In a historic ruling in June, the US Supreme Court held that police must obtain a warrant before searching cell phones and smart phones. But what about the people already convicted on the basis of those searches?
Randy Credico is a veteran New York activist, gadfly, and comedian, but there's nothing funny about the issues he's campaigning on in his quest to be governor of New York.
California's controversial medical marijuana regulation bill is going down to the wire, Delaware will soon see its first dispensary, Guam will vote on a medical marijuana initiative in November, and more.
More problems for the scandal-tainted dope squads in Detroit and Philadelphia, a new Jersey college cop admits to peddling pills, and a Texas parole officer gone bad goes to prison.
The legalization debate packed 'em in in Anchorage, California's medical marijuana regulation bill is going down to the wire, Massachusetts has a new substance abuse law, China executes two for drugs, and more.
Things get slow in the dog days of summer, but there's still news from the legal marijuana states, California continues to grapple with regulating medical marijuana, and a couple of items from Britain suggest change could be in the air there.
Germans march for marijuana, Washington state takes in a million in taxes from the first month of pot sales, New Mexico local decriminalization initiatives struggle to make the ballot, Central Florida cops make a bunch of small-time drug busts, a new poll has some old results on the success of the drug war, and more.
Everybody must be at the beach, because it's pretty quiet on the drug reform front. But Philly faces a class action lawsuit over asset forfeiture, the DEA gets caught wasting taxpayer money, and there's marijuana policy action down South America way.
A key California sentencing reform bill gets a final Assembly vote tomorrow, the Oregon legalization initiative gets some organized oppositions, Delaware gets a step closer to its first dispensary, Marc Emery gets to go home, and more.
special to the Chronicle by investigative reporter Clarence Walker, [email protected]
On June 25, the US Supreme Court handed down a resounding landmark ruling in two separate high profile criminal cases, requiring police to first get a warrant to search a person's cell phone. The ruling is a major victory for the privacy rights of millions of cell phone users, with the Supreme Court working to update Fourth Amendment search and seizure law to keep pace with technological advances.
According to a
January Pew survey, 90% of American adults have cell phones and 58% have smart phones.
Cell phones are "such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion. "Cell phones and smart phones with extensive memory can store millions of pages of personal texts, hundreds of photos and videos, which can form a revealing biography of a person's life, and that the Fourth Amendment must protect personal, private possessions. A cell phone search would typically expose to the government far more than the exhaustive search of a house."
In its unanimous decision, the court rejected the Obama administration's argument that "cell phones are no different from anything else a person may be carrying when arrested, and that cell phones are now critical to tools in the commission of a crime."
The decision came in two separate cases, US v. David Riley, a California man serving 15 years on charges of attempted murder and a gun charge, and US v. Brima Wurie, a Boston area man sentenced to federal pen for 22 1/2 years on drug related charges. The court consolidated the two cases in reaching its opinion.
The question now becomes whether the decision will be applied retroactively to thousands of similar prosecutions where defendants were convicted as result of warrantless evidence used against them that were taken from their cell phones or mobile devices. If retroactivity is granted, thousands of inmates could either go free, be granted a new trial, or face resentencing.
Attorney Orrin Kerr (gwu.edu)
Writing
a commentary in the Washington Post, lawyer
Orin Kerr, who serves as a professor at George Washington Law School, explained why the decision in the
Wurie and Riley cases may not be made retroactive.
"The culprit is the continued expansion of the good faith exception in Davis v. US, where the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusionary rule is not available if a search was authorized by binding appellant precedent at the time the search occurred," he argued. "Lower courts have interpreted Davis to apply broadly even when no binding appellate precedent authorized the search. Therefore, under these cases, relatively few defendants will get the benefits of the Riley-Wurie rule."
In an interview with the Chronicle, San Diego appellate attorney Charles Sevilla largely agreed.
"The court seldom states whether its rulings are retroactive," he told the Chronicle. "And even if the reversals in Wurie's and Riley's cell phone convictions were applied retroactively to cases not yet final on appeal, the defendants must face a 'good faith' argument to request a new trial. A 'good faith' argument can be made, for example, when a police officer, relying on a warrant, finds incriminating evidence during a search, but the search warrant is later found to be invalid. The 'good faith' doctrine allows the use of that evidence if it were unlawfully obtained because the officer was acting in 'good faith,'" he explained.
"Evidence should be suppressed only if it can be said that the law enforcement officer had knowledge a search was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment," Sevilla added, citing Herring v. US. "If the police, during prior cell phone searches, acted on case law allowing warrantless searches, then an officer's 'good faith' conduct will doom a suppression motion," Seville argued.
Of course, police usually deny knowingly conducting unlawful searches.
Sevilla also cited Davis v. US as another obstacle to retroactivity in cell phone search cases. In that case, Illinois police arrested Willie Gene Davis for providing a false name, then searched his car and found an illegal weapon. An appeals court refused to throw out the warrantless search of Davis's car because the police only searched the immediate area.
Meanwhile Brima Wurie is scheduled to be resentenced on the drug charge that took his case to the Supreme Court. Because of the court's ruling in his case, the drugs and weapon found in his home after police searched Wurie's cell phone will not be considered, but he's still facing serious time.
"As a repeat offender, Mr. Wurie will still face 20 years from the feds on the original drug case," Wurie's appellate public defender, Ian Gold, told the Chronicle. "So the reversal of Wurie's conviction is largely symbolic without much benefit."
The Supreme Court minced no words in separating such devices from other property a person might have on them when detained by police.
"Modern cell phones, as a category, implicate privacy concerns far beyond those implicated by the search of a cigarette pack, a wallet, or a purse," Chief Justice Roberts wrote. "The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure."
The ruling will certainly apply to searches of tablets, laptop computers, and may even apply to digital information held by third parties like phone companies.
"The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hands does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought," Roberts wrote. "Our answers to the question of what police must do before searching a (cell phone seized incident to an arrest) is accordingly simple -- get a warrant."
"I believe the court got it right," said Lewis Rice, a retired DEA Special Agent in Charge of the agency's New York Office. "The court must balance our right of privacy against law enforcement's ability to aggressively investigate criminal organizations."
Attorney Charles Sevilla (charlessevilla.com)
Rice points out the vital fact that although law enforcement generally needs a warrant, the Supreme Court ruling does allow a warrantless search of a mobile device depending on the immediate situation.
"The court left open the option for law enforcement, under exigent circumstances, to search a cell phone without a warrant," he told the Chronicle.
Still, the decision in Wurie and Riley is already having an impact.
In Michigan, Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock tossed felony drug charges against 29-year-old Matthew Macnaughton on July 16 after Macnaughton's attorney successfully brought up the Wurie and Riley decision.
Grand Rapids police had stopped Macnaughton for running a red light, and the officer decided to arrest him for driving without a license. While Macnaughton sat in the rear seat of the patrol car, the officer examined Macnaughton's smart phone just when a text message from a person came across the screen asking to buy drugs.
"What kind of phone is this?" the cop asked. "You must be a drug dealer."
Macnaughton's attorney, Chris Wirth, argued that per the Supreme Court decision, digital contents of a cell phone cannot be searched in the course of a routine arrest, and that there were no circumstances requiring immediate action. Prosecutor argued that Macnaughton's case didn't apply to the Wurie-Riley decision because Macnaughton's arrest ocurred in February -- prior to the high court handing down the cell phone decision -- but that didn't stop Judge Trusock from tossing the case.
Still, while Macnaughton may have beaten the drug rap, the state still got its pound of flesh. The prosecutor's office seized his 2005 Lincoln Aviator and over $3,000 dollars the police took off him during the arrest.
The DEA appears resigned to live with the Supreme Court ruling, a Justice Department spokeswoman's remarks seem to indicate.
"The Department will work with its law enforcement agencies to ensure full compliance with this Supreme Court decision," spokeswoman Ellen Canales told the Chronicle. "We will make use of whatever technology is available to preserve evidence on cell phones while seeking a warrant, and we will assist our agents in determining when exigent circumstances or another applicable exception to the warrant requirement will permit them to search the phone immediately without a warrant."
But while the DEA is looking forward, defendants and defense attorneys are looking back -- and wondering whether they decision won't bring some relief.
Chief Justice John Roberts (supremecourt.gov)
State and federal courts expect to review tons of motions for new trials from numerous lawyers representing defendants already convicted on crimes related to warrantless cell phone evidence, now that the Supreme Court has ruled the practice violates search and seizure law.
"There probably will be a good deal of litigation over whether this decision can be applied retroactively," San Francisco attorney Dennis Riordan told the Los Angeles Times.
Privacy advocates and civil libertarians are also hoping the Supreme Court ruling in Wurie and Riley will have a role in deciding controversial cases making their way through the lower courts, whether it's cell phone location data tracking or the Obama administration's NSA spy surveillance program.
"When it comes to the Fourth Amendment, we want courts to ensure this important legal protection survives the rapid technological changes of the 21st Century," Hanni Fakoury, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the Chronicle.
The cell phone rulings in the Wurie and Riley cases are only the latest landmark decisions to strike a balance between privacy protections and the evolving role. In Kyllo v. US, the high court ruled that police must obtain a warrant before using thermal imaging devices on homes, while in US v. Jones, the high court overturned the life-without-parole drug conspiracy conviction against Antoine Jones, in which FBI agents and Maryland narcotics officers placed a GPS tracking device on his vehicle for nearly a month without obtaining a search warrant.
Still, while Jones won the case, he didn't win his freedom. After three federal prosecution, including two hung juries and one with the conviction overturned, Jones chose to agree to a plea deal with federal prosecutors rather than face another chance at life in prison with yet another trial.
In a letter from prison, where he is working on a book about his experiences, Jones had something to say about the cell phone decisions.
"The courts are constantly sending a message to police that they're not willing to give them that much power and control. This is a good thing because the police need to be governed by the courts, and the courts should maintain the power to determine when a search warrant is necessary," he wrote. "The police are being either lazy, or they try to circumvent the law when courts rules in favor of protecting constitutional rights."
It is ironic indeed that, as the US government grapples with the NSA and Edward Snowden spying scandals, it took the case of two convicted felons to get the Supreme Court to protect the privacy of millions of Americans who use cell phones containing reams of data about their private lives. The irony is only deepened when we consider that Brima Wurie and David Riley won't benefit much from this historic ruling.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is widely expected to cruise to an easy victory in the Democratic primary on September 9, despite festering influence-peddling scandals, despite his embrace of corporate benefactors, and despite his lackluster support for the ever-popular medical marijuana. He faces only one traditional challenger, Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout.
Credico campaign ad in The Nation magazine
But he also faces the insurgent candidacy of comedian, satirist, political gadfly, and perennial candidate
Randy Credico, who bills himself as "the most progressive candidate since FDR" and who is running on an anti-corporate and pro-drug reform platform. That's nothing new for
Credico, who has long been active in the Rockefeller drug law repeal movement, the prison reform movement, and other progressive social movements.
"Cuomo's father built 37 prisons, Teachout's father [a judge] sends people to prison, my father went to prison -- I know what it does to families," Credico said, beginning to sketch out not only the policy differences but the life experiences that sets him apart from the other contenders.
Credico's father did 10 years in Ohio for a nonviolent offense, the candidate explained.
Credico lays out his platform on the home page of his campaign web site, and it is the stuff of a populist backlash to both overweening corporate control and the state's alive-and-kicking prison/law enforcement industrial complex.
Keeping to the FDR comparison, he calls for "A New Deal for New York" to "Tax Wall Street, Not Main Street," bring "Benefits for the average person," "Clean up City Hall and policing," and "Build infrastructure to create jobs." The platform calls for taxes on the sales of stocks, bonds, and derivatives, income-based real estate taxes, and a more progressive income tax, as well as raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, lowering subway fares and other transit tolls, and providing Medicare for all.
But his drug policy platform is also something to behold, and goes well beyond the baby steps taken by even the most progressive mainstream politicians. His criminal justice planks include:
- legalize marijuana;
- close Attica prison;
- ban racial profiling and end stop and frisk;
- end the Rockefeller drug laws; and
- direct election of all criminal judges.
The Candidate (credico2014.com)
[Editor's Note: The 1971 Attica state prison riot left 43 people dead, including 10 guards, and was a spark for the prisoners' rights movement of the 1970s.]
Although the draconian Rockefeller drug laws have been reformed in recent years and the prison population has declined somewhat -- from an all-time high of 95,000 at the end of 2006 to just over 81,000 at the end of June -- there are still more than 10,000 people serving prison time for drug offenses, or, as Credico notes, more than there were people in prison for anything 40 years ago.
"This is happening under the purview of Democrats," he said. "Attorney General Eric Schneiderman walked with us against the Rockefeller laws, but he's been captured by the powers that be and has ignored any calls for further reform, not just of the drug laws, but also of odious prison conditions."
Once upon a time, political candidates had to deny ever having smoked marijuana. Then, one famously denied ever having inhaled. Now, they admit to having used, but brush it off as a youthful indiscretion from their wild school days. Not Credico.
"I've admitted being a pot smoker," he said. "Not every day, but it's been good for me. I smoked and I inhaled, and I believe marijuana is better for you than e-cigs. People should have access to it. It's better than drinking or doing blow," he added.
But Credico even argues that he should have the right to do blow, if that's what he wants to do.
"I can eat Ritalin, I can gobble down all those pharmaceuticals, but if somebody shows up with some pure Bolivian, I want to try that. That's against the law? Who is responsible for that, and who is enforcing it? Nobody gives a shit if I smoke a joint or do a line," he declared.
At a forum at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (credico2014.com)
Of course, that could be because
Credico is a middle-aged white guy. But New York City,
Credico's home, is infamous for its arrests of tens of thousands of young black and brown city residents each year on marijuana charges, and
Credico, of course, is aware of that.
"All the kids I see getting arrested are black. It's against the law to smoke pot -- if you're black," he scoffed.
"They arrest 50,000 kids for smoking pot, but I smoked it at the state capitol, and they wouldn't arrest me," he said. "We have 55,000 homeless people in this city, 20,000 homeless kids. Just think what we could do if marijuana was legal and taxed and we used it to rebuild the infrastructure and create low cost housing. Instead, he keep arresting brown and black kids."
Credico's campaign is low-budget, but he's using tactics honed by years of activism to get his message out. He travels to events throughout the city and state and works crowds -- many of whom already know him from his years of activism around prison issues.
"I'm focusing on the projects; that's where I'm getting my support," he said. "People are tired of the marijuana arrests, the abuse by police. We need a state law banning racial profiling. We're supposed to be the guiding light of the nation, and we don't have a racial profiling law."
Credico is using social media to the best advantage he can. He's produced an award-winning documentary, Sixty Spins Around the Sun, to explain how he's gotten to the point where he's spending his 60th year trying to unseat a powerful incumbent governor, and he's got a Facebook campaign page.
Over the weekend, he penned a piece for the Huffington Post, "Is New York Ready for a Governor Who's Ready to Inhale?", but when it comes to mainstream media attention, he feels like the Rodney Dangerfield of New York politics.
"I don't get no respect," he intoned. "I'm running against two people from the ruling class."
But at least he was on his way to do an interview with NY 1, one of the city's 24-hour cable news channels. And the campaign continues.
(This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. 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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California's controversial medical marijuana regulation bill is going down to the wire, Delaware will soon see its first dispensary, Guam will vote on a medical marijuana initiative in November, and more. Let's get to it:
ArizonaOn Monday, Northern Arizona University rejected a medical marijuana research proposal from Dr. Sue Sisley. Dr. Sisley, who was fired by the University of Arizona over what she says is her support medical marijuana, has lost a bid to do her study at the University of Northern Arizona. She had received FDA approval and a $1 million grant from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies to study its effects on PTSD in veterans, but that study is now in limbo until she finds a new home for it.
California
On Wednesday, the Assembly put off deliberating on the medical marijuana regulation bill until tomorrow. The bill, Senate Bill 1262, is supported by law enforcement and state municipalities, as well as by some member of the medical marijuana community, but not by others. This is the last chance to get a regulation bill through in Sacramento this year.
Delaware
On Wednesday, Delaware officials signed the contract for the First State's first dispensary. Finally, a dispensary is coming to Delaware. Officials have signed a two-year contract with First State Compassion Center. A growing operation for it will begin this fall, and sales should commence sometime early next year. Delaware passed a medical marijuana law in 2011, but Gov. Jack Markell (D) balked at allowing dispensaries, fearing federal intervention. Last year, he decided to move forward with one dispensary, instead of the three called for in the state law.
Guam
Last Thursday, the Electoral Commission approved putting a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot. The commission approved putting the Joaquin "KC" Concepcion II Compassionate Cannabis Use Act of 2013 on the ballot. The act would allow for the creation of medical marijuana dispensaries, with regulations and rules to be developed later by a government commission. The commission had balked at the move, but a Guam Supreme Court decision earlier last week said the legislature has the right to put measures before the voters. Under Guam law, the referendum must get more than 50% of the voters of all voters who vote in the general election, not just a simple majority.
Illinois
Last Friday, officials announced that medical marijuana licensing starts next month. Patients and caregivers wanting to enroll in the state's medical marijuana program can begin applying for licenses on September 2. Application materials are available at the web site for the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program.
Oklahoma
On Wednesday, Gov. Mary Fallin (R) said she supported limited access to CBD cannabis oil. She asked lawmakers to support the legalization of high-CBD cannabis oil, but only for limited trials. She says CBD could be "potentially life-saving" for some children.
Oregon
On Monday, Oregon banned medical marijuana patients from being daycare providers. Oregon's Early Learning Council has passed a temporary rule barring child daycare owners and operators from holding medical marijuana cards. Owners and operators must now also report this information to the council. The rule doesn't apply to users of any other medicines.
Utah
As of Monday, the state had issued its first registration cards for high-CBD cannabis oil treatment. The Department of Health has issued registration cards to 11 patients for its new program allowing people with severe epilepsy to use high-CBD cannabis oil. People with the cards can legally possess high-CBD cannabis oil, but they will have to get it out of state. The main producer of the extract, next door in Colorado, has a lengthy waiting list.
[For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.]
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More problems for the scandal-tainted dope squads in Detroit and Philadelphia, a new Jersey college cop admits to peddling pills, and a Texas parole officer gone bad goes to prison. Let's get to it:
In Detroit,
six members of a Detroit Police narcotics unit were suspended last Thursday after a surveillance video showed them taking a box away from a medical marijuana dispensary they raided without ever turning it in to evidence. It is part of a large Internal Affairs probe of the now-disbanded Narcotics Section, which has been revamped after allegations of major problems in the unit. One sergeant and five officers have been suspended with pay while investigators try to figure out what was in the box.
In Philadelphia, a Philadelphia narcotics officer was taken off the streets last Friday after he admitted lying in open court and on a search warrant affidavit. Officer Christopher Hulmes is now under internal investigation over the admission that he lied in the case of a man he arrested in Kensington. Just two weeks ago, six other Philadelphia narcotics officers were indicted on federal corruption charges for a pattern of ripping off drug dealers.
In Camden, New Jersey, a former Richard Stockton College police officer pleaded guilty last Thursday to selling drugs to a DEA agent and an informant. Marcus Taylor, 41, admitted selling oxycodone tablets and copped to distribution and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. He's looking at up to 20 years in federal prison.
In Houston, a former state parole officer was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison for taking bribes from a suspected heroin dealer. Crystal Washington took bribes from one of her parolees over a three-year period and also warned him about a Houston police investigation. She was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, plus conspiracy to commit extortion.
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The legalization debate packed 'em in in Anchorage, California's medical marijuana regulation bill is going down to the wire, Massachusetts has a new substance abuse law, China executes two for drugs, and more. Let's get to it:
Anchorage (Frank K. via Wikimedia)
Alaska Legalization Debate Draws Big Crowd. The Wilda Marston Theatre in Anchorage was packed last night as supporters and opponents of the legalization initiative, Ballot Measure 2, duked it out. Click on the link to get the flavor of the debate.
NJ Weedman Becomes a Newspaper Columnist. Longtime New Jersey marijuana activist Ed Forchion, better known as the NJ Weedman, is about to get a new platform. He announced today that he now has a new gig: columnist for the The Trentonian newspaper, where he will produce the "Cannabis Column."
Lewiston, Maine, Initiative Campaign to Turn in Signatures Tomorrow. Citizens for a Safer Maine, the organizers of the Lewiston initiative to legalize marijuana possession for adults, will turn in more than 1,250 signatures tomorrow. They need 859 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot. They will also hold a media availability at 11:00am in front of city hall.
Poll Finds Strong Support for Marijuana Reform in Pennsylvania. A new poll from Keystone Analytics has strong support for marijuana reform, with 47% supporting medical marijuana and another 22% saying they supported legalization for any reason. Only 27% thought marijuana should remain illegal for all purposes. The poll has a +/- 4.4% margin of error.
Medical Marijuana
California Still Struggling with Statewide Regulation Bill. The clock is ticking on Senate Bill 1262, the last effort to regulate medical marijuana statewide still alive in the legislature. It needs to pass before month's end or it dies, but the marijuana community itself is divided over it, and it's not clear that the interests of lawmakers, law enforcement, cities and counties, and the medical marijuana industry can all be aligned. As of now, the most recent version of the bill is still supported by the police chiefs and Americans for Safe Access. But California NORML, the Drug Policy Alliance and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition oppose it unless it's amended. Click on the title link for more details.
Prescription Opiates
Massachusetts Governor Signs Substance Abuse Bill. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has signed into law Senate Bill 2142, which expands access to drug treatment by requiring insurers to pay for up to 14 days of inpatient care and bars them from requiring prior authorization. The bill also allows the public health commissioner to classify a drug as "dangerous" for up to a year, effectively banning its use in the state, and it creates a commission to come up with substitutes for opiates. And it has new reporting requirements on overdose deaths, infants born exposed to drugs, and for the state's prescription monitoring program. The bill is a response to increases in opiate addiction and overdose deaths in the state. But it contains no provisions explicitly protecting access to opiates for patients suffering from chronic pain.
International
China Executes Two South Korean Drug Traffickers. Two South Korean citizens were executed for drug trafficking in China yesterday. They were killed after being found guilty in Intermediate People's Court in Baishan, Jilin Province of smuggling about 30 pounds of amphetamines. The two men were the first South Koreans executed in China in a decade. Along with Iran, China is one of the world's leading executioners of drug offenders.
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Things get slow in the dog days of summer, but there's still news from the legal marijuana states, California continues to grapple with regulating medical marijuana, and a couple of items from Britain suggest change could be in the air there. Let's get to it:
Marijuana Policy
Britain will provide free foil for heroin smokers in a bid to reduce injecting the drug. (wikimedia.org)
. The ACLU of Washington announced today that it is representing three state-licensed marijuana business owners who have filed a lawsuit challenging the city of Fife's ban on marijuana operations. The business owners and the ACLU argue that local bans violate I-502, the voter initiative that legalized marijuana in the state. You can view the ACLU's pleadings in the case
here.
Colorado Health Department Says Teen Marijuana Use Is Down Since Dispensaries Came, Voters Approved Legalization. An annual survey of teen drug use in the state has found that marijuana use has been declining since hundreds of medical marijuana outlets opened in the state in 2009 and since the state legalized adult marijuana use and sales in late 2012. Current use among Colorado teens dropped from 24.8% in 2009 to 20% in 2013. Meanwhile, nationally, teen current use has increased, from 20.8% in 2009 to 23.4% last year.
Wichita Decriminalization Initiative Campaign Comes Up Short on Signatures. There will be no popular vote on decriminalization in Wichita this year. Election officials said that campaigners didn't have enough valid voter signatures to qualify. Although they handed in about 3,500 signatures and only needed 2,928, they still came up 180 valid voter signatures short. They say they will now press the city council to act on decriminalization.
Medical Marijuana
California Statewide Regulation Bill Goes to Assembly Appropriations Committee Next Week. The Assembly Appropriations will examine Senate Bill 1262, the law enforcement- and local government-backed bill to regulate the state's medical marijuana industry next Wednesday. That's the last day the committee meets this session. The bill has already passed the Senate, but must pass the Assembly by month's end or it dies. The bill link above may not represent the latest changes to it; new updates are expected today. The bill has divided the state's medical marijuana community, with some groups supporting it as is and some demanding changes to make it friendlier to patients and the industry.
International
British Liberal Democrats Will End Jail for Drug Possession, Nick Clegg Says. Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg has said that if the Lib Dems win the next election, they will move to abolish prison sentences for simple drug possession, even for Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Half of the people currently being jailed for drug possession in Britain are being held for marijuana offenses. This call for effective decriminalization puts Clegg and the Lib Dems at odds with their governing coalition senior partners, the Tories. Meanwhile, the Home Office is currently undertaking a review of British drug policy.
British Government to Provide Foil to Heroin Users to Encourage Smoking Rather Than Injecting. In a harm reduction move, Britain will begin providing free foil to heroin users to encourage them to smoke the drug instead of injecting it. Injection drug users are more likely to contract blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The move was approved last year by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which said it could also help move addicts toward recovery.
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Germans march for marijuana, Washington state takes in a million in taxes from the first month of pot sales, New Mexico local decriminalization initiatives struggle to make the ballot, Central Florida cops make a bunch of small-time drug busts, a new poll has some old results on the success of the drug war, and more. Let's get to it:
Poster for last Saturday's Hemp Parade (Hanfparade) in Berlin.
$3.8 Million in Marijuana Sales in Washington's First Month. The Washington State Liquor Control Board reported last Friday that the first month of legal marijuana retailing generated $3.8 million in gross sales. The state expects to collect about $1 million in tax revenues from the sales. That's about half of what Colorado did in its first month, but Washington is off to a slower start, with only 18 stores selling weed in July.
Gavin Newsom Says He Will Support Marijuana Legalization on 2016 California Ballot. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says he will support whatever marijuana legalization initiative makes the ballot in 2016. That will probably be the one he is working on as part of a California ACLU task force studying legalization. The task force hopes to release a report on the issues around legalization by year's end.
Santa Fe Decriminalization Initiative Hands in More Signatures. After coming up short after their first signature hand-in, ProgressNow New Mexico and Drug Policy Action, the campaign arm of the Drug Policy Alliance, the sponsors of the Santa Fe decriminalization initiative, handed in additional signatures last Friday. The ballot initiative calls for making the penalty for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana and possession of marijuana-associated paraphernalia a civil infraction punishable by a fine of no more than $25.
Albuquerque Decriminalization Initiative Comes Up Short on Signatures. Sponsors of an Albuquerque decriminalization initiative -- the same folks involved in the Santa Fe initiative -- came up with only 9,172 valid voter signatures, short of the 14,218 needed to qualify for the ballot. The city had originally said they needed only 11,000 signatures, and there was talk of legal action if sponsors met the original goal, but they didn't even manage to do that.
Medical Marijuana
Northern Arizona University Rejects Dr. Sue Sisley Medical Marijuana Research Proposal. Dr. Sue Sisley, who was fired by the University of Arizona over what she says is her support medical marijuana, has lost a bid to do her study at the University of Northern Arizona. She had received FDA approval and a $1 million grant from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies to study its effects on PTSD in veterans, but that study is now in limbo until she finds a new home for it.
Guam to Vote on Medical Marijuana Initiative in November. The Guam Electoral Commission last Thursday approved putting the Joaquin "KC" Concepcion II Compassionate Cannabis Use Act of 2013 on the November ballot. The act would allow for the creation of medical marijuana dispensaries, with regulations and rules to be developed later by a government commission. The commission had balked at the move, but a Guam Supreme Court decision earlier last week said the legislature has the right to put measures before the voters. Under Guam law, the referendum must get more than 50% of the voters of all voters who vote in the general election, not just a simple majority.
Clock Ticking on Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Initiative. Oklahomans for Health, the group behind the state's effort to get a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot, is running out of time. The group has until Friday to turn in 150,000 valid voter signatures, but it has so far gathered only 120,000 raw signatures. With a typical disqualification rate of 20-30%, the group would likely need more than 200,000 raw signatures to make the ballot.
Illinois Medical Marijuana Licensing Starts Next Month. Patients and caregivers wanting to enroll in the state's medical marijuana program can begin applying for licenses on September 2, state officials said last Friday. Application materials are available at the web site for the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program.
Utah Issues First Registration Cards for High-CBD Cannabis Oil Treatment. The Department of Health has issued registration cards to 11 patients for its new program allowing people with severe epilepsy to use high-CBD cannabis oil. People with the cards can legally possess high-CBD cannabis oil, but they will have to get it out of state. The main producer of the extract, next door in Colorado, has a lengthy waiting list.
Drug Policy
Rasmussen Poll: 84% Say War on Drugs is Being Lost. A new Rasmussen Poll finds that 84% believe the nation is losing the war on drugs. Only 3% though it was winning. Americans are split on financing the drug war, with one third saying we're spending too much, 29% saying not enough, 17% saying spending levels are about right, and 22% unsure. The poll also has Americans split down the middle on marijuana legalization, with 43% for and 43% against. Click on the link for more details.
Law Enforcement
Polk County, Florida, Narcs Make String of Petty Drug Busts. The Polk County Sheriff's Department narcotics unit, the joint state-federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force, and Haines City Police combined to make a string of drug busts last week, arresting 17 people. But a perusal of the charges shows that they were primarily low-level. Twelve of the charges involved simple drug possession, most of them for marijuana, and many of them with the additional charge of being within 1,000 feet of a church. Most of the other charges were for small-time marijuana sales, again within 1,000 feet of a church. A handful of the arrests also involved other drugs, usually for possession or small-time sales. The arrests appeared to target the local African-American community.
International
Thousands March for Marijuana in Germany. Thousands of people calling for marijuana legalization marched through Berlin on Saturday for the city's annual Hemp Parade (Hanfparade). This year's slogan was "Green Light for Legalization," with marchers hoping legalization in Uruguay and two US states will lead to the same in Germany.
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Everybody must be at the beach, because it's pretty quiet on the drug reform front. But Philly faces a class action lawsuit over asset forfeiture, the DEA gets caught wasting taxpayer money, and there's marijuana policy action down South America way. Let's get to it:
Tax dollars go up in smoke as DEA pays an Amtrak snitch nearly a million bucks for freely available passenger information.
Saginaw, Michigan, City Council Approves Decriminalization Vote. The city council voted last night to approve placing a decriminalization initiative before the voters in November. The council is required by state law to place qualifying citizen initiatives on the ballot, but four of the nine council members still voted against. Saginaw is one of more than a dozen Michigan towns and cities where citizen decriminalization initiatives are aiming for the November ballot.
Medical Marijuana
Oregon Bans Medical Marijuana Patients From Being Daycare Providers. Oregon's Early Learning Council has passed a temporary rule barring child daycare owners and operators from holding medical marijuana cards. Owners and operators must now also report this information to the council. The rule doesn't apply to users of any other medicines.
Asset Forfeiture
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Philadelphia Forfeiture Practices. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office is violating the constitution with its asset forfeiture practices, a class action lawsuit alleges. The city seizes an average of $5.8 million worth of assets a year, nearly four times the amount seized in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, or Los Angeles County, both of which have larger populations. Lead plaintiff Christos Sourovelis sued after the city seized his home when his son was arrested for drug possession. His two co-complainants also allege their homes were seized although they committed no crimes.
Law Enforcement
DEA Paid an Amtrak Informant Nearly A Million Bucks for Freely Available Information. The DEA paid an Amtrak employee some $854,460 over two decades for providing passenger list information that the agency could have obtained for free, Amtrak reported Monday. The Amtrak inspector general says the DEA is already part of joint drug task force with Amtrak's police agency and could have obtained the information for no cost. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter Monday to DEA head Michele Leonhart saying the incident "raises some serious questions about the DEA's practices and damages its credibility to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies."
International
Brazilian Senate Has Public Hearing on Marijuana Legalization. The Senate's Human Rights Commission debated marijuana legalization at a public hearing Monday. It is one of a series of public hearings about whether to introduce a legalization bill in the legislature.
Chilean Woman Becomes First Official Latin American Medical Marijuana Patient. The Chilean Institute for Public Health has approved the use of the marijuana extract tincture Sativex for a woman suffering from breast cancer and lupus. Cecilia Heyder is most likely the first officially approved medical marijuana patient in Latin America.
Costa Rica Lawmaker Files Medical Marijuana, Hemp Bill. Lawmaker Marvin Atencio of the Citizen Action Party held a press conference in San Jose Monday to announce that he had filed a bill to legalize medical marijuana in the Central American nation. The bill would create an institute within the Health Ministry to supervise it and would allow private concessions to grow marijuana -- for a hefty price tag. The bill would also legalize industrial hemp. Citizen Action controls the government, but does not have a majority, so the bill would require support from other parties to pass.
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A key California sentencing reform bill gets a final Assembly vote tomorrow, the Oregon legalization initiative gets some organized oppositions, Delaware gets a step closer to its first dispensary, Marc Emery gets to go home, and more.
Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery is reunited with wife Jodie after spending five years in US prison. (wikipedia.org)
Oregon Legalization Initiative Gets Organized Opposition. The Oregon District Attorneys Association and the Oregon State Sheriff's Association are gearing up to do combat against Measure 91, the state legalization initiative. The two groups say they are deciding right now how much money to spend trying to defeat the initiative, which has already raised more than a million dollars.
Federal Judge Throws Out Case Challenging Washington's Authority to Tax Marijuana. US District Judge Marsha Pechman has dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction. Dispensary operator Martin Nickerson, who was being prosecuted on federal marijuana charges filed the suit, arguing that he couldn't pay the state tax without incriminating himself. His attorney, Douglas Hiatt, said he will refile the lawsuit in state court.
Wichita City Council Votes Against Putting Decriminalization on November Ballot, But Maybe in April. After a decriminalization initiative signature drive came up short, the city council declined last night to put the measure on the November ballot, but said it would work with organizers to put it on ballot next April.
Medical Marijuana
Delaware Officials Sign Contract for First Dispensary in the First State. Finally, a dispensary is coming to Delaware. Officials have signed a two-year contract with First State Compassion Center. A growing operation for it will begin this fall, and sales should commence sometime early next year. Delaware passed a medical marijuana law in 2011, but Gov. Jack Markell (D) balked at allowing dispensaries, fearing federal intervention. Last year, he decided to move forward with one dispensary, instead of the three called for in the state law.
Oklahoma Governor Says She Supports Limited CBD Cannabis Oil Access. Gov. Mary Fallin (R) today asked lawmakers to support the legalization of high-CBD cannabis oil, but only for limited trials. She says CBD could be "potentially life-saving" for some children.
Harm Reduction
With New Law in Effect, Minnesota Cops Start Carrying Overdose Reversal Drug. Sheriff's deputies in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) have become the first in the state to start carrying the overdose reversal drug naloxone after a new law went into effect August 1. The law also contains a 911 Good Samaritan provision providing limited immunity for people who seek medical assistance for those suffering drug overdoses. Last year, 56 people died of heroin overdoses in the county and another 29 died in the first six months of this year.
Sentencing
California Fair Sentencing Act Gets Assembly Floor Vote Tomorrow. The bill, Senate Bill 1010, would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. It has already passed the state Senate. Click here to contact state legislators; click the title link for more bill information.
International
Marc Emery is Now Back Home in Canada. Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery is now back home in Canada after serving nearly five years in US federal prison for selling marijuana seeds. He landed in Windsor, Ontario, right around 4:20pm yesterday after leaving a private US deportation detention facility where he had been held after being released from US prison last month. He has vowed to wreak political vengeance on the Conservatives, who allowed him to be extradited to the US.
Algeria Has Seized More Than 95 Tons of Moroccan Hash so Far This Year. That's up over the same period last year by about 25 tons. Morocco is the world's largest hash producer, with most of its product headed for European markets.
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