Odds and Ends

“bullet” David Borden at Prohibition and the Media has a couple of interesting posts. He talks about a massive cocaine bust in Mississippi that took 60 people from 10 agencies, and involved a full 7 years to build a case to seize $160,000 worth of cocaine. Talk about throwing away tax money.
David also notes that Baltimore police actually admit that their prohibition efforts cause increased violence. But they’re doing it anyway.
“bullet” Grits for Breakfast has a organized guide to all their coverage of the Tom Coleman (Tulia) trial, in case you missed any of this excellent material.
“bullet” As Loretta notes, ex-cop Howard Woolridge is still riding his horse into towns to talk about the failures of drug prohibition. An outstanding man who is doing incredible work for drug policy reform. As always, check out Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
“bullet” Peter Dizikes in Salon today has an article detailing the 34 scandals in the current administration that he says are worse than Whitewater. Regardless of what you may think about his conclusions, my reaction is disbelief that the ONDCP/drug war was not mentioned once. Inappropriate lobbying, illegal covert propaganda, lying… Maybe it’s just that it’s so common as to be considered standard operating procedure. Or is it that it happens under the drug prohibition efforts of both parties, so nobody wants to point fingers too much?