Julie Christie Joins Fellow Brits in Calling for Drug Peace

Actress Julie Christie, who portrayed the iconic Lara in Dr. Zhivago and was once Warren Beatty's favorite leading lady, has signed an open letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron calling for his administration to review their drug policy in advance of a special UN meeting in 2016 on the topic. 

The letter's June 26 release coincided with a worldwide protest in 100 cities.

Baroness Molly Meacher, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform, said in the press release from the human rights group Release that organized the effort: “The UN Office on Drugs and Crime recognizes that drug addiction is a health problem and not a crime. I urge the UK Government to heed the UN position and to decriminalise the possession and use of drugs. This policy has been shown to work and to reduce drug addiction among young people.” (See Meacher on video.)

Other prominent women adding their signature to the letter are:

• Green Party leader Caroline Lucas

• Franstine Jones, the first woman to head the UK's National Black Police Association

• Welsh-born actress Carys Eleri Evans, who's been active in advocating granting the Welsh language official status in the UK

• Baroness Afshar of Heslington, a Muslim activist and professor

• Baroness Lister of Burtersett (CBE), a prominent member of Parliament and Professor of Social Policy.

• BBC Journalist and HIV activist Louise Hulland

• Professor of Comparative Politics Julia Buxton

• Prosecutor Nicola Hill, President of the London Criminal Courts Soliticors' Assn.

• Barrister Kathryn Cronin, Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers

• Barrister Amber Marks, who has conducted research about the use of sniffer dogs in criminal cases and is the daughter of notorious ex-smuggler Howard Marks

• Solicitor Karen Todner, managing director of one of the the largest criminal defense firms in the country

• Author and journalist Candida Lycett Green

• Dr. Polly Taylor, one of several academics who quit her government post in protest in 2010 when Prof. David Nutt was  fired from his chairmanship of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, after he published data about the relative harms of cannabis, alcohol and other drugs. Nutt also signed the letter, as did Sting, Russell Brand, and Richard Branson. 

Not all of UK's women are so enlightened. In February 2009 Nutt was criticised by then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for stating Ecstasy was statistically no more dangerous than an addiction to horse-riding. Smith has admitted to a youthful dalliance with pot.

Actress Jean Simmons (OBE) was a signatory on a similar 2005 letter addressed to Tony Blair. American women and men sent a letter to President Obama in 2013 calling for an end to the War on Drugs.

Pussy Riot bravely joined the protest in Russia. 

Read more.

Pussy Riot Tries It (in the Netherlands)

During a remarkable interview on the Colbert Report, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina of Pussy Riot talked about their release from jail in Russia and their tour of prisons in other countries, speaking out about human rights abuses.

After they noted that there is a giant gap between the wonderful prisons in the Netherlands and those in the US, Colbert said, "I think all the prisoners in the Netherlands get to smoke pot, so people actually have a wonderful time while they're in there."

"Yeah, we had a great time there too," Masha said knowingly.

"We sang a fun song in a church," was the succinct way the young women answered the question about why they were jailed. Among their fun songs, they said, was one called "Putin Piss Off."

The mock conservative Colbert joked he would edit out any parts of their interview criticizing his friend Vladimir. They responded, "That's OK, we're making our own taping right now." Told in that case they would be searched, they said, "We've had two years of practice hiding things from searches."

The women called their release a "public relations stunt" for the Sochi Olympics and called attention to the 12 people imprisoned after the May 6 protest in Bolotnaya Square, serving terms ranging from 5-6 years. "While this is happening, no PR stunt can fix Russia's image."

Watch Part One of the interview here, and their comments about the Netherlands below:

Natalie Takes the Maines Stage

Natalie Maines headlining the Star Stage at the 13th
annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco

Faced with the daunting decision of which headliner to watch at this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, I decided against Robert Earle Keen, Steve Earle and Los Lobos and went for Natalie Maines, since I'd just re-read that she signed an open letter to President Obama calling for an end to the injustice of the war on drugs in April.

I made the right choice. Maines blew the crowd away with incendiary vocals and songs, belting out a strong set backed by her five-piece band. She's broken away from her country roots and is rocking out, hard, with a voice and a sensibility that are made for it.

The Dixie Chicks, fronted by Maines, were the Pussy Riot of their day: nearly blacklisted, they received death threats after announcing they were ashamed that George W. Bush was also from Texas when he ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The mother of two boys, Maines's first solo album Mother was released in May to critical acclaim (only one review I saw lamented the loss of the Chicks' harmony vocals). At the New York Daily News, Jim Farber called it "a flat-out masterpiece, an ideal match of singer and songs that moves Maines from being a skilled and decorative singer into one of the most emotive vocalists of our time." On the disc, she covers Roger Waters' song "Mother" for the title track and selects material by Eddy Vedder and Jeff Buckley. She also co-wrote two songs with Ben Harper, including "Take It On Faith," with which she ended her show tonight.

Take it on faith
That I’ll be there
When the pain comes
And I’ll take it all on faith
That you will try, try not to run
When it’s hard, so hard

We can take it on faith that Maines is not one to run away from a fight. She will perform in Napa tomorrow (Oct. 6) and in LA on October 8. Catch her if you can.

Postscript: I just uncovered that Maines appeared on a historic Politically Incorrect episode in 1998 with Woody Harrelson and medical marijuana activist Todd McCormick. It seems perhaps her opinions have "evolved" since then.