Liberalism’s Brain on Drugs

Posted on October 31, 2005 by Pete Guither
At some point, everyone ought to throw his or her political theory — whatever it is — up against the wall of reality to see if it sticks. I ran smack into that wall when the state shackled Mark, one of my best friends, and hauled him off to a dank, violent, maximum-security prison for a 17-year stay. His crime: possession of a spoonful of cocaine, some of which they said he intended to distribute.

That’s the beginning of a good article by Ryan Grim in today’s In These Times.

I’ve always believed that we live in a fundamentally liberal society that can trace its way back to enlightenment thinkers like Jefferson, Madison, Locke, Mill and Rousseau. Sure, the past 24 years of the Reagan, Bush and even Clinton regimes haven’t been kind, but one bedrock principle still seemed intact: If not equality and fraternity, we’ll always have liberty. And so, as guards frogmarched my friend out of the courtroom shackled hands to feet, I wondered how confining that man for 17 years jives with my understanding of our nation’s values. Is imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people an acceptable policy result of a liberal, pluralistic democratic society? Or, is the drug war proving libertarians correct about the potential for abuse of government power?

Grim goes on to point out some of the abuses of freedom caused by the war on drugs (the drug war exception to the bill of rights, the huge prison populations, etc.), and liberalism’s failure to face or respond to them.

Silence from liberals in this debate is, in effect, an endorsement for the status quo. It is time to stand up in defense of liberty — not just equality and fraternity.
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Let’s see, who would be best qualified to resolve medical issues?

Posted on October 29, 2005 by Pete Guither

The federal government seems to think it’s the DEA, and they’re wrong.
It’s time for all medical associations like this one to speak up, and assert their authority.

CANTON – Allegations that a Madrid doctor over prescribed narcotics and other painkillers should have been dealt with by his fellow physicians and not the criminal justice system, according to the president of the Medical Society of the County of St. Lawrence.

Dr. James L. Latimer closed his office and surrendered his state and federal license a week ago to avoid prosecution. The actions grew out of a long-running investigation by state police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents into illegal trafficking of prescription drugs within the county.

“We are very disappointed how the case of Dr. Latimer was handled by the district attorney’s office,” J. Lucas Koberda, president of the medical society, said in a prepared statement released Thursday.

“To our knowledge Dr. Latimer’s prescribing anti-pain medication pattern did not justify criminal charges to be applied,” Dr. Koberda said. Instead, he said, the issue should have been addressed by peer review medical organizations of local doctors or by the state Organization of Professional Medical Conduct.

“We would prefer to have worked with local authorities from the beginning when the case was starting to be investigated in order to have prevented any possible future medical misconduct which effects our community,” Dr. Koberda said.

The DEA and district attorneys act as if they know more about medicine than those who have trained their entire lives. There are already medical associations that can look into allegations of misconduct. The fact that associations are not consulted, and that even the doctors are often not questioned about their prescriptions before a full-scale arrest, just shows that the prohibitionists are not interested in the welfare of the people. They either want trophies, or they actually want to take away our ability to treat pain.

[Thanks to jackl]
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Medical Marijuana – the road to true impairment analysis

Posted on October 29, 2005 by Pete Guither

As this legal article points out, medical marijuana is causing some consternation within businesses who use suspicionless drug testing. An important court case is pending on this and there’s likely to be more legal action in the future.

In the meantime, as the Oregon Court of Appeals articulated in Washburn, here’s what is at issue:

  • An employer’s substance abuse policy may not categorically prohibit marijuana;
  • It isn’t clear if work and marijuana use can be accommodated; and
  • Employers might have to demonstrate an employee’s on-the-job impairment, even though impairment cannot be measured.

What does this mean? Employers might have to start doing their job right. Evaluate employee performance through things like actual job performance, rather than whether there are metabolites in the blood that have nothing to do with impairment.
I have supervised employees most of my life, and I’ve never depended on drug testing. If someone showed up to work impaired from drugs or alcohol, I sent them home (and I had no problem figuring it out). If they did it again, I fired them. Simple. No drug tests. However, if someone did some wild partying on Saturday night, but were clear and ready to work on Monday, I had no problem — if they were a good worker, they did well with me.
This isn’t a hard concept, folks. If you need to have drug tests to find out if your employees are impaired, then you need new supervisors. Drug tests are counter-productive and ruin a good workplace environment.
Medical marijuana can help, by making tests for marijuana metabolites worthless.

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Marat Sade

Posted on October 29, 2005 by Pete Guither

This is off-topic for drug policy reform, but I thought I’d let you know more about my current extra-curricular project.
I am musical director and performing in a production of “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade” (also known by the shorter title: “Marat/Sade”). Performances are at the Illinois State University Center for the Performing Arts Theatre in Normal, Illinois, November 4-12. It’s a bizarre, wonderful and disturbing play about inmates in an insane asylum in the early 1800s putting on a political musical written and directed by the Marquis de Sade (also an inmate), with political relevance today.
So I am playing the harmonium (organ) as a mental patient (I’m chained to it during the show). The show is full of sex, violence, philosophy, and politics. It’s great fun.
If you’re in the area, check it out. The first one to email me with a request for tickets will get two free tickets.

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Feeding the trolls

Posted on October 29, 2005 by Pete Guither

It’s pretty exciting to have reached a level of visibility and power in the blogosphere that I can attract trolls. It’s been, in some ways, a novel treat, and for our commenters, it’s been an opportunity to do a little practice.
However, there’s a limit to the value of responding to trolls, because they aren’t really interested in learning anything. They just spout the same refuted points over and over. The value for other commenters soon fades, as they are not given the opportunity to take an argument to the next level — something that a discussion with a reasoned debater would allow.
At this point, I’m going to limit Taylor to 5 posts a day. That’s a huge amount. Anything over that will be deleted. Instead of writing 25 posts without saying anything, Taylor, take the time to think through 5 better posts.
Part of this is selfish. I have limited time and yet I want to read all comments posted to my blog. This repetitive argumentation is cutting down on my time to post blog entries.
If abuse continues, I may look into options for banning trolls, but I prefer not to do that.
Reactions?

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The real Red Ribbon

Posted on October 28, 2005 by Pete Guither

I haven’t commented on Red Ribbon Week – the DEA promoted event to encourage a drug-free life. I have no problem with people deciding to pursue a drug-free life. That’s their absolute choice and I support it. And I have no objection to commemorating the life of Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. However, the DEA and the drug war is the problem, not the solution.
The best response I’ve seen to Red Ribbon Week so far comes from Michael Fitzgerald in today’s Stockton Record: Bleak news from the drug war

To me, Red Ribbon Week is a time not only to make the good arguments against drugs to kids, but time to salvage what shreds of national sanity remain after decades of America’s war on drugs.

Next to solving every foreign policy problem militarily, the war on drugs is America’s No. 1 bad idea.

The illogic, the staggering cost, the ruinous toll in human lives — all for a campaign that arguably is a boon to drug cartels and which hasn’t banished drugs. […]

Ironically, President Nixon created a commission to get to the bottom of the marijuana problem and, against all odds, it did. Naturally, its conclusions were rejected. […]

“Many see the drug as fostering a counterculture, which conflicts with basic moral precepts as well as with the operating functions of our society,” the report said, nailing it.

In other words, pot isn’t pot; It’s the ’60s. It’s dropping out, loafing around the bong, promiscuous free love, dissent against conformity, militarism, capitalism — the whole far-left hippie-flippie-dippy rejection of the established value system. […]

“Our youth cannot understand why society chooses to criminalize a behavior with so little visible ill effect or adverse social impact,” Nixon’s commission said about pot.

“And the disrespect for the possession laws fosters a disrespect for law and the system in general.” […]

If you want Red Ribbon Week to work, tell kids the truth: Some drugs kill you, some addict you, and a lifestyle that revolves around drugs is one of higher risk and lower achievement.

But some drugs don’t kill you, some don’t addict you, and some people have the capacity to do some drugs in moderation and lead productive, happy lives. Millions, evidently.

Admittedly the ability to tell good choices from bad takes critical thinking skills. Some kids lack these. But critical thinking — not the party line — is what schools are supposed to teach. …

Good article (other than failing to note the complicity of liberal politicians), and it’s worth thinking about Nixon’s Shaffer commission report again.

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Action Alert: Elimination of Barriers for Katrina Victims Act

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Pete Guither

This is an alert that has been endorsed by just about every drug policy reform group

Nearly three million people have been displaced from their homes because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Many have lost everything. Yet federal laws prohibit these victims from receiving welfare, food stamps, public housing, student loans and other benefits if they have a drug law conviction. People who have lost everything should not be denied public assistance just because they were convicted of a drug offense sometime in their past.

The [Drug Policy] Alliance held a press conference today with Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the House Crime Subcommittee, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), ranking member of the House Immigration Subcommittee, to announce the introduction of the “Elimination of Barriers for Katrina Victims Act,” which would temporarily suspend federal laws that deny public assistance to hurricane victims who have drug offenses in their past. If the bill is enacted, thousands of destitute families that would otherwise be denied food stamps, public housing and other aid because of prior drug offenses would be able to obtain benefits to help put their lives back together.

Introduced by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), the “Elimination of Barriers for Katrina Victims Act” is co-sponsored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Since the bill was just introduced, it does not have a bill number yet.

Send a Fax to Congress
Interesting… Only one Republican co-sponsor and it’s the libertarian. Normally a libertarian would not be a strong supporter of government run public assistance, but Paul is independent-minded and smart enough to realize that it’s not just about welfare. It’s also about the unfairness of singling out and punishing a group of people simply because they’ve had drug convictions in their past. I wonder how the rest of the Republican House will vote — as compassionate conservatives, or sado-moralists?

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Marijuana night at Daily Kos

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Pete Guither

Thanks to Ben Masel for this… It’s often hard to get the Kos community to pay attention to the war on drugs, but they’ve got some interesting diary action up right now.

  1. The Gnostic talks about marijuana’s anti-cancer properties and has a poll about legalization.
  2. Jared86 says that pot is harmful and a gateway drug and should be kept illegal.
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Exploiting the Drug War

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Pete Guither

Via EFSDP, I heard about this link to LEAD. The main page notes that this is the site of both:

  • Law Enforcement Against Drugs, and
  • Local Educators Against Drugs

(The name appears to be a take-off on Law Enforcment Against Prohibition and Educators For Sensible Drug Policy)
Then it tells you to “click on the corresponding logo to visit that particular program’s page.” Sounds like a couple of non-profit organizations that have banded together, right? Or maybe some community groups made up of teachers and policement who created LEAD?
This impression is emphasized when you enter the site with such statements as:

“Through L.E.A.D., your school empowers parents by providing a simple way to detect a potential problem with anonymity before it becomes a police matter.”

And the website offers sponsorship opportunities:

Attention: fraternal organizations, health care networks, corporations, parent/teacher associations and community coalitions.

You can supply the initial “seed” money to start the L.E.A.D. Program in your community. After the start-up costs, the program is self-sustaining.

So what is LEAD? A police group? A group of educators?
Nope. Lead is a website owned and run by David Pritchard, president of Total Diagnostic Sales (TDS), a company based in Livonia, Michigan, that sells drug testing kits.
So they get a community organization to sponsor by buying a couple hundred dollars worth of kits and starting up a program of selling them to parents, and they even give the groups media packets and posters to help them get a lot of publicity (of course, the publicity will have the name of the school or the police department on it, not TDS).
Now I don’t object to parents choosing on their own to purchase drug testing kits (I personally think it’s stupid, and bad parenting, but I would not object to their choice to do so.) However, the notion of police and educator groups acting as shills for for-profit drug testing sales is irresponsible.

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Go read

Posted on October 26, 2005 by Pete Guither

I’m wiped out from rehearsals and work right now, so go read some great stuff.
“bullet” Nice to see Radley’s work getting some coverage. Go read his excellent article on pain/prohibition victim Richard Paey, picked up by CBS.
“bullet” At The Agitator, read Militarizing Mayberry. Another suspicious shooting from a drug raid. This time, the press is looking into it.
“bullet” Good stuff to read at Last One Speaks.
“bullet” Via Scott, this editorial in the Denver Post (sort of a “we’ve got to change the laws, but a local initiative’s not the way to go, and it’s been run poorly” editorial). I disagree with most of their conclusions, but there are some interesting questions raised. What do you think? (I hope to have a discussion soon about the creative and controversial billboards and advertisements being used in that campaign.)

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