Drug WarRant

NPR has a good four-part series on Asset Seizures

Justice Department figures show that in the past four years alone, the amount of assets seized by federal law enforcement agencies Ö the vast majority of it cash Ö has tripled, from $567 million to $1.6 billion. And that doesn’t include tens of millions more the agencies got from state asset forfeiture programs.

Lots of police departments are making asset forfeiture their big game. They’re actually spending more effort profiling drivers going south than going north, because they’d rather seize money than drugs — the drugs get destroyed, the money they get to keep.

‹If they catch ’em going south with a suitcase full of cash, the police department just paid for its budget for the year.Š — Jack Fishman, attorney

And plenty of cases, they’re just stealing it from innocent people at gunpoint.
There were some telling and bizarre quotes from law enforcement in the series…
Part 1
Investigator Mike Tamez assures us that we have no reason to worry if we just trust them:

“We’re not going to sidestep the law and seize people’s money just for the financial gains of the department,” Tamez says. “It’s not going to happen.”

Apparently law enforcement is immune from the lure of money? Right. Of course, plenty of other stories in the series puts the lie to Tamez’ statement.
Part 2
Captain Ray Escamilla explains one of the tricks in picking the mark.

“You don’t want to take the money from any John Doe,” Escamilla says. “If you can’t prove that it’s been a criminal activity, reasonably suspicious, probable cause, you don’t want to take it, ’cause it’ll look bad in court.”

Yeah, cause you don’t want to look bad in court is the main reason for a cop not to steal from people.
Part 3
Chief Deputy Eddie Ingram:

“If you get money, God bless America,” Ingram says. “It’s a wonderful thing. … But that ain’t what our sole purpose in life is. If all I wanted to do was get money, I know how to get out there and get all the money I want.”

Yep. God bless America — where else can government officials have the power to pull people over without cause, search through their stuff and take what you want? I mean, other countries probably have constitutions and stuff to prevent that kind of wholesome, fun activity.
Part 4 covers some of the questionable spending with proceeds of asset forfeiture, although the mere notion of a government entity controlling the money it seizes is unacceptable because such a system cannot help but spawn corruption.

Read John Stossel

“bullet” I had been meaning to get around to talking about James Q. “Broken Windows” Wilson’s guest blogging stint at Volokh. It was a horrible series of posts (fortunately thoroughly ridiculed by the commenters) basically making the point that are high incarceration rate might not be such a bad thing — with bizarre notions thrown in that we might get more value from prisons than universities, and that the cost of incarcerating someone for a year is cheaper than the cost of the crimes they would commit if they were out (a really nonsensical concept when discussing drug offenses or other consensual “crimes”).
But Alex at Drug Law Blog had already taken him on, so I’ll let you go there to read more.
“bullet” Canadian jury acquits Basil Parasiris of murder of a police officer. Judge and media note that armed drug raids should not be used lightly.

Laval police conducted the raid in the belief that Parasiris was involved in a local drug ring. Unfortunately, as Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer ruled, there was little proof to back this belief, certainly not enough for a search warrant to be executed in a surprise, pre-dawn raid. Such a raid should be carried out only in an emergency.

“bullet” Legalization would end drug war in Mexico, world — by Richard Mack.
“bullet” Senator Jim Webb to hold hearing on Thursday examing economic impact of U.S. Drug Policy. Current witness list:

• Peter Reuter, School of Public Policy and Dept. of Criminology, University of Maryland
• Anne Swern, First Assistant District Attorney, Kings County, Brooklyn, New York
• Norma Fernandes, Community Coordinator, Kings County District Attorney’s Office
• John Walsh, Senior Associate for Drug Policy, Washington Office on Latin America

“bullet” I forgot to mention this important one when it came out last week… Canada: Addicts become stable on prescribed heroin. No kidding. I’ve been saying that for years (and we’ve had the proof from Switzerland for years). This should be a no-brainer, folks, yet governments avoid it like the plague.
“bullet” Irish Criminologist Paul O’Mahony has written a book “The Irish War on Drugs, the Seductive Folly of Prohibition.” In it, he says that the war on drugs has “failed catastrophically” and that drugs should be legalized because there is a “human right” to use them.
“bullet” An intern without any facts tries to dispell misconceptions about marijuana. Stupidity ensues.
“bullet” Sometimes we reform activists just get fed up

A drug-law reform activist spent a night in jail after hurling abuse at cops in an attempt to stop them from collaring pot-smokers outside his Greenwich Village home, police said.
As undercover cops nabbed the two dopers Thursday night, Randy Credico allegedly burst from his Gay Street home and screamed, “You guys are really solving murders out here? Why don’t you guys get a life! F- – – you all! You can’t tell me what to do!”

This article helps point out the absurdity of some people’s thinking when it comes to drug prohibition. Trenton is considering reducing the size of drug free school zones from 1,000 to 200 feet. Here’s the predictable idiotic response:

“Reducing the zones would have our children pass through a ( phalanx ) of drug dealers every day,” said school board Vice President Alexander Brown. “This would bring drug trafficking 800 feet closer to our schools. Some legislators believe the zones have placed a hardship on drug dealers. To me, I say ‘tough.'”

Of course, that’s a lot of absurd nonsense. Here is the actual story:

“If 96 percent of the people incarcerated under the drug-free zone law are black or Hispanic — groups that only make up 20 percent of our state’s population — it’s not a fair system,” said Roseanne Scotti, director of the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey.
“Plus, there is no evidence that drug-free zones hinder drug sales,” Scotti said. “Basically, this law amounts to two different penalties being given for the same exact crime — the only differences between the two penalties are geography and race.”

Nobody actually knows where the zones are, so it isn’t a deterrent. It’s just a way of tacking on punishment for a certain class of people. It doesn’t in any way affect the availability of drugs to children. Because inner cities are so dense, the zones practically blanket the entire area — well of course that won’t stop drug sales, but it does mean that when black people are caught selling drugs, the DA can add on the zone charge.
And it certainly doesn’t make a zone “drug free.” You arrest one dealer and you’ve just put out an ad for a high-paying tax-free job for someone else (in a poor neighborhood — gee, you think anyone will bite?)
So the question is, do these officials know what they’re saying?

Officials across Mercer County said they would support changing the penalties for dealers caught in a drug-free zone, but reducing the zones to 200 feet would be disadvantageous to students.
Drug-free zones “should be everywhere,” said Lou Goldstein, spokesman for Princeton schools.
“To narrow it to 200 feet doesn’t make any sense,” Goldstein said.æ “In my personal opinion, the (legislators) are going in the wrong direction.æ They should be expanding the zones out as far as they can.” Sen.æ Shirley Turner, D-Lawrence, said she also favors expanding the zones.
“I think the entire city of Tren ton should be a drug-free zone, that’s my position,” Turner said.æ “Every municipality should be drug-free.”
Trenton City Council President Paul Pintella would also like to see drug-free zones expanded.
“I understand the challenge behind urban districts where schools are directly in the heart of neighborhoods; but we shouldn’t make exceptions for the people who live there,” Pintella said.æ “They shouldn’t be selling drugs in the first place, especially to our kids.”

I’ve written City Council President Pintella to ask him if drug trafficking is legal in Trenton except in drug free zones (which certainly seems to be his implication). I’ll let you know if I get a response.

Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?

Drew Carey with a heartbreaking video

Vincent Hodgkiss, dead, from a paramilitary-style drug raid. Details are still sketchy, but it’s clearly a death that didn’t have to happen.
People are finally starting to ask the right questions, though.

“bullet” Radley Balko has discovered some potentially earth-shattering information in the Ryan Frederick case. If the police were, in fact, directing or encouraging criminals to break into private homes in order to search for evidence, then some major heads need to roll — particularly when that action resulted in a death.
“bullet” Bruce Mirken does a nice job with the Potent Pot nonsense. See also Jacob Sullum.
“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”

“bullet” Scott Morgan has the surreal posts: Vietnam Orders Police to Win the Drug War by August and People are Getting Themselves Arrested Just So They Can Sell Drugs in Jail
“bullet” Grant Smith at D’Alliance has a wonderful account of attending the drug testing summit held at the ONDCP HQ. I would have loved to be there.
“bullet” Radley Balko on the drug raid death of Gonzalo Guizan
“bullet” Transform notes Scotland looks to a new future of drug control

’77 per cent of young people surveyed by the Forum were doubtful that Scotland would ever be drug free and only 45 per cent of respondents felt we should even be trying to become drug free.‰
‘There should therefore be a more honest approach to alcohol and drug policy, with the primacy of effort concentrating on prevention, harm reduction measures and treatment, supported by enforcement activities.‰

While the headline and overall tone of this AP article — Study: Marijuana potency increases in 2007 — is typical fear mongering and parroting of Drug Czar press releases, the Associated Press gets a point for at least talking about marijuana use titration and mild withdrawal of pot in the article through interviewing Dr. Mitch Earleywine.

While the drug’s potency may be rising, marijuana users generally adjust to the level of potency and smoke it accordingly, said Dr. Mitch Earleywine, who teaches psychology at the State University of New York in Albany and serves as an adviser for marijuana advocacy groups. “Stronger cannabis leads to less inhaled smoke,” he said. […]
But there’s no data showing that a higher potency in marijuana leads to more addiction, Earleywine said, and marijuana’s withdrawal symptoms are mild at best. “Mild irritability, craving for marijuana and decreased appetite Ö I mean those are laughable when you talk about withdrawal from a drug. Caffeine is worse.”

Bloomin’ Idiot of the day: Alan Lupo in the Boston Herald.
Look at this — he has it. It almost appears that he understands it…

“It doesn’t matter how many millions the government pours in here to stop drugs,” a Mexican lawyer told a New York Times [NYT] reporter.
“As long as Americans keep buying them, this business is never going to stop.”
The fellow said that in 1986.
One need not have majored in economics to understand that if a market exists for a product, entrepreneurs will show up to sell to and profit from that market. Al Capone, after all, used to insist that he was nothing more than a businessman as he peddled illegal hooch to willing buyers.
Even if Mexican drug dealers were somehow stopped at our southwestern borders, they and others would find a way into our lucrative market, just as, during Prohibition, Irish, Jewish and Italian mobsters shipped and trucked in booze, and the Scotch-Irish of Appalachia cooked it up in back country stills.

Exactly, you’ve got it! It’s the same issues as alcohol prohibition. So…
So…
Come on, you can do it…
And the very next paragraph is:

If we Americans were serious about the drug war, we’d be fighting it not only aggressively at our borders and beyond, as we do, but also at home by treating our addicts with every manner of medical, psychological and social program we could invent.

What a moron.