cannabisnews.com: Raid At School Leads To Racial Divide, Not Drugs










  Raid At School Leads To Racial Divide, Not Drugs

Posted by CN Staff on December 09, 2003 at 09:00:16 PT
By Tamar Lewin 
Source: New York Times  

Goose Creek, S.C. — It was partly a tip from an informant, partly the activity he saw on the Stratford High School surveillance cameras that led the school's principal to call in the police for an early morning drug sweep here on Nov. 5.But it was also tape from the surveillance cameras, showing the police drawing guns on students, handcuffing them, making them kneel facing the wall and finding no drugs at all that has set off protests and created a racial divide.
For many residents of Goose Creek, a pleasant bedroom community north of Charleston, it was particularly disturbing that though blacks make up less than a quarter of the 2,700 students at the high school, two-thirds of the 107 students caught up in the sweep were black.The legal consequences of the raid are still emerging. No charges were filed against the students. Instead, the local prosecutor has asked the state attorney general and the United States attorney's office to decide whether students' rights were violated. A class-action lawsuit on behalf of the students has been filed. The timing of the raid, which began at 6:45 a.m., apparently contributed to the racial skew: only the earliest buses, filled mostly with black students, had delivered their passengers; the later buses and students who drive had not yet arrived.The principal invited the police to hide in utility closets and stairwells until he gave the signal that the first students had arrived. Then the police burst out, with a drug-sniffing dog.Pam Bailey, the spokeswoman for the Berkeley County School District, which includes Stratford High, said black students were not singled out. "This was not racial profiling," Ms. Bailey said. "When you have reports that some students are selling drugs at a certain time in a certain place, whether they're black, white or Asian, that's when and where you go."But many students saw the raid as an example of racial bias."If they were willing to get anybody, they would have come at a different time and searched the whole school, not just 107 kids out of 2,700," said De'Nea Dykes, a black 11th grader.Ms. Dykes said she thought the school's principal, George C. McCrackin, "was right to try to do something about the drug problem, but this wasn't the way."Ms. Dykes said she was leaving the restroom when she saw officers coming toward her with guns drawn and yelling at students to get down."I assumed that they were trying to protect us, that it was like Columbine, that somebody got in the school that was crazy or dangerous," she said. "But then a police officer pointed a gun at me. It was really scary."Jessica Chinners, a white 10th grader, said that when she saw which students were being searched, her first thought was that the police were racist."I looked down the long hall and saw the police lining up all these black students," Ms. Chinners said. Ms. Dykes, Ms. Chinners and most other students interviewed, black and white, said the incident opened a racial chasm in the school.While some black teachers and parents say the raid was appropriate, and some white ones say it was excessive, many of the reactions break down along race lines.The week after the incident, the school's teachers, most of them white, held a demonstration along with some community members to express support for Mr. McCrackin.Some black parents, meanwhile, have called for the firing of Mr. McCrackin. Last Thursday, hundreds of people, almost all black, turned out for a rally at which the Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced the incident along with the fatal shooting of a mentally ill black man in North Charleston last month.Mr. McCrackin declined to be interviewed. But in a Nov. 11 letter to parents, he said: "I was surprised and extremely concerned when I observed the guns drawn. However, once police are on campus, they are in charge."There has been no formal decision on whether the police acted improperly. On Friday, the local prosecutor, Ralph Hoisington, said he was asking the state attorney general to decide whether charges should be filed in connection with the raid. Mr. Hoisington said he was convinced that the police goals were appropriate but that some officers' methods had been "ill-advised at best." He said he was asking the State Law Enforcement Division to share its report on the incident with the United States attorney's office and the F.B.I. to decide whether there were any federal violations.The students' legal claims are getting under way, as well. On Friday, Ronald L. Motley, a prominent local lawyer, filed a class-action lawsuit against Mr. McCrackin; the schools superintendent, Dr. J. Chester Floyd; the Goose Creek police chief, Harvey Becker; and others, accusing them of violating the students' constitutional protection against unlawful search and seizure, as well as assault, battery and false arrest. The American Civil Liberties Union said it would soon file a similar suit, in which the racial issues would be explicitly raised."It is completely illegal for police to go into a school with their guns drawn, dogs and handcuffs to find students who might have drugs," said Graham Boyd of the Drug Policy Litigation Project at the A.C.L.U. "The right way to do this, if they have reason to believe a student has drugs, is to call that student in to the principal's office and search the bag there."For many of the students in the sweep, the raid is a humiliating memory. Rodney Goodwin, a 10th grader who came to Stratford this year, said he was in the cafeteria when the principal pointed him out, along with other students at his table, to three police officers, who told him he was under arrest and put plastic handcuffs on his wrists. Mr. Goodwin was taken to the main hallway, where, he said, a police officer pointed a gun at him as the principal patted him down and reached inside his pockets."I really don't know why they did what they did to me," he said. "I didn't do anything wrong, but they arrested me."Complete Title: Raid At High School Leads To Racial Divide, Not DrugsSource: New York Times (NY)Author: Tamar LewinPublished: December 9, 2003Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Co.Contact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:ACLUhttp://www.aclu.org/17 Students File Suit Over School Drug Raid http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17923.shtmlStratford Students File Suit http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17922.shtmlPolice Could Be Charged in School Raid http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17880.shtml

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Comment #48 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on December 10, 2003 at 09:07:58 PT:
A MUST READ
ARE COPS CONSTITUTIONAL?, by Roger Roots, 2001 Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal 685, easily downloadable from www.constitution.org/lrev/roots/cops.htm
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Comment #47 posted by kaptinemo on December 10, 2003 at 07:30:59 PT:
John Tyler, I believe it's only part of it
The rest may be something even uglier.We pay people to do nasty, dirty things that we don't want to do ourselves. The Trashman. The Plumber. The Butcher. The Cop.What if members of the minority community you belong to can't (or won't) control the anti-social behavior being exhibited by your more impulsive 'brethren'? And if a mechanism existed to remove those 'brethren' from amongst you? A mechanism paid for with your taxes? A mechanism that would ensure that if illicit drugs were found on them, they'd be removed from your community for years, if not decades?I strongly suspect that a major reason why minority leaders have been avoiding the glaringly obvious connection between the racist underpinnings of the DrugWar and the degree of oppression experienced daily by them as a result has been that a sort of tacit 'Shaitan's bargain' has been made: The cops use the drug laws to remove the more dangerous elements from minority communities, and in return, the minority leadership keeps it's mouth shut about the racist origins (and some HAVE to know of it) of the DrugWar being used as that mechanism. Granted, it's not the sort of thing that can be proved easily at any level. But given the 'circumstantial evidence' I listed in the earlier post, anyone could be forgiven for considering this seriously. Because, on the face of it, given the silence of even the most prominant and vocal leaders of minority communities, who haven't said ANYTHING about something so obvious, it does beg the question.And lest anyone say I am ragging only on minorities, then consider the failings of many parents of *all* colors to deal with the gritty chore of having to educate their children concerning drug use. The DrugWar mechanism is there as well, just far less intense for Whites. Because...how many White families have preferred to pay a cop to propagandize their kids in a DARE course rather than be forced to be honest about their own possible past use? And how many Middle Class parents have 'dropped a dime' on their equally whitebread neigbors in suburbia after learning of a grow op or that their neighbor tokes? We don't know. But it's as plain as the nose on your face that from all the statistics, the DrugWar is racism in action. The prison population alone is ample enough proof.
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Comment #46 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 20:51:26 PT
puff_tuff and Virgil
I didn't see your link and just posted it and thank you!Virgil thank you too. 
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Comment #45 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 09, 2003 at 20:30:49 PT
D 'J' K! Lapdog Media won't report Pot DeCrim....
I like DJK due to its JFK ring, and Dennis really is like JfK. If that gets out, watch out Howard Dean. Who comes to mind after Howard Deans shine is re-directed, Kucinich of course. Clark does say what I want to hear on IRaq, but dismissed the idea that bush and the Saudis knew about 911, and that is too bad, he has a good heart, and could be educated I guess. It's Deans Anti-war stand that got him where he is, plus the money he raised on the Internet. With the help of the media ignoring Dennis Kucinichs true Anti-war, anti-Iraq, all the time platform.(Remember, Prayer for America, his speeches at rallies, come on folks, this is our dream man! He had a great suit and stylish new haircut Dan B requested, you have his ear!)Anyone can beat bush, and its way too early for it to be dedided for the medias convenience. Can't let people hear the issues addressed, now can we ABC!go to www.kucinich.us to find out for yourself.I've noticed Republicans hate Kucinich the most, more than Al and Carol, interestinly, and it is because they know he is a threat to capitalism, the wto, the world bank, prohibition Let's go, donate, volunteer, (i've been in 2 Kucinich parades already, never had soooo much fun!)Dennis the Kush has the World Citizen Vote, The Canadian Vote, the Mexican VoteThe Black VoteThe Hispanic votethe Yuppie voteThe European Vote and now the Indonesian vote. the Green Votethe Libertarian Votethe anti-war voteand most importantlyThe CANNABIS VOTEWatching the spin room after the debate, C-span callers loved Kucinich, and I noticed that he appeals to Republicans disgusted with bush, and they like him because he's not a Democratic sell-out. Hats off to those Republicans, and those who have voted him into office in Ohio 3 times, in majority Republican districts, with a margin of victory of 75%! All he has to do is get Republicans to switch their registration immediately to vote in the Caucuses.So, when Deans numbers fall, as they are bound to, for whatever reason, Kucinich will be brought off of the back burner, re-discovered, inadvertently so, and maybe, the masses will say 'screw the media, why have they ignored this guy? Most likely.Notice how all the anti-war candidates have gone from moderately to vehemently anti-war, Clark comes to mind. (As a Capricorn, he has wisdom, and experience, though too friendly to the Military Industrial Pharmacuetical Complex for my taste. But who knows? He has Eisenhower Power.Remember the short attention span of America, a year from now, Dean may bore America, due to overexposure, and unorginality. He is a good 'bully' to fight bushes 'bullying'. Bush is out, but who will the media install, if it looks inevitable for a Dem to beat bush?ABC debate re-run on C-span: Audience breaks out into cheers as Dennis address his journey from pro-life, to pro-choice, what a visionary leader he would make. it is up to us. Dennis should go for the ARn-uld vote, the outsider in appearance only(insider, really), which Dennis is to back room politics, and he should lift some of Arnolds media manipulative/savvy techniques, like saying even when its not in the question, 'I have recently stated publicly that I believe cannabis should be decriminalized! Have you read about that Ted? No? Why, is it not news?
Look Ted I may be inconvenient to the media, but i'm not going to worry about that! Zinger for Dennis, crowd breaking out in the wildest applause in any debate yet!
CooL!
I'm happy FOM!Dennis will have to change the subject of some stupid question into a statment on decrimilizing cannabis. Media will fall all over themselves to cover it, or ignore, as they are doing, pretending this hasn't been done.This is where C-News comes in, everytime.
'
Future statement by kucinich hopefully:Excuse me, maybe you all didn't hear what I just said!
'I have recently stated publicly that I believe cannabis should be decriminalized!'The elephant in the middle of the room (Kucinich) needs to point this out in the debates or it will never be brought up. It will surely change the nature of the debates, to bring Cannabis up in the next debate and bring Joe and Jane average into the registration booths and involved in the only form of expression we have left available to us: Voting!Surely this was the debate for it to come up, get mentioned, or addressed.Thanks in advance Dennis for not letting it slip by unnoticed in the next debate. Otherwise, when the media continues to successfully marginalize you (temporarily), you could only blame yourself for not bringing up the 'issue of our time and of our generation'. It really is a culture war leftover from more overtly Nixonian types.The recreational and medicinal cannabis community is pervasive, massive and under-appreciated un the U.S. We really can get a $4.20 to Kucinich campaign going, Go Carol! Go Al! You'll nailed it on Iraq, picking up where Dennis left off. End of subject, bush is freaking nowGo Dennis! What ryhmes with spinach?
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Comment #44 posted by puff_tuff on December 09, 2003 at 20:17:20 PT
Off Topic  
Irvin Rosenfeld has received 12 cigarettes daily from government for 21 years 
Published Wednesday, December 10, 2003
 
The Boca Raton News http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&category=LOCAL%20NEWS&prid=6990
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Comment #43 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 19:55:08 PT
Alternet's Goose Creek article from yesterday
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17334
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Comment #42 posted by jose melendez on December 09, 2003 at 19:47:30 PT
McCrackin IS Wallace, Faubus
"the most influential loser in twentieth-century American politics."http://www.bookpage.com/9601bp/nonfiction/thepoliticsofrage.htmlhttp://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0603/11alabama.htmlPrediction: McCrackin will see the error of his ways and apologize.http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1294680.html . . . It was the same year that civil rights marchers had been turned back with police dogs and fire hoses in Birmingham, Ala. The year began with Wallace vowing "segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever" in his inaugural speech.During his campaign, Wallace talked of physically putting himself between the schoolhouse door and any attempt to integrate Alabama's all-white public schools.So when a federal judge ordered Malone and Hood be admitted to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa that summer, Wallace had the perfect opportunity to fulfill his pledge, Elliott reports.Cully Clark is dean of the university's College of Communication and author of The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama. He says President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, personally negotiated what was to happen in Tuscaloosa that summer, but they weren't sure what Wallace would do."They knew he would step aside," Clark says. "I think the fundamental question was how." Just in case, Clark says, National Guard troops had practiced how to physically lift the governor out of the doorway.On June 11, with temperatures soaring, a large contingent of national media looked on as Wallace took his position in front of Foster Auditorium. State troopers surrounded the building. Then, flanked by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach told Wallace he simply wanted him to abide by the federal court order.Wallace refused, citing the constitutional right of states to operate public schools, colleges and universities. Katzenbach called President Kennedy, who federalized the Alabama National Guard to help with the crisis. Ultimately, Wallace stepped aside and the two students were allowed to register for classes.But the incident catapulted the governor into the national spotlight and he went on to make four runs at the presidency. It was also a watershed event for President Kennedy, who in staring down the South's most defiant segregationist aligned himself solidly with the civil rights movement.Vivian Malone Jones, then a 20-year-old transfer from an all-black college, said her goal was simply to sign-up for accounting classes. "I didn't feel I should sneak in, I didn't feel I should go around the back door. If [Wallace] were standing the door, I had every right in the world to face him and to go to school."Two years later, she became the first African American to graduate from the University of Alabama.                 
Freedom. Justice. Right.
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Comment #41 posted by mayan on December 09, 2003 at 18:50:29 PT
No Accident
"For many residents of Goose Creek, a pleasant bedroom community north of Charleston, it was particularly disturbing that though blacks make up less than a quarter of the 2,700 students at the high school, two-thirds of the 107 students caught up in the sweep were black."They were "guilty of being black"."The timing of the raid, which began at 6:45 a.m., apparently contributed to the racial skew: only the earliest buses, filled mostly with black students, had delivered their passengers; the later buses and students who drive had not yet arrived."It was no accident. They obviously planned the raid to take place before the white kids arrived at school. Jessica Chinners, a white 10th grader, said that when she saw which students were being searched, her first thought was that the police were racist."I looked down the long hall and saw the police lining up all these black students," Ms. Chinners said.Isn't it obvious? This raid was a microcosm of the entire war on drugs. You have no rights. You are guilty until proven innocent...especially if you're black!The way out is the way in...Tracking the 19 Hijackers - What are they up to now? At least 9 of them survived 9/11:
http://www.welfarestate.com/911/index.htmThe 9/11 "investigation" – sometimes priorities dictate:
http://onlinejournal.com/Commentary/120603Tomasi/120603tomasi.htmlPentagon says 9/11 Interceptors flew: Too Far, too slow, too late:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/THO311B.htmlTruth, lies, and the legend of 9/11(Part 7 of 10) 
http://onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120603Kupferberg/120603kupferberg.html9/11 WIDOW CHARGES BUSH WITH FOREKNOWLEDGE AND ABETMENT OF MURDER IN RICO SUIT:
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=33&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0Way to go, Dankhank!
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Comment #40 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2003 at 18:49:04 PT
Goneposthole,
You asked: "did they really expect to find anything?"I wonder if they really expected to find any drugs at the school.I wonder if the U.S. really expected to find any weapons of mass destruction, also...-So here is a timely little piece.420000oO oo000 O O OSilly Rummy You might know Donald Rumsfeld for his stoic disregard for human rights. Now he’s also recognized for his top-notch wordsmithing.The defense secretary was recently awarded the 2003 "Foot in Mouth" Award by Britain’s Plain English Campaign. The prize was for an intriguing statement made by Rumsfeld about WMDs in Iraq:"Reports that say something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know," said Rumsfeld. "We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns–the ones we don’t know we don’t know."Regarding Rummy’s winning comment, Plain English Campaign spokesman said, "We think we know what he means. But we don’t know if we really know."Rumsfeld’s quote narrowly beat out a phrase by another exceptional orator, cyborg-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."Respond: letters boulderweekly.com http://www.boulderweekly.com/incaseyoumissedit.html
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Comment #39 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 18:33:00 PT
Frasier on NBC
One thing that makes Frasier such a good show is the writers. In this show Niles has his ganja brownie eaten by his dad and his dad is so warped, Niles thinks he is. There was no demonization or anything unrealistic outside of writer's exageration. It was extremely funny and well written as always.
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Comment #38 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 18:30:46 PT
I Caught The End of Frazier
I saw where the dog was talking on the tv! That was really funny. I would have missed it if you hadn't posted about the show.Thanks, Virgil
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Comment #37 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 18:13:52 PT
Holy shit, Batman.
I am sitting here watching Frasier and it has a seen where Niles is going to rebel because his father said he never did. They are sitting in the coffeeshop and he says he is going to rebel by doing reefer. He will go on to say 
"Ganja in its purest form." I think he had a brownie and had to go out and see about the alarm going off in his car and his dad comes in and eats his brownie. They went to commercial. I will tape the rest of it.
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Comment #36 posted by goneposthole on December 09, 2003 at 17:58:07 PT
did they really expect to find anything?
I can't find a thing when I'm looking for it, no matter what size the space. How can they expect to find anything at all when it wasn't in their possession in the first place?In all possible scenarios, these police look like fools from the get go. When all was said and done, they all probably had a laugh or two aferwards.It is starkly obscene. After 8,000 years of hemp and cannabis presence and beneficial use in the human race, you would think the picture would be clear to one and all that cannabis is here to stay. More so than oil.
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Comment #35 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 17:55:22 PT
Donating to DK by mail
The mailing address is also at http://www.kintera.org/site/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=aiIKIWNPH&b=8289&en=9hLQLZNwEdJLLQNwFdKTLYOvEdJTL9OQKqJRJZOELhIQJ3NUETO MAIL YOUR CONTRIBUTION:To send in your contribution by mail, please make checks payable to "Kucinich for President" and send to:Kucinich for President
Attn: Finance Department
P.O. Box 110180
Cleveland, OH 44111We require the following information per FEC regulations. Please include it with your contribution:- Your name, mailing address (no P.O. Box), and phone number.- If your contribution is for $200 or more, please include your occupation and the name of your employer.Note: Contributions from individuals are limited to $2,000 and are not tax deductible. Contributions from corporations and foreign nationals are prohibited under federal law. Individuals cannot contribute in the name of another.
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Comment #34 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 17:48:32 PT
The debate by ABC- DK did great
Maybe C-Span will have an archive of the debate of the 8 Democrats running for prez. DU is an informative website on anything in politics much less the upcoming election and Democratic candidates, so I won't really speak much about Kucinich except to say that he is the only candidate that calls for the regulation of cannabis. Unfortunately, the subject did not come up in the debate tonight. The highlights will be on Nightline tonight.This is the website to donate to DK's campaign- http://www.kintera.org/site/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=aiIKIWNPH&b=8289&en=9hLQLZNwEdJLLQNwFdKTLYOvEdJTL9OQKqJRJZOELhIQJ3NUE Unfortunately you have to donate a minimum of $5.00 and cannot donate $4.20. I have the mailing address in the car and it has been put up here before. He should change his minimum donation on the Internet to $4.20. Snail mail is just a hassle, but at least you can $4.20 for Dennis. 
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Comment #33 posted by John Tyler on December 09, 2003 at 17:10:07 PT
kaptinemo
Why do minority leaders shy away from addressing the fact that the DrugWar was DELIBERATELY, WITH 'MALICE AFORETHOUGHT' aimed at the oppression of them and their peoples? I think black leaders were in one way or another either bought off or sold out.
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Comment #32 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2003 at 15:40:07 PT

Cannabis Culture's view,
Canadian prohibition still unenforceable! 
by Reverend Damuzi (09 Dec, 2003) Meanwhile, medpot activist gets death sentence and pot cafe harassedAn incomprehensible string of bad legal decisions on pot plagues Canada the past two weeks, in a seeming backlash against public opinion, accepted practice and the direction of Canada's highest courts.For example, while smoke-easy style pot cafes have won acceptance in British Columbia and New Brunswick, the Bloc Pot's newly opened Chez Marijane was invaded by cops on November 29, the business' opening day. They made two arrests but backed down in front of the press."We'll do something, don't you worry," blustered one officer, who wouldn't even reveal his name. "But we'll act when we're ready, not when these drug users want to get on television."Perturbed police plan to continue harassing Chez Marijane's customers, but it hasn't stopped them one bit. Supporters throng the cafe.A few days later, on Wednesday, December 3, a Calgary court ruled in the case of medpot user Grant Kreiger, who was arrested on charges of possession and trafficking in connection with work he was doing for a medpot club. During the trial, Judge Paul Chrumka took the highly unusual step of instructing the jury to find Kreiger guilty, after two jurors outright refused to convict.On Monday, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board refused to give refugee status to Steve Kubby, a US pot activist suffering from adrenal cancer, and the first American to get a Canadian medpot exemption. Kubby has convincingly proven that without regular, hourly ingestion of marijuana, he riskes increasingly life-threatening complications from a rare form of adrenal cancer. The board ruled to send him back to California, where he faces 120 days in jail and would be denied his medicine for the entire stay. Should Kubby return to California, he would surely die, just as publisher Peter McWilliams, who lived with AIDS, died without marijuana in US prison only a few years ago.Also on Monday, Canada's Federal Government released new medpot guidelines. The guidelines were ordered changed by the Ontario Court of Appeal. The new rules, however, flouted the Ontario Court of Appeal's order, only partially enacting the changes ordered by the court. Pot patients can now pay their suppliers cash in return for medicine, and will only need the signature of one specialist to get a medpot exemption, but but Health Canada preserved a part of the regulations that allows a grower to only grow for one patient, and only three patients to grow together. In its ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal had ordered the government to remove such restrictions.The predictable result of such moves is more legal wrangling.Since the Canadian government has failed to fully implement the order of the court, which would have fixed constitutional problems with Canada's pot possession laws, Canadian activists ­ like Tim Meehan of Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis ­ are hailing the coming season as the "Winter of Legalization." For if Canada's pot possession laws are unconstitutional, prosecutions are bound to fail. Meanwhile, renowned pot-law expert Alan Young has announced that he will mount a law suit against the Federal Government for contempt of court.Likewise, Grant Kreiger will appeal his case, while activists at Chez Marijane will continue to push the envelope until they gain acceptance for their enterprise. Busts at such cafes are usual, even expected at the beginning of such an enterprise, but sooner or later, police tire of arresting innocent potheads.Ultimately, the message Canada's pot activists send to police, the courts and the government is that the more we are slandered, the more we will speak out, the more we are oppressed, the more we will fight for our rights, and the more we are jailed, the more we will struggle for our freedom. http://www.hempbc.com/articles/3231.html& In case You haven't heard: Kucinich put in writing that as president He will: 
"decriminalize marijuana" -"in favor of a drug policy that sets reasonable boundaries for marijuana use by establishing guidelines similar to those already in place for alcohol." 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtml 

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Comment #31 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 09, 2003 at 14:24:17 PT

Blurb-spotting
About an hour ago I caught a 30-second mention of Steve Kubby's situation on WBBM, AM 780 out of Chicago. They very rarely mention any story that's on C-News...
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Comment #30 posted by RasAric on December 09, 2003 at 13:13:46 PT

DAMN
It was just a little blurb...
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Comment #29 posted by RasAric on December 09, 2003 at 13:11:43 PT

STEVE KUBBY 'S STORY
is on CNN NOW
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Comment #28 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2003 at 12:56:26 PT

Insight
Pharmacy employees have observed that in many cases the first prescription is followed by a second for the side effects of the first, then a third for the side effects of the second, and on and on. Big corporate drug companies know a cure is not profitable but treating the symptoms and side effects is very profitable. US MO: PUB LTE: Whose War On Drugs?Charlene Keener(and that insight is already connecting dots to other insight... THINK ABOUT how other examples give credibility to the idea that a drug company comes up with a drug to cure something that doesn't exist... so they create the illness that requires the cure that they devoloped before the need)Joplin Globe, The (MO)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1890/a04.html?397
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:45:47 PT

There Will Be an Archived Version of the DPA Chat
We will be able to hear the chat as soon as they get it on line. Here is the link I believe we should check.http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/ethanchat.cfm
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:36:13 PT

Now I'm Listening to The DPA Chat
To listen to the live broadcast, click here: http://play.rbn.com/?url=ctsg/dpa/live/live.rm&proto=rtsp&rbnkey=1
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:34:07 PT

Very Good Program!
Excellent show! I hope for a speedy recovery for Steve and strength for Michele and the children.
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:13:17 PT

The GCW
Hi back at ya!
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:12:08 PT

Steve is Sick Today!
I can only imagine why. I hope he gets better soon!
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:11:07 PT

Virgil
That's it!
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Comment #21 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 12:10:03 PT

I think this is it
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2346.html
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:08:15 PT

Here's The Link!
http://www.pot-tv.net/ram/pottvshowse2346.ram
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 12:07:20 PT

Live Now at Pot-TV!
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2346.html
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Comment #18 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 12:01:40 PT

Is this the right link?
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2345.html
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Comment #17 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2003 at 11:56:20 PT

Early prep. is taking place...
The Web chat has started... Click on the link in comment #3, down below.Hi, Martha.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 11:24:26 PT

Two at The Same Time! Oh My!
What to do!I hope both the Drug Policy Alliance and Pot-TV archive the press release and chat. I think I will watch Steve Kubby and then go to the Drug Policy Alliance chat. 
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 11:08:54 PT

Virgil 
I thought we missed it! I thought it was 12 ET. That's good to know that it's PT. I'll check the site and maybe someone else will too. 
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Comment #14 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 11:06:04 PT

There will be a live netcast at noon PST
In the Battle For Canada #6, RC reminded everyone that there would be a live broadcast from the pot-tv studios this noon their time in Vancouver. That will be in 55 minutes. It will be archived so maybe the live thing is not that big of a deal unless someone would make a report here to Cnews so that important details might be recorded.
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 10:56:49 PT

One More!
Newshawks: Has Immigration Canada Sentenced Steve Kubby to Death?:
http://www.pot-tv.net/ram/pottvshowse2345.ram
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Comment #12 posted by Dankhank on December 09, 2003 at 10:55:34 PT

Edit ...
I must hone my editing skills ...Virgil ...yes, a lot is happening today ...we must pay attention
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 10:55:08 PT

Virgil This Is What I Found
Battle For Canada Part 6; Special Bulletin: Kubby Refugee Claim Rejected: http://www.pot-tv.net/ram/pottvshowse2342.ram
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Comment #10 posted by Dankhank on December 09, 2003 at 10:52:12 PT:

Perspective
Amazing what a toasted Bacon/Egg/Cheese oast will do for your outlook if it's the first thing you've eaten this day.That mythical reporter sure used Dankhank's name alot.It's obvious that we all do what we can, I do what I can, and thank you all for the Kudus, and the same to you all.Let me say here that I ache for Steve and Michelle.I like the idea of asking Ahnold for a pardon. Let's all craft reasoned mails and send to him ...Peace ...
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Comment #9 posted by Virgil on December 09, 2003 at 10:47:01 PT

DK on ABC at 7PM
I enjoyed your reporting from OK, Dankhank. I bet you make excellent soup worthy of family recipe status. Won't pot-tv be having something on the Kubby's at 3PM Eastern, noon Pacific? It will be archived anyway. Since DK is the clear choice concerning cannabis candidates this would be of importance to us. I find it noteworthy that major media is covering the debate live. It will also be on C-Span.CANDIDATES DEBATE TONIGHT ON ABC, 12/09/03 
Dennis will debate the other eight Democratic candidates in New Hampshire this evening with ABC's Ted Koppel and WMUR-TV political reporter Scott Spradling asking the questions. Coverage will be live on ABC and C-Span from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Later, ABC's Nightline will have a special one-hour broadcast. To politely request fair coverage and equal time before the debate, to thank them for fairness and professionalism after the debate, or to complain about biased treatment, Email nightline abc.com or call (202) 222-7364 or fax (202) 222-7976

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Comment #8 posted by kaptinemo on December 09, 2003 at 10:43:15 PT:

The DrugWar's INTENDED victims 
We know the drill; prohibition wasn't just illegal monopolistic economic control of energy and manufacturing masked by the subterfuge of 'public health', it was also meant to be social control - control by the Elite of America's own (as those who toady for the Elite put it) 'barbarians within the gates'. Namely the minority members of our citizenry who have little stake in a system which denies them full partnership while simultaneously paints targets on their backs.
 
From
http://www.drugwar.com/blackfiends.shtm*Old Doc Williams didn't let the facts stand in his way: "But I believe the record of the 'cocaine n****r' (Editing mine -k.) near Asheville, who dropped five men dead in their tracks, using only one cartridge for each, offers evidence that is sufficiently convincing."*and:*Rep. Hobson of Alabama was the Anti-Saloon League's most popular and highest paid speaker. The assumptions of his astounding arguments are all written into today's drug law. Here are some excerpts from his speech introducing what became the Eighteenth Amendment, Prohibition, on Feb.2, 1911: "If a peaceable red man is subjected to the regular use of alcoholic beverage, he will speedily be put back to the plane of the savage. The Government long since recognized this and absolutely prohibits the introduction of alcoholic beverage into an Indian reservation. If a negro takes up a regular use of alcoholic beverage, in a short time he will degenerate to the level of the cannibal. No matter how high the stage of evolution, the result is the same."*(So, by this statement, every Black person who drinks alcohol will try to put his neighbor in a food processor?)I invite the curious to go back and look at that link and the others available on that page - then think of all that all that has been written, from the lips of prohibtionists of old and how their designs became the horrid reality of today. But one thing stands out above all - the DrugWar in it's most nascent form was seen as nothing less than a race war. It was intended as precisely that and nothing else. It's origins have been largely forgotten, and it's present cheerleaders are considerably more savvy than their crude predecessors; they'd never use the words their organizational ancestors did. No, they couch their arguments much more carefully.But the result is the same: social control of minorities predicated upon long discredited racial bigotry. 
So the real question here is, as it has always been, is: Why do minority leaders shy away from addressing the fact that the DrugWar was DELIBERATELY, WITH 'MALICE AFORETHOUGHT' aimed at the oppression of them and their peoples? Surely, some of them have access to the same publicly available databases. You'd think, wouldn't you, that once they made the barest, lightest, delicate scratch of the surface of the DrugWar they'd see underneath the pretty coat of paint covering it that the entire system is a gigantic Jim Crow device? Think about it: all the proofs are there. Prison population makeup. Arrest ratios. "Driving While Black" traffic stops. It couldn't get any clearer if you walked up to them and drew cross-hairs on their faces.The children of Stratford are only the latest victims. The fact that the racial makeup of those traumatized was largely African-American is just one more dot to connect. But sadly, I will predict here that no one, not even the ACLU, will dare venture into the historical underpinnings of this latest outrage. The dots have been laying at the feet of America's minorty leaders for years...and probably will remain so. To pick them up and examine them would compel them to act to destroy drug prohibition...as they haven't done for 88 years. 
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Comment #7 posted by goneposthole on December 09, 2003 at 10:30:23 PT

clear the bushes
so people won't fall over the cliff. That way, they won't need to be rescued.
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Comment #6 posted by drfistusa on December 09, 2003 at 10:13:54 PT

"fishing trip says Rush"
Rush accuses the cops of Fishing, when they know the guy had 1000's of pills, but hes a neocon repub. These were black kids on drugs and bad white kids/white trash to him. besides he was in pain, all those lies add up to mental pain, imagine lieing and ranting all day, it gets painful, what about the KARMA.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 10:10:24 PT

Dankhank
Good job you are doing.
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2003 at 10:08:48 PT

Dankhank,
Thank You.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 10:03:01 PT

Friendly Reminder: Live Web Chat at 3 PM ET
Join The Alliance For a Live Web ChatThis year has seen some real highs and serious lows for drug reformers, and we need to enter 2004 with renewed determination to make it a watershed for reform. Please join the Drug Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann and retired ACLU director Ira Glasser for Turning the Tide, a live 45-minute Web chat, during which we will be taking your questions and comments. The chat will take place: 
Tuesday, December 9, 20033 PM Eastern/Noon PacificTo listen to the live broadcast, click here:
http://play.rbn.com/?url=ctsg/dpa/live/live.rm&proto=rtsp&rbnkey=1 http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/ethanchat.cfm
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on December 09, 2003 at 09:52:17 PT

We fight for free
dankhank, your devoted work makes me remember the scene in The Godfather II where Al Pacino is in Havana and he says the reason why Castro will win is because his people fight for free, while the government has to pay theirs.

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Comment #1 posted by Dankhank on December 09, 2003 at 09:40:42 PT:

Number 7
Seven of the Democrats trying to be president now have a CRL from my hot little hands. What follows is a "news story as I imagine it would run if ever written."By the way, prior the the meeting starting I was interviewed by a reporter from the Washington Times I gave him the spiel and gave him a CRL saying that his paper has been a little shaky about Cannabis Issues and would he give the CRL to the editorial board when he returned?OKC -- Senator Edwards was caught a bit off-guard last night at the Oklahoma City University when he opened his town meeting by asking if anyone knew why some kids couldn't go to college.Dankhank was in the crowd and said loudy, " It's because the kid had a little reefer in his pocked a few years ago ," as Edwards looked to Dankhank waving his hand and saying, "We'll get to that later," as Dankhank finished by saying, "... and can't get a government loan for college." The crowd eruputed in laughter, but Edwards handled it well.Later, during the question/answer part of the meeting Edwards again called on Dankhank who rose and spoke about the drug war's effects on education.Dankhank prefaced his question saying he would stick to Education as per the announced topic of the town hallDankhank stated that there is no known data existing to suggest that the DARE program has ever had any effect on the rate fifth-graders try illegal drugs; it is nothing more than a feel-good for parents/school officials and legislators allowing them to pat their own backs saying, "We're fighting illegal drug use," when nothing is hapenning. He mentioned a program called Botvin that is being used in Lawton, OK, saying, "basically we need to try something else.Dankhank then described briefly the police action in Goose Creek, SC asking if Edwards it was good policy to scare and menace high-school children by pointing guns at their heads and excited, barking drug dogs at ther bodies. Senator Edwards, from NC, seemed not to know about the Goose Creek, SC incident.Dankhank then moved on in a fast paced homily to the Souder sponsored legislation responsible for hundreds of student applicants being denied Federal school loans due to past drug crimes. Dankhank stated, and Edwards agreed that Souder's law requires a question to be placed on the application asking whether the applicant has a drug crime record. Answering the question yes will likely cause applicant to lose eligibility for a year for Federal loans. Edwards also agreed that it was "crazy" that no other question of that type is on the application. There is no: Are you a convicted murderer? Have you ever assaulted/stabbed/shot/raped anyone? The truth is, caught with a joint, miss school for a year, kill someone, get your loan. Edwards told Dankhank he had gotten a good amount of time to speak, so Dankhank closed by saying that at the end of the day when we have taught the children everything else, we should consider teaching them compassion. Dankhank described the WAMM raid where DEA SWAT busted doors down in California at Cannabis Compassion Clubs, SWAT, armoured/hooded with laser-sighted automatic weapons pointed those weapons at old men and women, some in wheelchairs, some with six months to live, having found Cannabis to relieve some symptoms allowing a better quality of life, denies compassion to those who are due compassion.Dankhank finished for then, rose at the end of the Q and A and gave Senator Edwards a CD-ROM copy of the Cannabis Research Library containing about 1200 studies of Cannabis in about 20 medical disciplines.

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