Over the last few weeks, I’ve had several opportunities to attend Q & A sessions with the Obama administration’s drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske. Increasingly, the audiences are asking him about the cartels in Mexico.

A typical question goes something like this: “Wouldn’t ending marijuana prohibition in the U.S. wipe out the drug cartels like the 21^st amendment wiped out the illegal liquor trade in the 1930s?”

His typical response, which I practically have memorized at this point, goes something like this: “The liquor trade was not wiped out in the 1930s. They might have taken a step back, but the violence and criminal activity persisted. They just moved into other areas like kidnapping and drugs.”

I read an article in Reuters today that got me thinking about his response (Mexico cartels kidnap, kill migrants headed to U.S. -- September, 23). Kerlikowske’s point is that ending prohibition would not solve the cartel problem because they would shift to other illegal activities. But the Reuters article shows that the cartels are already engaged in just about every evil deed imaginable: kidnapping, extortion, murder … you name it! And these behaviors have developed over the last decade under a system of prohibition. So what do we really have to fear from taking away the biggest chunk of their business, marijuana sales in the U.S.?

Another one of Kerlikowske’s favorite lines demonstrates his true motives: “Legalization is not in the president’s vocabulary and it is not in mine.” Why, you might ask, is America’s top drug policy official refusing to even listen to one side of this argument? The answer is in United States Code § 1703 (b)(12), which is a federal law that requires the drug czar to “take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a [Schedule I] substance.” Yes, federal law requires the drug czar to blindly oppose half of the policy arena he oversees. It’s like telling the secretary of state to ignore everything south of the equator.

The argument that ending marijuana prohibition in the U.S. would wipe out the cartels is sound -- marijuana alone makes up 70% of their U.S. profits. The official government response is attenuated and dishonest. As a result, they are losing ground. The more we talk about Mexico, the more people are beginning to see the logic behind our arguments.

So go out there and have this conversation with a friend or family member who doesn’t support legalization. Show them the Reuters article, and ask them if the status quo is worth defending.

MPPNV spokesperson Dave Schwartz appears at a press conference announcing a challenge to Nevada residents. MPP has offered a $10,000 prize to anyone who can disprove three scientifically supported statements that show marijuana is safer than alcohol. This segment was aired KLAS-CBS 8 Las Vegas. 09/23/2009

At a Las Vegas news conference today, the Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada announced details of a $10,000 challenge to the people of Nevada. MPP-NV will pay $10,000 to anyone who can disprove three statements of fact that demonstrate that marijuana is objectively and unquestionably safer than alcohol.

The challenge, announced by MPP-NV manager Dave Schwartz with a large mock check for $10,000,  kicks off a long-term public education campaign regarding the relative harms of marijuana and alcohol, and the harm caused by marijuana prohibition.

MPP-NV is challenging Nevadans to disprove the following three statements:

1. Alcohol is significantly more toxic than marijuana, making death by overdose far more likely with alcohol.

2. The health effects from long-term alcohol consumption cause tens of thousands of more deaths in the U.S. annually than the health effects from the long-term consumption of marijuana.

3. Violent crime committed by individuals intoxicated by alcohol is far more prevalent in the U.S. than violent crime committed by individuals intoxicated by marijuana only.

To receive the $10,000 award, Nevada residents must provide peer-reviewed studies or government statistics that contradict all three of these statements. In a statement issued today, Schwartz said, “We are confident that we won’t need to pay out this $10,000.” That's putting it mildly. Not only is marijuana safer than alcohol, there's evidence that it may even protect against some of the damage caused by binge drinking.

Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and border czar Alan Bersin have dropped out of this week’s Global Public Policy Forum on the U.S. War on Drugs, an event organized by the University of Texas at El Paso.

Organizers were surprised when the two officials backed out of the event. El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles was not:

“I don’t know why you’re all so surprised about the federal government’s unwillingness to address this because, quite frankly, they’ve ignored the problem for years, and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in now.”

El Paso city Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s position on the conference might provide some insight into the administration officials’ decision to back out. He hopes, according to the Newspaper Tree, “for a meaningful public discussion at the conference about legalizing drugs in the face of a failed strategy that has had such a destructive impact on everyday life in Juarez.” Kerlikowske may have sought to avoid addressing this issue, one that’s becoming increasingly difficult for him as border violence and soaring prison populations continue to highlight his untenable position.

Read the full story at NewspaperTree.com.

From the Washington Post, an absolute must-read.

Just two days after the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review proclaimed that the mainstream media are “are acting less childish about pot,” along comes the New York Daily News to prove that childishness is alive and well.

On Wednesday, MPP began airing two new TV ads around New York state in support of medical marijuana legislation. The spots feature real patients talking about the severe pain they suffer every day and how medical marijuana helps them. Amazingly, these serious and sober ads were rejected by three New York City TV stations.

The Daily News found it all quite amusing: "Just say yes! That's the message a national pro-pot group is taking to New York's airwaves," the paper wrote. After quoting me about why we did the campaign, the story concluded, "The city's ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates harshed the group's buzz by declining to run the ads, Mirken added."

Uh, no, I actually didn’t say anything remotely like that. But what I really said wasn’t nearly as cute.

Today, Congressman Mark Souder (R-Ind.) attempted to pass an amendment that would continue to prevent students with even minor drug convictions from receiving financial aid. His amendment was withdrawn, paving the way for students with drug convictions to seek higher education and a better life.

Souder authored a provision in 1998 that for nearly 10 years has blocked students with drug convictions from receiving financial aid. This year, congressional Democrats added language to SAFRA (Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, HR 3221), which fixed the problem created by Souder’s provision. During discussion of the bill today, Souder offered an amendment that would have undone this fix.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), a close ally of MPP, convinced Souder to withdraw his amendment.

Eliminating financial aid for students with drug convictions is one of the most small-minded policies in America’s war on drugs. By preventing these students from seeking opportunities in higher education, the provision locked many students into a cycle of poverty and forced low-income students to bear the brunt of a misguided, prohibitionist mindset. The fix, which would allow students access to aid, will provide hundreds of thousands of students the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

SAFRA is still working its way through the legislative process. MPP will continue to update you on its progress.

Remember that gut-wrenching footage of the wheelchair-bound medical marijuana patient being pulled out of his chair and into the back of a squad car? The victim of this brutality was Rev. Paul Cody, operator of the Hillcrest Compassion Care medical marijuana collective in San Diego.

Paul has told the San Diego City Beat that he's planning on filing a legal complaint for his treatment during the raid on Hillcrest. Paul is paralyzed from the waist down due to a motorcycle accident, and he repeatedly told the police officers that his condition required that he receive special treatment but sadly, the thugs carried on as if terrorizing a man in a wheelchair was just another day at the office.

“I told them again and again, I’m paralyzed, I have to be in the front seat,” he told CityBeat later.

Cody says he told officers repeatedly of his special needs, but they didn’t listen. With his particular injury, he can’t support himself sitting upright, and he has special requirements for how his legs are supposed to be arranged, which mandates that he sit in the front seat of cars. But Cody says cops cuffed him behind his back and shoved him into the back, where he slumped over. He says he has the bruises to show the damage done to him.

Needless to say, MPP wishes Paul the best of luck in his challenge. More importantly, we look forward to the day when local officials everywhere in California finally begin following the state's long-standing, voter-approved medical marijuana law so that people like Paul are no longer victimized by their own government.

U.S. marijuana arrests declined somewhat in 2008, according to figures released by the FBI today. According to the just-released Uniform Crime Reports, U.S. law enforcement made 847,863 arrests on marijuana charges last year, 89 percent of which were for possession, not sale or manufacture – more arrests for marijuana possession than for all violent crimes combined. One American was arrested on marijuana charges every 37 seconds.

Marijuana arrests peaked in 2007 at over 872,000, capping five years of all-time record arrests.

The new report comes on the heels of the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released Sept. 10, which showed an increase in both the number and percentage of Americans who admit having used marijuana. In  2003, when marijuana arrests set what was then an all-time record of 755,186, 40.6 percent of Americans aged 12 and over said they had used marijuana. In 2008, that figure was 41 percent, or 102,404,000 Americans willing to tell government survey-takers that they had used marijuana.

Apparently, massive numbers of arrests didn’t curb marijuana use.

“This slight dip in the number of marijuana arrests provides a small amount of relief to the tens of millions of American marijuana consumers who have been under attack by their own government for decades,” said Marijuana Policy Project executive director Rob Kampia in a statement issued by MPP today. “It’s time to stop wasting billions of tax dollars criminalizing responsible Americans for using a substance that’s safer than alcohol, and to put an end to policies that simply hand this massive consumer market to unregulated criminals.”

To put that arrest figure in perspective, it’s equivalent to arresting every man, woman and child in the city of San Francisco – plus about 23,000 more people from nearby suburbs – in just one year. Do you feel safer?

According to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office -- the agency that led yesterday’s multi-jurisdictional raids on local medical marijuana providers -- warrants were served at 14 dispensing collectives and six associated residences. So far, 23 people have been arrested in connection with the raided facilities.

The D.A.’s press release attempts to justify the actions using an extremely narrow interpretation of state law relating to the role of a “primary caregiver.” It does not address whether or not the facilities in question were operating as “collectives” – a more common state-legal model for dispensing medical marijuana.

One thing that's clear about this case is that San Diego would have been better served if its leaders had moved to properly regulate medical marijuana facilities rather than resisting any effort to do so before resorting to brute force to shutter legal access to local patients.

If you've had any doubt that these raids are being carried out by heartless thugs, just look to the image below from video captured by San Diego’s KFMB News showing an officer manhandling a wheelchair-bound patient into the back of a patrol car. Remind me again, how is this serving the interest of public safety?