Saturday, October 1, 2005

Reading Material Drug War Chronicle's Phil Smith is in Afghanistan, reporting in person on the drug war there. You can read his dispatches here. Washington Post reports about a Congressional dog and pony show (sans pony). Congress is considering more funding for law enforcement dogs, so they watched them sniff explosives and marijuana. As jackl notes, dogs can only be trained to do one or the other (a point neglected by the Post), meaning that every dog trained to sniff pot, is one that isn't making us safe from terrorists. Mary Jane's Last Dance -- an offensive operation in Philadelphia targeting drug paraphernalia in Spencer's Gifts in the mall. Detectives took shot glasses, dishes, bowls, Frisbees, CDs, magnets, sneakers, headbands, stationery, lighters, pins, bracelets, key chains, cookie cutters and dozens of other "marijuana" merchandise from the Oxford Valley store. The pieces to one chess set were various sized marijuana leaves. Via Cannabis News and NORML: Marijuana use, as indicated by the presence of cannabis metabolites, is not associated with crash culpability among injured drivers, according to data presented at the annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Coffee with... Gary Storck Wisconsin's top medical marijuana advocate speaks out. Vets Against the (Drug) War -- Outstanding article about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition [Thanks to Scott, dmac, and others] Also: It's fun when they fight. Souder and the Drug Czar are at odds again. Loretta Nall Announces Run for Governor of Alabama. That's one I'd love to see! 3:17:57 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Good cops and moral? cops I'm a huge fan of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). A great group of dedicated people who perform an incredibly important service. Their speaker's bureau arranges for cops against prohibition to speak to Rotary Clubs and other similar organizations. Having a cop speak against the drug war to a group like that is priceless in terms of impact. This article describes such a talk by LEAP V.P. Peter Christ. The article also includes reactions from local cops to Peter's visit (Naturally, they're less enthused about making changes.) One item in the article that caught my eye: No matter what the justifications, however, Clifton Heights Police Chief Walter Senkow objected to legalization on a moral basis. "At that point, we're telling our kids, it's okay to abuse their bodies," Senkow said. Moral basis? Since when is it the responsibility of the Police Chief to guard our morals? Is Senkow prepared to arrest people for not honoring their mother and father? Or for not keeping the Sabbath holy? Or for not loving their neighbor? Or for not being pure in heart? Since we don't have specific laws for those things, does that mean that we're somehow giving a bad message to our kids? The Police Chief is actually ready to discard an idea that might make his work more effective, because of his need to give a particular moral lesson (while ignoring many others). Perhaps he should leave that to families and churches, and focus on effectively serving and protecting. Turning to law to provide a moral example has a major drawback. Laws are created by politicians. Now think about it. Do you really want to look to politicians for your moral foundation? 10:44:01 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []