Drug WarRant

This news by Steve Lawrence, AP in the North County Times (Thanks to Herb for the tip).

SACRAMENTO — State senators voted Tuesday to ban random drug testing of California students, agreeing that schools should have “reasonable suspicion” before checking for drug or alcohol use.

“How many of you folks in this room would submit to random drug testing if that’s what this bill did?” asked one of the legislation’s supporters, Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley. “I would not.

“I can’t think of anything that would be more repulsive to the conservative philosophy of the Republican Party.”

The bill, by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, would bar testing unless school officials had reasonable suspicion that a student had illegally used drugs or alcohol “in the school environment.”

It would require that that suspicion be based on “articulable facts” and “rational inferences” instead of curiosity, rumor, hunch, race, national origin, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or suspicion or evidence of drug use among the student’s family or friends.

The legislation also would require the school to try to obtain written consent from a parent or guardian before ordering a student to have a drug test and to refer students who test positive to someone for counseling.

Vasconcellos said research indicates that drug testing doesn’t deter students from using drugs. “Our limited resources are better spent on better drug education and more positive reinforcement,” he said.

Note how senators from both parties demonstrate that suspicionless drug testing goes against core values of each of their parties. The provisions of the bill are so strong, clear, and sensible, it makes me wonder how they got in a bill written by politicians.
Here are some of the points in the actual bill (SB1386).

(3) All individuals have an express and inalienable right to
privacy under Section 1 of Article I of the California Constitution.

(4) Random, suspicionless drug testing impairs the trust and
cooperation between parents, pupils, and school staff that is
instrumental to a productive learning environment, thereby
distracting pupils, educators, and administrators, from the core
educational mission of the public schools.

(5) Dr. Ryoko Yamaguchi, Dr. Lloyd D. Johnston, and Dr. Patrick M.
O’Malley, in an article appearing in the April 2003, edition of the
Journal of School Health, conclude that random drug testing is not
an effective deterrent to drug use by pupils.

(6) Random drug testing programs are costly, absorbing scarce
funds that would be better used on core curricula, school security,
and drug use prevention, education, and treatment.

(b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to ban the costly and
ineffective practice of random, suspicionless drug or alcohol
testing, while preserving the authority of school officials to
suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline pupils who violate health and
safety rules by using, distributing, or selling drugs or alcohol.

The vote was 26-10 in the Senate, without debate. It still has to go to the House and be signed by the governator (that should be interesting).
Yesterday, the California Senate also passed (on a slightly more narrow margin) SB1159:

It would allow pharmacists participating in a demonstration project to sell up to 10 hypodermic needles to an adult without a doctor’s prescription.

Vasconcellos said the bill, which was sent to the Assembly by a 22-13 vote, was an attempt to reduce the spread of AIDS, hepatitis and other diseases through the sharing of needles by drug addicts.

Two excellent bills, and a fine example to other states.

I have occasionally imagined how I would realistically change drug policy if I was President, or had some other poliitical power, and perhaps some day I’ll share that with you. However, today I decided to be different and imagined I was some kind of arbitrary King and decided to retaliate by being contrarian.

“bullet” DEA agents who investigate doctors for prescribing pain medication must have other DEA agents perform any medical procedures (like heart transplants and brain surgery) that are needed by the agents. After all, if DEA agents know so much about medicine…
“bullet” Putting a positive choice spin on drug testing, only those students not participating in extra-curricular activities can be drug tested, and only if there are extra-curricular options available and they still choose not to participate. In a related area, felons on parole can avoid drug tests by getting involved in community service volunteer projects. (actually, this one makes a little sense)
“bullet” Law enforcement officers who are part of no-knock drug task forces must publicly list their names and addresses. Ordinary citizens are allowed to wander through their home between the hours of 11 pm and 4 am and look through their drawers.
“bullet” Officers wishing to search a car for drugs must get a search warrant from a judge specifying the make, year, color and VIN, along with specific descriptions of the particular drugs they expect to find.
“bullet” Law enforcement agencies wishing to keep proceeds from Asset Forfeitures must put up as bond an amount equal to the value of the assets seized. If a judge rules for the property owner, the property owner gets his assets back plus the bond, making a nice profit for his trouble.
“bullet” School Principals who enforce zero-tolerance policies must get written permission from one of their students before taking an aspirin or any other medication (any time of day or night).
“bullet” Any laws passed that have criminal penalties are automatically infinitely retroactive for those who voted for (or signed) the law. This means, for example, that any Congressmen who vote for enhanced drug possession penalties would be immediately liable under that law for any drugs they took when they were young.
“bullet” The Drug Czar must wear a silly hat and a sign saying “I am a liar” whenever he goes out in public, and whenever he talks about drug statistics he must perform a leprechaun dance.
“bullet” All DEA paperwork must be printed on hemp paper.
“bullet” Inmates in federal prisons construct bongs and waterpipes, and these are sold through an online store run by the Justice Department, and administered by Tommy Chong.
“bullet” Smugglers who are caught are sent back to their home country with their drugs and told to try again.
“bullet” All law enforcement uniforms are made with material that smells just like marijuana to drug-sniffing dogs.

It’s fun! Got any to add?

You may think that voting for the nominations are over, but the polls will open tomorrow in Oregon, Kentucky, and Arkansas anyway. Next week Idaho, then Alabama, New Mexico and South Dakota on June 1st, and finally Montana and New Jersey on June 8.
Sure, you can do the math. So can everyone else. Nobody’s going to show up at the polls unless they’ve got a statement to make, so why not make one and have it show up big?
Remember, Drug WarRant has endorsed Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic nomination and Blake Ashby for the Republican nomination. These endorsements have not changed and will not change until the conventions. Send a message to the eventual candidates that drug policy reform is important.
Thinking ahead: I will be looking for good arguments for Drug WarRant’s final endorsement for President. So if the campaign staffs of John Kerry, George W. Bush, Ralph Nader, Aaron Russo, or any other candidates want to make their case to me, I welcome their thoughts on the drug war. (Or if you want to invite me to your convention, send me gifts…)

The media has widely reported a recent crackdown on child pornography and abuse.

“Individuals in such situations are trolling the back alleys and dark corners of the Internet,” Ashcroft said. “They are leveraging its technology and anonymity to abuse and exploit the most innocent in our society.”

The 65 arrests include charges of offenses related to possession and distribution of child pornography and also with sexually abusing children.

However, one case of sexual abuse of a child was missed by the Justice Department:

Heather Gore, 15, said Thursday that [unnamed] ordered her to remove her skirt, then lifted her tank top, exposing her breasts. Gore said she was then told to spread her legs while [unnamed] checked her underwear.

That’s because this particular case of child abuse was carried out by the police, in an warrantless unconstitutional abuse of rights in the name of the war on drugs — a war pushed by the Justice Department — which has encouraged a climate of abuse. Even the abuse of children.
Am I accusing the Justice Department of child abuse? Yep.

From tomorrow’s Time Canada, in an interview with the 82-year-old Dangerfield:

Your new autobiography delves into your extreme fondness for marijuana. Do you still smoke pot?

Once in a while, yeah. It still relaxes me. You get a different head because of your age, but not because of the pot. Marijuana should definitely be legal. Booze is a hundred times worse. Marijuana makes you passive–the last thing you want to do when you’re high is have a fight.

Deputy Drug Czar Andrea Barthwell (she’s the one in charge of health disinformation) made a recent trip to Peoria, and the Journal-Star reported her visit this week, and the article almost made me sick. Here’s how it started out:

Barthwell Promoting Program To Provide Funding For Treatment

PEORIA — The Bush administration is seeking a balance between helping and punishing drug abusers.

The president has devoted additional money to identifying and treating those addicted to drugs, said Andrea Barthwell, the deputy director of National Drug Control Policy for Demand Reduction, or the nation’s deputy drug czar.

“The president has said ‘A nation that is hard on drugs must be compassionate to drug users,”‘Barthwell said while meeting with the Journal Star editorial board Monday.

Yes, that’s certainly the description of this administration’s war on drugs… if you’re living in an alternate reality.
I decided to write them a letter and it was published today. I’ll share it with you.

Deputy Drug Czar Andrea Barthwell’s recent trip to Peoria was reported in the Journal Star as an effort to prevent drug abuse. It was nothing of the kind. It was, in fact, another opportunity for that office to promote disinformation.

The administration knows that treatment is more popular than enforcement, but despite Barthwell’s claims, it has had no intention of giving up any of its enforcement cash. Andrea’s boss, John Walters, is on record as deriding the need to embrace treatment.

In the May 11 article, Andrea Barthwell is quoted as saying, “About 45 percent of the $12 billion federal anti-drug budget is for treatment and prevention. That is up from past years.” What she neglects to mention is that the treatment percentage is up due to a dishonest shift in budget reporting. The Bush administration changed the percentages by simply removing from the drug war budget the $4 billion spent each year to prosecute, try and imprison federal drug offenders. It’s still spent, but is no longer considered part of the cost of the drug war. Change the rules and make the numbers look better.

For Andrea Barthwell to claim the administration cares about treatment and prevention is absurd, particularly when federal agents are still stepping all over state law to harass sick medical marijuana patients in California, plus jailing doctors and going after water pipes and hemp foods. The administration’s push for enforcement has actually hurt treatment opportunities by overwhelming treatment centers with criminal justice referrals for simple marijuana possession. Most of these mandatory treatment offenders do not have a dependence problem, but they end up taking beds away from those who really need treatment.

Finally, the administration pushes for drug testing in schools – demonstrated in studies to be costly and ineffective – instead of pushing for, and funding, after-school and extracurricular activities that have been shown to reduce drug use.

The Government Accounting Office, in response to a request by Rep. Ron Paul, recently noted that providing misinformation is part of the mission of the drug czar’s office. Deputy Drug Czar Barthwell does her job well.

Peter Guither
Editor, DrugWarRant.com
Bloomington

Thanks to Jeff for letting me know that it got published.
I welcome any new readers coming from the Journal-Star article. Feel free to look around, particularly if you’re uncertain or skeptical about drug policy reform or if you think drug testing in schools might be a good idea (more here and here.) More on Andrea Barthwell is available here, here, and here.

“bullet” Connecticut Legislature ducks medical marijuana and gets called on it in the press.
“bullet” Last One Speaks has the scoop on: Sri Lanka’s intent to legalize marijuana; drug warrior moron extraordinaire Mark Souder’s attempts to deny the existence of science; and the fact that the government is still stupidly considering appealing the unanimous court decision regarding hemp foods. As to her thoughts on marriage… well it’s certainly the best offer I’ve had in some time!
“bullet” Michael at ViceSquad has an interesting post on new Russian drug laws changing the possession minimums. Hit and Run has coverage as well.
“bullet” The Toronto Star, in An Ugly Prison Record, is not surprised by the Iraq prison abuses, given the U.S. track record with its own prisons.
“bullet” I missed this one earlier. Bruce M of Bullshit, Hypocrisy & Stupidity has an excellent detailed rebuttal of the claims we constantly must endure, in the stupidity of anti-drug “studies.”
“bullet” Drug War Chronicle has Canada Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Dying as Government Prepares to Call Elections, Few Mourners as well as promotion of another interesting sounding book in “The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War” — New Compendium by Sheriff Masters Features David Borden and Numerous Other Thinkers on Drug Policy
“bullet” Drug Sense Weekly Newsletter is out with lots of info.
“bullet” An excellent letter in reponse to the violation of students’ rights mentioned below is in the comments.

From WTOP News:

CHESTERTOWN, Md. (AP) – Authorities entered an “unclear” legal area when they sent four dogs into the local high school for a drug search without a warrant, patted down 16 students and ordered two female students to partially disrobe, the Kent County sheriff said.

“We were acting under what we thought was probable cause, and we still believe there was probable cause,” Sheriff John F. Price IV said Thursday of the search April 16.

“At the same time, it was an area that was unclear,” Price told The (Baltimore) Sun. “We didn’t know it was a gray area.”

Ah, so as long as you are ignorant of people’s rights, it’s OK to violate them?

Sixteen students were subjected to “pat-down” searches, while the other two received what the sheriff would describe only as “more thorough searches.”

One of the two, Heather Gore, 15, said Thursday that a female deputy ordered her to remove her skirt, then lifted her tank top, exposing her breasts. Gore said she was then told to spread her legs while the officer checked her underwear.

“I’m still just so embarrassed,” Gore said.

Her mother, Patricia Gore, said she would push for a change in policy regarding searches.

“I certainly have a lot of things besides lawyers’ fees I need to spend money on, but my daughter shouldn’t have had to go through all this, and neither should anyone else,” the mother said.

Maryland regulations bar police from searching a student unless the student is under arrest or believed to be concealing a weapon.
Additionally, the United States has a regulation in an apparently seldom read document called the constitution. It reads in part:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Drivers who test positive for marijuana in
their urine do not experience elevated risks for having a motor vehicle
accident, according to case-control data to be published in the July issue
of the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention.
From the abstract

The driving performance is easily impaired as a consequence of the use of alcohol and/or licit and illicit drugs. However, the role of drugs other than alcohol in motor vehicle accidents has not been well established. The objective of this study was to estimate the association between psychoactive drug use and motor vehicle accidents requiring hospitalisation.

A prospective observational case-control study was conducted in the Tilburg region of The Netherlands from May 2000 to August 2001. Cases were car or van drivers involved in road crashes needing hospitalisation. Demographic and trauma related data was collected from hospital and ambulance records. Urine and/or blood samples were collected on admission. …

All blood and urine samples were tested for alcohol and a number of licit and illicit drugs. The main outcome measures were odds ratios (OR) for injury crash associated with single or multiple use of several drugs by drivers.

The risk for road trauma was increased for single use of benzodiazepines (adjusted OR 5.1 (95% Cl: 1.8–14.0)) and alcohol (blood alcohol concentrations of 0.50–0.79 g/l, adjusted OR 5.5 (95% Cl: 1.3–23.2) and≥0.8 g/l, adjusted OR 15.5 (95% Cl: 7.1–33.9)). High relative risks were estimated for drivers using combinations of drugs (adjusted OR 6.1 (95% Cl: 2.6–14.1)) and those using a combination of drugs and alcohol (OR 112.2 (95% Cl: 14.1–892)). Increased risks, although not statistically significantly, were assessed for drivers using amphetamines, cocaine, or opiates. No increased risk for road trauma was found for drivers exposed to cannabis. [emphasis added]

Let me repeat that:

No increased risk for road trauma was found for drivers exposed to cannabis.

This adds more to the already significant body of information on this site regarding marijuana and driving.

Update: I suppose I should have given the normal disclaimer. I am not advocating driving while stoned. It’s a bad idea. (I don’t advocate driving while fatigued or talking on a cellphone either.) What the studies continually show, however, is that the hype from the Drug Czar’s office regarding the dangers of “drugged driving” is completely overblown and intended to attack marijuana users through zero tolerance laws, not increase safety.
What this study says is that there is no additional odds of being involved in an accident requiring hospitalization if you’ve smoked marijuana. And that fits with other studies that have shown that marijuana smokers realize that they’re impaired, and slow down and increase caution to compensate.

… is 7th Avenue between 28th and 34th Streets (outside Madison Square Garden) from 2pm to 6pm.

That’s when Russell Simmons and others are hosting a massive rally and hip-hop summit to protest the Rockefeller drug laws in New York and other mandatory minimum laws around the country. Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Nas, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Mariah Carey and Carly Simon are among those slated to attend the rally.
Russell Simmons declared, “This will be the biggest hip-hop gathering ever,
and we intend for our voices to be heard. We will not be silenced. The March
on New York is going down. It will be the illest march in history..”
Let’s see now… Checking Madison Square Garden’s reservation book… August 30.. Ah, here it is: the opening day of the Republican National Convention. Should be very interesting.