Drug WarRant

Two more voting guides are now available with endorsements (although a few races are still pending).

• Florida — parts of the state are a bit depressing, particularly in the 7th, where drug war idiot and stooge Mica is running unopposed. There are also a couple of races where the candidates seem to need a little help learning about Colombia. No endorsement for Senate yet.
• Idaho — only a couple of races in Idaho, yet it’s interesting that not a single candidate supports medical marijuana. What’s up with that? I expected a little more of a states’ rights viewpoint there.

I’ve got a volunteer working on Washington state for me, and I’m going to continue cranking these out when I can. Let me know if you want to help or if you’ve got a state you’d like me to tackle next.
Full voting guide is here.
Endorsement strategy for President will be coming shortly.
Update: New Drug WarRant reader Eric asked for an Oregon voting guide, so here it is.
Further Update: Washington state info is up, including all candidates in the primaries (September 14) and their positions. Final endorsements will be added after the primary election. Big thanks to THEHIM for the research work!

It’s almost that bad:
Couple sues drug task force for arresting them over catnip

WATERVILLE, Wash. – A Loomis couple is suing the Okanogan County drug task force over their arrest for mailing a package of catnip.

Inspectors thought the catnip was marijuana after a drug dog ripped it open.

In the suit filed last month in Okanogan County Superior Court, Oral and Pamela Criswell say agents unlawfully searched their home, causing more than $20,000 damage.

They also say they were pushed to the ground and abused.

I’ll say it again. Drug Task Forces should be abolished. They are dangerous and an embarrassment.
[Next up: Tommy Chong arrested for his new business — making those little cat toy balls with the bells and a hidden compartment. Federal agents claim that the balls are primarily used by felines getting high on catnip.]

On “Fox News Sunday” last night [in my dreams]:

Chris Wallace: “Tonight on Fox News Sunday we welcome a special guest – Drug WarRant author Pete Guither, who is here to discuss the charges leveled by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert against George Soros on the Sunday edition of Fox News Sunday.”
Wallace: “Welcome to the show, Pete. It’s great to have you here, as usual.”
Pete Guither: “Great to be here, Chris. As you know, I hardly ever watch your network, but I always enjoy appearing on it.”
Wallace: “So let’s get right to it. What did you think of Dennis Hastert’s remarks on Sunday?”
Guither: “Well, Chris, it was pretty outrageous. No matter how the Speaker tries to spin it after the fact, he was clearly making it up out of thin air. It made no sense. Drug cartels wouldn’t give money to Soros — he’s trying to put them out of business by supporting legalization efforts. And the legalization groups get funds from Soros. They don’t give him funding.”
Wallace: “Why do you think he said it then? Was it just a political attack?”
Guither: “Certainly that was part of it. But there are some who say that Hastert is really trying to deflect attention from his own shadowy connections to drug groups.”
Wallace: “Excuse me?”
Guither: “Yes, this is actually very well established and documented. Speaker Dennis Hastert receives larges amounts of funding from drug groups, who expect him to use his power as speaker on their behalf to continue the excesses of the drug war, and increase their profits.”
Wallace: “You think he may have been getting money from the drug cartel?”
Guither: “That’s just one of the drug groups. We know Hastert received $114,500 in campaign contributions last year from the Pharmaceuticals and Health Products Industry. That explains his adamant refusal to accept medical marijuana and the lies that he promotes on his web site. Now the drug cartels want to have Hastert’s influence as well, but you don’t just go and list “drug cartel” on the contribution form — you use an intermediary. And sure enough, Hastert received $153,800 in campaign contributions from “Lawyers and Law Firms” — so it’s no surprise that he’s been pushing for continuation of Plan Colombia, which keeps the drug cartel wealthy.”
Wallace: “Those are pretty startling facts about the Speaker of the House.”
Guither: “Yes, and unfortunately not much will be done about it. If you consider that he’s got “powerful” friends and is so close in line for the Presidency if “something” should happen, it’s no wonder that the administration would avoid investigating him.”
Wallace: “Well thanks again for joining us, Pete. I hope you’ll consider returning soon and explaining the comments of the drug czar next time.”
Guither: “I’d be glad to, Chris. And thanks for having me on to clear things up.”

[By the way, check out Jack Shafer’s latest: “Dennis Hastert: Liar or Fool: the speaker’s unseemly habit of slandering George Soros”]

In today’s Washington Post: Study Focuses On Marijuana Use by Teens

Researchers at the University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research [CESAR] recently developed a set of warning signs to spot teenage use of marijuana, a popular recreational drug that often leads to experimentation with other illegal substances, officials said.

The study, released in late July, based its findings on a statewide survey conducted two years ago. The warning signs and recommendations were applauded by state educators and juvenile services officials, who said the findings validate their long-held ideas about ways to detect drug use among teenage students.

Well, I figured that a comprehensive study based on a statewide survey, and two years of analysis by a crack university research center probably came out with some amazing stuff, so I rushed over to their site to learn the final NINE warning signs of early marijuana use: [drum roll, please]

• Behaviors
• Cigarette use before age 15
• Alcohol use before age 15
• 20 or more unexcused school absences
• Drug arrest
• Alcohol arrest
• Attitudes/Opinions
• Smoking marijuana is safe
• Smoking cigarettes is safe
• My parents think it’s okay to smoke marijuana
• My parents think it’s okay to smoke cigarettes

That’s right. If your child has been arrested for drugs, that’s actually a possible warning sign that they might have experimented with marijuana! Whoa, I would have never thought of that!
If your child has any of the first five signs, then marijuana use may actually be the least of your problems.
Oh, and if your child has any of the last four “opinions” (and they actually share it with you) don’t break out the drug testing kit. Have a talk with them.
I don’t even want to know how much was spent on this.

“This kind of tool is critically needed, because research shows that early marijuana users are far more likely to go on to use harder drugs,” says CESAR director Eric Wish.

Of course, this is the usual misleading gateway statement that has no basis in causality (as is noted elsewhere in the CESAR web sites), yet the director of this research center is willing to sell it to the press anyway. And I wonder about a research director in this field who is listed as an Associate Professor (not Full Professor) in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at University of Maryland. I’m also curious as to the field of his doctoral degree, and why it’s not listed in his university bio. Just wondering.

Jack Shafer does a nice job of taking on Dennis Hastert on Dope at Slate.

If both Bush and Cheney were to suddenly drop dead, the law would transfer the presidential powers to a man who proved himself an absolute nut job on the Aug. 29 edition of Fox News Sunday: Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

Shafer gives a recap of Hastert’s slander of Soros (see my earlier posts) and then notes:

Hastert states in a Sept. 1 letter [pdf] to Soros that he never referred to drug cartels on Fox News Sunday, that Chris Wallace did. The “drug groups” Hastert claims to have had in mind were the “Drug Policy Foundation, The Open Society, The Lendesmith [sic] Center, the Andean Council of Coca Leaf Producers, and several ballot initiatives across the country to decriminalize illegal drug use.” On this score, Hastert’s letter is completely disingenuous. These groups are beneficiaries of Soros wealth: He’s given them money. In the program transcript, Hastert is clearly asking about the source of Soros’ money for his political and social campaigns, and then he asks the leading question, is it from “overseas or from drug groups”?

Shafer finally concludes:

Whatever the reason behind his eruption, Hastert has answered the question of who is screwy enough to run on this year’s LaRouche ticket. “LaRouche-Hastert in 2004,” anyone?

If you’re in Washington, DC, check out the new ads on the Metro starting tomorrow with the words: “Marijuana Laws Waste Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Lock Up Non-Violent Americans.” (click on the picture for a larger version)
These are the ads that Representtive Istook tried to stop by passing legislation that would deny funding to metro systems that accepted ads based on a particular point of view. The court in June rightly found that Istook was full of… the legislation was unconstitutional, and now the ads begin to air.
Drug WarRant past posts on the topic here.
Kudos to ACLU, Change the Climate, Drug Policy Alliance, and Marijuana Policy Project for their efforts.

“How does he do it?” you ask. “Didn’t he just finish the Virginia voting guide last night?”
OK, so I picked a small state (in number of House districts). I’m still exhausted from California’s 53.
Thus, I give you… Montana.

Josh Marshall notes:

You’ll remember a couple days ago we noted House Speaker Denny Hastert suggesting that George Soros may get his money from drug cartels or other such groups.

I’ve talked to reporters who’ve asked Hastert this around the convention hall. And he’s been aggressively restating the ‘charge.’ I’m told he even shoved his finger in the chest of one of them when repeating it.

Unbelievable.
Soros has responded with a letter (pdf) which includes:

Dear Mr. Speaker:
Your recent comments implying that I am receiving funds from drug cartels are not only untrue, but also deeply offensive. You do a discredit to yourself and to the dignity of your office by engaging in these dishonest smear tactics. You should be ashamed.
For the Speaker of the House of Representatives, even in the midst of an election season, to descend to a level of political discourse where innuendo and slander replace reason, truth and argument is unacceptable. …

.. voters.
Be sure to get out there and vote this November, and Drug WarRant’s new Virginia voting guide will help.
It was a little depressing putting this one together – more tough negative choices than touch positive choices, and a lot of candidates avoided filling out position questionnaires.
Still, we can learn a few important things about Virginia, like the fact that Bob Goodlatte is neither a frothy coffee and milk drink, nor is he “good” at drug policy. And the candidate with the name Al Weed actually looks and acts as far from a long-haired pot-smoking hippy as is humanly possible, yet still garners Drug WarRant’s endorsement. I also learned that there are no Libertarian candidates for Congress in Virginia.
More state guides coming. Let me know if there’s a state you’d like me to tackle next.

These are the qualifications for Speaker of the House?
There’s some discussion of this at Talking Points Memo and Political Animal.
As reported in Lloyd Groves’ column in the Daily News:

On “Fox News Sunday,” [Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert] insinuated that billionaire financier George Soros, who’s funding an independent media campaign to dislodge President Bush, is getting his big bucks from shady sources. “You know, I don’t know where George Soros gets his money. I don’t know where – if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from,” Hastert mused. An astonished Chris Wallace asked: “Excuse me?” The Speaker went on: “Well, that’s what he’s been for a number years – George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So, I mean, he’s got a lot of ancillary interests out there.” Wallace: “You think he may be getting money from the drug cartel?” Hastert: “I’m saying I don’t know where groups – could be people who support this type of thing. I’m saying we don’t know.”

My response:

I don’t know where Speaker Hastert gets his kicks — if it’s from having intimate relations with goats or some other kind of animal. I’m just saying we don’t know.

That statement has as much validity as Hastert’s. Maybe more, since it’s very unlikely that “drug groups” would fund Soros. Since George Soros is a philanthropist who has advocated legalization of medical marijuana and eliminating the failed war on drugs, he would be very unpopular with drug traffickers.
You see, legalization would take a huge chunk of the massive profits now part of the illegal drug trade, and require those selling drugs to become legitimate – paying taxes, following regulations, insuring the product is safe, not selling to children, accepting legal competition’s efforts to drive down prices, etc. No drug cartel is going to support Soros’ efforts.
If a “drug group” is going to support anyone with contributions, it would be a drug warrior like Dennis Hastert, not a legalizer like Soros.
And, as it turns out, we know that there are “drug groups” that fund Dennis Hastert. Noted right here, in the 2003-2004 funding cycle, Dennis Hastert received $114,500 from the Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry.
There are two kinds of drug groups:

1. Those who deal in drugs (some safe, some dangerous) that have been deemed illegal by the government. These groups make huge profits (that far offset risk costs) with limited competition because the product is prohibited.
2. Those who deal in drugs (some safe, some dangerous) that have been deemed legal by the government. These groups make huge profits (that far offset research costs) with limited competition because the product is patentable.

Both these groups wish the drug war to continue as it has. One of them, for sure, contributes to Dennis Hastert.
I’m just sayin’…
By the way, if you live in the Illinois 14th District, you might want to support Ruben Zamora, who is running against Hastert.
Update: Thanks to War Liberal who points out Soros’ ideas (from a Salon profile):

“I would establish a strictly controlled distribution network through which I would make most drugs, excluding the most dangerous ones like crack, legally available. Initially I would keep the prices low enough to destroy the drug trade. Once that objective was attained I would keep raising the prices, very much like the excise duty on cigarettes, but I would make an exception for registered addicts in order to discourage crime. I would use a portion of the income for prevention and treatment. And I would foster social opprobrium of drug use.”

Nope. The drug cartels would not like Soros. Hastert, maybe.