One of the best new blogs of 2006 is the Drug Law Blog, written by California law school student Alex Coolman. He writes this week:
The Correctional Association of New York (which is a criminal justice reform nonprofit) has a good item on its website right now looking at 5 areas in New York law that the association considers "winnable issues." Those issues are:
- Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws
- Provide Treatment for Inmates with Mental Illness
- Stop Locking Up Sexually Exploited Girls and Boys
- Make Alternatives to Detention Available for Youth
- Grant Merit Time Eligibility for Domestic Violence Survivors in Prison
This list is a model, in my opinion, for the kind of move that drug policy advocates need to be making in 2007. We spend so much time cataloging the horrors of the war on drugs and making easy judgments about the obvious shortcomings of our public officials. Far less time is spent on the more difficult task of identifying "winnable" areas where laws could realistically change and proposing specific, concrete ways that those laws might be enacted.
Making the shift from drug-horror documentarians to legislative advocates involves coming down to earth from our theoretical pedestals and attempting to engage with a system that is very slow-moving and complicated. But it's the only way that a progressive agenda will actually advance. And just the effort of locating and focusing on "winnable" or potentially winnable areas sometimes has the real-world effect of transforming what seemed like lost causes into viable opportunities. Daily Kos, along with its many allies in the progressive blogosphere and in the broader Democratic political structure, achieved something like this feat in the 2006 election by pushing for Democratic candidates to run even in districts that had previously seemed like "safe" Republican seats. By waging a battle for actual power, and not just fighting a war of words from the safety of the Internet, these bloggers and advocates made a difference in real outcomes.
So the question, I think, is this: what are the "winnable" issues for advocates of drug law reform? Not just here in California, but on the national level as well.
I strongly agree with this advice. This recurring diary is meant to be documentarian. One of its basic goals is displaying the staggering continual array of evidence that the war on drugs has failed and has a number of far-reaching detrimental affects. But as we end 2006, I think we're at a level of awareness that we haven't been before. Attitudes on the drug war and on the prison system are changing. The idea that locking up as many people as possible is the path to fewer drug problems is something that hardly anyone believes any more, and the time is right to begin the slow march to a better system.
At a national level, I think there are a few places where I see chances to take some initial positive steps. All of these are things that I feel are within reach of the new Democratic Congress. Some of these are very realistic goals, others are more hopeful. Please add your own in the comments if you think there are others that I've missed.
1 - Pass the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment in the House - This is such a no-brainer, I still sometimes have trouble understanding why it hasn't passed yet. Congress can put an end to the federal government's interference of state medical marijuana laws. With over 30 seats changing hands from Republicans to Democrats, this bill, which has always had greater support from the Democrats, can pass. The uncertainty over whether medical marijuana laws passed at the state level have any teeth has been a roadblock to states passing their own laws in the legislatures.
2 - Reform mandatory minimum sentencing - With 7 million prisoners in the criminal justice system, even Republicans are backing away from this issue, which used to be a political gravy train for them. The disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing guidelines is now widely seen as openly racist, to the point where even Jeff Sessions of Alabama is coming around to support changes.
3 - Continue to push for the rescheduling of marijuana - Marijuana is still, 7 years after a government report admitted that it has medical use, classified as a Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs are, by definition, drugs with no defined medical purpose. The rescheduling evaluation was supposed to be completed by August of 2005, but the Department of Health and Human Services has been dragging its feet. I'm not an expert on the legal ramifications here, but my understanding is that this rescheduling would open doors for marijuana to be handled by health officials.
4 - Cut off the funding for Plan Colombia - Plan Colombia isn't just a failure. It's an abomination. Just this week, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) claims that the Colombian government is once again illegally spraying dangerous chemicals too close to the Ecuadorian border. Colombia has become an oasis of American influence in South America, where every country surrounding it has become strongly anti-American. Our efforts to eradicate a crop that holds cultural significance in that region is creating antagonism, all for a policy that has absolutely no chance of succeeding. If the Democratic Congress frames this issue as one of cutting wasteful spending, they can easily find enough allies in the Republican ranks to do this. The question is whether or not Democrats have the courage to take on an issue that they've been terrified to take on in the past.
5 - Encourage the Bush Adminstration to License Afghan Poppy Production - The Bush Adminstration's Afghani policy is about to get much worse. Drug Czar John Walters has vowed to unleash the same nightmare that Clinton began in Colombia in 2000. While our government and the media neglects what's really going on there, the reality is that there's no need to destroy the opium at all. There are shortages of opium-based painkillers in many third-world countries. There's simply no sane reason not to allow the farming for that purpose. The head of NATO Forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2006 says that if the Taliban was cut off from its drug money, the insurgency would collapse. The European Parliament has already passed a similar measure.
6 - Do what you can - OK, I know there were only supposed to be five, but one more important thing is for each of us to do what little we can from our little corners of the world. Many of us have limited resources, money, and time, but the internet has proven the power of collaboration. The drug war will not end with a white surrender flag and a parade. It will end with a large number of small victories. Pick your battles, be determined, and let's use this opportunity to move this country in the right direction again.
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In the past week...
Among the items set to be released in the automatic de-classification of all materials over 25 years old are the records of the CIA's experiments with LSD.
The confidential informant in the Juarez House of Death case is trying to stay in an American prison rather than going back to Mexico. In a document, a lawyer for some of the victims alleges that the informant has already implicated the Immigration and Customs Enforcement handlers in having knowledge of the murders.
There is a noticeable increase in the amount of Afghani heroin across the United States. Digby wonders why the places where we wage war keep sending us drugs.
Like his predecessor, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford was a staunch drug warrior.
Chris Suellentrop writes in the New York Times Magazine about how the Willie Horton era of the Republican Party is over and Republicans are starting to understand how important it is to be smart about integrating prisoners back into society.
Sara Solovitch writes about the problems that female drug addicts face in the prison system.
Maia Szalavitz criticizes Barack Obama's support of Byrne Drug Task Force grants, which have filled our jails with large numbers of African Americans.
Bruce Mirken writes in AlterNet about the fallacy of the "gateway theory".
Radley Balko finds three recent cases of criminals pretending to be cops in order to commit a robbery.
Jamie Spencer wonders why Americans are fine with individual possession of marijuana, but have trouble accepting the fact that this creates a marketplace.
Scott Morgan finds some cases of how the police have to break the law just to do their jobs in the drug war.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics, a book Matthew B. Robinson and Renee G. Sherlen is available online here.
I had an interesting discussion with someone on the right in the comments of Effin' Unsound, explaining how the immigration issue cannot be dealt with unless we deal with the role that drug prohibition plays in the economy of Mexico.
Sam from Ithaca explains why we need to end the drug war in this Kos diary.
Radley Balko has another edition of Drug Propaganda Thursday.
Rick Anderson wonders how much of Washington state's massive marijuana harvest sprouted from Marc Emery's seeds.
A San Jose editorial calls for judges in the state to cap the number of prisons and release non-violent offenders above the limit. The case of Annette Imboden is a prime example of what's wrong with California's system.
Taft, CA has made medical marijuana dispensaries illegal in the city limits.
The LA Times writes about the large numbers of people (mostly drug offenders) going in and out of the local prison systems. Mark Kleiman thinks that this is an indication of the inadequacy of Prop 36. Alex at Drug Law Blog notes that the article was written mainly from the perspective of police and fails to really explore all facets of the issue.
Mark Kleiman also discusses the recent report about Afghani heroin becoming more prevalent in the Los Angeles area.
Former boxer Mike Tyson was arrested for cocaine possession in Arizona.
Ben Fulton writes in the Salt Lake City Weekly that it makes very little sense to focus on marijuana when meth is a considerably more dangerous drug.
Seven tons of marijuana in a warehouse were seized by police in Houston.
Local Texas cops are surprised by former star cop Barry Cooper's plans to make a video to help people's attempts to avoid arrest. Loretta Nall has the trailer. LEAP is distancing themselves from Cooper because of his plans to profit from the video. Loretta Nall finds out some more very negative things about Cooper.
A Louisiana lawyer was arrested and accused of doing cocaine before breast-feeding her one-month-old son.
A Quad City man was arrested and spent some time in jail because he had bought too much pseudoephedrine for himself and his son.
An Illinois man faces a minimum of 9 years in prison for being in possession of mushrooms.
The Wayland Township Supervisor in Western Michigan was busted with a meth lab in his house. The Township Trustee, who says he was doing a great job, is struggling with a serious case of cognitive dissonance.
As the medical marijuana debate begins in Michigan, the pharmaceutical industry has found a lackey by the name of Dr. Anas Al-Janadi to lie about the dangers of the drug.
In Tennessee, as with everywhere else, home meth lab seizures are down but meth addictions continue to get worse as supply from Mexico increases. Same in Western Michigan.
Mississippi judge Michael Eubanks denied Cory Maye's motions for a new trial. More here.
An Alabama man is suing the Huntsville Police Department after police raided the wrong home looking for drugs in June.
Calhoun County, Alabama is giving up on throwing all drug users in jail and wants to open a treatment center.
Like Tennessee and Western Michigan, Virginia saw a large drop in the number of busted meth labs in 2006, but also a large increase in the amount of meth itself.
Two Roanoke, Virginia cops plead guilty to taking part in a huge drug distribution scheme based out of the police station.
Radley Balko now has a page set up for the case of David Ruttenberg, a billiard-parlor owner in Northern Virginia who has found himself the target of drug stings in Manassas Park. Balko, and another local blogger, are both discovering that the city mainly has had a serious grudge with Ruttenberg involving using his business as a location for OTB (off-track betting) among other weird things.
LeftIndependent points out that the fact that the average age of a street dealer in Philadelphia keeps getting younger and younger is a good reason to rethink prohibition.
A man in suburban Philly was arrested and accused of making the fentanyl-laced heroin that has killed dozens of people in the area.
A Massachusetts teenager was sentenced to two years in prison for selling marijuana and mushrooms.
Boston University is trying to ban commercially-sold drinking games.
There have been a string of drug overdoses in Edmonton that officials think may be the result of drugs being laced with diabetic medicines.
Michoacan, the Mexican state invaded by the Mexican army recently to root out drug trafficking has had over 500 drug-related executions and 17 beheadings this year. Michoacan is one the most common places where America's illegal immigrant population comes from.
Israeli ecstasy smuggler Yoram El-Al was arrested in Brazil. He was on Interpol's most wanted list after escaping from a Uruguayan prison.
Only about 1/4 of Europeans believe that marijuana should be legal.
A report says that Irish drug enforcement offices are understaffed.
A Scottish painter is promoting a new technique for fighting heroin addiction called Neuro-Electric Therapy.
It's now believed that Spain has a higher proportion of cocaine users than the United States. One recent study claims that 94% of all banknotes there have traces of cocaine.
A man in Turku is the first authorized Finnish medical marijuana user.
Hungarian officials busted a man with 31 pounds of heroin at the Hungary-Serbia border.
Greek police officials posted their research into cannabis, including information on how best to grow it, to the internet.
Rebels in Myanmar's United Wa Army are once again in the poppy business with the help of the Myanmar Army.
A Japanese man who claims he was tricked into being a drug smuggler is facing a death sentence in China.
Chinese authorities helped local Filipino authorities raid a meth lab north of Manila.