Preston Peet-
e-mail ptpeet@drugwar.com

Me

Battle Lines Being Drawn

"Yeah, the movement's in motion with mass militant poetry
Now check this out...
In the right light, study becomes insight
But the system that dissed us
Teaches us to read and write
So called facts are fraud
They want us to allege and pledge And bow down to their God
Lost the culture, the culture lost
Spun our minds and through time Ignorance has taken over
Yo, we gotta take the power back!"
"Take the Power Back"-
Rage Against the Machine, 1992

"Ill Write Whenever I Can"- photo by Peter Beard

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Anti-Prohibitionism - a Conversation with Marco Cappato (Feb. 8, 2003)
European MEP Marco Cappato discusses a wide variety of topics, focusing on prohibition, with the editor of DrugWar.com

Shredding the Veil of Banality (Feb. 2, 2003)
If “occultism is not an attempt to draw aside the veil of the unknown, but simply the veil of banality that we call the present,” as Colin Wilson wrote in his 1971 classic, “The Occult,” then Richard Metzger is an occultist extraordinaire.

How the Drug Money Works (Jan. 8, 2003)
An examination of how and why the War on Some Drugs continues unabated.

HIGH COURT? Justice Rules Canda's Pot Rules Invalid (Jan. 3, 2003 - for Hightimes.com)
“This ruling, while not binding in itself, will have an effect on other judges in Ontario,” said Tim Meehan, spokesperson for Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis in Toronto.

Every Field a Killing Field (Dec. 16, 2002)
The US has a habit of extrajudicially killing its enemies.

The "New" Colombian Heroin Trade- Here We Go Again (Dec. 13, 2002)
Long time prohibitionist Rep. Dan Burton questions the sense in waging the War on Some Drugs while Rep. John Mica urges more mycoherbicide spraying on the country of Colombia and verything that lives there.

Interview With the Assassin (Nov. 22, 2002- for Hightimes.com)
A new film poses the question,"Could the second JFK shooter live across the street?"

Charges? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Charges! (Oct. 24, 2002)
An examination of some of the federal raids against pot growers and pot-using patients, despite the state law legalizing both for medicinal purposes.

World-Wide Protests Confront the Corporate Warpigs (Oct. 8, 2002)
A look at a New York City protest held in conjuncture with many others around the globe.

Smoking Doobies at The High Times 2002 Doobie Awards for Conscious Music (Sept. 27, 2002)
Hanging out at the High Times music awards show can be an enjoyable trip.

It's Not Easy Being a Meanie- A Drug Czar Interrupted (Sept. 17, 2002)
In which a patriotic American gets up and tells it like it is before the US Drug Czar can tell it like it isn't.

Can a Date Be Cursed? (Sept. 9, 2002)
Ruminating on having a birthday that will always be remembered for the worst single terrorist attack on US soil.

How the People Seldom Catch Intelligence- or how to be a successful drug dealer (originally published in Disinformation's "You Are Being Lied To"- edited by Russ Kick- posted Sept. 9, 2002)
The CIA has actively worked with drug traffickers as a matter of policy in many parts of the world, at the same time the US government has been locking up record numbers of US citizens for imbibing in the very same drugs being trafficked by the CIA and its "non-employees".

Treatment or Jail- Is this Really a Choice? (Published in Disinformation's "Everything You Know is Wrong", edited by Russ Kick- posted August 29, 2002)
Is mandating drug users into jail really better than putting them in jail? Is either really doing any good?

No Freedom of Speech for Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion" (August 20, 2002)
Political candidate and outspoken marijuana legalization proponent Ed “NJWeedman” Forchion was placed under arrest for excercising his First Amendment rights.

Burning Down the House- Anti-Pot Helicopter Caused California Wildfire (August 16, 2002- for High Times)
Federal prohibitionists cause way more damage seeking to destroy pot than any pot smoker or grower ever has.

Don't Fear the Reefer- An Interview with Pine Box (August 6, 2002)
"WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP – I still find it hard to believe that the prohibitionist rhetoric regarding pot has survived this long. I’d tell them that the Drug War is being fought by a minority and should be abandoned," says Guy Smylie, lead singer of this amazing pro-pot band.

A Smoking 'Scarlet Diva' Storms NYC (July 30, 2002)
The film itself is a wild and often hallucinatory romp through the career and turmoils of a successful Italian actress and sex symbol who find she wants a lot more out of life than the pawings of sleazy film directors and producers, so sets out on a voyage to become independent of them all.

Mohamed Atta and the Venice Flying Circus- A Review (July 25, 2002)
A review of Daniel Hopsicker's latest video investigation, this time into the weird and unsettling happenings involving the September 11 terrorist pilots, their flight training, and their associations in South Florida.

Who Takes Responsibility for the Carnage- An Interview With Clifford Wallace Thornton (June 30, 2002)
Clifford Wallace Thornton, Jr. is the co-founder of Efficacy, an organization in Connecticut dedicated to seeking peaceful constructive solutions to many social ills, lately focusing its sights on the War on Some Drugs and Users. Be sure to visit the various links following the interview.

Equal Protection Under the Law- A Modern Day Parable (June 24, 2002)
Tranquilly minding his own business, picking at the coke bugs and feeling the barest beginnings of the dope rush that always waits to hit when he shoots speedballs, he doesn’t hear the approaching motor scooter until it is way too late. "Hey boy, what are you doing…" says the NYPD scooter cop, who stops mid-sentence when he spots the dribble of blood from the side of Thomas’ wrist, running over the back of his hand, almost spelling out the words, "Bust Me, I’m an Idiot."

Doing Things the Righteous Way-
An Interview With Shawn Heller, National Director of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (June 20, 2002)
"For me, coming into things, never having been a drug user or even considered using drugs, looking at the situation from a real policy focus angle, I had always felt that the War on Drugs was wrong, making no distinction between the War on Marijuana and the War as a whole," says Shawn Heller.

Nationwide Protest Calls Demand End to the DEA's War on Medical Marijuana- But Will the DEA Listen? (June 7, 2002)
The NYC protestors, most from the New York Marijuana Reform Party and from Cures-Not-Wars, were demonstrating as part of a nationwide protest organized by Americans for Safe Access, one of 55 separate demonstrations in 29 states and Washington DC.

Pre-September 11 Reports of Terrorist Threats, Including References to World Trade Center- Why Did it Take 8 Months? (May 17, 2002) Waking September 11, 2001, felt like one of those nightmares where I think I've woken up until the monster leaps out to grab me. It took weeks for me to grasp that the two 110 story tall towers I used to be able to see through my window as I typed were really gone, taking nearly 3,000 lives with them. The smoke, the stink, and the shock lingered, and the crews have still 90,000 tons of debris to remove from the site. Since last night, May 15, 2002, I've been feeling as though the towers have fallen again.

Tossing Firecrackers at the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards - An Interview With Paul Krassner (May 7, 2002) During what were supposed to be Friday night off-duty from editing and reporting hours, I attended the Seventh Annual Firecracker Alternative Books Awards, held May 4th at North 6, a club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. My having an article on CIA and US government drug trafficking connections in Disinformation’s “You Are Being Lied To“, one of the ‘Best Non-Fiction Book’ Firecracker award nominees, (it lost to "Fast Food Nation", by Eric Schlosser, published by Houghton Mifflin), was a good excuse to draw me out to the awards party and presentation, but the chance to meet, and possibly share a smoke and conversation with the emcee of the evening, the legendary Paul Krassner, was an added incentive I was not about to pass up.

Pig-Headed Arrests Mar NYC MMM 2002 Event (May 5, 2002) The NYPD took a beautiful, sunny day, and turned it into an arrest-fest during Cures-Not-War’s annual New York City Million Marijuana March on Saturday, May 4, 2002.

Kicking Out the Demons by Humanizing the Experience- An Interview with Anthony Papa (May 1, 2002)
Anthony Papa is an accomplished artist and ardent activist living and working in NYC, using his art to promote prison and Drug War reform. After being set up, then arrested in a drug sting operation in 1985, he received two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in New York State’s Sing Sing prison for his first offense under the Rockefeller Drug Laws’ mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.

Drug War Race and party to End the War on Drugs (April 23, 2002)
Despite rain and some enthusiastic security guards, the combined Drug War Race and Party held April 20, 2002 in New York City was a triumph of will on zero budget. With a bicycle race in the afternoon simulating the day in the life of a NYC drug delivering bicycle courier, and a party that night, hundreds of people helped put the event together and came out to show support for an end to the War on Drugs.

Police Drug Corruption (April 17, 2002)
Including their Chief, 41 cops in Tijuana were arrested Friday, April 12, 2002, accused of working for drug traffickers, protecting shipments, taking bribes, even carrying out executions.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg's Pot Use is NORML (April 10, 2002)
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation, (NORML), launched a new $500,000 ad campaign in New York City this week, urging an end to the massive number of arrests of pot smokers in this city, and features NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s quote on his own use of pot. "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it," said then Mayoral candidate Bloomberg just before the elections last year when a New York magazine reporter asked about his pot use.

DEA Hemp Ban Put On Hold (April 1, 2002)
Hemp food and other products are still legal to sell in the United States, thanks to a stay by the 9th Circuit court of Appeals. The DEA is finding itself in the midst of some real political brouhaha, with the Canadian government and US and Canandian hemp industries all really pissed off at DEA's flagrant violations of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Dyncorp Sued- When Did Poisoning Foreign Farmers Become US National Security Policy? (March 6, 2002)
Private military outfit Dyncorp has been sued in US federal court for the damage it has inflicted upon 10,000 estimated Ecuadorian indians during Plan Colombia anti-drug herbicide spraying.

DEA Heads Off Hemp at DEA Headquarters (March 2, 2002)
This covers a protest at DEA national headquaters conducted late last year which didn't get a lot of attention. A small group of enterprising individuals handed out free hemp food samples to passers-by until an alleged "9-11 emergency" closed them down.

NYC Drug War Reformers and Activists Hold Rally on City Hall Steps (Feb. 26, 2002)
Cures-Not-Wars held a press conference and rally on New York City's front steps, with a number of speakers calling for a variety of changes in the way NYC, and the US, handles the War on Drugs. Photos of the event can be seen here, along with the back of Mayor Bloomberg's head as he scampers past, pretending not to notice the group of protestors hollering his name. (Dana Beal of Cures-Not-Wars has since informed the editor that Mayor Bloomberg did actually take a flier covered with Ibogaine information, saying he would "read it in the car."-editor)

Feds Raid San Francisco Medical Marijuana Club, Arrest 4:
Are They After The DA As Well? (Feb. 14, 2002)
The feds are completely disregarding the will of California voters, insisting that they are simply enforcing the law by closing off access to medical marijuana by patients and arresting suppliers. So why are they asking questions about the DA?

Another World Wanted at WEF Forum
Feb. 10- Here's the report on the World Economic Forum protests Feb. 2 and 3, 2002, in NYC. The 2nd may have gone relatively peacefully, but the 3rd had a few instances of destruction and police on protestor headbanging.

The Never Ending Colombian Peace Process
Jan. 25- The Colombian military, government, and FARC guerillas agree to meet at a later date, to try to reach an peace agreement, despite the support of Colombian military action by the US State Department.

Drugwar.com editor with Mike Ruppert while covering the Millenium Marijuana March for High Times, Battery Park, NYC, 2000
photo- Vanessa Cleary

intrepid reporter/editor engaging in gonzo
journalism at the 2000 Millennium Marijuana March
in Battery Park, a more dangerous expression of freedom every year.

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"Straight people don't know, what you're about
They put you down and shut you out
you gave to me a new belief
and soon the world will love you sweet leaf
Oh yeah baby!"

"Sweet Leaf" - Black Sabbath, 1971

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Another Look at the Feb. 2 WEF Protests (Feb. 5, 2002)
Having found one more roll of film, I've posted a few representative shots, editorializing all the while.

World Economic Forum Protests NYC, Feb. 2, 2002
With plenty of photos, the Feb. 2 march through midtwon Manhattan by 25,000 estimated peaceful protestors is documented here. Unfortunately, since this report was written this afternoon, Feb. 3, it has come out that the NYPD ruthlessly and apparently without provocation attacked, maced, and arrested protestors today at various small protests around the city.

The Bottomless Mexican Drug War Pit
Some historical background on the US Recertification process determining whether foreign countries recieve US taxdollars based on how hard they wage War on Drugs.

Outrage-CIA Drug Running
This is the first article, more a rant really, I wrote (Dec. 1998), upon discovering just how involved the CIA and other official US agencies really are in running illegal drugs into the US, working hand in glove with murderous trafficking cartels the whole world over.

Outrage pt. 2
Class Action Suits were filed against the CIA for their part in allowing tons upon tons of drugs into the country, but since this article was written in May, 1999, it appears the CIA, nor the US public, is are too terribly concerned about the suits, nor the trafficking.

Waco Whitewash- Danforth's Warren Report
In which the background information leading up to the assault of Mt. Carmel, the seige, the killings of the Mt. Carmels residents, and the numerous coverups still ongoing by the US government and law enforcement agencies involved are examined.

Can We Really Trust G.W. Bush?
Read up on the many shadey dealings and associations of G.W. Bush and friends. All people deserve to reform and change their ways, but there's little evidence to show Bush is doing much more than catering to the most affluent to the detriment to the common people and workers slaving away to keep the machinery of the system running.

Bush- Hypocritical Spineless Party Animal From Hell
So just what youthful indescretions was Bush engaged in, and why are they so not worth his discussing? Read up on his denial and utlimate dodging the questions of his past drug use by using that ulilmate standby of politicians, semantics.

Contemplating Drug War Stupidities
Jan. 25, 2002
In which your intrepid reporter ruminates in an editorial commentary on a few recent actions by the US government escalating the War on Some Drugs, while on a visit to George's house.

NYPD Goes Apeshit At NYC Pro-Pot 2001 Space Odyssey-
Jan. 25, 2002
How Does Recent NYPD behavior towards peaceful protestors bode for Upcoming WEF protests in NYC February 2002?

CIA and Other Official US Connections to the Global Drug Trade
Jan. 25, 2002
As should be obvious to most anyone who stops to think about it, the poor peasants in other countries, nor the gangmember street dealers here at home, own the airplanes that import the never ending supply of drugs into the US, and around the world.

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"They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever
and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy
you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill"

Working Class Hero- John Lennon, 1970

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GW Bush takes a 4:20 break
click photo to hear him promoting
smoking

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Something in the Way- selected chapters
from the unpublished novel by Preston Peet about one rebel junky living life on the farthest edges on city streets both sides of the Atlantic, strung out and struggling day to day to survive and supply his ever increase habit.

Central Park Schizo
In which Thoms makes the move to Central Park, learning the ropes while sustaining his career as street bound junky, living in the park and sinking into the darker realms of cocaine abuse.

Winter Hole
In which the heroic New York City Fire Department comes crashing into Thomas' safe haven and saves him from discovery by forces of the law.

Narcan- Bringing the Dead Back to Life
In which a friend overdoses on the floor on a local resturant but is revived.

Jocko
In which Thomas sells fake drugs to the wrong guy.

Out of Action
Thomas checks into the hospital in serious risk of losing his arm.

Spit on the Floor- thankful and lucky to be alive
Thomas fades away, then fades back in again.

Outburst- a New Years Tale
Thomas burns some bridges in Rotterdam.

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Vanessa, Joey Ramone, and Editor at Coney Island High, NYC- photo Leee Black Childers

Assorted Writings

Other Dimensions
Chemical messages from nature, and shamanic ecstacy.

One Night Out With Sam and Heff
A happy tale of exploration, friendship and pot filled peace pipes.

The Calm Before the Storm
In which Thomas first shoots heroin.

Instant Karma Don't Play Games
Thomas reaps the rewards for committing crimes against the innocent.

Just Par for the Course
In which Thomas finds himself abscess afflicted, locked into the hospital, and as usual, coniving ways to smuggle in more drugs to shoot.

A Simple Experiment Goes Well
In which the Butthole Surfers and Jane's Addiction compete, unbeknownst to them, for the title of Best Show on Shrooms

Fleas
In which Thomas finds himself in an itchy situation.

Don't Fuck With Tobacco
In which Joel gives a lesson in underestimating the skinny, skrawny guy, and it's all due to tobacco, the real demon weed.

Bloody Brothers Exhibit- CBGB NYC
Art by NYC Artists Axel and John John Jesse
Could be construed among certain circles to contain materials considered inappropriate to those under 18, at least by their parents, so by clicking here you take resposibility. enjoy.

Despite all the Wars, there's Real Beauty in the World
This is a collection of photos of someone who I respect, admire, and collaborate with in life.

Photo Essay of World Trade Center
These photos taken by the editor of drugwar.com from his rooftop the morning of September 11, 2001, and includes a few shots of how the World Trade Center towers used to look.

The Falconeer, Central Park, NYC- photo Preston Peet

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Links That Come Most Highly Recommended

Alternewswire

This is Russ Kick's site, a vast collection of news articles and commentary that you may have missed if you read only the mainstream news headlines, or get your news from FOX's 80 Seconds Around the World "news" segments. Kick is the editor of "You Are Being Lied To," as well as the much anticipated forthcoming "Everything You Know Is Wrong," both from Disinformation publishing.

Mario's Cyberspace Station

This has to be one of the very best websites on the entire web for anyone interested in what is going on at any point anywhere in the world. Mario Profaca's website simply has to be one of the most extensive collections of links to world-wide news reports on the web. Profaca's Spy News e-mail list is well worth subscribing to as well. This is a must visit website, and comes with the very highest of recommendations of the editor here at drugwar.com.

Guerrilla News Network

This site is chock full of articles, and some of the hardest hitting news/editorial videowork I've ever seen. Combining music, news, commentary and a most savvy style, this outfit has its fingers on the pulse behind the mainstream version of reality, and more importantly, an antidote to counter those illusions. This website pulls no punches, spitting out a rock and roll take on current events and recent history that beats anything television has ever produced.
In related news,
GNN at Sundance
GNN, January 18, 2002
"The Guerrilla News Network's 'Crack the CIA' Wins at Sundance (Park City, Utah, Jan. 17) The Guerrilla News Network's 'Crack the CIA' won the Audience Award at the 2002 Sundance Online Film Festival in the 'Live Action' category. The Audience Award is decided by voting by festival-goers and online viewers around the world. It is the only award given in the Online Festival."

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Anything one might need to know about the cold hard facts of the War on Drugs. Find private and government reports, shredded prohibition myths, up-to-date drugwar news, and statistical data on any and all aspects of the War. This is an essential site for any activist, reporter, or researcher covering the War on Drugs.

Institute for Policy Studies- Drug Policy Project

"The IPS Drug Policy Project advocates for reform by reaching out to non-traditional allies and employing innovative tactics to promote a sustainable, constitutional, and humane drug control policy. The project's mission is to help foster a paradigm shift by replacing the punitive and coercive 'social control' model of drug policy with a public health and community economic development model."

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

This national group of high school and college students are sick and tired of the War on Drugs, and want it over, now.

Oppressive Network Drug Content Propaganda
(ONDCP)

This is NOT the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, but it is a site focusing almost exclusively on the ONDCP's thought-control style National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

Mad Cow Productions

This is Dan Hopsicker's wide-ranging and informative site. Hopsicker is the author of "Barry and the Boys," an in-depth look at the life and times of Barry Seal, CIA agent and drug trafficker par excellance. Follow Hopsicker on his current quest for elusive truths behind the September 11 attacks on the US, as well as his reporting on many other official activities taking place in the shadows out of sight.

Efficacy

"Efficacy is the power to produce a desired effect. The effect we wish to produce is peace," says the heading at this site. Believing the War on Drugs causes much more harm than drug use and abuse, Cliff and Margaret Thornton have co-founded Efficacy, and this is their website.

Johnny Philko- A Political Rock Outfit From Cleveland, Ohio

These guys (and gal) look and sound about as American as one can be, but where's their apathy? Their blind trust in the US government? Well, you'll just have to click on the link and find out. These guys play rock and roll with a message way above and beyond "buy this, wear that, stop thinking." Johnny Philko expects more from its listeners. Find music, and a hell of a lot more here.

Lear's Shadow

Out of Canada, this site has news, commentary and photo essays that will both amuse and disturb. See if you figure out what that strange beastie filmed through night-vision goggles in the wilds of Afghanistan really is.

Waco- Take A Moment to Picture This

Countering the US government's efforts to paint the residents of Mt. Carmel as 'its", this heart wrenching site graphically illustrates that these were American citizens, human beings, men, women, and children who did not deserve to be massacred, This site is not for those who want to remain ignorant of horror perpetrated by the US government's forces in Waco, or their covering up of the crimes ever since.
Also visit Freedom News Network to subscribe to Sharlene's newsletter by the same name, this one dealing with all kinds of news about the dangers encroaching on our constitutional rights. There's a focus on the 2nd Amendment here, but that's by no means the only issue touched on in this extensive newsletter.

Cop vs. CIA- From the Wilderness

This is where Mike Ruppert, former LAPD narcotics investigator and now independent investigative journalist, details over and over again the massive involvement of US and other intelligence agencies in drug trafficking around the world, as well as touching upon many other nefarious official activites, coverups, and crimes.

World War 3 Report- Vigilant, Independent Sentry of Truth in the War on Terrorism

Bill Weinberg, High Times reporter, radio show host, and author of Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico, now available from Verso Books, and War on the Land: Ecology and Politics in Central America ( Zed Books 1991), puts together a weekly update on rapidly escalating world events and turmoils post- Sept. 11, events leading up to, or even already a part of, what many people can only call World War 3.

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High Times
Read selected news reports for Hightimes, news stories the mainstream press is loath to cover.
(Link leads to High Times' website, but articles archive is temporarily down.)

Disinformation
Access a vast collection of articles by the editor of DrugWar.com, examining the darker sides of society, politics, mercenaries, scientific experimentation, cia and other official US drug trafficking connections, assassinations, corruption, drugs in general, and many more reports, all followed by extensive links to substantiating information, as well as counter arguments.