Young Women Used as Drug-War Informants Are Murdered

Drug Policy Alliance's Tony Newman has a piece at Alternet today about Shelley Hilliard, a 19-year-old woman from Detroit, who was killed after working as a police informant to clear a petty marijuana bust. Her story is reminiscent of Rachel Hoffman, the 23-year-old Florida State graduate from Tallahassee who was also murdered after she served as a drug-war informant.

"These two women should still be with us on this earth, but were instead pawns in an unwinnable drug war that led to their violent deaths," writes Newman. "There are so many sick aspects of the failed drug war, but law enforcement’s forcing people with a drug arrest to choose between draconian prison sentences or becoming an informant is one of the most nauseating."

I'm sickened.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Joint

Tony Newman and Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance took notice of a contestant on the Family Feud answering the question "What Is Something People Pass Around?" with the obvious answer: "A Joint."

Not only that, but "joint" was on the Family Feud survey board with 8 responses, causing host Steve Harvey great consternation indeed. When the contestant's opponent in the game guessed instead "the collection plate at church," Harvey congratulated her for saving them all from hell. But "collection plate" was the response of only 4 of those surveyed, so "joint" won the round!

You Tube counts 701,645 views of this video so far...Huffington Post (now part of AOL) has picked it up too. [UPDATE: As of 2/14, views were closing in on 5 million!]

On January 27, President Obama said of drug legalization, "It's an entirely legitimate topic for debate," in answer to a question from a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). Obama has not only let himself be intereviewed by Bill O'Leilley, he was in top form addressing the US Chamber of Commerce, the group that dumped in dollars to defeat Prop. 19 in California with horrid ads scaring people about a stoned work force. If we really want innovation in the work force, we should demand workers get properly inspired, a word that means "you breathe in the god," said Sean Dorrance Kelly, co-author of All Things Shining, last week on the Colbert Report.