'GAZETTE' CANNABIS PACKAGE SERVES UP PURPLE HAZE
The Gazette in Colorado Springs last week published a package about
cannabis legalization in the state under the banner "Clearing the Haze."
The paper has been known for its excellent journalism and its
reporters honored for their work, most recently a Pulitzer last year
for a news series exposing how easily veterans can lose benefits for
minor offenses after their discharge. A comprehensive series on the
pros and cons of marijuana legalization is something Coloradans are
always seeking.
But "Clearing the Haze" doesn't feature the work of David Philipps,
whose journalism deservedly won the 2014 prize, or any other of the
excellent news reporters on the staff. Rather, we get Reefer Madness
repackaged in a contemporary browser wrapper. Harry Anslinger and
Richard Nixon would be proud.
That's because it was written by two members of The Gazette's
editorial staff, one of which is former Boulder Weekly editor Wayne
Laugesen, as well as Christine Tatum, a reporter turned
prohibitionist who uses her husband, Christian Thurstone, medical
director of a youth substance-abuse-treatment clinic at CU-Denver,
as
a primary source. Though authorship isn't hidden, it isn't promoted,
either.
Besides reflecting those sorts of bias, "Clearing the Haze" does no
reporting, instead rehashing a lot of the things that actual
reporters have uncovered in almost every other newspaper in the state
and, using carefully cherry-picked data, casts legalization in the
worst possible light. No pro-legalization people are quoted or mentioned.
Legalization hasn't been perfect, but one editorial's main take is
that sales tax numbers didn't match the state's early projections.
Well, duh. Anybody knows that "projections" are just guesses, or that
in 2013 any "expert" could pull a number out of his ass and call it
a
projection. Marijuana has been a black-market commodity for so long
that no one had a clue how much tax revenue was going to come in or
how many users there might be. So there was no promised windfall, and
the state "only" collected $76 million? Travesty.
Another blames the state for not having legislated away the black
market, which has been flourishing for many decades, in the first 15
months of legalization. Tell us something we don't already know.
But that's not the intent. "Addressing Driver Impairment Difficult"
never gets around to addressing the headline. The difficulty with
addressing driver impairment is that marijuana doesn't interact with
the body like alcohol, so it can't be tested like alcohol. Today's
examinations can detect exactly how many nanograms of THC there are
in a milliliter of your blood, but they can't show impairment.
The Gazette blames legalization for that, even though thousands of
people were driving stoned long before legalization. Another takes
the state regulatory system to task for not having gotten everything
right from the start, as if changing bad laws into better ones
shouldn't need any revisions.
"Sunday's stories suggest the net gain from taxes and fees related to
marijuana sales will not be known for a while, as costs are not known
or tracked well," says one editorial, "and there are many other
unknowns about pot's effects on public health and safety." Despite
that caveat, the authors drone on for another 15 paragraphs
speculating recklessly about health effects anyway.
In one harrowing editorial, a troubled teen in an addiction program
calls cannabis a gateway drug that is being marketed to kids. But -
and this is the really scary part - in his telling teen use is
tolerated, often encouraged by adults and parents around him, some
who use cannabis with their kids. He even says that extends to school
teachers and police officers who look the other way at teens using
it
illegally.
The story, of course, leans heavily on what the writers refer to as
addiction and pushes hard on the theory that legalization is just big
business trying to hook teens much as tobacco companies did in the
1950s-'60s. Quotes come from health officials and "addiction
specialists," and Kevin Sabet, the most out spoken promoter of the
Big Tobacco theory as head of the anti-legalization lobbying group
Smart Approaches to Marijuana, is a source.
The story suggests that, were it not for marijuana, the kid would be
fine. Perhaps that's true, and I'm not unaware of the influence that
big business could have on the cannabis biz. But there is no evidence
that today's owners and operators in Colorado are advertising to or
selling cannabis to minors.
Apparently, if the teen is right, that's more than we can say about
what a lot of parents, adults and authority figures are doing behind
their own locked doors. But the point The Gazette misses is that the
willingness of parents to tolerate and encourage teen use has nothing
to do with whether it's legal or not, and blaming the state for the
actions of irresponsible people undermines the editorial staff 's
entire argument for continuing the Drug War.
And, of course, no mention is made of the more than 90 percent of
people who use cannabis, many on a daily or weekly basis, some for
medical reasons, some for fun, who go through their daily lives like
anybody else, many of those who the so-called "specialists" would
probably classify as "addicted."
It's disappointing and disturbing that so-called "journalists" could
fall so low. I can only imagine what responsible reporters at The
Gazette who could have offered an honest, perhaps award-winning look
at legalization think about a charade like this.
You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado
cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http:// news.kgnu.org/weed
__________________________________________________________________________
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Mon, 06 Apr 2015
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2015 The Washington Post Company
Contact: letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Moriah Balingit
STUDENT JOURNALISM IN THE WEB AGE
Censorship Case Involving VA. School Paper Illustrates Changes
It's called "dabbing," and it involves smoking a distilled version of
marijuana's active ingredient off of a nail, delivering a potent high.
When Fauquier High School senior Sara Rose Martin heard that her
peers were experimenting with the technique, she decided to pen a
story about it for the student newspaper, the Falconer, of which she
is co-editor in chief.
"I was just interested in exactly what it was and exactly what the
effects of it were," she said. "I wanted my peers to know what they
were doing."
Principal Clarence Burton III deemed the article too mature for the
Falconer's teen readership and yanked it from publication in March.
In a letter to Martin, he wrote that he was concerned that students
would "be exposed to a new and dangerous drug without adult guidance."
Martin brought news of the censorship to Fauquier Now, an online-only
news outlet. Editor Lawrence "Lou" Emerson decided to run the article
and posted it to the Internet on March 23, giving the student's piece
a much broader audience than her 1,200student high school in
Warrenton, Va. Within the first 10 days, her story had 11,400 unique
visitors.
The turn of events underscores the dilemma school administrators face
while exercising control over student media in the age of the
Internet. And it highlights the tension that can arise when school
officials try to balance the concerns of parents and those of student
journalists who believe they have important stories to tell.
School administrators are allowed to preview student work and can
censor school-sponsored student publications in many cases, following
the U.S. Supreme Court's Hazelwood decision in 1988.
Marie Miller, an English teacher who has taught journalism classes
and advised the newspaper for a decade, said the Falconer normally
runs stories one would expect of a high school newspaper - recent
coverage has included the location of this year's prom, the
installation of a new fence around the school's courtyard and a
debate about the Pledge of Allegiance.
But the students do wade into headier topics, and when they are
preparing to run a controversial piece, Miller typically gives the
principal a head's up. Burton approved two articles this school year
on sensitive topics, including one on Molly, an increasingly popular
club drug that is a form of the drug ecstasy, and another on
transgender students.
But the principal pushed back when he read Martin's story.
"Unlike a drug safety education unit taught in a health class by a
trained professional, this article does not come with that trained
instructor," Burton wrote in a letter to Martin.
David Jeck, Fauquier County's schools superintendent, backed the
principal's decision after the students appealed.
"I just felt like, in the end of the day, if there's one student in
that school who is encouraged to use the drug . . . I would have to
live with that, and that's not something I want to live with," Jeck
said.
Frank Lo Monte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center,
said that reasoning - equating writing about a behavior with
encouraging it-would preclude students from covering a whole range
of
topics relevant to the high school population, including drunken
driving and sexually transmitted diseases.
"There's obviously a difference between exposing people to
information and exposing them to a drug," he said. "They didn't
enclose drugs in the publication."
Martin's article includes frank descriptions of the drug from several
unnamed students - including how it is used. Some described a rush
of
euphoria and others said they vomited and hurt themselves, suffering
injuries "from cracked skulls to cracked teeth," she wrote.
"I don't think my article makes it sound good," she said. And she
estimates that a sizable portion of the student body already knows
about dabbing.
But, as it turns out, many school administrators had never heard of
dabbing. Miller learned about it from Martin's reporting. Jeck, too,
said he learned about it from the very article he decided to prohibit
from the school newspaper.
Jeck acknowledged that there was a certain futility in censoring an
article that was ultimately published elsewhere. But he still said
that the Web- and the extraordinary amount of bad information
students have access to because of it - does not mean administrators
should stop oversight of student publications.
"We know very well that the kids have access to a thousand times more
information than they would in the Falconer newspaper," he said.
"That doesn't mean we have to be part of that."
Lo Monte sees a missed opportunity.
"It would be so much better to cultivate good news-consumption habits
by encouraging reading the newspaper rather than driving eyeballs
elsewhere," he said, especially when elsewhere means Facebook,
Twitter or blogs, where the content might not be accountable to the
same standards. "There's no stopping people from becoming informed,
so why not keep the conversation inside the tent, where it can be
monitored and supervised?"
__________________________________________________________________________
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receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sat, 04 Apr 2015
Source: Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA)
Copyright: 2015 Appeal-Democrat
Contact:
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/sections/services/forms/editorletter.php
Website: http://www.appeal-democrat.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1343
Author: Eric Vodden
JUDGE ALLOWS URGENCY ON NEW POT ORDINANCE TO REMAIN
A Yuba County Superior Court judge has denied a bid by medical
marijuana growers to restore their ability to seek a voter referendum
on the county's new cultivation ordinance.
Judge Benjamin Wirtschafter on Friday ruled against Yuba Patients
Coalition and six growers in their motion for a temporary restraining
order against Yuba County. The ruling left intact an urgency
designation with the ordinance that eliminated a signature-gathering
period for a referendum.
Attorney Joe Elford, representing the growers, said after the hearing
he will file an emergency writ with the 3rd District Court of Appeals
to overturn the ruling. Ordinance opponents would need a favorable
outcome before next Thursday to have time to submit referendum
petitions to county election officials. A preliminary injunction to
halt enforcement of the new ordinance until the outcome of a separate
lawsuit filed last week is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Even if a voter referendum is precluded, opponents could seek a voter
initiative, a more complex process that involves placing a new
ordinance before voters rather than overturning one already approved.
Opponents have said they have already gathered enough referendum
signatures to submit to election officials, but they would
essentially have to start over to seek an initiative.
Yuba County supervisors last month approved the new ordinance after
a
series of workshops and hearings attracted vocal opponents and supporters.
The previous ordinance allowed 18 plants on an acre or less and as
many as 99 on 20 acres or more. The new one allows no outdoor plants,
12 inside a qualified accessory structure and none in residences.
At issue during Friday's hearing, attended by about 70 people, was
the urgency designation approved by the Board of Supervisors last
month in connection with the new ordinance. That designation meant
the ordinance took effect immediately rather than in 30 days, thus
eliminating the 30-day period for gathering signatures before it took
effect.
Elford argued the findings that made it an urgency ordinance were
essentially the same as for the previous ordinance adopted in 2012
without the urgency designation. He said the determination "removes
the people from the ordinance.
"The county did this purposefully to avoid the referendum," Elford said.
However, Deputy County Counsel John VacEk said some of the findings
"are essentially new." He said the fact "some board members" who said
after the approval they were unaware it would preclude a referendum
shows it was not their intent to stop it.
"The urgency ordinance was approved for entirely legitimate reasons,"
VacEk said.
Wirtschafter noted that one of the findings given for the urgency
designation is the need to conserve water during the ongoing drought.
The urgency ordinance notes marijuana plantings would have been
likely to occur before a non-urgency ordinance would take effect.
Previous court rulings have found counties and cities "have broad
discretion in the cultivation of marijuana," Wirtschafter noted.
Friday's hearing followed a separate lawsuit filed last week by four
growers, also represented by Elford, claiming the new ordinance is
unconstitutional. It also seeks a permanent injunction preventing
enforcement of the new law.
"This is just the first chapter in a long story," Elford said of
Friday's ruling. "We didn't even get into our substantive things.
This is just the referendum."
__________________________________________________________________________
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---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Kamloops This Week (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Kamloops This Week
Contact: editor@kamloopsthisweek.com
Website: http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1271
Author: Andrea Klassen
Page: A21
FINDING REALEAF
Many of Kamloops' chronic pain patients have likely already met Dr.
Ian Mitchell during one of his shifts in Royal Inland Hospital's
emergency room.
"They don't have family doctors, so they end up in the emergency room
and I see them all the time," he said.
"They're on Dilaudid and morphine and Percocet and it's terrible. Most
of these patients don't want to be on these medications, but they need
something to help with their pain."
With the opening of a new clinic on St. Paul Street downtown, Mitchell
is hoping to see some of the same patients in a new venue, where he
can offer them another option - medical marijuana.
Mitchell is a consultant with the Realeaf Wellness Centre, which
opened in Kamloops in February and aims to connect patients with
medical-marijuana producers across the country.
Until recently, the federal government allowed medical-marijuana users
to grow their own supply at home.
That all changed last year, when Health Canada put responsibility for
supplying the crop in the hands of so-called licensed producers.
Mitchell puts the number of producers at about 11, each selling a
variety of strains.
Realeaf connects patients in need with producers, helping them pick
a
strain and a supplier best suited to their needs.
Releaf also helps patients work through the bureaucracy surrounding
medical pot.
While a pre-existing diagnosis for a condition that could be helped
by
marijuana is required, Mitchell said the clinic is open to those whose
own family doctors have recommended medical pot and those who either
don't have a family doctor or have a physician who is reluctant to
to
prescribe.
"Most doctors, first off, they're not educated enough about this to
prescribe it," Mitchell said.
"Secondly they don't want to be that doc in a Hawaiian shirt who gives
out a prescription to all these young guys who come in with back pain.
"Nobody wants to be that doc and there's a lot of stigma attached to
it, still."
Besides the supply, Realeaf also offers counselling services to answer
questions ranging from how to use vaporizer to figuring out correct
dosages.
Fees to use the clinic range from about $65 to just under $300, said
Realeaf owner Ron Bell, depending on whether physician and counselling
services are required.
So far, about 40 people are using some variety of the clinic's service
and Bell hopes to expand locally with more consultants.
Bell, who has operations in Kamloops and Vancouver, also wants to add
a clinic on Vancouver Island.
Mitchell found his interest in medicinal cannabis mostly by
accident.
Attending an American conference with the hopes of learning more about
alternative uses for ketamine, he decided to take in a session on
marijuana and said he was "floored" by its possible uses.
He is now in the process of setting up a study with a producer on
Nanaimo that will determine the effectiveness of medical marijuana
in
treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Mostly it comes from anecdotal evidence from the Vietnam War,"
Mitchell said.
"Vietnam veterans had PTSD, used cannabis and found it effective, but
there's no research to back that up."
While animal studies and some less-comprehensive trials have pointed
towards pot's effectiveness, the study would be the first to compare
various marijuana strains against a placebo.
It's set to go ahead later this year pending Health Canada and
University of B.C. approvals.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
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---
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Authors: William Marsden and Shaamini Yogaretnam
'THEY HAD EVERYTHING'
Canadian consul's son killed, other charged
Bloodstains were still visible in the doorway of an apartment in the
quiet Miami neighbourhood of Coral Way on Wednesday, two days after
an
alleged plan to rip off a drug dealer left one of the sons of Canada's
Consul General to Florida dead and another charged with murder.
Jean Wabafiyebazu, the 17-year-old son of longtime diplomat Roxanne
Dube, died in hospital of injuries suffered in Monday's shootout,
which police say erupted during a dispute over two pounds of
marijuana, valued at US$5,000. His 15-year-old brother Marc is being
held in a youth detention centre, charged with felony murder and
potentially facing the death penalty.
Another teen, Joshua Wright, 17, a suspected drug dealer according to
the Miami Herald, died from multiple gunshot wounds inside the
apartment building. A fourth man, Anthony Rodriguez, 19, suffered a
gunshot wound to the left arm and is charged with second degree murder
with a deadly weapon and possessing marijuana for the purpose of
selling. "This is not a place where stuff like that is supposed to
happen," Alex Hernandez, 34, said of the blue-collar community of
white and pastel stucco bungalows and small terraced apartments with
sunbaked tiled roofs.
But at about 1 p.m. on Monday, as Mr. Hernandez worked in a
neighbour's garden, gunshots shattered the calm.
"I heard about six shots consecutively," he said. "A couple of moments
later I heard another four shots. I saw a guy run out of the apartment
with a gun in his hand. I think he was shot in the shoulder. A couple
of minutes after another guy ran out behind him. I think he was shot
in the stomach. He stumbled down and fell to the ground."
Hernandez said a girl came out of the apartment "screaming and crying
and then the cops rolled up, helicopters, everything."
The neighbourhood of Coral Way is part of the sprawling community just
west of the upscale Coral Gables, the traditional home to Miami's elite.
Carlos Medina, a builder who was working on a neighbouring house, said
that as Jeanlay dying on the ground, another "kid" came out of the
apartment screaming "my brother, my brother."
This was most likely Marc, 15.
"I was talking to one of the neighbours when shots rang out," he said.
"One of the kids came out. He was upset. He was screaming something
about his brother, 'brother, brother'. Then the cops came and said
'
You killed him, you killed him.' [The kid] started screaming again
'f-k this, f-k that.'"
Medina said it was well known in the neighbourhood that a drug dealer
lived in the apartment at 3600 17 th SW, Miami.
"Everybody knew something was bad at the house," he said. "Every day
cars coming in and out, kids smoking pot, a lot of arguments."
"This is a great neighbourhood," he said. "Coral Gables is right
there. You've got families here. Beautiful homes, beautiful malls."
George Patterson, 30, a software engineer, lives a block away from the
crime scene.
"Everybody in the community is pretty bent out of shape over this,"
he
said. He added that he had no idea drugs were sold at the apartment.
"I would not live here if I had known," he said, adding that he has
three children.
Police say Marc and Jean Wabafiyebazu, drove up to the tiny apartment
complex at in their mother's black BMW with diplomatic plates.
Armed with handguns, the brothers allegedly planned to rip off two
drug dealers of two pounds of marijuana priced at about US$5,000.
Where they got the guns has not been disclosed.
Jean went inside the apartment where he confronted the alleged drug
dealers, Wright and Rodriguez.
Shoots were fired. Rodriguez, who was wounded in the arm, fled the
scene. Meanwhile, Marc Wabafiyebazu entered the apartment where he
discovered the bodies of his brother and Wright, according to police.
Police arrested Marc at the scene and also caught Rodriguez. They
charged Marc with Wright's murder and Rodriguez with the murder of
Jean.
Rodriguez was released on US$150,000 bail Wednesday while Marc remains
in the Miami-Dade juvenile detention center pending a bail hearing.
Both teenagers have been charged with murder even though they didn't
pull the trigger. Florida law dictates that anyone who participates
in
a crime that leads to murder can be charged with the killing even if
they didn't pull the trigger.
Prosecutors are weighing whether to charge Marc as an adult in which
case he could face the death penalty.
Police claim both men have confessed to the crime. Rodriguez is also
charged with possession of marijuana with intent to traffic.
Prosecutor Santiago Aroca told the court Rodriguez has been a "drug
dealer for a long time" and was involved in a similar shooting in the
past, according to the Miami Herald.
The Wabafiyebazu boys both attended private French school Lycee
Claudel when they lived in Ottawa.
Former classmates of the slain teen, have posted messages of grief
online.
At their father's house in the Ottawa suburb of Gloucester, a
childhood photograph of his two sons lay face-down on a shelf Wednesday.
"It makes me sad looking at that picture," Germano Wabafiyebazu
said.
The grieving father said the sudden tragedy that has befallen his sons
has stunned him.
"Now I've lost my 17-year-old son and I don't see how to change it,"
he said. "It's too late."
"Add to that the case of [my younger son] - he's not even cleared.
It's too much for somebody like me. I'm not somebody accustomed to
this kind of life."
Wabafiyebazu, who is half-Angolan and half-Congolese, met Dube in
1983. He said he still considers the mother of his children as family
and that the two remain on good terms, though they are separated.
Growing up, the children were privileged and wanted for
nothing.
"They had everything," he said.
"They never had problems, that is what is sad."
Jean's body will be flown back to Ottawa this week for a funeral and
burial.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Authors: William Marsden and Shaamini Yogaretnam
'THEY HAD EVERYTHING'
Canadian consul's son killed, other charged
Bloodstains were still visible in the doorway of an apartment in the
quiet Miami neighbourhood of Coral Way on Wednesday, two days after
an
alleged plan to rip off a drug dealer left one of the sons of Canada's
Consul General to Florida dead and another charged with murder.
Jean Wabafiyebazu, the 17-year-old son of longtime diplomat Roxanne
Dube, died in hospital of injuries suffered in Monday's shootout,
which police say erupted during a dispute over two pounds of
marijuana, valued at US$5,000. His 15-year-old brother Marc is being
held in a youth detention centre, charged with felony murder and
potentially facing the death penalty.
Another teen, Joshua Wright, 17, a suspected drug dealer according to
the Miami Herald, died from multiple gunshot wounds inside the
apartment building. A fourth man, Anthony Rodriguez, 19, suffered a
gunshot wound to the left arm and is charged with second degree murder
with a deadly weapon and possessing marijuana for the purpose of
selling. "This is not a place where stuff like that is supposed to
happen," Alex Hernandez, 34, said of the blue-collar community of
white and pastel stucco bungalows and small terraced apartments with
sunbaked tiled roofs.
But at about 1 p.m. on Monday, as Mr. Hernandez worked in a
neighbour's garden, gunshots shattered the calm.
"I heard about six shots consecutively," he said. "A couple of moments
later I heard another four shots. I saw a guy run out of the apartment
with a gun in his hand. I think he was shot in the shoulder. A couple
of minutes after another guy ran out behind him. I think he was shot
in the stomach. He stumbled down and fell to the ground."
Hernandez said a girl came out of the apartment "screaming and crying
and then the cops rolled up, helicopters, everything."
The neighbourhood of Coral Way is part of the sprawling community just
west of the upscale Coral Gables, the traditional home to Miami's elite.
Carlos Medina, a builder who was working on a neighbouring house, said
that as Jeanlay dying on the ground, another "kid" came out of the
apartment screaming "my brother, my brother."
This was most likely Marc, 15.
"I was talking to one of the neighbours when shots rang out," he said.
"One of the kids came out. He was upset. He was screaming something
about his brother, 'brother, brother'. Then the cops came and said
'
You killed him, you killed him.' [The kid] started screaming again
'f-k this, f-k that.'"
Medina said it was well known in the neighbourhood that a drug dealer
lived in the apartment at 3600 17 th SW, Miami.
"Everybody knew something was bad at the house," he said. "Every day
cars coming in and out, kids smoking pot, a lot of arguments."
"This is a great neighbourhood," he said. "Coral Gables is right
there. You've got families here. Beautiful homes, beautiful malls."
George Patterson, 30, a software engineer, lives a block away from the
crime scene.
"Everybody in the community is pretty bent out of shape over this,"
he
said. He added that he had no idea drugs were sold at the apartment.
"I would not live here if I had known," he said, adding that he has
three children.
Police say Marc and Jean Wabafiyebazu, drove up to the tiny apartment
complex at in their mother's black BMW with diplomatic plates.
Armed with handguns, the brothers allegedly planned to rip off two
drug dealers of two pounds of marijuana priced at about US$5,000.
Where they got the guns has not been disclosed.
Jean went inside the apartment where he confronted the alleged drug
dealers, Wright and Rodriguez.
Shoots were fired. Rodriguez, who was wounded in the arm, fled the
scene. Meanwhile, Marc Wabafiyebazu entered the apartment where he
discovered the bodies of his brother and Wright, according to police.
Police arrested Marc at the scene and also caught Rodriguez. They
charged Marc with Wright's murder and Rodriguez with the murder of
Jean.
Rodriguez was released on US$150,000 bail Wednesday while Marc remains
in the Miami-Dade juvenile detention center pending a bail hearing.
Both teenagers have been charged with murder even though they didn't
pull the trigger. Florida law dictates that anyone who participates
in
a crime that leads to murder can be charged with the killing even if
they didn't pull the trigger.
Prosecutors are weighing whether to charge Marc as an adult in which
case he could face the death penalty.
Police claim both men have confessed to the crime. Rodriguez is also
charged with possession of marijuana with intent to traffic.
Prosecutor Santiago Aroca told the court Rodriguez has been a "drug
dealer for a long time" and was involved in a similar shooting in the
past, according to the Miami Herald.
The Wabafiyebazu boys both attended private French school Lycee
Claudel when they lived in Ottawa.
Former classmates of the slain teen, have posted messages of grief
online.
At their father's house in the Ottawa suburb of Gloucester, a
childhood photograph of his two sons lay face-down on a shelf Wednesday.
"It makes me sad looking at that picture," Germano Wabafiyebazu
said.
The grieving father said the sudden tragedy that has befallen his sons
has stunned him.
"Now I've lost my 17-year-old son and I don't see how to change it,"
he said. "It's too late."
"Add to that the case of [my younger son] - he's not even cleared.
It's too much for somebody like me. I'm not somebody accustomed to
this kind of life."
Wabafiyebazu, who is half-Angolan and half-Congolese, met Dube in
1983. He said he still considers the mother of his children as family
and that the two remain on good terms, though they are separated.
Growing up, the children were privileged and wanted for
nothing.
"They had everything," he said.
"They never had problems, that is what is sad."
Jean's body will be flown back to Ottawa this week for a funeral and
burial.
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Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2015 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: James A. Kimble
A MARIJUANA CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR THE LEGISLATURE
A lot of people suddenly want to know what Democratic Senator Jason
Lewis thinks about marijuana.
"What I say is that I have had concerns in the past about liberalizing
our marijuana policy," said Lewis, the new chairman and sole member
of
the state Senate's Special Committee on Marijuana. "I did oppose
decriminalization in 2008, and I did oppose medical marijuana in 2012,
when it was on the ballot. And the reason was simply because my
concern is about protecting young people."
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg asked Lewis to take on a
months-long study of marijuana policies in reaction to a bill and a
widely expected 2016 ballot measure seeking to legalize its
recreational use. The committee will not address whether Massachusetts
should legalize recreational use of marijuana. Instead, Lewis has been
charged with examining the hundreds of judgments and decisions
lawmakers may need to make if full legalization of marijuana is approved.
"Would it be a commercial market?" Lewis, of Winchester, asked. "Would
it be a nonprofit market? Would it be a state-run monopoly like some
states have for their liquor industry? What would the rules be in
terms of licensing requirements? What kind of regulatory framework
would we have in terms of what types of products are allowed?"
Senate members from nearly every legislative committee are expected
to
be called upon as Lewis delves into aspects of marijuana policy. The
loosely knit group will also explore what stymied the implementation
of medical marijuana after it was passed by a ballot measure in 2012.
The job was not one he asked for, Lewis said. But the Democrat, who
represents the 5th Middlesex District, credits Rosenberg with being
proactive. Colleagues say Lewis, who was also named this year as
chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Health, was the right choice
to take on what is expected to be a highly-scrutinized task.
"It will be a very balanced commission and very thoughtful," said
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harriette Chandler. "He will be
extremely fair, making no judgments ahead of time."
Chandler has worked with Lewis to form the "Prevention for Health
Caucus," an effort promoting wellness and prevention programs as a
way
to drive down health care costs. She said Lewis's passion for
improving health care, his process of problem solving, and his
educational background will bring a unique perspective to examining
marijuana policy.
"He has a very controversial job, but he is going to steer away from
controversy and look at the facts," Chandler said. "If we knee jerk
this, we are in trouble."
Lewis, a native of South Africa, came to the United States when he was
12 years old.
"Having witnessed the impact of apartheid first hand, issues of human
rights and social justice have always been important to me. I see
public service as a way to have an impact," he said.
Lewis grew up in New Jersey. He graduated with a degree in economics
from Harvard College. While attending Harvard Business School, he met
his wife, Susan, on a blind date. They have two daughters.
He helped build two successful software companies and worked at a
business consulting firm before running for his first House seat in
2008. He has advocated banning the sale of e-cigarettes and other
smokeless tobacco products to minors, and will push to strengthen
those laws this year.
He likens the study of marijuana policies to the one Massachusetts
underwent before legalizing casino gambling. But Lewis is working on
a
tighter deadline than the years-long debate on gambling since a ballot
question is expected to go before voters in 2016. A petition to
legalize marijuana for recreational use has to be submitted to the
attorney general for review and certification by Aug. 5.
"I can tell you that the process of drafting will be starting in
earnest in about another month and will be pretty well finished by
early summer," said Michael Cutler, a Northampton lawyer who has
previously represented clients seeking medical marijuana licenses.
Lewis must finish his work by the end of 2015, just days before the
Legislature could consider a petition. He has already met with an
owner of a dispensary business in Colorado who started in the medical
marijuana business and now sells it for recreational use. Experts from
Massachusetts and others states from around the country are expected
to take part in Lewis's review. Colorado will be one state he will
examine closely.
"That's a real laboratory for what happens," he said. "You can
speculate about what's likely to occur when you go down this road to
legal marijuana for recreational use. But it's not the same thing as
actually seeing that in practice."
Lewis said despite his concerns about legalization, he is approaching
his assignment with an open a mind.
"And yes, the answer is I have smoked marijuana. But not in a very
long time," he offered without prompting. "And if someone tells you
they haven't, they probably are lying."
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Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/Ncmv2MOC
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact: letters@adn.com
Website: http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Author: Laurel Andrews
ALASKA HOUSE PASSES BILL CLARIFYING MUNICIPAL MARIJUANA REGULATIONS
The state House Thursday afternoon passed a bill that would clarify
municipal regulation of marijuana businesses and define the number
of
plants allowed per household.
House Bill 75 clarifies municipalities' processes for registering
marijuana businesses; authorizes "marijuana clubs" where the substance
could be consumed; gives municipalities power to establish civil and
criminal penalties for businesses; defines what the term "assisting"
means in terms of helping someone with their plants or marijuana;
establishes provisions for communities to prohibit businesses; and
establishes a 24-plant limit per household.
The 11-page HB 75 was sponsored by the House Community and Regional
Affairs Committee. Chair Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, testified that the
bill was "fix-it" legislation seeking to clarify processes for
implementing the initiative at the municipal level. More than a dozen
municipal attorneys helped craft the bill, Tilton testified.
Alaska's initiative legalizing recreational marijuana went into effect
Feb. 24, but the eight-page bill left many of the details of
regulation up to the state. HB 75 will now advance to the Senate for
further consideration. On the Senate side, the closely watched
marijuana crime bill has advanced furthest, passing the Senate last
week and now heading to the House.
An amendment offered by Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, that would have
reduced the number of plants to 12 per household was debated on the
House floor.
Lynn argued that 24 plants per household is "just way, way too many.
We don't need to, and shouldn't, legalize a forest of marijuana plants
in a dwelling."
Tilton testified that the municipalities had asked specifically for
a
24-plant limit. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, argued that 24 plants is
a
"reasonable compromise" that would avoid lawsuits and uphold Alaska's
constitution.
Lynn's amendment failed 10-27.
Under the ballot initiative, a person 21 or older may possess up to
six cannabis plants, three of which may be mature at a time. The
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has said the six-plant limit is per
household. If the bill were to pass in its current form, it would
allow four times that amount.
Rep. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River, testified that she would vote
against the bill due to numerous concerns with the legalization of
marijuana, notably regarding public safety.
Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, testified that she would vote
against the bill because it defines a limit on the number of plants
per household instead of per person. "I don't know how many it should
or shouldn't be," Wilson said.
The bill was the first to reach the House floor. It passed 35-3, with
Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, Reinbold and Wilson voting against it.
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Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA)
Copyright: 2015 Appeal-Democrat
Contact:
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/sections/services/forms/editorletter.php
Website: http://www.appeal-democrat.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1343
Author: Eric Vodden
YUBA POT GROWERS SEEK COURT ORDER
Hearing Today on Bid for Referendum
Yuba County medical marijuana growers are seeking a court order today
to give them the goahead to submit signatures for a voter referendum
on the county's new marijuana cultivation ordinance.
A Yuba County Superior Court petition filed Thursday seeks a ruling
declaring invalid the Board of Supervisors action to approve the law
as an urgency ordinance.
That ruling would theoretically reinstate a 30-day period for the
ordinance to take effect back to when the ordinance was approved on
March 10. It would also put back in place the ability for opponents
to gather referendum signatures during the period that ends next Thursday.
The action seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining
order follows a lawsuit filed last week by four county growers
claiming the new ordinance is unconstitutional. A hearing on the
restraining order and injunction, including a ruling on the urgency
declaration, is scheduled at 8:30 a.m.
Yuba County supervisors last month approved the new ordinance after
a
series of workshops and hearings attracted vocal opponents and
supporters. It came after a group of foothills residents complained
of alleged criminal activity and odors emanating around some grows.
The previous ordinance allowed 18 plants on an acre or less and as
many as 99 on 20 acres or more. The new one allows no outdoor plants,
12 inside a qualified accessory structure and none in residences.
In addition, attorney Joe Elford, representing the growers, filed a
motion to remove the assigned judge, Stephen Berrier, from today's
hearing. That action states that Berrier is prejudiced against the
plaintiffs, but does not provide specifics on why.
Elford on Thursday afternoon declined to elaborate.
Yuba County spokesman Russ Brown said Thursday afternoon the county
counsel's office had not yet reviewed the petition.
Thursday's action names Yuba County, the Board of Supervisors and the
county clerk as defendants. Seeking the restraining order and
injunction are Woodrow George Powers, Patty Mowery, Theresa Morris,
George Benson, Norma Hutchins, Eric Salerno and the Yuba Patients Coalition.
The petition cites various legal cases in support of a ruling to
declare the urgency declaration invalid. It said the board used the
same criteria to approve the previous ordinance two years ago, but
didn't declare at that time that its enforcement was a matter of urgency.
It also refers to a county website in which Jeremy Strang, county
chief code enforcement officer, said enforcement of the new ordinance
wouldn't occur before April 27.
"Despite the fact that the board knew, or should have known that Yuba
County code enforcement would not have been able to implement the
ordinance within 30 days, it nonetheless enacted the ordinance as an
urgency ordinance," the action states.
Elford said determination that the urgency declaration is invalid
could reinstate the 30-day waiting period from the time the ordinance
was approved. That could also reinstate an April 9 deadline to submit
petitions to election officials for referendum verification.
Under a referendum, opponents would need 1,242 signatures of
registered voters in the county. If election officials determine
there are enough signatures, the Board of Supervisors would either
call for a special countywide election or consolidate the referendum
with the next scheduled election in June 2016.
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Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Andy Stiny
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
2ND TRAFFIC STOP LED TO ARREST OF DEPUTY
Men Told State Officer Cop Took Cash, Drugs
What are the chances of two men who say they were carrying a large
amount of cash and transporting marijuana being pulled over twice by
police on the same day on interstate highways in New Mexico?
Despite the odds, that's what the drug carriers and federal
investigators say happened - with widely varying results.
The second traffic stop, for following too closely on Interstate 40
about 9:30 p.m. June 25 in Cibola County, eventually led
investigators to the recent bust of a northern New Mexico deputy
accused of making deals with drug carriers.
At the I-40 stop by a State Police officer, the men in the green 1995
Nissan sedan with Arizona plates claimed have to been hauling
marijuana purchased legally in Colorado. They said they'd already
been stopped a few hours earlier by another officer, hundreds of
miles northeast, on Interstate 25 near the New Mexico/Colorado border.
That officer, they said, confiscated their marijuana and seized more
than $10,000 from them without giving them a receipt or issuing a
citation. But he did give them "$600 back in order to pay for their
travel expenses on their way back to Arizona," says an FBI statement
filed in federal court.
The two men described the officer who took their pot and money as
driving a "new, white Ford Explorer with blue writing on the side"
and that the officer "had mentioned something about a DEA (federal
Drug Enforcement Administration) investigation."
According to the court documents, eight months later, that stop
culminated in the arrest in March of veteran Colfax County sheriff's
deputy Vidal Sandoval, 45, who also ran for county sheriff last year.
He's accused of demanding a cut of the drug trade that uses I-25
north from Mexico to move the product in exchange for safe passage
or
a police escort to Colorado.
The freeway systems in the United States are key to moving drugs.
"It provides a good opportunity," said Sean Waite, federal Drug
Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge in Albuquerque.
'The freeways within the continental United States are most
frequently what's going to be used in drug trafficking."
DEA agent Waite said it is hard to quantify the amount of drugs
passing through New Mexico. But "if you consider I-25 and I-40 go
from a source to a destination," he said, "the ability of a
trafficking organization to hide in normal traffic is an amazing opportunity."
It was State Police officer Joseph Garcia who made the I-40 traffic
stop near Grants and then checked things out. He learned that
Sandoval, in Colfax County, had made a traffic stop of a vehicle with
Arizona plates on I-25 at about 5 p.m.
The patrolman asked Sandoval to call him and during that conversation
Sandoval is said to have denied taking any cash from the men in the
green Nissan.
After that, the FBI and State Police started an undercover
investigation. And, judging from the FBI's reports, Garcia's call did
not serve as much of a warning to Sandoval that he might become the
subject of an investigation.
Sandoval, of Cimarron, was arrested without incident on March 13 at
the Colfax County Sheriff's Office in Raton by FBI agents and State
Police officers. His charge, previously reported as aiding and
abetting a drug trafficking crime, is actually attempt to possess
cocaine with intent to distribute, online court records show. He has
entered a not guilty plea and has been released pending resolution
of his case.
Documents city ex-police chief
According to search warrant affidavits, agents watched Sandoval's
home and saw a white Ford Explorer in the driveway that matched the
previous description by the men Garcia had pulled over.
Then, on Dec. 15, two undercover agents from the FBI and State
Police, respectively, drove around Cimarron where Sandoval was known
to patrol. Their undercover vehicle contained "a hidden compartment
in the rear of the vehicle under carpeting and outfitted with several
air fresheners, which are commonly used to mask the smell of
narcotics, and a digital scale of the type often used to weigh narcotics."
The agents had $8,000 cash with them and, at about 4:40 p.m.,
Sandoval pulled the agents over for speeding on N.M. 64. The
threesome conversed mainly in Spanish, and Sandoval searched the car
and found the hidden compartment. One of the agents was placed in the
back seat of Sandoval's patrol car while Sandoval made a phone call.
During the call, Sandoval told the other party that county dispatch
did not know that he was out on a traffic stop, according to the
FBI's affidavit, and then asked the other party to pretend that he
was a DEA agent.
Sandoval handed the phone to the undercover agent who, via the
phone's caller ID function, identified the caller as a former police
chief in northeast New Mexico, named in the court documents but whom
the Journal is not identifying in this article because the ex-chief
has not been charged (the ex-chief did not return a phone call from
the Journal). That person told the undercover officer on the cell
phone he was with the DEA.
Sandoval made another call to the same person and again handed the
phone to the undercover agent, who was told by the "DEA agent" that
cash found by Sandoval would be seized.
Sandoval then turned off his in-car and lapel recorders, and said "he
wanted to be part of the criminal narcotics activity (the agent) was
involved in and would let him pass through the area undisturbed with
money and/or drugs in the future if they provided him with a portion
of the profits," the investigators' affidavit says. Sandoval returned
$500 to the agent and kept $7,500, and the agents left.
Other undercover encounters
On Jan. 25, the same two agents were dispatched to I-25 carrying
$7,000 in cash. At about 10:30 a.m., they were pulled over by
Sandoval for speeding. This time, Sandoval handcuffed the undercover
agents and placed them in the back of his patrol car, and searched
the undercover car without consent.
Sandoval then allegedly "offered to help them by providing
information on where other marked patrol officers were located to
avoid detection" and "offered to escort drug loads to the Colorado/
New Mexico border and to escort vehicles with large sums of United
States currency traveling south on Interstate 25"; in return, he
"wanted 5 percent of the bulk cash."
The agents agreed and Sandoval said to text him when they were "ready
to use Sandoval's services." Sandoval said the DEA wanted to keep the
agents' vehicle because of the hidden compartment, but he agreed to
let them keep it in exchange for $2,000, the court documents state.
Sandoval presented the agents with a bracelet with an image of "Jesus
Malverde," a figure considered the patron saint of Mexican drug traffickers.
In a third encounter the next day, Jan. 26, another agent carrying
$5,000 was pulled over for speeding on I-25. Again, Sandoval offered
escort assistance, talked about "working together" in the future and
provided his cell number for texting. He initially skimmed $1,000
from the undercover agent's money, but then gave back the full
amount. Sandoval allegedly told the undercover agent that he had
"friends" who "run drugs north and big money south," and the agent
asked how that was possible being a cop. "Sandoval replied by
laughing," the documents say.
Real and fake cocaine
On Feb. 9 , an agent texted Sandoval and told him he would be in
Colfax County with drugs. On Feb. 28, agents met Sandoval at the I-25
Wagon Mound exit, where they showed Sandoval two kilos of actual
cocaine and three kilos of "sham" cocaine.
Sandoval told them to drive 75 to 77 mph and he would follow two car
lengths behind. They agreed to meet at a rest stop in Colorado and
Sandoval was paid $5,000.
Sandoval was an unsuccessful candidate for sheriff last year. In a
campaign statement to a weekly newspaper, he said, "I want to
modernize the report taking and record keeping as well as the chain
of custody and security of evidence."
Sandoval pleaded not guilty soon after his arrest and was released
under orders not to discuss his case with anyone other than the
federal public defender representing him. He also may not leave New
Mexico.
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Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact: inquirer.letters@phillynews.com
Website: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Jeremy Roebuck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
SHAKEDOWN FROM 19TH FLOOR ALLEGED
At Drug Officers' Trial, a Dealer Tells of Some Scary Moments on His
Penthouse Balcony.
With a burly police officer on each of his handcuffed arms and a
19-story drop below him from his penthouse apartment balcony, drug
dealer Michael Cascioli was asked a troubling question.
"You've seen the movie Training Day?" Cascioli recalled Police
Officer Thomas Liciardello asking, referencing the 2001 film
featuring Denzel Washington as a dirty cop. "This is Training Day for
.. real."
What followed, as Cascioli told a federal jury Wednesday, is one of
the most disturbing instances in a case filled with allegations of
outrageous behavior by a rogue police narcotics unit.
Prosecutors allege Liciardello, the group's leader, ordered the two
others - Philadelphia Police Officers Linwood Norman and Jeffrey
Walker - to hold Cascioli out over the railing and threaten to drop
him to the asphalt parking lot below. The threat was made, Cascioli
testified in U.S. District Court, to scare him into giving up the
password to his PalmPilot discovered during a raid on his apartment.
"I had two big guys on me on both sides. My feet were off the
ground," Cascioli said. "I was thinking they're just going to drop
me
right there."
Liciardello, Cascioli recalled, said: "Hey, we'll just throw you off,
and no one will ever know."
Cascioli, a rail-thin 38- year-old with skeletal features and sunken
eyes, testified on the third day of the racketeering conspiracy trial
of Liciardello, Norman, and four other members of their unit - Brian
Reynolds, Michael Spicer, Perry Betts, and John Speiser.
Prosecutors allege the group shook down drug suspects for years with
ganglike tactics that netted them more than $400,000 in cash, drugs,
and personal property - seizures they downplayed on police reports
to
cover up their takes.
Walker, one of the officers Cascioli accused of deploying the balcony
threat, has already pleaded guilty in a separate corruption case and
is set to testify against his former colleagues.
Jurors on Wednesday also heard from Dontay Murphy, a 29- year-old
SEPTA bus driver, who alleged Liciardello pistolwhipped him during
a
2006 drug arrest and later lied about it on a police report. The
police report Liciardello later filed said Murphy sustained his
injuries after knocking his head against a cinder-block wall.
But it was Cascioli's story that drew harshest scrutiny from defense
lawyers. They have painted their clients' accusers as opportunistic
liars, eager to blame the police for their own criminal behavior and
cash in with lucrative police-brutality lawsuits.
On the stand, Cascioli described himself as one of the city's largest
wholesale marijuana dealer, who trafficked with only a handful of
upscale clients. He grossed from $360,000 to $600,0000 a year, he said.
Under questioning from prosecutor Anthony Wzorek, he recounted the
events that brought Liciardello and the others in November 2007 to
his 19th-floor penthouse at City Avenue's Executive House apartment
tower.
His neighbor had begun cooperating with the officers 10 days before
and offered to buy marijuana and mushrooms from Cascioli so
Liciardello could catch him in the act.
When Cascioli left his apartment to deliver the drugs, Liciardello
and a half dozen other officers dressed in ski hats and dark clothing
were waiting.
"My first immediate thought was it was the Mafia and I was getting
robbed," Cascioli said.
The group tackled him to the ground and led him back inside. They
tore apart his apartment looking for money and more drugs. Soon, they
had pressured Cascioli to draw his supplier - Bronx-based dealer
Jeremy Sarkissina - into their dragnet.
The department's top brass would later tout the Cascioli operation at
a news conference as a major success that resulted in the seizure of
16 pounds of marijuana, 12 pounds of mushrooms, and nearly $440,000
in cash.
But although several department supervisors stopped by the search of
his apartment during the search, it was what happened while they
weren't present that prosecutors now say was criminal.
Cascioli said he was never read his Miranda rights or shown a search
warrant. He alleged Walker and Betts hit him several times throughout
the night, while others took money from his nightstand to order pizza.
And when, days later, Cascioli retrieved his belongings from the
ransacked apartment, he noticed more than just drugs had gone
missing. A Versace sweat suit, two Movado watches, an iPod, and a GPS
- together worth about $8,000 - had all disappeared, he said. None
of
it was listed on the receipt of seized property he was given by the
police.
"The first thing I said was I want an attorney," Cascioli said.
Liciardello's foul response, he recalled, was: "F- you."
Throughout his testimony Wednesday, Cascioli described the encounter
in an assured voice and held his ground under heavy questioning from
the defense.
Still, lawyers for the six indicted officers caught a few
inconsistencies in his story - whether or not the officers wore ski
masks when they tackled him outside his apartment, whether or not he
was wearing handcuffs while being held over the balcony, and whether
he had initially lied to the FBI about his brother, who was hiding
drug money for him in Maryland.
But when challenged by defense lawyer Jack McMahon on his recent
decision to consult a lawyer to potentially sue the officers,
Cascioli stood his ground.
"I want what's right to be right," he said. "My rights were violated.
I want to win."
__________________________________________________________________________
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Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 2015
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact: inquirer.letters@phillynews.com
Website: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Jeremy Roebuck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
WITNESS: OFFICERS ROBBED ME
Testimony Begins in Trial of Six Phila. Narcotics Cops Accused of Racketeering.
A Main Line prep-school assistant basketball coach told a federal
jury Tuesday that Philadelphia narcotics officers robbed him blind
during a 2007 search of his City Avenue apartment.
Their purported haul? A safe stuffed with $80,000 in drug proceeds,
clothes, a pair of flashy sunglasses, and a DVD he had rented from
Blockbuster.
What Robert Kushner appeared less eager to discuss, as he testified
at those same officers' federal corruption trial, was what brought
the police to his apartment in the first place. He was selling
thousands of dollars worth of marijuana every week.
"That's what I did for business," he said. "But that's not who I am."
Kushner, a 32-year-old assistant coach at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew
Academy in Bryn Mawr, was the first government witness in the
racketeering conspiracy case against six Philadelphia narcotics
officers accused of shaking down drug suspects for years. In all,
prosecutors allege, they made off with more than $400,000 in cash,
drugs, and personal property all while fabricating police reports to
downplay their takes.
"It was a terrible experience," Kushner said of his 2007 run-in with
the officers. "I felt like I got robbed. I felt like I got cheated.
I
thought there is no way this was how the criminal justice system was
supposed to work."
But when it came time to own up to his own crimes, Kushner squirmed,
quibbled, and prevaricated on the stand. And so, his testimony
Tuesday appeared to buoy the narratives put forth by both the
government and the defense.
Prosecutors have painted Officers Thomas Liciardello, Brian Reynolds,
Michael Spicer, Linwood Norman, John Speiser, and Perry Betts as
rogue cops who routinely ran roughshod over the rights of drug
suspects, knowing that as criminals, they were unlikely to complain
to police, about missing money, property, or drugs.
The story Kushner told Tuesday of his 2007 encounter with
Liciardello, Reynolds, and a seventh officer, Jeffrey Walker, who has
already pleaded guilty to corruption charges, fleshed out how federal
authorities believe the group operated.
Kushner testified that when the officers, dressed in plainclothes,
pulled him over along Ridge Avenue in October of that year, it took
him hours to realize they were cops. He had half a pound of marijuana
and $30,000 in his car at the time. But his first thought, he said,
was that he had been caught in an elaborate robbery.
"They were rugged-looking guys - unshaven," he said. "They looked
urban. They were yelling at me. They were cursing at me. They were
aggressive, and all up in my face."
The officers handcuffed him, drove him to a secluded area, and
interrogated him, asking questions on where they could find more
money and drugs. It wasn't until they took him to a Fifth Police
District holding cell that he knew for sure he was dealing with the
police.
Never once, he said, did they read him his Miranda rights, present
him with a search warrant, or officially place him under arrest. He
began cooperating after 14 hours in a cell in which he was never
officially arrested and gave up other drug dealers on a promise that
he would not be charged.
But when he arrived back at his apartment on the 18th floor of the
Executive House tower in Overbrook, more than the seven pounds of
marijuana he had stashed there appeared to be missing. Also gone was
the safe where he kept his profits as well as $750 on his nightstand,
and clothes and shoes.
In all, he said, officers took nearly $81,000 from his apartment. The
property receipt he received from the Police Department - a document
that should have listed everything seized from his home - noted only
$13,000 in cash had been taken.
When he called Liciardello back to ask him about the discrepancy,
Kushner said, the officer's response set him on edge.
"You sure you want to accuse the Philadelphia police of stealing?" he
recalled Liciardello saying. "It's a very serious offense."
Since then, he told the jury Tuesday, he has sought therapy to deal
with depression and feelings of helplessness from the encounter.
But when it was their turn to question Kushner, lawyers for the six
officers dug in with question after question designed to color him
as
entitled, none-too-bright, and eager to blame anyone for his problems
but himself.
They have labeled all of their clients' accusers as "trashy riffraff"
whose testimony is not to be trusted.
Asked how he became a drug dealer after a childhood in Bala Cynwyd
and a college degree from George Washington University, Kushner
appeared uncomfortable with the label.
Asked how much money he made dealing drugs, Kushner hedged again: "I
made a lot of money. But I don't perceive it as making money, because
I lost it all."
And pressed to explain how, if his 2007 arrest was such a turning
point in his life, he could explain a subsequent arrest four years
later for drug dealing in Montgomery County, Kushner responded:
"I felt like I got railroaded by these guys," he said. "I was
desperately clawing at anything to get my life back to the way it was
before I met these guys. Sometimes you go back to what you know best."
As for whether his current employer, Barrack Academy, knew of how he
had previously made his money, Kushner said: "If you're asking me did
I go out of my way to tell them any of this, I did not."
But it was Kushner's detailed testimony on all of the ways the
officers allegedly violated his civil rights that prompted the
sharpest exchange Tuesday.
How did he know so much about what Liciardello and the others were
legally required to do? asked defense counsel Jack McMahon, lawyer
for Reynolds. "I'm highly educated," Kushner said. "I went to
college." McMahon quipped back: "Oh, you're practically a genius."
Testimony in the trial resumes Wednesday.
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Pubdate: Tue, 31 Mar 2015
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2015 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact: talkback@baltimoresun.com
Website: http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Justin Fenton
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
TWO FEDERAL AGENTS IN SILK ROAD CASE ARE CHARGED
Complaint Says They Stole Hundreds of Thousands in Probe of Drug Website
Attorneys for the former federal agents said they were innocent but
declined further comment.
Two former federal agents in Baltimore who led an undercover hunt for
the head of an online drug marketplace called Silk Road have been
charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars during the
investigation.
The agents, Carl M. Force, 46, a 15-year veteran of the Drug
Enforcement Administration who resigned last year, and Shaun W.
Bridges, 32, a special agent with the Secret Service who resigned
this month, made their first appearances in court Monday after the
unsealing of the criminal complaint in California.
Both were members of the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, which
authorities have said was one of two concurrent federal
investigations into the world's most popular - and now defunct -
online drug bazaar. Their work helped lead to two indictments against
alleged Silk Road founder and administrator Ross William Ulbricht.
But authorities now allege that Force used off-the-books aliases to
talk with Ulbricht, in one case offering sensitive information for
money and in another trying to extort him, while Bridges allegedly
wired himself $800,000 in digital currency that he had gained control
of during the investigation. Authorities also believe Bridges was
behind a theft from Silk Road that led Ulbricht to allegedly
commission a murderfor-hire, a charge Ulbricht still faces in Maryland.
Ulbricht was convicted in February in New York of charges including
drug trafficking and money laundering and is awaiting sentencing. His
attorney, Joshua L. Dratel, said the charges against Force and
Bridges bolster his client's argument for a new trial.
"It is clear from this complaint that fundamentally the government's
investigation of Mr. Ulbricht lacked any integrity, and was wholly
and fatally compromised from the inside," Dratel said.
Attorneys for the former federal agents said they were innocent but
declined further comment. Prosecutors in Maryland, meanwhile, said
they are reviewing the potential impact of the arrests of the agents
on Ulbricht's case here.
"We have not made a decision about how to proceed with that case,"
said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.
The investigation of Silk Road involved encrypted servers on the
so-called deep web, and complex transactions involving electronic
currency called Bitcoins.
Rosenstein said the charges highlight new challenges in policing
corruption in the "cyber arena, where it is difficult for supervisors
to provide oversight."
Force was paid $150,000 as a veteran DEA agent, but during the
two-year period that he was involved in the Silk Road investigation,
IRS investigators determined he made $776,000 - which they say he
used to pay off his mortgage and a loan, and to make investments in
real estate and a new business venture.
Ulbricht's arrest in 2013 made national news, and federal authorities
in Maryland touted the role they played in learning his alleged Silk
Road identity as "Dread Pirate Roberts." A drug bust in Harford
County grew into a nationwide operation, with agents in Maryland
developing informants.
Tens of thousands of people were buying drugs and other illicit goods
on the Silk Road site, generating more than $200 million in revenue
before it was shut down.
An undercover agent using the name "Nob" was able to develop a
rapport with Dread Pirate Roberts, convincing him through private
messages on Silk Road that he was a drug smuggler with international
connections.
Force was "Nob," authorities acknowledge in the criminal complaint.
But it was only after Ulbricht was arrested, and his laptop seized,
that authorities learned how much of Force's activity on Silk Road
had not been documented or reported to his supervisors and prosecutors.
Force had been authorized to tell Dread Pirate Roberts that he had a
corrupt government contact who was feeding him information,
authorities say, and he orchestrated two payoffs from Dread Pirate
Roberts for the information. But authorities now say Force put the
payments into his own account and claimed the money never came through.
Authorities say Force also created the online persona "French Maid,"
which was unknown to task force members and which they say he used
to
sell sensitive law enforcement information to Dread Pirate Roberts.
In the first message sent as "French Maid," he wrote, "I have
received important information that you need to know asap."
The message was signed, "Carl." Hours later, he sent another saying,
"Whoops! My name is Carla Sophia."
Federal prosecutors say Ulbricht's own notes show that he paid
"French Maid" $100,000 worth of digital currency in exchange for
information about someone who had given his name to law enforcement.
Force also allegedly used another screen name in an attempt to extort
$250,000 from Ulbricht.
In late 2013, Force became an investor with a California-based
digital currency exchange company and began using his position with
the DEA to run criminal background checks on people who used the
exchange, while freezing their accounts without legal basis and
transferring those funds to his personal account, according to court
records.
Records show Force become aware of an investigation into his alleged
dealings in May2014, and he resigned from the FBI that month. A month
before that, he had registered paperwork to establish a company
called Engedi LLC, a digital currency speculating and investment company.
Baltimore DEA Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle said Monday that
the agency had "noticed an anomaly" in Force's investigation, and
reported it to the DEA's internal affairs office.
The allegations against Bridges, meanwhile, are at the heart of the
charges against Ulbricht in Maryland, which include murder for hire.
Bridges and Force were part of a team that in 2013 apprehended Curtis
Clark Green, a senior administrator with Silk Road with wide access
to its inner workings and who proved crucial to bringing down the operation.
Green agreed to speak with members of the Baltimore Silk Road Task
Force, showing them how to log in to Silk Road and various other
administrative functions.
Hours after that debriefing, Silk Road "suffered a series of sizable
thefts" of currency associated with Green's account, according to
court records. Questioned about the theft by law enforcement at the
time, Green denied involvement.
But that theft would lead Dread Pirate Roberts to contact "Nob" about
commissioning Green's murder, according to court records. Dread
Pirate Roberts wired "Nob" $80,000 to kill Green, and task force
members faked Green's death, according to the records.
IRS investigators believe Bridges was the user behind the theft, and
have linked various accounts and transactions to him.
In the spring of 2013, prosecutors say, Bridges wired more than
$820,000 to his personal accounts from Mt. Gox, a now-defunct digital
currency exchange, just as he was preparing to serve a search and
seizure warrant on the company's accounts.
Force was arrested Friday at his North Baltimore home. Inside his
vehicle, prosecutors said he had a handgun, a passport and blank
money orders - "everything you might need to flee at a moment's
notice." He did not enter a plea at his hearing.
He faces charges of wire fraud, theft of government property, money
laundering and conflict of interest. His attorney, Ivan Bates,
declined to comment.
Bridges, of Laurel, surrendered in California and is charged with
wire fraud and money laundering.
"Mr. Bridges maintains his innocence and will fight these charges in
the appropriate venue at the appropriate time," his attorney, Steven
H. Levin, said.
In New York, federal prosecutors declined to comment on the potential
impact of the charges against the agents. Ulbricht's attorney,
Dratel, said information about the agents was withheld from him, then
partially revealed just before trial and kept under seal, which he
called "scandalous."
"At Mr. Ulbricht's trial, knowing full well the corruption alleged in
the complaint made public today, the government still aggressively
precluded much of that evidence, and kept it from the jury," Dratel
said. "Consequently, the government improperly used the ongoing grand
jury process in San Francisco as both a sword and a shield to deny
Mr. Ulbricht access to and use of important evidence, and a fair trial."
__________________________________________________________________________
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xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seattletimes.com
Website: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Roger Roffman
Note: Roger Roffman, a cosponsor of I-502, is a University of
Washington professor emeritus of social work. His memoir, "Marijuana
Nation," was published by Pegasus Books in 2014.
UNKEPT PROMISES OF PUBLIC-HEALTH EDUCATION ON MARIJUANA
A growing gap exists between how the early marijuana-legalization
laws are rolling out in Washington state and what ought to be
concurrent education campaigns to give marijuana consumers
science-based information to make wise choices.
Initiative 502 earmarked new excise-tax revenues to the state
Department of Health to pay for "medically and scientifically
accurate information about the health and safety risks posed by marijuana
use."
The initiative also called for a marijuana public-health hotline. To
be available statewide, the hotline is intended to provide treatment
referrals, brief counseling and educational information about marijuana.
On the road to a more just marijuana policy in the United States,
we're leaping ahead in some respects yet falling seriously behind in
others. By turning away from an ineffective marijuana-prohibition
policy, clearly enforced with egregious racial inequities, we're
making progress.
However, to date, no marijuana excise-tax revenues have been
allocated to the state Health Department. Therefore, these
educational efforts haven't begun. In essence, 29 months have passed
since voters approved I-502. During that time, while the birth of
this new industry and its ever-growing array of products have been
extensively covered in the media, almost no attention has been given
to public-health education about the drug.
Now, three bills wending their way through the legislative process
would decimate the education, prevention, treatment and research
elements of I-502. In the state Senate, a bill would completely
eliminate the dedicated marijuana fund and direct all I-502 revenue
to the general fund for local government uses and to the education
legacy trust account. Bills in the state House would pull the rug out
from under the youth-based marijuana prevention efforts intended by
the initiative.
At its first opportunity, the Legislature is poised to undermine one
of the primary campaign promises of I-502. Effectively informing the
public about marijuana's health and safety risks is crucial for
several reasons:
First, the voters' decision to legalize marijuana in four states and
the District of Columbia is commonly interpreted to mean that using
the drug doesn't risk the user's health. Indeed, many proponents
argue that it ought not to be criminalized because it has no dangers.
They're wrong. In truth, there are compelling arguments to support
legalizing marijuana that don't require the drug to be harmless as
a
justification.
Second, drug education about marijuana has often been skewed to
discourage use. As an example, I can't recall ever seeing in a
government publication recognition that occasional marijuana use by
adults isn't harmful. The considerable distrust in any warnings about
harm needs to be addressed.
Finally, the realities of science make it easy to poke holes in
research. If a possibility exists, however slight, of alternative
explanations for a relationship between using marijuana and a
specific danger, some readers would dismiss the findings outright.
Not even a slew of similar results across a number of studies would
sway them.
Today, based on what can reasonably be concluded from science, there
are risks to health and safety. They are important enough to warrant
informing marijuana users and those considering using marijuana.
Dependence: Frequently, marijuana is described as not addictive. Some
users find themselves continuing to get high despite ongoing
experiences of adverse consequences, and this is what addiction
means. There is a withdrawal syndrome - not life threatening, but
considerably stressful - that many, but not all, regular marijuana
consumers experience.
Mental-health difficulties: Regular use is associated with increased
anxiety and depression. Consumers need to be aware that marijuana
could be the cause and, if frequently depressed or anxious after use,
consider the possibility that pot isn't working for them. The same
goes for those with suicidal thoughts when they get high. Today,
there's evidence that frequent use of marijuana high in THC and low
in CBD increases the risk of psychosis.
Vulnerable groups: People with cardiovascular disease need to know
they are risking heart attack, stroke or transient ischemic attacks
if they get high. Those prone to schizophrenia need to know they risk
a psychotic episode from consuming pot.
I-502 was written to correct public misunderstandings and to help us
live more safely and healthfully with marijuana. We have a lot of
work before us, however, to rise above the hyperbole and fully inform
the public. The Legislature should soundly reject proposals to defund
this vitally important mission. To do otherwise would sabotage a key
reason why I-502 was adopted.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Angel Jennings
COMPTON SCHOOLS SUE CITY OVER MARIJUANA SHOPS
District Officials Say State and Local Laws Against Dispensaries
Aren't Being Enforced.
Saying the city of Compton has failed to enforce its own marijuana
laws, Compton school officials have sued the city for allegedly
allowing pot dispensaries to set up shop near schools.
State law prohibits dispensaries from operating within 600 feet of
educational institutions, but Compton's municipal ordinances go a
step further. In 2007, the City Council banned marijuana shops.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Compton Unified School District
alleges that a dozen pot shops are now operating in city limits,
three in the restricted zones of an elementary school, two middle
schools and a high school.
"We are working to get our students college- and career-ready and
these dispensaries impede that progress," said Micah Ali, Compton's
school board president.
A tour of the sites named in the lawsuit, however, revealed an
industrial complex, a tobacco shop and a storefront with blackened
windows.
The city said it had been working with law enforcement for years to
combat illegal dispensaries that operate without a business license
or proper permits. Six dispensaries were shut down last year, said
City Atty. Craig Cornwell, but he said they often pop back up in new
locations.
"The allegation that we are not enforcing our ordinance is not true,"
he said. "We will continue to address this complex issue, uphold all
ordinances and help keep the citizens safe."
In late 2013, a task force was created to find alternative measures
to close illegal operations such as hourly motels and marijuana
dispensaries. The city is looking into imposing hefty fines on
property owners who lease space to such businesses.
Mayor Aja Brown said the issue was hardly unique to Compton. Other
cities have similar challenges eliminating underground dispensaries
that operate off the grid. But the city hopes its tougher approach
will discourage building owners from turning a blind eye to the
illegal activity occurring on their property.
Officials were shocked to learn Thursday that the school district had
filed a lawsuit against the city.
Cornwell said he received a letter Thursday from the school board
notifying the city of the problem.
The board threatened litigation if the dispensaries were not
shuttered within five days.
Cornwell said he was preparing a response when The Times called
inquiring about the complaint.
"I'm at a loss as to why this approach would be taken on this
matter," Cornwell said.
The suit asks the court to force the city to "abate the nuisance" and
shut down all of the dispensaries near the schools and in the city.
Though illegal, some dispensaries often operate in plain sight. A
life-size green cross is plastered on a white building facing Long
Beach Boulevard, a major thoroughfare. The awning above the gated
windows reads "Greenlife." Others keep a lower profile.
One of the sites identified in the lawsuit as being near Gen.
Benjamin O. Davis Middle School on Rosecrans Avenue has dark tinted
windows and no signage. But beefy security guards roam outside the
doors.
"No one I know thinks a marijuana dispensary near a school is a good
idea," Ali said. "If we just enforce the law, this problem can be solved."
__________________________________________________________________________
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xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum
WHAT'S YOUR BRAND?
I thoroughly enjoy your column. It's the first page I read. You are
a
well of information. I like the sativas. Could you suggest some
strains that have the highest percentage of this and what
dispensaries have them? Thanks.
-CM
Thank you! I must confess that I am a little confused by your
question. If you are asking which strains have the highest amount of
THC (THC is the chemical that gets you "high"), the answer is: It
depends. The best way to find out is to ask your budtender. Most
dispensaries these days have their cannabis tested for potency. Most
strains contain between 15 to 20 percent THC, but I have seen some
up
to 27 percent. If you are asking which strains are the most
"sativa-esque," i.e. containing the characteristics of the cannabis
sativa plant, I like Trainwreck, Durban Poison and Haze. As always,
Leafly and weedmaps.com can tell you where to find good cannabis.
Have a good one.
I hear Willie Nelson is coming out with his own brand of cannabis. Is
this true?
-The Dread Headed Stranger
Yes. Yes it is. And why not? Everyone wants to get in on the
marijuana branding game these days. Willie Nelson's brand is supposed
to debut in 2016. Rapper Kurupt already has his own brand of
marijuana concentrates on the market. The Marley family is
introducing its own brand. Snoop sells all kinds of weed and
weed-related items. Hell, even I am introducing a brand. Look for the
@Ngaio420 line of fine and rare cannabis flowers at your favorite
dispensary this summer. It makes sense. During prohibition, word
about who the best growers were and who had the best weed traveled
by
word of mouth, mostly because marijuana was hella illegal and getting
busted for either growing or selling would get you major jail time.
Remember when Tommy Chong went to prison for lending his name and
likeness to a line of bongs? He went to federal prison for selling
bongs! I had some friends in the early '90s that tried to do the
branding and marketing thing with their cannabis strains. They got
busted. Hella busted. Like, a clandestine visit from the DEA busted.
However, times have changed and the risk of getting popped by the
feds for selling cannabis in states that allow recreational use is
very, very low, at least until 2017 when we will have a new president
and attorney general. And since everyone and their mama is trying to
get in on the weed game, one of the best ways to stand out in a sea
of green is to have a recognizable brand. I bet that other
celebrities and pot users will also get in the game. Who would you
buy your weed from? Seth Rogen? Doug Benson? Redman and Method Man?
I
would probably try something from all of those dudes. As long as
Charlie Sheen stays out of the business.
__________________________________________________________________________
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xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: Reno News & Review (NV)
Copyright: 2015, Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: renoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://www.newsreview.com/issues/reno/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2524
Author: Georgia Fisher
HIGH DESERT
Can Nevada's Newest Crop Weather a Record Drought?
In late March, Sierra Wellness Connection became Nevada's first
commercial medical-marijuana business to get state approval. Less
than a week later, the fledgling company led by former University of
Nevada, Reno president Joe Crowley also got the City Council's
unanimous nod to sell the medicine. As of press time, Sierra Wellness
and Certified Ag Lab of Sparks were the only two such establishments
to clear the final state hurdle, said Pam Graber with the Nevada
Division of Public and Behavioral Health. More are coming, of course,
as hundreds of companies received provisional certifications last year.
"Provisional certification is pretty much a blessing from the state
that says, 'We're OK with you. Now just go do what you need to do at
the local level, make sure you can jump through their hoops, too, and
you're good to go,'" Graber explained.
Once city paperwork is in order and state inspectors come for a final
look-see a company can move forward. That's where Sierra Wellness now
stands, though treasurer Deane Albright said the East Second Street
dispensary won't open until August or so. Plants don't grow
overnight, you know.
Know, too, that law-abiding commercial growers won't have the
fragrant crop in their yards. Plants must be locked indoors, in a
precaution Graber said is largely meant to deter theft. The
stipulation that medical marijuana must stay inside arguably makes
it
more sustainable as well, especially in a parched desert.
Take CannaVative Farms, a cultivator that received its local license
last week and will use high-tech pods to grow the medicine. (Sierra
Wellness and a third company, MMG Agriculture, are also newly
licensed growers.) Made from modified shipping containers with
software that quickly alerts to threats such as pests and viruses,
the pods are "a controlled environment, and are going to use less
water than the typical grow," said CannaVative founder Joey Gilbert.
He thinks greenhouses would be a positive addition too, should they
ever be allowed.
"We're not talking about your greenhouses of 50 years ago," Gilbert
said. "There's a lot to be done with solar energy, with renewable energy."
In the initial application process, new business owners of all
stripes must indicate how much water they'll use, "and of course the
applicant always says they'll use less," said John Erwin, Truckee
Meadows Water Authority's director of natural resources planning and
management. Prospective pot growers have provided a rather wide range
of estimates, so TMWA is studying facilities in Colorado and the Bay
Area for comparison.
To be clear, there's no point at which city staffers throw up their
hands and say a business is too much of a water hog provided the
bills are paid. But for the second year, TMWA has asked customers to
cut consumption by 10 percent, using 2013 numbers as a baseline.
Northern Nevada is in the midst of a record drought.
Cannabis "actually is a low-water plant, depending on how you grow
it, how big you grow the plant and how you trellis it out," said
Clint Cates, CannaVative's director of operations. "With a lot of
outdoor grows, your plants are a lot bigger, so they take a lot more
water, but no more than any other agricultural crop."
[sidebar]
To read the legalese for medicinal pot, visit http://bit.ly/1D3tlQm
__________________________________________________________________________
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HIGH DESERT
Can Nevada's Newest Crop Weather a Record Drought?
In late March, Sierra Wellness Connection became Nevada's first
commercial medical-marijuana business to get state approval. Less
than a week later, the fledgling company led by former University of
Nevada, Reno president Joe Crowley also got the City Council's
unanimous nod to sell the medicine. As of press time, Sierra Wellness
and Certified Ag Lab of Sparks were the only two such establishments
to clear the final state hurdle, said Pam Graber with the Nevada
Division of Public and Behavioral Health. More are coming, of course,
as hundreds of companies received provisional certifications last year.
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact: letters@northcoastjournal.com
Website: http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth
SAVE THE DATE
Arcata has backed down from its 4/20 crackdown, granting a picnic
permit to the Humboldt Center for Constitutional Rights, which had
raised a stink over the police department's shutdown of Redwood Park
on the lofty counterculture holiday.
In the late 2000s, pipe-bearing revelers converged at the grassy
entrance to Arcata's Community Forest, forming an unofficial
celebration that vexed cops and groundskeepers.
A complaint filed against the city last year alleges that the police
chief and former city manager concocted a plan to quash the
celebration, violating the constitutional right of residents to
gather in a public place. That suit is pending.
But HumRights, which had been in the process of applying for an event
permit at the park since last year, recently notched a victory.
The city had initially denied the permit, saying the police
department had a standing reservation that day for "public safety
operations" (during which they littered pathways with debris and
heavily fertilized the grounds with noxious fish emulsion, according
to the aforementioned complaint).
But following a review in March, City Manager Karen Diemer agreed to
let the group host its "Inaugural HumRights Picnic Gathering" on
April 20 from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.
There are some caveats: no stage use, no alcohol and no smoking. "I
remind you that the smoking prohibition includes tobacco, electronic
cigarettes and marijuana," Diemer wrote.
Sure.
Perhaps most tricky, though, is that the gathering can't have more
than 150 attendees.
In a press release, HumRights invites the organization's friends and
supporters for food, music and free speech-related events, but it's
not entirely clear if the rest of the park, outside of the reserved
area, will be open, or what will happen when the 151st attendee shows
up.
The permit states that city staff will open park gates between 2:30
and 6:30 p.m., but it doesn't say whether staff will continue its
previously reported practice of turning away on-foot parkgoers.
"This date has a history of attracting a large gathering at this
particular park site," Diemer wrote in the permit approval.
"Resulting from the history of responding to incidents on this day,
the city continues to maintain a patrol presence, and enforces the
park regulations as well as standard laws including smoking laws."
Diemer did not return a call seeking comment by press time.
Regardless of the attendance, the city's softening gives credence to
concerns that blocking off the park constituted prior restraint.
"We feel this permit, albeit limiting, is an important first step in
HumRights' efforts to keep a public park open to the public," the
group's executive director, Jeffrey Schwartz, said in a statement.
Whatever party HumRights whips up, there's no way it'll be as good as
the one Indonesian police inadvertently threw for nearby townspeople
when officers burned three tons of confiscated weed, sending clouds
of smoke and good vibes through the streets.
An Indonesian tabloid site posted an apparent photo of the blaze
along with a brief, apparently snarky story, which Google translates
somewhat hilariously:
"Local residents were admitted was dizzy inhaling the smoke of burnt
marijuana. But heck usually when inhaled smoke marijuana, dizziness
make tasty."
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Mon, 30 Mar 2015
Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY)
Copyright: 2015 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Contact: dceditpage@democratandchronicle.com
Website: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/614
Author: Gary Craig
DON'T CUT ANTI-DRUG FUNDS, SCHUMER AND POLICE SAY
In July local and federal police busted a suspected drug trafficking
ring alleged to have moved millions of dollars of illicit substances
-
and maybe even tens of millions - across the Rochester region.
Vital to the takedown of the network, police say, was a police analyst
whose job is totally funded by a federal program known as High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HITDA.
The current federal budget proposal from the Obama administration
calls for an annual reduction in HIDTA funding from $245 million to
$193 million - a reduction that U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said at a
news conference Monday he will oppose.
Flanked by police and the mothers of two women whose children have
battled addiction, Schumer said in the news conference at the Public
Safety Building in Rochester that he is proposing a $100 million
increase in the funding.
"When you let these drugs get tentacles into our society, it's so hard
to extricate them," he said.
Throughout western New York, a particularly deadly brand of heroin,
laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, has been linked with a rash
of overdose deaths. Nearly 100 people died of overdoses in the
Rochester region last year, and more than half of those were tied to
the potent fentanyl-heroin combination.
The resurgence of heroin shows the need to keep funding for drug
policing and treatment intact, Schumer said.
The heroin mix has been packaged under names like "Lebron James" and
"Diesel."
Lori Drescher, whose son considered suicide while overtaken by a
heroin addiction, said the stigma attached to illnesses like that of
her son make it difficult for families to speak publicly about the
need of continued funding.
"Until we remove the stigma of addiction we know we can't get the
support we need," she said.
Her son, 24, is now in recovery and speaks to students about the
threat of addiction, she said.
"Families with addiction dare not dream about tomorrow. It is like
living Russian Roulette every single day."
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: USA Today (US)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/ImW1OezK
Copyright: 2015 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/625HdBMl
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Trevor Hughes
NO REEFER MADNESS IN COLORADO, AS YET
The voters wanted the law changed to reflect reality. A year later,
legalizing pot doesn't seem to have ended Western civilization as we
know it.
More than a year after Colorado legalized marijuana sales, there's a
pot shop just a few steps away from the Prada, Ralph Lauren,
Sotheby's and Burberry stores in this toniest of tony ski towns.
Tourists from around the world step into the Green Dragon cannabis
store to buy small amounts of legal - and heavily taxed - marijuana.
It goes on day after day after day with virtually no muss or fuss.
Welcome to my reality. More than a year ago, the editors at USA TODAY
asked me to join their team as the Rocky Mountain correspondent to
tell stories from across the West, from wildfires to wild weather,
politics and guns. But marijuana coverage quickly became a top
priority, as the world watches the legalization experiments taking
place here as well as in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District
of Columbia.
Pot, or cannabis as some of the fans prefer to call it these days,
has been legal here since Jan. 1, 2014.
More often than not, I find myself telling those editors, "No, no,
it's not like that. Colorado doesn't smell like pot all of the time.
No, not everyone is stoned all of the time. And no, there isn't blood
running in the streets as a result of legalization." We haven't seen
the explosion in crime or car crashes that critics direly predicted,
or the invasion of Mexican cartels.
In other words, legalizing pot doesn't seem to have ended Western
civilization as we know it, bolstering critics who say marijuana
should never have been demonized by America's War on Drugs.
We the people chose to legalize pot. It wasn't a decision foisted
upon us by a federal court or a mandate from some far-off government
bureaucrat. The voters wanted the law changed to reflect reality -
the reality that people were using marijuana safely and responsibly.
Your friends and neighbors smoke pot, just like mine. The only real
difference is my fellow Coloradans won't get arrested or ticketed.
Oh, and they pay taxes on their pot. Lots of taxes. Last year,
Colorado collected $76 million in marijuana taxes and fees, not
including local governments' share of the pot.
The strangeness of the situation hit home the other day when I was
talking to a group of business owners. One asked why marijuana tax
collections had fallen below projections, and her comment prompted
a
double take on my part. All of a sudden, we're talking about why
marijuana tax collections aren't higher instead of arguing about the
societal impacts of legalization.
To be sure, I've gotten to take our audience inside some unusual
places. Riding in an armored car loaded with marijuana cash and
driven by an ex-soldier armed with a AR-15 comes to mind, as does the
first outdoor harvest of legal marijuana. Looking over stacks of cash
and plants worth millions helps explain why there's so much interest
in this industry.
Of course, the system isn't perfect. Colorado's regulators still
aren't testing marijuana for contaminants; the state is being sued
by
its neighbors for failing to prevent pot from flowing across its
borders; there's been an increase in marijuana poisoning of children
who've gotten into their parents' stash; and cops have been arresting
growers who use the state's legal system as a cover for interstate
drug trafficking.
But life goes on in Colorado much as it has for decades, albeit with
more national headlines. And not everyone is excited about those
headlines. I'm pretty sure Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper would
be
happy to never talk about marijuana again because Colorado has so
much else going on.
A few weeks ago, one of Denver's business leaders, worrying all the
pot coverage is giving the state a bad rap, obliquely suggested I
write more about the amazing things happening here. Why aren't you
writing about the state's ebullient job growth or how happy people
are with their work-life balance or the number of corporate offices
relocating to Denver? he asked.
Without meaning to, he raised a great point: Things in Colorado
haven't really changed much since we legalized pot.
Colorado still has sunny skies, great skiing and fantastic people.
The business climate is great and getting better, entrepreneurs are
launching innovative solutions to a wide array of problems and, atop
all that, you can buy marijuana legally.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/F8q8Y60N
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact: letters@adn.com
Website: http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Scott Woodham
WOULD A POT-GROWING COACHING BUSINESS BE AGAINST ALASKA LAW?
When the initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in Alaska
took effect Feb. 24, personal home gardens of six plants total, up
to
three flowering at a time, became expressly permitted for any Alaskan
21 years or older. But what if someone has no idea where to begin?
There are books and magazines. Cultivation message boards and web
forums seem to multiply by the day, but researching all of that and
turning it into action takes time. Not to mention that talk of light
frequencies, growing media, "nutes," and techniques like ScrOG, FIM,
and LST might overwhelm beginners.
Brett LeMay wonders if that might present an opportunity for someone
with an entrepreneurial spirit and Alaskan desire to "take tomorrow
and dream." He asks Highly Informed: "Do you foresee any problems
with setting up a personal-growing coach business? Not everyone has
a
green thumb. Of course, I could not provide plants or seeds, just set
up and maintain their personal use garden."
Before we get into the answer, it's important to note right up front
that anyone thinking of starting a business should seek professional
legal advice to ensure that everything goes smoothly. That's just
good sense whether cannabis is involved or not. Starting a business
involves official paperwork, state licensing and so on, and an
attorney can be a big help to start off on the right foot.
It's also important to note that the Alaska Legislature is currently
considering a variety of legislation pertaining to cannabis, and
there are a little more than two weeks left in the session. Anything
said here could change depending on the outcome of any of that
legislation. The answer here doesn't seem likely to change much, but
because there's so much activity right now, the legal landscape is
essentially unsettled.
Pot me in, coach. Center field?
Setting aside the question for a moment about foreseeable problems,
let's look at a fundamental question first. Would a home-grow
cannabis coaching business be allowed under the state laws as they
stand currently?
It appears that yes, if no other statutes are violated in the process
of advising someone, a business to coach compliant home growers is
allowed under the current statutes. Statutes also allow individual
Alaskans over 21 to give each other up to six immature cannabis
plants, but sales are still off limits at this time. There is nothing
in current statutes that expressly prohibits or addresses a coaching
business. That means two things right off the bat: One, that kind of
business is just not mentioned. Someone in an official capacity might
decide statutes need to mention it. And two, if such coaching is done
with gardens that comply with state law, it's currently not prohibited.
Complying with the law right now for home gardens means complying
with AS 17.38.020, the laws created by Ballot Measure 2 that concern
personal use of cannabis, including cultivating it at home for
recreational purposes.
That statute currently limits home gardens to six plants, with no
more than three flowering at a time, and restricts them to Alaskans
older than 21. It also specifically permits "assisting" people of
legal age with certain acts, including growing at home:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as otherwise
provided in this chapter, the following acts, by persons 21 years of
age or older, are lawful and shall not be a criminal or civil offense
under Alaska law or the law of any political subdivision of Alaska
or
be a basis for seizure or forfeiture of assets under Alaska law:
(a) Possessing, using, displaying, purchasing, or transporting
marijuana accessories or one ounce or less of marijuana; (b)
Possessing, growing, processing, or transporting no more than six
marijuana plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants,
and possession of the marijuana produced by the plants on the
premises where the plants were grown; (c) Transferring one ounce or
less of marijuana and up to six immature marijuana plants to a person
who is 21 years of age or older without remuneration; (d) Consumption
of marijuana, except that nothing in this chapter shall permit the
consumption of marijuana in public; and (e) Assisting another person
who is 21 years of age or older in any of the acts described in
paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section.
Uncertainty and risk
Here's where things get tricky, and where unforeseen problems might
arise for a business centered on grow-coaching. In any industry,
changes in law or regulation can significantly change the landscape.
And legal uncertainty is the biggest foreseeable complication for the
business idea you propose. Such uncertainty adds risk to starting up,
but that's for an aspiring grow coach and his or her lawyer to discuss.
Some changes to that statute quoted above are being considered in the
Alaska Legislature right now, largely to clarify terms and respond
to
stakeholder concerns. They involve things like per-household plant
limits, defining "public" use and others. The two main legislative
bills dealing with cannabis right now are SB 30, freshly passed by
the Senate and moved on to the House, and HB 75, which is still
making its way through the House. Both bills should be considered in
flux.
Cynthia Franklin, director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board,
the agency currently charged with creating cannabis regulations to
implement, said that unless something changes with the legislation,
the business described doesn't currently seem off-limits to her as
long as it doesn't run afoul of other parts of the law. Examples of
types of advice that would cross the line are advising a commercial
grow (none of which are permitted yet) or selling clones or plants,
or helping someone with a grow that's larger than allowed in statute.
Franklin wrote in an email, "When I read AS 17.38.020 in a vacuum,
without HB 75, I would not interpret the conduct you describe as
violating any prohibition. In other words, unless the legislature
amends 17.38.020 to define or restrict the term 'assist' to the
contrary, I believe the initiative language would allow this type of
advice."
The phrase "in a vacuum" is a significant qualification. Law and
policy don't happen in a vacuum, and regulators can only deal with
what they have in front of them. Franklin said that the only thing
that could possibly affect her interpretation is HB 75. That bill is
somewhat narrower in scope than SB30, and its most recent version
proposes including language that defines "assist" and adds "aiding
or
supporting," plus a list of situations where assisting is not
illegal. It doesn't appear to restrict a business like the one Brett
is asking about:
assisting, aiding, or supporting another person who is 21 years of
age or older in any of the acts described in (1) - (4) of this
section; assisting under this paragraph does not include (A) using,
displaying, purchasing, or transporting marijuana in excess of the
amount allowed in this section; (B) possessing, growing, processing,
or transporting marijuana plants in excess of the amount allowed in
this section; (C) growing marijuana plants for another person in a
place other than that other person's dwelling."
The version of that proposed language in SB 30 is nearly identical,
but it doesn't add "aiding and supporting" or include that last item
there, "C." Reconciling the two bills is an ongoing matter, which
makes it impossible to say for certain what will result in the end.
House committee staff are not offering any guesses about where things
will end up, but so far as I've been told, no one has heard of plans
to restrict "assisting" in a way that would bar a coaching business
for legally compliant home gardens. If that changes, I'll update this
column. http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_fulltext.asp?session)&bill=SB30
HB 75 is sponsored by the House Community and Regional Affairs
Committee, chaired by Rep. Peggy Tilton, R-District 12. She wrote in
an email that her own convictions against the initiative to legalize,
tax and regulate don't matter when it comes to the work in creating
HB75, "I voted against it, as did a majority of my district's voters.
However, the voters passed it and it is my obligation as a state
lawmaker to respect the will of the voters even if I disagree with
it."
"As the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee has worked
through the process with HB 75, we kept two questions in the
forefront when adopting the various provisions: 'Is it consistent
with the initiative?' and 'Does it closely follow how we regulate
alcohol?' " she said. "Rather than telling municipalities what they
were going to do, we asked them what they needed us to do."
Rep. Tilton said, "Our municipalities made it very clear that they
needed us to act in order for them to write their ordinances
correctly, in the interests of public health, public safety and
protection of commercial trade. HB 75 gives them the tools to do that
while remaining consistent with the intent of the initiative."
Since there's no proposed restriction on potential grow-coaching in
any current version of legislation, either from the House or Senate,
apparently grow-coaching was an issue that no stakeholders, whether
municipalities or not, brought up as a concern. That leads me to
conclude that prohibitions against such a businesses are unlikely.
But anything could still happen with a couple of weeks left in the
session.
Other potential issues?
One other potential issue for Bret to consider is whether any special
licensing or permits aside from an Alaska business license may be
required. Currently there are no such requirements in statute for a
grow coach, and Heath Hilyard, Tilton's chief of staff and committee
aide for House Community and Regional Affairs, said that his office
has no plans to include such a licensing provision in HB 75.
"That really wouldn't be the right vehicle for something like that,"
he said, adding that they intend to defer on detailed rulemaking to
regulators with the ABC Board or, if created, a Marijuana Control Board.
Skies look clear right now on that front. According to ABC director
Franklin, "We do not anticipate growing 'coaches' needing licenses
or
issuing any license like that."
Depending on the type of advice or service, however, other licenses may apply.
The state of Alaska requires licenses for a host of professions
already, in addition to an Alaska business license. Handymen,
contractors, electricians, engineers and others in the building
trades -- to mention a category that seems like it could apply here
-- are "regulated professions," and the state requires additional
licensing for them.
If someone's idea of grow-coaching involves building partitions or
rewiring part of a house, for example, it seems that extra licensing
would apply. If it's just talking about flowers and troubleshooting
common problems, it seems not. Consultation with an attorney and
constant vigilance about laws and regulations would seem essential
to
determine what potential problems, if any, apply to a particular
cannabis grow-coaching business model. But as things stand now,
recognizing that laws and rules are taking shape, it seems there are
few legal problems to foresee when it comes to the coaching business
Brett describes. But because the laws and rules are still essentially
unsettled, that means there could be additional business risks worth
considering.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2015 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S LETTER TO 22 PRISONERS
On Tuesday, 22 people serving sentences of decades or life for
nonviolent drug crimes in federal prisons across the country received
a personal letter from President Obama, commuting their sentences and
ordering their release in late July.
Each had applied to Mr. Obama for clemency - a power the Constitution
unreservedly grants the president as a way to correct injustices or
offer forgiveness, but which has fallen into near-total disuse in
recent decades. Before Tuesday, Mr. Obama ranked as the least
merciful president in modern history.
Among the inmates are people like Francis Darrell Hayden, a Kentucky
man who was sentenced to life for growing marijuana, and Rudolph
Norris, serving 30 years for selling cocaine. In his letter, Mr.
Obama warned the prisoners that after their release they would face
the doubts of those who do not believe people with criminal records
can change. "But remember that you have the capacity to make good
choices," he wrote. "I believe in your ability to prove the doubters
wrong."
It was a rare moment, and it underscored the critical role executive
clemency can play in a justice system that far too often imposes
punishments out of any reasonable proportion to the crime.
The commutations are part of a broader effort the Justice Department
undertook last year to identify and encourage low-level, nonviolent
federal inmates to apply for clemency if they meet certain criteria,
such as having no "significant criminal history," exhibiting good
behavior in prison, and serving a sentence of longer than 10 years
that would be shorter today because of changed laws.
To date, more than 8,000 applications have poured in to the pardon
office, and more than 30,000 inquiries have been received by a
coalition of volunteer defense lawyers assisting the administration.
There are clearly far more than 22 people deserving of a reduced
sentence. For example, thousands of inmates are serving unjustly long
sentences under an absurdly harsh law that treated one gram of crack
cocaine the same as 100 grams of powder cocaine for sentencing
purposes. The law was changed in 2010 to reduce that ratio by more
than four-fifths, but it still applies only to future prosecutions.
Mr. Obama could wait forever for Congress to make the law
retroactive, or he could use his clemency power to tackle an obvious
unfairness now.
But good intentions mean little without the resources to make them a
reality. Staffing levels at the pardon office, which reviews clemency
applications, have barely changed since 1996, even though the number
of applications has increased more than eightfold since then.
Tuesday's commutations also highlighted the damage caused by federal
prosecutors who overcharge defendants who refuse to plead guilty -
a
common practice that effectively punishes people for exercising their
constitutional right to a trial. Many of the sentences Mr. Obama
commuted were the result of such overcharging.
Commuting 22 sentences was the right thing to do. As Congress dithers
on sentencing reform, Mr. Obama should do more to show mercy to
thousands of inmates who could be released without any threat to public
safety.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 02 Apr 2015
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2015 The Washington Post Company
Contact: letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Bill Piper
THE NEED FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGES
Regarding the March 27 Politics & the Nation Digest item "Governor
authorizes needle exchanges":
With two Midwestern governors - Mike Pence (R) of Indiana and Steve
Beshear (D) of Kentucky - recently supporting syringe-exchange
programs in some fashion, it is a good time for Congress to repeal
the federal ban that prohibits states from using federal prevention
dollars to make sterile syringes available to reduce the spread of
HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.
This ban has cost thousands of lives and millions of dollars.
Repealing it would reduce federal healthcare expenditures and give
states greater flexibility. Decades of peer-reviewed studies have
conclusively shown that syringe-exchange programs save lives without
increasing drug use.
States should be free to use prevention money on these effective
services if they want.
Bill Piper, Washington The writer is director for national affairs of
the Drug Policy Alliance.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 2015
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2015 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC.
Contact: letters@timesdispatch.com
Website: http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365
Author: A. Barton Hinkle
HOW TO KILL SOMEONE AND GET AWAY WITH IT
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, once considered one of the most
conservative in the country, has moved to the left in recent years.
But if you think that means it is showing a greater regard for
individual rights and civil liberties, think again. According to a
ruling the court handed down on March 13, the appropriate range of
punishments for possessing a small amount of marijuana includes
summary execution.
In 2005 (the wheels of justice can grind exceedingly slowly) the
police in Cambridge, Md., acted on a tip and found a small amount of
marijuana residue in a trash can. At 4:30 a.m. on May 6, a SWAT team
executed a search warrant on the apartment of Andrew Cornish. A jury
would later find the commandos failed to knock and announce
themselves properly. As they rushed through the apartment, Cornish
came out of the bedroom with a sheathed knife in his hand. The police
say he advanced on them. One of the officers shot Cornish twice in
the head, killing him.
Elapsed time: about 30 seconds.
Why did the police burst into Cornish's apartment in the wee hours,
instead of simply showing up in the middle of the day and knocking
politely? Not because Cornish was some bigtime drug dealer. There is
no evidence of that. What's more, he was on friendly terms with the
officers who sometimes patrolled his neighborhood. No, that's just
how things are done these days - along with handing out armored
personnel carriers and other materiel of war to police departments
big and small. Radley Balko writes all about it in his book, "Rise
of
the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces."
Cornish's father sued, claiming the police used excessive force and
violated Cornish's constitutional rights. The first point was quickly
dispatched with. (Lesson: Never bring a knife to a gunfight.) But as
Balko points out in his Washington Post blog, on the second point the
courts agreed. Not only that, "both the trial court and the appeals
court that ruled against Cornish's father acknowledge Cornish has
lost his life, Cornish's father has lost his case, and that's that.
End of story. both that the police violated the knock-and-announce
rule, and that they lied about doing so."
Yet two out of three judges on the 4th Circuit panel (both George W.
Bush appointees) decided nevertheless that Cornish bore all the blame
for his own death. Other courts have reached similar conclusions in
similar cases, you see - so that must make it OK: The police can
break into your home unlawfully and shoot you dead, and nobody is at
fault for that except you. Not only that, according to the court
majority "no reasonable jury could have found that the Officers'
knock-and-anounce violation proximately caused Cornish's death."
That is irrefutable, in the same way the no-true-Scotsman fallacy is
irrefutable. If I say to you, "No Scotsman would shave his beard,"
you can show me countless clean-shaven Scotsmen. Rather than concede
I was wrong, I can say, "Well, no true Scotsman shaves his beard!"
The revision renders all your counterexamples irrelevant by
definition. So while it's easy to imagine plenty of juries that might
blame the police for Cornish's death, the court can simply write them
all off by contending no reasonable jury would.
Balko goes into some important history about how we got here, and you
should look up his piece if you're curious. With regard to the case
at issue, he makes some other powerful points. For instance:
Cornish was somehow supposed to figure out that the people breaking
into his apartment were police officers because they purportedly said
so once they were inside. But the whole point of such dark-of-night
raids is to disorient and confuse the residents so they don't have
time to think carefully.
Moreover, the court says "according to the Officers ... events in the
apartment were so fast-moving and conditions for observation so poor
that they could not discern - nor be expected to discern" that
Cornish's knife was sheathed.
So under those circumstances a highly trained and fully alert SWAT
team could not be expected to make the right choices. Yet an
untrained man woken out of a sound sleep by loud intruders is
supposed to be able to do so despite their failure to knock and
announce themselves. In the court's view, Balko writes, "no
reasonable person could possibly have been confused about the
identity of the intruders, even though said intruders violated the
requirement that exists for the purpose of assuring there is no such
confusion."
But wait: Not only are we supposed to think that, we also are
supposed to think no reasonable jury could possibly think otherwise.
So Cornish has lost his life, Cornish's father has lost his case, and
that's that. End of story.
The courts, including the Supreme Court, have granted wide latitude
to police officers, partly because-they say - officers who exceed the
scope of their authority can be held responsible through lawsuits.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 2015
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact: letters@chicoer.com
Website: http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing
priority
Author: Garry Cooper
THROWING MORE MONEY AT JAILS WON'T CURB CRIME
The recent letters by Stephanie Taber and Helen Harberts encouraging
spending more money on jails and police need to be seen as the
propaganda they are. Google them and you will see they are both
longtime police industry members and highly vocal shills for the
police/prison unions.
We need to objectively explore ways to lower our incarceration rates,
given that the U.S. locks up more people per capita than any other
nation in the world. The police/prison industry screams for more of
everything all the time. More jails, more prison guards, more
officers, higher salaries, better benefits and it never stops. Their
shills act like regular citizens as they plead for these increases
without disclosing their conflicts of interests.
What we need is to re-evaluate the drug war from top to bottom, given
it accounts for nearly half of all the police/prison industrial
complex's costs.
For instance, we should convert a share of prisons to be used solely
for drug rehab facilities for meth and heroin, staff most of it with
drug rehab professionals instead of overpaid prison guards with high
school educations so we can accomplish something meaningful. We need
to address the legalization and distribution of marijuana nationwide,
including licensing honey oil producers, so our society is safer and
so valuable resources aren't spent on useless prohibition and can be
allocated to real crime.
We need change and throwing money at Harberts and Taber's cronies
isn't it. We have been doing that for decades and it doesn't work.
- Garry Cooper, Durham
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 2015
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Nikki Lastreto
WEED RIGHTS
As a member of the Mendocino Cannabis Policy Council, I'd like to say
how heartened I was to read "Clear-eyed view of legalization"
(Editorial, March 30), that The Chronicle applauds Lt. Gov. Gavin
Newsom's panel which will address the effects of legalization of
cannabis in California in 2016.
As the editorial stated, we also hope they "get it right" and that
this time, at last, they remember to include the rights and
regulations necessary for the future of small speciality cannabis
cultivators, specifically in the Emerald Triangle region. Much skill
and hard work goes into crafting quality organic sun-grown cannabis,
and so the source of this product should certainly be recognized and
included in the discussion. I look forward to the public hearing in
San Francisco in May.
Nikki Lastreto, Laytonville,
Mendocino County
__________________________________________________________________________
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Los Angeles -
NO MORE HALF-BAKED POT VOTES
Californians are almost certainly going to vote in 2016 on a ballot
measure to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. And
according to the most recent polls, a majority of voters now support
that goal.
But general, theoretical support may not be enough. If legalization
proponents are serious about passing a ballot initiative, they'd
better be sure they put forward a comprehensive, well-thought-out
proposal that addresses the complex legal, societal and safety issues
involved.
They'd do well to learn from earlier, halfbaked marijuana measures
that were either wisely rejected by the voters (such as 2010's
Proposition 19, which would have legalized the drug) or were passed,
but were so poorly drafted as to cause years of confusion (such as
Proposition 215, which allowed the use of medical marijuana).
To its credit, the most organized and well-funded group, ReformCA,
has spent more than a year talking to both the medical marijuana
industry and regulators about what a responsible ballot measure
should include. It's important that even critics of legalization,
including representatives of law enforcement, are already part of the
discussion, because it is difficult to fix unforeseen problems after
a ballot measure has passed. And proponents of legalization can't
rely on the Legislature to work out the details of implementation.
It's been nearly 20 years since voters passed Proposition 215, and
the state still hasn't adopted comprehensive rules for the
cultivation, transportation and distribution of medical marijuana.
In
order to be effective, the next ballot initiative will need to create
a sensible regulatory and taxing scheme from scratch.
A nongovernmental commission on marijuana policy, led by Lt. Gov.
Gavin Newsom and the American Civil Liberties Union, released a
report last week focused on three areas that need further analysis.
Those include: how to keep children from getting marijuana and what
are appropriate noncriminal penalties for youth possession; how to
protect public safety, including keeping marijuana-impaired drivers
off the road; and how to set an appropriate cannabis tax so the state
earns enough revenue to pay for enforcement and education, but not
so
high that the state encourages a black market industry. And these
three issues are by no means the only outstanding ones.
The Times won't take a position on a 2016 marijuana initiative until
the ballot language has been released. This page opposed both
Proposition 215 and Proposition 19.
It is important to remember that even if a legalization initiative
were to pass, marijuana would still be illegal under federal law. It
might be politically complicated for the next president - whether
Republican or Democrat - to start enforcing prohibition laws after
the Obama administration has essentially allowed states to legalize
pot. But advocates shouldn't assume that it won't happen. There could
be all sorts of complications as California moves forward; that's why
it's important to proceed cautiously and carefully.
xxx
Newshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Mon, 30 Mar 2015
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2015 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact: letters@amarillonet.com
Website: http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: JC Cortez
DRUG POLICY CREATES LOCAL OUTCRY
Three men arrested in recent weeks could get life in prison after
being caught with small amounts of edible marijuana products, a fact
that has sparked an outcry from some Amarillo residents.
Potter County sheriff's deputies arrested Eli McCarthy Manna, 30, and
Andrew Bruce George, 27, after stopping them for an unspecified
traffic violation March 16.
The men were found to be in possession of seven purple brownies
weighing a total of 650 grams which, being more than 400 grams,
triggered the most severe punishment range for drug possession under
Texas law - 10 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
Ten days later, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers arrested
Fernando Bejarano, 19, of Tulsa, Okla., after stopping him on an
unspecified traffic violation.
Troopers found more than 800 grams of prepackaged baked goods and
candies containing THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana.
The products included assorted Edipure gummies and vanilla
chai-flavored Kiva mini chocolates, which are available over the
counter where such products are legal. He was booked into Potter
County jail on the same charge as Manna and George.
"The fact of the matter is people are getting arrested in the
counties in the Panhandle on a regular basis for doing very little
"'bad,' even according to our own laws - and nothing wrong according
to the laws of Colorado and many other states," Amarillo lawyer
Jeff
Blackburn said. "This is nonsense; these are not serious felonies."
Blackburn is known for being the founder and chief council of the
Innocence Project of Texas and for his work leading to the
exoneration of 35 people who were wrongly convicted in a 1999 drug
bust in Tulia and eventually pardoned by then-Gov. Rick Perry.
The high-stakes charges stem from the treatment of marijuana-infused
foods as controlled substances - similar to cocaine and
methamphetamine - and a section of Texas law that incorporates the
volume of "adulterants and diluents" into the total volume of
controlled substances.
For example, if a person possessed less than 2 ounces of marijuana,
that person would face a Class B misdemeanor under Texas law, which
carries a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
But if that person cooks the same amount of marijuana with 4 sticks
of butter, that person then possesses about 454 grams of a controlled
substance - enough to warrant a life sentence under Texas law.
A shop three hours from Amarillo in Trinidad, Colo., sells one
popular chocolate bar containing THC for about $20, the shopkeeper
said. The bars weigh 45 grams. Less than 10 of those chocolate bars
could land a Texan in prison for a mandatory minimum of 10 years.
"When you mix cocaine with anything or meth with anything or PCP, or
any of the Schedule 1 drugs, we weigh it and its adulterants as a
single product ... the strength level does not matter," Trooper
Daniel Hawthorne said during an interview Friday.
"In other words, if you take one drop of hash oil and put it in a
gallon of water, you're going to be charged with a gallon of a
controlled substance," Blackburn said. "That is just medieval
and
stupid. ... This is where the law in Texas becomes hyper-technical
and very repressive."
On Friday, Hawthorne recalled stopping a van while on patrol years
ago. Men in the van possessed a small vial with an unknown amount of
PCP, he said. As they were being pulled over, the men panicked and
dumped the vial into a cooler.
When DPS investigators drained the PCP and melted ice mixture from
the cooler and measured the volume, the men faced a charge of
possession of 4 gallons of PCP.
Law enforcement is unable to separate food particles from drug
particles, Hawthorne said. The number of variables and the complexity
of the task would make the law so cumbersome it would be virtually
unenforceable, he said.
"The reason it's that way is ... it would be impossible to set up a
scale where you estimated the THC per weight of - whatever,"
he said.
Amarillo activist Shane Cox, founder of Amarillo Cannabis Culture, a
group dedicated to the legalization of and education about marijuana,
said he is outraged by the law.
"To receive a life sentence for a plant that has never been linked to
an overdose, is safer than alcohol, is used medically in 23 states
and is legal for recreational use in four states and in Washington,
D.C. - it's ridiculous," he said. "Sugar in the brownies has
caused
more deaths in this country than the cannabis."
Despite any personal feelings, Hawthorne said, police are bound by
oath to uphold the laws where they practice.
"The fact that it's become socially acceptable in some areas ... has
no effect on us," Hawthorne said, "I don't have the authority
to
make judgment calls. That's for a judge to do, not me. That's for a
jury to do."
Blackburn disagreed.
"Cops are not robots. Prosecutors are not robots," he said. "Law
enforcement has a lot of discretion in how they treat people, and DAs
have a lot in how they handle these cases when they get to court."
Texas law allows law enforcement agencies to ticket people for
misdemeanor possession of up to 4 ounces of marijuana, instead of
making arrests.
Amarillo Police Department does not issue citations for marijuana
possession. Potter County deputies are allowed the choice to issue
citations instead of making an arrest, Lt. Patrick Zamora said. In
2014, Potter County deputies issued three citations for Class B
misdemeanor marijuana possession, or in about 13 percent of cases.
"I do not believe that most taxpayers, even in the Panhandle, are in
favor of this hyper-repressive approach to marijuana laws," Blackburn
said. "I think the verdict in the Tim Stevens case ... is a pretty
good example."
An Amarillo jury acquitted Tim Stevens, a then-53-year-old HIV
patient, in 2008 after he was charged with possession of marijuana
he
used to control chronic nausea and vomiting. It was the first
medical-use acquittal in Texas, Blackburn said, and took the jury
only 12 minutes of deliberation.
"If you can over-charge people, you can over-convict them. And if you
over-convict them, you over-punish them," Blackburn said. "Every
single one of us has an interest in not letting the government run
amok."
__________________________________________________________________________
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xxx