• Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    Posse Comitatus Act

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 7-3-11

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 7-3-11. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3449

    Question of the Week: What is the Posse Comitatus Act?

    A definitive report from the Congressional Research Service released in 2000 states,

    “Americans have a tradition, born in England and developed in the early years of our nation that rebels against military involvement in civilian affairs. It finds its most tangible expression in the nineteenth century Posse Comitatus Act, 18 U.S.C. 1385.”

    Another Congressional Research Service report released in 2011 indicates that,

    “The term “posse comitatus” means the “force of the county.” Its doctrine dates back to English common law, in which a county sheriff could raise a posse comitatus to repress a civil disturbance ….”

    The Posse Comitatus Act was enacted in 1878 during post-Civil War reconstruction and amended in 1981. According to the CRS, the act reads,

    “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

    The 2000 CRS report noted that,

    “The language of the Act mentions only the Army and the Air Force.” However, “Express statutory exceptions include the legislation which allows the President to use military force to suppress insurrection, and sections which permit the Department of Defense to provide federal, state and local police with information and equipment.”

    According to the Washington Office on Latin America, the 1981 amendment,

    “made the military the permanent “single lead agency of the Federal Government for the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs into the United States.”

    These facts and others like them can be found in the Military Participation Chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Marijuana Use by Young People

    The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws

    Karen O’Keefe, Esq.,
    Director of State Policies, Marijuana Policy Project

    Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D.,
    Professor of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

    With assistance to this version or the original report from: Dan Riffle, Kate Zawidzki, and Bruce Mirken

    First Version Released: September 7, 2005
    Last Updated: June 2011

    The debate over medical marijuana laws has included extensive discussion of whether such laws “send the wrong message to young people” and increase teen marijuana use. This is an updated version of the first report that analyzed all available data to determine the trends in teen marijuana use in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.

    Nearly 15 years after the passage of the nation’s first state medical marijuana law, California’s Prop. 215, a considerable body of data shows that teens’ marijuana use has generally gone down following the passage of medical marijuana laws. Of the 13 states with effective medical marijuana laws with before-and-after data on teen marijuana use, only the two with the most recently enacted laws (Michigan and New Mexico) have indicated possible increases, both of which are modest and within confidence intervals. In Rhode Island, the data indicate teens’ lifetime marijuana may have slightly decreased while current use may have slightly increased, but those changes are also within confidence intervals. The 10 remaining states have all reported overall decreases — some of which are also within confidence intervals and some of which are significant. Generally, no state with an overall change outside of the confidence intervals saw an increase in teens’ marijuana use, strongly suggesting that enactment of state medical marijuana laws does not increase teen marijuana use.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Medical Marijuana Memo

    DOJ Says Prosecuting State-Authorized Medical Marijuana Suppliers Is ‘Entirely Consistent’ With Not Prosecuting Them

    By Jacob Sullum

    As Mike Riggs noted on Thursday night, the Justice Department’s new medical marijuana memo (http://mapinc.org/url/YhTyZ7o4, PDF), confirms that President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are reneging on their promises to respect state law. Under the policy described by Deputy Attorney General James Cole on Wednesday, “commercial operations cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana” are fair game, even when they are explicitly authorized by state law. By contrast, in his October 2009 memo (PDF) to U.S. attorneys, Cole’s predecessor, David Ogden, instructed them that they “should not focus federal resources” on “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”

  • Letter of the Week

    Drugs A Problem In Suburbs, Too

    The June 15 story about another big drug investigation to bust a major pipeline to the Capital Region avoided questions of law enforcement that would address the tough reality that drug prohibition doesn’t work.

    All of these drug investigations are concentrated in the inner cities while the wealthier suburban areas of upstate New York are ignored by law enforcement. How long will it be before the next big drug investigation is launched in the next inner city?

    Statistically, there is as much drug use in the suburbs, but these investigations are selectively enforced and the media never ask law enforcement why. They merely report the number of arrests or the amount of cash and drugs confiscated without reporting the cost of these lengthy investigations to the taxpayer.

    Even in the areas where these investigations are focused, the impact is minimal as drug arrests continue to fill our prisons and courts. Too many of our elected leaders have forgotten the lessons of alcohol prohibition.

    The facts show that this heavy hand of the law is centered on the people with the least amount of money, influence or power. If our scarce law enforcement resources were applied evenly in the cities and suburbs in the war on drugs, alternatives such as regulating, taxing and legalizing them would have a great deal more traction in the public discussion.

    WILLIAM AIKEN

    Member, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

    Schenectady

    — MAP Posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.

    Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jun 2011
    Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
    Copyright: 2011 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
    Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/forms/emaileditor.asp
    Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
    Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
    Author: William Aiken. Member, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Why Barney Frank And Ron Paul Are Wrong On Drug Legalization

    By William J. Bennett, CNN Contributor

    Editor’s note: William J. Bennett is the Washington fellow of the Claremont Institute. He was U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and was director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H.W. Bush.

    (CNN) — From certain precincts on the left, notably Barney Frank, to certain precincts on the right, notably the editorial page of National Review, we are witnessing a new push to end the so-called war on drugs and legalize drug use, starting with marijuana. Indeed, Ron Paul, Barney Frank’s co-sponsor in the latest legislative effort, said recently he would go so far as to legalize heroin.

    It’s a bad idea. My friends at National Review begin their case by stating the illegalization of drugs has “curtailed personal freedom, created a violent black market and filled our prisons.” But the legalization of drugs, including marijuana, would exacerbate each of these problems.

  • Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    Who declared war on drugs?

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 6-26-11

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 6-26-11. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3440

    Question of the Week: Who declared war on drugs?

    “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.”

    According to a recent report by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, President Richard Nixon spoke these words on June 17, 1971.

    Ironically, a New York University Law Review article noted, “When

    President Nixon first declared a national War on Drugs, the policy focused on treatment rather than incarceration … the Nixon era marks the only time in the history of the War on Drugs in which more funding went toward treatment than law enforcement.”

    Pew Center on the States reports that there were about 174,000 state prison inmates in 1972.

    Nixon’s declaration was just the first, according to a Fordham Law Review article,

    “[President Ronald] Reagan officially launched the “War on Drugs” on June 24, 1982, with the creation of the White House Office of Drug Abuse Policy. First Lady Nancy Reagan joined the movement, announcing the “Just Say No” campaign in 1982.”

    State prison inmates in 1982 approximated 300,000.

    The NYU article suggests that,

    “With the Obama administration comes hope for scaling down the War on Drugs, though the collateral consequences remain for those who are presently incarcerated. The current director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, has chastised the phrase “War on Drugs” as eliciting an inaccurate representation of the War on Drugs as a war on individuals.”

    In 2010, there were over 1.4 million state prisoners, 1.2 million more than on June 17, 1971.

    These facts and others like them can be found in the History section of the United States Chapter and in the Prisons & Jails Chapters of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

     

  • Letter of the Week

    Utter Failure

    Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jun 2011
    Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
    Copyright: 2011 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
    Author: Buford C. Terrell
    Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n390/a10.html

    Regarding “Hard stuff; Get real about dealing with illegal drugs” (Page B11, Tuesday), the emperor has no clothes. Thank you for your editorial praising the report of the Global Commission on Drugs. That commission, whose membership included some of the most conservative Republicans from recent administrations, showed what almost everyone knows but is afraid to mention: The 40-year-old War on Drugs is a costly and destructive failure.

    It’s time to strip this tired old fraud bare and look for better ways to deal with the problems of drug misuse.

    In particular, those looking to reduce government spending should look at the trillion dollars wasted so far. How much could be saved by closing down the DEA and the Office of Drug Control Policy and removing the 50-plus percent of those in federal prison who are there for nonviolent drug offenses?

    The Global Commission has pointed out the emperor’s nudity. Now it is up to us to construct a proper, noncriminal wardrobe for our drug policy.

    Buford C. Terrell, Stafford

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Hot Off The 'Net

    Consultation on Proposed Improvements to the Marihuana Medical Access Program

    In response to concerns heard from Canadians, the Government of Canada announced on June 17, 2011 that it is considering improvements to the Program. The proposed improvements would reduce the risk of abuse and exploitation by criminal elements and keep our children and communities safe.

    Health Canada would like to hear from Canadians about the improvements under consideration. Interested Canadians will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed improvements starting June 17, 2011. The comment period will close on July 31, 2011.

    Interested Canadians are invited to provide feedback on a short discussion document by clicking on the link below titled “Consultation Document”.

  • Drug Policy - Hot Off The 'Net

    Call Off the Global Drug War

    By JIMMY CARTER

    Atlanta

    IN an extraordinary new initiative announced earlier this month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy has made some courageous and profoundly important recommendations in a report on how to bring more effective control over the illicit drug trade. The commission includes the former presidents or prime ministers of five countries, a former secretary general of the United Nations, human rights leaders, and business and government leaders, including Richard Branson, George P. Shultz and Paul A. Volcker.

    The report describes the total failure of the present global antidrug effort, and in particular America’s “war on drugs,” which was declared 40 years ago today. It notes that the global consumption of opiates has increased 34.5 percent, cocaine 27 percent and cannabis 8.5 percent from 1998 to 2008. Its primary recommendations are to substitute treatment for imprisonment for people who use drugs but do no harm to others, and to concentrate more coordinated international effort on combating violent criminal organizations rather than nonviolent, low-level offenders.

    These recommendations are compatible with United States drug policy from three decades ago. In a message to Congress in 1977, I said the country should decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, with a full program of treatment for addicts. I also cautioned against filling our prisons with young people who were no threat to society, and summarized by saying: “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.”