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The Unvarnished Truth About the Drug War From the Drug Truth Network: (To downlad these 29:00 files, click on links below. To simply listen, go to www.drugtruth.net and select the arrow below the shows description.) Cultural Baggage for 06/25/08 Nurse Mary Lynn Mathre of Patients Out of Time discusses medical cannabis + Terry Nelson for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Drug War Facts with Doug McVay & Glenn Greenway with the Poppygate report. MP3 LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=audio/download/1942/FDBCB_062508.mp3 TRANSCRIPT: (To be posted by Friday) Century of Lies for 06/24/08 Richard Watkins a former Texas warden and current member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition + Eugene Fields, reporter with Orange County Register. MP3 Link: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=audio/download/1943/COL_062408.mp3 TRANSCRIPT: (Tramscript on Saturday) PLEASE NOTE: We now have transcripts, potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. Next - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed, listen online at www.kpft.org: - Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: TBD - Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: TBD Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and at www.radio4all.net. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates in the US, Canada and Now Australia!!! Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston. www.kpft.org Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker: More than 55 Drug Policy Videos online) Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, Drug Truth Network Producer Dean Becker 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net

In a recent syndicated column ("More Prisons, Less Crime), commentator George Will argues that the world record incarceration rate in the United States has produced safer streets and has been beneficial in particular to African Americans, who are disproportionately victims of crime. Will's selective use of data and limited vision provide an inaccurate portrayal of current criminal justice policy and its effects.

In a briefing paper, The Sentencing Project refutes Will's argument on prison racial disparities, federal crack cocaine sentencing and the impact of incarceration on crime.

Do Prisons Equal Less Crime? provides an assessment of some of the key arguments raised in the Will column. We hope you find this analysis useful in your work.

-The Sentencing Project

Dear friends, Good news from Antwerp: Today, Thursday June 26th, 2008, the Belgian Cannabis Social Club Trekt Uw Plant and 5 of its members have been acquitted for the establishment of a cannabis plantation. On July 27th 2006 in the Botanic Gardens of Antwerp, with the permission of the local authorities and the police, we planted a cannabis seed that would become the first mother plant of our club. On December 12th 2006, again in the Botanic Gardens and again with the permission of the local authorities and the police, 6 members of Trekt Uw Plant each cut a clone of this motherplant. The 6 plants formed the first collective cannabis plantation of the association, on the basis of the principle 1 plant for each adult member. The aim of Trekt Uw Plant was to make concrete use of the possibility created by the Belgian legislation to grow cannabis for personal use. In January 2005 a ministerial guideline has been established according to which the possession of max. 3 grammes and 1 cannabisplant is no longer prosecuted. In the establishment of the plantation, Trekt Uw Plant has strictly implemented the rules of the ministerial guideline. In spite of that, the legal authorities decided to prosecute. In the end of October 2006, a member of Trekt Uw Plant was approached by a representative of the Antwerp District Attorney, who warned him for the fact that the planned activities of Trekt Uw Plant could lead to a prison term of max. 5 years. During the courtcase for the local court of Antwerp, on 27 March 2008, District Attorney Lins demanded max. 80 hours of community work for the members of Trekt Uw Plant, as well as the dissolution of the club, which he considered to be a criminal organisation. The Antwerp court finally judged that Trekt Uw Plant is not a criminal organisation, and condemned the members for nothing else than the possession of cannabis. On June 12th 2008, during the courtcase for the court of appeal, the District Attorney announced, in an unexpected move that surprised everyone who followed the case, that he would drop the charges against Trekt Uw Plant because the possession of cannabis is not a crime but an an offense, and too much time has passed since the offense was committed. This sentence has been provoked by the District Attorney himself, when during the first session of the court of appeal on January 24th 2008, when there was still time to condemn the offense, he asked for a delay of 5 months to deal with the case. It has been a trick of the District Attorney in order to cover up his defeat in this case. The charges have been dropped but a debate on the core question - can cultivating cannabis for personal use be prosecuted or not - has been avoided. This sentence implies an acquittance. The District Attorney stops the persecution it has started against us. This is a political message that the ministerial cannabis guideline of 2005, according to which the possession of max. 3 grammes and 1 cannabis plant for personal use is not persecuted, is still valed and can be applied. From this sentence, we conclude that the actions of Trekt Uw Plant fit completely within the ministerial guideline and these actions can be permitted in the future. We now consider the next steps that Trekt Uw Plant will take. New actions will follow in the autumn. Joep Oomen / Philippe De Craene TREKT UW PLANT (vzw ) Lange Lozanastraat 14 2018 Antwerpen Tel. +32 3 293 0886 GSM: +32 495-122644 / +32 494 - 807350 E-mail:[email protected] Website: www.trektuwplant.be