CNN: The end of taking people to jail for weed?

The end of the war on marijuana - CNN.com By Roger A. Roffman , Special to CNN updated 8:31 AM EST, Thu November 8, 2012

CNN.com

The costs of marijuana prohibition have hindered rather than helped good decision-making, says Roger Roffman.

Editor's note: Roger A. Roffman is a professor emeritus of social work at the University of Washington, a sponsor of I-502, and author of the forthcoming "A Marijuana Memoir."

(CNN) -- The historic measure to regulate and tax marijuana in Washington State deserves to be looked at closely as a model of how legalization ought to be designed and implemented elsewhere in America.

We've turned a significant corner with the approval of Initiative 502, which purposefully offers a true public health alternative to the criminal prohibition of pot.

For the first time in a very long time, the well-intended but failed criminal penalties to protect public health and safety will be set aside. Adults who choose to use marijuana and obtain it through legal outlets will no longer be faced with the threat of criminal sanctions. People of color will no longer face the egregious inequities in how marijuana criminal penalties are imposed. Parents, as they help prepare their children for the choices they face concerning marijuana, will no longer be hobbled by misinformation about the drug and the absence of effective supports to encourage abstinence.

"The great experiment" of alcohol prohibition became the national law in 1920. Its intentions were good, but it failed in a number of vitally important ways. In 1923, the state of New York repealed its alcohol prohibition law. Ten other states soon followed, and in 1933 national Prohibition ended.

I believe Washington state has just played that pivotal role with regard to marijuana. Moreover, by borrowing from public health model principles known to be effective, the state has offered the most compelling replacement to prohibition considered to date.

What is a public health model? In brief, it's an approach that acknowledges use of marijuana can present harms to the user and to public safety, and includes provisions to prevent or ameliorate those harms.

A public health model includes six key elements. Washington state's new law incorporates each of them.

The first is accountable oversight by an agency of government. The Washington state legalization model assigns responsibility to a state agency for writing regulations concerning how the growing, producing and selling of marijuana will occur. Among those regulations are tight limitations on advertising and the prevention of access to marijuana by minors. Then, that agency will have the authority to issue licenses to growers, producers and sellers and to enforce adherence to the rules.

The second element is a well-funded multifaceted marijuana education program that is based on science rather than ideology. Far too few Americans are sufficiently informed about marijuana's effects on health and behavior, both the positive and the negative. A key to good decision-making is possessing accurate information.

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The third element is well-funded prevention programs widely available to all the state's geographical and demographic communities. We've learned a great deal about what knowledge, skills and community supports actually work in helping young people navigate a world in which drugs such as marijuana are readily available. Sadly, far too little funding has been devoted to putting such programs to work in our communities.

A fourth element is making treatment of marijuana dependence readily available. The new law dedicates funding to establish a statewide Marijuana Help Line. It also earmarks funding to state, county and local governments for the provision of services for those in need of help.

Evaluation of the new law's impact is the fifth element. An independent state agency will receive funding to conduct periodic assessments of how the new system affects behaviors, attitudes and knowledge. Using the findings of these evaluative studies, the state agency overseeing the pricing and taxing of marijuana can adjust those costs to maximize undercutting of the black market and deterrence of youth access to marijuana.

The sixth element is research. The new law earmarks funding to the state's two major research universities for the purpose of conducting marijuana-focused studies. As we gradually learn how to live more healthfully and safely with marijuana, the knowledge derived from those studies will inform education, prevention, treatment and refinements in the law.

In more than 40 years of research -- primarily marijuana dependence counseling interventions for adults and adolescents -- it has seemed to me that prohibition has hindered more than it has helped good decision-making. Far too many teens think smoking pot is "no big deal," greatly underestimating the risk of being derailed from social, psychological and educational attainment. Far too many adults don't take seriously enough the risk of marijuana dependence that accompanies very frequent use.

We can do better. By regulating and taxing marijuana based on a set of strong public health principles, I believe our cultural norms concerning marijuana will shift and the harms we've witnessed will greatly reduce.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roger A. Roffman.

Vote to Quit Taking People to Jail for Weed. Stop cartel violence. Twofer.

US Voters Could Win The Drug War On Tuesday

Michael Kelley | Nov. 5, 2012, 12:27 PM | 3,709 | 16



DEA

It's estimated that between 40 and 70 percent of American pot is currently grown in Mexico.

Voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington could pass measures tomorrow that would potentially cripple Mexico's drug cartels.

Sari Horwitz of Washington Post reports that the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's oldest and most powerful, is selling a record amount of heroin and methamphetamine in Chicago as it takes its burgeoning marijuana trade to the next level.

But Amendment 64 in Colorado and I-502 in Washington—both of which currently have a majority of support among likely voters—could change all of that by making marijuana legal for persons 21-years-old and older while taxing it under a tightly regulated system similar to that for controlling hard alcohol.

The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a Mexico City think-tank, published a report detailing how legalization at the state level could sink cartel revenues from drug trafficking because "one or more states could meet most of its domestic demand with domestic production."

Since the quality of U.S.-grown marijuana is much better than Mexico-grown, the IMCO figures that domestic bud from Colorado, Oregon or Washington would be cheaper everywhere in the country besides near the border.



Mexican Institute for Competitiveness

Consequently, the IMCO estimates that cartels would lose about $1.4 billion of their $2 billion revenues from marijuana, which would mean the Sinaloa cartel would lose up to half of its total income.

Furthermore, other drug exports would become less competitive as fixed costs such as bribes, and fighting rivals would remain the same.

The study notes that there is "considerable uncertainty about the effect a substantial loss of income might have on the behavior of Mexican criminal organizations and, therefore, on the security environment in Mexico."

Nevertheless, it's a potential gamechanger. The Economist puts it best: "Legalization could, in short, deal a blow to Mexico’s traffickers of a magnitude that no current policy has got close to achieving. The stoned and sober alike should bear that in mind when they cast their votes on Tuesday."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/drug-war-legalization-marijuana-2012-11#ixzz2BPpXdOYD

UNBELIEVABLE: Police kill man over a little weed and an empty vile

THIS HAPPENS EVERY DAY IN AMERICA! STOP THE MADNESS!

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/utah-video-police-kill-man-drug-raid_n_810420.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

Police Kill Man In Drug Raid Gone Wrong (VIDEO)

by Ryan Grim
Utah police shot and killed a man within seconds of storming his parents' home, video of the raid shows. The police had a warrant to search for drugs, but found only a small amount of pot and an empty vial that had apparently contained meth.

Local media report that Todd Blair, 45, was a drug addict rather than a dealer, according to friends and family.

In the video, Blair can be seen holding a golf club above his head as police smash through his door. Within seconds, without demanding Blair drop the iron or lay down, Weber-Morgan Strike Force Sgt. Troy Burnett fires three shots into him. The local prosecutor has deemed the killing justified, but his family is planning a federal lawsuit, arguing that police had plenty of alternatives.

Blair's death raises the question of why multiple heavily-armed officers were sent to raid a drug addict -- and why Weber and Morgan counties in Utah would even need a "Narcotics Strike Force." Local police forces are able to keep property they seize in drug raids, often without the necessity of a conviction, creating a perverse incentive to reinvest in military equipment and carry out additional raids.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the main focus of the police investigation had been Blair's roommate, who police said in the application for the warrant would destroy evidence if they weren't given authority to carry out a "no-knock" raid. But police were aware that his roommate had moved out.

Police tried to detain Blair so that he wouldn't be in the house when it was raided, but pulled over the wrong person. Despite that mistake, and despite the knowledge that the roommate had moved out, the raid on Blair was still carried out. It was hastily planned, reported the Tribune, diverting from protocol. Burnett, who shot Blair, told investigators that it is "absolutely not our standard" to carry out such a raid with as little planning as was done, according to the Tribune.

It was so hastily carried out, in fact, that police forgot the warrant. According to the Tribune, in the video it obtained an officer can be heard asking: "Did somebody grab a copy of the warrant off my desk?"

Burnett replies: "Oh, don't tell me that." He then complains to the other officers: "He doesn't have a copy of the warrant."

Minutes later, Blair would be dead. "I didn't think about saying words. I just thought about not getting hit, or slashed or whatever," Burnett told investigators, saying that he thought the golf club was "a sword or something." He also said that it did not appear to him that Blair was moving toward him, an admission that could prove crucial in a federal criminal or civil case.

The killer, Sgt. Burnett, had previously told alaw-enforcement magazine that he and fellow officers were trained to shoot quickly and at close range. Burnett had previously put the training to use by shooting and killing an armed suspect in 2008.

"Maybe a month before this [2008 shooting], we did our qualification and this kind of scenario was played out in live fire training where we had to quickly draw and fire at close range," Burnett said at the time. "It wasn't quite identical, but it was close. We were simulating taking down information and then all of a sudden had to drop it and fire quickly. I absolutely believe my training played a factor in this situation. I was always confident in my close-range shooting ability, and the ammo I'm absolutely pleased with. It did its job."

The below video of Blair's death, posted by The Salt Lake Tribune, is a graphic depiction of the type of raid that has become commonplace in the United States as a result of the militarization of local police forces.

Quit taking people to jail for weed every 42 seconds

FBI Numbers: One Marijuana Arrest Every 42 Seconds in U.S.

source: http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2012/10/fbi_numbers_one_marijuana_arrest_every_42_seconds.php
By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in News
Monday, October 29, 2012 at 12:07 pm



Half Of All American Drug Arrests Are For Cannabis; New Stats Reveal Failure of "War on Drugs"

Just over one week before voters in three states will decide on ballot measures to legalize and regulate marijuana, the FBI on Monday released a new report showing that police in the United States arrest someone for marijuana every 42 seconds, and that 87 percent of those arrests are for possession alone.

Monday's FBI report shows that 81.8 percent of drug arrests were for possession only, and just under half (49.5 percent) of all drug arrests were for marijuana.

A group of police, judges and other law enforcement officials advocating for the legalization and regulation of marijuana and other drugs pointed to the figures showing more than 750,000 marijuana arrests in 2011 -- more than 40 years after the start of the "War On Drugs" -- as evidence that this is a war that can never be won. With more than 1.5 million total drug arrests drug arrests being reported in the U.S. in 2011, that's one drug arrest every 21 seconds.




LEAP

Neill Franklin, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: "That's a lot of money to spend for a practice that four decades of unsuccessful policies have proved does nothing to reduce the consumption of drugs"

One hopeful sign is that these numbers have decreased slightly from those of the prior year. This is perhaps reflective of the growing number of communities across the country that have recognized the need for drug law reform and implemented new policies designed to alleviate the harms of the drug war, such as the deprioritization of marijuana enforcement.

"Even excluding the costs involved for later trying and then imprisoning these people, taxpayers are spending between one and a half to three billion dollars a year just on the police and court time involved in making these arrests," said Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore narcotics cop who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). "That's a lot of money to spend for a practice that four decades of unsuccessful policies have proved does nothing to reduce the consumption of drugs.

"Three states have measures on the ballot that would take the first step in ending this failed war by legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana," Franklin said. "I hope they take this opportunity to guide the nation to a more sensible approach to drug use."

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) represents police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials and others who, after witnessing the harms of the drug war firsthand, are now devoted to ending that war.

Jury Nullification: DO IT!

Source: http://www.freeweekly.com/2012/09/27/top-secret-you-can-nullify-the-drug-war/

Top Secret: You Can Nullify The Drug War

Posted by Terrah Baker |


By Abel Tomlinson


In civics class, we are taught that we have only three branches of government. However, there is a secret fourth branch of power that remains in the hands of ordinary citizens. The secret de facto right is called “jury nullification,” which allows jurors to veto unjust laws, and override congress, the president and the Supreme Court when necessary.


As a juror, you will almost never be informed of this right to disagree with the law, and certainly not in Arkansas at this moment. Currently, New Hampshire recently became the only state that allows for jurors to be fully informed about this right.


Arkansas judges intentionally keep you ignorant through carefully crafted “jury instructions.” In an Arkansas jury trial, the judge will tell you the following:


“I instruct you on the law to be applied … You would deny the parties their right to a fair trial if you based your decision on something other than the law and evidence presented … or on some legal rule other than the ones I give you…So the basic principle is this: You are to decide this case fairly, based only on the evidence I allow to be presented in this courtroom and the law as instructed by me. You are not to consider information from any other source (Ark. Model Jury Instr. (November 2011).”


This jury instruction is very misleading, and it too deserves to be nullified as unjust. There is not one mention whatsoever about the very long history of jury nullification that traces beyond our nation’s founding. Furthermore, this instruction is a fear tactic of the highest degree to scare jurors into groveling at the feet of authority, as if the judge was King George.


John Jay, the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said in 1794, “The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.” Another Supreme Court Justice and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Samuel Chase, also said,“The jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts.” Harlon Stone, the 12th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court reaffirmed in 1941, “The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.” In a more recent decision of U.S. vs. Dougherty (1972), the Court ruled, “The pages of history shine on instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge…”


Not only did many of our founders and Supreme Court Justices agree that it is a right of jurors to oppose unjust laws, but it was seen as an essential check on government tyranny. Justice Byron White said in Duncan vs. Louisiana (1968), “A right to jury trial is granted to criminal defendants in order to prevent oppression by the Government … and to protect against judges too responsive to the voice of higher authority.” President Thomas Jefferson also said, “To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions is a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”


Jury nullification also has a proud history of promoting sincere justice during the slavery and Prohibition eras. It was used many times when Northern juries refused to convict slaves that violated the Fugitive Slave Act. In the case of alcohol prohibition, juries nullified alcohol control laws approximately 60 percent of the time. This significant resistance helped repeal prohibition with the adoption of the 21st Amendment.


Just as nullification helped end prohibition, it is now necessary for potential jurors everywhere to become informed and end the tyranny of the Drug War. Not only are we locking thousands upon thousands of peaceful humans in cages for victimless crime, but federal and state governments are now spending over $50 billion annually on a war that experts conclude has been a complete failure. The 2011 report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy explicitly finds: “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world …”


A 2011 Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legalized. A recent National Law Journal poll also found 75 percent of Americans would act on their own beliefs of morality regardless of a judge’s jury instruction. Hence, it is now time to act. Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at George Washington University wrote in the New York Times:


“If you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped make our laws fairer.”

It is a distinct honor to serve as a juror and armed with the truth about nullification, you wield an incredible power that can overrule extreme legal injustices approved by politicians. As President John Adams said, this is “not only [the juror’s] right, but his duty.”


If selected for jury duty, ignore the judge’s intimidation tactics, and understand that jurors can never be punished for their verdict. The juror oath and jury instructions are not legally binding and must be regarded as advice. However, it is best to remain silent about this knowledge in order to remain in the jury pool.


Please Google “jury nullification,” visit the Fully Informed Jury Association’s website (FIJA.org), share this article, and begin informing your friends and family about their secret rights. We can end this cruel and immoral drug war. Now is the moment for peace.


For information on the FIJA Arkansas chapter, find us on Facebook.

Outrageous

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