Drug WarRant

Nathan Tabor is a professional moralist who writes for The Conservative Voice, and he brings us The War on Drugs Update:

Each night, network news programs in America turn their focus on the war in Iraq. Yet, routinely, the national news media ignore another war that’s been going on now for more than 30 years–the war on drugs.
By all indications, we continue to lose this hidden war. And frankly, there are a number of people in the news media and in Hollywood who are actually rooting for the other side. They’re the individuals who believe that there is no danger in a 13-year-old smoking pot when he should be in school… a twenty-eight-year-old mother smoking crack… or a 60-year-old ex-hippie who’s addicted to heroin. [emphasis added]

I’m assuming he’s talking about drug policy reformers. But don’t you love the examples he uses? As if those three groups represent the drug using population! — but this is a typical tactic. In actuality, drug policy reformers are actually more interested in preventing the 13-year-old from smoking pot, through a regulated system that actually checks for age (not like our current black-market system). 28-year-old crack mothers are becoming a rarity, and if you find a 60-year-old ex-hippie addicted to heroin who’s still alive… you gotta be impressed!
The thing is, Nathan’s actual suggestions aren’t all that bad — parents talking to kids, schools and churches providing education — although he injects his own moral values into the solution (like requiring a church-attending two-parent family), and he misses one of the most effective ways of reducing kids’ drug use — after-school activities.
We could be on the same side, and yet…
He appears to be adamantly opposed to those who would change the laws, despite the fact that he admits the laws don’t work. The reason? He fears that even medical marijuana will “make drug use more acceptable to the general public.” And after all…

And can’t even casual drug use destroy marriages, decimate families, and ruin lives?

So we see, Nathan isn’t interested in the truth, or in really keeping the 13-year-old off drugs. He’s more interested in promoting his “morality.”

Just a reminder to everyone that there is the opportunity to add your own Drug War Rant at Guest Rants.
The latest addition is The War on Drugs: Problems and Resolutions by Dexter Gilbert. Gilbert discusses his own experience with doctors and pain medication, and gives his thoughts on the problems in both the licit and illicit drug markets (and their relationship).

Showtime has announced several documentaries in the works, including this one:

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

In the continuing controversy surrounding the medicinal value of marijuana, seven chronically ill individuals continue to receive medical marijuana from the U.S. government even though the law was recently changed to stop this practice. Four of these seven will be interviewed for this documentary. Their illnesses range from M.S. and congenital cataracts to neurological dysfunction and hyperparathyroidism, incredibly painful maladies which are substantially relieved with marijuana cigarettes that have been provided by the federal government for years. While only these individuals continue to get relief within the law, millions of others cannot. This provocative film explores federal drug policy through the eyes of reform organizations, prohibitionist groups, politicians, drug war critics, scientists, and celebrities in an effort to make sense out of the divisive argument between drug abuse, recreational drug use, and medicine. Star Price serves as executive producer, writer and director with Mark Wolper and Joshua E. Kessler serving as executive producers.

I’m guessing that the delightful Irv Rosenfeld will be part of the documentary. Should be interesting. (By the way, I have no idea when this will actually be aired.)

Libby at Last One Speaks makes a fascinating observation…

When I started this blog it was pretty much Pete and me. Now there’s a dozen really good blogs doing consistent policy reform news. We’re getting louder folks. That can only be a good thing. […]
When I started LOS, there weren’t that many sources much less outlets for drug related news. Now there’s more than a dozen blogs can even cover, but more importantly it’s crossing over into the general political dialogue. Every day you see more and more mainstream political pundits, making the connections between the war on some drugs and the general assault on civil liberties.
Don’t tell anybody, but I think we’re turning a corner towards reform.

I think she’s right.

Just for fun. According to the Boston Herald, the March edition of High Times will rank the Top Ten Stoner Comics. The winners?

1. Bill Maher
2. Doug Benson, co-writer of The Marijuana-Logues
3. Amy Poehler, SNL
4. Sacha Baron Cohen, Da Ali G Show
5. Jack Black/Kyle Gass, Tenacious D
6. Jon Stewart
7. Jim Breuer, Half Baked
8. Sarah Silverman, stand-up
9. Jay Leno
10. Jackie The Joke Man Martling

(Note: I’m pretty sure that the inclusion of comedians on this list is not so much that they are stoners, but that they enjoy pot humor.)

“bullet” Over at The Agitator read what John Tierney has to say. Go read the whole thing. Here’s some snippets…

As the baby boomers age, more and more Americans will either be enduring chronic pain or taking care of someone in pain. The Republican Party has been reaching out to them with a two-step plan:

• Do not give patients medicine to ease their pain.
• If they are in great pain and near death, do not let them put an end to their misery.

The Republicans have been so determined to become the Pain Party that they’ve brushed aside their traditional belief in states’ rights. The Bush administration wants lawyers in Washington and federal prosecutors with no medical training to tell doctors how to treat patients.
[…]
You know Republicans have lost their bearings when they need a lesson in states’ rights from Janet Reno, who considered the Oregon law when she was attorney general. For the federal government to decide what constituted legitimate medicine, she wrote, would wrongly ”displace the states as the primary regulators of the medical profession.”

“bullet” Via US Marijuana Party, check out this sophisticated marijuana grow operation. Impressive.
“bullet” Also at Us Marijuana Party, Steve Kubby has lost his last appeal ane will be deported from Canada to the U.S.
In addition to being a tragedy for the Kubby family, it seems to me that this is the last thing that the U.S. Feds should want. If they put him in jail, how will they take care of his medical needs? If anything happens to him in jail in the U.S., you can bet that a lot of people will be watching.
“bullet” Regulate Marijuana.org is gearing up for efforts to legalize marijuana in Nevada.
“bullet” Medical Marijuana gets new hope in New Mexico

In an unforeseen move, Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday night said he will include a medical-marijuana bill on his agenda this legislative session. […] Richardson said in a news release, “After speaking with many seriously ill New Mexicans, I have decided to include this bill on my call. This issue is too important, and there are too many New Mexicans suffering to delay this issue any further.”

“bullet” The first move is positive in Denver’s uneasy relationship with its new marijuana legalization law.

The city on Wednesday dismissed a pot possession charge against the first person arrested after Denver voters backed a measure legalizing small amounts of marijuana. […]
“Denver voters spoke loudly and clearly on this issue, and it looks like Denver officials are listening,” [Footer’s lawyer, Brian Vicente, who also is executive director for Sensible Colorado] said. “The city has recognized there is better use of resources and taxpayers’ money than prosecuting these cases. We hope this will send a message to police that the city attorney views this as futile.”
But prosecutor Greg Rawlings said the dismissal of charges against Footer means no such thing. […]
“I am prosecuting a number of marijuana cases today and will continue to prosecute them,” he said. “These cases are a large part of the docket every day.”

“bullet” In a strange, but potentially important lawsuit, San Diego county is suing in District Court to overturn California’s medical marijuana law, claiming that since federal law trumps state law and because of federal international treaties, the state law cannot stand.
Pretty crass move on the part of the county supervisors, to ignore the will of the people in the state, simply because they don’t like medical marijuana. It could bring up some tricky constitutional issues.
The ACLU is preparing to respond to the suit.

The Brits really seem to like this sensationalistic stuff.
The BBC magazine has a feature:

Out of joint: Here, one father tells the traumatic story of how cannabis turned his bright and promising teenage son into a wreck.

Gives you a sense of it right there doesn’t it? Standard Reefer Madness stuff

My son James was always a popular teenager. He had masses of friends, was good at sport, and was also intelligent and handsome. Like many boys in their teens, he was constantly going out to meet friends, arrange football or cricket games or see his long-term girlfriend. … I remember thinking one sunny day seven years ago that life was good, and couldn’t get much better.

With that setup, you know something dark is going to happen…

But I hadn’t reckoned on cannabis.

Aha! I knew there had to be a villain in this story.

It was as though someone had stolen my lovely James overnight. He was talking weirdly, his thoughts were all over the place, he was having hallucinations, and was totally paranoid. He thought people and vampires were after him. But it was going to get a lot worse, and I’m still waiting for my son to fully return to me.

That demon cannabis.
Then the story gets strange. They get him off cannabis after six months and onto a bunch of anti-psychotic drugs. A year later he loses weight, loses his friends, becomes violent, stops taking his medicine and starts drinking, becomes more violent, and finally has to be subdued by 10 police in riot gear.
All this due to cannabis?
But finally his son saw the light…

It took another trip to hospital a year later, before James finally realised he needed to take some sort of medication to stay stable. That was over four years ago, which I’m told is a hopeful sign. Since then he has not only given up all drugs, but also cigarettes and even alcohol.

So he has given up all drugs but is staying on his medication. And in addition to giving up all drugs, he also gave up cigarettes and even alcohol. Somebody needs to teach this guy what the word “drugs” means.

Questions raised for years about city ‘flex squad’ in the Baltimore Sun (via Hit and Run).
The Southwestern District flex squad has been disbanded and its officers suspended under a huge list of allegations, including rape charges against some officers, plus planting drugs, falsifying arrest reports and lots more.

Troubles in the flex squad became public this month with the disclosure of the rape allegation.
Jones, 28; Steven P. Hatley, 27; and Brian J. Shaffer, 28, have been charged with rape, conspiracy to rape, sexual offense, assault and violation of official duties. […]
While investigating the rape allegation, police said in an affidavit, they seized 11 bags of suspected cocaine from Shaffer’s duffel bag[…]
“When you’re on a flex squad, you’re going fishing,” said a former top commander in the Baltimore Police Department, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he still works in law enforcement. “And you’re going to the prime fishing spots. You’re going where the drugs are; you’re going where the guns are.” […]
“They put stuff on you,” said Marlon Harris, a 21-year-old Southwest Baltimore resident whose criminal record includes several drug arrests. “Knockers want you to give up a gun or a house, and they’ll let you go. They’re dirty. It was just a matter of time before they got caught. I’m glad.”

Again, I feel the need to point out that most police officers are good people who perform an excellent and important job (and if you want some excellent examples, meet some of the officers with LEAP). We see more of the bad officer in drug enforcement, since the scum inevitably finds its way there for the ultimate in corruption opportunities.
I daresay that the drug war also corrupts many who, in another world would be acceptable police officers, but here got sucked in to the dark side. Why? Because the laws and the drug war society told them that their employers — the citizens — were actually their enemy, and they developed a war mentality in justifying their own tactics.

Interesting article by Sharon Lerner in the Village Voice, Anatomy of a Drug Craze: Why Tough Laws Can’t Claim Credit For Beating Back Crack
Decades after the hysteria of the crack “epidemic,” and the legacy of bad law (including racist bad law) that emerged and damaged our society far more than any drug epidemic could, it is now possible to analyze and understand.

But while tough sentencing laws were effective in filling the prisons, drug experts say they had little to do with crack’s decline.
[…]
So if the war on drugs didn’t stamp out crack–and even made a bigger mess where the drug left off–why is crack receding to whatever extent it is? Experts say the answer lies in who has stopped using it–and who hasn’t. The average age of those still smoking crack has increased over the past 10 years, with the largest group of users now in their thirties. Thus the “little brother theory”: kids who have seen their older relatives and friends messed up by crack decide against using it themselves. “Crack is the lowest rung on the nasty-dirty ladder now,” says John Galea, who runs the Street Studies Unit for the state’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. “Kids just don’t think it’s cool anymore. Even heroin addicts look down on crackheads now.”
Some researchers say the little brother effect points to the beginning of the end for crack.
But they also say that crack would be on the decline with or without its bad reputation, simply because most drugs enjoy only a limited heyday.
Illegal drug fads typically go from incubation to plateau to decline over a period of years ( though some, like heroin, will go through the process many times, resurging in popularity as their bad reps fade from memory ).

It’s a very interesting article (read the part about how law enforcement actually made things worse), and it’s nice to see someone in the media taking a look backward to, maybe, learn something.
I suspect that there’s a lot this could teach us about our current meth “epidemic” as well. (Speaking of which, check out Jan Frel’s post Meth! Meth Disaster at Alternet (via TalkLeft).)

For my regular readers… You don’t get opportunities like this very often, so here’s your chance.
Be pleasant and polite. She’s a nice liberal girl with a B.A. in political science who thinks she has the drug war figured out.