Drug WarRant

This critical alert from Drug Policy Alliance (Thanks to Richard Lake).

Now, just before Congress goes out of session, one of the country’s harshest drug war extremists, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), is about to introduce some of the scariest legislation we’ve seen this year.
Rep. Souder’s bill increases penalties for many drug offenses and takes away the right of judges to show mercy when it’s appropriate. The bill also enacts new draconian penalties that could sentence compassionate Americans that grow and provide medical marijuana to decades in federal prison.
Although it’s titled the ‘Drug Sentencing Reform Act,’ this dangerous bill is all sentencing and no reform. It will destroy the lives of thousands more non-violent Americans.
We know that Rep. Souder wants to introduce his bill within the next couple of weeks and is asking for co-sponsorship from other Representatives. Make sure your Representative doesn’t support this bill. Call NOW and tell your Representative not to co-sponsor Rep. Souder’s Drug Sentencing Reform Act because it contains no reform and ties the hands of judges.
Action to Take:
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW!
To reach your representative by phone, call the US Capitol Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 or call your representative’s office directly by looking up the phone number here.
Tell your Representative: “I’m a constituent and I’m calling to urge Rep. [Name] not to co-sponsor Rep. Souder’s Drug Sentencing Reform Act, which he is about to introduce. The Drug Sentencing Reform Act contains no reform and ties the hands of judges. It will punish nonviolent Americans and compassionate citizens that provide patients with medical marijuana. I would like Rep. [Name] to tell me where s/he stands on this bill. S/he can send a letter to me at [Address] or an e-mail to [Address]. Thank you for your time.”
More Information:
The so-called Drug Sentencing Reform Act has yet to be introduced, but it will do the following:
** Tie the hands of judges by making it harder for them to reduce sentences for non-violent drug offenders. (It does this by expanding the so-called ‘Feeney Amendment’ to apply to drug offenses). This will mean longer sentences for non-violent offenses, with taxpayers like you picking up the cost!
** Mandates that most people on parole, probation or supervised release be subjected to random drug testing, even if their original offense had nothing to do with drugs. (If enacted, thousands of non-violent Americans could be sent to prison for years for smoking marijuana in the privacy of their own home and then failing a drug test.)
** Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to no longer allow lower sentences for non-violent drug offenders that have certain mitigating circumstances (such as being addicted to drugs) or for non-violent drug offenders that made a mistake and are otherwise good citizens.
** Enacts new draconian penalties for growing, distributing, and providing ‘high-potency’ marijuana to others, including medical marijuana – which often has a higher potency to better relieve the suffering of AIDS, Cancer, and other patients. If enacted, this provision will allow the federal government to send more medical marijuana patients and their caregivers to federal prison for years, in some cases decades.
** Read Rep. Souder’s explanation of his bill here (pdf). Our analysis is based on Souder’s explanation and our discussions with congressional staffers.

Side note: If you live in Indiana’s third congressional district, you might start thinking about getting a new representative.

Couple more days before I have time for regular posting again, but I wanted to alert you to this development (via TalkLeft).

Blogging is going to be a little bit light for the next week and a half.
I’m playing the piano for a production of “A Chorus Line” which will be going up Tuesday at 5:30 pm and Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 pm (Nov. 18-20) in Capen Auditorium on the Illinois State University campus. Admission is free. So I’ve been in rehearsal 4-5 hours a night along with regular work for a couple of weeks, and this is the crunch time (and I’ve got to do more practicing on my own).
I’m also hosting a visiting guest artist (Chad Wise of New Millennium Theatre Company) on Saturday, plus doing a theatrical photo shoot for Illinois Wesleyan’s production of “Our Country’s Good” on Monday, and Illinois State’s production of “Pride’s Crossing” on Tuesday (after my performance of “A Chorus Line”). All of this combined with a busy time at work.
I’ll still let you know about any big news that comes up. But if you’re looking for more of a drug war info fix, be sure to check out Last One Speaks – Libby has some great stuff, having just returned from the Drug Policy Alliance Convention. Also, TalkLeft always seems to be on top of breaking news.
Check out some of the links at left and even more here.
When I get some time, I have an addition to make to the Drug War Victims page. It’s a story from some time ago that demands more attention than I can give it now.
Also, I’ve had inquiries as to setting up a forum for other people who have something to say about the drug war, but don’t have their own blog. So I’m going to be planning a more formalized guest rant arrangement. Start writing if you’re so moved, and feel free to send me any submissions you have.

Via Hit and Run comes this excellent article by Fox Butterfield in the New York Times: With Cash Tight, States Reassess Long Jail Terms.

In the past year, about 25 states have passed laws eliminating some of the lengthy mandatory minimum sentences so popular in the 1980’s and 1990’s, restoring early release for parole and offering treatment instead of incarceration for some drug offenders. In the process, politicians across the political spectrum say they are discovering a new motto. Instead of being tough on crime, it is more effective to be smart on crime.

Finally, a new motto: Smart on Crime. We need to hope that it takes root, and do everything we can to promote it.
For decades, we have watched politicians trying to one-up each other in being tough on crime.

Politician A: “I’m tough on crime.”
Politician B: “I’m tougher on crime. My opponent is actually soft on crime”
Politician A: “I’m toughest on crime. I’ve just proposed a bill to increase…”
Politician B: “My opponent’s bill isn’t as tough on crime as my new bill…”

By the time they’ve finished comparing penises, some pot smoker’s getting extended jail time, and we’re paying for it.
We’re buying new prisons; we’re paying for incarceration at a cost of around $24,000 per year per inmate; we’re facing the devastation in families and communities; we’re paying for bloated enforcement regimes; we’re paying in lost rights; in some cases, we’re paying with our lives.
And all because some politicians are afraid to appear flaccid.
But maybe, just maybe, we can convince them that “smart” is sexier than “tough,” and if politicians learn to be smart on crime, we could have some positive changes, because they’ll soon learn that:

• Putting away non-violent drug offenders isn’t being smart on crime.
• Spending more on drug enforcement than drug treatment isn’t being smart on crime.
• Locking up medical marijuana users isn’t being smart on crime.
• Jailing glass pipe makers isn’t being smart on crime.
• One-size-fits-all sentencing minimums isn’t being smart on crime.
• Having the largest prison population in the world isn’t being smart on crime.

Tell your elected officials that you want them to be smart.

Friday, on C-Span, our beloved Minister of Drug Policy Disinformation, a.k.a. the Drug Czar, was given the opportunity to repeat some of his favorite exaggerations, misleading data, and inoperative statements (a.k.a. lies). He also took phone calls.
It was an opportunity to see the Czar in action. He’s got the pitch down pretty smooth, although you could tell he’s not used to speaking in more than sound bites. After the first speech, he started repeating himself, rambling a bit, and interconnecting everything (although that’s an additional part of his bag of tricks).
There were about 4 phone calls divided between republicans and democrats. All of them opposed the current drug policy and John Walters. My favorite caller line:

“Mr. Walters, I think you’re a terrible hypocrite.”

I felt sorry for the callers. With all the crap that they’ve heard from the Drug Czar in so many areas, they finally had the opportunity to face him. The trouble: each caller seemed to try to address everything from medical marijuana to recreational legalization to drug war policies, to industrial hemp in one rambling question. This gave Walters the opportunity to answer any part he wanted and ignore the rest. Again, I understand — I’d probably do the same thing (I’m itching to debate him!)…

You should read What A Wonderful Wasted World by John Gleeson for the Winnipeg Sun

…That’s where a little history can help — in the form of a jazz story.

Something to let Grandma know that Reefer Madness is really Hello, Dolly.

That, yes, Satch was a viper, and his wonderful world was wasted, but it was wonderful all the same.

In the years after the Second World War, Louis Armstrong was bigger than popes or presidents.æ More than a jazz legend, he was the world’s most beloved entertainer — a symbol to war-ravaged Europe of America’s goodness, courage and indomitable cool.

No wonder that at the height of the Cold War the U.S.æ State Department tried repeatedly to send Armstrong and his All Stars to the Soviet Union to play; he was such an American turn-on.

He was also a daily marijuana smoker from about age 27 until his death in July 1971, one month short of his 70th birthday.

“We always looked at pot as a sort of medicine, a cheap drunk and with much better thoughts than one that’s full of liquor,” Armstrong told biographer Max Jones in his last years, when he decided to “tell it like it wuz.”

Armstrong, of course, couldn’t tell it exactly like it wuz.æ He had to deny he was a present user, but he was unequivocal in his praise of “gage,” as he called marijuana.

“We did call ourselves vipers, which could have been anybody from all walks of life that smoked and respected gage,” Armstrong said.æ “One reason we appreciated pot, as y’all calls it now, was the warmth it always brought forth from the other person.

“If we all get as old as Methuselah our memories will always be of lots of beauty and warmth from gage.æ Well, that was my life, and I don’t feel ashamed at all.æ The respect for it will stay with me forever.æ I have every reason to say these words and am proud to say them.æ From experience.”

Armstrong’s experience with marijuana warrants public exposure, because it counters so many clinical stereotypes.

Read the article for more about this extraordinary life. The article concludes:

You can say Armstrong did it to feel good — call it recreational if you like.

Or you can point to the unimaginable poverty of his childhood, the racism of his time, and say he used it as a crutch to take the edge off life’s pain.

You can risk ridicule and say he did it because it helped connect him to the truth as a man and an artist.

You can definitely say it’s too bad he smoked so much — he died of heart failure and, like the late Israel Asper, might have lived on for another decade if he didn’t smoke like a chimney.

But no one can say the mature Armstrong should have been denied his daily muggles — any more than you could deny Asper his daily packs.

They came and went in clouds of smoke.

End of jazz story.

Toronto:

Fareed Ahamad, 41, was charged with trafficking in November, 2001, even though the drug transaction was not his idea, he did not make any money and he believed he was helping a disabled man who appeared to be in pain.

An undercover cop, using a wheelchair for disguise, asks someone on the street to buy him some drugs. The good samaritan, guilty at most of poor judgment, goes into a restaurant and purchases $20 of crack for the apparantly challenged man, and is arrested for his trouble.
Fortunately, last week the judge threw out the charges. Unfortunately, it took two years for the stupid cop trick to be corrected.

Yes, I’ve given this post an alarmist heading, but it is deserved…

Gun-Wielding Cops Conduct Drug Sweep At School: Drug Sweep Finds No Drugs (video available at this link)

Surveillance video from Stratford High School in Goose Creek shows 14 officers, some with guns drawn, ordering students to lie the ground as police searched for marijuana. Students who didn’t comply with the orders quickly enough were reportedly handcuffed.

Police didn’t find any criminals in the armed sweep, but they say search dogs smelled drugs on a dozen backpacks.

Another report:

“Armed police stormed a high school and ordered children to the floor at gunpoint so they could conduct a drugs search, it emerged today.

Officers ran into the South Carolina school, screaming at pupils to lie face down, before rifling through their bags.

No evidence that a crime had been committed. The search was for marijuana. Guns were drawn. Students were put in real jeopardy of their lives. Everyone involved in this terrorist act should be fired, at the very least.
There’s something wrong in this country, when pot smokers are accused of aiding terrorists, and actions like this one are considered acceptable by the government.
More on this at Keith Gottschalk’s Talk Radio Refugee, Crescat Sententia, RandomActOfKindess, TalkLeft, and others.
Update: State investigating high school drug sweep

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. – State police are investigating why officers charged into a crowded high school hallway with guns drawn in a drug sweep.

Charleston-area prosecutor Ralph Hoisington asked the State Law Enforcement Division to look into possible police misconduct in the operation….

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all with law enforcement addressing a problem in a high school, but I have serious concerns about the need for restraining students and drawing weapons,” Hoisington said. “I don’t want to send my child to a school and find out guns are drawn on them. I certainly don’t want them hogtied as part of a sweeping investigation.”…

Graham Boyd, director of the drug policy project for the American Civil Liberties Union, says the search was illegal. “You absolutely cannot bring police with guns drawn into a school,” Boyd said….

Boyd said police have to have individual students suspected of drug activity, then any action taken must target those suspects. He said investigators should have called individual suspected students to the principal’s office to check their bags for drugs.

Good.

Amnesty denounces ‘murder spree’ in Thai war on drugs.

In a report released today, Amnesty, the human rights group, criticises the lack of a credible investigation into the bloodshed unleashed by this year’s official war on drugs.

At least 2,252 people were killed in a three-month anti-drug campaign, yet Thaksin Shinawatra, prime minister, “appeared to condone such killings” with repeated public statements that death was an appropriate fate for drug dealers.

“The stated policy of the royal Thai government has allowed the killing of more than 2,000 people by unknown assailants with impunity,” the report said.

The U.S. government reacted immediately to the horrifying report by taking two dramatic actions…
1. U.S. to seek free trade agreement with Thailand

President Bush recently announced the United States intends to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Thailand.
Eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers is expected to increase U.S. exports — particularly of agricultural goods…

… but presumably not all agricultural goods.
2. The United States is supplying advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs) to Thailand…

“We have no comment on arms deliveries to Thailand,” a tight-lipped US Embassy spokesman said when asked about the air-intercept missiles being delivered.

If the “War on Drugs” cannot be successfully waged while our Bill of Rights remains in force, the problem is not with the Bill of Rights — it’s with the War on Drugs.

(from Tuesday’s editorial “End the Dragnets” in the Las Vegas Review-Journal about a fourth amendment case currently in the Supreme Court.)