Students can play a leading role in opening up an open, honest, and rational discussion of alternatives to the failed war on drugs...in the pages of their state's largest newspaper no less!
Marni's OP-Ed does an excellent job of balancing between being too caustic/presumptuous while still challenging Sen. Grassley:
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley proposed an amendment to the bill that would prevent discussion or even examination of the possibility that drugs, including medical marijuana, should be decriminalized or legalized. Grassley's weak justification for attempting to suppress these viable policy options is: "The point is, for them to do what we tell them to do." This assertion undermines the very purpose of the commission: For experts to recommend to the Senate alternatives to our current approach to incarceration, regardless of whether these findings conflict with our current "get-tough" approach.
Sen. Grassley's response contains some head-scratching logic:
Finally, I put forward an amendment to address the issue of decriminalization and legalization of any controlled substance. I filed this amendment in an effort to start a debate on this important issue.
While his amendment has sparked some debate on the pages of the Des Moies Register and admirable actions by groups like LEAP, it's hard to see how restricting a commission from considering what is arguably the most sensible means of reducing our prison population will allow for serious consideration of this "important issue."
An examination of decriminalization or legalization in a national commission would not preclude such a discussion in Congress. In fact, it may demonstrate to many legislators the increasing evidence from either our past or from overseas that these alternatives are not only effective at reducing the harms associated with drug use, but also can keep thousands of non-violent offenders from wasting their time and our money behind bars.
The above special is part of Current TV's vanguard series and examines the legal and illegal market for prescription pills like oxycodone while telling the story of an oxycodone addict and his family in Broward County, Florida, where the Oxycontin Express begins its travel to Appalachia. It focuses on the ease in which people are able to legally purchase large amounts of pharmaceutical drugs there. Overall, I like the special and think it is fairly objective in showing the diversion of pharmaceutical drugs, the toll of addiction, and intentional or not, the shortcomings of law enforcement in drug policy.
Still, the documentary lacks any information about the legitimate uses for these drugs. It almost certainly incites a sense of worry and hysteria in those who haven't heard much else about this problem. There is no discussion of possible solutions other than the underlying suggestion that increasing law enforcement resources is the only answer. No treatment facilities are explored and no treatment or addiction professionals are interviewed.
The problem
DEA officials say doctors in Broward County wrote prescriptions for more than 6.5 million oxycodone pills from June to December 2008, making it the nation's top supplier. In under 2 years, 70 pain clinics opened in Broward and Palm counties. These clinics write the prescriptions and some also sell the drugs they prescribe. Because the state has no pill tracking system, patients doctor shop. Doctor shopping refers to patients with a prescription going from pain clinic to pain clinic to get their prescriptions filled and often coming away with thousands of pills because without a tracking system there is no way for a pharmacy to know if scripts have already been filled. Florida's governor, Charlie Crist, signed a bill earlier this year that would set up a pill tracking system for the state but it won't take effect until next year.
In Florida, an average of 11 people die every day from prescription drug overdoses. In Kentucky, 877 people died of overdoses last year.
There is a problem with how many pills are being handed out but I'm not convinced that these pain clinics need to be shut down. They provide an alternative to street drug dealing which is more dangerous and leaves money going only to criminals. As the special documents an addict's attempts to buy the drugs from a pain clinic, he is unable to do so and must go to a friend's home where he is sold 30 pills from a 70 year old grandmother. So as crooked as these places are painted to be (and I have no doubt some of them are) others are following what rules are in place. And it isn't until we see the pills leaving the state of Florida where they become significantly valuable. In other states where obtaining the drug is not as easy, pills can be worth 10x what they are bought for in Florida. A bottle of pills bought for $500 can be worth $5,000 in Kentucky. That's money worth protecting. In the attempt to rid their communities of this diversion, the police focus on arresting small time dealers and addicts, a common short fall of the U.S. war on drugs.
The addicts and the law
You'll meet Todd, a man whose addiction to oxycodone, which he smokes, persists even after his brother and wife died from overdoses. You'll briefly meet Terry, another oxy addict who sells small amounts of drugs to support his addiction and as he put it, "do what you gotta do to support your family." You'll also meet women incarcerated for selling prescription pills and a young couple who are convinced by police to sell them some medication outside a pharmacy in an undercover bust.
At the end of the day, are Todd and Terry (the man arrested for selling prescription drugs) and all of the women who are incarcerated, really people that belong behind bars? The sheriff of the Greenup says himself that the pill problem isn't getting any better - despite the fact that jails are overflowing with people convicted of prescription drug offenses. I took notice to the many marijuana posters in the sheriff's office. The America's Most Wanted (pot) poster, news articles covering the departments pot busts, and an old dried up pot leaf that likely came from a grow-op bust, show that he has been dedicated to fighting a war on drugs (or at least on marijuana) and not only has the drug problem not gotten better, its become worse. Even a neighboring county's deputy sheriff was recently arrested for distributing oxycontin.
These areas need better treatment and prevention services not just more law enforcement. When you look at Todd's unsuccessful attempts to quit oxycodone which includes 7 visits to rehab and 15 detoxes, you begin to realize the seriousness of this addiction. I don't see the problem as being these clinics alone. In fact, I think the legalization of drugs with strict regulations (varying for different substances) is a smart move but isn't the answer to our addiction problems. It is the answer to taking away funds from criminal enterprises and taking a market that unfortunately isn't going away and putting into a regulated and controlled system. The problem I see with the prescription drug distribution profiled in this video, is that there is not a pill tracking system. Furthermore, the police are focused on busting small time drug addicts. The couple busted in the special faces a 3 year mandatory minimum sentence after being convinced to sell some of their drugs to an undercover police officer pretending to be someone in serious pain but unable to get their prescription filled. I think this is ineffective and inhumane, and does little to stop the diversion of drugs. Even the police admit this is just a drop in the bucket and I think it's a waste of their resources. I also think these arrests just make the problem worse. Now you have addicts who can't get a job, who will use drugs in jail, who will lose their families, and who will lose their support systems (if they even have any). They just end up more likely to continue using.
Just last week, Kentucky law enforcement arrested more than 300 people in the largest prescription drug bust that the state has ever seen. Those arrested are accused of creating a "pipeline" for pharmaceutical diversion, doing exactly what is shown in the Current TV special. That is a huge bust but it's unlikely to have any long lasting effect.
I have to say I found it ironic as Mariana van Zeller, the narrator of this special, lights up a cigarette outside one of the pain clinics. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs in the world, right up there with opioid addiction and the drug kills far more people than oxy's ever will, even with the Oxycontin Express. But no one is suggesting she belongs in prison, nor should they be. Hulu has a blog interview about the special with Mariana van Zeller who is originally from Portugal. Some irony here as well. Portugal decriminalized the use of all drugs and since then has seen a reduction in drug addiction, overdose deaths, HIV rates, drug use/abuse, and an increase in those who seek treatment for their addictions - all outcomes the U.S. could only dream of obtaining.
So if we can't get rid of the drugs all together, what can be done? Ponder the question: What is so wrong about allowing drug addicts to buy drugs?
Harm reduction.
Harm reduction information is so incredibly important to these areas. Abstinence is absolutely the best way to go if you want to avoid all of the possible harms associated with drug use; there is no surer way to steer clear of addiction or overdose. But just like with sex education, the abstinence only messaging isn't working. These communities need improved information on the harms associated with prescription drug abuse including dosage guidelines and accurate descriptions on dangerous drug combinations.
Good Samaritan policies could likely save the lives of many people in states like Kentucky, especially young people. If young people are going to be severely punished for calling 911 when a friend overdoses, you can expect it to be unlikely that they will make such a life saving call. Instead you have needless situations like this:
Karen Shay, a dentist in Morehead, Ky., also knows too well the cost and pain of prescription drug abuse. Two years ago, her 19-year-old daughter, Sarah, died from an overdose after partying with friends, who dropped her body off at a hospital and drove away.
What's the government's response to all this? To his credit, the new director of the ONDCP, Gil Kerlikowske has admitted that America's largest drug problem is pharmaceutical abuse. Under the reign of Drug Czar John Walters, you would have heard marijuana was the real threat. The House Appropriations Committee also reduced the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign's yearly funding by 71% from $70 million to $20 million - a smart move considering that the focus of the ads has been almost entirely on marijuana use among youth and that they have been shown to be ineffective and even counterproductive. I'm not opposed to having PSA's on the dangers of drug abuse. They seem to have helped in reducing tobacco use among young people and we didn't have to arrest a single person to do so. If the ONDCP's ads on prescription drug abuse are realistic and evidence based, they could help to steer young people away from abusing and even using drugs like oxycodone. If harm reduction information is made accessible than those who do choose to use may make smarter choices about their use.
There needs to be acceptance that such a problem will never go away completely and that drug free communities, and countries, and schools are simply impossible to achieve. The prime example of this; America can't even keep drugs out of our prisons. This is not a problem we can arrest our way out of and it's a problem that will likely come and go in waves.
Here is an excerpt from a report by the Human Rights Coalition on New York's prison system and drug treatment services. Drugs can't be kept out of the prisons and if you're an addict who gets caught using, you'll end up in solitary confinement (the box) and be denied treatment even if it is available.
Meet Nathan. He was identified as needing drug treatment when he entered the New York state prison system with a 16-year sentence. But because prisoners close to their release date get treatment first, Nathan faced the possibility of years in prison without help for his drug problem.
When he continued using drugs in prison, he was sentenced to the box, though no violent or other disruptive behavior was involved. With each relapse, he received harsher punishment. When we interviewed Nathan, eight years after he entered prison, he was serving a 34-month sentence in the box -- 14 months for one drug-related incident and 20 months for another. He had never received any drug treatment.
In New York, prison officials say that three of four inmates need substance abuse treatment. Treatment programs are filled to capacity. As inmates wait months, even years, for treatment, many are caught in a Catch-22: at high risk of relapse, but punished and denied access to treatment if they do.
Is there a solution? I think there are combinations of solutions; incremental changes that can be made to rework this system of pill distribution. But I don't think locking more people up and ignoring treatment resources while funding futile law enforcement attempts is going to get us anywhere. This special has done a great job at shedding light on the situation but I wish they hadn't almost exclusively interviewed police and politicians as experts on how to fix it.
It has been ingrained into our minds, and you can see this in the Current TV special, that drug addicts are considered bad people and the only way to deal with them is to get tough on drugs. Just look at Todd. His brother dies from an overdose. His wife dies from an overdose. He's pretty much lost everything. Yet he still uses the same drug and is stuck In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. And there are countless others who are brothers, sisters, moms and dads and they're addicted to all sorts of drugs, to gambling, to sex, to food. Where should they be sent? The box?
80% of Puerto Rico Murders Called Prohibition-Related
The title actually read "Drug-Related." We know better. Just like the U.S-Mexican border, this isn't violence caused by people taking drugs and going out on murderous rampages. These murders are fueled by a desire to control the drug trade. Something that is worth quite a bit of money.
University of Puerto Rico researcher Hector Colon said that the island’s drug users collectively spend nearly $3 million a day to feed their habits.
Colon also said that keeping an addict incarcerated costs between $28,000 and $30,000 per year, to which must be added other costs pertaining to medical attention when the inmates have AIDS or hepatitis.
The DEA, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Puerto Rico police recently arrested 38 people on drug trafficking charges. It's estimated that about 30% of illegal drugs coming into the U.S. are coming from Puerto Rico and the islands. There is good reason for this:
As American soil, it is attractive because drugs leaving here do not have to clear customs to reach the U.S. market.
Aside from setlist highlights, crunchy lot stories, and the occasional bitch & moan about hearing DWD at Shoreline and The Gorge, there's one thing that phish fans keep bringing up: Trey is sober. And they can hear it.
After being arrested on DWI and drug possession charges back in 2006 in New York, Anastasio was sent to drug court. Drug courts are a cost effective alternative to jail that produce lower recidivism rates than lengthy prison sentences. They're also more humane and aim to help people overcome drug addictions through substance abuse treatment and community service.
Anastasio recently graduated from the drug court program and is touting its effect on his life.
"I've been sober for two-and-a-half years," he says to applause. "My children are happy. In August, my wife and I will celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary. My band is back together with a sold-out tour. And in September I'll play a solo concert at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic."
He's also talking about the failure of the prison system for non-violent drug offenders.
Anastasio saw it first-hand when he missed an appointment and was sent to jail for two days. "I can tell you that behind bars there was rampant drug use," he says. "What's more, the people I met there spent their time blaming judges and lawyers for their circumstances. Not in drug court. In drug court, full responsibility rest with you and you alone."
If even Trey Anastasio can see that the drug war has failed so badly that we can't even keep drugs out of our jails and drug courts are proven to work at reducing spending, drug use, and crime rates, why aren't drug courts the staple? As usual, Ryan Grim hits the nail on the head.
Despite their proven effectiveness over the past two decades, drug courts have had to compete for dollars with the prison industry, and when it comes to lobbying might, the drug courts are outgunned. Despite the expense and ineffectiveness of locking people up, the U.S. continues to do it at rates higher than any other nation. Nationally, more than $60 billion was spent locking people up last year. States spend $65,000 on prison construction per inmate and another $23,876 annually to take care of the prisoner, according to the Pew Public Safety Performance Project.
While drug courts aren't a magic bullet, Anastasio is lucky to have been sent to drug court instead of prison and it's certainly admirable that he is speaking publicly about overcoming an addiction and his support for the program.
Law enforcement officials announced criminal drug-trafficking charges Thursday against 43 people in the United States and Mexico, including suspected leaders of prominent cartels in a country that has been plagued with gun violence.
[...]
The indictments "demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found," said U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
Awesome. All the evil doers have been defeated. No more drug abuse and no more drug trade violence now, right?
Let's call up George W. Bush and see if we can borrow his banner:
In all seriousness, this is very BAD news for the people of Mexico. All it means is that several very lucrative job openings have been created in a multi-billion dollar industry, and the job application process involves lots of bloodshed.
Trying to stop cartel violence by arresting cartel leaders is like trying to save the Titanic by punching more holes in it.
A few days ago, SSDP's ED Micah Daigle received this email:
Dear Micah,
I think personally it is absolutely disgusting that you would have a story on Rachel Hoffman that comes to her defense. She was everything that was wrong with this situation. She was helping the war on drugs. I don't care how the police twisted her mind and told her things. The simple fact was she was an under cover informant. To support someone who helps ruin peoples lives is something that is supported by SSPD? Things like this are the sole fact I believe there are huge holes in your organization and truly no firm stance on any one subject. These reasons are the reasons are dismembered the chapter I started at Northern Illinois University. Please try to think about what you are supporting and who. YOU GUYS ARE SUPPORTING AN UNDERCOVER AGENT.
A concerned citizen
Micah shared the email with me and needless to say, it infuriated me at first. But then I realized that this is the mentality our drug policies produce. Here is someone who supports the reform of marijuana laws writing to us that SSDP is wrong because we supported Rachel Hoffman's family in what I consider to be one of the worst drug war tragedies to ever occur.
So what if she became an informant? She should have never been put in that position in the first place. Rachel Hoffman didn't have some cooked up plan to start putting people behind bars and the 2 murderers that she did agree to help arrest weren't her friends. She was scared and confused and being threatened with a jail sentence.
Rachel was not "everything that was wrong with this situation." Maybe the author of that email hasn't heard the story so I'll remind him of everything that went wrong with Rachel's situation:
Marijuana is illegal.
Non-violent drug offenders face jail time.
Police waste resources, tax dollars, and man hours on people like Rachel Hoffman
The police department asked Rachel to purchase 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine, and a handgun (which was contrary to department policy as it opened the opportunity for the suspected criminals to explain the presence of the gun), using $13,000 cash in a buy-bust operation.
The police knew the criminal history of the men she was supposed to meet.
The police lost track of Rachel during the sting.
She was murdered with the handgun the police sent her to purchase.
So go ahead and talk the talk. Maybe you've even walked the walk. But to truly comprehend both effective drug policy and personal liberty, you'll need to realize that the drug war has turned you into the same type of monster that it has turned the police department that blamed Rachel for her own death. You're the same as gang members and drug cartels that kill each other for snitching. You're mentality is the same as the 2 men that murdered her.
This is a human being. A human life. And yes, she did turn informant and that would have put 2 men behind bars. Two murderers behind bars that quite frankly belong right where they are.
Furthermore, Rachel's death spawned the creation of the Rachel's Law in Florida which "requires law enforcement agencies to (a) provide special training for officers who recruit confidential informants, (b) instruct informants that reduced sentences may not be provided in exchange for their work, and (c) permit informants to request a lawyer if they want one."
I'm not sure what the school administrators were thinking when they decided it was necessary to strip search 13 year old Savannah Redding because they suspected she was hiding ibuprofen in her underwear. Not only did the humiliating and unconstitutional search not find any of that oh-so dangerous ibuprofen, but those who carried out the search contended that they had done nothing wrong.
After years of going from court to court, Redding, now 19, finally has some closure. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that her consitutional rights were violated by the school. However, they also ruled 7-2 that the school officials "are nevertheless protected from liability through qualified immunity."
Savannah did what too many young people are afraid or intimidated to do - she stood up for herself and for her rights in the hopes that she might be able to stop this from happening to another young person.
"It frustrated me that everyone else could see that it was wrong, except for the people that did it," Redding said.
Boy. If that doesn't sum up what its like to be a drug policy reformer - I don't know what does!
That's what Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson had to say about last summer's botched drug raid at the home of Berwyn Heights, MD Mayor CheyeCalvo. The drug raid, which turned up no drugs, resulted in the mayor being handcuffed to a table in his underwear and guns being pointed at his mother in law while they watched the deputies shoot the family dogs. And no, these weren't rottweilers or pitbulls - these were black labs.
The findings of the internal review "are consistent with what I've felt all along: My deputies did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities," Sheriff Michael Jackson said at a news conference.
The drug war has disillusioned American citizens, politicians, and the criminal justice system so much that when a drug raid on the wrong house, the mayor's house none the less, results in no confiscation of drugs and the killing of two family dogs - we commend the police officers that planned and carried out the raid.
Truly outrageous.
I'm glad to see that the Mayor isn't taking this laying down - he's suing the the state of Maryland and officials at the county sheriff's office and police department.
Feeding Your Children to Lions: The Only Way to Keep Them Off Drugs
Alright, alright. The title is a little misleading. But check this out - the D.A.R.E program of Brantford, Ontario requested $1,500 toward the $3,620 (U.S.) cost of a lion costume.
And look - they wanted to use this for 11-12 year olds. Are you kidding? If some asshole dressed as a lion came into my classroom when I was 12 years old to talk to me about the dangers of drugs - I'd probably want to do anything to not end up like him. And if that means using drugs - so be it. I'm not dressing up like a fucking lion for a living when my favorite rock stars and presidents have all admitted to trying drugs.
Luckily, the police services board realized this was a waste of money. "I like the idea of a real lion to scare the kids not to use drugs" joked one board member. Ahh yes, because drugs are more dangerous than putting your child in the same room as a lion - the king of the jungle.
Its true that the board did not approve funding for this yet and likely won't be doing so with the economy in the shape its in. But here is a concerning comment from the same board member that joked about using real lions:
"We don't want to send the message that we don't support D. A. R. E."
That comment likely means that had there not been a budget crisis at the moment this costume would have been approved. When is it ok to throw away money on stupid efforts that we know will not reduce drug use? We cannot base policies and funding on groups like D.A.R.E. simply because their intentions are good and we're afraid to send the message that we don't support them.
I'm all for reducing drug use/abuse among young people. But lions don't talk and they don't use drugs - so grow up and use your head when requesting to use thousands of tax payer dollars.
Or they could just get Stephen Seagal to teach kids about drugs and violence... The man that breaks people necks with the flick of his wrist.
Minnesota Governor Thinks Terminally Ill Medical Marijuana Patients Should be Arrested
Last week Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed a medical marijuana bill that would have protected terminally ill patients - despite the bill passing the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives
The bill was watered down to help ease concerns that the governor had about the bill. Ultimately, the House decided to narrow it down to only protect those that are terminally ill from being arrested for using marijuana to relieve pain and suffering.
Astonishingly, Pawlenty didn't think that even terminally ill Minnesota citizens should be spared from prosecution for using marijuana.
“While I am sympathetic to those dealing with end-of-life illnesses and accompanying pain, I stand with law enforcement in opposition to this legislation,” Pawlenty said in his veto letter.
Sympathetic? How could you be sympathetic and then decide that dying people should be arrested and even jailed just because law enforcement officials want to arrest them? This is some seriously pathetic stuff here folks. This isn't California's medical marijuana legislation. Again - this bill would have only protected terminally ill people from arrest.
Here is an example of the people that Minnesota law enforcement and Gov. Pawlenty feel should be arrested for using marijuana:
Joni Whiting, whose testimony of finding marijuana for her dying daughter brought tears to many legislators’ eyes, had harsh words for Pawlenty.
“The governor thinks I’m a criminal for allowing my daughter some comfort during the last months of her life,” she said. “I don’t know how he sleeps at night, but I do know I’m not giving up until others in my daughter’s situation are protected.”
The fight isn't over though. SSDP has started new chapters in MN this year and we expect to see even more come September.
“Since the governor has refused to listen to reason or to the overwhelming majority of Minnesotans, we have no choice but to bypass him and take this directly to the people through a constitutional amendment,” said Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing.
MN polls show that over 60% of MN residents supported the bill. Instead of allowing common sense legislation to take place - legislation that would have been the country's most restrictive medical marijuana bill - Pawlenty just made himself look like a heartless, nonsensical demagogue and I don't think it will be too long until we see medical marijuana in MN.
While the newest director of the ONDCP, Gil Kerlikowske, isn't likely to be advocating for legalization anytime soon - I think he may be taking us in the right direction - toward actually caring about substance abuse.
"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."
For the past 8 years the focus of the ONDCP has been honed on marijuana. And we've most certainly been at war with people that use drugs. Marijuana, then drug czar John Walters would say, is as dangerous as crack. He opposed state medical marijuana laws (again comparing it to "medical crack") and has spoken out against states making marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority. But Kerlikowske is different. In this interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kerlikowske was asked:
What's the number one drug problem?
Well [illegal] prescription drug use is rising and one problem I want to shout about. At the federal level it's easy to look at things nationally but drug issues are different depending on the geography. In some places meth may be far more serious, even though on a national scale it doesn't appear that way. In Appalachia Oxycotin may be far more serious. I want to look at things regionally and in a narrower focus than in a national focus.
Without a doubt, Walters would have answered marijuana to that question. He may have thrown meth in their too but not without claiming that marijuana leads to meth. Kerlikowske doesn't even mention marijuana. He states the truth - prescription drugs and their diversion are a serious problem. He's also smart to look at this regionally rather than create a blanket campaign against a single drug.
Check out this 2003 article from the Seattle Times concerning Seattle's lowest law enforcement priority ballot question. You'll see that Kerlikowske opposed the initiative for an almost sensible reason: Arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use, says Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, is not a priority now. Officers aren't now bringing in everyone they see smoking a joint, he said.
Kerlikowske at least promises to take his job more seriously than Walters. He doesn't have to support legalization for me to get behind policies that make sense. Furthermore, I don't think full out legalization is necessary for us to make improvements with treating drug addiction (though it sure would help a lot) because as LEAP's Peter Christ says "Legalizing drugs is not the answer to our drug problem. Legalizing drugs is the answer to our crime problem." The drug problem, unfortunately, isn't going anywhere - its here to stay - legalized drugs or not. But we can stop throwing gas on the fire now.
If Kerlikowske is ready to put our money where his mouth is - we'll see a campaign from the ONDCP that shows needle exchange programs work to reduce disease transmissions and provide places where addicts can go to get help and eventually - off drugs. We'll see funding for law enforcement decrease and treatment funding increase (you'll see here that Obama's budget, while increasing treatment funding, also decreases prevention funding and unfortunately calls for more $$ for law enforcement). Talking dogs and flying aliens warning our kids about pot will be replaced with realistic drug education that focuses on America's real drug problems - not support for a witch-hunt of marijuana users.
Deprioritization is key at this point. We can't focus on marijuana anymore and I think our new drug czar knows this. At least that much leaves me optimistic.
Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said its time to consider legalizing drugs. The conservative is coming from this at a very common sense level - prohibition doesn't work. He realizes we have nothing to show for the wasted resources and lives that have resulted in a clogged criminal justice system and a prison overcrowding crisis. And as Tancredo says himself:
"It is now easier for a kid to get drugs at most schools in America that it is booze."
One person in opposition to Tancredo's stance gave the same ol' same ol' "what about the children?" excuse. "Kids will look at that and say,'Well, it must be all right because it's legal now."
I just gave a presentation to high school juniors and seniors in Oakland, CA. I asked the students a simple question: "If heroin or meth became legal today - how many of you would go out and use them?" Not a single hand went up and a few of them shouted "hell no!"
Well folks, I think its obvious that Glenn Beck must be reading the DARE Generation Diary! He seems to have completely changed his tone about marijuana legalization.
Beck starts of this segment saying "I woke up this morning and I thought, we should legalize marijuana."
I have to say, I burst out laughing at first - the resulting combination of joy from seeing this discussion take place on Fox News and the absurdity of his last segment on the subject (not to say I'm not happy that the has seen the light!). Plus, I thought he might be kidding...
But, Beck provided the venue for a fantastic and balanced discussion about the effects of prohibition. This wasn't a discussion about the benefits or dangers of using drugs. We all know that drug use, like most behaviors, can carry consequences. This was a forum about prohibition and a comparison of its failure in the 1920's to its failure today.
Beck's guest for the discussion is Mexico's former deputy foreign minister, Andres Rozental. Rozental provides unarguable testimony and at times makes touching points concerning the devastation that prohibition has caused Mexico. Beck asks Rozental, "explain to me how using marijuana is NOT a victimless crime." Rozental answers beautifully, explaining that, really, the best way to make marijuana use a victimless crime is:
"legalize it, regulate it, make sure that the purity is what it should be, make sure that it pays taxes rather than fill the pockets of criminal gangs, and then be much more reasonable and rational about the way you deal with these things."
Throughout the segment both repeat over and over again the same exact argument that drug policy reformers have been screaming for years; Legalize marijuana! Not because drugs are good and not because drugs are bad - legalize marijuana because prohibition creates violence, prohibition creates and funds terrorists and organized crime. Prohibition is the problem and legalization is the solution.
We are at the "tipping point" friends. Even if our country continues to wage this failed war on drugs, no one can continue to justify it. Not even Glenn Beck.
LEAP Cop Wins Suit After Being Fired for Criticizing Drug War
Check this out! This is LEAP's press release (verbatim) regarding this awesome victory for free speech!
SEATTLE, WA -- A Mountlake Terrace police sergeant who was fired after publicly criticizing the "war on drugs" has reached an $812,500 settlement in a lawsuit he filed against the city and police department, among others. Under the settlement, Sergeant Jonathan Wender has been reinstated on the force and is eligible to receive back pay and full retirement benefits.
“In an open society, people on the front lines of the criminal justice system have an ethical duty to speak out on controversial social and legal issues that affect the public we serve," said Sgt. Wender, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a 10,000-strong organization representing police, prosecutors, judges and others who fought on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and who now want to legalize and regulate drugs. "The public has a fundamental right to know which laws and policies are effective, and which ones aren’t; and they should expect that their police officers will speak the truth even when it isn’t popular or comfortable to do so. I hope that the outcome of this case will help reassure police and other public officials that they can speak freely on controversial topics such as the urgent need to seek better ways to deal with the crisis of drugs that plagues American society.”
Sgt. Wender joined the police force in 1990 after graduating from college and was terminated in 2005. He holds a Pd.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently a full-time sociology professor at the University of Washington. As part of the settlement, Sgt. Wender is back on the payroll at the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, where he will serve on administrative leave until he retires from the force on November 10, 2010 and can then qualify for his full pension.
"Jonathan Wender's victory is ours, as well. As was his fight," said Norm Stamper, the retired Seattle police chief and LEAP member. "Because of this fine man's courage and perseverance, and his willingness to tell the truth about the 'drug war,' we've all moved closer to putting an end to that war. I believe police officers across the country will be moved by Jonathan's example, and will raise their voices in support of LEAP's goal of ending drug prohibition."
The lawsuit was filed against the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office, the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, the City of Mountlake Terrace, the City of Lynnwood, and a handful of individual defendants.
For more information about LEAP, please contact Tom Angell at (202) 557-4979 or media@leap.cc
El Paso Can't Decide if it's OK to Talk About Drug Legalization
By now you are probably aware of the recent resolution, written and passed by the El Paso city council, that included an amendment encouraging that ending drug prohibition be discussed. The resolution was aimed at addressing and drawing attention to the rising violence occurring in the city of Juárez, Mexico which borders El Paso, Texas.
After passing unanimously, the resolution was quickly vetoed by El Paso mayor John Cook, who reasoned that "It is not realistic to believe that the U.S. Congress will seriously consider any broad-based debate on the legalization of narcotics," Cook added. "That position is not consistent with the community standards both locally and nationally."
Cook goes on to say "The whole purpose of the resolution was to get national attention to the violence in Juárez," he said. "After it was amended, the focus was placed instead on legalizing drugs in the United States."
I disagree and think that had the amendment not been added, no one would have heard of this resolution and little more attention would have been drawn to the prohibition related violence in Juárez. Beto O'Rourke, the city councilman that added the amendment, speaks quite eloquently about the purpose of bringing legalization into the discussion. He makes it very clear that the council did not vote in support of legalization, but in support of evaluating the relationship between the rise of violence in Juárez and U.S. drug policy.
More than 20 people have already been killed in Juárez since the new year started. The details of these murders are so grotesque and frightening, it's hard to believe the Mayor wouldn't even support the discussion of drug decriminalization. The council is set to vote on an override of the veto this Tuesday.
The El Paso Times has an article on the vote and a follow up opinion in support of the council's vote. Be sure to weigh in on the comments section and also to vote YES on the poll located near the end of this article. LEAP's Terry Nelson had an excellent op-ed printed in the El Paso times. Again, please leave comments of support for the resolution, Terry Nelson's op-ed, and while your at it, throw in a mention of your favorite student drug policy reform organization.
In an unrelated story, El Paso's "most wanted fugitive" is:
EL PASO -- A 23-year-old man who was arrested for shoplifting at Wal-Mart while eating potato wedges and popcorn chicken he didn't pay for, is the most-wanted fugitive this week, an El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.
Ideas are fantastic. So why not have an idea machine? SSDP has one and his name is Micah Daigle. His latest idea is a facebook petition that has generated nearly 17,000 signatures. What's this petition all about you ask? Well, its calling on President Elect Obama to reform U.S. drug policy.
We petition that…
When you called the War on Drugs an "utter failure" in 2004, you were right. A 2008 Zogby poll found that 3 out of 4 of Americans agree with you.
When appointing the head of your Office of National Drug Control Policy, please select someone with health, science, or education credentials rather than a military general, law enforcement official, or "tough on drugs" politician. The next "Drug Czar" should base policy on proven methodology rather than counterproductive ideology. At a minimum, he or she should support these measures:
*Ending the racially unjust disparity in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine.
*Ending the practice of prosecuting patients in states with medical marijuana laws.
*Eliminating the federal law that denies financial aid to students with drug convictions.
We all know that the War on Drugs is failing because handcuffs don't cure addictions -- doctors do. You have the opportunity to bring us the change we need. Will you?
Sincerely, The Undersigned
*Note: By the time I finished writing this, the petition has exceed 17,000 signatures!
Please help us achieve our goal of 20,000 signatures by signing the petition here and inviting your friends to sign it.
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