With the approaching Presidential election in two weeks, I decided to devote this issue to the Presidential candidates and their assorted approaches on drug policy. After three debates between President Obama and Mitt Romney (in addition to three devastating debate drinking games), we've seen heated discourse on nearly every political subject but drug control policy. Also, for those who don't know that there are more than two choices for President, I included Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in today's drug discussion. To save you, my precious reader, time and effort I will now sarcastically outline each of the candidate's positions on drug use, control and spending: [continues 683 words]
In the past 40 years, America has spent a lot of money fighting foreign wars. Vietnam, Iraq, Iraq again, Afghanistan and these wars obviously come with a considerable price tag. However, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss an often-overlooked battle that also puts a hefty dent in the federal budget: the War on Drugs. Since the 1970s, the American people were told increased spending on drug enforcement and harsher criminal sentencing would lead to reduced crime and drug use in the U.S. Instead, the exact opposite occurred. The drug addiction rate from 1970 to 2010 remains constant, fluctuating between 1 and 2 percent of the population. Meanwhile, drug control spending has skyrocketed. Since 1970, we've spent nearly $1.5 trillion fighting drugs. To put that figure in perspective, that's almost one tenth of our current national debt. [continues 742 words]
After Whitney Houston's sudden death last Saturday, Tony Bennett didn't hesitate to publicly make the link to drugs that many suspected. At a Grammy pre-party, the 85-year-old addict in recovery stated: "First it was Michael Jackson, then it was Amy Winehouse and now the magnificent Whitney Houston. I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs." Some point out that the problem with Bennett's statement is that it directly links the deaths of three famous musicians to the prohibition of drugs, which isn't exactly the case. The drugs that killed Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse (and likely Whitney Houston if the prescription medication bottles found in her room are any indicator) were all legal. Jackson and (quite likely) Houston overdosed on prescription drugs prescribed by doctors while Winehouse died of acute alcohol intoxication. [continues 417 words]
The fight for the right to use hemp and laugh at one's rulers has been happening constantly for centuries. The desire for a central authority to control and regulate the natural interconnectedness of living creatures stems from the fact that life is naturally awesome. According to the Book of Genesis in the King James Bible - the Judeo-Christian story of the creation of the universe - in the beginning, "the Earth brought forth grass and herb-yielding seed after its kind and the tree-yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind: and God saw that it was good." [continues 732 words]
Maybe I just don't get it, but as a longtime reader of the Nexus' drug articles, I still find myself at a loss as to what the paper or frequent drug columnist Kevin McCarty is actually advocating. A recent column ("The Pointlessness of Pot Persecution," Daily Nexus, May 16, 2011) essentially stated "the man is keeping us down by illegalizing weed," and then - and this one is a direct quote, mind you - insisted that "we only need a nanny state to take care of us because we have become disconnected from our natural niche within nature." The column goes on to assert that social programs, modern medicine and war are merely byproducts of our disconnect from the natural state of affairs. [continues 357 words]
Organization Criticizes Current U.S. Policy, Advocates Proper Treatment for Addiction Santa Barbara's chapter of the national organization A New PATH -- Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing -- will participate in the organization's new countrywide campaign to help end the nation's "War on Drugs" starting this Mother's Day. The nonprofit activism group organized the Moms United to End the War on Drugs campaign to advocate for proper treatment of drug addictions instead of harsh legal ramifications for drug use. [continues 444 words]
Dear Nexus, I'll begin by wishing you a happy Valentine's Day, and proceed by saying, "EW." I've been consistently annoyed by the fact that the drug column bores me by only ever discussing marijuana, but I have been accepting since speaking about other drugs in most any public forum is still considered very taboo and tends to get the speaker labeled as a menace to society/irresponsible/degenerate/etc. However, yesterday's column was insultingly ignorant. Mephedrone is an extremely well-known research chemical that has recently received incredulous amounts of news coverage. One need not even venture to the dank, shady caves of Erowid or Bluelight to become enlightened as to the nature and effects of this chemical - a simple Google search would suffice. Your columnist obviously couldn't be bothered to take his bong out from between his legs to use his laptop to do so, and his uninformed comments about "horrible hallucinations" and "recurring psychosis" in "mild users" make this lack of knowledge and effort painfully obvious and extremely embarrassing. [continues 175 words]
Two months ago, the DEA ruled a 12-month emergency ban on synthetic cannabis chemicals being sold legally in convenience stores nationwide under the moniker, "Spice." The emergence of Spice is a direct result of cannabis prohibition; nobody would buy fake weed if they could buy the real thing. Now that Spice has also been banned, another legal drug is popping up to fulfill the demand of drug consumers who are deprived of their natural birthright to the perfectly safe pleasure-chemicals provided by marijuana. [continues 756 words]
Every person has a drug of choice. Someone yesterday argued to me the point that "being drug-free is free," which is good advice to heed if one's demand for pleasure chemicals exceeds his supply of cash. Otherwise, the risk involved with consuming a drug is only a matter of balance. When addiction is understood as a pattern of behavior, and the risks inherent in acquiring pleasure-molecules are placed on a spectrum of relativity, no man or woman is pure or guiltless. If many other people are negatively influenced by my pattern of behavior, then I am abusing my free will as a conscious human being. If my pattern of behavior tends to positively influence other people, then my action is just and needs no correction or remediation. That a drug is legal is no seal of safety. [continues 668 words]
President Barack Obama recently held a YouTube conference in which American citizens could ask questions about the topics they feel are important to the country. Of the top 100 questions, a whopping 99 were either in reference to the failed war on drugs or the legalization of marijuana. Despite the overwhelming emphasis that Americans placed on the destructive consequences of the war on drugs, our president took time out of his busy day to tell us what he's getting his wife for Valentine's Day and who he thinks will win the Super Bowl. [continues 701 words]
Today's column is the last that I write as a student here at the University of Casual Sex & Beer, so I will babble in the form of a Life Thesis. In brief, I will articulate and defend what I call 'The Unalienable Human Right to Direct Access to the Natural Environment.' By virtue of the Law of Reality [that man will do what he can to survive], the Fact of Reality [the right to survive is not granted by state authority on any level], the Fact of History [drug plant species were domesticated by the human species before food crops], the Turn of Time [laws and rules reflect humanity's values at a specific point in time], and the River of Fate [in order to fulfill his potential man must have all freedoms, including liberty to destroy himself in the course of exploratory innovation]. I believe that all great poets, saints, philosophers, doctors, innovators and happy human beings have at one point or other shared some variant of this philosophy. [continues 1012 words]
Opposition to Marajuana Use Proves Unfounded on Economic and Social Grounds Marijuana should never have been illegal. There are many within the toking community who choose to devalue the significance of Prop 19 because marijuana is already accessible to people with a medical recommendation, but I believe these people fail to perceive the larger potential of the cannabis organism. The cannabis plant has more value to humanity than simply making us feel good. Hemp, the male counterpart to the female marijuana flower, is the key to America's industrial prosperity for life in the 21st century. [continues 750 words]
ATTENTION: If you have changed houses since your last time voting, you must re-register today, or else it might be your fault if weed doesn't become legal in two weeks. It's a piece of cake: Google "California election" and use the top Web site to fill out your name, then print it and mail it. If you bring it to the Daily Nexus office before 4:20 p.m., I'll even give you a stamp and mail it for you. [continues 661 words]
Dear Editor, If health consequences determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. [continues 174 words]
Last Thursday, Governor Schwarzenegger decriminalized marijuana. Somewhere in the chronic haze of my mind, I might have expected this to happen: The Terminator saves the kid from robots trying to take away his civil liberties -- or something like that. He was sent with a mission from the future, you know. After Google Earth becomes SkyNet and takes over operational command of the United States military, people are definitely going to want to smoke weed. Now they can without fear of arrest. Thanks, Arnold! I can say I've never been more proud of you in your term as Governor of California. Now on to the other $25 billion in the state budget shortfall... [continues 657 words]
The California Supreme Court overturned the limit on how much medical marijuana a patient can carry in a unanimous vote yesterday, ruling residents can have as much as personally necessary. The court found the former limit of six mature plants and eight ounces of cannabis was not consistent with state law. California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, allowing residents to possess marijuana for medical use. Thursday's ruling puts a hold on a more than decade long legal debate about the meaning of the proposition, which said patients could possess whatever amount necessary for their "personal needs." [continues 408 words]
A couple of weeks ago, the Nexus published a column I wrote that offered the advice of "doing drugs instead of drinking." ("Do Drugs Instead of Drinking," Daily Nexus, May 12.) It was supposed to be a satirical column in response to the local government's effort to curtail drinking by imposing specific laws for Isla Vista - like the noise ordinance and recent beach ban. I thought it would be evident to anyone with the ability to read that this was my goal when I suggested you go do a bunch of coke to keep the party going once the cops break it up at midnight. [continues 612 words]
Throughout my career as a UCSB student I have developed a bit of a habit of picking up the Daily Nexus before my first class and attempting to complete the crossword by the end of my school day. It's a ritual I enjoy that keeps me centered and gives me something to do during my breaks or during a particularly dull biology lecture. The crosswords are often found near the end of the paper, often adjacent to the Opinion section and so I frequently find myself reading the opinions of my fellow Gauchos. That is, I used to. [continues 434 words]
A week or two ago, the United States' legislature overwhelmingly voted to confirm the Obama Administration's nomination of former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to be our new Drug Czar. As the head of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, Mr. Kerlikowske is the top bureaucrat involved in this nation's War on Drugs. Despite the 91-1 confirmation vote, he did face some criticism, which stemmed mostly from the fact that he was in charge of policing Seattle. The northwestern state is host to a number of progressive drug policies, including the designation of marijuana as the lowest police priority, as well as home to the annual Hempfest "protestival," where tens of thousands of marijuana enthusiasts come to celebrate the herb and protest its prohibition. This has led some people to criticize Obama's pick. However, it was apparently clear to Congress that he was just following the voter-approved laws in Seattle. [continues 499 words]
The I.V. Foot Patrol recently lead the charge to ban drinking on the beaches in Isla Vista and, through a massive dissemination of fear, convinced everyone that Floatopia would end all life as we know it. In reality, this ban just gives them six months to practice the only thing they're good at: enforcing alcohol laws. Have you ever had your house broken into or something stolen from you? The majority of people I've spoken to have found that the police here could care less about you or the crimes you have been a victim of... unless of course you're holding a red cup. With that said, it is clear that the best way to say "Fuck You!" to these ridiculous new laws and the leaders who imposed them upon us is to get even more fucked up while simply making it appear like you're playing by the rules. [continues 545 words]
