Sunday, November 12, 2006

Open Thread I'm heading out to talk to the Golden K Kiwanis in Quincy, Illinois on Monday morning about ending prohibition. On Wednesday evening, I'll be moderating Tough Trade-Offs: The Drug Legalization Debate in Urbana/Champaign, Illinois, and on Friday, I'll be off to Washington, DC for the SSDP conference. All this while having a particularly heavy week at work (yes, I also have a real full-time job that I love!) So posting may be a little bit light... Here's a couple of things to discuss: Drug Policy Alliance's Five Point Agenda for the new Democratic Congress. The Drug War Chronicle's Brief Comment on the Transfer of Power in Congress. Also see Phillip Smith's rant I'm sick and tired of begging my fellow citizens to not throw me in jail... 10:14:54 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Chicago SunTimes OpEd favors Marijuana Legalization Monroe Anderson, in today's Chicago Sun-Times, has It's time to legalize marijuana in Illinois. In the past year, the pot prohibition has produced record devil-weed arrests and a bumper crop of American POWs in our nation's prisons. In 2005, there 786,545 marijuana arrests -- 696,074 just for possession. About 34,000 state and 11,000 federal inmates are incarcerated for marijuana offenses. We're spending $1 billion a year to put them there and another $8 billion a year to keep them there. We could regulate, license and tax marijuana. Instead we blow billions on busting and jailing peaceful citizens from whom we could collect millions in tax revenue -- much like we do with alcohol. For our nation's lawmakers to not grasp such a commonsense approach, you've got to wonder what they've been smoking. Nice. 9:38:01 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []