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Written by SAFER
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Tuesday, 07 October 2008 |
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The Denver Post reports that yet another drunken airline passenger has been sent to federal court on charges
stemming from an incident in which they caused problems on an airplane in flight. We've heard of drunk passengers groping flight attendants, publicly masturbating and even having all-out brawls on airplanes, but somehow we have another first:
Prosecutors say Ezra James Wallace, 29,
took photographs of one of the girls despite her objections and even
though she covered her face with her hands. He also bound the hands of
both girls with athletic tape... Wallace later told FBI investigators that he had drank about a half-pint of vodka before to the incident... In a written statement, Wallace admitted to taping both girls' hands and said, "It was all in good fun." He also stated he was "drunk and blurry" and that it was hard to remember details. He said that his son has never been in trouble before and that he is not an alcoholic — he just "drinks more than he should."
This past summer, SAFER called for marijuana lounges in airports nationwide after federal prosecutors expressed concern over the growing number of alcohol-related incident taking place on commercial flights. Government officials shrugged off the suggestion then, and it appears they are going to just keep their heads buried firmly in the sand and continue to do so.
"Twisted behavior against juveniles on airplanes won't be tolerated," U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said in a statement.
So, let's follow this logic: Twisted behavior on airplanes will not be tolerated. Twisted behavior on airplanes is virtually always associated with alcohol use by passengers. Twisted behavior on airplanes has never been associated with marijuana use. The government continues to have a policy in which marijuana use by passengers will not be tolerated, but alcohol use by passengers will be both tolerated and promoted. Hopefully the U.S. Attorney has a small child who can explain to their daddy how truly ass-backwards the government's line of reasoning is in this situation. |
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Written by SAFER
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Monday, 29 September 2008 |
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This week SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert was a call-in guest on "The Average Guys," a weekly sports talk television show in Duluth, Minn. The discussion centered primarily around SAFER's recent effort to highlight the hypocrisy of the National Football League's marijuana policy. |
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Written by SAFER
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Sunday, 28 September 2008 |
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Just the other day we discussed how the fundamentals of McCain Family's economy are strong. This editorial cartoon, which appeared in the Boston Globe, shares the same sentiment and pokes fun at the lavish lifestyle afforded to presidential candidate John McCain as a result of his drug-dealing wife, Cindy. |
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Written by SAFER
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Sunday, 28 September 2008 |
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 SAFER will be heading out to the 2008 national conference of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which will be held in Berkeley from October 17-19.
Along with having an information booth present, SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert will be a member of what is expected to be one of the more popular panels during the weekend: The War on Drugs Is A War on Young People. Tvert will be joined by Kris Krane and Micah Daigle of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, as well as attorney Omar Figueroa, to discuss how the prohibition of marijuana has a highly disparate effect on younger people.  The panel will be moderated by NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano (left), who recently had a couple great pieces. One was a featured post on The Hill's Congress Blog, and the other -- which discusses the panel's subject -- appeared as an essay in In These Times. According to data compiled by the FBI, 74 percent of all Americans
busted for pot are under 30. One out of four is 18 or younger.
We now have a generation (or two) that is so alienated that many
young people believe the police are an instrument of their oppression
rather than their protection. While young people suffer the most under current anti-pot laws, they
lack the financial means and political capital to influence politicians
to challenge them. They also lack the money to adequately fund the drug
law reform movement at a level necessary to represent and protect their
interests.
As a result, marijuana arrests continue to climb unabated. And few
in the mainstream press — and even fewer lawmakers — feel any
sufficient political pressure to address it.
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