Penn & Teller Make Drug Hypocrisies Disappear
June 18th, 2009 by RussIf you’ve never seen Showtime’s Bullshit! you might not be aware that Penn & Teller, one of Vegas’s most popular magic duos of all time are also a couple of outspoken libertarians (granted Penn does most of the talking). Their cable show, Bullshit!, is sort of a political comedian’s version of Mythbusters. In this particular episode (with the full-length version available here), P+T examine some of the myths spouted by the few remaining drug warriors.
Bob Weiner, featured in the clip, is still at his propagandizing ways on this very day. In a letter discussing a (presumably non-published) op-ed of his, Weiner again reiterates his belief that…
Legalization would be a catastrophe… We must… fight drugs like a cancer.
You can almost hear the desperation in his voice. Do you also get the sense that his entire life’s work (of drug demonization) is on the precipice of going up in smoke?
Kush Should Be Punished More Severely, Rep. Says
June 16th, 2009 by Russ
Try as they might, our country’s legislative bodies cannot seem to get on the same page. The very same week that legislator Barney Frank introduces a bill to protect medical marijuana dispensaries from undue and unjust prosecution, someone on the other side of the aisle wants to increase legal penalties on certain strains of it.
Illinois’ 10th District Representative, Mark Kirk, thinks it would be a wise idea to single out “kush” dealing and make it punishable by up to 25 years for a first offense. For the uninitiated, kush isn’t a new chemical weapon or a secret Satanic doctrine that causes its members to engage in deplorable acts. It’s simply a species of weed that contains 5-10% more THC than your typical, regular marijuana strain.
In the press circulating around Kirk’s new proposal, there doesn’t seem to be very many arguments for imposing such draconian penalties. A sheriff from Kirk’s home turf (Lake County, IL) offered this rationale:
They are more dangerous behind the wheel of a vehicle. It’s not a good idea to have people that messed up.
Well that certainly makes zero sense. Isn’t that the reason why laws treating drunkenness from weak spirits and hard liquor are completely different? I mean, could you imagine if the same people with access to beer (5% alcohol) were allowed to access Bacardi 151 (75% alcohol)? It would be total anarchy in a world like that. Heh.
Hang on a moment… My intern here is telling me that we actually have no laws that distinguish beer from wine or from hard alcohol. No law distinguishes 5% alcohol by volume from 75%. In fact, we allow adults to use these substances responsibly, regardless of the volume they consume at all. And it’s only when they demonstrate a lack of responsibility (like getting behind the wheel, or making life difficult for someone else) that we see fit to punish them at all.
To be fair, we have yet to reach the real crux of the Kirk team’s argument for this new standard. To quote Lake County Sheriff, Mark Currand, once more:
When you amplify the strength of it, you are increasing the harm to the system.
Well I, for one, would like to thank Representative Mark Kirk (who can be conveniently reached at 202-225-4835) and his intrepid staff for taking a pre-emptive strike against that vile kush-weed before it inevitably ruins our society and systems at large.
Cocaine Study Suppressed By U.S. Government
June 11th, 2009 by Rick
In a bombshell of a suppressed March 1995 study of cocaine by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), it is now confirmed that the U.S. government forced WHO to suppress their publication by threatening to withhold funding, because it directly contradicted the myths that have perpetuated the war on drugs for years.
Two of the main points of the report:
Health problem; from the use of legal substances, particularly alcohol and tobacco, are greater than health problems from cocaine use.
Few experts describe cocaine as invariably harmful to health. Cocaine-related problems are widely perceived to be more common and more severe for intensive, high-dosage users and very rare and much less severe for occasional, low-dosage users. [See Page 1]
So, legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco create greater health problems and generally cocaine problems are more common for the sniffing veterans than the social snorters. That just sounds like common sense and now we have a WHO report (warning: PDF) to support it.
The Transform Drug Policy Agency cites many other examples in the report, which leaves the government with egg on their face and both feet in their mouth. Unfortunately, this report was never published and is denied to even exist. Project advisors from the report are now trying to have it published, much to do with the fact that it has already been leaked.
New Drug Czar Says ‘War on Drugs’ is Over
May 14th, 2009 by Russ
The dreaded 40-year old policy of incarcerating and demonizing drug users in this country may finally be coming to an end. In his first official interview, the new director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy declared that waging a ‘war’ against US citizens was not something he intended to continue.
A week to the day after he assumed office, Gil Kerlikowske, began to make good on the Obama administration’s promise to effect a sea-change in the US’s drug policy. In talking about the policy shift, Kerlikowske noted the uselessness of the ”War on Drugs” slogan:
Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see it as a war on them… We’re not at war with people in this country.
A former police chief of Buffalo and Seattle, Kerlikowske’s administrations have been unusually open minded in allowing experimentation with controversial needle exchange programs and reducing incarcerations of casual drug users.
While Kerlikowski has pledged to focus on the public health aspects of drug use and generally shift away from heavy incarceration policies, one does not get the impression that he’s going to completely reverse course from the status quo.
Described by colleagues as ‘open to discussion’ and a ‘blank slate,’ he’s not known to have ever favored decriminalization or any other radically innovative drug policies. He seems more inclined to go with the flow of public discourse than to forge ahead on any idealistic crusades.
That being said, the idea of an open minded drug czar was unthinkable only six months ago. Thoughtfulness and reasonability have been in short supply in that department for decades. It seems that the winds of change are finally blowing in the right direction.
Talking Points for Ending the War on Drugs
January 12th, 2009 by Perry
The DrugReporter’s Tony Newman brings a list of reasons to the table on why our country needs to end its war on drugs.
His logic is solid, but not without some gaps. For instance, reason No. 4 is, “Our veterans are self-medicating,” but fails to offer a correlation between ending the war on drugs with addressing the needs of our veterans. Not incarcerating them for minor drug offenses is a first step, but definitely leaves behind the root psychological issues of warfare.
On the whole, however, there is merit to his argument, particularly the fact that we have the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world, with a significant number of those arrests a result of non-violent drug offenses. That’s money down the drain, instead of in Uncle Sam’s coffers.
All the Young Dudes
October 21st, 2008 by Perry
In a recent speech, NORML activist Paul Armentano calls out for young people (especially) to enlist in the fight against the War on Drugs. Citing that 74 percent of all people arrested for marijuana are under 30, he called the W.O.D., “a war on you.”
If you want to become involved, the best way to “enlist” is to apply to for a medical marijuana prescription and let your city council members know you want a dispensary in your town.
Time For Mexico to Wave White Flag at Drug War
October 16th, 2008 by Perry
Citizens, cartel experts, and military personnel in Mexico have increased the demand for government to stop the crackdown of cartel activity. Staggering violence and statistics give an idea of how fierce the battle has become between President Felipe Calderon and his targets; local corruption, as well as regional and international drug cartels.
So far this year, roughly 3,500 murders have been directly attributed to the drug war including 500 politicians, judges and and other government employees. The violence and brutality was stepped up a notch recently, when Calderon sent 30,000 troops to the northern border where the corruption between local law enforcement is considered worst.
The most poignant part of the story comes towards the end in an interview with Terry Nelson, a 32-year military vet whose career included narco-traffic interdiction training and surveillance missions across Mexico, Central and South America.
During that time, he says, SSB East successfully seized of over 230,000 pounds of cocaine throughout Latin America. Nelson’s biggest, personal drug trafficking bust happened off the coast of Ecuador, resulting in the seizure of 30,000 pounds of cocaine.
Much to his dismay, even such a large-scale bust yielded absolutely nothing by way of a drop in street supply — or an increase in price. “If that big a bust doesn’t affect the street trade,” he muses, “what chances do you have doing it a gram or a kilo at a time?”
It really gives insight on just how ineffective those seizures we see on the news are.
Former AG, Bob Barr, Calls for Drug War to End
September 19th, 2008 by Perry
Okay, I salute this guy’s abillity to see where he was wrong.
Thanks to the Huffington Post, I guess the only really unfortunate thing about this story is that Bob Barr had a revelation only after putting away probably thousands of drug users for federal time. That’s federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, not white-collar-resort prison for Office Space fans.
I’m sure they are less appreciative of his enlightenment. A lot of good ammunition here to argue with those who like to talk about the economic reliance the law enforcement industry has on the “War on Drugs.”
