Next year will mark 50 years since President Richard Nixon declared drugs "public enemy number one," launching a new war on drugs that has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into law enforcement, led to the incarceration of millions of people - disproportionately Black - and has done nothing to prevent drug overdoses. In spite of the widespread, growing opposition to this failed war, made clear yet again on Election Day, punitive policies and responses to drug use and possession persist. As President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris prepare to take office, it is abundantly clear that they have a mandate from the electorate to tackle this issue. [continues 802 words]
Someday, we'll look back on two federal prohibitions - on same-sex marriage and marijuana - and ask ourselves: "How were we ever so dumb? What's the big deal?" Indeed, more and more people are asking that question every day. Even before the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, several states moved to recognize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts was the first, in May 2004. Today, either by legislation or court order, marriage equality is the law in 19 states, plus the District of Columbia. Courts in 14 other states, most recently Virginia, have ruled to strike down bans on same-sex marriage. While those decisions remain on appeal, it's clearly only a matter of time before all 50 states accept the fact that every American, gay or straight, should be free to marry the one he or she loves. [continues 402 words]
In the wake of the Summit of the Americas meetings earlier this month, it is time to get to the heart of the problem of illegal drugs and related violence. We must pull back the curtains on the false debate between legalizing drugs and current drug policy. The real answer lies in our ability to aggressively reduce the U.S. demand for illegal drugs. Illegal-drug use in the United States has created a major domestic public-health problem while fueling violence in drug-producing and transit countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Just across the U.S. border in Mexico, more than 50,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence over the past five years. Latin-American leaders are rightly outraged that their citizens continue to suffer because of America's drug habits. [continues 512 words]
Lawmakers for the first time have introduced legislation in Congress to end the federal criminalization of the personal use of marijuana. The bipartisan measure -- H.R. 2306, the 'Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011' and sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank and Texas Republican Ron Paul along with Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) -- prohibits the federal government from prosecuting adults who use or possess personal use amounts of marijuana by removing the plant and its primary psychoactive constituent, THC, from the five schedules of the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Under present law, all varieties of the marijuana plant are defined as illicit Schedule I controlled substances, defined as possessing "a high potential for abuse,"and "no currently accepted medical use in treatment." This classification is not supported by either existing science or public opinion. [continues 717 words]
A growing chorus of lawmakers is openly calling for the legalization of marijuana as a measure to stop the escalating violence along U.S.-Mexico border. The legislators who have endorsed legalization are Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), and Ron Paul (R-Texas). However, the chances of legalization occurring soon seem slim. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs recently said that President Obama does not support the legalization of marijuana. While a change occurring on the federal level appears remote, Paul believes that the tone of the debate is shifting. [continues 396 words]
The last time the House debated medical marijuana, David Krahl trod the halls of Capitol Hill lobbying against the legislation as deputy director of the Drug Free America Foundation. Now, he's ready to lobby for allowing medicinal use of marijuana, and do anything he can to support it. So far, no one has asked him for help, but in a recent letter to medical marijuana bill sponsor Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), he proclaimed that he'd reversed his position on whether cannabis can be a medicine. [continues 331 words]
Two national groups that help recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are asking Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) to retract his description of them as "drug legalization groups." In a Nov. 1 "Dear Colleague" letter, Souder described the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the International Nurses Society on Addictions, which oppose a Souder bill that would penalize students convicted of using drugs, as favoring drug legalization. In the letter, Souder defended his bill, and told other members it was "facing assault by a small but determined coalition of drug-legalization groups." [continues 131 words]
So this is how he is: The chief lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project has short, clean-cut blond hair, and wears crisp, dark suits and conservative red-and-blue patterned ties. There is not a hint of dope pusher about him. He's 28, married with three children, and possesses a boyish face, easy laugh and driven demeanor. He doesn't even have a tattoo. And his office? Downtown Geekville. His desk is neat and tidy. Volumes of Riddick's Senate Procedure and Deschler-Brown Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives are displayed prominently on it. Like other buttoned-up lobbyists, he dines at locales such as Bistro Bis, The Monocle and Sonoma. [continues 828 words]
Afghan officials in Washington are redoubling their advocacy efforts to capitalize on Congress and the Bush administration's renewed focus on their country -- and to prevent their country from slipping back into Taliban hands. Embassy officials are calling the Bush administration's drug-eradication policy in Afghanistan a flawed solution to the problem and are speculating on how a new U.S. ambassador to their country will influence the struggle against the narcotics trade and how the U.S. will change the management of foreign aid there. [continues 918 words]
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) may not have expected his $700 million amendment to the defense-spending bill to pass; Democratic amendments are usually shot down one by one. But the senator's proposal to allocate money for narcotics eradication in Afghanistan passed by voice vote in early September. It won the vote of the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) among others, and has support from several key GOP members in the House. One is Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), chairman of the Government Reform subcommittee with jurisdiction over drug policy, who admitted on the House floor last week that he is "not always a big ally of Sen. Schumer." [continues 833 words]
On the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision allowing the federal government to overrule state medical-marijuana laws, a new lobbying group is trying to persuade some of the House's most conservative members to protect the terminally ill's right to use the drug. Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a nonprofit group funded by patients, doctors and researchers who support exploring marijuana's therapeutic potential, opened its Washington office last month and completed its first grassroots lobbying visits yesterday. [continues 413 words]
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) plans to introduce an amendment next week that would prevent the federal government from going after medical marijuana users, a law-enforcement action the Supreme Court yesterday ruled is constitutional. The court did not strike down state laws allowing medical marijuana use, nor did it require a federal crackdown. Rather, the court ruled that the federal government has the authority to prosecute people with a prescription for pot in states where the practice is legal. [continues 260 words]
Regarding your May 10 story ('Montel Williams opens up about medicinal marijuana'), I believe Williams is wrong when he says that the Bush administration is opposed to medicinal marijuana because it believes the garbage about how it doesn't work. The Bush administration and the drug war cheerleaders are opposed to medicinal marijuana because they know that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't want this easy-to-grow herb replacing its very expensive and patented medications. The Bush administration people know how much money the pharmaceutical industry has donated to the Republican party and Republican candidates. (See the Web site www.saynotodrugs.org ) After all, the drug companies are not in business for anybody's health, but rather to make money. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Montel Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. Since then, the TV talk-show host has tried a variety of drugs -- everything from morphine to Vicodin -- to ease the constant pain he feels in his lower extremities. The drug that has proved most effective for Williams is marijuana, which is why he paid a visit to Capitol Hill last week on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project. Williams was on the Hill to try to persuade lawmakers to pass bills pertaining to medicinal marijuana, such as the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, which allows patients who have recommendations from their doctors in California and nine other states where the medical form of the drug is legal, to grow marijuana without fear of arrest. This was Williams's third visit to Capitol Hill. So far, he has met with a total of eight lawmakers. He lives in Manhattan. [continues 637 words]
House Speaker Dennis Hastert's recent claim that George Soros might be getting his fortune from drug cartels reveals his profound misunderstanding of the illegal drug market ("Soros blasts Hastert over drug allegation," Aug. 31). Did Al Capone campaign to end Prohibition? Of course not. Prohibition of alcohol is what made the bootleg liquor trade -- and its enormous profits for organized crime -- possible. Replacement of Prohibition with the current system of alcohol regulation put the bootleggers out of business, wiping out a huge source of wealth for gangsters and criminals. [continues 89 words]
This world is a better place thanks to the wise philanthropy of George Soros ("Soros blasts Hastert over drug allegation," Aug. 31). The same cannot be said of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who reveals his true colors with his attempt to smear Mr. Soros. And while Soros has assisted efforts to legally provide sick and dying Americans with medical marijuana, Hastert has ensured that medical marijuana legislation in Congress died in committee, session after session, despite 80 percent public support. If only this planet had a few more billionaires with a conscience like Soros, we'd all be better off. Thank you, Mr. Soros! Gary Storck, co-founder, Multiple Sclerosis Patients Union Madison, Wis [end]
In re the story about George Soros's response to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's backhanded allegations that Soros may be connected to drug cartels because of Soros's promotion of marijuana legalization efforts ("No knockdowns yet in Soros vs. Hastert," Sept. 1): The allegations that Soros may be connected to drug cartels because of his championing marijuana-legalization efforts could not possibly be true. The last thing marijuana growers want is legalization. The last thing cocaine and heroin cartels want is legalization. If drugs are legal, the huge profits are eliminated. Marijuana in particular is so easy to grow, if it were legal you couldn't give it away. Mr. Hastert's allegations are yet another example of the Republicans' tactic of assassinating the character of those who disagree with them and those who work to promote a different agenda than theirs. Ralph Averill New Preston, Conn. [end]
I'm writing about "Soros blasts Hastert over drug allegations" (Aug. 31). If anybody is receiving money from the drug cartels, it would be politicians like House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who advocate the continuation of our current counterproductive policies of drug criminalization. Our drug criminalization policies make easy-to-grow weeds and easy-to-produce chemicals more valuable than pure gold. When Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a bottle, drug users didn't have to rob, steal or commit acts of prostitution to obtain their drugs of choice. [continues 121 words]
Billionaire Demands Public Apology From the House Speaker George Soros, the billionaire financier who has given millions of dollars to liberal and Democratic-leaning advocacy groups, launched a blistering counterattack on Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) yesterday, saying he should be "ashamed" of allegations he made Sunday. Hastert had suggested that Soros's wealth came from criminals, and in a letter Soros challenged the Speaker to substantiate his claims or publicly apologize. In a tartly worded demand faxed to Hastert, Soros wrote: "Your recent comments implying that I am receiving funds from drug cartels are not only untrue, but also deeply offensive. You do a discredit to yourself and to the dignity of your office by engaging in these dishonest smear tactics. You should be ashamed. [continues 643 words]
Public hostilities between House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and George Soros, the billionaire donor to the Democratic Party, went into overdrive yesterday. In a letter, the Speaker chided the activist philanthropist for his efforts to legalize recreational drug use and received in return a second demand for a public apology. The spat began on Sunday television, when Hastert cast aspersions on Soros's financial sources. Yesterday, the Speaker neither apologized nor backed up his suggestion but said he was referring to drug-legalization pressure groups rather than criminal cartels. [continues 290 words]
