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Botched Drug Raid Death Leads to $2.5 Million Settlement
Looks like this is as close as we'll ever get to seeing justice for the family of Tarika Wilson:LIMA, Ohio â The insurance carrier for the City of Lima has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the family of a woman who was shot and killed by a city police sergeant in January, 2008.â¦Wilson, 26, a biracial woman, was shot to death by Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, who is white, during a drug raid at her south side home. Wilson's 1-year-old son, Sincere, was injured in the gunfire.The incident led to allegations by some in the African-American community in Lima who charged that the city's mostly white police department targeted blacks. [Toledo Blade]And it led to a lot of accusations from drug policy reformers that police shoot way too many innocent people in overly-aggressive drug raids. You may recall that this was the case in which the officer claimed that he opened fire on Tarika because he was startled by gunshots downstairs. Those shots were fired by his own fellow officers as they killed the family's dogs. Tarika Wilson literally lost her life because a cop was freaked out by gunfire from another cop. Oh, and her baby daughter also got shot.Radley Balko has much more.
New Jersey Legislature Passes Medical Marijuana Bill, Set to Become 14th Medical Marijuana State (Plus DC)
New Jersey is set to become the 14th state to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana after the state Assembly Monday approved the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" by a vote of 46-14. Later Monday evening, the state Senate, which had already approved its version of the measure, voted final approval by a margin of 25-13. Outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has said he will sign the bill. The Assembly debated the bill for half an hour Monday afternoon before approving it. The debate took place before galleries backed with bill supporters and opponents. It was a similar scene in the Senate a few hours later. "It does not make sense for many of New Jersey's residents to suffer when there is a viable way to ease their pain," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), one of the sponsors of the bill. "Medical marijuana can alleviate a lot of suffering, and there is no evidence that legalizing it for medical use increases overall drug use." The bill will be one of the most restrictive in the nation. Patients diagnosed by their primary care physician as having a qualifying medical condition would be allowed to obtainâbut not growâmedical marijuana through one of at least six "alternative treatment centers," or dispensaries. But patients would be able to register with only one dispensary at a time and would have to use the written recommendation within a month of when it was written. Qualifying medical conditions include severe or chronic pain, severe nausea or vomiting or cachexia brought on by HIV/AIDS or cancer ("or the treatment thereof"), muscular dystrophy, inflammatory bowel diseases, and terminal illnesses where the patient has less than a year to live. Chronic pain was removed from the original bill in an Assembly committee vote last summer, but reinserted last week when the Assembly approved an amendment by Assemblyman Gusciora. Patients could possess up to two ounces and be prescribed up to two ounces per month. That is an increase from the one ounce possession limit in earlier versions of the bill. Patients would be able to name a caregiver, courier, or delivery option to pick up medicine at the dispensary and deliver it to them. "This will be the strictest medical marijuana law in the nation," Gusciora said at a statehouse press conference Monday. "We have a good bill that will be very strict and will not decriminalize marijuana, but will allow doctors to prescribe the best treatment for their patients." Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey office, who has lobbied tirelessly for passage of a medical marijuana bill, agreed that the final Garden State bill is very tight, but said it was a start. "There will be some patients who will be able to get some relief," she said. "We think once the program's up and running and people see that there aren't problems, we'll be able to go back and get in some more of our patients." Also at the press conference were patients Diane Riportella and Mike Oliveri. Riportella was diagnosed with Lu Gerhrig's Disease in 2007 and given no more than five years to live. Oliveri suffers from muscular dystrophy. "I'm so excited to be able to be alive and to be here for this moment," said Riportella, 53, of Egg Harbor Township. "Within a few seconds, I'm relaxed and I'm smiling and I go to Disneyland just for a few minutes and say 'It's not so bad, I can live another day,'" Riportella said. Oliveri, 25, said he moved from his New Jersey home to California in order to be able to legally access medical marijuana. He said he vaporizes about an ounce a week to ease the pain in his legs and back and calm his digestive tract and that he had used it illegally before leaving for the West Coast. "I took every medication known to man before I took weed," said Oliveri, 25. "I knew it was a risk â¦but it was a life or death matter." The bill was supported by organizations including the New Jersey State Nurses Association, the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians, the New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the New Jersey League for Nursing, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the New Jersey chapters of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Special credit goes to the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, the patients' and advocates' group that has fought for years to get the bill over the top. New Jersey will now join Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington in the list of medical marijuana states. That list also includes the District of Columbia.
New Jersey Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana Bill, One More Vote in the Senate This Afternoon
On the last day of the legislative session, the New Jersey Assembly has approved the state's medical marijuana bill, the Compassionate Use Act, on a vote of 48-14. The state Senate will vote on it later today. Outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has said he will sign it. Look for a feature post on this once the Senate votes.
It's Time to Legalize Medical Marijuana in Professional Sports
Andrew Sullivan points to this ESPN comment regarding NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Percy Harvin:Harvin was a controversial draft pick after he tested positive for marijuana use at the February scouting combine. But as it turned out, the biggest problem he encountered was an intensification of migraine headaches that has plagued him for much of his life. Oh, I think I know what's going on here. First, Harvin gets in trouble for testing positive for marijuana. Now he's passing drug tests, but suffering from constant debilitating migraines. Sounds like the NFL has simply prohibited him from using the one medicine that effectively treats his condition.The thing about marijuana and migraines is that it doesn't just relieve symptoms, it often stops the headaches from ever happening in the first place. I've spoken with many migraine sufferers who've found that even modest use of marijuana simply makes the problem go away. I discovered this for myself in my late teens and it changed my life. I used to wake up everyday wondering if by mid-afternoon, I'd be huddled in a dark room, half-blind, violently nauseous and knowing I'd be unable to function again for 12 hours. It was horrible, but it ended quite abruptly one summer, and it was only later that I came to understand why.So I can't even begin to describe my frustration at watching a world-class athlete's career jeopardized by the NFL's ridiculous prohibition against marijuana. Banning recreational use is silly, but this is an outrage. If you don't want publicity surrounding marijuana use in professional sports, then stop testing the athletes for marijuana. If that's too much to ask, then at least create an exemption for cases in which a doctor recommends medical use. Believe me, this would generate next to no controversy, although substantial coverage ranging from neutral to positive would be almost guaranteed.If the President of the United States can embrace a more reasonable medical marijuana policy, there's no reason the NFL canât do the same.
Cocaine Vaccine Backfires Horribly
I wonder if any of the researchers saw this coming:The vaccine, called TA-CD, shows promise but could also be dangerous; some of the addicts participating in a study of the vaccine started doing massive amounts of cocaine in hopes of overcoming its effects, according to Thomas R. Kosten, the lead researcher on the study, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in October.â¦Nobody overdosed, but some of them had 10 times more cocaine coursing through their systems than researchers had encountered before, according to Kosten. He said some of the addicts reported to researchers that they had gone broke buying cocaine from multiple drug dealers, hoping to find a variety that would get them high. [Washington Post]Whoa, that's doesn't sound like any fun at all. I assume the researchers told these people not to bother increasing their dose. Stories like this are the reason I'm skeptical of drugs that block receptors for other drugs.
Former Drug Czar Invents Awesome New Drug
It's becoming more and more apparent that former UK drug policy advisor David Nutt is a really cool guy. First, he got in trouble for saying ecstasy is as safe as horseback riding, then he got fired for saying marijuana is safer than all sorts of things, and now look how he's spending his free time: An alcohol substitute that gives the drinker the pleasant feelings of tipsiness without an unpleasant hangover, is being developed by researchers.The team, led by drugs expert Professor David Nutt, has developed the drink using chemicals related to the sedative Valium.It works on the nerves in a similar way to alcohol causing feelings of well-being and relaxation. [Daily Mail]Well, I suppose I'd be interested in knowing a whole lot more about that. If this stuff does what they're saying, it could prove to be the greatest discovery of modern times:The team is also working on an antidote pill that would mute the effects of the synthetic alcohol on the brain receptors, allowing drinkers to drive soon afterwards.Dude, are you serious? It would be just delightful if the guy who got fired for failing to support the government's unhinged anti-drug agenda ended up saving lives on a massive scale. Can you even imagine what the Home Office would say if David Nutt won a Nobel Prize for inventing the cure for drunk driving?
Consider the Possibility That People Do Drugs Because They Enjoy It
Pete Guither has a great post mocking the bizarre, yet common, observation that the drug problem would go away if everyone stopped taking drugs. This is like saying "If everyone stopped having sex, we could eliminate STDs, abortions, and unwanted pregnancies." True, but absurd â not even worthy of a science fiction short story.Indeed, anyone who complains that everybody should just stop taking drugs is basically admitting that they have no remotely reasonable ideas for dealing with the problems that result from drug use. We, on the other hand, have lots of ideas about that. And unlike the ridiculous strategy of trying to end all drug use, our plan for ending the drug war instead seems to be looking more realistic every day.
States Don't Need Federal Permission to Legalize Medical Marijuana
We've been over this before, but apparently it still hasnât sunk in. This time, we have the Attorney General of Arkansas trying to claim that federal law prevents his state from protecting medical marijuana patients:LITTLE ROCK â The state attorney general today rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize marijuana for medical use.Attorney General Dustin McDaniel cited numerous problems with the proposal submitted by Little Rock attorney John Wesley Hall, Jr., including that federal law would supersede a state drug amendment."I note as an initial matter that this description fails to acknowledge that your proposed measure cannot completely legalize marijuana in Arkansas for medical purposes because the drug remains illegal under federal law," the opinion said. [Arkansas News]Really? Then what's all this I keep hearing about 13 states having these laws and the President telling DOJ not to raid the dispensaries? I'm pretty sure everyone knows how this works by now. What a waste of breath it is to continue insisting that there's some sort of impregnable federal barrier that makes medical marijuana impossible. It's plainly wrong, and not even worthy of being debated. Anyone who says that is just a stubborn and desperate obstructionist who can't even come up with a single real reason to continue criminalizing patients. I wonder how long it will take to bury this nonsense once and for all. What if Arkansas was the last state in the country with no legal protection for patients? Would their top prosecutor still insist that it can't be done? Come on. At some point you're gonna have to learn to live with medical marijuana, and fighting back against it is both cruel and pointless.
Cop Wants His Job Back After Planning the Sting That Killed Rachel Hoffman
The death of Rachel Hoffman in a botched drug sting was one of the most disturbing drug war outrages of 2008, and apparently the person most directly responsible for what happened thinks everyone's forgotten about it by now.Former Tallahassee Police Officer Ryan Pender is fighting to get his job back after a botched drug sting cost a young police informant her life.â¦Pender's attorney claims there was a lack of policy in the buy/bust operations at TPD and Pender did what he was trained to do.â¦Pender - who recruited Hoffman and arranged the drug sting that evening - was fired in September, 2008 after an internal affairs review found that he violated nine department policies. [WCTV]So Pender says he "did what he was trained to do," and internal affairs says he "violated nine department policies." Perhaps he was trained to violate those policies? Actually, that wouldnât entirely surprise me, but it's still no excuse for Pender's participation in one of the most ridiculously ill-conceived drug operations that's ever been brought to light.The great injustice here is not that Ryan Pender got fired for his role in this fatally flawed fiasco, but rather that he was the only person held accountable for it.
Why is DEA Condemning Efforts to Prevent Heroin Deaths?
There are many ways for drug warriors to sound heartless and cruel in the drug policy debate, but one of the worst is certainly the objection to life-saving harm reduction programs. Just watch this DEA spokesman complain about efforts to reduce HIV infection in New York:Harm reduction is a matter of public health for everyone, not just drug users. To frame this as a simple question of whether we should be "teaching people how to do drugs" is powerfully shortsighted and oblivious to the actual risks that drug policy should seek to address. It's incredible that these drug warriors spend so much time warring against imaginary and exaggerated drug threats, while simultaneously opposing sensible approaches in those areas where legitimate health concerns do exist.
Judge Reprimanded for Illegally Drug Testing Random Guy
Imagine you're in court quietly observing someone else's trial, when suddenly, the judge starts pointing at you:NASHVILLE (CN) - A judge in Dickson County, Tenn., had officers pull a spectator out of his courtroom "on a hunch," held him in custody and made him submit to a urinalysis for drugs, the man claims in Federal Court. Benjamin Marchant claims that General Sessions Judge Durwood Moore admitted that he "routinely drug-screens 'spectators' in his courtroom if he 'thinks' they may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol." Moore allegedly called it the "routine policy of the court."The whole thing is so flagrantly unconstitutional and illegal that Moore's fellow judges were forced to throw him under the bus:Moore acknowledged he had violated Marchant's rights and was censured by the Tennessee Supreme Court's Judiciary Court on May 1, 2009, the highest form of punishment short of seeking a judge's removal from the bench, according to the complaint.Marchant tested negative for drugs, which was probably helpful in illustrating the absurdity of pulling random people aside with no justification and making them pee in a cup. I shudder to think that the outcome may have been different if he'd come up positive. Would Judge Moore have been hailed as a skilled professional who can pick potheads out of a crowd, instead of an out-of-control jerk who doesn't understand the most basic laws he's sworn to uphold?It's seriously creepy to think that this guy's job is to interpret the law. Pete Guither asks:How does this guy get to be a judge? You have to be better informed to get a cosmetology license.Which is why I can't get excited about any form of punishment that falls short of permanently stopping this guy from deciding the legal fate of anyone ever again. Sure, no one was killed, falsely imprisoned, or otherwise substantially harmed by the incident, but it just reveals such a fundamental contempt for the Constitution that I refuse to believe it was a misunderstanding. The problem is not that this judge was ignorant of the law, but rather that he deemed himself to be above it.
Europe: Dutch Delay Plan to Make Border Cannabis Cafes Members Only
A plan to make Dutch border town cannabis cafes members only in a bid to thwart "drug tourism" is on indefinite hold, a Dutch official said Monday. The plan, which was supposed to go into effect January 1, needs further study, the official said. "We need to finalize our preparations before we can put the project into operation," said Petro Hermans, a project officer for the southeastern city of Maastricht. "We are studying the legal feasibility of the project," he said, adding the date of January 1 "was not practicable". Maastricht is one of eight municipalities in southern Limburg province that announced jointly last May they would make the 30 coffee shops in their jurisdictions members only. The plan would also reduce the daily limit on marijuana purchases from five grams to three and require that payment be made with a Dutch debit card. The measures are a bid to reduce the estimated four million visitors to Limburg each year who come from more repressive neighboring countriesâFrance, Germany, and Belgiumâto buy marijuana. Limburgers have complained that the drug tourists cause problems ranging from traffic congestion to public urination to hard drug dealing. The Dutch government decriminalized the possession of up to five grams of marijuana in 1976 and allows for retail sales through licensed coffee shops. There are about 700 coffee shops throughout the country. Back in Limburg, Hermans said that a report on the feasibility of the members only plan was due by mid-month. "We will then decide how to proceed," he said.
thank goodness for small favors
just when it looked like we were in for a fight on several really awful fronts our cowardly prime minister feeling the heat from a prisoner exchange scandal that just may have cost him his pet defense
What ever happened to Marc Emery???
Article appearing :www.straight.com under the heading:Upbeat Emery on way to jail.I was going to quote from the article but you might as well just look it up for yourself.Emery is still Emery and read
Canada: Mandatory Minimum Bill for Pot Growing Dies Sudden Death When Prime Minister Shuts Down Parliament
In a political maneuver designed to shield his embattled Conservative government from criticism during the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday "prorogued," or shut down, parliament until a new session begins in March. The move kills all pending legislation, including a Tory "tough on crime" bill, C-15, that included mandatory minimum nine-month prison sentences for growing as much as a single marijuana plant. Prorouging parliament is not a routine move, but this is the second time Harper has done it in a year. Last December, he did it to head off a looming vote of no-confidence, with a coalition of New Democrats, Liberals, and Bloc Quebecois looking to replace his Conservative government. Now, he says he is doing it to introduce a new budget, but the maneuver also kills all parliamentary committees, including one looking into allegations Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan turned detainees over to Afghan authorities who abused them. That inquiry has raised embarrassing questions about Canada's policies in Afghanistan. To the relief of drug reform advocates and Canada's cannabis culture, the move kills a bill that was very harsh and very near to passage. Under the provisions of C-15 as passed by the House, people growing between one and 200 marijuana plants faced a minimum of six months if the "offense is committed for the purpose of trafficking." That would rise to nine months if it were a rental property, if children were endangered, or if the grow presented a public safety threat, i.e. was stealing electricity. The bill mandated a one-year minimum for between 201 and 500 plants or for producing hashish and two years for more than 500 plants. It also had one-year minimums for importing or exporting marijuana and for trafficking more than three kilograms if it was for the benefit of "organized crime," there was threat or use of violence or weapons, or if the offender had a serious previous drug offense. The trafficking minimum jumped to two years if it occurred in a prison, if the trafficking was to a minor, or if it was "in or near a school, in or near an area normally frequented by youth or in the presence of youth." The bill had been amended earlier this month by the Senate Constitutional Affairs and Legal Committee to remove the mandatory minimum provisions for under 201 plants, but only if the grows were not in residential areas and owned by the grower. That meant anyone growing in a residential neighborhood or in a rental property still faced a nine-month minimum, limiting relief to rural home-owners. The bill awaited only a final vote in the Senate. Now, Harper has sacrificed it on the altar of his political calculations. But like a vampire, C-15 is likely to rise from the grave. It has been a central plank in Harper's appeals to his law-and-order constituencies, and his government is almost certain to reintroduce it when the new session begins in March, or after he calls snap elections, which the Conservatives seem well-positioned to win as their main rivals, the Liberals, flounder. Don't put away those wooden stakes just yet.
Romantic Comedy "It's Complicated" Gets R Rating for Depicting Casual Marijuana Use
I try really hard to avoid name-calling on this blog, but the morons at MPAA just broke my streak:When it comes to the MPAA, Universal is finding that things aren't simple.The group's Classification and Ratings Appeals Board on Wednesday denied the studio's appeal of an R rating for its new Nancy Meyers romantic comedy "It's Complicated," throwing a potential marketing hurdle in the film's path.The MPAA's ruling cited "some drug content and sexuality" for the film about a love triangle among upper-middle-class suburbanites. Those familiar with the board hearing said the inclusion of a scene featuring "pot-smoking with no bad consequences" was key to the decision. [LA Times] So what do they want to see? Meryl Streep's hair catching fire? Steve Martin choking on a taco? Maybe the reason nothing bad happened to the pot-smoking characters in the movie is because bad things almost never happen to people who smoke pot (except getting arrested or otherwise stigmatized by self-righteous nutjobs like the MPAA). Seriously, you can show these people 90 minutes of machine-gun fire and they'll give you a PG-13 any day of the week as long as the people killing each other don't get naked or use excessively foul language. Fortunately, MPAA's panic at the site of a little recreational marijuana use is so wildly out of proportion that it's generating an incredulous response from the press. Indeed, the story wouldnât even be in the news if it weren't widely regarded as transparently stupid and crazy. I think 2009 will likely go down as the year when it finally became impossible to vilify casual marijuana use without getting laughed at by almost everyone.
Wall Street Journal Says Marijuana Legalization Could Save Mexico
You know things have changed when mainstream media coverage of the war on drugs increasingly looks like this:In the 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs," the supply and use of drugs has not changed in any fundamental way. The only difference: a taxpayer bill of more than $1 trillion.A senior Mexican official who has spent more than two decades helping fight the government's war on drugs summed up recently what he's learned from his long career: "This war is not winnable." [WSJ]The whole piece is excellent and it's exactly this sort of thorough reporting that's been missing from the drug policy debate for far too long.
Heroin trials to begin in Vancouver,No out of towners need apply
I read a tiny article in one of the local free daily papers that alluded to a heroin trial that is to begin in town soon.If I don't get on this one I'm taking a hostage.I have the medical need and all
Medical Marijuana Comment Approved on the Fresno Bee Opinion Talk Blog
http://fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2009/12/what_are_your_dumbest_trends_o.html My local newspaper, The Fresno Bee, posted an entry in their Opinion Talk Blog asking, "What are your dumbest trends of the decade?" and continues: As this decade stumbles to a conclusion, media outlets have begun putting together their best and worst lists. So I'll join in with my picks of the dumbest trends of the decade, and I hope you'll add yours in the comments section. There are plenty of possibilities in this bizarre decade. I submitted the following comment about medical marijuana, and they included it: One of the dumbest trends of the decade has to be that city and county governments waste so much time and resources that could be better used to better their communities on trying to circumvent California State Medical Marijuana Laws.
The Most Insane Anti-Marijuana Argument Ever
Anyone can dream up dumb reasons for keeping marijuana illegal, but it takes guts to equate pot prohibition with the survival of Western civilization. Mary Grabar at Pajamas Media shows us how it's done:The sanction for alcohol use has lasted for millennia. It has become part of our rituals at meals, celebrations, and religious services. That is a large part of why Prohibition failed.Marijuana, in contrast, has always been counter-cultural in the West. Every toke symbolizes a thumb in the eye of Western values. So it follows that in order to maintain our culture, we need to criminalize this drug.The prohibition against marijuana is one brick in the foundation of our society.You know, marijuana has only been illegal for 72 years. This isnât a brick in the foundation of anything. Marijuana's prohibition was born out of absurd racist demagoguery, and the counter-culture that subsequently emerged was a symptom of prohibition, not a justification for it. Ironically, Garbar is trying to fan the flames of what she sees as a massive culture war over marijuana, yet as the comments indicate, she can't even get her own conservative readership to buy into it.