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Involuntary Addiction Treatment Works

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The article in the Sunday edition, “Addiction Treatment Can Work Even When It’s Not Voluntary”, provides a well-supported argument for mandatory addiction treatment. To date, the sparse peer-reviewed work conducted on compulsory treatment has been antagonistic to the idea. “Given the potential for human rights abuses within compulsory treatment settings, non-compulsory treatment modalities should be prioritized by policymakers seeking to reduce drug-related harms.” (“The Effectiveness of Compulsory Drug Treatment”, A Kamarulzaman, et al., Dec. 2015) Newer evidence shared by Satel and Sabet in their article contradicts the cited work. Further, it fails to contemplate nearly a century of history of involuntary commitments for a multitude of reasons. The theory that drug addiction is a disease and that those who suffer from addiction should not face the danger of “consequences” has unfortunately taken hold. As a community we began to accept responsibility for the negative personal choices of our fellow Americans, viewing challenges such as the drug scourge as our failure as a society rather than bad personal choices. Decriminalization of very dangerous narcotics is the most recent manifestation of this. Addiction researchers should broaden their focus to include case studies of mental health wholly unrelated to drugs. Severe mental illness, referred to before it became an insensitive and politically incorrect term (“crazy”), would be a good start. There is a corollary, an issue which forms part of our public discourse on almost a daily basis, . . . gun violence.

Before the notorious mafia murders during prohibition and post-prohibition, any adult citizen could walk into a gun store and legally purchase any type of firearm available. It was very rare to hear of a mass shooting, children murdered by their classmates or any other horrific act with a firearm outside of the criminal underworld. Passage of the NFA in 1938, the GCA in 1968, and various state gun control regimes emerged however the increase in gun violence continued to grow. The commonsense observation, immediately applicable to the compulsory treatment question, is that we used to “lock up crazy.” Simplistically, an individual walking down the street arguing with an imaginary person in the 1940s or 1950s would likely have found him or herself the guest of a psychiatric institution. Within the context of the gun violence question, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza may have been deprived of the opportunity to commit his heinous act.

Before the 1960s cultural revolution and posterior changes in public opinion about personal responsibility for one’s behavior, involuntary commitment was prevalent. Advances in pharmaceutical science from the 1950s forward supported the theory that a “pill” was the magical bullet, further eroding the view that involuntary commitment was a necessary evil. The courts likewise offered little help to the supporters of commitment. The 1975 case of O’Connor v. Donaldson is instructive. It represented a change in the justifying criteria for commitment from a broader test to that of almost exclusively one of the dangers that an individual presents to society. Writing for Psychiatry (Edgemont Journal), Doctors Megan Testa and Sara West wrote, “Through interviews of mothers of individuals with mental illness, Copeland learned that current civil commitment criteria force relatives to watch their loved ones go through progressive stages of psychiatric decompensation before they can get them any help at all.” (“Civil Commitment in the United States”, Megan Testa, MD and Sara G. West, MD, Oct 2010, Psychiatry) The court-imposed restrictions on involuntary commitment exacerbated the problem.

The curtailment of involuntary treatments, whether it be for drug addiction or mental illness, has impaired our ability as a society to address some of the gravest challenges to our safety as well as the happiness and well-being of those addicts and mentally ill. Authors Sally Satel and Kevin Sabet’s article on mandated treatment is prescient and the involuntary commitment question merits renewed attention.

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The Challenge of Spying on China

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The WSJ article on Wednesday (Challenge of Spying on China) is a sad reminder of the United States Intelligence Community’s apparent failure to accomplish any broad covert or clandestine penetration of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in recent history. The lack of HUMINT human intelligence sources (HUMINT) with meaningful access and placement deprives us of insight into Chinese decision making, immediate strategic threat intelligence and perhaps more importantly, gravely impairs U.S. offensive counterintelligence operations.

Moving beyond the obvious difficulties with HUMINT operations within the PRC, reminiscent of the Cold War hostile operational environments, the Intelligence Community is overdue for a paradigm shift in human asset recruitment methodology. For the better part of the last century, the United States Intelligence Community relied on a steady flow of “walk-ins”, volunteers from opposing foreign intelligence services or governments that offered their countries’ secrets. Intelligence officers enjoyed a large degree of success based on a fairly global perception that Americans were the “good guys”, representatives of the land of fairness, equality and justice, qualities that stood in stark contrast to the ruthless and despotic republics from whence they came. Unfortunately, the mystique has faded leaving outsiders to wonder if the values that we promote to the world are nothing more than a hypocritical farce. Mass diffusion of the “Big Lie” throwing fair elections into question, an attempted coup d’etat by an outgoing president, and military involvement under highly questionable intelligence assessments erode the view once held that the United States is the “shining beacon to the oppressed”.

Chinese citizens enjoy a better standard of living than at any time in China’s history. China can rightfully boast that it is a world power and its population can justifiably be proud of its progress. Personal financial success and pride in country promote loyalty. That there is no broad internal rejection of onerous mass surveillance, social credit controls and ethnic cleansing as is the case with the Uyghurs, is a testament to the PRC’s ability to deny facts, deceive its population and prevent the import of non-PRC approved “truths” about freedom and justice within China. The Chinese cultural tendency to identify with the collective rather than the individual is likewise amplified by the PRC’s massive social control machine, with opposing or antagonistic perspectives effectively blocked by the Great Firewall or simply drowned out of public discourse by the volumes of Party-approved propaganda. The PRC’s strategy has created an environment that is more resistant to traditional intelligence recruitment techniques such as economic coercion, ideology exploitation and ego-stroking. Chinese intelligence service recruiters lean on the cultural affinity of ethnically Chinese living in the United States to turn them into spies, coerce them by alluding to what might become of their families living in China or deploy the time-tested technique of guanxi to achieve intelligence asset recruitments. United States intelligence officers do not enjoy a parallel or equivalent.

FBI Director Wray stated, “We’ve now reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about every 10 hours.” The threat is grave and our twentieth-century countermeasures, techniques and tradecraft are not appropriate for what many in the Intelligence Community deem the greatest threat to United States national security. Retooling, reimagining the intelligence recruitment cycle and modernizing the way that we approach the recruitment of sources is imperative.

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Iran Cyber Operations Target Utility Infrastructure

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Per the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), “Since at least November 22, 2023, these IRGC-affiliated cyber actors have continued to compromise default credentials in Unitronics devices. The IRGC-affiliated cyber actors left a defacement image stating, “You have been hacked, down with Israel. Every piece of equipment ‘made in Israel’ is CyberAv3ngers legal target.” The victims span multiple U.S. states. The authoring agencies urge all organizations, especially critical infrastructure organizations, to apply the recommendations listed in the Mitigations section of this advisory to mitigate the risk of compromise from these IRGC-affiliated cyber actors.” (CISA, 12/01/2023)

The penetrations were aimed at critical utilities, in the extant case of U.S. water and water waste treatment infrastructure. Per CISA, “Beginning on November 22, 2023, IRGC cyber actors accessed multiple U.S.-based WWS facilities that operate Unitronics Vision Series PLCs with an HMI likely by compromising internet-accessible devices with default passwords. The targeted PLCs displayed the defacement message, “You have been hacked, down with Israel. Every equipment ‘made in Israel’ is Cyberav3ngers legal target.” The Water and Wastewater Systems Sector (Water Sector) underpins the health, safety, economy, and security of the nation. It is vulnerable to both cyber and physical threats.” The warning is instructive. The fallout from a successful compromise of public water systems can be severe. Andrew Farr warns, “The imagination can run wild with worst-case scenarios about what a threat actor could do to a water system, but Arceneaux explains that sophisticated actors could hack a system and manipulate pumps or chemical feeds without the utility even knowing they were in the system. They could also create a water hammer that could lead to cracked pipes or release untreated wastewater back into a source water body. What if that happens [to a water system] in a medium or a big city? Maybe it’s only for a few hours, but it could go on for a few days or weeks, depending on how extensive the damage is.” (Farr, WF&M, 04/11/2022) Darktrace reports the very real consequence of a successful water system compromise. “Earlier this month, cyber-criminals broke into the systems of a water treatment facility in Florida and altered the chemical levels of the water supply.” (Matthew Wainwright, Darktrace) If potable water delivered to consumers contains dangerous contaminants or improper balances of the “good” chemicals blended to the product (fluoride, chlorine, chloramine, etc.), it can cause negative health effects. Gastrointestinal illness, nervous system damage, reproductive system damage, and chronic diseases such as cancer are very real risks associated with the same.

CISA cyber defense model of the “brute force” methodology deployed by IRGC operatives may be viewed at MITRE.

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Strategic-Level Management, Smaller is Better

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I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today, a book review of “Emperor of Rome”, by Mary Beard. While the piece focused on the untimely demise of many of the caesars, there was a short but instructive comment. “Emporer of Rome is spiced with striking comparisons. The Roman Empire functioned with about 95% fewer senior personnel than the Han Dynasty that ruled at the same time in China.” (Kyle Harper, WSJ, 10/22/2023) This small anecdote reads as if it had been a surprise finding, that a small Roman leadership circle was a Black Swan and that it bends preconceived notions about the necessity of large networks of government instrumentalities to manage an empire as large as Rome’s. It is a fallacy that large enterprises require the support of large bureaucracies. Quite to the contrary. In strategic-level management, smaller is better.

Organizational dynamics and bureaucracy are Geoffrey M. Bellman’s forté. In his work, The Consultant’s Calling, “he explains why an organization is only capable of performing to a certain level of mediocrity. Organizational structure is essential to conducting business in a modern complex society. Bellman relates that organizations are: large, awkward, and unwieldy. Usually, organizations don’t work very well because they don’t fit the human creatures who work in them. Organizations as we have built them are more mechanical than ‘organical’… we have built awkward hierarchical structures with boxes and lines connecting them. We have created structures modeled after machines–mechanistic, sharply defined, and inflexible–that force their moving human parts to act like machines too. Such organizations do not work very well … even when everything is finely in tune … there are significant difficulties.” (Bellman, 2001) The author’s commentary is prescient and instructive.

There is a ‘real world’ case study that illustrates well the concept of “smaller is better”. A master’s thesis authored by Alexander B. Calahan, COUNTERING TERRORISM: THE ISRAELI RESPONSE TO THE 1972 MUNICH OLYMPIC MASSACRE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDEPENDENT COVERT ACTION TEAMS (Calahan, 1995) provides an excellent argument. “The important aspect of operating within organizations and systems is that by its very nature, it incorporates a predetermined limitation of success. As long as the mission operates under the constraints dictated by the organization’s structure, policies, regulations and management philosophies, it will only obtain a finite predetermined level of success. Bureaucratic processes are rigid and restrict decentralized authority and the ability to work at a continued fast and fluid pace. Government agencies must live within regulations that do not allow interpretation or flexibility for unique circumstances. Bellman related that organizations are sharply defined and do not allow flexibility. Philip K. Howard, The Death of Common Sense (1995), further demonstrates how this is magnified in government agencies: Government acts like some extraterrestrial power, not an institution that exists to serve us….It almost never deals with real-life problems in a way that reflects an understanding of the situation….Our regulatory system has become an instruction manual. It tells us and the bureaucrats exactly what to do and how to do it. Detailed rule after detailed rule addresses every eventuality, or at least every situation lawmakers and bureaucrats can think of. Is it a coincidence that almost every encounter with government is an exercise in frustration? In the decades since World War II, we have constructed a system of regulatory law that basically outlaws common sense. Modern law, in an effort to be self-executing, has shut out our humanity….The motives were logical enough: Specific legal mandates would keep government in close check and provide crisp guidelines for private citizens. But it doesn’t work. Human activity can’t be regulated without judgment by humans. Government cannot accomplish anything when multiple procedures are required for almost every decision. Process is a defensive device; the more procedures, the less government can do. Which is more important: the process or the result?” The author and his cited references are correct. Large bureaucratic organizations cannot support a dynamic operation that must think and act “on the fly”.

Calahan’s case study is an analysis of Operation Bayonet, an assassination mission in response to the massacre of Israeli Olympians and their coaches. The Mossad fielded two teams to accomplish the operation, one under strict headquarters control (“Lillehammer”) and the other (“Avner”) under none. The former was a disaster and the latter and ALMOST perfect success. The failed operation had many flaws but the most salient argument is the “micromanagement” one. Per Calahan, “However, the failure is more attributable to attempting to conduct an operation beyond the capabilities of the political bureaucracy. The officers in Lillehammer had more than adequate training and skills; however, the organization forced them to abandon proven tradecraft procedures to accomplish the assassination of Salameh under unreasonable tactical conditions. X allowed political pressure to dictate the pace of the operation beyond what he knew was reasonably necessary for success within the bureaucracy.” (Calahan, 1995)

The successful operation enjoyed an autonomy that ultimately achieved the operation’s objective. ” . . . Avner’s team was designed outside the political realm of the Mossad. Avner’s team would not institute shortcuts bowing to political influences that might jeopardize the success of the mission. Quality operations demand quality people involved and quality planning from the outset. The Mossad team members understood that they would operate in a covert capacity until the successful completion of the mission or the team was no longer able to operate intact due to injuries or deaths. They were to remain a cohesive unit. The unit learned and understood each others’ skill, abilities, and limitations, planning and operating accordingly.” (Calahan, 1995) Small, tight and capable teams with more “hands off” oversight was key.

“Walmart CEO Doug McMillon calls it “a villain.” Berkshire Hathaway vice chair Charlie Munger says its tentacles should be treated like “the cancers they so much resemble.” Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, agrees that bureaucracy is “a disease.” These leaders understand that bureaucracy saps initiative, inhibits risk taking, and crushes creativity. It’s a tax on human achievement.” (Hammel and Zanini, HBR, 2018) In the covert operation subject of Calahan’s case study, as in the private corporate sector, smaller is better. So did the Roman caesars manage the empire with a small leadership cadre by design, eschewing the idea that large bureaucracies were necessary to the state, or was their design utilitarian, i.e., keep your enemies close? Either way, the Emperor of Rome has apparently stumbled on one of the most important observations on successful management of a team, . . . a lesson for leadership when strategic planning.

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A Bit of Spit and the Game Was Up

“A New York architect was charged with murder in connection to the killings of three of the women who became known as the “Gilgo Four,” according to the Suffolk County District Attorney, in a case that baffled authorities for more than a decade in suburban Long Island. Rex Heuermann – who told his attorney he is not the killer – was taken into custody for some of the Gilgo Beach murders, an unsolved case tied to at least 10 sets of human remains discovered since 2010, authorities said. The case was broken open thanks to cell phone data, credit card bills and DNA testing, which ultimately led them to arrest Heuermann, 59, authorities said.” (CNN, 2023) We rejoice when a maleficent actor is identified and brought to justice. It is just a small piece of closure for the families of the victims of violent crime. Investigative forensics have come a long way, for which we are thankful. We are long past the time of Scotland Yard’s epiphany in 1901 that fingerprint identification was considered voodoo science. We now live in the era of DNA. “The advances in criminalistics continue, and today’s miracle will become tomorrow’s commonplace in crime scene investigation.” (Michael Kurland, 1995) Heuerman’s discard of partially eaten pizza in a place where he might claim any reasonable expectation of privacy. Without DNA, bitemarks if any were comparable ones collected at the four crime scenes may have been the strongest link, much less exacting than Heuerman’s own DNA.

The public-facing reporting reveals another powerful tool in the forensic toolbox, mobile telephone analysis. “The court document alleges cell phone and credit card billing records show numerous instances where Heuermann was in the general locations as the burner phones used to call the three victims “as well as the use of Brainard-Barnes and (Barthelemy’s) cellphones when they use used to check voicemail and make taunting phone calls after the women disappeared. The district attorney said the killer got a new burner phone before each killing.” (CNN, 2023) Burner phones have legitimate purposes, though the term “burner” alludes to something negative or nefarious. OSINT professionals, licensed investigators and competitive intelligence professionals deploy single-use mobile telephony for all sorts of good reasons however all should be aware that geo-location, the identity of both user and recipient, and the content of the communication are eminently acquirable. In the extant homicide investigation, forensics will certainly analyze geo-location data. To estimate a subject’s location, an analyst sees is simple, . . . identify the tower that the phone is connected to, and create a circle around the tower which provides a coverage area for the same. The PCC must necessarily be located somewhere inside that circle. Repeat the circle diagram with the next one to two towers to create a map of overlapping circles. The PCD is in the overlap. Not exact, but enough if surveillance or other investigative information can place the subject near. There are more perfect methods but triangulation is a time-tested method for placing specific PCD in a (generally) specific place, clearly the methodology in the Heuermann court documents that state, “. . . Heuermann was in the general locations as the burner phones used to call the three victims.” (CNN, 2023) For those aspiring PCD forensic techies, the Cellebrite product (among others) is good, although the I.C. has better ones.

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Why Do We Follow Dangerous Demagogues?

The Attraction to Huckster Demagogues

History is replete with examples of horrible human beings leading tribes, nation-states and other communities. The reasons are clear however one of the most effective techniques to mass “buy in” is really very simple. The “ideologue” simply creates a common enemy. Nazi Germany provides an excellent example however there are many. “How did Hitler, whose National Socialist Party never gained the votes of much more than a third of the German electorate in a free election, manage to win the support of the overwhelming majority of the German people? To what extent did they share his goals of the mass murder of the Jews and the establishment of a German Empire based on the conquest of the Soviet Union, the murder of the original inhabitants or their reduction to rightless slaves of the Third Reich?” (BBC, 1989) Aside from Hitler’s talent for oratory, he was effectively able to create an “enemy” and ascribe Germany’s economic and social ills to that enemy. So effective he was that the majority of Germanys’ population became accomplices to the murder of over eight million jews.

Author Jordan Peterson describes the pathology well, identifying the despot’s technique as that of Ressentiment. A central aspect of Nietzsche’s critique of morality, “ressentiment occurs when individual failure or insufficient status is blamed both on the SYSTEM within which the failure or lowly status occurs and then, most particularly, on the people who have achieved success and high status within that system. The form, the system, is deemed by fiat to be unjust. The successful are deemed exploitative and corrupt, as that can be logically read as undeserving beneficiaries, . . .” (Peterson, “Beyond Order”, 2021) Can you think of a current, very public example of a political leader that blames the “deep state” (the ‘system’) and the people of rank and position in that system? Certainly one in particular stands out among his copy-cat peers. The problem is that in the contemporary example, the SYSTEM is the liberal democratic order that has made the United States them mos economically successful, socially stable and just society in world history. That very system was also largely responsible for post-WWII peace that has lasted nearly one hundred years.

Peterson writes, “There is another typical feature of [this figure]; the victims supported by ideologues are always innocent, . . . and the perpetrators always evil. But the fact that there exist genuine victims and perpetrators provides no excuse to make low-resolution, blanket statements about the global locale of blameless victimization and evil perpetration, . . . No group guilt should be asssumed, and certainly of the multi-generational kind. It is a certain sign of the accuser’s evil intent, and a harbinger of social catastrophe. The advantage is that ideologue, at little practical cost, can construe him or herself both as nemesis of the oppressor and defender of the oppressed.” (Peterson, “Beyond Order”, 2021) Again, does a contemporary figure come to mind? Allow me the opportunity to illustrate.

“Only I can fix it.”

“I’ll drain the swamp.”

“It’s the oppressive left driven by hate that seeks to censor and silence you.”

“The radical left, they hate our history, they hate our values, and they hate everything we prize as Americans,”

“In Joe Biden’s America, rioters, looters and criminal aliens have more rights than law-abiding citizens,”

Do these statements sound familiar? They are precisely the peril to which Peterson refers. As Jennifer Mercieca observes, the contemporary example presents himself as the, “heroic figure who can make America great again by defeating corruption and conspiracy. [He] claimed that he was uniquely qualified to “drain the swamp” of corruption. His campaign presented a hero narrative of sacrifice and struggle. He had been “the ultimate insider,” he claimed, but once he decided to run for president and make America great again, he had been purified. As “the ultimate outsider” he would “drain the swamp” and end corruption. He said that it would be easy for him to do.” (Mercieca, 2020) The tactics are clear, even if the delivery is imperfect. The protagonist is most measures, dumber than a sack of rocks however, the deployment of time-tested methods of recruiting followers doesn’t require a genius perpetrator. There are others to blame, mainly the media channels that are accomplices in the mass diffusion of resentment, hate, and ill-placed blame for society’s challenges, however the Goebbels-esque techniques of propaganda are content for an entirely different subject. What is certain, is that millions of Americans have been duped by a dangerous conman.

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The Problem of Truth Decay

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In a particularly timely and instructive work, Doug Irving of the RAND Corporation offers insight on how pernicious the “decay of truth” is to our security, and more to the point our adhesion to one another as Americans with common goals, hopes and dreams.

Writes Irving, “You could walk up to most Americans and ask them, ‘What are our national interests?’ and there would actually be a lot of agreement,” said Williams, the associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Program at RAND. “Now, how do we achieve those national interests? There are lots of legitimate views about that—but Truth Decay makes it harder for people to have a reasoned debate. Partisanship and political self-interest get pushed to such an extreme that there is no middle ground where compromises, let alone consensus, can be achieved.” (RAND, 2023). The “middle ground” to which Irving refers is the foundation of a fair democratic system. Our democracy works when parties are able to share, discuss and at times fiercely debate differences of policy opinion. I stress here the word, “opinion”, because we observe currently a broad coalition of citizens that accept unqualified and un-vetted opinions as truths. “A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds that 64% of Americans believe, . . . that “voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election” — a key pillar of the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. (NPR, 2022). It is a FACT that voter fraud is almost non-existent, and that the few cases of voter fraud are so insignificant that they cannot affect the outcome of a national election. Voter fraud is a myth.

Per Irving, “The poll found that support for false claims about election fraud and the January 6th attack have been remarkably stable over time. For example, one-third of Trump voters say the attack on the Capitol was actually carried out by “opponents of Donald Trump, including antifa and government agents” — a baseless conspiracy theory that has been promoted by conservative media since the attack, even though it has been debunked.” (RAND, 2023) The lie continues to be frighteningly persistent, only on the right. I am not shooting down some of the very important (and valid) policy positions that the Republican coalition hold. In fact, I do agree with some of them. My problem is with the lies, the disinformation propagated by the right and their engagement in disinformation activities that would make Goebbels blush. The problem here is compounded by the observation of disinformation effectiveness among our adversaries. “China, Russia, and other adversaries already know this. They have weaponized disinformation—seeding the internet with rumors and conspiracy theories in the panicked early days of COVID-19, for example. That helped slow the response and almost certainly cost lives. But it also makes it harder to hold up American democracy as a model for the world.” (RAND, 2023)

Circling back to my point about vigorous debate, how an argument over policy points improves the health of our democracy, the debate must be based on a shared set of objective facts. One CANNOT engage in legitimate debate when one side lies, and lies almost all of the time. Further, the lies are reinforced by a group of conservative media that keep otherwise well-intentioned citizens inside of an information bubble that repeats falsehoods ad infinitum. Fox, OAN, Breitbart, the Daily News and others are the chief offenders, Fox, was most recently ordered to pay nearly $800 million for, . . . lying. What is the solution? How do we get back to caring about one another, or more to the point, caring about the health of our democracy? Irving offers some prescient advice.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and other government agencies are already investing in efforts to swat down misinformation and disinformation before they take hold. Efforts to strengthen media literacy and civics education in school could also help strengthen the public against Truth Decay, especially on questions of national security.” (RAND, 2023) Irving and others are not the first to offer this partial solution. I would humbly add here that our youth, grade schoolers would be well-served by the inclusion of coursework on disinformation and its nefarious effects on all of us. The technique is called “inoculation”, work that much like a vaccine provides our kids with some basic defense mechanisms to internal and external attempts to subvert our system. Estonia includes media literacy work in their grade school curriculums, thus there is precedence. Further work on the RAND strategy might include the same.

I recommend a full read of Irving’s piece on RAND’s blog.

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Cannabis Approval is Compassionate

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My professional life is largely spent in the insurance and financial services sector as CEO of Surety One, Inc., a national surety bond general agency. One of the classes of bond business that we write is for cannabis enterprises. While I tend to leave each individual’s particulars to him or herself, I have spent some not-insignificant time thinking about the availability of cannabis and whether that access is a social ill or a social good. Like any reasonable person, I would rather that the driver of my children’s school bus, my airline pilot, my brain surgeon, etc., not smoke pot, I am overwhelmingly convinced that legalization and de-scheduling of cannabis is the “right thing to do”. I’m not advocating for the use, misuse or abuse of any substance however there is a group of people that most certainly benefit from our compassionate approval of marijuana products for them.

The debate over the legalization of medical cannabis has gained significant momentum, not only in the U.S. but across the globe. Advocates argue that allowing medical cannabis is not just a matter of legality but also a question of compassion. One of the most compelling arguments for legalizing cannabis is its ability to alleviate pain and suffering in patients with chronic and debilitating illnesses. For individuals battling conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and chronic pain, conventional treatments might not always be effective or come with severe side effects. Medical cannabis, with its natural pain-relieving properties, can offer a ray of hope and relief, giving these patients a chance to improve their quality of life.

Medical cannabis, particularly cannabidiol (CBD), has shown promise in reducing the frequency and severity of epileptic seizures. For children and adults suffering from severe forms of epilepsy, such as Dravet syndrome or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, medical cannabis can be a lifeline. By allowing access to this alternative treatment, governments can demonstrate compassion for those living with these debilitating conditions.

Mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, affect millions of people. Traditional pharmaceutical interventions do not work for everyone and may lead to dependency and/or adverse side effects. Medical cannabis, especially strains with higher CBD content has been shown to have anxiolytic and mood-stabilizing effects. Legalizing medical cannabis provides patients with another option in their pursuit of mental well-being, promoting a compassionate approach to mental health care. This point alone is particularly prescient given the number of psychiatric professionals that have been sounding the alarm about emotional stress and its manifestations, especially among our military veterans.

For patients facing terminal illnesses or end-of-life care, medical cannabis can provide a comforting and compassionate touch. It can alleviate pain, improve appetite, and offer a sense of peace, allowing these individuals to spend their remaining days with greater comfort and dignity.

The compassionate aspect of legalizing medical cannabis extends beyond the realms of law and policy. It’s about recognizing the suffering of patients battling various medical conditions and providing them with access to a potential source of relief and hope. By embracing the legalization of medical cannabis, governments can show empathy, understanding, and a commitment to the well-being of their citizens. Moreover, it sends a powerful message that compassion and evidence-based care should guide our approach to healthcare, ultimately fostering a more inclusive and empathetic society. I stand by my decision to have my business enterprise support my view on this, as likewise I stand by the millions of my fellow human beings suffering from debilitating, painful infirmities.

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A Very Special Day

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“I know just what my father was to me
And is unto this day;
And so unto my boy would I as truly be
And in the selfsame way,
I honored, loved, respected him and he
Gave me his love as pay !
I pass it on unto that boy of mine
And hope and dream and pray
I may so live that he may know the fine
True things of life and may
Honor and love, respect, obey
His father in a better, nobler way
Than I did mine.” ~D.C. Bechers

I hope that in your eyes, I measure up. I hope that my kids will remember me the way that I remember you, Daddy.

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Teaching, a Wonderful Opportunity for Personal Growth

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This was an awesome training program. Teaching is a most noble form of “paying it forward”. Pre-K through high school level, the impact that a mentor, a kind and patient guide, is immeasurable. “Teachers are the agents of the future. Will our world be populated by people ready and able to meet that future as creative and critical thinkers; as wise, compassionate and knowledgeable citizens; as skilled and motivated solutionaries within their professions? The answer to this question lies with teachers. More than any other profession, teaching has the power to create a healthy, just, and peaceful world (or not). It has the ability to seed our society with informed, caring and engaged citizens (or not). It has the capacity to inspire lifelong learning and a passion for knowledge, understanding, and innovation (or not). Is there anything more important than this?” (Zoe Weil, Common Dreams, 2011) With Zoe, I must concur.

You might choose to teach part-time, substitute or full-time, for pay or not as your conscience and need may be. Regardless, I recommend this or similar series to anyone with interest.

“Society grows when men plant trees, the shade of which they know that they will never live to enjoy.”