The Department of Corrections is disputing projections it will need 9,000 to 11,000 fewer beds because of a voter initiative that bars many drug users from prison. Prison officials say those estimates are overblown by half, and that cost savings to taxpayers are overestimated as well. They say they must expand their drug treatment programs despite voters' approval of Proposition 36 last month. Once the initiative takes effect July 1, it will require that those convicted of using or possessing drugs for the first or second time be sent to community treatment programs. [continues 842 words]
Has a drug war zealot ever flicked sand in your face because you were just a 100 lb. weakling? Want to turn into a 250 lb. and flick sand in their face? Here is how you can overpower them with facts and figures and you don't even have to take steroids to do it. Just go to: http://www.csdp.org/factbook/ for over 100 pages of stats and quotes on the WoDs arranged alphabetically. Strongly recommended for readers interested in science, public health and human rights. Warning: Prohibition true believers may find the wealth of information supporting common sense based policies depressing. Best wishes. Alex Dr Alex Wodak Director, Alcohol and Drug Service St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney [end]
In 1936 August Vollmer, highly respected Berkeley, CA police chief addressed the International Association of Chiefs of Police, "Drug addiction ... is not a police problem; it never has been and never can be solved by policemen. It is first and last a medical problem." Vollmer's own experience was different from ours. He'd lived during a period when drugs which are now illegal were popular tonics and important medicines, freely available from drug and grocery store shelves. Cocaine was in Coca-Cola and some 40 other soft drinks as well. Morphine and heroin were two of the three most popular medicines, more widely used than today. When addiction occurred, it was dealt with as a medical problem. [continues 580 words]
During and after the years of slavery, there was a great bond among African-Americans. There was love and respect for one another based on common experience. This brotherhood/sisterhood,has sadly diminished in the last two decades. The drug war is the insidious cause of the cultural retrogression. It has succeeded because minorities have embraced the war. Deliberate or not, the drug war is an ingenious 'divide and conquer' scheme. It is so brilliant that most people support it as it tears society, freedom, and democracy apart. [continues 766 words]
