Drug WarRant

Opening session (l-r) Kris Krane, Matt Palevsky, Rob Kampia, Bill Piper, Caren Woodson, Adam Wolf, Aaron Houston

Kris Krane (SSDP Executive Director) started out with a stirring opening about how this generation of college students is going to make the difference.
Aaron Houston (MPP Government Relations Director) talked about the election. The good news is we lost a lot of bad drug warriors in government (including the fact that every Democrat that lost was strongly opposed to reform). He tried to speculate whether 2010 elections would be like 1994 (Democratic over-reach and blowback) or like 1934 (his take — 1934, based on economic crises).
Adam Wolf (ACLU staff attorney) talked about what the immediate priorities will be in the new administration for ACLU. Naturally, some of the top items will be things like torture, rendition, Gitmo, etc. Other items that relate to drug policy:

1. Stop denying that there is medical benefit to marijuana and re-schedule it.
2. Allow Lyle Craker to grow marijuana for research purposes (end the government monopoly for research marijuana
3. Stop selective prosecution of marijuana patients in an attempt to disrupt state programs — call for the AG to issue a directive not to pursue medical marijuana cases in medical marijuana states.
4. Abolishing the crack-powder sentencing disparity
5. Ban racial profiling
6. Judicial appointments (not Supreme Court necessarily, but the Courts of Appeal, where most cases end). Look for privacy as a value (which helps drug policy reform).
7. Other sentencing issues
8. Students’ rights (he talked some about the girl who was strip-searched in her school because they thought she might have some ibuprofen). Also drug testing cases (including teacher drug testing cases).

Caren Woodson (Americans for Safe Access – ASA – Director of Government Affairs) talked about the fact that the Democratic Congress will be extremely cautious (many are in conservative districts) and may be afraid to embrace reform. Change won’t happen quickly — it’ll be extremely subtle. She is optimistic long term, partly because of the increase of factual studies supporting medical cannabis so that it is harder and harder for anybody to even claim that there is no such thing as medical cannabis.
Her priority areas:

1. Stop the raids
2. Permit affirmative defenses
3. Get NIDA out of the business of monopolizing marijuana research
4. Create a national medical cannabis strategy

Bill Piper (Director of National Affairs for DPA) talked about Prop 5 in California and its loss. He played one of the nasty ads against it that ran on TV featuring Dianne Feinstein.
Bill is optimistic, and excited, about the election (other than the Prop 5 loss, of course) and feels good about the chances for federal sentencing reform and needle exchange, in particular, but other areas as well.
Rob Kampia (Executive Director, MPP) talked about the efforts in Michigan and Massachusetts that resulted in decrim (Massachusetts) and medical marijuana (Michigan). He also played some ads they developed (I showed one or two of them here some time ago). Quote: “Medical marijuana is more popular than our past three Presidents” (referring to several medical marijuana referenda that won by a larger vote than the President in that state).

Well, we made it to College Park, Maryland, after a much too long drive. There were multiple accidents on the freeway near Washington, Pennsylvania that tied up traffic for hours, and then we ran into lots of snow in the higher altitudes in Maryland (hills and curves and darkness and ice aren’t my favorite mix of driving conditions).
But we made it and I’m thrilled to be here. I’ve already seen tons of SSDP folk. As you can see below, the folks are having a great time late tonight, with drums and a didgeridoo and dancing and conversation.

I’ll report more from the conference on Saturday.

I’ll be on the road all day Friday on my way to D.C. for the conference.
“bullet” Radley collects drug policy reform group reactions to Holder as Attorney General.
“bullet” Bolivia’s Morales says U.S. DEA bugged his phone

On his “blog”

Those who enjoy and care about our planet‰s natural resources should be troubled by the environmental consequences of the drug trade. The billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs produced here and abroad take a horrific toll on some of the most fragile and diverse eco-systems on the planet. Indeed, concerned young people and adults should think about the global impact of the drug trade the next time they and their peers discuss what they can do to sustain a healthy environment here in the U.S. and abroad.

This is a wonderful statement, and very true. And when concerned people discuss what they can do, the only smart and logical choice will be to fire the drug czar and legalize and regulate drugs to take the business out of the hands of those who destroy the environment.

Sure, the writing may not reach the level of a Bill Steigerwald or Maia Szalavitz , but it gives me a warm glow to see this OpEd in the Illinois State University Daily Vidette.

Just because marijuana is illegal, that does not mean that it is immoral. Slavery was legal, yet immoral. Many other contradictory cases exist. It is easy to believe that one should not do something because the law prohibits it; but sometimes that is not enough. […]
Therefore, just because it is illegal, that should not necessarily stop a person from participating or at least having the choice to participate. It does not make sense to me as to why marijuana is illegal.
For one, the government would be able to rake in huge amounts of money if they regulated and charged taxes for the so-called drug.
Additionally, the government regulation would make a much safer environment for those who do choose to smoke marijuana. […]
If you are against smoking marijuana, that is your right, but I hope you are then also against alcohol. Tens of thousands of people die each year in alcohol related instances.
According to drugwarfacts.org, “An exhaustive search of the literature finds no credible reports of deaths induced by marijuana…. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.”
If you are against marijuana due to legality issues, I hope you never drank alcohol under the age of 21. […]
One of the best arguments I have heard against smoking marijuana is that since it is illegal, instead of sitting in a room smoking, why don’t people go out and do something to make it legal? This is a great argument and there are groups on campus to join such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
Whatever you believe or choose, be safe and remember, it is still illegal just like alcohol was during prohibition.

Nice job, Jes.
And a nice plug for SSDP.
Don’t forget, the SSDP conference is this weekend in College Park, MD. I’ll be there. So will Radley Balko, and Mayor Cheye Calvo. And folks from LEAP and DPA, and NORML, and ACLU, and the U.S. Congress.
If you’re there, or in the area and stop by, please introduce yourself to me. I’m pretty easy to spot — the big guy with red hair and a beard.

Not really, but…
I’m busy clearing up some work and getting ready to go to the SSDP conference on Friday, so I’m taking advantage of the fact that Scott tends to say what I think anyway.

1. Eric Holder. There’s already been some discussion about Obama’s likely Attorney General pick in comments and elsewhere. I agree with Scott’s analysis. Sure, there are seriously troubling things in his past statements, but who in political mainstream wouldn’t have said things in the past that we wouldn’t like, depending on the context. There are also positives. He appears to be smart and have a more appropriate view of the role of justice in this country than we’ve seen for a while.
   So, like Scott, I reserve judgement.
2. Marijuana Might be Good for Your Memory. A new study has found that… whoa, man. What was I just talking about?
   Oh, right. Long term memory. Whole different thing.

When the drug czar claimed that there were more medical marijuana outlets in San Francisco than Starbucks locations (and who cares?), there was a bit of a blowback because the numbers they used made no sense at all.
Well, the media picked it up, ridiculed it, forced the drug czar to change the numbers on its blog… and even Starbucks stepped in to correct them.
So now the Drug Czar has a new post claiming that, while the Starbucks comparison may be weak, at least there are more medical marijuana outlets than there are Taco Bells.
Can that office get any more ridiculous or irrelevant?
I guess they’re trying to get all the medical marijuana providers to move into one box store so the DEA can bust it easier. After all, there are a limited number of days for this administration to clear out all the state-authorized medical providers and stop them from providing relief to sick people.
Hmm… with the Taco Bell reference, maybe Walters is looking for a job as a burrito taster.

Update: Should have known to read Scott Morgan first. He’s on it.

Let’s take a break from speculating on the next drug czar, and take a moment to speculate on this one.
Sometime in the next 62 days, John Walters is going to resign as Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
So let’s hear your guesses about his future. The winner gets a mug or something (maybe a job as a burrito taster).
1. Walters undoubtedly has his next job already lined up. It could be in a drug testing firm (he’s certainly been selling his soul to promote drug testing and is due some major payback from that industry). It could also be in a company that needs government and international contacts (and while Walters is an idiot, he’s spent years dealing with foreign governments and Presidential-level leaders — former DEA head Karen Tandy got a job with Motorola to take advantage of her foreign contacts).
Name the company that hires him (or at least the field).
2. Speaking of student drug testing and all the people who profit from it, here’s an interesting little organization – the Student Drug Testing Coalition. Check out the list at the bottom of that page — names like Barthwell, DuPont, Nalepka, and more.
When will Walters’ name show up on that list?
3. Walters’ mentor, William Bennett, has made a career of appearing on political gossip TV shows (of course Bennett had more careers than just drug policy). Walters has generally avoided appearances where he might get tough questions.
After he resigns, will he show up on the talk-show circuit or not?
4. During tough economic times, if someone publicly screws up every aspect of their job for years and then resigns, generally you might think that they’d have a hard time finding employment. With all his failures, will Walters be forced to go on unemployment or to ask people if they want fries with their meal?

Eric Sterling:

Before the nation’s governors, mayors and county executives propose furloughing or laying off police officers, school teachers, sanitation workers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, and recreation aides who care for our family members and protect public safety, there is one question that the public employee unions should demand answered: How much revenue from marijuana taxation are they throwing away in order to sacrifice those jobs and the families of public employees?

Road trip!
The national international SSDP conference is happening this weekend in College Park, Maryland. And while I hadn’t originally planned on making it, I’ve been asked to do my Elevator Arguments workshop again and to facilitate a luncheon discussion on education.
It looks like quite a line-up – here’s the schedule. Some really outstanding speakers and workshops.
It’s a particularly great opportunity for students. I’m thrilled that we’ve got 5 students from Illinois State University going (and there will be a couple alums of that group going as well). It’s important for students — great training and motivation, and SSDP does an incredible job of helping students out with scholarships to cover conference fees, lodging, travel, etc.

Which leads me to a small bleg. The emphasis is helping students, so a workshop leader like me pays full conference fees and lodging, etc. In any other conference, that would be backwards, but in this one, it makes sense. It was, however, an unplanned expense for me. And I’m driving some of the students 1600 miles round trip to the conference instead of flying in order to save the group some money.
So, if anyone would like to help out, I’ve set up a Pay Page for contributing to this little road trip.
Don’t contribute unless you have extra lying around. I’m serious. I can handle it and I won’t go broke. But if you’d like to vicariously go on a road trip with me, feel free to drop some change in.