Author Archives: Pete

Jurors Need to Know That They Can Say No is an extremely important OpEd by Paul Butler in the New York Times (and that makes it additionally important because of the reach). This is something that we’ve talked about for … Continue reading →

Latest breathless headline from the Telegraph (UK): Cocaine found in nine out of ten baby changing units Wow! That’s the mother load for tabloid journalism: children (babies!), drugs, and statistics. The article goes on to discuss all sorts of completely … Continue reading →

I haven’t talked too much about the political candidates out there lately, but it’s been a pretty good year for us — having both Ron Paul and Gary Johnson in the race (even though Johnson has been excluded from most … Continue reading →

Howard Meitiner, President and CEO of Phoenix House, has an OpEd in the Huffington Post: The Argument Against Marijuana His thesis is a variation on “Think of the children!…” with the unspoken, but obvious subtext: “… without whose exploitation we’d … Continue reading →

Jack Marshall has a site called “Ethics Alarms” and has posted Distracted Driving, Pot, and “The Great Debate” — a reaction to the Barney Frank, George Will, et al debate. First, he takes up the issue of federal regulations against … Continue reading →

Some of these have already been discussed in comments, but are too good to pass up… Priceless. Barney Frank Goes After George Will Over Marijuana Legalization On This Week In quite a surreal moment, Barney Frank asked George Will his … Continue reading →

Christian Science Monitor: Government isn’t lying loudly enough to young people. Government needs to send a clear, loud message about marijuana’s dangers. Legalizing marijuana: Police officers speak out This has been discussed a bit in comments… fascinating column in Police … Continue reading →

Sometimes even major media outlets let a few silly typos slip by now and then, and you have to correct them. Take this New York Daily News article, which needed some fixing. I’m pretty sure they must have heard the … Continue reading →

Count the Costs has a new briefing out today: The War on Drugs: Creating crime, enriching criminals This briefing summarises the crime-related costs stemming from the war on drugs, which include: • Organised crime arising from the illicit drug trade, … Continue reading →