When asked how his officers had reacted to the decriminalization of pot possession in Oregon and in Washington State where he previously headed up departments, Roberts reclined in his office chair and smiled.
"When that law was first passed, most police officers thought that the end of the world as we know it was about to occur," he said. "But, we thought the same thing when the Miranda decision came down." [Joplin Globe]
Miranda is such a wonderful analogy for law-enforcement's knee-jerk assumption that any restriction on police power will invite pure chaos. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Miranda v. Arizona that police must inform criminal suspects of their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination before conducting interrogations provoked panic among police. Murderers and rapists would go free, we were told, and crimes of the most despicable nature would become unsolvable.
The result was nothing of the sort. Police simply became more professional. It turned out that the freakiest psycho killers still insisted on confessing their misdeeds, while the rest got taken down through good old-fashioned police work. "You have the right to remain silentâ¦" has become a popular and familiar symbol of due process, and the horror show predicted by law enforcement has been long forgotten.
The point here is that it was the experts, the interrogation specialists themselves, who were so wrong about Miranda. Today, when police speak out against marijuana reform, they are motivated not by experience at all, but rather a fear of the unknown. Indeed, today's officers simply have no real frame of reference for what law-enforcement in a post-drug war America would look like.
I'm optimistic, however, that whatever our friends at LEAP can't explain to their colleagues will ultimately find a way to explain itself. Inevitably, the truth about drug policy reform will become self-evident each and every time it is given the opportunity to do so.
Update: I've posted a follow-up to emphasize the important point that a significant number of police officers actually do realize the drug war isn't working and continue to fight it anyway
Right now, the DEA is currently raiding the River City Patient Center in Sacramento, California â the longest established medical marijuana dispensary in the city. Protesters have gathered outside the building in support of the collective.
And yesterday, the DEA began threatening landlords in the Santa Barbara area who lease space to medical marijuana dispensaries â activity thatâs legal under California state law â with federal prison time and forfeiture of their properties. Several dispensaries closed right away.
This follows a similar move in Los Angeles in July â a maneuver that was condemned in a Los Angeles Times editorial as "a deplorable new bullying tactic."
No matter what state you live in, will you please take a few minutes to write all three of your members of Congress to protest this federal interference in state law? MPPâs action center is easy to use: You can send one of our pre-drafted letters, or you can personalize the letter.
This is just the latest in the campaign of terror the DEA is waging on the sick. In June and July, the DEA conducted extensive medical marijuana raids in several California counties and in Oregon, including raids on at least 10 Los Angeles clinics in late July. Most were aimed at medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally under state and local laws, and in several cases the DEA detained and terrorized individual patients.
If this outrages you like it does me, would you help MPP hire a new grassroots organizer in California, as well as to retain a lobbyist to help push legislation in Sacramento to protect these dispensaries? If enough supporters on this e-mail list donate today, MPP will be able to fully pay for both positions.
These reprehensible DEA attacks â which run counter to state law, as well as the 78% of the American people who support "making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering" â are preventing effective local regulation of medical marijuana: Cities and counties in California are passing ordinances to ensure that medical marijuana dispensaries follow the law and serve patients properly. But by treating all who provide medical marijuana to the sick as common drug dealers, the DEA has become the single largest obstacle to effective regulation of these establishments.
A major Los Angeles raid actually occurred at the exact moment that members of the city council were holding a press conference to discuss an ordinance to regulate medical marijuana providers.
Local officials and major newspapers are outraged by the DEA's actions. After the July raids in Los Angeles, L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine â a Republican and former police officer with the L.A. Police Department â said, "I am greatly disturbed that the Drug Enforcement Administration would initiate an enforcement action against medical marijuana facilities in the City of Los Angeles during a news conference regarding City Council support of an Interim Control Ordinance to regulate all facilities within the City. This action by the DEA is?contrary to the vote of Californians who overwhelmingly voted to support medicinal marijuana use by those facing serious and life threatening illnesses. The DEA needs to focus their attention and enforcement action on the illegal drug dealers who are terrorizing communities in Los Angeles."
After a series of DEA medical marijuana raids in San Francisco, the city's health director, Dr. Mitchell Katz, wrote to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, "These actions have resulted in 4,000 persons with chronic illness left without access to critical treatment upon which they rely. Certainly in this post-September 11 environment, it seems that a DEA priority punishing organizations for distributing cannabis for medical purposes to chronically ill individuals is misplaced."
Would you help us fight back against the DEA's deplorable attacks on sick patients? Please write your three members of Congress now, and then consider making a donation to MPP today.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
Late last week, Congress passed a measure involving the FDA that did not include a dangerous amendment that could have undermined the 12 state laws that are protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail.
The FDA billâs passage marks the defeat of the greatest threat the medical marijuana movement has ever faced.
The threat was in the form of an amendment that was authored by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and attached to the Senate version of the FDA bill back in April. The House thankfully omitted Sen. Coburnâs amendment from its version of the FDA bill, and the final bill that President Bush is expected to sign also did not include Sen. Coburnâs amendment.
This victory is the result of MPPâs tireless work on Capitol Hill â and your calls, e-mails, and faxes to your members of Congress. Also important were the behind-the-scenes calls from major MPP allies to key members of Congress.
If you havenât yet made a donation to MPP this year, would you please consider giving $10 or more today to support our important work in Congress?
The defeat of Sen. Coburnâs amendment feels really, really good. He is perhaps the number-one opponent of medical marijuana in the U.S. Senate; for example, last year he told MPPâs lobbyist that âmarijuana is not a medicine, and the doctors and scientists who say it is one are smoking it themselves.â
Sen. Coburn's amendment was a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the medical marijuana laws in 12 states â Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington â by placing them under the authority of the FDA (in addition to the DEA), while not providing the same approval process for marijuana as for other drugs seeking FDA approval as prescription medicines.
If the Coburn amendment had become law, a federal agency could have sued, say, the Oregon government for the purpose of persuading a federal judge to shut down Oregonâs medical marijuana ID card program that has done so much to protect more than 10,000 patients in the state.
MPP and its allies on Capitol Hill successfully worked with members of the House and Senate to remove the offending provision from the final version of the bill â making new legislative allies in the process. The House passed the final FDA bill on Wednesday, and the Senate passed it on Thursday.
Again, this success would not have been possible without your support â in the form of contacting your legislators, and in the form of financial contributions. Influence in Congress is not easily gained.
Please make a donation to MPP today so that we can continue to push forward with ending marijuana prohibition in this country.
Just today, the FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Reports, which documented that our nation just hit a new all-time high for marijuana arrests in the U.S. â 829,627 arrests by local and state police (not the feds) in 2006 alone. Thatâs one marijuana arrest every 38 seconds.
Your support is clearly needed more than ever. Please give now.
Thanks for your support.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2007. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
P.P.S. You can opt out of receiving fundraising mentions in the e-mail alerts I send you in 2007 by visiting www.mpp.org/2007optoutpreference at your convenience.
A pending marijuana decriminalization effort in Joplin, MO revealed the city's police chief to be a pretty decent guy. This is a textbook example of how a professional public servant regards the democratic process:
"Somebody is going to say, 'you're the chief ... you ought to oppose this thing,'" he said. "Somebody else will say 'you are the chief of police and supposed to be protecting our constitutional rights.' My argument is, 'yep ... you are right.'" [Joplin Globe]
It's such a simple concept, yet it is so often abandoned by law enforcement agencies when citizens work to reform marijuana policy. There's something very creepy about police lobbying to protect their own obscene drug war powers, and it's refreshing to hear a veteran police chief speak in defense of democracy.
"And I think we also ought to promote programs that prevent harm and specifically needle exchange, which I support. We ought to get rid of the federal ban on needle exchange." [NPR]
Drug war absolutists have long opposed needle exchange, despite overwhelming evidence that it prevents AIDS and saves lives. It is just amazing that the people in charge of protecting Americans from drugs support policies that spread AIDS and kill people.
Edwards deserves credit for calling out one of our nation's most ill-conceived drug policies. It's a no-brainer for sure, but at least he got it right.
And in the process, John, you may have stumbled upon a nifty device for drafting a superb drug policy platform for your campaign: simply check what the federal policy is on any drug issue and advocate the opposite. You will be correct every time.
Update: At the risk of further emboldening the hysterical Obama fans who freaked out over my last post, and irrationally implied that he's good on drug policy, it's only fair to add that Barack Obama has also spoken in favor of needle exchange. Hillary Clinton, who's otherwise sounded good on drug policy (for a front-runner, anyway) wants to see more proof that it works, which, at this point, is like demanding proof that the sun will rise tomorrow.
I am in the real estate investment business. Increasingly I find investors staying away from investing in rental properties and neighborhoods perceived to have illegal drug problems. Investors more frequently state police can too easily forfeit their real estate because of one tenant's illegal activity at a rental property, e.g., selling drugs, even when it is unknown to the owner. Consequently investors' fears of forfeiture are depressing property values in certain neighborhoods and cities, driving downward the property tax base needed for tax revenues to support the infrastructure of the community. Consider: As governments more and more force landlords to act as attorney generals policing the lives of their tenants, and hold landlords accountable to police for not stopping their tenants from committing unknown or foreseen illegal acts, more investors say, "who needs this!" Constant police raids in certain neighborhoods may actually result in a financial net loss to a community where investors retreat, causing assessed property values and property taxes to decline. There is little incentive for investors to spend money upgrading rental property in neighborhoods where drug problems exist if the police are targeting rental property for asset forfeiture.I think that pretty much speaks for itself. But it would be a shame to stop there. So, a few links:
A California medical marijuana patient is being sent back to jail to finish a 10-year sentence. Shortly after voters legalized medical use in the state, Bryan Epis began cultivating marijuana for himself and a handful of other qualified patients. Federal prosecutors claimed he was a drug dealer hoping to get rich; defense attorneys say they lied and misrepresented evidence at trial. Epis was released from prison after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of medical marijuana patients in the Raich case, but now a judge says he has to go back and serve his original term.
Same term for medical pot grower
by Denny Walsh, Sacramento Bee (CA)
For the second time in five years, Bryan James Epis, the first person associated with a California cannabis buyers' club to be tried in a federal court for growing marijuana, was sentenced Friday in Sacramento to 10 years in prison.
For the fifth year in a row, the Wisconsin state legislature is taking up the question of whether medical marijuana patients should be prosecuted for following their doctorsâ advice. Polling shows that more than 75% of Wisconsin voters think access to medical marijuana should be legal. Lawmakers will again have the chance to bring public policy into line with public opinion.
Medical cannabis supporters unite
by Cara Harshman, Badger Herald (WI)
Is your medicine legal? Jacki Rickertâs isnât. The Wisconsin mother joined two state legislators and other medical marijuana supporters Tuesday for a press conference to announce the introduction of new medical marijuana legislation.
Their medicine's not legal yet
by Jackie Johnson, Wisconsin Radio Network
Two state lawmakers introduce comprehensive medical marijuana legislation, called the "Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act."
In Politics: For the Health of It
by Doug Hissom, On Milwaukee Magazine
Some state legislators are trying the get Wisconsin out of the mainstream when it comes to pot laws. The latest effort is being billed as "the most comprehensive medical marijuana legislation to date," according to bill sponsors, state Reps. Frank Boyle (D-Superior) and Mark Pocan (D-Madison).
Just a bill: Medical marijuana
by Stacy Forster, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
People with debilitating medical conditions would have access to marijuana under a bill introduced by Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan of Madison and Frank Boyle of Superior.
Boyle reintroduces medical marijuana bill
KUWS radio (WI)
Using marijuana for medical relief will be proposed again in the Wisconsin legislature again this session. Mike Simonson reports from Superior.
The state Assembly has already passed a bill to remove criminal penalties for medical marijuana patients in New York. Now the state Senate is considering a different version of the bill, one that could render the law unworkable. The tactic has drawn the condemnation of at least one editorial board.
NY State Sen. Morahan backs medical pot stance
by Matt King, Times-Herald Record (NY)
Days after medical marijuana advocates took out an ad targeting state Sen. Thomas Morahan, he reaffirmed his support for a bill allowing doctors to prescribe the drug for seriously ill patients.
Baloney on medical marijuana
EDITORIAL, Times Herald-Record (NY)
There's a trick politicians use when they want to appear to be in favor of some issue that has strong public support. They craft legislation that suggests support but include a provision they know the other political party won't go for.