Drug War Chronicle #761 - November 29, 2012

Outrage at Potential Sentence for Montana Medical Marijuana Grower [FEATURE]

Chris Williams is sitting in a private federal prison on the Montana prairie these days awaiting sentencing. If the federal government has its way, he won't be a free man again for three-quarters of a century, an effective life sentence for a middle-aged man like Williams.

So, what did he do that merits such a harsh sentence? Did he murder someone? Did he rape, pillage, and plunder? No. He grew medical marijuana. And, as is not uncommon in Montana, he had guns around as he did so. Standing on firm conviction, he steadfastly refused repeated plea bargain offers from federal prosecutors, which could have seen him serving "only" 10 years or so.

Williams is one of the more than two dozen Montana medical marijuana providers caught up in the federal dragnet after mass raids in March 2011 savaged the state's medical marijuana community, including Montana Cannabis, one of the state's largest providers, where he was a partner. A true believer in the cause, Williams is the only one of those indicted after the federal raids to not cop a plea, and he was convicted on eight federal marijuana and weapons charges in September after being blocked from mentioning the state's medical marijuana laws during his trial.

It is the gun charges that are adding decades to his sentences. As is the case in drug raids where police come up against armed homeowners, or as was the case of Salt Lake City rap record label owner and pot dealer Weldon Angelos ended up with a 55-year sentence because he sometimes packed a pistol, the Williams case is one where the rights granted under the 2^nd Amendment clash with the imperatives of the drug war.

Williams was not convicted of using his firearms or even of brandishing them, but merely of having legal shotguns present at the medical marijuana grow, which was legal under Montana law. Still, that's enough for the gun sentencing enhancements to kick in, and that's enough to cause a rising clamor of support for Williams as he faces a January sentencing date.

"The sentence shocks the conscience," said Chris Lindsey, a former business partner of Williams who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a federal marijuana conspiracy charge. "Look at (former Penn State assistant football coach) Jerry Sandusky. For 45 counts of child sexual abuse, he gets 30 years. Chris Williams is going to get three times that for being a medical marijuana provider. It doesn't make any logical sense," he told the Missoulian.

Williams supporters have created a Free Chris Williams Facebook page and are petitioning the White House through its We the People online petition program for a full pardon for him. The White House responds to petitions that achieve over 25,000 signatures; the Williams petition has managed to generate slightly more than 20,000 signatures in less than two weeks. Other petitions seeking clemency for Williams are at SignOn.org and Care2.com.

Williams and his supporters are not just relying on the kindness of the White House. He is appealing his criminal conviction to the 9^th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and he is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that claims he and other medical marijuana providers were in compliance with Montana state law and the federal raid and subsequent prosecutions were an unconstitutional usurpation of state and local powers under the 10^th Amendment. That amendment says powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution and not prohibited by the states are reserved to the states or the people.

But legal experts said his chances for victory in the civil lawsuit were small, and he would still be saddled with the federal criminal conviction.

"The war on drugs is too sacrosanct a sacred cow for the courts to weigh in favor," said California marijuana attorney Robert Raich, who has argued and lost two marijuana cases at the Supreme Court. "I think we can make better progress by doing something other than filing lawsuits," he said in an interview with the Helena Independent Record.

Still, Raich said he sympathized with Williams' plight and added that the federal attack on Montana providers was among its harshest.

"Montana is the worst," he said. "The federal government has attacked medical cannabis with a vengeance in Montana more than any other state."

Williams' attorney in the civil suit, Paul Livingston, said he would press forward with the appeal even if his client is behind bars.

"He has been made a martyr," said attorney Livingston. "It's a very solid case, it is a case that needs to be decided and I think everyone would agree once they learn the facts of what happened," Livingston said.

Ironically, as Williams languishes behind bars contemplating spending the rest of his life in prison, Montana could become the next state to legalize marijuana. Medical marijuana activists there, frustrated by the legislature's gutting of their program last year and their inability to get that overturned this year, have filed papers to put a legalization initiative on the ballot in 2014. Even that wouldn't directly help Williams, but it would serve to further underline the senselessness of his sentence.

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Chronicle DVD Review: Code of the West

DVD Review: Code of the West, directed by Rebecca Richman Cohen (2012, Racing Horse Films, 71 minutes)

In Code of the West, Emmy nominated filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen brilliantly tells the story of Montana's late medical marijuana wars. And now the film is itself part of the story; excerpts from it were played by the defense during the sentencing of Tom Daubert, a central figure in the film, and undoubtedly helped him escape the clutches of the federal Bureau of Prisons with an unanticipated sentence of five years' probation.

But we get ahead of ourselves. Montana's voter-approved medical marijuana program was small-scale and operating quietly for its first five years, but in 2009, when the Obama administration indicated it was not going to go after medical marijuana providers in states where it was legal, the scene exploded. Dispensaries blossomed across Big Sky County, and caravans crisscrossed the state signing up patients after, shall we say, sometimes less than adequate examinations by physicians.

Within two years, the backlash against medical marijuana and its excesses resulted first in a bill passed by the radical Republican legislature to totally repeal the 2004 voter initiative -- vetoed by Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer -- and then in a second bill that was as close to outright repeal as you could come without calling it that. Schweitzer let that one stand, effectively wiping out the state's booming industry.

Then, as the legislature was deliberating that spring, the feds struck. In a series of coordinated raids, DEA and FBI agents raided 26 Montana medical marijuana operations in one fell swoop, sending an even clearer signal that the state's medical marijuana glory days had come and gone.

Code of the West takes you behind the scenes during that contentious year at the state house, featuring interviews with medical marijuana patients and providers, state law enforcement and legislative officials, and concerned citizens convinced that medical marijuana was going to turn their children into stoners and their state into a laughing stock.

Two of the central figures in the film are long-time state house lobbyist Tom Daubert, who ran the 2004 medical marijuana initiative and later formed Montana Cannabis, one of the state's larger providers, and Daubert's partner in Montana Cannabis, Chris Williams. Both ended up being indicted on federal marijuana trafficking charges -- this came after the period covered by the film -- and while Daubert copped a plea to earn probation, Williams refused to bend, was convicted on marijuana and weapons charges (because they had shotguns at their grows) and is now facing an 80-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence.

"Even now, the DEA could come kick our door in and arrest us all," Williams says presciently in the film.

Cohen succeeds at portraying the opposition to medical marijuana. But while Daubert may diplomatically
praise opponents' sincerity and while Cohen takes pains to portray them with a certain degree of sympathy, they don't come off well in my book. Rock-ribbed Republicans like House Speaker Mike Milburn come off as earnest culture warriors, while the conservative Billings church ladies of Safe Kids Safe Communities, the main backlash group, come off as, well, conservative church ladies.

And not only do the Republicans and the church ladies come off as mean and pinched, they lie through their teeth about medical marijuana. (Not to mention having allies who worry about marijuana demons.)

"We stand to lose a whole generation of kids to medical marijuana," declaimed Safe Kids Safe Communities' Cherrie Brady, trumpeting a favorite opposition theme that medical marijuana was leading to skyrocketing teen pot use. The numbers actually show a slight decline.

Speaker Milburn, while attempting to appear earnest and statesmanlike, was also capable of throwing Reefer Madness-style rhetorical bombs.

"Children are prostituting themselves to gain access to drugs and this problem happened because of medical marijuana," he dared say with a straight face "These people who are medicating, they're hippies and the children of hippies."

And one final example of what we're up against. When the 2011 repeal bill passed the state Senate, the Safe Kids Safe Communities ladies were overjoyed. How overjoyed?

"All of the angels are flying up to the ceiling singing hosannas for this repeal," one gushed.

Code of the West is both a civics lesson -- this is how laws get made and unmade -- and a cinematographic pleasure. Scenes of state capital hallway lobbying and floor speechifying are intercut with glorious Montana landscapes. The film is a pleasure to watch and an important intervention in a still-running battle.

While the film ends with the federal raids of spring 2011 and the legislative follies that resulted in repeal-in-all-but name, the story doesn't end there. The worries Williams and Daubert expressed in the film about possible federal prosecution after the raids were all too true. Both were indicted on marijuana cultivation and trafficking charges by the feds, and while Daubert walked away with only probation, Williams now looks likely to become another medical marijuana martyr.

Cohen knows she stopped filming in the middle of the story, and is now working on a Kickstarter campaign to raise the $30,000 she needs to do an update. And it's not just the trials. An effort to undo last year's gutting of the program failed at the polls in November, and some medical marijuana activists have now decided to quit screwing around and just go for out and out legalization. They've already filed a ballot initiative for 2014.

There's likely to be an updated version of Code of the West in a few months.  But the current version is powerful, enlightening, and beautiful. Watch it now.

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Tax-Deductible Donations Support the Cause

Dear StoptheDrugWar.org supporter:

We are approaching a new year in a new time. Things are moving our way -- in a big way. But there are critical next steps to take; there is critical work to be done. As we approach December 31st, would you consider a generous tax-deductible donation to support our educational work in 2013? Or if you're not using tax-deductions this year, non-deductible donation to support our lobbying work?

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With marijuana legalization passing in two states, with growing international support for a real debate about prohibition, people are talking about drug policy like never before. And so two of our newest offers for donating members come from the academic world rather than activist reformer circles: Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know and Drugs, Insecurity and Failed States: The Problems of Prohibition.

This is also a time of continuing outrages in the government's drug war, including the federal campaign against medical marijuana. And so our third new offer is the DVD Lynching Charlie Lynch, telling the story of one of California's most respected and responsible medical marijuana providers, now facing time in federal prison. (Follow the three links above for Drug War Chronicle reviews of each of these works.)
 

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Uruguayan Deputies Say Legalize All Drugs

Even as Uruguay considers a groundbreaking proposal from President Jose Mujica to legalize state-regulated marijuana cultivation and sales, parliamentarians from most of the leading political factions in the country are calling on the government to go even further and legalize all drugs in a bid to blunt the power of and threat from illicit drug traffickers.

The comments came in interviews solicited by and published in the Uruguayan news weekly Busqueda and appeared in its November 22 issue.

The war on drugs has been "a resounding failure" because it has "fortified crime," said Independent Party Deputy Ivan Posada. Forty years of drug war has created a reality where there exist "true international enterprises dedicated to the traffic in drugs," which can only be effectively combated by "establishing the legalization of the traffic of all drugs," he said.

The legalization of marijuana sales and cultivation (use and possession are already legal in Uruguay) proposed by Mujica and his Broad Front (Frente Amplio) government is "doomed to failure" because it is only a half-measure and not a global strategy, Posada sniped.

The war on drugs approach "will fall sooner or later in this century," said Deputy Jose Bayardi of the Artigist Tendency (Vertiente Artiguista), a social democratic current within the Broad Front. "The only solution there is to defeat the drug trade is the legalization of all psychoactive drugs," he said.

"There will come a moment in which all the drugs that are today illegal -- heroin, cocaine, etc. -- will be administered in the same manner, with an informative pamphlet," said Bayardi, a former defense minister. "Then, the individual will take the responsibility for doing with them what he wishes. We are going down this path. Sooner rather than later, we will arrive, and then we will really be fighting the drug trade," he said.

The steps the government is taking to legalize and regulate marijuana sales and cultivation "are a beginning, a point of departure" on a path where "the state will regulate all drugs," said Broad Front Deputy Sebatian Sabini, who chairs the Commission on Addiction in the Uruguayan House of Representatives. "As a society, we aren't ready to discuss it, but in the long run we have to do it, also for public health reasons. We can carry the same analysis of the drug trade that leads us to legalize marijuana on to [cocaine] base, to cocaine," he said.

National Alliance Deputy Pablo Itturralde said what was needed first was a an educational campaign illuminating the dangers caused by drug abuse. "After that, if someone wants, he can consume what he will," he said.

Marijuana users aren't the problem, Itturalde said. "If there is a drug that is implicated in public safety, it is paste base," he said. "Marijuana users are peace and love people." [Ed: Paste base is also known as "pasta de cocaína," thought of similarly to crack cocaine, and is considered Uruguay's most worrisome drug problem.]

The leader of the House of Representatives, Deputy Jorge Orrico, also said that the way to fight the drug trade is to "legalize all drugs," although he caviled about paste base because of its negative effects. "Of all the other substances, I have no doubt because the business works in clandestinity. At the least, we can diminish the mafia," he said.

While the talk of legalization of all drugs cuts across the political spectrum in Uruguay, at this point it is only the legalization and regulation of marijuana commerce that is on the legislative agenda. But it sure looks like many Uruguayans are interested in looking further.

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Dutch Plan to Ban Potent Marijuana From Cannabis Cafes

Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten told parliament last week that the government intends to classify marijuana with a THC content of 15% or more as a Class A drug like heroin and cocaine and bar it from being sold in the country's famous cannabis coffee shops. Opstelten did not say when the new policy would go into effect, although he did say it would happen "quickly."

And there is some question over whether it actually will go into effect. Opstelten has been justice minister under the conservative coalition that governed until losing elections in September, but that conservative government has now had to enter into a new coalition with the more marijuana-friendly Labor Party.

One result of the new coalition has been the national-level abandonment of the "weed pass" program aimed at excluding foreigners from the coffee shops. It remains to be seen whether the new coalition government and the parliament will go along with treating potent marijuana like heroin or cocaine.

"Hard drugs have no place in the coffee shops and in the future they will only be able to offer cannabis with a THC level of below 15%," Opstelten told MPs.

Coffee shop owners aren't waiting to express their concerns with the proposed move. Barring potent marijuana from the coffee shops will just push it onto the streets, they said.

"Weak weed in the coffee shops, strong weed on the streets -- then the choice is pretty clear," said Marc Josemans, a spokesman for the Maastricht coffee shop owners. "It makes it harder for society. A user smokes less, just as people don’t drink rum out of a beer glass."

About 80% of the marijuana sold in Dutch coffee shops is weed whose potency is 15% or higher.

Although marijuana formally remains illegal in the Netherlands, the country has tolerated the coffee house system since the 1970s and currently allows purchasers to buy up to five grams. There are an estimated 500 or so coffee shops in the country.

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New Poll Finds Canadians Want Marijuana Law Reform

Even as the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephan Harper institutes harsher penalties for some marijuana offenses, a new poll finds that nearly two-thirds of Canadians favor either decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana, while less than one-third favor the status quo or harsher penalties.

The poll, from Forum Research, found that 33% backed legalization, while 32% favored decriminalization of small amounts. Support for legalization was down seven points over last year's Forum Research poll, while support for decriminalization was up by six points. Overall, support for marijuana law reform was essentially unchanged from last year.

Only 17% supported leaving the laws as they are, while 15% wanted stiffer penalties. Support for the status quo or stiffer penalties was strongest among Conservatives.

Support for legalization was highest among people under 35, men, people with incomes over $100,000, and Ontario and Atlantic region residents. British Columbians, Ontarians, and Quebeckers also had strong support decriminalization.

"Legalization is a smart policy for the Liberal Party to adopt as it plays into their natural strengths and against those of the government. It's an issue many Canadians appear willing to rally around," said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff. "Public opinion has been ahead of government on this issue for a while."

The Forum Poll was an interactive phone survey of 1,849 randomly selected Canadian residents over 18 conducted on November 19. It has a margin of error of +/-2%.

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Medical Marijuana Update

Arizona marks a medical marijuana first, there's an ominous move by the feds in Northern California, Illinois is considering a medical marijuana bill, and that's not the half of it. Here we go:

Arizona

On November 15, Arizona Organix became the state's first licensed dispensary. It's not open for business yet, but it has been licensed. A sign on the door says, "We hope to be operating within a few weeks" and encourages potential customers to sign up on an email list. One problem for the new dispensary is finding a place to grow its product. The city of Glendale doesn't allow dispensaries to grow on site, and Arizona Organix is finding that many potential landlords for its grow are wary of possible federal enforcement actions.

Last Wednesday, the state Department of Health reported that there were nearly 34,000 patients with active medical marijuana cards in the state as of November 7.That's an average of 307 potential patients for each of the 97 dispensary applicant finalists selected by the state.

California

Last Tuesday, Mendocino County officials confirmed that the feds have subpoenaed medical marijuana financial records the county keeps. A federal grand jury subpoenaed the records in late October. The county had a program under which the sheriff's office issued permits for collectives wanting to grow up to 99 plants and sold zip ties for $25 that could be affixed to plants to show they were grown in compliance with state law. Now, compliant growers fear their attempts to be scrupulously legal at the state level could come back to haunt them at the federal level.

Also last Tuesday, the Sacramento city council adopted an ordinance barring outdoor grows in residential areas. The 6-2 vote came after council members complained of plant odor, robberies, and occasional violence associated with outdoor grows.

Last Friday, local media said San Francisco's Shambala Healing Center had reopened. The Mission District dispensary had been forced to close its doors after the Justice Department threatened its landlord with property forfeiture, but has quietly reopened as the heat seems to have decreased in the Bay Area.

As of this week, Kern County dispensaries operating near schools and churches can stay open. That's because a judge late last week issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Measure G, which restricted dispensary locations and was passed by voters in June. Dispensary operators have complained that the measure essentially blocks them from operating because "there are virtually no legal places to set up shop," but county officials said they would appeal.

Illinois

On Tuesday, the Illinois House debated a medical marijuana bill, with a vote expected any day now. The bill, House Bill 30, would be the strictest such law in the nation, forbidding patients from growing their own and requiring that they qualify under a tight list of medical conditions. While legislators debated, patients and supporters rallied.

Massachusetts

On Tuesday, the Peabody city council voted to ban dispensaries. The vote came just three weeks after Massachusetts voters approved a medical marijuana initiative. Rather than deal with regulating dispensaries, it was simpler to ban them, the council decided. Voters in Peabody approved the medical marijuana initiative by more than 3,000 votes. Two other towns, Reading and Wakefield, have already passed municipal bylaws barring dispensaries.

Michigan

Last Friday, the Holly village council voted to deny a business license to a dispensary. The council split 3-3, meaning the motion to grant a license to Well Greens failed. Well Greens is already operating, and the failure to grant a license won't close it, council members said. The license was not designed to grant permission to operate, but rather a registration, acknowledging that the business was up to code. The council may reconsider its vote on December 4.

New Jersey

On Wednesday, New Jersey officials said they would tax medical marijuana. "The State Division of Taxation determined medical marijuana is subject to the sales tax," state Treasury Department spokesman Andy Pratt said. The state sales tax is 7%.

Now, if only someone can manage to get a dispensary actually up and running in the Garden State. That would help Susan Sterner, among others. She faces major eye surgery to reduce dangerously high interocular pressure that threatens her with the possibility of blindness. Sterner has filled out her forms and paid her fees to the state, according to the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey, but there are still no operating dispensaries in New Jersey, three years after former governor John Corzine signed the state's medical marijuana bill into law. The only dispensary operator to have received a final permit from the state so far, Greenleaf Alternative Treatment Center in Montclair, has yet to open.

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Marijuana Legalization Initiative Filed in Montana

They're back. Although a late effort to get on the ballot this year fell short, Montana marijuana activists are determined to get on the ballot in 2014, and just 10 days after the election, they submitted the first 2014 ballot question received by the secretary of state's office.

The constitutional initiative is proposed by East Helena medical marijuana advocate Barb Trego and lists as contact person Chris Lindsay, former partner in Montana Cannabis and now a convicted federal marijuana offender for his efforts.

The language of the 2014 initiative is not yet on file with the secretary of state's office, but it is said to mirror this year's failed CI-110, which would have amended the state constitution so that "adults have the right to responsibly purchase, consume, produce, and possess marijuana, subject to reasonable limitations, regulations, and taxation.  Except for actions that endanger minors, children, or public safety, no criminal offense or penalty of this state shall apply to such activities."

To qualify for the ballot, initiative organizers must obtain the signatures of 10% of qualified voters, as well as 10% of qualified voters in each of the state's 40 legislative House districts. It's not clear yet what the exact numbers are -- they are based on this month's election results -- but this year, organizers needed about 45,000 signatures and came up with only 19,000.

This next time around, organizers will have the benefit of more time. They will also have the benefit of the examples of successful legalization initiatives this year in Colorado and Washington.

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Ohio Cop Kills One in Undercover Bust Gone Bad

Cincinnati Police undercover officers shot and killed one man and wounded another during a drug buy gone bad Wednesday night. Montez Oneal, 19, becomes the 59^th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to WKRC TV 12 News, acting Police Chief James Whalen said Friday Oneal was driving a car that drove away from two undercover officers who attempted to pull it over after buying heroin from the three men inside. Oneal's vehicle eventually drove into a dead end, when he allegedly put the car in reverse and slammed into the unmarked car carrying the undercover officers. Another Cincinnati police officer in a patrol car then pulled his cruiser beside Oneal's car to try to box him in.

At that point, according to Whalen, one of the men then jumped out of the vehicle, pointed a weapon at the uniformed officer, then fled as the officer fired on him. Whalen said police did not think that suspect had been hit. He remains at large.

Then, Oneal stepped halfway out of his car and fired at the uniformed officer with a .45 caliber handgun. The officer returned fire, striking Oneal multiple times. He died at the scene. A third man in the vehicle, Robert Matthews, 23, who was the target of the investigation, was in the back seat. He was wounded when the officer fired on Oneal, then treated at a local hospital and jailed.

The police shooter, Officer Orlando Smith, has been reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation into the shooting.

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This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

There seem to be some problems with drug task force leadership in Mississippi, and a Michigan cop gets in trouble for treating the forfeiture shed as his own personal pawn shop. Let's get to it:

In Eastpointe, Michigan, a former detective was charged November 16 with stealing tires, slot machines, watches, and other items from the Eastpointe Police forfeiture shed for drugs and money. The as yet unnamed former officer is charged with misconduct in office and embezzlement. The former cop allegedly gave the items to a confidential informant to sell.

In Oxford, Mississippi, the former head of the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit was arrested last Monday on charges he was "doctor shopping" for prescription pain pills. Searn Lynch was still head of the unit until he was arrested, then he was fired. He is accused of getting prescriptions from at least 17 different doctors. Lynch joined the department in 1999 and served as head of the narcotics unit for several years. He allegedly received one hydrocodone prescription in 2005; when arrested, he had 15 different prescriptions for hydrocodone and two more for oxycodone. He has been released on a $5,000 bond.

In Pascagoula, Mississippi, the former Jackson County Narcotics Task Force commander was indicted last Friday for a shooting at the task force's Pascagoula office. Sgt. Jackie Trussell, the former task force commander, got himself into criminal trouble when he shot a round from his gun into the office floor at the feet of another agent who had threatened to poke him with a hypodermic needle. Trussell said he was afraid of needles. The other agent suffered a minor wound to his shin when a bullet fragment hit it. The shooting incident led several local jurisdictions to withdraw from the task force. Trussell is charged with misdemeanor simple assault and is looking at up to six months in jail. He has been released on a $1,000 bond.

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