NOT YOUR DAD'S BUG

Ran into Andy last evening in his brand new VW Touareg. He took me for a ride around the block. This is one fancy set of wheels. Porsche engine, tiptronic transmission (it's just as cool as it sounds), a refrigerated glove compartment, some kind of memory function in the gas pedal and enough lights and settings to make you feel like you were flying an commercial airliner. The heated seats with personalized lumbar support were particularly nice. I hated to get out. It was a cold night.

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SHOW TIME

Two exciting games in the Fenway for the home team this week. Tonight will be the big one. I'm feeling pretty good at this point. For one thing, I think my Red Sox theory is finally taking hold. As the fans stop believing in the curse, it loses it's power. For another, we now have the ultimate good luck charm currently presiding over the City crowd. Little Buddy Big League, the creepiest Doll in the World, seems to be working his mojo so far. Buddy jiggles his hips, turns his head and looks at you with these incredibly disturbing eyes and sings. He is very creepy but I have to admit, he has a really cute little plastic butt.

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VOICE VOTE

Drug Policy Alliance reports from inside the Beltway on the results of the H 2086, the drug czar's failed programs funding bill. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-35th/CA), was the only member of the House courageous enough to oppose the Act on the floor. She said the war on drugs “is a joke” and she stood “in strong opposition both to the process that has brought this bill to the floor under suspension of the rules and to the substance of the underlying bill.” You rock Maxine. Thanks for showing the rest of the apparently spineless Congress-creatures how's it done.

The vote of course passed, however it was not a total loss. DP Alliance did a magnificent job of moblizing the voting public on this and managed to wrest one small but important victory.

The votes were not recorded so we can’t tell you how your Representative voted on HR 2086, but we do know that House Democrats helped us win a victory by pressuring Republicans to overturn a ban on using High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) funding for drug prevention – rather than law enforcement. The Drug Policy Alliance has pushed for this change because it is the first step to shifting millions of dollars from away from arresting non-violent drug offenders and into prevention.

I happened to catch part of the debate on CSPAN. Chances are your representatives weren't on the floor. There weren't more than a dozen people in the room. Write to your legislators and tell them you're disappointed they were not there demanding a roll call vote. There should have been much more public debate on this issue. You can find out who your Congressperson is here at the DP Alliance Action Center

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DRUG THUG

Speaking of our beloved drug czar, Drug Sense Weekly is running this challenge to John Walters. Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, asks Is the Drug Czar Afraid to Debate?

He opens with: I was pleased to hear that in your Sept. 10 news conference in Seattle, you said, "The real issue is, should we legalize marijuana? Let's have a national debate about that."

You were absolutely correct when you told your Seattle audience that marijuana policy has never been properly and thoroughly debated in this country. It's time to have that debate, so I am pleased to accept your invitation.

Rob also offers up some telling statistics on the abject failure of the Aga John's pet programs:

It is time for the drug czar to explain why he wants to continue present policies when all signs point to their utter failure. Consider the results from the just-released national PRIDE Survey of U.S. teenagers, one of two surveys designated by Congress as official measures of the drug czar's success. Walters carpet-bombed the airwaves with scary commercials telling teens that if they light up a joint they're likely to commit date rape and shoot their friends, and what happened?

a.. The proportion of eighth graders using marijuana in the past month ( "current use" in research parlance ) rocketed from 7.2 percent to 10.2 percent - a 43 percent increase.

b.. Among sixth graders, current marijuana use doubled, from 1.7 percent to 3.4 percent.

c.. Current use of cocaine rose among all age groups over the last year, nearly doubling among sixth and ninth graders.

d.. Current heroin use among junior high students increased 60 percent. No sane person can look at these numbers without being alarmed. All of us owe the public an informed, fact-based debate on whether our country should be considering alternatives to marijuana prohibition. The lives of our nation's young people are at stake.

Does this sound like a policy that is working? As Rob says, We are ready, Mr. Walters. Are you?

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MILESTONES

Finally for you history buffs out there, LSD was made illegal 27 years ago today. Erowid, who hosts a great compendium of information on the substance on their site also passed along a link to Dale Gowin's tragic tale of being set-up by the feds. Dale's annontated article also offers an excellent synopsis of how the drug market has been co-opted by the same government that now cages him like some dangerous animal while truly dangerous criminals are released because our prisons are bursting with non-violent consumers incarcerated under mandatory minimum sentences. There's something desperately wrong with a system that issues longer sentences to citizen's trying to expand their consiousness than to does to those who rape women and molest our children.

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TIMOTHY LEARY'S DEAD

In honor of the occassion, last word goes to Leary, probably the most famous LSD consumer on the planet, who was still seeking the outside edge of the mind right up to his last breath:

Even as he is dying though, he is still Timothy Leary, and he still has something to say.

Around 6:30 in the evening he wakes, blinks, wincing momentarily in pain. He looks around him, seeing familiar people, including his Stepson Zachary Leary, and his former wife Rosemary, who once helped him to escape from a California state prison and flee the United States. He winks at Rosemary, then looks around him and says, "Why?" He smiles, tilts his head, then says, "Why not?"

Rest in Peace Tim.

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