Fwd: One pot arrest every 38 seconds... enough already.

[Guest guest]

>AlterNet <alternet

>One pot arrest every 38 seconds... enough already.

>thehavens

>

>

>

>

>Dear Friend,

>

>Last week, AlterNet's drug coverage won the

>Edward M. Brecher Award for Journalism. But we need more funding to fully

>expose the miserable failure they call the

> " war on drugs. "

>Make a gift to support our

>special 2008 coverage.

>Every year we think that the whole dumb, dirty travesty known as the " war

>on drugs " -- it's really a war on people -- is going to slow down. But it

>doesn't.

>In fact, drug arrests are up. And, as The Washington Post reported, " the

>focus of the drug war in the United States has shifted significantly over

>the past decade from hard drugs to marijuana. " And they're not even

>talking about pot dealers. Shockingly, almost nine out of ten of the

>all-time record 829,627 marijuana arrests made last year were for

>possession -- not for sales or trafficking, just for possession. That's

>one pot-related arrest every 38 seconds -- why are we wasting our tax

>dollars chasing after potheads?

>As Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project wrote on AlterNet: " That's

>like arresting every man, woman and child in the state of North Dakota

>plus every man, woman and child in Des Moines, Iowa, on marijuana charges

>... every year. By comparison, there were 611,523 arrests last year for

>all violent crimes combined. "

>Will you join AlterNet in exposing the miserable failure they call the

> " war on drugs " ? It's a critical time for concerned citizens to fight back.

>We need $25,000 to kick off our " Drug Policy " Special Coverage for 2008.

>Make a contribution and help out.

>Last week, at the Drug Policy Foundation's International Reform Conference

>in New Orleans, AlterNet's drug coverage won the Edward M. Brecher Award

>for Journalism. In the past, the award has gone to The Economist, Rolling

>Stone and Gary Trudeau, among others.

>Winning the award has inspired us to do more. We publish important

>articles about the drug war every week. Many are read by 50,000 people or

>more. But we haven't had the funding to really hone in on the issue for

>more than two years. We need to hire an editor, re-launch our weekly

>newsletter, start conducting investigations and and start building

>partnerships with the people and organizations that are down in the

>trenches, fighting for a sane drug policy.

>Simply put: We -- all of us -- need to get more serious, because the

>disastrous drug war keeps marching on. So we said to ourselves, " Duh!

>Let's ask our readers to help us. " We need $25,000 to kick off our special

>coverage for 2008. Will you make a contribution and help us reach the

>$25,000 we need to kick off our Special Coverage?

>We need to push back against the drug warriors in Congress and their

>cheering sections in the commercial media. The whole war on drugs makes no

>sense. That is, it doesn't make sense until you think about the money ...

>and the power of the words " war on " in " war on terror, " " war on Iraq and

>Afghanistan, " " war on immigrants, " and of course, the " war on drugs. "

>Every time " war on " is used, billions of our tax dollars get sucked up by

>an evermore expansive security state.

>And more agents and narcs get hired, and more high-tech equipment is

>developed and purchased. Meanwhile, we send billions of dollars in

>military aid to developing countries for disastrous drug eradication

>programs that create nothing but violent conflict and bitter resentment as

>they wipe out the meager livelihoods of some of the world's poorest

>subsistence farmers. Our tax money isn't going for treatment, education or

>job training. The whole thing's cynical and destructive, and there's no

>end in sight. And it makes us angry.

>The war on drugs brings a lot of collateral damage: wasted money, eroded

>civil liberties, mistaken targets and the criminalization of large numbers

>of our young people.

>But we can't get depressed. We have to fight back. We'll do our part --

>finding the truth, keeping you informed, mobilizing people to take action.

>Can we count on you to help us?

>Thanks for all that you do,

>

>Don Hazen

>Executive Editor

 

******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

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