Transcript

Cultural Baggage / January 6, 2013

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Broadcasting on the Drug Truth Network, this is Cultural Baggage.

“It’s not only inhumane, it is really fundamentally Un-American.”

“No more! Drug War!” “No more! Drug War!”
“No more! Drug War!” “No more! Drug War!”

DEAN BECKER: My Name is Dean Becker. I don’t condone or encourage the use of any drugs, legal or illegal. I report the unvarnished truth about the pharmaceutical, banking, prison and judicial nightmare that feeds on Eternal Drug War.

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DEAN BECKER: We’ve got a great show lined up for you – lots of powerful, educational and motivational info for your review.

Let’s just jump right into it. I want to bring in one of my band of brothers in Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a gentleman I toured across America with as part of the Caravan for Peace, Justice and Dignity. I’ll let him fill you in on his law enforcement experience. Let’s welcome Jamie Haase. How are you doing Jamie?

JAMIE HAASE: I’m doing good, Dean. Thank you for having me on your show again. I appreciate it.

DEAN BECKER: Sure, Jamie. Now, if you will, fill folks in on your background, your criminal justice experience.

JAMIE HAASE: I got out of college in 2000 with a criminal justice degree. I started working for U.S. Customs Service which later merged to become Customs and Border Protection.

I worked at a seaport in Charleston and then became a criminal investigator and worked on the Mexican border for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

DEAN BECKER: Jamie, this is exemplary of the type of experience that our fellow members, our band of brothers in law enforcement experience bring to the fore. The truth of the matter is our experts, our members, our speakers are being called upon more and more for their expertise by governing bodies, legislative groups and so forth because this is changing right before our eyes – this drug war.

JAMIE HAASE: It sure is. In the past year…I’ve been following the situation in Mexico for about 4 years and I think the most progress we’ve seen has been in this past year alone. Definitely things are changing and minds are being changed every day.

DEAN BECKER: Before it happened there was a great tidal swell (whatever you want to call it) coming forward but in November Colorado and Washington State legalized marijuana, cannabis, the devil’s weed which set in motion enormous discourse and commentary in this regard, right?

JAMIE HAASE: It sure did. I was a little anxious afterwards seeing how the Obama administration was going to reply to that. Hopefully it seems like the federal government is going to take a “hands off” approach with those states.

But, again, not only those two states. We have Massachusetts…Arkansas almost passed that. That’s one that was really important to me. Even though…it was a medical marijuana initiative in Arkansas. Even though it failed 49% voted for that. That’s in a Bible Belt.

Definitely things are changing. It’s time to get this thing passed – at least marijuana at this point and we can focus on the other stuff after that but I think we got to get this one off the table first.

DEAN BECKER: That was interesting what happened in Arkansas. It kind of proved…like you said as part of the Bible Belt they were very close to passing a medical marijuana law.

They have polls all the time various Scripps Howard and others. Even here in Texas they find that 76% of the people are in favor of medical marijuana and, yet, not only do we have laws against referendums in Texas in general we have specific laws that say that if there should become the ability to have a referendum you can’t have one for medical marijuana.

It’s enormous hogwash that they put forward all the time trying to stop this discussion isn’t it?

JAMIE HAASE: It sure is. I don’t know when the opposition is going to open their eyes. Right now we’re probably at the mid-70s nationwide almost 80% support medical marijuana. 50% favor full on legalization. I don’t know what the issue is with the opposition and why they keep fighting this but it’s clearly a no win battle for them.

It’s time to get on the right side and save lives.

DEAN BECKER: Once again, folks, we’re speaking with Mr. Jamie Haase, a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. I urge you to check out the website, http://leap.cc

We have…I can’t even remember the number. It keeps growing. It’s well over 10,000 members and supporters worldwide. Jamie, do you know that number?

JAMIE HAASE: I don’t know the exact number but you’re right it keeps growing. I’ve been affiliated for a little over a year now and it’s just growing and growing and growing. More people - active police officials, judicial officials are coming and joining. They know it’s a good organization and that we’re making moves.

My life has totally been enhanced since joining LEAP. Like you said it’s a band of brothers and I totally enjoy this organization thoroughly.

DEAN BECKER: I think in time we’ll be able to look back and see that, once again, we were protecting and serving our fellow citizens through this effort. Don’t you think?

JAMIE HAASE: Definitely. It’s funny you said that because both me and you both know Stephen Downing and I was looking at one of his Facebook pages recently and he had that old prohibition vehicle from alcohol prohibition times where it says, “Save the children.” Of course we’re familiar with the new LEAP vehicle.

DEAN BECKER: I wish folks could see that. I gave a talk up at King College…up there north of Houston and I was able to use those two pictures side by side and it kind of made a gasp within the audience when they kind of realized that this is a very similar circumstance.

JAMIE HAASE: It’s cool. It makes you feel like you’re part of something.

DEAN BECKER: You mentioned Stephen Downing and he was one of our co-travelers on our trip across America with the Caravan for Peace. I was in that vehicle for over 7,000 miles this summer going into fall. I don’t regret a moment of it.

Many days you didn’t know what town it was, what day it was but you were part of something. This was - for those who may not have heard – our 10 show series which, by the way, has been nominated for a Peabody award.

The fact of the matter was that we heard these stories of the family members of those murdered, horribly butchered, dipped in acid down in Mexico and tried our best to awaken the American public, the American media to a need to examine what has been wrought by our eternal jihad on certain drug users.

I’m editorializing here, Jamie, but your response. What do you think?

JAMIE HAASE: I remember the conference call we had trying to figure out who was going to be at certain stops. I wish I could have attended more. I was in Atlanta and with you in Washington. I remember you saying on that call that you were going to be riding with the Caravan through the whole thing and I thought that was pretty awesome.

It was a good wake up call for Americans. I’ve always told you that I wish it wasn’t during the height of our Presidential election season but it was still a good wake up call. For me, I volunteered, I was one of …we have 300 ICE agents at the Baltimore office that I worked at. I was the only one who volunteered in 2009 to go to the border when Obama came out and mandated on supplying additional resources from DHS on that border.

It was my experience there and just seeing the amount of marijuana that’s constantly, constantly flooding this country that really opened my eyes. So I’ve been following Mexico since then. I remember when Javier Sicilia’s son was killed. It was a huge story. I always wished at that point that they would come to the United States because I knew the Caravan was in south Mexico and north Mexico and I always thought it would be great if they came to the U.S. and sure enough they did.

Culminating in Washington, D.C. was pretty special.

DEAN BECKER: For the listeners I wish to point out. You mentioned Javier Sicilia. He’s a very famous Mexican poet whose son was killed in 2011 (I think) by agents of the cartels.

Jamie, I want to ask you…we were talking earlier about Arkansas and I mentioned Texas and the fact of the matter is today I was looking and found a major columnist in Tampa, Florida was talking about how stupid this…he was speaking more specifically about marijuana but he also gave a good slap to prohibition in general.

It brings to mind the question…I’ve talked about this before. I can only compare it to how much snow has to fall on the cliff before an avalanche? It seems to me that it’s imminent. Your thought?

JAMIE HAASE: I agree. I think we’re seeing the end of prohibition. We’re going to start with marijuana, obviously but we have built…the DEA worries me a lot because that agency was solely created for drug enforcement so they’re going to be a huge obstacle, in my opinion.

But also the industrial prison complex. We have a lot of jobs. We have a lot of opposition who are profiting from this War on Drugs. I think industrial hemp is a good way to offset that. There’s a lot of different things.

The wall is coming down and it’s good to be alive and watching it happen.

DEAN BECKER: You mentioned industrial hemp and what many folks don’t realize is that it’s a puzzle, it’s a stair step…I’m not sure how to describe it but the fact of the matter is that hemp was seen as competition to oil and plastics and other commodities which can be made cheaper, more environmentally friendly and so forth through the use of hemp. Just this old weed that grows out there in the field 15 feet tall.

Because of that they wanted to outlaw hemp so they put together the scare against the “dreaded marijuana.” Your thought there, Jamie Haase.

JAMIE HAASE: I totally agree with you. William Randolph Hearst was with the timber industry and DuPont connected with the nylon and going back to the early 1900s.

Today with the economic times we’re in…we’re importing hemp – how silly and stupid is that when we could just create so much product, so much for the environment, so much greener.

That’s actually an issue, industrial hemp, that I’m just learning about and becoming more interested in - all the foods, the fibers, the products that could be developed with this commodity.

DEAN BECKER: If I dare say this I don’t mean to offend anybody out there in drug reform. Whatever you’re doing I appreciate it, I applaud it, I support you but from my perspective the marijuana reform community is going after the red cape of the drug war matadors – the drug czars, the heads of the DEA. They use marijuana to wave at these outraged marijuana aficionados and very few people are focused on the real, much larger and murderous of overall drug prohibition. Your response to that, Jamie.

JAMIE HAASE: I agree 100%. I wish more people would follow the blogs that are happening in Mexico, watch people’s family members being executed, beheaded. These videos are viral, they’re horrific. The border is 2,000 miles long. It is unsecured. It can’t be secured. I worked at uniformed capacity, investigative capacity – you name it. We’re creating so many criminals with these policies.

You talked about the DEA heads or chiefs – Michele Leonhart was interviewed by congress recently. I’m sure you saw it. She wouldn’t even say that marijuana was less harmful than heroin. It was such a tongue twist for her she couldn’t even come to grips with it. How foolish is that? How far have we come? We have a director of a humongous agency who won’t even come to terms with reality.

DEAN BECKER: I won’t call Michele Leonhart corrupt. She just chooses to remain ignorant. She was picked for her ignorance and kept in dark room except when she speaks to the cameras, I think.

JAMIE HAASE: Right, I guess a puppet is what she is.

DEAN BECKER: It just brings to mind that we have through our work made some difference. The fact of the matter is people can invite us, you in your locale, me in the south Texas area. We have speakers all over this country who jump at the chance to speak to a college class, to speak to a Rotary, Elks, you name it – any organization that wants to invite us because that’s our purpose isn’t it?

JAMIE HAASE: You’re exactly right and it’s fun to get out there. I actually got invited to Duke where I’m going to go in February for SSDP (Students for Sensible Drug Policy) which is going to be cool. The bigger challenges, I think, are the civic clubs, the Rotary clubs. I’ve spoken at churches here in South Carolina. Believe it or not I run into little opposition but so many people are in favor of it.

We’ve talked about this before where these conservatives, Christian-minded conservatives in South Carolina support legalization in one form or another whether it be medical or whatever. It seems they are just not voicing their opinions. It’s not that big of an issue to them. They don’t see it as an important issue and I think that’s the role for us LEAP speakers to go in and inform these people on why…it’s life-saving. It’s about saving lives and helping humanity.

DEAN BECKER: In my travel across America I ran into one person who would not be swayed, who would not change the drug laws in any fashion. His rationale was that his neighbors grew cannabis legally, medical cannabis and he could not stand the smell of the growing cannabis next door and therefor he wants everybody to be arrested and go to jail forever.

That’s as tight of a conscious or whatever you want to call it as I’ve ever seen. I could not get through to that guy.

JAMIE HAASE: We need to hogtie him, kidnap him and send him south of the border and maybe he’ll wake up.

DEAN BECKER: [laughing] Good idea, Jamie.

We got a couple minutes left. Jamie, I want to turn it over to you. What’s on your mind to end this drug war? Where do you seeing us going next? What’s up?

JAMIE HAASE: I think things are moving ahead. I think Colorado and Washington kind of threw a niche in there. I don’t know, again, places like Arkansas with 49% for a medical initiative…I’m kind of wondering if more states can look at Washington and Colorado and maybe vote to go straight onto legalizing like alcohol or are we going to have more baby steps with medical marijuana.

I think it needs to be treated just like alcohol. We can do medical marijuana – that’s a step but we’re not eliminating the black market. We’re still going to fuel these death cartels in Mexico.

Atlanta, Georgia is about an hour and one-half from where I live in Greenville, South Carolina. I’m really affiliated with the NORML organizations over there. I’m going to be there throughout March. Some stuff is happening in April.

You know how it is being a speaker you’re kind of focused in your own region. This debate is taking off in different areas across the U.S. in different ways so I think it will be interesting.

DEAN BECKER: You mentioned that more and more folks are speaking up, more and more legislators. I wish I had a tally but I know there have been a handful if not 10 or more legislators in different states who have put forward either medical or legal marijuana bills to their legislatures and even governors in 3 or 4 states who have brought forward the need to investigate and maybe make use of this new way of dealing with cannabis.

JAMIE HAASE: You’re right. The more people that jump in, get their feet wet and realize that there is public support behind this issue the less it becomes a third rail issue. You’re going to see more and more people doing it and we’re going to break the taboo.

DEAN BECKER: I’ll tell you what we’re going to wrap it up for now. I appreciate all the good work. Look forward to hearing about your speaking engagements and so forth. As always it’s good to talk to one of my band of brothers. See ya, Jamie.

JAMIE HAASE: You too, Dean. Thanks for having me again. Anytime – I love coming on your show.

DEAN BECKER: Alright, folks, once again that was Mr. Jamie Haase of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. They’re on the web at http://leap.cc

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[game show music]

It’s time to play Name That Drug by Its Side Effects!

Headache, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, irregular pulse, skin discoloration, weakness, amnesia, agitation, loose stools, coughing, taste perversion, tremors, arrhythmia, cardiac failure and death…

{{{ gong }}}

Time’s up!

Then answer: from Pfizer Laboratories, Caduet, for high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

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TERRY NELSON: This is Terry Nelson of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition on drug money laundering.

Recently, according to London AP, a huge bank, — HSBC avoided a legal battle that could further savage its reputation and undermine confidence in the global banking system by agreeing to pay $1.9 billion to settle a U.S. money-laundering probe. This penalty was less than 10% of their pre-tax dollars.

And even though this was highly illegal and very profitable for the banks not one criminal indictment has been brought against anyone involved. Had that been you or me trying to sneak 20 thousand dollars across the border we would have lost all the money, been arrested and saddled with a criminal record the rest of our lives. But for the big money boys a mere slap on the hand and a not so firm “don’t do this again”. This has been going on since the beginning of the drug war...the little guys does time and the big guys drink wine.

I think that it is impossible to stop money laundering as it is done on so many fronts that it cannot be regulated by money laundering laws. The only way to regulate something is that it has to be legal and the drug business is currently illegal.

Money laundering takes many forms. You can buy property here in the U.S., keep it a few months or years and then sell it with the money now being clean. You can load up gift cards with thousands of dollars and sell them to others for clean money, you can go to a casino and leave with clean money if you don’t lose it all gambling. You can build hotels, shopping malls, apartment buildings, restaurants, etc. and the money is effectively cleaned and impossible to trace. It is impossible to stop and will not be stopped. Current estimates are that the illegal drug business is between 4 and 5 hundred billion dollars... all untaxed and unregulated.

And the business is so large that it has to touch all aspects of our lives, from crooked police and judges to compromised politicians and public leaders. It’s the old “Money Talks” and the rest walks.

I agree that the way to beat the cartels is by taking their money away. However, the government and I disagree on the method we should use. I think legalizing it will take all the huge profits currently enjoyed by the cartels and thus end their dominance of the trade.

But the government’s actions against the big banks say that they are too big to jail. Not so for you and me if we break the law.

If you agree that the drug war is a lost cause and that something has to happen to keep our kids from be arrested and incarcerated for non-violent crimes against the government then please call or write to your elected officials and express you views. You are in the majority and must make your voice heard if you want to change a broken system. Let’s try a different strategy against drugs; let’s try education and treatment as we well know that arrest and incarceration does not work. This is Terry Nelson of LEAP, www.leap.cc, signing off. Stay safe.

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DEAN BECKER: Opening up a can of worms and going fishing for truth. This is the Drug Truth Network. Drugtruth.net

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DOUG McVAY: It’s the 4:20 Drug War News.

Drugged driving has been an issue of concern for several years. The Drug Czar's office and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (or MADD) recently joined together to make passage of such laws, including per se limits for blood THC levels, a legislative priority. The recent passage of marijuana legalization measures in Colorado and Washington has pushed this concern to the forefront for many. Washington's measure, as many of you are already aware, imposes a whole-blood THC limit of 5 nanograms per milliliter. Colorado's measure did not have such a provision but some state legislators in Colorado have been working for years to enact such a limit, and a bill is slated to be reintroduced in the new legislative session.

A primary concern with these laws as far as cannabis is concerned has been the limit itself and whether it's inappropriately low, though much of the research seems to back up the 5 nanogram limit. There's also the question of how quickly THC leaves the system, particularly for frequent heavy users.

Another concern has been that blood testing is simply quite invasive, and most law enforcement officers aren't qualified or authorized to get a blood sample which means delays while a suspect is taken to a hospital for a blood draw. Oral fluid – saliva – testing has been suggested in the past as an alternative, but has not been used because of technical limitations. Until now.

The UK government's Home Office announced on January 4th, 2013, that it has approved the Draeger DrugTest 5000 for use in police stations around the UK. According to the Home Office news release, quote: “Policing and criminal justice minister Damian Green approved the first drug-driving equipment sanctioned for police use after experts at the home office’s centre for applied science and technology (CAST) carried out extensive tests on its effectiveness. The testing kit is able to detect THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, and is now available to police forces. Work will continue at CAST to test more equipment capable of accurately identifying other substances.” End quote.

The European Union's Project on Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines – the DRUID Project – also evaluated Draeger's device along with several others. In their report “Analytical Evaluation of Oral Fluid Screening Devices and Preceding Selection Procedures” issued at the end of March 2010, they conclude that of all the devices tested, quote: “The DrugTest 5000 had the best overall results. ” End quote.

Drug War Facts has a new chapter on Drugged Driving, if you want more information, just go to the home page at www dot drug war facts dot org and click on the Drugged Driving link in the chapter list on the left-hand side of the page.

For the Drug Truth Network, this is Doug McVay with Drug War Facts and Common Sense for Drug Policy.

The War on Drugs is built on a foundation of lies. That foundation crumbles when it is exposed to the light of the truth.

This has been a production of the Drug Truth Network online at http://drugtruth.net

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ANNOUNCER: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on CNN.

ROB CORRY: Welcome to Club 64 in Denver, Colorado.

JIM SPELLMAN: It’s 4:20 p.m – the traditional time for stoners to light up and Denver’s first cannabis establishment named Club 64 is open for business.

The club gets its name from Amendment 64 which legalized recreational use of marijuana in Colorado. Their first meeting New Year’s Eve was in a warehouse. It’s a private club open only to members who pay the $30 fee.

ROB CORRY: You cannot buy marijuana from the club but you can come in here. You can bring marijuana. You can share marijuana.

JIM SPELLMAN: Owner Rob Corry, a longtime marijuana advocate, says the club is the culmination of a long fought battle.

ROB CORRY: This club is what the voters of Colorado finally wanted. They adults to be able to get together and exercise our freedoms together.

JIM SPELLMAN: Gabriel Kinderay is a charter member of Club 64.

GABRIEL KINDERRAY: Up until today we were the kind of people who had to be secretive about who we were and how we lived our lives. Over the last couple of years we’ve been able to really start talking openly about what we do with people and they’ve accepted it. That’s great.

JIM SPELLMAN: Miguel Lopez hopes Amendment 64 and Club 64 can serve as a model for the rest of the world.

MIGUEL LOPEZ: Let Denver serve as a beacon of hope for those who want to know what true freedom is really about.

JIM SPELLMAN: It will be another year before stores selling marijuana can open here. It’s unclear exactly how the industry will operate since marijuana remains prohibited by federal law.

Denver police have told CNN affiliate KDVR they’re waiting for guidance from the city attorney and district attorney to see what, if any, action should be taken but for co-owner Chloe Villano Club 64 is the start of a major change.

CHOLE VILLANO: I get so many dreams and so many visions for this industry but I see it as a place where people can come together and enjoy each other’s company and associate and really be open about the use of cannabis just like they are with alcohol.

ROB CORRY: And she says it’s nothing to be afraid of.

CHOLE VILLANO: The worse that could happen is we’ll probably will be closed a lot earlier than most bars because everyone will want to sleep.

JIM SPELLMAN: Jim Spellman, CNN, Denver.

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DEAN BECKER: Sadly Club 64 closed a lot early than the lady indicated. It seems that the landlord did not want this publicity and the lease had yet been finalized and so Club 64 is now closed for good.

I hope you enjoyed the show. Don’t forget to visit Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. I want to thank Jamie Haase of LEAP. It’s http://leap.cc

Stay tuned for Century of Lies. It follows next on many of the networks. We’re going to have Patrick Clark of WeGrow to talk about the 700 studies on the use of marijuana.

As always, I remind you, because of prohibition you don’t know what’s in that bag. Please, be careful.
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DEAN BECKER: To the Drug Truth Network listeners around the world, this is Dean Becker for Cultural Baggage and the Unvarnished Truth.

This show produced at the Pacifica Studios of KPFT Houston.

Tap dancing… on the edge… of an abyss.
Transcript provided by: Jo-D Harrison of www.DrugSense.org