Harvard University economics Professor Jeffrey Miron spoke to more than 200 people Monday night about drug prohibition in the United States and the effects legalizing drugs could have on the economy and society. Located in the Busch Campus Center, the lecture, titled "The Economics of Drug Legalization," focused on a positive and normative analysis of drug prohibition and the effects it has on the black market, while including comparisons between today's drug prohibition and the 1920s and early 1930s alcohol prohibition. [continues 581 words]
Woman Alleges Racial Profiling The Ottawa woman who was strip-searched at the Ottawa Airport after returning from her grandmother's funeral in Jamaica has decided to launch a human rights complaint. Charmaine Archer, 42, who holds dual citizenship with Jamaica, said Sunday she wants to know what her rights are, make sure people understand what happened, and ensure no one else goes through the humiliation she did. She has contacted the Canadian Human Rights Commission and expects to hear back within the week to begin filing an official complaint. [continues 397 words]
Drug charges against a Toronto man have been thrown out after a Superior Court justice found police engaged in racial profiling when they pulled his vehicle over and then lied about it in court. Justice Frances Kiteley found police "had no lawful basis to pull Mr. (Irshad) Ahmed over" on Nov. 25, 2008, while he was driving in Toronto's west end. Constables Justyn Humeniuk and Ryan Willmer of 23 Division said they pulled 26-year-old Ahmed over because he ran a red light. Kiteley rejected that explanation, saying the officers had "lied." "He did nothing to cause the police officers to pay attention to him," she wrote in an 11-page ruling released Wednesday. [continues 120 words]
Police Racial Profiling TORONTO - Two Toronto police officers engaged in racial profiling when they stopped a 25-year-old black man in his car a year ago on the false pretext that he ran a red light, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled. Justice Frances Kiteley excluded evidence of marijuana and cocaine seized from the car of Irshad Ahmed on Nov. 25, 2008, and acquitted him as a result of numerous violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by the officers. [continues 507 words]
The drug war has done little other than turn the land of the free into the world's biggest jailer. ("America's Drug War: Keep putting on the heat," Oct. 29, Nadra Enzi) If harsh penalties deterred illegal drug use, the elusive goal of a "drug-free" America would have been achieved decades ago. Instead of adding to what is already the highest incarceration rate in the world, we should be funding cost-effective drug treatment. The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. [continues 75 words]
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Ninth District Congressman Steve Cohen testified last week before the panel's Crime Subcommittee on the need to examine racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Cohen is the author of H.R. 1412, the Justice Integrity Act, which would establish a pilot program to study the real and perceived racial and ethnic disparities in federal law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The Justice Integrity Act also calls for recommendations to address any disparities or perceptions of bias that are found as a result of the study. It has been co-sponsored by 30 of Cohen's House colleagues, including Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Arlen Specter (D-Penn.). [continues 597 words]
A Columbus attorney hired to represent eight Quitman County, Ga., residents -- who were arrested last week in connection with what authorities called a small-scale riot in Georgetown -- has accused Sheriff Steve Newton and his deputies of employing "heavy-handed tactics" on citizens to include public strip searches and racial profiling. During a news conference Friday in Columbus, attorney Joseph Wiley addressed several issues that he and his clients believe precipitated the Aug. 27 confrontation in which an estimated 200 Quitman County residents faced-off against officers from several surrounding agencies in front of the Georgetown Courthouse. Wiley specifically accused Newton, who was elected sheriff in January, of encouraging and condoning such policing methods as public strip searches and racial profiling in an attempt to fulfill his campaign promise of ridding the county of drugs. [continues 555 words]
Now that the men have drunk their beers and the media frenzy has subsided regarding whether Officer James Crowley was a racist or a good cop, and whether Professor Henry Louis Gates was out of line with his fury or perfectly justified, and whether President Barack Obama handled the whole ordeal well or stupidly, particularly when he suggested Crowley behaved stupidly -- now that all of that seems to be settled (or at least has quieted down), there are a few matters that remain unresolved. [continues 502 words]
AUSTIN -- Congressional leaders traveled the nation, hosting hearings and ginning up political furor over illegal immigration, lax security on the southern border and drug violence in Mexico. That was three years ago, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in a heated re-election battle, promised to use state dollars to bolster border security in the absence of federal action. Since then, the federal government has spent more than $3.7 billion on border security, including building 700 miles of fence, beefing up patrols and helping Mexico fight drug cartels. [continues 1364 words]
The latest state traffic study on who gets pulled over by police shows once again that minorities are more likely to be the subject of so-called consent searches although police are more likely to find contraband in the vehicles of white drivers. The results of the annual state study were not a surprise to civil rights activists who are opposed to the searches, which are done with the consent of the driver. According to the 2008 study, released earlier this month, when a vehicle of a white driver was "consent-searched," officers statewide found contraband 24.7 percent of the time. When a vehicle driven by a minority was searched, officers found contraband 15.4 percent of the time. [continues 464 words]
Robert Sharpe With Common Sense for Drug Policy Calls Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentences a "Proven Failure." When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven failures. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, Canada's southern neighbor would be a "drug-free" America. That's not the case The U.S. drug war has done little other give the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. [continues 62 words]
Attorneys for the LAPD and the U.S. Department of Justice Propose That the Consent Decree Be Terminated in Favor of a 'Transition Agreement.' ACLU Asks Judge to Keep the Decree in Place. A judge Monday postponed deciding whether to free the Los Angeles Police Department from years of federal oversight. More than eight years ago, following the Rampart corruption scandal, the LAPD was forced by the U.S. Department of Justice to agree to a sweeping set of reforms aimed at improving officers' behavior and the department's ability to maintain order in its own house. [continues 422 words]
Re: 'Tough' drug bill all politics, Our View, May 20, 2009. When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven failures. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, Canada's southern neighbor would be a "drug-free" America. That's not the case The U.S. drug war has done little other than give the "land of the free" the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. [continues 62 words]
To the Editor, Re: 'Tough' drug bill politicized, May 21. When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven failures. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, Canada's southern neighbour would be a 'drug-free' America. That's not the case. The U.S. drug war has done little other than give the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. [continues 84 words]
Can The Cops Stop You Based On Nothing But The Colour Of Your Skin? In A Word, Yes Editor's note: This is the last in a series of guest columns on privacy and legal issues by local lawyer D. James Anderson. Last week he looked at who can let the police into your home or room. This week he tackles searches based on racial profiling. Let's take an unhappy detour into one of criminal law's heartbreaking culs-de-sac: the one where, in some situations, it's OK for the police to stop and question a person just because they have a certain skin tone. [continues 807 words]
Dear Editor: Re: editorial by Dan Singleton, "Drug fight must include more than just punishment" When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven failures. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, Canada's southern neighbor would be a "drug-free" America. That's not the case. The U.S. drug war has done little other than give the former land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. [continues 63 words]
To the editor, Regarding MP Rob Moore's March 24 column, when it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven failures. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, Canada's southern neighbor would be a "drug-free" America. That's not the case. The US drug war has done little other give the former land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. [continues 65 words]
Obama's Pick To Head ONDCP Is Better Than Your Average Drug Czar President Obama caught even close observers off-guard with his mid-February nomination for the nation's new drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske. Kerlikowske, 59, Seattle's police chief, with nearly 40 years in law enforcement behind his badge, will direct the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), pending Senate approval. But Kerlikowske isn't just any urban police chief. He's the top cop of a city with a progressive reputation on several drug-related matters, including needle-exchange programs and marijuana possession laws. [continues 790 words]
Will the Obama Administration Put Justice Back in the Criminal Justice System? President Obama faces a heap of crises: a major economic recession, crumbling national infrastructure, and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Buried in that heap is another war, one less present in public discourse but no less toxic: the drug war. The concentrated battleground of the drug war has been on domestic soil, with America's so-called interdiction efforts spreading the fight across the world, from poppy-rich Afghanistan to the coca-nurturing Andes to the most brutal battlefield of them all, Mexico, which saw more than 5,600 drug-related murders last year, including several that involved publicly displayed decapitations [continues 3100 words]
Department agrees to revise training and notify community college trustees after incident at L.A. Trade-Tech. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, settling a claim over detentions of minority students during a narcotics search at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, has agreed to revise its anti-bias training and ensure that its supervisors prevent racial profiling. The Sheriff's Department, which patrols Los Angeles Community College District campuses, reached the settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California to resolve a claim alleging the department stopped and searched dozens of African American students based on their race. The incident occurred Oct. 17 on the campus south of downtown Los Angeles. [continues 366 words]
