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Youth

Teenage Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization Hitman Is a U.S. Citizen

The floppy-haired 14-year-old turned, like any other modern teen, to YouTube to make his confession. But unlike a typical 8th-grader, Edgar Jimenez confessed to beheading people for Mexican Drug Traffickers for the price of $2,500 each. Mexican authorities nabbed the "hit boy" known as "El Ponchis" at an airport; he was en route to Tijuana, where he and his teenage sister were planning to sneak into San Diego. Why? He's an American citizen.

Gunmen in Mexico's Drug Prohibition War Getting Younger

Mexican police detained a minor accused of working as a gunman for a drug trafficking organization after shocking videos and photos surfaced online of fresh-faced boys mugging for the camera with guns and corpses. One video, briefly posted on YouTube, showed a youth, apparently in his teens, confessing to working for a branch of the Beltran Leyva organization. "When we don't find the rivals, we kill innocent people, maybe a construction worker or a taxi driver," the youth said.

Live from UC Berkeley: Are Students Voting for Prop 19?

Prop. 19 organizers are hoping that under-polled one-issue voters — like the college kids at Berkeley — will push them over the top. At a press conference in Oakland Tuesday morning, Aaron Houston, who heads up the group Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said it would be a "historic election" in which the youth turnout would push the marijuana measure over the top. The Bay Citizen headed to Berkeley to see what students are thinking about Prop. 19 and whether they are turning out to vote because of it.

Crunch time in California! (Action Alert)

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It's coming down to the wire in California!

Californians are casting their votes on Proposition 19, the initiative to make marijuana legal and regulate it similarly to alcohol, and the latest polls show it is neck and neck heading down the stretch.  Voter turnout could very well be the deciding factorin this close race, so it's time to crank up the effort to get out the vote.

There are just about 8 days left before Election Day, and regardless of whether you live in California YOU CAN HELP!

Call Women Voters

SAFER and its project, the Women's Marijuana Movement, have teamed up with Just Say Nowto create an on-line phone banking tool that allows female marijuana activists across the country to place phone calls to women voters in California. 

Click HEREor visit http://fdl.me/Prop19Women to find out more and begin placing calls to female voters in California.

Call Young Voters

SAFER allies Just Say Now and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)have set up a system that allows people in any state to contact young voters in California and urge them to get out to vote for Prop. 19.

Click HEREor visit http://tinyurl.com/25xxms8to find out more and begin placing calls to young voters in California.

 

Mexico’s Growing Legion of Drug Prohibition Orphans

Largely overlooked is the story of the estimated tens of thousands of children whose lives are blighted by drug prohibition violence. Neither Mexico's government nor the various independent groups studying organized crime keep track of the number of orphans who have lost fathers, and sometimes mothers too, to the drug prohibition war.