“It is time we were honest about the problems we face with the drug trade. Drugs are a source of criminal profit, and that has led to shootings and even murders. Just like we learned in the 1920s with the prohibition of alcohol, prohibition of marijuana is fueling violent activity,†the mayor said in the written version of his speech. […]
“I know every one of the city council members sitting to my left and right believe as I do: it’s time for this state to legalize marijuana, and stop the violence, stop the incarceration, stop the erosion of civil liberties, and urge the federal government to stop the failed war on drugs.â€
- DrugWarRant.com, the longest running single-issue blog devoted to drug policy
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Yes, another chink in the armor of the Drug War.
I’m sure that they will soon receive a visit from the feds, probably with offers of increased police funding, but I hope the mayor stands strong!
At some point the bribed are going to demand payment in a form other that IOUs.
I love Washington….
Checks calender-nope not April 1st. Common sense in politics next we’ll see compassionate cops or a prosecutor with empathy.
stayan
February 16, 2012 at 8:35 pm · Reply
The basic lesson of our relativistic universe is that things change. Any power must always meet a greater power. The Greeks are is the process of learning this lesson; a government that acts in the sole interest of entrenched bureaucracy eventually collides with the reality that there’s nothing left.
I agree. everything may be relative and change is an envitable part of such force. Other than that,… U have little substance. Thanx and go on
2Â 0
Let’s hope it stays there ;>)
allan
February 16, 2012 at 9:35 pm · Reply
speaking of “crap comments†yours is a tad short of eloquent.
I too get tired of reading “crap comments.â€
Especially like yours. Actually since it has no substance I misspeak. Odious, gaseous… plus I could prolly use child-like, ign’ant… there must be more adjectives that fit.
I do find it a tad amusing, in that you prance grandly yet ya got no rhythm, no funk to your tune… like PeeWee Herman imitating Michael Jackson.
… and not to be totally rude, if there is something substantive you’d like to share, we appreciate that sort of thing much more than the doggy-leg-lift you offered up.
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I suppose if u desire eloquent than oprah is the place to go….
And sub
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allan
February 16, 2012 at 9:35 pm · Reply
speaking of “crap comments†yours is a tad short of eloquent.
I too get tired of reading “crap comments.â€
Especially like yours. Actually since it has no substance I misspeak. Odious, gaseous… plus I could prolly use child-like, ign’ant… there must be more adjectives that fit.
I do find it a tad amusing, in that you prance grandly yet ya got no rhythm, no funk to your tune… like PeeWee Herman imitating Michael Jackson.
… and not to be totally rude, if there is something substantive you’d like to share, we appreciate that sort of thing much more than the doggy-leg-lift you offered up.
Well-liked 7Â 0
ChuckUpTrojanAlert
No, just be completely rude next time…thanx
Clowns are supposed to be funny, not pathetic.
Supposed to be, eh…thanks for the insight…
and?
Pardon my bluntness (and yes, that’s a pot joke). I’m old and cranky. Please, deal w/ the topics and don’t insult the couch potatoes. We’re busy. Simple. I love playing nice. Have a good life.
Thanks Pete! Sounds like a THUD! to me… and add to that the 42 state Reps signing a letter supporting the Chaffee-Gregoire petition to the DEA…
.
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Mandatory-minimums for drug crimes don’t work, say U.S. law officials
By: Keven Drews, The Canadian Press
Posted: 02/22/2012
VANCOUVER – An attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory-minimum sentencing laws during the 1980s has a warning for Canadian parliamentarians.
Imposing long jail terms for minor drug offences has been a mistake in the U.S. and won’t work in Canada,” said Eric E. Sterling, who once served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
“When you start going down this road of building more prisons and sending people away for long periods of time, and you convince yourself that this is going to deter people you’ve made a colossal mistake,” said Sterling, who now the president of the Maryland-based Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
“We have learned the hard way that long sentences are not deterring people from selling drugs when the profits are so great.”
Sterling is one of 28 current and former law-enforcement officials in the U.S. who have written to Canadian senators, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the premiers.
They take issue with Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which includes mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offences and is currently being studied in the Senate,
The letter, written by the organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is the latest salvo in the dispute over Bill C-10, as well as the debate over the legalization of marijuana.
/snip/
Allan three years ago you made a comment reply I didn’t like and I’m still butthurt by it. Could you be more funky with it like an old batch of collared greens. Gasface and Chinese eyes from smokin’ that dayglo bionic man green.
As Awesome and Perfect Creator of the Universe, I feel it is my duty to inform you, that you appear to be a super-lame, desperate loser who has messed up his pitiful life, good and proper!
I had given you life, and the freedom to choose your own fate. That freedom was a rather generous gift – a gift that you appear to have shamelessly squandered!
I said I’m sorry. I was kidding when I said you and Linda should get a room!! It was a terrible thing to say.
Huh. Apparently some things are universal:
Hmm.
Looks like somebody is running for re-election.
In keeping with tradition, he’ll forget all about his words as soon as he is sworn in.
How many more times must we learn the same lesson?
Politicians = lying hypocrites.
So I get on my knees and pray, we don’t get fooled again.
Mike McGinn has been consistant in his views on marijuana since his campaign. That was part of the reason he got elected. Mike McGinn is by far the most progressive big-city mayor in this country,particularly on marijuana issues. That he was joined by the entire Seattle City Council in this was huge, far more important than simply the mayor’s speech.
He spoke at Hempfest, also a step outside the traditional role expectations.
No, for a politician, Mayor McGinn has substance. And that’s why Seattle is my favorite city!
Thanks for the info and logic, but I remain cynical and simply cannot trust any politician. It has something to do with history, and repeated patterns of behavior, and systemic corruption of American politics.
It’s like hiring a hungry wolf to “protect” a lamb. Oh, sure – there might be a brief period where the wolf over-rides his true nature/hunger and leaves the lamb alone. But sooner or later the lamb gets slaughtered, and the wolf is to blame. Every single time. Then the wolf applies to “protect” yet another lamb. And we let him.
We The People are the lamb. Politicians are the wolf.
He’s not doing this for anyone’s benefit but his own.
McGinn is the real deal. He ain’t makin’ a lot of friends in the business community, and he ain’t feathering his nest (at least from appearances, and if there was dirt, he has plenty of enemies). I hate to say it, it goes against my instincts, too, but I think he’s one of us.
Hazy Logic: Liberty Mutual Insurance/SADD Study Finds Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana
http://www.marijuana.com/threads/hazy-logic-liberty-mutual-insurance-sadd-study-finds-driving-under-the-influence-of-marijuana.295096/
BOSTON, Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Marijuana use is on the rise among teens and is currently at its highest level among eighth- to-12th-graders in 30 years.(1) Perhaps equally disturbing is that one-in-five (19 percent) teen drivers reports that they have driven under the influence of marijuana, according to the most recent teen driving study by Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions). In fact, marijuana influence is significantly more prevalent among teen drivers than alcohol, as compared to the 13 percent of teens surveyed who report that they have driven after drinking.”” ‘snipped’
According to their study,,it is not saying that users are more dangerous drivers on marijuana than alcohol but that teens are more likely to drive on marijuana than alcohol,,which too me says teens are picking marijuana over alcohol,,who knew kids had that much wisdom?
Don’t chalk it all up to wisdom. Alcohol is legal and strictly regulated. Marijuana isn’t. That’s why it’s easier for teens to acquire mj.
It appears as though the winds of change have begun to shift in our favor. For every politician who comes out in opposition to the War is bound to inspire another; every person who speaks against injustice weakens it some.
I have been following this issue for the past few years, ever since I came to see that there was something awry. I am glad to have happened upon it, and I am glad that the internet has allowed those in dissent to proliferate their ideas. The fact that the number of those in power who are opposed openly is -growing- signals to me that we are on the cusp of an important victory. If the war on marijuana begins to crumble, it will call the broader war on drugs into question. We have been, to paraphrase Bill Hicks, pygmy tribes throwing spears at the great elephant — and it has begun to show signs of exhaustion.
I believe that so long as we, the vocal opposition, continue to wail upon the gates, they will yield to us. I hate to use a phrase like “righteous cause”, but we stand on the side of reason and have learned from the tragedies of the past. I believe that history will remember us fondly, the many, if nameless.
We must not relent, however close we may be. The fight ahead may be the toughest one yet — but that is because we have begun to shake the inner sanctums and rouse the associated fears.
The War does not want to end — but if we remain vigilant, it must.
well said Nate. Ya know… as well spoken as you are, I’d say put on your typing outfit and start writing LTEs hombre…
MAP/DrugSense ( http://www.mapinc.org/ ) has great resources. Start w/ How to Write a Letter to the Editor, by Kirk Muse and Allan Erickson ( http://www.mapinc.org/resource/how2lte.htm ) and even more help can be found at MAP’s activists’ resource page ( http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ ). There is even a sentLTE email list…
Or join the piratical meanderings (anarchy at it’s best) and comment on articles and blogs (don’t worry, I won’t send anybody to Jack Marshall’s ever again).
I will also point out that our city attorney, Pete Holmes, ran on the promise that he would not prosecute for possession. I believe he has been true to his promise. In Seattle a politician can’t go wrong supporting pot legalization.