Saturday, August 23, 2003

Tulia - 35 Pardoned! On Friday, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 people who had been convicted due to an atrocious abuse of drug war tactics, a corrupt undercover deputy, and prosecutorial misconduct, which resulted in the 1999 arrest of 10% of this small town's black population on drug charges without evidence. Within hours of the pardons, lawyers for defendants in the case filed a federal civil rights lawsuit naming more than 40 defendants, including the drug task force that supervised the sting and every county belonging to the task force. For some good background on the case, check out Alternet's article on race issues in Tulia, PBS's Tulia timeline, one of Bob Herbert's articles which brought national attention to the issue, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund work on the Tulia case, and MAPinc list of newspaper articles. The important thing to remember here is that this is one case. Tulia must be a rallying cry to stop abuses in the war on drugs everywhere. There will be more Tulias as long as our unconstitutional policies continue. 1:31:43 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Odds and Ends around the Drug Reform Community Visit the Drug Policy Alliance Action Center. This is a great way to get involved easily. The site gives you specific action items regarding current legislative bills or issues, and one-click ways to send pre-written (or your own) letters, faxes, or emails to your Congresssional representatives or other public officials. If you wish, it will remember your address, representatives, and which action items you've already done. Some of the current action items include: Urge Andrea Barthwell of the ONDCP to help approve the UMass Amherst application for a license to produce marijuana for federally-approved research. Stop Rave Act II Oppose the CLEAN-UP Act Restore Student Financial Aid Stop Human Rights Abuses in Thailand Last One Speaks has an excellent piece on Operation Eradication in Columbia. A candlelight vigil is being planned outside the Supreme Court September 22, as a memorial to medical marijuana patient and activist Cheryl Miller, who died June 7. The October issue of Playboy magazine (not available online) is out with a feature by Dean Kuipers on the "Siege at Rainbow Farm." Rainbow Farm was a Michigan meeting ground for marijuana activists. Kuipers' dramatic re-creation of the deadly five-day standoff documents what really happened. (If you don't want to pick up Playboy, here's online info about the Rainbow Farm tragedy.) [Update: Full text now available online.] Media Awareness Project has a focus alert on Donald Rumsfeld's recent statements regarding supply side failure. Drugsense Weekly - a roundup of this week's news in the drug war. Stop the Drug War has its new issue of Drug War Chronicle online. 12:03:38 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []