Thursday, March 24, 2005

Culture War Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. It's not just a war on drugs -- it's a war on people and on culture. It happened again on Saturday, this time in Flint, Michigan. From the Drug Policy Alliance: On Saturday the local police raided a popular nightclub, Club What's Next, and ticketed hundreds of music fans who were attending a dance night known as "Getting Lucky" (the DJs included Halluci-Nate, Sparkimus Prime, White Rabbit, Captain Cheddar and California's Dj Primo.) While some people were arrested for possessing or selling illegal drugs, most people were ticketed for "frequenting a drug establishment," a misdemeanor offense. That's right. In Flint, Michigan (and many other cities) if you go out dancing on a Saturday night and the police happen to arrest other people at the club for drugs, you could be charged with a drug crime even though you had nothing to do with drugs. These innocent party-goers now face up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. They also face a criminal record with all the legal and social barriers that brings. Several people that were at the club that night told us club-goers were also subjected to strip searches, including full cavity searches - even though they had nothing to do with drugs. Imagine the police walking into your favorite bar or nightclub and making you submit to a strip search for no reason! Imagine spending 90 days in jail or paying a $500 fine for dancing! The raid on Club What's Next was conducted by Flint's Special Operations and Crime Area Target Team units, along with the Flint Area Narcotics Group and the Genesee County Sheriff's Posse. We're looking into whether or not federal Byrne grant money helped finance the raids. (On a side note, any law enforcement agency that has the word "posse" in it should be suspect). This is sick. It's un-American. It's an outrageous abuse of power. And it's an attack on young people and music. Speak out against this abuse of power by taking action here. You can make a difference. The last time a charge like this was invoked was in Racine, Wisconsin last year, and the outcry caused them to dismiss the charges. Send the letter at the action alert above and tell your friends as well. 10:00:49 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Shenanigans in Alaska As you may know, Alaska governor Frank Murkowski has been pissed off at the Alaska Supreme Court and his own state's constitution, because it gives its citizens the right of privacy. See, the Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that the government can't go after adults who possess up to 4 ounces of pot in their own homes, because it's not dangerous enough to justify taking away rights. Well, what's the fun of being governor if you can't send storm troopers into homes to bust adults who are peacefully smoking a joint? So now he's trying to get the legislature to declare marijuana to be very dangerous to attempt again to outlaw private possession. Where to turn? Well if you want someone to lie about marijuana, the first place to go is the federal government -- specifically, the ONDCP. Check out this outrageous phoned in testimony: Researcher David Murray of the White House's Office on National Drug Control Policy told a Senate committee that marijuana users develop serious cases of psychosis and other problems from inhaling doses of carcinogenic chemicals. "This is a dirty, dirty drug," Murray said. He testified via phone at the request of Assistant Attorney General Dean Guaneli, who is spearheading the governor's bill. Dirty? Then they got the Health and Social Services Committee Chairman to explain how marijuana use causes violence. Check this out: Fielder said smoking marijuana leads to violent behavior down the road. "If I smoke marijuana, I may not be led to rob a store. But I can lose my job and then be motivated to steal," he said. Oh my God! Oversleeping then must also lead to violent behavior! Fortunately, not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid. There are quite a number of legislators who are not convinced, and callers (as well as some other testifiers) have not been following the Governor's crusade, which is upsetting the bill's proponents. According to the Anchorage Daily News (which has an onerous registration page with bad html coding), after hearing all sorts of public officials speak (lie) in favor of a bill that would take away the rights of citizens (and was proposed by a public official), Fairbanks Sen. Gary Wilken sharply criticized the head of the state public defenders agency for testifying against the bill in her official position. "I'm really disappointed in your testimony today. ... I'm shocked," the Fairbanks Republican told Barbara Brink, director of the agency. Shocked, I tell you! And, [Committee Chair Senator Fred] Dyson charged at the hearing that some of the bill's opponents went too far in calls to his legislative office. "They've been plugging up our phone lines," Dyson said. How dare they call their Senator, who has important things to do with his phone lines -- like find new ways to violate the rights of Alaskan citizens? 5:42:24 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

A New Drug War Blogging Community I'd like to give a big promotion to a new Drug War blogging community -- Nephalim's Drug War Revealed. It's just getting started, but it's already got quite a bit of great material. Nephalim is one of the few Daily Kos members who has been regularly writing about the drug war, and he's designed this site to have some of the same structure as Kos. Visitors can register and create their own diaries, which can get promoted to the front page, etc., and Nephalim will have guests writing on the front page as well. It's a wonderful opportunity for those who would like to write about the drug war on occassion, without maintaining their own site or blog. I will be doing some writing for Nephalim.org when I have time. In the meantime, check it out, and give Nephalim some encouragement -- a comment at least. 8:07:48 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Busted! Libby at Last One Speaks reminds me about Flex Your Rights and their excellent video: "Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters." I thought I was pretty well informed, but I learned a few things from the DVD (only $25 at their site). It's an excellent, perhaps essential, part of the education of citizens in a world where the vast majority of people are not even aware of their rights -- and routinely give them away to ever expanding enforcement techniques. Flex Your Rights is now offering the video for only $5 as a BitTorrent computer download. A great deal if you're set up for that type of download. 7:59:39 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Becker-Posner I neglected to mention that the Becker-Posner Blog has addressed the drug war, first by Economist Gary Becker and then a response by Judge Richard Posner These are a couple of highly respected scholars, and so it's nice to see them talk about the failure of the drug war, and to see them apply the tools of their trade to the problem. (I've always felt that economists should be stepping up more to explain to our politicians that drug demand is inelastic -- and what inelastic demand means.) Becker has the better argument in his call for legalization. Posner is uncomfortable with it (although he agrees that the cost of the drug war has not been worth it, despite what he believes is a "partial victory" in the war), so he tries to talk economics, in which he comes off completely incompetent (he should leave that to Becker, and stick to the legal stuff). Also, as Tbag notes on his blog Posner has some bizarre notions of legal substitutes for illegal drugs (cigarettes for pot? liquor for heroin?). I know what he's trying to say, but it doesn't work very well. Tbag also has an interesting comment regarding his own views on the drug war... Without sending my libertarian allies on this issue running for the woods, I'd like to propose government control over distribution. I wouldn't worry about it, Tbag. I think this is one issue where libertarians would prefer government control over the current system... at least for now. 7:51:07 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []