Momentum Builds for Lone Star Legalization of Marijuana For more than a decade, Austin Democratic state Rep. Elliott Naishtat has brought to his Capitol colleagues a modest proposal: Create an affirmative defense to prosecution on pot possession charges for seriously ill Texans. For seven sessions now - that's every other year since 2001 - he's either authored or sponsored a measure that would give bona fide patients - those suffering, for example, from AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, cancer - the ability to have a judge decide if a criminal charge for pot possession should be dismissed. [continues 2160 words]
During a panel discussion last week at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Gov. Rick Perry made national headlines by saying not only that Washington and Colorado had every right to legalize pot, but also that he's long been a supporter of drug decriminalization policies in Texas. Oh, if it were only that simple. Perry's comments, made on a panel with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and former United Nations Secretary Gen-eral Kofi Annan, reiterated his traditional "states' rights" stance. [continues 804 words]
Attorney General Declines to Act Against States Legalizing Marijuana In an Aug. 29 letter to all U.S. attorneys, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James M. Cole said that the federal government will not - for now, at least - take legal action to challenge laws in Colorado and Washington passed by voters last year that legalize and regulate the use and sale of marijuana by adults. As long as those states "have also implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems" that keep dope, and funds associated with its trade, from diverting to the black market or to kids, he wrote, the feds are happy to have state and local law enforcement police the system. [continues 602 words]
In Two States Where Pot Is Now Legal, Feds Take Back Seat Approach In a letter sent yesterday to all U.S. attorneys, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the federal government will not - for now, at least -s take legal action to challenge laws in Colorado and Washington passed by voters last year that legalize and regulate the use and sale of marijuana by adults. As long as those states "implement strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems" that keep dope, and funds associated with its trade, from diverting to the black market or to kids, the Department of Justice is happy to have state and local law enforcement police the system, he wrote. [continues 605 words]
A Wave of Marijuana Laws Surges Toward a National Consensus Three weeks ago, Allen St. Pierre ducked out of his Washington, D.C., office for a midday dentist appointment. For 22 years, St. Pierre has worked for the National Organ-ization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, the granddaddy of pot-law reform advocacy groups; he came on board in 1991 and rose through the ranks to become executive director a job that in recent years has become increasingly busy. And since the historic November 2012 votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana for casual use by adults, things have been downright hectic. [continues 2391 words]
Austin Homicides Up; Everything Else Down Tracking the national average, violent crimes reported to Austin police in 2010 decreased by 6% from the previous year. It was the fourth year in a row that violent crime has decreased nationally. Property crimes in Austin - burglary, larceny, and auto theft - also decreased last year, by roughly 4.6%, outpacing the national decline of 2.7%. That said, Austin saw a big spike in murder in 2010 - from 22 in 2009 to 38 in 2010, a 72% increase. [continues 186 words]
This week we've got lots of news from the feds (none of it particularly good), new drug laws on the books in Texas, and the connection between Facebook and crack. Lets get to it. Among the hundreds of new Texas laws that went into effect Sept. 1 are the state's new drug crackdowns. Specifically, the ban of both not-pot - - the synthetic marijuana mimicker known as "K2" or "Spice" - and the powdery stimulant known as a "bath salts." Possession - or manufacture or sale - of either can now net you a hefty prison term: Indeed, possession of less than a gram can earn up to two years in a state jail; possession of up to four grams can turn up to 10 years in the pen; possession of between four and 400 grams can get you up to 20 years; more than 400 grams can net you life in the clink. [continues 1253 words]
Border Patrol Agent Loses Job After Stating the Obvious In April 2009, El Paso native and rookie Border Patrol Agent Bryan Gonzalez was working a stretch of the Mexican border near Deming, N.M. It was a relatively slow day, so when Gonzalez saw fellow Agent Shawn Montoya patrolling in the same area, the two men took a break, pulled their vehicles up next to each other, rolled down their windows, and began talking. When the conversation turned to the drug-related violence that was plaguing the border, Gonzalez "mentioned that he thought that legalization of marijuana would save a lot of lives across the border and over here," New Mexico ACLU spokesman Micah McCoy said during a recent interview. Gonzalez also mentioned that there's an organization of law enforcement officers and officials Law Enforce-ment Against Prohibition - that stands in opposition to the drug war. "The other guy didn't agree" with Gonzalez's views, McCoy said, but regardless, "it was a friendly conversation" between the two men. [continues 949 words]
Time To Throw Tomatoes? Obama's Drug Program Highlights President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2011 national drug control budget seeks $15.5 billion - a 3.5% increase over the 2010 budget - to combat drug use and its consequences. The funding would go toward the five major functions listed above. In announcing the release of the proposed federal drug control budget for 2011, Pres-id-ent Barack Obama's drug czar, former Seat-tle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, declared that the new budget "demonstrates the ... Administration's commitment to a balanced and comprehensive drug strategy." The budget is Obama's first with Kerlikowske at the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "In a time of tight budgets and fiscal restraint," continued Kerlikow-ske, "these new investments are targeted at reducing Americans' drug use and the substantial costs associated with the health and social consequences of drug abuse." [continues 885 words]
1) Patients Free to Inhale Keeping a presidential campaign promise, President Barack Obama's Department of Justice sent out an official memo to federal prosecutors in October advising them to end raids on patients using medi-pot in compliance with state law. 2) Some Like it Pot A home movie of Marilyn Monroe that purports to show the blond bombshell toking a joint while lounging on the couch hit the Internet this fall. Suffice to say, the sleepy-eyed actress can even make sniffing an armpit look sexy. [continues 663 words]
In the wake of July's controversial arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., President Barack Obama sought to take the rhetoric down a notch via an informal White House meeting between Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, the officer who arrested him. The two, joined by Obama, would sit down and talk things out, adultlike, over beer. It sounded folksy and practical, something that many, many Americans could get behind - a so-called "beer summit." No one really batted an eye at the idea of adult men sitting around hashing out their differences with the help of a little social lubricant. And that's fine. But here's the truth: They were using drugs - on the president's urging. [continues 1005 words]
Back in March 2002, retired New Jersey State Police Lt. Jack Cole made headlines when he and four other former cops teamed up to form the drug policy reform group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The group's message is simple: The Drug War is a lie that ruins lives and damages the reputation of and respect for police. If you want to control the market for illicit drugs, LEAP asserts, legalize them - it's the only way to regulate their distribution and use. In just five years, LEAP has grown from five founding members to about 10,000 members, including former cops, Drug Enforcement Agency agents, judges, and prosecutors. And in that time, Cole has delivered more than 600 talks to groups around the country, talking to community groups (he's big on the Rotary club circuit), academics, and public officials, and has consistently transformed skeptics into believers. Cole's intensity and passion are palpable, and his argument is unassailably logical: LEAP wants the Drug War to end - now. In town last month to speak at UT, Cole sat down with Reefer Madness to discuss the War on Drugs and the inevitability of legalization. [continues 2381 words]
Thank you for The Union's excellent coverage of the recent marijuana raids on what were purportedly Mexican cartel plantations on state and federal lands in Nevada County. The fact, as reported by The Union, that only seized marijuana in California - and not the total crop we didn't stop - now has a greater economic value than the state's most lucrative agricultural commodity, milk, should be a signpost to what we must now do. My brother and sisters in law enforcement have risked their skins and our tax payer dollars for too long to stop the supply of marijuana. And to what end? The fact that foreign nationals are growing weed in our own county, after four decades of marijuana interdiction, attests to the monumental failure of this effort. It's time we turned our attention to the real drug threats - methamphetamine, for one. Now that needs stopping. [continues 74 words]
ONDCP Goes Old School When in doubt, go old-school or, at least, why not give it a shot, especially if you don't have anything and I mean anything else going for you? But remember: Retro isn't always hip and when it comes to the sad, sad (and ever more sad) White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, "retro" is just plainass embarrassing. Case in point: Now that summer is here, so is the ONDCP's latest attempt at scaring you into believing that drugs no, rather, marijuana, is bad, bad, bad. According to the new ONDCP youth anti-drug media campaign report released by the feds this month, kids (that is youth, ages 12-17) who smoke pot are "at least" four times as likely to join a gang as their nontoking brethren. [continues 902 words]
For the second legislative session in a row, Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, has offered a modest proposal to downgrade the criminal penalties associated with possession of small amounts of pot. Currently, possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana is a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail, meaning getting popped with even a single joint - or, worse, mere seeds and stems - could net a six-month stay in the county lockup. With criminal justice costs spiraling and the jail and prison population bulging, this possible punishment seems, even on its face, a tad crazy. [continues 694 words]
According to North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, his meeting with Drug Enforcement Administration officials last month wasn't exactly encouraging. Johnson traveled to Washington, D.C., in February (his second trip to the Capitol to meet with the DEA) to hand-deliver the North Dakota industrial hemp-farming licenses he's signed off on for two farmers -- the first two farmers to be licensed to grow the environmentally friendly crop since the state codified rules for the plant's cultivation last fall. Although the state has licensed the farmers, they still need the nod from the DEA in order to sow their seeds -- and whether the DEA will actually allow the agricultural endeavor to go forward is still unclear. "They made it clear that they continue to believe that industrial hemp and marijuana are the same thing," he said. "So we had a discussion about how I, and the rest of the world, have come to the opinion that they are not the same thing. [continues 1270 words]
Question: What does a Texas small-business owner have in common with a former associate attorney general, friend of Bill -- and convicted, then pardoned, felon - -- Webster Hubbell? Answer: The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and life insurance. To hear NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre tell it, the story of Hubbell, NORML, and one of its Texas members goes like this: About a year ago, a Texas NORML member called up the organization's Washington, D.C., office with a problem. [continues 776 words]
Despite hysterical claims that the legalization of medicinal marijuana for use by the seriously ill would somehow kick-start a juggernaut of seemingly state-sanctioned drug use and abuse - a tired-ass hand-wringing worry brought, primarily, by your drug war pals at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, starting with Nineties czar Barry McCaffrey - it appears that, a decade after California voters passed the nation's first medi-pot law, the sky has not fallen. [continues 399 words]
While election night saw voters call for sweeping changes in Congress, drug-law reformers were handed a more mixed bag: Three statewide marijuana-law reform initiatives tanked at the polls, while local initiatives in 10 cities across the country sailed through to passage. Notably, in Eureka Springs, Ark.; Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica, Calif.; and Missoula, Mont., voters approved municipal initiatives to decriminalize and/or classify minor pot possession and use by adults as the lowest priority for local police. [continues 862 words]
According to federal Drug War czarina Bertha Madras, deputy director for demand reduction at the White House Office of the National Drug Control Policy, there's both good and bad news about teen drug use. First, the good news: For the fourth year in a row, the government's annual teen drug-use survey reveals that drug use among adolescents is, overall, on the decline. Now, the bad news: While drug use may be on the decline, statistics also show that "everyday in our nation, 3,000 young people start using marijuana," Madras told a smattering of people at a press conference at Austin's Phoenix House rehab center last month. [continues 761 words]
