Drug WarRant

Well, not really. But as Maia Szalavitz makes clear in her latest Time Magazine piece, he might as well have done so.

Califano, and his shocktoids have been a regular topic of derision here at Drug WarRant.

The latest shows correlation between teens who use social networking sites and the use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana.

In a statement accompanying the release of the report, CASA founder Joe Califano writes, “The results are profoundly troubling. This year’s survey reveals how the anything goes, free-for-all world of Internet expression, suggestive television programming and what-the-hell attitudes put teens at sharply increased risk of substance abuse.”

However, as with much of the center’s previous work, the research methods used here cannot actually determine whether social media causes increased substance use or whether the association is simply related to a third factor, such as teens’ concern about their social status or conversely, having strict parents.

Maia properly ridicules his baseless alarmism.

A recent study, for example, finds an inverse correlation between a penile length and a country’s gross domestic product — nations that averaged smaller penis sizes had faster economic growth than countries with larger penises between 1960 and 1985 — but no one seriously believes that penis reduction will solve our economic problems.

Likewise, even if it were possible to stop teens from using social networks — or for adults to truly monitor teen Facebook use — the odds that this would reduce drug use are low.

Scary viewpoint from a school official:

GYPSUM, Colorado — Schools are on the front lines of the war on drugs and that makes it worth fighting, says an Eagle Valley High School administrator.

“Is it a war worth fighting? “I say yes. Absolutely yes,” said Eric Mandeville, assistant principal at Eagle Valley High School.

Sorry that Drug WarRant has been down for the past day. It’s been a very frustrating 30 hours, and I still don’t have an explanation for why it’s been down.

According to support staff at DreamHost, the Private Server which I pay for has been getting massive memory spikes every two minutes or so which have been forcing the server to stop all processes (thereby essentially shutting down the site).

What they don’t seem to be able to do is tell my why. (They simply suggest that I do some optimization stuff with the site that I’ve already done before).

I finally increased the memory capability of the site massively (which will make me broke very soon if I keep it there), to get it up right now.

We’ll see what happens.

Conor Friedersdorf has an illuminating OpEd on the difference between press coverage of “protest candidates” like John Huntsman and coverage of Ron Paul/Gary Johnson.

Huntsman is challenging orthodoxies of thought that afflict the GOP alone, and taking positions that reflect the conventional wisdom in the media […] In contrast, Johnson and Paul are challenging orthodoxies of thought that are bi-partisan in nature and implicate much of the political and media establishment. […]

For questioning America’s aggressive, interventionist foreign policy and its failed War on Drugs, policies that are tremendously costly, consequential, and executed in ways that are immoral and demonstrably damaging to our civil liberties, Paul and Johnson aren’t given points for speaking uncomfortable truths, shining light on evasions, or affecting the political conversation for the better. […]

But a protest candidate that challenges the bipartisan consensus on foreign policy, the war on drugs, or civil liberties is ignored, no matter the substantive quality of their arguments on those issues. And if their fans complain, it is pointed out that they don’t have a chance of winning. The salutary effect that protest candidates can have on political discourse even if they don’t win is completely forgotten.

I think he’s nailed it pretty well.

It’s been a busy weekend, with the end of my show in Chicago last night (and subsequent strike today), along with getting ready for classes to start tomorrow.

A big thanks to the Drug WarRant readers who came out to see The Living Canvas: Rain. It was great to see you and talk with you!

There are only two things I know for certain: There is no difference between good flan and bad flan, and the President will suck

Thoreau explains Presidential politics.

Student drug testing may have only small effect in reducing use

Once again, we find that all that drug testing is doing little but enrich the drug testing companies, along with instilling in the minds of students that they are not free citizens.

3 Republicans on Arizona Corporation Commission test drug-free

No word on whether they were tested for competence.

Florida’s Welfare Drug Testing Costs More Than It Saves

No surprise there.

Why Expand the Drug War?

Jacob Hornberger discusses the latest U.S. expansion in Mexico. [Link fixed.]

Also… The War on Drugs: Doubling Down on a Bad Bet

A Radical New View of Addiction Stirs Scientific Storm

Council Members Call for Change to Marijuana Possession Law

Criticizing the Bloomberg administration’s aggressive pursuit of marijuana possession arrests as “racially biased” and costly, a group of City Council members gathered in front of City Hall on Wednesday to introduce a resolution aimed at curbing the practice.

Interesting.

First Bolivia pulls out of the Single Convention over the requirement to eliminate all coca use. Now Peru has temporarily suspended coca eradication efforts.

Neither country is being at all radical about this. They’re still actively going after cocaine traffickers and have no intention of legalizing cocaine.

Yet they’re actually looking at policies and looking at separating coca from cocaine politics. You know, like rational policy-makers. Which really pisses off the U.S.

The people who get excited about a drug seizure and say that this will really hurt the cartels… are the same people who claim legalization won’t hurt the cartels because they’ll find another way to make money.

…

Both of us want to get drugs off the street. I want to do it for good through legalization. You, apparently, like the exercise of picking them up one at a time.

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There’s something sick about a society where they take kids away from pot-smoking parents, but don’t take them away from politicians.

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If you’re going to make a plant illegal, why can’t it be poison ivy?

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When marijuana is legalized, will unemployed DEA agents have to apply for jobs at cannabis stores? If so, what kind of random test should they have to take to be able to work there?

I hadn’t really taken much notice of this Rick Perry guy. I mean I’d read about him, but I hadn’t actually seen him in action… until now.

Hoo boy.

This is both a dim bulb and a true believer! In this video, he’s convinced that abstinence-only education works, despite all evidence, because to believe otherwise would threaten his world view. Therefore any “facts” that show otherwise are simply… unimportant.

And, in case you missed it, Jon Stewart does an absolutely brilliant take on the media pretending Ron Paul doesn’t exist…

Video removed… but available here

I don’t know why, but Gil Kerliowske seems to have a lot of problem getting words and concepts mixed up. I keep having to fix them.

And now, more than ever, it’s important to recognize that drug use [the drug war] harms every sector of this country. From keeping individual families together, creating a healthy and strong workforce, reducing the economic strain on the criminal justice system, and fostering a safe environment in local communities, tackling America’s substance abuse issues [drug war problem] is vital for winning the future.

There.

The question I’d ask…

President Obama, every time someone asks you about marijuana policy you smirk and chuckle a little. What’s so funny?

Is it the 800,000 Americans arrested each year for doing what you did when you were young?

Or is it the people suffering from cancer and pain who are looking for much-needed relief?

Or perhaps the families who have been terrorized and whose dogs were shot by SWAT teams looking for an ounce of pot?

Or the taxpayers who pay for it all, or the Mexicans who are dying?

Let us in on the joke, Mr. President, so we can laugh, too.