There has been an ongoing debate on the St Pete Times forum about the Seed/Straight survivors and the drug war in general. below is a response I made to a poster that works in addiction treatment, just thought you might be interested.
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I have been lurking in this thread since yesterday and decided to post.
I was in the Seed in 1973 at the age of 14. The Straight was nothing more than the Seed parents continuing the program when Art Barker left St Petersburg. Same torture, different torturor.
The thing that always surprises me when people whom weren't in the program discuss it is how so far off the mark they go. They talk about how these people needed "help" and how their addiction must be treated in some fashion, so I am just going to make this one point. The Program was never about treating addiction.
Thats right. Never about treating addiction. To take it one step further, the Seed/Straight program DID NOT ACCEPT DRUG ADDICTED CLIENTS. The program was about winning the drug war, and the kids/now adults sent to these places are victims of the drug war against american citizens.
Now, Soberman, I know this is hard for your self rightous, save the world mentality to take, but it is the truth. We, as children, were forced into coercive "treatment" as part of a plan to rid the planet of drugs, not to help us. This is why straight inc, is now DFAF (drug free america foundation) and makes statements like "you don't win a war by treating the casualties" when they try to defeat medicinal marijuana intitives.
Before you lash out at me for being a drug crazed or anger filled person, understand that I don't use drugs, don't smoke and rarely drink. I never was addicted to anything, but I was forced to sit in a warehouse for six months before I hit puberty, flap my arms around, go thru addiction treatment,eat a low calorie diet and get little sleep to 'condition me for treatment', and submit to brainwashing techniques and behavior modification formerly practiced on adult prisoners of war.
And it was no secret. In 1973, the St Pete times ran blistering reports almost daily on the brainwashing and denial of rights we were subjected to, but no one did anything. Instead, the police continued to kidnap kids without any trial, without any court order, and bring them to the seed. The courts routinely sentenced even NON DRUG USING JUVENILES to the Seed for having a "DRUGGIE ATTITUDE". And older kids sentenced to the Seed, routinely got up and chose jail over the Seed.
Soberman, do the world a favor. Stop trying to save us, because some of my friends were saved so effectively, they killed themselves after graduating the Seed.
The only reason I even allow myself to drag this childhood horror of mine up over and over is because, today, across this great land, children our being treated almost identically as I was 29 years ago and no one is doing anything except those of us whom were similarily tortured when we were kids. They are being told they are worthless, they are being sexually humiliated, locked in little rooms, and then told they were dying without the program, being convinced they are addicts and powerless over drugs, and the truth is, it is a lie,and it is a great american scandal that is finally coming to light.