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Drug War Chronicle #591 - June 26, 2009

Phillip S. Smith, Editor - David Borden, Executive Director

Feature: American Nightmare -- Will Foster and Justice, Oklahoma Style

When he got a 93-year sentence for a small medical marijuana grow in Oklahoma, Will Foster became a poster child for drug war abuses. A national campaign helped free him, and he headed for the friendlier climes of northern California, which released him from parole after three years. But Oklahoma wants him back, and now Foster has been in jail in California for the past 15 months fighting extradition. He needs your help.

Drug Raids: Maryland Sheriff Clears Department in SWAT Assault on Mayor's Home -- Mayor Sues Sheriff, Seeks Restrictions on SWAT

A Prince Georges County, Maryland, SWAT team raided a mayor's house last summer, shot his two dogs, and manhandled the mayor and his mother-in-law because they thought they were marijuana traffickers. They weren't, and the cops have acknowledged as much. Now the county sheriff has investigated the incident and concluded his boys did nothing wrong. The mayor disagrees -- and he's going to court.

Alert: Medical Marijuana Defendant Bryan Epis Wants YOU to Take Political Action

Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked much to help patients.

Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy

"LEAP Confronts the Drug Czar at a Press Conference," "Supreme Court Upholds Fourth Amendment in Strip Search Case," "United Nations Argues for Decriminalization," "United Nations Admits That Drug Legalization is Gaining Support," "You Don't Need Drug Laws to Punish People Who Steal," "Police Raid Innocent Elderly Couple, Blame It on the Weather," "Police Applaud Themselves for Raiding Innocent People and Killing Dogs," "Marijuana Debate on CNN," "Is DEA Illegally Forcing Agents to Serve in Afghanistan?"

Please: Don't Shoot!

The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing paramilitarization of the drug war.
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