LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (AP) - The New Jersey attorney general's office has notified prosecutors that a lab technician failed to properly analyze evidence in a drug case, calling into question more than 7,800 criminal cases he's worked on over the last decade. Division of Criminal Justice director Elie Honig wrote in a memo last week that Kamal Shah was observed spending insufficient time analyzing a substance to determine if it was marijuana. In a memo dated Monday, Passaic County Deputy Public Defender Judy Fallon said Shahwas basically "observed writing 'test results' for suspected marijuana that was never tested." "Obviously, all his results have been called into question." Shah worked in the drug unit of the state police's North Regional Laboratory. He was removed from lab work in December, said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General. [end]
Brookline - Also on the ballot in Brookline is Question 4 (Question 7 in Precinct 5) which asks, "Shall the state senator from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would allow the state to regulate the taxation, cultivation, and sale of marijuana to adults?" While this is not a cut-and-dried issue, the TAB recommends a yes vote to this nonbinding question. The Massachusetts Legislature has for many years refused to even discuss marijuana policy. Two years ago, voters took the issue out of the Legislature's hands, approving the decriminalization of marijuana. Question 2 passed with 65 percent of the vote. Now it's time to take the issue to its next logical step: legalization. [continues 128 words]
Brookline -- On Nov. 2, Brookline and Newton voters will have a nonbinding question on our ballots asking whether we support a bill that would legalize, regulate and tax cultivation, and sale of marijuana for nonmedical purposes. As a parent, taxpayer and lawyer with a career in criminal justice administration and mental health law, I recommend a "yes" vote. Two years ago, we voted to reform cannabis prohibition, despite the opposition ofstate prosecutors, the attorney general and governor to relaxing pot laws. We voted to enact decriminalization, ending the risk of detention and career-damaging criminal records for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana. Seventy-four percent of Brookline voters supported the initiative, compared to a 65 percent "yes" vote statewide. [continues 358 words]
Hsta Misled Members, Public About Drug Tests, State Officials Contend State officials blasted the public school teachers union yesterday for attempting to renege on its agreement to accept random drug testing. The Hawaii State Teachers Association agreed to a new contract in June 2007 that included pay increases and random drug testing. After getting most of the pay increases, the union has fought attempts to implement the drug testing. The union's latest suggestion is that only teachers who hold commercial driver's licenses are obligated to be randomly drug tested, State Deputy Attorney General Jim Halvorson said at a news conference yesterday. [continues 673 words]
Misinformation for the purpose of perpetuating a lie is wrong. Most of us were told this by our parents. And yet, today we allow government officials to twist the truth to suit their agenda. Case in point: Marijuana laws. These laws were not created to protect society at large, but rather to protect the interests of those who profit from marijuana's illegality. The feds seem to have the biggest need to see that this plant remains against the law regardless of the fact that individual states and the populace within see it differently. [continues 364 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]
This past Tuesday was sort of depressing, not because of the election results; but studying for two exams the following day meant I could not participate in any planned election night drinking hijinks or dull my pain each time CNN saw fit to "check in on the bloggers." Adding to that pain was the major media outlets' coverage of Amendment 44 in Colorado, Question 7 in Nevada and Initiative 4 in South Dakota which with the usual array of bad puns and metaphors: they went up in smoke, voters just say "no," a hazy issue, a pipe dream, etc. [continues 759 words]
Nevada voters were just saying no to legalizing marijuana, welcoming a hike in the state's minimum wage and keeping alive eminent domain reform, among other decisions on ballot initiatives on Tuesday's ballot. With at least 1,620 of 1,913 precincts statewide reporting, Question 7, which would have allowed Nevada residents 21 years of age or older to possess an ounce of marijuana or less, was being rejected by 56 percent of voters. Only 44 percent were in support. [continues 307 words]
A Clark County judge made the right call last week when he ruled that elected officials and police officers should be able to give their views on a statewide ballot initiative that would decriminalize marijuana. The judge said those officials have a right and a duty to publicly discuss political matters like Question 7, which would legalize marijuana possession by adults. While we agree that's dangerous territory (you wouldn't want a school administrator advocating one school board candidate over another, for example), the marijuana advocates are building their campaign on specific assumptions that require an answer from the police and from government officials. [continues 194 words]
TABLE OF CONTENTS: * This Just In http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n473.html#sec1 (1) A Virginia Sheriff Is Charged With Selling Seized Evidence (2) U.S. Plans To Screen All Who Enter, Leave Country (3) When Does The Media Help Drug Dealers? (4) Troubled Troops In No-Win Plight * Weekly News in Review http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n473.html#sec2 Drug Policy (5) Marijuana Sales, Distribution Major Part of Local Economy (6) Tug Of War (7) OPED: Our White Brothers (8) Indian Drug Trackers To Take On New Role [continues 274 words]
By Neal Levine The Nevada Appeal recently ran an editorial against Question 7, the marijuana initiative. Unfortunately, the authors attributed many claims to our campaign that we have never actually made. We have always been straightforward with our argument: Our marijuana laws don't work because anyone who wants to use marijuana can. In the meantime, the criminal market for marijuana is financing the activities of violent gangs and drug dealers. The Appeal claims marijuana can be harmful, and we've never disputed that. But we do state that marijuana is safer than alcohol - a regulated substance that kills nearly 20,000 Americans every year by overdose - while no one has ever died of a marijuana overdose. [continues 168 words]
Professionals Explore Proposed Change to State Marijuana Laws A debate last week on the pros and cons of decriminalizing marijuana brought out more than 50 students and community members wanting to hear more about the issue before voting in next weeks election. Six panelists from the medical, political and educational communities debated Nevada ballot initiative seven, which would legalize the sale and possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for people 21 and older. The University of Nevada, Reno's Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technology, Student Organization of Providers of Addiction Services, and the Substance Abuse Treatment Program hosted the forum, which featured three panelists in support of Question 7 and three in opposition. [continues 325 words]
One of the things I like best about Nevada Day is that it always reminds me that I don't live in California. As a great philosopher once said, Thank the Lord for small blessings. Nevada Day is sort of a hometown celebration of our state's unique history and traditions, and I always enjoy the parade and other related activities including the political chili feed at the Nugget, where politicians of all known persuasions rub elbows with the voters. It's a truly democratic (small "d") event where you can shake and howdy with the U.S. Senate minority leader and city supervisors at the same time in the same place. It's a Nevada thing. [continues 840 words]
Maybe it's because I was born a couple of months after Woodstock and wasn't around when marijuana was as common as iPods are today, but I'm constantly amazed that after all these years--and all the wars on drugs and all the public-service announcements--nearly 15 million Americans still use marijuana at least once a month. California and 10 other states have already decriminalized marijuana for medical use. Now two of those states--Colorado and Nevada--are considering ballot initiatives that would legalize up to an ounce of pot for personal use by people 21 and older, whether or not there is a medical need. [continues 400 words]
The Nevada Appeal recently ran an editorial against Question 7, the marijuana initiative. Unfortunately, the authors attributed many claims to our campaign that we have never actually made. We have always been straightforward with our argument: Our marijuana laws don't work because anyone who wants to use marijuana can. In the meantime, the criminal market for marijuana is financing the activities of violent gangs and drug dealers. The Appeal claims marijuana can be harmful, and we've never disputed that. But we do state that marijuana is safer than alcohol - a regulated substance that kills nearly 20,000 Americans every year by overdose - while no one has ever died of a marijuana overdose. [continues 152 words]
TABLE OF CONTENTS: * This Just In http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n472.html#sec1 (1) Where's Jacki's Medicine? (2) Red Ribbon Speaker Warns About Manipulation (3) Monthly Drug Use 'Not That Dangerous' (4) Pot Activist To Get New Trial * Weekly News in Review http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n472.html#sec2 Drug Policy (5) Divided Supreme Court Upholds Restrictions on Police (6) Criminologist Explains Reasons Behind Rising Murder Rate (7) Column: Corporate Drugs Useless Against Alzheimer's (8) Imported Meth: State's New Scourge? [continues 256 words]
RETIRED COP SAYS "VOTE YES ON QUESTION 7" By Howard J. Wooldridge To the Editor, As the debate takes place on October 17th, keep this in mind. As an organization of hundreds of law enforcement professionals, we support the Nevada effort to have the government, not criminals, regulate marijuana. Marijuana prohibition reduces public safety. Road officers in Nevada will spend about as much time searching for a baggie of pot, as they do searching and arresting DUIs. Detectives/narcs who bust those who sell adults an ounce of pot are not at that moment searching for child molesters, rapists and those breaking into our homes. [continues 78 words]
Impact in Colorado Springs Could Be Equivalent to $80 Million in Retail Sales, Account for 1,100 Jobs On Nov. 7, Colorado voters will decide whether to legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by any person over 21. Initiative 44, which is modeled after an ordinance that Denver voters approved in 2004, is seen by both supporters and opponents as a first step toward comprehensive legalization and regulation of marijuana. Eliminate the legal, social and moral arguments, and one thing becomes very clear: even without Initiative 44, the marijuana trade in El Paso County is a major contributor to the local economy. [continues 1291 words]
The White House has stepped up its use of taxpayer funds to conduct a political campaign in Nevada against Ballot Question 7. A deputy drug czar has been dispatched to the state to attack the drug reform measure, which would regulate and tax marijuana. White House drug czar John Walters has already campaigned in Nevada along with an elaborate entourage. Walters' deputy Scott Burns spoke Monday at the community center in Dayton. Protesters at the event objected to his use of tax dollars for political purposes. [continues 138 words]
I'm writing to respond to an Oct. 21 letter from Lee Gliddon, who opposes Question 7, the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada. Mr. Gliddon is apparently not familiar with the specifics of Question 7. Public consumption of marijuana is explicitly prohibited under the initiative, therefore the scenario he paints of unsuspecting passers-by getting a "contact high" from public marijuana use would be illegal if Question 7 passes. Citizens who support regulating marijuana are not focused on "getting high no matter what the effects may be on others." Last year Nevada spent $42 million arresting nearly 5,000 people for marijuana possession, while nearly 10,000 violent crimes went unsolved in 2005. [continues 76 words]
