Author Archives: Pete

Hardball with Chris Matthews. Chris did a nice job of putting President Obama on the spot regarding the drug war in questioning down in Cartagena. He shows that exchange, and then has a discussion with Ethan Nadelmann and Kevin Sabet. … Continue reading →

Is it a sea change? Certainly we don’t expect reform to come from the top down — it’ll take an overwhelming revolt by the population to overcome the governmental self-interest. And the U.S. is firm in its resolve to keep … Continue reading →

Apparently President Obama told the other nations of this hemisphere that legalization is not a “silver bullet.” I’m sure it made the translators wonder if the President of the United States actually understands the English language. When something is not … Continue reading →

So, Obama had to convince the other countries in the hemisphere that he knows what’s best for them when it comes to international policy related to drugs. I’m guessing this wasn’t part of his strategy… Secret service agents sent home … Continue reading →

… including George Will. I noted in my discussion of George Will’s latest column that he seemed to be all over the place. My friend from Seattle even called me to ask “what the heck George Will was trying to … Continue reading →

PBS video: Obama Colombia Visit Renews Call to Retool U.S. Drug Policy. Ethan Nadelmann of Drug Policy Alliance and Ray Walser of the Heritage Foundation square off. The interesting part of this is that Ray Walser starts off much as … Continue reading →

A good article by Jim Wyss of the Miami Herald: At summit, drug talk likely to be hot but hidden The whole article is worth reading, but I want to highlight one small item: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told … Continue reading →

One of the things prohibitionists often like to point to is that currently legal prescription drugs are subject to lots of abuse (they’ll usually call it an “epidemic”). In their minds this is somehow supposed to be some kind of … Continue reading →

Should be an interesting weekend, as the President goes to Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas. The administration has been working for the past few months to downplay and sidetrack the huge issue that will be in the room … Continue reading →

Spanish town votes for growing cannabis to pay off £1.25m debt The settlement’s 800 adults, who live 160km (100 miles) south-west of Barcelona, voted in favour of the scheme to rent out 7ha (17 acres) of land to a cannabis … Continue reading →