The War on Drugs: Video of The forum

Thanks to Vinny Brown we have great footage of the entire forum. Once again I would like to officially acknowledge Vinny for filming, editing and posting the entire event, The Other Side for hosting and Pete Bianco for his courage and creativity. I also want to thank everyone (panel and public) that participated.

Discussions like this happen all the time. We, like minded people need to galvanize our efforts into some common sense policies that treat addicts instead of punish them.
The next step in this process is The New York State assembly and Senate. Each have bills currently awaiting passage for medicinal marijuana.

The legalization door is ajar...call your assemblyman or woman and let them know how you feel.
Zogby and Braden Ritter each have polls...we know we have the numbers.

Speak constituents!!!

This is just the beginning of this conversation here in central New York but be rest assured ,like California and recently Rhode Island, New York State is poised to stay at the forefront of progressive social issues like Medical Marijuana.

The momentum is growing.
http://www.youtube.com/user/saturatedfattso

Fighting The War on Drugs: A Re-cap

On May 20th we were fortunate enough to get a little media coverage. Yours truly (David Dancy) considered dusting off the ol' press pass and submitting copy of my own. But I am true to my belief that 'real' journalism is objective.
Since I was intimately involved in all phases of planning and implemention of this event I recused myself from covering it as a journalist.
The Observer Dispatch did send a reporter and I think she did a great job of bringing this conversation to the forefront.
Enjoy and get involved...with something.

Oh yeah, here is the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bWaLNB6Kzc

UTICA —
Legalizing drugs was the topic of conversation during a panel discussion about America’s drug policy late last month.
About 50 people attended the panel discussion, that took place on May 20 at The Other Side on
2011 Genesee St.in Utica. Topics ranged from policy reform, to the legalization of all drugs – from marijuana to heroin and even methamphetamine.
“I think it is okay for adults to use drugs responsibly,” Pete Bianco said after a panel discussion.

Bianco who organized the event with David Dancy, knows his remark is controversial. “I think this is very difficult, because we’ve been told different lies."

The panel included Peter Christ, a retired police captain and the founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP); Larry Tanoury, Jr., Oneida County legislator for the 25th District; J. Barrett Lee, a former addictions counselor and vicar of the Free Episcopal Church, and Jessica Maxwell of the Syracuse Peace Council.

Dancy said the goal of the event was “to open up the dialogue.”

“Neither me nor Pete have any answers,” he said. “But what we do know is what we’re doing now is not working.”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” Bianco said. “And the more I look at it, the more problems there are with ‘The War on Drugs.’”

Bianco cited racism, the number of people imprisoned on drug charges, the amount of money spent on the War on Drugs and the effect of American drug policy on other nations as some of the problems with the current stance on illicit drugs.

“Originally, I was thinking (of) The War on Drugs as needing reform,” Bianco said. Now, however, he believes in legalization.

Each of the panelists gave a brief presentation and then answered questions from those in the audience. Christ said generating a dialogue is a first step to finding a solution. LEAP’s stated mission is “to reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs, and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition.”“Law enforcement is here to protect people from each other,” Christ said, not to protect adults from themselves.

Lee said when the average person thinks of “The War on Drugs in America,” they think of an “African American youth standing on a street corner flashing gang colors,” not celebrities or star athletes or suburban teens. But, he said, these people are also affected by drug use.

“Everyone in America is touched by the issue of drugs in some way,” Dancy said.Lee compared the War on Drugs to a “V.”At the two tops of the V, he said, there are rich and powerful people – international organized crime (the source of the drugs) on one side and on the other, celebrities who use drugs without recourse. At the bottom of the “V,” are disenfranchised individuals who are often targeted by law enforcement. “The War on Drugs is essentially a war on the poor,” Lee said. As a former addictions counselor, Lee added that prohibition is hurting those who need to seek help, because they do not want to be labeled as an addict or be followed by that stigma. “This is blocking people from seeking the treatment that they need,” Lee said. “Through this moral mythology … we are hurting people.”

Maxwell spoke about the effects of the U.S. War on Drugs on other nations, specifically Colombia. The Colombian military has a long record of human rights abuses, and Colombia is home to a significant percentage of the world’s flora. The War on Drugs has spurred aerial assaults with powerful herbicides and forced manual eradication of cocoa by the military. “Cocoa is not cocaine,” Maxwell emphasized.

Laurel Richards of New Hartford came to hear Jessica Maxwell speak about Colombia, having recently returned from the South American nation herself. She said, she listened to the other panelists with interest. “It makes total sense,” she said.

Nicole Vitteli, 21, of Whitesboro attended, she said, in an effort to become more educated on different issues. At the end of the discussion, she said she hadn’t yet formed an opinion.

An interest in the issue of racism is what drew Dr. Sunithi Bajekal of Utica to the forum, she said.

Panelists agreed that the current social and political climate offers an opportunity for change.The recession offers an opportunity for anti-prohibition activists, Christ said, calling the War on Drugs, which costs almost $70 billion annually, an economic luxury.“I think we’re closer now than we ever were,” Tanoury said. However, he cautioned, those who want to see change cannot get “complacent” and must “keep the pressure on.”Dancy said that he and Bianco hope to continue the discussion at future forums and sessions including more local political leaders.

“We’re going to keep having the conversation,” Dancy said.

Listen and Share

My summer hours on WHCL 88.7 f.m. are Thursdays 6-8 p.m.
Feel free to call in and listen

Stand up and be Counted

May 20th was great. The public forum which was a discussion on rethinking our current drug laws was well attended and informative. A representative from Oneida County Sherriff Dan Middaugh's drug task force attended, NYS Senator Joe Griffo also sent a rep.

We invited the District Attorney of Oneida County, The Mayor of Utica, The Utica Police Department and members of the Mohawk Valley Substance abuse industry. The DA Mayor and police did not send anyone.

But they were there in spirit.

Before the festivities began I had an opportunity to speak with Middaugh's rep (name withheld). He admitted his frustration with our current situation. He has seen many lives turned upside down as a result of use and interdiction. We both admitted our shortcoming when it comes to a solution but we both agreed that something needs to be changed.

"I just don't know Dave... I just don't know"

Our approach perhaps?

Our perspective?

The notion of good and bad drugs maybe?

Ironically he alluded to the current battle in the sherriff's rural jurisdictions which has less to do with Crack (COCAINE) and Heroin ("bad bad drugs") and more to do with legally obtained prescriptions.

Peter Christ from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) provided a wealth of facts to illuminate the insanity of our government's current stance when it comes to controlled substances.

The discussion panel was assembled to address all the different variables.

Jessica Maxell from the Syracuse Peace Council was able to shed light on the affects of our High demand on the economy of Columbia. A country rich in natural resources yet The Coca plant is somehow (duh) the main cash crop. She showed how we retard their progress through our symbolic ($) support of whatever political body is in power.

The FARC which controls part of the country is not part of that 'support' conversation. The FARC which collects a 'street tax' on Cocaine exports and is essentially a 'terrorist' organization that is allowed to operate with impunity are direct beneficiaries of the illegal trade. Remember we are just talking Coke.

There are other substances like heroin or opium that drive other 'terrorist' economies the same way. In fact cartels in South America recently (past ten years) have started to produce opium effectively putting a dent in Asia's global market dominance of that particular commodity by at least 25%.

I'm not into the details of The FARC's struggles but I bet it has lot to do with rural exploitation of natural resources and land. Poor people being treated like shit.

With our foreign policy on drugs we navigate a minefield of business and personal interest each invested in the current 'illegal' structure. She had great info.

It's obvious our laws do not address the real problems that are the result of drug and alcohol abuse. We have chosen punishment after the fact over prevention. We refuse to acknowledge the demand instead we put out a dragnet and lock up anyone feeding it. On the other end, the treatment side, we provide 'legal' alternatives like methadone which essentially are worse (for your body) than the drug they are designed to replace. We regulate crave suppresors like Soboxin (spelling is questionable here) so they are only available to a limited number of addicts.

Panel member J. Barrett Lee an Episcopalian Minister and Drug Abuse Counselor talked about the streets and legions of poor addicted people who have never had a real grip on their existence. People used to standing in lines since they were children learning how to use the system like a band-aid.

People who do not know how to fish.

He spoke of the revolving door into jail, rehab , back to the streets, chronic disease then death.

He talked about stigmas that keep these people on the periphery of society content in their need.

Very important when you are part of something. It is sometimes difficult to imagine not having a clue of what to do next. J Barrett Lee gave us that perspective.

Larry Tanoury Jr. 25th district Legislator in Oneida County made a panel appearance. He clearly admitted his lack of knowledge on the subject but considered his attendance mandatory because so many of his constituents are affected by The War on Drugs. He was clearly enthused by all the new information he recieved and felt he was part of something 'grounbreaking' in New York State.

A surprise speaker and Addiction Specialist out of Clinton New York ,Dr. Robert Lowenstein, offered clear testimony about the challenges he faces trying to treat addicts.

In mohawk valley there are over a thousand registered heroin addicts. Soboxin a crave suppressor has been proven very effective when it comes to heroin addiction. Only addictionologist are allowed to administer (up to one hundred scrips) this drug it is regulated by the DEA and each Doctor with permission to prescribe it has to take several courses and regularly reapply. In mohawk valley several Doctors recently lost the legal right to prescribe the drug causing a backlog. In his words "there here several hundred addicts, who overnight, were suddenly unable to obtain perfectly legal prescriptions that, to date, had enabled these people to go about their daily lives without a relapse".

Without these drugs you can guess what happens next.

It was a poignant moment. to hear from a doctors mouth how frutrating it is to actually try to help and how ridiculous he sounds to an addict that can easily get the real deal. The problem with the real deal is they, the addict, has to trade in their hard fought integrity by using a ' different drug' because it is illegal and demonized.

Ask Rush Limbaugh he knows more about it than me, in fact, I bet he knows more than some Doctors and Presidents.

Of course yours truly, David Dancy, facilitated the discussion with unequaled professionalism. there we a few people in attendance hell bent on tangents but we needed to keep this discussion on the topic.

I did that.

It was filmed and will be posted on You Tube in the near future.

Any visitor to Dancyscorner will be the first to know.

Legalize It : Drugs or Slavery

On Wednesday May 20th Pete Bianco and your's truly, David Dancy, will host the first in a series of community conversations regarding decriminalization of drugs at The Other Side 2011 Genesee St Utica N.Y..
We have taken the time to gather community leaders involved in law enforcement addiction counseling and politics. We even invited an expert on Racial Justice (I wonder why?)
To us, it's obvious our current policies are meant to simply lock people up. More often than not they are overwhelmingly poor, black and brown.

Government strategies for reducing the harm caused by illicit drugs are not effective or well thought out. It seems to be a war against poverty or 'poor' people.
The laws and people responsible for enforcing them cause more damage in their interdiction efforts than the drugs themselves.
In fact our policies have never been very effective or well thought out.
Terms like: Just Say No...The War on Drugs have been our ignorant rallying cry.
Basically we have our fingers in the dyke as citizens, friends, neighbors and people involved in law enforcement.
We have become accustomed to a social construct that turns citizens into enemies of law and order because they may possess a plentiful, easily attained substance considered harmful or dangerous by the USGuv.
Onmce again, the people locked up are mostly poor and brown.
What Gives?
I have heard the racist response to incarceration rates.
We all know at the end of the day people get high at the same rates regardless of racial background regardless of economic background regardless of education.
Who goes to jail?
If we decriminalize marijuana and regulate the Narco-opiates what will happen?
Will everyone suddenly decide to try Crack and Heroin?

I don't think so.
Prohibition used to be a policy based on race and subordinate group control... it (doesn't) didn't work.
If we decriminalize kids won't be able to sell it. The illegal social stigma attached to addiction would allow thousands of addicts to come clean and get the help they want and need.
Functional users would be able to safely acquire their drug of choice without the hassle of an occasional robbery.
I know it sounds radical . But guess what? I (you) can get anything right outside my (your) door and there is no one checking for I.D.'s or quality(heh-heh).
So what's it goin to be?
I propose we keep our collective heads in the sand, make drugs legal and poverty illegal...makes sense right?...the same people get locked up, it works out perfect.

Seriously.

I think we are afraid. Many cannot imagine a world without inner city running gun battles and overcrowded jails. Many people still carry the irrational cultural fear of other races. The same school of thought that prevents us from trading with Cuba, working faithfully with Haiti and really being an effective force in the Indies.
Without illegal drugs our ideas about what crime is will change.
It will no longer be illegal to be poor, black or hispanic. Kids with hopes of being the next Kingpin will not be dissappointed with their newfound career in carpentry, plumbing, truckdriving...you get it.
The world will change rapidly...buildings will shoot up in Central New York.
A people at work not at odds.

The Avatar & Fear of the 'Thought Police'

Many people have strong views.
Few people are willing to honestly share them.
At least in public.
The ones that do usually hide behind a fake name. The exceptions are guys like David Bass Dancy, David Horowitz, Jerry 'Clapso' Avisato and Andy Senior...guys like Jeff Ott and Len Hart. Why are there exceptions?
Are you afraid?
Where does the fear come from?
Is it fear?
Or are you less of a hypocrite than your conscience will allow?
Are you fine with our wasteful consumer driven existence?
I am.
I just think we can have our cake and eat it too. Meaning we can continue in our comfortable mode of obesity until the end of time if we simply adopt some fundamental changes.
If we don't.
Have a little Soylent Green.
Scientists, scholars, artists unite.

Start a chant.
No more stem cell stifling !

No more Religulous debate around evolution!
No more policies based on fear and ignorance!
No more cover-ups!
When did it become detrimental to question authority in modern America, the way it is?
We had paranoia with Bush and we have a form of blind optimism with Obama.
We need to tell them what to do.
Right now there is a rare air of patience on behalf of the American people. Our dire financial reality is sinking in and no one expects our leadership to fix anything anytime soon.
Our current President may, in fact, enjoy a much longer Honeymoon than his embattled predecessor. That applies only to sensible people. Everyone is aware there exists a lunatic fringe that speaks for a large volume of quiet people (Rush). That is what this post is about The minions that sit silently allowing a void to exists. Never sharing their thoughts or ideas about how we, Americans, are going forward.
Our shared frustrations.
What happened to activism? Better yet, what have we learned from the civil rights and the anti-war movements of the sixties?

Someone should have burned down a bank by now at least kidnapped an exec.

We have learned Nothing.

But there are some big differences today. Take the Bernie Madoff scandal. He is only one guy. But what if there are hundreds of Ponzi Hedge funds.

Just between me and you...there are more Ponzi Funds.

No whistleblowers. Not one person in the SEC to warn the American public before this thing got completely out of hand.

Remember the Breach of Privacy lawsuit filed against The Federal Guv and AT&T?

People working together...gettin r' done.

I would lose a lot of faith in 'doing the right thing' if I lost my life savings along with thousands of people and also knew all my personal correspondence is being perused by some middle management federal hump who can't shoot a pistol.

Scam artists+Business Major= modern economics.

We need guidance direction and a passion as a country...not more war and enemies.

Nowadays it seems people are more afraid to connect with a cause then ever before. A common excuse is fear of ostracizing. "hey man I got a job and a family, I can't risk it".

Or "My position is to important to risk my reputation"

My answer? If you don't stand behind it you must not really believe it. Or you just don't have balls.

Or it just isn't really worth it compared to cable and a full tank of gas.

I admit I am a hypocrite prone to contradict myself five, ten times a day...but I'm working on it.

Many of the issues people are afraid to be outed for are not as controversial as you might think. Stuff like decriminalizing drugs, stopping our current war, and green issues are hardly controversial to me. Yet, a lot of professionals who otherwise could help a good cause choose to sit back in anonymity satisfied with the way it is.

Places like Utica New York, a small City in the center of the state, suffer the most from this type of neo-activism. There are several Colleges in the area which provide an important element, youth and an objective perspective.

They have a big cultural impact, I cringe at the thought of Pratt at Munson Williams Proctor moving. In fact , any of them moving or closing or not existing. The other colleges have lecture series open to the public. The Sacerdote Great Names series at Hamilton College regularly attracts pop culture icons. Most recently John Stewart from The Daily Show. They even had Al Gore (I attended).

Despite the culture that the educational institutions provide, the provincial nature of the Mohawk Valley retards progress. Just look at how many little towns share the same street in some parts of Oneida County. Whitestown, Whitesboro, Yorkville, New Hartford all share parts of one block.

No wonder there is no good public transportation.

Whats different Now?

Unlike the sixties we have the benefit of Internet technology where thoughts and ideas can be shared instantly. So the regional lines are not as important as they were in the past. Events become regional events instead of local events.

Saranac Thursdays and Utica Monday Nite are good examples.

Utica is at a crossroads. It will either be City of Art or Sin...I think we can have both like everyone else.

But not without activism.

In the sixties the disruptive, let me repeat, DISRUPTIVE protests brought attention to their causes they also alienated the groups behind them. The shared agendas of civil rights and the push for peace grew further apart as each movement gained ground in our collective psyches.

It made it easier for the Guv to divide and conquer via COINTELPRO.

Each cause was selectively watered down infiltrated and ultimately made irrelevant, crazy and threatening to the average joe.

But we threw the pot out with the seeds. Protest has somehow been categorized as a Radical act, not a tool of people in a free society. Except in Berkeley Cal where they will chain themselves to entrance of 7-eleven because of Slurpee prices.

Stand up young uns'

What has been lost is the impact of youth. The ever changing social landscape is shaped and fueled by youth. No Guv can manage that variable.

Ask Berkeley

It seems today our youth have little more trust than previous generations but despite that they have chosen to leverage their hopes on a promising new President that is part of a historically inept group of people (Past Presidents).

Thankfully, we have a Presidential Cabinet full of The enemies of Historical American decency.

The Abby Hoffman's and The Huey Newton's= Ex- Hippies, Blacks and Asians.

The ex-hippies and Blacks fueled revolution in the sixties and seventies. Our national identity has never been under threat like it was in that era.

But we have a Constitution (that allows revolutions to be televised).

And we also have a new identity.

It is obvious there is always risks involved with dissent, especially when it involved Government. Some are more humane than others. What separates America from the rest of the world is citizen involvement. We successfully changed the facade of our country.

But that is all.

Help change what is inside of us, as a country.

Do you really want everyone else's oil?

Get on the Green wagon, end war and decriminalize drugs.

Pick one of these issues and stand as person with a name.

Most people will 'get on a bandwagon'.

A few will Preach.

Some will even provide empirical evidence that will support whatever position they choose to promote.

For a few, that have lost loved ones in this war, we are all full fo shit.

But fewer still, will stand behind their own words.

Few, very few, proudly stand their ground without fear.

Fear of the Thought Police.

Sometimes You Think You Know

On Feb 15th Utica recorded the first homicide of 09'. Like all murders it was a tragic, senseless, 100% preventable act. An undelible blemish on an otherwise exemplary crime rate track-record for the City of Utica.

We do not live in Maybary. Utica is no stranger to violence, but in recent years the typical street violence associated with drug dealing and other forms of organized crime had been on a steady decline.

Senseless violence, however, is a different story. It really doesn't matter how a particular set of circumstances lead to a murder. It is the act, itself that defines the circumstance.

The fact that violence is the first option for some of us is alarming.

This murder is an abberation. It is an anomoly.

Murder, thank God, is an abberation- an anomoly.

Rich, poor, black white. It does not matter.

In this case, the case of 17 yr old Joshua Smith, we are at a loss. We can isolate contributing factors. We can use statistics and say one group of people is more prone to violence than the other.

Someone always undoubtedly bucks the odds and at the end of the day it is always about loss, waste and regret.

This case is no different. The two main suspects, Harold Jones and Anthony Ruffin were not typical neighborhood thugs. The two teenage cousins spent a lot of time together, most of it, by all appearances innocent.

What goes on in the minds of young people has been a baffling question for adults since the dawn of man. As grown-ups we all reach a point where the void from childhood to adulthood can be a mazelike chasm as confusing as income taxes but through it all we learn to trust, to have faith in the good advice we, as adults, may have shared.

We trust and hope they will not get involved with 'bad things' and they will always do the right thing.

Then something happens. They become teenagers armed with the confidence your good advice gave them. Now they want to see for themselves what all the hubbub is about. Some go a little farther than others revealing issues that may have lied dormant until now. The innocence is withering away.

Who can forget the 13yr old kid in Vernon who killed his father with a shotgun.

No one on the outside ever saw it coming. Only later was it divulged the child may have suffered from some severe mental disorders. But even his dad thought...he was safe.

This case is no different.

We know these kids.

16 yr old Anthony 'Man - Man' Ruffin was an avid basketball player who spent most his time working on his jumper and schooling everyone on his ( and my)block, Linwood Pl.. He has a loving mother and father. A tighknit family with an eye on responsibilty.

There were solid examples for him to follow and not follow. He went to school regularly evan had a curfew.

His cousin and alleged accomplice Harold 'Nick' Jones was also an avid ballplayer and was quickly developing into a man sprouting nearly two inches in little over a year. His development was also validated by his newly acquired squeaky-deep voice. He has allegedly had a few recent brushes with the law and I know of at least one awkward and potentially explosive situation regarding his behavior,but none of these things equalled murder.

Not even close.

According to both of them it was an accident. I am inclined to believe them.

Remember, I saw them everyday.

I choose to give them the benefit of the doubt because the alternative is to hard to accept. I can't get my mind around it. I choose to believe them because I cannot imagine these boys that I have known all these years killing anyone on purpose. I can't imagine these guys walking around playing the dozens with murderous intentions fooling everyone. Most career criminals, prone to violence, work their way up to murder. We would have at least labeled them 'bad kids'.

They weren't labeled...it had to be an accident.

In the meantime we look for answers. We wonder: How did they get a gun? A 'perfect storm' of negative moments punctuated by gunfire.

Utica is a battle scarred city losing the fight against a stagnant economy. Violence should be a bit further down the list when one counts all the problems that plague segments of our community.

But it isn't, rightfully so.

But that does not comfort the family of Joshua Thompson. The fact it does not happen everyday does not make it any easier to accept.

I offer no solution.

But I will readily admit, I was raised in violent times, more violent than now.

The cup is still half-full.

We can each help fill it.