Like a Settin' Sun

Neil Young... plucking that guitar...

I caught you knockin at my cellar door
I love you, baby, can I have some more
Ooh, ooh, the damage done.

I hit the city and I lost my band
I watched the needle take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done.

I sing the song because I love the man
I know that some of you dont understand
Milk-blood to keep from running out.

Ive seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkies like a settin sun.

Do NO harm? Or do Minimal Harm?

"Harm reduction," he said, " Is not about getting off of or stopping using drugs. It is
about minimizing the health consequences of using drugs."

Why are drugs policies so inhumane?

And who from the Movement "will be covering" the Harm Reduction Therapy Conference coming up in Philadelphia the first weekend in November?

Among the speakers scheduled is Andrew Tatarsky, PhD Co-Director, Harm Reduction Psychotherapy and Training Associates. As his bio explains:

Dr. Tatarsky has presented widely in the area of substance use and harm reduction. He is a founding member and president-elect of the Addiction Division of the New York State Psychological Association and chair of the board of Moderation Management.Dr. Tatarsky is the author / editor of Harm Reduction Psychotherapy: A New Treatment for Drug and Alcohol Problems.

Maybe that slogan one of my college clubs had -- Nihil in Moderato -- explains why so many of its alums have "problems" with moderation.

Just maybe...

Poppy Cock-a-Mania

The New York Times reported the other day that the old Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia has been faithfully eradicating opium poppy cultivation.

Most of the world's heroin is now produced in the Golden Crescent, including Pakistan & Afghanistan. According to another report, its another bumper year for the Afghan Opium Crop

"Opium cultivation in Afghanistan grew by 17 percent in 2007, reaching record levels for the second straight year, according to a United Nations report released Monday. Despite a $600 million American counter narcotics effort and an increase in the number of poppy-free provinces to 13 from 6, the report found that the amount of land in Afghanistan used for opium production is now larger than amount of land used for coca cultivation in all of Latin America."

It makes you wonder about why modern wars are fought where they are. At least it makes me wonder... a little bit.

Perhaps someone was right when he prophesized, "Evil does not die of its own self because it imagines it speaks for god." Or something like that.