Good stuff around the web

“bullet”Last One Speaks gives us a Guardian Unlimited article which concludes that persecuting marijuana users may be un-Christian:

Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month. The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings.

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Walter in Denver has more on Clayton Helriggle (one of our Drug War Victims)

Greene County Prosecutor Bill Schenck said he intends to meet with investigators Feb. 2 to discuss possibly reconvening a Preble County grand jury to revisit the Sept. 27, 2002, shooting death of Clayton Helriggle by a police officer.

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Left Flank Shooters has a couple of interesting posts including this one with links to articles about heroin assisted treatment in Switzerland and Vancouver’s safer injection site, plus this one on Drug Enforcement and Crime, an excellent draft report that concludes from empirical data that drug enforcement efforts actually increase crime rather than reducing it.

It is well documented that many within government and the criminal justice system believe drug enforcement to be an effective crime control measure.[38] The empirical findings from this study stand in stark contrast to the traditional view.æ The results suggest that once you control for the effects of other determinants of crime, drug enforcement is positively (and significantly) associated with higher levels of both violent and property crime…

At a minimum, the empirical findings should raise serious questions about the effectiveness of drug enforcement as a crime control measure, and they suggest that significant social costs arise from existing approaches to drug control.

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NORML provides this easy opportunity to tell CBS you don’t want them to run drug czar propaganda during the Super Bowl (particularly since they’ve already claimed they won’t run “controversial issue” ads).