Reflections on the War on Drugs

Don't Forget About Christine Mitchell

Brandon Sun, June 7, 2021:  We have now had an official refusal to release details of the investigation into the 2019 death of Christine Mitchell. So should we citizens just forget about it and move on?
No. Please don’t forget Mitchell.
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Drug Decriminalization is Coming to Canada

Brandon Sun, March 29, 2021:  Decriminalization of all drugs is coming to Canada. In fact, it is already here. But our political and law enforcement leaders have sent us confusing messages about drug decriminalization. So, what is it? Does it make sense? How is it being implemented now? How could it be enhanced in the future? 
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Our Leaders Must Tell Us the Truth About the Pandemic

Brandon Sun, May 25, 2020:    Like the drug crisis, the coronavirus pandemic challenges our political leaders to demonstrate an extraordinary level not just of competence, but also of candor. But for years, our leaders have bungled and have not told us the truth about the drug health emergency. When it comes to confronting the pandemic health emergency, we citizens can learn the lessons from the failed war on drugs: we must demand that our leaders tell us the truth.
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War on Drugs No Easy Battle

Brandon Sun, October 21, 2019:  The recent news of the drug overdose death of Christine Mitchel has shaken our community. That she had received deliveries of illegal drugs for almost five years while living in the home of a prominent citizen adds to the newsworthiness and speculation. Subsequent investigation will shed more light on what happened. But let's be clear: the entire community shares in the ultimate responsibility.
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Drug Policies Require More Humility, Less Virtue Signaling

Brandon Sun, February 11, 2019:   Why do some people take and become addicted to destructive drugs? We don’t know the answer. So you would think that our provincial political leaders would show a little humility around the topic. Instead, both the Progressive Conservative government and the NDP opposition assert – to the point of arrogance – that they know the answers. And instead of genuine inquiry and discussion, they both engage in vapid “virtue signaling.”
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What Can We Learn from the New Science of Psychedelics?

Brandon Sun, July 9, 2018:   Michael Pollan is an American writer and Harvard journalism professor. His books have been about rather mundane topics. (I reviewed his In Defence of Food here eight years ago.) So, I was surprised that Pollan’s newest book, How to Change Your Mind, is about psychedelic drugs. Pollan makes a book about food interesting. How could he not write an interesting book about psychedelics?
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The Fantasyland of the War on Drugs

Brandon Sun, June 18, 2018:   We are living in a fantasyland. And we have inhabited a fantasyland for a century. Because we are in a fantasyland, we pretend three things about drugs. First, we pretend that the War on Drugs is working. Second, we pretend that we know how to solve problems of drugs and addiction. And third, we pretend that illegal drugs are always more dangerous than legal drugs.
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End the War on Drugs and Find a Better Solution

Brandon Sun, February 27, 2017:  The current fentanyl crisis is a reminder of the fiasco that is the War on Drugs. And reminding us of the need to rethink our whole approach to alcohol and drugs are two new Canadian books. One, by Ontario neuroscientist Marc Lewis, is The Biology of Desire. The other, by Saskatchewan lawyer Harold Johnson, is Firewater.

Political Correctness and the Manitoba Election

Brandon Sun, March 21, 2016:  Three words Manitoba politicians do not want to say out loud during this election: “fetal alcohol syndrome.”
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Early Feminists Dreamed of a World Free of Alcohol, Drugs and War

Brandon Sun, January 25, 2016:  Beyond getting rights like voting, the early feminists had two big dreams. The two dreams were a society without alcohol (and drugs), and a world without war. We had the failure of alcohol Prohibition. We now understand that the answer is complicated, and involves legalization, regulation and rehabilitation. We are still learning that lesson today with drugs.
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Things to Keep in Mind on 4/20

Brandon Sun, April 20, 2015:  Happy 4/20, everyone! Now you may be thinking: what the heck is “4/20”? Well, 4/20 means that it is the time for marijuana!
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War on Drugs: A Failed Experiment

Brandon Sun, December 8, 2014:  Legalizing marijuana will be a big issue in the next federal election. So, it is great to see the timely new Canadian book, The War on Drugs: A Failed Experiment.
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Most Famous Brandonite Born 125 Years Ago

Brandon Sun, February 10, 2014: Remembering Prohibition in the 1920s can put today's War on Drugs in better perspective.
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Byelection Reflections

Brandon Sun, December 2, 2013:  This byelection was perhaps the first time in Canadian history that marijuana and the War on Drugs had such a high profile.
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The Marijuana Byelection?

Brandon Sun, November 18, 2013:  I am delighted to see marijuana legalization as a big issue in this byelection. Of the five candidates, only one supports the current marijuana laws.
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Is "Portlandia" the new "Ecotopia"?

Live Well Do Good.com, February 17, 2013:  Envisioning the end of the War on Drugs in fiction.
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Real Discussions on Tax and Crime are Being Avoided

Brandon Sun, September 26, 2011:  We are in the 21st century, aren’t we? Because you would never know it from the current Manitoba election campaign. 
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Issues for the Next Election?

Brandon Sun, May 22, 2011:  What about the issues that were too controversial to be discussed during the recent election? One was about the War on Drugs.
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We Can Forge a New Drug Policy

Brandon Sun, April 4, 2009:  Deaths of our soldiers in Afghanistan remind us of the serious nature of Canada’s mission there. We don’t pay enough attention, however, to the fact our Afghan mission is entangled with the global War on Drugs.   
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Remembering Nellie McClung

Brandon Sun, March 7, 2009:  The biography Nellie McClung, written by Charlotte Gray, reminds us again of the importance of McClung, who contributed much to establishing Prohibition in Canada in the 1910s and 1920s.   
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Drug, Alcohol Policies Reveal Our Hypocrisy

Brandon Sun, January 10, 2009:  Recent news items about restrictions on shopping for liquor in Manitoba reveal yet again our society’s hypocrisy about alcohol and drug use. Plus the failure of our War on Drugs. 
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