Drug WarRant

Mexico:

The death toll in Mexico’s drug war has surpassed 2,000 this year, with a newspaper editor found dead in the resort city of Zihuatanejo and a police commander assassinated in Tijuana apparently among the latest victims, according to news reports.

Colombia:

Drug war in Colombian port leaves 305 dead this year
BUENAVENTURA, Colombia – Six people were shot to death and six others were injured by a roadside bomb this weekend in Buenaventura, where the soaring murder rate this year is making the port city one of Colombia’s top killing fields, officials said on Sunday.

Thailand:

BANGKOK, Nov 14 (TNA) – Justice Ministry officials are now collecting evidence related to the extra-judicial killings of some 2,500 people during the Thaksin government’s war on drugs campaign, said a senior
official of the ministry.

Good thing drugs are illegal. Sure, thousands of people are dying, but at least we’ve stopped people from doing something that might cause them to sit for long periods on Pete’s couch.
Except, of course, that we haven’t.
The reality is that all those people have died so that the politicians and the DEA can have their drug war. Hope they’re enjoying it.

Eric Sterling’s OpEd in the Los Angeles Times yesterday is a must-read.
He talks about the problems of our cocaine sentencing laws with the authority (and the mea culpas) of one who helped write them.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Sentencing Commission — the independent agency that gives sentencing guidelines to federal judges and advises Congress — will hold hearings on this issue. If logic prevails, in the next Congress we may finally see an end to one of the most unjust laws passed in recent memory. And that might correct the biggest mistake of my professional life.

The whole thing is worth reading, but I wanted to highlight the major recommendation for the federal law that he gives:

Congress should do what it tried to do in 1986 — make the Justice Department focus exclusively on high-level cases because state and local law enforcement cannot. There are three elements to fix the problem: Raise the quantity triggers for all drugs to realistic levels for high-level traffickers, such as 50 or 100 kilos of cocaine, and end the crack/powder imbalance; Require the attorney general to approve prosecution of any case involving less than 50 kilos of cocaine; Analyze federal drug cases district by district to identify agents and prosecutors who waste their time and our money. If only high-level dealers were being prosecuted by the feds, no one would have cause to complain about the race of the defendants.

Update: TalkLeft has updates on the hearings here and here. It’s good to have Jeralyn back focusing on criminal justice issues.

Well, I took on my biggest challenge to date. The Golden K Kiwanis Club in Quincy, Illinois is a great bunch of retired businessmen, but not what you might consider your easiest target group for promoting drug policy reform. And I went all out — full drug legalization.
I thought it went very well — there was some resistant body language and I believe a few may have been a bit unhappy that I was there (and may give my dad a hard time for inviting me), but there were some good questions, and a number of people came up afterward with positive comments — including a retired physician who said he was 100% with me, someone else who wanted sources to read more, and some who appeared not to be ready to go the whole way, but agreed that the current drug war wasn’t making sense and that they were willing to consider other options.
It was also great to meet a Drug WarRant fan who lives in the Quincy area and managed to get an invite to the event.
All in all, a wonderful experience. I’m looking forward to the rest of this busy week.

I’m heading out to talk to the Golden K Kiwanis in Quincy, Illinois on Monday morning about ending prohibition. On Wednesday evening, I’ll be moderating Tough Trade-Offs: The Drug Legalization Debate in Urbana/Champaign, Illinois, and on Friday, I’ll be off to Washington, DC for the SSDP conference. All this while having a particularly heavy week at work (yes, I also have a real full-time job that I love!) So posting may be a little bit light…
Here’s a couple of things to discuss:
“bullet” Drug Policy Alliance’s Five Point Agenda for the new Democratic Congress.
“bullet” The Drug War Chronicle’s Brief Comment on the Transfer of Power in Congress. Also see Phillip Smith’s rant I’m sick and tired of begging my fellow citizens to not throw me in jail…

Monroe Anderson, in today’s Chicago Sun-Times, has It’s time to legalize marijuana in Illinois.

In the past year, the pot prohibition has produced record devil-weed arrests and a bumper crop of American POWs in our nation’s prisons. In 2005, there 786,545 marijuana arrests — 696,074 just for possession. About 34,000 state and 11,000 federal inmates are incarcerated for marijuana offenses. We’re spending $1 billion a year to put them there and another $8 billion a year to keep them there.
We could regulate, license and tax marijuana. Instead we blow billions on busting and jailing peaceful citizens from whom we could collect millions in tax revenue — much like we do with alcohol.
For our nation’s lawmakers to not grasp such a commonsense approach, you’ve got to wonder what they’ve been smoking.

Nice.

Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer has a good post about the upcoming Congressional hearing on sentencing disparity for crack and powder cocaine.
Naturally, Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, has a solution: increase the penalties for powder cocaine.
Jamie Spencer properly dismantles Canterbury.

I’ve been asked to be the moderator for “Tough Trade-Offs: The Drug Legalization Debate”
This debate will take place on Wednesday, November 15 at the College of Law Auditorium at 504 E Pennsylvania Ave in Champaign, Illinois and will feature William Otis, JD, Counselor to the Administrator of the DEA and Bryan Brickner, PhD, author and Illinois drug law reform activist.

William Otis, JD, is a graduate of Stanford Law School and former Special Counsel to then- president George H.W. Bush. After law school, he worked in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice for seven years before becoming head of the appellate division of the U.S. Attorney‰s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was also an informal advisor on criminal justice issues to President Bush when he was Governor. For the past three years, he has been Counselor to the Administrator of the DEA, the official capacity in which he will speak next Wednesday.
Bryan Brickner, PhD, graduated from University of Illinois in 1988 and was a walk-on for the UIUC basketball team. He was commissioned as an Army officer through the Illinois ROTC program and served in Saudi Arabia in 1991. In 1997, he received his doctorate in political science from Purdue University. In addition to NORML, he co-founded IDEAL Reform, a group that is working to pass a medical cannabis bill in Illinois. He is the author of several books including Article the first of the Bill of Rights.

The debate is sponsored by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Federalist Society and the Coalition of Student-Professionals for Social Change.
I’m really looking forward to this — we so rarely get a chance to see debates on this subject. Of course, as moderator, my job is not to debate (I’ll get that chance some other time), but rather to help both parties get the chance to make their case, so the audience can decide.
If you’re in the area, why not get over to Champaign on Wednesday and check it out. There will be a time for questions from the audience as well. It’ll be a nice intimate setting — the room only seats about 100 people. It’s free and I’m told there will be free food as well.

Link

Rolling Stone magazine began publication in San Francisco, giving away a free marijuana cigarette (roach) clip with the first issue.

Hmmm… Things have changed.
On this day in 2006, Rolling Stone reported

The soon-to-be-former Mr. Spears has taken no time in retaliating against Britney for suddenly filing for divorce earlier this week.

At least that’s what you might think if you were mayor Bill Edner, Hughesville, Pennsylvania.
Here’s what actually happened.
Reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s efforts to get children to inform on their parents, a daughter has turned her parents in to school officials for… That’s right. Smoking pot.
That led to a police search of the house and the discovery of… pot. And pipes.
The girl’s father is Mike Rhodes, Hughesville council member and established local businessman. And apparently, while others in town like to wind down at night with a martini, he and his wife like a bowl of marijuana.
Now here’s the reaction from the mayor:

“Charges of corruptions against so many high level officials. It’s tough to take when it comes down to the local level,” the mayor added.

Corruption?
I’m sorry, Bill, but corruption is accepting bribes. Corruption is dishonest or fraudulent conduct to gain power. Smoking pot may be illegal, but it certainly isn’t corruption.
Try this out, Bill. Walk up to anybody and ask if they’d rather have a council member who is corrupt, or one who smokes pot at home. Go ahead. I’m guessing you’ll find quite a bit of support for the pot smoker.
One more point. The whole business of the daughter snitching on her parents is disturbing, and of course the news reports don’t go into much detail, there. But it got me wondering if there might be a connection to school activities. I noticed that at least one of the elementary schools in the East Lycoming School District was celebrating Red Ribbon Week in October. Hmmm…. I’d really like to know whether the school actually encouraged turning in parents.
Oh, and Bill — while you’re asking people about corruption versus pot smoking, you might want to ask whether it’s better for a young person to be raised in a family (even if their parents sometimes smoke pot or drink cocktails at home), or in foster care while their folks are in prison.
—-
For a story from a slightly different perspective, see this disturbing one about parents informing on their children.

Although the Colorado marijuana legalization initiative lost 60-40, it actually won in some counties:

• Boulder – 53%
• Clear Creak – 54%
• Denver – 56%
• Eagle – 56%
• Gilpin – 61%

On the other hand, the people in Baca county voted 82% against the initiative.
Some major geographic and demographic splits on this issue.
In Nevada, the geographic differences were there, but less pronounced. However, there were some clear demographic differences.
Our least receptive audiences in Nevada?

• African Americans
• Old people
• Rural residents
• Conservative Republicans who support Bush and approve of the war in Iraq

We have the opportunity here to identify some audiences who need to be educated, and start the process.