DEA teaches meth-cooking 101

Cooking methamphetamine takes only a few hours and requires simple household ingredients, like striker plates from matchbooks, the guts of lithium batteries, drain cleaner.

"It's pretty gross," said Matt Leland, who works in career services at the University of Northern Colorado and who recently helped cook the drug in a lab. "If someone was truly interested in manufacturing meth, it would not be that hard."

The Drug Enforcement Administration invited Leland and other citizens - such as software engineers, a teacher, a pastor and a school principal - to make methamphetamine last week in a lab at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

You just can't make this stuff up. I would think that a description of a meth lab and how the drug is produced would be enough to convince people that it is not difficult to make. Why is this necessary?

The class was held as part of the DEA's first Citizens Academy in order to give the public a close-up view of what the agency does to keep drugs off the street.

Although meth remains a significant problem across the U.S., the number of clandestine labs has dropped because some of the ingredients are harder to obtain.

Now it makes sense. It's a bit of tax-payer funded publicity for the DEA. If I worked for the DEA wasting billions of dollars on a hopelessly misguided war on drugs, I would probably need an ego boost too.

Just because the number of clandestine labs has decreased does not mean that meth is more difficult to get. Mexico has been exporting meth to meet the demand.

Border Blues

It looks as though I will never again go to the United States, unless I become a famous celebrity. The United States and Canada are denying admitted drug users the ability to cross the border. If you have ever admitted publicly on the internet or the radio that you have used an illegal drug, you can not cross the border:

While such policies have been in place for years, they have been little known -- except for people who have found out the hard way. One of those people is Dr. Andrew Feldmar, a Vancouver, BC, psychiatrist, who had crossed the border on numerous occasions, only to be turned back last summer by a US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent who googled his name and turned up an academic article in which he discussed taking LSD on two occasions nearly forty years ago.

While I am not all that anxious to cross the border and am unlikely to want to do so in the near future, this is a very bad situation for drug policy reformers. This will silence a lot of people. Didn't I just say that what the drug policy reform movement needs to see is a lot more people talking about this issue, especially at election time?

I didn't want to go to America anyway.

Dividing and Conquering the Working Class with Drug Testing

An Angry Teacher from Hawaii has written a great analysis of the recent vote in favor of drug testing. You simply must go and read the whole thing. This is my favorite part:

This contract should not have been put to the workers for a vote. Asking workers to choose between either a raise, or retaining basic rights is like asking them to choose between sawing off a limb or shooting themselves in the face, with a nice raise for the face shooters. This move by the Union leadership was dressed up as a “democratic” vote, but should be identified as what it is: union collaboration with the state to impose more control over workers’ lives. Presenting a dilemma, and calling it a choice is a devils’ bargain, bourgeois democracy at its worst, but far from an anomaly.
This contract is an effective tool to drive a wedge between more “socially conservative” and “socially liberal” employees. Sixty one percent of the teachers who voted chose to ratify the contract. For some teachers, while they did not like the idea of drug testing, they felt the raise itself made the contract acceptable. For other teachers, the idea of criminalizing any type of recreational drug use not sanctioned by the state creates a better society: "I'm all for it," said math teacher John Furukawa. "As an educator, we need to promote an example to which kids can follow."

I wish I had written this post. That is absolutely brilliant and it's true. The teachers were very divided by this contract, with the teachers that oppose drug testing being branded as having something to hide or not caring enough about the children. Divide and conquer works because only drug-using communists oppose drug testing.

Just go and read the whole thing. I am thinking of printing it out and hanging it on my wall.

Link Dump

Some really great reading out there. The LA Times ran a really great story about drug testing of American kids in the schools. A great read and a balanced look at the pros and cons of drug testing in the schools. The LA Times also ran a great story about the anti-doping program that athletes are subjected to in order to keep sports free of drugs.

But of course, I had to include the failed logic and deranged ranting of a drug warrior cheerleader. Our editorialist demands to know What really is wrong with trying to keep a lid on drug use in Canada? Those crazy liberals tried to decriminalize marijuana! Great for a laugh.

Also, go check out Pete. His ranting has been excellent these days.

The War on Babies

Did you know about the War on Babies? It's even worse than the War on Drugs. Now that women can take a pill to prevent menstruation, Big Pharma is going to make money and that's all that this anti-birth-control wingnut needs to know.

I thought that only strung-out hippies were allowed to rant about the evils of Big Pharma. How dare Leslie Unruh steal our language!



For interesting discussion and analysis about all the hysteria about women refusing to ride the cotton pony go here and here.

Stoners must boycott Hershey's Candy

I'm down with it.

Is Coffee Crisp made my Hershey's?

Hershey sues imprisoned marijuana candy maker alleging trademark infringement

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was a big enough bummer for Kenneth Affolter when he was sentenced to more than five years in prison for making pot-laced treats and soft drinks.

Now he faces the wrath of a candy giant.

The Hershey Co. has sued Affolter, 40, for giving his marijuana goodies names like Stoney Rancher, Rasta Reese's and Keef Kat. Each came in packaging similar to Hershey's Jolly Rancher, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat candies, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

They are just pissed that they didn't think of it first. Imagine the money you could make marketing Reefer's pieces.

Link Dump

Noam Chomsky sez to the UN "Buy up all the opium." Doug Cuthand of my favorite newspaper, the Star Phoenix, does a nice job of eviscerating the racist NIMBY's that successfully convinced the RM of Corman Park not to allow the establishment of a drug treatment facility. I wrote about this story previously here. Score one for the hypocritical Chistians.

Also, George Michael comes out in favour of cannabis. What a great role model to speak on behalf of my favorite plant! With a spokesperson like that, cannabis will be legal any day now.

Puke.

Gravel for President!

Former Sen. Mike Gravel, the longshot presidential candidate who has generated buzz in the liberal blogosphere following a dramatic and heated performance during the first Democratic presidential debate, reaffirmed his belief that President Bush should be jailed for going to war in Iraq and that all drugs should be legalized during an interview with the Iowa Independent blog.

It sure would be nice to see more presidential candidates supporting an end to the drug war. It's too bad that Gravel is considered a longshot.

via Pete.

Teachers more stoned than their students.

TEACHERS' DRUG TESTS WILL HELP STUDENTS

I don't see the reason for all the fuss about drug tests for teachers. Many educational departments across the country require this as a term of employment. If you got nothing to hide, then what's the big deal? Personally, I think all state employees should have to go through random drug tests as it makes the workplace safer. If I had kids in the Hawaii school system I'd be clamoring for this kind of action. I was rather surprised to find that teachers weren't required to do this. From what I've seen of the lackadaisical school system here maybe this is just what is needed.

Imagine how much more students could accomplish if their teachers weren't more stoned than the students.

James McWilliams

Waikele

Look at all that propaganda. Teachers more stoned than their students? Lackadaisical school system? That's a nice way to talk about the people that have taken on the often thankless of teaching your children. Maybe Mr. Williams should spend some time in a class full of children and watch what teachers do before he spews his worthless opinions in the local newspaper.

If the only way you can tell that a person is a drug user is by subjecting samples of their pee to analysis in a lab, there is no drug problem. The best way to evaluate teachers, or any professional, is by their job performance. Having clean urine (or being smart enough to purchase it) is no indication of competence. I have no idea why spending thousands of dollars on drug testing teachers is a better use of money than say, parenting classes, lunch programs, band programs or after school programs.

The viewpoint of your average drug prohibitionist

The letters to the editor section of the newspaper has always been my favorite reading material. You can get a good idea about how a large majority of the newspaper reading public feels about a particular issue. Or you can see the views of wackjobs amplified. This morning I bring you a letter to the editor from L. Rebeccah-Jean Robinson published in the Victoria News.

I have been seeing a lot on the news and in the papers over the rights of “pot smokers” these days.

Where are the rights of non-pot-smokers? I know folks personally and people I have just chatted with in the general public who’ve stated to me that pot smoke gave them head-aches, body pain and blocked sinuses when they did experiment with it or were just simply exposed to it.

I happen to be one of those people. I tried it in 2004 with a couple of friends as I heard all this new evidence that it takes body pain away. Well, it didn’t. As a matter of fact, it gave us severe head-aches.

We all have fibromyalgia, chronic pain and arthritis and it only worsened our conditions. Also, our minds felt like vegetables and we were immobile for many hours to come.

Did you try a bong or a vaporizer? That might help but even if pot is the worst thing in the world for you, there is a simple solution to this dilemma: Don't smoke pot.

I personally don't smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol or take prescription medications or ride motorcycles or star in porn films. In fact, I take great pains to avoid all of the above activities. But in no way does that mean that I wish to throw people in jail for doing things that I personally dislike.

Do you see how this works? The only thing that pot-smokers want is the freedom to grow, sell and distribute their medicine or their favorite recreational substance without being thrown in prison. It's just that simple.

There are many people now who possess exemptions to legally smoke pot and I’m sure there are those who don’t abuse that privilege, however, there are those who do. And those who live in complexes are affected by that pot smoke in hallways and courtyards must know it’s harmful to those like me.

I’m not a cigarette smoker, but I’ve also been hearing about how cigarette smoking is going to be illegal on ferry boats, parks (and patios for smoking that aren’t hurting the non-smokers.)

Well, there’s something pretty backwards in our society because cigarettes are not illegal. Also, they don’t cause car accidents due to being high. Yet, thousands sat on the lawn of the parliament buildings recently, lobbying for pot not to be illegal and got stoned on pot. No one was arrested.

Oh boy. They always have to focus on the stoners. I can assure you that a lot of us feel that the prohibition of drugs is a civil rights issue and non-pot-smokers also show up at the rallies to show their support for the end of the drug war. After all, they are tax-payers too and don't like seeing their money wasted on ineffective social policies. I don't think this letter writer has given much thought as to the consequences of jailing cigarette smokers.

This system is unfair. I smell pot smoke downtown all the time now and there are no cops around enforcing the law; they’re too busy confiscating knapsacks.

Anyway, all I am saying, is there are those to consider who feel completely the opposite about pot – it truly hurts us; it doesn’t help us; it hinders us; we’re allergic to it and even though we may not be smoking it, we still have to be affected by it in our homes and on city streets. This society has become so politically correct that government has taken leave of its senses.

What about the children of parents who have tickets to smoke pot. Is this not going to affect and harm those kids in the long run? Does it give them a choice, whether they want to be exposed to it or not?

She ends off by whining about all the pot-smokers that are staying out of jail despite their dirty, illegal habits. As for the parents of pot-smokers, I would think that smoking outside would be a good way to SAVE THE CHILDREN!!11 It works for me. The health and safety of my children is threatened more by the knives in my kitchen drawers. I wonder how much second-hand car exhaust the little darlings inhale on the walk home from school. My solution is to ban cars. You like driving cars? Well too bad, the children must be saved.

This is the mindset of a lot of people that oppose reforming our drug policy. How do we reach these people? How do we get them to see that this issue effects everybody? How do we get them to see that this has nothing to do with promoting drug use?

Bud Bundy Busted

The actor who played Bud on Married…With Children has been busted for possession of marijuana.

We can all have a giggle at David Fastino's expense. Nothing makes me happier than a celebrity drug bust story! It's too bad nobody had a webcam to capture the domestic dispute that lead to Faustino's arrest for posterity. Wouldn't that make a great episode of COPS?

I wish I had seen this yesterday

via Lawyers, Guns and Money

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of a New York city pro-Beer rally organized by Mayor Jimmy Walker. Parade marchers called out, "Who wants a beer?", spectators shouted back, "I do!" 100,000 people showed up for the rally.

That sure puts the Global Marijuana March to shame! Did any of the rallies in any of the cities get more than 20, 000 people? I guess we potheads have a long way to go.

Joints and Seniors and Reefers, OH MY!

CTV ran a hilarious tale of pot-smoking seniors. It has come to their attention that the pot-smoking baby boomers are growing up and taking their drug habits with them into old age.

The article starts out ok, with tales of ordinary grannies lighting up to help with the aches and pains of old age. That seniors love drugs should come as absolutely no surprise to anybody. My own grandmother took dozens of pills for various ailments several times a day. The really stupid part comes at the end when they push the same old tired reefer madness.

Some who use drugs to mask the isolation become addicted to harder drugs and prescription pills, leading to dementia, falls and even death.

"There are signs and symptoms to look for. But if you are not even imagining older adults can even possibly use these kind of substances, they will go completely undetected," says Robert Eves of Community Outreach Program in Addiction.

According to the Canadian Addiction Survey, 12.8 per cent of Canadians aged 64-74 have used marijuana in their lifetime. But among those aged 44-54 -- the seniors of the future -- a much larger percentage of 50.1 per cent have used drugs.

If the trend continues as many expect it will, nursing homes will need to deal with the question about what to do with residents who want to use drugs.

And addiction counsellors say special drug treatment and prevention programs customized for seniors may have to be created.

Why aren't there already $pecial treatment program$ for drug-addicted seniors if their excessive drug use is such a huge concern? My grandma would have been a prime candidate for rehab with her dozens of prescriptions. Drug-using seniors is not news.

Oh wait! It's all reefer madness. Unless we push the all-use-is-abuse model of drug use for all illegal drugs (despite the laws being unscientific), the world will explode in an orgy of wanton drug users having sex and then jumping out of buildings. Or something.

How-to Harass Potheads

In case you haven't seen this by now, go ahead and enjoy. Take note of the terrible quality of the marijuana smoked in this film. That bag is 90% stems and leaves. I guess the cops were only good at confiscating the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel shwag. And hey, did you know that seeds will explode if they are set on fire? I really had no idea. I always pick the seeds out BEFORE rolling the joint. Now I feel like getting some hemp seeds and setting them ablaze to see if they will explode.

I think my favorite part of this propaganda film, aside from the expected pronouncements of doom and gloom on pot-smokers the world over, was the knowledge that police officers don't check the inside of saran wrap rolls or vacuum cleaner bags. Those hiding places are safe for now!

I hate COPS

I used to watch this show joyfully every week. See? The bad guys get what they deserve. Watch the following youtube and see how hilarious it is when black men get tackled by the COPS after purchasing a few grams of weed. The cops sit outside of a "drug-house" and arrest people as they walk away with their newly acquired ILLEGAL DRUGS! I wonder what would happen if a similar sting operation were set up on a white college campus.



Hat tip thehim.

Speaking of racial politics, I found a wonderful post about that very topic during my casual perusal of the tubes. thehim has an excellent long read about the impact of the drug war on the racial divide in America. Be sure to check it out.

Pope: God Will Punish Drug Dealers

GUARATINGUETA, Brazil -- Drug traffickers will face divine justice for the scourge of illegal narcotics across Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI warned Saturday, telling dealers that "human dignity cannot be trampled upon in this way."

Brazil and the rest of the region face dangerously high rates of drug abuse and traffickers must "reflect on the grave harm they are inflicting on countless young people and on adults from every level of society," Benedict said.

"God will call you to account for your deeds," he said before a cheering crowd of 6,000 on a sprawling lawn outside the "Fazenda da Esperanca," or "Farm of Hope," a drug treatment center founded by a Franciscan friar.

Thus spake the Pope, also known as the pointy-hatted penis police. I wonder what he thinks of the environmental devestation caused by aerial spraying programs or the legislators that have decided, against all common sense, that keeping drugs illegal and unregulated is a good idea. Does John Walters have a special place in hell for all his lies about medical marijuana? Or is it just the evil drug traffickers that are to take the blame? That the Pope would fail to see the evil wrongness of condemning traffickers while saying nothing about the entire corrupt system that allows drug traffickers to make easy cash is not surprising. This is the same pointy-hatted old dude that made some remarks about Catholics excommunicating themselves for supporting abortion.

Just once, I wish the Pope, or some other over-rated religious $%#%#()hole would come out in favour of drug policy reform. There are no bible quotes to be easily used to justify drug prohibition.* Why can't Ratzi come out with this:

Genesis 1:29

God said, "I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will be your food.

Although using the Bible for anything other than rolling papers is obviously a huge problem for my atheistic self, use of the above quote would be a small improvement. Expecting the Pope to set fire to all the Bibles is a tad unrealistic.

* It's been a while since I thumped a Bible so if I am wrong be sure to call me out on it.

MTV Anti-Drug Ad

Just when I think that bullshit, anti-drug propaganda can not possibly get any worse, some bit of horrible trash comes along to lower the bar once again. MTV took a generous helping of bullshit and topped it off with homophobia and VOILA! You get this garbage.

In case you aren't able to see the video, for whatever reason, it consists of three guys sitting in a car. They are "hot-boxing", which refers to smoking marijuana in an enclosed environment in order to increase the effect. The dude in the passenger seat passes the bong to the guy in the back. While the dude hits that bong, the two brothers sitting in the front seat share a full-mouth french kiss. The guy in the back is disgusted and horrified and says "Aren't you guys brothers?" The horrified brothers shrink down in their seat. The screen flashes the words "If you get high, don't drive."

This commercial sent home the following messages loud and clear:

-Homosexual men are the lowest form of life.
-Smoking marijuana will make you homosexual (and the lowest form of human life imaginable, even worse than a muslim!!!)
-Smoking marijuana will make you do absolutely crazy, horrible things, even worse than driving a vehicle stoned.

I haven't decided which idea is the most stupid or offensive. Frankly, it's a toss-up.

I am feeling inspired

Welcome to all of you coming from Pharyngula. The traffic boost is inflating my already enormous ego to epic proportions. Anyway, I have been feeling very inspired to become more politically active. I blog, I write letters, and I help organize activist events. These things are great and a lot of fun but I feel like there is so much more that I could be doing to get the word out. The Freewayblogger has some great ideas:



All of those signs have been appearing all over the place, on freeways and overpasses. Look at all that free advertising! I do not have to despair anymore at the fact that the drug policy reform angle seems to be losing the propaganda war. I suppose that makes logical sense when you have unscrupulous hacks like John Walters touring the country and getting paid money to tell blatant lies about medical marijuana.* I feel the same way that PZ must feel when school board presidents that run on a platform that seeks to reinstate the sodomy laws get over a third of the vote.

I have already made some pretty cool rally and protest signs, all inspired by FrankD. I am thinking that with a bit of spraypaint and cardboard, I could make some really cool signs. How about a giant cannabis leaf with the word "REPEAL" in capital letters? Here is my attempt:



*After reading that bit of unscrupulous propaganda that I am going to have to spend more time repudiating all those lies on the Drug Czar's "Pushing Back" blog.

Cool commercial

What a great marketing gimmick.

Awesome Letter to the Editor

I was rather discouraged after reading all the articles defending drug testing today, such as why would teachers object to drug testing? But then I read the following LTE which is short and sweet:

DRUG-TESTING SUGGESTION

With respect to drug testing in the workplace, I suggest that managers or supervisors who can't evaluate their staff's performance by observing them or examining their work are far more suitable candidates for drug testing than the employees.

George Kosinski

Gibsons

Incorrect medical pot story gets undeserved prominence

The president and CEO of Prairie Plant Systems, Brent H. Zettl, decided to respond to Ethan Erkiletian's April 28th letter to the editor. Ethan was unhappy about plans in the works by Prairie Plant systems to become the sole supplier of medical marijuana. This is a problem for a lot of medical marijuana pastients is the fact that PPS sells poor-quality, contaminated schwag at incredibly high prices. For background on this story read about the allegations that Health Canada is charging a huge mark-up for its' medical marijuana. Here is Brent H Zuttle's letter.

Re: Government as sole seller of medical pot disastrous (SP, April 27). I am amazed that one piece of inaccurate journalism from an Access to Information request, taken out of context, has gained so much notoriety.

The original Canadian Press story of April 15 was based on misleading information and seemed designed to discredit Health Canada's medical marijuana program. Within its first two paragraphs, the lack of logic is exposed.

The two figures quoted are $328.75 per kilogram and a contract with Prairie Plant Systems of $10.3 million. To earn $10.3 million at $328.75 per kilogram would mean the company would have to produce 31,330 kilograms (31.3 million grams) of medical marijuana.

Even at $5 a gram, which is well below the drug's street value, the government hypothetically would have to produce and sell an equivalent of $150 million worth of marijuana. That is one massive grow-op, by any standard.

Let's put the numbers in perspective. A total 31.3 million grams of marijuana is sufficient to supply 17,167 people for a whole year, based on a dose of five grams per day. This is an order of magnitude difference when the CP article reported there were 1,742 approved Health Canada recipients, the majority of whom grow their own.

Had the reporter bothered to look at the contract awarded to Prairie Plant Systems, he would have seen that it calls for upwards of 400 kilograms a year. Since the contract was also released under Access to Information, I can only assume that he disregarded the facts.

It is unfortunate that the Marijuana Party used this misleading information in an attempt to further its political agenda. It's only hurting the people it claims to be protecting.

Brent H. Zettl

President and CEO

Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

If I wasn't so tired I would turn this into a letter to the editor.

Zettl doesn’t exactly deny that the low-grade shwag medical marijuana provided by PPS is being sold at the extremely high price of $328.75. Maybe he is trying to claim that PPS is pocketing the dough rather than letting Health Canada make all the money. There is something terribly wrong with this system when an easily grown weed is worth $328.75 per kilogram. Compare that to a kilogram of potatoes, which are only worth a few dollars. The fact that such a high price is being charged to Canadian tax-payers and medical marijuana patients is ridiculous and unconscionable. If you waste time quibbling over who is robbing the Canadian public, you risk missing the entire point. Medical marijuana patients are being gouged. If marijuana were legal to grow, these patients would not need to be concerned about participating in the black market or running afoul of the legal regulations.

If PPS does succeed in getting monopoly control of the medical marijuana supply, patients will be forced to go broke paying for low-quality, legal medicine. If that happens, patients will probably be better off using the black market. This certainly is not in keeping with the spirit of the Ontario’s Supreme Court ruling back in 1999 that allowed patients to have access to a safe, legal supply of their medicine. I hope that the Victoria-based Vancouver Island Compassion Club is successful in their upcoming constitutional challenge to the federal medical cannabis program. Perhaps then the government will finally take action and ensure that patients have access to their medicine.

Sincerely,

Tanya Derbowka

Global Marijuana March: Saskatoon

Yesterday, we took to the streets to protest the prohibition of marijuana. Tokers from all walks of life gathered to celebrate the cannabis culture in style. I was a part of the Saskatoon event. Here I am holding one of my fabulous home-made sign. It felt like such a delightfully hippyish thing to do.

The Saskatoon Global Marijuana march was lead by party leader Nathan Holowaty, party president Ethan Erkiletian on the megaphone and Jimmy Schmidt aka Mike Kereiff on the trombone.





Here are some die-hard supporters holding a sign and Brian Bird.



Mike Kereiff AKA Jimmy Schmidt and his trombone.



Some hungry marchers enjoying some free food.



Here is our leader Nathan Holowaty, holding up my favorite sign. Even the kids came along and enjoyed the food. A great time was had by all.

Students learn bleach won't fix drug test

This is what happens when you drug-test kids:

BAY MINETTE -- Three Baldwin County juveniles reported this week that they drank bleach before taking drug tests in attempts to skew results, but authorities said drinking the liquid won't affect the test.

"Apparently, there is a rumor going around that you can drink bleach to pass a drug test. That is simply not true," Maj. Anthony Lowery of the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office said.

Circuit Court Judge Carmen Bosch said paramedics responded to a teen at the county courthouse who collapsed after his juvenile court hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Police shoot dog, frighten neighbours in surprise raid

Frightened neighbours say the RCMP should have warned them before they stormed a house with guns blazing, killing a pet dog.

The neighbours said the Surrey RCMP officers fired about 10 shots, but police yesterday dismissed the gunfire as a "non-event."

Cops shoot a family pet and call it a "non-event".

Assholes.

Here is some bud pr0n

If you are into that sort of thing.

Teachers give up their pee

This isn't suprising but I'm still disappointed. :(

Hawai'i public school teachers have ratified their new two-year contract 61.3 percent to 38.2 percent.

In the process, they agreed to a controversial clause that would allow random drug testing.

Tell me something I don't know

New Studies Destroy the Last Objection to Medical Marijuana

New research on "vaporization" has demonstrated that all those fears about the ill effects of smoking marijuana are 100 percent obsolete.

Anyone who advocates for medical marijuana sooner or later runs into arguments about smoking: "No real medicine is smoked." "Smoking is bad for the lungs; why would any doctor recommend something so harmful?" It's a line of reasoning that medical marijuana opponents have used to great effect in Congress, state legislatures, and elsewhere. Indeed, the FDA's controversial 2006 statement opposing medical marijuana was couched in repeated references to "smoked marijuana."

I'm sure that the Drug Czar will write about that on his blog any day now.

Hmmm let's see what the Drug Czar has put about medical marijuana on his blog. He has a repugnant letter from Dennis Hastert that is overflowing with reefer madness.

At a time when recent trends in youth drug use have shown a significant downturn, I was disturbed by your recent editorial "Legalize medical marijuana" in support of state legislation to permit the growth of marijuana for medical purposes.

As a former schoolteacher and coach and father of two, I believe in giving our kids a drug-free future. Illegal drugs are responsible for the loss of 17,000 American lives annually, and marijuana is by far the most used and abused of these drugs. More kids use marijuana than cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and all other illicit drugs combined. Legislation that allows, supports or recognizes marijuana as a medicine is irresponsible, shortsighted and sends the wrong message to our youth.

You would never know from this letter that nobody has ever died from using marijuana. I wonder why a former schoolteacher and coach and father of two would write such a misleading letter. Hey I know! Maybe being a parent doesn't stop you from getting paid to lie to people.

Why would it matter to youths that we allow a patient stricken with AIDS or cancer to treat themselves with medical marijuana? We allow all sorts of dangerous drugs to be used in the course of medicine without worrying about the messages it sends. What message does it send to children when we allow crystal meth to be prescribed to kids to treat their ADHD?

Big Brother is Watching

Student activists are accusing University Police of violating students' privacy with overly aggressive drug enforcement tactics in the wake of several incidents in which officers posed as students or drug dealers.

Undercover officers frequently patrol hallways in dorms searching for would-be narcotics buyers, University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said. But the activist group Students for Sensible Drug Policy said police crossed the line when an officer attempted to join their Facebook group under an assumed name. The students discovered the officer when they cross-referenced her e-mail address in the university directory.

Atwell said she did not know of the Facebook incident SSDP mentioned, but she defended officers' approach to busting students for drugs in student housing.

"This has always been a tactic that we've used," she said, noting that drug enforcement is a particular priority for University Police because drug use often leads to other types of crime. "Our police are committed to upholding the drug and alcohol policy. ... What's unreasonable about upholding the law?"

Why would the police want to give up nice, safe and easy drug busts? They might be forced to fight crimes that have victims.

Police infiltrating organizations is a great political tactic. It is a barrier to building trust between members. After all, if narcs infiltrate student organizations, they are capable of infiltrating any organization. For all that I know, narcs have infiltrated the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. Maybe the president is a dirty narc, ready and willing to report us if we dare pass joints around. I heard that he doesn't even smoke marijuana. How can we trust him? Infighting and a lack of trust can be a real barrier to achieving the goals and aims of activist organizations. If members of Students for Sensible Drug Policy are busy pointing fingers and trying to figure out who the narc is, they will have a much more difficult time raising money, printing and handing out flyers, organizing rallies, blogging or writing letters to the editor. Militant drug legalizers will be less effective. Divide and conquer!

I wonder if Martin Luther King or Ghandi had to deal with narcs.