Billy Mays’ Corpse Gets Trampled by Cocaine Hype

Billy Mays is not alone. This scapegoating of cocaine goes on all the time. One review of 935 cocaine related deaths in New York City found that less than 12% were even possibly related to the pharmacological effects of cocaine. (Morgan, p. 140)

Billy Mays’ family was “extremely disappointed” with the autopsy report of the Hillsborough County medical examiner’s office (Florida). The family’s statement said that the report contained, “speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension, which only demonstrates how important it is to regularly monitor one’s health.”

To see how cocaine was similarly blamed for Ike Turner’s death go to “Cocaine Did Not Kill Ike Turner,” and for a post on the actual deadliness of cocaine go to “Drug War Myth #726,001: Cocaine Is Deadlier Than Aspirin.”

Addendum (October 18, 2009) – An independent medical examiner’s review of the autopsy results made public on October 15, 2009 found they, “do not support the conclusion that cocaine was a contributory cause of Billy`s death.” (Mays)

Sources:

1. Robert Arthur, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos (2008).
2. Deborah Mays, “Independent Evaluation Finds that Billy Mays’ Death Was not Attributable to Cocaine Usage,” Reuters, 15 Oct. 2009. LINK
3. John Morgan & Lynn Zimmer, Crack in America (1997).
4. Mitch Stacy, “Billy Mays’ Family: Never Saw Signs of Cocaine Use,” San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Aug. 2009. LINK

Pot Prohibitionists Hate Children

Sources:

1. “Calif. Agrees to Cut Billions, Reaches Budget Deal,” MSNBC, 21 July 2009. LINK
2. “Marijuana Legalization: For First Time, Poll Finds Majority Support in California,” Drug War Chronicle, Issue #580, 10 April 2009. LINK
3. Dan Walters, “California Tax Board: Legal Pot Could Generate $1.4 Billion,” Sacramento Bee, 15 July 2009. LINK

Jeremy Mayfield: Another Drug War Victim

In its wrangling with Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR confuses having a positive drug test with actual impairment.* Stimulants are used to assist in driving. (Coffee anyone?) If Mayfield does use methamphetamine, it is clear that he does so in a responsible manner.** Unfortunately, in the War on Drugs that is irrelevant.

* The Drug Czar recently made the same error when he raised alarms about the percentage of drivers testing positive for marijuana (LINK). He did not bother to note that marijuana’s psychoactive effects only last hours while trace amounts can stay in the system for a month.

** For testimony about Mayfield’s work ethic from his manager, a former police officer, go to this LINK.

Sources:

1. “Air Force Rushes to Defend Amphetamine Use,” 18 Jan. 2003, TheAge.com.au. LINK
2. Terry Blount, “Mayfield Running Out of Good Will,” ESPN.com, 15 July 2009. LINK

Hidden History: The DEA, Nixon’s Pills, and Black People

An assistant to Egil Krogh, a member of President Richard Nixon’s administration imprisoned in the Watergate scandal, explained, “If we hyped the drug problem into a national crisis, we knew that Congress would give us anything we asked for.” (Epstein, p. 140)

Nixon’s statistical deceit regarding heroin addict numbers is explained in Agency of Fear: Opiates and Political Power in America. (pp. 174-177) When Nixon later wanted to show his War on Drugs was working the addict population was magically sliced by 25%.

The cartooned quotes are from Dan Baum’s Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure. (pp. 13 & 21) Baum took the “blacks” quote from the diary of Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman.

Nixon’s generous use of drugs – prescribed and not prescribed (Dilantin) – and alcohol is detailed in Anthony Summers’ The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon.

Sources:

1. Robert Arthur, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos (2008).
2. Dan Baum, Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure (1996).
3. Edward Jay Epstein, Agency of Fear: Opiates and Political Power in America (1977).
4. Anthony Summers, The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon (2000).