Arrests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 14, 2009 CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or [email protected] ONE DRUG ARREST EVERY 18 SECONDS IN THE U.S. NEW FBI NUMBERS SHOW FAILURE OF "WAR ON DRUGS" WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A group of police and judges who want to legalize drugs pointed to new FBI numbers released today as evidence that the "war on drugs" is a failure that can never be won. The data, from the FBI's "Crime in the United States" report, shows that in 2008 there were 1,702,537 arrests for drug law violations, or one drug arrest every 18 seconds. "In our current economic climate, we simply cannot afford to keep arresting more than three people every minute in the failed 'war on drugs,'" said Jack Cole, a retired undercover narcotics detective who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). "Plus, if we legalized and taxed drug sales, we could actually create new revenue in addition to the money we'd save from ending the cruel policy of arresting users." Last December, LEAP commissioned a report by a Harvard University economist which found that legalizing and regulating drugs would inject $77 billion a year into the struggling U.S. economy. Today's FBI report, which can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/arrests/index.html, shows that 82.3 percent of all drug arrests in 2008 were for possession only, and 44.3 percent of drug arrests were for possession of marijuana. Pointing to the collateral consequences that often follow drug arrests, LEAP's Cole continued, "You can get get over an addiction, but you will never get over a conviction." Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a 13,000-member organization representing cops, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens and others who now want to legalize and regulate all drugs after witnessing horrors and injustices fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs." More info online at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com. # # #

[Courtesy of Christine Beems] Michael C. Kelley, age 63 Vietnam Navy Vet of Shirley, Arkansas, has been held hostage since May 9 as a political prisoner of the drug war. Resultant of publicly speaking out against law enforcement’s reliance on untrustworthy, untrained and often vendetta driven ‘confidential informants’, other lies being perpetrated upon the public by ‘drug war’ propaganda and the repeated violations of the law by our county sheriff’s office in serious fiduciary matters, Kelley is now confined to Pulaski County Jail, Little Rock, Arkansas, on trumped-up charges designed to impugn his character and slander his motives. Factual matters about all of this are documented at http://www.gozarks.com/thecommittee To sign a petition endorsing "Free Mike Kelley Now," please visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-mike-kelley-now For more information, contact: Christine Beems, 223 Primrose Lane, Shirley, AR 72153, [email protected]

[Courtesy of EURODRUG] Dear friends, In the past days, there has been an escalation of repression by Italian police and justice authorities against cannabis growers and members of the anti-prohibitionist movement. Several people have been arrested for minor plantations, and one of them, Mr. Aldo Bianzino of Umbria, has died in prison under circumstances that could suggest he was tortured to death. These operations take place on the bases of the Law Fini-Giovanardi, which has been adopted by the previous Berlusconi government. The current centre-left coalition had promised to modify it, but has not done so yet. We have written an open letter to Italian authorities calling for an end to this escalation and a thorough investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Bianzino's death. This letter can be signed and sent from http://www.encod.org/info/LETTER-TO-ITALIAN-AUTHORITIES.html In Italian from http://www.encod.org/info/ALDO-BIANZINO-LETTERA-ALLE.html Please join this action and ask others to do so as well.... Best wishes, Joep

For Immediate Release: May 16, 2007 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, [email protected] & Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, [email protected] *Greens call for realistic debate in the 2008 Presidential race on the War on Drugs *Democratic and Republican politicians are ignoring the human and economic devastation caused by failed drug policies, unjust laws, and targeting of young people, the poor, and African Americans and Latinos, say Green Party leaders WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called for a national discussion on how the US's 'war on drugs' has turned into a war on young people, the poor, and African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color. "The human and economic devastation caused by the war on drugs is missing from the range of debate among both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Politicians from these parties, when asked about drug policies, prefer to posture about law and order and endorse failed measures. These politicians don't realize that going along to get along makes one complicit said Cliff Thornton, Green candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2006 and co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. , which promotes major reforms in drug policy. Greens cited a study by the American Civil Liberties Union ("Cracks in the System: Twenty Years of Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law," October 2006, ), 37% of people arrested, 59% of people convicted, and 74% of those sent to prison are African American, even though only 15% of drug users are African American. The Associated Press has reported that "a record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department.... From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth." In state prisons, 260,000 people were serving sentences on nonviolent drug charges in 2005, of whom more than 70% were African American or Latino . The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that nearly one in eight drug prisoners (45,000 Americans) are behind bars for marijuana-related offenses. Green leaders also strongly criticized the punitive denial of financial aid to students with drug convictions, and supported Students for a Sensible Drug Policy in their effort to persuade Congress to reinstate such aid. "The war on drugs is an excuse to ignore the US Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, with long prison sentences for minor and nonviolent offenses. The drug war is meant to be waged, not won," added Mr. Thornton. "This is in part a result of pressure on elected officials from the private prison industry lobby, which seeks to build new prisons and fill up cells in order to win government giveaways and increase corporate profits. The Green Party calls for a public debate that challenges the rhetoric of Democratic and Republican politicians who are under influence of these companies, and that recognizes how the war on drugs has only resulted in more crime and violence." "We need to stop spending $50 billion a year on the drug war, and use that money for treatment. We need to repeal mandatory sentencing laws, which override judges' discretion in determining prison time, and 'three strikes' laws that send people -- mostly the poor and people of color -- away for life on nonviolent and minor felonies," said Kevin Zeese, 2006 candidate for the US Senate candidate in Maryland and president of Common Sense for Drug Policy . The Green Party's national platform endorses decriminalization of victimless crimes, such as the possession of small amounts of marijuana; an end to the war on drugs; expanded drug counseling and treatment; and an end to arrest of 'medical marijuana' arrests and prosecution. "Law enforcement should focus efforts on organized crime, including the laundering of drug money at banks, rather than on street-level drug trade, in which kids who get arrested -- or killed -- are quickly replaced," said Nan Garrett, Co-Chair of the National Women's Caucus of the Green Party and 2002 candidate for Governor of Georgia. "Addictive use should be treated as a medical and social problem. Locking up addicts in stressed prison environments, with minimal effort to address the addiction itself, and then freeing them to go back into the same circumstances that led to their abuse of drugs has only aggravated the problem of addiction. Greens endorse rational solutions to the problems of drug abuse that are based on science and health, compassion for addicts and their families, reduction of harm rather than moral judgment, and respect for basic civil liberties and principles of justice."

(More from Dr. Bronner's on the infamous "soap bust.") FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Adam Eidinger May 7, 2007 Drug Test Kit Ideal for Testing Soap but Not Drugs New Video Proves NarcoPouch® 928 Tests Positive on Various Natural Soaps and Negative on "Fake" Soap Based on Detergent Formulations ESCONDIDO, CA – The Bronner family, makers of the popular organic Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps have released a new video of NarcoPouch® 928 field drug tests of its soaps and other brands. The results prove that the test kit which was used to jail Don Bolles, drummer for the legendary punk band The Germs on April 4, will always give a false-positive for the drug GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate) if used on any true natural soap. However, in an interesting twist, the test will test negative for fake mislabeled "liquid soap" products that are actually detergent-based, not soap. The new video features David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, using the NarcoPouch® 928 on a wide variety of common natural soaps as well as detergent based fake "soap" products. The video can be viewed at http://www.drbronner.com/soap_test.html. "Our testing shows that real soaps which are made using the ecological time-honored process of saponification of vegetable oil will always test positive for GHB, while complicated synthetic detergent-based so-called 'liquid soaps' test negative," said David Bronner. "The NarcoPouch® 928 is a great test for determining if a product labeled 'Soap' actually contains real soap or not. It's ironic that the flawed GHB field test used by cops shows in a graphic immediate way true versus fake soaps. Fortunately for Don Bolles, the much more accurate confirmation drug-testing by the Orange County crime lab proved our soap did not contain the drug GHB." Detergents in fake soap products are usually made in part or even entirely from petroleum along with vegetable feedstocks. For instance, Sodium Myreth Sulfate, the main ingredient in JASON's so-called "Pure, Natural, & Organic Soap" is made by attaching ethylene oxide groups from petroleum to vegetable fatty acid, which also produces trace 1,4 dioxane as a side reaction. Olefin Sulfonate, the main ingredient in both Nature's Gate ORGANICS "Soap" and Kiss My Face ObsessivelyOrganic "Soap", is made entirely from petroleum. Cocamidopropyl Sultaine, the main ingredient in EO's so-called soap, is in significant part petroleum-based. Bronner laments: "Companies mislead consumers in conflating their detergent-based products with ecological biodegradable soaps, even calling these synthetic detergent products 'organic'. Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps are real soaps made from real organic oils, while these other so-called 'Soap' products are detergents made from petroleum and conventional vegetable material. They are not soap, they are not organic, they are not natural." The crime lab confirmation test that exonerated Don Bolles and Dr. Bronner's soaps of GHB, uses the GC-MS method which is much more accurate than the field drug test kits used by the Newport Beach Police. "Police departments nationwide should immediately stop using the ODV, Inc. field test for GHB as it is not accurate when used on soaps and who knows what other common household products," said Bronner. ODV, Inc, maker of NarcoPouch® 928 Inc is a subsidiary of Armor Holdings, Inc. The company has done nothing to alert police departments about the false positives when used on natural soap. According to retired FBI agent and forensics expert Dr. Frederick Whitehurst, "There is no effort by the National Academies of Science to validate forensic science protocols and there are no national standards for presumptive field drug tests. I believe our freedoms are being infringed upon because of fake science." To arrange an interview with David Bronner or Don Bolles please contact Adam Eidinger. ###