Drug WarRant

Canada’s Larry Campbell is a former RCMP drug officer, former coroner, former Mayor of Vancouver, and now Senator. He’s got a must-read OpEd about marijuana in The Province

“The time is here that we should simply take this out of the criminal element and regulate it. The idea that marijuana is virtually any of the things that the drug warriors in the United States say is ludicrous.
“They’re much like the Conservative government — they don’t believe in scientific fact. […]
Campbell says one thing has convinced opponents marijuana should be illegal: ideology.
“It’s all ideology — if they’re wrong on this, then what else are they wrong on? They won’t even allow hemp. That’s how stupid these people are — and they are stupid. I describe [White House drug czar John] Walters as a moron, and he is truly a moron. […]
“If [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper gets his way, prisons, like the United States, will be a growth industry. We’ll start destroying families. [There will be] more crime, breakdown in society and loss of productivity from good people going to jail for nothing.”
Campbell says “there’s no question” Canada’s marijuana laws are dictated by the U.S. war on drugs.
“We dance entirely to their tune. We’re afraid of what will happen if we ever legalize marijuana.” [emphasis added]

For those who have been following Drug WarRant for awhile, you may know that I like to keep tabs on what former ONDCP Deputy Director Andrea Barthwell is up to — particularly since she has such a history of… lying.
Andrea will be presenting: “Risky Behavior: What’s at Stake and How to Prevent It” tomorrow night in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Barthwell plans to talk to parents about why teens are attracted to drugs, what are the ramifications of using them, and to dispel common myths about drugs.
“Based on her research, her expertise, she really has what is the latest up-to-date implications on drug use in our teenagers,” said Gilda Ross, District 87 student and community projects coordinator. […]
The workshop topics include:
Explaining how false belief marijuana is harmless and not addictive contribute to its use and dependence.
[…]
Citing evidence for increased potency of today’s drugs and relationship to risky behavior.

It amuses me when I hear drug warriors talk about how today’s scientific approach eliminates the quackery of patent medicines. But in reality, it seems like they just want to keep the entire “snake oil” business to themselves.

Reminder: Tonight at 7 pm in Schroeder 138 (corner of College Ave. and University St.) is a screening of “Waiting to Inhale,” with a panel including marijuana patients Julie Falco and Jamie Clayton, Dr. David Ostrow, and filmmaker Jed Riffe.
There was an interview on local radio station WJBC’s Steve Fast show with Riffe and Clayton.
Trailer:

More screenings:

• Champaign, IL – November 12
• Springfield, IL – November 14
• Carbondale, IL – November 15

Norman Mailer dies at 84
Mailer had a few things to say about marijuana…

Though Mailer says he hasn’t smoked in a decade, he credits his past marijuana use with opening him up to the consciousness of a “higher power” and music appreciation, especially jazz. “I’d been listening to jazz for years, but it had never meant all that much to me. Now, with the powers pot offered, simple things became complex; complex things clarified themselves,” he said.

“bullet” Under 35: The politics of marijuana by Ben Masel at Daily Kos.
“bullet” DrugSense Weekly
“bullet” “drcnet”

On Sunday at 7:00 pm, Students for Sensible Drug Policy will be hosting a free screening of the medical marijuana documentary “Waiting to Inhale,” followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, a physician, and two patients. Don’t miss this one-day-only screening.
It’ll take place in Schroeder Hall, Room 138, on the Illinois State University campus. (Schroeder is on the corner of College and University. Parking is available in the Bone Student Center lot just to the north.) Email me if you need directions.

Link

The American Psychiatric Association has declared their unanimous vote in support of the legal protection of patients with doctors’ recommendations to use the herb for medical reasons. […]
“As physicians, we cannot abide our patients being subject to arrest and jail for using a physician-recommended treatment that clearly relieves suffering for many who are not helped by conventional treatments,” Dr. Halpern added, as quoted by the Salem News.

Yet more support. Just another bunch of doctors… This is kind of getting tiring, isn’t it? How can the prohibitionists continue to keep a straight face when they refer to it as “so-called” medical marijuana?

“bullet” The ACLU has a new website (thanks to Grits for Breakfast for the info) on informants: Unnecessary Evil: Blind Trust and Unchecked Abuse in America’s Informant System
It’s a fascinating site, with horror stories, legal resources, and some excellent recommendations for policy changes. They also have a new blog with some interesting items.
Check it out.
“bullet” John Walters is off bragging about his “successes” in the cocaine drug war, but the Associated Press doesn’t give him a free pass anymore: US drug czar touts cocaine shortage, despite conflicting supply data

This year’s apparent shortage could prove to be just as short-lived, the 2008 National Drug Threat Assessment found.
Even while acknowledging previously announced shortages during the first half of the year, the report prepared by the Justice Department’s drug intelligence center found “cocaine availability may already be returning to previous levels in some areas.”
The report did not say which markets were being replenished or how quickly, only that the shortage observed between January and June “was not the result of decrease in cocaine production.”

Oops. Did they just call Walters a liar?

More likely, it was the result of a crackdown on prominent Mexican traffickers, violent feuding among that country’s cartels and surging demand for cocaine in Europe. […]
“Nobody believes there’s not enough drugs in the system to satisfy global demand,” Jess Ford, author of the GAO study partly based on the most recent government data, told The Associated Press.

“bullet” Oh yes, and I almost forgot…
Swiss Study Finds Marijuana Use Alone May Benefit Some Teens This is interesting, but keep in mind that, from my limited reading of it, the headline is improperly worded. I’m guessing that the study found not a causal affect, but rather a relationship between moderate marijuana use and well-adjusted teens. (In other words, it may be that well-adjusted teens tend to seek out a mild social rebellion, or that moderate use of marijuana goes hand-in-hand with certain positive social activities, etc. — not necessarily that marijuana use caused benefits (although that’s also possible)). What this, of course, does show is that the whole “loser” epithet pushed by the drug czar, is nonsense.

Yesterday, Denver was voting on an initiative to legalize marijuana [already done previously] make marijuana arrests the lowest priority in the city.
Apparently there were some problems getting all the ballots counted, it turns out that the city called in SWAT last night to help.
As Jeralyn said last night:

If the vote changes by morning, I want a recount.

Even though Rocky Mountain News is still not officially calling it, with the vote count:

the national media is saying the marijuana initiative has passed.

The measure, which passed Tuesday with 54% of the vote, says adults 21 and older may possess up to an ounce of marijuana without penalty in the city.

However, don’t plan your trip to Denver just yet:

Mayor John Hickenlooper said police will continue to arrest and charge people for marijuana because state law still makes possession illegal.

Hmm… maybe the next initiative in Denver will be to secede?

That’s a question I have for prohibitionists.
What got me going on this is the ending of the national anthem…

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave…

If we’re the home of the brave and the land of the free, then why are we so afraid of freedom?
It sure seems like it. Why else would we go out of our way to eliminate it?
Or is it that we’re afraid of pot smokers? Maybe the thought of some guy sitting on his couch smoking a joint is just so incredibly terrifying that people chop up the fourth amendment, force people to pee in cups, and lock up huge portions of the population — all because they’re afraid that this pot smoker might… inhale.
No, we must be afraid of freedom. Sad, really. We’re supposed to be this beacon of freedom…

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

And yet, when it comes to the drug war, we fear freedom. So we authorize drug dog searches of cars, routine pat-downs of pedestrians, no-knock violent searches of homes; we restrict what people may say, what paraphernalia they may own, what crops they may grow, and what they may put into their own bodies.
Aren’t we supposed to export freedom to the world? Make the rest of the world see us and want freedom, too? How’s that going to work when it’s so obvious that we fear freedom?
We have 5% of the world’s population, yet 25% of the worlds prison population. We make drug war exceptions to the Bill of Rights without any evidence that the exceptions are needed or provide any value.
I imagine a father in some foreign land explaining to his son. “You see, Americans claim that freedom is good, but it obviously doesn’t work. They lock everyone up and they still have to keep repealing portions of it. You’re better off without such a useless thing.”
So these days when the national anthem asks the question:

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

… while others respond with the traditional “Play Ball,” I, instead, answer sadly: “No.”
Why are prohibitionists afraid of freedom?

Why am i afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter? Why am I afraid to live, I who love life and the beauty of flesh and the living colors of earth and sky and sea? Why am I afraid of love, I who love love? Why must I pretend to scorn in order to pity? Why must I hide myself in self-contempt in order to understand? Why must I be so ashamed of my strength, so proud of my weakness? Why must I live in a cage like a criminal, defying and hating, I who love peace and friendship? Why was I born without a skin, oh God, that I must wear armor in order to touch or to be touched?

– from the play “Great God Brown” by Eugene O’Neill