By Richard D. Erlich

There was no epidemic.
Heroin use was fairly common among troops in Vietnam because pain was common. The great majority of apparently addicted soldiers left their pain in Vietnam and with it their more powerful painkillers. If they came home to a decent neighborhood and a decent life, they left their drug as easily as people leave even more power painkillers when they leave the hospital. If the ex-soldiers came home to pain, in areas where heroin was easily available, then there was a good chance they’d go back on heroin.
As the my ex-student taught me, it’s never “The Addict” and “The Drug” — abstractions worse than useless — but real-world addicts with different metabolisms in complex social contexts interacting with a wide range of drugs.
With an honest definition of “drugs,” we can look at history and sociology, and then take two important steps to deal with America’s drug problems. First, we should lump drugs together and consider the role(s) of drugs in our society from aspirin to heroin to alcohol to antibiotics; and then we must very carefully distinguish among drugs and their uses and abuses.
Graham Nash notwithstanding, we cannot really “change the world — / Re-arrange the world”; but we can stop lying to ourselves about “A Drug-Free America” and get on with what can be done to minimize harm from drugs and maximize their usefulness.
In an earlier time of economic distress — and none too soon — America gave up on the capital “P” Prohibition of beverage alcohol; we can be equally smart about easing or eliminating many of our current prohibitions, however much Americans hate to quit, even when we’re quitting banging our heads into walls.
We can, though (maybe) be smarter than the Americans who ended alcohol Prohibition. If we deal with psychoactive drugs as a group, within a broader consideration of drug use generally, I think we’ll conclude that we can more than make up for any problems with legalizing drugs like marijuana and heroin if we forbid their advertising and marketing and apply similar prohibitions to alcohol and nicotine products. As funny as the Cheech and Chong routine is, it would be bad to have commercials touting, “Acapulco Gold Is Bad-Ass Weed”; even so, it’s probably a bad idea to have great commercials and attractive packaging for alcohol products.
To update a point from John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” (1859), a product can be legal, but pushing the product can be strongly regulated.
Beer and wine will have to remain widely available, but anything stronger can go into clean and safe, but definitely stodgy, “Drug Stores,” where the single malt scotch can sit next to liquid THC — smoking marijuana should be discouraged — in plain black-on-white packages telling adult customers, as honestly as bureaucrats can, what the drug will do for them, and what it might do to them.
That’s one possible outcome, one you might not like, especially if your drug-of-choice is fancy scotch. I won’t press the point. What I will press is that we have to move now to serious discussion.
We cannot afford narco-terrorists winning in Afghanistan or in Mexico. We literally can’t afford to maintain a large and aging prison population. And we never could afford the dishonesty, nor the class, race, ethnicity, and generational conflict at the corrupt heart of “The War on Drugs.”
It’s not a war with drugs; it’s a set of social issues, including problems in public health. Let’s quit the war and get to work on the problems.

Richard D. Erlich is an emeritus professor, Miami University (Oxford, OH), who retired to Port Hueneme, CA.

Progressive delegates to the 2009 California Democratic Convention met on Sunday afternoon in Santa Monica for an orientation meeting.  First-timers got the benefit of practical advice from seasoned convention goers.  There will be 3,000 delegates, including 300 E-board members.  One third of the delegates are elected from assembly districts; one third are elected in county committees, and the rest are appointed by legislators.  But you don’t have to be a delegate to attend the convention: observers and volunteers are welcome and can attend caucuses.

Practical information for newcomers ranged from how to find where you’re supposed to sit (look for the standard with the number of your district on it) to how to word a resolution (state a philosophy rather than support for a piece of legislation), and from wearing comfortable walking shoes to how to become a member of a committee you’re interested in.

Veteran Leah Herschberg advised first-time delegates to be sure to register early on Friday April 24th and be at the orientation between 1:30 and 2:30.  She also advised avoiding the official dinners, which she claims are expensive and tedious, and to “save your appetites for the hospitality suites.”  Dr. Bill Honigman, California Coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America, urged everyone to stay late on Sunday since important votes are likely to be the last piece of business.

Dante Atkins (David’s brother) reported on the Rules Committee, which deals with changes to the by-laws.  He emphasized that if progressives want to get things done they have to know the state party by-laws and spoke about changing current rules to require that at least half of the delegates appointed by legislators be from the same district as the person appointing them.  Dante’s co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, Jo Olsen, reported on the Platform Committee, which she said is the most progressive it has ever been.  The Platform Committee alternates with the Resolutions Committee at the conventions, and this is a year for resolutions.

A detailed handout sheet explained how the Resolutions Committee works, and how to write and submit resolutions for consideration, and how to get your resolution passed.  Marcie Winograd mentioned resolutions to nationalize the Federal Reserve, to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, and to lift the blockade of Gaza.  Julie Levine proposed a clean water resolution, and Dorothy Reik championed a resolution to overturn the requirement of a 2/3 vote to pass the state budget.

After a mid-afternoon break, the candidates for offices of the state party or their surrogates, responded to the question, “What do you plan to do to further progressive values?” Karen Bernal, PDA coordinator in northern California, is running against Brad Parker for chair of the Progressive Caucus.  Both candidates distributed handouts with their backgrounds and endorsements.  Eric Bradley, who is running for re-electrion as party controller, spoke.  His opponent, Hillary Crosby was unable to attend the meeting.

Eric Bauman, candidate for male vice chair, rejected the question and instead emphasized that our mission must be to eliminate the 2/3 requirement for passing the budget

Title: Third Annual Social Justice Practitioners Convening
Location: Ventura County Community Foundation-Community Room 1317 Del Norte Road, Suite 150, Camarillo, CA
Description: The Social Justice Fund for Ventura County and CAUSE are hosting this workshop. Please RSVP by March 25th to (805)988-0196 ext. 126 or to lford@vccf.org
Start Time: 4:00 p.m.
Date: 2009-03-30
End Time: 5:30 p.m.

From the GOOD NEWS, Newsletter of the Greater Oxnard Organization of Democrats, March 2009

Eluding the Gods That Failed

President Obama inherited bankrupt policies clothed in the rhetoric of the religious right. Their demise carries overtones of deities failing, not just policies. In messages coded for the religious right Bush hailed extension of “God-given freedom” by force of arms as a providential mission of a chosen people. His policy toward Israel was partly driven by end-of-the-world revelation. He played to the notion that unregulated markets and private property rights were sanctified by the Old Testament. Multiple failures ultimately cut this rhetoric short. By 2008 Reagan’s “Morning in America” was beginning to look more like twilight. Large numbers of conservative and Republican voters took their distance as Bush’s popularity plummeted.

But the election of 2008 was an election, not a revolution. Republicans retained the ability to block legislation essential to the Obama agenda. They had not abandoned deeply rooted and heavily financed traditions established by holy haters of FDR. Most of them still considered progressives, liberals, New Dealers, Keynesian economists, labor unions and university intellectuals, among others, unacceptable to sit at the table of political power. Passionate to retain power, they can also count on sympathetic treatment by most of the commercial media, blaming Obama for any lengthy extension of inherited crises on Obama’s own policies.

Initially the president is boxed in by circumstances. How this conflict plays out in the long run depends on the public as much as his own leadership. Most of that public is too young to remember the 1930s and the 1940s. Coming of age during decades dominated by conservatives, they need to be reminded that New Deal and Keynesian responses to the Great Depression generated the institutions under which came unprecedented postwar economic progress and international stability, despite the drain of the Cold War. The New Deal also offers precedents for organized constituencies not only rescuing FDR from being boxed in politically, but for pushing him beyond the limits of his own vision. This history of success should at the same time also temper exaggerated expectations of what an American president can accomplish on his own. Creation of Obama for America indicates that the president thoroughly understands the process, including the risk that unwelcome compromises may tempt some of his supporters to jump ship in disillusionment. Politics is about choosing alternatives. The Obama vision of 2008 is an alternative in process. Building a constituency with feedback holds the promise of eluding the return of gods that have failed again. Jumping ship does not.

Take the advice of our speakers at the February meeting. Provide feedback to Obama for America, send your letters and op-eds to the newspapers and to thegoodclub@yahoo.com, and for those on email prepare to act on action alerts that are in the works.

by Carmen Ramirez

On March 11, we will hear about the consequences for education in the current California budget.

Glenston Thompson, the Chief Business Official for the Oxnard School District will discuss the impact that the budget will have on 15,400 students, their families and the teachers and staff of the district. Dr. Renny Christopher, Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs, at Cal State University Channel Islands will discuss the challenges to higher education in California and specifically to our local university.

“Our public schools play a fundamental role in the community. The responsibility to properly educate our children and prepare them for the future has never been more daunting. …The fact that California spends $1,900 less per pupil than the national average is shameful. When comparing California to the other 49 states in our great nation, California ranks 47th out of 50 based on per pupil spending. That’s a ranking where being number 50 is the worst. Could it be that we will rank 50th out of 50 in 2009-2010 school year? Hard to believe when our state is in and of itself the 8th largest economy in the world. With the release of Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for 2009-2010, we could end up spending our already limited and strained resources begging for funds for our 15,400 students. Why? “We have 15,400 reasons to demand their rightful priority in the infrastructure of our state” from Oxnard Interim Superintendent, Janis Duran.

From California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed: “ [T]he California State University will face an increasingly challenging fiscal situation over the next 17 months and beyond as a result of the budget package passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger… The budget reduces state general fund support to the CSU for the current fiscal year, 2008-09, by $97.6 million, and calls for an additional $66.3 million cut for 2009-10. Overall, the reduction places CSU $283 million below its operational needs, or approximately 10 percent. Also, the 2009-10 budget includes an additional $50 million cut to the CSU, depending on the size and scope of the federal stimulus package. This will impact our ability to maintain quality and services for our 450,000 current students, and we have already been forced to reduce incoming student enrollment levels for this fall.”

Come and learn about our situation and what we can do about it.

            Dr. Bill Honigman, California Coordinator of Progressive Democrats of America, attended the Wednesday, March 4^th meeting of the Progressive Democrats of the Central Coast.  The primary agenda item was a discussion of what practical actions can be taken to support single payer health care in California and in Washington. 

            Green Party activists Norm and Betty Eagle reported on California’s SB810, the health care legislation currently under consideration in the state.  Similar to previous bills—one that was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger and one that still languishes on his desk—this legislation, which will be reintroduced this year by State Senator Mark Leno, calls for the State of California to initiate a single payer health care system.

            Good news about President Obama’s planned health care summit on Thursday, the day after the PDCC meeting, was that both Representative John Conyers, whose HR 676 is the single payer plan to be considered by Congress, and Dr. Oliver Fein, President of  Physicians for a National Health Program, the physician’s group advocating single payer, were last-minute invitees to the health care meeting at the White House. 

             Health care professionals at Wednesday’s PDCC meeting included Dr. Bill, who is an ER doctor, nurse Grant Marcus, and Gail Hodgson, who works with developmentally disabled citizens in Ventura.  Dr. Bill spoke to the oft-repeated objection that we cannot afford a health care system that would extend Medicare to all residents of this country, particularly at this time of economic collapse.  He pointed out that the savings realized by eliminating the appalling waste of more than a third of every dollar spent on health care would more than pay for a comprehensive system.  Only by eliminating the health insurance corporations with their bloated bureaucracies and obscene multi-million dollar executive salaries can we reform the current broken and corrupt system in the United States.

            Gail Hodgson circulated a petition calling for funds in the president’s stimulus package to be allotted to programs enabling the developmentally disabled to continue to be members of the community rather than being warehoused in huge facilities.  Lobbyists from the ubiquitous corporations that profit from the privatization of institutions are working hard to get funding directed to their clients’ pockets.  Warehousing the disabled in institutions costs taxpayers four times as much as more humane and more effective programs for home care and out-patient programs.  And of course it was pointed out that a single-payer comprehensive health care system would solve that problem, too.

            The consensus at the meeting was that daily e-mails and calls to the White House were needed to keep reminding President Obama that the majority of physicians, and an even larger majority—nearly two thirds—of citizens support single payer health care. The e-mail address is www.WhiteHouse.gov, and the White House phone numbers are (202) 456-1414, and (202) 456-1111.  It is also important to begin lobbying Kathleen Sibelius, the president’s designated choice as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and to continue calls and letters to our senators and representatives.

Title: GOOD Club Meeting March 11 7 p.m.
Location: Cafe on A, 438 South A St, Oxnard, CA
Description: “The California Budget and the Future of Education” will be addressed by two local education officials, Glenston Thompson of the Oxnard School District and Dr. Renny Christopher, V.P. for Faculty Affairs a CSUCI. Café on A, 438 So. A St, Oxnard. 7 p.m. Visitors welcome. Refreshments. For further information call (805) 216 7672.
Start Date: 2009-03-11
Start Time: 19-00
End Date: 21-00

The Democratic Club of the Conejo Valley will hold its March meeting at the Thousand Oaks Library. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Grady Hanrahan, Professor of Analytical Chemistry.  He will speak to us about global environmental action specifically with regard to global water rights and international natural resource inequality.

We will also welcome new members, discuss general club business and upcoming events. 

For more information contact Debbie at info@conejodemocrats.com or 805-675-8785. 

Title: Progressive Delegate Summit, CDP Convention 2009 Orientation
Location: Venice United Methodist Church, 1020 Victoria Ave., Venice, CA 90291
Link out: Click here
Description: An event to introduce California Democratic Party DSCC delegates and observers to one another and to orient ourselves to the 2009 Convention. RSVP
Start Time: 12:30 pm
Date: 2009-03-15
End Time: 17:00 pm

Title: Progressive Democrats of the Central Coast
Location: 295 Arcade Dr. Ventura
Description: Dr. Bill Honigman, California Director of PDA
will be with us to get us lined out in the right direction for issues of health care, accountability, budget items and more.
Start Time: 06:30 pm
Date: 2009-03-04
End Time: 09:00 pm