Drug WarRant

Senator Durbin to introduce important medical marijuana legislation
Via Talk Left and Marijuana Policy Project:

For the first time ever, a federal law recognizing the validity of state medical marijuana laws will be introduced in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) will introduce the Senate version of the Truth in Trials Act in October. Now is the time for you to write to your U.S. senators urging them to be original cosponsors of this medical marijuana legislation.

Go to MPP and follow the link to send a fax to your Senators asking them to co-sponsor and support this important legislation.
Why is this important? Currently, if you are a medical marijuana user (and legally approved in a state that allows medical use), if you are tried in federal court you are not allowed to even mention the reason you use marijuana or that it’s legal for medical purposes in your state – a horrible travesty of justice. This bill would allow a medical defense.
Once again, I’m proud to have Durbin as my Senator (see Can Congress Get a Clue? (Karen Tandy and the DEA)). If you’re from Illinois, consider giving his office a call at (202) 224-2152 and say thanks. They really appreciate hearing this kind of thing.

The Drug Czar is at it again!
Millions have driven while on drugs – today’s AP story which will soon be appearing in a newspaper near you.

An estimated 11 million Americans, including nearly one in five 21-year-olds, have driven while under the influence of illegal drugs, the government says…

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the statistics show a failure to convince drivers that drugs impair driving as much as alcohol does. His office is kicking off an ad campaign to warn teens about driving while smoking marijuana.

“Marijuana is not the soft drug. Marijuana is not the casual rite of passage,” Walters said at a news conference. “We have been sending the wrong message.”

Notice how he says that the “statistics show a failure to convince drivers that drugs impair driving as much as alcohol does”. Perhaps that’s because, in the case of marijuana, it just isn’t true!

Now, I don’t recommend driving with any kind of impairment, whether it’s drugs, alcohol, fatigue, or using a cell phone. But Walters is distorting the facts once again.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study titled “Marijuana and Actual Driving Performance” (published November, 1993): “THC’s adverse effects on driving performance appear relatively small.” and “Evidence from the present and previous studies strongly suggests that alcohol encourages risky driving whereas THC encourages greater caution.”
According to a 1994 Dutch study on “Marijuana Use And Driving” in real world conditions: “THC’s adverse effects on driving performance appeared relatively small in the tests employed in this program.”
A May 1998 Australian review of 2,500 injured drivers reported that cannabis had “no significant effect” on driving culpability.”
A study conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory in 2000 was reported in the London Times article Cannabis May Make You a Safer Driver.

…researchers found that the mellowing effects of cannabis made drivers more cautious and so less likely to drive dangerously. Although the cannabis affected reaction time in regular users, its effects appear to be substantially less dangerous than fatigue or drinking.”

The study’s author Rob Tunbridge said:

“If you were to ask me to rank them in order of priority, fatigue is the worst killer, followed by alcohol, and drugs follow way behind in third.”

The TRL study was repeated a year later and reported in New Scientist: Alcohol impairs driving more than marijuana, which confirmed that marijuana users, though mildly impaired in certain skills, adjusted by driving more carefully and alertly. The study also indicated that alcohol users gained some of that caution if they smoked marijuana.
According to the Canadian Senate’s exhaustive 2002 report: “Cannabis: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy,” “Cannabis alone, particularly in low doses, has little effect on the skills involved in automobile driving.”
But Walters doesn’t care about the facts. He is pursuing his own agenda.
The Marijuana Policy Project is quite aware that Walters has declared his own war specifically on marijuana – ONDCP Ads Increase Teen Drug Use: Focus on Marijuana Ignores Problem of More Dangerous Drugs

“The Office of National Drug Control Policy is trying to change the topic with the new teen driving safety campaign,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. “By no means do we support anyone, particularly teens, driving under the influence of marijuana or other drugs, but ONDCP’s continued focus on marijuana above all other drugs has made the problem worse. By concentrating on anti-marijuana scare tactics that are proven not to work and may even increase teen marijuana use, ONDCP is ignoring the increasing use of truly dangerous drugs like cocaine and heroin.”

So when you see Walters spouting this in your local paper, you know what to do. Write a letter to the editor and give them the truth. Go to MAP for help in doing it.

Toward the day the dying stops!
DoneZone sent me this useful article about the safe-injection site which opened in Vancouver on Monday.

It’s designed to give drug users a safer alternative to shooting up in dark and dirty alleys in the Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver’s chief medical health officer, Dr. John Blatherwick, says critics opposed to the site need to look at the bigger picture.

“The reason people should care is people are dying.”

Naturally, the U.S. Drug Czar is butting in with uninformed opinion:

“I think that the advocates of this have to twist the truth”

This from the ultimate truth twister. Why does the Canadian media continue to even include quotes from him about their policies?
If you’re interested in the research behind the site, check out this study (pdf). Also, UNDUN: Unified Networkers of Drug Users Nationally is worth a look.
Update: Check out today’s post at Rehash for more on this.
Another Update: Doug has a response to John Walters.

Oh Canada!
A little clarification is in order regarding marijuana laws and the courts in Canada. A British Columbian judge has now ruled that current marijuana possession laws are invalid, joining judges in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, while judges in Alberta and Saskatchewan have ruled the other way. Once the Supreme Court rules, this may all be straightened out.

In the meantime, this map may help you with your travel plans.

How’s your Latin?
I’ve decided to add a little quiz (probably about once a week). First one: translate these latin phrases that relate to the drug war. First one to leave correct translations in the comments wins… the satisfaction of being the first one. I’ll try to come up with better prizes later.

Update: Desert Cat wins the prize!

Signs of Hope in Drug War Destruction
Despite the moralizing and iron fist of the U.S. drug war cheerleaders (led by Drug Czar John Walters), marijuana is emerging as a chink in the warriors’ armor in a variety of places.
Canada: Senate recommends complete legalization. Administration and legislature dithers. Courts step in. Marijuana is legal (temporarily, kind of, some places). Sky doesn’t fall. Confused? Still confused? Even more confused?
Netherlands: Pot already available in coffee shops, now sold in pharmacies.
Alaska: Privacy rules. Possession of up to four ounces in your home is ruled a constitutional right.
Seattle, Washington: Citizens prepare to vote on Initiative 75, which would make marijuana arrests the lowest priority. Drug Czar has a fit (using tax funds).
England: Along with reclassifying marijuana, police are given new guidelines on marijuana to take effect in January, involving a “presumption against arrest.” Check out the Media Awareness Project focus alert.
In a Zogby poll conducted last month in New Hampshire, 84 percent of voters said they supported changing federal law to allow patients to use medicinal marijuana without fear of arrest.
Interesting times. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Drug War News Round-up
“Decriminalizing Pot a Good First Step” is an outstanding OpEd by Barney Sneiderman in today’s Winnipeg Free Press:

When the state resolves to prohibit any conduct, it should have the burden of proving why the heavy hand of the criminal law is called for.æ Surely it cannot be up to the individual to prove why the conduct in question should not be criminalized….

…the use of drugs for recreational purposes is so widespread across cultures that the very notion of a War on Drugs is a war upon human nature.æ We would do well to pay heed to the Dutch policy on drugs — the pillar of which is called “harm reduction.” Although as in Canada, the Dutch Penal Code bans drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, they do not enforce the provision against possession for personal use.æ The rationale is as follows.æ If anyone’s use of an illicit drug is not harmful, there is no reason for state intervention.æ If the drug is being abused, the arm of the state to invoke is not law enforcement, but rather public health.æ Moreover, the Dutch understand that they will sooner get abusers into treatment programs if they treat them as patients.æ In short, their policy is designed to reduce harm by adopting a health approach as opposed to compounding the harm of drug abuse itself by branding the drug taker as a criminal.

“Your Brain on Bad Science” — More on how science is perverted by the government in its effort to prove its case, in a follow-up today in the LA Weekly on the ecstasy research scandal.

According to some scientists, Ricaurte, who gets substantial grant money from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( NIDA ), has often omitted data that might undermine his case that even low or occasional doses of MDMA can cause brain damage — an argument that has been used to halt potentially significant research into MDMA’s therapeutic applications.

“Two Suits Filed Over Police No-Knock Raids at Wrong Homes” in yesterday’s New York Times.

“I really thought that I would die that day,” Ms. Rogers said…

“…the lawyer who filed both suits yesterday, Norman Siegel, said that in recent years the department has increasingly relied on the no-knock warrants that permit the surprise entries. He said police data showed that officers search more than 460 addresses every month in the city, and that the vast majority of those searches were conducted under warrants that permitted the no-knock entries.

“Bush Administration Should Stop Picking on the Terminally Ill” by law professor Phyllis Coleman (yesterday, AScribe Newswire)

…Now back to why the federal government wants it this way.

1. They claim no proof exists that marijuana is beneficial. It’s true there isn’t much data. Know why? The only legal use of Schedule I drugs is federally approved research. But the federal government won’t approve such experiments. Makes you understand how Alice felt gazing up from that rabbit hole.

2. Another argument is that marijuana is illegal, even for medicinal purposes. Whose fault is that? Remember, the Controlled Substance Act was passed to prevent drug abuse and trafficking. But if physicians prescribe marijuana, they will limit its use. And if restrictions on obtaining it are removed, trafficking should not be a problem.

3. There is also the claim that marijuana is not safe. Consider who is eligible for such prescriptions. The primary group is those with end-stage cancer. Chemotherapy, the usual treatment, is poison. Other beneficiaries would be HIV/AIDS patients for whom commonly ordered drugs also are toxic. Notably, neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Ashcroft appear to object to these drugs.

4. Finally, some argue marijuana doesn’t make sick people better. Neither does morphine. They both make patients feel better rather than cure them.

Thus, again the question of why the Bush administration is taking on the terminally ill.

Kind of makes you wonder what they’ve been smoking.

This week’s “Drug War Chronicle” has even more excellent information on the ecstasy study controversy, and “Drug Sense Weekly” has a recap of the week’s drug war news.
Update: Reader Jay Allen has more on the ecstasy study on his site.

Chong’s Bongs Long to Belong
Followup to yesterday’s story: NORML has an action page where you can easily drop a line to complain to Congress about the waste of law enforcement resources going after drug paraphernalia, and ask that Tommy Chong be freed. Go there now. It’s really easy, and this is a great way to tell Congress about the excesses of the drug war.
No, really. Do it now. I’ll wait…

Chong Bong Gone Wrong

Thanks to Tim Cavanaugh at Hit and Run, I learned that Tommy Chong has been sentenced today to nine months for selling bongs online.
This is the first sentencing coming out of the federal government’s Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter in February, which involved over 2,000 law enforcement officers, plus multiple federal, state, and local agencies.
Through their intensive investigation, they were actually able to discover companies that manufactured and sold glass pipes and other devices that were being sold online.
Of course, they could have also found these companies by spending 5 minutes with Google. You see, paraphernalia has always been a bit of a grey area, in that many items can be used for multiple purposes. A pipe can be used to smoke tobacco. In the past, those who manufactured and sold these items got along fine as long as they didn’t promote drug use with their products.

However, the administration decided to change the interpretation — not through a public information campaign, but through a massive bust involving over 50 arrests, seizures of glass art and websites, and loss of jobs (including Chong’s business). If you’d like to know more about Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter, check out Jesse Katz’s July article in Rolling Stone: “White House Tries to Ban Bongs”. It’s a very good piece on the subject.
A recent study showed that over 19 million Americans used illegal drugs last year. Clearly, this major effort by the government is another attempt to stop drug use.
So I asked my friend George how this affected him:

“Well, you know, I like to toke up a little on the weekends, particularly when I’m watching the Sci-fi channel. But now that you can’t buy bongs, I guess I won’t be able to anymore. It really sucks, ’cause I’ve got a whole ounce of BC Bud that I’m going to have to throw out.
“But hey, I understand. They’ve gotta fight those terrorists, and I heard there’s some kind of connection there. I guess the terrorists use the bongs for, uh, something.”

The government’s plan must be working! I then asked George to say the title of this post four times fast, but he refused.
Perhaps the definitive quote on this subject comes from “One War Or Another – It’s Bongs Over Baghdad” in the Toronto Star:

At the end of the day, “Operation Pipe Dreams,” as the crackdown was creatively named, did nothing more than screw up the lives and livelihoods of several dozen entrepreneurs and provide the authorities with an elaborate media stunt to disguise the fact that they’re not doing their real job.

To help all those drug users who no longer can smoke their pot, I am going to break the law and offer special marijuana pipes online. DEA, come and get me.

These pot paraphernalia pipes are pictured at right. Now, some people say that these items can be used for bizarre purposes like eating, making pies, or target practice for expert archers. But I’m here to tell you that their purpose is for smoking pot.
So, here is the link to purchase your own Apple Pipes.

(Note: some assembly required, pen shaft and aluminum foil screen not included)

Welcome, M.A.S.H.

Tonight was the first meeting this year of M.A.S.H. (Mobilizing Students and Activists for Hemp), a student group at Illinois State University (I am their advisor).
Organizations like this are extremely important for spreading the word about the travesties in the war on (some) drugs, and it looks like we’ve got a good group this year. If you’re in the area and want to get involved, let me know and I’ll get you connected with the officers (the group’s a bit web-impaired right now, although we hope that will change).
So I’d like to welcome all the members of M.A.S.H. to Drug WarRant. Good to have you here. Add a comment or drop me a line. A few things you might be interested in checking out:

• The economic report I prepared last year with the help of M.A.S.H. is available here.
• The July action in Congress regarding medical marijuana is reported here.
• The hemp bars we had tonight at the meeting were from Ruth’s Hemp Foods.
• The information I mentioned about marijuana being legal for private possession in the home in Alaska is available here.
• For an great national organization for student activists in the war on drugs, check out Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.
• Some excellent reference material on Cannabis is available at Vaults of Erowid.
• For historical background on Hemp, there are a ton of interesting articles at The Schaffer Library of Drug Policy