Where is the Discussion Paper Lebowski? I mean... Costa!

The HCLU does it again! Here is an update on Dr. Polak's efforts to get a straight answer from Mr. Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime regarding rates of cannabis use in the Netherlands compared with countries that have prohibited the drug.

Costa claims to have answered the question here. What do you think?

13 Year Old American Teenagers Recruited as Assassins for Mexican Drug Cartel

Rosalio Reta and his friend, Gabriel Cardona, were members of a three-person cell of American teenagers working as cartel hit men in the United States, according to prosecutors.

...In interviews with CNN, Laredo police detectives and prosecutors told how Cardona and Reta were recruited by the cartel to be assassins after they began hitting the cantinas and clubs just across the border. [CNN]

The Mexican drug cartel, fueled by the constant demand for illicit drugs and armed with guns supplied by America has unsurprisingly been recruiting American teenagers to fight their bloody battles, starting as early as 13 years old.

Both teenagers received six-month military-style training on a Mexican ranch. Investigators say Cardona and Reta were paid $500 a week each as a retainer, to sit and wait for the call to kill. Then they were paid up to $50,000 and 2 kilos of cocaine for carrying out a hit.

The teenagers lived in several safe houses around Laredo and drove around town in a $70,000 Mercedes-Benz.

So let’s get this straight. They have our guns, they have our money, they supply us with our drugs, they control our border, and now they have more power over our kids than parents ever would. I doubt you’d find a parent out there who’d be willing to pay their child $500 a week for sitting around, though at this point, maybe they should start looking into it.

I hate to be repetitive in my posts, but how are people not panicking? Do they not understand the idea of cause and effect, or do they need their North American geography refreshed?

There are sleeper cells in the U.S.," said Detective Garcia. "They're here, they're here in the United States.

Think about it, what else could the cartel sell that would give them so much easy money and an overwhelming amount of control? Chocolate candy bars? I don’t think so. Everyone wants drugs. No matter how many “Just Say No” campaigns we may feed our tax dollars into, we will not be able to turn American into a “drug free” nation. Instead, we need to legalize, regulate, control, and educate the public about the real harms drugs can cause and how to use responsibly if they’re going to use.

The solution is right in front of us, but some of us are too scared to even talk about it. Unfortunately at this point, there's so much more to be scared about than the word "legalization".

Ron Paul vs. Stephen Baldwin on Marijuana Legalization

Wow this is funny.

Why the hell is Stephen Baldwin debating Ron Paul? Probably because support for marijuana prohibition has dwindled so badly, Pauly Shore's co-star was the only one willing to debate a former Presidential Candidate. I'm not convinced he even knew who Ron Paul was.

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. I was in stitches folks. "Marijuana leads to worse things. That's just a fact. I don't care what anybody says." Balding confidently states, citing alcohol abuse and abuse of harder drugs as inevitable consequences of smoking marijuana.

Stephen Baldwin doesn't really get a word in edgewise throughout the entire interview. And for each dumb reason he throws out (check out his response to medical marijuana around 4:25), the congressman has a field day quickly refuting and following up with a short rant on drug prohibition.

I don't know why I'm writing about Stephen Baldwin. I wish I wasn't. That guy is an ass. Now Ron Paul; that's one sensible man.

Former Drug Czar to Adult Marijuana Users: "Knock Yourself Out"

Look out! The sky is falling! Pigs are flying!

Barry McCaffrey just said something sensible. Actually, he says a few sensible things about the importance of drug treatment in this interview from 2000. McCaffrey came around to see that treatment access and quality needed to improved in the U.S. Unfortunately little has been done to actually shift law enforcement resources to treatment and education.

It makes sense to me. If you earn a high school degree, become an adult, smoke marijuana responsibly, and don't hurt anyone else... who cares? Not Barry McCaffrey thank goodness!

Think Sensibly... Act Globally

Many thanks to our friends at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union for producing this video!

LATEST NEWS:

On March 11-13, 2009 SSDP Executive Director Kris Krane participated in the High Level Segment of the United Nations annual Committee on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, Austria.

At this meeting, every country in the world was asked to approve a political declaration and action plan that would guide the world’s drug policy for the next ten years. This was the culmination of a yearlong review process that included the first ever global meeting of NGO’s from around the world last summer, in which SSDP was a participant.

While the world’s NGO community unanimously approved a forward thinking set of recommendations, that stressed harm reduction and the fundamental human rights of drug users, the final declaration approved by the United Nations ignored most of these recommendations. Instead, they approved a document that can only be described as “more of the same.”“Harm reduction” refers to common-sense, life-saving programs and policies that don’t rely on an abstinence-only messaging (like contraceptives, but for drugs).

But due to the urging of a number of countries, including the United States, the words “harm reduction” were completely left out of the final declaration. After the unanimous approval of the declaration, a group of 26 countries including Great Britain, Germany, and Australia, made a statement to the United Nations that they would officially interpret the phrase “related support services” in clause 20 to mean “harm reduction.”

This ignited a firestorm of debate on the floor of the UN, with countries standing up to denounce the “group of 26.” Among the countries that chose to publicly denounce harm reduction were Russia, Cuba, Pakistan… and the United States of America.

Over 100 countries chose not to speak in support or opposition to harm reduction, yet the United States willingly chose to align itself with countries that are responsible for some the worst human rights abuses perpetrated in the name of the War on Drugs, rather than staying silent or aligning with America’s traditional allies.

The Obama administration has promised to rebuild America’s traditional alliances, yet they willfully set this process back in order to continue the disastrous global war on drugs and drug users. Clearly, this behavior will not change unless President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton hear a loud message from citizens that global drug policy must be based in science, reason, evidence, and human rights, rather than worn-out ideology and Drug War orthodoxy.

Please take a moment to send a message to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton expressing your outrage at the United States’ behavior at the United Nations last week, and urge them to correct this mistake by joining with our traditional allies in promoting harm reduction practices around the world.

To be fair, despite the U.S. delegation's shameful behavior at the end of the U.N. meeting, their position has progressed from previous years. While the U.S. opposed the term harm reduction, for the first time ever they publicly supported needle exchange programs and methadone treatment at the global level. With some encouragement from citizens like you, we can continue to move the new administration’s position on drug policy forward in the coming years.

Gaming While High

And if you thought that silly alien ad was bad, get this. The ONDCP's newest angle on getting young people to not smoke pot is... it makes you suck at video games. And then, obviously, a poorly animated Zelda look alike will make you feel bad about yourself for losing level 3. He'll also suffer a broken arm and play chess instead. By himself.

This is just plain silly. This is what we're spending $60million a year on? I've seen Kung-Fu movies that are voiced over better than this piece of shit.

Just another offensive and likely counterproductive advertisement from the folks at Above the Influence. At least with Stoners in the Mist, you could actually play a game.

Let's compare that video with Safety First's Lets Talk About Meth and Other Drugs:


Remind me again. Which one had a budget of $60million dollars?

Glenn Beck: "Let's Legalize Marijuana"

Well folks, I think its obvious that Glenn Beck must be reading the DARE Generation Diary! He seems to have completely changed his tone about marijuana legalization.

Beck starts of this segment saying "I woke up this morning and I thought, we should legalize marijuana."

I have to say, I burst out laughing at first - the resulting combination of joy from seeing this discussion take place on Fox News and the absurdity of his last segment on the subject (not to say I'm not happy that the has seen the light!). Plus, I thought he might be kidding...

But, Beck provided the venue for a fantastic and balanced discussion about the effects of prohibition. This wasn't a discussion about the benefits or dangers of using drugs. We all know that drug use, like most behaviors, can carry consequences. This was a forum about prohibition and a comparison of its failure in the 1920's to its failure today.

Beck's guest for the discussion is Mexico's former deputy foreign minister, Andres Rozental. Rozental provides unarguable testimony and at times makes touching points concerning the devastation that prohibition has caused Mexico. Beck asks Rozental, "explain to me how using marijuana is NOT a victimless crime." Rozental answers beautifully, explaining that, really, the best way to make marijuana use a victimless crime is:

"legalize it, regulate it, make sure that the purity is what it should be, make sure that it pays taxes rather than fill the pockets of criminal gangs, and then be much more reasonable and rational about the way you deal with these things."

Throughout the segment both repeat over and over again the same exact argument that drug policy reformers have been screaming for years; Legalize marijuana! Not because drugs are good and not because drugs are bad - legalize marijuana because prohibition creates violence, prohibition creates and funds terrorists and organized crime. Prohibition is the problem and legalization is the solution.

We are at the "tipping point" friends. Even if our country continues to wage this failed war on drugs, no one can continue to justify it. Not even Glenn Beck.

Rob Kampia on Glenn Beck

Kudos to MPP's Rob Kampia for sitting through this ridiculous interview about AB390, the bill that would legalize and tax marijuana in California.

Kampia remains cool while Beck makes a complete ass of himself during the segment, starting off with him giggling (for no apparent reason) and then asking Kampia, "do you smoke marijuana?"

Its seemed like Rob was waiting for some actual discussion on marijuana policy to occur. Something like objective, grown up, respectful, "fair and balanced" media. No such luck.

Watch as a little animated man has revolving thought bubbles pop up with "California Wants to do What?", "Legalizing Pot?", and my personal favorite, "Got Brownies?"

As all seriousness in the interview declines , and Beck's absurdity rises, he pulls out some cookies. Claiming that he's witnessed people smoking joints "next to a cop" in New York , Beck insinuates that no one is arrested for marijuana in the state. Kampia let's us know that there were more than 40,000 marijuana arrests in New York state last year.

If Beck actually believes his statement to be true, how could he not come to the conclusion that taxing the drug is the smartest move? He's witnessing people smoking, meaning marijuana is readily available, and the police aren't arresting the smokers, meaning they have better things to do. Astonishingly, he then calls himself a libertarian.

These are the types of interviews that make me so proud to be part of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and promoting open, honest, and rational discussion about drug abuse.

Beck should attend one of SSDP's upcoming conferences and sit in on a few workshops. We'll waive his registration fee.

Dare to Act!

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is demanding that Dr. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, give his explanation of a well known fact. In the Netherlands, where adults are allowed to buy and use marijuana, rates of use are actually lower than that of the United States. Significantly lower.

His explanation? Well... he's not quite ready to provide one. At least not one that the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union finds satifactory. Dr. Fredrick Polick, a dutch psychiatrist and leading European drug policy reformer, has asked Costa for his explanation on 4 occasions now.

The HCLU has created created a pretty nifty website to draw attention to this issue. I think you'll especially enjoy the personal introduction from Dr. Polick! You'll find descriptions and video for Polick's 4 "rounds" of questions and a 5th round asking you to put Costa on the spot next.

In 2008, Costa promised to publish a study that explains and provides evidence for his "availability increases use" theory. He's yet to publish it, but that doesn't mean he isn't working on it - SSDP is looking forward to reading it.

Deadly Disaster in Mexico

I think people put it best when they say we'll need to end the drug war soon enough out of pure necessity. Take, for instance, this video of what's going on in Mexico:



More than 5,300 people were killed in drug cartel violence last year. Reporters are rightfully horrified to have their name linked to any Mexican drug cartel story. Innocent children are being maliciously slain. The Texas Guard has gone on high alert for the first time in history.

Yet, when asked on Fox News why the people in Mexico are protesting the army that was sent out to supposedly help them, Senator Dan Patrick of Texas replies,

"Well, we believe Bill, that it's the drug cartels who paid the people to protest."

Ignorant? Pathetic? Too horrified to face the truth? Who knows. What we do know is that if Mexico doesn't legalize and regulate drugs soon and take away the drug cartel's major source of power, there will be no way out.

The National Drug Intelligence Center has already concluded in its National Drug Threat Assessment 2009 that "Mexico drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States."

Lawmakers in Texas are currently worrying about a flood of Mexican refugees attempting to escape the violence pouring into their state, but nobody really seems to know what to do.

"This violence is happening because the [Felipe] Calderon administration is doing the right thing by cracking down on powerful drug cartels," Kudwa said in a statement. "The cartels are, predictably, fighting back to protect their lucrative criminal livelihood..."[Fox News]

How can people continue to blatantly overlook the solution and honestly believe that the violent tactics being used are the "right thing" to do? Obviously these tactics are failing everyone except for the drug cartels. Obviously we need to come up with a better plan. Obviously, we need to talk legalization.