I've stayed away from the Haiti story even though there were a lot of drug war implications because the subject has been so well covered. However, this one little vignette has been sticking in my craw all week and it seems to me to have been under-reported.
Jean, who was arrested at Pearson airport last Wednesday with his wife Bettina for his alleged involvement in war crimes and drug trafficking, is now in the hands of the Mounties. He is to appear in the Superior Court of Justice this morning on the extradition matter.
Joe Kilmer, a spokesperson in the Miami office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said Jean is being charged with a single count of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States relating to activities that took place from 1999 to 2003.
"Mr. Jean has been provisionally arrested at the request of the U.S. authorities under the Extradition Act," said Canadian justice spokesperson Patrick Charette. "He is wanted in the U.S. for drug-related charges, conspiracy to import cocaine."
Excuse me, but since when does Canada - haven for hundreds of Vietnam War era conscientious objectors - extradite political refugees? And a single count of conspiracy? The conspiracy ploy is the single most bogus charge ever invented by prohibitionists. So do you suppose they browbeat some hapless Haitian into making a statement against him? Even if the statement is false it could take the length of his potential sentence to prove it.
Jean's lawyer, Guidy Mamann, who learned that Jean had been taken out of his segregated cell and interviewed by a Drug Enforcement Administration officer twice without the presence of a lawyer said, "The presence of the D.E.A. officer over the weekend and the fact that we were denied access to our client for two solid days, something stinks."
The Canadian justice department held Jean under provisional arrest, which allows officials to hold him for 60 days while U.S. authorities submit their formal request for extradition. However, according to a report in today's Jamaica Observer, it didn't take that long. Oriel Jean has now been extradited from Toronto.
Jean's Toronto lawyer, Guidy Mamman, confirmed to AFP that Jean had been sent to the United States, but declined to comment further.
US authorities in Miami were expected to take on Jean's case.
...Mamman said on Monday that his client had once been asked by the US Drug Enforcement Administration to provide details on known drug traffickers.
He was warned he could be arrested and sent the United States to face charges if he refused, Mamman said. The US arrest warrant issued this week charged Jean with conspiracy and trafficking in cocaine.
We have seen no coverage of this story in the US press. Now that Mr. Jean is in this country, we think someone should be watching this story before this poor man gets 'disappeared' by our government agents.
Despite the [Bush] administration's claim that mandatory drug testing curbs adolescent drug use, a recent federal study of 76,000 students by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research paints a far different picture.
According to the study's findings, published in the Journal of School Health, there is no difference in the level of illegal drug use between students in schools that test for drugs and those in schools that do not.
...Despite this poor performance, approximately 20 percent of U.S. secondary schools carry out some form of drug testing among their student populations. If the Bush administration has its way, this percentage will rise dramatically in coming years. But Congress and school administrators would be better advised to abandon the policy all together.
He notes well that the policy is not only absurdly expensive but also discourages students from participating in extra-curricular activities that would do far more to deter drug abuse.
"Without such engagement in healthy activities, adolescents are more likely to drop out of school, become pregnant, join gangs, pursue substance abuse and engage in other risky behaviors."
But the bottom line is no one should be treated with such disrespect, especially our children.
Suspicionless student drug testing is a humiliating, invasive practice that runs contrary the principles of due process. It compels teens to submit evidence against themselves and to forfeit their privacy rights as a necessary requirement for attending school. Rather than presuming our school children innocent of illicit activity -- as statistically, the overwhelming majority of them are -- until proven guilty, this policy presumes them guilty until they prove themselves innocent. Is this truly the message the Bush administration wishes to send to America's young people?
Atrios posts a vaguely frightening link to the practical application of this knowledge. The listings in my zip code were fascinating though it did make me feel a little like a voyeur to read them. I knew most of the names on the list and already knew their politics of course, but I could think of many other search parameters that would be equally interesting. The site points out you can also check your favorite celebrity by name.
At Harvard Business School, thirty years ago, George Bush was a student of mine. I still vividly remember him. In my class, he declared that "people are poor because they are lazy." He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools. To him, the antitrust watch dog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission were unnecessary hindrances to "free market competition." To him, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was "socialism."
And now as George launches into the small government / personal responsibility segment, I believe I've reached my limit for hypocrisy. I think I'll click off now and watch something more enlightening. Gilligan's Island might be on.
And of course compared to the usual rabble, these folks are impeccably dressed. Paupers need not bother to apply for membership.
Seriously though, even though they look very credible in their roles to me, appearances can be deceiving.
Billionaires for Bush is a strategic media and street theater campaign whose combustible mix of humor, savvy messaging, grassroots participation, and cutting edge internet organizing tools will flush out the truth about the Bush administration's disastrous economic policies and help turn the fatcats out of power in November.
A team of organized criminals is installing equipment on legitimate bank ATMs in at least 2 regions to steal both the ATM card number and the PIN. The team sits nearby in a car receiving the information transmitted wirelessly over weekends and evenings from equipment they install on the front of the ATM (scroll down to see photos). If you see an attachment like this, do not use the ATM and report it immediately to the bank using the 800 number or phone on the front of the ATM.
This is a clever scam. The modification is barely noticeable and who really pays attention to the lit holder on the wall? As these folks work at night and weekends, they could seriously dent your bank account before you even realize it.
This from a recent issue of David Batstone's SoJo Mail. David and his organization are on the forefront of humanitarian efforts in Latin America. He describes a educational trip taken last summer in the Amazon Basin in Peru, all part of the same land being destroyed by US funded fumigation campaigns. He and four students traveled with three indigenous men; a shaman, a lumberjack, and a hunter.
His observes the need for alternative economic development to reduce the lumbermen's impact on the fragile environment and the hunter's wise use of their resources with self imposed hunting limits. The shaman's world interested me the most however.
A local shaman introduced us to its biological treasure. The Amazon is home to more than 40,000 plant species, with nearly three-fourths of those species found nowhere else on the globe. With machete in hand, the shaman carved a virgin path through the rain forest. We followed him as best as we could, though we were unable to master his adroit skill at jumping over tree roots while vines swung at our heads. Fortunately, the shaman would stop periodically, hold up a plant, and carefully explain its medicinal properties. Two of us were stung by a nasty wasp. We were hoping the shaman would have a remedy to take away the pain. Instead, he congratulated us on getting stung, for it would help mitigate the future contraction of arthritis!
Almost all of our common medicines have been derived from just such plant lore, all the way down to aspirin which comes from tree bark. The Amazon still holds some medicinal secrets that could benefit man if we don't destroy 39,000 of it's species while prosecuting this failed war on some drugs and plants.
It is here that our planet draws it's breath and it's vital fluid, water, to make the rain that falls in your town. Once it's destroyed there is no getting it back.
The Amazon makes up 53% of the Earth's tropical rain forests and contains the world's largest river systems - it pours 175,000 cubic meters of water per second into the Atlantic Ocean.
It loses more than 17,000 square kilometers to deforestation each year. This is worrisome but the jungle will grow back if it's merely cut down. The greater danger to all of us is this wholesale poisoning of the earth and water table by reckless fumigation.
Please help stop this dangerous campaign, even if you only sign the petition at Mama Coca. The count seems to have slowed down a bit, (currently at 3584), so if you've already signed during our earlier appeals, please take a moment to forward the link on. Thanks.
I continue to be fascinated by Howard Stern's metamorphosis. Since I never watch or listen to him, or any of the blowhards, I didn't know he was a supporter of Bush's policies, nor did I realize just how large his audience is. I can't deny I'm delighted however to hear he is now campaigning to depose Bush.
Stern has an estimated 8.5 million weekly listeners to his morning program. These multitudes very much worship at the altar of Howard -- buying what he tells them to buy, calling whom he tells them to call, supporting what he tells them to support and (yes) voting how he tells them to vote.
In the past, this has meant bad news for the Democrats.
....Stern had essentially backed Bush on most issues (including the war in Iraq) and talked him up as a capable leader. Those days, however, are officially gone. He lately attacks the president as a "maniac" and an "arrogant bastard" while whipping up opposition to what he contends is a dangerous Christian-right shift in Washington.
In short, Stern as of this month has become the anti-Rush Limbaugh. If the Republicans ever wondered what it might be like to have a left-leaning version of Limbaugh hacking them to bits, they're now finding out daily.
As long as he keeps chewing up the Bush camp, all I can say is go Howard. Chow down.
Last week's issue looked at the ongoing travesty of fumigation programs being conducted in the country. These are the reports you don't get in the main stream media folks.
Even as the US State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement released a new report claiming the programs are a success, U.S. NGOs have criticized the report and the fumigation, noting social and environmental damage in Colombia and steady drug sales in the United States.
"At best, fumigation has caused a temporary dip in coca cultivation levels in Colombia," said Lisa Haugaard, executive director of the Latin America Working Group, based in Washington, D.C. "But the fact remains that fumigation has failed at its main goal, reducing cocaine availability and use here at home, and has devastated small Colombian farming communities in the process. The entire policy needs to be reconsidered." Her group as well as Earthjustice and the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense are calling for an end to the spraying. SOURCES: Associated Press, 2/2/04; Bloomberg News, 3/4/04; El Tiempo, 3/1/04; One World, 2/27/04; United Press International, 3/1/04.
From the same issue, their Last Word says it all.
State Department figures from 2002 found a resulting 15 percent decline in Colombian coca cultivation, but also showed a 23 percent jump in Bolivian cultivation and an 8 percent jump in cultivation in Peru. Even within Colombia, spraying has spurred a balloon effect, spreading cultivation to provinces and regions previously free of coca, including Colombia's highly biodiverse national parks. The State Department has signaled its intent to begin fumigating Colombia's National Parks later this year.
The original "N.A.R.C." cast you as a futuristic cop, shooting (and occasionally arresting) the bad guys. When dealers dropped dime bags or wads of cash, you'd navigate your character over the contraband and earn points. It wouldn't ping the radar today, but was edgy stuff for the time.
The basic premise of the game hasn't changed. You're still a cop and you're still looking to take out the dealers and suppliers. And, odds are you'll pick up the cash and drugs scattered about once again. The hook is: In the new "N.A.R.C.", your character can; and is, in fact, encouraged to; ingest those drugs.
Looking to slow time around you; a la "The Matrix" or "Max Payne"? Take a toke. Marijuana puts you into "weed time." Not sure who the bad guys are? Drop some LSD and enemies will appear to have giant devil heads. Moving too slow? A little speed will take care of that, letting you zip around and fight at an incredibly fast pace.
Sounds like a job for the morality police, however Midway spokesperson Reilly Brennan states, "We're not trying to glamorize drugs in any way and we're not trying to promote the use of them." In his defense, I might note that using the drugs too many times will lose you the game.
While Midway is clearly hoping a little public outrage will stimulate sales, the question is will it also spur Congress into further regulating the industry. The industry considers itself off the political radar screen during this presidential election year. Considering the current drive to increase indecency penalties in the media however, one would think the possibility of Congressional action exists.
If you live California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, the Marijuana Policy Project invites to send a fax to your senator on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. MPP makes it easy with their prewritten letter and automatic fax which is available here. In the near future, this committee will be debating the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Reauthorization Act (S. 1860), which sets guidelines for the drug czar's office.
The fax MPP has prepared for you to send to your senator (or two U.S. senators, if you live in Wisconsin) explains this situation and calls for a modification of current law so that lying is no longer an acceptable action for ONDCP to take.
If you live in any of these states, please take a moment to let your elected representatives know that using your tax dollars to finance Walters' National Tour of Lies, is not okay with you.
"Zero tolerance, is the level some lawmakers want Congress to establish. A motorist found to have any controlled substance in his or her system would be considered unlawfully impaired.
If they include controlled drugs legally available by prescription under this policy, the roads would certainly be empty. How many people do you know taking a drug that clearly states on the label that one should not operate heavy machinery? Do you think the soccer moms aren't driving around under the influence of Valium? Do you think the Nascar dads never mix prescription drugs with their Budweisers? And it's not just tranquilizers, mood elevators and pain medication. In fact, OTC antihistamines such as Benadryl alter sensorium and affect performance as much as alcohol. My blood pressure medicine has the warning. Does that mean I can never drive again? I have to take that every day.
And once again, since cannabis is the only the drug that is detectable for weeks after its impairing effects are gone, the unintended effect of this plan will be an increase in the use of other drugs that cause greater impairment of driving skills but are undetectable in blood or urine tests in a matter of hours. Ironically, not only has cannabis been shown to have no significant impact on driving, some studies have shown at least a slight indication that cannabis users are safer drivers. See this at Schaffer Library.
Those who are promoting this ill conceived plan can't even agree on how to get the states on board with it. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would offer states that enact laws defining impaired as any detectable amount of drugs in a blood or urine sample, money for training police and prosecutors and for driver counseling. They would also get grants to research field tests to measure motorists' drug levels.
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., would rather use coercion. His bill would make states that don't enact drug-impaired driving laws forfeit 1 percent of their annual federal highway funds to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The amount forfeited would double each year up to 50 percent.
Meanwhile, the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety agencies, is advising its members not to adopt drug-impaired driving laws at all for the time being.
"There has been little to no evaluation as to their effectiveness," said spokesman Jonathan Adkins. "Most drivers who are drug impaired are also alcohol-impaired, so police "get 'em" that way."
I'm all for road safety myself, but this plan will not make our roads any safer. They would do better to start cracking down on people going 10 miles and more below the speed limit in the left lane. Impaired or unimpaired, in my opinion those are the most dangerous drivers on the road.
Meanwhile, Blogger is having a hardware problem today so I'm not going to post again till the morning. I'd like to complain about it but the support crew is so responsive and it happens so rarely. Not to mention, having dealt with my own server meltdowns, I tend to have a lot of empathy for the guys trying to solve the problem.
I'll probably turn in early again tonight. I'm dreaming again for first time in a very long while and they have been so vivid, I seem to need more sleep. Someone told me this is a side effect of the nicotine replacements. I tend to believe it because although my dreams are otherwise all different, I dream about cigarettes at some point every night.
How cool is this? I submitted an entry to the Carnival and this week's host, that sweetie Patterico, posted it. Now even though I've been seriously blogging for many months now, I've just figured out what the Carnival is. Having checked out the last couple I would say that although they seem to lean a little to the right, it's a great place to discover new blogs. The day job prevents me from reading any of the other entries till tonight, but our host's blog has quickly become a new favorite. The Pontificator bills himself as a conservative, however his views seem very reasonable so far. He's certainly no neo-con. We've put him on our regular read list along with the creator of the Carnival, Silflay Hraka.
A big thanks to the big guys for letting me play and welcome to those of you who just arrived at our humble little blog because you're checking out my entry. Drop by again anytime. Last One Speaks always has something to say.
While you're there, check the rest of their excellent website. Anthony and his partner Stephen Marshall's frequent dispatches in From the Bunker are always a good read and the site is always on top of the breaking world news our government does not want you to notice.
And there's also this amusing piece this week containing quotes from George Bush and his cast of supporting thugs called Eating Their Words, that Bush and Co. hope we forgot.
Keep an eye on the site for announcements of their upcoming book and a new video, due to released soon, containing footage from their three weeks on the devastated ground in Iraq, shot shortly after the war "ended."
If Robert Hardaway's editorial is any example, this will be a series worth following. Hardaway, a professor at the University of Denver College of Law, in a well researched piece, traces the contradictions and failures of prohibition from 1914 to the present day. His opening statistics are eye-opening.
Every year, more than 400,000 Americans die as the result of tobacco use. Alcohol abuse results in the deaths of another 110,640 Americans, including 16,653 alcohol-related traffic deaths. Alcohol is a major factor in more than half of all homicides and rapes, 62 percent of assaults, and 30 percent of suicides. Illegal drug use causes another 3,562 deaths.
And his logic on the flaws of spending billions on prohibition to prevent these few thousand deaths is irrefutable.
But what would happen if drugs were decriminalized? Prior to 1914, drugs were legal in the United States but constituted a very minor problem in society. Hundreds of over-the-counter products (such as Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup and many popular soft drinks, including Coca-Cola) contained drugs which have since been criminalized. But, as researcher Ethan Nadelman has noted, "Free access did not lead to widespread use. No drug houses blighted neighborhoods, no drug gangs had street-corner shootouts, and 'drug-related' crime did not exist."
Doctors even prescribed opium as a treatment for a disease considered substantially more harmful than drug addiction: alcoholism. That scenario changed drastically after criminalization.
...If the untold deaths and crushing taxation required to conduct the drug war were not sufficient reasons to rethink drug criminalization, the fact that it supports and fosters organized crime should at least give pause.
...The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 left organized crime in danger of extinction. The continued prohibition of drugs saved its hide, and it has thrived ever since.
Last month, Sheriff Ben Johnson announced that 370 pounds of marijuana and 1.89 pounds of cocaine worth $456,000 was missing from the office's evidence room.
Timothy W. Wallace, 47, the former evidence manager, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and marijuana. He was released on $300,000 bail and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Davidson said Saturday another 600 pounds of marijuana are missing.
The marijuana was housed in the same place as the other missing drugs and likely disappeared the same way, Davidson said. He would not say whether there were suspects.
Even though the statements may have been controversial, they were made within the context of ONDCP's statutory responsibilities, which include taking such actions as necessary to oppose efforts to legalize certain controlled substances such as marijuana.
The Deputy Director's statements about marijuana are thus within the statutory role assigned to ONDCP. Given this role, we do not see a need to examine the accuracy of the Deputy Director's individual statements in detail.
What? Did they really mean to say that? Read the post. It only gets more bizarre. I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm living in a Fellini movie.
Pete also has the latest on the drug war thread at the John Kerry Internet Town Meeting. Oddly enough, I was just checking its status this weekend, having had no time lately to participate. The original thread made it to 63 pages and was closed down by the moderators in late February. I was glad to find out it had morphed into five separate threads. I think I'll check out the agricultural hemp one first, an issue dear to my ecological heart that I do not know enough about yet.
With planting season arriving in the farming states, I think the time is ripe for an educational project to do some kind of lit distribution at forums like farmer's markets. Many are funded by public money and could not legally deny a ag-hemp organization a space to disseminate some knowledge and what more natural place to convert those who do not smoke but like to grow, to the beneficial nature of this plant?
Leon Carmichael Sr. won the right to post a Web site giving details about the case and asking witnesses to come to his defense, a judge said Wednesday. Judge Delores R. Boyd rejected the government's contention that the site was retaliatory and upheld Leon's First Amendment rights.
Carmichael, 50, who along with Freddie Williams, 59, (both pled not guilty), is charged with moving 1000 kilos of marijuana and contends he needs to post the information in order to reach witnesses with exculpatory information. The court agreed.
The US Attorneys are reportedly studying their options and have not indicated thus far whether they intend to appeal.
I find this ruling surprising, mainly because it comes out of such a conservative state. I don't know much about 'Bama, but people who do, often tell me not to go there; the implication being that it was no place for a loud mouth liberal like me. I'd like to think this ruling might imply the judge was feeling lenient because it was only a cannabis offense. Then again, I always have been a ridiculous optimist.
Our beloved drug czar is one busy little beaver these days. He was at George Washington University this week to preside over of the inauguration of Drug-Free America Foundation's answer to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, namely their new anti-drug reform group Students Taking Action Not Drugs, a group whose stated goal is, "to challenge a growing movement to legalize and normalize drug use on college campuses."
It was probably supposed to be a charming little welcome session however, reformers showed up in droves for the rare opportunity to confront Mr. Walters face to face. DRC Net was there and reports the STAND kids had little to say, but the reformers were relentless in pursuing even a gram of truth from our drug czar.
"You could tell he was scared of us, and he started turning purple," said DRCNet's Dave Guard, who attended the event. "Seriously. It started with red, then shaded over to purple. He was exposed to spontaneous protests, emotional reactions from parents, a room filled with reformers. We hadn't really tried to organize to be there in force; it was just that our people cared," Guard said. "He got hammered by question after scathing question, and he needs to feel that passion against his policies. The event proved to him that he better not tell people where he's going to be because if he tries to take this to the larger community he will be hammered again and again."
One of our favorite activists, caused more than a little bit of Walters' purple rage. To fully appreciate this scene you have to picture her. A beautiful woman of slight stature, who still looks young enough to be one of the students although she's the mother of four. She could not look more sweet and innocent.
Late in the evening, after Walters' long-winded responses to earlier questions prevented her from asking one of her own, Erin Hildebrandt, director of Parents Ending Prohibition, leapt up brandishing a banner saying "Mothers Say Walters Lies" and verbally lit into Walters until she was hustled away by security guards. "Shame on you," Hildebrandt yelled at the stunned and steaming drug warrior. "Your lies are putting my kids at risk."
Walters has always expressed support for methadone treatment, and he repeated that support. The ONDCP also supports expansion of access to methadone treatment. He said flatly that attempts to restrict access to methadone were wrong-headed, and that he would oppose such efforts. (His statements, and those of other ONDCP officials contacted for comment, are the subject of a news article in the Roanoke Times, a major newspaper in southern Virginia.)
McVay goes on to say that although Walters needs some educating on the subject, his position on methadone clinics is actually helpful.
Though the sponsors of that bill in Virginia didn't just say "Oh, never mind then," when contacted, Walters is a conservative drug warrior working for a conservative Republican president. By speaking out, he would have given members of the Republican majority in Virginia's legislature political cover to vote against the bill, possibly killing it. This issue is still playing out in other parts of the country, so we may yet get to see what good a drug czar can do.
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So Many Lies, So Little Time
