Photo: © Caleb Long

This November, Gary Johnson will appear on the ballot in forty-seven states as the Libertarian Party presidential nominee. Oklahoma will not be among those states. Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court denied Gary Johnson ballot access under the Americans Elect Party.

The figures on the government campaign known as the War on Drugs indicate that the prohibition efforts have been a failure. The government has spent over $1 trillion to prevent illegal drug use and distribution, but the statistics show that ten percent of the American population use an illegal substance of some kind and use among minors is up from a decade ago.

Sample image demonstrates how social media spreads. Credit: opinion.berkeley.edu

Researchers at UC Berkeley are testing a new method for tracking how people use social media in politics. Their first project plans to map Proposition 30 social media references onto graphs. They also have an innovative new discussion area they call an opinion space.