Daily Archives: April 3, 2017

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.

Tags: Politics, marijuana legalization

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

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.

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

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