4/20 Bake Sale & Radley Balko on the War on Drugs

In a free society, individuals should be able to make their own choices about their own bodies. We believe that individuals have the right to consume, smoke or drink any substance as long as their resulting actions do not harm another individual who does not wish to be harmed. But regardless of their initial intentions or motives, those individuals who choose to exercise this right must also take full responsibility for the choices that they make while under the influence of any substances, including any actions that cause injury or death to another individual.

In direct contradiction to libertarian principles is the war on drugs that has been ongoing in America since alcohol prohibition, from 1920 to 1933. Since 1971, the war has been focused on the prohibition of a wide range of illegal substances including marijuana.
 
During these periods of prohibition, the statistics gathered clearly indicate that homicide rates and police enforcement costs have increased as a result of the drug war. A simple economic analysis shows that whenever a consumer good is prohibited, a black market will result in order to meet supply with demand. However, a black market lacks both a legal system and assurances of product quality, often becoming a dangerous trade.
 
This is exactly what has happened in the U.S. and in almost all countries in the world that have prohibitionist drug policies. Prohibition has made it extremely profitable for major drug cartels to traffic drugs into the U.S., while causing unnecessary violence and death to innocent bystanders and law enforcement officers.
 
To protest the drug war and raise awareness of its failures,  YAL@VU hosted our first annual 4/20 Bake Sale on Rand Wall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, April 20th.
 

 
On April 23^rd, we hosted guest speaker Radley Balko who discussed the collateral damage from America’s ongoing drug war.
 

 

America’s century long war on drugs has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and left a catastrophic trail of damage in its wake. There is no area of public policy — or even our public and private lives — that it hasn’t impacted. And yet, illicit drugs are as easy to obtain today as they were in the early 1900s, as they were in the 1960, and as they were in the 1980s. Radley Balko will survey the damage — from the tens of thousands of homicides in just a few years in Mexico and poisoning of the land in South America, to the damage wrought here at home, including the corruption and militarization of police; the erosion of the Fourth Amendment; and the destruction of the doctor-patient relationship and handicapping of palliative care.

 

We had another great turnout at this event and the video of the presentation can be watched below:

 

(As you can see, we were also competing with Vanderbilt's Habitat for Humanity that day.) 

 

 

 

 

 

2012-2013 YAL@VU Exec Board Annoucements!

Yesterday, after passing proposed constitutional amendments, YAL@VU elected next year's leadership team. The board members for the upcoming year are:








President: Kenny Tan
Vice President: Thomas Choate
Treasurer: Brian Rizzo
Secretary: Emily Crowe
Creative/Outreach Director: David Moore

Congratulations to everyone elected. If you didn't win a position or weren't able to make the meeting last night, but still want to get involved in the organization, we also have appointed positions that can be opened up.

In addition, keep an eye out for further information about our April activism event. Our plans include a 4/20 bake sale and a guest speaker on the War on Drugs. Please let us know if you'd like to help prepare the baked goods on Thursday night (4/19).

Dr. Ming Wang and Ralph Weber

 

On Monday, March 26th, YAL@VU hosted a healthcare panel featuring MediBid CEO Ralph Weber and ophthalmologist Dr. Ming Wang.

A Canadian philanthropic entrepreneur, writer, Certified Financial Planner, Registered Employee Benefits Consultant, Chartered Life Underwriter, and Chartered Financial Consultant, Weber endorsed a free-market health care system to help patients save money.  He discussed problems with "Obamacare," especially pertaining to how the new healthcare policies will affect students.

Surviving China's Cultural Revolution and appreciating freedom and choice in America - Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics) spoke about his childhood and teenage years in China and how he came to be a doctor in America. To expound upon Weber's points, Wang spoke about how he, as a physician, viewed healthcare and the recently passed healthcare bill.  Ultimately, Wang supports a mostly free market in healthcare, but believes, due to social responsibility and human dignity, there should be at least some regulation in place to help those without access to healthcare.
 

YAL@VU Spring 2012 Recruitment Report

YAL@VU had an extensive spring recruitment drive this year, hosting four events to garner interest in the organization, and signing up over fifty new members.
 
In January, we held a Teach-In on the National Defense Authorization Act, along with a Presidential Debate Watching Party. We also hosted a dinner discussion with Libertarian Vanderbilt Sociology Professor Richard Pitt. In February, we hosted a lecture by libertarian Radley Balko on The Militarization of Main Street. We also participated in the national activism event, Crony Capitalism = Phony Capitalism.
 
Here are some pictures of our events along with mentions in the press.

Radley Balko: The Militarization of Main Street

Radley Balko is a senior writer and investigative journalist for Huffington Post, where he writes about criminal justice and civil liberties, and also writes about Nashville music and culture. He was previously a senior editor at Reason magazine, and he has been published in a variety of media outlets from Playboy to the Wall Street Journal.

On February 13th, YAL@VU hosted Radley Balko for a dinner discussion on The Militarization of Main Street. About 60 students, faculty, staff, and local community members attended the event. Comments about the presentation were very positive.

 

The video of the event can be watched below.

 
Examining the rise of SWAT teams and America’s increasingly reactionary, militaristic approach to policing, Balko mentioned the gradual decline of the Law of Posse Comitatus – the principle that there should be a total separation of the military from civil law enforcement. He went on to discuss botched raids and the terror and intimidation, and sometimes death, suffered by civilians as a result. Balko ended the discussion by emphasizing the importance of holding our politicians accountable for these issues and that real change can only be brought about by a mentality change over time.