[lbo-talk] Opium, Marx, and the Pope

[Jim Westrich]

Yes, Opiates have had a lot of medical benefits.  Brain chemistries are
different but in some people it actually helps them organize their 
thoughts.  I
personally think that the US underutilizes opiates in pain management greatly.
Many of the more modern drugs do far less with far greater side effects.  I
guess it also depends on the mix as well.

Marx talked about opiates in Capital; something about opiates being the opiate
of sleep-deprived parents.  Parents getting sleep is all about the 
reproduction
of labor.

I wanted to tie in Papal opiate use but I don't know anything about it.  But
from my catholic up-bringing I remember you could be ex-communicated for
smoking tobacco at one (medieval?) point and one of the popes loved 
coke (well,
it was in the 19th century and back then coke had a real "Fine Living" 
type buzz
about it).  Digging up stuff like this at a catholic high school was 
gold (even
though I am sure some of you will debunk this stuff as myths or my own fuzzy
memory).

Jim

"You got yer pope binoculars to see him up close
and I cried when I saw that man in white
I cried much to my surrounder's delight.
I cried 'cause I couldn't breathe anymore
I cried 'cause people were stepping on my feet
Hey, hey Mr. Holiness, way over there,
maybe we love you but we're sadly lakcing air."

    --Meryn Cadell