Odds and Ends

There’s been all sorts of stuff to read this holiday weekend. Here are a few more …
“bullet” Radley’s got a piece at FOX News about the good folks at LEAP

For several years now, LEAP has been looking for a debate with the country’s top drug policymakers š anyone from DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to Drug Czar John Walters to powerful prohibition politicians like Indiana Rep. Mark Souder.
So far, they’ve had little luck. That’s too bad. If the drug war is still as important and necessary as our leaders in government say it is, it’s champions should be able to defend it–especially against the law enforcement officers they’ve asked to fight it.

I feel their pain. I’ve been wanting the same thing myself.
“bullet” Libby talks about North Dakota hemp efforts over at Detroit News.
“bullet” Tanya at Blame the Drug War covers a scathing report in Canada.

VANCOUVER, OTTAWA — The federal investment in the war on drugs has been an abject failure, according to a report to be published today.
Canada’s drug strategy, renewed with much fanfare in 2003, has put too much emphasis on law enforcement instead of on means to combat illicit drug use and minimize its human toll, says the report that is to appear in the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review.
The criticism appears unlikely to sway the federal Conservative government from its intention, confirmed by a Health Department spokesman, to tilt the strategy even further toward pure law-enforcement measures.
The study, which found that critical programs in prevention, treatment and research are being underfunded, comes five years after Canada’s Auditor-General issued a scathing report that said the country’s drug strategy focused too heavily on enforcement and needed a more “balanced approach.”