Open Thread

“bullet” Bartonville, Illinois (just down the road from me) running “drug enforcement zones.” It sounds Constitutionally questionable, but unfortunately, the press coverage is extremely vague, so I’m not quite sure exactly what they’ll be doing.
“bullet” Clarence Page: A ‘wire’ war vs. the drug war

The war on drugs too often has become a war against poor people.

“bullet” The Second Chance Act has been passed by Congress to provide prisoner re-entry services
“bullet” The drug czar’s budget has not been getting a free ride in the press this year. Here’s the Washington Post.
“bullet” Paul Armentano: Outrageous Anti-Pot Lies: Media Uses Disgraceful Cancer Scare Tactics
“bullet” Rockford Register Star editorial: No Good Reasons To Continue Ban On Medical Marijuana

Illness knows no party lines or political ideology. Patients should be able to get marijuana with their doctors’ approval without being treated like criminals.

The Register star also notes that 68% of Illinois voters back medical marijuana.
“bullet” A couple of stories from Narco News indicating disturbing (but not surprising) evidence that drug war rhetoric against Venezuela and Bolivia are covering more sinister efforts.

• U.S. Cocaine-Plane Invasion Spooking Latin America – Trail of Evidence Points to Major Covert Operation Targeting Venezuela
  

  The covert program, law enforcement sources contend, likely involves the CIA and components of Defense Department intelligence agencies, and is focused, in part, on penetrating, or even propping up, narco-trafficking groups in Venezuela. That country‰s outspoken leader, Hugo Ch½vez, is regularly demonized by U.S. policymakers for, among other things, supposedly allowing his country to become a haven for narco-traffickers.
  The operation also appears to prioritize intelligence objectives over law enforcement goals, which means tons of cocaine might well be getting a free pass into the United States.

• Recruiting Spies in the Peace Corps Washington‰s blunder in Bolivia strains relations with the Morales government.

“bullet” “drcnet”