Drug WarRant

Have at it! After reading names at Winter Commencement this morning, I’m heading up to Chicago to see old friends and some shows.

Pain.com has a point-counterpoint on whether FDA should approve medical marijuana. Bruce Mirken of MPP wins handily. Theresa Hong has the counterpoint.

Tanya Treadway’s Unconstitutional Vendetta by Jacob Sullum is an update on the legal harassment of Siobhan Reynolds (advocate for pain doctors).

The heroin and cocaine trade: clear on the problem – unclear on the solution. Transform points out what I have long felt about our drug policy academics.

What is lacking, however, is any comment or analysis of the fact that it is very specifically prohibitionist policies (combined with high, and growing, demand) that fuel this extraordinary price inflation. There is also no mention of the fact that there are parallel legal markets in both coca/cocaine and opium/heroin (for medical and other legal uses) that do not demonstrate this same dynamic, and do not feature any criminal activity whatsoever, at any point in the production and supply chain.

Instead, Kilmer and Reuter’s piece “argues, rather lamely, that ‘Answers are hard to come by in the quest to fight drugs‘”

Scott Morgan and Flex Your Rights have been working hard on the sequel/update to the very useful “Busted” video. Here’s a preview of the upcoming 10 Rules for Dealing with Police.

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.

Scott Morgan calls this “the worst anti-marijuana editorial I’ve seen in awhile” and I’d have to agree. This is from Dustan Call, News Editor of The Clarion Online, a first amendment publication of Citrus College, Glendora, Calif.

My opposition to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use is not about politics, proven facts, or calculated data. It is about morals.

At least he’s up front about it. Morals, not facts, are driving his opposition.

Those that say there is nothing wrong with non-medical marijuana, let alone legalizing it for recreational use, in my mind have low morals.

Morals play a critical role in the strength of our nation. Morals prevent us from allowing fanatical and harmful practices to becoming acceptable or non-punishable under law; practices such as molestation, abortion, slavery, underage drinking, child abuse, communism, and torture.

While legalizing marijuana may not be on the same level as murder or sexual crimes, that does not lessen the wrongfulness or the immorality of the issue. […]

Morals are what set the United States of America apart from governments of countries such as China, South Korea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and many others. Allowing such a disregard for morals will be the downfall of our nation.

I assure you that unfathomed repercussions would occur as a result of legalizing marijuana. It will take us one step closer to becoming like the countries that we are working so hard to prevent from causing harm to the world.

I usually enjoy taking these apart, but there’s hardly anything here worth dismantling. It’s gibberish. Of course, there’s the obvious fact that he doesn’t know North from South Korea, and the question of whether it was legalizing marijuana that made countries like China, Cuba, Iran, and Sudan so immoral in his view.

I guess what I would like to ask him is, “What is more likely to send us down the path of China, Cuba, Iran, and Sudan? Participating in torture, extraordinary rendition, secret trials, and spying on citizens, OR legalizing marijuana for recreational use?”

By the way, Dustan lets us know where he developed his unique views. In D.A.R.E.

Armstrong Williams gets all bent out of shape when he learns that some children have been given marijuana to treat severe ADHD. [Which, by the way, has been very effective.]

California doping our youths

I was horrified to read recently that it is increasingly common in California to treat children diagnosed with Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with marijuana. […]
Truly, this is horrifying. ADHD is described as a neurological disorder that prevents children from focusing on a specific task. In essence, people with ADHD have difficulty with self-regulation and self-motivation, owing to problems with distractibility, organization and prioritization.

Notably, these are the same functions that are most impaired by marijuana use. Get it? Pot actually exacerbates the problems with attention, memory and concentration that you want a treatment for ADHD to alleviate.

Here, Armstrong clearly shows why he is a talk-show host and not a doctor or scientist or someone who actually… knows things. As Bruce Mirken notes, “we know that the brains of ADHD patients don’t work like those of normal people — which is why stimulants like Ritalin have a calming effect, the exact opposite of their effect on most of us. ”

Armstrong then goes on for paragraph after paragraph to denounce the idea of drugging kids with ADHD given that it’s a questionable diagnosis, and that parents should be disciplining their children rather then medicating them, and on and on, all referring to marijuana.

Where has he been the past 20 years? We’ve been doping kids with ADHD with lots of drugs — much more dangerous ones than marijuana — and some have died from them. If we can replace one of these with marijuana effectively, then it’s a net gain.

And yes, we need to study this more, but in the meantime, N of 1 trials are perfectly acceptable with a relatively safe drug like marijuana.

I’m not familiar with Angus Reid Global Monitor, but here’s another poll, this one showing a majority supporting marijuana legalization, but also showing that we’ve got a long way to go to educate people about legalizing other drugs.

Full poll results here, including the fact that 68% believe the “War on Drugs” has been a failure.

Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 10, 2009

S. 714, National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 (Webb, Graham, Leahy, Hatch, Schumer, Durbin, Cardin, Whitehouse, Franken, Specter)
Held Over

I had missed this news earlier this week.

6 co-sponsors in the State House are introducing a bill that will legalize marijuana for adults over the age of 21. The bill will also utilize the existing mechanisms in place for regulating wine and hard liquor to establish a distribution system that makes our existing state run liquor stores the sole distributor. One thing that’s not clear yet is whether there will be any limit on people growing plants for themselves.

Interesting development. Probably not the plan I would have chosen, but this is the great thing about the states being able to try things. If the Feds can be pushed out of the way, we can learn things from each state and the models they choose.

To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a grave responsibility. Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the Nation. It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system 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. – Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, 1932

Lee Rosenberg at HorsesAss has a nice discussion about the case for regulation.

Congress to end syringe exchange ban!; Pelosi deems shift a top priority

Have we got good news for you! The House and Senate joint 2010 appropriations bill released late last night completely removes the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange in the U.S.

The bill also nixes the 1,000-foot rule that would have banned syringe exchange programs within 1,000 feet of schools, recreational centers, daycares, playgrounds and video arcades.

“This is a wonderful and amazing victory,” said the AIDS Institute’s Carl Schmid. Two weeks ago, Schmid met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff, who said removing the “1,000 foot rule” was a top priority for the Speaker.

The appropriations bill still has to pass the full Congress, but Schmid said with all the earmarks that Congressmembers have in the bill “it’s very slim” that the bill won’t pass.

In the conference committee Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) tried to keep the ban completely in place, but that amendment was voted down 15-9 in a party line vote.

Congress allows DC to implement 1998 medical marijuana law

(US Senate) Removing Special Restrictions on the District of Columbia: Eliminates a prohibition on the use of local tax funds for abortion, thereby putting the District in the same position as the 50 states. Also allows the District to implement a referendum on use of marijuana for medical purposes as has been done in other states, allows use of Federal funds for needle exchange programs except in locations considered inappropriate by District authorities, and discontinues a ban on the use of funds in the bill for domestic partnership registration and benefits.

Washington DC already has a medical marijuana law in place from 1998. This allows it to be implemented.

The other drug lobby celebrates

Funding for the White House “drug czar’s” ad budget has been slashed by more than a third of its size last year. Studies have repeatedly shown that these ads actually cause teens to use more — not fewer — drugs.

Prosecution: No More Crack Pipe Felonies for Houston

Beginning January 1, prosecutors in Harris County, Texas, will no longer file felony drug charges against people found with less than one one-hundreth of a gram of illegal drugs. Currently in Houston, people caught with trace amounts of drug or holding crack pipes with drug traces are routinely charged with felonies.

But under a new policy promulgated by Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, police are instructed to instead issue Class C misdemeanor tickets to people caught in possession of crack pipes or trace amounts of drugs. That means arrestees will face only a $500 fine, not the up to two years in state jail mandated by the felony charge.

The cops are not happy. “It ties the hands of the officers who are making crack pipe cases against burglars and thieves,” said Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union.

Can you get any more blatant that that? Apparently it’s too much work to actually, you know, investigate burglaries.

Are you feeling good about the world today? Maybe because it’s United Nations’ (UN) International Anti-Corruption Day

Seems to me, though, that it would instead be a better plan to have one day each year for corruption and the rest be anti-corruption.

On Monday, I wrote Washington Post Reporter Bamboozled by Drug Czar, about a Washington Post article by staff reporter Ashley III Halsey: Feds: Watch out for drivers high on drugs.

It was a truly bad piece by Halsey that blatantly misrepresented the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration report. And it was about an event where Transportation Safety Director Ray LaHood was talking about drunk driving, joined by the Drug Czar.

Readers have asked if I would pass on any response I got from Halsey, so here goes. It’s not very much, but it sure is instructive.
Continue reading →

I spent some delightful time in the Czech Republic a few years back, and noted then that cannabis policy was a bit more lax than some other places. Now the Czech government is apparently moving further.

The interim Czech government, led by chief statistician-turned-Prime Minister Jan Fischer, Monday took another step towards making casual marijuana smoking a worry-free affair. […]

As of Jan. 1 ordinary Czechs can grow up to five marijuana plants or have several marijuana cigarettes in their pockets without fear of criminal prosecution. Previously what constituted a small amount was not specified and the police and courts loosely interpreted the penal code case by case, often resulting in incarceration of home growers. […]

The plant still remains illegal, however, though from the new year possession of five or less plants is merely a misdemeanour, and fines for possession will be on par with penalties for parking violations.

Good for them. Nice step.

Haven’t we told them enough yet that the Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie?

Apparently Washington Post staff reporter Ashley Halsey III didn’t get the message. For she he wrote this article titled Feds: Watch out for drivers high on drugs

As you idled at that busy intersection Saturday night, there’s a pretty good chance another driver waiting for the light to change was high on illegal drugs.

About 11 percent of motorists are high on the weekend, and the number creeps up past 16 percent once night falls on Friday and Saturday, according to federal drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and a national roadside survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

You know what would have been interesting? If Ashley Halsey III had actually picked up that roadside survey from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, she might have read:

The reader is cautioned that drug presence does not necessarily imply impairment. For many drug types, drug presence can be detected long after any impairment that might affect driving has passed. For example, traces of marijuana can be detected in blood samples several weeks after chronic users stop ingestion. Also, whereas the impairment effects for various concentration levels of alcohol is well understood, little evidence is available to link concentrations of other drug types to driver performance.

I wonder if they teach you such things in reporter school. You can ask her him (politely) here.

Update: I got a response from Ashley. Not sure what the response means yet — it fails to address the substance of the request for correction and instead focuses on my attributes. I’ve asked for further clarification.

I’ve also asked the NHTSA for reaction to the misrepresentation of their report, and a case file has been assigned to my request.