Help Obama Reform Drug Policy
I just now received an email from the Drug Policy Alliance requesting that I write a note to President-elect Obama in regards to who he chooses to be his drug czar. Below is a sample of my letter (based on the suggestions of the DPA). Feel free to copy it, augment it, or use it for fodder to create your own custom made letter and please send it to Barak Obama via his new website: www.change.gov.
You make a difference. The more proactive you are, the bigger your impact. Please take a moment to send a letter like the one I wrote below and send it to Barak Obama’s new website Change.gov:
Sample Letter to Obama Regarding Drug Reform
Dear President-elect Obama,
Please choose a drug czar who will champion reform. This is a very important step in delivering the change you and I and a majority of our great nation and the world so obviously desire… and need!
It’s easy to understand why you are considering to nominate Republican Congressman James Ramstad to be your “drug czar”. Rep. Ramstad is in recovery from alcohol abuse and has a track record in support of increasing access to drug treatment. However, Ramstad is still mostly married to the failed punitive drug war policies of the last 30 thirty years. This is a no-brainer.
These failed policies need to change. We must do something different. As you yourself have so boldly stated: “Doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity”. We must do things differently in drug reform in order for profound change to occur. I know that you know this deep in your obviously good heart.
Ramstad has voted against medical marijuana five times. He has voted against making sterile syringes more available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS three times. Even though his colleagues are increasingly supporting sentencing reform, including eliminating the crack/powder sentencing disparity, he hasn’t stood up on the issue. Perhaps Ramstad is not the right choice.
Our nation’s next drug czar should be chosen based on the following criteria:
- Are they committed to enacting and supporting evidence-based policies? ONDCP should make decisions based on science, not politics or ideology.
- Are they committed to reducing the harms associated with both drugs and punitive drug laws? We need a new bottom line for U.S. drug policy.
- Do they think drug use should be treated as a health issue not a criminal justice issue? To paraphrase former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, we need a surgeon general not a military general or police officer.
- Do they welcome and encourage debate and research? We need a drug czar who is open-minded and willing to consider every alternative.
- Are they committed to reducing the number of nonviolent offenders behind bars? Our country’s next drug czar should be fully committed to major sentencing reform.
President-elect Obama, who you choose as your drug czar will affect everyone. Please nominate a drug czar who supports marijuana law reform, syringe availability and treatment instead of incarceration.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Best regards and best of luck,
Your Name
Fighting Meth with Laws for Terrorism
Prosecutor fighting meth using law that punishes terrorism
“The law reads, in part, that the term nuclear, biological or chemical weapon of mass destruction applies to ‘any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury and … is or contains toxic or poisonous chemicals or their immediate precursors.’ ”
District Attorney Jerry Wilson
NOTE: This could be anything…rat poison, automotive emissions, McDonald’s “food”, almost any industrial facility, not to mention arms manufacturers, the medical profession… how silly, stupid, and crazy is all this getting?!
Methamphetamine Laboratory
BOONE – A Watauga County prosecutor is using a law intended to combat terrorism to fight the spread of methamphetamine laboratories in northwest North Carolina.
District Attorney Jerry Wilson has charged Martin Dwayne Miller, 24, of Todd with two counts of manufacturing a nuclear or chemical weapon in connection with a methamphetamine arrest Friday. Miller also is charged with eight other drug-related offenses.
He was being held in the Watauga County Jail under $505,000 bond.
“This is a two-edged sword,” Wilson said. “Not only is the drug methamphetamine in itself a threat to both society and those using it, but the toxic compounds and deadly gases created as side products are also real threats.”
In Buncombe County earlier this month, authorities found evidence of a drug lab at a Black Mountain motel.
State Bureau of Investigation agents searched a room at the Apple Blossom Motel on July 7. They found chemicals and glassware used to produce methamphetamines, according to a search warrant.
In May, officers charged a Swannanoa man with operating a meth lab in his bathroom. Paul Wilson, 38, faces four felony drug charges. The Metropolitan Enforcement Group, a local drug enforcement agency, conducted the investigation.
“We’re getting our first shock of it here now,” Lt. Scott Allen of the agency said of meth production in May.
The most serious drug charges related to methamphetamine carry much lighter sentences than the weapons of mass destruction law.
The law carries a sentence ranging from 12 years to life in prison on each count. Wilson said he decided to use it while researching ways to slow the advance of methamphetamine into the region.
The law reads, in part, that the term nuclear, biological or chemical weapon of mass destruction applies to “any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury and … is or contains toxic or poisonous chemicals or their immediate precursors.”
The chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine are toxic and highly combustible.
Officials with the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts and the N.C. Attorney General’s Office said they thought that the Watauga County charges are among the first filed under the weapons of mass destruction statutes.
Peyote and the Utah Supreme Court
Peyote Case Decided by Utah Supreme Court
Peyote is a psychotropic cactus that has been used as a religious sacrament for centuries. The Utah Supreme Court ruled that a federal exemption for peyote-using members of the Native American Church must be interpreted as applying to non-Indians and Indians alike.
Utah’s Controlled Substances Act incorporates the federal exemption, ruled the court, and because the plain language of the federal exemption is not limited to Indians, it must be read as applicable to Linda and James
Mooney, both of whom are non-Indian members of the Native American Church.
Read more, including the Court’s opinion on CognitiveLiberty.org
