Radley Balko made an interesting observation about drug raids: They always shoot the dog.

I guess it’s to get them out of the way. Given all the armor SWAT teams usually don, it’s certainly not out of fear for their own safety.

When the target of the raid and the dog’s owner proves to be innocent, a low-level pissant offender, or a medical marijuana patient (and there are multiple examples of all three), there’s generally no apology or compensation from the police department for needlessly pumping the famiily dog full of lead. What’s worse, most courts the monetary value on the loss of a pet at zero. So should the neighborhood SWAT team erroneously break into your house and kill your dog, you can forget about a lawsuit.

Maybe it’s because most drug warriors are just mean bastards, or maybe it’s because they’ve got loaded guns in their hands and being attacked by dogs is pretty scary. Either way, no-knock drug raids often result in the loss of human and animal life. Even when the target of the raid is not innocent, you’d think a dog would be.

You can head over to The Agitator for more insight.

From Drug War Rant:

Via Marginal Revolution, I see that a new paper in the Journal of Political Economy by Gary Becker, Kevin Murphy, and Michael Grossman called “The Economic Theory of Illegal Goods: The Case of Drugs” will attempt to explain it to our political leaders.

From the paper:

In an important new study, world-renowned economists–including a Nobel Prize winner and a MacArthur “genius”–argue that when demand for a good is inelastic, the cost of making consumption illegal exceeds the gain.

…

“This analysis…helps us understand why the War on Drugs has been so difficult to win… why efforts to reduce the supply of drugs leads to violence and greater power to street gangs and drug cartels,” conclude the authors. “The answer lies in the basic theory of enforcement developed in this paper.”

Need I say more?

You can go to The Austin Chronicle to read the Top 10 Drug War Stories of 2005.

My personal favorite was the Lollipot scandal, pictured at the top of the list.

Rhode Island became the 11th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes yesterday morning:

The Rhode Island House voted Tuesday to override Governor Carcieri’s 2005 veto of the state’s medical marijuana bill. This makes Rhode Island the 11th state to legalize marijuana for medical use.

The bill was first passed by the Rhode Island House and Senate in June 2005, but Governor Carcieri vetoed it in light of last spring’s Raich Supreme Court decision allowing federal authorities to prosecute patients, even in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Governor Carcieri’s concerns notwithstanding, the Supreme Court decision did not actually overturn state law. Rhode Island legislators recognized this and took a second vote to establish the three fifths majority necessary to override the veto. The Senate voted almost immediately, but the House recessed before it could take its vote.

Now that the House has voted, Rhode Island is the first state to legalize medical marijuana since the Raich decision. The timing of the vote, just prior to the start of the state’s 2006 legislative session, means that the new law will be able to take effect immediately.

The other states that legalize marijuana for medical use are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

Get with it, Massachusetts! I’d expect something like this from New Hampshire, but you? Congratulations to Rhode Island.

Here’s a good one from over at Drug War Rant:

Here’s a great thing to do for stress relief: Take several condoms and fill them with flour. Squeezing them is as good as those expensive items you can buy (as well as being a fun phallic gag).
Unfortunately, however, they actually increased the stress level for freshman Janet Lee at Bryn Mawr College.

In the space of a few hours on Dec. 21, 2003, Janet Lee landed in a Philadelphia jail cell, where she would remain for three weeks, held on $500,000 bail and facing 20 years in prison on drug charges.

All over flour found in her luggage.

The big questions are:

–How is it that field tests conducted twice came up with results showing that the powder was a mix of opium, amphetamines, and cocaine?
–How is it that officers and prosecutors believed that someone would mix those drugs together and then carry them in that quantity in un-swallowed condoms in their luggage through airport security? Isn’t this just odd enough for them to question the field tests before a defense attorney got involved and asked for expedited laboratory tests (which, of course, verified that it was flour)?
–What bright person is going to get going on this and start marketing flour-filled-condom stress-relievers? I think it would be a big hit — everyone should carry them on flights.

Lee has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against city police.

Good.

You should have seen what happened the guy who packed a bag of oregano.

Great post over at Radical Russ’s blog about medical marijuana’s effect on our… Right to bear arms??? Click the link for details!

For over thirty years, the federal War on (Some American Citizens using Non-Alcoholic, Non-Pharmaceutical, Tobacco-Free) Drugs has decimated our civil liberties. There is hardly a single right in the Bill of Rights that hasn’t been affected.

The right to free speech, guaranteed in the First Amendment, has been curbed when the government refuses to take anti-drug war advertising on public transit. The right to free exercise of religion — at least for Rastafarians, Coptic Christians, and Native Americans — has been curbed when those religions aren’t allowed to acquire their religious sacraments (marijuana, peyote, mescal). The right to peaceably assemble is curbed when hemp fests and protests are shut down by the cops.

Out Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure have been most abused during this Drug War. Drug dogs can be brought to search your car, even if there is no reasonable suspicion of a drug crime. Current decisions (Caballes) even open up the possibility of door-to-door, parking lot, or random public drug dog searches.

Our Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination are abused every time we are forced to provide urine or blood or hair for drug testing. Our private property is taken without just compensation through the scourge of civil asset forfeiture.

Our Sixth Amendment rights to a speedy and fair trial are violated every time a state medical marijuana patient or grower is prohibited from bringing up their medical necessity and adherance to state law in a trial.

Our Eighth Amendment rights to be free from excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment (it could be argued) are violated when simple gardeners suffer massive fines or seriously ill patients suffer imprisonment without their life-saving medicine (see case of Steve Kubby)

Our Ninth Amendment rights, which affirms that just because the Constitution doesn’t list a right doesn’t mean the people don’t have a right, were violated when the Federal Government took upon itself the right to regulate controlled substances. (I challenge you to find anything in the Constitution granting the government the right to control what we put in our bodies.)

Our Tenth Amendment rights of state sovereignty are violated every time the federal government harasses state patients who are legally protected under state medical marijuana laws.

But one of our most cherished rights is one we don’t often think of as being subverted by our Drug War. That is our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Article about the brutal and incompetent war on drugs, via the Agitator:

By then, Troy Davis had come out with a gun to defend his home (at least according to cops at the scene — Davis’ family isn’t so sure). The SWAT team put a bullet in his chest, and another in his stomach. He was pronounced dead at the scene. According to all parties at the scene, his last words were, “I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” Cops found some GHB, three marijuana plants, and some marijuana stored in plastic bags.

The police woke Davis with a battering ram at his door in the middle of the night. If they’d waited until morning and knocked, well, maybe things would have been a little differant. Article goes on to detail layer upon incompetent layer of stupidly.

Found this over at The Agitator regarding the “Kids Helping Kids” program:

Just four of these apparently means your kid’s probably into the drugs, and a likely enrollee in the program:

Has your child….

seemed depressed
become rebellious and defiant
had trouble with the law
had a bad attitude
avoided you upon arriving home
become increasingly isolated
had a drop in grades
required extra sleep
dropped out of favorite activities
changed friends
started looking unkempt or unhealthy
changed image/clothes/personal style
been caught lying
possessed unexplained money
threatened or attempted suicide
frequently broken curfew
been fired from work
come home high or drunk
destroyed car or property

Do you…

argue with your spouse about your child’s behavior
feel anger or dislike for your child
fear you are a failure as a parent
bargain with your child to change
compromise your own values
lower your expectations
feel frustrated because nothing seems to change your child’s behavior
cover up for your child
make excuses for your child
feel relieved when your child leaves the house
give money to your child
fear your child might injure him/herself
fear your child might injure others
desire to spend less time at home
fear your child is out of control

Remember, if you’ve nodded yes to just four of these, KHK says, your kid needs help!

I was a good kid in high school. Didn’t smoke. Didn’t drink. I’ve smoked marijuana once in my life. When I was 27. Never had trouble with the law. And though I’m sure some might disagree, I’d say I turned out reasonably well.

By my count, I would have triggered eighteen of KHK’s warning signs. Meaning I’d have been a shoe-in for the program. Hell, they probably would have given me a scholarship (not out kindness of course — most of these programs are heavily subsidized).

Absolutely ridiculous. “Does your child require extra sleep???” I’ve never met a teen that won’t sleep past noon if you let him. “Warning signs” like these serve only one purpose: keeping parents good and scared of drugs and hence in support of their prohibition. Moms and dads are all too willing to believe that it’s pot that makes their little angel act out against them and not their parenting (or even the natural psychological development of a teen). So pot’s the enemy! Crusading against drugs is far easier than taking the time to be a good parent.

Tray Caliva, “a right wing, gun-toting, anti-abortion, racist, woman hatin’ ultra-conservative,” and columnist over at the Daily Toreador wants America to win the war on drugs. Step #1? Legalize marijuana!

Enforcement of laws prohibiting marijuana cost American taxpayers an estimated $4 billion in 2004. Yet, frequently conducted studies from numerous sources indicate that marijuana is nowhere near as dangerous to health or property as tobacco, alcohol or “hard” drugs.

Tobacco, alcohol, hard drugs and anti-inflammatory medication such as Aspirin directly accounted for a half-million American deaths last year. Direct deaths from marijuana totaled zero. In fact, the average marijuana user would have to consume 5,000 times the normal amount to die directly from its use.

Marijuana also is less addictive than caffeine (interesting side note: Nicotine is more addictive than heroin, cocaine and alcohol). Legalization would have to come at a cost, however.

It’s a no brainer.

Fresh from Drug War Rant:

Militarizing Mayberry at The Agitator. Standard knock-down-the-door-slam-the-residents-to-the-floor-and-cuff-them drug warrior approach for 2.5 grams of marijuana. And sure, ignore the fact that the woman is having a heart attack. When it comes to busting marijuana, who cares about human life, anyway? The woman survived and is suing.

Police refused to give her two baby aspirin or call an ambulance. Later, during questioning, she complained of chest pain again and was rushed to the hospital where she was told she needed surgery.

But on the bright side, they’re charging her with possession of 2.5 grams of marijuana (about a teaspoon full). F’d up? I think so.