TresSugar

War on Drugs Makes Women the Enemy

TresSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:45 -0800

If you've been following the story of Cleveland's alleged serial killer Anthony Sowell, you know it's horrific. Eleven female bodies have been found in and around the man's home, leaving the public wondering how could these crimes go on undetected for years. Writing in the Daily Beast, Cleveland journalist Mansfield Frazier says he knows why: Sowell was able to kill drug-addicted women without anyone noticing because the war on drugs targets women. Let's examine the evidence he uses to support this allegation after the jump.

Book Bag: This Is Your Country On Drugs

TresSugar — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0700

Americans are so addicted to drugs that our government had to declare war on them! This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, a new book by Ryan Grim, explores the unlikely consequences of the so-called War on Drugs. Some examples? Ronald Reagan may have inadvertently caused the crack epidemic. The fastest-growing drug today is a legal hallucinogen you can buy on the Internet. Past antidrug campaigns actually encouraged drug use. And, Americans have stopped using LSD altogether.

In fact the disappearance of LSD, or acid, prompted Grim to research US drug habits. In the book, he writes:

Strolling around Burning Man and being unable to find acid is something like walking into a bar and finding the taps dry.

According to one review of the book, Grim demonstrates how "the American passion for getting high turns enforcement-centered strategies into a vast game of Whack-a-Mole." As government policies target marijuana and cocaine, they end up encouraging the meth trade.

Marijuana Majority? State and Local Laws Ease Access

CitizenSugar — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:30:00 -0800

The number of annual marijuana arrests have been setting all-time records lately. Sales and trafficking aside, there are more possession charges nationally than violent crimes combined. Maybe there are a lot more smokers than violent people, or it could be prosecuted disproportionately.

The latter explanation is the logic behind several state and local decisions to ease restrictions. On Tuesday, Michigan joined 12 other states that have legalized medical marijuana. Licensed dispensaries are not part of the law, so Michiganders will have to get themselves a good dealer.

Over in Massachusetts, marijuana is still illegal. But thanks to voters, possession of up to one ounce is no longer punishable by jail time. Instead, marijuana possession will be punishable with a citation, $100 fine, and confiscation of the drug - almost like getting a speeding ticket minus the license points! In both Massachusetts and Michigan, voters rejected widespread campaigns that argued easing marijuana laws would increase adolescent drug abuse, permit large-scale trafficking, endanger workplace safety, and sharply increase traffic fatalities.

To find out what local laws passed, read more.

Three promarijuana laws at local levels prevailed. Fayetteville, AR, voted to make minor offenses a low priority and Hawaii County decided to make marijuana its lowest priority. Berkeley, CA, where medical marijuana is already legal, put no limit on the amount a patient or dispensary can possess.

So that’s today in soft-core drugs! Do you think increasing access to marijuana for people who need it outweighs potential abuse of the laws? Are voters right to demand that marijuana possession go to the bottom of law enforcement priorities?

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A Model For Other Courts? Addicts Get Treatment Over Jail

LibertySugar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:30:08 -0700

Drug diversion courts around the country offer offenders a chance for redemption, rather than recidivism. After acknowledging guilt for crimes like low-level dealing or stealing to support addictions, addicts can volunteer for nine to 18 months of urine testing, group therapy, mandatory sobriety meetings, intensely supervised by a judge. Those that don't make it through, can end up in jail. But if the program is completed, the offender transforms from a criminal to a drug court graduate, supported by invested judges, and congratulated by a supportive courtroom.

Today's New York Times weighed the pros and cons of the program. Proponents of that drug court say that not only is treatment more compassionate than prison, but it saves taxpayers money! To see how, and for some arguments against the practice read more.

Recidivism rates, aka the number of people getting sent back to prison, is cut by 10 to 20 percent among participants. Keeping addicts from coming back to pricey prison helps cut government costs.

Critics have diverse opposition – some say that requiring a guilty plea compromises the rights of defendants, and some think giving treatment slots to criminals takes resources away from other addicts who seek help. Still others say the judge's supervision is paternalistic and degrading.

If treatment works better than prison, should the government just decriminalize drugs?

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Everyday Canadians Get High on Marijuana Profits

LibertySugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:30:43 -0700

A booming business in Canada's British Columbia allows entrepreneurs to rake in $80,000 a year tax-free while keeping their day jobs. So what's the magic product? Marijuana, of course!

Owners of British Columbia's 20,000 illegal cannabis grow-ops, set up in residential homes, collect high profits, but unlike typical organized-crime marijuana growers, BC's middle class wants in too.

Just like Mary-Louise Parker's character in Weeds, the extra cash helps these otherwise normal people maintain a middle-class life style. Cultivators spend the cannabis cash on college tuition, second homes, cars, or a vacation. Not surprisingly these criminals want Canada to legalize marijuana.

Opponents say the drug is dangerous, especially for youth. Either way, it seems the pot is here to stay - the profitable industry is far too expansive for BC authorities to seriously stop it. Perhaps this is the way laws change - the people assert their right, making authorities impotent. If the drug does become legal, BC's neighbor, American law enforcement, will surely stare angrily at the border. But I bet others wouldn't mind a North American Amsterdam!

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On the Newsstand: What Happens to Seized Drug Money?

LibertySugar — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:00:57 -0700

As part of the War on Drugs US federal and local authorities seize cash made from drug trafficking. The practice takes away an incentive for smuggling, and gives the agents an incentive to catch traffickers. The guideline for how that money can be spent, according to most local laws, is the vague standard of "for law-enforcement purposes."

This week's Economist itemized what can be considered law enforcement for spending purposes. Seized assets have been used for the following:

One Texas county used it on a margarita machine.
A Texas district attorney took his whole staff to Hawaii for a training seminar.
Another Texan DA spent thousands of dollars on his re-election campaign.
In Indiana money goes to a general school fund. (A good idea.)
A Georgia sheriff bought a $90,000 sports car, used to advertise an anti-drug program. (Don't tell the kids drugs paid for the car!)

Unfortunately, many state laws give authorities wide discretion to seize assets even without any verdict. And with such an incentive to get the restriction-free money, sometimes they get it wrong. Does it matter to you what happens to drug money?

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Is the War on Drugs Being Waged From the Wrong Battlefront?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:51:03 -0700

Just consider me Mary Poppins this morning: a little sweet Prince William to help the War on Drugs go down. The Prince is on the front lines of the battle - the warship the Prince is serving on just seized $80 million worth (almost two tons) of cocaine from a speedboat just north of Barbados.

William's ship is patrolling the waters of the West Indies looking for drug runners, and this score came early on in their mission. The ship's commanding officer said, "to have had a direct impact on the flow of cocaine into Europe just four days after we arrived in theatre shows the benefit the Royal Navy can have in the area of maritime security and counter drug operations."

View 5 Photos ›

Sounds like Prince William is saving the world from drugs, right? Well, the war is a little more complicated than that - and we may be focusing efforts at the wrong stage of drug production to make any difference. To see what I mean, read more.

Though Prince William's seizure, and the White House both tout big coke scores as evidence the war is being won, other numbers paint a different picture.

A more expanded look at the data shows that cocaine use in the US isn't falling: the same percentage of Americans used coke in 2006 as they did in 2002, the number of high-school seniors using is growing, and drug shipments are up. Shipments have grown 39 percent from 2006 - that's enough to film a scene in Scarface for sure. Not to mention that drug related violence is sweeping through Mexico and Latin America; drug cartels are not scared of this "seize the powder" battle plan.

How could the war be fought more effectively? With less focus on the product (sorry William) and more focus on who's making it, and who's consuming it.

Spending more money on programs to wean coca farmers from the crop and while improving their lives is a start. By shelling out less money for security and policing, and more for economic development and a strengthening Mexico's judicial system, we could turn off the faucet at the tap, instead of bailing out the bathtub.

Where else? Focusing on the people in the tub. By expending more effort into curbing demand, emphasizing the treatment portion of the punishment for offenders, increasing education, and treating drug addiction more of public health problem than a law enforcement problem the customer base can be curbed.

Hey, I've seen The Wire and Nancy Reagan's guest appearance on Diff'rent Strokes - this War on Drugs thing is complicated. But focusing with a laser-intensity on the beginning of the supply, and the end user of the demand - we could make that giant pile of coke in the middle, just disappear.

What do you think? Is this war winnable?

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Drug Traffickers Blow by the US, Head for Euros

LibertySugar — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:15:47 -0700

Drug traffickers now join rappers and models who have been ditching the dollar for the more exquisite euro.

White House drug officials announced this week that cocaine is being rerouted from the US and heading through Venezuela to West Africa eventually reaching its final destination - Europe.

With such a weak dollar, drug dealers have more to make by hustling in the Old World. Meanwhile, reports of cocaine use are up in Europe, and down in the US. Sounds like there will be some major blowouts in the discothèques this summer.

Of course drug enforcement officials credit the US war on drugs. Bush's drug policy director says successful control of US-bound routes in Mexico and Columbia are squeezing suppliers into Venezuela. The US alleges that Venezuela, a political adversary, acts as a cocaine safe haven, and is doing nothing to stop the drug trade.

Can Europe be more successful in convincing Venezuela to come down hard on the drug trade? Is a drop in cocaine use a benefit of a weak dollar and economy in general?

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US Has 25 Percent of World's Prisoners - Is It Safer?

LibertySugar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:00:28 -0700

With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the US has 25 percent of the world's prisoners. The US incarceration rate, which remained stable for much of US history, increased by seven fold with the late 1970s movement to get tough on crime.

Today's New York Times highlights explanations offered by criminologists:

[H]igher levels of violent crime, harsher sentencing laws, a legacy of racial turmoil, a special fervor in combating illegal drugs, the American temperament, and the lack of a social safety net. Even democracy plays a role, as judges - many of whom are elected, another American anomaly - yield to populist demands for tough justice.

As a result of this combination, 2.3 million criminals are behind American bars. That means about one in 100 Americans are locked up. China, which has four times as many people, has 1.6 million criminal prisoners. San Marino, which has a population of 30,000, has one prisoner.

With tougher sentences, a drop in crime has followed. But causation is not clear. Ups and down in Canada's crime rate has mirrored the US's; however, there has not been a surge in Canada's imprisonment rate.

What is your reaction to this American anomaly, and the decision to not follow the rest of the West? Is tough sentencing the best way to make America safer?

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American Violet Shows How War on Drugs Is the New Jim Crow

TresSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Imagine if someone with a grudge against you told the police you were a drug dealer. Officers would come to your work and arrest you. Then you'd be told that you could go home right away by taking a plea bargain. That, however, would come with probation, the loss of your right to vote and to accept federal benefits like food stamps and public housing. If you chose to fight the charges, you would have to come up with $70,000 for bail or stay in jail. And if you lost, you'd be facing 15 years.

That's the choice that character Dee Roberts has to make in the new film American Violet. The movie is based on the true story of Regina Kelly, an innocent woman who was urged to plead guilty to drug charges by her family, friends, and public defender so she could return to her children. She chose to fight the charges, and with the help of the ACLU, she took on the system.

I had a chance to see the film at a screening also attended by the filmmaker and Regina's ACLU lawyer. To find out what I learned, and to see the trailer read more.

American Violet depicts a terrifying picture of the American justice system. The district attorney wields totalitarian power over a hardworking single mother who faces shaming and unemployment after her wrongful incarceration. While she struggles with the decision to sue the blatantly racist attorney general and the police, she ultimately decides to do her part to stop those preying on her community.

Filmmaker Bill Haney was moved to make the movie after Regina's story brought him to tears. The reality that this was not an isolated incident encouraged Haney to share her story.

ACLU attorney Graham Boyd explained that drug law and enforcement practices target the black community. And when 95 percent of criminal convictions are a result of aggressively pushed plea bargain deals, millions of innocent African Americans lose their right to vote, especially in the South.

It's no coincidence the panel argued, that the so-called War on Drugs was soon declared after the Voting Rights Act was passed in the 1960s.

American Violet is now playing in select theaters. The story of a woman who took on the system - bolstered by her strong bond with her mother and four daughters - it will make you second guess the War on Drugs if you hadn't already.

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