Hillary, Sen. Webb take baby steps toward sanity on drug policy

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Agents of the L.A. Border Enforcement Security Task Force seized 1,800 pounds of smuggled marijuana valued at $1.5 million in early February.

By David Sirota, Salon

Finally, after America has frittered away billions of taxpayer dollars arming Latin American death squads, air-dropping toxic herbicides on equatorial farmland, and incarcerating more of its own citizens on nonviolent drug charges than any other industrialized nation, two political leaders last week tried to begin taming the most wildly out-of-control beast in the government zoo: federal narcotics policy.

It started with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stating an embarrassingly obvious truth that politicians almost never discuss. In a speech about rising violence in Mexico, she said, "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," and then added that "we have co-responsibility" for the cartel-driven carnage plaguing our southern border.

She's right, of course. For all the Rambo-ish talk about waging a war on drugs that interdicts the supply of narcotics, we have not diminished demand -- specifically, demand for marijuana that cartels base their business on.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Americans spend about $9 billion a year on Mexican pot.

Add that to the roughly $36 billion worth of domestically produced weed, and cannabis has become one of the continent's biggest cash crops. As any mob movie illustrates, mixing such "insatiable" demand for a product with statutes outlawing said product guarantees the emergence of a violent black market -- in this case, one in which Mexican drug cartels reap 62 percent of their profits from U.S. marijuana sales.

That last stat, provided by the White House drug czar, is the silver lining. Every American concerned about Mexico's security problems should be thankful that the cartels are so dependent on marijuana and not a genuinely hazardous substance like heroin. Why? Because that means through pot legalization, we can bring the marijuana trade out of the shadows and into the safety of the regulated economy, consequently eliminating the black market that the cartels rely on. And here's the best part: We can do so without fearing any more negative consequences than we already tolerate in our keg-party culture.

Though President Barack Obama childishly laughed at a question about legalization during his recent town hall meeting, his government implicitly admits that marijuana is safer than light beer. Indeed, as federal agencies acknowledge alcohol's key role in deadly illnesses and domestic violence, their latest anti-pot fear mongering is an ad campaign insisting -- I kid you not -- that marijuana is dangerous because it makes people zone out on their couches and diminishes video-gaming skills.

(This is your government on drugs: Cirrhosis and angry tank-topped lushes beating their wives are more acceptable risks than stoners sitting in their basements ineptly playing "Halo." ... Any questions?)

Despite this idiocy, despite polls showing that most Americans support some form of legalization, and despite such legalization promising to generate billions of dollars in tax revenue, Clinton only acknowledged the uncomfortable reality about demand. That's certainly no small step, but she did not address drug policy reform. Confronting that taboo subject was left to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.

Last week, this first-term lawmaker proposed creating a federal commission to examine potential changes to the prison system, including a relaxation of marijuana statutes.

Webb hails from a conservative-leaning swing state whose criminal justice laws are among the nation's most draconian, so there's about as much personal political upside for him in this fight as there is for Clinton -- that is to say, almost none. That isn't stopping him, though.

"The elephant in the bedroom in many discussions on the criminal justice system is the sharp increase in drug incarceration," he said in a speech, later telling the Huffington Post that pot legalization "should be on the table."

Finally, a little honesty -- and now, maybe, some action.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/04/04/drugs/

[웃 910]

MF: Do you believe Marijuana should be legalized? And would you smoke on special occasions if it were?

their latest anti-pot fear mongering is an ad campaign insisting -- I kid you not -- that marijuana is dangerous because it makes people zone out on their couches and diminishes video-gaming skills.

When I used to smoke, my video-gaming skills didn't diminish, they improved. But how is diminishing your video-gaming skills dangerous?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

MF: Do you believe Marijuana should be legalized? And would you smoke on special occasions if it were?

Yes. I don't know about smoking it on special occasions - it's not something I'm fond of. I hardly drink and when I do, it's an occasional beer...but that's just me.

[DEDixon 39]

Yeap, it is America's fought .... everything is .... we are either minding our own business or sticking our noise into other countries business, but no matter, either way, we fail.

A friend of mine once commented about a study that said Icelanders (I think it was Icelanders) were the happiest people in the world and that with all our riches, America was way down on the list. I thought F### Iceland... who in the world looks to Iceland for anything? Are they ever tasked to do anything major outside of Iceland? Are they part of the UN's security council, do they have military bases in other countries to keep peace in the world (not talking about Iraq), are they looked upon to find peace between Israel and its enemies? Our list of responsibilities is long, not only at home, but around the world.

My point... we Americans do feel stress for all that we are tasked to do around the world... if our own little world is perfect, we still feel stress because others want us to solve their problems too.

[웃 910]

A friend of mine once commented about a study that said Icelanders (I think it was Icelanders) were the happiest people in the world and that with all our riches, America was way down on the list.

When was the study taken (Iceland's government is bankrupt):

January 6, 2009

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland's coalition government collapsed on Monday after an unprecedented wave of public dissent, plunging the island nation into political turmoil as it seeks to rebuild an economy shattered by the global financial crisis. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned and disbanded the government he's led since 2006. Haarde was unwilling to meet the demands of his coalition partner, the Social Democratic Alliance Party, which insisted on choosing a new prime minister in exchange for keeping the coalition intact. "I really regret that we could not continue with this coalition, I believe that that would have been the best result," Haarde told reporters. Iceland has been mired in crisis since October, when the country's banks collapsed under the weight of debts amassed during years of rapid expansion. Thousands of angry citizens have joined noisy protests against the government's handling of the economy, clattering pots and kitchen utensils in what some commentators called the "Saucepan Revolution." The value of the country's krona currency has plummeted, hitting many Icelanders who took out special loans denoted in foreign currencies for new homes and cars during the boom years. In addition, Iceland must repay billions of dollars to Europeans who held accounts with subsidiaries of collapsed Icelandic banks. Haarde's government has nationalized banks and negotiated about $10 billion in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and individual countries. Haarde _ a fiscal conservative with degrees from the University of Minnesota, Brandeis and Johns Hopkins _ is suffering from cancer and has announced he would not seek another term. He called early elections last week, following the mass protests by Icelanders upset at soaring unemployment and rising prices..........

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/26/i...0_n_160931.html

Edited April 5, 2009 by Confucian

[DEDixon 39]

A friend of mine once commented about a study that said Icelanders (I think it was Icelanders) were the happiest people in the world and that with all our riches, America was way down on the list.

When was the study taken (Iceland's government is bankrupt):

January 6, 2009

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland's coalition government collapsed on Monday after an unprecedented wave of public dissent, plunging the island nation into political turmoil as it seeks to rebuild an economy shattered by the global financial crisis. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned and disbanded the government he's led since 2006. Haarde was unwilling to meet the demands of his coalition partner, the Social Democratic Alliance Party, which insisted on choosing a new prime minister in exchange for keeping the coalition intact. "I really regret that we could not continue with this coalition, I believe that that would have been the best result," Haarde told reporters. Iceland has been mired in crisis since October, when the country's banks collapsed under the weight of debts amassed during years of rapid expansion. Thousands of angry citizens have joined noisy protests against the government's handling of the economy, clattering pots and kitchen utensils in what some commentators called the "Saucepan Revolution." The value of the country's krona currency has plummeted, hitting many Icelanders who took out special loans denoted in foreign currencies for new homes and cars during the boom years. In addition, Iceland must repay billions of dollars to Europeans who held accounts with subsidiaries of collapsed Icelandic banks. Haarde's government has nationalized banks and negotiated about $10 billion in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and individual countries. Haarde _ a fiscal conservative with degrees from the University of Minnesota, Brandeis and Johns Hopkins _ is suffering from cancer and has announced he would not seek another term. He called early elections last week, following the mass protests by Icelanders upset at soaring unemployment and rising prices..........

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/26/i...0_n_160931.html

It was recent, but before the mess.

[dalegg 143]

Every American concerned about Mexico's security problems should be thankful that the cartels are so dependent on marijuana and not a genuinely hazardous substance like heroin. Why? Because that means through pot legalization, we can bring the marijuana trade out of the shadows and into the safety of the regulated economy, consequently eliminating the black market that the cartels rely on. And here's the best part: We can do so without fearing any more negative consequences than we already tolerate in our keg-party culture.

Well hold on a minute. Do we think the cartels are just going to fade away because pot is no longer legal? If they don't have pot then they will have to rely on genuinely hazardous substances like heroin- or perhaps something worse if demand for heroin isn't high enough to keep them rich. Maybe they start kidnapping kids right off of American streets. These are businessmen. Businessmen like to stay in business and they like to stay rich. The cartels have already proven they do not give a rip about human life, so by all means, lets make them desparate. That should be fun. Just another side to think about. I agree we are kind of wasting money on prisons, but maybe somehow we could keep it illegal while not really enforcing use laws. I don't know.

[peejay 327]

Every American concerned about Mexico's security problems should be thankful that the cartels are so dependent on marijuana and not a genuinely hazardous substance like heroin. Why? Because that means through pot legalization, we can bring the marijuana trade out of the shadows and into the safety of the regulated economy, consequently eliminating the black market that the cartels rely on. And here's the best part: We can do so without fearing any more negative consequences than we already tolerate in our keg-party culture.

Well hold on a minute. Do we think the cartels are just going to fade away because pot is no longer legal? If they don't have pot then they will have to rely on genuinely hazardous substances like heroin- or perhaps something worse if demand for heroin isn't high enough to keep them rich. Maybe they start kidnapping kids right off of American streets. These are businessmen. Businessmen like to stay in business and they like to stay rich. The cartels have already proven they do not give a rip about human life, so by all means, lets make them desparate. That should be fun. Just another side to think about. I agree we are kind of wasting money on prisons, but maybe somehow we could keep it illegal while not really enforcing use laws. I don't know.

No sh*t! It wasn't like the American Mafia just faded away after Prohibition ended. Not to mention that a utopian society wasn't created after alcohol was legalized. Good grief!

I could stomach some limited decriminalization of small personal quatities of marijuana. Total legalization of marijuana and other narcotics is nothing more than a stoner's wet dream that is a Red Herring.