Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Drug Czar's Prescription Recently, the Drug Czar's office has, interestingly, cut way back on the marijuana rhetoric in order to focus on the cause du jour: prescription drug abuse. Of course, their office spouts statistics saying that teenage use of marijuana is down and prescription drug abuse is up, but as we know, they are adept at cherry-picking statistics to promote whatever they wish. So I'm suspicious of the true agenda here. But it sure seems like they're going all out on this. They were even planning on a Presidential statement in the Roosevelt Room about it, until the Heath Ledger death caused them to delay it (due to fears that it would appear that the President was using Ledger's death for political purposes, despite the fact that the cause of his death is still indeterminate). And apparently, the Drug Czar's going back to the SuperBowl! The White House drug office will use its first Super Bowl spot in four years to caution that the biggest teen drug danger could be the legal medicines stored in parents' medicine chests. [...] The Super Bowl spot, to air at the close of the first half, features a drug dealer complaining that his business is down because teens are getting high from abusing drugs in the medicine cabinet. [you can watch the video at the site] I admit to being at a bit of a loss here. Getting out a message to parents to keep prescription medicines out of the hands of kids doesn't seem like a bad idea. But this is the Drug Czar. I can't help but think that there's something I'm missing. 11:08:12 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Presidential campaign musical chairs Dennis Kucinich is dropping out of the Presidential race tomorrow to focus on his House race. It's a shame not to have his drug policy reform views in the race, but quite frankly, we didn't really have them much when he was running. He never developed any traction or real notice (except in comparison to invisible man Mike Gravel). I've also been extremely disappointed with Kucinich in the House. We were so excited when he was named Chair of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy -- the subcommittee that was supposed to include the drug policy areas formerly overseen by Mark Souder when the Republicans controlled the House. But he tamely followed the leadership's mandate and almost completely ignored drug policy. Just look at the hearings since he took over. The only advantage to having Kucinich is that he's not Souder. And yes, the absence of Souder is devoutly to be wished, but still, it would be nice for a reformer to actually, you know, reform. Actor Fred Thompson has also mercifully dropped out -- he was wildly miscast in his role as Presidential candidate. Nobody believed his character, and he couldn't seem to memorize his lines. I've got to admit that I'm glad not to have a candidate who got his views on drug policy from Law and Order. The best chance of drug policy reform actually being discussed in the Presidential campaign continues to be Ron Paul (who Monday received the endorsement of drug policy reformer and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson). He's got the money and the ground troops, but not the press or the voting numbers. The fact that he's got a reasonable amount of cash on hand means that he may have some time yet to get out the message. Of course, there is another chance that drug policy will be discussed in the campaign -- and that's if Obama is the Democratic candidate. In that case, his youthful drug use is likely to become an attack issue and it could get ugly. Then it will be interesting to see how the public responds. Will they continue to reward "soft-on-drugs" attacks? Again, this is mostly just interesting conjecture. While I dream of reform-minded Presidents, I know that the best we can really hope for is one that will make increasing the drug war a low priority. Leadership will come from the people, not the leaders. 7:15:42 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Drug war insanity causes extreme dysfunction I don't think anybody can look at this story without realizing that we have a case of extreme dysfunction: Elite army soldiers took over police stations along Mexico's border with Texas on Tuesday, disarming police, checking for unregistered weapons and searching patrol cars and personal vehicles for any items that might link the officers to drug cartels, according to an official and the Mexican media. Special-forces soldiers wearing ski masks took control of police stations in Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros and other cities in Tamaulipas state during the morning change of shifts, said an official and local residents who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. That's right. Special forces soldiers in ski masks raiding police stations! Take a moment and picture that. And figure out how we got to that point. Was it because of drugs? Or the drug war? [See more from Grits for Breakfast] Now over in Brooklyn, there were no ski masks, but still... Heads rolled at the top of the NYPD's Narcotics Division Monday night after the Daily News learned that 20 cops were benched over charges that undercover officers took sex, drugs and cash from junkies and dealers. NYPD and law enforcement sources said 15 cops - all from the midnight crew of Brooklyn South Narcotics - have been put on desk duty as part of a five-month investigation by the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau. That's on top of four members of the midnight crew busted on allegations they stole drugs to pay off informants and another who was suspended on undisclosed internal charges, sources told The News. Can you say "dysfunction"? I knew you could. This isn't one cop. This is a whole bunch of 'em. These are the people that the community is supposed to trust to protect and serve them. Now in Cleveland, it's a dysfunctional relationship with the DEA, informants and prosecutors. A federal judge decided Tuesday to free 15 men from prison because their convictions were based on testimony of a government informant who lied on the witness stand and framed innocent people. Collectively, the men have served at least 30 years behind bars. They were sentenced to a combined 86 years. Federal public defender Dennis Terez called the release of so many people at one time unprecedented. Fallout from the case is expected to spread beyond the federal courthouses in Cleveland and Akron, where the men were convicted of dealing crack cocaine in Mansfield. The case is a blow to the federal justice system, which relies heavily on informant-based testimony, lawyers said. The men, some with no prior run-ins with the law, were given long prison sentences based almost exclusively on the word of informant Jerrell Bray and Lee Lucas, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who supervised Bray. [See more from Scott Morgan] Three different stories in one week. All examples of dysfunction so great that the entire concept of police serving and protecting the people is meaningless. The fabric of government itself is shredded. The dysfunction and destruction screams at us. Yet the drug warriors, deaf and dumb, lurch on in their war, no longer knowing where they're headed, yet somehow sure that if they just do... more of it, they'll win. Strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess? 8:40:17 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []