Drug war

Politics | ACLU, Rick Steves launch marijuana campaign

Posted by Jeff from Seattle Times

Steves, the Edmonds-based travel guru who five years ago openly acknowledged that he uses marijuana while visiting Europe, says he's not "pro-marijuana," but in favor of discussing the laws that affect the 830,000 Americans who are arrested annually under existing marijuana laws. About 90 percent of the arrests are for possession.

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A meth test for the press

Posted by Billbar from Slate

After Newsweek demonized the drug and its users last summer with a cover package that hyperbolized in a fashion that would have made the producers of Reefer Madness blush, most of the press has followed its example. The press tends to rubber-stamp studies that perpetuate the myth of the meth epidemic without pausing to analyze the data or the underlying arguments. Don't tell the kids, but there's a dirty little secret about crack: as with most other drugs, a lot of people use it without getting addicted. In their zeal to shield young people from the plague of drugs, the media and many drug educators have hyped the very real dangers of crack into a myth of instant and total addiction.

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Two Years in Jail for a Joint?

Posted by Billbar from Alternet

The war on drugs reached the pinnacle of cruelty when 18-year-old Mitchell Lawrence was sentenced in Massachusetts to two years in jail for selling a teaspoonful of marijuana to an undercover police officer for $20.

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Using the Drug "War" to Expand Government Power

Posted by Billbar from Glenn Greenwald

Zowie! About 110 million Americans age 12 or older have reported using illegal drugs at some time in their lives. Further, many if not most users also qualify as “dealers” in the eyes of the law. This article reviews the tools, in addition to prison, that comprise the drug warriors' arsenal that it trains on nearly half of us.

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Prison & the War on Drugs: Just Say No

Posted by Billbar from Glenn Greenwald

"Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigor of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind." Not in this country is doesn't.

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Oregon Governor Signs Groundbreaking Methamphetamine Bill

Posted by Jeff from Seattle Times

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