cannabisnews.com: Arrests For Pot are Excessive
Arrests For Pot are Excessive
Posted by CN Staff on July 16, 2007 at 06:26:22 PT
By Sheryl McCarthy
Source: Newsday
New York -- 'I call it an epidemic of marijuana arrests. New York City has been on a binge of marijuana arrests for the last 10 years." "I would call it a dragnet."These are the conclusions of Harry Levine, a professor of sociology at Queens College, and Deborah Small, director of Break the Chains, a nonprofit drug policy reform group and a longtime advocate of changing the city's drug policies.
The two, who are studying the city's marijuana arrest policy, want to see the police give summonses to people who are caught smoking marijuana in public or with small amounts of marijuana on them, instead of the current practice of arresting them and jailing them overnight.According to arrest data from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, the number of arrests for marijuana possession skyrocketed from about 10,000 in 1996 to more than 50,000 in 2000. The arrests have tapered off somewhat since then, but remain high: 33,000 arrests for marijuana possession last year.Meanwhile, federal government figures show that between 1997 and 2006 marijuana use among high school students and 19- to 28-year-olds rose only slightly.Studies of marijuana arrests in New York City by Levine, researchers at the University of Chicago Law School, and the National Development and Research Institutes found that the overwhelming number of those arrested for marijuana possession were black and Latino males, even though national studies show that black and Latino high school students use marijuana at a lower rate than white students. However, the state criminal justice services officials say they have concerns about the reliability of the city's statistics on the race of those arrested because of how racial data are reported.Marijuana arrests in the city surged in the late 1990s as part of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's quality-of-life policing strategy, and have continued under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But although early law enforcement efforts concentrated on heavily trafficked public areas like Central Park and midtown Manhattan, the efforts shifted to lower-income black and Latino communities, the studies say.Camilla Price, chief of staff for State Sen. Ruben Diaz, whose district includes the Soundview section of the Bronx, says police in her district routinely swoop down on students as they leave school."Kids are going between Stevenson High School and several housing projects. They can be standing on the corner, and I've seen the cops with the kids against the wall, going through their pockets. Some kids have money or weed. They just harass the kids like there's no tomorrow."Legal Aid attorneys I talked to confirmed that they're handling far more marijuana possession cases than in years past. One experienced Legal Aid attorney told me the police used to issue desk appearance tickets, but now they're putting them through the arrest wringer. "It's disturbing," says Seymour James, the attorney in charge of crime practice for the Legal Aid Society, "incarcerating them overnight when they could be given a summons. There is no reason for this ... for merely having a marijuana cigarette."The police have considerable discretion in how they treat marijuana offenses. They can confiscate the pot, give the person a warning and tell them to go home. They can write a summons, which is similar to a traffic ticket and requires the offender to appear before a judge on a certain date. A summons can result in a fine or a dismissal. Or they can choose to arrest and handcuff the offenders, put them in a police car, take them to the station house, fingerprint and photograph them, and hold them in jail until they can be arraigned, which can sometimes take days. Many possession charges are dismissed if the person doesn't get into any more trouble in the next year. But it's ridiculously punitive to put people through a humiliating process for a minor offense."We're socializing black and Latino youths to the criminal justice system," Levine says. "We're teaching them how to be in the system." It's like telling them this is a rehearsal for a future of getting arrested and spending time in jail, Small says.Police Department spokesman Paul Browne says the department is simply carrying out the law, and argues that there's been no major increase in such arrests during the last three years. But the number of arrests is still large, and has grown dramatically over time when there's been no similar increase in marijuana use.Arresting people, especially teenagers, for smoking a joint, passing one to a friend, or having a small bag of marijuana needs to stop. Far more serious crimes are going on. And no parent of a teenager wants to see her kid thrown in jail and treated like a criminal for a minor transgression that could be handled with a summons.Source: Newsday (NY)Author: Sheryl McCarthyPublished: July 16, 2007Copyright: 2007 Newsday Inc.Contact: letters newsday.comWebsite: http://www.newsday.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #63 posted by whig on July 17, 2007 at 21:20:23 PT
John McCain's flip flop express
http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20070717133158914During a Manchester campaign on July 13, Len Epstein, a volunteer for Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM), told Sen. Clinton, "Twelve states allow medical marijuana, but the Bush administration continues to raid patients," to which she responded, "Yes, I know. It's terrible." Epstein then asked, "Would you stop the federal raids?" Sen. Clinton responded firmly, "Yes, I will."The following day in Claremont, Sen. McCain held a town hall meeting at which he was asked about his stance on medical marijuana. When asked in April about ending the medical marijuana raids, McCain had responded, "I will let states decide that issue."But this time, when GSMM campaign manager Stuart Cooper asked Sen. McCain if he still supported ending the raids, he went into headlong retreat. "Not yet," he said. "I don't think marijuana is healthy, I don't think that it is good for people, and there is a large body of medical opinion that says there is plenty of other medications that are more effective and better and less damaging to one's health to use to relieve pain. So I will continue to look at it on your behalf and many other young people who feel very strongly about it, but right now my answer to you is no."
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Comment #62 posted by FoM on July 17, 2007 at 19:55:11 PT
whig
I agree with you about the RP. It might be too late at least for quite a few years but maybe they will find their way in time. When they shook hands with the Fundamentalists it was the wrong thing to do.
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Comment #61 posted by FoM on July 17, 2007 at 19:50:23 PT
mayan
Me! Believe a politician! No way but I know they better not say something they don't mean now since the Internet is on fire and tracking everything they say and do. I miss watching more then I can on Youtube but the politicians must just hate it! LOL!
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Comment #60 posted by whig on July 17, 2007 at 19:18:28 PT
Cannabis prohibition
Democrats must support ending cannabis prohibition now.Their base now supports ending cannabis prohibition.I hope Ron Paul wins the Republican nomination, because it would be nice to have candidates on both major parties who will end cannabis prohibition.However, I think the Republicans cannot nominate Ron Paul because the corporatists and fundamentalists own that party completely now. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think he will be a candidate for president in the general election.
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Comment #59 posted by mayan on July 17, 2007 at 17:34:59 PT
FoM
And do you believe her?
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Comment #58 posted by FoM on July 17, 2007 at 13:36:19 PT
observer
I'm not interested in the overall drug war because I know how bad some of the hard drugs are but marijuana and medical marijuana are important to me. I don't believe anyone who uses an illegal substance should be arrested but hard drug dealers that aren't addicts themselves don't have my sympathy because they are peddling poison and that's immoral to me. Clinton just said she would stop the raids! That was great to read and I am not a Hillary fan.
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Comment #57 posted by observer on July 17, 2007 at 13:30:29 PT
Ron Paul
I like some of the things that some Democrats say, sometimes. But the vast majority of the Democrats I've seen are too politically fearful to go against the drug war. They want to prove they are twice as "tough on drugs" as "the" other party. Sometimes, like Bill Clinton, they drop sly hints they are tokers ("But I didn't inhale"), only to cynically arrest all the more tokers when in power, so as not to be accused of being "soft on drugs." We've all seen that political bait and switch before. So I don't care what party a politician says he's from. If he wants to lock me up for toking, then I ain't voting for him. And I do agree with the MPP people quoted below, "We really need more people in politics with the courage like Ron Paul." Bravo for the Marijuana Policy Project!
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Comment #56 posted by FoM on July 17, 2007 at 13:21:24 PT
observer
I know Ron Paul is for medicinal cannabis and that's a good thing but for me I am not a one issue voter and not to mention I am not interested in any Republican. I want the Democrats to win and give them 4 or possibly 8 year time to get it right or they would be out and the Republicans will be back in. I haven't talked to one person who wants a Republican to win around where I live. Ohio will be a blue state again I think.
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Comment #55 posted by observer on July 17, 2007 at 13:05:53 PT
Ron Paul speaks about on medical cannabis
As far as the cannabis issue goes, there sure is a big difference between the presidential hopefuls. Ron Paul speaks about medical cannabis (audio MP3)
http://www.drugtruth.net/MP3/420051105.mp3Giuliani Blasts Medical Marijuana Supporters
http://cannabisnews.com/news/23/thread23167.shtml
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Comment #54 posted by FoM on July 17, 2007 at 10:30:21 PT
observer
I think Ron Paul is a good person. I believe in letting a woman, her God and Doctor decide what is best for her not the government. Making a woman a criminal which could mean jail is not the way I want us to go. Roe Vs. Wade was decided many years ago and even though I personally am against abortion I don't want a woman to be made a criminal over it.
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Comment #53 posted by observer on July 17, 2007 at 10:21:32 PT
Benito Giuliani vs Ron Paul
Marijuana arrests in the city surged in the late 1990s as part of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's quality-of-life policing strategy...Contrast that with this:
One of [Ron] Paul’s donors is the executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that backs the legalization of marijuana. The group’s Web site claims it has 20,000 dues-paying members.The $2,300 was not made on the organization’s behalf, but by the group’s director as a private individual, said Dan Bernath, the group’s assistant director of communications. Even so, the group still backs Paul for president, he said.“This one’s easy for us,” he said. “We really need more people in politics with the courage like Ron Paul.”Though Paul himself does not use the drug, he has always had a problem with the nation’s stance on marijuana and favors legalizing it because citizens should have the right to choose, Snyder said.“It really doesn’t work,” Snyder said of the current system. “He’s voted time and time again for legalizing medical marijuana.”
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=2010c1ecd823f9ccIn my opinion, it is good when politicians respect your freedom to put (or not put) whatever you choose in your own body. Good, but rare. Lots of folks who care about freedom are watching Ron Paul and they thoroughly enjoy listening to his message of liberty and limited government. The message is getting out.
Marijuana Policy Project mpp.org
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Comment #52 posted by FoM on July 17, 2007 at 08:52:05 PT
observer
Thank you. I saw that yesterday and I guess I really believed that organizations don't push one party or the other but I don't think that anymore. I haven't seen any real concern over the Democrats only right leaning parties (Republicans and Libertarians). I knew there was a reason something didn't settle with me and now I know.
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Comment #51 posted by afterburner on July 17, 2007 at 07:37:38 PT
Judge rules Canada's pot possession laws unconstit
Judge rules Canada's pot possession laws unconstitutional
Last Updated: Friday, July 13, 2007 | 8:46 PM ET
CBC News
A Toronto judge has ruled that Canada's pot possession laws are unconstitutional after a man argued the country's medicinal marijuana regulations are flawed.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/07/13/pot-toronto.html
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Comment #50 posted by observer on July 16, 2007 at 22:27:04 PT
Marijuana advocates, engineers backing Paul
Marijuana advocates, engineers backing PaulJohn Tompkins, The Facts, July 17, 2007 A quick look at the list of those who have donated to presidential hopeful Congressman Ron Paul shows a diverse mix of people, including several engineers and investment firms and some who support the legalization of marijuana...http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=2010c1ecd823f9cc
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Comment #49 posted by potpal on July 16, 2007 at 20:28:43 PT
Safer cig
Have a giggle...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070716/safer-cigarettes/
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Comment #48 posted by ekim on July 16, 2007 at 19:43:31 PT
good story on MI drug law changes
http://www.mlive.com/news/Sentencing laws get attention
Gov. Granholm is pushing to change Michigan's sentencing laws so fewer criminals are locked up. • Read the story | Six parts of proposal • Crimes whose penalties would change
http://www.mlive.com/news/
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Comment #47 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 19:39:33 PT
Oh yes...
and actually spied on, sometimes in their own homes.That's not right.Sigh."Would you please tell the man, I didn't kill anyone!"Every chance I get. Every chance I get.
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Comment #46 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 19:36:50 PT
Sometimes
I'm afraid that all the distress I feel over this situation, this prohibition, and what it is doing to people and society in general, is going to damage my physical and mental health. But it would damage my soul, and my spiritual health, and my conscience, if I just stood by and said nothing as people were being murdered, threatened, terrified, having to endure home invasion by the government, humiliated, bullied, dragged off in shackles to cages, robbed by the government of their homes and possessions and livelihoods, mistreated, and persecuted and prosecuted and generally bedeviled, for what herbal and drug type substances they choose to personally consume.
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Comment #45 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 19:15:26 PT
Hope
I really enjoy Mike Gravel when he has been on the tv news and the debates I've seen. He has nothing to lose so he speaks his mind. I think he is 77 years old and I hope that I am half as sharp as he is if I make to his age.
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 19:08:39 PT
Interesting quote from article
called "Cannabis Use Trebles In France"."Our studies show that they are turning to cannabis because its effects reinforce their state of mind without fundamentally altering it. They don't want to get wasted." http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n852/a02.html?397
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Comment #43 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 19:06:41 PT
Mike Gravel
I've noticed that quite a few people, though they don't believe he can be elected, are very appreciative of his bringing this subject to the forefront.
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Comment #42 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 18:44:08 PT
Hope
I like Mike Gravel.
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Comment #41 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 18:28:09 PT
One Democratic Candidate's Courageous Stand
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n853/a05.html?397
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Comment #40 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 18:22:49 PT
Vigilante Justice?
This seems more like protecting your own property and not "Vigilante Justice". Of course, the shooting for effect, made it criminal to some. I know a couple who woke in the middle of the night with a stranger in bed with them. When they discovered him, the homeowner chased him out with a gun and fired a shot in the air for effect as the creep was headed across the yard. There is a difference between making a terrific loud noise of protest and actually shooting at someone. I think.Probably, if it's only for effect and warning, like in this case, people might should could keep some firecrackers on hand. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n853/a10.html?397
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Comment #39 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 18:02:43 PT
Please, People. Everywhere.
Stand up and stop governments from pouncing, frightening, bullying, terrifying, trampling, jailing, and abusing so many people...young people and teenagers included, through hideously unjust and punitive drug laws and prohibitions. Let people have their own bodies and lives back!The policies we have about drug use and distribution now are so hypocritical and unjust. They were spawned in an atmosphere of racist hatred, fear, and greed. They were evil laws and rules from the day they were first thought up.Please.
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Comment #38 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 17:54:50 PT
There are many beneficial
and helpful drugs, herbs, leaves, and foods. Many! Some are helpful even though they are poisonous in the wrong amounts and to some people. Peanuts, in even trace amounts, are deadly to those allergic to them.It's outrageous that some drugs, beneficial to some people, are forced to be outcasts and illegal and some, backed by the right people, in certain ways, are legal.Cannabis is illegal and it's among the most non poisonous, most non deadly, most non overdosable, most beneficial plants in creation. What's going on?I've been sick of it for a long time...whatever it is...and I am way past ready for the injustice to be stopped. Way past...and I hope fervently that more people are seeing the truth and joining us and standing with us daily, every day, in our efforts and hopes for reform of these terrible policies.
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Comment #37 posted by whig on July 16, 2007 at 17:21:43 PT
Overstatement?
I shouldn't say that they want to poison children, it's not very nice.... Except for those who do, and I'm concerned about Nutrasweet very much, which was forced through approvals by Donald Rumsfeld.Really, I think people do take good pharmaceuticals sometimes. It is a benefit of modern medicine that we avoid many illnesses or treat others that in prior times would have been almost certainly fatal.But cannabis can help too, and for some people it is a matter of life and death.
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Comment #36 posted by whig on July 16, 2007 at 17:17:14 PT
Hope
They want to poison our children so they don't become smart enough to see through their control structures.
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Comment #35 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 17:10:03 PT
I so agree... and I am afraid for them...
"Arresting people, especially teenagers, for smoking a joint, passing one to a friend, or having a small bag of marijuana needs to stop."I feel so sorry for kids, and everyone, really, that the system gets a hold of. But the kid thing is a special hurt and sorrow. They drive them to misery and even suicide sometimes over their use of the herb. I'm not saying that they should use it or that they should be encouraged to use it....I'm saying that those that do choose to do it shouldn't be punished and "treated" and "re-educated", or medicated up with powerful pharmaceuticals, like they are. It's wrong and I can't believe that people don't realize it.How is it right to punish some of them for using an herb, that you've made "illegal" and "illicit" with your man made laws, and then forcing some of them, on the other hand, to use deadly and dangerous, but "legal" , truly, mind and body altering pharmaceuticals that you choose for them? How is that right? Doesn't right or wrong matter anymore?
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Comment #34 posted by mayan on July 16, 2007 at 16:56:03 PT
NYC
The crack-down on free thinking through cannabis in NYC began well before 9/11. Wouldn't want any critical thinkers to uncover the crime of the century.THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Michael Moore breaks his silence:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/123.htmlFormer California Seismic Safety Commissioner Endorses 9/11 Truth Movement:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070716123650880ST911 Scientist to Sue BBC for Public Deception: http://rinf.com/alt-news/911-truth/st911-scientist-to-sue-bbc-for-public-deception/776/AND THEN THERE WAS ONE… The Final Holdout: 9/11:
http://tvnewslies.org/blog/?p=648Judge's Damage-Before-Discovery Raises More 9/11 Questions:
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=45745Another Dubious Osama Tape Appears When The Neo-Cons Need It Most:
http://infowars.com/articles/terror/bin_laden_another_dubious_tape_appears.htmBin Laden Uncovers Secret Formula to Halt Ageing Process:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/160707secretformula.htmNYC 9/11 BALLOT INITIATIVE:
http://www.nyc911initiative.org/9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB - OUR NATION IS IN PERIL:
http://www.911sharethetruth.com/
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Comment #33 posted by whig on July 16, 2007 at 16:54:17 PT
Hope
The unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America in 1776 proclaimed our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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Comment #32 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 16:52:49 PT
Hope
I don't think I was taught anything like that. We would take situations in class and talk about what is the morally right decision to make. I can't help but believe that many of the people who were taught in parochial school years ago would support reforming the laws on cannabis. I can't be sure but I think they would. They would look for the moral compassionate answer more then what the law on the book says.
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Comment #31 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 16:45:30 PT
Education wise...
I should have paid more attention in Government classes. I just soaked up all the stuff about what a wonderful country we are and failed to see the future necessity of knowing how government operates. But of course, our books and teachers didn't tell us about big, super wealthy corporations and groups supporting and purchasing candidates and stealing the representation from the people.
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Comment #30 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 16:41:46 PT
whig
I agree. It is genocide in my opinion.
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Comment #29 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 16:41:13 PT
"unnatural"
That's true, Whig!
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Comment #28 posted by whig on July 16, 2007 at 16:40:28 PT
Genocide
That is the name for intentional extermination of a species.And it carries over to humanity, as those who adhere to the species which is scheduled for extermination are themselves to be therefore exterminated.Do you think this is not a holocaust?Cannabis is an intelligent species of life. Coexist.
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 16:37:44 PT
Hope
I believe why I don't know anything about government is because of my education. The only law we were taught to obey and that law is above all other laws is God's law. The teaching was if you follow God's law the answers will be the right moral answer.
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Comment #26 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 16:37:12 PT
I've heard it more than once.
I need to memorize a few amendments, at least, so that I can answer well to the next Fascist/Communistic traitor to the true light of this country, that asks me that.The Bill of Rights shouldn't be messed with...but that's one of the things busybodies like to do. They are all about less rights and less freedom because they are afraid for anyone besides themselves to have true freedom and liberty. And yes... they'll gladly take less for themselves to keep you from having the ones you want.This is less about rights and more about ways for insurance companies to wriggle out of responsibilities, in any way they possibly can, that they signed on to. I think they and the testing companies and industries are behind prohibition entirely. It's their fault and the fault of the misled people that line up behind them. It's a way for them to save and make money, at the expense of others, and they already make too much money, to begin with. Instead of insurers, taking a chance...they have become our masters. Insurance companies and executives are way too wealthy at the expense of the little guy, already. Greedy scoundrels and reprobates is what they are, that have brought all this restriction, punitiveness, hardship, and grief on so many people.
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Comment #25 posted by whig on July 16, 2007 at 16:35:58 PT
Cannabis prohibition is unconstitutional
and unnatural.
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 16:18:18 PT
Hope
I don't understand the Constitution. I'm not sure I ever read it completely. No one I know has every mentioned anything to me about the Constitution. People I have known thruout the years just aren't into it. People I know talk about a moral and social obligation to us but that's about all.
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 16:13:47 PT
I feel really sad and afraid
for the future of our young people if we can't get this thing turned around soon.They are ruining our Constitution and so many lives in the name of their Satanic War on Drugs. It is the epitome of something really bad and cruel and merciless, disguised as something good and beautiful.Shudder.
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 16:08:24 PT
How many times have you had
people who are pro prohibition say, "Where in the constitution does it say you have a right to use the herb cannabis?", or something to that effect? Where does it say that you have the right to get high or drunk or whatever?Actually. I think it says so right here.Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 16:05:40 PT
Hope
It doesn't mean anything anymore. This administration has changed everything or maybe just brought it to where they want it.
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 16:04:06 PT
This means nothing anymore, if it ever did.
Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 16:00:55 PT
Hope
I guess your right. They have a lot of military. I've been in a Naval Base in Virginia.
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 15:50:14 PT
Lots of young military people will feel,
and already have, the extended hardship of these excessive fines in Virginia.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 15:47:53 PT
potpal
How to people who live in Virginia feel about it only being them? It seems wrong to make a fine that large.
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 15:45:55 PT
Taking more and more of the citizen's
assets and representing the citizen less and less in the governing of the land.The government likes to think they, as a bureaucracy, are "The People". They're not and they become less and less so everyday.Are they purposely trying to make this country too expensive and punitive for an ordinary person to live in?I think they may be.Government can and does run amok. Ours certainly has...and in so many directions. Citizens only exist as "property" of the state, corporations, and employers? They own us... every aspect of our lives...on and off the job?It's really very scary.
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Comment #15 posted by potpal on July 16, 2007 at 15:44:38 PT
Virginia is for losers
The big fines are only for the Virginians. Not sure what they are for those passing through. If I were a Virginian I'd be upset.
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 15:38:59 PT
potpal
That's how they get money they think they need. I won't be going to Virginia ever again.
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Comment #13 posted by potpal on July 16, 2007 at 15:31:34 PT
doh!
Fines!
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Comment #12 posted by potpal on July 16, 2007 at 15:13:41 PT
police state of mind - ot
$1000-3000 traffic violation finds in VAhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/weekinreview/15vittelo.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 12:30:05 PT
"a whole other battle."
"They" don't want to get the huge prohibition industry riled at them. Many are a part of it. They will scream like devils out of hell at any prospect of them having to look for a different sort of employment. They literally love the drug war and it's proceeds and activities. They do.It's really insane to allow so much of the economy to be based on prohibition of drugs, herbs, prison, treatment, and interdiction... all riding on the bent backs of fellow humans. It's insane why anyone would even want to do that...or continue doing that after they realized what is happening.Most will refuse to see it, and many who do, will say, "If I don't do it, somebody else will."Hmmm.If it was really about caring about people and caring about the "children"...why jail? Why punitiveness?Why is cannabis illegal? It's not because it's dangerous to the average person's health. That's for sure. The prohibition of the "substances" breeds the most and worst danger there is in the "drug problem".
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Comment #10 posted by Max Flowers on July 16, 2007 at 11:42:23 PT
Hope
I've commented here in the past about the fact that there is a "grandfather clause" in the Controlled Substances Act which provides an exception to the Act for any substance that had already been previously established as having medical usefulness. Cannabis had done that in spades, having been of course carried in extract form and other forms by major drug companies in the 1800s, so "established" would be an understatement.My point is that before even getting into larger Constitutional questions, there is as a legal fact an exemption already spelled out in law if anyone cares to look it up. Ed Forchion's research is what clued me in to this. Of course, getting any congressman or any other politician to acknowledge it would be a whole other battle.
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 09:40:40 PT
In this country...
these drug and herb prohibitions were never legally done, as I understand it...like with an amendment or something, like liquor prohibition was. It really is unconstitutional, I believe, as an ordinary citizen, not an expert in law. But, even if it ever reached our old supremes...I'm sure they'd do some wiggling and worming for the sake of the prohibition industry. Whoa! Would they whine, and wail, and scream over the loss of their jobs and prohibition?
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 09:21:36 PT
If the prosecutors can't make
it "constitutional" again...the prisons and jails will start leaking...or hemorrhaging, maybe...pot prisoners.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on July 16, 2007 at 09:19:56 PT
Unconstitutional
It's the answer, really.All cases and records dropped. Zip. Completely.
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Comment #6 posted by Truth on July 16, 2007 at 09:12:53 PT
rudi's legacy
New York City has been on a binge of marijuana arrests for the last 10 years."His war against Americans......
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on July 16, 2007 at 08:40:29 PT
So It Begins Again
PROSECUTORS ACT TO CHALLENGE POT RULING
TORONTO -( CP ) - Prosecutors say they plan to launch a speedy appeal of a Toronto judge's ruling that Canada's marijuana possession laws are unconstitutional.
Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2007
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v07/n842/a03.html?180
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 08:25:56 PT
Audio: High Times in the U.S. Labor Pool
July 16, 2007 A survey finds at least one in 12 workers used illicit drugs every month. But one expert says marijuana isn't the biggest danger to health and safety. It's abuse of prescription drugs. Janet Babin reports.Listen to This Story http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/07/16/AM200707163.html
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on July 16, 2007 at 08:23:30 PT
LaGuardia
murdoch has brought experience in trash journalism to Fox, from such media as Star Magazine and the NY Post.murdoch helped bring the creature george bush into office.Don't expect murdoch to do anything for anybody but murdoch.
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Comment #2 posted by LaGuardia on July 16, 2007 at 08:09:35 PT
Good for Newsday
I am glad that these rational views on marijuana law enforcement reform are penetrating the mainstream media more and more. Too bad that Rupert Murdoch owns so many papers; I would be surprised to see this common sense opinion expressed in a News Corp. paper like the New York Post.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 16, 2007 at 08:06:21 PT
Survey: 1 in 12 U.S. Workers Using Illicit Drugs
Associated Press: July 16, 2007http://www.dailysouthtown.com/business/470147,dst_workdrugs_716.article
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