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Top Drug Warrior Mark Souder Resigns from Congress After Affair with Staffer
Ending Souder's reign of terror has been a high priority for the reform movement for many years, but we never saw this coming:
Following the departure of Bush's drug czar John Walters, Souder unquestionably remained the reform movement's most dangerous and fanatical opponent. For many years, he chaired the House Subcommittee responsible for federal drug policy, doing everything in his power to continue our reckless death march into drug war oblivion. No one has done more to infect the drug policy debate in with mindless hysteria, while opposing and obstructing reform at every opportunity.
Souder is best known as author of the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty that has denied financial aid for college to more than 200,000 students with drug convictions. In so doing, he galvanized student activism for drug policy reform, leading to the formation of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which eventually played a significant role in scaling back the law itself.
Yet today, we learned that the man who held others to such high standards was himself capable of being a bit naughty. As glad as we are to see him go, I think Souder's years of drug war demagoguery will come to be remembered as an important catalyst for the growing national recognition that it's time to move our drug policy in a new direction. Souder just took everything way too far, and in the process, he gave many of us a reason to stand up and fight back. We've accomplished a great deal despite Mark Souder, and I can't wait to see what we can do without him.
Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican known for his support of traditional family values, announced Tuesday that he will leave office, ending a tense week in which a key staffer confronted him with rumors about his alleged extramarital affair with a part-time aide.
â¦
He said he was "ashamed" that he had "sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff." But he blamed the "poisonous environment of Washington" for his decision to resign, effective Friday. [Washington Post]
Following the departure of Bush's drug czar John Walters, Souder unquestionably remained the reform movement's most dangerous and fanatical opponent. For many years, he chaired the House Subcommittee responsible for federal drug policy, doing everything in his power to continue our reckless death march into drug war oblivion. No one has done more to infect the drug policy debate in with mindless hysteria, while opposing and obstructing reform at every opportunity.
Souder is best known as author of the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty that has denied financial aid for college to more than 200,000 students with drug convictions. In so doing, he galvanized student activism for drug policy reform, leading to the formation of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which eventually played a significant role in scaling back the law itself.
Yet today, we learned that the man who held others to such high standards was himself capable of being a bit naughty. As glad as we are to see him go, I think Souder's years of drug war demagoguery will come to be remembered as an important catalyst for the growing national recognition that it's time to move our drug policy in a new direction. Souder just took everything way too far, and in the process, he gave many of us a reason to stand up and fight back. We've accomplished a great deal despite Mark Souder, and I can't wait to see what we can do without him.
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Dr. Lester Grinspoon has endorsed WA I-1068
Dr. Lester Grinspoon has endorsed WA I-1068. Sensible Washington has announced the endorsement of WA I-1068 by Dr. Lester Grinspoon (http://sensiblewashington.org/endorsements/).
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Elena Kagan and the Crack/Powder Sentencing Disparity
Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan once served as deputy director of President Clinton's Domestic Policy Council, where she served on a working group that argued for delaying critically important sentencing reforms:
The memosâ¦show that Kagan served on a government working group that decided to dial back the Clinton administrationâs efforts to decrease the disparity in sentencing between crimes involving crack and those involving powdered cocaine. A draft report from the group painted the decision as a grudging but realistic one based on a stalemate in Congress over the issue. "Our more nuanced message will not sell as well as the 'tough on crime' opposition message in an age of sound bites," the report read. [Politico]
What an ugly quote and a rare glimpse inside the twisted thought processes that have allowed our worst mistakes to endure for so many shameful years. It's just sickening to think that some of the drug war's most racist policies might have been fixed more than a decade ago if spineless advisors like Kagan hadn't put politics ahead of equal justice.
In purely political terms, they might have been right â sentencing reform took several more years to gain sufficient momentum â but do we want this sort of callous and calculating partisan operative deciding who is and is not protected under the U.S. Constitution?
Update: I edited the post to make it clear that Kagan was part of a group which made this recommendation, and wasn't solely responsible for it herself. A wise colleague pointed out to me that it's possible she didn't even agree with the position of the group. In the context of the Politico story, it's clear she made a lot of politically motivated decisions at that time, but I could be off-base in blaming her personally for recommending this position on the sentencing disparity.
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Film Presentation: "Voyage to Earth: On the Relation of Humans and Drugs"
We hope you will join us for this film. The presentation will be followed by a round table debate on drug policy and decriminalization.
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Free Legal Training
Please come join the Maryland Chapters of ASA for a Legal Training. We hope that after this training you will feel more comfortable handling yourself in the event of a police encounter.
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Three Ways to End the Drug War Or...
Three Groups I want to start on Facebook but not sure yet:
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In The Trenches
Press Release: F&M Poll: 8 in 10 Pennsylvania Residents Favor Medical Marijuana
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact for comment: Chris Goldstein [email protected]
New poll shows 8 in 10 support medical marijuana in PA
Medical cannabis legislation is active in PA and residents continue to show strong support. New polling conducted by Franklin & Marshall College saw a full 80% respondents either âStrongly Favorâ (53%) and âSomewhat Favorâ (27%) legal medical marijuana in Pennsylvania.
The F&M poll was released this week and showed an increase in support from 2006.
Medical marijuana is active in both the House (HB 1393) and the Senate (SB 1350) of PA.
The same poll also saw a full 11% jump in support for overall marijuana legalization.
The full F&M release can be found at : http://edisk.fandm.edu/FLI/keystone/pdf/keymay10_1.pdf
READ MORE
www.pa4mmj.org
MEDIA CONTACT: Chris Goldstein [email protected]
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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!
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