Open Thread

“bullet” Interesting perspective from Bruce Mirken: How Does It Feel To Be On the Losing Side of History?”

Now I think I know what it must have been like to be, say, the last premier of East Germany, standing guard over the fading embers of an empire in irreversible decline. It‰s a little sad. Like them, the Terrence Farleys of this world no longer have a real case to make or a reason to justify their existence. They just cling to what they do because, well, it‰s what they do and they don‰t know anything else.

“bullet” Sasha Abramsky in The Nation: The War Againg the ‘War on Drugs’

The state with the toughest three-strikes law in the land and a prison population of more than 150,000 is facing the real possibility of having to release tens of thousands of inmates early in order to pare its $10 billion annual correctional budget.
At the same time, an increasing number of the state’s political figures are challenging the basic tenets of the “war on drugs,” the culprit most responsible for the spike in prison populations over the past thirty years; they argue that the country’s harsh drug policies are not financially viable and no longer command majority support among the voting public.
Similar stories are unfolding around the country; in Washington, federal officials are talking about drug-policy reform and, more generally, sentencing reform in a way that has not been heard in the halls of power for more than a generation.

“bullet” Protecting medical marijuana shops a tricky task for police… Hmm… you know what would make it easier? Legalize.
“bullet” Some media starting to pick up the WHO report bombshell that Transform reported last week: Suppressed report raises questions about drug policy
“bullet” Massachusetts Suspends Pentagon Giveaways to Local Police Departments. Good job by the Boston Globe (and Radley, of course) in bringing this issue out in the open.
“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”