Drug WarRant Tuesday, December 21, 2004 Holiday Blogging Break I'll be gone for just over a week, visiting relatives in Indianola, Iowa and Quincy, Illinois, with little time for, or likelihood of finding, wireless connections for blogging. Please continue to send tips my way -- I'll still be reading! There's a whole community of us now keeping people up to date on the drug war, so take a moment to check out some of my friends and accomplices. Libby at Last One Speaks is always an interesting as well as an informative read. She's like a good cup of coffee and a newspaper on a Sunday morning. Baylen at D'Alliance brings the resources of one of the top drug policy web sites to blogging (along with a whole lot of bad puns). Jim at Vice Squad not only gives you drugs, but sex and alcohol and more for the full spectrum of vices internationally. Steve at decrimwatch has been a tireless worker for policy change, and focused on decriminalization in his blog -- but you can get more on occassion. Loretta at US Marijuana Party gives you drug war blogging with an attitude. And why not? She's fighting it from the trenches. David Borden at Prohibition and the Media is new to blogging, but an old hand in the drug policy reform field, through the excellent StopTheDrugWar.org. Jeralyn at TalkLeft certainly talks about much more than the drug war, but she's always on top of the critical drug policy and crime issues. Scott at Grits for Breakfast has the very best coverage of Texas and that nasty beast called the Drug Task Force. And don't forget Radley at The Agitator, who covers all the nanny state issues, including the drug war. I'll be continuing to guest blog there when I get a chance. These, and others too numerous to mention, are the ones who keep me on my toes and make me post to keep up with them. They are also the ones who inspire me and help me realize that there is a community working together out there. And that's great news. Check them out. I'll be back in a week or so. - Pete 8:43:37 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment [] Monday, December 20, 2004 The Folly of our Drug Policies I don't know if it's just because I'm paying additional attention since I started writing this blog, but it sure seems to me that the past couple of years has seen a marked increase in mainstream newspapers and columnists recognizing the folly. Today, it's Steve Chapman's column in the Chicago Tribune (many of his columns end up getting picked up elsewhere, so this could run around the country). It's a strong indictment of our policies, though a bit depressing. Thanks to these brutal penalties, New York prisons house 19,000 people convicted on drug charges, or one of every three inmates. The vast majority of them are small-time offenders with no history of violence. The belated recognition of these failures exemplifies the history of the drug war. It has been a perennial failure, but to a large extent, we persist at it. Citizens in many states adopt humane and comparatively libertarian policies on drugs while voting for presidents (Democratic and Republican alike) who regard even pot as a ghastly menace that must be fiercely resisted. Chapman goes from the Rockefeller drug laws to discussing the current situation with the federal government and medical marijuana. In this realm, ideology has a way of overriding mere facts. We have learned, for example, that marijuana is a comparatively benign drug that has few risks and some apparent benefits. In 1999, a National Academy of Sciences panel said pot has "potential therapeutic value" for "pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." The New England Journal of Medicine has endorsed medical marijuana. Ten states have also approved the idea. Yet the Bush administration, like the Clinton administration before it, has spurned the idea. Not only has it actively fought state initiatives to let sick people get relief from cannabis, it has obstructed research to help patients. He then talks about the DEA's efforts to prevent research, including the rejection of the University of Massachussets' proposal to conduct clinical trials, and he talks about the bizarre logic used by the DEA in denying the application. He concludes: The DEA would prefer that we not get information that might cause us to change our minds. In time, the steady accumulation of evidence about the value of medical marijuana may overcome such opposition--just as the experience under the Rockefeller drug laws forced a retreat. Someday, the folly of the entire drug war may bring it to an end. But don't hold your breath. 8:11:53 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []