Drug WarRant

While much of the press is going to go nuts analyzing the future of three or four specific issues (probably not including the 4th, 9th, or 10th amendments — my areas of concern), this article at Reason is one of the most interesting.
Reason interviewed a wide range of legal experts (from the left to the right, but with libertarian leanings) to get their views of the past, present and future of the court.

Now that Justice O’Connor is retiring from the Court, I just thought I should officially make it clear that I am willing to serve, if nominated.

Link

CHICAGO — The City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday banning the sale of marijuana-flavored lollipops, gumdrops and other treats, becoming the first major city to prohibit the confections that have appeared in convenience stores nationwide.

The candies are legal because they are made with hemp oil, an ingredient used in health foods and some household products. The oil imparts marijuana’s grassy taste but not the high.

“I can’t imagine the degree and the extent to which people will go to make a buck — and to make a buck on kids, trying to get them to experiment with something that is going to be a lead-in to the use of marijuana,” said Alderman Edward M. Burke, who sponsored the measure.

There have been a number of places talking about doing this — I didn’t think Chicago would be first. It is, of course, an absolutely ridiculous ordinance. The notion that you’re going to stop kids from trying marijuana by banning something else as well?
I’m sure the only thing they’ve done is make the candy more interesting.
When I heard all the fuss about this candy earlier this month, I decided to check it out myself and wandered over to Chronic Candy. I can see why the anti-marijuana-regardless-of-its-use politicians wouldn’t like this — it’s as much a slap in their face as Cheech and Chong. Here’s a web site that revels in the joy of marijuana and makes their candy part of that culture. They’ve got slogans like “Every lick is like taking a hit” and note that their candy is “made with love not with stress.”
I ordered a half-ounce, which just arrived yesterday (that’s actually 40 lollipops). At that quantity, they’re about a buck each, which is steep for a normal sized sucker, but then again, you’re ordering it in part for the fun of it. They’re actually quite good. A light taste, not overwhelming, but unmistakable. Sort of like lime… with a twist.
But not in Chicago. At least, not in the stores. I’m sure Chronic Candy is reeling from the ordinance… and all the free publicity.
Side note: Other things that Chicago is currently considering or has passed bans on… sparklers (Happy Independence Day!), smoking (the largest ban ever, including all public indoor facilities, outdoor structures, free standing bars, and outdoors within 25 feet of any of any entrance to any of the above), and taverns. What’s happening to Chicago?

Coming home from work today, I saw some guys putting up a large sign right next to the main drag through town (Bloomington, IL). It read:

4th of July – Defend your Freedom – Celebrate the Bill of Rights

Made my day.

That’s the beauty of a free country. And today’s idiot is Steve Steiner of Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers (that would be DAMMADD for you acronym buffs).
Here’s the press release:

DAMMADD: Video Footage Exposes Pro Drug Movement
TIOGA CENTER, N.Y., June 29 /U.S. Newswire/ — If there was ever any doubt about the lie that has been perpetuated on the American people about “medical marijuana”, this video clip should put the matter to rest.
http://www.sorosmonitor.com/medical_hoax_access.mpg

Ooh, damning footage from dammadd?
Well, let’s go to the videotape!
Ah, I see… they cobbled together some badly cut segments of video without detail or context, and, judging from the clothing and hair styles, some of them were shot back while George W. Bush was in his partying days.
First up:

Richard Cowan, former director of NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) advises the Drug Policy Foundation (now Drug Policy Alliance) that the avenue to legalization of marijuana is by getting thousands of people to use it on the pretense that it is a medicine.

Nope. Sorry Steve. You just lied. View the video. What Richard Cowan is saying is that when thousands of people start legitimately using medical marijuana, then the propaganda that has been used against recreational marijuana will be exposed as the scam it is, and people will realize that they’ve been lied to.
You see, Steve, I fully admit that I am for legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. And I fully admit that I believe legalization of medical marijuana will help reach that goal. However, that doesn’t mean that medical marijuana is a lie. I also want to help those who need marijuana as their medicine, and even if I knew that recreational marijuana was an impossible goal, I would fight for the rights of patients. You, on the other hand, also know that legalization of medical marijuana is a likely path toward eventual legalization of recreational marijuana (for the exact reasons that Richard Cowen mentioned). You also know that medical marijuana works. Yet you would intentionally inflict pain and death on these innocent people in order to further your obsession. For that, Steve, you are scum.
Part 2 of the video:

Ed Rosenthal, editor of High Times Magazine, jokes about his undiagnosed latent glaucoma, not a problem because he treats it medically…by getting high. He likes to get high.

The editor of High Times Magazine in the 1970’s(?) jokes about liking to get high. Can you say “Duh”? Next you’ll roll out some videotape “revealing” that Cheech and Chong smoked pot in a movie.
Part 3 of the video:

Batting cleanup is the infamous Marsha Rosenbaum, who works for the Drug Policy Alliance, largely financed by George Soros, whose mission is to legalize drugs. Rosenbaum maligns her professional status by promoting the concept that we should be teaching children responsible use of illicit drugs…irrespective of the fact that alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs have devastating impacts on children whose minds and bodies are not fully developed, and in open defiance of the laws that exist to protect children by making any use of these controlled substances illegal.

So let me get this straight. Since D.A.R.E. has been an abject failure and abstinence education has tanked, the last thing you’d want to do is explore other alternatives that might reduce the harm to children? That might mean less children like yours have to die?
Look, Steve, I know you lost your son to prescription drug overdose and I’m sorry for your loss (and I would never have considered mentioning it in this post if you didn’t regularly bring it up on TV). But the way you’re going about this is not going to help future children or their fathers. Mindless prohibition causes death and destruction. Harm reduction and proper medical — and yes, regulated recreational — use saves lives. Stop being DAMMADD and start being smart.

Update: It appears that the media have mostly been smart enough to avoid this piece of crap, although it did show up at (in)Accuracy in Media with good old Cliff Kinkaid (I’ve talked about this moron before), who seems to agree that the video “proves the case” that medical marijuana is a fraud. Guys like him are quite the joke.

This article is your fairly standard teens-have-the-most-fatal-car-accidents-exposÚ, and would not be of interest to me, except that Andrea Barthwell was quoted (as co-director of a physician-led group called End Needless Death On Our Roadways — an organization whose entire purpose appears to be to allow Andrea to ocassionally be quoted as co-director of it, while channelling some more treatment business her way.)
Anyway, here’s the quote that made me fall off my chair:

“Sometimes you can’t legislate all of the changes you need,” said Andrea Barthwell, co-director of the physician-led group. She said parents have to be brought into the campaign against risky driving because they are often the only ones who know they have risk- and thrill-taking kids. [emphasis added]

Yep, we may have to actually involve parents in raising their kids, because “sometimes you can’t legislate all the changes you need.”
Mind like a blotter. Soaks it up, but gets it all backwards.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy have put out this release:

Lawyers for the United Kingdom’s Department for Education
and Skills have warned Prime Minister Tony Blair that students who are
forced to take drug tests without consent as part of his anti-drug
initiative could sue for compensation under the ‘right to privacy’ in the
Human Rights Act.

The announcement comes less than one week after the U.S. House of
Representatives approved $10 million to fund the Bush administration’s
random student drug testing grants program, despite the largest-ever study
conducted on the topic showing no positive effect from the practice.

“As young Americans living in the ‘land of the free,’ we’re outraged that
students across the Atlantic have more rights than we do,” said Scarlett
Swerdlow, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “Drug
testing is an unnecessary invasion of students’ privacy, especially since
it just doesn’t work.”

Go Scarlett!

After the Supreme Court decision earlier this month, John Walters:

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

Not so fast, John.
Yesterday, Rhode Island legislature passed their own medical marijuana bill. It passed the House last week 52-10 and the Senate yesterday 33-1. It looks veto-proof.
State #11.
John, as long as the administration blocks the standard scientific methods for approving medical marijuana, it will continue to be political, and nothing that you or the Supreme Court or Congress says can stop that.
Update: Jacob Sullum has more, including a discussion on the reason some people use different counts for the number of states supporting medical marijuana.

Los Angeles Times:

The Bush administration and congressional allies are gearing up to renew a plan for drug eradication in Latin America despite some grim news: The $5.4 billion spent on the plan since 2000 has made no dent in the availability of cocaine on American streets and prices are at all-time lows.

United Nations figures released this month show that coca cultivation in the Andean region increased by 2% in 2004 as declines in Colombia were swamped by massive increases in Peru and Bolivia. And the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said last week that the anti-drug effort had had “no effect” on the price or purity of drugs in the United States.

The findings have fueled skepticism in Congress, where conservative groups have joined efforts to lobby against continued funding. The National Taxpayers Union called the anti-drug program a “boondoggle.”

Nonetheless, a House committee last week approved the administration’s request for $734.5 million for next year as part of a foreign aid bill. Debate on the bill could start as early as today. President Bush also may unveil a renewed multiyear commitment to South American anti-drug efforts this year when Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a staunch U.S. ally, is expected to visit.

“We are heading in the right direction and we are winning,” the federal drug czar, John P. Walters, told Congress last month.

What an amazing set of paragraphs right there. It paints such an incredible picture of how our drug warriors simply are not interested in facts.
The whole article is worth reading.
Update: Representative McGovern (D-MA) put forward an amendment today to reduce the $735 million budget for Plan Colombia by $100 million. It was defeated late tonight 234-189.
Wankers.

Those who have followed Drug WarRant for awhile may remember me talking about Julie Falco, an MS patient in Illinois who testified on behalf of medical marijuana in the Illinois hearings. I got a chance to meet her then, and she’s quite an amazing young woman. (Here’s a great article about her by Steve Young.
Well, Julie and her doctor, Dr. Anthony Reder, are applying for access to the liquid form of marijuana called Sativex¬. According to Americans for Safe Access:

“The introduction of Sativex¬ to Canadian markets vindicates what patients, doctors, and medical associations have been saying for centuries: marijuana is a safe and effective medication, “said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, the largest medical marijuana advocacy group in the country. “The bottom line is marijuana MUST be rescheduled so that we can have a real conversation about the best uses of marijuana as medicine, including the introduction of Sativex¬ to the US market.” (ASA information on Sativex¬)

Americans for Safe Access will be assisting a number of MS patients and their doctors through this application process, while they continue in their quest to change the schedule of marijuana from its current status, in the same category as heroin, to another category that recognizes the medicinal value of marijuana. Federal law allows for promising drugs that have been approved in another country, but not yet in the United States, to be used under the direction of a physician, pending special permission. The Investigational New Drug program (IND) is the means through which the sponsor (either a physician or pharmaceutical company) technically obtains this authorization from the FDA. The federal government has had a Compassionate Use IND program that has provided medical cannabis to patients for nearly 30 years. Only a handful of patients were ever approved to use NIDA‰s University of Mississippi-grown marijuana. Seven of these patients are still surviving and receiving their monthly allocations of medical cannabis.

Of course, I’ve talked about the IND program as well. And it seems likely to me that the government will deny this application. But once again they’re going to look bad doing it. This is what it takes. Keep chipping away.
Good luck, Julie. You deserve to get the medicine you need without having to be a criminal.
A press conference will be held on Wednesday at 11 am at the Kluczynski Federal Building, 230 S Dearborn St, Chicago.