October 2, 2017

8 really bad laws that went into effect today

from Reason: From cellphone tracking in Connecticut to gummy bear bans in Colorado and bitcoin surveillance in Japan.
The Government is Not Us

Cops now hiding behind kids on school buses to bust people texting while driving

from The Free Thought Project: In a new revenue generation scheme, police across the country are now using school buses as a vantage point to catch drivers who are texting while driving.
Police State America

🎬  VIDEO: Rush Limbaugh - The Plot to Kill the NFL

from LibertyPen: While some say the NFL protests are about police brutality and free speech, Limbaugh makes a compelling case that the end game is to weaken and destroy the NFL.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Bogus stoned driving arrests highlight dubious methods of 'drug recognition experts'

from Reason: A lawsuit by three sober drivers who were busted for DUI questions the pot-detecting abilities of DREs.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Marijuana drive-thrus and online weed orders are a real possibility in this state

from Motley Fool: The Pine Tree State could have consumers seeing a new form of green, at the drive-thru window and via online checkout, by next year.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Police union complains that public got to see them roughing up Utah nurse

from Reason: Transparency about behavior of government employees is not a violation of due process.
Police State America

September 18, 2017

Should you tell the cops you have a gun?

from Reason: Some gun owners argue that disclosure is considerate and prudent, while others worry it will escalate a routine traffic stop into a tense, unpleasant, and possibly life-threatening encounter.
2nd Amendment Assaults

25 most commonly used recreational drugs in America

from St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The drugs Americans prefer most. Of course, all of them are either illegal or severely restricted and heavily taxed. Government reverence for the pursuit of happiness is not exactly that of the founders.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Irma watch: How likely are prohibitions on ‘price gouging’ to help the poor?

from The American Spectator: Some gun owners argue that disclosure is considerate and prudent, while others worry it will escalate a routine traffic stop into a tense, unpleasant, and possibly life-threatening encounter.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Gun rights top media poll

from The Daily Caller: Lost in the storm of hurricane coverage, a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll demonstrates Americans’ growing support for gun rights. 

2nd Amendment Assaults

John Stossel: The best part of the Constitution

from Reason: Stossel shares his thoughts about Constitution Day (September 17).
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Will Las Vegas be ‘Amsterdam on steroids’? Door opens for pot lounges

from NBC News: What happens in Vegas will still stay in Vegas — but perhaps no longer behind closed doors, at least when it comes to pot.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

The War On Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Latest Update: July 25, 2017

Sessions suggests Trump lied when he advocated marijuana legalization be left to the states
The DEA says ‘marijuana is not medicine’ — reality says otherwise
The states are revolting; marijuana legalization not just happening at the ballot box 

Trump doubles down on failed drug war; wants more prisons less freedom

Kratom could be a cure for the Opioid Epidemic, yet the DEA wants to ban it

On 4/20, it’s a mixed bag for backers of pot legalization

The deadly war on drugs, waged by your local SWAT team

The war on drugs is a war on people

VIDEO: Carl Hart - The Science Of Illicit Drugs

A. Barton Hinkle: Coming Out of the Drug War Haze?

Cautious optimism may be appropriate. President Obama's recent speech on the opioid overdose epidemic offers a ray of hope that the country's approach to drugs might one day adopt what has been called the first rule of American business: When all else fails, try doing it right. Noting with considerable understatement that "treatment is    ... MORE

VIDEO: The Cost Of The War On Drugs

Law enforcement's spending addiction.

Stephanie Slade: 'Drug Users Need Treatment,' Says President Obama. Not So Fast, Says Dr. Carl Hart

The vast majority of drug users are not addicts.  "For too long we've viewed drug addiction through the lens of criminal justice," President Obama said yesterday at a conference in Atlanta. "The most important thing to do is reduce demand. And the only way to do that is to provide treatment—to see it as a public health problem and not a  ... MORE

Sheri Fink: Healthcare Rationing Begins - Drug Shortages

The new incentives.   In the operating room at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Brian Fitzsimons has long relied on a decades-old drug to prevent hemorrhages in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. The drug, aminocaproic acid, is widely used, cheap and safe. “It never hurt,” he said. “It only helps.” Then manufacturing issues caused a     ... MORE

Steven Greenhut: Price Controls Will Slow Drug Innovation

More bad ideas from the left coast. The California state legislature has a habit of legislating by anecdote. Assembly members or senators may have a bad experience at a state agency or with private industry and they write a bill to address it. Often, legislators offer proposals based on the latest news cycle. Ultimately there are hearings, a long vetting   ... MORE

VIDEO: Glenn Greenwald - Drug Policy In Portugal

Jeff Nesbit: We Have Lost The War On Drugs

Criminalizing drugs just destroys more people.     It's time, finally, to face the ugly truth. We've lost the war on drugs in America. We need a new playbook, now, before more lives are lost. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that fatal drug overdoses in America were the highest in recorded history in 2014. The news   ... MORE

Effort To Curb Painkiller Prescribing Faces Stiff Opposition

by Matthew Perrone. The option destroyers meet opposition. A bold federal effort to curb prescribing of painkillers may be faltering amid stiff resistance from drugmakers, industry-funded groups and, now, even other public health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was on track to finalize new prescribing guidelines for opioid     ... MORE

Christopher Ingraham: One Of The Biggest Arguments Against Marijuana Legalization Is Falling Apart

Drug use continues a decade-long drop.     America's high school students are using drugs and alcohol at or near the lowest levels on record, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2015 Monitoring the Future Survey, conducted by the University of Michigan and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)        ... MORE

J.D. Tuccille: If Prohibitions Cannot Work Within The Prison System, How Can They Work In The Outside World?

Answer: they can't.   Last week, Karl Jensen and Lisa Mary Hutchinson were sent to the lockup for smuggling a knife, drugs, and a McMuffin into the UK's Wormwood Scrubs prison. Maybe somebody still on the outside will toss a sandwich over the wall to help them pass the time. In a related story, at about the same time Larry Michael Webb and Holly    ... MORE

Prescribing Patients The Drugs They Want Is Not Murder

by Jacob Sullum.     Last Friday a California jury convicted Hsiu-Ying Tseng, a Rowland Heights physician, of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of three patients who overdosed on drugs she prescribed. Local prosecutors say this is the first time a doctor has been convicted of murder in the United States based on allegations of  ... MORE

Richard Juman: Why A Man Who Fought The Drug War For 30 Years Is Now Spearheading The Project To Stop It

Understanding Portugal's model.     When it comes to the War on Drugs, there are few people in a better position to comment on the futility, brutality and tragedy of the endeavor than retired Major Neill Franklin. He spent over 30 years participating in, and directing, state and local police anti-drug efforts before retiring to become the    ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Prohibition Kills

Government bans make drugs more dangerous.  Remember the guy who bought 80-proof vodka that turned out to be 190-proof Everclear and died from alcohol poisoning? Probably not, because that sort of thing almost never happens in a legal drug market, where merchants or manufacturers who made such a substitution, whether           ... MORE

That $750 Generic Pill Is A Pure Artifact Of Regulation

by Walter Olson.   As you probably know if you follow the news, a man named Martin Shkreli in charge of a startup firm called Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to a drug called pyrimethamine (brand name Daraprim), used in the treatment of AIDS and malaria, and announced that he was jacking up its price from $13.60 to $750. ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: 5 Popular Drugs Scares Vs. Reality -- The Disconnect Between Drug Use And Public Alarm About It

Dangerous drug use is on the decline.       Last year I noted the disconnect between rising public alarm about methamphetamine and falling rates of use. By 2005, when Newsweek identified "The Meth Epidemic" as "America's New Drug Crisis" in a sensational cover story, illicit methamphetamine use had been declining for years. A new     ... MORE

J. D. Tucille: After Silk Road, Illicit Online Marketplaces For Drugs & Weapons Are Growing, With More To Come

Voluntary exchange without permission is innovating. Well, the online marketplace for illicit goods' competitors and successors live, anyway. The original Silk Road and its operator were taken down by the United States federal government in an over-the-top campaign that featured stunningly corrupt federal agents. Beyond its    ... MORE