Monday, April 26, 2004

Today's must-reads Eric Schlosser's Make Peace with Pot, in the New York Times today. The current war on marijuana is a monumental waste of money and a source of pointless misery.  America's drug warriors, much like its marijuana smokers, seem under the spell of a powerful intoxicant.  They are not thinking clearly.  Daniel Forbes' The Drug War Includes Fixing Elections, today at LewRockwell.com With two federal watchdog agencies freeing the White House drug czar to overtly influence state ballot initiatives, the Senate is poised to reauthorize this anti-democratic exercise for the next five years -- the wheels greased by a ten-year total of $4 billion in taxpayer-funded advertising designed to sway the votes of those who pay for it. 11:01:48 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

War on Drugs hurting U.S. asparagus farmers Thanks to T Chris at TalkLeft and a tip of the hat to Jeff: This New York Times Article points out: To reduce the flow of cocaine into this country by encouraging farmers in Peru to grow food instead of coca, the United States in the early 1990's started to subsidize a year-round Peruvian asparagus industry, and since then American processing plants have closed and hundreds of farmers have gone out of business. ... "We've created this booming asparagus industry in Peru, resulting in the demise of a century-old industry in America," said Alan Schreiber, director of the Washington Asparagus Commission. "And I've yet to hear anyone from the government tell me with a straight face that it has reduced the amount of cocaine coming into this country." ... "We're a victim of the drug war," said Mr. McKay, 73. "It seems like we still got plenty of cocaine coming into this country, but now we got cheap asparagus as well." So, we're using our taxpayer money to pay farmers in another country to undercut our own farmers, in an effort to prevent them from growing... "The irony is that they didn't plow under the coke to plant asparagus in Peru," said John Bakker, executive director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. "If you look at that industry in Peru and where it's growing, it has nothing to do with coca leaf growers becoming normal farmers. Coca leaf is grown in the highlands. The asparagus is near sea level." Oh yeah, that policy makes about as much sense as all our drug war policies. 9:00:03 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Life on the Outside Check out this Mother Jones review by Debra J. Dickerson of Jennifer Gonnerman's book, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett (Thanks to David for the tip). Because of New York's Rockefeller drug laws, Elaine's childish irresponsibility cost her 20 to life, Nathan's defeatist chivalry a minimum 25. These two self-destructive fools were treated like drug kingpins, yet they couldn't even afford lawyers. (Meanwhile, George Deets, the insatiable addict whose drug ring was responsible for a biweekly kilo of cocaine on New York's streets, remained not only free but well paid by the police and with his inventory restocked.) Sixteen years later, as a result of ever-increasing calls to overturn mandatory minimums for low-level offenders, Bartlett experiences the only stroke of luck in her benighted life: She receives clemency from Governor George Pataki, leaves Bedford Hills prison, and returns home to New York City as a poster child for sentencing reform. It's all downhill from there. Gonnerman wryly subtitled this book about life after long-term incarceration a "prison odyssey" because, as Bartlett soon realizes, she's simply "left one prison to come home to another." One in the flood of 600,000 prisoners released each year from our 30-year incarceration boom, Bartlett returns to an overcrowded, filthy project apartment and the four children who have grown up in her absence. TalkLeft points out another review by Elaine Cassel. Both reviews are good, and the book itself is going on my must-read list. 8:38:42 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Tommy Chong Bong Song Thanks to Scott for pointing out this delightful ditty (mp3 file), which includes the lyrics: We can't find Bin Laden and we're stuck in Iraq but we got Tommy Chong under key and lock. Tommy Chong. Serving 9 months in prison for selling bongs. To you i sing this song. Tommy Chong. ... Gotta turn around this world of hate and educate instead of incarcerate 8:18:12 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []