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DEAâs Medical Marijuana Raids Continue Under Obama Administration
Uh-oh. Looks like Obama has yet to deliver on his promise to end the medical marijuana raids:Oakland, CA -- The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided a medical marijuana dispensary today in South Lake Tahoe, California, in the first days of the new Obama Administration. Even though President Barack Obama had made repeated promises during his election campaign to end federal raids in medical marijuana states, many high-ranking Bush Administration officials have yet to leave office. For example, still at the helm of the DEA is acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, who has been responsible for numerous federal raids in California, following in the footsteps of her predecessor Karen Tandy. Neither Eric Holder, President Obama's pick for U.S. Attorney General, nor a new DEA Administrator, have taken office yet. [Americans for Safe Access]Itâs too early to accuse Obama of turning his back on the patients he pledged to defend, but itâs a clear sign that the new president will have to take concrete steps towards ending the DEAâs controversial crusade in California. It wonât stop just because he said it would. He has to actually do something to stop this. Weâll soon have new leadership at the Dept. of Justice and it will become perfectly clear to everyone what Obamaâs priorities really are. Until then, weâre stuck with George Bushâs drug war under Barack Obamaâs watch. The new administration has done its best to avoid publicly discussing marijuana policy, so letâs hope they understand that ending these raids promptly is the best way to avoid ugly headlines.
Drug Smuggling Robots are the Future
I told you weâd be seeing more of this kind of thing:A toy helicopter is believed to have been used in an attempt to smuggle drugs into a prison.Guards at Elmley Prison in Sheerness, Kent, spotted the remote control miniature aircraft flying over the walls of the jail and heading for the accommodation blocks one night after it was picked up by CCTV cameras.It had a small load beneath the fuselage, thought to contain drugs.The toy or its cargo was not found. [Daily Mail]Face it, thereâs nothing anyone can do to stop drug smuggling robots. Theyâre just gonna get cheaper and more sophisticated. You canât chase them because theyâre faster than you. You canât shoot them down because youâll miss and your bullets will land in a school yard miles away. And you canât fingerprint them because theyâll kick your ass.Pretty much the only way to stop drug smuggling robots from wreaking major havoc is to legalize drugs.
Marijuana, Inc. Tonight on CNBC
This looks interesting. Tonight at 9 ET on CNBC.Update: I hated it. My comments here.
Drug Policy at WhiteHouse.gov
President Obamaâs new WhiteHouse.gov site has several drug policy related items worth noting:* End Racial Profiling: President Obama and Vice President Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.* Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support: President Obama and Vice President Biden will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama and Biden will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.* Eliminate Sentencing Disparities: President Obama and Vice President Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.* Expand Use of Drug Courts: President Obama and Vice President Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior....The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. Seeing racial profiling, sentencing reform and needle exchange on the White House website ainât bad at all. If these are the issues the new administration is prepared to address immediately, thatâs a respectable forward step for criminal justice reform. Heck, its decent enough that I wonder why his transition team didnât mash this together into a response to that tricky drug war question they so blatantly dodged over at Change.gov. Regardless, itâs interesting to consider these policy statements in light of the unresolved drug czar selection process. Any candidate who embraces this stuff would be a major improvement to be sure.Unfortunately, the site isnât completely devoid of tough-guy drug war talk:Obama and Biden will demand the Afghan government do more, including cracking down on corruption and the illicit opium trade.Thus, despite the positive steps outlined above, Obama still suffers from the notion that drug prohibition can be a stabilizing force in international politics. This will prove to be our greatest obstacle under the new administration, as weâve heard nothing encouraging from Obama with regards to international drug policy and things are getting damn ugly out there.
Wsted Resources to Protect the Present Status
Our money coud be better spent supporting companies that provide equipment and training to help upgrade our security and infrastructure.
Barack Obama is the President
Weâve talked a lot here about Obamaâs reluctance to openly discuss drug policy. Weâve been disappointed if not surprised that our domination of his Change.gov website failed to provoke an intelligent response. As activists, thatâs just what we do and we wonât stop anytime soon. But weâd be foolish to let our frustration obscure the magnitude of what just happened. The American people just put a person of color in the White House. How many of you thought youâd see this in your lifetime? I didnât. Itâs so incredible to me, I still struggle to process it as the reality of all this periodically penetrates my entrenched political cynicism and I summon for a moment a hope-like sensation that must be what everyoneâs been talking about.Itâs not about Obama or his policies, itâs about the American people. It shows that weâre capable of transcending centuries of prejudice and idiocy, provided that circumstances are properly aligned. Itâs purely symbolic, of course, but powerfully so. I guess what Iâm trying to say is that I thought weâd end the drug war long before electing an African-American president. Iâm amazed to learn that legalizing drugs is actually the more difficult undertaking. But so be it. To anyone who says overcoming drug prohibition is just an impossible fantasy, I say "Barack Obama is the president."
POLICE BRUTALITY ,. THESE GUYS ARE ON DRUGS . READ ON
Witness says mentally unstable teen victim of police brutality, racial slurs by By PAMELA SCOTT JOHNSON Staff Calvin Wilkerson
A little help please
I am working on a paper comparing the numbers of people dependent on anti depressants and other mood altering pharmaceuticals compared to the people dependent on so called illegal drugs.I need stats s
South Dakota Legislature Will Take Up a Medical Marijuana Bill This Session
South Dakota's one-man marijuana reform movement, Bob Newland, has informed the Chronicle that he has found a legislative sponsor for a medical marijuana bill and there will be a hearing soon, most likely before the end of the month. The text of the proposed bill can be read here. It would be a very pleasant surprise if this bill were to pass, and a sweet vindication for activists like Newland in the only state to fail to pass a medical marijuana legalization initiative at the polls. In the 2006 initiative, medical marijuana gained 48% of the popular vote. Earlier efforts to pass a bill in the legislature went nowhere, and the opposition to this bill will be led by Attorney General Larry Long (R), who was also point man for initiative opponents in 2006. (Who knew the AG was an MD? Oh, he isn't.) Newland sought meetings with Long in an effort to address "law enforcement concerns," but Long made it clear that he is unalterably opposed to medical marijuana. Period. Newland also has a fall-back bill prepared if, as he predicts, Republicans will be aghast at allowing patients to grow their own medicine and try to kill the bill. The fall-back bill simply allows an affirmative defense in a patients is arrested and prosecuted for his medicine.
Will our new President make the changes we've hoped for? Or will he do the same as the Bush Administration and not even address the drug war.
Is Obama honestly with the change we were promised?Â
Holder his feet to the fire, not. Obama's Drug Warrior Attorney General nominee gets softball questions.
Attorney General nominee Eric Holder got some tough questions as he faced the Senate yesterday. Such as, who is better at basketball, he or Barack?
Caring Coverage!!!
Wow! What caring and sensitive coverage we are getting from the media in North Carolina!!
Another Chance to Pressure Obama for Drug Policy Reform
Obamaâs Change.gov website has created yet another feature for soliciting ideas from the public. This time itâs called the Citizenâs Briefing Book and you can vote on ideas or submit your own. The winning ideas will be printed out and handed to Barack Obama, so he can wipe his ass with them.Unsurprisingly, the most popular idea is legalizing marijuana, yet again. This has really escalated to the point of absurdity and if the new administration hasnât figured it out yet, this will continue until they either give us an intelligent response, or stop asking us to post ideas on their website. Â If, like me, youâre becoming cynical about this whole process, shake it off. Go to the website and vote. There is no way of measuring the impact of our repeated domination of Change.gov, but it is intuitively greater than zero. They wouldnât keep doing this if it didnât mean something to them.
Spin Spin Spin
The prohibitionists have been framing the questions for too long. It is time to go on the attack. There are cogent arguments that can be easily put forth.
Thought for 2009
Why do we allow para-military swat teams to serve drug warrants on pot dealers with no violent crime on their record?Why are these raids,when botched causing innocent civilian deaths,are they not only
If You Think Alcohol Should be Legal, Youâre an Alcoholic
Amidst the hysteria surrounding this weekâs events in El Paso, I neglected to mention that Mayor John Cook got caught calling us all "potheads" because we oppose the drug war:ABC-7 obtained an excerpt from the mayor's e-mail, which was sent to Margie Velez, the former office manager for former Senator Phil Gramm in El Paso.It states: "I can tell you that all the pot heads have sent their e-mails and they are encouraging the reps to stand by their decision. But why does the silent majority remain silent? We have certainly attracted attention to our city, but I don't think the attention is positive." [ABC7]Itâs hilarious on multiple levels, beginning with the delightfully bad press it earned him. Heâs literally calling people potheads for supporting a city council resolution that advocates "an honest, open national debate on ending the prohibition on narcotics." With few exceptions, itâs gonna reflect poorly on you if you resort to name-calling against people who asked for an honest and open discussion.But the best part is when he asks for the "silent majority" to come save him from the stoners. Leaving aside the question of whether that "silent majority" even exists anymore (which is doubtful), the mayorâs agenda from day one has been to prevent discussion. If Mayor Cook wanted to give drug war supporters a voice, why the hell did he veto a debate on our drug policy? He torpedoed the discussion, only to then complain that certain views werenât being heard. That is just classic.
Marijuana Law Reform No Longer a Political Liability, Itâs a Political Opportunity
Paul Armentanoâs latest piece at The Hill looks at evolving public attitudes about marijuana policy and the drug war. This is exactly how drug reform politics need to be framed from now on. It sounds like something I would write, probably because Paul is an awesome guy whoâs always right about everything.
Cop Fired for Supporting Marijuana Decriminalization, Wins $815,000 Settlement
Which amendment was it again that says you can talk about stuff and have opinions on things?A former Mountlake Terrace police sergeant whose views supporting the decriminalization of marijuana led to his dismissal in 2005 has won his job back and an $815,000 settlement from the city and Snohomish County.â¦Wender had publicly challenged and criticized the department and its commanders over the years on a number of issues. He is affiliated with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a Massachusetts organization of police officers who oppose the current tactics used by police to fight drug crimes. Among its other members are former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper. [Seattle Times]Wow, watching LEAP take the law-enforcement community by storm is a glorious thing to behold. Itâs only going to get better.
Supreme Court Strikes Another Small Blow Against Exclusionary Rule
The Supreme Court handed down yet another bad 4th Amendment ruling today. I've got a post over at Flex Your Rights explaining, as I often do, that the 4th Amendment isn't dead yet.
Citizen's Briefing Book offers one more chance to put the Drug War on Obama's radar
The Obama Transition Team's website at www.change.cov has started a "Citizen's Briefing Book", giving us one more chance to make it clear that Drug War Reform is an issue important to Americans.