Drug WarRant

From Drug Policy Alliance: Please read this post and be prepared to call your Congressman tomorrow (Tuesday).

In a last minute effort to keep money and power flowing through the Drug Czar’s office, House leadership are playing political games to push a bill that would re-authorize funding for failed ‘drug war’ programs. Just scheduled for tomorrow (September 30th), the vote is clearly designed to keep opponents from voicing alarm. They’re also trying to bring the bill up under a process known as “suspension of the rules” which limits debate to less than an hour and prohibits Representatives from offering amendments to improve the bill.

The drug war bill (HR 2086), known as the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act, provides five more years of funding for the Drug Czar’s office and its campaign to arrest drugs users. Already, the Drug Policy Alliance has worked with a number of groups to remove as many of the extreme provisions from the bill as we could. But the bill still authorizes the White House to spend over a billion dollars on anti-drug television ads – the same ads ridiculed by the public and shown to be ineffective by the government’s own studies. It also contains no protections to ensure that the drug czar cannot use taxpayer money to campaign against state medical marijuana ballot measures he personally doesn’t like.

If only 146 (out of 435) Representatives vote against the bill the House will be forced to bring the bill up under a more democratic process that will allow amendments to improve it.

Call before 6pm (EST) on Tuesday. Tell the receptionist, “I’m calling to urge my Representative to vote against HR 2086 when it comes up under suspension of the rules. Among other things, HR 2086 allows the drug czar to spend taxpayer money to influence local and state elections. By voting no, the Representative can ensure that the bill will be brought up under a process that allows amendments to improve it.”
Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard for free at 1-800-839-5276. (They can also tell you who your Representative is if you’re not sure. You can also find out who your Representative is at the Drug Policy Action Center.

A cowboy hero rides into the sunset
Howard Woolridge and his one-eyed horse Misty are nearing the end of a 3,100 mile journey across the United States to promote drug policy reform. The trek started in Savannah, Georgia and will end on the coast in Newport, Oregon.
This former police officer rides with a homemade T-shirt that reads:

“Cops Say Legalize Pot. Ask Me Why.”

Woolridge was a detective for 15 years and is now retired. He is a founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
A nice article in today’s Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal presented some of Howard’s views:

“Law enforcement is a mosquito on the rear end of an elephant,” Wooldridge said. “We make zero difference whether you or your community are going to have drugs or not.”
He goes so far as to say that marijuana should be right there on store shelves with Jack Daniels, Budweiser and cigarettes.

Howard has gotten his drug reform message across in a casual way by striking up conversations with people he meets on his journey (and those who ask about his T-shirt):

The subject of legalizing drugs knocked Wendy Slonecker, who has two teen-age children at home, right out of her comfort zone this week. Although she didn’t agree with everything Wooldridge said, she had to admit that some of his arguments made sense.

She has a feeling that the man she just met is going to make a difference and wouldn’t be surprised to see him someday lobbying in Washington, D.C., upon the saddle of Misty.

“We aren’t winning the war against drugs,” Slonecker said. “Something has to happen.”

This is why I call Howard a hero. It takes this kind of individual contact to eventually turn around our failed drug war. Howard is reaching people, one at a time, and making a lasting impression. It may not seem like Wendy Slonecker was completely convinced, but that’s because there are decades of ingrained propaganda and misconceptions to fight off.
I challenge you… If you read this blog and feel that something needs to change, make a difference. I know you don’t have time to ride across the country (although it sounds delightful to me). But, pick a person — a friend or relative or co-worker — and talk to them about the drug war. Just have a nice friendly discussion, and express your views. If they come up with questions you can’t answer, email me, and I’ll try to help. Don’t expect an overnight change, but plant the seed. Let me know how it works — I’d love to post some more success stories here.
With 80 miles to go in his journey, Howard Woolridge left Salem, Oregon this morning and will be heading up Route 20 through Albany, Corvallis and Philomath on his way to Newport. If you’re in the area, I’m sure he and Misty would love to see you. Or visit his little site: America on Horseback.

Another Victim of the Drug War — Severe Pain Care

“Something is terribly wrong with the way some criminal justice authorities have begun to enforce the law against physicians and pharmacists who prescribe and dispense high dose opioids to treat chronic pain. The necessary balance in pain policy… has tipped drastically in the direction of ruthless drug control and away from compassionate collaboration. This is a recent development. The past five years has generated an unprecedented list of health care providers charged with murder for allegedly providing inappropriately large quantities of opioids to pain patients.”

— Dr. David Brushwood, Mayday Scholar with the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, September 4, 2003

That’s the beginning of a disturbing article in this week’s Drug War Chronicle.

Dr. Deborah Bordeaux used to be a pain management specialist. Now she’s a convicted felon facing a 100-year prison sentence as a drug dealer. Bordeaux was arrested when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and South Carolina law enforcement raided the Myrtle Beach clinic where she once prescribed opioids to severely ill patients… And there are more, a growing number of physicians indicted and sometimes convicted of being drug traffickers but who say they were only doing what was best for patients.

In some cases, doctors are even being charged with murder when terminally ill patients receiving pain medication die. The result is that more and more doctors are afraid to prescribe appropriate dosages of pain medication, and patients suffer.
The Pain Relief Network (PRN) is a new organization which has formed to fight for patients’ right to pain care. Their site notes:

The DEA reports that 410 doctors were prosecuted in 2002, representing an 800% increase in physician prosecutions over the last three years. American citizens, as a result, by the thousands are being forced into suicide by untreated pain.

The PRN has taken the unusual step of asking the FDA to quit cooperating with the Justice Department in classifying drugs under the Controlled Substances Act.

PRN’s [Executive Director Siobhan] Reynolds told the FDA committee the process was fraught with mischief since the Justice Department, through its prosecutions of physicians, had proven it was not interested in the scientific or medical evidence.

As a followup, the Drug War Chronicle notes a breaking story:

Retired McLean, Virginia, pain specialist Dr. William Hurwitz was arrested Wednesday morning and sits in jail pending a Monday bail hearing after being indicted on federal charges related to his use of high doses of opioid pain relievers in the course of his medical practice. A 49-count indictment charges the nationally known specialist with drug trafficking resulting in death and serious injury, engaging in a criminal enterprise, conspiracy and health care fraud. The most serious charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The drug warriors have continually shown that they have no respect for those who are seriously ill, through their harrassment of terminally ill medical marijuana patients, through their attempts to prevent doctors from discussing medical options, through their suppression of medical research and through intimidating doctors into underprescribing for pain.

My 2nd Illinois Senate Candidate elimination…
Estella Johnson-Hunt (D)
OK, sometimes it’s just too easy. Sure, I admire the fact that Ms. Johnson-Hunt wrote “Hail To Thee, Chicago.” I am, uh, intrigued by her plans to require the state song at all official and school functions, to “introduce legislation requiring removal of fashion labels from the necks of garments,” to modify the 5th amendment to allow double jeopardy, and to “help develop and enforce stronger moral/dress code standards for performers’ attire and language on regular television programs and for on-duty employees in public places (no transparent/tight fitting clothing, exposed cleavage, or mini lengths).”
She is also a fan of mandatory drug and alcohol testing for a variety of people, and “Increased law enforcement efforts… that will result in capture and punishment of producers and suppliers of illegal drugs.”
If we can just arrest enough people, we’ll get rid of that pesky drug problem… So I guess we can eliminate Estella from consideration for a Drug WarRant endorsement.
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Is It Live, Or Is It Happy Furry Puppy Story Time?
Welcome, and thanks for the link to “Drug War Rant: Give me a hit off that gravity bong or give me death!”

Guest rant
Look, it’s this simple. Drugs are evil. And yet there are people in this country calling for legalization of marijuana. Why send a message to children that intoxication is a birthright? Do you think it’s right for children to be hooked on heroin?
It’s just anti-American. You’re hurting your country. It’s simple logic.
Drug are a crime against humanity. And they support terrorism. Some of these individuals are of Russian and Georgian descent and have Middle Eastern ties.
Why are so many Americans blind to the truth? Possibly because they’re too high to see it. If nobody sold drugs, there would be no drug problem. And that’s no spin. Now some people point to the fact that the Netherlands has a lower rate of marijuana use than the United States. Well, that’s because Holland has a smaller population! We need to send the Marines to the Mexican border and stop this once and for all. If you do the crime, you’d better be prepared to do the time.
And to the guy who writes this Drug WarRant blog… you’re a pinhead. Shut up!

[Note: this blog is participating in “Talk like Bill O’Reilly Day.”]

What is Canada sending US?
MARIJUANA DISCOVERED IN GARBAGE HEADED FOR U.S.
What?
That’s right. A garbage truck, delivering garbage from Canada to the United States was discovered to be smuggling marijuana.
The driver, who was arrested, clearly has something to learn about hiding marijuana in a garbage truck.

“Upon opening the rear of the garbage truck, a plastic garbage bag filled with marijuana fell out,” Ms.æ Miles said, adding that an ensuing search revealed multiple plastic and hockey bags full of marijuana.

I have three responses to this story…

1. Why is the United States taking in other countries’ garbage? Don’t we have enough?
2. We want your solid waste, but don’t you dare send any of those green plants that can provide excellent medicine or nutrition and make people happy. We don’t want any of that trash crap leafy plant material.
3. Maybe it was, in fact, all trash. What they found in the truck might have been Health Canada’s pot.

When scientists go bad
The Billings Gazette gave a free pass to the DEA’s Big Sky Illicit Drug Conference, by giving lots of article space to failed researcher and professional DEA shill Susan Dalterio. Her claim to fame is over 10 years of research on stoned mice with highly disputed results so that even NIDA cut off her funding back in 1982.
She now teaches biology and goes around the country spouting such scientific pronouncements as:

People who smoke pot tend to have the same emotional maturity level as when they first smoked a joint, she said.æ Dalterio cited Austin, Texas, as a living example.æ It’s a place full of old hippies “stuck in the ’60s,” she said.æ “They’re interesting, but they’re still stuck.”

The article has so many factual errors or outright lies that it’s not worth giving a full point-by-point response. Most of them are already addressed elsewhere in this blog.
Articles like this just make me tired.

Jack Ryan for Senate? No.
I’ve got to admit I haven’t started looking over the Illinois Senatorial candidates yet, so I really don’t know anything about them. I plan at a later date to do a little research on their views regarding the drug war. However…
I’m ready to make my first elimination, based totally on guilt by association.
Steve Neal of the Chicago Sun Times reports that Ryan is a fan of William Bennett. According to Neal:

[Bennett] is breathlessly touted by the Ryan campaign as ”one of America’s most important, influential and respected voices on cultural, political, and education issues”; ”one of the nation’s most prominent political figures,” and an ”extraordinary influence on America’s political and social landscape.”

In actuality, William Bennett is a moralist and one of the chief cheerleaders of the war on drugs, a former drug czar, and mentor to current drug czar John Walters. He is a compulsive gambler who constantly appears on TV to preach about others’ vices.
Now I hate to nail Jack Ryan (as a Clancy fan I love the name) simply by association, but in this case, there are only two options:

1. He agrees with Bennett, which makes his views unacceptable.
2. He’s praising Bennett and inviting Bennett to his fundraiser without knowing about him, which makes him too stupid.

Read the entire Neal article for more about William Bennett.

Lucrative New Markets
This New York Times article via Hit and Run (in case you didn’t know, New York has high cigarette taxes):

“A lot of people who were selling pot or heroin are now selling cigarettes,” said a 25-year-old struggling actor from East Harlem who said that he needs to dabble in cigarette dealing to make ends meet. “You can make the same amount of money,” he said, “and you don’t get locked away as long.”

What should be most startling about this news item to the drug warriors is that, despite billions of dollars spent on interdiction and extremely oppressive drug laws in New York, illicit drug supply and dealer market competition are vigorous enough to make the switch to illegal tobacco sales economically attractive.
But then again, the drug warriors clearly slept during economics class, since they don’t understand supply and demand or elasticity.

(Plagiarizing myself from Hit and Run’s comments)