Drug policy reform is coming piecemeal around the country as a way to cope with other crises. In Ohio, prosecutors are hoping to phase out mandatory minimums for some drug offenders to save money; while the city of Cleveland has liberalized itself to the point of not considering possession of drug residue in pipes as a felony. And, in Connecticut, some legislators like what the people have done in Massachusetts.
]]>Misapprehensions in D.C. notwithstanding, beleaguered state governments are seriously considering if legalizing cannabis "would improve the economy and job creation."
The fate of Charles Lynch and other dispensary operators charged under federal cannabis laws, despite their compliance with state laws, remains unknown.
The conservative government in Canada is posed to exploit public fear over gangland violence to escalate the war on cannabis, including imposing mandatory prison sentences for growing a single plant.
]]>Mexican President Felipe Calderon's "war" against drug cartels, while failing utterly to put a dent into the colossal flow of illegal drugs moving north did, instead, manage to decapitate the cartels - repeatedly stirring up deadly turf battles. As the turf battles become ever more murderous, the new U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, arrived in Mexico to meet with Mexican leaders. Unable to admit drug prohibition itself drives violence, Clinton instead proceeded to blame (the supply of) drugs on the demand for them, "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade." Clinton pledged additional U.S. taxpayer dollars for weapons to bolster the Mexican police and military.
The NDLEA, Hillary, and prohibitionists around the world would do well this week to heed the words of Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew. "The issue isn't gangs; it's illicit drugs. Illegal drugs are big money precisely because they are prohibited: Marijuana grows like a weed and cocaine can be processed for pennies... the gangs are a symptom, not the disease... There is only one solution that promises to reduce the violence -- the end of the drug prohibition."
And finally this week, British Columbia Green Party leader, Jane Sterk, said gang wars might not be happening if cannabis were legal. "The war on drugs is a colossal failure," said Sterk. Shoot-outs are "over the control of controlled substances that are now deemed to be illegal." Legalize cannabis and "There should not be any money to be made for the gangs in this whole production and distribution end."
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