Friday, March 17, 2006

Nearly Half Of Americans Believe Pot Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol Via NORML Nearly one out of two Americans support amending federal law "to let states legally regulate and tax marijuana the way they do liquor and gambling," according to a national poll of 1,004 likely voters by Zogby International and commissioned by the NORML Foundation. Forty-six percent of respondents -- including a majority of those polled on the east (53 percent) and west (55 percent) coasts -- say they support allowing states to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. Forty-nine percent of respondents opposed taxing and regulating cannabis, and five percent were undecided. "Public support for replacing the illicit marijuana market with a legally regulated, controlled market similar to alcohol -- complete with age restrictions and quality controls -- continues to grow," NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "NORML's challenge is to convert this growing public support into a tangible public policy that no longer criminalizes those adults who use marijuana responsibly." Respondents' support for marijuana law reform was strongly influenced by age and political affiliation. Nearly two-thirds of 18-29 year-olds (65 percent) and half of 50-64 year-olds think federal law should be amended to allow states the option to regulate marijuana, while majorities of 30-49 year-olds (58 percent) and seniors 65 and older (52 percent) oppose such a change. Among those respondents who identified themselves as Democrats, 59 percent back taxing and regulating marijuana compared to only 33 percent of Republicans. Forty-four percent of Independents and 85 percent of Libertarians say they supported the law change. Respondents' opinions were also influenced by religious affiliation. Nearly 70 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Jewish, and nearly 60 percent of respondents who said they were non-religious believe that states should regulate cannabis, while only 48 percent of Catholics and 38 percent of Protestants support such a policy. 10:52:23 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Philippines both winning and losing the drug war I found this article from the Philippine Star interesting, even though the butchering of the English language makes it sometimes a little confusing. Basically it says that, despite the fact that the United States called the Philippines "a drug trafficker's paradise," saying the illegal drug trade in the country has evolved into a billion-dollar industry, the chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA ) says the government is winning the war on drugs. How do you explain this discrepancy? The chief claims that it's part of the strategy: "The report, made annually by the US State Department, is used by their decision makers in allocating funds for the anti-drug campaign for other countries," Avenido said. He said if the US tags a country as drug free, they will no longer give support to that particularly country, he explained. So it seems the trick for other countries is, in order to get the most money from our taxpayers, you need to be seen to be cracking down very hard, but not really accomplishing anything. Fortunately for them, that strategy is a perfect fit with the drug war. 9:50:50 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Judge objects to harsh crack sentencing guidelines Via TalkLeft U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Presnell in Orlando, FL refused to apply the Federal crack cocaine sentencing guidelines. He ruled: This arbitrary and discriminatory disparity between powder and crack cocaine implicates the Section 3553(a)(2)(A) factors. Unless one assumes the penalties for powder cocaine are vastly too low, then the far-higher penalties for crack are at odds with the seriousness of the offense. The absence of a logical rationale for such a disparity and its disproportionate impact on one historically disfavored race promotes disrespect for the law and suggests that the resulting sentences are unjust. Accordingly, these statutory factors weigh heavily against the imposition of a Guidelines sentence. The fact that this sentencing disparity has not yet been corrected by Congress is a powerful racist stain on our government. 9:35:47 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug Czar caught Not only can't the Drug Czar go around unchallenged any more, even the Press is realizing that they can't automatically believe everything he says, and is asking questions (and catching the lies). The White House drug czar yesterday sounded the alarm on high school kids drinking and drugging during spring break but backed away from assertions that 1 in 7 high schoolers under age 18 are partying unsupervised in hotspots like Cancun and Miami Beach. "It was in fact a very real human error," Rosanna Maietta, spokeswoman for the Bush administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said of the agency's faulty math, which suggested that 15 percent of all high schoolers under age 18 were unleashed to go wild during the annual vacation. [...] Late yesterday, after several inquiries from the Herald, the Drug Control Office, through its public relation arm, Fleishman-Hillard, admitted it lacked the statistics to back up its claim. "lacked the statistics" Nice euphemism. Try that yourself sometime ("Honey, remember last Friday when I told you I was playing cards with the guys? Well, it turns out I lack the statistics to back up that claim.") 9:31:41 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug Testing Summit gets opposition Jennifer Kern at Drug Policy Alliance writes about her experience at the Czar's drug testing summit on Wednesday. Due to the efforts of an incredible number of people in a variety of organizations, it's becoming impossible for the Drug Czar to operate completely unchallenged. 9:00:02 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []