Sunday, June 19, 2005

The latest in technology - drug testing that catches... everyone. This has been reported in a variety of places already, but is worth noting: A minister tested positive for cannabis today at a voluntary session designed to show the capability of a high-tech drugs testing machine. Edwina Hart, Social Justice Minister at the National Assembly for Wales, had not been using drugs, but the result showed that her hands had been cross contaminated with traces of the substance, from door handles, money or other public areas. She said: "You could pick it up from any where couldn't you?" Conservative Assembly Member William Graham, who had arranged for police to demonstrate the drug testing machine at the Assembly, also tested positive for cannabis. Radley Balko at The Agitator has the best take on this: This technology is already here in the U.S., and at risk of appearing the Luddite, threatens to make the Fourth Amendment obsolete, or at least more obsolete. If virtually all of us have traces of some illicit substances on us, then virtually all of us are subject to further searches. Meaning none of us any longer has the the right "to to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause..." 9:48:53 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Texas governor prefers broken criminal justice system GritsForBreakfast has the bad news. Lots of good work in the Texas legislature this year was undone by Governor Perry's veto pen, including a bill to require police to inform drivers of their fourth amendment rights, and a fix of the probation system. Condolences to the people of Texas. 9:33:16 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

The Staggering Inability to Add 2+2 Reuters has an article today: Mexico's Fox under fire as drug war spirals. Poor Vicente Fox. We used to wine and dine him and show him off at fancy parties. Now we don't return his calls. MEXICO CITY, June 19 (Reuters) - In the first four years after Mexican President Vicente Fox took office, he became Washington's sweetheart in its war on drugs with his crackdown on traffickers. But an escalating gangland turf war that has killed at least 600 people south of the U.S. border this year has soured the romance, with serious doubts raised about Fox's ability to rein in the violence. A senior U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official, Anthony Placido, told Congress last week that Mexico's corrupt police forces were "all too often part of the problem rather than part of the solution" in fighting the drug cartels. Fox won office in 2000, ending 71 years of one-party rule and promising to clamp down on the multibillion-dollar cross-border trade in cocaine, marijuana and heroin. Profitable black-market trade with high demand, plus increased prohibition, equals increased violence and corruption. Basic arithmetic. "The honeymoon period following the capture of these top drug traffickers is now over for Fox," Jorge Chabat, a Mexican security analyst, told Reuters. "We are now seeing a return to the relationship we had during the 1990s between Washington and Mexico that was characterized by conflict and reconciliation," he added. Analysts say the real problem is the heavy U.S. demand for cocaine and marijuana and the ability of the drug cartels to pay off police, politicians and judges inside Mexico. The analysts are giving all the hints, but it seems the drug warriors can't count to 4. 9:23:33 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []