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Feature: It's Time for a New Drug Policy Paradigm, Say Latin American Leaders

The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy issued a report Wednesday calling for harm reduction, treating drug use as a public health issue, and decriminalizing marijuana. The report was an intervention aimed as much at Washington as at Vienna, where the UN meets next month to plot global drug strategy.
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Editorial: Obama's Other War

As commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama must now oversee our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As President, he is also responsible for another war, one that has gone on much longer and been more costly in terms of dollars spent and lives lost -- the war on drugs.
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Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy

"Police Are Trying Very Hard to Bust Michael Phelps for Smoking a Bong," "USA Swimming Deserves Condemnation for Suspending Michael Phelps," "There Are So Many People in Jail, They Literally Don't Fit," "Has Obama Made a Good Choice for Drug Czar?," "Marijuana Probably Won't Give You Cancer in Your Testicles," "Crazed Sheriff Arrests Eight in Phelps Bong Investigation," "Call Kellogg's Today: Here's the Number," "SNL Slams Kellogg's for Dissing Marijuana Users," "Boycott Kellogg's! Fight Corporate Demonization of Marijuana," "Good Kathleen Parker Editorial on Michael Phelps."
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Police are Trying Very Hard to Bust Michael Phelps for Smoking a Bong

Yesterday, we learned that eight people have been arrested in the aftermath of the Michael Phelps bong photo and the infamous bong itself has been captured and taken into custody. As new details emerge, it’s becoming increasingly clear that there really is a serious campaign underway to prosecute Michael Phelps:

The effort to prosecute Phelps on what would be at most a minor drug charge seem extreme compared to similar cases, lawyers said, and have led some to question whether the sheriff is being overzealous because he's dealing with a celebrity.
…
The investigators appear to be trying to build a case against Phelps from others — a tactic normally used to bring down drug dealers with a large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine, not someone who smoked marijuana five months ago, said Chip Price, a Greenville attorney who has dealt with drug cases for 33 years. [AP]

There’s not much left to say about this that I haven’t said already, so I’ll say it again: Sheriff Leon Lott and his henchmen are unhinged drug war lunatics wielding their unchecked powers as arbitrarily and embarrassingly as humanly possible.

To my knowledge, next to no one on the planet supports this ridiculous crusade. So I can only hope that this very visible example of vindictive marijuana enforcement serves to focus public attention on the often pathetic behavior of our supposedly heroic drug war soldiers. Just look at them. Look at what they are doing. And remember that this episode is hardly the first or only time the drug warriors have allowed childish and obsessive pursuits to triumph over the public interest.

If they think destroying Michael Phelps is a good idea, imagine all the other wretched crap they’ve done that you don’t even know about.
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USA Swimming Deserves Condemnation for Suspending Michael Phelps

Amidst the massive backlash against Kellogg’s for dropping Michael Phelps, we’ve neglected to target USA Swimming, which suspended him even though they didn’t have to. Their petty moralizing is entirely uncalled for and warrants a response.

On that note, our friends at SAFER have created a form to contact USA Swimming and share your concerns. It only takes a second. Thanks!
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Semanal: Blogueando en el Bar Clandestino

“El <em>blog</em> del fiscal de la droga debería ser utilizado para el bien, no el mal”, “Casa Blanca dice que redadas contra la marihuana medicinal terminarán”, “Es posible que enjuicien a Michael Phelps por calada de narguile”, “Ryan Frederick es declarado culpable de homicidio culposo”, “El asesinato de los perros de Cheye Calvo es una historia que no desaparece”, “Juicio de Ryan Frederick va al jurado”, “Siguen las redadas contra la marihuana medicinal, es tiempo de que Obama actúe”, “Crece el apoyo a la legalización de la marihuana en Estados Unidos”, “La calada de narguile de que todo el mundo oyó hablar”, “¿Qué le pasó al <em>blog</em> del fiscal de la droga?”, “Los antecedentes de Joe Biden en las políticas de drogas – Revisión”, “Investigación de marihuana medicinal ha tomado una nueva dirección este siglo”, “Equipo SWAT georgiano de Comarca de Gwinnett la malogra a lo grande”, “La peligrosa distorsión de los estándares médicos de la lucha contra la droga”.
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