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Cell phones the new snitches? (image via Wikimedia)
Cell phones the new snitches? (image via Wikimedia)

California Supreme Court Okays Text Message Searches in Drug Arrests

The California Supreme Court has ruled that police don't need a search warrant to browse the text messages on an arrestee's cell phone. The Ohio Supreme Court 13 months ago ruled the other way. Look for the US Supreme Court to resolve this issue.
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Ruling Lets California Police Search Your Phone Without a Warrant

A Superior Court in Ventura County, California, ruled that police in that state can search the contents of an arrested person's cell phone. The ruling allows police in California to access any data stored on an arrestee's phone: photos, address book, Web browsing history, data stored in apps (including social media apps), voicemail messages, search history, chat logs, and more. According to Catherine Crump of the American Civil Liberties Union, "The police can ask you to unlock the phone -- which many people will do -- but they almost certainly cannot compel you to unlock your phone without the involvement of a judge," she said.
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former police officer Jaime Beas, pleaded guilty to working with the Zetas
former police officer Jaime Beas, pleaded guilty to working with the Zetas

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

It's a Texas trifecta this week, plus a Nashville cop buying guns for the cartels, an ATF agent with sticky fingers, and an upstate New York cop with several bad habits.
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Latest News
Latest News

Medical Marijuana Group Objects to Arizona's Proposed Regulations

Allan Sobol, spokesman for the Arizona Association of Dispensary Professionals, says Arizona's state Health Director Will Humble has gone beyond what voters approved in imposing restrictions on when a doctor can write the necessary recommendation for a patient to buy up to 2 1/2 ounces of medical marijuana every two weeks.
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Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization La Familia Declares One-Month Ceasefire

La Familia leaders say they want the truce to demonstrate they are not responsible for the crimes they are accused in the media of committing. The Mexican Federal Police have been committing much of the recent violence in western and southern Mexico but blaming it on La Familia, the statement says. The police commit the attacks "without caring if it is women, children ... or adults," the La Familia statement said.


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Montel Williams Cited for His Medical Marijuana Pipe

Williams was caught by TSA with his medical marijuana pipe while going through a security checkpoint. He paid the citation of $484 and was released to resume his travel plans. Williams suffers from multiple sclerosis and is a prominent advocate for legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.
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White Privilege and Illicit Drugs

Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, explores white privilege in conjunction with the war on drugs against the backdrop of the book Dorm Room Dealers: Drugs and the Privileges of Race and Class by A. Rafik Mohamed and Erik D. Fritsvold.
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Taliban fighters, Afghanistan (image via Wikimedia)
Taliban fighters, Afghanistan (image via Wikimedia)

Mexico 2010 Death Toll Higher Than Afghanistan

The bloody insurgency in Afghanistan claimed more than 10,000 lives last year, but the death toll still trailed that of Mexico's prohibition-related violence.
Chronicle
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Missoula Jury Pool Creates Uproar Across Nation After Marijuana 'Mutiny'

A jury pool's action — and the reaction to it — has serious ramifications for continued prosecution of low-level nonviolent drug crimes, not just in Missoula County but around the country. The story "hit a nerve" around the country, said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the national Drug Policy Alliance that advocates drug law reform. "It shows the emperor-has-no-clothes dimension to what happened. It's an expression of what many people feel — that marijuana possession should no longer be illegal," he said.
Latest News
Latest News

Mexico's Intensifying Drug Prohibition War Spills Into 2011 (Audio)

Mexico's drug prohibition war continues to claim victims at an astounding rate, and there are no signs that the violence will ease any time soon. In 2010 alone, the death toll from the violence was more than double the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq during the past seven years. This NPR broadcast explores whether the situation might improve in 2011.
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Study Explores Therapeutic Value of Ecstasy

The recreational drug known as ecstasy may have a medicinal role to play in helping people who have trouble connecting to others socially, new research suggests. In a study involving a small group of healthy people, investigators found that ecstasy prompted heightened feelings of friendliness, playfulness and love, and induced a lowering of the guard that might have therapeutic uses for improving social interactions. The researchers suggested that ecstasy might help people with post-traumatic stress disorder as well those with autism, schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder cope with a variety of emotional difficulties.
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Abandoned Horses Are Latest Toll of Drug Prohibition

Found tottering alone in the desert with their ribs visible and their heads hung low, horses play a backbreaking, unappreciated role in the multibillion-dollar drug smuggling industry created by drug prohibition. Mexican traffickers strap heavy bales of marijuana or other illegal drugs to the horses’ backs and march them north through mountain passes and across rough desert terrain. With little food and water, some collapse under their heavy loads. Others are turned loose when the contraband gets far enough into Arizona to be loaded into vehicles with more horsepower.
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Felons Who Want Medical Marijuana Put State in Awkward Position

Out of 320 requests from felons on supervision in Washington, seven people have gotten permission to use medical marijuana — a select group that includes a forger wasting away from AIDS and a white-haired grandmother named Kathy Parkins with fibromyalgia. A frustrated group of advocates, attorneys, physicians and patients says the state's Department of Corrections is ignoring the state medical marijuana law by substituting its judgment for that of doctors who recommend the drug. The policy, they say, is ripe for a legal challenge, although none has been filed.
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I Will Double Your Gift to DPA

We Are the Drug Policy Alliance.

We're making great progress!  Have your gift matched to help us reach our goal of $100,000!

Donate 

Donate Now!

Dear friends,

A major donor to DPA believes in this cause so much that she will match your year-end donation right now. She asked me to forward you this note. Please donate today.

— Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance

Dear Friend,

I give to DPA every year, and I know that they are accomplishing a lot with my donation. Let's come together to help them out. Give today.

I will match your tax-deductible donation to the Drug Policy Alliance if you give right now through the end of the year. And I’ll keep matching gifts like yours until we reach $100,000.

Why? For me, the choice is easy. DPA is a smart, tough, effective organization, and with my support—along with yours and thousands of others who want to end the war on drugs—DPA can get us there.

That's why I'm challenging you today—by offering to double your gift—to be as generous as possible.

Sincerely,

A fellow reformer

P.S. I know that these kinds of decisions are tough. Rest assured that your contributions to the Drug Policy Alliance are making a big difference. Please donate today.

Event

California NORML Conference -- Marijuana Reform: Next Steps for California

Please join us at the "Marijuana Reform: Next Steps for California" conference.

Directions and Transit information

Pre-registration is $30 per person (includes lunch).

You may pay by following this link: http://www.canorml.org/conferencereg.html

Or you may download a registration form and send it in with a check to:

CaNORML
2261 Market St. #278A
San Francisco, CA 94114

If you have questions or special dietary restrictions, please write: [email protected]

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