Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war in the Phillipines is unique in its policy of extrajudicial murder of all drug dealers and users. It’s as much a cleansing of one’s population as any genocide. Still, I think Americans should understand that the logic underlying Duterte’s drug war isn’t dissimilar to ours. Once you’ve declared a “war” on…

An article published in January by the New York Times, “Why Cartels Are Killing Mexico’s Mayors,” gives some harrowing insight on the obviously violent and corrupt nature of governance in Mexico. The beginning of the article details a newly-elected mayor brutally murdered right in front of her family, a sign that her anti-corruption rhetoric didn’t…

In a new article at Harper’s (“Legalize It All,” April 2016), Dan Baum recalls a 1994 confession by former Nixon domestic policy adviser John Ehrlichmann, about Nixon’s motives in first launching the War on Drugs. Baum, interviewing Ehrlichman for a book on drug prohibition, asked a “series of earnest, wonky questions, that he impatiently waved…

Last Sunday (March the 13th) I attended the protests against president Dilma Rousseff in Rio — and all was not well. My friends and I were violently antagonized by a subset of the protesters and the police had to intervene for our safety.  This is my side of the story, accompanied by my thoughts on what…

Nancy Reagan died on March 6, 2016 at the age of ninety four. She leaves behind a destructive legacy that will likely be with us for some time — Just Say No. Her unfortunate contribution to the War on Drugs seldom gets the negative treatment it deserves. The Just Say No campaign is often looked at as…

There are many ways to handle the epidemic of over-crowding in prisons. We could start by ending the war on drugs — one of the major culprits. As part of drug war reform, non-violent drug offenders should cease being imprisoned. We could also address racial discrimination and its many contributions to the problem. From there, we…

This week, Lyn Ulbricht attended the International Students For Liberty Conference and graced attendees with a presentation on the appeal of her son Ross Ulbricht’s sentencing in the Silk Road trial. Lyn’s presence and tireless advocacy for her son and for the preservation of our rights is a blessing in the face of our unaccountable…

Supervised injection sites (SIS) are not a new phenomenon. State-designated locations at which recreational intravenous drug users may legally shoot up, while under the supervision of medical professionals, have been prevalent throughout Europe for over two decades. The concept of SIS first garnered widespread public attention in the United States in 2003 when North America’s…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Ryan Calhoun‘s “Weed Legalization as Privatization, Disempowerment” read and edited by Nick Ford. Marijuana’s legalization seems much more like neoliberal privatization of markets than true liberation of them. While I do not question the decency of these first major marijuana retailers, there are legitimate concerns. Those most victimized by the state’s…

Il 13 luglio Obama ha annunciato l’intenzione di concedere uno sconto di pena a 46 detenuti. Dozzine di questi sono condannati per reati legati alla droga e altri reati non violenti. Tredici erano ergastolani. Una buona notizia, senza dubbio. È bene festeggiare ogni vittoria, per quanto piccola, nella lotta contro l’industria carceraria razzista. Gli sconti…

Harvard law professor and political activist Lawrence Lessig is mounting an intriguing run for President. Lessig’s symbolic campaign will be entirely funded by crowdsourced donations since he has a one-issue platform: campaign finance reform. If elected president, Lessig would attempt to pass a single law through Congress which would scrap existing private campaign financing in…

On July 13, President Obama announced that he will commute the sentences of 46 imprisoned individuals. Among them are several dozen drug offenders and a score of other nonviolent lawbreakers. Thirteen of them were serving life in prison. This is undeniably good news. Any victory, no matter how small, in the fight against the racist prison-industrial complex is worth celebrating. Obama’s…

On Thursday (18), Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court minister Gilmar Mendes agreed to hear the arguments challenging drug criminalization in the country. The lawsuit should be judged only in the second semester, but his actions finally signal the political wear of the drug war. The fight against drugs is one of the few constants in the…

As of June 9th, hundreds of protesters have marched to the McKinney, Texas swimming pool where a police officer was filmed forcing unarmed black teenagers to the ground. The incident happened when a teenage girl threw a pool party at a suburban community pool for some friends. Though most of the party-goers lived in the community,…

Judge Katherine Forrest’s decision to lock up Ross Ulbricht for the rest of his life is a momentous tragedy. There were other tragic circumstances on display during Ulbricht’s trial, however. Submitted as evidence against the integrity of the Silk Road were stories of drug overdoses that were allegedly tied to products bought on the darknet…

With marijuana legalization efforts finding success in scattered parts of the United States, Rhode Island stands as a potential trailblazer. A new attempt at legalization put forth by its state legislature looms as a modest victory in 2015 for proponents of liberty and sane drug policy. Modest, because unfortunately the state would still maintain a…

It’s frustrating to hear US president Barack Obama receive kudos from the beer community simply because of his fondness for the beverage. Between his 2009 Beer Summit, his occasional beer in public, and his recent quip that he’s the first president to brew beer at the White House since George Washington, Obama has successfully cultivated a…

With the execution of Brazilian citizen Marco Archer in Indonesia on 01/17 for cocaine trafficking, one question remains: Will the war on drugs continue to revert the achievements of civilization with cruel and absurd penalties? It is not only Indonesia that punishes the purchase and sale of banned drugs. According to Harm Reduction International, an…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Kevin Carson‘s “Surprise: The Drug War isn’t about Drugs” read by Dylan Delikta and edited by Nick Ford. Perhaps the biggest joke is that the War on Drugs is fought to reduce drug use. No doubt many people involved in the domestic enforcement side of the Drug War actually believe this, but the left…

La mattina del sei novembre l’Fbi ha annunciato la chiusura del sito Silk Road 2.0 e l’arresto del suo presunto gestore, Blake Benthall. In questo modo, l’Fbi ha dimostrato una volta di più che la guerra alla droga non ha niente a che vedere con quello che sostengono i suoi propagandisti. Se la criminalizzazione della…