Drug WarRant

Link

Sept. 18, 2004 æ|æ OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former child star Macaulay Culkin was arrested on drug charges Friday during a traffic stop, authorities said. The 24-year-old actor, best known for his role in the “Home Alone” movies, was taken into custody on complaints of possession of a controlled dangerous substance without a valid prescription and possession of marijuana, according to the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office.

Culkin, who lives in New York City, was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail and released after posting $4,000 bond, a jailer said.

Authorities confiscated about 17 grams of marijuana from a vehicle in which Culkin was a passenger. Officers also found 16 milligrams of prescription medications used to control anxiety and seizures, according to a police report.

Culkin was in a vehicle driven by a 22-year-old New York City man who was stopped for driving 70 mph in a 60-mph speed zone and for making an improper lane change. After receiving a verbal warning, the driver allowed police to search the vehicle.

First: 16 milligrams of prescription medication? Is that a lot? Can you even see that amount? (There’s 500 milligrams of pain reliever in my Tylenol) And about 1/2 ounce of pot.
Second: Folks. Do not authorize authorities to search your car, your person, your purse, your house. You have the right to refuse such searches. (You musn’t resist searches if they occur anyway, but you need not say “Yes”)

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Once you say “Yes” to a search then you have surrendered your rights. Law enforcement knows how to ask persuasively (sometimes going to illegal lengths), but all you need do is politely refuse permission, saying that it is against your political beliefs to authorize such searches (even if you aren’t carrying anything, you should never agree to a search).
For extra help, download and print the ACLU Bustcard (pdf) and carry it in your wallet.
Update: Reader Trent points out that 16 milligrams of a prescription medicine can be a whopping dose, depending on what drug it is. I admit I was a bit flip in my comment about the amount seized (without knowing what the drug was, we really don’t have a sense of the significance of the amount). In retrospect, I think I was thrown by the fact that they apparently only listed the amount of the active ingredient — I’m used to hearing about drug charges being listed by the amount/weight of the entire product, including the stems/seeds/blotter paper/starch or whatever.
Further Update: Reader Mark points out that Just Cause Law Collective has some good “street-level” common sense information on knowing your rights.

What’s the difference between detention and
arrest? If arrested, what’s the one and only form you
should be willing to sign without a lawyer? If
interrogated, what are the magic words? [“I’m going to remain silent. I
would like to see a lawyer.”]

I’ve talked here about Alaskan courts and their sensible approch to possession of 4 ounces or less of marijuana in your own home (if you haven’t read that first post, take a moment to do so — the judge’s comments are amazing!). And recently the Alaskan courts held that a warrant required reasonable belief that there was more than 4 ounces of marijuana present.
Last week, the Alaskan Supreme Court denied a petition by the state attorney general’s office seeking reconsideration.
Good.
However, the Attorney General continues to be an idiot:

“We’re not giving up,” [Attorney General Gregg] Renkes said.

He’ll be taking his case to the legislature where he’ll try to prove marijuana is a harmful enough drug to warrant amending the constitution.

“The state has been denied an opportunity to present a record of the harmfulness of marijuana,” Renkes said.

Oh, I’d like to see that presentation of evidence. What’s he going to do, show them a copy of “Reefer Madness?”

“I’m really appalled that it appears some people are still fighting the culture war of the 1970s,” he said.

Actually, I think it’s Renkes who’s fighting the culture war of the 70s, seeing hippies behind every joint.

Residents of Eugene, Oregon have filed a suit for $25,500 in damages, plus punitive and other damages.

A lawsuit over a controversial 2002 drug raid in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood claims that police lied to persuade a judge to give them a search warrant to raid three adjacent houses near West Fifth Avenue and Adams Street in search of a marijuana growing operation.

The early morning raid – in which 59 officers used an armored truck and diversionary explosions of “flash-bang” grenades in a militaristic show of force – found no drug operation and resulted in no criminal prosecution.

[emphasis added]

The article is quite interesting in that it lists a whole range of specific details and ways that the police purposely misled the judge in order to get the warrant. Read it all. You’ll be amazed.

Fortunately, no one died in this one.

Teresa Guiler and James Elliott, who are in their 50s, were home watching television when the masked men stormed into the house. Guiler, whose arm was in a sling from a previous injury, told police that they had the wrong man as they pointed a gun at her and Elliott, who is deaf and had recently received a liver transplant, she said. …

“What justification can you give to kick a 54-year-old man who’s down on the ground,” Meeks said about Elliott, who is a Vietnam War veteran. “All he saw was men in masks with rifles. He was terrified. Then to get knocked down and stomped. They picked him up like a suitcase. The Police Department said they acted in normal procedure, but that’s not normal.”

The police plan on sending a written apology.
See Last One Speaks and Desert Cat for commentary. I don’t feel up to it tonight.

is a registered student organization at Illinois State University, and they now have a spiffy new web site.
I am their somewhat neglectful faculty advisor, finding myself too often busy working on this site rather than attending their meetings, but I’m a huge fan of what they’re working to do.
If you’re at Illinois State, why not get involved with M.A.S.H.? Their meetings are every Wednesday at 8 pm in Stevenson 223. They also have occassional movie showings (they showed Grass earlier this week. They also have Hey Hemp events where they make some incredible hemp jewelry and they hold a Hemp Fest in December and April.

“bullet” Last One Speaks has:

• The story of a victory in the fight against the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Reformer David Soares won the primary for Albany’s district attorney overwhelmingly in a race that appeared to be in large part a referendum on the Rockefeller laws.
• More good medical news as some additional cancer fighting properties of THC are discovered.

“bullet” Baylen’s got a bunch of stuff over at D’Alliance, including:

• Einstein’s Relativity Theory Applied to Drug Profits is an odd piece dealing with the strange behavior of the Colombian peso.
• Feds Seek to Seize Home, Land of Med-Pot Grower
  

  Not satisfied with his 500 marijuana plants and $105,000 in cash, the federal government is looking to seize the home of a California medical marijuana grower and the building in which he does business. Richard Marino doesn’t actually own the building, and he has yet to be charged with any crime.

  His dispensary, Capitol Compassionate Care, served about 1,000 patients near Sacramento before the raid. He points out that he was operating with a license from the city of Roseville and in compliance with California state law.

• Link (pdf) to the Drug Czar’s largely incoherent reply in the new edition of National Review and Ethan Nadelmann’s reply. I hope to comment more on this soon. Jacob Sullom already has at Hit and Run.

George Soros has lodged a formal complaint against Speaker Dennis Hastert before the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. (This is for Hastert’s ridiculous innuendo on national television that Soros received funding from drug cartels.)
Josh Marshall has the full text of the letter. Here’s an excerpt:

Such conduct brings discredit on the House. It is inconsistent with basic notions of fair play and open debate that are the basis of our Constitutional system, and it is all too reminiscent of the McCarthyite tactics that were used to such scurrilous effect to stifle dissent during one of the darkest periods of recent United States history.

Members of both political parties have recently decried “the politics of personal destruction.” It is time for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to formally declare that smear tactics and innuendo are discrediting our political process and the House of Representatives as an institution by taking appropriate action to investigate and censure Representative Hastert for these outrageous remarks.

I’m glad to see this happening, although of course I don’t hold much hope for anything coming of it, since the ethics committee appears right now to be corrupt.

This one was a bit depressing. The Senate race is easy: Sowell is the clear choice over Shelby. I’ve mentioned this race before.
The House races were tougher. Every single House incumbent from Alabama, regardless of party, voted against the Hinchey amendment in both of the last two years, meaning that they voted in favor of continuing the practice of the federal government harrassing sick people for following state law in states where medical marijuana is legal. Not only is this intolerant, but it goes against states rights.
Some of the low points include:

• Gerry Wallace, running in the 5th, who says “The ‘War on Drugs’ should be intensified and Treated as a war to be won!”
• Judy Belk in the 1st who says that she will “declare a war on drugs and believesæthat all means should be used to fight this war head-on” [Ah, the problem is we just haven’t “declared” it yet]
• Steve Cameron in the 7th — a real nut case who also believes in declaring war on liquor and tobacco and making them illegal

Good luck to those of you in Alabama. I’ve tried to give a couple of suggestions.
Update: If you’re upset about the situation in Alabama, give Loretta and the folks at Alabama Marijuana Party a hand.
More voting guides to come. (So far, Alabama, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington are available.)

I have often railed against the notion of drug task forces on this blog. These entities (often combining local, state and federal officers) are dangerous to peaceful American citizens and have structures that often lead to corruption and lack of local oversight. They use military tactics domestically, causing more damage (and sometimes loss of life) than the drugs they are pursuing.
Now it appears that some in Texas are getting the message

Could the era of Texas’ notorious regional narcotics task forces be ending? Possibly.æ A number of city officials across the state have reflected on the expensive lesson learned by the City of Amarillo-which earlier this year paid a $5 million settlement to victims of the much-discredited Tulia drug sting-and have pulled out of their local task forces in order to avoid the negative publicity, scandalous headlines, and hefty civil suits that seem to plague these law enforcement entities.

On August 31, the North Central Texas Narcotics Task Force, which covered Denton and Grayson Counties, ceased operations thanks to a July decision by Denton County Sheriff Weldon Lucas to disband the 15-year-old agency.æ As part of the move, the task force is returning what remains of its $418,738 Byrne grant to Gov.æ Rick Perry’s office, which administers Byrne funds.æ August 31 also marked the end of the South Plains Regional Narcotics Task Force, which has conducted narcotics investigations and stings in Lubbock and 17 outlying counties for more than 15 years.æ In mid-August, the Lubbock Police Department pulled out of South Plains and forfeited its role as administrator of the task force’s $655,650 Byrne grant.

In explaining their decision to withdraw, Lubbock police department officials cited rising insurance premiums and fees, the need for officers to focus on city drug cases, and an excessive expenditure of officers’ time and travel to cover such a vast area.æ However, increased liability risks were also a major factor.æ Lubbock lies just south of the area once served by the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force, which employed Tom Coleman-the officer primarily responsible for the botched up Tulia sting.æ As the Panhandle task force’s grant administrator, Amarillo became financially liable for Coleman’s actions, even though the sheriff’s department of neighboring Swisher County hired him.æ The Panhandle task force disbanded this spring.

Moving southward, the City of Laredo has pulled out of the Laredo Multi-Agency Narcotics Task Force, also forfeiting its role as grant administrator and reducing the task force by half.æ

Congratulations are due to the ACLU of Texas, who prepared the 2002 report Too Far Off Task, which helped bring to light many of the corrupt tactics of Texas’ Regional Narcotics Task Forces.

The report cites 24 recent major Texas narcotics scandals since 1998, 15 of them at RNTFs and two more at the state oversight office, where undercover drug officers were found to have engaged in activities ranging from stealing, dealing or transporting drugs, lying under oath, falsifying government documents or even setting up innocent people.

By abolishing the RNTFs, Texas could save $199 million in state and local funds in the next two-year budget cycle, the report estimates. Next biennium savings would surge to $372 million — more than $15 million per month.

If your area has a drug task force, or is considering starting one, let me know, and I’ll help you gather material to demonstrate to your community the dangers of these groups.

Just a reminder that there is a Guest Rants section in this blog.
“bullet” The newest addition is The American Inquisition by Ian MacLeod. Ian has been a chronic pain patient as well as having medical training and background, so he really understands what he’s talking about when he discusses the inquisition against pain patients in this country. Definitely worth reading.
“bullet” And if you missed it earlier, check out Serial CatOwner’s rant on the importance of the 2004 election.