A Persistent Scourge Today we return to a continuing failure of American policy that is primarily responsible for illegal immigration troubles and criminal violence on our southern border -- the utterly failed U.S. war on drugs, which produces the world's most active black market and provides funding for murderous cartel traffickers in nations to our south. Four-star Marine Gen. John Kelly, who heads the U.S. military's Southern Command, says homicide rates in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are higher than in recognized combat zones like Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Central American region has become a "killing zone" mainly because of the U.S. black market in drugs and "because of the insidiousness of the vast resources of kingpins. It's the malignant effects of immense drug trafficking through these non-consumer nations that is responsible for accelerating the breakdown in their national institutions ... and eventually their entire society, as evidenced today by the flow of children north and out of the conflictive transit zone." [continues 241 words]
A group calling itself Show-Me Cannabis is making the state's first overt move to legalize marijuana. If it succeeds, we will be on the way toward a more rational and crime-free society. The group last month presented petition proposals to the secretary of state for approval. Next would come signature solicitations and public votes. One of the initiatives would enact a statute and the other an amendment to the state constitution. The statutory route would be best. Details of the criminal code are best determined in statutes, not constitutions. [continues 298 words]
A New Attitude Dawns Most of us can remember well the days when "oelaw 'n' order" was the clarion call of society and government. Legislatures fell over themselves mandating harsher punishment for criminals, mainly longer jail sentences, giving judges less latitude for judging. Lock-'em-up types thought throwing away the key would dissuade criminal activity. Instead, jails got crowded, straining public budgets at all levels. In the past 40 years a few fledgling alternative sentencing programs have struggled to life, such as Reality House here in Columbia. More recently state government has become more serious, reducing sentences and creating alternative courts for dealing with drug and alcohol offenders with intent to help them recover and stay out of prison. [continues 388 words]
Futility Becomes More Apparent What do former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; former Cabinet member George Shultz, who served under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon; former U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Volcker; former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia; writers Carlo Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa; U.K. business titan Richard Branson; and the current prime minister of Greece all agree on? They say it's time to end the war on drugs. All are part of the 19-member Global Commission on Drug Policy, which calls on governments to end criminalization of controlled substances. [continues 277 words]
Incomprehensible Reactions Daily reports of drug war violence seem to slip past our consciousness. What are we thinking? Gang warfare wracks Mexico from border to border. Outlaws murder judges and police officers when they aren't busy killing each other. The crime is beyond control in Mexico. Drugs make too much money. In America it's the same, except it's compounded because we have a huge crime problem related to drug use as well as drug-trafficking. Even in a quiet town like Columbia, local drug war violence has made enough news to fill a book. Our police do as well as one can expect, but the drug trade simply is too lucrative to deny. The crime will continue, and we will keep paying billions to fight a losing war on drugs. [continues 422 words]
The Columbia Police Officers Association officially invoked the killing of Officer Molly Bowden to oppose Columbia's recently passed law reducing penalties for minor marijuana violations. CPOA President Sterling Infield pointed to marijuana use by Bowden's killer, Rick Evans, as evidence the new law should be reversed. He asked the city manager's office to help "squash this tainted ordinance." This unsupported cause-and-effect allegation offers no case against the new ordinance and does not reflect any official position of the Columbia Police Department, whose members have been doing a credible job of enforcing the new law despite the disappointment expressed by many over the loss of the option they formerly had to file these cases with either city or state prosecutors. [continues 371 words]
Unequal Enforcement Columbia voters passed a new law earlier this month lessening punishment for marijuana offenses, but the law is being ignored by most law enforcement agencies making arrests in the city. Despite the stated intent of Columbia residents that all misdemeanor marijuana cases be sent to city court, arrest cases handled by the highway patrol and the sheriff and repeat-offender cases handled by University of Missouri police are sent to the county prosecutor for resolution in the state court system, where implications are harsher for convicted offenders. [continues 499 words]
Working On The Problem The Boone County Jail remains overbooked. With the aid of a good task force, local officials study ways to relieve the pressure. The financial strain is serious. Already this year the county has paid nearly $80,000 to out-of-county jails for room and board. Almost any conceivable option would be less expensive. Most favorable would be reducing the numbers of people sentenced to jail. Instead, in recent years, law-'n'-order guidelines instead have resulted in more incarceration, putting pressure on jail space everywhere. Now moves are afoot, particularly in Boone County, to find alternatives. [continues 378 words]
Sympathy or Disdain? We learned recently that Rush Limbaugh has been hooked on prescription painkillers for years and apparently has been buying them illegally in massive amounts. Excessive drug use of this type can cause the profound hearing loss the talk show host suffered. Die-hard supporters of Limbaugh's hard-line conservatism love him with a passion undimmed by the drug revelations. Die-hard haters find no sympathy in their hearts. When and if he resumes his broadcasts with full energy, his audience will remain intact and so will his horde of detractors. [continues 245 words]
Good to be helpful Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren rather harshly criticized the local marijuana petitioners for not complying fully with state requirements even though she and the county attorney agreed they had done enough to qualify under city rules. After her admonition, her office proceeds with verification of the names. Well, sure. Those who petition the government for action or redress should be given every appropriate bit of latitude. The sins of the marijuana petitioners do not compromise the validity of their effort, if indeed the names are found to be those of currently registered voters, a detail Noren & Co. will verify. [continues 450 words]
Drug War And Crime Wave We've all noticed a surge in local crime lately. Almost every day we see another story about a strong-arm robbery, a forced entry or a local bank robbery. Virtually all of these events are drug-related. The other day the MUSTANG law enforcement task force completed a successful undercover operation with a score of arrests, overcrowding the Boone County Jail and causing inmates to be moved to out-of-town lockups at great expense. [continues 592 words]
Just The Tip Of The Problem Our official position on narcotic drugs is schizophrenic. Even worse, it's foolish and counterproductive. We could forgive ourselves a medical impairment in thinking, but why do we continue trying to enforce idiotic laws on drugs that show just plain ignorance? The other day, the U.S. Supreme Court made a proper decision upholding lower court findings against use of marijuana for medical purposes. Numerous tests and lots of experience affirm the drug can be helpful in treating symptoms of several diseases. Doctors are prescribing it, and patients benefit without associated harm. A number of states have passed laws allowing marijuana to be used for medical purposes. [continues 219 words]
Good News For The Racketeers Drug agents recently announced another massive roundup of illegal drug sellers and their contraband. The federal Drug Enforcement Agency and collaborating foreign operatives were arresting 105 people in eight cities from Mexico to New York. They said three operations since 1997 had brought 248 arrests, seizure of 9,000 pounds of marijuana, 21,000 kilograms of cocaine and confiscation of $36 million in cash. This sounds like a great victory for the "war on drugs," which you and I so lavishly underwrite with our tax dollars. Actually, it's the very sort of action that keeps the drug black market humming along without coming anywhere close to shutting down the traffic. [continues 388 words]
Drug Crime And Crowded Jails We're so used to it that we hardly think about the vaunted but failed "war on drugs." News trickles out of Mexico detailing the latest gang-related killing spree or high-level official drug-money corruption. We hardly notice. News gushes out of the Boone County Government Building about an imminent tax increase to fund jail expansion. We gripe about the coming round of new taxes, but we don't spend much time thinking about why all this new lockup space is needed. We don't relate the war on drugs to our coming tax bite. [continues 380 words]
