Category Archives: War On Drugs

In Texas, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has drawn a direct line between marijuana arrests and the overburdened criminal justice system.

Harris County

When Kim Ogg ran for district attorney in Harris County, Texas, she pitched herself as a progressive whod change the war on drugs ideology that has clogged the county jail with nonviolent marijuana users. Upon her election, Ogg made good on that promise, announcing a program that will allow county residents caught with 4 ounces or less of marijuana to stay out of jail in exchange for taking a four-hour, $150 class on decision-making. The new district attorney estimates the program will divert 12,000 people from jail each year and save the county, which includes the city of Houston, more than $10 million annually.

For a long time, Houston was known for its incredibly harsh drug penalties. Oggs predecessor, Devon Anderson, was also known for prosecuting trace cases, in which a minuscule amount of cocaine is detected, as felonies. Anderson launched a meek diversion programit was open only to first-time offenders who possessed less than 2 ounces of marijuanaafter Ogg first presented her own plan during her unsuccessful 2014 district attorney campaign. Ogg, by contrast, has drawn a direct line between marijuana arrests and the overburdened criminal justice system. At 107,000 cases over the last 10 years, we have spent in excess of $250 million collectively prosecuting a crime that has produced no tangible evidence of improved public safety, she told reporters in February.

The Harris County district attorney isnt going out on a limb here. Local law enforcement, including Harris Countys sheriff and the Houston police chief, advised her on the diversions programs design and support its implementation. One of the reasons [Harris County jail] is costly is because we cant manage the population we have, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during a local media interview about marijuana policy. The war on drugs has been a failed policy for over 40 years. We tried it. It didnt work. We need a new direction.

Oggs progressive platform also extends to bail reform. Since taking office, she has directed prosecutors in her office to release people awaiting trial for misdemeanor offenses on their own recognizance rather than relying on a cash-bail system that leaves the less affluent no choice but to lose their freedom.

This approach to low-level offenses comes at a time when the federal government seems poised to crack down on marijuana under the false guise of public safety. In a speech about violent crime, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the drug only slightly less awful than heroin. During his tenure as a U.S. attorney in Alabama, 40 percent of the convictions from Sessions office were for drug offenses. Sessions recent comments about marijuana were also in step with Trumps law-and-order presidential campaign, which relied on fearmongering rhetoric and misleading statistics about rising violent crime rates.

Anxiety around the tension between state and federal marijuana laws is nothing new. Though the Obama Department of Justice was less overtly hostile toward marijuana reform than Sessions has been thus far, the Obama administration did oversee numerous busts and raids of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.

The tension between federal and local authority here stems from the fact that both have the authority to enforce drug laws. Historically, the federal government has depended on states to enforce laws prohibiting low-level drug use, although the feds are technically well within their rights to enforce federal laws prohibiting such use.

As public opinion shifts dramatically toward support of legalization and decriminalization, district attorneys are paying attention.

In practice, the existence of programs like Oggs demonstrates the power that local district attorneys maintain when it comes to reform. The choice to prosecute low-level marijuana offensesor notremains in the hands of local prosecutors, and many local officials are choosing to move forward with reform efforts that are not in keeping with the harsh rhetoric emanating from the Trump White House and the Sessions Department of Justice.

In Nueces County, Texas, home to Corpus Christi, newly elected district attorney Mark Gonzalez announced plans in January to stop sending people to jail if theyre caught with 2 ounces or less of marijuana. Instead, county residents will have the option to take a drug class and pay a $250 fine. Those who cant afford the fine can perform 25 hours of community service instead. And this program isnt limited to first-time offenders: People in Nueces County wont be looking at jail time for a second or third marijuana-related arrest.

Local officials, too, remain free to side with the Sessions approach if they so choose. D.A. Brett Ligon of Montgomery County, Texas, north of the Houston area, was quick to express his disgust with Oggs diversionary efforts, telling reporters in February that his turf will not become a sanctuary for dope smokers.

In Arizona, Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall campaigned against a proposition to legalize medical marijuana in spite of the initiative garnering support from 57 percent of voters. In the time that LaWall, who is serving her sixth term, has been in office, the percentage of black, Latino, and Native American residents in the county jail has skyrocketed. When pressed to discuss the racial disparities in the incarcerated population, as well as the large percentage of nonviolent drug offenders, LaWall said in April 2016 that the right people are in prison.

Then theres former county prosecutor Aaron Negangard of Dearborn County, Indiana, who last year told the New York Times that he is proud of the fact that we send more people to jail than other countries and (in the spirit of Sessions) believes that marijuana is a gateway drug to heroin.

Oggs policy will likely reduce arrests and prosecutions for marijuana use and possession, but it wont be a panacea. Consider the case of Brooklyn, New York, where former District Attorney Ken Thompson announced in 2014 that his office would stop prosecuting some low-level marijuana offenses. That same year, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and thenPolice Commissioner William Bratton announced that the New York Police Department would begin issuing summonses instead of making arrests for low-level marijuana possession. A failure to appear in court for a summons triggers an arrest warrant. According to Harry Levine, a Queens College professor of sociology who has collected and studied data on marijuana arrests in New York City, there are now 1.5 million open criminal, arrestable warrants for noncriminal offenses. The system continues to produce arrests as a matter of course, said Levine.

If Harris County residents who are diverted out of the jail system fail to pay their fines or show up for decision-making classes, will the county issue criminal arrest warrants? (Oggs office has not responded to requests for comment.) In New York City, Levine notes, blacks and Latinos have been disproportionately targeted for drug offenses. In Harris County, too, black residents are three times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. Theres absolutely no attempt [in New York or Harris County] to remedy the massive racial disparities, which are at the heart of this thing, said Levine.

While marijuana legalization and decriminalization campaigns have done little to address the disproportionate arrests of blacks and Latinos across the country, a decline in arrest rates for drug offenses doesnt just benefit white marijuana users. One common myth pushed by district attorneys who oppose decriminalization and legalization is that marijuana use contributes to rising crime rates. But places that have taken these steps have seen no such increase. In Colorado, property crime and homicide rates actually dropped slightly in the two years after marijuana was legalized. And in Washington, violent crime rates fell by 10 percent between 2011 and 2014. Both states legalized marijuana in 2012.

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The legalization movement in Washington was preceded in 2003 by a Seattle initiativethe first of its kind in the countryto make marijuana possession the lowest enforcement priority for the Seattle Police Department. Marijuana-related arrests, prosecutions, and jail sentences were reduced by 67 percent in 2004, and property and violent crime didnt rise in tandemnumbers that paved the way for the state to fully legalize marijuana less than a decade later. Dominic Holden, who led the campaign for the Seattle initiative, faced strong opposition from City Attorney Tom Carr. After the campaign won, Carr continued to push back against Holden. The blowback finally stopped in 2009 when the city attorney was defeated in a re-election campaign by an opponent who ran on a plan to stop low-level marijuana arrests and prosecutions. Politicians are afraid of looking soft on crime or drugs, so you have to create a punishment that is worse than that, said Holden. You have to create an environment that makes it toxic to their career to be accused of wasting resources for their office by punishing otherwise law-abiding, productive citizens [for marijuana offenses].

Twenty-six states plus D.C. have now legalized marijuana in some form, whether for medical or recreational use. As of last fall, 57 percent of Americans were in favor of legalizing marijuana, according to the Pew Research Center. As public opinion shifts dramatically toward support of legalization and decriminalization, district attorneys like Ogg are paying attention. Her win in a county that has historically opted for conservative candidates signals a shift that more hard-line prosecutors would be wise to heed. Voters are ready to elect prosecutors who recognize marijuana isnt a threat to public safety. District attorneys who dont understand that will get a good sense of the will of the people when they lose on Election Day.

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Local Prosecutors Have the Power to Resist Jeff Sessions' Push for Stricter Drug Laws - Slate Magazine

(Photo: Carlos Garcia)ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

President Barack Obama's drug war legacy is paved with partially good intentions. It differed greatly between his domestic agenda and around the world. The former showed signs of bravery, challenging decades of draconian and counterproductive policy toward drug users and dealers, reducing the number of incarcerated men and women across the United States.

The latter, however, mostly continued failed ideas of the past and consisted of funding and arming some of the most repressive nations in the world, including Honduras and Mexico, worsening apocalyptic gang and drug violence. Many refugees fleeing to the US are a result of these White House directives.

These experiences could shape the Trump administration in its drug agenda, but it's already clear that they prefer re-fighting the lost drug battles of the past, pledging a "law and order" agenda that guarantees rising prison numbers (and higher profits for private prison corporations). This will have zero effect on drug use or the social issues associated with it.

The drug war was never about ending drug abuse, but a battle against people of color. A former top advisor to President Richard Nixon admitted that it targeted antiwar protestors and "Black people."

Today, drug reform is possible with even some of the most aggressive drug war backers of the past advocating the legalization and regulation of many, if not all, drugs. It remains a minority, if growing, view.

In the waning months of his presidency, Obama granted clemency and pardons to over 1,700 Americans in prison for nonviolent federal drug crimes. He used this extraordinary power more than any president since Harry Truman and 1,927 individuals are now free due to his decision.

I recently met one of these men in Washington, DC. Evans Ray was 12 years into a life sentence plus 10 years for distribution of crack cocaine and crack while possessing a firearm when he received Obama's commutation in August 2016. He told me that he wanted to thank Obama for "allowing me a second chance in life, for allowing me the privilege of spending time with my mom and my kids and for giving me the opportunity to be a productive citizen." Ray plans to establish an organization to help recently released prisoners readjust into society.

Despite Obama's important record, tens of thousands of clemency applications were rejected including from prisoners such as Ferrell Scott, who is currently serving life imprisonment without parole for marijuana offenses.

As the Trump administration's domestic drug war agenda becomes clear -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions is threatening to overturn Obama's Justice Department 2009 directive not to prosecute marijuana users and distributors who don't break state laws -- it's now possible to view the Obama legacy in plain view. Obama's domestic drug policies were a combination of sentencing logic, pushing back against harsh prison terms for nonviolent drug offenders, and gradual, sensible moves to transform the fight against drugs into a public health, rather than criminal justice, issue. People with opioid addictions were not acutely criminalized, though vastly more support is required. Many states legalized and regulated marijuana.

Globally, Obama was far more predictable in his drug war agenda. As one drug reform advocate told me recently in Washington, DC, there's virtually no scrutiny in Congress (or the mainstream media) for US drug policy in remote corners of the globe.

Honduras is a notable exception. After the 2009 coup, backed by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US military funding soared, along with catastrophic violence against civilians. The murder of famed environmental activist Berta Cceres in 2016 ledDemocratic Congress member Hank Johnson of Georgia to introduce a bill in Congress calling on the US to halt all funds to Honduras for their military and police operations.

Honduras and Central America are still key transit areas for drugs entering the US. Washington's support for neighboring countries such as Mexico, along with huge US domestic demand for drugs, has inarguably fueled the soaring death toll across the region.

When I visited Honduras in 2016, I spoke to Laura Zuiga Cceres, the daughter of Berta Cceres, in her hometown ofLa Esperanza. She demanded that President Obama "cut all funding to Honduras, not just military but to private companies. Funding their projects creates a culture of dispossession [for locals]." This message is equally relevant to Trump.

President Trump is likely to continue -- if not accelerate -- Obama's aggressive drug war policies. The Obama administration increased counter-narcotic activities across Africa and Afghanistan, supporting dictatorships in the process, and success rates against drugs were minimal. Afghanistan remains the world's biggest supplier of opium.

Ending the failed drug war at home and abroad requires bravery and a decision to put ethical priorities above a desire to sign lucrative US defense contracts with repressive states across the world. Will President Trump build on the work begun by Obama in dismantling an architecture of domestic drug policy that leads to mass incarceration?

Internationally, Washington has yet to recognize, let alone apologize for, a "war on drugs" that benefits cartels, organized criminals and dictatorships.

Antony Loewenstein is a Jerusalem-based journalist, author of Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe and is researching the US-led "war on drugs." Follow him on Twitter: @antloewenstein.

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How Trump Threatens Obama's Progress in the War on Drugs - Truth-Out

wbur COMMENTARY Mayor Dan Rivera's defense of an aggressive police officer, writes Alex Ramirez, is deeply troubling. Pictured: In this file photo, Luis Rivera, of Haverhill, is arrested by Lawrence Police Officers Carmen Purpora, front, and Eli Bernabe, in a supermarket parking lot in Lawrence on March 14, 2006. Rivera was charged in connection with shoplifting, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to sell. (Steven Senne/AP)

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After college, in 2012, I moved back home to Lawrence, and nearly every dayI noticed unfamiliarcars, usually with New Hampshire plates, parked brieflyon the street outside my familys gray triple-decker.

I had grown up in that neighborhood, in that city, and I knew the occupants wereprobably buying drugs. My small street saw a lot of action it was a popular spot to abandon stolen cars. Unmarked police cars camped outside our home for drug busts a block or two away. Once, there was a murder in the neighborhood. During the manhunt, my dad and I were painting our garage. A man the suspect emerged from some nearby trees. Seconds later, a cop popped out of aminivan that had been driving down the street and aimed his gun at the man. My dad and I weredown-range from the cop's barrel. Dad told me to hide in the garage, but the man surrendered within moments.

So I had a gut-feeling about the (usually) white drivers and passengers fromNew Hampshire who parked outside our house,their car engines still running. That feeling was oftenconfirmed when I saw another vehicle pull up beside one of the cars, or a person walk over, and exchangesomething through the window.

My parents and even my grandmother, then in her late 80s, often confronted these strangers. Theyd ask who they were waiting for, call their bluff and tell them to leave. Sometimes theyd try to shout the customers away, bellowing from the porch or a window.My grandma a tough old Lithuanian whose parents were part of the early wave of European immigrants to Lawrence would grab her cane, shout and try to scare them off.

My grandma -- a tough old Lithuanian whose parents were part of the early wave of European immigrants to Lawrence -- would grab her cane, shout and try to scare them off.

These werent the wisest decisions. But my family felt they had to defend the block themselves. Sometimes they'd call the policewith descriptions of the cars outside our homeor ask for an occasional patrol down the street. Their requests went ignored.

Then, a few weeks ago, the Lawrence Police Department and the issue of outsiders buying drugs in the cityexploded. A video showed a Lawrence police officer dragging a young white man out of his carand forcing him to the ground. Locals have criticized the officers conduct, but Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera defended his actions in a now-deleted Facebook post.

The video is not pretty but, not inappropriate, he wrote. He said he understood why the cop got heated with the driver, and maintained that the vehicle had circled the neighborhood, clearly looking for drugs. It is necessary to let the outsiders know, they are not welcome, he added, ending on the all-caps rally cry that LAWRENCE WILL NOT BE YOUR DRUG MALL ANY MORE.

The text of the postcan still be found in a DigBoston column by Maya Shaffer, who also notes past incidents of LPDs questionable conduct. The driver, who was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, denied that he was searching for drugs.

Lawrence has problems with drug-related crimes, but a localized war on drugs wont solve that. Rather than scare white drug addicts away, it will send more young men of color into the prison system.

The content of Rivera's post isnt out of character. His campaign against Lawrences "drug mall" goes back to his early days in office. And his support for the police department was echoed in his initial opposition to Lawrences Trust Act, which prohibitedpolice from enforcing federal immigration law, fearingit would make itharderfor police to do their jobs. (The mayor now supports Lawrences "sanctuary city" status, and is suing Trumpto fightfederal funding penalties.)

However, the rhetoric about outsiders and his defense of the officers behavior is worrisome. Lawrence has problems with drug-related crimes, but a local war on drugs wont solve that. Rather than scare white drug addicts away, it will send more young men of color into the prison system.

Its hard to trust the idea of imbuing police with more reach, power and authority in a Latino-majority city. While there isnt much data nor media coverage on police brutality against Latinos, most information suggests its alreadya problem. In 2016, police killed 183 Latinos, 3.23 per million compared to 2.9 per million for whites. (In raw numbers, police kill more white people than anyone each year.) The numbers were higher in 2015 195 Latinos killed by police, or 3.45 per million. Given that some Latinos may identify as white or black, the toll could be even higher.Latinos who make up 17 percent of the population account for 23 percent of all traffic searches and nearly 30 percent of arrests.

Lawrence has always been a tough city. But being tough cant solve everything, including crime.

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Alejandro Ramirez Cognoscenti contributor Alejandro Ramirez is a freelance writer and the online editor of Spare Change News. He has an MFA in creative nonfiction.

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Why A War On Drugs In Lawrence Isn't The Answer And Could Create More Problems - WBUR

The administrations opioid plan gives us a sobering reminder of which lives have been marked as worthier than others.

By Krish Lingala

Throughout his insurgent campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump spoke about the nations growing opioid epidemic, vowing to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the country. While these statements aligned with President Trumps unsurprisingly tough stance on immigration, they also spoke to the real concerns of many rural, white voters who broke for Trump in states like Maine and West Virginia. On Wednesday, Trump appeared to make good on his promises to those voters, announcing that he will create a commission to address opioid addiction, an initiative to be led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The commissions primary task, Trump said, will be to prepare a report on the state of the issue, and to offer recommendations for how the government can respond.

This disappointed drug policy experts who see the commission as a retread of Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthys landmark report on addiction. The report, the first of its kind from the Surgeon Generals Office, attracted widespread media attention for proposing major changes to government drug policy when it was released last December. Previously, government policies often exacerbated the issue by ignoring modern scientific understandings of drug abuse. Ignoring that report and starting from scratch is a disheartening approach to an urgent issuethousands of people die each year from opioid overdoses, and the number is rising.

But this lack of urgency isnt whats most damning, at least not on its own. Whats particularly concerning is how this shines a light on the Trump administrations uninformed drug policy in general, and rattles the bones of the federal governments controversial War on Drugs.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for instance, is a fierce critic of marijuana legalization, stating that if the government does not send a message that good people dont smoke marijuana, rates of heroin and cocaine use could rise as well. Last month, a study found that states that legalized medical marijuana may have reduced the number of opioid-related hospitalizations. But this month, Sessions renewed his commitment to fighting drug abuse through tough criminal justice policy in statements to law enforcement.

Amid this rhetoric, the decision to appoint Governor Christie, an outspoken advocate for a public health approach to opioid addiction, is a welcome sign for drug policy experts. In New Jersey, Christie tackled opioid addiction with compassion, signing a Good Samaritan law to protect drug users when they report an overdose and expanding access to addiction treatment. But Sessions presence on the commission and proposals like the now-defunct American Health Care Act, which would have cut $100 million in block grants for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, make the administrations stance on the issue unclear.

To understand why, look no further than President Trumps incendiary 2015 campaign announcement speech, in which he warned that Mexican immigrants are bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Trumps tough-on-drugs rhetoric is recognizablepart of the inglorious history of the War on Drugs, launched by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s. But his decision to temper that rhetoric with compassionate understanding for the largely white communities affected by the opioid epidemic betrays the toxic racial undertones of the governments long-standing anti-drug policies. One Nixon aide brazenly pointed to these racist motivations in an interview with Harpers, published last April:

You can trace a similarly insidious pattern today. In October, for instance, Trump touted addiction services and better treatment for the people at his New Hampshire rally, while simultaneously decrying President Obamas decision to commute the sentences of low-level drug offenders, often black and brown citizens.

This double standard is more evident now that opioids are ravaging white communities. But it has always been present. In the 1980s, as crack-cocaine flooded inner cities, the news media responded with hysteria over crack babies, while the Reagan administration pushed to pass the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1989, adopting strict mandatory minimums with wildly disparate penalties for crack and powder cocaine. Of course, crack is more commonly used in poor, black communities than its more expensive, powder counterpart. Eight years later, when Congressional Black Caucus members pushed President Bill Clinton to provide drug treatment and economic assistance in his landmark crime bill, he ignored their voices and sought the votes of conservative Republicans pushing against welfare for criminals.

Now, as people like Christie speak with compassion and understanding for opioid addicts, the question remains: Where was this compassion for black people?

The answer, again, is troubling, and it likely lies with Nixon and the War on Drugs. The government has spent over 40 years promoting anti-drug propaganda and criminalizing those who use and sell drugs, but the reasons why have never held up. If marijuana is too dangerous for recreational consumption, why are more deadly drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, not? If the government truly wants to eradicate cocaine use, why are white Wall Street executives and college fraternity brothers not behind bars?

While its no small thing that the Trump administration is taking an explicit stand on the opioid crisisindeed, this is one of the few drug crises where people arent being blamed for their addictionits also important for us to take stock of history. The administrations opioid plan allows us to hold the past up to the light of the present. And what we see, in this particular case, is a sobering reminder of which lives have been marked as worthier than othersand how that decision has all too often followed a persistent color line.

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Trump's Opioid Plan and the Bones of the War on Drugs - Pacific Standard

April 3, 2017By R.G. Ratcliffe

Two years ago, it took a tough legislative fight to pass a medical marijuana bill that allowed for the use of cannabis oil to fight epilepsy. But attitudes toward marijuana seem to be shifting. Harris County started a new diversion program to essentially decriminalize marijuana, and an University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released in February found that public opinion on the subject has changed dramatically in the past year. In 2015, only 32 percent of those surveyed said marijuana should be legal; this year,53 percent said it should be legal for most uses.

Now, Texas has what would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: a statewide candidate for U.S. Senate who wants to reform federal law to end the prohibition on marijuana and regulate its sale like alcohol. Beto ORourke has pushed this ever since he served on the El Paso city council during a time when the sister city of Jurez was known as the murder capital of the world. Along with fellow council member Susie Byrd, ORourke wrote Dealing Death and Drugs, a book arguingfor the legalization ofmarijuana to undermine the finances of the drug cartels.

ORourke, who has been representing El Paso in Congress since 2013, is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, hoping to challenge the re-election of incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio is also eyeing theDemocratic nomination, while former political consultant Matthew Down is mulling an independent run. It wasnt that long ago when ORourkes stand on marijuana would have made his candidacy a non-starter. Not any more.

The people in Texas are way ahead of their elected representatives on this and so many other issues, ORourke told me in an interview. Texas is a state that is pretty jealous of its independence. They dont want big government, dont want government in their lives.

The War on Drugs, launched by the Nixon administration, has been a tragic failure according to ORourke. Forty years in, marijuana is just as available today in the average Texas community as it was in the 1970s, he said. Marijuana has grown more potent and now is sold in middle schools as well as high schools. Unlike marijuana, tobacco is legal despite the science that shows it kills people over time, but ORourke said by treating it as a public health issue the United States has been able to reduce tobacco consumption.

Ending the prohibition on marijuana, and not making it a state by state issuefederally ending the prohibition on marijuana is going to save lives, saves billions of dollars, and moves us from a country that imprisons more of its citizens than any country on the face of the planet, ORourke said.

I asked ORourke could this idea be sold as a campaign issue.When I go town to town or door to door, theyre already there. I dont have to sell it, he said.

One voter who is not buying it is A.J. Andy Louderback, sheriff of Jackson County and the legislative director of the Texas Sheriffs Association. Do we really need another source for Texans to get high? he asked. Louderback said it has been a popular case for years to claim legalized marijuana would undermine the drug cartels financially, but he said they have more lucrative sources of income. He said the legal drug trade in Colorado led to the creation of strains of marijuana with increased potency and turned some Colorado growers into exporters to the rest of the United States. Advocates want to promote increased drug use in the U.S., Louderback said.

There are several bills before the current Legislature to either decriminalize or legalize marijuana. State Representative Donna Howard, a Democrat from Austin, filed HJR 46, a proposed state constitutional amendment to legalize cannabisthat would go directly to the voters without passing review by the governor. It would, however,also would require a two-thirds affirmative vote in both chambers to get set for an election.

Though I believe the Texas Legislature is not ready to pass full legalization, I suspect that the citizens of Texas might be more open to the possibility, Howard said. I certainly think they are ready to have the conversation, and thats why I filed HJR 46. Many recognize the benefits of decriminalization and medicinal uses, and were also now seeing the huge revenue potential as other states pass legislation legalizing and regulating the cannabis industry.

One politician pulling for ORourke, at least on this one issue, is former state Representative David Simpson of Longview. Last May,Simpsonwho believed marijuana should be legalized because it is a plant created by Godlost the Republican primary for state Senate. Simpsons opponent hammered him over his standfor legalized marijuana, which also played a role in law enforcement turning its back on Simpson. When I asked Simpson if a politician today can win on the issue, he replied, I certainly hope so. But after we talked for a bit, Simpson added, I dont know that were quite at the tipping point yet.

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Beto O'Rourke Wants to End the War On Drugs as We Know It - Texas Monthly (blog)

MANILA Allies of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte have prepared legislation to postpone elections to the over 40,000 village councils in the country and allow him to choose replacements in what they say is part of the war on drugs.

If passed by Congress, the move would make Duterte, a former mayor, the most powerful leader in the Philippines since late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos was widely accused of exploiting village council leaders to legitimize his rule.

Duterte has declared that 40 percent of the Philippines' village chiefs, known as barangay captains, are "into drugs", and obstructing the anti-narcotics crackdown launched by his administration. Over 8,000 people, mostly drug users and small pushers, have been killed since Duterte took office at the end of June, about a third by police and many of the rest by mysterious gunmen.

The proposal to delay the barangay polls due in October has been filed by Congressman Robert Barbers with the support of Duterte loyalist and House of Representatives speaker, Pantaleon Alvarez. They say it aims to stop local drugs barons from winning posts.

The bill, slated for discussion when Congress reconvenes in May 2, seeks to postpone for a second successive year the ballot for 336,000 chairmen and councillors in the nation's 42,000 barangays. But instead of extending the tenure of incumbents, Duterte's allies want to declare all posts vacant until 2020, and let the president appoint caretakers instead.

If successful, that would effectively expand Duterte's control of the executive and legislative branches to the local government apparatus.

Duterte's spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said the president wanted to keep drugs out of politics, but would let lawmakers decide on the elections.

"He is aware of the process, respects the law, and defers to the independence of Congress," Abella said.

Barbers, who chairs the house committee on dangerous drugs, said he had not contacted Duterte about his proposal and took it upon himself to intervene. He said the move was neither authoritarian nor undemocratic because "extraordinary times need extraordinary measures".

"We are afraid that 40 percent of our barangays are controlled, affected or infected by drugs and that will increase," Barbers told Reuters.

"Especially if we give access to the drug lords to come into play, maybe run for public office. And that's more dangerous."

GRASSROOTS POWER BASE

The barangay is the smallest political unit in the Philippines dating back to before Spanish occupation started in the 16th century. Similar to a mayor, barangay leaders have considerable influence.

Via appointments, Duterte could, potentially, build a grassroots power base, adding to the majority support he holds in the lower house and Senate, and his fervently loyal following on social media.

Barbers said Duterte had no desire to entrench his power.

"He does not need an additional power base," he said. "We don't want to turn into a narco-state, we don't want to be under the auspices of drug lords."

The bicameral Congress can pass a bill to postpone the barangay elections and vacate the posts, and according to Barbers, Duterte can appoint caretakers, because the constitution states he exercises "general supervision over local governments".

Critics say he has no authority to do that and are suspicious of his motives.

Congressman Edcel Lagman said the democratic process "should never be sacrificed to the questionable scheme of the president and his cheerleaders."

Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, the author of a 1991 Local Government Code, called the plan "a joke" and said Duterte should jail rogue officials instead of purging all barangay leaders.

"We cannot do away with the right of the people to elect their own leaders," he said on television.

"Assuming there are drug dealer, addicts, abusers among them, then the solution is to prosecute them, put them behind bars."

Some barangay captains have indicated they could challenge the plan if Congress pushes it through. They will hold talks next week.

Ramon Casiple, head of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said Duterte's allies might be pushing the proposal to curry favor with the president, who tended to "think aloud" about ideas that may be impractical on a national scale.

"He still thinks like a mayor," he said. "What he says and what he does are not the same."

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

HONG KONG/BEIJING China is steadfastly opposed to the deployment of advanced U.S. anti-missile radars in South Korea because it does not know whether the defenses, intended for North Korean missiles, are capable of tracking and countering Beijing's own nuclear program, experts say.

UNITED NATIONS U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will chair a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea on April 28 to discuss how the body can combat Pyongyang's banned nuclear and missile programs, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Monday.

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Duterte allies seek to take over Philippine village councils as part of war on drugs - Reuters

Published time: 2 Apr, 2017 01:26Edited time: 2 Apr, 2017 18:08

President Rodrigo Duterte has once again slammed the critics of his controversial war on drugs approach, saying those who recommend rehabilitation and substitute treatment should visit him personally in the Philippines because he wants to slap them.

Come here and we will talk because I want to slap you, Duterte said in a speech late Friday, blasting those who advise him to abandon his extreme anti-drug policy and instead build clinics around like in other countries, and give shabu, cocaine, and heroin like in Holland.

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Earlier this week Duterte called the European Union politicians sons of b***hes for proposing to him such a government-sponsored idiotic exercise instead of arresting and putting drug dealers in prison.

The confrontation between Manila and Brussels exacerbated mid-March after EU lawmakers adopted a resolution condemning the many extrajudicial killings allegedly taking place in the Philippines. In response Duterte told the EU not to interfere with Philippines affairs, threatening to hang his critics.

I will just be happy to hang you. If I have the preference, Ill hang all of you, Duterte said in March. The recent rhetoric by Duterte prompted the European Union on Monday to summon the Philippines envoy for an explanation.

Dutertes attitude toward the nations narcotics problem has been ruthless with human rights organizations estimating that more than 8,000 people have been killed in the police crackdown on drug dealers and abusers since June 2016.

The presidents anti-drug rhetoric has been equally severe in public addresses, where Duterte has previously said he would be happy to slaughter drug addicts and hang criminals like curtains.

Speaking on Friday, Duterte once again emphasized that he ordered police to kill drug dealers only if they resist arrest. At the same time, Duterte wondered why the EU blindly trusts reports of non-government groups that tend to blame even medically related deaths on the anti-drugs crackdown.

This EU believes to NGOs (non-government organizations) about the killings, even [those who die because of] epilepsy. They calculate it on me. Stupid, the outspoken president said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, the European Unions envoy to the Philippines, Franz Jessen, urged Manila to observe all the human rights conventions or risk losing trade ties with the EU.

We are monitoring the respect of these (UN) conventions by the Philippines and we will carefully consider what implications the findings might have for our trade engagement with the Filipinos, Jessensaid.

See the article here:

'I want to slap you': Philippines' Duterte invites drug war critics to face-to-face talk - RT

The Indian Express

War on drugs: Captain Amarinder Singh's one-month deadline seems a tall order for now The Indian Express The shortage of psychiatrists and other health specialists will prove to be major obstacle in the Punjab government's ambitious plan to root out the drug menace from the state. When it took office on March 17, the Congress government reiterated its ... and more »

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War on drugs: Captain Amarinder Singh's one-month deadline seems a tall order for now - The Indian Express

MANILA A Philippine youth theater club staged a musical at a Manila park on Sunday, challenging President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.

The 20-minute show features a casket salesman whose funeral parlor is doing brisk business as corpses pile up.

But the salesman and his friends end up as statistics, falling to vigilante-style killings that have gripped the Southeast Asian nation and alarmed the international community.

"The play talks about the problem in the community with the war on drugs and the irony of it, that a few earn money amid this war and all the killings," artistic director Jessie Villabrille told Reuters.

More than 8,000 suspected drug addicts and dealers have been killed since Duterte took office on June 30, some in police operations but many others in mysterious circumstances.

The authorities vehemently deny wrongdoing and blame vigilantes and drug gangs for the killings.

Criticism of the war on drugs does not sit with Duterte or his supporters. The brash leader chastised the United Nations and former U.S. president Barack Obama numerous times or criticizing his anti-drugs program.

Duterte won the presidency by a wide margin on the promise of wiping out drugs and criminality.

The theater group plans to take the musical to schools and stage a longer version next month.

(Reporting by Ronn Bautista; Writing by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Kim Coghill)

YANGON Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party won nearly half of the seats contested in by-elections on Sunday, the first vote since it swept to power a year ago and an early indication of support for her administration amid increased fighting with ethnic armed groups and slower economic growth.

BRUSSELS The week Britain filed for divorce from the European Union brought relief in London and Brussels that crockery was not smashed - far from it - but negotiators fear tantrums or even a breakdown once talks start.

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Filipino youth stage musical against Duterte's deadly drugs war - Reuters

What looks like a split personality in drug policy is really just the Trump administrations racialized approach to enforcement.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during an opioid and drug abuse listening session with President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, the White House issued an executive order to establish a commission on combating drug addiction, and we now know that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will head it. The Christie appointment seems to signal a soft approach to handling drug problems, given his own experience addressing it in New Jersey. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that this new commission has created a split personality within the administrations drugs policy, given that it seems to clash with Attorney General Jeff Sessionss more punitive approach.

Reads the WSJ:

The tug of war in the new administration reflects its two different constituencies: traditional conservatives, who favor a crackdown on crime that the president frequently links to illegal immigration and urban areas, and the white, working-class and rural communities who welcome a compassionate focus on the opioid epidemic that has ravaged their neighborhoods.

Translation: White people will get rehabilitation. Black and Latino people will get incarceration.

Or, as the Drug Policy Alliance deputy director Michael Collins said in the WSJ article: Were seeing the beginning of a new war on drugs.

Attorney General Sessions would like to see those numbers keep going up. We know that Sessions thinks medical marijuana is stupid, really fancies that old Nancy Reagan motto, just say no, and is willing to crack heads to show he means business. Doing this would, of course, reverse the headway the federal government has made in recent years to alleviate the mass incarceration crisis created, in part, by the inaugural War on Drugs. Decades of research and testimonies from law enforcement officials profess that the lock em up approach doesnt work, but medical rehabilitation does.

Such treatment-over-incarceration findings are likely understood in the White House, as well as in Sessionss Justice Department, and it will probably be applied accordinglyin white, working-class and rural communities, just not in urban areas.

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A Return to the War on Drugs (Which Never Went Away) - CityLab