Drug WarRant

Via Random Act of Kindness, comes this story.
In Kansas, Stephen Fletcher tried to grow some psychedelic mushrooms in his apartment. Also in Kansas, Tremain V. Scott shot a man 18 times at close range, killing him. Both men are in their 20’s with little or no criminal conviction record.
Scott is facing 4-6 years. Fletcher is facing at least 11 1/2 years.
Yep, that’s the criminal justice system.

A couple of good new additions on the Guest Drug WarRant page. Be sure to check out:

• Another Drug War Victim by Casey
• I Don’t Want to Wake Up in the Middle of the Night Worrying Anymore. by Yan

Drug WarRant officially endorses Blake Ashby as the GOP nominee for President in 2004.
From Ashby’s issue statement:

Medical Marijuana – If a doctor believes that his or her patient would benefit from the responsible use of medicinal marijuana, then that doctor should be allowed to legally prescribe it. For Americans suffering from debilitating diseases such as cancer, glaucoma, or HIV/AIDS, this is simply a basic form of compassion.

This 39-year-old millionaire businessman is the president’s only opponent in New Hampshire and among two in Missouri.

More primary filings are in the works, Ashby said Wednesday, adding that he’s prepared “to spend whatever is necessary” – including some of his own millions – to promote his message.

Drug WarRant has a new category: Guest Drug WarRant.

• Got something to say about the Drug War?
• Can’t fit it in the 250 words letter to the editor format?
• Don’t want to bother maintaining your own blog?
• Have your own blog, but are itching to say something that won’t fit your format?
• Tired of editors turning down your masterpieces?
• Have your own drug war tragedy or victory to share?
• or just want to get something off your chest?

Submit your Drug WarRant to me by email.
Guest rants do not have to agree with any of my positions, but they must deal in some way with the drug war. I’ll post everything from incoherent emotional tirades to reasoned detailed treatises of fact, and let the readers sort it out.
All guest rants will be only on the Guest Drug WarRant pages, although I reserve the right to select ones I particularly like and promote them here.

Last One Speaks has some great stuff as usual. And thanks to Libby for her support on my little censorship problem.

The Drug Sense Weekly and Drug War Chronicle newsletters are chock full of good stuff again this week. Be sure to check them out.

The U.S. is continuing its boneheaded foreign drug policy by denying a visa to Bolivian coca grower leader Evo Morales, who also heads the country’s second largest political party. That’s right – support hard-line drug war puppets that end up with revolt, while pretending the real concerns of the Bolivian people don’t exist.

Via TalkLeft:

1. Oakland, California may begin regulating pot cafes
2. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down ‘suspicionless’ school drug testing. Great news!

“The theory apparently is that, even in the absence of any suspicion of drug or alcohol abuse, it is appropriate to single these students out and say, in effect: ‘Choose one: your Pennsylvania constitutional right to privacy or the chess club,’ ” Justice Ronald D. Castille wrote in a 32-page opinion.

“What lesson does a program targeting the personal privacy of some but not all students and lacking both individualized suspicion or any reasoned basis for a suspicionless search teach our young?” Castille wrote.

Surrey cricketers in drug-testing farce

One day last summer, testers from UK Sport arrived at the ground where Surrey were playing at 9am and asked the quartet to provide urine samples. All were found to be negative but the testers were unhappy, having been kept waiting until after 6.30pm.

They tried to bring the athletes up on charges, but had failed to read the rules…

One of the players claimed he had not provided a sample earlier as he could not be disturbed during “office hours” – 9am to 6:30pm for a cricketer.

The rules allow an athlete to provide a sample at the end of their sporting activity and the athletes were following the rules precisely.

Thailand: US Official Declares War On Drugs A Success.

William J.æ Snipes, the regional director of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, said the war on drugs has been effective… “Temporarily, we look at it as successful,” he said.

I had a slightly different view in my recent post on Thailand. But I guess that the DEA feels that the death of 2,245 people without investigation is just peachy-keen in an effective war on drugs.

The Thai government appeared to condone killing of drug suspects by unknown assailants as one method of fighting the drugs war,” [Amnesty] said.

Rights groups say most of the deaths were extrajudicial killings by police and security forces, in some cases under pressure to clear so-called blacklists of suspected drug dealers and users in their areas.

Amnesty said that on February 20, Somjit Kuanyuyen learned she was on a blacklist and reported to her local police station in Ban Lam District.æ After signing a paper and being told by police she was safe, Somjit returned home.

“Four unidentified men in a one-tonne pickup truck with darkened windows drove up to her house and shot her seven times in front of her seven-year-old granddaughter and her seven-months pregnant daughter,” Amnesty said.

Hey, it saves all that pesky evidence gathering and trials and stuff. No wonder the DEA likes it.

I’d like to tell you about a remarkable woman and her son. As you join with your family and give thanks for what you have, maybe her story will move you to help those who have been separated from their families.
Isidro Aviles
Isidro was 26 years old in 1990, when he was arrested in New York on a crack-cocaine conspiracy charge along with 109 others. He was caught with $52 and no drugs, and the case was based solely on the $52 and the bargained testimony of a repeat criminal.
Isidro was given about 45 minutes to accept the plea bargain offered. The deal: if he pled guilty, his mother and sister wouldn’t have to go to jail! His mother begged him not to sign, but an FBI officer told her to sit down or she’d go to jail. He signed.
Isidro’s plea bargained sentence? 23 years.
7 years, 7 months and 1 day into his sentence, Isidro died of an untreated, undiagnosed illness.

Thanksgiving Day at 1:00 pm Eastern, C-Span is airing a debate that includes a drug policy debate between William Bennett (moralizing drug warrior and gambler) and Kurt Schmoke (former Mayor of Baltimore and drug policy reform advocate).
Bennett’s a smooth talker, doesn’t get ruffled easily, and can make up “facts” on the spot to support anything he wants, but Schmoke’s no pushover. Should be interesting.

The lesson has already been learned with alcohol prohibition. We tried to engineer an alcohol-free society and ended up with huge criminal enterprises, government corruption, children lured into organized crime and random violence that took the lives of countless innocent people.

– Kurt Schmoke, Mayor of Baltimore

Drug-control programs are among the most successful public policy efforts of the latter half of the 20th century.

– William Bennett, former drug czar

Update/Correction: Schedule adjustment. The 1 pm Eastern program is a debate “Are we Sacrificing Civil Liberties to the War on Terrorism?” (also interesting) and the Bennett/Schmoke event is shown at 8 pm ET.

8:00pm ET:
-The Role of the Supreme Court: Ann Coulter, David Limbaugh, Alan Dershowitz and Barry Lynn discuss the question: “Is the Supreme Court Overstepping its Boundaries?” This event was held in October at Regent University in Virginia Beach.
æ-The Future of American Drug Policy: Republican activist William Bennett and Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel argue against marijuana legalization, and Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke argued for it. This event was held last month in New York City, hosted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

æ

Yesterday, I mentioned that the University Residence Halls were preventing the posting of Hempfest flyers because they had a drawing of a hemp leaf, and that an appeal was in the works.
Well, here’s the denial of that appeal:

I have reviewed the materials that you dropped off to me on November 20, 2003 that included a copy of the flier in question and a letter from your advisor, Peter Guither asking that I review the decision to deny the posting of your flier for a December 4th event called Hempfest.

It is my understanding that the flier does not comply with the university’s advertising policy (5.1.1.)… While I do not believe that your program will include illegal activity during the event, the advertisement depicts a marijuana leaf and there is no doubt that this is illegal.

…your goal as a Registered Student Organization is not being debated in this decision. Given your purpose and the current laws of this state, you have a challenging situation to further your cause within the guidelines and policies for the campus.

I regret that I cannot resolve this as you have requested, but I find no reason to overturn the decision that was made.

One of the strange parts of this for me is the fact that the people involved in making the decision are people I like. I’ve been involved with them on committees and in other settings and think that they do good work.
But there’s clearly a disconnect here. First, the university policy quoted is not only vague but extremely poorly worded.

On-campus advertising of activities or events by non-University organizations or individuals or individuals [sic] which include alcohol or other drugs as a part of the promotion of the activity or event is prohibited. Alcoholic beverages (such as kegs or cases of beer) shall not be provided as awards to individual students or campus organizations.

Advertising of University sponsored activities, whether held on or off-campus, which include alcohol or other drugs as a part of the promotion of the event is prohibited.

To the extent that the policy is interpreted to prohibit political content, it would appear to me to be illegal (this is a public university). And that’s how this decision interprets the policy.
The sad thing is that this student group (M.A.S.H.) is trying to educate students (in an educational instution no less) and tell them the truth about the many aspects of the Hemp plant that have been buried in the government propaganda war against marijuana. Ironically, the university is preventing the flyer because they have bought in to the propaganda that a five-sided leaf = substance abuse, and is therefore discouraging efforts by their students to educate and become better educated.
I guess we’ve got a lot of work to do.

From an editorial in the Aberdeen (SD) American News:

In a strange effort to protect the American public, the federal government has taken a hard stand against using marijuana for medicinal purposes….
Is the motivation to protect American consumers or is it to allow pharmaceutical companies sufficient time to develop a synthetic version of cannabis in pill form?

Yep.

This, of course, gives me the perfect opening to promote once again the merchandise in the Drug WarRant store, where you can get T-shirts with the above design and lots more merchandise (and other great designs) in time for great Christmas gifts!