Friday, July 24, 2009

Open Thread I'll be up in Chicago for the next five days, staying in a delightful little dump of a hotel near Wrigley that may not have wireless. Got a friend visiting and we're going to do some kayaking in the Chicago river, see shows, eat good food, etc. (plus my own show is continuing to run at National Pastime Theater). So blogging may be light. I'll try to check in. If I'm not around on Monday, that will be my 6 year blogiversary. Wow. I started doing this on July 27, 2003. What a long trip. In a completely incomprehensible manner, Mayor Daley rips into the Cook County Board for considering minor decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, despite the fact that he had suggested the exact same thing for Chicago. Inappropriate behavior for a judge. When discussing a challenge to a school drug testing program, Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver makes it clear that she's going to make sure there is a drug testing program in the school one way or another. "I want everyone in this courtroom to know where this judge stands - I will always stand there," Weaver said. "If I am going to be in error, I'm going to be in error on the side of saving every child I can possibly save. I am passionate about this." A must-read piece at Reason: Ryan Grim: The Drug Czar's High Math - How phony statistics about cocaine prices hide the truth about the war on drugs National Geographic Channel has a series Locked Up Abroad (most are drug offense related). State votes could get a say on pot Better be careful about smooching with your girlfriend in a parked car. Apparently, that's now suspicious activity to drug police. Do call 911 immediately if you see a car with people sitting in it apparently going no where. They are waiting to make a drug connection. Legalizing a federal crime: How states could win he war over marijuana Mikos suggests that by legalizing medical use of marijuana, states may have actually helped re-shape public attitudes toward the drug. "The use of marijuana may seem more beneficial and less dangerous or wicked simply because it's now permitted by state law." 11:59:22 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Sentence entrapment Larry Frankel has a good article in the Houston Chronicle: Stop sentence entrapment in drug case prosecutions Many Americans have learned about the unjust disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences but many do not know that this disparity allows law enforcement to exploit that difference in ways that compound the injustice. [...] He described how he had been contacted by an undercover police officer who asked him to help her get drugs. On more than one occasion the officer asked Aikens to cook powder cocaine into crack. Thanks to the deliberate acts of the undercover agent, Aikens was convicted of possessing crack cocaine rather than powder cocaine and received a much longer prison sentence. The undercover office testified that she knew that crack carried a harsher penalty and that was the very reason why she asked Aikens to turn the powder cocaine into crack. This is a really ugly practice -- one more reason to eliminate the disparity, but also a sad sign of the times. Policing and prosecuting has often become more about numbers -- how many can you arrest, how many years can you get, how many charges can you pile on -- than about justice. A similar situation occurred in Florida. There the government had arranged for a sting purchase of crack cocaine even though the defendant in the case had no prior history of selling crack. As the trial court noted, the government controlled both the offense level and the applicable mandatory minimum sentence through its undercover purchasing decisions. At the hearing where Aikens testified, members of Congress also learned about a case from Los Angeles where a female informant, acting at the government's direction, specifically sought to buy crack on two occasions from a defendant. When the defendant showed up with powder cocaine, the informant insisted that the defendant cook the powder into crack. Because the defendant complied with the informant's demand he was subjected to a harsher mandatory sentence. There are so many reasons to end the drug war, that this may seem a small one, yet it makes me shudder at the complete loss of judicial integrity. I hear those who say that drug use is immoral and so is breaking the law, yet how can they possibly turn around and justify the morality of entrapment? WWJD? 10:53:21 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Sadomoralist Souder is trying to mess things up again. Congress is actually making progress toward giving us some real (if incremental) reform. At least four of the worst excesses of the federal war on drugs appear likely to be rolled back this year -- the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity, the federal ban on the funding of syringe exchange programs, the all-out federal war on medical marijuana, and the HEA AID Elimination Penalty. All four reforms are advancing quickly in Congress. However, Mark Souder is trying to make a stink, and has an amendment to the HHS appropriations act, which: Would prohibit funding for any program which distributes sterile needles or syringes for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug. This could be debated as early as today. You can take action here if you wish to tell your Representatives to oppose Souder's amendment. [Thanks to Tom Angell] 12:17:09 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []