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More wars!

Why are teen prostitutes “victims” who need to be “rescued” and drug users “criminals” who need to be “punished”? Here’s the story in the Miami Herald. FBI Deputy Assistant Director Daniel Roberts said, “The goal is to recover kids. We consider them the child victims of prostitution.” Well that’s awfully sweet of him to say. Sounds to me like the…

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Kathryn Johnston

Three years after the police killed Kathryn Johnston the case is almost finished winding through court. Johnston is one of those names you should know, another victim of the war on drugs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the whole story. It includes these lines: “Tesler said when he joined the narcotics unit, he was told to ‘sit, watch and learn’ from…

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Growing Support for Legalized Pot

For the first time more than 40%. Read about it at 538.com. My world? I would guess 90% of my friends (99% not counting Baltimore cops) and 75% of my students support legal marijuana.

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The War on Drugs Had Failed

That line is nothing new coming from me. But it is something new coming from Fernando Cardoso, Cesar Gaviria, And Ernesto Zedillo. Who the hell are they? Just the former president of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. In the Wall Street Journalthey write: Over the last 30 years, Colombia implemented all conceivable measures to fight the drug trade in a massive…

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Robber Killed

This is the kind of shootings that makes cops smile. Bad guys gets what he had coming. Reminds me of the time in roll call when the sergeant was describing a complicated shooting in Sector One on Barclay St. or Greenmount Ave. It was a confusing tale of a Mexican guy, a black guy, a woman (perhaps girlfriend to one…

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Good News for Coke Heads

The DEA makes up numbers about the price of cocaine and used the funny numbers to claim rising prices and victory in the war on drugs. The UK is more honest and admits that the price of cocaine has fallen by half in the last 10 years and is set to decline even more. The report comes from the International…

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Mexicans block border to protest drug war

“Hundreds of people in Mexico have blocked key crossings into the US in protests against the deployment of the army fighting drug traffickers.” Read the complete story in the BBC.

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Sheriff Leon Lott is an Idiot

Lott is the guy who wants to lockup Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, for smoking mari-ju-wana in his county. That at least made me suspectthat Lott is an idiot. But this picture, of Lott in front of his new “peacekeeper”, confirmed it. Talk about putting the war back in “war on drugs.” What a dope. Thinking that a tank is…

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New Drug Czar

Do I have faith in any drug czar? No. But who knows. Maybe I’m wrong. This guy is interesting. Especially because of the “jaywalking incident” that got him a vote of no confidence from the police union.

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Latin American Panel: Drug War Failing, Honest Debate Needed

The drug war has failed, and its repressive policies are having negative consequences in Latin America, a 17-member commission said today. The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, co- chaired by former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Giviria of Colombia, and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico called for an “open and honest debate” on the problem.