Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Souder vs. the White House I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing Drug War Religious Extremists Mark Souder and John Mica rake the Drug Czar's office over the coals for not being tough enough in the war on drugs is simultaneously hilarious and sad. The Representatives made it clear that Meth is the new Heroin (or the new Crack, or the new pot that's so powerful that it's the new crack, or something) and that the administration had better do something about it. This, of course, is a problem for the administration since marijuana is their only path toward their numbers goals (there just aren't enough meth users that can be easily coerced into quitting in order to help the Czar's percentages.) Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., formerly head football coach at the University of Nebraska, said meth poses a greater threat to U.S. society than foreign terrorists. "Meth is the biggest threat to the United States, maybe even including al-Qaida," Osborne said. Whoa! That's different! Meth isn't the new Heroin. It's the new suicide bomber. Which makes it part of the war on terror! But wait -- the war on terror is now over! It's been renamed the "Global Struggle Against Extremism." And since Souder is an extremist ... (OK, this is getting confusing) ... then the war against meth has become a struggle against Souder, right? Right????? 10:54:55 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

A new appointment to the Drug Czar's office President Bush has sent a new nomination to the Senate for confirmation as Deputy Director for Demand Reduction, ONDCP to replace Andrea Barthwell. (Note: the word "vice" also means "to replace" -- just seems odd to use it there.) The nominee is Bertha K. Madras, a researcher with Harvard Medical School. Her expertise appears to be in neurobiology, and she focuses on dopamine, finding drugs to cure cocaine addiction, the neurobiology of ADHD, Parkinson's and others (including primate work), along with specialized forms of brain imaging. She's done some cameos for the Drug Czar in the past, and she's been involved in some educational outreach programs related to addiction. She's also received the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Public Service award, presented by Nora Volkow, director of NIDA. I don't know too much about her, but despite her strong ties to prohibitionist shills, her scientific credentials seem legit. What I don't understand is why she'd give up her research work to go parrot the czar's propaganda. And does she know that working for the Drug Czar seems to corrupt people? When Andrea Barthwell went to work for Walters, she talked about wanting to make a difference in terms of shifting drug policy more toward treatment instead of prohibition. And colleagues of hers (whom I know) thought highly of her back then. They say she changed. Clearly not for the better. Do you really want this job, Bertha? 9:01:25 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug WarRant is 2 That's right -- two years ago today, I started blogging. I thought at the time that I'd post once a week or so (since this is post #1062 I think you can see that my estimate was a bit off). I just went back and looked at my first post. It was a report on the debate over the Hinchey Amendment to stop using federal funds to go after medical marijuana patients. I've now covered that failed attempt in 2003, 2004, and 2005. A bit depressing, but, on the other hand, there have been tons of incredible new accomplishments over the past two years in our fight to bring sanity back to drug policy. Thanks to Adam, Avedon, Baylen, Ben, Daniel, Daksya, desertcat, disgustedvet, David, Ethan, ezrydn, filchyboy, gemsbok, Herb, Jacob, jackl, Jeff, Jeralyn, Jim, John, kaptinemo, Klay, Kris, Krissy, Kwix, Libby, lorax, Loretta, M. Simon, Matt, Mark, nephalim, norbizness, nhop, Radley, Randy, Richard, SayUncle, Scott, Sister Geoff, sixtyfps, Steve, Tad, Taylor, Terry, thehim, Tom, Walter, Yan and lots of others whom I'm sure I've left off this list. The encouragement and discussions have made continuing this blog a joy. Lots more to do. 7:06:21 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []