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Policial: Las historias de policías corruptos de esta semana

Un policía granuja de Boston es preso, un policía mano larga de Indianápolis responde ante la Justicia y el juicio de dos prisioneros de Maryland acusados de matar a un agente penitenciario echa luz sobre la corrupción en la ahora cerrada Casa de Corrección.
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Mark Souder Accidentally Assists Marijuana Decrim Efforts in New Hampshire

The NH House of Representatives just passed a marijuana decriminalization bill and it looks like drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) inadvertently played a potent role in pushing the reforms through.

Coverage from the Associated Press indicates that the obscenely harsh aid elimination penalty of the Higher Education Act, which Souder authored, played a part in persuading NH legislators to put pot policy in perspective:
Supporters argued current law costs youths who experiment with the drug all chances at receiving financial aid to attend college. They said it wasn't fair to penalize them for life for a youthful mistake.

Windham Republican Jason Bedrick said he doesn't advocate using marijuana, but that wasn't the issue.

"The question is whether a teenager making a stupid decision should face a year in prison and loss of all funding for college," said Bedrick.

Bedrick called the state's penalties "overly harsh."

"What societal interest is served by giving them a record for life?" he said. Instead of harsh penalties, society should emphasize education, he said.
Souder's brainless attempt to fight drug use by keeping students out of school has already galvanized the reform movement, inspiring the formation of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and uniting the largest coalition of public interest groups ever to oppose a federal drug law.

Souder's heartless and counterproductive law has become emblematic of the drug war's tendency to throw the baby out with bathwater, destroying young lives in the name of protecting youth. It has opened doors to the reform movement by confirming our worst stereotypes of blind drug war demagoguery and motivating public health, education, and treatment organizations to join our ranks in calling for a return to sanity.

Today his law was used effectively in a state legislature as an argument for reforming marijuana laws. Whether or not the bill passes the senate and becomes law remains to be seen, but a lesson has been learned nonetheless: the drug warriors' own cruelty has become our most viable weapon in the fight for reform. We will always gain more ground arguing that the law is harmful than by claiming the drug is safe.

Finally, before celebrating Mark Souder's gift to the reform movement, let's not forget that 200,000 students paid a terrible price so that we can now more vividly depict the fury and callousness of our drug war leaders.
Event

National STOPMAX Campaign Conference

We are organizing to abolish solitary confinement and torture in U.S. prisons! We Need You!! We are calling on families, formerly imprisoned people, youth groups, community activists, civic leaders, lawyers, researchers, mental health professionals and concerned citizens to attend this 3-day grassroots organizing event.
In The Trenches

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Testify TODAY at Taxpayers' Hearing in Sacramento

[Courtesy of ASA] For Immediate Release: March 18, 2008 Contact: ASA Media Liaison Kris Hermes (510) 681-6361 or, in Sacramento, ASA California Director Don Duncan (323) 326-6347 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Testify Today at Taxpayers' Hearing in Sacramento Patients and their providers pay more than $100 million in sales tax annually Sacramento, CA -- More than a half-dozen medical marijuana dispensary operators from across the state will testify today at 1:30pm before the State Board of Equalization (BOE) at its Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Hearing. Dispensary operators from southern and northern California, joined by medical marijuana advocates, will be in Sacramento to discuss their significant contribution of $100 million in annual sales tax revenue to an ailing state budget. While sales tax on medical marijuana clearly benefits the fiscal health of the state, that funding is threatened by increased interference from the federal government. What: Medical marijuana dispensary operators and advocates testify at the Board of Equalization's Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Hearing When: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 1:30pm Where: Hearing Room 121 at the BOE, 450 N Street in Sacramento Why: Medical marijuana annual sales tax revenue of $100 million is threatened by continued federal interference Who: Testimony will be heard from dispensary operators in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz "Medical marijuana dispensaries are doing their best to comply with state law," said Kris Hermes, spokesperson for Americans for Safe Access (ASA), one of the advocacy groups testifying today. "One hundred million dollars annually in sales tax revenue is not small change," continued Hermes. "However, by continuing to shut these facilities down, the federal government deprives the state of this money at a time of fiscal crisis." According to recent estimations by multiple advocacy groups, California's hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries contribute to the state budget at least $100 million annually in sales tax revenue. The State of California began collecting sales tax revenue from medical marijuana dispensaries in October 2005, after a policy decision that year by the BOE. However, the same facilities that are expected to comply with this policy are currently under attack by the federal government. Enforcement tactics by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have had a devastating impact on dispensaries in California. In 2007 alone, the DEA raided more than 50 medical marijuana dispensaries in at least 10 different counties across the state. Also, in 2007, the DEA launched a new tactic in its attempts to undermine state law by disseminating more than 300 letters to landlords of dispensaries, threatening the property owners with criminal prosecution and asset seizure if they continued to lease to dispensaries. "The sales tax collected by medical marijuana dispensaries in one year could fund the construction of two large schools or 2,000 elementary and high school teachers," said ASA Chief of Staff Rebecca Saltzman. "By robbing California of this much needed revenue, the federal government is not only harming thousands of patients that rely on this medicine, it is also impeding the state's ability to fund critical aspects of its infrastructure." The federal government's efforts to undermine California's medical marijuana law have not gone unnoticed by local and state lawmakers. Letters from concerned local officials in 2007 prompted U.S. House Judiciary Chair John Conyers to issue a statement in December expressing his deep concern and calling for DEA oversight hearings. Since then, Mayors from Oakland and Santa Cruz, as well as the Berkeley City Council and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, have all registered their opposition to federal enforcement against medical marijuana. In addition, State Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) introduced SJR 20 earlier this year, calling for an end to federal interference and urging Congress and the President to establish policy consistent with the compassionate use laws of California. Most recently, in February, former BOE Chair Betty Yee co-authored an opinion piece with Senator Migden harshly criticizing DEA tactics in California, emphasizing the harm to both patients and the state. Further information: ASA Fact Sheet on Sales Tax: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/sales_tax_fact_sheet.pdf Copy of State Senate Joint Resolution 20, calling for an end to DEA interference: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/SJR_20.pdf BOE notice sent to dispensaries in 2007 alerting them to the new sales tax policy: http://www.boe.ca.gov/news/pdf/medseller2007.pdf Opinion piece by Betty Yee & Carole Migden: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/15/ED0UV1RNP.DTL
In The Trenches

March 19, 2008: Dr. Mollie Fry to be Sentenced for Medical Marijuana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2008 CONTACT: Bobby Eisenberg, FRY/SCHAFER Defense Committee at [email protected] or 530-823-9963 California Dr. Mollie Fry to be Sentenced for Medical Marijuana Sentencing scheduled for Wednesday, March 19th at 2pm in Sacramento Federal Court. The federal sentencing of medical marijuana defendants Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband, Attorney Dale Schafer will take place on Wednesday, March 19th at the US courthouse in Sacramento (5th and I St.). The sentencing is at 2 PM. There will be a press conference before the hearing at 1PM in front of the Court House. The couple was denied the right to defend their actions that were protected under the Laws of the State of California. WHO: Sentencing in Federal Court of Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband, Attorney Dale Schafer for cultivation and dispensing medical marijuana under the Laws of California. WHAT: Press Conference prior to sentencing at 1 PM WHEN: Sentencing is Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 2 PM WHERE: Federal Court House, 501 "I " St., Sacramento, CA "We never would have grown marijuana had it not been sanctioned by the Laws of the State of California, the Attorney General of California and the District Attorney and Sheriffs’ of El Dorado County. Why aren’t they being charged with conspiracy to violate Federal Law?" asks Dr. Fry. Dr. Fry and her husband face a likely 5-year mandatory minimum sentence for conspiracy to cultivate and dispense medical marijuana for a small number of Dr. Fry’s patients. They ran (and continue to run) a popular medical marijuana clinic in El Dorado County that provides recommendations for many needy patients in the Sierra Foothills: http://www.docfry.com. Go to articles link for background. Like other federal defendants, they were denied the right to mention medical marijuana or Prop 215 in their trial. Both are in fragile health - Dale has hemophilia and suffers from chronic back pain, and Mollie is a breast cancer survivor. They are currently caring for three beautiful children and two grandchildren in their home. They were among the first medical marijuana providers raided by the Bush Administration, just a couple of weeks after 9/11 (9/28/01), but were not successfully indicted until June 22nd, 2005 after the Raich decision was overturned by the Supreme Court. Dale Schafer had also run for District Attorney in 2001. The sentence they face is particularly egregious compared to other defendants who have grown far more marijuana. They are liable to a five-year mandatory minimum because they were convicted of growing 100 plants over a period of three years, a number far smaller than is usually prosecuted by federal authorities. The jury was forced to add three different years worth of gardens to come up with the 100-plant count. They were not allowed to mention at their trial that local law enforcement had (deliberately) entrapped them by telling them it was OK to grow their relatively modest garden or that they had received advice of counsel supporting their right to grow and care for others under the Law in California. The Attorney General, Bill Lockyer, the District Attorney and the Sheriff in El Dorado County were all aware of and supportive of Dr. Fry and Schafer’s activities, but the jury was also denied these truths. Fry and Schafer’s case aptly exemplifies the kind of DEA enforcement abuses bill SJR 20 condemns. Patients and medical marijuana rights supporters are welcome to attend.
Event

1st Global Conference on Methamphetamine: Science, Strategy and Response

The main conference events will be held at Prague's historic Charles University. The primary objective of the conference is to bring together scientists, world leaders and professionals to discuss the intersection between methamphetamine use, public health, law enforcement and civil society.
Blog

Internet Users Take a Swing at Anti-drug PSAs

EDITOR'S NOTE: Amanda Brooke Shaffer is an intern at StoptheDrugWar.org. Her bio is in our "staff" section at http://stopthedrugwar.org/about/staff Is the American public getting tired of government lies and exaggerations about drugs? If the ballooning number of anti-drug parodies on the Internet is any measure, it sure seems so. The emergence of YouTube.com and other popular video websites has enabled and emboldened Internet users to express their opinions about the often criticized, government-sponsored anti-drug PSAs through video clips and commentary. The public is busy at work making innovative and bold statements. I attempted to view as many anti-drug parody ads as possible; however, I didn’t expect the search engine on YouTube.com to turn up such a high volume of videos. It soon became quite obvious that the trend of the parody ads is to expose the ridiculousness of the claims made in the anti-drug PSAs. The clip that follows is an anti-drug PSA sponsored by the government. The second is the parody of it produced by an Internet user. http://youtube.com/watch?v=jgJdVEoVbgg, http://youtube.com/watch?v=m6FL0pmJeaE&feature=related Clearly the second clip flat out mocks the first one by completely contradicting the message the government is portraying. Below each video clip is space for viewers to comment. One of the numerous remarks about these two ads resembled something like this, “If I smoke then my dog will talk to me??? Puff, Puff, Pass!” This was just the tip of the iceberg of what users had to say. A study was done on a variety of ads including the above mentioned “dog” ad to determine the effects on the youth of America. Guess what? The results showed an increase of marijuana use in girls aged 12-13 through making drug use by peers appear to be more familiar and acceptable. See: http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/02/12-billion-later-national-youth-anti.html and http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06818.pdf and http://www.nida.nih.gov/DESPR/Westat/Westat502/ExecSummary502.html Why are we spending our dwindling tax resources on commercials that send the wrong message to their target audience? The anti-drug media campaign creates artistic and abstract ads that are unrealistic, when all Americans really need, and want to see, are commercials that tell them the truth. Another approach the campaign employs is using upbeat and positive messages to attempt to deter youths from using drugs. It is known as “What’s Your Anti-Drug?” This parody clip (http://youtube.com/watch?v=eDXxA0hMo1I) twists the government’s message to expose the fallacy of the marijuana as a “gateway” to harder drugs myth through the line, “Weed is my anti-drug.” It seems that no matter how hard the government works to embed the gateway myth into the public consciousness, those pesky studies that disprove a causal link to using harder drugs keep informing the public of the truth. Many clips I viewed expressed the notion that weed prevented them from using other drugs by satisfying their desires and curiosities. I felt one parody rose above the rest. Not only was it the most viewed parody anti-drug ad I came across, but it had me and all my friends rolling on the floor with laughter. It is an ad featuring our Commander in Chief, President Bush. Bush, known for his binge drinking and cocaine use by a large majority of Americans, is an ideal person to exemplify the long-term consequences of drug abuse. This ad has the right stuff -- a notable figure and a realistic message that is powerful and clear to the viewer. Check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eGgTLMC9GXg. I think it is quite obvious why Americans are taking precious time out of their daily lives to speak out. Simply put, the extremely expensive anti-drug media campaign employed by the government over the last two decades is laughable, and government-funded research continues to conclude that these ads are ineffective at preventing and reducing drug use among youths. Yet, despite the increasing mounds of evidence proving the campaign’s ineffectiveness, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) disputes the critical conclusions of these studies and has the audacity to ask the government for even more money. The good thing is that the ease of accessing these reports, thanks to the Internet, is making it progressively harder for ONDCP to ignore the facts and hide them from the American people. You see, the D.A.R.E. generation has had enough of the lies and distortions, and it’s fighting back with truth and sense.
Event

Free Workshop to Become a Mentor to Imprisoned Artists

Attend a free workshop to become a mentor to imprisoned artists. Learn what it takes to work in a jail or prison to foster artistic development among inmates. You'll receive information and insights from experienced correctional officials as well as accomplished ex-prisoner artists.
In The Trenches

Marijuana Policy Project: Are you planning to visit New York this spring?

[Courtesy of MPP]

You’re invited to an exciting evening with the Marijuana Policy Project at the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan on May 14.

MPP Medical Marijuana Benefit
Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, New York City
Wednesday, May 14, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Please consider joining us for a night of comedy and music to celebrate MPP’s recent successes on the path to passing medical marijuana legislation in New York state (and other parts of the country).

The event will feature a performance by folk-rock band Nicole Atkins & The Sea, as well as special appearances by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Michelle Phillips and medical marijuana advocate Montel Williams. We’ll also honor Joel Peacock, a patient advocate from Buffalo who suffers from chronic pain resulting from a 2001 car accident.

Proceeds from the event will be used to change the law to remove criminal penalties for medical marijuana. If the New York bill passes in the next few months, New York would become the 13th medical marijuana state in the country.

Last year, the New York Assembly passed the bill by a 95-52 vote, marking the first time that such a bill has received a vote on the floor of either chamber of the New York Legislature. Plus, more than 1,000 doctors in New York have spoken out in support of medical marijuana, in addition to the Albany, Buffalo, and New York city councils and most medical organizations in the state.

The New York legislation is at the brink of victory — and the prospects for some of MPP’s other bills look good in California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Please join us and be a part of the tipping point that brings about these momentous changes!

Please don’t wait long to buy your tickets, since space is limited.

I look forward to seeing you on May 14 in New York City.

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2008. This means that your ticket purchase today will be doubled.

In The Trenches

You can raise funds as a Prison Art Gallery partner, and you will be risking nothing

[Courtesy of Prison Art Gallery] If you have been to our Prison Art Gallery in the nation's capital, or at one of our events across America, you know that we sell a lot of prison art prints to people who are attracted to fine art with an interesting story, and at a very reasonable price. Thanks to the generosity of our printer and matting supplier, we can now make these gorgeous prints available to you for your fundraising needs at a very low price. Best of all, you risk nothing since whatever you get from us is 100% returnable. Here are the details. Our Prison Art print series now consists of 51 beautiful and beautifully matted numbered art prints created by imprisoned male and female artists in every region of the nation. (Their location and bio are on the back of each piece.) These art pieces have been hand-matted by our in-house framing staff for a terrific appearance and outstanding durability (including being placed in resealable poly enclosures that make them look like they're encased in thin glass). The prints are 11 by 17", with a final matted size of 16 by 20". You can see all of them on page three of our Art for Justice March 2008 catalog at http://prisonsfoundation.org/marafj.pdf. Now for the best part of all. Thanks to the generosity of our printer and matting supply company, we can offer these matted prints to you wholesale for only $7 each! At our gallery and our events we sell them for $15 to $20 each, and can't keep enough in stock. People know they're getting a real bargain since numbered and matted prints of this quality usually sell for $50 or more. We invite you to order these numbered matted prints today for your fundraising needs? Use them at special events or offer them regularly as part of your ongoing fundraising. Remember, your cost is only $7 each, and you can return any unsold pieces to us for a full refund. In addition to the money you will earn, you will have beautiful and interesting art to attract new supporters, and bring back old ones. We are making this offer to both nonprofit organizations and businesses because we want to raise public consciousness about the talent and humanity of men and women behind bars. Why not be part of this innovative arts program while enjoying a significant new stream of income? For further information, please call 202-393-1511 or email [email protected].
Event
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