Drug WarRant

Radley Balko has been covering this, but in case you missed it, “Deputy” Shaquille O’Neal has been accompanying police on paramilitary-style police raids, including drug raids.
Shaq — there’s a difference between FICTION and reality.
I sometimes wonder if we’ve gotten so stupid that we really don’t understand that life isn’t “Steel” or “24.” Wall Street Journal opinion editor and first class moron Stephen Moore was on Bill Maher’s show last week and actually said that federal policy should be based on what Jack Bauer does on “24”

“You know what this is really. It’s Jack Bauer justice … he should run the CIA”

Really?
It’s like we now have a sizable population of the Thermian alians from “Galaxy Quest” all looking up to Jason Nesmith to save them.

Gwen DeMarco: They’re not ALL “historical documents.” Surely, you don’t think Gilligan’s Island is a…
[All the Thermians moan in despair]
Mathesar: Those poor people.

It’s OK to enjoy “24.” I have enjoyed it myself at times. But I’ve actually got a couple of brain cells and can appreciate it as adventurous fiction without turning to it for governing policy. And I learn about the rights of citizens from the Constitution, not “Law and Order.”
Idiots.
I do kind of feel sorry for Gilligan…

A halloween video for you, courtesy of the SAFER Colorado Blog

Via the DARE Generation Diary…

… on Friday, a federal judge granted the Bush administration’s motion to dismiss Students for Sensible Drug Policy’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law that strips financial aid from college students with drug convictions

Not that huge a surprise to me — the courts have been giving broad deference to the federal government, particularly when it comes to anything with money attached to it (and particularly in the area of “drug war exceptions” to the constitution).
As SSDP properly notes, now it’s up to Congress, and we have to make a difference there. SSDP has made it easy to start. They’ll also be working hard in Washington for their national lobby day on November 17. Join them.

A picture that speaks volumes.

…but go read anyway.

Via Dare Generation Diary, an endorsement in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

… And some of Souder’s other efforts, such as his bill prohibiting college students with drug convictions from getting financial aid, have hurt Hoosiers. Indiana leads the nation in the rate of college students denied federal aid because of the law. Hayhurst is the better choice for voters of the 3rd District.

OK, this is just bizarre. Via the drug czar’s “blog” comes this truly surreal item:

Colombia will launch a hard-hitting advertising campaign in London next week aimed at raising awareness that cocaine use in Europe is killing hundreds of children and wiping out pristine rain-forests in South America.
The “cocaine curse” campaign will be unveiled at a conference of European anti-drugs officials and police chiefs on Thursday.

So our government, which has been so incredibly inept with its media campaign drug war advertising, continues to send millions of dollars to Colombia to pay for and promote an effort that has not only failed, but has actually fueled the crime and destruction. And now Colombia is advertising this “effort” in Europe?
My head hurts.
Given the fact that the drug czar appears pleased by this, how much you want to bet that the ONDCP was behind the advertising campaign in some way? And if so, I expect that the ads will be hilarious.

An interesting message from Mark Greer at DrugSense:

While the main purpose of DrugSense is to encourage accuracy and honesty in the media with respect to illegal drugs, our goal is ultimately to stop the costly and ineffective drug war. Through our extensive archive of more than 170,000 articles on all aspects of drug policy, we have identified 10 specific steps that would result in ending prohibition as we know it.
1. Grant agronomist Lyle Craker a license to grow medicinal-grade cannabis at the University of Massachusetts.
Effect: End the federal government’s monopoly on growing marijuana to
meet the FDA’s requirement for an independent, high quality
cannabis supply for approved cannabis-based research and product
development.
2. Pass the Hinchey-Rohrbacher Amendment.
Effect: End the costly DEA harassment of California dispensaries and
allow states in which medical cannabis is legal to begin regulated
access without federal interference.
3. Accept the Petition to Reschedule Cannabis.
Effect: Remove cannabis from the restrictive Schedule I designation of
the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and permit its prescription by
physicians like pharmaceuticals.
4. Make Afghani opium available to pharmaceutical companies.
Effect: Develop a licensing system so that opium grown in Afghanistan
can be legally sold to make narcotic pain relievers, thereby
alleviating a worldwide shortage of these medications.
5. Defund the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.
Effect: Save taxpayers hundreds of millions by eliminating this
campaign, which has only resulted in making drug use more attractive to
teens.
6. Increase funding for needle exchange and safe consumption sites.
Effect: Prevent overdoses, reduce drug-related hospital admissions, and
slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.
7. Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Sentencing.
Effect: Reduce the non-violent prison population, and end the racial
disparity in sentencing that has resulted in one in three black men
between the ages of 20 and 29 being under correctional control.
8. Free non-violent drug prisoners and stop the Federal trials of Marc
Emery and Ed Rosenthal.
Effect: Save the taxpayers the wasted time and expense spent trying
these non-violent individuals on unpopular charges.
9. Develop citizen oversight boards for SWAT squads.
Effect: Save lives and property that are needlessly disrupted through
the use of a violent techniques for non-violent situations, which are
too often drug raids based on bad information.
10. Pass as many lowest-priority marijuana initiatives as possible.
Effect: Help the government understand that citizens want to be
protected from violent terrorists, not non-violent marijuana
consumers. Public officials, including police, need to prioritize
their scarce dollars and resources according to that which is most
dangerous and most urgent to public health and safety.
Of course, we at DrugSense know that many more steps need be taken to
move away from drug policies based on fear, prejudice, and
misinformation, and toward policies grounded in science, reason, and
compassion. If you have an idea or step that could be added to this
list, please post it here.

Some people have, at times, questioned the apparent fractured structure of the drug policy reform community and wondered if it could be better accomplished if all the various organizations and efforts combined their resources into one. I think this list helps to show the value and importance of a multi-pronged approach in ending the drug war. No one effort can do it — it takes chipping away at a host of different, yet related issues.

I’m a bit busy right now with photography (doing 75 actor head shot sessions and two theatre production photography shoots in three days), so talk amongst yourselves. Here are a couple of things to check out.
“bullet” Daksya notes what could possibly be the biggest advance related to opiates in the last 30-40 years. It involves a technique that can retain all the pain-relieving and euphoric properties of opioid-based drugs, while eliminating the negative tolerance and withdrawal effects.
“bullet” With Beheadings and Attacks, Drug Gangs Terrorize Mexico and Graft takes root along border. Two articles take a look at the problems related to our neighbor to the south (thanks to a couple of readers). The corruption and violence cannot be solved as long as the drug war is there to make criminal trafficking so profitable. Reader Lee suggests: “End the drug war, secure our borders” as a possible slogan.
“bullet” Radley has another drug raid gone… right? A case that doesn’t involve a wrong address sometimes shows even more clearly how bad the policies are regarding SWAT-style raids. In this case, cops broke in with guns and a concussion grenade, caused $5,000 worth of damage and killed a golden lab named Shadow. And they found two joints.

Via Radley Balko and Mark Kleiman, comes the most sickening observance of “Red Ribbon Week” imaginable.

If classes had been held in a forest yesterday at Marshall Middle School in Fauquier County, it would have been difficult for teachers to take attendance.
As the first bell rang, students bounded into hallways wearing twig- and branch-imprinted jackets or sporting fatigues stamped U.S. Army.
Principal Christine Moschetti said the school asked the students to don the martial clothing to show support for “the fight against drugs.” She wore a leafy, oversized camouflage T-shirt that she had bought at Wal-Mart for $5.
Camouflage Day at Marshall was tied to a national anti-drug campaign called Red Ribbon Week that began Monday. The week commemorates a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was slain on duty in Mexico in 1985. Organizers with National Family Partnership, a Florida-based group, said thousands of schools nationwide are participating through such activities as encouraging students to sign drug-free pledges or sponsoring spirit weeks.

Camouflage Day to fight drugs?
This is what it immediately brought to my mind…

On May 20, 1997, Esequiel Hernandez, Jr. [pictured right] was herding his family’s goats 100 yards from his home on the US-Mexican border in Redford, Texas, as he did every day. Six days before, he had turned 18 years old.
Unknown to Esequiel or any of the other residents of Redford, a group of four Marines led by 22-year old Corporal Clemente Banuelos had been encamped just outside the small village along the Rio Grande River for three days. After watering his small flock of goats in the river, Esequiel started on his way back home when the Marines began stalking him from a distance of 200 yards.
The four camouflaged Marines were outfitted with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment and weapons. Esequiel carried an antique .22 caliber rifle — a pre-World War I, single shot rifle to keep wild dogs and rattlesnakes away from his goats. The autopsy showed that Esequiel was facing away from the Marines when he was shot. He probably never knew the Marines were watching him from 200 yards away.
Thus it was that a 22 year-old United States Marine shot and killed an innocent 18 year-old boy tending his family’s goats. This outrageous act was the inevitable consequence of a drug prohibition policy gone mad. Esequiel Hernandez was killed not by drugs but by military officers of the United States government.

Is this what Principal Christine Moschetti wants to glorify? Or how about some of these? What kind of irresponsible “education” is this?

Phillip Smith has a good discussion piece up at StoptheDrugWar: Third-Party Candidacies vs. Voting for the Lesser Evil
It’s certainly a topic worth talking about — there are a few races out there this time with third-party candidates that have strong drug policy reform views, so what do you do?
My view?

1. If you’ve got a third-party candidate that’s doing the right thing, vote for them. The fear of the “Nader” effect is overblown, in my opinion, and it’s good to keep the third party door open.
2. If you’re in one of those rare situations where you have someone in Congress who really supports drug policy reform (Hinchey, Frank, Paul) vote for them, regardless of party.
3. Otherwise, when it comes to Congress, vote Democrat. This is not an endorsement of the Democratic party as much as it is an understanding that the current version of the Republican party is exceptionally dangerous to freedom in our country. There are two additional factors: a Democratic Congress is more likely to pass the Hinchey amendment (stopping the feds from harassing medical marijuana states); and a Democratic Congress means that Mark Souder loses his subcommittee chairmanship.
4. When it comes to state and local races, vote for the person that is best on drug war and freedom issues regardless of party.

Certainly, the Democrats, as a whole, have not acted responsibly in the drug war — in some cases they’ve been atrocious, with their “me, too!” approach to the drug war bandwagon. And it’s quite possible that in two years, or four years, I’ll be advising you all to vote Republican.
But now, there are too many reasons for advocating for split government, and for sending a strong message that government based on fear, lied, demonization, and restricting the freedom of Americans is unacceptable, whether it’s the Drug Czar’s activities or government wiretapping of U.S. citizens.
While the following doesn’t specifically mention the drug war, it’s relevant and important, written by the excellent conservative blogger John Cole at Balloon Juice:

We need to get rid of the authoritarians, we need to get rid of the big-spenders, the religionists and the gay-bashers, the liars, con-artists, crooks, and thieves, and we need to start over. I really look forward to the day where I have the high ground on tax related issues because my party is not spending us into bankruptcy. I look forward to the day when my party, when faced with difficult scientific questions, turns to the experts (rather than turning on them) instead of Sen. Inhofe and James Dobson and Randall Terry. I look forward to the day when my party once again has enough of a moral standing that we should even be allowed to discuss human rights and torture in foreign regimes. I look forward to the day when we can, with a straight face, argue that we are the party of small government — after, of course, we get rid of the religionists who are trying to dictate who we can love, who we can sleep with, who gets to determine what we watch on tv, and who gets to determine our end of life decisions. I look forward to the day when it is once again the Democrats who look crazy.
But for right now, it is the GOP that is out of touch, out of control, and drowning in its own hubris. It is time to throw them an anchor, and it looks like there are a lot of people lining up on the docks to do just that.

I’m ready to help throw that anchor.