Sting Has Called for the Legalisation of Marijuana

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n236/a08.html
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)


STING HAS CALLED FOR THE LEGALISATION OF MARIJUANA

The Fields of Gold singer insists America should spend the money it uses jailing users of the drug on tackling poverty and global warming.

Sting, 58, wrote on his blog how he feels marijuana users are imprisoned for a crime that doesn't hurt anyone.

He said: "The 'War on Drugs' has failed - but it's worse than that. It is actively harming our society. Violent crime is thriving in the shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned.

"People who genuinely need help can't get it. Neither can people who need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases.

We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent offenders and sacrificing our liberties."

Sting - real name Gordon Sumner - called for people to support the Drug Policy Alliance ( DPA ), an activist group who campaign for those jailed for non-violent drugs offences to be released from prison.

He continued: "For years, the 'Drug War' has been used as a pretext to lock people in prison for exorbitant lengths of time - people whose 'crimes' never hurt another human being, people who already lived at the margins of society, whose voices were the faintest and whose power was the least.

"Meanwhile, resources to fight genuine crime - violent crime - have been significantly diminished."

The comments immediately elicited an angry response from anti-drugs groups.

A spokesperson for DARE, which teaches schoolchildren about the dangers of drug use wrote: "He should stick to singing and not meddle in matters he doesn't understand.

"We do not need pop stars coming out and making irresponsible statements like that."

A spokesperson for DARE, which teaches schoolchildren about the dangers of drug use wrote: "He should stick to singing and not meddle in matters he doesn't understand.

"We do not need pop stars coming out and making irresponsible statements like that."

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Wait....Sting was not always a rock star. He was a school teacher amongst other things.

Thanks for posting VTA. You'll never get a cop to admit it, but every reasonable study out there shows DARE programs to be ineffective, and in some cases actually increase youth drug and alcohol use. But DARE programs are a huge cash cow for PD's.

DARE is very popular with students, school administrators, police, and the general public. This, in spite of the fact that research over the decades has repeatedly demonstrated that DARE is not only ineffective, but also sometimes counterproductive. That is, students who graduate from DARE are sometimes more likely than others to drink or do drugs.

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http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1059145293.html

Leaders of DARE say the program shouldn't be judged by evidence from empirical research studies. They tend to be indifferent to factual evidence and prefer to rely on feelings, impressions and hopes. As one DARE leader explained: "I don't have any statistics for you. Our strongest numbers are the numbers that don't show up.”

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http://www.alcoholfacts.org/DARE.html

We do not need a spokesperson from DARE coming out and making irresponsible statements like that. He/she should stick to scaring children and not meddle in matters he/she doesn't understand.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n243/a05.html
Source: Huffington Post (US Web)

Author: Sting


LET'S END THE WAR ON DRUGS

Whether it's music, activism or daily life, the one ideal to which I have always aspired is constant challenge -- taking risks, stepping out of my comfort zone, exploring new ideas.

I am writing because I believe the United States must do precisely that -- and so, therefore, must all of us -- in the case of what has been the most unsuccessful, unjust yet untouchable issue in politics: the War on Drugs.

The War on Drugs has failed -- but it's worse than that. It is actively harming our society. Violent crime is thriving in the shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned. People who genuinely need help can't get it. Neither can people who need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases. We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent offenders and sacrificing our liberties.

For too long, the War on Drugs has been a sacrosanct undertaking that was virtually immune from criticism in the public realm. Politicians dared not disagree for fear of being stigmatized as "soft on crime." Any activist who spoke up was dismissed as a fringe element.

But recently, I discovered just how much that's changing--and that's how I came to speak out on behalf of an extraordinary organization called the Drug Policy Alliance.

I learned of DPA, as they're known, while reading what once might have been the unlikeliest of places for a thoughtful discussion of the Drug War -- the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal.

It featured an op-ed that dared to say in print -- in a thoughtful, meticulous argument -- what everyone who has seriously looked at the issue has known for years: the War on Drugs is an absolute failure whose cost to society is increasingly unbearable and absolutely unjustifiable.

The author of that piece is a former Princeton professor turned activist named Ethan Nadelmann, who runs DPA. I was so impressed by his argument that I began reading up on the group.

Their work spoke directly to my heart as an activist for social justice -- because ending the War on Drugs is about exactly that.

For years, the Drug War has been used as a pretext to lock people in prison for exorbitant lengths of time -- people whose "crimes" never hurt another human being, people who already lived at the margins of society, whose voices were the faintest and whose power was the least.

Civil liberties have been trampled. Law enforcement has been militarized. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars -- dollars denied to urgent problems ranging from poverty to pollution -- have been spent. People who do need help with drugs have been treated as criminals instead. Meanwhile, resources to fight genuine crime -- violent crime -- have been significantly diminished.

And in exchange for all this, the War on Drugs has not stopped people from using drugs or kept drugs from crossing the borders or being sold on the streets.

To me, it all adds up to a clear message of exactly the sort I've always tried to heed in my life: It's time to step out of our comfort zone and try something new.

That's where DPA comes in. Their focus is on reducing the harm drugs