Tuesday, March 31, 2009

About that cocaine video I haven't commented about the guy who's been shopping around the video that supposedly shows Joe Biden's daughter doing cocaine, because I just wasn't interested. Eric Sterling has it right. This person is a disgusting sleazebag. [...] None of us would ever want a videotape of our child's indiscretions made public. Persons who seek to profit from such indiscretions are contemptible. All of us should empathize with Ashley Biden. Whether this video accurately depicts her or not, she has been victimized. We know that about twenty million Americans use illegal drugs, and that half of all American adults have used an illegal drug at least once. She is being held up to ridicule for something that does not deserve ridicule. Even if she had snorted cocaine at a party, her privacy has been terribly invaded. (It is worth noting that there will be people who will feel completely justified in attacking Ashley Biden because she is suspected of using cocaine. There will be people who will feel justified attacking Vice President Biden for the policy positions he has taken because his daughter is rumored to have used cocaine. He is not responsible for his adult daughter's use of drugs.) Well, it turns out that it's even sleazier than we originally heard. The attorney that was shopping around the video has bailed, and now it appears that the guy with the video not only supplied the cocaine, but used a hidden camera to make the videotape. Legal expert Stan Goldman told RadarOnline.com: "Look, this is very serious business -- even the government cannot conduct this kind of activity (although federal agents can possess drugs without violating the law). He could be charged with possession of illegal drugs, distributing them and also trying to profit from their sale. I'm not surprised that that the lawyer 'brokering the deal' ditched the guy because he could not be seen to be benefiting from the 'fruits of the crime.'" I have plenty of disagreements with Joe Biden and his views on drug policy, but there's no way that I would trade his daughter's privacy for the mere opportunity of a cheap hypocrisy accusation. It is my hope that his daughter is left alone, that the videographer disappears (for his own good), and this "story" ends. I also desire that every other person in the world who uses drugs without harming anyone else is left alone, and I will continue to fight for that. One good bit of news. It appears that none of the newspapers approached was willing to bid on the video. Perhaps they have some ethics? (Or maybe they're going bankrupt and just couldn't afford it.) Note: The Onion also has a funny take in their "person in the street" interviews... George Furlong, Humane Officer: "I don't get it. What's the hook here? Does she do cocaine really well? Is it an impressive amount of cocaine?" Peggy Bryan, Watch Assembly Inspector: "If she was snorting it through one of those pocket Constitutions that Kucinich hands out, I'll go get my checkbook." 11:40:45 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

I'm starting to wonder if it's intentional President Obama's no dummy. He's intelligent and he's educated. He's from Chicago. Is he purposely throwing softballs? President Obama: Well, what's happened is that President Calderon I think has been very bold and rightly has decided that it's gotten carried away. The drug cartels have too much power, are undermining and corrupting huge segments of Mexican society. And so he has taken them on in the same way that when, you know, Elliot Ness took on Al Capone back during Prohibition, oftentimes that causes even more violence. And we're seeing that flare up. Obama talking to CBS's Bob Schieffer [Via Scott Morgan] He's got to be smart enough to know that talking about prohibition and Capone is just going to lead to talking about ending prohibition. Drug policy reformers have set that up for the past few years by heavily promoting the word "prohibition" in conjunction with the drug war. I even did some promotion of the Capone connection. A lot of people are going to make that connection. Is he stupid? Is he brilliantly devious? What's going on, here? 10:52:53 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Coming out of the closet Andrew Sullivan gets readers talking about the marijuana closet -- the awkward place so many users reside that prevents them from talking openly. This convinces more to come out of the closet. Jason Kuznicki Positive Liberty comments on this development and hopes for more. I agree. 7:57:01 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

No more free rides? Could it be that the mindless anything-goes-as-long-as-you're-tough-on-drugs philosophy is showing cracks? Editorial: Incarceration Lobby Deserves Tough Questions Here's a question to those who gathered in Sparta last week to criticize Gov. Jim Doyle's public safety budget: Why does the United States, with just 5 percent of the world's population, house 25 percent of the world's prisoners? Led by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, several public officials blasted Doyle's budget, which calls for the early release of non-violent prisoners and cutting back on supervision and parole. They levelled the criticism despite a huge state budget deficit and a corrections budget already grown at a staggering pace. Consider that: *In 1996, Wisconsin spent $360 million on corrections. It was $1 billion in 2008. *In 1982, one out of every 437 Wisconsin residents was in jail or prison. In 2007, it was one out of 109. [...] It's time to ask some very tough questions about our criminal justice system, including: [...] * Are too many things against the law? Is there any reason, for example, for anyone to serve a day of jail time for selling marijuana? If stuffing people into prison guaranteed safety, then America would be the safest country in the world. We aren't, and it's the incarceration lobby, not the governor, that deserves the political hot seat. Can you believe we have a paper taking on the "incarceration lobby"? And calling it that? In Maryland Cheye Calvo's efforts to bring accountability to SWAT are paying off Delegates adopted a bill, on a 126 to 9 vote, that would require law enforcement agencies to report every six months on their use of SWAT teams, including what kinds of warrants the teams serve and whether any animals are killed during raids. The first steps to reform in this area are transparency and accountability, so this is critical. The mere fact that officers are going to have to go to the state house twice a year and tell them how many dogs they shot... Ryan Grim at Huffington Post: Webb Crime Bill Gets Unlikely Support Jim Webb stepped firmly on a political third rail last week when he introduced a bill to examine sweeping reforms to the criminal justice system. Yet he emerged unscathed, a sign to a political world frightened by crime and drug issues that the bar might not be electrified any more. [...] Webb told the Huffington Post. "I heard from Justice Kennedy of the Supreme Court, from prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, former offenders, people in prison, and police on the street. All of them have told me that our system needs to be fixed, and that we need a holistic plan of how to solve it." Webb's reform is backed by a coalition of liberals, conservatives and libertarians that couldn't have existed even a few years ago. [...] The bill was cosponsored by the entire Senate Democratic leadership and enthusiastically welcomed by prominent liberal bloggers. The blogosphere, dominated by younger activists, has been particularly open to calls for drug and criminal justice policy reform. Support for the proposal has come in from the right, too. The Lynchburg News and Advance a conservative paper that publishes in the hometown of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, weighed in favorably. [...] Conservative blogger Erick Erickson of RedState.com tells the Huffington Post he's open to Webb's bill. [...] Over the weekend, the family-friendly Parade magazine featured a cover story by Webb titled "Why We Must Fix Our Prisons." This, despite the fact that Webb does not even shy away from the legalization question... "It's a very real question. It's a very legitimate question," he told one caller, noting that the past three presidents and more than half of Americans have used illegal drugs at some point in their lifetimes. "At some level, most people do enjoy their beer or whatever it is," Webb said. "On the other end of the rail, there is tremendous danger, particularly among young people, when you get to drugs, that we have to have some protections and some sort of education. There you have the question. It's a legitimate question. And the best way to deal with this is to put it in front of people who are going to look at all the ramifications of this and come up with something." We have known for some time that the political third rail that scares politicians when it comes to criminal justice/drug policy reform has lost its inherent power. The only way it has power is when the politician gives it power by being afraid of it. Even the attack ad from opponents can be defanged easily if the politician is willing to stand up for what they believe. Of course, we need to support Jim Webb in his efforts and continue to push the public to support reform -- we've got a long way to go. But when tough-on-drugs and tough-on-crime are no longer automatic trump cards, we're in the game. 8:34:16 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []