Drug WarRant

Conor Friedersdorf has an illuminating OpEd on the difference between press coverage of “protest candidates” like John Huntsman and coverage of Ron Paul/Gary Johnson.

Huntsman is challenging orthodoxies of thought that afflict the GOP alone, and taking positions that reflect the conventional wisdom in the media […] In contrast, Johnson and Paul are challenging orthodoxies of thought that are bi-partisan in nature and implicate much of the political and media establishment. […]

For questioning America’s aggressive, interventionist foreign policy and its failed War on Drugs, policies that are tremendously costly, consequential, and executed in ways that are immoral and demonstrably damaging to our civil liberties, Paul and Johnson aren’t given points for speaking uncomfortable truths, shining light on evasions, or affecting the political conversation for the better. […]

But a protest candidate that challenges the bipartisan consensus on foreign policy, the war on drugs, or civil liberties is ignored, no matter the substantive quality of their arguments on those issues. And if their fans complain, it is pointed out that they don’t have a chance of winning. The salutary effect that protest candidates can have on political discourse even if they don’t win is completely forgotten.

I think he’s nailed it pretty well.

It’s been a busy weekend, with the end of my show in Chicago last night (and subsequent strike today), along with getting ready for classes to start tomorrow.

A big thanks to the Drug WarRant readers who came out to see The Living Canvas: Rain. It was great to see you and talk with you!

There are only two things I know for certain: There is no difference between good flan and bad flan, and the President will suck

Thoreau explains Presidential politics.

Student drug testing may have only small effect in reducing use

Once again, we find that all that drug testing is doing little but enrich the drug testing companies, along with instilling in the minds of students that they are not free citizens.

3 Republicans on Arizona Corporation Commission test drug-free

No word on whether they were tested for competence.

Florida’s Welfare Drug Testing Costs More Than It Saves

No surprise there.

Why Expand the Drug War?

Jacob Hornberger discusses the latest U.S. expansion in Mexico. [Link fixed.]

Also… The War on Drugs: Doubling Down on a Bad Bet

A Radical New View of Addiction Stirs Scientific Storm

Council Members Call for Change to Marijuana Possession Law

Criticizing the Bloomberg administration’s aggressive pursuit of marijuana possession arrests as “racially biased” and costly, a group of City Council members gathered in front of City Hall on Wednesday to introduce a resolution aimed at curbing the practice.

Interesting.

First Bolivia pulls out of the Single Convention over the requirement to eliminate all coca use. Now Peru has temporarily suspended coca eradication efforts.

Neither country is being at all radical about this. They’re still actively going after cocaine traffickers and have no intention of legalizing cocaine.

Yet they’re actually looking at policies and looking at separating coca from cocaine politics. You know, like rational policy-makers. Which really pisses off the U.S.

The people who get excited about a drug seizure and say that this will really hurt the cartels… are the same people who claim legalization won’t hurt the cartels because they’ll find another way to make money.

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Both of us want to get drugs off the street. I want to do it for good through legalization. You, apparently, like the exercise of picking them up one at a time.

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There’s something sick about a society where they take kids away from pot-smoking parents, but don’t take them away from politicians.

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If you’re going to make a plant illegal, why can’t it be poison ivy?

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When marijuana is legalized, will unemployed DEA agents have to apply for jobs at cannabis stores? If so, what kind of random test should they have to take to be able to work there?

I hadn’t really taken much notice of this Rick Perry guy. I mean I’d read about him, but I hadn’t actually seen him in action… until now.

Hoo boy.

This is both a dim bulb and a true believer! In this video, he’s convinced that abstinence-only education works, despite all evidence, because to believe otherwise would threaten his world view. Therefore any “facts” that show otherwise are simply… unimportant.

And, in case you missed it, Jon Stewart does an absolutely brilliant take on the media pretending Ron Paul doesn’t exist…

Video removed… but available here

I don’t know why, but Gil Kerliowske seems to have a lot of problem getting words and concepts mixed up. I keep having to fix them.

And now, more than ever, it’s important to recognize that drug use [the drug war] harms every sector of this country. From keeping individual families together, creating a healthy and strong workforce, reducing the economic strain on the criminal justice system, and fostering a safe environment in local communities, tackling America’s substance abuse issues [drug war problem] is vital for winning the future.

There.

The question I’d ask…

President Obama, every time someone asks you about marijuana policy you smirk and chuckle a little. What’s so funny?

Is it the 800,000 Americans arrested each year for doing what you did when you were young?

Or is it the people suffering from cancer and pain who are looking for much-needed relief?

Or perhaps the families who have been terrorized and whose dogs were shot by SWAT teams looking for an ounce of pot?

Or the taxpayers who pay for it all, or the Mexicans who are dying?

Let us in on the joke, Mr. President, so we can laugh, too.

15 of Today’s Biggest Advocates Against the Drug War and Police Brutality

Ethan Nadelmann
George Soros
Norm Stamper
Neill Franklin
Howard Wooldridge
Stephen Downing
Joseph D. McNamara
Leigh Maddox
Walter Cronkite
Gary Johnson
Carl Dix
De Lacy Davis
Copwatch
The Black Panther Party
Cory Doctorow

I’m not sure I get it.

“A lot of states are making decisions about medical marijuana. As a controlled substance, the issue is then that is it being prescribed by a doctor as opposed to… you know, well, I’ll leave it at that.“

Thank you, Mr. President. That’s the kind of bold leadership we’ve been seeking.

Video

Radley Balko’s title shows just how bizarre this is…

Sage, chocolate chip cookies, deodorant, billiards chalk, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, patchouli, spearmint, eucalyptus, breath mints . . . . . . and now, motor oil.

In April, Janet Goodin of Warroad, Minn., was crossing into Canada for an evening of bingo with her daughters when an officer with the Canadian Border Service conducted a routine search of her van. The officer found an old bottle of motor oil, did a field test and told her that it contained heroin. […]

The motor oil was sent to a Canadian federal laboratory, which eventually determined there was no heroin in it. After 12 days behind bars, Goodin was released.

Given how often these field tests false-positive on such a wide range of substances, it is absolutely unconscionable to jail people based solely on field tests.

How do they give 12 days back to this woman?