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Estudiantes: ¡Hagan sus prácticas en la DRCNet y ayuden a detener la guerra a las drogas!
¡Postule a prácticas en la DRCNet para esta primavera (o verano) y usted puede pasar el semestre luchando por una buena causa!
Chronicle
Policial: Las historias de policÃas corruptos de esta semana
Esta semana hay guardias de cárcel y prisión que se han alocado y un policÃa veterano de California cuyo vicio en pastillas lo ha sobrepujado.
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Time to try another way.
The drug war does more harm than good, now it is time to try the path of least harm.
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Police Officer in Cowboy Hat Talks Drug Legalization on Al Jazeera
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's Howard Wooldridge is commonly known on Capitol Hill as "the guy with the hat." Howard debated drug legalization on the Al Jazeera network this week -- check it out below:
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NBC Insults Marijuana Users
Once again, we find the press struggling to cover drug policy reform without resorting to derogatory epithets:
This is really an achievement in childish drug reporting in that it not only sounds ridiculous, it actually renders the story utterly frivolous and misleading. Marijuana arrests are a problem in New York to be sure, but simple possession is technically decriminalized already. Rockefeller reform is primarily not about marijuana at all. It's about reforming wildly draconian sentencing guidelines for a variety of drug offenses. Framing it as a marijuana policy reform is just wrong. Many of the worst excesses of the Rockefeller laws have nothing at all to do with marijuana.
Sadly, it looks as though the author loved his dumb headline so much, he destroyed the entire story just so he could use it. It's pure journalistic malpractice.
Please take a moment to click over there and leave a polite comment.
State Moves Toward Lighter Sentences for Potheads
By Scott Ross
The state Assembly has struck a blow for the state's stoners by voting to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws that have threatened so many tokers with the wrong kind of joint. [NBCNewYork.com]
This is really an achievement in childish drug reporting in that it not only sounds ridiculous, it actually renders the story utterly frivolous and misleading. Marijuana arrests are a problem in New York to be sure, but simple possession is technically decriminalized already. Rockefeller reform is primarily not about marijuana at all. It's about reforming wildly draconian sentencing guidelines for a variety of drug offenses. Framing it as a marijuana policy reform is just wrong. Many of the worst excesses of the Rockefeller laws have nothing at all to do with marijuana.
Sadly, it looks as though the author loved his dumb headline so much, he destroyed the entire story just so he could use it. It's pure journalistic malpractice.
Please take a moment to click over there and leave a polite comment.
Chronicle
Reportaje: Citando investigación alarmante sobre reactivos que dan falsos positivos, investigadores piden moratoria en pruebas con equipos de reactivos de campo
Esos equipos de reactivos que la policÃa utiliza para comprobar la presencia de drogas ilegales son tan poco fiables que deberÃan ser prohibidos, dijeron investigadores el martes. Una tableta Hersheyâs, jabones de la marca Dr. Bronnerâs Magic Soap y Tylenol [paracetamol] son solamente algunos de los artÃculos comunes que generaron falsos positivos. El aire fue otro.
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In The Trenches
Press Release: Obama Names Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske As New 'Drug Czar'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2009
CONTACT: Tom Angell at 202-557-4979 or [email protected]
Obama Names Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske As New 'Drug Czar'
Statement From Drug-Legalizing Retired Seattle Chief Norm Stamper
WASHINGTON, March 11 -- Vice President Joe Biden announced the Obama administration's nomination of Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske today as the nation's next "drug czar," formally known as director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Kerlikowske's immediate predecessor as Seattle's top cop, Norm Stamper, who is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a large and growing group of cops, judges and prosecutors who want to legalize all drugs, released the following statement:
"There's hope. Gil Kerlikowske is a professional cop. While he didn't favor certain drug policy reforms as Seattle's police chief (marijuana as lowest enforcement priority, for example), he didn't fight them. I know some law enforcement officials who've thumbed their noses at similar voter initiatives. Gil's a strong supporter of drug treatment."
"These are promising signs."
"Also worth noting are the personal struggles Kerlikowske has undergone with substance abuse in his own family. Hopefully his stepson's drug arrests have helped him to realize that making drugs illegal does nothing to solve substance abuse problems, and usually only makes them worse."
"The open question is whether he'll entertain fundamental reform. It starts at the top. If the president and vice president signal a commitment to science, and to an honest conversation about the prohibition/drug war model, I think Gil will step up and lead the effort. Right now, that's a big if."
Stamper recently posted commentary on the Kerlikowske nomination on the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norm-stamper/obamas-new-drug-czar-coul_b_166202.html
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a 10,000-member organization representing police, prosecutors, judges, FBI/DEA agents and others from around the world who fought on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and who learned firsthand that making drugs illegal only serves to make drug addiction and drug market violence problems worse.
LEAP's website is at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: Norm Stamper is available for interviews. Please contact Tom Angell at [email protected] or 202-557-4979 for more information.
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