Drug WarRant Saturday, September 23, 2006 On a street in Vienna, Austria I took lots of pictures in Vienna today, but I thought I'd share this one with you. 11:20:12 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment [] She's at it again! Group against pot initiative plans lectures The group opposing Amendment 44, which seeks to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, said Wednesday that a series of lectures will serve as the primary weapon in the campaign. The lectures by various experts on drugs and addiction will focus on the dangers of marijuana and the effects on the state of legalizing cannabis... Members of the coalition include... Andrew Barthwell, a Chicago-based doctor and former deputy director for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. I guess she's hoping people won't Google her name and find this. 11:09:49 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment [] Thursday, September 21, 2006 Another open thread Yep. They're kicking me out of here in 10 minutes and I haven't even been able to download all my email yet. Heading for Vienna tomorrow by boat up the Danube River. The riots in Budapest have been relatively well-mannered and have affected us not in the least. 9:51:28 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment [] Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Open Thread I'm having a very hard time keeping up with all the news while on vacation, so do your stuff! You guys are the greatest! 10:55:29 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment [] Urgent Action Item This is late coming to you because of my vacation -- I had very little internet access on top of the mountain at Lomnicky Stit in Slovakia, and I'm now in the basement of an open-late internet store in Budapest -- but please follow through on this action alert from SSDP: This week, out of nowhere, the House will vote on a bill giving school officials and police much broader authority to search public school students for drugs. Under the bill, groups of dozens of hundreds of students could be searched on the mere suspicion that just one of them has drugs. This is the same logic that allowed police officers to storm a high school in Goose Creek, SC, in 2003, forcing dozens of students to the ground and pointing guns directly at their faces during a misguided raid in which no drugs were found. The new bill, the deceptively named "Student and Teacher Safety Act," wasn't supposed to go anywhere, but its sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) is in a tight race this November and has convinced the Republican leadership to bring his bill directly to the floor (completely skipping the committee process) so he can tell his constituents that he's doing something in Washington. But, because of the shady legislative tricks, we only need to get 1/3 of the House to vote against the bill to kill it. We've got a real chance to stop this bill, and we would appreciate it if you could point your readers to the action alert that Students for Sensible Drug Policy has set up at: http://capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=8779706&type=CO More information about the bill, as well as video footage of the 2003 Goose Creek raid, is available on SSDP's blog at: http://daregeneration.blogspot.com/2006/09/take-action-now-stop-school-drug.html Take action now. 9:49:06 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []