Drug War Issues
Medical marijuana patient Will Foster is behind bars in Oklahoma after being picked up last Friday by Oklahoma law enforcement officials. He had been held at the Sonoma County Jail in Santa Rosa, California, for the past 15 months as he fought bogus marijuana cultivation charges there -- he was a registered patient with a legal grow -- and, after the California charges were dropped, on a parole violation warrant from the Sooner State.
Will Foster (medicalmarijuanaofamerica.com)
That wasn't good enough for vindictive Oklahoma authorities, who wanted to squeeze more years out of Foster. He refused to sign Oklahoma paperwork requiring him to return there to serve out the remainder of his sentence. He also refused to sign paperwork that extended his original service. Oklahoma authorities issued a parole violation warrant, and the governors of both states signed it.
Foster had sought to block extradition by filing a writ of habeas corpus -- he had won a similar writ against Oklahoma earlier -- but that effort failed last Friday, and Oklahoma authorities were there to whisk him away. Foster is scheduled to be held at the Tulsa County Jail before being assigned to a prison in the Oklahoma gulag.
Efforts by Foster supporters to secure his release continue and are now focusing on Oklahoma parole authorities and the state governor. For more information about the Foster case, see our Chronicle story here and Ed Rosenthal's blog here.
Drug War Chronicle will continue to follow the Foster case. Look for a feature article next week.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
We need to let the prison guards know that we don't threaten...
We need to let the prison guards know that we don't threaten... their livelihoods... if we are successful their ranks may swell.
If the perjury in the justice dept is half as pervasive as we think it is... we may have to build new prisons to hold them all?
This would help start 'The Age of Legality', and the next crop of attorneys will be required to understand the real law... we need fewer ambivalences and more checks & balances!
Good to Go!
Thomas Paine IVXX
B.S. 'Tactical politics is the study of how politics are invented, and used to obtain some given objective.' -Dict.
Official Paperwork
Is it possible to view the official paperwork online. I would be interested in following the "facts of the case" according to the official papers. It would be alot of work, but something like a two-column presentation where the official story is on one side and the Foster version in the adjacent column.
Oklahoma and Hopeful changes....
Welcome to the hell we call Oklahoma.... I live in Tulsa and this just proves that Oklahoma needs a push to change it's Draconian Laws to allow for leglization or decriminalization. I have begun working on my Legalize 2010 Campaign to try and get the laws here reformed and hopefully make a push at changing laws at the federal level as well.
Will, like others I know, grow cannabis for medical use and not for profit. I cannot grow them where I am but I do use this lovely plant daily to manage the pain I have lived with since 1986 and now that I was diagnosed HIV+, I have even more incentive for trying to get cannabis legalized in this state. I have gotten it for other HIV patients that I know, who had no way of getting a medicine that benefits them because of the laws in Oklahoma. Simple possession will get you jail time here, and anything over a ounce will get you a guaranteed prison sentence. Even the possession of a pipe or bong (even if used for tobacco) will also get you time in jail in this state.
This state doesn't care that it's agricultural industry which is failing could benefit from legalization and all the oil companies in this state could benefit from cannabis as a alternative fuel source.
All they focus on is the possession and that's it.... Hell with the reason for having it, your still going to go to jail for having it with you, in your possession, in your house or your car.
To Will Foster I can only say, you have the sympathies of me and my friends... What they did to you was WRONG on so many levels.
Sven Wallin
*Fear is just another way for the government to control you...*
How You Can Help Free Will Foster
Please visit the Drug Policy Reform Network of Oklahoma (http://dprnok.net) for information on how you can help.
Working For Drug Peace - Drug Policy Reform Network of Oklahoma (http://dprnok.net)
Working For Drug Peace -
Working For Drug Peace - Drug Policy Reform Network of Oklahoma (http://dprnok.net)
Medical Marijuana
All the refusal to decriminalize or legalize Medical or any other Marijuana laws has nothing to do with health, safety or any other propaganda campaign the state uses. It is completely and absolutely for the benefit of the private prison system used, and the profits of the council members, house representatives, and the state senators who all own stock in those private companies that run the prison systems today.
Seems pretty clear that something stinks here, when you can stab someone and only get 10 years, or rob someone with a gun and only get 15 years, but grow marijuana and you get 93 years!
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