VLVL the war on drugs

[Tim Strzechowski]

> It's ironic that the dope growers at Holytail have the same sort of
> elaborate surveillance systems in operation as the feds (221.4-13), and
that
> "friendly deputies" have to be bribed to co-operate with the DEA's CAMP
> initiative (220.33, 222.20-22, and cf. that local sheriff at Zoyd and
> Frenesi's wedding p. 23).

Indeed.  The surveillance system of the Holytrail dopers reminds me of the
elaborate electronics and wiring employed by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters
up in the La Honda woods back in '64 or so, used (by them) for psychedelic
effect, musical enhancement of the Acid Tests, etc.  That is perhaps why the
notion of "techie-dopers" doesn't seem all that improbable, especially when
referring to a community looking to protect its harvest of bud from the
feds.

>
> I suspect the word "'volunteers'" is put into scare quotes because that is
> how Bopp has described them on the news (222.14, 221.19-22), with the
> implication being that some or all of them were in fact also on the
> government payroll.

It could.  Of course, it also suggests coercion, especially when it concerns
someone whose "old profession" (221.28) inspires him to don the "Nazi drag"
(222.13) while working with said "volunteers."  And the use of scare quotes
in the context of a former Nazi officer has echos of phrases like "special
treatment" and other such pseudonymous terms.

Good point, nevertheless.

>
> The description of what was happening at Holytail (220-222) again shows
how
> commonplace it was for these people to sell out on their friends, and it
> repeats the theme of betrayal which drives Pynchon's narrative.

Well, maybe.  Perhaps some textual support would help this position,
however.  I don't see much "selling out" in this passage other than the
parrot smuggler, who "sold out his entire load before the sheriff even heard
about it" (222).  I *do* see citizens in possession of drugs "flush[ing]
their stashes down the toilet," "forg[etting] each other's names," and
generally exhibiting the evasive behavior of dopers trying to avoid a major
bust.  But perhaps you see a level of metaphor here that I, as I read the
text, do not.

Thank you for the links and supplementary research.

Respectfully,

Tim