I’m Not The Only One

Happy 4/20!

I couldn’t let my favorite holiday pass by without posting something up on this blog.   Norm Stamper of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition offered a great argument of why marijuana is far less harmless than alcohol.  Stamper, a retired police chief from Seattle offered the following:

“Alcohol contributes to acts of violence; marijuana reduces aggression. In approximately three million cases of reported violent crimes last year, the offender had been drinking. This is particularly true in cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, and date rape. Marijuana use, in and of itself, is absent from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no link to be made.”

and…

“Alcohol-related traffic accidents claim approximately 14,000 lives each year, down significantly from 20 or 30 years ago (attributed to improved education and enforcement). Figures for THC-related traffic fatalities are elusive, especially since alcohol is almost always present in the blood as well, and since the numbers of “marijuana-only” traffic fatalities are so small. But evidence from studies, including laboratory simulations, feeds the stereotype that those under the influence of canniboids tend to (1) be more aware of their impaired psychomotor skills, and (2) drive well below the speed limit. Those under the influence of alcohol are much more likely to be clueless or defiant about their condition, and to speed up and drive recklessly.”

Check out the rest of the article here, and if you get the munchies, celebrate 4/20 with some kottonmouth kookies.

I’m using another PC as I’m still waiting for my ISP to transfer my Internet connection to my new apartment.  In the meantime, I feel I must vent at all the Bernie Madoff coverage in the news, especially in the local stations here in New York City.

The rage and incarceration of Bernie Madoff is just another example of how our justice system picks and chooses what is and isn’t legal with little to no regard for consistency.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending what he did.  I’m just saying, he basically fooled thousands of idiots by convincing them that they could see a large return through a comparatively smaller investment.   If Madoff is going to jail, then how about locking up all the other organizations that suggest a person can see a gigantic return on a modest investment like the lottery commission of every state (a dollar and a dream my ass) and every casino in the U.S.  How come the people running these organizations aren’t going to prison?

Can anyone explain the difference between Madoff’s promise to his client pool of morons, all of whom are crying fraud and the promise offered by lottery tickets and casinos?  As usual the mainstream media demonstrates their ignorance of finance and economics by casting him to be worse than Hitler, or worse, George W. Bush.

Anyone with any amount of economic or financial literacy can tell that almost all investments that are high yield are also high risk and often require a high investment.  In fact, a high rate of return is usually offered to compensate for the equally high risk associated with the investment to attract a healthy mix of adventurous risk-takers who understand the risks involved and the idiots who don’t understand the risk but see the rate of return and drool.

If people want to put their money into something safe, they can put it into a savings account that pays out 2-3% interest.  If they want a higher return they can put their money into a bank’s certificate of deposit for a nice 5-7% interest rate.  Those are two safe investments.  You want a higher rate or return on your investment?  You’re going to be placing your money at risk.  Unfortunately, buyers of lottery tickets, compulsive gamblers and Bernie Madoff clients do not seem to understand this fundamental fact of investment.

You’d probably call me crazy if I told you a book written eight years ago focusing on the flaws of the Clinton Presidency would have a greater wealth of relevance for Americans today than it did when it was written.  But Rob Nelson’s Last Call: 10 Commonsense Solutions to America’s Biggest Problems conveys serious issues facing our country (ironically, issues that have gone unresolved since 2000) and unintentionally puts the last eight years with George W. Bush in context.  The author draws examples from his own life, his experience working with the Clinton administration and being the co-founder of a Gen-X grassroots organization that was once 30,000 strong to illustrate then ten most pressing issues (which are actually far worse than they were when Clinton left office) to which he offers radical yet sensible solutions.

It’s almost impossible to not hear many Americans these days, especially liberals, look at the turmoil of the Bush Administration and long for the days when Bubba was in office. Bill Clinton’s Presidency as a result has become romanticized, with Bill’s less noble moments vanishing from public memory.  Written way back in 2000, Nelson frowns on what he considered to be the lame duck Presidency of Bill Clinton (needless to say, this book was published before George W. Bush became President) that failed to serve the Americans of the future.  This eight-year old critique offers a refreshing view of the Clinton Presidency, debunking the existence of the so-called “budget surpluses” of the Clinton years, Clinton’s signing of the Defense of Marriage Act which basically refused to acknowledge gay marriage, and continued air strikes in the Middle East and Africa.

The book focuses on the U.S. national debt, something that is often ignored in the discourse of national politics because it isn’t very well understood.  Most Americans don’t understand why it exists and understand even less how it will absolutely cripple the economy 10, maybe even 20 or 30 years in the future.  The U.S has borrowed trillions of dollars from banks around the world and pay about $300 million a year in interest payments alone.  At the end of the day, all debts must be repaid, Nelson argues, and the leaders of the present have decided America can gleefully live beyond its means, doling out funds to as many special interest groups as possible, and stick future generations with the tab.  As the then-twenty-something Nelson says, he was born at the beginning of the end of the American Dream. (more…)

According to NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), there will be three major news segments on marijuana law reform in the U.S.

On Friday, January 16, the venerable NBC news show Dateline has scheduled an hour-long profile of the tragic death of Florida college student Rachel Hoffman. Ms. Hoffman was arrested with cannabis and unfortunately trusted local police to become an undercover informant, which ultimately led to her murder. Her shocking death has forced Florida law enforcement to re-examine the use of confidential informants in drug cases and raised the question publicly about decriminalizing cannabis for adult use.

ABC 20/20 correspondent John Stossel’s investigative unit is going to cast its usually critical eye at government overreach and wasteful spending, this time specifically towards the noted case of medical cannabis provider Charles Lynch. By all media accounts and advanced in his legal defense, Mr. Lynch was operating a ‘Main Street’ medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Barbara, California in compliance with local and state medical cannabis laws. However, the federal government continues to selectively arrest and prosecute medical cannabis providers under federal laws. Mr. Lynch’s appeal for a new trial has been rejected and he now potentially faces a mandatory five-year sentence at an upcoming sentencing hearing. Depending on the editing process, the story will likely broadcast either Friday the 9th or 16th @ 10PM (eastern).

Business network CNBC has produced an one-hour special called Marijuana, Inc. to premiere at 9 pm (eastern), January 22. Fascinated by the multi-billion untaxed, unregulated cannabis business in the United States, notably on the west coast, producers fanned out to interview cultivators, medical cannabis dispensary owners, middle-class cannabis consumers and of course law enforcement.

I’m planning on watching all three and offering my review of each one.  Even if you don’t like marijuana, open your mind a bit and check out these shows.  I don’t like pistachio  ice cream, but I’m not suggesting we make it illegal.

A major reason I initially launched I’m Not The Only One was to write down all the thoughts and arguments I’ve had in the past regarding politics, economics, and other issues.

So I’m going to offer what I believe to be the top ten scams facing Americans today, in no particular order.

1) Affirmative Action

2) Bilingual education

3) College

4) The Anti-Globalization Movement

5) Welfare

6) Health insurance

7) Privatization of core government functions

Public schools

9) Unions

10) The minimum wage

Here’s where you, the reader come in. I’m a little disappointed with the lack of comments on INTOO. According to Google Analytics, for the last 30 days I’ve roughly gotten an average of about 50 people coming to this site every day, so someone is obviously reading this. I’d like my readers to tell me which scam they’d like me to discuss first, why I see it as a scam and who specifically benefits from the scam.

The ball’s in your court now. Drop me a comment on this post and whichever topics gets the most requests will be selected first for discussion by me. Also, I believe in instant run-off voting, so feel free to declare a second choice you’d like me to discuss first if your first choice does not get the most requests.

And I’m not going to discuss any of these scams until I see at least 10 requests. What I’m looking for here is reader participatio, so please don’t disappoint. Thanks.

For those who don’t know, April 20th is actually a holiday, one of few I even bother to observe anymore.

The importance of the day comes from the number 420, which has become a part of American marijuana culture, or counterculture, to be more precise.

The number supposedly originated in the Haight-Ashbury hippie scene during the 1960s, where 420 was the San Francisco Police Department’s code for marijuana possession. Pot smokers around the world acknowledge the significance of 420 and smoke on April 20th, and 4:20 am or pm, for those who need an excuse to smoke daily.

But I’ve always used April 20th to think about the War on Drugs (WOD) and how so much tax money is being wasted persecuting pot users and dealers. It’s been over 30 years since President Nixon blamed U.S. defeat in Vietnam on drug use and declared a war on drugs, and people are still getting high. The only thing the WOD has changed in this country in 30 years is the enormous amount of money the federal government spends which increases every year and our overcrowded prisons which create the demand for even more prisons to be built.

Even the National

The WOD is a major reason why 1 out of 100 Americans are currently incarcerated. This is the highest incarceration rate in the world-higher than China, Iran, North Korea, or those other “totalitarian” countries our government frowns upon. These numbers, which came from the U.S. Department of Justice and count state prisons as well as local jails, become even more sickening when you break them down:

• 1 out of 36 Latinos
• 1 out of 15 African-Americans
• 1 out of 9 black men between the ages of 20 and 34

The same article uses DOJ figures to conclude that violent crimes have fallen 25 percent in the last 20 years but last year the inmate population in this country grew by 25,000. So why is the incarceration rate increasing while violent crimes are decreasing? Take a guess.

Drug abuse is a health problem, not a crime problem. Being hooked on cocaine is no different than being hooked on oxycontin. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry has a synthetic version of every illegal narcotic out there. There’s a watered-down version of marijuana called marinol, a watered-down version of cocaine called codeine, and a watered-down version of heroin called morphine. The difference between cocaine and codeine is Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. It’s no wonder that, according to the DEA, more Americans are abusing prescription drugs than using illegal drugs and that Prescription pain relievers are new drug users’ drug of choice, vs. marijuana or cocaine. Like I said, people are getting high anyway, and now they’ve found a safer means through prescription drug abuse.

I live in New York City, where the New York City Bar Association has identified as the marijuana arrest capital of the United States in both per capita arrest rates as well as racial disparity in enforcing marijuana laws. According to the Bar, for every white person arrested on marijuana charges, nine minorities are arrested. So much for New Yorkers being tolerant and sophisticated!

New York State seems to be the battleground of the WOD as my home state has the Rockerfeller Drug Laws, which were enacted in 1973 and require a minimum sentence of prison for the possession or sale of small amounts of drugs. The penalties apply without regard to the circumstances of the offense or the individual’s character or background. Even a first-time offender can be sentenced to prison.

So a drug addict caught holding can do jail time, even if what they really need is drug treatment, a far more effective and far less expensive alternative to incarceration. But under the Rockerfeller Drug Laws, a judge does not have the freedom to hand down such a sentence.

In a state with a billion-dollar budget deficit, you would think the Rockerfeller Drug Laws would have been repealed by now. But even today, these laws are still in effect and are the cause for the following statistics:

• There are over 15,000 drug offenders incarcerated in New York State prisons.
• In 2004, nearly 35% of the people sent to state prison were drug offenders, compared to only 11% in 1980.
• Of all drug offenders sent to NYS prisons in 2000, nearly 80% were never convicted of a violent felony.
• Over 50% of the drug offenders in NYS prisons were convicted of selling or possessing only small drug amounts.
• It cost the state over $1.7 billion to construct new prisons to house drug offenders. The annual operating expense for confining drug offenders comes to about $500 million per year.
• From 1988 to 1998, the state increased annual prison spending by $761 million. During that same time period, the state decreased annual spending on the State and City Universities of New York by approximately $615 million.

Drop the Rock is a campaign to get the State Legislature to repeal the Rockerfeller Drug Laws and:

• Restore sentencing discretion to trial judges in all drug cases.
• Make sentencing reform retroactive so that current inmates can petition the courts for review of their sentences.
• Expand the funding available for alternatives to incarceration, including drug treatment, job training and education programs so that judges have an appropriate place to send the offenders they decide should not be imprisoned.
• Significantly reduce sentence lengths for drug offenses.

We try to accomplish this goal through letter writing campaigns, urging our local State legislators to add themselves as co-sponsors to the current Rockerfeller Drug Law repeal bill which is currently in the State Assembly, and by annually lobbying the politicians in the State Capitol.

I can’t think of a bigger waste of federal tax dollars than the WOD, especially when our national deficit is in the trillions of dollars and the economy is in the crapper. The worst part is that drug use isn’t even mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Doesn’t that make the WOD unconstitutional?

I know this post is a day late. I started Sunday morning but couldn’t finish because I had been invited to a 420 party around noon. While most of the crowd is busy “celebrating”, I try to talk to people about libertarianism, and especially about getting involved in Drop the Rock. The trouble with pot smokers is that they throw great parties, but when it comes to activism or even exercising their rights as citizens there’s much to be desired.

For further interesting reading regarding the immoral and fiscally responsible War on Drugs, check out:

Drugs Are Bad Enough Without A Phony Terrorism Link

Why Barack Obama Has My Vote

Copy/Paste

Healthcare and Life Expectancy

Happy 420.

P.S. If you’re still in a 420 mood, why not try some Kottonmouth Kookies?

After much procrastination, I’m finally going to explain why I will be voting for Senator Barack Obama in the New York Democratic Primary next month.

My support for Senator Barack goes far beyond identity politics. Unfortunately, my vote is not so much in support of him as it is a vote against his competition. Part of my support for him comes from his unofficial endorsement by Governor Bill Richardson (for whom I originally supported) who recently dropped out of the Presidential race. Many have speculated that because Richardson is Latino, and Latinos are the de facto junior partners in the Civil Rights Movement, that Richardson would automatically throw his support to the half-black Barack Obama. Already some of Richardson’s former supporters such as California state Senator Gil Cedillo and former state Democratic Senator Martha Escutia of Los Angeles have officially endorsed Obama now that the New Mexico Governor has dropped out of the race. Some people have even speculated that Obama may select Richardson to be his running mate.

One reason I am supporting Obama is because of his leniency towards federal drug laws. The federal drug laws and the Drug Enforcement Agency represent the most atrocious rape of the Constitution, which does not even mention drugs. The War on Drugs is really a war on black and brown people in America, and no one can really say they believe in racial equality if they support the War on Drugs.

Among all of the candidates, Obama is the only one who is committed to reforming this nation’s drug laws. On his campaign web site, Obama has appropriately placed his platform on drug laws under his commitment to civil rights, such as eliminating the harsher sentences for crack-related offenses (a drug predominantly used by black people) than the comparably softer sentences for that of cocaine (the drug of choice for white people).

Obama also wants non-violent first-time drug offenders (with the exception of dealers and traffickers) to serve their sentence in a drug rehabilitation center where they can actually get the drug out of their system as opposed to sharing a cell with cold-blooded murderers and rapists in the overcrowded federal prison system, where rape, gang activity and drug abuse runs rampant. This is an important step in prison reform because drug addiction should be treated for what it really is: a health issue, not a crime.

Because people of color make up the vast majority of incarcerated drug offenders (Blacks and Latinos make up 92 percent of drug offenders in New York State prisons), it would make sense that a President of color would want to reverse this 21st Century form of institutionalized racism.
I do feel Obama’s willingness to admit he personally experimented with marijuana and cocaine as a youth (the only candidate to admit this) shows he has an understanding and a sympathy towards those who use illegal narcotics. I don’t see the other front runners in either party addressing this issue, including John Edwards, the so-called “poverty candidate”.

Obama’s international upbringing is another reason I think he should be the next President. While Bill Clinton was certainly the most cosmopolitan and worldly President this country has had in 100 years, we truly need someone who can embrace a foreign policy that examines things through a truly international perspective rather than the nationalistic and myopic view of most Americans, especially our current commander-in-chief. America needs to recognize it is not its own planet, but a part of a world of many different nations, cultures and most importantly, perspectives. While I don’t necessarily think Obama’s competitors are a bunch of narrow-minded bigots, I do believe that they would make a wholehearted yet unsuccessful attempt at understanding the rest of the world, a task which Obama would find rather easy to accomplish.

I think another great reason for Barack Obama to be elected President of the United States is so that white Americans can stop referring to the U.S. as a white country. I am so sick of white people soiling themselves because of the latest Census figures showing an increase in Latin American immigration and a larger African-American presence in previously all-white suburbs and rural areas. Get over it, white people. This is not Europe; if you want to live in a Caucasian country, you’re on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Racially and ethnically speaking, the New World is neutral territory and should not be thought of as being home to a “white country” or the homeland of any race, with exception of Native Americans.

And speaking of race, I believe a mulatto (yeah, I said it!) President would trivialize racial tensions in America, particular the love-hate relationship between blacks and whites. Symbols are powerful, and the appearance of a biracial U.S. President would do more to sweep away racial tensions than any well-meaning Caucasian candidate. Sorry, Bill Clinton. Barack Obama is going to be the real first black President.

On my personal MySpace page some left-wing organization called United for a Better America requested to be added to my friends’ list. I hastily decided to add them and only today did I actually check this organization’s page. I’m not too surprised by what I saw; I pretty much knew what UBA’s political views were. After all, the page’s main photo is a gif file of a red stick figure and a blue stick figure with a red check mark under the blue, and if you wait a second the image changes to read “Vote Democrat”.

But this passage on the page really got to me.

We believe that healthcare is a right. We are the richest country in the world, yet over 47 million Americans have no health insurance — that’s nearly one in six Americans. As a result, over 18,000 people die per year.

Our nation is ranked 23rd in infant mortality, 20th in life expectancy for women, and 21st in life expectancy for men. Relative to other industrialized nations with universal health care, the United States ranks poorly; all while the Republicans stand on the side of big insurance companies.

Using a country’s life expectancy as an indicator of the quality of that nation’s healthcare system is a joke. This is a hollow argument that has been waged by almost every proponent of universal healthcare and was mentioned by Michael Moore in his movie Sicko, (saw the movie on bootleg) who claims that since Canadians live on average three years longer than Americans, their socialist health insurance system must be superior. (more…)

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) reported on the findings of Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population, a study released this week by the JFA Institute, a criminal justice think tank in Washington D.C.  The study found that decriminalizing drug crimes can significantly reduce the U.S. prison population without affecting public safety.

Keep those incarceration rates in mind as you sit down to your delicious Thanksgiving feast tomorrow with the people you love.  Think of all those inmates sitting in federal prison on drug charges despite the fact that the U.S. Constitution says absolutely nothing about drugs.

“According to the US Department of Justice, approximately 30-40 percent of all current prison admissions involve crimes that have no direct or obvious victim other than the perpetrator,” the report finds.  “The drug category constitutes the largest offense category, with 31 percent of all prison admissions resulting from such crimes.”

Previous data released last year by the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug violations are serving time for marijuana offenses.

 

The report states, “[V]iolence that surrounds drug trafficking in the United States is largely absent” in Western European countries that have liberalized their drug possession policies.  The authors further note that the decriminalization of drugs, particularly marijuana, in regions that have enacted such reforms has not been associated with an increase in crime rates.

 

The report speculates that decriminalizing illicit drugs, along with enacting modest reforms in sentencing and parole, would save taxpayers an estimated $20 billion per year and reduce the prison population from 1.5 million to below 700,000.

 

Bon appetit, buen provecho.