20,000 per inmate per year), law enforcement – 17.8 billion per year according to Cooper’s study, and court costs – 621,000 jail inmates in 2000, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

With nothing tangible to fight about, gang violence should decline steadily and police would be allowed to focus on enforcing other areas of the law (Murder, Rape, Home Invasion, etc.) rather than wasting their time and our money making drug busts (job openings).

More importantly, without a field of work promising fast money with little or no education or experience, more young people could focus on school and achieve their vast potential.

Since the 1980’s the government and popular media have done everything in their power to sell us on the benefits of the “War on Drugs.”  I’ve probably heard a thousand accounts of how drugs ruined an addict’s life, or how a young child was caught in the crossfire of a local gang war.

What I have not heard, unfortunately, is how the war on drugs has aggravated and, in some cases, created peripheral problems like gang violence and drug overdoses.

The war on drugs has created a “career” requiring no experience, education, and with no age limits; where it’s possible to make tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of weeks; one that often ends in prison or worse.  By legalizing drugs, I seek only to eliminate the temptation caused by the drug trade.

Legalizing drugs will not eradicate drug use, but it will greatly reduce peripheral problems like drug overdoses, gang violence, crowded prisons, and the damage done to drug dealers.  If we cannot prevent people from using drugs (we can’t), the least we can do is limit the collateral damage.

i james girvan singh am responsible for eradicating all cociane in Guyana & lord knows i try

Regency Suites/ Hotel is owned by what is undoubtedly one of the shadiest characters in Guyana and we speak of omprakash shivraj who brought you buddy’s hotel, guyana’s biggest laundromat and all things buddys. so don’t be surprised when we tell you cocaine was found on the premises in abundance. nothing has happened as yet. surprise!!!!!!!!! [thanks for the tip Aalim]

Regency Suites/ Hotel
98 Hadfield Street,
Werk-en-Rust Georgetown,
Guyana.
Tel: 592-225-4785
Fax: 592-226-0531

At The Regency Suites/ Hotel, we pride ourselves on the character and competence of our service staff. We understand that while the setting does much to provide a sense of royalty and enjoyment, the level of service is just as important in creating a memorable stay.

On Thursday the PoPo’s busted a major Brooklyn drug ring ass open. Narcotics investigators unearthed 15 kilos of cocaine and more than $800,000 in cash at a Billyburg apartment on North 7th Street between Berry and Wythe. Hey, that’s, like, my neighborhood! Who knew I lived so close to the largest coke warehouse in New York City.

Turns out the culprits were olden hipsters: Ronald Lugo, 44, Christina Ladeveze, 48, and Johanny Olmedo, 51. What will the younger hipsters do for their coke now?!?!?!???!?!

What I want to know is, how in the hell do you keep 15-damn kilos of cocaine in your apartment ????? Dumb dumb dumb. At least rent a room at Manhattan Storage.

This song is actually about cocaine and it’s got a solid groove to it. It’s a rare tech house track that’s actually good lol. Hope you enjoy it.
Tom Sawyer – South American (Juan Magan & Josepo Remix)

An eminent rabbi was so exhausted after three days of constant cocaine-fuelled partying with escorts that his pimp grew worried and cancelled that day’s supply of girls, a jury was told.

Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, 55, who has a £6 million fortune, was a scholarly academic, an accomplished businessman, a charity giver and a dutiful family man until his first wife died of cancer and his world fell apart.

He turned to alcohol in his depression, then took refuge in cocaine, spending up to £1,000 a week. He lived in squalor, seeking comfort from prostitutes, Manchester Crown Court was told.

The prosecution said that Chalomish was the financier in a commercial cocaine supply business while Nasir Abbas, 54, a convicted drug dealer, provided the drugs and the customers.
Related Links

* Rabbi ’swapped cocaine for sexual favours’

The pair rented a luxury flat in Manchester and for ten days over the new year enjoyed a non-stop party. Mr Abbas admitted to police that he procured a supply of girls from an agency called Pure Class. They were also offered cocaine.

The court was told that on the ninth day, and after the rabbi had stayed up for three straight days, Mr Abbas was so concerned about his health that he scrapped that day’s supply of prostitutes. In a text message to a woman called Clio he wrote: “Hi Clio, I have tried to wake Shel up but I don’t want to wake him. He was very tired because he had no sleep for three days, needed to rest, because he is going to his office to work on Monday at 8. Please cancel the party today.”

Michael Goldwater, for the prosecution, said that at 9am on January 5 police raided the flat finding evidence of a substantial drugs operation including cocaine, cutting agents and scales. Officers found an equal amount of the drug at Chalomish’s home in Prestwich, in the heart of Manchester’s Orthodox Jewish community, as well as cutting agents and more than £15,000 in cash.

Chalomish denies supplying the drug but admits having it. Mr Abbas, who said that he was too scared to attend the trial after the rabbi “sent around some heavies” to threaten him, faces charges of having cocaine with intent to supply.

Jonathan Goldberg, QC, for the defence, said that the rabbi’s fall from grace was a tragedy. He said that his client never supplied the drug but hoarded large supplies of pure cocaine to evade “unscrupulous dealers” known to use rat poison and other dangerous mixing agents. The trial continues.

Cockaine by Jeremy MF Thompson

I‘m still in the first room, room 139, and on the wall is a framed photograph. In the photo there is a leave-it-to-beaver looking male – gazing up as if viewing a legion of angels! And in front of this awe struck face – a large penis with a neat white line on the top just begging to be snorted. This was one of the few Jeremy MF Thompson photographs on display at the Dirty Show.

Thompson remarked on some reactions to this piece during the Dirty Show and how this photo originated for him:

“When I walked into room 139, I saw two dudes staring at my ‘Cockcaine’ piece. One looked at the other and said, ‘I’ve always wanted to do that.’ I wanted to tell them, ‘ME TOO! ME TOO! That’s why I took the picture!’… but I didn’t. I like being a fly on the wall in group shows.

The idea for that picture came from seeing RoboCop when I was a little kid. There’s a scene where one of the villains is snorting coke off some hooker’s tits and I can clearly remember thinking, ‘I don’t know what that is but I want to do that!’ Years later, thanks to San Francisco, I found out exactly what that mysterious white powder was and why the idea of doing it off of someone was so appealing. I wanted someone to suck up some coke off of my own cock but getting that photo would be pretty difficult so I got myself a stud with a stunt cock. Originally I wanted two dicks, mushroom to mushroom, with a guy sucking cock off of one and a girl (my fiancée) snorting coke off the other but I decided one cock and one user would be dirtier. Choosing a male to do the line just seemed right at the time.”

Thompson’s art takes on a Let’s-not-take-anything-too-serious-folks attitude, and he says, “There’s not much to take seriously when it comes to sex or art except, of course, in the execution, and even then if it’s not fun it’s not worth doing.”

As for “Cockaine” the photograph that graced the wall of room 139 at the Dirty Show Motel – it sold – and will grace the wall of another. However, I am hoping to see more of his work at the Dirty Show 11 in Detroit. Until then – here are a few more Jeremy MF Thompson photographs. Enjoy!

Brown Eye by Jeremy MF Thompson

Photograph by Jeremy MF Thompson

from FORCE2000

1. James Singh used to work with Roger Khan
2. Roger Khan is a Drugs dealer and James Singh is giving out information to drug dealers about the DEA activity in Guyana and holding CANU down if the DEA takes this information for granted let them reply to this message and we will tell them what he tells the drug dealers about them.
3. James Singh is using the Treasury money to do thing for himself holding CANU officers down and also using CANU officers to target rival drug dealers and not his friends

Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejercito del Pueblo, better known as the FARC-EP or FARC, has been pushed back from its areas of expansion in the 1990s to its historic zones, where the group was started and first began to grow. The armed group, though, has in no way disappeared. In fact, counting on about 9,000 fighters, the group has shown an immense ability to survive in very tough conditions. Given that thousands upon thousands have demobilized, been captured or killed in combat, the fact that the group has only dropped from 18,000 fighters 6 or 7 years ago to 9,000 today shows an amazing ability to recruit fighters and maintain organizational discipline in the upper echelons of the group. 

The group still has suffered serious setbacks. Starting at the end of the 1990s with the AUC paramilitary offensive, the FARC found itself being pushed out of many strategic zones. Followed then by the Uribe government’s offensives, the group has been weakened greatly military, although still maintains strong influence in remote areas. This year, though, the FARC seems to be making somewhat of a return, IF one accepts that the group ever really went away. This is a good question given that although the Uribe government claims to be winning the war, the FARC seem to receive the blame from the government for just about anything and everything. (In January 2008, the then-Minister of Defense claimed the FARC, regarding drug trafficking, could only charge a tax on coca paste due to government pressure, basically putting them farthest down the drug chain of any group. In November 2008, another member of the government said the FARC were the biggest drug trafficking group in the country.) Yet, regardless of one’s opinion, the FARC seem to be military on the rise again.

According to information from the Security and Democracy Foundation, FARC attacks against the Armed Forces are up 75% to 117 attacks in the first six months of 2009 from the same time period in 2008. Oddly enough, combats initiated by the Armed Forces against the FARC  in the same time periods are down from 403 to 199. This could mean that while the intensity in the first 6 months of 2009 has dropped, the FARC have started to take the offensive or initiative again. We are seeing small increases in attacks against fixed Police and Army installations as well, but mainly the increases are occurring with ambushes, up 119% from 26 to 57, and attacks on towns, up 65% from 37 to 61. All of this data corresponds to the first six months of the year. 

Medellin’s daily paper El Colombiano stated that combats have increased this year – despite statistics showing otherwise. The paper says that combates have increased from 78 to 148. Given the proximity to the statistics of attacks against the public forces by the FARC, I suppose in this case “combat” means combats initiated by the FARC or attacks by the FARC. Also interesting is that deaths in combat/attacks by both sides are fairly equal according to the article. The Army has lost 259 combatants and the FARC 289. This is the first time in a long time that I have seen statistics regarding deaths in combat having such parody.

So why is this the case? Some analysts say that the Army has cut down on the offensive due to lack in moral, given to the pressure of false positives. This, to me, is a weak explanation. First off, taking the offensive is a military strategy and a decision. Also, false positives in the first semester of 2009 dropped to two. So are they worried about investigations? Maybe. But this should not affect the decision of a commander on how to combat the FARC – only in that killing civilians should not occur. Taking the offensive is another decision. 

It could be that Cano has consolidated his role as leader and has decided to go on the offensive. Of course, one can only go on the offensive when possible. If constantly being attacked and put on the defensive is the reality, an offensive will be quite tough.  The seeming drop in the offensive by the Armed Forces is giving the space to the FARC to take the offensive.

It would seem that a certain dynamic is occurring. First, the FARC have been pushed back to their zones of historic influence. These areas tend to be, but are not always, more remote making the guerrilla harder to find and thus attack. Also, in these zones, the FARC still have control over and/or support from the population who have lived under guerrilla control for decades. This is, of course, in spite of the guerrillas violent actions against the civilian population. This allows the guerrilla time to plan, rest and increase morale. At the same time, they are able to access the information necessary to carry out attacks due to the varying level of support in the civilian population. 

Being in more remote areas, the Army may just find it harder to find the guerrillas. Simply put, this is guerrilla territory – the Army does not know it well or may find what they do know to be too old or insufficient. Hence, if they are on the offensive it’s not working as planned. Or they could accept this situation and look to hold territory. I’m guessing that patrols are the name of the game, as usual and are having less success. Given this situation, the FARC are simply able to plan and attack better. Whether they will be able to expand again towards their previous levels of territorial control is another question. 

This is most likely the case in Cauca. Various guerrilla groups, including the FARC, have had presence there for over 40 years. The mountains of Cauca and Tolima are the birthplace of the FARC. They seem to be high up in the mountains, and according to some demobilized combatants, the FARC have a better reputation than the public forces in these zones. Their militia fighters are present in the city centers and thus can easily pass essential information to the guerrillas.

Simpy put, the public forces in the zone haven’t been able to hit the FARC as hard as they want on the ground, and thus the guerrillas can plan and attack. In northern Cauca, it seems to be working well for the guerrillas. Even with the 2,500 troops sent to the zone recently, the guerrillas were able to ambush some the other night, killing one and injuring another and seemingly taking no casualties. The large attack in Corinto last week involved over 200 guerrillas at once. Groupings like that were thought to be a thing of the past. Clearly, the guerrilla has not been under a lot of pressure in Cauca, but time will tell if this dynamic changes, and in favor of which side.

NARCONON REALIZATION

Here is another Narconon realization from a drug treatment student.

“I am to stay focused and forever going to keep myself in control and making my first priority my well being.

I know what I am today and not living in past memories of who I was, but who I am today.  I am who I am.

All the things I was yesterday are not important today.  I am a product of all that I’ve been but I’m that product living in the actual world today.

I am important and I need to address my needs first and if possible, help others along the way.  By understanding I have control of me and everything I come into contact with, I can be sure that all that I connect myself with or get involved with will forever be a positive influence or connection to my own personal life.

Drugs play no role in my future – they remove my own importance and that I can never have again.  I will not allow the drugs to pull me back inside my own head to the point that I do not even know who I am.

I know that from this day on I will always look to control me in a positive way by living in the present.”

Whether a person has abused heroin, pot, cocaine or methamphetamine, the Narconon program has something to teach them about themselves.  Each lesson learned is a step closer to freedom.

Narconon New Life Program  877-413-3073

NARCONON REFLECTION

Here is a Narconon student’s reflection, written with the hope that others will read it and reach for help.  No matter the drug – heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, pot or any other drug of abuse, Narconon program can help bring about those realizations that will help a person become drug free and happy.

“This course has taught me to be more aware and to appreciate the joy and pleasure of having all my senses.  They are a gift.  I have eyes to see the beauty that is in creation.  Colors are alive and objects and people are live to me.

I have ears to hear beautiful sounds and hands to touch and to write, cook and draw with.  I have feet to run!

I have taken for granted these gifts to me.  Right now I write this in appreciation of the gift of my senses.  It is as if I have been reborn!”

Narconon drug treatment is the new life program.  Find your life now. 877-413-3073

I don’t think it’s a huge secret that Carmen Electra is a whore. She’s such a huge whore that I don’t really why she’s famous except for being a hot brunette with an amazing ass and huge tits that goes around wanting attention from anyone in her immediate vicinity. Like I said – whore.

This video has been making the rounds on the Internet and while I can pretend it’s actually a sex tape, no amount of wishing or hoping from my penis is going to make it so. It’s a video of Carmen Electra making out with another brunette who is slightly less hot and some dude who wears fag shoes. Seriously, what are those things? I think they’re deck shoes or those slip-ons that the slow kids used to wear to kindergarten because they couldn’t wrap their heads around making bunny ears with their shoe laces. Fuck those kids and fuck this guy.

PS: I’m kind of jealous of him.