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"As long as any government can arbitrarily decide which drugs are legal, anybody behind
bars for illegal drugs is a political prisoner. No wonder the propagandistic Partnership for
a Drug Free America is funded by tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical corporations."
                                                - Paul Krassner, Why Was Peter McWilliams Murdered?

Below is a compilation of literature I've written for the various organizations I've volunteered for. A few of the publications below are available in PDF format as pamphlets and charts. To view those files, you will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader if your computer does not already have it. All my publications are free to print out. All drug graphics on this website were designed by Jason Justice.

WHAT DO ALL DRUGS HAVE IN COMMON? I researched the answers to this question after having volunteered in drug education and politics for a few years. I was getting frustrated with the ego of people who thought they were better than others just because they didn't use certain substances. Ironically, almost everyone is guilty of this hypocrisy. And I call it hypocrisy because the most widely used drugs in the world are not even considered drugs by most people who use them, often because they happen to be legal. But numerous risks are universal to all legal and illegal substances, including:

CHINA vs AMERICA China: a Third World, Communist country. America: a civilized, advanced society. This is probably the mainstream perception of these two nations. But the line between democracy and totalitarianism is not as fine as most people believe, at least not in the area of drug policy and drug-related problems. Check this page out to find out what China and its Western counterpart shares, besides a really good business relationship.

DISCRIMINATION A chart & timeline that compares different communities of drug users who have had laws specifically passed against them in the United States. Also available as a PDF file here, or read my school article here.

ECSTASY One of my favorite drugs, but it doesn't come without its risks. Here's everything I've learned about this drug since becoming a user in 1999, and an educator in 2000.

GHB PAMPHLET A double-sided, three-fold pamphlet on preventing overdoses and drug-assisted rape incidences with the depressant drug GHB. Originally co-written with the staff at the C.E.A.S.E. counseling program of San Francisco State University. Download the PDF file here.

HARM REDUCTION A listing of definitions and examples to the philosophy of harm reduction, which has been applied to drugs, sex, driving, and countless other activities to minimize harm in our society. A drawing is also available to better describe the differences between harm reduction and the traditional drug programs offered by our government. I've used this information at many DanceSafe trainings.

HIGHER EDUCATION ACT The Higher Education Act or HEA is a bill that was passed in 1965 to offer financial aid assistance to college students from lower-income families. In 1998, a provision created by Representative Mark Souder (R-Indiana) was added to the HEA to withhold money from students who have had drug convictions. Of course, this is another example of a right-wing politician pretending to be compassionate and caring by getting tough on drugs. But in reality, the "drug problem" is used as an excuse to deny poor Americans access to government money. This is just one of the many reasons a national movement has been formed against Mark Souder's ridiculous provision around education and drugs (two issues which he obviously knows nothing about). Visit Students for Sensible Drug Policy or the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform to learn more.

Congratulations to Congressman Mark Souder for being a complete idiot! >>>

Read my article on the discriminatory nature of this and other drug laws

Read the 1965 text of the original Higher Education Act

Find out why Mark Souder's an idiot

JUST SAY NO vs JUST SAY KNOW A chart comparing two different strategies of preventing drug abuse among teens: 1) America's traditional philosophy behind the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program and Just Saying No to Drugs, vs. 2) A new approach a number of organizations have come to call Just Say Know that adopts a broader range of knowledge of substance use and more open dialogue among teens. Originally drafted as training material for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of DanceSafe.

LANGUAGE IN DRUG WAR Contains examples of terms and phrases that Americans have become familiar with when thinking about drug problems. Cites how and why the terminology came about, what impact it has on the way we view drugs in our society, and why such language is inaccurate. Also available as a pamphlet in PDF format. Download here.

LSD An outline of everything I know about one of my favorite drugs. Includes a section on helping individuals who are having a bad emotional/psychological experience under the effects of LSD or another psychedelic substance. That section is also available as a two-page, double-sided pamphlet on PDF format. Download here. For my school article on why LSD and other substances became criminalized, go here.

SOBER PARTYING This page is dedicated to all the jaded ravers, clubbers, DJ's, and promoters out there who politely declined my information because y'all don't do drugs, right? Well, I still think there's shit in the party scene that could improve further, even if everyone stopped doing drugs tomorrow. So read this content on risk factors un-related to substance use.

WAR ON DRUGS vs WAR ON TERRORISM This is an extensive chart comparing the way our federal government is dealing with drugs and terrorism. When 9/11 struck, I had not known anything about the history of terrorism or American foreign policy. But I knew enough about the War on Drugs to notice similar approaches that the Bush administration was adopting for the War on Terrorism. Also available as a PDF file here.

REFERENCES

  • DanceSafe
  • EcstasyData.org
  • Cloud, John; The Lure of Ecstasy, Rave New World; Time Magazine; New York, NY; June 5, 2000.
  • Rosenbaum, Marsha and Beck, Jerome; Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience; State University of NY Press; Albany, NY; 1994.
  • Malberg, Jessica and Seiden, Lewis; Temperature and MDMA-Induced Neurotoxicity; The Journal of Neuroscience; Chicago, IL; July 1, 1998.
  • Edited by Holland, M.D., Julie; Ecstasy: The Complete Guide; Park Street Press; Rochester, VT; 2001.
  • Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
  • The Vaults of Erowid
  • Gray, Mike; Drug Crazy; Random House; New York, NY; 1998
  • The History Channel; Hooked: Illegal Drugs & How They Got That Way; A&E Television Networks; 2000
  • Schneider, Cathy Lisa; Racism, drug policy, and AIDS; Political Science Quarterly; Fall 1998, v113, n3, p427
  • McWilliams, Peter; Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country; Prelude Press; Los Angeles, CA; 1996
  • Loewen, James; Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong; New Press; New York, NY; 1995





Feel free to email me at lesliu@gmail.com for questions or feedback.

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