Brave kid.

Nothing really bothers me about 11-year-old John Martin's DARE essay. It actually makes me feel kind of warm and fuzzy that he has an outlet to tell his story about his dad's drug abuse problem, his conflicting feelings of love and anger, and how he finds his personal strength. I really can't criticize a healing process, especially when a kid has the guts to undertake one, so power to him.

That said, it would be nice if any set of policies could prevent individuals, kids, and families from being victimized by drug addiction. As long as there are drugs and families, there will be families rendered dysfunctional by drug addiction (although it's worth mentioning that Martin's father is guilty of violent crimes as well). Even though he's become a poster boy for the DARE program, John Martin falls onto the list of people whose lives would very probably be vastly improved by the repeal of drug prohibition. Encouraging people to be drug free does not change the fact that good people still use drugs, does not help those who become addicted, does not reduce their access to dangerous drugs like crack, sends addicts to prison, and increases the type of criminal activities that rightfully send people to prison - not because drugs make people criminally insane, but because that's how they roll on the black market. Not to mention that the DARE scare tactic approach, those offensive ads featured in the action alert above, and prohibition as a whole have not proven effective in decreasing drug use.

John's personal decision to remain drug free is admirable (as most sincere choices based on rich experience and deep personal truths are), and no one knows the extent to which different policies would help him and his family specifically. What we do know is that the drug-free America strategy fails countless families like his. We are working for those families, even when their children are understandably recruited by the other side.

It's good to be from New England.

Yesterday was a triumphant day for medical marijuana legislation. Connecticut's House passed their bill 89 to 58, and Rhode Island cleared the "final procedural hurdle" with 51 out of 75 votes. I feel like a sports announcer. Of course, we all remember when Vermont won the championship in 2004, joining Maine in the Medical Marijuana Hall of Fame. CT and RI's legislation come as welcome victories in the wake of NH's crushing defeat this past Spring.

And how 'bout them Red Sox? Well, Massachusetts' Lyle Craker is bringing his game to the DEA, backed by Senators Kerry and Kennedy. Our all-star team continues to struggle against the federal government's foul-ridden offensive. I propose that when we win, we launch a victory parade of greater magnitude than the Pats and the Sox combined. Oh yes. That will be one hell of a wicked pissah paahty.

I find the medical marijuana issue somewhat refreshing in that ailments such as AIDS and cancer, sadly but truly, affect people from all walks of life. It's not just a problem that affects youth, nor is it heavily concentrated around poor and/or minority communities that privileged folk often fail to understand. This is a drug policy issue that, if approached delicately, and granted she's alive and well and sane, you can successfully discuss with your grandmother. Your thirty-second sales pitch need not be catered to different customers. It's simply, "People hurt. Marijuana heals. Give hurting people marijuana. Uh-oh! People get arrested! Change marijuana laws. That's better. Almost - pesky federal government." Ideally, lawmakers would see every issue clearly without the blinders of privilege, but at least these successes show that they're not completely blind. And maybe, since we're awesome, our work on this issue can open their eyes to other injustices of the War on Drugs. Game on.

Hope in NOLA's L9

This article deals with a wide range of issues in New Orleans' Lower Ninth ward, and it's a great in-depth read for anyone concerned about said issues. In rebuilding communities, Common Ground's organization actually includes former drug offenders:

In addition to helping people struggle with governments that should be helping them return home instead of treating them as criminals, Common Ground also works with former criminals by engaging them in the rebuilding of L9. Common Ground’s ex-offender program teaches 10 local youth to rebuild houses, which in turn will provide them with marketable skills and careers even once L9 is rebuilt. Malik Rahim points out that most of these youth were drug offenders, meaning that they already had an entrepreneurial spirit. L9 takes that entrepreneurial spirit and channels it in positive directions. Each of the members of the program contributes part of their pay every week to a common fund. This fund will be used to hire the next 10 members of the program. Through this program Common ground proves in practice that no one is disposable – the first and crucial step in building real sustainable communities, based on people’s values and needs, instead of those of government and big business.

Wow. No one is disposable. We should tell that to the policymakers behind things like the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty and drug education and student drug testing. We could even use that argument in our approach to the Campus Change Campaign! Oh wait, we already do all of the above. Like at Maryland, for example, except they didn't listen, thus leading us to believe that students are, in fact, disposable to them. Most victims of the drug war are easily disposed of under the pretense of creating safer communities.

Yet in the most devastated and overlooked sector of New Orleans, youth ex-offenders are valued for their "entrepreneurial spirit" and paid to gain the skills to rebuild. That is an awesome alternative to the prevalent approach of excluding youth drug offenders from various levels of community, from high school sports teams to the university. Every one of our successes indicates that someone in the policymaking department, like those at Common Ground, recognizes both the value of community members harmed by the Drug War and the insanity of punishing non-criminals.

Tell your children!

Actually, this pamphlet (also from my local police department) is called "How to tell if a kid is on drugs and what to do about it!"

The next page advises, "If you suspect that your child is using drugs, question everything. Make sure you monitor what your child is doing as much as possible."

This is what the "protectors" of our communities have been telling our parents: If your child begins to experience any changes, invest a sudden interest in their activities. Pay attention not because you care about your kids, but because you care if they're using drugs. Also, since "these signs may indicate a problem other than drug use" (for example, "a lack of concern for appearance or hygeine" may actually indicate being a communist, practicing witchcraft, or having an unhealthy obsession with the conservation of spotted owls), "drugs, traces of drugs, and drug paraphernalia are more direct evidence of drug use." So in other words, look for direct evidence. Perhaps try drug testing. It's perfectly legal for parents to find the evidence without a warrant. However, "Be prepared that your child will probably lie, and you may have to seek outside help." So please feel free to invite your friends from the police department over.

You know what, Officer What's-Your-Name? Don't you talk about my mother that way. (Of course it comes as no surprise that there wasn't any harm reduction literature.)

Street smart narcs

Today, I went to my town's annual Pride Day (an event at which people of all ages wander aimlessly and get free candy from various organizations' or businesses' tables). At the police department's table, they were handing out propaganda. I saw my old DARE officer and greeted him. He appeared to have no idea who in the wide wide world of sports I was. My inner fifth grader felt a little hurt. Rule #1 for public outreach: remember who you're reaching out to. Geez, and I'd looked up to that asshole.

Anyway, they had a couple of pamphlets about drugs. The following is entitled "Street Smart Drug Dictionary."


Among the helpful definitions contained in the pamphlet are:

bong: A large pipe used for smoking drugs.
hit: Crack or marijuana cigarrete to be smoked.
o.z.: One ounce of a drug substance.
pipe: Instrument used to smoke cocaine or other substances.
reefer: Marijuana - also called grass, weed, dope, ganja and Mary Jane.
shrooms: Psilocybin/Psilocyn mushrooms (sold frozen, fresh, or dried)
spliff: Large marijuana cigarette.
tweaking: To be in a state of drug paranoia.
wigging: Odd behavior resulting from the use of mind-altering drugs.

First of all, "Honey, are you tweaking right now?"
"... I'm sorry?"
"You know. Wigging."
"Uhh... Mom, are you on drugs?"

Second, if you can't figure out what is meant by the terms "o.z.", "pipe", and "shrooms", perhaps detective work is not for you.

Third, even if these definitions were 100% accurate, up-to-date, and informative, I don't see the community becoming safer when a bunch of soccer moms know what "dope fiend" means (dope fiend: A person who is drug dependent, according to the pamphlet). I see a rift forming between children and their parents/law enforcement due to distrust and suspicion. Maybe some mutual disrespect developing in response to the parents' initial disrespect. For the few kids who decide to take the pamphlet's advice, I don't envy their unpopularity after they report one or more of their peers.

But that's just my humble opinion, Officer... I'm sorry, what's your name again?

Tomorrow's featured pamphlet: Tell Your Children!

Not sure whether to laugh or cry...

Bravo!

In the throes of frantically cramming for finals and painfully ignoring all mentions of drug policy in the news, I couldn't ignore this article from the NY Times. There are some important things we should learn from this:

1. Money from the illegal drug trade goes to criminals. Oh wait, we knew that. Mr. Balbo, that is kindergarten.
2. More specifically, the Taliban actually has the nerve to use drug profits for terrorist activities! Indeed, terrorists are the kind of people to get involved in high risk, illegal markets to fund expensive criminal operations. Wow. The government is finally catching on.
3. So, clearly, the United States should approach the "drug problem" in Afghanistan with a repeat performance of their involvement in Colombia.
a. Training people to use weapons and destroy property that accounts for 40-50% of Afghanistan's GDP is the best way to bring peace and stability to a region. Rest assured, the continued war, corruption, and poverty in Colombia is merely a coincidence.
b. Oh yes, didn't you hear that Afghanistan and Colombia have drug problems? Growing poppies and coca is a drug problem. These people are addicted to profitable land use, and it needs to stop. United States to the rescue.
4. "Drug wars are long, and there are no quick solutions." Yeah, I'll say. I can't wait 'til we win. How much longer 'til the end of forever? How many more victims across how many more borders for how much more money? This is getting old.

Read for yourself and see what parallels you can draw between history and moronically repeated history. There are lots. There's also a lot of interesting information about how the drug trade goes down in Afghanistan and about the zany ideas intended to stop the madness (naturally everything but what makes sense). Most interesting is the fact that our generation is going to have to deal with the legacy (read: the messes) our government leaves in developing countries as it plays a perpetual game of Whack-A-Mole* trying to eradicate the supply of illegal drugs. Nothing justifies terrorist attacks, but giving them more reasons to be pissed off at the United States certainly won't help us in the future. We will be held accountable for what our government is doing now, not our crazy predecessors who are actually responsible. Meanwhile, we'll still have the same problems to deal with at home.

... I think I'll go drown my sorrows in biology notes.

*Thank you, Sanho Tree, for the analogy. You too can learn awesome Drug War analogies when you attend the next SSDP International Conference.

"Defuncsual" thinking

Ah! Today, I received a letter from the Office of National Drug Control Policy:

[click image for full-size version]

Oh, wait. That's a letter from a middle school student. My bad. But can you blame me for making that mistake? After all, we've received equally incoherent letters from the Drug Czar's office in the past.

Seriously, though, it's sad that the DARE program and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign are still force feeding myths and propaganda to our nation's youth. But, to the girl's credit, at least she agrees that medical marijuana should be legalized. That's so common sense that even a 12 year-old with bad spelling and grammar skills could figure it out. I wonder when the Drug Czar will stop putting crayons up his nose and come to the same conclusion.

Flex Your Rights!

Steve Silverman over at Flex Your Rights wants to know if BUSTED! has helped you successfully assert your rights during a police encounter. If you have a story let them know!

Guidelines for a good Flex Success story:

1. Keep it brief (no more than 3 paragraphs). Focus on the details
relevant to how you flexed your rights and how this benefited you.

2. Your story need not involve a high-stakes police encounter. If you
simply felt more self-confident during an otherwise stressful police
encounter, we want to hear from you too.

3. If you've had a particularly notable Busted screening event, please
describe your audience, how many people attended, and report any
positive feedback you've received.

4. Include your first name, last initial, city, and state and EMAIL!

If you don't know what BUSTED! is or your chapter has yet to have a screening, get a copy today!

HELPing Students is Easy!

The Senate HELP committee will be deciding whether to repeal the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty this week. Years of hard work by SSDP could finally result in opening the doors to higher education for students with drug convictions.

Since 1999, almost 200,000 student have been denied some form of aid. Think about the unknown number of students that didn't even bother to fill out the FAFSA because of Question 31. More than 335 National Organizations and 115 Student Governments support the repeal of this counterproductive law. This law acts as a deterrent to education, not to drugs.

Call your senator today! Just follow Jake's instructions. He's a pro at this stuff!

Don't forget to take an extra 30 seconds and send a follow up email right here!

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