Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
A New York cop heads to prison for dealing dope and groping women, a pair of Texas cops land in hot water, and California seems to have something of a problem with its drug lab techs.
Pain Medicine: Kansas Doctor and Wife Go on Trial in "Pill Mill" Case
For five years, Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, operated a pain management clinic in Haysville, Kansas. Now, they are on trial as drug dealers in a federal prosecution that revisits the ongoing conflict between the imperatives of pain treatment and those of drug law enforcement.
Prohibition: More Drug Law Enforcement Means More Violence, Meta-Study Finds
If you want to reduce "drug-related" violence, sending in more cops and cracking down harder is exactly the wrong thing to do, a review of 20 years worth of studies has concluded.
A New Marijuana Legalization Campaign
I should have mentioned last week that the hugely popular blog FireDogLake has launched a legalization campaign due to interest from their readers. It's great to see more voices join the debate and we should support them.
It you click over there now you can help out by voting for the name of the their campaign. They've got a bunch of user-submitted ideas to choose from. Many are ridiculous, but there are some good ones too. Check it out.
It you click over there now you can help out by voting for the name of the their campaign. They've got a bunch of user-submitted ideas to choose from. Many are ridiculous, but there are some good ones too. Check it out.
Florida Cops Repeatedly Arrest Quadriplegic for Medical Marijuana
Via MPP, here's another completely horrible reminder of the plight faced by medical marijuana patients in most parts of the country:
Clearly, our work isn't done yet. We have no choice but to fight for medical marijuana in every state until there remains no place in America where patients are criminalized and abused. To those who say voters shouldn't be making medical decisions, I say neither should police.
John Haring, 45, is a quadriplegic who suffers daily from chronic pain, arthritis, spasm attacks, and depression. He uses marijuana to treat his condition, and after two marijuana arrests in two years, heâs now heading to jail for 90 days, after which heâll be forced to undergo three years of probation and drug testing. If he tests positive for marijuana in just one of those tests, he could face up to five years in jail.Opponents of medical marijuana will be the first to tell you that no one actually gets in trouble for it, but you can bet those people will never come to the aid of someone like John Haring. They don't care about his health and they donât want to know his story. Meanwhile, the President has called for an end to federal medical marijuana raids because he says they're a bad use of resources. In other words, the reason you shouldnât treat people like this is because it wastes money, not because it's evil.
Haring and his relatives say legal prescription painkillers left him "drugged, depressed and in an angry stupor." Using marijuana, on the other hand, "allowed him to live his life," according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Clearly, our work isn't done yet. We have no choice but to fight for medical marijuana in every state until there remains no place in America where patients are criminalized and abused. To those who say voters shouldn't be making medical decisions, I say neither should police.
Actively support WA I-1068 (Marijuana Reform Act Initiative)
Sensible Washington and I-1068 deserve and need your active support. The initiative text is
readable on the site and this is a clean civil liberties initiative with
WA MMJ Petition Hearing 6-2-2010 -- whether to add Alzheimerâs, chronic renal failure and neuropathic pain
I'm requesting people who can point me to information that might be persuasive Alzheimer's, chronic renal failure or neuropathic pain are conditions for which medical marijuana would be beneficial poi