The Shotgun Blog

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tommy Chong sports Free Marc Emery t-shirt everywhere

Canadian Tommy Chong, of Cheech and Chong fame, has started to don a Free Marc Emery t-shirt (which you can purchase here) for his television appearances.

Marc Emery, dubbed the "Prince of Pot" by the Seattle Times and popularized by CNN, is out on bail, awaiting his penultimate extradition to the United States to face a five-year prison term for selling marijuana seeds over the internet.

Many Canadians and Americans are outraged by the efforts of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to extradite Emery. Similarly, many are surprised and dismayed at the failure of the Canadian political establishment to speak out in defense of a fellow Canadian.

Here's Chong on Bill O'Reilly:

And here he is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon:

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on November 24, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (20)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

New Marc Emery documentary: "The P.O.P."

Paul McKeever, lawyer and leader of the Freedom Party of Ontario, has put together a documentary about the political activities of Marc Emery. The documentary will be released very soon, around the same time as the book, "Seeds of Liberty: The Marc Emery story."

Here is the trailer for the forthcoming movie (I admit, I'm really excited about this):

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on November 17, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (15)

Monday, September 28, 2009

Marc Emery turns himself in to be extradited

Today marks a horrible day for those of us who have worked with, become friends with, appreciated, and looked up to a Canadian hero for individual liberty. Marc Emery, often called the "Prince of Pot," presented himself to the authorities in order to be extradited to the U.S. to face five years in prison for selling marijuana seeds in the mail to Americans.

Marc Emery was a columnist with the Western Standard, and a personal friend to all of us on the editorial board. It is shattering to see pictures of him in newspapers, surrounded by friends and fans, knowing that he's about to spend many years in a prison for a fake "crime." And it is a fake crime.

William Hopper penned a wonderful story for the Western Standard about Emery's extradition back in January of last year entitled "Seeding Sovereignty." And we've debated Emery's activities here on the Shotgun blog many, many, many times.

Instead of recapitulating a lot of the arguments that I've made in the past, I thought I'd post Freedom Party International's press statement. Marc Emery was one of the founders of the Freedom Party (which is not the same as Freedom Party International), and has had a long association with that political party. Here is the statement they issued today:

On behalf of Freedom Party International (FPI), spokespersons Paul McKeever and Robert Metz issued the following statement:

FPI is today calling upon the Canadian and U.S. governments to discard plans to extradite and imprison Canadian citizen Marc Emery.

For his entire adult life, Marc Emery has been a vocal and animated advocate of individual freedom. He has campaigned on a very wide range of issues concerning individual liberty and property rights. He has successfully campaigned to save the taxpayer millions of dollars that would otherwise have been wasted on white elephants; he has challenged the abuses inflicted by garbage collection unions upon the citizenry; he has opposed the now-repealed ban on Sunday Shopping in Ontario (he is the only man ever to have gone to jail for opening his store on Sunday contrary to the law); he has fought censorship, by importing and selling a rap music album by the rap group "The Two Live Crew", and by selling prohibited books in Canada concerning the history of marijuana prohibition. In the 1990s, he chose to focus his efforts on the prohibition of one peaceful activity that so clearly violates the liberty of every individual, and that has resulted in the criminalization and incarceration of millions of people: the manufacture, sale, possession and use of cannabis.

With his decision to oppose cannabis prohibition, Emery has strayed from his previous focus on individual rights. He has instead resorted to provocation and agitation in an attempt to build sympathy for himself and for victims of prohibition, and to provoke anger against politicians, parties, and governments that have advocated cannabis prohibition, or that have done nothing to repeal it. FPI is not a political party per se, but a philosophical organization that advocates rational governance. As such, we reject Emery's emotion-focused strategy and tactics.

However, we stand by and defend Emery on philosophical grounds. A human being's defining feature is his or her capacity to reason. In our view, it is morally right that a human being put his own survival and the pursuit of his own happiness first, and we assert that a person cannot do that if he is not free to act upon the rational conclusions of his own mind. To that end, we assert that the proper role of government is to ensure that no person obtains any values from any other person without that person's consent. We quite agree that it is morally wrong to use marijuana, or any substance, in an attempt to avoid facing reality and dealing with it. However, in a free country, the government does not punish people simply for making foolish or self-destructive decisions so long as those decisions do not involve violations of another person's liberty or property.

In early 2008, U.S. authorities agreed with Emery to a deal in which Emery would serve a five year term for violations of U.S. prohibition laws, but would serve it on Canadian soil. On Canadian soil, he would have been released on parole within a year. However, the Conservative government of Canada refused to agree to the deal. For that reason, Emery is now faced with being imprisoned in a U.S. facility for a full five-year term. FPI condemns the U.S. government's decision to prosecute Emery, and the Conservative government's refusal to agree to the U.S. offer to allow him to stay on Canadian soil. We call upon the Conservative government of Canada to revisit that decision and communicate with U.S. authorities so as to ensure that Emery never has to spend any time in a U.S. facility. We call upon opposition parties in the Canadian House of Commons to demand of the federal Conservatives that they defend the sovereignty -- and thereby, the liberty -- of Canadians by taking all necessary steps to ensure that Emery is not sent to a U.S. prison. We call upon the Obama administration to take all steps necessary to have the charges against Marc Emery dropped. And we call upon governments and legislatures in both countries to put an end to cannabis prohibition."

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on September 28, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (196)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Federal Government Sponsors Drug "Research"

I love science, I am a fan of it; good science that is.

The Federal Government is funding research into the relation between smoking marijuana and mental illness.

"Science has shown that cannabis may actually trigger the onset of psychosis and may also intensify the symptoms for those who already have a psychotic illness," (Winnipeg Conservative MP Joy) Smith (Kildonan-St. Paul) said in announcing a grant of more than $550,000 to the Schizophrenia Society of Canada.

The grant of $559,370 is the largest Health Canada has ever provided to the society, he said.

The money is part of Ottawa's $30-million national anti-drug strategy, announced in 2007.

So the Federal Government, which is court ordered to produce medical marijuana in Canada, which has announced a stronger anti-drug strategy in recent years, is funding research into marijuana and it's negative effects, with funds from the national anti-drug strategy...

Do you think the study will be bias at all?

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I welcome feedback and I ask for civility in the exchange of comments. Vulgarity is discouraged. Please express yourself creatively with other language. We discuss ideas here, attacks on a person are discouraged.

Posted by Freedom Manitoba on August 19, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (112)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Botanical Revolution

Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, will be turning himself in to U.S. authorities in September to serve a 5 year sentence for various charges related to his marijuana activism. That activism consisted of selling marijuana seeds to people through his mail order business from his downtown Vancouver store front.

He was interviewed about his upcoming incarceration, civil disobedience, marijuana laws, and other legalization subjects on this past Saturday's edition of liberty talk show Free Talk Live.

Listen to the MP3.

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Posted by Freedom Manitoba on August 13, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (256)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Government Grow-op Shut Down

The Federal Government has been growing marijuana in an old mine in Flin Flon Manitoba for 9 years for the 300 people that receive the plant from them for medical purposes. The company that has been contracted to grow the pot for Health Canada, Prairie Plant Systems, says that they ceased operation June 30th because they couldn't secure long-term access to the mine since it's owner, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, is closing it down in 2012.

The government's marijuana program licenses certified medical users to grow their own pot, to have someone grow it for them or to buy it straight from Health Canada. More than 1,400 Canadians are authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes.

I find it strange that Health Canada was tasked to grow the pot for medical use. Does Health Canada manufacture Demoral? Morphine? Tylenol 3 or any other pain killers available by perscription? Nope. The drug manufacturers do that, and they do a better job of it. If medical marijuana alone was opened up to drug companies you would have some level of competition at least that may improve the quality of the product; government pot doesn't have a great reputation as far as quality is concerned.

The government says it's okay for them to have a grow op, but anyone else that does so is raided, arrested and possibly shot at. It's hypocritical.

Posted by Freedom Manitoba on July 21, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (41)

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Legalize It - Part 1

Legalize it, all of it.

Let me make very clear that I do not advocate most drug use; I think that using some drugs is generally bad. I have never used “recreational” drugs in my life, ever. I think our society would be better off if many drugs didn’t exist; but they do, and there is a demand for them, so they continue to be manufactured and sold.

Prohibiting and controlling drugs does not stop some people from having the desire for them, that is unlikely to go away; as long as these desires exists there will be a demand and market for them, and some folks will be willing to meet that demand, whether it's legal or not.

Self-Ownership

Do you believe that you own yourself? If you truly own yourself, then you are free to keep yourself as fit or as fat as you want. If you truly own yourself, then you are free to put into your body what you want, be it apples or marijuana.

The principle here is self-ownership; you own and are in charge of yourself. Because of this, you are responsible for yourself (provided that you have the mental capacity to be) and are free to make good or bad choices, provided that those choices don’t violate the liberties of other people. Using harmful drugs is generally a bad choice in my opinion, but it is one that you have the right to make as it harms yourself directly, just like eating too much fatty food or listening to your Ipod at full volume all day.

Obviously, there are social consequences of using drugs and the possibility of becoming addicted; you may be ostracized from friends and relatives, if you have people financially depended on you they may be negatively affected. There will be indirect effects on people from your actions no matter what you do, these cannot necessarily be controlled or measured, that’s why the focus is on the actions you can control; your own.

Legalize Marijuana

It’s harder for the general public to hear the message of “legalize ALL drugs”, it’s not something that is often heard, therefore I will focus on the legalization of marijuana, though the arguments for it’s legalization will apply to other drugs like heroin, cocaine, meth etc.

Though is has been shown that there are medicinal benefits to marijuana, the reason for it’s legalization is still based on the principle of self-ownership, but I will look at some of the common arguments for and against it, while still holding the self-ownership principle as the main reason for why it should be legalized.

Decriminalization of Marijuana in Canada

Marijuana was first banned in Canada in 1923 under the Opium and Drug Act. Since 1997 marijuana has been covered by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
In 2000 over 30,000 Canadians were charged with simple possession of marijuana, according to the Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs.
Current laws are enforced unevenly across the country.
Most of those convicted of possession of marijuana do not go to jail, but do receive a criminal record.

Think of the waste that goes into policing drug users. 30,000 people in Canada charged ever year. That means that every one of those people were dealt with by police, then entered into the system, paid fines, court dates, etc. The amount of bureaucracy needed to deal with this is staggering. Now, all of those people have criminal records. They will have a harder time getting a job, crossing borders, finding suitable housing, etc., all because they choose to put something into their body. That is not good for them or good for the rest of society as they may end up drawing on welfare or other socialized programs becasue of the lack of opportunities a criminal record may bring them.

So the point comes up, then why do them? As a non-marijuana user I cannot answer that, other to say that people have been suing this substance for many years, and it's illegal nature has not dettered many of them or halted the drug trade. To some folks the risk is worth it.

Every April 20 at the Legislature here in Winnipeg, you will find thousands of people lighting a blunt in open protest of the illegality of marijuana, yet there aren’t swarms of police coming down to break it up. Yet they will spend time going after people in their homes, on the street, etc. Why this inconsistency? Even the police realize that possessing marijuana is not a serious enough offense to warrant shutting down this peaceful protest. This seems like an inconsistent, hypocritical position.

The problem isn’t the police, it is the law, and the beaurocrats that make the law.

The Government are Drug Dealers

Speaking of hypocritical positions, even though growing, possessing and distributing marijuana is illegal, the Canadian government continues to do it to this day.

Health Canada looking for marijuana grower

Government pot is grown in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba, and used for medicinal marijuana. The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has been well established, and Health Canada recognizes and approves its use.

Health Canada - Medical Use of Marihuana

Health Canada grants access to marihuana for medical use to those who are suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses.

Yet, you aren’t allowed to grow your own medicine if you so choose, the government has to do it for you and give you a piece of paper that allows you to have it. Why is the goverment in the medicine business? Is there Province of Manitoba brand ibuprophen? No one else is allowed to provide this approved medicine, only the government.

This is another government monopoly like Manitoba Lotteries and MPI, making the bearuocracy larger, demanding tax money to grow pot.

I wonder how someone who is against the legalization of marjiana would feel knowing that they are paying to grow and distribute it.

Prohibition

What would happen if pot was legalized? We can look at history to find out. In the early 1900’s alcohol manufacturing, distribution and possession was made illegal all over North America.

Prohibition_in_the_United_States

Prohibition_in_Canada

When something is outlawed, it creates a black market for that product or service. When something is in the black market it inherently becomes more dangerous because it needs to be under the radar of law enforcement. It becomes the product of gangs and organized crime, and prices get very high, and violent crime surrounds it. This is what happened with alcohol prohibition; people didn’t stop drinking, they just had to do it underground. Once alcohol prohibition ended, so did the violence and crime surrounding it’s manufacture and distribution. Do we currently see turf wars or gang crime with alcohol distribution? No, it went away when prohibition went away. The same thing would happen if the prohibition against marijuana was ended.

Let’s look at this realistically. If marijuana wasn’t prohibited, how would people get it? Likely the same way people get alcohol and tobacco; large companies will grow and sell it and you can buy it at the corner store. Plus, you will have companies selling “home growing kits” so you can grow your own. You won’t need to buy it on the street under threat of arrest and the prices would be lower because there will be a large, safe supply and legal ways of obtaining it.

If people could choose between a drug store or a thug on the street, where would they be likely to go to buy marijuana?

Arguments Against Legalization

when illicit drugs are legalized, drug use increases
marijuana is a gateway drug to harder drugs
decriminalization would send conflicting messages to young people
marijuana is harmful

If murder wasn’t on the books as being illegal, would people murder each other? Laws don’t dictate behavior, marijuana is illegal right now yet people still use it, the law doesn’t stop that. If it was legalized, people who were going to do it will still do it, and people who weren’t going to do it won’t. There is a taboo in doing something illegal, and once that taboo is gone, then a small part of the thrill is gone.

In September 2007, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse reported that marijuana use in teens have gone up (opens PDF).

(marijuana use)use is reported by 17 per cent of students in grades 7 to 9, about 29 per cent of 15- to 17-year-olds, and almost half of 18- to 19-year-olds

Would arresting 50% of Canadian teens do them any good? How would that help them in life? It won't stop them from using the drug, just put them into the legal system and make it harder to move forward with a productive life.

Let’s look at a place where pot is less restricted, Amsterdam and some of Australia. The usage of marijuana in those areas is actually lower than that of the U.S.

Marijuana Prohibition Has Not Curtailed Marijuana Use by Adolescents

This report shows that the prohibition of marijuana in the United States has not curtailed adolescent marijuana use.

                 United States   The Netherlands

Total Population      31.1 [a]           28.5 [b] 
Young Adults          47.3 [c]           45.5 [d] 
Older Teens           38.2 [e]           29.5 [f] 
Younger Teens         13.5 [g]            7.2 [h]

To say that legalizing marijuana would lead to an increase in use is not what the evidence shows.

In March 2009,the Cato Institute put out a report about the success of drug decriminalization in Portugal.

Evaluating the policy strictly from an empirical perspective, decriminalization has been an unquestionable success, leading to improvements in virtually every relevant category and enabling Portugal to manage drug-related problems (and drug usage rates) far better than most Western nations that continue to treat adult drug consumption as a criminal offense.

You can see the policy forum and presentation of this report at the Cato Institute website.

Also, to call marijuana a “gateway” drug is misleading. Using marijuana does not mean that you will then use, cocaine, heroin or other harmful drugs. It is most of then the first one that people will use because it is the most common and least expensive. Calling marijuana a gateway drug is like calling beer a gateway drink that means you will start misusing alcohol and more potent drinks, it is not necessarily true. Most people first encounter beer, it is less expensive than harder drinks so it is naturally what would be encountered first.

As for sending “conflicting messages” to young people, I say, let them make up their own mind. The message we can send is that some things are good for you, some things are bad, you choose which you’d like to do. In fact, I wouldn’t call marijuana “bad”, no more than I would call having a beer “bad”. I’m going to teach my children to choose for themselves, no conflicting message there.

The argument that marijuana is harmful doesn’t stand up either. Yes, it can cause some harm to the body, but if we were to outlaw things that were harmful then perhaps we should be outlawing salt, butter, etc. By this reasoning, anything harmful to an individual should be prohibited. Well, then here are a few other things that should be banned then.

4000 people die per year in Canada in car accidents. – ban cars
6,700 deaths from alcohol – ban alcohol
33,5000 from tobacco - ban cigarettes
732 deaths due to use of illicit drugs – wow, a lot less than cars
How many deaths from marijuana? 0
reference Drugs and Drug Policy in Canada

If we truly own ourselves, then we are the ones that choose what we can and can’t put into our bodies. If we choose to harm ourselves with drugs, or salt, or getting fat, then that is also our choice.

I welcome any comments or corrections.

Please keep comments on topic and cordial. Insults and ad hominems may result in deleted posts.

Posted by Freedom Manitoba on July 9, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (509)

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Marc Emery’s “Farewell Tour” rolls through Banff: A report by Krista Zoobkoff

Marc Emery’s “Farewell Tour” rolled through Banff, Alberta on Monday for an event hosted by Krista Zoobkoff, Libertarian Party candidate for the riding of Wild Rose in the last federal election.

In a report for the Western Standard, Zoobkoff wrote:

Marc and Jodie Emery made their way to Banff on their second stop in the Marc Emery "Farewell Tour." The event was teetering on shaky ground, as we prayed for the weather to clear up. The event was held at the gazebo in central park at 4:30 p.m. just as the rain stopped. One hundred Emery supporters braved their way to the outdoor venue, making the Banff stop on the Farewell Tour a success.

Emery is being extradited to the United States for his conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. This is a man who is going to lose his freedom for his part in selling cannabis seeds over the border to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). This was an act that was non-violent and that had no victims. Cannabis seeds don’t contain THC or any other intoxicant.

As a Canadian, I am outraged at the United States, the DEA, the RCMP, and the Conservative government that has not come to the aid of a Canadian citizen. Canada is not going to be safer with Emery behind bars, further showing the incompetence of the Harper government. The Emery extradition has been a burden to taxpayers, leaving Canadians to suffer the loss of a family member and a friend. These are our tax dollars hard at work.

Emery is going to prison and there is nothing we can do about that. Our next fight is going to be to put pressure on the Conservatives to transfer Emery to Canada so he can do his time where he will be safe and have access to his family and friends. So don’t rest just yet and stay informed on what we can do to get him transferred to Canada.

Thanks for the update, Krista.

The "Farewell Tour" will be in Lethbridge this evening and Edmonton on Thursday.

(Picture: Marc and Jody Emery in Banff, Alberta)

Posted by Matthew Johnston

Posted by Western Standard on July 7, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (55)

Monday, May 25, 2009

Marc Emery's extradition hearing delayed "to finalize an agreement with U.S. prosecutors"

This is the interesting part:

Emery’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, told B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Anne Mackenzie he needed more time to finalize an agreement with U.S. prosecutors that would end the need for the hearing.
Donaldson noted that two of Emery’s co-accused have pleaded guilty to their part in a scheme in which marijuana seeds were sold for use in grow-ops south of the border.
He said that since the pleas by Michelle Rainey and Gregory Williams were entered in Seattle last month, he has been in discussions with the U.S. prosecuting counsel.
“He and I have a general framework capable of resolving the case for Mr. Emery.”
Donaldson said that under the agreement, Emery would consent to be committed for extradition on one of the three criminal counts he faces. He noted that the Canadian authorities are opposed to such a move.

More here.

Posted by Kalim Kassam on May 25, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (146)

Friday, May 08, 2009

California considers legalizing marijuana

There's positive news on the war on drugs coming from south of the border, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signalled his willingness to debate the issue of legalizing marijuana:

As California struggles to find cash, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday it's time to study whether to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use.…

"Well, I think it's not time for (legalization), but I think it's time for a debate," Schwarzenegger said. "I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it. And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?"

Fortunately, there's a growing body of evidence that experiments in decriminalization and legalization have produced positive results. The Cato institute recently took a look at Portugal's experience with decriminalization and found it to be quite good:

The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.

"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."

Another study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry offers an evaluation of various marijuana policy regimes and makes the case for decriminalization:

The Dutch experience, together with those of a few other countries with more modest policy changes, provides a moderately good empirical case that removal of criminal prohibitions on cannabis possession (decriminalization) will not increase the prevalence of marijuana or any other illicit drug; the argument for decriminalization is thus strong.…

Our judgement, based on review of the research literature, is that at present the primary harms of marijuana use (including those borne by non-users) come from criminalization: expensive and intrusive enforcement, inequality, shock to the conscience from disproportionate sentence and a substantial (though generally non-violent) black market.

Likewise, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health compared marijuana use in Amsterdam and San Francisco and found very little difference in the rate of cannabis use, despite big differences in how the two cities regulate the drug:

If drug policies are a potent influence on user behavior, there should not be such strong similarities across such different drug control regimes. Our findings do not support claims that criminalization reduces cannabis use and that decriminalization increases cannabis use. Moreover, Dutch decriminalization does not appear to be associated with greater use of other illicit drugs relative to drug use in San Francisco, nor does criminalization in San Francisco appear to be associated with less use of other illicit drugs relative to their use in Amsterdam. Indeed, to judge from the lifetime prevalence of other illicit drug use, the reverse may be the case.

If only we could get our politicians talking seriously about legalizing marijuana. Besides issues of freedom and liberty, there are many economic reasons why Canada should get serious about reforming our outdated drug laws. If Canada were to adopt the illicit drug policies of the Netherlands, the costs associated with prohibition would be marginalized in the areas of policing, judicial processes, and health services. If the sale of marijuana were to be legalized in Canada, the respective costs associated with policing would decrease due to the fact that Canadian society would not ensue the corresponding costs of arresting people for the consumption and distribution of the drug. Likewise, the judicial system would not incur the costs of prosecuting and incarcerating individuals for marijuana related transgressions. Furthermore, the corresponding tax revenue that would be accumulated through the legalized sale of marijuana could be used to enhance education and rehabilitation programs that would effectively marginalize the negative externalities associated with illicit drug use.

Update: It's been brought to my attention that a new poll shows that 52% of Americans support legalizing marijuana. While this is promising, there has also been some criticism of how the poll was conducted. More from Reason Magazine.

Update 2: Rob Breakenridge has a great column in the Calgary Herald, which compares coffee to marijuana and highlights the ridiculousness of keeping a plant illegal:

As federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson puts it, coffee is "the currency that is used to bring other more serious drugs into the country."

Accordingly, the government has tabled legislation to, among other things, impose one-year mandatory jail time for selling coffee.

Oops . . . did I say coffee? How embarrassing. Of course, it's quite ridiculous to suggest that we would criminalize the sale or consumption of coffee. Oh sure, prohibiting the sale of coffee would immediately make it the purview of organized crime, thus making it a "currency" of sorts. No doubt such criminal elements would employ violent tactics in obtaining and protecting supply and territory.

Posted by Jesse Kline on May 8, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (126)

Friday, April 10, 2009

Another good drug war article

You've heard it all before from me, so without further ado here's another good article on the drug war from CNN.

And here's an excerpt:

Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead.
Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after.
Violence is the norm in illicit gambling markets but not in legal ones. Violence is routine when prostitution is banned but not when it's permitted. Violence results from policies that create black markets, not from the characteristics of the good or activity in question.
The only way to reduce violence, therefore, is to legalize drugs. Fortuitously, legalization is the right policy for a slew of other reasons...

h/t: Steve, who says: "Either you have drugs and violence on the streets, or just drugs. Seems like an obvious choice."

I'll second that.

Posted by Janet Neilson on April 10, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (29)

Friday, April 03, 2009

Cato study: Decriminalization of drugs in Portugal an "unambiguous success"

In 2001, Portugal decided to make a dramatic U-turn when it comes to drug policy. Alone in the European Union, Portugal decided to try decriminalization of drugs as a strategy to deal with the negative outcomes of illicit drug use. They did not merely decriminalize marijuana, they decriminalized all drugs. Without exception.

Glenn Greenwald has taken a look at the numbers and reports, in a new Cato Institute study, on the outcomes of Portugal's new policy direction. The results, according to him, are positive. And not merely positive, but very positive. Decriminalization in Portugal is working, it is an "unambiguous success," as Greenwald puts it.

Greenwald will be at the Cato Institute today to discuss his reports. At 12 p.m. Eastern Time, you can watch his presentation by clicking here.

In the meantime, here is the summary he presents to his own readers:

...Drug policy is being more openly debated than ever before in the U.S. (Time 's Joe Klein just wrote a column advocating marijuana legalization [CNN's Jack Cafferty also recently wrote a piece entitled "The War on Drugs is insane."]), and the unambiguous success of Portugal's 2001 decriminalization -- which is what enabled the Portuguese Government to address their exploding drug problems in the 1990s and to achieve far better results than virtually every other Western country -- provides a compelling empirical basis for understanding the profound failures of the American approach.

And, for more intrepid researchers, here is the study itself:

Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies, Cato White Paper

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Non-fiction europe the nanny state

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on April 3, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (105)

Friday, March 06, 2009

The Economist: legalization "least bad" way to deal with failed drug prohibition

Pat Buchanan, writing about "The Drug War's (Other) Afghanistan," by which he means the violence-drenched state of Mexico, asks "Which is the greater evil? Legalized narcotics for America’s young or a failed state of 110 million on our southern border?"

The Economist newspaper has an answer; they argue that the lesser evil, for drug producing and drug consuming states alike, is legalization:

Next week ministers from around the world gather in Vienna to set international drug policy for the next decade. Like first-world-war generals, many will claim that all that is needed is more of the same. In fact the war on drugs has been a disaster, creating failed states in the developing world even as addiction has flourished in the rich world. By any sensible measure, this 100-year struggle has been illiberal, murderous and pointless. That is why The Economist continues to believe that the least bad policy is to legalise drugs.

“Least bad” does not mean good. Legalisation, though clearly better for producer countries, would bring (different) risks to consumer countries. As we outline below, many vulnerable drug-takers would suffer. But in our view, more would gain.

Read the rest.

(h/t Mark Frauenfelder)

Posted by Kalim Kassam on March 6, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (31)

Monday, February 16, 2009

California to free 55,000 inmates because of budget woes

California, suffering from a major budget deficit, may be forced to release a third of their prison population by 2012. According to The Independent:

Federal judges ruled last week that California's 33 adult jails have become so overcrowded that they violate the constitutional rights of inmates, subjecting them to "cruel and unusual" punishment that is causing at least one death a month. Just over a third of the state's 158,000 prisoners must be set free by 2012 to ensure that basic healthcare is provided to those who remain behind, the judges said. The majority will go through early release and parole schemes.

Critics are concerned that this move will endanger the public, and California's attorney general, Jerry Brown, has already said that the state plans on appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court.

One suggestion that California may take seriously is to ease the war on drugs, especially when it comes to the war on marijuana. By not incarcerating pot smokers, releasing non-violent marijuana-related "criminals," and essentially decriminalizing marijuana, the state would immediately see significant savings.

An analysis by California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) suggests that the state of California could save between 1.5 to 2.5 billion dollars per year merely by legalizing marijuana. According to the analysis, California could realize the following revenues and savings:

- An excise tax of $1 per half-gram joint of marijuana would raise about $1 billion per year, as much as the current excise tax on cigarettes.
- Retail sales on the legal market would range from $3 - $5 billion, generating another $250 - 400 million in sales taxes.
- Legalization would save over $156 million in law enforcement costs for arrest, prosecution, trial and imprisonment of marijuana offenders. Intrusive CAMP helicopter surveillance would also be eliminated.
- Based on experience with the cigarette tax, total revenues of $1.5 - $2.5 billion might be realized.
- Based on experience with the wine industry, the total economic activity generated by legal marijuana could be nearly three times as great as retail sales, around $8 - $13 billion. Amsterdam-style coffeehouses would generate jobs and tourism. If the marijuana industry were just one-third the size of the wine industry, it would generate 50,000 jobs and $1.4 billion in wages, along with additional income and business tax revenues for the state.
- Industrial hemp could also become a major business, comparable to the $3.4 billion cotton industry in California.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on February 16, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (53)

Friday, February 06, 2009

Reefer Madness: The Southern Avenger on Michael Phelps

Our favourite paleoconservative vlogger Jack Hunter (aka The Southern Avenger) shares his thoughts on Michael Phelps and marijuana -- and he's absolutely shocked that "a 23-year-old Olympic gold medalist worth millions of dollars with celebrity to match" likes to party with the ganja:

More Western Standard coverage of Phelps and the debate over marijuana here and here.

Posted by Kalim Kassam on February 6, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (15)

Thursday, February 05, 2009

States' rights Obama tunes down the War on Drugs

Good news. One of the hopes of marijuana reformers, libertarians and decentralist conservatives in an Obama presidency looks like it will be fulfilled. No, DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries are still continuing, but the White House is promising that, in accordance with Obama's campaign promises, its not for very long. The Washington Times reports:

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.
“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Read the rest.

Posted by Kalim Kassam on February 5, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (22)

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Andrew Stuttaford on the dangers of marijuana and the sensibleness of the drug war

Here's Andrew Stuttaford from the National Review writing at The Corner about the Michael Phelps pot-smoking incident:

In the meantime, I merely note that this broken wreck of a man's failure to win any more than a pathetic fourteen Olympic gold medals (so far) is a terrifying warning of the horrific damage that cannabis can do to someone's health—and a powerful reminder of just how sensible the drug laws really are.

Destroying society, one gold medal at a time.

And speaking of the dangerous link between winning gold medals and marijuana:

Oh, and here's reason's Radley Balko on the "apology" Phelps should have given:

Here’s a crazy thought: If I can smoke a little dope and go on to win 14 Olympic gold medals, maybe pot smokers aren’t doomed to lives of couch surfing and video games, as our moronic government would have us believe. In fact, the list of successful pot smokers includes not just world class athletes like me, Howard, Williams, and others, it includes Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, the last three U.S. presidents, several Supreme Court justices, and luminaries and success stories from all sectors of business and the arts, sciences, and humanities.

h/t Fr33 Agents (There's more reaction links from the libertysphere on that site. Worth a look.)

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on February 3, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (36)

Saturday, January 31, 2009

"For us, the Holocaust survivors, our moral obligation is to legalize it"

This is incredible:

The Chicago Tribune reports on the curious statement of support for the pro-legalization Green Leaf party in Israel:

Even in the world of politics and its strange bedfellows, this coalition is odder than most.

On Tuesday, a party representing Israeli Holocaust survivors joined forces with the pro-marijuana Green Leaf party for a run at Israel's parliament. The new party launched its campaign in a near-empty, underground, graffiti-filled nightclub in south Tel Aviv, pledging to pursue two primary goals: to financially assist elderly Holocaust survivors and to legalize the consumption of cannabis.

While most of the attention in the run-up to Israel's Feb. 10 general election is focused on its three major parties — Likud, Kadima and Labor — and their high-profile candidates for prime minister, many Israelis are considering voting for the smaller, and quirkier, of the 34 parties officially registered.

Parties need to win just 2.5 percent of the vote, or roughly 70,000 votes, to win a seat in the notoriously fractious parliament.

The Green Leaf Party is on the verge of breaking through, and actually earning possibly two seats in the Knesset. That was the finding of pollsters before this new support from a group representing Holocaust survivors. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the pollsters findings:

Some pollsters say Green Leaf — buoyed by support from young, urban, secular Israelis — could win two seats in the 120-member Knesset in the March 28 election, leading the charge of small parties.

The ultraliberal party, whose platform includes legalizing marijuana, gambling and prostitution, was twice before on the verge of gaining access to the halls of power. In 2003, it was just 7,000 votes short of a place in parliament. This time, [Boaz] Wachtel promises to break through.

"If I didn't think we had a chance of getting into the Knesset, I wouldn't be wasting my time," he said.

h/t: Hit & Run

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on January 31, 2009 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (58)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Southern Avenger: The war on drugs is a war on common sense

Jack Hunter, aka The Southern Avenger, my favourite video commentator, has been busy lately. I posted his commentary on the direction the GOP should go in (namely, whether they should pick Bobby Jindal for leader, or Mark Sanford) yesterday.

Today, I'm posting his recent explanation of why the war on drugs is an absolutely waste of time, waste of money, and waste of dignity, and freedom. I agree with Hunter on all of those things. The war on drugs is quite possibly the most devastating and, frankly, stupid, bundle of government policies in the U.S. (and Canada).

Western Standard columnist and libertarian publisher Marc Emery is in the middle of a three-part series of columns entitled "Creeping Jackboots" (part one, part two) on the effects of drug prohibition on our liberties, our safety, and our wallets. That's worth checking out as well.

Here's the video:

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on December 18, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Friday, December 05, 2008

Celebrate Repeal Day with a small victory: US Supreme Court won’t challenge state medical marijuana laws

It’s Repeal Day!

Today marks the anniversary of the December 5, 1933 repeal of alcohol prohibition in America.

While the war on other-drugs stills rages with similar results and consequences, we should celebrate the small victories in drug policy reform.

Americans for Safe Access reported this week that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a landmark decision in which California state courts found that its medical marijuana law was not preempted by federal law. The state appellate court decision from November 28, 2007, ruled that "it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws."

This move by the Supreme Court should mean that the federal government will no longer obstruct marijuana law reform initiatives like those seen in Michigan and Massachusetts in the last U.S. federal election.

Posted by Matthew Johnston

Posted by Western Standard on December 5, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Bureaucrash reminds Americans that they're #1! (At incarcerating their citizens)

While alcohol is no longer prohibited, other things still are. Puritanical and paternalistic prohibitionists are always busy looking for ways to restrict our liberties, and to make decisions for adults about how they should live their lives.

The most glaring, and disastrous, example of this is the continuing war on drugs in the U.S. and Canada. So vile and outrageous is this war, that it has helped lead to incarceration rates in the U.S. that far surpass those in dictatorships like Communist China (#26), Communist Cuba (#3), or secret police states like the Russian federation (#2). Fully 738 of every 100,000 citizens are locked up in the U.S. (Compare that to the estimated 838 per 100,000 rate during the GULAG of the Soviet Union).

With less than five per cent of the world's population, the U.S. has 23 per cent of the world's prison population.

Now you can send a little message by getting yourself a newly-designed "End the Drug War" t-shirt from the good folks at Bureaucrash for US$17.76 (yup, 17.76...). Pete and the gang at Bureaucrash: Put together a t-shirt that can work for Canadians as well, please. We've got a war on drugs too, and we like t-shirts with solid pro-liberty messages as well.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on December 5, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Monday, December 01, 2008

Marc Emery: Creeping jackboots part two

Matthew Johnston, publisher of the Western Standard, has made it clear that, at least until the end of February, he's a "single issue non-voter." That single issue is preventing the extradition of our mutual friend, libertarian publisher and Western Standard columnist Marc Emery. I'm happy to be on-side with this single-minded activist pursuit.

Over the next several months, Matthew, myself, and the more liberty-minded members of the Western Standard community will be agitating for a political resolution to the threat of extradition being faced by Emery. If there is a positive spin that can be put on this NDP-Bloc-Liberal coalition, it really is the fact that preventing the unjust, shameful, and shocking extradition of Emery is made a little bit more likely.

But while we're focusing on Emery's personal travails, Emery isn't sitting idly by and lamenting his condition. He's steeled himself to the possibility of extradition, and he's agreed, as all civilly disobedient peaceful protesters do, to go to the U.S. and face the possibility of life in prison should Canada's government decide to send him south for the "crime" of selling marijuana seeds. Even so, he's also busy writing a great deal about the slow and steady growth of the anti-marijuana industry in Canada, and why the attempt to obliterate that culture is both ominous in itself, and something the rest of us should resist, whether or not we smoke pot, care to, or even like it.

In part two of Emery's three-part series entitled "Creeping Jackboots," Emery sheds light on the use of seizure and confiscation laws that are being used more and more often in Canada to impoverish and humiliate a significant number of our fellow Canadians.

The use of these laws is, occasionally, so absurd and outlandish, that it really does deserve to be called jackbooted thuggery. Take the most recent example that Emery sent my way. The short story is that a black man's X-Box was "confiscated" (read: stolen) because his car smelled of pot. The longer version you can watch here via CNN:

Here's an excerpt from Emery's column:

Civil forfeiture laws were instituted in Canada under pressure from United States drug war fanatics who insisted Canada was a supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S. In the U.S., forfeiture laws frequently pay the salaries of law enforcement, and keep police departments solvent. Couples have committed suicide over losing their homes to forfeiture; others have decided to go out with guns blazing (Rainbow Farm in Michigan). U.S. police have shot people dead in raids aimed solely at seizing homes and property because of marijuana. Seizing the homes and property of the marijuana culture has become a multi-billion dollar industry complete with its own resale catalogues and auction network.

Civil forfeiture creates a criminal mentality in police. There are cases where police who need power tools or a TV have seized them from victims’ homes during raids. In BC, there is a report of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers taking Robert Bateman paintings off the wall of a home they had raided. In New Brunswick, RCMP have seized microwaves from homes and called movers to take out all the household furniture. As the economy worsens, seizures allow police, politicians and their government agencies to continue enriching themselves and increase their budgets, firepower and manpower.

Read the whole piece. You can read part one here.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on December 1, 2008 in Marijuana reform, Western Standard | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Could the Coalition for Canada save Canadian publisher Marc Emery from a lifetime in a US prison?

In some ways, and at least until the end of February 2009, I consider myself a single issue non-voter...an activist publisher with a single, overriding personal agenda -- to stop the extradition of Canadian publisher, free market drug policy reformer, marijuana seed distributor and friend, Marc Emery.

Why is this a priority for me?

Well, taxes are likely to stay within a fairly narrow range regardless of who is in power and what we do as activist writers and opinion leaders (that's you, Western Standard readers). The left is worse than the right on taxes, no doubt, but only marginally so. Even the left understands the law of diminishing returns, which reminds them that they can’t raise taxes too much before revenues actually begin to fall. (Think of the state as a highly evolved parasite. It usually knows not to kill its host.)

The size of government will also ebb and flow superficially according to whatever is politically expedient and, to a lesser degree, the prevailing ideology. We can’t ignore that the Harper Conservatives increased the size of government, which will ultimately make future tax cuts more unlikely and deficits harder to avoid.

And nobody in a position of authority is advocating for limiting the scope of government. I can’t think of any serious move in recent history to eliminate entirely a specific function of government. (Correct me if I'm wrong here.)

So while we should not abandon these big fights for lower taxes, smaller government and more economic liberty -- in fact, we should steel ourselves to re-fight and re-win the battle of ideas in the realm of free market economics -- there is no immediacy here. It’s a medium and long term project, even in the face of a global financial crisis.

Where I see the need for real immediacy and real opportunity to "make a difference" is in the scheduled extradition hearing of Emery. If it hasn't been postponed again, Emery faces an extradition hearing in February 2009 for DEA charges related to selling marijuana seeds to the US.

Emery is the publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and a marijuana policy reformer. His marijuana seed business financed his activism, which attracted the attention of the DEA who wanted to cut the flow of money to the marijuana decriminalization movement. Politically motivated DEA agents arrested Emery in Canada and now want him extradited to the US to face a possible lifetime in jail. The punishment in Canada for the “crime” of selling marijuana seeds -- when it is in fact punished -- is a small fine.

There are a number of good reasons to oppose the extradition of Emery. First, there is the issue of Canadian sovereignty. Canadians have chosen, before the Harper Conservatives took over, to take a liberal approach to drug policy. In this political climate, Emery operated his seed business openly, paid his taxes and even helped Health Canada connect medical marijuana users with his reputable marijuana seed distribution company – Marc Emery Seeds.

Second, there is the injustice and failure of drug prohibition. Canadians understand that drug prohibition has been a failure, and there is little appetite for a US-style war on drugs. From every corner of the political spectrum, there is opposition to marijuana prohibition in particular.

NDP leader Jack Layton, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, junior Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, former Canadian Alliance MP turned Liberal Keith Martin, Conservative MP Scott Reid, senior Conservative cabinet minister and former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day -- the list of politicians who think the current marijuana laws are unjust and unworkable is extensive. Extraditing Emery in this environment would not reflect public opinion or the collective views of those who make up the official political culture in Ottawa.

The life of a man who has dedicated his career to advancing liberty hangs in the balance, and it is one of those fights that can be won. In fact, the current disorder in parliament and scramble for power could end in Emery’s favour.

The Coalition for Canada (CFC) is the possible Bloc-Liberal-NDP coalition that hopes to form a coalition minority government to overthrow the Harper Conservatives. If successful, this coalition will set back the movement to reduce the size and scope of government – but, let’s be honest, that movement has not faired well under Harper or any other national leader. The coalition might be useful, however, in blocking the extradition of Emery and repudiating the Harper Conservative’s vicious and ill-considered drug war agenda.

In an interview with Emery today, he said “Keith Martin as Health Minister and Libby Davies in Justice would be great news for medical marijuana legalization.” Emery also said the coalition would likely “reduced penalties for other pot offences, and certainly bring an end to my extradition proceedings.” (I'm sure the guys in charge of "black ops" for the Conservatives will attempt use this comment from Emery to move public opinion against the CFC by suggesting they have ties to radicals.)

I will not go as far as to welcome a Coalition for Canada government, not even for Emery. But should this coalition of socialists be foisted on Canadians, I’ll hope for a happy ending for my friend Emery and for the repudiation of a misguided drug war surge strategy being advanced by the Harper Conservatives.

There will be little else to hope for.

Posted by Matthew Johnston on December 1, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (48) | TrackBack

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Heroin, yes; marijuana, no

Interesting story from Switzerland:

Swiss voters have backed a change in health policy that would provide prescription heroin to addicts.

Final results from the national referendum showed 68% of voters supported the plan.

...

The policy is described as one of last resort - prescribing addicts with the very drug that caused their problems in the first place - but supporters say it works, and Swiss voters appear to have agreed, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says.

At the same time, Swiss voters rejected a plan to decriminalize marijuana.

Recent studies suggesting that long-term use of the drug may be more harmful than previously thought looked likely to encourage a "No" to decriminalisation.

Early results showed only 36.8% of those voting supported decriminalising cannabis, the Associated Press (AP) news agency said.

If only marijuana was as addictive as heroin!

No, not really.

Posted by Terrence Watson on November 30, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Monday, November 24, 2008

Conrad Black thinks war on drugs is money "squandered"

Western Standard publisher Matthew Johnston posted about Conrad Black's surprisingly radical piece in the Times Online earlier today.

There's almost a temptation to conclude that Black's become something of a libertarian while going through his ordeal. You might call it the libertarian "scared-straight" program -- for the thoughtful, prison might be the ultimate conversion tool.

What I thought warranted a separate treatment was Black's apparent disapproval of the war on drugs. Here's the relevant excerpt:

The US is now a carceral state that imprisons eight to 12 times more people (2.5m) per capita than the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany or Japan. US justice has become a command economy based on the avarice of private prison companies, a gigantic prison service industry and politically influential correctional officers’ unions that agitate for an unlimited increase in the number of prosecutions and the length of sentences. The entire “war on drugs”, by contrast, is a classic illustration of supply-side economics: a trillion taxpayers’ dollars squandered and 1m small fry imprisoned at a cost of $50 billion a year; as supply of and demand for illegal drugs have increased, prices have fallen and product quality has improved.

Unless I'm misinterpreting him, it looks to me like Black thinks money spent on the war on drugs is money "squandered." That in spite of blowing through ridiculous sums of money, there is just about nothing to show for it.

Conrad Black understands what Milton Friedman said so long ago: "The war on drugs is a failure because it is a socialist enterprise." It always amazes me that there are still so-called conservatives who manage to somehow reconcile opposition to social engineering and big government, with the ultimate social engineering and big government program: the war on drugs (of course, the more subtle, intelligent, and thoughtful conservatives have long ago abandoned the war as anything other than an out-and-out socialist program) .

Separately, it's worth mentioning Pierre Lemieux's "three witches" column from the Western Standard in this connection. Published on Feb. 13, 2006, Lemieux compares Bruce Montague, Marc Emery, and Conrad Black. He dubs them the "three witches" that the state is determined to burn.

Here's an excerpt:

Yet there are crucial similarities. The three men are attacked for crimes that did not exist a few decades or even a few years ago, before the state defined them as crimes. All three defended some aspects of our traditional liberties: Bruce Montague has fought the wicked gun controls directed against peaceful citizens; Marc Emery has campaigned for the right of adults to consume what they want; and Conrad Black, despite his association with liberticidal establishment figures, has given a voice to libertarians in the newspapers he bought or created.

The state is going after these men with its full force and enormous resources. They are all liable to spend several years in jail--decades in jail for the two who are prosecuted by the U.S. government. Their travel is restricted by court order; two of the men (Montague and Emery) even had to hand in their passports. Black and Montague have had property seized or frozen before judgment. Black and Montague have been explicitly forbidden to have guns (as was Emery, but under a previous minor conviction), probably because guns are the ultimate symbol of the free man. Associates or friends of Black and Emery, and Montague's wife, have also been prosecuted. This is the state in all its glory.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on November 24, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Marc Emery extradition poll

Here's a poll we put together:

Vote away (if you want to post this poll on your own blog or website, here's the link for that).

If you want the back story, here's our take. If you want to read Emery's latest piece exclusive to the Western Standard, you can read it here.

As for our "official" position: The Western Standard strongly opposes the extradition of libertarian publisher and Western Standard columnist, Marc Emery.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on November 18, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (29) | TrackBack

Monday, November 17, 2008

(Video) History of marijuana and why it's illegal

Here's a pretty good documentary about marijuana prohibition entitled "The Union: The business behind getting high." Since we've posted plenty of columns by Marc Emery recently, and since many of our commenters are hostile to rethinking the war on marijuana, a documentary explaining some of the arguments in favour of marijuana legalization (not decriminalization) is just the thing to keep the discussion going.

Here's part one. Parts two through 11 are below the fold. The documentary is fairly comprehensive, and it is pleasant to watch. I'd be curious to read feedback and responses to the documentary in the comments.

(UPDATED with link)

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

Part Eleven

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on November 17, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Saturday, October 25, 2008

reason's Nick Gillespie on what a sensible drug policy would look like

UPDATE: Go below the fold for the video. It's too wide, and I don't know how to make it more narrow.

h/t Hit & Run

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on October 25, 2008 in Marijuana reform | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

John Frary: Reconsidering the war on drugs

Frary_2 We're big fans of professor John Frary, the Republican challenger in the second district of Maine. We've posted an overview of his campaign here, his campaign videos here, and even conducted an interview with him, where we discovered that he was already familiar with the Western Standard. He said he checks us out "quite regularly" and that we give him "much satisfaction."

We're happy to say that his campaign is one we've been following, and it's given us much satisfaction as well. In no small part, it's because Frary shares some gut-level pro-liberty positions with us at the WS.

So we've decided to publish Frary's opinion piece wherein he says Mainers, and the rest of us, need to reconsider the war on drugs.

Some excerpts:

The economics of the drug trade are clear. Demand remains undiminished. The cost of production remains low. Arrest a horde of producers, smugglers, wholesalers and retailers and all that can happen is that the profit margins go up. That is what must take place when supply diminishes while demand remains steady. Higher profits brings more recruits into the trade.

More: When the flow of one drug is reduced, alternative drugs seem always to spring up to take its place. I suppose you could round up the millions of users and execute them, but I think the public might be a little hesitant to resort to such extreme measures. I know I am.

Frary's not the only conservative to have re-thought and re-examined the war on drugs only to decide that it isn't worth the struggle. He mentions a few:

I'm in some very good company with prominent conservatives in questioning this policy -- Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley, to name just two. And this year the drug enforcement people are upset because they are finding fewer plants in northern Maine. It seems that the number of helicopters available to search is down, because they have been transferred to Afghanistan."

Personally, I prefer pursuing Osama Bin Laden to pursuing some Maine organic farmer.

You can read the whole column here. Frary promises us that he'll send us more of his writings in the future, and we promised him that we'd publish it. (And if you're reading this, and you're from Maine -- Vote for John Frary already. It'll make a bunch of liberty-loving Canadians happy.)

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on October 25, 2008 in Marijuana reform, U.S. politics | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBack

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Who owns you, Michael Coren?

I listened to part of the show today on 1010 CFRB Toronto called Two Bald Guys With Strong Opinions.

Today's show was two guys arguing for and against CCTV cameras on public property. It was my first time listening in, and I was driving so I couldn't call in and the phone number was not mentioned. I don't know whether the hosts just pick a side for the sake of the show, or whether Michael Coren was really taking the point of view of the surveillance statist. I'm going to assume he means it.

He put one caller on the spot (who brought up the Patriot Act) by insisting he name one government program that government had actually taken advantage of. The guy choked up, maybe a little nervous. But Michael had, in the previous three minutes, brought up human rights abuses by the HRCs (freedom of speech and expression, after all, is a human right). In light of this, why doesn't Michael name us one government program that hasn't failed or been abused by government in some way?

It was surprising and sad when Michael characterized libertarians as people who don't fully believe in the rule of law. In reality, all libertarians know that freedom is impossible without the rule of law protecting the rights of individuals. Maybe Michael just doesn't know enough about libertarian political philosophy. Here you go, Michael, why not learn about it from an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand source: Wikipedia. Or an even shorter version from Cato's David Boaz here.

Coren is in favour of the use of CCTV cameras. He's even in favour of using them to catch people for consensual crimes -- he said they should be used to catch drug dealers. In practice, that means users too. His argument is essentially an argument for a surveillance society that will help prop up the failed war on drugs.

I hear they now have loudspeakers on some of these cameras in the UK so that bureaucrats can bark orders at people if they throw a candy wrapper on the ground.

These cameras have been abused already to spy on people inside their own homes. Take a look at this, Michael. How many of these cases go unreported?

The thing that Michael needs to know is that in Canada we love our civil liberties and we don't want one camera per 14 people like in the UK. But adopting other countries' bad ideas is something governments do best. So maybe ours will adopt CCTV cameras with Michael's endorsement.

I heard a guy call in and say "if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide." Michael did not disagree. I heard that line from a Mountie who wanted to search my car. He said if I don't allow him to search my car, then that means I have something to hide. It was because of this illogic that I refused the search. The mounties don't have a right to search my car unless they suspect that there's something illegal going on. And refusing a search is not a reason to think that something illegal is going on. It's reason to think that I don't want some stranger looking through my stuff. It's also reason to think that I like freedom from tyranny.

I heard this same newspeak from Michael. He said that CCTV cameras on government property liberate us. That is like saying war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

This is the London, England that Michael Coren wants for Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto and so on.

So Michael Coren, who owns you?

Posted by Lindy Vopnfjord on October 23, 2008 in Canadian Conservative Politics, Canadian libertarian politics, Canadian Politics, Freedom of expression, Marijuana reform, Media, U.S. politics | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack

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