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Drug WarRant
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Saturday, June 19, 2004 |
A Father's Day message
I spent the day yesterday with my Dad. I didn't have the time -- there's so much to do -- but I drove the three hours each way, and helped him fix the settings on his new computer, and we talked and had dinner... and it was a wonderful day!
I also have an advantage. Unlike many children in this country, my dad isn't in prison.
I think it's worth taking a moment this Father's Day to remember all the families that aren't together because of the drug war. One of the best organizations around reminding us of the loss in humanity is The November Coalition. Here's a father's day message from their site.
Fatherless Days
By Vicki Woods, November Coalition staffer
Today I watched my grandson play baseball. He's an incredible pitcher, at 10 years old, which is no surprise to me, since throwing a ball has been his favorite thing to do since he was very young. I remember when I traveled from Oregon to Texas with him to visit his dad. The first stop was to buy a ball, and then at every rest area along the way, we threw the ball and threw the ball and then threw the ball some more.
That trip bonded us, Brandon and I. With each other, and in our love for his father, my oldest son, Rob. I talked to my son last week, and he was jealous that I could go watch Brandon play ball, and he couldn't. Mandatory minimum sentencing and an uncaring public defender put my son down for 5 years, forcing him, like so many others, to miss their children's ball games and birthdays.
For four years now, his son and two daughters have spent an unhappy Fatherless Day. But, then, everyday is a fatherless day when your dad is in prison. What a shame when so many of our country's children are left without the influence and guidance of their fathers for ridiculously long periods of time. With all of my heart I pray for true justice and an end to this war on drugs and deprivation our children face. May there be no more Father's Day without a father or Mother's day without a mother for our children.
2:49:11 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Thursday, June 17, 2004 |
Texans must be rich to want to pay for all of this.
Via TalkLeft
Not surprisingly, Texas has enacted another dumb, probably unconstitutional law--delivery of a controlled substance to a minor--via the womb. It's now a felony to smoke pot while pregnant --punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Alma Baker has become the first casualty of the law--receiving a five year deferred sentence for smoking pot in her backyard while pregnant with her twins. The presence of pot was discovered in their bloodstream when born.
There is no established medical evidence that prenatal exposure to marijuana harms infants. So a mother smokes pot and WE shell out the cash. First, you break up the family -- so that's foster care or welfare/food stamps, etc. Then you put the mother in prison -- that's about 25 grand a year. Add in the cost of the trial. Future costs to society as children are raised without a mother. This isn't being tough on crime. This is being monumentally stupid.
9:10:10 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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I fear for my country.
Via Chris and Sam.com comes an article in the Macomb Daily: "Sheriff gets armored vehicles"
Macomb County's "newest" weapon against crime is 44 years old, weighs a beefy 10 tons, travels only 3 miles on a gallon of gas, sits 10 people uncomfortably and can flatten a house.
And it's a war veteran.
The Sheriff's Department on Monday took delivery of an M113 armored personnel carrier, compliments of the U.S. Army.
Look at the vapid grin on Sherrif Mark Hackel's face. "It didn't cost us a dime."
Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said the refurbished armored carriers will give deputies significant up-close protection during drug raids
Oh, yeah, they love their new toys, but don't these morons have a clue as to the part they are playing in the destruction of our society?
During the past three decades of this ill-conceived war on drugs, we have continued to move toward turning our police force into performing military functions, while turning our citizens into the enemy.
Now we set the tanks loose on our people. If we start using these for no-knock raids (and giving our record for hitting the wrong address) you may want to look into bomb shelters for tucking your children into bed.
The drug war is gradually eating away at the soul of our nation.
6:20:15 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Wednesday, June 16, 2004 |
More on Morgenthau and Montel, plus John Walters gets reamed
As a follow-up to yesterday's post, comes this article by Ellis Henican in Newsday.
Robert Morgenthau had called this meeting to announce that he was throwing his considerable political weight behind a bill to make marijuana legal for medical uses in New York State. Cancer patients, glaucoma sufferers and people with other dreaded diseases, he said, should not have to break the law to get the relief they so desperately need.
This could soon change, thanks to a bill from Manhattan Assemb. Richard Gottfried. It would make the pain-killing properties of marijuana available with a doctor's prescription, the same way sick people can now get codeine, morphine and a whole medicine chest of potent narcotics.
Montel Williams, the daytime TV host who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, sat beside Morgenthau yesterday. He spoke about the excruciating pain he suffers in the lower half of his body and the blessed relief he's gotten from medical marijuana.
And then Ellis puts in the real gem:
It is hard even to paraphrase the arguments against this. Only a dim-witted ideologue like federal drug czar John Walters will utter such drivel out loud. Something about "sending a bad message" or marijuana being a "gateway drug."
Get outta here!
How could any civilized person tell a cancer patient on chemotherapy, "No, we won't ease your pain!" I dare anyone to look into Montel Williams' eyes and say, "Suck it up, pal!"
Worth repeating: "Only a dim-witted ideologue like federal drug czar John Walters will utter such drivel out loud."
I love it. I'm going to keep repeating that all day!
Update: Brutal Hugs is also happy to have Morgenthau involved, but is less confident of his political clout.
7:27:38 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Feds lose cocaine case - 16 go free
This one's a doozy.
From today's St. Petersburg Times:
TAMPA - The federal government took a hit Tuesday in its ongoing efforts against overseas drug smuggling.
After a six-week trial involving 16 people from Lithuania and Ukraine accused of smuggling drugs, jurors deliberated for three days and came back with not one guilty verdict. They acquitted 15 of the defendants and couldn't agree on whether the remaining defendant was guilty.
All 16 were charged with possession of cocaine on a vessel subject to U.S. jurisdiction and could have spent 25 years to life in prison if convicted... The verdict comes nearly a year after the men - crew members of the 500-foot freighter M/V Yalta - were arrested in connection with an apparent attempt to smuggle nearly 4 tons of cocaine.
So they seized a ship with 4 tons of cocaine, but couldn't get a single conviction? Embarrassing. There was a 17th crew member who pleaded guilty in September and agreed to testify for the Feds ... and they still couldn't get a conviction.
My favorite quote from the article:
"This verdict is a major black eye to the government in their ongoing Panama Express operation," said Steve Crawford, one of the court-appointed defense attorneys. "The philosophy of 'Let's arrest everybody and see if the evidence is there' lends itself to these kinds of verdicts."
That's the philosophy, all right.
6:39:38 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Tuesday, June 15, 2004 |
Montel and Morgenthau - a couple of powerful reform voices
An AP story today:
NEW YORK -- The Manhattan District Attorney joined television talk show host Montel Williams on Tuesday to support the legalization of marijuana for medical use.
"It should be available to those whose suffering would be eased by the use of marijuana," said Robert Morgenthau. "There is absolutely no reason for not using marijuana for medical purposes. It's another weapon in the arsenal."
Morgenthau said he supports a marijuana legalization bill in the state Legislature. He said he came to support medicinal marijuana after doing research and talking to his daughter, a physician who specializes in treating drug abusers.
Williams, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, choked back tears as he said he uses marijuana on his doctor's recommendation to relieve pain in his legs and feet caused by the neurological disease.
Could New York actually join the medical marijuana states?
7:19:09 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Judge James Gray for Senate in California
I've been a huge fan of Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, author of the fabulous book Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs.
Well, he's running for Senate in California as a Libertarian, and there's a nice recent interview in LA CityBEAT that's worth reading.
Here's a quote that caught my attention:
I have been told by two sitting congressmen in Orange County that many folks in Washington realize the war on drugs is not winnable, but it's eminently fundable. They are addicted to the money. If Judge Jim Gray were to be elected to the United States Senate from California, having been very straightforward with regard to where I stand on the drug war, it would be such a revolution that that alone would get the federal government out of the marijuana prohibition business. And believe me, it's a big business. It's institutionally corrupting.
Yep, he understands it: "...many folks in Washington realize the war on drugs is not winnable, but it's eminently fundable. ... it's a big business. It's institutionally corrupting."
That's exactly what we're fighting.
If you're in California, please send Gray to Washington.
6:49:55 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Chicago Trib tells Istook to get a clue
I was very pleased when Rep. Istook's un-American and un-Constitutional provision against promoting a particular viewpoint in the metro system was overturned in court.
Yesterday, the Trib took a nice moment to add their viewpoint.
You've heard the phrase "drunk with power"? That pretty well captures the state of mind of Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) when he pushed through a measure telling the Washington Metro system what kind of ads it could place in its stations, trains and buses. ...
But a federal district court has done the inevitable, striking down the ban as an unconstitutional attack on freedom of speech. The Metro system has made a practice of accepting issue-oriented ads, the court said, and the government may not choose which opinions shall be allowed. ...
But Istook still doesn't get it. After the decision came down, he said, "I'm confident that ultimately the courts will agree with the long-standing principle that Congress is free to decide what we will or will not fund. We provide major funding to combat drug use, and tax dollars should not be used to subsidize contrary messages."
What is he talking about? Running the notices would not have "subsidized" an unapproved message: Change the Climate was trying to buy ad space, at a total price of $91,875.
Congress is free to decide whether to fund mass transit or not. What it's not free to do is use its power of the purse to suppress one point of view on a matter of public policy. Direct government censorship is forbidden by the 1st Amendment, and so is the indirect kind.
It's understandable that Istook takes issue with the policies proposed by Change the Climate and its allies. But if he thinks it would be a mistake to liberalize drug laws, he should use the option he's trying to deny them: Rebut their arguments.
And that's exactly what he's afraid to do. Because he'd lose.
6:18:59 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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