via The Associated Press: Egyptian lawmakers want to ban fake hymen. (no, I’m not kidding)

HT: Radley Balko

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Prohibition (still) doesn’t work. Someone should tell Egypt.

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The State Department intended to send the favorable report on Mexico’s human rights record to Congress in advance of President Obama’s visit to Guadalajara for a summit of North American leaders this weekend, U.S. officials familiar with the report said.

That plan was scrapped after aides to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, told State Department officials that the findings contradicted reports of human rights violations in Mexico, including torture and forced disappearances, in connection with the drug war.

via Anti-Drug Aid Delayed as Leahy Blocks Positive Report on Mexico’s Rights Record – washingtonpost.com.

HT Radley Balko

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Anti-Drug Aid Delayed as Leahy Blocks Positive Report on Mexico’s Rights Record – washingtonpost.com

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The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says a guard at the 4th Avenue Jail has been arrested for allegedly supplying cocaine to an inmate.

The guard is identified by the Sheriff’s Office as 27-year-old Ryan White, a detention officer with the Sheriff’s Office for four years.

White was arrested and booked on two felonies Monday afternoon. Charges include promoting jail contraband and assisting in a criminal syndicate.

Detention officer arrested, accused of smuggling cocaine. via Stop the Drug War

So Joe, how’s your drug war working out for you when you can’t even keep the convicted and caged from getting drugs? How the hell are you going to keep drugs off the street if you can’t keep them out of your own damn jail?

The sheriff really thinks highly of himself. I think his fetish is homoerotic bondage. You can hear a full interview with him in the documentary, American Drug War: the Last White Hope (sound warning).

American Drug War: the Last White Hope 7 minute sampler

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America’s Toughest Sheriff Can’t Keep Drugs Out of His Own Jail

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The main danger with Obama is that his history of drug use, instead of making him more open to reform, will make him anxious to show he’s tough on drugs. Something like that seems to have happened with Bill Clinton, who bragged about ever-escalating drug war budgets and threatened doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients with jail, trampling the First Amendment in his rush to prove his anti-drug bona fides.

Obama on Drugs: Should reformers dare to hope? – Reason Magazine.

Still some of you remain hopeful and optimistic about the changes coming with the selection of Obama’s administration, but I’m not holding my breath.

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Can We Still Hope For Change?: Obama’s Marijuana Policy

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MEXICO CITY — In what could be one of Mexico’s worst cases of drug-related corruption in a decade, Mexican officials alleged that a drug cartel infiltrated the highest levels of Mexico’s attorney general’s office, paying people there as much as $450,000 a month to get sensitive information about antidrug activities.

Mexican Officials Allege Drug Cartel Infiltrated Attorney General’s Office – WSJ.com.

Is there hope for change? Drug Czar John Walters shows some signs of sanity.

Mr. Walters, a vehement opponent of drug legalization, backed a proposal by [Mexican President] Mr. Calderón not to prosecute people caught carrying relatively small amounts of illegal narcotics, including cocaine and heroin. Under Mr. Calderón’s plan, addicts would be treated differently from traffickers and would avoid jail if they agreed to undergo treatment, not unlike similar programs in some parts of the United States. “I don’t think that’s legalization,” Mr. Walters said.

Rice Visits Mexico for a Meeting About Its Drug War – NYTimes.com.

It’s a start. While the decriminalization of drugs is a baby step toward policy reform, it does nothing to address the profit motive that violent thugs have to traffic in illegal narcotics. A re-legalization of the bread-and-butter of narcotics traffickers, marijuana, would rip the financial rug out from under the gangsters that terrorize Mexico and the rest of Latin America. When American alcohol prohibition gave rise to gangsters like Al Capone and blood spilled on in our major cities we repealed the laws that caused the bloodbath. We should do the same for Mexico.

Unintended Consequences: Perhaps racist windbags like Lou Dobbs wouldn’t have some much “illegal” immigration to complain about if American foreign policy didn’t do so much damage to the Mexican economy. Mexicans have a right to keep their families safe from harm, just as Americans do.

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How American Foreign Policy Fuels Mexican Drug War Violence, Corruption

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Those who favor the continued prohibition of cannabis base their arguments on the false premise that the continued enforcement of said laws “protects our children.” This statement is nonsense. In fact, just the opposite is true.

The war on weed endangers the health and safety of our children. It enables young people to have unregulated access to marijuana — easier access than they currently have to legal, age-restricted intoxicants like alcohol and tobacco. It enables young people to interact and befriend pushers of other illegal, more dangerous drugs. It compels young people dismiss the educational messages they receive pertaining to the potential health risks posed by the use of ‘hard drugs’ and prescription pharmaceuticals because kids say: “If they lied to me about pot, why wouldn’t they be lying to me about everything else too.”

Most importantly, the criminal laws are far more likely to result in having our children arrested and placed behind bars than they are likely to in any way discourage them to try pot.

These are the facts, and it’s about time we start shouting them from the rooftops.

Full Text: The War on Pot Is a War on Young People | DrugReporter | AlterNet.

Done.

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THE WAR ON POT IS A WAR ON YOUNG PEOPLE!

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Get your Whizzinator while you still can. They’re available at Tobacco King (map) on Whitten near I-40 for my readers in Memphis, TN.

The owners of the company that makes the Whizzinator, a prosthetic penis used to mask illegal drug use, were charged yesterday in federal court with conspiracy to defraud the government and are expected to plead guilty.

Gerald Wills, the president of Puck Technology, based in Signal Hill, Calif., and Robert D. Catalano, the vice president, are charged in a 19-page criminal information of conspiracy for selling two different products that mask illegal substances in a user’s urine.

‘Whizzinator’ makers to plead guilty.

HT: High Times

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Whizzinator Witch Hunt – Paraphernalia Manufacturers Charged With Conspiracy

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For decades law enforcement agencies including local police, DEA and U.S. Customs have used what is known as “presumptive field drug-test” kits to confirm that suspected materials are illegal drugs. The tests, which use powerful acids to react with suspected substances, change color to indicate the presence or absence of drugs. However, there is now conclusive evidence the field drug tests falsely indicate the presence of drugs when used on numerous natural products such as soap, soy milk, essential oils and chocolate. Developed over 60 years ago, these tests are made by the giant homeland security company Armor Holdings, a subsidiary of BAE Systems. At a cost of less than five dollars each, the field drug tests can be found in nearly every police car, border checkpoint, jail and in most schools.

Government’s Drug War Test Kits Give False Positives on Organic and Natural Products.

HT: Drug War Chronicle, et al.

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Field Test Kits False Positive on Organic Products

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Obama and Biden also want to revive the Byrne grant drug eradication program, another block grant initiative. At a speech last month in Florida, Obama promised to ensure funding for the Byrne program, adding that it “has been critical to creating the anti-gang and anti-drug task forces our communities need.” Although Byrne has not failed to achieve its stated goal (reducing the availability of illicit drugs), it has made drug policing more aggressive and militaristic and less accountable. And by prioritizing raw arrest statistics, the program tends to focus police efforts on low-level offenders instead of major distributors.

Because they tend to be multijurisdictional, no sheriff or police chief oversees the investigations of Byrne task forces. They are “effectively accountable to no one, least of all the communities they purportedly aim to serve and protect,” says Graham Boyd, director of the Drug Law Reform Project for the ACLU, which has documented abuses by Byrne-funded task forces all over the country.

Obama’s bad criminal justice ideas. – By Radley Balko – Slate Magazine.

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Obama’s Drug War – Politics as Usual

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In many cases, the active ingredients in children’s cold medicines have never been studied in children. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that “several studies show that cold and cough products don’t work in children younger than 6 years and can have potentially serious side effects.”

An FDA official said the agency is wary of banning the drugs altogether, because that could lead parents to simply start giving their children adult cold medicine, the AP reports. “It really is a conundrum for us,” John Jenkins, who heads the FDA’s Office of New Drugs, said.

Health Blog : FDA Rejects Ban On Cough & Cold Medicines for Kids.

I think that’s a stunning admission for an agent of our government. Maybe Jenkins should be the next Drug Czar.

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FDA Admits Prohibition Doesn’t Work

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Some three months ago a nest of violent drug dealers moved in right next door to me (I’ve seen a gun at least once, and violent fights are a constant). They have repeatedly shaken me down for money, food, and use of my video equipment. One picked my lock when I was in the shower (they can hear when that is running) and stole the money from my purse, yelling into my bathroom she was just giving me some laundry detergent. (I’ve since gotten a deadbolt.)

These people scare me so much I foolishly decided to go over and buy a joint. They said they’d bring it to my place. They rolled it (I have no paraphernalia), asked me to try it, and then left. I immediatelyy put it out and called the cops. They were mad at me, but at the time declined to arrest me. And you see, in my anxiety-ridden mind — an issue that can impair judgment — I thought I had the smoking gun that would cause the police to arrest my neighbors. As I say, this was a few weeks ago but the officer declined to arrest me.

But, this past Wednesday morning at midnight they came with an arrest warrant per the prosecutor, accusing me of possession and vigilantism. I was taken to jail. But the very worst thing is I was strip- and body-cavity searched. I feel raped (yes, even tho the officer was female.) My son bonded me out a bit after 3 a.m.

The Art of the Possible » Blog Archive » I Inanely Took on the Drug War — And Lost.

My heart goes out to Mona and people like her who remain the victim of violent thugs who use their obscene black-market profits to tyrannize their communities. If the marijuana market were legalized then it would be taken out of the hands of criminals and instead be run by businessmen. Like Mona said, “when was the last time Absolut and Seagrams shot it out in the streets?”

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The Drug War Claims Another Victim – Blogger Mona

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Senator Biden, you’ve been one of the Senate’s most ardent drug warriors. You helped create the office of “drug czar”; backed our failed eradication efforts in South America; encouraged the government to seize the assets of people merely suspected of drug crimes; pushed for the expanded use of racketeering and conspiracy laws against drug offenders; advocated the use of the military to fight the drug war; and sponsored a bill that holds venue owners and promoters criminally liable for drug use by people attending concerts and events.

Today, illicit drugs are as cheap and abundant as they were decades ago. Would you agree that the anti-drug policies you’ve championed have failed? If not, how have they succeeded?

The Agitator » Blog Archive » My Question for Joe Biden.

A lot of cannabis users have a love affair with the Democrat Party. I’m a little perplexed why otherwise rational people would believe that the Democrat platform supports anthing other than the status quo in the American drug war. Democrats have long been supported by Police Unions. While the Republicans would just like to unappologetically run our lives, the Democrat love for the drug war is a little more sinister.  In return for the Union endorsement Democrats provide police with extraordinary power through legistaltion and funding. The relationship should be called the Partnership for a Drug War America.

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A Drug War Question for Joe Biden

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Bob Barr: Federal Drug War Rethought: “As both a U.S. Attorney and Member of Congress, I defended drug prohibition. But it has become increasingly clear to me, after much study, that our current strategy has not worked and will not work. The other candidates for president prefer not to address this issue, but ignoring the failure of existing policy exhibits both a poverty of thought and an absence of political courage. The federal government must turn the decision on drug policy back to the states and the citizens themselves.”

I really don’t know whether Barr is sincere or he just finds his new libertarian leanings on the drug war to be politically expedient. In any case, I think that Barr is probably our most viable, pro-legalization choice for president right now. However, I’d like to see him more contrite about his prosecution of the federal war on drugs as U.S. attorney. How many lives has he ruined in the course of his neo-con past?

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Bob Barr’s Change of Heart: Federal Drug War Rethought

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Bob Barr: Federal Drug War Rethought: “As both a U.S. Attorney and Member of Congress, I defended drug prohibition. But it has become increasingly clear to me, after much study, that our current strategy has not worked and will not work. The other candidates for president prefer not to address this issue, but ignoring the failure of existing policy exhibits both a poverty of thought and an absence of political courage. The federal government must turn the decision on drug policy back to the states and the citizens themselves.”

I really don’t know whether Barr is sincere or he just finds his new libertarian leanings on the drug war to be politically expedient. In any case, I think that Barr is probably our most viable, pro-legalization choice for president right now. However, I’d like to see him more contrite about his prosecution of the federal war on drugs as U.S. attorney. How many lives has he ruined in the course of his neo-con past?

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Bob Barr’s Change of Heart: Federal Drug War Rethought

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The police were supposed to knock at the door and announce themselves. Instead they entered the home by force acting as if the warrant had the required “no-knock” clause. The incompetent police have been exonerated of any wrongdoing. Mayor Calvo was recently interviewed by the Cato Institute. You can listen to the interview below.

For more information on no-knock raids and the rising use of military-style tactics in the war on drugs read Overkill by Radley Balko.

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Cheye Calvo Interview – Mayor Terrorized by Swat Team Drug Raid

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Five-Acre Marijuana Farm Found in Redwood National Park – FoxNewsAuthorities have discovered thousands of marijuana plants growing in Redwood National Park.
…
While marijuana has been found growing on public lands for years, officials say they’re finding larger, more damaging operations — many of them connected to gangs with ties to Mexico.

I’ve written before on the environmental destruction caused by the drug war. Not only does this deadly war threaten the environment, but also the lives of every tourist, camper, and hiker that visit the forest every summer. If marijuana crops were legal crops could be planted in private farms and the environmental and public threat would be eliminated.

The photo above is in the public domain: Coastal Redwood

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Redwood Forest Threatened By War on Drugs – 5 Acre Marijuana Grow Found

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Alert – American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee: “The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN)
today sent a letter to the Roane County school district demanding a stop to the random drug testing of student athletes which is in clear violation of state law. In addition to being illegal, random drug testing of students is proven to be ineffective in deterring drug use and is opposed by leading experts in adolescent health, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers.

“Random drug testing is not only patently illegal under state law, but demonstrably ineffective and frequently counterproductive,” said Hedy Weinberg, Executive Director of the ACLU of Tennessee. “These unsubstantiated searches make a mockery of the civics lessons taught in our classrooms, and should be roundly and readily rejected by parents and school officials alike.””

Not only is this behavior illegal, random drug testing has been proven to be ineffective as a deterrent. It simply does not prevent students from using drugs. In fact, when children are tested for a safe and non-toxic substance like marijuana, students then have an incentive to instead use deadly drugs like inhalants. I believe the only effective and ethical way of preventing adolescent drug abuse, without violating individual rights is to foster a healthy relationship between the parent and child. School policy and the drug war instead foster mistrust, a snitch culture, and pit children against parents by creating adversarial relationships.

For more information read my post on fooling urine drug tests.

Read the full alert from the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.
Associated Press article here: ACLU Demands Tennessee School Stop Drug Testing Student Athletes.

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Tennessee School District is Illegally Drug Testing Children

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They Got the Tater – Ron White Arrested Possessing 3 Grams of Marijuana

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Cato Institute: Should No-Knock Police Raids be Rare-or Routine? (Policy Forum): “Should No-Knock Police Raids be Rare-or Routine?

POLICY FORUM
Thursday, September 11, 2008
4:00 PM (Reception To Follow)

Featuring Cheye Calvo, Mayor, Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Radley Balko, Senior Writer, Reason and author of Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, Peter Christ, Co-founder, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Moderated by Tim Lynch, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Watch the Event Live in RealVideo
Listen to the Event in RealAudio (Audio Only)

The Prince George’s County police department is under fire for a recent drug raid on the home of Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo. Unbeknownst to Calvo, a box containing marijuana was delivered to his home. Shortly thereafter, police officers kicked in the front door and shot both of Calvo’s pet Labrador retrievers. The police have subsequently cleared Calvo of any wrongdoing but are unapologetic about their raid tactics. Are no-knock, paramilitary raids an appropriate tactic for drug investigations? Or do sudden, unannounced entries bring unnecessary violence to police investigations? Join us for a discussion of the Prince George’s incident and, more broadly, the militarization of police work in America.”

*Update: I fixed the links to the media streams.

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Cato Forum: Should No-Knock Police Raids be Rare-or Routine? Today at 3pm CDT

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Chicago officer charged in frame job: “Bogdan Mazur, who is in the midst of a divorce, tried to set up his estranged wife by planting cocaine, marijuana and a gun in her vehicle in April 2007 and having Grand-Central District Officer Slawomir Plewa arrest her, according to Assistant State’s Atty. Lynn McCarthy.

Plewa, 30, was arrested Monday and charged with official misconduct, perjury, obstruction of justice, unlawful restraint and false reporting.”

People often use drug laws to exact retribution, vengeance, and hate against others. Sometimes drug users are snitched on, not to “make the streets safer” but because someone has simply felt personally slighted. Snitching is a great way for the passive aggressive to earn some quick cash while narcing out a personal enemy and subjecting them to the terror of the courts and prisons. The article continues:

After the acquittal, the woman’s attorney, Steven Messner, said he told Assistant State’s Atty. Bob Milan he suspected the case was phony. Plewa had admitted he never made note of the meeting with the informant nor tried to verify the information with anyone else, Messner said.

And a fingerprint taken from the packaging around the gun and drugs did not match the estranged wife’s, Messner said.

Plewa is a seven-year veteran of the department, assigned to the gang-narcotics team for much of that time, and has never before been disciplined by the department, said Dan Herbert, Plewa’s attorney.

In other instances innocent people are framed by their enemies. Vindictive individuals know that police are more interested in racking up arrest numbers in order to seize assets and qualify for federal grants. Law enforcement has no incentive to filter through these bogus accusations. Instead they frequently take the snitch’s word without any corroborating investigation. In extreme circumstances police knowingly use false information because the incentives to disregard it are simply to great.

Law enforcement should be about justice, righting wrongs. They should be available to protect our life, our liberty, our property. The drug war conflicts with this mission. When cops are used to enforce societal norms we all suffer.

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Crooked Cop Helps Husband Frame Wife for Marijuana, Guns

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Chemical & Engineering News: Business – To Catch A Cheat: “The hundreds of products marketed to help drug users circumvent urine drug tests fall into three main categories: products that are consumed prior to the test, products that are added to the test sample, and devices for smuggling synthetic or borrowed ‘clean’ urine into the testing facility. Toxicologists focus on the first two because, as Sample pointed out, ‘if it’s someone else’s urine, there is not a lab test in the world that would tell you that.’”

So the answer from this unlikely source is simply, “swap urine.” Of course using a warmer like “Hot Hands” available in the outdoors section of Walmart, is necessary to keep urine within a normal range of body temperature. Detox systems simply dilute urine to undetectable levels. This trick is easily recognized by competent laboratories.

There are several problems I have with employer drug screening. Marijuana users are unfairly discriminated against because THC is stored in body fat and is detectable long after hard, dangerous drugs have left the system. Prescription drugs are oft abused, even when acquired under legitimate pretense. However many “scripts” aren’t tested and if the individual can produce documentation positive results are excused. Finally, drug tests can’t actually determine if an employee is or will be impaired at work. THC remains in the body long after, sometimes weeks after the high has subsided.

Here’s a table from the article above you might find useful.

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Can Marijuana Users Fool Drug Tests?

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Fayetteville, AR: Fayetteville voters will have the choice on Election Day to vote on making adult marijuana possession the lowest police priority. Sensible Fayetteville initiative sponsors turned in just over 1000 additional signatures on August 29 to meet a shortfall of 301 valid signatures. City Clerk Sondra Smith contacted campaign coordinator Ryan Denham today to say that the petition has qualified with over the required total of 3686 signatures that were required to qualify the petition.

Denham praised the city clerk and staff for their professional conduct and courtesy during the laborious verification process. “They worked hard. We were impressed by city operations.”

“Now we turn our attention to providing more in-depth information to the voters leading up to Election Day. This initiative offers residents an important opportunity to help guide Fayetteville’s future through better allocation of our resources. It also shows that Fayetteville is willing to take a leadership role among other cities across the nation in addressing failed public policy. And we believe this will benefit Fayetteville’s largest industry, the University of Arkansas, by reducing the number of students penalized with loss of financial aid for marijuana prosecutions. We respect the dedication of our police and prosecutor and believe this measure spells out the public’s full support for their use of enforcement discretion.”

Sensible Fayetteville formed in 2007 as a coalition of OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, & Ecology, the Green Party of Washington County, the University of Arkansas student group NORML-SSDP, and the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, Inc.

The measure, entitled “Lowest Law Enforcement and Prosecutorial Priority Policy Ordinance,” would require Fayetteville police and prosecutor to treat adult marijuana possession offenses as their lowest priority. Further, the measure requires the city clerk to send an annual letter to state and federal legislators, governor, and president stating: “The citizens of Fayetteville have passed an initiative to de-prioritize adult marijuana offenses, where the marijuana is intended for personal use, and request that the federal and Arkansas state governments take immediate steps to enact similar laws.” This duty shall be carried out until state and federal laws are changed accordingly.

The full text of the proposed ordinance can be viewed at www.sensiblefayetteville.com Similar laws have been passed by communities in Missouri, Montana, Washington, California, and Colorado. In Arkansas, a similar measure in Eureka Springs passed with 62% of the vote in 2006. Sponsors state that more than one survey by Zogby International have show that over two-thirds of Arkansas voters support reforms that would reduce penalties for adult marijuana use.

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Fayetteville Voters to Vote on Low Priority

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Congress and the Media Should be Dubious of Office of Nat’l Drug Control Policy’s Claims: …Cannabis cases however, notably minor possession cases, still clog the criminal justice system and are at the heart of dozens of state and federal appellate cases that have largely established less—not more—liberty and economic freedom for citizens. The gravitas of the state and federal conflict on the issue of cannabis prohibition so contentious the US Supreme Court has had to twice intervene since 2001 on the specific issue of medical access to cannabis for dying, sick and sense-threatened patients (in both cases, the court strongly deferred to Congress’ prerogative to pass anti-cannabis legislation, regardless of how illogical or devoid of compassion, reason and science).

Perhaps, having more credibility with law and order crowd, Seattle’s former police chief, Norm Stamper can affect the debate with his brilliant arguments in the video below, courtesy of Reason.tv.

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Stepping Up the Cannabis Re-Legalization Debate

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Commercial Appeal – Felony arrest ends Pearson’s bid for Bartlett post – The Shelby County Election Commission ruled that Steve Pearson III, who filed to face Young in the Nov. 4 election, did not qualify for the race. While there were questions about Pearson’s residency, a guilty plea to a felony charge of possession of 46 pounds of marijuana in 1989 was enough for the commission to disqualify Pearson, 57, from the election.

This is how they silence their political dissenters. I watched AKA Tommy Chong last night that anecdotes how they railroad non-violent pot offenders through the system, cage them, and strip them of their rights. Pot-prohibition violators are political prisoners. It’s time to end this war on the American people and restore the rights of its casualties.

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Drug War Disenfranchisement – Steve Pearson Removed from Bartlett, TN Ballot

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I saw this story later: Police make large marijuana bust, police in Louisville take in 5 suspects for possessing between 200 and 500 pounds of marijuana. Why does the news media not take note of the outrageous claims of law enforcement? Repeatedly we are told about large busts of multiple hundreds of pound of cannabis, but that’s not even a comet in the universe of buds smoked in this country. According to the White House’s Marijuana SourceBook [PDF] I’ve conservatively approximated that 60,000 Memphians use cannabis. That crowd would fill the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

No one could fathom the acreage of bud you would have to produce to feed the demand of the residents of our city. We are constantly bombarded with claims that the drug warriors are winning, Blue Crush?, that they’re “keeping drugs of the streets”, when clearly they aren’t. Instead we’re crowding 201 Poplar full of the fathers of our dying babies. Watch the 20/20 preview if you haven’t already. If marijuana were taxed and regulated, or simply free to grow and consume the money wouldn’t be going to the thugs fueling the violence.

We’re giving outrageous profits to the gangsters that rule our streets and cause one of the highest homicide rates in the country. Marijuana prohibition is causing and perpetuating our problems. You just can’t keep drugs out the hands of a free people. Unless you want a totalitarian state, end the marijuana prohibition.

*2,736 hectares / 342 acres = 19.77

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A Message to Memphis, The War on Marijuana is a Quagmire

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