Saturday, April 29, 2006

Putting lipstick on a pig Via The Agitator, John Walters is not having a good day. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. drug czar has been challenged to explain disputed statistics underlying a string of rosy reports on progress in cutting the flow of cocaine from South America, one of which prompted an expert to liken the official numbers to "lipstick on a pig." The request came in a detailed 1,800-word letter to John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), from Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. The Iowa senator expressed concern that the ONDCP has been picking data "to provide a rosier but not necessarily more accurate picture" on the multi-billion dollar effort to eradicate coca plantations in Colombia, the world's top producer of cocaine, Bolivia and Peru. Of course, we've been saying that the Czar cherry-picks his data for years. But it's nice to see Congress maybe waking up a little? Or perhaps there's been a political shift in the drug war and they need a fall guy? 1:46:48 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Let's ship drug offenders to gulags in other countries! Link South Carolina General Assembly H.4865 Sponsors: Rep. Davenport A bill... relating to the confinement of prisoners, so as to provide that the Department of Corrections may enter into agreements with foreign countries for the confinement of inmates convicted of drug related offenses... That's right. We can use extraordinary rendition for pot smokers! Yeah -- South Carolina can send its drug offenders to China or Indonesia. So has this guy got a screw loose, or is he really that un-American? That's Representative Guy Ralph Davenport, Jr. [Thanks, Katie] 1:35:53 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Mexico legalizing tiny amounts of drugs? Link MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by Congress. The measure given final passage by senators in a late night session on Thursday allows police to focus on their battle against major drug dealers, the government says, and President Vicente Fox is expected to sign it into law. [...] Under the legislation, police will not penalize people for possessing up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine. Interesting. I wonder what the Bush administration's take on this will be. Of course, this isn't all good news. People caught with larger quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face increased jail terms under the plan. That includes someone possessing 6 grams of marijuana. [Thanks, Scott and Bill] 1:04:06 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Would you turn this girl in? I can't believe this! University of Colorado police have posted pictures of 150 people on a website smoking pot on the "420" day celebration last week and are offering a $50 reward for anyone who can identify them. What are they going to do? Prosecute? Based on a picture of smoking... something? The sick part... They got 50 calls in the first hour. [Thanks, Mike] Update: Oh, I get it now. Read this page. They purposely officially closed the field on 4/20 and posted signs so that they could go after anyone for trespassing, and they're just going after the ones that they have pictures of lighting up what appears to be pot to punish them. This is petty vindictiveness on the part of the administration and the campus police. The students should protest. At the very least, this kind of provocative action may serve to actually help the cause of marijuana legalization in Colorado. 12:52:19 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []