Drug WarRant

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Mexican authorities near the Pacific resort city of Acapulco discovered a hidden mass grave filled with what they believed to be victims of the country’s drug war, local media reported on Wednesday.

Authorities have dug at least 18 bodies out of the grave, newspapers El Universal and Milenio reported.

Mexican authorities jumped into action with this bold response:

Mexico on Wednesday welcomed a vote against the legalization of marijuana in the US state of California.

Oh. Right. If California had legalized marijuana, it might have caused Mexico to have some kind of drug war problems…

So just about every former Latin American leader has endorsed legalization. Is there a situation where Calderon could consider it?

President Felipe Calderon, who is leading a military crackdown on Mexico’s drug gangs, said before the vote that any kind of legalization would have to take place “integrally and globally.”

What does that mean? Has there been anything that has happened “integrally and globally” since Adam and Eve shared the apple?

Proposition 19 was huge.

Our work continues. It’s about educating and building a movement from the ground up so that the political leaders are forced to follow us, with a final goal of ending prohibition. Every new person we reach puts us that much closer. We know we can’t count on a Presidential decree or other deus ex machina intervention. It all depends on us.

But Proposition 19 was huge. Despite being a state initiative, it gave us an international stage to tell people about the costs of the drug war, to tell people about the violence of the drug war, to tell people about the racism of the drug war, and so much more. And oh, people listened.

No longer is the question one of whether marijuana will be legalized, but when.

Case in point:

There is a new campaign by Families in Action, called But What About The Children? Yes, of course, it’s the same old “what about the children” nonsense, but with a huge difference.

Check out what they’re saying…

Demand that policymakers who legalize marijuana guarantee the drug will not be marketed to children, like alcohol and tobacco are.

That’s right. Not if policymakers legalize marijuana, but when.

They continue:

Whether or not Californians approve Proposition 19 on November 2, it is the first of many on the horizon to legalize marijuana for recreational use and turn it into an unregulated commercial enterprise. If Prop 19 fails, proponents are planning similar ballot initiatives for 2012, not only in California but also in other Western states. Their strategy seems to be to legalize marijuana in enough states to force Congress to change federal law and legalize the drug nationwide. In fact, Rep. Barney Frank has introduced HR 2943, the first federal bill to legalize marijuana. (It is two sentences long.)

But What about the Children? Campaign
National Families in Action is launching But What About the Children? – a campaign to hold a legalized marijuana industry accountable for ensuring that children will not have access to the drug. The campaign holds that any marijuana legalization law should incorporate provisions to avoid what medical science has learned about alcohol and tobacco use in order to prevent marijuana use and addiction among children.

The entire campaign is about the assumption that marijuana will be legalized.

Of course, a lot of their claims and demands are nonsense, but what a change!

And who is on their advisory board? One of the worst prohibitionists out there — Robert DuPont — plus prohibition enabler extraordinaire Rosalie Pacula of Rand.

Change is in the works.

This is an open thread to discuss anything you wish as you wait for the Prop 19 results (although waiting is not all you can do — Get out the vote campaigns continue today).

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OAKLAND, CA – The campaign working to pass Proposition 19, the California initiative to control and tax marijuana, will host a Get Out The Vote rally on Election Day, this Tuesday, in front of Oakland City Hall.

WHO: Oakland City Attorney John Russo; Prop. 19 proponent and Oaksterdam University founder Richard Lee; former Wheatland police officer Nate Bradley; United Food and Commercial Workers union organizer Dan Rush; lawyer and mom Hanna Dershowitz and others
WHAT: Election Day Get Out The Vote rally
WHEN: Tuesday, November 2; 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
WHERE: Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland City Hall

While the rally itself lasts from 10:00 AM until noon, the first hour is targeted to press, and will feature short speeches by all the spokespersons.

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I’ve also gathered a fair amount of interesting reading for you.

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Comment: The war on drugs is already lost by Ian Dunt

What is losing? No-one really knows. In football there’s a final whistle. In politics, there are elections. But policies have no timer, only consequences. How bad must those consequences be for us to call it quits over the war on drugs? […]

Intellectually, pro-prohibitionists are a dwindling and pitiful breed. Alone and without allies they make their case to an empty room. Behind them, almost every government in the world supports their barbaric and simple-minded agenda. It is baffling. […]

Drug prohibition is philosophically wrong. It denies us the freedom to decide what we put in our own bodies. It is medically wrong. The black market allows drug peddlers to corrupt the substances in a bid to boost quantities, something which would be impossible if the product were regulated. It is socially wrong. It funds the black market and allows drug use to take place in a social netherworld, where addiction and crime are more likely to follow. It is logically wrong, in that decriminalisation tends to see usage and potency drop. When Jacqui Smith obediently followed Gordon Brown’s orders and re-classified marijuana, for instance, its usage was actually falling.

But a mugging here or a burglary there hardly compares to what this insane policy does to us strategically. […]

How much blood does it take before the prohibitionists admit defeat? At what point does their continued failure become a personal moral culpability? They are promoting a policy which kills our children, endangers our troops, counteracts our foreign policy and reduces much of the developing world to anarchy.

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The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!

Comes now Russian drug czar Viktor Ivanov, who flew in and injected a bit of old-fashioned reefer madness into the debate. As only someone from the land of double-speak can put it, Ivanov warned of “psychiatric deviations” should California pass Proposition 19. Foreign Policy reports:

Viktor Ivanov, a former KGB officer and prominent member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, even took the unusual step of going to Los Angeles earlier this week to “conduct a campaign against legalizing marijuana in California,” as he said in the interview. He also came to Washington this week to meet with U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and U.S. Afghan envoy Richard Holbrooke to discuss anti-poppy measures in Afghanistan and call for an intensified program of aerial eradication.

He warns California, sternly:

“I’m afraid that the consequences of [legalization] will be catastrophic. Even the Netherlands, where they sell marijuana legally in coffee shops, they are now reversing on this. Because there, and everywhere, drug addiction is becoming stronger and the people who are addicted develop psychiatric deviations. They say, ‘What does God do when he wants to punish a person? He deprives him of his mind.’ “

The aptly titled Russian czar does speak with some authority, as his country does have a drug problem of its own. But I’m not sure that support from Ivanov — whose own government has an elastic definition of personal freedom — is an endorsement the anti-19 forces will embrace.

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Mary Ann Sieghart: Restore sanity in the debate on drugs

America declared war on drugs 40 years ago. You’d think that by now, it might have won. Instead, any US teenager can buy cannabis, at higher strength and at a lower price. Meanwhile, severed heads are rolled across floors in Mexican discos and innocent people are scared to leave their homes in cities such as Ciudad Juarez, where the war on drugs has taken its highest toll.

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Nora Volkow says something true:

One of the issues is that people believe how marijuana affects them is how it affects everyone, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“They base it on their own experiences, and it is possible you can smoke and have no ill effects. It’s also possible you can smoke until age 100 and have no ill effects.

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5 Expert Takes on How U.S. Marijuana Legalization Would Affect Mexico

“Experts” are clueless and/or unwilling to actually consider real solutions, as evidenced by this extraordinary confession by “expert” Peter Rueter

Reuter: I am really struck by the lack of suggestions as to what the Mexican government should do other than just give up. I don’t have any good ideas, and nobody else does, either.

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A Letter to the Undecided: Prop 19 by Jesse Levine

People sitting on the fence about proposition 19 remind me of people stuck in dysfunctional relationships. They know they should end the relationship but are plagued with anxiety about the future. I’ve tried to relieve some fear about legalization so that you might understand more clearly how futile and destructive marijuana prohibition is and why it should be ended. Prop 19 is down in the polls but the race is close. Please go end the states dysfunctional relationship with marijuana prohibition.

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Author’s Novel Aims to Settle Debate Debate Over Marijuana Legalization

Of all the arguments that have been made over the past year in support of California’s initiative to legalize marijuana, perhaps the most convincing is the one found on page 237 of Katie Arnoldi’s novel “Point Dume.”

The drug cartels are growing marijuana on our public lands. Right this minute, there are millions of plants in grow-sites all around the country and especially in California. The chemicals they use are destroying wildlife, our national parks and designated wilderness. I’ve been into these grow-sites and have seen, first hand, the enormous environmental devastation. It is a problem that should not be ignored.

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Marijuana legalization: why tea party might support Prop. 19 in… Christian Science Monitor?

Whether or not tea party conservatives and libertarians – the two main strands of the powerful political insurgency movement – will help put Prop. 19 over the top is an open question. But some commentators are seeing anecdotal support among many tea partyers for marijuana legalization in California. […]

Yet the poll numbers don’t necessarily indicate that things will turn out this way. Republicans oppose the measure by 65 percent to 25 percent, and those over age 60 are against it by 63 percent to 29 percent, according to the nonpartisan Field Poll.

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California’s Slap At Our Drug-Fighting Allies — a particularly stupid editorial from Investor’s Business Daily, known for its stupid editorials.

Whatever the merits of legalizing marijuana in California, passage of Prop. 19 will create a legal mess at a time when Mexico’s war is becoming a higher foreign-policy priority for the U.S.

Although the measure’s prospects seem to be fading, passage could discourage Latin American friends from working with us on the drug problem and inadvertently bring back the old days of ignoring the problem.

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Marijuana as a Gateway Drug: The Myth That Will Not Die by Maia Szalavitz in Time.

The problem here is that correlation isn’t cause. Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang members are probably more 104 times more likely to have ridden a bicycle as a kid than those who don’t become Hell’s Angels, but that doesn’t mean that riding a two-wheeler is a “gateway” to joining a motorcycle gang. It simply means that most people ride bikes and the kind of people who don’t are highly unlikely to ever ride a motorcycle.

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Whether Prop 19 Passes or Not, Legalization is Now Mainstream by David Borden

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Hollywood Stars for Prop 19 (video)

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Don’t forget to vote.

Mike Meno at MPP Blog posted this useful Marijuana Policy Election Day Scorecard and I don’t think he’ll mind if I re-print it here:

Voters all across the country will cast ballots tomorrow in elections that could alter the course of U.S. marijuana policy for years to come. Here are the 9 most important contests to watch for the movement to end marijuana prohibition:

1. California: Proposition 19 would make marijuana legal for all adults – it represents the best chance to date for a single state to overturn the failure of marijuana prohibition and offer an alternative for others to follow. It would make it legal for all adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, as well as grow a 25-square-foot marijuana garden on their property. It would also allow localities to tax and regulate marijuana sales, but it remains unclear how the federal government would react if Prop 19 passes. Website: yeson19.org
2. Arizona: Proposition 203, an MPP-backed initiative, would allow patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening diseases to use marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation. Patients could purchase their medicine from tightly regulated, state-licensed dispensaries or grow their own if they live more than 25 miles from a clinic. Website: stoparrestingpatients.org
3. Oregon: Measure 74 would expand the state’s existing medical marijuana law by authorizing regulated, state-licensed nonprofit clinics to provide improved patient access to their medicine. The system would generate an estimated $3 to $20 million a year for the state through taxes and fees. Website: measure74.com
4. South Dakota: Measure 13 would allow patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and other serious ailments to use marijuana with a recommendation from their doctor. Patients could grow their own medicine or designate a caregiver to grow it for them. Website: sdcompassion.org
5. Vermont: VOTE Peter Shumlin for governor. Shumlin (D), the state Senate pro tempore, played a major role in passing Vermont’s medical marijuana law in 2004, and has been a staunch advocate for marijuana decriminalization. MPP has spent years lobbying for a decriminalization law in Vermont. With Shumlin as governor, Vermont would be well poised to pass decriminalization and expand its medical marijuana law by authorizing licensed dispensaries. Website: www.shumlinforgovernor.com
6. California: NOT Steve Cooley for attorney general. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley (R) is a rabid anti-marijuana zealot who has falsely claimed that all medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal, and that he would continue to arrest adults for marijuana crimes even if voters pass Proposition 19.  If he wins the election for state attorney general, he will become the state’s top law enforcement official and could reverse years of progress toward saner marijuana laws in California. Website: notcooley.com
7. New Mexico: NOT Susana Martinez for governor. Martinez (R), the leading candidate for governor, has said she will work to overturn New Mexico’s medical marijuana law if elected. New Mexico’s law enjoys wide popular support and is often described as the tightest-regulated law in the country. But Martinez believes federal law should trump a popular local law – despite the Obama administration’s promise of non-intervention in state medical marijuana laws. Website: donttakeawaymymedicine.org
8. Connecticut: VOTE Dan Malloy for governor. Malloy (D) has said that he “absolutely” supports decriminalizing marijuana, as well as medical marijuana legislation that would protect seriously ill patients from arrest. Outgoing Gov. Jodi M. Rell vetoed medical marijuana legislation in 2007. If Malloy were elected governor, proponents would be given renewed hope for passing a medical marijuana law in Connecticut. Website: danmalloy.com
9. Massachusetts: More than 70 local municipalities in Massachusetts will be voting on non-binding resolutions and public policy questions calling on the state government to pass medical marijuana or end marijuana prohibition entirely. These initiatives are a great opportunity for Massachusetts voters to send a strong message to their state lawmakers, as well as give local organizers a better sense of where things stand for future marijuana initiatives in Massachusetts. Website: masscann.org

Mark Kleiman, in a good post — Bullsh*tting Against Drug Legalization — takes a look at a new publication by the DEA and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (you know nothing good’s going to come from that alliance): Speak Out Against Drug Legalization

Kleiman handily dismantles the absurd claims in this government document that legalization won’t affect criminal activity and that there’s no proof of marijuana’s medical safety and efficacy.

The United States should be embarrassed by this document (of course, our government is way beyond embarrassment). It’s full of absolute nonsense. Check out this one example of a single bullet point:

• If we were to regulate marijuana, we would have to concede that it’s acceptable for society to profit from a person’s addiction. There were approximately 38,000 overdose deaths for illicit drugs and non-medical use of prescription drugs during 2006, according to the Center for Disease Control. How much are those lives worth?

Is there any kind of coherent thought there?

Or check out the coherence of this one:

The “legalization lobby” claims that the “European model” of the drug problem is successful. However, since legalization of marijuana in the Netherlands, heroin addiction levels have tripled. Their “Needle Park” is a poor model for America.

Then there are portions which are absolutely hilarious:

In addition, the idealistic goals of [alcohol] prohibition went beyond what many initial supporters of prohibition thought they were supporting, and lacked flexibility that would allow policy adjustments to changes in the facts surrounding alcohol. In contrast, our nation’s current drug laws are built upon the Controlled Substances Act, which contains a series of increasingly restrictive schedules that allow for the appropriate regulation of various drugs, as well as a mechanism to move substances from one regulatory status to another should new information about the use of a controlled substance be established.

or how about this one (John Adams must be rolling in his grave)

John Adams, who helped draft the Constitution and later became our second president, declared, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to govern of any other.” This means that any and all just laws must be based on moral considerations. Our elected representatives are therefore bound to legislate morality.

I expect the right-wing political preachers to interpret Adams’ statement that way, but not anyone with, oh, an education.

As a separate note in his post, Kleiman asks:

Footnote If the Tea Partiers and their tame politicians were genuinely against nanny-state big government and for states’ rights, wouldn’t they favor repeal of the Controlled Substances Act? Under the theories they espouse, wouldn’t hey regard it as unconstitutional? Just askin’.

Yeah. Now, I realize that Tea Party isn’t really an organized entity, and that there are many people who follow the Tea Party who are strongly opposed to prohibition. Yet it baffles me (and concerns me somewhat) that you hear so little about drug policy as a Tea Party issue. Because Mark’s right. It’s a natural for being a core view for the Tea Party, assuming that the Tea Party truly opposes big government, and not just partisan-selected big government.

Zach Galifianakis on the Bill Maher show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeSmR2hfp-I

One more visual that demonstrates the absolute absurdity of marijuana laws.

Via Reason’s Hit and Run

With Prop 19 vote coming up in just a few days, it may seem like everything that can be done has been done, but that’s not true by a long shot.

These last three days make a huge difference. It’s the final impression in voters’ minds. It’s the final decision to actually go and vote. This is the time to turn up the heat.

And our side is doing that. Between Just Say Now, and SSDP and LEAP and the Yes on 19 campaign, there’s a comprehensive effort involving education, marketing, and get out the vote efforts.

On the other side?

On the other side of the campaign, Prop. 19 opponents are running out of steam, having failed to show up for scheduled debates in recent weeks. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, for example, failed to show up for a scheduled debate in front of the L.A. Urban League of Young Professionals against pro-Prop. 19 LAPD deputy chief of police Stephen Downing (Ret.) earlier this month. And on Friday, No On 19 spokesman Roger Salazar failed to appear at a scheduled debate on KPFA against former Superior Court judge Jim Gray and labor union leader Dan Rush. Earlier this week, when No On 19 campaign manager Tim Rosales was asked by a debate moderator for the Commonwealth Club what his idea for a better world is, Rosales simply answered “vacation” – revealing just how ready he is to give up the effort.

If you’re in California, there are tons of ways for you to get involved in these last few days. Here’s a list of rallies, phone banks, literature drops, etc. where you can participate in different communities.

You can contribute. Yes, even at this late date, in political campaigns they can turn the money around that fast. As more money comes in they can contact their media reps and get additional airings of TV ads.

Don’t live in California? Don’t have money to contribute? No problem. You can actually help contact voters in California and the three states with medical marijuana initiatives by phone from anywhere. Just Say Now’s Phone Bank system is ridiculously easy to do. They give you a script and feed you phone numbers to call right on your computer. You don’t even have to leave the sofa.

Finally, do you have friends in California? Give them a call. Make sure they’re going to vote on Tuesday. Make sure they know why pot legalization is the most important issue before voters this election day.

In the Vail Daily, Robert F. Hickey hits one out of the park.

First, from a professional perspective, let me say that in treating thousands of people who have become victims of their use of alcohol and other drugs since 1970, I have never treated a marijuana addict. I have never been called to an emergency room to treat an out-of-control or violent marijuana user. I have never completed a court-ordered evaluation for a defendant who was accused of domestic violence as a result of marijuana use. I have never heard of five or six law enforcement officers being needed to tackle, control or otherwise subdue a crazed marijuana user.

Marijuana is not a narcotic! That is a law enforcement characterization, not a medical, biological or chemical classification.

Contrary to quotes in Mr. Sims’ letter by Kevin Sabet, special adviser, Office of National Drug Control Policy, marijuana is not a dangerous drug which causes documented health and social problems.

Where is the documentation? The only documentation of social problems are those which arise from the prohibition of marijuana and the 750,000 subsequent arrests for possession of small amounts of the plant each year.

The social problems come as a result of the billions of dollars spent each year by law enforcement agencies across the country.

The social problems come from the inequities of law enforcement against minorities in the country. African-Americans are five to 10 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, yet on a per capita basis, whites use marijuana in greater numbers than all minorities. As Alice Huffman, president of the California NAACP said recently, “ … being caught up in the criminal justice system does more harm to young people than marijuana itself.”

And by what authority does Sabet dictate that marijuana “should not be subject to voter approval for its use”?

There’s more. Great job, Mr. Hickey.