Drug War Chronicle Election Issue (#1226), November 5, 2024

State Drug Reform Initiatives on the Ballot Tomorrow [FEATURE]

The battle for the presidency is dominating the headlines, but there are other reasons to get to the polls, too.

With Election Day less than 24 hours away, all eyes are on the tightly contested presidential race, but drug reforms of various stripes are on the ballot in several states. These include marijuana legalization in three states, a marijuana union initiative in one state, a paired set of medical marijuana initiatives in another, and a psychedelic decriminalization initiative in yet another. And in one state, we will see an effort to roll back criminal justice and drug policy reforms approved by voters a decade ago.

Let's take a look at what the various initiatives would do, how the campaigns are shaking out, and what their prospects are now that the election is nigh:

Marijuana Legalization

Florida

Organized by Smart & Safe Florida and largely financed to the tune of tens of millions of dollars by current multi-state medical marijuana operators Trulieve, Amendment 3 would legalize marijuana via a constitutional amendment. Under Florida law, that means the initiative needs 60 percent of the vote to win on Election Day.

According to the Florida Division of Elections, Trulieve alone has contributed $142 million for the campaign. That makes the Florida campaign the most well-funded marijuana ballot measure in US history. Meanwhile, two political action committees aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Keep Florida Clean and the Florida Freedom Fund, have raised only $14.5 million. Trulieve, is poised to benefit hugely from a legalization plan that positions it to move into the adult-use market immediately.

The initiative would legalize the possession of up to three ounces of pot by people 21 and over, as well as up to five grams of concentrates. There is no provision for home cultivation. Existing medical marijuana operations, e.g. Trulieve, could sell to adults for personal use. It would be up to the legislature to allow anyone other than existing medical marijuana dispensaries to get licensed for adult sales.

The most recent polling suggests the initiative will win. A September Emerson College/The Hill poll had support at 63.6 percent, while an October University of North Florida poll had support at 66 percent.

Most earlier polls have shown Amendment 3 winning in November, and the initiative campaign has far exceeded any organized opposition in terms of funding. Still, this is going to be a nail-biter.

North Dakota

A marijuana legalization initiative known officially as Question 5 qualified for the November ballot earlier this month. It would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by people 21 and over. The measure also legalizes the possession of up to four grams of concentrate and 1500 milligrams of "cannabinoid products," and allows for the home cultivation of up to three plants.

It contains no provision for a legal marijuana marketplace, the creation of which would be up to the state legislature if it so chooses. Nor does it contain any social equity provisions common in other legal marijuana states.

Voters in the state have twice defeated previous legalization efforts, in 2018 and 2022. The Republican-led House passed a legalization bill in 2021, but that was killed in the Senate.

The possession of up to a half ounce of marijuana is already decriminalized, but the state still had more than 4,400 marijuana possession arrests last year.

The sole recent survey of voter sentiment, a North Dakota Monitor poll, had decent but not great news for the campaign. It showed the measure with 45 percent support, with 40 opposed, and 15 percent undecided. If those numbers are accurate, the measure could win if the undecideds break two-to-one in its favor. Another unquantifiable factor is that this is the first time a North Dakota legalization initiative has come in a presidential election year, which could goose turnout and boost the measure's prospects.

South Dakota

South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws hopes the third time is the charm for its Measure 29 marijuana legalization initiative. Activists saw a 2020 legalization initiative win at the polls, only to be thrown out by the state Supreme Court acting at the best of MAGA Gov. Kristi Noem (R). They tried again in 2022 but lost in that off-year election.

The initiative would legalize the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the home cultivation of up to six plants but, in a bid to avoid the kind of constitutional complications that undid the 2020 initiative, does not address legal marijuana commerce. That would be up to the legislature.

It also contains protections for employers, allowing them to discriminate against legal marijuana users, and for property owners, allowing them to forbid marijuana use or possession on their premises. The bare-bones initiative contains no social equity provisions.

The limited polling available suggests the initiative campaign is in for an uphill fight, with a fall 2023 poll finding 45 percent in favor, 42 percent opposed, and 13 percent undecided. But with the state Republican Party this year loudly opposing the initiative, a June poll showed only 42 percent support, with 52 percent opposed. The most recent polling, an October Emerson College/The Hill poll still had the measure losing, but the gap was narrowing. It had support at 45 percent and opposition at 50 percent. Campaigners would need every undecided voter to break for legalization to win on Tuesday.

Organizers hope a turnout boost from the presidential election and an abortion rights initiative also on the state ballot will get them over the top.

Marijuana and Unions

Oregon

United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 spent $2 million to ensure that its Measure 119 initiative making it easier for marijuana industry workers to organize got on the ballot.

Similar to "labor peace" laws for the marijuana industry in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia, Measure 119 would require pot shops and processors to sign labor peace agreements with labor unions representing or attempting to organize their workers. Such agreements mean that the business agrees to remain neutral concerning the labor organization's representatives communicating with the employees of the applicant or the licensee about the employees' rights.

If marijuana business applicants or licensees fail to submit a signed labor peace agreement, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission can deny the application for licensing. Similarly, if a labor peace agreement is ended, licensees would have to submit a new agreement within 30 days or face a license suspension and/or fine.

An October Public Policy Polling survey had the measure on the cusp of victory, with support at 49 percent, opposition at 29 percent, and a large number of undecideds -- 23 percent. While campaigners much prefer to be above 50 percent as Election Day approaches, in this case, they will need only a tiny fraction of the undecideds to eke out a victory.

Medical Marijuana

Nebraska

It isn't quite official yet, but Secretary of State Bob Evnen's (R) office announced Friday that a paired set of medical marijuana initiatives have enough signatures to appear on the November election ballot. However, the initiatives are not officially certified until county officials statewide complete the signature verification and certification process.

The group behind the effort, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, went for the bifurcated approach in a bid to avoid constitutional challenges at the state Supreme Court that derailed earlier initiative efforts.

The first measure, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection initiative, would create a doctor-patient system for medical marijuana to protect patients from arrest. It would allow patients to possess up to five ounces of medicine.

The second measure, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation initiative, would create a framework for a regulated medical marijuana industry in the state. The plan envisions a commission to create rules and regulations for a commercial marketplace, with licensed businesses before October 1, 2025.

Psychedelics

Massachusetts

After a two-part signature-gathering drive, with the legislature given (and refusing) a chance to act in the interim, a psychedelic legalization initiative, the Natural Psychedelic Substances Act, has qualified for the November ballot. It will appear on the ballot as Question 4.

While the measure envisions the therapeutic administration of psychedelics, as has been approved by voters in Colorado and Oregon, it also allows for the home cultivation and use of psychedelics. According to the state attorney general's summary of the measure:

"This proposed law would allow persons aged 21 and older to grow, possess, and use certain natural psychedelic substances in certain circumstances. The psychedelic substances allowed would be two substances found in mushrooms (psilocybin and psilocyn) and three substances found in plants (dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, and ibogaine). These substances could be purchased at an approved location for use under the supervision of a licensed facilitator. This proposed law would otherwise prohibit any retail sale of natural psychedelic substances. This proposed law would also provide for the regulation and taxation of these psychedelic substances."

"This proposed law would license and regulate facilities offering supervised use of these psychedelic substances and provide for the taxation of proceeds from those facilities' sales of psychedelic substances. It would also allow persons aged 21 and older to grow these psychedelic substances in a 12-foot by 12-foot area at their home and use these psychedelic substances at their home. This proposed law would authorize persons aged 21 or older to possess up to one gram of psilocybin, one gram of psilocyn, one gram of dimethyltryptamine, 18 grams of mescaline, and 30 grams of ibogaine ("personal use amount"), in addition to whatever they might grow at their home, and to give away up to the personal use amount to a person aged 21 or over."

Massachusetts for Mental Health Options, the campaign committee behind the initiative, has raised nearly $4 million, with contributions from Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps and the New Approach Advocacy Fund, and spent most of it getting on the ballot.

An October Emerson College/WHDH-TV poll had the measure at 50 percent, with 44 opposed and 6 percent undecided, while a September WBUR/Commonwealth Beacon poll had 42 percent in favor and 40 percent opposed. This initiative could be poised for victory, but it's another nail-biter.

Criminal Justice

California

A decade ago, state voters approved Proposition 47, which reduced penalties for some drug and other criminal offenses. Now, the Republican-backed Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Retail Theft initiative -- on the ballot as Proposition 36, will try to roll that by making some drug possession and theft charges felonies.

Prop 47 reduced most drug possession charges to misdemeanors and raised the threshold for property crimes to $950 for them to be charged as felonies. With a new category of crime, "treatment-mandated felony," Prop 36 would mandate drug treatment or prison for people with repeated drug possession convictions for certain drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, and make third-offense theft a felony regardless of the amount. If those people who opt for treatment instead of prison fail to finish treatment, they could face up to three years in prison.

In the decade since Prop 47, prosecutors, police, and big box retailers have blamed Prop 47 for increased property crimes and homelessness (which is much more convenient than blaming housing shortages and high rental prices). Supporters say that drug dependence pushes people to the street, and increasing the penalties for drug possession is the only way to force people into treatment.

Those supporters include Walmart, Target, Home Depot, the California District Attorneys Association, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and the California Republican Party. They have raised more than $11 million for the campaign.

The opposition includes Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the state Democratic Party, the Alliance for Safety and Justice, and the ACLU of Northern California. The opposition has raised $1.3 million. Newsom and the Democrats briefly toyed with running an opposing initiative and are currently working on action in the legislature in a bid to blunt Prop 36's prospects.

They say that no studies on criminal justice or homelessness support the idea that harsher punishment -- or the threat of harsher punishment -- prevents crime or gets people off the street. They also argue that it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars in court and prison costs without measurably reducing crime or poverty. In the meantime, schools, health care, and other essential services will suffer.

Newsom and the rest of the opposition have their work cut out for them: A September Los Angeles Times poll this month had support for Prop 36 at 56 percent, and it's only gotten worse since then. An October Berkeley IGS poll had 60 percent in favor and 25 percent opposed, while an October Public Policy Institute of California poll has a whopping 73 percent supporting Prop. 36.

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Endorsement Harris – Part 1 of 2: Human Rights, Social Cohesion and Rule of Law

Endorsement Harris – Part 1 of 2:
Human Rights, Social Cohesion and Rule of Law

Trump's lawlessness, encouragements to violence, and tactical exploitation of social divisions including racism, are bad for drug policy.

The Biden-Harris administration embraced harm reduction to a degree that is unprecedented in US policy, both domestically and internationally.

This statement is published by Drug Reform Coordination Network, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that maintains the StoptheDrugWar.org web site and associated publications.

Part two of our endorsement focuses on cannabis (marijuana) policy.

Drug policy reform is an issue with support across a range of the political spectrum. Since our organization's founding we've sought common cause, cultivated much-valued friendships, and forged alliances with good people of all kinds. These alliances remain important to us, and those friendships remain precious.

Our issue, however, as well as our organization, do not exist in a vacuum. As our mission statement expresses, while working for health and justice by seeking to end prohibition and its excesses, we also strive to positively impact related issues. As our statement of political approach notes, societies evolve, and this is a time of special challenges.

After Donald Trump's 2016 election, we decided we would observe the incoming president's job performance with an open mind, be prepared to give credit if he did anything good, but also speak plainly about how we view his presidency and the state of affairs in our country.

That led our organization in 2017 to declare our opposition to the now former president. In October 2020, the nonprofit Drug Reform Coordination Network, our 501(c)(4) organization, carried out some election-season activities which highlighted the former president's similarities and attraction to rights-abusing foreign dictators, principally in the context of our efforts to stop extrajudicial killings in the Philippine drug war. Through the Stand with Human Rights and Democracy campaign, we published a video, "Trump and Duterte – Allies in Violence." We also held a street demonstration called "Autocrat Fair," outside DC's Old Post Office building, which then housed the Trump International Hotel.

Our opposition to Trump stems in part from broad concerns that have been expressed by many. But it's also motivated by issues in drug policy, or which relate closely to drug policy.

The first of those is praise Trump offered in December 2016 and May 2017 to the Philippines' former president, Rodrigo Duterte, specifically for his murderous anti-drug program. Along with undermining efforts by the US State Department to address the Duterte killings, they greenlighted a smaller but significant wave of similar killings in Indonesia that President Joko Widodo ordered the following July.

Trump's response to the fentanyl crisis, during office and continuing to recently, has included calls to carry out death penalty executions for some drug offenses; and to fight drug cartels by invading, sending "kill squads," firing missiles into or dropping bombs on Mexico. The Trump administration's opioid task force, which was headed by Kellyanne Conway, took a political approach that rendered it not very consequential.

By contrast, the Biden-Harris administration's approach to opioids, while far from perfect, has embraced harm reduction to a degree that is unprecedented in US policy, both domestically and internationally.

As drug policy reformers, we also advocate criminal justice and policing reform. While we did not embrace every slogan fielded by organizations from the Black Lives Matter movement or its closest allies, we view the mass protests that erupted following the murder by a police officer of George Floyd, as an important historical moment that expanded the possibilities for positive change. Even if we didn't hold that view, though, we would still be troubled by the demonization of protesters, and the conflation of protests to riots or other crime, that were orchestrated by figures on the right.

We find the reports of what President Trump wanted the military to do against protesters to be particularly horrifying. General Mark Milley, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, and Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper, said that Trump, screaming, urged them to "just shoot" protesters or to "crack their skulls." Our video mentioned above that compares Trump and Duterte, compiles footage of repeated occasions on which Trump encouraged police and others to engage in violence directed against suspects, protesters and media.

As an organization working for rule of law adherence in drug policy internationally, we view drugs as an issue that can rapidly punch through legal and social norms – similarly to, if figuring less frequently than, issues like immigration, liberalizing social changes or economic dissatisfactions. Trump's inflammatory rhetoric about immigrants, his circulation of anti-semitic imagery, and his gross oversimplification of economics, all bode ill for what a second Trump term would mean.

We believe that Trump's lawlessness, encouragements to violence, and tactical exploitation of social divisions including racism, are bad for drug policy; and we endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President and Vice President of the United States.

There's still time to volunteer for the Harris campaign! Visit https://go.kamalaharris.com for a list of events at or within travel distance of your location, or for ways to help over the phone. Also, if you're not sure where to go vote yourself, whether you're eligible and registered to vote, or whether you still have time to register in your state, two sites where you can look up information are https://canIvote.org and https://www.rockthevote.org.

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Endorsement Harris, Part 2 of 2: Cannabis (Marijuana) Policy

Endorsement Harris – Part 2 of 2:
Cannabis (Marijuana) Policy

Advancing the Rescheduling Process is a Critically Important Achievement of the Biden-Harris Administration

Harris Reduced Arrests as San Francisco DA, and Supports Legalization

Trump's Seeming Tolerance for Cannabis Law Reforms May Have Less to It Than Meets the Eye

This statement is published by Drug Reform Coordination Network, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that maintains the StoptheDrugWar.org web site and associated publications. A copy of this statement is available online here.

Part one of our endorsement addressed human rights, social cohesion and rule of law.

Drug policy reform is an issue with support across a range of the political spectrum. Since our organization's founding we've sought common cause, cultivated much-valued friendships, and forged alliances with good people of all kinds. These alliances remain important to us, and those friendships remain precious.

Our issue, however, as well as our organization, do not exist in a vacuum. As our mission statement expresses, while working for health and justice by seeking to end prohibition and its excesses, we also strive to positively impact related issues. As our statement of political approach notes, societies evolve, and this is a time of special challenges.

After Donald Trump's 2016 election, we decided we would observe the incoming president's job performance with an open mind, be prepared to give credit if he did anything good, but also speak plainly about how we view his presidency and the state of affairs in our country.

That led our organization in 2017 to declare our opposition to the now former president. Today we note the stark warnings of the 1,000+ members of National Security Leaders for America, and of numerous former Trump administration officials, who believe another Trump presidency could be catastrophic. We are proud that a member of NSL4A addressed a recent street event we organized, footage online here.

Kamala Harris, when in the US Senate, in 2019 was the lead sponsor of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019, a broad legalization bill with social justice measures. She has called for marijuana legalization again during her presidential campaign. Vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz has a consistent pro-reform record for cannabis, and supported the passage of marijuana legalization in Minnesota as governor.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump have argued that Harris as District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California presided over arrests and prosecutions for marijuana. Some Trump supporters have emailed us with this claim.

Without doubting the sincerity of those of our supporters who believe this, the facts nevertheless show this to be a case of selective application of facts. Our longtime friend and colleague Chris Conrad, who served on a cannabis advisory committee convened by Harris as DA, offered a detailed account of Harris's history on the issue in California on The Daily Kos.

The most important bottom line from Conrad's report is that Harris as DA sought their proposals for how to reduce arrests and advance the issue, given the legal constraints she faced, which included not being able to simply tell police what to do with a law that remained on the books. The cannabis arrest rate during Harris's tenure continued the decrease that had begun under her fiercely anti-drug war predecessor, Terrence Hallinan, then bounced back up when she was no longer DA.

Before going into what we view as a critically important achievement of the Biden-Harris administration – rescheduling of cannabis – we note that another belief held by cannabis-friendly Trump supporters is that he supports legalization and reform, based on the fact that his administration did not shut down the state-legal cannabis industry.

Many reformers were indeed worried that Trump could move against state legalization systems. At our organization, despite having great concerns about the incoming president following his election, did not actually predict that he would do that. It seemed more likely again after the appointment of strongly anti-legalization former Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, and the revocation by Sessions of the helpful Cole Memo. We were afraid that DOJ under sessions would issue asset forfeiture letters en masse to landlords renting to state-legal cannabis businesses, the most efficient way for the government to shut them down if they wanted. But that didn't happen.

It may actually almost have happened, it turns out. Sessions intended to shut down the cannabis industry, according to insider reports. But after he recused himself from the DOJ investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Sessions fell into bad graces with President Trump, and no longer had the political capital to do anything except what Trump and his inner circle most wanted. That was for Sessions to implement certain anti-immigrant policies Trump wanted from DOJ, including family separations. Sessions' anti-cannabis agenda thereby fell off the radar.

We acknowledge not having full sourcing for this account of things. And the closely Trump-connected "Project 2025" agenda does not reference cannabis. It does, however, call for shifting direct management of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from career drug policy officials, who might be receptive to suggestions made by "woke nonprofits," to direct political appointee oversight.

Trump has recently expressed support for Florida's marijuana legalization initiative, as well as the Biden rescheduling move. But Trump says a lot of things. Given the staggering degree of corruption Trump has displayed in the past, throughout his life and during his time as president, we suspect that how it plays out may depend on who pays him.

We turn to the headline issue of this endorsement, cannabis rescheduling. In October 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services, at President Biden's direction commenced a review of how cannabis is classified under the US Controlled Substances Act. Currently cannabis is still in Schedule I, allowing for no federally legal marijuana use (outside very specific and occasional exceptions), and not recognizing medical value for the substance.

HHS went on to recommend Schedule III. After that the Drug Enforcement Administration – where cannabis rescheduling has traditionally been stopped – supported the recommendation. The process continues to unfold.

Schedule III will achieve a half-century old goal of the drug policy reform movement; and will exempt the state-legal cannabis industry from 280E, a debilitating anti-crime tax which applies to substances listed in Schedules I and II. On its own, it won't legalize even medical marijuana, however. There are risks as well, including the possibility that FDA will invoke its regulatory powers in ways we might disagree with, or that don't work well for plant-based substances that have countless varieties.

Despite those limitations, the significance of rescheduling has not always been fully acknowledged, and that is unfortunate. While it's true that rescheduling doesn't end criminalization of cannabis, for example, it is expected to reduce the extent and severity with which criminalization gets applied.

Ethan Fallon, former Assistant Attorney General in the District of Columbia who serves as Counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee member Alex Padilla, during a webinar organized by the UC Berkeley Cannabis Research Center, laid out a wide range of changes that rescheduling would bring about. Rescheduling, Fallon said, would reduce the penalties applied for possession, distribution and use of cannabis, under several criminal statutes and regulations.

The ways this would happen, according to Fallon, include reducing or eliminating mandatory minimum sentences that are tied to different schedule levels, as well as to reducing the penalties triggered through sentencing guideline calculations. Among other things, possession would go from a felony punishable by up to a year of incarceration, to a misdemeanor.

Fallon also believes rescheduling would lead to fewer federal law enforcement actions against businesses and users; increased review and expungement for cannabis convictions; and fewer people being subject to collateral consequences that block access to benefits or professional licensing, consequences that can drastically affect the trajectory of a person's life.

These changes won't occur in isolation from other federal and state laws that are on the books. And so we acknowledge that the number of people they will end up helping in practice, is harder to calculate.

It has also been claimed that 280E reform is a change that only helps business, e.g. a good thing but one that leaves out social justice. In its effect, that is not the case. One need not accept any and every claim made by business about what they need, to understand that the circumstances in which businesses operate, also affects their workers. And circumstances that harm businesses, do so to small businesses most of all.

280E, which creates effective tax rates going upwards of 70%, has placed much of the industry in a state of long-term unprofitability, and often of negative profit. This has led many businesses large and small to have to lay off workers, and in some cases to shut down.

While doing research on another issue facing the cannabis industry, namely armed robberies of state-legal cannabis stores, we observed another problem affecting workers, which is likely to relate to 280E as well as to other high costs imposed on the industry. What we noticed is that robberies are the most common in the western part of the country, where the industry is its oldest and most cash-poor. This suggests small businesses paying the 280E tax are not able to spend as much on security as they need to protect themselves consistently.

An aside on this topic: The most commonly-discussed driver of armed robberies targeting cannabis stores is the sector's high reliance on cash. Our study linked above confirms that cash is a important factor. The SAFE Banking Act seeks to address the industry's difficult access to financial services, although its direct impact on electronic payment transactions (the source of the cash) may be less than people are hoping for.

At SAFE's first Senate hearing last year, an anti-legalization witness claimed, without offering evidence, that normalized banking access for cannabis would lead to state-legal stores being used to launder illicit fentanyl profits. Needless to say, persons engaged in money laundering are likely to prefer to use less highly scrutinized vehicles than state-legal cannabusinesses, which have entire state agencies devoted to scrutinizing them. That, however, did not prevent the fact-free US Senator and vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, from repeating the baseless claim.

Cannabis rescheduling is a critically important achievement of the Biden-Harris administration – an achievement with limitations but also benefits, and that will contribute to the achievement of further reform.

We believe Trump's lawlessness, encouragements to violence, and tactical exploitation of social divisions including racism, are bad for drug policy; and that his very limited comments supporting some of our sought for reforms are unconvincing. We endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President and Vice President of the United States.

If you're a US voter but haven't voted yet, please go vote! If you're not sure of your voting location, or whether you're eligible and registered to vote or still can register, two sites where you can look up information are https://canIvote.org and https://www.rockthevote.org.

There's also still time left to volunteer for the Harris campaign, at the time we're sending this email: Phonebanking to swing state households is going on for several more hours.

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Minnesota Prosecutor Wants Woman to Do 30 Years for Meth-Tainted Bongwater [FEATURE]

What should have been a citation for drug paraphernalia gets turned into an outrageous attempt to lock a hapless drug user up for decades.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota has joined the defense of a Fargo, North Dakota, woman who faces up to 30 years and a $1 million fine in prison for the possession of bongwater with traces of methamphetamine in it. The absurd situation arose because a hardline Minnesota prosecutor took advantage of a longstanding loophole in state law allowing for such a cruel and usual prosecution.

The case is that of Jessica Beske, who was detained at a traffic stop in rural Polk County in May. Sheriff's deputies smelled marijuana and then searched her vehicle, finding drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine residue, as well as a glass bong that contained eight ounces of water with meth residue in it.

The legislature decriminalized the possession of drug paraphernalia last year, and Beske should have faced no more than a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia. But through an oversight, lawmakers neglected to address a 2009 state Supreme Court case, State vs. Peck, where a narrowly split court held that water in a bong could be considered a "drug mixture" for sentencing purposes. That decision came after testimony from a State Patrol officer who claimed bizarrely that dopers would keep bongwater "for future use… either drinking it or shooting it in the veins."

Three of the court's seven justices dissented. "Bongwater is usually discarded when the smoker is finished with consumption of the smoke filtered through the bong water," they wrote. "A person is not more dangerous, or likely to wreak more havoc, based on the amount of bong water that person possesses."

After the state became the subject of widespread ridicule with that decision, the legislature eventually passed a bill that said less than four ounces of bong water was exempt from the legal definition of a "drug mixture."

It is an arbitrary line.

"There doesn't seem to be any good reason why four ounces is ok, but five is not," said Kurtis Hanna, a longtime Minnesota drug reform advocate.

But because Beske's bongwater exceeded the four-ounce limit, Polk County Assistant Attorney Scott Buhler was able to consider it a "drug mixture" and treat the eight ounces of bongwater as if it were eight ounces of methamphetamine, charging Beske with a high-level felony with a decades-long sentence.

It is a practice that is not unknown but is still exceedingly rare among state prosecutors. When the Minnesota Reformer reached out to Robert Small, executive director of the Minnesota County Attorney's Association, he was incredulous that anyone was charging such cases.

"The legislative intent behind the weight-based thresholds is to approximate whether a person is an end user or a dealer," said Hanna. "The fact that some county prosecutors are subverting that clear intent and are charging end users as though they are wholesalers, ruining their lives in the process, is shameful."

But prosecutor Buhler is something of a special case. Not only is he charging Beske with felony drug possession, he has also charged her with violating the state's archaic illicit drug tax law, adding another seven years and a $14,000 fine to her possible sentence. And he added another charge for refusing a drug test at the time of her arrest.

In fact, Buhler gained statewide notoriety back in 2014 as one of the few prosecutors in the state who actually charged people under that drug tax statute.

"I simply charge it a lot because it leaves all options available regarding plea bargaining and sentencing," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune at the time.

Now, the ACLU of Minnesota has stepped in. The group announced this month that it will represent Beske.

"We're pretty broadly interested in making sure Minnesotans aren't criminalized for things like addiction," said attorney Alicia Granse, who is working on the case. "Do we want to be spending so much of our resources on bong water?"

Granske also noted the drug tax charge and questioned whether such harsh charges really contribute to public safety.

"They're going hard up there," Granse said. "I don't know if that's what we really want to be spending our money on, or our time. "It sounds like this prosecutor is not willing to give up, but neither am I."

For Beske, the experience has been a nightmare. She said she used drugs to cope with an abusive relationship and now she lives with even more despair.

"The only thing I'm guilty of is using substances to lessen my mental suffering caused by a sick and abusive predator," she said. "Addicts -- women especially -- are made to feel like public enemy number one, when in fact most of us have been victims of serious crime that will never be prosecuted."

As for her prosecution and possible prison time: "It's just gonna make my life worse and make me want to use drugs more," she said. "That's why people use drugs mostly, is to cope."

The state legislature last year commissioned a drug policy report commissioned by the Legislature whose conclusion was that "arresting people for drug use does not deter future use, crime recidivism, arrest, or incarceration," and that "imprisonment does not impact rates of drug use or arrest."

Maybe someone should tell the good burghers of Polk County.

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Medical Marijuana Update

The Arkansas medical marijuana expansion initiative gets thrown off the ballot, Kansas cops are -- gasp! -- not for medical marijuana, and more.

Arkansas

Arkansas Supreme Court Throws Out Medical Marijuana Expansion Initiative. Although it will appear on the ballot, votes for and against the Issue 3 medical marijuana initiative will not be counted after the state Supreme Court on Monday ruled 4-3 that the initiative's popular name and ballot title are insufficient.

"The ballot title misleads voters because it omits language stating that the proposed amendment would repeal the General Assembly's authority to amend Amendment 98 (i.e., omits material information). The proposed amendment alters or amends Amendment 98 in at least twenty different ways," the opinion reads. Amendment 98 is the state's existing medical marijuana law.

The high court also opined that a provision of the initiative that would have legalized up to an ounce of marijuana for all adults -- not just registered patients -- if the drug were legalized at the federal level made the initiative's popular name, which only mentions medical marijuana, misleading.

The measure would have enlarged a 2016 medical marijuana initiative approved by the voters. It would have expanded the range of healthcare professionals who could recommend medical marijuana, expanded the definition of qualifying conditions, made medical marijuana ID cards good for three years, allowed reciprocity for out-of-state cardholders, and allowed patients to grow their own medicine -- up to 14 plants, seven of which could be mature.

Arkansans for Patient Access, the organization that sponsored the initiative, decried Monday's decision.

"This is a setback for the growth and improvement of our existing program, but it will not be the last attempt to ease the barriers Arkansas's medical patients encounter," the group said in a statement. "We will continue our fight to eliminate hurdles to access and lower costs. Patients across Arkansas have made it clear they want to build on the existing foundation; unfortunately, the anti-marijuana politicians have ignored their call. The people rule, our state motto, does not ring true today."

Kansas

Kansas Usual Suspects Oppose Medical Marijuana Even as Poll Shows Majority Want Legal Weed. Law enforcement groups on Tuesday warned against legalizing marijuana in the state -- one of only three that make no allowance for any form of medicinal cannabis -- saying that it would lead to a lawless state where opioid overdoses jump and cartels roam the streets. This is even as a new poll shows that a majority of Kansans want not only medical marijuana but all-out marijuana legalization.

"You drive by Blackwell, Oklahoma, and you get hit with that odor," Kechi Chief of Police Braden Moore told lawmakers. "That's a quality of life thing… I don't want that in my home state, too."

"After 43 years in law enforcement," said Bel Aire Police Chief Darrell Atteberry, legislative committee chair with the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police. "And all the bills that I've read… I see this as a train wreck. I mean, whether it's medical marijuana (or) recreational -- it's going to be a train wreck for law enforcement."

Atteberry also warned that allowing medical marijuana would open up a slippery slope leading to marijuana legalization: "We need to stay away from that as far as we can," he said.

Among the dire consequences of allowing medical marijuana, law enforcement officials warned, were marijuana legalization, possible marijuana-caused psychoses and the risk of veterans with PTSD committing suicide, cartels coming into the state, an increase in marijuana-related hospital visits, making the current generation of drug-sniffing dogs obsolete, and the necessity of hiring more cops to enforce any future laws.

But the cops -- and Republican legislative majorities -- appear increasingly out of step with the sensibilities of Kansans. A recent Kansas Speaks poll has support for marijuana legalization -- not just medical marijuana -- at 67 percent.

Utah

Utah Poll Has Half of Voters Ready to Legalize Marijuana, Supermajority for Medical Marijuana. A new poll from Noble Predictive Insights and commissioned by the Utah Patients Coalition has 50 of state voters in favor of adult-use marijuana legalization. At the same time, another 38 percent supported medical marijuana only, and a meager nine percent believed marijuana should remain illegal for any purpose. Three percent were "not sure."

Some 60 percent of voters under 35 supported full legalization, as did 49 percent of the 35-to-54-year-olds, but only 29 percent of those 55 and older did.

"We did this just to see where we were," said Desiree Hennessy, the executive director of the Utah Patients Coalition. "We're not even just talking patients. We're talking Utahns who are up for a recreational or adult-use market in Utah," Hennessy said. "That is surprising, but it's not surprising after you've watched what's happened with the program."

Voters approved a medical marijuana program in 2018, only to see the state legislature override it and create its own, highly-regulated program.

"The question then becomes, why are we seeing so many Utah license plates in dispensaries out of state? Why are -- by the Department of Health's own data -- why are we still seeing about 60% of even medical cannabis patients shopping on the illicit market or out of state? That comes down to cost almost every single time," Hennessy said.

Adult use marijuana is legal in the neighboring states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico.

"We have been suspecting that this has been slowly increasing over the years and with this new poll, we show that 50% of Utahns now support adult-use or recreational market," Hennessey said. "While Utah Patients Coalition doesn't feel like that's the next best step for Utah, what it would do is it would drive down cost."

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Colombia Coca Acreage Hits Record, AR Supreme Court Kills MedMJ Expansion Init, More... (10/21/24)

A new poll has the Florida marijuana legalization initiative winning, another poll has the South Dakota pot legalization initiative losing, and more.

Marijuana Policy

New Poll Has Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative Winning. A poll released Monday by the University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab has the Amendment 3 marijuana legalization initiative winning, with 66 percent of respondents ready to vote yes and only 32 percent ready to vote no. Under Florida law, the initiative needs 60 percent to pass because it amends the state constitution.

The initiative would legalize the possession of up to three ounces of pot by people 21 and over, as well as up to five grams of concentrates. There is no provision for home cultivation. Existing medical marijuana operations could sell to adults for personal use. It would be up to the legislature to allow anyone other than existing medical marijuana dispensaries to get licensed for adult sales.

Earlier polls on the prospects for the initiative are split on the outcome. A poll from Florida Atlantic University has Amendment 3 at 56 percent -- a majority but not enough of one to pass. The silver lining in this poll is that 15 percent of voters remain undecided, and the amendment only needs about one out of three of those undecided to reach the 60 percent threshold.

A poll from USA Today/Suffolk University has better news for the Amendment 3 campaign, showing 63 percent support, with only about 3.2 percent of voters undecided. That suggests the initiative would have to lose nearly every single currently undecided voter to fall short of 60 percent.

New Poll Has South Dakota Marijuana Legalization Initiative Losing. A poll released over the weekend by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota has the Initiated Measure (IM) 29 marijuana legalization initiative losing, with only 44 percent of respondents in favor, 51 percent opposed and five percent undecided. That is up slightly from the 42 percent support registered in the same poll in May, but not enough to win.

Majorities of Democrats (75 percent) and independents (56 percent) support the initiative, but in the heavily Republican state, only 26 percent of GOPers said they would vote for it.

The initiative would legalize the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the home cultivation of up to six plants but, in a bid to avoid the kind of constitutional complications that undid the 2020 initiative, does not address legal marijuana commerce. That would be up to the legislature.

It also contains protections for employers, allowing them to discriminate against legal marijuana users, and for property owners, allowing them to forbid marijuana use or possession on their premises. The bare-bones initiative contains no social equity provisions.

The limited polling available suggests the initiative campaign is in for an uphill fight, with a fall 2023 poll finding 45 percent in favor, 42 percent opposed, and 13 percent undecided. But with the state Republican Party this year loudly opposing the initiative, a June poll showed only 42 percent support, with 52 percent opposed. Organizers hope a turnout boost from the presidential election and an abortion rights initiative also on the state ballot will get them over the top, but that does not appear to be happening.

Medical Marijuana

Arkansas Supreme Court Throws Out Medical Marijuana Expansion Initiative. Although it will appear on the ballot, votes for and against the Issue 3 medical marijuana initiative will not be counted after the state Supreme Court on Monday ruled 4-3 that the initiative's popular name and ballot title are insufficient.

"The ballot title misleads voters because it omits language stating that the proposed amendment would repeal the General Assembly's authority to amend Amendment 98 (i.e., omits material information). The proposed amendment alters or amends Amendment 98 in at least twenty different ways," the opinion reads. Amendment 98 is the state's existing medical marijuana law.

The high court also opined that a provision of the initiative that would have legalized up to an ounce of marijuana for all adults -- not just registered patients -- if the drug were legalized at the federal level made the initiative's popular name, which only mentions medical marijuana, misleading.

The measure would have enlarged a 2016 medical marijuana initiative approved by the voters. It would have expanded the range of healthcare professionals who could recommend medical marijuana, expanded the definition of qualifying conditions, made medical marijuana ID cards good for three years, allowed reciprocity for out-of-state cardholders, and allowed patients to grow their own medicine -- up to 14 plants, seven of which could be mature.

Arkansans for Patient Access, the organization that sponsored the initiative, decried Monday's decision.

"This is a setback for the growth and improvement of our existing program, but it will not be the last attempt to ease the barriers Arkansas's medical patients encounter," the group said in a statement. "We will continue our fight to eliminate hurdles to access and lower costs. Patients across Arkansas have made it clear they want to build on the existing foundation; unfortunately, the anti-marijuana politicians have ignored their call. The people rule, our state motto, does not ring true today."

International

Colombia Coca Crop Acreage Largest Yet, UNODC Says. A report last Friday from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) finds that the amount of land dedicated to coca leaf production -- the raw material for cocaine -- increased 10 percent last year, becoming the largest amount of land under cultivation for the crop in at least two decades. UNODC said some 630,000 acres of crop land were devoted to coca last year, up from 575,000 the year before.

That 10 percent increase, however, produced a more than 50 percent increase in potential cocaine production to 2,644 metric tons, up from 1,738 metric tons in 2022.

"The 10 percent increase in cultivation is in the country's most productive areas and this has a very important impact on potential production" of cocaine, UNODC's regional representative, Candice Welsch, told a press conference. The coca plantations were mostly young, between two and four years old, making them more productive than earlier plots, she added.

Cocaine production in Colombia, strategically located between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is controlled by armed groups and many consider it to be fueling a nearly six-decade-long internal conflict that has killed over 450,000 people. Among those armed groups are dissident leftist guerillas, rightist paramilitaries, and apolitical drug trafficking organizations.

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DeSantis Takes Flak for Spending State Funds to Defeat Pot Init, Evo Morales Claims Assassination Attempt, More... (10/28/24)

New York marijuana regulators crack down on a THC-caffeine product, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Florida Governor Takes Flak for Spending Taxpayer Funds to Try to Defeat Marijuana Legalization Initiative. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has spent $50 million of state funds to try to defeat the Amendment 3 marijuana legalization initiative, and now he is facing harsh criticism from bipartisan political figures in the state over what they call a misuse of taxpayer money.

"No matter where you stand on this issue, this is still a democracy. We do not spend taxpayer dollars in advance of a political issue," said Sarasota Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters on a Zoom conference call organized by Safe & Smart Florida, the advocacy group behind Amendment 3. "Tax dollars are meant to be spent on our police, schools, roads, and other public programs that make our state great, not political agendas."

Gruters is no lib. He was chairman of the state Republican Party from 2018 to 2022 and was twice the state co-chair of the Donald Trump presidential campaigns. (Trump has also come out in support of Amendment 3.)

Meanwhile, state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D) filed a lawsuit last month over the state Department of Transportation campaigning against Amendment 3. He said the purpose of his lawsuit was to stop the state agency stop running misleading public service announcements warning that "DUI crashes increase in states with legalized marijuana putting everyone at risk." But a Leon County judge last week threw out that case. Pizzo has not said whether he will appeal.

New York Regulators Ban Cannabis Pills Containing Caffeine. The state Office of Cannabis Management has banned the sale of hemp-derived pills containing caffeine. It did so by issuing a stop order to Hudson Cannabis, an upstate hemp and marijuana operation that provides the key ingredients for the 1906 cannabis brand.

The brand sells two different products, "Go" and "Genius" that contain small doses of THC and larger doses of caffeine. The product has been popular with health and fitness enthusiasts and office workers.

While the pills have been marketed in the state since February 2023, regulators issued a stop order after inspecting the Hudson Cannabis facility and examining the caffeine-THC mixtures.

"Evidence supports that ingredients used in the product are not allowed to be used in cannabis products," said the quarantine order signed by inspectors Natalie DeLong and Matthew Hinken.

The order said the mixture of ingredients "may jeopardize public health or safety."

Hudson Cannabis disagrees and is appealing that ruling, which affects about $1 million of its inventory.

"Hudson Cannabis and our production facilities fully follow New York State's cannabis regulations," said Melany Dobson, cofounder of Hudson Cannabis.

"We are surprised by this decision from the State to quarantine products that have been on the market for over 18 months, are sold legally in States across the nation, and as far as we know have had zero reported adverse effects."

"This type of arbitrary and capricious behavior, preventing the sale of safe and tested products readily available across the country, only serves to benefit the illicit market Governor Hochul claims to care about shutting down," Dobson said.

International

Bolivia's Coca Leader Ex-President Evo Morales Accuses Foes of Assassination Attempt. Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who rose to power as the leader of a coca grower union only to be deposed after a disputed election in 2019, accused his political foes of trying to assassinate him while he was driving to an event in Cochabamba Sunday.

Morales is in a bitter feud with current Bolivian President Luis Arce, a former ally in the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Party who replaced him as head of the nation after a brief rightist interregnum. The two have been in a standoff over who controls the party for weeks.

Morales said police in Cochabamba riddled his car with bullets, leaving 14 bullet holes and wounding his driver. Morales shared a video that showed bullet holes and the driver with blood on his head. A woman'' voice can be heard screaming "Duck, president, duck!" and urging the driver to speed off.

But Arce's government on Monday accused Morales of lying, saying police opened fire only after his vehicle ran a highway checkpoint. Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo said Morales' vehicle failed to stop at a drug checkpoint in Chapare province, and that the driver ignored orders to pull over.

"Rather than slow down, they speed up, take out guns" and "shoot from inside a car" at police, the minister said. Morales would "have to answer... for the crime of attempted murder" of a police officer, del Castillo added.

Tensions were already running high in the Cochabamba region, where his supporters have been blocking roads for two weeks to prevent his arrest on charges of rape of a minor. Those charges first surfaced in the hotly contested 2019 election campaign that resulted in his ouster. Morales, who wants to return to the presidency, has denied those charges and claimed he was the victim of an attempted political assassination.

"This was planned. The idea was to kill Evo," Morales said Sunday. "Lucho [President Arce] has destroyed Bolivia and now he wants to eliminate our process by killing Evo," Morales said.

Arce, for his part, said he had ordered "an immediate and thorough investigation to clarify the facts" surrounding what he called "the alleged attack" on Morales.

"Any violent practice in politics must be condemned and clarified," Arce added.

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KY MedMJ Takes a Step Forward, Near 200 Dead in Sinaloa Cartel Clashes, More... (10/28/24)

A Kansas poll shows that lawmakers are well behind their constituents when it comes to marijuana policy, former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is unrepentant in testimony about death squads and his drug war, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Kansas Poll Has Strong Support for Medical Marijuana, Adult-Use Legalization. Even as state lawmakers again put off considering medical marijuana legislation, a new poll shows that they are increasingly out of touch with their constituents. The Kansas Speaks survey from Fort Hays State University has support for medical marijuana at 73 percent and support for legalization at 61 percent. On legalization, that figure rises to 65 percent when respondents were asked taxing weed to generate revenue for the state.

Kansans would rather tax weed than increase taxes on cigars and cigarettes (57 percent) or on alcohol (50 percent).

Respondents were also asked whether they would support a political candidate who supported medical marijuana. Around 60 percent said they were "highly likely" or "somewhat likely" to vote for such a candidate.

The poll comes as the legislature's Special Committee on Medical Marijuana met for a second hearing about a path toward medical marijuana but rejected a proposal that would have urged the legislature to move ahead with it.

Medical Marijuana

Kentucky Takes Next Step Toward Medical Marijuana. During a live-streamed lottery led by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) on Monday, the state announced the names of 26 businesses that will receive medical marijuana business licenses. The first round of licensing covers only cultivators and processors.

Cultivator licenses allow businesses to grow medical marijuana and sell it to licensed processors, producers, or dispensaries, while processor licenses authorize the purchase, processing, and sale of medical marijuana to other producers or dispensaries.

The state received more than 5,000 business license applications but only 774 cultivation or processing applications had been approved. They then participated in a random lottery to see who would get the coveted licenses.

"We considered the best processes used in each state and determined this was the most fair and transparent way to build this exciting new industry in the Commonwealth of Kentucky," said Sam Flynn, Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis.

Under legislation signed into law by Beshear last year, medical marijuana will be legal in the state as of January 1. A lottery for dispensary licenses will take place on Thursday. It was slightly delayed by a deluge of late-arriving applications.

International

Sinaloa Cartel Faction Fight Shows No Sign of Slowing. The death toll from factional clashes within the Sinaloa Cartel that began on September 8 has climbed to around 200 after state authorities said Sunday that at least 14 people were killed in cartel clashes on Saturday.

Tensions within the cartel had been rising since co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada was kidnapped and delivered to US authorities by one of the sons of imprisoned cofounder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is now serving a lengthy prison sentence in the US himself. The son also turned himself in and is now reportedly engaging in plea negotiations with prosecutors in Chicago.

Recent weeks have seen repeated shoot-outs on the streets of Culiacan, the state capital, as well as the shuttering of schools and businesses amid the violence. The new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has sent hundreds of troops and armored personnel carriers to the state, but the fighting continues.

The official death toll was at least 172 on October 18 and keeps climbing.

Philippines Hearing on Duterte's Drug War Begins, Duterte Unrepentant. The official numbers say fewer than 7,000 people were killed in a bloody drug campaign during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, although human rights groups say the real number is in the tens of thousands. Now, for the first time, Duterte has testified in an official investigation of his drug war, and he remains unrepentant and, he says, ready to do it again.

It was also the first time he came face to face with family members of victims, as well as with former Sen. Leila de Lima, who was imprisoned for nearly seven years on bogus drug charges after criticizing the drug war.

Duterte admitted to having organized a death squad as mayor Davao City, but said it consisted of criminals, not police. He said he told them "Kill this person, because if you do not, I will kill you now."

"I can make the confession now if you want. I had a death squad of seven, but they were not police, they were gangsters."

His promise to replicate his anti-crime campaign in Davao City helped propel him to victory in the 2016 election. He testified Monday that as president, he told police to "encourage" drug suspects to fight back so they could kill them.

"Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it... I did it for my country," he said in an opening statement. "I hate drugs, make no mistake about it."

And he is ready to do it all over again, saying that criminals are already coming back since he left office. "If given another chance, I'll wipe all of you," he said.

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Judge Rules NYC Pot Shop Crackdown Unconstitutional, Trump Vows to Seize Cartel Assets, More... (10/30/24)

Arizona marijuana consumers will be able to get deliveries from pot shops beginning Friday, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Arizona to Allow Pot Deliveries Beginning Friday. A new Department of Health Services policy allowing marijuana retailers to do home deliveries goes into effect Friday. Under the old policy, only medical marijuana dispensaries could offer delivery services.

The state's marijuana industry is pleased.

"We are thrilled that the Department of Health's proactive approach and commitment to implementing a well-thought-out delivery program has helped us reach this landmark moment sooner than expected," said Ann Torrez, executive director of the Arizona Dispensary Association. "This is a significant step forward for Arizona's marijuana market and consumer accessibility."

The association also noted that the rollout of deliveries came ahead of schedule. The original timeline for allowing deliveries was January 1, 2025.

The move comes as the state's legal pot market shows signs of slowing. Sales in August totaled just under $84 million, the lowest figure in the calendar year so far.

New York City Pot Shop Crackdown Unconstitutional, Judge Rules. A state Supreme Court judge in Queens has ruled that an unlicensed pot shot that was shuttered under Mayor Eric Adams' (D) Operation Padlock to Protect was denied due process and that the program giving the sheriff the power to decide whether to keep it closed for up to a year is unconstitutional.

A plaintiff's attorney said the decision means that all the shops that have been shut down will be able to reopen immediately. They could also sue for damages associated with the closure, the attorney said.

The mayor's office said the city will appeal the ruling. "Illegal smoke shops and their products endanger young New Yorkers and quality of life," the office added.

The city says it will continue to padlock illicit storefronts.

The city saw a proliferation of unlicensed marijuana retailers emerge after legalization became law but before the legal market was up and running. Operation Padlock began in May in a bid to shut them down. More than 1,200 were padlocked, but now they could come roaring back.

Drug Policy

Trump Vows to Seize Money from Cartels, Give It to Victims. As his campaign to retake the White House enters its final week, former President Donald Trump (R) is vowing to seize money and assets from drug cartels and criminal migrant gangs and give it to the victims of crimes committed by people in the US illegally.

"We're going to get them out fast. We're going to get them out," Trump said. "I'm announcing that for the first time under my administration, we are seizing the assets of the criminal gangs and drug cartels and we will use those assets to create a compensation fund to provide restitution for the victims of migrant crime, and the government will help in the restoration."

In fact, US law enforcement has long targeted Mexican drug trafficking organizations -- the cartels -- seizing $53 million from them in the past year. And the Treasury Forfeiture Fund in the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeitures, currently contains over $800 million. Not all of that money was seized from cartels; some of it comes from fraud schemes. That fund has been in place since 1992.

Money in that fund does not go to "victims of migrant crime." Instead, it goes to pay state and local law enforcement agencies that helped seize the funds, cover the fund's operating costs, and compensate victims of fraud.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

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MA Poll Has Psychedelic Legalization Init With Narrow Lead; Colombia Proposes Regulation of Coca, Poppy Crops, More... (11/1/24)

A DEA administrative law judge has pushed back the timeline on marijuana rescheduling, the State Departments holds a follow-up meeting to the global summit on addressing synthetic drugs, and more.

Marijuana Policy

DEA Judge Pushes Back Timeline for In-Person Testimony in Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing. DEA Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney II has issued an order advising designated participants for in-person hearings on marijuana rescheduling that they should be ready for those hearings to start in either January or February of next year. 

The judge is also asking participants to clarify their positions on rescheduling and 

how they "would be sufficiently ‘adversely affected or aggrieved’ by the proposed scheduling action to qualify as an ‘interested person’ under the [federal] regulations."

Some 25 organizations and/or representatives have been chosen by the DEA to address the hearings. Many of those groups represent interests opposed to rescheduling. 

"Those among the Designated Participants seeking active participation in this hearing must establish that they have made timely application and are eligible as an 'interested person,' Mulrooney wrote. "To the extent that any of this has been done or adjudicated, it is not transparent in the present record. The record currently contains no hearing requests, notices of appearance, or correspondence between the Agency and the Designated Participants or those who sought that status. As the record currently stands, although the Agency has fixed a December 2, 2024 hearing date, there is no way to discern from the present record which DPs support or oppose the [proposed rescheduling rule]. "To effectively preside over this hearing, additional information must be furnished to the tribunal forthwith."

Psychedelics

Massachusetts Psychedelic Legalization Initiative Holds Narrow Lead, Poll Finds. A late poll from Emerson College Polling has the Question 4 Natural Psychedelic Substances Act initiative with the support of 50 percent of respondents, with 44 percent opposed, and six percent undecided. 

While the initiative appears to be on the cusp of passing, the margin is uncomfortably close, and if undecided voters break the wrong way, it could still lose. The heuristic among initiative campaigners is that they want a nice 10-point lead in the final days before the election to provide a cushion against last-minute attacks that could drain votes. 

The measure envisions the therapeutic administration of psychedelics, as has been approved by voters in Colorado and Oregon, but it also allows for the home cultivation and use of psychedelics. 

According to the state attorney general's summary of the measure: "This proposed law would allow persons aged 21 and older to grow, possess, and use certain natural psychedelic substances in certain circumstances. The psychedelic substances allowed would be two substances found in mushrooms (psilocybin and psilocyn) and three substances found in plants (dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, and ibogaine). These substances could be purchased at an approved location for use under the supervision of a licensed facilitator. This proposed law would otherwise prohibit any retail sale of natural psychedelic substances. This proposed law would also provide for the regulation and taxation of these psychedelic substances."

Foreign Policy

State Department Holds Follow-Up Meeting to the Summit of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats. The State Department issued the following statement on a follow-up meeting to the summit of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats:

"US Department of State Counselor Tom Sullivan and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall convened a virtual meeting [Thursday] with the leadership of 12 countries that are leading progress in the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats to mobilize international action to tackle the synthetic drug crisis:  Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

"The meeting followed President Biden’s Leaders’ Summit of the Coalition at the UN General Assembly in September, during which 11 Coalition countries announced new initiatives, including efforts to disrupt the supply chain of fentanyl and enhance public health interventions.

"The United States welcomed the announcements by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and France on their new initiatives that will move the work of each of the Coalition’s core lines forward.  Argentina spoke to its efforts to establish a regional center to share information and best practices to disrupt synthetic drug trafficking. "Brazil discussed its initiatives to expand Early Warning Systems to identify and share alerts on emerging synthetic drug threats. Colombia emphasized it stands ready to collaborate with Global Coalition partners to analyze seized illicit synthetic drugs and their precursors.  France presented on its intent to explore training French-speaking public health professionals around the world in substance-use prevention and treatment."

"Counselor Sullivan and White House Homeland Security Advisor Sherwood-Randall commended partners on their collaborative efforts to disrupt the supply chain for fentanyl and other synthetic drugs; detect emerging drug threats; and prevent and treat substance use through effective public health interventions.  Both underscored the U.S. government’s priority to counter the threat posed by synthetic drugs and our deep commitment to make progress on this lethal threat to U.S. citizens."

The meeting did not address alternatives to drug prohibition as a means of dealing with synthetic drugs. 

International

Colombian Justice Ministry Unveils Draft Decree on Regulating Coca and Poppy Crops. The Ministry of Justice has unveiled a draft decree with detailed measures to regulate the use and cultivation of coca and opium poppy crops. Under the decree, regulated cultivation could occur for industrial, medical, and scientific purposes. 

The move would mark a dramatic shift in Colombian law, which currently prohibits their cultivation. 

The draft decree would make only public—not private—entities eligible to seek authorization to grow coca and/or opium for industrial, medical, and scientific purposes. The National Narcotics Council would oversee the program to ensure compliance with international treaties and national drug control regulations. 

But it is a long way from a draft decree to a change in policy. The proposal still faces a comprehensive review process, hearing from indigenous and rural communities, and environmental and other impact evaluations. 

However, the draft decree also envisions a framework for protecting ancestral knowledge in indigenous and rural communities and mandates that any use of this knowledge occur only with community consent. It thus seeks to ensure that the collective rights of those communities, some of which have cultivated these crops for generations, remain intact.

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KY Cop Convicted in Breonna Taylor Drug Raid Killing, Sinaloa Cartel Faction Fight Continues, More... (11/4/24)

A Filipino lawmaker has filed a bill that would flip the drug war on its head, and more. 

Criminal Justice

Kentucky Cop Found Guilty in Botched Drug Raid That Left Breonna Taylor Dead. Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankinson was found guilty Friday of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a black EMS worker who was shot and killed by police after her boyfriend responded to their door being broken down by taking a single shot on the home invaders.

More than four years after the March 2020 raid, Hankison becomes the first police officer directly involved in the case to be convicted of criminal charges. 

A federal jury found that Hankison used excessive force by firing 10 shots through the windows and door of Taylor's apartment even though he could not see what was behind the windows or door. Hankison's bullets did not kill or injure anyone, although several penetrated the apartment walls. The officer who shot and killed Taylor, John Mattingly, remains unconvicted of any crime. 

Taylor's killing came just weeks before the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and her name was nearly as prominently mentioned by protestors in the wave of demonstrations over police killings that swept the country that summer. 

The verdict is "an important step toward accountability for the violation of Breonna Taylor’s civil rights, but justice for the loss of Ms. Taylor is a task that exceeds human capacity," said Attorney General Merrick Garland. 

Until now, the only person convicted for the raid was former Louisville Police detective Kelly Goodlett, who helped falsify a search warrant to allow the raid to move forward and pleaded guilty to that effect. She is looking at up to five years in federal prison. Two other former Louisville cops, Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, still face charges for making false statements. 

Hankison faces up to life in prison.

At least five officers have been fired or forced to resign for their roles in the raid, the state has banned the use of no-knock search warrants, the city of Louisville paid a $12 million wrongful death settlement to Taylor's family, and the Louisville Police Department faces a looming consent decree requiring changes in the department's policies and training. 

International

Death Toll Keeps Rising in Sinaloa Cartel Faction Fight. Roads and highways across the western Mexican state of Sinaloa were littered with bodies last weekend, as at least 35 people were killed in continuing factional strife among rival members of the Sinaloa Cartel. The factions leave bodies in public places in a bid to instill fear in both rivals and the population at large. 

Most of the killings took place around Culiacan, the state capital, and the main battleground in the cartel war. 

The cartel, long the most powerful in Mexico, has now split into the Chapitos, led by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and La Mayiza, the followers of cartel cofounder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who was kidnapped in August by one of Guzman's sons and delivered to US authorities. 

The most recent killings came after the late October arrest of La Mayiza leader Antonio Rubio Lopez, "El Oso," after an intense firefight between Mexican security forces and at least 30 armed civilians, presumably cartel gunmen. That battle left 19 gunmen dead. 

Filipino Lawmaker Files Bill for Rights-Based, Public Health-Centered Approach to Drug Policy. Rep. Percival Cendana has filed House Bill 11004, the Public Health Approach to Drug Use Act, which proposes "humane solutions" to illicit drug use. 

Cendana has dubbed the bill the "Kian bill," named for Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old killed by police as part of former President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody drug war. He said it would be "a 180-degree turn" from Duterte's approach. 

"The Kian Bill prevents the killing of more innocent Kians. Instead of violence and bullets, our solution is to provide appropriate treatment and direct care for drug users," Cendaña said.

The bill calls for mandating local governments to implement a community-based health and social service support program. It also calls for "evidence-based" counseling, treatment, support, and mentorship, and for voluntary—not coerced—drug treatment.

"Compulsory drug and rehabilitation centers and treatment rehabilitation facilities shall be converted to voluntary, community-based, and evidence-based health and social support programs," the bill reads.

The bill also forbids practices popular with the Duterte administration. 

"The proposed law bans the use of Tokhang or drug lists, torture, unlawful police interference, and other cruel methods used in the drug war," Cendaña said.

Cendana is a member of the Akbayan Citizens Action Party, which holds only one House seat out of 316 and one Senate seat out of 24. 

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Last-Minute Poll Has FL Legal Pot Init Losing, German Cities Advance Plans for Legal Pot Pilot Projects, More... (11/5/24)

The Justice Department is doling out more dollars to help Louisiana fight its drug war, and more. 

Marijuana Policy 

Last-Minute Florida Poll Has Legalization Initiative Losing. 

A last-minute poll released Monday has the Amendment 3 marijuana legalization constitutional amendment narrowly losing, although the spread is within the margin of error. The Victory Insights poll, which was taken last week, had support for the measure at 56 percent, with 44 percent opposed. 

Under Florida law, constitutional amendments on the ballot require not just a simple majority but 60 percent to win. 

Most earlier polls have shown Amendment 3 winning, including a September Emerson College/The Hill poll that had support at 63.6 percent and an October University of North Florida poll that had support at 66 percent. 

The initiative would legalize the possession of up to three ounces of pot by people 21 and over, as well as up to five grams of concentrates. There is no provision for home cultivation. Existing medical marijuana operations could sell to adults for personal use. It would be up to the legislature to allow anyone other than existing medical marijuana dispensaries to get licensed for adult sales.

By this time tomorrow, we should know how accurate those polls are. 

Drug Policy

Justice Department Throws More Money at Louisiana to Prosecute Drug War. The US Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana announced Monday that the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, has awarded $3,364,666 to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement ("LCLE") to help state law enforcement agencies "fight the drug epidemic and violent crime throughout the state of Louisiana."

The money will go to "providing state and local units of government funding to enforce drug control laws and to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, with an emphasis on violent crime and serious offenders." The program is designed to "improve drug control via enforcement of the laws against violent and non-violent crime; addressing recidivism by strengthening the areas of the criminal justice system that focus on prevention of crime and drug abuse intervention; and responding to the need for specialized law enforcement and prosecution training."

The Louisiana Law Enforcement Commission will determine exactly where the money goes, as well as "promoting law enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication efforts necessary to provide for a safe and drug-free society."

This funding has been an annual thing in recent years. Last year, the program awarded $4,202,037 collectively to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, Baton Rouge Police Department, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office.

There is no word on any cost-benefit analysis of this endless funding for drug prohibition. 

International

Germany Announces Two Further Planned Adult-Use Marijuana Trials, but Legislation Is Not Yet in Place to Launch Them. The cities of Hanover and Frankfurt have published "letters of intent" signaling they plan to launch pilot projects for legal marijuana sales that will involve thousands of customers. But with enabling legislation for "Pillar 2" of legalization—the emergence of legal marijuana markets—still on hold and with no firm date for its passage, those statements of intent remain just that. 

In Frankfurt, the city and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences want to launch a five-year pilot program with four pot shops open to citizens. Eligible residents will have to register so the city health department and the university can track the impact on public health. Authorities say the primary aim of the project is to divert the city's estimated 50,000 pot smokers from the black market. 

Participants will have to be 18 or older and in good health and will have to complete regular medical surveys and health checks. Participants will be limited to 50 grams of marijuana a month, for which they will pay about $10 per gram. 

The city of Hanover has plans for a similar study with 4,000 participants. It will also be supported by the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. 

The city of Wiesbaden has already announced plans for a pilot study of legal markets. 

Pillar 2 was the German government's response to criticism from the European Commission of its initial plans to launch a legal, regulated marijuana market. Instead of moving ahead full bore, the Germans legalized marijuana possession in Pillar 1 and will go with the pilot programs instead. That is, once they either pass enabling legislation or draft regulations for the programs administratively. 

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