Open Thread

bullet image New Report Finds “Drug Courts Are Not the Answer”

At two briefings on Capitol Hill today, the Drug Policy Alliance released a groundbreaking new report, Drug Courts are Not the Answer: Toward a Health-Centered Approach to Drug Use (www.drugpolicy.org/drugcourts), which finds that drug courts have not demonstrated cost savings, reduced incarceration, or improved public safety; leave many people worse off for trying; and have actually made the criminal justice system more punitive toward addiction – not less.


bullet image War on drugs as failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS, and BBC

The “war on drugs” has failed and should be abandoned in favour of evidence-based policies that treat addiction as a health problem, according to prominent public figures including former heads of MI5 and the Crown Prosecution Service. […]

The MPs and members of the House of Lords, who have formed a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform, are calling for new policies to be drawn up on the basis of scientific evidence.

It could lead to calls for the British government to decriminalise drugs, or at least for the police and Crown Prosecution Service not to jail people for possession of small amounts of banned substances.


bullet image Defendant Sentenced to 18 Years on 11 Gram Federal Crack Conviction

TalkLeft has a good piece discussing the absurdity of sentencing that is based on charges for which the defendant has been acquitted. It’s a real injustice and a violation of the very concept of jury trials.


bullet image The always excellent Radley Balko is moving on from Reason Magazine soon to begin writing at Huffington Post — a chance to reach a much larger audience (and perhaps an audience that needs to hear what he has to report). Good luck, Radley!

Here are a few of his current pieces that should not be missed…

Failing Upward in Criminal Justice

Paey’s prosecution was an outrage, and it generated significant media attention. In 2007, after Paey had served nearly four years of his sentence, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist gave him a full pardon. Yet Scott Andringa, who prosecuted the case as an assistant state attorney in New Port Richey, has never expressed a hint of remorse. In fact, Andringa, now a defense attorney in private practice, brags about his efforts to imprison Paey on his professional website, noting that he “was the prosecutor assigned to a controversial drug trafficking case that was later profiled on 60 Minutes, Nightline, and in the New York Times.”

And now Andringa wants to be a judge.

How Drug Cops Go Bad

Critics of prohibition often argue that drug cops are especially susceptible to corruption because their jobs regularly bring them into contact with black-market cash and large quantities of illicit substances worth more than the average police officer makes in a year. There is something to that, but I think the problem runs deeper. Drug crimes are consensual crimes, which means there are no aggrieved victims to file a complaint. The only way to fight consensual crimes is with surveillance, informants, or undercover cops. Surveillance requires a warrant, which requires some evidence of criminal activity. The latter two options are far more common, but they require the police to break the very laws they are enforcing—or encourage someone else to do so. That creates a moral disconnect right off the bat.

Politicians paint cross-hairs on Americans

To date, there has been little outcry from the press, and not a single national politician from either the Democratic or Republican parties has condemned or even questioned the increasing use of government violence against Americans.

It will be a welcome day when America’s political and media figures get as indignant about innocent Americans killed by their own government as they do on those thankfully rare occasions when deranged people carry out attacks on government officials.

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39 Responses to Open Thread

  1. This is not my America says:

    I wish people would get more…indigant…about government killing their own people for possesing a weed or other substances.

    Here we are , bombing a ‘government’ in Lybia for doing the same thing and no one cares about what goes on here…its sad, its sick, its hypocritical…its wrong….stop this maddness !

  2. kaptinemo says:

    Some nut-shells:

    Drug Courts: another knob, bell, steam-whistle, lever, button, buzzer, etc attached to an already malfunctioning Rube Goldberg mechanism. Make-work for judges and more overtime for cops.

    “War on Drugs is a failure.” Old news. We’ve been saying this for…how long? 40-50 years or more? And it’s finally sinking in?

  3. jhelion says:

    any word on whether Bolivia is going to flip the bird to the single convention on narcotic drugs?

    • malcolm kyle says:

      After a quick scan, I found this:

      The retired police general was arrested last week in Panama on charges he ran a cocaine-smuggling ring while leading an elite, 15-person anti-drug intelligence unit within Bolivia’s Interior Ministry.

      His capture badly bruised the credibility of President Evo Morales’ policy of zero tolerance for cocaine, and can only hurt his efforts to end a global prohibition on coca leaf chewing.
      More here

      And then this:
      http://www.agwabuzz.com/museum

      • jhelion says:

        I’ve had Agwa – apparently it is legal here. Some would consider it a “chick drink”. I prefer a nice absinthe, however 🙂

  4. DdC says:

    Trying to connect with pot’s cancer-fighting properties Mar 21 2011
    While THC and the biological mechanisms it uses are well documented, there are still mysteries surrounding the lesser-known chemical CBD.

    DEA No Longer Paying For Cleanup Costs
    US GA: Melancon, Merritt Athens Banner-Herald 21 Mar 2011
    The DEA announced late last month that it no longer will pay to clean up the houses, cars and sheds where law enforcement officers discover meth labs, leaving local agencies on the hook for cleanup costs that can be thousands of dollars.

    Ill-Considered Marijuana Laws
    US CT: Editorial: Republican-American 20 Mar 2011
    Mr. Lawlor says enforcement of current laws does not reduce usage. “If it worked, it would be an entirely different discussion, but it does not appear to work,” he said during a legislative committee hearing on marijuana policy March 14. By this logic, laws against homicide should be thrown out because they manifestly don’t prevent all murders.

    “Government exists to protect us from each other.
    Where government has gone beyond its limits
    is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
    ~ Ronald Reagan,
    The New York Times, April 13, 1980

    End War On Drugs, Save Black America
    US GA: OPED: Stossel, John Athens Banner-Herald 19 Mar 2011
    One key to getting past the race issue in America is to end the war on drugs. John McWhorter says it’s the most important thing we could do.

    “Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts
    when you have forgotten your aim.”
    ~ George Santayana, “The Life of Reason”

    • DdC says:

      Marijuana Legislation Isn’t Rocket Science
      US MT: Editorial: Bozeman Daily Chronicle 21 Mar 2011
      What’s ironic about this week’s raids is that all of the marijuana involved would have eventually ended up in the hands of legitimate users — at least according to the initiative Montana voters approved some six and a half years ago. But law enforcement officers just couldn’t stand by and watch, given the sheer volume of the drug being processed and traded.

      “Of all tyrannies,
      a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims
      may be the most oppressive.”
      ~ C.S. Lewis,
      in “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment,”
      an essay from “God In The Dock”

      Pot Dispensaries OK for City
      US CA: Editorial: The Record 20 Mar 2011
      All of which should tell you that these will not be the stereotypical, old-school, cannabis “head shops” run by “hippies.” There’s money to be made, and people are lining up to make it.

      Doubts over Tory Strategy on Illicit Drug Use
      The Canadian Press Thu Mar. 17 2011
      “So the fact that a consultant is now showing that it hasn’t been effective is certainly no surprise, and the fact that there’s information gaps also isn’t a surprise, because information would be harmful to the government at this point.”

      Weedmart: Meet the Entrepreneurs
      with Plans for Marijuana Superstores and Pot-Focused Reality TV
      By Josh Harkinson March 14, 2011

      In many respects, the semi-legit marijuana market resembles the early days of the internet bubble, where start-ups helmed by young entrepreneurs with risky business plans sought venture capital and dreamed of stock offerings. Where dot-coms had server farms, the pot-coms have high-tech “grow ops”—indoor farms of wires, fans, and coiled air ducts that keep genetically selected, cloned pot plants growing 24/7. Growers have colonized Oakland’s abandoned and foreclosed houses; Mann and Peterson have dubbed the electricity-sucking boomtown “Grass Valley.”

    • DdC says:

      Drug
      Sanskrit, druh, was the principle of falsehood or distortion as opposed to asha as expressed by the Avestan, Stone Age, people. Their morality divided mankind into the ashavan, who upheld asha, and the drugvan who were considered wicked.
      A.G.H. Source: Boyce, Mary, Zoroastrians:
      Their Religious Beliefs and Practices,
      New York, Routledge, 2002, p. 8

      the Lycaeum is committed to supplying honest and unbiased information about all aspects of visionary plants, fungi, and chemicals; as well as providing a virtual meeting place for members of the online entheogenic community.

      We consider entheogenic drugs to be pontentially valuable teachers and allies.

      Jesus, George Washington and San Diego’s Medical Marijuana Struggle
      From the priests of Shintoism in Japan who used marijuana to unite couples in marriage and drive away evil spirits to the earliest Jews who “as part of their holy Friday night services in the Temple of Solomon, 60-80,000 men ritually passed around and inhaled 20,000 incense burners filled with kanabosom (cannabis), before returning home for the largest meal of the week,” as recorded by Jack Herer in his book, The Sociology Of Cannabis And World History. The Jewish Essene communities, south of Jerusalem, where Jesus is thought to have studied in his youth, are known to have used marijuana as a medicine.

      Every American president until the 1930’s used medical marijuana and according to Morey Amsterdam and Eddie Gordon, close friends of John F. Kennedy, who used cannabis for his back pain, he was going to legalize it during his second term.

      ASA: Citizens Unite in Opposition to
      Proposed Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ordinance
      On March 28th the San Diego City Council will be voting on an ordinance that will serve as a de-facto ban on medical cannabis facilities in the City of San Diego. If passed as currently written, this unduly restrictive ordinance would threaten the quality of life for some of the most vulnerable members of our community and would deny safe access for thousands of patients in the city. full story

      Prohibition Party
      643 votes for president in the 2008 election. It advocates a variety of socially conservative causes, including “stronger and more vigorous enforcement of laws against the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, against gambling, illegal drugs, pornography, and commercialized vice.” It is the oldest existing third party in the US, founded in 1869.

    • DdC says:

      Hey Bobbbbb Barrrrrr…..

      Feds Squeeze Banks in Bid to Freeze Out Medical Marijuana
      Federal regulators ignited a firestorm of controversy recently when they ordered banks located in the North Coast area of California to spy on transactions of customers who are suspected of making money in the marijuana business. full story

      Sociology Of Cannabis And World History

      Bad Rye and the Salem Witches
      Written by Alan Bellows on 09 March 2007
      Ergot poisoning, or ergotism, can cause a distressing array of side effects. The initial symptoms are usually gastrointestinal in nature, including nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Shortly thereafter the sufferer may experience a gamut of symptoms caused by ergot’s influence on the central nervous system.

      Here and Now

      What is the use of planning to be able to eat next week unless I can really enjoy the meals when they come ? If I am so busy planning how to eat next week that I cannot fully enjoy what I am eating now, I will be in the same predicament when next week’s meals become “now.” If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly aware of the present when the good things that I have been expecting come to pass. For I shall have formed a habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult for me to attend to the here and now. If, then, my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world.
      ~ Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom Of Insecurity

    • DdC says:

      Medical Marijuana Providers Dr. Mollie Fry and Dale Schafer Prepare for Prison

      NORML@40: Marijuana Advocates and the Shafer Commission
      NORML blog

      Medical Marijuana Community on Edge After Raids By Molly Priddy
      CN Source: Flathead Beacon March 23, 2011

      Montana Cannabis Company, a medical marijuana dispensary in Evergreen, was oddly empty last Wednesday. The glass cases that usually display owner Matthew Wymer’s products stood void, housing only tie-dyed shelf liners and a piece of paper listing marijuana strains. Wymer, who said he has been a caregiver for a couple years and opened his storefront last month, said he usually sees 10 to 15 patients a day. “Yesterday and today I’ve seen zero,” he said. full story

      Time For Change
      Web:Feilding,Amanda Huffington Post 22 Mar 2011

  5. allan420 says:

    awreet… Seattle HempFest has the go ahead. Sept 19 – 21, Myrtle Edwards Park. 3 days this year, opening on Friday noon. Rock on SHF…

    I haven’t been in a few years but already have it penciled in for this year. With what’s happ’ning in Seattle, should be an excellent Fest! Unless of course the world shakes apart between now and then.

    BTW… the best approach (if possible) is to ferry in and make the short jaunt up the waterfront to the Hempfest. I enjoy the ferry trip back to Bremerton, so many smiling people…

    • denmark says:

      Ink it in allan420, it could well be the last time we’re able to have a good party with the way the economy is going. TPTB think the war in Libya is going to help the economy, it won’t. It may improve it short-term but it will just delay the inevitable.

      Ferry in from Bremerton you say?
      Bremerton should be the base camp and hotel place?

    • DdC says:

      The Show Will Go On: Seattle Hempfest Gets Permit for 2011
      CANNABIS CULTURE – After filing a lawsuit against the city of Seattle and successfully negotiating with local officials, organizers of Seattle Hempfest announced today that their 20th anniversary event will take place at its originally planned location at Myrtle Edwards Park from August 19 – 21, 2011. full story

  6. allan420 says:

    My sis lives down the peninsula outside Elma, so I get family and some Festing. I’d enjoy a new real person to meet, all these years and all these folks (many of whom are good-friends-I’ve-never-met) online… and ya can’t beat a summer day on the Seattle waterfront.

    I love the ferry trip. I was born up that way and I’ve been riding on ’em since I was a sprout. The Pacific NW is the best… I’m pretty well convinced. What’s a little rain?

    • darkcycle says:

      Hey Allan, It’d be great to get together in person. I’ll be ‘festing this year as well.

    • denmark says:

      Maybe Pete is planning to attend? Hint! Really good time to be had, promise.
      Would like to meet up with a new real person too. If it sits well with you when the time is close please put a couple of nudges in the comments here. (hope I see the comment).
      norml stash had some recommendations last year for getting into the hempfest with some relative ease. I’ll check there when the time gets near. The park is 4.8 acres, it will surely be a full 4.8 acres.

      Yes, the Pacific NorthWest is the best.

  7. allan420 says:

    and I meant to leave this, from Paul Armentano:

    Cannabis Inhalation Associated With Spontaneous Tumor Regression, Study Says

    Put together well, lots of hyperlinks to studies, etc.

    So just a thought… in my world the intentional burying of effective use of cannabis in anti-cancer studies would be a grave crime – a prosecutable crime. In my world denying someone the right to speak to a jury about using cannabis as medicine should be a prosecutable offense.

  8. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    About a month ago I sent a Colorado legislator named Claire Levy some information and links to research studies regarding a bill to set a per se floor for DUI-cannabis. I nearly fell off of my chair today when I saw she had introduced an amendment raising the floor from 5 to 8 ng/ml. Unfortunately the other legislators had started foaming at the mouth and rejected the amendment so it’s still set at 5 ng/ml. That’s roughly equivalent to a BAC of 0.03, or less than 2 beers for a 180 lb man. But I’m certainly feeling reinvigorated tonight. It seems you really can make a difference in this controversy. Having the truth on our side certainly helps to make it a little easier. The trick is getting them to listen.

    http://www.canorml.org/healthfacts/drugtestguide/drugtestdetection.html#blood

    Our friend TJ said:

    “It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”

    • allan420 says:

      perhaps a follow up thank you and a suggestion that WA lead the way by actually doing a study on drivers under the influence of cannabis to determine a real baseline of impairment.

      And I’ll volunteer to participate in that study!

      • strayan says:

        Yeah, definitely praise her for acknowledging the evidence and trying to fix things.

        Their arrests for DUI cannabis will plummet with a per se limit of 8 ng/ml.

        What I’ve been doing of late is comparing risk factors. There’s an article the prohibitionists regularly cite that driving whilst stoned increases accident risk by 300% (and it’s not an article you can dismiss). The trick is to point out for each 5kmph of speed you gain your risk of accident also increases by about 300%. Helps people put things in perspective.

        When I get home Duncan, I’ll send you some journal articles about setting a per se floor for amphetamines.

        Google scholar will change the world.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .
        Thank you Allan, an excellent suggestion and one I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. Unfortunately I’m not very adept at Emily Post style protocols. I had to think about it for a minute because I’m not 100% sure that it was my note that did it. It’s not like it’s proprietary Duncan info even though it seems like it sometimes. But I decided that really doesn’t matter. We want to positively reinforce when people do the right thing. Whether she got the idea from me or from someone else I’ve got to say that Ms. Levy’s actions were startling to me. Startling in a good way of course.

        I did suggest them sponsoring the road test, but I fear there’s not much hope of that. As I said previously the rest of the Colorado legislature is foaming at the mouth over this issue and we may have been lucky that it didn’t get lowered. There was an amendment offered to lower it to 2 ng/ml. So while she sponsored the legislation it just isn’t her baby anymore.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        strayan, I think one of the reasons we have such contradictory studies of cannabis impairment is because it’s a night and day difference between a driver who doesn’t have much experience with cannabis and one that does. I don’t think I’m unreasonable when I say that by and large I was lucky to get through the first year or two without causing any incidents. If that follows then a test using people with no acclimation will demonstrate that the drivers are if fact cannabis addled. Test you and me and Allan and the results come back at the other end of the scale. I have no clue how you would codify the difference.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        Well I sure didn’t expect Ms. Levy to come out and say she might vote against the bill she sponsored because of her new information. I think we should send her flowers. Like roses and daisies and petunias, not cannabis.

        “Still, when asked if she might find herself in the position of voting against her own bill because the standard remains at 5 nanograms, she says, “I’m going to have to give it really serious thought. I don’t know.”

        http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/03/medical_marijuana_thc_driving_limits_bill.php

  9. Cliff says:

    It’s too bad that science must follow legislation rather than the other way around. Because truth is often obscured and disregarded by irresponsible, fear based, dishonest, drive by legislation which is meant to control and enslave, for profit.

    When the truth is in, it won’t matter, because the law will be on the books and it will take many $’s to make it go away.

    I am waiting for the Colorado legislators to actually address the $1.1 billion budget deficit coming due in June rather than grandstand with new laws which will only create more potential criminals out of MMJ patients. I don’t want the budget meltdown, but it’s coming, and our legislators are letting their constituents down with this procrastination and denial of reality.

    • This is not my America says:

      Yes ,the Beast from Jekyll Island is comming for its feast…question is, when will people unite and remove its head?

      http://www.bigeye.com/griffin.htm

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      It is simply amazing to me how the subject of cannabis has popped up in so many legislative bodies because of the financial crisis. Some want to legalize, some want to repeal, some say that their States should go medical, but the one thing they all have in common is that they’re trying to distract the constituents from the ugly financial reality that they’re unwilling or unable to address.

  10. allan420 says:

    well…

    A Smarter Way to Deal With Drug Offenders

    Asa Hutchinson, a staunch Republican who once the ran the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency, went to Canada early in March to do a peculiar thing. He tried to talk the Conservative Party out of some new tough-on-drugs legislation that lawmakers may pass in Ottawa.

    “We have made some mistakes, and I hope you can learn from those mistakes,” he told a legislative committee, offering a mea culpa for some of America’s drug-war policies.

    The main mistake, he said, was jailing nonviolent drug offenders.

    I’m not a fan of drug courts. I am a fan of hearing these words come from the mouth of someone like Mr Hutchinson.

  11. Servetus says:

    The pattern for many of the national drug agencies appears to be the same.

    First, spread the professional net by presuming a problem exists without proof. Next, conduct unqualified studies that confirm the original presumption. Finally, act on the presumption regardless of any contradictory or unsupporting evidence that manifests itself in the studies. The same itinerary can be expected for Kerlikowske’s drugged driving agenda.

    The ONDCP will push the drugged driving hysteria as a belief, not a fact, because they know America is primarily a belief culture with only minor influences emerging from its information culture. Belief is how prohibitionists presently confront all illegal drugs and their effects, because belief is not constrained by truth. The expanded belief system will be a window dressing framing the original presumptions, wherein prohibitionists are put in a position to bust as many consumers of legal pharmaceuticals as they bust for illicit substances.

    Another truth we can expect to be hidden from world view will be the return-on-investment. Will billions of dollars in enforcement and testing costs for drugged driving really result in significantly fewer road fatalities? Probably not. But we won’t hear about it. Instead, the ONDCP will expect people to cling to its gospel, no matter how wasteful or ineffective it might be. And if people don’t have any faith in the almighty ONDCP/DEA, they will simply be thrown into jail.

  12. malcolm kyle says:

    This just in from ‘down-under’

    Dr Crispin said the vast majority of people in prisons in Australia were there because of drugs or mental illness. He said most would reoffend because they had not received proper treatment.

    Despite the billions of taxpayer dollars put into combating drugs, the price of heroin and cocaine had plunged in recent years as supply had steadily increased.

    “If we can’t even keep drugs out of our prisons, how can we keep them off our streets,” Dr Crispin said.

    He said there was a growing link between drugs and terrorism – pointing to the current bloodshed in Mexico – and questioned whether drug dealers might one day get their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

    Dr Washer, who sponsored Dr Crispin’s presentation, strongly backed the call for decriminalisation and mocked the WA Liberal Government’s hardline approach to tackling the drug scourge.

    “From a medical point of view, this has been a dismal failure in this country and a crime against humanity,” Dr Washer said.


    Liberals urge soft line on drugs

  13. DdC says:

    “I used to have a drug problem
    but now I make enough money.”
    – David Lee Roth

    N.J. Drug Courts Should Be Model for Other States
    US NJ: Spoto, MaryAnn Star-Ledger 22 Mar 2011

    States should seek alternatives to drug courts for addicts, but if they can’t, they should use New Jersey’s program as model, according to two reports released today by watchdog groups.

    Drug courts in most states, the reports said, tend to “cherry pick” participants they feel will do best in the program, such as recreational users, and not necessarily select those who need help the most.

    New Jersey’s drug courts, which started experimentally in 1996 and expanded to all 21 counties by 2002, focus on the more difficult cases, a model that serves well for other states, said Nastassia Walsh, a researcher for the Justice Policy Institute who authored “Addicted to Courts: How a Growing Dependence on Drug Courts Impacts People and Communities.”

    “We like this model because it is more of an ‘alternative’ to incarceration,” she said. “Instead of going to prison, this is diverting people from somewhere else.” continued

    I would trust Christie as much as Boosh Junior or Klintoon… NOT

    Medical Marijuana Providers Dr. Mollie Fry and Dale Schafer Prepare for Prison

    NORML@40: Marijuana Advocates and the Shafer Commission
    NORML blog

    We Need to Consider What War on Drugs Has Wrought
    US WA: OPED: Walker, Ingrid The News Tribune 22 Mar 2011

  14. DdC says:

    Farewell To The Lovely Elizabeth Taylor, Pot Smoker
    CANNABIS CULTURE – Golden Age Hollywood goddess Elizabeth Taylor, who died yesterday at the age of 79, leaves a legacy on the Silver Screen and rumors she ‘turned on’ with marijuana. full story

    LET’S ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A FAILURE
    AND LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

    Having spent $1 trillion in the last 40 years, we now find that marijuana is cheaper, more potent and readily available to anyone who wants it. During the past 10 years, polls show that public school students consistently say that marijuana is easier to get than cigarettes or alcohol. full story

    The Feds Finally Recognize The Anti-Cancer Potential Of Cannabis
    36 Years Too Late! NORML blog

    Kill The High Driving Bill
    US CO: Edu: Editorial: The Rocky Mountain Collegian 23 Mar 2011
    On Tuesday the House passed House Bill 1261, which would limit the amount of THC Colorado drivers can have in their bloodstream. Drivers with more than 5 nanograms per millimeter of the psychoactive component of marijuana in their blood would be considered too high to drive and could be arrested in the same way a person with a blood-alcohol content of more than .08 can be arrested for DUI. full story

    • DdC says:

      The Exile Nation Project U2b, is a film by Charles Shaw and an oral History of the War on Drugs & The American Criminal Justice System

      Two New Studies Confront Specialty Courts november.org
      Drug Policy Alliance released a groundbreaking new report, Drug Courts are Not the Answer: Toward a Health-Centered Approach to Drug Use (www.drugpolicy.org/drugcourts), which finds that drug courts have not demonstrated cost savings, reduced incarceration, or improved public safety; leave many people worse off for trying; and have actually made the criminal justice system more punitive toward addiction – not less.

      The Justice Policy Institute released Addicted to Courts: How a Growing Dependence on Drug Courts Impacts People and Communities, which finds that providing people with alternatives like community-based treatment are more cost-effective and provide greater public safety benefits than treatment that comes with the collateral consequences associated with involvement in the criminal justice system.

    • DdC says:

      Patricia Spottedcrow
      Update. Tulsa World says Okalahoman article results in global support for Patricia’s release.

      Ten Years for $31 of Marijuana
      The Tulsa World in partnership with Oklahoma Watch, an independent, nonprofit, investigative and in-depth reporting team presents Women in Prison. Did you know Oklahoma incarcerates more women than any other state?

      To contact Okalahoma’s Governor Mary Fallin
      you can write:

      Oklahoma State Capitol
      2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212
      Oklahoma City, OK 73105

      E-mail: info@gov.ok.gov
      Call (405) 521-2342
      Fax: (405) 521-3353

      Privacy Breach: HC Releases MMAR Patients Info

  15. DdC says:

    Weed Science
    US CA: Column: Downs, David Sacramento News & Review 24 Mar 2011

    Experts Urge Independent Auditing and Oversight of Medical-Cannabis-Testing Labs

    Medical-cannabis testing at labs is a new industry without much oversight. Pot activists and scientists are pushing for independent auditing. Learn more about the Alliance for Cannabis Science at allianceforcannabisscience.org.

    Woman Arrested During Drug Raid Speaks Out Mar 23 2011
    “They’ve taken our finished medicine, which was ready for use, and they took all of our equipment,” she said. “Law enforcement is taught to look for these lights and these plants growing, and maybe it looks crazy to them, but it was beautiful to us. That was our medicine, and we took pride in it. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I’m not going to be ashamed of that.” full story

    Former Fugitive Jailed After 30 Years at Large Speaks Out From Remand Centre
    Ian Jackson MacDonald, jailed after being caught on 30-year-old marijuana smuggling charges, maintains his innocence and has cleared the name of Former Winnipeg MLA Bob Wilson, who served seven years in prison for related charges. full story

    Federal agencies crack down on pot growth in Utah Mar 24 2011
    The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and local police will highlight Thursday several cases involving thousands of marijuana plants found growing on public lands in Washington County last summer. full story

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