We don’t talk much about politics here, I think mostly because we’re apathetic and/or disillusioned. There are precisely two politicians I genuinely think would be appropriate leaders of our fair country. One of them is the highly polarizing Ron Paul. No, I do not think he’s the second coming of Jesus, and I definitely don’t approve of his views on church and state or abortion. But overall, there’s probably not a more sincere, consistent and honest politician that actually has a chance at becoming president.

The other is the largely unknown former governor of New Mexico: Gary Johnson. A young, active, perhaps more progressive version of Ron Paul, Johnson has gained notoriety (and respect) for having climbed Mts. Everest, Elbrus, McKinley and Kilimanjaro, performing impressive 140+ mile triathlons, and a 100 mile run through the Rocky Mountains. He also survived a 50 foot fall from a paragliding accident and treated his pain with medicinal marijuana.

No, he is not a myth, though he might sound too good to be true. He is highly vocal about his disdain for the War on Drugs, specifically the War on Marijuana. In fact, he has been firmly (and loudly) of this opinion as far back as 1999, long before the argument was part of public discourse.

Nowadays, he is trying to gain footing to stage a serious presidential run, likely in 2016. Just today an op-ed piece authored by none other than Johnson was published in Big Government – a strictly right-leaning website. In the article Johnson argues for the end of the War on Drugs, citing the fiscal, social and international benefits that could come with it. And… well, I’ll let you read it for yourself:

http://biggovernment.com/gjohnson/2012/01/16/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-drugs/#more-408344

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Every anti-weed advocate just lost possibly their most valuable argument.

“The researchers followed more than 5,000 people over two decades and found that regularly smoking marijuana — the equivalent of up to a joint a day over seven years — did not impair performance on a lung function test.

“In something of a twist, the researchers found that compared to nonsmokers, marijuana users performed slightly better on the lung function test, though the improvement was minuscule.”

Epic. I think I’ll go take some puffs of this finely crafted BHO in celebration! While I do that, check out the rest of the article:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/marijuana-smoking-does-not-harm-lungs-study-finds/

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Frontline is known for their outstanding investigative reporting, and this special should be a good one! The half-hour long piece will be covering the largest producer of American-used marijuana: California. It should be a very interesting story, including the federal crackdown on some of these areas, as well as a bit of insight into the black market itself.

It’ll be showing on PBS and PBS.org starting at 9 pm tonight, don’t miss it!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/

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In this passionate open letter to Americans, writing staff of “The Wire” point out some of the obvious flaws with the drug war, and make a suggestion of what the average, broke, well-meaning American can do to help. The authors do suggest that perhaps the role of TV writer is not the best suited for social commentary. I wholeheartedly disagree. If there is a better suited role than the most universal form of American entertainment to shed light on an issue, I’d love to hear it. Obviously this can go wrong, in the form of Fox News, for example, but when it goes right, I’ll be damned if it isn’t spectacular.

As an avid “The Wire” enthusiast, I was excited to read this. It wasn’t too surprising, however, given the nature of the show, to learn of their opinions on the matter. Regardless, I think it could be a very beneficial, and perhaps enlightening, read to the less “involved” in our culture.

Without further ado: The Wire’s War on the Drug War

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Apparently the DEA really doesn’t discriminate. I suppose this is a good thing, since blacks outnumber whites 4-1 in American jails, and they are outnumbered 6-1 in the population of the US. But once again, the lack of oversight and general lack of interest in gathering worthwhile evidence tacks on another repetitive mark under “failed police raid on innocent American’s home.” This time, however, the victim of the raid was not an average American. Where most people would have neither the time nor resources to pursue any type of restitution, this UC Hastings professor vows to take his case as far as possible. At one time even being quoted saying he will not stop until “I see [the agents'] houses sold at auction and their kids’ college tuitions taken away from them.”

While it’s fairly unlikely that any repercussions will befall the individual officers involved in this case, it is possible that the infuriated professor, Clark Freshman, will see some sort of monetary compensation. It is historically a fruitless venture to take on any wing of the American government, especially the judicial sect. And for obvious reasons. But then again, this is not the ordinary citizen, and he probably has some friends in high places. I’ll be interested to see how this one turns out.

You can view the full story here.

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As anyone with experience will know, Four Loko seems unlike almost any alcohol drink. And as anyone who has looked at the ingredients will know, it is the alcoholic equivalent to a speedball (a bit hyperbolic, of course). Well, thanks to this caffeinated (and usually guarinated and taurinated) malt beverage, I am reminded just how forgetful people are about prohibition.

If you click this link here, you will learn about Michigan’s new law banning Four Loko (and, as I understand it, all alcoholic caffeinated malt beverages) from sale in the state. It should be noted that a probable major contributing factor here is this incident, in which nine college freshman were hospitalized after drinking Four Loko. Because, you know, college freshman never get hospitalized for any other alcoholic beverage.

Expect other municipalities, states and hopefully not the Federal Government (don’t hold your breath) to soon follow suit.

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The headline states that the “US drug war has met none of its goals.” You mean just throwing trillions of dollars at a problem doesn’t make it go away? You mean people are going to do what they want regardless of whether or not the government says they can? You mean that a program that imprisons non-violent people does more harm than good? Who could have ever guessed? Apparently the new drug czar in our own great US of A did!

“‘In the grand scheme, it has not been successful,’ Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. ‘Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified.’” Well I’ll be damned. But, of course, there are the dissenters…

“‘To say that all the things that have been done in the war on drugs haven’t made any difference is ridiculous,’ Walters said. ‘It destroys everything we’ve done. It’s saying all the people involved in law enforcment, treatment and prevention have been wasting their time. It’s saying all these people’s work is misguided.’” Uh, Mr. Walters? That’s exactly what we’re saying. But don’t take my word for it! Read the entire article, and pass your own judgement, here.

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The site, which has already been cleared of some 9,139 illegal marijuana plants, was located on a 30-acre avocado orchard northeast of Orosi on the 14800 block of Johnson Drive, Orosi. Officers discovered a large-scale processing station there, including drying fans, heaters and ventilation equipment to “aid in the drying process,” deputies reported.

Equipment designed to grow marijuana indoors was also discovered at the Orosi site. Officials of electricity provider Southern California Edison revealed that power was being diverted illegally to the site.

The seized plants’ estimated street value was estimated by police to be $37.3 million. Previously dried marijuana amounting to around 500 pounds valued at $2 million was also seized and destroyed.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department has uncovered a mult-million dollar indoor pot operation which has been growing marijuana in a warehouse for three years.

Deputies raided the building at 911 41st Street North in Birmingham Thursday night after a two month investigation.

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Full article.

The article states that between 400 and 500 plants were confiscated. I’m a little skeptical over the assessed value of the pot, but I think it has been pretty well established by now that our government vastly overinflates the value of street drug seizures. The part of the article about the pot being able to cause “LSD-like hallucinations” would be humorous if it weren’t for the large contingent of ignorant folk who believe statements like this.

Leave your thoughts below.

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The White House drug czar’s office, aka the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has been claiming loudly and frequently for several years now that its aggressive anti-marijuana campaign has been a rousing success. As deputy ONDCP director Scott Burns put it in a recent California newspaper interview, “drug use is down in the United States dramatically since 2001 by every barometer and indicator that we use. … Twenty-four percent reduction in marijuana use by young people 12 to 18 years old.”

Uh, not quite.

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Full article here.

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