HTTP/1.0 200 OK Content-Type: text/html Report - 92 Percent Of Souls In Hell There On Drug
Pubdate: Wed, 12 Oct 2005
Source: Onion, The
Copyright: 2005 Onion Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theonion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/894
Note: The Onion is a satirical weekly publication.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

REPORT: 92 PERCENT OF SOULS IN HELL THERE ON DRUG CHARGES

HELL -- A report released Monday by the Afterlife Civil Liberties 
Union indicates that nine out of 10 souls currently serving in Hell 
were condemned on drug-related sins.

"Hell was created to keep dangerous sinners off the gold-paved 
streets of Heaven," ACLU spokesman Barry Horowitz said. "But lately, 
it's become a clearing-house for the non-evil souls that Heaven 
doesn't know how to deal with."

The disproportionate number of drug offenders in Hell is a result of 
God's "get tough" drug policy of the 80s A.D., imposed after Roman 
emperor Domitian Flavius introduced opium to his people. God's 
detractors say His reactionary "one sin and you're out" rule places 
too harsh a penalty on venial drug users.

According to God's law, souls who possess four ounces of illegal 
drugs at any point during their mortal lives face a mandatory minimum 
sentence of eternity.

High-ranking seraphim in the Eternal Justice Department defended God's law.

"It's all about accountability," the angel Nathanael said. "The rule 
of the Lord affords the complementary blessings of freedom and 
responsibility, and provides the governing framework under which man 
is punished or rewarded according to his deeds. The rules are very 
simple: You do the crime, you do the time. Eternity, in this case."

The ACLU report included profiles of hundreds of offenders condemned 
to eternal perdition under God's law. Among them is Pvt. Robert 
"Bobby Joe" Hetfield, a World War I fighter and amputee who became 
addicted to morphine during his last 72 hours of life on a French 
battlefield in 1918. As punishment, Hetfield has spent nearly a 
century cleaning Beelzebub's dope house every morning by consuming 
the urine, excrement, and vomit left by Satan and his revelers.

Another offender listed in the ACLU report is Huachuri, an Incan 
peasant who used a coca-leaf-based marital aid in 1311. As 
punishment, he is sodomized continually by a winged, razor-penised goat.

Defenders of God's law argue that eternal punishments like these are 
the only way to deter other drug users, and preserve order in God's kingdom.

"This is not about revolving-door justice," St. Peter said. "While 
the word of God will keep some on the straight and narrow, Heavenly 
studies show that eternal damnation is the only deterrent that really works."

Horowitz said that while drug offenders are literally rotting away in 
Hell, serial killers and other dangerous sinners are receiving "mere 
Purgatorial sentences, thanks to the asking-for-forgiveness 
loophole." Purgatory is a minimum-security state of limbo that 
affords its occupants the opportunity to repent their sins and 
eventually gain admittance to Heaven on good behavior.

"Drug offenders, many of whom have committed no prior mortal sin, 
rack up infinite consecutive life sentences," Horowitz said. 
"Meanwhile, rapists say they're sorry, recite a few Hail Marys, and 
wind up basking in God's divine radiance within 10 years."

Among those who oppose God's laws are the stewards of Hell, who argue 
that his harsh anti-drug penalties have taxed the capacities of the underworld.

"I have one ravenous and overworked hellhound assigned to terrorize 
12 methamphetamine users," the demon Abracax said. "After 14 hours in 
the dog's digestive tract, they are excreted and revived, at which 
point, I give them another shot of methamphetamine. The dog's 
exhausted--he was originally intended to be responsible for two users at most."

According to Horowitz, even leaving aside questions of civil 
liberties in the afterlife, God's drug laws are problematic.

"These laws, simply put, don't work," Horowitz said. "What the 
Heavenly hosts need to consider is some sort of angelic 
early-intervention program at the pre-death level, or at the very 
least, some form of afterlife rehab."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman