2008 global conference on methamphetamine: science, strategy, and response        prague, september 15 – 16

<http://www.globalmethconference.com>

Abstract Submission Deadline ENDS April 22nd, 2008

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Topics and areas to be discussed include
 
Regional Updates  / Pharmacology / Enforcement Programs  / Clandestine Drug Cleanup / The Matrix Model of Treatment / Women and Methamphetamine / Latest Research /Health Consequences /  Policy  / Prosecution Issues / Trafficking / Toxicology / Innovative Interventions / Replacement Therapies / Prevention and Education / Hepatitis A, B, & C Virus / HIV Risk Behavior / Methamphetamine and Reproductive Health / Treatment / Youth and Use / Patterns of Use / Harm Reduction / innovative Interventions / Use Among MSM / Trafficking  / Community-based Coalitions / Injection Drug Use / Epidemiology

1) Individual proposals for presentations are welcome.
 
2) Presentation formats may include
 
Individual papers
    Reports on research-in-progress

luciano.colonna@globalmeth.com
+00 (1) 801 635 7736 (USA mobile)
+44 (0) 208 987 6021 (London tell)
+44 (0) 208 994 1533 (London fax)
lucianocolonna (skype)

Hillary Clinton's new anti-crime plan is a typical example of schizophrenic drug war policy-making. First, she gets it right on the crack/powder sentencing disparity:

At the federal level, Hillary will reform mandatory minimums for non-violent offenders, starting by eliminating the mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine and eliminating the disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

Then she dives headfirst into full-blown meth hysteria, buying into the absurd candy-flavored meth mythology, and proposing a federal methamphetamine sentencing disparity:

Make it a federal crime to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance – including meth – that is colored, packaged, or otherwise altered in a way designed to appeal to kids and young people. Last year, the DEA reported that drug dealers are coloring meth crystals and giving them names like "Strawberry Quick." The crystals resemble "pop rocks" and other forms of candy. One goal of dealers is to try to lure in young customers "by making meth seem less dangerous." Hillary will sternly punish any dealer or trafficker of meth that colors, packages, or otherwise alters the drug to appeal to young people.

Nevermind that the candy-meth story has been proven to a be a wild exaggeration. Nevermind that it is a textbook case of DEA fear-mongering, volleyed along from gullible reporters to political demagogues, eventually producing the intended effect of people like Clinton offering more money and power to the DEA. And nevermind that this is probably what she meant last week when she said the DEA has "more important work" to do than interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

Those things are all frustratingly true, and perfectly typical. What I find truly amazing is that Clinton literally proposes the creation of a sentencing disparity for meth, while in the same breath calling for parity in our cocaine laws. The pink meth hysteria of 2007 is every bit as absurd, if not more so, than was the great crack panic of 1986. I thought we'd all come to terms with the concept that disparate punishments for different forms of the same drug is bad policy, and yet here we are repeating the mistakes of the past just as quickly as we correct them.

(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

Abstract Submission Deadline extended to April 22nd, 2008!

Abstract Submission Guidelines Topics and areas to be discussed include:

Pharmacology * Research * Trafficking * Treatment * Policy * Mental Health * Global Markets * HIV * Hepatitis * Community Education * Law Enforcement * Women *Trafficking * Production * Epidemiology * Demand Reduction * Harm Reduction * Public Health * MSM Sexual Risk * Youth * Environmental Issues * Commerce * Rapid Assessment* Replacement Therapy * Injection Drug Use * Asia * Prescribed Usage * Central Asia * Eastern Europe * Caribbean * Latin America * Oceania * North America * Western & Central Europe * Sub-Saharan Africa

1) Individual proposals for presentations are welcome.

2) Presentation formats may include individual papers, reports on research-in-progress, round-table discussions, topic-centred workshops, or a format more appropriate to your own work.

- Please indicate your presentation format in your proposal.

- Please make sure that your proposal identifies the language you wish to present in.

3) Please send a 250-word proposal - along with a short bio - to the email address below.

- Your abstract should not contain more than 250 words.

- No abstract will be accepted without a short bio.

Please send your abstract to abstracts@globalmethconference.com.

The Deadline for abstract submissions is April 22, 2008, 20:00 GMT. Speakers will be notified by May 2nd, 2008.

Please email Luciano Colonna at luciano.colonna@globalmeth.com with any questions or concerns.

Register now and benefit from the standard registration fee until June 1, 2008.

Hotel and travel information can be found at www.globalmethconference.com

Although the use of methamphetamine has remained fairly flat throughout this decade -- contrary to popular belief -- and its half-million semi-regular users are far fewer than regular users or hero

2008 Global Conference on Methamphetamine: Science, Strategy, and Response
Prague, September 15 - 16

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Topics and areas to be discussed include:

Pharmacology * Research * Trafficking * Treatment * Policy * Mental Health * Global Markets * HIV * Hepatitis * Community Education * Law Enforcement * Women * Trafficking * Production * Epidemiology* Demand Reduction * Harm Reduction * Public Health * MSM Sexual Risk * Youth * Environmental Issue * Commerce * Rapid Assessment * Replacement Therapy * Injection Drug Use * Asia * Prescribed Usage * Central Asia * Eastern Europe * Caribbean * Latin America * Oceania * North America * Western & Central Europe * Sub-Saharan Africa

1) Individual proposals for presentations are welcome.

2) Presentation formats may include:

a) Individual papers

b) Reports on research-in-progress

c) Round-table discussions

d) Topic-centred workshops

e) Or a format more appropriate to your own work.

- Please indicate your presentation format in your proposal.

- Please make sure that your proposal identifies the language you wish to present in.

3) Please send a 250-word proposal - along with a short bio - to the email address below.

- Your abstract should not contain more than 250 words.

- No abstract will be accepted without a short bio.

Please send your abstract to abstracts@globalmethconference.com

Deadline for submissions is April 2, 2008. Speakers will be notified by April 30, 2008

Do you have a question or concern? Please email Luciano Colonna at Luciano.colonna@globalmeth.com

~ 1st Global Conference on Methamphetamine ~

September 15 -16, 2008 - Prague, Czech Republic

Please visit www.globalmethconference.com for information

For Immediate Release: March 18th, 2008
Contact: Tony Newman (646) 335-5384 or Bill Piper (202) 669-6430

New Report Evaluates U.S. Methamphetamine Policies, Recommends Comprehensive and Integrated “Four Pillars” Response

California, New Mexico and Utah Cited as States with Exemplary Methamphetamine Policies

Federal Government Criticized for Short-Changing Treatment and Public Health

At a tele-press conference today, the Drug Policy Alliance released a groundbreaking report that evaluates current state and federal methamphetamine policies and recommends major reforms. The report, entitled “A Four-Pillars Approach to Methamphetamine: Policies for Effective Drug Prevention, Treatment, Policing and Harm Reduction,” is the first report in the U.S. to lay out a “four pillars” approach to addressing methamphetamine abuse. In Geneva, Zurich, Frankfurt, Sydney and other major cities around the world, most notably Vancouver, the four pillars approach to substance abuse has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of users consuming drugs on the street, a significant drop in overdose deaths, and a reduction in the infection rates for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

“The U.S. government has taken a punitive, supply-side approach to methamphetamine for more than 40 years, and at every step of the way this approach has enriched organized crime, made street methamphetamine more potent, and worsened meth-related problems,“ said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance and author of the new report. “It’s time for a demand-side approach that prioritizes treatment, public health and family unity.”

Other speakers included Reena Szczepanski, director of DPA New Mexico and a member of the Mid Region Council of Governments’ Methamphetamine Task Force; Lou Martinez, a former methamphetamine user and graduate of California’s successful treatment-instead-of-incarceration program, Proposition 36; and Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, statewide Prop. 36 coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance.

The report makes numerous recommendations for improving U.S. prevention, treatment, policing and harm reduction efforts, including:

- Eliminate barriers to successful meth treatment, such as the shortage of treatment programs for pregnant and parenting women;
- Divert nonviolent methamphetamine offenders to treatment instead of jail;
- Invest in research to develop the equivalent of methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of methamphetamine abuse, and allow doctors to prescribe dextroamphetmaine, modafinil, Ritalin and other medications to treat stimulant addiction as part of counseling and drug treatment;
- Eliminate failed, scare-based prevention programs like D.A.R.E. and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and increase funding for after-school programs instead;
- Re-prioritize local and federal law enforcement agencies to focus on violent criminals instead of nonviolent drug offenders, and set clear statutory goals and reporting requirements for the disruption of major methamphetamine operations; and
- Make sterile syringes widely available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

While the report concludes that the federal government has failed to enact an effective methamphetamine strategy, it finds that several states are already leading the way, including California, New Mexico and Utah.

California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (Proposition 36) has proven to be the nation’s most systematic public health response to methamphetamine to date. This landmark measure, approved by 61% of voters, diverts approximately 35,000 persons from jail to drug treatment every year—over half of whom identify methamphetamine as their primary illegal drug. No other statewide program in the nation has offered treatment to or graduated more methamphetamine users than Proposition 36. In the process, California taxpayers have saved more than $1.3 billion over the program’s first six years.

New Mexico is the only state to have developed a statewide methamphetamine strategy that combines prevention, treatment, policing, and harm reduction. This strategy is becoming a model for bringing together key stakeholders, fostering interagency collaboration, and implementing a coordinated methamphetamine strategy. In addition, DPA New Mexico is working with state agencies and the private sector to implement a youth methamphetamine education program funded by federal grant money that will serve as an alternative to the failed scare tactics of D.A.R.E., the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and the Montana Meth Project.

Utah recently enacted an innovative program that provides substance abuse screening and assessment to anyone convicted of a felony offense (drug- and non-drug-related). The results of these screenings and assessments are provided to the court before sentencing, allowing judges to divert certain offenders to treatment instead of jail. This program, the Drug Offender Reform Act (DORA), is based on a pilot program that has diverted more than 200 offenders in Salt Lake County to treatment instead of jail, many of whom have methamphetamine-related problems. The Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force recently rejected calls to develop scare-based TV ads in favor of developing a more realistic and uplifting prevention campaign.

“Our country cannot incarcerate its way out of the methamphetamine problem,” said Piper. “Punitive policies have been exhaustively tried and they have failed, not just with methamphetamine, but also with cocaine, heroin, marijuana and numerous other drugs including alcohol during Prohibition. The federal government should follow the lead of California, New Mexico and Utah and emphasize treatment over incarceration.”

The main conference events will be held at Prague's historic Charles University. The primary objective of the conference is to bring together scientists, world leaders and professionals to discuss the intersection between methamphetamine use, public health, law enforcement and civil society.

Please join us for a tele-press conference discussing a new report that evaluates U.S. methamphetamine policies and recommends a comprehensive and integrated response.

Call in information: 1-800-311-9402 Passcode: Meth Report

For Immediate Release: March 13th, 2008
Contact: Tony Newman (646) 335-5384 or Bill Piper (222) 669-6430

New Report Evaluates U.S. Methamphetamine Policies, Recommends Comprehensive and Integrated Response

California, New Mexico and Utah Cited as States with Exemplary Methamphetamine Policies

Tuesday 1:00 PM EDT: Methamphetamine Experts Discuss New Report’s Recommendations and
What They Mean for State and Federal Policymakers

What: Tele-Press Conference

When: Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 1:00 PM EDT

Call in information: 1-800-311-9402, Passcode: Meth Report

Who: Reena Szczepanski, director of DPA New Mexico and co-chair of Gov. Bill Richardson’s Methamphetamine Working Group New Mexico has developed a successful “four pillars” approach to methamphetamine that can serve as a model for other states and Congress.

Lou Martinez, former meth user and graduate of California’s successful treatment-instead-of-incarceration program, Proposition 36

Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, statewide Prop. 36 coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance

Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance and author of the new report

The Drug Policy Alliance, the nation’s leading organization advocating alternatives to the drug war, is releasing a report next week that evaluates current state and federal methamphetamine policies and recommends major reforms. The report, entitled “A Four-Pillars Approach to Methamphetamine: Policies for Effective Drug Prevention, Treatment, Policing and Harm Reduction,” is the first report in the U.S. to lay out a “four pillars” approach to addressing methamphetamine abuse. In Geneva, Zurich, Frankfurt, Sydney, and other major cities around the world, most notably Vancouver, the four pillars approach to substance abuse has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of users consuming drugs on the street, a significant drop in overdose deaths, and a reduction in the infection rates for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. New Mexico is the only U.S. state to have implemented a statewide “four pillars” methamphetamine strategy.

The report makes numerous recommendations for improving U.S. prevention, treatment, policing and harm reduction efforts, including:

Eliminate barriers to successful meth treatment, such as the shortage of treatment programs for pregnant and parenting women;
Divert nonviolent methamphetamine offenders to treatment instead of jail;
Invest in research to develop the equivalent of methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of methamphetamine abuse, and allow doctors to prescribe dextroamphetmaine, modafinil, Ritalin and other medications to treat stimulant addiction as part of counseling and drug treatment;
Eliminate failed, scare-based prevention programs like D.A.R.E. and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and increase funding for after-school programs instead;
Re-prioritize local and federal law enforcement agencies to focus on violent criminals instead of nonviolent drug offenders, and set clear statutory goals and reporting requirements for the disruption of major methamphetamine operations; and
Make sterile syringes widely available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

While the report concludes that the federal government has failed to enact an effective methamphetamine strategy, it finds that several states are already leading the way, including California, New Mexico and Utah.

California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (Proposition 36) has proven to be the nation’s most systematic public health response to methamphetamine to date. This landmark measure, approved by 61% of voters, diverts approximately 35,000 persons from jail to drug treatment every year—over half of whom identify methamphetamine as their primary illegal drug. No other statewide program in the nation has offered treatment to or graduated more methamphetamine users than Proposition 36. In the process, California taxpayers have saved more than $1.3 billion over the program’s first six years.

New Mexico is the only state to have developed a statewide methamphetamine strategy that combines prevention, treatment, policing, and harm reduction. This strategy is becoming a model for bringing together key stakeholders, fostering interagency collaboration, and implementing a coordinated methamphetamine strategy. In addition, DPA New Mexico is working with state agencies and the private sector to implement a youth methamphetamine education program funded by federal grant money that will serve as an alternative to the failed scare tactics of D.A.R.E., the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and the Montana Meth Project.

Utah recently enacted an innovative program that provides substance abuse screening and assessment to anyone convicted of a felony offense (drug- and non-drug-related). The results of these screenings and assessments are provided to the court before sentencing, allowing judges to divert certain offenders to treatment instead of jail. This program, the Drug Offender Reform Act (DORA), is based on a pilot program that has diverted more than 200 offenders in Salt Lake County to treatment instead of jail, many of whom have methamphetamine-related problems. The Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force recently rejected calls to develop scare-based TV ads in favor of developing a more realistic and uplifting prevention campaign.

An advance copy of the report is available upon request.

###

Please join us for this exciting event, and learn more about the “Four Pillars” Approach to Methamphetamine: Effective Prevention, Treatment, Policing and Harm Reduction.

- Release of New Report Evaluating State and Federal Anti-Meth Policies (with a particular focus on successful policies in California, New Mexico and Utah)

The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee Monday approved a bill that would allow the state to detain pregnant women who use methamphetamine and hold them involuntarily in drug treatment programs.

1st Global Conference on Methamphetamine: Science, Strategy and Response - Prague 2008

The 1st Global Conference on Methamphetamine: Science, Strategy and Response, will take place in Prague on September 15th and 16th 2008. The main conference will be held at Prague's historic Charles University. The primary objective of the conference is to bring together scientist, world leaders and professionals to discuss the intersection between methamphetamine use, public health, law enforcement and civil society.

For information regarding registration, call for abstracts, exhibiting, sponsorship, travel and hotel accomodations, please visit: www.globalmethconference.com or email prague2008@globalmeth.com

About Prague

Prague's magical city of bridges, cathedrals, gold-tipped towers and church domes, has been mirrored in the surface of the swan-filled Vitava River for more than ten centuries. Undamaged by WWII, Prague's compact medieval centre remains a wonderful mixture of cobbled lanes, walled courtyards, cathedrals and countless church spires all in the shadow of the majestic 9th century castle that looks eastwards as the sun sets behind her. Prague is also a modern and vibrant city full of energy, music, cultural art, fine dining and special events catering to the independent traveler's thirst for adventure. Regarded by many as one of Europes most charming and beautiful cities, Prague has become the most popular travel destination in Central Europe.

The conference partners would like to thank the City of Prague for supporting this event.

Partners:

Weave Consulting, Podane Ruce, Cranstoun Drug Services, COCA, Sananim, SCAN, Charles University & The Harm Reduction Project

t. 44 (0) 208 987 6021 f. 44 (0) 208 994 1533
c/o Weave Consulting, 10 Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4PH
Company registered in the UK 5658749

On Friday, once this week's Chronicle has been put to bed, I hop in the pick-up and head for Mexico for a month or so of on-the-scene reporting on the drug war south of the border. If all goes according to plan, I'll be spending a week in Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros, the major Rio Grande Valley border towns on the Mexican side, where the Mexican government sent in the army a couple of weeks ago.

After that, it's a week in Mexico City to talk to politicians, marijuana activists, academics, drug treatment workers, and others in the Mexican capital. Then, I'll head to the beaches of Oaxaca for a weekend, then up the Pacific Coast, stopping in the mountains above Acapulco to talk to poppy farmers, human rights observers, and whoever else I can find. A few hundred miles further north, in Sinaloa, I'll be trying to make contact with pot farmers, as well as seeing what the impact of the Sinaloa Cartel is on the ground in its home state. I will also, of course, be making a pilgrimage to the shrine of San Juan Malverde, patron saint of drug traffickers, on the outskirts of Culicacan.

And then it's back toward Gringolandia, with a few days on the Tijuana side of the border, provided I have any money left by then.

In the meantime, I'd like to share with you something that appeared last week but that got little attention. It's an analysis of drug situation in Mexico from Austin-based Strategic Forecasting, Inc, and it's pretty grim. Titled The Geopolitics of Dope, the analysis is a steadfastly realistic look at what drug warrior can hope to accomplish fighting the cartels. You should read the whole thing--it's very, very chewy--but here are the last few paragraphs:

The cartel’s supply chain is embedded in the huge legal bilateral trade between the United States and Mexico. Remember that Mexico exports $198 billion to the United States and — according to the Mexican Economy Ministry — $1.6 billion to Japan and $1.7 billion to China, its next biggest markets. Mexico is just behind Canada as a U.S. trading partner and is a huge market running both ways. Disrupting the drug trade cannot be done without disrupting this other trade. With that much trade going on, you are not going to find the drugs. It isn’t going to happen.

Police action, or action within each country’s legal procedures and protections, will not succeed. The cartels’ ability to evade, corrupt and absorb the losses is simply too great. Another solution is to allow easy access to the drug market for other producers, flooding the market, reducing the cost and eliminating the economic incentive and technical advantage of the cartel. That would mean legalizing drugs. That is simply not going to happen in the United States. It is a political impossibility.

This leaves the option of treating the issue as a military rather than police action. That would mean attacking the cartels as if they were a military force rather than a criminal group. It would mean that procedural rules would not be in place, and that the cartels would be treated as an enemy army. Leaving aside the complexities of U.S.-Mexican relations, cartels flourish by being hard to distinguish from the general population. This strategy not only would turn the cartels into a guerrilla force, it would treat northern Mexico as hostile occupied territory. Don’t even think of that possibility, absent a draft under which college-age Americans from upper-middle-class families would be sent to patrol Mexico — and be killed and wounded. The United States does not need a Gaza Strip on its southern border, so this won’t happen.

The current efforts by the Mexican government might impede the various gangs, but they won’t break the cartel system. The supply chain along the border is simply too diffuse and too plastic. It shifts too easily under pressure. The border can’t be sealed, and the level of economic activity shields smuggling too well. Farmers in Mexico can’t be persuaded to stop growing illegal drugs for the same reason that Bolivians and Afghans can’t. Market demand is too high and alternatives too bleak. The Mexican supply chain is too robust — and too profitable — to break easily.

The likely course is a multigenerational pattern of instability along the border. More important, there will be a substantial transfer of wealth from the United States to Mexico in return for an intrinsically low-cost consumable product — drugs. This will be one of the sources of capital that will build the Mexican economy, which today is 14th largest in the world. The accumulation of drug money is and will continue finding its way into the Mexican economy, creating a pool of investment capital. The children and grandchildren of the Zetas will be running banks, running for president, building art museums and telling amusing anecdotes about how grandpa made his money running blow into Nuevo Laredo.

It will also destabilize the U.S. Southwest while grandpa makes his pile. As is frequently the case, it is a problem for which there are no good solutions, or for which the solution is one without real support.

This is the situation the Bush administration wants to throw $1.4 billion at in the next couple of years. Maybe it and Congress should be reading Strategic Forecasting analyses, too.

Even as the UN General Assembly voted this week for a death penalty moratorium, two Asian nations we

After a few months of worrying about other more important things, people are freaking out about candy-flavored meth again. They think it's a ploy to get more kids to try the drug, and some of them want to increase the penalties for adulterated meth, even though it's unclear whether such a thing actually exists. But this much is for certain: if you're worried about candy-flavored meth, there's a strong chance that you're an idiot. Here's why:

1. There's a good chance that candy-flavored meth doesn't even exist. Various experts have pointed out that rumors of candy-flavored meth are anecdotal and unsubstantiated:

David Duncan, the chairman of the illicit-drugs council of the National Association of Public Health Policy in Reston, Va., said that the candy-flavored-meth stories are myths, fueled by misunderstandings and a gullible media.

Steve Robertson, a Drug Enforcement Agency special agent and spokesman, said that the DEA has not analyzed any flavored methamphetamine… [Winston-Salem Journal]

The rumor site Snopes.com says the story of candy-flavored meth being marketed to children is false. Snopes explains that meth comes in all colors due to varied ingredients and methods of production. Some manufacturers use food coloring for product identification, but police don't put it in their mouths, so they have no idea what it even tastes like.

2. Kids don't want candy-flavored meth anyway. It's not a f%&king pixie stick. It's meth. It costs like $80 a gram. Kids can't afford it. Fortunately, kids don't have to do meth to enjoy the sweet taste of candy. They can just buy regular candy for $1.00 and avoid all the nasty side-effects.

I've got great news for anyone who worries about drug dealers targeting children: you can't sell drugs to kids because they don't have any money. What, are they gonna save up their allowance for 9 months so they can go on a two day meth binge? Are they gonna cry and tug on daddy's pants demanding more meth money?

Young people may be reckless, but you cannot get a return on your investment by passing out samples of speed in the schoolyard.

3. Candy-flavored meth is safer than regular meth. If you cut your meth with a bunch of candy, it won’t be very strong. Regular meth with no candy in there is much stronger and more dangerous, so it would actually make more sense to increase the penalties for people who don’t water down their meth with harmless candy.

After all, meth is gross. If your meth tastes good, it's probably fake.

So if there is any bright side to the hysteria surrounding candy-flavored meth, it is that we can all observe and hopefully learn from the collective stupidity of the media and elected politicians who will hurl themselves, mouths foaming, into full-blown panic mode over any opportunity to mention children and drugs in the same sentence.

Let us all point our fingers and laugh at them, for they are the true epidemic. They are the actual purveyors of disease and destruction, through the terrible war spawned in their laboratory of idiocy. Candy-flavored meth may be the rumor of the day, but the drug war is a lie that spans generations and it will never taste good no matter how much sugar you cut it with.

As his party appears headed for certain defeat in Saturday's national elections, Australian Prime Minister John Howard is once again playing the drug card.

special to Drug War Chronicle by John Calvin Jones, Ph.D., JD

Architects of a new plan to subsidize Mexico's brutal drug war with U.S. tax dollars are trying to avoid the name Plan Mexico. Obviously they don't want to invite the comparison to our disastrous Plan Colombia, even though a few desperate drug warriors are still calling it a success. The refusal to name anything after it might be the closest they'll come to admitting that Plan Colombia is widely – and justly – viewed as an utter failure.

As Pete Guither notes, journalists and bloggers alike have already named the program Plan Mexico. So while the details remain to be announced, the stigma of our previous and continuing failures in this area will inevitably haunt any effort to expand our destructive drug war diplomacy.

Although Plan Mexico will surely prioritize scorched-earth drug war demolition tactics, The New Republic notes the bizarre possibility that some funding will be directed towards drug prevention:

One element of that aid package is likely to be funding for drug-use prevention, according to Luis Astorga, a drug policy expert at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City. This is a strange new twist in the complex partnership between the U.S. and Mexico to fight drugs. And the U.S. isn't in much of a position to tell anyone how to prevent drug use.

Damn straight. Gosh, if we knew anything about drug prevention, these bloody wars over who gets to sell drugs to us wouldn’t be such a mind-bending crisis in the first place. The irony is just staggering:

When the U.S. cracked down on domestic meth production early this decade, Mexican cartels adept in trafficking cocaine and marijuana jumped at the chance to supply a new product.
…

The drug has traveled south, and is now available in every major city.

"Mexico's market is not big, but it has grown, mostly in urban zones," said Jorge Chabat, a crime and security expert at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. "Availability has certainly contributed to consumption now that meth is produced in Mexico."

Let me get this straight. The U.S. banned pseudo-ephedrine-based cold medicines, and domestic meth production declined. Mexican cartels stepped in to fill the void, resulting in increased availability and use of meth in Mexico. Now the U.S. is poised to give drug prevention funding to Mexico due in part to a meth problem that didn’t even exist before we essentially exported our meth manufacturing problem to that country. Wow. Just wow.

At the end of the day, it is and always has been the massive drug consumption of U.S. citizens that fuels violence and instability throughout Mexico, Colombia, and beyond. We could spend every dollar we have bribing foreigners to stop selling us drugs and it wouldn’t make a difference. We could hire every man woman and child in these countries to help stop us from getting high, and they would just laugh all the way to the bank.

Too many American drug users are already sending their paychecks to Mexico. It is sheer idiocy to suggest that we send our tax-dollars there as well.

Tom Siebel is a multimillionaire philanthropist who funded terrifying anti-meth ads in Montana. His work has been praised by ONDCP, but now he's speaking out against the drug war.

The nation's drug policy "is a little bit crazy," Montana Meth Project founder Tom Siebel said Thursday.
...

Pointing out that the skyrocketing rate of incarceration is mostly because of drug offenses, Siebel said, "it used to be that we put people in jail who we were scared of. Now we put people in jail we're mad at."

Prison doesn't work, he said.

"They just get a better education," Siebel added. "It's like a graduate school program in drug distribution." [Great Falls Tribune]

Tom Siebel absolutely hates meth, and yet he also opposes the drug war. How can this be? Maybe his aggressive anti-meth ads are actually some sort of drug legalization conspiracy, because everyone knows that only "pro-drug groups" would ever criticize the wisdom of trying to arrest our way out of the drug problem.

Of course, Tom Siebel's work and his words demonstrate that people who care about victims of drug addiction can simultaneously oppose drug abuse while advocating commonsense policies that emphasize public health and reject mass incarceration. Having previously heaped praise upon Tom Siebel, will ONDCP now accuse him of being "pro-drug"?

Regardless, it is becoming increasingly obvious that ONDCP couldn't alienate anti-drug activists, the U.S. Congress, and the academic community any faster if they were actually doing speed themselves.