Author Archives: Pete

Open Thread

I was just informed that my hosting service moved the virtual server for Drug WarRant.com to a new location. There was a temporary outage, but it seems to be back. Please let me know if you experience any new problems … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 31 Comments

Treatment Reform

Maia Szalavitz takes on an important area that needs significant reform: the treatment industry. The Rehab Industry Needs to Clean Up Its Act. Here’s How. There are so many areas of this industry that are broken or just plain corrupt. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 43 Comments

A Justice opens the door a bit on Supreme Court acceptance of the Constitutional right of jury nullification

Of course, the concept of Jury Nullification (choosing to find a defendant not-guilty because of your disagreement with the law) is a time-honored Constitutional power of the jury. After all, the jury of peers is the highest judge of the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 45 Comments

President’s drug control budget is a first, but still a whole lot of wasted money

For years, those of us in drug policy reform have pointed out that, while the government talks about prevention and treatment, the federal government budget has always been weighted toward enforcement and interdiction. It’s been really telling that, while they … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 41 Comments

Another SuperBad Advertisement

Via Making Noise in the South, A Super Serving of Shame and Stigma for Super Bowl 50 The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (NCADA) is hitting us again at the Super Bowl. This time with “All American Girl” … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 54 Comments

How do we get out of the political dark ages when it comes to the drug war?

There is so much good information available to us about drugs and drug policy if we’re willing to actually, you know, listen to it. But science and reality have been pretty much excluded from the public policy conversations when it … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Dramatic reduction in NYC marijuana arrests

Annual Arrests for Marijuana in NYC Drop From Nearly 51,000 in 2011 to Under 17,000 in 2015 According to data just released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York City marijuana arrests in 2015 dropped … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Open Caucus Thread

The Iowa caucuses are underway. Use this thread to discuss the election. Opinions are fine, disagreements are fine, but please no name-calling or insulting others (including candidates you oppose). We’ve got friends on all ends of the political spectrum on … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 50 Comments

Global Drug Survey

Readers may wish to participate in the Global Drug Survey, if you haven’t before. The goal this year is to have over 120,000 participants, in order to have really good information about drug use worldwide. What makes this survey of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Quote of the Day

Radley Balko: “In the month that police and federal officials wisely used cunning, patience to apprehend the Oregon militia leaders, there were at least 3,000 violent raids on the homes of suspected drug offenders.”

Posted in Uncategorized | 56 Comments