Drug WarRant

Well, no, not really, but it’s fun to actually see articles suggesting that the U.S. should withdraw…

To Make Marijuana Legalization a Reality, This Should be Obama’s Next Step by Jessie Bullock at PolicyMic

Firstly, the U.S. should withdraw from the convention. Withdrawing from the convention is an action recognized by international law, and means that the country no longer wishes to abide by the international guidelines set forth, such as criminalizing the sale or production of marijuana. […]

Secondly, the United States should select which clauses they wish to opt out of. A forward-thinking president, knowing that legalization of marijuana is imminent, might consider opting out of not only the clauses that prohibit the production, sale, and consumption of marijuana, but also opting out of the clauses that require marijuana possession to be punished. Opting out of all clauses that require marijuana possession to be punished means that the United States wouldn’t have to substitute a criminal penalty (i.e. time in jail, on a criminal record) for a civil penalty (i.e. a ticket or civil fine, which is what most individuals receive when caught using marijuana in states that have decriminalized weed).

Of course, that’s true — a forward-thinking President might do such a thing, and it would be great, but I can’t see it ever happening. Considering that the United States heavily dominates international drug policy even to the point of being the world’s drug cop, it seems much more likely that if and when the U.S. reached a point where the single convention was in its way, change would be done by amendment rather than withdrawal. Sure, Sweden and Russia would oppose amendments, but by the time the U.S. was ready to go there, I can’t imagine that they’d have much trouble making the changes.

I do, however, enjoy with some amusement the image of a United States that has exempted itself from the marijuana provisions of the single convention while the rest of the world still follows it. But if withdrawal for this purpose is going to occur, it’s much more likely that it’ll be done by Latin American and European countries.

Oh, and by the way… the opening paragraph of this piece:

Last week, the Department of Justice announced that the federal government will not prosecute marijuana-based offenses in states that have already legalized marijuana. This is a victory for the marijuana legalization movement, but it does not go far enough.

Um, yeah, you might want to go back and look at what the Department of Justice actually said. It wasn’t this.

‘Pot Czar” Mark Kleiman Packs Up

When it hired Kleiman last March, the LCB said it had budgeted an initial $100,000 for the much sought-after consulting work. The state ended up paying much more–$814,000, as of last week, with one payment still pending, Smith tells SW.

Andres Oppenheimer A turning point in the U.S. drug war

“This puts the United States in an awkward position in respect to its drug war export policy,” says John Walsh, a drug expert with the Washington Office on Latin America, a group that supports pot legalization. “The United States is going ahead with a policy that is quite different from what it tells other countries to do.”

It’s a policy decision that is likely to have a big impact in Latin America, where many countries are debating their own drug legalization laws.

Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A’s – NY Times

The government pays AT&T to place its employees in drug-fighting units around the country. Those employees sit alongside Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local detectives and supply them with the phone data from as far back as 1987.

Andrea Barthwell Watch — Here she sells her misguided and wrong-headed advice to grieving parents.

Barthwell said families must focus on raising drug-free children, not managing drug use. She advocates families using random drug testing to prevent use.

“It comes to your taking a look at exactly how you set up your household to support a non-drug using norm,” she said, “because you have the most efficacy with your young people, more than any other institution of society, in helping them reach the age of 18 without ever having used tobacco, alcohol or any other drug, based upon the behaviors that you support and allow in your own household.

“If you have a liquor cabinet at home, and you are worrying about whether your child will die of a heroin overdose, pour the liquor down the drain tonight, and don’t bring another bottle home.”

Barthwell lashed out at Gov. Pat Quinn about recent medical marijuana legislation and linked marijuana use with other drugs.

“While I think that heroin is the problem that’s killing your young people, marijuana is the problem that the state … that’s creating an expansion of this epidemic, and I’m so, so terribly ashamed of and angry with our governor for not having had the courage to turn aside the medical marijuana bill.”

The cops depend on drug war money from seizures and drug war funding… prisons, treatment centers, drug testing companies, federal agencies, politicians, and more all profit from prohibition.

So it should be no surprise…

New Study Finds That State Crime Labs Are Paid Per Conviction

Funding crime labs through court-assessed fees creates another channel for bias to enter crime lab analyses. In jurisdictions with this practice the crime lab receives a sum of money for each conviction of a given type. Ray Wickenheiser says, ‘‘Collection of court costs is the only stable source of funding for the Acadiana Crime Lab. $10 is received for each guilty plea or verdict from each speeding ticket, and $50 from each DWI (Driving While Impaired) and drug offense.’’

In Broward County, Florida, ‘‘Monies deposited in the Trust Fund are principally court costs assessed upon conviction of driving or boating under the influence ($50) or selling, manufacturing, delivery, or possession of a controlled substance ($100).’’

So much potential for corruption. So many people benefitting from drug war money. Lost in that river of cash is any sense of justice or human rights.

Prohibitionists depend on a lack of conscious thought and sweeping generalizations. Here’s someone who took the impossible notion of “drug-free” even a step further…

Hudson Summer Fest to showcase positives of being drug free

“We’re trying to show the positive side of not using substances. You can be as cool as the band leader and not use substances.”

sub·stance n.

1. 1. That which has mass and occupies space; matter.
   2. A material of a particular kind or constitution.
2. 1. Essential nature; essence.
   2. Gist; heart.
3. That which is solid and practical in character, quality, or importance: a plan without substance.
4. Density; body: Air has little substance.
5. Material possessions; goods; wealth: a person of substance.

Good luck in your quest to not use substances.

…

The truth, of course, is that the world is filled with an infinite number of substances and we’re using them constantly. And, as far as I can tell, every one is both potentially beneficial and potentially harmful depending on how they are used.

Delightful article from Ryan Grim on the reaction from some police groups… Police Groups Furiously Protest Eric Holder’s Marijuana Policy Announcement

WASHINGTON — A broad coalition of law enforcement officers who have spent the past three decades waging an increasingly militarized drug war that has failed to reduce drug use doesn’t want to give up the fight.

Organizations that include sheriffs, narcotics officers and big-city police chiefs slammed Attorney General Eric Holder in a joint letter Friday, expressing “extreme disappointment” at his announcement that the Department of Justice would allow Colorado and Washington to implement state laws that legalized recreational marijuana for adults. […]

Local law enforcement agencies rely heavily on the drug war for funding. Police departments are often able to keep a large portion of the assets they seize during drug raids, even if charges are never brought. And federal grants for drug war operations make up a sizable portion of local law enforcement funding.

The letter warns that marijuana can cause suicidal thoughts, impairs driving and is a “gateway drug.” The missive does not, however, address the failure of law enforcement generally to reduce drug use, even while tripling the number of people behind bars.

Obama won’t sue Colorado or Washington state over pot laws

Nearly a year after Washington state and Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, the Obama administration announced on Thursday that it won’t sue the states to comply with federal laws, though it reserves the right to in the future.

Update: Reactions To DOJ Marijuana Memo: Dismay, Exuberance, Skepticism

Dismay: Kevin Sabet

Skepticism: Tom Angell

Update 2:

Some of you surely are questioning the sanity of those who are releasing statements of exuberance about this announcement. However, I do understand at least one reason for doing so. Since the administration is playing the “game” of appearing to be reasonable while not actually committing to anything real, a tactic by the other side can be to publicly accept that “appearance” as something real, in order to cement that impression with the public. Thus, when the administration acts in a contrary manner, the public will view the administration as double-dealing once again.

The game doesn’t always work, and I certainly have no need to pursue such things here, but I understand it as a legitimate political tactic.

Radley Balko has a fun piece in the Huffington Post: Great Moments in Drug War Propaganda

There are a lot of classics, here, that brought back some memories.

What are your favorites?

Air Force Bans Greek Yogurt With Hemp Seeds Over Anti-Drug Policy Concerns

The Air Force warned personnel over the weekend to steer clear of a specific flavor of Chobani Greek yogurt that includes hemp seeds.

Hemp contains trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient also found in marijuana, classified alongside heroin and LSD as a Schedule I drug under federal law. The Air Force, as part of its anti-drug policy, added hemp seed oil products and hemp seed to a list of forbidden substances in 1999, over concerns that they could confuse the results of drug tests regularly given to service members.

Chobani’s Blueberry Power Flip is the latest victim of that prohibition. The Air Force made clear that yogurt flavors without hemp were still fine to eat.

For this we pay all those taxes?

The drug war and the national security scandals have overlapped in so many ways, not the least of which is a growing sense of the erosion of the very foundation of legitimacy of government.

Certainly in a Democracy at the very least, the citizens must be able to give informed consent regarding core governmental authority, with some system of accountability for government action, and without arbitrary actions by the government against its citizens. Yes, it’s true that this is a Representative Democracy, so that each decision is not micromanaged by the populace, but we’re talking about day-to-day decisions, but rather the very foundation.

When a government acts to prevent an informed citizenry, avoids accountability, and acts in arbitrary ways that benefit those with power at the expense of those without power, then that government has lost its legitimacy.

In marijuana policy, the confusing smoke signals continue to burn

Here’s just one of many little symptoms of the problem…

This article talks about how the government is moving to seize a building from a family who rented space to a marijuana dispensary in California, without proper notice, and in a totally arbitrary manner that makes no sense regarding enforcement of laws or justice, has the effect of harming a completely innocent person, and enriches the agency doing the seizing.

But why not stop with the mixed signals, end the winless and costly war on drugs, and legalize, regulate and tax marijuana, which is nowhere near as big a social or medical problem as perfectly legal alcohol?

And if we’re not yet ready for that, can’t the feds simply shut an “illegal” pot dispensary rather than steal an entire building from a law-abiding landlord?

That’s the big question. If the goal is enforcement of the law, then seizing that building, or the Caswell Motel, or Camp Zoe make little sense (but lots of profit). Follow Americans for Forfeiture Reform for loads of instances where forfeiture is the arbitrary act of profit-seeking governmental entities and individuals.

State Officials: DOJ Has Given ‘Tacit Approval’ for Legalized Marijuana

Colorado officials say they believe they have “tacit approval” from the U.S. Justice Department to implement voter-approved laws legalizing marijuana.

“We seem to have tacit approval at this point,” State Sen. Pat Steadman, a Democrat who co-sponsored two bills establishing the state’s regulations for recreational marijuana, told TPM in a phone interview Tuesday.

Another source directly involved in conversations with Justice, who asked not to be named to speak freely about private discussions, agreed with that characterization.

“They’re well aware of what we’ve been up to,” the source told TPM. “I do think that it’s fair to say that we have their tacit approval at this point.” […]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said back in February that the Justice Department was in the “last stages” of reviewing the initiatives and guidance should be coming “relatively soon.” But there has been no further information from the department since then.

How pathetic is this? This should be a major scandal! The top officials in a state go to Washington, DC to ask the federal government for clarification regarding a major change in the laws that sets up a conflict between state and federal laws, and they get nothing. They can’t ignore the state law and they get no help from the feds, so they have to go with the “tacit approval” validation, meaning they’ll set up legal systems knowing full well that federal agents could arbitrarily swoop in at any time and arrest people or seize assets.

What kind of government is that? Limbo is not a system of justice.

There’s a judicial concept called Void for Vagueness:

In American constitutional law, a statute is void for vagueness and unenforceable if it is too vague for the average citizen to understand. There are several ways, senses or reasons a statute might be considered vague. In general, a statute might be called void for vagueness reasons when an average citizen cannot generally determine what persons are regulated, what conduct is prohibited, or what punishment may be imposed. Criminal laws which didn’t state explicitly and definitely what conduct is punishable for example are void for vagueness. A statute is also void for vagueness if a legislature’s delegation of authority to judges and/or administrators is so extensive that it would lead to arbitrary prosecutions.

Of course, this is specific to lawmaking, but the concept should apply to enforcement as well. When laws are interpreted in secret by the government, and no guidance is given other than vague, pleasant-sounding platitudes by the Attorney General while the DEA, FBI, NSA and federal attorneys mount offensives, what is the citizenry to do?

And the secrecy in government has become extremely pervasive…

Government Confirms That It Has Secret Interpretation of Patriot Act Spy Powers

The government has just officially confirmed what we’ve long suspected: there are secret Justice Department opinions about the Patriot Act’s Section 215, which allows the government to get secret orders from a special surveillance court (the FISA Court) requiring Internet service providers and other companies to turn over “any tangible things.” Just exactly what the government thinks that phrase means remains to be seen, but there are indications that their take on it is very broad.

Is that not Kafkaesque? There are laws you must follow, but we’re not going to tell you what they are, or our interpretation of what they mean, but you must follow them anyway, and we’re going to gag you so you can’t talk about these laws you must follow, and if you try to take it to court, we’re going to invoke national security and say that the courts can’t be allowed to discuss it, plus since it’s secret it doesn’t exist anyway.

Think that’s an overstatement? Put yourself in the shoes of the founder of Lavabit:

Feds Threaten to Arrest Lavabit Founder for Shutting Down His Service

Power corrupts, and without good accountability, too many of those in government will use that power arbitrarily and destructively (even when their intentions are good). A compliant and disengaged citizenry is the fuel for widespread government corruption. It is our job to make sure everyone is engaged and aware. These corrupt practices cannot continue in the light.