Archive for the ‘Drug Decriminalization’ tag
Bye-bye Due Process: from global drone assassinations to indefinite legal limbo
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Allison and Jamie discuss the DOJ’s legal explanation for tossing away due process, and how that effort affects protesters domestically, as well, badass Malala Yousufzai, and how some lawmakers are quietly working behind the scenes to legalize marijuana. Finally, many sheriffs have stated they’ll refuse to enforce any federal gun regulations. What’s the right balance between state and federal powers?
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BEST OF: Dr. Gabor Maté on the failed War on Drugs, drug decriminalization, and addiction
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Originally aired 2/20/10 and 2/24/10: part 1 and part 2 of Citizen Radio’s interview with Dr. Gabor Maté (http://www.drgabormate.com/).
Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1944, Gabor Maté emigrated to Canada with his family in 1957. Currently, he is the staff physician at the Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre for the people of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Many of his patients suffer from mental illness, drug addiction and HIV, or all three.
Dr. Maté treats addicts at Insite, the only safe-injection site in North America, a center that Canada’s Stephen Harper has attacked even after the British Columbia supreme court ruled in the facility’s favor.
He is the author of four books: When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. The third book, Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, he co-authored with developmental psychologist Gordon Neufeld.
Most recently published is In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction.
Dr. Mate joins Citizen Radio in part 1 of this interview to discuss the War on Drugs, drug decriminalization, and addiction. In part 2, he discusses over-medicated Americans, Rush Limbaugh, Stephen Harper, alcohol VS. drugs, Ronald Reagan, Republican denial, “healthy anger,” and his advice for addicts.
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War on Drugs, Chair of DNC claims to have no knowledge of ‘kill list’
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Allison and Jamie discuss Eugene Jarecki’s “The House I Live In” in depth, along with the War on Drugs, and discuss how the Chair of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, claims to have no knowledge of the “kill list”. Also, Allison and Jamie offer advice to aspiring journalists.
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The Masters Of The Universe hate you, marijuana legalization, Ted Haggart admits he’s bi
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Jamie Dimon, and the rest of the Ruling Right, really don’t get why you poor people keep bitching about social injustice. The winner of Youtube’s “Ask Obama” contest is a pro-marjiuana legalization question. Hopefully, Obama won’t laugh it off this time. Also, Ted Haggart finally admits he’s bisexual, and an avid crystal meth user. Finally, a leading gay rights activist has been killed in Uganda, and Allison and Jamie dissect Obama’s SOTU.
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Try not to giggle, Barry
The winner for Youtube’s “Ask Obama” contest is a video from a pro-legalization retired cop.
If Obama sees the video, hopefully he’ll make it through without breaking into the giggle fits, or accusing MacKenzie Allen of being a huge stoner for thinking the arrests of 858,000 people for marijuana possession (in 2009 alone) may not be the best way to Win The Future.
As of October 2010, a new high of 46% of Americans were in favor of legalizing marijuana. Last year, eight in 10 Americans supported legalizing marijuana for medical use. The growing consensus calls for a leader who acts like an adult when this topic comes up. Obama is always preaching the value of open-mindedness and negotiation. Well, it’s time to invite the pro-legalization crowd to the table.
Confusing details emerge about Missouri SWAT team warrant
Image by OregonDOT via Flickr
A follow-up to the Missouri SWAT team story. Unsurprisingly, the Missouri police chief has gone on the defensive and started accusing the internets of being comprised of a bunch of liars.
Pete Guither makes an interesting point about the timing of the warrant. The whole reason given for the night raid was that the suspect is a big, bad drug dealer, and the bust had to be a surprise because otherwise he’d transport his mountains of pot he definitely possessed out of the house through — as Pete hypothesizes — complex underground tunnels…or something.
The warrant authorizing investigators to enter Whitworth’s home at 1501 Kinloch Court was executed eight days after Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider approved it. [Police chief Ken] Burton said the state allows police 10 days to execute a signed warrant, and he thinks Columbia officers should have done so immediately.
Okay, so Tony Soprano Jonathon Whitworth is a criminal mastermind sitting on top of a heap of marijuana, he poses a grave threat to the very fabric of society, and he must! be taken down…next week.
Disturbing video of SWAT raid on Missouri family
Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
I watched Morning Joe again this morning. I know, I need to stop doing that, but at this point I’m addicted to the constant flow of stupidity. In this exciting installment, Scarborough was shouting about the dangers of big gubment, while Mika nodded solemnly.
Of course, what Joe and much of the country count as “big government” is deficit hysteria. They operate under the incorrect notion that government must be run like a family. This is simply wrong, and you don’t need to take my word on this. Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz have been shouting to the rafters about this forever.
If the government “tightens its belt” like a family might during tough economic times, the recession worsens because no cash is being released for jobs programs. Less spending equals more saving on the part of citizens, and when citizens don’t have money to spend, the economy tanks. If the government cuts spending even more, the recession deepens, and this downward spiral continues into Depression.
Honestly discussing Mexico's drug violence and the failed War on Drugs
Image via Wikipedia
I witnessed one of the more pointless conversations on Morning Joe this morning when the crew chatted about Mexican drug cartel violence.
The panel charged with discussing this serious issue was particularly abysmal. There was Kathleen Parker, glowing from the recent announcement that she will be receiving a Pulitzer Prize to commemorate her brave decision to turn against the self-destructing Republican Party seven years after the start of the Iraq occupation, and a couple years after stating that President Obama is not a full-blooded American.
Beside Kathleen sat Thomas “Suck. On. This” Friedman, who is also a Pulitzer winner (they spent about a minute congratulating Parker for entering the exclusive “Really??Club,”) and also — why not? — Pat Buchanan. Because I know when I want to have a nuanced discussion about foreign policy and relations with Mexico, I call the guy who told Iraq citizens to suck on his dick and the lunatic who wants to station armed soldiers on the US-Mexican border, respectively.
Government adviser fired for saying alcohol is more dangerous than drugs
Professor David Nutt (Photo from Daily Mail)
The Guardian reports that Professor David Nutt, the British government’s chief drug adviser, has been fired after claiming that ecstasy and LSD are less dangerous than alcohol.
So continues the journey to failure first instigated by the British and United States government four decades ago when the two governments implemented their long and pointless “Wars on Drugs.”
If you’re one of the 34 percent of admirably plucky and stubborn Americans who don’t think the War on Drugs is failing, perhaps examining the idiotic way in which the British government handles drugs will inspire you to see the flaws in supporting laws that arbitrarily dictate what substances human beings can and cannot ingest.
