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Charles Bowden on Mexico's Dirty War Against Drugs
democracynow.org has an excellent Charles Bowden discussing human rights violations in the drug war in Mexico. One interesting quote: "Trying to eradicate the drug industry in Mexico is like trying to eradicate gambling in Las Vegas. It is the economy". Summary below. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy blocked the release of a State Department report affirming that Mexico has respected human rights in its fight against drug cartels. Leahyâs move holds up more than $100 million in US aid. The money has been delayed under a law linking 15 percent of US funding to Mexico under the Merida Initiative to Mexicoâs record on human rights. On Monday, President Obama praised the Mexican government for its handling of the drug war. We speak with Charles Bowden, a reporter who has been extensively covering the human consequences of Mexicoâs drug war. [includes rush transcript]
High School Censors Marijuana Legalization Editorial in School Newspaper
Last month, we saw teachers suspended for teaching students about their rights during police encounters. Now, another school is sending the message that the drug war is more important than education:TEXASÂ -- The newspaper adviser at Big Spring High School resigned May 28 after the principal pulled the last issue of the paper, which included an editorial advocating the legalization of marijuana.Bill Riggs told Midland, Texas, television station KWES that he resigned as the adviser for The Corral because of a difference of opinion with administrators and that he did not want the journalism program to suffer.Steven Saldivar, superintendent of the Big Spring Independent School District, said the editorial conflicted with the district's policy of discouraging illegal drug use. [SPLC.org]The idea that discussing marijuana legalization somehow encourages illegal drug use is impressively stupid and wrong. It's the sort of thing you might believe if you go around destroying legalization editorials instead of reading them and trying to understand the arguments.It's bad enough that students are denied access to education simply for using marijuana. It's bad enough that we punish drug use so harshly that teens are afraid to talk to us and ask for help if they need it. So I guess I shouldnât be surprised that when a young person stands up and bravely challenges adults to think differently about drug policy, their ideas will be treated as a dangerous threat. How dare students speak out about the policies that affect their lives?Still, it is times like these -- when the drug war's defenders overstep the most basic principles of free speech and civil discourse â that the intellectual bankruptcy of their belief system rings the loudest. Every idea is worthless until it can be proven to withstand reasoned criticism, and the drug warriors have failed that test more times than we could possibly count.
Everyone Loves to Read About Marijuana Legalization
Popular political blogger/statistician Nate Silver says that this post about marijuana legalization was his second most-read piece ever. He became famous for his presidential election polling, but the success of that one marijuana post just shows the intense public interest in reform, especially on the web. Everywhere you look, even the mainstream press is picking up on the fact that people want to talk about this. Just look at NPR's The New Marijuana series, which has churned out more marijuana stories this week than I have time to read. CBS has been doing the same thing with Marijuana Nation, CNBC had a big hit with Marijuana Inc., and even Fox News has recruited John Stossel and Judge Napolitano to trash the drug war on Rupert Murdoch's dime. If you think I'm exaggerating what's going on here, just look at the Google Trends results for the search term "marijuana legalization": It's incredible to see our progress displayed so vividly, and anyone who doesn’t want legal marijuana in America should think twice about wasting their time trying to stop it. More people are scanning the web for news about marijuana legalization than ever before, and the media is working hard to give them exactly what they want, which results in yet more people reading and searching for news about marijuana legalization. The whole process cascades and feeds on itself, spontaneously turning longtime observers into voices for reform, and literally creating more news by emboldening activists to launch new campaigns. It's awesome, and it absolutely won't stop until our marijuana laws are fixed forever.
Drugged Driving: Michigan Supreme Overturns ItselfâDriving With Pot Metabolites Not a Crime
The Michigan Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that it is not illegal to drive while having marijuana metabolites in the body, reversing a 2006 decision by a more conservative version of the court. Marijuana metabolites are not a controlled substance under state law, and their mere presence thus cannot be the basis of a conviction under the state's drugged driving law, the court held. The ruling came in People v. Feezel, in which the court overturned the conviction of a driver in the death of a severely drunk pedestrian walking in the middle of a five-lane road at night. The driver, George Feezel, was himself borderline intoxicated on alcohol, blowing a 0.009, and also tested positive for marijuana metabolites, which can linger in the system for days or weeks after the pot high is gone. Feezle was not convicted of drunk driving causing a death, but was found guilty of second-offense drunk driving, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and driving under the influence of marijuana, although there was no testimony to the effect that he had used marijuana that evening and there was testimony to the contrary. The court ruled that a Washtenaw County jury should have been allowed to hear evidence the victim was drunk, remanding the case back to circuit court. But in ruling that marijuana metabolites are not a controlled substance, the court invalidated what was in effect a per se zero tolerance drugged driving law that allowed for people to be convicted of driving while impaired when they were not actually shown to be impaired. "We hold that 11-carboxy-THC is not a schedule 1 controlled substance under MCL 333.7212 [controlled substances act] and, therefore, a person cannot be prosecuted under MCL 257.625(8) [drugged driving act] for operating a motor vehicle with any amount of 11-carboxy-THC in his or her system," read the opinion. The opinion, largely a demolition of the previous Supreme Court's 2006 ruling in People v. Derror that marijuana metabolites are a controlled substance, thus allowing for drugged driving convictions based solely on their presence, noted that Michigan is now a medical marijuana state and that allowing Derror to stand would unfairly impact medical marijuana patients. Under Derror, Justice Corrigan wrote for the majority, "individuals who use marijuana for medicinal purposes will be prohibited from driving long after the person is no longer impaired. Indeed, in this case, experts testified that, on average, the metabolite could remain in a personâs blood for 18 hours and in a personâs urine for up to 4 weeks." It's not just about medical marijuana patients, the opinion suggested: "Thus, under Derror, an individual who only has 11-carboxy-THC in his or her system is prohibited from driving and, at the whim of police and prosecutors, can be criminally responsible for choosing to do so even if the person has a minuscule amount of the substance in his or her system. Therefore, the Derror majorityâs interpretation of the statute defies practicable workability given its tremendous potential for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement." It is neither fair nor just nor in the interest of public safety to charge people with drugged driving who arenât impaired. Finally, there is a Michigan Supreme Court that recognizes that.
Marc Emery Calls Out Selfish Marijuana Growers for Opposing Legalization
As November inches closer, California's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana is causing anxiety on all sides of the drug war battlefield. Unfortunately, law-enforcement interests and anti-drug activists aren't the only ones panicking over the possibility of legal pot in the Golden State. This piece from Marc Emery explains why some members of the cannabis community are speaking out against the effort, and why they're wrong to do so.Marc breaks opposition to the initiative into 3 categories:1. Police and prison industry profiteers who don't want to lose their jobs.2. Successful marijuana growers and entrepreneurs who don't want new competition.3. Old-school activists who feel alienated by the modern reform movement and can't see the forest for the trees.Now, I'm not sure I agree with everything Marc says here, but the piece on the whole is very interesting. As for the 3rd group, I just don't know what to say, but the first two are basically opposite sides of the same coin. Both groups benefit from marijuana prohibition and fear the impact of its elimination on their livelihood. Both groups prefer to think of their opposition to the initiative as being driven by principle, rather than self-interest. And ultimately, both groups will have to be overcome in order for marijuana prohibition to end.I don't think anyone really disputes the fact that the Tax and Regulate 2010 Initiative isn't perfect. It apparently increases penalties for distribution to people under 21, and it doesn't create the kind of freedom of cultivation and distribution that many would prefer. But what it will do is completely slaughter the war on marijuana as we know it, and not just in California. If this initiative passes, it will protect multitudes of peaceful cannabis consumers from arrest in California, while sending a message to the nation that further marijuana reform is popular and inevitable. I promise you, we will not destroy the drug war with one sudden fatal blow. It took more than a decade of legal medical marijuana to set a positive example, disprove negative stereotypes and propaganda, and ultimately help win popular support for further reform. We're headed in the right direction, and if this effort succeeds, we'll be a whole hell of a lot closer than we are today. That's true even if the new law creates some inconveniences that its authors felt were necessary in order to help get it passed.The bottom line is that if this initiative wins, or merely comes close to winning, it will galvanize our movement behind a victory that's surely just over the horizon. It will show politicians and the press that the recently surging marijuana legalization debate is more than just a fad and that our support base penetrates deeply into mainstream society. On the other hand, a decisive loss will send a message that the apparent march towards legalization in recent years was little more than a vocal minority exploiting the internet to create a false perception of political momentum. Can you even imagine how eager our opponents are to start saying things like that? Our losses are inevitably exaggerated and twisted by our opponents in a desperate defense of the status quo, and in that respect, the political impact of our victories must be considered in addition to the substance of the reforms themselves. To put it much more simply, let me just suggest that anyone in California who'd like to end marijuana prohibition would probably want to vote differently than the cops who get paid to pull up plants in the woods.
POLICE CHIEF RECEIVES LIFE IN PRISON FOR 38 YEAR OLD COLD CASE
Former police chief George Hayden was given a life sentence for the 38 year old cold case of my brother Sgt. William Miller. I have stayed with
HEMP - The most versatile illegal plant on the planet
HEMP IS QUITE LITERALLY THE MOST VERSATILE, USEFUL PLANT KNOWN TO MAN. But in America it is "illegal" - why is this the case?
Clinton Library releases Kagan papers
The Clinton Library has released a huge volume of writings by Elena Kagan, which are available here for free download.
10 Things to Talk to the Police About...
10 Things to Talk to the Police About While Being Questioned for a Crime You Didn't Commit While You Wait for Your Lawyer to Show Up
Marc Emery in Solitary Confinement in American Federal Gulag; Podcast of Prison Phone Call Broke BOP Rules
Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery hasn't even been formally sentenced yet, but he's already being punished for what he does best: opening his mouth for the cause of marijuana legalization. Emery's wife, Jodie, told Canada's CNews Saturday that Emery is now in solitary confinement for violating prison rules. According to Jodie Emery, she recorded his calls from prison and played them as a podcast on the couple's Cannabis Culture magazine web site. That violated a prison rule that phone calls can only be made between a prisoner and the intended recipient and cannot be directed to a third party. Jodie Emery said Marc had read the prison rules and did not think the podcast would be a violation. Now he will spend at least a week in solitary pending a hearing to determine the full extent of his punishment. Emery, Canada's most famous legalization activist, pleaded guilty May 24 to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, the culmination of a five-year battle between Emery and Canadian and US authorities to extradite and prosecute him for selling pot seeds over the Internet. Two of Emery's employees arrested along with him, Greg Williams and Michelle Rainey, earlier copped pleas and received probationary sentences to be served in Canada. Emery plowed the profits from his business back into the legalization movement, earning the wrath of drug prohibition establishment in both countries. When Emery was busted in 2005, then DEA administrator Karen Tandy gloated in a press release that it was "a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the US and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement." Under federal prison rules, Emery is allowed 300 minutes of phone calls a month and he can communicate via email through a closed computer system called CorrLinks, under which he can log onto a computer and compose a message that is read by prison officials before they send it over the Internet. Emery had used CorrLinks to post numerous dispatches from the gulag, but now, he is denied those privileges and could lose them for up to two months. Emery will remain in the Seattle-area federal detention facility until his formal sentencing September 10. Then he will be transferred to the federal prison at El Reno, Oklahoma, where prison officials will decide where he will be sent to serve his time. Emery's campaign to avoid extradition has now shifted to a campaign to persuade Canadian authorities to allow him to serve his sentence there, as has typically been the case with Canadians convicted of offenses in the US. But the Conservative government has in recent years begun to refuse to accept Canadians imprisoned on drug charges in the US.
Jamaica Says it Can Win Its Drug War for $1 Billion
It's a strategy so ingenious, I can't believe no one thought of it before:June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Jamaica is seeking $1 billion in loans and grants to rid the country of âcancerousâ drug gangs that have taken over poor neighborhoods on the Caribbean island and hurt economic growth, Finance Minister Audley Shaw said.Someone should tell the Jamaicans that the U.S. has already tried the whole spend-a-billion-dollars-to-eradicate-drugs idea so many times that it's become a rather unfunny joke, and the only way the drug czar can even get the money anymore is if he pretends it's for something else, like treatment programs.The last thing Jamaica needs is to owe a billion dollars back to a bunch of international banks for massive drug war that didn't work. Good luck accomplishing anything except an endless series of bloody gunfights that cripple your tourism industry. If you want a reduction in drug war violence, begin by regulating and taxing the marijuana that's being sold by the handful all over the country. The thing I keep hearing about Jamaican herb is that no one can even finish the $20 bag they bought at the airport when they arrived. You could tax it at 300% and the tourists wouldnât even notice. Now that's a billion dollar drug strategy.
Margaret Polovchak Wants to Put Cancer Patients in Jail
Why? Because she thinks it will help save the children:A discussion of legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois is likely fueling an increase in the number of Park Ridge teenagers using the substance, the Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation contends.Margaret Polovchak, executive director of MCYAF, said increased dialogue about marijuana legislation in the state leads to a greater public perception that the substance is not harmful, resulting in a growing number of users.It's wrong on so many levels, one scarcely knows where to begin. But I guess we'll start with the fact that teen marijuana use declined for 10 years straight after the national debate over medical marijuana emerged in the mid-90's. You see, Illinois isnât the first state where this conversation has taken place. There's actually an abundance of empirical data to consult before spouting off mindless speculation. Here, check out this helpful chart showing how almost every state that legalized medical marijuana experienced a subsequent decline in teen marijuana use. Now you'll never find me arguing that passing medical marijuana laws makes kids less likely to try it. But the fact that rates of use have fluctuated similarly in states with and without such laws really just massacres the idea that having a public debate about marijuana policy somehow endangers children. If you want to see an endangered child, check out this video of a SWAT team shooting two dogs in front of a 7-year-old during a bust for a small bag of pot.Anyone who's concerned about children getting mixed messages in the medical marijuana debate should stop lying about medical marijuana. You know it's medicine because the Institute of Medicine said so. You know it's medicine because its main ingredient is approved by the FDA and the manufacturer even marketed it as "legal marijuana." You know it's medicine because seriously ill patients continue to turn to it for relief, even when doing so places them at risk of being raided and imprisoned simply for trying to make their cancer suck a little less.The effort to protect children from the dangers of drugs is a noble one, but taking medicine away from people who need it is one strategy that shouldnât even be on the table.
Paul Armentano Talks Legalization on FOX News
Judge Napolitano's Freedom Watch program continues to impress me. Paul does a great job, and the whole segment provides a good overview of the madness and hypocrisy of Obama's marijuana policy:The fact that FOX has created a platform for these sorts of discussions is significant. I wouldn't have thought it possible even a couple years ago.
Our Heroes are Rebels with Just Cause!
As we remember fallen soldiers this year, please consider those heroes, who have given their lives for this country, died for freedom and for making this world a better place will have died in vai
Aaron Houston is a Patriot and a Hero
This week, famous marijuana lobbyist Aaron Houston takes over as Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Count me among the many who are pretty damn excited about it. Aaron is a cool dude and a warrior of justice who has the skills to give the right marching orders in the student movement to end the war on drugs. He even had the willpower to turn down Doritos from Steve Colbert: The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Marijuana Legalization: California Tax and Regulate Has Eight-Point Lead in Latest Poll, But Still Under 50%
According to a Los Angeles Times/USC poll released Tuesday, the California
Mall Security Freaks Out Over Guy Wearing Marijuana T-Shirt
This is impressively stupid:AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ? A medical marijuana patient says wearing a pro-pot T-shirt got him banned from Town Center at Aurora.Jake Gailey told CBS4 mall personnel approached him last weekend and told him his shirt was offensive to some customers. The shirt features a play on Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" campaign slogan and graphics but instead features the message "YES WE CANNABIS" and displays a marijuana leaf.Sounds like Gailey handled it pretty well at first:"I reminded him that (medical marijuana) was legal in our state, that I voted for it and I had a medical marijuana card as well," Gailey said.Gailey, 28, was told to take the shirt off, turn it inside out or leave."I asked him if 'I buy a hat with a marijuana leaf in Spencer's, I can't wear it in the mall?' And he said 'No.'"I said 'Well, how can the stores sell products you can't allow in the mall?' He said 'Well, we're trying to get everybody on the same page, and it hasn't worked.'"Eventually, he got worked up and was arrested for being a nuisance, but the charges were dropped when he agreed not to go to the mall for a year. I'm sure Jake Gailey won't be the only marijuana activist avoiding the Town Center mall for a while.According to this article, badass attorney Robert Corry is on the case, and there might be some interesting 1st Amendment questions here, despite the fact that it's a private mall. Protests are being planned in the meantime, so you can bet there will soon be far more pot leaves on display in and around Town Center than there would have been if they'd just kept their prejudice to themselves.Note to Corporate America: if you think you have anything to gain by discriminating against marijuana culture, you're dead wrong. If you screw with us, we will go completely ballistic and drive you crazy. If you don't believe me, ask these people.
Indian cops arrested with contraband drugs in Nepal
Indian cops arrested with contraband drugs in Nepal Nepalnews.com Monday, 31 May 2010 15:09
Teachers Suspended for Showing Flex Your Rights Video
Two teachers in Norfolk, VA were suspended this week after showing BUSTED to a 12th grade government class. Apparently, Americans are supposed to remain ignorant about their basic constitutional rights, so we can keep arresting them at record rates every year. You can read my thoughts on the matter at the Flex Your Rights blog.