Wednesday, June 30, 2004

My life. My decision In today's Salt Lake Tribune comes a story that makes me do something truly rare ... ...praise the government for something they're doing in the drug war. Now, before you get all concerned for my mental health, I'd better point out that the good thing the government is doing came about by accident. Brigham Young University professor Douglas McKinlay had his advertising class work on developing new ads. He contacted Ogilvy & Mather, who gave them the anti-drug creative brief "'just for fun' and to nurture new talent." The homework assignment, which called for a positive anti-drug message, impressed Ogilvy & Mather (and the Drug Czar's office) so much that they're going to go with the ads in a special "Scan Me" campaign to start soon. Here's an example. BYU students wrote, designed and produced a series of ads, such as this one. The text reads, "You scan me: You think I'm just another pot-smoking teenager. Well, you are wrong. I'm an artist, a therapist, and the last time I took a hit was in kickboxing. Drugs aren't me. My life. My decision." (Courtesy of Brigham Young University) Note that this ad is positive, affirming, and gives the power to the young person. No preaching, no lies. Compare this to the usual advertising approach: "smoking pot supports terrorism," "smoke pot and you'll kill your little brother," "this is your brain on drugs," etc., in addition to the government's approach in other ways -- everything from imprisonment, denying financial aid, denying extracurricular activities or olympic sports, searching everybody, shooting down airplanes, demanding urine, ... turning the country into a police state. I have no objection to the government encouraging people not to use drugs. A positive ad is what I want to see. In fact, positive messages are the best way to reduce drug use. Of course, the federal government is not likely to do it well -- this case in point shows that they can only do it by accident. It says something about the blindness of federal drug policy, that it took a bunch of college students in class to finally come up with a good ad. You want some good drug policy? Legalize marijuana and take one tiny portion of what we spend on prohibition to run ads like these. My life. My decision. 7:05:04 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

National Review and an End to Marijuana Prohibition Marijuana prohibition is unique among American criminal laws. No other law is both enforced so widely and harshly and yet deemed unnecessary by such a substantial portion of the populace. This quote is from the cover story in the new issue of National Review, featuring drug reform figure Ethan Nadelmann titled "An End to Marijuana Prohibition: The drive to legalize picks up." Later in the piece, Ethan Nadelman shows the disconnect in the government with the issue that is having the largest effect on promoting change. The drug czar and DEA spokespersons recite the mantra that "there is no such thing as medical marijuana," but the claim is so specious on its face that it clearly undermines federal credibility. The federal government currently provides marijuana-from its own production site in Mississippi-to a few patients who years ago were recognized by the courts as bona fide patients. No one wants to debate those who have used marijuana for medical purposes, be it Santa Cruz medical-marijuana hospice founder Valerie Corral or NATIONAL REVIEW's Richard Brookhiser. Even many federal officials quietly regret the assault on medical marijuana. When the DEA raided Corral's hospice in September 2002, one agent was heard to say, "Maybe I'm going to think about getting another job sometime soon." Nadelman also touches on the comparisons with the original prohibition and includes one of my favorite ditties: In 1931, with public support for alcohol Prohibition rapidly waning, President Hoover released the report of the Wickersham Commission. The report included a devastating critique of Prohibition's failures and costly consequences, but the commissioners, apparently fearful of getting out too far ahead of public opinion, opposed repeal. Franklin P. Adams of the New York World neatly summed up their findings: Prohibition is an awful flop.   We like it. It can't stop what it's meant to stop.   We like it. It's left a trail of graft and slime It don't prohibit worth a dime It's filled our land with vice and crime,   Nevertheless, we're for it. Two years later, federal alcohol Prohibition was history. The whole article is worth reading. Interestingly, William Buckley Jr (whose quote about marijuana prohibition is on the left side of my page). has announced his retirement from runing the magazine. He was responsible for earlier issues of the National Review which have analyzed the drug war failures. And now, yesterday he wrote another article about the stupidity of marijuana prohibition: Free Weeds. Today we have illegal marijuana for whoever wants it. An estimated 100 million Americans have smoked marijuana at least once, the great majority abandoning its use after a few highs. But to stop using it does not close off its availability. A Boston commentator observed years ago that it is easier for an 18-year-old to get marijuana in Cambridge than to get beer. Vendors who sell beer to minors can forfeit their valuable licenses. It requires less effort for the college student to find marijuana than for a sailor to find a brothel. Still, there is the danger of arrest (as 700,000 people a year will tell you), of possible imprisonment, of blemish on one's record. The obverse of this is increased cynicism about the law. We're not going to find someone running for president who advocates reform of those laws. What is required is a genuine republican groundswell. It is happening, but ever so gradually. Two of every five Americans, according to a 2003 Zogby poll cited by Dr. Nadelmann, believe "the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and make it illegal only for children." Such reforms would hugely increase the use of the drug? Why? It is de facto legal in the Netherlands, and the percentage of users there is the same as here. The Dutch do odd things, but here they teach us a lesson. 6:15:14 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Shameful! This story in the Miami Herald: Two years after approving the use of drug-sniffing dogs, Broward County schools may have another narcotic-fighting weapon: an aerosol spray that detects residue on school desks or backpacks, similar to bomb-detection equipment used in airports. Despite research that shows drug use is down among high school seniors since the early 1980s, school systems nationwide are becoming more aggressive at trying to curtail the problem. And the federal government is helping, with grants to more than 20 school systems that want to try the new spray. If the Broward School Board approves the kits this fall, a principal could rub sticky paper on a locker or desk -- or anything else that might have been touched by a drug user -- and then spray it with a chemical to find traces of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, speed and Ecstasy. The paper may display one of a rainbow of colors, depending on the illicit substance: reddish-brown for marijuana, purple for heroin, canary yellow for amphetamines. Yes, the Federal government is helping. They're so helpful in removing any possible self-esteem from young people. "Stop. Pee in a cup. Get sniffed by a dog. Hold still while we test your jacket. Stay in home room while we search your locker. No extra-curricular activities wiithout supplying urine. It's for your own good." "It just seems like another encroachment of the police state," said Alan Schieb, a member of the Broward ACLU. "I would be really worried about false positives." Griffiths [a program executive for Mistral, which manufactures the kits] said that won't happen. "If Johnny rides a school bus and touches a seat of someone who has used drugs, that's not going to show up," Griffiths said. "We try to assure parents that if it's accidental we aren't going to catch it." Oh, well, that's OK, then. It'll catch residue on anything that a person touches, but not give false positives. Must be true, because the company that's making millions selling these tests says so! 5:29:24 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Odds and Ends TalkLeft points us to Volunteer Committee of Lawyers (VCL): Co-founded by former Attorney General Elliott Richardson, "the VCL seeks to promote, within and by the legal profession, informed discussion about the objectives of the drug war and its costs to our cherished institutions of liberty and justice." Also see TalkLeft for more on Sentencing Guidelines Last One Speaks has the story of a judge busted for purchasing pot. Also see Last One Speaks for an excellent piece on the neo-prohibitionis efforts to outlaw cigarettes. You want to see the direction tough on drugs leads you? Check out this story in China Daily. 4:54:34 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []