Resistance

The Story of Kidnapped Costa Rican Internees in One of America’s World War II Concentration Camps

"We last year attended a reunion of the camp members at the facility here in Texas, and I was amazed to hear stories of some whose families had been US citizens for their entire lives, yet were swept up in the hysteria, stripped of their US assets and put into the camp. Most I spoke to were, like my wife, US citizens, most born to their now-American parents, but thrown into the camp regardless. One interesting fact to me was that in order to deport all of the folks they did following the War, they officially charged all of the detainees, people who had been kidnapped at the point of a gun, with 'unlawfully entering' the nation they were kidnapped TO against their wishes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Story of Kidnapped Costa Rican Internees in One of America’s World War II Concentration Camps

The GOP’s Drug-Testing Dragnet

"The annual Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA) conference, held in 2012 in San Antonio, Texas, looks like any other industry gathering. The 600 or so attendees sip their complimentary Starbucks coffee, munch on small plates of muffins and fresh fruit, and backslap old acquaintances as they file into a sprawling Marriott hotel conference hall. They will hear a keynote address by Robert DuPont, who served as drug policy director under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Nothing odd about any of this until you consider that the main subject of the conference is urine." Continue reading →

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Military’s ‘war on drugs’ back as U.S. Navy looks to net big catches in the Pacific

"Operation Martillo and other military assistance to Central American nations represent one of the most ambitious US efforts against drug cartels since World War II. The United States has trained security forces across the region, deployed 200 Marines in Guatemala and built forward operating bases in Honduras and shared radar intelligence with Honduran authorities. But top US generals warned last month that the effort could be greatly undermined by budget cuts. The cost of international operations and support to nations worldwide to fight drugs went from $2.7 billion in 2001 to $5.7 billion last year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMilitary’s ‘war on drugs’ back as U.S. Navy looks to net big catches in the Pacific

David Galland: Big Brother’s Beginnings

"For me, then, the real message of 1984 is that once governments are allowed to get too firm a grip on the reins of power – including the judicial, the constabulary, the military, the media – they are not just imminently corruptible but super-hardened to any real change. I, Pencil, Leonard Read's 1958 essay, a video version of which you can watch here, explains how the free market works using the simple example of how the lowly pencil is produced and brought to market. I'll try to use the same sort of simplistic example – replacing the pencil with the coca leaf – to expose the genesis of Big Brother's steady assent to unassailable power." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Galland: Big Brother’s Beginnings

Guatemala’s president: ‘My country bears the scars from the war on drugs’

"This is often the problem with the war on drugs: shifting the problem from one region to another. The transit nations are now recognised as a distinct set of countries caught in the war on drugs. As they produce and consume few drugs they are among the more innocent victims. But now they have a bullish and vociferous spokesperson in Guatemala’s president, Otto Pérez Molina. A previously hardline director of military intelligence, Pérez Molina became president a year ago. He surprised many when, within weeks, he declared that the war on drugs had failed and that the international community needed to end the 'taboo' of debating decriminalisation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuatemala’s president: ‘My country bears the scars from the war on drugs’

The condemned coca leaf: One standard for a major soft drink, another for people

"Efforts to kill the cocaine trade have haphazardly and heartlessly cracked down on anyone and everyone who produces or enjoys the unadulterated leaf. A 1961 agreement called the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, still in effect around the world, orders people to stop chewing the leaves and mandates the destruction of all wild coca bushes. The Single Convention was adopted after years of negotiations led in great part by Harry J. Anslinger, who Anslinger had a strange relationship with the coca plant: spearheading its prohibition while simultaneously ensuring access to the leaf for a single, powerful consumer, The Coca-Cola Company." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe condemned coca leaf: One standard for a major soft drink, another for people

Destroying the Switzerland of Central America

"Leave it to the U.S. national-security state to destroy another country, this one being Costa Rica, known as the 'Switzerland of Central America' and whose national slogan is 'pura vida'—'pure life.' How is the U.S. government now destroying Costa Rica? No, not with bombs or missiles—at least not yet—but with its much-vaunted drug war, which the Pentagon and the CIA are expanding in Latin America since that their adventures in Afghanistan and the Middle East might be winding down. Does anyone in Costa Rica really believe that the militarization of Costa Rican society is going to have any significant effect on the 40-year-old war on drugs?" Continue reading →

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The War on Drugs Is Far More Immoral Than Most Drug Use

"See the man in the photo at the top of this article? It isn't immoral for him to light a plant on fire, inhale the smoke, and enjoy a mild high for a short time, presuming he doesn't drive while high. But it would be immoral to react to his plant-smoking by sending men with guns to forcibly arrest him, convict him in a court, and lock him up for months or even years for a victimless crime. That's the choice, dear reader. So take a look at the guy in the photo and make your choice: Is it more moral to let him smoke, or to forcibly cage him with thieves, rapists, and murderers? My own moral judgments don't stop there." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe War on Drugs Is Far More Immoral Than Most Drug Use

Fighting Drug Addiction With Marijuana

"For decades, Colombia has been searching for ways to treat people who are addicted to basuco, the nation’s version of crack cocaine. Now, the country’s capital, Bogota, is considering a new approach: transition users to marijuana. BBC Mundo reports that the city is interested in trying a pilot program to see if pot helps mitigate the symptoms of withdrawal that basuco users experience. The goal is to minimize the social and health risks that accompany the drug." Continue reading →

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Weed Warrior: Keith Stroup

"I do believe several additional states will fully legalize marijuana over the coming five to ten years, and all states will stop arresting people for private use. So we too should have an exciting next few years. It is difficult to know where the fight for personal freedom will next break through the public consciousness, but it may well involve the militarization of domestic law enforcement—including the use of unmanned drones to gather intelligence on our own citizens by local and state officials who are not worried about terrorism, but are rather seeking a new tool to use to enforce existing criminal laws, those against personal drug use." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWeed Warrior: Keith Stroup