SSDP responds to "Operation Ivy League" drug arrests at Columbia University [PRESS RELEASE]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 8, 2010
CONTACT: Stacia Cosner, SSDP Outreach Director - 410-299-3433 or stacia@ssdp.org
Katharine Celentano, Columbia University SSDP - 914-420-2525 or kec2156@columbia.edu

NYPD Charges 5 Columbia University students in “Operation Ivy League”
SSDP: Arrests Will Not Reduce Drug Use, But Will Ruin Students’ Lives

NEW YORK, NY. – An aggressive NYPD raid of the students’ school residences was conducted Tuesday morning with students reporting dozens of police cars, dogs, and battering rams surrounding the fraternity houses some of the students were affiliated with. Five students were arrested & charged with drug distribution charges, but one student group on campus says the drug bust is unlikely to have any effect on drug use or availability at the Ivy League school.

“The real problems related to drug use that desperately need to be addressed, such as youth use and addiction, take a backseat to enforcing prohibition”, said Katharine Celentano, a student leader of the group Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) at Columbia. “We certainly do not condone the illegal activities of the students who were arrested, but the reality is that drugs are still here, and this is a problem we can't arrest our way out of."

Stacia Cosner, a national staff member with SSDP adds "such pervasive drug war strategies like those employed Tuesday waste police resources and tax payer dollars and have no clear effect on drug use or availability and could actually make drug problems worse for students who now face scarring experiences within the criminal justice system and enormous barriers to education and career opportunities.” Cosner adds, “and the once promising trajectory for these five young lives with great potential, as Ivy League graduates will be thwarted by these dramatically negative results of a drug conviction.”

Celentano says “continuing such draconian policies will keep drug law violations strictly in the hands of criminal justice, while the public health aspect of drug use is left unaddressed.” She explains, “as long as police resources are being used to enforce strict drug laws, while being diverted from protecting victims from violent crime -- our campus community will continue to bear the social and economic consequences of these realities.”

SSDP emphasizes that mitigating harms associated with campus drug use using the iron fist of law enforcement is not the answer to the question of how to address youth drug use.

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Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing our generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future, while fighting back against counterproductive Drug War policies, particularly those that directly harm students and youth.

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Group Tells Kids Alcohol is Safer than Marijuana

After seeing an ad on Facebook for a "free marijuana information packet" created by the Foundation for a Drug Free World, I thought I'd check out their website. Then I watched this video:

Of course, I had to order the information packet after watching that action packed PSA complete with plenty of screaming, guns, smashing things and scary looking young people (actually, the first video I saw was marijuana specific but they didn't put that one up on YouTube...).

I received the packet this week. Inside was a little booklet titled "The Truth About Marijuana: Behind the smokescreen from a drug that destroys from the inside out."

This little booklet contains the usual misinformation and scare tactics you'd expect to find from any organization with the words "drug free" in their title. But there was one part that left me flabbergasted: Alcohol vs. Marijuana. Wow. They really want to take this one on? Here's what they have to say:

Is smoking a joint the same as drinking alcohol?

You decide. Here are the facts:

Alcohol consists of one substance only: ethanol. Marijuana contains more than 400 known toxins and cancer causing chemicals.

Alcohol is eliminated from the body in a few hours; THC stays in the body fat for months, possibly longer. Thus, a person who smokes 2 to 3 joints a week is constantly under the influence of the drug.

THC damages the immune system. Alcohol does not.

There is no intention here to minimize the dangers of alcohol abuse, which can be equally harmful. Alcohol, however, can be used in moderation without causing severe damage. Cannabis, which is used almost exclusively as an intoxicant, is far more dangerous even when used in small amounts because it's active agent continues to build up in body fat.

I could waste my time rebutting these "facts" but anyone with half a brain already knows these are flat out lies. Besides, Steve Fox, Mason Tvert, and Paul Armentano have written an entire book on the safety of marijuana in comparison to alcohol.

The claims made by the Foundation for a Drug Free World in this booklet easily make this one of the most irresponsible attempts to manipulate and lie to young people that I have ever seen. They should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. They're also funded by the Church of Scientology.

Here's what people who live on this planet have to say about the possibility of a drug free world:

80% of Puerto Rico Murders Called Prohibition-Related

The title actually read "Drug-Related." We know better. Just like the U.S-Mexican border, this isn't violence caused by people taking drugs and going out on murderous rampages. These murders are fueled by a desire to control the drug trade. Something that is worth quite a bit of money.

University of Puerto Rico researcher Hector Colon said that the island’s drug users collectively spend nearly $3 million a day to feed their habits.

Colon also said that keeping an addict incarcerated costs between $28,000 and $30,000 per year, to which must be added other costs pertaining to medical attention when the inmates have AIDS or hepatitis.

The DEA, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Puerto Rico police recently arrested 38 people on drug trafficking charges. It's estimated that about 30% of illegal drugs coming into the U.S. are coming from Puerto Rico and the islands. There is good reason for this:

As American soil, it is attractive because drugs leaving here do not have to clear customs to reach the U.S. market.