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Drug Truth 12/07/09

Cultural Baggage * Century of Lies * 4:20 Drug War NEWS Cultural Baggage for 12/06/09, 29:00 Mason Tvert, director of Safer Choice in Colorado discusses progress in fighting reefer madness LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2684 TRANSCRIPT: Tuesday Century of Lies for 12/06/09, 29:00 Bruce Mirken, outgoing director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project re his 8 years serving drug reform + Jack Cole, Dir of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2685 TRANSCRIPT: Tuesday 4:20 Drug War NEWS, 12/07 to 12/13/09 Link at www.drugtruth.net on the right margin - Sun - Bruce Mirken, Dir of Comm for Marijuana Policy Project Sat - Mason Tvert, 2/2 Fri - Mason Tvert of Colorado's "Safer Choice" & co-author: Marijuana is Safer, So Why are We Driving People to Drink? 1/2 Thu - Jack Cole of LEAP 2/2 Wed - Jack Cole Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 1/2 Tue - Steff Sherrer, Director of Americans for Safe Access Mon - DTN Editorial/Appeal to Canadian Legislators Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston, 90.1 FM. You can Listen Live Online at www.kpft.org - Cultural Baggage Sun, 7:30 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT, 5:30 PM MT, 4:30 PM PT (Followed Immediately By Century of Lies) - Century of Lies, SUN, 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT & 5 PM PT Who's Next to "Face The Inquisition?": TBD Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org We have potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates i You can tune into both our 1/2 hour programs, live, at 6:30 central time on Pacifica's KPFT at http://www.kpft.org and call in your questions and concerns toll free at 1-877-9-420 420. The two, 29:00 shows appear along with the seven, daily, 3:00 "4:20 Drug War NEWS" reports each Monday morning at http://www.drugtruth.net . We currently have 71 affiliated, yet independent broadcast stations. With a simple email request to [email protected] , your station can join the Drug Truth Network, free of charge. Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, DTN Producer, 713-462-7981, www.drugtruth.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In The Trenches

Disenfranchisement News: Governor's Swan Song Sounds Hopeful

[Courtesy of The Sentencing Project] 

December 7, 2009

Disenfranchisement news

Virginia

Governor's Swan Song to the Tune of Restoring Votes

During one of his last radio show broadcasts, outgoing Governor Tim Kaine talked about being one of two governors that have strongly advocated for the reenfranchisement of individuals with felony records. Kaine, who leaves office in January, encouraged residents to continue to apply for vote restoration.

When asked why Kaine would not sign an executive order restoring voting rights prior to stepping down, he said, "our analysis of Virginia law is that I can't just do a blanket restoration - I have to restore people by name."

Kaine and predecessor Mark R. Warner have restored the rights of more Virginians "than any of the previous governors of the commonwealth combined," according to WSLS 10.

"If your felony was a nonviolent felony, we restored every right of everybody who applies," Kaine said of the restoration process while in office. "If it's a violent felony, we dig into it a little more."

National

Chicken Stealers Disenfranchised -- Then and Now

The recent edition of the Journal of Southern History features an article by Pippa Holloway entitled, "A Chicken-Stealer Shall Lose His Vote - Disfranchisement from Larceny in the South," an essay on the policy all southern states (excluding Texas) adopted between 1874 and 1882 to disenfranchise individuals for petty theft. The changes were part of an effort to ban African Americans from voting and to restore the Democratic Party to political dominance in the region, according to Holloway, an associate history professor at Middle Tennessee University.

According to the journal abstract, the essay highlights the fact that "two southern states that had never disfranchised for any crimes amended their constitutions to establish this penalty for the first time in the 1870s. Finally, southern courts interpreted existing laws to include misdemeanors as disfranchising crimes. While Democrats celebrated the success of these laws in disfranchising African Americans, Republicans criticized their racial and partisan impact. Although Democrats used a variety of techniques to ensure their electoral dominance, these new laws were one tool used by Democrats to deny the vote to Republicans in some of the most tightly-contested elections of this period."

 

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Marc Emery free on bail

Vancouver,Sunday,Dec.6,2009 Marc Emery,long time marijuana legalization campaigner and recently jailed for extradition to the US for the so called crime of selling marijuana seeds appeared on The Sta
In The Trenches

Exciting times for medical marijuana in Rhode Island!

Dear friend, Since 2003, the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC) has led the Rhode Island’s medical marijuana movement. This past year has been monumental with the passage of the compassion center legislation which will allow three state-regulated, not-for-profit, retail dispensaries in RI. This victory will help to ensure that RI patients will have safe and affordable access to their medicine and make the RI Medical Marijuana Act the best in the country. Even before this success in June 2009, RI and RIPAC have been receiving amazing press coverage and recently we were even featured in The New York Times. We have been responding to the national medical marijuana developments with such actions as my interview on WPRI/Fox Providence and press statement in response to the Obama Administration’s announcement last month protecting patients in medical marijuana states. This is AMAZING progress and we need your continued support! http://ripatients.org/Donate/ RIPAC has expanded our services and we are now conducting orientations to provide patients and caregivers with the skills they need to make the most of the program. We continue to hold multiple meetings every month to educate patients, caregivers and community members. These meetings have gotten bigger and our monthly cardholder meetings now consistently include more than 10% of the state’s population of medical marijuana patients. None of this could have been possible without your continuous support. As a very small nonprofit, RIPAC relies heavily on private donors like you. With your generous support we can continue our work to advocate for patients, help educate them to navigate the program and help them retain a better quality of life. Your contribution, of any size, is crucial for us to continue our work to preserve the rights of patients. http://ripatients.org/Donate/ We are reaching much of the community, but now more than ever, we still have more work to do. We need to continue educating medical professionals and RIPAC, along with Patients Out of Time, is accomplishing this by hosting an international Continuing Medical Education “Clinical Conference on Cannabis” at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI from April 15-17, 2010. We also need to educate law enforcement personnel to protect our patients and we need to make sure that the compassion centers have the patients’ best interests in mind. In this season of giving, founding executive director Jesse Stout and I ask you to contribute $50, $100, $250 today with a check or credit card or become a member of our “Advocacy Circle” with monthly donations of $50, $40, $25 or whatever you can afford. Our goal is to raise $30,000! You can help with your gift, which is tax-deductible, and you can conveniently give by visiting our website and donating in the upper right hand corner. http://ripatients.org/Donate/ Happy Holiday Season to all! Sincerely, Stephen Hogan Jr. & Jesse Stout
In The Trenches

Press Release: National Boards of Pharmacy Conference Focuses on Medical Marijuana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 3, 2009 CONTACT: ASA Media Liaison Kris Hermes at 510-681-6361 National Boards of Pharmacy Conference Focuses on Medical Marijuana Advocacy Group Presents on Medical Marijuana Alongside AMA & Other Health Experts Tucson, AZ -- As pharmacists and drug regulators from across the country convene in Tucson this week for their Winter symposium, they will be discussing medical marijuana, an issue which is headlining the agenda. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) opens its symposium on Thursday with several presentations on medical marijuana by an array of speakers and experts, including Caren Woodson, Government Affairs Director with Americans for Safe Access, the country's largest advocacy organization focused on the issue. "We welcome the interest in medical marijuana by the Boards of Pharmacy and want to work with them to address this public health issue," said Woodson. "State Boards of Pharmacy can have an impact on medical marijuana and we want to work with them to adopt sensible policies." The Oregon Board of Pharmacy has been ordered to remove marijuana from its state list of Schedule I drugs, per legislation signed by Governor Kulongoski in August. In addition, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy is currently considering rescheduling marijuana as a result of litigation. Woodson will co-present on a panel Thursday morning with Barry D. Dickinson, the Director of Science & Biotechnology for the American Medical Association, and Alice Mead, the Director of U.S. Public Relations for GW Pharmaceuticals, a U.K. company conducting clinical trials for a medical marijuana extract. The panel is entitled, "Should Marijuana be a Medical Option?" Later, Woodson will take part in a point-counterpoint on medical marijuana with Dickinson, Mead and other experts, including Andrea Barthwell, former deputy director for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy and other marijuana researchers. The NABP symposium will be attended by Boards of Pharmacy executive officers, members, and other state and federal regulators as well as stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry. Both the California Attorney General's office and the California Department of Public Health are sending representatives to the symposium. Attendees will be able to earn continuing pharmacy education credit for their participation in medical marijuana panels. The mission of the NABP is to assist its member boards in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health. The State Boards of Pharmacy oversee the classification of controlled substances, such as marijuana, at the state level, similar to the way that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) oversee the federal classification of controlled substances. While state controlled substance lists routinely match the federal list, the State Boards of Pharmacy can change the classification of particular drugs independent of the federal government. The NABP symposium follows a report on medical marijuana issued last month by the American Medical Association, in which the oldest and largest physician-based group in the U.S. urged the federal government to review the Schedule I status for marijuana. The AMA noted that marijuana appeared to be efficacious for several health conditions and said that further research was needed to assess whether marijuana should continue to be considered a dangerous drug with no medical value. Further Information: The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy 2009 Symposium Schedule: http://www.nabp.net/whatsnew/meetings/2009symposium/ ASA National Policy Platform: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/ASA_Natl_Policy_Agenda_09-11.pdf # # #
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His Honor

At eight a.m. the show begins; The bailiff calls, "All rise!" In walks the dog-and-pony star, Wearing his disguise. All dressed up in his robes of black, He takes the stage alone;
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Latin America: Mexico Drug War Update

Three years ago this month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon sicced the military on the so-called drug cartels. Three years later, the drugs keep flowing north, the cash and guns keep flowing south, and more than 16,000 people have been killed. Here's the latest.
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Not Guilty: How Juries Can Destroy the War on Drugs

A seldom-discussed but significant weak link in the drug war infrastructure is the ability of any defendant to have their fate decided by a jury. Although the threat of draconian sentences leads the vast majority to plead out and accept an agreed-upon punishment, those who choose to fight it out before a jury of their peers have an opportunity to escape the drug war's icy death-grip. It's a high-risk/high-reward strategy that could become more effective as public support for the war on drugs continues to decline.

A not guilty verdict in San Diego this week highlights the difficulty of securing convictions against medical marijuana providers:

SAN DIEGO COURTS — A Navy veteran who was the manager of a medical marijuana dispensary was acquitted of five charges of possessing and selling the drug illegally yesterday, a verdict that emboldened medical marijuana activists and was a setback for San Diego prosecutors who have aggressively pursued medical marijuana cases. [San Diego Union Tribune]

Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the acquittal of an accused street dealer shows how aggressive drug war tactics have eroded public trust in police:

Only two witnesses testified at the two-day trial – Correa [the arresting officer] and a crime lab technician who tested the drugs and concluded they were indeed heroin and cocaine. Defense attorney Marie Sennett told jurors in her opening statement that the case rested solely "on the word of the officer."

And, Sennett added, "Unfortunately, that's not enough."

The jury agreed and acquitted Walker-Bey on all charges of possessing drugs and possessing drugs with intent to distribute. [Baltimore Sun]

In a climate of increased public skepticism surrounding the efficacy of the war on drugs and the fairness of the criminal justice system, outcomes like these will hopefully become more commonplace. When the jury refuses to play along, even the virtually unchecked prosecutorial powers that have done so much to fill our prisons with drug offenders can be overcome. There's no reliable formula for spotting jurors who might be reluctant to convict in a drug case, and it only takes one to complicate the process dramatically. Provided they don't, for example, write a blog about legalizing drugs, getting on a jury can be as simple as dressing appropriately and affirming their willingness to uphold the law.

The power of juries to reshape the drug war landscape can already be seen in California, where prosecutors learned years ago that medical marijuana cases aren't nearly as open and shut as federal law would suggest. The Ed Rosenthal saga, in which the jury revolted after the verdict and got the conviction thrown out, gave federal prosecutors an early taste of what lay ahead if they tried to win the war on medical marijuana in the courtroom.

Such events go a long way towards explaining why DEA agents so often raided dispensaries and confiscated profits, while declining to press charges against anyone. Every medical marijuana trial is a guaranteed public relations nightmare and there's no upside if you can't even count on a conviction. I've long suspected that the threat of uncooperative juries may in fact have been the most significant factor in enabling California's medical marijuana industry to survive and expand during the Bush Administration. With little confidence in their ability to make an example of anybody, the Feds just broke stuff instead, while leaving the industry almost completely intact.

With marijuana legalization now rapidly approaching majority support among the American public, it just seems inevitable that prosecutors will have a harder time getting groups of 12 random people to send someone to jail for marijuana. And if that happens, even a little, the implications are far-reaching. The criminal justice system is pathetically dependent on plea-bargaining in drug cases, and would grind to a halt rather quickly if more defendants insisted on taking their case to trial.

I'm beginning to fantasize here, obviously, but I do think it's important to start looking at some of the ways in which growing public support for our cause can manifest itself in contexts besides just the ballot box. The drug war is vulnerable on all fronts and the harder we work to expose and exploit its countless weakness, the more efficient and decisive our victory will be.

For more on the rights of jurors, visit the Fully Informed Jury Association.
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Weekly: Blogging @ the Speakeasy

"Proof that the Drug War Sucks: Mexico," "Why Legalizing Marijuana Will Reduce Violent Crime," "BBC News Says Hash is Safer Than Marijuana," "Study Shows Marijuana Reduces Other Drug Use," "Attorney General Promises Aggressive Marijuana Enforcement," "Deputy Drug Czar Asks: Why is Everyone Talking About Legalizing Marijuana?"
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Law Enforcement: Utah "Meth Cops" Lose Out on Health Claims

Police in Utah who cleaned up meth labs in the 1980s and 1990s have filed dozens of workers compensation claims asserting exposure to the caustic chemicals caused a variety of physical ailments. Now, those claims are being dismissed for lack of evidence.