Skip to main content

Latest

Blog

Thompson backs SWAT ruling

Vancouver Province newspaper columnist Joey Thompson has written a column backing the recent supreme court ruling against the police use of SWAT style drug raids.This came as quite a shock as her recent articles have been so radically pro prohibition that this comes as a surprise.
Blog

Quote of the Day

From Glenn Greenwald:
The persuasiveness of an argument can often be determined by the willingness of its advocates to confine themselves to the truth when making it.
Glenn's talking about telecom amnesty, but, as is often the case, his point has strong relevance to the drug war debate.

Indeed, when one hears the Drug Czar proclaiming that marijuana growers are "violent criminal terrorists," it should become immediately clear how confident he is that marijuana reform arguments would prevail in a fact-based dialogue. Can you even imagine a drug policy debate in which our opposition was confined to the truth?

You'll know the whole house of cards is gonna fall when the Drug Czar, surrounded and strapped to a polygraph, finally throws his arms in the air and concedes that he just f@#king hates hippies.
In The Trenches

4:20 Drug War NEWS 02/11/08

Drug Truth Network Update: 4:20 Drug War NEWS from 90.1 FM in Houston & on the web at www.kpft.org. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates in the US and Canada. 4:20 Drug War NEWS 02/1/08 to 02/17/08 now online (3:00 ea:) Select online at www.drugtruth.net Mon - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 1/7 Tue - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 2/7 Wed - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 3/7 Thu - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 4/7 Fri - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 5/7 Sat - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 6/7 Sun - BBC Report on top 20 most dangerous drugs 7/7 Next - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed (Now With Transcripts): - Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: Philippe Lucas of Vancouver Island Compassion Society - Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: Dr. Robert Melameade Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and at www.radio4all.net. Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker: 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 The Trenches

Celebrate Medical Marijuana Awareness Week: February 11-17

[Courtesy of Americans for Safe Access]

Join the National Movement to Protect Safe Access!

Dear ASA Supporter,

To celebrate the growing support for medical cannabis and the spread of safe access in medical cannabis states throughout the nation, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has organized Medical Marijuana Week 2008 . This will be the sixth annual Medical Marijuana Week, held during the week of 2/15 to commemorate the passage of Proposition 215, California's medical cannabis law.

This year, we are calling on you and advocates nationwide to take action every day this week. Please read on for daily opportunities to advance safe access to medical cannabis. Celebrate Medical Marijuana Week with us by educating your community, meeting with your U.S. Senators, writing letters to the editor, and more!

Also, be sure to wear your ASA gear next week to further educate your community about Medical Marijuana Week! If you do not have an ASA t-shirt, sticker, hat, bag, or sweatshirt yet, visit our store so you can "Gear Up" for Medical Marijuana Week and beyond!

Monday: Join the Movement

In just five years, ASA has become the nation's largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. Join the fastest growing medical cannabis group, ASA, by becoming a member and/or asking your friends and family to join ASA.

Tuesday: Meet Your Senators

On Tuesday and Wednesday during Medical Marijuana Week hundreds of activists throughout the country are “dropping in” on their U.S. Senators’ district offices. Join your fellow activists by dropping in on both of your U.S. Senators’ local district offices on February the 12th to talk about supporting access for FDA-approved medical cannabis research. Urge them to support research by signing on to the letter Senators Kennedy and Kerry are circulating to enable FDA-approved research.

Wednesday: Put Pens to Paper for Research!

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper calling on your Senators to support access for FDA-approved medical marijuana research. FDA-approved research is key to safe access nationwide. You never know who you might be influencing - other community members, a staffer in one of your Senator's district offices, or perhaps even one of your Senators! Visit ASA's LTE action site on Wednesday for an easy way to submit your LTE online, using talking points provided by our communications specialists.

Thursday: Meet Your Match

Patients nationwide have joined together to form condition-based unions to further promote medical cannabis research and advocate for safe access to medical cannabis through the Medical Marijuana Unions project. Plug into one of ASA’s fastest growing network of patients, researchers, advocates, and medical professionals. Join a condition-based union today!

Friday: Meet the Movement and Get Organized

ASA is excited to release our first ever National Field Report, which paints a comprehensive picture of the local, state, and national campaigns ASA’s chapters and affiliates work on and also highlights the 2007 accomplishments in the field. Download the report on Thursday and start or join an ASA chapter!

Saturday and Sunday: Walk Your Talk

On Saturday and Sunday, mobilize your community for medical marijuana research. Download and print out a petition calling on your U.S. Senators to support access to materials for FDA-approved medical cannabis research. Visit ASA’s fun interactive map to download a petition addressed to your state’s U.S. Senators. Gather signatures on this petition at your work, school, home, church, and in your community. Please send completed petitions back to ASA via fax: (510) 251-2036; or mail: 1322 Webster Street, Suite 402, Oakland, CA 94612

Please forward this email widely to friends, co-workers, and family to encourage them to join you in the national movement to protect safe access!

Sincerely,

Sonnet Seeborg Gabbard
Field Coordinator
Americans for Safe Access
Americans for Safe Access is the nation's largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
In The Trenches

February Cannabinoid Chronicles Now Available Online

[Courtesy of The Vancouver Island Compassion Society] The February issue of Cannabinoid Chronicles is now available for your viewing pleasure at: http://www.thevics.com/publications/vol5/VICSNews5_6.pdf Some stories: MMAR Provision Found Unconstitutional Sunshine Coast Constitutional Challenge Use Medical Cannabis, Lose Your Job Medical Cannabis Vending Machines IACM Bulletin Enjoy, Robin at the VICS
Blog

Not Punishment Enough

Recent articles and letters in the local media have contended that prisoners in both federal and provincial jails are treated with too much concern for their rights and not enough emphasis on punishment.
Blog

Residents Rallying Around SWAT Raid Target Ryan Frederick

residents of Chesapeake rallying behind Ryan Frederick
Recently we reported on a tragic case in Chesapeake, Virginia, in which a forced-entry (e.g. "SWAT") raid on an extremely low-level drug suspect (he had just a few joints as it turned) ended with the resident, Ryan Frederick, fatally shooting police officer Jarrod Shivers out of fear for his life. It later came out -- at least as claimed by Frederick -- that the anonymous informant police relied upon before battering open Frederick's door had probably mistaken the Japanese maple trees he grew as a hobby for marijuana. Yet Frederick is in jail facing first-degree murder charges The Agitator reports that residents are rallying around Frederick, and that friends of his have created a Myspace page for him that links to a form to donate to his legal defense. Good for them. It's tragic that officer Shivers lost his life -- Frederick's supporters have said so themselves -- but at the end of the day there was no rational basis for police to enter his home in the terrifying manner that they did. To be clear, it is a pretty common way of doing things at this point in time -- roughly 40,000 SWAT raids are conducted every year, according to some estimates, and the vast majority are not for emergency or otherwise high-intensity situations -- but that doesn't make it a good idea and it doesn't make it right. Every time a raid is done, the people inside are subjected to a pretty significant psychological trauma, whether or not anyone gets hurt physically. And one only needs to watch the news to know that needless injury and death is bound to be the result sometimes, again and again. Police need to start taking responsibility for their actions. That means not blaming the victims of botched raids, like Ryan Frederick, for the predictable consequences reckless police tactics. And it means not using such reckless tactics to begin with. Since the nation's police are not about to do so willingly, the rest of us need to organize to force them to. If you haven't already, please sign our petition to limit the use of SWAT teams, and send it to your friends. And visit Ryan Frederick's Myspace page (linked above) to show your support. (Important: Please don't tear down Officer Shivers or say anything suggesting that he deserved what he got. Shivers was misled into what he did by a bigger problem existing in police culture, or at least that is what happened so far as I can tell. And negative comments about him won't help our cause, but could alienate people who might otherwise listen to what we have to say.)
Blog

Michael Mukasey's Cracked Crack Logic

One of the reasons to already be unhappy with the choice of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General is his opposition to retroactively applying the minor sentencing reductions that the US Sentencing Commission enacted for federal crack cocaine prisoners. Former prisoner Malakkar Vohryzek has called him out for fear-mongering distortions on the issue over at D'Alliance. With a little number crunching, Vohryzek finds that in New York City, for example, if every application for a sentencing reduction is approved, all of eight people serving crack cocaine sentences will get out an return to the community a little early. Yet Mukasey has somehow predicted a "crime wave." Shame on him. The NAACP's Hilary Shelton -- a stalwart of the campaign to restore college aid eligibility to students who've lost it because of drug convictions, an effort many of you have read about here -- had strong words for Mukasey (via the Sentencing Law and Policy blog):
The NAACP was both saddened and offended by Attorney General Michael Mukasey's call for Congress to override the decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to apply their May 2007 decision to reduce the recommended mandatory minimum sentencing range for conviction of possession of crack cocaine retroactive to those already in prison. "Attorney General Mukasey's characterization of people currently in prison for crack cocaine convictions, and of the impact that a potential reduction in their sentences could have on our communities, is not only inaccurate and disingenuous, but it is alarmist and plays on the worst fears and stereotypes many Americans had of crack cocaine users in the 1980s," said NAACP Washington Bureau Director Hilary O. Shelton. "The fact that a federal judge will be called to review every case individually and take into account if there were other factors involved in the conviction, whether it be the use of a gun, violence, death or the defendant's criminal history before determining if the retroactivity can apply, appears to have eluded the Attorney General," Shelton added. "Furthermore, because more than 82 percent of those currently in prison for federal crack cocaine convictions are African Americans and 96 percent are racial or ethnic minorities, the NAACP is deeply concerned at the Attorney General's callous characterization that many of the people in question are 'violent gang members'."
Also quoted on Sentencing Law and Policy, criticism of Mukasey by the New York Times.