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Tag: war on drugs

  • Tony Bennett Is Great

    Tony Bennett Is Great

    I didn’t know that Tony Bennett came out for drug legalization.

    Tony Bennett is a hometown hero here in Astoria, Queens. I mean, I’ve had more than a few debates with old timers about how great Tony Bennett is. And it’s strange, because we’d both be on the same side.

    Old man: “Tony Bennett is great.”

    Me: “Yes, he is.”

    Old man: “Did you know he’s from Astoria?”

    Me: “Yes, I did. He sure is great.”

    Old man: “I’m telling you, he’s better than Frank.”

    Me: “I agree. He sure is. Frank is overrated. Tony, underrated.”

    Old man: “Tony Bennett is great, I tell you.”

    Me: “I couldn’t agree more.”

    And then they’d start getting all huffy.

    Tony Bennett, by the way way, returns the love (the video is worth watching, if you like Tony Bennett, and who doesn’t?):

    “The finest place to live,” Mr. Bennett, 82, said as he showed a reporter his favorite haunts [in Astoria]. “I’ve been all over the world — Paris and Florence and Capri — and yet I come back here and I like this better than any place I’ve ever lived.”

    So you may wonder why the fancy new public arts school here in Astoria in named the “Frank SinatraSchool of the Arts High School. I mean, Frank Sinatra isn’t from Astoria! And besides, as we all know, Tony Bennett is better than Frank.

    Well, it turned out that Tony Bennett wanted it this way. The whole school was his idea, but he declined the honor of having it named after him. He askedthat the school be named after his friend, Frank Sinatra. What a champ, Tony Bennett is. Did you know he’s from Astoria?

    In all that back and forth I almost missed this pieceby my fellow members of LEAP, Niell Franklin and Katharine Celantano, about Tony Bennett.

    I hear he’s a great man.

  • Prohibition Corrupts Cops

    Funny how a few illegal searches for drugs might cost your job and next thing you know, you, the “good guy,” is in prison. Why did you do it, Sarge? Was it worth it? Did you really think you going to win the drug war? From the Times:

    Mr. Eiseman, who lost his job as a result of his guilty plea, had supervised the Impact Response Team, made up mostly of recent Police Academy graduates like Officer Carsey, in Upper Manhattan. The unit patrols high-crime neighborhoods.

    Mr. Eiseman, 39, and Officer Carsey, prosecutors said, said they had smelled marijuana coming from an illegally parked van. In seeking a search warrant for the driver’s home, both testified that the man had admitted to having contraband in his apartment, where drugs and a gun were later found. But the two had actually learned of the contraband when they found pictures on the man’s phone, prosecutors said. The case against the driver was eventually dismissed.

  • Journal of Apocryphal Chemistry

    How to make Sudafedfrom crystal meth.

    [thanks to The Agitator]

  • Drug Warrior Drug Dealers

    El Paso County Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr. recently said:

    Legalizing drugs is the coward practice of combating cartels, it is an insult to our men and women in law enforcement, and the laziest form of parenting our children and youth about the effects of drugs…. Unfortunately, on this upcoming primary election we will have many wolves in sheep’s clothing running for office who are seeking election with an ulterior agenda to legalize drugs.

    Keep fighting the good fight, right? Standard talk from a prohibitionist politician. But makes this interesting…

    Gardara was just arrested on federal drug-trafficking charges including possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy. How about that?

    [thanks to Drug WarRant]

  • Round up the Usual Outrage

    An officer, who heard over his radio that a drug suspect was armed with a gun, kicks down the door of his apartment, finds the suspect hiding in the bathroom (probably trying to flush weed down the toilet), thinks the suspect is going for his gun, and shoots and kills the suspect. The problem is that the suspect, according to police, wasn’t armed. (Remember this the next time you think officers carry a drop gun.)

    The officer made a big bad lethal mistake. And he was very quickly thrown under the bus by the Commissioner and the department. But I don’t know what I would have done in the same situation. Probably the same thing. The cop fired not because he wanted to kill an unarmed man and destroy his own life and career, but because he thought he was going to be killed. Unfortunately for everybody, he was wrong.

    When this kinds of events happen, don’t be be surprised or shocked or outraged. This is what happen with drug prohibition and the war on the drugs. The courts destroy the 4th Amendment. Police bust down doors. Police assume (with the courts’ blessing) that drug dealers are armed. Sometimes police make mistakes, and unarmed people get shot.

    I wouldn’t say it happens all the time. But it sure does happen a lot. And it will continue to happen as long as we keep fighting the bad fight and refuse to seriously consider changing our laws against illegal drugs. In the meantime, let me know when we start winning.

  • Richard Branson on the Drug War

    From the Telegraph:

    For all the successes I’ve had in business, I’ve also learnt to accept when things go wrong, work out why, and try to find a better way. The war on drugs is a failed enterprise. We need to have the courage to learn the lessons and move on.

    [thanks to Menczel]

  • The war on drugs and your police career

    There’s an article in the New York Times about officers who question the drug war… and get fired for it. LEAP, an organization I’ve been part of almost for almost nine years, is well featured.

    Hard to imagine a cop being fired for questioning the rationality of any other law. But the war on drugs has always been a bit of an odd crusade that tolerates no dissent. Did officers during Prohibition get fired for saying it didn’t work?

    Police are asked all the time to enforce laws they don’t agree with. I did. I see no problem with wanting to end the war on drugs and being a good police officer. I arrested drug dealing while wanted to see drug legalized… in which case public drug dealers would stillbe arrested (there would just be a lot fewer of them).

  • Christie speaks some sense

    I know as a liberal Democrat I’m not supposed to like Chris Christie. But I do admire that he speaks honestly. [I say the same about Ron Paul on war and drug policy, but Paul is a little too extreme on everything else, being a through-and-through libertarian.]

    I disagree with Christie on a lot of the issues, but the guy does seem to have a fair amount of common sense. Coming from a politician, it’s incredible refreshing. (Even if I am setting the bar too low.)

    Here’s Christie on drug policy. Is it to much to ask for Republicans (and Democrats, but it seems to be a more of an issue now with the Republicans) not to be loony, ignorant, or completely flip-flop based on the political expediency?

  • Scalia: Federal Drug Laws Were a Mistake

    From the WSJ via the Atlantic:

    “It was a great mistake to put routine drug offenses into the federal courts,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal went on to report Scalia’s belief that the laws forced Congress to enlarge the federal court system, and diminished “the elite quality of the federal judiciary.”
    …
    The federal War on Drugs is diminishing the quality of our federal justice system. As far as I can tell, no one contests that conclusion. It would be one thing to bear that cost in exchange for a policy victory. After decades of failure, however, no one even expects the drug war to be won.

    Returning drug policy to the states would be a first step in the right direction.

  • Sneak-and-Peek

    Sneak-and-Peek

    There’s an interesting chart in New York Magazine that shows what the Patriot Act is used for.

    Delayed-notice search warrants issued under the expanded powers of the Patriot Act, 2006–2009:

    For drugs: 1,618

    For fraud: 122

    For Terrorism: 15