Press Release

CONTACT: Jennifer Carnig, 212.607.3363 / [email protected]

NYCLU to School District: Mass Student Search Illegal, Humiliating & Invasive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 28, 2009 – The New York Civil Liberties Union has called on the Red Creek Central School District in upstate New York to publicly apologize to high school students subjected to illegal, humiliating and invasive searches by state police and school officials.

In a letter to Superintendent David Sholes, the NYCLU also urged the district to take steps to prevent invasive searches and protect students’ rights. Students subjected to the April 9 searches were passengers on a school bus parked outside of Red Creek High School. Every student was pulled off the bus and searched.

“This was one of the most humiliating moments of my life,” said 18-year-old graduating senior Stephanie Schultz, who is attending college in the fall. “My school taught me about the Constitution and about my rights, and then pushed them both aside and made me feel like my rights didn’t matter.”

Schultz and at least 17 other students on a Williamson BOCES school bus were removed from the bus in mixed gender pairs and ordered to the Red Creek High School principal’s office by a uniformed state trooper.  In the principal’s office, the students, male and female, were subjected to invasive searches in full view of each other.

Schultz was searched by a female librarian in front of three males – her principal, a police officer and a classmate. Though she asked that she be searched in a room without men, her request was denied. She cried as she was forced to roll down her waistband and expose part of her underwear and buttocks.

“The principal walked out because I was crying so much,” Schultz said. “I knew it wasn’t right what was happening, but there was nothing I could to. I felt helpless and humiliated.”

Nothing was found on the culinary arts student. In fact, the school district did not have suspicion that any of the students searched were engaged in any illegal activity at that time.

“Students must not be stripped of their rights and their dignity at the schoolhouse door,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “While drug abuse is a serious matter, it can be addressed without public humiliation. These students are now afraid of their teachers, they are afraid of the police, and they are afraid of what their classmates think of them. They deserve a public apology to ease these fears and restore their reputations.”

The male students were searched by Principal Noel Patterson as a state trooper watched. Female students were searched just a few feet away by a female school employee. Each student was ordered to remove their jacket, shoes and socks, and empty their pockets. Some students were “patted down,” others were asked to lift shirts and undershirts, and one student was asked to remove an outer pair of pants.

“This was humiliating, embarrassing, frustrating and a waste of my time,” said 18-year-old graduating senior and honor roll student Stephanie Forsythe. “Everyone saw me escorted by the police and thought I was arrested. I shouldn’t have had to go through that and I don’t want this to happen to my little siblings.”

According to the district, each student was subjected to a “waistband search,” which in some cases entailed turning down the waistband to reveal parts of their underwear, buttocks and pelvic area, in view of male and female school staff and the male state trooper. Backpacks, purses and other containers were also searched. At least one student was charged criminally and suspended for a year.

The NYCLU maintains that the searches violated the students’ rights under both the U.S. and New York State constitutions. The April 9 searches of the BOCES students were not based on individualized suspicion that any particular student was engaged in illegal behavior at the time of the search. Moreover, even if the school district had adequate ground for a search, the search that was conducted was far more intrusive and humiliating than is constitutionally permissible.

“Educators should know better than to do this to kids,” said Tim Cosser, whose 17-year-old son was searched. “I know they have to keep schools safe, but I don’t understand this. It’s not right. The district needs new guidelines that protect students’ rights.”

In light of the constitutional violations that occurred on April 9, the NYCLU urges the district to take the following steps:

·         Issue a public apology making clear to the community that the vast majority of the students on the bus were guilty of no wrongdoing and acknowledging the illegality of the searches.

·         Revise its policy on student searches to state that no reasonable search may be conducted without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing.  Individualized suspicion must be based on facts known to the official about the particular student that support a belief that a search will uncover evidence of a crime or violation.

·         Clarify and enhance its memorandum of understanding with the New York State Police with the goal of with the goal of creating clear guidelines for police and school officials that protects student rights.

·         Provide all school district employees who may be involved in student searches and interrogations annual training on students’ rights.

The district covers the towns of Butler and Wolcott in Wayne County and the village of Fair Haven and parts of Victory, Sterling and Conquest in Cayuga County.

To read the NYCLU’s full letter, visit http://www.nyclu.org/node/2411.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MAY 28, 2009   

Medical Marijuana Bill Quickly Passes House Health and Human Services Committee
Quick Approval Shows Surging Momentum

 

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS -- In a move whose speed took even supporters by surprise, the House Health and Human Services Committee approved the medical marijuana bill passed by the full Senate yesterday. The committee had approved the House version of the bill earlier in the year, but needed to ok the Senate version, which had received several amendments.

     "I am delighted by the way this legislation has continued to pick up momentum," said Dan Linn, Executive Director of the Illinois Cannabis Patients Association. "Illinois voters overwhelmingly want to protect patients who need medical marijuana, and both houses of the legislature are hearing that message loud and clear."

     Julie Falco of Chicago, who uses medical marijuana to relieve the painful symptoms of multiple sclerosis and who has been advocating for medical marijuana legislation since 2004, said, "I want to personally thank all the members of the committee for listening to the patients who need this medicine and understanding why we don't have time to wait. We don't want to be criminals for simply trying to cope with our illnesses, and I truly believe this will be the year we finally get some relief."

     Swift committee passage is seen as greatly increasing the chances that the full House will act on the measure before the end of the legislative session May 31.

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MAY 22, 2009

Medical Marijuana Supporters Vow to Keep Fighting After Veto

2010 Constitutional Amendment Likely

CONTACT: Former Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover)......................................................(763) 439-1178

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA -- Supporters of medical marijuana legislation declared their intention to continue the fight to protect patients despite Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of the bill tonight, raising the possibility of a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot.

     Before passing the legislation, the House amended it to greatly narrow its scope. The ability of patients to grow their own medical marijuana was removed, and the bill was narrowed to cover only patients suffering from terminal illnesses.

     "I'm disappointed in the governor's action, but I'm not giving up," said Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), sponsor of the House bill. "This would have been the narrowest, strictest medical marijuana law in the country, but the bottom line remains that there are patients suffering terribly who need protection, and I won't stop till they are protected."

     "For the governor to veto this legislation even after the House narrowed it so much that thousands of suffering patients would have been without protection is just unbelievably cruel," said Senate bill sponsor Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing). "Since the governor has refused to listen to reason or to the overwhelming majority of Minnesotans, we have no choice but to bypass him and take this directly to the people through a constitutional amendment."

     "The governor thinks I'm a criminal for allowing my daughter some comfort during the last months of her life," said Joni Whiting of Jordan, whose adult daughter's suffering was relieved by medical marijuana while she was undergoing treatment for the melanoma that eventually killed her. "I don't know how he sleeps at night, but I do know I'm not giving up until others in my daughter's situation are protected."

     Thirteen states, comprising approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population, now permit medical use of marijuana under state law if a physician has recommended it.

    ####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MAY 19, 2009

Rejection of Budget Measures Boosts Drive to Tax, Regulate Marijuana
56% Support Taxing Marijuana, According to Recent Field Poll 

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

SAN FRANCISCO -- Today's thumping rejection of a series of ballot measures aimed at easing California's hemorrhaging budget deficit adds new urgency to the drive to regulate California's largest cash crop, marijuana, advocates said tonight.

     "It's clear that voters didn't like the solutions put forth by the legislature on last night's ballot," said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "But a Field poll last month showed solid support for making marijuana a legal, regulated product and making producers and sellers pay taxes that they now avoid. For the legislature to leave marijuana untaxed even as our state faces catastrophic cuts to schools, transportation, public safety and other critical services borders on the criminal."

     A 2006 study by public policy researcher Jon Gettman found marijuana to be California's top cash crop, exceeding the value of the number two and three crops, vegetables and grapes, combined. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, two million Californians acknowledge having used marijuana in the past month. Estimates have suggested that California could save hundreds of millions in law enforcement costs and gain more than a billion in tax revenues if marijuana were taxed and regulated as proposed in legislation introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco).

     "Now that it seems we've hit the end of the road in the search for solving California's budget mess, we need to be looking outside the box," Smith added. "Replacing the failed policy of marijuana prohibition with a system of regulation and taxation would not only be sound public policy, but it also looks a lot more politically popular than anything else being offered up by Sacramento right now."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MAY 18, 2009   

Supreme Court Squashes Challenge to Prop. 215
Advocates Press Counties to Issue ID Cards as Court Refuses to Hear San Diego/San Bernardino Suit

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought by San Diego and San Bernardino Counties that sought to challenge the validity of California's medical marijuana laws, removing the last obstacle to medical marijuana ID cards being issued to qualified patients throughout California. Nine counties have failed to begin issuing the state-mandated cards, often citing the San Diego lawsuit as a reason.

     "The court has flattened the last faint justification for counties refusing to issue ID cards to legally qualified medical marijuana patients," said MPP California policy director Aaron Smith. "We expect all nine counties that have delayed issuing cards to start following the law immediately and stop putting patients at needless risk."

     San Diego County, which is required by California law to issue ID cards to legally qualified medical marijuana patients, had challenged the state law, claiming it was preempted by federal anti-marijuana statutes (a claim that had never even made by the federal government, despite its opposition to medical marijuana). San Bernardino County had joined the litigation. The preemption claim was firmly rejected by every court that reviewed the case. The California 4th District Court of Appeals wrote in its unanimous ruling, "Congress does not have the authority to compel the states to direct their law enforcement personnel to enforce federal laws."  After the California Supreme Court refused to hear San Diego's appeal, the counties went to the U.S. Supreme Court with its claim of federal supremacy, and the U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear the case.

      "It's time for San Diego and San Bernardino Counties to end their war on the sick and obey the law," Smith said. "And taxpayers should hold to account the irresponsible officials who wasted their tax dollars on frivolous litigation."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MAY 12, 2009

Medical Marijuana Heads to House Floor as Ways and Means Committee Passes Bill, 10-8
Passage Sets Up First-Ever House Floor Vote on Medical Marijuana

CONTACT: Former Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover)......................................................(763) 439-1178

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA -- The House version of Minnesota's medical marijuana bill, H.F. 292, now moves to the House floor after clearing its final committee last night, passing the Ways and Means Committee, 10 to 8. Companion legislation has already passed the Senate.

     Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), sponsor of the bill, said, "I have been pleased with the increasing support in the latest committees. Public support for protecting patients who need medical marijuana is overwhelming, and the scientific evidence is clear that this really can help some very sick people. This is going to be the year that Minnesota joins the 13 states that have already acted to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest."

     Medical marijuana bills are now moving forward in a number of states, including Illinois, New Jersey and New Hampshire, where medical marijuana legislation has passed both legislative houses and is awaiting a conference committee to reconcile differences. Rhode Island legislators are presently considering a measure to expand that state's medical marijuana law, first adopted in 2006.

     Thirteen states, comprising approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population, now permit medical use of marijuana under state law if a physician has recommended it. The newest such law was enacted by Michigan voters last November, passing with a record-setting 63 percent "yes" vote.

     Medical organizations which have recognized marijuana's medical uses include the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and American College of Physicians, which noted "marijuana's proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its relatively low toxicity," in a statement issued last year.

####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
APRIL 22, 2009

Will Charles C. Lynch Be the Last to Go to Federal Prison For a Misguided Policy?
Advocates Call For Leniency in the Name of Justice

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- The Marijuana Policy Project is calling for leniency in Thursday's federal court sentencing of Charles C. Lynch, a California medical marijuana provider who worked scrupulously to follow state and local laws but now faces five years in federal prison. MPP officials will be available by phone for comment after the sentencing, scheduled for 3 p.m. at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

     In February, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that henceforth the Drug Enforcement Administration would only conduct enforcement actions against medical marijuana defendants who were violating both state and federal law, reversing the Bush administration's policy of ignoring state medical marijuana laws. But Holder did not indicate whether this change would affect handling of older, leftover cases such as that of Lynch, who was convicted last year. 

     "We can't help but wonder if Mr. Lynch will be the last American to go to federal prison for a mistake, the final victim of bad policy that has been repudiated but whose mean-spirited effects still linger," said MPP executive director Rob Kampia. "Putting Mr. Lynch in prison would be a cruel and pointless miscarriage of justice. At a time when federal law enforcement at the Mexican border is so overwhelmed that traffickers coming through with up to 500 pounds of marijuana are let go, even one more hour spent persecuting Mr. Lynch is an outrageous waste of resources."

     "Mr. Lynch's medical marijuana collective was licensed by the city of Morrow Bay, and officials routinely inspected the facility for compliance with state and local laws," said MPP California policy director Aaron Smith. "Because federal law still makes no statutory allowance for medical marijuana, any discussion of California's medical marijuana law was explicitly barred from his trial. In the interest of fairness, the judge should follow the example of Judge Charles Breyer in the 2003 case of Ed Rosenthal, and issue a token, one-day sentence. Charles Lynch is simply not a criminal in any rational sense of the term."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####