Marijuana Book Bomb Today!

Today is the Marijuana Book Bomb for the new book "Marijuana is SAFER: So Why are we Driving People to Drink?" by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert.

The bomb aims to drive the book up the Amazon charts by having lots of people order the book today. So what are you waiting for?

3 Months in Jail... for TicTacs

I don't actually know the brand of the mints but who cares? Back in May of 2005, Donald May was driving home from work in Kissimmee, FL when he was pulled over for expired tags. What happened next is just plain outrageous:

When officers pulled Donald May over for an expired tag, they thought the mints he was chewing were crack and arrested him. May told Eyewitness News they wouldn't let him out of jail for three months until tests proved the so-called drugs were candy.

Ok, so the officer thought the mints were crack. Honest mistake. I mean, we need to clean up the streets here guys. It's not like the police officer found out it was just mints and then lied about testing the drugs in order to cover his ass right? Err...

The officer claimed he field-tested the evidence and it tested positive for drugs. The officer said he saw May buying drugs while he was stopped at an intersection. He also stated in his report May waived his Miranda rights and voluntarily admitted to buying drugs. May said that never happened.

"My client never admitted he purchased crack cocaine. Why would he say that?" attorney Adam Sudbury said.

May was thrown in jail and was unable to bond out for three months. He didn't get out until he received a letter from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office that test results showed no drugs were found.

If it were crack, who the fuck would be chewing or sucking on it like a mint? So this poor guy loses his apartment and job, the police tow and auction his car, and he spends 3 months in jail because of police stupidity followed by police misconduct. Yay for the drug war! At least he has filed a complaint.

I don't know who BigWhiteSeth is, but he gives a pretty hilarious recap of the whole situation:

SSDP Remembers Rep. Thomas C. Slater

In 2006, Rhode Island became the 11th state to legalize medical marijuana, largely in part to Rhode Island Representative Tom C. Slater who sponsored the RI Medical Marijuana Act and worked closely with RIPAC. Sadly, Rep. Slater passed away last week after fighting a six year battle with cancer.

I had the chance to meet Representative Slater and thank him for his hard work to bring about a very sensible drug policy to the place I call home - the Ocean State. He was a kind man that had many more accomplishments than just his work within the medical marijuana community. He was known as a "voice for the poor" and represented one of the states most in need districts.

Slater was also instrumental in the recent passage of legislation that will allow compassion centers in Rhode Island to provide sick patients with a safe and legal way to buy their medicine. From his website:

In recent years, his most prominent battle was for the right of chronically suffering patients in Rhode Island to legally and safely access medical marijuana. When the medical marijuana bill he'd sponsored for years finally passed over the governor's veto in 2006, the General Assembly renamed it the “Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act” for him and the late nephew of its Senate sponsor. Despite his passionate advocacy over the nearly a decade and the cancer that had racked his body for years, it wasn't until this summer that he finally applied to participate in the program he worked so hard to create. His advocacy for it was based not upon his own pain, but on the suffering he witnessed as his father, brother and uncle all succumbed to the same disease.

I've been told the C. in Thomas C. Slater stands for compassion. SSDP sends our condolences to his family during this difficult time.

Once You Pop, You Just Can't Stop... Those Damn Drug Cartels!

Need more proof that the drug war isn't working? Watch the above video of 20 Mexican drug cartel members dressed as police freeing 53 inmates from a Mexico jail. The cartel members arrived in 10 vehicles and a helicopter. Yes, they have fucking helicopters. And submarines. How many of the drug dealers and users that we put behind bars in the U.S. have helicopters and an underwater armada?

It's no secret that the drug war is such a failure in the US that we aren't even able to keep drugs out of our prisons, nevermind our schools. In Mexico, it seems that arresting and jailing drug cartel members does little to stop their operations; they continue their work from a jail cell.

“When we keep a criminal in a Mexican prison, we run the risk that one way or another they are going to keep in contact with their criminal network,” Leopoldo Velarde, who heads extraditions for the federal attorney general’s office, said. “The idea is to stop criminals, not just jail them.”

Well, that is the idea isn't it? I'm not old enough to remember watching the whole Pablo Escobar ordeal. I've read extensively about the Search Bloc and his death. And hey, that stopped Colombian drug cartels and the flow of cocaine to the US right? Wait, it didn't.

So we could wage an all our war with the Mexican drug cartels. We could kill all of those bastards and put our hard earned tax dollars into more military resources. We could sacrifice the lives of US soldiers and Mexican civilians can suffer 10x as much as they are now. And once we arrest, jail, or kill the cartel leaders, we can watch as new ones form and take over the violent trade as if we were never even there.

Or we could learn from history.

Woman Dies After Being Denied Organ Transplant Because she Tested Positive for Marijuana

A Hawaii woman diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, chronic hepatitis - infection, and end-stage kidney disease died after being denied a liver transplant by her insurance company, Hawaii Medical Service Association, because trace amounts of cannabis were found in her body.

Reyes was twice denied a transplant by HMSA for "technical reasons," such as missing required Alcoholics Anonymous meetings -- because she was too weak.

However, on July 17, HMSA approved Reyes' request for a liver transplant.

That approval signaled the Reyes family and HMSA had apparently resolved compliance issues, Herhold said.

Three days later, however, HMSA withdrew the transplant approval after it received toxicology tests that showed cannabis in Reyes' system, her attorney said.

I think it's pretty disgusting that an insurance company would approve this life saving transplant and then reverse that decision because she used marijuana. If she wasn't a good choice for the transplant they should have known that before finding marijuana in her system. Marijuana does not cause cancer or other life threatening illnesses.

HEA Reform is Close

The HEA Aid Elimination Penalty, introduced by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), has been a thorn in the side of educators, students, and social justice activists across the country since its creation in 1998.

This year, we may see significant reform to this unfair law. A bill has been introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), that if passed, would remove the penalty for students with drug possession convictions. Those convicted of selling illegal drugs will still be barred from receiving financial aid. The bill has already passed a House committee and will go on to the full House following August recess. It is expected to pass the house.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy has been working to repeal this law since the organizations formation. In 2006, SSDP had a great success by scaling back the law’s “reach back” effect, meaning that those with drug convictions in their past were still eligible for aid and those who receive convictions while receiving aid will lose it. Even Congressman Souder, one of the country’s most zealous drug warriors, supported this reform.

Its been a long battle full of both excitement and disappointment for reformers. In February 2008, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the Removing Impediments to Students' Education (RISE) Act into the 110th Congress. The bill, which gained substantial support, would simply repeal the aid elimination penalty.

In March 2008, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced the first ever Senate bill to prevent college students from automatically losing financial aid as a punishment for drug offenses. S.2767 would get rid of the mandatory minimum penalty and allow students with drug convictions to keep aid and stay in school unless a judge specifically ruled they should lose education in addition to other punishments imposed like fines, jail time, or community service.

House Judiciary Committee Supports Ending Crack/Powder Disparity

Just days ago, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted 16-9 in favor of a bill that would eliminate the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses. The disparity in mandatory sentences has resulted in a disproportionate number of African-Americans being sentenced to lengthy prison stays for crack offenses, despite most cocaine users being white, without the drug's availability being significantly reduced.

Under current law, five grams of crack cocaine and 500 grams of powder cocaine trigger the same five-year sentence. Fifty grams of crack cocaine and five kilograms of powder cocaine trigger the same 10-year sentence. If H.R. 3245 becomes law, crack and powder cocaine mandatory minimums will be equal: 500 grams will require five years and 5 kilos (or 5,000 grams) will require 10 years, no matter what form of cocaine is involved.

On November 21, 2008, Students for Sensible Drug Policy sent more than 200 students to Capitol Hill to lobby their representatives to support equalizing the disparity - proof young people can make a difference!

Hamedah Hasan is an example of someone who has spent the past 16 years in prison due to mandatory-minimum sentencing. She was scheduled to be released last month until her case judge "changed her mind."

Straight From the Whitehouse: Marijuana is Dangerous

First, Seattle Hempfest congratulates him for his new title and commends him for being one of “Seattle’s finest”.

Then, he calls for an end to the “war on drugs".

And for a couple of months, he manages to remain completely silent about drugs, using the excuse that he's still finding his way around the office.

But finally, last week, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske shocks the nation during a speech in California, stating that,

Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit [The Fresno Bee]

Seriously. Even after the Obama administration promised to stop raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, Kerlikowske manages to somehow convince himself that it’s a good idea to tell hundreds of Californians that medical marijuana is bullshit. So much for the “science based approach to drug policy rather than the scorched earth policies of the previous administration” Seattle Hempfest claimed Kerlikowske so obviously respected.

If you’re as outraged as I am, please take a second to fill out this form to send an e-mail to President Obama about Kerlikowske’s statement. We can't just let such appalling and offensive lies slide unnoticed.

House Cuts Anti-Drug Media Campaign

Last Friday, the House Appropriations Committee reduced the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign's yearly funding by 71% from $70 million to $20 million. The report states the remaining $20 million in funding is specifically intended for ads targeting parents, which means they recommend no more ads targeting teenagers.

Since 1998, the federal government has spent more than $1 billion on an offensive and misleading anti-drug advertising campaign run by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. But scientific studies have repeatedly shown that the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is not only ineffective at reducing drug abuse, but that the ads may actually increase pro-drug attitudes in teens.

Here's an excerpt of the House committee report:

The Committee recommends $20,000,000 for media and outreach, rather than the $70,000,000 appropriated in fiscal year 2009 and requested for fiscal year 2010, for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign...The Committee does not recommend continuation of the national paid advertising campaign targeted to teenagers...If the best that can be said about the youth media campaign is that there is evidence that it has a `weak' association with anti-drug attitudes, while a comprehensive multi-year evaluation with more extensive data found no evidence of any positive effect at all, consideration must be given to shifting the substantial resources used for the advertising campaign to other uses.

Watch SSDP’s video parody of one of the more ineffective and strange taxpayer-funded anti-drug ads involving aliens stealing girlfriends.

Because the remaining funding targets parents only, the end of the ridiculous and wasteful National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is in sight!

Unfortunately, the Senate appropriations committee fully funds the $70 million the White House requested for its anti-drug media campaign. That means the final funding figure will have to be worked out in a conference committee where members of both houses of Congress iron out the differences in their respective bills. Those conferees need to hear you support the House version that cuts wasteful spending.

If you agree that we should not be funding these ineffective and misleading ads, take action.

Strip Searching Students is Not Ok. Duh!

I'm not sure what the school administrators were thinking when they decided it was necessary to strip search 13 year old Savannah Redding because they suspected she was hiding ibuprofen in her underwear. Not only did the humiliating and unconstitutional search not find any of that oh-so dangerous ibuprofen, but those who carried out the search contended that they had done nothing wrong.

After years of going from court to court, Redding, now 19, finally has some closure. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that her consitutional rights were violated by the school. However, they also ruled 7-2 that the school officials "are nevertheless protected from liability through qualified immunity."

Savannah did what too many young people are afraid or intimidated to do - she stood up for herself and for her rights in the hopes that she might be able to stop this from happening to another young person.

"It frustrated me that everyone else could see that it was wrong, except for the people that did it," Redding said.

Boy. If that doesn't sum up what its like to be a drug policy reformer - I don't know what does!

Thank you Savannah!