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Drug WarRant
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Saturday, February 7, 2009 |
Can't they even try to make a legitimate case against marijuana legalization?
I mean, this is just embarrassing. In a college paper debate at Oklahoma State University, we have The burning question: Should marijuana be legalized? Anti-
And what argument does Meg Foster present for keeping marijuana illegal?
On Aug. 17, 2007, Richard Hill smoked some marijuana and then went for a drive on the wrong side of the road.
He collided with Todd Kirtley's car. His 10-year-old daughter, April, was in the car with him. Kirtley is now paralyzed and might never be able to walk again. Hill was sentenced to eight to 15 years in prison.
Kirtley will never see his daughter again.
Now, sad as that is, it's not a very good reason to keep marijuana illegal. But the real problem is that she isn't even close to being factual. A simple google of the names Richard Hill and Todd Kirtley, came up with this news article.
Kent County deputies said Richard Hill, 40, of Greenville was drunk and driving the wrong way in the northbound lane at the time of impact. [...]
The sheriff's department said Hill smelled of alcohol as rescue workers treated him. Deputies found several empty beer cans around his pickup truck at the scene.
Hill was taken to Butterworth where he was treated and released. After being released from the hospital he was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious injury during an arraignment in 63rd District Court on Aug. 19. [...]
On Dec. 17, Hill appeared before Kent County Circuit Court Judge George Buth in Grand Rapids, where he was sentenced to from eight to 15 years in prison for driving while intoxicated third offense, causing Kirtley's death.
This reminds me of when Karen Tandy, the head of the DEA wrote the Washington Post and used an example of the horrors of driving while stoned on marijuana, and the example she used also involved cocaine and opiates.
Now I don't doubt that, despite the fact that studies have shown marijuana users are more aware of their impairment and adjust accordingly, there probably have been some stupid accidents somewhere that were a direct result of the driver being impaired by marijuana.
And yet, the fact that drug warriors keep having to make stuff up completely in order to bolster their case about the dangers of stoned driving really makes you wonder. If the head of the DEA can't get good examples and if OpEd writers (even students) have to change alcohol to pot in a story to have an example at all, well then it can't be that urgent a danger.
By the way, Google the phrase "killed by drunk driver" and you'll get about 61,000 hits. Google the phrase "killed by stoned driver" and you get 12 (probably 13 now), and most of those 12 are commenting on the fact that you never hear the phrase "killed by stoned driver."
5:54:22 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Have some cold cereal
Are you familiar with Malt-O-Meal cold cereals? They come in bags, usually at the end of the cereal aisle, they're easy to reseal, have less packaging (good for the environment), usually win in nutritional comparisons, and are less expensive than the name brands they mimic (and they mimic them quite well).
So if you like:
That is, just in case you have some reason to no longer buy Kellogg's products.
Update: It looks like I'm eating at Subway tonight. I love the footlong veggie on wheat, lightly toasted.
3:27:42 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Friday, February 6, 2009 |
Drug Tourism in the Netherlands
Drug Reporter:
Smoking without Borders -- a 10-minute film by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union about drug tourism in the Netherlands.
Their conclusions:
1) The problem of drug tourism is not caused by cannabis use or coffee shops. The real problem is the illegality of cannabis in neighboring countries.
2) The problem cannot be solved by closing down coffee shops: the supply won't be reduced but it will go undeground to cause more problems.
3) The real solution to the problem is in the hands of the neighboring countries: to regulate and control the cannabis market.
10:28:56 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Open Thread
 It's nice to know that we're not the only place that does really stupid drug war stuff.
In Manila, authorities were spray-painting warnings on the houses of suspected drug "personalities." This generated some criticism from human rights advocates (you think?). So...
Rosales explained that instead of spray-painting warnings on the houses of the suspected drug personalities, authorities will instead mark the words "This is a drug-free home" on the houses of residents proven to be free from substance abuse.
What are they trying to do? Recreate Exodus 12 and passover?
BC Court rules medical marijuana program unconstitutional
Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg gave Ottawa a year to fix the medical-marijuana access regulations so compassion clubs or producers can get together and run a common marijuana-growing operation.
At the moment, the federal government restricts any licensed grower to supplying only one licensed user and prohibits more than three growers from pooling resources.
Both those restrictions are unconstitutional, Koenigsberg said.
Kellogg is dropping Michael Phelps. There are a lot of good cereals available from General Mills and Post (plus, in this economy, generic and store brand substitutes are a great idea).
Oh, and you know that Sheriff Lott who wants to prosecute Phelps for being in a picture with a glass tube? This is him.
Phelps given meaningless 3 month suspension
"This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people"
Sumo wrestler kicked out for marijuana use
Atrios
Watching a reporter make Michael Phelps grovel it occurs to me that the media really are about 10 years behind the country on so many issues.
New York Sentencing Commission released a report calling for reforms to New York's notoriously harsh Rockefeller drug laws. The fact that reforms are being called for is a good thing. But indications are that it's a pretty weak effort:
[Drug Policy Alliance's Gabriel Sayegh rejected the report as a "damn paperweight" that basically "rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic at a cost of half a billion dollars to New Yorkers." [...]
"Not only does it not include real reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, but it takes a step backward," Sayegh continued. "The commission acted as though the political climate we're in is not happening. It's like they drafted this thing from a cave."
8:56:34 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Thursday, February 5, 2009 |
Zero Tolerance goes even more horribly wrong.
Mindy Herrick has taught at Roberts Elementary for 17 years. She sounds like one of most incredible and inspirational teachers ever. In 2006-7, she was teacher of the year for the entire school district. Read the article and you'll find the amazing stuff about her just continues and continues.
The School District decided (for no reason) to check on teachers and drugs, so they brought in a drug sniffing dog to the teacher's parking log. The dog alerted to one car. Nothing there. The dog alerted to a second car. Nothing there. The dog alerted to a third car. Mindy's. They searched her car and found a baggie with two Xanax pills....
Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. The dog makes two false ID's on other cars and then manages to smell two bills in a plastic bag inside a car? Right. Sounds more like the dog gave the police 3 free searches.
Mindy says she doesn't know where the pills came from (other people drive her car) and she passed a drug test and a lie detector test and asked to have the bag checked for fingerprints to prove that she never touched it.
But for now, Mindy isn't allowed to teach, and she has been charged with possession of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school and could get 10 years if convicted.
Herrick's classroom door is covered with kids' drawings. "We love you, Ms. Herrick!" says one with a big heart. In big letters, another declares, "We miss you!"
It's, you know, for the kids.
11:02:05 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Non-Obama Thread
Because you need to talk about other things, too.
What do you want to talk about regarding drug policy that doesn't involve the President or administration?
7:38:48 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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White House: DEA is out-of-control rogue agency
Well, the White House didn't say that exactly, but read between the lines...
In today's Washington Times
The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.
"The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
Bruce Mirken says:
While more ringing language might have been nice, the intent is clear enough: Hey DEA, the president says it's time to stop attacking the sick. Got it?
12:16:59 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Wednesday, February 4, 2009 |
72% want Obama to end DEA raids
According to a California NORML press release:
While the DEA continues to stage medical marijuana raids in California, nearly three-quarters of voters think President Obama should honor his campaign pledge to end the raids, according to a poll of 1,053 likely voters by Zogby International.
In a question sponsored by NORML, voters were asked: During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he would stop federal raids against medical marijuana providers in the 13 states where medical marijuana has become legal. Should President Obama keep his word to end such raids?
Response:
- Yes - 72%
- No - 21%
- Not sure - 7%.
Yes votes outnumbered No by over 2 to 1 in all geographic, political, and demographic groups. The poll, conducted Jan 29-31, had a margin error of +/-3.1%.
The question is, of course, designed to encourage a "Yes" vote (that's not unusual in commissioned polls), but it's still an impressive number and very useful to make a good point.
6:18:14 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Self-defense = voluntary manslaughter
If you're attacked by cops, that is.
The verdict is in on the Ryan Frederick case.
The jury deliberated over two days before convicting Frederick of voluntary manslaughter and finding him not guilty of more serious homicide offenses, including capital murder. [...]
The jury also convicted Frederick of simple marijuana possession, which carries a penalty of up to 30 days in jail and a fine. The jury acquitted him of a more serious manufacturing and distribution charge.
As always, the best place for all the info on this case is The Agitator.
5:55:11 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Michael Phelps - the good stuff
Yes, there have been a lot of ridiculous columns by entertainment and sports journalists about how Michale Phelps "shames us all" for his horrible action in taking a bong hit, but it's been entertaining to me to read the comments to most of these articles and see the journalists being torn a new one by the public.
Some of them have been quite astonished that their readers weren't supporting them in their ritual condemnation of Phelps. Hilarious.
Here's a couple of delightful instances where the writers got it right.
Andrew Stuttaford at National Review Online's the corner
Look, I don't blame Michael Phelps for apologizing. He has a living to earn, so he did what he had to do.
In the meantime, I merely note that this broken wreck of a man's failure to win any more than a pathetic fourteen Olympic gold medals (so far) is a terrifying warning of the horrific damage that cannabis can do to someone's health--and a powerful reminder of just how sensible the drug laws really are.
And then, a clear must-read is Kathleen Parker in today's Washington Post: Phelps Takes a Hit
She's on fire:
And the law is the law. Therein lies the problem.
Our marijuana laws have been ludicrous for as long as we've been alive. Almost half of us (42 percent) have tried marijuana at least once, according to a report published last year in PLoS Medicine, a journal of the Public Library of Science.
The U.S., in fact, boasts the highest percentage of pot smokers among 17 nations surveyed, including The Netherlands, where cannabis clouds waft from coffeehouse windows. [...]
Other better-known former tokers include our current president and a couple of previous ones, as well as a Supreme Court justice, to name just a few. A complete list would require the slaughter of several mature forests. [...]
One recent ad produced by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy says: "Hey, not trying to be your mom, but there aren't many jobs out there for potheads." Whoa, dude, except maybe, like, president of the United States.
Once a kid realizes that pot doesn't make him insane -- or likely to become a burrito taster, as the ad further asserts -- he might figure other drug information is equally false.
Thanks, Michael, for jump-starting a national conversation by taking a hit on a bong.
If it were only that easy for the rest of us...
Update: Joe Klein at Time Magazine jumps in: Legalize it, already
Kathleen Parker has the precisely correct reaction to the Michael Phelps flap. Marijuana should be legalized and taxed. It's costing the society way too much in terms of law enforcement and hypocrisy.
8:50:31 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Change.org suggestions and NORML videos
It appears that change.org is moving into its next phase and for their Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana idea, that Marijuana Policy Project will be working with them on implementation.
You can contribute suggestions, or comment on them. I find it a bit chaotic -- the few really practical suggestions as to how to build a campaign are getting buried by meaningless statements of the "why isn't the government doing anything" or "Return our Constitutional Rights" nature and a few people are dominating by posting ad nauseam.
NORML has been running their third annual Marijuana Law Reform Ad Contest with individuals creating and submitting their own TV ads for $10,000 in prizes.
They've narrowed it down to the final 25 ads for you to vote on. Pick your three favorites.
It's an interesting group. Some were handicapped by the amateurishness of the production values, and others were way too deeply buried in "the culture" to ever reach anyone who didn't already have a bong in their hand.
But I found it difficult to finally narrow down to three. None were perfect, but 5 or 6 had some real potential.
Check them out and vote.
7:58:08 AM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009 |
Why is marijuana illegal?
This site got a huge spike yesterday with 49,986 pageviews (I usually get around 2,000 a day, which is pretty respectable for a single issue blog). The reason for the spike - a very healthy Digg of my Why Is Marijuana Illegal? page.
I'm grateful for the interest, and it was a great day for it because it fed off the Michael Phelps issue as well. Additionally, there will be increased activity for the next week or so as other sites take it from Digg.
That page has had other big spikes, along with almost constant referrals from Stumbleupon. And, due in part to the efforts of some wonderful drug warrant ambassadors, links to the page show up on messageboards all over the world (the page has had visitors from over 150 countries).
In fact, Why is marijuana illegal? is by far the most visited page on this site. Since I started using Google Analytics in June, 2007, that page has accounted for over 62% of all page views (the front page of the blog runs around 19%). And since most visitors to the Why is marijuana illegal? page are unique visitors, it's safe to say that well over one million separate individuals have read that page.
But why? I wrote that page back in December, 2003. It was intended to be interesting and informative, but never intended to be a scholarly study (it's all sourced, but not footnoted) or original research.
Because of the difficulty in finding definitive corroboration for some of the detail, and contradictory sources, there have been controversies over certain facts (and I've corrected or clarified a couple of minor things over time). But the vast majority of the readers don't care about that at all.
So why does it continue to get such an incredible response?
I've been trying to get a handle on it, and I'm not sure I know the answer, but I have my guesses.
You see, for most of us, while interesting, this is all old news. We know how government works and we know the history.
However I think most of these folks were raised on D.A.R.E. and other government propaganda, yet they enjoyed smoking pot and knew from first hand experience that it wasn't the evil drug they'd been told. Without much exposure to drug policy reform, they had a contradiction they couldn't resolve. They wanted to believe they were right about pot, but still thought that the government might have had legitimate reasons to make it illegal that they just didn't understand.
Reading Why Is Marijuana Illegal? immediately puts to rest any notion that the government knew what it was doing when it criminalized pot. And the arbitrary and capricious of that action makes them realize that there's no reason why marijuana couldn't just as legitimately be made legal again someday.
And that's a huge relief.
But that's just my guess. What do you think? Why is it so popular?
9:10:09 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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More DEA raids
Link
Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided at least two Westside marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, and a spokesperson defended their actions, despite President Barack Obama's opposition to such raids. [...]
Asked about Obama's comments that he did not want to waste Justice Department resources on raiding medical marijuana shops, [DEA's Sarah] Pullen said that "marijuana is still illegal under federal law.
"The law is still that it is illegal to possess, distribute or cultivate marijuana in any way," she said.
Then why aren't you out arresting individual pot smokers? And why aren't you out arresting Irv Rosenfeld?
Notice how she avoided answering the question.
Eric Holder was just confirmed as Attorney General, so there's now a boss over there above Michele Leonhart. I wonder what he feels about waste and misconduct?
7:13:23 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Monday, February 2, 2009 |
Updates: Cheye Calvo and Michael Phelps
April Witt's outstanding feature, about the drug raid that terrorized Mayor Cheye Calvo's family and murdered his dogs, seems to be making a huge impact. It's the most viewed Washington Post article right now and has over 500 comments (only a very small handful support the actions of the Prince George's County officials).
April Witt and Cheye Calvo had a live online discussion earlier today - here is the transcript (well worth reading). Lots of excellent questions and responses. I look forward to more from April Witt in the future.
I also learned that there is a facebook group: Friends of Cheye Calvo, which the Mayor plans to use to pass on progress regarding legislation he's trying to get written and passed to change how decisions are made regarding the use of SWAT. (For those without Facebook access, I'll keep you informed, of course.)
George Obama seems to be disappearing quickly from the news. Charges have been dropped and apparently only involved him being in the same room with people who possessed cannabis anyway.
Besides, the press has the deliciously sensational Michael Phelps story to obsess about. They're having a field day, with "journalists," who couldn't cross the width of an Olympic pool while wearing water wings, clucking about the disgraceful and irresponsible Phelps, who has destroyed his career while ruining his life and all the lives of everyone else in the world who looks up to him and every other athlete who has ever or ever will exist.... merely by hitting a bong. Others, who spent their college years blazing to Dark Side of the Moon, are more charitable, noting that a 23-year-old is likely to make mistakes, and even though this is a serious one, at least he apologized, so it's possible that he might be able to be rehabilitated.
Of course, none of them (except the majority of commenters to the articles) is willing to state the truth -- that Phelps did nothing wrong and certainly nothing for which he should apologize. That the only reason for Phelps to apologize is to mollify the endorsers so he can bring in the piles of cash he deserves for all the work he did preparing for the Olympics.
There were exceptions. As Ken Tucker reports about some ignorant comments by Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View, he noted:
In response to this, Whoopi Goldberg said, "I'm gonna make an admission, I hope you all are sitting down: I have smoked weed." She then made the point that Phelps is being paid "millions" not to "be perfect," but "to be a spokesperson for a company."
Perhaps the best thing about this segment of "Hot Topics" is that it compelled Barbara Walters to say the phrase "smoke weed" a number of times. This was the funniest part of the show.
7:21:04 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Sunday, February 1, 2009 |
Jury nullification in Illinois?
This is interesting
On Wednesday in La Salle County Circuit Court, several jurors shook hands with an emotional Loren J. Swift after finding him not guilty of a marijuana charge that would have sent him to prison. [...]
The five-woman, seven-man jury deliberated about two hours, giving the verdict at 1:30 p.m. The 59-year-old Swift, of rural Streator, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. The state police drug task force arrested him Oct. 26, 2007, at his home, saying they found 25 pounds of marijuana and 50 pounds of marijuana plants. He spent 49 days in custody before posting $10,000 bond. His record included a conviction in 2003 for possession of a small amount of marijuana. [...]
During the trial, Swift testified he smoked marijuana to relieve physical pain, as well as to cope with posttraumatic stress syndrome.
Looks like nullification to me. Good for them!
11:50:17 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Just another lazy, unmotivated, loser stoner
8-gold-medal-winning Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
For some strange reason, he apologized for it (probably because of endorsements)
Radley Balko has the letter Phelps should write, but won't. It's a great letter - go read it. It ends...
Go ahead and tear me down if you like. But let's see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen . . . is also a proud pot smoker.
11:45:03 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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Superbowl Memories
The Drug Czar's office has done a fair amount of advertising in the most expensive venue there is - the Superbowl. Hey, why not? It's not real money - it's just the taxpayers' dime.
They started in 2002, just months after 9/11 -- looking to capitalize on that sweet deal: fear and terror.
They ran two ads that year: the first, was a listing of prices of items a terrorist might use (specifically including box cutters to make sure the audience would get the connection) with the tag: "If you buy drugs, it might come from you."
The second, run the same year, was even more offensive, conflating the "harmless fun" of smoking pot with killing judges.
Of course, as we all know, it is prohibition and the drug war that makes drugs profitable to criminals and is more likely to channel funds to terrorists. But it sure is fun for our government to demonize its own citizens.
The ads were met with almost universal derision. Pot smokers suggested a "Buy American" campaign. Arianna Huffington and others developed spoof ads using the still silly, but much more realistic, notion that using gas funds terrorism...
... the ad cuts to different people in their SUVs: "I gassed 40,000 Kurds," "I helped hijack an airplane," "I helped blow up a nightclub," and then in unison: "We did it all by driving to work in our SUVs."
I think that the extreme nature of the ads (and certainly the ONDCP was going for shock value, particularly in the Superbowl) ultimately negated any effect that they could have. Nobody believed them, except for the hardline drug warriors who were pretty pleased with themselves. (The DEA got on the bandwagon in 2003 with their first exhibit of Target America: Traffickers, Terrorists and You)
The ONDCP tried to get a little more mileage with it in 2003 with this haunted subway trip, but they specifically avoided use of the word "terrorists," instead talking about the terrible things that drug money does. It was essentially the same concept as the one above, but substituting cartels for terrorists.
It was clear that they had no confidence in that message working (they had been slammed for their ads for a full year at this point), so they partnered it with an ad going in a completely new direction of absurdity: smoking marijuana makes you pregnant!
Right.
More ONDCP Superbowl ads available at Spike TV
12:17:22 PM | drug policy | Related | permalink |
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