Was the Pentagon Shooter an Obama-approved Pothead?

The left says he was a right-winger; the conservatives say that he was a leftist. What is abundantly clear, from reading his Internet commentaries, is that Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell was a psychotic pothead. He hated a government that he believed was standing in the way of his desire to use, grow and glorify marijuana. He virtually worshipped the drug. “I’m a cannabis enthusiast,” he proclaimed.

In terms of ideology, he expressed conservative ideas about limiting the role of government, but opposed the war in Iraq and favored open borders. 

But rather than try and make silly ideological points by accusing Bedell of being either left or right, there is an urgent need for the blogosphere¯and the major media¯to address the question of how he became criminally psychotic and a patsy for conspiracy theories. The answer is marijuana, which alters the ability of the mind to comprehend reality but which is depicted by most of the media as safe and harmless.

This connection¯between pot and mental illness¯is a matter of the medical record but is conveniently being ignored in the many stories about this young man’s strange journey and tragic end.

The book, “Marijuana and Madness,” cites studies and evidence from around the world, some of it going back 40 years, linking the use of marijuana¯supposedly a “soft” drug¯to mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and psychosis. One of the latest studies finds that “Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood…”

The public laughs at the old propaganda films such as “Reefer Madness,” which depict marijuana smokers as crazed zombies. However, the Pentagon rampage was likely triggered by marijuana-induced psychosis. Bedell was not only a heavy marijuana user and had been busted for possession and growing the drug, but dedicated much of his life to glorifying the substance.

He had declared cannabis “to be one of the most useful plants known to humanity” and said that he looked forward to the day when “billions and billions of carefully cultivated, highly valuable cannabis plants [are] growing throughout the United States with complete security of property.” He said he envisioned “the use of cannabis as a monetary system.”

The rampage at the Pentagon has also raised disturbing questions about the Obama Administration’s policy of allowing “medical marijuana” dispensaries in such places as California, where Bedell was living, to operate free from fear of federal prosecution. President Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder have been accused of encouraging marijuana use by refusing to use federal resources to prosecute “medical marijuana” users and the “dispensaries” which supply them with the illegal dope. 

He reportedly claimed during one pot bust that he had a “medical marijuana” card which entitled him to use marijuana for “health” reasons.

Bedell, 36, had a bachelor’s degree in science and was enrolled in graduate school. A professor called him helpful, hardworking and intelligent. At some point, however, he developed an addiction for marijuana and a psychosis that led to the Pentagon rampage. How many other intelligent young people with good backgrounds and a good future get exposed to marijuana and other drugs and throw it all away?

One can hope that the tragic story of John Patrick Bedell and his victims will cause our major media to review the dangerous implications of allowing more and more people access to the drug, on the spurious grounds that it is somehow medicinal, and start a much-needed examination of the billionaires and organizations pushing drug legalization in America .

Billionaire George Soros has been called “an extremely evil person” by Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation for putting millions of dollars into groups like the Drug Policy Alliance dedicated to legalization of pot and other drugs. Another billionaire, Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Insurance Company, has also put millions of dollars into the cause. Lewis, who was arrested in New Zealand and admitted to three charges of importing drugs after customs officers found two ounces of hashish and 1.7 ounces of marijuana in his luggage, is being honored with the “America’s Future Lifetime Leadership Award” at the June 8 awards gala of the “progressive” Campaign for America’s Future. 

While he thought the U.S. Government had itself been taken over by a drug-trafficking cabal, Bedell was such a believer in marijuana that he tried to grow it out in the open, on the balcony of his apartment. He wrote, “I deliberately did not seek permission of any kind, and did not obtain a doctor’s recommendation for the use of cannabis, which would have made my garden relatively acceptable under California state law.”

Not surprisingly, Bedell was busted by the police, adding fuel to his anti-government mentality. 

He apparently targeted the Pentagon because of his belief that military officials had covered up the alleged murder of a Marine Colonel with knowledge of drug trafficking. 

Joyce Nalepka, president of Drug Free Kids: America ’s Challenge (DFK) and former president of Nancy Reagan’s National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth, appealed for help from the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the widening massive campaign by professional drug legalization lobbyists, drug users and drug traffickers to legalize “medical marijuana.” 

Both Maryland and D.C. are working to pass pro-drug legislation, with the Maryland legislature scheduled to hear a bill on March 18 in Annapolis.

Nalepka noted that, during the meeting with senior Department of Justice staff, the group of anti-drug activists was told that the federal government did not have the resources to go after the problem of “medical marijuana.”

Nalepka countered, “That’s why we’re here¯we want the government to get the resources. It is well-known that marijuana is both physically and psychologically addictive and is a definite stepping stone to many drugs.”

She concluded, “Allowing this to continue is treason, i.e., a betrayal of trust, against our own children and grandchildren.”