War On Drugs

The Michael-Phelps-smokes-pot non-story I blogged earlier has taken a depressing turn and brought back a familiar character, according to an AP story by Meg Kinnard: Olympic superstar Michael Phelps could face criminal charges as part of the fallout from a photo that surfaced showing the swimmer smoking from a marijuana pipe at a University of South Carolina house party. … [Read more...] about Michael Phelps Learns His Lesson

I don't know why this caught my eye, but yet another sports figure---this time it's Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps---has admitted he's smoked pot, complete with ritual show-trial confession: "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate … [Read more...] about Michael Phelps Smokes Up

Does anybody know how to file a Freedom of Information Act request? Because there's something I've just got to know. I was visiting the DEA site to see if they had any information about their anniversary celebration ("35 Years Of Ruining Lives For Nothing"), when I discovered something that stopped me cold: Like many law enforcement agencies, the DEA has a Victim Assistance … [Read more...] about What Victims?

To balance Radley's anti-drug-war piece I linked to earlier, the Culture11 site also includes a piece by David Freddoso arguing that we should "Keep Drugs Illegal!" He makes a better argument than you usually hear, but it doesn't really hold up. Freddoso's first argument is a relatively new one. He asserts that eliminating the War on Drugs won't eliminate street violence … [Read more...] about Why Not Keep Drugs Illegal?

Why do I hate the war on drugs? Radley Balko explains it for me quite nicely in his Culture 11 article, "War on Drugs: The Collateral Damage." I highly recommend you read it. … [Read more...] about War on Drugs: The Collateral Damage