Thursday, September 25, 2003

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.  Miles said, adding that an ensuing search revealed multiple plastic and hockey bags full of marijuana. I have three responses to this story... Why is the United States taking in other countries' garbage? Don't we have enough? 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. Maybe it was, in fact, all trash. What they found in the truck might have been Health Canada's pot. 9:41:32 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

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.  Dalterio cited Austin, Texas, as a living example.  It's a place full of old hippies "stuck in the '60s," she said.  "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. 9:24:19 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

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: He agrees with Bennett, which makes his views unacceptable. 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. 9:00:32 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []