"SpongeBob Square Pants is Just SomeGuys' Acid Trip"

"SpongeBob Square Pants is Just SomeGuys' Acid Trip", said my misguided co-worker. "That's why my husband won't let my kids watch SpongeBob."

"WHAT? That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. SpongeBob is the nicest, friendliest and most polite cartoon character EVER. He is the best role model a kid could ever have. If it wasn't for drugs, there wouldn't be any good cartoons."

This earned me a few raised eyebrows and shocked looks. Good, I say. When reefer madness prevents a parent from watching SpongeBob, then you know the world has gone crazy. What is there not to love about SpongeBob? If only everybody could be as nice as SpongeBob and as happy to do well in a low-paying job. He skips happily, he never swears and he always holds Patricks' hands. He could definitely teach me a few things.

Drugs and Alcohol

What a stupid and obnoxious waste of a phrase. Alcohol is a drug, putting it into its' own category does not change that fact. I wish I could say drugs and everybody would know that I was including alcohol. That would be the smart and sensible thing. But since we live in a flawed and biased world, where drug prohibition is justified by the existence of drug addicts, it won't happen anytime soon.

No Child Left Untested

A very interesting look at drug testing in American schools. MSNBC features the views from the pro-drug-testing and the anti-drug testing sides of the debate. There are concerns about privacy:

Dr. Bertha Madras: Under ideal conditions the testing is random, which is critical. If it's a urine test, the child is asked to come down to the nurse's office. They walk in solo, they deposit a sample as they would in any doctor's office, they give the sample to the nurse who puts a little dip stick in, and the dip stick will say positive or negative.

Jennifer Kern: They are removed from their classrooms and are escorted to take a drug test, and if they end up with a positive test result they are removed from their extracurricular activity. And because this is a very public removal from the classroom and often a public removal from the extracurricular activity, the testing is not as confidential as promised.

Is there a risk that kids who test positive for drugs will be stigmatized?

Madras: The thing that I have heard is that everyone knows who's using drugs; there are no surprises amongst the kids. Kids know who are the users, their friends know, so when a kid is not engaged in sports for one game, nobody is surprised. I've been a parent all my life, and I knew which one of the kids I didn't want my kids near. I think the far greater risk is using the drug that can have adverse consequences on brain, body and behavior.

Translation: We already know who the drug users are and their feelings don't matter so it's no big deal if they get singled out.

Kern: What is the point of removing the kids from extracurricular activities when they are most in need of that support and there is the question of confidentiality and those students being labeled as the 'bad kid' and how that effects them?

Why didn't MSNBC ask about the costs of drug testing? These programs are expensive and are not proven to reduce student drug use. Why didn't they bother to bring that up? Read the whole thing. I especially like how the prohibitionist used the "successes" of drug testing in the military to justify intrusive drug testing of adolescents in a high school setting. Nice.

The Best Test for "Booze Clues"

In fact it works so well that if your kid uses the following common household items, they could test positive for alcohol:

--Hand Sanitizer (62 percent alcohol)
--Cough Medicine (10 percent alcohol)
--Mouthwash (27 percent alcohol)
--Vanilla Extract (35 percent alcohol)
--Disinfectant spray (at least 79 percent alcohol)

It's only going to cost the Pequannock Towship $120,000 of federal money to impliment the program. It's nice to know that the quality of American education is so wonderful and top-notch that they have the luxury of wasting $120,000 on ineffective testing. Every American kid has a band instrument, adequate support, tutoring and a lunch, right?

Wingnut Victories

Did you know that when Mexico extradites 11 narco-terrorists to the United States it's a victory for the war on drugs? Because apparently, they are the only 11 people in all of Mexico that are capable of running the vast murderous Tijuana drug cartel. Thus the war on drugs is over, at least if you are gullible enough to take wingunts at their word. For some amusing, "analysis" of this victory all you have to do is head on over to my second favorite wingnut site, (next to Wingnut Daily), Human Events.

How the War on Drugs Affects Pregnant Women

A really interesting article from feministing about how pregnant women lose their rights.

In case you’re wondering, being addicted to drugs is not a crime, only the stuff you do is a crime, not who or what you are at a given point in time. So-

Being an addict: not a crime
Possessing drugs with the intent to take them, give them away or sell them: all crimes.

Being an alcoholic: not a crime
Driving while intoxicated: a crime

Despite this fact, all over the country, women are being prosecuted for “crimes” based only on their (1) being pregnant and (2) testing positive for drugs. No one else can be tested and prosecuted just for having drugs in his or her system. To get around what they obviously see as a shortcoming in the law, prosecutors charge pregnant women with “delivery of drugs to a minor” and “child endangerment” even though the laws clearly were not meant to be used in these cases.

This violates pregnant women’s constitutional rights, since (1) the laws are applied differently to them than anyone else, (2) they have no reason to know that these laws apply to what they are doing, (3) women have pled guilty to crimes that aren’t really crimes, and (4) the Supreme Court has held that punishing someone for being addicted to drugs or alcohol is both cruel and unusual punishment, since addiction is an illness. Not only is it unconstitutional, it doesn’t do a thing to help babies or their mothers. Threats of prosecution just scare women away from drug treatment and prenatal care.

Prisons are full of drugs, so the idea that jailing women will help their fetuses is a moot point. Pregnancy can be a rather dehumanizing experience, especially when everybody obsesses about the contents of your belly and seem to forget about the flesh surrounding the uterus, known as "woman".

Needle pickup costs concern city councillor

Saskatoon city councillors sure like to complain.

The City of Saskatoon shouldn't pay to pick up discarded needles that originate from the Saskatoon Health Region's needle exchange program, according to Coun. Myles Heidt.

The needle exchange program is necessary and does excellent work, Heidt said, but he wonders if the health region should be doing more to help with cleanup.

"I don't think it's fair. Not handing needles out is not an option, so what do we do? The communities shouldn't be footing the bill (for needle pickups)," Heidt said.

Waaaah! Maybe they should complain about having to shovel snow too. I would think that the cost of picking up needles would be minor compared to the risk of a child getting poked by a dirty needle. As it turns out, Heidt is complaining about nothing.

Assistant fire chief Bob Fawcett said the only cost to the city is the fuel used by fire trucks picking up the needles.

While it may seem excessive to send a large fire truck to pick up one tiny needle, Fawcett said the dangers of dirty needles outweigh concerns of wasteful spending.

"We don't find needle pick-up tedious. This is in the interest of community safety of children. We would rather go out and pick them up rather then children poking themselves," he said.

Maybe they could find a smaller vehicle that is used specifically for needle pick-up if they are so worried about fuel. Otherwise it seems like a pretty good idea having firefighters pick up needles, after all, what do firefighters do when they aren't fighting fires anyway?

If city councillors are wringing their hands about the cost of picking up needles, imagine the fuss if anybody suggested a safe injection site in Saskatoon.

In Defense of the Drug War

I was in shock on New Years' day when I read an article on Human Events, a wingnut site, that calls for an end to the war on drugs. Luckily for us, the wingnuts came to their senses and offer us some mindless dreck, full of strawmen entitled "In Defense of the Drug War". The wingnut compares the war on drugs to the war on murder or rape. I have not the words.

Luckily for me, Pete did a fine job of smacking them down and will save me the trouble of doing it myself. Thus I will have more time to enjoy my tasty hazelnut coffee. Mmmmmmm, coffee.

Op-Ed in the LA Times

Let them have their pot - sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Walker Family Site

I understand their plight a little better and I certainly do feel sympathetic. Our system is pretty messed up and they are victims of it. However, my feeling that it was a crime has not changed. It feels like bad taste to comment further on their situation. So I am done with this for now.

Link

Link Time

I got nothing today. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Ryan Grim over at The Politico reports on the vandalism committed against the Wikipedia entry for the National Institutes of Drug Abuse. You would think that having lies and bullshit propaganda on web sites paid for and maintained by the US taxpayer would be enough. But no, they must spread their bias to an online user-created encyclopedia.

From Grits for Breakfast I read a headline I thought I would never see, GOP Doctor Files Needle Exchange Bill in Senate. This is from the same state that banned dildos. Incidentally, why are there so many great bloggers in Austin? It must be something in the water.

Last but not least, we have state-sponsored kidnapping happening in Alberta. The children were saved and we can all sleep better. It is much better to kidnap children than to deal with the cause of grow-ops. You know, the fact that growing weed is an easy way to make money due to the black market. I know if I was on welfare the temptation of easy bucks from running a grow-op would be hard to resist.

This headline sucks

Maybe if we helped the most vulnerable and devalued members of society overcome drug addiction through harm reduction measures then perhaps deranged unnameable whackjobs would not be able to slaughter 49 women with impunity. Then the Canadian public would not have to be assaulted with the worst headline ever:

Murder allegations 'hogwash,' Pickton told Mountie

A note to all headline writers everywhere. Pay attention! Do not put a pun in a headline that is covering the trial of a scumbag that allegedly slaughtered 49 women.

I really wish that the politicians would let science and medicine prevail instead of political ideology. The senseless opposition to making drug users lives easier and safer makes no sense. They have this unshakeable dogma that sounds like this: "Drugs are bad, m'kay, you shouldn't do drugs." The conservatives will make no exceptions and don't seem to be willing to look outside of their narrow-minded little "Drugs are bad" box.

Conservatives are supposed to be in favor of small government and fiscal conservatism aren't they? Do the not consider the economic costs of having homeless, sick, drug-addicted people contracting bloodborne illnesses? The economic impact of treating one AIDS patient has to be less than the cost of handing out clean needles to addicts or providing needle-free maintenance drug therapy. The sooner we vote these bums out of office, the better.

More thoughts on the Yorkton Case

*Warning: The following blog post is long and full of potty no-no words and introspection. This may be more relevant as a diary entry to be forgotten in the hard drive files on my computer, in the same section that houses my recipes that I have never used and the fuzzy photographs of my naked children that may one day get me in trouble for harboring child pr0n. Reading this post will cure your insomnia, trust me.

Saskboy posted about this case over at his blog and the discussion that got going in the comments was excellent. This case brings up a lot of issues like drug law reform, legalization of marijuana, mandatory minimum sentencing, prison reform, vigilante justice, the lengths that a parent will go to protect their offspring, and even some deeply disturbing issues related to the infamous Robert Latimer case. I even grocked the nature of my somewhat confrontational style of internet arguing that was finely honed on internet forums plagued with nerds with skin problems. I have to admit that I had difficulty sleeping last night because of all the disturbing ideas that have been running around in my brain. One day they will have to pry my glowing laptop from my fingers before hauling me off to the loony bin. No wonder I don’t have any friends. ;)

I object to vigilante justice for some very obvious reasons. Letting armed thugs unload their weapons on unsuspecting people is wrong under any circumstances. I objected to Saddam's execution for the same reasons. His hanging was surreal, like an episode of South Park. We had school yard bullies taunting the doomed Saddam and shaky footage from a cell-phone that ends up plastered all over the internet despite promises that Saddam's execution would be a private affair. I kept expecting a horned Satan creature to show up and praise the fact that he will be reunited with his lover in hell. And performing it during Eid! If their intention was to turn the Butcher of Baghdad into a martyr, then mission accomplished. Let's get all the Iraqi people to rally around their dead hero who died very bravely, holding up signs and chanting HAIL IRAQ DEATH TO AMERICA! While burning George Bush in effigy. No wonder the world hates America. I had to take a cultural awareness class before I was allowed to work with children and yet you can run a country while having absolutely no respect for a foreign culture. Words can not express my disgust with the entire affair.

I felt this way about a murderous, dirty rotten bastard. So that I would be horrified at the vilification of young James Hayward in the media should surprise nobody who reads my blog or has the privilege of knowing the real me. I was especially disgusted by the way that John Gormley became completely unhinged on the air and referred to Hayward as scum, among many other things. I was so offended I had to shut the radio off. The fact that so many people refuse to see this from the victims' point of view makes me fear for the future of humanity.

But I am certainly not innocent. I had some less than charitable thoughts about Kim Walker. "If I ever get the chance to see that asshole I would beat the fucking crap out of him and spit on him." "I hope Big Bubba stretches out his asshole in jail." "That fucking bastard John Gormley sucks ass. Die in a fire, you fucktarded halfwit!" When it comes to having evil thoughts about my fellow human beings, I am very talented. The internet taught me all about flaming. But here I am bitching about vigilante justice and the insults thrown around about James Hayward, and who am I to judge? What business do I have being judgmental about John Gormley when I am guilty of harboring these thoughts? If I was a Christian I might say that Jesus said "Let the one without sin cast the first stone." But even though I am a dyed in the wool atheist, I can see that the concept of forgiveness is extremely important. Unless humanity can get over this concept that revenge is an appropriate reaction to being hurt or wronged, we are doomed. Doomed I say!

My capacity for violence frightens me sometimes. I am a nice person! I look after children all day long. But yet there was a time when I fantasized about stabbing my ex in the neck while he slept. I was in a stereotypically bad relationship that was worse than jail and with no end in sight. The desire to retaliate against all the pain and hurt was a normal reaction and perfectly understandable. But that certainly didn’t make it acceptable.

I understand exactly how Kim Walker must have felt. He was angry at the system, angry at the Gods that allowed his daughter to become addicted to morphine, angry at James Hayward and angry at the world. Who hasn’t felt that anger?

Yesterday I posted in various places about the message it would send if we gave Kim Walker a light sentence. What I should have realized is this: What message does it send when I use the obnoxious phrase “What message does it send?” Prohibitionists are always talking about the message we would give to children if we legalized drugs. Oh please think of the children, the messages they get are much more important than their health, happiness and safety. Despite the fact that many things far more dangerous than drugs are exposed to children, we must think of the message we send! Then it dawns on me.

Why all this talk of messages? The message that really concerns me is this: James Hayward is a human being. But should punishing Kim Walker really be our highest priority?

I highly disapprove of sending any human being to jail. Jail is full of drugs, disease, slave labor, anal rape, abuse and lessons on how to be a better criminal. Criminals feel angry, resentful and full of revenge during their incarceration. Surely if we want a safe and healthy society, we should start by reforming our unjust and immoral prison system. The only useful function that jails serve is to protect the public, at least until the prisoner is released. The attempts to reform prisoners are laughably inept. When I feel this way about our criminal justice system, why am I so worried about the message being sent by a light sentence for Kim Walker? Am I so blinded by my anger at the denial of James Hayward’s humanity that I have temporarily forgotten what my own values are?

I am very guilty of a contradiction. Here I am advocating for Kim Walker to be locked up in jail for a very long time and I highly disapprove of our corrupt prison gulags. Our natural human desire to punish the wicked keeps people from seeing that the way we treat prisoners impacts our entire society and way of life. Condoning violence in any situation is completely unacceptable. Until we can all overcome our desire to punish people that have wronged us, and who among us hasn’t been wronged, humanity is doomed to war, violence and perpetual strife.

Why I am pro-choice.

I am pro-choice for the same reason that I support an end to the drug war. Abortion bans and drug prohibition are both examples of the tyranny of the majority against a minority group. Opposing abortion rights has profound repercussions for a minority group – women that have abortions. It seems easy for a majority group to impose restrictions to minority groups because of the perception that “it doesn’t affect me”. When Canada first banned marijuana, there were next to no marijuana smokers and we relied on imported reefer madness propaganda from the States, dispensed by Emily Murphy, to push for a ban on marijuana. There was no way of knowing at that time what the consequences were going to be in terms of wasted public resources and needless deaths. Abortion rights are seen in the same way; a lot of men have the audacity to oppose abortion rights, despite the fact that they will never be pregnant.

The pro-life side loves to wax poetical about saving babies, saving women from the harms caused by abortion and preaching at women about ”post-abortion syndrome” (they made it up.) They love to go on about the 47 million babies slaughtered since Roe v. Wade. They act as if abortions did not exist before 1973. Unfortunately they did. Just like banning drugs has not stopped people from using drugs, banning abortion did not stop abortions. Illegal abortions lead to horribly painful deaths for many women. *This link is very disturbing, read at your own risk. Opposing abortion is not pro-life.

I am glad that I live in Canada, where abortion is completely unregulated thanks to the activism of Henry Morgentaler.

This is my favorite pro-choice post that I have ever read and it illustrates the hypocrisy of the pro-life stance.

Yorkton murder victim didn't deserve fate

The overwhelming support for Mr. Walker, a murderous scumbag, is wrong and the victims' side of the story is not being told. The following article is from the Globe and Mail:

Yorkton murder victim didn't deserve fate: sisters

YORKTON (CP) - The following statement was read Friday by Alana Getty of Calgary, 29, and Kendra Getty of Vancouver, 27, on the steps of the courthouse in Yorkton where Kim Walker was on trial for the killing of James Hayward.

“We are James’s stepsisters and the following statements are our thoughts and feelings about the facts and surrounding circumstances of this case.

“We are looking forward to finally seeing justice served for our family. We would like to be sure everyone knows that ALL of the delays in the last four years were requested by the defense. The defense continues to dwell on how hard it has been for the Walker family to lead a normal life during the time, but at least they have had the opportunity. No one can understand what it is like to suddenly have a son, brother or friend eliminated from your life, especially under these violent and public circumstances. Mr. Walker’s family will be able to say goodbye to him before he goes to jail, and they’ll be able to visit him there, but our family was never given the chance to say goodbye to James.

“Mr. Walker is often described as a father, a welder and a bagpiper, but not as a gun club member with a large collection of firearms, one of which he used to shoot James to death. Mr. Walker went to James’s house with the loaded gun in its holster and two extra magazines full of bullets. Mr. Walker has never expressed any regret or remorse for killing James.

“The Walkers are not the only loving and caring family members awaiting a verdict. A lot of people loved James and he had many great qualities regardless of the way he earned money. James was a caring, funny, supportive and compassionate person. Please remember that he is not here to defend himself against any accusations.

“James bodybuilding picture is from two years before he was killed. A more recent picture has not been provided by our family because we were betrayed by the media right after James’s death. It is not an accurate picture of the person Mr. Walker encountered at the door on March 17, 2003. The pathologist testified that James only weighed 160 pounds at death. Other witnesses testified that, in the months before he was shot, James was losing weight and deteriorating; he needed help, just as Jadah needed help.

“The defense has said that, by killing James, Mr. Walker rescued his daughter from a drug addict’s death. No evidence was presented to show that she was about to die from the drug use, only that she needed help. Doctors just released Jadah that Monday morning to the care of her parents. No one knows what might have happened if James had not been killed. Perhaps they BOTH could have been saved, but no one was given the opportunity to save James. Instead, Mr. Walker decided that he was already out of options and chose to kill James. How many options were truly exhausted at that point? Drug addiction is a serious and difficult problem to resolve. They had just begun to work on Jadah’s rehabilitation when Mr. Walker took this extreme action.

“James’s mother doesn’t live in Yorkton, and although she thought he was selling marijuana and didn’t approve of that, she did not know that he started taking morphine. James did NOT sell morphine and was not taking it before he knew Jadah. James was not killing people; he did not force people to do drugs or try to get them hooked. Drug dealers do not need to advertise and the people James knew would have bought marijuana elsewhere, just as they did after he was killed. Jadah CHOSE to do drugs, CHOSE to return to James’s house the day he was killed, and CHOSE not to leave with her father. Mr. Walker CHOSE to end James’s life and he deserves punishment for that.

“We will never know whether or not Mr. Walker was waiting for an excuse to carry out his desire to kill James. If he had gone to the house only intending to get Jadah out, why didn’t he try to use the gun to PERSUADE James and Jadah? Multiple witnesses testified that he pulled the gun and immediately started shooting. Mr. Walker has received tremendous support from mush of the Yorkton community and has publicly thanked them for it….

“We can’t help but wonder how public perception may have been different if this had happened in a community where James and our family were well known, and where Mr. Walker was a stranger with a gun.

“We believe that NOT convicting Mr. Walker of murder would send the message that we don’t need to care about everyone in our communities. If we don’t respect someone’s lifestyle, or if they are breaking laws, then we cannot take their life and expect that the law won’t apply to us. Parents do NOT have the right to murder anyone their child chooses to date under ANY circumstances.

Smoking In The City

On the contrary, Amsterdam is a boring, almost grossly civilized city. Living there, smoking pot became stigmatic, as one only wants what they can' t have.

Amsterdamers do not smoke pot at the same ratio as tourists. Most of my Dutch friends do not smoke, and Holland has comparable drug use statistics among youth to Canada, America and the UK. Moreover, smoking outside is still illegal and highly disrespectful in Amsterdam, and as a result of outside influence, I have only smoked a few times since moving, mainly with North American friends who have come to visit, or fellow Canadians who live there. Marijuana is a minor cultural contributor to locals, as boozing is much more popular. Pot remains an elixir for tourists to get off on, rather than locals. Therefore, living in Amsterdam has nothing to do with pot, and Dutch culture, consequentially, became the conduit for helping to curb my habit. While smoking a joint was much more of an event in Canada, at home in Amsterdam, the desire to get high is much less potent. Sure, pot is as widely available at Tim Hortons and biking to school or work, I pass by dozens of coffee shops, each one specializing in decor, blend of coffee, board game of choice or drug-filled baked good. Yet, since moving, I have visited two coffee shops, each twice, even though there are over 100 in the city centre alone. I do not stroll in for a double double every time I pass a Tim's either, and my desire for crappy coffee is more potent than the Dutch's predilection to tune in, turn on and drop out. So there you have it, a simplistic, explanation that hopefully clears the misconception. Quitting was simple, because the temptation never emerged and without the cultural context, I would have ignorantly presumed.

When marijuana is freely and widely available, using it becomes boring and common place. Smoking marijuana isn't as cool and badass in a legal environment. It's too bad that prohibitionists can not understand common sense.

Manslaughter or murder

A Yorkton man unleashed a rifle full of vigilante justice on his daughters' drug-dealing boyfriend and a jury decided his fate today.

"Our daughter is alive," said Walker, a welder and father of three, who has no criminal record.

"She's worth everything we've been through," added Walker's wife, Elizabeth.

The parents had a crystal ball with which to gaze into the future and they knew that their daughter would have died if Mr. Walker had not taken action. Maybe they should sell lottery ticket numbers too. The sympathy expressed for Mr. Walker is sickening. Did he bother to apologize to the family of the man that he murdered? I guess we all know that drug dealers aren't people with problems of their own. I have not yet heard anybody express sympathy for the victims' drug problem. Just read this bullshit from a Star Phoenix editorial.

Under normal circumstances, Canadians would consider a person who takes a gun from a locked enclosure, loads it, drives to another house and shoots someone as having committed the most egregious of crimes. It's reflected in Canadian criminal law that provides a minimum sentence of 25 years for people convicted of first degree murder.

They don't bother to mention that the daughter willingly went to see the boyfriend. She was not forced or kidnapped. Bringing a gun to get his daughter was a huge mistake and I have a hard time believing that he had no intention of using it.

I would also like to point out that this case illustrates everything that is wrong with the war on drugs. Drug dealing is extremely profitable and legalizing drugs would take away the incentive of drug-addled boyfriends to recruit new users. Make drugs available at the pharmacy and drug dealers will disappear. In the same way that ending prohibition put an end to stills, an end to the war on drugs will put an end to grow-ops and drug dealers. It's obvious that to continue to rely on law enforcement to deal with the drug problem is failing miserably.

Marijuana and Driving

Pete of Drug War Rant offers a glorious smackdown of the widely publicized study of the effects of marijuana on driving ability.

DEA Raids Eleven Compassion Clubs In Los Angeles

via CC

LOS ANGELES - Federal drug agents raided nearly a dozen medical marijuana clinics in California, seizing several thousand pounds of processed marijuana, along with weapons and money, authorities said.

Several people were detained, although no arrests were made after five dispensaries in West Hollywood and six others in Venice, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley were searched Wednesday, said Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The raids highlighted a conflict between a California state law and the federal drug agency.

California voters in 1996 approved the Compassionate Use Act, which makes marijuana available by prescription for medicinal uses. The DEA, which does not recognize California laws legalizing medical marijuana use, has recently increased its enforcement.

Pullen declined to provide details of the latest investigation, saying the search warrants remained under seal.

More Bad News for Marc Emery

Looks like Marc is going to end up with an even more rightwing Godbag as a prosecutor when he faces his extradition trial for being a marijuana kingpin. Really shitty.

For the whole story head on over to Reload

Another Teacher Caught in the Drug War

A former Belen Middle School teacher accused of allowing a student to hide a marijuana pipe in his pickup truck during school hours two years ago entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors Wednesday.

Tony Salas, 58, of Bernardo, pleaded no contest to one count of attempted contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was originally indicted on one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a fourth-degree felony, and a misdemeanor charge of tampering with evidence.

District Judge John Pope, who accepted the plea agreement, sentenced Salas to 364 days of unsupervised probation and gave him a conditional discharge -- meaning that if he successfully completes his probation without incident, his record will no longer show a conviction.

Salas made no comments during the hearing.

Salas' plea agreement comes nearly four months after a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case, causing a mistrial. The jury heard testimony from several people, including the student who said his former social studies teacher helped him hide a marijuana pipe before police brought in a drug-sniffing dog to Belen Middle School sometime in January 2005.

A well-intentioned teacher protects a student from getting a criminal record that could ruin his life and keep him out of college and this is the thanks he gets? He should have gotten Teacher of The Year! Refusing to support a corrupt war takes a lot of courage and I for one think Mr. Salas is an extremely brave individual for doing what he did for his student. I only wish that all teachers had his courage.

I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not approve of teenagers smoking weed, especially when they should be in school. If one of my kids was stupid enough to let me catch them smoking weed, I would do a fine job of kicking their disobedient little butts myself. I don't need the state to parent my kids for me and saddle them with a criminal record that could ruin their career prospects later in life. This is weed we are talking about, the safest recreational and psychoactive substance that exists. When a kid experiments with tobacco or alcohol, nobody suggests a criminal record or jail time is warranted. But as soon as you mention MARIJUANA everybody over-reacts. It's a ridiculous double standard. Anyway, the real crime that Mr. Salas committed was caring enough about his student to be honest with his mother.

The young man's mother testified that Salas had told her about the incident during a parent-teacher conference several weeks later. She said she had been concerned about her son's mood changes and falling grades and told the former teacher that she was worried that the boy might have been smoking marijuana.

She said that Salas told her that he was concerned that her son was using marijuana and that there had been a prior incident when he had taken him out of class and asked if he had anything on him. The mother said Salas told her about the incident when he allowed her son to hide the pipe in the truck.

""I hate this is happening because he's ( Salas ) is a good man," the boy's mother had told the jury. "But just because he's a good man doesn't mean that he didn't do anything wrong.

"I wish the best for Mr. Salas, but this happened. I think you're an awesome person, Mr. Salas, but you know we had that conversation."

Mr. Salas should have told the kid to dispose of the pipe in a garbage can. A ten dollar pipe can be replaced but your reputation can not. I hope that busybody mother is proud of herself. She has managed to waste a lot of tax dollars to incriminate a caring teacher. Good job, you insensitive moron. If I knew where she lived I would put a bag of flaming poo on her doorstep. OK, no I wouldn't but I'm still not impressed.

Canada's war on drugs a failure: report

Sometimes the intertubes angrify me. I was posting a comment on this CBC article and they closed the article while I was commenting. GRRRRR!!!!! So my wise remarks are lost to the tubes of cyberspace. But luckily I have a blog that allows me to bloviate endlessly.

I was posting a response to this comment:

Larry D Abela

There is a WAR on drugs? Really? What War?

There may be policies and actions in place, but a WAR ON DRUGS? A badly regulated industry is perhaps a better descriptor.

Larry, the war on drugs is an accurate description of the current state of affairs. The police use violence to enforce the law. They can take you to jail for using and selling the wrong plants. People get killed defending their drugs. In the States, many people have been killed during no-knock raids because a snitch gave the wrong address. Law enforcement stigmatizes drug use and prevents people from getting the help they need for drug addiction. Unregulated drugs lead to accidental overdoses. Many people are being needlessly infected with diseases because harm reduction strategies are not being used to help keep addicts safe. Calling it a War on Drugs is not hyperbole. Needless death and destruction are the result of our "badly regulated industry".

Most people are not directly affected by the war on drugs, that is why it is so easy to downplay the harm caused by the war on drugs. I have been a peaceful pot smoker for over a decade and law enforcement has affected me only once. I don't have a criminal record despite my acts of civil disobedience. Otherwise I have very little trouble obtaining pot for recreational use and the law has little to no impact on my life. It is easy for me to forget that people are dying because of our misguided policies. Sure I know a lot of people that have been ticketed and jailed but I don't know anybody that has died. For people that have never used drugs calling it a war on drugs probably seems ridiculous. But I don't have to go to Iraq and personally see the war to know that a war exists. The Drug War is real, Larry, and it is a war that will never be won.

I got tagged!

I knew this would happen sooner or later. I just got tagged by Jamie and now I have to tell y'all five things about mysel that you would be surprised to know. The funny thing is, I am such an open book fthat there really isn't anything to tell but I will take a stab at it anyway:

1. I am ridiculously domesticated. I have a dog, a parrot, two cockatiels, two tanks full of fish, two children and a man, (yes in that order!). At my brother's wedding a bridesmaid swooned that I am "So Lucky!" to have him. Because as a mom of two and a survivor of a not-so-happy relationship, I was all used up. If my sweetie hadn't come along I probably would have died alone.

2. I have never been married! Praise Jeebus.

3. As domestic as I am, I have the housekeeping skills of a drunken college frat boy. My house is in a constant state of disarray and my idea of doing housework is waiting until the kids get fed up with the mess and clean it up. Or bribing them with money for trips to Sev to wash the dishes.

4. I am allergic to everything. Cats, horses, flowers, chalk and dust, all give me a radio-active, burning rash. I am so glad that schools are switching to whiteboards!

5. My biggest pet peeve in life is bad parenting. When I was at school today I was waiting for a ride home and this kid was trying to phone his step-mom to get permission to go home and hang out with his friend rather than go to an after school program. He wanted me to give him permission to go home. I am a substitute so I didn't know this kid or what his home situation is. So I told him that he needed permission from his parents. Then he got his step-mom on the phone and the kid said "My step-mom wants to talk to you". This struck me as odd but I talked to her. She asked me to tell her kid to go to the after school program. Why didn't she just tell him herself? That will be the day when I get a teacher or anybody to parent my kid when I am present. Unbelievable.

I doubt that any of this will surprise anybody that reads this blog, but there you have it. 5 things about me.

Canada needs new policy on drug abuse

It was nice to see this in the Star Phoenix, especially considering the reefer madness that has ben passing for news lately. I will have to write them a thank you note, when I am less lazy.

*I just realized that I don't have a label for drug-related news that is not propoganda. That's how rarely this happens!

Storm brews over drug strategy

Who didn't see this coming?

VANCOUVER, OTTAWA -- The federal investment in the war on drugs has been an abject failure, according to a report to be published today.

Canada's drug strategy, renewed with much fanfare in 2003, has put too much emphasis on law enforcement instead of on means to combat illicit drug use and minimize its human toll, says the report that is to appear in the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review.

The criticism appears unlikely to sway the federal Conservative government from its intention, confirmed by a Health Department spokesman, to tilt the strategy even further toward pure law-enforcement measures.

The study, which found that critical programs in prevention, treatment and research are being underfunded, comes five years after Canada's Auditor-General issued a scathing report that said the country's drug strategy focused too heavily on enforcement and needed a more "balanced approach."

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We have been locking up drug users and busting grow-ops for years and yet the number of drug users and grow-ops keeps increasing. I guess Harper and his cronies are too busy to read this.

In fact, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled his plan for a national drug strategy during the last election campaign, he made no mention of treatment and prevention, promising instead to institute harsher punishments, prevent the decriminalization of marijuana, and make so-called "precursor drugs" more difficult to obtain.

Erik Waddell, spokesman for Health Minister Tony Clement, confirmed that the Conservatives will be following a different path, with even more emphasis on law enforcement.

"Our own national drug strategy is in the works. It's something we've actually been working on for some time," Mr. Waddell said. "The previous government took its own approach, which we happen to disagree with.

"In every poll, when Canadians are asked whether they want more law enforcement or less, they want more. So the bottom line is that Canada's new government will be taking a different approach."

That Canadians overwhelmingly support an increased emphasis on law enforcement proves that the public is infected with reefer madness or statistics are bullshit (or both). Of course, Harper is already in shit for his sudden turn-around on environmental issues. I doubt that changing his mind on the War on Drugs will win him any points with his Conservative base. I predict that this report, like all other reports that are in direct opposition to the War on Drugs will be shelved and ignored.

Dr. Kerr said he finds it "immensely frustrating" that so much government money is spent on law enforcement and so little on harm reduction.

"I'm paid to treat disease and death, and I don't like what I'm seeing. Canada simply does not have an evidence-based drug strategy," he said. "There's way too much ideology and politics, and not enough science and principle."

No kidding, which makes this even more interesting:

Two-thirds of Canadians don’t support a get-tough approach to illicit drug use, but the majority of those who do favor a crackdown are Conservative party supporters, according to a new national poll provided exclusively Monday to The Vancouver Sun.

So the Conservatives can wake up and realize that the War on Drugs is bad and change course and piss off all of their supporters. Or they can continue to follow the same ineffective strategy and have all the unnecessary deaths from HIV, Hepatitis C and overdose on their consciences. Maybe an election wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

On the Wall at the SKMP Convention

How very appropriate!

SKMP Founding Convention Report

The convention was quite the exhilarating experience. We ratified and amended the founding constitution of the party, we debated resolutions, we gave speeches and we talked politics. Helping build a political party is every political nerd’s dream. I was never all that interested in politics until I got involved in the SKMP (Saskatchewan Marijuana Party), but I have to tell you that I have now become a devoted political wonk. I even want to become a candidate in the upcoming provincial election. Having my name on the ballot would be great! Running as a candidate in the future is something to think about and look forward to. The convention lit up enthusiasm for the political process in a huge way. I even ran for and won a position on the executive council as a vice president. I had absolutely no intention of running until I was at the convention. While I have supported the party by flipping burgers and making displays, I have never taken part in meetings or event planning. I am looking forward to making a bigger contribution to the party.

In the past I thought of the various provincial and federal marijuana parties with some disdain. I considered it hopeless and futile to run under a marijuana party banner because a marijuana party candidate will never get elected. This is a hopelessly pessimistic view of the situation and I have definitely changed my mind.

Even if no marijuana party candidate ever gets elected, marijuana parties serve some very important functions. When the voter is in the polling booth, the name of the marijuana party candidate on their ballot is a distinct reminder that there are a dedicated group of activists that want to see drug prohibition come to an end. Hopefully, this will encourage the public to become more aware of the gross injustice that marijuana users have endured for the past eighty years. I believe that public education of all the evil wrongness of the war on drugs is one of our most important functions. We need to let the public know about the expense and the ineffectiveness of the war on drugs. It is a fact that our rates of adolescent drug use are higher than in the liberal Netherlands despite the "but what about the children" rhetoric of the drug warriors. Voting for a marijuana party candidate is a very bold statement: I want to end the drug war. Every vote for a marijuana party candidate is a vote taken away from a Sask Party or NDP candidate. It is a very bold act of civil disobedience and sends a strong message that the voters want drug law reform.

A lot of excellent thoughts and ideas were put forward by members of the SKMP. The public has the same attitude towards drug use as the Victorians had about sex. During the Victorian era, there were many misconceptions about sex because people could not talk about it. Masturbation was thought to cause blindness and hairy palms. Women were considered asexual creatures. Boys were circumcised to prevent masturbation. The same thing has happened with drugs. Science-based information about drugs is sorely lacking and the demonization of marijuana and marijuana users has been the result. Most people think that marijuana causes cancer despite all the scientific information that shows that marijuana does not cause cancer and may actually reduce the risk of cancer. Despite all the research that proves that the gateway theory is bullshit, many people still believe the gateway theory.

The real drug problem in our society is alcohol. Alcohol is highly addictive and causes many overdose deaths yet our drug education efforts are aimed at reducing the use of marijuana. The way society deals with drugs is highly illogical. Even people living within the drug culture are not immune to the Victorian attitudes towards marijuana. There are many marijuana users that think that its’ bad and should stay illegal. There are many marijuana users that use marijuana excessively. There has to be a middle ground and showing the public that marijuana can be used properly has to be a priority.

The prohibition of marijuana is a perfect example of the tyranny of the majority of a minority. When the substance was banned there were very few users of marijuana in Canada. Taking away the civil rights of a non-existent group of Canadians was done in 1923 without parliamentary discussion or debate. If those parlimentarians could have looked into a crystal ball and seen the immense social and economic costs of prohibition, there is no way they would have done it.

I am basically preaching to the choir by posting this on my blog. Hopefully I can work within the SKMP to bring this message to a broader audience. I have a lot of ideas and I hope I can bring them to fruition.

Sincerely,


Tanya Derbowka
Vice-President, Saskatchewan Marijuana Party

SKMP Convention

I found a babysitter! I get to leave the house and talk to adults that I don't work with! I am leaving the house and it's not because I have to work or go shopping! I am soooooo excited.

I am such a dork.

Later I will babble incoherently about the convention and post pics for your amusement. Blogging the SKMP Convention will be lots of fun. I sure do excited about nothing.

Graphic Epileptic Seizure Footage

The following is footage of a tonic-clonic epileptic seizure. Watching this video was very educational and kind of disturbing. I have to admire Christine Lowe's bravery in showing this footage to the world.



Read more about the video here.

Drug Education A La South Park

This sums up drug education in the public schools quite nicely. They forgot to mention that marijuana is a highly addictive gateway drug.

New York Times covers Kathryn Johnston fiasco

Peter of Drug War Rant has an excellent analysis of the Kathryn Johnson story in the New York Times. This will save me the trouble of having to think for myself.

Saskatchewan Marijuana Party Convention

I am going to be attending the very first convention tomorrow. If any Saskatoonians actually read this blog (yeah right!) you can meet me there tomorrow. My babysitter cancelled so I might not be able to make it but I am going to phone some people and beg them to make the little ankle-biters off of my hands for the day. For information about the convention, go to the SKMP web-site. You just can't rely on teenagers for anything!

I hope to see you there!

CBC covers the Drugged Driving Debate

This was a pretty cool clip about the drugged driving debate. Go ahead and watch it here.

The Pee Po-lice are Touring America

In response to growing interest among schools in random student drug testing, ONDCP took to the road in 2004 with regional drug-testing summits to inform community leaders and school officials about student drug testing and to promote discussion of this issue at the local level. To date, the agency has hosted 12 summits across the country and more are being planned.

Better not tell the Pee Po-lice about the school boards that have rejected federal funding for drug testing programs. We wouldn't want the public or the schools to know that some people have very good reasons to object to the Pee Po-lice in the schools.

Hat tip to the EFSDP mailing list.

A Perfect Example of the Bullshit Biased Media

I have decided to bring you the following tale of a recent medical marijuana bust in Comox Valley, British Columbia. I am not going to bring my round up and analysis of events to the table because I feel this particular case is an extraordinary example of injustice against potheads. I have decided to do this round up because this case is a perfect example of the type of biased coverage that plagues pot bust stories in the media.

On Dec.22, the RCMP raided a compassion club known as the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada. This club distributes high-quality and relatively low-cost medical marijuana to help sick people manage their pain. The founder of the club, Mark Russell is facing 6 charges of trafficking in a controlled substance.

"They came to the house at noon with a warrant and asked me to open the safe," says Russell. "They removed our medicine, documents, paperwork, client lists, everything."

Russell, who has run the Mid Island Compassion Club for the past five years and who has 85 clients, was taken to the Oceanside RCMP station in Parksville, fingerprinted and released.

"They were here for a total of about three hours," the Dashwood resident says. "I was ordered not to continue running the club or they would arrest me. I feel sick about this. Stunned."

What do you think motivated the RCMP to go after these peaceful potheads? Is arresting people for treating their medical conditions really going to make the world any safer or better? How many real crimes went uninvestigated while the cops were on a bullshit fishing expedition? Let's see what the RCMP has to say.

Comox Valley RCMP Const. Derek Kryzanowzki says the search warrant came as the result of an ongoing investigation that had been in progress for over a year.

"Essentially it was an ongoing investigation that culminated in getting a search warrant because of illegal activity going on there, which was trafficking in marijuana."

Kryzanowzki says the bust was not part of a coordinated campaign against medical marijuana compassion clubs, nor was it instigated by a complaint from the general public.

"It was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section who initiated the investigation," he says

No member of the public complained about the compassion club. The RCMP heard about the illegal activities and decided to investigate for a year before busting this club. You would think that costly year-long criminal investigations would be reserved for violent and dangerous criminals, not a bunch of sick people.

Unsurprisingly, people were outraged by the bust. The RCMP had copies of Russells' client list and are reasonably concerned that they may be targeted for arrest. The idea of the RCMP wasting a year to investigate a compassion club pisses a lot of people off and rightfully so. The Parksville Qualicum Beach News received a flood of angry LTE's decrying the actions of the RCMP. So the editorial staff decide to respond with this bit of rubbish:

DOUBLE TAKE

Our coverage of the raid of the Mid-Island Compassion Club resulted in a upsurge of letters and comments -- most of which decry the actions of police.

Blaming police for enforcing the laws ( whether you agree or not ) is an oversimplification of the issue. The use of marijuana as medicine in an age where it is seen as an illegal substance, demands better debate than berating those who disagree with a single point-of-view. If you can't debate without insulting your opponent, it's better to keep your mouth shut than prove you have no real point to make.

Dude, these potheads need to smoke a joint and mellow out. Being angry doesn't help anybody! The police were just doing their job when they spent a year investigating illegal activites that benefit people suffering from illness that the public had no complaints about. We live in such a safe and perfect society that the police need to find busy work. If the cops are that unnecessary let's put them to work as crossing guards at the local schools.

The newspaper redeemed itself by publishing some excellent LTE's that can be found here, here and here.

*I have to say I agree with what the editor said about Marc Emery's letter. I think he is better off when his letters die in the CC forums. Ugh.

CN BC: Surrey Doubles Size Of Team Fighting Grow-Ops

Maybe now is a good time to quit running a grow op and start a meth lab instead. Meth labs don't require huge amounts of electricity and are much more difficult to detect. But nobody really considers the consequences of cracking down on grow-ops, do they?

Go watch Ethan Nadelmann on the Colbert Report

This was pure awesomeness.

Ending the Drug War is Good for the Environment

The public thinks that the government is doing a very poor job on the environment. The latest Tory cabinet shuffle seems to be an attempt to change this public perception. Harper knows there is no way he is going to get a majority government if he continues to put this issue on the back burner. This could be a good time for potheads to push their environmentally-friendly agenda.

We are always reading about the high power consumption of indoor marijuana grow ops. The lights used to grow weed are 1000 watts a piece and are often powered by stolen electricity. This is a total waste of energy when you consider that marijuana grown outside would use no electricity at all. Not that it's relevant, but outdoor weed is of much finer quality and it would put an end to all those scary grow-ops we keep hearing about. Since reducing energy consumption is one of the key goals of the Kyoto accord, letting us grow marijuana outdoors could have a significant impact on energy consumption and the environment.

The US government spent millions of dollars eradicating ditch weed also known as hemp. 200 years ago a farmer could be jailed for not growing hemp during periods of hemp shortages. Hemp used to be vital for food, fuel and fibre, especially during war. So why are the drug warriors so intent on trying to eradicate an extremely useful, hardy plant? Beats the hell out of me. Letting the ditchweed grow would allow it to use up carbon dioxide. Instead, the drug warriors use poisonous chemicals resulting in marijuana that is resistant to herbicide. Great job! I should send the DEA a thank you letter for breeding a new super weed. Maybe I should make a trip to Mexico and bring some of those herbicide resistant strains of marijuana to Saskatchewan. That would be the way to overgrow the government!

Let's hope that Elizabeth May can bring this message home, instead of trying to win points with anti-choice douchebags. Red Tory has an excellent analysis on the new green Tory government.

They're Getting Warmer

Do you think it is possible that our politicians are catching on that the War on Drugs helps the Taliban? Are they getting a clue? One article from MAP is a good start, I guess.

Halls of Justice?

I'm too lazy to think so go read this.

Mommy's Funny Medicine

Here is another children's story about medical marijuana to add to the collection. I definitely need to buy a copy.

Dumbass Parents give Kid Cocaine

These people give all potheads a bad name.

Another Reason to Object to Saddam's execution

An excellent and insightful Op-Ed from the Fundamental Atheist that everyone loves to hate, Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is my favorite atheist because he makes sense and everybody hates him. Any time that a lot of people hate you (especially on the internet) it's a sure sign that you are on the right track. Dawkins pissed off a lot of people for his suggestion that Saddam should have been studied instead of executed.

All I have to say is what is the big deal? How could interviewing Saddam and trying to figure out what makes him tick possibly be any worse than his public execution was? I mean seriously, Dawkins was suggesting conducting some interviews, not torture. There are very good reasons to oppose capitial punishment. The only real alternative to capital punishment is life in prison or setting Saddam loose on the world. I doubt that even the most bleeding heart liberal is suggesting that Saddam should be set free. If you had to choose between growing old and forgettable in jail or becoming a martyr, which would you choose? Now thanks to the Republicans, tales of Saddams' bravery can live on.

via my favorite lover of all things Cephalopod, PZ

Vic Toews Got Bumped

There was an excellent analysis of the recent Harper cabinet shuffle in the Star Phoenix this morning. At last I have a use for the newspaper, aside from bird cage liner.

Here is a list of all the great and wonderful things Mr. Toews accomplished as Justice Minister:

He mused about the possibility of throwing kids as young as 10 in jail as part of amendments to the Young Offenders Act. It didn't happen, but it helped to shape perceptions of the Conservatives' approach to justice;

He introduced a "three strikes" bill that said anyone convicted of three sexual or violent crimes would automatically be categorized as dangerous offenders unless they could convince a judge otherwise;

He announced he would arm Canadian border guards;

He abandoned the Liberals' plan to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana;

He introduced public hearings to confirm Supreme Court judges;

He put police representatives on provincial judicial advisory committees, a move called an attempt to stack the bench with right-wing judges; and

He abolished the Law Commission of Canada, which funded research and recommendations for changes to federal laws.

Some of these measures proved to be popular with the "kids these days are no damn good lock'em up and throw away the key" set. The rest of us were unimpressed. I was especially unimpressed with his attacks on potheads. He abandoned decriminilization efforts. If he abandoned decrim in favour of legalization I would be happy. But Toews is in favour of cracking down on grow-ops, seemingly oblivious to the fact that attacking the supply of pot is not doing potheads any favours. Getting rid of Toews was a good idea considering we are probably going to have another election. Ugh, the thought of another federal election is making me queezy.

Decriminilization is a shitty idea. It just gives the cops the power to hand out fines for consuming cannabis. It does nothing to address the black market and will actually make life easier for street dealers. Decrim will not allow people to grow their own weed or have access to a cheap and safe supply. It perpetuates reefer madness by giving people the misguided idea that smoking weed is dangerous and needs to be punished. It's either full legalization or nothing. Decrim is pure shit and is a nice, easy middle road that will please nobody and let politicians pat each other on the ass and feel like they are accomplishing something. When in reality, they are using reefer madness to further their own ends. Only a garden tool would read the Senate Report and come to the conclusion that decrim will solve any of the problems caused by the War on Drugs.

Do you know what will happen if decrim passes? The street dealers will go nuts, the price of weed will go down and everybody will say "But what about the children?" Weed will be back on the shit list and will be banned again. Then any time a pissed off pothead says "Legalize Regulate Medicate Educate" some uppity jackass will say "But we already tried that and the mental institutions were packed full of junkie potheads" The giant wall of stupid will overwhelm me and I will decide blogging is a total waste of time and I will start a pothead lesbian coven and worship seagulls. That will make hell of a lot more sense than trying to explain to people why decrim is bad and legalization is good.

Drug Message Changes From Just Say No, To Go, Go, Go

Another good reason to legalize. What would rappers have to rap about if they weren't drug dealing? They would have to go back to slapping bitchez and hoez.

Matthew Yglesias: I hate the Drug War but what is the alternative?

Matthew Yglesias has a pretty weak post defending prohibition.

I mean, I'm not even clear on what question's being asked here. Do I think the status quo is preferable to total deregulation of currently prohibited drugs? I would say so. But considering how heavily regulated the use of alcohol and tobacco is, one hardly imagines that a heroin free-for-all (ads after school cartoons, for sale out of ice cream trucks) is a likely alternative policy. So, I don't know. What is the "war on drugs" exactly? Does it do more harm than good compared to what?

I have spent a lot of time railing against drug propoganda taught to children, costly drug testing in schools, the spraying of toxic chemicals in the environment and the expense associated with drug busts and imprisoning non-violent offenders. Yet I don't think that I have ever written a post about what I think would be a good alternative to the War on Some Drugs.

First of all, the war on drugs is mainly fought against marijuana. 44.2% of all drug arrests were for marijuana use, despite the fact that marijuana is by far the safest recreational drug. Marijuana has never caused an overdose death in the thousands of years of its' use for both recreational and medicinal use, is not addictive and does not lead to the use of hard drugs. There is no good reason to continue to punish marijuana users for using a drug that is far safer than tobacco, alcohol and caffeine.

In a Drug War-Free world, people would be free to grow and sell their own marijuana. I would also like to see marijuana offered for sale in the same places that currently sell tobacco with the same age restrictions. It is unrealistic to expect age restrictions to prevent teenagers from using marijuana, since age regulations hardly stop teenagers from drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes. But all the worry about teenage marijuana use is overstated anyway. I believe if most people were aware of the safety of marijuana, they would not over-react to teenage drug use. After all, if you know the gateway theory is bullshit, why freak out because your kids are smoking a bit of weed? If they are at no risk of overdose and are not at an increased risk of using hard drugs, why all the fuss about marijuana?

In a Drug War-Free world we would hopefully see reality based drug education. We would no longer try to scare kids into staying drug-free. Schools in the United States would not be compelled to use costly and ineffective drug testing. We would teach kids the truth about drugs. This would probably mean that there might be more marijuana-smoking kids but since this is not a highly addictive substance and is relatively safe, parents would not be too upset about it. It would be very difficult to know if an end to prohibition would actually mean that more people would use marijuana, since I doubt that people answer surveys honestly. We would continue to teach the dangers of meth and other hard drugs and kids would take what adults say more seriously because they haven't been lied to about marijuana.

Tomorrow (or later if I'm bored) I will post about what I think about the legalization of harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin and meth. Feel free to comment and make suggestions and bring up any missed points that I can address later.

THC spider?

This video is a lot funnier for those of us that grew up watching CBC television and fondly remember the Hinterland Who's Who clips. They were the highlight of my dorky, nerdy youth. I also thought David Suzuki was pretty cool too. Well what are you waiting for? Quit reading my corny intro and watch the movie!

Also, go and read the excellent LTE that my partner in crime wrote in response to this story.

For some reason the Star Phoenix saw fit to publish his LTE and rejected the one I sent. It reads as follows:

The Star Phoenix does such a wonderful public service offering us such educational material as the Dec. 21 article “Legal Hallucinogen concerns police”. I now know that there is a perfectly legal hallucinogen, that will help me find God, sold at very low prices at a local head shop known as BOBHQ.

I am very glad that the police have let the public know about the scourge that is salvia divinorum. There is not yet any clear scientific evidence of the safety of this substance. We must not let the public become guinea pigs. Clearly, eradicating this menace must be a priority for the Saskatoon Police. The prohibition of drugs has been such a resounding success that adding one more substance to the list will be a small matter and easily accomplished. There is no excuse for allowing this substance to fall into the hands of children. I am shocked, horrified and appalled that this action has not already been taken.

PS: BobHQ is located at 733 Broadway Ave.

What was the editorial board of the Star Phoenix thinking? That's what I want to know.

Ottawa Sun: Home of the Drug War Deniers

My favorite LTE writer, Russell Barth, continues to amaze me with his hard work for the drug reform movement. He gets a huge number of LTE's published in newspapers across the country. They are always exceptionally concise and well-written. Unfortunately, Mr. Barth's insightful and witty missives are not appreciated by the biased jackwads at the Ottawa Sun. First, read the article that Mr. Barth wrote:

CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT NO BETTER THAN HOLOCAUST DENIERS

Re "Prohibitionists no better than Holocaust deniers?" ( Dec. 29 ): A Holocaust denier is someone who refuses to admit that the Nazis killed six million people, despite overwhelming evidence to prove that it did, in fact, happen. The notion is regarded to be about as sensible as asserting that the Earth is flat.

When it comes to the topic of drug prohibition vs. regulation, this Conservative government is literally no better than Holocaust deniers. The Tories, police, churches, and anyone else who supports drug prohibition, are refusing to admit to the solid, indisputable truth: Like alcohol prohibition in the last century, drug prohibition is a colossal failure. It subsidizes gangsters, costs a fortune, and increases danger.

Stephen Harper, Vic Toews, Stockwell Day, and most of the top brass of Canadian law enforcement are either so blinded by religious or quasi-moralistic ideologies that they refuse to see the facts, or they are deliberately misleading and endangering the Canadian public. Either way, they are a clear and present danger to our safety, and they have got to go. And so do these gangster-subsidizing prohibition laws.

Russell Barth

( Drugs pose one of the greatest threats to society )

They decide to print the letter but add the bullshit biased disclaimer at the end. I have never seen this in any other newspaper. Hey asswipes, if you have a problem with the assertions made by Mr. Barth, write your own editorial and prove him wrong. Don't add your kindergarten insults to the end of his letter. But it gets even better.

A prohibition-loving, jack-boot licker writes in to inform us of the dangers caused by marijuana. As if the dangers of marijuana had anything to do with the War on Drugs and why we continue to fight it. Here is the letter.

If nothing else, Russell Barth's over-the-top missives on marijuana are good for comedy relief.

Case in point? Insisting cops are out to violate the civil rights and liberties and anyone else who supports drug prohibition ... are a clear and present danger to society at large.

There are documented dangers of habitual marijuana use. Marijuana is at the root of many mental disorders. It has long been known to trigger attacks of mental illness, such as bipolar psychosis and schizophrenia.

As for cops pulling over impaired drivers (which include THC impaired): Cops look for bloodshot eyes, lack of co-ordination, slurred speech, dilated pupils, jerky eye tracking and the unmistakable stench of marijuana smoke among other things. If you don't want to get popped for impaired driving, don't drive impaired.

Karen Smith

Brechin

(Sounds like good advice)

Again the Ottawa Sun editors see fit to include their commentary in parenthesis, letting the world know that they agree that Russell Barth is a whack-job with crazy over the top ideas. He wants people to drive impaired! He wants people to come down with mental illnesses! He thinks cops are the bad guys! But nowhere in this letter does the writer bother to answer any of the assertions Mr. Barth made in his letter. Does she refute the fact that the War on Drugs increases the dangers of drugs and the profits of criminals? Does she deny that our jails are overflowing with non-violent offenders? Does she deny that drug prohibition does not make a significant dent in the supply of drugs? No, none of the points that Mr. Barth makes are addressed in the letter. She simply falls back on reefer madness and vague claims about mental illness.

Even if every single case of mental illness could be blamed on marijuana, it still wouldn't justify prohibition. Prohibition does not stop people from using drugs. Reefer madness and the hate heaped on drug users and addicts prevents them from seeking help if they do have an issue with drug dependency. Since marijuana use is here to stay whether we enforce prohibition or not we might as well legalize.

The Ottawa Sun is no better than the Tory government, with their ardent love for prohibition, the War on Drugs and reefer madness. Let's hope that we have another election and throw the bums out of office. Maybe, just maybe the Liberals will finally grow a pair and legalize once and for all, although I am not optimistic. They have proven to be just as cowardly and just as infected by reefer madness as the Tories.

Two sides of The Medical Marijuana Debate

There is an excellent article in the Canadian Family Physician that presents the medical marijuana issue from a doctors' perspective. It is highly enlightening to read that doctors are not immune from reefer madness. Look at some of these quotes from the NO side.

The main active ingredient in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but both an oral THC and a buccal spray of THC and cannabidiol are available and are far safer than smoking dried cannabis. Cannabis smoke contains many of the same carcinogens as tobacco, and case-control studies suggest that cannabis smokers are at increased risk for prostate cancer and for head and neck cancer.3 Cannabis smokers are also at increased risk for bronchitis.4 Even if cannabis were vaporized and inhaled rather than smoked, the rapid delivery of high THC doses increases the risk of psychomotor impairment and addiction.

If you scroll down to the bottom to find the reference for the cancer claim, you find a study done by Donald Tashkin in 2002. Here is the article in question. What I would like to know is why this doctor chose to ignore this more recent study that did not show an association between marijuana smoking and cancer. Too bad I don't know a doctor that I can ask about this.

I am a bit curious about the claim that the rapid delivery of THC increases the risk of psycho-motor impairment. There is no study cited for that claim. But I have plenty of anecdotal evidence from experienced recreational users that the dosage of cannabis is much more difficult to control with orally ingested marijuana as opposed to smoked or vaporized marijuana. When you eat it you don't get the full effects for at least an hour. With smoked cannabis you feel the effects immediately. If you eat too much cannabis, you won't know it until the effects are felt an hour later. But why would you need to cite a study as proof of that claim when you have decades of reefer madness to rely on?

Under "Risks Associated with Use", we read about the risk factors of adolescent use of cannabis. I have no idea why this is relevant, unless there are adolescents out there with legal cannabis prescriptions.

From a public health perspective, the Health Canada program is fundamentally unjust and harmful. The program diverts resources to an unproven substance of uncertain efficacy with abuse liability, contributing to the public’s perception of cannabis as a harmless recreational product with therapeutic benefits.

I wonder if this guy lobbied the Tories to cut medical marijuana research funding. Coffee, sugar, sex, tobacco, online gambling, VLTs and shopping all have abuse potential. Should we ban those substances and activities too? And why is this relevant in an article about the medical uses of marijuana? So many questions, so little time.

Forty-seven percent of 18- to 19-year-olds in Canada have smoked cannabis in the past year, and 5% of Canadians report at least 1 concern related to cannabis. Six thousand patients were treated for cannabis dependence in Ontario in 2000, which likely represents a small fraction of those who need help. As one author stated, “… the costs to society are continuing to mount from past neglect of this continuing health problem.”11

What does this have to do with treating AIDS and cancer patients? How is continuing to deprive them of medicine going to help the plight of so-called addicts? Why is this relevant?

If legislators wish to decriminalize cannabis possession, they should do so without disguising it as medical therapy. Smoked medical marijuana is unnecessary and unsafe, especially in the doses allowed by Health Canada, and it distracts physicians and the public from the widespread harm caused by cannabis use and dependence.

Actually it's the public that wishes to decriminalize possession of cannabis. Legislators have been extremely reluctant to address this issue. The legal status of the drug is not relevant to the question of whether cannabis is a valid medical treatment. Even legal prescription drugs can be abused. I suspect reefer madness compels this doctor to believe that keeping marijuana illegal protects the public, despite the overwhelming evidence that illegal marijuana does not prevent people from using it.

Medical Marijuana licences on the Chopping Block in 2007?

There is a rumor going around on CC that medical marijuana users will no longer be able to grow their own medicine in the New Year. Production licences will not be renewed in the new year. Requiring medical users to pay $150 per ounce for a shoddy product from Prairie Plant Systems is unacceptable. This is terrible news. This will undo all the progress that medical users have made.

I will keep you posted.

A B.C. lawyer who needs bodyguards

Have I got a treat for you! The tale of a brave and wise female lawyer doing humanitarian works in Afghanistan. Why is she brave and wise do you ask? She is in Afghanistan doing humanitarian work while under the protection of armed bodyguards. She also has the good sense to agree with me about the futile efforts made by the Afghani government to eradicate the opium fields. It's a complete waste of time and money. It's like trying to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon. Her sensible suggestion is to legalize the opium crops and find legitimite medical uses for the crops. Since Africa is being crushed by the AIDS epidemic, finding uses for the opium crop shouldn't be too difficult. This seems to be a very reasonable solution to the bumper crop of opium in Afghanistan.

Ms. MacDonald is founder and president of the Senlis Council, a controversial think-tank. For the past two years, Ms. MacDonald has lived in Kandahar and in neighbouring Helmand province, conducting drug-policy research and writing lengthy, contentious reports that advocate the legalization and regulation of poppy farming in Afghanistan.

Her reports also condemn American-led efforts to eradicate poppy crops, claiming this merely drives desperate farmers into the arms --and control--of Taliban extremists. (Afghanistan is among the world's largest poppy-growing countries, and produces up to 90% of its opium, much of which is refined into heroin and then peddled in Europe, Russia, and North America.)

In the process, Ms. MacDonald has annoyed Afghanistan's Interior Minister. In October, his department wrote the Senlis Council a letter, demanding it not engage in activities deemed "contrary to the constitution of Afghanistan."

She has also infuriated members of the Canadian military, especially those stationed here. Ms. MacDonald is sharply critical of how the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan is being conducted.

"I'm all for the military going after the bad guys," she told CanWest News Service. "I'm not for what we're doing to ordinary Afghans. Canadian troops are calling in [American] bombers, and villages are being destroyed. Civilians are buried in rubble. When did we have the conversation in Canada that this is an acceptable strategy?"

One high-ranking Canadian officer, posted at Kandahar Air Field, dismisses Ms. MacDonald as "a nutty dilettante" who "should just get out of here."

She is learning that you can't question the military or the killing of civilians. Having an aversion to unnecessary death and destruction makes you nutty. Maybe they should call her a man-hater too.

Unfortunately, when she brought her concerns to the Standing Committee on National Defence back home in Canada, her motives are questioned by Conservative MPs.

In October, following a presentation she gave to the Standing Committee on National Defence, Ms. MacDonald was grilled by Tory members. Her sincerity and the source of her funding were called into question.

In one remarkable exchange, Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant quizzed how the Senlis Council is funded, and then asked Ms. Mac- Donald whether she was familiar with current "anti-money laundering rules" and potential exemptions for lawyers. Ms. Gallant was promptly cut off by the committee chairman; her curious line of questioning was never explained.

But it upset Ms. MacDonald. "There was an insinuation that I was involved in something inappropriate, involved in illegal activities," she told CanWest News Service during an interview here. "I was attacked and so was my organization. It was unacceptable. It was mudslinging."

Even Conservative MPs aren't immune from reefer madness. Everybody knows that the only people that would benefit from the legalization of drugs are junkies and drug dealers. They question her motives despite the fact that common sense and economics dictate that a black market drives up the price of a commodity. If you are a drug dealer, you benefit from the black market. Didn't you people bother to read the Senate Report? I guess conservative MPs have better things to do than read and learn anything useful. It is obvious that a woman who risks her life to learn about drug policy first-hand in a bloody war zone must have something to gain monetarily from the legalization of opium. This is so mind-bogglingly stupid I don't have strong enough language to disparage these people. This is who represents us in government. First they try to take away the civil rights of gays, now this.

Go and read the rest of the article. Ms. McDonald rocks and I hope she doesn't let stupid and narrow-minded Conservative MPs from deterring her mission. The Afghani people need more people like her.

I find myself agreeing with a wingnut

I am completely shocked. An intelligent criticism of the War on Drugs from a web page that also hosts articles written by Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich and Phyllis Schlafly? Impossible! But it's true. Maybe liberalism is a contagious disease.

Anyway, here is the article. Just stay away from the rest of the site. It is full of hateful bullshit.

Saddam Execution

I am extremely disgusted by the whole debacle. The worst part is the horrible coverage of it by the mainstream media. I don't have first-hand experience with CNN and Fox anymore because I swore off watching bullshit television ages ago. But just having a conversation with my Mom after his execution was enough to disgust me. I love my mom but sometimes she is as smart as a bag of hammers. I don't blame her for that, I am just assuming that the coverage of the execution was extremely pro-USA, pro-George Bush. Anyway, my dearest Mom was complaining about the bleeding hearts that are opposed to capital punishment. I pointed out that the Americans aren't exactly innocent (Abu Graib? Iraq war?) If we are going to string up Saddam there are a lot of other people that have blood on their hands as well. Luckily for my mom, she knows how smart I am and quickly changed her tune.

Anyway, enough of my babblings. I just wanted to link some analysis of the execution, which was performed on "Eid", a Muslim holiday of peace. This is the equivalent of having Stephen Harper executed on Christmas day. The amount of disrespect showed to the Iraqi people is infuriating. Glenn Greenwold talks about the bending of the law and the thuggery displayed during Saddam's final moments.

I will end this by quoting Glenn Greenwold, he sums it up a lot better than I could.

So this is the grand and noble achievement which the President and his band of bloodthirsty followers are reduced to celebrating -- a lawless, thugish hanging, carried out in clear and deliberate violation of the law, by a bunch of homicidal street thugs and militia foot soldiers who themselves will be included among our next kill targets once our glorious "sustained surge" begins.

No matter what we touch in Iraq, no matter what we do, it only makes things worse -- never better -- because the root of what we are doing is itself so rotted and incoherent and corrupt. It's beyond doubt that we're going to be treated to much more "freedom" and "justice" like this over the next two years in Iraq, at least.

Also, via PZ

You know, foreign occupying power, powerful religious group agitating for the execution of a hated, charismatic competitor, promises of who will bear the guilt for the deed, metaphorical washing of the hands…jebus, if I know what a counterproductive PR disaster that was for the Pharisees and the Romans, what's the matter with the American leadership in Iraq? Don't they read the bibles they thump? Add to that that they've apparently done the execution at a time when it is "religiously unacceptable", and we've got a situation that makes Pontius Pilate look good.

Moderating Policy

Unless your comment is about how much you love me and how much I rule, I will probably delete your post. Unless, of course, your comment is stupid enough to be mocked, in which case I will be happy to do so. Mocking people on the internet is my favorite hobby, next to trying to teach my kids' parrot to say "Shut up Bird!" Since this is my blog I will probably try to make you look as stupid as possible. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I will also be updating this uber-scientific policy when the urge strikes me.

And just to show you what an amazingly awesome and fair person I am, I will include a picture of the bird in question.



Isn't he just the cutest thing you have ever seen?

Also, feel free to send fan mail, hate mail, post suggestions, a list of my typos, drug war related news, free samples of weed from your garden or anything else that strikes your fancy here. In the interests of science I will use myself as a guinea pig to test the potency and quality of the weed in question. Anything for my fans! I have a wide variety of interests and I welcome and respond to all emails that I get.

I would also like to thank you for taking the time to read my little blog. Your interest in the War on Some Drugs is commendable. Feel free to read the links in my side bar and learn as much about the history behind the prohibition of drugs as you possibly can. It is a history marred by yellow journalism, pseudo-science, the denial of the humanity of drug users and the justification of a long list of civil rights violations that is rather mind-boggling. Happy blogging!

Happy New Years!

Instead of writing something uplifting I have decided to link a bunch of crap that made me laugh, cry and swear.

Jesus General roxorz my boxorz. Go and find yourself a Hannicatch Pronto! Also go and read some man-hate from my favorite femi-nazi. She turns man-hating into an art form and that is why I love her so much. Penis Police! Good one Twisty!

Also, here is an article that gives us one more reason to hate Nixon.

My New Years' resolutions read as follows:

-to update this blog every day, even if it is only links to junk on the internet.
-to go out and interact with adults more often. (That will be tough.)
-to continue to annoy the hell out of people by acting ignorant when they ask me if I have gotten a ring yet. "Ring? What kind of ring? A phone call, a cock ring, ring around the rosy? What are you babbling about?"
-to learn some html so my layout will stop sucking and I can learn to ping people with trackback.

My next post will be my moderating policy. Don't worry, it will be short, sweet and to the point. I know that since nobody actually reads this blog or writes comments that it may seem unnecessary. But you never know when some large blog may decide to link me and a swarm of knuckle-dragging pinheads will pollute my little blog with hate and dumbassery.