Friday, February 10, 2006

Funny Julian Sanchez is blogging at CPAC Professional virgin Ben Shapiro just strolled by talking about his highly nuanced position on the war on drugs: "People who use marijuana piss me off, so I support their prosecution." Which seems more or less consistent with his general philosophy. 7:38:39 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Hit them in the pocketbook Flex Your Rights blog has the info on 87 women who were illegally searched for drugs at O'Hare airport. They'll be receiving a $1.9 million settlement. At airports, only "reasonable suspicion" is necessary to justify brief detentions and searches, but even this minimal evidentiary standard couldn't explain why it was always Black women getting pulled out of line and humiliated. 9:28:54 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

How do these people get elected? Link (thanks to Matt) OK, here's the smart, reasonable public official who knows how to set priorities: Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, who oversees the University of Iowa in Iowa City, told a legislative committee he would treat possession of small amounts of marijuana like a traffic violation, allowing hundreds of students arrested each year to graduate without a criminal record. "The guy that's carrying 50 bales of marijuana ... that's a different animal," Pulkrabek said, adding he favored rounding up intoxicated people in a locked "detox center" in lieu of the crowded jail. Reasonable, right? Then comes the politician... But Republican legislator Clel Baudler, a former state trooper, shot down the notion as sending the wrong message to drug users and abusers. "We could simplify law enforcement's job if we didn't have rock concerts. We could simplify their job a lot quicker if we just didn't have football games there where we arrest hundreds of drunks over the weekend." Baudler said. We could simplify our lives if we rounded up all legislators like Baudler and put them away where they can't hurt anyone. 9:23:55 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Which war should we be fighting? Link More Americans (some 575,000) died of cancer last year than perished in all our last centuries' wars combined, but why no anger? We should be angry. We went to war against cancer 35 years ago and haven't won. President Nixon declared War on Cancer in his 1971 State of the Union speech, perhaps to draw attention from a shooting war gone bad in Vietnam, but nevertheless the cancer war was joined. Part of today's problem might be his proclaiming a drug war that steals attention, with raids and arrests, featured on TV and movies, leading to a lot bigger budget. We're losing that war too. 8:59:27 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug War Budget Follies So the Drug Czar went to Denver to announce the new National Drug Control Strategy. Gee, I wonder why he went there? Marijuana Policy Project was all over that move... White House Drug Strategy: Use Tax Dollars to Campaign Against Reform Document Continues Failed Policies as Officials Lobby Against Common-Sense Reforms, MPP Charges DENVER, COLORADO -- The 2006 National Drug Control Strategy unveiled today by White House Drug Czar John Walters renews concerns about the federal government's continuing use of tax dollars to campaign against changes to failed drug policies, officials of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) charged. The plan was released at a news conference in Denver, where voters in November passed an initiative that made adult possession and use of marijuana legal under city ordinance. "This document signals that the administration will continue using tax dollars to campaign against common-sense reforms, while wasting billions on failed policies," said MPP Director of Government Relations Aaron Houston. "It is not a coincidence that John Walters took his junket to Denver, where voters dealt a stinging rebuke to the government's war on marijuana." In that release, MPP also dramatically demonstrates the lie that Walters loves to promote -- that drug warriors have a hard time countering the "well-funded" legalization lobby. This chart (pdf) shows just how little drug policy reform organizations have compared to their opposition. In a related bit of news, President Bush gave a speech on Wednesday: I've got a group of folks that are constantly analyzing whether or not the federal government is doing what you're doing -- doing what you expect us to do. You realize we spend $2.7 trillion a year, and there are more than 1,000 federal programs. That's a lot, that's a lot of programs. And it makes sense to make sure that they're working. See, good intentions aren't enough, as far as this administration is concerned. We're insisting that people show us, program managers show us, whether or not they're achieving -- these programs achieve results. [...]The point is, is that if they can't prove they're achieving good results, then the programs, in my judgment, ought to be eliminated and/or trimmed back. That's why I told you earlier, we found 141 such programs. And we did the same thing in last year's budget, as well. One of the interesting innovations that we have put forth is a new website, called expectmore.gov. It's a program where -- it's a website where we start to put the measurement results up for everybody to see. Nothing like transparency into the federal bureaucracy to determine whether or not a program is working. And so I think you'll find it innovative -- I do -- that the White House has put this website up. And you'll be able to see whether or not results are being achieved for the money spent. So, what do we find at expectmore.gov?   Safe and Drug Free Schools State Grants   Ineffective   Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant   Ineffective   Coast Guard: Drug Interdiction   Results Not Demonstrated   Community Oriented Policing Services   Results Not Demonstrated   Drug Courts   Results Not Demonstrated   Multipurpose Law Enforcement Grants (Byrne)   Results Not Demonstrated   Residential Substance Abuse Treatment   Results Not Demonstrated   Counterdrug Research & Development   Results Not Demonstrated   Counterdrug Technology Transfer Program   Results Not Demonstrated   High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas   Results Not Demonstrated   Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign   Results Not Demonstrated ...and just to let you know how low the bar is set on these, both the DEA and the Andean Counter Drug Initiative (two of the most outrageous wastes of taxpayer funds) got grades of "Adequate." I was unable to find any drug war programs listed as "Effective." So, Mr. President. If you really want to reduce the deficit and eliminate programs that aren't achieving good results, shouldn't we be taking a closer look at the drug war? 8:15:28 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []