Reefer Roundup: 4/22/11

The drug war is a painful thing

Reefer Roundup is back from the void – and there's a lot of drug news to catch up on, so let's get to it.

TEXAS DRUG BILLS BOMBARD LEGE:

Lawmakers may be facing a whopping $27 billion budget shortfall, but that hasn't stopped many of them from proposing to create additional drug crimes. Indeed, a host of bills have been filed that would outlaw a number of substances – including those in not-pot and so-called "bath salts." While these bans may be warranted – I haven't heard much that is good about either of these synthetics – I do question the ban-now-ask-questions-later approach to drug regulation. I mean, hell, look where it's gotten us so far: Billions into a prohibition scheme that's done nothing to combat drug use or availability, and that has marginalized, or even ruined, millions of folks by strapping them with criminal convictions. Indeed, as Grits for Breakfast has noted, a zero-fiscal-impact note for outlawing not-pot, for example, is a load of crap: If you make something illegal – in this case, making possession an effin' felony – folks are going to go to prison. Prison costs money. End of story. It is disingenuous, at best, to suggest that because something is outlawed, people all will take heed. Plu-ease.

The ban-now approach also means that lawmakers often are ready to throw under the bus substances that have serious medical promise. Marijuana is certainly on that list – as a Schedule I drug, most researchers are hamstrung from exploring its full medicinal potential. And, ironically, perhaps, on April 20, House lawmakers approved a bid by Waco GOP Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson (this is his second go-round with this bill) to impose a total ban on Salvia divinorum, a member of the sage family that is a potent natural hallucinogen. Anderson brought – ahem – interesting testimony to the Capitol in 2009 in support of such a ban, but lawmakers didn't move the bill, in part, it seems, because of opposition to such a ban raised by medical researchers who argue that a ban would stop them from research involving the drug's psychoactive ingredient – salvinorin A – which is a promising drug for the treatment of schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer's disease, among others. Unfortunately, lawmakers this year seem to have forgotten that fact; only two members – Longview and Wichita Falls tea praters, Rep. David Simpson and Rep. Lanham Lyne, respectively – voted against the measure.

So, Doc's House Bill 470 goes as do the other bills seeking to outlaw particular substances – it creates a new crime needing punishment. A tried and true approach that does nothing to reduce drug use. So, there you go. Nonetheless, there are a couple bright spots, including another of the perennial favorites, Houston Dem Rep. Harold Dutton's HB 853, which seeks to downgrade penalties for possession of minor amounts of most drugs – think mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA, for example. Dutton has also filed a similar bill relating to marijuana possession, which was heard in committee last month. Dutton's suggestion is modest and progressive, but despite the fact that it would have a positive impact on the state's budget woes, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to pass. But here's hoping that lawmakers will at least consider it critically and not bounce to the reflexive if-we-pass-this-it-means-we're-not-anti-drug-enough! stance. That's just tired.

There is also a proposal from Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, (SB 1076) to mandate community supervision for most low-level drug offenders, up to third-degree felony possession. The bill would also provide for enrollment in various programs, including substance abuse treatment, literacy and vocational training. This is a smart-on-drugs bill and would actually help the state to save money: Community supervision, or probation, works well – and costs far less than locking people up. The bill is still pending in committee after prosecutors complained about the bill during committee hearing earlier this month. Go figure.

DID WE MENTION THAT POT PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK?:

Meanwhile, Indiana Senate lawmakers have voted in favor of legislation that would require lawmakers to review state pot policies. If passed, the legislation (SB192) would require a committee to study "marijuana and its effect on the Indiana criminal justice system" to determine whether marijuana possession and use should "continue to be illegal" and, if so, "which penalties…are appropriate." The bill also calls on legislators to consider whether to pass a medi-pot program and to consider whether the state should pursue a tax-and-regulation policy, bringing pot regulations in line with those for alcohol.

According to NORML, 6% of all arrests in Indiana are for pot offenses, the majority of which are for possession.

And in Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy is proposing to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of pot and to mandate house arrest instead of incarceration for most drunk driving offenders. So far, it looks like fellow lawmakers and advocates with Mothers Against Drunk Driving are on board with the proposals.

Also, in Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear has signed into law a measure that – like that proposed here by Sen. Ellis – would reduce the number of nonviolent drug offenders locked up there. A bipartisan measure, HB 463, provides for treatment options for non-violent drug offenders – a measure that supports say could save the state around $422 million over the next decade. The measure would also reduce penalties for pot possession, up to eight ounces, for adults to an offense that nets, at most, up to 45 days in jail. "Over the last three years, we've made headway with aggressive efforts to bring common sense to Kentucky's penal code, and our prison population has dropped each of the past three years," Beshear said in a press statement. "House Bill 463 helps us be tough on crime, while being smart on crime."

Amen to that.

KERLIKOWSKE MAKING A MOVE?:

Sounds like incoming Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is looking to poach drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, former chief of the Seattle PD who is now head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to take over as top cop in Chi-town. Look out Chi-town.

OBAMA ATTACKS PRESCRIPTION ADDICTION:

Speaking of Kerlikowske and the ONDCP, this week that office released its plan to fight growing prescription drug abuse in the U.S. There's no doubt that prescription drug use – particularly opioid use – is on the rise. In 2000, for example, pharmacies filled a total of 174 million pain pill scrips; in 2009, that number had increased by nearly 50%, to a total of 257 million scrips filled. And overdose deaths related to opioid use have also risen, particularly in Texas, where deaths increased 150% from 1999 to 2007, according to a report from the Drug Policy Alliance. Still, the new White House plan notes that figuring out how to address the increase in abuse should be "approached thoughtfully" since these medicines have such "great potential for relieving suffering."

Unfortunately, it seems the plan to address the issue is more of the drug-war same. There's mention of ensuring access to treatment (needed, but never a real priority) and education, but there's also emphasis on using law enforcement resources to tackle the issue. That sounds familiar, eh? Also familiar in the plan is the setting of a number of goals – like the plan to reduce within five years the misuse of scrip drugs by 15%. Hmmm…if I recall correctly, we set a similar plan not long ago to reduce the use of marijuana – and we all know how well that's gone.

It's not that coming up with a plan to address addiction is a bad thing. It isn't. But what is bad is taking out and reusing the same old framework for tackling such a problem. In short, this is just another arm of the drug war flexing it's same old muscle.

Read the entire report here.