Drug War Chronicle #738 - June 14, 2012

Attorney General Holder told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that Justice is only targeting dispensaries not in compliance with state laws. Medical marijuana advocates called him a liar.

A trial over a big cocaine bust in Michigan ended up taking out a judge, a prosecutor, and a pair of cops as they constructed a conspiracy of lies to help win their case.

David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, which imports more than 20 tons of hemp oil each year from Canadian farmers, was arrested by members of the DC Metropolitan Police Department after committing an act of civil disobedience within sight of the White House early Monday morning.

Drug War Chronicle interviewed David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, on Sunday prior to his Monday morning hemp civil disobedience at the White House.

A new Rasmussen poll shows the Colorado initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol is well-positioned to win in November.

DrugWarFacts.org, a publication of Common Sense for Drug Policy, is an in-depth compilation of key facts, stats and quotes on the full range of drug policy issues, excerpted from expert publications on the subjects. The Chronicle is running a series of info items from DrugWarFacts.org over the next several weeks, and we encourage you to check it out.

For the second time in a year, Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles has denied a life-saving organ transplant to a patient solely because of his or her medical marijuana use.

After a brief hiatus, the DEA wrecking ball was back at work in California this week. Also, an important court victory in Colorado, a couple of court losses in Oregon, and Vermont is accepting dispensary applications. And there's a whole bunch more, too.

A federal appeals court has thrown out a Job Corps worker drug testing program, saying the government had not provided any reason to grant an exception to the Fourth Amendment's ban on warrantless searches and seizures.

In an effort to reduce the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other blood-borne disease, authorities in Kenya will start distributing needles to injection drug users next month.

France's Socialists don't want to legalize marijuana, but their likely coalition junior partners, the Greens, do. It's a start.

There may be justice yet for Ramarley Graham, the Bronx teenager killed by police in his own bathroom as he tried to flush a baggie of weed. The cops said they thought he had a gun. He didn't, and now one narc has been indicted for manslaughter.

Bad deputy! We have three cases of misbehaving sheriff's deputies this week, plus the mandatory crooked prison guard.