Treatment, Education Programs Needed in National Drug Fight, Drug Czar Says

“Bumper sticker” approaches are politically appealing and popular, but they aren’t the right ways to deal with complex major issues connected to drugs and the toll they take, the nation’s drug czar said Wednesday during an appearance in Eckstein Hall.

Neither calling for a war on drugs nor calling for legalization of drugs are effective paths, said, Gil Kerlikowske, whose actual title is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Smart, well-structured approaches that combine law enforcement, treatment options, and prevention efforts create a third path that can yield good results, Kerlikowske said.

The “drug war” of the 1980s and ‘90s was “a totally inadequate answer to what is really a very complex problem,” he said. Using law enforcement alone, “we’re not capable of solving drug problems.” But using multiple approaches can show genuine and positive results.

Kerlikowske cited a nationwide decline in cocaine use – he estimated the decline at 40% — as an example of multiple factors coming together to help reduce a problem. He said the factors include reduced cocaine production in Columbia, better interdiction of drug shipments by law enforcement, and widespread recognition among potential users in the US of the dangers and risks of the drug.

Continue ReadingTreatment, Education Programs Needed in National Drug Fight, Drug Czar Says

Frozen Assets

Frozen AssetsProperty law – who could forget the Rule Against Perpetuities, fee simple, remainders or Blackacre from your second semester at Marquette Law? For me, it made me seriously question my abilities to reason through complex issues. For my sister, who practices Trusts and Estates law, it is her way of life.

But that second semester, the opportunity to apply the principles of property law became my reality. It seemed every semester I slogged through law school, I had a personal or business crisis that overlapped with my studies. We used arbitration to resolve a breach of contract during a commercial building project. We used an LLC formed by our neighbors to contend with an eminent domain issue, when the utility company condemned and forever marred our property with a gas line. And most interesting of all, we used property law and many other legal principles to deal with a business purchase.

As a foundation for this, let me explain the rest of my professional life. I graduated from Iowa State’s Veterinary School in 1981 and have run my own small animal veterinary practice in rural Wisconsin, one hour north of Milwaukee, since then. After 25 years out of the classroom, I had the itch to go back to school, for the opportunity to have a second career, and because I missed the energy of being in an academic setting.

Continue ReadingFrozen Assets

Second Circuit’s Ruling to Impact the Sovereign Debt Market?

Just how much power—or better yet, influence—does the American judicial system really have over sovereign nations? This is the underlying question that the Second Circuit must resolve before rendering its decision over how to handle a group of hedge funds’ dispute with the Republic of Argentina.

In 2001, amidst its worst economic turmoil in history, the Republic of Argentina defaulted on nearly $100 billion of its debt. While bondholders immediately felt an adverse effect, until recently, they were left with few options but to accept the government’s restructured—and heavily discounted—exchange bonds. This all changed, however, when Judge Thomas P. Griesa of the District Court for the Southern District of New York sided with the plaintiff hedge funds, and enjoined both the Republic of Argentina and third party banks from making payments on the exchange bonds unless the other bondholders were also paid.

As this decision comes under its review, the Second Circuit is presented with numerous considerations. Will its decision result in unrest in credit markets? If it affirms, will innocent exchange bondholders be negatively affected? Do third party U.S. banks stand to become the only victims? Rudimentary to all of these considerations, though, is what can the court threaten to do—or really do—to Argentina if it does not follow the court’s order?

Continue ReadingSecond Circuit’s Ruling to Impact the Sovereign Debt Market?