Reddit reviews Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press
We found 7 Reddit comments about Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
You're right that alcohol consumption rates went down a lot initially, but they picked back up within a couple of years when organized crime got into it:
https://www.nber.org/papers/w3675
>We find that alcohol consumption fell sharply at the beginning of Prohibition, to approximately 30 percent of its pre-Prohibition level. During the next several years, however, alcohol consumption increased sharply, to about 60-70 percent of its pre-prohibition level.
https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa157.pdf
But then we need to talk about the impact of Prohibition on the creation of major crime organizations in the US:
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/01/17/prohibition-and-the-rise-of-the-american-gangster/
https://www.history.com/news/prohibition-organized-crime-al-capone
And the other unintended consequences:
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/
So you offset one public health issue, which honestly could have been 'solved' by the Swedish solution, that is tax alcohol at 100% rate to reduce consumption rather than try to outlaw it and create a huge unregulated, underground market run by criminals.
>(...) cirrhosis death rates for men were 29.5 per 100,000 in 1911 and 10.7 in 1929. Admissions to state mental hospitals for alcoholic psychosis declined from 10.1 per 100,000 in 1919 to 4.7 in 1928. Arrests for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct declined 50 percent between 1916 and 1922.
This is from an unsourced Op-Ed from the 1980s, where are these numbers coming from and do they stand up to modern scholarship?
>By the way, I wonder how much more drinking would be reduced if Feds of early 20th century had resources available to them today, instead of being comically poor.
Given the abuse of opiods and other illegal drugs and triumph of Marijuana over major efforts to shut down it's use...probably no better. Especially since the CIA is involved in the international drug trade and has been for decades:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking#Afghanistan
https://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Drugs-Press-Alexander-Cockburn/dp/1859842585
State sponsored drug trafficking is a well documented fact.
Google:
Air Opium/ Air Laos Commerciale/ Air America/ Mena Airport/ Opium Wars/ Gary Webb/ rising opium production in Afghanistan
Documentaries Online
Books:
Evidence for continuity:
I think he's by far the smartest choice because he's the smartest candidate by far and has been consistent on the issues he cares about. And I also think he's been in politics long enough that he's not 'mr smith goes to washington' like obama was, a total newb, unable to grok the resistance to his agendas. Sanders gets it and knows how to work with these others. Also, he has a keen eye for bullshit where other miss it. That's why he won't pass a bill that looks mostly good if there's a rider in there that will cause big problems--he actually pays attention to these things but that is used against him in arguments (ron paul joint bill).
He's put forth a federal decriminaliztion of cannabis bill no one talks about. So he's for ending the drug war. This is good because the CIA actually is the biggest drug dealer on the planet so it's a total fraud. Anyone who reads knows this but if you doubt:
Sanders is the only one broaching this subject in a meaningful way. This to me is the bigger war than the one in the middle east because it was the first and most longstanding ideological war, the war againsts "users", framing them as criminals. When in fact, we're all users. Do you take lipitor? Viagra? Caffeine? Alcohol? Nicotine? Grapefruit juice? Tea? Aspirin? Antiinflammatories? Pain killers? If yes to any of those, you're a user of substances, which are chemicals, which are medicines, which are food. When you make judgment calls on the types of substances people choose to put into their bodies, then you create "users", "junkies", and "addicts" in language as an outgroup to the ingroup of routine normalcy. Then we decide their behavior is unacceptable. Then we put them in jail. This is madness! This needs to stop. No one should be in the business of telling others what they can or can't put into their bodies and judging them about it. To do so would be similar to a group of us deciding that if you touched pink-colored things you're a pervert and should be detained in prison for 10 yrs.
This book also looks good, Alexander Cockburn is an excellent journalist. Jeffery St Clair I believe edits counterpunch, which is a must read.
https://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Drugs-Press-Alexander-Cockburn/dp/1859842585
I seem to remember that this was a good book: Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press by Alexander Cockburn https://www.amazon.com/dp/1859842585/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_y-6cBb7G9GPYD
Whiteout by alexander Cockburn https://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Drugs-Press-Alexander-Cockburn/dp/1859842585NARCO-COLONIALISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY - EX DEA AGENTS SPEAK
https://web.archive.org/web/20120208083401/http://ciadrugs.homestead.com/files/How a Dogged L.A. DEA Agent Unraveled the CIA's Alleged Role in the Murder of Kiki Camarena By Jason McGahan Wednesday, July 1, 2015
http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-a-dogged-la-dea-agent-unraveled-the-cias-alleged-role-in-the-murder-of-kiki-camarena-5750278
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Blood On The Corn
In 1985, a murky alliance of drug lords and government officials tortured and killed a DEA agent named Enrique Camarena. In a three-part series, legendary journalist Charles Bowden finally digs into the terrible mystery behind a hero’s murder. By Charles Bowden and Molly Molloy https://medium.com/matter/blood-on-the-corn-52ac13f7e643
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THE CRIMES OF PATRIOTS -- A TRUE TALE OF DOPE, DIRTY MONEY, AND THE CIA BY JOHNATHAN KWITNY 1987
COMPLETE BOOK--
"There is a secret government in America. It operates with the explicit and implied authority of the highest officials, and in the name of America's interests it has inflicted great damage on the unsuspecting peoples of other countries and on our own fundamental principles.... I wish everyone would read The Crimes of Patriots. Perhaps then the current hearings on the Iran-Contra affair -- for Ronald Reagan is the latest to wield this secret weapon and to perish by it -- will be the last. An informed people might become an outraged people and finally put a stop to our own self-destruction. If so, we will owe much to Jonathan Kwitny's reporting."
-- Bill Moyers
trusting or kowtowing to drug pushers has never been an option