Monday, July 21, 2008

Jim Webb Senator Jim Webb was just on the Colbert Report and mentioned that the U.S. has 25% of the world's prison population and only 5% of the world's population, and that we need to do something about that. Imprison those who are dangerous, but stop trying to just look "tough on crime." He stumbled over it a bit, but still... Nice to see a U.S. Senator saying good things on the TeeVee. Here's the video (Thanks, Scott) 10:57:35 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Faith-based drug warrior View at your own risk 6:27:38 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Bad journalism and a bad girl Talk about selective historical memory... A very bizarre article in the Guardian: Gangs have made Dublin 'like Chicago in the 1920s' makes the parallel between today's drug gangs and the alcohol gangsters of 20's Chicago, yet never mentions prohibition. Christian Science Monitor has a piece about an effort to convince environmentally conscious cocaine users that their recreational drug use is harming the environment. The project is being run by Colombian officials. It's an irresponsible article, which we thoroughly and excellently critiqued in the comments. Margaret Wente really stinks up the place in her final installment of her series with Legalization In Disguise with random statements like these: In Mr. Weselowski's view, harm reduction is a farce. "They're killing people by the truckload," he says. [...] The noisy marijuana lobby provides a lot of fuel for this crusade, despite the fact that pot is not the issue. [...] Not surprisingly, the group that runs Insite, Vancouver's safe-injection site, stridently opposes current drug laws, as does the publicly funded drug users' lobby, VANDU. These two groups are notorious for the noisy lengths they go to in order to silence their critics. [...] Sadly, all this theatre has deprived Canadians of a genuine debate over drug policy. She even found a way to blame Soros in there. Really horribly bad journalism. DEA bad girl Director Michele Leonhart gave a speech to the International Drug Enforcement Conference. In her world, drug enforcement efforts are doing just fine. These are just some of the new challenges we all face as we fight a nimble and global enemy. However, we have proven that we are an even more innovative, skilled, and flexible global force. We've proven that no agency or nation can succeed alone in this fight against transnational criminals. In just the last year, we have succeeded beyond what any of us probably hoped for when we met in Madrid. We are making history against some of the most powerful narco-terrorists, cartels, and global traffickers. And check out this completely delusional take on Mexico: In the U.S., we feel the effects of Mexico's success. Combined with other enforcement efforts, in the U.S. we're seeing a 15-month long sustained trend where prices for meth soared 56 percent and cocaine 30 percent and purity for both dropped by double digits. And, of course, to the drug warriors, even failure is an indication of success Inevitably, with our coordinated, successful attacks on drug networks and supply, drug traffickers become more frustrated and more violent. which is a horrible disconnect with a statement just sentences later We make a difference in the lives of the citizens we're sworn to protect and keep all our countries safer. Safety through violent and unending war. Right. 8:57:12 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Unintentionally accurate headline Smith: Confused About War on Drugs Yes, he is. 12:12:30 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []