Open Thread

Just had tech weekend for “The Who’s Tommy” and first dress is tonight, so talk amongst yourselves…
“bullet” An interesting media contradiction noted by Steve R at Transform:

Drug is a problem, Michael admits
Pop singer George Michael has admitted his marijuana use can be “a problem” and said he is “constantly trying” to smoke less of the drug [BBC, UK]
Drugs aren’t a problem, says George Michael
The singer talks about his heavy use of marijuana, but says he is lucky enough to have the income to support the habit: ‘Do I wish I could use it less? Sure, but is it a problem in my life? No,’ [Observer, UK]

“bullet” I’m not sure what to think of this one… Maybe people in Darwin really like to enjoy themselves? Most Arrested In Darwin Stoned

THREE out of four people arrested and detained by police in Darwin are under the influence of illicit drugs, research shows.
Australian Institute of Criminology data reveals 73 per cent of Darwin detainees tested positive to cannabis in July and August, steadily increasing from 46 per cent in January last year.

73% Wow.

DUMA statistics also showed 83 per cent of female offenders and 82 per cent of male offenders had reported heavy alcohol use at some time in the 30 days before their offence.

At least Sgt. Mitchell has some perspective:

“It’s that really high level of drinking and offending that’s the problem,” said Sgt Mitchell.
“People when they get drunk do dumb things. They get into cars and drive. We know they shot someone because they looked at their girlfriend.
“Cannabis users, by and large, are fairly mellow.”

“bullet” Matt over at scaryshit rants about political officials, corruption, the Hatch Act, and the official attempts to stop the Nevada marijuana initiative.
“bullet” Interesting (though flawed) column by Robert Buddan at the Jamaica Gleaner essentially slamming the U.S.’ approach to the drug war. The interesting part is his notion about illicit drug trade as a world economy feature. Where he’s wrong is the notion that, once realizing that fact, the world could “win” the drug war.
“bullet” I’ve been getting quite a bit of reaction to the post about the Kyle Klavetter column. Nice to hear from some other University of Tulsa students that Kyle is not representative of that school’s caliber of study. Also, here’s the counterpoint that was printed in the same paper: Legal Post, a plus. It’ll be interesting to see if there are follow-up letters published.