Free judiciary
Here in Canada we have a free and independent Judiciary that is appointed by members of the bar and they serve till they retire.Recent decisions by the courts have sent a message to the police that th
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Weekly: This Week in History
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
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Job Listing: Field Coordinator, Americans for Safe Access, Oakland
Americans for Safe Access is looking to hire a field coordinator for their Oakland, California headquarters.
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Sentencing: Federal Crack Sentence Reductions Begin to Take Hold
The US Sentencing Commission announced that changes in the crack cocaine sentencing guidelines would be retroactive, allowing current prisoners a chance at a sentence cut. In the month since prisoners began to be able to apply for cuts, some 3,000 have received them.
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Europe: Dutch Ban on Magic Mushrooms Moves Closer
The Dutch are about to ban magic mushrooms. The cabinet passed a proposal and sent it to parliament, where it is expected to be approved.
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Canada: Supreme Court Nixes Random Use of Drug Dogs
In contrast with the US Supreme Court, which held that a drug dog sniff did not constitute a search, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled last week that it does, and that random drug dog searches are unconstitutional.
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Marijuana: New York City Pot Arrest Capital of the World
New York City decriminalized marijuana possession nearly three decades ago, but cops there still managed to arrest nearly 40,000 people for pot last year and 400,000 in the last decade.
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Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
New Haven's former top narc heads to prison, a Louisiana DARE officer goes down, a South Carolina jail guard gets caught shooting cocaine, and an Idaho deputy gets caught ripping off cash and drugs.
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In Mexico, Opposition to Plan Merida Emerges
High US officials hit the road for Latin America this week in a series of trips to lobby for passage of Plan Mérida, the $1.4 billion anti-drug aid package for Mexico. But at a forum on drug policy in Culiacán, Sinaloa, there was little but objections to the plan, especially its emphasis on using the Mexican military in the drug war.
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In Mexico's Drug Heartland, A Debate on Alternatives to the Drug War Takes Place
Culiacán, Sinaloa, is the home of one of Mexico's most feared drug trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel. This week, it was also home to a groundbreaking conference on alternatives to the drug war. As that conference ended Wednesday evening, cops, soldiers, and narcos went at it on the streets of Culiacán, leaving two cops and two narcos dead, and providing poignant punctuation to the conference.
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Sentencing: Woman Who Fled Michigan Drug Sentence 32 Years Ago Caught in California, Faces 20 Years
Susan LeFevre got busted in Michigan at age 19 for small-time heroin sales. She copped a plea in hopes of leniency, but was instead sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. In 1976, she jumped the wall and fled to California, where she has led an exemplary life every since. Now, thanks to an anonymous tip, she has been tracked down and jailed pending extradition to Michigan. Should she now have to serve her time?
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Dedication: Seattle Musician Timothy Garon, Victim of the Drug War
Seattle-area musician Timothy Garon passed away late last night after being denied a needed transplant by the University of Washington Medical Center because of his medical marijuana use.
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Students: Intern at DRCNet and Help Stop the Drug War!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
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Offer: New Clergy Anti-Drug-War Video
Clergy are speaking out against the war on drugs! Donate $16 or more (or whatever you can afford) and we'll send you a copy.
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British Prime Minister Claims Marijuana Can Kill You
As British PM Gordon Browne prepares to ignore the recommendation of his own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and increase penalties for marijuana, he reveals once again how little he actually knows about the subject:
"I don't think that the previous studies took into account that so much of the cannabis on the streets is now of a lethal quality and we really have got to send out a message to young people -- this is not acceptable," Brown said. [Reuters]Any way you look at it, this is just a total lie. The word "lethal" as defined by dictionary.com means the following:
âadjective
1. of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; fatal: a lethal weapon; a lethal dose.
2. made to cause death: a lethal chamber; a lethal attack.
3. causing great harm or destruction: The disclosures were lethal to his candidacy.
Even the 3rd definition, which may be the one Browne intends, is essentially figurative and is only used to describe non-living things, in this case a political campaign. The word is derived from the latin letalis, meaning death. It's just an incredibly poor adjective to describe a substance that has never killed anyone in human history. He says he wants to "send out a message to young people," but his message is just a big lie.
Thus, Browne is now expected to move forward with a plan to upgrade the criminal status of marijuana based on his own ignorant and wrong understanding of what the drug does, while disregarding the contrary advice of a whole council of experts who might actually know something about this.
This, my friends, is precisely how bad public policy gets made.