Higher Education Act Supports Drug Abuse

After a full 10 years of contacting representatives, gathering signatures, writing articles, and spreading the outrage, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, along with hundreds of supporting organizations was sure their determined efforts would finally pay off and that Congressional leadership would follow through with their pledge to repeal the counterproductive Aid Elimination Penalty of the Higher Education Act. However, we have yet again been terribly deceived.

If you’ve ever wondered why you’re asked about drug offenses when applying for federal financial aid through FAFSA, thank Representative Mark Souder (R-IN), who somehow managed to slip the AEP into the Higher Education Act in 1998 without any debate or vote. Since then, this amendment has denied over 200,000 students federal financial aid, and in turn access to education. While we assume the reasoning behind Souder’s action was that he thought it would decrease drug abuse, it’s done the exact opposite by forcing students to drop out of school, therefore increasing their risk of drug abuse and criminal activity.

Regardless of the penalty's intentions, it has blatantly attacked hard-working students, people of color, and the lower and middle class. Since the FAFSA already requires satisfactory academic progress in order for a student to be eligible for federal financial aid, the AEP only affects hard-working students who have been doing well in school. While African-Americans make up a fairly small portion of the population, racial profiling leads to an absurdly disproportionate higher number of African-Americans arrested for drug offenses. And since middle and lower class families are depending solely on financial aid, it’s easy to see why wealthy families may not be too concerned.

Many members of Congress who were on our side initially have informed us that they became terrified of facing negative attacks, fearing they’d be labeled as “pro-drug”. In reality,it is precisely the Aid Elimination Penalty they are supporting that continues to increase drug abuse and decrease education. Anybody who is against racial profiling, increasing drug abuse, and decreasing education should be against this penalty. Please fill out this pre-written letter and demand an explanation from your local legislators! Unless they hear from their constituents, they won’t realize what their people want and will continue to follow their misguided instincts.

SSDP at the D.A.R.E. Conference: Day One

Today was a bit of a bust. There were only two training sessions, followed by a parade of all the "pimped out" D.A.R.E. vehicles seized via asset forfeiture laws, a motorcycle stunt show, and an opening reception with mariachi music and fajitas. (Okay, so it was kind of fun.)

I did get a lot of great video footage today, but nothing too juicy to blog about yet. Tomorrow is when the conference really gets going, so there will be much more to report on then.

Also, I found out that the Drug War celebs who I thought were speaking (Gonzales, Hatch, & Walters) are going to be no-shows. The video I posted earlier indicated that they'd be here, but they are nowhere in the program materials. Bummer.

Tomorrow, I'm attending the following two workshops:

• Drug Trends in America: Raves, Ecstasy, Club Drugs and Inhalants
• How the Media is Affecting Our Kids

The latter workshop is four hours (good grief!) but should be pretty entertaining.

Over and out.

DARE conference live blogging: "Responsible shoplifting"

I'm sitting in a session that's about parents who provide alcohol to teenagers in controlled settings and how "irresponsible" those parents are.

The instructor just gave a speech about harm reduction actually being "harm promotion" and made an analogy about parents teaching their kids how to "shoplift responsibly."

Riiiight. Perfect analogy. Because every high school student shoplifts the night of prom and then tries to drive home while putting on the dress/tux they just snatched up, resulting in deadly collisions.

The logic is flawless.

SSDP at the D.A.R.E. Conference: Prologue

It has been four years since I represented SSDP at the D.A.R.E. conference, a gathering of hundreds of well-intentioned police officers from across North America who teach misinformation and scare tactics rather than honest, reality based drug education.

Well, here I am in San Antonio, TX, getting ready to do it again.

And after watching this promo video, I have to tell you, I'm pretty darned excited. Keynote speakers include drug warriors from all branches of government, like amnesiac victim Alberto Gonzalez, nutcake police Orrin Hatch, and Johnny P. Walters, who needs no introduction. But here it is in case you do.

As was the case last time, the main purpose will be to gather information on D.A.R.E.'s curriculum, which has been proven time and time again to be ineffective, possibly causing more drug abuse than it prevents. As a D.A.R.E. graduate, I demand better results from a program that has been adopted by more than 75% of public school districts.

But as you can see from the letter I distributed at the conference in 2004, my intent is not to attack the motives of these public servants. In fact, I think that the vast majority of police officers are good people -- it's the laws and the programs that they carry out that are unjust and counterproductive. As much as I may disagree with their stance on drug education and drug policy, I have to give them all the credit in the world for putting their lives on the line every day keeping us safe.

One day, when we finally stop using law enforcement to deal with public health issues, young people will look at police officers like they look at firemen and paramedics -- as heroes, not adversaries. And then (and only then) it might not be a bad idea for police officers to be involved with the rest of the community in the difficult but important task of teaching young people about drug abuse.

Each evening of the conference (Tues - Thurs), I'll be keeping you informed about my experience at the conference via blog posts. At some point, I'll also broadcast a live video transmission from SSDP's UStream channel. Keep an eye on this blog for info on the timing of that broadcast.

So, what questions should I pose to D.A.R.E. officers? Your suggestions in the comment section. Keep it respectful.

Remember kids, the world's most dangerous narcotic is ignorance. Just say know.

We Can't Forget: Rachel Hoffman

It has been 3 months since 23 year old Rachel Hoffman was killed in a botched drug sting set up by the Tallahassee Police Department. After being arrested twice for marijuana, Rachel was given an ultimatum, turn informant of face up to 5 years in prison. As a recent Florida State University graduate and with plans to attend culinary school Rachel agreed to work with the Tallahassee police department.

Rachel was given $13,000 cash to purchase 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine, and a handgun from 2 men she did not know. The buy was obviously suspicious and police quickly lost track of Rachel after sending her on the sting.

Rachel's death represents the failure and tragic irony of drug prohibition; a war on drugs created in the name of protecting young people destroys more lives than drug use alone. ABC recently featured Rachel's story on 20/20.

Please make a donation the Morningstar Foundation. The foundation was started by Rachel's mother with the goal of passing a law requiring civilians to seek legal advice before consenting to undercover police work.

Berwyn Heights Mayor, 32 lbs of Marijuana, 2 Labs Shot, Nobody Arrested

The mayor of the Berwyn Heights community in Maryland, Cheye Calvo, found himself last Tuesday evening on the floor of his house with his hands behind his back, wearing nothing but boxers and socks, with his two beloved dogs’ bloody carcasses lying lifeless next to him for hours. The first question that pops into my mind after hearing a description like this is what kind of an evil criminally minded lunatic would go to such disgustingly brutal lengths to torture someone? And what could have Mayor Calvo possibly done that inspired such an attack?

The answer, surprisingly enough, is that it was no criminal at all, at least not according to the government. In fact, it was the Prince George’s County Police Department who broke into Mayor Calvo’s house during a no-knock raid, shot his two Labrador Retrievers, and interrogated Mayor Calvo and his mother-in-law for hours about a package that had been intercepted in Arizona addressed to the mayor’s wife containing 32 pounds of marijuana. After raiding the house with a SWAT team, and finding absolutely nothing, police released the Calvos, coming out with no arrests.

After receiving support and permission from Mayor Calvo, University of MD- College Park’s SSDP chapter held a memorial service in memory of the two innocent lives lost to the War on Drugs last Sunday. Thirty-six people showed up, received ribbons, joined each other in a moment of silence, and listened to a quick speech from Stacia Cosner, former UMD SSDP President, about other tragic cases in which dogs have been killed by police.

While the memorial service was held to mourn for the loss of Chase and Payton Calvo, a more politically focused demonstration highlighting how often the War on Drugs takes innocent victims’ lives is soon to come.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with and came to the memorial service.

Chase and Payton Calvo, you will never be forgotten.

SSDP Member Kicked Off UMD Senate Ballot!

Stacia Cosner, SSDP Board Member and president of the UMD SSDP chapter was notified yesterday that she will be taken off the ballot for senate elections because of a drug arrest that is nearly two years old. Read about it here.

Help SSDP Win $10,000 on Facebook

Get on Facebook and donate some $chedda$ to SSDP! Is doesn't have to be much, even $10 will go a long way. If we can get 250 people to donate just $10 each before February 1st we can win $10,000. If we get more than 700 donors, we could win $25,000 and have a shot at winning $50,000!

While Facebook limits you to 20 invites per day on causes, you can invite an unlimited amount of people to this event and spread the word about this awesome opportunity.

And to top it all off, the #1 recruiter gets a FREE APPLE G4 LAPTOP!

Friends, reform takes money and the opposition has plenty of it. If your serious about reform then help SSDP with something as easy as a point and a click. FACEBOOK.

UPDATE: Jimi D shows us that helping SSDP win $10,000 is as easy as changing your Brita water filter...

Extreme Ecstasy Brah!

Just when you think the ONDCP couldn't backtrack anymore, John Walters warns us of the dangers of "extreme ecstasy".

Why would anyone try to label ecstasy as extreme in the hopes that it would scare young people away from using it? Has the ONDCP ever seen the X-Games or what about Extreme Doritos? The word extreme has been used over the past decade as a youth advertisement tool for everything from snack foods to video games and has been successful. Anyone can guess what calling ecstasy "extreme" might lead to.

By calling the ecstasy extreme it seems like the ONDCP are saying the effects are more extreme or intense. As if this is some sort of new drug "cocktail" that will attract young people because its effects are stronger. This article states the obvious in saying that the "biggest reason [for mixing meth and MDMA] is cost." No other reasons are even listed because there really aren't any.

So this extreme ecstasy is actually MDMA mixed with methamphetamine and apparently is all Canada's fault. I think its important to point out that MDMA stands for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. See that whole part, after dioxy, that says methamphetamine. Okay, good. MDMA provides a stimulant effect. So why mix methamphetamine with MDMA pills? Because it cuts down on cost and increases profit for dealers and still gives the user that stimulant effect they expect from MDMA. Many pills have been passed off as ecstasy and when tested have been found to contain only methamphetamine or even just caffeine.

Is it really "extreme ecstasy" or is just an blatant example of ecstasy prohibition failing miserably by taking a drug that should be a pharmaceutical and placing it in the black market? As American parents and doctors pump amphetamine in the form of Adderal to children in the treatment of over-diagnosed ADD and ADHD one really has to be bewildered at this new scare tactic against ecstasy and methamphetamine.

So now American drug warriors can claim that they not only made a difference in the availability of ecstasy, or pure ecstasy rather, but they have created a new, more "extreme" drug that is more profitable for drug dealers.

Run Mitt Run!

This semester I had the opportunity to intern with Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana in New Hampshire. GSMM followed NH presidential candidates and put on the pressure about medical marijuana. Mainly we wanted to know what candidates were willing to end the raids on medical marijuana patients in the 12 states that have passed legislation protecting patients and their doctors.

National Journal did a story called Tales from NH Town Halls and reported the details of NH town hall events where the candidates had campaigned. In a section of the story titled Adventures with Advocacy Groups, the story discusses the activists that follow the candidates and promote their issues. They wrote about GSMM even including a transcript of my McCain encounter.

[Of all the NH advocacy groups] None has been more persistent than the members of the Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, pushing to legalize the drug.

Clayton Holton, seen in this video depicting the ignorance of Mitt Romney and Rudy Guliani in particular, suffers from Muscular Dystrophy. Clayton is only 22 years old and is the youngest man ever admitted to a NH nursing home. That is where he currently lives, unable to use marijuana to control his pain, nausea, or stimulate his appetite but provided a steady regiment of Oxycontin, a drug he wishes could be replaced with marijuana.

Check out over 40 video encounters with presidential candidates by GSMM at youtube. Unfortunately the GSMM campaign is over but I plan on posting some of the highlights here on DARE Generation. GSMM was probably the most successful marijuana campaign in NH to date and Clayton Holton will surely be NH's face for medical marijuana in the Granite State.