Maia Szalavitz opinion in the NY Times: It's Not Just About Pot.  Our Entire Drug Policy Needs an Overhaul. Ms. Szalavitz has once again exposed the failings of our nations eternal war on drugs.  She stands with the Global Commission on Drug Policy, with presidents, scientists and major media from around the world in exposing the inner workings and horrible ramifications of believing in drug prohibition. 

President Ruth Dreifuss , first woman to hold the Swiss presidency, is the founder and president of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The commission wants “responsible state control, from production to consumption of drugs” but that the opposite is now the case. “It’s an unregulated market in the hands of criminal groups.”

Phil Smith is a reporter with Stop The Drug War.  This is a two part show this file contains Phils The Top Ten Domestic Drug Policy Stories of 2023.   

Part 2 of this show with Phil is listed below as this week's Moral High Ground program.

Timothy King our guest today is an author, speaker, and Senior Fellow at Clergy for a New Drug Policy. Part of today's discussion revolves around the "Gifts of the Magi".

Victoria Wright is the founder of The National Coalition for Drug Legalization, a nonprofit 501(c)3 focused on the legalization of all drugs. Our mission is to advance the conversation about the legalization of all drugs through community service and research which is publishing such recommendations via their Drug Legalization Handbook,

James E. Gierach, a former Chicago prosecutor is our guest.  Gierach has written a new book: The Silver Bullet SOLUTION, is it time to end the war on drugs? 

Kassandra Frederique is the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit that works to end the war on drugs—which has disproportionately harmed Black, Latinx, Indigenous, immigrant, and LGBTQ communities—and build alternatives grounded in science, compassion, health, and human rights. 29:00

Major Neill Franklin (Ret.) is a 34-year law enforcement veteran of the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department.After 23 years of dedicated service to the Maryland State Police, he was recruited in 2000 by the Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department to reconstruct and command Baltimore’s Education and Training Section. During his time on the force, he held the position of commander for the Education and Training Division and the Bureau of Drug and Criminal Enforcement. He also instituted and oversaw the very first Domestic Violence Investigative Units for the Maryland State Police.

Les McColgin, a Galveston County man, is using a billboard and a unique vending machine to try and tackle a fentanyl crisis. Les McColgin, who started Gulf Coast Outreach Services, in order to reach other parents, neighbors, and students. "Most people don't have an idea of how bad this is," McColgin said. His goal is to combat the fentanyl crisis, which is a problem he can also relate to because he's overdosed three times himself. I was never scared of any drugs," McColgin recalled. "Never. The stronger the better."

A Galveston County man is using a billboard and a unique vending machine to try and tackle the fentanyl crisis.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office told ABC13, in 2021 and in the first 11 months of 2022, 138 people died from drug overdose. Fifty-six percent of those are link to fentanyl. It's a crisis that's led groups to make posters showing the faces of those who've died from the drug, as their smiling photos hide the pain their loved ones can't let go.

"The reality that something so small can take something so big, and the reality that there's such evil to do this," Janice Stahl, who lost her son to fentanyl, said.

The grieving mothers turned to Les McColgin, who started Gulf Coast Outreach Services, in order to reach other parents, neighbors, and students.

"Most people don't have an idea of how bad this is," McColgin said.