"Four decades ago, President Nixon launched the US-led global War on Drugs. It has cost the nation over a trillion dollars. 50,000 people have lost their lives to shootouts, bombings, torture, and execution, and that's only counting six years in Mexico. And it is still not working." (04/02/13)
http://tinyurl.com/bpcwylh"A drug-sniffing dog at your doorstep is a step too far, the Supreme Court has decided. ... Tuesday's ruling stemmed from a 2006 incident in which Miami-Dade police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration set up surveillance on a house after being tipped to a possible marijuana growing operation. An officer went up to the house with a dog named Franky, who quickly detected the odor of pot. The sniff was used to obtain a search warrant from a judge." (03/26/13)
http://tinyurl.com/ce98orp
Cato Institute "In the early 1900s, the German public was fascinated by a mathematical Mr. Ed named Clever Hans, an Orlov Trotter horse that seemed to be capable of counting, doing basic arithmetic, and even solving elementary word problems -- which, lacking the dexterity to grasp a number two pencil, it would answer by stamping its hooves. Eventually, of course, it was proven that Hans was doing nothing of the sort ... A century later, academic researchers have shown that even well-trained drug-sniffing dogs are subject to the 'lever Hans Effect' ..." (02/19/13)
http://www.cato.org/blog/clever-hans-vs-fourth-amendment"The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a proposed ballot measure that, if successful, would make the state the first in the South to legalize medical marijuana. Justices rejected a challenge by a coalition of conservative groups who had asked the court to block the proposed initiated act from the November ballot or order the state to not count any votes cast on the issue." (09/27/12)
http://bit.ly/QHXDv5"The pilot of a suspected drug flight killed in an anti-narcotics operation in Honduras earlier this month was shot dead by two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents after he refused to surrender, an agency spokeswoman said Sunday. At the time, Honduran police said the twin-engine plane arriving from Colombia with a load of cocaine crashed while being chased by government aircraft." (07/08/12)
http://tinyurl.com/7ybtobe
Antiwar.com "Will Enrique Pena Nieto, the new president of Mexico from the corrupt and authoritarian Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), go easy on drug traffickers? Let’s hope so." (07/03/12)
http://bit.ly/O0RZSJ"The Constitutional Court of Colombia approved a plan that will drop all criminal penalties for individuals caught with small amounts of marijuana or cocaine, according to Spanish-language media reports. That means anyone caught with less than 22 grams of marijuana, or one gram of cocaine, will no longer be subject to arrest or prosecution. People who are caught intoxicated in public can only be sent to receive medical or psychological treatment for their impairment." (06/29/12)
http://tinyurl.com/76xd25t"Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's much ballyhooed plan to decriminalize pot won't happen this year, as Republican state lawmakers are refusing to support the idea .... 'We do not support [pot] decriminalization,' the Senate's Republican majority leader told The Times on Monday night. Monday night was the deadline for a marijuana decriminalization bill to be introduced before Thursday's end of session." (06/20/12)
http://reut.rs/Lfs2TQ
Future of Freedom Foundation "If you want to see a look of stunned silence on the face of a drug-war proponent, ask him the following question: To win the war on drugs, what do you propose be done that hasn’t already been done during the last forty years of drug warfare? He won’t know what to say." (06/12/12)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2012-06-12.asp"Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to make a move that could drastically reduce the number of people arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stop-and-frisks. The New York Times says the governor today will ask the legislature to change state law reducing the penalty for possessing 25 grams of marijuana or less to a violation instead of a misdemeanor. ... Mayor Michael Bloomberg is opposed to the measure, saying the arrests deter drug dealing and drug related violence." (06/04/12)
http://bit.ly/LgvyXp"In spite of efforts to crack down on the state’s prescription drug abuse epidemic, a new report shows nearly 18 million prescriptions for controlled substances such as OxyContin and hydrocodone were dispensed in Tennessee last year -- a 23 percent increase from the previous year. The surging figures in the report to the General Assembly are a setback for those fighting on the front lines of the prescription drug problem." [editor's note: And yet those enlightened beings in the State Assembly blocked a medical marijuana bill from even being considered again, protecting us to keep abusing Pharma's poisons - SAT] (05/24/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cbx86kt"Investigators are questioning Mexico's former deputy defense minister and a top army general for suspected links to organized crime, in the highest level scandal to hit the military in the five-year-old drug war. Mexican soldiers on Tuesday detained retired general Tomas Angeles Dauahare and general Roberto Dawe Gonzalez, and turned them over to the country's organized crime unit, military and government officials said." (05/16/12)
http://tinyurl.com/c6gye5w
Downsize DC "Last Thursday Congress showed that it has no compassion for the sick and dying, and no regard for the Constitution. They defeated the Rohrabacher-Hinchey amendment, which would end federal raids in states that permit medical marijuana. Please 'Thank or Spank' your Rep. Deliver praise for a Yea, and condemnation for a Nay. If you do not act then Congress will assume you consent. Withdraw your consent." (05/14/12)
http://bit.ly/Krcdql
The Agitator "We’ve seen this over and over again. These tactics are typically justified on the argument that they’re only used on the nastiest, most dangerous drug distributors. ... The one difference with the TNT unit is that, as the story indicates, while it was initially set up to target criminals with violent histories, busting low-level offenders with the shock-and-awe bullshit is now stated policy. So they’ve dispensed with the pretense." (05/13/12)
http://www.theagitator.com/2012/05/13/watch-them-explode/"When Forchion brought up jury nullification in his closing argument the judge, as he had warned, quickly shut him down for his audacity in attempting to tell the jury the truth in the midst of a 'search for justice' exercise: that they had the right to determine the facts in the case and that New Jersey's own Constitution gave them the right to determine the law. So Forchion quickly switched to his 'I'm a medical marijuana patient' defense. ... while the judge allowed Forchion's medical marijuana patient defense he shut him down again for daring to mention New Jersey's own medical marijuana law." (05/10/12)
http://exm.nr/KIq1Pu"If this amendment passes, I predict that the DEA will continue raiding state-legal marijuana dispensaries. The justification will be that while any state can 'implement their own State laws' regarding medical marijuana the amendment does not (explicitly) prohibit the enforcement of federal law criminalizing all aspects of marijuana, and a court is likely to sanction the interpretation that a federal agency can enforce federal law without 'preventing' states from 'implementing' their own laws." (05/09/12)
http://bit.ly/KImG2R"The Connecticut Senate passed a bill on Saturday legalizing marijuana use for medical purposes with tight restrictions aimed at avoiding problems that have plagued some of the 16 other states where pot is now legal. ... Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy was expected to sign the bill." (05/06/12)
http://trib.in/J1g9wk"Mexico's congress passed a law Monday to recognize and protect the rights of crime victims, a longstanding demand in a country where more than 47,500 people have died in 5 1/2 years of drug-related violence, and thousands more have disappeared. The law covers the dead, wounded, kidnapped or missing whether they are ordinary civilians or are members of drug cartels and other crime gangs." (04/30/12)
http://tinyurl.com/83qj8fn
Adam Smith Institute "Last weekend was the third annual conference of Students for Sensible Drug Policy UK, a student organisation that campaigns for an end to the War on Drugs. Whilst it was both an interesting and valuable experience, it highlighted the differences between libertarians and the rest of those in the drugs policy movement." (04/27/12)
http://bit.ly/IOIIOD"A Dutch court has upheld a new law that will prevent foreigners buying marijuana in coffee shops across the Netherlands, potentially ending decades of 'pot tourism.' A group of coffee shops had challenged the government plan, launched after southern cities complained of increased drug-related crime." (04/29/12)
http://bit.ly/IZzYmv"Security forces seized 3.3 tons of cocaine during an anti-drug operation at one of Venezuela's main seaports Thursday, a top security official said. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said National Guard troops found the cocaine inside 1,680 boxes containing ceramic mix at La Guaira port. The cocaine was destined for Mexico, he said." (04/26/12)
http://tinyurl.com/6rjaogx Downsize DC "Instead of keeping his early promises to end medical marijuana raids in states where it's legal, President Obama's record has been worse than George W. Bush's. He's even denying medical marijuana patients the right to keep and bear arms! And I can't help but wonder if his Administration is targeting marijuana activists." (04/19/12)
http://bit.ly/IejdEg"President Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, doesn't like the term 'drug war.' He argues that none of the smart guys in law enforcement uses it. Instead, the smart guys talk about middle-of-the-road strategies that emphasize treatment over incarceration -- as did both Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush -- while they also advocate tough law enforcement. Folks in the drug czar's office have 'gotten really good at stealing the rhetoric of drug policy reformers,' gripes Bill Piper of the antidrug war Drug Policy Alliance, but they don't mean it." (04/19/12)
http://tinyurl.com/7bqyg7m
Rich Paul rejects spying on friends, seeks jury nullification
by Garry Reed
"Paul, a political activist in New Hampshire, is charged with selling marijuana and faces up to 81 years in jail on felony charges. Paul had a chance to get the charges against him dropped; all he had to do was take a plea bargain and then become an undercover spy for the FBI against his friends. Instead, he rejected all behind-the-scenes deals and has gone to trial where he will admit to being a drug dealer and seek acquittal using a jury nullification defense." (04/16/13)
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