Wednesday, November 30, 2005

GAO fails to understand what it measures The AP discusses a GAO report: The report prepared by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, found that U.S. cocaine seizures from 2000 to 2004 increased by 68 percent to a record 196 metric tons in the "transit zone," the area between the U.S. and South America. But the Pentagon's attention to armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Homeland Security Department's focus on Hurricane Katrina threaten to undermine recent achievements, the GAO said in its report. The report, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, offers a sobering look at the future of government efforts to stymie America's $65 billion illegal drug habit. It notes that while drug seizures have increased, U.S. cocaine supplies and the number of users (2 million) have not fallen, apparently due to a rise in shipments. Do they even see how clueless they appear? The government continues to look at quantities of drugs seized as if that was a measure of "winning." And then they act baffled that the prices and availability have, somehow, not been significantly affected. Drug traffickers treat seizures in much the same way that department stores account for shoplifting -- as a normal write-off in their business. 11:34:15 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Offensive Ad DARE Generation Diary pointed out this outrageous TV ad... u hear bout kim? what bout kim? she has HIV she got high she got stupid she has HIV use ur brain. keep ur body healthy. b drug free. hiv.drugabuse.gov World AIDS Day, December 1 The implication? Smoking pot leads to HIV. Of course, this is stupid on the surface since the likelihood of "getting stupid" (and thus having unprotected sex, thereby getting HIV) is not very likely to be stimulated by pot use. On a deeper level, this ad is seriously offensive, since, while the documented incidents of people getting HIV from smoking pot have to be about nil, there is a verified epidemic of HIV as a result of needle sharing, and this same government has obstructed and opposed needle-exchange programs which have been proven to save lives and limit the spread of HIV. In fact, the whole notion of a website with the address hiv.drugabuse.gov is offensive. Even more so is the fact that there is not a single mention on that site of HIV contracted through needles (and of course, no mention of needle exchange or harm reduction programs). Correction: bcoherent points out that the ad does not seem to implicate pot, but rather some unspecified pills (I should have watched it closer instead of so quickly getting upset by the message). That reduces my surface objection to the ad (the pot issue), and I'm all for people not "getting stupid" at parties, but it doesn't change the offensiveness of a campaign that projects hiv fear onto unspecified drug use, while ignoring what the government has done to block harm reduction efforts (sexual and drug related) that would reduce the spread of hiv. 10:45:42 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []