David Cameron

He probably won't admit it now, but Britain's new prime minister thinks drugs should be legal. David Cameron, whose Conservative Party (the Tories) ousted Labor in last week's election, told the UK paper The Independent that the United Nations should consider legalization. He also wanted Britain to revive its former practice of providing heroin maintenance for addicts, and to open safe injection sites too. According to The Independent, which did the interview in 2005 when Cameron was vying for the Conservative's leadership spot, Cameron favored "fresh thinking and a new approach" toward British drug policy, adding "we have to let 1,000 flowers bloom and look at all sorts of treatment models." Cameron started off well as a parliamentarian, initially backing the government's downgrading of cannabis (marijuana) penalties from schedule B to C. But as a tabloid-driven hysteria over marijuana in the UK unfolded, Cameron (and The Independent) did a foolish about face. Still, Cameron's past comments are on the record, and his personal instincts on the issue at least seem to be good ones. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for the Tories to roll out legalization proposals, Cameron's past statements notwithstanding. But Labor under Gordon Brown was abominable on the drug issue, so whatever left-leaning Britons may miss about the former Labor government, they likely won't miss the drug policy. If Cameron does want to do something about this, Britain's Transform Drug Policy Foundation has a "Blueprint for Regulation" report ready and waiting.

This FOX News segment with Judge Napolitano is a must-see that really captures how everyone is feeling about the raid in Missouri.

Radley Balko follows up with the best piece yet written about this epic drug war controversy. There is nothing more important to understand here than the fact that everything that took place in that video is standard operating procedure in the war on drugs. The vilification of drugs and drug users has given birth to a vicious recklessness that characterizes modern drug enforcement even, and sometimes especially, when police perfectly follow the law and the orders they're given.

Until that changes, nothing else ever will.

While reading this MPP post, I kept wondering to myself what the scene was like at the hotel bar:

Law enforcement officials from all over the nation have descended upon San Diego, California this week to attend a conference for the National Marijuana Initiative (NMI) and the California Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP).
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The agenda for the publicly funded conference, held at the prestigious U.S. Grant Hotel from May 10 through May 13, is not available to the public. In fact, the conference is under the close guard of about a dozen San Diego Police officers and even some military personnel.

We do know that former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey was a featured speaker. According to his press release, McCaffrey laid out talking points against California’s Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative. That’s right, your tax dollars are essentially being used to hold an anti-reform campaign rally behind closed doors.

Keep all of this in mind the next time you hear police insisting that they're "just doing their jobs" when they arrest people for marijuana. While it's true that many officers do recognize the colossal injustice of our marijuana policies, the fact is that large factions within the law enforcement profession are deeply invested, both financially and emotionally, in this great war against millions of peaceful citizens.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that their entire industry is rippling from the pro-legalization shockwave that surges before their eyes. Having failed on every measurable level, the people who took responsibility for containing the marijuana situation in America surely have a lot to talk about. And I'm not the least bit surprised that we weren't invited to participate.

But let's be clear: while these folks obviously prefer to plan their next steps privately, the same isn't true of the movement for reform. Our events are open to the public and our agenda is displayed openly for all to see. Anyone with concerns about the direction of marijuana policy in America is welcome to participate in the conversation. Rather than recoiling in fear at the prospect of new policies, the anti-marijuana crowd would do well to better educate itself about what we're  trying to do and why.

After so many years of willfully ignoring the case for legalization, our opponents have been rendered hopelessly incapable of understanding and adapting to the discussion taking place all around them. Their only hope may be to begin feigning sympathy for our concerns in exchange for a seat at the table when inevitable changes are enacted. If police want credibility in the marijuana debate, they can begin by working to prevent outrages such as this and acknowledging that the current approach is very far from perfect.