Drug WarRant

“bullet” Not-So-Secret Holiday Hints at Change for Marijuana Advocates (NY Times)

On Monday, somewhere in New York City, 420 people will gather for High Times magazine‰s annual beauty pageant, a secretly located and sold-out event that its sponsor says will ‹turn the Big Apple into the Baked Apple and help us usher in a new era of marijuana freedom in America.Š
They will not be the only ones partaking: April 20 has long been an unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some advocates of legal marijuana say this year‰s ‹high holidayŠ carries extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.

“bullet” 4/20: National Pot Smokers Day by Anthony Papa

Whatever its true origin may be, 420 Day is now firmly implanted in the marijuana subculture. The true significance of this day, beyond the fact that it brings together people to celebrate the use of marijuana, is that it’s a day to explore the meaning of the freedom – or the lack thereof – to indulge in its use.

“bullet” Pot legalization favored by some to stem violence – Michael Gleeson, The Hill

A growing chorus of lawmakers is openly calling for the legalization of marijuana as a measure to stop the escalating violence along U.S.-Mexico border.
The legislators who have endorsed legalization are Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), and Ron Paul (R-Texas).
However, the chances of legalization occurring soon seem slim.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs recently said that President Obama does not support the legalization of marijuana.
While a change occurring on the federal level appears remote, Paul believes that the tone of the debate is shifting.
As a result of the raising tide violence along the border, Paul said the public and Congress are beginning to ‹wake upŠ and take notice of the relationship between border violence and marijuana.

“bullet” Conservative activist: Pot needs lobbyists

Jessica Corry, the executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights initiative, said 4/20 “smoke-out” events like the one planned for Farrand Field on Monday are a good way to bring attention to the issue.
But she said people fighting marijuana prohibition also need to participate in the political process — and, she said, advocates need to show lawmakers a sober, serious side as well.
“They’re laughing at us,” she said. “The 4/20 events are fine… but let’s also get people down to the Capitol in suits.”

“bullet” Today only! Free 24-hour on-demand screening of the film “HIGH.” This is a great film, and if you haven’t had the chance to see it, here’s a great opportunity at no cost.
“bullet” First-Ever Nationwide Pro-Marijuana TV Ad Campaign Is Launched in Conjunction with ‘4/20’

I apologize for the lack of posts the past few days — every now and then all my other interests overwhelm and I just can’t keep up with what I’d like to do here.
Those only interested in drug policy should probably skip this post, but I know some readers like to hear what I do in other areas now and then.
One of the student groups I work (Theatre of Ted) with held a 4-square marathon to raise money for student scholarships. They started at 5 pm on Wednesday and finished at 9 am on Saturday – 64 straight hours for a new record. And yes, I was there the entire time, cooking for the students, sometimes playing. Then on Saturday and Sunday I slept.
I’m also helping out Illinois State University’s Improv Mafia — the current national college improv champions. Next week, they are performing a fully Improvised Musical, and I am playing the piano for it (which means, of course, that I am performing a completely improvised musical accompaniment). It’s delightful fun and quite a challenge. Performances are free (Thursday at 6 pm, Saturday at 9:30 pm, and Sunday at 4 pm) in Centennial West 202 (very limited seating).
In addition to my full-time job as Assistant to the Dean of the College of Fine Arts, I’m planning some end-of-the-year student social events and plan to be conducting a roundtable discussion at SSDP’s Hempfest on April 22.
On Monday and Tuesday, May 11/12 at 7 pm at National Pastime Theater in Chicago, I’m holding auditions for my newest Living Canvas production: “Living Canvas Nocturne,” which will be performing at that theatre in July.
So every now and then, if it seems like I’m neglecting the blog for a couple of days, there’s probably something going on.

“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”

Obama declares war on drugs.

“We have a responsibility as well, we have to do our part,” Obama said. He said the U.S. must crack down on drug use and the flow of weapons into Mexico. [AP]

Scott Morgan has more.

Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail

Eliot Ness couldn’t stop booze, but he would win today’s war on drugs

[…] If only our policies were actually punitive. But drug use and possession are almost entirely unpunished, which is why they carry on growing.

As for ‘prohibition‰, the drug lobby uses this expression to mislead the gullible into comparing the winnable struggle against narcotics with the doomed war against booze fought by the ‘Untouchables‰ and others in Twenties Chicago. Alcohol had been legal for centuries, part of the culture of Christian civilisation. You might as well try to make breathing illegal. But cannabis, cocaine and heroin are alien to our world, and could be driven out by firm action.

Actually, US Prohibition recognised that the cause was lost before it began. Congress never made it illegal to drink or keep alcohol, only to sell, transport or make it. Our most important drug laws are utterly unlike Prohibition because they rightly ban possession. And if our cowardly courts and bureaucratic police would only enforce the existing law, we would see a swift decline in the use of illegal drugs.

I particularly like the line: “But cannabis, cocaine and heroin are alien to our world, and could be driven out by firm action.” Right — it’s not like they just… grow in the ground or anything. They came in spaceships. We need to be firm and tell the space aliens to load up their cannabis, cocaine and heroin and take it all back to planet Druggie.
In actuality, Peter Hitchens is whole lot more alien to this world than cannabis.
In one way, I would actually like to see Peter Hitchens’ message spread further. I would like to take all the people in jail for drug offenses and put them in a room* with Hitchens and let him explain to the group that the “cowardly courts and bureaucratic police” aren’t enforcing drug laws.
That would be something to see.

In the New York Observer

It‰s rare, I‰ll admit, but occasionally a good movie raises its head through the muck and mire and leaves me grateful but shocked with disbelief. Such a movie is American Violet, a harrowing, compelling and profoundly true story that dares to tackle an important but too rarely exposed issue of the abuse of power in the American criminal justice system. […]
It‰s hard to believe this kind of discrimination and racial profiling exists today, even in Texas. But American Violet is an eye-opener on several levels. It shows why American prisons are overflowing with more than two million convicts, 90 percent of whom accepted plea bargains, in a country with 13 million convicted felons on the outside of prison walls who cannot vote, apply for passports to leave or enjoy the benefits of Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and housing subsidies. It is also an indictment of the hypocrisy of backwoods ‹lawŠ that sanctions all-black arrests in hamlets ruled by all-white cops, scowling court-appointed lawyers and crooked judges. […]
At a time when almost every movie I see is about nothing at all, American Violet rattles a few cages with its story of personal courage against overwhelming odds. Sensational, nerve-racking stuff that leaves you shattered while it teaches you something.

Maybe this will help it get in more theaters.

It’s April 15, and apparently some people are buying bags of a different kind of tea (Pekoe, not sensi) and waving them around, or mailing them, or something, in some kind of FOXnews-run protest against taxes that don’t exist yet… and gay abortion, I think — it’s been getting kind of confusing (it seemed to start as one thing and get co-opted so many times that I’m not sure anyone knows what it means.)
Also apparently, there’s some teabagging going on, though people seem to be still learning the term.
In the meantime, there are a group of citizens that are begging the U.S. government to let them pay taxes, and, in a time of economic disaster, the government laughs at them.
So today, all they’ll get from that group is a mock check.

The ASA Lawsuit against HHS over the Data Quality Act (see Saturday’s post) was argued today in Circuit Court. ASA is, of course, asking that HHS simply not give false information about medical marijuana on their website and materials.
The government’s defense?

Justice Department lawyer Alisa Klein told the appeals court panel that the government shouldn’t be forced to defend the accuracy of “countless pieces of information” in its massive archives. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Marsha S. Berzon, an appointee of President Clinton, said the law at issue in the case was “amazing” because it did appear to require the government to correct all inaccurate statements, a result she called “troubling.”

Boy, it sure is asking a lot to want the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States Government to give out information that’s, you know, accurate.
It’s sort of like wanting NASA to use accurate numbers for computing trajectories, or asking the Treasury Department to use accurate information for assessing the health of the economy. Should we just say, “Oh, that’s too hard.”

Here’s one I’d like to hear on the radio in 2010…

It’s time for a change from the failed policies of Senator Incumbent. He voted 24 times in favor of drug laws that increase the profits for black-market criminals — from the gangs that roam the streets of our town to the drug cartels causing death and destruction in Mexico.
Senator Incumbent is actually opposed to setting age limits for drugs like marijuana — even cocaine or heroin! He actually prefers that criminals decide at what age kids can buy drugs.
Senator Incumbent refuses to even discuss policy options that have been proven to reduce violence. What is he afraid of? Does he have a reason to keep drug profits high?
It’s time for a change. Vote Challenger for Senate. For smart drug regulation that reduces violence — protecting children, families, and our community.

A criminally stupid war on drugs in the US by Clive Crook

How much misery can a policy cause before it is acknowledged as a failure and reversed? The US ‹war on drugsŠ suggests there is no upper limit. The country‰s implacable blend of prohibition and punitive criminal justice is wrong-headed in every way: immoral in principle, since it prosecutes victimless crimes, and in practice a disaster of remarkable proportions. Yet for a US politician to suggest wholesale reform of this brainless regime is still seen as an act of reckless self-harm.