Author Archives: Pete Guither

The Founding Fathers never wanted a national police force. In fact, there were adamantly opposed to the idea, having a strong distrust of centralized authoritarian structure. They specifically left out the powers to form any kind of national structure for … Continue reading →

TPMCafe Book Club is focusing this week on Ryan Grim’s new book This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America. So far… The Economics of Abuse by Mark Kleiman There is No Such Thing … Continue reading →

Thoreau over at Unqualified Offerings has a couple of excellent posts worth reading, including You can’t spell “defeat” without D, E, and A and… Drug War Explained: A friend who doesn‰t pay much attention to law and politics asked me … Continue reading →

Radley Balko covers it: Last week, an undercover New York City police officer participating in a drug buy shot and killed 49-year-old Shem Walker during an altercation at Walker‰s home in Brooklyn. Police say Walker, described by family and neighbors … Continue reading →

The United States, apparently unhappy with the meager level of violence in Mexico, is putting up bribe money in an attempt to escalate it. The Department of State offered up to $50 million Monday for information leading to the arrests … Continue reading →

One of the problems police have in the drug war is that drug transactions are consensual, so nobody generally wants to report them to the police. Police therefore have to get creative to even find out about drug deals. Well, … Continue reading →

Via Allen St. Pierre at NORML… Yep, a newly formed Drug Task Force has been established in the House of Representatives to fight back against the Obama administration which “seeks to shut the war on drugs down.” Wait. What was … Continue reading →

After the disastrous article on marijuana addiction they ran Friday, the New York Times appears to be trying to regain some credibility with today’s follow-up: If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise? They interview Roger Roffman, Wayne Hall, Mark A.R. … Continue reading →

Sarah Kershaw and Rebecca Cathcart drop a load in the New York Times Fashion and Style section: Marijuana Is Gateway Drug for Two Debates IT was as if she woke up one day and decades of her life had disappeared. … Continue reading →

I’ll miss him. I grew up watching Walter, whether he was reporting the news or helping us be a part of the great and terrible moments in history, from the Apollo missions to the tragedies of the day. But he … Continue reading →