More Cop Corruption Enabled by the Failed Drug War

Detroit police officer Luke Davis is in hot water after his victim's home recording equipment revealed what he and his team are really about during one of their many drug raids.

Story here.

Video below.

End the Insane War on Drugs

Here is a great report from Cenk Uygar on MSNBC in support of ending the insane war on drugs. It's great to see someone from the Left with this perspective. Could the Right follow suit anytime soon?

Feds Look to Imprison More People

The United States federal government, not satisfied with imprisoning people for putting natural substances into their bodies, have now targeted synthetic marijuana.

Don't you feel safer knowing that the government is watching out for you and the things that you put in your body?

My Suggestion for the Missouri Budget

A friend wrote to inform me that Missouri legislators are asking the public to come up with ways that the state can save money during the current budget shortfall. There is a new link on the senate website called "rebooting government" where senate bureaucrat Charlie Shields allows the public to submit these ideas.

Here is my submission:


Senator Shields,

One of the largest and most ineffective expenditures in the Missouri budget is the "war on drugs". Missouri ranks in the top ten of states with the highest increase in number of prisons between 1979 and 2000. (http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410994_mapping_prisons.pdf)

These prisons are seeing a large percentage of non-violent drug offenders. How long must we keep deluding ourselves to think this "war" is actually working? Is it worth the cost? More importantly, is it worth the number of lives that are ruined by the unnecessary and ridiculous imprisonment for the simple possession or inhalation of a plant?

Senator Shields, ask yourself this question: “Do I own my body?” If you answered “yes” to that question, then you must take the next logical step to understanding that if you own your own body, then your neighbor owns his. To be free, one must also let others be free to do as they please provided they are not harming others. There are already laws against causing harm to others and theft, which are common crimes that have become part and parcel of the drug culture because of its prohibition.

When any service or product is made illegal, it is pushed underground and thus removes the legal recourse to solve grievances and the access to the desired substances. This is what made Al Capone a very rich man because of his virtual monopoly on the violent means of solving “disputes” and providing a product that the people clearly want.

Legislation does not change behavior – there is no marked decrease in drug usage as a result of its prohibition. End the drug war. Stop caging our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors. Let people live how they want to live and do with their bodies as they choose, even if you personally disagree with their choice.

The simple dissolution of the drug war will create a state budget surplus, which means it is the right thing to do morally and financially.

Respectfully,

Jake Smith, St. Louis

And the Insane Drug War Continues...

The writer of this article is lauding the snitch who gave cause for the tax feeding busy bodies with badges in Greensburg, IN to waste more tax payer money to continue the insane war on drugs. As is always the case with these tyrants, it would be easy to laugh at the way this was written if it weren't so tragic. Here are some excerpts:

Another tip from a watchful citizen early Tuesday morning brought the Greensburg Police Department closer to exterminating the drug problem in the city.

[As though the drug "problem" will ever be exterminated. How pathetic.]

In the interim period before the warrant was granted, the GPD kept a secure perimeter around the residence, making sure that no one went in or out of the apartment, Chief Heaton explained.

[A secure perimeter? For the "dangerous" marijuana smokers?]

“It definitely tied up our units (for about two hours),” Heaton said.

“The officers did a great job of identifying the odor and confirming the suspicious activity and suspicious noise,” Heaton said.

The Police Chief stressed again the importance of community involvement in a case such as this. Without the tip from the public, the alleged marijuana den might not have been uncovered and busted.

Prominent Liberals Criticize Obama's Afghanistan Strategy

In a previous posting, I stated the Democrats and the mainstream media do not speak out against Obama when he continues to expand the empire through war and implored the "legitimate pro-peace Democrats and media" to prove me wrong.

Over the past week, some prominent liberals have come out against the supposed "president of peace" and his continued warmongering in Afghanistan. I am pleasantly surprised and want to give credit to those members of the Left who are showing some principle.

Here is Jon Stewart's humorous critique:


Here is Rachel Maddow's critique on her MSNBC show: (hat tip to Phil)


Michael Moore also wrote an open letter on his website where he asks Obama if he really wants to be the next war president.

Drug Police Play Wii During Raid

Tampa Bay drugs cops stopped to play Wii bowling during a raid of an alleged purveyor of non-FDA approved pharmaceuticals. Once again we see the outcome of a never ending drug "war". These are not simply one-off situations of bad decision making by a few select cops. This is a systematic problem that is inherent in any protection agency that is run by a coercive monopoly, the state.

Legalize Marijuana: Revisited (again)

Apparently the "libertarians" over at Reason are in support of legalizing marijuana and taxing it.

Which is another way of saying "'libertarians' over at Reason are in support of trading one form of tyrrany for another".

See my previous postings here and here.

Mexico Doesn't Have a Drug Problem...

...Mexico has a United States problem.

The following is a great article written by Fred Reed about the futility of the War On Drugs and how America have moved the battle from our soil to Mexico's. (read his blog)

La Rubia y La Droga
March 30, 2009

I read with horror that Hillary Clinton, posing as the Secretary of State, has been in Mexico talking with Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, about “the problem of drugs.” Horror is the reasonable response whenever an American official is allowed to pass beyond the beltway. Or stay within it. They never know what they are doing. Oh god.

In fairness, I have to concede that Ms. Clinton is well qualified to talk to Calderon, since he speaks…English. Further, I concede that she does have a grasp of things Latin American, engendered by many years in…Arkansas. Aaagh.

May I suggest that the former First Basilisk had no idea where she was or what she was doing? Oh god, oh god. Oh god.

To show that utter futility can, if not be fun, at least serve to pass an idle hour, let me express the common Mexican and indeed South American view of the, oh god, War on Drugs. It goes thusly:

[Read the entire article here]

Decriminalize Marijuana

One of the increasingly ubiquitous topics saturating the news headlines and postings on this site has been the topic of marijuana legalization. There are seemingly endless reasons to end the war on drugs, specifically the war on marijuana. However, this particular posting will focus on speaking to those who agree that the federal laws on marijuana are repressive and antiquated yet are not ready to take a principled and uncompromising stand against the state which has persecuted users of a plant that was legal until a massive propaganda machine convinced congress to criminalize it in the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

Let me first start by saying I have never liked the term legalization applied to the drug topic because it suggests the natural state would be illegal were it not for the permission and access granted by the benevolent government. I prefer the term decriminalization because it correctly asserts it has been artificially forbidden and is now returned to its native state of legality.

A friend recently pointed out there actually is a definitive difference between the two terms. The prime difference is that decriminalization removes criminal charges but leaves intact associated laws and regulations, whereas legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is not currently legal.

What good does it do to remove criminal charges and still punish a user with a ticket and a fine? The state gets the best of both evil worlds because it can continue to murder and pillage by means of the expensive and expansive drug war, all the while appeasing the compromising masses who are satisfied with the superficial removal of criminal charges; meanwhile, the state continues to line its coffers with the fine-generated revenue plundered from the "non-criminals". If a "non-criminal" refuses to fork over the booty, will the state not then declare him a criminal?

Notwithstanding the dictionary distinction between the two, I will continue to use my definition of decriminalization and emphasize that my definition includes the removal of any and all prohibition.

I have been pleasantly surprised when reading online news articles to see the number of reader comments supporting the decriminalization of marijuana. However, I find it troubling that there are those who believe marijuana should not be illegal but at the same time maintain the thought process "the law is the law and we should obey it. If you don't agree with the law, it must be changed first before you break it."

This idiom is ridiculous and senseless because it turns everyone into sheep and suggests we must go with the flow and wait for our compassionate leaders to change an oppressive law. Civil disobedience has played a role throughout history and proves that often there must be a pioneer who was not comfortable with the status quo and used the court system to challenge the law, rather than waiting for the legislators.

These trail blazers must be supported and embraced as the heroes and patriots they are, not hypocritically chastised by those who shallowly agreed with their principle but not their practical implementation.

Note: I realize there is a dangerously slippery slope with respect to judicial review, but the ultimate compass in which a law's legitimacy is rooted should be its focus on the preservation of individual liberty (some say the barometer should be its constitutionality, but we see how that document has been bastardized and disregarded).

We must further expunge the proposition that marijuana be legalized and then regulated and taxed. All you have to do is look at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to realize the state is history's worst body of drug regulators. Confidence in the ability of the FDA to effectively regulate the "legal" drug market hit an all-time low by even the state's standards when the Supreme Court ruled drug companies can still be sued despite having received the FDA's blessing. Even the state doesn't trust the state!

And those who truly support the relinquishing of the state's stranglehold of the serfs cannot be taken seriously when they advocate the taxation of marijuana. All this accomplishes is the substitution of one form of tyranny for another. The state will then possess amplified financial means to perpetrate even more oppression against the people, thus perpetuating the vicious despotic cycle fueled by complacency.

Those that support the decriminalization of marijuana must employ a systematic approach that is unequivocal and absolute, and must not yield to those who hold a position open to negotiation. The battle for liberty cannot be half-heartedly fought, for I can assure that that the enemy of liberty, the state, is focused and dedicated in their unrelenting march toward power and totalitarianism.

1 out of every 31 Americans in Prison in 2007

Imagine the boost on the economy if the state were to repudiate its status as governor of morality, end the ridiculous "war on drugs", and allow these "criminals" to return to society as productive members, not participants in one of the largest societal drains.

"The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." --Ayn Rand

Greg Anderson: The Face of a Hero

After apparently solving all other problems in America, the Feds continue to go after Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' former personal trainer and pharmaceutical entrepreneur. Anderson has been in and out of prison since 2006 for his refusal to capitulate to the Feds' strong arming and testify against Bonds for alleged perjury.

Even after twenty federal agents in January raided the home of his mother-in-law who has been targeted in a tax probe, Anderson has remained indignant and held his ground. This raid is an obvious retaliation against Anderson by the Feds who are trying to hit him in his most vulnerable targets. When the mob commits acts of jack-booted aggression against its enemies, this is known as a crime. This is standard operating procedure when done by the Feds.

Stay strong, Greg.

And Dude, "Drug Traffickers" is not the preferred nomenclature

"Narcotraffickers", please.

In an obvious attempt to further demonize the unsanctioned pharmaceutical distribution trade, a new term has emerged. I wonder how many Monday morning staff meetings at the DEA it took before this gem was chosen. Propaganda has always played a major role in every war - the "drug war" is no exception.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/02/25/mexico.juarez.drugs/index.html

More Police Corruption

Headline: "Atlanta police look to restore trust after drug raid killing"

Three ex-police officers are going to jail after killing a 92-year old woman in her home and planting drugs. Here is a rare case where the prisons are being utilized for "real" criminals, not just users of pharmaceuticals (pharmaceuticals that haven't been blessed by the FDA).

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/02/23/johnston_sentencing.html