Wednesday, November 19, 2008

An OpEd in my university's student newspaper Sure, the writing may not reach the level of a Bill Steigerwald or Maia Szalavitz , but it gives me a warm glow to see this OpEd in the Illinois State University Daily Vidette. Just because marijuana is illegal, that does not mean that it is immoral. Slavery was legal, yet immoral. Many other contradictory cases exist. It is easy to believe that one should not do something because the law prohibits it; but sometimes that is not enough. [...] Therefore, just because it is illegal, that should not necessarily stop a person from participating or at least having the choice to participate. It does not make sense to me as to why marijuana is illegal. For one, the government would be able to rake in huge amounts of money if they regulated and charged taxes for the so-called drug. Additionally, the government regulation would make a much safer environment for those who do choose to smoke marijuana. [...] If you are against smoking marijuana, that is your right, but I hope you are then also against alcohol. Tens of thousands of people die each year in alcohol related instances. According to drugwarfacts.org, "An exhaustive search of the literature finds no credible reports of deaths induced by marijuana.... Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death." If you are against marijuana due to legality issues, I hope you never drank alcohol under the age of 21. [...] One of the best arguments I have heard against smoking marijuana is that since it is illegal, instead of sitting in a room smoking, why don't people go out and do something to make it legal? This is a great argument and there are groups on campus to join such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Whatever you believe or choose, be safe and remember, it is still illegal just like alcohol was during prohibition. Nice job, Jes. And a nice plug for SSDP. Don't forget, the SSDP conference is this weekend in College Park, MD. I'll be there. So will Radley Balko, and Mayor Cheye Calvo. And folks from LEAP and DPA, and NORML, and ACLU, and the U.S. Congress. If you're there, or in the area and stop by, please introduce yourself to me. I'm pretty easy to spot -- the big guy with red hair and a beard. 10:19:00 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Guest Blogger Scott Morgan Not really, but... I'm busy clearing up some work and getting ready to go to the SSDP conference on Friday, so I'm taking advantage of the fact that Scott tends to say what I think anyway. Eric Holder. There's already been some discussion about Obama's likely Attorney General pick in comments and elsewhere. I agree with Scott's analysis. Sure, there are seriously troubling things in his past statements, but who in political mainstream wouldn't have said things in the past that we wouldn't like, depending on the context. There are also positives. He appears to be smart and have a more appropriate view of the role of justice in this country than we've seen for a while. So, like Scott, I reserve judgement. Marijuana Might be Good for Your Memory. A new study has found that... whoa, man. What was I just talking about? Oh, right. Long term memory. Whole different thing. 8:41:36 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Think Outside the Bun When the drug czar claimed that there were more medical marijuana outlets in San Francisco than Starbucks locations (and who cares?), there was a bit of a blowback because the numbers they used made no sense at all. Well, the media picked it up, ridiculed it, forced the drug czar to change the numbers on its blog... and even Starbucks stepped in to correct them. So now the Drug Czar has a new post claiming that, while the Starbucks comparison may be weak, at least there are more medical marijuana outlets than there are Taco Bells. Can that office get any more ridiculous or irrelevant? I guess they're trying to get all the medical marijuana providers to move into one box store so the DEA can bust it easier. After all, there are a limited number of days for this administration to clear out all the state-authorized medical providers and stop them from providing relief to sick people. Hmm... with the Taco Bell reference, maybe Walters is looking for a job as a burrito taster. [Thanks for the tip, ezrydn] Update: Should have known to read Scott Morgan first. He's on it. 8:08:03 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Place your bets Let's take a break from speculating on the next drug czar, and take a moment to speculate on this one. Sometime in the next 62 days, John Walters is going to resign as Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. So let's hear your guesses about his future. The winner gets a mug or something (maybe a job as a burrito taster). 1. Walters undoubtedly has his next job already lined up. It could be in a drug testing firm (he's certainly been selling his soul to promote drug testing and is due some major payback from that industry). It could also be in a company that needs government and international contacts (and while Walters is an idiot, he's spent years dealing with foreign governments and Presidential-level leaders -- former DEA head Karen Tandy got a job with Motorola to take advantage of her foreign contacts). Name the company that hires him (or at least the field). 2. Speaking of student drug testing and all the people who profit from it, here's an interesting little organization - the Student Drug Testing Coalition. Check out the list at the bottom of that page -- names like Barthwell, DuPont, Nalepka, and more. When will Walters' name show up on that list? 3. Walters' mentor, William Bennett, has made a career of appearing on political gossip TV shows (of course Bennett had more careers than just drug policy). Walters has generally avoided appearances where he might get tough questions. After he resigns, will he show up on the talk-show circuit or not? 4. During tough economic times, if someone publicly screws up every aspect of their job for years and then resigns, generally you might think that they'd have a hard time finding employment. With all his failures, will Walters be forced to go on unemployment or to ask people if they want fries with their meal? 12:10:14 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []