Drug WarRant

There’s been all sorts of stuff to read this holiday weekend. Here are a few more …
“bullet” Radley’s got a piece at FOX News about the good folks at LEAP

For several years now, LEAP has been looking for a debate with the country’s top drug policymakers š anyone from DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to Drug Czar John Walters to powerful prohibition politicians like Indiana Rep. Mark Souder.
So far, they’ve had little luck. That’s too bad. If the drug war is still as important and necessary as our leaders in government say it is, it’s champions should be able to defend it–especially against the law enforcement officers they’ve asked to fight it.

I feel their pain. I’ve been wanting the same thing myself.
“bullet” Libby talks about North Dakota hemp efforts over at Detroit News.
“bullet” Tanya at Blame the Drug War covers a scathing report in Canada.

VANCOUVER, OTTAWA — The federal investment in the war on drugs has been an abject failure, according to a report to be published today.
Canada’s drug strategy, renewed with much fanfare in 2003, has put too much emphasis on law enforcement instead of on means to combat illicit drug use and minimize its human toll, says the report that is to appear in the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review.
The criticism appears unlikely to sway the federal Conservative government from its intention, confirmed by a Health Department spokesman, to tilt the strategy even further toward pure law-enforcement measures.
The study, which found that critical programs in prevention, treatment and research are being underfunded, comes five years after Canada’s Auditor-General issued a scathing report that said the country’s drug strategy focused too heavily on enforcement and needed a more “balanced approach.”

“bullet” Water Drinking Contest Turns Deadly

A Sacramento woman is thought to have died of water intoxication after taking part in a radio station‰s water drinking contest.

If only they’d stick to safe things like marijuana.

“bullet” Interesting read by Christopher Hitchens — A Life of Living Dangerously (in the January issue of Maxim) about the nanny state:

I have what is sometimes known as a life, which luckily for me involves self-employment as a writer and speaker. It’s always amusing, but it involves a fair bit of stress, travel, late nights, and the suchlike. And you know what? I think I can handle it on my own. There are times when a cigarette will help me-due to its famous nicotine content-to stay awake and to concentrate. (Nicotine can even ward off Alzheimer’s, say the doctors, if you live long enought to get it, that is.) My metabolism can process Scotch whisky without any undue difficulty, and there are moments when the glow can help me write, or even talk. It wards off boredom, which presses in on me from every side in a country increasingly run by tedious idiots. Some of my writer friends do really well with the help of a joint, and good luck to them, but dope gives me heartburn and makes me less aggressive, and I don’t need either of those results. Very occasionally, a snort of cocaine can be a good thing, but I despise people who make a habit of it. (Outside my house is a school with a sign that says DRUG FREE ZONE on its fence. Uh, huh. I am never more than two telephone calls away from a score if that’s what I choose, and I gather from well-informed sources that the stuff often comes direct from the police department.) I have no use for breakfast, but at lunch a T-bone with about eight cloves of garlic, rammed home with some rich Burgundy or pinot, often appeals. (The New England Journal of Medicine now admits that two proper drinks a day are more or less essential for the heart: I was in possession of this information while doctors were still nervously covering it up.) I don’t drink any sort of coffee except espresso, and was delighted to learn recently that decaffeinated beans raise a person’s level of bad cholesterol. I have no intention of telling you about Viagra-related matters, but I will say that when my cock talks, I listen.

“bullet” Via Grits for Breakfast, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Big score holy grail for drug officers. A depressing read. Makes you really realize how incredibly stupid all this is.

Over a nearly three-year period, 6,121 drug confiscations sent by Atlanta police to the GBI crime lab tested positive for cocaine. Just six were more than a kilogram, a little more than 2 pounds. On the other hand, more than 4,000, or 64 percent, were less than a gram, which is roughly the weight of a single raisin.
Coffield, a former police union leader, said a joke has circulated for years: “The Atlanta police narcotics unit is solving the cocaine problem one rock at a time.”
“All they care about is numbers,” said Coffield, expressing a complaint being voiced by current Atlanta officers and city officials.

“bullet” An ignorant article in the LA Times by Chris Kraul: U.S. fears ‘Colombianization’ in Ecuador’s drug war. Completely lacking in the article is any reference to the utter failure of the supply-side drug war and the culpability of the U.S.-led drug war in creating and exacerbating the problems in Colombia.

“bullet” For fun — a tongue-in-cheek column by Curtis Berndt in the Journal Gazette (IN): Ready To End Smoking Debates? Outlaw Tobacco And Legalize Pot
“bullet” The Agitator reports that Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has hired Mel Sembler to raise money for him. Mel Sembler, if you didn’t know, is the child torturer who ran STRAIGHT, Inc. — a series of concentration camps for youth which were shut down (only to become the Partnership for a Drug Free America Drug Free America Foundation).
Update: Correction — STRAIGHT became Calvina Fay’s Drug Free America Foundation. I get those “drug free” names mixed up. [Thanks, Steve]

Inspired by the NY Times article mentioned earlier, Meteor Blades’ Another Failed War Needs ‘Redeployment’ brings the drug war to the Daily Kos front page.

The drug war is now and has always been, at its core, a culture war. Changing mandatory sentencing guidelines, if it happens, will be, like voter-approved medical marijuana laws in several states, but a half-step toward calling a ceasefire to insanity. Cheers to Congressman Conyers for encouraging this half-step.

There’s been some really important hard work done by thehim and others at Kos to start to get the online liberal community to realize that ignoring the drug war or sweeping it under the rug will hurt them, and that reform is really in their best interests, despite the political dangers.

A pretty big discussion at digg.com on my article Why is Marijuana Illegal? has boosted my traffic about 2,000% today.
Nice.
Welcome to any new visitors that make it to the front page of Drug WarRant.

Harvard sociology professor Orlando Patterson, in the New York Times today:

Preoccupation with Iraq has drawn attention from another unwinnable American war that has been far more destructive of life both at home and abroad and has caused far greater collateral damage in other countries, in addition to spreading contempt for American foreign engagements. This is the failed war on drugs.

This is getting some important visibility, although this article fails to indicate that the problem extends well beyond the Atlanta police force.

ATLANTA — A narcotics team that shot and killed an elderly woman while raiding her home lied to obtain the search warrant, one team member has told federal investigators, according to news reports confirmed by a person familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity.
The officers falsely claimed that a confidential informant had bought $50 worth of crack at the house, the team member, Gregg Junnier, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Junnier retired from the Atlanta Police Department last week.
The story backs up statements by Alex White, a police informant, who said that after the shooting the police had asked him to claim, falsely, that he had bought crack at the modest home of the woman, Kathryn Johnston, whose age has been reported as both 88 and 92.
Ms. Johnston, pictured wearing a birthday crown in a widely used photograph, quickly became Exhibit A for complaints of excessive force by the police, prompting packed, angry town-hall-style meetings, accusations of systematic civil rights violations and calls for civilian review of police shootings in Atlanta.
The incident has also demoralized a police force where the number of narcotics officers has dwindled while, some critics say, pressure to make arrests has increased.
“The rest of the world is now hearing from the mouths of the police officers involved what we knew all along,” said the Rev. Markel Hutchins, a spokesman for Ms. Johnston’s relatives, who have maintained that she had nothing to do with illegal drugs and that neither her house nor her basement, which had a separate entrance, was used by dealers.

This story resonates because it really includes so many of the failings of the drug war wrapped up in one incident.

• Reliance on unreliable snitch looking to make a deal
• An overabundant credulity that the resident of the house was a drug dealer
• A lack of respect by police towards citizens (particularly in certain… neighborhoods) resulting in action without proper investigation
• Policy emphasis on showing results through numbers of drug busts
• Police taking short-cuts with the law
• Judge rubber-stamping a warrant
• Bad policy demanding the use of inappropriate force for the type of arrest
• The impossible situation placed on citizens between defending themselves and “trusting” the people who are breaking down their door.
• Increased danger for police officers
• An innocent person dying
• Police cover-up when something goes wrong

Oh! What a Lovely War

Here’s this week’s issue.

According to Lew Rockwell Blog:

Today, incorporation papers were filed in Texas for a Ron Paul 2008 presidential exploratory committee.

This would be some interesting news indeed.
For those who don’t know Ron Paul, he’s the Republican Representative for Texas 14th District to the U.S. House, and was the 1988 Libertarian Party Presidential nominee. He’s definitely one of the few good guys out there when it comes to drug policy reform. He would bring a very interesting debate to the Presidential race.

As we know, former Drug Czars and DEA heads and their compatriots often go into business working in the lucrative drug testing field after they leave government service, so it’s important for them to generate as much business as they can while they’re in office.
And Walters has been really working this one hard, trying to get to the point where he can become the Child Urine Czar and watch all kids pee in a cup.
The Random Student Drug Testing Summit tour has been part of the act for a couple of years now, and there are some upcoming summits:

• January 24, 2007 Charleston, South Carolina
• February 27, 2007 Newark, New Jersey
• March 27, 2007 Honolulu, Hawaii
• April 24, 2007 Las Vegas, Nevada

Fortunately, the ONDCP hasn’t been getting a free ride at these events any more. A number of reform organizations have shown up with useful and factual information and finding an interested audience.

On last year’s tour, dedicated drug policy reformers descended on every meeting with sharp questions and literature to counter the ONDCP’s deceptive presentations. Many educators expressed dissatisfaction with the one-sided information provided by the ONDCP, and were grateful to hear what we had to say: that random student drug testing is unsupported by the best available research, and can deter students from extracurricular activities–the very activities that increase students’ connection to their schools and to caring adults. […]
Last year, we forced ONDCP officials to explicitly acknowledge opposition presence at every summit. Our supporters had drug testing proponents stumbling over their responses, admitting they did not know the answers to our critical questions. Our work paid off; after the summits many educators told reporters that they will not consider testing.

If you’re in one of these upcoming summit regions, find out how you can help.