Drug WarRant

In the Washington Post: Marijuana Ad On Metro Infuriates Lawmaker.
You may remember my reporting on Change the Climate’s ad campaign.
Well, Oklahoma Representative Ernest Istook really didn’t like it. So..

This week, Istook inserted into a bill language that would cut Metro’s funds by $92,500 and prohibit any transit system that receives federal funds from running advertising from a group that wants to decriminalize marijuana.

Keep in mind that Metro was following policy in accepting the ad and would have had to fight a first amendment battle to deny it. However, Istook doesn’t seem to understand that part of it.
Why can’t we require that when public officials swear to uphold the constitution, they’re required to actually read it?
The most ignorant statement came from Istook’s press secretary:

“Metro is using taxpayer facilities to promote illegal activity,” said Micah Swafford, Istook’s press secretary.

This boggles the mind! First, Metro didn’t promote illegal activity, they accepted an ad as required by policy. Second, Change the Climate didn’t promote illegal activity, they advocated a change in the law. If that qualifies as illegal activity in taxpayer facilities, then Istook is guilty of it every day he’s in the House of Representatives.
You can contact Ernest Istook or Micah Swafford by email. If you live in Oklahoma 5th district, Istook is up for re-election in 2004.

There was plenty of reporting of the bad science by Ricaurte – the “oops we used the wrong drug” that ended up causing more bad law regarding ecstacy. It’s nice to see that the issue isn’t being dropped.
This excellent New York Times piece brings the issue back to the forefront and seriously questions all of Ricaurte’s work, and points out that some in the scientific community are concerned about this trend.
Ron Bailey, in a Reason Online article takes it a step further and calls for an investigation into the peer review process and the possible co-option of Science into the drug war.

Part 2: Each debater was given 2 minutes to rebut the first round comments.
What to watch for:
William Bennett: Trying desperately to dump his debating partner, and clinging to his one-statistic argument.
Gary Johnson: Bats around Bennett’s statistic, and gives a human interest story on mandatory sentencing.
Charlie Rangel: Still thinks he’s debating education policy, and then, apparently to his view, sarcastically suggests growing drugs in America.
Kurt Schmoke: Continues to push harm reduction and uses tobacco to show how ridiculous prohibition is.

Supreme Court rules in favor of police barging in.

The court ruled 9-0 that if police had waited any longer than 20 seconds, a drug suspect could be flushing evidence down the toilet…

Justice David H. Souter, writing for the court, said that because police believed there were drugs in his apartment, officers had more reason to rush. “Police seeking a stolen piano may be able to spend more time to make sure they really need the battering ram,” Souter wrote.

9-0. Because of potential toilet flushing. So instead, we’ll probably get more of this.

On Thursday, I told you about a debate that was scheduled on C-Span. It ended up getting pushed back due to coverage of a Thanksgiving Dinner, so I missed it when it aired, but the full audio is available at Drug Sense (RealAudio file) and I finally got a chance to listen to it. I planned to just give a report, but it was really quite interesting, so I ended up transcribing large sections of it for you.
The event: The Debate of the 21st Century on “The Future of American Drug Policy” (held in New York City in October).
The participants: Republican Activist William Bennett and Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel vs. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke (moderated by drug war cheerleader Joseph Califano).

Each participant started with 6 minutes to make their presentation, followed by 2 minutes of rebuttal and then questions from the audience. Today, I’ll just give you the first section (the 6-minute presentations).
What to look for:

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.