Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Ask the Drug Czar Drug Czar John Walters will be hosting Ask the White House this Friday, December 12. Send in your questions now. Of course, they're pre-screened and selected and you don't get a follow-up, so don't imagine you're going to nail him with a "gotcha" question, but feel free to give it a try anyway. Three years ago, he "answered" one of mine. Pete, from Bloomington, Illinois writes: Isn't there a problem with giving kids misleading information regarding marijuana that overstates the actual dangers? I worry that when they find out we've been lying to them about marijuana that they'll stop believing us when it comes to more dangerous drugs. After all, when you call Canadian pot the "crack cocaine of marijuana," the message kids may hear is that crack must not be too bad. John Walters Actually Pete, you've got the question exactly backwards. Marijuana is a much bigger part of the American addiction problem than most people [^] teens or adults [^] realize. There are now more teens going into treatment for marijuana dependency than for all other drugs combined. And there are more teens now seeking treatment for marijuana than for alcohol. Today's marijuana is also twice as strong as it was in the mid 80's. One of the reasons we have such a serious problem with marijuana in our country is because of the misinformation that has been spread about it over the past 30 years [^] that marijuana is "harmless" or a "soft drug" or a "rite of passage." These are all myths [^] and for too many Americans they are costly myths. We need to educate Americans about the real harms of marijuana if we want to sustain the gains we've made over the past three years. We've recently released a report entitled "Marijuana Myths & Facts: The Truth Behind 10 Popular Misperceptions" to help get the facts out about marijuana. 9:40:15 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

The Lesson of Plan Mexico As you may know, the U.S. has put the Merida Initiative underway to help the Mexican government fight their drug war -- $1.6 billion over three years, with $400 million going to Mexico this year for a combination of law enforcement training and equipment, and technical advice). This sounds like a lot of money. So, it could have a major impact, right? Not so much, according to Stratfor, the geopolitical intelligence site. In terms of ready cash, Mexican organized crime can beat any offer the government can make. The Mexican cartels bring in somewhere between $40 billion and $100 billion per year. The Oct. 27 announcement that 35 employees of the anti-organized crime unit (SIEDO) in the Office of the Mexican Attorney General (PGR) had been arrested and charged with corruption illustrates the fact that not even the upper reaches of government are safe from infiltration by the cartels. In this example, top officials were paid up to $450,000 per month to pass information along to a cartel involved in cocaine trafficking. This kind of money is a huge temptation in a country where annual salaries for public servants run from $10,000 for local police officers to $48,000 for senators and $220,000 for the president. Organized crime can target key individuals in the Mexican government and convince them to provide information with a combination of lucrative offers and physical threats if they do not comply. The attempts to "improve" prohibition come up against the indefatigable power of prohibition economics. 7:52:28 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []