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Drug Laws Prove Superfluous in Monroe, Louisiana, Highway Stop This Weekend
Louisiana state troopers arrested a Monroe resident on Sunday, in an incident that demonstrated the superfluousness of drug prohibition laws.
Hartford Drug Sales Continue in Wake of Major Anti-Drug Operation
A Hartford resident arrested in a law enforcement crackdown on gang-related violence and drug dealing was sentenced Friday to two years in prison, the Hartford Courant reported. The man, who is 22, was one of 55 people arrested by a task force composed of local, state and federal prohibition agents in an operation titled "Operation Solid Gold." Prosecutors said the man was supplied with cocaine by a member of the Latin Kings gang who controlled drug trafficking in the Arnold Street area.
According to a Connecticut US Attorney's Office, "Operation Solid Gold" took a year and involved court-authorized wiretaps, controlled purchases of cocaine and heroin, and physical surveillance.
Sales and use of illegal drugs have continued in the area since that time, despite the expenditure of law enforcement resources to target the now-former dealers. Other cities have found the drug trade tends to return to previous levels within a couple of weeks from the conclusion of such operations.
Cross-Border Marijuana Shipments are Large and Frequent, Prohibition Agents Find
Cross-border marijuana bootlegging is a massive enterprise, despite extensive efforts by prohibition agents to block the traffic.
Airfields Help Bootleggers Foil Drug Prohibition Laws
Evidence of prohibition's failure to staunch the flow of drugs was found at a Welsh airfield used by both the Royal Air Force and civilians, BBC News reported. Mona airfield on Anglesey, an auxiliary landing site for crews at nearby RAF Valley, was apparently the centre of a multi-million pound bootlegging operation, officials told Liverpool Crown Court.
How many millions of pounds before they were caught? Only the bootleggers know for certain.
Prohibition Doesn't Even Work in the Prisons, Melbourne Prison Staff Find
Prison staff and investigators in Melbourne over the past two weeks have charged three people with prohibition law violations for smuggling prescription drugs into Melbourne's remand centre, acc
Prohibition Drives Drug-Addicted Reality Show Star to Desperate Measures
Big Brother 9 winner Adam Jasinski is facing up to 20 years behind bars and up to $1 million in fines for allegedly attempting to sell 2,000 oxycodone pills to an undercover government witness, acc
Oak Ridge, Tennessee Drug Sellers Operate for Most of Year in Between Annual Drug Sweeps
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, prohibition agents arrested 25 alleged drug dealers, and a grand jury returned 80 indictments against 49 people in total, following a nearly year-long undercover operation, ac
Drug War Chronicle
Published weekly since 1997, Drug War Chronicle is an in-depth online report on the full range of drug policy issues and reform efforts. We believe it is fair to say that Drug War Chronicle is truly the world's leading drug policy newsletter -- there is no other news outlet that provides the same degree of comprehensive, original coverage -- Drug War Chronicle is simply the best way to keep up with the issue. Click here to learn read more about it and to view the current and past issues.
(The accompanying picture shows Chronicle editor Phil Smith interviewing former opium-growing villagers in the countryside outside Jalalabad in 2005.)
Drug Library
DRCNet's "Drug Library" is the world's largest online library of drug policy, a major reference resource accessed by millions of people each year. Check it out to increase your background knowledge in this issue.
Rapid Response Team
DRCNet distributes action alerts, many of them legislative, on the full range of drug policy reform issues: ending mandatory minimum sentencing; supporting medical marijuana and needle exchange; reining in asset forfeiture; opposing the Andean drug war are just a few of our causes. Our e-mail list boasts over 32,000 subscribers (as of July 2006), but the true number of people we reach through redistribution on lists managed by the many activists on our own list is far greater. Since 1999 many of our alerts have made use of web-based forms to facilitate our members' contacting their legislators in Congress or the state houses.
Click here to read our current action alerts.
DRCNet Interview: Jack Cole, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (8/16/02)
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition founder Jack Cole discussed the new organization with DRCNet shortly after their founding.
Higher Education Act Reform Campaign
Since 1998 DRCNet has campaigned for repeal of the drug provision of the Higher Education Act (also known as the "Aid Elimination Penalty,") a 1998 law that delays or denies federal financial aid to people convicted of state or federal drug offenses -- since taking effect in the fall of 2000, nearly 200,000 students have been denied aid under this law. The major component of this effort has been our coordination of the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform (CHEAR), a coalition including some of the nation's leading religious, criminal justice, drug treatment, education, civil rights and health organizations which seeks to repeal the drug provision. Ten members of Congress spoke at our May 2002 press conference, a record in drug policy reform.
The campaign scored a major victory in February 2006, when the drug provision was scaled back to apply only to people whose drug offenses were committed while they were in school and receiving federal aid.
Also in February, DRCNet issued our first major report, published under the auspices of CHEAR, "Falling Through the Cracks: Loss of State-Based Financial Aid Eligibility for Students Affected by the Federal Higher Education Act Drug Provision," finding that a majority of states deny state financial aid to applicants because of drug convictions, even though few of them have laws on the books directing them to do so. Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez of Maryland offered legislation in the state's 2006 session to address that situation, and efforts underway in states around the country to take on the issue at that level.
Speakers appearing in this photo include Rep. Bobby Rush (at the podium), with Rep. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Rep. Robert Andrews, drug provision victim Caton Volk, Jo'ie Taylor of the United States Student Association, Students for Sensible Drug Policy national director Shawn Heller and Legal Action Center representative Jennifer Collier.
The "Stop the Drug War Speakeasy"
Beginning with this web site relaunch (August 2006), DRCNet offers the "Stop the Drug War Speakeasy," an online center where drug reformers and others concerned with the issue gather; a place where DRCNet and other movement leaders give readers their take each day on the latest developments in the issue; and an intellectual spearhead taking the reform and anti-prohibitionist viewpoint to the world of political and policy debate. The Speakeasy launches DRCNet into the realm of daily content provision, and will be the focus of a major outreach effort targeting the blogosphere.
Prohibition in the Media
Using the "Stop the Drug War Speakeasy" blogosphere project as a platform, DRCNet is beginning a campaign to persuade mainstream media outlets into recognizing the consequences of drug prohibition as such. Prohibition in the Media will focus on situations involving drug trade violence, overdose outbreaks and other problems caused by drugs' illegal status, providing reporters and editors with credible spokespersons who represent the legalization viewpoint who are available to be quoted in their stories.
Press Release: Medical Marijuana Patients Will Ask Legislators to Support Safe Access at Thursday Press Conference
Posted in In the Trenches by David Guard on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 1:38pm
MEDIA ADVISORY
MARCH 10, 2010
Medical Marijuana Patients Will Ask Legislators to Support Safe Access at Thursday Press Conference
Proposed legislation would make Massachusetts 15th state to have effective medical marijuana law
mattjallen@mac.com
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Tomorrow, Thursday, at 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Staircase at the State House, a group of medical marijuana patients and advocates will hold a press conference to ask state lawmakers to support a medical marijuana law in Massachusetts.
The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Pubic Health is currently considering bill that would make Massachusetts the 15th state in the nation to give seriously ill patients safe and legal access to medical marijuana.
WHAT: Press conference to ask state lawmakers to support proposed medical marijuana bill
WHEN: Thursday, March 11, at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Grand Staircase, in the State House, Boston, MA.
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Who says there's no money in pharmaceutical marijuana?
Posted in Speakeasy Main by sicntired on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 3:22amAs anyone who has been reading my blogs will know,I have a spinal condition that leaves me in considerable pain and have a 40 year history of large scale heroin trafficking and use or abuse,as it were
Six Groups Who Benefit From the Drug War
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 12:35amAn awesome presentation from Judge Jim Gray. He really nails a lot of important points in a few short minutes:
I will make one comment on Judge Gray's discussion here with regards to his statement that politicians are benefiting from the war on drugs. This has certainly been true in the past, but we're witnessing a palpable shift in the way these issues are approached in mainstream politics.
The drug war has become so deeply unpopular among a sizable segment of the population that the White House felt it necessary to publicly reject the "war" metaphor. It was a shrewd and arguably disingenuous political maneuver, but it illustrates vividly how far removed we are from the days when politicians went out of their way to impress the public with tough lock 'em up rhetoric. You don't hear many mainstream politicians bragging about their drug war credentials these days. Heck, Obama's most popular drug policy decision since taking office was his effort to curtail DEA raids in medical marijuana states.
We need to stop selling the idea that supporting the drug war is good for politicians. We don't want them thinking that, and it isn’t really even true anymore.
Stupid Arguments Against Medical Marijuana, Part 2
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:37pmSome legislators in Vermont aren't thrilled about a bill to create 5 medical marijuana dispensaries in the state:
The bill has drawn opposition from the Department of Public Safety, where officials say they worry that dispensaries would fuel increased illegal drug use.
Well, I certainly understand your concerns, ladies and gentlemen, and I thank you for sharing them. Allow me to clarify one thing though, if I may; this is legal drug use we're talking about here. This is for sick people using marijuana legally with a doctor's recommendation.
You see, Vermont's patients can only obtain their medicine from illegal sources currently, so this is actually about creating a legal option and reducing illegal activity. If anyone is still anticipating problems here, I would refer you to the fact that you live in Vermont. Your neighbor grows marijuana. Vermont's epic pre-existing marijuana supply will not be substantially impacted by 5 little dispensaries that only sell to sick people. If your happy life in Vermont hasn’t already been ruined by hippies, then you have nothing to worry about with this, I assure you.
Stupid Arguments Against Medical Marijuana, Part 1
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:16pmCliff Kincaid, kingpin of paranoid prohibitionists, blames last week's Pentagon shooting on the attacker's use of medical marijuana. That's right folks, marijuana makes you kill people. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, where they have more medical marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks, the murder rate is at its lowest level since 1957.
