Chronicle AM: Baltimore to End Pot Possession Arrests, Deadly Houston Drug Raid, More... (1/29/19)

Submitted by Phillip Smith on
Consequences of Prohibition

The attorney general-to-be puts his vow to not go after legal businesses in writing, Baltimore ends pot possession arrests, a Houston drug raid turns violent and deadly, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Attorney General Nominee Puts Pledge to Leave Legal Pot Alone in Writing. The man nominated as the next US attorney general, William Barr, has now put his pledge earlier this month to not “go after” state-compliant legal marijuana operations in writing. Responding to written questions from senators, Barr wrote: "As discussed at my hearing, I do not intend to go after parties who have complied with state law in reliance on the Cole Memorandum." That memorandum, crafted in the Obama era, provided some security for legal marijuana businesses but was rescinded by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year.

Minnesota GOP Senate Leader Just Says No to Legal Marijuana Bills. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said Monday that bills aiming to legalize marijuana had no chance of passing his chamber. “Legalizing marijuana is...not something I would consider a priority issue,” he said. Democrats control the House, but Republicans hold a two-seat majority in the Senate.

Baltimore To Stop Prosecuting Marijuana Possession, Vacate 5,000 Convictions. State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Tuesday that the city will stop prosecuting pot possession cases and will move to vacate some 5,000 marijuana-related convictions. Is the enforcement and prosecution of marijuana possession making us safer as a city? The answer is emphatically no,” she said. More than 95% of those arrested for simple possession in the city have been black.

Medical Marijuana

Second Florida Bill to End Ban on Smoking Medical Marijuana Filed. State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) has filed SB 182, which would end the state's ban on smoking medical marijuana. A similar bill, SB 372, was filed earlier this month by Sen. Gary Farmer (D-Fort Lauderdale). The ban has also been challenged in the courts, and GOP Gov. Ron De Santis has said that he will drop the state's appeal in the case if lawmakers don't eliminate the ban.

Law Enforcement

Houston Drug Raid Leaves Two Suspects Dead, Four Officers Shot. A forced entry raid of a house where heroin sales were suspected resulted in four police officers shot and wounded and two people in the house shot dead by police. Police came under fire as soon as they knocked down the door and attempted to enter the residence. Investigators found no heroin, but they found marijuana and a white powder believed to be cocaine or fentanyl, Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference. 

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Dain Bramage (not verified)

1. Barr did not pledge to stop the arrests.  

Barr made a pledge to placate the WHITE BUSINESS COMMUNITY, NOT THE CANNABIS CONSUMER.  (The marijuana dispensary business is overwhelmingly WHITE-OWNED.  It is the "WHITE", not the "WEED", which Republican stoners protect!)

Barr is another Jeff Sessions, another white supremacist AND A FUCKING TRAITOR, but without the Russian recusal.  This guy Barr is prepared to protect Trump's treason with Putin forever.

 

2. And, for the record, what is the pledge of a Trump administration official worth, anyway?

Yes, that's right --- Barr's pledge is worth exactly SHIT!!  You heard it here first.  How many lies must we have shoved down our goddamn throat by Trump's toadies before we wake the fuck up, as a nation?!?

Fascism will take precedence over all civil and human rights... Unless we DESTROY the Republican Party at the ballot box.

Don't say nobody told you.

Tue, 01/29/2019 - 5:05pm Permalink
Dain Bramage (not verified)

With regard to marijuana legalization, America did not tip.  It fractured along state lines, according to the nonsensical concept of "state's rights."  (States, like corporations, are not people.  I will believe it when one is given the death penalty, and is executed by lethal injection.)

 

The marijuana legalization movement must reject and abandon the GOP, because the GOP and Trump work for Putin.  That is treason. The legitimate marijuana legalization movement wants no part of that. 

There is no "tipping point."  There is only the fracture point between real Americans, and Republicans.  That is because there are now only two choices for America: marijuana legalization, or fascism.

Thu, 01/31/2019 - 12:50am Permalink
Dain Bramage (not verified)

 

 

 

Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away...

Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air...

You better watch out!

There may be dogs about!

I have looked over Jordan, I've seen

Things are not what they seem.

What do you get for pretending the danger's not real?

Meek and obedient, you follow the leader down

well-trodden corridors into the valley of steel.

What a surprise!  A look of terminal shock in your eyes!

Now things are really what they seem!

No!  This is no bad dream!

 (No No No No...)

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

He makes me down to lie

Through pastures green he leadeth me

The silent waters by.

With bright knives he releases my soul

He maketh me to hang on hooks in High Places.

He converteth me to lamb cutlets.

For, Lo!  He hath Great Power

And Great Hunger!

When cometh the day we lowly ones,

through quiet reflection and great dedication,

master the art of karate, 

Lo!  We shall rise up! 

...And then we shall make the bugger's eyes water!

 

Bleating and babbling, we fall on his neck with a scream! Ah ha ha ha ha!

Wave after wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream!

Have you heard the news?  The dogs are dead!

You better stay home and do as you're told 

Get out of the road if you want to grow old!

--- Pink Floyd, Sheep, Animals (1977)

Thu, 01/31/2019 - 5:29am Permalink

Add new comment


Source URL: https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/jan/29/chronicle_am_baltimore_end_pot