• Cannabis & Hemp

    US ME: State Awards Six of Eight Licenses to Dispense Medical Marijuana

    Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jul 2010
    Source: Portland Press Herald (ME)
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/EOeDMAHB
    Copyright: 2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.
    Contact: http://www.pressherald.com/readerservices/Send_a_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
    Author: John Richardson, Staff Writer
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

    STATE AWARDS SIX OF EIGHT LICENSES TO DISPENSE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

    Northeast Patients Group Earns the Chance to Distribute the Drug in
    Cumberland County and Three Other Regions.

    PORTLAND – Cumberland County’s first medical marijuana dispensary is
    expected to open this fall on Congress Street in Portland.

    York County may have to wait a little longer.

    Maine awarded six operating licenses Friday for nonprofit
    dispensaries around the state, and one of the licensees plans to
    lease part of the former Key Bank building at 959 Congress, near the
    corner of St. John Street.

    However, officials rejected all six license applications to operate a
    dispensary in York County and set a new deadline of Aug. 20 for the
    next round of applications. That could push back the opening of a
    dispensary in that part of the state until early next year. New
    applications also must be sought for the Down East facility.

    Northeast Patients Group won the right to open the dispensary in
    Cumberland County, one of eight public health districts in Maine. The
    group, which has Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion on its board of
    directors, also won licenses to operate dispensaries in three other
    districts around the state: Augusta-Waterville, Thomaston-Rockland
    and Bangor-Hermon.

    [snip]

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n535.a07.html

  • Letter of the Week

    Web: New Jim Crow: War on Drugs Provides Excuse

    Newshawk: Published Letters Awards www.mapinc.org/lteaward.htm
    Pubdate: Fri, 9 Jul 2010
    Source: DrugSense Blog

    LETTER OF THE WEEK

    NEW JIM CROW: WAR ON DRUGS PROVIDES EXCUSE

    The News should be praised for publishing Leonard Pitts’ article about
    Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow” (“‘New Jim Crow’
    surfaces in U.S. justice,” Other Views, Monday). It is undoubtedly the
    most important book published in this century about the U.S.

    Over the past 20 or so years, we have seen a huge jump in the
    imprisonment of black men in the U.S., using the “war on drugs” as an
    excuse to establish a caste system here, with an effect not unlike Jim
    Crow. Police statistics show black men use no more drugs than white
    men, yet blacks are being rounded up in droves, through checkpoints
    and stop-and-search rules, while police avoid using the same tactics
    for white men.

    As an older, white, Protestant minister fortunate enough to have been
    in the civil rights movement from early on, I move easily and freely
    in the black communities in Alabama and the nation, have lived in
    those communities in Washington, Chicago and Boston, and can testify
    that the people there are simply not a dangerous criminal element.

    What has created the crisis in the black community is selective and
    racist policing, encouraged by the federal government, and joblessness
    from the abandonment of these men by major industry as companies have
    dumped their employees to shift work out of the country in the pursuit
    of profits before people. The new Jim Crow may or may not be
    intentional, but it is very real, and it is dividing this nation
    between white and black once again. The “war on drugs,” “stop and
    search” and checkpoints by police must end.

    The Rev. Jack Zylman

    Birmingham

    Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jun 2010

    Source: Birmingham News, The (AL)

    Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n000/a020.html

  • Hot Off The 'Net - International

    Prison Reform And The Cost Of Drug Prohibition

    The Adam Smith Institute Blog

    The decriminalization of drugs has the potential to save the British taxpayer money, and simultaneously improve the security and health of the general public.

    By Karthik Reddy, Guest blogger

    Faced with the dire need to restore discipline to British public finances and a rising rate of reoffending among prisoners, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced yesterday broad changes to the way in which the government administers criminal justice. The prison population of England and Wales recently surpassed 85,000 inmates this year, a historically unparalleled number that is expected to continue to grow even further in coming years. As a proportion of their populations, England and Wales lock up nearly 150 of every 100,000 residents, a number that represents one of the highest rates of incarceration in Western Europe.

  • Drug Policy

    Grow-Op Photos Lead To No Charges

    By CBC News

    Suspect amidst plants

    RMCP in North Vancouver say they have busted an outdoor marijuana grow-op, but despite having photographic evidence of the suspects amongst the plants, they won’t be able to press charges.

    Police say they first got a tip that three men appeared to be unloading marijuana seedlings from a pick-up truck on Mount Seymour Road on June 22.

    [snip]

    Then three days later the RCMP bicycle patrol located an outdoor grow operation hidden in the forest, complete with about 66 plants, potting soil, pots, water and fertilizer.

    A search of a nearby vehicle, which was linked to the original suspect, also turned up a camera, with photographs of the original suspect and others standing amidst the grow-operation.

    But despite the photographic evidence none of the men were charged, because the photos were not enough evidence to make a case in court.

    Cpl. Peter DeVries said the case demonstrates the “daunting task police face in gathering enough evidence to successfully prosecute criminals for the offences they commit.”

    “In this case, even photos showing the suspects standing among the marijuana plants was insufficient. Demonstrating that a suspect had both knowledge that the plants were in fact marijuana, and the intent to grow and distribute it, requires more than simply a photo showing him standing next to them.

    “Notwithstanding the police’s inability to secure a charge in this case, the fact that this batch of marijuana will never make it to the street helps in the effort to thwart some of the more insidious crimes associated with drug trafficking,” he said.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Marijuana Law Reform Is a Civil Rights Issue

    By Alice Huffman, President of the California NAACP

    “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967 when he spoke out against the Vietnam War. At the time, he was roundly criticized by friend and foe alike for speaking out on an issue considered outside the purview of civil rights’ leaders. Dr. King understood better than most at the time the true cost of war — in lives lost, in futures squandered, in dreams deferred and in misspent resources. Eventually, a majority of Americans came to agree with him about the war in Vietnam but he did not live long enough to see the shift in public opinion. His moral courage lay in speaking out in the face of disagreement, caring more about his integrity than popularity.

    As leaders of the California NAACP, it is our mission to eradicate injustice and continue the fight for civil rights and social justice wherever and whenever we can. We are therefore compelled to speak out against another war, the so called “war on drugs.” To be clear, this is not a war on the drug lords and violent cartels, this is a war that disproportionately affects young men and women and the latest tool for imposing Jim Crow justice on poor African-Americans.

    We reject the oft-repeated but deceptive argument that there are only two choices for addressing drugs — heavy handed law enforcement or total permissiveness. Substance abuse and addiction are American problems that affect every socioeconomic group, and meaningful public health and safety strategies are needed to address it. However, law enforcement strategies that target poor Blacks and Latinos and cause them to bear the burden and shame of arrest, prosecution and conviction for marijuana offenses must stop.

    The report released this week by the Drug Policy Alliance confirmed that marijuana law enforcement in California disproportionately targets our youth. Despite consistent evidence that Black youth use marijuana at lower rates than Whites, in every one of the 25 largest counties in California, Blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than Whites, typically at double, triple, or even quadruple the rate of Whites.

  • Drug Policy

    Medical Marijuana Law in Michigan Runs into Workplace Rule

    Newshawk: Please Read the Case Facts: www.mapinc.org/alert/0440.html
    Pubdate: Tue, 6 Jul 2010
    Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
    Page: 5A
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/yNyaXYiQ
    Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
    Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
    Author: Gina Damron, Free Press Staff Writer
    Cited: Michigan Department of Civil Rights http://mapinc.org/url/ANG6iOJL
    Referenced: Casias v. Wal-Mart
    http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/casias_complaint_6_24_10.pdf
    Referenced: Michigan’s law http://drugsense.org/url/8mvr7sW8
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Joseph+Casias
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Wal-Mart

    MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW IN MICHIGAN RUNS INTO WORKPLACE RULE

    Employers Not Required to Allow Marijuana Use

    If a recently filed medical marijuana lawsuit reaches the Michigan
    Court of Appeals or state Supreme Court, it could produce a
    precedent-setting decision that impacts employers and patients, whose
    jobs may be at risk even when legally using the drug.

    Joseph Casias — a 30-year-old Battle Creek resident who legally uses
    marijuana — filed a lawsuit last week against Wal-Mart in Calhoun
    County Circuit Court after being fired for testing positive for pot
    during a drug test.

    [snip]

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n523/a08.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Racist Enforcement of Marijuana Laws

    The Drug Policy Alliance has released a report that documents widespread race-based disparities in the enforcement of low-level marijuana possession laws in California. The report finds that African Americans are arrested for marijuana possession at double, triple or even quadruple the rate of whites. Read the report (PDF).

  • Drug Policy

    Flash-Bang Grenades Ignite Legal Battles in Michigan

    Pubdate: Mon, 5 Jul 2010
    Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/I43VcA8L
    Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
    Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
    Website: http://www.freep.com/
    Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
    Author: L.L. Brasier, Free Press Staff Writer
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing – United States)

    FLASH-BANG GRENADES IGNITE LEGAL BATTLES IN MICHIGAN, AIYANA STANLEY-JONES CASE

    Originally for the Military, Use by Police Departments Has Grown

    When Leonid and Arlene Marmelshtein heard someone on the front porch
    of their small Southfield ranch house that cold winter night, they
    thought one of their adult sons had come home to enjoy Hanukkah
    dinner with them.

    But within seconds, Southfield police broke the door down — looking
    for a suspected marijuana dealing operation — and threw flash-bang
    grenades, filling the small house with deafening noise, blinding
    light and smoke.

    “I thought they were here to kill us,” Leonid Marmelshtein, 74, said
    of the police officers, who wore black hoods hiding their faces and
    had their guns drawn.

    [snip]

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n522.a08.html