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Two Years in Jail for a Joint?

By Anthony Papa, AlterNet. Posted April 14, 2006.


The drug war, and the hard-nosed zealots who wage it, have reached new lows in Massachusetts.

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The war on drugs reached the pinnacle of cruelty when 18-year-old Mitchell Lawrence was sentenced to two years in jail for selling a teaspoonful of marijuana to an undercover police officer for $20.

On June 30, 2004, detective Felix Aguirre, employed by the Drug Task Force, was assigned the duty of going undercover to buy drugs from kids who hung out in a parking lot in Berkshire County in Massachusetts. Merchants had complained to police about the kids. Mitchell Lawrence was there with his pipe and a few buds of marijuana. He had no idea the parking lot was less than 1,000 feet from a preschool located in the basement of a church, nor did he know this parking lot was the site of a police sting operation.

Aguirre approached Mitchell and asked him if he had any weed. Mitchell pulled out a small bag of marijuana. The cop offered him $20. Mitchell hesitated; Aguirre insisted. Mitchell, who had seen Aguirre hanging out with other kids, motioned the cop to follow him up the street where he intended to smoke with him. Aguirre waved the $20 in his face. Mitchell, who was broke at the time, took the money, the first time he had ever accepted money in exchange for marijuana.

In the months that followed, Aguirre approached Mitchell again for marijuana. This time, however, Mitchell refused. Weeks later, a crew of undercover cops stormed Mitchell's home and placed him under arrest. Mitchell was found guilty of distribution of marijuana, committing a drug violation within a drug-free school zone and possession.

On March 22, 2006, Mitchell Lawrence was sentenced to two years in prison.

While this outrageous case happened in a sleepy burg in Massachusetts, the case of Mitchell Lawrence is one of countless tales of drug war madness that takes place on America's streets daily.

Mitchell Lawrence's story was eerily familiar to me. In 1985, I was the subject of a police sting operation after passing an envelope containing four ounces of cocaine to undercover officers in Mount Vernon, New York. I was set up by someone who offered me $500 to transport the package. The individual who introduced me to the cop was an informant facing life in prison. He was offered a deal -- the more people he helped ensnare, the less time he would serve. I received a sentence of 15 years to life under New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws.

Mitchell Lawrence's disproportionate sentence was handed down one day before the release of a national report by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) titled, "Disparity by Design: How Drug-free Zone Laws Impact Racial Disparity and Fail to Protect Youth," which includes research from Massachusetts.

The JPI study, commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance, found that drug-free zone laws do not serve their intended purpose of protecting youth from drug activity. The Massachusetts data on drug enforcement in three cities found that less than one percent of the drug-free zone cases actually involved sales to youth. Additionally, Massachusetts researchers found that nonwhites were more likely to be charged with an offense that carries drug-free zone enhancement than whites engaged in similar conduct. Blacks and Hispanics account for just 20 percent of Massachusetts residents, but 80 percent of drug-free zone cases.

"School zone laws have remained unchanged in Massachusetts because the legislature has been promised that prosecutors use discretion," said Whitney A. Taylor, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts. "Unfortunately, the life of a young man has been sacrificed, proving that discretion is not being used, and that the law must be changed."

Mitchell Lawrence was not the only person arrested in an undercover drug operation in the summer of 2004. There were a total of 18 others, including five young people who are still awaiting trial for alleged sales that took place at the same Great Barrington parking lot.

District Attorney David F. Capeless is the man behind Berkshire County enforcement and entrapment. Capeless is a hard-nosed drug war zealot, who insists that these laws are effective in combating drug use -- even if it means ruining a young man's life in the process.

Mitchell Lawrence was set to graduate from high school this spring. Instead, he will watch his fellow classmates graduate from his prison cell.

The common thread between my case, Mitchell's case and drug-free school zones nationally is the abuse of power from the prosecutors through the application of mandatory minimums. These laws handcuff judges and force them to impose harsh sentences.

Mitchell Lawrence's conviction inspired a group of concerned Berkshire County residents to seek Capeless' ouster in the upcoming district attorney race. Defense attorney Judith Knight answered the call to fill this role. Knight, a former assistant district attorney for Middlesex County, said Mitchell Lawrence's conviction was "the tipping point" for her decision to run against Capeless in the upcoming Democratic primary election in September.

"A tough prosecutor is tough on crime and also has the ability to demonstrate compassion and insight when the case calls for it," Knight says. She hopes to follow in the footsteps of David Soares, who ran for district attorney and defeated Paul Clyne in Albany, New York, in 2004. Soares ran a race primarily on the platform of Rockefeller Drug Law reform. He easily defeated the sitting district attorney, who refused to change his views on the draconian drug law legislation of New York.

It is heartening that communities like Berkshire County are fighting back and attempting to hand reckless district attorneys and other politicians the pink slip. Choosing to destroy lives and indiscriminately apply laws does more harm than good, ultimately, and it doesn't make our streets any safer.

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Anthony Papa is the author of "15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom" (Feral House).

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Marijuana...
Posted by: waves999 on Apr 14, 2006 3:13 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
decreases the intelligence of those opposed to its use....


Just because I am paranoid doesn't mean they are not after me….

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Marijuana... Posted by: cyberfactotum
» RE: Marijuana... Posted by: ConnecttheDots
Our System Is Broken
Posted by: thinkverybig on Apr 14, 2006 3:12 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This case is just one of many that needs changing in our country. We all need to speak out when someone is wronged. So many people are too consumed with themselves that they don't think to care about anyone else. Well we need to start thinking about our neighbor, remember "We are our brother's keeper."

The United States has many many many laws purposely designed to target minorities and the poor. Prisons are privately owned and are run like a business which in tale need customers (prisoners) and there is no concern of how that get them. We Americans must stand up to this and the many other wrongs that are going on in this country and throughout the world. We must protest for change. I truly believe we need an entire new system of governing. A complete overhaul of our social, political and judicial systems would be a good start. To protest my views and thoughts about this matter, I have decided to vote neither Republican or Democrat. I will vote for MYSELF from this day on until there is CHANGE in our laws, primarily our entire system.

I would encourage all of you to wake up and understand that we are all the same. We are all one and we must come together with love and compassion and not be divided by those in power who wants us to bicker and fight amongst one another. Their fear is that we all will unite and demand change. Demand that the rich and wealthy share more of their money. Their biggest fear is that we no longer see color as a divider but instead as a uniter.

Let's give them their greatest fear and come together for the good of us all and change our present way of living. We can make life better for us all and especially the poorest. We can do this.... We must do this. We must change.


Please join me... I am seekinig volunteers to assist me in launching a new website by the name of "WeMustChange.org"

I need creative people, a web designer etc. I'm looking for a future staff of volunteers .....

I can be emailed at david@thinkverybig.com

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For a joint?
Posted by: jlohman on Apr 14, 2006 4:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
That's minimizing it for the sake of a story. I support decriminalizing the use of marijuana and hard drugs and making them available via prescription. But this was a drug pusher that would have easily sold to one of my grankids. Pushers who hook kids should go to jail. Sorry.

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» RE: For a joint? Posted by: Longhorn
» nope, that's the amount Posted by: deborama
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: bookwoman
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: kick
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: liberalibrarian
» THC Ministry Posted by: Lauren
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: Pinklillies
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: Techubus
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: supersapien
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: TotallyAshamed2bAmerican
» Total assumption. Posted by: JoshuaLudd
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: Asmodeus
» RE: For a joint? Posted by: montana freeman
» Pusherman!!! Posted by: billevans
The Best Government Money Can Buy
Posted by: dlf on Apr 14, 2006 4:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Massachusetts researchers found that nonwhites were more likely to be charged with an offense that carries drug-free zone enhancement than whites engaged in similar conduct. Blacks and Hispanics account for just 20 percent of Massachusetts residents, but 80 percent of drug-free zone cases.

I'm sure the Massachusetts minority voters are happy that Sen. Kennedy is right out front protecting the rights of illegal immigrants, instead of shining a light on a policy that effects people who can actually vote for him today.

Fourteen states, including Massachusetts, do not allow felons to vote, but do reinstate voting rights immediately after their release from prison. Eight states permanently disenfranchise felons depending on the type of felony conviction. In four states — Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida — people with any felony conviction are barred for life from the polls, unless the government grants them individual rights through a petition process.

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» Welcome to AmeriKKKa Posted by: doctorsquared
American Justice System putrid and inbalanced
Posted by: orinoconw on Apr 14, 2006 4:43 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You know something is wrong when an american soldier gets six months for using his dog to terrorize an iraqui prisoner; but someone else gets two years for selling a joint...

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» Amen! Posted by: Longhorn
» I second that AMEM! Posted by: Lizmv
» RE: Amen! Posted by: aussidawg
Very sad
Posted by: WhatNow? on Apr 14, 2006 5:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"even if it means ruining a young man's life in the process."

Man, who would want such nonchalance with a statement that's so cold?

"mandatory minimums. These laws handcuff judges and force them to impose harsh sentences."

It also gets a group of people working the system that have no empathy for other people. Some reasonable, decent, and intellegent people will quit before they sell their souls to follow these laws. So we lose people that can make things better.

Reading Noam Chomsky's interview the other day mentioned that many of our policies are savage. I thought that word summed it up perfectly. This is savage.

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» RE: Very sad Posted by: Nixonisinhell
Son of a bitch
Posted by: Orwells_nightmare on Apr 14, 2006 5:52 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
That's an outrage. That's entrapment, surely. If I were a member of that boy's family, I'd want someone's head on a stick. But this is what the cops count on, the family being too ashamed to protest the illegal charge and arrest of their drug-dealing teenage son so that they don't realize the bastards in blue have railroaded a sixteen-year-old boy into two years hard time.

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» RE: Son of a bitch: edit Posted by: Orwells_nightmare
» RE: Son of a bitch Posted by: Pinklillies
» RE: Son of a bitch Posted by: thinkverybig
Law is the Law.
Posted by: douglashoyt on Apr 14, 2006 5:58 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Anti drug laws have been on the books for nearly a century. Why has not the laws been changed.

People want tough drug control laws.

This is a sad fact. The people don't appreciate social freedom to live ones own life.

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» RE: Law is the Law. Posted by: jwg
» follow the money Posted by: thermite
» RE: follow the money Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: Law is the Law. Posted by: Lilybelle
So sad, too bad!!!
Posted by: bookwoman on Apr 14, 2006 6:13 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am from Springfield, Massachusetts which is about an hour's drive south of Pittsfield, in Berkshire County. Our laws are especially hard on those who sell drugs within 1,000 yards of a school. The pooh poohing of the school being a day care doesn't wash, as we know that many dealers are now hitting at the elementary school crowd, getting them hooked at a very early age.

Mitchell was selling to kids. In this case, the school was a daycare. However, the law is intended to act against those creeps who hang around on street corners near schools waiting for students to come and go. No one is saying Mitchell wasn't selling or sharing (that's how dealers start kids on the spiral downward). He shouldn't have been doing what he was doing, period and he certainly shouldn't have been doing it where he was doing it.

I, too, believe that, in the face of medical proof of the effectiveness of marijuana as an adjunct in treating certain diseases, our laws concerning use of this drug should be changed and adjusted. However, that hasn't happened yet.

In closing, I have two grandchildren, and if Mitchell had been caught near their elementary school or daycare, he would be dealing with me and not just the Commonwealth's legal system.

A creep is a creep!!!! I suggest that Mr Papa choose his wars more wisely.

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» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: marcinde
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: marcinde
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: glorybe
» RE: Prohibition didn't work Posted by: chaoslegs
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: Techubus
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: jwg
» Ja Man! Posted by: Lauren
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: Pseudo Morals
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: Herestratus
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: bqtrain
» RE: You're sad, too bad!!! Posted by: BsAs light
» RE: You're sad, too bad!!! Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: lenny666
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: TotallyAshamed2bAmerican
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: WyrdSister
» THANK YOU, WyrdSister! Posted by: mendomama
» Um, are you on drugs? Posted by: undenialbly_raziel
» RE: So sad, too bad!!! Posted by: Asmodeus
it is SO SAD how my fellow lefties cannot see the forest for the trees
Posted by: cry0fan on Apr 14, 2006 6:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am also for marijuana legalization. But there are so many things on the leftist agenda that can never hope to be implemented at this time, given the trend in alignment of the white majority with the GOP. Why? Because the left has alienated the white majority in this country. Don't you see that?

You can NEVER hope to implement any of the left agenda under the present circumstances. THe GOP is now the party of the white people. The LEFT made sure of that! The left itself has pushed the white majority away from it. I can only think that this was deliberate.

Don't you see that by having a left agenda all bound up in race and gender politics, all bound up in moral wedge issues, instead of bread and butter economics that would apply to EVERY American, the left has become a tool of the overclass used to split the white majority.

Until the Left realizes that any real American left can only be built around the white lower middle class, the largest single bloc in America, we will continue our slide into fascism. Our prisons will grower larger. Censorship will worsen. Mass immigration will expand. Tax burden will shift even more from the top to the middle. Our freedoms will constrict even more. The bloody war will expand into Iran and Venezuela and Colombia.

All because the Left is a golem, a husk, a tool of the overclass. A dead monster turned against all of us by overclass money. A fauxleft that eats away at the core of what social capital america has left.

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» It ain't just America. Posted by: medstudgeek
drugs, the law and a kid
Posted by: jrmart66 on Apr 14, 2006 6:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
OK< tough sentence. wasted police time etc etc etc
the bottom line is what the kid did was ILLEGAL!

don't do the crime if you bitch about the time.

And who say's this was the "only time he accepted money"?
And who say's he had no idea there was a pre-school around the corner?

why should we take his word?

did he sell the weed? Yes
was it illegal Yes
did he know it was illegal? Yes.

end of story.

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» RE: drugs, the law and a kid Posted by: brasilaron
» LEAP is great Posted by: Lauren
» RE: drugs, the law and a kid Posted by: dbarber
» RE: drugs, the law and a kid Posted by: bqtrain
» RE: drugs, the law and a kid Posted by: thermite
» RE: drugs, the law and a kid Posted by: aonghus36
» "End of Story" Posted by: fifthworld
What are our priorities?
Posted by: sls1982 on Apr 14, 2006 6:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
WHy are we wasting time on the prosecution of this drug? I mean honestly, haven't enough resources, people, and money been spent trying to eradicate its use. Working in the public sector, it seems thatthe money and people used on this issue could be better spent alleviating/researching true problems in our society such as poverty, homelessness, education inequity/reform, etc. Maybe if we spent more of the money working towards sustainable solutions for these issues, maybe people wouldn't need toturn to drugs in the first place.

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» RE: What are our priorities? Posted by: glorybe
» RE: What are our priorities? Posted by: dbarber
» RE: What are our priorities? Posted by: aonghus36
» Yea, just what are your priorities? Posted by: Againstthewindwalking
» RE: Yea, just what are your priorities? Posted by: montana freeman
» RE: What are our priorities? Posted by: Pseudo Morals
Not Harsh Enough
Posted by: glorybe on Apr 14, 2006 6:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Current drug laws are not harsh enough. Back in the 1950 era just the simple possession of a joint was enough to send a good student to prison for years. Frankly it worked great. Pot was rare as hens teeth. Once punishments became more liberal pot and other drugs ruined a whole lot of lives. Perhaps a return to the era when we would throw the key away on a 16 year old for minor possession is a better answer than anything we have today.

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» RE: Not STUPID Enough Posted by: janvdb
» Uh, not quite... Posted by: J-
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: brasilaron
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: glorybe
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: dbarber
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: BassClefJoe
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: bqtrain
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: bqtrain
» You're sadistic. Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: Not Harsh Enough Posted by: thermite
Legalize Pot Now
Posted by: janvdb on Apr 14, 2006 6:53 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Jailing people for any sale or use of this harmless-unless-grossly-overused substance is pure viciousness and utter stupidity.

I'm tired of this misuse of my tax dollars.

White sugar, grossly overused, is far more damaging to health than pot. Is anyone getting 2 years for the possession of small quantities of this dangerous substance -- sugar?

Alcohol is far more damaging to the lives and the health of abusers than pot. Yet, we learned the hard way that prohibition simply swelled the coffers of organized crime and encouraged widespread lawbreaking.

Exactly the same is true of marijuana and other drugs; we just haven't learned because most of the organized crime and the political and social problems associated with its huge power are playing out in Latin America, where the people are brown.

Hasn't anyone read about California's excellent results with their treatment-not-incarceration program? It's saving taxpayers millions in unnecessary prison costs while reducing drug use and allowing users to rebuild their lives, get jobs, take care of their kids and pay taxes.

We need to respond to all drug-related charges with forced treatment.

We need to provide drug treatment on demand to all who request it.

We need to stop all international interdiction efforts and allow Latin American countries to legalize and tax their entire cocaine and marijuana cultivation and processing industries.

We need to provide adequate programs for the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-cons into productive lives.

We need to tax and sell marijuana in liquor stores.

We need to provide free or sliding-scale mental health treatment to ALL, including humane asylum facilities for those who need them.

We need to give family members the right, with professional supervision, to force family members into detox and mental health treatment without the involvement of the criminal justice system. Facilities for such treatment should be made affordable to all on a sliding-scale basis.

We need to provide, at government expense, prescription drug and talk therapy as necessary to all people with mental health issues, regardless of their financial circumstances. This should be part of single-payer national health insurance.

We need to put far more resources into Social Services and their attempts to intervene into dysfunctional familes and abused children. More children should be in foster care. More newborns should become wards of state and adopted into better circumstances immediately upon birth. The best interests of the child should far outweigh parental rights.

We need to put far more resources into the Office of the Public Defender, who should be equal in salary, power, office size, prestige and so on to the District Attorneys who so recklessly and wantonly destroy people's lives, frequently in an attempt to promote themselves into a conservative (viciousness-based) political career.

Our punitive, destructive approach to "the drug problem" is part and parcel of a refusal to face up to the fact that many using individuals are legitimately in despair for economic, social and psychological reasons which could be proactively addressed, mentally ill, being abused or, in the case of harmless-unless-grossly-misused substances like pot, simply exercising their legitimate rights to use natural substances as they, as independent adults, should be free to do without interference.

Jan VanDenBerg

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» RE: Legalize Pot Now Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: Legalize Pot Now Posted by: jwg
How come our parents and grandparents were smart enough to get rid of Prohibition and we aren't?
Posted by: Sojourner on Apr 14, 2006 7:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Since juries will believe whatever law enforcement tells them, planting evidence on those they arrest is as old as alcohol prohibition. Who's more corrupt?

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Massive hypocrisy - and what about ADD speed drugs?
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Apr 14, 2006 7:12 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
On one hand, pharmaceutical and food companies are busy getting rich pushing medications and drugs on children - from Paxil to Prozac to Ritalin and caffeine, children in the US are probably the most highly drugged up of any children on the planet.

ADD drugs (ritalin and relatives) are all amphetamine derivatives; kids learn pretty guick that they can grind them up and snort them for a more intense high. "Mood disorder' drugs like Paxil have been shown to lead to suicide in many cases, and furthermore these drugs are often pimped out by doctors with financial ties to the pharma companies.

Meanwhile, the 'Patriot Act' provisions that were supposed to be used to fight terrorism are now in full force for marijuana 'crimes'. Wiretapping, undercover setups - it seems that now anything goes. The main goal in many cases is just asset seizure, of which the police get a cut.

For a more complete expose on this issue, see Medicinal Marijuana and Big Pharma.

Cannabis is less dangerous then alcohol or tobacco. Two years in prison? How much time do rapists serve? Often less then that - six months or a year. We have a perverted criminal justice system - cannabis is not the problem here.

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How liberal is MA really?
Posted by: medstudgeek on Apr 14, 2006 7:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If the place is anywhere near as lefty as the Repugs would have us believe it shouldn't be too hard to get this repealed. Any Bay State residents care to comment?

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The so-called "drug war" is a cover for racism and ...
Posted by: Deborah on Apr 14, 2006 9:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Until the main supplier of serious drugs like heroin and cocaine that come into the USA is really dealt with, then kids as well as adults will get hooked on drugs.

Marijuana is a minor drug only illegal because it doesn't produce the amount of profits that the main supplier of these other, more dangerous, drugs want and need to continue the arming of death squads and paramilitary groups that create the civil wars throughout the world. It bits into their profit because it is truly a weed, so hence it is illegal but STILL very handy to throw "dangerous" youths into jail.

Poor youths and youths of color are looked upon as worthwhile only as cannon fonder in this militarist society. Either they go to war or become incarcerated after reaching a certain age in order to get them off the streets by the usage of these draconian drug laws. Can't have a French-style workers' revolution lead by youths in the streets here in America, can we now?

Do any US American citizen have the guts enough to confront the real problems and the real drug lord in order to keep their kids off drugs or out of jail? The CIA is the largest supplier of drugs in this country and around the world. I dare anyone to get the real info by reading a police detective's discovery of this fact: Michael Ruppert's "Crossing the Rubicon". I connected the rest of the dots by just watching the government and our society in action.

The ruling elite in this country fear the minorities in this country which together outnumber them; that is why these inhumane laws are made by their tool, the government (state and federal) to keep brown people of all shades down with fear and/or incarnated. The US of A has the largest prison population in the world (even more than China), the majority of which are Blacks and Hispanics. Has anybody really asked themselves "why?" instead of falling into stereotypes that reinforced racism?

Until the CIA, the 1% rich that own this country and its tool, the government, is dealt with, any drug laws made to "protect" our kids will instead backfire in our faces.

Time to connect the dots, fellow Americans, and to stop blaming each other who are the real victims of this so-called "drug war", another war that has gone on for the last 30 years and that will never end for a reason. It is a very useful tool of oppression on all fronts.

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» Here's my attention span. Posted by: WhatNow?
» oh yeah I forgot for a moment Posted by: WhatNow?
A Leader in the "Free" World?
Posted by: aussidawg on Apr 14, 2006 10:15 AM   
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As the U.S. goes militarily into the middle east touting freedom, we continue to have the largest prison population per capita in the world. A large portion of these prisoners are non-violent drug offenders (as the above article points out, this kid was causing no harm to anyone), incarcerated because they chose to endulge in a substance deemed "immoral" by an indoctrinated portion of our population. The hypocracy has got to stop! Drug prohibition evolved at the same time as alcohol prohibition and was initiated by the "Christian" Temperance Movement for persons deemed immoral because of using alcohol or a variety of drugs. Although alcohol prohibition was abandoned due to the corruption produced by, and the lack of enforcability of prohibition, drugs were not. Drug prohibition, perpetuated by government propaganda and falsehoods, has created the same problems as alcohol prohibition (corruption, organized crime, unenforcability) yet remain in effect with no serious challenge to it. Why? The answer is simple...the amount of money created by keeping by keeping these substances illegal. Don't think our government doesn't profit from illegal drugs? Guess again, and to see recent examples of how our government is involved, see: http://www.drugwar.com/howmoneyworks.shtm. One of the reasons the FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds was gagged from testifying to Congress by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft was because of her knowledge of use of funds from illegal drugs to fund the wars in Afganistan and Iraq.

A lot of people believe in the War on Drugs because of the propaganda the government provides them. If these folks couuld just be educated about the truth (and all aspects of the truth) about drugs (including alcohol and tobacco), I think the fight to stop this insane war would be easier going. A lot of people suffer because of this senseless war, not just recreational users, but also chronic pain patients, cancer patients, glacoma sufferers, the list goes on.

To the people that read this website, if you are one of the misinformed supporters of the war on drugs, I urge you to learn more about what you are fighting and base your decisions on YOUR research, not what your "trustworthy" government tells you, and look at your own behavior and see if you are perfect enough to be deciding what others should be doing with their lives. Finally, live and let live.

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The greatest worth
Posted by: BsAs light on Apr 14, 2006 11:12 AM   
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What comes from the earth is the greatest worth. Marijuana is a blessing and not a curse.

When I was about 8 years-old my father told me his brother had something called Hodgkin's disease. Acutally he had had it over many years but it had gone into remission. Unfortunately it had returned and with a vengeance; it didn't look like he was going to make it. He was 33 - my age. He tried everything from powerful opiates to alcohol and nothing relieved the physical and emotional pain of chemotherapy like Marijuana. My uncle lived in Hawaii, and was hospiced in a hospital which was very progressive for that time and I thank god every day that they permitted my father to bring it [grass] back to his room to smoke. They both smoked together and shared precious few happy moments before my uncle finally succumbed to the ravages of the disease. He was 6 feet tall and weighed 190 pounds healthy and died weighing just over 110 lbs. All forms of cancer and their treatments are a bitch but I thank god every day that that man we all loved didn't have to suffer more than necessary before passing thanks to nature's blessing.

If you don't like my fire then don't come around cuz I'm gonna burn one down. . . If everyone could just mind their own fucking business, from abortion to drugs to sexual preferences, and worry about their own nasty little habits like judging others. Maybe grandma up there should be more concerned about the new video game her grandson is playing calle BLOODY RAPE ORGY SLAUGHTER on his Playstation. In fact maybe Junior would be better off smoking a little herb and going outdoors so he can feel the sun on his face and experience the wonders of god's creation, not Sony's or Microsoft's.

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How is this for hypocrisy
Posted by: BsAs light on Apr 14, 2006 11:23 AM   
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A teenage boy gets 2 years for a joint (entrapment no less) and our shit-for-brains president can be a draft dodging COKE SNIFFING, ALCOHOLIC who was basically AWOL during his Air National Guard service and later starts one, and soon to be 2 wars in the Middle East. Wow something is really wrong with that picture!!

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» Sigh. Posted by: bqtrain
A timely story ...
Posted by: kablooie on Apr 14, 2006 11:57 AM   
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...Considering that the Easter season featured at one time in history, in Scotland, "Carling Sunday," in which "carlings" (hemp-plant sprouts) were consumed as part of a seasonal ritual during a time when plants (especially medicinal herbs) were honored.

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Double Standards Inequality Under The LAW
Posted by: Cardascian on Apr 14, 2006 12:10 PM   
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Two points White Collar Crimes impact vs one joint--and I don't even smoke cigs!
Other point: US citizens prosecuted for one joint while ILLEGALS violate our laws in every breathe they take--what is going on here? Why the double standards for NUMBERS?
(Ex) frightening, a l9-yr old arrested for presenting a copy of Proof of Insurance. The date had been changed to make it current when it had expired.
Results: the last semester high schooler who just wanted to get his old clunker to auto shop was jailed: not once but twice.
First prosecution for misdemeanor, 2nd for FELONY or 20 years in Jail. Charges: TAMPERING WITH GOV DOCUMENT
How many illegals do that?
Why are they being rewarded with citizenship?
Why was he jailed twice: then forced to give DNA sample?
He did not benefit!
Is this the way our nation is going: US citizens spyed upon, prosecuted for denouncing a lyeing President and administration who would send our sends to die on foreign soil as prior generations have around the world for OPEN BORDERS USA?
HS Band, Choic, Athletes DRUG TESTED: why not Congress or Judges?
It can ONLY become more RESTRICTIVE for generational citizens.
Youth at a mall congregate and are told to break it up.
YET MILLIONs wave foreign flags telling us "you stole our land!" SO we should give back the Louisiana Purchase to the French.
Why don't we ALL give back ALL land to the animals--at least they don't dump, degredate and destroy!
STOPUSAGiveaway@Care2.com
One Nation Under G O D

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And The Band Played On!
Posted by: dlf on Apr 14, 2006 12:25 PM   
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Americans have very short attention spans. That said, few seem to remember that Ollie North was the tool for The Reagan/ Bush crack cocaine epidemic. Their Guns For Drugs scheme devastated the Black community for years. Of course Blacks have had to bear the blame for that as well. Yes after they introduced this insidious drug came the mandatory drug sentencing laws. It must be nice not to have to be bothered with remembering where the root of this tree is buried:

Senator John Kerry's 1988 U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report on Contra-drug links concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems." [2] According to the National Security Archive, Oliver North had been in contact with Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-lord.

The Reagan administration's support for the Contras continued to stir controversy well into the 1990s. In August 1996, San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb published a series titled Dark Alliance, linking the origins of crack cocaine in California to the contras. Freedom of Information Act inquiries by the National Security Archive and other investigators unearthed a number of documents showing that White House officials, including Oliver North, knew about and supported using money raised via drug trafficking to fund the contras. Sen. John Kerry's report in 1988 led to the same conclusions, however, major media outlets and the Justice Department denied the allegations.
Contras

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war on drugs = war on poor/minorities
Posted by: antiapathy on Apr 14, 2006 2:08 PM   
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that way they can't organize or vote against the corporocracy.

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How I Helped My Mother Become a Criminal in Japan
Posted by: Drae on Apr 14, 2006 2:10 PM   
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My mother vehemently opposes the great scourge of marijuana and other illegal drugs. She supports these insane laws even after her only son was ensnared by them and sentenced to fifteen years in the slammer for possession in Alabama.*

We've has numerous discussions in which I've tried to illuminate how insane these laws are; yet she would never budge. One must obey the law, according to her, no matter how crazed it may be. The law is the law!

You can imagine my delight when she committed a drug felony in Japan. See, we were standing on a street corner in Tokyo and she had a miserable sinus headache. She asked me if I had any Sudafed and I said I did. Now, as we both knew, Sudafed is an illegal substance in Japan. It's their way of controlling meth production.

I couldn't help gloating to her as I passed the banned substance over to her. Was she aware she was commiting a crime at this moment? And did she know we could be imprisoned for years for this? Me for smuggling and her for ingesting it?

"This is differant!", she snapped. I never could get her to explain why.


*Fortunately for us, Alabama has a serious prison overcrowding situation. My brother was released after serving only three years of his sentence.

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» Yes, King Posted by: fifthworld
And I browsed SPR's site last night
Posted by: Bwesley on Apr 14, 2006 2:20 PM   
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I feel horrible for the kid but even worse because I browsed this site last night: http://www.spr.org/. I agree with the comments about this boys time vs. the soilders that abused Iraqis. Everyday there are repeat sex offenders getting off with slaps on the wrist and this kid who isn't even violent gets sent to jail for TWO YEARS. Think about what that does to one's psyche. These laws destroy our youth, an entire generation, and stir up hate. They will only come back to bite everyone in the arss.

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The wisdom of prohibition
Posted by: jeff2045 on Apr 14, 2006 3:24 PM   
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It costs fifty billion plus per year (very conservative estimate) to incarcerate drug-related offenders. DEA, Customs, state and local law enforcement, and prosecutorial costs far exceed the mere cost of incarceration. And let's not forget the cost of providing medical and social services to the families of those caught in the wide net cast in the so-called war on drugs. The social costs are enormous. Last but not least, many of these "offenders" could work, pay taxes, and otherwise contribute positively to their families and communities, if we but stopped to examine the cost vs. benefit of this "war".

Criminalization increases exponentially the very problems they seek to ameliorate. I'm a staunch liberal, and I'd love to see progressives retire from the politics of prohibition, whatever the form, including tobacco and gun prohibition. Intelligent regulation and control provide many answers, and coupled with education, treatment, and closely-monitored decriminalization (of drugs), the cost in taxpayer dollars and social degradation and demoralization would be far less than the alternatives.

If hard core drug addicts could access an affordable source, legally provided under strict medical supervision and regulation, and free education, counseling, and treatment (provided to the general public as well), drug-related crime and the associated costs would all but disappear.

We could shut down the half of our prisons, free up law enforcement and the courts to pursue real criminals committing real crimes, and fund universal health care and a living wage with the resources we'd have left.

Ultimately, the drug war serves only those who seek political careers which limit our civil liberties and eliminate social services.

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otto
Posted by: otto on Apr 14, 2006 3:45 PM   
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Two years can be a light sentence in Texas. In 1969 Lee Otis Johnson, a black activist in college, was sentenced to 30 years for allegedly passing on one marijuana cigarette to an undercover officer. He got out a few years later when enough protests got his case to the supreme court.

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Just goes to show you...
Posted by: davidbdr on Apr 14, 2006 3:52 PM   
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...that you should never, never, never give, sell or pass anything to someone you don't know or isn't with a friend (and that's even risky). Weed laws are ridiculous and we all know that. When was the last time two or more people got into a fight and beat the hell out of each other while stoned? Many a bar in my town has had blood spilled in back alleys or on front sidewalks caused by a mean drunk. Girlfriends have been stabbed or people pounded for making the wrong eye contact. Alcohol is evil for some people. It makes them belligerent and uninhibited.

It used to be a joke when I was in the Air Force that the AF police had the best stuff. True but funny and probably the case for those that use the "anti-drug" platform to get elected or push their agenda. I'd love to see what's in their medicine cabinet. How about it, Rush? We all know that they are hypocrites with their other positions. Why should this be different?

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» RE: Just goes to show you... Posted by: WhatNow?
» RE: Just goes to show you... Posted by: Pseudo Morals
Oppression and represssion
Posted by: WhatNow? on Apr 14, 2006 4:56 PM   
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These are anti american ideas if this country really means anything. They are antithetical to the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, these are ideals worth striving for, they are the best of The United States of America.

Mandatory minimum sentences are unconstitutional! The legislative branch of the government with these laws has tied the judicial branches hands behind it's back. Where is the separation of powers?! A democratic congress went along with the republican executive in 1980s concerning this shit. I've been calling them demopublicans and republicrats since I saw this garbage happening many years ago.

I am heartened to see some people still understand such a thing as entrapment. I know of ten good laws (The Bill of Rights ) that ought to be adhered to. We could probably get away with being a good country with several dozen laws that were respected.

We need more civil servants ,not these slimebag politicians, that strive to achieve the ideals in the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence.

I sometimes feel I should always wear black for mourning the loss of true american ideals. I was unhappy with the unconstitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences. asset forfeiture laws are just as bad if not worse. america's drug laws are more in line with the likes of stalinstic russia and the third reich. I should wear nothing but black. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are dying.

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» RE: Oppression and represssion Posted by: aussidawg
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO FREEDOM AT ALL ANY MORE!!
Posted by: alicelillie on Apr 14, 2006 4:59 PM   
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I just want to say how much I admire the work being done to get these outrageous drug laws repealed.

Those who work hard to put together the Mass Can rally every September in Boston. I attended last year's, and it was superb.

Political organizations like the Libertarian Party that are calling for an end to the insane war on drugs.

People like Steve Kubby and his family, who are friends of mine, who have really gone through a lot to change the system. Steve has suffered from adrenal cancer for about 30 years and has been kept alive by marijuana. See his unbelievable story at kubby.com . It is all true; I have been following this for years and know the Kubbys.

And many more.

We have just about lost our freedom in this country. See my blog at http://www.alicelillieandher.blogspot.com .

Alice Lillie

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What would Jefferson and Washington think?
Posted by: mom'z the word on Apr 14, 2006 5:25 PM   
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Washington and Jefferson both grew marijuana on their plantations. It was not illegal. Growing it, smoking it, did not ruin our country. In fact if anything the declaration of indpendence written by jefferson,perhaps while under the influence, produced one of the most profound documents of the modern world. Washington had wooden teeth held together with nuts, bolts, screws, and wires. He was in constant pain because of it. Denistry hasn't changed much but if Washington smoked pot to ease the pain and ran the country while under the influence did it make a difference? I think given everything Bush has done in the last 6 years and how it has effected our lives I wish to god Bush smoked pot. It is for damn sure it could only do him some good. Without it he doesn't seem to know the difference between his butt and a hole in the ground. As a president who can write the rules as he goes along, legalizing pot for the pres is small pot atoes for Bush and right up his alley. Nothing is too good for our pres. It was good enough for Washington and Jefferson and I do not doubt their loyalty or intentions even a little bit. They were the original All Americans. Have things changed for the better? In comparison to then and now does putting a person in jail for 2 years for possessing pot make any sense at all? Would Jefferson or Washington agree with this behavior or think it is out and out stupid?

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A solution to the war on drugs.
Posted by: pmillerde on Apr 14, 2006 5:55 PM   
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What if all the people with serious drug problems were gathered to a place where they were offered treatment or their drug of choice for free? All they had to do was register and be on their way. They would probably need a referral from a doctor. I mean serious drug addicts; cocaine, heroin, Crystal Meth. What would happen to society?

Maybe the addicts would stop robbing and terrorizing people for the few bucks for a fix.
Organized crime would be out of business, the recreational user would no where to go. The money would be out of drug trafficking. So 'your kids' would be safe.

There is enough drugs in storage within law enforcement agencies from recent busts to start this plan. When it was up and running they would then make deals with the Afghans to supply poppies and the Columbian's the coca leaves. They already have relationships with the companies that make the ingredients for Crystal Meth. It would be easy.

It would help the Afghans and Columbian farmers get back on their feet after the war. The governments would be the procurer of these age old substances once again. (remember the Opium wars). No need for the Cartels, Mafia or any organized crime syndicate. They would all be out of business. Sorry pals, we have a big problem here and we are going to get a handle on it.

The only down side is that there wouldn't be a need for so many cops. But we would faze the plan in slowly and only the corrupt ones would leave. We could put their budgets towards the free drug treatment facilities.

Eventually all the addicts would take the treatment offer or be dead. There would be no one to take their place cause the market for recreational drugs would dry up.

Then we could face the real problem. Why are so many people unhappy?

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» RE: A solution to the war on drugs. Posted by: mom'z the word
Dad in Michigan
Posted by: lgough on Apr 14, 2006 6:29 PM   
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My son sold 1/8 oz of weed to a childhood friend when he was in high school a couple of years ago. He recieved 1 month in jail, three months on a tether and 2 years probation, weekly random drug tests AND a felony on his record...after we spent $6,000 on a lawyer that couldn't keep track of how many weekly random drug tests he had. Now that I think of it his "friend" told him to meet him in a subdivision near an elementary school.
I heard all of the same BS about it's illegal...so was interacial marriages and white only restrooms.

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Free The Weed
Posted by: bulletinman on Apr 14, 2006 11:20 PM   
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It is time to free the people and the weed, the mason's are behind the so called drug war protest and tell your neighbors that they are the real terrorist in America. The whole 9-11 crowd!

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SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND
Posted by: Uranus on Apr 15, 2006 2:59 AM   
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Laws prohibiting marijuana in the United States started being written in the 1930s after the Hearst newspaper chain began printing articles demonizing hemp because hemp paper competed with its extensive wood pulp papermaking industry.

In recent years, the average number of people arrested every year in the United States for marijuana offenses is almost 700,000.

This country has a rich legacy of sending good money after bad, a legacy cheered on by people who believe everything should be illegal, everyone should be imprisoned, tortured and put to death. Public opinion has turned, and any politician running for office today who doesn't support an end to the drug war sacrifices an easy victory.

Don't get me started! Amphetamines were available in drug stores without a prescription before 1953, and the American Medical Association opposed new laws requiring a prescription. You can see how well that turned out.

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» RE: SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND Posted by: aussidawg
Fascism, your name is drug war
Posted by: ken_sailor on Apr 15, 2006 5:03 AM   
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One thing common about fascist systems: they trump up false enemies as an excuse to eliminate civil liberties.

Germany, of course, as our favorite example had the Jews, the gypsies, gays, dissidents, you name it.

We have drug users.

Study after study shows that drug users are indistinguishable from other people except by a blood test.

Where drugs are legal, some people take drugs - but fewer than in America - and get on about their lives, on average, the same as everyone else.

Where drugs are illegal, more people take drugs, and organized crime and the prisons both swell.

Let's be courageous. Legalize all drugs right now and go back to the fundamental principle of democracy: give a man responsibility for himself and watch everything work better.

Stop this horrible system of "protecting us" by sacrificing the poor and unhappy.

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Life's like a jalepeno!
Posted by: Againstthewindwalking on Apr 15, 2006 9:26 AM   
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One day I was sitting in the living room with my sisxteen year old son, when out of his mouth came the most profound thing I have ever heard! "Life is like a jalepeno! What you do today can burn your ass tomorrow!"

Concidering now what the draconian drug laws have done to this young man and what he will learn in prison during those two years, I think perhaps the people who put him there have created his own monster! If you want to know what the result of "get tough on crime" rehtoric like we had in the '50s and early '60s, got check out the life of Charles Manson! Think about that while the so-called justice system turns our young men into monsters! And while your at it, better pick up some fire-proof toilet paper!

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Reefer Madness- all over again
Posted by: RV on Apr 15, 2006 11:19 AM   
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same scenario, same story. another life ruined. read eric schlosser's reefer madness and get a glimpse of the politics, economics, and cultural contexts of the war on drugs. as he says, follow the money

last, weed isn't addicting! hello!!!!!

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this is what you get
Posted by: popsicle67 on Apr 15, 2006 2:05 PM   
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When you let the schools raise your kids. How else do the cops of today get the idea that whatever they do to catch a drug dealer is OK? It was drilled into them from kindergarten
just like racism is drilled into infants. We need to shout the truth until minions of obfuscation are too tired to lie anymore.
I was told as a kid that pot had not been in use long enough to know what any long term problems may rise from it's use so it was made illegal to protect us. Not believing that truth was unwelcome in school yet, I took pains to point out that evidence showing the use of marijuana and other drugs had shown up archeological digs in the southwest. Many of those digs predated even the egyptians fermenting beer. The amazing thing is now you can find almost no reports on the use of marijuana by prehistoric man because the government
cannot abide by scince that does not promote it's policies

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The Real Reason for the Drug War
Posted by: gonzoskismet on Apr 15, 2006 2:48 PM   
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Anybody who has used this 'dangerous drug' and failed to go on to be slobbering addicts to coke or smack know the real reason behind the drug war. We can't have a laid back population that might actually question going to war as opposed to going to the MiniMart for a sack full of munchies. Lordy, lordy, what would that say about our national posture in the face of all this terrorism?
But, seriously folks, I've known people that used this 'killer weed' for over forty years and I'm yet to see any of them rape, pillage, slaughter or molest anything except a box of Ding Dongs and a litre of Pepsi. Whereas I've seen an ex-cocaine addict (ahem!) elected (again,ahem!) President of the United States, get thousands of people killed, spy on citizens in the U.S. and lie a blue streak and I don't see HIM
getting two months, much less two years. Now if that isn't HYPOCRISY, then somebody needs to contact Websters and tell them to change the definition in future editions of the dictionary, at least in the USA! The System RAPED this kid in broad day light and the rapists were the ones who made the Laws of the Land. Johnny Panic is King in the USA.

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drugs and the law
Posted by: bansidh@citlink.net on Apr 15, 2006 7:57 PM   
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My daughter is a heroin addict. I keep wishing she would be put away for a while as she lives on the streets and is always in danger. In the last two months , she has been picked up by the police for possession 5 times , and simply released. What do the police base their actions on? Why is a kid jailed for marijuana possession and my daughter let go, time after time , when she is found with heroin? The mind boggles.

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» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: Boggeddown
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: liberalibrarian
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: Boggeddown
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: liberalibrarian
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: Boggeddown
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: aussidawg
» Sorry to hear that - can relate Posted by: Boggeddown
» RE: drugs and the law Posted by: liberalibrarian
America's drug laws are ridiculous
Posted by: Lector on Apr 16, 2006 6:56 AM   
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Two years is a lot but I must say the kid wasn't too bright to begin with if he was willing to waste time selling a spoonful of dope. Anyone with his head screwed on right wouldn't have done it.

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JOSHUADUDD - INTERNET WHORE
Posted by: cerveny1 on Apr 16, 2006 3:14 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Funny thing about Alternet.org . . . There is this little click of self-righteous moderators who unilaterally determine what is right and wrong. Those in particular who don't agree with one JOSHUA LUDD and his brand of democracy may find themselves banished to Alternet's Gulag. I don't mind anymore. I have determined that a site frequented by an arrogant, gutless little prick like JOSHUA LUDD is hardly worth my time. I managed to break all of Alternet's fascist and seemingly self-contradictory rules of engagement but then again so did Joshua so I can only conclude that he is some kind of moderator or just a little bitch. Probably both. I'm sure that many of you who have debated with this self-important little prick understand. Having a left-leaning site like this is great and all but when assholes like JOSHUA LUDD run the show it ends up being a My Way or the Highway circle jerk eh JOSH? There can be no dissenting voice with JOSHUA LUDD. He silences you if he disagrees with you – sound familiar? All this discussion about the problems Americans are facing, censorship being one of them, and Fascistnet.org ends up being a microcosm of that very problem.

I challenge Joshua on every occasion because I disagree with him and his beliefs. He and I have both exchanged ad-hominem attacks – he seems to be a real tough guy though, given to Lee Marvin-esque outbursts but yet he whines to a friend and poof I’m gone or maybe he is the BIG PRICK who moderates the whole thing. In any event he actually represents much of what is wrong with this site and to a greater extent, what is wrong with America. We are discussing such topics as War, Racism, Fascism, Sexism, Capitalism, Socialism, etc. and yet are asked to keep the kid gloves on. Funny, one would think that people with enough conviction to come in here and discuss these topics would have thicker skin, and apparently most do except that little BITCH ASS TRICK JOSHUA LUDD. Keep him in mind when he attacks you personally and calls you a “reprehensible, murderous hypocrite” or this little pearl he threw out there – “Good for you. You still didn't serve. As my grandfather... a WW2 vet would say "close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes". Either you served or you didn't, and you, you chickenhawk piece of shit, DID NOT.” Funny Josh is beyond reproach much like our own president and the man he was criticizing in that thread – Colin Powell. Who is going to censure or ban you Josh? What about that post wasn’t a personal attack and profane?

I think many of you would be interested in knowing that Little Joshie is running a pseudo-intellectual pyramid blogging scam – fucking hilarious Josh!!!! What is it called Josh – Blogging for Bucks?? LMAO!!!
No I understand why you have this incestuous little relationship with Alternet.org. You are giving each other the reach-around eh JOSHUADUDD? You’re nothing but a little blog twink are you? This is the real progressive thinker you all are dealing with. WHAT A FUCKING LOSER!! Here’s his pitch spoken like a good little Neo-con:

“Write a blog. Make Money.
There are millions of people who want to work from home but don't know how.There are millions of people who know how to write.There are millions of people who know how to write, but don't know how to make money with it.We KNOW how to make money with content people write. This site was designed to allow YOU to write content which WE will market and we will ALL make money.We'll make the money for you!
Then, we split the money,
50/50. Not only that but we'll also place your ads on the blogs of people you refer to writingUp.”
CHECK IT OUT HERE – PIMP YOURSELF OUT!!
http://www.writingup.com/write_a_blog_make_money

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» RE: JOSHUADUDD - INTERNET WHORE Posted by: liberalibrarian
» RE: JOSHUADUDD - INTERNET WHORE Posted by: aussidawg
» RE: JOSHUADUDD - INTERNET WHORE Posted by: fifthworld
Youth on drugs
Posted by: mattstafford on Apr 16, 2006 4:01 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The truth is that most young people go through a phase of using marijuana and eventually grow out of it. There are some negative effects from using marijuana, but none of them are permanent. Better to be a stoner when you are a teenager and have no real responsibilities.

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» RE: Youth on drugs Posted by: liberalibrarian
Former Berkshire Eagle Editor-in-Chief Speaks out on Prosecutorial Abuse of Power
Posted by: dlm on Apr 17, 2006 10:58 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There is a VERY lilvely debate going on over at David Scribner's Scribbyworld.com



Fanatical prosecutor pursues a personal vendetta

by David Scribner
03/25/06

Berkshire County District Attorney David F. Capeless, unlike any other Massachusetts prosecutor, has a taste for being both prosecutor and judge, a fanatical devotion to mandatory sentences, and an unbalanced relish for inflicting prison terms on unsuspecting pot smokers.


...more at http://www.scribbyworld.com/news45.shtml

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The Insanity Of It All
Posted by: doneman2000 on Apr 17, 2006 3:43 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When I read stories about these prosecutors who want to throw kids in jail for selling a couple of joints or jailing a man for growing his own medicine in his basement it makes me want to pewk. I'm sure their excuse for such hard nosed tactics is "it's my job". I can only hope when we all stand in some line to get into Heaven and Hell those guys will be in the same line as the Nazi soldiers at Aushwitz. It's the "it's my job" line. There are some things which should be reprehensible to almost everyone, including prosecutors. The drug war costs taxpayers almost $70 billion a year. Of course it's an abject failure, however, the politicians and bureacrats won't let it go. They're always "saving the children" which would be correct if they kept illicit drug levels to bare minimums. That's a fantasy for politicians soapboxes, it's not reality. Since drugs can be purchased almost anywhere by almost anyone with the cash, it guarantees children access to the most addictive drugs the black market has to offer.
How bout legalizing pot with the same constraints we put on booze? For all other drugs we open clinics, ala methadone clinics (the most succesful treatment option for opiate addicts) for coke, crank, etc. etc. addicts. The problem we have today is the powers to be would rather jail a thousand as opposed to one guy getting high. They can't stand the thought that someone can get altered on a chemical other than alcohol. Our Puritanical ancestors never knew how their mindset would create an entire multibillion dollar bureacracy designed to keep us from enjoying ourselves. Who would have thunk it?

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this is what they want
Posted by: ccBallagh on Apr 18, 2006 5:09 PM   
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they want us to be enslaved to our gamemachines and cell phones and junk food and staring into the tv screen listening to there spin of realtiy , fuckd up on ritalin, and obsessing in sports, or if there lucky, theyll see us druggd out of our minds on one of there hard drugs projects, and caught in the system like a fish taking the bait.
what they dont want to see,
a kid smoking a joint and realising how hard the american people are being fucked.

thats what i realized when i smoked a joint... were being fuckd on all fronts

I'm in on the struggle to take back our rights!

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I have a proposal to make here
Posted by: fifthworld on Apr 18, 2006 9:09 PM   
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Pot won't go away. And I certainly hope I can keep a stock of hash filled too.

It's great stuff for an occasional fun time with friends (not to mention the more "serious" benefits), so... PASS THE JOINT!! Ahhhh, good hit! And no more bitter bile arguing for just a little spell.

Peace and love,
fifthworld

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RogerEd
Posted by: rogeralexander on Apr 19, 2006 9:21 AM   
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These guys rather spend biliions to the so-called war against drugs (basically a con to siphon off tax-payer money to friends and family) than commit a few million to improve the lot of coco farmers in Latin America.
You sow what you reap. Keep sniffing (not that I'm upset)

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Justice ??? And this guy in MA got 2yrs...
Posted by: Evo1450 on Apr 20, 2006 4:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This article appeared in the Asbury Park Press today. If you really want to get sick, read on:
Crime doesn't pay (except in this case)

Is this restitution plan a joke?
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/20/06
BY JAMES W. PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
It took William C. Starling Jr. three years to defraud the federal government of almost $12 million.

Avoiding a fine or prison, Starling was ordered by a federal judge last week to repay $796,855 to the taxpayers — at $100 a month with no interest.

It would take the 43-year-old Starling 664 years to make amends.

Except there's a catch.

The judgment expires in 30 years.

Of course, the sentence doesn't account for inflation. And if Starling paid the minimum each month, by 2036 he would have given the government $36,000 — about 5 percent of the total.

The original federal prosecutor on the case, Scott S. Christie, now a partner with the McCarter & English law firm in Newark, described the $100 installments as an "extreme example" of a sentence that "is not commensurate with victimization upon the government and taxpayer."

But on Wednesday, Richard E. Constable III, the assistant U.S. attorney who handled Starling's April 13 sentencing, said he would ensure that his office "comes up with a payment amount that makes sense . . . $100 is way too low."

For his extensive fraud, Starling was given three years' probation, in part because of the length of time since the crimes were committed in the 1990s, his 2001 guilty plea and his cooperation in a related investigation that produced no criminal charges because the statute of limitations expired.

Starling, who is black, admitted to defrauding several government agencies between 1993 and 1996, mostly by abusing minority contractor set-aside programs with the Small Business Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

From a Newark apartment, he ran S&A Contracting with one employee and virtually no equipment. He subcontracted the work to other companies, all of them nonminority, but Starling kept 10 percent to 15 percent of the proceeds for himself.

When Starling learned authorities had discovered his fraud, he fled to New Orleans, taking $150,000 in contract money with him.

Back to court?

While the total loss to the government was in the millions, a final tally was never calculated, Christie said. The $796,855 is owed to the Army Corps of Engineers, forced to finish a wetlands construction project along the Delaware River that Starling abandoned. Two of his contracts included roofing work at Earle Naval Weapons Station and dredging part of the Shrewsbury River.

If Starling doesn't agree to an increased repayment amount based on his financial ability, Constable said he will ask a judge to impose a higher minimum payment.

"My understanding is that my client has been instructed that (probation officials) will sit down with him and calculate the amount that he can afford to pay," said Esther Salas, Starling's public defender.

"I don't know if the guy is a pauper or he is doing well," Constable said. "Presumably he owns a business and his wife is helping him with it."

In court last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh imposed the monthly minimum payment of $100 along with the three years' probation. He also allowed Starling to continue to win contracts from the federal government. Starling lives in New Orleans and runs a contracting business there, according to statements made in court.

Starling had faced up to 35 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $2.25 million.


James W. Prado Roberts: (732) 643-4223; or jwr@app.com

E-mail article

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Degress of Justice
Posted by: Osiris2000 on Apr 20, 2006 7:00 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The title is from a story written by John Higgins in the Akron Beacon Journal of Akron, Ohio on Mar. 12, 2006. The story is about my son Charles T. Plinton who was arrested and charged with two counts of selling Marijuana to an undercover snitch who was himself a convicted felon. There is no doubt of my son's innocence, he was acqitted in a court of law by a jury, it took them 40 minutes to bring in a verdict of "Not Guilty". I t was a case of mistaken identity, whether deliberate or not we don't know and may never know. Two police officers testified against him and of course the snitch. There have been several follow up stories and comments. The link to the Archive follows:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14144994.htm

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Bush and YOUR Brain on Drugs...
Posted by: aussidawg on Apr 21, 2006 11:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Mr. Bush either suffers from paranoia (the religious type) on he is himself on Drugs...rugs...rugs...ugs...ugs...sssss (acid maybe?)

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Masons?!?!? Who sid anything about the Masons!?!?
Posted by: JohnTodd on Apr 24, 2006 8:30 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
quote:
"Amen Sister it is time to take this country back from the "evil empire" the masons are the problem, tell your people to weed out the masons from your town!"

You nut! As a Mason, I am offended by that. My lodge has voiced very vocal support for this young man, saying that the punishment does not fit the crime.

Masons differ on their views of Mary Jane like anybody else, but not on their view of this ridiculous sentence.

Also, many Masons are pro-pot because of it's medicinal qualities. Most Masons don't partake, however, choosing instead to drink or abstain altogether. We all are allowed to ahve opinions, but please base your opinion on something other than what the conspiracy websites have to say.

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What about this Mitchell kid?...
Posted by: Orwells_nightmare on May 2, 2006 5:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...Is he getting any support from any agency? Is anyone fighting his corner, or at least helping him do the time?

Mandatory sentence; has he NO recourse for appeal? I'm a little worried about this kid, to be honest, if he gets left alone. I can't help imagining him scared witless his first night, or even opening his wrists with a razor blade. All because the cops and the DA's office wanted a score. DAMN, that pisses me off!

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wprecht
Posted by: wprecht on May 9, 2006 5:23 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Awwwwwwww... poor Mitchell. I'll just bet he never tries to sell marijuana to anyone else. Maybe, just maybe, he learned his lesson. I worked at Stateville, and there was a prisoner there who had possession of less than 2 oz. of MJ. He was doing a 5-year stretch. Mitch is lucky.

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Flash Animation Two Years For One Joint
Posted by: anthonypapa on May 10, 2006 9:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
FLASH MOVIE (click on url below) about 18-year-old Mitchell Lawrence, who is serving two years in jail for the sale of a joint of marijuana!

Please check out the movie, sign the letter in support of the Lawrence family and send the movie to all of your friends!

Thanks, Papa



Flash Movie:



http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/050506greatbarringtonflash.cfm

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post
Posted by: post on Nov 2, 2006 6:48 PM   
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my title
Posted by: kwaynek on Dec 2, 2006 12:54 PM   
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my title
Posted by: kwaynek on Dec 3, 2006 5:18 PM   
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My titleee
Posted by: kwaynek on Dec 4, 2006 3:12 PM   
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23423
Posted by: kwaynek on Dec 4, 2006 3:48 PM   
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lilu
Posted by: lilu on Dec 8, 2006 10:42 AM   
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nimi
Posted by: lilu on Jan 11, 2007 2:14 AM   
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my title
Posted by: parkersmas on Jan 31, 2007 3:40 AM   
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