Harm Reduction or Regulated Market: On Really Good Ideas With Really Bad Names

A major preoccupation of mine in working on this blog has to do with the marketing of drug policy reform as a concept. One thing I keep wringing my hands over is the term "harm reduction" as a description of a health-oriented approach.

You've probably seen those weirdly compelling commercials for the Blendtec blender -- the ones in which they apply the question "will it blend?" to all manner of household objects and usually conclude that, yes, the object will indeed blend inside these very.

Suppose you could design an ideal system for drug regulation, one that would involve the use of regulated markets to control drugs rather than relying primarily on the criminal justice system. Under such a system, powerful recreational drugs, like heroin and methamphetamine,.

Americans are increasingly turning to the recreational use of pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drugs, according to the just-released National Survey on Drug Use and Health. 5.2 million Americans used prescription painkillers for nonmedical reasons in 2006, up more than 10% from 4.7 million.

This guy does. Or he did, until he was arrested. An alleged leader of the Norte de Valle cartel, he controlled the way recreational drugs were manufactured, packaged and distributed. He controlled the purity of the drugs, and decided what cutting agents.

Fox aired a good interview with Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance on Monday. The only frustrating thing about the clip is the flippant comments at the end of the segment from the anchor and reporter, who are quick to dismiss.

Back in my pre-law existence once of the places I worked as a reporter was at the Los Angeles Times community newspaper The Daily Pilot, which covers the areas of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. It's a small, scrappy paper that has.

I had a conversation this week with Steve Rolles of the Transform  Drug Policy Foundation about the group's new report After the War on Drugs: Tools for the Debate. The interview is just over eight minutes long, and touches on the polarization of.

The Washington Post has a response to Misha Glenny's insightful article on the failures of the war on drugs. Titled "The War Is Not Lost," it's a piece by former ONDCP spokesman Robert Weiner. It's full of encouraging statistics that don't map.

Why is that more people who are politically progressive don't speak out in favor of ending our nation's disastrous war on drugs? Part of the answer has to do with the fact that there are other fish for progressives to fry right.