cannabisnews.com: Government Power: Too Much or Not? 





Government Power: Too Much or Not? 
Posted by FoM on January 08, 2002 at 22:23:19 PT
Editorial Opinion
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette 
Rainbow Farms made some worry about government force, until Sept. 11, that is. Many people will look at the findings this week of Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teter as predictable or reflecting the law enforcement community's self-interest.But, since the shooting deaths of two marijuana advocates and campground owners during a standoff with police over Labor Day weekend, the world has changed so much that, for many people, the issue is no longer whether police exercise too much power, but whether they have too little.
After investigating the police shooting deaths of Grover "Tom" Crosslin and Rolland Rohm last Labor Day weekend, Teter defended the actions of officers who shot the two owners of Rainbow Farms campground in Vandalia.Although we wish that the investigation had been conducted by someone with less of an interest in the outcome, without ties to the parties involved, we acknowledge that, without eyewitness testimony that the police version of the shootings is untrue, without a videotape of the actual shootings that would show otherwise, the county prosecutor made the only ruling he could.We said in September, shortly after the shootings ended the long standoff between the two men and police, that Crosslin and Rohm, by pointing guns at officers, gave police little option but to shoot.But we also called into question draconian laws that pushed previously peaceful marijuana advocates like Crosslin and Rohm into the standoff to begin with.Property forfeiture laws, mandatory minimum sentences that favor punishment over treatment, have turned the War on Drugs into a War on Drug Users.Crosslin and Rohm were advocates of legalized marijuana use.Their Rainbow Farms campground, which hosted concerts and festivals, unfortunately was also a place where drugs could be purchased and where minors were able to use drugs.They were more than exercising their right to free speech to promote legal drug use.They were breaking the law and virtually dared the government to do something about it.The government won the forfeiture of Rainbow Farms and had Rohm's minor son removed to foster care.Rather than submit, Crosslin began burning buildings on his property.Shots were fired, possibly by Crosslin or Rohm, at a police helicopter and a news helicopter.The two men appeared to have committed "suicide by cop," each a day apart, by pointing guns at officers before they were gunned down by police themselves.The Rainbow Farms standoff might have attracted attention across America.It might have triggered a healthy discussion about whether our laws to combat drugs are doing more harm than good.But it was eclipsed, slightly more than a week later, by the news of hijacked jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, later by news of anthrax in the mail, American military headed to Afghanistan and the hunt for terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.We used to talk about the ramifications of government shootings at Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidian siege in Waco, Texas.But those events have been overshadowed by our new national fear of international terrorism.If Americans once fretted that police might be exercising too much force, we now worry whether law enforcers have enough power to keep wrongdoers at bay.The federal government has been stepping up police security and polls show that most Americans think that's just fine.Many Americans would surrender some liberty in exchange for some additional security.They'll gladly endure more scrutiny by police, tolerate more racial profilingand see more people pulled in for questioning.And yet a minority is already speaking up, voicing concern that our desire for more security could do much to erode our cherished civil liberties.After the Rainbow Farms standoff, but before Sept. 11, a number of people were asking how it came to be that two men were shot to death by authorities on their own property.The simple answer was, and continues to be, that Crosslin and Rohm sealed their own fate by pointing weapons at officers.But the more complex answer involving whether our drug laws are too harsh, whether they criminalize rather than treat drug users will remain unresolved while the nation copes with the bigger crisis at hand.Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2002Copyright: 2002 Kalamazoo GazetteWebsite: http://kz.mlive.com/Contact: letters kalamazoogazette.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Tom Crosslin & Rollie Rohm Memorialhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/rb.htmRainbow Farms Deaths 'Justifed' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11711.shtmlDeaths Defended - South Bend Tribunehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11710.shtmlProsecutor Says Authorities Acted Properly http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11707.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by lookinside on January 09, 2002 at 17:49:58 PT:
lying cops..
I don't believe for a second that the cops don't have video tape of all that transpired at Rainbow Farms...apparently the gestapo didn't think it would corroborate the big lie...Don't kid yourselves, political dissent can get you murdered in this country...
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on January 09, 2002 at 16:58:59 PT
it is insanity repeating itself for 32 years
 without eyewitness testimony that the police version of
the shootings is untrue, without a videotape of the actual shootings that would show otherwise, the county prosecutor made the only ruling he could.The killing of Tom and Rollie was all but an execution. They could have gased them. They could have sent in a robot ic cage for them. They could have bulldozed the houses. Today on the news they said the public will be able to buy a device that projects a cord that can be followed by a stunning surge of elecricity. The FBI could have taped it or they could have turned the vehicle cameras on all cars. They could have invited the press. They could have borrowed some unmanned airplane or balloon with a camera.Two people are dead by ecexution in my book. Marijuana should have been legalized already and this should never have happenned. The government is out of control. Think of the children the antis say. Those that are thinking of their children want the war on MJ to end. There are millions of senior citizens that could do not know they could grow medicine that could help them. Think of the children. Think of the seniors. Think of anybody and everybody and end the war on MJ.Let's see how many incumbents we can vote against in May. Election periods should be made to be at least a week everywhere in the country so the sick and dying have a better chance of casting their vote.
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Comment #1 posted by krutch on January 09, 2002 at 15:43:00 PT:
I don't need any treatment
I am feed up with well meaning journalists talking about treatment instead of jail. There is notning sisk about a person who gets high. Man has been getting high since the dawn of time. I am not sick from using pot. I am not addicted. I hold down an excellent job, and am in excellent health both physically and mentally. On one hand I am glad these journalists are saying that I don't deserve jail.I need to point out that I don't need any treatment either. I am not addicted to MJ. When I don't have it it does not bother me. I am healthy, wealthy, and wise. What I choose to put into my body is my own business. It kills me that people talk about treatment for MJ users when many addicts to far more dangerous drugs are turned away form treatment everyday.It is time for America to get its priorities straigth MJ use is not a social problem, and its not a health problem. Handle it like cigarettes or booze. Make resources available for people who want to quit and then let it be the users decision. It is not the goverment's job to protect me from myself. Leave me alone.
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