Friday, May 24, 2013
Comment Archives: stories: Stage
Re: “Technicolor dreaming”
I Loved this show!! Go see it everyone!
Posted by
kpw860
on 11/29/2010 at 10:14 AM
Re: “America's best buds”
While bullets fly into El Paso and bodies pile up in the streets of Juarez, and thugs with gold-plated AK-47s and albino tiger pens are beheading federal officials and dissolving their torsos in vats of acid, here are some facts concerning the peaceful situation in Holland. --Please save a copy and use it as a reference when debating prohibitionists who claim the exact opposite concerning reality as presented here below:
Cannabis-coffee-shops are not only restricted to the Capital of Holland, Amsterdam. They can be found in more than 50 cities and towns across the country. At present, only the retail sale of five grams is tolerated, so production remains criminalized. The mayors of a majority of the cities with coffeeshops have long urged the national government to also decriminalize the supply side.
A poll taken earlier this year indicated that some 50% of the Dutch population thinks cannabis should be fully legalized while only 25% wanted a complete ban. Even though 62% of the voters said they had never taken cannabis. An earlier poll also indicated 80% opposing coffee shop closures.
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010…
It is true that the number of coffee shops has fallen from its peak of around 2,500 throughout the country to around 700 now. The problems, if any, concern mostly marijuana-tourists and are largely confined to cities and small towns near the borders with Germany and Belgium. These problems, mostly involve traffic jams, and are the result of cannabis prohibition in neighboring countries. Public nuisance problems with the coffee shops are minimal when compared with bars, as is demonstrated by the rarity of calls for the police for problems at coffee shops.
While it is true that lifetime and past-month use rates did increase back in the seventies and eighties, the critics shamefully fail to report that there were comparable and larger increases in cannabis use in most, if not all, neighboring countries which continued complete prohibition.
According to the World Health Organization only 19.8 percent of the Dutch have used marijuana, less than half the U.S. figure.
In Holland 9.7% of young adults (aged 15 to 24) consume soft drugs once a month, comparable to the level in Italy (10.9%) and Germany (9.9%) and less than in the UK (15.8%) and Spain (16.4%). Few transcend to becoming problem drug users (0.44%), well below the average (0.52%) of the compared countries.
The WHO survey of 17 countries finds that the United States has the highest usage rates for nearly all illegal substances.
In the U.S. 42.4 percent admitted having used marijuana. The only other nation that came close was New Zealand, another bastion of get-tough policies, at 41.9 percent. No one else was even close. The results for cocaine use were similar, with the U.S. again leading the world by a large margin.
Even more striking is what the researchers found when they asked young adults when they had started using marijuana. Again, the U.S. led the world, with 20.2 percent trying marijuana by age 15. No other country was even close, and in Holland, just 7 percent used marijuana by 15 -- roughly one-third of the U.S. figure.
thttp://www.alternet.org/drugs/90295/
In 1998, the US Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey claimed that the U.S. had less than half the murder rate of the Netherlands. That’s drugs, he explained. The Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics immediately issued a special press release explaining that the actual Dutch murder rate is 1.8 per 100,000 people, or less than one-quarter the U.S. murder rate.
Here’s a very recent article by a psychiatrist from Amsterdam, exposing Drug Czar misinformation
http://tinyurl.com/247a8mp
Now let's look at a comparative analysis of the levels of cannabis use in two cities: Amsterdam and San Francisco, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health May 2004,
The San Francisco prevalence survey showed that 39.2% of the population had used cannabis. This is 3 times the prevalence found in the Amsterdam sample
Source: Craig Reinarman, Peter D.A. Cohen and Hendrien L. Kaal, The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy
http://www.mapinc.org/lib/limited.pdf
Moreover, 51% of people who had smoked cannabis in San Francisco reported that they were offered heroin, cocaine or amphetamine the last time they purchased cannabis. In contrast, only 15% of Amsterdam residents who had ingested marijuana reported the same conditions. Prohibition is the ‘Gateway Policy’ that forces cannabis seekers to buy from criminals who gladly expose them to harder drugs.
The indicators of death, disease and corruption are even much better in the Netherlands than in Sweden for instance, a country praised by UNODC for its so called successful drug policy.
Here's Antonio Maria Costa doing his level best to avoid discussing the success of Dutch drug policy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lExNjEhdSkY…
The Netherlands also provides heroin on prescription under tight regulation to about 1500 long-term heroin addicts for whom methadone maintenance treatment has failed.
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/free-her…
The Dutch justice ministry announced, last year, the closure of eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty. There's simply not enough criminals
http://www.nrc.nl/international/article224…
For further information, kindly check out this very informative FAQ provided by Radio Netherlands: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/faq-soft…
or go to this page: http://www.rnw.nl/english/dossier/Soft-dru…
Posted by
malcolmkyle
on 10/14/2010 at 5:45 AM
Re: “The funny thing about fear”
We are joining the revolution by driving to Washington DC for the October 30, 2010 Rally
Washington DC 10.30.2010
New York City 10.31.2010
Greenwich Village, Halloween Party, New York City
Join the Sarah Palin Impersonators from the Book;
Selling Sex with Sarah Palin by Thomas Chi
Our goal is the publish a sequel to Selling Sex with Sarah Palin by riding on a road trip to Washington DC with the Comedy Central
March to Keep Fear Alive Insanity Bus
Gas, Food, We Drive Until We Drop
Stop in Graceland, Mississippi River, Washington DC, and New York City
Posted by
ThomasChi
on 09/30/2010 at 2:56 PM
Re: “'It's all going to be OK'”
This was an incredible production!!! Definately a "Must-See" if it comes to your town!!!
Posted by
Hoss
on 08/04/2010 at 8:07 PM
Re: “Better together”
Arrested on three counts of lewd conduct on a minor girl under the age of 14, plea bargained down to child endangerment.
I think I'll pass.
Posted by
anon
on 10/02/2009 at 4:04 PM
Re: “Invisible no more”
Great piece Kirsten! Thanks for giving "voice" to this show!
Posted by
rhendrickson
on 09/24/2009 at 12:04 PM
Re: “Whose town is it, anyway?”
I've seen the RiP play several times -- tonight should be a good show!
Posted by
hdwillis
on 06/06/2008 at 10:29 AM
Re: “Whose town is it, anyway?”
Thanks for a great article! As one of the founding members of SHiP I couldn't be happier with the improv scene in the Springs. If you haven't seen one of these groups perform you're really missing out. Come see the Funniest Show in Pants this weekend in Manitou -- we'd love to have you experience the funny. Hunter Willis Stick Horses in Pants
Posted by
hdwillis
on 06/05/2008 at 9:11 AM
Re: “Pipe dreams”
Ms. Parr is a talented director and creative, energetic entity. I do so wish I was in town for the production. I know it will be awesome!!
Posted by
Lady
on 03/28/2008 at 1:34 PM
Re: “Theater-asaurus”
After you go see Walking With Dinosaurs, be sure to go to the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park and see the skeletons of a bunch of dinosaurs. It's a really educational and entertaining place to take the kids. Their web site is www.rmdrc.com.
Posted by
2002icequeen
on 01/18/2008 at 11:20 AM
Re: “The brothers' keeper”
Thanks a ton Henry. It's so nice to hear good feedback, and i'm glad that you enjoyed the show!
Posted by
Marco
on 10/14/2007 at 6:00 PM
Re: “The brothers' keeper”
Marco Robinson gave Mathew Broderick a run for his money. He was awesome. The entire cast definitely "had the goods". It was one of the best productions I've seen at the FAC in ten years.
Posted by
Henry
on 10/13/2007 at 8:02 AM
Re: “The brothers' keeper”
It's nice to see big, polished productions at the FAC; not to mention such a great write-up.
Posted by
grasshopper
on 10/12/2007 at 4:27 PM
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Re: “Technicolor dreaming”
This show was one of the best I have ever seen! The cast is very personable and professional. Joe Mikolaj is fabulous and will definitely go far. Would see it again.
Go see this show. You will not be disappointed!