Drug WarRant

I mentioned this case briefly back in July. As part of a drug sting, police in Great Barrington, MA lured and arrested 19 young people for selling drugs (most were first time offenders and many were for small amounts of marijuana — one was just for connecting the officer with someone who could sell). The state has onerous 1,000 feet school zone laws (very difficult to know when you’re in a school zone) and the DA chose to apply the school zone mandatory minimums.
The first trial, for Kyle Sawin, ended up in a mistrial in July. They went back to trial and on Friday the jury found him Not Guilty.
Apparently both juries were concerned about the severity of the 2 year mandatory minimum, and felt that the sting looked more like entrapment:

Juror Jonathan Nix said that the panel was split when deliberations began, but that as it grappled with the issues surrounding the case, its members concluded that not enough evidence existed to convince them with certainty that the earliest transaction occurred.

“On the other two (sales), we felt that there was enough coercion to warrant an entrapment finding,” Nix, of Becket, said.

From the Berkshire Eagle’s editorial:

The Draconian nature of the school-zone law simply cannot be ignored. It makes no distinction between first and habitual offenders or the amount of drugs sold. It ties the hands of judges, who should be allowed to consider the differences in drug cases brought before them. It is clearly designed to protect school children, and while the Taconic lot is within 1,000-feet of two schools, the undercover operation took place in summer. It’s obvious unfairness will loom over any of the trials brought because of the Great Barrington sting.

First-time drug dealers should be penalized through some combination of probation, counseling and community service that will set them straight without ruining the lives of the young people charged. However, the district attorney’s all-or-nothing strategy, built as it is upon a bad law, means they will escape punishment and the counseling they clearly need.

Juries can send important messages — to District Attorneys and to lawmakers. This was a community that believed the law was improperly inflexible (a community petition to drop the school zone charges had gotten a lot of signatures), and that believed the DA and police had overstepped. The jury agreed and refused to convict — twice — despite having sufficient evidence that the drug sales had taken place.
Remember the power of the jury.
[A roundup of articles on the case from the Berkshire Eagle is here. Thanks, Adam]

The historically conservative Reader’s Digest comes through with Petty Crime, Outrageous Punishment by Carl M. Cannon.
The article goes after the three-strikes law, but includes a lot more mandatory minimum madness, including this amazing story:

A Florida welfare mom, Clyburn accompanied her boyfriend to a pawnshop to sell his .22-caliber pistol. She provided her ID because her boyfriend didn’t bring his own, and the couple got $30 for the gun. But Clyburn had a previous criminal record for minor drug charges, and when federal authorities ran a routine check of the pawnshop’s records, they produced a “hit” — a felon in possession of a firearm. That’s automatically 15 years in federal prison, which is exactly what Clyburn got. “I never even held the gun,” she noted in an interview from prison.

No one is more appalled than H. Jay Stevens, the former federal public defender from the middle district of Florida. “Everybody I’ve described this case to says, “This can’t have happened.” [But] it’s happening five days a week all over this country.”

This one made me smile a little:

Several years ago, a prominent Congressman, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois, was sent to prison on mail-fraud charges. It was only then that he learned what he’d been voting for all those years when anticrime legislation came up and he cast the safe “aye” vote. Rostenkowski told of being stunned at how many young, low-level drug offenders were doing 15- and 20- year stretches in federal prison.

“The waste of these lives is a loss to the entire community,” Rostenkowski said. “I was swept along by the rhetoric about getting tough on crime. Frankly, I lacked both expertise and perspective on these issues.”

So true. All our elected leaders lack the expertise and perspective… Perhaps we could help them out by giving them all some jail time.

You may recall that Boulder City Attorney Dave Olsen wants to seize the home of 56-year-old Cynthia Warren for her misdemeanor charge of growing 6 marijuana plants (see here and here). The editorials in the papers have been slamming Olsen.
At the time, several commenters here noted that Dave Olsen pled no contest to a misdemeanor drunk driving charge in 2004. Well that also didn’t escape the notice of Steve Sebelius in this scathing article in the Las Vegas City Life.

[…]And you know what? I agree with [Olsen], wholeheartedly. We must seize the property of those who put children in danger, and we must do it now.

So that’s why we’ve got to immediately seize Dave Olsen’s motorcycle.

You see, in 2004, Olsen pled no contest to drunken driving, a crime that surely has taken more lives than marijuana ever will. Anti-DUI advocates are fond of saying that, with a drunken driver at the controls, a vehicle is a weapon, surely one more dangerous than Cynthia Warren’s house.

Call the Boulder City police, and get the Henderson SWAT team for backup. There could be a standoff.

The problem with Olsen is not just that he’s a hypocrite — although he surely is — it’s that he’s also not telling the truth. […]

It’s great to see this strong a response in the media.

Outrage barely covers it: Regardless of what the law says, Olsen is engaging in an act of theft. Warren committed a crime, and was punished for committing a crime. Olsen’s exacting a punishment for something Warren never did in the eyes of the law, making wild and untrue claims in the process. He should drop this case immediately, and if he doesn’t, Boulder City fathers should find the courage to order him to stop.

In the meantime, will somebody look at seizing that motorcycle? I think we’d all feel safer if they did.

After five years of unprecedented runaway spending (that has almost made LBJ look fiscally conservative), a group of Republican House members apparently finally looked at our credit card statements.
It all came to a boil when they were trying to decide which card still had enough credit limit left to buy the brand new Sim City: New Orleans.
“Hey, who charged this $223 million bridge to nowhere?” asked one of them. “Kiss my ear,” replied Don Young (disappointed that nobody actually nibbled his lobes, which are incredibly sensitive).
So they decided to look at how they could cut back on the family expenses (You’ve all been there before — no movie rentals this month, eliminate Sally’s lunch money and let her trade sexual favors for food, etc.)
So the Republican Study Committee has released a list of cuts (pdf) to help cover the cost. (Of course, these cuts wouldn’t actually touch the current credit card balances or anything — that would require some really tough choices.)
I’m not going to comment on all the cuts they suggested — most will not survive their own colleagues’ self-interest.
But let’s check out the drug war entries:

OK, there are a couple of good cuts there, but that’s just scratching the surface. Only level the funding for Andean Counter-Drug Initiative? Scrap it. And where’s the cuts to the DEA’s budget? Come on, guys — you can’t tell me that you’re going to eliminate the Moon/Mars mission and Sesame Street, but keep arresting grandma for using marijuana to help deal with her chemo treatments in California? Does that make any sense at all?
On the plus side, it’s nice to see members of Congress in print point out that some of these programs that they suggested for the chopping block are “ineffective.”
We may want to remind them of that fact on occassion.

Via News of the Weed:
The Times Online (UK) published a reefer-madness article by Will Iredale and Holly Watt on Sunday: Mental problems soar among children using cannabis.

The number of children treated for mental disorders caused by smoking cannabis has quadrupled since the government downgraded the legal status of the drug, according to a leading drug charity.

Startling. But clearly nonsense to anyone who follows the facts. Yet at a time when there are prohibitionists in England trying hard to reverse the liberalization trend, such an article will fan flames in a major way.
So what’s this leading drug charity where the Times got their info? Addaction.
The very next day, Addaction released this statement

The Sunday Times published a story on September 18th under the heading “Mental Health Problems Soar Among Children Using Cannabis” by Will Iredale and Holly Watt that bore little relation to any information supplied by Addaction, and was, in our view, entirely misleading.

The story has been so structured as to make a case about cannabis-related psychosis based on information the paper claims came from Addaction, but which did not come from the charity.

In 2004-5 Addaction which collects data on numbers of young people seen in its youngaddaction services, saw 1,575 young people who came to Addaction for treatment for drug misuse. Addaction collected data on cannabis use. But Addaction is not a mental health charity and is not qualified to treat psychosis.

Rosie Brocklehurst, Director of Communications at Addaction said: “The subject of cannabis-related psychosis is a very serious subject and the report in the Sunday Times made serious claims, based on no evidence supplied by us. We suspect the story was influenced by the Sunday Times wish to write a piece before the imminent deliberations by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The ACMD will be reviewing the scientific evidence on cannabis use and misuse and will be making recommendations to the Government in the light of those deliberations.”

I haven’t seen a correction yet at the Times.

I’ve just started rehearsals as musical director for Marat/Sade – quite a fascinating challenge, so my posting may occassionally be erratic.
For today, let’s take an interesting trip around the world…
“bullet” Controversy in Mexico over the decision by the Catholic Church to accept donations from drug traffickers. The Bishop says such money can be “purified” by giving it to the church. Government spokesmen call it money laundering.
“bullet” Russia is considering mass mandatory drug testing for college students and prospective college students. Students testing positive would be thrown out in 24 hours, and refusal to take a test would be the same as a positive test. [Thanks, Herb]
“bullet” China is expanding its drug enforcement bureaucracy.
“bullet” Nigeria has apparently been bamboozled into believing that using the United States Drug Enforcement Agency as a role model is a good thing.
“bullet” In Great Britain, David Cameron, a Tory and possible future leader of the conservative party calls for the United Nations to legalize drugs and let individual countries try their own approaches.
“bullet” Iran is concerned about opium and feels that “at least a 10-year period is needed to smash the facilities of drug production in Afghanistan.” Dream on.
“bullet” The Philipines always manages to find bizarre and provocative stories to promote their drug war. This is a prime example: Druggie Rapes Deranged Sister
“bullet” Australians are slow to learn the lesson: Do not go to Indonesia.
“bullet” The Colombian army discovered a huge cocaine lab. Yawn. Likely effect on cocaine prices: 0.
“bullet” In Amsterdam, “a television presenter on a new Dutch talk show plans to take heroin and other illegal drugs on air in a program intended to reach young audiences on topics that touch their lives.” It’s called the “Shoot Up and Swallow Show.” [Thanks, Tim]
“bullet” “Japan’s flea markets have become ‘lawless zones,’ according to Weekly Playboy (10/4), with perverts, purveyors of putrid porno and pimps of drugs like magic mushrooms running amok.”

I always love reading Robert Sharpe. Such clarity in his writing, and he’s always able to hit all the important points in a way that is palatable to, and resonates with, those not in the reform community. Check out his OpEd in the Charlotte Observer.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol — the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death — it makes no sense to waste tax dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and facilitate hard drug use.

Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children are more important than the message.

A real bad apple:

[Thomas] Pfortmiller, a 14-year police officer before he resigned in May 2004, pleaded no contest on July 15 to 17 counts of perjury, 11 counts of theft of more than $500 but less than $25,000, 11 counts of forgery and 11 counts of official misconduct. Pfortmiller, who originally was charged with 100 felonies and misdemeanors, was convicted of 50 felonies based on his plea.

Pfortmiller took $20,855 in police funds, claiming it was to go to an informant who would buy illegal drugs. The drug buys never took place, Steve Karrer, a Shawnee County assistant district attorney, said during Pfortmiller’s plea in July, but reports led to false arrest warrants being issued.

OK, this is some really horrific behavior by a police officer — particularly when it led to false arrests — destroying other people’s lives.
District Judge Eric Rosen made it clear that this was indefensible in the strongest words:

“Major cases have been dismissed, and most shocking, citizens of our community have been set up, accused and warrants issued for their arrest for crimes they did not commit,” said Rosen, comparing it to dictatorships, including the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In writing false affidavits against defendants, “your actions constitute an abuse of power of the highest degree,” Rosen said. “When a law enforcer becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law. It invites everyone to become the law unto themselves. It invites anarchy.”

So the judge threw the book at him.
The sentence?
Instead of the usual sentence of probation, the judge sentenced Pfortmiller to 16 months.
What????
What kind of a country is this? Someone can get dozens of years in prison for consentual sales of a relatively harmless drug, but betraying the public trust and framing innocent people as part of 50 felonies gets an officer only a year and a half.
This is outrageous.
Those who are public servants must be held to higher standards. This kind of sentence is an insult to all the good officers out there.
Link

Letter to the editor in the Globe and Mail by Robert Melamede, associate professor and chair, Biology Department, University of Colorado:

I hope Canadians have the intelligence and courage not to be mindless slaves to the oppressive stupidity of America’s drug war. This war has its roots in racism, ignorance and greed. Sadly, the U.S. is run by religious zealots who deny science and are incapable of understanding that marijuana is a miracle medicine for many because it is the only plant that mimics the way our bodies try to maintain balance.

We all produce marijuana-like compounds known as endocannabinoids. And cannabinoids, among their many functions, regulate open-mindedness. I trust the Canadian government and judicial system are not as biologically defective as found in the United States. Protect Marc Emery; he is a Canadian asset.

Go see Daksya’s new blog, Psychotonic.
He’s done a great job of laying out the Downing Street Report (something he had sent to me, but I had not gotten around to posting).
Here it is in four installments: