Open Thread

“bullet” He just hasn’t been listening.

“No one has told us what alternative we have,” said [Mexican] Interior Minister Fernando G÷mez Mont, gently slapping his palm on a table during an interview. “We are committed to enduring this wave of violence. We are strengthening our ability to protect the innocent victims of this process, which is the most important thing. We will not look the other way.”

“bullet” Failure Squared: War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror

U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke is congratulating himself for ending the Bush administration’s expensive and ineffective opium poppy eradication program. Trouble is, he’s decided to replace eradication with interdiction.

“bullet” Drugs are evil. We should legalise them now by Antonia Senior, Times Online.

By legalising, we would have a fighting chance of wresting the market from the hands of the drug barons: the ones who ruin lives and distort global politics and are untouched by our laughable efforts to police them. They are the only winners in the current futile war.

“bullet” Readers respond to debate over legalizing marijuana

BILL: Dave, our column last week on legalizing pot got us more e-mail response than any in the last two years.
DR. DAVE: Mostly for or against legalization?
BILL: Mostly for. What impressed me was the quality of the pro arguments.

“Dr. Dave” needs some educating…

DR.DAVE: [I] invite readers who disagree to send in their best arguments about why legalizing marijuana won‰t cause an even greater youth substance abuse epidemic than we Americans are suffering right now.

Sounds like a challenge.
“bullet” Someone else who needs educating: Harden: Legalizing marijuana would be a recipe for disaster

Legalization of marijuana could lead to increased hospitalizations, violence, crime and a drop in work force productivity with increased employee absenteeism and unemployment. It is a recipe for disaster fraught with a level of risk that is irresponsible.
[Harden is the interim police chief of Modesto.]

“bullet” 19 shot in drug war in Baltimore

When a 5 year old is shot in the middle afternoon by a stray bullet while playing in street where is the outrage from drug war critics? When 12 are shot, many of them innocent, who’s condemning the drug war for the violence?

Good question.
“bullet” Marijuana’s Impact on Brain Function “Minimal,” New Study Says and Marijuana Use Associated With a ‹Significantly Reduced RiskŠ of Head and Neck Cancers Ö Will The Mainstream Media Care?
“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”