On May 30, 10:01=A0am, bobbie sellers <bl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Drug War Chronicle, Issue #538 -- 5/30/08
> Phillip S. Smith,
Editor,http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/psmithhttp://stopt=
hedrugwar.org/chronicle/538
>
> A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
> David Borden, Executive Director,http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden
> "Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
>
> Students: Intern at DRCNet to help stop the drug war
now!http://stopthedru=
gwar.org/chronicle/538/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_th...
>
> Table of Contents:
>
> 1. FEATURE: SUMMER'S HERE AND THE TIME IS RIGHT FOR... GETTING
> BUSTED GOING TO THE FESTIVAL (IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL)
> Summer music festival season is here, and with it, the annual
> exercises in drug law enforcement aimed at festival-goers and
> highway travelers in general. Here are a few tips for avoiding
>
trouble.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/summer_festival_drug_law_e=
nfo...
>
> 2. FEATURE: BC SUPREME COURT RULES VANCOUVER SAFE INJECTION SITE
> TO STAY OPEN, FEDERAL DRUG LAW CONTROLLING IT UNCONSTITUTIONAL
> In a surprise ruling, the British Columbia Supreme Court has
> held that Canada's federal drug law is unconstitutional as
> applied to Vancouver's safe injection site. The site will
> therefore stay open despite the wishes of the Harper
government.http://sto=
pthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/bc_supreme_court_says_vancouv...
>
> 3. FEATURE: BRAZIL APPEALS COURT RULES DRUG POSSESSION NOT A
> CRIME
> A Brazilian appeals court in Sao Paulo has ruled that drug
> possession is not a crime. The ruling only applies to one case,
> but has set an im****tant
precedent.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538=
/brazil_appeals_court_drug_pos...
>
> 4. STUDENTS: INTERN AT DRCNET AND HELP STOP THE DRUG WAR!
> Apply for an intern****p at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and
> you could spend the semester fighting the good
fight!http://stopthedrugwar=
..org/chronicle/538/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_th...
>
> 5. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
> A Connecticut prison guard gets busted, a pair of JFK air****t
> Customs inspectors do too, an Arizona Border Patrol agent cops a
> plea, and a Connecticut narc heads to prison. Just another week
> in the drug
war.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/police_drug_corrup=
tion
>
> 6. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT THROWS OUT
> QUANTITY LIMITS
> A California appeals court has declared a 2004 law setting
> limits on the amount of marijuana patients may possess
> unconstitutional because it seeks to amend a voter initiative,
> and only the voters can do
that.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/ca=
lifornia_appeals_court_medi...
>
> 7. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS BILL P***** CALIFORNIA
> ASSEMBLY
> In January, the California Supreme Court ruled that employers
> could fire employees who tested positive for marijuana even if
> they were legal patients under California law. Now, a bill that
> would undo that ruling has passed the state
Assembly.http://stopthedrugwar=
..org/chronicle/538/california/medical_marijuana_...
>
> 8. MARIJUANA: HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL REJECTS "GREEN HARVEST"
> ERADICATION PROGRAM
> For 30 years, residents of Hawaii's Big Island have endured the
> annual helicopter swoops and marijuana field raids of "Operation
> Green Harvest." But last week, the local government said "no
> thank you" to the state and federal funding that sup****t the
>
operation.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/hawaii_county_rejects_gr=
een_h...
>
> 9. MARIJUANA: IDAHO RESORT TOWN P***** THREE INITIATIVES --
> AGAIN
> For the second time in less than a year, voters in Hailey,
> Idaho, have passed a trio of marijuana reform municipal
> initiatives. The first time around, city officials rejected
> them. Now what will they
do?http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/hailey=
_idaho_marijuana_initia...
>
> 10. SENTENCING: NEW JERSEY SPENDS $331 MILLION A YEAR JAILING
> NONVIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS, STUDY FINDS AS LEGISLATURE PONDERS
> REFORMS
> A new study from the Drug Policy Alliance finds that New Jersey
> is spending more than $330 million a year to imprison drug
> offenders. The study comes as the state legislature ponders a
> first baby step toward reforming its tough drug sentencing
laws.http://sto=
pthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/new_jersey_drug_offender_sent...
>
> 11. LATIN AMERICA: RISING DEATH TOLL IN MEXICO'S DRUG WAR
> SIGNALS IMMINENT VICTORY, ATTORNEY GENERAL CLAIMS
> People are being killed in prohibition-related violence in
> Mexico at a rate 50% higher than last year. Mexico's attorney
> general claims that's a sign of success in the drug
war.http://stopthedrug=
war.org/chronicle/538/mexico_drug_war_death_toll_ri...
>
> 12. AUSTRALIA: DOC GROUP LOBBIES FOR TOUGHER WESTERN AUSTRALIA
> MARIJUANA LAWS, CITES MENTAL HEALTH THREAT
> Citing an alleged link between marijuana use and mental illness,
> the Australian Medical Association is calling for tougher
> marijuana penalties. That goes against its earlier position that
> criminal laws don't work as a deterrent and can in fact be
> harmful to drug
users.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/doc_group_wa=
nts_tougher_marij...
>
> 13. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE SPEAKEASY
> "Barbara Kay Says Mean Things About Marijuana Users and the
> Reform Movement," "Another Ryan Frederick Update," "McClellan:
> Bush Partied So Much, He Couldn't Remember Whether He Tried
> Cocaine," "If the Drug War Reduces Violence, Please Explain
> What's Happening in Mexico," "Japanese Customs Hid 5 oz. of
> Marijuana in Passenger's Bag, Now They Can't Find It," "Ryan
> Frederick Formally Charged With First Degree
Murder."http://stopthedrugwar=
..org/chronicle/538/blogging_at_the_speakeasy
>
> 14. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
> Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
> years past.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/drug_war_history
>
> 15. DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE'S ADVOCACY GRANTS PROGRAM APPLICATION
> DEADLINE APPROACHING
> With the application deadline fast approaching, Drug Policy
> Alliance has approximately $1.2 million to allocate during its
> 2008 Promoting Policy Change grant
cycle.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronic=
le/538/drug_policy_alliance_grant_pr...
>
> 16. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
> Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
> evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
> funders. We need donations
too.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/538/do_=
you_read_drug_war_chronicle
>
> 17. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
> FEEDS ON YOUR WEB SITE!
> Sup****t the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
> Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web
site!http://stopthedr=
ugwar.org/chronicle/538/drug_policy_content_syndicati...
>
> 18. RESOURCE: DRCNET WEB SITE OFFERS WIDE ARRAY OF RSS FEEDS FOR
> YOUR READER
> A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
> Chronicle and more -- is now
available.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle=
/538/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_ava...
>
> 19. RESOURCE: REFORMER'S CALENDAR ACCESSIBLE THROUGH DRCNET WEB
> SITE
> Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to
> the events coming up the soonest, and
more.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chron=
icle/538/drug_reform_calendar
>
> (Not subscribed? Visithttp://stopthedrugwar.orgto
sign up
> today!)
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> 1. Feature: Summer's Here and the Time is Right for... Getting
> Busted Going to the Festival (If You're Not
Careful)http://stopthedrugwar.=
org/chronicle/538/summer_festival_drug_law_enfo...
>
> With Memorial Day now just a memory, the summer music festival
> season
> (http://www.clubplanet.com/Articles/2118/Summer-Music-Festivals-Guide)
> is on -- and with it, special drug law enforcement aimed at
> festival goers in what could be called a form of cultural
> profiling. If years past are any indicator, music lovers should
> be prepared to encounter everything from announced "Drug
> Checkpoints" that aren't -- they are instead traps to lure the
> freaked out -- to real, unconstitutional, highway drug
> checkpoints masquerading as "safety checks" (complete with drug
> dogs) to undercover cops working inside the festival grounds
> themselves.
>
> Nationally known festivals like Bonaroo in Tennessee and
> Wakarusa in Kansas, as well as countless lesser festivals,
> especially in rural areas, have drawn special law enforcement
> efforts in the past. With this year unlikely to be any
> different, festival goers will need to know their rights and how
> to exercise them when they encounter the cops.
>
> The police enforcement actions are already getting underway.
> Last weekend, the 2008 Summer Camp Festival
> (http://www.summercampfestival.com/2008)
in Chillicothe,
> Illinois, drew some 13,000 fans to hear a diverse line-up of
> bands including the Flaming Lips, George Clinton &
> Parliament/Funkadelic, Blind Melon, the Roots, and the New
> ****ographers. It also drew city and state police, who claimed
> 20 drug arrests -- for marijuana, ecstasy, and LSD -- between
> them in and around the festival.
>
> The police were pleased. "I think a lot of it had to do with all
> of the agencies getting together before the event and really
> planning out our attack," Chillicothe Police Chief Steven Maurer
> told local HOI-19 TV News
> (http://www.hoinews.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=3D139389).
"Our
> goal is to prevent it from coming in and that's what we did a
> lot of."
>
> Meanwhile, down in northeast Georgia, some other law enforcement
> agencies had also gotten together to plan an attack. This one
> wasn't aimed directly at concert-goers, but at the
> highway-traveling public in general. In what the Northeast
> Georgian
>
(http://www.thenortheastgeorgian.com/articles/2008/05/27/news/top_stor...)=
> described as "one of the county's largest highway interdiction
> and safety checks in at least five years," personnel from the
> Habersham County Sheriff's Office, Northeast Georgia Drug Task
> Force, Georgia National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, Georgia
> State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia
> Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Unit, Lee
> Arrendale State Prison, Phillips State Prison and Cornelia
> Police Department participated in a 24-hour checkpoint on a
> local highway.
>
> Police bragged about the success of their checkpoint, which
> netted 74 arrests, 31 of them for drug offenses. "It worked
> well, I thought," said Habersham County Sheriff De Ray Fincher.
> "The operation resulted in a seizure of $36,000 in illegal
> drugs. And a total amount of currency, drugs and vehicles seized
> is estimated to have a value of $82,000."
>
> Police did write some tickets for traffic offenses, Fincher told
> WNEG-TV 32 News
>
(http://www.wneg32.com/index.php/news/article/safety-checks-in-habersh...)=
..
> "We got a lot of people with no insurance, no driver's license
> or suspended license," he said. And some pot smokers: "The
> majority of our cases were marijuana cases; however, we did get
> several methamphetamine and we got one case of cocaine," Fincher
> explained.
>
> In a 2000 Supreme Court decision, Indianapolis v. Edmonds
> (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-1030.ZS.html),
the
> high court held that indiscriminate highway drug checkpoints
> were unconstitutional since motorists were being stopped without
> suspicion for a law enforcement -- not a public safety --
> purpose.
>
> But Fincher was open about his constitutionally-suspect highway
> checkpoint. "We are trying to do everything we can to prevent
> drug activity in Habersham County, whether it's just passing
> through or stopping here," he said, noting that drug arrests in
> the county were on the rise. "That just means we've taken a real
> aggressive approach to drug enforcement."
>
> "In the wake of the Indianapolis case, law enforcement has tried
> to figure out ways to still conduct drug checkpoints that
> com****t with that ruling," said Adam Wolf of the ACLU Drug Law
> Reform Project (http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy).
"Intent is the
> name of the game. If the intent is to conduct a checkpoint
> basically for law enforcement purposes, that's not okay. If it's
> for public safety purposes, such as sobriety checkpoints, that
> is okay."
>
> A constitutional challenge to any given checkpoint would turn on
> intent, said Wolf. "If it turns out the intent was primarily to
> be a drug checkpoint, that would be an unreasonable search and
> not comply with the Constitution," he said. "That kind of
> checkpoint should be shut down, but it would take someone to
> challenge it."
>
> Noting Sheriff Fincher's re****t of cash and goods seized, Wolf
> suggested the purpose of the checkpoints could really be about
> something other than law enforcement or public safety. "So often
> these things are being done to fund law enforcement agencies.
> Asset forfeiture is really a cash cow," he said.
>
> Whether the checkpoints or other special law enforcement tactics
> are to raise money, wage the drug war, or indeed for "public
> safety," experts consulted by the Chronicle sang a remarkably
> similar song: Be prepared, don't be stupid, and don't give away
> your rights.
>
> "The most efficient way to get arrested for marijuana possession
> short of blowing pot smoke in an officer's face is to smoke
> marijuana while driving or parked in your car, especially on the
> way to a festival," said Steven Silverman of the civil liberties
> group Flex Your Rights (http://www.flexyourrights.org),
which
> has released a video instructing people how to flex theirs. "You
> have a minimal expectation of privacy, and it reeks. Officers
> can smell it, and if they can smell it, that's probable cause to
> search you."
>
> "Keep your private items out of view," recommended the ACLU's
> Wolf. A baggie full of weed on the front seat is all the
> probable cause an officer needs to search the vehicle and arrest
> the owner.
>
> "The only sure thing to do is not to carry," said Keith Stroup,
> founder and currently senior counsel for the National
> Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
> (http://www.norml.org).
"But the problem with that is there may
> or may not be good marijuana available at the festivals. If
> you're going to bring something with you, keep the quantity as
> small as possible, and for God's sake, don't smoke in the car!"
>
> If you are stopped at a checkpoint (or pulled over for any
> reason) and you haven't provided police probable cause to search
> you or your vehicle, now is the time to exercise your rights.
> People in such situations should be polite but assertive, the
> experts said.
>
> "If you are pulled over by police for any reason, the officers
> are very likely to ask you to consent to a search," said
> Silverman. "Don't do it. Never, ever consent under any
> cir***stances. It might be couched in terms of a command, but it
> is a request. If you consent, you are waiving your Fourth
> Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
> They won't 'go easier' on you; anything they find, they will
> confiscate, and arrest you and put you in jail. Don't do their
> job for them."
>
> "There is no cir***stance I can imagine where you should ever
> consent to a search," agreed NORML's Stroup. "If you give
> permission, you waive your Fourth Amendment protections. They
> may say it'll go easier if you cooperate, but that's bull****.
> Their only reason for being there is to see if you have
> contraband and arrest you and put you in jail if you do."
>
> "Just say no to warrantless searches," echoed the ACLU's Wolf.
> "Officers won't tell you you have the right not to consent, but
> you do, and it is one that people have held dear since the
> founding of the Republic."
>
> There are other highway hazards for the unwary festival-goer.
> Law enforcement can be creative in its unending war on drug
> users and sellers.
>
> "Anybody driving to see his favorite band should also be aware
> of fake drug checkpoints," said Silverman. "Drug checkpoints are
> unconstitutional, but what some sheriffs will do close to
> festival sites is set up a big 'Drug Checkpoint Ahead' sign, and
> then watch who turns off the highway at the next ramp or who
> throws something out his car window. Then they pull them over
> for littering or failure to signal a lane change or something.
> If you see such a sign, keep driving -- it's a bluff designed to
> see who it scares."
>
> "When you see a sign like that, proceed ahead within the speed
> limit, driving safely through the area," advised Wolf.
>
> Wolf has problems with the harassment of festival-goers that run
> deeper than particular law enforcement tactics. "Profiling based
> on race is not okay, profiling based on gender is not okay, and
> profiling based on the type of concert you attend is not okay,"
> he said. "It's unreasonable and unjustifiable for police to
> target a group of people because they are going to any
> particular type of concert."
>
> "Simply having a Grateful Dead sticker or dreadlocks doesn't
> constitute reasonable suspicion of anything," agreed Silverman.
>
> But in the real world, it can. Festival-goers and other highway
> travelers need to be aware of their rights, as well as the
> realities of life in the contem****ary US, as they hit the
> highway this summer.
>
> And one last thing once you actually make it to the festival.
> "There's a big myth out there that police officers must reveal
> if they're an undercover cop," said Silverman. "That's wrong,
> and it's stupid to believe that. Police officers can and do
> legally lie in doing their jobs. Believing that has probably led
> to thousands of people being arrested."
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 later
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 bliss -- C =A0O C O A =A0Powered... (at california dot
com=
)
> --
> bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco
>
> "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
> =A0 It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
> =A0 the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
> =A0 It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 --from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.
I AM going to ask you - no, tell you.
Stop crossposting to ADP.
There is no reply.
Don't do it again, and get the ****
out of here and don't come back.
If someone finds your **** interesting, they can read it elsewhere
from now on.
End of story.
Get the **** out of my group asshole.
And choke on a donkey cock if
you don't like it ...
|
