Monthly Archives: November 2014

Open Thread

I spent the past week in Wisconsin with family and to attend the baptism of my grand-nephew. I apologize for the lack of posting here, but family took priority for a time. Obviously, #Ferguson was a huge topic of conversation … Continue reading

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USA Today on Asset Forfeiture

USA Today came out with an editorial opposing civil asset forfeiture. When police play bounty hunter: Our view Civil asset forfeiture is government at its absolute worst — intimidating helpless citizens for its own benefit. It needs to go away. … Continue reading

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Possible election fall-out

Disturbing article from the excellent new The Marshall Project: Right and Left Unite on Drug Sentencing. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? There’s a big bi-partisan push for sentencing reform. What could go wrong is that Senator Charles Grassley will now … Continue reading

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The seriously messed-up ugliness of per se laws

This has been out for a bit (and even had some discussion in comments here), but I really wanted to put it front and center, because this kind of thing really demonstrates the kinds of outrages that exist in the … Continue reading

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Odds and Ends

SNL Mocks NYC’s New Weed Policy: You Can Have It, But You Can’t Smoke It In Public Nicely done humor piece. Via Maia Szalavitz, an example of the complete lack of professionalism (and facts) in so much drug science reporting. … Continue reading

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Open Thread

Ethan Nadelmann has a pretty powerful Ted talk: What has the war on drugs done to the world, which includes this apt description of our drug war exports: “international projection of a domestic psychosis.” Personally, I’m a 7-day-a-week legalizer, but … Continue reading

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Shrunken Brains!

Los Angeles Times once again doing its best Daily Mail impression: Regular pot smokers have shrunken brains, study says Of course, if you actually read the article, you discover that the researchers discovered several minor differences between smokers and non-smokers … Continue reading

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Asset Forfeiture

One of the things I find that absolutely stuns people when I give talks about drug policy reform is the totally corrupt system of civil asset forfeiture in this country, that allows the seizure of assets (from cash to cars … Continue reading

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I guess Kevin was right…

Marijuana Overdoses Kill 46 In Oregon During First Week Of Legalization Only four days after Measure 91 passed, Oregon is reconsidering it’s decision to legalize recreational marijuana. According to a report in the The Oregonion, 46 people were killed across … Continue reading

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Fear of commerce

Jacob Sullum really nails it in this piece: Fear of Cannabis Commerce Didn’t, Won’t, and Shouldn’t Stop Legalization, where he takes on both Kevin Sabet and his “Big Marijuana” mantra, and Mark Kleiman’s kinder, gentler non-profit-based prohibition lite. Sabet warns … Continue reading

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