Latest

After reading that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is supporting Steny Hoyer for Majority Leader (Frank is one of the best members of Congress as far as our issue is concerned -- he has spoken at several of our events), I decided to take a look at how their records look on drug policy. According to Cannabis Culture magazine's "USA 2006 Stoner Voters Guide," John Murtha scored a "failure" grade, opposing medical marijuana by voting against the Hinchey amendment, supporting aerial coca eradication in Colombia (spraying of poisons) and other evils. He did vote against increasing funds for the Byrne grant program to the task forces. Hoyer, by contrast, scored an A -- the only Hoyer vote Cannabis Culture didn't like was for authorizing continuation of the drug czar's office. According to the Drug Policy Alliance voter guide, Hoyer, while not leading any drug policy reform efforts, nevertheless scored 100% correct on issues of recent concern, compared with a 33% showing by Murtha. If I'm not mistaken, Murtha did vote in favor of the Hinchey medical marijuana amendment two years ago, but switched to anti- last year and again this year. Perhaps then there is hope for him. But in the meanwhile, as far as drug policy reform is concerned, Hoyer has a far better record. (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.)

After five longs days incommunicado in darkest Dakota, I am crawling out of my cave and heading for the East Coast to check out the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) conference this weekend in Washington. It takes a lot to draw this High Plains drifter to the big city, but the SSDP conference looks to be worth it.

Someone needs to remind the DEA and CBS 4 in Denver that many people actually enjoy doing drugs.

DEA Warns Over-The-Counter Drug Is Like Acid encourages people not to take salvia. It also identifies by name several stores you shouldn’t go to because they sell it and describes vivid hallucinations you can avoid by not smoking it.

The thing is, suggesting that a drug is "a lot like taking acid" and complaining that it is available "at the Head Quarters on South Marion Street in Denver" is a curious way of discouraging salvia experimentation. I wonder how the proprietors of Head Quarters feel about local news exposing them for selling potent legal drugs and giving away their location.

Dave Chappelle once did a skit in which he played a crack addict addressing a group of school children about the dangers of crack. During the course of his presentation, he inadvertently provided numerous details about where crack could be purchased, at which point the students all started taking notes.

This is just like that, except it’s not supposed to be funny.

In New Mexico, total panic erupted after three Burger King employees served pot-laced burgers to police. The men are getting charged with felony assault on police officers, the officers are suing Burger King, and their attorney is calling the suspects “hoodlums” in the newspaper. No doubt these “hoodlums” will get the full treatment.

Meanwhile, in New York, a judge has recommended the reinstatement of a police officer who failed a drug test for marijuana. It turns out the officer’s wife admitted serving him spiked meatballs in the hopes of ending his dangerous career in law-enforcement.

Leaving aside the question of whether the "I got drugged" excuse would work for anyone other than a cop, you gotta wonder what’s gonna happen to the wife. My guess is that she gets in considerably less trouble than the Burger King Three. In fact, my money says she doesn’t even get charged.

Either way, I hope we’ve all learned a valuable lesson about why you shouldn’t drug people against their will. It’s a waste of resources. Otherwise useful resources.