The Denver Post takes a bold step today in an editorial, urging the feds to end the war on drugs and legalize marijuana.

The Post points out it's not just pot users calling for legalization: [More...]

The Constitution Project has issued the most comprehensive report in 30 years on the constitutional right to counsel.

Excessive caseloads, inadequate funding, ethical breaches, politicization of the public defender system, lack of timely appointment of counsel or no appointment at all are depriving the poor of the constitutional right to representation in criminal and juvenile cases. This is the conclusion of a report released today by the Constitution Project’s bipartisan National Right to Counsel Committee. The report, Justice Denied: America’s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel, outlines the crisis in the country’s public defense system and offers 22 recommendations to state and federal officials to fix it.

The report includes recommendations for adequate funding, independent oversight, and standards for attorney competence, compensation, and workload.

A summary of findings is here, and the full report is downloadable here (pdf).

Across the country, tomorrow will see the biggest 4/20 events to legalize marijuana ever. As the New York Times explains:

April 20 has long been an unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some advocates of legal marijuana say this year’s “high holiday” carries extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.

“It is the biggest moment yet,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, who cited several national polls showing growing support for legalization. “There’s a sense that the notion of legalizing marijuana is starting to cross the fringes into mainstream debate.”

You can stay on top of all the goings on at NORML, especially their twitter feed and their special site created for tomorrow, 420MoneyBomb.

Americans (and citizens of other democracies) have long resisted the concept of a national identity card. Despite the widespread use of social security numbers as identifiers and the Bush administration's rabid support of Real ID, American citizens who do not drive or fly or work can get by without carrying a mandated identification document.

Will DNA databases make the fear of a national identity card obsolete?

©riminal justice experts ... worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society.

States routinely take DNA samples from convicted felons. Some states have started to collect DNA from individuals convicted of misdemeanors and from minors. Even more disturbing is the latest trend in privacy violations: DNA collection upon arrest, from individuals who are presumed innocent. The FBI has adopted that practice and expects a 17-fold increase in the size of its database by 2012. {more ...]

Maybe it was just a poor choice of words, but President Obama said in Mexico today that the U.S. must "crack down" on drug use in our cities and town. (Video here, transcript here.)

Perhaps he meant we need to spend more on drug treatment and preventive measures. But "crack down" is a phrase I expect him to use when discussing large-scale traffickers, not users.

Was it a slip of the tongue, or is Obama threatening more punitive measures for users?

The New York City Bar Association's Committee on Drugs and the Law has issued a short report, A Wiser Course: Ending Drug Prohibition, Fifteen Years Later (pdf.)

They make several recommendations.

Today the Committee makes a renewed call for a serious discussion of U.S. drug policy through a focus on the medical paradigm and the Controlled Substances Act.

The medical paradigm is one of three for legitimate use of psychoactive substances. The other two are sacramental (think peyote) and recreational. Our federal drug laws are tied to the medical. Among the recommended changes: [More...]

Via NORML:

I’d like to highlight the Colorado University chapter of NORML for not only holding the largest organized annual ‘4/20′ event in the world–but for recognizing this year, a year marked so far by an ever-growing voter sentiment about the need to legalize cannabis–that ‘4/20′ provides cannabis law reform advocates a prime annual opportunity to do far more than just protest in the park by convening a day-long, substantive conference in advance of ‘celebrating cannabis’ the next day by exploring logical and effective alternatives to cannabis prohibition.

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I'm pleased to read over at Crooks and Liars that Attorney General Eric Holder told Katie Couric in an interview last night that more gun control laws are not on the Administration's front burner.

KATIE COURIC: Did someone tell you to back off?

ERIC HOLDER: No one's told me to back off. I understand the Second Amendment. I respect the Second Amendment.

What makes this even more interesting is that Holder was such a gun crime advocate during the Janet Reno/Bill Clinton days.

Reality continues to make it difficult for drug-warriors to demonize a plant that is at worst benign and at best medically useful. The latest evidence that marijuana is your friend comes from a Spanish study suggesting that THC ingestion "may be an effective therapeutic strategy for targeting human cancers."

Science would have been exploiting the medicinal properties of weed for years now, if only it didn't make smokers feel good. Isn't it time for the Obama administration to engage in reality-based policy when it comes to marijuana?

Attorney General Eric Holder sends more mixed messages on marijuana: Today in Mexico:

And with marijuana sales central to the drug trade, Mr. Holder said he was exploring ways to lower the minimum amount required for the federal prosecution of possession cases.

He also promised to send 100 more ATF agents to the border.

And Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano promised Mexico more help in the drug war from the Coast Guard.

And the idea that the Obama Administration would be smarter, rather than just tough on crime? [More...]

Yesterday, Defense Attorney Barry Pollack testified on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on "Proposals to Fight Fraud and Protect Taxpayers." At issue: H.R. 1748, the “Fight Fraud Act 2009,” H.R. 1793, the “Money Laundering Correction Act of 2009” and H.R. 78, the “Stop Mortgage Fraud Act.”

While the purpose of various proposals to expand the federal criminal code – protecting the taxpayers from fraudulent transactions – is laudable, that purpose is best achieved through the existing federal and state laws, with whatever increased funding and related resources may be warranted, and by providing adequate resources both to the prosecution and defense functions,

Here is his written testimony (pdf), which makes several important points: [More...]

What do you suppose the total price tag is for this failed war on drugs? One senior Harvard economist estimates we spend $44 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. He says if they were legal, governments would realize about $33 billion a year in tax revenue. Net swing of $77 billion. Could we use that money today for something else? You bet your a*s we could. Plus the cartels would be out of business. Instantly. Goodbye crime and violence.

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