Drug War Chronicle, Issue #603 -(urls + editorial)- 10/9/09
B Sellers
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psm...@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603
A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, bor...@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
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Table of Contents:
1. FEATURE: WHAT ABOUT THE CLINTON AND BUSH ERA MEDICAL
MARIJUANA PRISONERS AND DEFENDANTS?
Whether the Obama administration has ushered in a new era when
it comes to the federal government and medical marijuana is
arguable. One thing that isn't is that victims of Clinton and
Bush era raids remain behind bars or facing prosecution. There
are beginning to be moves afoot to right that lingering wrong.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/medical_marijuana_prisoners_and_prosecutions_continue
2. FEATURE: FEDERAL NEEDLE EXCHANGE FUNDING BAN BATTLE CONTINUES
The House has passed a measure that would end the federal ban on
funding needle exchange programs, but it includes a provision
barring them from operating within a thousand feet or schools,
parks, and other public places. Advocates are working to ensure
that a good bill comes out of the House-Senate conference
committee at the end of the appropriations process.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/federal_needle_exchange_funding_ban_thousand_feet
3. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICO DRUG WAR UPDATE
Another week, another grim death toll in Mexico. September was
the bloodiest month this year.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/mexico_drug_war_update
4. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
5. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
Cops busted for testilying, a deputy arrested for demanding a
bribe from a pot grower, a jail guard arrested for smuggling pot
into the prison, and a Michigan town still doesn't know who
stole drug buy money from the police department.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/police_drug_corruption
6. SENTENCING: NEW YORK'S ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAW REFORMS NOW IN
EFFECT
As many as 1,500 Rockefeller drug law prisoners could walk out
of prison early after reforms passed in April went into effect
this week. But that still leaves 12,000 more behind bars in the
Empire State.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/rockefeller_drug_law_reforms_in_effect
7. MARIJUANA: MASSACHUSETTS LEGALIZATION BILL SET FOR HEARING
NEXT WEEK
All of the attention has been on California, but it's
Massachusetts where the state legislature will hold a hearing on
a marijuana legalization bill next week.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/massachusetts_marijuana_legalization_bill_hearing
8. LAW ENFORCEMENT: VETERAN ACTIVIST DANA BEAL BUSTED IN
NEBRASKA -- SUPPORTERS RALLYING TO HELP
Global Marijuana March organizer Dana Beal and two friends are
in hot water after being busted while heading east through
Nebraska last week.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/dana_beal_arrested_marijuana_nebraska
9. ASSET FORFEITURE: TEXAS DA SEEKS TO USE SEIZED FUNDS TO
DEFEND HERSELF IN LAWSUIT OVER UNLAWFUL SEIZURE OF SAME FUNDS
First, the Texas DA collaborated in a racially discriminatory
and lawless asset forfeiture rip-off scheme directed at innocent
motorists. Now, facing a civil lawsuit, she wants to use the
very money she helped rip-off to pay for her defense. The ACLU
has cried foul.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/tenaha_Texas_DA_asset_forfeiture_racial_profiling
10. SOUTHWEST ASIA: RUSSIA SAYS US, NATO ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS IN
AFGHANISTAN "INADEQUATE," URGES AERIAL ERADICATION OF POPPY
CROPS
The Obama administration earlier this year gave up the delusion
that eradication of poppy crops was a viable response to
widespread Afghan opium production. But now the Russians, with
soaring addiction rates because of Afghan heroin, are urging
that the poppy fields be sprayed.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/russia_wants_aerial_afghanistan_opium_eradication
11. PACIFIC ISLANDS: HEAD OF FIJI NGO CALLS FOR DEBATE ON
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION
Marijuana production and consumption has been a bone of
contention in the South Pacific island republic of Fiji for
years. Now, some comments from a leading NGO are heating up the
controversy again.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/fiji_marijuana_legalization_debate
12. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/drug_war_history
13. ANNOUNCEMENT: THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY REFORM
CONFERENCE, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, NOVEMBER 12-14
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United
States and around the world come to the International Drug
Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and
strategize together for change. This year the conference is in
Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/2009_international_drug_policy_reform_conference_albuquerque_new_mexico
14. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Drug Czar's Office Reevaluating Marijuana Policy: 'We're trying
to base stuff on the facts,'" "Washington Post Punches Marijuana
Prohibition in the Teeth," "Irony Alert: Drug Czar Complains
About Media Bias," "A Lesson in Etiquette for Drug Policy
Activists," "1000 Feet from Everywhere," "Hearings on
Massachusetts 'Tax and Regulate' Bill in Boston Next Week," "New
York Rockefeller Drug Law Reforms Go Into Effect Today."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/blogging_at_the_speakeasy
15. STUDENTS: INTERN AT STOPTHEDRUGWAR.ORG (DRCNET) AND HELP
STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester
fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)
================
1. Feature: What About the Clinton and Bush Era Medical
Marijuana Prisoners and Defendants?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/603/medical_marijuana_prisoners_and_prosecutions_continue
When Attorney General Eric Holder announced back in March that
he would not use Justice Department resources to go after
medical marijuana patients and providers in states where it is
legal unless they were violating both state and federal laws, he
ushered in a new era in the battle over medical marijuana. Since
then, the number of DEA raids on providers has dwindled -- if
not quite down to zero, still a dramatic improvement over the
last years of the Bush administration.
Still, while the pace of raids and prosecutions has declined,
the raids continue. There have been at least a dozen raids where
federal law enforcement was present since the Obama
administration took power.
But even in this arguably new era, there is left-over business
to take care of from the Bush days, and some from the Clinton
days. Medical marijuana providers convicted under federal drug
laws remain imprisoned. Medical marijuana providers raided, but
not yet charged, have the specter of federal prosecution hanging
over them. Medical marijuana providers arrested on federal drug
charges remain subject to prosecution. And hold-over US
Attorneys from the Bush era continue to prosecute them. Another
Bush administration hold-over, Michelle Leonhart, remains in
charge at DEA.
According to the medical marijuana defense group Americans for
Safe Access (ASA -- http://www.safeaccessnow.org), at least 130
medical marijuana patients and providers are being prosecuted,
or have been prosecuted or convicted under federal drug laws
(http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?list=type&type=184).
ASA also lists 10 medical marijuana providers currently in
federal prison
(http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=624). That list
does not include an 11th person, Eddy Lepp, who is now serving a
mandatory minimum 10-year prison term, because Lepp defended
himself with a religious freedom defense, even though he was
growing for medicinal reasons.
Some of the victims of the federal campaign are well known, such
as "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal, who was prosecuted over a
permitted grow in Oakland; Dr. Mollie Fry and her partner, Dale
Shafer, who were sentenced to serve time in federal prison; Eddy
Lepp; and Bryan Epis, the first medical marijuana provider
prosecuted by the feds, who served two years of a mandatory
minimum 10-year prison sentence before being released on appeal.
(Epis has created petitions seeking justice for himself and
other medical marijuana martyrs; visit
http://www.bestlodging.com/politics/ to view them.)
Others are lesser known, but equally deserving of justice --
Ronnie Naulls, for example
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/508/california_medical_marijuana_DEA_CPS_remove_children_naulls).
Naulls operated a permitted dispensary in Corona, California and
paid his taxes, but still got raided and arrested under federal
law. Authorities turned his three children over to California
Child Protection Services, and his wife was forced to plead
guilty to a felony child endangerment count or face federal
charges because the couple had marijuana in their home. The
couple got their kids back, but Naulls faces a preliminary
hearing next week.
Or Dustin Costa
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/461/federal_medical_marijuana_prosecution_California_Dustin_Costa_underway).
A medical marijuana patient and provider and head of the Merced
Patients Groups, Costa was arrested on state charges by Merced
County sheriff's deputies in March 2004. After a year and a half
of state court proceedings, the Merced District Attorney turned
his case over to the feds. Costa was convicted of federal
charges of cultivation, possession with intent to distribute,
and possession of a firearm. He's now three years into a 13-year
sentence, which he is serving at the federal prison in Big
Springs, Texas.
Or the multiple people arrested in the San Francisco Sunset
dispensary raids in 2005
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/392/othershoe.shtml)
and the San Diego dispensary raids in 2006
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/446/san_diego_medical_marijuana_crisis).
The former netted 33 people, the latter six. All still face
federal prosecution.
"We have seen a continuation of the prosecutions that began
under Bush," said ASA spokesman Kris Hermes. "This is
unfortunate given that they've signaled a change in federal
policy. Nor is there any evidence they will pardon or commute
sentences or stop prosecuting those people indicted under Bush
but who have not yet completed the prosecutorial process."
"What needs to be done is that the Justice Department should
review all those cases in light of current policy and rethink
the pending prosecutions of those people who would have been
left alone based on the policy now being enforced," said Bruce
Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project
(http://www.mpp.org). "I am sure there are at least some whose
actions appear legal under state law. It would be nice to see
those folks left alone and no further tax dollars wasted
persecuting them. It would also be nice to see the use of
presidential pardon power in those cases who would not be
prosecuted now have already been sentenced and are sitting in
federal prison."
But Mirken isn't holding his breath. "I wish I thought that was
going to happen immediately, but Obama's saving his political
capital for other stuff," he said.
One key to seeing real change from the federal government is
getting real change in the federal government. With Bush
appointees still in place at DEA and in the US Attorney
positions, the Bush era prosecutions continue, and so do the
raids.
"Obama is really behind on that," said Dale Gieringer, director
of California NORML (http://www.canorml.org). "As I recall, Bush
appointed Asa Hutchinson DEA director in August 2001, and here
we are in October of Obama's first year and there's still a Bush
appointee there. I recall very specifically that we saw the
first raids orchestrated by US Attorneys within a couple of
weeks of 9/11. That's when they went after Dr. Molly Fry and the
Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center. It only took until
September of his first year for Bush to have an aggressive new
team in place, but so far under Obama, we have nobody new at DEA
and no new US Attorneys. In Northern California, the US Attorney
is still the same guy who was appointed by Reagan. The rate of
change is disappointing," Gieringer said.
"The fact that a new head of DEA and new US Attorneys have not
been appointed may present a problem in establishing a new
policy on medical marijuana," said Hermes. "In at least a half
dozen cases currently being prosecuted, the federal judges have
asked for clarification on the administration's new policy
before they proceed. That federal judges are balking at these
continuing prosecutions in light of the supposed new policy from
the Obama administration ought to be a concern to the
administration. But what they're getting in response from the
administration is not hopeful. The Department of Justice is
saying it sees no reason to discontinue these cases or move them
to state court."
State court is where these medical marijuana cases belong, said
the ASA spokesman. "Our position is that the federal government
doesn't need to prosecute any medical marijuana cases in federal
court," said Hermes. "If they think there is a violation of
state law, they should leave it up to the state courts to
adjudicate that. As long as they're in federal court, the
government won't be debating whether the defendants were in
compliance with state law -- they don't even have to address
that, and they won't, because it would hinder their chances of
obtaining convictions. There is no role for the Justice
Department in prosecuting state law violation medical marijuana
cases in federal court," Hermes argued.
For those already convicted, it's too late for state court. The
only relief they are even remotely likely to see is a
presidential pardon or commutation.
"I have this goal of getting Eddy Lepp out before his sentence
expires," said Gieringer. "But to get out prison, you have to
apply for a pardon. My understanding is it's sort of up to the
prisoners and their attorneys to get that together. I don't know
that anyone has started on that project yet."
Not yet, but it looks like one is in the works. "We're looking
at mounting a campaign to win pardons for those people currently
serving federal sentences," said Hermes, noting that some of
them are doing as many as 20 years.
But don't count on the Obama administration to take the
initiative, said Gieringer. "We're in a period of benign
neglect," he said. "Obama is weaker now and less interested in
these issues. He's not inclined to do anything, unlike Bush, who
was forceful and assertive in the wrong directions. Now, there's
a different dynamic going on. We're going to have to push as
hard as we can, and hopefully we can get Obama's attention."
In the meantime, some nonviolent medical marijuana patients and
providers rot in federal prison, others are having to continue
to fight their federal prosecutions, and even more -- those
raided but never (not yet) charged -- possibly face the same
fate. We won't be to a new era until we take care of this old
business.
=================== ...
___________________
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Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
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Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________
later
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