Drug WarRant

Alice Huffman, President of the California NAACP: Marijuana Law Reform Is a Civil Rights Issue

As leaders of the California NAACP, it is our mission to eradicate injustice and continue the fight for civil rights and social justice wherever and whenever we can. We are therefore compelled to speak out against another war, the so called “war on drugs.” To be clear, this is not a war on the drug lords and violent cartels, this is a war that disproportionately affects young men and women and the latest tool for imposing Jim Crow justice on poor African-Americans.

We reject the oft-repeated but deceptive argument that there are only two choices for addressing drugs — heavy handed law enforcement or total permissiveness. Substance abuse and addiction are American problems that affect every socioeconomic group, and meaningful public health and safety strategies are needed to address it. However, law enforcement strategies that target poor Blacks and Latinos and cause them to bear the burden and shame of arrest, prosecution and conviction for marijuana offenses must stop.

Black Church Coalition Condemns NAACP Support For Pot Legalization

A nationwide coalition of 34,000 minority churches is condemning the California NAACP for supporting a state ballot initiative that would legalize recreational use of marijuana. […]

But the Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative, says drugs have “ravaged” the black community with too much violence and death to consider legalization.

Evans says his church will no longer contribute to the NAACP because of its position on marijuana.

Once again, the church (or at least those represented here) has no interest in actually addressing the issues.

UN Drug Policy in the Dark Ages — a good article by David Borden.

UN drug chief Antonio Maria Costa had this to say about the Colombians: “The drug control policies adopted by the Colombian government over the past few years — combining security and development — are paying off.”

But paying off for exactly whom? For Peruvians in the coca business, among others. Because once again, the main effect of the coca fight has not been to reduce the size of the crop — total growing only declined by five percent last year, an amount easily accounted for by changes in demand or other fluctuations — but to shift it from place to place.

Yawn… oh, and cannabinoids inhibit cancer cells… A Couple Of Recent Studies The Mainstream Media Forgot To Mention by NORML’s Paul Armentano.

As I wrote last week, to date there are now over 20,000 published studies or reviews in the scientific literature pertaining to marijuana and its active compounds — making marijuana the most studied plant on Earth. But what’s the point in further research if nobody even bothers to pay attention to the research that’s already been done?

New Vienna Declaration Blog starts with a statement from Norm Stamper.

Received by email…

CALL FOR STORIES – THE UNHEARD VOICES DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

The Unheard Voices documentary project is seeking interviews and testimonials from drug-related offenders and ex-offenders, and their families, on the far ranging consequences of their criminal convictions.

Inspired by Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Project, which gathered video testimonies from survivors and other witnesses to the Holocaust, the Unheard Voices documentary project is building an archive of testimonies on the cultural holocaust that has been the War on Drugs.

“No issue has had more impact on the criminal justice system in the past three decades than national drug policy. The ‘war on drugs,’ officially declared in the early 1980s, has been the primary contributor to the enormous growth of the prison system in the United States during the last quarter-century and has affected all aspects of the criminal justice system and, consequently, American society.” ~ The Sentencing Project, “A 25 Year Quagmire: The ‘War on Drugs’ and its Impact on American Society.” (2007)

If you or anyone in your family has had a criminal conviction for a nonviolent drug-related offense, we would like to hear about the lasting impacts to your lives, and how you overcame your circumstances, or were permanently affected. Your stories will help put a human face on a critical social issue that has been overwhelmed by fear, politics, racial prejudice, and intolerance, in an era where the public attitude has been, “out of sight, out of mind.” When the stories hit home, the policies begin to change.

We seek written testimonials and interview subjects for our video archive. If you would like your voice to be heard please contact Director Charles Shaw at charles.shaw@opendemocracy.net.

Off-topic. My show opened July 2, and reviews are starting to come in.

• Across space and time in the Autistic Mind — this review is really outstanding. The reviewer did a full treatment of the show and the concept of The Living Canvas. Too much to quote here.
• Chicago Reader review.

The Living Canvas: Demons is a trippy and affecting piece about two sisters, one apparently struggling with mental illness and the other struggling to understand. Meagan Piccochi’s sinuous… choreography and Isaac Mandel’s stellar soundscape combine with Pete Guither’s stunning digital imagery–projected on the naked bodies of the 10-member cast–to create a garden of psychedelic delights.

• Chicago Critic review

This is an open thread.

As a follow-up to the California NAACP endorsement of the marijuana legalization referendum…

There have been a several loud outcries against the California NAACP, some claiming that the NAACP has no business in this question, given that marijuana legalization is a civil liberties question and the NAACP’s mandate is civil rights.

There are a lot of good responses to that oversimplification, but what Andrew Sullivan has cobbled together from Scott Morgan and other sources really hits the nail on the head.

It is in these neighborhoods where the police make most patrols, and where they stop and search the most vehicles and individuals, looking for “contraband” of any type in order to make an arrest. The item that young people in any neighborhood are most likely to possess, which can get them arrested, is a small amount of marijuana. In short, the arrests are racially biased mainly because the police are systematically “fishing” for arrests in only some neighborhoods, and methodically searching only some “fish.” This produces what has been termed “racism without racists.”.

Scott Morgan opines:

Our marijuana laws have never, and will never, be enforced fairly. The brutality of modern drug enforcement reaches every community, but if young white men were given criminal records and subjected to profiling and police harassment at the same rates as people of color, the criminal justice system would quickly come to a crashing halt. The drug war was built on a foundation of fundamental unfairness, and mitigating its catastrophic impact on communities of color requires measures far more drastic than telling police for the millionth time that there’s more to their job than searching young black men all day and night.

This article by Justin Scheck in the Wall Street Journal really points out why law enforcement is so opposed to any loosening of marijuana laws.

hasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, his budget under pressure in a weak economy, has laid off staff, reduced patrols and even released jail inmates. But there’s one mission on which he’s spending more than in recent years: pot busts.

The reason is simple: If he steps up his pursuit of marijuana growers, his department is eligible for roughly half a million dollars a year in federal anti-drug funding, helping save some jobs. The majority of the funding would have to be used to fight pot. Marijuana may not be the county’s most pressing crime problem, the sheriff says, but “it’s where the money is.”

We’ve got to cut off the federal anti-pot subsidies.

Drug traffickers can.

Ecuador authorities seize drug-smuggling sub

The vessel utilized twin screws and was diesel electric-powered, the agency said. It was about 30 meters (98 feet) long and nearly 3 meters (nine feet) high from the deck plates to the ceiling. It has a periscope and an air-conditioning system.

The astronomical profits from the black market actually add up to such a degree that it seems logical to invest in an entire working submarine, even though they know it might be lost completely due to seizure.

How can the drug warriors ever hope to make supply-side work under such conditions?

I’m off to visit my folks this week. My mom turns 88 today and my dad turns 88 on Wednesday. I’ll post whenever I have wifi access.

Today, I thought it would be a good idea to read an important document that is often mentioned, but that many people have never actually read…
_____________________________

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Continue reading →

Reminder. If you haven’t done it yet, please consider signing the Vienna Declaration.

… Basing drug policies on scientific evidence will not eliminate drug use or the problems stemming from drug injecting. However, reorienting drug policies towards evidence-based approaches that respect, protect and fulfil human rights has the potential to reduce harms deriving from current policies and would allow for the redirection of the vast financial resources towards where they are needed most: implementing and evaluating evidence-based prevention, regulatory, treatment and harm reduction interventions.

The ACLU is suing Wal-Mart, for firing Joseph Casias, because he tested positive for marijuana, despite using it legally as a medical marijuana patient in Michigan.

California Rallying Cry?: Vote Green, Not Brown. Steve Fox has some advice for gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, who came out against the marijuana legalization referendum:

Here is my political advice to Mr. Brown. From now on, if he is asked about Proposition 19, he should say, “I have some concerns about the initiative, which I hope could be addressed by the state legislature if it passes, but if I am elected to be the next governor of the state I certainly plan to respect the will of the people.”

If he chooses to ignore this advice, he may be hearing or seeing – or simply feeling the effects of — the following slogan in the fall: “Vote green, not Brown.”

The dangers of drugged driving by Gil Kerlikowske, in The Baltimore Sun. The Drug Czar is clearly determined to push this unsupported policy move. I’ve written a letter in response, but have not heard from the Sun, yet.

Interesting survey of newspaper and blog comments to determine what arguments pro and con are used most often regarding marijuana legalization.

PROS:

• Medical usefulness 48%
• Crime and law enforcement 41%
• Potential positive impact on economy and public finance 33%
• Safer to use than some other prohibited drugs and alcohol 24%Industrial use 15%

CONS:

• Mental and physical health risk 68%
• Substantial legal substitutes for marijuana’s medical attributes 32%
• Social effects 32%
• Crime and accident risks 26%
• Tendency to lead to other drug use 16%

Santa Cruz County Grand Jury determined that legalizing marijuana would bring in an estimated $7,549,200 for the county. I haven’t heard of a Grand Jury used that way before.

Stupid Drug Warrior Tricks…

• Legalizing Marijuana by Chris Watkins, Narcotics/K9 Ops Contributor at Officer.com

Marijuana claims victims from the growers, users and the environment. Cancers associated with tobacco use are just as likely in marijuana. […] Tens of thousands have been murdered on the US/Mexico border in the last several years and to turn a blind eye to this issue is negligent on our part and dangerous to our national security. This fight won’t be won if we have politicians promoting the use and taxation of an illegal drug to fill federal, state or local coffers. This simply goes against the basic fundamentals of a civilized society and allows our government to become nothing less than drug dealers.

• Medical Marijuana Too Dangerous, Costly by Gerald Turetsky, in the Times Union (Albany, NY).

Marijuana is has other health risks. THC levels vary greatly. In recent years its potency has risen by up to 600 percent and, in some cases, 1,500 percent. These are dangerous levels, especially for people with weakened immune deficiency systems, heart conditions and psychiatric illnesses.

This is an open thread

The Supreme Court ruled this week, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, that the 2nd Amendment protects the right of individuals to own handguns.

Mark Draughn at Windypundit notes that Mayor Daley of Chicago is planning to fight the ruling and notes:

It’s nonsense to think that the loss of Chicago’s handgun is going to endanger cops or any other first responders. Illinois will almost certainly keep its background check requirement, which means that only people with no significant criminal record will be able to possess a handgun legally. The aren’t likely to suddenly commence a life of crime.

Let me put it another way: Last weekend in Chicago, 54 people were wounded by gunfire, 10 of them fatally. Since ordinary Chicago residents can’t own handguns legally, most of those shots must have been fired by people who had guns in violation of Chicago’s tough handgun ban. It’s hard to imagine that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens would have made things any worse.

But the mayor has some ideas, supposedly about safety, that could make things more dangerous…

“If the ban is overturned, we will see a lot of common-sense approaches in the city aimed at protecting first responders,” Daley said. “We have to have some type of registry. If a first responder goes to an apartment, they need to know if that individual has a gun.”

Fine, have a registry. But here’s what’s going to happen: the registry will do nothing to help responders facing illegal weapons (the ones that they need to worry about), but it will cause first responders to be overly aggressive when approaching licensed owners (who are much less likely to be a violent threat).

This was exactly the situation in the case of Drug War Victim Anthony Andrew Diotaluto.

Anthony worked two jobs to help pay for the house he lived in with his mother. He had permit for a concealed weapon because of the areas he traveled through for his night job. Sunrise police claimed that he had sold some marijuana, and because they knew he had a legal gun, decided to use SWAT. Neighbors claim that the police did not identify themselves. Police first claimed that Anthony pointed his gun at them, and later changed their story. Regardless, Anthony was dead with 10 bullets in him, and the police found 2 ounces of marijuana.

A marijuana bust turned deadly because the cops knew that he owned a gun.

These days, over 40,000 SWAT “call-outs” happen each year, mostly due to the drug war.

This directly conflicts with legal gun ownership, increasing the likelihood that legal gun owners will be killed by police in either routine, or accidental, raids.

Those who value the 2nd Amendment (including the NRA) should be speaking out forcefully about the excesses of the drug war.

You’ve got plenty of reason.

Fun with referral logs…

Got a referral today to this site for the question: What year was marijuana invented?

Um, Sorry Virginia… Viagra was invented. Marijuana was created by God.

In fact, some could argue that the existence of cannabis is itself proof that God exists. After all, what possible random chance could end up with a plant that has such an amazing range of useful and safe properties as cannabis? A plant that is extremely nourishing, provides fiber for clothing and building materials, provides oil for fuel, shrinks cancerous tumors, provides relief and/or cures for a wide variety of illnesses. And it makes you feel good and helps you reach a spiritual state without harmful side effects. Absolute proof that it was put there by God.

And so I brought that up to my friend George, who doesn’t believe in God, but is a strong believer in evolution (and yes, I know you can believe in both).

Me: So George, isn’t cannabis proof that God exists?

George: Not in the least. Sure, it sounds good, but if you’re making the case that God exists because cannabis is useful, then how do you explain poison ivy or deadly toxic plants like nightshade? Why would God make them?

Me: Well, how does evolution explain them?

George: Easy. Evolution is about reinforcing traits that end up helping the organism reproduce, and then those traits are passed on. Plants that develop toxins end up surviving (and reinforcing those toxin genes through reproduction) once animals learn (also through evolution) not to eat the plants or they’ll die.

Me: But that doesn’t explain cannabis. All those useful traits for humans certainly don’t help the plant survive…

George: Ahh, but all evolution cares about is that the species survives and reproduces (not the individual plant). Look around you — cannabis is everywhere. Those traits that it developed turned out to insure the survival and flourishment of the species. What other plant is cared for so lovingly? Clearly the traits worked and thus were reinforced by evolution.

Evolution can be pretty sneaky sometimes.

So can God.

Bishop Ron Allen is pissed that the California NAACP is backing the California legalization movement. Allen, apparently, has no problem with the high incarceration rates of blacks or the Jim Crow drug laws. Perhaps all the broken families in the black communities drive more people to his church?

Anyway, in this press release, Bishop Allen fails to address a single point made by the NAACP regarding its good reasons for supporting the referendum. Instead, he goes ballistic over… George Soros.

Bishop Ron Allen says, “It is time to take a closer look at how decisions are made at the California NAACP and what the contributing factors were that caused Alice Huffman to side with Proposition 19. California NAACP President Alice Huffman is selling out the very people that the NAACP has a history of protecting. She has been bought and paid for by the highest bidder, in this case it is George Soros, his Open Society Institute and the Soros Foundation Network. We know Soros is a major contributor to the NAACP and he is a primary funding source for the legalization of marijuana worldwide. With Huffman’s position on legalization, she is destroying the good work the NAACP has done for the African American people, and she is discrediting the good name of the NAACP. She has sold us out for her personal financial gain and I call for her immediate resignation. Alice Huffman, step down as the President of the California NAACP now and restore its good name.”

If Bishop Allen cares at all about African American people, it’s time for him to address the real factors that have hurt that community — especially the racist and destructive drug war.