Drug WarRant

I’ve been busy with some other projects.
“bullet” The Epidemic That Wasn’t The New York Times demonstrates that the media’s hysteria about the latest drug scare (this time it was crack babies in the 80s and 90s) is usually a bunch of hot air.
“bullet” Texas editorial: Drugs are bad, but they’re good enough
“bullet” Obama appoints temporary drug czar. Jurith is a good placeholder — better than having a Bush holdover in the Acting position.

Long-time Drug WarRant friend Lee Rosenberg has put together an extraordinary 6-part series called “Joe Biden’s War.” at HA Seattle. It’s a history of the American Drug War and Vice President Joe Biden’s involvement.

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: South America
• Part 3: Mexico

Update:

• Part 4: Afghanistan

When we got a miniscule amount of sentencing reform regarding crack cocaine, the prohibitionists were all proclaiming doom and gloom, panic in the streets, and the end of the world.
Here’s one example from one year ago:

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it is seeking $200 million to help cities fight violent crime, citing as one of its reasons, the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision to give convicted crack cocaine offenders a chance for an earlier release.

Speaking before the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said that “a sudden influx of criminals from federal prison into your communities could lead to a surge in new victims as a tragic, but predictable, result.”

So it’s been a year. Have you seen a surge of new victims as a result of sentencing reform? No. You never see a surge of new victims as a result of sentencing reform. You only see a surge of new victims when you ratchet up the drug war (as in Mexico).
Douglas Berman, at Sentencing Law and Policy has been following this issue closely. Here’s one example of how smooth it’s going.

For the most part, the process has gone smoothly in the two federal courthouses that serve the Quad-Cities, officials said. Prosecutors and defense attorneys worked with probation officers to sift through applications to determine who was eligible and who was not. People with mandatory sentences and career offender status were out. A few people convicted of other types of crime attempted to ask for reductions, too.
In the Central District of Illinois, of which the Illinois Quad-Cities is a part, 307 cases were considered as of the beginning of December, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Of those 139 were granted, and 168 were denied. The average decrease was 28 months.

This is typical of the news (or lack thereof) related to this reform, despite attempts to paint all such drug offenders as scary and dangerous to the community if they’re released after 16 years of prison instead of 20 years.
See also Alex at Drug Law Blog

This is pretty strange. According to the UN’s “drug czar,” we can thank the liquidity of black market drug trade money for saving some banks and maybe even some countries’ economic systems.

VIENNA, Jan 25 (Reuters) – The United Nations’ crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday. […]
“In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital,” Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. “In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor.”
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that “interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities,” Costa was quoted as saying. There were “signs that some banks were rescued in that way.”

Well maybe we’ve finally found a bizarre and dysfunctional reason for keeping drugs illegal — the banks need the unregulated cash flow.
Of course, if we weren’t wasting all our money on an unproductive war on drugs and converted the black market to economic productivity, we wouldn’t need the liquidity of black-market cash.

Check out this news from Canada: Hemp Refiner Expected To Provide New Income For 200 Farmers

Stonehedge is now set to establish a bioprocessing facility in Eastern Ontario to serve North American markets. Some of the products and co-products are aimed at the automotive, energy, agriculture, construction material, and pulp and paper markets. This fibre separation facility ( decortication plant ) is expected to provide new farm income for about 200 farmers, putting more than 12,000 acres into cultivation, said John Baker, president and founder of Stonehedge.

So why are we denying our farmers the opportunity to compete in the global market? Why is the U.S. giving a government monopoly on hemp industry jobs to Canada?

“bullet” Sito Negron does a wrap-up on El Paso coverage:

In the end, the debate was both greatly inspiring and gravely disappointing.
It was inspiring because with very little notice the City Council was able to air in public so many issues that need to be debated at the highest levels, and it was disappointing because the state and federal leadership failed to uphold what ought to be their first priority, the honest search for the best policy.
They bowed to fear.

The El Paso Times wraps up as well:

We are at the point where we have to do something. Frustration in El Paso and Ju½rez has reached such levels that taboo subjects are actually being given consideration by people who would not have thought of discussing them before.

“bullet” Johann Hari: The Contradictions Facing a Black President of the American Empire. Interesting article about the real reasons for much of the conflict between the U.S. and Bolivia’s Morales, and the resulting paradoxes facing Obama.
“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”

It used to be that this kind of conversation wasn’t allowed…

John Pike, founder of the military monitoring group GlobalSecurity.org in Washington, said the Afghan opium issue is “the stinking 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about.”
Pike agreed that with 70 percent of the Afghan population tied to agriculture, simply eradicating a crop that has been produced for centuries and is steeped in tradition isn’t the answer.
Instead, he said in all seriousness, the West should simply buy it, convert it to medicinal morphine rather than illicit heroin, and give it away.
“This is business,” he said. “Everything you thought you knew about counter-insurgency and winning hearts and minds is irrelevant if you take away people’s livelihood.
“The only solution I see is, we ought to outbid the drug lords and do our own refining, and then donate it as medicine to Third World countries.”
That should be a strategy given serious consideration as the Marine Corps and the Obama administration make plans to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, Pike said.
“We are preparing to pour a pretty good-sized amount of new blood and treasure into Afghanistan with no other describable theory of victory today apart from sending more troops,” he said. “Before we get too far down that road, if outbidding the drug kings is a wrong-headed idea, I would like to see someone prove that to me.”

Of course, the Senlis solution won’t dry up the opium supplies — there’s enough stockpiled to last quite some time, and more will be produced for the black market somewhere as long as it’s illegal.
But if even a large portion of the farmers in Afghanistan are happy selling it to us, then the Taliban have a much harder time being popular as “protectors” from us. There will be less money available to fight us, and less available to corrupt the Afghanistan government.
And that’s being smart.

This is a really excellent video put together by SSDP, featuring SSDP member Nubia Legarda, who testified before the El Paso city council.

The Change.org suggestion section now has the ability to rank suggestions for developing a campaign to promote the winning ideas. Unfortunately, there are tons of pages of suggestions for the Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana.
But if you have time to wade through all the suggestions that aren’t really suggestions, try doing some up and down ranking to bring the better ideas to the top.
Here are three suggestions I made:

[currently on page 25 – these will get moved back further as more suggestions are added]
We have to provide cover for Congress. The thing that scares them most is the 30-second ad saying “My opponent is soft on drugs/crime.” Or “My opponent wants children to smoke pot.”
One approach is to be turn around the “tough on drugs” mantra and be “smart on drugs.”
It also helps to focus on regulation as a way to reduce the problems of drugs. If marijuana abuse can be a problem, then why is it unregulated?
TV ad: “Who do you want deciding if your child is old enough to use marijuana? Him?” [image of a drug dealer on a school corner] “Or them?” [Image of doctors and police.] “Regulate and tax medicinal and recreational marijuana. Stop putting the criminals in charge of it.”

I also figured that a lot of folks may have missed the stories about Howard and Misty, and more could never hurt.

[Currently on page 18]
Work with LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) on this campaign. Having a group picture of law enforcement officers supporting legalization is a very powerful image for the people we need to reach.
Additionally, Howard Wooldridge is a great icon for legalization. A LEAP member with a beautiful horse named Misty and a cowboy hat and a shirt that reads “Cops Say Legalize Drugs. Ask Me Why.” His wife has a bumper sticker reading “Moms Say Legalize Pot” Howard rode across the country on Misty engaging people with that question. And now he walks the halls of Congress trying to change the laws. He would make a great story.

Finally, this idea — which I really like and may try to do something about regardless.

[currently on page 16]
Possible idea for a rotating ad campaign (could work with print or electronic media):
Ad#1: [Image of DEA agents with guns hacking down marijuana plants in a national forest]. “Why don’t we see tobacco being grown by criminals in national forests?” … [Image of tobacco field and farmer] “Because it’s legal.” [Tag] Legalize and regulate medicinal and recreational marijuana. Take it out of the hands of the criminals.
Ad#2: [Image of drug dealer on schoolyard] “Why don’t we see whisky dealers hanging around schoolyards?” … [Image of liquor store with a ‘We Card’ sign] “Because it’s legal.” [Tag] Legalize and regulate medicinal and recreational marijuana. Take it out of the hands of the criminals.
Ad #3: [Image of marijuana and various other drugs (cocaine, heroine, etc.) displayed by a drug dealer] “Why isn’t coffee considered a gateway drug?” [Image of a coffee shop] “Because it’s legal.” [Tag] Legalize and regulate medicinal and recreational marijuana. Take it out of the hands of the criminals.
Ad #4: [Image of a person in a wheelchair on a seedy street corner scoring some pot] “Why don’t people have to buy aspirin from dealers on the street?” [Image of a drug store] “Because it’s legal.” [Tag] Legalize and regulate medicinal and recreational marijuana. Take it out of the hands of the criminals.

I’ve started searching for some good royalty-free stock photos that could be used for an ad campaign like this (in particular, I’d love to get one of DEA chopping down marijuana field in a forest, but any news photos like that would be copyrighted. I’m also looking for a liquor store counter where I could photoshop in a “We Card” sign)
….
Also, if you’ve actually joined Change.org, there’s a lot of other things you can do at that site. For instance, if you’ve joined the Criminal Justice Cause, you could take action on End Federal Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries by sending a letter to the President. Or you could support Law Enforcement Against Prohibition or other non-profit organizations.

Tonight at 10 pm Eastern (9 Central) on Dateline: Deadly Dealing — about Rachel Hoffman.
Sorry for the short notice.