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Why can't they get it?
Spike in Violence tied to shifting alliances.So read the heading on an article in the Vancouver Province newspaper on Tues.Mar.18'08.The article goes on to make assertions that gangs are becoming multi-ethnic and therefore now know where each other live and therefore have access to each other and thus the killings.The thinking is so convoluted and ridiculous that only someone with no clue would make such assertions.There's been word of a UN gang in the paper for years.Now it's a new thing and the reason for all the shooting.It's a drug turf war .It's no mystery.If these guys would just read a book about the twenties in Chicago they'd have more of a clue than what's purported in this editorial piece of crap.Our illustrious Prime Minister was here a few days back and left the promised money for more police he's been promising.Soon after,Wally Opal ,our attorney general was saying that the money would be better spent on task forces looking into organized crime.I guess this is a try at making a case for that.It doesn't make a lick of sense but that never stopped Wally ,ever.One day these people are going to have an epiphany and realise that it's prohibition that causes all this blood shed.
Mark Souder Accidentally Assists Marijuana Decrim Efforts in New Hampshire
The NH House of Representatives just passed a marijuana decriminalization bill and it looks like drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) inadvertently played a potent role in pushing the reforms through.Coverage from the Associated Press indicates that the obscenely harsh aid elimination penalty of the Higher Education Act, which Souder authored, played a part in persuading NH legislators to put pot policy in perspective:Supporters argued current law costs youths who experiment with the drug all chances at receiving financial aid to attend college. They said it wasn't fair to penalize them for life for a youthful mistake.Windham Republican Jason Bedrick said he doesn't advocate using marijuana, but that wasn't the issue."The question is whether a teenager making a stupid decision should face a year in prison and loss of all funding for college," said Bedrick.Bedrick called the state's penalties "overly harsh.""What societal interest is served by giving them a record for life?" he said. Instead of harsh penalties, society should emphasize education, he said.Souder's brainless attempt to fight drug use by keeping students out of school has already galvanized the reform movement, inspiring the formation of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and uniting the largest coalition of public interest groups ever to oppose a federal drug law.Souder's heartless and counterproductive law has become emblematic of the drug war's tendency to throw the baby out with bathwater, destroying young lives in the name of protecting youth. It has opened doors to the reform movement by confirming our worst stereotypes of blind drug war demagoguery and motivating public health, education, and treatment organizations to join our ranks in calling for a return to sanity.Today his law was used effectively in a state legislature as an argument for reforming marijuana laws. Whether or not the bill passes the senate and becomes law remains to be seen, but a lesson has been learned nonetheless: the drug warriors' own cruelty has become our most viable weapon in the fight for reform. We will always gain more ground arguing that the law is harmful than by claiming the drug is safe. Finally, before celebrating Mark Souder's gift to the reform movement, let's not forget that 200,000 students paid a terrible price so that we can now more vividly depict the fury and callousness of our drug war leaders.
Internet Users Take a Swing at Anti-drug PSAs
EDITOR'S NOTE: Amanda Brooke Shaffer is an intern at StoptheDrugWar.org. Her bio is in our "staff" section at http://stopthedrugwar.org/about/staff Is the American public getting tired of government lies and exaggerations about drugs? If the ballooning number of anti-drug parodies on the Internet is any measure, it sure seems so. The emergence of YouTube.com and other popular video websites has enabled and emboldened Internet users to express their opinions about the often criticized, government-sponsored anti-drug PSAs through video clips and commentary. The public is busy at work making innovative and bold statements. I attempted to view as many anti-drug parody ads as possible; however, I didnât expect the search engine on YouTube.com to turn up such a high volume of videos. It soon became quite obvious that the trend of the parody ads is to expose the ridiculousness of the claims made in the anti-drug PSAs. The clip that follows is an anti-drug PSA sponsored by the government. The second is the parody of it produced by an Internet user. http://youtube.com/watch?v=jgJdVEoVbgg, http://youtube.com/watch?v=m6FL0pmJeaE&feature=related Clearly the second clip flat out mocks the first one by completely contradicting the message the government is portraying. Below each video clip is space for viewers to comment. One of the numerous remarks about these two ads resembled something like this, âIf I smoke then my dog will talk to me??? Puff, Puff, Pass!â This was just the tip of the iceberg of what users had to say. A study was done on a variety of ads including the above mentioned âdogâ ad to determine the effects on the youth of America. Guess what? The results showed an increase of marijuana use in girls aged 12-13 through making drug use by peers appear to be more familiar and acceptable. See: http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/02/12-billion-later-national-youth-anti.html and http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06818.pdf and http://www.nida.nih.gov/DESPR/Westat/Westat502/ExecSummary502.html Why are we spending our dwindling tax resources on commercials that send the wrong message to their target audience? The anti-drug media campaign creates artistic and abstract ads that are unrealistic, when all Americans really need, and want to see, are commercials that tell them the truth. Another approach the campaign employs is using upbeat and positive messages to attempt to deter youths from using drugs. It is known as âWhatâs Your Anti-Drug?â This parody clip (http://youtube.com/watch?v=eDXxA0hMo1I) twists the governmentâs message to expose the fallacy of the marijuana as a âgatewayâ to harder drugs myth through the line, âWeed is my anti-drug.â It seems that no matter how hard the government works to embed the gateway myth into the public consciousness, those pesky studies that disprove a causal link to using harder drugs keep informing the public of the truth. Many clips I viewed expressed the notion that weed prevented them from using other drugs by satisfying their desires and curiosities. I felt one parody rose above the rest. Not only was it the most viewed parody anti-drug ad I came across, but it had me and all my friends rolling on the floor with laughter. It is an ad featuring our Commander in Chief, President Bush. Bush, known for his binge drinking and cocaine use by a large majority of Americans, is an ideal person to exemplify the long-term consequences of drug abuse. This ad has the right stuff -- a notable figure and a realistic message that is powerful and clear to the viewer. Check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eGgTLMC9GXg. I think it is quite obvious why Americans are taking precious time out of their daily lives to speak out. Simply put, the extremely expensive anti-drug media campaign employed by the government over the last two decades is laughable, and government-funded research continues to conclude that these ads are ineffective at preventing and reducing drug use among youths. Yet, despite the increasing mounds of evidence proving the campaignâs ineffectiveness, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) disputes the critical conclusions of these studies and has the audacity to ask the government for even more money. The good thing is that the ease of accessing these reports, thanks to the Internet, is making it progressively harder for ONDCP to ignore the facts and hide them from the American people. You see, the D.A.R.E. generation has had enough of the lies and distortions, and itâs fighting back with truth and sense.
They Only Come Out at Night
CBC Newsworld ran a documentary on the opium road between Afghanistan and Iran.It was incredible to see the infrastructure that the Iranians have built in their efforts to curtail smuggling of opium a
UN Drug Czar Refuses to Answer a Tough Question
For decades, drug policy reformers have struggled to identify the perfect question, a point so simple and straightforward that no drug warrior can respond. It seems Frederick Polak of ENCOD and the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation may have stumbled across it, nearly provoking a meltdown from UN Drug Czar Antonio-Maria Costa:For the video-challenged, here's my rather loose approximation of how it went down:Polak: How do you explain the fact that marijuana use in the Netherlands is lower than in surrounding countries despite the fact that it is sold freely to adults? Doesn't this fundamentally undermine the theory behind prohibition?Costa: Thank you for your question. This is an issue I've considered at great length and which you misunderstand most profoundly. Allow me to begin by sayingâ¦oh for goodness' sake, I do believe I've left the oven on at my house. I must depart forthwith, but I'm grateful for your participation in this forum and my apologies for this most unfortunate oversight, which I must now attend to. Good day, my friends.Indeed, remarkably low rates of marijuana use among the Dutch are a tremendously revealing phenomena. In fairness to Costa, it's certainly hard to imagine what he could say about such a thing, thus his rant about the controversy over Dutch coffeeshops was a good try despite its total irrelevance.Next time, I recommend easing him into it by asking whether he even concedes that marijuana use in the Netherlands is lower than in surrounding nations. He'll respond by calling attention to a pretty bird perched outside the window. Attendees will turn their heads in unison to discover that the bird is not of notable prettiness.
Seven Days,Seven Dead
The drug war that's raging on the streets of the lower mainland(Metro Vancouver)has now reached a milestone.For the last week,there's been one drug related murder for each passing day.The deaths have been as follows: March 7th,a 47 year old man dies in a fight with his son-in-law.
12 Year Old Faces Trafficking Rap
That's the heading of a small story in the province newspaper on Friday,March,14,2008.The story goes on to credit a 12 year old with exchanging marijuana with a younger classmate.The article makes it
Ethan Nadelmann on the Colbert Report
Colbert brought the Drug Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann back for round 2 last night. For those of us who've grown accustomed to seeing Nadelmann masterfully control the stage, it's kinda fun watching Colbert box him around. You don't really get to say much on Colbert, but if you keep a straight face while he massacres you, it's possible to come across looking pretty good.One question though: what's up with the lava lamp!? Sources familiar with whether or not there's a lava lamp in Ethan's office tell me there isn't. Did Colbert put it there? Following his attempt to feed Doritos⢠to MPP's Aaron Houston, I certainly wouldn't put it past him. Of course, when Steve Colbert subjects reformers to relentless and preposterous stoner stereotyping, at least it's a joke. When the head of the UN drug office does the same thing at a serious event, it's a lot less funny.
If the Wrong People Find You With Pot, They'll Ruin Your Life
It's just that simple. If there is one universal truth in the marijuana debate, it is that the punishment for pot is always vastly more damaging than the effects of the drug itself:NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - When a Westchester father found a marijuana cigarette in his son's pocket he went to North Salem High School for help. The 16-year-old boy told his dad he bought the joint in the school library for $20.The school suspended the teen, Pablo Rodriguez, for nine weeks.Many of his neighbors hearing the case believe the suspension is too long and they've begun a petition asking school officials to reconsider.The teen's father, also named Pablo Rodriguez, says they would never have known about the marijuana in his son's pocket if he didn't tell them. The elder Rodriguez says he now believes parents should keep quiet if they learn their children are doing drugs. [Newsday.com]Yeah, don't bother asking the school for "help" when it comes to marijuana or other drugs. That's not a service most schools provide. Marijuana policies both large and small are typically structured around the theory that badly injuring those who are caught will deter others. In the process, parents become disillusioned, students who need help are afraid to ask, and students who were doing just fine are suspended for 9 weeks.Let's just review once again the lesson learned by Mr. Rodriguez:The elder Rodriguez says he now believes parents should keep quiet if they learn their children are doing drugs.Nothing could more perfectly illustrate the failure of a drug policy than its ability to encourage secrecy among parents who want help. Anyone who is concerned about marijuana affecting academic performance can begin by not denying marijuana users the opportunity to perform academically.
Lock 'em up fever
Lock up the addicts; lock up the drunks; Lock 'em all up til they're two to a bunk! Put 'em in tents; make 'em sleep on the floor; Lock 'em all up, and then lock up some more! Lock up the dealers; take what they've got;
The World's Top Anti-Drug Official Called Me a Lunatic
Antonio Maria Costa, director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, lost his temper today at an NGO summit in Vienna. The event is intended to evaluate UN drug strategy from diverse perspectives, yet Costa began by insulting a huge number of professionals working to solve the drug problem:"I attended the meeting of the drug alliance [DPA] in New Orleans last December, 1200 participants, 1000 lunatics, 200 good people to talk to. The other ones obviously on drugs." [Transform Drug Policy Foundation]So I am a lunatic who was obviously on drugs when Costa maybe sort of saw part of my head from the stage as he spoke. Simply amazing. This is such a perfect depiction of the insulting and infantile tactics routinely employed by drug war supporters when their opposition gains momentum. Believe me, the claim that attendees at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference 2007 were "obviously on drugs" is just a colossal lie. With this wildly disparaging characterization, Costa is attempting to attribute our values and beliefs to some drug-induced mania, thereby circumventing the need to take our arguments seriously. Yet anyone present at the conference knows precisely how dignified and impressive an event this truly was. Witnessing this level of childishness from the world's top anti-drug official goes a long way towards explaining how the massive disaster of international drug prohibition is able to continue.
Is the Pope Catholic?
When I read the Pope's new deadly sins,i was reminded of a recent meeting I attended in which a very distraught woman stood up and ranted about opening of doors to evil and consequences beyond underst
Don't Snort the Pink Cocaine
The hysteria surrounding candy-flavored drugs continues to provide a full-scale model for the rank stupidity of our press and policy-makers:Federal drug agents have seized cocaine in a variety of designer flavors and arrested three men in Modesto after a 10-month undercover investigation, authorities reported Monday.The cocaine, in strawberry, lemon, coconut and cinnamon flavors, may be aimed at women and a younger, club-going clientele, said Gordon Taylor, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Sacramento. [Modesto Bee]So cocaine that tastes like strawberries or cinnamon must be for the ladies? This is the sophisticated analysis you get when you call the DEA for insight on the latest drug scare. Strawberries = chicks. Genius.Fortunately, the Modesto Bee at least concedes an important point I've been hammering since this whole candy-flavored drug scare emerged:It costs about twice as much and is less potent, he said, but dealers bank on its novelty and taste to sell the product.Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) went so far as to introduce legislation to increase penalties for candy-flavored meth, claiming that these products target children. Yet, flavored drugs are more expensive and therefore less appealing to young people, who don't have any money. The flavoring also reduces potency considerably, making candy flavored meth and cocaine much safer than their unadulterated forms.So for those of you with a sweet tooth in your nose, be forewarned: Candy-flavored drugs are weak and overpriced. If you're trying to get high on cocaine, you might wanna stick with the good old-fashioned bitter-tasting white-colored stuff. And if you're looking for a sugar fix, I recommend Hershey's Cookies & Cream⢠bars, which cost $1.39 and taste better than cocaine feels. And, finally, if you're trying to protect children, I recommend taxing and regulating drugs so we can better control who sells them, who buys them, and what their ingredients are.
Now it's 26
In case you've been out of the country for a long vacation away from the media you know that we have a drug turf war going on in Vancouver.Over the weekend,2 more Asian males with known gang connections were murdered in their cars.This,I am told,makes the 25&26th victims of gang violence since the recent formation of I-HIT,the special murder squad that to this day has not made one arrest in the targeted hits.They have arrested a few street level people that took the law into their own none too competent hands but nothing in the hired professional hits of high level gang members.The B.C.
Is Your Vagina Drug-Free? Albany's Narcs Want to Know
Here's an especially sordid and sickening example of abusive policing in the name of the drug war. A young woman driving in the wrong part of Albany gets pulled over by a special, aggressive drug enforcement squad, the Street Drug Unit. As the Albany Times-Union explains: ALBANY-- The cops in the marked patrol car had circled through West Hill a couple times keeping an eye on their female target. They were part of the Street Drug Unit, an aggressive squad assigned to help rid Albany's neighborhoods of drug dealers and addicts blamed for much of the city's problems. It was early evening and already dark when the patrol car's emergency lights flashed in the rearview mirror of Lisa Shutter's Mitsubishi sedan on Quail Street, just off Central Avenue. Police records show the officers called out a "Signal 38" to alert a dispatcher they were onto something suspicious and about to pull someone over. They would later write in a report that they had pulled her over for "failure to signal," although no ticket was issued, according to police records shared with the Times Union. The actions of police in the minutes that followed would end in controversy rather than with an arrest. They would also leave Shutter, a 28-year-old single mother from Ravena, shaken and angry after one of the officers allegedly inserted his finger into Shutter's vagina on a public street during an apparent search for drugs. When it was over, "I pulled off down the road and I just cried for probably a half hour," Shutter said. "I called my dad. ... I felt like I had been basically raped." Sounds pretty horrendous, but then, so is the response from the Albany police when Shutter filed a complaint: The incident has triggered an ongoing internal affairs investigation by the Albany Police Department. But the handling of that investigation has raised questions about whether the department has sought to cover up the incident. Shutter claims Burris Beattie, a commander in internal affairs, dissuaded her from reporting the incident to a civilian police oversight board. The board, which was formed in 2001 in response to community concerns about the handling of internal police investigations, is empowered to monitor cases involving claims of brutality and civil rights violations against any officer. "He said they (internal affairs) would do a better job," Shutter said, recounting her conversation with Beattie. "He said they would like to keep it 'internal' ... that that's how they like to handle things." Good thing they kept it aware from the civilian police review board, because it would have gotten to the bottom of things, right? Well, maybe not. It seems that the Albany board is as toothless and feckless as the rest of those organizations that are supposed to provide oversight to law enforcement: Jason S. Allen, acting chairman of Albany's Citizens' Police Review Board, did not respond to a request for comment about whether all civilian complaints against officers are forwarded to the board. Instead, someone from the review board, which maintains an office at Albany Law School, contacted the department two weeks ago and alerted them that a Times Union reporter was asking questions about their policies, according to a police department source. Let me get this straight: The civilian police review board, which is supposed to keep an eye on police misconduct, but when the board is contacted by reporters about an alleged incident, it doesn't investigate, but instead alerts the department? With review boards like thisâ¦But wait, there's more: A member of the Citizens' Police Review Board, who spoke on condition of anonymity because only the chairman is authorized to make public statements, said some members of the board have privately suspected that the department may be hiding cases of police misconduct. In other instances, the internal affairs reports are so poorly organized and investigated the board has had trouble reaching decisions and often sends them back for more investigation. The board is supposed to appoint a monitor for complaints involving civil rights violations or allegations of excessive force. "Whether the letter of the law says that this should be the process, the intent and spirit of the law mandates that, especially in cases of civil rights violations, they be submitted to us for review," the board member said. "If not this, what do we review? ... The fact they would dissuade someone from reporting an incident and say they would do the investigation better completely defeats the purpose of why we were created." One of the two officers involved, Matthew Fargione, is the son of a former Albany narc who is a long-time buddy of the chief, James Tuffey. Fargione Sr. used to be Tuffey's boss on the narc squad. The other officer was Nick Abrams. While Shutter said police internal affairs told her one of the officers had been suspended, apparently that is untrue. Here's how it went down, according to the Times-Union account: The incident unfolded just after 7 p.m. on Dec. 22. Shutter said she'd just finished some last-minute holiday shopping and became confused as she drove through West Hill looking for a friend she'd agreed to pick up that night. Shutter was behind the wheel of a friend's rented car, and said she saw the police car drive past her twice before the stop. The officer at her window grilled her about drug use and hidden crack pipes, she said. "You fit the profile," the officer said, according to Shutter. "You're a white girl in a rental car." She told the officer she had no drugs and offered to take a Breathalyzer test, but he declined to give one, she said. The officer then allegedly reached through her window and plucked Shutter's cellphone from her lap. He scrolled through the personal information in her phone, she said, asking questions about "private calls" and someone named "Mandie," whose name appeared on her contacts' list. Mandie Buxton, 28, who is Shutter's friend since childhood, was at home when her cellphone rang that night. The man calling identified himself as an Albany police officer and asked whether Shutter was supposed to be picking Buxton up that night. "I said: 'What are you talking about?' " Buxton said. "He said: 'You don't know what I'm talking about?' and then he hung up. I called right back and no one answered." Ordinarily, police need a search warrant to seize or access someone's telephone. Before it was over, Shutter was ordered to stand outside her vehicle with her hands on the trunk. One officer searched her body while a second scoured the inside of the car. They also dumped the contents of her purse and asked whether she'd spent her money on crack because her wallet was empty. Shutter said she never consented to a search of her vehicle, her telephone or her body. She said she pleaded with the officer who allegedly slid his hand down the back of her jeans, and inside her underwear, to stop. "I kept saying over and over ... 'If you have to search me, can you bring me to the precinct?' " Shutter said. A female officer was called to the scene and informed Shutter she was there to search her body, Shutter said. The female officer patted her down, lifted Shutter's sweater and felt along her bra strap, and made Shutter open her mouth and lift her tongue. No reason was given. The police found no drugs or other evidence of criminal wrongdoing before allowing Shutter back in her car. "He said 'you're lucky' ... and that I better not drive around there again," Shutter said. Shutter called Buxton and her father minutes later, crying hysterically, they said. Shutter's mother, Sherry, characterized her daughter's encounter with police as a "life-changing nightmare at the hands of an Albany police officer." "Our daughter did not deserve to be so grossly violated and I want the officers to comprehend and be held accountable for violating our child," she said. "I just keep telling her that 'you did not deserve this.'" One question: How many other women have been sexually assaulted by these criminals in blue? Another question: Is it okay for women to be digitally raped by cops if there are drugs in their vaginas? This story isn't going over too well in Albany, either. Check out the responses by Albanyites (Albanians?) at the Time-Union's blog page.
Vancouver's seventh homicide is another gang hit
"I guess it happens everywhere".That's what the neighbor of our latest gang land hit said to the BCTV reporter asking her about the shooting death of a 20 year old Asian male on Sunday,March 9,'08."Ni
If You're on the Jury in a Drug Case, Always Vote 'Not Guilty'
Having already created the greatest crime drama in television history, the writers of HBO's The Wire have now also delivered an unusually powerful indictment of the drug war. While the program itself raises many questions about the practical application of our nation's drug laws, this forceful statement removes all doubt about where its authors stand:If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will â to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty â no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens. [Time]I can think of few things more satisfying than ruling against the drug war in a court of law. Alas, however, I expect not to be offered such an opportunity any time soon given the readily accessible archive of evidence that would lead any prosecutor to send me home well before opening arguments. On that note, my colleagues David Borden and David Guard once refused jury service outright in protest of the drug war's corrosive effect on the criminal justice system. They were found in contempt of court and sentenced to serve community service indefinitely so long as they refused to perform their civic duty. They eventually capitulated, but only after generating press coverage in The Washington Post. To my knowledge, neither has been called to serve since.Ultimately, the value of jury nullification as a weapon against the drug war is difficult to measure, but we have everything to gain by actively educating the public about the right to vote one's conscience when serving on a jury. I've learned anecdotally of many instances of nullification, usually at the hands of a concerned citizen who would never have stood out within the jury pool. Beyond that, I suspect that the prospect of nullification is already influencing prosecutorial behavior in dramatic, though invisible, ways. The best example may be California, where federal harassment of medical marijuana providers rarely results in formal charges.The U.S. Constitution, worn thin through decades of drug war destruction, does still bestow upon us the privilege of standing in judgment of our peers. Let us cherish this noble duty and exercise our constitutional right to put the drug war itself on trial, wherever and whenever the opportunity arises.
Mixed messages
Under this banner the Canadian press announced the UN drug control agency was demanding that Canada close down insite,Vancouver's safe injection site.As recently as one month ago I was at a meeting where just this issue was argued in front of a UN representative,who assured us that the UN had no interest in forcing independent countries into making decisions based on threats from outside.There was no doubt at that time where the pressure originated and the recent arrest of marijuana advocates who have operated in town for years unobstructed shows the US is flexing it's powerful hold on drug war politics and trying to regain lost ground in their war on drugs.Every time it begins to look like there may be some will to actually try some new approaches to drug addiction and the decriminalization of marijuana.The UN or the drug czar or some other do as i say not as i do group comes along and starts shouting that the sky is falling.This recent UN announcement is a slap in the face to every one that attended the recent conference.There is either no communication among UN people or we were lied to.This is exactly the kind of thing we were given assurances would not happen.The Olympics is putting extra pressure on the city government to clean up the cities image.That's much more important than saving 600 lives from over dosing or preventing addicts from spreading AIDS or hep C.
UN Recommends Busting Celebrity Drug Users
You know you've hit rock bottom when the United Nations is complaining about you:Leniency towards drug-abusing celebrities is sending out the wrong message to children and young people, the United Nations drug control agency said today.The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned that allowing famous people to get away with drug crimes had a damaging effect on impressionable youngsters and undermines faith in the criminal justice system. [The London Paper]It's always cute when drug war supporters read between the lines and catch on that the massive international drug war hasn't stopped the party. Unfortunately, this realization often leads to bizarre proposals like biological warfare or mass-arresting famous people. This absurd scheme, like every other dubious drug war idea, will fail for all the same reasons it failed before. The drug war is simply not effective against wealthy privileged people. Those with the resources available to conceal their law-breaking from the prying eyes of police will continue to party in private. You can't deputize the paparazzi to pop Paris for pot and you can't railroad rockstars in drug war kangaroo courts. Just try it, and the number of 90210 zipcodes in the StopTheDrugWar.org membership database will soon crash our servers. It would be vastly more effective, though still futile, to ask that the press kick its habit of turning every wasted starlet into front-page news. The relentless trainwreck that passes for entertainment media on both sides of the pond is just as nauseous and predictable as its subjects, thus the apple can't be expected to fall far from the tree. It's all fun and games until LA SWAT raids Paris Hilton's house on a tip from Tara Reid and is forced to shoot a chihuahua in self-defense.