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Drug WarRant
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Saturday, October 25, 2008 |
It's their business
Link
A LaSalle County task force arrested 14 people Friday as part of a three-month investigation into the sale of drugs at Streator taverns.
The nerve of these people -- selling drugs at taverns.
Um... wait... isn't that what taverns are supposed to sell?
I think I could have figured that out in much less than three months. I'd just walk in and say "Can I have a beer?" and if they sold me one, I'd go "Yep, this tavern sells drugs."
10:31:30 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Friday, October 24, 2008 |
Open Thread
 On this day in history...
- The United Nations charter took effect,
- The 40-hour work week began,
- "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" opened in theaters,
- Kevin Kline was born...
- and so was I.
Take the Handcuffs off the Economic Recovery Eric Sterling has a great OpEd at the Huffington Post about saving the economy through taxing marijuana and taking non-violent drug criminals out of jail and putting them back into the economy where they can be producing and buying cars and other products.
Interesting article from Georgia about marijuana and legalization/decriminalization. Lots of people with differing opinions, some misguided. It really points out the need for more open, public dialog.
Drug Czar busted again from Paul Armentano at NORML
Editorial: What is San Diego smoking? "The County Should Drop Its Legal Attack On Medical-Marijuana ID Law"
Racial disparities in Cleveland drug prosecutions from TalkLeft
12:18:14 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Thursday, October 23, 2008 |
Lou Dobbs, an asshat in bizarro land
Over at Hit and Run, Radley discusses the The 190-Million Person Exception to the Fourth Amendment, based on an ACLU report that the U.S. is expanding invasive checkpoint searches around the country under the guise of homeland security.
This is obviously a concern to people who believe in, oh, say, the Constitution, or, maybe, America.
But not Lou Dobbs. No. In the bizarro world where he lives, somehow the idea of the ACLU complaining in order to protect the Constitutional rights of Americans, is, in his fevered mind, unconstitutional.
Under a graphic reading "ACLU amnesty agenda," he sneered, "The American Civil Liberties Union claims the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to enforce immigration laws are 'unconstitutional.' In point of fact, it is the ACLU actively trying to block enforcement of this nation's laws. Is that constitutional?" [...]
"There is no legal recourse for an American citizen against the ACLU, is there?" Dobbs concluded, laughing. "Isn't that unconstitutional?"
Dobbs also has a bizarro twist on the ACLU's view of the drug war:
"And they want the drug war to continue to be decided in favor of the drug traffickers."
Um, no. I'm pretty sure they'd like the drug war to be decided in favor of the people. It's asshats like Dobbs who want to continue to make the black market profitable.
11:10:41 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Urinetown
Polk County, Florida is flushed with excitement over drug testing
High school athletes have been tested for drug and alcohol abuse use for almost five years, and the program needs to be expanded to include more students, said Audrey Kelley-Fritz, the senior manager of Prevention, Health and Wellness Services for Polk County Public Schools. [...]
Kelley-Fritz said the district would be "behind the times" if the request to expand drug testing had not been made.
Behind the times? Hey, we'd better expand our drug testing. All the cool schools are doing it.
District officials determined that students in extracurricular organizations, such as the Future Business Leaders of America and Future Farmers of America, might benefit by being added to the testing pool.
Determined? How? Benefit? How? Are those really your target population for intervening with problem drug users?
The district's expanded testing will include students who participate in activities that involve some kind of competition, something in which a first-, second- and third-place award is presented, Kelley-Fritz said.
Yeah, that makes sense. Wouldn't want to let the potheads have an unfair advantage in capturing those blue ribbons. Although I wonder if you'll see an increase in groups that only have a first and second place award.
In Kanawha County, West Virginia, the school board voted to randomly drug test all teachers and school employees. That drew this strong OpEd from Steven Shamblin
This board cut field trips because of lack of funding. Where is the drug-testing money going to come from? Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent frivolously to accomplish the noneducational tasks and agenda of the board. Yet the students, the children of the Kanawha County constituents, suffer from the indulgences of this board.
Why is the board attempting not to fund the county library under the pretext of needing more money? Funding the library -- and its branches in the public schools -- would be a more effective use of money now earmarked for drug testing and its associated court costs.
With this policy, the board is declaring a warrant against every employee in the county as having probable cause. Every teacher and prospective teacher in the United States will know that Kanawha County schools is not the place to work. Not only is West Virginia ranked 48th in teacher pay, Kanawha County is ranked 18th in the state for supplemental teacher pay. Kanawha County schools may have a shortage of teachers to test.
What about school employees who have given their lives to the county for the education of its youth? After 20 to 30 years, are they now suspect? These professionals should be lauded for their service to Kanawha children, not stripped of dignity by asking them to provide a urine sample. Apparently the loyalty of employment flows only one way in Kanawha County.
And he notes the real truth that puts the lie to random drug testing:
The current policy is more than adequate; it gives the board authority to test "with cause."
The use of random testing, instead of testing with cause, is evidence either of poor management skills or a solution in search of a problem.
South Africa's government is excited about implementing drug testing in schools, although some teachers and students are not.
One Durban teacher said she was terrified of testing pupils for weapons, let alone drugs. [...]
Phila Masango, a 16-year-old pupil from Durban, said no one was going to force him to urinate.
He said by so doing they would be infringing on his dignity and privacy rights.
Random drug testing is an inefficient, unproductive, and cowardly way of managing. It is also the preferred style of the authoritarians -- getting people accustomed to humiliating themselves before authority.
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*Title reference: "Urinetown" is a darkly funny musical about a town where authoritarians control the facilities and the poor people have to pay to piss. In our version of Urinetown, people have to piss to get paid (or to learn).
8:32:18 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008 |
Narco-recession?
The drug czar continues to act rather unhinged in his final months, grasping at the oddest straws to declare victory.
The LA Times has a poorly-headlined story about one of the interesting side effects of the escalated drug war in Mexico. Not only is the drug war not stopping the drugs or deterring the trafficers. Not only is the drug war increasing the violence and death. But with the major military efforts, the traffickers are pulling back on spending in the communities (so they aren't as visible).
They're taking their cash underground or out of the country, instead of buying goods and services from the people of Mexico. The resulting lack of cash is causing loss of jobs and livelihoods among those who aren't in the drug trade.
So now the drug czar is bizarrely bragging about this as "what can happen when aggressive pressure against drug cartels is applied."
I'm sure all the innocent folks who are now doubly victims of violence and recession are rushing to send him thank-you notes.
6:38:25 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 |
Drug Czar celebrates productivity of drug users
In announcing some annual celebration of work through the Department of Labor, drug czar John Walters notes:
75 percent of the nation's current illegal drug users are employed.
So much for Pete's couch.
Thanks, John, for taking the time to acknowledge the contributions that drug users are making every day to save the economy that your administration has destroyed.
(Another thing that's inspiring about that number -- since the drug czar keeps saying that young people are the ones using drugs, then young drug users must be particularly motivated to be getting jobs at an early age.)
Drugs: motivating the young to work at real jobs that don't have "czar" in the title.
10:42:39 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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The future of the troubled ONDCP
Jag Davies has an excellent post at the ACLU blog: Cascade of Reports Condemn Drug Czar's Office
Certainly, I'd like to see the drug czar's office disappear into a sink-hole caused by the office's own black-hole-like lack of integrity.
However, if the ONDCP is to continue, Davies is absolutely right that we must advocate for new metrics for measurement.
Rather than measuring success based on slight fluctuations in drug use, the primary measure of ONDCP's effectiveness should be the reduction of drug-related harm. If ONDCP is reauthorized, it should be charged with reducing problems associated with drug use itself (overdose, addiction, disease transmission) and problems associated with drug prohibition (over-incarceration, collateral sanctions, loss of civil liberties, racial disparities in enforcement, prosecution and sentencing).
That's exactly right. Although, I would, just to make things as clear as possible, modify that statement slightly with a few word changes:
Rather than measuring success based on slight fluctuations in drug use, the primary measure of ONDCP's effectiveness should be the reduction of drug-related harm and drug-war-related harm. If ONDCP is reauthorized, it should be charged with reducing problems associated with drug use abuse itself (overdose, addiction, disease transmission) and problems associated with drug prohibition (over-incarceration, collateral sanctions, loss of civil liberties, turf violence, corruption, law enforcement trust, drug safety, environmental damage, breakup of families, racial disparities in enforcement, prosecution and sentencing).
Could still stand a bit of tweaking, but perhaps a coordinated effort to pass on such language to Congress, when the ONDCP is up for reauthorization, is in order?
9:45:48 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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The drug war continues to wreak havoc in Mexico
Sometimes I wonder if I have anything new to say about this. The constant litany of articles about the drug war in Mexico are depressing:
One of those articles above actually made a connection between the violence now and the violence in the alcohol drug wars, but generally, there is no attempt made at any kind of perspective other than "Isn't this terrible. Gee, I guess we'd better crack down some more."
And, of course, the news naturally gets some people worked up ...
What's worh Going to War For? Iraq - No, not in my opinion. Drug Lords from Mexico that Kidnap little children from their homes, yes this is worth going to war for. This is worth losing the Iraq war. This is worth pulling the troops out of Iraq immediately to protect our borders. Isn't this something that we need Federal Troops for.
... somehow unaware that we're already at war. Have been for decades. That's what brought us to this mess. That's what caused this mess.
Scott Morgan makes it clear
If our drug policy made sense, 6-year-old children wouldn't be kidnapped in blackmarket business disputes [...]
Cole is safe now, thankfully. But as long as the drug war continues, these kinds of things will never stop happening and they won't always end peacefully. There's a reason Anheuser-Busch and R.J. Reynolds don't kidnap children when a retailer is late on a payment.
Unless the news media is willing to do its job and make the historic connections clear, each escalation of violence will continue to be met with a further escalation, and the people, uninformed and uneducated about the economic laws relating to black market economies, will continue to push for more gasoline to be put on the fire.
9:20:32 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Monday, October 20, 2008 |
Bizarre antics to promote the drug war to kids
Oh, yes, it was Red Ribbon Week again. This is that annual celebration where, in memory of one person who died in the drug war, the DEA encourages school children to celebrate the drug war and ignore all the other deaths it has caused.
The celebrations reach incredible heights of absurdity.
Throughout the country
Each school may have different activities, but for the most part they'll follow the same agenda. Students will follow a different anti-drug theme each day of the week and dress accordingly, such as wearing camouflage to "join the fight against drugs."
I guess they don't actually issue them guns... yet.
But they sure tease them.
Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Jodie Underwood -- dressed in black and packing her service revolver -- looked armed and dangerous until she turned toward a bunch of 8-year- olds with a grin on her face and asked: "Are you guys having fun?
All right, kids! War is fun! And you might get to shoot people!
It was unclear who was having more fun, the kids or the cops, at the culmination Thursday of several days of drug prevention programs at the Holy Rosary School in West Seattle.
The three letter agencies were there: DEA, ICE, FBI. As children wearing red sweaters and blue pants or tartan skirts lined 42nd Avenue Southwest, agents in raid jackets, swat gear and even hazardous-material suits slapped palms with the pumped-up youngsters.
Ah, but what if hazardous material suits aren't sexy enough?
It's not enough to just tell kids not to do drugs. It takes a helicopter, the military, a federal agent, a professional sport team's mascot and cheerleaders to send the message.
That's right -- these grade school kids celebrated the war with "soldiers from the Colorado National Guard's Counter-Drug Program, accompanied by a special agent from the Drug Enforcement Agency, two Denver Nugget dancers and Edson the Eagle, the mascot for the Colorado Rapids." Now that should make a 12-year-old boy sit up straight for the war on drugs.
One lucky student, Louis Morales, 12, got a photo with the ladies.
"It was awesome, especially because of the cheerleaders," Louis said. "We have a lot of homework so we are in class a lot so it was nice to get out of class for a bit."
And for those not interested in the cheerleaders, you had the helicopter.
"It was awesome, because it's a helicopter and helicopters are awesome," said Zach Glynn, 12.
Awesome.
Tarika Wilson, 26, shot to death in her home by police while holding her baby. Kathryn Johnston, 88, shot to death in her home by police. Ashley Villareal, 14, shot to death in her car outside her home by DEA agents. Xavier Bennett, 8, shot to death in his home. Veronica Bowers, 35, and Charity Bowers, 7 months, shot down and killed in their missionary plane over Peru by drug enforcement operations. Patrick Dorismond, 26, shot to death by undercover drug police on the streets of New York. Tony Marinez, 19, shot to death while sleeping on the couch. Lynette Gayle Jackson, 26, shot to death in her bed by a SWAT team. Alberto Sepulveda, 11, shot to death by SWAT while lying face down on the floor in his home. Esequiel Hernandez, 18, shot to death by drug war Marines on U.S. soil while herding his family's goats. ...
Awesome.
8:27:14 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Sunday, October 19, 2008 |
A commonsense recession
I was driving on Cicero Avenue in Chicago yesterday and passed a beer billboard (Miller, I believe) that said:
"Tell the recession where to go. Miller High Life. It's common sense."
It's a rather odd billboard, and I wish I had taken a picture of it (and can't find one online). It was in a pretty low income area of the city and appeared to be saying more than just that Miller Beer is a good value.
And it got me thinking about the fact that if we indeed face a long and severe recession, there will be many things cut from personal budgets, but people will always find a way to afford a little mind-altering escape. Even more so when times are tough.
And so if we really were to face a severe recession and I was in the position to advise governments how to deal with it, one of the things I would tell them is to stop wasting tons of money and productivity on prohibition and, at the very least, legalize marijuana for financial reasons.
But I would also ask them: "If you are looking at inner city areas with massive unemployment, would you rather have large numbers of angry drunk poor people on the streets, or mellow stoned poor people on Pete's couch?"
Seriously.
Sure, Miller High Life is probably a quality product, and I have nothing against choosing beer, but a legal pot patch in the back yard in bad times (or good, for that matter) really is common sense.
After all, it's worked for relaxing soccer fans.
8:57:57 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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