Drug WarRant

The Chicago Sun-Times discusses the proposal to decriminalize minor possession of marijuana in Chicago.

Thanks to Dan, who pointed out this bit:

From the DEA’s perspective, the battle over drugs in Chicago is on a much higher level.

“I am at war with the Mexican cartels,” Riley said.

Chicago’s drug market run by street gangs is directly tied to those cartels, which see the city as a hub for doing business and as a launching pad to deliver drugs throughout the country, he said.

Somebody didn’t get the message to Jack that our Drug Czar ended the war on drugs.

A must-read in yesterday’s L.A. Times: A former L.A. cop calls for legalizing drugs

Of course, we’re all familiar with the excellent Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Stephen Downing does an excellent job making their case.

The way he sees it, the war on drugs hasn’t reduced drug use and the violence that accompanies it; it’s made matters worse. Law enforcement and the drug lords have been in an arms race for more than 40 years, perpetuating their own existence in a never-ending escalation that has bloated prison budgets and robbed us of funding for education and basic human services. The killing fields hold the bodies of cops, dealers and innocent victims. And still, after incalculable costs in blood and money, neither the supply nor the demand has abated. […]

“When I started, the show-and-tells for the media were a kilo or two, a couple of handguns and a few thousand dollars in cash,” Downing wrote, referring to the news conferences called by the LAPD to celebrate its busts. “Today it’s warehouses full of dope, pallets of cash and tens of thousands of war level weapons. That alone should tell us something about failed policy.”

When Downing talks about legalizing drugs, he means we should “legalize, regulate and control” illicit substances. But he isn’t referring only to marijuana, even though he finds it illogical that marijuana is illegal while alcohol and tobacco — proven killers — are perfectly legal. He’s talking about legalizing cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, Ecstasy, the whole underground kaleidoscope.

The whole article is well-written, and good to have in the oft-prohibition-cheering L.A. Times.

I was also interested in the response to reporter Steve Lopez from Mark Kleiman:

I asked UCLA professor Mark Kleiman, who teaches courses on drug policy, what he thought about all of this, and he sounded a more cautious note.

“If we legalized all drugs,” he said, “there’d be smaller illegal profits, less violence among dealers, safer drugs and fewer people behind bars.”

“We’d also have vastly more drug addiction and more crimes and accidents due to intoxication,” Kleiman added. “There’s no magic formula to end the drug problem. Details matter, and not all drugs are alike. I’d like to see cannabis made legally available for use by adults. I don’t want to extend that to cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine.”

This was good to see. I mean, we all know that Kleiman doesn’t support legalizing hard drugs, but if it wasn’t for the fact that he comes over here in comments now and then to tell us, many of you wouldn’t know that he supports marijuana legalization (and certainly most people wouldn’t), and that he accepts the fact that criminalizing other drugs causes incarceration, violence, and danger. Invariably when he’s in the media, he’s promoting HOPE and ridiculing legalizers (without the marijuana clarification).

Downing also replies appropriately to Mark:

OK, said Downing. Let’s start with pot, regulate and control it as we do the wine industry (which would be a vast improvement over the current hodgepodge of medical marijuana laws), study the results, and learn what we can from countries that are decriminalizing other drugs.

Exactly. Start somewhere and learn from it. You’d think that academics would like having the data.

Note: I have to pass on this one comment from the article, because it was so hilarious in this day and age. And yet, I think the author may have been serious?

PeteMalloy at 9:28 PM June 17, 2012

Downing fell down and broke his crown… You can’t compare alcohol and cocaine. I can have a beer and not be drunk. You do do a hit of Meth without getting high.The addiction rate of alcohol and Crack are night and day. And we all know about the multidude of studies that show people who start with Pot are likely to try harder drugs.

People involved with the manufacturing and selling of various drugs aren’t PTA members. What makes anything think they’re going to start abiding by some new law and give up their profits to the IRS?

If you think legalizing drugs will stop all types of crimes associated with them, then why do middle class or well to do people still commit crimes while high? If we allow drug to be legal dont we increase the chances of DUI’s and Zombies eating peoples faces (on a bad trip)?

Remember, we encourage what we tolerate. But theres not enough time to talk about the Occupy Hippies and Illegal Immigration right now. . .

I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with Camp Zoe in Missouri (owned by James Tebeau) and the travesty going on there. I’ve written about it here before. If it’s new to you, it’s a good idea to learn more about it (if you can do so without becoming consumed with rage). It’s a horrendous case of outright theft by the feds of 350 acres of property that was used for concerts.

The case is back in the news again as there has been a settlement.

It’s a pretty sweet deal (for the feds). Despite agreeing that Tebeau didn’t sell drugs or profit from their sale, they get to keep his 350 acres, and, in exchange, Tebeau gets to…. go to prison.

In my imaginary future where an outraged population finally comes to its senses and demands reparations for drug war crimes, not only does Tebeau get his property back, but he’s paid from the tainted assets of all those agents and officials involved in the seizing of his property.

I had to include this video, because the subject matter is extremely important to all of us, regardless of its specific relevance to drug policy, and because when the government decides it is above the law it affects all policy, and finally, because I really wanted to say “smokable beer.”

Note: this is entirely different than “smoked beer,” of which Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier is my favorite.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee signs marijuana decriminalization bill

Today, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) signed legislation (PDF) into law that will reform how Rhode Island penalizes the simple possession of up to an ounce of marijuana (PDF). Currently, simple possession can be penalized with a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a $200-$500 criminal fine. Under the provisions of the new law – which will take effect on April 1, 2013 – most violations of possession of up to an ounce of marijuana will be penalized with a simple civil fine of $150!

Via Transform Drug Policy — the Danish Parliament yesterday officially passed a law allowing safe injecting rooms.

The dog ate my homework. In police department full of failures to properly track and store evidence, cop takes marijuana evidence home (!) and then claims the dog ate it.

African American Church Leaders Endorse Initiative 502 To Legalize, Tax, and Regulate Marijuana for Adults

SEATTLE – Today Rev. Leslie Braxton of New Beginnings Christian Fellowship, Rev. Carl Livingston of Kingdom Christian Center, and Rev. Steve E. Baber of Skyway United Methodist Church announced their endorsement of Initiative 502, which would tax and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over, dedicating revenues to healthcare, research and education, and substance abuse prevention. I-502 will appear on the November 6 general election ballot.

“It’s no longer enough to say the War on Drugs has been a failure. We have to recognize that it has done damage, especially to black Americans, and we have to change course,” said Rev.Braxton. “Marijuana law enforcement has become a pretext for pushing people into the criminal justice system where they get branded with criminal records that turn them into second-class citizens facing additional barriers to education and employment.”

NYPD Police Officer Indicted in Ramarley Graham Killing

A New York City police officer has been indicted on manslaughter charges in the Bronx shooting death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham. Graham, a young black man, was shot and killed in the bathroom of his own home after a team of NYPD narcotics officers followed him home, broke in, and confronted him. […]

Although the indictment has not been officially unsealed, the New York Times reported that a grand jury has indicted Haste, 30, on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter. More charges could be pending.

Graham was shot and killed after he and a pair of friends caught the attention of narcotics officers who had staked out a bodega on White Plains Road. They radioed their colleagues and said they believed he had a gun in his waistband as he walked toward his home. Officer Haste dashed to the scene, broke into Graham’s apartment, and shot and killed him in his bathroom.

No weapon was found, but police did say they found marijuana in a plastic baggie in the toilet bowl, suggesting Graham may have been trying to get rid of the evidence to avoid becoming another New York City pot bust statistic.

The shooting has provoked anger in the community and led to numerous calls for justice for Graham and other victims of overzealous policing in the city. It has also focused attention on the aggressive tactics of the NYPD’s Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit, teams of officers who surreptitiously surveil the streets looking for drug deals before bursting in to bust dealers and customers.

White House softball team smoked by pot lobby’s bats

While the ONDCP’s softball team always seems to have something else to do whenever they’re scheduled to play the powerful One Hitters, STOTUS (Softball Team Of The U.S.) at least showed up, although they lost 25-3.

“The One Hitters enjoyed slugging it out with the White House,” said Aaron Houston, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the group that sponsors the team. “Hopefully we can play them again when they aren’t totally absorbed in work.”

We almost missed the pun hidden there. Hint: David Maraniss’s latest book revealed that President Obama’s high-school pot smoking philosophy included “total absorption” of the precious weed.

Way to go, One-Hitters!

Rasmussen: 61% in Colorado Favor Legalizing, Regulating Marijuana

… and it’s in an important Presidential election state.

Here are the marijuana-based questions that they asked in the poll:

5* Should it be a crime for people to smoke marijuana in their own home or the home of a friend?

6* Would you favor or oppose legalizing marijuana and regulating it in the similar manner to the way alcohol and tobacco cigarettes are regulated today?

7* Suppose that marijuana was legalized and regulated so that it was illegal for people under 18 to buy, that those who drove while under the influence of marijuana received strict penalties, and that smoking marijuana was banned in public places like restaurants. With such regulations in place, would you favor or oppose legalizing and regulating marijuana?

8* Suppose that, if marijuana was legalized and regulated, it could be sold only in pharmacies. Drug dealers who sold marijuana on the street would be subject to strict jail sentences. Would that reduce the number of drug dealers in the country?

9* If marijuana was legalized and regulated, but could be sold only in pharmacies, would you favor or oppose legalizing and regulating marijuana?

I think you have to be a subscriber to get the breakdowns of responses.

24-Year-Old Gets 3 Life Terms in Prison for Witnessing a Drug Deal: The Ugly Truth of Mandatory Drug Sentencing

At the age of 24, Aaron was sentenced to three life terms for his role in a cocaine deal. That’s effectively three times the sentence imposed upon Faisal Shahzad, who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in 2010. Aaron was a student and football player at Southern University in Baton Rouge. He’d never been arrested. In 1992, he made the mistake of being present for the sale of nine kilograms of cocaine and the conversion of one kilo of coke to crack. Aaron would have earned $1,500 for introducing the buyer and seller. He never actually touched the drugs.

It’s a good article, written by someone else who is serving an exceptionally long time in prison for a small drug crime.

It points out the added injustice when the judge and pretty much everyone involved in the case thinks that the prisoner should be released, but there’s no mechanism to do so when Presidents fear to use their clemency power.

A travel day today, coming back from New York. Looking forward to catching up on drug policy news when I return.

Lobby E-Mails Show Depth of Obama Ties to Drug Industry

The New York Times article doesn’t specifically address the question posed in the title of this post, but it does show a clear willingness on the part of the administration to give in to the wishes of the pharmaceutical industry if it would help pass health care.

It certainly wouldn’t be surprising to discover that a discussion had occurred about preventing the proliferation of non-pharmaceutical medicines.