Drug War Chronicle #625 - March 26, 2010

It's official!! The California Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 initiative has qualified for the November ballot. Californians will be voting on legalizing weed this year!

Both a medical marijuana dispensary initiative and a hemp/marijuana legalization initiative are trying to make the November ballot in Oregon. The dispensary initiative is currently better positioned to do so, but the legalization initiative has about 90 days to join it.

In a guest piece for the Chronicle, law professor John Calvin Jones dissects the case of a New Jersey man who ended up headed for prison for growing marijuana after police were called because he and his girlfriend were too loud during sex. He has some useful tips for people who want to know how to exercise their rights and avoid ending up like this guy.

StoptheDrugWar.org is pleased to be the first drug policy organization to offer this important new video to our members -- your donations will support our work of building the movement and fueling public debate, too.

Millions of people have viewed -- and benefited from -- the film "Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters." The new Flex Your Rights film, "10 Rules for Dealing with Police," has taken things to the next level, in more ways than one.

An Atlanta cop gets nailed, a Tarheel State two-fer, and the de rigeuer dope-smuggling jail guard.

Things that make you go hmmm... In one incident in Mexico this week, gunmen attacked a convoy carrying two prisoners. In the aftermath, the two prisoners were turned over to the Mexican Marines. Next thing you know, one of them turns up dead on the side of a road and the other has gone missing. Hmmm.

New Jersey MS patient John Ray Wilson was convicted of growing marijuana in December. The state legalized medical marijuana in January. But Wilson was still sentenced to five years in prison last week.

New York City is about to pay big time -- again! -- for forcing people accused of minor crimes, including public marijuana possession, to undergo humiliating strip-searches. This is the third time in nine years the city has had to pay out for this practice. Will NYC ever learn?

The illegal drug supply is increasing, and Mexican narcos are public enemy #1, according to the Justice Department's primary drug intelligence unit. There's no end in sight, the unit concludes.

Dutch marijuana laws only allow coffee shops to have 500 grams on hand at any given time. When you're selling that much pot in an hour, the law becomes a hindrance and a nuisance. But a court ruling Thursday strongly suggests to coffee shop owners that they better heed the law.

Canadians who support marijuana decriminalization outnumber opponents by 20 percentage points, according to a new poll. 20% aren't sure.

Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.

"An Argument to Avoid Making," "If You Call Yourself a Drug Policy Reformer, You Need to Watch This," "The Real Reason Football Players Aren't Supposed to Use Marijuana," "Researchers Prove Definitively That the Drug War Sucks," "The 'Fake Marijuana' Situation is Getting Confusing," "The War on Drugs Is Doomed," "Cops + Drugs = Corruption," "'No, the Number One Thug in This Movie is Definitely Scott Morgan.'"

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