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... ... UNITED NATIONS TOUCHED BY CHINESE TRIBUTE
TO WORLD ANTI-DRUGS DAY... ...
June 26 was the UN's anti-drugs day and China celebrated it in its now
accustomed style. This year it topped over 50 people for drug crimes
to mark global disapproval of drugs. There was nothing unseemly, mind.
The accused were admittedly sentenced at mass rallies, live on national
TV. But they were 'disposed' of immediately afterwards in relative privacy
"at a separate location". Top of the league was Yunnan province
with 20 alleged traffickers, sentenced in front of a packed crowd in
a sports stadium Shy Shanghai (always was too much Western influence
there) managed only one. A 30 year old 'trafficker' called Zhi Quinhggang
who was executed "to help mark World Anti-Drug Day". Eat your
hearts out Tone and Dave!
Imagine how pleased with China the United Nations anti-drug warriors
much be. 50 corpses. “That’s the way to do it, Mr Blunkett.
Peel their caps! That'll stop ‘em’.” Course, you'd have
to have a problem the size of China's to take this approach. There the
number of heroin addicts known to the authorities rose from 681,000
in 1999 to 860,000 last year. A whopping 26% increase. Mind you there,
government still clings to outdated socialist principles. No wonder
there's so many junkies and so few executions. The Chinese Communist
Party should try a different approach. Have a makeover. Call themselves
'New Communists' and get the private sector in (Wackenhutt Corrections,
say) to run mass executions in public, live on Sky TV. That'd be better
than Survivor and with their noted efficiency, the private sector would
mow those junkies down in their thousands. And after? Well, there's
always the possibility of auctioning their organs for transplant. But,
with an estimated population of 600,000 AIDS sufferers, maybe not.
Source; Guardian 27.6.01
... ... COMING TO A SOCIAL NEAR YOU SOON? ... ...
Canada is getting tough on drug users on
welfare. Mandatory drug testing of those on benefits is to be brought
in. Community and Social Services Minister John Baird has said that
people should not be allowed to sit round sniffing, smoking and swilling
things while collecting benefits. Because of Canadian law, users can't
be tested. So 'trained workers' will decide through an interview process
whether a person on benefits is using drugs. Who's kidding who? Unless
these workers are telepaths or the claimants are completely panelled
when interviewed, who will know? Course it couldn't happen here. British
law would permit it.
Source; Globe and Mail Co 2001
... ... GUCCI BELTS AND BRAIN SURGERY: ADDICTION TREATMENT IN RUSSIA
... ...
90 miles east of Moscow is the city of
Yekaterinburg, home of a group called 'City Without Drugs'. The group
runs a 'detox' centre in the City and is now opening a second. Newcomers
to the centre are first locked in a cellar and then taken out to be
beaten. "On the first day we beat them with belts until their buttocks
turn blue," boasted Igor Varov one of three wealthy businessmen
behind City Without Drugs. "Every week we have to buy a new belt
because they go too soft, but we have been impressed with the quality
of Gucci belts. Drug Addicts are animals who have lost all sense of
values. This way, the next time they think about getting a fix they
remember the pain of the thrashing rather than the rush of the drugs.
It's very effective. You cannot solve this with mild manners - you need
tough measures." Nobody is allowed to leave the treatment which
lasts one year. The few who have tried to escape have been brought back
and punished. Former inmates who test positive for drugs are also beaten.
Andrei, aged 20, described how he tried to escape from the centre but
was beaten so badly he had to spend 3 weeks in hospital. "I was
made to lie on the floor. Then two guys beat me until I became unconscious.
I was then left to hang handcuffed for three days to a wall. They are
sadists. They love the power - that's what it is all about. You can
hardly call it therapy."
Source: Calgary Herald 2001
But, who knows, maybe the Russians just eat this shit up. For example,
over in St Petersburg they’re performing brain surgery (bilateral
cryocingulotomy – don’t try it at home) – on addicts.
After a small hole has been drilled in the addict’s skull under
a local anaesthetic - a metal frame bearing a mobile ‘wand’
is attached to the head. The tip of the wand, which has been immersed
in carbon dioxide at a temperature of –70 degrees C, is passed
through the hole to freeze the isolated area of the brain with the help
of computerised images. The doctor performing the ops stresses that
"’’it’s too early to say how effective the operation
can be." Well, we’ll tell you. In the long run, it won’t
work for the majority of patients. Addiction is not a disease or malfunction
of the brain. The UK was doing experimental brain surgery on addicts
(to the editor’s recollection) 30 years ago and it didn’t
work then. It doesn’t matter how much more sophisticated we’ve
become at cutting bits of tissue from the brain. Addiction is a choice.
Bur few people wish to believe that.
Source: Moscow Times 18 March 2000
As you read this stuff, you just have to wonder how many other groups
in this world have been treated as badly as drug users, without anyone
seeming to think that they deserve anything better.
All newspaper articles summarised here are taken
from the excellent and informative Website: Media Awareness Project
www.mapinc.org/drugnews
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