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Feature: The Clock is Ticking on Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery's Extradition
Will Marc Emery really be sent to prison in the US for five years for selling pot seeds over the Internet? The decision is now in the hands of Canada's justice minister, and Emery and his allies are campaigning to block his extradition.
Feature: Philadelphia to Not Quite Decriminalize Marijuana
Facing a severely clogged criminal court system, the city of Philadelphia will no longer prosecute small-time pot possession cases as criminal misdemeanors, but as summary offenses. But the cops will still arrest you anyway.
Fighting for Legalization Isn't Enough. You Need to Know Your Rights.
As the debate over marijuana legalization rages on and U.S. drug policy draws more public scrutiny than ever before, the arrests and injustices just keep adding up. We can debate the law until we're blue in the face, and we should, but it's equally essential that every American understand the terms of engagement in a battle that catches peaceful people in its crossfire each and every day.
It is because so few of us truly understand our basic rights that police are able to trample them so routinely. But it's also the haunting thought of that knock at the door, and the uncertainty of how to respond, that prevents so many among us from ever coming out of the closet and lending their voices to the debate. Fear and intimidation are the vital instruments without which the war on drugs would have been banished to the bowels of history long ago.
If you haven't yet seen the new Flex Your Rights video 10 Rules for Dealing with Police, please take this opportunity to do so, and please share it with the people you care about. It won't end the drug war, but it might help you get a better night's sleep. And you deserve that.
The Onion vs. The Drug War
The Onion wins by KO. Still, it's hard to laugh about this considering how often police actually do raid homes on suspicion of pathetically minor drug offenses.
DEA Official Announces Successful Drug Bust On Son's Room
Confusing Legalization With Prohibition
No matter how hard you struggle to explain the basics of the black market drug economy to supporters of the drug war, they stare blankly back at you. Yet, the instant you propose legalization, they will predict the creation of a massive criminal empire, as though it never existed before:
If all of this sounds familiar, that's because it happened already. But it happened under prohibition, not legalization. It's as if our opponents have literally stolen all of our talking points and are now incoherently parading them around in a strange cynical attempt to confuse everyone. I guess that's not the worst strategy to deploy in a debate you've been losing for more than a decade.
For starters, California will become a legitimate shipping and marketing point for the deadly weed. Such legalization will spur many entrepreneurs in California to invest in marijuana production and distribution because of the big money to be generated. An oversupply of marijuana will force some of these legalized pot cartels to set their sights on other states as their customers, even though it is illegal in those states, as in Alabama.
Secondly, the crimes associated with marijuana use and efforts to dominate the market will flood not only California, but the surrounding states. [Montgomery Advertiser]
If all of this sounds familiar, that's because it happened already. But it happened under prohibition, not legalization. It's as if our opponents have literally stolen all of our talking points and are now incoherently parading them around in a strange cynical attempt to confuse everyone. I guess that's not the worst strategy to deploy in a debate you've been losing for more than a decade.