The Supreme Court just gave police sweeping new powers to rummage through people's pockets The Supreme Court threw out more than a half century of precedent this week when it ruled that evidence gathered after an illegal stop can be used in criminal prosecutions if the person searched has an outstanding warrant. In a 5-3 ruling, the justices substantially weakened the longstanding exclusionary rule that generally makes such evidence inadmissible in court. The court's action threatens Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches and represents a dangerous departure from settled law that prevented police from randomly stopping and questioning people on the streets. [continues 540 words]
Part of Ohio's new medical marijuana law that sets aside a piece of the state's budding pot business for minorities appears to be unconstitutional, legal experts told The Associated Press. The provisions were inserted into the fast-tracked bill at the request of Democrats, whose votes were key to its passage in both Republican-controlled legislative chambers. The law made Ohio the 25th state to legalize medicinal cannabis. It takes effect Sept. 8. The benchmarks require at least 15 percent of Ohio's cultivator, processor, retail dispensary and laboratory licenses to go to the businesses of one of four economically disadvantaged minority groups - - blacks, Hispanics, Asians or Native Americans - so long as an adequate number apply. [continues 534 words]
The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government - or that's how it works in theory, anyway. In practice, though, court decisions over several decades have created so many exceptions to this constitutional principle as to render it effectively meaningless in many real-world situations. On Monday, the Supreme Court further weakened the Fourth Amendment by making it even easier for law enforcement to evade its requirement that stops be based on reasonable suspicion. The justices ruled 5 to 3 that a police officer's illegal stop of a man on the street did not prevent evidence obtained from a search connected to that stop to be used against him. [continues 497 words]
It would appear no amount of weed is too small for the federal government to prosecute as it works toward legalizing the drug for recreational use. Brandon Richards was pulled over after leaving the parking lot of a Guelph strip club shortly after 1 a.m. in October 2014 for a sobriety check. He passed, but the officer said he detected the odour of marijuana. The big discovery: 1.15 g of pot. A street value of about $10. Richards was charged with simple possession and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), the federal agency that handles drug crimes, chose to take the matter to court, where Richards was found guilty and ordered to pay a $100 fine in April 2015. [continues 458 words]
TRENTON - In the sticky heat of his downtown restaurant, Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion sat at a table and wiped the plastic cloth covering absentmindedly. He had three things on his mind - first his broken air conditioning, then the broken plumbing, then the cops. Money is tight at the Trenton staple, which is aptly named "Weedman's Joint." Months ago a series of police raids and activity at the combination restaurant and "pot temple" scared many of his customers away, Forchion said. [continues 967 words]
After Grant Scott-Goforth's parting shot last week debunking the racist connotations of the word "marijuana," it seemed only fitting to follow up with another column blatantly pandering to the etymology nerds in our readership. We were initially intrigued by the word "bong," which, according to an online etymology dictionary, comes from the Thai word "baung," meaning "cylindrical wooden tube," and came to the United States along with returning Vietnam War veterans. As we dug deeper into the words that surround cannabis connoisseurship, a pattern developed. [continues 680 words]
Man Acquitted Over Charter Violation An Ontario Superior Court judge has quashed the conviction of a man stopped outside a strip club in Guelph with $10 worth of marijuana in his car, because of a serious Charter violation by police. Justice Casey Hill excluded the seizure of just over one gram of marijuana, set aside a conviction for simple possession and a $100 fine, and entered an acquittal for Brandon Richards in the latest chapter of a legal proceeding that began with a traffic stop more than 20 months ago. [continues 771 words]
Legalizing recreational marijuana is just hard to swallow - or inhale - - politically and personally. For some, the issue may come down to moral values. For others, it's a matter of compromise for the greater good of society. And to many others, it's about a justice system that unfairly targets marijuana users, especially minorities. As the debate over taxing and regulating the sale of cannabis gains steam in Arizona, I framed some questions to help me shape my stance - - and perhaps yours as well. [continues 698 words]
EDITOR'S NOTE: Legalizing recreational marijuana is being considered in New Jersey. The most recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows public support for legalizing recreational marijuana in New Jersey is 58 percent - the highest it's ever been - with 39 percent opposed. Although Gov. Chris Christie has said he would not sign a bill legalizing recreational marijuana, both the state Senate and Assembly are working on legislation. This is the third in a three-part series that will explore the issue of legalizing recreational marijuana and its potential effects on Sussex County and the surrounding area. The series looks at the economic, public health and criminal justice impact legalization could have. All three parts can be viewed at www.njherald.com. [continues 1781 words]
Last year, I watched a room full of white people cheer as a white grower told a panel of white lawmakers that the word "marijuana" was racist. It wasn't the first time I'd heard that particular line of thinking, and certainly wasn't the last. It's been repeated by many in the industry, from gentle reminders at public meetings to blog posts from Oakland-based weed heavyweight the Harborside Health Center. It's gaining purchase in government circles. [continues 1098 words]
Personal pot possession in California was reduced from an arrest to an infraction in 2010, but systemic racism around pot enforcement continues, a new study finds. The American Civil Liberties Union of California, in conjunction with the Drug Policy Alliance, published a groundbreaking, heavily reported piece of research Monday that concludes that the Black community in California faces ticketing for pot at a rate four times as high as whites. Latinos have about double the rate of pot tickets as whites. [continues 1008 words]
Roger Morgan's "Reefer Madness" diatribe in a May 23 op-ed would be hilarious if it weren't infuriating. There are so many things wrong with prohibition that it would take a book to explain all of them, but the following is a summary of the major problems with prohibition, especially prohibition of marijuana or any other plant: First, whether people participate in drugs, prostitution, gambling, assisted suicide - or anything else that consenting adults want to do with their own bodies - is their own business, not the business of the government or anyone else. This is first and foremost a civil liberties issue. All victimless crimes should be legalized; prohibiting these activities is nothing short of tyranny and/or a nanny state regarding these issues. [continues 607 words]
Legalizing recreational marijuana is just hard to swallow - or inhale - - politically and personally. For some of you, the issue may come down to moral values. For others, it's a matter of compromise for the greater good of society. And to many others, it's about a justice system that unfairly targets marijuana users, especially minorities. As the debate over taxing and regulating the sale of cannabis gains steam in Arizona, I framed some questions to help me shape my stance - -- and perhaps yours as well. [continues 881 words]
One of the chief arguments against legalizing cannabis in California is that legalization is not needed. In 2010, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill decriminalizing up to an ounce of cannabis for all adults, no medical-cannabis recommendation from a physician required. Possessing under an ounce is punishable by a citation, which carries a fine of no more than $100 (plus fees) - or a less serious offense than blowing a stop sign on a bicycle. Thanks to this, misdemeanor marijuana arrests nearly vanished in the state, tumbling by almost 90 percent from 2009 to 2011. Nobody really goes to jail anymore just for a little bit of weed, this argument goes. [continues 798 words]
Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein is right to "Thank a Cop" in honor of National Police Week. Good police work is essential to a fair and effective criminal justice system. However, Mr. Rosenstein is wrong to imply that his office's occasional prosecution of corrupt police officers, usually for theft and fraud offenses, means that we have been vigilant enough in policing law enforcement. Much has changed since 1962, when National Police Week was created. Most significantly, the mass incarceration of racial and ethnic minorities, primarily for drug offenses, has shaken our community's faith in the fairness of the criminal justice system. [continues 306 words]
For decades, being a marijuana advocate required that you be a combination of outlaw, policy wonk, and social-justice warrior. You were pushing illegal conduct, because ending an expensive and racially biased experiment was the right and sensible thing to do - a position backed by data. This came at a cost: The real problems of holding down a job - to this day, casual pot smokers remain closeted for fear of their employers' legal, courts-upheld right to terminate them - while also avoiding undue attention from authorities in government and law enforcement meant most out-there cannabis advocates looked a certain way: mostly white, mostly male. (Quick: Name a female legalization advocate. Now name a black one.) [continues 964 words]
Plus, the WSLCB Finally Sets Rules for Acceptable Pesticide Levels Senator Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) recently added another bill to his already impressive list of idiotic, regressive policy ideas: allowing cities to ban pot businesses in places based on preexisting alcohol impact areas (AIA). The AIA program, for those who missed that dark chapter of our state's history, was cooked up in 1999 as a way to fight chronic street inebriation. Administered by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), it bans the sale of certain types of booze that are especially popular with chronic street drunks. [continues 904 words]
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently restored the right to vote for 206,000 citizens in his state, many of whom had completed their sentences decades ago. One of them, Terry Garrett, had struggled with homelessness and drug addiction, receiving multiple felony convictions, before turning her life around. She's now sober, a grandmother, and helps people facing addiction. Told that she could now vote, she said, "Finally, someone sees past what we did." As the 2016 presidential race heats up, it's clear that the outcome will affect the course of the nation for some time to come. Yet nearly 6 million Americans will not be at the polls this November. It's not that they don't care about the outcome of the election, but rather, they're prohibited from voting due to a current or previous felony conviction. [continues 640 words]
Watchdog San Diego County's top three law enforcement agencies issued statements Thursday saying none of the abuses cited in an American Civil Liberties Union analysis of the federal asset forfeiture program occurred locally. The agencies, the San Diego police and sheriff's departments and the District Attorney's Office, participated in more seized-asset cases over the past 14 years than any other law enforcement organization in California, the ACLU report said. "None of the alleged cases of abuse in the ACLU report involve a law enforcement agency from San Diego County," the District Attorney's Office statement said. "The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that the San Diego County DA's Office complies with the national code of professional conduct for asset forfeiture, which states the Constitution and federal statutes prohibit the improper use of personal characteristics such as race, color, national origin, gender or religion to target individuals for law enforcement action." [continues 187 words]
Dear pot smokers: Please don't f--k this up. We are on the verge of legalization. This is a pivotal moment in our country. And some of you - actually statistically about half of you - are ruining it. In a recent survey, conducted by State Farm, 44 per cent of marijuana users said they don't think the drug impacts their ability to drive a car. Come on, you'd have to be high to believe that. I'm a little sad to have to spell this out for you, but if pot didn't have an effect on your brain, you wouldn't use it. It might be green and fuzzy like a muppet, but it's a drug. Please treat it like one. [continues 325 words]
