Drug WarRant

Commentary by Ruben Navarrette Jr. at CNN.com

Calderon squeaked out a narrow victory against a third-party candidate in 2006.
The Harvard-educated lawyer and economist immediately and bravely took the fight to drug lords across the country, unleashing the military in a conflict that has so far killed more than 10,000 Mexicans with no end in sight.
And there are now serious issues — as spelled out this week in The Washington Post — involving allegations of torture, forced disappearances and other abuse by the Mexican military as it seeks to retaliate for the killing of soldiers and other terrorist acts committed by the drug cartels. […]
Still, Calderon’s war remains a noble battle for the soul of Mexico. […]
…it’s great news for the Mexican people, even if they don’t know it. [emphasis added]

Killing and torturing you for your own good.

Medical marijuana: ‘Safe medicine’ or crime magnet?
Milk: ‘Nutritious drink’ or delinquency enabler?
Apples: ‘Fruit’ or an element in the discovery of gravity?
Cars: ‘Transportation’ or economy destroyers?
Headline writers: ‘People who don’t know when to use internal quotes’ or people who don’t know the meaning of the word “or”?

I know I’m late getting to this, but I just watched “Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey” with my parents tonight. I had not seen it yet, and it’s a really excellent DVD. It’s also great to sit down and watch with your family and friends.
You can get your own copy at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition for only $19.95.

Still on the road with very limited internet access.
“bullet” A Patriot’s Guide to Legalization by Kevin Drum in Mother Jones. Not a bad overview. I think he significantly understates the costs of prohibition, but still good.

“bullet” Mike Gray’s book “Drug Crazy” is now available for free online at Libertary.com.

Drug Crazy: How We Got Into this Mess and How We Can Get Out

Read this eye-opening book free at Libertary.com

“bullet” My close friend coralsbey wrote a stranger about Glenn Beck’s support of marijuana legalization under certain conditions.
“bullet” It’s amazing how people are afraid to talk about marijuana. Some California TV Stations consider a discussion that the Governor has asked for to be too controversial.
“bullet” Copping to the Poppy Crop Flop – Jacob Sullum discusses the administration’s drug war policies in Afghanistan.

Interesting Study

Previously, DaugÚ and her colleagues had shown that rats deprived of their mothers at birth become hypersensitive to the rewarding effect of morphine and heroin (substances belonging to the opiate family), and rapidly become dependent. In addition, there is a correlation between such behavioral disturbances linked to dependence, and hypoactivity of the enkephalinergic system, the endogenous opioid system.
To these rats, placed under stress from birth, the researchers intermittently administered increasingly high doses of THC (5 or 10 mg/kg) during the period corresponding to their adolescence (between 35 and 48 days after birth). By measuring their consumption of morphine in adulthood, they observed that, unlike results previously obtained, the rats no longer developed typical morphine-dependent behavior. Moreover, biochemical and molecular biological data corroborate these findings. In the striatum, a region of the brain involved in drug dependence, the production of endogenous enkephalins was restored under THC, whereas it diminished in rats stressed from birth which had not received THC.

Obviously, this is not a definitive statement about humans, but it’s a very promising line of research.
Gee, I wonder… Will the mainstream media will jump all over this, like they do when studies with much flimsier support conclude some negative effect of cannabis?
Marijuana: the anti-gateway

My show opened very successfully this weekend, and now I’m off to visit the folks. My Dad is in Quincy, IL and my Mom is in Indianola, IA, and both turn 87 this week.
My internet access will be spotty this week, so blogging is likely to be light. Have at it in comments.
Here’s something to kick things off. I’m not really sure what to make of this: Police Crackdowns May Encourage Drug Use. It’s interesting, but I don’t quite understand where they’re headed with their conclusions.
Or if you’d rather have something to get upset with, try this fun piece: OPED: It’s Actually Very Easy To Argue Against Legalizing Marijuana. You should have no trouble dismantling it.

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.

“bullet” Norm Stamper in Huffington Post: Progressives Push Against Drug War: Will Dems Listen?

The lesson here? While many of our elected representatives privately support serious changes to our failed drug laws, they believe they are alone. They think if they stick their necks out they’ll be handed their heads come election time.
Which is why we must rise up and let our elected officials know they are safe to support drug law reform. And in considerable political danger if they do not.

“bullet” California’s 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled that medical marijuana patients can sue the police for illegally raiding their properties and destroying their plants. If upheld, this is very good news, as it will help deter state police from ignoring state law.
“bullet” New Hampshire Editorial: Memo to Governor: Sign marijuana bill

Governor, the time has come to do the right thing. Supporters of this bill have done everything you have asked. There is only one thing left to do.
Sign the bill.

“bullet” Could Medical Marijuana Have Saved Michael Jackson? I don’t know, and quite frankly, it means very little to me, because MJ isn’t really a place to look for anything that could be extrapolated successfully to the rest of the human race. I do know this, however – getting the DEA involved is just going to make things messy.
“bullet” Things have certainly changed since The French Connection days

Remember the 1971 movie ‹The French ConnectionŠ? That was a true story about what was then the largest heroin bust made in the US. Remember the car that had the heroin hidden in the rocker panels? There were about 40 kilos hidden in that car. 40 kilos, about 88 poundsá the largest quantity of the drug ever imported into the country at one time!

“bullet” “drcnet”

My show — “The Living Canvas: Nocturne” — opens tonight at National Pastime Theater in Chicago (4139 N. Broadway). Thirteen performers, clothed only in intense projected images, tell the story of one man’s journey back through the dreamscapes and fairy tales of his youth, in this powerful and fantastical performance piece.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 10 pm, July 3 through August 1. Tickets are $20, available online or at the door. Show runs about an hour, followed by an opportunity for audience participation, and an open Q&A with the cast (and me). For more information about my photography and performance art works, see TheLivingCanvas.com.
Reviews of past shows…

“Stoners, Dali fans, sensualists of every stripe, this show’s for you. Sober or otherwise, you’ll find the visual pleasures of Guither’s idiom considerable, the kinetic sculpture consistently engrossing…” – Chicago Reader
“intriguing and fanciful… feast for the eyes… recommended” – Chicago Sun-Times
“intensely peculiar and mesmerizing… it’s riveting” – Chicago Tribune
“Pete Guither’s high-def projections of intricate patterns across naked actors is eye candy on the order of a laser-light show…” – Time Out Chicago
“… sensual and visceral performance art piece done with craft and good taste…” – Chicago Critic.com

The Living Canvas: Nocturne is part of National Pastime Theater’s Naked July: Art Stripped Down festival.

I think I’ve finally figured it out. Apparently, in the UK, the position of “coroner” is a make-work position given to the mentally challenged to make them feel useful. It clearly isn’t a real job.
Once or twice a year, there’s a new story where a UK “coroner” claims that they have discovered a death directly attributable to cannabis, usually with the most bizarre “evidence.” Here’s one from last year, where the coroner made his diagnosis by “hearing” about the case.
Well, we’ve got another winner.
A 17-year-old with a history of drug use, who was cleaning up his life and had gotten a new job, died of a heart attack when leaving work.

Geoff Roberts, the deputy coroner for Cheshire, said: “People use cannabis and think that it is a harmless property. We have heard clear evidence in this case that it is not. Very sadly, Hadrian died as a result of the direct toxic effects on the heart that the use of cannabis had. As such, it was an avoidable death.
“This case highlights that cannabis use is potentially life-threatening.” Mr Roberts added: “We have heard how over a period of time, for some years, he had used cannabis and perhaps other illegal substances.
“This is a very sad case because, despite his turbulent past and cannabis use, he had got a job as a trainee chef. The post-mortem showed no findings of recent drug use.
“But his body was left a legacy of using cannabis in the past, which directly led to his death.
“My conclusion is that Hadrian died as a result of using drugs.”
Dr Sally Hales, who carried out the post mortem examination, said the teenager had inflammation of the heart and that “a history of using cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine would appear to be the most likely cause”.

No drugs in the system, but obviously nothing else could have been involved in his heart problems because once they found out he used drugs, that naturally negated the need to actually look into other conditions. And when considering the effects cannabis, amphetamines, and cocaine might have on heart condition, the natural assumption is to blame the cannabis.
Gotta say that I’m not sure I go along with this UK coroner job welfare program for the mentally deficient. Sure, it’s better than having them operate on live people, but couldn’t you just have them sweep the streets or something?