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Drug WarRant
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Saturday, November 22, 2008 |
SSDP Conference, part 5
Drugs for Sale! A Discussion of Post-Prohibition Drug Markets
(l-r) Tim Lynch (Cato Institute), Ethan Nadelmann (Drug Policy Alliance), Moderator Chris Chiles (SSDP Board)
Tim Lynch is very pessimistic about what seems to be happening so far with the Obama administration, given his early appointments.
He asks a very good question: What will the Obama administration do about the recent case when an FBI officer was killed in a drug raid. It should be self-defense. Will the administration pursue a conviction against the woman who defended her home?
Tim is more optimistic in the medium and long term about overall drug policy reform, in part based on looking at what alcohol prohibition reformers faced. It took less time to reform than they thought it would.
Difference between the alcohol and drug prohibition is that alcohol prohibition was repealed at the federal level and the states kept, in some cases, prohibiting until ready. However, in drug policy, the states and other countries will lead, and the feds will bring up the rear.
He talked about different models for a future policy
- Full legalization
- The alcohol model
- Decriminalization (he talked about the Portugal model of decrim, which I need to analyze further (and is apparently going very well), although it doesn't change my position that decrim ignores the elephant in the room-- the black market)
Good point: If politicians are unable to come up with the courage to change laws themselves, then what they need to do is step aside and let states and other countries do so (serve as the laboratory, so to speak).
Keep the nirvana fallacy in mind when debating -- don't let prohibitionists compare potential problematic legalization options with a nirvana of drug free America. The comparison must be with the horribly flawed realistic situation that exists in our prohibition world.
Nice job by Lynch. Very smart and knows his stuff.
Ethan Nadelmann talked about his early history as a reluctant legalizer and how he moved to the necessity of legalization, then trying to identify a model that would work.
What naturally comes to mind is that:
The best policy is the one that most successfully
- reduces the harms of drugs AND
- reduces the harms of drug prohibition
And so he talked about a group he worked with analyzing models from various sides, such as starting with things like the health model on one side and starting with the Supermarket (everything available at any time to anyone) model on the other side and see if there was a way to make them meet.
The question is, should there be some kind of gatekeeper (perhaps in government) to in some way control access.
This is the compromise model that his group came up with.
The Right of Access Model
- Everybody has the right to possess and use any drug in any form
- Everybody has the right to obtain this substance from a reliable provider who is civilly liable for providing safe and clean substance.
(For more detail, read the linked article)
2:56:00 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Peter Moskos - Cop in the Hood
I got to meet Peter Moskos at the conference. He's there with his book -- I've been meaning to talk about it more and will later, but suffice to say right now that it's an excellent book about policing and the drug war.
So go buy it.
He'll be at the Conference the whole time and he's happy to sign his book for anyone who buys it.
And now I have an autographed copy.
2:40:38 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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SSDP Conference, part 4
 Representative Danny Davis (D-IL)
Plenary: Race, Inner Cities, and the Drug War
It was great to have Danny Davis speak. He did a great job of summarizing the ills of the drug war nationally, internationally, and racially. To hear his words coming from a member of Congress means so much.
2:08:41 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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SSDP Conference, part 3: The Debate
(l-r) Kris Krane, Students for Sensible Drug Policy; Courtland Milloy, Washington Post (Moderator); Kevin Sabet, Students Taking Action Not Drugs
The debate started with Kevin Sabet. He really worked on being reasonable-sounding, but a lot of what he said we've heard before -- we need a balanced drug policy, not everything is perfect, but some things work, and with the damage caused by legal drugs, it shows the potential for danger.
Kris Krane: Pretty good list of problems with the drug war. Drug abuse is a problem, but the war on drugs is worse. "The war on drugs has been nothing short of a failure."
That last statement by Kris is a mistake, in my mind. It takes the debate the wrong direction. It opens up a debate on the goals of the war on drugs and whether it works as a deterrent, etc., rather than talking about the war on drugs as separate from the issue of drug use/abuse.
Great quote by Kris: "People are being judged not on the content of their character, but the content of their urine."
Both got derailed in the debate arguing about sentencing. Are a lot of people serving time in jail for this or is it really that, etc. Fortunately, the moderator stepped in and got them back on track.
Sabet talked about programs he thinks works, like Project Hope, which is basically a heavily drug testing based criminal justice system. He said it's a way of reducing drug problems. Quote I didn't understand: "These people are causing 90% of the problems of drugs."
Scott Morgan, sitting at my table: "Kris loses. He said 'rape' first."
Kris: Usage rate should not be the measure of success. Should be about whether "abuse" is being affected not "use."
Sabet: "The human rights of individuals to put whatever they want in their bodies should not be infringed" Me: (!!!!) Sabet: "but there's more to it than that-- it affects other people." Me: (????) Sabet: "If you're in your dorm room smoking pot bothering nobody and the RA doesn't care, nobody's going to come knocking on your door." Entire audience: (!?!?!?!)
Courtland Milloy (excellent moderator) did a great job bringing up the Calvo raid and SWAT problems. Sabet didn't have a very good response to that and moved into a series of meaningless platitudes about common ground.
Discussion got to human rights and Sabet talked again about the damage to others (mentioning driving).
Krane: Text messaging while driving is dangerous. But we don't ban text messaging. We ban text messaging while driving.
Sabet: I agree. [caught completely off guard]
[Standing Ovation]
Kris finally got into the black market argument that should have been brought up earlier when he was asked whether all drugs should be legalized. Good statement.
Of course, you're not getting the whole debate, because I'm listening, not writing the whole time. I am impressed by the level of the debate overall, and given the natural problems inherent in Sabat's positions.
OK, I take it back. He just talked about crack being available in a legal market at a cost available for a kid's lunch money. Scott's wrong. Kevin loses for that one.
Kris should have talked more about alcohol prohibition. He missed a cue there - got derailed on tobacco taxes.
Sabet dissed medical marijuana. Krane came after him hard with a history of governmental abuse of process. Excellent.
This debate will be available to college campuses, and I suggest that colleges consider bringing them in. It's a good debate.
12:51:45 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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SSDP Conference, part 2
Breakout session: Shots fired: The Casualties of No-Knock Police Raids in America
(l-r)Alison Grimmer (SSDP board), Radley Balko (Reason Magazine), David Borden (Stop the Drug War), Cheye Calvo (Mayor, Berwyn Heights)
Radley was great. I'm not going to regurgitate what he said -- you all know the material, but his presentation was full of great and disturbing quotes and anecdotes. Here's a couple of the many that caught my attention:
Radley quotes Lawrence Korb about the military: "We train them to vaporize, not Mirandize." The problem is that we're training police to act like soldiers in a war.
Radley: When you use a SWAT team on a hostage situation or bank robbery, you already have a violent situation, and the SWAT team is there to ameliorate it. When you use SWAT teams on non-violent drug busts, you add violence where there was none.
Mayor Calvo then talked about his experience that awful day, and the perspectives he's picked up since then. He's wonderfully articulate and, while new to drug policy reform, he understands the true issues -- that accountability has to be required not just of the police officers, but of the system.
11:20:41 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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SSDP Conference, part 1
Opening session (l-r) Kris Krane, Matt Palevsky, Rob Kampia, Bill Piper, Caren Woodson, Adam Wolf, Aaron Houston
Kris Krane (SSDP Executive Director) started out with a stirring opening about how this generation of college students is going to make the difference.
Aaron Houston (MPP Government Relations Director) talked about the election. The good news is we lost a lot of bad drug warriors in government (including the fact that every Democrat that lost was strongly opposed to reform). He tried to speculate whether 2010 elections would be like 1994 (Democratic over-reach and blowback) or like 1934 (his take -- 1934, based on economic crises).
Adam Wolf (ACLU staff attorney) talked about what the immediate priorities will be in the new administration for ACLU. Naturally, some of the top items will be things like torture, rendition, Gitmo, etc. Other items that relate to drug policy:
- Stop denying that there is medical benefit to marijuana and re-schedule it.
- Allow Lyle Craker to grow marijuana for research purposes (end the government monopoly for research marijuana
- Stop selective prosecution of marijuana patients in an attempt to disrupt state programs -- call for the AG to issue a directive not to pursue medical marijuana cases in medical marijuana states.
- Abolishing the crack-powder sentencing disparity
- Ban racial profiling
- Judicial appointments (not Supreme Court necessarily, but the Courts of Appeal, where most cases end). Look for privacy as a value (which helps drug policy reform).
- Other sentencing issues
- Students' rights (he talked some about the girl who was strip-searched in her school because they thought she might have some ibuprofen). Also drug testing cases (including teacher drug testing cases).
Caren Woodson (Americans for Safe Access - ASA - Director of Government Affairs) talked about the fact that the Democratic Congress will be extremely cautious (many are in conservative districts) and may be afraid to embrace reform. Change won't happen quickly -- it'll be extremely subtle. She is optimistic long term, partly because of the increase of factual studies supporting medical cannabis so that it is harder and harder for anybody to even claim that there is no such thing as medical cannabis.
Her priority areas:
- Stop the raids
- Permit affirmative defenses
- Get NIDA out of the business of monopolizing marijuana research
- Create a national medical cannabis strategy
Bill Piper (Director of National Affairs for DPA) talked about Prop 5 in California and its loss. He played one of the nasty ads against it that ran on TV featuring Dianne Feinstein.
Bill is optimistic, and excited, about the election (other than the Prop 5 loss, of course) and feels good about the chances for federal sentencing reform and needle exchange, in particular, but other areas as well.
Rob Kampia (Executive Director, MPP) talked about the efforts in Michigan and Massachusetts that resulted in decrim (Massachusetts) and medical marijuana (Michigan). He also played some ads they developed (I showed one or two of them here some time ago). Quote: "Medical marijuana is more popular than our past three Presidents" (referring to several medical marijuana referenda that won by a larger vote than the President in that state).
10:08:33 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Arriving at the conference
Well, we made it to College Park, Maryland, after a much too long drive. There were multiple accidents on the freeway near Washington, Pennsylvania that tied up traffic for hours, and then we ran into lots of snow in the higher altitudes in Maryland (hills and curves and darkness and ice aren't my favorite mix of driving conditions).
But we made it and I'm thrilled to be here. I've already seen tons of SSDP folk. As you can see below, the folks are having a great time late tonight, with drums and a didgeridoo and dancing and conversation.
I'll report more from the conference on Saturday.
1:20:58 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Thursday, November 20, 2008 |
Drug Czar makes sense
On his "blog"
Those who enjoy and care about our planet's natural resources should be troubled by the environmental consequences of the drug trade. The billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs produced here and abroad take a horrific toll on some of the most fragile and diverse eco-systems on the planet. Indeed, concerned young people and adults should think about the global impact of the drug trade the next time they and their peers discuss what they can do to sustain a healthy environment here in the U.S. and abroad.
This is a wonderful statement, and very true. And when concerned people discuss what they can do, the only smart and logical choice will be to fire the drug czar and legalize and regulate drugs to take the business out of the hands of those who destroy the environment.
9:58:55 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008 |
Quotable
Eric Sterling:
Before the nation's governors, mayors and county executives propose furloughing or laying off police officers, school teachers, sanitation workers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, and recreation aides who care for our family members and protect public safety, there is one question that the public employee unions should demand answered: How much revenue from marijuana taxation are they throwing away in order to sacrifice those jobs and the families of public employees?
8:02:43 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Students for Sensible Drug Policy Conference
 Road trip!
The national international SSDP conference is happening this weekend in College Park, Maryland. And while I hadn't originally planned on making it, I've been asked to do my Elevator Arguments workshop again and to facilitate a luncheon discussion on education.
It looks like quite a line-up - here's the schedule. Some really outstanding speakers and workshops.
It's a particularly great opportunity for students. I'm thrilled that we've got 5 students from Illinois State University going (and there will be a couple alums of that group going as well). It's important for students -- great training and motivation, and SSDP does an incredible job of helping students out with scholarships to cover conference fees, lodging, travel, etc.
Which leads me to a small bleg. The emphasis is helping students, so a workshop leader like me pays full conference fees and lodging, etc. In any other conference, that would be backwards, but in this one, it makes sense. It was, however, an unplanned expense for me. And I'm driving some of the students 1600 miles round trip to the conference instead of flying in order to save the group some money.
So, if anyone would like to help out, I've set up a Pay Page for contributing to this little road trip.
Don't contribute unless you have extra lying around. I'm serious. I can handle it and I won't go broke. But if you'd like to vicariously go on a road trip with me, feel free to drop some change in.
1:10:25 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Oh, that scary and complicated medical marijuana
There has been an incredible chorus of whining from law enforcement personnel since the initiatives in Michigan and Massachusetts passed. It reeks of desperation and, quite frankly, incompetence.
Here's just one more:
East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said he worries people will abuse the constitutional amendment, which he said is unfortunate because the proposal was intended to play on people's compassion for those in serious pain.
"There's a lot of potential for abuse," he said. "Another interesting part is who would hold a doctor responsible for the prescription he writes? What would prevent a doctor from handing out prescriptions to anybody who asks?"
Wibert, who said he was surprised the proposal passed, said he would have to train police officers on the system of documentation for people who can legally use marijuana.
"It strikes me that it should be somewhat confusing," he said. "What type of documentation are people going to have? How would a police officer know whether it's valid documentation?"
This is so hard! Somebody is going to have to come up with some kind of... system or something. We don't know how to do that. Why are they making our jobs so difficult? Have you ever heard of law enforcement working with, like, documentation of some kind? It would be as if people who drive cars had to have some kind of pass or card or something.
Whine.
And gee, what if a doctor prescribed it to someone who wasn't supposed to get it? Well, you know what? Doctors prescribe medicine every day. And they're licensed. And of all the drugs to worry about, what's the worst that could happen from prescribing marijuana to someone who needs it? The munchies?
I heard that the crime rate in East Lansing was down, but apparently it is so low that Chief Wilbert's biggest concern is some people (many of whom are seriously ill) experiencing... mild euphoria.
And so he's whining about it.
Pathetic.
12:08:00 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Monday, November 17, 2008 |
More drug czar speculation...
Keep in mind that I really think this is really too early to be picking drug czars, but people can't help speculating. The latest comes from Ryan Grim at the Politico.
Rep. Jim Ramstad's name is bouncing around as a possible "drug czar" -- the name given the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Ramstad, a Minnesota Republican, is in recovery himself and has been a longtime proponent of treatment for drug abuse.
Along with Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), he has been an advocate for mental health parity -- the push to treat mental illness with the same effort as physical illness. Ramstad has consistently voted against medical marijuana in Congress, opposing an effort to prevent the federal government from raiding or arresting medical marijuana clubs in states where it is legal.
While certainly it could be a positive step to focus on treatment more than enforcement, as Radley says:
Fear the ex-addict who enters the public policy debate to "prevent others from making my mistakes."
8:24:00 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Radley 
