Drug WarRant

Prohibition’s real lessons for drug policy

America’s notoriously “failed social experiment” to rid the country of alcohol — took center stage this week as PBS broadcast Ken Burns’ highly acclaimed series on the subject. And already, it has been seized on by drug legalization advocates, who say it proves that drug prohibition should be abandoned.

But a closer look at what resulted from alcohol prohibition and its relevance to today’s anti-drug effort reveals a far more nuanced picture than the legalization lobby might like to admit.

It’s the standard pro-prohibition claptrap that downplays the enormous harms of prohibition while tossing out silver linings, and tries to claim that drug prohibition is significantly different from alcohol prohibition so it can work.

I got a laugh out of one of the commenters who appears eager to both support Sabet and stop us from reacting…

substancescholar at 4:27 AM October 5, 2011
This article is well informed and grounded in the facts. Once again Kevin Sabet presents a balanced and thought-out argument. Of course, the legalizers won’t like it, and they will organize another smear campaign against it.

On the other hand, I got a real kick out of the tweet from Transform drugs this morning about Sabet’s article:

Prohibition’s real lessons for drug policy, LAtimes: anti-reform piece so bad it makes the case for legalisation dlvr.it/pQ1Nf

Remember we were having a contest to see where Sabet would end up after leaving the Drug Czar’s office? Well, according to this article, he “currently is a consultant and a fellow at the Center for Substance Abuse Solutions at the University of Pennsylvania.”

I don’t think anyone guessed that, but we shouldn’t be too quick to settle the contest. I’m betting that he’s still in flux. The Center for Substance Abuse Solutions doesn’t really exist at the University of Pennsylvania in any of their directories or search engines except as a project in the bio of A. Thomas McLellan (former Deputy Director of the ONDCP), and Sabet is not yet listed in the U. of Penn faculty/staff directory. It’s possible that Tom McLellan lent him a title to use for publishing OpEds.

Finally, someone in the government is willing to speak up and state this glaring truth, potentially risking the displeasure of his boss…

If you think about the enormous changes that have been made in terms of people’s use of tobacco, for example, that wasn’t because they were arrested.

Exactly.

Boy, I sure wish President Obama heard that.

In his book “Eternal Battle Against Evil,” Paul R. Chabot calls for readers to join him in a never-ending jihad. I use that word because there’s no word in English that as effectively connotes the religious struggle (or holy war) described. And while within the Muslim world there are nuances of meaning to that term, there’s no doubt that Chabot’s struggle focuses on the militant form of jihad.

I am a Christian who believes that both God and Satan exists. I believe man is comprised of both good and evil. For humanity to survive, the good must promise eternal hostility against evil, for we have no other choice. The fight is often scary, bloody, and unknown. As I learned going through a law enforcement academy, one must never, ever, ever give up! If you give up, it’s the end! The bad guys win! (p. xxi)

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Rapid City, South Dakota

Red Ribbon Week in Rapid City starts Monday. It kicked off in the afternoon at Dinosaur Hill.

Students and other officials pledged to be drug free.

Also, they tied a large red ribbon around the dinosaur’s neck.

I guess the message is, “Hey, you may be extinct, but at least you’re drug free!”

They have other activities as well, including the strange-sounding “look up and be drug free flyover.”

The letter was from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen who wrote about marijuana policy and suggesting that marijuana should be removed from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act.

Kerlikowske responded with the usual nonsense. Rep. Cohen could probably use the help of some of you in comments, where some of the constituents seem to be ridiuling the Congressman for caring about this issue.

I always find it bizarre when people (with a straight face, no less) try to explain that marijuana should be kept illegal because it’s only about getting high, and alcohol is different because people drink that for the taste of it.

I wonder what those people make of the ubiquitous Corona Extra commercials…
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I didn’t get a chance to watch the first installment today (it continues over the next two days, I believe). Any reactions?

It really is sad when those with a public platform are so irrationally opposed to discussions of legalization, that they go out of their way to attempt to downplay the importance of drug revenue to Mexican trafficking organizations and the impact of legalization (see Daksya’s comment there for an important correction to Humphreys) or, on the other hand, to suggest that drug testing those on parole or probation would reduce revenue to the drug traffickers by as much as 40%.

That’s the title of this article in The Vancouver Sun.

OTTAWA — A diplomatic cable shows U.S. officials opposed the Insite supervised injection site in Vancouver and wanted the federal and municipal governments to shut it down. […]

The memo is generally favourable of the federal Conservative government’s efforts to clamp down on the production and distribution of illicit drugs, including a national awareness campaign targeting youth and parents.

“However, local and provincial authorities have embarked on a number of so-called ‘harm-reduction’ programs,” reads the cable, “including a drug injection site and distribution of drug paraphernalia to chronic users.”

The document notes the federal government “continues to deliver a sharp message” to cities and provinces about the programs, but called for stronger action.

“Canada, or, as appropriate, municipalities such as Vancouver and Ottawa, should implement the (International Narcotics Control Board’s) recommendations to eliminate drug injection sites and drug paraphernalia distribution programs,” the cable reads, “because they violate international drug control treaties.”

No real surprise, there.

Fortunately, Canada’s Supreme Court has protected the Insite clinic from attempts by the Harper administration to shut it down.

Canada’s top judges, in a sharp rebuke of one of Harper’s key law-and-order planks, said the government’s attempt to shut down North America’s only nurse-supervised injection site for drug addicts violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The U.S. cable is available here. It also notes that “DEA conducted a five-day seminar in Montreal on asset forfeiture and money laundering for 40 members from various law enforcement agencies…” Gotta export that drug war in every way possible, you know.

Perry: Send U.S. troops to Mexico to fight drug wars

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Saturday that he would consider sending U.S. troops into Mexico to combat drug-related violence and stop it from spilling into the southern United States.

“It may require our military in Mexico,” Perry said in answer to a question about the growing threat of drug violence along the southern border. Perry offered no details, and a spokesman, Robert Black, said afterward that sending troops to Mexico would be merely one way of putting an end to the exploding cartel-related violence in the region.

Black said Perry’s intention is to work with the Mexican government, but he declined to specify whether Perry is amenable to sending troops into Mexico with or without the country’s consent.

“If he were president he would do what it takes,” Black said. “The governor said, ‘I’m going to work with the Mexican government to do what’s necessary.’ ”

Based on reading the whole article, it appears to me less that Perry is really thinking about sending troops into Mexico, but rather that he hadn’t really thought anything through at all, and that’s the first thing that popped up in his head at the time of the question. And now his spokesperson is trying to justify what he said.

That doesn’t make me any more confident about Perry. It’s just a matter of figuring out what kind of stupid he is.