Release's Drugs, Race & Discrimination Conference
Releaseâs annual conference this year takes the important step of focusing the industry on the complex and damaging practice of routine prejudice in health services.
Jurors Fight Back Against the War on Medical Marijuana
Further proof that railroading medical marijuana defendants in federal court has consequences:
Jurors Craig Will of Twain Hart and Larry Silva of Tollhouse say they wouldn't have found the men guilty had they known the penalty was 20 years to life in prison.
They said a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about medical marijuana led them to believe the crimes weren't that serious.
Ricardo Ruiz Montes and Luke Scarmazzo are scheduled for sentencing Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Fresno. Their attorneys also will argue a motion for a new trial. [San Francisco Chronicle]
It is just an inescapable reality that these medical marijuana show trials infuriate jurors and provoke bad press. After suffering multiple humiliations in their years-long crusade against Ed Rosenthal, youâd think federal prosecutors would have cut this charade out already:
5 years after his arrest, Rosenthal was given a 1-day sentence, time served. Thatâs what happens when federal prosecutors turn the law into a political weapon, perverting justice to the point that they themselves become the enemy in the eyes of the jury. First Rosenthalâs jurors lobbied for leniency, until one eventually confessed to misconduct and provoked a retrial.
Thatâs what you get when the drug war divorces itself from public morality. The American people donât believe in criminalizing medical marijuana providers and they cannot be counted upon to cooperate cheerfully with political prosecutions. If anyoneâs been wondering why the DEA doesnât go ahead and try to take down every dispensary in California, well, now you know.
Jurors Craig Will of Twain Hart and Larry Silva of Tollhouse say they wouldn't have found the men guilty had they known the penalty was 20 years to life in prison.
They said a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about medical marijuana led them to believe the crimes weren't that serious.
Ricardo Ruiz Montes and Luke Scarmazzo are scheduled for sentencing Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Fresno. Their attorneys also will argue a motion for a new trial. [San Francisco Chronicle]
It is just an inescapable reality that these medical marijuana show trials infuriate jurors and provoke bad press. After suffering multiple humiliations in their years-long crusade against Ed Rosenthal, youâd think federal prosecutors would have cut this charade out already:
Rosenthal was convicted of violating federal drug laws, but seven of the 12 jurors said afterward that their verdict would have been different if they had been allowed to consider evidence about the medical use of the marijuana and Rosenthal's status as an agent in the Oakland program. They requested leniency for Rosenthal.
â¦
Last April [2006], the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said in a 3-0 ruling that Rosenthal was entitled to a new trial because one of the jurors improperly sought outside advice about the case. [San Francisco Chronicle]
5 years after his arrest, Rosenthal was given a 1-day sentence, time served. Thatâs what happens when federal prosecutors turn the law into a political weapon, perverting justice to the point that they themselves become the enemy in the eyes of the jury. First Rosenthalâs jurors lobbied for leniency, until one eventually confessed to misconduct and provoked a retrial.
Thatâs what you get when the drug war divorces itself from public morality. The American people donât believe in criminalizing medical marijuana providers and they cannot be counted upon to cooperate cheerfully with political prosecutions. If anyoneâs been wondering why the DEA doesnât go ahead and try to take down every dispensary in California, well, now you know.
Smoke a Joint, Get Your Boss Fired
Yikes, it looks like marijuana hysteria in Japan has nearly ruined the sport of sumo wrestling:
Iâve never understood why anyone cares if athletes use marijuana. If youâre concerned about the message it sends, then tell âem you wonât test for it as long as they stay off the cover of High Times. Why create opportunities for your athletes to embarrass you? Just donât test them; itâs that easy. And if they get caught with it, just be glad it wasnât crack.
Yet in Japan, pot is apparently such a big frickinâ deal that the head of the whole Sumo organization has resigned in shame because a couple wrestlers got stoned. If only the Drug Czar would resign in shame the next time a cop gets high.
Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, head of the Japan Sumo Association and former sumo star of the 1970s, stepped down after two wrestlers were accused of smoking marijuana only weeks after a third was sacked for possession of the same drug. [Telegraph]
Iâve never understood why anyone cares if athletes use marijuana. If youâre concerned about the message it sends, then tell âem you wonât test for it as long as they stay off the cover of High Times. Why create opportunities for your athletes to embarrass you? Just donât test them; itâs that easy. And if they get caught with it, just be glad it wasnât crack.
Yet in Japan, pot is apparently such a big frickinâ deal that the head of the whole Sumo organization has resigned in shame because a couple wrestlers got stoned. If only the Drug Czar would resign in shame the next time a cop gets high.
If the Drug War Makes Sense to You, Nothing Else Will
Terrorism blogger Douglas Farah doesnât understand why South American nations arenât more excited about cooperating with the U.S. war on drugs:
Really? I know a lot of people have trouble with this, but itâs not that complicated. Widespread "corruption, violence and social disintegration" are caused by the war on drugs. Nothing could be more obvious to those living on the front lines of the drug war battlefield. There was no problem until we showed up. They probably assume there will be no problem once we leave. I donât blame them.
So, after 30 years, on a political level there is no consensus that combatting drug trafficking is in the interest of most nations. Given the level of corruption, violence and social disintegration the criminal activities inevitably bring, such a conclusion by national leaders (backed, it seems, by the large majority of the population) is not easily understood.
Really? I know a lot of people have trouble with this, but itâs not that complicated. Widespread "corruption, violence and social disintegration" are caused by the war on drugs. Nothing could be more obvious to those living on the front lines of the drug war battlefield. There was no problem until we showed up. They probably assume there will be no problem once we leave. I donât blame them.