US Marijuana Party

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Marijuana initiative qualifies for ballot

By TRISTAN SCOTT
The Missoulian, MT
08/29/06

An initiative that aims to make marijuana offenses the single lowest priority for Missoula County law enforcement has qualified for a spot on the November ballot, according to proponents of the measure.

Dubbed Initiative 2, the measure was proposed by Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy, and, thanks in part to months of aggressive signature gathering, has won the support of more than 20,000 registered voters in Missoula County. The measure required just 11,723 signatures to place on the ballot.

If enough voters support Initiative 2 in November's general election, the measure would lean on local law enforcement to make “citations, arrests, property seizures and prosecutions for adult marijuana offenses Missoula County's lowest law enforcement priority,” according to the proposal.

Vice President, Defense Secretary and Drug Czar Visit Northern Nevada

KRNV, NV
08/29/06

[...]
Also in Reno was U.S. Drug Czar John Walters, on a two-day visit with Northern Nevada law enforcement and drug prevention officials. Walters used his first speaking engagement, Monday night at the Airport Plaza Hotel, to attack a proposal that would legalize marijuana in Nevada.

"They're asking the state and other private entities to distribute what is known to be addictive, accident causing, depending producing substance," Walters said.

Walters said while Nevada has made great progress in working to stop marijuana and methamphetamine abuse, voters should say no to Question 7, which would completely legalize and regulate pot use and distribution in Nevada.

Supporters of Question 7, including the Committee to Control and Regulate Marijuana, said Walters' visit could be considered part of a federally-funded campaign against the November ballot measure and would be subject to Nevada election funding laws.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Police officer guilty of molestation

By Joe Kovac Jr.
Macon Telegraph, GA
08/28/06

A former Eatonton police officer was convicted Sunday of child molestation and sexual exploitation of children in connection with a nude-photo-taking escapade at his home last Labor Day weekend.

Prosecutor Dawn Baskin said a Putnam County jury deliberated about an hour before finding 44-year-old Darrell Sanders guilty on one child-molestation count and three sexual-exploitation charges. Sanders was sentenced to 20 years in prison for each charge.

Last October, a 14-year-old girl went to Putnam sheriff's investigators and said an Eatonton police officer had been "engaged in inappropriate behavior," Baskin said Sunday.

The girl said nude photographs had been taken of her after she'd been given malt liquor and marijuana at Sanders' house.

Darrell Sanders, who had been an Eatonton police officer for about five years, once worked for the Georgia Department of Corrections.

The drugs do work

As Edinburgh-based Macfarlan Smith celebrates a century at its current premises, the opiates producer is planning a major international expansion programme.

By Iain S Bruce
Sunday Herald, UK
08/26/08

--------------------------------------
As it prepares to celebrate the centenary of its move to Wheatfield Road, Macfarlan Smith is geared up to process enough poppies to produce 200 tonnes of opium derivatives every year, supplying the world’s widest range of pain relief products to clients such as GlaxoSmithKline and Mundipharma.

It was the first legitimate operation to grow opium poppies in British fields four years ago.
--------------------------------------

DEA raises cash to fight pot issue

Measure's backers cry foul, but agency says it's within law

By Ryan Morgan
Boulder Daily Camera
August 28, 2006

The Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping into the political fray to oppose a statewide ballot issue that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In an e-mail to political campaign professionals, a DEA agent named Michael Moore asks for help in finding a campaign manager to defeat the measure, which voters will consider in November. If passed, it will allow people 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana.

In the e-mail, which was sent from a U.S. Department of Justice account, Moore also writes that the group has $10,000 to launch the campaign. He asks those interested in helping to call him at his DEA office.

That has members of Safer Colorado, the group supporting the marijuana legalization measure, crying foul. The government has no business spending public money on politics, they say.

Steve Fox, the group's executive director, said members of the executive branch, including the DEA, should leave lawmaking to legislators.

"Taxpayer money should not be going toward the executive branch advocating one side or another," Fox said. "It's a wholly inappropriate use of taxpayer money."

Melton injured in drug raid

SunHerald.com, MS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSON - Jackson's mayor suffered cuts on both hands over the weekend as he followed city police officers who were chasing suspected drug dealers, a city spokesman said.

Melton was treated and released at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. His injuries did not require stitches, Tyrone Lewis said.

Melton and a group of police officers were in the Virden Addition for a crime sweep.

Lewis said the mayor wants to focus his efforts on the neighborhood, and he was checking out problem areas around the city.

After viewing a suspected drug deal Saturday night, officers chased those involved into a house. Melton followed and cut his hands as he entered the building. The accident happened about 9:25 p.m.

Lewis said the mayor may have cut his hands on glass, but the cause wasn't known.

King County's sensible take on drugs

Neal Peirce / Syndicated columnist
Seattle Times
08/28/06

SEATTLE — Is it time to forge an "exit strategy" for our prolonged "war on drugs"? That question — normally considered a "no-no" in legal circles, especially among prosecutors and police — has been raised by the prestigious King County Bar Association since 2000. And the results have been impressive.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

And They Call it the "Freedom" Commission

And They Call it the "Freedom" Commission

Karen DeCoster
lewrockwell blog
08/27/06
---------------------------------
The forced drugging of children has begun. Expect no more great minds to be produced in the United States. Any child exhibiting symptoms of future greatness will now be subject to chemical lobotomy.

Saturday, August 26, 2006


picture by Terry
click to enlarge

Sheriff's deputy caught using inmate work crew for private business

WAVY-TV, VA
08/25/06

A 10 On Your Side investigation gets immediate results when a Portsmouth Sheriff's deputy is caught using an inmate work crew for private business.

Chopper 10 shows it all. In our video tape, you see a group of Portsmouth jail inmates - a work release crew. We see them all over. But it's not that they're doing, it's where - a private home -and its all under the direction of a sheriff's deputy.

We saw the Portsmouth jail inmates where they were supposed to be - at the National Guard Armory in Portsmouth. They regularly work there as part of the inmate work release program.

But a short time earlier they were far from the armory. In fact they weren't even in Portsmouth. Instead they were in a leafy suburb in the Great Bridge section of Chesapeake.

Sheriff Bill Watson was even more surprised to learn when this was going on when he visited our studio to view the video tape we'd shot.

Les Smith: "That's yesterday".

Sheriff Watson: "That's yesterday?!"

Les Smith: "Yes"

Sheriff Watson: "Who is that guy there. Is he an inmate?"

Les Smith: "These are the four guys travelling with him (the deputy)."

Lt. Ashberry: "Yeah, he is, he's one"

The sheriff may have been surprised, but we weren't. A WAVY viewer tipped us off that it was happening. That's how we knew to be there at just the right time.

We observed the deputy in charge of the work crew - Mathew Ejma. He is a former full time deputy now on the auxillary force. The sheriff says they perform the same duties.

Sheriff Watson: "You can't tell an auxillary from a full time deputy. It's just that one is paid and one is not"

Three WAVY News 10 employees witnessed the four inmates working in the Chesapeake yard and the whole time we were there, Deputy Ejma was in the house, not in the yard with the inmates.

In fact at one point you see on our video tape an inmate simply reach into the cab of Deputy Ejma's truck to retrieve something.

Chopper 10 followed the crew from Chesapeake back to the armory.

Les Smith: "What about this - transporting inmates in your private vehicle?"

Sheriff Watson: "That's a violation of department policy. I mean, he's done. No doubt about it. There is nothing he can tell me. He's done."

The sheriff wasted no time: making the call in less than two minutes.

Sheriff Watson: "You wanna get the list out and call Deputy Ejma. I think it's e-j-m-a. Have him report to my office this afternoon and bring his badge, his I.D. Card and his gun with him. He's done."

Friday, August 25, 2006


BlueSky
by Terry
Music stolen from Orbital who stole it from The Orb who stole the vocals from an episode of PBS's "Reading Rainbow" which featured a Rickie Lee Jones dialogue with Levar Burton (the black guy on Star Trek).
"Little Fluffy Clouds"

Deputy faces rights suit by former inmate

San Francisco Chronicle
Henry K. Lee
08/24/06

A San Francisco sheriff's deputy used his authority to force a female inmate to perform oral sex on him, according to a $4 million federal civil-rights lawsuit filed by the woman.

The deputy, identified in the lawsuit by only his last name, Neu, "sexually tormented" plaintiff Sabrina M. Wigfall, 28, while she was being held on an assault charge at the main County Jail on Bryant Street from August to September 2005, said the lawsuit filed this month in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Madison County public defender accused of sex with female inmate

Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS
By Sylvain Metz
08/25/06

A Madison County public defender has been accused of having "inappropriate sexual relations" with a 32-year-old female inmate.

Walter Wood, 52, a one-time Municipal Court judge in Ridgeland, was arrested Wednesday on two counts of disorderly conduct, said Sheriff Toby Trowbridge.

Wood posted bond and referred all questions to his attorney, Tommy Savant.

Savant could not be reached for comment.

Trowbridge said that following a meeting between the inmate and Wood last week, "we had reason to believe that there might be some inappropriate behavior between attorney Walter Wood and his client in the interview room of the detention center."

After their meeting, the woman was interviewed by sheriff's deputies and accused Wood of "sexual misconduct," he said.

Trowbridge could not say why the woman was in jail, citing that he did not have her file before him, but said she was being held for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.

Tommy Chong


background by Terry
click to enlarge

Alzheimer's disease: THC inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase

Xagena.it, Italy
08/25/06

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found that the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, inhibits the formation of amyloid plaque, the primary pathological marker for Alzheimer's disease.

The study is published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, a publication of the American Chemical Society.

According to the Scripps Research study, which used both computer modeling and biochemical assays, THC inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase ( AchE ), which acts as a "molecular chaperone" to accelerate the formation of amyloid plaque in the brains of Alzheimer patients.

Although experts disagree on whether the presence of beta-amyloid plaques in those areas critical to memory and cognition is a symptom or cause, it remains a significant hallmark of the disease. With its strong inhibitory abilities, the study said, THC " may provide an improved therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease " that would treat " both the symptoms and progression" of the disease.

Agents raid Valley beauty school

Scottsboro Daily Sentinel, AL
08/24/06

A beautiful day in Scottsboro turned out to be a little less glamorous for the Gaither and Company Beauty College.

One student said she was in the middle of shampooing someone's hair when law enforcement barged in and served a search warrant.

"A frightening sight to see all these cars and suv's coming over here this morning and blocking everything off," says neighboring worker Cheryl Bankert.

Bankert watched from next-door to the building that law enforcement raided early Wednesday morning.

She watched people wearing guns and bullet proof vests wondering what happened.

"It really scared me because I didn't know what was going on over there," Bankert says.

What was going on was the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector Generals serving a search warrant for a pell grant fraud.

Bankert watched someone from the store come outside with officers.

"She said I'm in trouble now and she opened the side of her van, the police officer looked inside of her van she shut the door and went back inside of the beauty shop."

Bankert sat, then turned to her co-worker and said something has gone wrong.

"All we know is that we saw a lot of cars and trucks and men coming in with federal agents on their back."

WAFF 48 News is told the owner of the college is a resident of Marshall County.

The Marshall County Drug Task force has searched the owners home, where drug paraphernalia has been found.

Still no arrests have been made.

Thursday, August 24, 2006


ALMJP video tribute to David Allen Coe

Prison guard booked, accused of selling marijuana to inmates

Times Picayune, LA
8/23/2006
The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, La. (AP) — A former Caldwell Correctional Center officer is in jail, accused of selling marijuana inside the jail while he was employed as a guard, authorities said Wednesday.

Derrick Cartridge, 23, of Columbia, was arrested Tuesday on charges of simple possession of marijuana, malfeasance in office, introduction of contraband into a correctional facility and conspiracy to distribute marijuana, Caldwell Parish Sheriff Steve May said.

Slavery Legal

Of great assistance to the prison-industrial complex is the fact that slavery is perfectly legal here in the home of the most massive prison system ever on the planet, The United States.


AMENDMENT XIII

Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.

Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.

Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Czech Republic offers case study on drugs

Letter to the Editor
Freeport Journal-Standard, IL
08/23/06

I'm writing about Diana Roemer's thoughtful story: “Street trends: The grip of crack cocaine” (8-21-06).

If tough-on-drugs policies worked, the quixotic goal of a drug-free America would have been reached a long time ago.

And if tolerant marijuana policies caused more hard drug use and crime, the Czech Republic would have much higher rates of hard drug use and crime.

They do not.

The Czech Republic is the only country in the world where adult citizens can legally use, purchase, possess and grow small quantities of marijuana. (In the Netherlands, marijuana is quasi-legal - not officially legal.)

The Czech overall drug arrest rate is 1 per 100,000 population (“A Czech Toke on Freedom,” by Jeffrey Fleishman in the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 24, 2006).

The United States' overall drug arrest rate is 585 per 100,000 population (FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2002 final statistics).

The Czech robbery rate is 2 per 100,000 population. The United States' robbery rate is 145.9 per 100,000 population, according to our FBI.

According to our drug-war cheerleaders, tolerant marijuana laws cause people to use other, much more dangerous drugs, like crack cocaine, meth and heroin.

Obviously, this doesn't happen in the Czech Republic. Why not?

Could it be that when people can legally obtain marijuana at an affordable price, they tend not to use or desire any other recreational drugs?

Could it be that marijuana legalization actually creates a roadblock to hard drug use - not a gateway?

Could it be that the vast majority of our so-called “drug-related crime” is caused by our marijuana prohibition policies?

Kirk Muse
Mesa, Ariz.

The Conservative War on the War on Drugs

The movement to legalize pot may take off with red wings

—By Suzanne Lindgren
Utne Reader Online
08/24/06

Rocks and Powder

Will Congress listen to the courts and fix drug sentencing?

By Larry Schwartztol
Slate
08/23/06

In federal court, crack offenses generate sentences 100 times greater than comparable powder-cocaine crimes. In other words, while it takes 500 grams of cocaine to trigger a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, 5 grams of crack earns the same punishment. Last month, four senators introduced a bill to close that gap. The proposed bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Republicans John Cornyn and Jeff Sessions along with Democrats Mark Pryor and Ken Salazar, would reduce the penalty ratio from 100-to-1 to 20-to-1 by increasing powder penalties slightly while decreasing crack sentences significantly.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Loretta Nall on the Bob Kincaid Show

Television stunt blaze riles fire fighters

By SARAH MACDONALD
Times Online - Auckland, New Zealand
08/23/06

WHERE there’s smoke there’s not always fire as the St Heliers’ brigade discovered last week.

Fire fighters were called to Mission Bay at 5pm on Wednesday where a car was reported to be ablaze.

On arriving at the scene the crew quickly realised the smoke filled car was a promotion for Prime’s controversial new show Weeds.

“We weren’t aware it was going to be happening,” says station officer Mark Griffin.

“There was a lot of smoke billowing out of the car so we thought it was a fire. As soon as we turned up they told us it wasn’t a fire and there was a smoke machine in the back.”

Auckland fire crews responded to a similar incident at 3pm on High Street.
“It puts everyone else at risk,” says Mr Griffin.

“If we’re turning out to these sorts of things, we can’t respond to urgent calls. It’s something we could do without.”

Prime Television marketing director Mike Watson says it was meant to be a light-hearted campaign.

“The car is a stunt vehicle decorated with cannabis leaves. It was pretty clearly a promotional vehicle so I wasn’t expecting any confusion over that,” he says.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Satan Attacks Birmingham, AL

Monday, August 21, 2006

This Weeks Media Appearances

On Tuesday, August 22 6:10 pm I will be a guest on Head On Radio Network with host Bob Kincaid.

Mr Kincaid is I'm a native Alabamian now living in West Virginia. During the show we will discuss my candidacy and my overall vision for bringing true liberalism back to life in the Deep South, a topic that's very near to the good folks at the Head-On Radio Network. One of their primary missions is to offer a forum where southern liberals can be heard.
The interview will stream from HERE

On Thursday, August 24, I will be doing an interview with WAUD 1230 AM out of Auburn, AL beginning at 12:20 p.m. I believe we will be taking live calls at the end of the show. This station does not appear to have an online presence. If someone finds one please let me know. If you are out of the listening area I will do my level best to get a copy of the show before I leave and get it online.

I also have a couple of appointments in Montgomery and Birmingham before weeks end.

If you can make a contribution toward the cost of fuel that would be most helpful and very much appreciated.


War Pig Superstar

Drug War Horrors and Hope on Video

Posted by Anthony Gregory
blog.lewrockwell.com

Diary of A Marijuana Grower

click picture to enlarge
from George Washington's Diary

Storm Lake Cop Shoots Dog During Drug Investigation

KTIV, IA
08/21/06

STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) -- The Storm Lake Police Department says one of its officers shot and killed a Rottweiler during a drug investigation last week.

The officer, who has not been identified, was responding to tip about drugs at home in Storm Lake on Thursday. Authorities say the officer went to the house and was standing at the front door when a large Rottweiler ran toward the officer "in an aggressive way" from the backyard.

The officer tried to leave the front yard, but wasn't able to leave when the dog charged. The officer then shot the dog.

The dog died, but the officer wasn't injured.

After a search warrant was secured for the house, police found marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the home and arrested Greg Paulson. He faces misdemeanor charges.

Search continues at pond for missing firefighter

Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel, FL
08/21/06

A close friend of missing Malabar volunteer firefighter Brandy Lynn Hall said Sunday that the young mother would not have disappeared voluntarily.

"I don't understand why anybody would hurt her, and I know she wouldn't hurt herself," said Julie Harrison, who has known Hall for more than 15 years. "She's just too strong-willed of a person."

Hall, 32, was last seen Thursday night leaving the Malabar Volunteer Fire Department, where she is a lieutenant. On Friday, her husband, Jeff, a former Osceola County fire chief, was sentenced to prison in a marijuana-growing case. Her pickup was found late Friday in a murky pond in south Brevard County after a fisherman found her firefighter gear floating in the pond in the afternoon, Palm Bay city spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said.

Workers were draining the deep pond overnight Sunday, Martinez said, and rescuers were planning to continue to search for Hall at 7 a.m. today.

Harrison said Hall had come to terms with her husband's legal troubles and would not have done anything that would have hurt her children, a 10-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy.

"I'm trying to get anybody to bring us any information to find her and bring her home," Harrison said. "If somebody has kidnapped her, please don't hurt her."

Palm Bay authorities are considering Hall a "missing and endangered adult," Martinez said. For 11 years, Hall was a firefighter and paramedic with Palm Bay Fire Rescue. She previously worked as a volunteer firefighter in Holopaw in rural east Osceola County.

Jeff Hall pleaded guilty to cultivation of cannabis in an operation that an Osceola County deputy sheriff described as the largest he had seen in 81/2 years. Authorities testified that the operation that Jeff Hall and another man ran brought in between $240,000 and $300,000 annually. Deputies confiscated 18 pounds of marijuana and hundreds of plants in July 2005.

Charges were filed against Brandy Hall in the case, but they were later dropped.

Family, Claiborne County reach settlement in botched-raid case

By JAMIE SATTERFIELD
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN
08/21/06

It was a quiet Sunday night in Claiborne County.

Dennis K. Smith and his wife, Kristie Dawn Smith, had just put their preschool son to bed and were heading to their own when three armed men, one wearing a mask, burst into their mobile home on Blake Lane.

Awakened by the commotion, 5-year-old Jordan watched as his parents were ordered at gunpoint onto the floor and his father was handcuffed. The men identified themselves as Claiborne County Sheriff's Department deputies and demanded to know where the 116 pounds of marijuana was stashed. Where, too, the deputies wanted to know, was the methamphetamine, and where were the Smiths' "meth-cookers?"

The law enforcement crew, headed by then-Sheriff Eddie Shoffner, searched to no avail for drugs and soon found out why they had come up empty-handed.

The deputies had raided the home of a law-abiding family on the word of a drug-using informant. No effort had been made to verify the snitch's story, check who lived at the mobile home, or even confirm to whom vehicles in the driveway were registered.

Now Claiborne County taxpayers will cough up $10,000 to pay a mediated settlement in a federal lawsuit filed by the Smiths against Shoffner and the county he represented in July 2002 when the botched raid occurred.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

When This Meth Thing Blows Over, You'll Come Crawling Back

By Cocaine
08/16/06
Onion News

Somalia: Three men caught with marijuana whipped in Mogadishu


By Aweys Osman Yusuf
Shabelle Media Network, Somalia
08/20/06

Jowhar 20, August. 06 ( Sh.M.Network) The Islamic Courts in Hamar Weyne and Hamar Jajabin, central Mogadishu, sentenced yesterday three men caught with using and selling narcotics to different numbers of whipping.

Since the Union of Islamic Courts took full control of the capital Mogadishu, drug addicts have been hiding with some repented and gave up using narcotics like opium and other types of drugs.

The three Somali men in different ages have been nabbed using Marijuana in center of Hamar Weyne ditrect. They included 19-year-old Mohamed Shogow, a drug user, who was whipped with 17 lashes, 58-year old Mohamed Omar, a drug user, who was lashed with 9 whips and 45-year-old Jeylani Isaaq, a drug dealer, who was flogged with thirty-five whips.

__________________________________________________________
This is much more civilized than U.S. drug policy. I'm sure most of the POW's in the American Drug War would gladly take a whipping in exchange for their freedom.

Mayor Sullivan sees similarities with Seattle

CKNW, Canada
08/20/06

VANCOUVER/CKNW(980) - Vancouver Mayor Sam sullivan is in Seattle this weekend to meet with the mayor of that city. He's noticed some differences between the two cities.

Both Vancouver and Seattle have major problems with homelessness and drug addiction.

Mayor Sam Sullivan though, sees America's "war on drugs" as the reason why the mood amongst homeless addicts in Seattle, is perhaps more combative.

The United States of America is very much behind. The war on drugs is in full steam here. The number of drugs addicts is quite high and the tension on the street is also noticable because of the approach that they have, she says.

The Mayor is meeting with Seattle officials to see how that city and Vancouver can promote cross-border tourism during the 2010 games.

Hezbollah night-vision gear was from Britain, Israel says It's believed to be an export to Iran in drug-fighting effort

San Francisco Chronicle
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
08/20/06

Kiryat Shemona, Israel -- Israeli intelligence officials have complained to Britain and the United States that sensitive night-vision equipment recovered from Hezbollah fighters during the war in Lebanon had been exported by Britain to Iran. British officials said the equipment had been intended for use in a U.N. anti-narcotics campaign.

Israeli officials say they believe the state-of-the-art equipment, found in Hezbollah command-and-control headquarters in southern Lebanon during the just-concluded war, was part of a British government-approved shipment of 250 pieces of night-vision equipment sent to Iran in 2003.

Israeli military intelligence confirmed that one of the pieces of equipment is a Thermo-vision 1000 LR tactical night-vision system, serial No. 155010, part No. 193960, manufactured by Agema, a high-tech equipment company with branches in Bedfordshire, England, and San Diego. A spokesman for Agema in San Diego denied all knowledge of the system.

The equipment, which needed special export-license approval from the British government, was passed to the Iranians through a program run and administered by the U.N. Drug Control Program. The equipment uses infrared imaging to provide nighttime surveillance that allows the user to detect people and vehicles moving in the dark at a range of several miles.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Time Warner to run medical marijuana ads

The Desert Sun, CA
08/17/06

In another abrupt change, Time Warner Cable Desert Cities has decided to run three ads promoting the benefits of medical marijuana that it had said Wednesday it was going to cancel.

The three ads, produced by the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, a local medical marijuana advocacy group, had been scheduled to debut on Friday on MSNBC, Comedy Central, the Travel Channel and Home and Garden Television.

Lanny Swerdlow, president of MAPP, had signed a contract with the company to run the ads every other week for three months. But the company unexpectedly said Wednesday it was pulling the ads before they aired.

Swerdlow said he had spoken with company representatives today who said the ads had just been put on hold temporarily to allow the company to review them.

"We were obviously treated differently from most advertizers," Swerdlow said. "But our message is going to get out to the general public. That’s the important thing."

Drug War Chronicle

Issue #449 -- 8/18/06

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

This little girl does not understand why the US came and poisoned her food and water.
Photo by Witness for Peace delegation
Putumayo, Colombia
August 2004
click to enlarge

Thank You for Not Snitching

Garden Supply Business Owner Refuses to Roll Over

Keli Dailey
San Antonio Current, TX
08/16/06

U.S.-Supplied Planes Spray Colombia Coca

Newsday, NY
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press
08/16/06

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Despite environmental concerns, Colombian authorities have for the first time used U.S.-supplied planes to spray a pristine national park where leftist rebels have grown coca -- the raw ingredient for cocaine.

Anti-narcotics police said they chemically fumigated the Sierra Macarena national park last week, clearing its entire 11,370 acres of coca. The spraying destroyed coca capable of producing 17.5 tons of high-grade cocaine and was likely a major blow to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But environmentalists complain that the spraying of herbicides harms the environment and causes health problems for those living in the area. Local groups have promised a court battle to prevent spraying in 11 of Colombia's other 50 protected preserves known to have coca.

Still others say that spraying, a cornerstone of the war on drugs, is ineffective, even in record use, at stopping a sharp rebound in coca production.

President Alvaro Uribe announced the park would be fumigated by air after a 220-pound bomb planted by leftist rebels exploded on Aug. 2, killing six peasants hired by the government to uproot the coca by hand.

The "world will have to understand that we must fumigate," he said.

Uribe said he wants to double aerial spraying, and his top military advisers want to expand the practice to the 11 other parks known to have coca.

"It's the most efficient way to do our job," Gen. Jorge Baron, head of the anti-narcotic police, told The Associated Press.

In addition to those killed by the bomb, 26 workers, soldiers, and police guards have been killed at the Sierra Macarena park, 100 miles south of the capital of Bogota, since December. That's when the government launched a manual eradication drive there involving 3,000 troops -- its biggest ever. Some 200 other workers quit, fearing for their lives.

Washington has long urged Uribe to extend spraying to parks and provided the glyphosate herbicide, as well as Black Hawk helicopters used for protection, during the missions.

The U.S. said in a March indictment of FARC leaders that the rebel group is the world's largest drug cartel, responsible for more than half of the world's cocaine.

"If the FARC thought the government would allow coca to grow untrammeled in its national parks, they've obviously miscalculated," said James O'Gara, deputy director of supply reduction for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

But the chemical fumigation of a park in one of the world's most biodiverse countries drew sharp criticism from environmentalists and others.

"Those who think fumigating La Macarena, and perhaps other parks, will wipe out coca production are wrong," the normally pro-government newspaper El Tiempo said last week. "Instead, there will be more coca, and less park, as rebels destroy more forests, deeper inside the park, to continue planting."

Critics also say the anti-narcotic program known as Plan Colombia -- which has cost American taxpayers more than $4 billion since 2000 -- is falling well short of its goal of halving coca production in five years.

The coca in Colombia's protected nature reserves represents only 7 percent of last year's total crop of 355,000 acres -- an area 25 times the size of Manhattan. But the government's previous reluctance to spray in those areas means coca crops are growing at a faster-than-average rate -- more than 14 percent last year, according to a United Nations report.
------------------------------------------------

Loretta Nall Inspects Colombian Coca
Putumayo, Colombia
August 2004
click to enlarge
-------------------------------------------------

"A Passage To Bangkok" by Rush

Our first stop is in Bogota
To check Colombian fields
The natives smile and pass along
A sample of their yield
Sweet Jamaican pipe dreams
Golden Acapulco nights
Then Morocco, and the East
Fly by morning light

We're on the train to Bangkok
Aboard the Thailand Express
We'll hit the stops along the way
We only stop for the best

Wreathed in smoke in Lebanon
We burn the midnight oil
The fragrance of Afghanistan
Rewards a long day's toil
Pulling into Katmandu
Smoke rings fill the air
Perfumed by a Nepal night
The Express gets you there

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

France Rising

U.S. and France in Joint UN Resolution on Lebannon

French Fries re-legalized in D.C. USA Today

Bush Reads Camus Existentialism in Crawford
I don't expect to see the decider-in-chief sporting a black turtle neck and beret anytime soon. Maybe Laura could grow a goatee.

Does this mean we don't have to Blame Canada anymore?
Robin Williams does Southpark "Blame Canada" (you tube)

Pot TV News with Loretta Nall May 9, 2004 Loretta hits both coasts in this episode, from D.C. to San Francisco. Show starts with Loretta's video of waves rolling in on the West Coast to the tune of "Staring at the sea" by The Cure, also known as "killing an Arab", a song inspired by the book "The Stranger" by French existentialist Albert Camus.


@SONG: Killing An Arab
----------------------
Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

--------------------------------
Another I-told-you-so from 2004, my Bush AntiChrist on Google Video.

Help Send Loretta Nall to Bolivia



Dear Friends and Supporters,

An exciting opportunity for me to once again travel to South America and study the effects of U.S. Foreign Drug Policy has arisen and I need your help to make it happen. As some of you may remember in 2004 I traveled to Colombia, South America to study the effects of aerial fumigation of peasant subsistence farmers being carried out under U.S. Plan Colombia . It was that experience that taught me why Americans are hated the world over and why people of other nations plot our destruction. That trip was a life changing experience. Please read the 'Colombia, South America' link above for a detailed recounting of that journey.

Now Witness for Peace has organized a trip to Bolivia and I would very much like to be a delegate. The information on cost is below.

Please join us in an exciting and ground breaking Witness for Peace delegation to Bolivia! This is an extremely important time for Bolivians. For nearly half a millennium, Bolivia has been colonized and its resources exploited without benefit to the country's majority indigenous population. An indigenous president has been elected and a new social order is emerging in South America's poorest nation.

Come, see for yourself the rebirth of this nation and the evolution of a society. There will be a special focus on indigenous rights, natural gas and drug policies.


Highlights:


Meet with Bolivians representing many different views on the political spectrum.
Gain insight into the political, economic and social situation in Bolivia.
Learn about grassroots resistance to corporate driven globalization and externally imposed economic models.
Understand US policies toward Bolivia and the impact of those policies on the Bolivian people.
Learn new ways to improve your advocacy skills and expand your activist toolbox.

Cost:
The price of the 8-day delegation is $1,230. The delegation fee covers all set-up, preparation, meals, lodging, interpreters, and transportation within Bolivia. The fee also covers extensive reading and activist tools both before and after the delegation. International airfare, airport departure taxes, tips, and personal expenses are not included.


Deadline:
Application and a non-refundable deposit of $150 two months before departure. A late fee of $50 will be applied to applications received after September 9.

Witness for Peace is a politically independent, grassroots organization committed to nonviolence. Our mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression.

For more information or an application, please contact:

Joanne Ranney 802-434-2980
Michael Joseph, 917-371-3301
Sanho Tree, 202-494-8004

If you would like to help me make this trip please make a contribution that will be used to help me cover the cost.

Loretta Nall
4633 Pearson Chapel Rd
Alexander City, AL 35010

Thank you all for your friendship and your continued support of my career in Drug Policy an Prison Reform.

Loretta Nall
Libertarian Party Candidate for Governor of Alabama
Vote Nall Y'all...It's Just Common Sense

Monday, August 14, 2006

Governor Bob Riley/Jack Abramoff/Michael Scanlon Flow Chart

Somebody's Lying!

I Hate FOX News

Sunday, August 13, 2006

EXTORTING SEX WITH A BADGE

By Nancy Phillips and Craig R. McCoy
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA
08/13/06

Drug dog key in $2.5 million bust

Erin Ailworth
Orlando Sentinel, FL
08/13/06

The drugs are worth about $2.5 million, said Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary.
"You can't do this war on this poison without that puppy right there," Beary said, motioning to the panting dog and joking to Kicklighter: "Take her out and get her a steak, maybe a Budweiser Select."

Saturday, August 12, 2006



picture by terry
click to enlarge

Man Picks Wrong Spot When Nature Calls

Carlisle Sentinel, PA
AP
08/12/06

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Sometimes when nature calls, there's no time to delay, but a Kentucky man sure picked the wrong spot for a pit stop.

Michael Ray Hunter, 37, found out Wednesday night that the parking lot of the West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston isn't the right spot.

Trooper J.S. Crane just happened to be walking nearby as Hunter was relieving himself.

As Crane approached, he smelled alcohol. That discovery led Crane to the truck where Hunter's friend, James Alan Richardson, 40, was checking phone messages.

During a search of the pickup, Crane and another trooper found a marijuana pipe and pills for which Richardson had no prescription.

Both men were arrested for public intoxication. Hunter also is charged with indecent exposure and Richardson is charged with possessing controlled substances.

New PET radiotracer to visualize cannabinoid receptors developed

Xagena.it, Italy
08/12/06

Researchers of Johns Hopkins developed a new radiotracer to visualize and quantify the brain's cannabinoid receptors by positron emission tomography ( PET ), opening a door to the development of new medications to treat drug dependence, obesity, depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and Tourette syndrome.

Man charged with growing pot

Tallahassee Democrat, FL
08/11/06

Several marijuana plants were taken from a Woodville house Wednesday night by Leon County Sheriff’s detectives, said spokesman Chris Chase.

The homeowner, Kreg Brown, 47, was arrested on charges of marijuana cultivation and possession.

Detectives allegedly discovered the plants, most of which were in the initial stages of growth, behind a home in the 10000 block of Sage Run Way. One four to five-foot tall plant was ready for cultivation, Chase said.

During the house search, detectives found eagle and owl talons, alligator skulls and bone fossils probably taken from rivers, said Lt. Kent Harvey of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Harvey said Kreg faces charges of possession of illegal animal parts and having fossils without a collection permit. Brown could face federal charges under the Migratory Bird Act, Harvey said.

Brown was released from the Leon County Jail on $3,000 bail.

_______________________________________________________
Wow. I have a great big bowl full of fossils from Florida. Anytime someone digs a hole for a fencepost you get a big pile of them. I hadn't realized I was such a wild criminal. Come and get me Coppers, you'll never take me alive. You'll take my fossils when you pry my cold dead hands from around them. Silly-asses.

Drug-Terror Connection Disputed

DEA Defends Traveling Exhibit as Critics Draw Parallels to Prohibition Era

By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post
08/12/06

Arrests for marijuana use ruins lives needlessly

TCPalm, FL
By GEORGE W. ILIFF
guest columnist
08/12/06

Police find $74,000 in hidden compartment

Lincoln Journal Star, NE
08/12/06

Lincoln police were holding two men and three women Friday on immigration issues after finding $74,180 in a car headed to California.

Sgt. Don Scheinost said Wiestar Towing called police just after 2 p.m. Thursday after being asked to tow a silver, 1992 Lincoln Town Car from Highway 2 and 156th Street to a hotel instead of a car repair shop. The tow company thought it sounded suspicious, he said.

When the tow truck arrived at the hotel parking lot with the car and three women inside and the two men waiting, an officer was there to meet them to ask if he could look through the car.

Scheinost said he got permission and smelled fresh paint when he opened the trunk and saw handprints in fresh paint and new bolts on the car’s undercarriage. A police dog came and indicated the smell of drugs in the car.

Schienost said they towed the car with North Carolina plates to the police garage, where they discovered a false compartment under the trunk with several bundles of cash inside. He said it had $74,180 in all.

Police went back to the hotel and picked all five up on immigration issues. They were being held Friday at the Lancaster County Jail.

Scheinost said they were not arrested and no charges have been filed because it’s not illegal to transport a large amount of cash, but the dog’s indication to drugs in the car indicates the money may have been involved in something criminal.

He said police would wait to see if anyone wants to claim the money. It may end up being divided among agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Team begins studying wreckage at Carroll County copter crash site

Arkansas Democrat Gazette, AR
08/11/06

It will be months before investigators know the cause of Wednesday’s helicopter crash that injured an Arkansas National Guard pilot and an Arkansas State Police trooper, a military official said Thursday.

A team from Camp Robinson in North Little Rock spent Thursday afternoon on a Carroll County hillside combing the crash site for clues, Arkansas National Guard Maj. Keith Moore said. Investigators had not interviewed the pilot, Maj. Tim Dickinson, or Trooper Andy Wiley by Thursday afternoon, he said.

The two men were part of a multiagency team searching for marijuana plants Wednesday when the OH-58 A Kiowa helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff from Carroll County Airport in Berryville.

Dickinson, 36, of Little Rock was listed in fair condition Thursday at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville.

Wiley, 51, of Alma was listed in fair condition Thursday at North- west Medical Center-Springdale, hospital officials said.

Dickinson is the son of state Rep. Tommy Dickinson, D-Newport, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The investigation team will disassemble the helicopter and use interviews with Dickinson and Wiley to reconstruct what happened.

The helicopter will be taken back to Camp Robinson, but it had not been removed from the crash site as of Thursday afternoon.

“They are going to try to be very thorough,” Moore said.

Maintenance records for the helicopter were not available Thursday.

The Arkansas National Guard has 23 helicopters, including four OH-58 s.

“The team might keep those [maintenance ] records as part of their investigation,” Moore said.

Dickinson and Wiley were in one of two helicopters flying Wednesday in the joint drug investigation by the Guard, state police, U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Carroll County sheriff’s office. They had been flying about 30 minutes when the helicopter went down. Dickinson attempted to land the helicopter in a clearing after experiencing some sort of trouble, Moore said. “It looks like flat land from the air, but when you get down there you realize it’s actually at an angle,” Moore said. Wiley was able to get out of the helicopter after the crash and called 911 from his cell phone, Moore said. Dickinson was inside the aircraft when the other helicopter made an emergency landing nearby. “[Dickinson ] was alert and talking to them,” Moore said. Both men were airlifted from the crash site, he said.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

DA seeks tax break for seized property

By Mary E. Young
Reading Eagle, PA
08/09/06

Berks County District Attorney Mark C. Baldwin asked the county commissioners Tuesday for a $458 property tax break.

The property at 4418 Mays Road, Exeter Township, was seized in a drug raid in October 2004, he told Commissioners Thomas W. Gajewski Sr. and Mark C. Scott.

Then, the former owner, George J. Broadfoot III, 45, went to state prison in March 2005, leaving the property taxes unpaid for that year, Baldwin said.

He said the court did not approve his ownership of the property under the state forfeiture law until October 2005 one month too late to file for the nonprofit status needed to take the past-due property taxes off the books.

A buyer has agreed to pay $95,000 for the property, but it can't be sold because of the overdue taxes, Baldwin said.

“This is the first time we've ever had this issue come up,” he said.

Proceeds from the sale will be handled the same way as usual, with the money going into a forfeiture fund that is used to pay for other drug investigations, he said.

Rumsfeld Wants To Pull Army Helicopters From Drug War

NBC6.net, FL
08/09/06

MIAMI -- South Florida is surrounded by water, making it one of the most vulnerable areas for drug traffickers, terrorists and illegal aliens to enter.

NBC 6 has learned that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wants to remove some of the key military assets that currently protect the state.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Bahamian police, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army all watch the waterways stretching from Miami 500 miles south to the Bahamas.

This year alone, they've confiscated 1,700 pounds of cocaine and 94,000 pounds of marijuana.

But now, Rumsfeld wants to pull the Army from the team.

In a memo, Rumsfeld wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, "I intend to discontinue this support."

Rumsfeld said he would remove Army helicopters from the drug mission -- seven helicopters that the DEA says participate in 50 to 75 percent of the drug busts.

Rumsfeld's letter indicated the resources are needed to fight the war on terrorism instead.

"I couldn't believe it," said Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.

Nelson said the Rumsfeld plan would leave South Florida exposed to more drugs and potentially terrorists.

"It's just been too valuable to stop not only drugs, but people -- illegal aliens trying to sneak into the country, and who knows? Among them might be some terrorists," Nelson said.

When NBC 6's Willard Shepard flew with Army pilots on a drug raid two years ago, they said the helicopters were perfect to cut off the drug runners.

"Of course, the aircraft can go anywhere you need at anytime. It's definitely invaluable," one pilot said.

DEA agents said they are puzzled by the decision because the flights have been a huge success over the years, cutting drug traffic to Florida by 70 percent.

"I don't exactly know how we would compensate yet," said DEA Agent Mark Trouville.

Trouville said if the pressure is not there, it makes economic sense for drug traffickers to return to their old ways. Some island landing strips could be active again and water drops would be easier.

The DEA is trying to figure out what it will do without the Army flights.

"We have to put somebody in there. If not the Army, who?" Trouville said.

Rumsfeld's memo said all the flights will be terminated in just over a year.

NBC 6 also learned that U.S. Attorney General Gonzalez recently sent a letter to Rumsfeld, telling him how important the military assets are in the war against drugs and urging him not to pull them out.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Posse Gonna Hate Us Act

Posse Comitatus Act

Alabama National Guard Counterdrug Program

The Posse Comitatus Act forbids the federal government from conducting military operations against American Citizens.

Over the years Washington has found several ways around this law.
They have used our own tax money against us.
They have used it to Federalize and Militarize our local police.

They have used it to turn our own State Militia against us.
The Alabama National Guard Counterdrug Program has helicopters over our homes and troops in our elementary school classrooms.

State forces are exempt from the The Posse Comitatus Act unless they have been called up by the president and federalized. With the War On Iraq, all our State Militias have been called up by the president and federalized.

Therefore the entire US national Guard Marijuana Eradication Program is illegal.

This law does not allow the President to use the Guard to wage war against other countries and his own people at the same time.

Department of Revenue to put on gun auction

Lawrence Journal World, KS
By Scott Rothschild
08/09/06

Topeka — The Kansas Department of Revenue has gotten into the gun business.

The tax collection agency seizes property, including weapons, when it tries to collect on the state drug tax.

“I had enough of an arsenal, we could’ve invaded a small nation,” Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon said Tuesday.

Officials said the agency probably had acquired about 250 rifles, shotguns and handguns during the last few years.

A law approved in 2005 allows the department to offer the guns to several state agencies, including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Department of Wildlife and Parks, local police departments and even the Kansas Historical Society, with possible antique weapons.

Now there are about 40 weapons left, and those will go on sale through an auction in the near future, officials said.

The drug tax was enacted in Kansas in 1987 as a way to collect taxes from people arrested for dealing illegal drugs because they don’t remit sales taxes or pay income taxes on their profits.

If dealers are caught with a certain amount of a drug — more than an ounce of marijuana or more than 10 doses of LSD, for example — and don’t have a Kansas drug tax stamp affixed for the proper amount, the state can assess the tax against them.

The tax is seldom paid off in full, and the state can place a lien on the drug dealers’ property.

Now the guns are stored in the Kansas Department of Revenue’s vault.

Tom Groneman, director of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which is a division of the Kansas Department of Revenue, said only people with a federal license to buy and sell firearms would be able to bid on the remaining weapons.

Lengthy Mandatory Sentence Appealed

Forbes
By DEBBIE HUMMEL
AP
08/08/06

Attorneys for a man convicted of carrying a handgun during three marijuana deals have asked the Supreme Court to overturn his 55-year mandatory federal prison sentence.

A judge gave Weldon Angelos the minimum sentence under the law - a harsher sentence than a child rapist or a terrorist who detonates a bomb aboard an aircraft would receive, according to his attorneys. They also say the sentence amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Angelos' offense in state court would have likely carried a sentence of probation or a few years in jail, according to his attorneys.

Now 27, Angelos was convicted of 16 counts of violating federal firearms, drug and money laundering laws in 2003. The charges stemmed from his sale of three 8-ounce bags of marijuana to an undercover informant.

He had a gun but never brandished or used it. Nevertheless, the three counts of possession of a firearm in a drug transaction required the mandatory minimum sentence.

"This seems to be a case of grossly disproportionate punishment when you look at the facts of the case. Weldon Angelos didn't deserve a life sentence for his offense," said Erik Luna, a law professor at the University of Utah and one of the attorneys.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kathleen Blomquist said the department would not comment on an ongoing case.

At the time of his arrest, Angelos ran a rap music label based in Utah that had recently released a CD featuring several prominent hip-hop artists.

Federal charges filed against former Robeson County detective

News 14 Carolina, NC
Associated Press
08/08/2006

LUMBERTON, N.C. -- A former Robeson County sheriff's detective already facing state charges that he kidnapped two Virginia men at gunpoint in 2004 now faces similar federal charges.

Patrick Ferguson, 34, has been charged with conspiracy kidnapping and using a firearm during an act of violence, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. Ferguson, who worked in the Juvenile Division, and former Detective Vincent Sinclair were arrested on state charges in April that accused them of robbing several drug dealers.

The federal charges were the latest result of a three-year investigation into corruption within the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. At least seven former deputies and other law enforcement officers have been arrested.

The new federal court documents say Ferguson and an unnamed coconspirator drove to Virginia and kidnapped two men, one of whom was shot. The coconspirator was the shooter and hasn't been indicted, according to the documents filed July 24.

In a separate incident, Ferguson, Sinclair and four other people who weren't law enforcement officers allegedly staged a drug raid by posing as police officers in May 2004, according to court records.

The state and federal investigation has also resulted in the arrests of five men who worked for the sheriff's office's drug enforcement division.

Roger Taylor, C.T. Strickland and Steve Lovin were indicted in June on racketeering and theft charges for allegedly stealing money seized during drug operations. U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney has said the three were involved in numerous illegal acts between 1995 and 2004, while they were employed as Robeson County deputies.

Former deputies James O. Hunt and Kevin Meares have pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Hunt has been accused of stealing $160,000 during six traffic stops along Interstate 95, while Meares was accused of stealing more than $25,000.

Monday, August 07, 2006


Loretta Nall in Bogota, Colombia


Loretta Nall in British Columbia



picture by Terry
click to enlarge

Task force investigates Taser death

By Bianca Prieto
Rocky Mountain News
08/07/06

A multiagency police task force is investigating the death of a Louisville man who was tased Friday evening while trying to run from officers.

Ryan Michael Wilson, 22, died shortly after being hit with a Taser stun gun by a Lafayette police officer who was chasing him through a field at about 7 p.m. Friday, according to Lafayette police.

Wilson was pronounced dead at 8 p.m. at Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

The Louisville Police Department and the Boulder County Drug Task Force were attempting to arrest Wilson on suspicion of growing marijuana in a field near Waneka Lake in Lafayette when he fled, according to the Daily Camera in Boulder.

Lafayette police were advised to be on the lookout for the man who had run into a dirt field near South Boulder Road and U.S. 287 in Lafayette.

The Lafayette officer chased Wilson in his cruiser and was able to get in front of him.

He fired a Taser at the man after he "displayed assaultive behavior" at the officer, according to the police press release.

DEA Exhibit at Museum of Science and Industry Ignores Costs of Prohibition

PR Web (press release), WA
08/07/06

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Program aimed at breaking link leading to meth production

By Jamon Smith
Dateline Alabama, AL
08/06/06

TUSCALOOSA | The West Alabama Narcotics Task Force is stepping up its efforts in the burgeoning war against the near-epidemic outbreak of methamphetamine with the introduction of new program called Meth Watch.

“Meth Watch is a program we’re starting that’ll network the Task Force and every business that participates in the program with us together by a fax machine system," said Capt. Jeff Snyder, commander of the task force.

“How it works is, whenever someone buys a product that has an active ingredient that can be used to make methamphetamine, that person’s information as well as the amount of the product they bought will be faxed to us and every other business in the network," Snyder said.

Snyder said the Meth Watch program would help the Task Force and participating area businesses that carry products that contain ingredients used in making methamphetamine to keep track of who is buying what products and how much a person is buying.

“We have a lot of stores in Tuscaloosa that sell the chemicals needed to make meth," he said. “A lot of other counties don’t sell this stuff, so we have people coming in from all over to buy these products here."

“So if we got the stores here participating in Meth Watch, we could strike a tremendous blow in the fight against meth," he said.

Products such as Sudafed, Drano, any type of sinus tablets that contain pseudoephedrine, Acetone, carburetor cleaners, iodine, drain cleaners, denatured alcohol and red phosphorous such as from matches can all be used to make methamphetamine once the right chemicals are extracted and combined, Snyder said.

HOW TO FIX OUR BROKEN PRISONS

By Peter Y. Sussman
San Jose Mercury News
08/06/06

With a unanimity rare in public policy circles, politicians, penal experts, judges and special commissions are agreed: Every facet of California's $8 billion-a-year prison system is in a state of collapse.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has described his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as ``falling apart in front of our very eyes.'' His top assistant calls the dangerously overcrowded system ``a powder keg.'' And the man brought in by a federal court to correct health-care conditions it found unconstitutional says the level of care ``is at or below Third World standards.''

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Loretta Nall.com

Loretta Nall.com is undergoing renovation.
Drop by and tell us what you think.

British school's drug tests fuel civil liberties debate

AZ Central.com, AZ
Sarah Ball
Associated Press
08/05/06

FAVERSHAM, England - A British school has launched a pilot program where students as young as 11 are subjected to random drug tests, a project that has generated interest in Washington and fed a civil liberties debate on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Abbey School in this southeastern market town is testing students by mouth swab for traces of heroin, cocaine and marijuana. Parents must give permission for the testing, and even then, students can refuse.

Former headmaster Peter Walker, who started the program, gave up his school job to become Britain's official ambassador for drug testing. He recently went to Washington to give a presentation to John Walters, director of the White House drug policy office.

Walters said similar tests aren't far off in the United States. "This (drug testing) is a public health measure," he said.

Friday, August 04, 2006

State trooper arrested for drunken driving after crashing cruiser

Kentucky.com, KY
Associated Press
08/04/06

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. - A Kentucky State Police trooper has been charged with drunken driving after he wrecked a cruiser in eastern Kentucky Friday morning.

Trooper Michael F. Pennington, 29, was off-duty and driving southbound on U.S. 23 at 12:50 a.m. EDT when his 2003 Ford ran off the road and crashed into an embankment, state police in Pikeville said.

Pennington, of London, was working in Floyd County as part of a marijuana-eradication team.

The crash occurred near a Prestonsburg hotel where Pennington and other drug task-force members were staying.

Pennington has been suspended with pay pending an internal investigation, said Sgt. Phil Crumpton, a state police spokesman in Frankfort.

Pennington was taken to the Floyd County Detention Center in Prestonsburg. Jail records show he was arrested at 2:12 a.m. after he registered 0.114 on a Breathalyzer test, which is above Kentucky's legal limit of .08 or above. Pennington was released from custody at 3 a.m.

Police Reform Would Save Civilian Lives

By Radley Balko
FOX News
08/02/06

In my last column, I outlined the problem of the "militarization" of America's civilian police departments, chiefly through the increasing proliferation and use of SWAT teams.

As you might have seen on shows like "Dallas SWAT" or "COPS," these raids typically involve kicking down doors, "flash grenades" and heavy weaponry, and they're increasingly being used for drug policing and for crimes as slight as possession of marijuana or gambling. This week, I'd like to offer a few policy recommendations to address some of the more troubling aspects of this trend.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

150 Officers to Arrest 12 Low Level Street Dealers?



By Alvin Benn
Montgomery Advertiser

SELMA -- Twelve suspected drug dealers were arrested and others sought Wednesday after an early morning sweep through a neighborhood said to have been held captive.

Authorities said the arrests were made without incident with some of those indicted picked up while they were walking around the neighborhood.

Larry Cooper of the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said more than 150 officers took part in the neighborhood sweep .

"We will not stand by while victims are held captive in their neighborhoods," Rhodes said. "Those who commit drug and gun crimes can expect to do hard time."

Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said those arrested and being sought had acted with "impunity" in the east Selma neighborhood "where they stopped cars out in the open to sell their drugs."

"The reign of terror on St. Phillips Street has slowed down," Jackson said at a news conference outside Selma's Federal Building.

Indicted were Derrick Andre Daniels, 35; Otto Davion Thompson, 25; Anthony Bernard Daniels, 26; Christopher Ford, 24; Frank Jeffery McGill, 29; Kashif Deondre Norwood, 26; Kordell Sharp, 19; Kevin Javon Moore, 25; Terrance Keoki Callen, 27; Darrell O'Neal Thompson, 28; Jakarta Algernon Bonner and Kenneth Taiwon Moore.

Those arrested were taken to Mobile where they were booked before arraignment later this week.

Federal officials said other suspected drug dealers were being sought following their indictments. They were not named.

If convicted on all the charges against them, those indicted could be sentenced to prison terms up to life, Rhodes said.

Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. thanked authorities involved in the 15-month-long investigation, but said they should not stop with those named in the indictments.

"People want an upward trail of drug trafficking that leads to bankers, brokers and mega-deals," Perkins said, adding there are "legal ways" of making a living in Selma.

---------------------------

Horray for Mayor James Perkins Jr. who is basically pointing out that this amounts to nothing more than new job openings on St. Phillips Street in Selma, AL. He knows that taking 12 young black men off the street and placing them in our already dangerously overcrowed prison system will do nothing to stem the flow of drugs in Selma.

I like to think I had something to do with that. Back in March I addressed The National Convention of Black Mayors in Selma on the eve of 41st Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and I focused specifically on how the drug war is undoing everything the Black community gained in the Civil Rights Movement and how if they don't do something soon there won't be enough of them left with their voting rights intact to be able to make a difference in politics.

While Mayor Perkins may not yet see that the laws themselves are the problem he at least sees that all of this posturing and grandstanding by the feds and local cops about the arrest of 12 young, black, low-level street offenders is bullshit because it is the rich white men in business suits who are the real 'kingpins' in the drug trade.

And this is what I pointed out in my speech. The drug war is designed to marginalize minorities and others the 'government' considers 'undesirable'. They will never take out the big fish because then there would be no small fish to fill up the prison system.

Review board clears SWAT after shooting Capshaw man

By Seth Burkett
The Decatur Daily, AL
08/03/06

HUNTSVILLE — Huntsville Police Chief Rex Reynolds concurred Wednesday with a review board's findings that SWAT team members acted "in policy" when they shot a Capshaw man several times during a raid on his home.

The incident review board met Tuesday morning to examine evidence and hear testimony surrounding the June 27 shooting of 50-year-old Kenneth Wayne Jamar, said police spokesman Wendell Johnson.

Blakely said he considered the search lawful despite a typographical error on the search warrant, which listed the address of Jerome Wallace's father rather than Jamar's address, Blakely said.


---------------------------------------------------
Invading the wrong home and murdering an innocent invalid is "in policy"?
Use the above link to read the entire article and see how the drug warriors explain that even though it was the wrong home, it was, in fact, somehow the right home.
I believe the police should enter a home only when they have reason to believe someone's life is in immediate danger. Other than that a home invasion is a despicable act that should not be tolerated in civilized society.

A shuffle in Hanover

Dailyrecord.com, NJ
Editorial
08/03/06

Regional school board changes its drug policy

If you have been following the doings of the Hanover Park Regional Board of Education, your head is probably spinning.

In the wake of two recent deaths of young Whippany residents and the prom night arrest of a student on drug charges, it surfaced that the school district had been resistant to stationing police officers -- they're known by the more soothing name of "resource officers"-- in the district's two high schools: Hanover Park and Whippany Park. Both town officials and the police talked about the district's reluctance.

That was before last week's overnight raid that rounded up more than 50 young drug abuse suspects. The raid centered on the three district towns of East Hanover, Florham Park and Hanover.

Almost immediately after the raid, John Adamus, the district superintendent of schools, changed his tune. Not only will both high schools get full-time officers this fall, Adamus lamented that the district can't impose random drug testing on all students. The law allows only athletes to be tested randomly.

That's not all. The superintendent also wants regular information from authorities about patterns of drug abuse.

It's debatable how effective resource officers are in keeping students away from drugs, but it's hard to see them hurting.

The district's change in thinking was certainly pushed by events that seemed to be spiraling away from them. We think the new policy is a good one, but please, let's not confuse the district's new position with leadership.


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What exactly is a "drug abuse suspect"?

Manatee County drug busts aim to sweep up street dealers

By MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL
08/03/06

"How you doing?" sheriff's Sgt. Lorenzo Waiters asked a man walking by a house in Bradenton where a resident was led out in handcuffs.

"A lot better than some people, I guess," said the passer-by, whose ballcap featured a marijuana leaf.