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Obama Appoints Temporary Drug Czar

Amidst the inauguration fanfare, we failed to notice that Obama immediately appointed ONDCP’s general counsel Ed Jurith to serve as acting director, i.e. drug czar. You can read Jurith’s bio here and my thoughts on him here.

This is interesting because it’s a definite improvement over Bush’s last minute appointment of Patrick Ward, another ONDCP insider, to run the office upon John Walters’s departure. Jurith is hardly a friend of reform on any issue I’m aware of, but his background is in law, while Ward has been directly and heavily involved in interdiction programs.

With Jurith being the preferable choice, I’m wondering if Obama actually did this for the right reasons as he looks for a permanent candidate to fill the position. That’s impossible to say, but it’s a small step in the right direction. Let’s hope for a bigger one soon.
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Mexican Drug Cartels Dissolve Corpses in Vats of Acid

Lately, the drug war is sounding less and less like an actual government policy and more like a distopian future from a science fiction movie:

As the nation's drug war rages on, with its weekly tallies of headless torsos, it is getting harder to produce a shock wave in the Mexican media. But the gruesome recipes of "The Stewmaker" have gripped public attention here, as authorities describe how a "disposal expert" working for a Tijuana drug cartel boss allegedly got rid of hundreds of bodies by dissolving the corpses in vats of caustic liquid. [Washington Post]

They call him "The Stewmaker" and his henchmen attacked the police station with machine guns after he was captured.

Does any of this sound like the story of a drug policy that works? How much more of this unfathomable gory mayhem do we feel like putting up with? We’ve crossed the line into some seriously dark territory here and it’s way past time something is done about it, something completely different from everything we’ve tried before.
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In The Trenches

Obama and Medical Marijuana

You Can Make a Difference

 

 

Dear friends,

Less than two days. That's how long it took ex-President Bush's cronies inside the federal government to strike out at President Obama and use taxpayer money to undermine him.

Last Thursday the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in California, putting the lives of cancer, HIV/AIDS and other patients at risk.

But we can show President Obama that the American people will stand with him in this fight and hold him accountable for his campaign promise to end these raids.

As you may know, President Obama promised to end the Bush administration's cruel and costly raids on medical marijuana patients and caregivers in states where marijuana is legal for medical use. He's in the process of replacing Bush officials who are the source of the problem, but that takes time.

Quite frankly, what the Bush loyalists inside the DEA did in South Lake Tahoe is the equivalent of giving President Obama the finger. 

Now is our chance to urge President Obama to protect at-risk patients. If he doesn't stand up forcefully to Bush's cronies, they will continue to undermine his presidency. And terminally ill patients will suffer.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance

In The Trenches

NH Compassion Newsletter: Medical Marijuana, We've Got Your Number...

Dear friends, CONCORD, N.H. -- The NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy today announced its support for HB 648, a bill that would protect seriously ill patients from arrest if their doctors recommend marijuana. The group also announced the launch of NHCompassion.org, a new Web site featuring New Hampshire patients, which will serve as a home base for the effort to pass medical marijuana legislation. "HB 648 simply acknowledges the obvious fact that some seriously ill New Hampshire patients benefit from their medicinal use of marijuana," observed Matt Simon, the organization's executive director. "There is no moral justification for continuing a policy that criminalizes patients for trying to relieve their suffering." Simon said he's optimistic about the bill's chances, and noted that New Hampshire voters support medical marijuana reform by a wider margin than they supported most successful candidates in the 2008 election. Simon cited a poll conducted last April by Mason-Dixon Research, which found that of New Hampshire voters, 71 percent supported "changing the law in New Hampshire to allow seriously and terminally ill patients to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommend it." Only 21 percent of voters said they opposed the reform, with 8 percent undecided. Details on the poll are available at nhcompassion.org. A similar bill, HB 774, was narrowly rejected (186-177) by the House in 2007, but Simon said he believes support will be much stronger this year. "In the past two years, the consensus for allowing medical marijuana has grown. Michigan and New Mexico enacted medical marijuana laws, and now 25 percent of Americans live in medical marijuana states. In addition, the prestigious American College of Physicians issued a paper supporting marijuana's medical value. And, the new U.S. president has pledged to end the federal raids on medical marijuana providers, which had been a concern for many legislators." The bill's prime sponsor is Rep. Evalyn Merrick (D-Lancaster), joined by co-sponsors Sen. John Gallus (R-Berlin), Sen. Martha Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth), Rep. Tom Donovan (D-Claremont), Rep. James "Doc" Pilliod (R-Belmont), Rep. Trinka Russell (D-Stratham) and Rep. Don Petterson (D-Brentwood). An initial hearing for the bill has not yet been scheduled. If the effort to pass HB 648 succeeds, New Hampshire would become the 14th state since 1996 to pass legislation protecting medical marijuana patients, joining Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. # # # Thanks, -- Matt Simon Executive Director NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy NHCompassion.org [email protected] [4] (603) 391-7450 "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of the substance." - Francis L. Young, DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge, 1988
In The Trenches

Employment Opportunity with The Sentencing Project

Dear Friend,


The Sentencing Project is pleased to announce a new position opening for State Advocacy Coordinator.
 
In conjunction with the Director of Advocacy, the State Advocacy Coordinator will develop and implement a program to support state and local advocates engaged in criminal justice reform. Issues to be addressed will include sentencing and drug policy reform, alternatives to incarceration, racial disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice system, felony disenfranchisement reform and others consistent with the mission of The Sentencing Project. The position will involve some travel to selected states.

 

Coordinator will be responsible for:

  • developing a strategic plan for reform in selected states, which may include partnering with organizations from civil rights, voting rights and faith-based communities, formerly incarcerated persons, policymakers, and community leaders;
  • providing research assistance, developing communications strategies, aiding in coalition-building, and advising on legislative campaigns;
  • working at both the federal and state levels, including some federal policy work.

Click here to see the complete job description and qualifications.

To be considered for the position, applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample to: Nia Lizanna, Operations Manager, The Sentencing Project, 514 Tenth Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004 or [email protected]. No phone calls, please.
 
This position will remain open until filled.
 
The Sentencing Project is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer committed to cultural diversity and recruits without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, or prior convictions.

 
 
In The Trenches

Drug War News 01/26/09

4:20 Drug War NEWS from 90.1 FM in Houston and dozens of radio affiliates in the US, Canada and Australia & on the web at www.kpft.org. 4:20 Drug War NEWS 01/26/09 to 02/01/09 now online (3:00 ea:) Select online at www.drugtruth.net Sun - Cliff Schaffer discusses financial meltdown & the drug war Sat - Doug McVay returns with Drug War Facts Fri - Howard Wooldridge of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition & horse Misty featured in Horse Connection magazine Thu - Phil Smith of the Drug War Chronicle returns with Corrupt Cop Story Wed - Terry Nelson reports for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Tue - A new documentary "Tulia, Texas" will premier on PBS on Feb 10 Mon - Mexico drug war escalation per Hou Chron & El Paso Times Next - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed - Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: "Tulia Texas" producer Cassandra Herman + Tulia Defense Attorney Jeff Blackburn - Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT, 9:30 AM PT: UTEP Professor Kathleen Staudt Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, and www.audioport.org Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, Drug Truth Network Producer Dean Becker 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net
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Letter to Barack Obama

This is the letter I've just mailed to our new president. As I've said before, I'm just one little voice, and each person reading this is just one little voice.
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The World's Smallest Marijuana Joint

Police don’t just get the facts wrong about the dangers of marijuana and the impact of commonsense reforms like decriminalization. Frequently, they’re wrong about marijuana itself, making wild claims about the street value of the latest bust or exaggerating plant yields to make small growers sound like major traffickers. If you think you’ve heard it all, here’s a cop from Massachusetts who says an ounce equals 200-300 joints:

According to Lt. Danny Maguire of the Weston Police Department, "The biggest challenge we have is to convince people that, just because the law has changed, marijuana has not become 'legal,' and that the problem of drug addiction is still just as severe as always. There is also the danger that people will think it’s actually OK, under the new law, to smoke a joint or two and get behind the wheel of a car."
…
One ounce of marijuana is the equivalent of 200 to 300 joints, according to Maguire.

This is just shockingly crazy and wrong. Researchers have estimated the average size of a joint between 0.4 and 0.9 grams, which would equal 30-70 joints per ounce. If you roll more than 70 joints from an ounce, they’ll be empty toothpick-sized joints with more paper than pot. They won’t even work and no matter who you are, I’m sure you know someone who can assure that this is true.

Claiming that you can roll up to 300 joints from an ounce is a total lie. It’s hilarious to anyone who’s ever smoked or even seen a joint. It’s like claiming a bag of skittles will serve 300 people, when there’s actually only 70 Skittles in the bag and most people don’t find an individual Skittle very satisfying anyhow.

So what the hell is this guy talking about? He’s angry that voters in Massachusetts decriminalized possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, and he’s trying to pretend that’s a huge amount of pot. It isn’t. His lie, on the other hand, is enormous.
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Matt Fogg is Awesome


Back in April, the Metropolitan Police Dept. here in D.C. announced plans to go door-to-door asking to search homes in high-crime neighborhoods. Flex Your Rights joined with several local groups to oppose the measure and we shot this great video of Matt Fogg from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaking at a community meeting.

I post it now because it randomly popped up at The Agitator and DrugWarRant last week and I realized I’d never shared this here. Matt Fogg is wildly entertaining and gets me riled up every time I run into him.



MPD cancelled the home-search program due to public opposition, proving that events like this can really make a difference.