UMD Keeps on Rockin'

My apologies for not getting this post up sooner. University of Maryland SSDP is always setting a great example for SSDP chapters to follow and recently they have added another notch under their belts.

Stacia Cosner and gang succeeded in getting a resolution passed in their Student Government asking the administration to make marijuana penalties equal to that of underage drinking. That is a huge step in this ongoing battle to end a rather ignorant policy.

Heres what Stacia had to say:

Many of you are familiar with the ongoing battle we have been fighting here at UMD to get the changes implemented from our SAFER initiative, passed in April 2006 with 65% of the student body vote. The administration has instructed us to go through difficult, confusing, bureaucratic red tape in order to officially get our changes in place. I'll spare you all of the ridiculous details surrounding our efforts of the past two years. Long story short - this is one huge step in our quest - as now it is going to be almost impossible for the administrators to brush us off any longer! Please check out an Op-Ed that one of our chapter members, Rebecca Ogle, got published last week, it eloquently states what the resolution was concerning: "Sensibility on Cannabis"

The RHA win was and is a huge victory and cause for celebration for us, but it was just a huge step, towards the ultimate goal of ACTUALLY reflecting what the students want in our school's policies. Now, the process begins with the administration.

If the administration blocks these changes at this point, they are blatantly ignoring the students' will . And we - as students - will not stand for that!

Damn Straight. Good luck guys.

Live Free or Die.

New Hampshire's HB 774 would legalize the use of medical marijuana for patients throughout the state.

Check out Live Free's new website for more information about HB 774 and how you can help.

For many New Hampshire residents, HB 774 gives literal meaning to the motto "Live Free or Die".

Rise in Drug Raids

Of all the aspects of the drug war that bother me nothing frightens and enrages me more than the SWAT tactics associated with no-knock drug raids. It is nothing new for most of us who have read Radley Balko's Overkill or spent some time viewing the Drug War Victim's memorial page, that drug raids are often extremely dangerous. Often resulting in traumatized children and families, wrong addresses, and deaths of innocent civilians and police officers as well.

Look at this story focusing on Passaic County, New Jersey, where law enforcement officers from city, county, state and federal agencies have escalated their raids on homes in an attempt to crack down on narcotics. From 2001 to 2006, the number of warrants authorizing such raids more than tripled. Heres is an audio file from victims of one such Paterson raid, in which they describe the shooting of their family dog by raiding SWAT officers.

The raid was one of more than 350 search warrants executed in Passaic County in 2004. In their efforts to crack down on the Paterson-area drug trade, law enforcement officers from city, county, state and federal agencies have escalated their raids on homes, sometimes using heavily armed units to batter down doors and tear through residents' belongings as they search for stored contraband. The number of houses and apartments Paterson Police Department's narcotics bureau entered also tripled during that period; in 2006 city police obtained warrants to search 162 homes.

Local raids have resulted in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of millions of dollars in cash and illegal drugs. They have also left a wake of traumatized innocents -- children, seniors, neighbors and visitors who happened to be present during a search. Despite the Fourth Amendment's safeguard against "unreasonable searches and seizures," residents have few protections during the course of a raid, legal experts say.

Please read this full investigation by Suzanne Travers. It goes into great detail about the after effects of these raids on American's and in particular the children that are involved. Its also talks about incidents in which non-violent teens was smashed in the face with the butt of a rifle and then told to lie about it, saying it was a coffee table that did the damage.

It seems the police can do anything they want when drugs are the excuse. Nothing frightens me more than the idea of having my house raided at 4am because an informant with everything to lose rats me out to save his/her own ass. I just find it disgusting really. No amount of drug use or possession justifies such actions in the privacy of our homes.

Reformers beat DEA in court. What now?

A few weeks ago the DEA's administrative law judge ruled that the federal government's monopoly on growing marijuana for research purposes is unnecessary, harmful, and should end. The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by UMass-Amherst professor Lyle Craker, who wants to grow research grade marijuana for medical trials. Of course, the DEA doesn't like that; but their own law judge disagrees.

Unfortunately, DEA is totally free to disregard the judge's ruling and maintain the government's marijuana monopoly. It will be interesting to see what will happen now that the ball is in the DEA's hands, especially if Congress gets involved and exerts some pressure.

This is a somewhat complicated case, but the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) does a good job of explaining everything in this podcast. Give it a listen, whydontcha?

A full background on the case is here.

Doctors oppose drug testing (big surprise!)

In a move that is sure to shock the nationwide community of drug testing supporters, who are either

• completely lacking common sense or
  
• financially interested in what has become a booming drug testing industry,

the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report condemning drug testing of youngsters today.

It's baffling enough that people can continue to support the policy of prohibition despite its very obvious track record of failure and counter-productivity. Yet, I can understand how a person who isn't much interested in public policy or in drugs (both of which are significant areas of study for me and many others in the drug policy reform movement) could reach the conclusion that repealing drug prohibition would bring about harm to society, as demonstrably false as it may be.

However, I cannot fathom how people could take the very down-to-earth example of drug testing, which deals with issues like their own children and communities, and not see how dangerous this practice is.

I am aware of no serious medical groups who have sanctioned the practice. In fact, I have never heard a sensible argument for it whatsoever!

I took the liberty of emailing Steven Steiner of DAMMADD, who has previously made pro-testing comments, asking him what he thinks:

Hello Mr. Steiner. Long time no speak.

As a drug policy reformer and user of some drugs which are currently illegal, it goes without saying that I disagree with much of your ideas regarding our State and Nation's drug laws.

However, I am curious about how you might feel about the recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics advising parents against student drug testing.

Even if you support the drug war generally, are you open to the possibility that testing young people for drugs can have disastrously counter-productive consequences?

Thanks and let's try to keep the lines of communication open.

SSDP Files Amicus Brief

On Wednesday Students for Sensible Drug Policy officially took action to defend students' rights in a brief filed in the most important Supreme Court case ever to deal with student free speech about drugs and drug policy. SSDP filed an Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) brief in the Supreme Court case of Morse v Frederick, better known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. Read the brief at http://www.ssdp.org/ssdp-scotus-bh4j.pdf

While this case started out with a student being punished for displaying an absurd banner, the potential consequences of the Supreme Court's decision are far from a laughing matter. The school district, represented pro bono by Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr, is arguing for a blanket prohibition on any student speech about drugs. They argue that schools should be able to ban speech that is "inconsistent with the mission of the school to promote healthy lifestyles (including at every turn to combat substance abuse)." If the Supreme Court adopts this standard, principals could legally prevent students from forming SSDP chapters at their high schools!

Filing a Supreme Court brief is expensive for a small non-profit such as ours. Our printing and filing fees for this brief will cost up to $1,500. We are willing to take this money out of our budget because of the importance of this case, but are asking our supporters to help offset the cost by making a generous contribution to SSDP today at http://www.ssdp.org/donate/

Daigling the SSDP table at the NH Liberty Forum

We're here at the Liberty Forum in New Hampshire.

When I arrived, the SSDP table was barren. So:





....I'll have some more pictures in a little while.

Rob Kampia just arrived; we're expecting Jack Cole any minute.

Check out my blog for more info about this conference.

Souder Gets Burnt.

Congressman Mark Souder of Indiana, the man behind the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty made a fool of himself on Tucker Carlson's show.

Attempting to defend the ONDCP's failed anti-marijuana propaganda ads, Tucker Carlson catches the congressman in a lie. Souder adds some extra stink to his usual bullshit with this:

"Furthermore, the THC content of BC Bud, Quebec Gold and this marijuana that's currently on the streets isn't like the Cheech and Chong marijuana. It's more like cocaine."

Once Souder says marijuana is like cocaine, Carlson is on his ass like white on, well... cocaine:

Carlson: ... and how many people died from marijuana overdoses last year?

Souder: Uh, if you count the, uh, uh, amount of crime associated with marijuana...

Carlson: No, no, just marijuana overdoses. Just the drug itself, which you said is like cocaine now. How many people died from it?

Souder: Uh, I don't, I don't, uh. 65 percent of emergency room admissions for drug abuse are marijuana.

Carlson: Huh. OK. But did anyone die that you know of?

Souder: Uh, presumably so, thousands have died, the only question is, you said "overdose" --that isn't even most of the deaths related to prescription drug or to cocaine or heroin -- there's a whole range of drug crimes and so on. I don't know the number of overdose. Marijuana is often managed ah, with meth -- no drug user is a single drug user so marijuana is often in the mix of most deaths so it would be very hard to separate what's what. A marijuana user is very seldom just a casual marijuana user, ah, except in the early stages, they're often gonna polydrug.

Carlson: Yeah. OK. I'm not endorsing drugs, but I know a lot of casual marijuana users, so, that's wrong.

Souder even points to the fact that it is the crime associated with marijuana that causes deaths. That crime is in fact associated with pot prohibition. A plant cannot commit crimes.

Mr. Souder, what a poor argument you have put up for marijuana prohibition. It was down right pathetic. Your lying makes drug use even more dangerous to teens. Teens know marijuana is not going to kill them. When you lie and say marijuana today is more like cocaine compared to the marijuana you smoked in college, do you seriously think that will be a deterrent to drug use?
Your misinformation is a gateway drug. Grow up Congressman. Your not half as mature as the thousands of young students that won't be returning to school next year because of you.

A one minute reminder...

...that sanity still exists in some small parts of this increasingly mad and dangerous world.



What's important to note about this video isn't what you see - it's what you don't see. You don't see well-armed paramilitaries raiding the shop and bringing these peaceful people to jail. You don't see well-armed drug dealers shooting it out with other well-armed drug dealers in order to protect their obscenely large illicit profits. And you don't see anyone giving a damn about how this gentleman chooses to spend his pocket change on a sunny afternoon.

What you do see is a man walking into a store with a processed piece of plant matter stamped with government-issued ink and walking out with another piece of plant matter stamped with government-issued stigma. How advanced of a civilization can we be if we still treat this simple, innocuous act the same way we treat those who rape and murder?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to replay this video and dance a little bit to "Dancing in the Moonlight."

Is the Drug War a military recruitment tool?

While people with drug convictions are not able to get federal financial aid for college, the military is increasingly happy to welcome them into the ranks.

Folks who are outraged over the unfair and harmful student aid elimination penalty can easily take action at http://www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com/aid/