War On Drugs

Legal Weed Is Great, But Black And Brown Communities Can’t Be Left Behind

January 15, 2019 By Katelyn Johnson, Inthesetimes.com Strategize! Legalization, Marijuana, Racism, War On Drugs

In March 2017, Illinois State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Sen. Heather Steans began co-drafting the Tax & Regulate Cannabis like Alcohol bill. In the nearly two years since, Chicago NORML, a local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has encouraged Illinois legislators to prioritize social equity and criminal justice in the final version of the bill. In a January 2018 speech to industry stakeholders, then-candidate and now Illinois governor-elect JB Pritzker promised to “intentionally include black and brown entrepreneurs” in managing legal marijuana businesses in the state in order to address “historically systemic racism.”

Recovering From The War On Drugs: National Expungement Week October 20-27, 2018

October 26, 2018 Amani Sawari, Sawarimi.org Resist! Black Working Class, History, War On Drugs

For decades the Black community has been heavily targeted by the war on drugs which resulted in the disenfranchisement of many families of color and the destruction of Black communities nationwide. Now the same drugs are making white business owners billions of dollars for engaging in the same practices that black ‘entrepreneurs’ were incarcerated for at astronomical rates. Thousands of individuals still wait behind bars while others who have been released still suffer from the effects of their incarceration with records that bar them from the ability to vote, obtain public assistance, find work, fund an education or acquire housing.

Don’t Blame Addicts For America’s Opioid Crisis. Here Are The Real Culprits

September 4, 2017 Chris McGreal, www.theguardian.com Educate! Drugs, Opioids, War On Drugs

By Chris McGreal for The Guardian - America’s opioid crisis was caused by rapacious pharma companies, politicians who colluded with them and regulators who approved one opioid pill after another. Of all the people Donald Trump could blame for the opioid epidemic, he chose the victims. After his own commission on the opioid crisis issued an interim report this week, Trump said young people should be told drugs are “No good, really bad for you in every way.” The president’s exhortation to follow Nancy Reagan’s miserably inadequate advice and Just Say No to drugs is far from useful. The then first lady made not a jot of difference to the crack epidemic in the 1980s. But Trump’s characterisation of the source of the opioid crisis was more disturbing. “The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place,” he said. That is straight out of the opioid manufacturers’ playbook. Facing a raft of lawsuits and a threat to their profits, pharmaceutical companies are pushing the line that the epidemic stems not from the wholesale prescribing of powerful painkillers - essentially heroin in pill form - but their misuse by some of those who then become addicted.

Thousands Demand End To Killings In Duterte’s Drug War

August 23, 2017 Staff, www.aljazeera.com Resist! Philippines, War On Drugs

By Staff of Al Jazeera - Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Philippine capital of Manila to denounce President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, as they marked the death anniversary of one of the country's pro-democracy heroes. Human rights advocates, youth groups, and religious communities on Monday defied a tropical storm that brought steady rain to gather at the memorial of the 1986 people power revolution to call for an end to the killings in Duterte's war on drugs. Amid public pressure, Duterte said on Monday there could have been abuses in his anti-drug war policy. "There is a possibility that in some of police incidents there could be abuses. I admit that," Duterte told reporters in Manila. "These abusive police officers are destroying the credibility of the government." Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan, reporting from Manila, said at least 4,000 people joined in the rally, adding that a separate protest was also held in another part of the city. Protesters are demanding an independent investigation into the summary executions and police operations that left thousands of people dead. They said the president should be held accountable for the deaths. Demonstrators waved Philippine flags and carried banners that read: "Resist the Fascist!", "Stop the Killings!", and "We will fight" among others.

The Context Of Trump’s ‘Vile Aggression’ Against Venezuela

February 26, 2017 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Educate! Donald Trump, Imperialism, Regime Change, Venezuela, War On Drugs

By Staff for Telesur. On Monday, the U.S. launched its latest diplomatic attack on Venezuela by officially putting Vice President Tareck El Aissami on a sanctions list reserved for “drug kingpins” without offering any evidence or issuing any criminal charges. Venezuela was quick to respond, with the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez calling the move “lamentable and highly dangerous,” adding that her government “will not tolerate any aggression on our soil against our ability to be free.” For his part, El Aissami — who has vigorously and categorically denied the accusation — said the “miserable and vile aggression” was simply “an acknowledgment of (his) status as an anti-imperialist revolutionary.” As Venezuela contemplates its official response to the move, it’s important to review the background to this latest sanction.

Trump Plans To Double-Down On Mistake Of The War On Drugs

February 17, 2017 y Phillip Smith, www.alternet.org Educate! Donald Trump, War On Drugs

By y Phillip Smith for AlterNet - In a sharp break with the Obama administration, which distanced itself from harsh anti-drug rhetoric and emphasized treatment for drug users over punishment, President Trump this week reverted to tough drug war oratory and backed it up with a series of executive orders he said are "designed to restore safety in America." "We're going to stop the drugs from pouring in," Trump told law enforcement professionals of the Major Cities Chiefs Association on Wednesday. "We're going to stop those drugs from poisoning our youth, from poisoning our people. We're going to be ruthless in that fight. We have no choice. And we're going to take that fight to the drug cartels and work to liberate our communities from their terrible grip of violence." Trump also lambasted the Obama administration for one its signature achievements in criminal justice reform, opening the prison doors for more than 1,700 drug war prisoners...

Large Anti-Trump Protests In Philadelphia At GOP Retreat

January 26, 2017 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! #NoDAPL, Donald Trump, Environment, Healthcare, KXL pipeline, LGBTQ, War On Drugs

By Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. On Thursday afternoon the protests grew filling the streets of downtown Philadelphia when Trump arrived at noon. People were protesting a host of extreme right wing issues that Trump and the GOP are pursuing including immigration, healthcare, women's rights, the drug war and civil liberties, urged tolerance and love as an antidote to hate. Thousands of people filled city blocks around the Loews Hotel. People also protested his executive orders that seek to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline as well as Trump's threats to the environment.

Portugal 15 Years Of Drug Decriminalization

October 16, 2016 Will Godfrey, theinfluence.org Create! Decriminalization, Portugal, War On Drugs

By Will Godfrey for The Influence. “Will decriminalization solve the drug scourge?” wonders a Washington Post column today. It’s a question being widely asked in the wake of a major report published yesterday by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, in which those two prestigious organizations called for the decriminalization of all drugs for personal use. The many reasons to support such a move include the right to self-determination when it comes to drug use; better prospects of reducing drug-related harms; and ending America’s appalling, racially biased levels of drug-related arrestsand incarceration. Portugal decriminalized all drugs back in 2001, eliminating criminal penalties for consumption and possession in quantities deemed to be for personal use. Portugal’s bold approach has been in place for long enough to allow meaningful analysis of its results. The result, It’s easy to answer the question of whether or not the US should decriminalize drugs. Indeed, the only debate should be around whether decriminalization goes far enough—whether full legal regulation . . .

Death Penalty for Heroin Dealers?

October 14, 2016 Maya Schenwar, www.truth-out.org Educate! Death Penalty, Drugs, Heroin, War On Drugs

By Maya Schenwar for Truth Out - April, former Attorney General Eric Holder told Frontline that the drug war "is over." Over the last part of his final term, President Obama has echoed that refrain, granting clemency to hundreds of people incarcerated for drug offenses and emphasizing that the US has relied too much on the criminal punishment system to address drug-related problems.

War On Drugs Harmed Public Health: Report

March 31, 2016 Vik Adhopia, www.cbc.ca Create! Public Health, War On Drugs

By Vik Adhopia for CBC News - The war on drugs has failed, fuelling higher rates of infection and harming public health and human rights to such a degree that it's time to decriminalize non-violent minor drug offences, according to a new global report. The authors of the Johns Hopkins-Lancet Commission on Public Health and International Drug Policy call for minor use, possession and petty use to be decriminalized following measurably worsened human health.

Zeese: The War On The War On Drugs

October 31, 2015 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com Resistance Report Anti-War, Legal System, Marijuana, War On Drugs

By Eleanor Goldfield of Act Out for Occupy.com - The interview examines howending the drug war, especially the war on marijuana, has moved from being a third rail politicial issue to having widespread mainstream support. The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and three other states with more on the horizon is not showing any serious problems and is bringing in millions of dollars in new taxes while savings millions on law enforcement. Zeese explains how the most powerful way to deal with drug abuse is not laws that make them illegal, which have all sorts of unexpected consequences, but cultural controls where people learn what is appropriate and inappropriate drug use. These cultural controls are actually undermined by the war on drugs. Zeese also explains how the drug war is linked to other issues in that (1) we are seeking justice on a wide range of issus including police violence, fair and living wages, climate justice, housing justice and the like; and (2) progress toward justice is blocked by a power structure that puts profits ahead of the necessities of the people and the protection of the planet. He urges us to understand the links between these issue so that we can build a bigger social movement for economic, racial and enviornmental justice.

Why 30 Year Drug War Veteran Now Fights The Drug War

October 13, 2015 Richard Juman, www.alternet.org Resist! Drug Policy, War On Drugs

By Richard Juman for Alternet - When it comes to the War on Drugs, there are few people in a better position to comment on the futility, brutality and tragedy of the endeavor than retired Major Neill Franklin. He spent over 30 years participating in, and directing, state and local police anti-drug efforts before retiring to become the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which advocates for the legalization of drugs and a law enforcement approach that defends human rights and views drug misusers as persons in need of treatment as opposed to punishment. He describes the evolution of his personal philosophy and his efforts to produce change in this week’s Professional Voices…Dr. Richard Juman

Ending Police Militarization, One City At A Time

September 30, 2015 Ana Conner and Tara Tabassi, www.truth-out.org Strategize! police brutality, Urban, War On Drugs, Wars and Militarism

By Ana Conner and Tara Tabassi in Truth Out - Urban Shield, the world's largest SWAT training and war-weapons expo, was held in September in California's Bay Area, beginning on the 14th anniversary of 9/11. Hosted each year since 2007 in the Bay Area's Alameda County (last year in Oakland, this year in Pleasanton) with exercises all across the Bay, it is attended by hundreds of local, federal and international law enforcement agencies and weapons manufacturers. Since his tenure began in 2007, Alameda County's sheriff, Gregory J. Ahern, has been waging war on Black and Brown communities across the Bay Area. Urban Shield solidifies Ahern's war, and makes it a profitable one. As the Bay Area Urban Shield's core organizer, he has received over $100,000 in contributions for his electoral campaign from Urban Shield vendors, such as 511 Tactical, Adamson Police Products and Corizon Health.

US Secretly Targeted Evo Morales Of Bolivia

September 16, 2015 Ryan Grim and Nick Wing, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Bolivia, Evo Morales, Imperialism, War On Drugs

By Ryan Grim and Nick Wing in The Huffington Post - The United States has secretly indicted top officials connected to the government of Bolivian President Evo Morales for their alleged involvement in a cocaine trafficking scheme. The indictments, secured in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting called "Operation Naked King," have not been previously reported. Morales, a former leader of Bolivia's coca growers union, has long been at loggerheads with the DEA. In 2008, Morales expelled the agency from the country and embarked on his own strategy of combatting drug trafficking, acknowledging the traditional uses of coca in Bolivian culture and working cooperatively with coca growers to regulate some legal activity and to promote alternative development elsewhere. Morales' plan has been effective at reducing cultivation, according to the United Nations.

Drug Warriors Have Not Given Up, Call For More Drug War

September 12, 2015 Nick Wing, Ryan Grim, Roque Planas, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Mass Incarceration, police brutality, War On Drugs, Wars and Militarism

By Nick Wing, Ryan Grim, Roque Planas - For most Americans, including some presidential candidates, the record on the U.S.-led drug war is settled: After spending more than $1 trillion on efforts that have taken or destroyed the lives of millions around the world, drug purity has risen, prices have fallen and rates of use have remained the same. It has, in no uncertain terms, been a catastrophic failure. But in an op-ed published in The Boston Globe this week, two former drug czars say we have it all wrong. It's time to "Bring back the war on drugs," they argue, and recommit to an enforcement-first policy that puts forth incarceration and interdiction as the best tools to address surging heroin overdose rates. The column, written by William J. Bennett and John P. Walters, drug czars under Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, is based on the controversial premise that the drug policies of the last quarter century have actually been effective.

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