Friday, March 3, 2006

American Bar Association notes human rights concerns Link Saying that mandatory minimums are a "one-way ratchet upwards" and cannot "satisfy the basic dictates of fairness," Judge Patricia Wald, testifying on behalf of the American Bar Association, raised a host of concerns about such sentencing practices in testimony before an Organization of American States Commission that is examining the issue. [...] Wald noted that mandatory minimums lead to an array of problems, including: [...] "Unchecked power" by prosecutors that Wald says, "dangerously disturbs the balance between the parties in an adversarial system, and deprives defendants of access to an impartial decisionmaker in the all-important area of sentencing." [...] Wald, retired chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and former judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, concluded by saying that she was "saddened to see that the sentences imposed on war crimes perpetrators responsible for the deaths and suffering of hundreds of innocent civilians often did not come near those imposed in my own country for dealing in a few bags of illegal drugs." [Thanks to Doug on MAPtalk] 11:52:49 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

How much are the Feds spending going after medical marijuana? I love it! Washington DC -- By the request of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the nation's largest medical marijuana advocacy organization, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) this week led a group of three other House lawmakers in calling for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of how much money the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) spent each year over the past decade to enforce federal medical marijuana laws. Joining Hinchey in the GAO request are Congressmen Ron Paul (R-TX), Sam Farr (D-CA), and Barney Frank (D-MA). "We want to find out what the Department of Justice spends annually to prosecute medical marijuana patients so we can tell the American people exactly how much of their taxes is being wasted and diverted away from critical law enforcement activities, including homeland security activities," Hinchey was quoted saying in a press release from his office. This is good. However, looking over the letter, I think they could have worded it better in one place. They specifically request: ...that you determine the amount of funds spent for any DEA activity relating to medical marijuana including money spent on investigations, arrests, prosecutions, and advocacy. It's good that they included advocacy, but in that case, they shouldn't have limited it to the DEA, but also included the ONDCP. 10:19:46 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []