Snakes: The Muthaf*ckin Anti-Drug

Check out this video we made, which pokes fun at our favorite anti-drug commercials (with a little help from Sam L. Jackson)...


I guess joining the mile "high" club isn't as harmless as we thought!

With chapters on over 75 campuses across the country, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) works on changing Drug War policies at the local, state, and federal levels. When feeling especially creative, we sometimes make videos that highlight the ridiculousness of the government's anti-drug propaganda.

Enter your e-mail address to receive timely and important news and action alerts and join the thousands of students, alumni, and supporters staying in touch with SSDP.

Email Address:

And click here to find out how you can help us cut the multi-million dollar budget for the government's anti-drug media campaign, whose ads are no less ridiculous than the one you just saw.

Cops Say Legalize Drugs

Want to find out why? Check out the 13 1/2 minute video from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) hosted on SSDP's MySpace page (it's the second of three videos on the left side of the page).

Thanks to Radley at The Agitator for agitating bloggers like us to get as many people as possible to watch this powerful and concise video indictment of the failed War on Drugs.

Check it out, and show your friends and family afterwards.

Oh yeah, and befriend SSDP on MySpace, whydoncha?

The ONDCP Almost Tells the Truth... Almost.

In one of the ONDCP's latest anti-marijuana television ads, the organization we know best for misinformation almost tells us the truth about marijuana. This ad actually pokes fun at many of the previous ad's the ONDCP has released concerning the plant.
The ad starts off by showing a young, "norml" looking teenager, admitting that he had smoked marijuana and "Nobody died, I didn't get into a car accident, and I didn't O.D. on heroin the next day. We sat on Pete's couch for eleven hours. What's gonna happen on Pete's couch? Nothing."
So is the ONDCP finally discrediting the already discredited gateway theory that John Walters relies so heavily on? Maybe they're ready to stop printing the car crash ad in major magazines throughout the country.
If the ad had been straight forward and explained that yes, maybe there are better things for youth to do instead of smoking marijuana they would have had an advertisement that may have earned some respect from America's youth. Instead, they used a condescending position and exaggerated stereotype that everyone who smokes marijuana sits on their friend's couch for eleven hours.
The ONDCP is still missing the big picture. Drug law reformers are not here to talk about whether marijuana is good or bad. We're here to say that maybe those kids that do choose to sit on the couch shouldn't be handcuffed and thrown into prison for doing so, that they should be eligible for financial aid, and that our tax dollars could go to better things.

Tunnel Vision

You may have read today's New York Times article detailing the monsterous failure that is "Plan Colombia". (Plan Colombia is the U.S. program that takes billions of taxpayer dollars and turns them into poisons to be sprayed on Colombian farmers and children. Brilliant.) If you haven't read it, I would suggest doing so, but if you'd prefer a summary, here it is:

America has spent $4.7 billion dollars over the past six years in hopes of eradicating coca, yet the cocaine market has been absolutely unaffected. Predictably, the drug warriors ignore this truth, and say stupid shit like this:

“Over the past five years, you see a compression on cultivation,” John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in an interview. “You see the remaining cultivation and trafficking in Colombia under pressure as you’ve never seen it before.”

Right, Johnny. And the world is flat too.

In addition to reading the obvious in the New York Times, I also spend my Saturdays reading the absurd in Tom Robbins novels. I was just reading Still Life With Woodpecker and found this quote particularly pertinent (and not particularly absurd)...

Tunnel vision is a disease in which perception is restricted by ignorance and distorted by vested interest. Tunnel vision is caused by an optic fungus that multiplies when the brain is less energetic than the ego. It is complicated by exposure to politics. When a good idea is run through the filters and compressors of tunnel vision, it not only comes out reduced in scale and value but in its new dogmatic configuration produces effects the opposite of those for which it was originally intended.

Bingo.

Little did the master of metaphor know that strains of optic fungi seem to be on the minds of drug warriors these days - quite literally. Our favorite dogmatic, do-gooder dignitary, Mark Souder, is disappointed with the failure of Plan Colombia... and now wants to spray a blindness-inducing optic fungus on the country.

Citizens of Indiana elected a man who would gladly turn a whole country of brown people blind in order to stop a few white people from bumping some white powder up their white noses.

Tunnel vision.

It's truly suprising the guy can find his little lawmaker while taking a congressional leak.

I goot a leter form teh Durg Zcar

Actually, I got a letter from the Drug Czar's legal administrative assistant, Tammye D. Johnson. The letter is in response to a Privacy Act request I made, out of curiosity, to see if the ONDCP has any records containing my name. It's not unreasonable to assume that the Drug Czar's staffers know who I am, since I've roused rabble at several ONDCP-sponsored events and publicly criticized their activities in many major newspapers.

Nonetheless, the letter asks me to provide ONDCP with more information on why I think they might have records on me.

Amusingly, Ms. Johnson makes two embarrassing spelling errors in her five-sentence letter:


"To assist us in a search for records related to yourself, please inform use [sic] of the type of business you may have conducted with out [sic] Office."

Even if the ONDCP doesn't hire staffers who know how to spell, at least we know their interns are drug-free. Thank God for that.

JUST SAY KNOW: You're invited to SSDP's Conference!

Register for SSDP's conference today

It is with excitement and much anticipation that I announce Students for Sensible Drug Policy's 8th annual conference: "Just Say Know!” This historic event, which will take place at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC on the weekend of November 17-19, promises to be the biggest and best SSDP conference to date, and we hope that you will decide to be a part of it.

To find out more details about the conference, including information regarding travel, lodging, events, financial assistance, and tabling, visit www.ssdp.org/conference/

For too long, our government has had a strict "Just Say No" policy regarding drugs. They have just said "No" to scientific research; "No" to public health; "No" to privacy rights; "No" to common sense; and a great big "No" to a better future. Over the past eight years, a chorus of young voices has swelled in opposition to the government's disastrous War on Drugs. Our counter-message has been simple but powerful:

"JUST SAY KNOW!"

-On Friday, November 17th, our DARE Generation Lobby Day will give hundreds of young people from across the U.S. the opportunity to bring our demands for sensible drug policies to Congress’s doorstep.

-On Saturday, November 18th, our Drug War Education Day will refresh and enhance these students' knowledge of failed Drug War policies, and will encourage them to discuss sensible alternatives.

-On Sunday, November 19th, our Activist Training Day will prepare a generation of activists to return to their campuses with the skills and know-how necessary to change destructive drug policies.

To register for the conference today, please visit www.ssdp.org/conference/

If you are a poor college or high school student - as most of our activists are - don't let the costs of registration, travel, and lodging deter you from deciding to attend! We will work with you to secure funding from your school, and help with your fundraising efforts. We will also be offering registration discounts and scholarships to offset the cost of travel and lodging for students. In short; if you want to come, you are coming!

More info on financial assistance can be found at www.ssdp.org/conference/scholarships/

If you support the work that SSDP is doing, and are not a poor student, please consider giving to our Conference Scholarship Fund. Because “Just Say Know” will provide a generation of new activists with valuable knowledge, training, and lobbying experience, sponsoring a student is one of the best ways you can support the drug policy reform movement. And best of all, your generosity will be doubled, since every donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a good friend of SSDP!

To contribute to the Scholarship Fund, visit www.ssdp.org/conference/sponsor/

As you likely know, Students for Sensible Drug Policy is one of very few national organizations that focus solely on student empowerment and campus activism. We believe in the power of young people, for no social cause has ever been successful without the foundation of a powerful student movement.

We know that you believe in that power too. And you’ll have the opportunity to see it in full force on November 17 – 19.

So what are you waiting for? Go to www.ssdp.org/conference/ and start making your plans today!

I look forward to seeing you in November!

Sincerely,
Micah Daigle, Field Director
Students for Sensible Drug Policy

To receive news updates and actions alerts like this in your inbox, enter your e-mail address here:

Email Address:

America Wins Drug War: Mexican "Drug Lord" Arrested!

Finally!

We can all rest easily, the Drug War has been won!

Yesterday, Javier Arellano Félix, leader of a Mexican drug cartel was arrested. The New York Times reported:

Federal drug enforcement agents, aided by the United States Coast Guard, arrested a man they said was a top figure in one of Mexico’s most notorious drug gangs on a fishing boat off Baja California on Wednesday.

Federal officials said the man, Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, 37, was one of the last remaining ring leaders of the Arellano Félix gang. The group, based in Tijuana, is charged in several killings, including that of a Roman Catholic cardinal.

Awesome! No more Drug War, and no more drugs! I can retire!

At a time like this, a drug policy reformer like myself has to scratch his noodle and think, "What have I been doing with my life? Why did I ever want to stop the Drug War when in the first place since it is obviously doing such a stellar job at sweeping scum like Arellano Félix off society's doorstep? What shall I do now?"

I guess the only thing I can do is continue reading the story...

The arrest on Wednesday riveted Mexico, a nation long weary of intransigent drug violence. It was expected to deal a blow to the gang, though the authorities acknowledged that associates were probably waiting to take Mr. Arellano Félix’s place.

Hrm. Maybe it's not time to start contemplating my retirement plans just yet.

Right... I think this is part of the reason I wanted to end the Drug War in the first place. Something about a revolving door. Or Whack-A-Mole.

Something about drug busts becoming lucrative job openings...

But surely this arrest meant something. Surely, this is one dangerous criminal removed from society, and society is better for it. We can let the Drug War run its course and soon enough, all the scumbags will be locked up, right?

Right?

Wait. What's this?

“Javier was not an important capo,” said Jesús Blancornelas, the editor of Zeta, a Tijuana magazine, who has devoted his life to writing about the cartels. “He’s a member of the family, nothing more, dedicated to partying. I’d call him a playboy.”

SHIT.

Back to work...

Terrorist bake sales

Check out this excellent coverage of our protest against the DEA museum exhibit entitled: "Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause." This protest was organized by Pete Guither of Drug WarRant, who is quoted in the story alongside SSDP's Jeanne Barr and Tom Angell. Out of all the media coverage of the museum, the Washington Post seems to be the only major newspaper with the cojones to fully cover our side of the story, instead of simply toeing the line and unquestioningly regurgitating the government's propaganda.

But advocates of legalization who are leafleting outside the exhibit say the DEA is leaving out an important part of the story. Critics agree that drug trafficking provides a potentially lucrative revenue stream for terrorist organizations. But they say the profit is actually fueled by the government's war on drugs, which creates a situation akin to prohibition of alcohol.

"If we taxed and regulated drugs, terrorists wouldn't have drugs as a source of profit," said Tom Angell of the nonprofit Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which focuses on restoring financial aid for college students with drug convictions.

"With the connection to Prohibition in Chicago we should know better," said Pete Guither, a professor of theater management at Illinois State University and founder of the blog DrugWarRant.com.

It looks like the DEA wasn't even expecting to get any press out of this, because their quotes are obviously unprepared and sloppy:

DEA spokesman Steve Robertson responded: "We're a law enforcement agency -- we enforce the laws as they are written. Congress makes the laws. People say if we didn't have [drug] laws there wouldn't be a problem, but there was a problem before and that's why laws were established."

[snip]

"For al-Qaeda it's hard" to prove a link, said DEA public affairs chief Garrison Courtney. "I don't think we're saying 9/11 was caused by drug financing. But we're saying there is a link between drugs and terror, and September 11 is a poignant example of terrorism. Terrorists don't hold bake sales to raise money." [emphasis added]

Now that's an interesting idea...

SSDP activists, here's a new fundraising idea: a terrorist bakesale! Dress up like your favorite jihadist, drug smuggler, or DEA agent and have a bake sale on your campus. Explain to passerbys that if we legalized drugs, this is the only way these people would be able to make money. Then sell them a cupcake and snag their e-mail address!

Keep Pissing Away Cash!

With federal funding set to expire in September 2007, North Hunterdon/Voorhees Regional School District officials are planning a full review of a random drug and alcohol testing program.

In one year, the district spent between $15,000 and $16,000 on tests for the program, which is reimbursed by the federal grant, according to Anita Lamison, the district human resources coordinator.

Besides funding, Peabody expects the task force will scrutinize the district's reasonable suspicion policy in light of June's North Hunterdon High School prom debacle. Thirteen students were booted from the prom because administrators believed they had been drinking alcohol and were sent for blood tests, which is according to the policy.

As they did during board meetings after the prom, he expects they will suggest the district buy breath tests and oral swab kits so students can be tested on site. "Personally, I don't think it's a bad idea," board of education member Garry Peabody said of the breath test.

-----------------------

Now $15,000 is a large chunk of cash for most high schools. I know it could have been put to good use at mine. So is drug testing really the best way the district can spend $15,000 to not even prevent, but just catch, students that might be using drugs? Why not put $15,000 into extra-curricular after school activities? Students have a better chance of using drugs right after school is over because many times parents are still at work and not home with students that are potentially at risk. Put that $15,000 into improving or creating new after school clubs/organizations or athletics and maybe these at risk students will be more involved in a "drug-free" atmosphere for a good portion of the day. Use the money to create a Drug Resource Center where student are given non-biased, fact based information about drugs, not ONDCP propaganda.

Now the students that are already involved in these extra-curricular activities are at risk of being kicked out. Drug testing is not always accurate and many times turns up false positives were innocent students are punished for an error in the test. And the students that really have used an illegal drug that shows up on the test, where are they going to go after school now? If its not football or band practice, it might be drug use.

And of course Mr. Peabody thinks the breath test is a good idea. He is not a student and regardless if he shows up to the prom after a few cocktails, he won't be tested.

I personally wish there was a breath test at my high school prom. I didn't drink before arriving to the dance, but that wouldn't have stopped me from dropping the breathalyzer on the floor and stomping it to pieces with my shiny, rented, tuxedo shoes...

Making Sense of Student Drug Testing

Drug prohibition causes terrorism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 7, 2006
CONTACT: Tom Angell, SSDP - (202) 557-4979
Pete Guither, DrugWarRant - (309) 287-8586

DEA Propaganda at Museum of Science and Industry Ignores Costs of Prohibition

Chicago, IL -- Chicago-area residents and national groups are asking the Museum of Science and Industry not to display a government exhibit linking drug use to terrorism. The citizens say that the Drug Enforcement Administration exhibit, displayed from August 11-December 3, hides the true link between drugs and terrorism: drug prohibition itself.

DrugWarRant.com (a popular blog), along with local chapters of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (a nationwide group that educates about the harms of the War on Drugs), has organized a response and supplement to the DEA exhibit, including a website and materials to be distributed by volunteers, along with other events to take place throughout the run of the exhibit.

The counter-exhibit (available at http:// www.DEAtargetsAmerica.com ) highlights the parallels between the lawless days of alcohol prohibition under Al Capone and today's drug prohibition. As noted at the website, even the FBI acknowledges Al Capone's rackets were "spawned by enactment of the prohibition amendment."

According to Kris Krane of Students for Sensible Drug Policy: "Just as Al Capone financed his criminal empire with illegal alcohol sales, today's terrorists like Al Qaeda are funding their shameful activities with the profits of the new prohibition."

According to Pete Guither, a drug policy researcher and editor of DrugWarRant.com: "This is a blatant publicity effort by the DEA aimed at tying its budget to the war on terror. It's also desperate and hypocritical. The DEA has received a failing grade from the White House Performance and Management Assessments for their taxpayer-funded war -- a war that actually makes criminal drug trafficking obscenely profitable."

Jack Cole, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP -- an organization of current and former cops, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens who all believe in ending prohibition) says: "If you ended prohibition today, there wouldn't be any of those drug lords making a penny on drugs tomorrow." Retired police captain (and LEAP co-founder) Peter Christ adds: "America's drug use is a serious problem, but in reality it is America's drug policy that creates the underground economy that supports terrorism."

None of the groups or individuals involved in the response advocates illicit drug use. In fact, they believe that the DEA and prohibition add to the problems of drug abuse by putting the control, safety, and age regulation in the hands of criminals. They point to the recent Chicago-area deaths from fentanyl-laced heroin as a grim echo of the startling number of Chicago residents who died from tainted alcohol during alcohol prohibition.

DrugWarRant and Students for Sensible Drug Policy hope to counter what they consider to be a one-sided exhibit, and to engage the Chicago community in a dialog to discover more effective alternatives to the failed drug war. As they note on their website: "The drug war is a great deal for traffickers, terrorists, and especially the DEA, but not for communities dealing with the war's violence, or the American citizens who pay the bill."

According to Jeanne Barr, history teacher at Chicago's Francis W. Parker High School: "As educators, we look to the MSI to enlighten the community, not to promote political propaganda that selects self-serving elements of truth out of a more complex whole. It's not good science, and it's not good history. Da Vinci and the DEA under one roof? What are they thinking?"

# # #