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Parents Are Using Drug Dogs on Their Own Children
I suppose it was just a matter of time:Ali is a highly trained German shepherd that spent eight years on narcotics patrol with the New Jersey police force, hunting down drug smugglers at airports and drug dealers on inner-city streets. Post-retirement, he's working in the private sector, sniffing teenagers' bedrooms.Ali and his handler are now working for a new company in New Jersey called Sniff Dogs.The company, which also conducts business in Ohio, rents drug-sniffing canines to parents for $200 an hour. It was started this year by Debra Stone, who says her five trained dogs can detect heroin, cocaine, crystal meth and ecstasy.The dogs' noses are so sensitive that they can smell a marijuana seed from up to 15 feet away and marijuana residue on clothing from drugs smoked two nights before.One of the selling points of this service? Avoiding the kind of confrontation that comes with a drug test. [ABC News]Yeah, unless Derrick walks in while youâre marching a snarling drug dog around his room. This is ridiculous. Anyway, it makes no sense to do it when your kid isnât home. The drugs are usually on them, so thereâs gonna be a confrontation after all. And subjecting your children to dog sniffs is at least as likely to provoke animosity as a urine test. Who are they kidding?Parenting is hard and teenage drug abuse is almost impossible to handle exactly the right way. But bringing drug sniffing dogs into your house is just totally crazy, it really is. Itâs the sort of approach that only occurs to parents whose over-the-top hysteria about drugs has already eliminated the possibility that their kids would actually tell them anything voluntarily.Update: In response to this comment, I don't think the point is really to help parents who are already dealing with a drug abuse problem in their home. At that point, you don't need a drug dog to tell you what you already know. If you start doing stuff like that, your kid just won't bring it in the house. One of the mothers quoted in the story is using the dog as an extra precaution even though her kids seem fine. And that's weird. Seriously. If your kids say they're not using drugs and they're happy and doing well in school, etc. and yet you're still marching drug dogs around their rooms...you're the one with a problem.
Wow, I almost forgot it was Drug Free Work Week
Fortunately, the drug czar remembered, which makes sense because itâs his third favorite drug war theme-week. And having burdened us with this annoying ritual, he goes on to explain unintentionally how unbelievably unimportant it is:October 20-26th is Drug Free Work WeekEvery year, the Department of Labor sponsors a Drug Free Work Week to raise awareness of the consequences of drug use on the workplace. According to recent research this is a serious problem:â¢Â   75 percent of the nationâs current illegal drug users are employedâand 3.1 percent say they have actually used illegal drugs before or during work hours.That means 97% of drug users donât go to work high. Seriously, these numbers show that the overwhelming majority of drug users have jobs and scrupulously avoid drugs on workdays. Thatâs not a problem, thatâs awesome. And it goes to show how completely nuts you are if you think we have to drug test everybody to keep them from spilling bong water in the copier. Even at my office â where we oppose drug testing and advocate drug legalization â weâll still throw you the hell out if you come in drooling and screwing around. If thereâs ever been a solution in search of a problem, itâs the little plastic cup that proves you smoked pot at some point in the past month. Unfortunately, in the drug war, we always do things the hard way and thatâs why the federal government would rather prosecute purveyors of prosthetic piss-test penises than admit that anyone with half a brain shouldnât need laboratory results to identify the dumbass in the department. Meanwhile, Joe Sixpack, the very epitome of traditional American values, is far more likely to mix business with pleasure than the average illegal drug user:â¢Â  79 percent of the nationâs heavy alcohol users are employedâand 7.1 percent say they have actually consumed alcohol during the workday.But nobody drug tests for that, so the workplace drug testing tyranny tinkles on, untethered by the towering absurdity of busting employees for smoking pot over the weekend, while vastly larger numbers get drunk on their lunch break with impunity. The whole thing is such a monument of stupidity and craziness, I suppose itâs fitting that the drug czar must set aside a whole week each year to bask in it.Punk Rock Bonus: Hereâs NOFX with "Go To Work Wasted"
Why Do Prison and Alcohol Lobbies Oppose Drug Treatment?
Iâve been severely remiss in failing thus far to cover the very important Prop. 5 in California. The Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA) would save billions in incarceration costs by referring many drug offenders into treatment instead of prison. Itâs a significant reform and the vested drug war interests are in full-blown panic mode trying to defeat it.The drug czar is in California right now campaigning against it, and a whoâs who of drug war profiteers have assembled a well-funded No on 5 campaign, branding Prop. 5 as "the drug dealerâs bill of rights." So who exactly is funding opposition to this commonsense drug treatment initiative?DPA director Ethan Nadelmann explains via email:Last week the powerful prison guards union contributed $1 million to the opposition campaign. That's on top of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Indian tribes/casinos with close links to law enforcement as well as $100,000 from the California Beer and Beverage Distributors.Isnât it obvious whatâs going on here? The prison industry lobbies shamelessly to keep as many people in prison as possible. The alcohol industry defends the interests of the criminal justice infrastructure that protects their monopoly on legal intoxication. And yet the drug czar has the audacity to present George Sorosâs support for reform as some kind of shady conspiracy. Itâs just amazing, it really is.Itâs not even my style to go around accusing our opposition of unscrupulous drug war profiteering at every turn, but what else is there to say about this? Itâs right in front of our face. Itâs as transparent as it is hypocritical. And it canât be allowed to succeed. If you live in California, please vote YES on Prop. 5 and tell everyone you know to do the same.
Giuliani Robocall Attacks Obama on Drug Sentencing
Voters in several swing states are receiving this recorded message from Rudy Giuliani:Hi, this is Rudy Giuliani, and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee because you need to know that Barack Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers.It's true, I read Obama's words myself. And recently, Congressional liberals introduced a bill to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for violent criminals -- trying to give liberal judges the power to decide whether criminals are sent to jail or set free. With priorities like these, we just can't trust the inexperience and judgment of Barack Obama and his liberal allies. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008 at 866 558 5591. [TPM]TPM's Greg Sargent points out the incredibly misleading use of the term "mandatory sentencing":Note that Rudy claims Obama "opposes mandatory prison sentences" for rapists and murders, Rudy is actually referring to Obama's opposition to specific mandatory minimum sentences. By dropping the word "minimum," he's insinuating that Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences in general.Thatâs dead-on. The correct term is "mandatory minimum sentencing," but Giuliani reworks the phrase to make Obamaâs position on sentencing reform sound more sinister. Of course, this is all just total nonsense. Giuliani uses the word "liberal" to disparage judges, as though they are a criminalâs best friend and they all want to "set free" sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers. Moreover, McCain and Obama are on the same page when it comes to sentencing nonviolent drug offenders. Obamaâs opposition to mandatory minimum sentencing stems from his concern that we have too many first-time nonviolent drug offenders in prison, a point McCain agrees with. The Republican platform completely omits drug crimes from the list of offenses for which republicans support mandatory minimum sentencing.As sleazy and disgusting as this is, I just donât see it going anywhere. At this point in the campaign, this kind of hysterical mudslinging is inherently suspect. Thereâs just not much to debate in terms of the candidatesâ differences on crime issues anyway, so if the McCain campaign wants to go there, theyâll need to create some kind of meaningful distinction. Arguing that Obama wants to free dangerous criminals sounds ridiculous on its face and wonât survive as a talking point without some substance to back it up. There is none.My prediction: Giulianiâs throwback to the "soft on crime" attack politics of the '80's will accomplish nothing.(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
The Drug War is Destroying Mexico Right Before Our Eyes
Everywhere you look, it is just so obvious that the drug war is making Mexicoâs problems worse, not better:A record number of Mexicans are fleeing to Canada, claiming their own country cannot keep them safe as it struggles to contain a grisly narcotics war that is spilling into nightclubs and restaurants.There are currently 9,070 Mexican refugee claimants waiting to have their cases heard, the largest number yet from one country since the Immigration and Refugee Board was established in 1989.â¦The brutality is intense: human heads lobbed into discos; bound men found asphyxiated in cars; shootouts in shopping centres in the middle of the day. In September, grenades were lobbed at a public celebration of Independence Day in Morelia, a colonial town about 240 kilometres west of Mexico City, prompting some to call it "narco-terrorism" as the victims were civilians. [Globe and Mail]How much more of this can the Mexican people withstand? The number of refugees may soon grow exponentially as it becomes increasingly clear that there is no plan to stop the violence, or rather, that the plan currently in effect is exactly whatâs causing the problem. As bad as things already are, the potential for greater bloodshed and disorder is virtually limitless and it seems weâre now marching forth into a true test of wills as the drug war faithful must behold and somehow defend the unfathomable disaster theyâve created. It stands to reason that there exists a threshold beyond which the insanity of the drug war cannot be sustained. This has to stop somehow, because it really is as bad as the drug warâs critics have long maintained. I believe we may be witnessing the emergence of a tipping point at which the totality of drug war destabilization, festering for decades, has now exploded all over the map. Calderon canât turn back without admitting the drug warâs failure, nor can he push forward without placing in great jeopardy the very foundations of the society heâs sworn to defend. We are witnessing the deadly consequences of a failed international drug strategy. The virus of prohibition that entered the sociopolitical bloodstream decades ago is now shutting down vital organs and inflicting damage that wonât soon heal. It cannot be allowed to continue as it has for so long. This must end and although legalization isnât a magical or perfect solution, it is at least something that can be tested and manipulated to maximize benefits and minimize harm.Already, the most apocalyptic visions of drug legalizationâs legacy pale in comparison to the nightmare of prohibition that smolders right in front of us. It may soon become very difficult for our opponents to continue presenting reform as the dangerous, frightening approach to the drug problem.
Could Mexico City Become the Next Amsterdam?
As the failure of the drug war in Mexico becomes increasingly difficult to deny, weâre beginning to see a change in the tone of the drug policy discussion:The architect of Mexico's offensive against drug traffickers, President Felipe Calderon, has sent a proposal to Congress that would decriminalize small amounts of drugs by giving those consumers the choice of treatment instead of jail time. Authorities hope the change would free up resources to go after higher-level criminals.The speaker of Mexico City's legislative assembly has gone even further, saying he wants to turn the capital into another Amsterdam by legalizing small sales of marijuana, which he calls a "soft drug" currently controlled by criminals. [Chicago Tribune]Can you even imagine how U.S. drug warriors would react if Mexico tried to legalize marijuana sales? Move over Cuban Missile Crisis, this would really be the greatest national security nightmare in American history. Iâm not kidding, because these drug war cheerleaders really are more afraid of an 1/8 ounce of marijuana than the devil himself. But as far as Mexico is concerned, regulated marijuana sales would be frickinâ ingenious. You could de-fund a major sector of the blackmarket economy, while cashing in on massive tourism income. It would be like Amsterdam, except with delicious tacos instead of the wretched crap that passes for food in the Red Light District.
The Drug War Sends White People Into Treatment, While Black People Get Felonies
This Cleveland Plain-Dealer story just completely blows the lid off the inherent racism of the war on drugs. Reporter Bob Paynter pulled out all the stops, digging through court records to demonstrate how people of color receive harsher punishments than white defendants for the same drug crimes. This is superb reporting, a rare find when it comes to criminal justice issues. Reporters across the nation should repeat Paynterâs methodology. Racial disparities are endemic to the war on drugs and you will find them everywhere. All you have to do is look.
Drug Czar Tells Cartels to Surrender or Die
If the traffickers donât surrender soon, drug czar John Walters will kill them with his bare hands:U.S. drug czar John P. Walters, in Mexico City to reassure officials that aid to fight drug gangs is in the pipeline, said traffickers resort to "fear and horror" in their campaign to take over government institutions but will ultimately fail.â¦Ultimately, he said, the drug lords will face a stark choice: "They surrender, or they die." [LA Times]Walters then pulled a hand grenade from his vest and destroyed a speeding SUV from 100 yards away.
More Drug War = More Violence
Look how AFP frames the spike in drug trade violence plaguing Mexico: MEXICO CITY (AFP) â Almost 400 people have died in the past two weeks in an intensifying drugs war in Mexico despite a government crackdown on cartels, trafficking and related violence.Very obviously, none of this is happening despite Calderonâs crackdown. The violence is caused by the crackdown, directly and unambiguously, in every imaginable sense. When Calderon pledged to increase drug enforcement efforts, the violence increased dramatically. Thatâs not an opinion, itâs whatâs happened right before our eyes. AFP sees irony in the fact that the violence has increased during a drug war crackdown, as though the logical assumption is that an aggressive drug war would reduce violence. It wonât, it never has, and it never will no matter what. The drug war will not make peace. It wonât change the weather, either. And it wonât make you a sandwich. All it will ever do is cause violence. Just watch.
Further Evidence That the Drug War Doesn't Protect Children
If our drug policy made sense, 6-year-old children wouldnât be kidnapped in blackmarket business disputes:Cole was snatched Wednesday in what police are calling a drug-related kidnapping. Three armed men tied up his mother and her fiance and ransacked the home, taking the boy when no money was found, police said.A nationwide Amber Alert was canceled because police believed it had "run its course," Cannito said Saturday.Police say Cole's grandfather, Clemons F. Tinnemeyer, 51, had been involved in "significant drug dealing" and may have taken millions of dollars from drug dealers. Authorities say the kidnapping may have been in retaliation for the theft. [CNN]Cole is safe now, thankfully. But as long as the drug war continues, these kinds of things will never stop happening and they wonât always end peacefully. Thereâs a reason Anheuser-Busch and R.J. Reynolds donât kidnap children when a retailer is late on a payment. Any measure of the drug warâs costs and benefits is incomplete unless it accounts for the role of drug prohibition in motivating horrible crimes like this.
Obama or McCain
Until the selection of Joe Biden as his running mate there was some hope that Barack Obama would at the very least do no harm in the drug theater.Biden is poison to drug reform and to the whole drug i
DEA Thrills Schoolchildren With Awesome Drug War Parade
Sometimes, with all the innocent people being killed, itâs easy to forget how much fun the drug war can be:Educators in West Seattle may have discovered a new way to control 484 wildly cheering children: a burly federal agent wearing camouflage and brandishing a bullhorn.It was unclear who was having more fun, the kids or the cops, at the culmination Thursday of several days of drug prevention programs at the Holy Rosary School in West Seattle.The three letter agencies were there: DEA, ICE, FBI. As children wearing red sweaters and blue pants or tartan skirts lined 42nd Avenue Southwest, agents in raid jackets, swat gear and even hazardous-material suits slapped palms with the pumped-up youngsters. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Jodie Underwood -- dressed in black and packing her service revolver -- looked armed and dangerous until she turned toward a bunch of 8-year- olds with a grin on her face and asked: "Are you guys having fun?" [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] Well, at least the cops and a bunch of 8-year-olds are having a good time.
Reason on the NORA Initiative (report) and medical marijuana provider Charlie Lynch (video)
Some links from our friends at Reason: report on California's Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA), Prop. 5 hitting the ballot next month; and video of rally supporting Charlie Lynch, former medical marijuana provider facing a possible life sentence in court next month Here's the video:
concerted action is the only way
I am fed up with the war on drugs, in a democracy the people are responsible for the leaders they elect and the policies those elected officials enact in to laws, so we must educate the citizens to
Officer Cleared After Shooting Unarmed Mother and Her Baby
Itâs becoming increasingly difficult to imagine a situation in which police could be held accountable for recklessly killing someone in a drug raid:LIMA, Ohio (AP) - An outside review has concluded that a Lima police officer didn't violate any department rules in the fatal shooting of unarmed woman during a drug raid.The findings are in a report issued by the Montgomery County sheriff's office.A jury had previously acquitted the officer of misdemeanor negligence charges, so this is basically the second time his actions have been upheld. For the record, this is what a justifiable police shooting apparently looks like:Chavalia, an officer of 32-years, had testified that he thought his life was in danger when he fired the shots. He said he saw a shadow coming from behind a partially open bedroom door and heard gunshots that he thought were aimed at him. It turned out the gunfire he heard was coming from downstairs, where officers shot two charging pit bulls. [ABCNews]Theyâre shooting at shadows now? I could have sworn thatâs not how itâs supposed to work. Maybe the liberal arts college where I earned my criminal justice degree was a little too liberal, but then again Iâve also tried out the "shoot/don't shoot" simulator at a police training facility, and the sergeantâs instructions on when we could legally discharge our weapon bore no remote resemblance to the fact pattern in the Wilson case. The finding here seems to be that as long as one officer shoots a dog, other officers may then panic and shoot anything that moves throughout the house. Can there be any doubt about the message we send to our public servants when we forgive anything and everything they do in the name of the war on drugs? Thereâs no point in complaining that policies like this will result in babies being shot, because thatâs already happened.
If you or someone you know lives in Arizona
The governor has asked for public input on how to solve the budget shortfall.
Study: Drug Czarâs Billion Dollar Anti-Drug Ad Campaign is a Failure
The drug czar likes to claim that we criticize his ad campaign because we want more kids to use marijuana. Will he say the same about researchers hired by Congress? Despite investing $1 billion in a massive anti-drug campaign, a controversial new study suggests that the push has failed to help the United States win the war on drugs.A congressionally mandated study released today concluded that the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign launched in the late 1990s to encourage young people to stay away from drugs "is unlikely to have had favorable effects on youths."In fact, the study's authors assert that anti-drug ads may have unwittingly delivered the message that other kids were doing drugs, inadvertently slowing measured progress that was being made to curb marijuana use among teenagers."Youths who saw the campaign ads took from them the message that their peers were using marijuana," the report suggests as a possible reason for its findings. "In turn, those who came to believe that their peers were using marijuana were more likely to initiate use themselves." [ABC News]Ironically, if reformers actually wanted more kids to use marijuana, weâd support the drug czarâs ad campaign. His propaganda appears to have encouraged use among those viewing the ads, even as marijuana use among Americaâs youth was decreasing overall. Based on the data, it's entirely possible that youth drug use would be even lower â and U.S. taxpayers would be $1 billion richer â if the drug czar had never run these ads in the first place.
Another Complete Failure from the Drug Czar
John Tierney at the New York Times points to a new report showing that the drug czarâs office has failed to meet its own performance goals. Itâs vital that we point this out, because the drug czar never will. Everything the drug czar does is a glorious success according to the drug czar and there is nothing morbid or awful enough to shatter the drug warriorsâ avowed faith in their great war. Sadly, this includes dramatic increases in overdose deaths, which the drug czar ignores while constantly boasting that overall drug use is down. It seems weâre getting better and better at arresting large numbers of marijuana users who donât need help, while getting progressively worse at saving those whose battle with drugs is truly a matter of life and death.
Legalizing Marijuana Would Stop Growers From Destroying Our Forests
The annual marijuana harvest season each fall brings increased discussion of the hopeless process of eradicating outdoor marijuana crops on public land. Growers are damaging precious natural resources and their livelihood continues unabated even as police achieve record marijuana seizures each year.Fortunately, the Marijuana Policy Project has introduced the only plan that could possibly address the problem:SAN FRANCISCO -- Recent alarming reports of environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana farms in national forests and wilderness areas in California and elsewhere show that an entirely new approach is needed in order to solve the problem, officials of the Marijuana Policy Project said today."Year after year we hear from law enforcement and U.S. Forest Service officials about growing environmental damage caused by these criminal operations, even as law enforcement seizures of marijuana plants set new records every year," said Bruce Mirken, MPP's California-based director of communications. "What we've been doing is plainly not working and has actually caused the problem in the first place. It's time to get off the treadmill and try a new approach."Seriously. Who in their right mind could possibly contend that we are on pace to bring this mess under control? For decades, cops in combat fatigues have been rappelling from helicopters armed with industrial strength hedge-clippers and for what? Marijuana is the number one cash crop in America and that isnât going to change no matter how many police we send off on these ridiculous drug war nature hikes. Californians should be allowed to grow marijuana on their own property for all the same reasons that they are currently permitted to grow grapes and make wine.
Awaken America
Dear Editor, In the last month I attended the funeral of another victim of Americaâs Drug War. Like fruit plucked from the branch before it has ripened many of our children dead and many more to die as a result of this shameful âdrug warâ.