Drug WarRant

2009 - turning the page

With this year just about over, what do we have to show for it? It’s certainly been an interesting year for drug policy reform, and I’d say one possibly our best in terms of progress made in the most important area: building critical mass for reform.

Here are some re-cap stories (and similar items) from […]

Righting wrongs

The New York Times came out with a very strong, even harsh, editorial last week that’s worth noting.

Righting a Wrong, Much Too Late

Public health advocates held an understandably muted celebration when President Obama signed a bill repealing a 21-year-old ban on federal financing for programs that supply clean needles to drug addicts.

The […]

Curious domain battle

This is probably of little significance, but I found it interesting.

Altria Group, the parent company of tobacco company Philip Morris USA, has filed an arbitration proceeding to get the domain names AltriaMarijuana.com and AltriaCannabis.com.

Is the company getting ready for the day pot becomes legal? Perhaps, but the company is probably more concerned about […]

Why are they so afraid?

Despite great gains in so many ways, every now and then, we run into the fear, the… taboo of even including factual representations of drugs or drug policy. Recently, there were two prime examples.

1. Chased.

Chase conducted an online contest to award millions of dollars to the top hundred vote-getting charities. As part of […]

Inconceivable!

And here, for your enjoyment, two people try to win the award for the most creative way to completely destroy the definition of something.

1. Mary Grabar over at Pajamas Media attempts to re-define libertarianism. Libertarians Need to Rethink Support for Drug Legalization

In abandoning the duty to enforce social order, today’s libertarians have […]

Wall Street Journal – drug war unwinnable, consider legalization

I’m still in WiFi wasteland, and I’m not that agile blogging from my iPhone, but I didn’t want to wait til tomorrow to pass on this great article in the WSJ: Saving Mexico by David Luhnow.

Just go and read it.

(anybody know how to copy a block of text from a web page on […]

Open Thread

… because you might as well chat while hanging out on Pete’s couch.

Advice for the Holidays

It’s the time of year for family, and carols, and eating, and football on widescreen, and a whole lot more.

I’m spending the week on the road — currently with my Mom in Indianola Iowa, and later with my Dad in Quincy, Illinois (both are 87). These are important trips — time with family is […]

Green Mayor

Seattle: The ‘green’ mayor? McGinn wants to legalize pot and tax it, too

McGinn asked for the public’s help identifying the issues he should tackle as mayor. Topping the list was light rail expansion. The second slot went to legalizing pot. […]

“I think if every elected official who ever smoked marijuana voted to legalize […]

Telling the story

An interesting thing happened in the killing of Arturo Beltrán Leyva (one of Mexico’s drug lords), and it had nothing to do with him. It had to do with how his death was reported.

Here is the story by Elisabeth Malkin as it currently exists on the New York Times website: Mexico Deals a Blow […]

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