As the decade of the 80's began, many of the things that had been the basis for most of the values I believed in, over the previous ten years...were unquestionably changing. Many of those changes created a new reality that forced me to do many things that I had been comfortable and secure with...in a different way. Everything was starting to feel unfamiliar, and unsafe in some way, and although I couldn't put my finger on any one thing...I didn't like what I was feeling. The "peace and love" mentality of the Counterculture...that had been so important to the formulation of the principles that I lived by... was rapidly fading into a memory. Once the war in Vietnam had ended, and President Nixon had resigned, it felt like all the momentum for social and political change just seemed to stop dead in its tracks, and the many groups that had pushed for those social and political changes no longer had the same unity of purpose that they had before...it was as if those two issues had been the the cohesive force and rallying points for the entire decade of social upheaval that had just ended, and once those issues weren't there...the glue was gone, too...and the people just lost their way. But I also don't believe that was an accident. The real Power that controls this country...had been very frightened...and shaken to their core...because they had very nearly lost their tight grip on this country. Money, power, and propaganda had become impotent against a revolution of new ideas and values, and against the mass resistance to the established policies of greed, corruption, violence, ignorance, racism, and war...that had become American Doctrine. The immorality, the suffering, and the harm to humanity and to the planet that resulted from those policies had become painfully obvious, unjustifiable, and completely unacceptable to most of the young and educated people of America, and in fact, the whole world...as a result of higher consciousness, and the heightened awarenesses that came with it....Darkness cannot exist when it is exposed in the light.... For a very brief time, the power in this country resided where it was always supposed to in a real democracy...with the people. It was the most tangible feeling of freedom I have ever felt...like a refreshing breath of fresh air...that grew into the winds of change. Millions of Americans had become political activists, marching and protesting our domestic and foreign policies that had promoted intolerance, arrogance, and injustice, and had sent tens of thousands of young people to fight and die in a war that made no sense, and served no purpose...other than to impose our government's will on yet another area of the planet...in the name of power and exploitation...disguised as liberation. No amount of media spin or rhetoric could overcome the truth that heightened awareness had revealed to a generation of Americans who thought for themselves...and who didn't trust the government or the media...because the government and the media kept trying to tell them that what they plainly saw...just wasn't there. I believe the war in Vietnam ended because the government recognized that that war...as profitable as it was for the Industrial Miltary Complex which owns this country...had become a nexus for a social revolution that could have easily cost them the control they had over everything...if that war had continued. That social revolution was a very real threat to them, and it had materialized largely as a result of three things... the Vietnam War... the consciousness expanding drugs and music of the sixties and the seventies...and the Counterculture that those two things spawned.
With the remaining influence and control the Intelligence Community, the Military, The Tri-Lateral Commission, and the Corporate Power Elite still had over this country's Press...over the FCC...and consequently over all the media...and the media was still it's most powerful weapon...that threat was gradually defused on all three fronts. By withdrawing from Vietnam and sacrificing their figurehead... Richard Nixon... the glue that held the "counterculture" together disintegrated. Then, through very clever and subtle use of media bombardment and psychology, the active social revolution that the counterculture had created...was turned into a fad...just a momentary blip...instead of the social upheaval and global awakening that it really was. I remember when blue jeans, the "uniform" of the hippies, which had been scorned and ridiculed by the "establishment" during the decade of the seventies...suddenly became socially acceptable to wear to the Stock Market, or in the law offices...I remember seeing Jimmy Carter wear them, too ...in the Oval Office...to my knowledge, the first President to ever do so, at least with the cameras rolling, and I remember thinking at the time... how "cool" I thought that was. That lasted only for a year or two, though...just long enough to reduce the power and impact that the entire Counterculture movement...and the symbolism that "uniform" represented...to nothing more than the social importance of a fad...and when that "fad" was replaced with a "new" one...a lot of the hippies that had worn that uniform...and had talked about changing the world, and had rejected materialism in favor of spirituality, artisitic expression, empathy for others, and sharing...were suddenly working on Wall Street, or began working their way up the corporate ladders. Greed was the new fad. We had entered a new era...the "Me" era...and the spiritual and social awakening, and the campaign for compassion, justice, and human rights that had been taking place on a global scale...was replaced with selfishness, self-indulgence, and excess...and the desire to change the world into something better...rapidly went "out of style". I couldn't believe that all of that incredible energy...and all those incredibly idealistic people...were turning away from the solution...and becoming part of the problem...and in what seemed like a very short period of time. The very people I had been very proud to have marched with and been associated with...had become "yuppies"... driving BMW's. To me, it was a profoundly sad and painful thing to witness. And I believe much of that occurred, in part, because of one other major change that happened in this country at that time, too...and which I also believe was absolutely not an accident. Consciousness expanding drugs seemed to just "vanish"...and cocaine entered the picture. With a stroke of political and economic genius from the powerful forces that really pulled the strings...in effect, a secret, behind-the-scenes government...that didn't "exist"...and therefore, answered to nobody...a new, consciousness-depressing drug that was totally destructive and addictive...was flooding the streets of America. Unlike psychedelics, which had been incredibly cheap, and in many cases were almost given away freely...because of the values that went hand in hand with them....this "new" drug was incredibly expensive... which by itself, made it a much more dangerous substance.
In order for the hippies of the seventies to now purchase cocaine...in order to stay"high"in the eighties...required much greater amounts of money...which caused many of the protesters and social activists to join the very establishment they had so vehemently rejected only a few years earlier...or become dealers themselves...in order to feed what was now, full-blown drug addiction. Many made the choice to become dealers to support their habits..and that created a whole new criminal class...as well as a much larger distribution network to sell the drugs...thus generating even more revenue. At the same time, and for the next few years, the American government, and the media it controlled...touted cocaine as a relatively harmless, and socially acceptable new drug. Cocaine, too, was a new fad. Everyone was doing it. And very openly. Doctors, lawyers, politicians, judges, movie stars, musicians, writers, artists, and in many cases, even athletes and police. When the heroes and role models of a society all start doing something...then the masses soon follow. Cocaine, greed, and selfishness...they all seem so closely linked to each other. And another problem with cocaine was...unlike psychedelics which lasted up to 24 hrs...cocaine wore off very quickly...requiring frequent use. There was a joke back then...it went..."Cocaine makes you feel like a new man...the only problem is ten minutes later...the new man wants a hit". That made using cocaine very, very expensive. And something better done in small groups, or alone. The mass gatherings, the festivals, and the exchanges of ideas and new thinking that had been so commonplace a few years earlier ceased to exist. The threat that the Counterculture had so clearly been to the forces of deception and greed that still rule this country...had been quickly and permanently defused...and at the same time... a new, endless source of untraceable funding...which just further solidified the power base for those same forces...had been created...seemingly overnight.
And when all of that happened, the drug business that I had always known changed, too. It was no longer about Higher Consciousness. It was no longer friends taking care of friends. It was no longer violence-free. In all the years I had been dealing...I had never once carried, or saw a gun. But the flood of cocaine generated unfathomable amounts of cash...and with vast amounts of cash in play...weapons became the norm. It was no longer something the Secret government was indifferent or oblivious to. This was unlimited untraceable cash. This was funding for Black Projects of all kinds. They knew exactly what was at stake. And they had their own agenda. Part One had already succeeded. Diffuse the threat the Counterculture had created. Part Two was all about controlling and capitalizing on a market, and a source of cash that was just waiting to be exploited. The independent hippie dope dealer was no longer tolerated...because that element represented competition to the people who were very used to having monopolies in all of their businesses...and if you weren't working for them...you were, in fact, targeted by them...because those are the politics of greed. Selective law enforcement weeded out the independents. Expensive cocaine and heroin was everywhere...and still is...while endless raids on independent cocaine smugglers or marijuana growing operations in California and elsewhere became almost daily occurrences...and eliminated competition...while creating the illusion that the government was trying to stop the flow of drugs into this country...when in fact, the opposite was true. Independent drug operations...or people who were once allies of the government agencies participating in the smuggling operations and and as a result, had become dangerous risks...because they knew too much...were, and continue to be, the only targeted arrests that ever really occur in the "War on Drugs". I hate to use the term "Secret government"...because it sounds so over-the-top and paranoid...but it is the term that best fits...because none of these things were happening with the knowledge or consent of the elected government...at least that has been what all of our elected officials have always claimed. But "plausible deniability" does not change the facts...and the facts clearly indicate that only massive deployment of multiple government agencies and assets could have created these circumstances, and their resulting outcomes. And since our surveillance capabilities and imaging technology now enables our government to read any automobile license plate...or hear any phone conversation...or read any email...or even see into most buildings...anywhere in the world...at any time...from hundreds of miles in space...the only logical conclusion any thinking person can reach is...this continues to take place. We have the technology to win the War on Drugs...if we wanted to. The reason America will never win the War on Drugs is because...the Secret government doesn't want to...it has already won complete control over the marketplace...so why would they want to kill their own cash cow? The large drug busts occasionally reported in the news represent large, independent competition... or partners who have become liabilities... and that is why they are targeted. And the confiscated drugs just become cost-free product, to be sold by an "in-house" vendor.
Today, I believe that just writing about this is very dangerous to me. But I also believe that not writing about this even more dangerous...because evil can flourish only when good people do nothing...or are afraid to take a stand for what is just, right, and true. The drug business is the largest cash business in the world...and everyone knows...that money is power...and power is money. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who is really making the money from all of this. Only the light of exposure...shined onto this very dark place...can even begin to bring down this evil empire. And even then, back in 1981...as the truth slowly sunk in...I began to realize who it was I was really working for. And although I realized just how much the rules had changed...I was just too slow in realizing the depth of the evil, the treachery, and the deception of this government...and in coming to the awareness of just how dangerous this game...and my participation in it...had really become...to my life and to my future. Today...because of all of the things that I have seen and I have experienced, and because of all the things that I actually know to be true...I believe this has become very dangerous to all of our futures.
