Measure To Legalize Pot May Be On California's November Ballot

California residents may find that they are casting their vote in November regarding the legalization of marijuana. The original consensus was that marijuana advocates would wait until 2012 to put it on the ballot, but, 680,000 people signed a petition in favor of legalization causing the timeline to speed up. Marijuana buzz is sweeping the country, as more and more states tarry with the idea of medical marijuana programs; it seems like with every passing month the snowball increases it size and moves faster towards all out legalization. These are big times in the United States, nothing like this has happened since Roosevelt's New Deal; when a country hits hard financial times then it is time to legalize something in order to bring in revenue. Or at least that has been the American way in the past, to make money on the addiction and suffering of others. On the surface it seems like California and America are heading in the right direction: smaller prison populations, less crime, generates tax revenue, pharmaceuticals, hemp, oil, paper, etc... The pros listed are certainly worth agreeing with, it is clear that marijuana does have benefits and could be utilized in number of ways. However, California may be heading down a slippery slope and could possibly bring the whole country with it.

Richard Lee, the measure's main proponent, said to the LA Times, "It was so easy to get them, People were so eager to sign". Richard Lee has already invested over a million into the campaign, he owns a dispensary and a marijuana college called Oaksterdam in Oakland, California. "The initiative would allow cities and counties to adopt laws to allow marijuana to be grown and sold, and to impose taxes on marijuana production and sales. It would make it legal for anyone who is at least 21 to possess an ounce of marijuana and grow plants in an area of no more than 25 square feet for personal use", according to the LA Times. Medical marijuana has completely shifted how we look at marijuana in the United States, opening the door to all out legalization talks such as this; it appears at this point that the pro-marijuana campaign is having more success than those against it.

We are still a year out from the polls and naturally a lot will take place between now and then. It is still anyone's guess! What we can be certain of is that money will end having the final say in this debate. As with most political battles, those who spend the most have the best chance of passing something - even if it is the worst possible thing. In many people's eyes marijuana is already legal because it is so easy to get a recommendation to use cannabis. If this trend keeps up, marijuana and alcohol will be in the same class. My only hope is that addiction is considered in the debates and the public is made aware of the implications of legalizing an illicit drug.

Lesniak Cunningham Bill Amending The Drug Free School Zone Law

New Jersey made a huge move yesterday with the LESNIAK-CUNNINGHAM bill amending the New Jersey's drug-free school zone law, allowing judges more discretion when sentencing non-violent drug offenders. In a country with too many prisons housing primarily people with non-violent drug charges this is an amazing step towards more treatments and less prisons. New Jersey calculates that $48,000 is spent per person each year on imprisoning people that clearly would be better served in a drug treatment facility. The fact is that drug offenders who serve their time in prison, rather than treatment, have a much greater chance of winding up behind bars again. Unfortunately, New Jersey is not alone, the majority of all jails and prisons in the United States have more inmates convicted with drug related crimes than anything else.

It's pretty clear by now that America's approach on the drug war is failing, so much time and money is being spent imprisoning when we should be treating. The original drug-free school zone law is not doing what it was intended to do, as a result many people are being unfairly punished. The Star Ledger Reports, "The idea, hatched in the Legislature many years ago, was to protect children from drug dealers. But Hoffman's commission found that almost none of those charged under this law were on school grounds luring students. They were in nearby neighborhoods. And 96 percent of them were African-American or Latino". Inner-city kids are much more likely to get caught up with the law because just about everywhere you go in the city it is within a 1,000 feet of a school - in New Jersey and everywhere else in the country. Senator Cunningham believes that, "New Jersey needs to do a better job in getting violent offenders off the streets, whether it's drug offenses or criminal street gangs", according to the Politicker NJ. "However, we cannot and should not continue to turn a blind eye to the effects of mandatory minimum sentencing on nonviolent offenders, many of whom enter prison and are recruited into gangs or other violent criminal enterprises. Mandatory minimum sentencing has created more violence on our streets and a hamstrung judiciary, unable to direct nonviolent offenders to drug treatment programs".

We can only hope that other States will follow New Jerseys lead, just recently New York repealed the Rockefeller drug laws regarding cocaine which is another major step forward in the United States quest towards reducing prison populations as well as costs. I will be following these stories to see if these reforms are as successful as I hope they are. We encourage you to send us your thoughts on the subject.

2008 Zogby Poll - Three Out of Four Americans said the War on Drugs is Failing

Is it time to reform our criminal justice system and how we fight the war on drugs? Let's face it, our criminal justice system has a fatal flaw and as a result people are imprisoned needlessly all in the name of America's "War on Drugs". It is unacceptable that the United States has 5 percent of the world's population, but houses 25 percent of the world's prisoners. The majority of those prisoners are low level offenders generally incarcerated because of drugs; half of federal prisoners and 21 percent of state prisoners are locked up because of something drug related. Perhaps it is time for rational debate on drug policy, that's what the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) seek. In a 2008 Zogby poll, three out of four Americans said the war on drugs is failing.


Overall, Congress is afraid to address the drug war subject because it can be political suicide; the lack of involvement has allowed this problem to fester and now we have a criminal justice nightmare. "Sen. Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, and 35 other senators are sponsoring the National Criminal Justice Commission Act (NCJCA) to establish a blue ribbon commission to review our criminal justice system", reports the Desmoines Register. Sen. Chuck Grassley wants, regarding the bill, to prohibit any discussion or examination of the possibility that drugs, including medical marijuana, should be decriminalized or legalized despite there being evidence that removing prohibition could help out the criminal justice system and help fight the cartels.


More and more people are arguing that if any real change is going to happen with the criminal justice system in America it will start with changing how we fight the war on drugs. We have to ask ourselves what the cost of this war is, and why people who belong in drug treatment are ending up in prison. Prison is no place for a low level drug offender, and those are the people the war on drugs is targeting. If we spent as much time on going after the cartel as we did individual drug addicts perhaps we would see some positive developments. It does not seem like we can afford to ignore any suggestions, even if they involve some form of legalization, as long as it can help.

Senator Webb Introduces Bill to Overhaul America's Criminal Justice System Video. While this video is almost 10 minutes long, Senator Webb eloquently addresses the issues discussed above.

Nursing Home Residents Who Need Pain Drugs

The war on drugs has totally disrupted the health care system in America. Patients and seniors in long-term-care facilities are having trouble getting pain medication; serious delays are causing needless suffering. A number of staff members working in nursing homes steal the patients pain medication to sell or use; the DEA in response now requires doctor's signatures along with a sleuth of other approvals when pain medication is ordered. The Washington Post reports that lawmakers have become concerned and, "wrote to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this month, urging that the Obama administration issue new directives to the DEA and support a possible legislative fix for the problem, which has bothered nursing home administrators and geriatric experts for years". There doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this problem; on the one hand there are not enough doctors to be around every nursing home at all times, on the other a serious number of prescription pain medications such as: morphine, Oxycontin, Percocet, and Vicodin are being stolen. How to secure the distribution of opiates and provide nursing home residents who need pain drugs in a timely matter is the question?

Pharmacies that provide pain medication to nurses without all the approvals in order face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. "The system is broken. It isn't working, and patients are suffering," said Claudia Schlosberg, director of policy and advocacy for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. "While we need to ensure there are proper controls on the medications, the overall law enforcement concern has to be compatible with meeting patients' needs, and right now it's not", according to the Washington Post. Scholsberg has a good point, patients' rights need to prevail over all else, there obviously needs to be some restrictions but they can't get in the way of a patients' well being. Nobody would want their loved ones to suffer while in the care of someone else, it just is not acceptable.

It does not seem right that the war on pain has to suffer from the war on drugs; I guess that is war though, they are usually not fair. Nurses and doctors cannot effectively manage their patients' pain as a result of the Drug Enforcement Agencies strict policies. Hopefully, a compromise can be found that will stop all the delays and still monitor the drugs in order to keep them off the streets.

Adderall Abuse Epidemic In America

The academic world is facing an enemy far greater then anyone could of thought. The abuse of prescription medicine to deal wilth the stresses of life has become a rampant problem with no real solution in sight. Drugs like Adderall, Ritilan, and Dexedrine have become coping mechanisms for a number of reasons throughout the collegial atmosphere and in many cases have become not only socially acceptable, it's almost expected. It is almost hard to believe that 14 million prescriptions of Adderall were filled last year; it is no wonder the drug can be found on every college campus. Adderall abuse went relatively undetected for a long time because it is a prescribed medicine. However, like any prescription medication it can be sold or traded amongst peers and it is on a regular basis. There is no question that there is an Adderall abuse epidemic in America.

"At Cornell, a 2006 Gannett study found that at least six percent of the student body had used the drugs in the past year - though the impression of many students is that the actual percentage is much higher", according to the Cornell Sun. Many people do not talk about taking the drug because of the legal ramifications; many people also view amphetamine use as a way of cheating. Amphetamines give people a heightened sensitivity and greater concentration. Adderall is an amphetamine that increases the amount of dopamine released in the brain increasing the number of neurotransmitters available which increases concentration and alertness. When people take more than the prescribed amount the drug becomes tantamount to Crystal Methamphetamine; abuse can have a damaging effect on the brain resulting in permanent damage.

Sadly, Adderall abuse continues after college as people find that they have become dependent upon it to get their work done. Over time, one has to take more of the drug to get the desired effect because of higher tolerance levels. Amphetamine addiction is a real problem among young adults and many times treatment is the only solution. The vast majority of people who use prescription psychostimulants have very little idea about the serious side effects that can accompany the drug; prescription drugs have become such commonplace and are inside just about every medicine cabinet, this has given many students the idea that there is nothing wrong with their use.

I encourage you to watch this video of a CNN Interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky about this problem.

Seventeen Patients Killed in Drug Rehabilitation Center Shooting

Nobody is safe on the front line in the war on drugs in Mexico, nor in the United States. Tensions still run high despite the recent legalization of drugs in Mexico, on September 3rd, 17 patients were killed and two others were wounded in a drug rehabilitation center shooting in northern Mexico. Ciudad Juarez, a city in northern Mexico, has been the epicenter of the drug war, whose death toll has been literally "through the roof". It's a tragedy when people who are trying to better their lives by checking themselves into drug treatment centers find themselves still caught in the middle of this conflict. What will it take for people to be rid of the tyranny in Mexico? How long can the killings continue before the people of Mexico become tired and can't take it anymore demanding real change?

According to CNN, "Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said authorities believe a rival drug gang attacked the men at the El Aviane rehab facility. At the very least, it was one organized crime group thinking that another group was operating in that place," Reyes told CNN. Juarez this year has had a staggering number of murders with a death toll of more than 1,420 people. This number will only increase before the year's end and most likely surpass last year's count of 1600 people. According to a Mexican Civic Group, Ciudad Juarez has had more murders per capita than any other city in the world. With a population of roughly 1.5 million people, that's 130 killings per 100,000 people was seen in a report released last week by the Mexican Citizens Council for Public Security; compared to New Orleans, which had more killings than any other city in the United States, who had 64 killings to every 100,000 people in 2008.

The constant war to control drug trade routes into the United States between the two major cartels in Mexico has brought about such a high murder rate. However, control of the trafficking routes is not the only cause for the spike in murders. "An unprecedented wave of violence has washed over Mexico since Calderon declared war on drug cartels shortly after coming into office in December 2006. More than 11,000 people have since died, about 1,000 of them police", said CNN. Many of the recent murders have been in retaliation to the "so-called" offensive, which sadly has been quite ineffective. The La Familia Michoacana drug cartel and its rival Sinaloa cartel are believed to be responsible for most of the violence seen in the last few years in northern Mexico.

We are very fortunate that drug treatment facilities in the U.S. are safe places to begin the journey into recovery. Nevertheless, America is a large part of the equation regarding the extensive murders in Mexico. Mexico fuels our insatiable need for drugs, it can not be stressed enough how crucial the United States is to finding a solution to the drug war in Mexico. If we are not part of the solution then we are part of the problem and it is clear that we have been part of the latter for too long. As it is, right now, the cartels are clearly in control and that is unacceptable; the time has come for better days, we cannot sit by and watch this massacre continue.