Press Release: SSDP responds to Obama's statement on drug legalization

For immediate release: January 31, 2011
Contact: Washington DC Headquarters (202)293-4414, San Francisco Headquarters (415)875-9463

Student Activists Praise Obama’s New Position Welcoming Legalization Debate
Statement in YouTube online town hall meeting called step in right direction, but still not enough

Washington, D.C. — Officials at Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) today praised President Barack Obama’s statement last week indicating that drug prohibition is “an entirely legitimate topic for debate.” Obama’s comments came Thursday in response to a question from former Seattle narcotics detective Mackenzie Allen, whose question about repealing drug prohibition received the most votes in an online competition hosted by YouTube.

Responding to Allen’s question about regulating and taxing drugs to cut down on black market profits, President Obama said, “I think this is an entirely legitimate topic for debate…I am a strong believer that we have to think more about drugs as a public health problem.” Obama continued, “On drugs I think that a lot of times we’ve been so focused on arrests, incarceration, interdiction, that we don’t spend as much time thinking about how do we shrink demand. This is something that within the White House we are looking at very carefully…look[ing] at what we’re doing when we have nonviolent first-time drug offenders. Are there ways that we can steer them to the straight and narrow without automatically resorting to incarceration?”

Drug policy reform advocates highlighted the stark contrast between Obama’s recent comments and his laughing dismissal of marijuana legalization the last time drug policy came up at an online town hall event.

“This marks a historic turning point in the White House’s rhetoric about taxing and regulating drugs,” said Aaron Houston, executive director of SSDP. “Despite his rejection of legalization, President Obama acknowledged that our current policies don’t work. We’re very glad to see him start to lead the way on this issue.”

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network of students who educate their peers, parents, and policymakers about how the drug war has failed 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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SSDP Chapters Rallying for Prop 19

UC Berkeley SSDP Rally

SSDP chapters throughout the state are engaged in GOTV efforts on their college campuses and doing everything thing they can to help get young people to the cast their ballots. Yesterday, UC Berkeley SSDP members rallied on campus before canvassing neighborhoods with Yes on 19 door hangers.

Today, UC San Diego SSDP is rallying around the Dr. Bronner's fire truck directing people to their polling place. Our students at San Jose State University and San Francisco State University have working with other groups on campus to remind students to vote. Other chapters are tabling, using sidewalk chalk to direct people to the polls and handing out VOTE19 stickers to their peers.

UCSD SSDP Chapter Members
Direct to the Polls

Chapters in California and throughout the country are calling young voters and asking them to vote today using the Yes on 19 call tool. You can use it right now too.

It seems like it's working. Our chapter leaders are reporting lines at the polls and many students confirming that they have already voted. On some college campuses, like San Diego State University, the polls are actually running out of provisional ballots.

And you have not voted yet, get to your local polling place immediately!

You can find your polling place here:
http://www.ssdp.org/polls

Regulation Works. Prohibition Fails.

This great 30sec PSA shows how the legal and regulated market for alcohol makes it difficult for young people to purchase the substance. On the other hand, marijuana prohibition makes it easy for kids to buy pot from the local dealer who doesn't care how old customers are, as long as they have money.

If you have a parent, family member or friend on the fence about regulating marijuana like alcohol, send them this video.

Call Voters for Marijuana Reform

Watch the instructional video and start making calls today!

You can use your phone to directly help legalize marijuana!

Our Just Say Now Phonebank is a virtual system that provides you with a free, quick & easy way to reach individual voters in states voting on marijuana initiatives.

There are thousands of voters in Arizona, California, Oregon, and South Dakota who we need to vote for marijuana reforms this November. These voters need to hear from you, and we need to identify supporters so we can get out the vote to end the war on marijuana.

Help us end the war on marijuana - start calling voters in support of marijuana reform today. Click here to start calling: http://go.firedoglake.com/

Our goal is to call 50,000 voters in California in the next 30 days.  If 2,500 people call 20 voters each, about 5 calls per week, we can reach that goal.  You don't have to do it all yourself, though - pass this email to your friends and ask them to call.

Each call just takes a few minutes, and you can start calling voters with just your email address or Facebook account. There's even a video that explains how to call, step by step.

If you're in an SSDP chapter, you can earn points and compete with other chapters everytime you call or rectruit people to your chapter's team. Points are updated in real time on our leaderboard!

Voicing your support for this issue has never been easier or more urgently important, so start calling voters today.

Marijuana Legalization Ballot Statements Offer Contrasting Realities

The ballot arguments for Prop. 19, California's initiative to legalize marijuana, seem to claim two different realities.

On one hand, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) president Laura Dean-Mooney argue against Prop 19:

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) strongly opposes Prop. 19 because it will prevent bus and trucking companies from requiring their drivers to be drug-free. Companies won't be able to take action against a "stoned" driver until after he or she has a wreck, not before.

The California Chamber of Commerced found that "if passed, this initiative could result in employers losing public contracts and grants because they no longer effectively enforce the drug-free workplace requirements outlined by the federal government...

Proposition 19 is simply a jumbled legal nightmare that will make our highways, our workplaces and our communities less safe.

Interestingly, the "protect the children" claim was left out of the argument. Nobody can deny that marijuana prohibition has been an outright failure because marijuana is currently easier for kids to get than alcohol. It seems that the opposition is trying a new approach:

"Employers who permit employees to sell cosmetics or school candy bars to co-workers in the office, may now also be required to allow any employee with a "license" to sell marijuana in the office."

It is far too unrealistic that your co-worker would actually be permitted to sell marijuana on your coffee break. The opposition has attempted to create a wild scene where marijuana is carelessly regulated.

Retired San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara, former Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray, and retired Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Stephen Downing argue for Prop 19:

Prop 19. maintains strict criminal penalties for driving under the influence, increases penalties for providing marijuana to minor, and bans smoking it in public, on school grounds, and around minors.

Prop. 19 keeps workplaces safe by preserving the right of employers to maintain a drug-free workplace.

Outlawing marijuana hasn't stopped 100 million Americans from trying it. But we can control it, make it harder for kids to get, weaken cartels, focus police resources on violent crime, and generate billions in revenue and savings.

The pro legalization argument also highlights the negative effects of the "War on Drugs". It acknowledges that prohibition has created more crime and violence by establishing a black market. While there is $14 billion in marijuana sales every year in California, none of that goes to our debt-ridden state.

CA Prop. 19 is currently winning, 50% yes to 40% no, according to a new SurveyUSA poll of likely voters sponsored by CBS 5 KPIX-TV. There is some speculation of a slight reverse "Bradley effect," where some voters are embarrassed to openly support Prop. 19, and are claiming opposition to a live interviewer. This may explain why SurveyUSA's automatic poll, without a live interviewer, shows more support for Prop. 19.

Medical marijuana will be on the ballot in Arizona this November!

The Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project has collected more than 250,000 signatures in support of placing a medical marijuana law in the hands of Arizona voters and this week the initiative qualified for the November ballot.

 Arizona has an interesting history with medical marijuana laws.

65% of Arizona voters support removing criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana, according to a February 2009 poll. And voters have already passed medical marijuana initiatives twice in the state, in 1996 and 1998. Unfortunately, due to a technical error in the wording of these laws, they have failed to effectively protect medical marijuana patients from arrest.

The November initiative would fix these problems. 

• Allow terminally and seriously ill patients who find relief from marijuana to use it with their doctors’ approval.
• Protect these seriously ill patients from arrest and prosecution for the simple act of taking their doctor-recommended medicine.
• Permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to legally purchase their medicine from tightly regulated clinics, as they would any other medicine -- so they need not purchase it from the criminal market.
• Permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to cultivate their own marijuana for medical use if a regulated medical marijuana clinic is not located within 25 miles of the qualifying patient.
• Create registry identification cards, so that law enforcement officials could easily tell who was a registered patient, and establish penalties for false statements and fraudulent ID cards.
• Allow patients and their caregivers who are arrested to discuss their medical use in court.
• Keep commonsense restrictions on the medical use of marijuana, including prohibitions on public use of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana.

Working on this campaign is an amazing opportunity for students throughout the state. Currently there are SSDP chapters at Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University but if you are a student at another Arizona school please consider starting a chapter of SSDP and help bring effective medical marijuana legislation to Arizona. If you know any students at Arizona schools, please tell them about SSDP.

Marijuana Policy Updates from MPP

Here is a quick and useful update on the world of marijuana policy from our good friends at the Marijuana Policy Project.

As you can see, recent polling shows that only 49% of California voters support the Tax & Regulate ballot initiative meaning we have a uphill battle for the next few months. Young voters will be essential to this campaign so please make a donation to SSDP to help our efforts in CA.

Bill Maher Talks CA Legalization with Jay Leno

Bill Maher talked about California's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night.

Leno disagreed that legalization is a way to build revenue for California and cited worries of advertising drug sales to children (on a network where Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Heineken are some of the biggest advertisers) but he explained why he does agree with decriminalization.

When even the host of the Tonight Show, viewed by millions of people throughout America, doesn't think it makes sense to lock people up for using or growing marijuana and suggests decriminalizing it on his show, how much longer can this whole prohibition thing last?



At least Jay made it known to kids that if they smoke pot, they might end up a talentless loser that never has any success in life. Like Tonight Show guitarist Kevin Eubanks.

CA Assembly Committee Passes Marijuana Legalization Bill

Unfortunately, it's likely the bill won't go any further after today's monumental 4-3 victory in the Public Safety Committee. The bill needs to make it into the Health Committee before a legislative deadline this week and it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

But so what? We won! This is the first time that any legislative body in the nation has voted to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use. In October, SSDP members from SJSU and UC Berkeley attended the first hearing on the bill and participated in the public opinion, voicing their support for the bill and citing specific harms caused by marijuana prohibition.

SSDP had a strong presence at this hearing too and it was exciting to be in California's capitol as the Assembly Committee on Public Safety voted YES to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana throughout the state.


Afterward, we attended the press conference organized by law enforcement and the California Alliances for Drug Free Youth condemning the Assembly's vote. They gave a lot of scary reasons to fear legalizing pot. Some of these people are well intentioned. Others I'm not so sure about. But they're both wrong.

What I liked about AB 390 was that it would have taken tax dollars from marijuana sales and put them into drug education and prevention programs for youth. These types of programs are underfunded as it is and if they are realistic and honest (not DARE) they can make positive differences in young people's lives. So naturally it seemed absurd to me that Republican Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, who voted nay on the bill, expressed his distaste for that particular aspect of the legislation:

''We're going to legalize marijuana, we're going to tax it, and then we're going to educate our kids about the harms of drugs?'' said Gilmore, a 31-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol. ''You've got to be kidding me.''

We're not joking. But that sure is a funny position to take when we know that this is exactly what some states do with alcohol and tobacco taxes. And it works. A study at the University of Florida showed “statistically overwhelming evidence” that raising taxes on alcohol reduces the level of drinking. As alcohol gets more expensive, people will drink less frequently and drink less when they do.

Just think about that. AB 390 would impose a $50 tax per ounce! $50 per ounce folks. So not only would the price be going up dramatically and likely to increase over years but the tax dollars go toward prevention programs! Seems plain as day to me...

Check out this video for a great rundown of what happened today (you even get to see me start things off by fumbling some words!).

Iowa SSDPer Engages Senator Grassley in Op-Ed

University of Iowa SSDP chapter leader, Marni Steadham, has not only gotten an excellent Op-Ed published in the Des Moines Register, but also succeeded in eliciting a response by US Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)!

Students can play a leading role in opening up an open, honest, and rational discussion of alternatives to the failed war on drugs...in the pages of their state's largest newspaper no less!

Marni's OP-Ed does an excellent job of balancing between being too caustic/presumptuous while still challenging Sen. Grassley:

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley proposed an amendment to the bill that would prevent discussion or even examination of the possibility that drugs, including medical marijuana, should be decriminalized or legalized. Grassley's weak justification for attempting to suppress these viable policy options is: "The point is, for them to do what we tell them to do." This assertion undermines the very purpose of the commission: For experts to recommend to the Senate alternatives to our current approach to incarceration, regardless of whether these findings conflict with our current "get-tough" approach.

Sen. Grassley's response contains some head-scratching logic:

Finally, I put forward an amendment to address the issue of decriminalization and legalization of any controlled substance. I filed this amendment in an effort to start a debate on this important issue.

While his amendment has sparked some debate on the pages of the Des Moies Register and admirable actions by groups like LEAP, it's hard to see how restricting a commission from considering what is arguably the most sensible means of reducing our prison population will allow for serious consideration of this "important issue."

An examination of decriminalization or legalization in a national commission would not preclude such a discussion in Congress. In fact, it may demonstrate to many legislators the increasing evidence from either our past or from overseas that these alternatives are not only effective at reducing the harms associated with drug use, but also can keep thousands of non-violent offenders from wasting their time and our money behind bars.

It's About Time! AMA Calls for Review of Marijuana Schedule

"Our American Medical Association (AMA) urges that marijuana's status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines," the AMA's statement (PDF) reads. "This should not be viewed as an endorsement of state-based medical cannabis programs, the legalization of marijuana, or that scientific evidence on the therapeutic use of cannabis meets the current standards for a prescription drug product."

If for some reason you haven't been convinced that the marijuana legalization and regulation movement currently has more momentum than ever before, the above statement should be convincing enough. It signals the common sense understanding that at the very least, the scheduling of marijuana should allow for scientific research.

The last time the American Medical Association criticized the prohibition of marijuana was in 1937, when the plant was made illegal through the Marijuana Tax Act. The new statement comes on the heels of a medical marijuana victory in Maine and the legalization of marijuana for adults in Breckenridge, CO. Let's not forget the Gallup poll showing 44% of American's support legalizing pot and the new memo from the DoJ telling the feds to back off those in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

I don't need any more convincing - marijuana law reform is happening. I'm in Albuquerque, NM for the Drug Policy Alliance International Drug Policy Reform Conference. Getting off the plane at ABQ, I headed down to the baggage claim to see a huge blue banner welcoming the DPA conference attendees to Albuquerque. Thanks Albuquerque.

Netherlands to Close Prisons Due to Lack of Crime

A headline I hope to one day read here in the states. Just imagine it. Treating drug use/abuse as a public health issue with experts in mental health creating the policies rather than law enforcement officials and politicians that think being "tough on crime" means overcrowding our prisons with non-violent offenders, spending valuable police resources on marijuana, and spending tax payer money without significantly reducing crime.

You can often hear opponents of marijuana legalization go on and on about how the Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, are filled with crime and the reason for this is their toleration for the retail sale of marijuana in coffee shops.

In a country where new prisons and jails are being built every year - it's hard to imagine the U.S. actually having to close prisons, not because of budget crises, but because crime is down. But it looks like those wacky folks from the Netherlands, in all their supposed pot smoking glory, have done just that. In fact, they'll be closing 8 prisons due to lack of crime. Let me say that again. Lack of crime. It just sounds so nice to say.

I think it's just common sense. In Portugal where drugs have been decriminalized, we've seen reductions in not just crime but drug use! And it's important to mention that Portugal saw an increase in those seeking help for drug addiction. When you aren't stigmatized for having a problem - you're more likely to seek help for it.

Look at this recent comparison of crime and incarceration rates in New York and in California. While I don't want to make light of New York's drug laws (the Rockefeller Drug Laws have resulted in disproportionate numbers of African Americans making being incarcerated for drug offenses), the study done by Northwestern University School of Law provides even more proof that we can't just jail our way out of the drug problem.

New York's prison population declined by 9% between 1995 and 2007, while it's violent and property crime rates fell by 47% and 51%, respectively, during the same period, according to data in the report. California's prison population rose by 31% during that period, while the two types of crime declined by 46% and 38%, respectively, the report said. Northwestern adjunct professor Malcolm C. Young, the author of the report, attributes the dichotomy to the differences in the states' mandatory minimum sentences, incarceration policies and rehabilitation efforts.

"The data show that you can increase prisons and have less effect on crime than can be achieved in a state that chooses not to increase its incarceration," Malcolm said in an interview. "Treatment and rehabilitation are important, but what New York learned is that a lot of these people just don't need to be in the criminal justice system."

Lets get back to the core message of SSDP here: Education NOT Incarceration. College students that are convicted of drug possession, even first time possession of a joint, are denied federal financial aid for school.

Lets get smart about drugs. Its like Revenge of the Nerds. Sure, in the beginning the big strong jocks had muscles, cool cars and all the girls. But they were idiots and by the end it all fell apart for them and they had to make room for those that wanted change and weren't afraid to let people know about it. Policies like the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty and Marijuana Prohibition are like those jocks and SSDPers are like those awesome nerds jamming with Roland synthesizers, electric violins, and 80's hairdoos (except we wear suites and ties and engage in political process).

FBI Director Gets Schooled on Marijuana

It seems like one congressman has had just about enough of marijuana prohibition. Congressman Steven Cohen of Tennessee wasn't taking any shit when he questioned FBI director Robert Mueller on whether he thinks the drug war has been successful - considering, well you know... the violence on the Mexican border, more 10th graders now smoking marijuana than tobacco, American voters supporting legalization, our newest drug czar calling drug abuse a public health issue, Olympic superstars smoking the ganj, 2 states introducing marijuana legalization legislation - that stuff.

Mueller: "Uh, I think there have been some success..."
Cohen: "You say some success. Do you have any statistics for those successes? The statistics I have show there are more people smoking marijuana."
Mueller: "All I can say is ask the parents of a child that has died from drugs."
Cohen: "Show me the parents of a child that had died from marijuana."
Mueller: "I can't"
Cohen: "That's right - because that hasn't happened."

Oh, just watch it for yourself.

When will we get our Tax Day?

I, like many others, found myself scrambling this week to get my taxes filed on time. My home state of North Carolina is one of about 22 states that have taxes on illegal drugs. Several other states have had their illegal substances tax laws struck down in court, mostly due to their violation of the Double Jeopardy clause of the Constitution. The Reason Foundation did a really cool report on this issue last year, and DRCNet has published some good analysis about illegal substances taxes in The Chronicle.

I'm not very familiar with other state laws, but North Carolina's law was overhauled in 1995 to comply with a 1994 Supreme Court ruling, Montana v. Kurth Ranch, which struck down Montana's tax on illegal drugs. Some of the changes include ensuring that the purpose of the tax is generating revenue and not punishment, revising the tax structure to ensure the tax is never more than the retail value of the drug, and creating a smaller tax rate for unusable parts of the marijuana plant such as seeds and stalks. If you're interested in a more detailed explanation, check out this PDF.

The changes to NC's tax law were good changes. They represent very commonsense elements that should be involved in drug taxes, except for one very crucial point. You must be arrested to be subject to this tax. It's a testimony to how absurd our public policy regarding drugs is when just about the only people in the country who actually ask to be taxed are given such strong legal incentive not to pay.

The ideal solution is to legalize all drugs and collect the taxes from the peaceful, legal transactions. Check out LEAP's report by Jeffrey Miron of Harvard University which estimates that the tax revenue from legal drugs combined with the no longer having to pay to enforce current drug laws, will create a gross increase of about 76.8 billion dollars a year. That is roughly equal to the Department of Health and Human Service's entire budget. With that money, we could double what we spend on treatment and prevention programs, and still have money left over.

13 Year Old American Teenagers Recruited as Assassins for Mexican Drug Cartel

Rosalio Reta and his friend, Gabriel Cardona, were members of a three-person cell of American teenagers working as cartel hit men in the United States, according to prosecutors.

...In interviews with CNN, Laredo police detectives and prosecutors told how Cardona and Reta were recruited by the cartel to be assassins after they began hitting the cantinas and clubs just across the border. [CNN]

The Mexican drug cartel, fueled by the constant demand for illicit drugs and armed with guns supplied by America has unsurprisingly been recruiting American teenagers to fight their bloody battles, starting as early as 13 years old.

Both teenagers received six-month military-style training on a Mexican ranch. Investigators say Cardona and Reta were paid $500 a week each as a retainer, to sit and wait for the call to kill. Then they were paid up to $50,000 and 2 kilos of cocaine for carrying out a hit.

The teenagers lived in several safe houses around Laredo and drove around town in a $70,000 Mercedes-Benz.

So let’s get this straight. They have our guns, they have our money, they supply us with our drugs, they control our border, and now they have more power over our kids than parents ever would. I doubt you’d find a parent out there who’d be willing to pay their child $500 a week for sitting around, though at this point, maybe they should start looking into it.

I hate to be repetitive in my posts, but how are people not panicking? Do they not understand the idea of cause and effect, or do they need their North American geography refreshed?

There are sleeper cells in the U.S.," said Detective Garcia. "They're here, they're here in the United States.

Think about it, what else could the cartel sell that would give them so much easy money and an overwhelming amount of control? Chocolate candy bars? I don’t think so. Everyone wants drugs. No matter how many “Just Say No” campaigns we may feed our tax dollars into, we will not be able to turn American into a “drug free” nation. Instead, we need to legalize, regulate, control, and educate the public about the real harms drugs can cause and how to use responsibly if they’re going to use.

The solution is right in front of us, but some of us are too scared to even talk about it. Unfortunately at this point, there's so much more to be scared about than the word "legalization".

Dare to Act!

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is demanding that Dr. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, give his explanation of a well known fact. In the Netherlands, where adults are allowed to buy and use marijuana, rates of use are actually lower than that of the United States. Significantly lower.

His explanation? Well... he's not quite ready to provide one. At least not one that the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union finds satifactory. Dr. Fredrick Polick, a dutch psychiatrist and leading European drug policy reformer, has asked Costa for his explanation on 4 occasions now.

The HCLU has created created a pretty nifty website to draw attention to this issue. I think you'll especially enjoy the personal introduction from Dr. Polick! You'll find descriptions and video for Polick's 4 "rounds" of questions and a 5th round asking you to put Costa on the spot next.

In 2008, Costa promised to publish a study that explains and provides evidence for his "availability increases use" theory. He's yet to publish it, but that doesn't mean he isn't working on it - SSDP is looking forward to reading it.

Deadly Disaster in Mexico

I think people put it best when they say we'll need to end the drug war soon enough out of pure necessity. Take, for instance, this video of what's going on in Mexico:



More than 5,300 people were killed in drug cartel violence last year. Reporters are rightfully horrified to have their name linked to any Mexican drug cartel story. Innocent children are being maliciously slain. The Texas Guard has gone on high alert for the first time in history.

Yet, when asked on Fox News why the people in Mexico are protesting the army that was sent out to supposedly help them, Senator Dan Patrick of Texas replies,

"Well, we believe Bill, that it's the drug cartels who paid the people to protest."

Ignorant? Pathetic? Too horrified to face the truth? Who knows. What we do know is that if Mexico doesn't legalize and regulate drugs soon and take away the drug cartel's major source of power, there will be no way out.

The National Drug Intelligence Center has already concluded in its National Drug Threat Assessment 2009 that "Mexico drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States."

Lawmakers in Texas are currently worrying about a flood of Mexican refugees attempting to escape the violence pouring into their state, but nobody really seems to know what to do.

"This violence is happening because the [Felipe] Calderon administration is doing the right thing by cracking down on powerful drug cartels," Kudwa said in a statement. "The cartels are, predictably, fighting back to protect their lucrative criminal livelihood..."[Fox News]

How can people continue to blatantly overlook the solution and honestly believe that the violent tactics being used are the "right thing" to do? Obviously these tactics are failing everyone except for the drug cartels. Obviously we need to come up with a better plan. Obviously, we need to talk legalization.

LEAP Cop Wins Suit After Being Fired for Criticizing Drug War

Check this out! This is LEAP's press release (verbatim) regarding this awesome victory for free speech!

SEATTLE, WA -- A Mountlake Terrace police sergeant who was fired after publicly criticizing the "war on drugs" has reached an $812,500 settlement in a lawsuit he filed against the city and police department, among others. Under the settlement, Sergeant Jonathan Wender has been reinstated on the force and is eligible to receive back pay and full retirement benefits.

“In an open society, people on the front lines of the criminal justice system have an ethical duty to speak out on controversial social and legal issues that affect the public we serve," said Sgt. Wender, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a 10,000-strong organization representing police, prosecutors, judges and others who fought on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and who now want to legalize and regulate drugs. "The public has a fundamental right to know which laws and policies are effective, and which ones aren’t; and they should expect that their police officers will speak the truth even when it isn’t popular or comfortable to do so. I hope that the outcome of this case will help reassure police and other public officials that they can speak freely on controversial topics such as the urgent need to seek better ways to deal with the crisis of drugs that plagues American society.”

Sgt. Wender joined the police force in 1990 after graduating from college and was terminated in 2005. He holds a Pd.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently a full-time sociology professor at the University of Washington. As part of the settlement, Sgt. Wender is back on the payroll at the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, where he will serve on administrative leave until he retires from the force on November 10, 2010 and can then qualify for his full pension.

"Jonathan Wender's victory is ours, as well. As was his fight," said Norm Stamper, the retired Seattle police chief and LEAP member. "Because of this fine man's courage and perseverance, and his willingness to tell the truth about the 'drug war,' we've all moved closer to putting an end to that war. I believe police officers across the country will be moved by Jonathan's example, and will raise their voices in support of LEAP's goal of ending drug prohibition."

The lawsuit was filed against the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office, the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, the City of Mountlake Terrace, the City of Lynnwood, and a handful of individual defendants.

For more information about LEAP, please contact Tom Angell at (202) 557-4979 or media@leap.cc

El Paso Can't Decide if it's OK to Talk About Drug Legalization

By now you are probably aware of the recent resolution, written and passed by the El Paso city council, that included an amendment encouraging that ending drug prohibition be discussed. The resolution was aimed at addressing and drawing attention to the rising violence occurring in the city of Juárez, Mexico which borders El Paso, Texas.

After passing unanimously, the resolution was quickly vetoed by El Paso mayor John Cook, who reasoned that "It is not realistic to believe that the U.S. Congress will seriously consider any broad-based debate on the legalization of narcotics," Cook added. "That position is not consistent with the community standards both locally and nationally."

Cook goes on to say "The whole purpose of the resolution was to get national attention to the violence in Juárez," he said. "After it was amended, the focus was placed instead on legalizing drugs in the United States."

I disagree and think that had the amendment not been added, no one would have heard of this resolution and little more attention would have been drawn to the prohibition related violence in Juárez. Beto O'Rourke, the city councilman that added the amendment, speaks quite eloquently about the purpose of bringing legalization into the discussion. He makes it very clear that the council did not vote in support of legalization, but in support of evaluating the relationship between the rise of violence in Juárez and U.S. drug policy.

More than 20 people have already been killed in Juárez since the new year started. The details of these murders are so grotesque and frightening, it's hard to believe the Mayor wouldn't even support the discussion of drug decriminalization.

The council is set to vote on an override of the veto this Tuesday.

The El Paso Times has an article on the vote and a follow up opinion in support of the council's vote. Be sure to weigh in on the comments section and also to vote YES on the poll located near the end of this article. LEAP's Terry Nelson had an excellent op-ed printed in the El Paso times. Again, please leave comments of support for the resolution, Terry Nelson's op-ed, and while your at it, throw in a mention of your favorite student drug policy reform organization.

In an unrelated story, El Paso's "most wanted fugitive" is:

EL PASO -- A 23-year-old man who was arrested for shoplifting at Wal-Mart while eating potato wedges and popcorn chicken he didn't pay for, is the most-wanted fugitive this week, an El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.