July/August 2009 Issue

Drug War Quiz: Just Say Know

Dust off your short-term memory and test your drug war knowledge with some tidbits from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Country-Drugs-History/dp/0470167394/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231014655&sr=1-1">This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America</a>.

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1. A 1918 New York Times article suggested Germany was trying to make Americans “cokeys” and “hop fiends” with…

  • Drugs mixed into sausage
  • Drugs in toothpaste and teething syrup
  • Narco-polkas

2. How much “ditchweed”—wild hemp with no psychoactive properties—did the DEA destroy in 2005?

  • 219 plants
  • 219,000 plants
  • 219 million plants

3. As the “methedemic” raged in 2004, how many meth “superlabs” did federal authorities seize?

  • 55,500
  • 550
  • 55

4. During the late 19th century, most opium addicts were first turned on to the drug by…

  • Doctors
  • Hobos
  • Chinese opium dens

5. Which of the following did not support efforts to criminalize marijuana in the 1930s?

  • Pharmaceutical industry
  • American Medical Association
  • Liquor industry

6. Nearly what portion of Mexico’s arable land is used to grow drugs?

  • 1/5
  • 1/4
  • 1/3

7. Which president first declared cocaine “the most dangerous drug problem that the US ever faced”?

  • William Taft
  • Ronald Reagan
  • George W. Bush

8. Who was the Senate’s most strident drug warrior in the 1960s?

  • Barry Goldwater
  • Robert F. Kennedy
  • Strom Thurmond

9. In which decade did Americans’ illegal drug use decline most rapidly?

  • 1980s
  • 1990s
  • 2000s

10. In 2004, the White House buried a study that found that a $1.4 billion anti-pot ad campaign had…

  • Increased first-time pot use among 14- to 16-year-olds
  • Increased first-time pot use among whites
  • Both A and B

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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