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Drug Traffickers Plot to Kill Mexico's President
I've had a creeping feeling for a while now that the cartels might try to take things to the next level:
The magnitude of all this is quite incredible to behold. We've reached a point where anything is possible in Mexico (anything, that is, except victory in the bloody war on drugs). The prospect of a Presidential assassination is a deeply unnerving reminder that the situation in Mexico could actually become considerably uglier than it already is.
I shudder to think what effect such an event would have on the already problematic level of U.S. involvement in Mexico's disastrous war on drugs. Please, let's just stop this now before it literally destroys everything there is to destroy.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has captured a drug smuggler believed to have been plotting to assassinate President Felipe Calderon in revenge for the army's crackdown on trafficking, a senior police official said on Monday.
Dimas Diaz, a mid-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel in northwestern Mexico, was arrested on Sunday in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan with four other traffickers, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the federal police's anti-drug wing.
"Government intelligence reports led us to find out the threat was from the Sinaloa cartel, with Dimas Diaz entrusted with the details of a possible attack," he told reporters. [Reuters]
The magnitude of all this is quite incredible to behold. We've reached a point where anything is possible in Mexico (anything, that is, except victory in the bloody war on drugs). The prospect of a Presidential assassination is a deeply unnerving reminder that the situation in Mexico could actually become considerably uglier than it already is.
I shudder to think what effect such an event would have on the already problematic level of U.S. involvement in Mexico's disastrous war on drugs. Please, let's just stop this now before it literally destroys everything there is to destroy.
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Police Will Do Anything to Arrest People for Marijuana, Part II
One of the most pernicious lies in the marijuana debate is that police aren't aggressively working to arrest people for small amounts of pot. They are. Although there are parts of the country where marijuana is a low priority for police, there are also places like New York City, where police have developed finely tuned mechanisms for arresting and convicting as many minor marijuana offenders as humanly possible.
What makes New York City's epic war on marijuana so remarkable is not just the staggering number of arrests (more than any other city on earth), but the despicable methods that are used to achieve that result. First, police must work their way around the fact that 1) possession of small amounts of marijuana is decriminalized in New York and 2) the 4th Amendment forbids searching people against their will without evidence of a crime.
Basically, the program consists of stopping large numbers of people (primarily young black and Hispanic men) for no reason and then saying this:
Amazingly, you're not actually guilty of a crime until you attempt to cooperate with police. It is literally the act of showing them your stash that is a violation of the law and everything they say up until that point is designed to trick you into doing that. As is so often the case, policing in the war on drugs consists of tricking people into breaking the law so that the law can then be enforced.
Don't let anybody tell you we're not waging a war on marijuana users in America. That's exactly what we're doing and that's why marijuana policy reform has nothing do with people wanting to get high. This is about justice, human rights, and common sense. To jettison these principles because of marijuana is an act of unfathomable lunacy.
What makes New York City's epic war on marijuana so remarkable is not just the staggering number of arrests (more than any other city on earth), but the despicable methods that are used to achieve that result. First, police must work their way around the fact that 1) possession of small amounts of marijuana is decriminalized in New York and 2) the 4th Amendment forbids searching people against their will without evidence of a crime.
Basically, the program consists of stopping large numbers of people (primarily young black and Hispanic men) for no reason and then saying this:
"We're going to have to search you. If you have anything illegal you should show it to us now. If we find something when we search you, you'll have to spend the night in jail. But if you show us what you have now, maybe we can just give you a ticket. And if itâs nothing but a little weed, maybe we can let you go. So if youâve got anything youâre not supposed to have, take it out and show it now.â
When police say this, the young people usually take out their small amount of marijuana and hand it over. Their marijuana is now "open to public view." And that â having a bit of pot out and open to be seen â technically makes it a crime, a fingerprintable offense. And for cooperating with the police, the young people are handcuffed and jailed. [Alternet]
Amazingly, you're not actually guilty of a crime until you attempt to cooperate with police. It is literally the act of showing them your stash that is a violation of the law and everything they say up until that point is designed to trick you into doing that. As is so often the case, policing in the war on drugs consists of tricking people into breaking the law so that the law can then be enforced.
Don't let anybody tell you we're not waging a war on marijuana users in America. That's exactly what we're doing and that's why marijuana policy reform has nothing do with people wanting to get high. This is about justice, human rights, and common sense. To jettison these principles because of marijuana is an act of unfathomable lunacy.
Chronicle
Penas: Subcomité de Cámara de EE. UU. aprueba reducción de penas federales contra la cocaÃna en piedra
¡Qué diferencia marca el control del Congreso! Hace años que se ha estado acumulando la presión para reparar la disparidad condenatoria entre la cocaÃna en piedra y en polvo. Ahora por fin tramita un proyecto de ley que lo harÃa en la Cámara de EE. UU. y aunque sea un proyecto demócrata, recibe bastante apoyo de los republicanos. Las cosas toman buen cariz en el Senado estadounidense también.
Chronicle
Policial: Las historias de policÃas corruptos de esta semana
La corrupción relacionada con la lucha contra la droga va más allá de policÃas y subalguaciles y esta semana es un buen ejemplo. Hay un agente federal de la libertad vigilada en aprietos, un policÃa de la Marina de EE. UU. en apuros, un fiscal que va preso, asà como un agente antidroga corrupto y un subalguacil que trafica en éxtasis. Inusitadamente lo que no hay esta semana son guardias de prisión que pasan drogas de contrabando.
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Reportaje: Partidarios de la marihuana medicinal de Colorado derrotan intento de restringir a cuidadores y dispensarios
El lunes por la noche los partidarios de la marihuana medicinal en Colorado lograron una victoria importantÃsima cuando la Junta de Salud estatal rechazó por votación una propuesta de la SecretarÃa de Salud Pública y Medio Ambiente que habrÃa conceptuado estrictamente a los cuidadores y los habrÃa limitado a proveer marihuana a cinco pacientes como máximo.
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Reportaje: Soplan vientos de cambio en Washington â Por fin reformas en polÃticas de drogas tramitan en el Congreso de EE. UU.
Mientras el Congreso de EE. UU. se acerca a su receso de agosto, es hora de echarle un vistazo al destino de la legislación de reforma en las polÃticas de drogas bajo los demócratas. TodavÃa ningún proyecto de ley ha llegado al gabinete del presidente, pero las perspectivas son impresionantes en una serie de frentes clave.
In The Trenches
Press Release: Obama in No Position to Dismiss Any Solution to Mexican Drug Trade Violence, Even 'Legalization'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEÂ Â Â
AUGUST 7, 2009
Obama in No Position to Dismiss Any Solution to Mexican Drug Trade Violence, Even 'Legalization'
On Eve of President's Trip to Mexico, Marijuana Policy Reformers, World Leaders Want All Options Open
CONTACT: Dan Bernath, MPP assistant director of communications, 202-462-5747 ext. *2030
WASHINGTON, D.C. â President Obama will travel to Mexico this weekend to confer with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts on the violence associated with the illegal drug trade that has killed 4,000 this year alone. However, if recent statements made by him and his drug czar are true, he's unlikely to address the solution a growing chorus of U.S. and Latin America leaders are calling for: removing marijuana from the illegal market.
    Earlier this year, the former presidents of Brazil, Columbia and Mexico called on the United States to decriminalize marijuana, which comprises an estimated 60 percent of Mexican drug cartels' business, as a way to curb U.S. demand for illicit drugs. Then, in April, Terry Goddard, attorney general for Arizona, where at least 5 tons of marijuana have been seized since October, called for a reevaluation of the war on drugs with all possibilities â including ending marijuana prohibition â to be on the table.
    Nevertheless, when asked in an online forum in March about the possibility of removing marijuana from the underground market and regulating the drug like alcohol, Obama laughingly dismissed the suggestion. And just last month, his drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske told reporters in Fresno that "[marijuana] legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine."
    "Considering the devastating explosion of violence related to the illicit drug trade and the scars our policy of marijuana prohibition has left on the Mexican people, it's silly for President Obama to refuse to discuss any viable option, let alone one supported by leaders on both sides of our border," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. "Just as we did when we ended alcohol Prohibition, we could cut these violent cartels out of the market for their most lucrative product by regulating marijuana's production and sale here in the U.S., thus removing the financial motive that fuels the violence in the first place. But instead, the president appears devoted to making things worse by throwing more money, guns and bodies at the problem, despite clear evidence of our current policy's futility."
    With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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