Teacher! Leave them kids alone!

A new study coming out of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health confirms Pink Floyd’s iconic suggestion from Another Brick in the Wall that inflicting totalitarianism onto kids will have an equal and opposite social reaction:

In new research in the journal Addictive Behaviors, public health researchers find that the prevalence of school discipline and school policing—core elements of the school-to-prison pipeline—predict subsequent school-average levels of substance use and developmental risk.

First author Seth Prins, PhD, a researcher at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and co-authors analyzed 11 years of data from 4,800 schools and more than 4,950,000 students in California. They found that the prevalence of exclusionary school discipline (suspension and expulsion) and school-based police contact predicted higher school levels of binge drinking, drinking, smoking, using cannabis, using other drugs, and violence/harassment. They found also that the prevalence of school discipline also predicted lower levels of reported community support, feeling safe in school, and school support.

“Our findings are surprising to nobody who has been on the front lines of the fight against the mass criminalization of kids, especially in communities that have faced systematic disinvestment in social infrastructure and enormous investments in policing,” says Prins, an assistant professor of epidemiology and sociomedical sciences. […]

Did anyone else suspect kids would use drugs in rebellious retaliation to the repressive antics of crazed morality police? Many public school systems apparently didn’t.

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It’s about time…

The White House:

Today, President Biden pardoned all prior federal and D.C. offenses of simple marijuana possession.

@POTUS also called on governors to pardon simple state marijuana possession offenses.

Additionally, @POTUS asked @SecBecerra and the Attorney General to initiate the process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. Marijuana is currently classified at the same level as heroin – and above fentanyl.

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

A new home for Radley Balko

It’s no secret that this site has been a big fan of the exceptionally important work done by investigative journalist Radley Balko.

It’s very sad to hear this:

So after nine years, I’m being let go by the Washington Post. This is disappointing but not surprising. In recent years, the Opinion leadership has made it increasingly difficult to do the reporting & in-depth analysis I was hired to do — in favor of short, hot takes.

Over the last year, it’s become clear that my short, hot takes aren’t particularly welcome either. My last day is Dec 1.

It’s a deflating way to end a dream job. But I’m proud of the journalism I’ve published in the last decade, including reporting that has brought real change.

So today, I’m launching my Substack, The Watch. For now, this will be my primary source of income and the primary way I fund my journalism.

If you support my work, I hope you’ll subscribe, and I hope you’ll spread the word. Thanks!

One more thing:

My first big story will post in a few days. It’s a two-year investigation into a horrific wrongful conviction in Arkansas.

Stay tuned.

The Watch, by Radley Balko

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Devastating raids

Over the years, I’ve seen some real atrocities in the news regarding the damage done by law enforcement in the course of a raid — a flashbang thrown into a crib with a baby in it, doors ripped off and furniture destroyed, dogs killed, and even entire houses burned down.

But none of that prepared me for this latest outrage…

They didn’t even remove their shoes!

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

Governor DeSantis practices medicine without a license

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants his state to control the quantities of medicinal marijuana sold to individual consumers.

With the high cost of cannabis, patients usually titrate their dosages to adjust for the various potencies of the product and their own health requirements. However, a new emergency rule implements Florida’s statute section 381.986(4)(f) and sets a 35-day, 2.5-ounce possession limit on smokable marijuana, while a 70-day limit of 24,500 milligrams (0.864212 ounce) of THC was set on vapor or edible products. Patients must find a doctor to apply for an exemption if they need more than the legal maximums.

Delays in processing the applications are inevitable. The rule also poses many problems for elderly retirees who will not be covered for medicinal marijuana by Medicare or their health insurance and who might wish to save money on healthcare costs by growing their own. No actual, arbitrary or capricious explanation appears to have been offered for how or why the stipulated quantities of cannabis were chosen. Floridians should know by now that what’s easy for their state doesn’t always make it convenient for the individual. Why not just round up the 70-day limit on processed THC from 0.864212 ounce to 1.0 ounce to make it easier to remember?

Unfortunately, Governor DeSantis is known for treading heavily in medical fields where he doesn’t belong. Like in 2021 when he resisted imposing face mask mandates or vaccination requirements such as providing proof of vaccinations to businesses, restaurants, schools, colleges, cruise ships, government and healthcare facilities. His professional career began as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) in the Navy (2004 – 2010), where as a commissioned officer, he conducted prosecutions at Guantanamo. It will be interesting to see how Ron DeSantis’s Guantanamo-style doctoring plays out should he end up running for president in 2024 or beyond.

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Florida man discovers fourth amendment

This made me laugh…

Donald Trump posted:

A major motion pertaining to the Fourth Amendment will soon be filed concerning the illegal Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago, right before the ever important Mid-Term Elections. My rights, together with the rights of all Americans, have been violated at a level rarely seen before in our Country. Remember, they even spied on my campaign. The greatest Witch Hunt in USA history has been going on for six years, with no consequences to the scammers. It should not be allowed to continue!

I’m sorry, did the FBI break down your door in the middle of the night, shoot you and your dog in bed, and burn down your house with flashbangs, all based on a falsely-procured warrant that was for a house two blocks away?

Of course, no such motion will be filed. It’s just another attention-getter.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

A step toward justice for Breonna Taylor

Current and Former Louisville, Kentucky Police Officers Charged with Federal Crimes Related to Death of Breonna Taylor

Charges Include Federal Civil Rights Offenses, Unlawful Conspiracies, Obstruction Offenses, and Use of Excessive Force […]

A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned two indictments that were unsealed today, and the Department of Justice filed a third charging document today, in connection with an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman who was shot and killed in her Louisville home on March 13, 2020, by police officers executing a search warrant.

“The Justice Department has charged four current and former Louisville Metro Police Department officers with federal crimes related to Breonna Taylor’s death,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Among other things, the federal charges announced today allege that members of LMPD’s Place-Based Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home, that this act violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.

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The war on drugs expands into new territories

Good article by the wonderful Maia Szalavitz in the New York Times: The War on Drugs Has a Warning for Post-Roe America

Under Roe, most obstetricians and gynecologists didn’t face this level of legal peril. But this isn’t the first time America has criminalized aspects of medicine. Physicians who prescribe controlled substances like opioids carry a similar burden. They can face decades in prison if prosecutors target them for overprescribing. Although there are cases of bad actors who prescribed opioids for profit, even legitimate physicians may fear being targeted by law enforcement, and research shows that the threat of legal action has a broad chilling effect on the way doctors provide care. The war on drugs shows that when medicine is criminalized and politicized, harm to patients and doctors increases, while the activities that the laws are intended to curb continue or even increase.[…]

Terrified of legal action, some physicians are already taking extreme measures to protect themselves from abortion prosecutions, such as ending women’s prescriptions for an immune disorder treatment, methotrexate, because if they get pregnant, it can cause miscarriage.

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Improbable Anecdotes

I am excited to announce that my book — Improbable Anecdotes: Surprisingly true nuggets from the life and adventures of Pete Guither — has been published.

Improbable Anecdotes: Surprisingly True Nuggets from the Life and Adventures of Pete GuitherThis is a book of brief stories – some funny, some odd, some enlightening. The kind of stories I would tell to friends over scotch and cheese about my days as a lounge lizard, or in my theatre management classes about the wrong way to do things. 234 pages containing 160 stories (including color pictures). There is a full chapter devoted to my drug policy work, but the stories are from every part of my life. Each story (or chapter) can be simply read on its own, or, taken together, they form a sort of uncensored no-holds-barred autobiography.

“A life well lived and stories well told. I should know… I’m in a few of them.” –Roger Reitzel

“Pete encouraged the most risk, creativity, and fun from me during a pivotal moment in my growth as an artist. It was wonderful to read about his life and all the people who encouraged risk, creativity and fun from him.” –Keith Habersberger

“The Redbeard fan base has been itching for an origin story. This one absolutely demolishes what we thought was canon!” –L. Adams

“A fast read… unless you’re a slow reader.” –Rogina

“Where’s that damned piano player?” –Henny Youngman

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Some strange man with a horrible idea

https://twitter.com/i/status/1545585383483785222

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments