Biz Czar Ramstad Another reason to oppose Ramstad for Drug Czar As if there weren't already enough, Maia Szalavitz picks up some more: Jim Ramstad was the sole sponsor of an earmark providing $235,000 to Minnesota Teen Challenge, a branch of a national anti-addiction group which believes that recruiting people into the Assemblies of God ministry will cure their addiction. And get this... Further, according to Teen Challenge, "Addiction is a sin, not a disease." Consequently, the program does not allow the use of medication. Maybe he asked for the earmark without knowing anything about Teen challenge? But his ties to Teen Challenge seem close. Here's a photo of him at a benefit for Minnesota Teen Challenge, with Tom Petters, the campaign contributor now charged with bilking investors out of billions. Faith-Based Rehabilitation Mothers Against the Drug Czar’s War on Kids CrazyCalvinaFay Anti-Drug Campaigns Dumb Down Vital Message The SSDP Facebook petition to President-elect Obama is now over 22,000 signatures. Ramstad for drug czar? The Crypt: - Politico.com Jim Ramstad as Drug Czar? - Windypundit Health groups wary of Ramstad - Big Question Ramstad: Obama’s new Drug Czar? - Big Question Health groups warn Obama about Ramstad as 'drug czar' - MinnPost Ramstad as Drug Czar Huffington Post Coalition urges Obama to reject Ramstad as Drug Czar NORML Drug Czar Ramstad? Minnesota Independent Obama Drug Czar Pick: No Recovery from War on Drugs? Szalavitz 75th Anniversary of Repeal Day Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Five years of Prohibition have had, at least, this one benign effect: they have completely disposed of all the favourite arguments of the Prohibitionists. None of the great boons and usufructs that were to follow the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment has come to pass. There is not less drunkenness in the Republic, but more. There is not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more. The cost of government is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect for law has not increased, but diminished. - H.L. Mencken Repeal Day Serves as Reminder of the Folly of Our Drug Laws Obamajuana by R. V. Scheide Source: Sacramento News & Review 6 Nov 2008 (CA) The president-elect remains deeply indebted to Wall Street aristocrats, as evidenced by his enthusiastic support for the taxpayer-funded $750 billion bailout of the very same banksters who crashed the world economy with their $500 trillion pyramid scheme. There'd be no better place to start and achieve immediate results than dismantling America's disastrous drug policies and the prison industrial complex along with it. Pot Policy at The Federal Level By Paul Armentano CN Source: AlterNet November 07, 2008 USA We've had our celebrations; now the real work begins. In Massachusetts, where 65 percent of voters mandated an end to minor marijuana possession arrests, police and pundits are already calling on lawmakers to amend -- or even repeal -- the new law. Therefore, if you reside in Massachusetts, it is critical that you contact your state elected officials, as well as Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick and Attorney General Martha Coakley, and demand that they fully implement the will of 1,938,366 registered voters of the commonwealth of Massachusetts who voted "yes" on 2. "You know, it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob?" - Richard Milhouse Nixon Tommy Chong A Casualty Of War On Drugs Charlie Smith 27 Nov 2008 The Georgia Straight (CN BC) Joe Biden, wrote the law that banned shipping drug paraphernalia through the mail. "Obama appears set to appoint Eric Holder as attorney general. Holder, like Biden, has been a supporter of the war on drugs and also served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration. During the first three years of the Clinton administration, 1.5 million Americans were arrested on marijuana charges. By 1999, that increased to 4.2 million. It was the largest increase ever, and this guy was the deputy attorney general at the time," Drug Cop Lies Sent over 150 to Jail COPsAgainstGanjawar Obama Tilts Toward Iran Contra Gates Robert Gates: As Bad as Rumsfeld? Some Democrats are urging President-elect Obama to retain Defense Secretary Robert Gates, but ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern asks whether Gates is really better than his reviled predecessor. November 19, 2008 "A step toward 'as soon as possible'." Afghanistan - just another one of those prohibitionist success stories We keep hearing from the drug warriors that the war is going great, with disasters like Colombia, Mexico, and Afghanistan held up as examples of success. Isn't there some kind of psychiatric term for a complete disconnect from reality? Danny K has an excellent post over at Transform: Afghan Opium and the Emperor's New Clothes about a presentation he attended featuring Antonio Maria Costa Executive Director UNODC and Bill Rammell, Minister of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK). Their headline was the 20% reduction in opium cultivation which they welcomed (albeit cautiously) as evidence of new found success of their respective interventions in the region. Opium production, by the way is only down 6% (as yields per acre cultivated have risen). The statistical annex on world drug prices and purity from the World Drug Report 2008, shows precisely how badly they are really doing - even by their own standards. It is now eight years after the Allied troops overthrew the Taleban and effectively took control of the country with one of the key aims being the eradication of the opium crop, and things really aren't going well given the billions thrown at the sprawling military-led anti-opium enterprise since 2001. That's right, in our success, we've managed to increase opium production to more than twice the pre-2001 levels. We've done so well that the opium supply in Afghanistan is now significantly higher than world-wide demand, and large quantities are being stockpiled to keep the price from dropping. Danny and Steve at Transform tried to pin Rammell and Costa down in the questioning, but the drug war cheerleaders failed to actually answer the questions (of course). The whole post is really worth reading, but I want to highlight another passage from Danny that resonates (It continually bothers me how little attention is paid to basic economic laws). Prohibition is what makes an intrinsically low value commodity like opium more profitable than any other agricultural option for Afghanistan's mostly impoverished farmers. It is economic alchemy, whereby plants are transmuted into commodities worth literally more than their weight in gold. Even if supply side interdiction was more effective (and you try and eradicate 1500+ square kilometers of poppy fields scattered over an area the size of Western Europe, every year, forever) the effect would be be to push up the price, that in turn inevitably incentivises new entrants to the market, and new cultivation. It is an economist's dream; the completely unregulated interplay of supply and demand, and whilst the demand driven economic imperative exists (and there's no sign of significant change on that front) the best that can be achieved is temporary, marginal and localised supply side 'success'. The problem may move around a bit - but it doesn't go away. Kossacks taking positive view on ending drug prohibition? Even though drug policy reform is a logical position for liberals in many ways, it has been very hard to get any traction publicly in liberal strongholds, as they have tended to vacillate between trying to be as 'tough' (stupid) as Republicans and avoiding 'distractions' from accomplishing things that would help people(!) In the process, they have taken a pass on addressing racism, helping the environment, and stopping the disenfranchisement of their own voters, among other travesties. So it's nice to see a front page article at Daily Kos by Jed L on the 75 year anniversary of alcohol prohibition and its connection to drug prohibition (referring to Nadelmann's OpEd). And the extensive comments so far are coming in very strongly for ending prohibition, more so, in my opinion, than they would have a couple of years ago. The few that are naturally uncertain, are being rather intelligently schooled by other commenters. The former man sticking it to the man? Drug policy reform's bad boy, Barry Cooper, is apparently running stings on police now. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Mark Draughn's take at Windypundit: You know what would be interesting? If someone---perhaps in response to accusations that a group of cops was framing innocent people---spent months setting up a fake drug house to attract police suspicion. Then, after the police raided the place and found no drugs of any kind, asked to see the sworn search affidavit, so they could check it for accuracy against their own heavily documented activities. You'd have to be crazy to try something like that. You'd have to want to get in cops' faces and not be afraid of what they'd do to you. You'd have to have a hatred for the drug war verging on madness. You'd have to be Barry Cooper. Yes, the madman behind the Never Get Busted Again videos has set up a sting operation to snare a bunch of cops ... MPP-TV
Ramstad is a wrong choice, just because he was an alcoholic doesn't mean he would symphasize with other addicted people. He may think he's better than them because he's a rich white privileged snobbish male. I would have picked Jocelyn Elders, former Surgeon General who supported legalizing medical marijuana and is open to relaxing drug laws in general. She has enough credential and experience to do the job, as well as intellectual competency.
