Drug WarRant

• Annual deaths from extreme cold: 680
• Annual deaths from marijuana overdose: 0

Something must be done about this. My God, they let children play in it! And lots of people even own their own freezers. Somebody oughta write a law.

New Jersey

Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Tuesday that he supports and would sign a bill allowing medicinal marijuana use, but added that economic issues are his top priority.
“I don’t think that we ought to be having fights on issues that don’t go to the heart of the needs of a broad majority of folks,” Corzine told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “I think that this is one that if it can be moved expeditiously because there’s a consensus, I think that’s great. I have studied the issue and I think that if properly structured, it’s an initiative that’s sensible.”

What is it with this country’s apparent thirst for seeing hard-core “law and order” that doesn’t actually respect… the law?

More at Crooks and Liars.

Allan catches this outrageous editorial at a sleazy rag called Investor’s Business Daily.
They start by buying into the most rosy cherry picked statistics they can find direct from the DEA and the drug czar and decide:

The news is nearly all bad for global drug traffickers these days. From the jungles of southern Colombia to the dusty border towns of northern Mexico, it’s bleak for drug lords.

And, of course, that’s nonsense. As Ted Galen Carpenter notes in The National Interest, “We‰ve heard it all before. Many, many times before.”

The reality is that street prices for illegal drugs act like the famous observation about prices in the stock market: they will vary. Over the past fifteen years, the retail price of cocaine has moved in a range between roughly $90 and $200 per gram. The latest spike is nothing abnormal, just as the plunge in prices from November 2005 to January 2007 was not unusual. […]
Not only is the U.S. market for cocaine and other illicit drugs still healthy, the market elsewhere in the world is even more robust. […]
With such vast consumer demand, and with the black-market premium creating profit margins of 90 percent or more, there is little chance of shutting off the supply. The economic incentives to engage in drug trafficking are simply too powerful.

But the morons at Investor’s Business Daily actually think that the government can shut off the supply of drugs and then magically…

There’s no need to help addicts if there’s nothing to get addicted to Ö and nobody’s life is diminished by a lack of exposure to drugs.

And these guys give investment advice.
Then they really go off the deep end…

The three lessons of this are, one, a drug war can be won.

Really? Oh, I give up. Don’t even tell me the other two.
What makes this even funnier is that these idiots actually want me to pay to comment on their article. For the 69 words I excerpted for web use, they suggest I should pay $.25 per word. Right.
I’ll give them this — their copyright is safe. Fiction writing that imaginative is unlikely to be claimed as un-copyrightable fact. But who would pay for this dreck? John Walters? Certainly not me (and my use of it is exempt under fair use anyway).
—-
Speaking of idiots…
“bullet” Lou Dobbs complaining about Obama:

Well, you know, he’s certainly not alone in his — well, in his lack of expression on the issue, because most liberals in the country simply do not want to discuss the reality that Mexico remains the source of the drugs serving this nation’s extraordinary drug habit. The United States, with about just under 5 percent of the world’s population, consuming about two-thirds of the world’s illegal drugs, and this government and the American people, apparently without the political will to stop it, and — continue to permit the devastation of millions of lives in this country.

“bullet” Police in Australia:

POLICE WINNING WAR ON DRUGS
POLICE hope a massive drug bust last week will end the growing number of burglaries and violent assaults in Albany […]
“Part of yesterday’s process was to eliminate those people, which we have done,” he said.
“This whole operation will be ongoing.”

“bullet” The Dallas Morning News thinks it knows how to stop the violence in Mexico. By addressing the fact that cartels often kill or kidnap journalists and other “storytellers” to silence them.

Either way, the locals are less likely to protect those trying to tell the rest of us the truth.
That’s why it’s so critical that Mexican legislators pass a law before them now to make it a federal crime to curtail an individual’s right to self-expression. The proposal also would strengthen the federal office of special prosecutor and give it more clout in investigating cases like Mr. Ortiz’s.
Giving the feds more power to protect journalists wouldn’t end the violence, but at least the cartels would know that Mexico City values the storytellers. And that must frighten them.
The more the truth gets out, the more likely the free world will be to stand up to the merchants of death.

Really? Passing a federal law against curtailing the right to self-expression is going to frighten cartels so they won’t kill or kidnap journalists?

CBS news has been pushing this Mexico Drug War story: Brutal Drug War Fueled By U.S. Appetite.
From the headline, you can see where it’s headed, and, sure enough…

Bill Gore has witnessed the carnage, first as the FBI Special Agent in Charge in San Diego, now as the county’s undersheriff. He says American drug users should realize they have blood on their hands.
“This is not a victimless crime,” Gore said. “That people are dying, literally hundreds of them, on the streets of Tijuana, so they can have their recreational drugs on this side of the border.”

Do drug users have blood on their hands? Um, no. It is American lawmakers who have blood on their hands. They are the ones who have fueled this violence. They are the ones committing the victimfull crimes. Drug users could have all the drugs they want on this side of the border without a single person in Mexico needing to die, if it wasn’t for the lawmakers.
Just suppose that water was made illegal. The violence involved in the distribution of water would be unbelievable. Would those who use water have blood on their hands? Of course not — it would be the morons who outlawed water. (Although the users of water would probably be in their rights to get lawmakers’ blood on their hands.)
Not that water and marijuana or cocaine are the same — of course not — but the principles of what happens when you outlaw an easily produced commodity in high demand are the same.
It is true that there are two ways to get rid of black market violence.

1. Convince all drug users everywhere to stop using drugs forever.
2. Legalize and regulate drugs

However, #1 is just a fantasy. People have always used drugs. They always will. #2 requires political will and smart solutions. #1 requires… magic.
So it’s easy for Bill Gore to complain about drug users, but it’s meaningless and unproductive. It’s like him complaining: “If it wasn’t for gravity, my men wouldn’t keep falling off this cliff to their death.” Well, like it or not, gravity exists, so maybe people like Gore should look to other solutions, like not marching them off the cliff.

I’m honored to have been chosen by NORML and High Times as a Freedom Fighter, in the upcoming February, 2009 issue of HIgh Times.

Freedom Fighter

Blog Star
Pete Guither leads a war against propaganda

As the art of blogging evolves, few have utilized this tool as effectively for anti-marijuana-prohibition advocacy as Pete Guither. Check him out at DrugWarRant.com and enter the Drug War Rant community. Both of these outlets were the result of Pete’s anger at the continued prohibition of cannabis. What started out as research and writing primarily for his own edification has blossomed into a powerful online forum and community of drug-policy reformers that provides a valuable service by supplying activists with news and information on the latest scientific, legal and political developments.

Pete is motivated by the belief that legalizing and regulating marijuana cultivation, distribution and possession for recreational purposes is crucial. “I want to take the black market out of the equation,” he says. “The only way to do that is with full legalization and not a halfway solution. The path to get there requires that people stop being afraid to talk about marijuana and the Drug War.”

The good news is that more and more people are speaking out. “The blogs and the traditional reform organizations like NORML, and the newer groups like Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy, are developing a network of reformers from all walks of life armed with the facts,” Pete says. “But we’re still facing a tough battle — decades of propaganda. We have to get the facts, we have to speak out, and we have to keep doing it.!”

Thanks to Pete Guither, the anti-prohibition community has gained a powerful new voice. Long may he continue to share his insight, his knowledge and the occasional rant.

— Carlos Castillo, NORML Outreach Coordinator

Obama’s team responds:

Q: “Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?” S. Man, Denton
A: President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

Next round goes up in a couple of days. My planned question:

The fact that a large portion of the questions last time focused on marijuana laws and the drug war means that these are important issues to people. A recent Zogby poll showed 76% of likely voters think the drug war is failing. Yet frank discussions are still difficult politically and opponents of current drug policies do not currently share an equitable space in major drug policy discussions. Will you appoint an independent, science-based blue-ribbon commission to look at all aspects of drug policy, including the economics of the drug war, and examining alternatives to prohibition?

If someone beats me to it, fine with me.

Mary Anastasia O’Grady keeps the memory of Veronica and Charity Bowers alive in today’s Wall Street Journal

Of all the casualties claimed by the U.S. “war on drugs” in Latin America, perhaps none so fully captures its senselessness and injustice as the 2001 CIA-directed killing of Christian missionary Veronica Bowers and her daughter Charity in Peru.

and new information about the shooting of their plane has surfaced…

… according to Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R., Mich.), it was an accident waiting to happen because of the way in which the CIA operated the drug interdiction plan in Peru known as the Airbridge Denial Program. Mr. Hoekstra says the goods to prove his charge are in a classified report from the CIA Inspector General that he received in October. […]
“It was a rogue operation,” he told me by telephone on Tuesday. “They knew they weren’t following the rules, and they never did anything about it. They were callous about it.” When I asked him to explain further, he said: “My take on this is that they became obsessed with the mission.”

We need these operations to see the light of day. Thanks to Representative Hoekstra and Mary O’Grady for helping that happen.
O’Grady also notes:

Yet to honor the memory of Mrs. Bowers and her daughter and spare innocent lives in the future, a broader discussion in Congress about U.S. drug policy in the region is needed.

Absolutely.

Need to do some Christmas shopping? Tired of the same old stuff that everyone gives? Drug WarRant is here to help you out.
Start out with the Drug WarRant Cafe Press Store

All sorts of great T-shirts, buttons, magnets, and unique gifts. The marijuana-leaf thong is really popular. Seriously. Every time I’ve had some of these available, they’re gone in no time. Give one to someone special. Buttons with a message make a great stocking stuffer.
All Cafe Press items will get to you by Christmas as long as you order by tomorrow (or you can order later if you’re willing to spring for expedited shipping).
Need more ideas?
The Drug WarRant Amazon Store is a great starting point for drug policy related merchandise, including books, music, DVDs, hemp products, and other fun items.

If you want to do other Christmas shopping at Amazon, do so through this link, and I’ll get a referral.
Finally, I know how much fun it is to do Christmas shopping, and there’s nothing worse than running out of people to shop for. Well, I can help you there, too. Here is my wish list.

Via RoguePundit comes this news

Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk refused to submit a urine sample for a drug test at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden and is now considered guilty of doping. The world of chess is outraged that he could face a two-year ban.

Good for Vassily for refusing to submit to such an outrageous requirement. I’ve always felt that the World Chess Federation is a useless bunch of twits for instituting a drug testing regime in the first place. Theirs was a pathetic attempt to suck up to the IOC in the stupid desire to make chess an olympic “sport.”
Drug testing is a stupid idea to begin with. But to take it to the level of testing chess players and competitive frisbee tossers or to attempt to deny a medal to a snowboarder for testing positive for marijuana — these are examples of rank stupidity that exceed credulity. We’ve got to reverse this moronic idea that the content of our urine is anybody else’s business (except our own doctor, at our own choice).