The Drug War is working!

I don't know about you, but I'm instilled with a deep sense of trust and respect for our nation's Drug War Czars and Generals when I read headlines like this:

More Kids Say Drugs a School Problem
August 16, 2007

Sixty-one percent of U.S. high-school students say that drugs are a problem in the schools, up from 44 percent in 2002, according to a new survey from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The Associated Press reported Aug. 16 that 31 percent of middle-school students also cited drugs as a school problem, up from 19 percent in the same time period.

At the same time, however, students' perception of drug use as a problem has waned: 24 percent of those surveyed said it was their top concern, down from 32 percent in 1995. Moreover, about 6 in 10 parents whose kids attend a school with a perceived drug problem said that the goal of creating a drug-free school is not realistic.

Well, look at the good news. At least 6 out of 10 parents don't have their heads up their asses.

As Drug WarRant's Pete Guither likes to say:

Some days it feels like I'm watching a house on fire. And one idiot wants to put it out with a machine gun. The other one wants to use grenades. And I'm standing there with a bucket of water and they look at me like I'm crazy.

Amen, Pete.

Even Customs Agents Hate Souder

Yesterday morning I flew back to Washington, DC from a weekend long Canada SSDP Board retreat in Toronto. Any time I have to go through customs, I know I'll be faced with the inevitable, "What do you do for work?" question at customs. In my seven years working in drug policy, I've never encountered a customs agent who had a problem with my work.

While going through customs yesterday, I told the customs agent where I work and he asked what SSDP does. I explained we were working to overturn a law that denies financial aid to students with drug convictions. The agent raised his eyebrows, looked at me, and responded, "Whoever came up with that law must be out of their mind!" He then went on a rant about how people who are trying to overcome addiction need an education in order to succeed, and that whoever created this law wasn't thinking long term.

Of course, I informed the agent that the man responsible for the law is Representative Mark Souder from Indiana. His reply: "Well, he's not very bright. Good luck with your campaign."

With that, he stamped my passport and wished me a good day.

We're number one, baby!

I think our friend Alex from the National Youth Rights Association said it best in the comments section of our Speed Grant:

Congrats guys, the SSDP machine is impressive. :)

Thanks Alex! What can I say?

However, let's not get complacent. There's still 8 days left in the competition... keep inviting your friends to vote for SSDP!

(Don't know what the hell I'm talking about? Read my earlier post.)

Are you on Facebook?

If it took just one minute to help Students for Sensible Drug Policy win a $1,000 grant, and you didn't have to donate a single penny out of your own pocket, wouldn't you do it?

Well, now you can. Facebook has a new Speed Granting application that allows organizations to win grants based solely on how many votes they get! And over the past few days, SSDP shot up from last place all the way to second place, and we are currently about 10 votes shy of overtaking the front-runner!

If we win, the money will go directly to supplying materials to our chapters for a national Day of Action to repeal the law that takes away financial aid from students with drug convictions.

Please take a brief moment to help SSDP win this grant. Here's what you can do to help:

1) Click here.

2) Allow the application to install itself in your facebook profile (don't worry, this won't install anything on your computer, and you can remove the application from your profile after the contest is over).

3) Click the "Vote for this" link on the right side of the page and confirm your vote.

Thank you! Since we are neck and neck with the front-runner, your vote helps a lot. However, if you have a little more time to help out today or this week (the contest ends on August 14th), here are some ways you can ensure that SSDP wins...

4) Invite your friends to vote for SSDP! The Speed Granting application allows you to send a message to ten friends at a time and invite 40 friends a day, so please do this four times today.

5) Click the "Share+" button to post it to your profile.

6) Invite more of your friends over the next week. Spread the word however you can (e-mail, instant messenger, posting on friends' walls, word of mouth, etc)!

Thanks so much. Remember, with your help, we will soon have $1,000 that will go directly toward repealing the law that has taken away financial aid from nearly 200,000 people with drug convictions.

Cast your vote today!

WashPost on the One Hitters

Marijuana Lobbyists? They're Smokin' the Competition!

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts

Sunday, August 5, 2007; Page D03

So, listen, Barry Bonds: We've got, like, a completely new way of thinking about this whole debate on controlled substances in athletics that will totally blow your mind.

The new team in first place in the Congressional Softball League? None other than Washington's marijuana lobbyists. Dude!

The One Hitters -- a team sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and related advocacy groups -- had by last week amassed a 13-3 record and vaulted to the top of the league, which includes teams from the RNC, DNC, Justice, Customs and Border Protection Service and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

"This effectively shatters the notion that drug policy reformers are just a bunch of lazy 'stoners,' " SSDP's Tom Angell wrote to us.

This stereotype has plagued the team since it joined the league four years ago. "We've definitely heard some snickers. Teams come in thinking we're going to be pushovers," said executive director and team captain/starting pitcher Kris Krane. "We have a chip on our shoulder about it."

Two years ago, the team fielded by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy refused to play the One Hitters -- first pleading scheduling problems but later copping to ideological concerns. Krane is still steamed: "We're contributing members of society. We're policy people who genuinely care about the impact the war on drugs is having on our nation, and we're trying to dispel some of the stereotypes."

So: What's up with the name? Krane admitted that "it's sort of a double-entendre," alluding to small marijuana pipes. "We really didn't want to do anything to reinforce the stoner stereotype -- because we're not a bunch of stoners, we're policy wonks. But we decided to have some fun."

And when they celebrate after the game? "The only substances you'll find on our team is beer," Krane said.

Marijuana users okay for FBI, not for college

Ever used marijuana? If you recently graduated from high school, chances are you have. Oddly enough, the federal government denies college financial aid to students with drug convictions, but is now permitting marijuana users to join the FBI:

WASHINGTON — Aspiring FBI agents who once dabbled in marijuana use won't be barred from getting a job with the elite crime-fighting agency, which has loosened its drug policy amid a campaign to hire hundreds of agents.

The bureau's pot-smoking standard, in place for at least 13 years, was revised after internal debate about whether the policy was eliminating prospects because of drug experimentation, said Jeff Berkin, deputy director of the FBI's Security Division. The policy disqualified candidates if they had used marijuana more than 15 times.

[...]

Berkin said the previous policy was based on a scoring system that had become "arbitrary." He also said it created problems for applicants who couldn't remember how many times they had smoked pot when asked in polygraph examinations.

"It encourages honesty and allows us to look at the whole person," Berkin said of the revised policy.

Makes sense to me. Perhaps we can get the FBI to sign on as a member of the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform.

New ONDCP Ad Will Blow Your Mind!

Since the ONDCP's anti-marijuana ads consistently go from dumb to dumber, they may as well just save tax dollars and air the ones they find after a YouTube search for marijuana commercial parody.

Feds Take Away Children of CA Dispensary Owner

A few years ago this story probably would have astonished me, but today, I'm used to hearing how the federal government will enforce laws to the extreme just because they can. Ronald Bradley Naulls is the owner of Healing Nations Collective in Corona California and at age 26 could be sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing medical marijuana. Not only was Naulls arrested but so was his wife on suspicion of child endangerment and their 3 children have been taken away to child protective services.

Naulls put it perfectly saying that he is "caught in a fight between the state and federal government." Naulls has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking. He and his family are merely a casualty of the drug war and the stubbornness of the federal government. It should be so easy to see that this man was helping to bring relief to over 5,000 patients and his actions harmed no one. Now his family is being pointlessly separated and he could spend the next 20 years of his life behind bars, with our tax dollars paying for it.

Related news: The Los Angeles City Council approved plans Wednesday to limit new medical marijuana dispensaries, regulate existing ones and urge a moratorium on recent clinic raids by federal agents!

BREAKING: SSDP better than Congress at sports

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 2, 2007

Drug War Foes are Kings of Capitol Hill Softball League

“One Hitters” Dispel Stoner Stereotypes By Earning League’s #1 Spot

WASHINGTON, DC – The One Hitters, a softball team sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, took over the #1 ranking in the Congressional Softball League last night. The team’s 13-3 record has vaulted them to the top of the league, which is made up of Congressional offices, lobbying and consulting firms, non-profit organizations, and local businesses.

Team leaders are especially proud of the ranking, which contradicts negative stereotypes of drug policy reformers as unmotivated “stoners.” “The drug policy reform community is made up of dedicated, hardworking people who take the issues of drug abuse and drug prohibition very seriously,” said One Hitters captain and SSDP Executive Director Kris Krane. “We take pride in fielding a fun but competitive team that dispels myths and stereotypes about people who care about ending the so called ‘War on Drugs.’”
The One Hitters have competed in the league for five years. Two years ago they made national headlines when the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy refused to play a game due to ideological reasons. “Everyone knows that ONDCP backed out because they were scared of losing to us on the field, much the same way they are afraid to debate us because their policies fail in the court of public opinion,” said center fielder David Guard, who is associate director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network. “We have an open challenge to the Drug Czar to play or debate anytime, anywhere.”

Other teams in the league include the Republican and Democratic National Committees (RNC & DNC Softball), Arizona Senators McCain and Kyl (No Talent AZ Clowns), the Department of Justice (Vote for Pedro), US Customs & Border Protection (Border Liners), Representatives Cummings and Sarbanes (Baltimore Oracles), Bloomberg News (Bloomberg Bombers), Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (Team PhRMA), and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (Outfielders).

*** The One Hitters' next game is against the No Talent AZ Clowns on Tuesday, August 7 at 6:30PM on 23rd and Constitution. ***

The One Hitters are a team in the Congressional Softball League sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, with players representing a variety of drug policy organizations including the Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, and the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative.

# # #

Update: The One Hitters are now offering a line of One Hitters apparel!

Do as We Say, Not as We Do!

While I do not support the random drug testing of anybody in the good ol' US of A, I have to say I liked the proposal made by a Camden County Commissioner asking that all board members take drug tests. The reason behind Commissioner Mike Andrews' motion is that if the board wants students to submit to random testing, they should be willing to do so as well.

"We as elected officials are depended upon by the citizens of our county to be leaders and also to set good examples for the children," he said. "I make a motion that from now on all members of this board, as a show of good faith and leadership, submit to random drug and alcohol testing and that these tests ... be carried out by an agency outside of the county to prevent and appearance of improperness, such as the State Bureau of Investigation."

It's not surprising that the board members voted his proposal down 3-1. Why should they have to suffer the embarrassment of pissing in a cup while someone listens intently to every squirt and drop? Why should they have to be punished for testing positive for marijuana or other drug use? After all, clearly it is they're job to create these rules, not to abide by them. I think this shows just how backwards and hypocritical student testing really is.