Drug WarRant

This lying scumbag is my Congressman (I have experience with him slandering me in the last election merely because I endorsed his opponent).

The Congressman and the Dictator’s Daughter

Illinois Republican Jerry Weller is one of the most powerful men in Congress when it comes to Latin America. His wife is the most powerful woman in Guatemala’s controversial FRG party. […]

Two months after his marriage Weller, ignoring calls for him to resign, became vice chairman of the western hemisphere subcommittee. […]

“The western hemisphere subcommittee has been one of the only ones overseeing U.S. drug policy, and it has been the main one making U.S. drug policy,” says Adam Isacson of the watchdog group Center for International Policy. “It has huge influence.”

His seat, unfortunately, is not considered competitive in the upcoming race, but I have hopes.

I’ve talked about this case before, but it’s really getting bizarre.

A high-powered Los Angeles law firm on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether Juneau Douglas School District had a right to punish a student who stood off school grounds during the passing of the Olympic torch holding a banner that read, “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”

The phrase is so giggle-worthy, so odd, so catchy, that the entire lengthy legal affair is often referred to simply as the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus case.”

Here’s what happened:

The torch passed the school. Some kids had skipped out to make fast food runs. Others cheered. Frederick and some buddies stood across the street and held up their 10-foot banner.

Morse crossed the street, grabbed the sign and ultimately suspended Frederick for 10 days. District officials agreed his banner violated school anti-drug policies.

Well, the 9th Circuit ruled that the student had a right to free speech. Fancy that! So look at the attempt that’s been collected to appeal this to the Supreme Court:

Kirkland & Ellis LLP — a 1,100-attorney law firm with offices around the country and clients around the world — is representing the Juneau School Board and Morse.

Lead counsel on the case includes Kenneth Starr, author of the infamous Starr Report to Congress on the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that led to the impeachment of President Clinton.

In this case, Starr’s team argues the U.S. Supreme Court should review the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case because “the Ninth Circuit’s decision, as a practical matter, renders long-standing school policies against pro-drug messages unenforceable,” according to a press release the law office sent out Monday.

Clearly, this is a free speech issue. And this extremely high-priced legal group, led by the blow-job prosecutor, is stepping up to make sure that Americans will not have the right to talk freely — specifically about drugs or drug policy.

Fascinating. Anybody know who is paying the bill?

StopTheDrugWar.org, long-time publisher of the Drug War Chronicle, has gotten a face-lift and a Speakeasy.

Stop the Drug War Speakeasy is a new blogging platform for drug policy reform, where anyone can get an account and join the discussion.

Check it out.

It’s nice to see the reform community continually expanding and keeping up with technology in ways that the prohibitionists could only dream.

We’ve got established powerful communities like MAPinc, whose efforts have generated over $20 million worth of press value (and has spilled over into the amazing DrugWarRant.net letter-writing team. We’ve got discussion groups all over the net like Cannabis News, and our friends have instigated or responded to drug policy discussions on hundreds of general and specific-themed messageboards. With the advent of newsreaders and an army of interested reformers, there’s hardly an obscure LiveJournal blogger that can spout drug war ignorance without an informed reader coming to the rescue. Student groups like SSDP have MySpace and Facebook groups, and a bunch of law enforcement officers against prohibition have a YouTube video!

What do the prohibitionists have? Taxpayer-funded propaganda websites, and the extremely lame Pushing Back “blog” (which probably gets more hits from us than anyone else).

So the media’s been all over this failure of the ONDCP to be accountable in their advertising. Say Uncle pointed out this amazing quote in USA Today:

The GAO report is “irrelevant to us,” says Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Oh?

The report by the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, confirmed the results of a $43 million, government-funded study that found the campaign did not work. That evaluation, by Westat Inc. and the University of Pennsylvania, said parents and youths remembered the ads and their messages. But the study said exposure to the ads did not change kids’ attitudes about drugs and that the reduction in drug use in recent years could be attributed more directly to a range of other factors, such as a decline in high school dropouts.

But of course, to the ONDCP, facts are “irrelevant” in accounting for the failure of massive expenditures of taxpayer dollars.

Tom, over at DARE Generation Diary, noticed a delightful dig by USA Today at the Drug Czar — in the print version, they placed their article exposing the failure of the ONDCP media campaign right next to one of those expensive ads from the drug czar! (check out the scan at Tom’s post)

Michael points out a great editorial at the Las Vegas Review-Journal: This is your ad budget on drugs:

If the ads or programming in question simply familiarize viewers with voting locations, or flood warnings, that’s fine. But the reason America has a free press is that the founders realized the public would be best “served” with a vigorous public debate on issues of the day.

“Public service,” on the other hand, is increasingly a euphemism for “propaganda” — only the official government line need be presented.

Americans — even America’s kids — show an admirable skepticism toward such simple-minded “orders from on high.”

Let’s not waste any more on this folly.

Let’s go back to the Drug Czar’s spokesman…

The GAO report is “irrelevant to us,” says Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Does he even know what he’s saying?

If one of my students said “You know, your failing grade is irrelevant to me,” I’d accept that. After all, he paid for the class, and what he gets out of it is up to him. Of course, that means he isn’t going to be getting a degree, but that’s his choice. But if I go to my boss and say: “Your evaluation of my job is irrelevant to me, I would quickly be unemployed.

It’s time to make the point that if our employees (the Drug Czar and his staff) think evaluations are irrelevant then they might as well start looking for new jobs.

[More fun on this at Cato: Anti-Drug Campaign Failure and Wonkette: This Is Your Brain Wanting To Get High]

For those of you at Illinois State University, there will be a showing of “Busted – The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters” in 212 Stevenson Hall tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8 pm. Check it out and find out more about the new chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
If you’re not already aware, “Busted” – from FlexYourRights.org is an important 4th Amendment primer. Some very corny acting at times, but great content. Everybody needs to be aware of their rights as free citizens — it’s your patriotic duty. If you don’t have the DVD or can’t get to a showing, it’s available on YouTube for free.

I’m going to be taking a vacation soon to Central Europe. While I won’t have a lot of extra time, if there are readers particularly in Prague, Budapest or Vienna, I’d love to get together for some coffee and discuss drug policy.

I’ll be in Prague (and Řevnice) from September 9-15, Litomyšl on September 16, then a couple of days hiking in the mountains of Slovakia. I’ll be in Budapest September 19-21, then head up the Danube to Vienna for the weekend of September 23 and 24.

Get in touch with me if you’d like to get together.

Just to be clear, I’m not interested in any suggestions regarding getting or using drugs while in Europe. Besides, given my work on this blog, I figure I’m already on the short list for a full body cavity search when I return.

(Note: I’m hoping to do a little blogging on the road, but my first priority will be enjoying my vacation.)

Via Tom at DARE Generation Diary comes this major put-down (search for ONDCP) of the Drug Czar’s office by the Senate Appropriations Committee: (emphasis added)

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Committee recommends an appropriation of $11,500,000 for ONDCP’s salaries and expenses. This amount is $11,809,000 below the budget request and $15,139,000 below the fiscal year 2006 enacted level.

The Committee is extremely displeased with the performance of ONDCP staff regarding their communication with the Committee and their responsiveness to congressional inquiries. ONDCP’s lethargy and the inadequate information provided severely impacts the ability of the Committee to conduct its oversight and make budgetary decisions in a timely manner. This kind of unresponsiveness on the part of ONDCP results in an unnecessary waste of time and energy; numerous follow up communications are required in almost every instance. The Committee is particularly concerned that ONDCP has attempted to prevent the Committee from meeting with the directors of ONDCP programs. Therefore the Committee has reduced the salaries and expenses budget to more closely reflect actual performance.
The principal purpose of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy [ONDCP] is to establish priorities, objectives, and policies for the Nation’s drug control program. The Committee is concerned that the overall organization of ONDCP is ineffective and must be improved. In fact, 6 years ago an independent review found weaknesses in ONDCP management and organization, unfortunately these problems persist today. The Committee believes an investigation into funding allocations and expenditures, as well as the use of resources is warranted. The Committee believes an independent review of the overall organization and management of grants and funding systems would be beneficial to ONDCP and the Congress. Such an evaluation may provide insight into changes and improvements that could make ONDCP more effective in the future. Therefore, the Committee has allocated funding for a study by the National Academy of Public Administration [NAPA] to conduct a review of organization and management. In addition, the Committee also requests that the Government Accountability Office [GAO] review the grant management systems, and other funding systems–emphasizing the criteria and methodology used to award and distribute funds. The Committee is aware and supportive of GAO’s impending review of the Drug-Free Communities program, and recommends that GAO also review the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, among others. The Committee expects NAPA and GAO to work together, sharing progress and information during the course of their reviews, which should begin within 60 days after the enactment of this act.

Wow.

My reading of this is that although Senators may not be ready to talk publicly about alternatives to prohibition, they’re getting pretty damned pissed off by the fact that their drug war is a black hole, constantly sucking money into oblivion with nothing to show for it. They’re realizing that they can’t adequately explain the value of their drug war themselves, so they want to make sure there’s someone they can blame for its failure.

Remember when DEA spokesman Steve Robertson responded to our efforts in protesting their museum propaganda by claiming:

“We’re a law enforcement agency — we enforce the laws as they are written. Congress makes the laws.”

Well, once again, I call bullshit.

Check this out.

The Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping into the political fray to oppose a statewide ballot issue that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In an e-mail to political campaign professionals, an agent named Michael Moore asks for help finding a campaign manager to defeat the measure, which voters will consider in November. If passed, it would allow people 21 and older to have up to 1 ounce of marijuana.

In the e-mail, which was sent from a U.S. Department of Justice account, Moore also writes that the group has $10,000 to launch the campaign. He asks those interested in helping to call him at his DEA office.

I think it’s time to write Congress and tell them to fire Karen Tandy for gross misconduct and improper use of federal tax dollars.

We’re just racking up the support for drug policy reform in a range of major newspapers. Also importantly, the most intelligent, factual, well-written and well-argued pieces tend to be on our side. Sort of goes against the stereotype of the wild-eyed druggie legalizer, doesn’t it? In fact, more and more it is the prohibitionists who come off as off on a trip disconnected from reality.

From Neal Peirce

SEATTLE — Is it time to forge an “exit strategy” for our prolonged “war on drugs”? That question — normally considered a “no-no” in legal circles, especially among prosecutors and police — has been raised by the prestigious King County Bar Association since 2000. And the results have been impressive. […]

The uncomfortable truth is that despite decades of aggressive government crackdowns, U.S. drug use and drug-related crime are as high as ever. Made profitable by prohibition, violent criminal enterprises that purvey drugs are flourishing. Harsh criminal sanctions, even for minor drug possession, have packed jails and prisons. Public coffers have been drained of funds for critical preventive social services.

Prohibition has failed to stamp out markets and quality, or increase street prices for cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana. The drug war kicked off by President Nixon in the 1970s costs $40 billion or more a year. It is a massive, embarrassing, destructive failure.

But politicians are normally afraid to question the system for fear of being called illegal-drug apologists. So how did the King County Bar get the ball rolling? “It’s the messenger, not the message” — the credibility of the bar association, says Goodman. The King County Bar in fact assembled a nationally unprecedented coalition of supporters, ranging from the Washington State Bar Association to the King County and Washington state medical associations, the Church Council of Greater Seattle and the League of Women Voters of Seattle and Washington.

Read the whole piece — there’s a lot of good stuff there. Now, clearly the King County efforts are only a fraction of the distance we have to travel for long-term meaningful drug policy reform, but it’s a positive and active step, and they continue to have active plans to “switch from punitive approaches” in order to “[shut] down the criminal gangs that now control the drug trade.”

For marijuana, control by cartels that now provide huge quantities might be broken by state licensing of home production and non-commercial exchanges. Or a state distribution system like state liquor stores, demonstrably effective in denying sales to youth, could be established.

Concrete, practical steps and ideas. Taken despite the full propaganda weight of the federal government and the unconscionable silence of the so-called drug policy academics like Mark (prohibition doesn’t work but there’s no other alternative so we have to keep trying) Kleiman.

A couple of other items:

“bullet”

TalkLeft mentions the potential next face-off between California and the federal government if Governor Schwarzenegger signs the industrial hemp farming bill.

“bullet”

Good letter by Sam Ehrlichman today in the New York Times:

Bob Herbert tells the heart-wrenching story of a woman whose family was killed as payback for testimony against a Baltimore drug dealer in 2002. He advocates a cultural shift in a swath of urban, black America, saying “it is up to blacks themselves” to “create a cultural environment that turns its back on crime.”

Unfortunately, it will be difficult for such change to occur until we rethink our disastrously failed drug war. Under the current policy of prohibition, there is an enormous economic incentive for people to turn to dealing drugs.

Just as happened during the era of alcohol prohibition, dealers arm themselves and form powerful gangs that infest every corner of our society. Without prohibition, those dealers would be out of business.

John Tierney in the New York Times

“Drug policy is irrelevant,” says Cohen, the former director of the Center for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam. It’s quite logical, he says, to theorize that outlawing drugs would have an impact, but experience shows otherwise, both in America and in some European countries with stricter laws than the Netherlands but no less drug use. […]

“Prohibition does not reduce drug use, but it does have other impacts,” he says. “It takes up an enormous amount of police time and generates large possibilities for criminal income.”

In the Netherlands, that income goes instead to coffee-shop owners and to the government, which exacts heavy taxes. It also imposes strict regulations on what goes on in the coffee shop, including who can be served (no minors) and how much can be sold (five grams to a customer). […]

Roskam sneers at the street products in the United States, which he considers overpriced and badly blended. But he acknowledges there’s one feature in the American market he can’t compete with.

“Drugs are just less interesting here,” he said. “One of my best friends here never smoked cannabis, never wanted to even try my products. Then when she was 32 she went to America on holiday and smoked for the first time. I asked her why, and she said: ‘It was more fun over there. It was illegal.'”

Prohibition doesn’t work. It’s wrong, wasteful, and harmful.