“2009 UN World Drug report - Boston Globe” plus 4 more |
- 2009 UN World Drug report - Boston Globe
- Couch-Crashing in Tehran - Foreign Policy
- Shaolin temple kicks off chopsocky pic - Variety
- A Few Cookies a Day to Keep the Pounds Away? - New York Times
- Mower company looking for dealers in Georgia - Moultrie Observer
| 2009 UN World Drug report - Boston Globe Posted: 21 Oct 2009 07:47 PM PDT This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Couch-Crashing in Tehran - Foreign Policy Posted: 21 Oct 2009 08:08 PM PDT  Youth supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi. Tehran, Iran. We could hear them on the other side of the thin garage door, their boots pounding the hot pavement, batons striking their riot shields in unison. But as soon as the Revolutionary Guard commandos moved on from the clock shop where we were holed up, the group of 20-something protesters was out in the streets again, chanting "Death to the dictators." In the midst of the haze from tear gas and trash fires, a 26-year-old engineering student who was nervously puffing away on a cigarette stub turned to me. "Tell the world what is happening here," he said, voice trembling. "This is our revolution. We will not give up."
It was a romantic picture, but it wasn't the only side of Iran I saw, when I spent this summer crashing on couches in Tehran, an experience that brought me into contact with Iranians from a college-graduate-turned-Ponzi-schemer who grew up in the religious stronghold of Qom, to a computer whiz in Tehran blacklisted by the regime for his political activism over the past decade. I caught a firsthand glimpse of a society in flux, besieged with high inflation, even higher unemployment, and little leeway in personal expression, at least in public. I also encountered a vibrant youth culture that falls outside the good vs. evil, protester vs. hard-line cleric dichotomy that has been frequently bandied about this summer. Where, after all, do underground fashion designers, an English teacher who listens to hip-hop but doesn't believe in the Holocaust, freshly minted investment bankers, and skateboard punks fit into our view of Iran? Iran is not all mad mullahs in training, Molotov-throwing young protesters armed with a Facebook account, or brainwashed baton-wielding Basij militiamen, many still in their teens. They are, granted, a part of the fabric of this 2,500-year-old culture, but the Islamic Republic today is much more nuanced. In fact, aside from the immutable fact that some two-thirds of the population is under the age of 30, it is not clear at all what this critical bloc wants in what has become the largest reform movement since the revolution 30 years ago -- and it would be dangerous for outsiders to assume differently. Mistaking the protesters, who as recently as Sept. 18 poured into the streets by the thousands, as the only voice of the opposition might lead the international community to expect change quicker than the reality on the ground. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Shaolin temple kicks off chopsocky pic - Variety Posted: 21 Oct 2009 07:40 PM PDT Chan, Lau, Tse costar in 'Temple'ZHENZHOU, China -- Chinese auds can gear up for a flurry of swirling robes and fists of fury as Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and Nicholas Tse assume a kung fu stance alongside mainland Chinese star Fan Bingbing in the $29 million chopsocky blockbuster "Shaolin Temple."Pic will be helmed by Hong Kong's Benny Chan, who made "New Police Story" and "Rob-B-Hood," and it will also feature martial arts star Wu Jing, Yu Shaoqun ("Forever Enthralled") and thousands of Shaolin disciples from the temple. Kung fu is undergoing an enormous renaissance in China these days, and a lot of this revived interest has focused on the legendary and ancient Shaolin monastery in Henan province, immortalized in the 1970s skein "Kung Fu." "Shaolin Temple" will be a co-production of Emperor Motion Pictures, China Film Group, Huayi Bros. Media Corp., Beijing Silver Moon Prods. and China Songshan Shaolin Temple Culture Communication Center. The remake of the 1980s kung fu pic of the same name was launched at a ceremony at Shaolin in Songshan attended by Emperor Group chairman Albert Yeung, China Film Group chairman Han Sanping and Shaolin Temple abbot Shi Yongxin, among others. Action director is Cory Yuen, who did "Red Cliff" and "The Transporter." The temple, built in 495 A.D., is widely regarded as the birthplace of Shaolin kung fu; in recent years, its abbot Shi has proven a canny marketer for his martial-arts shrine. "We felt that it was important not to rush into a film project just for the sake of making another film. It has taken us a long time to find the right partners who had all the right elements for something as monumental as this," Shi said. Shooting for "Shaolin" is expected to start at the end of this year with a release slated for late 2010. This is Emperor's second big announcement in as many days -- Hong Kong action hero Chow Yun-fat will feature in Chinese helmer Jiang Wen's $18 million period Western laffer "Let the Bullets Fly," which is in production.
This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| A Few Cookies a Day to Keep the Pounds Away? - New York Times Posted: 21 Oct 2009 08:01 PM PDT COOKIES? On a diet? Apparently so. Just ask Christina Kane, who has tried everything from the grapefruit diet to Atkins, with no success. Then she heard about Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet, which involves eating six prepackaged cookies a day, plus one 'real' meal — say, skinless chicken and steamed vegetables. "I thought, 'That diet looks so incredibly easy,' " said Ms. Kane, 43, a legal secretary in Washington, who started paying $56 a week for the prepackaged cookies in June, when she weighed 255 pounds. Three months later, she was 40 pounds lighter. "If you can make it through the first week you're in the clear," she said. Ms. Kane is one of an estimated 500,000 people who have lost weight on Dr. Sanford Siegal's diet — at least according to Dr. Siegal. The gist of it is simple: Eat cookies and lose up to 10 pounds a month. Or, in blunter terms: Consume a substance whose ingredients and nutritional value are somewhat vague and drop weight, because how can you not when you're only consuming 800 to 1,000 calories a day? Dr. Siegal's diet isn't new; it was created in 1975, but for years was only available to patients in his Miami medical practice and at other doctors' practices that he supplied with cookies. That changed in 2006 when he started CookieDiet.com. This year he began selling his cookies at Walgreens and GNC, and opened his first Cookie Diet store in Beverly Hills, Calif. He expects 2009 revenues to be $18 million, up from $12 million in 2008, thanks in part to endorsements from celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson. In fact, the cookie diet business has proved so lucrative that other companies have popped up: Smart for Life (six 105-calorie cookies a day; a 35-day kit costs $279); the Hollywood Cookie Diet (one 150-calorie cookie three to four times a day, plus a light dinner; $14 to $20 a box); and Soypal Cookies, marketed as "the most popular diet in Japan" (about 22 calories each; $49 a box). The popularity of cookie diets is hardly surprising in this culture of quick fixes. Who wouldn't want to exert the minimal effort to get long-lasting results? Who wouldn't want to lose weight by consuming something verboten on most diets? "The Cookie Diet is very appealing, because it legalizes a food — the cookie — that is banned from most weight-loss programs," said Jenni Schaefer, author of "Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover From Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life" (McGraw-Hill, 2009). "The diet gives people a false sense of control, simplifying balanced nutrition into one food: the cookie," she added. "It's unfortunate that they're called cookies, because in some ways it denigrates them," said John Nemet, the manager at the Smart for Life store in Westbury, N.Y., one of about 35 stores in the United States. Smart for Life — which is also run by a doctor, Sasson Moulavi, who is based in Boca Raton, Fla. — offers an 800-calorie-a-day and a 1,200-calorie-a-day plan. It also sells shakes, muffins, soups, cereals and salad dressings, although cookies remain the staple. "We think of our plan as a behavior modification program, not a diet," Mr. Nemet said. Critics of cookie diets are not convinced. Weight-loss plans that center around a diet of below 1,000 calories do not, they say, lead to long-lasting weight loss and can result in potassium deficiency, gallstones, heart palpitations, weakened kidney function and dizziness. The cookie diet particularly concerns eating disorder activists, who have long criticized fad diets, such as the grapefruit diet, Master Cleanse and Optifast shakes. "Generally speaking, fad diets misinform the public and fuel a fire of continued curiosity with this dieting mentality, which we know gets us nowhere," said Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, medical director of Laureate Eating Disorders Program in Tulsa, Okla. "They tend to promise a huge return for very little investment," he said, adding, "We need to be very aware of that fact that whenever we skew our eating in any direction; the chances are that we're going to hinder our health and not enhance it." Despite such criticism, the cookie diet thrives. Richard Kayne, chief operations officer at Smart for Life, said he expected $82 to $95 million in gross revenue this year, up from about $30 million last year. Larry Turner, the president of Sunset Health Products, which markets the Hollywood Cookie Diet, estimates that that program has grown more than 50 percent a year since its creation three years ago. Never mind that there are no clinical studies on any of the diets and that a key ingredient in Dr. Siegal's cookies — special amino acids, which supposedly curb appetite — is known only to Dr. Siegal and his wife. "It's the particular mixture of proteins that does the job," Dr. Siegal said. "All foods do not handle hunger the same way, and high protein foods curb hunger." The cookies, he said, contain protein derived from meat, eggs, milk and other sources. They also contain microcrystalline cellulose — a plant fiber that acts as a bulking agent, emulsifier and thickener — and are sweetened with sugar. While Dr. Siegal is circumspect about some of the ingredients in his product, the people at the Hollywood Diet are eager to share. "There's nothing magic in ours, it's all based on the formulation of the protein and the fiber to satisfy your appetite for a relatively low amount of calories," Mr. Turner said. The main ingredient in the Soypal cookie is okara, or soy pulp, which absorbs any liquids you drink with the cookies. "To let the okara fully absorb the liquid and expand in your stomach, two glasses or more are recommended," they note on their Web site, soypalcookiediet.com. "Feeling full is an important part of weight-loss success." So is nutrition. Dr. Siegal says his product is nutritionally sound, but just to be safe, a seven-day supply of multivitamins are included in each weekly package "to take care of any deficiencies that might arise," he said. He also suggests that patients talk to their own doctors before embarking on the program. Some nutritionists don't think you should embark on the program at all. "The bottom line is that you can't meet your nutritional needs in six cookies and one meal a day. It's not possible," said Keri Gans, a registered dietitian in New York City. "Any diet that names one particular food or food group in its title — Ice Cream Diet, Whipped Cream Diet, Low Carb Diet — is likely to be unbalanced and short-lived," said Bonnie Taub-Dix, national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "The Cookie Diet is on this list." Dr. Siegal insists that low-calorie diets like his are safe. "I have heard experts say that very low calorie diets are unsafe," he said. "I have yet to see the first case where anyone suffered the ill effects of a low calorie diet." That's not what Diane Pierson thinks. Ms. Pierson, who is in her 60s and lives in Manhattan, tried Smart for Life cookies, which come in chocolate, banana coconut, oatmeal raisin and blueberry last year, and lasted about three days. "I was weak, tired, irritable and hungry," she said. "I hated it." "For weight loss to stick, you have to be able to settle into an eating pattern that you can adhere to over time," said Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a clinical associate professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "That eating pattern needs to provide you with all the nutrients you need while holding calories in balance with the number you expend. "Diets with a gimmick," she added, "aren't harmful for a short period of time. But they're not likely to cause a meaningful change in behavior that will enable you to keep your weight at an optimal level." Her advice? "Keep a food diary, cut your portion sizes, cut out the junk and enlist support from family and friends. Start walking — daily. You'll be better off." This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Mower company looking for dealers in Georgia - Moultrie Observer Posted: 21 Oct 2009 07:33 PM PDT Published October 21, 2009 10:35 pm - Mower company looking for dealers in Georgia
MOULTRIE — Visitors to the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition may be hard pressed not to take notice of the Bad Boy mowers and multi-terrain vehicle (MTV) dealer space. The large inflatable bulldog logo of Bad Boy looms over the surrounding exhibits, and Territory Sales Manager for Georgia Shane White said that is for a reason. Bad Boy is a culture in itself, he said, from its color and logo to its Bad Boy girl. White said 2009 is the company's third year at Expo, and its dealer space has grown each year. It started as a a single booth in 2007 to having four booths in 2009 to show its growing line of riding mowers and MTVs. The company, based in Batesville, Ark., has seen growing interest in bringing its products to Georgia, White said. The need for growth of its Expo dealer space shows its popularity is growing each year. "The demand is growing and growing for our products here," White said. Although there are no dealers currently in Moultrie, White said he is actively seeking dealers willing to carry Bad Boy products throughout Georgia. At Wednesday's Expo, White was in the process of bringing Bad Boy to a Valdosta area dealer. White said Bad Boy offers riding mowers ranging in price from $2,999 to large diesel mowers at $12,500, with its biggest sellers being commercial grade mowers. It also manufactures fully electric MTVs — the first company to do so. They are also producing low speed vehicles that can be licensed for use on roadways. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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Picture 16 disgusts me. It's one thing to voluntarily harm oneself, but to offer drugs to an infant, absolutely shameful
fuuuha..
Shocking pictures, and proof of the scourge of drugs on societies everywhere.
What a Wonderful World
Horrified. Have never, will never understand why people do this to themselves.
If there was no economic incentive for Mexico to bring marijuana into the US seems like there might be a few less dead bodies... We all know how well prohibition works! Where would the Chicago mob be without that wonderful boost?
Brutal collection, but important to see. Good work.
holy sh*t
I'm speechless. The pictures of the dead. Oh my.
"...illegally grown opium poppies..."
this brings up the question: are there legally grown opium poppies???
During Prohibition, there was an unlikely alliance between Baptists, who wanted to make sure that alcohol stayed banned for moral reasons, and Bootleggers, who wanted to make sure that their monopoly on alcohol profits was maintained.
It's exactly the same today. Most of the badness that comes from the drug trade today could be ended if we legalized, regulated, and taxed all drugs. No more gang wars, no more addicts hastily injecting in alleys and sharing needles, and billions of dollars saved in law enforcement.
Unfortunately, the Bootleggers and Baptists are back in full force, and they're joined by the Bobbies - the police-industrial complex. The Drug Wars are immensely profitable for these groups, and they'll fight any efforts to end drug prohibition.
I think it's interesting that the more grisly images of death are thought to be more traumatic that the ones of living people actively destroying themselves.
These are some painfully harsh truths. Intense photos. I'm glad I'm not in these situations. @ryanve
Much more disgusted by the harm this "war" does than the effects of the substances themselves
wow 100 years of the war on drugs and look at all of this...... it would appear as if the drugs are winning.
Where are the shots of alcoholics? Or those scraping together pennies just to buy a pack of cigarettes? Why is marijuana, which is nearly impossible to overdose on, shown in the same light at heroin?
The war on drugs is justified only with misinformation. It's time to start talking about the issue rationally.
Great photos. Sickening content.
Good collection. This is a side of reality that must be acknowledged, but I think a positive collection, with pictures of these countries and its people, is in order. This other side, much more rare to the foreigner's perspective, must be recognized as well.
In the meantime, for those interested in Colombia, I recommend visiting shootingcolombia.com.
All these drugs fill the coffers of Swiss Bank A/c holders. If funding towards drugs is stopped half the battle is won and it must start with transparency and disclosure of money
#16 breaks my heart.
#35 the description is horrible !
however nice pictures !
drugs doesn't do anything good to health and community.
Evil acts start with that illegal drug. Throwing your life away for whats worth?
The bridge spanning the gap between real life and Hollywood just became a single stepping stone
These images will burn in my mind a lot longer than the bowl I smoked while I was looking at them.
How easy is to get and use drugs in the "First World Countries". Some times people see it as "Normal". But this is the truth: what we normaly dont see. Shame on us!
Heavy.
I'm surprised there are no photos of law enforcement and soldiers using the drugs they confiscate. we know it happens, take a look at LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
Outlawing drugs will never eliminate abuse. Legalizing drugs eliminates the need to violent actions to control the trade and the need to spend enormous fortunes trying to combat it. That money can then be spent on helping these poor folks who have lost control of their lives, as seen so dramatically here.
#34 is Morpheus!!!
Thanks. I have never seen Crystal Meth before. Now I know.
And I'm sorry but we need to keep up the war on the drug scourge. Picture #16 is my reason why.
The only thing more shocking than the pictures of the dead, are the pictures of the children living in a world they will never be able to control. Addicted by birth, they have no chance of escape.
Sad and scary.
The images of the severed head, shot up bodies and various bloodied things did not disturb me as much as the children in the presence of addicts who don't care. I have never been able to understand how people can do this not just to themselves, but to their own children. And the grandfather practically forcing his infant grandchild to do it? Words cannot possibly describe how disgusted I am. I wish I could snatch those poor souls away from all that. If I had one wish that would come true, I would be to rid the world of this plague.
#7, it's not as hard to understand why people become drug addicts as you might think. One moldy piece of fruit (those who would get others hooked in order to make money or fund their own habit) quickly poisons the rest of the bunch. In many cases, the group is doing it and the young have a desperate need to belong. Plus, the feel-good is right now. The nasty, horrifying consequences are hours, months, or years away, and when one is high, those consequences seem still further off. We don't have as much conscious control over our bodies as we like to casually think we do, and we certainly don't have control over large, sweeping social enigmas that give rise to billion dollar drug economies, as a century of world-wide drug wars clearly demonstrates.
Sobering and chilling.
Isn't it a bit risky to stand 5 meters next to a burning sh*tpile of marijuana?
#3 It's obvious that he is joking. Sleep soundly tonight.
How bad is the situation in Mexico! :S
The only solution is the death penalty for dealers/traffickers etc!
I feel the same way as responses 13 and 18. The drug war costs us money, but it's seen as a business expense by the druglords. If you want to get rid of them and the violence they generate, out-compete them.
As long as there's a market for the drugs there will always be suppliers. And there will always be people who want the drugs.
So legalizing and regulating the drugs might cause more people to start using, but with increased regulation the drugs will become less harmful and the violent element will be removed entirely. The government gains a bunch of revenue it can spend on drug treatment and stops spending money on the drug war.
The alternative is to continue as things are, which is worse all around.
And don't forget, even if you take away all the drugs kids will choke themselves and sniff markers to get high. The drug war isn't about solving our social problems.
'"...illegally grown opium poppies..."
this brings up the question: are there legally grown opium poppies???
Posted by cXc October 21, 09 01:58 PM '
Yes. Opium is used to make many narcotics prescribed by doctors. It can be formed chemically for pharmaceutical use as well.
#16 breaks my heart as well. the poor child is destined to be an addict with grandparents like that.
one of the best sets here ever!! truly amazing
#16 and #17 remind me of my own childhood, sitting in the livingroom while cigarette smoke filled the rooms from my relatives and the booze was passed from person to person. I am SO glad I never started smoking, or drinking, or any of that. Unfortunately people I care about are not so lucky.
Please keep fighting the war on drugs, and narcotics of all kinds, alcohol, the works. :[ Tell people you know how evil it is, don't do drugs, quit smoking and avoid mainly alcohol based establishments when you go out for dinner. Thanks!
@12
Of course they are. What do you think where do derivatives of morphine used in painkillers come from? Not from Afghanistan though, but from India...
These images merely demonstrate the harms caused to individuals and our communities in our current prevention and control systems for drug sales and drug use. The current solutions to curb drug sales and drug dependence are clearly an incorrect response and these pictures solidify these sad truths.
It is time that we rid ourselves and our communities of political games and sociological ideals as the norm and rather confront reality with research and evidence on how to reduce these harms.
How do we reason that legalizing drugs will help people from destroying their lives? Even if it is true that gang wars would end, the blatant truth is that there is nothing good about using drugs. From Hollywood to Harlem to Mexico and Afghanistan, show me where use of drugs results in anything good. If it is good, why do we see pictures of addicts who want OUT from that lifestyle. We are not created for such folly.
It's pretty obvious that dealers and traffickers do not fear death, therefore death penalty will not stop them. On the other hand, it will increase the violence they apply to others, including police officers. I agree with legalisation.
Full of anticipitation I went to get my Wednesday Big Picture fix, was so in need of sweet pictures but I undrestand life is not sweet.
Thanks for these pictures, it is an awesome collection and I am sure put the lives of many photographers at risk as well.Great blog!
If we just legalize all drugs, and use all the money we waste on this useless 'war on drugs' on education (about drugs), care for addicts and fighting poverty, the world would be such a better place.
This is retarded. Legalize it, regulate it, offer it free to addicts if need be. Take the money out of the drug trade and the killing stops.
A century of criminalizing drug sellers and users has nothing to show for itself but death and misery. Time to go find a new way.
Why are we preventing these people from killing themselves?
These are photos of war. If it were legal, these photos wouldn't exist. The photos of peace would be much more clean, but we won't see that because people are idiots... bottom line.
Great, it seems that there are no drug addicts in the U.S.
Too bad for photo #26! I was beginning to believe we didn't have any kind of drug problem here in America. ;)
Seriously folks, it's such a shame that so many fine, fine Mexican citizens have to suffer in order to get us our weed and 'caine. When it comes to drugs, buy domestic.
I'm hoping I can see the pics that have since been removed. Any suggestions for Google searches that will get me to them will be appreciated.
All this death and violence is because of prohibition.
That guy on #2 looks like hes 3ft tall??
So, the photos of the dead are more objectionable than the close-up of a person injecting himself? I can tell you which makes me shudder more...
"The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein
The "War on Drugs" is an excellent example of stupidity.
This is some of the hardest hitting photography I've seen here for a while.
VERY CLEARLY the "war on drugs" isn't working - legalization and social support is the only way we can help people suffering from addiction and end the violence
Hands down the best photo journalism team in America. Please keep "The Big Picture" around forever.
WOW!!!! AMAZING PHOTOS
BUT...
TRULY SAD =/
"How do we reason that legalizing drugs will help people from destroying their lives? Even if it is true that gang wars would end, the blatant truth is that there is nothing good about using drugs. From Hollywood to Harlem to Mexico and Afghanistan, show me where use of drugs results in anything good."
Legalizing drugs will allow them to be taxed to help addicts, allow harm-prevention programs (clean needle distribution, etc.), and end much of the violence associated with drugs.Nearly all violence due to drugs is traced back to prohibition, not the drugs themselves.
How about this? I smoke cannabis multiple times every day, and generally it feels just like when I take any other medicine. I use it to focus, to manage chronic pain, help with my mood (caused by the chronic, and at times debilitating, pain), and for the sheer fun of it. I enjoy getting high, and if I can't...I simply don't. At the very least when it comes to marijuana, there is no real addiction. As for destroying my life...well I'm a psychology student focusing on neurobiology (ie the hard track) at the top university in my state, and am currently studying for the GREs so I can go after a PhD...all that stuff about cannabis being a demotivator? Nothing but bullshit. Thanks to marijuana and its insights, I discovered what I really wanted to do with life (previously I was an engineering major and not doing well because I couldn't be interested in it), got out of a toxic relationship, and improved my grades.
Yep, drugs are SO harmful!
"If it is good, why do we see pictures of addicts who want OUT from that lifestyle. We are not created for such folly.""
I contend both a) you see pictures of addicts of SOME drugs (heroin, crystal meth, and nicotine, which is legal), but not of ALL drugs, because a great many of them are non-addictive and harmless (marijuana, the psychedelics), most of the problems are caused by the drugs being illegal and b) we are not created at all.
So very sad and wrong that some people offer drugs to children, and especially their own grandchildren! I'm deeply shocked and outraged.
Not to mention the rest of the issues displayed here. Things people do to themselves...
There has to be a better solution to this problem. If only we could figure it out sooner and get to the core of the issue: convincing people not to start using drugs to begin with. It never ends well.
I'm surprised. One thing I have always loved about The Big Picture is its editors' ability to include images that convey the proverbial two sides of the coin. In a collection of images titled UN World Drug Report, where are the photos that represent the HUGE demand for drugs in the U.S.? Isn't that a big part of the picture as well?
WOW!
another great set of strong pics!
daily food for the news here in Mexico
I dont watch them anymore
It would have been nice if #29's caption had said "chunks of brain on the wall" instead of just "blood-stained wall". Blood is one thing...chunks, totally different...
Reminds me of Breaking Bad. Great show, 3rd season coming up.
Drugs ruin lives, that's for sure. I'd like to try when I'm eighty or something xD
UN has recently pre-longed their tactic against drugs by saying the global policies are "showing progress worldwide".
When will we stop this terrible war?
This is horrible. I am pretty upset with the "grandfather"(although not acting like one) in photo 16. His eyes are filled with darkness in this picture. I am also sad to see that my hometown, Columbia, is the only North American city in this whole group of pictures. Thanks for ending with a positive and hopeful picture.
Just for nothing
Prohibition causes crime.
Re: Picture 16. Many people are simply unable to provide food for themselves or their families. They smoke opium to keep the hunger pangs at bay. When the starving babies cry for food, they give them what they have to quiet them and take away their pain.
shocking but truly pictures, im just kinda upset..first of all pic #16 so sad but what the hell are this people doing? second thing.. what a shame on this people that never have been in mexico, thinks that we all Mexicans are like u see in this tijuana pics, and that we have donkeys in front of our houses, Needs to read,travel,learn more abt it,the truth is that drugs does exist around the world and yes, mexicans send drugs to US but thats because americans use them for tons, and buy just what they cant produce.
i wont to ask you do thls picture in this sit
Reasons to live and to remain healthy need to outweigh the desire to escape.
Drug abuse is a primarily symptom caused when greed and power are mixed with a lack of will by the hapless.
LEGALIZED DRUGS CREATE DRUG DEPENDENT NATIONS. Review some history especially the drug dens of China. Look at these photos. History is close to repeating itself.
Faith and hope that there is something better must abound with the power of action. Individuals, families, communities, governments and, religious groups must stand together in stating that drug abuse is destructive.
Many must stand together against the lie, false escape and, popular myth that makes forbidden drugs desired.
Exchange "Try it you'll like it" for "Choose life, you are loved."
A little dope is NOT OK. A little dope evidences division.
My choice to live is based in one who give his all for me, Jesus Christ.
What about the Netherlands? Drugs are "legal" there..maybe they don't have problems?
@14 / Jake - what are you talking about? I think most would agree that the most traumatic photo is 16...
Lets keep drugs illegal, so drug dealers and peers can push drugs to our children. That will keep them safe.
As common rule, the big picture is great...i guess this colletion is not, why?
Because once again the drug problem is focalized in the producer countries... why there aren't pictures of the real consumers in the highly rich countries (United States, UK, Spain, Germany etc etc etc), which keep the production high and constant?
Unfortunately, this is a really biased compilation.
Something interesting about #15 and #16:
The man is quoted as saying, "I don't have a life. I don't have anything. It's finished. Everything was spent on opium,"
Despite this regret, he still feels it's okay to give opium to his grandchild? I suppose using opium must be really part of the culture
So sad what addiction does -- even sadder is the violence that prohibition creates.
at the very least marijuana should not be illegal. prohibition of weed + the war on drugs actually creates the problems they are intended to fix. 1 example: people blame marijuana and give a reason for it to be illegal by saying it is a gateway drug, when in reality making it illegal and grouping it with the other heavier black market drugs is what makes it a gateway drug. i recommend watching The Union on google video
PROHIBITION CAUSES VIOLENCE. Murders in America plunged four straight years after alcohol prohibition was repealed. That is not a coincidence. Without the current prohibition of drugs, the people killed due to drug war violence would be alive today. What a shame the war on drugs is.
I think #16 is a load of bull. The photographer probably told him to do this; a kid like that couldn't know how to smoke anything let alone an opium pipe. lol a kid like that could probably barely drink water on his own.
Yea and banning drugs will magically solve the problem of abuse, because we all know you can magically take these things away from everybody everywhere... Yea right. Criminalization serves for nothing but to promote the problems rather than solve them. I GUARANTEE this, it is 100% fact; how can jailing a drug addict help anything? It doesn't, it exacerbates problems and formes organized crime. Sometimes people need OPTIONAL support and harm reduction, not a prison term.
Lastly, cannabis is a healing herb and should not be placed in the same category as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or even nicotine and alcohol. My dying mother needs cannabis so that she can see her grandkids grow up, or else she dies from multiple sclerosis related complications. This is fact; according to her doctor there is no other treatment option left for her, it's cannabis or the coffin. She should not be viewed in the same light as a person who shoots another man's head off, nor should the majority of people who ingest cannabis. People need to grow up on the cannabis issue, if you drink alcohol you have absolutely zero room to say anything. Come on with that one, I've seen more damage from responsible drinking than irresponsible pot smoking.
Almost every picture above comes from drug-producing countries, poor countries... what about the pictures of "first world countries" which are the main consumers? Lets take the example of Mexico... I see many pictures of Mexico, mainly Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, but what about some pictures of El Paso, TX or San Diego, CA. The common ground for these cities is that they both are border cities with the biggest market, the US! The same relation happens in the UE, think of Spain and Morocco.
A lot of comments talking about the "war on drugs", but this term is biased to drug production.,.. why not talk about a "war on consumption"?
Yes, send the troops to Afghanistan... but would it be better and even cheaper to educate people? Wars always produce benefits for a really small minority. Why not ask ourselves who is getting a profit on fighting this war?
Yes, semnd
For those who think continuing this war against drugs will stop people like in picture 16 from harming children have another think coming.
Blaming the drugs for the stupid, careless and irresponsible actions of people using drugs early excuse them of thing they will very likely do even if they never ever uncounted drugs.
And as for nothing good ever coming from drug use, try thinking of it this way; The vast majority of drug use never leads to anything bad.
Stop this drug war NOW, it causes more harm than good and lets other harm go untreated
@12: Yes, there are legally grown opium poppies, for the pharmaceutical industry. I too was shocked to learn that- I assumed that all the pills and potions are made in a lab, but they are not- they start off as plants.
I'm upset that marijuana trade gets lumped into the same category as crystal meth and all.
The things people do to themselves and others just to "experience" an altered state of mind...pretty sad.
RE: Picture #16. Children in Sarab Village are often born addicted, as their mothers smoked Opium while pregnant. The mothers will blow opium smoke into their infant's faces to calm them. These families have little to no medical care, so when a child gets an infected tooth or other ailment so family members use the opium to, once again, calm the child.
A photo such as this usually has more to it than it first presents.
legalize drugs, but support drug addicts
@Poster #90, Joe.
Actually, to get the infants high, the mothers inhale the opium and blow it into their infant's mouth. I'm thinking that the offering of the pipe to the toddler was simply because a camera was right there as well.
you know, the only reason there's so much violence and additional crime associated with drug trafficking IS BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL.
the governments of the world, in their infinite ignorance, do not seem to understand that when you make drugs illegal you create criminal empires; you make criminals rich and powerful. and that creates extraneous problems and extraneous crime that would not exist otherwise.
legalization and regulation across the board are the ONLY ways to truly win the war on drugs.
Great selection as usual.
Thanks for 5, 14, 29 and 35. Here in Mxico, mass media will only feed you numbers but they'll never show you actual pictures of the levels of brutality we are living.
I hope we can have this end someday.
Well, after viewing all those images I really expected to see the HUGE mass of US consumers using this drugs at the college, house, streets, etc. They have the money and will pay for their addictions. I wish the next photo report shows the side of the US consumers. Every time they use a drug someone died in other places of the world for their addiction.
40.
The only solution is the death penalty for dealers/traffickers etc!
Posted by Grant October 21, 09 03:04 PM
how is this only solution going to stop drugs? actually you could already concider illegal drugs a death sentance and it obviously hasn't stopped it,
drugs will always be here, a person in china can get sentenced to death for posession of marijuana but it is still there, how does it solve the problem?
the only end to drug use is an end to all human life.
Great Collection!
It's amazing how brutal and blatant the killings in the border towns of Mexico have become. The comments paralleling this to the American Mafia during prohibition are well founded. The picture of the hanged government Official is especially distressing in that it shows the lengths that these cartels are willing to go to to protect their profits.
The only solution to the problem is to stop using drugs or cut the black market out of the equation by stopping the drug war. Either way, this would take a huge cultural shift in the western countries that consume the drugs.
I have a small retail store in Northern California and in this recent economic downturn I have noticed a sharp increase in the amount of customers that visit the store high. Sadly, I am now well-versed in the distinctive smells and behaviors of various heavy drug users. It's a skill set I wish I never had an opportunity to acquire. This problem isn't going away anytime soon.