Ken Burns: Prohibition, Drug Laws, & Unintended Consequences

[SUBinfinit]

He is wrong about marijuana we have been using it since the beginning of our history in almost every early society not to mention it is linked to our brain by our nerulogical receptors

[cdogggITY]

Either I pick up my marijuana at a dispensary with the money going into our economy or get my smoke off the streets which indeed does finance black market?? Regardless one or the other will happen because I am gonna smoke, and im sure im not alone.

[Licmycat]

This isn't just about money. It's also a slick way for the rich to control and help or punish anyone who kisses their butts or won't. Especially when they get monies from the gov.

[TheInsoviet]

these laws are bullshit, for now im buying legal herbs, shit actually works [legalwaytogethigh com]

[joshlongnecker10]

Correct me if Im wrong but I believe cannabis is older than alcohol.

[zeldafreak701]

Ken Burns is so hot. I'm serious, he looks fantastic for a man his age.

[lillllbit]

@zeldafreak701

Yep, smart men are so hot!

[chrismazurful]

His ridiculous comparison between the Tea Party and prohibition is truly absurd. Prohibition much more closely resembles modern democrat’s absolute intolerance of any point of view except for their own. Who is currently attempting to prohibit, by taxation, the sale of food and beverages deemed unhealthy? Not the Tea party. If anything, the Tea Party and it’s Libertarian roots, are natural opponents of prohibition. As far as being anti immigrant, the Tea Party is only against illegal immigration

[EdDunkle]

I think he's straight edge, old school nerd style. He seems to have no clue about the war on drugs.

[beigelycheenut]

What an obnoxious turd!

[idicula1979]

First of all legalize marijauna plain and simple no fine or jail time. For other more harmfull drugs make them a finable offense and put that money into rehab for the drugs when a person is deemed to be a fall down drug addict by the legal system, but never jail time which does not help in any way in several casses it can even make it more of a problem for the individual and society. Our penal code when it comes to drugs is clearly a relic of a time when you would send people to debters jail.

[th30k]

KEN BURNS ROCKS!

[cjfilmproductions]

Right at the end look at how he says "because it is drugs"then he says we dont know the history .I think it shows his bias on the subject. The thing is we do know the history. booze breeds violence and stupidity .weed breeds munchies....second no one drives erratically on pot. if you test for driving on pot you should do the same for coffee ....texting while driving is more dangerous than driving on pot lets ban cellphones.

[cjfilmproductions]

Right at the end look at how he says "because it is a drugs"then he says we dont know the history it shows his bias on the subject. the thing is we do know the history booze breeds violence and stupidity weed breeds munchies....second no one drives erratically on pot only booze does that if you test for driving on pot you should do the same for coffee or tylenol ......

[matt605]

Misandrist pornography.

Probibition could succeed today because law enforcement is so strong. Homeland security can find a suitcase bomb, a barrel of rum is no challenge and cocaine and heroin are much more lucrative. Don't prohibit everything, beer, wine, and expensive liquor okay. Cheap booze? Tax it-- prohibitively.

Support cheap liquor as you choose, but don't mistakenly believe that prohibition couldn't work today. 

[HolyknightVader999]

American slavery was the worst since there was no government sanctioned emancipation like in Latin America until the 1860s, which by then even the most conservative Christian monarch in Europe is decrying slavery. In fact, the Czar even marched up his fleet to California during the American Civil War to hold a parade at the port to show his support against slavery.

[econogate]

Slavery was our worst "adopted idea", should have been what Nick responded with.

[lockwoodisafaggot]

slavery was not an American idea. it existed far before the US did.

[Apophiswillkillus]

I've lost a lot of respect for Ken Burns. He thinks prohibition is deleterious but he's all for it when it comes to hard drugs; legalize all drugs and treat people for their addictions and mental health issues, instead of treating them as criminals. As for his anecdotal story about someone with lung cancer and he thinks it's because their parents smoked, I'm sorry but I had to stop watching there. This guy is an ass.

[Stonegoal]

Cannabis sativa appears to have originated in Central Asia and was probably first cultivated for its fibre. It has been grown in China for at least 4500 years. It is thought to have reached Europe by 1500 BC.

2700 BC First written record of cannabis use, in the pharmacopoeia of Shen Nung, one of the fathers of Chinese medicine.

It has more and more but how but is really needed?

[Stonegoal]

We have had a wide spread history of cannabis. America was the one who gave it the name marijuana. Cannabis was used much more in Asia which would have had many more people but Europeans are the ones who were in power while our world was establishing our lines of communication and world powers. Europe is a colder area so it had more access to alcohol. So the leaders made laws supporting the things they are used for and against what they were not.

[uk6strings]

Ironically, Burns seems OK with a smoking band but is uncomfortable with the idea that the government can "superimpose" an idea on everybody when it comes to alcohol. I don't see how the two issues are seperate - Burns seems to need some work on the consistency of his philosophy.

[xxcrysad3000xx]

@uk6strings It didn't sound like he was advocating or even really condoning the NYC smoking ban, he was saying that we have continually tried to legislate behavior (according to prevailing standards of morality), and that in doing so there are certain social costs and benefits, and a slew of unintended consequences. He seems rather weary of this sort of reactionary moral crusader-ism, but recognizes that it exists in our history and that all too often single issue politics carries the day.

[uk6strings]

3:10 - Burns falsely claims that Prohibition-proponents created a Prohibition Amendment because then it would be harder to repeal. That's just false. They had to amend the Constitution because the advocates and government back then had the intellectual honesty to admit that the goverment does not have the Constitutional authority to actually ban a substance - quite unlike today's day-and-age where the government bans whatever it wants whether they have the authority or not.

[MaxxTheMerciless]

One of the best points I heard, which I often try to point out that a lot of Libertarians often miss or misunderstand is when Ken talking about the pursuit of the more perfect union, which is, in part, why you have a nation in the first place. The Purpose aspect is just as important to the Liberty aspect to Freedom. Without it, you don't have Freedom. Where the Dries went right in many ways was that they were winning the argument, and promoting temperance. Where they went wrong...cont...

[MaxxTheMerciless]

@MaxxTheMerciless cont... Where they went wrong was going too far, making an Amendment banning alcohol altogether. The lesson of Prohibition is that you promote good behaviors that lead to health, happiness and success, but at the same time you must let people suffer from their own mistakes so they understand the Purpose of such behaviors. Freedom is about self-governing, about promoting the things that strengthen the individual both physically and spiritually.

[thevashongroup]

This is what Ron Paul wants freedom of Choice Vote for Him POTUS

[RosenKrantz666]

Ken's horribly misguided in that modern drug war has less parallel to The Prohibition.

Difference between his assertion that most do alcohol but not drugs, is that w/drugs MANY do it while ADMIT NOT doing it, while many do alcohol & have LESS problem DENYING it. It's more of variance in cultural perception. Hypocrisy w/alcohol is that it's 'more acceptable.'

To be factual, entheogens were FAR more common worldwide PRIOR to alcohol being ever invented.

Completely predictable statist response.

[dmhappy2777]

Just wish some one would work on legislation that allowed Liberty....

[econogate]

He just mystifies it into some good vs. evil thing rather than demystify the whole setup of the 'war on drugs', he fails epically to take his opportunity and position to argue for greater personal and economic freedom, despite all the evidence that the past three hundred years of capitalist progress provides he actually thinks we need to blood test a person high on drugs as opposed to just doing a field sobrity test and assumes we cant come up with something better.

[lawsonrt]

Slavery was not our idea. It is sad that we practiced it, but it is factually incorrect and important to note that slavery was not an American convention, and that convention is still practiced today in many countries mainly in the middle east, north Africa, Asia. The most sad thing about slavery in the USA was that it took a war to stop it (not saying that was the main or sole cause of the civil War).

[SunSunSuperFun]

The DUI argument is such bullshit. You test for impairment from marijuana the same way you test for impairment with Rx drugs - you use field sobriety tests and general observations to determine if a suspect is under the influence. If you suspect they are, get a warrant and a blood or urine sample. Boom - done.

[independencemp3]

in Prohibition the progressive movement is well documented - it's roots go back in America to the same time it basically began as European socialism, or communism . Only in America, the progressives were tee-totaling, God-fearing women, saving their families; but the same idea - have Government control the lives of the citizens, always in the name of what is good for society.

[iwannaiguana60]

Right on, Ken! "Nuff said, time to hit the bong!!!

[BigDaddyDJD]

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

[hutch1200]

Prohibition, an example of the failure of any Big Governmenr Plan. "We know what's best for you, rube". ". I plan to watch this w/an eye toward other things since, that were touted as making us "a more perfect/just society". LBJs' war on poverty which has lead to keeping generations in poverty, sapping their spirit (unintended consequence). They ALL start w/noble sounding ideals/names. EPA, NEA, CAFE etc..Learn from history, or repeat its' failures, again-Yogi Brea

[hutch1200]

Prohibition, an example of the failure of any Big Governmenr Plan. "We know what's best for you, rube". ". I plan to watch this w/an eye toward other things since, that were touted as making us "a more perfect/just society". LBJs' war on poverty which has lead to keeping generations in poverty, sapping their spirit (unintended consequence). They ALL start w/noble sounding ideals/names. EPA, NEA, CAFE etc..Learn from history, or repeat its' failures, again-Yogi Brea

[usagill]

There are intended consequences to all things but the current situation that the drug war has caused seem almost ridiculous in comparison. Murder and Mayhem in Mexico thanks DEA and Congress you are the murderers.

[alita589]

He falls into the central planers trap. We dont need a central planer to telling us what is an aceptable use or miss use. This will be decided quite quickly through the courts and society as to what behavior is tolerated.

[fatguyonthc]

How do we test to see if someone is under the influence of cannabis while driving? Easy, don't. Instead let's hold all drivers accountable for their actions, whether they are stoned, drunk or sober.

[WillGerard5]

Progressives are in fact Calvinists in camouflage - self-righteous religious fanatics.

[5tevef]

legalize real milk.



[Puabond]

There is evidence of marijuana being burned on the walls of prehistoric man, the same walls we find the first cave paintings.

Cannabis and human history are so much more linked then Burns apparently knows.

Before the corruption of our global markets by petrochemical, IT WAS ALL CANNABIS. THATS HOW YOUR ANCESTORS GOT HERE BECAUSE OF HEMP SAILS!!!!!!!

He seems so close to informed. He just doesn't wanna look like an activist in order to increase his personal revenue from his film.

[glennd7962]

What an effete elitist ponce Burns is! First, to correct some of this assertions. Drug use - particularly marijuana has a long history with human beings, so to assert a difference between alcohol and "drugs" based on that is absurd. Second. what obligation does a "caring society" have? And what gives govt the right to assume that it is its responsibility to be the arbiter of what exactly? Fyi, his documentaries suck - the he you did on Thomas Jefferson was unwatchable.

[Grevlo]

legalize weeed.... i'm desperate

[cdltpx]

If arrested in 70380 they will test your urine for drugs if you test positive you have to enter treatment if you check the local paper people are arrested for assult for shoplifting bond out for $500 for $1K but those that are picked up for violating drug program have $100K bond HELLO you have victumless crimes $100K bond and assult $500 bond or theft $1K bond shouldn't that tell you they are corrupt in the bond amounts alone. I am 5 generation from there REFUSE to live there BC of corruption.

[pinegrove33]

why is this dumb leftist on Reason?

[UncleIrv]

Exactly how was slavery "OUR" idea? Slavery existed since the beginning of mankind and at least 50% of the founders OPPOSED slavery.

See, here is another of the 10,000 examples I've given on how Libertarians are LEFTISTS. Their minds reside in Magic Unicorn Land, and they're happy to embrace STATIST OBAMATRON CLOWNS like KEN BURNS...as long as said clowns are fellow residents of Magic Unicorn Land.

[sonnybrown]

@profwito Yeah. I'm afraid I have to agree. He's far from really understanding what Jim is getting at.

[NHindividualist]

He's wrong about the reason for the 16th. It wasn't so that prohibition would be "enshrined" and not repealed; it was because without an amendment, the federal government had no authority to outlaw alcohol.

Ah, what a quaint time when Congress didn't ban things without constitutional authority.

[elricmlbone]

16th amendment was our worst one, hands down

[Ihasmoarface]

@elricmlbone no doubt, but at least you guys got those cool bear arms.

[successfulbuild]

Ken Burns is awesome. I got his PBS series on the Civil War off Amazon. history [dot] com / interactives / civil-war-150. (Not as in-depth but a good introduction as it has stories from soldiers.)

_

Btw... the rich never were affected much by prohibition. They could easily get alcohol. It was highly regressive, I'm sure he covers that in his new documentary. I'll get it when I can.

[econogate]

I can't believe he would study prohibition and not find the similarities absolutely astonishing today with regard to the Nanny state today, it maybe as if he never read a book about the insanity of the "war on drugs". How can he not fully connect the two as well as the economic crash of 2008?

[newyorkairsoft]

@econogate Ken Burn can't bring himself to say the nanny states now a day is the same as prohibition because he's a die-hard liberal. He donates money to the Dem, endorsed Obama, and is planning to be a contributor to the left wing Keith Obermann's show. Yeah, that makes me wanna throw up.

These kinds of people think the evil, big government is ALWAYS in the past, and today's big evil government is a force of good.

[eirefrance]

@newyorkairsoft Of course, as a liberal he can't possibly think for himself, can he? He's just a cog in a machine, without the independent mind that you have, sir. Maybe there should be some sort of way of keeping track of people like Ken Burns? Make them wear a yellow star on their jacket, for example? That way, everyone knows he's one of those dirty, scheming liberals.

[newyorkairsoft]

@eirefrance you are correct, liberals are too stupid to think. I pin-pointed some facts about Ken:

Ken endorsed Obama, fact. He sends money to Dem party, fact. He even directed the liberal senator Kennedy's film as a propaganda piece.

So, unless you can pint point to any inaccuracies, your attempt at being sarcastic is a fail.

Keeping track of Ken? We don't need to. You guys are too easy to read. You guys jump at every chance to defend a left wing gov.

[eirefrance]

@newyorkairsoft And you don't even seem to get what you're being criticized for. Bravo!!!

[newyorkairsoft]

@eirefrance Your attempt at sophisticated snarkiness is just sad.

[fatguyonthc]

@econogate Yes I think he is ignorant to the fact that Cannabis was not considered a "drug" until about 80 years ago. The 10,000 or so years before that it was just a helpful herb to have around. Still is too.

[eirefrance]

@econogate Hmmmmmmmm, maybe because he's not an ideologue who looks for convenient similarities anywhere and everywhere he can as a way to bolster his fanatical argument?

[econogate]

@eirefrance People that try very hard to ignore cycles and booms and busts fail to plan ahead and are fooled and taken by fraudsters of every stripe, the "war on drugs" being a form of fraud in the truest sense.

[eirefrance]

@econogate Which has nothing to do to with whether or not he thinks the War on Drugs is equivalent to Prohibition (a difference he explains right in the video) or connects it to economic collapse or any of the other meta theories you have to fit the world into a neat little libertarian box.

[econogate]

@eirefrance You really should study biology and then you might comphrend how this story misses the boat more or less, sure he can talk about connections as if they seem arbitrary, but in the context of biology and human behavior he simply ignores the "elephant in the room", that being capitalism and the connection to control of such through the control of "health" or "drug use", sure the harm reduction argument can be made, but it just implies a slippery slope.

[hutch1200]

@econogate True Dat. But there are so many other "Big BRO" schemes that know what's best for us. Damned the unintended consequences! From the war on poverty to houme loans w/no income verification. Soyndra etc. Long lisy, heyna?

[aallppiinnee]

@econogate

because he's a liberal Democrat.

[jesushatesyoutoo]

@econogate The nanny state? You have no idea of history! They couldn't enforce the Volstead Act because the republicans would fund it. There was NO help for people with alcohol problems.

[econogate]

@jesushatesyoutoo Yeah, sure whatever as you say "the republicans would fund it" so therefore it must be evil? Your words lack clarity and so does your thought on these matters, maybe the people didn't want the Volstead Act, maybe they didn't fund it cause they would lose office if they did so, maybe nobody wanted prohibition but the leftist busy bodies that need to nanny all of our lives, wagging the finger then as they do now.

[VMATT500C]

Ken, forgot the Collusive Monetary problems facing America and the rest of the World, OOPS.

[HolisticPlantHealth]

It's a shame that this guy is still blinded by the lies and propaganda of drug prohibition.

11:50 .... The unintended consequence of not knowing what you are talking about but acting like you do: Being unaware that there are already plenty of sobriety tests which are non invasive! Or that we already have 2 regulation models (alcohol and tobacco) to base regulations.

12:30 .... Cannabis use goes back much farther than alcohol !

[MrWatchdawg77]

We need an Amendment that makes illegal aliens illegal!

[MrWatchdawg77]

In order of most worst ideas!

Slavery!

Prohibition!

Civil Right Act of 1965!

Affermative Action!

Obama Care! 

[MrWatchdawg77]

@MrWatchdawg77 Oh ya and amnesty for illegal aliens!

[TamedLionheart]

@MrWatchdawg77 So your order of " worst" ideas is slavery which I agree, prohibition(again no question it was a bad idea), the law that gave blacks the right to vote? a motion to help with equal rights, and an attempt to improve health care? Seriously?

[MrWatchdawg77]

@TamedLionheart Yep seriously! Forced integration by gun point, the striping of the rights to free association, forcing people to do business with people they don't want to, the death of any hope for Blacks to have their own part of America (Malcolm X), political correctness gone mad! Black could have been voting in their own Nation State right here in America! The Civil Rights Act was a hijacking of the Black movement by the Jews!

[UncleIrv]

@MrWatchdawg77

This guys is a pro-segregation racist asshole. Ignore him.

[MrWatchdawg77]

@UncleIrv They can ignore me but they can't ignore the facts! Forced integration is racist! Calling people racist because they want racial representation like all the other races is racist! You should try stepping out of you comfort zone and try looking at the facts free of all the political correctness!

[UncleIrv]

@MrWatchdawg77

Forced integration is not "racist." Forced integration is an unconstitutional overstepping of federal authority.

I did not call you a racist because you are against forced integration. I called you a racist because you are IN FAVOR OF RACIAL SEGREGATION, and this is clear from your statements.

You are an enemy of the constitution and the founding principles.

[MrWatchdawg77]

@UncleIrv There is an inconstancy there! You say that you are against forced integration but you are against letting people from segregating themselves! I look forward to seeing how you dance around this one!

The founding principles!? You mean the moral principles stemming from of the Magna Carta that gave us the freedom of association, and self government! The principles outlined by great White men of the Enlightenment! No! I embody those principles!

[UncleIrv]

@MrWatchdawg77

Bullshit. You're misrepresenting me. Where did I say I was in favor of the government deciding where a person chooses to reside?

What I'm against--fuckhead--is morons like you practicing blatant racial bigotry. It's a moral issue, not a legal one.

You're an anti-semite and a racist. You apparently do not deny that. Instead, you argue that there's nothing morally wrong with it.

Your pseudo-intellectual air does nothing to disguise your moral repugnance. Go fuck yourself.

[yojimbo81]

@TamedLionheart Forcing someone to buy healthcare is not an improvement.

[CurtHowland]

Roosevelt was elected over and over not because his policies extended and deepened the depression, but purely because he could say, "I repealed prohibition for you."

[CurtHowland]

Calvin and Hobbs had a great bit on this:

Calvin: I found a way to really annoy Mom and Dad. I play easy-listening Muzak, really soft, too.

[grraadd]

ha ha - slavery wasn't american idea...

Prohibitions were tried by many countries, so even that idiocy isn't american.

[yojimbo81]

@grraadd Burns is a devout leftist. They are prone to hyperbole.

[grraadd]

@yojimbo81 good one - "hyperbole" :-)

Looks like they study great depression (bernanke, burns) and study hard to prove their preconceived ideas.

In centrally planned states there is always great demand for that kind of "scientists".

[RogueSwordThesco]

@grraadd

Was about to say this,

Then I saw someone already had said it

[uk6strings]

@grraadd Yeah, I didn't understand how slavery was an American idea either....

[PerpetualHarvest]

@uk6strings

He didn't say it was" America's worst idea" he said it was "America's biggest mistake". Big difference. Its like saying one of America's mistake is selling out our job industry. They are not the first to sell out their people just making a serious mistake someone else has already made! I believe the first slave owners were Adam & Eve's Children I forgot which ones but slavery has been around shortly after being kicked out the Garden of Eden.

[duhg599]

@PerpetualHarvest He actually does say, "Slavery was our worst idea." First two seconds of the video. And the conversation of whether or not he means that America came up with the idea or took it from somewhere else is entirely besides the point of the video, which is prohibition.

[magister343]

@grraadd Slavery in some form has existed long before the start of recorded history, but the American form was unique. Slavery had nothing to do with race in most places. Laws against educating slaves were an American innovation; in ancient Rome, a large number of slaves were clerks with better education that most citizens. In most societies slaves could own their own property, including their own slaves.

[HolyknightVader999]

@grraadd Islam managed to keep prohibition from the 660s to today.

[grraadd]

@HolyknightVader999 yes - very good example :-)

[TasteOfGreen]

Just saw Ken on the Colbert Report, good to see him making the rounds.