Drug WarRant

Outstanding and passionate OpEd by Froma Harrop: Waging war against war on drugs

She starts by welcoming Pat Robertson to the discussion in the hopes that other conservatives will follow.

Where are the foes of big government in this? They should note that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s budget has more than quadrupled over the decade to $2.6 billion — without making a dent in the quantity of illegal drugs sold in this country. (The narcotics, meanwhile, are more potent than ever.)

But the DEA bureaucrats know how to expand a mandate. The agency now operates 86 offices in 63 countries and runs a shadow State Department that at times mucks up American diplomacy. It employs nearly 11,000 people.

And the DEA is but one expense in the drug war. Add in the costs of local law enforcement to round up suspects, courts to prosecute them and jails to hold them, and the war on drugs weighs in at about $50 billion a year. States and municipalities bear most of the costs.

Here’s one paragraph that really hit home.

No one here is advocating drug use. I have never touched hard drugs, but the “war” against them lost its romance the day that a drug addict pointed a knife at my gut, demanding money for a fix that should have cost him no more than a head of celery.

The reflexive non-thinking approach to that situation is to say “More laws, tougher sentencing.” But Froma is smart and realizes that it’s the drug war that created the situation to begin with. And…

Then there’s the rank hypocrisy. President Obama admits to having “tried” cocaine, and President George W. Bush all but did, refusing to answer questions about his previous drug use. Yet we still ruin the lives of teenagers caught using or dealing in far less dangerous marijuana.

While I’m on the road (I’m currently in the Phoenix area), you guys in comments have been having an incredibly good discussion on really serious and important drug policy topics, but I don’t know how you could have missed this huge drug war story…

Housekeeper finds marijuana in hotel room, Ann Arbor police say

A housekeeper found a small quantity of marijuana hidden in a room at the Red Roof Inn at 3505 South State Street on Saturday morning, prompting an investigation by Ann Arbor police.

According to police spokeswoman Lt. Renee Bush, the housekeeper found the bag of marijuana at 10:30 a.m. and turned it over to a front desk employee, who called police.

Officers responded and confiscated the drugs, Bush said. The most recent guest in the room had already left, Bush said.

So far, no charges have been filed.

Thank goodness the Ann Arbor police were there to conduct an investigation and Lee Higgins was there to write the breaking story.

Mexican police claim to have ‘dismembered’ La Familia drug gang

Mexico’s federal police has claimed a major victory over the ‘La Familia’ drug cartel – one of the most bloody gangs operating within the embattled country.

In what could be seen as a turning point in Mexico’s violent war against organized drug cartels, Mexican federal police claim to have “completely dismembered” the bloody La Familia narcotics gang, according to the Press Association.

Oh, yes. Another victory. Another turning point. And what will that give us?

Mexican federal police assured the public that La Familia has been broken into smaller pieces – and that these smaller operations are more desperate and prone to making mistakes.

Desperate violent drug traffickers fighting it out in public for control of multi-billion dollar drug smuggling business.

Gee, what could be better?

I’m on the road now with my Mom (who is 88), traveling to Arizona to see her brother (who is 94). I’ve got a lot of music and a clear road, and once I get out of these prairie states, there will be some delightful sights — going places that I’ve never been, seeing things that I may never see again.

With luck, I’ll have wifi in every hotel and be able to keep up with the blog a little bit over the next 10 days.

You probably have your own personal New Year’s resolutions, but if you are really committed to drug policy reform, why not set a few drug policy reform resolutions as well? (And if you’re reading this on New Year’s eve or New Year’s day, I think it’s fair to say that you’re pretty committed.)

What we really need is grass roots growth. Sure, write your Representative if you want, but that shouldn’t count toward meeting your resolutions. Change minds. Increase the knowledge and boost the courage of the vast population of potential allies out there.

1. Get involved in a conversation with someone new about drug policy reform. Aim for once a month. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation. Ask them if they heard about a particular article or issue. If you want to make this easy, wear a LEAP t-shirt.

2. Write a letter to the editor. Aim for once a month. Most newspapers will let you write again after 30 days. Plus, there are thousands of papers you can write. Getting a letter published is more valuable than an expensive advertisement.

3. Tell others about Drug WarRant. If you think that this is a valuable site and that you learn more about drug policy reform by reading it, then let others know. Send a link to a story you like to a friend, post it on Facebook or Reddit or Twitter, or bring it up on a discussion board.

4. Make a financial commitment. Give something. Doesn’t need to be a lot, but do your part. Pick a drug policy reform organization that you’d like to support (I’m a fan of LEAP, but there are other good ones as well). And at the absolute minimum, you should tithe. A tithe is one-tenth, and often refers to the practice of giving 1/10th of your earnings to your church. But I’m suggesting a different kind of tithing. Give at least 1/10th of what you spend on drugs (including alcohol) to organizations that are working on creating better policies.

These aren’t hard. But if everyone who read this blog followed these resolutions, it would make a huge difference.

A little bit of truth from a drug war series…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn2WfKUgTZU

While the U.S. continues to keep, promote, and export repressive marijuana policies, other countries, often quietly, are finding ways to mitigate the stupidity of the laws the international treaties force them to follow.

Spain is another one.

Cannabis clubs plug a gap in Spanish drugs laws

The Private Cannabis Club, with its palmate green leaves stencilled on the walls and the club’s name etched on to smoked windowpanes, is at the vanguard of a new movement of pro-cannabis campaigners in Spain. The members spotted a gap in Spain’s drugs laws which, they say, makes the activities of private clubs like these entirely legal. […]

“We’ve been open for two months and we already have 125 members,” said the association’s president, Pedro Álvaro Zamora. Those members pay €120 a year to belong and Zamora and his companions follow rules that seem similar to those of exclusive Mayfair clubs. A sign by the doorbell warns that only members are admitted and a committee vets new applicants, blackballing some. Alicia Méndez, a club official, said: “Potential members are interviewed and we do not accept everyone. Our members have to be responsible people, have the right profile.”

Zamora said: “This is not Amsterdam, this is not a coffee shop. This is our association’s club house and it is a private place. It is not open for everyone.”

Spain does not have a law banning consumption in private and members claim it is safer to use the club than go out to parks and smoke in public.

Authorities are pretty much allowing these to continue (sometimes even returning confiscated cannabis to the clubs) without making a big fuss about it.

Again, not a perfect solution, but better than nothing.

The Conservative Political Action Conference is a big deal each year, and this year’s is already generating some controversy. Turns out that they’re not ready to accept teh gays.

Two of the nation’s premier moral issues organizations, the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, are refusing to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in February because a homosexual activist group, GOProud, has been invited.

Well, maybe they need to embrace another issue. The New York Post’s Abby Wisse Schachter has a suggestion: Note to CPAC: Have a pot session

Pat Robertson and Vice President Joe Biden have provided conservatives an opportunity to start a conversation about marijuana legalization. Robertson came out earlier this week favoring if not wholesale legalization of pot, then a reexamination of the current broken system of punishment and prison for possession. […]

On the other side of the aisle, Biden was asked to respond to Robertson’s remarks and reverted to language that has been in use for decades. Biden called pot a “gateway drug” and said he doesn’t agree that legalization is the way to go. […]

Biden’s answer to the question was old hat indicating that Democrats aren’t ready to evolve on the issue. Republicans should beat them to the punch and there’s no better labratory for new ideas than the annual CPAC gathering. Conservative leaders and politicians will gather with thousands of the faithful, in Washington in February where much of the focus will be on 2012 and the rise of presidential contenders. It would serve the purposes of the conservative movement and those who want to run for president to start a conversation about legalization.

Excellent suggestion.

… yet still disturbing.

Cristina Silva of the AP has an article: In Nev., booze, bets, brothels OK, not selling pot even as nearby states allow it

The question:

How is a state that has long lured visitors with promises of unconstrained debauchery stricter with pot than its more wholesome neighbors of Colorado, Arizona and California?

Apparently that’s a misunderstanding of the character of Nevada. And the political leaders and historians will set you… straight.

Sure, they say, the state has libertarian leanings and is generally willing to prosper from activities that most states have declared repugnant.

For many, however, pot is for hippies.

And Nevada, borne in the rugged days of the Wild West, is no place for hippies.

“The attitude was real men drank, whored and gambled — these are the vices of frontier men and women,” said Guy Rocha, Nevada’s former archivist.

“When it comes to drugs, Nevada has looked at it as, ‘that’s what those wild people in California do, or New York or Oregon,'” he said.

Sad. But refreshing honesty.

To adapt The West Wing’s Ainslee Hayes’ quote to a different issue …

Your marijuana control policy doesn’t have anything to do with public safety… It’s about, you don’t like people who do like marijuana. You don’t like the people.

Yes, Virginia, caveman-testosterone-fueled public policy does exist.

The Daily Herald (Chicago suburbs) editorial board shows just how ignorant it is: A suburban war on drugs is vital to stem the tide

We must wage a war on drug abuse. That should be the resolve of law enforcement, our communities, our schools and ourselves. […]

Death by heroin was up 130 percent in Lake County, 150 percent in three years in McHenry County and it doubled in two years in Will County. […]

A vital takeaway from the St. Charles forum was the role marijuana use and drinking plays in leading teens into even harder drugs. One expert said more teens are in treatment for marijuana dependency than all other drugs combined.

One teen told the crowd that “from the moment I tried smoking pot and drinking, something clicked in my body and I knew that I liked being altered.” That led to cocaine, acid and mushrooms. It led to her being expelled and it led to criminal activity like forging checks.

That treatment statistic lie just won’t die. (By “lie,” I mean an intentional effort to deceive, which it is.)

This isn’t the first time for the Daily Herald to get on the bandwagon of conflating marijuana use with heroin deaths (and the other just as nonsensical bandwagon of thinking that a war is actually useful in reducing heroin deaths).

Last year, they helped promote this bizarre campaign of a grieving and destructive mother.

Mother of suburban teen who died warns others

(I’ve seen this billboard. It really threw me to see the pot leaf on a billboard. And it made less sense once I read it.)

“If this doesn’t get their attention, I don’t know what will,” the Lincolnshire mother says, as she wipes a tear off her cheek and a friend wraps an arm around her shoulder. “If we have to be in people’s faces, we will.”

Now, there are actually some good things being suggested:

Parents pushed for the new law that takes effect Jan. 1 making it legal for anyone who has the proper training to carry Narcan, a prescription drug already used by medical workers that reverses the effects of a heroin overdose. […]

Parents also are having informal discussions whether to push for a law that would grant immunity to anyone who calls 911 to report a drug overdose.

Excellent ideas. But some of the rest is just clueless…

Heroin’s growing popularity in the suburbs can be attributed to a few things, experts say. First, it’s easy to get. Police officers say there’s a steady stream of nice cars filled with suburban kids rolling into the West side of Chicago, where they buy the drugs on the street corner. Heroin’s also cheap – a $10 “dime bag” can contain up to 12 doses, said Bruce Talbot, a retired Woodridge police sergeant who now leads drug training programs at schools and police departments.

Hmmm… that seems to me to be the result of a drug war, not the reason to call for one.

A generation ago, heroin was largely thought of as a scary, inner-city drug. Today, it’s trendy to some high school students who don’t recognize how highly addictive and dangerous it is.

“They think it’s like marijuana or something,” said Bruce Johnson, director of NICASA, a substance-abuse center based in Round Lake. “They don’t think there’s going to be this horrific change in their life because of this.”

Maybe if you hadn’t lied to them about marijuana…

Stephen Smith, a unit coordinator for Rosecrance’s men’s residential program in Rockford, says most rehab centers have waiting lists.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “Funding is disappearing.”

The stigma associated with heroin also prevents parents from seeking help, fearing they’ll be judged if anyone finds out.

Well, maybe there would be spaces in rehab centers if they weren’t filled with marijuana “addicts.” And maybe the stigma wouldn’t be such a problem if we weren’t waging a war!