Drug WarRant

The DEA is becoming more anachronistic every day, and yet it has tremendous power and has historically been almost completely unaccountable.

They’re fighting hard now, though, to maintain their position. They know that without marijuana as part of their scope, they couldn’t get close to the same amount of budget they have now.

DEA Chief: Marijuana Legalization Just’Makes Us Fight Harder’

Wolf then asked Leonhart whether DEA agents have been feeling demoralized as a result of the legalization.

“Actually, it makes us fight harder,” Leonhart replied.

Leonhart also implied that voters in Washington and Colorado had been misled about the benefits of legalizing marijuana. […]

Leonhart claimed that Mexican drug cartels are “setting up shop” in Washington and Colorado in anticipation of a black market. “Whatever the price will be set in Washington and Colorado, criminal organizations are ready to come in and sell cheaper,” Leonhart said. She claimed that many marijuana shops get their supplies from growing operations controlled by cartels.

The DEA administrator also referred to efforts in the Netherlands to prevent foreign tourists from obtaining marijuana, saying that it showed the country was having second thoughts about its marijuana policies. That change, she said, should have served as a warning to the United States.

“We should’ve learned from that and never gone forward with what we’ve seen in this country,” Leonhart said.

It’s really pathetic.

Oh, yeah, and she tried to get animal lovers on her side…

DEA Chief: Please, Think Of The Dogs Before You Legalize Pot

“There was just an article last week, and it was on pets. It was about the unanticipated or unexpected consequences of this, and how veterinarians now are seeing dogs come in, their pets come in, and being treated because they’ve been exposed to marijuana,” Leonhart said. […]

Leonhart was referencing a story in USA Today which noted that the effects of marijuana could make it more difficult for a dog to breathe or vomit up a product that could kill them, like butter. The USA Today article noted, however, that on its own “marijuana itself isn’t particularly harmful to dogs,” and that dogs typically won’t eat marijuana by itself.

This is the quality of testimony from the head of the DEA to Congress.

I just finished giving a budget presentation in my organization to upper administration. I would never even think of presenting material so ridiculously weak and self-serving in one of my presentations. I’d probably be fired if I did.

The shame of equitable sharing

Nationwide, the Wall Street Journal reported the federal government scored $1 billion in forfeiture from marijuana cases over the past decade.

Legalization now threatens that forfeiture revenue for the police departments that have relied on it. Legal cannabis and the subsequent drop in forfeiture have already caused one drug task force in Washington to cut its budget by 15 percent. That’s great news for due process and property rights.

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I was so impressed by this: United States Withdraws Radar Assistance in Honduras

The US Embassy in Tegucigalpa today confirmed that the Obama administration has decided to suspend radar assistance that helps the Honduran government detect narco-planes. The decision follows the creation of the Law on Protection of Airspace, which authorizes the Honduran Air Force to shoot down any aircraft in its airspace that is suspected of being used by drug traffickers.

Wow, I thought. Has the U.S. finally learned the lesson from the deaths of Veronica and Charity Bowers?

And then I read…

According to officials, the concern was because in some cases, these “narcoavionetas” could be undercover agents of U.S. intelligence.

Ah.

Our School of Theatre is currently producing “The Exonerated” by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen — a play based on the true stories of six exonerated death row inmates.

I saw it tonight – a very powerful and moving performance with outstanding performances by our student actors. I saw it before in New York, but this production still hit me hard.

In conjunction with this production, the hallways are filled with birds — each one representing an exonerated prisoner.

One of the important messages of the play is that it’s easy for people to sit back and delude themselves that this kind of injustice can’t happen, or that it’s not their job to fix… but you can’t do that.

Important stuff.

This isn’t particularly unusual, yet it still caught my eye:

Chiefs of police oppose marijuana legalization, expansion of dispensaries

The Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police issued a statement in March saying it opposes expanding the availability of marijuana in Vermont.

Police believe their concerns about health risks, highway safety and employment issues related to marijuana have been ignored by the governor and lawmakers.

Why are the Chiefs of Police attempting to advise the governor and lawmakers on issues of health in the state? Why are the Chiefs of Police advising the governor and lawmakers on issues of employment in the state? Doesn’t anyone in the media or in government question this?

It’s absurd. We don’t have the heads of the postal service in their official capacity expressing concerns about the effect of policies on farming.

Highway safety? Sure. Go ahead and knock yourself out. But bring the facts, not just scare tactics.

I don’t really know if there’s an actual good way to use television commercials to get somebody to not do something. Yet, they keep trying.

My new favorite is this anti-smoking commercial.

http://youtu.be/Fnhe9RW9n3Q

Apparently smoking cigarettes is just like owning a dog.

Legislators Ask Why Mexicans Should Die Over A Drug the U.S. is Legalizing

Good question.

“Why is it that Mexico has to keep filling up with dead bodies and addicts, when in the United States the drug is becoming legal?” Delgado said in an interview with The Huffington Post.

The federal bill would legalize possession of up to 30 grams of weed, permit the use of medical marijuana and make it legal to grow the plant. The national proposal is designed to work in conjunction with a bill filed to the Mexico City council that would go a step further by legalizing outlets where people could legally buy weed from a government-certified independent vendor.

Guy W. Farmer: Government turns blind eye to pot dangers

This one has all the fun stuff, including Kevin Sabet and John Walters.

Marijuana raid in Bates County illustrates the evolution of an issue

Yes, the times are changing. We still have a long way to go, but such thinking was unimaginable a few short years ago.

Louisiana committee OK’s doubling heroin mandatory minimums

“Make it severe. Make people understand, ‘You do heroin, you’re going to do time.'” — Louisiana Sheriff Association Executive Director Michael Ranatza

“I’ve got to support this bill and the reason I’ve got to support it is I think it’s a preventative measure.” — state Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

We haven’t hit on this for a while…

Policymic has an article: 14 Songs That Should Probably Be the Anthem for Marijuana Legalization

There are some good ones there, but I don’t know that I’d agree with all of them.

Noticeably missing is Fats Waller’s excellent rendition of “If You’re a Viper (the Reefer Song).” This recording was specifically a jab at Harry Anslinger, who had just announced a campaign to go after swing bands…

“Hey cats. It’s 4 o’clock in the morning… Here we are in Harlem. Everybody’s here but the police, and they’ll be here any minute. It’s high time, so catch this song. Here it tis…

I dreamed about a reefer, five feet long. A Mighty Mezz, but not too strong. You’ll be high, but not for long, if you’re a viper.”

The term “viper” came from the sound of pulling on a joint.

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Also, while it doesn’t count as a song for a legalization anthem, it’s hard to talk about the awareness of marijuana in this country without mentioning Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi1sBwV1-tU

I’ve seen a lot of statements from the usual prohibition-types that goes something like: “Every country that has legalized marijuana has found it to be a disaster and reversed course.” Naturally, that’s absurd on its face since no country has fully legalized marijuana except Uruguay and that’s still being implemented.

But what they’re really trying to say is that the Netherlands has found that they don’t like “legalization” (decriminalization) and are trying to undo the policy.

Steve Rolles at Transform points out that it’s nonsense. Cannabis policy in the Netherlands: moving forwards, not backwards

Misunderstandings and misreporting of actual and proposed changes to Dutch cannabis policy in 2011 have led some opponents of cannabis reform to suggest the country is retreating from its longstanding and pragmatic policy of tolerating the possession, use and sale of cannabis.

This is not the case. In reality, most of the more regressive measures have either not been implemented, have been subsequently abandoned, or have had only marginal impacts. Additionally, there is growing public support for wider, progressive reform, including a system of legal cannabis regulation similar to that adopted in Uruguay, and efforts are underway by numerous municipalities to establish such models of production and supply.

The article goes on to spell out the details.

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I wonder what it must be like to live your life in such a way that you desperately hope that a policy of liberty will lead to mass destruction, sky-falling, and regret.