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Why The Capture of the Head of World’s Most Notorious Cartel Will Make Little Difference to Drug Supply, Violence

July 16th

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican navy announced late Monday it had captured Miguel Angel Trevino Morales , the head of the infamous Zetas drug cartel, the most violent crime organization in Mexico, the AP reports:

Miguel Angel Trevino Morales , 40, was captured before dawn Monday by Mexican marines who intercepted a pickup truck with $2 million in cash in the countryside outside the border city of Nuevo Laredo, which has long served as the Zetas’ base of operations. The truck was halted by a marine helicopter, and Trevino Morales was taken into custody along with a bodyguard and an accountant and eight guns, government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told reporters.

In recent years, the Zetas have been blamed for tens of thousands of gruesome deaths south of the border, and untold atrocities in the US.

While the capture symbolizes a win for Mexican president Enrique Pena-Nieto’s administration, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of cops, border patrol officials, DEA agents and other law enforcement officers opposed to the war on drugs, cautioned it would make little difference to the prosecution of the drug war.

The war on drugs is based on the idea that if law enforcement can restrict the supply of drugs, prices will rise and demand will drop. The problem is that, because of its illegal nature, drug sales remain so lucrative that the arrest of a single individual does little to nothing to affect t. . . . . READ MORE

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BUSTED: Over 70% of All Major US Drug Seizures Are Marijuana Related

July 13th

A new study has found that over 70% of recent seizures of illicit drugs in the United States are marijuana related, painting a picture of the American drug landscape and a mis-prioritized, failed, war on drugs.

The study, “Busted: Analyzing America’s Most Recent Drug Hauls,” looked at major drug seizures as reported by over 1,500 media outlets in the United States during a 13 month period from March 2012 – April 2013.

The study found that of the 5,000 most recent drug busts reported in the news, 70.5% involved marijuana — 140% more than all cocaine (13%), heroin (10%) and methamphetamine (6%) busts combined.  The study did not look at prescription medication abuse or other designer drugs, only the “big four.”

The study found high concentrations of methamphetamine and meth labs in the Midwest, an abundance of heroin in the Northeast, especially in the tri-state area, and a lot of cannabis in California and North Dakota.  Cocaine busts were virtually non-existent in Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota, and in a reality check for Breaking Bad fans, New Mexico wasn’t anywhere near the top ten in meth busts.

The study’s author, John Millward, admits that the study represents only a fraction of the total number of seizures made by the DEA, FBI, U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Border Patrol on a yearly basis, but because each of the busts were large eno. . . . . READ MORE

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Maine Marijuana Legalization Initiative Falls Short by 4 Votes on House Floor; Senate to Vote Soon

June 10th

AUGUSTA, ME — On Friday, marijuana reformers recorded the closest vote for a legalization measure on the floor of a state legislature in recent history.

Rep. Diane Russell’s LD 1229, which would place the question of legalization before Maine voters this fall, was narrowly rejected in a 71 to 67 vote. We only managed to get this vote so close because of the outpouring of support via phone and email that Representatives heard from their constituents. Never doubt the power that making you opinion known to your elected officials has a very quantifiable effect.

Legalize-Maine-2013The good news is that the fight for legalization in Maine still isn’t over for this year. Representative Russell just informed us that she intends to continue the fight for legalization to the floor of the State Senate.  The Senate will vote on LD 1229 as soon as Monday.

Maine residents, this is our final chance for this year, we need to give it everything we have. There is strong support for this legislation in. . . . . READ MORE

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The War on Marijuana: Billions Wasted on a Racist, Futile War

June 9th

A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sheds some light on many of the underlying dirty truths of cannabis prohibition: money is wasted and law enforcement resources are diverted from battling serious crime on a war that disproportionately harms African Americans.  While most of the data isn’t earth-shattering for experienced marijuana law reform activists, the ACLU’s study demonstrates how far we still have to go, despite so much success in recent years.  It is fantastic that we now have 20 medical marijuana states (if you include our nation’s capitol as a state), 15 states that have decriminalized cannabis and two states that have legalized marijuana possession altogether.  However, facts don’t lie and the ACLU’s report, “The War on Marijuana in Black and White“, illustrates many disturbing facts that are still plaguing our nation.

I have seen the discrepancies between how African Americans are treated when marijuana is found in a couple of instances.  Twice, I have seen Black friends treated more harshly after law enforcement officers found marijuana.  Once, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I saw a Black friend arrested, handcuffed and marched out of our dorm for smoking a blunt.  In co. . . . . READ MORE

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The Good Herb: A Traditional New Mexican Plant Reemerges

June 9th

Note: Names and locations have been changed in this week’s Drug Peace Bumblebee column.

New Mexico naturopath and traditional curandera (healer) Esmerelda Martinez was 19 before she realized that her grandmother’s famous tinctures were cannabis based. “When I was a girl and we visited the family ranch down in Sinaloa (Mexico), I knew she was a healer: we’d see ranchers ride in from hundreds of miles in all directions for her medicine, which she cooked up in the kitchen. She just called her main tincture ingredient ‘la hierba buena’: the good herb. Once I realized what it was and she saw that I was going to be a healer too, she began teaching me her recipes.”

Fast forward three decades, and now the 50-something Martinez, after studying modern herbalism in Santa Fe, finds herself helping patients – including “a lot of veterans” – navigate New Mexico’s medical cannabis program.

Welcome to herbal medicine at the beginning of the Drug Peace Era. “It is strange to be teaching how to deal with paperwork so that someone with PTSD, cancer, a war injury or severe arthritis can have access to a medicine that my grandmother used to make without electricity or running water,” Martinez told me when we met in a south central New Mexico enchilada joint.  “She lived to be 89, by the way.”

New Mexico’s medical cannabis program, though an unmitigated success, does require more of a paper trail than some sat. . . . . READ MORE

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Obama Admits He Could Have Been in Prison But Keeps Sending People There

June 9th

In little-noticed remarks during the commencement address he delivered at Morehouse College on May 19, President Barack Obama admitted that he might well have ended up behind bars for some of his well-known youthful indiscretions:

“[W]hatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy — the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had — because there but for the grace of God, go I — I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed.  I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.”

As a reminder, young Barry Obama was quite the marijuana enthusiast back in the day. As a member of Hawaii’s “Choom Gang,” he was partial to “intercepting” joints. In his memoir, he even fessed up to using cocaine on occasion.

The president is quite correct that if he as a young black man had been caught by the cops while partaki. . . . . READ MORE

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The Good Herb: A Traditional New Mexican Plant Reemerges

June 9th

Note: Names and locations have been changed in this week’s Drug Peace Bumblebee column.

New Mexico naturopath and traditional curandera (healer) Esmerelda Martinez was 19 before she realized that her grandmother’s famous tinctures were cannabis based. “When I was a girl and we visited the family ranch down in Sinaloa (Mexico), I knew she was a healer: we’d see ranchers ride in from hundreds of miles in all directions for her medicine, which she cooked up in the kitchen. She just called her main tincture ingredient ‘la hierba buena’: the good herb. Once I realized what it was and she saw that I was going to be a healer too, she began teaching me her recipes.”

Fast forward three decades, and now the 50-something Martinez, after studying modern herbalism in Santa Fe, finds herself helping patients – including “a lot of veterans” – navigate New Mexico’s medical cannabis program.

Welcome to herbal medicine at the beginning of the Drug Peace Era. “It is strange to be teaching how to deal with paperwork so that someone with PTSD, cancer, a war injury or severe arthritis can have access to a medicine that my grandmother used to make without electricity or running water,” Martinez told me when we met in a south central New Mexico enchilada joint.  “She lived to be 89, by the way.”

New Mexico’s medical cannabis program, though an unmitigated success, does require more of a paper trail than some sat. . . . . READ MORE

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Obama Admits He Could Have Been in Prison But Keeps Sending People There

June 9th

In little-noticed remarks during the commencement address he delivered at Morehouse College on May 19, President Barack Obama admitted that he might well have ended up behind bars for some of his well-known youthful indiscretions:

“[W]hatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy — the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had — because there but for the grace of God, go I — I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed.  I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.”

As a reminder, young Barry Obama was quite the marijuana enthusiast back in the day. As a member of Hawaii’s “Choom Gang,” he was partial to “intercepting” joints. In his memoir, he even fessed up to using cocaine on occasion.

The president is quite correct that if he as a young black man had been caught by the cops while partaki. . . . . READ MORE

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The War on Marijuana: Billions Wasted on a Racist, Futile War

June 8th

A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sheds some light on many of the underlying dirty truths of cannabis prohibition: money is wasted and law enforcement resources are diverted from battling serious crime on a war that disproportionately harms African Americans.  While most of the data isn’t earth-shattering for experienced marijuana law reform activists, the ACLU’s study demonstrates how far we still have to go, despite so much success in recent years.  It is fantastic that we now have 20 medical marijuana states (if you include our nation’s capitol as a state), 15 states that have decriminalized cannabis and two states that have legalized marijuana possession altogether.  However, facts don’t lie and the ACLU’s report, “The War on Marijuana in Black and White“, illustrates many disturbing facts that are still plaguing our nation.

I have seen the discrepancies between how African Americans are treated when marijuana is found in a couple of instances.  Twice, I have seen Black friends treated more harshly after law enforcement officers found marijuana.  Once, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I saw a Black friend arrested, handcuffed and marched out of our dorm for smoking a blunt.  In co. . . . . READ MORE

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Drug Czar Tries to Link Marijuana and Crime, Fails

June 3rd

Gil Kerlikowske

The nation’s so-called ‘drug czar’, Gil Kerlikowske, convened a press conference last week to release new government data on drug use in America.

The major talking points for the presentation were two fold:

  • Insist that cannabis is linked to crime
  • The public sentiment in favor of legalization is an unfortunate attraction to ‘bumper sticker solutions’

One could write a doctoral thesis on Mr.Kerlikowske’s supposition and claims, but suffice for space and time, let’s let the now much more watchdog media on the issue of ending cannabis prohibition better describe what they’ve figured out about ONDCP propaganda, data and the intellectual crime of omission. (Boy, do I have a book recommendation for them…)

Slate reported on the ONDCP’s well established proclivity to throw out data and insinuate. . . . . READ MORE

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