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Chronicle
Medical Marijuana: Oakland Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensary Tax
Oakland's medical marijuana dispensaries asked the voters to tax them, and the voters said "Okay." A measure creating a first-of-its-kind special business tax on medical marijuana sellers passed by a lopsided margin in pot-friendly Oakland.
Chronicle
Students: Intern at StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) and Help Stop the Drug War!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
Chronicle
Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy
"Obama's Drug Czar Says Marijuana Is Dangerous and Isn't Medicine," "How Bush's Drug Czar Fooled the Media and the American People," "Apple's New Marijuana Feature for iPhone is a Smart Business Move," "Undercover Cop Arrested for Selling Drugs to an Undercover Cop," "New York Times Struggles With Marijuana Addiction," "Congressional Drug Warriors Huddle in the Corner, Plot Comeback," "Tax Us: Oakland Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensary Tax -- Dispensaries Supported It," "Patients Defeat Effort to Restrict Medical Marijuana in Colorado," "Colorado Hearing on Proposed Medical Marijuana Caregiver Restrictions Going on Now -- You Can Listen In," "Breaking: House Subcommittee Votes to Reduce Crack Cocaine Penalties to Powder Cocaine Level," "Breaking: House Committee Votes to Eliminate Financial Aid Loss Penalty for Drug Possessors," "Walter Cronkite on the Drug War."
Chronicle
Feedback: Do You Read Drug War Chronicle?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to funders. We need donations too.
Chronicle
Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
Drug war-related corruption extends beyond cops and deputies, and this week is a good example. We've got a federal probation agent in trouble, a US Navy police officer in trouble, a prosecutor heading for prison, as well as a crooked narc and an Ecstasy-dealing deputy. Unusually, what we don't have this week is a dope-smuggling prison guard.
Chronicle
Law Enforcement: New York Man Wins Settlement in Forced Body Cavity Search Suit
Albany, New York, sheriff's deputies suspected Tunde Clement was carrying drugs when he got off a bus from New York City in March 2006. They searched his backpack. Nothing. They strip-searched him. Nothing. Then the took him to a hospital, forcibly sedated him, and shoved a camera up his butt. Now, the county and the hospital are paying for their misdeeds.
Chronicle
Marijuana: Cook County Board Passes Decriminalization Ordinance, But Veto Possibility Looms
Could decriminalization be coming to Chicagoland? The Cook County Board has approved it, but the Board president is making noises like he may veto it.
Chronicle
Europe: British Prisons Install Methadone Vending Machines
You've heard of medical marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles, right? Well, the UK one-ups LA with methadone vending machines in its prisons.
Chronicle
Sentencing: House Subcommittee Approves Reducing Federal Crack Cocaine Penalties
What a difference control of Congress makes! For years, pressure has been building to redress the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Now, finally, a bill that would do that is moving in the House, and while it's a Democratic bill it's getting strong bipartisan support. Things are looking good in the Senate too.
Chronicle
Weekly: This Week in History
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
Chronicle
Feature: Winds of Change Are Blowing in Washington -- Drug Reforms Finally Move in Congress
As Congress approaches its August recess, it's time to take a look at the fate of drug reform legislation under the Democrats. No bills have reached the president's desk just yet, but the prospects are impressive on a number of key fronts.
Chronicle
Financial Aid: House Committee Lightens Up on Students with Drug Possession Convictions
The Higher Education Act's infamous "Aid Elimination Penalty," or anti-drug provision, the brainchild of Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder, just got slimmed down as a House committee Tuesday voted to restrict its application only to students convicted of selling drugs, not those convicted simply of drug possession.
Chronicle
Afghanistan: US War Planes Bomb the Hell Out of a Bunch of Poppy Seeds
The US war on opium poppy production in Afghanistan turned literal Tuesday when US war planes attacked and destroyed a giant pile of poppy seeds in Helmand province. That'll show those seeds!
Chronicle
ONDCP: Drug Czar Again Reveals Shocking Gap in Vocabulary, Knowledge Base
Spoken like a true drug czar -- Gil Kerlikowske does his best John Walters impression and succeeds pretty well.
Chronicle
Job Opportunity, Executive Director, Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative, Washington
The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative is hiring a new executive director. IDPI mobilizes religious denominations and organizations, clergy, and other people of faith to promote drug policy reform proposals under serious current consideration in Congress and the states, while building public support for replacing drug prohibition with reasonable regulation.
Chronicle
Remembrance: Walter Cronkite on the Drug War
The trusted and beloved news anchor spoke out about more than one war in his lifetime.
Blog
Obama's Drug Czar Says Marijuana Is Dangerous and Isn't Medicine
For the first time since taking office, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has worked up the nerve to make a definitive statement about why he thinks marijuana is bad:
After having declined for months to actually engage the marijuana debate, it looks like someone finally sat Kerlikowske down and explained that if he's serious about being drug czar, he's gotta start lying and trying to scare people. And as you can see, he sucks at that.
Still, his statement that marijuana has no medical value is surprising, not only because it's just false, but also because he serves at the pleasure of a president who has ordered an end to federal interference with state medical marijuana laws. There's a conflict here that's difficult to reconcile and I hope the press will push the administration for some clarification as to whether the president stands by this statement. It's not the position Obama's taken previously, nor does the current political climate look favorably upon this sort of antiquated anti-pot propaganda.
I shudder to think where Kerlikowske is going with this, but regardless of his present agenda, he should be cautioned against adopting the rhetoric of his widely discredited predecessor. Unfortunately, until the drug czar's office is no longer mandated by law to oppose legalization in any form, we can expect more of this nonsense from anyone who bears the drug czar title. In the meantime, I agree with Pete Guither that this guy is a riot.
The nation's drug czar, who viewed a foothill marijuana farm on U.S. Forest Service land with state and local officials earlier Wednesday, said the federal government will not support legalizing marijuana.
â¦
"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing Operation SOS -- Save Our Sierra -- a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County. [Fresno Bee]
After having declined for months to actually engage the marijuana debate, it looks like someone finally sat Kerlikowske down and explained that if he's serious about being drug czar, he's gotta start lying and trying to scare people. And as you can see, he sucks at that.
Still, his statement that marijuana has no medical value is surprising, not only because it's just false, but also because he serves at the pleasure of a president who has ordered an end to federal interference with state medical marijuana laws. There's a conflict here that's difficult to reconcile and I hope the press will push the administration for some clarification as to whether the president stands by this statement. It's not the position Obama's taken previously, nor does the current political climate look favorably upon this sort of antiquated anti-pot propaganda.
I shudder to think where Kerlikowske is going with this, but regardless of his present agenda, he should be cautioned against adopting the rhetoric of his widely discredited predecessor. Unfortunately, until the drug czar's office is no longer mandated by law to oppose legalization in any form, we can expect more of this nonsense from anyone who bears the drug czar title. In the meantime, I agree with Pete Guither that this guy is a riot.
Blog
For those that have asked about pain
As any of you that have followed my rantings on STDW for any length of time know, I have a serious medical issue with my spine and a long history of drug abuse.I have been suffering with uncontrolled