Drug WarRant

Just what we need — another law (and this is just another in a series of similar laws nationwide)

A Salt Lake lawmaker, responding to a rash of drug overdose deaths this year where panicked friends didn’t call 911 and watched the victims die, plans to introduce legislation that would make it a crime to not help someone they know is in trouble. Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake City, will sponsor the bill that would make it a class B misdemeanor to not render aid.

Sure, the way to ease panicked friends (who are afraid of getting hit with a felony) into doing the right thing, is to threaten them with a misdemeanor.
The drug war causes these deaths, through uncertain doses, impurities, and lack of control. Excessive penalties, zero tolerance, and over-reaching prosecution make it certain that friends will be afraid to do anything. Putting another penalty on top of that won’t help.
If you want to save some lives, try something simple, like blanket amnesty for bringing someone to the ER. It’s easy. It would work. It would save lives. But these people aren’t actually interested in saving lives.

June 6, 2005:

John Walters: “Today’s decision marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue.”

January 3, 2006:

Rhode Island: The Rhode Island House voted Tuesday to override Governor Carcieri’s 2005 veto of the state’s medical marijuana bill. This makes Rhode Island the 11th state to legalize marijuana for medical use.

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that Uribe was trying to get the international community to chip in some more money to magically end corruption and civil war.
One country has obviously taken notice… Afghanistan… and wants a piece of that action, too.

The international community is pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into anti-drug campaigns to train police units to destroy laboratories, arrest smugglers and destroy opium crops, as well as to fund projects to help farmers grow legal crops.
But Daud said that the United States and other nations must do more to help eradicate narcotics in Afghanistan, source of nearly 90 percent of the world’s opium and heroin, especially providing alternative sources of income for poppy farmers.
“In 2005, we were not satisfied and the farmers were not satisfied,” said Daud, the deputy interior minister and commander of a special anti-drugs force.

Yeah, everyone wants some more of that drug war money. Note the usual rhetoric: eradication, followed by some unspecified way to provide alternative sources of income to farmers. Of course, they rejected the one proposal that could have worked — the Senlis Council proposal to develop a legal use for the poppies in Afghanistan for medicine. But no other alternative income source so far has been effective.
“bullet” More on Colombia
Toby Muse just posted this article on his website: June 2005 Legalize Now! War-weary Colombia–and its Conservative Party–consider ending the drug war.
It’s a long article, but gives a fascinating and well-written look at the drug war in Colombia, and the challenges of the ever-growing movement toward decriminalization/legalization in that country, including that of the conservative party, which has come to realize that Colombia is getting all the damage of the drug war, with little of the benefits.
It’s amazing that there, as here, those who call for legalization are constantly being accused of being in the pay of the cartels — those who would be most opposed to legalization.
“bullet” Speaking of ignorant morons… for a really bizarre version of that kind of disconnect from reality here in the U.S., read Bruce Hanson’s strange screed.

An interesting category of drug criminal is appearing now and then — the very old.
For many, getting by financially can be a real challenge, with rising health costs, declining pensions, etc. and some of them have discovered that if they take only half of their pain pills and sell the rest, they can buy groceries.
And if they get caught, they can at least be philosophical about it and reckon that the jail will take care of their expenses for awhile (although many do not realize how severe the laws are).
Link

Since April 2004, Operation UNITE has charged more than 40 people 60 or older with selling drugs, primarily prescription medicine.

Because of the trend, local jails are having to bear the expense of caring for older inmates, who are often sickly.

“You’ve got to give them more attention,” said Floyd County Jailer Roger Webb. “It’s putting a strain on my deputies. We’re understaffed anyway. You’ve got to get them doctors and meet their medical needs.”

The latest conviction by this particular drug task force? An 87-year-old woman who pled guilty to receive 5 years prison, followed by 5 years probation, for selling to an undercover cop.

Vin Suprynowicz at the Las Vegas Review-Journal has an interesting proposal — creating the International Brotherhood of Drug War Victims.

What’s the sales pitch for joining and — in the case of those who can afford it — paying sizable dues into our new war chest?

Simple: Our freedom-hating, pain-loving War on Drugs depends on the tactic of “overcharging,” and then offering attractive deals — reduced charges, easier sentences — in exchange for guilty pleas. Fewer than 5 percent of all drug cases ever go to trial.

Again, the drug war depends on this — if every drug arrest led to a trial, the courts would be so swamped that some defendants couldn’t be scheduled for trial dates for many years into the future. Their attorneys could then win complete dismissal of all charges based on the violation of the constitutional right to a speedy trial.

So all members of our new union need to do is this: Agree to demand a jury trial. No plea bargains — no guilty pleas, ever. Otherwise, please don’t join. […]

What will the Fearless Drug Warriors do? Even with only 25 percent of drug defendants joining up and participating, trials that can now be started within a year will have to be scheduled at least three years into the future. The Drug Warriors will have no choice but to prosecute their “worst” cases first, turning at least two thirds of all drug defendants loose.

Of course, the article was done partly in fun, but it smartly points out another horrific aspect of the war on drugs. The war on drugs requires the use of a buffet of seemingly unconstitutional and outrageous penalties in order to scare citizens into giving up their constitutional right to a jury trial (to the point where many who are innocent are so terrified that they’ll plead guilty). This is because the system is so broken that actually allowing people to assert their constitutional rights would cause it to collapse under its own weight.
What kind of constitution requires its citizens to wager 10 or 20 years of their life in order to take advantage of its protections?

Interesting interview at Alternet with reporter Nate Blakeslee, who has a new book: “Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town.”

According to TV Newser, William Bennett will join CNN as a “political analyst” (replacing Robert Novak as a high-profile conservative).
Bennett was the Drug Czar under George Bush the First, and is smooth talker and fact shaver known for taking a high moral position against drugs and just about anything else, as long as it isn’t Bill Bennett doing it (he turned out to be quite the gambler).
Current Drug Czar John Walters was chief of staff under Bennett (and learned his techniques well). The two of them even wrote a book together called “Body Count: Moral Poverty…and How to Win America’s War Against Crime and Drugs” (1996) – a thoroughly discredited piece of garbage that I actually slogged through. Nauseating.

Colombian President Uribe isn’t satisfied with the drug war money he’s gotten from the U.S. — now he’s putting out a fundraising pitch to the rest of the world:

And how would the funds be used?

Yes, give us more money so we can be free of corruption.
Is Uribe stupid, or does he just think the rest of the world is?

Radley Balko: “Best. Botched. Drug Raid. Ever”

I had heard that SAFER was putting forward a marijuana legalization measure on the state ballot for Colorado, and I had even read this ignorant and blantantly contradictory editorial in the Denver Post…
But then Scott sent me the link to this fabulous article by Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News. The kicker is provided by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition‘s Jack Cole, who gives all the reasons why prohibition (particularly aimed at marijuana is a bad idea and then..

Paging Attorney General John Suthers…. Hello? Got a reply? Want to debate?