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O'Reilly Attacks Sting Over Legalization Comments
This new DPA video featuring Sting was more than enough to drive Bill O'Reilly over the edge yet again:As usual, every single "fact" presented here by O'Reilly is completely made up, as demonstrated in this fact-check from Jacob Sullum. But if Bill O'Reilly wants to spend his time on TV lying and complaining about drug policy reform in front of millions of people, I'm totally ok with it. Every stupid word he says about the drug war serves only to further legitimize the debate. People like O'Reilly are the reason we're winning, so the last thing we want from them is silence.
If the Drug War Worked, Cartels Wouldn't be Killing Politicians
Another sign that the Mexican drug war isn't going very well:Drug hitmen have forced a string of candidates out of municipal races in two states on the U.S. border and killed at least one mayoral hopeful, using terror to try to dictate who will run cities and towns along key smuggling routes into the United States.The violence is an alarming sign of the power drug traffickers still wield, despite an all-out war with security forces and President Felipe Calderon's vow to weaken the cartels. [Reuters]Well, if the cartels are out there killing politicians who won't cooperate, what does that say about the public officials who haven't been targeted? Hint: they might not be very trustworthy.No one knows for sure how many Mexican politicians have been bought out by the cartels, but it's something to think about before handing over millions of American tax dollars to the Mexican government to fund their war on drugs. It's bad enough that we're funding endless bloodshed and disorder, but if that money is just going into the pockets of the drug lords and their corrupt political operatives, well, I wouldnât even know where to begin.
Washington State 911 Good Samaritan Law to Prevent ODs Now in Effect
A law that provides some legal immunity for people who report a drug overdose in Washington state is now in effect. That makes Washington the second state to enact a "911 Good Samaritan Law." New Mexico was the first in 2007. Under the measure, if someone overdoses and someone else seeks assistance, that person cannot be prosecuted for drug possession, nor can the person overdosing. Good Samaritans could, however, be charged with manufacturing or selling drugs. The measure is aimed at reducing drug overdoses by removing the fear of arrest as an impediment to seeking medical help. According to the state Department of Health, there were 820 fatal drug overdoses in the state in 2006, more than double the 403 in 1999. The bill also allows people to use the opioid agonist naloxone, which counteracts the effects of opiate overdoses, if it is used to help prevent an overdose. Washington is the first state this year to pass a 911 Good Samaritan bill, but it may not be the last. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Rhode Island are considering similar measures. Supporters of the new law held a press conference Monday to tout its benefits. âIn 2008, there were 794 drug overdose deaths in Washington state,â said Dr. Caleb Banta-Green, a drug overdose researcher from the University of Washington. âThese overdoses do not need to be fatal. Death often takes several hours to occur,â and people are often present. He said more information on the law is available at www.stopoverdose.org. âWeâre here today to encourage people who donât work in hospitals to help saves lives,â Attorney General Rob McKenna said. âMore people are dying now from prescription drug overdoses (than traffic accidents) and yet fewer people are aware of it,â McKenna said. He said drug overdoses are a hidden problem because they arenât as visible as, for example, traffic accidents.. Sen. Rosa Franklin, who worked to pass the bill, said she worked as a nurse before becoming a legislator and wanted to address a problem she saw and read about. She said this bill will save lives. âWe can no longer ⦠put our heads in the sand and say that drug overdose is not happening.â Alison Holcomb of the ACLU of Washington said drug overdoses wouldnât happen in an ideal world, and this law wouldnât be necessary. She said people do drugs to cope, find acceptance or escape. âWe can continue to condemn such people as morally deviant and treat them as criminals,â but, she said, that doesnât work. She said this law is an important step and a compromise agreement. âMy son, a bright, creative, compassionate and funny kid, began using prescription opiates ⦠during his senior year of high school,â John Gahagan said. Just weeks after graduation, his son died of a drug overdose. âThe 911 Good Samaritan Law will save lives,â he said, adding that his son was alone at the time of his overdose, but he knows parents of other teens who could have been saved. âThis law will only be effective if there is awareness of it ⦠Call 911 to save a life,â he said.
This Week's Dumbest Drug War Quote
Kurt Schlichter at Big Hollywood is overcome with fury at this DPA video, featuring Sting. His entire pro-drug-war rant is an impressive exhibit in mindless prohibitionist arrogance, but if anything stands out, it's this: Of course, thereâs also the perennial "America imprisons more people than anywhere else in the world!" meme. In fact, the only drug incarceration problem in America is that too few drug dealers are incarcerated. Listen dude, I don't think you understand how this works. Putting drug dealers in prison doesn't change the number of drug dealers on the street. It never has, and never will. If you want to put more of them in jail out of spite, that's one thing, but I hope you don't seriously still believe we can arrest our way out the drug problem. Even the drug czar is beginning to doubt that.It's one thing to daydream in smug self-righteousness of that magical day when every single drug offender is locked away forever. But even the idiots who say these sorts of things would be miserable if it actually happened. Why? Because the cost of doing that comes out of all our pockets, including Kurt Schlichter's. Unless you'd like to spend half your earnings every year keeping some guy in a cage and paying for all his food and clothing, then do us a favor and keep your mass incarceration fantasies to yourself. Pete Guither and Tony Newman have more.
Police Dept. Teaches Citizens How to Flex Their Rights
Police Chief Ken Burton in Columbia, MO took a lot of heat over that brutal SWAT raid in which two dogs were shot in front of a small child. Then, he surprised and impressed all of us by expressing his support for marijuana legalization in order to prevent such outrages in the future. Here's some more evidence that Chief Burton truly cares about protecting the public from police abuse:In the wake of reports showing disproportionate traffic stops of black motorists in Missouri urban areas, Columbia police statistics were released showing more balance here. The proportion of black detainees is lower than in 2007, the peak year.Columbia police find no reason to change their procedures, which they believe with good reason are not producing improper actions against racial minorities, but they have taken a good pre-emptive step by creating a video intended to inform citizens of their rights when confronted with police during a traffic stop or other questioning incidents.Titled "Ten Rules for Dealing with the Police," the video recently was shown by Chief Ken Burton to gatherings of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare and the Columbia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. [Columbia Tribune]Of course, the video was actually created by Flex Your Rights, not the Columbia Police Department. But it's fantastic to see law enforcement embracing our materials. Hopefully the positive press their efforts have generated will inspire other police departments to do the same.
DEA's "Project Deliverance" Will Undoubtedly Fail to Deliver
DEA acting chief Michele Leonhart, and her boss, US Attorney General Eric Holder, are bragging about a major, DEA-led operation that has netted 2,200+ arrests, with pounds of drugs and millions of dollars seized. "Project Deliverance" involved more than 300 law enforcement agencies, more than 3,000 DEA agents, and took 22 months. According to DEA's press release, they captured 1,262 pounds of methamphetamine, 2.5 tons of cocaine, 1,410 pounds of heroin, and 69 tons of marijuana, plus $154 million. Michele Leonhart announcing ''Project Deliverance'' Operationally, Deliverance was certainly a big project -- it's easy to see why they're excited. And for the thousands of people throughout the US who were arrested in it, it's a life-changing event, though for the worse. But will Project Deliverance make any real difference in drug use and the drug trade? Is the operation really a big deal, when examined next to the reality of drug use and the drug trade in the United States today? I hate to be a wet blanket, but if history is a guide, Project Deliverance will have no long-term impact on the drug trade. Though notable in its scale, the operation is only one of many carried out by the US and allied governments over decades. During that time, the measure of drug availability -- price, an increase implies a product is less available, relative to its demand* -- has gone in the opposite of the intended direction, and dramatically. For example, the average US street price of cocaine is less than a fifth in real terms than it was in 1980. Previous drug sweeps have seen their temporary gains erased in just one or two weeks. The reason is that the big sounding numbers touted by Leonhart, while large for the agency and our government, are small compared with the drug trade. Deliverance's 2.5 tons of cocaine constitutes less than one percent of the 300 metric tons of cocaine the government estimates are consumed annually in the US. So does the 69 tons of marijuana. They did get a few percent of the heroin, if numbers don't deceive, but even that's still small. And the 2,200 alleged dealers and traffickers arrested in Project Deliverance make up a similarly tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of people employed in the US by the illegal drug trade. Some drug businesses will doubtless be extinguished by Project Deliverance, but others will have little difficulty replacing the lost supply or filling the open positions. And how much powder or weed did the investigators let go by during the 22 months it took to complete the operation? How much will they have to let slip by during the months or years it takes to mount the next one? In an uncharacteristically "big picture" review published a few weeks ago, the Associated Press declared the 40-year drug war a failure by every measure. Will media follow that lead and go beyond the surface in their reporting on Project Deliverance? I have a few suggestions for those intrepid reporters who would like to: Ask DEA or DOJ spokespersons if they expect the substances targeted in the sweep to be less available to US consumers of them, and if so for how long. Ask them if previous operations, individually or collectively, have had that effect. If they say yes, ask them to be specific as to what their evidence is, and compare it with numbers like the aforementioned cocaine prices. Do some follow-up, say two or three weeks from now. Ask government officials, cops who walk the drug beat, and drug users, what if any difference they saw in the supply of the targeted drugs, and if so if they see still any. Follow up again in one or two months. See if DEA will give you early access to the price data. Be forewarned, though, DEA reps will probably be less excited to address those questions than they were for the press conference. * Nitpickers and drug war defenders may point out that demand for cocaine has also dropped since 1980, and that the price drop could be explained that way. No dice -- frequent, "hardcore" cocaine and other drug use remained roughly constant despite a drop in the number of "casual" users, and it's the frequent users who account for the vast majority of the consumption.
Charles Bowden on Mexico's Dirty War Against Drugs
democracynow.org has an excellent Charles Bowden discussing human rights violations in the drug war in Mexico. One interesting quote: "Trying to eradicate the drug industry in Mexico is like trying to eradicate gambling in Las Vegas. It is the economy". Summary below. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy blocked the release of a State Department report affirming that Mexico has respected human rights in its fight against drug cartels. Leahyâs move holds up more than $100 million in US aid. The money has been delayed under a law linking 15 percent of US funding to Mexico under the Merida Initiative to Mexicoâs record on human rights. On Monday, President Obama praised the Mexican government for its handling of the drug war. We speak with Charles Bowden, a reporter who has been extensively covering the human consequences of Mexicoâs drug war. [includes rush transcript]
High School Censors Marijuana Legalization Editorial in School Newspaper
Last month, we saw teachers suspended for teaching students about their rights during police encounters. Now, another school is sending the message that the drug war is more important than education:TEXASÂ -- The newspaper adviser at Big Spring High School resigned May 28 after the principal pulled the last issue of the paper, which included an editorial advocating the legalization of marijuana.Bill Riggs told Midland, Texas, television station KWES that he resigned as the adviser for The Corral because of a difference of opinion with administrators and that he did not want the journalism program to suffer.Steven Saldivar, superintendent of the Big Spring Independent School District, said the editorial conflicted with the district's policy of discouraging illegal drug use. [SPLC.org]The idea that discussing marijuana legalization somehow encourages illegal drug use is impressively stupid and wrong. It's the sort of thing you might believe if you go around destroying legalization editorials instead of reading them and trying to understand the arguments.It's bad enough that students are denied access to education simply for using marijuana. It's bad enough that we punish drug use so harshly that teens are afraid to talk to us and ask for help if they need it. So I guess I shouldnât be surprised that when a young person stands up and bravely challenges adults to think differently about drug policy, their ideas will be treated as a dangerous threat. How dare students speak out about the policies that affect their lives?Still, it is times like these -- when the drug war's defenders overstep the most basic principles of free speech and civil discourse â that the intellectual bankruptcy of their belief system rings the loudest. Every idea is worthless until it can be proven to withstand reasoned criticism, and the drug warriors have failed that test more times than we could possibly count.
Everyone Loves to Read About Marijuana Legalization
Popular political blogger/statistician Nate Silver says that this post about marijuana legalization was his second most-read piece ever. He became famous for his presidential election polling, but the success of that one marijuana post just shows the intense public interest in reform, especially on the web. Everywhere you look, even the mainstream press is picking up on the fact that people want to talk about this. Just look at NPR's The New Marijuana series, which has churned out more marijuana stories this week than I have time to read. CBS has been doing the same thing with Marijuana Nation, CNBC had a big hit with Marijuana Inc., and even Fox News has recruited John Stossel and Judge Napolitano to trash the drug war on Rupert Murdoch's dime. If you think I'm exaggerating what's going on here, just look at the Google Trends results for the search term "marijuana legalization": It's incredible to see our progress displayed so vividly, and anyone who doesn’t want legal marijuana in America should think twice about wasting their time trying to stop it. More people are scanning the web for news about marijuana legalization than ever before, and the media is working hard to give them exactly what they want, which results in yet more people reading and searching for news about marijuana legalization. The whole process cascades and feeds on itself, spontaneously turning longtime observers into voices for reform, and literally creating more news by emboldening activists to launch new campaigns. It's awesome, and it absolutely won't stop until our marijuana laws are fixed forever.
Drugged Driving: Michigan Supreme Overturns ItselfâDriving With Pot Metabolites Not a Crime
The Michigan Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that it is not illegal to drive while having marijuana metabolites in the body, reversing a 2006 decision by a more conservative version of the court. Marijuana metabolites are not a controlled substance under state law, and their mere presence thus cannot be the basis of a conviction under the state's drugged driving law, the court held. The ruling came in People v. Feezel, in which the court overturned the conviction of a driver in the death of a severely drunk pedestrian walking in the middle of a five-lane road at night. The driver, George Feezel, was himself borderline intoxicated on alcohol, blowing a 0.009, and also tested positive for marijuana metabolites, which can linger in the system for days or weeks after the pot high is gone. Feezle was not convicted of drunk driving causing a death, but was found guilty of second-offense drunk driving, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and driving under the influence of marijuana, although there was no testimony to the effect that he had used marijuana that evening and there was testimony to the contrary. The court ruled that a Washtenaw County jury should have been allowed to hear evidence the victim was drunk, remanding the case back to circuit court. But in ruling that marijuana metabolites are not a controlled substance, the court invalidated what was in effect a per se zero tolerance drugged driving law that allowed for people to be convicted of driving while impaired when they were not actually shown to be impaired. "We hold that 11-carboxy-THC is not a schedule 1 controlled substance under MCL 333.7212 [controlled substances act] and, therefore, a person cannot be prosecuted under MCL 257.625(8) [drugged driving act] for operating a motor vehicle with any amount of 11-carboxy-THC in his or her system," read the opinion. The opinion, largely a demolition of the previous Supreme Court's 2006 ruling in People v. Derror that marijuana metabolites are a controlled substance, thus allowing for drugged driving convictions based solely on their presence, noted that Michigan is now a medical marijuana state and that allowing Derror to stand would unfairly impact medical marijuana patients. Under Derror, Justice Corrigan wrote for the majority, "individuals who use marijuana for medicinal purposes will be prohibited from driving long after the person is no longer impaired. Indeed, in this case, experts testified that, on average, the metabolite could remain in a personâs blood for 18 hours and in a personâs urine for up to 4 weeks." It's not just about medical marijuana patients, the opinion suggested: "Thus, under Derror, an individual who only has 11-carboxy-THC in his or her system is prohibited from driving and, at the whim of police and prosecutors, can be criminally responsible for choosing to do so even if the person has a minuscule amount of the substance in his or her system. Therefore, the Derror majorityâs interpretation of the statute defies practicable workability given its tremendous potential for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement." It is neither fair nor just nor in the interest of public safety to charge people with drugged driving who arenât impaired. Finally, there is a Michigan Supreme Court that recognizes that.
Marc Emery Calls Out Selfish Marijuana Growers for Opposing Legalization
As November inches closer, California's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana is causing anxiety on all sides of the drug war battlefield. Unfortunately, law-enforcement interests and anti-drug activists aren't the only ones panicking over the possibility of legal pot in the Golden State. This piece from Marc Emery explains why some members of the cannabis community are speaking out against the effort, and why they're wrong to do so.Marc breaks opposition to the initiative into 3 categories:1. Police and prison industry profiteers who don't want to lose their jobs.2. Successful marijuana growers and entrepreneurs who don't want new competition.3. Old-school activists who feel alienated by the modern reform movement and can't see the forest for the trees.Now, I'm not sure I agree with everything Marc says here, but the piece on the whole is very interesting. As for the 3rd group, I just don't know what to say, but the first two are basically opposite sides of the same coin. Both groups benefit from marijuana prohibition and fear the impact of its elimination on their livelihood. Both groups prefer to think of their opposition to the initiative as being driven by principle, rather than self-interest. And ultimately, both groups will have to be overcome in order for marijuana prohibition to end.I don't think anyone really disputes the fact that the Tax and Regulate 2010 Initiative isn't perfect. It apparently increases penalties for distribution to people under 21, and it doesn't create the kind of freedom of cultivation and distribution that many would prefer. But what it will do is completely slaughter the war on marijuana as we know it, and not just in California. If this initiative passes, it will protect multitudes of peaceful cannabis consumers from arrest in California, while sending a message to the nation that further marijuana reform is popular and inevitable. I promise you, we will not destroy the drug war with one sudden fatal blow. It took more than a decade of legal medical marijuana to set a positive example, disprove negative stereotypes and propaganda, and ultimately help win popular support for further reform. We're headed in the right direction, and if this effort succeeds, we'll be a whole hell of a lot closer than we are today. That's true even if the new law creates some inconveniences that its authors felt were necessary in order to help get it passed.The bottom line is that if this initiative wins, or merely comes close to winning, it will galvanize our movement behind a victory that's surely just over the horizon. It will show politicians and the press that the recently surging marijuana legalization debate is more than just a fad and that our support base penetrates deeply into mainstream society. On the other hand, a decisive loss will send a message that the apparent march towards legalization in recent years was little more than a vocal minority exploiting the internet to create a false perception of political momentum. Can you even imagine how eager our opponents are to start saying things like that? Our losses are inevitably exaggerated and twisted by our opponents in a desperate defense of the status quo, and in that respect, the political impact of our victories must be considered in addition to the substance of the reforms themselves. To put it much more simply, let me just suggest that anyone in California who'd like to end marijuana prohibition would probably want to vote differently than the cops who get paid to pull up plants in the woods.
POLICE CHIEF RECEIVES LIFE IN PRISON FOR 38 YEAR OLD COLD CASE
Former police chief George Hayden was given a life sentence for the 38 year old cold case of my brother Sgt. William Miller. I have stayed with
HEMP - The most versatile illegal plant on the planet
HEMP IS QUITE LITERALLY THE MOST VERSATILE, USEFUL PLANT KNOWN TO MAN. But in America it is "illegal" - why is this the case?
Clinton Library releases Kagan papers
The Clinton Library has released a huge volume of writings by Elena Kagan, which are available here for free download.
10 Things to Talk to the Police About...
10 Things to Talk to the Police About While Being Questioned for a Crime You Didn't Commit While You Wait for Your Lawyer to Show Up
Marc Emery in Solitary Confinement in American Federal Gulag; Podcast of Prison Phone Call Broke BOP Rules
Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery hasn't even been formally sentenced yet, but he's already being punished for what he does best: opening his mouth for the cause of marijuana legalization. Emery's wife, Jodie, told Canada's CNews Saturday that Emery is now in solitary confinement for violating prison rules. According to Jodie Emery, she recorded his calls from prison and played them as a podcast on the couple's Cannabis Culture magazine web site. That violated a prison rule that phone calls can only be made between a prisoner and the intended recipient and cannot be directed to a third party. Jodie Emery said Marc had read the prison rules and did not think the podcast would be a violation. Now he will spend at least a week in solitary pending a hearing to determine the full extent of his punishment. Emery, Canada's most famous legalization activist, pleaded guilty May 24 to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, the culmination of a five-year battle between Emery and Canadian and US authorities to extradite and prosecute him for selling pot seeds over the Internet. Two of Emery's employees arrested along with him, Greg Williams and Michelle Rainey, earlier copped pleas and received probationary sentences to be served in Canada. Emery plowed the profits from his business back into the legalization movement, earning the wrath of drug prohibition establishment in both countries. When Emery was busted in 2005, then DEA administrator Karen Tandy gloated in a press release that it was "a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the US and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement." Under federal prison rules, Emery is allowed 300 minutes of phone calls a month and he can communicate via email through a closed computer system called CorrLinks, under which he can log onto a computer and compose a message that is read by prison officials before they send it over the Internet. Emery had used CorrLinks to post numerous dispatches from the gulag, but now, he is denied those privileges and could lose them for up to two months. Emery will remain in the Seattle-area federal detention facility until his formal sentencing September 10. Then he will be transferred to the federal prison at El Reno, Oklahoma, where prison officials will decide where he will be sent to serve his time. Emery's campaign to avoid extradition has now shifted to a campaign to persuade Canadian authorities to allow him to serve his sentence there, as has typically been the case with Canadians convicted of offenses in the US. But the Conservative government has in recent years begun to refuse to accept Canadians imprisoned on drug charges in the US.
Jamaica Says it Can Win Its Drug War for $1 Billion
It's a strategy so ingenious, I can't believe no one thought of it before:June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Jamaica is seeking $1 billion in loans and grants to rid the country of âcancerousâ drug gangs that have taken over poor neighborhoods on the Caribbean island and hurt economic growth, Finance Minister Audley Shaw said.Someone should tell the Jamaicans that the U.S. has already tried the whole spend-a-billion-dollars-to-eradicate-drugs idea so many times that it's become a rather unfunny joke, and the only way the drug czar can even get the money anymore is if he pretends it's for something else, like treatment programs.The last thing Jamaica needs is to owe a billion dollars back to a bunch of international banks for massive drug war that didn't work. Good luck accomplishing anything except an endless series of bloody gunfights that cripple your tourism industry. If you want a reduction in drug war violence, begin by regulating and taxing the marijuana that's being sold by the handful all over the country. The thing I keep hearing about Jamaican herb is that no one can even finish the $20 bag they bought at the airport when they arrived. You could tax it at 300% and the tourists wouldnât even notice. Now that's a billion dollar drug strategy.
Margaret Polovchak Wants to Put Cancer Patients in Jail
Why? Because she thinks it will help save the children:A discussion of legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois is likely fueling an increase in the number of Park Ridge teenagers using the substance, the Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation contends.Margaret Polovchak, executive director of MCYAF, said increased dialogue about marijuana legislation in the state leads to a greater public perception that the substance is not harmful, resulting in a growing number of users.It's wrong on so many levels, one scarcely knows where to begin. But I guess we'll start with the fact that teen marijuana use declined for 10 years straight after the national debate over medical marijuana emerged in the mid-90's. You see, Illinois isnât the first state where this conversation has taken place. There's actually an abundance of empirical data to consult before spouting off mindless speculation. Here, check out this helpful chart showing how almost every state that legalized medical marijuana experienced a subsequent decline in teen marijuana use. Now you'll never find me arguing that passing medical marijuana laws makes kids less likely to try it. But the fact that rates of use have fluctuated similarly in states with and without such laws really just massacres the idea that having a public debate about marijuana policy somehow endangers children. If you want to see an endangered child, check out this video of a SWAT team shooting two dogs in front of a 7-year-old during a bust for a small bag of pot.Anyone who's concerned about children getting mixed messages in the medical marijuana debate should stop lying about medical marijuana. You know it's medicine because the Institute of Medicine said so. You know it's medicine because its main ingredient is approved by the FDA and the manufacturer even marketed it as "legal marijuana." You know it's medicine because seriously ill patients continue to turn to it for relief, even when doing so places them at risk of being raided and imprisoned simply for trying to make their cancer suck a little less.The effort to protect children from the dangers of drugs is a noble one, but taking medicine away from people who need it is one strategy that shouldnât even be on the table.
Paul Armentano Talks Legalization on FOX News
Judge Napolitano's Freedom Watch program continues to impress me. Paul does a great job, and the whole segment provides a good overview of the madness and hypocrisy of Obama's marijuana policy:The fact that FOX has created a platform for these sorts of discussions is significant. I wouldn't have thought it possible even a couple years ago.