tfs

• ONDCP
• , Study
• , Stupid

Flawed Study Claims Drug Use Common Among Arrestees

June 1st, 2009 by Russ

Ever heard the old saying, ‘You can make statistics say anything you want?’ A new federal drug study is vainly hoping to do just that. In interviewing and urine testing ‘random’ arrestees from 10 major cities, half of the results came up positive for at least one type of drug.

The study [Warning: .pdf], conducted by the Arresting Drug Use Monitoring Program (ADAM), maintained that marijuana was the most common drug found in respondents (between a third and a half of the men tested positive) in all the cities except for Atlanta. It also found high rates of cocaine, crack use, and methamphetamines, among the arestees.

Newly minted drug czar Gil Kerlikowski noted that the study,

…shows a clear link between drugs and crime

Really, Gil? Does it? The word ‘link’ here is incredibly misleading. As any statistician knows, there is a universe of difference between correlation and causality. In other words, just because there is a ‘link’ between drugs and crime, doesn’t mean that using drugs causes crime, or that criminals are more likely to use drugs than non-criminals. For example, one could correctly say that 85% of US criminals have brown eyes. There is definitely a link between brown eyes and crime. If this were a causal link, we might have to start putting Lojack bracelets on all brown-eyed people.

Even outside the misleaing semantics, the study fails on several other levels. First of all, any arrestee who tested positive for pot smoked at least once in the last six weeks. There is absolutely no way to know whether the person was high at the time of the crime, arrest, or booking. Given that 42% of Americans have tried pot at some point or other, there’s a very good chance you’ll be able to get a positive test from a significant number of them.

The kicker though, can be found in the study itself. Some poor ADAM intern forgot to expunge the following passage from the study:

In all sites, a minimum of one in five arrestees had a drug crime amongst the charges on the current arrest, with larger percentages in Sacramento and Washington… and Chicago having the highest percentage (60%).

In other words, these federal researchers went out of their way to disproportionately interview people arrested on DRUG CHARGES. Hmmm, do you think it’s possible that people arrested for possessing drugs might be pretty likely to test positively for them?

Poor Chicagoans. National newspapers today are rife with stories of the throngs of addict criminals in their prison system, and no one thought it fitting to mention that of the few hundred Chicago men surveyed, 60% of them had been arrested for possessing or selling drugs.

Apparently the original executive summary: ”People Arrested for Ingesting Drugs Tend to Test Positive for Them,” didn’t fly with the higher ups. Congratulations to the ONDCP on another mountain of taxpayer dollars well spent.

• Drug Czar
• , Gil Kerlikowske
• , ONDCP
• , Vice President

Seattle’s Top Cop Becomes New Drug Czar

May 8th, 2009 by Rick

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske’s nomination to the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Kerlikowske is a 36-year law enforcement veteran, with the past nine being Seattle’s top cop. Kerlikowske is known for his programs in Seattle that reduced the demand for drugs by prevention and treatment instead of following the harsh federal guidelines.

Kerlikowske is highly open to coordinating with other countries, as well as local and state governments to form partnerships to reduce drug trafficking and drug use. Before you blow the trumpets and welcome in the winds of change, realize that because of Vice President Biden’s knowledge of federal drug policy, there is no need for the Director of ONDCP to have Cabinet level access to President Obama.

VP Biden may know about federal drug policy, but it’s him and his buddies that had created the drug czar position, the war on drugs and put us in the quagmire that we are currently muddling through. It’s ironic that they would do something like that, denying Kerlikowske to fufill that part of the job, when he is the right man for the job. Kerlikowske says he will use Biden as a resource to his office but unfortunately if he actually listens to him, then maybe things won’t change for the better.

Kerlikowske is entering the office in turbulent times when it comes to the war on drugs. As he well knows, the Portugal and Switzerland experiments of legalizing drugs were deemed successful. Mexico even legalized a small amount of drug possession, in order to hopefully curb the Mexican cartel violence. Kerlikowske says the demand for the drugs has to be reduced… something which he should know would never happen. Unless drugs were to be made legal, which would take away the currency to the cartels and slowly choke the life out of them.

• Barack Obama
• , Drug Czar
• , ONDCP

NBPA Voices Disapproval for New Drug Czar

December 4th, 2008 by Perry

Not due in office for at least another six weeks, President Obama’s cabinet decision has already triggered some preemptive signs of concern.

The National Black Police Association, and other nonprofit organizations, recently wrote a letter to Obama voicing concerns over news that Rep. James Ramstad (R-Minn.) would be Obama’s Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, commonly referred to as the “drug czar”.

The NBPA cited Ramstad’s past opposition to medical marijuana, needle exchange and sentencing reform for drug users as their main objections with the choice.

Excerpt from the letter:

While we applaud Representative Ramstad for his courageous and steady support for expanding drug treatment access and improving addiction awareness, and honor his own personal and very public triumph over addiction, we have strong reservations about his candidacy for the drug czar position.

While Ramstad is generally considered a “rank-and-file” Republican according to his voting history, he also has a record of bi-partisan effort, which may have been a factor in his nomination.

Obama has yet to publicly respond to the letter.

• Bullshit
• , ONDCP

MMJ vs. Starbucks: San Fran Showdown

November 18th, 2008 by Perry

In its last few desperate days before what we can only hope will be a complete overhaul of its regime, the ONDCP is trying to spread as much disinformation as it can.

The office recently tried to spread the claim that there were more medical marijuana dispensaries than there were Starbuck’s locations in San Francisco. Knowing San Fran, who would ever believe that?

Here’s the link to the ONDCP’s erroneous article and further explanation of their shoddily pieced together map.

Regardless of your feelings on Starbucks, because I have no idea why people spend $5 on a cup of coffee, consider the fact that it’s not even close to true. Who knows where the government gets its statistics from, or why it continually chooses scare tactics that are completely ineffective?

The feds contend there are 98 marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco, compared to 71 Starbucks Coffee shops.

The Department of Public Health lists 24 dispensaries in the city that either have permits or are trying to obtain one.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out ONDCP…

• Ad
• , MPP
• , ONDCP

Marijuana Ads I Like

November 18th, 2008 by Perry

The good folks at the Marijuana Policy Project put together this great ad in response to some of the more ludicrous claims by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Here’s the story behind the ad, now I just want to see one with Obama in it.

• Bullshit
• , Drug Studies
• , Government
• , ONDCP

Drug Czar Achieves Epic Fail

October 9th, 2008 by Alex

Turns out that government agencies don’t like being called out on their absolute failures. What a surprise right? Since the ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) hasn’t come close to achieving its stated goals, the top brass has decided to just say they have and hope no one does a fact check.

People such as Scott Burns, the Deputy ONDCP Director, are saying that drug use in America is down dramatically since 2001. Hmmm, not according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

A recent article on AlterNet cites just a few of the failures of the Bush administration’s drug policy:

ONDCP has not even come close to meeting its goal of reducing illegal drug use by 25 percent by 2007 in any age group. In fact, among adults, overall illegal drug use actually increased 4.7% from 2002 to 2007. Teen marijuana use is down a bit but still remains common: One in nine (12 percent) 14- and 15-year-olds and one in four (23.7 percent) 16- and 17-year-olds used marijuana in 2007.

Nothing spells success like ~25% of teenagers having admitted to pot use! Or how about getting contradicted by your own government’s studies? Ouch.

The best part is the amount of taxpayer dollars this agency has wasted since drug czar John Walters’ ascension to the position. Here’s what the ONDCP has commissioned since the start of his reign:

• 127 anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads
• 34 marijuana-focused press releases
• 50 studies from the ONDCP (and other govt. agencies) for anti-marijuana campaigns

All in all, this is another lesson in the manipulation of statistics. Just like the issue on marijuana busts and street pricing, the government is taking faulty data and using it to improperly shore up their anti-drug arguments.

Fight back by learning the facts.

[image via WWNYTV.net]