Change the Same

It shouldn't come as any surprise that the White House would come out with loads of steaming dung in response to some of the most popular petitions on their We The People site, those having to do with cannabis. Check it out.

So our concern about marijuana is based on what the science tells us about the drug's effects.

Oh, please!

On the other hand, how could they respond otherwise in an election year, or even during a first term dominated by serious issues and partisan, win-at-any-cost opposition? Maybe, just maybe, something can be done during the second term of an Obama administration, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's completely clear that Federal drugs policy is a failure when viewed from stated aims. It is equally clear that Federal drugs policies serve special interests very well, and the public interest not at all. Civil liberties and respect for law give way to profiteering and corruption.

Possibly the most damaging aspect of Federal drugs policy is the undermining of respect for the law. The term "scofflaw"came about during the first Prohibition that so greatly increased their numbers in society. Now, Prohibition 2 accelerates the effect because when the law in an ass, people treat it accordingly.

When I try to look ahead, I'm afraid I see present trends continuing, with the result that a few years from now we'll see Prohibition continuing to facilitate all kinds of corruption, diminution of civil liberties, violence and cynicism, while becoming even more important economically. How can it be otherwise?

Michael Hawkins: Pure Democracy and the Moral Bankruptcy of the War On Drugs

Jury duty...

...
As for the moral bankruptcy of the War On Drugs, I have only this to say: it is abundantly clear -- and I'm not the only jury member to give voice to this insight -- that the government had held this trial over the head of the defendant's brother in order to put pressure on him to give up the names of his suppliers -- the Columbian drug lords. There was never a case, and this poor hispanic construction worker is now $22,000 in the hole for legal expenses. His young wife and son have been put through Hell, and up to a couple days ago were faced with the very real possibility that their working-class husband/father would spend 20 years in prison. The three multi-time felons who testified against the defendant -- who were each caught lying over and over and over again -- may or may not be given a break on their sentences, for having given the government "substantial assistance" in seeking a conviction in this case.

Meanwhile, coke and meth continue to flood the streets, much of it "allowed" into the States by the very government that plays this nasty game with peoples' lives. Prisons are filled with drug players from all levels of participation. Violence showers down on the streets of America because drugs continue to be illegal, and hardly anything is done to address the addiction problem at the root of the War. The Drug War validates the careers of many cops, prosecutors, investigators and lawmakers, so we can't count on any of them to put a crimp in their gig. It's all about Black Hats vs. White Hats for these people -- and they seem to sleep at night just fine, no matter how many lives they ruin in the process.

Do drug dealers ruin lives? You bet -- they create more addicts to keep the game going.

People are addicted to drugs.

Cops are addicted to both addicts and their addictors.

And the world spins on its axis, infinitely patient with the insanity of its human inhabitants.

Hat tip to Pete Guither.

'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case limits student rights - CNN.com

'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case limits student rights - CNN.com

Well, that's pretty much what I would expect out of a court that sees interstate commerce in the absence of state lines crossed and the absence of money changing hands, all the while involving a legal activity in the state in which it occurred.

Ridiculous.

Bong Hits 4 Jesus

What Pete said.

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" is a very sticky meme.

It will be interesting, and revealing, to see what the Supremes do in this case.

Cliff Kincaid is full of shit

.
This guy Cliff Kincaid is, at best, overly self-assured.

But the dangers associated with marijuana go far beyond mental confusion and acting like a buffoon. It destroys a person’s productive capacity and can help make people either wards of the state, unable to take care of themselves, or criminals.

Oh, no!! Not only that, but Richard Allen Davis murdered Polly Klass while he was high!

Cliff Kincaid is full of shit.

Along with the Independent, maybe Cliff ought to read from the Guardian across the street:

Alcohol is ranked almost as harmful as heroin in a controversial new drug classification system proposed by a team of leading scientists. ...

Cannabis, recently downgraded to class C, occupies a middle position. It is rated more dangerous than Ecstasy, LSD and the dance floor drug GHB, but less harmful than tobacco [and much less harmful than alcohol].

The table, published in The Lancet medical journal, was drawn up by a team of highly respected scientists led by Professor David Nutt, from the University of Bristol, and Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council.

Cliff should have read the Forbes piece:

Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.

Hey Cliff, since you're such a conservative, I bet you support the Court's decision approving Interstate Commerce Clause application in the Raich case (about legal medical marijuana, "commerce" involving no money, and "interstate" crossing no state lines). You must think civil forfeiture is the best thing since flush toilets. As a good conservative, you must think $60B down the drain, every year, is a good use of your tax money.

I think I'll stop before I type something impolite.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Morocco's war on cannabis

BBC NEWS | Africa | Morocco's war on cannabis

The Moroccan government says it plans to completely eradicate cannabis by 2008.

And I will be elected President of the United States that very same year! Imagine that.

The UNODC [United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] says the biggest challenge is finding other ways farmers like Mohammed can survive.

"There have been lots of past attempts to find alternative crops, but they haven't always worked, because cannabis is a crop that commands such an inflated price," explained Abdeslam Dahmane from development agency Targa which works closely with the UNODC.

"There have been attempts at introducing apples, vines and things like that but they haven't really addressed the problem.

"It's not a question of replacing cannabis with apples, vines or avocados. The question is replacing the incredibly dynamic economy of cannabis, with an equally dynamic economy - that is also legal."

Alternative crops "haven't always worked", eh? Alternative crops "haven't really addressed the problem"?

Alternative crops haven't "addressed the problem"? What is the problem, anyway? What's the problem really? It starts with a "P". Come on, UNODC, you can do it if you try. Just say it. Come on...

Ah... I give up.

One more time, UNODC, you're almost there: "It's not a question of replacing cannabis with apples, vines or avocados. The question is replacing the incredibly dynamic economy of cannabis, with an equally dynamic economy - that is also legal."

"... that is also legal." Come on, you're so close! Say it! "P". "R". "O". "H". ...

Damn! They're either stubborn or corrupt.

OK, once more: "... the incredibly dynamic economy of cannabis". Please! Just try. Think about it. Why is there an "incredibly dynamic economy of cannabis"?

Try! "P". "R". ...

Khalid Zerouali from the Moroccan Interior Ministry says Europe's seemingly insatiable demand for cannabis is still the main obstacle to eradicating it completely.

No shit, Sherlock.

"I think in Europe there has to be an awareness of how to tackle that demand."

Please, exactly what awareness is that? Police the crap out of them? Seal their borders? Spread the incredibly powerful meme of "Just say no"?

It is thought that the urgency with which they are now acting stems from international pressure to address the drug problem.

Some intelligence experts believe the militant group which bombed trains in Madrid in 2004 was largely funded by cannabis trafficking.

And why were they able to be largely funded by cannabis trafficking (assuming, as unlikely as it may be, that such is not just a bunch of drug warrior bullshit)? Why would these terrorists have been able to fund themselves through cannabis trafficking as opposed to, say, trafficking in lettuce or squash?

What he said.

.
Online Sportsbooks, Sportsbook Reviews, Sports Forums at MajorWager:

'It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.' - 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln

Well, I don't know about that, but it sounds good.

Bill Maher remarked that marijuana is one of the only vices where we base public policy on the worst segment of the population. Online gambling is another. Sure, online gambling will have some addicts. But it already does, and those addicts are certainly not going to call it quits just because it is a little harder to get money out to the Caribbean. They will find a way to get it there, and, if not, they will find another way to get that same gambling fix, whether it be horseracing down the street, lottery at the corner bar, or feeding a few 20's into an Indian casino the next county over.

If prohibition is designed to protect the small fraction of people who will harm themselves, then there should be a lot more bans forthcoming. Alcohol (almost 17,000 DUI deaths in 2005 alone) and tobacco (kills about 1200 people per day) should be first on the ban list, far ahead of marijuana and gambling. Then of course we have to ban spray paint and gasoline (someone might "huff" them), cold medications (might be used to make methamphetamines), and, of course, the real killer, trans-fat. Fortunately, New York City is well ahead of the rest of the country on solving that problem.

The fact is, it is downright silly to assume that you can get rid of our vices through prohibition.

I don't gamble because I'm not good at it, I always lose, and I don't enjoy it. When I go to Vegas I drop a couple of dollars in the slots and that's it. I very rarely buy a lottery ticket. I've never been in an Indian casino, and I've never visited a gambling website. State sanctioned lotteries strike me as the height of hypocrisy.

But this column's thrust is correct (though I think the author should have avoided mentioning medical marijuana because I can't conceive of any gambling analogue). He's right, though: Prohibition is the problem.

Four Innocents Murdered in Mistaken Drug Hit

.
Update:
Well, well, well... The four killer policemen have been killed.
====================================================

Or so the story goes went.

Three El Salvadoran delegates to the Central American Congress were traveling by car in neighboring Guatemala (to or from some official function), with a driver. They were ambushed and all four were killed.

Now four Guatemalan police officers have been arrested for the crime. They were supposed to be off investigating theft from cargo containers, but instead, the GPS tracking device in their vehicle placed them at the scene of the crime at the time of the crime.

Guatemalan authorities have implicated at least one Salvadoran in the crime. This Salvadoran apparently had phone conversations with the chief of an organized crime police unit, and with one of the arrested officers, before, during and after the crime. Now, according to the Guatemalan paper, Prensa Libre:

Los policías capturados comentaron que fueron contratados para cometer el crimen por un grupo de narcotraficantes de Jalpatagua, Jutiapa, que tiene nexos con una organización en El Salvador.

The captured policemen said they were contracted to commit the crime by a group of drug traffickers from Jalpatagua, [a city in the department (state) of Jutiapa, Guatemala] which has ties with an organization in El Salvador.

When I read crap like this it causes my contempt for United States drug policy and the War on Some Drugs to surface for a while. Stupid stupid stupid! We breed corruption, finance terror, diminish our own supposedly precious freedoms, waste some $60 billion (with a "b") yearly, and foster disrespect and hatred with our idiotic policies. And for what?

The thing is, for all I know (and it's not too outlandish a possibility) it was a "legitimate" hit. As in, the delegates to the Central American Congress "deserved" to be hit by a rival syndicate.

Whatever.

How can we be so dumb? Or is it that our corrupt are good at keeping us that way?

Other coverage here.
.

The Authoritarians

.
The Authoritarians

Professor Bob Altemeyer, University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology, brought to some prominence by former Nixon lawyer John Dean, has apparently spent most of his life studying authoritarianism. He's releasing his new book, The Authoritarians, on the internet, he says,

...partly because this book would never have rung up big sales. I did make one attempt to place it with a trade publisher, but when their editor said no I stopped acting out of habit and started reflecting. I think what I have found is rather important to the survival of American democracy. As such, it should be made available to everyone, and be essentially free. The “www” makes this possible...

In Chapter 1, which is as far as I've gotten, there is the RWA Scale. "This survey is part of an investigation of general public opinion concerning a variety of social issues." He gives three reasons why one should take a personal score with some salt, and says his presentation of the survey in the book is to have the reader "experience for yourself the instrument used to identify and study authoritarian followers." And so on. It's pretty interesting so far.

I guess I'm a salty anti-authoritarian (I scored 34 on the survey), but I have mixed emotions about the issue. I worry that a preponderance of my mindset within the superorganism I inhabit may be suicidal (to my superorganism, that is). If there's to be a clash of memeplexes, and it seems likely that there is at least one serious clash in its early stages, it seems likely that the more cohesive memeplex (which I think implies "the most authoritarian memeplex" under present circumstances) may be the stronger. Is this self-evident or stupid?

Is it conceivable that an anti-authoritarian society could possess a ruthlessness sufficient to deal with this sort of clash? Is such ruthlessness conceivably compatible with a liberal society? Is such ruthlessness even necessary in such a clash?

I think the answer to the last question is probably "Yes". What, beside ruthlessness, will enable an anti-authoritarian society to survive in the face of conflict with a highly authoritarian and otherwise highly incompatible one, especially as the latter acquires the means, through various technologies and asymmetries, to threaten great or even terminal harm to the former?

Dunno. Given the trajectories of various other trends, it may not even matter. Sorry.

Hat tip to Pete Guither.

Fox News: Former Narcs Say Drug War is Futile

.
I am, not unjustifiably I think, prejudiced against Fox News, so I started to pass this Google News Alert item by. Instead, I took a look and thought it was a good look at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, deserving of a wide audience. Here's the printer friendly version (or in comments).

I can get my point across in 30 seconds in an elevator, a few minutes in a restaurant, or full-blown speech at a Rotary Club.

Cool. That's Howard Wooldridge of LEAP.

The drug war stops real cops from doing real police work.

Coming from the former chief of a major metropolitan police force, that's pretty powerful stuff.

For several years now, LEAP has been looking for a debate with the country's top drug policymakers – anyone from DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to Drug Czar John Walters to powerful prohibition politicians like Indiana Rep. Mark Souder.

So far, they've had little luck. That's too bad. If the drug war is still as important and necessary as our leaders in government say it is, it's champions should be able to defend it--especially against the law enforcement officers they've asked to fight it.

O'Riley must be fuming.

Principles of Policy Analysis: Final Exam

.
Well, I'm just a dumb engineer barely able to spell "policy analyst", but for some reason I thought Mark Kleiman's post - a public policy final exam - was very interesting. He didn't provide an answer key, but I found myself thinking up answers anyway, wondering what conceptual blocks he might be trying to expose and so on.

Clearly, Kleiman knows a great deal, and I know next to nothing, about public policy analysis.

Kleiman is a prohibitionist with respect to drugs, whereas I think our national drug policy is the stupidest goddamn thing I've ever seen.

Should I defer to Kleiman with respect to drug policy on the basis that he knows a great deal about public policy analysis while I know next to nothing?

Naa... Interesting test though. Probably has something to do with the fact that Kleiman's blog remains on my read list while my collection of unclicked links grows and grows.

Police spokesman surely knows better

The Ely Times - elynews.com :: News: Clergy members support effort to legalize marijuana:

[Las Vegas police Lt. Stan Olsen] said the argument that Nevada should legalize marijuana because laws have not stopped the use of the drug, is like saying the state should legalize burglary because laws have not stopped burglars.

The police spokesman surely knows better. I'd venture to guess he knows that he knows better. This is almost as bad as that stupidity the other day.

Gov. Acts on Last of New Bills - Los Angeles Times

.
Gov. Acts on Last of New Bills - Los Angeles Times:

Acting on the last of 1,172 bills sent to him this year by the Democratic-led Legislature, Schwarzenegger...

Wow! Maybe they should have a law that says something like "No more than 100 bills, and each one about only one thing."

I'm sure they don't really need a law prohibiting teens from riding in the trunks of cars. Surely there's already a law covering that sort of thing.

I'm happy to see that gay and lesbian couples can file joint returns now, but disappointed that the Governor vetoed the hemp measure. Who cares about the Feds? Where's the States Rights attitude when you need it?

Oh, well, I'm from Arizona anyway.

CS Monitor: The war on SOME drugs: Ambushed in Jamundi

.
The war on drugs: Ambushed in Jamundi | csmonitor.com

"Three thousand Americans a year die from Colombian drugs," says US Ambassador to Colombia William Wood. "That's like suffering a World Trade Towers attack every year."

No, it's not!

Mr. Ambassador, you cannot be as completely stupid a man as one who would believe that bullshit. Come on!

There is no similarity, none at all, between 3000 or so innocents killed in a major act of terrorism, and the similar number of people you claim, who die essentially at their own hand.

Plan Colombia has cost the US $4.7 billion, of which 75-80 percent has gone to the security forces.

Ridiculous.

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave � Blog Archive � The Great Debate: Heads vs. Feds

.
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave � Blog Archive � The Great Debate: Heads vs. Feds

What she said!

Her description of this "debate" reminds me of the Timothy Leary - G. Gordon Liddy road show, not a debate as much as bullshit for entertainment.