Drug WarRant

In the current Drug War Chronicle, editor David Borden is looking for the soundbites that make it easier to quickly make the case for ending the drug war. You can never express it all in a single soundbite, but there are lots of soundbites that can be effective (based on the situation and the audience — things like “The drug war puts both drug sales and profits in the hands of criminals.” (Another variant of that for a slightly more open audience is “The drug war puts drug sales, drug safety, and drug profits in the hands of criminals.”)
David got his inspiration from the recent Drug Policy Alliance conference. Maybe even a particular session that Drug WarRant visitor Larry attended. Larry wrote me a very nice email:

Thanks, Larry. There are very effective arguments in those pages. Glad to see they’ve found an audience.
Today, however, I feel like using a different kind of soundbite. Maybe one with expletives. Some would call it alarmist or even hyperbole, but I’d say:

We need to end the drug war because it is destroying our country and our freedom.

I know I have a lot of readers from other countries. I hope they’ll bear with me for this moment. I am a patriot. I believe in my country, its constitution, and the principles of freedom which are supposed to be paramount. I will not (and may not) stand by idly when those principles are being trashed by elements of our government:
“bullet” Today’s item #1: From The Agitator (of course) comes an update on the Troy Davis case. Troy is one of those on my Drug War Victims page. He was killed in 1999, but the lawsuit is just getting started, and the information that is emerging is horrific.
First, go back to the event itself. As Radley notes:

A year earlier:

And now:

Read all of Radley’s piece. It’s shocking and does not fit the America in which I believe.
“bullet” Today’s item #2: From TChris at TalkLeft is this report in the Baltimore Sun.

America?

A reported increase in cocaine prices has naturally caused the Drug Czar to step forward and claim victory in the war on drugs and in the Colombian fiasco in particular.
But while this Knight-Ridder story, picked up by a ton of papers, repeats Walters’ bragging, it also gives the other side, with an overall sense that it’s too early to tell if this means anything.
And the Reuters article quotes Ethan in response:

If it wasn’t for the increase in efforts by a wide range of drug policy reformers showing the failures of Plan Colombia, the press would now be reporting Walters words without a rebuttal.
Little steps.

Radley Balko has a great couple of pieces (1, 2) on the new version of the horrendous Straight programs (see also our discussion about the Semblers last week) called Kids Helping Kids.
The Agitator already has this list, but it’s worth repeating. Check out these warning signs put out by the group (any four means your kid should be enrolled in a torture program):

Has your child….

• seemed depressed
• become rebellious and defiant
• had trouble with the law
• had a bad attitude
• avoided you upon arriving home
• become increasingly isolated
• had a drop in grades
• required extra sleep
• dropped out of favorite activities
• changed friends
• started looking unkempt or unhealthy
• changed image/clothes/personal style
• been caught lying
• possessed unexplained money
• threatened or attempted suicide
• frequently broken curfew
• been fired from work
• come home high or drunk
• destroyed car or property

Do you…

• argue with your spouse about your child’s behavior
• feel anger or dislike for your child
• fear you are a failure as a parent
• “bargain” with your child to change
• compromise your own values
• lower your expectations
• feel frustrated because nothing seems to change your child’s behavior
• cover up for your child
• make excuses for your child
• feel relieved when your child leaves the house
• give money to your child
• fear your child might injure him/herself
• fear your child might injure others
• desire to spend less time at home
• fear your child is out of control

How many of these signs applied to you? I was a preacher’s kid who never got in a bit of trouble (and never even tried alcohol until college), and yet I bet that 12 of these applied to me when I was in high school.
Update: The Onion understands.

In the early history of marijuana prohibition, there were plenty of bizarre stories. There was government expert Dr. James Munch who testified in court, under oath, that marijuana had turned him into a bat (until even Anslinger was embarrassed by his testimony).
Then there was the evidence presented to Congress about the dangers of marijuana:

Surely, you say, that was in the dark ages. We don’t think that way any more.
Jump forward to yesterday: Pit Bulls to be Tested for Marijuana

Ah, yes, marijuana was found in the home. Nothing else could explain why pit bulls would attack people, so it must have been the marijuana. Marijuana eaten by the dogs causing violence. Right. (If anything, it would make them docile and sleepy.)
I’m sure there were other things in that home as well. Bread, flowers, drain cleaner — why not test to see if any of those caused the dogs to become violent?
The level of ignorance involved here is astonishing.

… or another one in your face, Drug Czar!
Via Marijuana Policy Project: Largest-Ever Study of Marijuana, Depression Finds Fewer Depressive Symptoms, Better Mood:

So is this just a small effect that could be open to interpretation?

So how could the drug czar be so wrong? (other than the fact that they like to lie and manipulate data)
It’s the junk science approach that they use. If, for example they study a group of depressed people and find that many of them use marijuana, they’ll link depression with marijuana use. However, it is more likely that depressed people are using marijuana as self-medication for their depression. This study is better, because is takes full populations and looks at the overall effect — and overall, those who use marijuana (whether depressed or not) are less depressed than those who do not.
Earlywine confirms this:

No, I wasn’t at the Drug Policy Alliance convention — I was in a kind of personal computer hell for a few days. Three disconnected events: 1. A separate website I run had its server and two backups fry at the hosting company and we lost everything from late October on. 2. A messageboard I manage (on a different server) for a theatre company was maliciously hacked with all messages deleted — got that mostly restored. 3. On an external hard drive at work, over one Gig of original photographs of mine were mysteriously deleted. We’re still working on trying to recover some of the data.
Enough about that — let’s get back to talking about the drug war. I’ve got the best group of commenters in the world, who have been keeping discussion going here while I’ve been out of action.

Well, I finish my run in Marat/Sade this evening. It’s been a wonderful show and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but losing every evening for the past 8 weeks has taken its toll. I now will need some time to recover and catch up with other work, but I’ll try to get back to more posting here quickly.
For now, check these out:
“bullet” Militarizing Mayberry at The Agitator. Standard knock-down-the-door-slam-the-residents-to-the-floor-and-cuff-them drug warrior approach for 2.5 grams of marijuana. And sure, ignore the fact that the woman is havin a heart attack. When it comes to busting marijuana, who cares about human life, anyway? The woman survived and is suing.
“bullet” A new political approach? Politician admits using cocaine and his poll numbers immediately go up. Hmmm… Bush could use some help right now… (Thanks, Lee) [Also, I see Joel Miller had the same thought]
“bullet” Jews Lead the Charge for Medical Pot — interesting article by Joe Eskenazi of Jewish News Weekly. The article talks about Irv Rosenfeld, Robert Raich, Ed Rosenthal, and others. One of my favorite anecdotes in the article is from attorney Bill Panzer:

A good article at Reason by David Weigel: When Patriots Dissent —
Surprise: Standing up to the PATRIOT Act can be good politics.
The article gives a nice background of the erosion of support for the Patriot Act, and while the drug war isn’t mentioned, it’s relevant.
The Patriot Act was touted as a way to apply drug warrior tactics to terrorism, and then, behold, the new provisions were often primarily used to give drug warriors more weapons to use against Americans’ rights.

Thanks to Daksya —
Check out this excellent re-cap by Dahlia Lithwick of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on Georgia v. Randolph. You can get a real sense of what mattered (particularly in 4th amendment terms) to the different Justices (and it doesn’t look good with our new Chief Justice).
I agree with Dahlia’s conclusion:

Here’s my earlier post on the subject.

Via MPP: