Bertha Madras said drug use and abuse are associated with all kinds of problems.
Madras, deputy director of demand reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, mentioned that drugs can cause delinquency, violence, accidents and brain damage.
Her advice? Say no to drugs.
Did you know that food can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hives, asthma, diabetes, kidney failure, anaphylaxis, gout, and death?
My advice? Say no to idiots who give meaningless advice.
As politicians intensified the drug war decade after decade, an unintended consequence began to appear. These "get tough" policies have caused the drug economy to evolve under Darwinian principles (i.e., survival of the fittest). Indeed, the drug war has stimulated this economy to grow and innovate at a frightening pace.
By escalating the drug war, the kinds of people the police typically capture are the ones who are dumb enough to get caught. These criminal networks are occasionally taken down when people within the organization get careless. Thus, law enforcement tends to apprehend the most inept and least efficient traffickers.
Still on the road visiting family. Finally getting some internet access at my mom's place in Iowa. Pretty strange to move one state over to Iowa and suddenly there is a massive Presidential campaign going on! Yard signs, endless TV ads, and more. Yet in Illinois, relative silence. What a dysfunctional electoral system.
In its semi-endorsement of Dennis Kucinich for President, The Nation magazine mentions as part of the overall package, Kucinich's opposition to the drug war. It really does seem to be getting easier for people to actually say that.
LEAP's Howard Wooldridge has been working hard on the Hill, and now he's looking for your help. Write a letter to your Senator and let him deliver it for you. Great idea.
On a personal note, I will be missing the huge hands and amazing talent of Oscar Peterson, who died this week. I got to see him twice -- once at Avery Fisher Hall with Joe Pass, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie and his Orchestra. The second time, he and his trio were performing at The Blue Note, and I and my friends had the table right next to the piano. Incredible.
His hands were so big that running tenths were a breeze for him, yet he could also play delicate waterfall passages with precision. I once heard it said that he could play anything he could think. As a piano player, that both depressed me and filled me with awe.
For the past few months, the federal government has been celebrating the fact that U.S. cities are experiencing "an unprecedented cocaine shortage" due to increased law enforcement in the southwestern United States and Mexico.
But fact-checking by NPR reveals that while there are indeed spot shortages of cocaine, they are neither nationwide nor unprecedented. And the scarcity may have unintended consequences.
Walters is learning that the days where he could just claim whatever he wanted and everyone would nod in agreement are gone.
People are checking...
Four cities declined to respond to questions about the local cocaine supply; five said there was simply no shortage.
The question brought laughter from Sgt. Roger Johnson of the Detroit Police Department.
"No, we don't have a problem finding it at all," Johnson said.
The article goes even further into the historical trends showing that Walters' boasts are meaningless.
A good piece -- kudos to John Burnett for looking into this story.
Via Scott at 
