Suggestions for Activism Against the Drug War with Recommended Reading
A pamphlet for informing people of ideas that might be useful in attacking the drug war’s prohibition on any particular substance.
Looking for tactics to combat the criminalization of ______(insert illict drug)?
Here are some that might be helpful.
-Passing out Fullly Informed Jury Association (http://fija.org/) materials in an effort to get defendants off by a refusal of jurors to convict. If done in conjunction with information challenging the government line, jurors might end up exercising jury nullification.
-Peaceful protests, sit-downs, and lock-downs at courthouses where people are being tried on drug charges in an effort to complicate the procceedings.
-Encouraging groups of individuals to agree ahead of time not to plea bargain on a drug offense. Defnese lawyers could then demand that a speedy trial be given in all cases or the defendants be let off. Such a paralyzing of the system could bear fruit.
Readers should know that all of the above carry risks. Jurors could be held in contempt for exercersing the right of jury nullification. See http://www.levellers.org/jrp/kriho.new.htm for an example.
Reading Resources
General
Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use by Jacob Sullum.
The Case for Legalizing Drugs by Richard Lawrence Miller.
Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State by Richard Lawrence Miller.
Specific
List material pertaining to specific substance in question.
Is [i]Drug Warriors and Their Prey[/i] the one where Miller points out all the parallels between the drug war and the Nazi Holocaust? I remember reading a couple of things he read about drug policy about 10 years ago, and found his material to be more illuminating (and appalling given the subject matter) than most material on the subject of the drug war.
Freeman,
That would be the book and it’s an awfully depressing one. His books are definitely some of the best reading on the subject. Keith Preston’s article on the drug war is a nice summary of Miller’s argument in Drug Warriors and Their Prey.
http://www.attackthesystem.com/drugwar.html