Oh man, look what's happening in Los Angeles. Yeah, I'd say we have all the evidence we need to conclude that the federal government can't do a damn thing to prevent states from implementing their own drug laws. Obama's position on medical marijuana may be better than Bush's was, but it almost makes no difference when the people take matters into their own hands.

If California voters were to legalize marijuana by referendum, does anyone seriously think the Feds are going to stop them?

For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here's what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws:

"Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects," Tashkin says. "But at this point, I'd be in favor of legalization. I wouldn't encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don't think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm." [McClatchy]

We've been told a thousand times that marijuana destroys your lungs, that it's 5 times worse than cigarettes, and on and on. Yet here is Donald Tashkin, literally the top expert in the world when it comes to marijuana and lung health, telling us it's time to legalize marijuana. His views are shaped not by ideology, but rather by the 30 years he spent studying the issue. He didn't expect the science to come out in favor of marijuana, but that's what happened and he's willing to admit it.

Here's the study that really turned things around:

UCLA's Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise.

"What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect," says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted.

Prejudice against marijuana and smoking in general runs so deep for many people that it just seems inconceivable that marijuana could actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. But that's what the data shows and it not only demolishes a major tenet of popular anti-pot propaganda, but also points towards a potentially groundbreaking opportunity to develop cancer cures through marijuana research.

Over and over again, all the bad things we've been told about marijuana are revealed to be not only false, but often the precise opposite of the truth. So the next time someone tells you that marijuana is worse for your lungs than cigarettes, you might want to mention that the world's leading expert on that subject happens to be a supporter of legalization.

Via The Agitator, it looks like the out-of-control narcotics unit in Philly that I keep writing about is even worse than we thought. It was bad enough when they were caught stealing from local businesses, but now one of these guys has been accused by multiple different women of groping them during drug raids. The accounts sound disturbingly consistent and credible.

Really, is there any limit here? Any at all? It's time for the city to jettison these maniacs once and for all.

If the new drug czar wants us to stop thinking of our drug policy as a "war on drugs" maybe he should tell police to stop trying to impress school children with their noisy war machines:

The students at the High Point Elementary & Adolescent Schools were greeted two special visitors who landed an Army National Guard helicopter on the school's baseball field in May.
…
Once the dust had settled and the rotor had stopped spinning, students were invited to get an up close look at the Kiowa, which is equipped with counter drug equipment for surveillance and heat sensing. Officer Chiaco explained that observation helicopters like these help fight the war on drugs by assisting the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and local police departments with counter drug operations. [Ashbury Park Press]

See, this is why the drug czar's new plan to pretend there's no war on drugs is destined to fail. People who hate the drug war will find no shortage of examples of gratuitous militarized drug war excesses to point towards. And the drug soldiers themselves will always bask gleefully in the perceived glory of their epic crusade.