Chilling Her Softly. Jacob Sullum writes about the very disturbing case of the legal persecution of Siobhan Reynolds and pain doctors, now officially sanctioned by the Supreme Court.
By now, you’re probably all aware of the invasive new TSA procedures in airports, and have heard of the now famous body scan resistor, John Tyner.
The TSA is not happy. They need a compliant public and Tyner (and his junk) is quickly becoming an anti-authoritarian hero.
TalkLeft explains another reason why we should care:
Pretty soon they will in all public places, including train and bus stations. […]
These machines don’t just detect explosives. They detect other things, like drugs. What an end run around the 4th Amendment, particularly if you are not traveling but just going about your business.
Excellent piece by LEAP’s Neill Franklin in the Huffington Post: A Cop’s Advice on Dealing with Cops
As a 33-year law enforcement veteran and former training commander with the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department, I know how easy it is to intimidate citizens into answering incriminating questions or letting me search through their belongings. This reality might make things easier for police looking to make an easy arrest, but it doesn’t always serve the interests of justice. That’s why I believe all citizens should understand how to protect their constitutional rights and make smart decisions when dealing with officers of the law.
[Oops. An article from last year…] The American Medical Association Reconsiders Marijuana. Will the Justice Department Follow?
…despite how the culture around pot has changed, defenders of the current federal policy have clung to a prominent, and trusted, ally to back them: the American Medical Association, which the justice department often cites when enforcing marijuana policy.
So it it might have come as a surprise on Tuesday when the AMA announced that, after 72 years, it was reversing its pot policy—and urged the federal government to do the same. Precipitated by a similar decision by the group’s Medical Student Section, the AMA resolved that “that marijuana’s status as a federal Schedule 1 controlled substance be reviewed,†with the goal of facilitating clinical research, and presented a new medical report, conducted by its Council on Science and Public Health, laying out the drug’s various medical benefits.
This is an open thread.
Warehouse Space for Growing MMJ May Spark Battle By Christopher N. Osher
CN Source: Denver Post November 21, 2010 Colorado
Developers and neighborhood leaders in Denver fear the push for warehouse space for medical-marijuana growing operations will stall efforts to turn industrial areas into trendy, urban art districts with lofts. They say the surge in grow operations will reverse a decade of work aimed at transforming blighted areas into walkable pockets of new urbanism, such as the emerging arts district surrounding Brighton Boulevard north of downtown. Instead of lofts, coffee shops and art studios, they predict the grow operations will create a situation where drab warehouses protected by rusty barbed wire end up as king of the city block.
The Beginning of the End for the War on Drugs?
Amon, Joe San Francisco Chronicle 21 Nov 2010
The report dared to say that comprehensive sex education shouldn’t merely seek to scare adolescents by emphasizing deadly or disfiguring sexually transmitted infections or lecture on family planning. Instead, it suggested attention to pleasure and enjoyment of sexuality, including as an objective of sex education “abolishing guilt feelings about eroticism.”
A few minutes after the report was delivered, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Health, Anand Grover, called for countries around the world to end the so-called war on drugs. He urged countries to decriminalize drug possession and use, and offer services to drug users that can reduce HIV and hepatitis infection. Efforts to create a “drug-free” world, he said, had failed: Drug dependency is a complex problem, and drug use is deeply embedded in tradition and culture. As an example, he mentioned his father’s use of “bhang lassi” – a marijuana milk shake, if you will – on religious holidays.
A Hunger Strike Divides Switzerland
Imprisoned cannabis farmer Bernard Rappaz has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days in protest at a prison sentence he considers too high.
DPS Bid for ‘Big Brother’ Eyes Breaches Civil Liberties
Harrington, James C. Houston Chronicle 20 Nov 2010
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw recently asked state lawmakers to install license-plate-reader cameras on Texas roadways and to allow stationery roadblocks to stop motorists so DPS could see their drivers’ licenses and proof of insurance.
Michigan State University to arrest medical marijuana patients on campus Nov 17 2010
A policy which prevents registered medical marijuana patients from using or possessing their medicine while at Michigan State University is coming under fire.
Marianas Islands Marijuana Legalization Bill Passes House Nov 12 2010
A bill to legalize marijuana passed the House in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), a US territory, November 4. But the governor says he would only sign a medical marijuana bill, and the Senate appears poised to kill it. Still, its passage marks the first time a pot legalization bill has passed in a legislative chamber in any US territory.
Marc Emery’s US Prison Blog #18 – Heading for Georgia
I have been here six days now and may be shipped off any day toward my new designated privately-run prison, D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston, Georgia.
Georgia Needs Options To Prison
Levin, Mark Savannah Morning News 20 Nov 2010
As Georgia’s leaders confront a budget shortfall, they can learn much from the approach Texas has taken. Since Texas strengthened community-based supervision, sanctions and treatment options for nonviolent offenders in 2005 rather than build new prisons, the state has avoided more than $2 billion in prison costs. Most importantly, Texas has realized a 9 percent reduction in crime. In fact, the Texas crime rate in 2009 is at its lowest point since 1973.
Governor Perry Supports Sending Troops to Mexico, If Invitation Is Extend
Licon, Adriana Gomez El Paso Times 20 Nov 2010
This is an open thread.
Pot Couture
Oct 22 2010
Women who love to smoke: “We’re not experts on strains or growing, and we don’t know the law inside out. We’re just women who enjoy smoking pot recreationally, and we want to share the love.”
Time Magazine Cover Story on Medical Marijuana
Seth Rogen and Conan on Weed
CANNABIS CULTURE – Hollywood herb head Seth Rogen was the very first guest to appear on Conan O’Brien’s new late night show Conan, and the stoney star used the opportunity to discuss Proposition 19 and medical marijuana in California.
Seth Rogen: Disappointed by Prop 19, Loves Medical Marijuana (VIDEO)
11/10/2010 – Michael Whitney, Just Say Now
This is an open thread.
Harper Sanctions Hate
Bill S-10: Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Marijuana
By Cannabis Culture – Thursday, May 6 2010
US: Gangs buy jets for trans-Atlantic coke flights
Nov 15 2010
AP: U.S. prosecutors in a series of court cases say they are beginning to unravel the latest innovation in drug smuggling: South American gangs that are buying old jets and other planes, filling them with cocaine and flying them more than 3,000 miles across the ocean to Africa.
Gunmen in Mexico’s drug war getting younger
Nov 15 2010
AP: Mexican police on Friday detained a minor accused of working as a gunman for a drug cartel after shocking videos and photos surfaced online of fresh-faced boys mugging for the camera with guns and corpses
This is an open thread.
Pa. lawmaker accused of smoking pot at Steelers tailgate
Nov 17 2010
AP: A state representative from Pittsburgh has been charged with smoking marijuana while tailgating outside a Steelers game last month, but his attorney denies that and said the lawmaker “detests marijuana.”
Metal Rocker Sebastian Bach busted with Pot
Nov 15 2010
42-year-old lead singer of Skid Row caught by police with 1.95 grams of marijuana after a scuffle in a Peterborough, Ontario bar.
Pothead convicted of insanity-induced crimes
Withdrawal from marijuana triggered a psychotic episode in a pot head who went on a crime spree which included sexually assaulting a woman, a judge has ruled.
This is an open thread.
New York Times Needs to Get over the 5th Grade Pot Jokes
11/14/2010 – Michael Whitney, Just Say Now
Prop 19 – monopoly through the back door!
Harris maintains razor-thin lead over Anti-Pot Cooley
Nov 15 2010
Denver City Council Eliminates Private Cannabis Caregivers Within City Limits
In an expected action the Denver City Council has dealt a crushing blow to private medical cannabis caregivers and passed regulation making private caregiver operations all but obsolete within the city.
This is an open thread.
Mexico’s Regional Newspapers Limit Reporting of Cartels’ Role in Drug Violence
Nov 17 2010
Mexico’s regional newspapers are failing to report many of the murders, attacks on police and other violence linked to the nation’s war against drug cartels, a new analysis shows.
.
Poisoning the Press – Mark Feldstein
Richard Nixon and the investigative reporter he feared most–Jack Anderson.
ONCE-SECRET NIXON TAPES SHOW WHY THE U.S. OUTLAWED POT
AMA Calls For Ending Nixon’s Lie?
Good link…
Mexico’s Regional Newspapers Limit Reporting of Cartels’ Role in Drug Violence