Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Quote of the Day Now, some of you all may be old enough to remember the days of Prohibition. I'm not. (Laughter.) But remember, we illegalized whisky, and guess what? People found all kinds of ways to make it, and to run it. NASCAR got started -- positive thing that came out of all that. (Laughter.) - President George W. Bush (January 11, 2006) Sigh. [Via Hit and Run] Update: Great response from kaptinemo in comments: The historically obvious irony regarding the War on (Some) Drugs implicit in his statement flies so far over his head he can't even see the contrail... 9:00:44 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

No such thing as Cruel and Unusual in the drug war I was pessimistic, but hopeful, but it appears that the 8th Amendment is the latest one to bite the dust in the service of the drug warrior. Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Link A federal appeals court has upheld a 55-year prison term imposed on a Utah man with no criminal record who was convicted in 2003 of selling several hundred dollars worth of marijuana on three occasions.[...] The sentence properly reflected the will of Congress, the court said, and was not cruel or unusual punishment. Right. Oddly, the Federal Appeals court also apparently chose to repeal the 6th Amendment. Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. How did they do this? By taking the word of the prosecutor that Weldon Angelos was a "bad person" without the facts being judged by a jury. The court also said that Mr. Angelos's lack of a criminal record appeared to be more about luck in not getting caught than any indication of innocence. Yep, part of their decision had to do with the fact that they figured he probably did a lot more than he got caught for, so it's OK to get a long sentence. That's sort of like giving somebody a $50,000 speeding ticket and saying: "Hey, you've probably been going over the speed limit lots of times when we didn't catch you." Hey, at least the 3rd Amendment is still intact. Amendment III No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. ...so far. [Thanks, Tom] Update: Via TalkLeft, Professor Doug Berman has related concerns at Sentencing Law and Policy (check out the comments for a fairly lively debate). Oh, if we only had some "activist judges" who would rule that the Constitution matters more than the perverted desires of the executive branch. 8:36:03 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Murkowski is at it again Governor Murkowski can't seem to accept the Alaska State Supreme Court's ruling (possession of up to 4 ounces of marijuana in your home isn't enough of a public danger to over-ride the state constitution's privacy provision). It just burns him up to think that Alaskan citizens can sit in their homes with a small amount of marijuana and he can't throw them in jail at taxpayer expense. Link A bill to re-criminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana at home will pass out of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday, according to co-chair Lyda Green. Green held an unannounced hearing on the bill today and said she would not delay the schedule to allow for testimony by scientific experts who spoke before other committees last session. The Murkowski administration, which asked for the bill, contends that the potency of marijuana has increased so much since a key court ruling in 1975 that judges today would permit such legislation, even though it appears to violate recent rulings on the constitutional right to privacy. Yep, wouldn't want facts, or those pesky scientific experts to mess up plans to arrest pot smokers. Update: Edited for clarity 8:15:29 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug Warriors advertising drugs to children Tobacco companies have gotten all sorts of heat for supposedly marketing their products to children, with images like.. Joe Camel. They've got nothing on the drug warriors, who continually screw up by creating anti-drug ads that become cult hits (egg and frying pan), are unintentionally hilarious (marijuana smokers support terrorists), or just plain make drugs fun! Link Fast forward to 2005 and the image is of small schoolboy singing a nursery rhyme. Bah bah black sheep, have you any E? Yes sir, yes sir, first hit's free. They push it on the children, they push it every day. They push it on the little boy that lives down the way. Bah bah black sheep, have you any E? Yes sir, yes sir, first hit's free. Very clever. One problem. This pleasant little ditty is now being sung by school children who heard it on the television, and think it's cute. Do they understand what they are saying? No. Would they be singing these words with this message without the help of this public service announcement ( PSA )? No. Another ad brought to you by drugfree.org includes the Alphabet song: A, B, C, D, PCP, E or X and THC, Special K and LSD, Gs and H and GHB. Now I know my drugs you see, next time won't you sing with me? So let's see... The drug warriors make selling drugs profitable to black-market criminals to insure a guaranteed steady supply of competitively-priced (tax-free) drugs, avoid regulations that would restrict sales to children, prevent the use of harm reduction education programs, and then go out and actually market drugs to small children on television (along with reminding them about drugs at every opportunity). Should we be apprehending the folks at drugfree.org and putting them in jail for child abuse? 12:33:32 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []