Drug WarRant

Via Grits for Breakfast, everybody’s after a piece of that asset forfeiture pie.

Cashing in: Who benefits most from seized currency?

Perhaps no issue proves more quietly contentious in the local law enforcement community than how the seized currency – about $14.6 million in 5 1/2 years – is divided among agencies hungry for revenue in a struggling economy.

In the end, only about 6.4 percent – or roughly $935,000 – of those seizures have remained in the area to benefit regional law enforcement agencies and taxpayers, according to hundreds of pages of documents released by the DPS in response to a public information request by the Amarillo Globe-News.

Records indicate DPS officials often choose to bypass Panhandle state courts in exchange for Amarillo’s federal court when the largest amounts of money are at stake. It’s a decision that has left some I-40 district attorneys frustrated and raised concerns the federal court route gives DPS an easier and larger payday at the expense of local counties and taxpayers.

Of course, none of that money should even come close to going to any law enforcement or court agency. It is a perversion of the justice system to have law enforcement policy and enforcement/prosecution decisions potentially influenced by how much money could end up coming to the agency.

If I was President (and no, that’s not likely to happen), this is one reform I think I could take on even without Congress (because of course no Congress is likely to agree with what I would do). Just an Executive Order. You see, currently, the feds offer an 80-20 split (80 going to the state law enforcement agency) when they’re involved in an asset forfeiture case. This provides incentive for agencies to involve the feds, because they get to have more money (often bypassing state law that requires it to be used for other things).

My Executive Order would direct how seized funds in joint federal-local actions would be handled:

1. In states where there is a mechanism for seized funds to go to a non-law enforcement purpose (ie, education, etc.), then the state will get the 80% (with funds going directly to the state for that purpose, not to the law enforcement agency).
3. In states where there is no qualified mechanism for insuring that seized funds don’t go to law enforcement, then the federal government keeps 100%.
4. All federal seized funds go to deficit reduction.

This would encourage states to have a non-law enforcement seizure distribution method in order to get the most money, while eliminating the perverse incentive of law enforcement to make decisions based on the cash they might get.

Of course, there’s more reform in this area needed. At the least, asset forfeiture should require that the property owner be convicted of a crime and that prosecution proves the assets were ill-gotten gains of that crime, but that kind of reform would also require Congressional action.

The Planning Commission in Colorado Springs is not only looking out for the welfare of the citizens, they’re going all out to make sure that Colorado Spring doesn’t sell its soul to the devil.

Apparently this involves making it almost impossible to find a location for a medical marijuana dispensary.

The commission recommended a 1,000-foot buffer zone between dispensaries and schools, including preschools, colleges and universities. […]

The commission also recommended the same 1,000-foot setback between dispensaries and all residential child care facilities and drug and/or alcohol treatment facilities, which could include places where Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are held.

But they’re pretty despondent, because they know that the City Council will probably over-ride them — not because the idea is stupid, not because they want to prevent sick people from getting medicine, but because they’ll get licensing fees from the dispensaries, which is apparently the hardest bargain they are able to negotiate with the devil for the souls of Colorado Springs.

Commissioner Carla Harstell said the council seems motivated “by one thing and one thing only” when it involves medical marijuana: revenue.

“I think we’re selling our soul to the devil if we make all our decisions based on how much money we’re going to get from a business,” she said.

You know, selling your soul to the devil used to mean something.

Of course, those who have followed so-called “drug free zones” know that the notion of zones is just a fancy way of trying to legislate something out of existence. I fail to understand the value of requiring a heavy regulated place that provides medicine to sick people to be far away from schools.

A post that really has very little to do with drug policy (other than perhaps another reminder that with legalization, pot becomes less valuable to steal).

Soldiers: No Sir, We’re Here to Get Rid of the Marijuana

Three soldiers try to rip off a dispensary and manage to get themselves locked inside the dispensary (yet outside the safe holding the marijuana and cash).

While several officers guarded the front, Langlais went around to the back and saw that the door knob had been knocked from the door and was lying on the ground, leaving a large hole.

Through the hole, Langlais said he saw a “dark-colored finger” poking at the dead bolt, which had apparently re-engaged in the door jamb after the break-in.

“I announced ‘Police!’ at which time the finger quickly retracted into the business and I immediately heard at least two voices screaming profanities,” he wrote.

After being arrested, two of the suspects told officers they broke in with the best of intentions: They were going to steal the marijuana not to sell or smoke but to destroy it, Langlais said.

Right.

Update: I received a very nice note from Rose Eveleth, the Editor in Chief of Scienceline:

Just popping in to explain what happened to the post. Scienceline is a project of the NYU School of Journalism’s SHERP program. It’s completely run by the students, and we just had our official changeover from last year’s class to this year’s class, and in that changeover there was some confusion about the process for posting. We have a system that stories go through before they go up, and the story went up before the last round of copy editing (the final check for grammatical errors) had been done, so I spoke with Sarah (the fabulous author) and we agreed to take it down, have it officially copy edited, and then put it back up. Sorry for any confusion this might have caused.

We’ve posted the story again here: http://www.scienceline.org/2010/11/whats-in-your-weed-2/

Kudos to Scienceline and Rose for being so helpful, and for the excellent article.

________________________________________

There was an interesting article yesterday at NYU’s Scienceline called “What’s in Your Weed?”

The original address was http://www.scienceline.org/2010/11/whats-in-your-weed/ but that page is no longer available.

Basically, the article discussed the notion of the importance of CBD’s to the positive value of marijuana — an issue I’ve been very interested in seeing researched further. Unfortunately, criminalization has meant that the content of marijuana has been pushed toward higher THC without regard to CBD’s and their value.

The article reported on a recent study by Valerie Curran that compared marijuana users based on the content of their pot.

It turned out the kids smoking weed containing lots of the chemical cannabidiol (CBD) could remember details of the story just as well stoned as sober. Meanwhile, those smoking the low-CBD marijuana fit the stereotype of the forgetful pothead.

The findings fit into a growing library of data demonstrating the possible health benefits of CBD, which is naturally found in marijuana. CBD appears to fend off cancerous tumors, prevent diabetes and epileptic seizures, and protect nerve cells from degradation. It doesn’t combat the effects of THC, the ingredient in marijuana that causes a “high,” and can even prevent anxiety.

I don’t know why the article is no longer there, and I’ve written them to ask. Perhaps there was some item that they wanted to research further before printing.

The Drug Czar’s “blog” is boasting:

Today, California Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack nominated Director Kerlikowske for the 2011 Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, based on his proven leadership in the Nation’s efforts to reduce drug use and its consequences.

Outstanding government service. Really? Maybe it’s because he ended the drug war. Or failed to include the word “legalization” in his vocabulary.

Funny thing is, this is an award from the American Medical Association. And Director Kerlikowski has not been particularly interested in what they have to say. The ONDCP website still claims the American Medical Association to be

“…AMA recommends that marijuana be retained in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act…”

despite the fact that the AMA has demonstrated a strong interest in changing that.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, soon to be the leader of the Republican Governors Association, continued his argument Thursday that the federal government needed to halt their intervention in the private sector and refocus their energy toward securing the border — even if that means sending U.S. troops into Mexico.

While pushing his small government economic message on issues such as the auto industry and social security during an interview with MSNBC, Perry seemed to express a willingness to massively increase the U.S. military’s involvement in foreign affairs by deploying American forces across the southern border to fight in the Mexican drug war.

I’ve never really understood how concluding that the U.S. military really isn’t big enough seems to happen so often with “small government” politicians.

Deploying American forces in Mexico to fight the drug war is so bad in so many ways that it would take some kind of complete moron to even suggest such an idea…. Ah.

First, the Mexican public is not likely to be thrilled with the idea of the U.S. army crossing the border into their country.

Second, what are we going to fight? We’ve got a really great military for fighting other armies, or for blowing up stuff, but it’s really not that effective for targeting specific individuals within a noncombatant population. And, as anyone with a brain has figured out by now, if you do succeed in successfully targeting those individuals (without killing a whole lot of innocents in the process), all you end up doing is creating an opening that is filled with more violence.

I’ve been asked when I’m going to weigh in on the Four Loko bans. I was thinking about it, but then saw that E.D. Kain had already done a good job of hitting the high points over at Balloon Juice: Give me Four Loko or give me death (or something).

But honestly we have to quit treating everyone as though they were children. People were binge drinking before Four Loko came around. If anything, if this is the course of action we feel we need to take, we should ban margaritas and daiquiris and any other drink that tastes sweet. And beer, too, because let’s face it: beer is delicious and makes people like me want to drink way too much of it. Indeed, many people do. Many other people don’t.

Then again, I find the fact that we have to be twenty-one to drink legally insulting as well.

Absolutely (although I personally don’t actually enjoy beer that much). And I love the tag on this:

Again, I will reassert my belief that Americans have the right to be stupid – at least until their stupidity infringes someone else’s life or liberty. Personally, I wouldn’t touch Four Loko with a ten foot pole but damnit I’ll at the very least write a blog post defending your right to do so.

Done.

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.

Here is a letter that moved me.

My name is B.C. and I am an artist of many media. Right now I am an independent musician, and recent college graduate from the Houston Texas Area.

I used to be very anti-marijuana, until I got mad at my girlfriend for doing it, and decided to research it to give her a definitive answer on it’s ill effects. I found none. Instead I found your website, and the answer to why marijuana is Illegal. This is what sparked my education into such a helpful plant, one that I had viewed with such negativity for most of my life. Now I can say I am a full fledged scholar in the ins and outs of the plant, and one by one I have changed people’s thoughts on marijuana, and especially the drug war in general.

It helped me first hand medically when I had hernia surgery last year. The doctors told me my groin would be swollen black and blue for the next two days and put me on hydrochodon, for the next few months. Instead I convinced my parents who were taking care of me (who are adamantly anti marijuana), to let me smoke an indica strain that i had brought home. I showed them all the evidence at my disposal and they relented, eventually seeing the first hand effects of my swelling disappearing immediately, the sudden resurgence of appetite, and my general attitude not be so high strung and moody. I only used half of my original prescription, and never needed to refill. My Dad stopped drug testing his employees after that, and my mom was a firsthand witness to the medical effects.

Besides health benefits, my music became more open and creative, and I finally have a goal and a message inside. To let people be who they are, enjoy their life, and to get people to question the status quo. I have posted my first music video on youtube (link below), and think your readers might get some enjoyment out of it.

One at a time, we change people’s lives and make a difference, and the ripple effect can be profound.

Here is B.C.’s music video. Surreal and compelling.

A couple of people have requested the ability to edit their own comments after posting — you know, that horrible thing where you see that blatant typo right after you post.

Well, I’ve just purchased Ajax Edit Comments and added it to the site. It should allow you to edit comments for a short time after posting, or to request to delete the post, etc., and it even has a spell checker.

I imagine that this will have its own issues that we need to find and fix, and there are a ton of settings that I have for Ajax Edit Comments that I can try different approaches (more time, different options, different layouts, etc.).

Feel free to experiment in the comments on this post, and let me know how it works for you.