Current News stories calling for new drug laws

[RansacktheElder]

I thought I would start a thread here that would allow us to paste links to any story we thought might be interesting to the community. Hopefully we'll get a litlle more informed and can track what I think will be a greater and greater calling to reform this idiotic war on drugs we've been losing for some 40 years.

Here's my first installment. The author of this story is a well known and respected Republican wonk. It's a big deal when she writes a story like this one.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/02/from_beijing_to_bongs.html

I'll be on the lookout for other stories and post them here as I find them. Hopefully others will do the same!

 

[RansacktheElder]

Here's another story on the history of the drug laws. THis one is a fairly interesting and eye opening read.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIBRARY/histdrug.htm

 

[RansacktheElder]

I'll stop with this one....for now. This is off of Fox News of all places, but it is quite favorable toward legalization and ends with a good quote from Einstein.



Or this one that encompasses the entire argument from an economic perspective. We ended prohibition during the Depression for the tax revenue it provided among other things. I think that we might be in a similar situation now. Just a hunch.

http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=3473

 

[RansacktheElder]

Here's a story that's fairly interesting. Keeping the drumbeat going I guess.

Keith Thompson

Michael Phelps in good company

Packaged goods giant Kellogg announced today that it would not renew its sponsorship contract with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as consequence of his being photographed smoking marijuana. It's a strong statement by the company, particularly in historical context: According to an October 2002 Time/CNN poll, 47% of Americans have smoked marijuana. And users and advocates of the plant reportedly* have included the following, several of whom are admired by Kellogg's customers:

Louisa May Alcott
Jennifer Aniston
Bing Crosby
Laura Bush
The Beatles
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Johnny Carson
President Bill Clinton
Johnny Depp
Harrison Ford
Bill Gates
President Andrew Jackson
President Thomas Jefferson
Steve Jobs
President John Kennedy
Stephen King
Ann Landers
President James Madison
Madonna
John Stuart Mill
President James Monroe
Mozart
Friedrich Nietzsche
Peggy Noonan
President Barack Obama
Sarah Palin
Governor George Pataki
Pablo Picasso
President Franklin Pierce
Brad Pitt
Oliver Sacks
Arnold Schwarzenegger
William Shakespeare
Barbra Streisand
George Soros
President Zachary Taylor
Queen Victoria
President George Washington
John Wayne

...and, according to an anonymous source, at least one other star athlete.

 

[Alekiboy]

I would add Richard Feynman- Nobel Prize in Physics...
Huge advocate!!!

 

[420Gemmy]

Great thread idea, cheers.

 

[RansacktheElder]

8 Arrests in Phelps Case

By Robert Mackey



In Columbia, S.C, where Mr. Phelps was notoriously photographed with a bong at a party, WIS News 10 reports that:

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has been taking a lot of heat from people in this country and all over the world. [...]

We’ve now learned that since investigators began trying to build a case, they’ve made eight arrests: seven for drug possession and one for distribution. These are arrests that resulted as the sheriff’s department served search warrants.

We’ve also learned that the department has located and confiscated that bong. Sources say the owner of the bong was trying to sell it on eBay for as much as $100,000. The owner, who wasn’t even at the party, is one of the eight now charged.

Phelps is not one of those charged at this point, but the sheriff’s department has strong evidence that matches the photo to the house on Blossom Street.

Video of the WIS News 10 report is available on the NBC affiliate’s Web site, here.

At the end of the WIS News 10 report, reporter Jack Kinsey noted that on Sunday when Geraldo Rivera asked South Carolina’s governor, Mark Sanford, if Phelps should be prosecuted, Sanford replied: “I don’t see what it gets at this point.”

In the video of his conversation with Mr. Rivera, Governor Sanford revealed that he is clearly not spending time readings comments on NYTimes.com — which have run heavily in favor of Mr. Phelps and against the enforcement of drug laws — since he said, of Mr. Phelps, “the court of public opinion has already indicted him.”


--Can you believe this crap?--

 

[tngreen]

seems to be some confusion on this issue ransack and no i can't believe it. its absurd the sheriff is pursuing this over serious crimes.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/02/arrests-reporte.html

Arrests reported -- but not confirmed -- in Michael Phelps bong case
11:22 AM, February 10, 2009

Michael Phelps in a Feb. 6 news conference.

A television station in Columbia, S.C., is reporting that local law enforcement officials have made eight arrests in connection with a house party where Olympian Michael Phelps' photo may have been taken with a marijuana bong in his hands. Seven of the arrests were for drug possession and the eighth was for drug distribution, according to the WIS-TV (Channel 10) report.

WIS reporter Jack Kuenzie also reported that the bong's owner had offered the device for sale on EBay for as much as $100,000. Kuenzie said that the Sheriff's Department now has the device.

The television station reported that Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott began to investigate after a British tabloid printed a picture of Phelps with the bong in his hands.

But the Richland County Sheriff's Department earlier this morning declined to say whether it had made arrests or confirm the local television station's report.

"The reporter who released that story is claiming that he has sources, but we're not the source of that information," said Lt. Chris Cowan, the department's public information officer. "We're not releasing any additional information. We are investigating, and if we determine that illegal activity has occurred, we will bring charges."

And as for the bong that reportedly was being offered online? "I don't know where he got that information," Cowan said. "He didn't get it from us, and I don't know that to be true."

On Monday, a newspaper in Columbia published a story that attempted to piece together how the now-infamous photo ended up in a British tabloid.

The State's story didn't manage to do that. But it did place Phelps inside the house where, according to the television station's report, the sheriff's investigation led to eight arrests.

The newspaper story quotes sources (named and unnamed) who described a party that went on inside the house where the cellphone photo could have been taken early in November:

Crisp bills lay on the Ping-Pong table. But the players crowded around weren’t using paddles.

The game that Monday night in November was high-stakes “beer pong,” a drinking game in which players lob Ping-Pong balls into plastic cups.

Michael Phelps was betting big -- and losing.

"I saw Phelps pull out a roll, a bank-wrapped $2,000,” said Michael Whitworth, who had been invited to a house near Five Points after his band played a show at 5 Points Pub (now Sudworks Taphouse).

“He said, ‘I’ll match the $2,000,’ ” Whitworth continued, referring to Phelps. “Good ol’ Phelpsie lost it too.”

And, as for the picture:

The photo that got Phelps, 23, in trouble could have been taken by any of the dozens of partyers at the house that night -- or on other nights when Phelps was in Columbia the first week of November.

The story notes that those who attended the party were asked on entering the house to respect Phelps' privacy and not take photographs.

-- Greg Johnson

 

[RansacktheElder]

New Obama Drug Czar

White House source tells ABC News that President Obama will nominate Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to be director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Kerlikowske, president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, is former deputy director for the Justice's Department's COPS program, or the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which provided grants to put more police officers on the streets and was championed by Vice President Joe Biden, then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Crime in Seattle is at a 40-year low. Known as a proponent of gun control, Kerlikowske has argued in favor of increased police use of Taser stun guns.

Last Fall, he was part of a panel of researchers who released a report that concluded that tracking terrorists through data-mining "is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology development efforts" since false positives will result in the inaccurate flagging of "ordinary, law-abiding citizens and businesses"

Kerlikowse's appointment to the Obama administration, pending Senate approval, was first reported Tuesday evening by the Seattle Post Intelligencer. The paper quoted a police administrator who said Kerlikowske had alerted executive staff of the SPD that the president intended to nominate him to be White House "Drug Czar," a position that is Cabinet rank.

An Army veteran, Kerlikowske has served as police commissioner for Buffalo, NY, and the chief of police for both Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, Florida. He began his law enforcement career in 1972 as a police officer with the St. Petersburg Police in Florida.
(ABC News)

 

[RansacktheElder]

Prelimenary Reaction to Proposed Drug Czar

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Federal drug policy needs an infusion of reason and good judgment. Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske would make an excellent addition to the Obama administration as head of the drug office.

Kerlikowske would bring candor, progressive views and experience to discussions of the nation's long-running, long-failed war on drugs. As a former deputy director in the Justice Department and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Kerlikowske is well prepared to address national issues as the president's expected nominee as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The need for re-examination of drug policies stems not just from the end of a remarkably poorly focused administration but also from the nation's growing experience at home of the costs of overemphasis on arrests and the troubles inflicted on neighbors by the size of the illegal drug market in this country. Tijuana, Mexico, had more than 800 killings last year, just one hot spot in a nation wracked by drug-related violence, assassinations and scandal.

Kerlikowske is such a solid, professional leader that he will leave the Seattle Police Department not only with much-improved crime statistics but also well populated with highly capable top aides. There are at least four ranking officers whose talents, skills and overall reputations suggest they could succeed him quite capably.

We would hardly expect Kerlikowske to be marijuana advocates' first choice; after all, he fought the city's 2003 voter initiative that de-emphasized pot enforcement. But he has the balance to give us confidence that he would look fairly at new ideas on treatment, arrest and even legal reform. He would open the door to offices sealed from reality much of the past eight years.

 

[RansacktheElder]

More Reaction to proposed Drug Czar

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske will likely be Obama’s nominee for director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, commonly referred to as the drug czar. It appears that we may soon be faced with the most promising drug czar ever to occupy the position.

To be clear, Kerlikowske is not a friend of drug policy reform to any extent I’m aware of. What matters here is that I see no evidence that he is a vicious drug warrior of the sort commonly associated with the drug czar post. Given that ONDCP is mandated to oppose reform efforts and has typically embraced that role, a less confrontational and reefer madness-driven drug czar is really the best case scenario from a drug policy reform perspective.

Under Kerlikowske, Seattle has been a model for sensible marijuana policy, including the famous Seattle Hempfest at which the Seattle Police Department performs a public safety role while declining to make marijuana arrests. Following the passage of a 2004 lowest priority initiative, the city’s already-low rate of marijuana prosecutions fell even further, suggesting that Kerlikowske was responsive to the will of voters.

In that sense, he offers a dramatic departure from ONDCP’s shameful history of undermining state medical marijuana laws and inserting itself into state politics for the purpose of thwarting reform efforts. In an office typically run by military officials and political hacks, Kerlikowske would bring expertise in community policing and public relations.

As drug czar, I have no doubt that Gil Kerlikowske would oppose drug legalization and serve as our primary opponent on many issues. Nevertheless, at first glance, my gut instinct is that after several drug czars from hell, a guy from Seattle doesn’t sound so bad.
(Scott Morgan stopthedrugwar.com)

 

[RansacktheElder]

Kerlikowske appointment signals new direction for nation’s drug policy

by Goldy, 02/11/2009, 1:14 PM


According to both local and White House sources, President Barack Obama will nominate Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy—a cabinet-level position commonly referred to as the Drug Czar—an appointment that could signal a substantive departure from our nation’s current marijuana-focused, interdiction-heavy drug policy, and a more realistic and progressive approach toward the issue of drug abuse in general.

Within the context of career law enforcement professionals, I think it safe to label Kerlikowske a “progressive.” During his ten-years at the helm of the Seattle Police Department and his current term as president of the Major Chiefs Association, Kerlikowske has been a vocal advocate for gun control and community policing, while serving as a prominent critic of the use of intrusive data mining techniques as a tool for combating domestic terrorism. But while he hasn’t been particularly outspoken on drug control policy, Kerlikowske’s relative silence is encouraging in itself, considering the progressive mores and statutes of the city whose laws he has enforced for the past decade.

While Kerlikowske opposed a 2003 citizens initiative making marijuana in Seattle a “low priority crime,” calling the measure vague and confusing (and… well… most initiatives are), he emphasized to local reporters at the time that marijuana possession and use already was a low priority, and in fact, Seattle’s already low marijuana prosecution rate has dropped even further since the measure’s passage, indicating a responsiveness to the will of the voters. Indeed, local drug reform advocates seem downright ecstatic about Kerlikowske’s appointment:

“Oh God bless us,” said Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, a medical-marijuana patient-advocacy group. “What a blessing — the karma gods are smiling on the whole country, man.”

McKee said Kerlikowske knows the difference between cracking down on the illegal abuse of drugs and allowing the responsible use of marijuana.

Kerlikowske’s laissez faire approach toward low-level possession fits well with our region’s libertarian streak and its progressive attitudes toward medical marijuana, needle exchanges and other drug issues. Seattle has long been home to one of the largest Hempfests in the nation, where otherwise law abiding participants routinely light up in front of police officers without fear of arrest. Meanwhile, Kerlikowske’s predecessor, Chief Norm Stamper, has established himself since leaving office as one of the nation’s most outspoken advocates for comprehensive drug policy liberalization and reform. Yet despite the dire warnings of drug war hard liners, Seattle’s crime rate has dropped to a 40-year low during Kerlikowske’s tenure.

Kerlikowske’s office has not avoided controversy, particularly over accusations of lax discipline of officers, but he is widely admired. Speaking on our Podcasting Liberally podcast last night, Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess, a former police officer, and current chair of the committee that oversees the police department, agrees that Kerlikowske is “no Bill Bennett,” and credits him for a “progressive” approach toward drug control issues:

Clearly the drug war as it has been waged traditionally in our country over the last 20, 30 years is not working, and there is a lot of collateral damage that’s unintended but is real, that is not helping us in that regard. Chief Kerlikowske himself has been advocating some diversion programs, pre-arrest strategies, that are quite progressive.

Of course, Kerlikowske is no Norm Stamper either, but given the history of the Drug Czar office, his appointment should hearten those advocating for a more humane, rational and effective national drug control policy.

 

[RansacktheElder]

"Oh God bless us"

"Oh God bless us"

Kerlikowske's possible role in shaping drug policy for the Obama administration was applauded Tuesday by local medical-marijuana advocates.

In 2003, Kerlikowske opposed a city ballot measure, approved by voters, to make marijuana possession the lowest law-enforcement priority, saying it would create confusion. But in doing so, he noted that arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use was already not a priority.

"Oh God bless us," said Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, a medical-marijuana patient-advocacy group. "What a blessing — the karma gods are smiling on the whole country, man."

McKee said Kerlikowske knows the difference between cracking down on the illegal abuse of drugs and allowing the responsible use of marijuana.

Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney and advocate for medical-marijuana patients, said his first preference would be for a physician to oversee national drug policy.

But Kerlikowske would be a vast improvement over past drug czars, who have used the office to carry out the so-called "war on drugs," Hiatt said.

Kerlikowske is a "very reasonable guy" who would likely bring more liberal policies to the job, Hiatt said.

Seattle Times staff reporters Jennifer Sullivan, Christine Clarridge and Ian Ith contributed to this report.

 

[RansacktheElder]

NY Times Marijuana Page

This is a pretty good read.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/refer...ana/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=marijuana&st=cse

 

[RansacktheElder]

Mazda China Cool With Pot, Continues Michael Phelps Sponsorship

Mazda China Cool With Pot, Continues Michael Phelps Sponsorship
By Wes Siler, 3:30 PM on Tue Feb 10 2009, 4,287 views

Mazda China won't be jumping on the bash Michael Phelps bandwagon, choosing to retain Phelps even after the bong photos as long as he focuses on the zoom zoom and not the puff puff.

Imagine a country where people are sensible enough to believe smoking a little pot doesn't erase your life's accomplishments. Where taking a bong hit at a party doesn't make sponsors scream "Won't someone think of the children?" Where it's OK to be human. Who would've thought that country would be China?

Just last month Phelps signed the most lucrative sponsorship deal in Chinese history, promoting the struggling Mazda brand there. The swimmer won eight gold medals at last summer's Beijing games, rocketing him to instant celebrity in the country.

Since the bong photo emerged on January 31, Phelps has lost sponsorship deals with Kellogg's and Subway. Apparently neither brand saw the lucrative munchies potential of a pot-fueled image.

Now, DMG Entertainment, which inked the Mazda deal, has said the scandal "does not affect the deal. We don't condone what he has done, but this is not the time to turn our back on him. Ultimately it's what Michael does in the pool that counts." Wow, that makes a lot of sense.