Drug WarRant

Police in St. Louis discovered a marijuana lab in a house. Yes, a “marijuana growth lab,” was in the basement.

Todd and Angela Priest have been charged with child endangerment.

The Priests knowingly allowed the children to enter the house from Feb. 1 through 12, according to court documents.

How dare they let their four kids, aged 2 through 14, enter the house! They should have made them sleep in the alley. After all, there was a drug lab in the basement and they were in the same house with things like water and light and plant food.

The Oppenheimer Report in the Miami Herald: Has the time come to legalize drugs?

I haven’t really mentioned Vicente Fox’s recent call for legalization. Andres Oppenheimer discusses it.

While the three centrist former presidents’ proposal amounted to not prosecuting people for consuming marijuana, Fox’s proposal calls for legalization of all major drugs — the whole enchilada.

In an extended interview, Fox told me that he is making his proposal because drug-related violence in Mexico has reached intolerable levels, and because the experience of other countries such as the Netherlands has shown that allowing drug sales has not significantly driven up drug consumption.

“Prohibitionist policies have hardly worked anywhere,” Fox told me. “Prohibition of alcohol in the United States [in the 1920’s] never worked, and it only helped trigger violence and crime.”

Since possession of small amounts of marijuana has already been decriminalized in Mexico, what’s needed now are bolder steps, such as legalizing drug production and using the taxes it generates to fund anti-drug education programs, he said.

“What I’m proposing is that, instead of allowing this business to continue being run by criminals, by cartels, that it be run by law-abiding business people who are registered with the Finance Ministry, pay taxes and create jobs,” Fox said.

That’s about as clear as you can get.

And the antics of our drug warriors just keep looking more pathetic every day…

In a separate interview, White House drug czar R. Gil Kerlikowske told me that drug legalization is a “non-starter” in the Obama administration.

Kerlikowske disputed the idea that alcohol prohibition drove up crime in the United States in the 1920s, arguing that there were no reliable crime statistics at the time.

A very interesting article by Paul Elam (thanks to Radley): When Your Kid Smokes Pot

O.K., so you found some weed in your teen-agers room.

Depending on the kind of parent you are, your reaction to that can range from mild amusement to thermonuclear. But assuming you are not going to smoke the stuff yourself, you are confronted with making some decisions on what to do about it. Perhaps you think it is time to call a counselor, or maybe even the thought of a treatment center for young people with drug problems crosses your mind.

As someone who worked in the chemical dependency treatment field for two decades, and who wrote and directed several treatment programs, let me make a suggestion about that.

Don’t.

Don’t even think about it.

To clarify, let me tell you some things you won’t hear from the staff at treatment programs, or anyone else interested in making a buck off your child’s “problem.”

First, there‘s this funny thing about teenage drug addicts. There aren’t any. Or at least they are so far and few between that I can count the ones I have seen on two fingers.

So why are so many teens in treatment?

Well, money, of course. There’s gold in the ignorance of them thar parents.

It’s a good and important read and fits in with other information that’s emerging about treatment… when even NIDA’s director notes that it can be harmful:

“Just putting kids in group therapy actually promotes greater drug use,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Drug Treatment is, in many ways, the unexamined scam of the moment. Sure, there is drug treatment that works and that is very important, and yet… and yet… why have I gotten spammed from so many drug treatment centers? And why am I contacted every week by someone “representing” a treatment center that is willing to pay me to put a text link somewhere on my site — even on an old page (I always turn them down).

Oh, yeah, there’s a ton of gold out there.

The sad part is that everyone is being told (partly by the government) that drug problems require treatment. And so parents, at great expense, are forcing their kids (who may have only experimented with pot) into treatment where they lose trust with their family and gain contact with hard core drug users and end up increasing their access to drugs. And then those treatment statistics are used to claim that marijuana is dangerous.

I think it would be interesting if a group of people got together and decided to picket their local drug store chain (Walgreens, Duane Reed, CVS, etc.). Sort of a NIMBY movement to make fun of the fears some people have of medical marijuana moving into a neighborhood.

There’s all sorts of creative picket signs that could be made…

– This store sells drugs that can cause anemia, high blood pressure, nausea, suicidal thoughts, and death. Think of the children!

– People buy drugs here and then drive on our streets. Nobody is safe.

– Stop Dealing Drugs!

– We Want a Drug-Free Community. Walgreens Must Go!

– They let airline pilots buy drugs here!

– Walgreens sells Candy and Drugs. They’re after the children!

What other slogans could we put on picket signs outside a drug store?

Webinar on legalizing marijuana:

Join us Thursday for a webinar on the societal consequences and costs of Prop. 19.

San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com meets with Pleasant Hill Police Chief Pete Dunbar and former San Jose Police Chief Joe McNamara to explore how society might look if voters approve Prop. 19 and legalize marijuana use for adults.

Title: Societal Consequences of Prop. 19

Date: Noon to 12:45 p.m. PDT, Thursday, Aug. 12.

Confirmation: After registering, you will receive an e-mail containing information about joining the webinar.

Space is limited: Reserve your webinar seat now at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/455759873

System requirements
–PC-based attendees: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000
–Mac-based attendees: Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger) or newer

Various recent discussions have made me want to chat about Prop 19 some more. I’m no expert on Prop 19, and nobody is an expert on exactly what will happen after Prop 19’s passage, but there are some things that are known.

1. Prop 19 is not being marketed merely as a tax income money-maker for the State of California.

I really don’t understand the odd individuals who apparently are getting outraged over what they call dishonest marketing of Proposition 19 as a massive tax income generator. Sure, there have been estimates (official ones by the State’s Board of Equalization) of what tax income could be brought in from Prop 19, based on a whole lot of variables. It would be stupid not to promote those estimates (particularly when the other side is trying to claim increased health costs without any data to support it at all). Often when Congress passes a bill, they have the CBO score it for its costs or revenue, and use those figures to push or oppose the bill (despite the uncertainty of those costs or revenues ever coming true).

Now, if Prop 19 supporters came out and said that marijuana is a horrible and dangerous thing, but at least we’ll make $1.4 billion in taxes off it (when the actual amount of tax revenue was uncertain), then that would be dishonest.

But that’s not the story here.

All you have to do is look at the official ballot statements to see that Prop 19 is being marketed as a whole lot of things, and the tax revenue is merely one of many benefits (and certainly not the most important one).

Read the whole thing again.

PROPOSITION 19: COMMON SENSE CONTROL OF MARIJUANA

Today, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent enforcing the failed prohibition of marijuana (also known as “cannabis”).

Currently marijuana is easier for kids to get than alcohol, because dealers don’t require ID.

Prohibition has created a violent criminal market run by international drug cartels.

Police waste millions of taxpayer dollars targeting non-violent marijuana consumers, while thousands of violent crimes go unsolved.

And there is $14 billion in marijuana sales every year in California, but our debt-ridden state gets nothing from it.

Marijuana prohibition has failed.

WE NEED A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO CONTROL AND TAX MARIJUANA LIKE ALCOHOL.

Proposition 19 was carefully written to get marijuana under control.

Under Proposition 19, only adults 21 and over can possess up to one ounce of marijuana, to be consumed at home or licensed establishments. Medical marijuana patients’ rights are preserved.

If we can control and tax alcohol, we can control and tax marijuana.

PUT STRICT SAFETY CONTROLS ON MARIJUANA

Proposition 19 maintains strict criminal penalties for driving under the influence, increases penalties for providing marijuana to minors, and bans smoking it in public, on school grounds, and around minors.

Proposition 19 keeps workplaces safe by preserving the right of employers to maintain a drug-free workplace.

PUT POLICE PRIORITIES WHERE THEY BELONG

According to the FBI, in 2008 over 61,000 Californians were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession, while 60,000 violent crimes went unsolved. By ending arrests of non-violent marijuana consumers, police will save hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars a year, and be able to focus on the real threat: violent crime.

Police, Sheriffs, and Judges support Proposition 19.

HELP FIGHT THE DRUG CARTELS

Marijuana prohibition has created vicious drug cartels across our border. In 2008 alone, cartels murdered 6,290 civilians in Mexico — more than all U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

60 percent of drug cartel revenue comes from the illegal U.S. marijuana market.

By controlling marijuana, Proposition 19 will help cut off funding to the cartels.

GENERATE BILLIONS IN REVENUE TO FUND WHAT MATTERS

California faces historic deficits, which, if state government doesn’t balance the budget, could lead to higher taxes and fees for the public, and more cuts to vital services. Meanwhile, there is $14 billion in marijuana transactions every year in California, but we see none of the revenue that would come from taxing it.

Proposition 19 enables state and local governments to tax marijuana, so we can preserve vital services.

The State’s tax collector, the Board of Equalization, says taxing marijuana would generate $1.4 billion in annual revenue, which could fund jobs, healthcare, public safety, parks, roads, transportation, and more.

LET’S REFORM CALIFORNIA’S MARIJUANA LAWS

Outlawing marijuana hasn’t stopped 100 million Americans from trying it. But we can control it, make it harder for kids to get, weaken the cartels, focus police resources on violent crime, and generate billions in revenue and savings.

We need a common sense approach to control marijuana.

YES on 19.

www.taxcannabis.org

JOSEPH D. MCNAMARA
San Jose Police Chief (Ret.)

JAMES P. GRAY
Orange County Superior Court Judge (Ret.)

STEPHEN DOWNING
Deputy Chief, LAPD (Ret.)

After reading that, can anyone honestly say “Well, I was going to vote for Prop 19, but now that I hear that it might not bring in the full $1.4 billion in tax revenue, what’s the point?”

2. Proposition 19 does not have a built-in $50 per ounce tax.

A lot of people seem to have that mistaken idea. That idea comes from a completely different bill that was proposed that has nothing to do with Prop 19. Prop 19 merely gives local government the power to set a tax and/or license fee. Each local community can decide. It could be $5 per ounce. It could be $50. It could be 0. Any community that sets it too high will likely be undercut by neighboring towns.

It’s actually an ingenious solution. By giving the power to the local communities, various options can be tried and we can learn from them. Yes, finally we can have that laboratory (flawed though it may be with the feds anxious to fight their own citizens) that we’ve been needing in drug policy for ages.

“It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system,” Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote in 1932, “that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”

Prop 19 is one of those fabulous opportunities to actually test legalization in a limited way. Any true researcher should be drooling at the opportunity to see such a reasonably safe laboratory finally answer a ton of questions.

And this delineates the line between the researcher/scientist and the charlatan who is too invested in prohibition to even allow it to be seriously challenged.

3. If you are pro-marijuana but are anti-Prop 19, what are your reasons?

1. You are a profiteer. Like any major corporate CEO who says “screw the consumer” in order to increase the bottom line, you oppose the regulations that are part of legalization and that will make your job as a drug dealer harder or more competitive.
2. You are a moron. You believe in some perfect world where marijuana is free for everyone. Cannabis is a gift from God, you say, and to involve taxes and government regulation soils it (as you smoke the moldy crap grown by Mexican cartels). Have you read the papers? Watched cable news? Read any web page on the internet that doesn’t have a cannabis leaf prominently on the top of it? Do you really see this world as one where a hippy nirvana is on the horizon ready to arrive any day now if we just hold off and defeat Prop 19? You are a moron.
3. You tell me.

4. There are a few things Prop 19 will not do.

• Prop 19 will not require anyone to consume cannabis who doesn’t want to
• Prop 19 will not make your brain surgeon, bus driver, or airline pilot suddenly decide to do their job high.
• Prop 19 will not suddenly turn the highway into a demolition derby.
• Passage of Prop 19 will not make the opponents of Prop 19 any smarter.

I upgraded both WordPress and the Atahualpa Theme. Let me know if you see anything that isn’t working right after the upgrade. Thanks.

You may have heard this story already, but White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs recently attacked the President’s critics on the left.

The White House is simmering with anger at criticism from liberals who say President Obama is more concerned with deal-making than ideological purity.

During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”

Gibbs later walked back his remarks partway, but the outburst is telling.

First, attacking criticism from the left is just stupid on his part. It’s certainly not going to stop it. And none of the critics on the left are saying that Obama is like George Bush. They’re saying that many of his policies are like George Bush’s, as Glenn Greenwald has exhaustively detailed, and that he has reneged many of his campaign promises, particularly in the areas of civil liberties and government secrecy/accountability.

But Gibbs is also tone-deaf in a second way. By using the phrase “Those people ought to be drug tested,” he is showing a lack of respect for the huge portion of this country that is calling for a serious dialogue on drug policy.

It’s reminiscent of Obama’s glib Townhall response last year

“There was one question that voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation,” he said. “And I don’t know what this says about the online audience, but … this was a popular question. We want to make sure it’s answered. The answer is no, I don’t think that’s a good strategy to grow our economy. All right.”

Add to that the drug czar’s “legalization is not in our vocabulary” nonsense, and you have a White House that is not only unwilling to engage in the important questions about drug policy, but is also uninterested in showing anything but cluelessness.

True and necessary change is not going to come from the top. It’s going to come from the people rising up for something better for the kids, and it’s going to come from California challenging the U.S. Government.

Small ‘c’ conservatives should end the war on drugs by Charles W. Moore

Interesting reading that really slams U.S. drug and prison policy and also slams Canada for following us. I particularly love the descriptions of Conrad Black, who spent some time in U.S. prisons.

Mr. Black lobbed withering and well-deserved broadsides from behind bars at the United States justice system, which he accurately describes as “putrefied,” “‘a carceral state’ that imprisons eight to 12 times more people per capita than the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany or Japan…”

“From my cell I scent the reeking soul of U.S. justice,” Mr. Black proclaimed in a 2008 letter to the London Sunday Times, asserting that America’s justice and penal systems are in critical condition, largely because of the so-called “war on drugs,” especially marijuana, which can only be regarded by thinking persons – including and especially conservatives – as hysterical, bordering on the psychotic. […]

Mr. Black characterizes “the entire ‘war on drugs'” as dismal failure, “a trillion taxpayers’ dollars squandered… one million small fry imprisoned at a cost of $50 billion a year”… “with absurd sentences, (including 20 years for marijuana offences, although 42 per cent of Americans have used marijuana and it is the greatest cash crop in California.)… targeted substances are more available and of better quality than ever, while producing countries such as Colombia and Mexico are in a state of civil war.”

Mexicans, US question drug legalization proposal

This is a very surreal article to read, because of the sense of almost panicked confusion regarding the idea of legalization. The great thing is that now, in an article like this, you’re hearing legalization as a legitimate option, and that’s making those who oppose it have a hard time describing why legalization won’t work.

“The legalization proposal is mistaken, because it shows a lack of understanding of Mexico’s problem and avoids the main cause, which is quite simply the government’s loss of the monopoly on the use of force,” the group said, referring to cartels that confront security forces with grenades, automatic weapons and now car bombs.

Right.

Or how about this bizarre statement:

“I favor regulating the market … medicinal marijuana is an attempt to regulation,” Gonzalez said, “But legalization, never, ever.”

In case you missed it… a good interview by Reason.tv with LEAP Executive Director Neill Franklin

I agree with Scott Morgan:

I’m particularly interested in Neill’s argument regarding the dramatic drop in clearance rates for homicides over the past few decades. Of course, it would be difficult to prove empirically that increased drug prosecutions make it harder to solve murders. Still, it’s certainly an unflattering portrait of modern law enforcement priorities that we get better and better at arresting people for petty marijuana possession, while more and more people are literally getting away with murder.

….

This is an open thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCL-mSDFQw

OK, let’s start listing the outright lies in this piece of nonsense.

The #1 ADDICTION for 60% of TEENS in DRUG rehab.

Lie. As we have shown time and time again, the presence of individuals in rehab is not necessarily an indication of addiction. The majority of those in treatment with marijuana as the primary drug are there because of criminal justice referrals (ie, to avoid other penalties) and not because of addiction.

A GATEWAY drug to Cocaine and Meth

Lie. Numerous studies have debunked this myth, including the 1999 Institute of Medicine’s “Assessing the Science Base” which declared: “There is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect.” In fact, that report also noted that the only conceivable gateway effect related to marijuana is specifically due to its illegal status.

4 times more MIND-ALTERING than in the 1970’s.

Intentionally Misleading. The fact is that THC levels have varied throughout time (although who knows what they mean by “mind altering”), but smokers tend to self-titrate to get the effect they desire. It’s like saying that scotch is four times more mind altering than beer, but you don’t drink a six-pack of scotch. And, of course, while you can die from an overdose of alcohol, you can’t do the same with marijuana, regardless of its potency.

50-70% MORE CANCER-CAUSING than Cigarettes.

Blatant Lie. Cigarettes are cancer-causing and marijuana is not. The biggest study done in the world, funded by the U.S. Government proved that even heavy use of marijuana adds absolutely no risk of head, neck or lung cancer, and may even have a small reverse effect.

MARIJUANA. What’s Good About Legalizing It? NOTHING

Lie. There are dozens of good things about legalization, from reducing crime, to hurting the Mexican cartels, to reducing criminal justice costs, to increasing tax revenue, to improving safety, to reducing use by children, to reducing corruption, to improving liberty, and on, and on.

Passage of Prop. 19 would mean: Marijuana could be SOLD IN GROCERY STORES.

So What? Proposition 19 allows local governments to regulate the place of sale, so they could choose to allow it or disallow it in grocery stores. Right now, I can buy all sorts of dangerous drugs in grocery stores, including alcohol, tobacco, and a range of prescription and over-the-counter products that can cause death if misused.

Passage of Prop. 19 would mean: Skyrocketing usage among Teens and Young people.

Lie. Right now, criminal marijuana dealers do not check for age. Under proposition 19, selling marijuana to those under 21 would be prohibited. Under decriminalization in the Netherlands, they have a dramatically lower rate of teen use of marijuana than we do.

Passage of Prop. 19 would mean: “DRUGGED DRIVING” on Streets and Freeways.

Unsupported fear-mongering. There’s no evidence that dangers of drugged driving would increase with passage of Proposition 19. In fact, evidence shows that numbers of traffic accidents have had no correlation with amount of use or availability of marijuana.

Passage of Prop. 19 would mean: Higher COSTS for Everyone as Addictions SOAR

Lie. This is totally unsupported by any data that exists out there. The fact is that costs for everyone will dramatically decline due to a suddenly streamlined criminal justice system.

Passage of Prop. 19 would mean: Marijuana Operatives could buy THOUSANDS of Acres of farmland.

So What? In a poor economy, having a fresh infusion of capital into land purchases is a good thing. And shouldn’t marijuana be grown above-board in farms rather than clandestinely in public parks?

Prop. 19 Means: Messed up minds. Messed up lives. Messed up families. California out of Control. Is this the kind of California you want?

Meaningless Nonsense. No evidence given of anything actually getting messed up due to Prop 19.

Don’t Buy The Lie

True. Don’t buy any of the lies from these charlatans.

StopProp19.com is a project of SaveCalifornia.com. These are the folks who opposed gay marriage and fought for the passage of Prop 8.

They’ve got nothing to offer except lies, intolerance, and hate. These are people who have specific moral views that they want to impose on the rest of society. They know that their views are so bankrupt that vast sections of society won’t ever be convinced to follow them, so they want the government to help them impose their “morality” on others, and they will resort to any immoral action to advance their cause.

They are the scum of the earth.