Drug War

Tariffs: Another Consequence of the Drug War

by Laurence M. Vance February 12, 2025

President Trump recently announced additional tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China — three of America’s largest trading partners: 25 percent on goods from Canada (10 percent on energy resources) and Mexico and 10 percent on goods from China. I say “trading partners” because international trade is always a “win-win” proposition that benefits both parties because it encourages efficiency ...

Right Decision, Wrong Reason

by Laurence M. Vance February 5, 2025

A few days before his disastrous term as president ended, Joe Biden did something good, although it would have been better had he done it at the beginning of his term. President Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders who were “serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, ...

The Significance of the Eighteenth Amendment

by Laurence M. Vance January 1, 2025

Every month of the year is significant for a variety of reasons: holidays, historical events, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. However, when it comes to the U.S. Constitution, two months of the year stand out. December is a significant month when it comes to two amendments to the Constitution. The Eighteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and ...

We Still Need Marijuana Freedom

by Laurence M. Vance November 15, 2024

Although all eyes during the recent election were primarily on the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and secondarily on the contests between the blue team and the red team for control of the U.S. House and Senate, ballots in many states also contained candidates for state and local offices and referendums. More than 140 ballot measures appeared on ...

Legalize Nitazenes

by Laurence M. Vance April 3, 2024

I never even heard of nitazenes until last month. They are a type of synthetic opioids called isotonitazenes, or ISOs, that have been detected in illegal street drugs. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), ISOs are “being mixed into and marketed as other drugs to make drugs more potent and cheaper to produce.” Ten nitazenes, also called benzimidazole-opioids, ...

Why Drug Prohibition?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2024

During the entire lives of everyone living today, the U.S. government has been waging the so-called war on drugs. Since 1914, beginning with the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, the federal government has enacted laws that make it a criminal offense to possess or distribute certain drugs or to simply conspire (that is, agree) to do so. The objective has ...

Conservatives, Skittles, and Drugs

by Laurence M. Vance December 11, 2023

Conservatives have been fairly quiet about the new law in California that bans certain additives used in candy and other foods, though not because they agree with it. Dubbed the “Skittles ban” because the original version of the bill targeted the coloring agent in the popular Skittles candy, “The California Food Safety Act” (AB-418) prohibits “any food ...

The Supreme Court Ignores the Real Issue

by Laurence M. Vance October 24, 2023

The first Monday of October is the beginning of the new term of the U.S. Supreme Court, which then runs until June or July of the following year. The first case (22-340) up before the court this term concerns the meaning of the word “and” in a federal law regarding prison terms for drug dealers. Mark Pulsifer pleaded guilty in ...

Why I Will Never Change My Mind about Marijuana

by Laurence M. Vance October 1, 2023

Charles Fain Lehman has changed his mind about marijuana. I haven’t, and never will, change my mind about marijuana. Lehman, a self-described “conservative,” is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of City Journal whose work has “appeared in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, National Review, the New York Post, and elsewhere.” He is “a ...

Why Should Americans Have to Vote to Legalize Marijuana?

by Laurence M. Vance December 2, 2022

In addition to the thousands of candidates running for federal, state, and local offices in the recent midterm election, voters in 37 states also had the option of deciding on 132 statewide ballot measures. Five of those ballot measures were related to marijuana. The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) ...

The Republican Death Wish

by Laurence M. Vance October 25, 2022

Republican politicians are not just incorrigible drug warriors; they also have a death wish, but not for themselves. Not only do they want to lock people in cages for possessing too much of a plant or a substance that the government doesn’t approve of, they are once again openly calling for the federal government to kill drug dealers. Yes, these ...

Drug Decriminalization Disaster

by Laurence M. Vance October 5, 2022

Critics are calling Oregon’s Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act a failure. According to Oregon’s ABC affiliate KATU: “Oregon still has among the highest addiction rates in the country. Fatal overdoses have increased almost 20% over the previous year, with over a thousand dead. Over half of addiction treatment programs in the state lack capacity to ...