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Awesome Video: SSDP Confronts Drug Czar About Legalizing Marijuana
A huge round of applause to SSDP activist Daniel Pacheco for his gutsy performance at the drug czar's press conference this morning. Just Say Now caught the whole thing on video.
Supporters of Marijuana Legalization Can't Be Stereotyped
For decades, the drug war's defenders have mocked calls for reform and arrogantly characterized our arguments as nothing more than the stoned fantasy of the idiot hippie fringe. But today, support for marijuana legalization can be found everywhere you look and our opponents can scarcely keep track of who they're debating anymore.
Why Reddit Loves Marijuana Legalization
Reddit just happens to be one of my favorite sites on the web, and I'm loving it even more after watching this interview with co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who discusses pot's popularity on the net and Reddit's own conflict with its corporate sponsor over the censorship of ads for the Just Say Now campaign..
Torturing Children to Protect Them From Drugs
Some would say there's a certain inherent fairness in "zero tolerance" drug policies that approach every situation with equal levels of panicked overreaction. But as this story shows, zero tolerance is nothing more than a prescription for unfathomable cruelty.
Drugs, Freedom, and Responsibility at Burning Man
Having just emerged from one of the most epic experiences of my life, I'd like to share a few thoughts before returning to my usual news-skewering routine.
The Right to Survive Overdoses
Our friends at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, in honor of Overdose Awareness Day (August 31), have produced a new video, "Take Home Naloxone -- The Right to Survive Overdoses." There are many legal, political and attitudinal barriers that currently stand in the way of getting this life-saving medication to the people who need it, when they need it, and numerous lives have been needlessly lost as a result.
Nation's First Medical Marijuana TV Commercial
While some California TV stations are censoring pro-legalization-of-marijuana ads, a
We Are All Californians
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Norm Stamper, former police chief of Seattle, wants all of us to support California's Prop 19 initiative to legalize marijuana this November. He writes about it in The Huffington Post this week.
No Blogging from Me This Week
I've finally succumbed to the call of Burning Man and will be spending the next week in Black Rock City covered in dust and sweat. I'm excited and slightly terrified.I'll be returning to civilization on Sept. 7th and will do my best to resume blogging forthwith.
Facebook Censors Marijuana Legalization Ad
Facebook may be the nation's hottest social networking site, but the company is no friend to the nation's hottest political issue. A marijuana legalization ad from the Just Say Now campaign has been banned for its use of a pot leaf image, stirring controversy among Facebook's massive population of marijuana reform activists.
DEA Seeks Ebonics Translators to Decipher Black Peoples' Phone Conversations
Ever since NAACP endorsed marijuana legalization in California, there's been a raging debate over whether the drug war targets black communities. Looks like the DEA just settled it.
Judge Orders Man to Write Report on Why Medical Marijuana is Bad
I guess it’s better than sending them to jail, but forcing offenders to draft political opinions smacks of drug war brainwashing.
Kelly Ayotte Supports Persecuting Medical Marijuana Patients
Kelly Ayotte, former attorney general of New Hampshire and the state's leading Republican contender for Senate, wouldn't tell a disabled Navy veteran Manchester GOP Candidate Fair and Straw
A Trillion Drug War Dollars
Houston-area journalist Clarence Walker reflects on a trillion drug war dollars spent in:
President Obama's New Drug War Strategy and the Low-Down on 'America's Trillion Dollar Dope Game'
Houston-area journalist Clarence Walker reflects on the occasion of a trillion dollars spent on the failed US drug war. No other has spent more money on the dope trade than our own U.S. Federal Government. Even the richest of drug barons and associated players, dead and alive, cannot or could not have competed with the avalanche of paperwork doled out by the government in its fight against this monster. Even the once ruthless - and now dead - Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Cartel, the Cali Cartel or the Mexican Drug Cartels cannot match the money they have earned from the drug trade with the amount the Federal Government has allocated for years in its battle to stem the flow of illegal drugs into America. And what is the cost for our government in its fight against this narcotics epidemic, a war raged now for some four decades? By all means have a guess, but here is the figure according to The White House: One trillion dollars. The war on drugs is the longest war the American government has ever fought, longer than World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. And even after 40 years, the battle to enforce the laws of the land that prohibits "getting high on dope", this poisonous, addictive trade continues to thrive with the ferocity of an earthquake across the planet. Quite obviously, there is no clear-cut victory in sight. From the outset, if the intent driving the war on drugs, beginning in 1970 under President Nixon's Administration, was to create a drug-free America, we can see that after the spending of a trillion dollars, culminating in millions of arrests, the creation of a burgeoning health care system with which to effectively treat addicts, and the billions spent on law enforcement's task of arresting drug dealers and the prison system in housing the millions of nonviolent drug offenders alongside thousands who have brought violence and death, the "war on drugs" nevertheless remains a dismal failure.
Gary Johnson Says Legalize Marijuana on MSNBC
If you want to legalize marijuana as badly as I do, it's time to start paying attention to Gary Johnson. This MSNBC interview is just a preview of the awesomeness that's going to happen when he runs for president in 2012.
Rand Paul & Medical Marijuana [Updated]
See updates below.[image:1 align:left caption:true]Mike Meno at MPP points out that Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul no longer supports medical marijuana. That's right, folks. Rand Paul, son of the famously libertarian-leaning and pro-marijuana-reform Congressman Ron Paul, is now in favor of arresting sick people for medical marijuana.
Is Obama Planning to Allow More Medical Marijuana Raids?
In the aftermath of a couple very questionable DEA raids of medical marijuana providers, not to mention the nomination of notorious drug warrior Michele Leonhart to head the DEA, we're forced to question once again whether President Obama intends to abide by his pledge to tolerate medical marijuana in states that have legalized its use.
The Drug Czar's Only Job is to Oppose Legalization (And He Sucks at It)
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske is back in damage control mode again following Mexican President Felipe Calderon's call for a debate on legalizing drugs.
Grandmother's Death in Botched Drug Raid Leads to $4.9 Million Settlement
The 2006 killing of Kathryn Johnston gave the American public a window into the rampant incompetence and needless violence that so often characterizes modern drug enforcement. A massive settlement announced today will hopefully serve as a vivid reminder to police that dirty tactics can carry a heavy price.Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- The city of Atlanta will pay $4.9 million to the family of Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old woman killed in a botched November 2006 drug raid, Mayor Kasim Reed's office announced Monday. Johnston was shot to death by narcotics officers conducting a "no-knock" warrant. Investigators later determined the raid was based on falsified paperwork stating that illegal drugs were present in the home. In the four years since Johnston's death, we've seen equally dramatic national controversies emerge from Berwyn Heights, MD and Columbia, MO, as well as countless other disturbing events that for whatever reason failed to generate national outrage. I can only imagine that the next great drug raid fiasco is just around the corner. Until the drug war is brought to an end, the loss of innocent lives will continue and the cost of cleaning up the mess will fall on every one of us.