Drug WarRant

This is important.

In Canadian cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, one of the most pressing priorities for police is combatting an illegal drug trade that has spawned a rash of gangland violence in recent years.

A provocative new report from a B.C. HIV-research agency, however, suggests that throwing more police resources at the problem will only make the bloodshed worse, not bring peace to the streets.

The majority of studies conducted on the issue over the last 20 years in the United States and elsewhere indicate that gang violence increases as law-enforcement activity against the drug trade steps up, says the report from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

The authors suggest that the Conservative government’s emphasis on law-enforcement to confront drug addiction, and a proposed new bill that would send more drug offenders to prison, are destined to backfire. […]

Alternative measures are needed to lessen narcotics-linked murder and mayhem, says the report, to be released today. For Dr. Wood, that means changing the status of illicit drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin, making them lawfully available to adults but under strictly regulated access to minimize their use. That way, he said, there is less incentive for criminal gangs to get involved in the trade, the way organized crime took over alcohol sales when liquor was banned during the Prohibition.

There are, of course, some who dispute this report. Do they have studies that show something different? No, they have… well, nothing, actually. They’re just sure it’s wrong. And they all work in law enforcement or pro-prohibition groups. Fancy that.

Some great stuff in this article:

“In the current situation of prohibition, which enriches organized crime, we are powerless to reduce the availability of drugs and meaningfully reduce violence,” said Dr. Wood.

Stephen Easton, an economics professor at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University who has called for legalization of marijuana, said the report’s findings should be heeded closely.

“I think this would certainly contribute to the debate in no uncertain terms,” he said. “I think it needs to be talked about … It’s not a question of whether you will have illegal drugs, it’s a question of who will make money off it.”

Easton’s right on the money.

Oh, and one more word: Mexico.

The always excellent Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes in Monday’s Wall Street Journal: The War on Drugs Is Doomed.
Strong demand and the high profits that are the result of prohibition make illegal trafficking unstoppable.

The source of the problem is not Mexican supply. It is American demand coupled with prohibition.

It is doubtful that this will be acknowledged at tomorrow’s meeting. The drug-warrior industry, which includes both the private-sector and a massive government bureaucracy devoted to “enforcement,” has an enormous economic incentive to keep the war raging. In Washington politics both groups have substantial influence. So it is likely that we are going to get further plans to turn Juárez into a police state with the promise that more guns, tanks, helicopters and informants can stop Mexican gangsters from shoving drugs up American noses.

Ouch. I swear, every time Mary writes another drug war column, she takes it a step farther. This time she practically says the “L” word.

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More Monday morning reading…

From The Crime Report

• Pipe Dreams: Will Marijuana Ever Be Legal in the U.S.?
• Oaksterdam: California’s Experiment with Medical Marijuana

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Former Camden officer admits planting evidence, stealing cash and drugs

Wow.

Parry — who joined the force in 2006 and resigned in November — admitted that he charged people with planted evidence, threatened certain individuals with arrest using planted evidence if they did not cooperate with law enforcement, conducted illegal searches without a search warrant or without consent, stole drugs and money during illegal searches and arrests, paid for cooperation and information with illegal drugs and prepared false police reports.

Parry admitted that, on between 30 and 50 occasions, he or other members of the conspiracy added drugs to the amount of drugs seized during an arrest in order to make the arrest appear more significant, and on as many as 20 occasions, paid cooperators and informants, who were often prostitutes, with drugs in exchange for information. Parry further admitted that he and the other officers falsified police reports, and that he testified falsely under oath, all in an endeavor to conceal their actions.

Parry detailed for Judge Kugler during his plea that on one occasion in September 2008, he and three other officers conducted various searches at an apartment complex in Camden with no search warrant nor consent from the residents. On another occasion in January 2009, Parry admitted that a person only identified by the initials R.M. was charged after searching a house which he was in without a warrant or consent. The police report, Parry admitted, falsely stated that R.M. fled the scene and discarded drugs during R.M.’s escape from police when, in fact, neither the flight, nor the discarding of drugs, occurred.

… unless it’s filled with… tobacco.

That’s right. In case you missed it in the Drug War Chronicle or Hit and Run, the following will be banned

“individual tobacco wrappers, known as wraps, blunt wraps, or roll your own cigar wraps, whether in the form of a tobacco leaf, sheet, or tube, that consist in whole or in part of reconstituted leaf or flavored tobacco leaf.” The bill includes an exception for “a tobacco leaf wrap that is used in the manufacturing of a cigar intended for retail sale.” But all other cigar wrappers are presumed to be sold for use with marijuana.

Other than the fact that it’s extremely bad law, I find these bans to be oddly hilarious in the way they show these lawmakers (and those promoting the laws) to be pathetically insecure.

Because, of course, the entire reason to ban blunt wraps is because they’re used with marijuana (by some people). So why not just ban marijuana? Oh, right. So what’s the point in banning something that’s used with something that’s banned, merely because of the connection? Absolutely none.

But you see, prohibition of marijuana doesn’t work. Never has, never will. And they know it. They don’t really believe that glass pipes or tobacco leaves will enable marijuana smoking. It’s just that every time they see them in stores it’s a slap in face at the failure of their precious drug war.

And so the list of banned objects gets ever longer, adding all sorts of bureaucratic garbage to law enforcement without ever really even inconveniencing drug users.

Sometimes I hear from those who oppose legalization because they’re afraid people who smoke pot will end up working in jobs involving children.

I wonder if they’re also as concerned that people who practice celibacy will end up working in jobs involving children.

It’s this week

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Mexico City, Mexico for the Merida U.S.-Mexico High Level Consultative Group meeting on March 23, 2010. The Secretary will be joined by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates; Secretary of Homeland Security Janet A. Napolitano; Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair; Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael G. Mullen; Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security John Morton; Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler; Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Director Adam Szubin; Office of National Drug Control Policy Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Supply Reduction Patrick Ward; and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.

Now that’s an all-star lineup. They’ll be partying hard, I imagine.

Of course, they’re not really going to Mexico for spring break. They’re going to talk about the drug war. And they know their actions will be scrutinized even more now that U.S. Embassy personnel have been killed.

Secretary Clinton and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa will chair an interagency discussion on the evolution of the Merida Initiative that focuses on enhanced engagement in support of our shared goals of breaking the power of drug trafficking organizations; strengthening the rule of law, democratic institutions and respect for human rights; creating a 21st century border; and building strong and resilient communities.

Don’t you love it? The less actual idea they have of what the hell they’re doing, the more poetic the description of it becomes: “enhanced engagement in support of our shared goals” Ah, beautiful. Meaningless, but beautiful.

The reality is that they have no idea how to stop the cartels. As long as the drug war is ratcheted up, human rights and the rule of law are out the window. The attempt at a 21st century border has already failed. Strong communities? They may as well look to the cartels for help, there.

What will certainly not be discussed is any solution that would actually make a difference. The translators won’t have to know the English word for “legalización.”

Besides… Clinton, Gates, Napolitano, Leonhart? These aren’t people who can actually do anything. These are politicians.

In Mile High City, Weed Sparks Up a Counterculture Clash

Attorney Warren Edson would like to throttle the anonymous marijuana breeder who named a potent strain of weed “Green Crack.”

He’s not too fond, either, of those breeders who have given strains names like “Jack the Ripper,” “White Widow,” “AK-47” and “Trainwreck.”

“How can I find them and strangle them?” Mr. Edson asks.

His beef: Mr. Edson is in the vanguard of an aggressive movement to make pot respectable —but decades of stoner culture keep dragging him down.

It’s an interesting and rather amusing conflict — and it’s kind of nice that we’ve reached a position where that even matters.

Lee at Horses’s Ass notes how the marijuana question always gets to the top (youtube, change.org, etc.) and gives a good explanation.

This isn’t happening because George Soros is paying large sums of money to skew these surveys or because hackers are rigging the vote. But on the other hand, it’s also not happening because marijuana prohibition is the most pressing issue in the world right now (although it has far more impact on the world around us than many of us realize). It’s happening because the issue of marijuana prohibition is the topic where the general public most readily recognizes that the words and actions of our government are thoroughly detached from reality.

Don’t Let the DEA Ban Recommending Medical Marijuana for Veterans

The DEA is preventing doctors at veteran’s hospitals from recommending medical marijuana to patients — even in the 14 states where medical marijuana is legal.

The Veterans Administration is taking advice from the DEA based on the federal government’s assertion that marijuana has no medicinal value. This especially tragic because of the widespread evidence that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for post traumatic stress disorder which is all too common among our veterans.

“Hey, Boss! You sure you ordered the right parts? These crates seem a little off.”

Va. company gets unexpected delivery

Workers at a Virginia company that manufactures blades and cutting tools were surprised to receive a shipment of 1,840 pounds of marijuana […]

The Augusta County Sheriff’s office said deputies found 80 boxes, each containing 23 pounds of marijuana, inside a tractor trailer making a delivery Tuesday to American Safety Razor in Verona, north of Staunton.

Employees became suspicious when the bar codes on the boxes didn’t match the equipment orders.

One question. Why did the Sheriff’s office say that deputies found 80 boxes? Seems to me the employees found them. Do they just want more credit?

Loud Sex Enough for Cops to Search Your Home, Court Rules

It didn’t help that the homeowner voluntarily let the police in.

Half of Cheech and Chong beats a Dartmouth grad and a Yale grad in Celebrity Jeopardy

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was on Celebrity Jeopardy last night, and in keeping with the success level of cable news hosts recently on the program, he finished with zero dollars.

What happened? Here’s a look at how it all went wrong – and how the guy who smokes weed with Tommy Chong became the champ.

More coverage

“That’s right, I lost to Cheech Marin,” Cooper told his 360 viewers last night.

“Cheech of ‘Cheech and Chong’ fame, pot-smoking star of blunt-burning films like ‘Up in Smoke,’ ‘Next Smoke’ and ‘Still Smoking,'” the CNN host continued.

“He not only beat me; he crushed me”

DrugSense Weekly – a weekly review of the most interesting or relevant articles in the press and on the web related to drug policy reform.

Drug War Chronicle – weekly update of drug war news and analysis from Stop the Drug War.org.

This is an Open Thread.

Grits for Breakfast reports on another case of police corruption (covered by the Dallas News): Dallas DA reviewing cases from ‘quarterback’ of Garland drug cops

An undercover informant opened the motel room door, letting four police officers rush in for the drug bust. They quickly arrested a man who had already spent 10 years in prison for dealing dope and burglary.

It was just one of many scores for star Garland narcotics detective Dennis Morrow. But what followed the July raid was unusual: Two of the officers told their boss that Morrow’s written report about the raid misrepresented what happened – and last week, in court testimony, they swore that the inaccuracies were part of a pattern.

The District Attorney’s office is now reviewing all cases that involved Morrow’s testimony.

Unfortunately, in most cases, this kind of corruption doesn’t come to light. For many corrupt drug cops, all suspects are scum and therefore doing whatever it takes to put them away is OK, regardless of their oath, or the Constitution, or the integrity of the force. And who’s going to turn them in? The scum?

When good cops come forward, they’re not betraying a confidence, they’re being loyal to the police force, to the people they serve, and to the integrity of the rule of law. That is far more heroic than breaking down a door and busting a bad guy.

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Scott also has a solution for saving money for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: The shortest distance to cutting 5% at TDCJ: Reduce drug penalties

I can’t help myself. These pieces are comedy gold. And now Cliff has turned out his third in a relatively short time on drug policy, and this one is amazing.

This time, he’s gleefully reacting to the recent Christian Science Monitor piece that strangely lauds Drug Czar Kerlikowske for his speech to a Police Chiefs Association.

Here’s what’s hilarious. Because the Drug Czar, when talking to Police Chiefs, said he opposed legalization, this is somehow a bold and courageous step by Kerlikowske, putting him “on a collision course with Holder and perhaps Obama himself” and providing “a tremendous setback” to us drug policy reformers.

This has to be perceived as a tremendous setback for Nadelmann and the rich liberals, led by George Soros and Peter Lewis, who have financed the drug legalization and “medical marijuana” movements. The Kerlikowske speech constitutes belated recognition that the drug wars south of the border are inexorably linked to the growing use of marijuana in California, where some of the same Mexican drug gangs are planting and harvesting their crop.

Um… Any argument that the drug wars south of the border are linked to marijuana sales in the States is a clear argument for legalization.

Oh, wait, I think he’s going to call us rich again.

Despite the wake-up call from Obama’s own Drug Czar, the well-financed movement to legalize dope continues on many fronts. On Thursday, March 18, Joyce Nalepka, former President of Nancy Reagan’s favorite charity, the National Federation of Parents for Drug-Free Youth, will testify in hearings before the Maryland State Legislature in Annapolis. She says that Maryland Senate Bill SB 627 would allow use of marijuana under the guise of “medicine.”

It’s a medical marijuana bill. It would allow the use of marijuana as medicine, which it is.

Thursday will mark the ninth time Nalepka has testified on this issue in Maryland. “There is nothing new to say, except the marijuana that kids are using today is so much more potent, they refer to it as ‘Skunk.’ Eighteen nations, including the U.S., now link ‘Skunk’ marijuana to depression, psychosis and schizophrenia,” she says.

Who calls it skunk here? I thought that was a British thing.

Now here’s where Kincaid’s prose becomes a thing of beauty. Note the heightened drama, the detachment from reality.

On the national level, supported by Soros and Lewis, then-candidate Barack Obama adopted the soft-on-drugs approach. As President, his Attorney General Eric Holder decided to withhold federal resources from the war on drugs in California, at least as they apply to the growing “medical marijuana” program. But that was before a psychotic pothead named John Patrick Bedell came all the way from California with a “medical marijuana” card and opened fire on the entrance to the Pentagon, wounding two guards before getting killed himself.

Ironically, on the same day that Bedell was preparing his assault, Kerlikowske was getting ready to speak to the California Police Chiefs Association Conference in San Jose, California. His topic: “Why Marijuana Legalization Would Compromise Public Health and Public Safety.” The speech was so powerful, in terms of the facts he presented about the problems associated with marijuana, including “medical marijuana,” that it is somewhat shocking to consider that he has a job in the Obama Administration.

Shocking, I tell you! Of course, in fact, Kerlikowske’s speech was nothing special — the re-hash of the same stuff that’s been said a million times before, and is mostly wrong or irrelevant.

Predictably, Kerlikowske is being attacked by the illegal drug lobby. The Peter Lewis-funded Marijuana Policy Project called his speech “supremely uneducated.”

Like John Patrick Bedell, the potheads won’t rest until society recognizes their right to smoke, grow and even worship pot. Do they have an ally in President Obama? “Yes we Cannabis!” they say.

But the public, concerned about a generation literally going to pot under a President who inhaled and liked it, may have something to say about that.

With all the criticism of Obama’s various “Czars,” at least one of them, Gil Kerlikowske, has taken a bold stand that is out of step with what Obama’s “progressive” base has been demanding. It will be interesting to see how long he lasts.

Wow.

Do you really need to take that marijuana grinder with you on the plane? Did it seem like a good idea at the time? Do you know what airport security screening is like?

AP

To the security screeners at the Yakima Air Terminal, the device in the belongings of a departing passenger looked like a grenade. That prompted the brief evacuation of about a dozen people from the terminal Tuesday evening.

Military bomb technicians from the Army’s Yakima Training Center were called.

Yakima police Sgt. Tim Bardwell says the item carried by a 23-year-old California man was actually a commercially purchased marijuana grinder.

The man was arrested for investigation of drug possession.

It’s a story that simply overflows with stupid, from all directions.

Via the ACLU:

WASHINGTON – The Senate this evening voted by unanimous consent to pass a bill that would make crucial changes to current cocaine sentencing laws. The bill, the Fair Sentencing Act, was originally introduced by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) to eliminate the discriminatory 100-1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing under federal law. During the bill’s markup last week, however, a compromise was reached with Republican Judiciary Committee members that reduces the disparity to a 18-1 ratio. A bill addressing the disparity in the House, the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act, was passed by the House Judiciary Committee last year and currently awaits a vote by the full chamber.

More than two decades ago, based on assumptions about crack which are now known to be false, heightened penalties for crack cocaine offenses were adopted. Sentences for crack are currently equivalent to the sentences for 100 times the amount of powder cocaine, and the impact falls disproportionately on African Americans. In recent years, a consensus has formed across the political and ideological spectrum on the crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity issue with both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama urging reform.

The American Civil Liberties Union believes the Fair Sentencing Act is a step toward a fairer system but falls short of adequately fixing the existing unjust sentencing gap.

The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

“The Fair Sentencing Act is an encouraging step toward eliminating the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine but still allows for a needlessly unfair sentencing framework. The unanimous passage of this bill speaks to the understanding across the political spectrum that this disparity is unjust and in need of reform. Years of research has yielded no evidence of any appreciable difference between crack and powder cocaine and yet we continue to inflict this disparity on Americans.

“For over two decades, this sentencing disparity has been a stain on our justice system. Though this bill’s passage is long overdue, it does not go far enough. Without a simple and fair 1-1 sentencing ratio for crack and powder cocaine, we cannot say that these sentencing laws meet constitutional muster.”

For those who don’t know how this sentencing disparity works, it’s not that crack sentences were 100 times as long as powder. It had to do with the amount of drug necessary to trigger a particular minimum.

Under the old method, 5 grams of crack would trigger a 5 year mandatory federal minimum, while it would take 500 grams of powder to trigger the same minimum. Durbin’s proposal had been to eliminate the difference entirely, so that crack would move to the same formula as powder.

The watered down version means that it’ll take about 28 grams of crack (instead of 5) to trigger the 5 year minimum, and the separate mandatory minimum for mere possession of crack is eliminated.

I wouldn’t call it a victory, but certainly a step in the right direction. And thanks to Dick Durbin for pushing for this. More could happen when this is reconciled with the House Bill, which passed with full elimination in committee, but has not been acted on by the full House.