Gotchyer Drug War Roundup

Radley Balko | January 16, 2007

The latest goings-on in that other war:

• A member of the Kuwaiti royal family has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

• The Atlanta Journal Constitution delves into the culture of the city's narcotics policing, and finds a system rife with perverse incentives. The paper finds that the raid that led to the shooting death of Kathryn Johnston promised a kilo of cocaine -- a one in 1,000 bust. The paper found that pressure to make arrests and the lure of the professional esteem that comes with a big bust encourage police to take shortcuts and manipulate the facts to secure a search warrant. None of this is new or unique to Atlanta, of course.

• GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has hired Mel Sembler as a top money man for his campaign. Sembler, you may remember, is a fierce drug warrior, and in the 1980s and 90s ran Straight, Inc., the string of "tough love" teen rehab centers frequently accused of child abuse.

• Outstanding piece attacking the drug war in the NY Times over the weekend from guest columnist Orlando Patterson.

• A new report comes to the striking conclusion that -- surprise! -- Canada's war on drugs is an "utter failure."