DrugSense Weekly - Jan. 16, 2009 #583

DrugSense Weekly - Domestic News- Policy - Jan. 16, 2009 #583

With tough times come tough decisions, and it's time for America to prioritize. A story from the New York Times suggests federal law enforcement has gone overboard chasing crimes by illegal immigrants, particularly drug crimes. The resources have been so tipped out of balance, that other more serious crimes aren't getting the same attention.

On Alternet, priorities for reforming the drug war are discussed. A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it is a higher priority for police to get official "do-overs" for mistakes, than it is to secure the Constitutional rights of citizens. And, El Paso, the status quo and inertia is prioritized over efforts to stop the killing in Mexico.

And, finally, that cocaine crisis that the U.S. drug czar alleged was increasing prices in cities across the country doesn't seem to stop the ongoing widespread contamination of paper money by cocaine, even in places like Huntsville, Alabama.

DrugSense Weekly - Law Enforcement and Prisons - Jan. 16, 2009 #583

A tiny bit of justice in the drug war, as a police sergeant from the Seattle area wins a settlement after being fired for speaking the truth about drug prohibition. In North Carolina, a county that expanded its drug war with the help of federal prosecutors is dismayed to find that other counties want these resources, but they come in limited supply. In Telluride, Colorado, drug prohibition critic Sheriff Bill McMasters celebrates another anniversary as the top law enforcement man in town. And, even as the drug was costs so much in justice, some communities can only see short-term financial benefits (which didn't come cheap in the first place).

DrugSense Weekly - Cannabis and Hemp- - Jan. 16, 2009 #583

The next time a drug warrior argues that cannabis should go through the same testing and approval process as other herbal medicines, agree with them.

Although they failed to recognize it, cannabis legalization once again took first place in Obama's Ideas for Change contest, and at least one columnist is taking the suggestion seriously.

A woman accused of felony child abuse for giving her 5-year-old daughter one of her roommate's cannabis brownies claims she was disoriented and confused by prescription medications.

Ed Rosenthal was back in court last week arguing that he was not allowed to present a full defense at his second trial in which he was found guilty.

DrugSense Weekly - International News - Jan. 16, 2009 #583

In the Philippines this week, President Gloria Arroyo anointed herself supreme Drug Czar commander in chief of the island nation, rededicating her administration to the good fight "to eradicate the drug menace," as the Manila Times put it. "I will temporarily act as the czar, or overseer of the war against illegal drugs," proclaimed President Arroyo. All this is in the wake of the "Alabang Boys" scandal, where officials in the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency accused officials in the Philippine Justice Department of accepting 50 million pesos in bribes to drop drug charges against several wealthy drug defendants. Heaping abuse on drug users, Arroyo called them "termites" (i.e., insects which may be exterminated).

From British Columbia, Canada: in case you'd forgotten RCMP talking points on the dangers of growing the cannabis plant, Tom Fletcher reminds us in a piece picked up all over Canada, B.C. is "losing [the] war on drugs" because people are growing marijuana ("gangs" of course, you know, with "Asian names"). True, people realize "marijuana, [is] a relatively benign drug". What makes it so bad, Fletcher says, is that the RCMP tells him that "'B.C. bud' has led to many new players in the cocaine trade." What has police upset is that growers adapt faster than they can, Fletcher notes. Fletcher anticipates a flurry of letters-to-editor over this piece. "Before you start e-mailing me about the ultimate futility of prohibiting marijuana, let me say I agree," before he goes on to other police talking points, like those "mandatory minimum sentences for offenders" all of which "sound great" to police and Fletcher, once more prisons are built, that is.

In a nod to the obvious, a U.S. Joint Forces Command report for public consumption last week warned readers Mexico "bear[s] consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse" because of "criminal gangs and drug cartels" with "serious implications for homeland security". The annual report "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" lists "security threats" to the U.S. expected in the coming year.

And finally this week, a cogent observation from Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. "Mexico's drug problem is not the drugs. It is the illegality of the drugs... Legalization is not the perfect solution. But treating illegal drugs in the way we treat liquor and other legal addictive substances would provide regulation, tax revenue and funds for rehabilitation programs. Most satisfying, it would wipe a lot of smiles off the drug lords' faces." Page's piece follows an El Paso, Texas city council that at first unanimously voted for a measure "supporting an honest, open, national debate on ending the prohibition on narcotics," only to reverse such drug war heresy after pressure from prohibitionist officials in Washington D.C.