Arnold Trebach, who died last week at the age of 92, started the Drug Policy Foundation in the heat of Ronald Reagan's war on drugs. It was the same year that Joe Biden, a Democrat who is running for president this year as a criminal justice reformer, wrote the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which prescribed new mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and created the notorious weight-based sentencing distinction that treated crack cocaine as if it were 100 times worse than cocaine powder.

It did not seem like an auspicious time to be urging a reconsideration of drug prohibition. Three years later, when President George H.W. Bush announced yet another escalation of the war on drugs while waving a bag of crack on national television, Biden, then a Delaware senator, delivered the Democratic response. "Quite frankly," he said, "the president's plan's not tough enough, bold enough, or imaginative enough to meet the crisis at hand." Calling drug use "the No. 1 threat to our national security," Biden said "what we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam."

In this context, with Democrats outbidding Republicans in their zeal to deploy violence against people with politically incorrect pharmacological tastes, it took a certain kind of chutzpaha good kindto start an organization dedicated to the proposition that there might be a more tolerant approach. But Trebach, a middle-aged lawyer and professor of justice at American University, figured someone should be talking about downside of this bipartisan chemical crusade and suggesting an alternative he called "drug peace."

Even before he started the Drug Policy Foundation, Trebach's skeptical treatment of the war on drugs in the courses he taught prompted a telegram to the president of American University. "Close your doors immediately," it said. "Do not continue to corrupt any more American youth." The idea that questioning current policy was tantamount to corrupting "American youth" suggests the level of debate that was typical at the time.

"We must convince people that it is respectable, it is rational, it is decent, to oppose current drug laws," Trebach toldReason in 1987, the year he published The Great Drug War. "The major thing I want to do is replace hate with love or intolerance with tolerance. The drug law does not deal with some of the major problems connected with drug abusecrime and corruption. The law only makes the corruption worse, makes the crime worse, and does not help the simple addict. I know of no addict who has been helped by being treated as the enemy."

In The Great Drug War, Trebach highlighted the cruel, perverse, and invasive consequences of using force to prevent people from altering their consciousness in ways politicians did not like. The fallout included widespread drug testing, humiliating border searches, civil asset forfeiture, imprisonment of nonviolent drug offenders, police corruption, undertreatment of pain, misinformation about the relative hazards of drugs, coercive "rehabilitation" programs like Straight Inc., vain and destructive efforts to stamp out drug production in other countries, and a running battle between domestic marijuana growers and cops determined to eradicate their crops and livelihoods.

"We are losing the great drug war because our leadershave declared all users of illicit drugs to be 'the enemy,'" Trebach wrote. "Thus, they refuse to distinguish between drug use and drug abuse, between responsible drug use and compulsive addictive use." They have "therefore declared at least 50 million Americans to be enemies of the state."

The book's subtitle originally touted Radical Proposals That Could Make America Safe Again, although Trebach stopped short of recommending the legalization of all drugs. In the 2005 edition, which did call for a broad dismantling of prohibition, the subtitle was changed to Rational Proposals to Turn the Tide, a revision that may have been motivated by marketing considerations but also reflected a change in public opinion that Trebach helped bring about.

The percentage of Americans who favored legalizing marijuana had by that point begun an upward trend that would lead to majority support within a decade. Meanwhile, politicians were beginning to question the mandatory minimum binge that politicians like Biden had promoted. Two years later, Biden himself would introduce a bill aimed at eliminating the unjust and irrational distinction between the smoked and snorted forms of cocaine, which had led to strikingly unequal treatment of black drug offenders.

Trebach's D.C.-based organizationwhich in 2000 merged with Ethan Nadelmann's Lindesmith Center in New York, an amalgam now known as the Drug Policy Allianceplayed a seminal role in encouraging that evolution in thinking by bringing together antiprohibitionists from across the political spectrum. As my formerReason colleague Virginia Postrel noted in 1989, the Drug Policy Foundation's conferences offered fresh perspectives on drug use and addiction that went beyond "medicalization," which would treat consumers of currently illegal substances as patients rather than criminals. These were gatherings where libertarians influenced by Thomas Szasz and Milton Friedman mingled with public health specialists, left-leaning critics of the carceral state, and conservatives troubled by the myriad ways in which prohibition undermines law and order.

Writing forReason in 1988, by which time he had turned fully against prohibition, Trebach argued that even the "worst-case scenario" of substantially increased addiction under legalization would be better than the disastrous consequences of the war on drugs. "Everything we know about the dynamics of drug use suggests that the real scenario will be even better," he wrote. "If we legalize the currently illegal drugs, teach temperance and moderation regarding all drugs, and treat addicts and cancer patients alike with compassion and sound health care, the whole topic will be reduced to a mid-level and, hopefully, boring issue of national health policy."

We have not yet reached the point where drug policy is boring. But discussion of the subject is notably calmer, more compassionate, and less reflexively punitive than it was in the 1980s, when Trebach dared to question the aggressive, indiscriminate approach favored by Democrats and Republicans alike. The ongoing collapse of marijuana prohibitioncombined with the shift embodied by Biden, who now says he wants to abolish the mandatory minimums and death penalties he once championedsuggests that Americans are thinking about drugs a little more rationally than they did a few decades ago. That's no small achievement, and Trebach's advocacy, as he hoped, helped make opposition to the war on drugs respectable.

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RIP Arnold Trebach, Who Helped Make Opposition to the Drug War Respectable - Reason

WASHINGTON (AP) Reflecting presidential candidate Joe Bidens careful positioning, a key Democratic Party committee on Monday approved a 2020 platform that presents a liberal outline for the country but rejects many policies pursued by the lefts most outspoken progressives.

The document, approved by Democrats platform committee on a voice vote, now goes to more than 4,000 Democratic delegates who will vote by mail on whether to approve the document ahead of the partys August convention, which will take place almost entirely online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final draft endorses universal health care coverage but, as Biden does, calls for a public option insurance plan to compete in existing private insurance markets as the next step. Committee members overwhelmingly rejected amendments to more explicitly endorse the single-payer insurance model like what Bernie Sanders pushed.

In a lengthy passage demanding an overhaul of the criminal justice system, Democrats decry the effects of a decadeslong war on drugs. But committee members rejected an amendment calling to legalize marijuana. The same section demands an end to police violence against Americans, but it does not endorse some activists calls to defund the police.

In total, the platform is part of Bidens effort to balance the center-left establishment that has been his political home for decades with the partys ascendant progressive wing represented by high-profile figures like Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In fact, the drafting process included a series of policy committees that Bidens campaign convened with Sanders campaign after the Vermont senator finished as runner-up in the nominating fight. Ocasio-Cortez was included in that process, while Warren has emerged as a key policy adviser who talks regularly with Biden.

Bidens goal has been to avoid the kind of rancor that hobbled Hillary Clintons general election campaign four years ago, even as President Donald Trump and Republicans lambaste the former vice president as captive to a radical left.

The platform committee voted repeatedly Monday not to modify language that would push the party closer to embracing Sanders Medicare for All health insurance model, sticking with Bidens preferred language promising to build on the 2010 health care law signed by President Barack Obama.

Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former health commissioner for the city of Detroit, argued that the coronavirus outbreak demonstrates why the country needs a single-payer system like Medicare for All rather than just an expansion of the Affordable Care Act.

We have an opportunity to go bigger because this moment demands it, El Sayed said, arguing for an amendment that was eventually defeated.

Cecilia Muoz, who was director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Obama, countered that the platform was already shaping up to be the most progressive ever proposed by Democrats. She also noted that it incorporated the work of the Biden-Sanders task forces that had labored to craft language to appeal across the Democratic spectrum.

Im proud and thankful that the Biden-Sanders unity task force has outlined such a progressive statement on our partys views on this issue, Muoz said. I believe we should retain that language, the language that they negotiated.

On climate, the platform calls for rejoining international alliances of nations agreeing to sharp reductions in carbon pollution. Biden, after working with progressives, agreed explicitly to the goal of making the nations energy grid carbon neutral by 2035. That detail does not appear in the platform. The document also makes no mention of some Democrats Green New Deal legislative proposals that includes even more aggressive timelines.

The partys discussion of law enforcement reflects the nations reckoning with systemic racism.

Our criminal justice system is failing to keep communities safe, the draft reads, adding that police brutality is a stain on the soul of our nation. The platform calls for strict national standards governing the use of force and for the nation to reimagine policing for the benefit and safety of the American people, with the U.S. Justice Department taking a more active role in collecting statistics on police violence and investigating departments where it is alleged. But the document stops short of activists calls to defund the police, reflecting Bidens position on the matter.

Trump has sought to link Biden to the activists calls for eliminating traditional law enforcement.

Still, Democrats draft language on policing and law enforcement is significantly sharper than a much shorter section on the matter in 2016. That platform called for improving police-community relations but emphasized: Across the country, there are police officers inspiring trust and confidence, honorably doing their duty demonstrating that it is possible to prevent crime without relying on unnecessary force. They deserve our respect and support.

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Democratic committee OKs platform with progressives' input - The Associated Press

Detroit Dozens of federal agents are being assigned to Detroit to root out violent criminals under an expansion of a Trump administration "law-and-order" initiative, although authorities insist agents here won't getinvolved in protests, as they have inother cities.

Detroit U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider joined Wednesday with leaders from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service to detail enhancements to what is being described as Operation Legend.

Those include the creation of an ATF unit to focus on gun violenceas well as a mix of new permanent and temporary agent assignments to target gun and gang violence, fugitive apprehension, illegal firearms and drug trafficking.

"The amount of violent crime plaguing our city was unacceptable," Schneider said during a news conference inside the ATF offices in Detroit."More and more, our children are being caught in the crossfire and murdered in senseless gun violence."

The announcement comes as the state's largest city has experienced a surge in gun violence and the White House listed Detroit as one of several cities in the country where federal agents will bedeployed as part of a Trump program to curb violence.

Schneiderhas noted homicides in Detroit are currently up 31% and shootings 53% in recent months.

"This is a flood of more resources that we haven't seen before," he said. "The violent increase here in Detroit is significant."

Overall, 19 new permanent ATF agent assignments will be added in Detroitand 30-plusother ATF and FBI agents will be reassigned or sent in from across the country for temporary detail work.

The FBI is directing personnel already working in Detroit to the initiative. ATF is bringing in special agents from other sites nationally. Some are currently undergoing training at the federal law enforcement trainingcenter in Georgia.

Matthew Schneider, United States Attorney, Michigan, shows the many weapons taken off the streets of Detroit and announced the expansion of Operation Legend at ATF Headquarters in Detroit on Wednesday, July 29, 2020.(Photo: Max Ortiz, The Detroit News)

The project will be funded in part with a $1 million Bureau of Justice Assistance grant. Another $100,000, officials said, will be used toward "acoustic gunshot detection technology and equipment."

The effort, Schneidernoted, is an extension of Operation Relentless Pursuit, a program rolled out in Detroit last winter by U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

ATF Special Agent in Charge James Deir said Wednesday that 15 agents are detailed here on a 90-day assignment and a handful of others will be here permanently.

The enforcement group will target gun violence in police precincts including the 6th, 2nd, 8th and the 12th, he said, adding it's a "priority mission" and "Detroit matters."

"Senseless gun violence is taking over the streets of Detroit," he said. "Whether we want to admit it or we want to stick our heads in the sand, at the end of the day, statistics do not lie."

Deir said recent spikes in violence havehomicides in the 6th Precinct up 42% and nonfatal shootings 67%; in the 2nd Precinct, homicides have gone up 25% and nonfatal shootings 123%; the 8th Precinct also has seen homicides surge by 25% and nonfatal shootings climb 80%; and the 12 Precinct, he said, has a homicide rate that's up 90% and 44% more fatal shootings.

"What is happening on the streets of Detroit has to end," he added. "I think those stats speak for themselves."

The Trump administration's program, referred to as Operation Legend, builds off the crime-fighting strategy that'scommitting $71 million toward battling drug trafficking, street gangs and other violent crime.

Schneider said newly assigned DEA agents assigned to Michigan under Operation Legend executed a search warrant in Detroit last week and found drugs, nine guns, including assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and three body armor vests.

Schneider has said the federal help will mean more funding for Detroit and hopefully more agents to work alongside local partners.

Gov. GretchenWhitmer told CNNs Erin Burnett Wednesday that its fine for federal authorities to come in and supplement local police forces in combating crime. If the federal governments intention is something different, thats not going to be OK, Whitmer said.

What we are worried about, of course, is that the federal government is going to come in and do what they did in Portland, Whitmer said. That is not acceptable. That is not necessary. We have seen peaceful protests in Detroit.

Activists Tristan Taylor and Nakia Wallace during a Detroit Will Breathe picket at entrance to 1155 Brewery Park in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 2020.(Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

The Justice Department last week noted plans to send resources to Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland as Trump vowed federal agents would head to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to aid local law enforcement amid ongoing protests in the wake of the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, noting "a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence."

Schneider, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and police Chief James Craig have stressed the daily rallies and marches in Detroit won't be a focus of Operation Legend.

"There are no federal troops coming to Detroit or any other area in Michigan to interfere with protesters," Schneider reiterated Wednesday.

Deir notedATF resources already have been in Detroit for more than a week.

"To be clear, ATF and none of my federal partners here are going to be driving around the streets in unmarked cars to somehow make contact or swoop up protesters and demonstrators," he said. "Its not going to happen.I have no interest in that. Its not my mission. Its not our lane.

At the same time Wednesday, outside the office, protesters with Detroit Will Breathe gathered to oppose Trump's initiative.

We don't need vigilante federal agents brutalizing the black community, because that's what they're coming to do. We need resources. So that's why we're out here, said Lloyd Simpson, a Detroit Will Breathe organizer.

Organizers believe bringing more police force into Detroit will cause violence.

We vehemently oppose Operation Legend. ... The thing is is that police are causing violence in our communities," added Simpson, noting three recent police-involved shootings in the city. "What we need is we need federal dollars for support in our communities, not police."

Duggan and Craig, in a statement released Wednesday, said the additional federal agents were not prompted by the city but acknowledged a dire need to"address the unacceptable level of gun violence."

"So long as those staff are used in the continuing effort to enforce federal laws on illegal gun trafficking and gang violence, DPD will continue its strong partnership with those agencies," the statement read.

The city's statement notes the police department has responded to protests over the last two months by "relying on the support of the Detroit community, not by asking for intervention by the National Guard or Homeland Security."

Schneider said there are people in the community whosay "we don't want federal agents in Detroit."Butfederal agents "have been in Detroit for decades," he said.

"Some of what we are doing is no different than what I did as an assistant U.S. attorney many years ago when my bosses were (former U.S. Attorney General) Eric Holder and President Barack Obama," he said. "I'm doing the same thing now as I did then; working with the FBI, ATF and DEA to make our community safer."

Federal agencies have been providing information, training, financial assistance and manpower to local law enforcement for decades, but the practice ramped up in the 1980s and 1990s with increased narcotics use, and the War on Drugs.

However, Detroit police didnt officially begin entering federal task forces until 1994 because former Mayor Coleman Young didnt support them.

During the Young years, some officers said, Detroit police sometimes had to resort to clandestine, unauthorized meetings with FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents to share information, according toaDetroit News report from July 5, 1994, announcing the citys first official Detroit police-federal task force.

Detroit Board of Police Commissioners chairman Willie Bell, who was a police officer throughout Youngs administration, said the late mayor was suspicious of federal law enforcement agencies. Thosepartnerships began in Detroit as Young left office.

Given the issues hed had with them before, he wasnt in favor of bringing in federal agents, said Bell, referring to FBI investigations into Young, which were uncovered by The News in 2000. He was strongly against it.

Bell said during his time as an officer, he didnt notice any hardships Detroit police endured by not augmenting their force with federal agents but he said, things are different today.

Local police are always more effective than federal agencies, because they know the community, and people can relate better to the local officers, he said. And without community cooperation, youll never have effective law enforcement.

"With the protesting and the increased violence, and all the reckless driving, DPD is stretched thin. It would be foolish not to take advantage of an offer for help.

Bell said the police board will carefully monitor the federal agents working in Detroit.

Recent Detroit Police-federal initiatives include Detroit One, an effort to get illegal guns off the streets, which was launched in 2013 by former Detroit U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and former Mayor Dave Bing, and Operation Ceasefire, also started in 2013, which aims to stop gang violence.

The collaborations do not always go smoothly.

In 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Mitchell Quinn was working with a Detroit police task force when he fatally shot 20-year-old Terrance Kellom. Last year, a federal jury cleared Quinn of wrongdoing in a wrongful death lawsuit.

In February, there was a flap between Craig, the DEA and ATF after an informant, Kenyel Brown, allegedly went on a crime spree that left six people dead. Craig complained the federal agencies wouldnt admit Brown was one of their informants. Brown shot himself in the head in an Oak Park backyard as he fled from policeand later died from the injury.

Detroit Will Breathe picket at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 2020.(Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

The program to assist local law enforcementto track down the most violent offenders also is targeted atMemphis, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Albuquerque, Barr said in December when he announced the initial program alongside Craig and leaders of the FBI, ATF, DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Detroit has shared a portion of $10 million that went out to several cities, Schneider said.

That funding, he added, has enabled the office to get about 400 fugitives off the streets, tackle more gun violence cases, bring more charges and get more offenders behind bars.

Schneider said the operation beganwith U.S. Marshals. Officials planned to augment that withother agents from ATF, FBI and DEA. But the plan was curtailed when the pandemic hit.

cferretti@detroitnews.com

Staff Writer Ariana Taylor contributed.

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Feds: Operation Legend will add agents to focus on Detroit gun violence - The Detroit News

Manila (CNN Philippines Life) In 2019, James Cuenca starred in what was then promoted as the wokest film of the year, a two-and-a-half-hour long action-thriller titled KontrAdiksyon. In it, he played Alexis, an anti-drug war activist who abandons his advocacy after a gang of masked meth addicts break into his comfortable middle-class home, rape his wife, and kill his family. Alexis begins to work with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in support of Oplan Tokhang. After getting fired, he becomes a vigilante and kills several drug users. The big plot twist comes when a congressman who opposes extrajudicial killings is exposed as the head of a massive drug cartel. His plan is to funnel drugs into government-funded rehab centers (one of which is lavishly shown) so that detainees attack PDEA agents, leaving them with no choice but to shoot. The movie takes glee in implicating the political opposition in this grand conspiracy, and all throughout, every government talking point on the drug war is upheld.

Oggs Cruz, a film critic for Rappler, called KontrAdiksyon blatant propaganda. Palanca Award-winning writer Njel De Mesa, who wrote and directed the movie, is a public supporter of Rodrigo Duterte, and created online videos to bolster his 2016 campaign. After Dutertes election, De Mesa was appointed to the board of directors at the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). When KontrAdiksyon was released, the president gave a speech at the premiere (I don't give a shit about human rights, he said.) De Mesa denied that his movie was propaganda: I did this project not because I needed the money but because I wanted to move people and I want people to open their hearts and understand each others point of view.

KontrAdiksyon grossed 300,000 on its first day, prompting several theaters to pull it out. De Mesas movie had high production value, a plot tailor-made for drug war hawks, and an endorsement from the president. Still, the political base it pandered to never fully materialized.

While the Duterte era has certainly made its mark on cinema, with several films and documentaries examining the drug wars adverse effects on the Filipino poor, a small group of movies also exists in contrast to them, attempting to justify Oplan Tokhang as a necessary crackdown. But, like KontrAdiksyon, none of them have been successful financially or critically. And its mostly because none of them are good.

The 2017 film Kamandag ng Droga, for instance, is not so much a movie as it is a series of dismal just-say-no sketches, spliced together to chaotic effect. A zombie-like drug user climbs up a telephone pole and dies of electrocution. Teenagers take drugs at a concert and die. The singer at the concert, dejected at having had her spotlight stolen, gets depressed and takes drugs. She dies too. Christopher De Leon plays a father who incessantly asks his son whether he might be on drugs. The son is not on drugs, but is so saddened by his fathers lack of faith in him that he breaks down and takes drugs (Christopher De Leon is later revealed to be on drugs.) The son enters a coma. With all hope lost, his mother, Lorna Tolentino, euthanizes him by removing his oxygen mask, which isnt how euthanasia happens.

At one point, Mocha Uson, who does not play herself, appears. Her brother is on drugs. She gets help from Dante L.A. Jimenez, the president of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), who does play himself. After reassuring her, he turns directly to the camera and talks to the audience about VACCs services. Duterte comes out to give a speech, urging the public to report drug users so that they can be shot by the police (Or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support.) Persida Acosta and Senator Koko Pimentel also make cameos. This movie is not backed by Duterte, said Peach Caparas, the associate director, in a promotional interview with the government-owned Peoples Television Network. Kamandag had a 100,000 opening.

Photo from KAMANDAG NG DROGA/FACEBOOK

In another 2017 movie, DAD: Durugin ang Droga, Allen Dizon plays a father whose drug addiction fractures his family, sending his wife and son on their own respective roads to vice. The movie uses this scenario not to provoke a meaningful discussion on substance abuse, but to impart a flimsy legitimacy to what Duterte has often framed as a crusade against the collapse of the Filipino family.

But none of that really matters, because like its fellow not-propaganda flops, DADs political messaging is largely sidelined by its inability to be a good movie. There are several glaring blunders in production: out-of-focus camerawork, shoddy sound, and some very jarring creative choices. The film does have the greatest flashback of all time, tweeted the film critic Philbert Dy. Black and white, with all the actors playing the same characters, 20 years younger [...] Rey Abellana is wearing a cap with 1996 on it, so we know what year it is. In one scene, Dizons character hooks up with a woman in his car. The next day, the woman has departed, but her dress is still in the car. DADs final scene, its literal ending, is a clip of Duterte saying My God, I hate drugs. I have not been able to find anything about how much this movie grossed.

In an email interview, Dy talked to me about the failure of these movies in appealing even to Dutertes base. Movies are a business, and they dont really seem to be the best way to get a message out now, he wrote. Theres just too much competition, and no one's going to sit through a cheap-looking flick with the title DAD: Durugin ang Droga when they could be watching the new Avengers movie. And theyre also all laughably bad. Good films have a hard enough time getting word-of-mouth. Bad films like these have zero chance of capturing the public imagination.

If theres one filmmaker whos come close to giving his pro-drug war projects a patina of seriousness, its Brilliante Mendoza, who has directed two of the presidents State of the Nation Addresses (SONA). Mendozas technical skill as a director, as well as his access to production funding, lend his movies a sort of aesthetic gravity, even though his drug war plotlines are almost completely devoid of nuance. His series Amo, which became the first Filipino show to be picked up by Netflix, is about a drug-dealing teenager named Joseph, though Mendoza mostly uses him as an excuse to render the ugliness of crime. In Amo, corruption within the police system is acknowledged; Derek Ramsay plays Josephs uncle, a dirty cop. But the police force at large is mostly depicted as a fair, merciful entity, with many drug pushers walking away unscathed.

Mendoza has also directed a full-length movie, Alpha: The Right to Kill, which also stars Allen Dizon. Like Amo, it examines police corruption only as a systemic anomaly, not as a feature of an innately broken institution. Extrajudicial killings are also upheld as a valid form of law enforcement. As Dy pointed out, Alpha makes it very clear that everyone who is killed was wielding a gun and threatening the lives of policemen.

For Cruz, the Rappler film critic, the apparent sobriety of Mendozas camera is also what makes his work so insidious. [Mendoza,] whose documentary-style of filmmaking has been lauded in various circles as reflective of reality, is using the same style in a depiction of a society that favors Duterte's anti-drug war, he told me in an email. Note that Mendoza's films are never blatant like the rest of the B-flicks that have come out of the propaganda machine. Its politics is reflected by the decision the director has made to create a Philippine society that is consumed by narcotics in a style that apes journalism.

Brilante Mendoza's "Alpha" made the film festival rounds in Asia and Europe (such as in Bucharest, San Sebastian, and Warsaw) and won accolades. It's cumulative worldwide gross is $2,632. Screencap from SINGAPORE FILM FESTIVAL/YOUTUBE

In 2018, just before Amo was released, a Change.org petition was started by Luzviminda Siapo, a woman whose 19-year-old son was killed by unidentified gunmen after a neighbor tagged him as a drug dealer. In the petition, Siapo urged Netflix to cancel the show. Netflix refused. Netflix offers a diverse choice for consumers to decide on what, where and when they want to watch, a rep for the company told BuzzFeed. "We understand that viewers may have opposing opinions but leave it to them to decide. Netflix doesnt share view counts for its shows, so theres no way of knowing how many people watched Amo. Nevertheless, its been consistently criticized for its poor pacing, the flatness of its characters, and its skewed depiction of the drug war.

Alpha didn't do so well either. Though Mendozas films have always fared better as festival contenders than as commercial prospects, Alpha only had an international gross of $2,632 according to IMDB, a sharp decrease from Mendozas previous film, Ma Rosa, which grossed $88,390.

If propagandas success rests on the impact of its reception, then it is true that none of these projects were good at being propaganda. But at the same time, it would be a mistake to read their failure as indicative of a disapproving public. Pro-drug war rhetoric continues to be propagated through much more effective means: Facebook trolls, fake news, lopsided police reports. Dutertes base may not have been able to reinforce the governments narratives cinematically, but, box office hits or none, those same narratives continue to hold sway over Filipinos, destroying real lives as a result. We cannot forget that Oplan Tokhang was the platform that put the president in office. Duterte promised the people action, he cast himself as their hero, and he thrilled voters with visions of state-sanctioned murder. That movie sold.

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The pro-drug war movies that tried to make a case for Oplan Tokhang - CNN Philippines

July30, 20206 min read

Racial and gender diversity in the marijuana industry "is still lacking especially in ownership and executive positions,"according toMJBizDaily Research Editor Eli McVey.

While the industry has taken steps to improve, more is required from it, McVey noted.

RELATED:One Million Cannabis Cans Sold: How Two Entrepreneurs Tapped Into A Hot Market

With the national spotlight currently focused more intently on civil justice reform, changes could be on the horizon.

Minority business leaders say there are significant barriers incritical institutions that keep many from becoming significant players in the space.

Mark Slaugh, CEO of regtech companyiComply, told Benzinga he feels hes made a mark in the industry since launching in 2011 and can stand on his credentials. However, the power structures in place created a negative experience for him and other minorities in the space.

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"Being a minority in cannabis, in Colorado, has not been the most positive experience and is quite isolating when I can literally count the number ofminority cannabis business ownersthat I know on one hand," Slaugh said.

See Also:How The 'War On Drugs' And Foster System Harm Minorities And Low-Income Families

The CEO also reported instances where his attempts at collaboration have been dismissed, while also being targeted for hostile takeovers.

"I've never been offered investment, strategic partnerships, or a buyout that didn't try to take advantage of what I've built and hijack it for the purposes of privilege," he said. "While no one has been overtly racist, there seems to be a sense of elitism among a select few who are culturally different than myself."

Barriers exist in financial institutions as well.

Marie Montmarquet is a 13-year industry veteranand co-founder ofMD Numbers Inc., a brand with a line of vertically integrated cannabis products.

There is no blueprint for industry success in the nascent market, Montmarquet explained. However, minorities often face additional challenges due to a lack of capital and real estate.

Most minoritiesdo not have accessto bank lending, lines of credit or other loan opportunities," Montmarquet said, citing howthe issue spans across all industries.

The co-founder says she had beendenied property and banking during most of her cannabis career.

Dhaval Shah, CEO of Lullaby Wellness, echoed similar sentiments, noting alack of investmentin minority ventures.

Investors just aren't backing enough minority-owned businesses, and you see it everywhere," Shah said.

There wererespondents who reported feeling welcome in the space.

"The cannabis community has largely welcomed me with open arms, said Rob Mejia, founder of the cannabis education platformOur Community Harvestandadjunct cannabis professor atStockton University. There is a feeling of excitement for the future, and Ive been surprised by the amount of expertise and connections Ive been able to access."

RELATED:Critics of "Big Weed" Fret Over Retail Cannabis Slotting Fees

Still, there are oversights stemming from the failed drug war, saysiComply's Slaugh.

"The cannabis community has to understand the impact of the war on drugs on Black and other communities most affected," he said."Cannabis legalization is accelerating, yet the people most impacted by its prohibition are being denied access to a multi-billion dollar market and the opportunity to create generational wealth legally."

The CEO, who said many people like him grew up with families broken by marijuana-based prison sentences, said minority owners need more access to begin creating a level marketplace.

"Without access to education in legal market opportunities, investment and capital, and resources to run a cannabis business effectively, we are being marginalized to MSO companies and white wealth taking what we built," he added.

See Also:65 Outstanding Black And Hispanic Men Leading In Cannabis

Others emphasized that having representation in all aspects of the market, from billboards to the boardroom, is required.

Martine Francis Pierre, a growth and marketing strategist, is a recent entrant to the sector. While building her marketing brand and establishing a hub for Black-owned businesses, she noted how numerous companies lack diversity in its leadership.

"Within weeks, I realized that the big issue so many of these major cannabis brands had came to being inclusive across the board," Francis Pierre said. "We're talking about corporate offices, but even more so when you scroll through Instagram or going through billboards. You do not see Black or brown faces."

Many respondents called for states to revise their cannabis programs, overhaul their licensing processes, and vetsocial equity programs to determine theiractual impact on affected communities.

"The silver lining in the industry is that these points are being heard by local governments and, more importantly, entire states," noted iComply's Slaugh, who wants to see more people of color being educated on the market opportunity while receiving adequate assistance as their company develops.

Its simply not enough to provide the opportunity without the engagement of the people most impacted by the mistakes and detriments of the past," Slaugh said.

Montmarquet hopes to see more minority owners in the space as well. The co-founder noted that those entrepreneurs must be ready for the seemingly ever-changing cannabis industry landscape.

RELATED:7 Relaxing Cannabis Strains For Stress Management

Montmarquet also offered some advice tobusiness hopefuls.

Educate yourself as much as you possibly can, she said. If you have researched the laws, permit process, regulations, costs, taxes etcetera, for the area you want to operate in, that will allow you to make decisions more confidently and faster.

Read more here:

Barriers Prevent The Cannabis Industry From Being Inclusive - Green Entrepreneur

Federal police clash with protesters in front of the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse as the city experiences another night of unrest on July 25, 2020, in Portland, Ore. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

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As I see white mothers and mayors being teargassed on the streets of Portland, Ore., one word keeps bubbling up from my bleeding heart: Welcome. Welcome to the world of secret police and nighttime raids. The world where you can be snatched by an unidentified officer in an unmarked van. The world where you get to see an attorney, maybe, after the government is done beating you. Welcome to the world as experienced by brown people with foreign-sounding names in this country since 9/11.Ad Policy

Welcome, and let us now join together to battle the enemy we all clearly have in common: the Department of Homeland Security. Because, while Donald Trump is currently responsible for deploying this army disguised as an agency against peaceful white protesters, the DHS has been deployed against peaceful immigrants regardless of status, peaceful citizens who look like recent immigrants, and peaceful worshipers who pray while Muslimor, simply, brownsince its inception.

White moms (and dads, and now vets) are being assaulted by the government, but we should have dismantled their attackers a long time ago. The people of Portland are merely the latest victims of a department that has been terrorizing innocent victims since it was formed.

The Department of Homeland Security has been a disaster from the very start. It was created by the 2002 Homeland Security Act, a post-9/11 bill that is basically what a spooked herd of antelopes would write while running away from a lion. The department was given a broad mandate: Prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, which is Congress-speak for apple pie good, everybody else bad. Because terrorism isnt really a defined term, we end up with the situation in which we find ourselves todaywith Trump people deploying DHS agents to defend statues in Portland while the department ignores white supremacists in Charlottesville.

To fulfill its mandate, the DHS absorbed a hodgepodge of other agencies, but (as this Washington Post article from way back in 2005 explains) the process of determining which agencies to place under the DHS umbrella was haphazard, resulting in an incoherent collection of powers. This was predictable. The DHS was, after all, George W. Bushs idea, and the departments organization reflects his administrations general incompetence. There are examples of this chaos and inefficiency throughout the DHS, but I always come back to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Part of the DHS mandate is to assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that occur in the United States, and so the DHS took over FEMA. That doesnt make a lot of sense when you consider that terror attacks are relatively rare, while an angry planet is consistently buffeting our country with storms and fire. From 1979 to 2003, FEMA was a wholly independent agency, and if you dont think that matters, Id like to introduce you to some people in Puerto Rico who received thoughts, prayers, and a roll of Bounty, The Quicker Picker Upper, thanks to DHS-led recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria.Current Issue

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The DHSs broad mandate is the reason Trump can turn whole sections of the department into his personal storm troopers. It would be illegal, say, for commandos operating under a directive from the Central Intelligence Agency to be deployed under Trumps Operation Legend to protect statues; the CIA is not allowed to operate on domestic soil. It would be a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act for Trump to deploy the Army, because the armed forces cannot be used for domestic police actions. And it would be illegal to deploy FBI agents on the streets to keep the peace against citizens who are not charged with nor suspected of committing federal crimes.

But with the DHS, Trump doesnt have to worry about any of this. The DHS isnt hamstrung by any of the laws that normally prevent the government from using troops on domestic soil, because preventing terrorist attacks can mean pretty much whatever the president says it means, including teargassing protesters to protect federal buildings from meanies.

Still, the reason the DHS has teeth doesnt actually have much to do with terrorism. For much of its existence, the department has been used to continue this countrys war on drugs. Homeland Security was given control over Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to, get this, monitor connections between illegal drug trafficking and terrorism, and that is why this Frankensteins monster of an organization has troops to deploy against citizens far from the border. The Wall of Moms are, in many ways, just the latest victims of this countrys drug war against its own people.

An organization that can deploy troops on the ground in your town at the sole discretion of the president, without consent from state or local officials or oversight from Congress, is too dangerous for any president to have control overnot just this one. Some weapons cannot be used for good, even when theyre wielded by those with the best of intentions. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote three books you could consult for a more thorough examination of this point.

The DHS has been a Trojan Horse for state-sponsored violence since the day it was written into existence. Its just that, up until now, brown people have borne the brunt of the violence. It is Muslims who have been snatched out of line at the airport and questioned without an attorney. It is Mexicans whose homes and places of business have been raided. It is brown children who were denied toothbrushes in those cages at the direction of (wait for it) former director of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

The brutality and terror being visited upon Portland is just a taste of what some communities of color have been experiencing for going on 20 years. And moms in Portland know it. These moms are out there putting their bodies on the line to protect protesters. They know what the government is capable of doing.

Still, some pundits are more interested in saving the DHS from Trump than saving us from the DHS. Writing in The Atlantic, former DHS official and author of Security Mom Juliette Kayyem came to this conclusion about the future of the agency: If progressives respond by demanding the abolition of Homeland Security, much as many demanded an end to ICE, they will give Trump the fight he wants. To blame the bureaucracy is to lose sight of the real problem: Trump himself.

Frankly, I expect this view to hold sway with the next Democratic administration. Instead of removing the power Trump has abused, moderate Democrats promise only to use the power more appropriately. Dont give unaccountable power to that guy. Give it to me, because Ill use it only against the people who deserve it. Promise.More from Mystal

For politicians who arent likely to be rounded up and sent back to where they came from, Im sure Trumps use of the DHS seems like an aberration. But of all the aberrant things Trump does, his use of the DHS is not one of them. The aberration is the people hes using it against.

When Trump is gone, I hope our elected officials remember that. I hope they remember that tear gas stings regardless of the color of your eyes. I hope they remember that people who use leaf blowers for their livelihoods are just as deserving of rights and respect as dads who now use leaf blowers to thwart tear gas. I hope they remember to remove the structure Trump used against us, as opposed to just removing Trump from atop the structure.

Now that the leopards are eating white faces, I hope Congress stops writing legislation calling for face-eating leopards.

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Trumps Secret Police Have Never Been a Secret to Brown People - The Nation