Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
It's a step back for harm reduction in one Michigan county, a potential step back in North Carolina, a Malay medical marijuana provider escapes the death penalty but stil faces hard time, and more.
People who share drugs that result in a fatal overdose could be charged with murder under a North Carolina proposal. (CC)
Michigan County Blocks Needle Exchanges. Commissioners in Grand Traverse County voted last week to block needle exchanges in the county. In a 3-2-1 vote, the commission voted against allowing the county health department to contract with a private provider to implement a needle exchange program and to stop Harm Reduction Michigan from expanding its existing program. Grand Traverse County Sheriff Tom Bensley opposed the initiative, saying: "The majority of these users are probably illegal drug users. This only serves to promote safe illegal drug use. The sheriff's office is in the business of stopping illegal drug use whether it's safe or not… By approving this, you are endorsing safe, illegal drug use."
North Carolina Overdose Equals Murder Bill Gets Hearing Friday. A bill that would allow people who distribute a drug that results in an overdose death to be charged with murder gets a hearing this Friday, and harm reductionists are gearing up to fight it. HB 474 would make even drug users buy jointly or share with friends liable for murder. The North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition is calling on people to attend the hearing to tell legislators to vote no.
International
US Arrests Guatemalan Presidential Candidate for Seeking Help from Sinaloa Cartel. Guatemalan presidential candidate Mario Amilcar Estrada Orellana was arrested with one other man at the Miami airport last Friday and charged with soliciting campaign funds from the Sinaloa cartel. Estrada Orellana was allegedly seeking between $10 and $12 million in exchange for providing "state-sponsored support" for the group's trafficking activities. Estrada also pledged "unfettered access" to the country's ports and airports. Estrada is running as a candidate for the center-right National Change Union.
Malaysian Medical Marijuana Provider Escapes Death Sentence, But… A man who once headed a medical marijuana group has gotten something of a reprieve. Mohd Zireen Zainal was caught with two pounds of medical marijuana and originally faced the death penalty after being charged with drug trafficking. But he has now been allowed to plead guilty to possession only and will have to serve 15 years in prison and absorb 10 strokes of the cane. He's already been in prison for more than five years.
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Comments
Barbarous news from Malaysia, DC Dems still AWOL on Schedule I
Makes me want to boycott Malaysia for such wanton cruelty, to this hero and the community he was serving.
They're as barbaric as the US Congress which is still, in 2019, claiming there is absolutely no such thing as medical marijuana. Are Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants going to challenge this nonsense or not, what are they waiting for? They would have overwhelming public support for making cheap, effective, non-toxic cannabis legal medicine. But maybe they don't want raw cannabis to be legal medicine because they only want high priced big pharma cannabis products to be legal medicine, because they're in the hip pocket of big pharma?
I hope there is another explanation for DC Democrat silence on this issue which has, to repeat, such overwhelmingl public support, but if there is one I'd sure like to hear it.
In reply to Barbarous news from Malaysia, DC Dems still AWOL on Schedule I by saynotohypocrisy (not verified)
All blame falls to Republicans, who cannot govern
First order of business is to send Trump and his sick-fuck Republicans back to hell.
In reply to All blame falls to Republicans, who cannot govern by Dain Bramage (not verified)
Is it that you're
In reply to Is it that you're by "Russian Collusion" (not verified)
It's that Trump is a goddamn traitor
So fuck that white trash assclown!!
Blue states get marijuana; Red states get hemp
States with Republican governors (e.g. Kentucky, Georgia) get hemp -- if they're lucky!
States under Democratic control get medical marijuana and/or full cannabis legalization, standard policy now.
Why? Because of the voters.
Republican voters just gotta shoot themselves in the foot every time, don't they? They want legal weed, but then, with great devotion and emotion, they perpetually vote in Republican politicians who then turn right around and just tell them "No."
Democratic voters are fact-based; facts get the job done. Bullshit walks.
What a beautiful display of karma... If sitting around smoking hemp doesn't teach Republicans that facts count, and that "alternative facts" are just bullshit, then NOTHING WILL!
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