The feds back off in some Southern California asset forfeiture cases, an Iowa newspaper tells local authorities to back off from prosecuting a cancer patient, and several states move forward with implementing their medical marijuana laws.
A clamor is growing for congressional hearings on the DEA. Recent revelations of the DEA's use of NSA and AT&T spy data provided the catalyst, but concern has been festering for years.
Law enforcement groups representing sheriffs, police chiefs, criminal investigators, and narcotics officers have issued a letter signaling their displeasure with the Justice Department's newly announced policy toward marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington.
The DEA is working hand in glove with one of the nation's largest telecommunications providers, exploiting AT&T's 26-year phone call database to help make criminal cases in what had previously been a secret program.
The Justice Department will not -- at least for now -- try to block implementation of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, AG Holder said today. And there's a new memo instructing federal prosecutors how to respond.
The US-Mexico border. The cartels are mainly on the other side of the fence. (wikimedia.org)
Another Mexican drug cartel myth has been demolished. Add "the cartels operate in 1,000 US cities" to the trash heap along with "the cartels are growing marijuana in the national forests."
Fallout continues from the Reuters revelation that the DEA is using NSA intelligence gathered under counter-terrorism laws. Now, senators and congressmen are asking Attorney General Holder to explain in a classified hearing next month.
The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on the federal response to medical marijuana in 20 states and legal marijuana in two states. He has asked Attorney General Holder to testify. The hearing will be September 10.
In a major policy speech to the American Bar Association Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced sentencing reform measures he is ordering the Justice Department to undertake, especially backing away from the use of mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level nonviolent drug offenders.