Wednesday, December 3, 2003

High quality training for the future: How to pee in a cup. According to WBBM newsradio Beginning next fall, St. Patrick's High School, on the northwest side, will become the first in Illinois to require drug tests of ALL its students. A number of public schools require students who participate in extra-curricular activities to undergo drug testing, but are barred by Supreme Court ruling from extending such tests to all students. Principal Joseph Schmidt said he considers the all-boys school, at 5900 W. Belmont Av., the "catalyst" in Illinois for universal testing. 11:48:13 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Idiot Congressman and his ignorant Press Secretary In the Washington Post: Marijuana Ad On Metro Infuriates Lawmaker. You may remember my reporting on Change the Climate's ad campaign. Well, Oklahoma Representative Ernest Istook really didn't like it. So.. This week, Istook inserted into a bill language that would cut Metro's funds by $92,500 and prohibit any transit system that receives federal funds from running advertising from a group that wants to decriminalize marijuana. Keep in mind that Metro was following policy in accepting the ad and would have had to fight a first amendment battle to deny it. However, Istook doesn't seem to understand that part of it. Why can't we require that when public officials swear to uphold the constitution, they're required to actually read it? The most ignorant statement came from Istook's press secretary: "Metro is using taxpayer facilities to promote illegal activity," said Micah Swafford, Istook's press secretary. This boggles the mind! First, Metro didn't promote illegal activity, they accepted an ad as required by policy. Second, Change the Climate didn't promote illegal activity, they advocated a change in the law. If that qualifies as illegal activity in taxpayer facilities, then Istook is guilty of it every day he's in the House of Representatives. You can contact Ernest Istook or Micah Swafford by email. If you live in Oklahoma 5th district, Istook is up for re-election in 2004. 11:32:03 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Is professional science losing its integrity? There was plenty of reporting of the bad science by Ricaurte - the "oops we used the wrong drug" that ended up causing more bad law regarding ecstacy. It's nice to see that the issue isn't being dropped. This excellent New York Times piece brings the issue back to the forefront and seriously questions all of Ricaurte's work, and points out that some in the scientific community are concerned about this trend. Ron Bailey, in a Reason Online article takes it a step further and calls for an investigation into the peer review process and the possible co-option of Science into the drug war. 11:06:01 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []