White House Czar Calls for End to ‘War on Drugs’

 

The following is an article from the Wall Street Journal on Thursday May 14,2009 

 

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting “a war on drugs,” a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation’s drug issues.

“Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” he said. “We’re not at war with people in this country.”

Mr. Kerlikowske’s comments are a signal that the Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate — and likely more controversial — stance on the nation’s drug problems. Prior administrations talked about pushing treatment and reducing demand while continuing to focus primarily on a tough criminal-justice approach.

The Obama administration is likely to deal with drugs as a matter of public health rather than criminal justice alone, with treatment’s role growing relative to incarceration, Mr. Kerlikowske said.

Already, the administration has called for an end to the disparity in how crimes involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine are dealt with. Critics of the law say it unfairly targeted African-American communities, where crack is more prevalent.

The administration also said federal authorities would no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states where voters have made medical marijuana legal. Agents had previously done so under federal law, which doesn’t provide for any exceptions to its marijuana prohibition.

During the presidential campaign, President Barack Obama also talked about ending the federal ban on funding for needle-exchange programs, which are used to stem the spread of HIV among intravenous-drug users.

The drug czar doesn’t have the power to enforce any of these changes himself, but Mr. Kerlikowske plans to work with Congress and other agencies to alter current policies. He said he hasn’t yet focused on U.S. policy toward fighting drug-related crime in other countries.

 

Mr. Kerlikowske was most recently the police chief in Seattle, a city known for experimenting with drug programs. In 2003, voters there passed an initiative making the enforcement of simple marijuana violations a low priority. The city has long had a needle-exchange program and hosts Hempfest, which draws tens of thousands of hemp and marijuana advocates.

Seattle currently is considering setting up a project that would divert drug defendants to treatment programs.

Mr. Kerlikowske said he opposed the city’s 2003 initiative on police priorities. His officers, however, say drug enforcement — especially for pot crimes — took a back seat, according to Sgt. Richard O’Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. One result was an open-air drug market in the downtown business district, Mr. O’Neill said.

“The average rank-and-file officer is saying, ‘He can’t control two blocks of Seattle, how is he going to control the nation?’ ” Mr. O’Neill said.

Sen. Tom Coburn, the lone senator to vote against Mr. Kerlikowske, was concerned about the permissive attitude toward marijuana enforcement, a spokesman for the conservative Oklahoma Republican said.

 

Others said they are pleased by the way Seattle police balanced the available options. “I think he believes there is a place for using the criminal sanctions to address the drug-abuse problem, but he’s more open to giving a hard look to solutions that look at the demand side of the equation,” said Alison Holcomb, drug-policy director with the Washington state American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Kerlikowske said the issue was one of limited police resources, adding that he doesn’t support efforts to legalize drugs. He also said he supports needle-exchange programs, calling them “part of a complete public-health model for dealing with addiction.”

Mr. Kerlikowske’s career began in St. Petersburg, Fla. He recalled one incident as a Florida undercover officer during the 1970s that spurred his thinking that arrests alone wouldn’t fix matters.

“While we were sitting there, the guy we’re buying from is smoking pot and his toddler comes over and he blows smoke in the toddler’s face,” Mr. Kerlikowske said. “You go home at night, and you think of your own kids and your own family and you realize” the depth of the problem.

Since then, he has run four police departments, as well as the Justice Department’s Office of Community Policing during the Clinton administration.

Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports legalization of medical marijuana, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about Mr. Kerlikowske. “The analogy we have is this is like turning around an ocean liner,” he said. “What’s important is the damn thing is beginning to turn.”

James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest law-enforcement labor organization, said that while he holds Mr. Kerlikowske in high regard, police officers are wary.

“While I don’t necessarily disagree with Gil’s focus on treatment and demand reduction, I don’t want to see it at the expense of law enforcement. People need to understand that when they violate the law there are consequences.”

My Opinion: Corporate Environmentalism

As I discussed in my last post, I think it is very important for everyone to take individual steps towards helping our environment. These little things truly do make a big difference. However, if individuals have the power to make a difference, imagine the power large corporations and businesses have. I strongly support companies and businesses who are environmentally friendly. 

For this blog post, I would like to put the spotlight on a local Pittsburgh attraction that I feel is doing an amazing job at giving back to the environment and could be a great model for other businesses to follow- Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. 

Phipps is one of the world’s “greenest” conservatories. This is apparent in things you can see and in things that go on behind the scenes. 

On a recent visit, I stopped in the Cafe at Phipps to have lunch. I was impressed by a number of things here. First, instead of tradition plastic forks, spoons, and knives, there was Spud-Ware. Spud-Ware is sustainable plastic ware made from all edible, natural products, such as potato starch. There was also regular silverware offered for those dining in. The napkins were from post-consumer material, as were the plastic drinking cups. 

The second thing that impressed me was apparent when I went to throw my trash away. Instead of traditional trash cans, there was a series of four bins lining the wall. Each had a label on top of it. The first bin was for regular trash. The second two were for biodegradable items (leftover food, spud-ware, etc.). The last one was for recyclables (bottles, cans, etc.) 

I was impressed by what I immediately saw, such as the things in the Cafe, and decided to do some research, figuring that Phipps was probably even greener than what met the eye. That theory was correct. Upon doing a little research on Phipps website, it’s easy to see how it is among the “greenest” conservatory in the world. I copied the list of green things Phipps does according to their website and put them here: 

 

Tropical Forest Conservatory

Advanced Computer Control

• Anticipatory computer controlled weather and temperature reacting system
• Maximum energy and irrigation efficiency
• Smoother, more uniform growing conditions
• Better plant quality and uniformity
• Precise equipment control and advanced data recording system

Earth Tubes

• Totally passive cooling replaces need for HVAC
• Six 24″ diameter, 300′ long concrete tubes are installed at 15 feet below grade, where the temperature is a steady 55 degrees year round
• Hot outside air cools as it travels through the underground tubes and into the conservatory
• Vacuum created by hot air exiting the roof vents pulls the cooled air into conservatory

Energy Blankets

• Prevent convective and radiant heat loss
• Provide shade in summer and thermal insulation in winter
• Guided electronically by weather station link
• Argus computer controlled

Fuel Cell

• First fuel cell in the world in a conservatory
• Siemens & PA state funded prototype
• Reduced emissions minimize contribution to global warming
• No nitrous or sulfur dioxide

Radical Roof Design

• North sloping roof allows for insulated double-pane roof glass
• Half of the 12,000 sf roof opens to eliminate the “greenhouse effect”
• Vents are Argus computer controlled

Symbiotic Heating Systems

• Thermal massing interior concrete walls collect solar energy and release the heat at night
• Radiant root zone heating for plants allows for lower ambient air temperature
• Radiant floor heat for visitors
• Green roof over support facilities

WELCOME CENTER

At a Glance

• Historically sensitive design to highlight the original Victorian conservatory
• Green roof insulates to save energy
• Sidewalk snowmelt system uses waste-steam heat from greenhouses
• Low-flow water fixtures and waterless urinals
• Fritted sunscreen in dome reduces solar heat gain
• Innovative computerized dome venting saves on A/C costs
• Computer controlled interior environment tied into weather station
• Drought resistant lawn, environmentally friendly lawn maintenance
• Biodiesel powered maintenance equipment
• FSC-certified wood used in construction
• 100% wind powered electricity

First LEED^®-certified visitor’s center in a public garden

• A high performance building
• Energy efficient
• Water efficient
• Local and sustainable construction material
• Improved indoor environmental quality
• Sustainable site development

Café at Phipps

• Features local and organic foods
• Natural light in an underground space
• Compostable corn-based food serviceware
• Biodegradable recycled paper products
• Café pre-consumer waste vermicomposted and used in gardens

Composting

• Composting program for all pre- and post-consumer food and food serviceware waste.
• Allegheny County Health Department grant provided two Nature Mill composting units for employee kitchens
• Café Phipps plans to compost all pre-consumer food leftovers in a Worm Bungalow
• Serves as an effective soil amendment
• Keeps waste out of landfills
• Phipps offers classes and free public programs in composting

Landscape

• Drought-resistant grass reduces water consumption by 81 percent
• Transplanted two mature dawn redwood trees, Metasequoia glyptostryboides, estimated to weigh 110,000 pounds each, located in the future construction site.
• Watered only when necessary using a high-efficiency drip irrigation system
• Efficient drip irrigation system in entrance beds
• Sustainable plant beds require no supplemental irrigation
• Open grid parking area maximizes permeable surface area

Green Rooftops

• Retain about 50 percent of rainfall in the water table instead of being channeled into the sewer system
• Keep the building cool and reduce the heat island effect caused by wide areas of concrete and pavement
• Last three times as long as standard roofs because temperature variations are reduced and exposure to harmful UV radiation is eliminated

High-efficiency Bathroom Fixtures

• Save between 40,000 and 45,000 gallons of water each year

Integrated Pest Management

• Uses an array of complementary methods:
  • Natural predators and parasites
  • Pest-resistant plant varieties
  • Cultural practices
  • Biological controls
  • Various physical techniques
  • Strategic use of pesticides

Low- and No-VOCs

• Low-volatile organic compound materials were used in construction, creating a safer work environment
• Environmentally-friendly paints, adhesives, sealants, carpets, and woods are used throughout the facility

No HCFCs

• Refrigeration and fire suppression systems use no Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) or halons, which contribute to ozone depletion

Reusing Building Materials

• Much of the construction materials are from recycled content or were manufactured or extracted regionally
• Leftover materials donated to Construction Junction, a Pittsburgh-based retail store for used and surplus building materials

Smart Lighting

• Designed to maximize interior daylight
• Outside lights point downward, thus reducing night sky pollution

Wind Power

• Does not deplete natural resources or create hazardous waste

That’s a lot of stuff! If more places implemented just a few of the energy saving and green policies Phipps uses, we could truly accomplish something great for our planet. Perhaps one of the reasons more companies don’t do this is lack of public interest. If the public is still patronizing non-green businesses and companies, they really have no reason to change. Which is why we need to speak up, on Earth Day and every day, and let our opinion be heard. I would encourage you to try to only patronize places which care about the environment when possible. Let CEO’s know that you do care about what it happening to the environment and that there are easy ways to make a difference. Thanks, Phipps, for being such a great example of environmental friendliness; here’s to hoping many places eventually follow in your footsteps. 

Steps I’m Taking for Earth Day

Did you know that Earth Day is the largest secular holiday, celebrated by more than 175 countries and half a billion people each year? The holiday was begun in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S senator at the time. He wanted to start a grassroots approach to awareness of the environment; he never could have imagined how popular and influential his holiday would eventually become. Even the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, was wildly successful, with 20 million Americans participating. This marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Earth Day is now coordinated by the Earth Day network, which can be found here. 

Taking care of our environment makes good sense. The earth is ours to use for resources, but at the same time, we should have a sort of mutual respect for it. The earth gives to us- energy, water, food, resources, et al- and we should give back to it. 

Giving back is simple. There are so many small things you can do to make a big difference. I think, however, that the main reason many of us do not change our habits is lack of convenience. It is easier for us to continue using our old light bulbs, to toss the plastic water bottle in the trash, and to drive down the street instead of walking. This is why today, on Earth Day, I would encourage you to take a few simple steps to make the process of becoming environmentally friendly easier for you. Here are a few examples. 

Yesterday, I made a trip to Target. I always want to recycle, but I always end up throwing things away because it’s easier that way. To solve this, I bought some plastic handled totes at Target to keep around in various places. My plan is to keep one in my car and one in my house and to place recyclable items such as paper and empty bottles in them. If this is just as easy to access as my trash can, I should have no problems with recycling. The closest recycling center to me is the one located at Ikea, so that’s where I’ll take my plastic totes (which are also really easy to carry around) every week. 

Also, I want to stop using so many plastic water bottles. Being a college student, I typically buy a case of bottled water every week or two. I don’t refill them because I feel the water from my sink is unclean. However, I have wasted an enormous amount of plastic through this practice. When I go home for the summer, it will be much easier to stop using bottles because I will have access to a fridge with a built in water filter. When I move back out again, I plan to buy a Brita water pitcher and some re-usable bottles to drastically reduce the amount of plastic I consume. 

These are just a few things I’m doing, and I encourage you to take small steps of your own to give back to the environment. The environment is not inexhaustible; we need to take care of it now so it can continue to take care of us later.

Will Wilkinson Smokes Pot. And he likes it.

“The answer is no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy.” President Obama said it with a chuckle last week at a town hall-style forum. The idea was for Obama to answer some questions about the economy submitted to the White House website. The most popular ones all had something to do with the virtues of legalizing and taxing marijuana. “I don’t know what this says about the online audience,” Obama joshed, and the good Americans assembled at the forum shared a little laugh. What does it say about the online audience? Maybe it says that advocates of marijuana legalization have hope that a president who once inhaled will, even in the middle of a recession, devote some attention to our country’s disastrous drug policies.

Have you heard of Santiago Meza Lopez? They call him “The Soupmaker.” In January he confessed to Mexican authorities that he had dissolved over 300 dead human bodies in acid. There’s a lot of money to be made in America’s black market for drugs and Mexican suppliers are willing to kill a lot of people to control those markets and capture the gains. Conservative estimates put the death toll of the war between rival Mexican gangs at over 5,000 in the last year alone. When you kill so many people it’s hard to know what to do with all of the rotting bodies. One way to handle the problem is to call in the Soupmaker. Six hundred American dollars per corpse.

Did you know that the United States of America, the Land of the Free, puts a larger portion of its population behind bars than any country on earth? Thanks in large part to the War on Drugs, Americans lock more of their own in cages than do the thuggish Russians or those “Islamofascist” Saudis. As it happens, American drug prohibition and sentencing policies hit poor black men the hardest, devastating already disadvantaged black families and communities—a tragic, mocking contrast to the achievement of Obama’s election. Militarized police departments across the nation month after month kick down the wrong doors, terrify innocent families, shoot lawful citizens, and often kill the family dog.

So why is Obama laughing? To be fair, in 2004, Obama called the War on Drugs “a complete failure.” And he’s much saner about pot than most politicians. He has in the past called for decriminalization of marijuana and his Justice Department has promised the DEA will ease up on medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law (though the Feds just cracked down on a cannabis coop in San Francisco). Sure, Obama’s got a lot on his hands these days. But his dismissive snicker reflects a sadly common nonchalance toward America’s disastrous experiment in prohibition. This is a “war” that has not only failed utterly to shut down the market for drugs, but has, on the way, perpetuated the shameful American legacy of racial stratification, eroded the rights and safety of American citizens, and fomented a civil war on our southern border in which knock-on markets for assassins and corpse liquidation specialists flourish. To call this “complete failure” is to put on a happy face.

Barack Obama inhaled. “The point was to inhale,” he once smartly observed. But Obama also knows how to get elected president. Sadly, at this point in history, it remains a political liability to have become intoxicated on certain safe but illegal and stigmatized substances, like marijuana. Obama has said his past drug use was a regrettable youthful indiscretion, and he might even believe it. But why regret it? He managed to become president, didn’t he? It’s easy to laugh off the folks who jammed the White House switchboard when we imagine them as pranking “stoners,” and this picture of “the online audience” concedes the harmlessness of marijuana users while refusing to take them seriously. But why not imagine them as regular folks motivated by a love of liberty, justice, peace, and, sure, maybe a taste for grass? Why not imagine them as successful professionals, unlike Barack Obama only in political ambition?

Marijuana is neither evil nor dangerous. Scientists have proven its medical uses. It has spared millions from anguish. But the casual pleasure marijuana has delivered is orders of magnitude greater than the pain it has assuaged, and pleasure matters too. That’s probably why Barack Obama smoked up the second and third times: because he liked it. That’s why tens of millions of Americans regularly take a puff, despite the misconceived laws meant to save us from our own wickedness.

The Atlantic Monthly’s Andrew Sullivan has been documenting on his blog the stories of typical, productive Americans—kids’ football coaches, secretaries of the PTA—who smoke marijuana because they like to smoke marijuana, but who understandably fear emerging fully from the “cannabis closet.” This is a profoundly necessary idea. If we’re to begin to roll back our stupid and deadly drug war, the stigma of responsible drug use has got to end, and marijuana is the best place to start. The super-savvy Barack Obama managed to turn a buck by coming out of the cannabis (and cocaine) closet in a bestselling memoir. That’s progress. But his admission came with the politicians’ caveat of regret. We’ll make real progress when solid, upstanding folk come out of the cannabis closet, heads held high.

So here we go. My name is Will Wilkinson. I smoke marijuana, and I like it.”

I think this is a great article, certainly one well worth reading. I found it on the Cato website, though it originally appeared in The Week magazine. I was going to publish an article about Obama’s stance on marijuana, but Will has done an excellent job of doing that already in this article, so I might as well let him speak for me. Will Wilkinson smokes weed, and he likes it. 

My Opinion: It’s High Time to Legalize Marijuana

I blogged yesterday about why  drugs should be legalized. I firmly stand behind that, however, I realize that is something that has no likely chance of coming to fruition in the next few years. Marijuana, on the other hand, has a higher chance of being legalized sooner, and certainly should be. The fact that this drug is illegal baffles my mind , and the minds of many others. If marijuana is legalized, it in and of its self will be a great battle won, and will also be the first battle needed to win the war for drug legalization. Even those who do not vouch for full drug legalization often vouch for marijuana legalization. It seems to me that anyone thinking logically will come to the same conclusion: legalize marijuana. 

Yesterday was April 20, or 420, know by everyone the least bit involved with drug subculture as national marijuana day. The term 420 came into use in 1971 at San Rafael High School in California when students began meeting after school at 4:20 pm to openly smoke weed. Today, the event is observed by drug users who often meet en masse to smoke up and prove a point. We want marijuana legalized. 

In honor of 420, I think its appropriate to debunk some perhaps common marijuana myths. Here is a link to an official website which debunks all these myths and more with greater detail than I will go into here. 

First, marijuana is far less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol. In the realm of illicit drugs, it is by far the safest.  Some reasons: 

1. Marijuana is non-addictive. You do not become dependent on it and cannot become an addict. Pot smokers continue to smoke up because they enjoy it, not because they are incapable of stopping. 

2. You cannot overdose and die from marijuana use. Using more than a normal does only acts as a stronger hallucinogen. There is no permanent damage. 

3. Marijuana is healthier than cigarettes. While it contains some chemicals, these are far less abundant than the ones in cigarettes or chewing tobacco. Remember, weed is just that- a weed. It’s a natural plant substance. 

4. Marijuana has strong validity as a medicine. Anti-marijuana advocates may say that people use the excuse of marijuana as medicine for a reason to smoke up, but this is untrue. Marijuana has been proven time and time again to have medicinal benefits. 

 

Essentially, marijuana is something that makes people feel good, just like alcohol or cigarettes. There are only two differences: marijuana comes without harmful side effects and possibility of addiction; and marijuana is illegal. 

There are thousands of marijuana users in the United States. Marijuana use is NEVER going to stop. You can arrest as many people as you damn well please, other users won’t stop. Marijuana isn’t having a negative impact on anything or anyone. It isn’t producing drug addicts, putting people on the streets, or causing OD deaths. And yet it’s still illegal. 

It’s way past time for marijuana to be legalized. The government is always looking for new ways to tax us. Marijuana could be a whole new source of revenue for them. They should be giddy with joy over the prospect. Marijuana can be government regulated, sold, and taxed. Users would rather pay 50 cents in taxes for their next bag of weed than risk the possibility of being thrown in jail for possession of it. 

Putting marijuana users in jail is absurd and needs to be stopped. People should be able to logically make their own decisions about marijuana use, not the government. It is, quite simply, none of their business. 

If you celebrated it, I hope you enjoyed your 420. Continue talking about it and pushing for it, and maybe soon everyday can be like April 2o and you can put a stop to the fear of being arrested for your harmless habit.

My Opinion: Drug Legalization

I don’t pretend to be an expert or to know everything there is to know, but I do know one thing: America has a drug problem that needs to be solved, but America is going about solving it in the most incorrect way one could invent. 

America is caught in a perpetual War, a War on Drugs. The Bush administration promised to crack down on drugs and put those guilty of drug use behind bars. Now, several years later, we have thousands of drug related criminals in prison. However, this hasn’t stopped the problem of drugs. There are still as many users as ever, and violence in drug related crimes is higher than ever. Recent murders of police officers in Mexico by drug cartels has began to open America’s eyes to the truth- the War on Drugs has done nothing to solve the problem of drugs in America, and has in fact only worsened the problem and cost the country millions and millions of wasted dollars. It is clear that we need a new solution. To myself and many others, the clear solution to this useless war and senseless violence is the legalization of drugs. I believe that drugs should be legalized for three main reasons- prohibition never works; violence and crime would be reduced, if not eliminated; drug related deaths would be ended. 

First, let’s look at the idea that prohibition never works. The clearest example we have of this was the “Nobel Experiment”, or America’s attempt to outlaw the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages from 1919 to 1933. We all know what happened. Prohibition failed miserably. America’s were not going to stop drinking; their drinking habits were simply criminalized. Liquor was brought over from Canada or produced illegally in the states and sold for outrageous prices. The prices were high because the flow of liquor was often controlled, especially in big cities, by organized crime bosses or gangs. Think of Al Capone. Capone owned Chicago. He was often thought of as the cities “mayor”, even though he was technically the biggest criminal of them all. He controlled all flow of alcohol, killed off those who tried to stop him, and made enormous profits, all which he controlled through the fronts of businesses in order to keep his money flow technically clean. For many years, Capone was nothing short of unstoppable.

The same thing is happening in America today because of our prohibition of drugs. Drug flow is controlled by drug cartels in Mexico, crime bosses, and gangs in Mexico and America. Everyone knows there is money to be made in the drug business, so people eagerly get involved with illicit activities and profit from them. Drug smugglers, gang members, crime bosses, cartels…. they all are making enormous amounts of profit, untaxed dollars going back to feeding the very thing we are trying to prevent. Outlawing drugs opens up the black market and corrupts entire systems. 

People who want to use drugs will use them, whether they are legal or not. People drank whether it was legal or not during the 20′s; why would this be any different? There is no proof that the legalization of drugs would cause more people to become users. In fact, I would argue it might have to opposite effect. Young adults are drawn especially to using drugs because it seems risky. It is illegal and dangerous, therefore it gives them more of a thrill. Making something forbidden will always make it more appealing, especially for those seeking ways to rebel. The legalization of drugs is not going to increase use.

Violence and crime relating to drugs are a huge problem, not only for America, but also for places such as Mexico. The recent murders of officers and officials in Mexico by drug lords has brought this issue front and center into the news. Our drug policy is fostering this kind of hostility and violence. If a drug trafficker was to get caught, he would be thrown into prison. He doesn’t want this to happen, so he kills anyone who tries to stand in his way or take him down. As long as drugs are illegal, this sort of violence can only increase. 

Also, gangs are a huge part of the problem of drug related violence. In inner city areas around America, gangs control the distribution of drugs. Rival gangs form, and gang members are routinely shot and killed by members of other gangs. Civilians are killed if they try to go to the police about drug trafficking by gangs in their neighborhoods or if they do not pay back the gangs for their drugs quickly enough. With drugs legalized and regulated by the government, gang violence would come to an abrupt end. 

Drug addicts often turn into criminals of other kinds because of the high price gang members and traffickers force them to pay for their drugs. Addicts have to get their next fix, and they often end up homeless, wondering the streets and often stealing to get by. Drug addiction is a medical problem. Trying drugs once does not get you addicted. Recreational drug users are doing nothing criminal. Those who become addicted are not doing anything criminal; they have simply began to abuse a substance like any other, such as cigarettes and alcohol. It is absurd that we try to punish a medical condition (what addiction is) with law enforcement. That solution makes no sense and is instead making the problem worse. 

Countless people die from drug related deaths each year. Many people see this and turn to law enforcement to fix the problem, when instead this worsens it. We cannot even be sure of the number of drug related deaths each year because so many people die of overdose or infection without going to the hospital for treatment. People cannot go to the hospital because they are scared. Let’s take a common example. A group of friends are experimenting with drugs together, let’s say cocaine. One friend accidently uses too much cocaine or has an adverse reaction to it. The friend has blacked out and is not responding. The others friends will not take the OD victim to the hospital for fear that they will be arrested for using drugs. In their fear, they run away. The OD victim dies alone, when treatment could have saved his life. 

Is this what America wants? For innocent victims to die alone because they are too scared to come forward and ask for help? I should certainly hope not. Criminalizing drugs causes countless lives to be lost to untreated overdosing each and every year. 

Another example of senseless drug deaths are those relating to heroin. Heroin is a very strong and dangerous drug, and some will die upon their first time shooting up. Because obtaining clean needles is illegal and impossible, people die of aids from sharing infected needles. We allow people to die, senselessly, because we refuse to grant them access to something as simple as clean needles. 

If drugs were legalized, education could be freely given. Schools need to talk about drugs and explain a realistic picture of them, instead of only telling kids that they cannot do them because they are illegal. That does not stop anyone from trying drugs. If one is going to use drugs, that is their personal choice, just as is the choice to light up a cigarette or open a bottle of wine. The government has no right to step in and make that personal choice for people. Instead, they should be there to educate and regulate, helping to reduce deaths each year. 

If drugs were legal, people would be less afraid to come forward and seek help. Despite confidentiality agreements between doctors and patients, addicts are still scared of legal consequences if they come forward for help. There is no free group like Alcoholics Anonymous for drug users. Becoming addicted to drugs is no different than becoming addicted to alcohol, and the same kind of help, treatment, and support should become available. 

By saying that I believe in the legalization of drugs, I am not saying that drugs are “good” or advocating their use. Personally, I have never tried any form of drugs. I think this says a lot about my opinion, and the opinion of countless others- it’s not a silly group of pot-heads trying to legalize drugs. It’s a group of reasonable, rational people who see that the current laws are outdated, archaic, and, above all, are not working. 

To conclude, I believe that the only way to stop the crimes, death, violence, and disease associated with drugs is to legalize them. This will stop the deaths and allow us to help struggling addicts recover and put the pieces of their broken lives back in place.

“High: Confessions Of an International Drug Smuggler”

The following is an article which appeared in the Chicago Tribune on April 12, 2009. It is written by Brian O’Dea, a former drug smuggler with a book due out in May. 

“I was one of the “masterminds” behind the importation and sale of approximately 75 tons of pot from Southeast Asia to the U.S. in 1986 and 1987. It was the culmination of a 20-year career as a drug smuggler, a deal that netted in excess of $180 million wholesale. And the only thing the government got out of those drug hauls was the sales tax from the cash my gang spent. There were, of course, some financial forfeitures once my gang was finally rounded up some years later. However, had rational minds prevailed over the past 70-plus years, the U.S. government would have reaped huge benefits from organizations like ours.

We’re hearing a lot about drug-related violence in Mexico these days. But listening to the news recently, I heard of a police sweep in Toronto—where I live some months out of the year. The operation involved more than 1,000 police officers and netted, among other things, a vast quantity of firearms, including loaded AK-47s, sawed-off shotguns and 34 handguns, none of which were obtained legally. These weapons came from the United States and were smuggled north. Here is how it works (I know firsthand): Canadian gangs grow pot in apartment buildings, putting everyone who lives there in danger. Once harvested, the pot is traded to U.S. gangs for cocaine and guns. America’s arcane drug laws provide the currency for these gangs to exist.

South of the border, it’s even worse. Some analysts say Mexico is on the slipperiest of slopes toward becoming a failed state, and illegal drugs are playing a huge part. Drug traffickers are able to operate only because they have currency. Take away the currency, you take away the drug traffickers.

In my days in that business, guns were nowhere to be found. Now, however, I cannot imagine anyone being in the trade without a gun. It has to stop, but how?

Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist, recently wrote, “I’m sitting in Costa Mesa with a silver-haired gent who once ran for Congress as a Republican and used to lock up drug dealers as a federal prosecutor, a man who served as an Orange County [California] judge for 25 years. And what are we talking about? He’s begging me to tell you we need to legalize drugs in America.” 

A judge is saying this. Say it ain’t true, baby, but it is. And he’s not the only one saying it. Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper (in whose jurisdiction I was sentenced to 10 years in prison) says the same thing. That’s why he is involved with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of former and current police officers, government agents and other law-enforcement agents who oppose the war on drugs.

According to LEAP, “After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. policy of a war on drugs with over a trillion tax dollars and 37 million arrests for non-violent drug offenses, our confined population has quadrupled, making building prisons the fastest growing industry in the United States.” More than 2.3 million U.S. citizens are in jail, and every year we arrest 1.9 million more, guaranteeing prisons will be busting at their seams. Every year, the war on drugs will cost U.S. taxpayers another $69 billion.

While the U.S. has only 5 percent of the world’s population, it has 25 percent of the world’s known prison population. This startling number is due to one major factor: our arcane drug laws. It is time we stopped treating a medical condition with law enforcement. 

Ultimately, does the fact that people smoke pot make them criminals? Is the struggling heroin addict a criminal? If he is, it is only because we are not treating the root of the problem. 

It is time to legalize marijuana. The tax revenue generated could then be used to help addicts. I work with these folks every day, in one way or another, and not one of them wants to live the way they do, but they don’t know how to stop. They need help, not punishment.

Back in the 1920s, America saw one of the most violent organized criminal elements in history. Who can forget the tommy guns, the blood on the street and names like Luciano and Capone? Well, they exist today, it’s just that the names have been changed to Escobar and Huerta Rios. As LEAP so succinctly puts it: Alcohol prohibition, drug prohibition, same problem, same solution.”

Brian O’Dea, one of the biggest marijuana smugglers in U.S. history, is now a film and television producer in Toronto. He is the author of “High: Confessions of an International Drug Smuggler,” due out in May.

 

America’s drug problem and war on drugs is an issue I plan to discuss more in further posts. It is an issue I feel very strongly about ; I love this article and think it perfectly expresses the point of the uselessness of the War on Drugs and sums up how I feel about the issue. 

Barack Obama

In the early stages of the election, I supported Ron Paul because of my Libertarian association. I went to meet-ups and circulated petitions. Of course, I knew he had no hope of winning. Once he was gone from the race and essentially disappeared from the media, I began supporting Barack Obama. When election day came, I voted for Obama and was delighted when he won. 

 

I expressed my happiness over Obama’s win in my Facebook status that evening. A old friend from high school, a Republican, commented on this status and said, “Can I ask how you go from supporting Ron Paul to supporting Barack Obama?” Yes, I can and will explain this, as it is very logical. 

 

Essentially, I believe in a small, limited government with minimal intervention and maximum power to the individual states. Obama does not offer that. However, our country is in a mess. Something needs to happen and something needs to change. NOTHING is going to happen if Republicans control the government again and continue the same policies that are not working. We’re in an economic recession. Something obviously needs to happen. Barack Obama is the person who is going to bring, and is bringing, that change. Obama is bringing change to the White House and to the nation, which is exactly what we need. John McCain would have done nothing but continue to drag our country into a downward spiral. 

 

While Obama isn’t doing things exactly like I would, he’s doing a damn good job. Even though many Conservatives are outraged with his stimulus package, they don’t have another plan. They don’t like Obama’s plan, but they can’t come up with a plan of their own. Obama’s plan is going to help the economy recover, even if it does leave us in more debt. It will eventually bring us out of the recession. No one else has come up with a plan to accomplish that. 

 

I fully support Obama, even though I recognize he is not perfect and is going to make mistakes. No president is ever capable of perfection. It bothers me when people say things like “I hope Obama fails” and show obvious disdain for him. Like it or not, Obama is our president for at least the next four years and we have to stand behind him.