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Ten Years Later, the United Nations Anti-Drug Efforts Have Accomplished Nothing
â¦nothing, that is, except filling prisons around the world, spreading disease, empowering a worldwide network of organized crime, and killing lots and lots of people:VIENNA (Reuters) - A United Nations campaign to cut supply and demand for illegal drugs has shown no progress globally in the decade since it was launched, a European Commission report said on Tuesday.The U.N. General Assembly session (UNGASS) met 10 years ago to declare that it was time to really get serious about winning the drug war and this is what they have to show for their efforts.Asked whether the UNGASS campaign had failed, Carel Edwards, head of the Commission's anti-drug unit, told a news conference: "This very clearly comes up with our conclusion that there is no indication that it has made any difference."We basically seem to be marking time on the spot," he said.While a "world without drugs" was never part of the 1998 UNGASS declaration of intent, Edwards said, "nevertheless, at the time, there was an overwhelming publicity campaign that in 10 years we were going to lick this problem. (That) was naive."Yeah, it was more than naïve. It is truly appalling to see world leaders completely divorced from reality. Regardless of ideology, drug policy is a serious issue and must be approached rationally.Anyone who thought the worldâs drug problem could be contained in 10 yearsâ time is not qualified to work on drug policy issues. Seriously, if this is the type of expert analysis we can expect from the UN, they might as well hand the job over to a group of randomly-selected idiots off the street.
Time to try another way.
The drug war does more harm than good, now it is time to try the path of least harm.
Police Officer in Cowboy Hat Talks Drug Legalization on Al Jazeera
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's Howard Wooldridge is commonly known on Capitol Hill as "the guy with the hat." Howard debated drug legalization on the Al Jazeera network this week -- check it out below:
NBC Insults Marijuana Users
Once again, we find the press struggling to cover drug policy reform without resorting to derogatory epithets: State Moves Toward Lighter Sentences for PotheadsBy Scott RossThe state Assembly has struck a blow for the state's stoners by voting to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws that have threatened so many tokers with the wrong kind of joint. [NBCNewYork.com]This is really an achievement in childish drug reporting in that it not only sounds ridiculous, it actually renders the story utterly frivolous and misleading. Marijuana arrests are a problem in New York to be sure, but simple possession is technically decriminalized already. Rockefeller reform is primarily not about marijuana at all. It's about reforming wildly draconian sentencing guidelines for a variety of drug offenses. Framing it as a marijuana policy reform is just wrong. Many of the worst excesses of the Rockefeller laws have nothing at all to do with marijuana.Sadly, it looks as though the author loved his dumb headline so much, he destroyed the entire story just so he could use it. It's pure journalistic malpractice.Please take a moment to click over there and leave a polite comment.
Propaganda Alert: Marijuana Makes You Bad at Video Games
If we thought the departure of drug czar John Walters would mean the end of wildly preposterous anti-pot propaganda, we were wrong as hell. Abovetheinfluence.com is now claiming that marijuana makes you suck at video games and they're not even kidding at all. At the risk of giving them traffic, you have to see this to believe it. They've made an entire webpage, complete with videos and profiles of imaginary characters that got slaughtered because someone was high.Of course, this is all sure to land far off target, mainly because everyone knows pot makes you incredible at video games. It's like steroids for high-school Halo champions. Claiming otherwise just makes you sound stupid, while simultaneously reminding your target demographic how much fun it is to get super-baked and massacre space aliens with a laser cannon.
Are Republicans Turning Against the Drug War?
Everyone knows Republicans love the drug war and Democrats are hippies who want to legalize pot. Right? Not necessarily.Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley are probably the best-known republicans to oppose the war on drugs, and they did so with eloquence that's seldom been matched across the political spectrum. Both men have passed however, and it's often assumed that the party of limited government and state's rights would remain strangely, yet steadfastly invested in the infinitely costly and oppressive war on drugs.It's not that there arenât notable exceptions; Ron Paul's rapid rise to national fame in 2008 demonstrated the vigor of libertarian-leaning conservatives who craved an opportunity to cast a vote for drug reform in the republican primaries. In addition to Paul, prominent conservatives Grover Norquist and Tucker Carlson have been strong supporters of reform (watch Carlson TKO drug warrior Mark Souder on MSNBC, for example). But the GOP's reputation as the party of braindead drug war demagoguery nonetheless remains cemented in the public consciousness thanks to the anti-drug posturing of party leaders like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.Recent weeks have brought some encouraging signs that the drug policy reform argument is gaining ground with conservatives. FOX News' Glenn Beck recently interviewed Marijuana Policy Project's Rob Kampia and then came out in support of marijuana legalization a week later. Beck articulated the role of marijuana prohibition in subsidizing Mexican drug war violence in a segment that came off as remarkably pro-reform for FOX News. Proving it's not a fluke, we also saw LEAP's Norm Stamper on FOX News' Red Eye program delivering a superb indictment of the war on drugs that had host Greg Gutfeld nodding in agreement. Meanwhile, conservative commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan penned a column last week quoting Milton Friedman and questioning the very foundations of the war on drugs. Though not thrilled about the idea of legalizing drugs, Buchanan suggests that Mexico's survival may depend on ending the drug war. Like Glenn Beck, Buchanan had not been previously known to support reform and seems to be getting the message now that the failure of prohibition in Mexico is becoming a threat to our own national security.Obviously, much work remains to be done towards generating mainstream political support for drug policy reform among conservatives (and liberals, for that matter). Still, there can be no question that the tone of the conversation is shifting and new voices are entering the discussion. An economic crisis and an unstable border may provide focal points for an evolving dialogue, but there's more to it than just that. Consider, for instance, that the new administration recently pledged to end medical marijuana raids and it's just about the only thing Obama's done that hasnât provoked attacks from republicans. The political landscape with regards to drug policy reform is shifting in a subtle, yet powerful way. In many cases, our greatest obstacle hasn't always been pure political opposition, but rather a partisan political climate in which our issue is viewed as unstable terrain. The moment public opinion tips far enough â as with medical marijuana â the fear of political attacks evaporates because your opponents canât use popular positions against you. Once it becomes clear that certain reforms carry no political risk, our infinitely feisty political culture focuses its hostility elsewhere and it becomes possible to do things like end medical marijuana raids without anyone saying a damn thing. More importantly, as our political culture finally begins to embrace the need for an open and mature discussion about reforming drug policy, we'll begin to hear what influential people actual believe, instead of what they've been taught to say.
Federal Prosecutors Seem Confused About Obama's Medical Marijuana Policy
I'm hearing a lot of discussion about this odd story from the LA Times:The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles sent a confidential memo to prosecutors last week ordering them to stop filing charges against medical marijuana dispensaries, then abruptly lifted the ban on Friday, according to sources familiar with the developments.So he initially orders everyone to completely back off of medical marijuana cases, then for unknown reasons, reverses course and tells prosecutors to proceed as they have in the past. It's creepy and plays right into the suspicions of those who thought the Feds wouldnât back off without a fight.Nonetheless, I'm leaning towards the assumption that the initial memo was just a little bit premature, but that we'll ultimately see a policy along those lines. I contacted Caren Woodson at Americans for Safe Access for a more informed analysis. Here's what she has to say:I think it's confusion --- it's important to remember that we aren't even close to having the appropriate Obama officials seated at this point. We expect, per the White House's comments, review of the policy as these people are formulating new policy. Keep in mind Deputy AG Ogden hasn't been sworn in yet. At this point there has been no new movement; no new raids or new indictments. We are, however, still concerned about what becomes of the individuals still undergoing prosecution or waiting federal sentences... And I think that will require a deeper, more comprehensive discussion with the Obama Administration...once we have a better sense of who will be staying and who will not!In other words, donât freak out, at least not yet. The new administration has said the raids will end and that's what we're expecting.
Why Are Democrats Barking About Rush Limbaugh's Drug Use?
National Review Online has a good point here. Obama's past drug use was rightfully declared off-limits during the campaign. Everyone on the left seemed to agree that was appropriate, so bludgeoning Limbaugh over his own drug use is lame.You could make a decent argument that Limbaugh's behavior was more shocking (in light of this wildly hypocritical statement, for example), but that's really beside the point. The fact that past drug use is no longer a landmine on the campaign trail is an encouraging signal that our political culture has matured beyond the finger-wagging of the past. If we want it to stay that way, then there must be a bi-partisan truce when it comes to trashing someone's character for using drugs. If you're actually discussing drug policy, that might be different, but just blatantly citing past drug use as evidence that someone's an asshole is not cool. This isn't about Rush Limbaugh, it's about moving beyond the "I didn't inhale" era so that we can have public discussions of drugs and drug policy that arenât politicized and perverted to the point of absurdity.
Drug Policy Reform Video and Poster Contest Winners Announced
Our friends at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union have announced the winners of their drug policy video and poster contests, in preparation for next weeks UN international drug summit in Vienna. Click on the images below to check them out.
i just want to subscribe for emails
but apparently i need to make an account too! so this is my account! here is my post.
Contemplating Marijuana Legalization
guest column by Dr. Douglas Young, Prof. of Pol. Sci. & History at Gainesville College, Gainesville, GA The news of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps smoking pot should re-energize the marijuana legalization debate because America should be a free marketplace of ideas where ALL perspectives joust. Yet to even consider legalization is often unacceptable in polite company. But, because all public policy should be rationally debated, let's at least look at some legalization arguments. I wish no one used any recreational drug (and I avoid them all). But if we must outlaw everything potentially dangerous, then we need a federal 30 mph speed limit and a ban on fatty foods greasing the obesity epidemic killing over 300,000 Americans annually (CBS News). Somehow we survived legal marijuana until 1937. It actually helped finance our revolution, clothe the Continental Army, and provide the paper for our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Washington and Jefferson grew it, and the latter even risked smuggling it out of Europe. In fact, before 1870, hemp oil ranked second only to whale oil in creating light around the world. During World War II, the feds pushed hemp production to make rope for the war effort. Dope got banned because federal cops wanted to keep their jobs (alcohol prohibition was repealed in 1933), cotton farmers wanted to end hemp competition, and whites linked pot to Mexican immigrants and black jazz musicians. Louis Armstrong never performed without it, and a later user, Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, still calls joints "herbal jazz cigarettes." But Caucasians feared white girls would "go crazy" on dope and become intimate with minority males. So, to avert "Reefer Madness," the weed got outlawed instead of the cancer sticks, liver poison, and "Mother's Little Helper" pills preferred by the ruling class. Today over 12 percent of federal and state inmates are doing time for pot, costing taxpayers over $1 billion annually (In These Times). A record 872,000 Americans were arrested for it in 2007 alone -- 89 percent just for possession (the FBI). In fact, an attorney on "The O'Reilly Factor" revealed a few years back that there were more lifers in California prisons for pot than for murder, rape, and kidnapping combined. So pot-smokers get locked up with and brutalized by our most violent felons. How's that for "rehabilitation"? Then their criminal records deny them student loans, good jobs, and even voting rights. Does our abuse of drug-users resemble how we used to mistreat the mentally ill? The medical evidence shows drug addicts are unwisely self-medicating a dopamine deficiency in the brain. They need treatment, not an 8 x 10 cell. How do you think future generations will judge us? William F. Buckley, Jr. noted that 400,000 police can't go after violent crimes and theft due to the endless "War on Drugs." There's also epidemic vice squad corruption with drugs since their price is so inflated precisely because they're illegal. Psst: The folks most against legalization -- are drug dealers! Why not tax our biggest cash crop and let cops chase violent felons? Doesn't prohibition fuel the forbidden fruit syndrome? The 1920s' alcohol ban criminalized a huge percentage of decent Americans, created organized crime in the US, and corrupted thousands of police and officials (even President Warren Harding and Chief Justice William Taft secretly drank). Though none is healthy, is pot remotely as bad as alcohol or cigarettes? CBS News reported that half of US hospital beds are filled by folks with alcohol-related problems, and we have 110,000 alcohol-lubricated deaths every year. Also, the Justice Department admits that alcohol was the only drug found in 36 percent of all convicted criminals and is a factor in over 40 percent of murders. Cigarettes are as addictive as heroin (former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop), do far more bodily harm than any opiate (addiction medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky), and kill 430,000 Americans a year (CDC). My hygienist says they can even cause teeth to fall out in your thirties. Though pot is psychologically addictive for some, no one ever overdosed, got cancer, or died from marijuana. Nor do people get violent on it (as Bill Maher says, "Forgetting to kill your wife on pot, okay"). Also, studies show most pot-smokers do not graduate to harder illegal drugs. Legalization doesn't mean more pot smoking. In Holland, where marijuana is tolerated, just 12 percent of Dutch aged 15-24 said they used pot in 2005. But, in nearby France, where it's illegal, 24 percent of French youths admitted smoking it that year. And, in the U.S., almost 28 percent of Americans 18-25 said they used marijuana in 2004-5. Yet, with effective health classes and ad campaigns, U.S. tobacco and alcohol consumption have gone way down in recent years. Better education can lower pot use as well. Though 12 states have passed referenda liberalizing marijuana laws, the feds keep vetoing our constitutional democratic states' rights. Ultimately, either we're for less government or we're not. Is it really state business what consenting adults do in their own home? Must we have a national nanny state with Big Brother jailing citizens for a weed? And wouldn't our libertarian Founding Fathers be appalled at this gross encroachment on our privacy rights? Let's at least debate returning to our roots and finally standing up for freedom for a change. Exactly why not?
If Obama Supports Medical Marijuana, What About Hemp?
On the heels of Obama's hugely popular decision to end the DEA's raids on medical marijuana providers, it's worth looking into some of the other absurd federal drug policies that interfere with states rights and common sense.Hemp cultivation isnât technically illegal in the U.S., but you need a special permit from the DEA, and if you ask for one they'll call you a hippie and tell you to go f@#k yourself. Seriously, try it. I applied last year and this is the response I got:Dear Mr. Morgan,We have finished processing your application to "grow hemp so I can make cool snacks and rope and stuff." We regret to inform you that you are a hippie and you can go screw yourself.Yours cruelly, Michele Leonhart,Acting AdministratorDrug Enforcement AdministrationP.S. Your blog sucks and if you put this letter in your blog, we'll burn down the Chipotle next to your office.That about sums it up. Honestly, I donât even get why this is an issue. Hemp isnât drugs. Why DEA gives a damn if people want to cultivate hemp is completely beyond me. Near as I can tell, they're relying exclusively on the argument that people will surreptitiously grow marijuana in their hemp fields, which is preposterous because you can't do that. Hemp will cross-pollinate and destroy any commercial marijuana in its vicinity. It's the anti-pot. Thus, I tend to assume that DEA's animosity towards hemp is merely a symptom of the broader culture war surrounding marijuana in general. They'll concede nothing to the reform community, even when their intransigence requires them to obstruct legitimate economic activity based on flimsy reasoning. Of course, now that we have a president with the guts to tell DEA when they're out of line, there's simply no reason this issue canât move forward. Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia have all passed laws authorizing hemp cultivation and eagerly await the federal go-ahead. Efforts to legalize hemp are also underway in Minnesota and in California, where a hemp bill died on the governor's desk (Schwarzenegger cited conflict with federal law as his reason for rejecting the legislation).Hemp won't save our economy, but it can provide income for many good, hardworking people. We lead the industrialized world in the importation of hemp and it would make a great deal of sense to start producing it ourselves.
Final count for3/4/'09 6
I wake up this morning and the shooting count is 6.The police still don't get it and the public is all over the place.Everybody is a vigilante in waiting and everyone knows the answer ,which is,of cou
DrugAddiction- Destroy Your Life
Most governments have designed legislation to criminalise certain types of drug use.
First arrest!
The joint police braintrust(naw,it's too easy)known as IHit has made it's first arrest in the gang warfare that's gone on unabated for several years now with no arrests.After Canadian PM,Stephen Harpe
Field Tests for Identifying Drugs Are Proven Wildly Inaccurate
This is simply jawdropping:The results of the study are available in the MPP-funded report False Positives Equal False Justice. This research has quite far-reaching implications when you consider the massive number of drug arrests performed each year based on the results of these inaccurate field tests. With nearly a million marijuana arrests in the U.S. every year, the number of people convicted of marijuana possession who never actually had marijuana is certainly much larger than zero. I'd also like to know what other countries use these tests and what procedures exist to confirm the results before suspects are charged and sentenced.It's a powerfully disturbing development and yet another reminder that nothing in the war on drugs is what it seems. When you pull back the curtain, every stage in the drug prohibition process is exposed as utterly fraudulent and perverted. Literally nothing that happens in the war on drugs is reliably correct. I wouldn't have though it possibleâ¦but if we can't even trust police to accurately identify the drugs they're arresting people for, the drug war is somehow even more shockingly stupid and unfair than I thought.
SWAT Raids on Innocent People are Bad
The Baltimore Sun reports on Cheye Calvo's attempt to bring transparency to the use of paramilitary drug raids in Maryland. Unsurprisingly, the law-enforcement community is not interested in having their activities monitored:However, the executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association says reporting requirements for SWAT teams should emanate from the law enforcement community, not legislators."Our data shows that when SWAT teams are deployed, the violence goes down," said John Gnagey, who was a SWAT team member for 26 years in the Champaign, Ill., police department.I'd love to know what data he's referring to, because that just strikes me as false on its face. SWAT raids are inherently violent. The violence at Cheye Calvo's house wasn't reduced when the SWAT team showed up and started shooting his dogs repeatedly. Of course, the SWAT director thinks the legislature should just butt out and let police decide which reporting requirements are appropriate. Did you hear that Maryland legislators? The SWAT team doesnât want you nosing around in their business. Police are fond of pointing out that if you arenât doing anything wrong, you donât have anything to worry about. Perhaps it's about time someone spat that line right back at them.
How Come the Dutch Smoke Less Marijuana Than Americans?
You don't have to look very hard to find drug war zealots insisting vociferously that Dutch drug policy is a raging trainwreck. But the truth is that rates of marijuana use in the Netherlands are far lower than ours, despite the fact that they sell awesome pot over the counter seven days a week to anyone over 18. That's why Dr. Fredrick Polak, a Dutch psychiatrist and drug policy reformer, has spent years trying to get U.N. Drug Czar Antonio Maria Costa to acknowledge and address the success of Dutch marijuana policy. He's asked Costa about this on 4 separate occasions so far and each time the U.N. drug czar changed the subject. Here's an awesome video of Dr. Polak causing Costa to go a little nuts (seriously watch it, it rocks). Anyway, Dr. Polak has teamed up with the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union on a campaign to continue confronting Costa until he actually gives an intelligent response (or admits he doesnât have one). They're asking for our help and they've made a cool new site where everyone can participate. Check it out.
California DMV Agrees to Let Medical Marijuana Patients Drive
Everywhere you look, the irrational persecution of medical marijuana patients is going out of style:Oakland, CA -- The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued a new policy yesterday with regard to how it treats qualified medical marijuana patients. The DMV Driver Safety Procedure Manual was revised to include reference to medical marijuana, stating that "use of medicinal marijuana approved by a physician should be handled in the same manner as any other prescription medication which may affect safe driving." [Americans for Safe Access]The policy change stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Americans for Safe Access on behalf of a patient who lost her license despite decades of perfect driving. ASA notes that several counties in California have been designating patients as "drug abusers" solely due to their medical use of marijuana. The mind-bending stupidity of all this is staggering when you consider the plethora of popular perfectly-legal pharmaceuticals that won't affect your driving privileges despite turning you into a slobbering zombie for 8 hours. Fortunately, the idiots who've been playing doctor/cop at California's DMV can look forward to a shiny new memo telling them to cut the crap.