Fifty Years as a Drug Warrior

Dennis comments ♦ June 14, 2021 ♦ Leave a comment

Dennis L. Blewitt, J. D.    (Spring, 2014)

            I got drafted for the drug war 50 years ago.  Most warriors in most armies can retire after 3 or 3 decades, but those of us in the guerilla movement don’t have that luxury.  I will comment on common issues, policies and activities in the drug war and try to put them in historical perspective.  I will try to be factual, when convenient, but remember, this is commentary and my perspective only.  My hope is that the modern drug war freedom fighter can be more effective and better serve as a result of this.  I will write from point of view of 50 years of NLG participation and activity.  I welcome feedback, criticism and hate mail.  I view the day a total loss if I don’t piss off at least one person.  But it does no good if it doesn’t result in action.  So, enjoy.

            I first was introduced to the NLG in the 60’s through its “Fair Play for Cuba” activities centered on the activities of Bay of Pigs.  The lawyer for them was Harry Nier, veteran of the Army McCarthy hearings..  The guild activities concerning Cuba ceased with the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  His alleged assassin was publicly connected with Fair Play, which was later discredited as a false flag.   However, there were new playgrounds in which to play.  I chose the Civil Rights movement.  Getting stung with cattle prods and beaten by cops seemed like a good way to meet people.  As outside agitators, we all ran the risk of having weed planted on us as a roust and to discredit the movement.  Weed wasn’t recognized as a societal threat then and was not illegal per se.  The offense was tax evasion, so one could say that I started out as a tax lawyer.  Intelligence divissions of the police soon learned that planting marijuana was good press and could justify an occasional swing by the billie club.

            By the mid 60’s, the draft was breathing down the necks of my cohorts and it seemed like fertile ground for an activist.  This is where encountered “Red Squads.”  The anti-Communist spies started looking at draft protesters and civil rights activists.These people would infiltrate and report back to the FBI’s cointel program or to local police.  One favorite trick of the squad was to plant marijuana on marchers.  It was an fun and was totally effective in destroying the legitimacy of a movement.  So, one could say that the great value of marijuana prohibition was to disturb the public and discredit activists by branding them as drug crazed lunatics.  This soon became associated with long hair, draft resistance, and protest.  Protesters started wearing masks in defense to avoid being identified.

            However, associating marijuana with hippies, war protesters, civil rights activists and the like backfired.  The emerging police state relied upon the propaganda espressed by “Reefer Madness” and other bad press.  This fear mongering was only effective with conservatives, WWII veterend, bikers, unions and other conservative or patriotic groups.  However, the yound knew better.  Soldiers were returning from Viet Nam, totally immersed in cannabis knowledge, learned from their officers and CIA agents among them.  They were in a good position to compare the effects of weed to that of napalm, mines and agent orange, the more accepted toys of their masters.  The weed kept them from “fragging” their officers and was actually relied upon as a safety device by the commanders.  It could also be used for barter at the brothels and trinkets.         

            When I started my law practice in Boulder, I thought I was ready.  Most people would have thought I was on acid, but it wasn’t around then.  I went with a tax firm and started doing tax cases, possessing marijuana without paying $100 per oz. tax.   I did marijuana cases and my clientele were mostly hippies and draft resisters. I had no idea where it would lead, but it has been a real adventure, exposing me to Black Tunas, Fuchs, the Company, CIA, Mafia and lots of other groups and interesting people.  I had clients who smuggled for Ruby, supplying Castro and Batista involved in the drug and gun trade, smugglers working for intelligence agencies and assorted clients fed to the fodder mill of “justice” to divert attention to the real issues and dangers.  The whole area is political.

            Consequently, I view the drug war totally in a political context along the lines of Weber and C. Wright Mills, not in a partisan sense.  It is a war against the people and an instrument of oppression.  It is the subject of much propaganda and very little knowledge.  The drug war and the media induced propaganda has been the implement of destruction to the Constitution.  It has encouraged, funded and established a police state, turning our country into an oligarchy, albeit not as crude as Russia’s.  Government inspired or induced fear dictates our policy making us the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world.  It has been used to destroy cohesiveness between the people and turn everyone into an enemy, justifying turning the police into an occupation army.  Unlike Europe, we do not have evidence based policy.  Ours is propaganda based policy.  This is what I will address my future articles.  I will try not to be provincial, but since I grew up in a small town rural environment and went to college 40 miles away.  I attended a public school that had grades 7 through 12 in the same building.  I practice in Boulder Colorado and will refer to that city occasionally because it is all I know.  I ask your indulgence.

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dlb