Whether smuggling drugs into a prison, into the country on a plane, or across borders, people in the drug trade battle with those tasked with detecting the illegal substances every day, and with everyday the game gets a little more intense. The Associated Press this week ran an interesting story outlining just how creative smugglers have gotten and how law enforcement have had to evolve right along with them. [Read more…]
Feds Ban Fake Pot
Following the lead of at least 16 states, the Drug Enforcement Agency has banned fake marijuana products, also referred to as “spice”. The substance has made headlines over the past few years due to its popularity and resulting harms. Though the chemicals used in the products are said to mimic the active components in marijuana, they’ve causes some serious reactions that are completely unheard of with the real thing. [Read more…]
President Obama Discusses Marijuana Legalization
The President took to the Internet airwaves this week to have a Q&A session on YouTube. Many viewer submitted topics largely centered on marijuana. And while he nobly remarked it should be more of a public health issue, he maintained he is against legalization. [Read more…]
Preventing Drunk Driving With Alcohol Detectors in All Cars
There was an article in the Washington Post about technology being developed to passively detect alcohol consumption, to be installed in all new vehicles.
Any system that can stop drunk driving before it happens is worth discussing, both pros and cons. Any such technology always comes down to a public safety vs. civil liberties trade-off. Is everyone a suspect without any due process? [Read more…]
Attitude Towards Pot Charges Changing Jury Dynamics
Despite marijuana legalization (Proposition 19) failing in California this past voting period, attitudes towards marijuana are shifting. The general public is beginning to recognize the failures of the War on Drugs, particularly in regards to marijuana. It’s getting more difficult to seat an unbiased jury and even judges are becoming more reluctant to hand down strict sentences on marijuana charges. [Read more…]
States Rush To Control Synthetic Drugs
Over the past few years, the nation has seen an influx of what are being called “synthetic” drugs. Spice, K2, LOL, and BZP are just a few of the substances causing a scramble as lawmakers grapple with creating laws for these formulas not previously seen and adults and kids alike rush out to buy up the substances before they are completely banned. [Read more…]
States Take Varying Approaches on Prescription Drug Control
Although the abuse of prescriptions drugs has been climbing for the past several years, some states have yet to enact legislation to try and control it. However, many are doing what they can to keep these drugs from the people who don’t legitimately need them while maintaining ease of access for people who do. Strategies and laws vary considerably from state to state. [Read more…]
Dept. of Justice Defends Drug Courts Before House Panel
Drug courts are specialized courts that seek to keep people out of the criminal justice system. Rather than focusing on punitive measures like prison time, they instead focus on rehabilitation and prevention. Despite such courts coming under fire from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Inspector General, the DOJ’s acting Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance defended them before a House Panel this week. [Read more…]
Crack-Cocaine Sentencing Disparities Reduced By Congress
Last week Congress moved to reduce the disparities between the crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentences. The difference between the two had been a point of controversy since the 1980s with critics claiming the difference was racist and completely irrational. [Read more…]
MADD Spending Practices
Via Lawrence Taylor, comes a report that MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) was rated poorly by several charity watchdog groups about it’s spending practices. According to the sources Charity Watch and Charity Navigator, MADD spends 2/3s of it’s budget on staff, salaries, and overhead, leaving only one third for “charitable work and victims services”.
Charity Navigator rates them a 1 out of 4 stars, and Charity Watch gives them a grade of “D”. Charity rating organizations expect good organizations to direct at least 60-70% of their fund to their charitable purpose.
Is MADD a Charity?
At this site, we blog about civil liberties and criminal justice issues. And we are critical of MADD’s goals of ignition interlock devices for any first offense drunk driving charge, and future mandatory alcohol sensing devices in all vehicles.
But just this once, I am going to defend MADD for being a badly run “charity”, because I don’t think they are a charity.
They are a lobbying and issue advocacy group.
I may not agree with their issues and goals, but that doesn’t mean that they have not been effective.
And it doesn’t seem quite right to judge them by the same measures as the Red Cross, or Doctors without Borders. MADD’s goal is not to distribute goods and services to those in need. It is to push for legislation and social change.
Whether or not their CEO is worth $234,ooo/year, half a percent of the organization’s overall expenses, is not for me to decide. But it is the work that the staff produces, and how effective they are at influencing legislatures that matters to those who would donate money to this organization.
