Turning A Whole Generation Of Young People Against The System

House member Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) says the Drug War is turning a whole generation against the system. Given that pot use peaks in the 16 to 25 year age bracket and that roughly 50% of that cohort are at least occasional users it seems like a really stupid move.

“Marijuana is not the problem,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), said at a House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security oversight hearing. “It’s turning a whole generation of young people against the system and that’s something we can’t afford.”

Robinson said her office would look into how many Byrne law enforcement grants are used to reimburse local law enforcement agencies for enforcement of cannabis possession laws.

Cohen pressed Robinson to justify the federal government’s role in encouraging the enforcement of laws that the congressman said disproportionately affects people of color and tarnishes the records of young people for their entire lives.

And Rep. Cohen is a little off. He should have said "another generation".

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Change Is In The Wind

Except the Senate has not changed at all and the House not much.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

It Must Produce Revenue

Eric is discussing my post Prevention Methods, and looks at the harms that making things illegal causes. A commenter chimes in with this bit of wisdom.

...many of these “illegal drug” like Marijuana can be produced without a good means of tax revenue – another reason to outlaw them

You can make quite a bit of your own booze (200 gal a year I believe) without paying any taxes (a permit may be required). I wonder if we should be making alcohol illegal to recover that lost revenue. Oh. Wait. If they make alcohol illegal there is zero revenue. Only enforcement costs. Barring the usual theft pardon me "asset forfeiture" by police of anything people own that they cannot account for. Like cash. This is sometimes referred to as highway robbery.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Prevention Methods

So I'm having an ongoing discussion with a guy and he has me pegged.

MSimon believes that it is every individual's right to consume whatever drugs in whatever quantities that an individual so chooses.

What is your plan to prevent that? Because that is exactly the nature of current reality. The legality or otherwise makes no difference except for determining the distribution channels. For a lot of people "distributed by criminals" seems to be a very solid preference. I don't know why but there you have it. And quite a few of those claim to be conservative. But since when did conservatives support criminals? It is a paradox. Unless you understand Baptist/bootlegger coalitions. Prevalent everywhere but especially virulent in America. We LOVE our moral panics in the Good 'Ole USA.

I know. Facing reality puts me way out on a limb. It has been a life long curse. I rather enjoy it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Dopers Are Ruining The Country

Glenn Greenwald is having a look at Steve Jobs and how illegal drugs ruined his life.

It’s fascinating to juxtapose America’s reverence for Steve Jobs’ accomplishments and its draconian drug policy with this, from the New York Times‘ obituary of Jobs:

[Jobs] told a reporter that taking LSD was one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life. He said there were things about him that people who had not tried psychedelics — even people who knew him well, including his wife — could never understand.

Unlike many people who have enjoyed success, Jobs is not saying that he was able to succeed despite his illegal drug use; he’s saying his success is in part — in substantial part — because of those illegal drugs (he added that Bill Gates would “be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once”). These quotes (first published by a New York Times reporter) have been around for some time but have been only rarely discussed in the recent hagiographies of Jobs: a notable omission given that he himself praised those experiences as an integral part of his identity and one of the most important things he ever did.

I'd trade all the burnouts and drop outs who couldn't handle their drugs for another Steve Jobs. Maybe we could get 20 more like him.

In short, the deceit at the heart of America’s barbaric drug policy — that these substances are such unadulterated evils that adults should be put in cages for voluntarily using them — is more glaring than ever. In light of his comments about LSD, it’s rather difficult to reconcile America’s adoration for Steve Jobs with its ongoing obsession with prosecuting and imprisoning millions of citizens (mostly poor and minorities) for doing what Jobs, Obama, George W. Bush, Michael Phelps and millions of others have done.

It is all about connections. And Black people for the most part ain't got none. So guess who is going to jail? Clue - not white folks (very much).

Jobs’ praise for his LSD use is what I kept returning to as I read about the Obama DOJ’s heinous new policy to use the full force of criminal prosecutions against medical marijuana dispensaries in California. In October, 2009, I enthusiastically praised Eric Holder and the DOJ for appearing to fulfill Obama’s campaign promise by refraining from prosecuting medical marijuana dispensaries in compliance with state law (a “rare instance of unadulterated good news from Washington,” I gushed). As I wrote:

Criminalizing cancer and AIDS patients for using a substance that is (a) prescribed by their doctors and (b) legal under the laws of their state has always been abominable. The Obama administration deserves major credit not only for ceasing this practice, but for memorializing it formally in writing.

Yet now, U.S. Attorneys in California will expend substantial law enforcement resources to persecute medical marijuana dispensaries that sell to consenting adults even though those transactions have been legalized by the voters of California and 16 other states (to see what a complete reversal this is of everything Obama and Holder previously said on this subject, see here).

The article goes on at length discussing our All American Drug Prohibition. And finishes with this update:

UPDATE: In The Los Angeles Times today, a former Deputy Chief of the L.A.P.D. details how drug prohibition “has cost our country more than $1 trillion in cash and much more in immeasurable social harm”; “the damage that came from the prohibition of alcohol pales in comparison to the harm wrought by drug prohibition“; and “that ending today’s prohibition on drugs — starting with marijuana — would do more to hurt the [drug] cartels than any level of law enforcement skill or dedication ever can.”

Ah but think about all the government functionaries out of a job. And America out of Jobs.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Conservatives Are Really Progressives?

Right wing (without a doubt) magazine Human Events makes the case using the Ken Burns movie "Prohibition" as a springboard that Prohibition was a Progressive project. I think there is no doubt about that.

But I wonder. Since Prohibition is a Progressive Project why do so many "Conservatives" these days support its modern day variant, "Drug Prohibition" ?

Progressivism in America is not a Party. It is a state of mind.

Alcohol Is The Enemy Of The Family And Civilization

Alcohol Is The Enemy Of The Family And Civilization.

There ought to be a law.

That is my take away from watching the first two hours of Ken Burns "Prohibition".

Update: I said this in an e-mail.

Drug Prohibition. Same old song. New lyrics.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Prohibition Is Not Over

"Prohibition" on PBS - TV schedule

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Moon Tic

“It has long been recognized that America was an asylum, but it is only since Prohibition that it has resembled a lunatic asylum.” -- G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

A Local Comes Out Against Marijuana Prohibition

As you may or may not know Black support for the pResident is falling off a cliff. If the Head Man doesn't do something about it soon he is a goner in 2012. So imagine my surprise when a local Black who writes an editorial column for the Rockford Register Star, Ed Wells, has come out against Marijuana Prohibition. You can find details at the link.

What other Blacks are against Drug Prohibition to varying degrees?

The NAACP

Blacks in Government

Charles Blow at the New York Times

Wilton D. Alston at Lew Rockwell

It looks to me like the Black community is begging the President to change his tune on Drug Prohibition. It will shore up his waning support among Democrats and if the discussions around here are any indication it will split the Republicans. The Republicans who stick with Prohibition will be branded racists. That should motivate college kids who are itching to recreate the anti-racism of the 60s. Not to mention that enforcement is targeted at their age group.

The President will have a perfect opportunity to change his tune following the showing of the Ken Burns movie “Prohibition” about Alcohol Prohibition airing on PBS starting on this Sunday 2 Oct. Check your local listings. And follow the news on it (I probably will be posting copiously on it - sorry about that).

It should be a very exciting election season.

H/T a friend.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Most Destructive, Dysfunctional & Immoral Domestic Policy Since Slavery & Jim Crow

Retired Police Detective Howard Wooldridge says:

Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim Crow.

He ought to know. Now you know.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Prohibition - The Movie

From a review of the book the movie is based on:

Okrent identifies five dry constituencies that formed a very unlikely coalition for the purposes of banning booze. Racists, progressives, populists, suffragists, and nativists linked hands across party and regional lines to agree on this one issue alone. Southern Democrats who used the spectacle of drunken black people to stoke racial hatred, Northern Republican anti-racists who saw a rational world beyond the alcoholic fog of the 19th century, small-town and farm Democrats wanting to free their communities from a scourge that led to debt and broken homes, women of all parties and regions all too aware that families' livelihoods could be poured into bartenders' tills, and ugly white folks from everywhere who loathed Catholic and Jewish cultures where alcohol was central: they could agree on very little, but they all disapproved of drink. The one common denominator among the temperance crowd was that they tended to be evangelical Protestants, that great majority of c1900 Americans that was hopelessly split on so many other political issues.

Any one see any parallels to Drug Prohibition?

Here is the PBS announcement of the schedule for the airing of the full version. Here is a short version of the announcement:

PROHIBITION
Premieres October 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 2011
at 8 PM on PBS

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS

Thanks to my friend Jerry Epstein of Drug Policy Forum Of Texas for the heads up.

The Drug War:

1. Is unconstitutional

2. Abuses abused children

3. Is racist

4. Is UnChristian

I think if the Democrats push this they have a chance in the next election. And yes Obama is beatable. I’m working to give him a better chance. Or the Republicans can start working to repeal Prohibition. Choice. It is a wonderful thing.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

NAACP: End The Drug War

Here is some news I missed. The NAACP is calling for an end to the Drug War.

The so-called war on drugs has been a failure of colossal proportions — from both racial and preventive standpoints — and the NAACP passed a resolution demanding President Obama and Congress end the program altogether.

The overall message of the resolution is captured by its title: A Call to End the War on Drugs, Allocate Funding to Investigate Substance Abuse Treatment, Education, and Opportunities in Communities of Color for a Better Tomorrow.

“Studies show that all racial groups abuse drugs at similar rates, but the numbers also show that African Americans, Hispanics and other people of color are stopped, searched, arrested, charged, convicted, and sent to prison for drug-related charges at a much higher rate,” stated Alice Huffman, president of the California State Conference of the NAACP. “This dual system of drug law enforcement that serves to keep African-Americans and other minorities under lock and key and in prison must be exposed and eradicated.”

The Drug War is the last great bastion of racism in America. When it ends - if the Republicans are not in the lead to end it - the prospects for Republicans will be dim for a decade or three. I'd hate to see that happen. If Obama does it he will probably do it as a "Hail Mary". He needs one badly.

Get on the stick guys before the "racism" label has some valid ammunition behind it.

Plus there are other issues especially for the TEAs:

I never noticed a Prohibition Amendment. Except for Alcohol.

DRUG WAR = BIG GOVERNMENT

Get with the program before the program gets you.

Also see Blacks In Government: End Drug Prohibition

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Blacks In Government: End Drug Prohibition

Reason Magazine has the story:

A group representing black government employees, including a former DEA agent and member of the U.S. Marshals, has released a petition calling for an end to the drug war. Authored by Matthew F. Fogg, a retired DEA agent, the Blacks In Goverment (BIG) petition calls for a "Federal investigation for solutions to eliminate the pretense and continued arrest and incarceration of African-Americans at extraordinarily disparate rates for drug-related charges," as well as for Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama to immediately end "racial bias drug enforcement operations, provide retroactive reduction in sentences for victims and suggest alternatives to incarceration that may in part, include a model to regulate and control the distribution of some drugs."

Fogg covered D.C. for the DEA during the late 80s and 90s. In a statement from Law Enforcement Again Prohibition, Fogg says, "I personally witnessed racially biased enforcement procedures when I ran a joint DEA task force...When I requested equal enforcement of upscale suburban areas, I met internal resistance." So Fogg never busted down doors in Chevy Chase, McLean, or Bethesda? Shocking.

I (a white guy) have covered the racism of the drug war extensively here in articles like The New Jim Crow. Nice to see more Blacks getting on board. Because even though I hate to say it, it is true. The Drug War IS racist.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Supports The Constitution

I'm reading around the 'net and people touting various candidates say their candidate supports the Constitution. OK. It is good PR. But there is a test. Say to them:

"I never noticed a Prohibition Amendment. Except for Alcohol."

So when a candidate supporter says "my candidate supports the Constitution" check them on it. Ask: "Where is the Drug Prohibition Amendment?"

Funny thing is that a Classical Values commenter in decrying my effort to elevate the Drug Prohibition issue stated the Tea Party Manifesto which is (approximately):

Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutional Government, and Free Markets.

So my friend. Where is the Drug Prohibition Amendment? If we don't have one then the Federal Government's institution of such a program is a usurpation of power. Funny how few notice these things.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Observing The Mentally Ill

I got a link from Instapundit to an article bashing the usual and continued left wing idiocy and especially its connection to the recent flash riots. Comments like this one pop-up regularly in such posts.

It’s all just more evidence that liberals are mentally ill. They cannot figure out cause and effect. Logic and facts do not sway them from their ideas.

You want to see mental illness? Just ask a conservative about the Drug War. Their little contribution to the mess.

There is no better promoter of outlaw culture than a prohibition regime. In fact we have recent American historical experience to prove that proposition. Alcohol Prohibition 1920 to 1933. Even criminals hate criminals who take stuff from them. In fact stealing from criminals is a very dangerous occupation. But criminals who can deliver something the government won't allow? Those boys and girls get respect. Glorification even.

Most Americans don't worship law and government. The worshipers are going to have to get over it. I'd hate to have to Party Like It Is 1773 all over again. That goes for the worshipers of the State on the Right and The Left. I actually like the Lefties better because they don't hide their love. The Righties are clever though. "I hate big government except for..." is how they rally the troops. Seriously. What are we to think of a country that has declared war on 5% to 10% of its citizens on account of they have habits which some others find distasteful?

Those condemned to history are bound to repeat it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Liberty? We Can't Afford It - Says Coulter

I can understand her position. Notwithstanding the Constitution which so many "conservatives" claim to totally support. Except when it comes to Drug Prohibition. Could some one point out the Drug Prohibition Amendment to me? Anyone? Bueller?

Good Training

In Prohibition Regimes I took a general look at how Prohibition regimes are associated with a breakdown of the rule of law. I want to be a little more explicit here.

What does prohibition teach? Break the law if you can get away with it.

And how do you get away with it? Too many people are doing it at once for the police to keep up.

What is amazing to me in all this is that no one else can see the pattern. Is it a cause of the riots in England? Doubtful. But it is certainly a contributor.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Guns And Weed - The Road To Freedom

From the above trailer: "I was an undercover narcotics officer [secret police - Ed.], the Drug War is nothing but a farce."



Suggested by a post at Libertarian Punk. Commenter Bob Mulroy recommended the site in the comments at Guns And Drugs.

Update: You can watch the whole movie here. Just click on the Play All button at the top and the whole movie will automatically play in segments. The www site for the movie is here.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Prohibition Regimes

The American Thinker is discussing the breakdown in respect for the rule of law. I have some ideas about that.

Prohibition regimes always engender a spirit of lawlessness among the populations they are imposed on. It seeps into the wider culture. See Prohibition, Alcohol, 1920 to 1933.

Had enough yet?

We now have two generations who have grown up in a prohibition regime. If it goes like Alcohol Prohibition we will have a 20 year hangover once we end it. Maybe longer since this has gone on longer.

Half of all kids growing up try pot. That is a LOT of folks whose adherence to the rule of law has been weakened. And of course just a generation ago such law breaking was a felony. Now it is more often just a caution or ticketing offense. Still.

In a Prohibition regime you give people practice in breaking the law. Is that really the training we should be giving half our kids?

Might I add that Alcohol Prohibition was a scheme cooked up by Progressives and some Social Conservatives. Billy Sunday ring a bell? The Progressives are no longer backing that. Leaving Conservatives holding the bag (all puns intended).

When the Democrats come back it will be under a banner of ending Prohibition. A former LEO friend of mine thinks it will happen in the next 5 years. The Maker help us if the right is on the wrong side of the issue.

And what will the Left run on? "Protecting people from themselves is not a legitimate function of government. That is what we have family and friends for." i.e. they will pretend to move to the right.

Let me add that only a police state can protect people from themselves. Why the Right wants a nanny state is beyond me. You are sharpening the dagger that will be used against you. Ah. Well. I guess there is a reason why they call the two parties names. One is evil, the other is stupid.

DRUG WAR = BIG GOVERNMENT

I'm no more interested in moral socialism than I am in economic socialism.

Cross Posted at Classical Values