Drug War Chronicle, Issue #531 -- 4/11/08
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/psmith
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531
A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Spring Special: "Stop the Drug War" Knapsacks from
StoptheDrugWar.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/spring_special_new_stop_the_drug_war_knapsacks
Students: Intern at DRCNet to help stop the drug war now!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_the_drug_war
Enough is Enough: Stop the Deadly SWAT Raids:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/raidpetition
Table of Contents:
1. EDITORIAL: JUSTICE UNHINGED
Once upon a time, a jury's acquittal was the final word for a
defendant facing punishment. Thanks to the "war on drugs," that
is no longer the case, and defendants can be punished for crimes
of which they were never convicted or even acquitted. Sometimes
the charges don't even need to go to court at all.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/justice_unhinged
2. BEWARE THE DREADED SKUNK: BRITISH PRESS SUFFERS CONTACT HIGH,
CONTRACTS BAD CASE OF REEFER MADNESS
It's Reefer Madness time in Britain in the run-up to a widely
anticipated reclassification of marijuana as a more serious
drug. Segments of the British press are playing a particularly
pernicious role.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/british_reefer_madness_skunk
3. DRUGS, LIBERTARIANS, AND THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Drug reformers interested in candidates who will vow to actually
end the drug war will have to look beyond the Democratic and
Republican presidential contenders. This week, we look at the
Libertarians, and the perennial debate over pragmatism vs.
purism.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/libertarian_party_drugs_2008
4. SPRING SPECIAL: "STOP THE DRUG WAR" KNAPSACKS FROM
STOPTHEDRUGWAR.ORG
Help promote the Stop the Drug War cause by buying this new
DRCNet member****p premium and using it to carry around your
books or other belongings for work, school, or wherever life
takes you!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/spring_special_new_stop_the_drug_war_knapsacks
5. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A sticky-fingered Pennsylvania cop causes a DA to drop some drug
cases, a pill-pu****ng Massachusetts cop resigns, and an unnamed
New Mexico narc is under investigation for undeclared misdeeds.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/police_drug_corruption
6. SENTENCING: SUPREME COURT P***** ON CHANCE TO END PUNISHMENTS
FOR ACQUITTED CRIMES
A federal judge in Wisconsin added 15 years to a man's sentence
for a crack cocaine charge, even though a jury acquitted him on
that count. Now, the Supreme Court has declined to hear the
case.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/supreme_court_acquitted_conduct_crack_sentence
7. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: MINNESOTA BILL HEADS FOR HOUSE FLOOR VOTE,
LAST STOP BEFORE GOVERNOR'S DESK
A Minnesota medical marijuana bill is headed for a House floor
vote soon. It already passed the Senate last year, so is only
one vote away from passage, but the Republican governor is
threatening to veto it.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/minnesota_medical_marijuana_bill_p*****_house
8. PAIN TREATMENT: PROSECUTORS IN CASE SEEK TO SHUT UP DOCTOR,
CRITICS
Federal prosecutors had no qualms about going to the press when
they indicted Haysville, Kansas, physician Dr. Steven Schneider
for his pain medication prescribing practices. But it's a
different matter when Schneider and his allies want to get their
side of the story out. Now, the feds are seeking a gag order.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/kansas_pain_doctor_schneider_reynolds_gag_order_sought
9. SOUTHWEST ASIA: IRANIAN POLICE KILL 24 DRUG SMUGGLERS IN
"SHOOT-OUT"
In the latest battle in a decades-long struggle between Iranian
police and border-crossing drug runners, Iran claims to have
killed 24 smugglers coming from the direction of Afghanistan.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/iran_police_kill_24_drug_smugglers
10. LATIN AMERICA: POLICE IN RIO KILL 11 IN ONE DRUG RAID, THREE
IN ANOTHER
The endemic drug prohibition-related violence plaguing Rio de
Janeiro turned even bloodier last week as police conducting drug
raids killed 14 people.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/rio_de_janeiro_police_kill_14_in_drug_raids
11. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NARCO-DOLLAR
EMBARRASSMENT
Mexican drug traffickers have provided money to build churches
and other public works in poor villages, the head of the Mexican
bishops' conference said over the weekend. His colleagues were
appalled.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/mexican_bishops_take_narco_dollars
12. DEATH PENALTY: MORE DEATH SENTENCES IN ALGERIA, SYRIA,
PAKISTAN, A REPRIEVE IN VIETNAM
Judges in Algeria, Pakistan, and Syria have handed down death
sentences to drug offenders so far this month, some of them for
marijuana trafficking offenses, but Vietnam's president commuted
the death sentence of a Vietnamese-born British citizen. His
three Vietnamese accomplices are still facing execution.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/death_sentences_algeria_syria_pakistan_vietnam
13. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/drug_war_history
14. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE SPEAKEASY
"Clinton and Obama's Positions on Medical Marijuana Aren't Good
Enough," "Bush and the Drug Czar Want You to Pay For the Mexican
Drug War," "SWAT Officers Brought Children Along on a Drug
Raid," "You Can't Win the Drug War if Alcohol is Legal," "You
Have My Permission to Name a Marijuana Strain After Me," "Skunk
Weed Causing Outbreaks of Mad Brit Disease."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/blogging_at_the_speakeasy
15. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
16. STUDENTS: INTERN AT DRCNET AND HELP STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an intern****p at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and
you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_the_drug_war
17. JOB LISTING: FULL-TIME AND INTERN****P OP****TUNITIES AT THE
MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
The Marijuana Policy Project is looking for a Development
Coordinator and a Development Writer, as well as summer interns
to work in its Outreach and State Policies departments, all in
the DC office.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/mpp_job_op****tunities
18. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
FEEDS ON YOUR WEB SITE!
Sup****t the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available
19. RESOURCE: DRCNET WEB SITE OFFERS WIDE ARRAY OF RSS FEEDS FOR
YOUR READER
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
Chronicle and more -- is now available.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available
20. RESOURCE: REFORMER'S CALENDAR ACCESSIBLE THROUGH DRCNET WEB
SITE
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to
the events coming up the soonest, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/drug_reform_calendar
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today!)
================
1. Editorial: Justice Unhinged
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/531/justice_unhinged
David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden
One of the basic elements of the US system of justice, a
founding principle in fact, is that of the trial by a jury of
one's peers. The jury is seen as a safeguard against tyranny,
and has also been a matter of pride representing the strength
and quality of our democracy.
No kangaroo courts, we say, no railroading by the system, and
above all justice based on facts. If just one of the 12 jurors
on a case feels that guilt has not been proven beyond a
reasonable doubt, that juror should vote not guilty and then a
conviction shall not be obtained -- another trial can be held,
if the government thinks it's worth it, but a conviction is not
obtained that time. If they all vote not guilty, then not guilty
is the verdict, and the matter ends.
It is hoped thereby that the innocent will be protected from the
overwhelming power of the state. Because another one of our
founding principles is that it is better to let many guilty
persons go free rather than convict and even incarcerate one
innocent.
Unfortunately, while for many defendants in the courts those
principles are still the law, for others they merely describe
what once was. The wrench that unhinged justice was the "war on
drugs." Within the '80s drug war, perversions were wrought that
allowed those whose guilt was unproven to be punished, and in
fact those who were acquitted of charges brought against them to
also be punished.
One such perversion was civil asset forfeiture. In that corrupt
practice, a charge is leveled not at a person, but at a piece of
property. If the property is found to have been used in the
commission of a drug crime (and some other kinds of crimes), it
is "guilty," and the government can take it whether the owner
knew about the lawbreaking or not. Some restrictions have been
placed on this practice by states and even the feds from time to
time, but they have been largely ineffective. The result of
forfeiture is the disgusting spectacle of government agents
stealing from members of the public -- the thefts ranging from
dollars and cents on the street up to cars or even homes and
retirement savings -- with the profits going to law enforcement
agencies where they are spent on various purposes, many
questionable.
An even greater perversion is what has happened to federal
sentencing. Once upon a time, a conviction by a jury was needed
to send a person to prison. That is still the case, if a
defendant happens to be acquitted of all charges. But get
convicted of just one charge that has been brought against you,
if charges are brought together, and now you can be sentenced
based on the others, even if there is no verdict or even if you
were acquitted of them. In fact it's not even strictly necessary
for the charges to be brought at all.
Though the Supreme Court has rendered some decisions in recent
years to restrict this practice in certain cases, in others it
is apparently wide open. In 2005, Mark Hurn was prosecuted in
federal court in Wisconsin for possession of powder cocaine, and
a larger amount of crack cocaine, was convicted of the former
but acquitted of the latter. Federal guidelines specified about
three years for the charge that was the subject of the
conviction -- itself a grave injustice. But the prosecutor
argued to the judge that Hurn was probably guilty of the crack
charges too, the judge bought it, and hiked the sentence up to
18 years instead.
Late last month, the Supreme Court declined to hear Hurn's case.
And so Hurn is stuck with 18 years behind bars, but the vast
majority of it for conduct of which he was exonerated. Who are
the true criminals here? Not Mark Hurn, as far as I am
concerned. Justice has been unhinged, courtesy of the drug
warriors, the judiciary complicit. What fine service they have
rendered to the nation.
================
later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)
--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.
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