Author Archives: Pete

Study: Medical pot might reduce drug overdose deaths This is really going to piss off Kevin Sabet… Access to medical marijuana appears to have saved thousands of lives over the past few years by reducing accidental overdose deaths from drugs … Continue reading →

Just because we have a time-honored tradition here of not letting her get away with it… Barthwell maintains call for tough-minded drug policy Former federal drug policy official Andrea G. Barthwell, MD, who now directs addiction treatment centers in Illinois … Continue reading →

Sponsors cancel drug summit in Madras after facing criticism from marijuana legalization advocates Good for them. Apparently somebody realized that a taxpayer-funded “educational” summit about the evils of marijuana just before a vote on legalization might not appear… ethical. The … Continue reading →

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.: Marijuana vs. Scotch and a Low IQ Wow. How can a founder and editor-in-chief write something so ridiculously idiotic? This is an anti-marijuana article presumably aimed at readers who never tried marijuana, never read anything about … Continue reading →

I find myself fairly consumed recently with the events in Ferguson. It certainly does seem to be a defining moment, connecting a whole lot of puzzle pieces — militarization of police, racially unbalanced enforcement, the drug war, lack of accountability … Continue reading →

This infographic on drug use and problematic drug use is nothing new to us, but helps to visually point out how criminalization is a broad sledge hammer that is wrong in two ways: 1. It mostly punishes those who are … Continue reading →

What do they think they’re licensing? Patients face ‘hoop-jumping’ to gain medical marijuana Yet now that the state has enacted a medicinal cannabis law and just this month began distributing applications for would-be patients, the Chicago woman is still deciding … Continue reading →

Connecting the dots… In The New Republic: There Is Only One Real Way to Prevent Future Fergusons: End the War on Drugs by John McWhorter. So, what will really make a difference? Really, only a continued pullback on the War … Continue reading →

A particularly busy time for me – last weekend of my show (Living Canvas Rx Fri-Sat-Sun at the Den Theatre in Chicago), plus another Living Canvas show (completely different, performing as part of the Abbie Hoffman Festival this weekend in … Continue reading →

#Ferguson No, there’s no obvious direct connection to drug policy when reading the facts of the case (known to date), yet there’s no way I can, as someone who writes about drug policy, ignore the death of Michael Brown and … Continue reading →