Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions. After reviewing the evidence, consulting drug policy experts and examining our own failures on this front while in office, we came to an unavoidable conclusion: The "war on drugs" is an unmitigated disaster. FOR NEARLY a decade, we have urged governments and international bodies to promote a more humane, informed and effective approach to dealing with "illegal" drugs. [continues 656 words]
This week's arrests of nine alleged high-level drug dealers in Lorain and Elyria sends a clear message that law enforcement agencies in these cities are once again fed up with peddlers selling this poison on our streets. It's also a message most of us should agree with that enough is enough. Five deaths in the last two weeks from drug overdoses is too much for this community. One death is too many. Authorities say there is no connection between the recent overdose deaths and the arrests in Lorain and Elyria. [continues 760 words]
Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug- related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions. After reviewing the evidence, consulting drug policy experts and examining our own failures on this front while in office, we came to an unavoidable conclusion: The "war on drugs" is an unmitigated disaster. For nearly a decade, we have urged governments and international bodies to promote a more humane, informed and effective approach to dealing with "illegal" drugs. We saw a major breakthrough a few years ago, when the United Nations agreed to convene a special session of the General Assembly to review global drug policy. It is scheduled to begin April 19. [continues 621 words]
A Florida-based deputy U.S. marshal who robbed drug dealers of marijuana at gunpoint then pointed a firearm at an officer as he fled through Yuba City in 2014 was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday. Clorenzo Griffin, 38, was the last of three defendants sentenced by U. S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. Andre Jamison, 40, was sentenced to seven years and three months and Rodney Rackley, 24, to six years. Griffin previous pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a robbery affecting interstate commerce. In the weeks before the sentencing hearing, prosecutors argued he be sentenced to 12 years in prison, in part, due to his violation of the public's trust as a peace officer. [continues 322 words]
Broward Man Used Service Weapon to Steal From Drug Dealers A deputy U.S. Marshal from Broward County who used his government-issued duty weapon to steal 24 pounds of marijuana from drug dealers in northern California was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison. Clorenzo "Mack" Griffin, 38, who grew up and lived in Fort Lauderdale, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiring to commit robbery. He was fired after his arrest. He admitted he planned, financed and participated in the Oct. 11, 2014, armed robbery in Yuba City with two friends from Miami prosecutors said he recruited to help him. [continues 678 words]
24 Pounds of Marijuana Taken From Drug Dealers He Was Given 10 Years Behind Bars for His Part in the Heist They Were Out-Of-Towners, and That Was One Key to Their Undoing. Three men from Florida - Clorenzo Griffin, then a deputy U.S. marshal, Andre Jamison and Rodney Rackley - robbed 24 pounds of marijuana from three drug dealers at gunpoint in a Yuba City motel parking lot Oct. 11, 2014. Following the brazen daylight stickup, and with Griffin at the wheel, the three blew through a red light at a high rate of speed just around the corner from the California Highway Patrol's Yuba City office. With a CHP officer in pursuit, the robbers abandoned their rented Jeep Patriot, and Griffin unwittingly ran straight to a building housing the Sutter County Sheriff's Office. [continues 462 words]
A former Mount Vernon Police Department detective pleaded guilty Friday to a federal extortion charge, admitting he used his position to steal money and narcotics from the department's property room. Matthew L. Dailey could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley did not set a sentencing date for Dailey, who is being held without bail in the Franklin County jail. Dailey, 45, of Howard, a sergeant who was evidence custodian of the property room, has resigned from the police department where he worked for 10 years. [continues 206 words]
Green cross-out Say goodbye to those green crosses hung outside medical marijuana centers in unincorporated El Paso County. According to the Board of County Commissioners, the ubiquitous signage was simply too confusing for clueless tourists. So early this month, they voted to ban them altogether. The fear, apparently, was that out-of-state tourists would confuse dispensaries for pharmacies, given that's what the signage means in Europe. Darryl Glenn proposed the resolution in January. "[They're] there but you don't even think about it," he said back then. "I believe it is important enough to potentially take action." [continues 485 words]
Reynoldsburg Cop Worked With Drug Task Force. A Reynoldsburg police detective who has worked for years with the county's drug task force was arrested on federal charges that he used his connections to deal drugs, including drugs that might have been taken from what was seized by his police division. The arrest, officials say, could affect nearly 50 cases that now must be reviewed. Tye L. Downard, 43, of Westerville, was taken into custody on Thursday on charges that accuse him of carrying out more than 20 drug deliveries to another person since October, involving heroin, cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills. He is charged with possession with intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances. He was in the Delaware County jail Thursday night. [continues 87 words]
A Reynoldsburg police detective who has worked for years with the county's drug task force was arrested on federal charges that he used his connections to deal drugs, including drugs that might have been taken from what was seized by his police division. The arrest, officials say, could affect nearly 50 cases that now must be reviewed. Tye L. Downard, 43, of Westerville, was taken into custody on Thursday on charges that accuse him of carrying out more than 20 drug deliveries to another person since October, involving heroin, cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills. He is charged with possession with intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances. He was in the Delaware County jail Thursday night. [continues 452 words]
The people in the know clearly know the crucial fact about the new medical marijuana dispensary enterprise: It's going to be big business - very big. That, as well as the fact that only eight licenses will be awarded, has turned those permits into valuable commodities. And it's turned the process of selecting the licensees into a matter of public interest - one that should be done with as much transparency as possible. Unfortunately, the state Department of Health, which is administering the fledgling program, has decided that the best course to fairness is to sequester the people making the decision: its review panel. In this way, DOH officials have said, the panelists would not be open to influence. [continues 464 words]
A former Yuba County sheriff's deputy was ordered to stand trial in a Butte County weapons case. Butte County Superior Court Judge James Reilley on Wednesday ruled there was enough evidence to try Christopher Mark Heath, 37, of Oroville, on a single felony count of possession of an assault weapon. Heath's wife and codefendant, Tatum Heath, 35, had her single count of possession of an assault weapon reduced to a misdemeanor. The Heaths have pleaded not guilty. They are scheduled to be re-arraigned on the weapons charges Feb. 24. [continues 327 words]
Oroville - A former Yuba County sheriff's deputy has been bound over for trial in a Butte County weapons case. Butte County Superior Court Judge James Reilley on Wednesday ruled that there was probable cause to hold defendant Christopher Mark Heath, 37, of Oroville, for trial on a single felony count of possession of an assault weapon. Heath's wife and co-defendant in the case, Tatum Heath, 35, also was held to answer on a single count of possession of an assault weapon. Judge Reilley reduced her charge to a misdemeanor. [continues 366 words]
Judge Robert E. Blackburn dismissed charges against Pueblo County, as well as other government agencies and officials, in a lawsuit that challenges the legality of recreational marijuana. Filed in February 2015, the suit asked the U.S. District Court of Colorado to find Amendment 64 illegal due to conflict with the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The suit also asked the court to find Pueblo County guilty of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). That federal law, created in the 1970s to civilly prosecute organized crime, has since been applied in cases against the likes of the Mafia, the Catholic church and FIFA (soccer's world governing body.) It essentially allows leaders of a criminal enterprise to be tried for crimes they didn't themselves commit, i.e. ordering a murder, assisting in a coverup or colluding to launder money. [continues 438 words]
A massive drug empire spanning North and South America that delivered untold tons of heroin and cocaine from Colombia to the U.S. over two decades via sophisticated cross-border tunnels, private 747s and submarines. Intimidation, bribery and murder in two countries. And, finally, the recapture of the world's most infamous drug lord, in part due to a visit by a pair of celebrities - and a big order of tacos delivered to his hide-out. With allegations like these, what federal prosecutor in the U.S. wouldn't want to be the first to try Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman when Mexican authorities extradite him to this country? The seven jurisdictions that have filed indictments against him and other alleged leaders and associates of the Sinaloa cartel had begun competing to get the first shot at him even before Guzman's second prison break in July. [continues 623 words]
The Governor and Other State and Pueblo County Officials Have Been Removed From the Case. A federal judge this week removed the governor and other state and Pueblo County officials as defendants in a high-profile racketeering lawsuit that is attempting to stop legal marijuana in Colorado. Pueblo County horse ranchers Hope and Michael Reilly and Washington, D.C., anti-drug group Safe Streets Alliance, sued to stop construction of Rocky Mountain Organics' cannabis cultivation facility, claiming that federal pot laws supercede Colorado's pot laws and alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. [continues 553 words]
Mexico City - ON the morning of Jan. 2, a team of hired killers set off for the home of 33-year-old Gisela Mota, who only hours before had been sworn in as the first female mayor of Temixco, a sleepy spa town an hour from Mexico City. Ms. Mota was still in her pajamas as the men approached her parents' breezeblock house. She was in the bedroom, but most of her family was in the front room, cooing over a newborn baby. As the family prepared a milk bottle, the assassins smashed the door open. Amid the commotion, Ms. Mota came out of her bedroom and said firmly, "I am Gisela." In front of her terrified family, the men beat Ms. Mota and shot her several times, killing her. [continues 1708 words]
Three of the Four Cases Filed Against Legal Pot Rely on Out-Of-State Funds, Support Three of the four marijuana-centered lawsuits filed against Colorado officials and businesses were organized and at least partially funded by out-of-state anti-drug organizations and socially conservative law firms, a Denver Post analysis shows. Only one lawsuit, filed by the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma, appears to be entirely homegrown. For those who oppose Colorado's marijuana laws, the out-of-state money offers a chance to fight back against what they characterize as a well-heeled marijuana lobby that changed public opinion with misleading messages. [continues 1666 words]
A Yuba County deputy sheriff and narcotics task force agent - the subject of two criminal investigations - resigned from his position Friday, according to Sheriff Steve Durfor. When announcing the resignation of Christopher "Mark" Heath, the sheriff for the first time commented on the former deputy's alleged actions. "It's very difficult to find the words to express the outrage and sense of betrayal that those of us in law enforcement in Yuba County and the region are feeling. He betrayed, in every sense, the ethics and professionalism that we stand for," Durfor said. [continues 500 words]
A Yuba County sheriff's deputy and drug task force agent facing drugs and guns charges in criminal cases spanning two states was released from custody Wednesday, according to jail records. Butte County Superior Court Judge James Reilley reduced Christopher "Mark" Heath's bail from $1 million to $15,000 Wednesday morning on the condition Heath not possess firearms or ammunition. His attorney, Roberto Marquez, said Heath would post a bail bond with money earned from his job as a sheriff's deputy. The county will continue to issue paychecks to Heath pending the results of an internal administrative investigation. [continues 262 words]
