*Worth a read*

Worth a read
1. For a good overview of the current status of the war on drugs, the August 18 issue of The Nation will include an article by Sasha Abramsky: The Drug War Goes Up in Smoke (now available online, and also available at MAP).

“The war on terror may be too new to declare victory or defeat. But this nation has been fighting a war on drugs for more than a quarter-century,
ever since New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller mandated harsh drug
sentencing in 1973–and it may be time to announce that this is one war
we’ve lost.”

2. In my own state of Illinois, this week governor Rod Blagojevich finally brought us out of the dark ages by signing a bill allowing limited non-prescription sale of syringes, to slow the spread of AIDS and other blood-born diseases among drug addicts. Steve Chapman has a good article in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune: Eliminating death penalties for drug use (Chicago Tribune, free registration required, or you can read the article at MAP).