The Green Card: America's interdependence with drugs

I didn't ever get round to telling you about the guys i met in Ocean Beach.

While we were staying in Ocean Beach, we were placed in a room full of hostel employees who'd originally checked in (Hotel California style) and gone on to work here for upwards of 4 months, some 2 years. One guy was from Istanbul, another girl from Brazil who stomped around the room sulking about the guys she shared with and 2 guys (X-LA), who spent their time bitching about the sulking Brazilian girl. I could understand the tension. She didn't want to be in their room, as it was apparently 'the party room'. Her only other option was sharing with fat John, the cook (resembling the Chaucerian portrait). Fat John really stank. I originally was booked to stay in his room. I took one sniff before deciding to bunk up with Hannah downstairs instead. He had three different computers all set up on his bed and a serious porn addiction. I could understand this girl's plight.

Anyway, the green card. The two LA guys each had a card issued by the Californian Medical Dept. stating they had medical clearance to use cannabis for medicinal purposes. They both had theirs ready to show to the police at any time, should they need to. APPARENTLY, they both suffered from terrible back pain. I wondered privately how many new ailments people in England would discover if this system were legalised.

I then received a fascinating narrative explaining all the drugs available in Ocean Beach which, owing to a close proximity to the Mexican border, has been the drugs capitol of America for 40 years (it doesn't say that on the road sign into town). I will now repeat the narrative, although I do not claim it is anything but hear'say.

Khat is apparently a native American drug and also used by some Muslims when fasting. It is illegal, unles you are of certain religious groups. It inhibits appetite and also increases study ability. It is apparently popular with foreign Asian students, as the effect is a mixture of nicotine and caffeine.

I also learned about the joys of Meths crystals (see Fear and Loathing) which are apparently popular here. What i didn't realise was that the drug is nicknamed Hitler's blood', as it was developed by the third Reich for the troops, to keep them awake for weeks on end on the Russian front. When the supply ran dry, bad things happened....

We then discussed the relationship between America and drugs. Obviously, the initial wealth of the east coast region stemmed from growing tea, tobacco and hemp (for shipping etc) but some Americans seem uneasy around the issue of drugs, seeing them as a something which negative in a society (eg crack), rather than something which funds and fuels it (eg Tea). The impression of an uneasiness with drugs remains until you spend one min watching their TV adverts.You are delivered a medical lesson about pain relief, hair restoration and various other dubious substances legitimised only by their tax-abilty and market-abilty. America has a huge interdependence on drugs, taxed or untaxed, but it appears to me the US is in denial. It seems odd to make a drug such as THC (weed) illegal while simultaneously accepting it's medical benefits. This odd dichotomy of acceptability has been engineered quite deliberately I'm sure. I expect as soon as they find a way to tax and control a supply, it will suddenly magically become more acceptable.....(see coffee and opium.....)

My roomate - Tenesse - claimed that if an American war is not about oil, it is about drugs. Vietnam, he claimed, was a war fought to secure the control of the cocaine supply in the area. Also, LSD supplies to the troops were encouraged by the military as it encouraged bravery (or lack of direct understanding...however you view it). This, apparently, was a direct response to the enemy troops. The Vietnamese troops had a reputation for bravery and extended periods of conflict endurance. Tenesse's uncle said he had fired 10 bullets into one of these guys and he only stopped after he was introduced to a grenade. Their endurance was, according to Tenesse, nothing more than the effects of an over indulgence in Amphetamines and Ketamine, readily available in the area. This is similar to the ancient Norse berserker tribe, who apparently used to eat magic mushrooms before battle (hence going berserk....)


Tenesse made it quite clear that the relationship between drugs and conflict was as strong as ever. The Afghanistan war was to secure (eg. take away from the Taliban) the control on the poppy growth. He also claims that there are no drug tests for the US Iraq front line troops. Again, a steady supply of Cocaine, Weed and even Heroine is carefully encouraged by the generals. The philosophy of the military is, as long as you fight and don't run, you can take anything you need to get through it (in WW1 Chocolate was prescribed to boost health and moral). The drugs tests when the troops return back to the USA are apparently timed so they are deliberately just long enough for the substances to be broken down by the body.

Ok that's it for drug conspiracy. Sorry if you don't find these longer rants interesting, but for me, travel is about finding these alternative ideas and thinking them through. One guy i met on the bus said that i could never understand the 60s in California, but to help me he told me this story. He was once invited to a dinner party at a house. It was fully set, nice china and all that, even polite company. When the lid was lifted on the food, only a centre piece of six cooked magic mushrooms were available. 'That was just nifty' he said, adding 'it was the neatest time in history and we will never get it back'. More on the 60s another time.

Personally, I wouldn't say America has a 'drug problem'....just a problem accepting that people like drugs, legal or not.