Archive for April, 2008
The War On Drugs - We Can’t Afford It Anymore
Monday, April 21st, 2008The cost of the war on drugs has reached a level that can’t be sustained.
by Richard Houston
In this time of world record setting deficits we can no longer afford the costs of the war on drugs. We can’t afford the costs of building all the necessary prisons needed to lock up the ever increasing number of drug offenders. We can’t afford the staggering costs of feeding and housing all the millions of people currently locked up for drug offenses. We can’t afford the skyrocketing costs of prosecuting all the drugs cases in the various courts across America. We can no longer afford to divert law enforcement and first responder funding to a war that can’t be won.
Because of the war on drugs America has the largest percentage of its population in prison than any other country on earth. This continues to rise each and every year. There is a limit to the number of people the American tax payer can afford to lock up. Somewhere along the way there comes a point when cost vs. benefit comes into play. I believe we have reached the point where the costs of the war on drugs greatly out weight any benefits to American society.
When many of the Republican lawmakers in office right now were kids they could walk into any pharmacy and buy heroin, cocaine, marijuana and many other drugs that are prohibited today. During that period of time there was no prohibition on drugs. There also wasn’t any noticeable adverse effect to society. The war on drugs wasn’t started because the drugs were harmful to society, rather it was started for completely different reasons.
In the Christian community of the time before prohibition it was believed that drug uses among blacks and Mexicans gave them the desire to have sex with white women. At that time when white supremacy and Christianity went hand in hand the thought of blacks and Mexicans having sex with white women was too much for them to handle so they began the movement to criminalize drug use. It was however a little hard during this time to parade around America solely crusading on the “sex with white women” platform so they had to augment their approach with dramatic stories that were complete fabrication.
Many of us have seen the movie Refer Madness. Now days it is viewed as a comedy but at the time it was presented as a documentary of what happens when people use drugs. Nothing in the move was true and at there was never any evidence to back it up. There were reports of drug crazed negroes going on violent rampages. There were reports of people jumping out of windows. There were all kind of tragic dramatic stories about drug uses but they were all untrue.
The fascists of the time saw drugs as a threat to their corporations. The wood and paper industry felt threatened by the hemp industry. The pharmaceutical industry felt threatened by any drug that couldn’t be patented. There were many industries of the time that felt that unregulated recreational drugs were eating into their profit margins so they joined forces with the Christians and started the war on drugs.
Now decades later its still going on with no end in sight. The way I look at it the only way to win the war on drugs is to give up. We need to decimalize all drugs and add rational regulation and taxation. This would put an end to the billions and billions of dollars spent on waging the war on drugs and creates possibly billions of desperately needed tax revenue. Just a modest tax on marijuana could put an end to Social Security funding issues for ever.
10 Specific Steps That Would End Prohibition
Monday, April 21st, 2008by Mark Greer Executive Director, DrugSense MGreer@mapinc.org
While the main purpose of DrugSense is to encourage accuracy and honesty in the media with respect to illegal drugs, our goal is ultimately to stop the costly and ineffective drug war. Through our extensive archive of more than 170,000 articles on all aspects of drug policy, we have identified 10 specific steps that would result in ending prohibition as we know it.
1. Grant agronomist Lyle Craker a license to grow medicinal-grade cannabis at the University of Massachusetts. http://www.mapinc.org/people/Lyle+Craker
Effect: End the federal government’s monopoly on growing marijuana to meet the FDA’s requirement for an independent, high quality cannabis supply for approved cannabis-based research and product development.
2. Pass the Hinchey-Rohrbacher Amendment. http://www.mapinc.org/people/Hinchey
Effect: End the costly DEA harassment of California dispensaries and allow states in which medical cannabis is legal to begin regulated access without federal interference.
3. Accept the Petition to Reschedule Cannabis. http://mapinc.org/find?165
Effect: Remove cannabis from the restrictive Schedule I designation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and permit its prescription by physicians like pharmaceuticals.
4. Make Afghani opium available to pharmaceutical companies.http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Afghanistan
Effect: Develop a licensing system so that opium grown in Afghanistan can be legally sold to make narcotic pain relievers, thereby alleviating a worldwide shortage of these medications.
5. Defund the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm
Effect: Save taxpayers hundreds of millions by eliminating this campaign, which has only resulted in making drug use more attractive to teens.
6. Increase funding for needle exchange and safe consumption sites.http://www.mapinc.org/find?142
Effect: Prevent overdoses, reduce drug-related hospital admissions, and slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.
7. Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Sentencing. http://www.mapinc.org/find?199
Effect: Reduce the non-violent prison population, and end the racial disparity in sentencing that has resulted in one in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 being under correctional control.
8. Free non-violent drug prisoners and stop the Federal trials of Marc Emery and Ed Rosenthal. http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marc+Emery
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
Effect: Save the taxpayers the wasted time and expense spent trying these non-violent individuals on unpopular charges.
9. Develop citizen oversight boards for SWAT squads.http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm
Effect: Save lives and property that are needlessly disrupted through the use of a violent techniques for non-violent situations, which are too often drug raids based on bad information.
10. Pass as many lowest-priority marijuana initiatives as possible.http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm
Effect: Help the government understand that citizens want to be protected from violent terrorists, not non-violent marijuana consumers. Public officials, including police, need to prioritize their scarce dollars and resources according to that which is most dangerous and most urgent to public health and safety.
Of course, we at DrugSense know that many more steps need be taken to move away from drug policies based on fear, prejudice, and misinformation, and toward policies grounded in science, reason, and compassion. If you have an idea or step that could be added to this list, please post it tohttp://www.drugsense.org/nuke/Forums&file=viewtopic&p=2654
While you are at it, please make a contribution to help fund the hard work that makes such a list possible. http://www.drugsense.org/donate/ DrugSense is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit; your donation is tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
You may also mail a check or money order to:
14252 Culver Drive #328
Irvine, CA 92604-0326
Do not forget about our matching funds grant! Every dollar you donate will be matched by a generous funder. Your contribution will have twice the value! http://www.drugsense.org/donate/
Help change drug policy now! You can begin by pushing for these 10 steps and by donating to DrugSense to promote more sensible policies.
DrugSense is working to encourage accuracy, honesty, and common sense in matters involving the failed, expensive, and destructive “War on Drugs.”
Get Involved - Learn about the Issueshttp://www.drugsense.org/
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Ganja
Monday, April 21st, 2008byB. L. Harris
Just say no, just say no
It’s what police government politicians DEA nancy say
But why?
Police jail us for it
Government takes away all citizen rights
Politicians lie about using and abusing
DEA/CIA want their cut
Nancy? She needs drugs to deal with mediocre ron
The true results?
More money for the prison industrial complex
Just in time to take away voting rights
From millions of black people
There goes the revolution
Will it be televised?
Only if there’s money to be made
Oh wait, there’s always money to be made
Wall street bubble of laundered money
Government enjoys fewer black voices
Politicians moralize
DEA/CIA pillage/plunder/murder & manage it all
What a happy story!
Texas DA who sought to end drug scourge was user himself
Monday, April 21st, 2008By Betsy Blaney The Associated Press
Pampa, Texas - Rick Roach got elected district attorney in the Texas Panhandle on a vow to rid the streets of drug dealers and users, and he went after them mercilessly.
“Drugs, drug usage, drug trafficking has become a scourge in our society,” Roach thundered during closing arguments at a drug trial that sent a 30-year- old man to prison for 60 years in 2001.
Few guessed, until recently at least, the hypocrisy behind it all: Roach himself did drugs.
Roach, 55, was arrested inside a courtroom Jan. 11 and charged with possessing methamphetamine and cocaine. In February, he took a plea bargain on one charge - possession of a gun by a drug addict. He could get up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in mid-April.
Roach said that he had suffered from depression from age 13 and that he used illegal drugs to medicate himself.
“I just sort of, you might say, went nuts: I made irrational and wrong decisions,” he said. “There’s no excuse. I’ve gotten what I deserve.”
Now under house arrest at his mother’s home until sentencing, he wears an electronic monitoring device that prohibits him from venturing more than 200 feet from the house.
The tough-on-drugs DA won re-election in November in his five-county Texas Panhandle district and was just days into his second term when he was arrested.
John Mann, the district attorney who lost to Roach in 2000, said he noticed a difference in the man about 18 months before Roach stepped down in February. Roach had “kind of backed off” drug prosecutions, Mann said.
“I think it was probably his inability to be coherent,” Mann said. “I saw him acting like a fool for a year and a half.”
Roach became prone to extreme mood swings and was sometimes incoherent and paranoid, according to court documents. He also had lost 30 pounds, and his skin was sallow.
Shortly before his arrest, a worker in his office in Pampa found a syringe containing meth residue floating in a toilet. And according to court records, Roach shot up drugs in front of an employee in his office.
He also had trouble sitting still and had unexplained absences from work. In December, he appeared “wired” during a court hearing, fumbling through papers and repeating what defense lawyers said until a judge told him to be quiet, Mann said.
“There have been rumors for years, but this time it was so pronounced and so obvious it really couldn’t be ignored,” said Leslie Breeding, the Roberts County attorney.
Roach was arrested after federal agents said they were tipped off by people in law enforcement.
As he awaits sentencing, Roach said he knows prison time anywhere will be tough on him.
“Prosecutors don’t do well in the pen,” he said.
