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Virginia v. Moore: Just Another Dumb Ruling, Not a Full-blown 4th Amendment Crisis
Yesterday's Supreme Court decision in Virginia v. Moore upheld the use of evidence seized during arrests that are illegal under state law. So now the whole "4th Amendment is Dead" choir is harmonizing again, this time about how police can now illegally arrest and search anyone anytime. But it ain't like that, not yet. My analysis is available here.I hate a bad search and seizure ruling as much as anyone, but I'm also the associate director of Flex Your Rights, where we teach people how to exercise their rights during police encounters. That mission is challenging enough without well-meaning Bill of Rights enthusiasts issuing hyperbolic eulogies for the 4th Amendment every 3-6 months. We face grave threats to our civil liberties, but ranking high among them is the fact that most of us don't have a clue what these rights are to begin with. Exaggerating the practical impact of bad rulings and legislation may feel like a strategy to get the public's attention, but it's not. That language merely serves to convince people that the battle is already lost and not worth fighting. It also exacerbates the widespread and tragic tendency of the majority of citizens to waive their constitutional rights whenever police ask them to.That's why we defend constitutional rights by teaching people to assert them, instead of running around pronouncing to our friends and neighbors that they have no rights.
NY Times: Inmate Count In U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations'
NY Times article shedding more attention to our out-of-control criminal justice system. However, the interesting sidenote to this article is the number of experts who apparently claim that our punitiveness has been succesful in reducing violent crime. Their perspective is begging the question, though, whether incarceration prevents violent crime solely in the sense of specific deterrence while incarcerated, or on the overall -- viz. does it reduce recidivism? does it cause more violent crime among future generations (by incarcerating their Fathers, for example)? Choice Excerpt: "People who commit nonviolent crimes in the rest of the world are less likely to receive prison time and certainly less likely to receive long sentences. The United States is, for instance, the only advanced country that incarcerates people for minor property crimes like passing bad checks, Mr. Whitman wrote. Efforts to combat illegal drugs play a major role in explaining long prison sentences in the United States as well. In 1980, there were about 40,000 people in American jails and prisons for drug crimes. These days, there are almost 500,000. Those figures have drawn contempt from European critics. âThe U.S. pursues the war on drugs with an ignorant fanaticism,â said Ms. Stern of Kingâs College.
Another contender for the Marie Antoinette award
On 420 between 6 and 12 thousand people gathered in front of the Vancouver art gallery and smoked some dope and had an all out mellow time.As has been traditional,the cops stayed away and there was no
The Heroin Addict President Can't Save Us From the Bombs of Xyzistan
...Or so says former prosecutor Charles Stimson, who has come completely unhinged in his drug policy debate with Saying Yes author Jacob Sullum in the Los Angeles Times. Here's the question:The last two presidents and two of the current candidates have either used illegal substances or have had substance abuse problems. Does this show that winners donât always refuse to use drugs?Stimson's response begins as follows:Would you want a president who's under the influence?Imagine this:It's 3 a.m., and a phone rings in the vice president's quarters. A Secret Service agent answers the phone, listens, and then rushes into the VP's bedroom with the phone in hand and wakes him up.Agent (placing his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone): Mr. Vice President, the president of Xyzistan has threatened to launch a nuclear strike in 15 minutes. You must respond.Vice president: Where is the heck is the president? Why isn't he taking the lead on this issue?Agent: Sir, he's coming down from his heroin high. We tried to wake him up, sir, but he's out of it.Vice president: Give me the darn phone.I seriously have no clue what his point is. Of course no one wants the president nodding out on dope during a nuclear crisis. Where the hell did that come from? Is he saying that if we listen to Jacob Sullum, we'll be risking nuclear war?Not surprisingly at all, a google search reveals that Charles Stimson has a history of saying crazy shit. He was forced to resign from the Department of Defense last year following controversial remarks about the lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. He literally got in trouble with the Bush Administration for taking things too far in the national security debate, which is quite an achievement. Fortunately for us, this trainwreck of a drug war debate will continue for two more days if LA Times doesn't invoke the slaughter rule and declare Sullum the winner today.
Drug Czar Creates Handy Guide For Teens on Where To Obtain Prescription Drugs
Oddly, the Drug Czar has created a new webpage that offers great tips for any teen looking to catch a buzz. The page claims to be a warning guide for parents, but the potentially deadly secrets contained within it are available for anyone to see. I was able to access all of the site's content without even being asked to verify that I'm over 18. I've learned to steal drugs from the elderly because they don't monitor their pill count or throw away leftovers because they're super old and confused. Also, there's like a billion websites that don't even check prescriptions and will send me anything. I'm gonna go cure my boreditis now. Thanks, Office of National Drug Control Policy!
Entrapment in the Granite State
A Concord, New Hampshire principal tricked a student into delivering two small bags of marijuana to a police ambush behind Bishop Brady High School. Principal Jean Barker took it upon herself to set up seventeen year old Concord High School senior John Huckins. After Confiscating another student's cellphone it received a message from Huckins asking "Yo, you need a bag." Presuming that Huckins was referring to marijuana she immediately attempted to get Huckins to come sell two bags of marijuana in the school parking lot. Huckins was immediately skeptical of the deal, nevertheless Barker was able to coax him into delivering the bags.Huckins arrived at school and was apprehended by the police. A quarter-ounce of marijuana was confiscated from Huckins person. Later he told the police that he used the drug to deal with anxiety issues according to the police report.Barker attempted to defend her actions claiming that Huckin's willingness to bring marijuana to the school placed her school at risk. Many other questions however remain unanswered. Immediately one must ask what gave the principal the right to use the student's cell phone to entrap Huckins? While texting illegal drug sales is never a good idea, what could give Barker the right to look at someone's personal message. This whole case stems back to a major invasion of privacy. If you open someone's mail it is a federal crime. I can't seem to understand why Barker's actions in opening the message wouldn't be? Huckins attorney Mark Howard makes an even more valid point,"It is a crime in the state of New Hampshire to elicit a drug offense if you are not either a police officer or working under the direction of a police officer," So now we get into more legal issues in regards to this would-be Drug Warrior. In attempting to take the Drug War into her own hands Jean Barker only incriminated herself. Huckins on the other hand is in a fight to be able to continue his education. Originally suspended for ten days he has now been kicked out of school for the rest of the year and risks losing his acceptance to college. Huckins had no criminal record prior to this event, now he deals with the risk of 7 years in jail for the quarter of marijuana he had that day.
Another (unarmed) Casualty of the Drug Warriors
Wanted man was unarmed when shot It wasn't even 'real' cops that did the shooting. Des Moines Police Sgt. Vince Valdez said the shooting involved the U.S. Marshal Service Violent Fugitive Task Force and a warrant team of the Fifth Judicial District of the Iowa Department of Correctional Services.
Police Admit Humiliation After 4/20 Celebration at UC Santa Cruz
As I noted earlier, the meteoric rise of the 4/20 marijuana holiday into a national phenomenon is really something to behold. While some may flinch at the spectacle of widespread open consumption, there's a message here about the unity of marijuana culture in America and the futility of criminalizing so many people.Just look at the reaction of law-enforcement:SANTA CRUZ -- For those who arrest people who use, abuse or sell drugs, Sunday's pot-smoking festival at UC Santa Cruz was "a moral slap in the face to the cause," said Rich Westphal, task force commander with the Santa Cruz County Narcotics Enforcement Team. [Santa Cruz Sentinel]Here's how it went down: Police may find all of this embarrassing, but it's not really their fault. Marijuana shouldn't be illegal. Any law targeting this many Americans is just flawed on its face. These gratuitous events are a symptom of the bunker mentality of our marijuana culture, which now erupts into a public free-for-all every year on April 20.It is marijuana prohibition that glamorizes these events and makes them fun. That is just a fact, and one which shouldn't be lost on law-enforcement. These are anti-prohibition pot riots and they are the safest riots you'll ever find. You'd have to call the national guard if any other type of criminal gathered in such numbers.So if you can't catch them all on the highways or in their homes, and you can't even catch them when they're all together in one place, maybe it's time to stop trying to catch them.
European Pressure: Turkey Must Fight Drug War, or Else
EDITOR'S NOTE: Kalif Mathieu is an intern at StoptheDrugWar.org. His bio is in our "staff" section.I traveled to the city of Istanbul last week to stay for a few days with my school program of Peace and Conflict Resolution. Istanbul (and Turkey as a whole) is the perfect conduit for heroin being produced in the middle-east to reach Western European markets. Heroin and other drugs are commodities like anything else, and travel through the same general trade routes as other goods. Turkey is so strategically placed that according to Le Monde diplomatique in 1995 âAn estimated 80% of the heroin on the European market is being processed in Turkish laboratories." (La Dépêche Internationale des Drogues 1995, Nr. 48) So you might ask, âwhatâs so special about heroin traveling through Turkey? Itâs just like any other trade between the middle-east and Europe.â The troublesome point is who controls the trafficking through the country and receives the profits of the trade. This happens to be the PKK, or Kurdistan Workerâs Party, a militant organization with a 30-year history of fighting the Turkish government to establish a separate Kurdish state. âAccording to Interpol [â¦] the PKK was orchestrating 80 % of the European drug marketâ back in 1992, and â[o]ther sources similarly indicate that the PKK controlled between 60 % to 70 %â in 1994 reported the Turkish Daily News.The state of Turkey has been increasing its process of Westernization recently in its desire to join the EU, and this has meant adopting a Western policy on drugs. Turkey has been very successful recently in increasing its police and border control effectiveness and eliminating corruption. The Turkish Daily News gave some convincing numbers: âAccording to the deputy customs undersecretary, there was a 400 percent increase in drug-operation success in the period between 2002 and 2006, when compared to the 1999-2002 period.âHowever, even though Turkey has been, in recent years, dealing more and more forcefully with both the PKK militants and the drug trade, has this actually reduced the trafficking of drugs and the profits of the PKK? In the Turkish Daily News: â[t]he annual revenue made by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has increased to 400-500 million euros, a top Turkish general said late Tuesday.â If the PKKâs revenue has increased, then it is logical to assume Turkeyâs military campaign against them may not be considered a huge success. Not only that, but â200-250 million euros of [the PKKâs] revenue comes from drugs [â¦] Gen. Ergin Saygun, deputy chief of General Staff said.â That makes drug trafficking 50% of the organizationâs income!The Turkish state has had a history of valuing the effectiveness of force. It was born from war, and the constitution has a controversial but often-utilized article that allows the Turkish army to organize a coup to eliminate the possibility of having a religious party in power. What is the point of these so-called âhard-lineâ approaches to dealing with the nationâs problems if they are rather ineffective? Very little of course. The trouble comes from what the state could say to its citizens, to the international community, if it negotiated with the violent PKK or began to take the drug trade into the light by moving it towards legalization and either private or state control? If Turkey tried to clean up its smuggling and black market in such a way the majority of Europe, if not the greater âglobal community,â would probably condemn the entire nation of betraying humanity and literally becoming evil. The reaction of many Turkish citizens would be perhaps lighter, but of a similar nature if the state sat down to negotiations with the âterroristâ PKK. These are strong influences on the Turkish state, and severely limit its options. Therefore it seems Turkey doesnât have much of a choice but to pursue the same policy of force it has pursued for more than 30 years, whether it benefit the people or not.
4/20 Gets Bigger Every Year
In 2006, Colorado University police photographed participants in a 4/20 celebration and offered rewards for information leading to their capture. It didn't just fail, it backfired colossally, galvanizing contempt for the drug war and the petty police tactics that have spawned in its name.Two years later, this quote says it all:"We can't do the same thing year after year," [CU police Cmdr.] Wiesley said hours before Sundayâs smoking began. "So I doubt we'll do anything like the pictures. ... There's no way our 12 to 15 officers are going to be able to deal with a crowd of 10,000. We just canât do strong enforcement when we're outnumbered 700 or 800 to one." [dailycamera.com]This video, via Steve Bloom, shows that 4/20 has now evolved from a spattering of small secretive gatherings into a full-blown civil disobedience protest against the war on drugs: Huge turnouts at 4/20 events this year, along with a Chicago Tribune report on the commercialization of the marijuana holiday, are a powerful signal that this phenomenon is becoming rather public. Pete Guither notes in a lovely reflection that we're on an unstoppable trajectory towards victory in the larger fight for drug policy reform and it's hard to argue when you see these teeming masses taking control, if only for a day.I don't think smoking pot in a field is going to end the drug war. But the existence of these events, their size, the surrender of police, the fact that nothing bad happened; these things are illustrative of the resilient and massive drug war resistance.If the war on drugs can be overwhelmed for one day, there is no doubt it can someday be overcome altogether.
How Can We Debate Them if They Don't Even Know What Decriminalization Means?
The Los Angeles Times is publishing a series of debate pieces this week between Saying Yes author Jacob Sullum and Charles Stimson, a former prosecutor and senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Here's the first question:What's the difference between drug legalization and decriminalization? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Jacob Sullum's answer is terrific. Charles Stimson's answer begins this way:Two points: First, there is no difference between decriminalization and legalization. Second, whichever term you want to use, it's a bad idea.I suppose there is nothing more predictable in the world than the tendency of drug warriors to open their arguments with sweeping and false generalizations. Still, this is just so dumb and wrong that it barely qualifies as an opinion.We could debate the exact meaning of decriminalization, but it is typically used to describe situations in which penalties are simply reduced, i.e. a fine instead of possible jail time. You can still be taken into custody and subjected to various escalating sanctions. For example, 33,000 people were arrested for possessing small quantities of marijuana in New York City in 2006, despite a decrim policy that's been in effect since 1977. Legalization ends possession arrests and presumably regulates commerce. It shouldn't be necessary to define commonly used legal terms for a senior legal fellow at a prestigious thinktank, but this is the drug war, and as usual, its supporters can be found creating their own reality in which to debate us. After getting the opening question wrong, Stimson launches into a series of preposterous claims. He observes that daily wine consumption improves health, while daily marijuana use destroys the mind. He accuses drug-addicted navy sailors of threatening national security. He suggests that some states don't charge people for committing rape. He insists that drug users have too many children out of wedlock.I can't frickin' wait to hear what he'll say in tomorrow's installment. [thanks, Scott]
A Great 4th Amendment Ruling in Alaska
This is one of the smartest 4th Amendment decisions I've seen in a while:The Alaska Court of Appeals on Friday put law enforcement agencies on notice that it would not tolerate "implicitly coercive" search requests during traffic stops. The warning came in the form of a ruling on the case of Susan S. Brown, a driver pulled over on November 24, 2004 allegedly because of the light illuminating her car's rear license plate was dirty.On that night, Alaska State Trooper Maurizio Salinas never explained to Brown the reason for the stop, nor that he had no intention of issuing a ticket. Instead, Salinas convinced Brown to allow him to search her car and her body -- even though Brown had no warrants and showed no signs of illegal conduct. Salinas testified that his policy was to conduct as many random searches as possible during traffic stops. In this case, Salinas discovered a crack pipe hidden in Brown's coat. Speaking for the unanimous court, Judge David Mannheimer found that such search requests not based upon any reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct abused the rights of motorists.â¦"Motorists who have been stopped for traffic infractions do not act from a position of psychological independence when they decide how to respond to a police officers request for a search," Mannheimer wrote. "Because of the psychological pressures inherent in the stop, and often because of the motorists' ignorance of their rights, large numbers of motorists guilty and innocent alike accede to these requests." [thenewspaper.com]We'll have to wait and see whether Alaska's Supreme Court picks up the case, but if allowed to stand, this decision should significantly undermine the type of "fishing expedition" drug war policing that forces citizens to prove their innocence by the roadside. This ruling reaches the right conclusion for the right reasons, and provides a helpful example of the 4th Amendment's potency at the state level. When you are stopped by police in your neighborhood, it is not George Bush or the PATRIOT Act that determines whether or not your rights were violated. Each state has its own Bill of Rights and sets its own constitutional standards that must be respected by law-enforcement. Those who habitually lament the supposed "death" of the 4th Amendment would do well to familiarize themselves with this concept.A citizenry that understands and appreciates 4th Amendment rights is more likely to produce and appoint judges who will rule in this way. Thus, while we must recognize and expose the many threats to the 4th Amendment that have emerged in recent years, it is essential that such conversations do not indulge the same sense of defeatism that leads citizens to waive these rights in the first place, when they matter most.
Review: Barry Cooper's Never Get Raided DVD
I arrived home yesterday and checked my mail box. Finally my "Never Get Raided" video was here. Shipping seemed to take forever, 3 weeks, but I ordered early so I was able to get an autographed copy. Barry and Candy Cooper are doing yeoman's work in the cannabis culture. I'm so glad they produced this video and hope that every cannabis user and person interested in cannabis law reform watches it.
TV's judge Mathis does a rant over student deferments over pot possession
Never one to hold his tongue Mathis was speaking to a woman about her difficulties with supported housing and the stupid rules and hoops she had to jump.He couldn't help but to bring up the plight of
Mexico City: Goths and Rockeros and Jipis, Oh My!
I spent my first weekend here in Mexico City exploring some of the counterculture of the massive metropolis. One of the places I went was the old Buenavista railroad station. The station is closed now, but right next door is a nearly three-decade old Mexico City phenomenon: the tianguis (market) del chopo, where every Friday and Saturday, the city's various youth culture tribes come out to see and be seen, listen to the latest sounds, and buy music, posters, clothing, pins, and all sorts of other goods. (For a nice introduction to the city's tribes, check out veteran Mexico-watcher John Ross's piece in Counterpunch.) Man, what a show it is! Punkis (punks), skatos (ska fans), metaleros (you guessed it), darketos (Goths) mix with dread-locked followers of Bob Marley, emerging from the Buenavista metro station like a legion of the undead. There's not a lot of directly drug policy-related stuff to be cleaned from the chopo, but I did talk with some of the more jipi (hippie)- type vendors and their clientele. You know, the guys selling the marijuana leaves and extolling the virtues of the herb. But I didn't really hear anything new from them. Sadly, my trip to the rockers' market was a bit spur of the moment, so I didnât have my camera with me. Suffice it to say, there were some pretty impressive mohawks and some pretty glam Goths. While in that neighborhood, north of the historic center of the city, I walked over to the Guerrero metro station in search of a church I heard of where there is supposedly a chapel dedicated to San Jesus Malverde, the (unofficial) patron saint of drug traffickers. I couldn't find it, but the search continues, and so does my quest to find adherents of the church of Saint Death. Supposedly some of these folks are hard-core hard cases, dead-end dopers. I want to see what that's all about. Stay tuned for more on this front. I did get some pics from my visit to the plaza in Coyoacan, an upscale southern suburb. The plaza has been a gathering place for jipis and artists for decades, and the plaza has recently been crowded with the stalls of the vendors, many of them embracing the jipi lifestyle and selling that kind of stuff. But now there's a battle going on between the local government and some businesses on one side and the vendors and their allies on the other. For the last three weeks, the plaza has been torn up for "reconstruction," putting a real damper on the scene there, and there are no plans to make room for the vendors when the project is completed. Part of the authorities problem with the plaza scene is the ongoing drug dealing. It's been known for that for years. But the disruption, not to mention the heavy police presence, has quieted things down for now. I start meeting with people tomorrow, although a big meeting that was set for then has now been pushed back to Thursday. That may pose problems for getting a feature story on Mexico out this week, but the upside is it gives me more time to dig around before that. Meanwhile, the drug war continues. I've been reading La Jornada, a left-leaning Mexico City newspaper, and it has a daily rundown on the killings. There seem to be five or six or ten a day every day, and every day, some of them are cops or soldiers. Friday was a particularly tough day for the military--11 soldiers died when the chopper they were riding in on their way to raid drug fields in Michoacan fell out of the sky.
First time Non-Violent Marijuana offender
Hello, I managed to talk my way out of 4 criminal Charges which included : Trespassing (Private property of the government...it was a well right beside a public park), Possession (of marijuana which in fact they did not find besides resin), Attempted statutory rape( because the person with me was a girl and a minor, even though she's just my best friend), and Carrying paraphernalia (A legal and paid-for glass bowl.)
Prosecutor allegedly targeted in child porn probe is fired
Top drug prosecutor. Sure are a great bunch we have attacking us. This man is from the team that prosecuted me on marijuana charges. I will be watching to see what happens in this case for sure. Let's get out the blind justice scales... Child porn / Marijuana farmer.
Marijuana: Lead-laced Pot Newest Prohibition-related Disaster
Editor's Note: Shane G. Trejo is an intern at StoptheDrugWar.org. His bio is in our "staff" section.It turns out that prohibition has found an effective way to make marijuana truly toxic. As seen in Germany where marijuana has been tainted with lead in order to increase its weight and increase profits an estimated $682 per pound: One bag bought from a dealer even contained lead particles big enough to see, which meant the lead must have been added deliberately, rather than being absorbed into the plant from contaminated soil. ⦠The authorities do not know where the tainted marijuana came from or why the lead was added, but the German police suspect that it was done to make money. The samples tested contained 10 percent lead by weight, which translates into an increased profit of about $682 per pound of marijuana. Maybe Fox News was onto something when they reported about the killer weed. Of course, legalization and regulation would solve any tainted supply problems of not just marijuana but any drug. If policy makers had any concept of history, they would realize this. Look at what happened during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s: Highly toxic wood alcohols found their way into much of the available bootleg liquor. When denatured industrial alcohol was not sufficiently diluted, or was consumed in large quantities, the result was paralysis, blindness and death. In 1927, almost twelve thousand deaths were attributed to alcohol poisonings, many of these among the urban poor who could not afford imported liquors. In 1930, U.S. public health officials estimated that fifteen thousand persons were afflicted with "jake foot," a debilitating paralysis of the hands and feet brought on by drinking denatured alcohol flavored with ginger root. When was the last time you saw an American alcohol consumer come down with a case of jake foot? Thatâs right, never. Because when a person goes to the store to buy liquor or beer, they know exactly what they are getting. I canât for the life of me remember any deception-related scandals or recalls related to alcohol suppliers. Elected officials choose to ignore the lessons that history has taught us. And as a result, over 100 people have been poisoned in Germany after having to buy marijuana from an unregulated, criminal market. Society suffers while the perpetrators can continue to sell the lead-laced pot with no accountability or consequences.
Drug War 101: Don't Let the Cops into Your House
A couple weeks ago I joined the National Capitol Area ACLU for a door-to-door outreach effort in Southeast D.C. warning citizens about a "knock and talk" program our police department threatened to implement. MPD claimed they were only looking for guns and offered amnesty to citizens who cooperated, but no one really knows what would happen if they found something. Any law-enforcement program that relies on coercing citizens into waiving their 4th amendment rights is inherently flawed and cannot be tolerated.This video, by Flex Your Rights founder Steve Silverman, tells the story:About 1:35 into the video, a woman mistakes us for the police and gives us consent to search. It's funny, but it also proves our point about why this information is needed. For all she knows, someone could have left some marijuana under her couch cushion that could get her kicked out of public housing. Giving consent is never the smart choice during a police encounter. If you need a refresher, watch this.
A dubious honor
The Vancouver city police announced,today,that the city is number one in bank robberies committed.This will come as no surprise to any one that's been on the inside of the drug scene in the city in th