Drug WarRant

Obama’s staff has scheduled a Facebook Town Hall on April 20.

Certainly his staff has to know the significance of 4/20. They also know that every opportunity for public questions has resulted in drug war reform being the top question. And if that’s true elsewhere, it’s even more likely to be true on Facebook.

The media is smart enough to make the 4/20 connection.

So is Obama’s staff just stupid? Or do they really want to talk about pot?

Every now and then you get an… interesting set of issues from a candidate that’s decided to run for public office. Alan Saldanha’s announcement caught my attention.

I think the government should stop supplying free alcohol to people who actively engage in clubbing seals in a way that would make Genghis Khan’s hordes blush with embarrassment. I wonder if any man would do what they do if he were sober.

All you need is $18 million to support northern communities who are displaced if we stopped killing baby seals, and that can easily come from tax dollars from the legal sale of cannabis. Personally, I don’t fancy cannabis one bit. It makes me feel pukey. Cannabis is a $7 billion illegal sale in Canada. That is three times what Canada makes from wheat grain. I support cannabis sale on permits issued under stringent regulation. I suggest it cannot be smoked in cities, but five to 10 kilometres away on farms and people will be only able to ride transit to get there.

I agree that we shouldn’t give free alcohol to people to club baby seals. And I agree that cannabis should be legalized. I want to know more about this transit system that will transport people from the city to farms where they will smoke pot. Is this some kind of a Weedstock with busses to take you there?

Gary Johnson Knows He’ll be Labeled the “Pot Candidate”

Presidential hopeful Gary Johnson knows his support for legalizing marijuana will be used against him by opponents of his quest for the GOP presidential nomination. The libertarian-leaning former Governor of New Mexico will announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 21st in New Hampshire.

Before delivering the keynote speech at the High Times Cannabis Cup in Denver, Colorado, Johnson told Fox News he is prepared to be attacked on the pot issue.

“I just want you to know I caught a lot of flack on this as governor, and I more than survived,” Johnson said. “I’ve debated this issue more than any politician on the planet. And this is an issue that under the light of day does really well.”

Johnson really has it together. He doesn’t have any other potential fringe baggage that can be exploited (no gold standard, no racist newsletters, etc., etc.), so the only thing they’ll really be able to come after him on is pot. And he’s ready and willing to take that head on.

Let’s hope that he can stay in the race long enough to generate some good discussions.

In a fine editorial, Narco News’ Al Giordano suggests that the people of Mexico have the power to start a revolution.

On Wednesday afternoon, thousands of Mexican citizens will take to the streets to demand “an end to the violence” wrought by the so-called “war on drugs.”

There might not be thousands, but tens of thousands… or more. […]

And I am left with just one question: If the people of the United States once rose up and demanded, and won, the end of a senseless, stupid, violent, corrupt, criminal prohibition against a “drug” that is, today and for the last 68 years, peacefully regulated and consumed and sold without violence between its sellers, without corrupting police, judges, politicians and presidents, without censoring newspapers and assassinating journalists and community organizers and defenders of human rights… If the gringos could repeal such a violent policy that caused such harm against them… then why not Mexico?

See you in the streets on Wednesday at 5 p.m. We will be there to report it. What you decide to do is up to you. But if there is one thing I have learned in fourteen (really, 24, counting my first voyage) years since arriving in Mexico, it is this: The Mexican people have more power than you know. And one day you are going to use it. If Wednesday is not that day, it will be another day, maybe sooner than anyone thinks. But it also occurs to me that, like with Egypt on January 25, it is not so impossible that Wednesday could be the start of something big…

Drug War Chronicle

The bill had the support of the entire Seattle legislative delegation, as well as the Seattle Times editorial board. But that wasn’t enough to move it out of committee.

The legislature’s failure to act clears the way for an effort to take the issue directly to the voters. Sensible Washington is already gathering signatures for a legalization initiative to go before the voters in November.

Let’s hope that they can get the signatures collected. Here’s the Sensible Washington site.

At TalkLeft, Jeralyn has a fascinating post: Trial Starts Monday in “DEA African Adventures” Case

It discusses the extremely bizarre legal maneuverings that seem to all the DEA to enforce American laws using taxpayer money, anywhere in the universe.

I’ve been writing for over a year about what I call the DEA’s African Vacations. Shorter version: DEA agents go to Africa, set up an elaborate sting, whereby cocaine from South America is flown to Ghana or elsewhere in Africa, so that it can be transported to Europe, its final destination. Even though the cocaine isn’t headed to the U.S., the feds in the U.S. indict the participants, have them arrested/kidnapped in Africa and fly them to the U.S. to stand trial on charges ranging from conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, to conspiracy to distribute or import drugs.

If the Government is successful in the prosecutions, we will bear not only the cost of the overseas investigation, the cost of prosecution (and in many cases, the cost of defending those charged), and the cost of pre-trial detention, but also the cost of incarceration of those convicted for the next 10 or 20 years.

When you think about it, it’s a really bizarre notion. I wonder why we don’t send our federal agents to bars in France to arrest French citizens under 21 years old for drinking.

This controversial billboard has recently shown up in Chicago, causing quite a furor.

I decided to make it a little more realistic…

After all, Obama admitted to drug use, and had he been arrested, that would likely have been the end of his political hopes.

This one is from Medaille College in Buffalo, New York, where Chris Ripley, Photo Editor has an OpEd titled Legalization would be a detriment to our society: Should New York state dance with ‘Mary Jane?’

Cute subhead, Chris. I don’t think the media’s ever thought of using ‘Mary Jane’ that way, before.

Compelling writing usually begins in the first sentence, and this one doesn’t disappoint:

As I was thinking about what to write for this article, I only knew what was bad about this drug and that it is not good for you. When I was growing up my parents always told me: ‘do not do drugs and never talk to strangers,’ and to this day I really don’t do either.

But wait…. I’m a stranger…

My mother told me stories about people she knew that did drugs and that their lives were severely effected by the use of them. Drugs harm your body as well as makes you do things that you are not suppose to do. I always believed this because my mother is a very convincing person and what she said was the law when I was younger. So basically fear is what makes me not do drugs.

I checked — Medaille College does have an English major with actual faculty. I assume at some point, they discuss things like grammar. Apparently young Chris hasn’t experienced that yet. He has experienced fear, however, from his mother. Apparently, however, the rest of the student body had different mothers.

As I entered college, things like sex, drugs, and alcohol became very easy to come by and take part in.

And now we have learned a rather disturbing fact about the lack of discrimination on the part of the Medaille women.

I know people that smoke marijuana and I have seen people smoke it, but what I do not understand is the reasoning behind why they want to do it.

Me being a person that questions a lot about life [with the apparent exception of what his mother tells him], I asked people what it was like and why they do it. The answers I get are all the same. They say, “It makes me feel good, and it helps me relax,’ or ‘It helps me calm down and take me away from here.’

Well that sounds like a vacation to me, and a very dirty vacation. If I wanted to go somewhere that was relaxing and calms me down, I wouldn’t choose marijuana.

Ah, but you can’t go to the Bahamas every Friday night. In fact, in Buffalo, New York in the winter, there aren’t too many places to go to relax and calm down. Plus, marijuana is cheaper than taking a trip.

He goes on to talk about the tar in smoke, and then notes:

I have many allergies and have asthma, I feel like smoking would just cause me more of problem then that great feeling that you get if you were to take a hit. Or maybe it is just the fear of something bad happening to me that I cannot control.

Well, then, Chris. It seems very clear that you should not smoke marijuana. You aren’t interested in it, you don’t like smoke, and you’re afraid of your mother.

Some other people, however, are interested in it, don’t mind smoke, and aren’t afraid of your mother.

So back to the point of why I am telling you my opinion on smoking marijuana. Well, America is at a point that people are fighting for the legalization of marijuana. If you haven’t figured out by now, I think it is a very foolhardy idea to legalize marijuana.

You may think that, but you haven’t given a single reason why. And you haven’t begun to touch on the costs of prohibition or any actual benefits from keeping it illegal.

We as a nation cannot handle this drug,

No, you as an individual can’t handle this drug.

… and it would be very detrimental to us as a nation.

Why? For what reasons?

If you really want to have a good time, keep it off the streets and don’t smoke marijuana.

I’m not sure I want to take Chris’ suggestions for calming vacations if his idea of a good time is “keeping it off the streets.”

Drug Courts: Martin Sheen Defends Them in Congress. But Do They Work? – outstanding article by Maia Szalavitz in Time Magazine.

I think Maia does a great job of really laying out the issues regarding drug courts – pointing out that yes, drug courts can be better than long prison sentences (both in effectiveness and cost) for serious drug addicts. But there are a ton of negative factors, including a lack of oversight, a tendency to “widen the net” of the drug war, and forcing people who are not addicts to admit that they are.

U.S. law would label Mexican drug cartels “terrorist organizations” – a really bad idea

The bill proposed by Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) would authorize U.S. law enforcement agencies to use extreme measures to isolate the cartels and capture their leaders.

Mexican political leaders have been warning that any U.S. intervention in their drug war could trample Mexico’s sovereignty.

This week, Jorge Alberto Lara Rivera, Mexico’s assistant attorney general, said that if U.S. law enforcement operations continue in Mexico without the government’s consent, “that would make us reevaluate many issues in our relationship,” according to Mexican media reports.

Mexican government officials say they still control their own country despite a war on drug trafficking that has claimed about 36,000 lives since it started in December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon called in troops against the cartels.

McCaul says more serious efforts are needed by the United States as the drug cartels turn their weapons against U.S. law officers.

“Mexican drug cartels are terrorist organizations, and this designation will provide the necessary tools to effectively advance the national security interests of both Mexico and the United States,” he said.

Drug laws ‘may make matters worse’

Police efforts to fight drug gangs tend to lead to more violence and an increase in murders, according to a new international study.

The authors, writing in the International Journal of Drug Policy, admit they were surprised by their own findings.

Of course, we’re not surprised by this at all. And we’ve talked about a preliminary version of this report before.

S.F. pot case tossed as video contradicts police – this is another case beyond the original scandal, showing the pervasive extent of the violation of citizens’ rights.

National Cancer Institute scrubs “anti-tumoral effect” of cannabinoids from website from NORML. The government frantically stepped in to change the positive summary on the cover page at the NCI site (twice), forcing people visiting the site to go to the Laboratory/Animal/Preclinical Studies section to find the information about cannabis and tumors.

NCI offers a rather weak explanation for its quick revisions.

Traffic fatalities fall to lowest level since 1949 (CNN)

The number of traffic fatalities continued its welcomed downward trajectory last year, falling 3% to its lowest levels since 1949, and a 25 percent drop from 2005, according to U.S. Department of Transportation estimates released Friday.

Reuters

“If you think about driving on an American road on a Friday or Saturday evening about 16 percent of the vehicles – one in six of the cars – (the driver) will be under the influence of an illicit or licit drug,” Gil Kerlikowske, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said.

We must be doing something right!

[Note to prohibitionists. If you’re going to misuse correlation as causation in every other aspect of the drug war, then we might as well throw this back in your face.]

No, of course I don’t believe that increased numbers of people who test positive for the presence of a drug (which is far different than Kerlikowske’s lie of “under the influence”) is the reason for reduced traffic deaths. But the facts sure don’t help the implied argument that there’s a massive increased epidemic of deaths from drugged driving that the ONDCP is trying to push.