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shootings are escalating
We've had two open air mid day in crowded circumstances shootings and everyone is up in arms about stiffer sentences and the same songs I've been listening to my whole life.In my day a dirty spoon,nee
Good Kathleen Parker Editorial on Michael Phelps
Online here. Always good to see a conservative trash the drug laws...
Cut the crap and the bill will pass
I don't mean to bring the whole political gambit to this site..... but . I just saw the news tonight and part of this incentive bill is 400 mill to the prevention of STD's... 400 mill...
The Drug Czarâs Blog Should be Used for Good Instead of Evil
I noted last week that the drug czarâs blog deleted all of its old posts, essentially destroying the single best record of former drug czar John Waltersâs "achievements" during the Bush Administration. Only three items have been posted since, none of which are particularly noteworthy.Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is pushing a handful of notable criminal justice and drug policy reforms, including racial profiling legislation, sentencing reform, needle exchange and an end to medical marijuana raids. We donât know yet who Obama will select to fill John Waltersâs stinky boots, but wouldnât it be nice if that person used the blog to keep us updated on efforts we can actually support? Iâd cherish any opportunity to link approvingly to that site.Having already been bombarded by drug policy reformâs vast web-based army, itâs only logical for the new administration to now reach out to us through a familiar medium and spark positive discussion of the changes we all agree are needed.
White House Says Medical Marijuana Raids Will End
Friends, this is a moment weâve been anticipating for a long time:The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers."The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. [Washington Times]It looks like weâre on the verge of a major victory for state medical marijuana laws. For over a decade, this battle has raged from the hills of California to the Nationâs Capital. It has been a defining cause, not only for the medical marijuana community, but for drug policy reform as a whole. There is no question that a great many challenges remain in our path, but letâs all take a moment to reflect on the fact that our president is poised to order the DEA to stand down. That is not something that happens easily or often. Todayâs news suggests the pending culmination of a substantial effort by a broad coalition that is frequently perceived to lack meaningful political leverage. The political landscape is changing before our eyes and I believe we have much to look forward to. (Please participate in our online action alert and our Facebook petition on this issue.)
20 Texas students test positive for marijuana at $4400 each.
More student drug testing results to speak for themselves. "Since the program began last April, 2,254 students in the district have been randomly tested. Of those, 1 percent of them tested positive for a drug that is on the list of banned substances, said Regina Bennett, the districtâs Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) coordinator.""The program, which costs about $100,000 per year, allows the districtâs high schools to randomly test students for illegal drugs and the overuse of prescription drugs if they have a parking sticker and/or are involved in extra-curricular activities. Also, parents who have students that donât fall into either category can voluntarily ask for their children to be included in the group"[Star Community Newspapers]The way the numbers work out is staggering, from the article it's safe to presume roughly 22.54 students tested positive for a banned substance. Of those, 90% were for marijuana. A small percentage tested positive for amphetamines, Adderall is a safe bet.. We are talking about spending around $4400 to catch each person who tested positive, and even worse these students are denied access to school resources after we've already wasted all this money just to pick them out of 55,000 other pupils. Regina Bennett, the districtâs Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities coordinator, really smashed the nail on the head. âThatâs good because hopefully it was a deterrent.â  Yes, a deterrent to students using after school programs that actually keep them off drugs. In the end they tested 4% of the school district and only 1% tested positive. Another $100,000 in education funding flushed down the drain by the drug war.
20 Texas students test positive for marijuana at $4400 each.
More student drug testing results to speak for themselves. "Since the program began last April, 2,254 students in the district have been randomly tested. Of those, 1 percent of them tested positive for a drug that is on the list of banned substances, said Regina Bennett, the districtâs Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) coordinator.""The program, which costs about $100,000 per year, allows the districtâs high schools to randomly test students for illegal drugs and the overuse of prescription drugs if they have a parking sticker and/or are involved in extra-curricular activities. Also, parents who have students that donât fall into either category can voluntarily ask for their children to be included in the group"[Star Community Newspapers]The way the numbers work out is staggering, from the article its safe to presume roughly 22.54 students tested positive for a banned substance. Of those, 90% were for marijuana. A small percentage tested positive for anphetimines, Adderall is a safe bet.. We are talking about spending around $4400 to catch each of the people that tested positive, and even worse these students are denied access to school resources after we've already wasted all this money just to pick them out of 55,000 other pupils. Regina Bennett, the districtâs Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities coordinator, really smashed the nail on the head. âThatâs good because hopefully it was a deterrent.â  Yes, a deterrent to students using after school programs that actually keep them off drugs. In the end they tested 4% of the school district and only 1% tested positive. Another $100,000 in education funding flushed down the drain by the drug war.
Michael Phelps Faces Possible Prosecution for Bong Hit
I swear, if you give these drug war idiots enough ropeâ¦Authorities will file criminal charges if the investigation determines that they are warranted, a spokesman said Tuesday."If someone breaks the law in Richland County, we have an obligation as law enforcement to investigate and to bring charges," Sheriff Leon Lott said in a statement."The Richland County Sheriff's Department is making an effort to determine if Mr. Phelps broke the law. If he did, he will be charged in the same manner as anyone else. The sheriff has a responsibility to be fair, to enforce the law and to not turn a blind eye because someone is a celebrity." [CNN]Yeah, right. Because Iâm so sure that if a picture of some random dude taking a bong hit showed up on the sheriffâs desk, heâd put his best detectives on the case immediately. The rank stupidity of this was summed up nicely by Whoopi Goldberg of all people:Elisabeth Hasselbeck is turning Michael Phelps into her own personal crusade: This morning on The View, she started hammering away at the alleged-bong-hitting Olympic star for his "illegal action," saying his example "takes the wind out of any mom trying to teach her children" good values."If he wasn't Michael Phelps, wouldn't he be in jail?" she added."No," said Whoopi Goldberg, "because [if he wasn't Phelps], his picture wouldn't have been in the newspapers!"As if the ritualistic public shaming of Michael Phelps werenât sufficiently and self-evidently brainless to begin with, we must now watch in complete bewilderment as law-enforcement willfully exposes its arbitrary application of our drug laws. Putting aside my sympathy for Phelps, itâs more than a little delightful to observe such a public exhibit in the frivolity of marijuana enforcement. They canât prove anything and they know it, thus this is really just another pitifully ill-conceived attention grab by a frustrated sheriff who canât stand not being at the center of a story unfolding in his backyard. Seldom has the war on drugs produced a more ironic moment than when the healthiest person on the planet is targeted for taking one bong hit.
Ryan Frederick Found Guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter
Well, it could have been a lot worse:A jury convicted Ryan Frederick of voluntary manslaughter this afternoon in the January 2008 death of Chesapeake police Detective Jarrod Shivers.It also convicted him of simple possession of marijuana.In the process, the group opted against the two most serious charges filed against the 29-year-old â capital murder and manufacturing marijuana. Voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Marijuana possession is a misdemeanor, with a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. [Virginian-Pilot]I imagine this is one of those cases where both the defense and the prosecution breathed a sigh of relief. It could have turned out much differently and this outcome enables each side to claim that they did their job. Itâs hard to know what to make of this. Frederick was the victim here, no less so than the officer whose life was lost. This young man deserves no punishment and will now serve at least a couple years, Iâd bet. He went down hard in whatâs rapidly becoming a classic botched drug raid scenario wherein a suspect believes police are burglars and uses a firearm to defend their home with fatal consequences. The staggering magnitude of police incompetence and corruption at stake here deserves considerable investigation and I hope todayâs outcome wonât close the door on that. In the meantime, letâs keep Ryan in our hearts as he heads to the sentencing phase.
The Killing of Cheye Calvoâs Dogs is a Story That Wonât Go Away
Washington Post has a definitive account of the killing of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvoâs dogs that took place during a botched drug raid back in July. Itâs an impressive feature that references Radley Balkoâs research and really nails down the faulty drug war tactics that brought this tragedy about. As upsetting as the story is, itâs vital that this incident becomes more than a footnote in the long and growing list of brutal drug war excesses that occur everyday in America and beyond. An accompanying online chat with Calvo included this question:Washington, D.C.: Mayor Calvo, thank you for courageously speaking up and telling the world about the tragedy perpetrated on your family. I know you have forcefully called for some incremental reforms on the state level, but don't you agree that we will continue to see innocent lives lost in raids gone wrong, billions of dollars wasted on arrests and incarceration, and empowering of violent criminal enterprises as long as drugs are illegal? Isn't the real solution to put drugs into a legal and regulated framework like we did when we legalized alcohol 75 years ago?Cheye Calvo: Let me say first that I have never done drugs and have a fairly deep personal opposition to them. That said, I also have a serious problem with public policy by metaphor -- and the 'war' allusion is especially dangerous. Clearly, the current policy is a failure, and there needs to be a genuine public discussion here. A federalist at heart, I think that states should have greater leeway to try new approaches. There has to be a middle ground between outright legalization and a military state.That sounds awfully reasonable and although Iâd argue that anything short of a regulated market would continue to produce unnecessary violence, I think Calvo is speaking in a way many people can relate to. I think itâs this type of argument from this type of person that will eventually make a difference in the way the war on drugs is fought in our communities.
Ryan Frederick Trial Goes to the Jury
We should be seeing a verdict soon in the case of Ryan Frederick, the Virginia man who was charged with murder for killing a police officer who he mistook for a burglar during a questionable drug raid.The jury failed to return a verdict on Tuesday and will continue deliberating Wednesday. Having followed the case closely, Iâm pretty worked up about it and Iâll be glued to the computer until this gets resolved. A guilty verdict would not only send an innocent man to prison, but would provide a symbolic victory for the worst aspects of drug war policing, those that created this tragedy in the first place.Beyond all that, the trial itself has been a grand injustice, really just a classic railroading that brought out the worst of the worst as far as drug war prosecutorial tactics are concerned. Ryan Frederick is simply not the man the prosecution made him out to be, not on any level whatsoever. In one familiar example, prosecutor Paul Ebert used testimony from a "marijuana expert" to grossly exaggerate the capacity of Frederickâs personal marijuana garden:Meinhart says 1 plant produces 1 pound of salable marijuana. 1 pound is 16 ounces, and at $400.00 per ounce is $6400.00 times 10 plants is $64000.00. [Tidewater Liberty]Yet, as Radley Balko points out, Frederick had a not-so-great job getting up at 4 a.m. to deliver sodas. He didnât have $64,000. Police only found 12 grams of marijuana in the raid. All of this is just pure garbage, the same bogus story recycled over and over again in every marijuana trial. But itâs particularly insidious in this case, since the goal is not only to convict Frederick of a marijuana offense, but to destroy his image before the jury and nail him on a false murder charge. Please join me in keeping your fingers crossed that Frederick will be set free.
Medical Marijuana Raids Continue, Time for Action from Obama
Looks like DEA is trying to force a showdown with the new administration:Washington, DC -- On the day that Eric Holder was sworn in as the next U.S. Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted raids on multiple medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. No arrests were made, but typical of such raids, money and medical marijuana were seized from the facility. [Americans for Safe Access]Despite President Obamaâs campaign trail promises to end the DEAâs controversial attacks against state medical marijuana laws, the raids have continued under the leadership of Bush officials who have yet to be removed from office. Itâs a disgraceful last minute effort to politicize the issue as the new attorney general takes office.This is really a wicked strategy if you think about. The reality is that they simply have nothing to lose. Obama has already pledged to end these raids, so the folks who enjoy doing them are afraid theyâll be told to stop any day now. Clearly, they wonât stop until explicitly told to do so.If DEA hopes to mount a defense of their tactics and try to persuade Obama to reverse his position, continuing the raids is their only apparent option. As ugly and unpopular as these activities have become, they must be continued in order to maintain the viability of their argument that the raids are important. After all, how important could the raids be if you arenât even doing them?I imagine the new president is thoroughly annoyed by all of this, as heâs hoping not to make headlines with his marijuana policy. Alas, neither the DEA nor the marijuana reform community intends to make that particularly easy for him. My assumption has generally been that Obama would quietly make the raids go away and weâd begin celebrating at an arbitrary point when it became clear that things were different. If DEA had been willing to accept that fate, things may well have played out that way. Unfortunately, these maniacs wonât go quietly. So letâs spell it out for the new administration: You have to stop them. Thatâs exactly what you promised to do on the campaign trail and it clearly didnât bite you at the ballot box. Fix this now.
Joe Biden's Drug Policy Record -- a Review
Blogger Lee Rosenberg has authored a six-part series on Joe Biden's role in the drug war, a pretty important topic. While Biden's views on drug policy have certainly improved in recent years, we don't really know how much they have changed, and the history is a pretty bad one. Rosenberg therefore concludes with the $60,000 question (if $60,000 isn't too quaint a number by now): Unlike his experience in foreign policy and his knowledge of the Middle East (which Iâm often impressed by), Joe Bidenâs history as a drug warrior likely wasnât a factor in him becoming Vice President. But as he sets out to play a very critical role in advising a President who might be scrutinized like no other, will he be a continual stumbling block for the reform we desperately need on this front? Will he be the devil on Barack Obamaâs shoulder about the drug war in the same way that Dick Cheney was the devil on George Bushâs shoulder about the war on terror? Only time will tell...
Support for Marijuana Legalization is Growing in America
A new CBS/NYT poll finds that 41% of Americans agree that marijuana use should be legalized. While legalization still fails to garner majority support, itâs clear that weâre headed in the right direction. Notice that only 27% supported legalization in 1979:LEGALIZING MARIJUANALike 30 years ago, a majority of Americans do not think the use of marijuana should be made legal, but the percentage that thinks it should be has grown. Now, 41% of Americans support legalizing marijuana use, compared to just 27% who felt that way in 1979.SHOULD MARIJUANA USE BE LEGALIZED?CBS/NYT CBS/NYTNow /1979Yes 41% 27%No 52% 69%There is a huge generation gap on this issue. More adults under 45 (49%) approve of legalizing marijuana use than oppose (45%), while just 31% of adults over age 45 approve of it; six in 10 are opposed.  The generation gap is particularly encouraging, confirming a popular theory among reformers that if we simply wait not-so-patiently, weâll eventually win when our opposition literally drops dead. These numbers reveal that weâre well within striking distance of achieving majority support for legalization. Moreover, weâre comfortably within the range in which meaningful reform to our marijuana laws will produce significant and vocal approval from the public. If there was ever a time when our political climate was fatally non-receptive to this idea, we have moved beyond that. Keep in mind that the 41% result was arrived at without any particular political context. Thatâs just the number of people who generally walk around believing that marijuana should be legal. Itâs possible to build that number significantly when the question is framed around an actual policy proposal, such as in Massachusetts where 65% of voters supported decriminalization. Because our arguments are strong, we benefit from the debate.Legalization initiatives were unsuccessful in Nevada and Colorado in 2004, but Iâd like to think that in the current change-focused political climate, itâs quite possible that similar measures would be victorious. For one thing, the departure of drug czar John Walters means weâre unlikely to face the same vicious opposition weâve become accustomed to, as I simply do not envision Obamaâs White House undertaking a regional propaganda scare-tour the next time we try something big. The fact is that weâre moving in exactly the right direction, though not nearly as fast as any of us would prefer. We must be patient, so long as our patience doesnât take the form of inaction. Weâre entering a period of remarkable political opportunity for our cause.
The Bong Hit Heard Around the World
In case you missed it, Olympic badass Michael Phelps got photographed taking bong hits at a party and nothing will ever be the same. Heâs really, really sorry about it and he urges the public to forgive him and stop taking pictures of him at parties. Radley Balko says pretty much everything that there is to say about this, but let me add that if anyone has a problem with Michael Phelps smoking marijuana, you should look in the mirror and think about how badly you suck. I donât care who you are, you will never be as good at anything as Michael Phelps is at swimming. Heâs better than you.For all I care, Michael Phelps can suck gravity bongs out of an Olympic swimming pool on international television with his 14 gold medals around his neck. If youâre waiting for him to sell his trophies for dope money, donât hold your breath. Speaking of which, Michael Phelps can hold his breath longer than you.Update: NORML's hilariously brilliant Russ Belville has this. I want it on a t-shirt.
Medical Marijuana Research Has Taken a New Direction This Century
Paul Armentano and NORML came out last month with a report, "Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000 â 2009," detailing the findings of scientific research on marijuana and its derivatives for treating a wide range of diseases and conditions -- ALS, Alzheimer's and Fibromyalgia, to name just a few. Paul made a significant observation in the foreword to the report: Whereas researchers in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s primarily assessed cannabis' ability to temporarily alleviate various disease symptoms â such as the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy â scientists today are exploring the potential role of cannabinoids to modify disease. Most of the public has already woken up to the lie that's been told by drug warriors to justify medical prohibition of marijuana, the false claim that it has no medical uses. What may never be fully understood is the opportunities tragically lost, the good that could have been done if promising lines of research had been pursued decades earlier instead of decades later, but for our government's bizarre antagonism against a plant...
Gwinnett County Georgia SWAT Team Blowing It Big Time
Radley Balko covers the second wrong-door raid in two months committed by drug agents in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
The Drug War's Dangerous Distortion of Medical Standards
We haven't reported lately on the issue of under-treatment of pain, so this weekend day seemed like a good time to link to a couple of the sites whose people labor in trenches of the pain struggle every day. First, the war on pain doctors continues, with the latest major battle being that of Wichita-area Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife Linda Schneider. The Schneiders were charged with the deaths of 56 patients by over-prescribing pain medications, but the judge has now limited the case to just four. My guess is that most of these patients passed due to the medical issues that led them to seek treatment, just as one would expect to happen in any medical practice that takes on seriously ill patients; and that a few might have needed the drugs for pain but misused them (as one would also expect to happen sometimes). I haven't examined the case closely enough for that to be more than a guess, but it's an educated guess, as that is usually what is going on in these pain doctor trials. Visit the Pain Relief Network news update page for info. How have things come to this? Big topic, but Dr. Alex DeLuca has a post last week on his "War on Doctors / Pain Crisis" blog, "The Distortion of Medicine and Confusion of Standards," that goes into some of it. A key part of the problem is that while modern pain management textbooks recommend "titration to effect" -- e.g. "gradually increasing the opioid dose until the pain is relieved or until untreatable side effects prevent further dosage increase" -- most doctors just don't do that. And so patients in ongoing, serious pain go without adequate treatment. This makes the typical standard of pain care below medical standards. But it also means that doctors who wrongly believe they shouldn't be relieving a patient's pain are available to testify in trials for the prosecution -- hence the Schneider trial and many others. Even when the defense brings in experts to testify as to what the expert view really is, it creates confusion that can lead to false convictions. This is in fact what happened in the famous William Hurwitz case. DeLuca goes into this in more detail in an interview filmed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, linked to in his post, so check it out. Another physician victim of the pain wars, Dr. William Mangino, recently submitted a Reply Brief in the appeal of his case. He is imprisoned in Pennsylvania, and he wrote the brief himself. It paints a pretty terrible picture of the what the government is doing in these cases. Dr. Mangino sent us a copy, via one of his friends, and we've posted it here.
Meeting to ask residents what can be done to prevent shootings
Seems people are growing weary of the gang war and the related shootings and are holding a weekend meeting to solve it.The one thing I can guarantee you that they won't hear is that the longer drug pr
What Happened to the Drug Czarâs Blog?
I was delighted to notice this evening that the drug czarâs blog, Pushingback.com seems to have removed every post written prior to Obamaâs inauguration. What was formerly one of the webâs greatest collections of unhinged drug war propaganda now houses only 3 posts. Itâs an epic massacre of wretched crap that should never have been written in the first place.Classic embarrassments such as the fake map of San Francisco, the crazy 'burrito taster' poster, and the time they lied about their web traffic are gone forever, along with every other annoying artifact of former drug czar John Waltersâs tragic flirtations with new media. Iâm sure itâs all archived somewhere, but itâs probably best left to rot unless youâre making a documentary called Worst Drug Czar Ever. The archives of Pushingback.com are basically a map of everything ONDCP has been up to for the last couple years. It was the single best source for following the drug czarâs speeches, photo-ops, programs and propaganda. Suddenly, all of John Walters horrible accomplishments are erased and the bloggers whoâve been picking away at him for years are left with a bunch of dead links. The big question is how this came about. Iâd really love to know whose executive decision it was to take out John Waltersâs garbage. I spot-checked a couple other government blogs and found Bush administration posts still available, even on divisive topics such as foreign policy. For now, it looks like the purge at Pushingback.com isnât just a matter of out with the old, in with the new. If someone in the new administration thinks we donât need this crap anymore, theyâre damn right.