Monday, July 19, 2004

Joel Miller knows the truth. Joel keeps getting me to link to his new book, but it's worth it. His latest article at World News Daily titled "Kill zone" is excellent and draws more material from his new book. The article deals with victims of the drug war, many of whom I've discussed on my Drug War Victims page. He mentions Clayton Helriggle, Alberta Sproul, and John Adams. He also talks about some that qualify, but didn't make my Drug War Victims page simply because they lived. On Nov. 20, 2002, for instance, three cousins -- Salvador Huerta, Marcos Huerta and Vicente Huerta, all young men who worked at a San Antonio restaurant -- were sitting around their apartment after work watching TV. Around 8 p.m. a dozen SWAT officers invaded the home, firing tear gas, allegedly shouting profanities and violently beating two of the men. "We were kicked and punched at least 20 times," said Salvador, who suffered a broken front tooth and a swollen face. Marcos' face was cut and his head bruised. Vicente, the lucky one, didn't stick around for his. He lit off instead of taking the boot. After a vain search for drugs and guns, the police realized they were at the wrong apartment. According to the San Antonio Express-News, "police apologized several times and went five apartments down and arrested two people. ..." He also talks about the problems I've noted here many times before -- military-style tactics in police engagements: The problem goes back to the metaphor itself. War and policing are vastly different. In common parlance the military's job is to kill people and break things. As Reagan administration Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb puts it, soldiers are supposed to "vaporize, not 'Mirandize.'" On the other hand, police are trained to solve problems with scrupulous attention to suspects' civil rights and with a multitude of solutions, lethal violence being the last rung on the escalating ladder of force. No-knock raids race up the ladder, going straight to the threat of lethal force. Some police chiefs recognize the contradiction in roles and the danger of mixing them. "I was offered tanks, bazookas, anything I wanted," said Nick Pastore, former police chief in New Haven, Conn. Pastore said he "turned it all down because it feeds a mindset that you're not a police officer serving a community, you're a soldier at war." It's an excellent article. Take a moment and read the whole thing. This is an important issue in the drug war and we need to make sure everyone hears about it. I want to take a moment to thank those readers of Drug WarRant who have spread the word about Drug War Victims. A number of you have given a link to it on discussion boards, and suddenly I'll have several hundred new viewers to this page, many of whom thought drug policy reform was only about a bunch of stoners who wanted to smoke pot legally. They read about the victims and respond "That is really f*#%ed up!" They get outraged and want to do something about it. That's what we need -- tell people to read Joel's book or his article. Tell them to visit my page. Get them upset. They need to be upset. (Thanks to Patrick) 10:15:33 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

The California PTA knows the truth Today's Los Angeles Times reports: State PTA Backs Ban on Random Drug Testing Across America, the PTA has long fought to prevent student drug use, but last month its California leaders found themselves sparring with federal drug officials in the state Capitol. The two sides squared off in an Assembly hearing over a bill that would outlaw "suspicionless" drug testing. A handful of schools in California and nationwide have begun testing students without any evidence of drug use, and the PTA opposes it. "As parents, we're certainly concerned about addressing issues of student drug abuse," said Kathy Moffat, a spokeswoman for the California State PTA. "But a random drug-testing program implies there is no trust." ... With more than 1 million parent, teacher and student members, the state PTA also opposes zero-tolerance policies under which students can be removed from school for any violation of drug rules. The organization sees its effort to block random drug testing as another way to protect children. PTA officials say the money used to conduct random drug tests would be better spent going after root causes of substance abuse with education and treatment. Opponents also fear that arbitrary tests could discourage students who take birth control pills, antidepressants or other prescription medications from participating in activities that require students to accept random drug testing. ... In June, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer came out in support of the Vasconcellos legislation because, he said, suspicionless testing violates constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure. Planned Parenthood and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People also support the proposed testing ban. In 2003, a University of Michigan study of 76,000 students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades suggested that school drug tests did not affect rates of illicit drug use. The fear of testing positive did not appear to discourage new users from trying drugs. Certainly California is one state that is not going to just bend over and accept the Drug Czar's dictates. It's nice to see an organization like the PTA (which certainly cannot be accused of not caring about the welfare of children) oppose the wrongheaded policies that come out of the ONDCP. They know. Mandatory testing is wrong. Some even see the hypocrisy. One mother quoted in the article noted that "she found it curious that the athletic department would test for recreational drugs, but not for performance enhancers such as steroids." No, mandatory drug testing is not about students or reducing drug use. It's about creating another campaign in the failed drug war that's profitable to the warriors. (Thanks to Richard Lake with the always helpful MAP for the heads up.) 9:50:38 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

The Dallas News knows the truth. Today's Dallas News editorial had some welcome strong words about the investigation into the fake drugs scandal. Nearly three years have gone by since authorities acknowledged that more than two dozen defendants had been falsely arrested and held in jail for possessing not cocaine but ground-up pool chalk. The scandal wrecked countless lives, including those of the defendants and their families [^] most of them Mexican immigrants. We're counting on the city's investigative body [^] which is made up of two private lawyers and a team from the Dallas Police Department [^] to produce a clear, detailed and thorough report that spells out the role that the department's personnel and procedures played in the scandal. Already it is clear that accounting controls and oversight of the narcotics unit were nowhere near adequate. We expect city officials to acknowledge and correct the flaws, regardless of how sweeping the needed reforms may be. This kind of travesty must never be allowed to happen again. ... We need to get to the bottom of what happened, and the city has every right to dig and dig until it hits the floor [^] no matter how much dust is kicked up in the process. Exactly. 9:34:18 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []