Drug legalization

Use of illegal drugs by politicians following prohibition

Politicians that have admitted to recreational use following prohibition include mayors, Governors, members of the House of Representatives, Senators, and Presidents. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_politicians_who_admit_to_cannabis_use

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Former Vice President of the United States Al Gore

President of the United States Barack Obama

Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin

Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger

Name	Lifetime	Highest position	Party	Ref.
Bruce Babbitt	b. 1938	Governor of Arizona, Secretary of the Interior	Democratic	^[13]
Michael Bloomberg	b. 1942	Mayor of New York City	Independent	^[14]
Bill Bradley	b. 1943	Senator from New Jersey	Democratic	^[15]
George W. Bush	b. 1946	President of the United States	Republican	^[16]
Jack Conway	b. 1969	Attorney General of Kentucky	Democratic	^[17]
Paul Cellucci	b. 1948	Governor of Massachusetts	Republican	^[18]
Lincoln Chafee	b. 1953	Senator from Rhode Island, Governor of Rhode Island	Independent	^[19]
Lawton Chiles	1930–1998	Senator from Florida, Governor of Florida	Democratic	^[20]
Bill Clinton	b. 1946	President of the United States	Democratic	^[21]
Steve Cohen	b. 1949	Member of the House of Representatives	Democratic	^[22]
Andrew Cuomo	b. 1957	Governor of New York	Democratic	^[23]
Howard Dean	b. 1948	Governor of Vermont, Chair of the Democratic National Committee	Democratic	^[24]
Joseph DeNucci	b. 1939	Auditor of Massachusetts	Democratic	^[18]
Mary Donohue	b. ?	Lieutenant Governor of New York	Republican	^[25]
John Edwards	b. 1953	Senator from North Carolina	Democratic	^[24]
Newt Gingrich	b. 1943	Speaker of the United States House of Representatives	Republican	^[13]
Al Gore	b. 1948	Vice President of the United States	Democratic	^[26]
Gary Johnson	b. 1953	Governor of New Mexico	Libertarian	^[27]
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II	b. 1952	Member of the House of Representatives	Democratic	^[18]
John Kerry	b. 1943	Senator from Massachusetts	Democratic	^[24]
Ed Koch	1924–2013	Member of the House of Representatives, Mayor of New York City	Democratic	^[28]
Richard Lamm	b. 1935	Governor of Colorado	Democratic	^[29]
Connie Mack III	b. 1940	Senator from Florida	Republican	^[20]
Kyle E. McSlarrow	b. 1960	Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy	Republican	^[30]
John Miller	b. 1938	Member of the House of Representatives	Republican	^[31]
Susan Molinari	b. 1958	Member of the House of Representatives	Republican	^[32]
Jim Moran	b. 1945	Member of the House of Representatives	Democratic	^[30]
Evelyn Murphy	b. 1940	Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts	Democratic	^[18]
Richard Neal	b. 1949	Member of the House of Representatives	Democratic	^[18]
Barack Obama	b. 1961	President of the United States	Democratic	^[33]
Sarah Palin	b. 1964	Governor of Alaska	Republican	^[34]
George Pataki	b. 1945	Governor of New York	Republican	^[23]
David Paterson	b. 1954	Governor of New York	Democratic	^[35]
Edward W. Pattison	1932–1990	Member of the House of Representatives	Democratic	^[36]
Claiborne Pell	1918–2009	Senator from Rhode Island	Democratic	^[13]
Arnold Schwarzenegger	b. 1947	Governor of California	Republican	^[37]
William Scranton	b. 1917	Governor of Pennsylvania, Ambassador to the United Nations	Republican	^[38]
Bill Thompson	b. 1953	New York City Comptroller	Democratic	^[39]
Peter G. Torkildsen	b. 1958	Member of the House of Representatives	Republican	^[18]
Rand Paul	b. 1963	Senator from Kentucky	Republican
Jesse Ventura	b. 1951	Governor of Minnesota	Independent	^[40]

Czech President Signs Medical Marijuana Bill; US Congress Warming up to Marijuana Policy Reform

President Vaclav Klaus signed into law Friday a bill that legalizes medical marijuana in the Czech Republic.

The bill had heavy support from both ruling political parties. It was overwhelmingly passed by the Czech Senate last month by a 67-2 vote after already passing the Lower House of Parliament in December.

The Czech Republic has some of the most liberal drug laws in the world, and is one of the most marijuana-friendly countries in Europe. Possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana, 1.5 grams of heroin, 1 gram of cocaine and 4 tablets of ecstasy and cultivation of up to 5 plants are a misdemeanor offense since January 2010.

Bipartisan group of Congressional members seek to reclassify marijuana for medical use, allow for ‘fair’ trials

It used to be that congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul, both now retired, had pretty much the monopoly of drug policy reform in the US Congress, working together on a number of stillborn legalization bills. On the heel of the November marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, and as polls reveal strong support for state rights to decide their own marijuana policy, overwhelming support for medical marijuana and majority support for outright legalization, Congress appears to be finally catching up with its constituents. More than a dozen Members of Congress co-introduced legislation on February 14, that would reclassify marijuana for medical use and provide federal defendants the right to use state law compliance as evidence in medical marijuana trials, a right they’re currently denied.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced H.R. 689, the “States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act,” that aims to reschedule marijuana, allows states to establish production and distribution laws without interference by the federal government, and removes current obstacles to research. H.R. 689 co-sponsors include Representatives Cohen (D-TN), Farr (D-CA), Grijalva (D-AZ), Hastings (D-FL), Honda (D-CA), Huffman (D-CA), Lee (D-CA), Moran (D-VA), Nadler (D-NY), Polis (D-CO), Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Schakowsky (D-IL). “Nineteen jurisdictions have passed laws recognizing the importance of providing access to medical marijuana for the hundreds of thousands of patients who rely on it, it is time for the federal government to respect these decisions, and stop inhibiting safe access,” said Congressman Blumenauer.

Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) introduced the “Truth in Trials Act,” which seeks to overturn the prohibition on medical marijuana evidence in federal court.

Both bills were introduced in anticipation of the National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference, “Bridging the Gap Between Public & Policy” on February 22-25 in Washington, D.C. The conference will highlight medical and legal experts, Members of Congress and other policymakers. Monday, February 25 will be a lobby day with hundreds of patient advocates meeting their Members of Congress and asking for reform.

The move is part of a scheduled flurry of congressional activity from the expanding marijuana reform supporters in Congress. Representative Blumenauer had previously introduced on February 6 “The Marijuana Tax Equity Act” that would create a taxation framework for marijuana similar to that in place for tobacco and alcohol. On the same day, Representative Jared Polis, (D. Colorado) introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, that would call on the federal government to regulate marijuana much like it does alcohol.

While most of these bills are probably a long shot, they definitively heat up the debate and build up momentum for future battles. Even if President Obama is not likely to sign anytime soon a medical marijuana bill, not to mention recreational, the climate for marijuana policy reform has definitively changed on the banks of the Potomac, warming up considerably since last November.

As for the Obama administration, it has remained remarkably silent on the topic since November, which would actually be the best possible strategy if Obama had any genuine interest in marijuana policy reform. In the currently highly-charged and partisan climate that still prevails in the US Congress, the Obama administration would be well-advised to stay on the sideline and let Congress assume the initiative on such a charged issue. The issue even has some nominal bi-partisan support, which would most likely evaporate if Obama was to take a firm position on it.

Obama is the first US president who has the potential to really understand the issues of illegal drugs in a very personal and intimate way. While he consistently appeared reform-inclined prior to his election, his positions have been far more ambiguous since taking office. Was he careful not to be labeled as soft on drugs? By cracking down on marijuana dispensaries, did he intend to bring the War on Drugs to the Caucasian community? After all, if Caucasians were targeted even half as much as African Americans, the War on Drugs would most likely be over pretty soon.

There is little doubt that Obama truly gets the futility of criminalizing users as well, probably, as small time dealers; is he ready to concede the inanity of prohibitionist policies altogether? Drug policy activists generally expect some substantial changes during his second term. His administration’s response, or the continued lack of it to the Washington and Colorado legalization will undoubtedly give a clear indication of his deep-rooted intentions.
Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”
www.world-war-d.com
“World War-D” on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/0984690409/
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/worldward
Twitter:@JDhywood
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jdhywood

Czech Republic President Signs Bill Legalizing Medical Marijuana

President Vaclav Klaus signed into law Friday a bill that legalizes medical marijuana in the Czech Republic. The bill had heavy support from both ruling political parties.

The bill was overwhelmingly passed by the Czech Senate last month by a 67-2 vote after already passing the Lower House of Parliament in December.

The Czech Republic is one of the most marijuana-friendly countries in Europe. Although marijuana remains illegal, lawmakers removed all penalties for possession of up to a half ounce and cultivation of five or fewer plants in 2010.

International Anti Corruption Day: Help UNODC to see the light on war on drugs and corruption

UNODC solicits youth submission for 2013 International Anti Corruption Day

For this year’s International Anti Corruption Day, UNODC is calling on youth between the ages of 15- 25 to submit their ideas and maybe have them featured in the 2013 theme. People within that age group or with children in that age group should encourage entrance to the competition. We should inundate them with entrants claiming that the surest way to reduce corruption would be to legalize and regulate all drugs. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/ngos/corruption-news-7.html

A brilliant suggestion by LEAP founder Jack Cole; share it as widely as you can!

Marijuana legalization debate at the US Congress

Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jared Polis of Colorado plan to introduce Federal marijuana legalization bill.

Based on a legalization measure previously pushed by former Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Ron Paul of Texas, the bill would regulate marijuana like alcohol at the federal level. Growers would have to obtain a federal permit in states that legalize pot and it would be illegal to bring marijuana in states where it is illegal. Oversight of marijuana would be removed from the Drug Enforcement Administration and given to the newly renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms. The measure would impose hefty excise taxes and licensing fees.

While the bill is still quite a long shot, it is one of many planned to be introduced to the US Congress in 2013 and is indicative of the growing momentum for marijuana policy reform on both sides of the aisle. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last week came out in support of hemp legalization in his home state of Kentucky, and U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is expected to introduce legislation allowing states to set their own marijuana policy. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced in December plans to hold a hearing on the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws and has urged an end to federal “mandatory minimum” sentences that lead to long prison stints for drug crimes.

Colombia, Uruguay, Guatemala: Drug Policy Reform on the Move in Latin America

Colombia: Creation of an Advisory Commission on Drug Policy

Colombia’s drug legislation is being re-assessed in an attempt to tackle drug use, trafficking and other drugs-related issues that have plagued the country at all levels of society for the past 30 years. To that effect, the justice minister, Ruth Stella Correa, launched on January 29 the first meeting of the Advisory Commission on Drug Policy (Comisión Asesora de Política de Drogas). The commission includes Former President Cesar Gaviria and former director of the National Police, General Oscar Naranjo Trujillo, as well as a number of experts and academics. It will evaluate the results and impact of the strategies on drugs that have been implemented over the past ten years, consolidate the progress and achievements in different areas, and make recommendations for a new anti-drug strategy.

Cesar Gaviria was president of Colombia (1990-94) and secretary general of the Organization of American States (1994-2004). He is founder and Board-member of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He is an outspoken advocate of drug policy reform.

General Oscar Naranjo Trujillo was director of the National Police from May 2007 to June 2012. As member of counter-intelligence and special forces, he was involved in all major operations against the powerful Colombian drug cartels since the 1980s, including Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. He has been credited with reducing the violence in Colombia during the 1980s and 1990s. He is special advisor on security issues in the government of newly elected Mexican President Pena Nieto.

The Justice Minister said in her Twitter account “We decided to form this Commission to guide us in the design of public policy with a holistic approach. We believe that the drug policy debate should take place within the framework of scientific and empirical evidence”. She further noted that the world drug problem requires that countries seek alternative public policies to properly confront the issue.

Speaking after the meeting with the commission, the justice minister introduced a new drug bill to legalize synthetic drugs such as ecstasy. The proposal would replace current laws, which ban cocaine and marijuana, although possession of small amounts is decriminalized. Stella Correa pointed out that the Constitutional Court had already spoken against the criminalization of possession for personal use of marijuana and cocaine.

Critics say the inclusion of synthetic drugs will only confuse the debate.

Uruguay to launch a broad national debate about the Marijuana legalization project in February:

The Uruguayan government introduced in June 2012 a project of legalization of marijuana under state control. The government has struggled to gain popular support for this project, with opposition still at around 64%. Last December President Mujica decided to slow down the project, originally scheduled to be sent to vote in the Parliament in December, and announced that he would allow more time for education and debate on the issue. In order to achieve greater consensus, the secretary general of the National Drug Board, July Calzada, announced On January 28 the launch in February of a broad debate on the issue in coordination with lawmakers.

We just wish that the US government would follow the lead of its Southern neighbors!

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina: A man on a mission

Ever since taking office in January 2012, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, a retired general, has been on a mission: to look for alternatives to drug prohibition and the failed war on drugs, and to start a debate about drugs regulation. From the OAS in April 2012, to the UN in September, to the Davos Summit on January 23-25 and then the Latino-European summit on January 26-27, Perez Molina has been unrelenting in promoting his initiative. Under existential threats from narco-warfare following decades of military dictatorship and right-wing militia violence that brought his country to the brink of disintegration in the 1990s and early 2000s, and deeply committed to his country reconstruction, Perez Molina is acutely aware that he may not have another option. He now needs to get firm support behind his initiative. Read more http://www.world-war-d.com/2013/01/29/president-perez-molina-leadership-for-drug-policy-reform/

Drug Policy Reform: 2013 in progress 2013-01-29

A brief presentation of the major trends and events in the Drug Policy Debate in 2013. Latin America is taking the lead with Colombia setting up an Advisory Commission on Drug Policy, Uruguay launching a national debate on marijuana legalization, and Guatemala taking the lead of the global drug policy debate.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Government seems to take an hands-off approach to marijuana legalization while more states are lining up to legalize medical or recreation use.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina taking a leadership position in the fight for drug policy reform on the world scene

Guatemala has been particularly affected by the War on Drugs because of its location on the most transited drug trafficking route in the world and has become a battleground between the two dominant Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the brutal and much feared Los Zetas. The two cartels are caught in a ferocious fight for the control of the Caribbean and the Pacific routes, with local populations caught in the middle. The cartels largely outgun the police and army, and corrupt all institutions, starting with the justice system. Los Zetas notoriously recruit within the Kaibiles, the elite commando of the Guatemalan Military.

Since taking office in January 2012, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina has been quite blunt in his assessment of the failure of the war on drugs, calling relentlessly for drug policy reform, advocating a regulatory approach to drugs rather than the extremes of a full-blown war on drugs or free-market legalization. Such positions have propelled him and his impoverished country on the world scene, where he is so far the first and lone head of state pushing openly and forcefully for global drug policy reform. As such, he is seen as a figurehead of the drug policy reform movement.

During a press conference on the opening day of World Economic Forum, Perez Molina, the first Guatemalan President to be invited to Davos as a speaker, called for a new approach towards regulating drugs, implemented “on a scientific basis” and geared at reducing the harms associated with the illegal drug trade. “Prohibition, this war on drugs, has seen cartels grow and the results are not what we looked for, … There is a new trend towards drugs now – not war, but a new perspective and a different way of dealing with the problem” declared Perez Molina.

In Davos, the right-wing retired general found an unlikely ally in billionaire liberal philanthropist Georges Soros who joined him to announce a Drug Policy Reform summit, scheduled for June 2013 in Tika, Guatemala. The summit will gather world leaders and policy organizations to discuss alternative drug control proposals. It will be organized in coordination with the Soros foundation, as well as the Beckley Foundation and the Carter Foundation. Based in the UK, the Beckley Foundation established a Guatemala office in June 2012 and works closely with President Perez Molina and his government on issues of drug policy. The Foundation director, Amanda Feilding, met with President Molina in Guatemala on January 17 to deliver proposals for alternative drug policy options.

George Soros, a major advocate for drug policy reform, stressed the illegal drug trade’s harmful effects on developing democracies, declaring “Drug policy has endangered political stability and security in many countries, and not just in Latin America.” He then evoked the situation in Mali which has turned since the Libyan revolution into a North African hub for the drug cartels, on the route from Latin America to Europe via West Africa. The cartels have taken advantage of the instability and established alliances with guerilla groups and Islamist extremists, while the instability affecting the entire region from Nigeria to West Africa, Tunisia and Libya, has turned this impoverished country, once one of Africa’s most stable, into a regional and international nexus of Islamic extremism.

Perez Molina is increasingly taking a leadership position in the fight for drug policy reform on the world scene. In a recent interview to the UK Observer, Perez Molina declared: “I believe western countries fail to understand the reality that countries such as Guatemala and those of Central America have to live in. There has been plenty of talk, but no effective response. I believe, ultimately, that this is due to a lack of understanding on the part of western countries.” He added that western leaders must look beyond their domestic agendas. “A message should be sent to the leaders of the countries with the biggest drug markets. They must think not only of… the context of their country, but of what is happening in the world, in regions such as Central America, where this destruction, this weakening of democracy, is happening. They must be open to recognising that the struggle against drugs, in the way it has been conducted, has failed.”

By bringing the drug policy debate to the World Economic Forum, Perez Molina is reaching out to the business community, which could open up a new strategy in the push for drug policy reform. While pushing for reform with other Latin American leaders at the UN and at the Organization of American States, Perez Molina has powerful potential allies within the business community, which could help build up the pressure and fuel the momentum for reform, as a surprising number of companies have voiced support for a regulated drugs market.

After Davos, Perez Molina headed to the first Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and European Union (EU) in Santiago de Chile on January 26-27, with 43 heads of state in attendance. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was founded in 2010 at the impulse of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and is essentially an OAS (Organization of the American States) minus the US and Canada, and with the prominent presence of Cuba. Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 and officially reinstated in 2009, but still wasn’t invited to the 2012 OAS Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, at the insistence of the US and over the objections of virtually all other OAS members. The continued suspension of Cuba from the OAS has been one of the numerous sources of regional frustration with this institution. CELAC is a clear regional statement of independence from the Northerly Big Brother, and its close ally, little brother Canada as the region is experiencing unprecedented economic growth and starting to flex its political power. By reaching out towards Europe for its second summit in a relation of equals, CELAC is sending a clear message of frustration towards the US, signaling that the era of US diktats and vetoes is over. CELAC-EU President pro-tempore Sebastián Piñera expressed his desire for a productive summit and affirmed his determination to meet ambitious objectives.

At the request of Perez Molina and with the explicit support of presidents Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica), Enrique Peña Nieto (México) and Dilma Rousseff (Brasil), the article 36 of the final declaration affirms the signers’ commitment to review, discuss and improve the effectiveness of the strategies and tools available to address comprehensively and in a balanced manner the consequences of drug trafficking and the issues of co-responsibility between nations.

The presidents explicitly supported the stance of Pérez Molina, who considered inappropriate to wait until 2016, as suggested by the United Nations to review the 1961 Convention on narcotic drugs and the 1971 and 1978 protocols. “We cannot keep putting off the debate for three more years, we must pick up the pace, because while we discuss consumers, traffickers and all those involved in the process keep dying. We must start immediately,” said the president in the Chilean capital in his address to the CELAC-EU. He added that the militarization of the fight against narco-trafficking has failed as well.

Perez Molina expects a change of attitude in the US following the decisive victories for drug legalization in Colorado and Washington, and is building on the momentum it created: “There is going to be a change away from the paradigm of prohibitionism and the war against drugs, and there is going to be a process that will take us towards regulation. So I would expect a more flexible and more open position from President Obama in his second term.”

The January 22 meeting between Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Eric holder seems to indicate that the Obama administration is indeed likely to take a hands-off approach to the Colorado and Washington marijuana legalization process. This would have significant consequences as a marijuana legalization bill was introduced on January 18 by the state house speaker in Hawaii and similar bills are expected to be introduced this year by lawmakers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Also at the Davos Forum, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said Wednesday that her country, Mexico and Colombia have opened talks with U.S. officials to discuss the impact of marijuana legalization and medical marijuana in a growing number of U.S. states. In reaction to the Guatemalan government call for a debate on drug regulation, Laura Chinchilla declared that criminalizing drug use is “far from the solution”, but ruled out legalization in her own country for the time being. Another of Davos’ participant, Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto also declared his openness to an honest debate on legalization while reaffirming his personal opposition to the idea.

While many Latin American heads of state, starting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, have expressed their openness to the drug legalization debate, none has crossed the line yet to join Perez Molina in the anti-prohibitionist camp. So far, only Uruguay has taken deliberate steps by introducing a project of marijuana legalization under state control in June 2012 that is still going through the parliamentary process. Still, Latin American leaders are increasingly aware that they may not have any other alternative, but are facing generally socially conservative populations that so far seem strongly opposed to the idea of legalization. Many Latin American countries have spent decades fighting drug trafficking, and have paid a tremendous human cost in the War on Drugs; changing gears towards legalization will represent a major paradigm shift that won’t happen overnight. By keeping the debate in the headlines, and by bringing it to wider and wider international audiences, Perez Molina is imposing a major revaluation of long established dogmas and forcing a scientific, pragmatic and reasoned approach to an issue mired in misconception and shrouded in moral preconceptions and taboos.

The drug policy debate has evolved considerably over the past year, with major advances that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. Thanks to his quiet and unwavering determination, the retired general has been on a mission since taking office, and has brought the drug legalization debate to the Organization of American States in April 2012, to the UN in September, to the Ibero-American Summit in November and now to Davos and the Latino-European Summit. Under existential threats from narco-warfare following decades of military dictatorship and right-wing militia violence that brought his country to the brink of disintegration in the 1990s and early 2000s, and deeply committed to his country reconstruction, Perez Molina is acutely aware that the status quo is not an option, and is acting accordingly. For all appearances, there is no turning back.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization” – http://www.world-war-d.com/.

jeffreydhywood@world-war-d.com

Prohibition in a market economy

The funding dogma of capitalism and the basic principle of market economy, the law of supply and demand, is inescapable. It must be obeyed one way or another and there is absolutely no way to tamper with it. If it cannot be obeyed within the framework of legality, it will find other means and if supply creates its own demand, its corollary is also true that demand will create its own supply, which is why the supply reduction strategy of the war on drugs is condemned to fail and the demand reduction strategy is just as doomed.

The drive for mind-alteration, either through psychoactive substances or otherwise is deeply ingrained in human nature as the study of the brain reward/pleasure system clearly indicates. Whether we like it or not, this basic drive creates a demand for psychoactive substances. As a result of globalization and prohibitionist policies, this demand increasingly is not being adequately met by legal psychoactive substances as consumers want to diversify from alcohol and tobacco. The thrill of forbidden fruit adds to the appeal of illegal substances while the shadow economy in which black market thrives give rise to sub-cultures revolving around the commerce and use of such substances. Such sub-cultures are increasingly the dominant culture in many parts of the world from the US-Mexican border zone to West Africa or Central Asia and even in Northern California.

Drug trafficking arose as an unavoidable consequence of prohibition’s attempt at violating the inescapable law of supply and demand. Prohibition and drug trafficking grew in symbiosis, mirroring each other like the yin and the yang of the same entity, and as the war-on-drugs became harsher and harsher, the law of supply and demand mandated a reciprocal market response as drug traffickers became tougher and tougher and ever more powerful. Harsher enforcement also creates scarcity, which increases profit to the illegal trade.

Prohibitionism not only attempts to violate the basic principle of capitalism, it created a capitalist aberration by promoting the emergence of a class of super-capitalist, the drug traffickers, operating unencumbered by the rule of law and who became criminals first and foremost as a direct consequence of the illegal status of their activity. Far from me to try to exonerate drug traffickers; lots of them are clearly ruthless criminals in their methods and their means. But Al Capone was right when he said that he was just a businessman filling up a market need. In a sense, black markets are the rawest and purest form of capitalism, unregulated, unbridled capitalism, without check and balances, without the rule of law, unburdened by taxes and drug traffickers are the purest types of capitalist.

Because their activity, the commerce of illegal substances, is illegal, conflicts arising from their activity cannot be resolved in a legal manner as drug traffickers are denied the rule of law to regulate their activity. Thus an activity that had been artificially and somewhat arbitrarily declared illegal and therefore criminal led to an explosion of real crime as violence became the only mean for resolution of conflict arising from the commerce of the illegal substances. If a dealer doesn’t get paid, his gun is his collection agency. Violence is the only way to resolve disputes. Territories are protected by guns, not by contracts and lawyers, and conquered at gun point. Agreements are enforced by guns, not by judges. Violence is the rule of law.

The use of violence in conflict resolution has a dual purpose, a punitive role and a dissuasive role, which logically leads to ever-escalating violence. The level, the intensity, the savagery even of drug violence has been spiraling out of control as a logical consequence of its dissuasive function. Rothstein was a gentleman compared to his trainees and disciples Lucky Luciano and his peers; Al Capone and Luciano were altar boys compared to Pablo Escobar; Escobar is a saint compared to Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel or La Familia Michoacana. It is hard to imagine how the current wave of gory and gruesome atrocities can be surpassed but I am afraid we will find out soon enough.

Drug trafficking organization try to reduce the negative effects of violence on their activity and set up hierarchies, rules and alliances, but when hierarchies are shattered, rules are broken or alliances fall apart, violence takes over. Violence tends to grow with instability in a shadow economy and as law enforcement efforts become more successful at disrupting drug trafficking networks, narco-violence increases exponentially. As newcomers rush to fill the void created by arrested or killed drug kingpins, turf battles rage.

As for corruption, it arises inevitably at the unavoidable interface between the black-market and the open economy. Borders need to be crossed, merchandise needs to be transported, raw material and equipment need to be purchased, crops need to be protected, money need to be laundered, profits need to be turned into legitimate businesses, real estate, mansions and yachts. For all of these and myriad other operations, the beautifully simple formula, the magic bullet is “plomo o plata”; greed and fear are the motivators; they are the cement that seal loyalties, the universal facilitator and lubricant. For the black market, corruption is like a tax, part of the cost of doing business.

Black market naturally thrives in chaos. Whenever it needs to interface with the open economy, it logically seeks the path of least resistance. In a global world, it seeks the weakest states, the failing states, further destabilizing them and them taking advantage of the power vacuum to take further control. Central America, East and West Africa are particularly vulnerable.

Market economy naturally favors profit-maximizing strategies, which in the case of illegal substances, will favor substances with the highest bang for the bulk as substances need to be concealed at all time and bulk comes with a severe handicap. Unsurprisingly, drug dealers much prefer heroin or cocaine to marijuana. There is virtually no market for coca leaf outside its traditional area and the market for raw opium for direct consumption has evaporated in most of the world and receding rapidly in India, Pakistan and Iran, sadly replaced by heroin.

After over 100 years of prohibition, more than 20% of the US adult population use illegal drugs on a regular basis and close to 50%, including the current and last two former US presidents have used at least once in their lifetime. So, it is quite obvious by now that drug prohibition is not practically and efficiently enforceable; the prohibitionist model for controlling the use of psychoactive substances is clearly flawed and a paradigm shift is urgently needed. It is time to ask the simple but fundamental question: “Can organized societies do a better job than organized crime at managing and controlling psychoactive substances?” If we cannot respond with a resounding Yes! To this fundamental question, then we must despair of our societies and their governments. Besides, the vast majority of psychoactive substances, including the two deadliest, tobacco and alcohol, are already legal.

The use of psychoactive substances is an issue of personal choice, while substance abuse is a health issue, which has been turned into a criminal issue with catastrophic consequences. The real crime is to give control of the illegal drug marketplace to organized crime.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

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Drug policy reform moving forward after holidays pause.

Support for marijuana legalization gaining momentum in the US

In the aftermath of the decisive victories for marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, recent polls conducted since then reveal a rapidly widening support for medical marijuana as well as full legalization, and this support is now reaching into the Southern states that have traditionally been strongly opposed even to medical marijuana.

A recent survey conducted in Hawaii, birthplace of president Obama and land of the “Choom Gang” and its “choomwagon”, reveals a stunning 78% support for a “tightly regulated dispensary system” and 57% support for controlled legalization. Hawaii is on a short list of states that might consider the state legislature route to marijuana legalization.

In New Hampshire, a state scheduled to legalize medical marijuana in 2013, support is 68% to 26% opposed, while support for full controlled legalization is 53 to 37 http://www.mpp.org/states/new-hampshire/2013NewHampshireResults.pdf

In Arizona, where the voters approved state’s MMJ program has been under siege from the start, support for MMJ stands at 59% while support for controlled legalization is 53 to 44. Arizona is expected to have a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2014 or 2016 ballot, although it would probably be a long shot.

More interesting, voters in North Carolina and West Virginia seems to be warming to the idea of medical marijuana, 58 to 33 in North Carolina, and 53 to 40 in conservative West Virginia.

Lawmakers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont have already promised to introduce marijuana legislation in 2013, and other are expected to follow, including Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Virginia. Most of the proposals are likely to never even make it to a vote, and others will be defeated or vetoed; still, 2013 is likely to deliver a few more controlled legalization states, while the block of medical marijuana states will most certainly pass the 20 count and may even reach 25, at which point a majority of the US states would have legalized medical marijuana. A Medical Marijuana Bill was introduced in Kansas on January 16.

Meanwhile, on December 19, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released the results of the 2012 Monitoring the Future Survey, which indicate a continued rise in teenage use of marijuana with daily use at 6.5% among high school seniors and last month use at nearly 23 %. The survey also notes a continued decrease of alcohol and tobacco use, which seems to indicate that marijuana is displacing these substances among high-school students. Whether or not this is positive trend is of course a matter of debate, as alcohol is often viewed as more harmful than marijuana. It shows nonetheless that prohibition is failing to curb teen use and alternatives are long overdue.

Update on drug policy reform in the world

Bolivian president Evo Morales set an important international precedent on Friday January 11, 2013, when his country rejoined the United Nations’ 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs with reservations, as the U.N. recognized the traditional use of the coca leaf and Bolivians’ right to chew the coca leaf in their territory.

In Guatemala, President Molina is meeting with Amanda Feilding of the Beckley foundation who will present the Beckley’s report “Paths for Reform”, containing “the Beckley Foundation’s suggestions regarding the steps which the Guatemalan government might now take to maintain the momentum of the President’s initiatives. It complements the report Illicit Drug Markets and Dimensions of Violence in Guatemala, which analyses Guatemala’s situation under the current policies.“

President Molina has been pushing since taking office as year ago for alternatives to the current prohibitionist policies. Guatemala, together with its neighbor Honduras and El Salvador have been taken over by Mexican drug cartels and turned into a battleground between the brutal and much feared Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel fighting for the control of key transit routes to the US.

In Mexico, narco-violence keeps spreading even if the body count may have stabilized or even somewhat decreased with a relative normalization of the Ciudad Juarez territory where the Sinaloa cartel seems to have gained the upper hand. Regions that had been relatively spared until now are being affected and violence is reaching Mexico City where 22 bodies were discovered on January 12-13 and another 16 bodies in nearby Toluca. Newly inaugurated President Enrique Pena Nieto has said that reducing violence in Mexico is one of his government’s top priorities and has set an ambitious agenda that may stay “letra muerta” (dead words) unless he can get the cooperation of state and local authorities. His position on the War on Drugs and drug policy reform is as fuzzy as ever. The debate may be starting though, as the PRD opposition party is presenting a legalization proposal that stands very little chance of approval but will certainly bring up the debate to the governmental level.

In the UK, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform issued a report on January 14, recommending sweeping changes to current drug policies and decriminalization of all drugs with legalization of the least dangerous ones. The report was promptly rejected by Prime Minister David Cameron, claiming that the current approach to drugs in the UK is “the right one and is working”, making one wonder what he has been smoking lately. Meanwhile, his Deputy Prime Minister and partner in the ruling coalition, Nick Clegg, declared that the “drugs war is lost” and “current drugs policy have not been delivering for a while”.

On January 16, The British Medical Association, a professional association and registered trade union for doctors, published a comprehensive report on drug policy in the UK making clear the role they feel medical practitioners should play, not only in improving care of problem drug users, but also in becoming involved in the political debate over drug policy. http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/2013/01/16/doctors-make-themselves-heard-in-the-drug-policy-debate/

In France, 150 to 200 marijuana social clubs (clubs of growers for personal use) decided to come out of the closet in February and apply for official registration. Cannabis social clubs have been legal in Spain for quite some time already.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Download a free 50-page excerpt: http://www.world-war-d.com/.

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

Breaking the taboo

Let us break the taboo on debate and reform. The time for action is now. Sign the petition http://www.breakingthetaboo.info/

Breaking the Taboo is a global grass-roots campaign website against the War on Drugs, run by the Beckley Foundation in association with The Global Commission on Drug Policy, Virgin Unite, Avaaz and Sundog Pictures. The Mission Statement of the campaign is the Beckley Foundation Public Letter calling for a new approach to the War on Drugs, signed by nine Presidents, twelve Nobel prize winners, and many other world figures. The site hosts a coalition of international NGOs, united in their belief that the War on Drugs has failed and that global drug policy can and must be reformed. An Avaaz petition is hosted on the site, which will be presented to the UN. We hope that by collecting together so many voices calling for change, we will finally be able to persuade governments and lawmakers into adopting a humane and rational approach to drugs.

Mission Statement:

The global war on drugs has failed. It is time for a new approach.

We call on Governments and Parliaments to recognise that:

Fifty years after the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was launched, the global war on drugs has failed, and has had many unintended and devastating consequences worldwide.

Use of the major controlled drugs has risen, and supply is cheaper and more available than ever before. The UN conservatively estimates that there are now over 250 million drug users worldwide.

Illicit drugs are now the third most valuable industry in the world, after food and oil, all in the control of criminals. Fighting the war on drugs costs the world’s taxpayers incalculable billions each year. Millions of people are in prison worldwide for drug-related offences, mostly personal users and small-time dealers.

Corruption amongst law-enforcers and politicians, especially in producer and transit countries, has spread as never before, endangering democracy and civil society. Stability, security and development are threatened by the fallout from the war on drugs, as are human rights. Tens of thousands of people die in the drug war each year.

The drug-free world so confidently predicted by supporters of the war on drugs is further than ever from attainment.The policies of prohibition create more harms than they prevent. We must seriously consider shifting resources away from criminalising tens of millions of otherwise law abiding citizens, and move towards an approach based on health, harm-reduction, cost-effectiveness and respect for human rights.

Evidence consistently shows that these health-based approaches deliver better results than criminalisation. Improving our drug policies is one of the key policy challenges of our time. It is time for world leaders to fundamentally review their strategies in response to the drug phenomenon.

At the root of current policies lies the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is time to re-examine this treaty, which imposes a “one-size-fits-all” solution, in order to allow individual countries the freedom to explore drug policies that better suit their domestic needs.

As the production, demand and use of drugs cannot be eradicated, new ways must be found to minimise harms, and new policies, based on scientific evidence, must be explored.

Let us break the taboo on debate and reform. The time for action is now.

Yours faithfully,

President Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia

President Otto Pérez Molina, President of Guatemala

President César Gaviria, Former President of Colombia

President Lech Wałęsa, Former President of Poland, Nobel Prize winner

President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Former President of Poland

President Jimmy Carter, Former President of the United States of America

President Fernando H. Cardoso, Former President of Brazil

President Ruth Dreifuss, Former President of Switzerland

President Vincente Fox, Former President of Mexico

Sir Richard Branson, Entrepreneur and Founder of the Virgin Group

Bernardo Bertolucci, Oscar-winning Film Director

Carlos Fuentes, Novelist and essayist

Sean Parker, Founding President of Facebook, Director of Spotify

Thorvald Stoltenberg, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Asma Jahangir, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Execution

Louise Arbour, CC, GOQ, Former UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights

Professor Sir Anthony Leggett, Physicist, Nobel Prize winner

Dr. Kary Mullis, Chemist, Nobel Prize winner

Maria Cattaui, Former Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce

Wisława Szymborska, Poet, Nobel Prize winner

Professor Sir Harold Kroto, Chemist, Nobel Prize winner

Gilberto Gil, Musician, former Minister of Culture, Brazil

Professor Thomas C. Schelling, Economist, Nobel Prize winner

Professor Sir Peter Mansfield, Economist, Nobel Prize winner

Professor Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard University

Professor Colin Blakemore, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and University of Warwick

Professor David Nutt, Former Chair of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs

Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, Professor of Economics at Cambridge

Dr. Julian Huppert, MP, Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform

Dr. Muhammed Abdul Bari, MBE, Former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain

Trudie Styler, Actress and producer

Professor Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University

Lord Mancroft, Chair of the Drug and Alcohol Foundation

Professor A. C. Grayling, Master of the New College of the Humanities

General Lord Ramsbotham, Former HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Lord MacDonald, QC, Former Head of the Crown Prosecution Service

Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, Former Editor of The Sunday Telegraph

Tom Brake, MP, Co-chair of the Lib Dem Home Affairs, Justice and Equalities Parliamentary Policy Committee

Professor Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT

George P. Schultz, Former US Secretary of State

Yoko Ono, Musician and artist

Mario Vargas Llosa, Writer, Nobel Prize winner

Jaswant Singh, Former Minister of Defence, of Finance, and for External Affairs, India

Sting, Musician and actor

Michel Kazatchkine, United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS

John Whitehead, Former US Deputy Secretary of State

John Perry Barlow, Co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Javier Solana, KOGF, KCMG, Former EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Professor Kenneth Arrow, Economist, Nobel Prize winner

Jeremy Thomas, Film Producer

Professor John Polanyi, Chemist, Nobel Prize winner

Pavel Bém, Former Mayor of Prague

Dr. Jan Wiarda, Former President of European Police Chiefs

Professor Lord Piot, Former UN Under Secretary-General

Professor Martin L. Perl, Physicist, Nobel Prize winner

Lord Rees, OM, Astronomer Royal and former President of the Royal Society

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Former President of the Royal College of Physicians

Professor Trevor Robbins, Professor of Neuroscience at Cambridge

Caroline Lucas, MP, Leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton

Professor Jonathan Wolff, Professor of Philosophy at UCL

Carel Edwards, Former Head of the EU Commission’s Drug Policy Unit

Professor Robin Room, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne

Gary Johnson, Former Republican US Presidential Candidate

Bob Ainsworth, MP, Former UK Secretary of State for Defence

Nicholas Green, QC, Former Chairman of the Bar Council

Peter Lilley, MP, Former Secretary of State for Social Security

Tom Lloyd, Former Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire

Professor Robert Grayling, Dean of School of Medicine, KCL

Paul Flynn, MP, Labour MP for Newport West

Dr. Patrick Aeberhard, Former President of Doctors of the World

Amanda Feilding, Director of the Beckley Foundation