Drug WarRant

“bullet” The articles continue: This one by Mitch Cole in Southern Utah (channeling Radley Balko): Hold SWAT team no-knock raids accountable for mistakes
“bullet” Judge confirms ruling that California counties must comply with the state’s medical marijuana law, despite the conflicts with the federal law.

Well, I guess this made it OK that they used military force to go in and kill this woman.
If I’ve got it right, the 1.93 grams they found would be about this much.

Look, I don’t care if they found 1.93 tons of marijuana in her bedroom — it still wouldn’t justify the policy, let alone the piss-poor application of it.

“bullet” LEAP’s Peter Christ gets in the action with this OpEd in the Rutland (VT) Herald.

“bullet” Cynthia Tucker has another good piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Time is ripe to overhaul city’s drug war.

[Note: The messageboard is temporarily out of order this morning, so I’m putting the alert here.]
Mark Souder is trying to do some damage before he loses his subcommittee chairmanship.

CONGRESS TO VOTE ON POISONING PEOPLE THIS WEEK
Earlier this year we warned you about a bill in Congress that would revive controversial research on the use of toxic, mold-like fungi called mycoherbicides to kill illicit drug crops in other countries. This provision could unleash an environmental disaster of monumental proportions. But Congressman Mark Souder and Senators Hatch and Biden are rushing it to the House and Senate floors this week. Here are three things you can do:
1) Call your two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative today or tomorrow.
If you don’t know who they are, simply call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and give them your address. They’ll connect you directly with their offices. You can also look them up online at http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=10054&l=134461 and http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=10054&l=134462 .
When you get a staffer on the phone, politely say something like:
“My name is [your name] and I live in [your city]. I’m calling to urge [the Senator or Representative] to oppose the ONDCP Reauthorization bill if it comes to the floor this week, especially its mycoherbicide provision. Please let me know how [the Senator/Representative] votes.”
If they ask, the mycoherbicide section is Section 1111. The bill being brought to the floor is a combination of a House and Senate bill, so it doesn’t have a bill number yet. It will be brought to the Senate floor under a unanimous consent agreement and to the House floor under suspension of the rules–both of which limit debate.
2) Phone calls are the most effective way of stopping this bill. But if you don’t feel comfortable making calls or you don’t have the time, we urge you to fax or e-mail your elected officials instead. You can contact your two Senators at http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=10054&l=134461 and your one Representative at http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=10054&l=134462.
3) Please forward this alert to everyone you know. Unless thousands of Americans contact Congress, this bill could pass by the end of this week.
Sincerely,
Bill Piper
Drug Policy Alliance Network
MORE INFORMATION
Mycoherbicides have already been extensively studied over the last thirty years – and the results make it clear that they are not an option for controlling crops of coca or opium poppies. They attack indiscriminately, destroying fruit and vegetable crops, and sickening animals and humans as well. The toxins mycoherbicides produce contaminate soil for years, so that nothing can grow where they have been. Mycoherbicides are so destructive that governments have even stockpiled them as weapons!
Incredibly, the proposal now before Congress advocates using mycoherbicides in “field studies” in countries such as Colombia and Afghanistan – something the world would certainly see as an act of biological warfare.
For more information on mycoherbicides, read the recent report commissioned by DPA, “Repeating Mistakes of the Past: Another Mycoherbicide Research Bill” (PDF: http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=10054&l=134463 ).

Another convert to the Kathryn Johnston story — the Associated Press.
This is pretty amazing for the AP! Atlanta police give few details for ‘no knocks’

Atlanta police often offer only cursory details when asking judges for so-called “no-knock” warrants that allow them to burst into homes unannounced, like the one used when an elderly woman was killed in a shootout with plainclothes officers as they stormed her home, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. […]
An AP review of all no-knock warrants filed in Atlanta’s Fulton County this year found that authorities often give scant detail when applying for the warrants, which are typically used to search for drugs and weapons. […]
“One of the problems we have in the country are that lower-level judges who issue search warrants are notorious for being rubber stamps,” said Donald E. Wilkes Jr., a University of Georgia law professor who studies the practice. “This is compounded by the fact that police tend to use these boilerplate allegations for no-knock search warrants.”
Use of the warrants has ramped up as the war on drugs has intensified, said Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer who teaches police studies at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“The problem is that you do get cases where police bust down the wrong door and people die,” he said. “And to me, it’s not worth it. I don’t really care if they flush the drugs down the toilet. I don’t care if drugs are destroyed. So what? It’s not like the drug war is being won.” […]
The NAACP is now calling for the establishment of a civilian review board with subpoena powers. On Sunday, the Rev. Al Sharpton called for a congressional inquiry into incidents like Johnston’s and the fatal police shooting on Nov. 25 of 23-year-old groom-to-be Sean Bell in New York.

Wow! And while they should have credited Radley Balko somewhere in there, I’m also impressed with the fact that they were able to get experts to speak out without even needing him.
This is powerful stuff. And it could give some politicians cover. Even more reason to start asking questions of your local city council or your newspaper as to what safeguards are in place in your community.

Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory has picked up the ‘House of Death’ story big time with In the other “war” — more of the same.
Glenn’s been a strong opponent of the drug war (he even let me co-post there once) and his blog is extremely important — sort of the voice of the rationally outraged liberal. He gives the issue a scathing treatment (and read the comments — it seemed to uniformly outrage his intelligent readers as well). Perhaps with his chiming in, the story will get the additional attention and scrutiny that it deserves.

“bullet” Sheldon Richman in the Times Gazette (Ohio): Time for government to end the drug war.
“bullet” Vin Suprynowicz in the Las Vegas Review Journal: Hate to say I told you so, but keep those Kevlar jammies handy

Over the decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has heard many cases stemming from police violence against Americans justified by the so-called “War on Drugs.” Never once have the justices seized the opportunity to rule — as they are obliged to rule by their oaths of office — “Oh, and by the way, your so-called ‘War on Drugs’ is totally unconstitutional under the Ninth Amendment. So cut it out.”

“bullet” This isn’t exactly an article… There was a rather ignorant opinion piece in the Red and Black (University of Georgia paper) a few days ago saying that the police were right in the Kathryn Johnston case. Today there are two outstanding letters in response: one by Journalism student Dave Marck, Jr. and one by LEAP speaker Allison Myrden. Read them here.
“bullet” And by the way, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published an OpEd by Radley Balko. Nice.
Update: More at Grits for Breakfast. See the series at the Lone Star Iconoclast. Also check out the Operation Trick or Treat post.

Let’s take a look at it in basic terms. First — essentially all the violence, from both the drug warriors and the drug traffickers, is a direct result of prohibition. It is a major side effect of the drug war. What is the purpose of the drug war? Well, theoretically, its purpose is to prevent people from using certain drugs. Marijuana, mostly, since that’s the most popular illicit drug. And it’s to prevent people from voluntarily using marijuana (marijuana isn’t like rape or murder or theft — it isn’t done to a person by someone else — it’s a choice).
[Now, forget for a moment the fact that it doesn’t actually work. Assume it does.]
So when you killed Kathryn Johnston, that was to prevent someone from voluntarily smoking marijuana. In other words, you cared more about the supposed harm to a drug user who was doing it to himself, than the life of an innocent person.
How morally bankrupt do you have to be to make such a choice? How many people are you willing to kill to accomplish your goal? How many innocent deaths do you accept in order to stop someone from smoking pot and hanging out on Pete’s couch? If one innocent person dies and 10 people stop smoking pot, is that a good trade-off? How many lives and families are you willing to destroy to stop someone from voluntarily taking heroin?
And horror of horrors, what if (as most certainly is the case), all your killing of innocent people didn’t really have a significant impact on drug use or abuse. When you realize that you have killed these people for nothing… what will you tell their children?

“bullet” It seems that I’m seeing a lot of “Legalize It” articles (of differing approaches) in recent days. In addition to Cynthia Tucker’s excellent piece, here’s one in Sandusky, Ohio by Evan Goodenow (note the Kathryn Johnston mention). There’s this one in the Cambridge Evening News. And there’s one in the Edmonton Sun. Is it just me, or has there been a slight increase in the willingness of the media to give this idea coverage? Perhaps the education efforts of all the drug policy reformers are actually bearing fruit in this way?
“bullet” If you want an opportunity to write letters to an article that’s less positive, you need look no further than the OpEd by former ONDCP speechwriter Kevin Sabet in the Washington Post today. He acts like he’s being reasonable, yet the way he dismisses the discussion of legalization is dishonest.
“bullet” The Agitator has been covering Atlanta extremely well (of course) and discovered (gasp!) that there may have been other cases where the no-knock warrant was used without proper foundation.
“bullet” With the Kathryn Johnston (elderly lady killed in her home in Atlanta) and Sean Bell (unarmed bridegroom killed in New York with police firing 50 bullets) incidents fresh in the media, it seems to me there is an opportunity here to visit with your local city council member and ask what the policies are for SWAT or other military-style engagements by the local police and what safeguards are in place.

With the holidays coming up, I wanted to do my part to give you some interesting opportunities for gifts. So Drug WarRant now has TWO comprehensive stores for your shopping convenience.

First, there is the Drug WarRant CafePress store, now with the new Incarceration Nation dark shirt line, but still with all of your old favorites, including the DEA Targets America line, the End Prohibition Now items, and the most popular item — our marijuana leaf thong.
Then, we now have the Drug WarRant Amazon store. This is an expansion of our old bookstore page, now with a variety of excellent book recommendations, plus DVDs, CDs, hemp foods and clothing, and other fun products (you can even get that great Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon necktie that I wear all the time).
Great deals, great products, and by ordering through Drug WarRant, I get a few cents. It’s all good.