Drug WarRant

“bullet” What Are They Smoking? by Gersh Kuntzman in Newsweek…

It’s like what I’ve always been saying: The main problem with the federal government is that its marijuana stinks.

(an article on the efforts to develop an alternative legal research marijuana crop in the U.S.)
“bullet” Marijuana Policies Lack Focus in the North Adams Transcript..

The legal system is expensive. There are judges to be paid, as well as prosecutors, defense attorneys, bailiffs, probation officers, and a host of other law enforcement personnel who must deal with the comings and goings of citizens who end up in court and in correctional facilities. …

Last Wednesday, the Williamstown Police Department pulled over a Bennington, Vt., woman for various and sundry traffic violations. That’s all well and good.

However, after finding a wooden box in her possession, which contained “what appeared to be ashes from burnt marijuana,” the police should’ve thought twice.

This particular editorial not only points out the insanity of prosecuting small-time marijuana offenses, but also, in an aside, points out what I’ve been talking about regarding driving:

On a more general note, when was the last time you heard of someone being charged with driving while under the influence of marijuana? Unlike drunk drivers, it seems that “weed freaks,” as they are called in the parlance of our times, are too paranoid to drive fast or dangerously, and evidently, don’t pose the same kind of threat.

There’s a lot more in this editorial that shows an editorial staff that is willing to learn, is being “smart” about marijuana, and isn’t buying all the propaganda.
This is an excellent sign.

I believe a brilliant satirist is developing at UC SantaBarbara. Check out Nathaniel Page’s column this week in the Daily Nexus Online.

Have you ever seen the specter of a marijuana addict? It is one of a sickly skin-and-bones fiend, with oily yellow skin and a raspy voice from the constant smoking, herpes in every orifice, teeth or limbs missing, and always in a desperate search for a bowl. The only way we can save ourselves from marijuana and the resulting crack and methamphetamine epidemics is to find these wicked addicts, lock them up, and throw away the keys, even if it takes the whole army and navy. Penalties for possession should be as harsh as in Arabaghistan, where I’ve heard you can lose a hand or a wife. Similarly, all the dealers, with their millions of filthy dollars, should be castrated and sent back to the savage jungles of Colombia, where they would no doubt kill themselves by binging on cocaine. No state penitentiary could be harsh enough for a child-killing, marijuana-peddling vampire. Don’t believe the wild myths, dreamed up by raging pot ideologues, that marijuana can cure the sick. A weakened patient lacking the built-up tolerance of an addict would certainly die instantly if forced by the doctor to take ganja. Clearly the whole movement is a ruse created by addicts stricken with cancer and other disorders after too many years of drug abuse who just want to take advantage of the system at our expense. They should be held accountable, kicked out of the hospital and moved to a high security prison for posing a threat to society.

Fun stuff.

(Via Ethan Russo, M.D. in comment 21): GW Pharmaceuticals announces positive preliminary results in a Phase III clinical trial with Sativex¬ (a cannabis medicine containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)) in 177 patients with severe cancer pain.

Dr Stephen Wright, GW’s R&D Director, said, “Patients in this trial were suffering intense pain as a result of their cancer despite using currently available strong opioid treatments and therefore have a very high clinical need. The data from this important trial further demonstrates the broad potential of Sativex, not only in its initial Multiple Sclerosis and neuropathic pain markets, but also in cancer and potentially other types of chronic pain. These positive results suggest that Sativex may represent a valuable new treatment option for this group of patients.”

There’s an interesting connection between this excellent news and Libby’s post at Last One Speaks today:

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has already paid $60 million for the European rights and $14 million for the Canadian rights to market Sativex, a cannabis-based medicine developed in Britain by GW Pharmaceuticals. Bayer in competition with Cannasat Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Toronto want to set up shop in Canada.

…Alan Young, Cannasat’s legal adviser, a loquacious Osgoode Hall law professor who has fought a decades-long battle to liberalize marijuana laws, says because cannabis-based drugs have the potential to help people in a number of critical areas yet to be discovered, it could become one of the biggest pharmaceutical sectors ever developed. “There is going to be a revolution in the next decade in treatment options,” says Young, his voice rising to emphasize the point. “People are sick and tired of synthetic products that are constantly being pulled off the market for undisclosed side effects. The time is right for herbal products.”

Indeed the time has always right for herbal products which have long since gone mainstream. It’s just this particular herb that remains exploited – so far. But don’t be fooled by their talk of protecting the public. Although it’s true that cannabis is a far superior medicine to chemical alternatives, the pharma are interested in profit, not in the public health.

There are a whole lot of dynamics going on here, and it’s hard to say how it’s all going to play out.
When it comes to marijuana, the correct approach — the one that most values the well being of the individual, would be to legalize this safe and useful herb and allow it to be used for a variety of medical purposes, while at the same time researching specialized applications and extracts that would be more effective for specific uses and that could be patented for the profit of drug companies.
However, the correct approach is not likely to be present in the battles of politics and money that swirl around marijuana.
The amazing thing in all this is that people like John Walters can continue to lie and say that marijuana has no medical value.
“bullet” Mark Kleiman has an excellent post about another aspect of illicit drugs used for legitimate medicine: approved experiments in the use of hallucinogens to help dying people cope with impending death. He fisks a poorly written (although otherwise factually strong) piece in the New York Times that completely misses the fact that “effusiveness and heightened awareness” is not the same as dulling perception and cognition.
Beyond the good job that Mark does in chastizing poor reporting, the piece itself brings up some very interesting thoughts about the use of psychedelics. I have seen people in the final stages of life, so pumped up on morphine that their brains were mush. If there is a possibility of using hallucinogens in a way that will make them more aware without the intolerable pain, it’s worth pursuing.

“bullet” David Borden at Prohibition and the Media has a couple of interesting posts. He talks about a massive cocaine bust in Mississippi that took 60 people from 10 agencies, and involved a full 7 years to build a case to seize $160,000 worth of cocaine. Talk about throwing away tax money.
David also notes that Baltimore police actually admit that their prohibition efforts cause increased violence. But they’re doing it anyway.
“bullet” Grits for Breakfast has a organized guide to all their coverage of the Tom Coleman (Tulia) trial, in case you missed any of this excellent material.
“bullet” As Loretta notes, ex-cop Howard Woolridge is still riding his horse into towns to talk about the failures of drug prohibition. An outstanding man who is doing incredible work for drug policy reform. As always, check out Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
“bullet” Peter Dizikes in Salon today has an article detailing the 34 scandals in the current administration that he says are worse than Whitewater. Regardless of what you may think about his conclusions, my reaction is disbelief that the ONDCP/drug war was not mentioned once. Inappropriate lobbying, illegal covert propaganda, lying… Maybe it’s just that it’s so common as to be considered standard operating procedure. Or is it that it happens under the drug prohibition efforts of both parties, so nobody wants to point fingers too much?

“If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today he would see the drug war and the resulting over-incarceration of people of color as a major civil rights and human rights issue that must be addressed if we are to have a true and healthy democracy.”

– Deborah Peterson Small, drug policy reform lawyer and activist

I missed this OpEd in the Washington Post earlier (it came out on Thursday).

When conservatives break with their principles, they seem to become casual about breaking the law, too.æ Last year the then-General Accounting Office accused the Department of Health and Human Services of illegal spending when it distributed fake “news” videos that were used by 40 local stations around the country.æ In them the many benefits of the new Medicare prescription drug entitlement were “reported” by a fake reporter whose actual status — an employee of an HHS subcontractor — was not revealed.æ The English version of these “video news releases” concluded, “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.” …

The GAO has frequently had occasion to insist that taxpayers’ money cannot be used when the “obvious purpose is ‘self-aggrandizement’ or ‘puffery.'”.æ Last week it had another occasion, chastising the Office of National Drug Control Policy for also disseminating fake news videos.

It is difficult to calculate how many billions of dollars the government spends on indefensible, if not illegal, self-promotion.æ Democrats, too, have violated the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of various laws that contain language such as “no part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by the Congress” and appropriated funds may not be used “in a general propaganda effort designed to aid a political party or candidates.” But conservatives should be less aggressive than Democrats in using taxpayers’ money to try to mold taxpayers’ minds.

It is impossible to draw, with statutory language, a bright line between legitimate informing and illegitimate propagandizing by government.æ What is indispensable is common sense, and that is atrophying as this lawyer-ridden nation sinks deeper into the delusion that sensible behavior can be comprehensively codified.

Obviously government leaders must try to lead by persuading the public.æ But government by the consent of the governed should not mean government by consent produced by government propaganda.æ Unfortunately, as government’s pretensions grow, so does its sense that its glorious ends justify even the tackiest means.

State Representative Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio) has introduced a measure that would allow the City of San Antonio to exclude people arrested for drug offenses from entering certain parts of the city except to go directly to their homes and places of employment.
My first reaction was that this was an offensive law that should be rejected out of hand, and that it seemed likely to be unconstitutional — it’s possible that Ruth McClendon missed the part in the First Amendment that states:

Congress shall make no law… abridging… the right of the people peaceably to assemble…

along with Supreme Court law that has subsequently established a right of association.
But the proposed law also troubled me in that it sounded strangely familiar. So I did a little looking and, sure enough, they tried the same thing in Cincinnati a few years back:
Drug War Chronicle, 6/13/03

The US Supreme Court rejected for the second time Monday a Cincinnati law that created a “drug exclusion zone” banning anyone convicted of certain drug offenses from the city’s poor, black Over the Rhine neighborhood. The court rejected without comment an appeal by the city asking it to overturn a US appeals court ruling that found the ordinance an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of association and movement. The Supreme Court had earlier rejected the city’s appeal of an Ohio Supreme Court ruling throwing out the law on similar state constitutional grounds.

That’s right. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected it twice. And listen to what the Ohio Supreme Court had to say:

In his majority opinion, Chief Justice Moyer was sharply critical of the ordinance, noting that “a person subject to the exclusion ordinance may not enter a drug-exclusion zone to speak with counsel, visit family, attend church, receive emergency medical care, go to the grocery store or just stand on a street corner and look at a blue sky.”

But wait, I wondered… Are the laws really the same? Maybe the San Antonio provision is significantly different so as to survive constitutional scrutiny. Well, let’s compare:
Cincinnati, Ohio

Under the ordinance, police could order residents arrested on certain drug charges out of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood for up to 90 days based solely on the fact of their arrest. Those actually convicted of drug offences could be banished from the neighborhood for a year.

San Antonio, Texas

The law would ban people who had been arrested for a drug offense — even if they were not convicted — for 90 days. People who had actually been convicted would be excluded from the community for one year.

Yep. Same law. Unconstitutional before. Unconstitutional now.

So it appears that President Bush is prepared to eliminate entire budget lines to reduce the deficit:

He plans to fulfill his pledge to halve the record $413 billion federal budget deficit by submitting a 2006 budget next month that includes nothing for some programs. He wouldn’t name them.

“We will present a budget that wisely spends the people’s money, that cuts the deficit in half, that will enable me to get up in front of the people and say those programs that aren’t working won’t be getting extra money, and some of the programs won’t be getting any money at all,” he said.

I can give you a big jump start on that deficit reduction:

Total Federal drug program: $12.6 billion (via ONDCP)

Just zero that baby out. After all, the GAO has consistently given the DEA and ONDCP failing grades for accomplishing anything, and I think we can survive without the $145 million spent on the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign or the $23 million for drug testing. We can get along without busting sick people who take medical marijuana (let the states handle it). And we don’t need to investigate people who make glass pipes.
We could probably find a couple of other pockets of money that could be saved in this effort. Federal prison costs could be reduced without the clogging from those pesky non-violent drug criminals, and think what we could save in eradication chemicals in Columbia and Afghanistan.
Just trying to do my part to help the President. Think he’ll listen?

TalkLeft notes that the first post-Booker decision is out already, and it doesn’t sound good. Judge Paul Cassell took the Supreme Court’s decision that sentencing guidelines are no longer mandatory to mean that they should be followed in every case except rare exceptional cases.
“bullet” TalkLeft also has the 9th Circuit decision to eliminate the need for the “knock” part of “Knock and Announce” Warrants.

Tom Coleman (of the Tulia drug cases) has been found guilty of perjury — something that rarely happens, and even though the particulars of his conviction seem less than earth-shattering, it’s still a victory for the victims that he accused.
The full story at Grits for Breakfast.