凍結 天然氣 火車

Drug users' union in San Francisco part of growing movement

Drug users' union in San Francisco part of growing movement

By Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times

March 11, 2012, 6:45 p.m.

Reporting from San Francisco— Heroin shooters, speed users, pot smokers and even some men and women who now are drug-free convene regularly in this city's gritty Tenderloin district — not for treatment, but to discuss public health policy and share their experiences free from shame or blame.

On this particular evening, the dozen or so in attendance had some pressing questions, including how those heading to a users' conference in Oregon this fall would obtain their methadone or safely procure other drugs to use in a supervised injection room.

"We have to figure that out," said Isaac Jackson, the group's senior organizer. The 56-year-old, who holds a doctorate in media arts and sciences from MIT, turned to speed in his mid-30s. "Nobody should [skip] this conference because they're afraid they're not going to get their dose."

This is the San Francisco Drug Users Union, one of a few such groups in the U.S. and part of a growing worldwide movement of thousands who, according to the International Network of People Who Use Drugs, are demanding a voice "in decision-making processes that affect our lives."

In the coming months, members of the San Francisco group plan to testify before a city panel on housing discrimination; co-host the first conference in the U.S. by and for drug users; and hold a design contest for a safe-injection site similar to one in Vancouver, Canada, where public health workers provide sterile needles and intervene in cases of overdose. They also have crafted a manual for medical personnel, to be released later this month, in hopes that drug users will get better emergency care.

The group's ultimate goal is decriminalization, an unlikely prospect but one increasingly debated by policy analysts who contend that the four-decade "war on drugs" has exacerbated social ills.

Linked to the harm-reduction movement — a philosophy that aims to reduce disease, injury and death among drug users without passing judgment or demanding abstinence — the union mostly hopes to put a face on those whom, Jackson said, "most people despise."

"People say, 'You're a drug user, you brought this on yourself,' " Jackson said. "Do people say that when you're 300 pounds with heart problems from eating McDonald's every day?"

Barbara Garcia, director of San Francisco's Department of Public Health, opposes the injection site for now but said she welcomes the union's organized advocacy. "We may not be able to always give them what they want," Garcia said, "but we're here to listen."

The union — with about five dozen members who attend meetings — eschews words like "addict" and "abuser." It neither encourages nor discourages use. At the recent meeting, one man who took a long bathroom break emerged to alternate between dozing on the couch and scratching himself, signs of an opiate high.

Jackson said that injecting is not condoned at either the biweekly meetings or in individual workshops, but "we know who our members are." A biohazard box is available in the bathroom for dirty syringes. The door latch is flimsy by design so it can be opened if someone hits the floor.

The rules are simple: No dealing at meetings. You can be high, but don't be disruptive.

San Francisco police haven't interfered with the union's activities, focusing drug enforcement on dealing and related street crimes. Reflecting that ethos, San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascon recently said that he believes drug use "is a health problem, not a crime problem, and should be dealt with accordingly."

The leaseholder on the cozy office space members call their "community living room" is the Harm Reduction Therapy Center, which also provides the union with financial support. The rug is faded, the couch comfortable and the walls covered with straight-talking pamphlets about drugs, disease and overdose. Anyone who seeks treatment can easily find it.

The harm reduction philosophy has deep roots in this city, whose public health department in 2000 was the first in the nation to adopt the approach. The city funds an overdose prevention education group that prescribes antidotes and provides training on administering them to opiate users. San Francisco General Hospital has established a wound-care clinic for injection drug users.

Half an hour before a recent meeting, the center's security gate creaked open and Gary West, who became a paid organizer after proving himself a reliable and enthusiastic union member, welcomed others as the blues wafted from a small boom box. There is an easy vibe of shared affinity.

Skyler Foster, 53, has been a regular since he heard about the union two years ago while at a clinic that treats and educates drug users with Hepatitis C.

A gaunt man with graying hair, Foster weighed in on the group's medical manual and asked about the upcoming design contest for the injection site.

"It's important that this type of advocacy is around," Foster said. "You go in, you get shot down, and you feel like crap when you come out of these hospitals."

Lydia Blumberg, 34, no longer uses methamphetamine but said she felt a weight lifted the minute she walked into her first union meeting. An arrest record for "being high in my own house" has prompted landlords to turn her away, she said. Yet the deepest wounds come from what she described as society's demonization of drug users.

"I felt I didn't deserve to be loved or respected by people who didn't use illegal drugs," Blumberg said.

Drug users unions first took shape in the Netherlands in the 1970s with the Junkiebonden, which sought to stem the spread of Hepatitis C through distribution of clean needles, said Merrill Singer, a University of Connecticut anthropologist.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic added urgency to such efforts, and in time groups led by public health advocates took root in Europe, Australia and Canada. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, now funded by public health officials, was formed in 1998 and played a key role in creating the Western hemisphere's first — and so far only — safe-injection site in 2003. Europe has nearly 100 such facilities.

The movement is relatively new to the U.S., Singer said, because of "racism and class discrimination, which are intimately bound together in our conception" of drug users.

America's first official drug users union formed in New York in 2005, followed by one in Seattle that more recently morphed into the Urban Survivors Union.

The seed was planted in San Francisco — which decades ago pioneered a needle-exchange program — after Jackson attended a city-sponsored conference in 2007 to explore the possibility of a safe-injection site. He and two others got a grant from the national Drug Policy Alliance, which continues to fund the union and seeks to roll back what it considers "excesses of the drug war" that have led to high incarceration rates, particularly among minorities.

The union held its first meeting in 2010.

Jackson, who breaks easily into a mischievous grin and favors offbeat T-shirts, jokes that his regularly offered safety tips have led others to view him as "the Boy Scout of drug users." He still uses but said his approach is more responsible than in his younger days. "I'm being myself," he said. "I'm being an example to other users."

Whether the union's agenda will advance is an open question.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee balked last year at a task force recommendation supporting a safe-injection site, and Garcia believes no neighborhood will accept one. Yet Lee plans to visit Seattle to learn about its "wet house," where homeless alcohol abusers are able to drink freely while receiving counseling and support to help them cut back.

To Dr. Eric Woodard, San Francisco General Hospital's medical director of psychiatric emergency services, "treating underserved, vulnerable populations is part of our mission." Woodard's staff and union members have begun working together, sharing information about batches of bad street drugs. "I think it's good that they've banded together to make their needs known," Woodard said of union members.

To many users, that respect is key.

West moved here from Detroit after hearing about the union.

Although he was homeless, he spent his days volunteering — walking for miles distributing fliers for the group. He said he went to Haight-Ashbury for "historical value" and Fisherman's Wharf because the notices tickled tourists. Two years later, West has a place to live and a paycheck.

"It gave me something to belong to," said West, 48. "It let me say what I know without the stigma and the frowns. This … turned around my whole life."

lee.romney@latimes.com

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Why Pat Robertson’s pot plan is a (bong) pipe dream

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Posted at 04:58 PM ET, 03/09/2012

Why Pat Robertson’s pot plan is a (bong) pipe dream

By Joseph A. Califano Jr.

Pat Robertson should stick to television evangelism. His recent pitch to legalize marijuana and make it as available as alcoholic beverages in order to bring down incarceration rates in the United States is other worldly. Contrary to Robertson’s belief that legalizing marijuana will reduce our nation’s incarceration rates, the fact is that only 2 percent of all inmates are incarcerated for marijuana possession as their controlling or only offense.

Indeed, legalizing marijuana will likely increase criminal activity. Some two-thirds of incarcerated felons (1.5 million) meet the medical criteria for addiction and marijuana is commonly one of the first steps on the road to other drug addiction.

Most violent felonies, such as murder, rape and aggravated assault, occur when the perpetrator is high or drunk, and the lion’s share of property crime involves people seeking money to buy drugs. [Well, pot smokers are not anything like drunks who fight and frequently behave like *ssholes. A pot smoker is more likely to eat a burrito and go to sleep, then do something violent] And the legal drug alcohol that Robertson wants marijuana to be treated like is implicated in more violent crime than any other substance. [Maybe we should criminalized booze? Maybe not, the prohibition was a dismal failure, just like the drug war!]

The notion that taxing sales of marijuana will provide a windfall for our public coffers is another (bong) pipe dream. For every $1 of taxes on tobacco and alcohol, our nation incurs $9 in state and federal health-care, criminal justice and social-service costs. These costs will skyrocket if legalization becomes the norm, increasing the drain on our public coffers. [Again what rubbish! Tobacco and alcohol are without a doubt the most deadly drugs on the planet and they both kill 100,000's of people every year world wide. I am still waiting for a documented death from a marijuana use, other then being killed by a cop for smoking the stuff]

As with cigarettes, we know a lot more about marijuana today than we did a generation ago. Today’s marijuana is no harmless herb: it is 10 times more potent than the marijuana of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, says, "There is no question marijuana can be addictive; that argument is over. [That is an out right lie. Marijuana is NOT physically addictive like heroin] The most important thing right now is to understand the vulnerability of young, developing brains to these increased concentrations of cannabis."

I can’t understand why an evangelical leader like the Rev. Robertson, who claims to be so devoted to protecting the young in our materialistic, instant-gratification, sexually-charged modern society, would want to legalize a third drug like marijuana, when we have shown such little ability to keep our two legal drugs, tobacco and alcohol, out of the hands of our children and teens.

Nine out of 10 Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18. Forty-six percent of all high school students currently use addictive substances and a third of them meet the medical criteria for addiction. [Which sounds like the "war on drugs" is a dismal failure] I can’t believe that Rev. Robertson wants to increase that proportion, but that’s exactly what his suggestion would do.

In World War II we used to say, “ Loose lips sink ships.” In debates about the war on drugs, loose lips can sink children and teens.

Parents and teachers, clergy, and everyone involved in a child’s life should understand that marijuana is a risky and addictive drug with serious health and social consequences. Rev.Robertson, before you speak again on this subject please remember this: Drugs are not dangerous because they are illegal; they are illegal because they are dangerous. [You got it exactly wrong, when harmless drugs are made illegal the huge black market created to supply the illegal drugs causes nothing but crime]

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., is the founder and chairman emeritus of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He was secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter administration and chief domestic policy aide to President Lyndon Johnson. [So it sounds like Joseph A. Califano has a vested interest in keeping drugs illegal]

Antipsychotic drugs to make you go to sleep???

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Antipsychotic drugs grow more popular for patients without mental illness

By Sandra G. Boodman, Published: March 12

Adriane Fugh-Berman was stunned by the question: Two graduate students who had no symptoms of mental illness wondered if she thought they should take a powerful schizophrenia drug each had been prescribed to treat insomnia.

“It’s a total outrage,” said Fugh-Berman, a physician who is an associate professor of pharmacology at Georgetown University. “These kids needed some basic sleep [advice], like reducing their intake of caffeine and alcohol, not a highly sedating drug.”

Those Georgetown students exemplify a trend that alarms medical experts, policymakers and patient advocates: the skyrocketing increase in the off-label use of an expensive class of drugs called atypical antipsychotics. Until the past decade these 11 drugs, most approved in the 1990s, had been reserved for the approximately 3 percent of Americans with the most disabling mental illnesses, chiefly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; more recently a few have been approved to treat severe depression.

But these days atypical antipsychotics — the most popular are Seroquel, Zyprexa and Abilify — are being prescribed by psychiatrists and primary-care doctors to treat a panoply of conditions for which they have not been approved, including anxiety, attention-deficit disorder, sleep difficulties, behavioral problems in toddlers and dementia. These new drugs account for more than 90 percent of the market and have eclipsed an older generation of antipsychotics. Two recent reports have found that youths in foster care, some less than a year old, are taking more psychotropic drugs than other children, including those with the severest forms of mental illness.

In 2010 antipsychotic drugs racked up more than $16 billion in sales, according to IMS Health, a firm that tracks drug trends for the health-care industry. For the past three years they have ranked near or at the top of the best-selling classes of drugs, outstripping antidepressants and sometimes cholesterol medicines. A study published last year found that off-label antipsychotic prescriptions doubled between 1995 and 2008, from 4.4 million to 9 million. And a recent report by pharmacy benefits manager Medco estimated that the prevalence of the drugs’ use among adults ballooned more than 169 percent between 2001 and 2010.

Critics say the popularity of atypical antipsychotics reflects a combination of hype that the expensive medicines, which can cost $500 per month, are safer than the earlier generation of drugs; hope that they will work for a variety of ailments when other treatments have not; and aggressive marketing by drug companiesto doctors and patients.

“Antipsychotics are overused, overpriced and oversold,” said Allen Frances, former chair of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, who headed the task force that wrote the DSM-IV, psychiatry’s diagnostic bible. While judicious off-label use may be appropriate for those who have not responded to other treatments for, say, severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, Frances said the drugs, which are designed to calm patients and to moderate the hallucinations and delusions of psychosis, are being used “promiscuously, recklessly,” often to control behavior and with little regard for their serious side effects. These include major, rapid weight gain — 40 pounds is not uncommon — Type 2 diabetes, breast development in boys, irreversible facial tics and, among the elderly, an increased risk of death.

The latest fad?

Doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs for unapproved uses, but companies are forbidden to promote them for such purposes. In the past few years major drugmakers have paid more than $2 billion to settle lawsuits brought by states and the federal government alleging illegal marketing; some cases are still being litigated, as are thousands of claims by patients. In 2009 Eli Lilly and Co. paid the federal government a record $1.4 billion to settle charges that it illegally marketed Zyprexa through, among other things, a “5 at 5 campaign” that urged nursing homes to administer 5 milligrams of the drug at 5 p.m. to induce sleep.

Wayne Blackmon, a psychiatrist and lawyer who teaches at George Washington University Law School, said he commonly sees patients taking more than one antipsychotic, which raises the risk of side effects. Blackmon regards them as the “drugs du jour,” too often prescribed for “problems of living. Somehow doctors have gotten it into their heads that this is an acceptable use.” Physicians, he said, have a financial incentive to prescribe drugs, widely regarded as a much quicker fix than a time-intensive evaluation and nondrug treatments such as behavior therapy, which might not be covered by insurance.

In a series in the New York Review of Books last year, Marcia Angell, former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, argued that the apparent “raging epidemic of mental illness” partly reflects diagnosis creep: the expansion of the elastic boundaries that define mental illnesses to include more people, which enlarges the market for psychiatric drugs.

“You can’t push a drug if people don’t think they have a disease,” said Fugh-Berman, who directs PharmedOut, a Georgetown program that educates doctors about drug marketing and promotion. “How do you normalize the use of antipsychotics? By using key opinion leaders to emphasize their use and through CMEs (continuing medical education) and ghost-written articles in medical journals,” which, she said “affect the whole information stream.”

James H. Scully Jr., medical director of the American Psychiatric Association, sees the situation differently. He agrees that misuse of the drugs is a problem and says that off-label prescribing should be based on some evidence of effectiveness. But Scully suggests that a key factor driving use of the drugs, in addition to “intense marketing and some effectiveness,” is the growing number of non-psychiatrists prescribing them. Many lack the expertise and experience necessary to properly diagnose and treat mental health problems, he said.

Among psychiatrists, use of antipsychotics is rooted in a desire to heal, according to Scully. “All of the meds we use have their limits. If you’re trying to help somebody, you think, ‘What else might I be able to do for them?’ ”

Since 2005, antipsychotics have carried a black-box warning, the strongest possible, cautioning against their use in elderly patients with dementia, because the drugs increase the risk of death. In 2008 the Food and Drug Administration reiterated its earlier warning, noting that “antipsychotics are not indicated for the treatment of dementia-related psychosis.” But experts say such use remains widespread.

In one Northern California nursing home in 2006 and 2007, 22 residents, many suffering from dementia, were given antipsychotics for the convenience of the staff or because the residents refused to go to the dining room. In some cases the drugs were forcibly injected, state officials said. Three residents died.

A 2011 report by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that in a six-month period in 2007, 14 percent of nursing home residentswere given antipsychotics. In one case a patient with an undetected urinary-tract infection was given the drugs to control agitation.

“The primary reason is that there’s not enough staff,” said Toby S. Edelman, senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a Washington-based nonprofit group, who recently testified about the problem before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “If you can’t tie people up, you give ’em a drug” she said, referring to restrictions on the use of physical restraints in nursing homes.

Drugs at 18 months

Nursing home residents aren’t the only ones gobbling antipsychotics.

Mark E. Helm, a Little Rock pediatrician who was a medical director of Arkansas’s Medicaid evidence-based prescription drug program from 2004 to 2010, said he had seen 18-month-olds being given potent antipsychotic drugs for bipolar disorder, an illness he said rarely develops before adolescence. Antipsychotics, which he characterized as the fastest-growing and most expensive class of drugs covered by the state’s Medicaid program, were typically prescribed to children to control disruptive behavior, which often stemmed from their impoverished, chaotic or dysfunctional families, Helm said. “Sedation is the key reason these meds get used,” he observed.

More than any other factor, experts agree, the explosive growth in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder has fueled antipsychotic use among children. Between 1994 and 2003, reported diagnoses increased 40-fold, from about 20,000 to approximately 800,000, according to Columbia University researchers.

That diagnosis, popularized by several prominent child psychiatrists in Boston who claimed that extreme irritability, inattention and mood swings were actually pediatric bipolar disorder that can occur before age 2, has undergone a reevaluation in recent years. The reasons include the highly publicized death of a 4-year-old girl in Massachusetts, who along with her two young siblings had been taking a cocktail of powerful drugs for several years to treat bipolar disorder; the revelation of more than $1 million in unreported drug company payments to the leading proponent of the diagnosis; and growing doubts about its validity.

Helm said that antipsychotics, which he believes have become more socially acceptable, serve another purpose: as a gateway to mental health services. “To get a child qualified for SSI disability, it is helpful to have a child on a medicine,” he said, referring to the federal program that assists families of children who are disabled by illness.

Ask your doctor

Psychiatrist David J. Muzina, a national practice leader at pharmacy benefits manager Medco, said he believes direct-to-consumer advertising has helped fuel rising use of the drugs. As former director of the mood disorders center at the Cleveland Clinic, he encountered patients who asked for antipsychotics by name, citing a TV commercial or print ad.

Some states are attempting to rein in their use and cut escalating costs. Texas has announced it will not allow a child younger than 3 to receive antipsychotics without authorization from the state. Arkansas now requires parents to give informed consent before a child receives an anti- psychotic drug. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it is summoning state officials to a meeting this summer to address the use of antipsychotics in foster care. And Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced legislation that would require doctors who prescribe antipsychotics off-label to nursing home patients to complete forms certifying that they are appropriate.

Medco is asking doctors to document that they have performed diabetes tests in patients taking the drugs. “Our intention here is to get doctors to reexamine prescriptions,” Muzina said.

“In the short term, I don’t see a change in this trend unless external forces intervene.”

This article was produced in collaboration with Kaiser Health News. KHN is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health-policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Robert Robb wants to legalize dope???

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What if Latin America goes first with legalization?

Latin American leaders are increasingly tired of being the front lines of the U.S. drug-suppression effort, and calls for the U.S. to move to legalization are becoming more frequent. At some point, they will realize that they can largely free themselves from the drug cartels by legalizing production and consumption in their own countries. That would make U.S. drug policy very difficult to sustain.

Phoenix police officer accused of aggravated DUI

Phoenix police officer accused of aggravated DUI

by Caitlin Cruz - Mar. 14, 2012 11:20 AM

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

A Phoenix police officer was arrested on March 4 on suspicion of aggravated driving under the influence after being pulled over with a 7-year-old in the vehicle, law enforcement officials said.

Brian Gentry was pulled over by a Goodyear police detective after a race at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, said Christopher Hegstrom, a spokesman for Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

PIR's website lists the March 4 event as the Subway Fresh Fit 500 of the NASCAR Spring Cup Series Race.

The Goodyear detective was working off-duty with MCSO at the intersection of South Estrella Parkway and West Vineyard Road near Goodyear when he noticed Gentry's inability to follow designated traffic directions, Goodyear Lt. Jason DeHaan said.

The DUI Task Force was called to check Gentry's level of impairment and the investigation was turned over to MCSO, DeHaan said.

Gentry's blood-alcohol content level was above the legal limit and he was deemed intoxicated, Hegstrom said.

Gentry was arrested on suspicion of aggravated DUI, a class 6 felony, because of the presence of someone younger than 15 in the vehicle. It wasn't clear what relation the 7-year-old child had to Gentry.

He was cited and released to be driven home, Hegstrom said.

Phoenix Sgt. Tommy Thompson confirmed Gentry is on administrative leave at home while an internal investigation is conducted by the Professional Standards Bureau, the internal-affairs section of Phoenix police.

Romney firm supports the Chinese police state?

Firm Romney Founded Is Tied to Chinese Surveillance

Keith Bedford for The New York Times

BEIJING — As the Chinese government forges ahead on a multibillion-dollar effort to blanket the country with surveillance cameras, one American company stands to profit: Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney.

In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters from centralized command posts.

The Bain-owned company, Uniview Technologies, produces what it calls “infrared antiriot” cameras and software that enable police officials in different jurisdictions to share images in real time through the Internet. Previous projects have included an emergency command center in Tibet that “provides a solid foundation for the maintenance of social stability and the protection of people’s peaceful life,” according to Uniview’s Web site.

Such surveillance systems are often used to combat crime and the manufacturer has no control over whether they are used for other purposes. But human rights advocates say in China they are also used to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents. “There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,” said Loksag, a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province. He said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008.

Mr. Romney has had no role in Bain’s operations since 1999 and had no say over the investment in China. But the fortunes of Bain and Mr. Romney are still closely tied.

The financial disclosure forms Mr. Romney filed last August show that a blind trust in the name of his wife, Ann Romney, held a relatively small stake of between $100,000 and $250,000 in the Bain Capital Asia fund that purchased Uniview.

In a statement, R. Bradford Malt, who manages the Romneys’ trusts, noted that he had put trust assets into the fund before it bought Uniview. He said that the Romneys had no role in guiding their investments. He also said he had no control over the Asian fund’s choice of investments.

Mr. Romney reported on his August disclosure forms that he and his wife earned a minimum of $5.6 million from Bain assets held in their blind trusts and retirement accounts. Bain employees and executives are also among the largest donors to his campaign, and their contributions accounted for 10 percent of the money received over the past year by Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney “super PAC.” Bain employees have also made substantial contributions to Democratic candidates, including President Obama.

Bain’s decision to enter China’s fast-growing surveillance industry raises questions about the direct role that American corporations play in outfitting authoritarian governments with technology that can be used to repress their own citizens.

It also comes at a delicate time for Mr. Romney, who has frequently called for a hard line against the Chinese government’s suppression of religious freedom and political dissent.

As with previous deals involving other American companies, critics argue that Bain’s acquisition of Uniview violates the spirit — if not necessarily the letter — of American sanctions imposed on Beijing after the deadly crackdown on protests in Tiananmen Square. Those rules, written two decades ago, bar American corporations from exporting to China “crime-control” products like those that process fingerprints, make photo identification cards or use night vision technology.

Most video surveillance equipment is not covered by the sanctions, even though a Canadian human rights group found in 2001 that Chinese security forces used Western-made video cameras to help identify and apprehend Tiananmen Square protesters.

Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia, who frequently assails companies that do business with Chinese security agencies, said calls by some members of Congress to pass stricter regulations on American businesses have gone nowhere. “These companies are busy making a profit and don’t want to face realities, but what they’re doing is wrong,” said Mr. Wolf, who is co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

In public comments and in a statement posted on his campaign Web site, Mr. Romney has accused the Obama administration of placing economic concerns above human rights in managing relations with China. He has called on the White House to offer more vigorous support of those who criticize the Chinese Communist Party.

“Any serious U.S. policy toward China must confront the fact that China’s regime continues to deny its people basic political freedoms and human rights,” according to the statement on his Web site. “The United States has an important role to play in encouraging the evolution of China toward a more politically open and democratic order.”

In recent years, a number of Western companies, including Honeywell, General Electric, I.B.M. and United Technologies, have been criticized for selling sophisticated surveillance-related technology to the Chinese government.

Other companies have been accused of directly helping China quash perceived opponents. In 2007, Yahoo settled a lawsuit asserting that it had provided the authorities with e-mails of a journalist who was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for sending an e-mail that prosecutors charged contained state secrets.

Cisco Systems is fighting a lawsuit in the United States filed by a human rights group over Internet networking equipment it sold to the Chinese government. The lawsuit asserts that the system, tailored to government demands, allowed the authorities to track down and torture members of the religious group Falun Gong.

Bain defended its purchase of Uniview, stressing that the Chinese company’s products were advertised as instruments for crime control, not political repression. “China’s increasingly urban population will face growing needs around personal safety and property protection,” the company said in a statement. “Video surveillance is part of the solution to that, as it is anywhere in the world.” The company also said that only one-third of Uniview’s sales were to public security bureaus.

William A. Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council in Washington, said it was up to the American government, not individual companies, to set the guidelines for such business ventures. “A lot of the stuff we’re talking about is truly dual use,” said Mr. Reinsch, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration. “You can sell it to a local police force that will use it to track down speeders, but you can also sell it to a ministry of state security that will use it to monitor dissidents.”

But Adam Segal, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on the intersection of technology and domestic security in China, said American companies could not shirk responsibility for the way their technology is used, especially in the wake of recent controversies over the sales of Western Internet filtering systems to autocratic rulers in the Arab world. “Technology companies have to begin to think about the ethics and political implications of selling these technologies,” he said.

Uniview is proud of its close association with China’s security establishment and boasts about the scores of surveillance systems it has created for local security agencies in the six years since the Safe Cities program was started.

“Social management and society building pose new demands for surveillance and control systems,” Uniview says in its promotional materials, which include an interview with Zhang Pengguo, the company’s chief executive. “A harmonious society is the essential nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” Mr. Zhang says.

Until now, Bain’s takeover of Uniview has drawn little attention outside China. The company was formerly the surveillance division of H3C, a joint venture between 3Com and Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant whose expansion plans in the United States have faced resistance from Congress over questions about its ties to the Chinese military.

In 2010, 3Com, along with H3C, became a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard in a $2.7 billion buyout deal.

H3C also sells technology unrelated to video surveillance, including Internet firewall products, but it was the video surveillance division alone that drew Bain Capital’s interest.

In December, H3C announced that Bain had bought out the surveillance division and formed Uniview, although under terms of the buyout, H3C provides Uniview with products, technical support and, for a period of time, the use of its brand name. Bain controls Uniview but says it has no role in its day-to-day operations.

Bain is, however, well positioned to profit. According to the British firm IMS Research, the Chinese market for security camera networks was $2.5 billion last year, a figure that is expected to double by 2015, with more than two-thirds of that demand coming from the government. Uniview currently has just 1 percent of the market, the firm said.

Chinese cities are rushing to construct their own surveillance systems. Chongqing, in Sichuan Province, is spending $4.2 billion on a network of 500,000 cameras, according to the state news media. Guangdong Province, the manufacturing powerhouse adjacent to Hong Kong, is mounting one million cameras. In Beijing, the municipal government is seeking to place cameras in all entertainment venues, adding to the skein of 300,000 cameras that were installed here for the 2008 Olympics.

By marrying Internet, cellphone and video surveillance, the government is seeking to create an omniscient monitoring system, said Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. “When it comes to surveillance, China is pretty upfront about its totalitarian ambitions,” he said.

For the legion of Chinese intellectuals, democracy advocates and religious figures who have tangled with the government, surveillance cameras have become inescapable.

Yang Weidong, a politically active filmmaker, said a phalanx of 13 cameras were installed in and around his apartment building last year after he submitted an interview request to President Hu Jintao, drawing the ire of domestic security agents. In January, Ai Weiwei, the artist and public critic, was questioned by the police after he threw stones at cameras trained on his front gate.

Li Tiantian, 45, a human rights lawyer in Shanghai, said the police used footage recorded outside a hotel in an effort to manipulate her during the three months she was illegally detained last year. The video, she said, showed her entering the hotel in the company of men other than her boyfriend.

During interrogations, Ms. Li said, the police taunted her about her sex life and threatened to show the video to her boyfriend. The boyfriend, however, refused to watch, she said.

“The scale of intrusion into people’s private lives is unprecedented,” she said in a phone interview. “Now when I walk on the street, I feel so vulnerable, like the police are watching me all the time.”

New wrinkle in medical marijuana debate: stoned driving

New wrinkle in pot debate: stoned driving

Associated Press

By KRISTEN WYATT | Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — Angeline Chilton says she can't drive unless she smokes pot. The suburban Denver woman says she'd never get behind the wheel right after smoking, but she does use medical marijuana twice a day to ease tremors caused by multiple sclerosis that previously left her homebound.

"I don't drink and drive, and I don't smoke and drive," she said. "But my body is completely saturated with THC."

Her case underscores a problem that no one's sure how to solve: How do you tell if someone is too stoned to drive?

States that allow medical marijuana have grappled with determining impairment levels for years. And voters in Colorado and Washington state will decide this fall whether to legalize the drug for recreational use, bringing a new urgency to the issue.

A Denver marijuana advocate says officials are scrambling for limits in part because more drivers acknowledge using the drug.

"The explosion of medical marijuana patients has led to a lot of drivers sticking the (marijuana) card in law enforcement's face, saying, 'You can't do anything to me, I'm legal,'" said Sean McAllister, a lawyer who defends people charged with driving under the influence of marijuana.

It's not that simple. Driving while impaired by any drug is illegal in all states. [In Arizona any measurable amount of an illegal drug in your body is considered to mean you are DUI - Expect for medical marijuana patients.]

But it highlights the challenges law enforcement officers face using old tools to try to fix a new problem. Most convictions for drugged driving now are based on police observations, followed later by a blood test. [Well if it's that difficult to determine if a person is DUI, then the effects of marijuana use are probably not any where as dangerous on driving as alcohol use]

Authorities envision a legal threshold for pot that would be comparable to the blood-alcohol standard used to determine drunken driving. [Sadly the .08 level is more about raising revenue for the police and government then it is about getting dangerous drivers off the road. When the crime of DUI was invented the standard was .15, almost twice the legal limit now.]

But unlike alcohol, marijuana stays in the blood long after the high wears off a few hours after use, and there is no quick test to determine someone's level of impairment — not that scientists haven't been working on it.

Dr. Marilyn Huestis of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a government research lab, says that soon there will be a saliva test to detect recent marijuana use.

But government officials say that doesn't address the question of impairment.

"I'll be dead — and so will lots of other people — from old age, before we know the impairment levels" for marijuana and other drugs, said White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske. [Again that probably means using marijuana and driving isn't any where near as dangerous as drinking and driving]

Authorities recognize the need for a solution. Marijuana causes dizziness, slowed reaction time and drivers are more likely to drift and swerve while they're high.

Dr. Bob DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, a non-government institute that works to reduce drug abuse, says research proves "the terrible carnage out there on the roads caused by marijuana."

One recent review of several studies of pot smoking and car accidents suggested that driving after smoking marijuana might almost double the risk of being in a serious or fatal crash.

And a recent nationwide census of fatal traffic accidents showed that while deadly crashes have declined in recent years, the percentage of mortally wounded drivers who later tested positive for drugs rose 18 percent between 2005 and 2011.

DuPont, drug czar for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, wrote a paper last year on drugged driving for the Obama administration, which has made the issue a priority.

Physicians say that while many tests can show whether someone has recently used pot, it's more difficult to pinpoint impairment at any certain time.

Urine and blood tests are better at showing whether someone used the drug in the past — which is why employers and probation officers use them. But determining current impairment is far trickier.

"There's no sure answer to that question," said Dr. Guohua Li, a Columbia University researcher who reviewed marijuana use and motor vehicle crashes last year.

His survey linked pot use to crash risk, but pointed out wide research gaps. Scientists do not have conclusive data to link marijuana dosing to accident likelihood; whether it matters if the drug is smoked or eaten; or how pot interacts with other drugs.

The limited data has prompted a furious debate.

Proposed solutions include setting limits on the amount of the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana, THC, that drivers can have in their blood. But THC limits to determine impairment are not widely agreed upon.

Two states place the standard at 2 nanograms per milliliter of blood. Others have zero tolerance policies. And Colorado and Washington state are debating a threshold of 5 nanograms.

Such an attempt failed the Colorado Legislature last year, amid opposition from Republicans and Democrats. State officials then set up a task force to settle the question — and the panel couldn't agree.

This year, Colorado lawmakers are debating a similar measure, but its sponsors concede they don't know whether the "driving while high" bill will pass.

In Washington state, the ballot measure on marijuana legalization includes a 5 nanogram THC limit.

The measure's backers say polling indicates such a driving limit could be crucial to winning public support for legalization.

"Voters were very concerned about impaired driving," said Alison Holcomb, campaign director for Washington's legalization measure.

Holcomb also pointed to a failed marijuana legalization proposal in California two years ago that did not include a driving THC limit.

The White House, which has a goal of reducing drugged driving by 10 percent in the next three years, wants states to set a blood-level standard upon which to base convictions, but has not said what that limit should be. [Pleaseeee, what part of the U.S. Constitution give the White House the power to get involved in DUI case????]

Administration officials insist marijuana should remain illegal, and Kerlikowske called it a "bogus argument" to say any legal level of THC in a driver is safe. [Are they going to take that silly argument on alcohol? How about on nicotine or even caffeine??? ]

But several factors can skew THC blood tests, including age, gender, weight and frequency of marijuana use. Also, THC can remain in the system weeks after a user sobers up, leading to the anxiety shared by many in the 16 medical marijuana states: They could be at risk for a positive test at any time, whether they had recently used the drug or not.

A Colorado state forensic toxicologist testified recently that "5 nanograms is more than fair" to determine intoxication. But, for now the blood test proposals remain politically fraught, with supporters and opponents of marijuana legalization hinging support on the issue.

Huestis, of the government-funded drug abuse institute, says an easy-to-use roadside saliva test that can determine recent marijuana use — as opposed to long-ago pot use — is in final testing stages and will be ready for police use soon. [Recent marijuana uses doesn't mean jack!!! Taking one hit is a lot different then smoking a whole joint!!!]

Researchers envision a day when marijuana tests are as common in police cars as Breathalyzers.

Until then, lawmakers will consider measures such as Colorado's marijuana DUI proposal, which marijuana activists say imperils drivers who frequently use the drug such as Chilton, the multiple sclerosis patient.

She says that since she began using pot she has started driving again and for the first time in five years has landed a job.

Chilton worries Colorado's proposal jeopardizes her new found freedom.

___

Follow Kristen Wyatt at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

___

Online:

National Institute on Drug Abuse drugged driving report: http://goo.gl/ZAYwn

Red Bull creator, Thai billionaire dies

Source

Red Bull creator, Thai billionaire dies

by Todd Pitman - Mar. 17, 2012 02:46 PM

Associated Press

BANGKOK -- Chaleo Yoovidhya, the self-made Thai billionaire who introduced the world to "energy drinks" and co-founded the globally popular Red Bull brand, has died. He was in his 80s.

Chaleo died of natural causes in Bangkok on Saturday, according to local media reports and state television broadcaster, MCOT, which cited the Thai Beverage Industry Association.

Forbes magazine, which ranked Chaleo the 205th richest man in the world this year with a net worth of $5 billion dollars, said he was 80 years old. Several Thai media outlets cited his birth-date as Aug. 17, 1923, however, indicating he was 88. It was not immediately possible to explain the discrepancy.

Born in central Thailand's Pichit province to a Chinese father and a Thai mother who reportedly sold fruit and ducks to survive, Chaleo died the third richest man in Thailand.

Chaleo started a small company, T.C. Pharmaceuticals, in the 1960s and formulated an energy drink prototype a decade later called Krathing Daeng, or Red Bull in English.

The drink became popular among truck drivers and other blue-collar workers throughout the country, but it remained a local phenomenon until Chaleo met Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz.

Together, the pair modified Chaleo's initial formula and founded the international Red Bull brand. Launched in 1987, Red Bull now sells billions of iconic slim cans across the world annually. Mateschitz and Chaleo each own roughly half of the company.

Thailand's daily Nation newspaper said Chaleo "will be remembered as a business and marketing genius who put the Thai energy drink on the global map."

He was married with five children, according to the Nation.

Drug war causes teens to use dangerous fake marijuana!!!

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ER docs don't recognize signs of fake marijuana in teens

By Michelle Healy, USA TODAY

As use of synthetic versions of marijuana such as "K2," "Spice," and "Blaze" becomes more common, a growing number of teens are showing up in hospital emergency rooms where physicians are unfamiliar with symptoms caused by the dangerous substances, says a new report.

K2 is a concoction of dried herbs sprayed with chemicals. A blend of plant and herbal materials that have been sprayed with chemicals, synthetic marijuana "is still a relatively new drug, and when we started seeing cases, we realized there was very little information available in the medical literature," says Joanna Cohen, an emergency medicine physician at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and lead author of the report, published today in Pediatrics.

The three case studies of teens and young adults highlight "telltale signs" of synthetic marijuana abuse. These include excessive sweating, agitation, inability to speak, aggression and restlessness, in addition to the "euphoric and psychoactive effects" commonly associated with marijuana use.

Given the drug's expanding use, "it's important to share the information we have with other doctors and help parents and schools be on the lookout" for these symptoms, which require immediate medical attention, says Cohen.

A National Institute on Drug Abuse report released in November found that nearly one in nine high school seniors had gotten high on synthetic marijuana compounds in the past year, second only to the number of teens who used marijuana.

Often packed as potpourri or herbal incense and sold in convenience stores, synthetic marijuana emerged as a problem in 2009, and quickly grew in popularity, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Its centers report handling 6,959 related calls in 2011, more than double the number received in 2010.

As federal lawmakers consider a bill to ban sales of fake marijuana, at least 39 states have already taken steps to do so, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Earlier this month the federal Drug Enforcement Administration extended its ban on five chemicals used to make the drug. Its one-year ban, set to expire soon, puts the substances under Schedule I classification, the most restrictive under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs are found to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical uses.

Cohen says synthetic marijuana "usually does not show up on routine urine drug screens, so comprehensive lab work is necessary to confirm use."

"Most important for parents and schools is the recognition of the signs of drug use in general and preventing repeat use," she says. While the long-term consequences may include memory loss and psychosis, "we don't really understand the long-term effects of this and other drugs on a young brain as it's developing."

Pot smokers are a bunch of old farts????

Source

Data: Many marijuana cardholders over 50

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Mar. 19, 2012 11:30 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Medical marijuana is being used to relieve pain by people of all ages and backgrounds -- including the elderly, Baby Boomers and 20- to 30-somethings, according to new data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Arizonans voted in November 2010 to allow cancer patients and others with certain debilitating illnesses to get a medical-marijuana card with a doctor's approval. Since marijuana was legalized for medicinal use, more than 22,200 people have received permission to smoke, eat or otherwise ingest it to ease their ailments.

Of those, nearly three-quarters are men, and nearly 85 percent of all patients have requested to grow their own cannabis. Officials denied nine applications.

People ages 31 to 50 make up the largest group of patients using the drug to counter illness, representing 40 percent of all medical-marijuana users. Those 51 to 81 account for more than 35 percent of patients, while 18- to 30-year-olds make up about 25 percent. People younger than 18 represent less than 1 percent.

The overwhelming majority of medical-pot users reported chronic pain as their medical condition, while muscle spasms were also high on the list, health officials reported. Other ailments include hepatitis C, cancer and seizures.

Geographically, medical-cannabis users mostly live in metro Phoenix and other highly populated areas, including metro Tucson, Yavapai County, Kingman and Lake Havasu City. Just six areas throughout the state have no medical-pot users, the data showed, and all are on Native American reservations.

Will Humble, director of the state's Department of Health Services, said the data indicate the state has avoided becoming a "largely recreational program as opposed to medical."

"The fact that we've got an older demographic tends to make me think that we did a decent job," Humble said. [WIll, you are a jerk and you didn't do anything, other then try to prevent Prop 203 from happening by attempting to throw a monkey wrench into it] "When you add up the folks older than 41, it's well over half of the participants. That doesn't mean there's not recreational users in that group, but as you get older, you do tend to get more debilitating medical conditions, so I'm encouraged by that."

Opponents of medical pot, however, are discouraged by the data. Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep Arizona Drug Free, campaigned against efforts to legalize medical pot and said the data suggests most patients are faking or exaggerating their problems. She believes Arizona's data indicates that nearly all patients are substance abusers, based on research by an addiction psychiatrist who opposed the legalization of medical marijuana in 2010.

"Do I think there are people who aren't sick who are on that list?" she asked. "Absolutely. I think that people ought to listen to their doctors instead of their drug dealers."

Short said marijuana should be used only if a person has a terminal condition and doctors have exhausted all treatment and believe it is necessary. "I don't have a problem with that," she said.

Jack Bower: Constant pain from hockey

Jack Bower: Constant pain from hockey

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Mar. 19, 2012 11:31 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Jack Bower was a local hockey star before injuries sidelined him and sent him in and out of hospitals and doctors offices.

In his teens, he was a forward for an elite-level youth-hockey team that played rivals coast to coast.

The game beat up his body. His lower spine is compressed, and his right leg and knee are a mess, the result of collisions with other players and the boards surrounding the ice rink.

"I hurt every day," said Bower, a laid-back guy who was dressed in black jeans and T-shirt and ASU Sun Devils hat.

He gave up hockey when he was 19 and became addicted to prescription narcotics his doctors recommended for pain.

It took two years for him to clean himself up.

Now 21, Bower is a card-carrying member of the state's medical-marijuana program. He spends about $200 a month on pot, which he buys from clubs around the county.

He smokes or eats pot three to five times a day to help tolerate the dull pain in his body, to help his appetite and to help him sleep.

A trained chef, he often infuses the pot in butter when he cooks, or buys cookies or other edibles from the compassion clubs.

Bower was raised by conservative parents, and his family doesn't support his decision to sign up for the program.

"They let me smoke at their house -- they'd rather I do it in a safe place," he said. "But this is something we just don't talk about."

He knows that some may view him as a kid who has conjured up medical problems as an excuse to legally use pot.

"Those people have never examined me, they don't know my medical history, and they're just grouping me in with a group of people who use it for recreational purposes," Bower said, shrugging his shoulders.

"If a doctor who is willing to put their license and medical practice on the line because I need it, then who's to argue with that?"

Iris Schaufelberger: Seeking a natural solution

Iris Schaufelberger: Seeking a natural solution

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Mar. 19, 2012 11:31 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Iris Schaufelberger began smoking pot for medicinal purposes in 2006, shortly after she became a mom and long before it became legal in Arizona.

Back then, she was in and out of the hospital, suffering from severe back pain caused by complications from kidney stones.

After she gave birth to her daughter, the doctors put her on pill after pill to help relieve the pain.

They prescribed narcotics and anti-inflammatories like Percocet and Tramadol.

"I thought I was going to lose my mind with all those drugs they had me on. They are highly addictive, and who knows what chemicals are in them?" said Schaufelberger, 26, sitting on the patio of her grandmother's home in the north Valley, where she lives with her partner and 6-year-old daughter.

Soon after, doctors told her she might have to be put on dialysis and prepared to insert a central-line catheter for the procedures.

Schaufelberger became fed up with traditional doctors and suspicious of pharmaceutical companies.

She decided to try the "natural-medicine, holistic approach."

She smoked pot. It worked for her.

"It's a holistic-healing lifestyle as opposed to chemicals that constipate you like narcotics," she said.

In recent years, she has studied holistic medicine and nutrition and believes the government and big business are conspiring to poison Americans through chemicals, pesticides and other toxicants through food and medicine.

The way she sees it, pot is just another natural remedy to help people through pain and suffering.

Schaufelberger became legal last summer, and these days, she typically uses pot once or twice a day by eating it or using a vapor pipe.

Jamie Westbrooks: Conservative patient's view

Jamie Westbrooks: Conservative patient's view

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Mar. 19, 2012 11:31 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Jamie Westbrooks is a child of the '60s, and, like many, she smoked pot every now and then during her college days.

But she grew up, had three kids and entered corporate America, where she worked for a company that owns restaurant chains across the nation.

A self-described conservative Republican, she warned her kids about doing drugs -- and, up until recently, she hadn't touched pot for 40 years.

About a year ago, she started smoking medical marijuana to ease pain from a car wreck, multiple sclerosis and Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that attacks mucous membranes and salivary functions.

She said she deals with pain every day. It radiates down her neck, to her lower back and into her legs and knees.

That pain has robbed the 68-year-old of her hobbies: tennis, hiking, gardening and bicycling. These days, she walks with a wooden cane. The MS makes her wobbly.

Each day, she takes about a dozen pills to relieve the pain. And before she started smoking pot, she said, her doctors wanted to prescribe even more pills. A blue-and-pink pill organizer sits on a living-room coffee table, a constant reminder of the medications.

Westbrooks tries to walk out the pain with slow strolls near her home in north-central Phoenix.

When that doesn't work, she stuffs a pipe with pot grown by her son, a registered medical-marijuana caregiver.

"We judge this from a morality perspective," she said.

"But until you've had pain like this, you can't judge. And I'm a very conservative patient. I'm not going to smoke two, three times a day."

She received a license in September 2011. Her kids are supportive, she says -- and so are friends and former work colleagues.

"If something were to happen with medical marijuana in this state, I would probably move," she said.

"It would affect my qualify of life that much."

Obama's DEA thugs are still arresting medical marijuana paients

Source

Feds again warn Arizona on medical marijuana

State fails to get immunity pledge

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Mar. 19, 2012 10:13 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

The U.S. Department of Justice has reiterated its warning that state employees are subject to federal prosecution for implementing the state's medical-marijuana program.

One high-ranking state official pointed out that the letter exemplifies the tough position that Arizona authorities are in: Federal law says they can't participate in the program, yet a judge has ordered them to follow through on the will of Arizona voters.

In a Feb. 16 letter, Acting U.S. Attorney Ann Birmingham Scheel wrote to Gov. Jan Brewer that her office will continue to "vigorously enforce" federal laws against those who "operate and facilitate large marijuana production facilities and marijuana production facilities involved in the cultivation, sale and distribution of marijuana, even if purportedly for medical purposes."

Scheel said that state employees who participate in the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act "are not immune from liability" under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

However, Scheel wrote that seriously ill patients and caregivers who use pot as medically recommended treatment "will likely not be the focus of the (U.S. Attorney's Office's) limited prosecutorial resources."

Brewer will not change course and will allow the the state's program to move forward, her spokesman said Monday.

"This doesn't change anything for us," said Matthew Benson, adding that the letter "leaves most of the governor's questions unanswered" partly because it doesn't address whether state employees face imminent prosecution for participating in the program.

Arizona's medical-marijuana program was created in 2010 after voters passed a law that allows people with certain debilitating medical conditions to use pot. They must register with the state, which issues identification cards to qualified patients and caregivers. Under the law, the state will set up and regulate up to 126 dispensaries.

The governor filed suit days before the dispensary application process was to begin, stalling the process. She wanted to clarify whether federal drug laws override state laws. The governor dropped the suit after a judge refused to rule on it.

In a separate action, a state judge then ordered state officials to implement the program.

Last January, Brewer asked Scheel to clarify whether state employees would be off the hook when participating in the medical-marijuana program. The governor asked for clear guidance on the Justice Department's enforcement position and also asked that state workers be advised on the potential civil and criminal ramifications of their actions.

Benson said many of the governor's questions remain unanswered. "Their position remains sort of nebulous," he said.

Arizona and 15 other states have medical-marijuana laws that conflict with federal law, which outlaws the cultivation, sale or use of marijuana. Mounting federal pressure in California, Washington and other states has led to dispensary raids and crackdowns on landlords who lease property to dispensaries.

Recently, several U.S. Attorneys have sent letters to local officials reiterating that federal authorities have not changed their stance on the use of medical marijuana. Earlier this month, for example, Rhode Island's top federal prosecutor reiterated to local officials that federal officials have not endorsed a proposal to allow medical-pot dispensaries to open and remain opposed to large-scale distributors.

Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services, said the state is in a difficult position when it comes to implementing the program.

On one hand, federal authorities are warning there is no "safe harbor or immunity" from federal prosecution, but on the other a state judge has ordered them to move forward with the program.

"We're caught between a rock and a hard place -- we're stuck," he said.

Humble said no state health employees will be allowed to "volunteer" to work on the medical-pot program; no one will be forced to work on it, either. He said workers will go through a series of training in how to act responsibly and safely when working on the program.

22 killed in drug violence in south Mexico state

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22 killed in drug violence in south Mexico state

Mar. 19, 2012 02:39 PM

Associated Press

ACAPULCO, Mexico -- Gunmen ambushed and killed 12 police officers who had been sent to investigate the beheadings of 10 people in southern Guerrero state, Mexican authorities said Monday.

Guerrero state police spokesman Arturo Martinez said six state and six local officers were killed Sunday night on a road leading out of the town of Teloloapan. Another 11 officers were wounded.

The attack on the officers occurred as they were traveling in six patrol pickups and searching for the bodies of seven men and three women whose severed heads were dumped outside the town's slaughterhouse earlier Sunday, Martinez said.

The heads were left with a message threatening the La Familia drug cartel, whose home base is in neighboring Michoacan state.

Teloloapan is near the area shared by both Guerrero and Michoacan states and known as Tierra Caliente for its steamy weather.

The region is a violent, mountainous zone that has been used by drug traffickers to grow marijuana and opium poppies for years. It has been plagued by drug violence in recent years as drug gangs fight to control the area. Authorities say La Familia has been severely battered in the fighting.

Soldiers have been sent to the area but that hasn't stopped gunmen from killing priests, politicians, police chiefs, or anyone else who gets in the way.

Two years ago, nine police officers were kidnapped in Teloloapan when they were investigating the death of a man in the village of El Revelado. The bodies of eight of the officers were found days later. Six had been dismembered. One was found alive.

More than 47,000 people have died in drug violence nationwide since President Felipe Calderon began a crackdown on drug cartels in December 2006.

Government wars on liquor also need to be ended

Source

Home beer brewers seek changes to alcohol laws

Mar. 22, 2012 12:33 AM

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. -- About the only thing Kevin Flynn enjoys more than drinking his home-brewed beer is sharing it with fellow beer club members at festivals and tasting competitions. So Flynn and his buddies were shocked to discover that Wisconsin law prohibits sharing homemade suds anywhere outside the brewer's home.

The law could "pretty much be the end of competitions in Wisconsin," he lamented. "At least legal ones."

An explosion of interest in home brewing is forcing lawmakers across the country to review long-forgotten alcohol laws, some of which date back to Prohibition. Although the old rules have rarely been enforced, beer enthusiasts fear they could criminalize the rapidly growing hobby and kill scores of annual tasting events that bring tourists to small towns and cities.

In Wisconsin, Flynn and other home brewers may soon be off the hook. The state Legislature last week passed a bill to allow them to transport homemade beer and wine and to share it with other adults. Brewers will still not be permitted to sell anything they make, and they will remain exempt from permit requirements and taxes.

The proposal now heads to Gov. Scott Walker, who plans to sign it into law.

At least 17 states have ambiguous laws on whether home brewers can transport beer or wine outside the home, according to the American Homebrewers Association in Boulder, Colo.

The patchwork of rules can be frustrating for hobbyists who would prefer to spend their time exchanging recipes for pale ale or rhapsodizing about different varieties of hops, barley and yeast.

Some states -- including Georgia and South Carolina -- have restrictions similar to Wisconsin's. In Kansas and Minnesota, home brewers can only make beverages for themselves or family members. Other states permit homemade beer and wine to be consumed by guests, too, as in Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho and Illinois.

A few states have been slow to accommodate the trend. Utah just legalized home brewing in 2009, and Oklahoma followed in 2010. Mississippi and Alabama are the only states that still forbid it.

Dan Grady of the Wisconsin Homebrewers Alliance, who led the legislative effort to revise Wisconsin's law, said beer-makers need to be watchful in case states try to use the issue to generate money for their tight budgets.

"States are under enormous pressure. It's a revenue issue," he said. "Everything is on the table these days."

Gary Glass, director of the home brewers association, said it's a balancing act when considering whether to pursue a change in the law.

"The question becomes, at what point does a home brewing community want to take on having the law changed if it's not really having an impact to what they're doing?"

Glass, who organizes the group's popular national conference, said he's had trouble securing a venue in states with vague home brewing laws. The conference, which changes its location annually, brings in $500,000 to local economies.

A grassroots reform effort succeeded last year in Oregon, where the law had been similar to Wisconsin's. Glass, who helped draft Wisconsin's bill, said the legislation's demise would have set a bad precedent for home brewing.

"In this economy, you're stifling an industry that's growing," he said. "It sounds like a bad move."

More than ever, people with little or no experience brewing beer or other fermented beverages are investing in kits and ingredients to make their own. The hobby has expanded into a vibrant beer culture, with brewers freely sharing their concoctions among neighbors and friends and in clubs and competitions.

Last year, there were 411 beer competitions sanctioned by the home brewers association and the Beer Judge Certification Program. That's up from fewer than 100 in the early 1990s.

"Back in the day, everybody thought home brewing would just be what your grandfather would do," said Jason Heindel, president of the Beer Barons of Milwaukee Cooperative.

Home brewing has also helped invigorate the booming craft brewing industry. And it's generated a cottage industry of its own. An annual survey of brewing supply shops around the country showed an increase in sales for beginner brewing kits, according to the home brewing association.

Home brewing was illegal in the United States until 1978, when the federal government lifted Prohibition-era restrictions on making alcohol in the home. The revised law allowed homemade beer and wine to be offered at tasting competitions but also left most alcohol regulations up to individual states. So many states have their own home-brewing rules that supersede federal policies.

In Wisconsin last year, brewers were caught off guard when the state Department of Revenue ruled that it was illegal for home brewers to share beer outside the home. The decision came after Racine officials inquired about a contest known as the Schooner Home Brew Competition.

After the department's announcement, organizers quietly moved the contest, one of the state's largest, from Racine to nearby Union Grove. But they didn't advertise it because they feared possible fines.

Grady said home brewers in other states can learn from Wisconsin.

"Home brewers need to look at their state law, because they might be just as ambiguous as Wisconsin," he said. "And if there's ambiguity, they need to contact their lawmakers to get them clarified, much like we're doing here."

Drug lords targeted by Fast and Furious were FBI informants

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Drug lords targeted by Fast and Furious were FBI informants

By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau

March 21, 2012, 5:39 p.m.

Reporting from Washington— When the ATF made alleged gun trafficker Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta its primary target in the ill-fated Fast and Furious investigation, it hoped he would lead the agency to two associates who were Mexican drug cartel members. The ATF even questioned and released him knowing that he was wanted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

But those two drug lords were secretly serving as informants for the FBI along the Southwest border, newly obtained internal emails show. Had Celis-Acosta simply been held when he was arrested by theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in May 2010, the investigation that led to the loss of hundreds of illegal guns and may have contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent could have been closed early.

Documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau show that as far back as December 2009 — five months before Celis-Acosta was detained and released at the border in a car carrying 74 live rounds of ammunition — ATF and DEA agents learned by chance that they were separately investigating the same man in the Arizona and Mexico border region.

ATF agents had placed a secret pole camera outside his Phoenix home to track his movements, and separately the DEA was operating a "wire room" to monitor live wiretap intercepts to follow him.

In May 2010, Celis-Acosta was briefly detained at the border in Lukeville, Ariz., and then released by Hope MacAllister, the chief ATF investigator on Fast and Furious, after he promised to cooperate with her.

The ATF had hoped he would lead them to two Mexican cartel members. But records show that after Celis-Acosta finally was arrested in February 2011, the ATF learned to its surprise that the two cartel members were secret FBI informants.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) are investigating Fast and Furious, which allowed illegal gun purchases in Arizona in hopes of tracking the weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders. In a confidential memo to Republican committee members, Issa and Grassley said the ATF should have known the cartel members were informants and immediately shut down Fast and Furious.

"This means the entire goal of Fast and Furious — to target these two individuals and bring them to justice — was a failure," they wrote. The "lack of follow-through" by the various agencies, they said, typified "the serious management failures that occurred throughout all levels during Fast and Furious."

James Needles, a top ATF official in Arizona, told congressional investigators last year that it was very frustrating and a "major disappointment" to learn too late about the informants.

ATF officials declined to comment about the investigations because they are continuing.

But Adrian P. Fontes, a Phoenix attorney representing Celis-Acosta, who has pleaded not guilty, said he was concerned the federal agencies purposely did not share information.

"When one hand is not talking to the other, perhaps somebody is hiding something," he said. "Was this intentional?"

Emails and other records show that once the ATF and DEA realized they were both investigating Celis-Acosta, officials from both agencies met in December 2009 at the DEA field office in Phoenix.

It is unclear, however, whether MacAllister later told the DEA that she released Celis-Acosta in May 2010 and that he was headed into Mexico.

Her boss, David J. Voth, the ATF's group supervisor for Fast and Furious, told committee investigators that the ATF realized the Sinaloa cartel members were "national security assets," or FBI informants, only after Celis-Acosta was rearrested. He identified the informants as two brothers, and said, "We first learned when we went back and sorted out the facts."

richard.serrano@latimes.com

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Want to buy a pound of meth? Ask officer Norman Wielsch

http://bcove.me/brgqpypv

Video shows Contra Costa cop doing drug deal

Video obtained by The Chronicle shows the former commander of an anti-drug task force in Contra Costa County selling what prosecutors say was a pound of methamphetamine to a government informant and allegedly counting out his share of the cash proceeds.

The video, which the informant filmed using a hand-held camera concealed in a key chain, shows the vice cop — former state Department of Justice agent Norman Wielsch — and private investigator Christopher Butler making the alleged deal in Butler’s Concord warehouse on Feb. 15, 2011.

Wielsch was the head of the multi-agency Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team. According to prosecutors, he had stolen the methamphetamine from a police evidence locker earlier that morning and had driven it to Butler’s office.

There, the two men sold the meth to Carl Marino, a Butler employee who was working as an informant for the Department of Justice, authorities say.

Department agents had given Marino $9,800 in marked bills to pass along to Wielsch and Butler in exchange for the meth, prosecutors say.

The video shows Butler, who is wearing a black T-shirt, and Wielsch, in a red T-shirt, counting out cash before they go into a back room, where Butler puts the drugs on a scale.

Both Wielsch and Butler were arrested the next morning. They have pleaded not guilty to federal drug and other charges and are awaiting trial.

Prosecutors have alluded to the video in court documents, but it has not been shown publicly.

Wielsch’s attorney Michael Cardoza said of the video, “We’ve known about this evidence from the beginning, and we’ll deal with it appropriately in a court of law.”

Butler’s attorney, William Gagen, said, “The evidence is what it is. I’ve got nothing to say that will put a positive spin on it.”

Uncle Sam is spying on you

U.S. to keep data on citizens with no terror ties

by Eileen Sullivan - Mar. 22, 2012 08:53 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The U.S. intelligence community will be able to store information about Americans with no ties to terrorism for up to five years under new Obama administration guidelines.

Until now, the National Counterterrorism Center had to destroy immediately information about Americans that already was stored in other government databases when there were no clear ties to terrorism.

Giving the NCTC expanded record-retention authority had been urged by members of Congress, who said the intelligence community did not connect strands of intelligence held by multiple agencies leading up to a failed bombing attempt on a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas 2009.

"Following the failed terrorist attack in December 2009, representatives of the counterterrorism community concluded it is vital for NCTC to be provided with a variety of datasets from various agencies that contain terrorism information," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a statement late Thursday. "The ability to search against these datasets for up to five years on a continuing basis as these updated guidelines permit will enable NCTC to accomplish its mission more practically and effectively."

The new rules replace guidelines issued in 2008 and have privacy advocates concerned about the potential for data-mining information on innocent Americans.

"It is a vast expansion of the government's surveillance authority," Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said of the five-year retention period.

The government put in strong safeguards at the NCTC for the data that would be collected on U.S. citizens for intelligence purposes, Rotenberg said. These new guidelines undercut the Federal Privacy Act, he said.

"The fact that this data can be retained for five years on U.S. citizens for whom there's no evidence of criminal conduct is very disturbing," Rotenberg said.

"Total Information Awareness appears to be reconstructing itself," he said, referring to the Defense Department's data-mining research program that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but was stopped in 2003 because of privacy concerns.

The Washington Post first reported the new rules Thursday.

The Obama administration said the new rules come with strong safeguards for privacy and civil liberties, as well.

The NCTC was created after the Sept. 11 attacks to analyze and integrate intelligence regarding terrorism.

New counterterrorism guidelines

New counterterrorism guidelines permit data on U.S. citizens to be held longer

By Sari Horwitz and Ellen Nakashima, Published: March 22

The Obama administration has approved guidelines that allow counterterrorism officials to lengthen the period of time they retain information about U.S. residents, even if they have no known connection to terrorism.

The changes allow the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the intelligence community’s clearinghouse for terrorism data, to keep information for up to five years. Previously, the center was required to promptly destroy — generally within 180 days — any information about U.S. citizens or residents unless a connection to terrorism was evident.

The new guidelines, which were approved Thursday by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., have been in the works for more than a year, officials said.

The guidelines have prompted concern from civil liberties advocates.

Those advocates have repeatedly clashed with the administration over a host of national security issues, including its military detention without trial of individuals in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, its authorization of the killing of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone strike in Yemen, and its prosecution of an unprecedented number of suspects in the leaking of classified information.

Officials said the guidelines are aimed at making sure relevant terrorism information is readily accessible to analysts, while guarding against privacy intrusions. Among other provisions, agencies that share data with the NCTC may negotiate to have the data held for shorter periods. That information can pertain to noncitizens as well as to “U.S. persons” — American citizens and legal permanent residents.

The director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., has signed off on the changes.

“A number of different agencies looked at these to try to make sure that everyone was comfortable that we had the correct balance here between the information-sharing that was needed to protect the country and protections for people’s privacy and civil liberties,” said Robert S. Litt, the general counsel in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NCTC.

Although the guidelines cover a variety of issues, the retention of data was the primary focus of negotiations with federal agencies. Those agencies provide the center with information such as visa and travel records and data from the FBI.

The old guidelines were“very limiting,” Litt said. “On Day One, you may look at something and think that it has nothing to do with terrorism. Then six months later, all of a sudden, it becomes relevant.”

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the government has taken steps to break down barriers in information-sharing between law enforcement and the intelligence community, but policy hurdles remain.

The NCTC, created by the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, collects information from numerous agencies and maintains access to about 30 data sets across the government. But privacy safeguards differ from agency to agency, in some cases hindering timely and effective analysis, senior intelligence officials said.

“We have been pushing for this because NCTC’s success depends on having full access to all of the data that the U.S. has lawfully collected,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee. “I don’t want to leave any possibility of another catastrophic attack that was not prevented because an important piece of information was hidden in some filing cabinet.”

The shootings at Fort Hood, Tex., and the attempted downing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 gave new impetus to efforts to aggregate and analyze terrorism-related data more effectively.

In the case of Fort Hood, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan had had contact with Awlaki but that information had not been shared across the government. The name of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the 2009 airliner plot, had been placed in a master list housed at the NCTC but not on a terrorist watch list that would have prevented him from boarding the plane.

Officials said the privacy safeguards in the new guidelines include limits on the NCTC’s ability to redistribute information to other agencies.

“Within the intelligence community, there’s one set of controls for terrorism purposes, a stricter set of controls for non-terrorism purposes, and an even stricter set of controls for dissemination outside the intelligence community,” an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. An entire database cannot be shared; only specific information within that data set can be shared, and it must be with the approval of the agency that provided the data, the official said.

Privacy advocates said they were concerned by the new guidelines, despite the safeguards.

The purpose of the safeguards is to ensure that the “robust tools that we give the military and intelligence community to protect Americans from foreign threats aren’t directed back against Americans,” said the American Civil Liberties Union’s national security policy counsel, Michael German. “Watering down those rules raises significant concerns that U.S. persons are being targeted or swept up in these collection programs and can be harmed by continuing investigations for as long as these agencies hold the data.”

Other homeland security experts said the guidelines give officials more flexibility without compromising individual privacy.

“Five years is a reasonable time frame,” said Paul Rosenzweig, a former senior Department of Homeland Security policy official. “I certainly think 180 days was way too short. That’s just not a realistic understanding” of how long it takes analysts to search large data sets for relevant information, he said.

Drug tests to get unemployment???

Source

Drug test for unemployed advances in Arizona House

Screening would be required to get benefits

by Mary Jo Pitzl - Mar. 22, 2012 10:55 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

If you're out of work, Arizona lawmakers want to make you take a drug test before you get an unemployment check.

And the unemployed worker would have to pay for it.

Arizona state Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, said he wrote Senate Bill 1495 to ensure people who get unemployment benefits are deserving. He doesn't consider anyone who uses drugs fit for assistance.

"If you are so fortunate to live in a nation to get an unemployment check ... when you're down on your luck, the very least you should be able to do is prove you're of sound mind and body to earn -- earn -- that benefit," Smith told members of the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

The committee passed the measure Thursday on a 7-6 vote over the protests of the business community and concerns about conflicts with federal law.

It will now be considered by the full House of Representatives. While its prospects there are shaky, it is the latest in a trend of attempts to erect hurdles for people who rely on government help.

In the past two years, 20 states have considered laws requiring drug tests for unemployment beneficiaries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Indiana is the only state where a bill passed.

Last year, the Arizona Legislature considered a bill to drug-test anyone on food stamps. The bill eventually died.

This year's bill would require the state Department of Economic Security to set up a drug-testing program.

Any first-time applicant for unemployment benefits who gets a positive drug-test result would have to wait 30 days to retest and could not get benefits in the meantime.

Those already receiving benefits would face random tests, and anyone who failed would lose his or her current month's pay and be required to take monthly tests for the next six months.

The bill would require unemployed workers to pay for their tests, which run $35 to $45 at one Valley lab. However, Smith said, drug tests can be had for $20.

As of mid-March, 81,999 Arizonans were receiving unemployment checks of $240 a week, according to the DES. The money comes from a tax paid by employers. In exchange for participating in the program, employers receive a federal tax break.

Arizona provides 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, after which the federal government provides additional weeks.

"We've got to get our fiscal house in order," Smith said, adding that the bill is needed to end "waste, fraud and abuse" in state and federal programs.

Smith's arguments didn't go over well with committee members. Even those who voted for the bill indicated they might be a "no" if the bill isn't further changed.

"We're chasing the wrong federal program," said Rep. Vic Williams, R-Tucson. "This is not a welfare program."

The assumption that people who file unemployment claims are drug abusers is "wrong-minded," Williams said. The recession has swelled the number of people on unemployment, he said, not sloth or drug abuse.

"We are going down the wrong road in Arizona when so-called conservative programs go after the business community," he said.

Representatives of the Arizona and Greater Phoenix chambers of commerce and numerous other businesses opposed the bill.

Marc Osborn, representing the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said the bill could imperil the federal tax break for employers. He said the U.S. Department of Labor has noted several areas where SB 1495 conflicts with federal law.

In a letter to the state DES, which administers unemployment, Gay Gilbert, administrator of the federal Office of Unemployment Insurance, said it is unconstitutional to require a drug test as a condition for unemployment benefits.

Gilbert added that federal law also requires anyone denied unemployment benefits to appeal, which is not included in the Arizona bill.

The requirement for the person to pay for drug-testing costs also is troublesome, Gilbert wrote, because it could discourage people from applying for benefits in a timely manner -- which could run afoul of a requirement to provide benefits quickly.

Smith called the concerns a "bluff," saying he doubts the federal government would enforce restrictions by removing the tax break.

However state Rep. Nancy McLain, R-Bullhead City, said she doesn't want to take that gamble. It's employers who would suffer, said McLain, who owns a small business.

Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, proposed an amendment to authorize a drug-testing program that fits with federal law. It passed.

The federal law, changed last month by Congress, lets states drug-test unemployment applicants in two cases: If the individual was fired for drug abuse, or if the person is seeking a job that requires drug testing. People receiving unemployment benefits are expected to search for jobs.

Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, said the fix is simple: Amend the bill to require drug testing in those two circumstances. That way, Arizona employers would still comply with the federal unemployment program.

Smith indicated he might not accept those limitations. He's interested in a wider test of unemployment recipients. In Indiana, the year-old drug-testing law allows, but does not require, employers to report people who fail a pre-employment drug test. If the state confirms those results, the individual can lose unemployment benefits, said Valerie Kroeger, a state spokeswoman. She did not have statistics on program results.

Kroeger said another Indiana program has found little problem with drug abuse among the unemployed. State policy requires people who enroll in a job-training program to take drug tests.

Of the 2,500 people who have enrolled in the program, 97.5 percent tested clean.

Dissolvable tobacco???

FDA panel: Dissolvable tobacco could reduce risks

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel says dissolvable tobacco products could reduce health risks compared with smoking cigarettes but also have the potential to increase the number of tobacco users.

Dissolvable tobacco is finely milled tobacco pressed into shapes like tablets that slowly dissolve in a user's mouth.

Despite its findings, the panel noted that there's a lack of research on the products. They make up a small share of the market.

Tobacco companies are focusing on cigarette alternatives for future sales growth as demand for cigarettes declines.

The FDA plans to review the findings to decide any future actions, but there's no timeline for it to act.

The report posted online ahead of a Friday deadline was mandated by the law giving the FDA authority over the industry.

'Master growers' cultivating a higher grade of marijuana

'Master growers' cultivating a higher grade of marijuana

By Joe Mozingo, Los Angeles Times

March 25, 2012

Behind the bolted steel doors of an old brick warehouse, Big Wes meets a nutrient company scientist to see if he can increase his crop yield. Rows of hydroponic marijuana plants soak up solution flowing through plastic troughs and light blazing from high-pressure sodium lamps.

Big Wes has spent more than half his life calibrating his system of growing high-grade marijuana to its utmost efficiency. At 50 years old, he harvests a crop of dozens of plants every week from five rented warehouses scattered along the rutted streets and alleys around the docks of Oakland.

His problem is that OG Kush, the ultra-popular strain he specializes in, produces notoriously low yields of bud per plant. For this reason the scientist has come with a nutrient solution made from deep-sea algae, which he promises will boost the output. Big Wes — who asked that his real name or certain identifying traits not be revealed because his career could land him in federal prison — is going to test it against his usual concoction, and try 15 different combinations of the two.

Big Wes is new breed of cultivator, a "master grower" who produces marijuana that is potent and mold-free, tastes smooth and has a pleasing aroma — the kind of product now expected by ever-more discriminating consumers who frequent medical cannabis dispensaries.

He and others like him have revolutionized weed in recent years, growing sophisticated new varietals with scientific precision and assembly-line efficiency. Their expanding role in the burgeoning industry is shifting cultivation from clandestine rural plots to highly controlled indoor grows in urban centers.

"It's kind of becoming the big leagues now," said Kyle Kushman, a writer for High Times magazine and a grower who teaches organic and "veganic" cultivation classes. "Just like any other industry, as it gets older, the talent gets better."

::

Pot connoisseurs can talk about the complexity of cannabis like vintners do wine. They detect sweet flavors, and musky ones, and hints of berries, sandalwood, citrus, mint, pine and almond. An array of more than a hundred chemicals called terpenes brings out the taste and aroma.

Dusting the buds like a light snow are resin glands full of 80 or more cannabinoids, most notably the psychoactive one, THC.

According to George Van Patten, a.k.a. Jorge Cervantes, a renowned grower and author of the 484-page "Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible," the many combinations of these chemicals produce a complex range of sensations.

"This explains why certain medical patients find more relief with specific varieties," he said. "The THC molecule is the same in all cannabis plants. It is the mixture of other elements that play a vital role in changing the psychoactive effect."

Two decades ago, most marijuana smokers bought whatever their dealer had. Now, in the retail environment that sprang up with California's legalization of medical marijuana, they can choose from hundreds of strains of high-quality cannabis.

"Consumers have quickly developed a sophisticated palate," said Andrew McBeth, publisher at the marijuana niche Green Candy Press. "Like fine wine, the marijuana must look amazing, have a distinctive bouquet and have the cachet of being a well-known and popular strain."

The title "master grower" is part of the new marketing. The true connoisseurs scoff at the use of the label except in reference to a handful of the best growers in the world, like Cervantes.

But none dispute the high level of craftsmanship going into cultivation these days, both indoor and outdoor.

"All boats are rising," Cervantes said.

Part of this is due to information. In the past, growers didn't admit what they did, much less discuss their techniques. Now they have written dozens of books and penned a steady stream of articles in print and online. They even teach classes at pot trade schools like Oaksterdam University in Oakland.

Wally, in-house grower for a warehouse dispensary in Long Beach, spent years honing his skills on the underground market after realizing pot helped tamp down the tics he suffered from Tourette's syndrome. A 36-year-old native of Santa Cruz, he first worked trimming the marijuana harvest for older hippies.

"I learned everything about growing, and I had a million questions and they were happy to share," he said. "So many little tricks: They would run molasses in the last weeks of flowering to have sweeter buds. Or they went into caves in Santa Cruz to get bat guano and make it into a tea to put in the soil."

He moved to Long Beach in college, and grew indoors wherever he lived. He learned by trial and error, inadvertently burning leaves when lights were too hot, shocking the plants with abrupt changes of nutrients or temperature, watching mold appear in poor ventilation, and fighting aphids and spider mites when he wasn't vigilant about cleanliness.

Over the years, Wally, which is a nickname, grew to recognize the myriad subtle and changing needs of the herb. He could read the yellowing or wilting or drying of the leaves as too much of this or too little of that. He balanced nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium-magnesium, manganese, silica, molybdenum, bone meal, blood meal and dolomite — manipulating the ratios throughout the plant cycle. He learned to keep up the carbon dioxide during the flowering stage but cut it down in the last two weeks to keep the tight buds from blowing out like popcorn. Darkening in the leaf veins told him the plant was "begging for Epsom salts."

He grew mostly for himself, while working at Bally Total Fitness. Then one day, he went to the warehouse dispensary with a couple of racks of clones he grew — plant cuttings that root and take life as new plants, which customers buy to grow at home. The owners were impressed by his skills and offered him a full-time job setting up their in-house grow operation.

The first three of seven grow rooms are expected to be operational in two weeks.

Much is riding on Wally's expertise. The owners say they have invested $400,000 in the build-out so far, including $90,000 in air conditioning. They paid $15,000 in fees to be one of 18 dispensaries permitted by the city. On the three rooms, they estimate they'll spend $5,000 on nutrients every six to eight weeks, and $10,000 in electricity every month.

If Wally succeeds, he should produce up to 80 pounds of medical marijuana every three or four months, retailing at $2,500 or $4,000 per pound, compared with $1,000 to $2,000 for outdoor-grown.

::

In San Francisco, the owner of TreeTown Seeds, a thirty-something man named Nova, breeds his own new strains. He wears a cap with the title "Master Breeder."

"You have to be a master grower before you can breed," he explained recently at a coffee shop in San Francisco. "Unless you can grow it perfectly, you won't know the genetic potential of a plant."

Nova sells his seeds and marijuana bud to the top-of-the-line dispensary, Harborside Health Center, in Oakland.

His mind is an encyclopedia of marijuana. He spends most of every day in isolation with his plants, observing and smoking. He conjures Mendel charts in his head to see which strains might be bred together to make a better new one.

"I put everything into this," he said. "When you're a grower, you're in a cave mostly. I'm like a monk."

He takes a minimalist approach to growing. If he has a mite problem, he uses predator mites to get rid of them, not pesticides. He doesn't put extra carbon dioxide in the room, as do many growers. And he tapers down the fertilizer a month before harvest to flush the buds clean.

"When you burn something and it crackles and sparks, those are signs there is too much nitrogen and phosphorous locked in," he said. "It tastes horrible and burns your lungs."

He said the rise of medical marijuana in recent years has allowed him to feel like he has a legitimate place in society, even if he still has to lie low to avoid federal law enforcement, which considers all marijuana possession illegal. For many years, he felt like a solo musician playing for himself.

"Now," he said, "it's like I'm playing in a band and we have a venue."

Big Wes has a much bigger band and venue. He has three investors and nine full-time employees. He pays more than 20 part-time trimmers to keep up with a near continuous harvest.

He delivers his product to more than 50 dispensaries from San Jose to Sonoma County.

He is nothing like the old-school hippie grower. He commutes to Oakland from out of state and, with his crew cut and athletic build, would be pegged as a "narc" at a pot convention if narcs didn't even bother trying to blend in. He voted Republican until a few years ago and owns a company that deals in the realm of corporate seminars. When the economy kneecapped that business, he decided to turn his side gig of growing marijuana into a real business and set up shop in California.

"We're trying to professionalize and perfect this business as much as we can," he said. "We're creating standards and procedures. If you're a dispensary, I can now provide medicine every week."

He says he is in full compliance with California and Alameda County medical marijuana laws, although the laws on cultivating are murky.

Unlike many growers, Big Wes' three full-time "reps" don't show up at dispensaries in T-shirts with backpacks full of weed. Instead, like their pharmaceutical counterparts, they dress in business-casual and carry briefcases with sample jars of the product, along with lab results showing it contains no molds, insect parts or pesticides. They take the rare precaution of having dispensaries sign paperwork, he says, so they can show they're in compliance with California law.

Part of Big Wes' challenge is to bring his output to about 1-1/2 pounds of bud every 14 weeks under each of his 300-plus lamps, so that he can still pay his $35,000 monthly electric bill, among other costs, as more growers enter the market and the price of marijuana falls. It's not an easy business, he says. A friend of his thought it would be, investing $2 million in lights and equipment, only to give up after a series of subpar grows.

And in Northern California, the high price and environmental cost of indoor marijuana have produced a small backlash, with some consumers now preferring North Coast sun-grown pot.

But by perfecting his delivery efficiency and sales technique, Wes is building something he suspects might be more valuable than the marijuana itself in the future: his distribution network.

"If I could have the largest distribution of the largest cash crop in the world's eighth-largest economy, what would that be worth?"

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

Lawmakers call airport screeners ineffective, rude

"It was not known whether any of those caught were terrorists" - I think it is rather well documented that the Patriot Act has caught almost NO terrorist whatsoever. I think the offical statistics are about one half of one percent of the people arrested are alleged terrorists. Almost all of the people arrested as a result of the unconstitutional Patriot Act are drug dealers.

Source

Lawmakers call airport screeners ineffective, rude

Mar. 26, 2012 02:52 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON --House members of both parties on Monday teed off against the agency in charge of airport and port anti-terrorist screening, saying it uses ineffective tactics, wastes money on faulty equipment and treats travelers rudely.

"We're not cattle," said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., adding that 'barking orders" undermines the good work of the Transportation Security Administration.

TSA officials told a hearing that airport screening is getting better for U.S. travelers, because the agency is moving away from a one-size-fits-all system. Instead, the TSA is expanding programs to identify travelers posing a risk, while allowing those who provide personal information in advance to go through a fast line.

A report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative agency, agreed with lawmakers that several key programs of the TSA have been flawed.

Stephen Lord, director of the GAO's homeland security program, offered the investigators' assessment of the TSA at a joint hearing of the committees on Transportation and Infrastructure; and Oversight and Government Reform: The findings:

--TSA deployed its Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program nationwide before determining whether it was valid to use behavior and appearance to reliably identify passengers posing a risk. It was not known whether any of those caught were terrorists. Rather, the program nabbed illegal aliens, drug offenders, those carrying fraudulent documents and people with outstanding warrants.

--While 640 full-body scanners were deployed to detect both liquids and metals, some of the units were not being used regularly, thereby decreasing benefits of machines that cost $250,000 each to buy and install.

--The Transportation Worker Identification Credential program used for 2.1 million workers at ports and on ships has been unable to provide reasonable assurance that only qualified individuals can acquire the card.

Christopher McLaughlin and Stephen Sadler, two TSA assistant administrators, emphasized that help is on the way, but spent most of the hearing fending off lawmakers' angry comments.

McLaughlin said TSA is working on easing the checkpoint experience for children and senior citizens, including ending a requirement for them that shoes be removed and conducting less intrusive pat downs.

He said that the TSA Pre-Check system, the fast-lane screening program, has been expanded to a dozen airports and more than 500,000 passengers and received positive feedback. He said any U.S. citizen in the Customs and Border Protection's trusted traveler programs will qualify for streamlined screening when flying from 14 international locations.

None of this satisfied the committee members.

Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said TSA wasted millions of taxpayer dollars developing equipment that didn't work, leaving in its wake "a dire picture of ineffectiveness."

Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., said TSA treated traveling Americans "like prisoners."

The chairman of the Transportation Committee, Republican John Mica of Florida, said faulty equipment was hauled away from a storage site "as our investigators were appearing on the scene."

And Issa read comments from Americans who accepted his Internet invitation to write about their experiences on the committee's Facebook site.

A Marine in dress blues said he was forced to remove his trousers because his shirt stays spooked a screener. A disabled person complained about constant groping. So did a traveler with a medical device that can't go through machines generating radiation. And a 61-year-old traveler who had an artificial leg since age 4 gave up traveling, tired of having her breast checked rather than her leg.

Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, said screeners went through all the items of a woman known as one of the richest in his town.

He said it should have been obvious from her expensive possessions that "this woman wants to live."

FDA scores illegal drugs to be used in a murder????

Source

Judge: FDA allowed state to illegally gain execution drug

by Michael Kiefer - Mar. 27, 2012 11:55 AM

The Republic | azcentral.com

A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday morning found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated the law by allowing Arizona and other states to bypass regulations while importing unapproved drugs to carry out executions by lethal injection.

The ruling was made in a lawsuit filed in the name of Donald Beaty, an Arizona Death Row inmate who was executed last year.

The drug sodium thiopental, a short-acting anesthesia, that was used in executions. became unavailable in mid-2010 because its sole U.S. manufacturer had ceased production. That fall, The Arizona Republic first reported that Arizona corrections officials had obtained the drug from a distributor in London, although FDA officials were saying that it was not possible to import the drug; such exports also violated Bristish law and were shut down shortly afterward. In late December 2010, FDA officials told The Republic that it would exercise "enforcement discretion" on the matter.

E-mails obtained through Freedom of Information requests later showed that FDA officials had allowed the shipments. In April 2011, the drug was seized from some states by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and in June 2011, Arizona was told it could not use its supply, one day before Beaty's execution. Beaty was executed using a different drug.

In his ruling Tuesday, Judge Richard Leon of the District Court for the District of Columbia, wrote, "In the final analysis, the FDA appears to be simply wrapping itself in the flag of law enforcement discretion to justify its authority and masquerade an otherwise seemingly callous indifference to the health consequences of those imminently facing the executioner's needle. How utterly disappointing!"

Dale Baich of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix said, "The states that have imported non-FDA approved drugs are now on notice that those drugs are illegal."

"War on Bath Salts" already lost

Source

Legislature targets drugs in 'bath salts' as formulas change

by Alex Ferri - Mar. 27, 2012 09:27 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Despite a new state law that bans certain ingredients used to make a synthetic drug known as "bath salts," manufacturers found a way to tweak their formulas to keep the drug on store shelves.

So, legislators are at it again -- this time trying to find a longer-term solution to banning such drugs.

The Senate Rules Committee will vote again on House Bill 2388, which would allow the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy to ban the chemicals used in bath salts.

The bill failed in the committee Monday over concerns about its constitutionality, but Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, said at a Tuesday news conference that she expects the bill to pass on its second vote.

Gov. Jan Brewer in February signed into law a bill banning seven primary chemicals in bath-salt drugs. But drug manufacturers began to use modified versions of the old chemicals that aren't specifically prohibited by the law, Gray said, a loophole that HB 2388 aims to eliminate.

Gray said the Legislature can't always keep up with banning every new substance drug manufacturers use in bath salts because the Legislature isn't always in session and is sometimes slow-moving.

The bill would allow the Board of Pharmacy to ban the sale of the modified chemicals while the Legislature isn't in session and allow lawmakers to pass bills that would make those chemicals illegal at a later date, Gray said.

This procedure is essential, Gray said, because it helps the state keep up with drug manufacturers and ban their new substances more quickly.

But some senators still think the bill gives an unconstitutional amount of authority to the Board of Pharmacy. Gray said Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, persuaded enough members of the Rules Committee to vote against the bill in its first vote for that reason.

Gray said Biggs and Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, still oppose the bill, but she expects other members of the committee to change their vote.

Biggs and Gould did not return phone calls Tuesday afternoon.

Gray said the bill gives the Board of Pharmacy a limited amount of power and is therefore constitutional.

If the Rules Committee passes the bill, it will head to the Senate Committee of the Whole before being voted on in the full Senate and House.

The drug had been sold legally over the counter at stores and online. It has side effects similar to methamphetamine or cocaine.

NYPD terrorizes people in private buildings???

March 28, 2012, 11:29 am

Suit Accuses Police of Violating Rights of Residents in Private Buildings

By AL BAKER

A civil rights group filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the New York Police Department of carrying out tens of thousands of unjustified stops in privately owned buildings in the city where the landlords have authorized officers to enter and given them keys.

The suit, which seeks class action status, mirrors a claim in a separate federal lawsuit against the Police Department involving stops inside public housing projects.

The Police Department has come under intense criticism for its stop-and-frisk practices, which detractors say unfairly and overwhelmingly targets blacks and Latinos. The Police Department argues that its tactics have contributed to a sharp reduction in crime.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, involves what is known as the “Clean Halls” program and includes 16,000 buildings throughout the city, many of them in the Bronx. Landlords who participate in the program register with the Police Department.

Civil rights lawyers say police officers view the invitation to enter — denoted by a metal sign outside a building — as a license to roam hallways, laundry rooms and stairwells questioning people and making arrests on charges of trespassing that are sometimes unjustified. Some residents feel compelled to carry identification when doing mundane tasks like retrieving mail or doing laundry for fear of being arrested for trespassing, the suit said.

Beyond that, officers have extended this practice to sidewalks around the buildings that participate in the program, according to lawyers for the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Besides residents, visitors and people in the vicinity of the buildings are often stopped by the police.

At a news conference in Manhattan on Wednesday, several plaintiffs spoke of living under such conditions that too often feel like a police state.

Undercover high school narc gets 12 busts in 8 months

Source

Policeman goes undercover to bust U.S. students

Mar. 28, 2012 07:34 AM

Associated Press

EXETER, California -- The student called himself Johnny Ramirez. But he was actually 22-year-old Alex Salinas, an undercover narcotics officer.

Eight months later, the ruse was up, and a school-day police sweep with the help of the young policeman ended with a dozen California students in custody on drug charges.

Some people wondered how the deception could have gone on for so long. Others lamented that the problems of the big city had come to the quaint community.

"It's amazing we were able to keep a secret in this little town for that long," said Police Chief Cliff Bush, who had been searching for years for just the right officer. "People in little towns tend to know everything about everybody."

Leading the campus sweep this month was the tall, lanky Salinas, dressed in a crisp black uniform and combat boots of the Exeter Police Department.

Still, there was no mistaking the boyish face and the wide smile gleaming with braces.

"A lot of jaws dropped when they saw me," Salinas said. "They knew me as that kid at school that they hung around with, and then the next thing they're in handcuffs and I'm in a uniform."

The sting got more attention from the media than a drug bust of 12 students normally would because of something the police chief now laments: It happened the same week as the debut of the Hollywood comedy "21 Jump Street," which features -- you got it -- undercover cops fighting crime at a school.

Chief Bush insisted it was not a case of life imitating art.

"A day or two later I became aware of the movie," Bush said. "The last thing I would do is check movie premieres. This just happened to coincide with the movie's release."

There had been no major complaints about drug dealing at the 1,000-student school that sits within sight of the police station, but Bush said he had been thinking for years about doing an undercover sting to send a message.

One day last summer, he ran into Salinas, who was weeks away from graduating from the police academy.

Bush eventually approached Salinas with the plan. With it came a full-time job -- an offer Salinas wouldn't refuse.

As Johnny Ramirez, Salinas attended football games and pep rallies. He purposely landed himself in detention so he could meet people outside of the four classes he attended before reporting each afternoon to the county drug task force headquarters for briefings and homework assignments. He made a Facebook page and friendships, which made the deception hard for him to bear.

"There were a few students I got to know who are good kids, and I did feel kind of bad for being their friend and then being something different," he said.

Only the principal, vice principal and Johnny's guidance counselor knew about the operation, school Superintendent Renee Whitson said.

"Even I didn't know the name he'd go by," she said.

Eventually students sold the new kid marijuana and cocaine, the prescription painkiller hydrocodone and the muscle relaxant Soma.

"There was certainly no celebration on the day of conclusion. It was a very sad day," Whitson said. "These are our students. We hope this is the necessary wakeup call to make this positive for their lives."

Only three of the arrested students are older than 18, and one student's parents were also arrested for investigation of methamphetamine possession.

In the end, large quantities of drugs were not confiscated, and none of the arrests involved trafficking significant quantities, though many purchases were for amounts that exceeded "personal use," Salinas said.

Was it worth keeping an officer off the streets and on a school campus for eight months?

Yes, Chief Bush said. But he is almost embarrassed that the undercover operation has drawn so much publicity, mostly because of his own bad timing regarding the film release. [I suspect Police Chief Bush means yes, because it was a jobs program that helped his police officer get paid, not that it helped remove any major or even minor criminals from the street]

"This is what I was trying to avoid, that we busted the local Scarface at the high school," Bush said, making reference to another Hollywood movie, about a drug kingpin. "Turns out they were just tiny amounts, but if you've got just one kid dealing drugs at school, that's too many."

The chief hopes the arrests have a lasting impact on all students, though he does realize he might have created a problem of another kind.

"I'd hate to be the new kid at school next year," he said. "They won't make very many friends.

Source

Cop goes undercover to bust California students

By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press

EXETER, Calif. (AP) — On his second trip through high school, former C-student Alex Salinas got a lot of A's.

He was 22, however, and an undercover narcotics officer going by the name Johnny Ramirez. When his first semester progress report showed a 3.25 average, the baby-faced police rookie made a mental note: Stop turning in homework assignments.

Eight months later, the ruse was up, and Exeter, a bucolic citrus-growing community in California's Central Valley, was turned on its ear after a school-day police sweep ended with a dozen Exeter High students in custody on drug charges.

Some people wondered how the deception by Salinas could have gone on for so long in the small town of just 10,000 people. Others lamented that the problems of the big city had come to the quaint community of antique shops and historic murals set amid a stunning backdrop of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada.

"It's amazing we were able to keep a secret in this little town for that long," said Police Chief Cliff Bush, who had been searching for years for just the right officer to pull off the undercover ploy. "People in little towns tend to know everything about everybody."

Leading the campus sweep this month was the tall, lanky Salinas, dressed in the crisp black uniform and combat boots of the Exeter Police Department instead of the T-shirts and sneakers he had worn as Johnny Ramirez.

Still, there was no mistaking the boyish face and the wide smile gleaming with braces.

"A lot of jaws dropped when they saw me," Salinas said. "They knew me as that kid at school that they hung around with, and then the next thing they're in handcuffs and I'm in a uniform."

The sting got more attention from the media than a drug bust of 12 students normally would because of something the chief now laments: It happened the same week as the debut of the Hollywood comedy "21 Jump Street," which features — you got it — undercover cops fighting crime at a high school.

Chief Bush insisted it was not a case of life imitating art.

"A day or two later I became aware of the movie," Bush said. "The last thing I would do is check movie premieres. This just happened to coincide with the movie's release."

There had been no major complaints about drug dealing at the 1,000-student school that sits within sight of the police station, but Bush said he had been thinking for years about doing an undercover sting to send a message.

One day last summer, he ran into Salinas, who was weeks away from graduating from the police academy. Salinas had ridden along with Bush years earlier when the chief was still a patrolman.

Bush eventually approached Salinas with the plan. With it came a full-time job on the city's 17-member Police Department — an offer Salinas wouldn't refuse.

As Johnny Ramirez, Salinas attended Monarch football games and pep rallies. He purposely landed himself in detention so he could meet people outside of the four classes he attended before reporting each afternoon to the county drug task force headquarters for briefings and homework assignments. He made a Facebook page and forged friendships, which made the deception hard for him to bear.

"There were a few students I got to know who are good kids, and I did feel kind of bad for being their friend and then being something different," he said.

Only the principal, vice principal and Johnny's guidance counselor knew about the operation, school Superintendent Renee Whitson said.

"Even I didn't know the name he'd go by," she said.

Still, a moment of panic erupted on the first day of school last fall when a teacher pointed to the new kid and joked, "We've got a new narc on campus. They tell me he's wearing a green shirt." Johnny Ramirez's shirt was green.

Eventually students sold the new kid marijuana and cocaine, the prescription painkiller hydrocodone and the muscle relaxant Soma.

"There was certainly no celebration on the day of conclusion. It was a very sad day," Whitson said. "These are our students. We hope this is the necessary wakeup call to make this positive for their lives."

As the school year winds down, the arrested students are in the midst of review board hearings. Only three are older than 18, and one student's parents were also arrested for investigation of methamphetamine possession.

In the end, large quantities of drugs were not confiscated and none of the arrests involved trafficking significant quantities, though many purchases were for amounts that exceeded "personal use," Salinas said.

Was it worth keeping an officer off Exeter's streets and on a school campus for eight months?

Yes, Chief Bush said. But he is almost embarrassed that the undercover operation has garnered so much publicity, mostly because of his own bad timing regarding the release of "21 Jump Street."

"This is what I was trying to avoid, that we busted the local Scarface at the high school," Bush said, making reference to another Hollywood movie, this one about a drug kingpin. "Turns out they were just tiny amounts, but if you've got just one kid dealing drugs at school, that's too many."

The chief hopes the arrests have a lasting impact on all students, though he does realize he might have created a problem of another kind in Exeter.

"I'd hate to be the new kid at school next year," he said. "They won't make very many friends."

Tyrants in Arizona Legislator ban medical marijuana on college campuses

Legislature passes ban on medical marijuana on college campuses

Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 5:29 pm

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

The ability of faculty and students to use medical marijuana on college and university campuses is now in the hands of Gov. Jan Brewer.

And it may end up in court.

With only two dissenting votes, the Senate on Wednesday approved legislation to ban possession and use of the drug, even by people who have a state-issued card entitling them to use it for medical purposes, on college campuses. The House already gave its blessing to HB 2349 on a 52-2 margin.

Brewer is no fan of medical marijuana, having urged voters to defeat the 2010 initiative that allows those with a doctor’s recommendation to obtain and use up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. But the governor also has allowed the state Health Department to implement the law.

As of the beginning of the month, the state had issued user cards to more than 22,000 Arizonans.

More recently, Brewer gave the go-ahead to start licensing dispensaries later this year to sell the drug legally. In the interim, cardholders have been allowed to grow their own.

The fight is over the fact that the initiative bans use in public areas and public schools. But it leaves the door open for possession and use on the campuses of colleges and universities.

Rep. Amanda Reeve, R-Phoenix, said she sponsored the legislation to expand the ban at the behest of the Arizona Board of Regents.

She said allowing the drugs on the campuses would put the schools in violation of federal regulations which require campuses to have policies against illegal drugs. And while the initiative legalized marijuana for medical uses under state law, it remains a felony under federal law to possess it.

The danger, Reeve said, is the schools could become ineligible for federal grants, and federal aid and loans for students could be put at risk.

But Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, said that argument does not wash.

“Medical marijuana is legal in a whole bunch of other states,” she said. “And they haven’t had any problems getting federal funding for their university and college campuses.”

Lopez also dismissed fears that the medical marijuana law would lead to people smoking in campus buildings, something already forbidden for tobacco. She pointed out that the drug is available in various other forms, with dispensaries in other states creating cookies and even lollipops.

The real issue, however, may be legal.

The Arizona Constitution precludes legislators from tinkering with voter-approved initiatives. But it does allow changes that “further the purpose” of the measure.

“I don’t think this furthers the intent of the initiative,” Lopez said.

That last point could prove crucial.

“Patient rights aren’t limited to their homes, their workplaces, or, for that matter even schools,” said Joe Yuhas, spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association. More to the point, Yuhas said the rights of patients “are clearly defined in the initiative,” including the right of those with a doctor’s recommendation and a state-issued card to use the drug in most places.

Yuhas said he is “confident” that the legislation will be challenged, though he sidestepped questions of whether that will be by his group which includes those who pushed the successful 2010 initiative or others.

That threat of litigation could be enough to convince Brewer to veto the measure.

The governor last year barred state health officials from even accepting applications for dispensaries amid concerns that state employees who processed the forms could be charged under federal law with facilitating the illegal possession of marijuana. But Brewer backed off earlier this year after a federal judge refused to rule the state initiative conflicts with federal law and a state judge ordered the health department to fully implement what voters approved.

Gubernatorial press aide Matthew Benson declined to comment on what his boss might do with the legislation.

Lopez sees another legal issue: discrimination.

She said students and faculty already are permitted to possess and use much more dangerous drugs on campus and in dorm rooms as long as they have a prescription. “Why should medical marijuana be that different?” Lopez asked.

College students demonstrate against planned smoking ban

College students demonstrate against planned smoking ban

by John Genovese - Mar. 28, 2012 09:26 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Students who believe that banning smoking on college and university campuses violates personal liberty sought to make a statement by distributing free cigarettes Wednesday at Scottsdale Community College.

About 10 students from SCC, other community colleges and Arizona State University set up tables near the Student Center building throughout the morning and early afternoon. A small group of SCC students gathered near the table, but most quickly stopped by between classes.

"Every student should have the choice to pick their own lifestyle," said Carlos Alfaro, campus coordinator for the ASU chapter of Students for Liberty, which organized the protest against the tobacco ban, which takes effect this summer. "We don't want to encourage smoking at all. But it should be your choice."

Alfaro said the non-profit Students for Liberty received a protest grant, financed by individual donors, to fund the demonstration. No tobacco companies or other organizations were behind the event, he said.

Starting July 1, no tobacco products will be allowed on any of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges campuses, which include satellite sites around the Valley, as well as two skills centers and district office in Tempe. The ban is part of the Maricopa BreathEasy initiative announced last fall.

The consequences for violating and enforcing the policy are still being developed, but district officials said it's likely that warnings will be issued for first-time offenders.

"As an educational institution, we ought to be thinking about modeling the way for healthy living," said district spokesman Tom Gariepy. "You can be accommodating to students without being accommodating to habits."

The district is joining about 500 other universities and colleges across the U.S. that have implemented similar policies.

Currently, smoking is prohibited in all buildings, but there are designated smoking areas at the colleges.

Gariepy said schools will provide smoking-cessation programs to students and faculty who want to quit.

The district also plans to make nicotine gum available in all school stores.

"We're not trying to tell students what they can or can't do," Gariepy said, reiterating that students have "every right" to use tobacco products off school grounds.

While the district may have a "philosophical disagreement" with the beliefs of the demonstrators, it supports their right to protest, he said.

Besides promoting a healthy campus environment, campus cleanliness was another large factor in the decision ban tobacco use, district officials said.

Michele Hamm, an exercise-science faculty member at Mesa Community College and a member of the Wellness Maricopa group that worked on the initiative, said the labor costs for cleaning cigarette litter from four district colleges were examined.

"We did look at the economic impact and it was pretty significant," she said.

weGrow the 'Walmart of weed' opens store in capital

'Walmart of weed' opens store in capital

Mar. 29, 2012 09:17 AM

Associated Press

A company dubbed the "Walmart of Weed" is putting down roots in America's capital city, sprouting further debate on marijuana -- medical or otherwise.

Just blocks from the White House and federal buildings, a company that candidly caters to medical marijuana growers is opening up its first outlet on the East Coast. The opening of the weGrow store on March 30 in Washington coincides with the first concrete step in implementing a city law allowing residents with certain medical conditions to purchase pot.

Like suppliers of picks and axes during the gold rush, weGrow sees itself providing the necessary tools to pioneers of a "green rush," which some project could reach nearly $9 billion within the next five years. Admittedly smaller than a big box store, weGrow is not unlike a typical retailer in mainstream America, with towering shelves of plant food and vitamins, ventilation and lighting systems. Along with garden products, it offers how-to classes, books and magazines on growing medical marijuana.

"The more that businesses start to push the envelope by showing that this is a legitimate industry, the further we're going to be able to go in changing people's minds," said weGrow founder Dhar Mann.

Although federal law outlaws the cultivation, sale or use of marijuana, 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized its medical use to treat a wide range of issues from anxiety and back pain to HIV/AIDS and cancer-related ailments. Fourteen states also have some kind of marijuana decriminalization law, removing or lowering penalties for possession.

Nearly 7% of Americans, or 17.4 million people, said they used marijuana in 2010, up from 5.8%, or 14.4 million, in 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. A Gallup poll last year found a record-high of 50% of Americans saying that marijuana should be made legal, and 70% support medical uses for pot.

Marijuana advocates also tout revenue benefits, as well as cost and efficiency savings for not prosecuting or jailing people for pot.

But a recent push from the federal government to crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries has led several states to delay or curtail their dispensary programs for fear of prosecution. It means some medical marijuana users may seek to grow their own-- paving the way for companies like California-based weGrow to open a budding number of locations across the country to help legal users and larger cultivators grow their own pot plants.

WeGrow doesn't sell pot or seeds to grow it. The store, however, makes no secret that its products and services help cultivators grow their own plants for personal use or for sale at dispensaries. Selling hydroponic and other indoor growing equipment is legal, but because those products are used to cultivate a plant deemed illegal under federal law the industry has tried to keep a low profile.

"For the longest time, it's been a don't ask, don't tell industry," Mann said. "Most people still want to hide behind that faade."

Mann, who opened the first store in Sacramento last year, said he started his venture after he was kicked out of a mom-and-pop hydroponics store in Berkeley, Calif., just for mentioning marijuana. WeGrow has since opened a location in Phoenix and also will open stores in San Jose and Flagstaff, Ariz., in the near future. The company has franchisees in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and plans to expand into Oregon, Washington state and Michigan.

The frankness of the business comes as public attitudes toward marijuana use and legalization in the U.S. transform. But federal pressure on customers means companies catering to the marijuana industry could take a hit -- in their wallets and with jail time.

"There's a whole host of risks associated with investing and opening up shop here," said Jason Klein, a D.C. attorney who represents medical marijuana operators. "These entrepreneurs see themselves as doing yeoman's work, putting themselves in personal risk ... to get medicine to the sick people who deserve it."

D.C. officials on Friday are set to announce those eligible to apply for permits to grow and sell medical marijuana to dispensaries under the district's 2010 law. Applicants must sign a statement saying they understand a license doesn't authorize them to break federal law.

"They do so at their own peril because I can't imagine that the federal government is going to allow marijuana selling for any purpose right in their backyard," said Kevin Sabet, a former senior adviser to the president's drug czar and a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Substance Abuse Solutions.

"Whether it's D.C. or all the way out in California, the government's been pretty clear that medical marijuana doesn't pass the giggle test."

Sabet said the idea of dispensaries trying to be passed off as a medical establishment is a joke, adding that the grow store will be the first in a series events where people are going to try to "make big money off an illegal drug."

The national medical marijuana market was estimated to be worth $1.7 billion in 2011 and is projected to reach $8.9 billion within five years, according to an economic analysis done for the American Cannabis Research Institute. The study also says that nearly 25 million Americans are potentially eligible to use medical marijuana based on current state laws.

"There's great potential for the industry across the country," said Steve Fox, a spokesman for the National Cannabis Industry Association, a D.C.-based trade group representing marijuana-related businesses. He said support for the businesses has emerged in states like California, Colorado and Washington state. "They are showing that just like any other industry, there's a demand for a product and these businesses are sprouting up to address the need."

The issue of marijuana in the nation's capital isn't new. A public referendum to legalize medical marijuana overwhelmingly passed in the late 1990s but Congress blocked it from taking effect for years. Allowing the city's latest move on medical marijuana use could also indicate an attitude shift on a federal level.

"The political winds on a federal level really affect our ability to get things done on a local level," said Brendan Williams-Kief, spokesman for D.C. councilmember David A. Catania, who co-sponsored the medical marijuana legislation. "When the (legislation) was passed, it happened at a time when there was a Congress that was less-inclined to exert their will on the District. ... But they're always up there on the Hill looking down."

Klein believes that, despite being next door to Congress, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Justice, the D.C. medical marijuana program will avoid the ire of the federal government because it was crafted to tightly control the industry.

"It's the sort of thing the feds will probably just look the other way elsewhere, but given the fact that it's right under their noses, is going to really be unique conundrum," Klein said. "I'm really looking forward to getting a couple of Congresspeople in a cab and caravaning them over to a dispensary ... so that they can see that this is not the danger that they imagine it might be."

For Alex Wong, the franchisee of the D.C. weGrow store, his involvement in the industry is both personal and professional. The mid-40s entrepreneur was drawn to the business after seeing the firsthand effects of his mother's colon cancer and learning that medical marijuana might have made her more comfortable during treatment.

"It is a viable medicine," said the. "All I can do is use my small business expertise to lend a hand in this movement."

Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, issued a statement saying science and research -- not politics -- should drive the approval process for medicine, and to date the "smoked form of marijuana has not met the modern standard" established by the Food and Drug Administration.

"Chronically ill and suffering patients deserve access to modern medicine that is proven to be effective and safe," Lemaitre said. "We ardently support continued research into medical uses for the components of marijuana and will continue to do so."

Mann, however, says medical marijuana cultivation and distribution is going to happen with or without federal government approval.

"Regardless of how rigorously they want to enforce intervention, it's not going to stop the industry," Mann said.

Military surplus a bonanza for law enforcement

Source

Military surplus a bonanza for law enforcement

G.W. Schulz,Andrew Becker, California Watch

Saturday, March 31, 2012

San Francisco may be known for antiwar movements and peace rallies, but when local law enforcement agencies needed help with supplies, they've turned to the U.S. military.

Over the past two decades, San Francisco authorities have acquired infrared devices, combat helmets, chemical protective gloves, vehicles and even a boat as discarded hand-me-downs free of charge from the Department of Defense.

In total, the San Francisco police and sheriff's departments have taken $1.4 million in equipment, from a $20 pair of evidence boxes to "climber's equipment" worth $325,000 in 1996.

Several other government agencies in California also have tapped the vast supply of free military surplus goods, equipping themselves with assault-style weapons and even tanks, first as part of the war on drugs and later in the name of fighting terrorism.

The agencies and their employees accumulated more equipment during 2011 than any other year in the program's two-decade history, according to a California Watch analysis of U.S. Department of Defense data.

A total of 163,344 new and used items valued at $26.2 million - from bath mats acquired by the sheriff of Sonoma County to a full-tracked tank for rural San Joaquin County - were transferred last year to state and local agencies.

Police nationwide sought $498 million worth of equipment, including 60 aircraft and thousands more weapons than in 2010. Listed dollar amounts are based on what the military initially paid for the equipment.

More than 17,000 public agencies across the nation - including police, sheriff and fire departments - have taken advantage of the equipment giveaway of an estimated $2.8 billion since Congress enacted laws in the 1990s that created the program.

For the sheriff of Orange County, it was hundreds of flashlights, exercise equipment, four trumpets and gun parts. The Vacaville Police Department got "combat coats," pistol holsters and canteens.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Department, which in years past picked up a $4.4 million, 85-foot patrol boat as well as a grenade launcher, in 2011 asked for four rifles and more than 200 pillowcases, along with tools, a $200 medical treatment table and other equipment.

The program is run online and open to law enforcement and other public agencies that sign up with the Department of Defense. Once the goods are transferred, the civilian police departments are responsible for maintenance and storage. Offensive capabilities

Police are allowed to sell or transfer the military surplus after a year. But weapons and anything else with "offensive military capability" can't be sold - the equipment technically belongs to the Department of Defense and is considered on permanent loan to the civilian police agencies.

The program has ballooned despite congressional largesse that since 2002 has resulted in billions of dollars worth of homeland security grants - including $3.8 billion for California alone - set aside for disaster preparation and counterterrorism.

Erroll Southers, a former top state homeland security official, said the combat-ready equipment can look intimidating to the public, but it enhances safety during critical, high-stress calls.

"I don't know how it could not look threatening, but that's not the intent," said Southers, now an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California.

Officials attribute the recent surge in demand to better promotion and outreach, an influx of equipment with the war in Iraq winding down, and money woes that have left police across the state scrambling to fill their needs.

"State and local budgets are rapidly diminishing and dwindling, so they're getting pretty creative about looking for alternative sources of equipment," said Twila Gonzales of the Defense Logistics Agency, which oversees military transfers to police.

Tactical vehicles

On New Year's Eve 1984, Kenneth Mohar, a 39-year-old with a history of alcohol abuse, stood in the doorway of his Concord home, pointing a hunting rifle at his roommate's head. After an argument, Mohar shot and killed the roommate in the driveway.

When local police arrived, they feared Mohar wasn't finished. So they dialed up the nearby Concord Naval Weapons Station to ask if they could borrow something: a Peacekeeper armored personnel carrier.

Nearly three decades later, Concord police no longer need to borrow armored trucks. In November, the military's excess equipment program enabled the city to obtain its own 8 1/2-ton bulletproof tactical vehicle, among other discarded equipment.

"Without the surplus program, these are probably items that we as an agency couldn't afford," said Concord police Lt. Bill Roche. "It provides us with an ability to remain competitive with the criminal community."

Much of the gear sought last year across California had nothing to do with firearms or bulletproof vehicles and served more everyday needs - treadmills, parkas, computers, tweezers, cameras and office supplies.

Big-ticket items

But some agencies have used the program to get big-ticket items that might otherwise be no more than a fantasy under today's budget belt-tightening.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department has taken in more than $13.8 million worth of surplus equipment since the late 1990s, including four helicopters that account for much of that money.

Spokesman Drew Sugars said the aircraft help deputies reach lost or stranded hikers in isolated areas of the county that include parts of the Los Padres National Forest.

Other departments can't resist free machinery that most people would have difficulty imagining on America's streets, even if it might not fit their image or needs.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, for example, last year picked up a full-tracked tank, even though it had a sophisticated, $532,000 mobile-command vehicle that it bought with federal grant money. A spokesman said the county has since gotten rid of the tank because it didn't meet the agency's "mission needs."

Demand for surplus equipment doesn't appear to be slowing.

"There's a lot of competition for it," said Sgt. Jon Zwolinski, who leads the effort to track down excess property for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. "The longer you delay in ordering it, the more likely the chances someone else is going to get it. So you just have to be quick on the draw." Searchable database

Look up free military surplus equipment in your community at links.sfgate.com/ZLIS.

California Watch, the state's largest investigative reporting team, is part of the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting. www.californiawatch.org. gwschulz@cironline.org, abecker@cironline.org

Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool

Source

Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: March 31, 2012

WASHINGTON — Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show.

The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of “surveillance fees” to police departments to determine a suspect’s location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations.

With cellphones ubiquitous, the police call phone tracing a valuable weapon in emergencies like child abductions and suicide calls and investigations in drug cases and murders. One police training manual describes cellphones as “the virtual biographer of our daily activities,” providing a hunting ground for learning contacts and travels.

But civil liberties advocates say the wider use of cell tracking raises legal and constitutional questions, particularly when the police act without judicial orders. While many departments require warrants to use phone tracking in nonemergencies, others claim broad discretion to get the records on their own, according to 5,500 pages of internal records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union from 205 police departments nationwide.

The internal documents, which were provided to The New York Times, open a window into a cloak-and-dagger practice that police officials are wary about discussing publicly. While cell tracking by local police departments has received some limited public attention in the last few years, the A.C.L.U. documents show that the practice is in much wider use — with far looser safeguards — than officials have previously acknowledged.

The issue has taken on new legal urgency in light of a Supreme Court ruling in January finding that a Global Positioning System tracking device placed on a drug suspect’s car violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches. While the ruling did not directly involve cellphones — many of which also include GPS locators — it raised questions about the standards for cellphone tracking, lawyers say.

The police records show many departments struggling to understand and abide by the legal complexities of cellphone tracking, even as they work to exploit the technology.

In cities in Nevada, North Carolina and other states, police departments have gotten wireless carriers to track cellphone signals back to cell towers as part of nonemergency investigations to identify all the callers using a particular tower, records show.

In California, state prosecutors advised local police departments on ways to get carriers to “clone” a phone and download text messages while it is turned off.

In Ogden, Utah, when the Sheriff’s Department wants information on a cellphone, it leaves it up to the carrier to determine what the sheriff must provide. “Some companies ask that when we have time to do so, we obtain court approval for the tracking request,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a written response to the A.C.L.U.

And in Arizona, even small police departments found cell surveillance so valuable that they acquired their own tracking equipment to avoid the time and expense of having the phone companies carry out the operations for them. The police in the town of Gilbert, for one, spent $244,000 on such equipment.

Cell carriers, staffed with special law enforcement liaison teams, charge police departments from a few hundred dollars for locating a phone to more than $2,200 for a full-scale wiretap of a suspect, records show.

Most of the police departments cited in the records did not return calls seeking comment. But other law enforcement officials said the legal questions were outweighed by real-life benefits.

The police in Grand Rapids, Mich., for instance, used a cell locator in February to find a stabbing victim who was in a basement hiding from his attacker.

“It’s pretty valuable, simply because there are so many people who have cellphones,” said Roxann Ryan, a criminal analyst with Iowa’s state intelligence branch. “We find people,” she said, “and it saves lives.”

Many departments try to keep cell tracking secret, the documents show, because of possible backlash from the public and legal problems. Although there is no evidence that the police have listened to phone calls without warrants, some defense lawyers have challenged other kinds of evidence gained through warrantless cell tracking.

“Do not mention to the public or the media the use of cellphone technology or equipment used to locate the targeted subject,” the Iowa City Police Department warned officers in one training manual. It should also be kept out of police reports, it advised.

In Nevada, a training manual warned officers that using cell tracing to locate someone without a warrant “IS ONLY AUTHORIZED FOR LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCIES!!” The practice, it said, had been “misused” in some standard investigations to collect information the police did not have the authority to collect.

“Some cell carriers have been complying with such requests, but they cannot be expected to continue to do so as it is outside the scope of the law,” the advisory said. “Continued misuse by law enforcement agencies will undoubtedly backfire.”

Another training manual prepared by California prosecutors in 2010 advises police officials on “how to get the good stuff” using cell technology.

The presentation said that since the Supreme Court first ruled on wiretapping law in 1928 in a Prohibition-era case involving a bootlegger, “subtler and more far-reaching means of invading privacy have become available to the government.”

Technological breakthroughs, it continued, have made it possible for the government “to obtain disclosure in court of what is whispered in the closet.”

In interviews, lawyers and law enforcement officials agreed that there was uncertainty over what information the police are entitled to get legally from cell companies, what standards of evidence they must meet and when courts must get involved.

A number of judges have come to conflicting decisions in balancing cellphone users’ constitutional privacy rights with law enforcement’s need for information.

In a 2010 ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, said a judge could require the authorities to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before demanding cellphone records or location information from a provider. (A similar case from Texas is pending in the Fifth Circuit.)

“It’s terribly confusing, and it’s understandable, when even the federal courts can’t agree,” said Michael Sussman, a Washington lawyer who represents cell carriers. The carriers “push back a lot” when the police urgently seek out cell locations or other information in what are purported to be life-or-death situations, he said. “Not every emergency is really an emergency.”

Congress and about a dozen states are considering legislative proposals to tighten restrictions on the use of cell tracking.

While cell tracing allows the police to get records and locations of users, the A.C.L.U. documents give no indication that departments have conducted actual wiretapping operations — listening to phone calls — without court warrants required under federal law.

Much of the debate over phone surveillance in recent years has focused on the federal government and counterterrorism operations, particularly a once-secret program authorized by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks. It allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on phone calls of terrorism suspects and monitor huge amounts of phone and e-mail traffic without court-approved intelligence warrants.

Clashes over the program’s legality led Congress to broaden the government’s eavesdropping powers in 2008. As part of the law, the Bush administration insisted that phone companies helping in the program be given immunity against lawsuits.

Since then, the wide use of cell surveillance has seeped down to even small, rural police departments in investigations unrelated to national security.

“It’s become run of the mill,” said Catherine Crump, an A.C.L.U. lawyer who coordinated the group’s gathering of police records. “And the advances in technology are rapidly outpacing the state of the law.”

New law to let cops arrest people for being drunk????

Plan lets Valley cities detain drunk people

by Beth Duckett - Mar. 31, 2012 09:16 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would give Scottsdale and other cities the power to apprehend intoxicated people who pose a threat to themselves or others.

Senate Bill 1351 would allow the governing body of a city that operates its own detention facility, or contracts with a county-owned detention facility, to enact an ordinance prohibiting a person from being intoxicated in public, if that person is a danger to self or others.

The bill passed the House on Thursday and needs a final vote in the Senate before it goes to the governor.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, sponsored the amendment, which would not affect laws or ordinances against driving under the influence.

The issue has local ties. On Dec. 20, Scottsdale City Judge James Blake ruled that Scottsdale's code governing drunkenness is in violation of the state law barring counties and municipalities from adopting or enforcing local laws related to intoxication.

Scottsdale police officials said the ability to arrest drunken people has been an important tool in keeping them off the streets. The city's downtown entertainment district, east of Scottsdale Road and south of Camelback Road, has a high concentration of nightclubs and bars.

"We very frequently wind up with people who simply have overindulged and are not properly able to care for themselves and cannot properly get themselves home in a safe manner," said Jim Nolan, president of the Scottsdale Fraternal Order of Police.

Without the ability to make arrests, Nolan said, it takes "too many resources" for police officials to remove intoxicated people off the streets and keep them out of harm's way.

Agents in Oakland raid leader of medical marijuana movement

Agents in Oakland raid leader of medical marijuana movement

By Lee Romney, Joe Mozingo and John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times

April 3, 2012

OAKLAND — Federal agents struck at the heart of California's medical marijuana movement, raiding the nation's first pot trade school and a popular dispensary, both run by one of the state's most prominent and provocative activists, Richard Lee.

The raids in Oakland by the Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration sent a shudder through the medical cannabis trade and angered the plant's devotees, who believe the federal government is trampling on California law and the wishes of voters who approved medical marijuana use nearly 16 years ago.

Now they are wondering what message the federal government is trying to send. President Obama promised during his 2008 campaign not to prosecute medical marijuana users who comply with state law, and Deputy Atty. Gen. David Ogden reiterated that position in a 2009 memo that many credit with helping spark the medical pot boom.

"For them to go after someone who's as high profile as Richard Lee likely sends a message that they will go after anyone anywhere in the state over medical marijuana and that Obama's promises are hollow," said Joe Elford, chief counsel for the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

The Justice Department has been cracking down on California's dispensaries and growers since October. But until Monday, agents had not targeted the most visible leaders, or the movement's cradle in Oakland, where the city issues permits and taxes cannabis establishments and where Lee's Oaksterdam University looms above Broadway with a giant college seal adorned with marijuana leaves.

Monday's raids included Lee's apartment, an associate's home, the university, the dispensary and an adjoining marijuana museum, as well as a property where the dispensary formerly operated. (Lee was forced to move the business in October after the U.S. attorney sent a letter to his landlord threatening to seize the property.)

The search warrants were sealed, so it is unclear what officials retrieved. Witnesses saw agents toting out boxes of documents and bags of plant material.

Lee, 49, was briefly detained, as were three workers at his dispensary.

A paraplegic who has used a wheelchair since a severe spinal injury in 1990, Lee has said he uses marijuana to treat muscle spasticity. He opened his dispensary Coffeeshop Blue Sky in 1999, worked with city officials to regulate the industry and founded Oaksterdam in 2007 to try to legitimize it. Lee used his marijuana earnings to put the legalization measure Proposition 19 on the ballot in 2010.

Although the initiative failed, it is widely credited with raising public acceptance of the idea of legalization nationwide. Colorado and Washington will have similar measures on the ballot in November.

"I don't know whether this morning's raid represents some form of 'payback' for Proposition 19," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the influential Drug Policy Alliance, which seeks to reform the nation's drug laws. "But I suspect and hope that the principal impact of such heavy-handed police actions by federal authorities will be to increase support for the broader legalization of marijuana."

Nadelmann said the big question was whether the crackdown that began last fall was orchestrated by the Obama administration or by local federal officials. A spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington declined to comment, as did officials with the DEA and IRS, saying the warrants and investigation were "under seal."

Federal agents have conducted more than 170 raids of medical marijuana operations nationwide since 2009, according to Americans for Safe Access.

Since October, U.S. attorneys have sent at least 300 letters to landlords of dispensaries in California and Colorado, ordering them to evict their tenants or face seizure of their property and prosecution. They have threatened local officials trying to permit dispensaries. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has pressured banks to close accounts linked to marijuana. And the IRS has audited dozens of dispensaries using an obscure provision of the federal tax code that prohibits drug traffickers from making any deductions.

Critics of the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries applauded the federal intervention.

"For them to go after Oaksterdam, which is internationally known for [flouting] federal law, sends an extremely strong signal not only to California pot stores, but also around the rest of the country," said Paul Chabot, president and founder of the Coalition for a Drug Free California. "I think in the last year we've turned the corner on marijuana. Now we've seen city after city, county after county ban dispensaries."

But some Bay Area elected officials were not pleased.

Rebecca Kaplan, a member of the Oakland City Council, said it made no sense for the government to strike "an exemplary community member" operating in a city with some of the tightest regulations in the country. "What is the goal?" Kaplan asked. "Is it a political goal? Is it about sending a message? It certainly raises the concern that people may be targeted for their political speech.

"We have in Oakland a real need for law enforcement resources on real crime that's a threat to people. If there's extra law enforcement resources available, it would be nice if it would be devoted to illegal gun crime and stopping illegal gun dealers."

A couple hundred people gathered outside Oaksterdam to protest the raids as marijuana smoke wafted in the air. The school is known for its courses on cultivation, edible production and the business of running a dispensary. Ironically, the prerequisite is a class on marijuana laws and how to operate within state guidelines.

Shortly before noon, Oakland police in riot gear arrived at the scene to stand between federal agents removing boxes of files and the increasingly unruly crowds.

Demonstrators shouted, "Shame on you!" mocked the agents and pounded on their vehicles. When the agents moved to the site of the former dispensary a few blocks away, the crowd followed. A man who, witnesses said, got into a shoving match with one of the officers was detained.

Brett Bankson, 30, of Oakland, came to see the raids with his dog and show support for Lee.

He noted that Oakland officials dealt with an initial proliferation of dispensaries in the area through strict regulation that limited the number to four and captured increasing amounts of tax revenue for the strained municipal budget. Last month, city officials granted approval to four more.

"They found a way to regulate that was a good compromise for everyone," he said. "The whole local economy that has depended on this could collapse.

"Now that they're taking away legal avenues, people are going to pursue illegal avenues," he said.

Jeff Jones, an Oakland medical marijuana activist who started the city's first cooperative in 1995 but was shut down by the federal government, said he thought the raid could be a turning point. He noted that it came the day before activists planned to march from San Francisco City Hall to the federal building for a daylong protest against the federal crackdown.

"We couldn't have asked for a better way to get everybody there," said Jones. "If the feds wanted to make this go away quietly, they just stoked the hornet's nest."

Jones, who worked with Lee on Proposition 19, said that he and Lee were surprised this did not happen in 2010.

The 2009 memo by Ogden said agencies "should not focus federal resources . . . on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana."

But part of the problem is that state law has never made it clear exactly how marijuana should be distributed, so "unambiguous compliance" is often in the eye of the beholder.

The state attorney general issued guidelines saying dispensaries must be nonprofit collectives. But Lee said in 2010 that state law was vague enough to allow for his "liberal, progressive" interpretation that he could make a profit.

Federal policy clearly forbids it. In his memo, Ogden wrote that "prosecution of commercial enterprises that unlawfully market and sell marijuana for profit continues to be an enforcement priority of the Department."

In June, Ogden's successor, James M. Cole, answered federal prosecutors' requests for clarification on the law, saying the memo was "never intended to shield" all people who "knowingly facilitate" violations of the Controlled Substances Act.

Monday's events did not deter the founder of the state's largest dispensary, Harborside Health Center, just down the road in Oakland. Steve DeAngelo has been as visible as Lee, having let the Discovery Channel film the series "Weed Wars" about his dispensary.

He said he has operated under the threat of prosecution since he opened five years ago, and that this was just another skirmish in a "40 year war we're destined to win."

lee.romney@latimes.com

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

john.hoeffel@latimes.com

Romney reported from Oakland and Mozingo and Hoeffel from Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

Brewer signs bill banning medical marijuana on college campuses

Brewer signs bill banning medical marijuana on college campuses

Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 6:12 pm

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

Twice defeated in her attempts to limit the voter-approved medical marijuana law, Gov. Jan Brewer on Tuesday set the stage for a third court battle.

The governor signed legislation to make college and university campuses off-limits to those who are legally allowed to possess and use the drug everywhere else. Brewer press aide Matthew Benson said his boss believes marijuana does not belong there.

But a spokesman for a group involved in convincing voters to adopt the law two years ago already has predicted the new law will be challenged. Joe Yuhas said lawmakers and Brewer are constitutionally precluded from imposing the restriction, no matter how much support it has at the Capitol.

The 2010 initiative allows those with a doctor’s recommendation for certain specified medical conditions to get a state-issued card allowing them to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks for personal use.

There are limits, including possessing marijuana on the grounds of any primary or secondary school, and smoking marijuana on public buses or in any public place.

This new law, set to take effect this summer, says no one — including those with medical marijuana cards — can possess or use marijuana on the campus of any public university, college, community college or post secondary institution.

Rep. Amanda Reeve, R-Phoenix, said the legislation was requested by college officials.

They said campuses are required to have policies that make their campuses free of illegal drugs. And while the initiative made marijuana legal by some under state law, its possession remains a felony under federal statutes.

Reeve said allowing medical marijuana onto campuses could endanger federal grants to the schools and federal aid to students.

That argument did not wash with state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, one of only two senators who voted against the legislation. She said other states have adopted medical marijuana laws and none of their schools have lost federal funding.

The Arizona Constitution does allow lawmakers to alter voter-approved measures with a three-fourths margin. Benson said this legislation did get that.

But there is a second requirement: The new law must “further the purpose” of the original initiative. And Yuhas said closing off the use of medical marijuana to faculty and students — especially those who live on campus — does not do that.

Benson, however, said Brewer does not see the new law as counter to the 2010 initiative, pointing to the K-12 ban.

“This merely extends an existing prohibition to our college campuses,” he said. “It is a reasonable limitation.”

Benson also said Brewer believes that the “vast, vast majority” of Arizonans support extending the ban. But he sidestepped a question of why, if that is the case, Brewer did not demand that the change be ratified by voters, a move that would have avoided any potential legal threat.

“As with all actions we take, it’s subject to legal challenges if somebody want to go that route,” Benson said.

While the state started issuing cards for medical marijuana users last year, Brewer barred the state health department from processing applications for dispensaries. The initiative mandated licensing of about 125 of them around the state where users could legally obtain the drug.

Brewer then asked a federal judge to rule that the voter-approved law conflicts with federal laws. But Judge Susan Bolton threw the case out of court.

And a state judge subsequently granted a motion by some would-be dispensary owners to force the state to start accepting and processing applications. Judge Richard Gama said Brewer was acting illegally in refusing to fully implement the voter-approved law.

Medical marijuana ban for Arizona campuses signed

Medical marijuana ban for Arizona campuses signed

by Yvonne Wingett - Apr. 3, 2012 09:16 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Medical marijuana will soon be banned on public university and college campuses, following Gov. Jan Brewer signing into law Tuesday a bill to prohibit medical-pot use or possession there.

House Bill 2349 also bans medical marijuana on all public-school campuses, including pre-school campuses and child-care facilities.

Prosecutors and university officials supported the legislation, while medical-marijuana advocates and college students opposed it.

The Arizona Board of Regents and Rep. Amanda Reeve, R- Phoenix, who sponsored the legislation, applauded Brewer's signing, saying it will protect kids and federal money that benefits public schools.

But Dr. Sue Sisley, an assistant professor of psychiatry and internal medicine at the University of Arizona, said the new law could impede her research into the use of medical marijuana by veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder.

She also is concerned that some students won't have access to medical marijuana for treatment while at home in their dorm rooms.

"That study was going to be conducted on the UofA medical-school campus, and now, I'm not sure, with her signing, how that will impact us being able to store the drug here," Sisley said.

"I have a number of veterans who are patients who are double-amputees and have a myriad of other serious injuries that have resulted in chronic pain. ... They are vaporizing cannabis in their dorm rooms, and they need it as much as two to three times a week."

Arizona's medical-marijuana program was created in 2010 after voters passed a measure allowing people with certain debilitating medical conditions to use pot.

They must register with the state, which issues identification cards to qualified as patients and caregivers.

Under the law, the state will set up and regulate up to 126 dispensaries.

Is the law banning medical marijuana at universities unconstitutional?

36-2813. Discrimination prohibited

A. NO SCHOOL OR LANDLORD MAY REFUSE TO ENROLL OR LEASE TO AND MAY NOT OTHERWISE PENALIZE A PERSON SOLELY FOR HIS STATUS AS A CARDHOLDER, UNLESS FAILING TO DO SO WOULD CAUSE THE SCHOOL OR LANDLORD TO LOSE A MONETARY OR LICENSING RELATED BENEFIT UNDER FEDERAL LAW OR REGULATIONS.

SNIP

But it doesn't say that the state can make medical marijuana illegal at universities.

The key words are:

WOULD CAUSE FACILITY TO LOSE A MONETARY OR LICENSING-RELATED BENEFIT UNDER FEDERAL LAW OR REGULATIONS.

36-2805. Facility restrictions

A. ANY NURSING CARE INSTITUTION, HOSPICE, ASSISTED LIVING CENTER, ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY, ASSISTED LIVING HOME, RESIDENTIAL CARE INSTITUTION, ADULT DAY HEALTH CARE FACILITY OR ADULT FOSTER CARE HOME LICENSED UNDER TITLE 36, CHAPTER 4, MAY ADOPT REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF MARIJUANA BY THEIR RESIDENTS OR PERSONS RECEIVING INPATIENT SERVICES, INCLUDING:

SNIP.

C. A FACILITY LISTED IN SUBSECTION A MAY NOT UNREASONABLY LIMIT A REGISTERED QUALIFYING PATIENT’S ACCESS TO OR USE OF MARIJUANA AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS CHAPTER UNLESS FAILING TO DO SO WOULD CAUSE FACILITY TO LOSE A MONETARY OR LICENSING-RELATED BENEFIT UNDER FEDERAL LAW OR REGULATIONS.

Cops use "drug war" as an excuse to steal $12,000 from waitress

Source

Waitress says $12K was tip, not drug money

Apr. 4, 2012 10:22 AM

Associated Press

MOORHEAD, Minn. -- A western Minnesota waitress says $12,000 that police call drug money is actually a tip left for her by a diner.

Stacy Knutson has filed a lawsuit in Clay County District Court saying a customer left a takeout box from another restaurant at her table at the Fryn' Pan in Moorhead, near Fargo, N.D. In the lawsuit, Knutson says she followed the customer to her car but that the customer told her to keep the box. She later discovered it contained rolls of cash.

Knutson says she called police even though she has five children and really needs the money.

Officers told her to wait 90 days in case someone claimed the money. Police later told her the cash smelled of marijuana and is being held in a drug investigation.

Source

Minnesota Waitress Sues After Police Seize $12,000 'Tip'

ABC NewsBy JENNIFER ABBEY | ABC News

Stacy Knutson, a struggling Minnesota waitress and mother of five, says she was searching for a "miracle" to help her family with financial problems.

But that "miracle" quickly came and went after police seized a $12,000 tip that was left at her table. Knutson filed a lawsuit in Clay County District Court stating that the money is rightfully hers. Police argue it is drug money.

Knutson was working at the Fryn' Pan in Moorhead, Minn., when, according to her attorney, Craig Richie, a woman left a to-go box from another restaurant on the table. Knutson followed the woman to her car to return the box to her.

"No I am good, you keep it," the woman said, according to the lawsuit.

Knutson did not know the woman and has not seen her since, Richie said. Knutson thought it was "strange" that the woman told her to keep it but she took it inside. The box felt too heavy to be leftovers, Ritchie said, so she opened it -- only to find bundles of cash wrapped in rubber bands.

"Even though I desperately needed the money as my husband and I have five children, I feel I did the right thing by calling the Moorhead Police," Knutson said in the lawsuit.

Police seized the money and originally told Knutson that if no one claimed it after 60 days, it was hers. She was later told 90 days, Richie said. When 90 days passed, Knutson was still without the $12,000.

Police told Knutson the money was being held as "drug money" and she would receive a $1,000 reward instead, the lawsuit states. Lt. Tory Jacobson of the Moorhead police said he could not disclose much information about the case because it is an ongoing investigation.

"With turning this money over to us, we initiated an investigation to determine whose money this is," Jacobson told ABC News. "The result has been a narcotics investigation."

Police argue that the money had a strong odor of marijuana and therefore falls under a law that allows for forfeiture of the money because it was in the proximity of a controlled substance, the lawsuit states. But there were no drugs in the box and Richie said he believes this law is not being used correctly.

"Because it was in contact with drugs somewhere along the line, it's somehow drug money," Richie said. "This isn't drug money."

A police dog also performed a sniff test on the money and, according to the dog's handler, discovered an odor.

Two of Knutson's co-workers, along with her son Brandon, were at the Fryn' Pan the night she discovered the money. Her co-workers say they did not smell marijuana.

"I know the smell of marijuana," Nickolas Fronning, a line cook at the Fryn' Pan, said in an affidavit. "I can also assure you that there was no smell of marijuana on the bills or coming from the box."

There was nothing suspicious in the restaurant when the money was found, co-workers said. They don't why it was given to Knutson.

"She was just in the right place at the right time," Tracy Johnson, the assistant manager at the Fryn' Pan, told ABC News.

Knutson's family has had a long financial struggle. She has been a waitress at the Fryn' Pan for 18 years.

"We do everything we can to make ends meet, but often times everything is not covered," she said in the lawsuit.

Knutson's financial woes are well-known in her church, Richie said. She believes that perhaps someone from the church gave her the money through this woman but did not want to be identified.

"Somebody knew she really needed the money and she needed to be helped," Richie said.

Jacobson says it is up to the judge to decide who the money rightfully belongs to.

"The police department doesn't have a decision on either side," Jacobson said. "She did the right thing, we credit her with that. It's certainly not the police department against her. We're actually with her."

But Richie said he firmly believes this is not drug money and it rightfully belongs to Knutson.

"The only thing that smells bad about this is that it's unfair," Richie said. "So that's why we're doing something about it."

Doper judge gets his pills from convicts he sentenced

Source

Judge's pill addiction puts cases in question

Probe: Tenn. jurist made buys at court site

by Sheila Burke - Apr. 4, 2012 09:02 PM

Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A Tennessee judge was so addicted to prescription drugs during his final two years on the bench, he was having sex and buying pills during courtroom breaks, at times purchasing from convicts he had previously sentenced, an investigation found. His behavior has called into question many of the cases he presided over, including one of Knoxville's most notorious murders.

Many people didn't realize Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner had a problem until he stepped down from the bench and pleaded guilty in March 2011 to a single count of official misconduct. It would be eight months later before the seriousness of the judge's drug problem was revealed, casting uncertainty about whether Baumgartner was sober enough to be sitting on the bench.

Another judge has tossed out the convictions from the high-profile murder case and ordered new trials. Other defendants are hoping for a similar outcome, and bids for new trials from the many people convicted in Baumgartner's court could overwhelm the criminal-justice system in Knox County, Tennessee's third-largest county with more than 400,000 residents. Baumgartner was one of three judges in the county who heard felony cases.

"We're getting pleadings almost daily now from people in the penitentiary filing habeas corpus saying, 'Let me out, too.' It's raining over here," said Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols.

Baumgartner left the bench to seek drug treatment before pleading guilty to misconduct. A special judge handed Baumgartner a sentence that allowed him to wipe the felony conviction off his record if he stayed out of trouble. The sentence also allowed Baumgartner to avoid jail time and keep his pension.

The judge who sentenced Baumgartner has since said he would have come down harder on him had he known the full details of the criminal investigation. The U.S. attorney's office is also investigating.

Baumgartner, 64, could not be reached for comment and his attorney didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

Baumgartner, a criminal-court judge in Knoxville since 1992, got addicted to painkillers he was prescribed for pancreatitis caused by chronic alcoholism, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation file. His physician told authorities that Baumgartner acknowledged being a pill addict but disregarded the doctor's advice to retire.

The district attorney went to Baumgartner in 2010 because he was concerned about the judge's health. Nichols said it was widely known that Baumgartner suffered a variety of health issues. "I never suspected narcotics," the prosecutor said.

Although only a small portion of the investigative file on the former judge has been released to the public, it shows a man completely consumed by his addiction.

The judge looked around for multiple doctors who would prescribe him oxycodone, hydrocodone and generic Xanax and Valium. When the prescriptions weren't enough, he turned to convicts he had punished -- and their friends.

One of his suppliers was Deena Castleman, a woman who graduated from Baumgartner's drug court. Castleman told authorities that she regularly supplied the married judge with pills and sex, sometimes during breaks from court. The woman, who is nearly half his age and has a history of arrests, told TBI agents that she and the judge even engaged in sexual activity several times in the judge's chambers.

Castleman's name appears frequently in the investigative file. She told agents the judge sometimes paid her bills and provided money for her to make bail after she got arrested. She also said the judge falsified the results of a drug test after she tested positive for drugs.

Another judge sentenced Castleman in December to serve six years in prison for convictions that included possession of prescription painkillers, a charge indirectly related to Baumgartner.

Baumgartner, according to the file, frequently visited Castleman while she was hospitalized for a brief period in 2009. Nurses told investigators that the judge would often visit the woman during breaks from a high-profile trial that was televised. And they said that Castleman appeared to be high after the judge visited her. Authorities later confiscated illicit prescription drugs from her room.

The judge's sole misconduct charge stemmed from his dealings with Chris Gibson, a felon on probation in Baumgartner's court. He said the judge would come by his house every two to three days to buy pills.

Pinal County employee to face DUI and drug charges

Source

Pinal County employee to face DUI and drug charges

by John Genovese - Apr. 6, 2012 09:37 PM

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

A Pinal County employee has been placed on administrative leave after Casa Grande police said the man drove a county vehicle while intoxicated and was found with cocaine and marijuana.

Martin Wilcots, a risk-management specialist for five years in the county's Human Resources Department, was arrested about 7:45 p.m. Thursday near Arizona 287 and Pottebaum Avenue in Casa Grande, according to county officials.

Police said Wilcots was stopped after driving a Pinal County vehicle in the wrong direction on a one-way street, changing lanes and turning without signaling. According to a court document, Wilcots was driving 50 mph when he entered an apartment complex "where pedestrians in the walkway had to run to avoid being hit."

Authorities said Wilcots had a blood-alcohol level of 0.096 percent (the legal limit is 0.08 percent) and admitted drinking while driving. About 30 grams of marijuana and 3.6 grams of cocaine were found in the vehicle, a court document said.

"There are two investigations under way," Heather Murphy, county communications director, said in a statement. "One is the law-enforcement investigation into the alleged DUI and other serious charges. The other investigation is the internal investigation into his misuse of a county vehicle."

Murphy said Wilcots has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is "a necessary first step before suspension, termination or other disciplinary proceedings for an employee covered by the merit system."

Wilcots is facing charges on suspicion of DUI, reckless driving, driving with an open container of alcohol, and possession of narcotics, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Feds drive Oaksterdam University out of business

Source

Oakland pot advocate steps down

Saturday, April 7, 2012

John Storey / The Chronicle

Richard Lee, the state's most influential advocate for marijuana legalization, said Friday that he is relinquishing control of his pot dispensary and medical marijuana trade school in the aftermath of Monday's federal raid on the school and distribution center.

"It's the best thing to do with my legal battle," Lee said, adding that he would keep his ownership in the various businesses. "I've been doing this for 20 years, so I kind of feel like I've done my time and it's time for others to take over."

The Oakland pot empire was raided Monday by federal agents who seized the club's assets, including plants, bank accounts, records and computers - and briefly detained Lee.

Despite his departure, Lee said, the business will carry on. Classes will continue on Saturday and throughout the rest of the month at Oaksterdam University, which will be run at a different location by Dale Sky Jones, the school's executive chancellor.

On Tuesday, Lee said others would reopen the dispensary raided by agents from the Internal Revenue Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service, but he didn't specify who will do it. Workers laid off

On Thursday, all of the employees at Oaksterdam and Lee's Coffeeshop Blue Sky dispensary were formally laid off because there was no money left to pay them, Lee said.

"Pretty much, I was put out of business on Monday," he said. The next stage will involve relying on believers in the cause, particularly with the dispensary.

"A brave group of volunteers are going to open it," he said. "I see the volunteers as temporary to help get things going. Hopefully, they can get good jobs that pay health insurance and keep things going."

Lee has been the state's most prominent advocate for the regulation and taxation of marijuana. In 2010, he fought for and helped bankroll Proposition 19, which would have legalized pot use among adults in California regardless of medical necessity. It failed, but garnered 46 percent of the vote - the highest ever for any general pot-legalization proposal in the country.

In Oakland, Lee pushed for successful ballot measures that made marijuana prosecutions the lowest priority and established the nation's first tax on cannabis businesses. Lee believed that with taxation would come legalization.

"The government seems to want its cake and eat it too," Lee said. "They want to tax it, so they need to regulate it. But they shouldn't be keeping it illegal and taxing us."

There was, he said, little he could do to overcome the disparity between state and federal marijuana laws.

"We've tried our best, but as you know, there are many conflicting laws and rulings," Lee said. Deducting expenses

Lee believes that he is a target of the IRS because of section 280-E of the tax code, which does not allow medical marijuana dispensaries - or any organization that the federal government defines as trafficking in controlled substances - to deduct many expenses.

Lee said his tax rate without deductions is roughly double what it would be with deductions. Despite their hefty collections, he said, the IRS began scrutinizing his businesses by looking at his 2010 returns. He said he agreed to a payment plan, but then they told him they were also going to audit his business going back to 2007.

The huge payments crippled his business, Lee said.

"We paid them as much as we could," Lee said. "We were losing more money every day because there was more and more IRS debt being loaded on."

The prohibition of tax deductions in code section 280-E is a common tool used by the federal government to shut down dispensaries, said Matt Kumin, a San Francisco attorney who in 2007 helped litigate the first such case involving medical marijuana.

Kumin said that at least seven of San Francisco's 25 dispensaries have been or are being audited on those grounds. "It's way out of proportion for audits in any industry," he said.

Harborside Health Center, another Oakland dispensary, is currently in court with the IRS over the issue. If they lose, center officials said, they will be forced out of business.

Asked why he didn't go to court instead of agreeing to the IRS' terms, Lee said, "I was advised that this was a better way to keep things open."

Officials with the IRS declined comment.

Kumin said dispensaries can make it if they limit and segregate the property and employees directly involved in buying or selling cannabis.

"You can actually survive this, if you operate correctly," Kumin said. "It can be a tax hit ... but it doesn't have to be fatal."

Matthai Kuruvila is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Twitter: @matthai mkuruvila@9sfchronicle.com

A fog of drugs and war

Source

A fog of drugs and war

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times

April 7, 2012, 3:24 p.m.

SEATTLE — U.S. Air Force pilot Patrick Burke's day started in the cockpit of a B-1 bomber near the Persian Gulf and proceeded across nine time zones as he ferried the aircraft home to South Dakota.

Every four hours during the 19-hour flight, Burke swallowed a tablet of Dexedrine, the prescribed amphetamine known as "go pills." [Nothing wrong with taking a little "speed" to help you stay awake!!! Of course if Patrick Burke was a civilian truck driver or college student taking some dexes to stay awake this would be a crime he would be jailed for using illegal drugs] After landing, he went out for dinner and drinks with a fellow crewman. They were driving back to Ellsworth Air Force Base when Burke began striking his friend in the head.

FOR THE RECORD:

An earlier version of this story said that Bart Billings, a former military psychologist, hosts an annual conference at Camp Pendleton on combat stress. He now holds the conference at other venues.

"Jack Bauer told me this was going to happen — you guys are trying to kidnap me!" he yelled, as if he were a character in the TV show "24."

When the woman giving them a lift pulled the car over, Burke leaped on her and wrestled her to the ground. "Me and my platoon are looking for terrorists," he told her before grabbing her keys, driving away and crashing into a guardrail.

Burke was charged with auto theft, drunk driving and two counts of assault. But in October, a court-martial judge found the young lieutenant not guilty "by reason of lack of mental responsibility" — the almost unprecedented equivalent, at least in modern-day military courts, of an insanity acquittal.

Four military psychiatrists concluded that Burke suffered from "polysubstance-induced delirium" brought on by alcohol, lack of sleep and the 40 milligrams of Dexedrine he was issued by the Air Force.

In a small but growing number of cases across the nation, lawyers are blaming the U.S. military's heavy use of psychotropic drugs for their clients' aberrant behavior and related health problems. Such defenses have rarely gained traction in military or civilian courtrooms, but Burke's case provides the first important indication that military psychiatrists and court-martial judges are not blind to what can happen when troops go to work medicated.

After two long-running wars with escalating levels of combat stress, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year were taking prescribed antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs, according to figures recently disclosed to The Times by the U.S. Army surgeon general. Nearly 8% of the active-duty Army is now on sedatives and more than 6% is on antidepressants — an eightfold increase since 2005.

"We have never medicated our troops to the extent we are doing now.... And I don't believe the current increase in suicides and homicides in the military is a coincidence," said Bart Billings, a former military psychologist who hosts an annual conference on combat stress.

The pharmacy consultant for the Army surgeon general says the military's use of the drugs is comparable to that in the civilian world. "It's not that we're using them more frequently or any differently," said Col. Carol Labadie. "As with any medication, you have to look at weighing the risk versus the benefits of somebody going on a medication."

But the military environment makes regulating the use of prescription drugs a challenge compared with the civilian world, some psychologists say.

Follow-up appointments in the battlefield are often few and far between. Soldiers are sent out on deployment typically with 180 days' worth of medications, allowing them to trade with friends or grab an entire fistful of pills at the end of an anxious day. And soldiers with injuries can easily become dependent on narcotic painkillers.

"The big difference is these are people who have access to loaded weapons, or have responsibility for protecting other individuals who are in harm's way," said Grace Jackson, a former Navy staff psychiatrist who resigned her commission in 2002, in part out of concerns that military psychiatrists even then were handing out too many pills.

For the Army and the Marines, using the drugs has become a wager that whatever problems occur will be isolated and containable, said James Culp, a former Army paratrooper and now a high-profile military defense lawyer. He recently defended an Army private accused of murder, arguing that his mental illness was exacerbated by the antidepressant Zoloft.

"What do you do when 30-80% of the people that you have in the military have gone on three or more deployments, and they are mentally worn out? What do you do when they can't sleep? You make a calculated risk in prescribing these medications," Culp said.

The potential effect on military personnel has special resonance in the wake of several high-profile cases, most notably the one involving Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of murdering 17 civilians in Afghanistan. His attorneys have asked for a list of all medicines the 38-year-old soldier was taking.

"We don't know whether he was or was not on any medicines, which is why [his attorney] has asked to be provided the list of medications," said Richard Adler, a Seattle psychiatrist who is consulting on Bales' defense.

***

While there was some early, ad hoc use of psychotropic drugs in the Vietnam War, the modern Army psychiatrist's deployment kit is likely to include nine kinds of antidepressants, benzodiazepines for anxiety, four antipsychotics, two kinds of sleep aids, and drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a 2007 review in the journal Military Medicine.

Some troops in Afghanistan are prescribed mefloquine, an antimalarial drug that has been increasingly associated with paranoia, thoughts of suicide and violent anger spells that soldiers describe as "mefloquine rage."

"Prior to the Iraq war, soldiers could not go into combat on psychiatric drugs, period. [This is 100 percent BS. During Vietnam US troops routinely smoked marijuana on the battle field, which of course was illegal, but that didn't stop them.] Not very long ago, going back maybe 10 or 12 years, you couldn't even go into the armed services if you used any of these drugs, in particular stimulants," said Peter Breggin, a New York psychiatrist who has written widely about psychiatric drugs and violence.

"But they've changed that.... I'm getting a new kind of call right now, and that's people saying the psychiatrist won't approve their deployment unless they take psychiatric drugs."

Military doctors say most drugs' safety and efficacy is so well-established that it would be a mistake to send battalions into combat without the help of medications that can prevent suicides, help soldiers rest and calm shattered nerves.

Fueling much of the controversy in recent years, though, are reports of a possible link between the popular class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) — drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, which boost serotonin levels in the brain — and an elevated risk of suicide among young people. The drugs carry a warning label for those up to 24 — the very age of most young military recruits.

Last year, one of Culp's clients, Army Pfc. David Lawrence, pleaded guilty at Ft. Carson, Colo., to the murder of a Taliban commander in Afghanistan. He was sentenced to only 121/2 years, later reduced to 10 years, after it was shown that he suffered from schizophrenic episodes that escalated after the death of a good friend, an Army chaplain.

Deeply depressed and hearing a voice he would later describe as "female-sounding and never nice," Lawrence had reportedly feared he would be thrown out of the Army if he told anyone he was hearing voices — a classic symptom of schizophrenia. Instead, he'd merely told doctors he was depressed and thinking of suicide. He was prescribed Zoloft, for depression, and trazodone, often used as a sleeping aid.

The voices got worse, and Lawrence began seeing hallucinations of the chaplain, minus his head. Eventually, Lawrence walked into the Taliban commander's jail cell and shot him in the face.

"They give him this, and they send him out with a gun," said his father, Brett Lawrence.

Up until the Burke case, there had been few if any recent rulings exonerating military defendants claiming to be incapacitated by medications.

Burke's case may have marked a turning point. Four Army doctors concluded that he wasn't mentally responsible for his actions — a finding none of them would have made had he been merely drunk.

"Three drinks over an entire evening is not enough to black somebody out, but I don't remember 99% of what happened over the rest of that evening," Burke said in an interview. "It was kind of like I was misfiring on the cylinders."

***

Both the American Psychological Assn. and the American Psychiatric Assn. in a 2010 congressional hearing urged the Army to stay the course on psychotropic drugs.

The real danger, said the psychologists' spokesman, M. David Rudd, dean of the college of social and behavioral science at the University of Utah, is if soldiers are frightened out of access to potentially life-saving medication.

The Army surgeon general's office said no one without specific approval is allowed to go on deployment using psychotropic drugs, including antidepressants and stimulants, until they've been stabilized. Soldiers who need antipsychotic agents are not allowed to go to combat.

But are those precautions enough? Julie Oligschlaeger said her son, Chad, a Marine corporal based at Twentynine Palms, came home from his second tour in Iraq in 2007 complaining of nightmares and hallucinations. He was taking trazodone, fluoxetine, Seroquel, Lorazepam and propranolol, among other medications.

"I didn't realize how many pills he was on until it was too late," said Oligschlaeger. "He sometimes would slur his words, and I would think, 'OK, are you drinking? What is going on?' And he'd say, 'Oh, I'm taking my pills, and I'm taking them when I'm supposed to.' I never thought to look."

In 2008, two months before Chad was scheduled to get out of the Marines, start college, and marry his fiancee, the young corporal was found dead on the floor of his room in the barracks. An autopsy concluded the death was accidental due to multiple-drug toxicity — interactions among too many drugs.

At the memorial service, Oligschlaeger looked her son's commander in the eye and reminded him that Chad had waited in vain for a bed in a combat stress treatment facility. "I asked him, 'Why didn't you have your eyes on your Marine?'" she said. "He didn't answer me. He just stood there with his hands behind his back. And he looked at me."

kim.murphy@latimes.com

The Gilbert police are listening to you cell phone calls!

This is not a duplicate article. I originally posted the article from the New York Times which preceded this article.

Source

Gilbert police can track cellphones to locate suspects

by Jim Walsh - Apr. 5, 2012 09:55 AM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Gilbert police can track cellphones to locate suspects wanted for violent crimes, as well as missing or suicidal people, by using highly specialized surveillance equipment.

But police resent any inference that they are trampling on constitutional rights to privacy by acting like spies, saying they only use the equipment in a narrow set of circumstances after obtaining a court order. Gilbert appears to be one of the few Valley police agencies to operate such equipment.

Gilbert police acknowledge that the equipment is a powerful investigative tool, arguing it can make the difference between life and death and help get dangerous people behind bars. [You mean like harmless pot smokers???]

"In all cases, we get court orders. We're not here to circumvent the law,'' said Sgt. Bill Balafas, a Gilbert police spokesman. " We're not out here to eavesdrop on people. We don't want to create bad case law.'' [Yea sure! We got a gun and a badge and that means we can do anything we feel like!]

Gilbert's capability to track cellphones was revealed last week in a New York Times story that described a national study by the American Civil Liberties Union. An ACLU survey of 200 law enforcement agencies found that some obtained court orders before tracking cellphones while others did not.

"Technology is far outpacing the privacy laws. Police Departments are taking advantage of this to do an end-run around the Fourth Amendment,'' said Alessandra Meetze, executive director of the ACLU's Arizona chapter.

She said the Gilbert, Glendale and Flagstaff police departments, along with the Maricopa and Pinal County sheriff's offices, confirmed that they used the cellphone tracking investigative techniques. The Times story cited Gilbert as an example of a small police department that obtained the cellphone tracking equipment to bypass the expense of having cell carriers get the information for them.

MSNBC.com went a step further, questioning why a small police department in an affluent suburb would spend $244,000 on "a futuristic spy gadget that sounds more at home in a prime-time drama.''

The 2008 purchase was revealed by Gilbert police in response to an ACLU Public Records request. The device was obtained with a $150,000 federal grant through Arizona's Homeland Security program, The remaining $94,195 came from asset forfeitures from accused criminals. [Almost all of the people arrested by Homeland Security are for drug war crimes, not terrorist crimes. And of course most of the assets forfeitures are stolen from people that commit victimless drug war crimes]

Balafas said the MSNBC story treated Gilbert unfairly.

"If your loved one is out there missing or threatening suicide, wouldn't you want us to use this equipment?'' he said.

He also said Gilbert's equipment cannot monitor cellphone conversations, and is used solely to find people.

Meetze said she is pleased to hear Gilbert is obtaining court orders but called for more accountability.

"That's definitely a positive sign. We would like to see written policies to back that up,'' she said. "The public would have no idea of when police are using an extremely powerful technology.''

She said the ACLU would like to see police keep a record of when Gilbert uses the equipment and under what circumstances.

In reaction to the national spotlight, Balafas said Gilbert Police Chief Tim Dorn directed his staff to develop a formal policy on cellphone tracking. The department will consider whether to create a log or some other record, he said.

"It falls under the premise of being transparent'' as the department increasingly uses cutting-edge technology in many facets of law enforcement to improve efficiency and effectiveness, Balafas said.

Stringent guidelines set up by the department's legal adviser are followed, he said. Gilbert detectives also have used high-tech equipment to help other law enforcements agencies but insist that the same policies be followed, Balafas said.

David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona, said agencies that operate sophisticated surveillance equipment must be careful not to violate anyone's rights.

"If there are abuses of these types of investigative techniques, it creates a hardship for law enforcement. [What a lie!!! It creates a hardship for the people that the police illegally used the investigative techniques against, not the police! And of course for the people falsely arrested as a result of illegal police surveillance it will cost them thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees] It creates bad case law,'' Gonzales said.

South American countries says US drug war is a dismal failure

Latin American countries pursue alternatives to U.S. drug war

By Juan Forero, Updated: Tuesday, April 10, 3:35 AM

BOGOTA, Colombia — When President Obama arrives in Colombia for a hemispheric summit this weekend, he will hear Latin American leaders say that the U.S.-orchestrated war on drugs, which criminalizes drug use and employs military tactics to fight gangs, is failing and that sweeping changes need to be considered.

Latin American leaders say they have not developed an alternative model to the hard-line approach favored by successive American administrations since Richard Nixon was in office. But the Colombian government says a range of options — from decriminalizing possession of drugs to legalizing marijuana use to regulating markets — will be debated at the Summit of the Americas in the coastal city of Cartagena.

Faced with violence that has left 50,000 people dead in Mexico and created war zones in Central America, regional leaders have for months been openly discussing the shortcomings of the U.S. approach. But the summit marks the first opportunity for many leaders to directly share their grievances with Obama.

Those who have most forcefully offered new proposals, or developed carefully argued critiques of American policy, are among Washington’s closest allies. They include the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister who marshaled U.S. aid to weaken drug syndicates; Guatemalan President Otto Perez, a former military man who has long battled drug gangs; and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose nation has been engaged in an all-out war with cartels.

“There’s probably been no person who has fought the drug cartels and drug trafficking as I have,” Santos said in an interview last week with The Washington Post. “But at the same time, we must be very frank: After 40 years of pedaling and pedaling very hard, sometimes you look to your left, you look to your right and you’re are almost in the same position.

“And so you have to ask yourself, are we doing the correct thing?”

Perez, whose small country has been engulfed by violence that his security forces are barely able to contain, has been the most forceful and surprising proponent of sweeping change to the current policy. The military and police under his command in Guatemala have continued to battle traffickers, he said in an interview from Guatemala City. But he believes they have little to show for their effort.

“The strategy that we have followed these 30 or 40 years has practically failed and we have to recognize it,” he said.

In Washington, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which oversees anti-drug policies for the Obama administration, declined to comment about the debate. But in a two-day visit to Central America and Mexico last month, Vice President Joe Biden laid out the government’s position, saying “there are more problems with legalization than non-legalization.”

“It’s worth discussing,” he told reporters, “but there’s no possibility the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy on legalization.”

U.S. data signals some progress, such as a 40 percent drop in cocaine use in the United States since 2006 and a 68 percent plunge over the same period in the number of people testing positive for cocaine in the workplace.

And in Colombia, where the United States has been heavily involved in upgrading the military and in funding aerial fumigation of drug crops, the amount of land dedicated to growing the plant used to make cocaine dropped by nearly two-thirds from 2000 to 2010. Potential production of cocaine, meanwhile, tumbled from 700 metric tons in 2001 to 270 metric tons in 2010, though it picked up in Bolivia and Peru, according to U.S. statistics.

Latin American leaders, though, point out that the United States remains the world’s largest cocaine market and that there have been record levels of violence from Venezuela to Guatemala, El Salvador to Mexico.

Cesar Gaviria, a former Colombian president who has been a forceful critic of U.S. policy, said that American officials acknowledge the failure of the policy behind closed doors and do little to defend it publicly. He said it is simply a policy on automatic pilot.

“You reach the conclusion that all this killing in Mexico and Central America has been in the name of a failed policy that the United States does not believe in or vigorously defend,” said Gaviria, speaking in his Bogota office.

Much of the momentum for a shift began after Gaviria, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso issued a report in 2009 calling for reform of drug policies. They have been joined by a range of intellectuals, among them the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, and retired officials, including former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz.

What they and many current presidents in Latin America propose is not a wide-open policy of legalization but a softening of the current laws.

Decriminalizing drug possession would free billions of dollars from the criminal justice system, advocates say, while vastly improving drug treatment. Heavy drug users, who drive the illicit trade, could be weaned off drugs through maintenance models that provide drugs legally but under heavy supervision.

Legalizing marijuana, which advocates argue presents only a modest risk to public health, would weaken cartels and free up funding for other uses, advocates say.

“They’re not saying, ‘Legalize everything today,’ like alcohol and tobacco,” said Ethan Nadelmann, who has advised Latin American leaders and is the director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy organization that has been critical of U.S. tactics. “What they are saying is we need to give the same consideration to alternative, regulatory and non-prohibitionist drug control policies in the future as we’ve given to the failed drug war strategies of the last 40 years.”

Leaders who are participating in talks on drugs at the summit said they do not expect a policy change soon. Rather, the idea is to plant a seed that would lead to changes in the years ahead.

“We understand perfectly that this is an election year in the United States,” said Perez, Guatemala’s leader, noting that no major policy shift could occur without a region-wide consensus. “There is not a decision that has to be made in this moment, or in six months. This is a process of discussion.”

Santos, who said he wants talks to take place “without a specific proposal” in mind, said if there are changes in the future they should be based strictly on serious studies.

“There are good arguments for legalizing, but I would prefer to reach that conclusion after an objective discussion,” he said. “The U.S. says, ‘We don’t support legalization because the cost of legalization is higher than no legalization. But I want to see a discussion where both approaches are analyzed by experts to say, really, the cost is lower or not.”

Source

Interview with Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina (transcript)

By Juan Forero, Updated: Tuesday, April 10, 3:30 AM

The following are excerpts from an interview with Otto Perez Molina, the president of Guatemala, conducted on March 24, 2012, via phone by The Washington Post’s Juan Forero. The interview was translated from Spanish.

What’s your assessment of the war on drugs?

“I think it is very clear that the war that has been staged against drug trafficking in the last 40 years has not had the fruits that we expected. I think that’s the case in the area where it’s produced, in the areas where it’s transported, as is the case with Guatemala and Central America, and in the area where it’s consumed, which is mostly in the United States.”

You’ve talked about legalizing drugs — can you explain?

“It could be a partial de-criminalization, or a complete de-criminalization that would go across the whole chain of production, transit and consumption. But obviously, that implies a commitment of all the countries. Not just one country can make that decision.”

Can you explain your call to make drug use a health issue?

“The other strategy that we are proposing is to emphasize the issue of health, the issue of education and prevention. And on the other hand, that we have a court with regional jurisdiction that would exclusively judge crimes related to drug trafficking.”

You have experience fighting the drug trade?

“I know narco-trafficking, from the battles that have been fought against drug trafficking. I cooperated and cooperated closely with United States agencies and international agencies. I was the intelligence director in my country.”

And how has drug trafficking developed?

“Narco-trafficking has grown, has penetrated institutions, prosecutors, judges. ... There’s a generalized level of corruption, money laundering. Everything that’s been tried, and the result has been a growth [in drug trafficking] that shows that the strategy that has been followed for 30 or 40 years has failed.”

What do you think the U.S. response should be?

“The United States has to recognize that there is a need to debate the issue. There are many organizations in the United States that have closely studied the issue, that talk about de-criminalization, that talk about the need to change the strategies that have been followed until this moment.”

Where is the debate headed?

“I think this will be a process, a process of dialogue, of debate, and in the end I see no other path but de-criminalization. This will be sooner or later, but I hope it will be sooner. That is what I visualize at the end. There is no other way as long as the demand exists, as long as you see so many dollar revenues generated throughout Mexico and Central America.”

What do you say about the anti-drug success in Colombia?

“There’s been talk of success in Colombia, but look, in Colombia they are still producing cocaine, the cocaine keeps coming out of Colombia, and it continues to ship through Central America and it still gets to the United States. You don’t have the big cartels and the big capos that you had in decades past. But there are smaller cartels, smaller groups, that continue to produce.”

Source

Interview with Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos (transcript)

By Juan Forero, Updated: Tuesday, April 10, 3:30 AM

On April 3, The Washington Post’s Juan Forero spoke to Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos in Bogota about the drug problem facing Latin America and what is on the table for discussion during the Summit of the Americas. Here are excerpts from the interview:

What are you proposing at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena?

“[The drug issue] has a very high political sensitivity, and people like to play with people’s sensitivity, and so many times the discussion is not rational. It’s irrational. But if we discuss this in a rational way,with experts and say, ‘Well, okay, what we are doing? Is that the best thing that we can do? Or should we maybe explore other alternatives to see if we find a better one, where the cost to humanity and to thousands of victims of this drug problem could be less, and the cost for the countries could be less? And this is the discussion that I want to open.”

Is there an alternative, a specific alternative, you are proposing?

“I am not coming into this discussion with a preempted or a definite proposal, because I have to confess that I don’t know the answer. It might be that after this discussion we might conclude that what we are doing is the best we can do, so we have to continue.”

What is the ultimate goal?

“If we find that there is a better alternative that will take away the profits from the criminal organizations and that maybe you can address the problem of consumption in a more effective way, then everybody will win. And this is what I want, a discussion without a specific proposal.”

What do you think of some proposals by leaders such as Guatemalan President Otto Perez, who talks about legalizing?

“There are good arguments for legalizing, but I would prefer to reach that conclusion after an objective discussion. The U.S. says, ‘We don’t support legalization because we think the cost of legalization is higher than no legalization.’ But I want to see a discussion where both approaches are analyzed by experts to say, really, [whether] the cost is lower or not.”

It would be difficult politically to make a big shift, no?

“The polls will be very negative. So politically it’s very difficult to take a decision in that direction. But if you find out that maybe for a country or for humanity, legalization is the way to find a least costly path, then it is your responsibility as a leader to then sell this alternative to your people.”

Some would argue the established anti-drug strategies are working in Colombia.

“When I was minister of defense, we were very successful. We took down all the members that were in the list of high-value targets in the drug trafficking, all of them. They are either in jail or dead. We confiscated unprecedented amounts of cocaine. We eradicated unprecedented amounts of hectares of coca, and the DEA director came here and congratulated me and congratulated our people, saying we are doing very well. And you know how success was defined? By the price of cocaine in Los Angeles or in New York or in Washington. And so, because the price went up, we were being successful. But at the same time, if the price goes up, the incentive goes up. So there is a structured sort of contradiction in the whole setup.”

Some of the people proposing new alternatives may have surprised you.

“I was surprised that Pat Roberson went down and said, I think, he said he was pro-legalization of marijuana. He said this is something that we should discuss. More and more, and very conservative people in the U.S., have taken this stand. I hope that the U.S. engages in constructive discussion because the U.S. is the Number One consumer and is co-responsible for what is happening in Central America, here in Colombia.”

Andrew Thomas, Lisa Aubuchon stripped of their legal licenses

Source

Thomas, Aubuchon stripped of their legal licenses

Disciplinary panel disbars former Maricopa County attorney

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Michael Kiefer - Apr. 10, 2012 09:19 AM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his onetime deputy, Lisa Aubuchon, were stripped of their law licenses today as a disciplinary panel handed down the toughest sanctions possible for ethical violations in a case that attracted national interest.

The panel also suspended Rachel Alexander, another Thomas deputy, from practicing law for six months and one day for her role in filing a federal civil racketeering lawsuit against judges and county officials.

The disbarment of Thomas and Aubuchon had been widely discussed as a possibility by members of the legal community. But the length of Alexander's suspension came as a surprise because the independent Bar counsel had recommended a shorter suspension.

The three attorneys can, and likely will, appeal the sanctions. None were present.

The discipline was handed down this morning by a three-member panel appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court to hear their cases.

"It's about the victims," said John Gleason, independent Bar counsel who prosecuted the case for the bar. "We gave them the opportunity to tell their story, and they won."

Together, they faced allegations of 33 ethical violations stemming from years of political and legal battles within Maricopa County government.

Though the battles that landed the attorneys before the State Bar of Arizona reach back to at least 2006, the investigation of the three began two years ago, a month before Thomas resigned as county attorney to run unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for state attorney general.

Thomas is implicated in 30 of the charges, Aubuchon in 28, and Alexander in seven. The disciplinary panel will consider each charge separately.

Charges cover a variety of allegations, including conflict of interest for holding press conferences to denounce the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which was his client, and threatening county officials with litigation; falsely claiming a judge had filed Bar complaints against Thomas, in order to have the judge removed from a case; and seeking indictments against county officials to burden or embarrass them. In one case, the charges allege, Thomas and Aubuchon brought criminal charges against a county supervisor even though they knew that the statute of limitations had already expired on the offenses.

The most serious allegations involve filing criminal charges against a sitting Maricopa County Superior Court judge without probable cause in order to stop a court hearing. Several of the allegations of ethical misconduct revolve around a federal civil racketeering lawsuit claiming that judges and county officials conspired against Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The independent Bar counsel appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court claims that the three prosecutors were incompetent in drafting the racketeering complaint, and that they filed it for purely political reasons against people they had already charged criminally or who they thought had filed earlier Bar complaints against them.

Given the number of complaints and the difficulty Thomas and the others had in mounting their defenses during the four-month-long hearing process, O'Neil is expected to come down hard on the three prosecutors.

Any sanctions imposed would take place 30 days from today. Appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court would have to be filed within ten days, and the respondents are expected to request stays of sanctions pending appeal, which could take another six months.

The Supreme Court could then choose to hold further hearings and could reverse or uphold any part of the disciplinary judge's ruling, or send it back to the disciplinary court for hearings there.

If the ruling is upheld, Thomas and Aubuchon can apply for reinstatement of their law licenses; they would have to demonstrate "by clear and convincing evidence" that they are rehabilitated, competent, and fit to practice law, and that they have complied with all of the court's orders. Alexander, meanwhile, also can apply for reinstatement of her license, but must re-take the Bar exam and also demonstrate that she is rehabilitated.

The eight weeks of trial brought testimony from a who's who of county government officials, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his former chief deputy, David Hendershott, who worked together with Thomas and his attorneys on many of the alleged corruption cases.

Two of the four retired Superior Court judges who were targeted by Arpaio and Thomas broke down on the stand during testimony. Sheriff's deputies testified about their discomfort with the way investigations against county officials were carried out, saying they took documents home to protect themselves and were asked to swear to facts they knew nothing about.

If you are interested in other crimes that Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Andrew Thomas and Lisa Aubuchon have committed against the citizens of Maricopa County check out this URL it is full of articles on these government criminals that have been terrorizing the citizens of Phoenix and Maricopa County for years.

Government punishes doctors that help people reduce their pain????

Arizona doctors lose Medicaid contracts

AHCCCS dismissals come amid prescription probe

by Ken Alltucker - Apr. 10, 2012 06:37 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

The state's Medicaid program said it has terminated the contracts of seven doctors who were top prescribers of powerful pain pills and mental-health prescription drugs.

Their dismissals were made public as the result of an ongoing probe by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, of drug-prescribing patterns in Medicaid programs across the country. Medicaid programs, which provide health care to the nation's poor, reimburse doctors and practitioners. Grassley's probe centers on health-care professionals who prescribe large amounts of pain pills and psychiatric drugs.

Of the seven doctors terminated from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona's Medicaid program, two faced criminal charges in connection with their prescribing patterns, three relinquished their medical licenses and two no longer treat Medicaid patients, prompting AHCCCS to terminate their contracts due to inactivity over a 24-month period.

In an April 3 letter to Grassley, AHCCCS Director Thomas Betlach highlighted his agency's efforts to participate in a multi-agency investigation of Dr. Angelo Chirban, the Arizona Medicaid program's most prolific prescriber of the pain pills oxycodone and OxyContin over fiscal 2008 and 2009.

Chirban and his ex-wife were charged in U.S. District Court in December with 130 counts in connection with writing thousands of prescriptions for oxycodone and other pain medications for non-medical reasons.

Grassley earlier questioned AHCCCS' efforts to ferret out fraud, waste and abuse as the agency spends $650 million each year on prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients. In a January letter to Betlach, Grassley said he had "concerns about the oversight and enforcement of Medicaid abuse in your state."

Two years ago, Grassley requested that Arizona's Medicaid program provide data on the top prescribers of common painkillers oxycodone, OxyContin and Roxicodone, as well as six anti-anxiety and mental-health drugs for fiscal 2008 and 2009.

The Iowa Republican made similar inquiries to all state Medicaid programs to bring attention to the potential of fraud and abuse in prescribing patterns.

Grassley has since requested -- and received from Arizona -- the top prescribers of those drugs for fiscal 2010 and 2011. He also asked Betlach one dozen questions about AHCCCS' efforts to curb excessive prescription writing.

Betlach said that the top prescribers of the mental-health drugs represented less than 2 percent of AHCCCS' total prescription costs for 2010 and 2011.

He noted the mental-health drugs are prescribed for the 122,000 Arizonans enrolled in the state's behavioral health-services program, and of those, 20 percent are adults diagnosed with serious mental illness and 32.5 percent are children or adolescents.

Only one of the seven doctors whose license was terminated was a psychiatrist. Jennifer Suzanne Gunther, a Tucson psychiatrist, said she no longer treats Medicaid patients in her new position with the Veterans Administration. AHCCCS terminated Tucson pain-management physician Susan B. Fleming's license because she no longer treats Medicaid patients.

Lloyd David Armold, a Tucson osteopathic physician, surrendered his license in 2010 after the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners restricted his ability to prescribe hydrocodone and morphine. Armold said the "board was bugging me for doing alternative medicine," so he decided to retire.

Erol LeBlanc, a family practice doctor, had his license revoked by the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in September, the board's records show. Tucson physician Margarita Martinez, who could not be reached, relinquished her license in 2009.

AHCCCS also terminated its contract with Albert Yeh, a Golden Valley physician who pleaded guilty in January 2011 to three felonies and was sentenced to 21/2 years in prison and five years' probation. He surrendered $2 million in cash and agreed to pay more than $683,000 in restitution to AHCCCS.

Ariz. ethics panel disbars ex-Maricopa prosecutor Thomas

Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 9:50 am

Associated Press

An Arizona ethics panel on Tuesday moved to disbar Maricopa County's former top prosecutor for failed corruption investigations he and America's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff conducted targeting officials with whom they were having political and legal disputes.

The three-member disciplinary panel of the Arizona courts found that ex-County Attorney Andrew Thomas violated the professional rules of conduct for lawyers in bringing criminal charges against two county officials and a judge in December 2009.

All three cases were dismissed after a judge ruled that Thomas prosecuted one of the officials for political gain and had a conflict of interest in pressing the case. Other county officials and judges who were at odds with Thomas and his top ally, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, in disputes also were investigated by the pair, but weren't charged with crimes.

Lawyers pressing the case against Thomas said officials, judges and attorneys who crossed Thomas and Arpaio in disputes were often targeted for investigations.

Thomas and Arpaio contended they were trying to root out corruption in county government, while the targets of the prosecutions said the cases were trumped up.

The decision marked the first official comment by the state's legal establishment on the validity of the investigations.

Arpaio does not face any punishments in the disciplinary case, but investigations of county officials and judges by the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad took center stage at hearings in the Thomas case.

Separate from the attorney disciplinary case, a federal grand jury also has been investigating Arpaio's office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009 and is specifically examining the investigative work of the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad.

At Thomas' disciplinary hearing, the sheriff testified in September that he didn't follow the investigations closely and farmed out those cases to his then-top assistant. The former Arpaio aide had testified earlier that some allegations contained in the charges against the judge weren't in fact crimes.

Thomas was accused of bringing criminal cases against County Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox to embarrass them and knowingly filing false bribery and obstruction of justice charges against then-Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe.

The panel ruled against Thomas and Lisa Aubuchon, one of his former deputy prosecutors, on the charges. Aubuchon also will be disbarred.

"Justice has been served for Maricopa County," Wilcox said.

The ethics board also found that Thomas and Aubuchon conspired with Arpaio and his former top aide, David Hendershott, to intimidate the judge. Still, the panel declined to sanction Thomas and Aubuchon on that violation.

Thomas and Aubuchon have 10 days to file an appeal with the state Supreme Court.

Donahoe was charged with bribery after the judge disqualified Thomas' office from its investigation into a construction of a court building. The judge was about to hold a hearing on Thomas' request to appoint special prosecutors to handle investigations against the officials, but that hearing was called off after the charges were filed against the judge.

Thomas said the decision to charge the judge had nothing to do with the decisions the judge issued against his office.

During his testimony, Thomas defended the investigations and said one of his aides had warned that charging Stapley would hurt him politically, but he brought the charges against the county supervisor because it was the right thing to do.

Stapley was accused, among other things, of getting mortgage loans under fraudulent pretenses. Wilcox was accused of voting on contracts involving a group that had given her loans and never filing conflict-of-interest statements.

Thomas, a Harvard Law School graduate, served as the county's top prosecutor from more than five years before resigning in April 2010 to run an unsuccessful campaign for state attorney general.

Thomas was known for confronting illegal immigration, prosecuting metro Phoenix's Baseline Killer and Serial Shooter cases and pursuing criminal cases against county officials.

Arizona will begin taking pot-dispensary applications

Arizona will begin taking pot-dispensary applications

by Brennan Smith - Apr. 11, 2012 09:48 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Arizona Attorney General's Office has given Department of Health Services officials the green light to begin accepting medical-marijuana dispensary applications from throughout the state.

Up to 126 dispensary certificates are expected to be issued by Aug. 7 following an application period between May 14 and May 25, Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble said.

The certificates will allow prospective providers to begin building their dispensaries in August, followed by a second application for an operating license that will be issued after an inspector from the department determines the dispensary is up to operating standards, Humble said.

He said the "gold rush" for medical-marijuana dispensary licenses died down in the past year after litigation tied the program up.

"I just don't sense the same land-rush type of attitude that we had a year ago," Humble said. "I don't think we'll be overwhelmed with applications."

Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?

By George F. Will, Published: April 11

Amelioration of today’s drug problem requires Americans to understand the significance of the 80-20 ratio. Twenty percent of American drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20 split obtains among users of illicit drugs.

About 3 million people — less than 1 percent of America’s population — consume 80 percent of illegal hard drugs. Drug-trafficking organizations can be most efficiently injured by changing the behavior of the 20 percent of heavy users, and we are learning how to do so. Reducing consumption by the 80 percent of casual users will not substantially reduce the northward flow of drugs or the southward flow of money.

Consider current policy concerning the only addictive intoxicant currently available as a consumer good — alcohol. America’s alcohol industry, which is as dependent on the 20 percent of heavy drinkers as they are on alcohol, markets its products aggressively and effectively. Because marketing can drive consumption, America’s distillers, brewers and vintners spend $6 billion on advertising and promoting their products. Americans’ experience with marketing’s power inclines them to favor prohibition and enforcement over legalization and marketing of drugs.

But this choice has consequences: More Americans are imprisoned for drug offenses or drug-related probation and parole violations than for property crimes. And although America spends five times more jailing drug dealers than it did 30 years ago, the prices of cocaine and heroin are 80 to 90 percent lower than 30 years ago.

In “Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know,” policy analysts Mark Kleiman, Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken argue that imprisoning low-ranking street-corner dealers is pointless: A $200 transaction can cost society $100,000 for a three-year sentence. And imprisoning large numbers of dealers produces an army of people who, emerging from prison with blighted employment prospects, can only deal drugs. Which is why, although a few years ago Washington, D.C., dealers earned an average of $30 an hour, today they earn less than the federal minimum wage ($7.25).

Dealers, a.k.a. “pushers,” have almost nothing to do with initiating drug use by future addicts; almost every user starts when given drugs by a friend, sibling or acquaintance. There is a staggering disparity between the trivial sums earned by dealers who connect the cartels to the cartels’ customers and the huge sums trying to slow the flow of drugs to those street-level dealers. Kleiman, Caulkins and Hawken say that, in developed nations, cocaine sells for about $3,000 per ounce — almost twice the price of gold. And the supply of cocaine, unlike that of gold, can be cheaply and quickly expanded. But in the countries where cocaine and heroin are produced, they sell for about 1 percent of their retail price in the United States. If cocaine were legalized, a $2,000 kilogram could be FedExed from Colombia for less than $50 and sold profitably here for a small markup from its price in Colombia, and a $5 rock of crack might cost 25 cents. Criminalization drives the cost of the smuggled kilogram in the United States up to $20,000. But then it retails for more than $100,000.

People used to believe enforcement could raise prices but doubted that higher prices would decrease consumption. Now they know consumption declines as prices rise but wonder whether enforcement can substantially affect prices.

Kleiman, Caulkins and Hawken urge rethinking the drug-control triad of enforcement, prevention and treatment because we have been much too optimistic about all three.

And cartels have oceans of money for corrupting enforcement because drugs are so cheap to produce and easy to renew. So it is not unreasonable to consider modifying a policy that gives hundreds of billions of dollars a year to violent organized crime.

Marijuana probably provides less than 25 percent of the cartels’ revenue. Legalizing it would take perhaps $10 billion from some bad and violent people, but the cartels would still make much more money from cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines than they would lose from marijuana legalization.

Sixteen states and the District have legalized “medical marijuana,” a messy, mendacious semi-legalization that breeds cynicism regarding law. In 1990, 24 percent of Americans supported full legalization. Today, 50 percent do. In 2010, in California, where one-eighth of Americans live, 46 percent of voters supported legalization, and some opponents were marijuana growers who like the profits they make from prohibition of their product.

Would the public health problems resulting from legalization be a price worth paying for injuring the cartels and reducing the costs of enforcement? We probably are going to find out.

georgewill@washpost.com

Cartels use help wanted ads to find dope smugglers

US counters drug smugglers in Mexican newspapers

Associated PressBy ELLIOT SPAGAT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The war on drugs is going to the classified sections of Mexican newspapers.

Smugglers have long advertised work as security guards, housecleaners and cashiers, telling applicants they must drive company cars to the United States. They aren't told the cars are loaded with drugs.

Starting this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement began buying ad space in Tijuana newspapers to warn jobseekers they might be unwitting pawns.

"Why don't we do the same thing that (cartels are) doing? It's successful for them. Why wouldn't it be successful for us?" Lester Hayes, a group supervisor for ICE in San Diego, recalls his agents telling him.

There have been 39 arrests since February 2011 at San Diego's two border crossings tied to the ads for seemingly legitimate jobs, according to ICE, which hadn't seen such significant numbers before.

Those arrests have yielded 3,400 pounds of marijuana, 75 pounds of cocaine and 100 pounds of methamphetamine — a tiny fraction of total seizures but enough to convince U.S. authorities that smugglers are increasingly turning to the recruitment technique.

Drug smugglers always look to exploit weak links along the 1,954-mile border, even if the window of opportunity is brief. In the past several years, they have turned to makeshift boats on the Pacific Ocean and ultralight aircraft in the deserts of California and Arizona. In the San Diego area, there has been a spike in teenagers strapping drugs to their bodies to walk across the border from Tijuana.

Some suddenly popular techniques are limited to particular pockets of the border. ICE has not spotted significant spikes in newspaper ads outside of San Diego.

Ads that authorities connect to drug smugglers appear innocuous. They offer work in the United States — an invitation that only people who can cross the border legally need apply — with a phone number and sometimes a location to apply in person.

New hires are told to drive company cars across the border, typically to a fast-food restaurant or shopping center in San Diego, according to ICE. When they arrive, they are often told there will be no work after all that day and must leave the car and walk back to Mexico after being paid a small amount.

The drivers are typically paid $50 to $200 a trip — much less than the $1,500 to $5,000 that seasoned smugglers are typically paid for such trips, Hayes said.

For drug traffickers, the tactic lowers expenses and, they hope, makes drivers appear less nervous when questioned by border inspectors, said Millie Jones, an assistant special agent in charge of investigations for ICE in San Diego.

The drugs are stashed in the usual ways. Fifteen pounds of methamphetamine were found in a pickup truck's phony exhaust pipe in November. More than 250 pounds of marijuana were discovered in a van's overhead compartment last April.

More than 200 pounds of marijuana were found in vacuum-sealed plastic bags smothered in grease. Drugs are typically mixed with mustard, ketchup and fabric fresheners to defuse odors and ward off dogs used by authorities.

For years, U.S. authorities have bought newspaper space and broadcast airtime south of the border to deter illegal border crossings. The Border Patrol has a long-running media campaign in Mexico and Central America that includes musical "corridos," short documentaries and public service announcements.

The ICE ads that began appearing Sunday in classified sections of Tijuana's Frontera and El Mexicano are nothing fancy. Bold black letters say, "Warning! Drug traffickers are announcing jobs for drivers to go to the United States. Don't fall victim to this trap."

Mexican newspapers have faced online competitors but the papers' classified sections are relatively robust compared to U.S. publications.

Victor Clark, director of Tijuana's Binational Center for Human Rights, doubts the ads will work without specific instructions on how to confirm whether a company is legitimate, such as calling an ICE telephone number.

"It's very difficult for someone who is unemployed to know whether it's a trap," Clark said. "I don't think many people are inclined to investigate if they are desperate for work."

The cases can be challenging for prosecutors because drivers may not know they are smuggling drugs.

Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, declined to say how many cases have been prosecuted or cite any examples. Rachel Cano, assistant chief of the San Diego County district attorney's southern branch, said each case is different.

"Just like any other case, a theft case, we look at all of the facts and if there are sufficient facts that meet the elements of a crime and we can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, then we file charges," Cano said.

Guadalupe Valencia, a San Diego defense attorney, said the ads by U.S. authorities might inadvertently help defendants. Attorneys will argue it is an acknowledgement that people are often tricked.

"It has always been my opinion that there are many unknowing couriers," he said. "The challenge for the prosecution is you always have to prove knowledge."

Secret Service agents like high class hookers????

My problem is when government hypocrites enforce these laws against us serfs, but think that they are above the laws and break them as these Secret Service agents are accused of doing.

Source

Misconduct alleged against Secret Service agents

Apr. 13, 2012 09:55 PM

Associated Press

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- A dozen Secret Service agents sent to Colombia to provide security for President Barack Obama at an international summit have been relieved of duty because of allegations of misconduct.

A caller who said he had knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press the misconduct involved prostitutes in Cartagena, site of the Summit of the Americas. A Secret Service spokesman did not dispute that.

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity, put the number of agents at 12. The agency was not releasing the number of personnel involved.

The Washington Post reported that Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said the accusations related to at least one agent having involvement with prostitutes in Cartagena. The association represents federal law enforcement officers, including the Secret Service. Adler later told the AP that he had heard that there were allegations of prostitution, but he had no specific knowledge of any wrongdoing.

Ronald Kessler, a former Post reporter and the author of a book about the Secret Service, told the Post that he had learned that 12 agents were involved, several of them married.

The incident threatened to overshadow Obama's economic and trade agenda at the summit and embarrass the U.S. The White House had no comment.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan would not confirm that prostitution was involved, saying only that there had been "allegations of misconduct" made against Secret Service personnel in the Colombian port city hosting Obama and more than 30 world leaders.

Donovan said the allegations of misconduct were related to activity before the president's arrival Friday night.

Obama was attending a leaders' dinner Friday night at Cartagena's historic Spanish fortress. He was due to attend summit meetings with regional leaders Saturday and Sunday.

Those involved had been sent back to their permanent place of duty and were being replaced by other agency personnel, Donovan said. The matter was turned over to the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility, which handles the agency's internal affairs.

"These personnel changes will not affect the comprehensive security plan that has been prepared in advance of the president's trip," Donovan said.

U.S. Secret Service agents leave Colombia over prostitution inquiry

U.S. Secret Service agents leave Colombia over prostitution inquiry

By David Nakamura and Joe Davidson, Published: April 13

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating allegations of misconduct by agents who had been sent to Cartagena, Colombia, to provide security for President Obama’s trip to a summit that began there Friday.

Edwin Donovan, an agency spokesman, said that an unspecified number of agents have been recalled and replaced with others, stressing that Obama’s security has not been compromised because of the change. Obama arrived in Cartagena on Friday afternoon for this weekend’s Summit of the Americas, a gathering of 33 of the hemisphere’s 35 leaders to discuss economic policy and trade.

Donovan declined to disclose details about the nature of the alleged misconduct. But Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said the accusations relate to at least one agent having involvement with prostitutes in Cartagena.

In a statement, Donovan said the matter has been turned over to the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which serves as the agency’s internal affairs unit.

“The Secret Service takes all allegations of misconduct seriously,” Donovan said. “These personnel changes will not affect the comprehensive security plan that has been prepared in advance of the President’s trip.”

Adler said the entire unit was recalled for purposes of the investigation. The Secret Service “responded appropriately” and is “looking at a very serious allegation,” he said, adding that the agency “needs to properly investigate and fairly ascertain the merits of the allegations.”

The Washington Post was alerted to the investigation by Ronald Kessler, a former Post reporter and author of several nonfiction books, including the book “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect.”

Kessler said he was told that a dozen agents had been removed from the trip. He added that soliciting prostitution is considered inappropriate by the Secret Service, even though it is legal in Colombia when conducted in designated “tolerance zones.” However, Kessler added, several of the agents involved are married.

There have been other incidents involving Obama’s security detail over the past year.

In November, Christopher W. Deedy, a federal agent with the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, was charged with second-degree murder after shooting a man during a dispute outside a McDonald’s in Hono­lulu. Though Deedy was off-duty at the time, he was on the island to provide advance security arrangements for Obama’s trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

In August, Daniel L. Valencia, a Secret Service agent, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Decorah, Iowa, where he was helping arrange security for Obama’s bus trip through three Midwestern states. Valencia, who was off-duty at the time of the arrest, was recently sentenced to two days in jail with credit for time served, and a fine of $1,250.

South American governments want to end drug war!!!

Source

At Latin America summit, Obama to face push for drug legalization

By Christi Parsons and Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times

April 13, 2012, 4:45 p.m.

CARTAGENA, Colombia — President Obama will highlight trade and business opportunities in Latin America at a regional summit in Colombia this weekend, but other leaders may upstage him by pushing to legalize marijuana and other illicit drugs in a bid to stem rampant trafficking.

Obama, who opposes decriminalization, is expected to face a rocky reception in this Caribbean resort city, which otherwise forms a friendly backdrop for a U.S. president courting Latino voters in an election year. But the American demand for illegal drugs has caused fierce bloodshed, plus political and economic turmoil, across much of the region.

Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, wants the 33 leaders at the Summit of the Americas to consider whether the solution should include regulating marijuana, and perhaps cocaine, the way alcohol and tobacco are. Other member states also are calling for that dialogue despite the political discomfort it may cause Obama back home.

"You haven't had this pressure from the region before," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank in Washington. "I think the [Obama] administration is willing to entertain the discussion, but hoping it doesn't turn into a critique of the U.S. and put the U.S. on the defensive."

Obama also is expected to take flak from leaders frustrated by the lack of U.S. movement on two other troublesome issues, immigration reform and the long-standing embargo of Cuba. Cuban leaders are not participating in the summit, but many regional governments oppose the U.S. policy of embargo.

In internal debates, White House officials have weighed the risk of talking about decriminalization, which is still taboo for many U.S. voters, against concern about alienating leaders who bear the brunt of the battle against the heavily armed cartels that supply most marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines to U.S. markets.

White House officials say Obama will not change his drug policy. They hope to keep talk of legalization behind closed doors while he focuses publicly on other tactics, including improving security forces, reforming governance and enhancing economic opportunities.

The call for change comes from front-line veterans of the drug wars, including Colombia. Santos says he has the moral authority to seek new solutions because his country's citizens and security forces have spilled so much blood fighting drug traffickers.

Also leading the charge isGuatemala'spresident, Otto Perez Molina. After a pre-summit meeting with leaders of Costa Rica and Panama, he called for a "realistic and responsible" discussion of decriminalization in Cartagena.

"We cannot eradicate global drug markets, but we can certainly regulate them as we have done with alcohol and tobacco markets," he wrote in the British newspaper the Observer on April 7.

White House officials plan to argue that no evidence indicates legalization would slow the flow of narcotics or reduce drug-related killings. Vice President Joe Biden offered a preview in Miami Beach last month.

"We should have this debate, and the reason is to dispel some of the myths that exist about legalization," Biden told reporters. "There are those people who say, 'If you legalize, you are not going to expand the number of consumers significantly.' Not true."

U.S. officials also will emphasize administration efforts to reduce illicit drug use in the United States, the world's largest consumer of cocaine and other illegal drugs.

The Justice Department, for example, has added special courts that can sentence drug abusers to treatment programs instead of prison. And the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, assuming it survives Supreme Court review, requires the medical industry to treat substance abuse as a chronic disease.

Marijuana use in America has increased by 15% since 2006, but cocaine use has dropped by 40% in that time, according to theU.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Experts say the global market for cocaine is unchanged because use in Europe more than doubled in the last decade.

The idea of regulating and taxing the production and sale of illegal drugs isn't new. A panel led by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and past presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia concluded in a report in June that the drug war had "failed" and recommended easing penalties for farmers and low-level drug users.

That doesn't make the issue any easier for Obama.

"I don't think anybody thinks the current policy works right now, but public opinion hasn't gotten to the point of accepting the idea of legalization," said David Damore, a political scientist at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas who writes about U.S. and Latino politics. "There's nothing to be gained from it politically, and it opens you up to an attack."

cparsons@latimes.com

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Parsons reported from Cartagena and Bennett from Washington.

America is out of touch with the rest of the world???

The US is alone on it's stance to continue the insane unconstitutional drug war, which is a dismal failure.

The US is also alone on it's stance to isolated Cuba from the rest of the world.

I suspect this quote by H. L. Mencken is one of the reasons for America's political positions:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

Source

U.S, Canada alone on Cuba at summit

by Vivian Sequera - Apr. 14, 2012 10:32 AM

Associated Press

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- A summit of 33 Western Hemisphere leaders opens Saturday with the United States and Canada standing firm, but alone, against everyone else's insistence that Cuba join future summits.

The Sixth Summit of the Americas has also taken on a tabloid tinge with 12 U.S. Secret Service agents sent home for alleged misconduct that apparently included prostitutes and days of heavy pre-summit poolside drinking.

U.S. President Barack Obama has been clinging stubbornly to a rejection of Cuban participation in the summits, which everyone but Canada deems unjust.

"This is the last Summit of the Americas," Bolivia's foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, told The Associated Press, "unless Cuba is allowed to take part."

The fate of the summit's final declaration was thrown into uncertainty Friday as the foreign ministers of Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay said their presidents wouldn't sign it unless the U.S. and Canada removed their veto of future Cuban participation.

Vigorous discussion is also expected on drug legalization, which the Obama administration opposes. And Obama will be in the minority in his opposition to Argentina's claim to the British-controlled Falkland Islands.

The charismatic Obama may be able to charm the region's leaders as he did in 2009 with a pledge of being an "equal partner," but he will also have to prove the U.S. truly values their friendship and a stake in their growth.

"The United States should realize that its long-term strategic interests are not in Afghanistan or in Pakistan but in Latin America," the host, Colombian President Juan Santos, said in a speech to business leaders at a parallel CEO summit on Friday.

In large part, declining U.S. influence comes down to waning economic clout, as China gains on the U.S. as a top trading partner. It has surpassed the U.S. in trade with Brazil, Chile, and Peru and is a close second in Argentina and Colombia.

"Most countries of the region view the United States as less and less relevant to their needs -- and with declining capacity to propose and carry out strategies to deal with the issues that most concern them," the Washington-based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue noted in a pre-summit report.

Stereotypes of ugly Americans were, unfortunately, reinforced on summit eve with misconduct allegations

A caller who alerted The Associated Press to the case said the misconduct involved prostitutes.

A Secret Service spokesman did not dispute that. Nor did the U.S. official who, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity, put the number of agents sent home at 12. The agency was not releasing the number of personnel involved.

One employee of the hotel where the agents stayed, the beachfront Caribe, said the agents drank large quantities of alcohol at the poolside daily for about a week before being dressed down by a supervisor and sent home Thursday. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his job.

Obama faced challenges enough at the summit without that distraction.

Cuba was proving the biggest.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was boycotting the summit over Cuba's exclusion, while moderates such as Santos and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil said there should be no more America's summits without the communist island.

Obama's administration has greatly eased family travel and remittances to Cuba, but has not dropped the half-century U.S. embargo against the island, nor moved to let it back into the Organization of American States, under whose auspices the summit is organized.

Another big issue will be drug legalization, which the Obama administration firmly opposes. Santos left it off the official agenda but has said all possible scenarios should be explored and the United Nations should consider them.

Meeting with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at his request, Obama can expect to discuss that country's claim to the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas by the Argentines, after Argentina lost a war with Britain 30 years ago while trying to seize them.

Among the hemisphere's leaders, there is nearly unanimous support for Argentina's position.

One potentially prickly confrontation for Obama was averted Saturday when Venezuela's foreign minister announced that President Hugo Chavez would skip the summit. The minister, Nicolas Maduro, said Chavez took the decision because of a medical recommendation.

Chavez was heading instead to Cuba to continue treatments for cancer.

He has grabbed the spotlight at past summits. But, suffering from an unspecified type of cancer, he has lately been shuttling back and forth to Cuba for radiation treatment.

FCC - F*ck the 5th Amendment, answer our questions or we will fine you $25,000!!!!

Source

FCC aims to fine Google $25,000 for impeding data-collection probe

By Andrea Chang

April 15, 2012, 9:54 a.m.

Google is facing a $25,000 fine for refusing to cooperate with a Federal Communications Commission investigation into the tech giant's data-collection practices.

The world's largest search engine came under fire two years ago when it was revealed that its popular but controversial street-mapping program -- in which cars snap photos of homes, intersections and other neighborhood features -- was also picking up sensitive information from home wireless networks such as email and text messages, passwords and Internet usage history.

The FCC, which filed its 25-page report Friday, said despite Google admitting wrongdoing at the time, the company has since "deliberately impeded and delayed" the agency's probe into the matter, according to the New York Times.

Specifically, the FCC said Google was not responding to email requests for more information and was refusing to identify the employees involved.

Despite the relatively small fine, the FCC noted that the data collection was legal because the information was not encrypted, according to the New York Times.

The investigation raises a fresh round of questions over the right to privacy in an increasingly digital world. In a recent statewide poll, the vast majority of Californians said they were worried about the data collected by smartphone and Internet companies, and most said they distrust even firms that are known for having tens of millions of users, such as Facebook.

Calls and emails to Google were not returned Sunday morning.

Two years ago, a separate probe by the Federal Trade Commission into Google's Street View project led the agency to announce that it was satisfied with the tech firm's explanation into its data-collection practices and would not impose any fines.

Drug war propaganda in Mesa this week

Source

A 420 alternative

Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2012 12:12 pm

Tribune

The number 420 is a slang term for marijuana, and the drug’s users rally on April 20 to celebrate the substance. But anti-marijuana activists are staging a counter-4/20 event in Mesa to offer a healthy alternative to youth. The Mesa Prevention Alliance is offering free food, music, raffle prizes and memberships to youth programs from 4:20 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 20, at two locations.

Youth can go to the Red Mountain Center, 7550 E. Adobe, where events include live music, a rock climbing wall and a video game center. Admission is $1, with a waiver signed by an adult. Forms are available at http://www.joinmpa.org.

Also, youth can go to Skateland, 7 E. Southern Ave. Admission, food, skate rental and raffle tickets are free to the first 500 who arrive.

Source

TSA tests airport check-in system

By Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

By Josh T. Reynolds, for USA TODAY

The Transportation Security Administration is testing a system that checks identification and boarding passes by machine rather than the standard visual check by officers.

The tests began last week at Washington-Dulles International Airport and will start Tuesday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and April 23 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The review will last several months, gauging such things as how fast passengers move through the line and how accurate the machines are.

While TSA officers have been checking identification with black lights and magnifying glasses, the machines are geared to recognize all valid identification, ranging from driver's licenses to tribal IDs and U.S. and foreign passports.

TSA hopes the machines will do a more efficient job weeding out fraudulent documents and getting passengers to their planes.

"For efficiency, it is fantastic," says Domenic Bianchini, TSA director of checkpoint technology. "We think it's a valuable technology, and we think over time we will see the real value added."

As demonstrated at Dulles, passengers step up to the TSA desk and scan the bar codes of their boarding passes, like a can of soup at the self-checkout at a grocery store. The TSA officer scans the identification, which the machine authenticates and compares with the boarding pass.

The machine doesn't store any personal information about the passenger, says Greg Soule, a TSA spokesman.

A discrepancy can lead to more questions or checking the identification more closely. When a TSA officer had a question last week about the identification of a bespectacled man in khakis and a dark blazer, she scrutinized the driver's license under a magnifying glass and then asked a few more questions before sending the passenger on his way.

If a fraudulent document is found, the passenger is referred to law-enforcement officials for possible charges.

The first 30 machines cost $3.2 million, Soule says. Three companies — BAE Systems Information Solutions, Trans Digital Technologies and NCR Government Systems — provided the initial machines that were customized for TSA.

Legalize drugs? It's a valid discussion for U.S.,

Legalize drugs? It's a valid discussion for U.S., Mexico and others

April 15, 2012

The Summit of the Americas is more often a photo opportunity than a forum for bold policy initiatives. When issues of substance are discussed, the meeting of the hemisphere's 34 leaders has generally yielded more clashes than regional pacts. But some saw a chance for a little more action this year when leaders from several Latin American countries came to this weekend's summit in the Colombian seaside city of Cartagena complaining of drug war fatigue.

Over the last six months, that weariness has been spreading throughout Latin America. Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos, Guatemala's Otto Perez Molina and Mexico's Felipe Calderon have all suggested that governments need to look at options beyond the military strategies that have left tens of thousands dead in Latin America while failing to curb consumption in the United States, the largest cocaine market in the world.

The three leaders, all close U.S. allies, say it is time to discuss decriminalizing drugs, with Perez writing that global drug policy is grounded in what he calls the false premise that "global drug markets can be eradicated." He says that ending prohibition would remove the obscene profits from the trade and, as a result, reduce the competition and violence that is part of it.

Crime and violence associated with drug trafficking threaten to destabilize the region further, despite U.S. counter-narcotics aid. The drug wars in Mexico have left some 50,000 dead since 2006. Honduras now has the highest homicide rate in the world, much of which is blamed on transnational gangs and drug cartels operating in the region. Government corruption tied to drug trafficking has swept across much of Central America.

With the U.S. presidential election just months away, the Obama administration is not going to engage in discussions about liberalizing drug laws just at the moment. But Latin American leaders, weary of failed enforcement policies, are calling for an important discussion. The United States should not jump on the decriminalization bandwagon without a lot of serious thought and careful analysis. But nor should it shut itself out of that debate. Alternative approaches that hold out hope for a regional solution deserve a fair hearing.

Why people falsely confess to committing murder

Experts examine Lake County's 'epidemic' of false confessions

The "9 Step Reid Method" is essentially an interrogation which uses psychological rubber hoses to mentally beat a suspect into confessing to a crime.

It is very effective and people routinely confess to crimes they did not commit. Of the almost 300 cases people were released from death row when DNA testing proved they did not commit the crime, a large number of then had made false confessions admitting their guilt.

As the article says "False confessions are usually the result of brainwashing, wearing people down or physical abuse" and that is how the "9 Step Reid Method" works.

Source

Experts examine Lake County's 'epidemic' of false confessions

By Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune reporter

11:05 p.m. CDT, April 15, 2012

Juan Rivera, exonerated through DNA in the 1992 rape and murder of an 11-year-old Waukegan girl, returned to Lake County on Sunday for the first time since he was released from prison in January to join a panel discussion on false confessions.

"I am very angry. I am very disappointed that I lost half my life," said Rivera, 39, who added that he wrestles with his emotions, feeling that he should be at peace after 19 years in prison.

"This is a struggle that I go through every day. I don't sleep well. I don't trust anyone," said Rivera, speaking at Lake Forest College.

About 75 people attended the event, which also featured panelists Rob Warden, executive director of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, and Jed Stone, a longtime criminal defense lawyer in Waukegan.

Stone challenged prosecutors and judges to stop ignoring an "epidemic" of false confessions that result in wrongful convictions. He suggested the problem could be partially resolved if officials videotaped all interrogations and made sure that detectives who interview a suspect have no prior knowledge of the case.

He also called for prosecutors to stop relying on police that they know to be dishonest as witnesses, saying he could name five in Lake County.

"I know who is a truth-teller, and I know who I wouldn't buy a car from — and so do the prosecutors," Stone said.

The public generally has a hard time understanding why someone would admit to a crime they did not commit, said Warden, who suggested that police interrogations be limited to four hours per session.

"Our research shows that truthful confessions tend to come relatively quickly," he said. Rivera, for instance, was interrogated off and on for more than 23 hours during one session.

False confessions are usually the result of brainwashing, wearing people down or physical abuse, Warden said.

Rivera's case, he said, was probably an example of when "people are simply worn down to the point they will say absolutely anything to stop the interrogation, thinking: 'If I can just sleep, I'll clear this up tomorrow.'"

"It happens everywhere," Warden said. "It happens nationally. We really need to start taking this phenomenon seriously."

Both candidates for the state's attorney's job, Democrat Chris Kennedy and Republican Michael Nerheim, attended the panel, as did friends and family of people involved in other high-profile cases in Lake County.

During a question-and-answer session, Paul Calusinski stood up and spoke in defense of his daughter, Melissa Calusinski, recently sentenced to 31 years for killing a toddler at a Lincolnshire day center.

Another man handed out fliers advertising a "10,000 Man March Against Injustice" planned for Saturday in North Chicago that stems from the death of Darrin Hanna, 45, who died in November after a violent encounter with police.

Officers tackled, punched and used a Taser on Hanna while trying to subdue him after reports that he was beating a pregnant woman. A Lake County coroner's autopsy blamed his death on chronic cocaine use and sickle cell disease, along with police restraint and trauma.

lblack@tribune.com

Wanna buy some weed? Ask granny!!!

Granny 'Drug Kingpin' Busted in Oklahoma

By ABC News | ABC News Blogs – Sun, Apr 15, 2012 10:22 AM EDT

ABC News' Alex Perez reports:

Silver haired and sweet faced, Darlene Mayes looks like many grannies but according to police, she is one of Oklahoma's biggest drug kingpins.

Her operation went up in smoke this week, when police entered her home and found 4 pounds of pot and $276,000 cash.

Police found $15,000 bundles of cash stashed away in the home.

Mayes initially told police the money was part of her retirement fund.

Police also say she was packing a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver.

Investigators say her alleged pot-dealing network spanned four states, from Tulsa, Okla., to Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.

Police believe she supplied up to 40 percent of the marijuana in that area.

As the mastermind, police believe she had a network of dealers, including her son Jerry who was also arrested.

Law enforcement expert Brad Garrett says harmless looking seniors can sometimes be the most efficient drug dealers.

"It doesn't surprise me that someone this age would be actively involved in marijuana distribution because there's just too much money to be made. If they keep a low profile, they don't talk to many people, and they don't get greedy, they can go on for years."

Mayes is not the first grandmother accused of ditching retirement for a second career in drug dealing.

In the United Kingdom, 68-year-old Patricia Tabram-dubbed the cannabis grandma-was charged with intent to supply after authorities say they found a marijuana farm in her home.

In Tennessee, an elderly couple was busted for selling prescription drugs.

But the grand-daddy of all drug crooks may be Francis Cook, 83, also known as Britain's oldest drug dealer.

FBI didn't notify framed convicts that lab screw up falsely convicted them

Yea, sure you can get a fair trail. The Federal Court system is just as corrupt and unjust as the Arizona courts are! In fact one man may have been falsely executed because of the corrupt FBI crime labs.

I suspect getting a "fair trial" in the American criminal injustice system is about as easy as going to Las Vegas and willing a billion dollars!!!! Honest! Maybe even a little bit easier!

Source

Convicted defendants left uninformed of forensic flaws found by Justice Dept.

By Spencer S. Hsu, Published: April 16

Justice Department officials have known for years that flawed forensic work might have led to the convictions of potentially innocent people, but prosecutors failed to notify defendants or their attorneys even in many cases they knew were troubled.

Officials started reviewing the cases in the 1990s after reports that sloppy work by examiners at the FBI lab was producing unreliable forensic evidence in court trials. Instead of releasing those findings, they made them available only to the prosecutors in the affected cases, according to documents and interviews with dozens of officials.

In addition, the Justice Department reviewed only a limited number of cases and focused on the work of one scientist at the FBI lab, despite warnings that problems were far more widespread and could affect potentially thousands of cases in federal, state and local courts.

As a result, hundreds of defendants nationwide remain in prison or on parole for crimes that might merit exoneration, a retrial or a retesting of evidence using DNA because FBI hair and fiber experts may have misidentified them as suspects.

In one Texas case, Benjamin Herbert Boyle was executed in 1997, more than a year after the Justice Department began its review. Boyle would not have been eligible for the death penalty without the FBI’s flawed work, according to a prosecutor’s memo.

The case of a Maryland man serving a life sentence for a 1981 double killing is another in which federal and local law enforcement officials knew of forensic problems but never told the defendant. Attorneys for the man, John Norman Huffington, say they learned of potentially exculpatory Justice Department findings from The Washington Post. They are seeking a new trial.

Justice Department officials said that they met their legal and constitutional obligations when they learned of specific errors, that they alerted prosecutors and were not required to inform defendants directly.

The review was performed by a task force created during an inspector general’s investigation of misconduct at the FBI crime lab in the 1990s. The inquiry took nine years, ending in 2004, records show, but the findings were never made public.

In the discipline of hair and fiber analysis, only the work of FBI Special Agent Michael P. Malone was questioned. Even though Justice Department and FBI officials knew that the discipline had weaknesses and that the lab lacked protocols — and learned that examiners’ “matches” were often wrong — they kept their reviews limited to Malone.

But two cases in D.C. Superior Court show the inadequacy of the government’s response.

Santae A. Tribble, now 51, was convicted of killing a taxi driver in 1978, and Kirk L. Odom, now 49, was convicted of a sexual assault in 1981.

Key evidence at each of their trials came from separate FBI experts — not Malone — who swore that their scientific analysis proved with near certainty that Tribble’s and Odom’s hair was at the respective crime scenes.

But DNA testing this year on the hair and on other old evidence virtually eliminates Tribble as a suspect and completely clears Odom. Both men have completed their sentences and are on lifelong parole. They are now seeking exoneration in the courts in the hopes of getting on with their lives.

Neither case was part of the Justice Department task force’s review.

A third D.C. case shows how the lack of Justice Department notification has forced people to stay in prison longer than they should have.

Donald E. Gates, 60, served 28 years for the rape and murder of a Georgetown University student based on Malone’s testimony that his hair was found on the victim’s body. He was exonerated by DNA testing in 2009. But for 12 years before that, prosecutors never told him about the inspector general’s report about Malone, that Malone’s work was key to his conviction or that Malone’s findings were flawed, leaving him in prison the entire time.

After The Post contacted him about the forensic issues, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District said his office would try to review all convictions that used hair analysis.

Seeking to learn whether others shared Gates’s fate, The Post worked with the nonprofit National Whistleblowers Center, which had obtained dozens of boxes of task force documents through a years-long Freedom of Information Act fight.

Task force documents identifying the scientific reviews of problem cases generally did not contain the names of the defendants. Piecing together case numbers and other bits of information from more than 10,000 pages of documents, The Post found more than 250 cases in which a scientific review was completed. Available records did not allow the identification of defendants in roughly 100 of those cases. Records of an unknown number of other questioned cases handled by federal prosecutors have yet to be released by the government.

The Post found that while many prosecutors made swift and full disclosures, many others did so incompletely, years late or not at all. The effort was stymied at times by lack of cooperation from some prosecutors and declining interest and resources as time went on.

Overall, calls to defense lawyers indicate and records documented that prosecutors disclosed the reviews’ results to defendants in fewer than half of the 250-plus questioned cases.

Michael R. Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and the inspector general who investigated the FBI lab, said in a statement that even if more defense lawyers were notified of the initial review, “that doesn’t absolve the task force from ensuring that every single defense lawyer in one of these cases was notified.”

He added: “It is deeply troubling that after going to so much time and trouble to identify problematic conduct by FBI forensic analysts the DOJ Task Force apparently failed to follow through and ensure that defense counsel were notified in every single case.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said the federal review was an “exhaustive effort” and met legal requirements, and she referred questions about hair analysis to the FBI. The FBI said it would evaluate whether a nationwide review is needed.

“In cases where microscopic hair exams conducted by the FBI resulted in a conviction, the FBI is evaluating whether additional review is warranted,” spokeswoman Ann Todd said in a statement. “The FBI has undertaken comprehensive reviews in the past, and will not hesitate to do so again if necessary.”

Santae Tribble and Kirk Odom

John McCormick had just finished the night shift driving a taxi for Diamond Cab on July 26, 1978. McCormick, 63, reached the doorstep of his home in Southeast Washington about 3 a.m., when he was robbed and fatally shot by a man in a stocking mask, according to his widow, who caught a glimpse of the attack from inside the house.

Police soon focused on Santae Tribble as a suspect. A police informant said Tribble told her he was with his childhood friend, Cleveland Wright, when Wright shot McCormick.

After a three-day trial, jurors deliberated two hours before asking about a stocking found a block away at the end of an alley on 28th Street SE. It had been recovered by a police dog, and it contained a single hair that the FBI traced to Tribble. Forty minutes later, the jury found Tribble guilty of murder. He was sentenced in January 1980 to 20 years to life in prison.

Tribble, 17 at the time, his brother, his girlfriend and a houseguest all testified that they were together preparing to celebrate the guest’s birthday the night McCormick was killed. All four said Tribble and his girlfriend were asleep between 2 and 4:30 a.m. in Seat Pleasant.

Tribble took the stand in his own defense, saying what he had said all along — that he had nothing to do with McCormick’s killing.

The prosecution began its closing argument by citing the FBI’s testimony about the hair from the stocking.

This January, after a year-long effort to have DNA evidence retested, Tribble’s public defender succeeded and turned over the results from a private lab to prosecutors. None of the 13 hairs recovered from the stocking — including the one that the FBI said matched Tribble’s — shared Tribble’s or Wright’s genetic profile, conclusively ruling them out as sources, according to mitochondrial DNA analyst Terry Melton of the private lab.

“The government’s entire theory of prosecution — that Mr. Tribble and Mr. Wright acted together to kill Mr. McCormick — is demolished,” wrote Sandra K. Levick, chief of special litigation for the D.C. Public Defender Service and the lawyer who represents Gates, Tribble and Odom. In a motion to D.C. Superior Court Judge Laura Cordero seeking Tribble’s exoneration, Levick wrote: “He has waited thirty-three years for the truth to set him free. He should have to wait no longer.”

In an interview, Tribble, who served 28 years in prison, said that whether the court grants his request or not, he sees it as a final chance to assert his innocence.

“Ms. Levick has been like an angel,” Tribble added, “. . . and I thank God for DNA.”

Details of the new round of hair testing illustrate how hair analysis is highly subjective. The FBI scientist who originally testified at Tribble’s trial, Special Agent James A. Hilverda, said all the hairs he retrieved from the stocking were human head hairs, including the one suitable for comparison that he declared in court matched Tribble’s “in all microscopic characteristics.”

In August, Harold Deadman, a senior hair analyst with the D.C. police who spent 15 years with the FBI lab, forwarded the evidence to the private lab and reported that the 13 hairs he found included head and limb hairs. One exhibited Caucasian characteristics, Deadman added. Tribble is black.

But the private lab’s DNA tests irrefutably showed that the 13 hairs came from three human sources, each of African origin, except for one — which came from a dog.

“Such is the true state of hair microscopy,” Levick wrote. “Two FBI-trained analysts, James Hilverda and Harold Deadman, could not even distinguish human hairs from canine hairs.”

Hilverda declined to comment. Deadman said his role was limited to describing characteristics of hairs he found.

Kirk Odom’s case shares similarities with Tribble’s. Odom was convicted of raping, sodomizing and robbing a 27-year-old woman before dawn in her Capitol Hill apartment in 1981.

The victim said she spoke with her assailant and observed him for up to two minutes in the “dim light” of street lamps through her windows before she was gagged, bound and blindfolded in an hour-long assault.

Police put together a composite sketch of the attacker, based on the victim’s description. About five weeks after the assault, a police officer was talking to Odom about an unrelated matter. He thought Odom looked like the sketch. So he retrieved a two-year-old photograph of Odom, from when he was 16, and put it in a photo array for the victim. The victim picked the image out of the array that April and identified Odom at a lineup in May. She identified Odom again at his trial, telling jurors her assailant “had left her with an image of his face etched in her mind.”

At trial, FBI Special Agent Myron T. Scholberg testified that a hair found on the victim’s nightgown was “microscopically like” Odom’s, meaning the samples were indistinguishable. Prosecutors explained that Scholberg had not been able to distinguish between hair samples only “eight or 10 times in the past 10 years, while performing thousands of analyses.”

But on Jan. 18 of this year, Melton, of the same lab used in the Tribble case, Mitotyping Technologies of State College, Pa., reported its court-ordered DNA test results: The hair in the case could not have come from Odom.

On Feb. 27, a second laboratory selected by prosecutors, Bode Technology of Lorton, turned over the results of court-ordered nuclear DNA testing of stains left by the perpetrator on a pillowcase and robe.

Only one man left all four partial DNA profiles developed by the lab, and that man could not have been Odom.

The victim “was tragically mistaken in her identification of Mr. Odom as her assailant,” Levick wrote in a motion filed March 14 seeking his exoneration. “One man committed these heinous crimes; that man was not Kirk L. Odom.”

Scholberg, who retired in 1985 as head of hair and fiber analysis after 18 years at the FBI lab, said side-by-side hair comparison “was the best method we had at the time.”

Odom, who was imprisoned for 20 years, had to register as a sex offender and remains on lifelong parole. He says court-ordered therapists still berate him for saying he is not guilty. Over the years, his conviction has kept him from possible jobs, he said.

“There was always the thought in the back of my mind . . . ‘One day will my name be cleared?’ ” Odom said at his home in Southeast Washington, where he lives with his wife, Harriet, a medical counselor.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on Tribble’s and Odom’s specific claims, citing pending litigation.

One government official noted that Odom served an additional 16 months after his release for an unrelated simple assault that violated his parole.

However, in a statement released after being contacted by The Post, Machen, the U.S. attorney in the District, acknowledged that DNA results “raise serious questions in my mind about these convictions.”

“If our comprehensive review shows that either man was wrongfully convicted, we will promptly join him in a motion to vacate his conviction, as we did with Donald Gates in 2009,” Machen said.

The trouble with hair analysis

Popularized in fiction by Sherlock Holmes, hair comparison became an established forensic science by the 1950s. Before modern-day DNA testing, hair analysis could, at its best, accurately narrow the pool of criminal suspects to a class or group or definitively rule out a person as a possible source.

But in practice, even before the “ ‘CSI’ effect” led jurors to expect scientific evidence at every trial, a claim of a hair match packed a powerful, dramatic punch in court. The testimony, usually by a respected scientist working at a respected federal agency, allowed prosecutors to boil down ambiguous cases for jurors to a single, incriminating piece of human evidence left at the scene.

Forensic experts typically assessed the varying characteristics of a hair to determine whether the defendant might be a source. Some factors were visible to the naked eye, such as the length of the hair, its color and whether it was straight, kinky or curly. Others were visible under a microscope, such as the size, type and distribution of pigmentation, the alignment of scales or the thickness of layers in a given hair, or its diameter at various points.

Other judgments could be made. Was the hair animal or human? From the scalp, limbs or pubic area? Of a discernible race? Dyed, bleached or otherwise treated? Cut, forcibly removed or shed naturally?

But there is no consensus among hair examiners about how many of these characteristics were needed to declare a match. So some agents relied on six or seven traits, while others needed 20 or 30. Hilverda, the FBI scientist in Tribble’s case, told jurors that he had performed “probably tens of thousands of examinations” and relied on “about 15 characteristics.”

Despite his testimony, Hilverda recorded in his lab notes that he had measured only three characteristics of the hair from the stocking — it was black, it was a human head hair, and it was from an African American. Similarly, Scholberg’s notes describe the nightgown hair in Odom’s case in the barest terms, as a black, human head hair fragment, like a sample taken from Odom.

Hilverda acknowledged that results could rule out a person or be inconclusive. However, he told jurors that a “match” reflected a high likelihood that two hairs came from the same person. Hilverda added, “Only on very rare occasions have I seen hairs of two individuals that show the same characteristics.”

In Tribble’s case, federal prosecutor David Stanley went further as he summed up the evidence. “There is one chance, perhaps for all we know, in 10 million that it could [be] someone else’s hair,” he said in his closing arguments, sounding the final word for the government.

Stanley declined to comment.

Flaws known for decades

The Tribble and Odom cases demonstrate problems in hair analysis that have been known for nearly 40 years.

In 1974, researchers acknowledged that visual comparisons are so subjective that different analysts can reach different conclusions about the same hair. The FBI acknowledged in 1984 that such analysis cannot positively determine that a hair found at a crime scene belongs to one particular person.

In 1996, the Justice Department studied the nation’s first 28 DNA exonerations and found that 20 percent of the cases involved hair comparison. That same year, the FBI lab stopped declaring matches based on visual comparisons alone and began requiring DNA testing as well.

Yet examples of FBI experts violating scientific standards and making exaggerated or erroneous claims emerged in 1997 at the heart of the FBI lab’s worst modern scandal, when Bromwich’s investigation found systematic problems involving 13 agents. The lab’s lack of written protocols and examiners’ weak scientific qualifications allowed bias to influence some of the nation’s highest-profile criminal investigations, the inspector general said.

From 1996 through 2004, a Justice Department task force set out to review about 6,000 cases handled by the 13 discredited agents for any potential exculpatory information that should be disclosed to defendants. The task force identified more than 250 convictions in which the agents’ work was determined to be either critical to the conviction or so problematic — for example, because a prosecutor refused to cooperate or records had been lost — that it completed a fresh scientific assessment of the agent’s work. The task force was directed to notify prosecutors of the results.

The only real notice of what the task force found came in a 2003 Associated Press account in which unnamed government officials said they had turned over results to prosecutors and were aware that defendants had been notified in 100 to 150 cases. The officials left the impression that anybody whose case had been affected had been notified and that, in any case, no convictions had been overturned, the officials said.

But since 2003, in the District alone, two of six convictions identified by The Post in which forensic work was reassessed by the task force have been vacated. That includes Gates’s case, but not those of Tribble and Odom, who are awaiting court action and were not part of the task force review.

The Gates exoneration also shows that prosecutors failed to turn over information uncovered by the task force.

In addition to Gates, the murder cases in Texas and Maryland and a third in Alaska reveal examples of shortcomings.

All three cases, in addition to the District cases, were handled by FBI agent Malone, whose cases made up more than 90 percent of scientific reviews found by The Post.

In Texas, the review of Benjamin Herbert Boyle’s case got underway only after the defendant was executed, 16 months after the task force was formed, despite pledges to prioritize death penalty cases.

Boyle was executed six days after the Bromwich investigation publicly criticized Malone, the FBI agent who worked on his case, but the FBI had acknowledged two months earlier that it was investigating complaints about him.

The task force asked the Justice Department’s capital-case review unit to look over its work, but the fact that it failed to prevent the execution was never publicized.

In Maryland, John Norman Huffington’s attorneys say they were never notified of the findings of the review in his case, leaving them in a battle over the law’s unsettled requirements for prosecutors to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence and over whether lawyers and courts can properly interpret scientific findings.

In Alaska, Newton P. Lambert’s defenders have been left to seek DNA testing of remaining biological evidence, if any exists, while he serves a life sentence for a 1982 murder. Prosecutors for both Huffington and Lambert claim they disclosed findings at some point to other lawyers but failed to document doing so. In Lambert’s case, The Post found that the purported notification went to a lawyer who had died.

Senior public defenders in both states say they received no such word, which they say would be highly unlikely if it in fact came.

Malone, 66, said he was simply using the best science available at the time. “We did the best we could with what we had,” he said.

Even the harshest critics acknowledge that the Justice Department worked hard to identify potentially tainted convictions. Many of the cases identified by the task force involved serious crimes, and several defendants confessed or were guilty of related charges. Courts also have upheld several convictions even after agents’ roles were discovered.

Flawed agents or a flawed system?

Because of the focus on Malone, many questionable cases were never reviewed.

But as in the Tribble and Odom cases, thousands of defendants nationwide have been implicated by other FBI agents, as well as state and local hair examiners, who relied on the same flawed techniques.

In 2002, the FBI found after it analyzed DNA in 80 selected hair cases that its agents had reported false matches more than 11 percent of the time. “I don’t believe forensic science truly understood the significance of microscopic hair comparison, and it wasn’t until [DNA] that we learned that 11 percent of the time, two hairs can be microscopically similar yet come from different people,” said Dwight E. Adams, who directed the FBI lab from 2002 to 2006.

Yet a Post review of the small fraction of cases in which an appeals court opinion describes FBI hair testimony shows that several FBI agents gave improper testimony, asserting the remote odds of a false match or invoking bogus statistics in the absence of data.

For example, in testimony in a Minnesota bank robbery case, also in 1978, Hilverda, the agent who worked on Tribble’s case, reiterated that he had been unable to distinguish among different people’s hair “only on a couple of occasions” out of more than 2,000 cases he had analyzed.

In a 1980 Indiana robbery case, an agent told jurors that he had failed to tell different people’s hair apart just once in 1,500 cases. After a slaying in Tennessee that year, another agent testified in a capital case that there was only one chance out of 4,500 or 5,000 that a hair came from someone other than the suspect.

“Those statements are chilling to read,” Bromwich said of the exaggerated FBI claims at trial.

Todd, the FBI spokeswoman, said bureau lab reports for more than 30 years have qualified their findings by saying that hair comparisons are not a means of absolute positive identification. She requested a list of cases in which agents departed from guidelines in court.

The Post provided nine cases.

Todd declined to say whether the bureau considered taking steps to determine whether other agents intentionally or unintentionally misled jurors. “Only Michael Malone’s conduct was questioned in the area of hair comparisons,” Todd said. “The [inspector general] did not question the merits of microscopic hair comparisons as a scientific discipline.”

Experts say the difference between laboratory standards and examiners’ testimony in court can be important, especially if no one is reading or watching what agents say.

“It seemingly has never been routine for crime labs to do supervision based on trial testimony,” said University of Virginia School of Law professor Brandon L. Garrett. “You can have cautious standards, but if no one is supervising their implementation, it’s predictable that analysts may cross the line.”

‘Veil of secrecy’

A review of the task force documents, as well as Post interviews, found that the Justice Department struggled to balance its roles as a law enforcer defending convictions, a minister of justice protecting the innocent, and a patron and practitioner of forensic science.

By excluding defense lawyers from the process and leaving it to prosecutors to decide case by case what to disclose, authorities waded into a legal and ethical morass that left some prisoners locked away for years longer than necessary. By adopting a secret process that limited accountability, documents show, the task force left the scope and nature of scientific problems unreported, obscuring issues from further study and permitting similar breakdowns.

“The government has hidden behind the veil of secrecy to shield these abuses despite official assurances that justice would be done,” said David Colapinto, general counsel of the National Whistleblowers Center.

The American Bar Association and others have proposed stronger ethics rules for prosecutors to act on information that casts doubt on convictions; opening laboratory and other files to the defense; clearer reporting and evidence retention; greater involvement by scientists in setting rules for testimony at criminal trials; and more scientific training for lawyers and judges.

Other experts propose more oversight by standing state forensic-science commissions and funding for research into forensic techniques and experts for indigent defendants.

A common theme among reform-minded lawyers and experts is taking the oversight of the forensic labs away from police and prosecutors.

“It’s human to make mistakes,” said Steven D. Benjamin, president-elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “It’s wrong not to learn from them.”

More specifically, the D.C. Public Defender Service, Benjamin’s group and others said justice would be served by retesting hair evidence in convictions nationwide from 1996 and earlier. “If microscopic hair analysis was a key piece of evidence in a conviction, and it was one of only a limited amount of evidence in a case, would it be worthwhile to retest that using mitochondrial DNA? I would say absolutely,” said Adams, the former FBI lab director.

The promised review by federal prosecutors of hair convictions in the District would not include cases before 1985, when FBI records were computerized, and would not disclose any defendant’s name. That approach would have missed Gates, Odom and Tribble, who were convicted earlier.

Representatives for Machen, the FBI and the Justice Department also declined to say why the review should be limited to D.C. cases. The Post found that 95 percent of the troubled cases identified by the task force were outside the District.

Avis E. Buchanan, director of the D.C. Public Defender Service, said her agency must be “a full participant” in the review, which it has sought for two years, and that it should extend nationwide. “Surely the District of Columbia is not the only place where such flawed evidence was used to convict the innocent,” she said.

Staff researcher Jennifer Jenkins and database editor Ted Mellnik contributed to this report.

Arizona Cannabis Society Raided by Phoenix Police

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Arizona Cannabis Society Raided by Phoenix Police

By Ray Stern Wed., Apr. 18 2012 at 4:18 PM

Arizona Cannabis Society, a medical-marijuana caregiver collective featured prominently in a March New Times blog post, was raided today by Phoenix police.

Founder Bill Hayes is still being detained, cops say. However, police have no intention of booking anyone into jail today, says Phoenix Police Sergeant Trent Crump. Several people found at the three locations where warrants were served were detained briefly and released.

Crump says the operation was well out-of-bounds of the 2010 Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. After a month and a half of undercover work, police served search warrants on three locations related to AZCS. At one location, nearly 900 pot plants were found -- yet not a single person involved was a qualified caregiver, Crump says.

Under state law, qualified pot patients can grow up to 12 plants each. Caregivers can grow the same 12 plants for up to five patients each.

In other words, cops are saying the cannabis club had way too many plants.

Beyond that, Crump says, evidence turned up that the club was not operating as a non-profit, as Arizona law requires of a medical-marijuana dispensary.

AZCS has two locations, one in El Mirage and another in Phoenix. Crump declined to reveal the third location, or whether it was a residence or commercial building.

In March, Hayes invited New Times out to document the collective's pot-growing operations, believing his business model is legal under the voter-approved 2010 Medical Marijuana Act.

Whether he's right about it being legal remains to be seen.

This is at least the second raid since state Attorney General Tom Horne filed a lawsuit in Superior Court over the club-concept, seeking a court ruling about the clubs' legality. Judge Dean Fink has yet to make a decision in that case.

Club operators say they distribute marijuana only to the 25,500 state-approved patients after verifying their registration cards.

Cops reportedly sent an armored personnel carrier to one of Arizona Cannabis Society's location for the noontime raid.

Hayes, who once spent a year in prison for growing pot, is also an outspoken activist for marijuana. In February, Hayes filed a lawsuit against Arizona in federal court in the hopes of changing part of the 2010 medical-pot law. The law allows qualified patients and caregivers to grow pot -- but not if they live within 25 miles of an open dispensary. Hayes wants to patients to be allowed to grow pot regardless of nearby dispensaries.

A big reason for the existence of the clubs in the first place is that Governor Jan Brewer took it upon herself to flout the wishers of voters by canceling the dispensary portion of the 2010 law.

Brewer's plan to stall the pot law, which she spoke against before its passage, was shot down by the courts. The state Department of Health Services, which oversees the administration of the pot program, will begin taking dispensary applications for a 10-day period starting May 14.

Crump says police intend to submit criminal charges against one or more people connected to the Arizona Cannabis Society.

We'll give updates about this case and others involving clubs when we learn more.

CIA wants to murder suspected terrorists in Yemen!

I wonder when the DEA will ask permission to use drone strikes in the USA to murder people who "might" be drug dealers???

This sure brings up memories of the book "1984"! Can you imagine the CIA flying drones around the world on a 24/7 basis, so they can kill "suspected" criminals on a moments notice with a drone launched missile???

And of course this comes on President Obama's shift who was labeled as anti-war by the lefties. Sadly President Obama is just as bad of a tyrant as President Bush was.

Source

CIA seeks new authority to expand Yemen drone campaign

By Greg Miller, Published: April 18

The CIA is seeking authority to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen by launching strikes against terrorism suspects even when it does not know the identities of those who could be killed, U.S. officials said.

Securing permission to use these “signature strikes” would allow the agency to hit targets based solely on intelligence indicating patterns of suspicious behavior, such as imagery showing militants gathering at known al-Qaeda compounds or unloading explosives.

Violence in Yemen has repeatedly erupted between government and opposition forces, as well as between the government and al-Qaeda.

The practice has been a core element of the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan for several years. CIA Director David H. Petraeus has requested permission to use the tactic against the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, which has emerged as the most pressing terrorism threat to the United States, officials said.

If approved, the change would probably accelerate a campaign of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen that is already on a record pace, with at least eight attacks in the past four months.

For President Obama, an endorsement of signature strikes would mean a significant, and potentially risky, policy shift. The administration has placed tight limits on drone operations in Yemen to avoid being drawn into an often murky regional conflict and risk turning militants with local agendas into al-Qaeda recruits.

A senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, declined to talk about what he described as U.S. “tactics” in Yemen, but he said that “there is still a very firm emphasis on being surgical and targeting only those who have a direct interest in attacking the United States.”

U.S. officials acknowledge that the standard has not always been upheld. Last year, a U.S. drone strike inadvertently killed the American son of al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. The teenager had never been accused of terrorist activity and was killed in a strike aimed at other militants.

Some U.S. officials have voiced concern that such incidents could become more frequent if the CIA is given the authority to use signature strikes.

“How discriminating can they be?” asked a senior U.S. official familiar with the proposal. Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen “is joined at the hip” with a local insurgency whose main goal is to oust the country’s government, the official said. “I think there is the potential that we would be perceived as taking sides in a civil war.”

U.S. officials said that the CIA proposal has been presented to the National Security Council and that no decision has been reached. Officials from the White House and the CIA declined to comment.

Proponents of the plan said improvements in U.S. intelligence collection in Yemen have made it possible to expand the drone campaign — and use signature strikes — while minimizing the risk of civilian casualties.

They also pointed to the CIA’s experience in Pakistan. U.S. officials said the agency killed more senior al-Qaeda operatives there with signature strikes than with those in which it had identified and located someone on its kill list.

In Pakistan, the CIA “killed most of their ‘list people’ when they didn’t know they were there,” said a former senior U.S. military official familiar with drone operations.

The agency has cited the Pakistan experience to administration officials in arguing, perhaps counterintuitively, that it can be more effective against al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate if it doesn’t have to identify its targets before an attack. Obama, however, ruled out a similar push for such authority more than a year ago.

Increasing focus on Yemen

The CIA, the National Security Agency and other spy services have deployed more officers and resources to Yemen over the past several years to augment counterterrorism operations that were previously handled almost exclusively by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command.

The CIA began flying armed drones over Yemen last year after opening a secret base on the Arabian Peninsula. The agency also has worked with the Saudi and Yemeni intelligence services to build networks of informants — much the way it did in Pakistan before ramping up drone strikes there.

The agency’s strategy in Pakistan was centered on mounting a drone campaign so relentless that it allowed no time between attacks for al-Qaeda operatives to regroup. The use of signature strikes came to be seen as critical to achieving that pace.

The approach involved assembling threads of intelligence from multiple sources to develop telltale “signatures” of al-Qaeda activity based on operatives’ vehicles, facilities, communications equipment and patterns of behavior.

A former senior U.S. intelligence official said the CIA became so adept at this that it could tell what was happening inside an al-Qaeda compound — whether a leader was visiting or explosives were being assembled, for example — based on the location and number of security operatives surrounding the site.

The agency might be able to replicate that success in Yemen, the former intelligence official said. But he expressed skepticism that White House officials, including counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan, will approve the CIA’s request.

The situation in Pakistan’s tribal territory “is far less ambiguous than in Yemen,” the former official said. “Brennan has been deliberate in making sure targets we hit in Yemen are terrorist targets and not insurgents.”

As a result, the CIA has been limited to “personality” strikes in Yemen, meaning it can fire only in cases where it has clear evidence that someone on its target list is in a drone’s crosshairs.

Often, that requires information from multiple sources, including imagery, cellphone intercepts and informants on the ground.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the Yemen-based group is known, has not been linked to a major terrorist plot since its failed attempt to mail parcels packed with explosives to addresses in Chicago in 2010. The death of Awlaki in a CIA drone strike last year is thought to have diminished the group’s ability to mount follow-on attacks.

But U.S. counterterrorism officials said that Awlaki’s death did not extinguish the group’s determination to attack the United States and noted that other key operatives — including Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who designed the bombs used in the parcel plot — remain at large.

A quickening pace

The pace of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen is still far from the peak levels in Pakistan, but it is on a distinctly upward trend, with about as many strikes so far this year as in all of 2011.

Which U.S. entity is responsible for each strike remains unclear. In Pakistan, the CIA carries out every drone strike. But in Yemen, the United States has relied on a mix of capabilities, including drones flown by the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command, as well as conventional military aircraft and warships parked off the coast.

The JSOC has broader authority than the CIA to pursue militants in Yemen and is not seeking permission to use signature strikes, U.S. officials said.

Obama administration officials have refused to provide details of how militants are targeted or to disclose the identities of those killed.

Asked to explain the surge in strikes this year, U.S. officials denied that there has been any change in authorities. Instead, they attributed the pace to intelligence-gathering efforts that were expanded several years ago but are only beginning to pay off.

“There has never been a decision to step up or down” the number of strikes, said a senior U.S. official involved in overseeing the Yemen campaign. “It’s all intelligence-driven.”

The Long War Journal, a Web site that tracks drone operations, estimates that there have been 27 strikes in Yemen since 2009 and that 198 militants and 48 civilians have been killed.

Awlaki was killed last September, six weeks after the CIA began flying armed drones over Yemen. This year, one senior AQAP operative has been killed: Abdul Mun’im Salim al Fatahani, who was suspected of involvement in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, was killed in January by a drone strike in Abyan province, according to the Long War Journal.

Staff writers Karen DeYoung and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Alabama bans beer brand over dirty name

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Alabama bans beer brand over dirty name

Apr. 19, 2012 10:18 AM

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- You can buy Fat Bastard wine in Alabama, but you'll have to go elsewhere for Dirty Bastard beer.

The state alcoholic beverage control agency said Thursday it has banned Dirty Bastard beer because of profanity on its label. But the maker, Michigan-based Founders Brewing Co., can appeal the decision to the agency's board.

The state allows the sale of Fat Bastard wine. But board attorney Bob Martin says the brand was approved years ago, and he doesn't know the circumstances.

Alabama gained notice a few years ago for banning a wine brand that featured a nude nymph on its label. Its decision on the beer is opposed by Free The Hops, a group that advocates for new beer brands in Alabama.

Murdering a gang banger is a badge of honor for LAPD cops???

Secret clique in L.A. County sheriff's gang unit probed

By Robert Faturechi, Los Angeles Times

April 20, 2012

Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives have launched a probe into what appears to be a secret deputy clique within the department's elite gang unit, an investigation triggered by the discovery of a document suggesting the group embraces shootings as a badge of honor.

The document described a code of conduct for the Jump Out Boys, a clique of hard-charging, aggressive deputies who gain more respect after being involved in a shooting, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation. The pamphlet is relatively short, sources said, and explains that deputies earn admission into the group through the endorsement of members.

The sources stressed that the internal affairs investigation is still in its early stages and that little is known about the Jump Out Boys' behavior or its membership.

Still, sheriff's officials are concerned that the group represents another unsanctioned clique within the department's ranks, a problem the department has been grappling with for decades.

Last year, the department fired a group of deputies who all worked on the third, or "3000," floor of Men's Central Jail, after the group fought two fellow deputies at an employee Christmas party and allegedly punched a female deputy in the face. Sheriff's officials later said the men had formed an aggressive "3000" clique that used gang-like three-finger hand signs. A former top jail commander told The Times that jailers would "earn their ink" by breaking inmates' bones.

Other cliques — with names like Grim Reapers, Little Devils, Regulators and Vikings —- have been accused of breeding a gang-like mentality in which deputies falsify police reports, perjure themselves and cover up misconduct.

The investigation into the Jump Out Boys is focused on the sheriff's Gang Enforcement Team. The unit is divided into two platoons of relatively autonomous deputies whose job it is to target neighborhoods where gang violence and intimidation area concern.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing, described parts of the memo to The Times. The pamphlet extols hard work and other positive virtues, but there is concern that some of the language conflicts with department expectations.

Most notably, sources said, was a positive depiction of officer-involved shootings. A distinction is made, sources said, between cops who have and cops who have not been involved in shootings.

But the attitude is troubling because officer-involved shootings, even those that are within policy, are expected by the department to be treated as events of last resort. Sheriff's officials have warned against forming rogue subgroups because they threaten to stress allegiance to the clique and subvert loyalty to the department and its policies.

Sheriff Lee Baca's spokesman said the department is taking the issue seriously, and detectives are gathering evidence and conducting interviews.

"We're going to be looking at this right now, but it really could be a fantasy, something that's not true but right now we're going to find out exactly what is and what isn't and that will determine what our next step is," spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Whitmore declined to discuss details of the investigation or the contents of the document. Asked about the language that portrays shootings in a positive light, he said, "The last thing anybody wants to do in law enforcement is shoot a weapon."

Whitmore said Baca understands that deputies might bond and form social groups with close co-workers but prohibits cliques when "it does not embrace the integrity to do what is right."

Historically, within the Sheriff's Department, the groups have been tied to patrol stations. In one instance, a federal judge called one of those groups, the Lynwood Vikings, a "neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang" that had engaged in racially motivated hostility. As part of a 1996 settlement, the county agreed to retrain deputies to prevent such conduct and pay $7.5 million to compensate victims of alleged abuses.

Affiliation with such groups reaches the highest levels of the department, all the way up to Baca's second-in-command, Paul Tanaka, who the sheriff acknowledged in an interview last year still had his Vikings tattoo.

In February, The Times reported allegations that a supervisor inside the sheriff's Compton station aimed a gun at the head of a fellow sergeant, who alleged the threat was part of a vendetta motivated by ties to a secret deputy clique.

Maria Haberfeld, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who specializes in police ethics and training, said police subcultures can provide officers with much needed support in a dangerous job. But she said that closeness can become problematic.

"Solidarity is one of the main things of police subculture," she said, "so the closer the group, the higher the possibility that various cases of misconduct will be covered up."

robert.faturechi@latimes.com

What's the 420, dude? America celebrates Pot Day

What's the 420, dude? America celebrates Pot Day

By Michael Muskal

April 20, 2012, 10:10 a.m.

Dude! Today is a day of special significance and the appointed hour is 4:20 p.m. What it all means is on the tip of the tongue. Literally.

Welcome to April 20, a day that has come to mean a celebration of marijuana and a protest against the fact that its use, sale and possession are crimes. From the narrow streets of New York’s Greenwich Village to the open expanse of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, users will congregate to do their thing.

Perhaps the most notorious gathering will be at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where last year 10,000 people smoked at the same time. This year, the demonstration may be moved off-campus to avoid clashes with authorities. School officials have decided to close the campus to non-authorized visitors, the Associated Press reports, and were applying a smelly fertilizer to the quadrangle used for the demonstration.

Other protests are planned in Denver and Austin, Texas, where music legend and celebrated toker Willie Nelson will unveil a statute of himself. Or maybe it will be the other way around.

The festivities are scheduled to start at 4:20 p.m. locally. (April 20 was picked because it's 4/20 – at least in the American shorthand.) The number 420 has come to be connected to marijuana use, though exactly why is buried in the perfumed clouds of the past.

Among the current favorite theories is that the number honors a group of California teenagers who gathered in 1971 to find a lost marijuana crop (proving that treasure myths exist even in the counterculture, similar to the stories of El Dorado or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow). Another theory holds that the number was a police code for drug usage; still another suggests it memorializes the perfect time to light up as the work day winds down and the evening begins with its hot promise.

Whatever the origin, the effect of the day is real, as demonstrations have continued in recent years with legalization a goal.

California in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal use, though that definition can be awfully broad. (Just check out the Venice boardwalk on a golden day.) Sixteen states allow medical marijuana; two states -- Colorado and Washington -- are considering legalizing pot for recreational use.

The federal government has insisted that it will continue to enforce its anti-drug laws.

Just for the record, Pot Day is not the only numerical based commemoration. There is also Pi Day, March 14, in honor of the mathematical function valued at 3.14...

University of Colorado tries to shut down free speech on 420 day!!!

Source

School officials hope stench kills pot rally

Apr. 20, 2012 10:24 AM

Associated Press

DENVER -- The pungent smell of pot that blankets a popular quadrangle at the University of Colorado-Boulder every April 20 is being replaced by the stench of fish-based fertilizer Friday as administrators try to stamp out one of the nation's largest annual campus celebrations of marijuana.

After more than 10,000 people -- students and non-students -- attended last year's marijuana rally on Norlin Quadrangle, university officials decided this year to apply the stinky fertilizer to the quad to deter pot-smokers. They're also closing the campus Friday to all unauthorized visitors and offering a free campus concert by Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean timed to coincide with the traditional 4:20 p.m. pot gathering. His contract bars him from making any direct references to marijuana, other drugs or to 4/20.

The measures pit Colorado's flagship university, which has tired of its reputation as a top party school, against thousands who have assembled, flash mob-style, each year to demand marijuana's legalization or simply to have a good time.

With more than 30,000 students, Colorado was named the nation's top party school in 2011 by Playboy magazine. The campus also repeatedly ranks among the top schools for marijuana use, according to a "Reefer Madness" list conducted by The Princeton Review.

"We don't consider this a protest. We consider this people smoking pot in the sunshine," said university spokesman Bronson Hilliard. "This is a gathering of people engaging in an illegal activity."

"I do not see any justification for the university shutting it down," said student organizer Daniel Ellis Schwartz, who contends the measures infringe on First Amendment rights to protest. Schwartz, a physics major, and other supporters of the 4/20 smoke out plan to move it to a nearby park off-campus. He suggests there also will be some form of off-campus protest against the measures.

"We do have to play a game of chess with the authorities," Schwartz said.

Cynthia Hardey, who works in the library on the quad, thinks the university is overreacting and said the event would go by largely unnoticed if not for the crackdown.

"You know, I go home, they got the pot in the air, big deal. Next day everything is forgotten. But now they're making a big thing about it, and this is going down in history. So we're having police state tactics here for what? Because a couple of people want to protest the laws, these pot laws? I don't get it," said Hardey, a library technician.

Many students at the University of Colorado and other campuses across the country have long observed 4/20. The counterculture observation is shared by marijuana users from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to New York's Greenwich Village.

In Austin, Texas, country music legend Willie Nelson, who's open about his marijuana use, was expected to help unveil an 8-foot statue of himself in downtown Austin at 4:20 p.m. local time on Friday.

The number 420 has been associated with marijuana use for decades, though its origins are murky. Its use as code for marijuana spread among California pot users in the 1960s and spread nationwide among followers of the Grateful Dead.

Like most counterculture slang, theories abound on its origin. Some say it was once police code in Southern California to denote marijuana use (probably an urban legend). It was a title number for a 2003 California bill about medical marijuana, an irony fully intended.

Others trace it to a group of California teenagers who would meet at 4:20 p.m. to search for weed (a theory as elusive as the outdoor cannabis crop they were seeking). Yet the code stuck for obvious reasons: Authorities and nosy parents didn't know what it meant.

In Colorado, recent 4/20 observations have blossomed alongside the state's medical marijuana industry. Approved by Colorado voters in 2000, medical marijuana boomed after federal authorities signaled in 2009 they would pursue higher-level drug crimes. All marijuana is illegal under federal law, though Colorado voters this November will consider a ballot measure to legalize it for recreational use by adults over 21.

A larger rally is planned for Denver near the state capitol on Friday and Saturday. Police have suggested they'll be taking a hands-off approach to the gathering, which could draw tens of thousands of people, said chief organizer Miguel Lopez.

Others are rebelling against the gatherings.

In Colorado, several high schools across the state are hosting drug-free events on Friday. The University of Colorado's student government supports the university's anti-4/20 actions this year. And other Colorado students created a Facebook campaign urging their colleagues to wear formal clothing to school on Friday to repudiate the party-school reputation.

Campus police officers will be stationed at school entrances, allowing in only those with university IDs or permission. Anyone on campus without proper ID could be ticketed for trespassing, which carries a maximum $750 fine and up to six months in jail, said campus police spokesman Ryan Huff.

Anyone caught smoking on campus will be ticketed, just as they would any other day, Huff said. That includes anyone with a medical marijuana card, which requires that consumption be in private.

As ground crews applied the fertilizer early Friday, numbers were put up on light poles around the quad to help police keep track of potential problems. Signs were also posted warning trespassers they will be prosecuted.

Philosophy major Julian Hirschbaum said it smelled like "somebody cut up a bunch of fish" and watered it.

"It's pretty gross," he said.

Off campus, Boulder police could also issue tickets for people smoking pot, and the Colorado State Patrol will be watching for any motorists under the influence, Huff said.

"This is not about the war on drugs. It isn't even about marijuana per se," insisted Hilliard, the university spokesman. "Ten thousand to 12,000 (people) doing anything in the academic heart of the campus would be a problem."

Mike Tyson says he got prison official pregnant

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Mike Tyson says he got prison official pregnant

Apr. 20, 2012 01:07 PM

Bang Showbiz

Mike Tyson claims to have gotten a prison officer pregnant when he was in jail.

The 45-year-old retired boxer - who served three years of a six-year prison sentence for rape in 1992 and returned to jail for nine months in 1998 following a road rage conviction - revealed the woman in question did not have the child, but he refused to elaborate on any other details.

Asked by ESPN host Rick Reilly what he has left out of his one-man show 'Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth', he said: ''I didn't talk about getting a prison official pregnant.

''Oh yeah. In prison, stuff happens. But she had no baby.''

Former heavyweight champion Mike - who has eight children - also discussed the many drugs he used to take, describing the substances, both legal and prescription, as his ''little friends''.

He said: ''I just liked morphine, but I had to take a lot of it because it didn't stay in your system for a long time.

''And I'd have my cocaine, and I had my marijuana, and I had my Cialis and Viagra and my little friends all sitting there.''

Celebrating 'Weed Day' (4/20) with George Will

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Celebrating 'Weed Day' (4/20) with George Will

Today, 4/20, is the unofficial, underground (although not since the Internet) holiday celebrating marijuana use.

The exact origin of the “420” reference is somewhat obscured by all the smoke, but the number has become enough a part of American pop culture that when California passed its medical marijuana law the bill was listed at SB420.

In honor of what some call “Weed Day” I thought I’d provide a link to long-time conservative columnist George Will, who in a column earlier this month seems to be arguing in favor of legalizing drugs. (There’s always a little hedging of the bets.)

Will points to a study that says, among other things, that “imprisoning low-ranking street-corner dealers is pointless: A $200 transaction can cost society $100,000 for a three-year sentence. And imprisoning large numbers of dealers produces an army of people who, emerging from prison with blighted employment prospects, can only deal drugs.”

See the entire column here.

The cost and ineffectiveness of our “war on drugs” along with the success of medical marijuana initiatives around the country are advancing the argument for legalization, but ever so slowly. Meantime the cartels continue to rake in the billions.

It doesn’t make sense and, logically, we’d ask ourselves if the benefits of legalization now outweigh public health concerns. But logic has little to do with a discussion about drugs, which most often is dominated by politics and “morality.”

Still, even old George concludes, “So it is not unreasonable to consider modifying a policy that gives hundreds of billions of dollars a year to violent organized crime.”

Source

Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?

By George F. Will, Published: April 11

Amelioration of today’s drug problem requires Americans to understand the significance of the 80-20 ratio. Twenty percent of American drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20 split obtains among users of illicit drugs.

About 3 million people — less than 1 percent of America’s population — consume 80 percent of illegal hard drugs. Drug-trafficking organizations can be most efficiently injured by changing the behavior of the 20 percent of heavy users, and we are learning how to do so. Reducing consumption by the 80 percent of casual users will not substantially reduce the northward flow of drugs or the southward flow of money.

Consider current policy concerning the only addictive intoxicant currently available as a consumer good — alcohol. America’s alcohol industry, which is as dependent on the 20 percent of heavy drinkers as they are on alcohol, markets its products aggressively and effectively. Because marketing can drive consumption, America’s distillers, brewers and vintners spend $6 billion on advertising and promoting their products. Americans’ experience with marketing’s power inclines them to favor prohibition and enforcement over legalization and marketing of drugs.

But this choice has consequences: More Americans are imprisoned for drug offenses or drug-related probation and parole violations than for property crimes. And although America spends five times more jailing drug dealers than it did 30 years ago, the prices of cocaine and heroin are 80 to 90 percent lower than 30 years ago.

In “Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know,” policy analysts Mark Kleiman, Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken argue that imprisoning low-ranking street-corner dealers is pointless: A $200 transaction can cost society $100,000 for a three-year sentence. And imprisoning large numbers of dealers produces an army of people who, emerging from prison with blighted employment prospects, can only deal drugs. Which is why, although a few years ago Washington, D.C., dealers earned an average of $30 an hour, today they earn less than the federal minimum wage ($7.25).

Dealers, a.k.a. “pushers,” have almost nothing to do with initiating drug use by future addicts; almost every user starts when given drugs by a friend, sibling or acquaintance. There is a staggering disparity between the trivial sums earned by dealers who connect the cartels to the cartels’ customers and the huge sums trying to slow the flow of drugs to those street-level dealers. Kleiman, Caulkins and Hawken say that, in developed nations, cocaine sells for about $3,000 per ounce — almost twice the price of gold. And the supply of cocaine, unlike that of gold, can be cheaply and quickly expanded. But in the countries where cocaine and heroin are produced, they sell for about 1 percent of their retail price in the United States. If cocaine were legalized, a $2,000 kilogram could be FedExed from Colombia for less than $50 and sold profitably here for a small markup from its price in Colombia, and a $5 rock of crack might cost 25 cents. Criminalization drives the cost of the smuggled kilogram in the United States up to $20,000. But then it retails for more than $100,000.

People used to believe enforcement could raise prices but doubted that higher prices would decrease consumption. Now they know consumption declines as prices rise but wonder whether enforcement can substantially affect prices.

Kleiman, Caulkins and Hawken urge rethinking the drug-control triad of enforcement, prevention and treatment because we have been much too optimistic about all three.

And cartels have oceans of money for corrupting enforcement because drugs are so cheap to produce and easy to renew. So it is not unreasonable to consider modifying a policy that gives hundreds of billions of dollars a year to violent organized crime.

Marijuana probably provides less than 25 percent of the cartels’ revenue. Legalizing it would take perhaps $10 billion from some bad and violent people, but the cartels would still make much more money from cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines than they would lose from marijuana legalization.

Sixteen states and the District have legalized “medical marijuana,” a messy, mendacious semi-legalization that breeds cynicism regarding law. In 1990, 24 percent of Americans supported full legalization. Today, 50 percent do. In 2010, in California, where one-eighth of Americans live, 46 percent of voters supported legalization, and some opponents were marijuana growers who like the profits they make from prohibition of their product.

Would the public health problems resulting from legalization be a price worth paying for injuring the cartels and reducing the costs of enforcement? We probably are going to find out.

georgewill@washpost.com

The Holiday for Fans of Liberalized Marijuana Laws

The Holiday for Fans of Liberalized Marijuana Laws

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: April 20, 2012

Despite a buzz-killing backdrop of federal raids and local crackdowns, marijuana fans celebrated their high holiday on Friday in all the traditional ways: smoking, speaking out and — no doubt — snacking.

Demonstrators in Oakland, Calif., rallied to support the legalization of marijuana.

Known as 4/20, the annual April 20th pot party has been celebrated for decades at lazy, hazy rock shows, pungent backyard barbecues and untold numbers of air freshener-challenged dorm rooms. But this year, 4/20 comes at a time both pleasant and paranoia-inducing in the pro-marijuana movement, a good-news, bad-news mindbender that mirrors some people’s experience of being on the drug.

On one hand, see, sometimes it seems as if the American people want to embrace marijuana, with some polls suggesting a growing acceptance of the drug’s use — medically and otherwise — and voters in Colorado and Washington scheduled to vote on legalization in the fall. All of which could be really cool, supporters say.

Unless, of course, it’s not. Antidrug groups have lambasted 4/20 as a gateway event to illegal drug use, and several declared Friday as a day to “Take Back 4/20,” which has its roots in a foggy 1970s ritual involving a group of Northern California teenagers who liked to smoke marijuana at 4:20 p.m.

Opponents have also lately been cheered by an increased enforcement effort by federal officials, who still view marijuana as illegal despite more than a dozen states allowing medical use of the drug.

Nowhere has that pushback been stronger than in Oakland, Calif., where federal drug agents recently raided Oaksterdam University, a cannabis industry training school that had been at the forefront of failed ballot effort in 2010 to legalize in California. Earlier this week, its founder, Richard Lee, announced his retirement, and officials say they are “on life support.”

Still, on Friday, many there were also on something else.

“Today is like being Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” said Wade O’Connor, an activist and Oaksterdam alumnus who took ample tokes from a blown-glass pipe in the school’s student union.

At the University of Colorado, Boulder, which boasts one of the largest pro-marijuana celebrations in the country, school officials decided to close the campus to outsiders for the day, amid concerns that 4/20 crowds — which have numbered in the thousands in the past — would get disruptive.

“We’ve had complaints from people with respiratory issues, pregnant women, students who are simply trying to get to class, faculty who are trying to teach,” said Bronson Hilliard, a university spokesman.

Going one step further, officials also decided to coat the Norlin Quad on Friday, where 4/20 gatherings have unfolded in the past, with a fish-based fertilizer, resulting in a briny stench. All of which had seemingly had a deterrent effect on students like Tom Ronat, though a handful were arrested for crossing roped-off areas.

“It just seems way too extreme,” Mr. Ronat said.

Like all holidays, 4/20 has taken on a distinctly commercial feel in some quarters. Concerts by pot-friendly musicians like Willie Nelson and the group Cypress Hill were planned for April 20, as was the opening of a documentary on Bob Marley, considered a patron saint of cannabis aficionados. At Harborside Health Center in Oakland, a popular marijuana dispensary, salespeople were offering deals on ounces of the drug, as well as free mugs and T-shirts for buyers.

Others had brought their own costumes. Steve DeAngelo, the dispensary’s founder and executive director, said he dressed as a sailor for the holiday because “we’re sailing through troubled waters,” adding that recent federal raids had transformed “a day of celebration into a day of resistance.”

For all that bummed-out rhetoric, Stephen Gutwillig, the deputy executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which lobbies for more liberal drug laws, said they would eventually carry the day, especially as younger voters make their voices heard.

“That’s what’s taking more and more people into the streets every 4/20,” he said.

Which is just fine by David Evans, a special adviser to the Drug Free America Foundation, which opposes legalization.

“If a bunch of dopers want to sit around getting high, that’s fine,” Mr. Evans said. “It only makes our case that that is what it’s all about.”

That said, groups in favor of legalization seem to have made strides over the years in distancing themselves from the movement’s sometimes grungy past. In Richmond, Va., for example, about 300 people came to the city’s Monroe Park for a rally organized by a local chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. And while there was a fair share of sandals and shorts, the event also attracted people like Kirby Myers, a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration and one of many gray-haired attendees.

He drove about 95 miles from his home in Springfield, Va., because he believes “the drug war is a misguided program and an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money.”

But would he partake?

Oh no.

“I’m a beer drinker,” he said.

Lisa A. Bacon, Dan Frosch and Carol Pogash contributed reportin

US soldiers in Afghanistan investigated for drug use

Source

In Afghanistan, dozens of US soldiers have been investigated for drug use in last 2 years

By Lolita C. Baldor

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army has investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan on suspicion of using or distributing heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011, newly obtained data shows. Eight soldiers died of drug overdoses during that time.

While the cases represent just a slice of possible drug use by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, they provide a sombre snapshot of the illicit trade in the war zone, including young Afghans peddling heroin, soldiers dying after mixing cocktails of opiates, troops stealing from medical bags and Afghan soldiers and police dealing drugs to their U.S. comrades.

In a country awash with poppy fields that provide up to 90 per cent of the world's opium, the U.S. military struggles to keep an eye on its far-flung troops and monitor for substance abuse.

But U.S. Army officials say that while the presence of such readily available opium — the raw ingredient for heroin — is a concern, opiate abuse has not been a pervasive problem for troops in Afghanistan.

"We have seen sporadic cases of it, but we do not see it as a widespread problem, and we have the means to check," said Col. Tom Collins, an Army spokesman.

The data represents only the criminal investigations done by Army Criminal Investigation Command involving soldiers in Afghanistan during those two years. The cases, therefore, are just a piece of the broader drug use statistics released by the Army earlier this year reporting nearly 70,000 drug offences by roughly 36,000 soldiers between 2006-2011. The number of offences increased from about 9,400 in 2010 to about 11,200 in 2011.

The overdose totals for the two years, however, are double the number that the Defence Department has reported as drug-related deaths in Afghanistan for the last decade. Defence officials suggested that additional deaths may have been categorized as "other" or were still under investigation when the statistics were submitted.

The data was requested by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and obtained by The Associated Press. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have not yet responded to the request for similar information. The Army reports blacked out the names of the soldiers who were under investigation as well any resolution of their cases or punishments they may have received.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the numbers signal the need for the military leadership to be more vigilant about watching and warning troops in Afghanistan about drug abuse. He said the worry is that "the danger, including the danger of dying, hasn't been fully acknowledged by the military and it needs to be."

Army officials say they do random drug testing through the service and the goal is that every soldier is tested at least once a year. Top Army leaders have said they have not met that goal, but have been working steadily to substantially increase the number of those tested each year.

The officials also say the Army's Criminal Investigative Division has quarterly drug statistics that show that drug use by troops in Afghanistan is not greater than that of troops in installations back in the United States and there is less of a variance in drugs used by troops in Afghanistan.

According to Army data, an average of 1.38 million urine samples have been tested annually over the past five years, while an annual average of 106,000 soldiers were not tested at all. Officials said that regular testing is even more difficult in the war zone because the testing facilities are often far away.

The cases reflect a broad range of incidents, describing accidental overdoses as well as soldiers buying drugs from Afghan troops, stealing morphine from medical aid bags or, in some cases, taking steroids, using drugs prescribed to someone else or taking medications long after their prescriptions had expired.

In one overdose case, a member of the Kentucky National Guard was found dead of "acute heroin toxicity" at his Afghanistan base after a soldier, also in the Kentucky Guard, bought heroin from a civilian contractor and used it with him. The report found that he also had morphine and codeine in his system.

Others more often involved soldiers who were found dead and were later determined to have taken a mix of prescription and other opiate drugs.

The nonlethal cases range from a soldier failing a random drug test to more organized abuse.

In one case, seven members of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division were found to have smoked hashish and/or ingested heroin numerous times, including some bought from members of the Afghan Army and police. The investigation found that one other brigade soldier acted as a lookout while others used the drugs.

Opium is a key revenue source in Afghanistan, both for the farmers and the insurgency, which can make money selling, transporting or processing the drugs. According to a U.N. report, revenue from opium production in Afghanistan soared by 133 per cent in 2011, to about $1.4 billion, or about one-tenth of the country's GDP.

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Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.

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Follow Lolita C. Baldor on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lbaldor

Prescription pot for EVERYONE!

Source

E.J. Montini's Columns & Blog

Prescription pot for EVERYONE!

The state health department has received a number of suggestions for additional medical conditions that petitioners believe should be covered by the voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.

According to the director of the state Department of Health Services, Will Humble, "At this point, it's just a hearing process - it doesn't mean we're approving these. Our medical review team thought they had at least provided enough evidence to warrant a hearing (on the four conditions), but that's very different from an approval." [I suspect Will Humble is lying thru his teeth on this and will do everything possible to prevent any more legal uses for medical marijuana regardless of what the facts are. I don't know if Will Humble hates marijuana on his own, or if he is acting as a puppet for Arizona Government Jan Brewer who is doing everything possible to throw a monkey wrench into Arizona's medical marijuana laws!]

Among the conditions under consideration are depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and migraines.

Since any engaged citizen of our beautiful desert oasis would experience ALL of these ailments simply by paying attention to state politics, I would hope the health department approves them for medical marijuana.

Doing so also would eliminate some of the bureaucratic red tape. That those who are looking to purchase prescription pot in Arizona no longer would first need to go through the process of registering with the state and gaining approval as a medical marijuana patient.

A voter registration card will (doobie) do.

Expansion of Arizona's medical marijuana program debated

Source

Expansion of Arizona's medical marijuana program debated

State is considering allowing four new medical conditions for pot use

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Apr. 23, 2012 10:49 AM

The Republic | azcentral.com

William Humble Drug War Tyrant

Jan Brewer Drug War Tyrant

State health officials are considering whether they should add depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and migraines as "debilitating conditions," which would allow people to legally use medical pot.

Arizona would become the only state in the nation to allow medical marijuana for anxiety and depression, said Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services, which oversees the medical-marijuana program. [That is a lie! California allows medical marijuana for almost anything including headaches!]

He said New Mexico is the only state that actively allows medical pot for post-traumatic stress disorder. [Another Will Humble lie! California allows medical marijuana for almost anything including headaches!]

The voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act requires the state health department to periodically accept and evaluate petitions to allow new medical conditions into the program.

"At this point, it's just a hearing process - it doesn't mean we're approving these," Humble said. "Our medical review team thought they had at least provided enough evidence to warrant a hearing (on the four conditions), but that's very different from an approval." [I am not a psychic, but I suspect drug war tyrant Will Humble will reject all these new applications for medical marijuana.]

Health officials received numerous petitions from people who suffer from a condition, as well people who care for those who have a condition, said Laura Oxley, a spokeswoman for the health department.

The health department is now conducting an online survey to allow public comment. On May 25, the health department will hold a hearing for the public to weigh in on adding the four conditions to the program.

Ultimately, Humble will make the decision whether or not to add the conditions, he said. His decision can be appealed through a judicial review. [Again I suspect drug war tyrant Will Humble will reject all these new applications for medical marijuana. You don't have to be a psychic to predict that, Will Humble and his boss Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will do anything they can to prevent the people of Arizona from using medical marijuana]

To add a medical condition, Humble said petitioners must prove that symptoms impair daily life, submit evidence that medical pot will provide relief, and submit recent articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals that show marijuana helps treat the conditions, among other things.

If PTSD is added to the medical-marijuana program, Humble predicts it alone could add 15,000 to 20,000 new patients.

Arizona's medical-marijuana program was created in 2010 after voters passed a law that allows people with certain debilitating medical conditions to use pot.

They must register with the state, which issues identification cards to qualified patients and caregivers. Under the law, the state will set up and regulate up to 126 dispensaries. Health officials will accept dispensary applications May 14 through May 25.

Since marijuana was legalized for medicinal use, more than 22,200 people have received permission to smoke, eat or otherwise ingest it to ease their ailments.

Of those, nearly three-quarters are men, and nearly 85 percent of all patients have requested to grow their own cannabis. Officials denied nine applications.

People ages 31 to 50 make up the largest group of patients using the drug to counter illness, representing 40 percent of all medical-marijuana users. Those 51 to 81 account for more than 35 percent of patients, while 18- to 30-year-olds make up about 25 percent. People younger than 18 represent less than 1 percent.

The overwhelming majority of medical-pot users reported chronic pain as their medical condition, while muscle spasms also were high on the list, health officials reported. Other ailments include hepatitis C, cancer and seizures.

More people are arrested for victimless drug war crimes then real crimes.

Source

Marshals roundup nets more than 200 fugitives

by JJ Hensley - Apr. 23, 2012 09:15 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Life on the run came to an end for more than 200 fugitives arrested last week during the U.S. Marshals Service's annual roundup, which drew hundreds of personnel from 30 law-enforcement agencies to target felons.

The majority of warrants cleared in the operation -- more than 100 -- were for individuals wanted on drug-related charges, but taking those offenders into custody also likely reduces other crime in the community, said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

"While these fugitives are out and about trying to avoid being held accountable for other criminal conduct, they're committing new offenses," Montgomery said. "What we see with respect to the majority of repeat felony offenders is their offenses also include some degree of drug offenses. "

In addition to the drug-related fugitives, investigators arrested seven sex offenders and six robbery suspects, cleared 14 assault warrants and confiscated 16 weapons.

The seven sex offenders included Robert Cummings, 25, who was arrested Thursday in Buckeye after investigators discovered he was wanted in California in connection with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

"(Arresting) sex offenders, especially on children, is a top priority for me," said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona. "(Apprehending) people that prey on the meek and are violent are satisfying not just to me, but for all of us here. All these individuals who were arrested, it's gratifying."

The roundups are designed to coincide with National Crime Victims' Rights Week, but a number of agencies have also spent the past several years addressing the number of felons walking Valley streets on any given day.

The number of open felony warrants in Maricopa County has hovered around 40,000 for years, but agencies have inspected that list to eliminate duplicate or expired warrants and any issued for fugitives who have since died.

Those administrative efforts have combined with enforcement to bring the total number of open felony warrants down to 29,600, according to the Sheriff's Office.

With tens of thousands of felons in the county, last week's roundup helped investigators focus on some of the worst offenders, said Assistant Phoenix Police Chief Tracy Montgomery.

But with Superior Courts issuing about 19,000 warrants each month, it will take the agencies working together throughout the year to continue reducing the number of felons on the loose, Gonzales said. "We have a lot more work to do, there's no question about it."

Feds want to lock up accused criminals indefinitely

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Justice Dept. says predator law covers non-violent offenders

By Brad Heath, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is asking federal courts to let it cast a wider net in its effort to indefinitely lock up accused sexual predators, urging judges to detain men who have never been convicted of sexual assaults.

By law, the government can detain sex offenders after their prison sentences end if it can prove that they have a serious mental illness and have molested children or committed other "sexually violent" crimes. In court filings, government lawyers have argued that the law also applies to men who have been convicted of crimes that did not result in physical harm, including threatening phone calls and exhibitionism. If courts agree, those men could remain in federal prison until psychologists say they are safe to set free.

Critics fear the government's interpretation would give Justice Department lawyers and prison psychologists too much power to decide who should be kept in custody. "This is the government exercising its most awesome power based on very, very vaguely worded standards," said Eric Janus, a law professor who has studied civil commitment laws.

That system is already under scrutiny. A USA TODAY investigation in March found that the department's effort to lock up accused predators has been beset by long delays and questionable medical determinations that kept dozens of men incarcerated for as long as five years even though they did not meet the requirements for detention.

Next month, Justice Department lawyers will ask an appeals court in Richmond, Va., to find that a man who made obscene telephone calls in which he threatened to rape and murder random women fits the definition of someone who committed "sexually violent" conduct.

Government lawyers have also asked a federal judge in North Carolina to find that a man who exposed himself to children in a supermarket met the law's definition of "child molestation."

In another case last month, the department convinced a federal judge that alcohol dependence and drug abuse are illnesses serious enough to justify civil commitment.

Few of the 20 states that have their own civil commitment systems expressly allow detention for such "hands-off" crimes.

The Justice Department declined to comment. The department's prison psychologists objected to such a broad interpretation, in part because of fears that "it would result in reviewing people who didn't need to be certified," said Anthony Jimenez, the former head of the civil commitment system.

Sexual predators rarely committed under Justice program

Sexual predators rarely committed under Justice program

By Brad Heath, USA TODAY

Updated 3/19/2012 11:34 AM

BUTNER, N.C. – Inside the sprawling federal prison here is a place the government reserves for the worst of the worst — sexual predators too dangerous to be set free.

Six years ago, the federal government set out to indefinitely detain some of the nation's most dangerous sex offenders, keeping them locked up even after their prison sentences had ended.

But despite years of effort, the government has so far won court approval for detaining just 15 men.

Far more often, men the U.S.Justice Department branded as "sexually dangerous" predators remained imprisoned here for years without a mandatory court hearing before the government was forced to let them go, a USA TODAY investigation has found. The Justice Department has either lost or dropped its cases against 61 of the 136 men it sought to detain. Some were imprisoned for more than four years without a trial before they were freed.

Dozens of others are still waiting for their day in court. They remain in a prison unit where authorities and former detainees said explicit drawings of children are commonplace, but where few of the men have received any treatment for the disorders that put them there.

Despite that, neither the Justice Department nor other watchdog agencies have offered any public assessment of how well the federal civil commitment law works.

For this investigation, USA TODAY reviewed all 136 cases that have been brought to court, drawing on thousands of pages of legal filings and dozens of interviews with attorneys, psychologists and former detainees.

The outcomes documented by that review have raised questions about a system meant to control men too seriously ill to control themselves. A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., has already called delays in bringing the men to trial "troubling," and suggested that they could raise concerns about the detainees' constitutional right to due process. And Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., one of the law's key supporters, said "there will be somebody who will have to answer" for them.

"We need to be very, very careful in a free society about a system in which a group of people can make statements that result in someone being deprived of their liberty for a future crime," said Fred Berlin, the director of the Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. "If it's going to be done, it has to be done in a just and fair manner."

Many of the men the government sought to detain have been found guilty of molesting children or brutal sexual assaults. One killed a woman . U.S. Bureau of Prisons psychologists certified that the men also suffer from mental abnormalities making them "sexually dangerous," a determination that keeps them locked up while their cases are reviewed. By law, a federal judge must ultimately decide whether the government can prove the inmate is too dangerous to be released.

But in case after case, those determinations have come into question. In at least two cases, the government could not prove the men had committed crimes serious enough to justify committing them. Others had not been found guilty of a "hands-on" sex offense in decades. Some psychological assessments failed to fully account for men's ages, a key factor when assessing risk.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, Chris Burke, said officials certify inmates as dangerous after "careful assessments by mental health professionals."

Anthony Jimenez, a psychologist who ran the commitment system for the Bureau of Prisons in 2007 and 2008, said officials had little time to prepare when Congress instructed them to start sifting out the most dangerous offenders as part of a broader crackdown on sex crimes. Some prison psychologists they turned to had no experience doing those types of reviews, he said.

"It was rushed, and initially, I believe, quality probably suffered," he said. About the documents

To investigate the 136 civil commitment cases the U.S. Justice Department has filed so far, USA TODAY reviewed thousands of pages of court documents and other public records. About 290 of the documents are published online with this story. Those documents offer important information about the government’s reasons for declaring that people are “sexually dangerous” and the reasons many of the men were ultimately released.

Wherever possible, USA TODAY redacted from those documents the names and other identifying details of victims of sex crimes. It did so because the newspaper has a long-standing practice of not naming the victims of sex crimes. Some of the documents also include graphic language describing sexual conduct.

'Totally haphazard and inconsistent'

Sean Francis was in prison for a series of graphic phone calls in 2008 when psychologists first considered committing him as sexually dangerous. On the phone, Francis had threatened to rape and murder female college students in three states, sometimes offering chilling details about whom they lived with or the car one woman drove , according to court records. He also had been accused of raping a college student years earlier, though he was not arrested and has never been charged with a sexual assault.

The prison officials who reviewed his case decided he didn't meet the legal criteria for detention as a sexual predator, and he was released from prison. In 2009, Francis was arrested and sent back to prison for violating the terms of his probation , which prohibited him from viewing pornography.

His probation officer told prison officials , "I don't see how your office could draw any conclusion other than civil commitment," according to court records. Worst of the worst

The number of people certified as “sexually dangerous” by federal prison officials, subject to review by a federal judge:

Psychologists looked at his case again and certified him as sexually dangerous .

Francis' attorneys said they never understood what had changed. "It was totally haphazard and inconsistent," one of Francis' attorneys, Woody Webb, said. Whatever it was, it was enough that Francis was moved to Butner's sex offender unit, where he said he passed the days sleeping late, crocheting and listening to an AM/FM radio.

"I don't look in the mirror and say I'm proud of who I see," Francis, now 33, said last month. "But I didn't belong in there."

In late January, two years after he arrived at Butner, a federal court agreed.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle questioned in a written order whether the government could prove Francis had ever committed the "sexually violent conduct" the law requires as a prerequisite to detaining someone, and said the Justice Department hadn't proved he was dangerous. The Justice Department has appealed.

Two weeks later, guards summoned Francis and another inmate over a loudspeaker, told them to collect their belongings and gave them bus tickets home. Francis took the bus to the New York City suburbs, where he moved in with his father and stepmother and found a job.

Francis said he's trying to keep a low profile. He's required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet, which he hides under his sock. Despite the federal government's effort to detain him indefinitely as a "sexually dangerous person," under New York law, he isn't required to register as a sex offender.

Never making it to trial

About 2,000 people a year end up in federal prison for sex crimes, but only the most dangerous qualify for commitment.

To successfully commit a person, government attorneys have to prove three things: First, that he molested a child or committed a violent sex crime; second, that he has a mental disorder; and third, that his illness means he will have "serious difficulty" refraining from new sex crimes if freed.

The last step is the hardest, in part because studies have repeatedly found that most sex offenders are never convicted of another sex crime.

In the 1980s, a devastating series of studies suggested that psychologists' predictions about who was dangerous were no more reliable than a coin toss. So in the years that followed, researchers analyzed records on thousands of sex offenders, looking for the telltale markers that could identify groups of people most likely to re-offend. What they came up with is a lot like the system insurers use to figure out which types of people are most likely to have an accident.

Early on, Bureau of Prisons reviewers "just didn't have the same expertise" as outside psychologists in making those assessments, said Amy Phenix, a California psychologist who helped train them. In some cases, outside experts — brought in to review the cases years later — concluded the inmates didn't belong in Butner, she said. "There were differences of opinion, and in some cases it was left up to the U.S. attorney to make decisions about what to do."

Still, even fellow detainees said they were surprised the day Andrew Galo walked out Butner's front gate.

Galo had been in prison for taking sexually explicit photographs of his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter when the Justice Department declared him too dangerous to release; before that, he had spent time in prison in Pennsylvania for sexually abusing two nephews, according to court records . "Everybody was shocked. It was like, why are they letting him out?" said Philip Katon, who spent three years at Butner before the government dropped his case, too.

At least 40 of the 136 commitment cases the government has brought so far — nearly one in three — ended when the Justice Department simply dismissed them. Frequently, it did so years after the men's criminal sentences had ended. In at least eight of those cases, court records show the government found other ways to keep the men locked up, but many of those convicted — including men with long track records of abusing children — simply went free.

The Justice Department would not comment on its reasons for dismissing particular cases. Spokesman Charles Miller said attorneys consider "the totality of the circumstances," including the person's "age, health status, change of circumstances, supervised release terms, family support and the opinions of all of the forensic experts."

In at least some of the cases, however, Justice Department attorneys conceded in court they simply didn't have enough evidence. Last year, for example, the department acknowledged that "a more detailed review" of its case against Wayne Hicks — who had then been detained since 2007 — showed that the government "will not be able to meet its burden." The Justice Department dismissed the case; Hicks went to live at a Raleigh, N.C., homeless shelter.

In another case last year, the Justice Department dropped its effort to commit Joseph Edwards, who had been convicted of hitting a girl over the head with a rock, dragging her down an embankment by her hair and raping her. Three years after he was detained at Butner, a prison psychologist told prosecutors she didn't think Edwards could be committed.

Six months later, the Justice Department dropped the case and let Edwards go.

Jimenez, the former head of the bureau's certification review process, said officials consulted with lawyers before declaring someone dangerous, but ultimately based decisions on their own clinical judgments — even when they weren't convinced the evaluations would hold up in court.

"It's not a willy-nilly, 'this guy looks like a bad guy' process," he said. "If we thought someone was really dangerous but there wasn't a strong legal case, we might very well still push it for the public interest.

"Hopefully justice is served in the end," he said.

On paper, Katon, too, seemed like a good candidate to be committed. Before he went to federal prison for lying about his criminal record on an application to buy a rifle, he had been found guilty of molesting a 26-year-old disabled woman in Vermont. Before that, he had been convicted of molesting his then-girlfriend's three children, and was accused of assaulting her cousin, according to court records . Past offenses alone cannot show whether someone is mentally ill or likely to commit new crimes but are often among the key considerations.

Katon arrived at Butner in 2008, months before he was supposed to be released; he said prison officials told him he was being moved there from a South Carolina prison as a steppingstone on his way back to Vermont. Two months later, he was certified as sexually dangerous. "It was actually scary to be there because you didn't know if you were going to stay or if they were going to release you. It's like everybody's thrown into a hat and they pick some people out. It's scary not knowing what they're going to do with you," he said.

His time at Butner ended as abruptly as it began. In August — after being detained for more than three years — the Justice Department dismissed its case against him and put him on a bus to Vermont, where he lives with his mother outside Burlington. He registered as a sex offender, but said he isn't required to wear a GPS monitoring device or avoid contact with children, something other men released from Butner have been required to do. His probation officer has given him permission to go to Upstate New York sometimes to play bingo.

The Justice Department has never explained publicly why it dropped the case.

"I've changed a lot," Katon said. His crimes "were just something that happened out of the blue, and will never happen again."

Cases fall apart in court

The government's determinations have fared little better before federal judges. Records show the Justice Department has lost more trials than it has won.

Its cases have crumbled because of weak evidence, faulty psychological evaluations and an inability to convince judges the detainees have mental conditions so serious they will find it difficult to not re-offend.

In December, for example, a judge in Raleigh rejected the government's attempts to commit Markis Revland. By law, the government can only commit someone who has molested a child or committed another violent sex crime. Revland's criminal record, though extensive, didn't seem to include either — he had been convicted on child pornography charges, and of public urination and indecent exposure. The government based its case instead in part on a staggering string of confessions Revland made during a prison-run treatment program: 149 victims .

Such confessions are often suspect. Some sex offenders volunteer for treatment programs in part to escape danger from fellow inmates. Courts have said those who don't admit to past crimes face the risk of being thrown out of the program.

Revland's confessions were especially problematic. According to the latest census, only about 114 children live in Revland's small Iowa town. Despite the shocking number of children he told psychologists he had abused, he had never been charged with sexual abuse. And many of the crimes he said he committed would have occurred when he was in state prison. Revland declined to be interviewed but testified he invented all 149 victims to satisfy his therapists because he feared he would be kicked out of the program and sent back to Leavenworth, Kan., where he said he had been violently attacked by other inmates .

Revland "would be the Charles Manson of child molesters if even a small portion of the 149 incidents had actually happened," U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman wrote in a December order freeing him. "And yet the government offered no evidence to independently verify that any of these incidents occurred or that any of them — even one — ever resulted in investigation or prosecution."

Even when the government can prove someone committed sex crimes, it has struggled to show he remains dangerous.

Andrew Swarm was first diagnosed as a pedophile more than a decade ago. He collected child pornography on the Internet, and molested at least three young girls, according to court records . But Swarm also seemed to go out of his way to get caught. He gave one 10-year-old girl he fantasized about what appeared to be an explicit drawing of himself, knowing she would give it to her parents . After he inappropriately touched an 11-year-old, he gave her a note warning that "I want to kiss and touch you in ways that I shouldn't. I need you to make sure I get help and don't have the chance to do this," according to court records.

Swarm said he agonized over his impulses. He tried to get treatment. He tried to get caught. He tried to castrate himself with rubber bands . "I don't go out and molest children. I've never done that," he said. "It was such a misery in the first place to have these feelings. It was a nightmare."

The government certified him as sexually dangerous in 2007. At the time, he was serving a four-month sentence in prison for violating his probation by not telling his probation officer quickly enough that a friend had briefly left him alone with a young child, and that another girl had climbed onto his lap while he was visiting relatives before he shooed her off.

"There was no harm, no foul," said the girl's father, whom USA TODAY agreed not to name to protect his daughter's privacy. He said he and his wife plan to ask Swarm's probation officer whether they can resume visiting him. "I honestly don't think he's dangerous," he said.

The judge who ultimately heard Swarm's commitment case — nearly four years after he was detained — agreed and released him .

Delays that span years

More than 40 other men have been waiting a year or longer to find out what a federal court will do with them.

The cases have dragged on in part because the Bureau of Prisons typically waited until the final weeks of their sentences to certify most of the men as dangerous, effectively guaranteeing they would remain incarcerated months or years longer. Burke, the prison system spokesman, said the agency "intends for the process to be completed well in advance of an inmate's scheduled release date." Jimenez said the Bureau of Prisons' policy was to make those decisions more than a year in advance so prisoners would know whether or not they are going home when their prison sentences end.

So far, the government has met that mark only once, though the three men it certified so far this year were closer to that goal. Since the law began, half of the men were certified within a week of when they were scheduled to be released, court records show. Fourteen were certified on the same day they were supposed to go home.

The hearings were delayed longer when a federal court in Raleigh ordered most of the cases be put on hold — sometimes before the men had been appointed lawyers — while legal challenges to the civil commitment law worked their way through courts. Lawyers for most of the detainees never challenged that decision. "It seemed like it had a low likelihood of success," said Eric Brignac, an attorney with the Federal Public Defender's office in Raleigh.

One of those challenges, brought on behalf of a man named Graydon Comstock and four others, reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010. The justices upheld the law, finding that Congress "has the constitutional power to act in order to protect nearby (and other) communities from the danger federal prisoners may pose." Their decision came 3½ years after Comstock — who had been convicted of possessing child pornography, and who had confessed to patronizing child prostitutes while working overseas — was first locked up as sexually dangerous in November 2006. It wasn't until then that the Justice Department and lawyers appointed to represent the five men started hiring experts to scrutinize the cases in anticipation of trials. That process took another year.

"Things take time," said former U.S. attorney George Holding. "These men are accused of being a threat to society, and the system has to play itself out."

It was November 2011 before a judge reviewed Comstock's case. By then, Comstock was 69 and had already suffered from prostate cancer, a heart attack and a stroke . His hearing in a federal courtroom in Raleigh lasted two days; when it was over, Judge Friedman concluded the government couldn't show he was dangerous and released him. Comstock moved in with his sister, a college English instructor, in Arkansas. Now, mainly, he tries not to be noticed.

"When I heard about this law, I assumed it was for the most dangerous people, and I assumed it wasn't me," Comstock said. "I said I wouldn't be convicted, and I wasn't. But it took six years to get there."

Courts, too, have expressed growing frustration at the delays.

"They're in it for four years and change," Judge Boyle complained last year during one court hearing . "There's no horizon. It's just darkness."

The federal court in Raleigh sped up the process this year, scheduling more cases for hearings. But there are still at least 26 men waiting for their cases to be decided who have now been locked up an additional three years by the civil commitment program. One man, Thomas Matherly, has awaited a trial since 2006; it's now scheduled for later this month. The delays have been so significant, at least two of the 15 men the government successfully committed have already gone home.

Miller said the Justice Department is "satisfied with the way these cases are now being expedited."

Though ostensibly locked up because they are mentally ill and in need of treatment, only a handful have enrolled in Butner's treatment program for sex offenders. Their lawyers urged them not to, because anything they tell their psychologists is likely to be used against them at trial .

That means those who are being released are going home with little help preparing for life outside prison. A few of the detainees found jobs within the prison: cooking, cleaning or working at a factory that makes eyeglasses for inmates, said another former detainee, Jeffrey Neuhauser. One detainee briefly taught a GED program.

'I don't think he can change'

At least nine of the men who were let go without being committed have been convicted of new crimes or have violated probation. Two were found guilty of felonies; another has agreed to plead guilty to a felony later this month.

Among them, Jay Abregana stands out. His record was already sordid when the government certified him as sexually dangerous — he had been convicted of mailing pictures of himself having oral sex with a teenage boy and of exposing himself to a 12-year-old in a movie theater. In prison, he was kicked out of a sex offender treatment program after he performed oral sex on five inmates. When he got out, he violated his probation by having "sexual contact " with a 17-year-old in a shopping mall bathroom, and using the Internet to reach out to three other boys , one just 10.

Psychologists certified that Abregana was sexually dangerous in 2007. In 2008, a federal judge ordered the government to release him , concluding the Justice Department couldn't prove his attraction to boys who had reached puberty was a sufficiently serious mental disorder, or that he would have "serious difficulty" not re-offending.

Abregana had been free for less than two years when he introduced himself to a 12-year-old boy he met at a video game store. Abregana bought the boy gifts in exchange for sex, according to court records and the boy's mother, whom USA TODAY agreed not to name to protect her son's privacy. He also recorded the abuse.

The boy's mother said she suspected something was wrong. One afternoon, she said, she found her son with a cellphone, something the single mother of five couldn't afford to buy him. Then she said she intercepted a text message from "Jay," asking her son to call before coming over.

"Why?" she wrote back.

Abregana wrote that his brother had just gotten out of jail, she said. Abregana's identical twin brother, Jed, has a sordid record of his own; he was convicted of sexual assault and spent time in federal prison for viewing child pornography . But the government had not certified him as sexually dangerous.

At first, the boy denied anything had happened. But the next morning, he came to her in tears and told her the truth, his mother said. She called the police. Abregana pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 20 years in state prison.

"I'm a firm believer that people can change," the mother said. "But I don't think he can change."

Now, she worries about her son, who's 13, in therapy and still gets teased about what happened by classmates and siblings. And she worries about Abregana, and whether 20 years in prison will be long enough to stop him from hurting someone else.

Contributing: Amanda Muscavage

Government causes kids to get drunk on hand sanitizer?

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A troubling trend in teens drinking hand sanitizer

By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times

April 24, 2012

Six teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms in the last few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer, worrying public health officials who say the cases could signal a dangerous trend.

Some of the teenagers used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink that is similar to a shot of hard liquor.

"All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager," said Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department and a medical toxicology consultant for Children's Hospital Los Angeles. "There is no question that it is dangerous."

Although there have been only a handful of cases, Rangan said the practice could easily become a larger problem. Bottles of hand sanitizer are inexpensive and accessible, and teenagers can find distillation instructions on the Internet.

"It is kind of scary that they go to that extent to get a shot of essentially hard liquor," Rangan said.

In addition to the teenagers who intentionally drank the sanitizer, younger children also have accidentally ingested it in the past.

The liquid hand sanitizer is 62% ethyl alcohol and makes a 120-proof liquid. A few drinks can cause a person's speech to slur and stomach to burn, and make people so drunk that they have to be monitored in the emergency room.

Doctors said this is the latest over-the-counter product that teenagers have adapted for a quick high. Teenagers have done the same with mouthwash, cough syrup and even vanilla extract.

"Over the years, they have ingested all sorts of things," said Helen Arbogast, injury prevention coordinator in the trauma program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. "Cough syrup had reached a very sexy point where young people were using it.... We want to be sure this doesn't take on the same trend."

The recent cases involving teenagers surprised doctors. There were no such cases last year. The incidents also raised concerns about the lack of awareness among parents of the risks linked to the popular hygiene product. Even small bottles contain highly concentrated alcohol.

If parents buy hand sanitizer, they should purchase the foam version rather than the gel type because it is harder to extract the alcohol and teenagers may be less likely to drink it, Arbogast said.

Parents also shouldn't leave hand sanitizer around the house and should monitor it like any other liquor or medicine. They should also watch for signs of intoxication, she said.

"When young people are actively and purposely ingesting it, that is when it becomes a real concern," she said.

anna.gorman@latimes.com

TSA screeners allegedly let drug-filled luggage through LAX for cash

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TSA screeners allegedly let drug-filled luggage through LAX for cash

April 25, 2012 | 1:08 pm

Four current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

The TSA screeners, who were arrested Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, allegedly received up to $2,400 in cash bribes in exchange for allowing large drug shipments to pass through checkpoints in what the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles called a “significant breakdown” of security.

In addition to the two current and two former screeners, prosecutors also indicted two alleged drug couriers and a third who allegedly tried to smuggle 11 pounds of cocaine but was nabbed when he went through the wrong security checkpoint.

The TSA employees “placed greed above the nation’s security needs,” Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement.

The 40-page indictment outlines five alleged smuggling incidents over a six-month period last year. In one incident, screeners schemed to allow for about eight pounds of methamphetamine to pass through security, then went to an airport restroom where he was handed $600, the second half of the payment for that delivery, according to prosecutors.

Briane Grey, acting special agent in charge of the DEA in Los Angeles, said the scheme was particularly reprehensible because it took place at LAX.

“The defendants traded on their positions at one the world’s most crucial airport security checkpoints, used their special access for criminal ends, and compromised the safety and security of their fellow citizens for their own profit,” he said in a statement.

The indicted screeners are Naral Richardson, 30, and Joy White, 27, who were both fired by TSA last year; and John Whitfield, 23, and Capeline McKinney, 25, both currently employed as screeners. All four have been taken into custody, and face up to life in prison if convicted.

The accused drug couriers are Duane Eleby, 28, who is expected to surrender, and Terry Cunningham and Stephen Bayliss, both 28, who are both at large.

The TSA’s security director at LAX said the agency was assisting with the investigation. “While these arrests are a disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the highest standards,” Randy Parsons said in a statement.

TSA screeners allegedly let drug couriers through LAX for cash

TSA screeners allegedly let drug couriers through LAX for cash

By Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times

April 26, 2012

The man with eight pounds of methamphetamine in his carry-on bag stood in the snaking security line at Los Angeles International Airport's Terminal 4, inching toward the checkpoint, when a TSA screener approached.

But it wasn't to stop the contraband, according to prosecutors. It was to make sure it got through.

The screener, John Whitfield, allegedly told the man to get to the back of the line so he and his luggage would get to the X-ray machines when Whitfield's shift started. That way, he would be the one watching the meth show up on screen; and in exchange for $1,200, Whitfield allowed it through, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Authorities filed trafficking and bribery charges against Whitfield and three other current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners, alleging that they received thousands of dollars in cash bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye on drugs packed in suitcases.

The case represents a "significant breakdown of the screening system," U.S. Atty Andre Birotte Jr. said in a statement, adding that the accused screeners "placed greed above the nation's security needs."

David Herzog, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, said the scheme had implications beyond drug trafficking.

"In this case it was narcotics; we want to make sure the next time it's not other dangerous materials," he said. Herzog added that all the drugs were seized before they left the airport.

The 40-page indictment details half a dozen incidents between January and July of 2011 in which the screeners allowed drug couriers or sources working with federal authorities to smuggle cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana into airport terminals to be taken onto outbound flights. Also charged in the indictment are three suspected drug couriers who are accused of bribing the screeners.

The alleged orchestrator was Naral Richardson, a 30-year-old former TSA employee, authorities said. Richardson, according to prosecutors, would arrange for the courier and the screener to meet ahead of time and give the screener a cellphone to be used to coordinate the "pass-through."

It was Richardson who prosecutors allege set up Whitfield's June 2011 plot. Whitfield allegedly asked Richardson if it would be "white girls" or "Green Bay Packers" he would be helping through security. Neither, he was told — it wasn't cocaine or marijuana, but "crystal," or methamphetamine.

The 23-year-old screener allegedly instructed the drug courier to say he had a pacemaker so that he would get a hand pat-down and eliminate the possibility of a random bag search. Once the eight pounds of methamphetamine had safely passed through, Whitfield allegedly met the drug courier in a bathroom and received his payment, the indictment states.

Another alleged pass-through ended as a foiled attempt. Screener Joy White allegedly gave a courier carrying about 11 pounds of cocaine instructions to come through her X-ray machine in Terminal 6, then walk through a secure tunnel to Terminal 5, where his flight was to depart, court documents show. The alleged courier, Duane Eleby, instead went through security at Terminal 5, and was promptly arrested when another TSA screener spotted the cocaine in his suitcase, authorities said. Eleby was later released.

At the time of their next job two weeks later, Richardson and White told a courier secretly working with the Drug Enforcement Administration that the last drug runner was "sitting in a jail cell because he had not only gone to the wrong lane, he had gone to the wrong terminal," the indictment alleged.

In a separate instance, screener Capeline McKinney, who wasn't operating an X-ray machine when a drug courier arrived at the checkpoint, opened up a new security lane for the courier and allowed through two bags with about 44 pounds of cocaine, prosecutors alleged.

An attorney for McKinney, Ellen Barry, said they were waiting to see what evidence the government turns over. Her client appeared in court Wednesday still in her TSA uniform, Barry said.

Although Whitfield and McKinney are currently employed as screeners, Richardson and White were previously terminated by the TSA for reasons unrelated to the trafficking and bribery case, according to authorities. All four have been taken into custody and face up to life in prison if convicted.

Eleby is expected to surrender to authorities Thursday. Of the other alleged drug couriers, Terry Cunningham remains at large and Stephen Bayliss is in state custody.

The TSA's security director at LAX said the agency was assisting with the investigation.

"While these arrests are a disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the highest standards," Randy Parsons said in a statement.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

TSA screening 'hurt my privates,' lawmaker say

TSA screening 'hurt my privates,' lawmaker says

by Ben Mutzabaugh - Apr. 26, 2012 10:41 AM

USA Today

A Texas congressman is at loggerheads with the Transportation Security Administration over a pat-down last week that he says "hurt my privates."

"Freshman Rep. Francisco Canseco, R-Texas, said the San Antonio Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer handled that sensitive moment of the screening process roughly, causing him pain," writes FOX News Latino, one of several media outlets reporting on the incident.

"As he was moving up my leg, he moved his hand aggressively up to my crotch and he hurt me," Canseco adds to the Politico. "The natural reaction is when someone goes for your crotch and it hurts, you're going to pull back -- and my right arm came down and moved away his hand briskly."

Canseco's response didn't sit well with the officer, who told the congressman he himself may have been "assaulted" with the brush-away.

Politico reports "it took 20 minutes for police to untangle the spat, but no charges were filed and no citations were issued."

However, that didn't end Canseco's run-ins with the TSA. He was again selected for additional screening during another trip this week. Canseco thinks the incidents are related, though the TSA says both checks were random and part of the normal security process.

Regardless, Canseco is speaking out. He says he understands the need to be vigilant on airport security matters, but says the agency needs to find a way to put fliers through that process in a more dignified manner.

"I'm seeing firsthand what happens," Canseco says to KSAT TV of San Antonio, making reference to passenger complaints about the TSA. "What happened to me probably happens 10, 20 times a day to a lot of good citizens. You feel that your dignity is being assaulted, you feel like you're being assaulted. And it's not right, especially (when) you see 4-year-old children being patted down and searched out or 80-year-old ladies."

Dutch court backs ban on foreigners buying po

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Dutch court backs ban on foreigners buying pot

By Anthony Faiola, Updated: Friday, April 27, 3:30 AM

AMSTERDAM — A Dutch court on Friday upheld a new law that will prevent foreigners from buying marijuana in coffee shops across the Netherlands, potentially ending decades of “pot tourism” for which this city and others became universally known.

A group of coffee shops had challenged the government plan, launched after southern cities in the Netherlands complained of increased levels of drug-related crime. The decision means that coffee shops in the south must stop selling marijuana to foreigners by May 1. They would be allowed to introduce a so-called “weed pass” for Dutch citizens, who would be legally permitted to keep buying cannabis. The plan would roll out to other Dutch cities, including the popular tourist center of Amsterdam, by next year.

The Netherlands is moving toward tighter controls on its renowned liberal policy on the sale of marijuana even as other countries, including the United States, are engaging in increasingly heated debates over the legalization of “soft drugs.”

Lawyers for the Netherlands’ cannabis cafes — which number more than 600 nationwide — argued that forbidding foreigners from buying marijuana while allowing Dutch citizens to do so was illegal under national anti-discrimination laws. They vowed on Friday to appeal the case.

“This is a bad decision not only for the foreigners who can be discriminated against now, but also for the image of the Netherlands in other countries,” said Maurice Veldman, attorney for a group of cafes that challenged the new law. “We are not a free country anymore because our government asks us to discriminate.”

A Dutch judge in the Hague on Friday, however, ruled that the new law was legal because of increased criminality linked to the Dutch drug trade. The move to ban foreigners from buying marijuana, however, is being fiercely fought by the city of Amsterdam, where the cannabis cafes are a major tourism draw and where myriad coffee shop owners have vowed to ignore the law once it comes into effect.

Among the slanted Dutch houses of Amsterdam’s infamous red light district, Michael Veling, 56, owner of the 420 Cafe that offers an extensive menu of legal marijuana, said he was outraged by the court’s decision. Veling, who is also chairman of the Dutch Union of Cannabis Retailers, said coffee shop owners in the city Masstricht, where the law comes into effect next week, were preparing to disobey “this ridiculous law” and were “ready to be arrested.”

“This is not good for Amsterdam, because we are not prone to the kind of criminal activities around coffee shops that are going on in the south of Holland,” he said.

“We have tourists that just want to have a smoke. If they’re not going to get it, they will ask Dutch people who actually have a pass for the coffee shop to buy it. Or they fall in hands of the illegal street sellers.”

Special correspondent Marit Van Kooij contributed to this report.

Only terrorists chew khat

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Britain arrests 7 on suspicion of funding terror

May. 1, 2012 07:18 AM

Associated Press

LONDON -- Seven people have been arrested in Britain on suspicion of financing terrorism in Somalia by smuggling a leaf that can produce a mild high into the United States, officials said Tuesday.

Scotland Yard said the group was arrested as part of an operation that involved Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative branch of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

The operation was investigating a network suspected of illegally exporting a leaf known as khat from the U.K., where it is legal, to the U.S. and Canada, where it is a controlled substance, Scotland Yard said.

"Law enforcement had developed leads, in the U.K. and U.S., that khat was being transshipped through the U.K., then illegally smuggled into the United States," said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "The proceeds generated by this illegal activity (were) then transferred back to Somalia."

He added that U.S. law enforcement is continuing to work closely with its counterparts overseas on the investigation.

British police said one woman and six men were arrested early Tuesday at four separate residences in London, Coventry and Cardiff, Wales.

Those four homes are being searched along with seven other residential addresses and a business address in Coventry, police added.

Police said the seven people arrested in the early morning raids are suspected of involvement in funding a terrorist organization and laundering the proceeds of crime for that purpose.

All of the suspects have been brought to a London police station for questioning.

1 in 10 teens smoking pot frequently

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1 in 10 teens smoking pot frequently

by Jennifer C. Kerr - May. 1, 2012 10:52 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - More teens are smoking marijuana, with nearly one in 10 lighting up at least 20 times a month, according to a new survey of young people.

The report by the Partnership at Drugfree.org, being released today, also says abuse of prescription medicine may be easing a bit among young people in Grades 9 through 12 but still remains high.

Partnership President Steve Pasierb said the mind-set among parents is that it's just a little weed or a few pills -- no biggie.

"Parents are talking about cocaine and heroin, things that scare them," Pasierb said. "Parents are not talking about prescription drugs and marijuana. They can't wink and nod. They need to be stressing the message that this behavior is unhealthy."

Use of harder drugs, cocaine and methamphetamine, has stabilized in recent years, the group's survey indicated. But past-month usage of marijuana grew from 19 percent in 2008 to 27 percent last year. Also alarming, Pasierb said, is the percentage of teens smoking pot 20 or more times a month. That rate went from 5 percent in 2008 to 9 percent last year, or about 1.5 million teens toking up that frequently.

Alex, 17, in Houston, said he started smoking pot at age 13, mostly on the weekends with friends.

"I just liked being high," said Alex, who is in a recovery program and asked that his last name not be used. "I always felt happier. Everything was funnier, and my life was just brighter."

Alex then started abusing prescription drugs at 14. He blacked out one day at school, got arrested and ended up in rehab. After being sober for two years, Alex slipped and smoked pot last month. Still, he said he hopes to work toward a more sober life.

The findings on marijuana track closely with those in a recent University of Michigan study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. That study also found marijuana use rising among teens the past few years, reversing a long decline in the previous decade.

The partnership study suggests a link between teens who smoke pot more regularly and the use of other drugs. Teens who smoked 20 times or more a month were almost twice as likely as kids who smoked pot less frequently to use Ecstasy, cocaine or crack.

Other findings:

One in 10 teens reports using prescription pain medication, Vicodin or OxyContin, in the past year. That's down from a peak of 15 percent in 2009 and 14 percent in 2010.

Just over half of Hispanic teens say they have used an illicit drug, such as Ecstasy or cocaine, in the past year. That compares with 39 percent for White teens and 42 percent for African-American teens.

The Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization, said making pot legal for adults might help cut teen usage.

"We definitely don't think that minors should be using marijuana any more than they should be drinking or using tobacco, but arresting people for doing that never stops minors," said Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the group.

"If we remove marijuana from the criminal market and have the market run by responsible business people that have an incentive to check IDs and not sell to minors, then we might see those rates drop again," Fox said.

The partnership's study was sponsored by the MetLife Foundation. Researchers surveyed 3,322 teens in Grades 9-12 with anonymous questionnaires that the youngsters filled out at school from March to June 2011. The study had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Based in New York, the Partnership at Drugfree.org is formerly the Partnership for a Drug-Free America -- perhaps best known for the "This is your brain on drugs" ads of the 1980s and 1990s.

The non-profit group launched its new name in 2010 to position itself as more of a resource to parents and to avoid the misperception that the partnership is a government organization.

DEA forgets about prisoner and locks man in cell for 5 days!!!

San Diego college student left in cell says he drank his urine

May 2, 2012 | 8:38 am

A San Diego college student who was forgotten by federal drug agents and left in a holding cell for five days without food or water or access to a toilet says he drank his own urine to survive.

The man, identified by news outlets as 23-year-old UC San Diego engineering student Daniel Chong, was detained for questioning along with eight other people during an April 21 raid in which agents seized guns, ammunition and various drugs, according to the DEA.

The suspects were taken to the DEA's San Diego-area headquarters in Kearny Mesa, Fox5 San Diego reported. While being processed, they were moved around the five cells at the facility, according to the agency's statement.

Each was questioned in separate interview rooms and frequently moved around between rooms and cells.

"Seven suspects were brought to county [jail] after processing, one was released, and [Chong] was accidentally left in one of the cells,'' the DEA statement reads.

Despite Chong's shouts and his pounding and kicking on doors and walls in the holding cell, agents failed to realize they had forgotten about him until five days later, Chong told NBC San Diego.

He said he had to drink his own urine to stay alive, eventually began hallucinating and at one point tried to kill himself by breaking his glasses and using glass shards to cut his wrists.

Medics took Chong to a hospital, where he was admitted to an intensive-care unit and kept under physicians' care for several days, he said. Medical staffers told him he had nearly died of kidney failure, he told the station.

The Drug Enforcement Administration offered no explanation for how agents could have lost track of Chong and failed to hear his cries for help.

"DEA plans to thoroughly review both the events and detention procedures on April 21st and after,'' according to the prepared statement about the case.

Obama wants to give the cops free access to your phone!!!

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Obama administration urges freer access to cellphone records

By Jeremy Pelofsky

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress should pass a law to give investigators freer access to certain cellphone records, an Obama administration official said on Thursday, in remarks that raised concern among advocates of civil liberties and privacy.

Jason Weinstein, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division, argued that requirements for warrants at early stages of investigations would "cripple" prosecutors and law enforcement.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this year that a warrant was needed to put a GPS satellite tracking device on a suspect's vehicle, prompting questions about other instances where probable-cause warrants should be needed to obtain information in the rapidly changing world of mobile devices.

Federal courts around the country are split on whether to require warrants for records of phone usage collected at towers that transmit cellphone signals, Weinstein told a conference.

While prosecutors have been told to get warrants to put a tracking device on a vehicle or to track the precise GPS location of a person via their cellphone, they should not be needed to obtain data from the towers, Weinstein said.

"There really is no fairness and no justice when the law applies differently to different people depending on which courthouse you're sitting in," he said at the "State of the Mobile Net" conference sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee.

"For that reason alone, we think Congress should clarify the legal standard," he said.

One civil liberties advocate sought to challenge that assertion, saying the Obama administration had made the same argument during the Supreme Court GPS case and it had been soundly rejected.

"Not one justice accepted the Department of Justice's argument in that case. It got zero votes," Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said during the conference. "We're all here, the criminals are not taking over the country."

While some proposals have been made in Congress to address concerns and confusion about when a warrant is needed as new technologies emerge, the chances of legislation passing are considered slim because it is an election year and little legislation is expected to pass.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican House of Representatives member Jason Chaffetz of Utah proposed a bill last year trying to detail a legal framework, including requiring a warrant for acquiring location information for a person; however the legislation has not advanced.

New pot eatery opens in Oregon

Got the munchies? New pot eatery opens in Oregon

May. 4, 2012 06:48 AM

Associated Press

ASHLAND, Ore. -- After scraping together a mound of zucchini, broccoli, beef, pineapple and noodles on a big round Mongolian grill, Kevin Wallace measured out a shot of grapeseed oil infused with hashish and poured it over the steaming food, setting off a sizzle.

Thirteen years after Oregon became one of the first states to make medical marijuana legal, Wallace and business partner Michael Shea think they've found a way to fit in the big gray area between making a living from medical marijuana and going to jail.

Marijuana is indelibly associated with food, whether it is chemotherapy patients using the drug to try to develop an appetite, or, farcically, a couple of stoners with an overpowering case of the munchies in "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle." Secret "herb dinners" with appetizers, entrees and desserts are reported in newspaper food sections. One restaurant chain, CHeBA HUT, is based on a marijuana theme. And patrons of the World Famous Cannabis Cafe in Portland can get a burger or lasagna packing a pot punch in between choruses of karaoke.

But restaurants where marijuana is the focus have had trouble gaining traction. The customer base is, after all, limited to medical marijuana cardholders. And any enterprise associated with medical marijuana will quickly come under scrutiny.

At the Earth Dragon Edibles Restaurant & Lounge in Ashland, Wallace and Shea are trying to bring Mongolian barbecue dosed with medical marijuana to a higher level, though they are still feeling their way through the fuzzy legalities of it all.

An Oregon medical marijuana card is required to get in the door. Inside, the place looks and operates pretty much like any other little Asian-style restaurant, with the smells of teriyaki and sounds of the grill filling the air. A wall hanging at the back depicts ganja guru Bob Marley. Diners go through a check list of vegetables, sauces, meats and tofu, and whether their bowl will be regular, large, or unlimited. One difference is the boxes to check for medicated or unmedicated. If medicated, there are three strengths. Cheesecake, candies and cookies, medicated or not, are also available.

While they wait, diners can use the hash bar, choosing from an assortment of glass pipes, a vaporizer, or a bong, hashish or bud. Marijuana donations are encouraged.

Operating under the theory that it is no crime for one patient to share medicine with another, all the marijuana -- whether in the food or at the hash bar -- is free. And unlike the marijuana cafes in Portland, there is no membership fee.

"I know it's a little weird," said Shea.

Ashland itself could be considered a little weird. Close to the California border and home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, it is an outpost of liberalism in conservative southwestern Oregon. Think of it as a little Berkeley in the middle of Orange County. It is also within the Green Triangle, one of the nation's best marijuana-growing climates. This corner of Oregon has the higher per capital rate of medical marijuana use in the state.

Wallace and Shea render their medical marijuana into hashish, infuse that into oil or glycerin, and eat it, believing that is healthier than smoking. With few patients able to do that, they felt they should share their skills to help others.

"That's how Mommy raised me," said Wallace.

Wallace, 45, was a carpenter until a 4-by-4 fell on his head, compressing his spine. He remains on disability, but marijuana got him off conventional painkillers. Shea, 52, taught at his wife's preschool. He uses marijuana to treat pain from an old neck injury. Wallace already had a business license in nearby Medford making candies and chili dosed with hashish.

At the grand opening a week ago, staff had to ask one patient to put out his blunt -- marijuana rolled in a tobacco wrapper -- because it violated Oregon's law against smoking in restaurants.

Otherwise, there was no heat until the city sent back their business license request, saying a local ordinance barred licenses for anyone violating state or federal law.

Police chief Terry Holderness said busting Earth Dragon Edibles is not a top priority.

"Nobody's life is at risk here," said Holderness. "We will prioritize this appropriately. But ultimately, if they are in violation of the law, they will be shut down."

The owner of Denver's Ganja Gourmet knows the feeling. Steve Horwitz said when he opened in 2009, people passed around a bong while dining on eggplant parmigiana and pizza made with cannabis. But Colorado changed its medical marijuana law, and he had to scale back to takeout and groceries.

"It was the future about five years before its time," he said.

Wallace and Shea remain open while appealing. They hope that if they keep separate bottles of hashish-infused oil on hand for each member/patient, rather than sharing their own stash, the city will no longer object.

Christine Totten, 24, came in with two fellow volunteers from The Greenery, a local medical marijuana resource center.

"I like to support the cannabis community we have going on," said Totten. "It's kind of cool to have a place to hang out."

After a couple hits off the bong at the hash bar, she sat down to a medicated bowl of beef and broccoli, pronouncing it delicious.

"You can't really taste it that much," she said of the hashish oil.

Judge dismisses Arizona drug case for prosecutor's misconduct

Judge dismisses Arizona drug case for prosecutor's misconduct

May. 4, 2012 08:37 AM

Associated Press

TUCSON -- A federal judge in Tucson has dismissed a drug-smuggling case because of a prosecutor's misconduct.

U.S. District Judge Cindy Jorgenson says she wants to ensure the U.S. attorney's office takes the misbehavior seriously.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that Aurora Lopez-Avila was found with 23 pounds of cocaine in her car in 2009 in Nogales and pleaded guilty in February 2010. She then rescinded the plea and went to trial in November 2010, claiming she had been forced to take the car across the border.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Albert read from a plea hearing transcript at her trial where she answered no to a question about being threatened.

U.S. attorney's office spokesman Bill Solomon said last Friday's ruling is a reminder of a prosecutor's ethical and constitutional responsibilities. [Don't make me laugh! Saying prosecutor and ethics in the same sentence is an oxymoron!]

LAPD murder where a drug dealer was shot in the back is justified by cops!!!!

Beck, civilian panel again at odds on shooting

By Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times

May 7, 2012

When the members of the Los Angeles Police Commission met behind closed doors last month to decide if a cop had been right to kill Dale Garrett, the two bullets in Garrett's back raised serious concerns.

Det. Arthur Gamboa had insisted that Garrett left him no choice but to shoot when he pulled a knife and threatened to kill the detective during a botched drug bust. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and the commission's own watchdog agreed, recommending the oversight board find that Gamboa's decision to open fire was within department rules.

But for a majority of the five-person commission, errors and inconsistencies in Gamboa's account, along with the fact that he shot Garrett in the back, could not be ignored. In a divided vote, the commission concluded the detective was not believable. The shooting, the panel ruled, violated the LAPD's policy on when officers are justified in using lethal force.

With that decision, the shooting became the latest in a series of incidents in which Beck and his civilian bosses disagree on whether an officer's decision to use deadly force was appropriate. These cases have given rise to a rare vein of tension between the chief and commissioners, who otherwise have heaped praise on Beck since he took over the department 2 1/2 years ago.

Believing the officers in these cases were justified to open fire, Beck has either refused to impose any discipline on the officers or let them off with a simple reprimand in the earlier cases, The Times reported last month. That has left a majority of the commission increasingly concerned that Beck is undermining their authority and sending a dangerous message to the LAPD's rank-and-file officers that the consequences for a unjustified shooting are minimal.

Beck must now decide how, if at all, to punish Gamboa and his partner for a deadly encounter that even the chief agrees was marred by mistakes.

It was shortly after noon on a cool, cloudless day in May when Gamboa and Det. Ronald Kitzmiller, members of a narcotics enforcement team, stepped out of the LAPD's downtown headquarters and headed for their station about a mile away, according to an internal LAPD report. The copy of this report, and another one written by the commission, obtained by The Times, concealed the officers' names. Gamboa was named in a different department document, and an attorney representing Garrett's family named Kitzmiller.

Walking down Spring Street, they soon approached the bustling intersection at 5th Street, where trendy restaurants and stylish lofts put a pleasant gloss over the block's alternate, less savory reality. For years, Spring and 5th — especially the southwest corner – has been a stamping ground for drug dealers, who skulk about and whisper offers of prescription pills, pot, and other drugs to passersby.

On a whim, the detectives decided to do some undercover work, according to the department report.

Kitzmiller pulled a $5 bill from his wallet, marked it with a pen and handed it to Gamboa. Dressed in street clothes that concealed his badge and handgun, Gamboa leaned against a wall on the corner as Kitzmiller watched from across the street, the commission summary said. Within a minute or two, Garrett, 51, approached, saying "Weed, Klonopin, weed, Klonopin," Gamboa told investigators.

Gamboa asked for a Klonopin, a prescription drug that can give the sensation of intoxication, and told investigators that Garrett "quickly, forcefully grabbed — snatched the $5 from my hand, knocking it down in a rude manner." As Garrett kept walking, Gamboa said he followed, demanding his pill.

What happened next is not clear.

In an interview shortly after the shooting, Gamboa told investigators that Garrett, while a few feet ahead, stopped and turned clockwise to face him while unfolding a large knife. "I am going to kill you," the detective recalled Garrett saying. He insisted that he shot Garrett twice in the chest.

An autopsy, however, showed both bullets had struck Garrett on the left side of his back, making Gamboa's account impossible. In February, Gamboa returned to the street corner with his commanding officer to go through the sequence of the shooting. This time, he said, Garrett had turned in the opposite direction.

A witness standing nearby told investigators that Garrett only turned at his waist, instead of spinning around completely. This, Beck said in his review of the shooting, could explain how Garrett was shot in the back. Or, Beck speculated, Garrett may have faced the detective and then continued to turn away, exposing the left side of his back. The chief, however, did not address how Garrett could have posed a deadly, immediate threat to the detective if either of these scenarios were accurate.

Another witness disputed this version altogether, saying Gamboa and Kitzmiller "sneaked up" behind Garrett and startled him, according to the commission's report.

A knife was found under Garrett's body, although the reports by the commission and chief do not clarify if it was found with the blade out or folded.

Beck and Commission President Richard Drooyan declined to comment on the case. The detectives did not respond to e-mails requesting comment.

The chief and commission agreed that the detectives' decision to conduct a spur-of-the-moment drug operation was, in the commission's words, "in clear conflict" with department rules and training guidelines. In particular, they found that Kitzmiller, who served as a supervisor in the detectives' narcotics unit, should have known better.

For these actions, Beck could choose to discipline the men.

But the decision to shoot Garrett, Beck concluded, was reasonable. An officer in the same situation would have responded as Gamboa did, he said.

Drooyan and Commissioners Robert Saltzman and John Mack saw things differently. The evidence, the commissioners wrote in their report, "did not support an objectively reasonable belief that [Garrett] presented an imminent threat of death or seriously bodily injury" when Gamboa fired.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

Foreclosed Houses Become Homes for Indoor Marijuana Farms

Foreclosed Houses Become Homes for Indoor Marijuana Farms

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

Published: May 6, 2012

VALLEJO, Calif. — On a suburban block with six family homes, palm trees and views of the surrounding green hills, nothing at 110 Windsor Court stood out. Its occupants, who had moved into the foreclosed house a few years earlier, were quiet types.

On a street in Vallejo, a burned-out house that had been used to grow marijuana. Unsafe wiring for lights for the plants often causes such fires.

Until the noise from falling roof tiles alerted neighbors to a fire there one recent morning, and Stephen Snowden, who lived nearby, banged on the front door. Nobody was inside, but firefighters discovered that the house had been converted into a type of illegal business found increasingly in suburbia: a marijuana grow house.

The entire second floor of the five-bedroom, 2,251-square-foot home, as well as parts of the first floor, was used to cultivate marijuana plants.

“They just blended right in,” Mr. Snowden said of the residents. “They left early for work and came back late in the afternoon. They mowed their lawn, took out their trash and got groceries. There was never any extra foot traffic.”

Organized marijuana growers are shifting to the suburbs from rural and commercial areas, helped by a housing crisis that created a glut of affordable, spacious houses and a stream of new residents to previously more stable communities. Houses that sold for $1 million before the crisis have been turned into grow houses, equipped with the high-intensity lights, water and air-filtering systems necessary to produce potent, high-quality marijuana.

Many grow houses go unnoticed, even by next-door neighbors, until there is a fire, typically caused by unsafe electrical wiring. Local police forces, especially in California, which has permitted the limited cultivation of marijuana for medical use since 1996, have stopped seeking out grow houses.

Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said crime syndicates used to concentrate production in low-income areas. But now, he said, “you’re hearing more and more in middle-class, upper-middle-class, high-end neighborhoods.”

“They either buy them or rent them,” Mr. Payne said. “They’re buying them in places like Northern California, where the real estate market’s really taken a turn for the worse.”

In Northern California, grow houses have been discovered in older suburbs hit hard by foreclosures, including Vallejo, a city 25 miles northeast of San Francisco that declared bankruptcy in 2008. They have also been found in newer communities that mushroomed during the housing boom, like Elk Grove, near Sacramento.

“They were located in suburbia, pretty much,” Officer Christopher Trim, a spokesman for the Elk Grove Police Department, said of the grow houses discovered there. “Residential streets, kids playing outside and going to soccer practice, folks going to and coming from their work.”

California accounted for more than 70 percent of all marijuana plants confiscated nationwide in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The authorities seized 188,297 plants at 791 indoor grow houses, compared with 107,047 plants at 572 locations in 2005.

Vietnamese-American crime groups have specialized in running grow houses, which produce marijuana that can fetch up to twice the price of the outdoor kind, Mr. Payne said.

Law enforcement officials, especially in local forces that have been downsized during the financial crisis, say they lack the resources to go after grow houses. They also say that California laws have created an environment tolerant of marijuana cultivation in general.

“Ten years ago if there was a grow house, we’d seize all their equipment and lamps, and they would be prosecuted,” said Sgt. Jeff Bassett, a spokesman for the Vallejo Police Department. “Now the chances of being caught, or of being prosecuted if you are, are substantially less than they were 10 years ago.”

No one has been arrested in connection with the grow house at 110 Windsor Court or at another previously foreclosed house that also caught fire in Vallejo recently, the police said. Firefighters responding to that house — a one-story, 1,304-square-foot house on Evelyn Circle — quickly realized that it was a grow house.

Like other neighbors, Tim Langford, 54, said nothing aroused suspicion about the occupants, who had been spotted at the house for a couple of years. But Mr. Langford said the housing crisis had weakened the social ties on his block.

“You have a much more transient population now, so you mind your business,” he said. “It’s not the day when you take an apple pie over and say, ‘Hi, I’m your neighbor.’ ”

The housing crisis also led to the emergence of grow houses in new real estate developments, creating lasting problems for those communities.

In Pittsburg, a city about 40 miles northeast of San Francisco, marijuana growers occupied a five-bedroom house on Pilar Ridge Drive, across the street from an elementary school. The house, part of a sprawling, luxurious community that was built about a decade ago, sold for nearly $1 million in 2007 but went into foreclosure three years later.

In June 2010, acting on a tip from a neighbor, the police found that the house had been transformed into a grow house. Last fall, Stephen Tucker and his wife, Tomasita, bought the property from a bank for $363,000, Mr. Tucker said, after looking at hundreds of other places.

“My daughter came to this house, and she’s the one who said, ‘That’s the house I want,’ ” Mr. Tucker, 51, said of his daughter Veronica, 8.

Mr. Tucker said he learned after the purchase that the house had been used as a grow house. He began discovering mold and other damage under the new carpet and in the drywall.

Not all stories involving foreclosed houses and grow houses have ended unhappily, though. Mr. Snowden, who banged on the door of the house on fire, said that despite the discovery of a grow house on his block, he did not regret moving there three years ago. In 2009, he purchased his house — which had been foreclosed the year before — for roughly 60 percent of what it had sold for in 2004.

“It was cheaper than renting,” he said. “This is actually a pretty quiet, decent neighborhood.”

New al-Qaida underwear bomb studied

This makes me think of the quote by H. L. Mencken

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

New al-Qaida underwear bomb studied

by Adam Goldman - May. 8, 2012 07:09 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- U.S. bomb experts are picking apart a sophisticated new al-Qaida improvised explosive device, a top Obama administration counterterrorism official said Tuesday, to determine if it could have slipped past airport security and taken down a commercial airplane.

Officials told The Associated Press a day earlier that discovery of the unexploded bomb represented an intelligence prize resulting from a covert CIA operation in Yemen, saying that the intercept thwarted a suicide mission around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it. The device is an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. Officials said this new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed a more refined detonation system.

John Brennan, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, said Tuesday the discovery shows al-Qaida remains a threat to U.S. security a year after bin Laden's assassination. And he attributed the breakthrough to "very close cooperation with our international partners."

"We're continuing to investigate who might have been associated with the construction of it as well as plans to carry out an attack," Brennan said. "And so we're confident that this device and any individual that might have been designed to use it are no longer a threat to the American people."

On the question of whether the device could have been gone undetected through airport security, Brennan said, "It was a threat from a standpoint of the design." He also said there was no intelligence indicating it was going to be used in an attack to coincide with the May 2 anniversary of bin Laden's death.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Tuesday that "a number of countries" provided information and cooperation that helped foil the plot. He said he had no information on the would-be bomber, but that White House officials had told him "He is no longer of concern," meaning no longer any threat to the U.S.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Monday night that she had been briefed Monday about an "undetectable" device that was "going to be on a U.S.-bound airliner."

There were no immediate plans to change security procedures at U.S. airports.

U.S. officials declined to say where the CIA seized the bomb. The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or purchased plane tickets when the CIA seized the bomb, officials said. It was not immediately clear what happened to the would-be bomber.

President Barack Obama had been monitoring the operation since last month, the White House said Monday evening. White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the president was assured the device posed no threat to the public.

"The president thanks all intelligence and counterterrorism professionals involved for their outstanding work and for serving with the extraordinary skill and commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand," Hayden said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "The device did not appear to pose a threat to the public air service, but the plot itself indicates that these terrorist keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people. And it a reminder of how we have to keep vigilant." Clinton spoke during a news conference Tuesday in New Delhi with Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

The operation unfolded even as the White House and Homeland Security Department assured the public that they knew of no al-Qaida plots against the U.S. around the anniversary of bin Laden's death.

On May 1, the Homeland Security Department said, "We have no indication of any specific, credible threats or plots against the U.S. tied to the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death."

The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish a story immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way. Once officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday.

The FBI and Homeland Security acknowledged the existence of the bomb late Monday. Other officials, who were briefed on the operation, insisted on anonymity to discuss details of the plot, many of which the U.S. has not officially acknowledged.

It's not clear who built the bomb, but because of its sophistication and its similarity to the Christmas Day bomb, authorities suspected it was the work of master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Al-Asiri constructed the first underwear bomb and two others that al-Qaida built into printer cartridges and shipped to the U.S. on cargo planes in 2010.

Both of those bombs used a powerful industrial explosive. Both were nearly successful.

The new underwear bomb operation is a reminder of al-Qaida's ambitions, despite the death of bin Laden and other senior leaders. Because of instability in the Yemeni government, the terrorist group's branch there has gained territory and strength. It has set up terrorist camps and, in some areas, even operates as a de facto government.

On Monday, al-Qaida militants staged a surprise attack on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 22 soldiers and capturing at least 25. The militants managed to reach the base both from the sea and by land, gunning down troops and making away with weapons and other military hardware after the blitz, Yemeni military officials said.

But the group has also suffered significant setbacks as the CIA and the U.S. military focus more on Yemen. On Sunday, Fahd al-Quso, a senior al-Qaida leader, was hit by a missile as he stepped out of his vehicle along with another operative in the southern Shabwa province of Yemen.

Al-Quso, 37, was on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. He was indicted in the U.S. for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, in which 17 American sailors were killed and 39 injured.

Al-Quso was believed to have replaced Anwar al-Awlaki as the group's head of external operations. Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. airstrike last year.

The new Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has promised improved cooperation with the U.S. to combat the militants. On Saturday, he said the fight against al-Qaida was in its early stages. Hadi took over in February from longtime authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Brennan appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America," the "CBS This Morning" show and NBC's "Today" show. King was interviewed on CNN.

Arizona Police have access to all your voter registration information

Of of course the voter information on cops and judges is secret and nobody can see it - Certain voters' information -- law-enforcement officers, code-enforcement officers, judges ... is sealed.

The political parties Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Greens also have access to all this information.

Source

Political parties mining Arizona voters' personal data

by Michelle Ye Hee Lee - May. 7, 2012 11:29 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Arizonans filling out voter-registration forms this election season will hand over personal information that, under state law, will be distributed to political parties and ultimately sold to candidates' campaigns.

Unknown to most would-be voters: They have the option of not providing many of the requested details, including the last four digits of the voter's Social Security number, the father's name or mother's maiden name, e-mail address and occupation.

Even marking a party preference is optional, Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne said. People who select independent or leave the space empty will be categorized as "party not designated."

Though they can't require the additional information, election officials benefit from having more detail on voters because it makes it easier to verify voters' identities.

Political parties, meanwhile, want the information to help their candidates target voters and win at the ballot box.

As indicated on the registration form, voter-registration requirements in Arizona are basic: Voters must have U.S. citizenship, be a resident of Arizona and the county on the form, and be 18 or older "on or before the day of the next regular General Election."

That means county election departments need only the registrant's name, birth date, address, proof of citizenship and signature, Osborne said.

The Maricopa County Elections Department finds it more helpful for voters to fill out the entire registration form so that election officials can accurately distinguish among the 2.1 million voters in the database, said Jasper Altaha, county voter-registration manager.

"We try to let everybody know that we want them -- if they can -- to complete the whole form," Altaha said.

Election officials must ensure that voter information is not duplicated, a tricky task when it involves twins and others with similar names and personal information, he said.

The information maintained by the county is protected from commercial use. Voters can view their own information.

Law enforcement can also access it. Certain voters' information -- law-enforcement officers, code-enforcement officers, judges and domestic-violence victims who have a court order -- is sealed.

"This (database) is not for process servers. It is not for businesses to get a way to sell magazines. It's the only semi-closed piece of information that government has," Osborne said.

Yet Arizona statutes require that county recorders hand over certain voter information to recognized state and county political party chairmen: full name and title, party preference, date of registration, residence or mailing address, ZIP code, voting history for the past four years, and, if given, phone number, birth year and occupation.

The statute also requires counties to give "any other" public information about the voter that is electronically maintained by the county, city or town clerk, as well as "all data" relating to permanent and non-permanent early voters, including their ballot requests and ballot returns.

The Arizona Secretary of State's Office maintains the same voter information but does not disseminate it.

In the hands of savvy political operatives, such information can be useful.

Political parties often enhance the data they receive and create mailing, phone or walking lists.

Candidates and political campaigns purchase the data from the parties and sign an agreement that prohibits them from using the information for commercial ends. Information supplied by the parties tends to be more detailed and costs less than the raw data that can be purchased for election purposes from county recorders for a penny per voter name.

The Arizona Republican Party has three official databases. Once the party receives voter information from counties, it sends the data to the Republican National Committee. The RNC then feeds it into a database of every jurisdiction in the country called Voter Vault. The Arizona party has access to that database and can add other information mainly from surveys, said Shane Wikfors, an Arizona Republican Party spokesman.

Candidates, precinct committeemen, county party chairmen and legislative district chairmen can create lists for calling or visiting voters based on the information.

Using a system called First Tuesday in November, or FTIN, party officials collecting petition signatures or doing polling can add issues and candidate affiliations using laptops or smart devices to create a more complete profile of a voter. People with access to the database can see the information in real time as it is entered.

Using Voter Vault and another system, Victory 2012, which manipulates demographic data from counties, the party is able to identify certain characteristics about every voter, said Teresa Martinez, southern Arizona director of the Arizona Republican Party who oversees the system. For example, they can track sisters living in the same house and distinguish between them by age and political affiliation.

Candidates access information on the candidates whom voters supported in the past and use that to tailor campaign materials to those voters.

Precinct committeemen sign a disclaimer saying they will not use the data for personal reasons and only for election or party purposes, said Anthony Miller, Republican precinct committeeman and former district chairman in Legislative District 20.

The Arizona Democratic Party also works with the Democratic National Committee to create a database through the Voter Activation Network, or VAN, a contracted company. The party uses social, demographic and consumer data to enhance the voter-registration information provided by the counties, said Luis Heredia, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party.

The party uses a combination of information, including magazine subscriptions, to enhance its database, Heredia said. The party uses the information to make its best guess at a voter's race, income and other demographic characteristics based on that information, he said.

The party also maintains voter histories going back several election cycles, a key indicator of voter turnout. If a voter lives in an affluent area or a precinct with high turnout, that also could affect turnout probability, he said.

"As more and more information is uploaded, we get a better picture of our electorate," Heredia said.

Not all political parties are eager to compile additional information on voters. The Arizona Libertarian Party does not maintain a database beyond that provided by the counties, said Barry Hess, spokesman for the party. And the party does not enhance the county's raw data with surveys or polls, he said.

"There's not a lot of enthusiasm ... to even worry about those lists. We simply use them to pull out the Libertarians and communicate with them," Hess said. "We're all about the privacy of the individual."

High electric bill? Pigs may bust your doors down looking for marijuana

Source

Sheriff busts pot-growing operation in Diamond Bar home

May 8, 2012 | 8:16 am

An unusually high electricity meter reading led Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators to a Diamond Bar house where they seized more than 1,000 marijuana plants from an indoor growing operation, CBS Los Angeles reported.

Investigators shut down the greenhouse operation and arrested two men at a $1-million home in the 24000 block of Highcrest Drive, the station reported.

“It’s pretty surprising. It’s a pretty nice community so you wouldn’t expect that to happen here,” neighbor Chris Cadiz told the station.

Sheriff’s investigators said they have made 30 such busts in the last year in the San Gabriel Valley. They estimated there were more than 2,000 plants -– each worth about $2,000 -– at the Diamond Bar house.

Detectives were led there by a tip from Southern California Edison after a technician picked up on the high power reading. They said the house, which they believe was rented, was outfitted with powerful grow lights and an air-filtering system to conceal smells.

“They did a good job concealing it, but you can’t hide that forever,” said Lt. Nick Tippings of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

Law making it illegal to film cops ruled unconstitutional

Federal appeals court bans enforcement of Illinois eavesdropping law

By Ryan Haggerty Tribune reporter

12:51 p.m. CDT, May 8, 2012

A federal appeals court in Chicago ruled today that Illinois’ eavesdropping law “likely violates” the First Amendment and ordered that authorities be banned from enforcing it.

The ruling from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago is the strongest blow yet to the law, which is one of the strictest in the country and makes it illegal for people to audio record police officers in public without their consent.

The ruling follows last month’s announcement by Chicago officials that they would not enforce the law during the May 20-21 NATO summit when potentially thousands of people armed with smart phones and video cameras are expected to demonstrate in the city.

The ruling from the appeals court stems from a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. The suit sought a preliminary injunction barring Cook County prosecutors from enforcing the law.

A federal judge denied the request, prompting the ACLU to appeal to the 7th Circuit. In its ruling today, the appeals court agreed with the ACLU, saying, “The Illinois eavesdropping statute restricts far more speech than necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests.”

The ACLU of Illinois welcomed the ruling. Its legal director, Harvey Grossman, said that the “widespread accessibility of new technologies make the recording and dissemination of pictures and sound inexpensive, efficient and easy to accomplish.”

“In order to make the rights of free expression and petition effective, individuals and organizations must be able to freely gather and record information about the conduct of government and their agents – especially the police,” Grossman said in a statement.

Public debate over Illinois’ law has been simmering since last summer.

In August, a Cook County jury acquitted a woman who had been charged for recording Chicago police internal affairs investigators she believed were trying to dissuade her from filing a sexual harassment complaint against a patrol officer.

Judges in Cook and Crawford counties later declared the law unconstitutional, and the McLean County state's attorney cited flaws in the law when he dropped charges in February against a man accused of recording an officer during a traffic stop.

Officials at the Cook County state’s attorney’s office were still reviewing the 66-page ruling and were not yet prepared to comment on it, spokeswoman Sally Daly said.

Meanwhile, state legislators are considering a bill that would allow people to record police officers working in public.

rhaggerty@tribune.com

4th & 5th Amendments flushed down the toilet

It sounds like the plane passengers were searched after the plane left California and arrived in Phoenix.

Sadly the "war on terror" seems to be a front for the "war on drugs". Most of the people arrested at airports by the TSA thugs are not arrested for terrorist crimes but for victimless drug war crimes.

Source

Threat prompts rescreening of 2 Phoenix Southwest flights

by John Genovese - May. 8, 2012 11:08 PM

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

A threat Tuesday night prompted authorities to rescreen passengers and luggage aboard two Southwest Airlines flights destined for Phoenix, airline officials said.

Flight 1184 arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., but did not dock at the terminal, according to Ashley Dillon, a Southwest Airlines spokeswoman. Due to a non-specific threat, Dillon said, all passengers and bags aboard the Boeing 737 aircraft were rescreened.

Flight 811 was also scheduled to depart Orange County for Phoenix but was halted in Califonia for similar reasons, Dillon said. A third plane, flight 372, arrived to Phoenix on Tuesday night from John Wayne Airport without incident or further investigation, she said.

The reported 126 passengers stalled at Sky Harbor were transported by bus back to Terminal 4. Most were ending their trips in Phoenix, but others who were scheduled to continue to Tulsa, Okla., the plane's final destination, were reboarded, Dillon said.

Flight 811 was sent back to the gate in Orange County and would not be ready for a new flight before the airport's 11 p.m. curfew, she said, forcing passengers to continue to Phoenix on Wednesday morning. According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, a bomb threat was made against the flight.

Teddy Rodriguez, a passenger aboard flight 1184, told 12 News the captain intentionally parked the plane at the far southeast corner of the Sky Harbor tarmac because there "was a threat to the plane."

He said after waiting 45 minutes, passengers were individually questioned and released.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was not immediately available for comm

'Medical director' required at pot dispensaries, judge rules

Source

'Medical director' required at pot dispensaries, judge rules

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - May. 8, 2012 09:08 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Medical-marjiuana dispensaries will have to employ a medical director at their operations, as state health officials require, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled. The non-profits could begin opening this summer.

Judge Richard Gama's May 1 decision is an important one because it could prevent abuse of medical marijuana, said Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

"This is a really important component of the program because without it, over time, it would've evolved into each dispensary just moving product," Humble said.

"But if you have a medical director, you have someone who's invested time and money in that license, they've got that license to protect, and they need to act in an ethical way and make sure their organization works ethically."

Dispensary medical directors must train dispensary agents at least once a year, develop guidelines for informing patients about the risks, benefits and side effects of medical marijuana, and know how to recognize signs and symptoms of substance abuse.

Would-be dispensary owner Gerald Gaines sued last year over the state's dispensary regulations and the governor's failure to fully implement the program. In January, Gama ruled in favor of Gaines, saying the state cannot restrict who runs medical-marijuana dispensaries based on where they live or their financial history.

The state is moving ahead with implementing the program and later this month will begin to accept applications for dispensaries. Also, state officials will hold a public hearing on May 25 to consider whether to add post-traumatic stress disorder, migraines, depression and anxiety as conditions that qualify for medical-marijuana certification.

Gaines filed an amended complaint to challenge the state's requirement on the medical-director requirement, saying they were unnecessary. "It's not the exact ruling we wanted," Gaines said Tuesday, saying he may again challenge the requirement.

Under the voter-approved law, state workers issue special ID cards to people with certain medical conditions, authorizing patients to use marijuana. Proposition 203 also allows the state health department to issue permits for up to 126 marijuana dispensaries across the state. State officials set up the rules for the program.

Health officials will begin accepting dispensary applications Monday through May 25.

More than 22,200 people have received permission to smoke, eat or otherwise ingest medical marijuana to ease their ailments.

No new illnesses will be added to list treatable by medical marijuana???

List of conditions treatable with medical marijuana in AZ could grow

Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 5:02 pm

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

Arizonans who say they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder are hoping to get the same medical options as those with glaucoma or seizures: the right to use marijuana for medical purposes.

Petitions have been filed asking state Health Director Will Humble to add PTSD to the list of medical conditions that voters approved two years ago for medical marijuana. Humble will conduct a hearing later this month and likely issue a ruling in August.

PTSD sufferers are not the only ones hoping to add marijuana to the list of conditions that can be treated with marijuana. Other petitions are seeking to make the drug an option to treat migraines, depression and general anxiety disorder.

But proponents could have an uphill fight.

Humble noted that some of the petitions contain first-person reports of how their conditions were improved with the illegal use of the drug. Others have various news and magazine articles attached.

What are in short supply, though, are full-blown double-blind peer-reviewed laboratory studies. And Humble told Capitol Media Services that, without these, he is powerless to expand the legal uses of marijuana.

The 2010 voter-approved initiative lists specific conditions that can be treated with marijuana, ranging from glaucoma and AIDS to chronic or debilitating conditions that lead to severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, or severe and persistent muscle spasms.

Would-be users must first get such a diagnosis from a doctor along with a recommendation that the drug would help. That allows the patient to get a state-issued card to allow them to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks.

There also are procedures to license about 125 dispensaries where medical marijuana cardholders can legally obtain the drug. But the measure also entitles anyone to ask the health director to add to that list.

Some of the petitions are quite personal.

One person — names of patients have been deleted from the copies made public — details suffering from migraines since childhood.

“In years past, I have been a guinea pig for many migraine medications that did not help,” wrote the woman, saying one lasted for three weeks.

“I could barely see, had no balance or coordination the entire time, could not mother my child, or function at all in the light,” she wrote. She then detailed how she has self-medicated with marijuana and how the drug “stops the migraine in its tracks.”

Another was from someone who spent more than four years on active duty including overseas combat before being medically separated. A diagnosis of PTSD, the writer said, led to various prescriptions including morphine and Percocet.

Self-prescriptions of marijuana, the person wrote, resulted in no need for 12 medications prescribed by the Veterans Administration.

Humble said all this information is helpful. And he said those with personal stories can show up at a hearing on May 25.

“But what would be most compelling is if somebody shows up to a hearing with a scientifically reviewed, published (medical) journal article ... and hands that in as part of the petition process,” he said. “That would be the most compelling.”

And what of anecdotal evidence?

“In the gradient of medical weight of evidence, that’s sort of at the bottom,” Humble said.

“It’s still meaningful information,” he continued. “But in the spectrum of science, it’s not up there with a peer-reviewed, double-blind, placebo type of study ... that ends up being published in the Journal of the American Medical Association or the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Humble conceded there does not appear to be a lot out there — especially the kind of studies that make it into those two renowned medical periodicals.

Some of that may be because the federal government still lists marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning there is no known medical use for it. And the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has not been generous in providing the necessary federal permits for research facilities to grow the drug to conduct the experiments.

So Humble is willing to look elsewhere, noting there has been some research in Israel.

“But it needs to be good science,” he said. And Humble said some of those looking to add PTSD to the list of permitted uses of marijuana submitted copies of some studies.

But those, by themselves, won’t do.

“I want to make sure that we’re doing our homework and we’re not missing studies that are out there that might suggest that it does harm,” Humble said. “In other words, it’s not fair to pick and choose what looks to be a promising treatment if there are other studies out there that show it could actually do some harm.”

To that end, Humble said he has contracted with the University of Arizona College of Public Health to review the medical evidence, both what is submitted by petitioners and what is not.

“They’re not going to make the decision for us,” he said. “But they’re going to make sure we’re not missing something as we go through this process.”

And there’s another reason Humble said he wants to see all the evidence: He does not want to approve marijuana for a medical condition and have people think it’s a “first and a proven strategy” for dealing with the problem.

“They may bypass more contemporary and proven treatments,” he said.

Humble said that could happen with limited information.

He said he was at a conference earlier this year in Tucson where someone claimed that application of marijuana oil topically helped to cure certain types of skin cancer. Aside from the fact that the study was not done scientifically, compete with placebos, Humble worried that someone might choose to go that route rather than pursuing more traditional — and medically successful — treatments.

Humble said he expects a final decision in August. But that is not the last word: Anyone dissatisfied with his ruling can appeal to Maricopa County Superior Court.

One interesting side note, Humble said, is that at least one of the petitions may be legally unnecessary.

Humble noted that existing law already allows doctors to recommend marijuana for any chronic medical condition that causes “severe and chronic pain,” something that may include migraines. In fact, he said, that condition is so broad that more than 88 percent of the more than 25,000 applications for the use of medical marijuana cite severe and chronic pain as at least one of the medical conditions entitling someone to use it.

Court refuses to help couple cheated out of $500,000

Source

Arizona medical-pot ruling may reverberate

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - May. 9, 2012 10:06 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Two Arizonans lent a medical-marijuana company in Colorado $500,000, but the company didn't pay them back.

So, what did they do? They sued, of course.

But instead of forcing the company to pay back the loan, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge told the two Valley business partners they were out of luck as far as he was concerned.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law. And the judge said he can't enforce the loan agreement because the money was for an illegal purpose under federal law. He dismissed the suit.

Judge Michael McVey's ruling could have larger implications for contractual relationships tied to medical-marijuana businesses, one attorney said.

"This is just one contractual relationship," said Randy Nussbaum, managing partner of a law firm that represented the plaintiffs. "The macro view of this is, if it's true that anyone who has a contractual relationship with anyone dispensing medical marijuana and that contract is not enforceable, how does anyone enforce a legitimate contract in this business?"

Arizona, Colorado and 14 other states have medical-marijuana laws that conflict with federal law, which outlaws the cultivation, sale or use of marijuana. Mounting federal pressure in California, Washington and other states has led to dispensary raids and crackdowns on landlords who lease property to dispensaries.

Recently, several U.S. attorneys have sent letters to local officials reiterating that federal authorities have not changed their stance on medical marijuana.

Court records show Michele Rene Hammer and Mark Haile in August 2010 each agreed to lend Today's Health Care II $250,000 to finance a "retail medical-marijuana sales and growth center."

When Today's Health Care II did not repay the loan or the default interest rate and fees, Hammer and Haile sued. William Kozub, who represented Today's Health Care II, did not return a call for comment.

It is unknown if the plaintiffs will appeal.

McVey, in his April 17 judgment of dismissal, wrote that he recognizes his ruling was harsh but that federal law pre-empts state law and, therefore, the loan agreement was not enforceable because the money was for an illegal purpose because the U.S. still categorizes marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance.

McVey also wrote that under federal law, it is unlawful to aid and abet the commission of a federal crime.

He wrote that dispensation of marijuana, even for medicinal purposes, remains illegal.

"The explicitly stated purpose of these loan agreements was to finance the sale and distribution of marijuana," McVey wrote. "This was in clear violation of the laws of the United States. As such, this contract is void and unenforceable."

Phoenix attorney Richard Keyt, who runs medical-marijuana blog keytlaw.com, wrote that if McVey's decision is upheld, it could have implications for landlords who lease to dispensaries because the lease may not be enforceable, and for dispensary investors, dispensary medical directors, and employees or independent contractors who may have disputes.

Keyt wrote that the ruling could mean "that people who enter into contracts that relate in any way to Arizona medical marijuana will have to hope the other side to the contract satisfies his/her/its obligations because it may not be possible to sue for breach of contract and get a judgment against the party who defaults."

It's time to legalize ALL drugs and ALL weapons.

Source

Chandler raid nets weapons, 2 arrests, 100 pounds of marijuana

by Matt Loper and Cassondra Strande - May. 11, 2012 10:45 AM

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

Authorities arrested two people and seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana along with automatic weapons during a raid Friday morning in a quiet Chandler neighborhood.

Police found 15 handguns and fully-automatic weapons at the home where the two people, a man and a woman, were arrested, according to Elias Johnson, spokesman for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities forced their way into the home around 6:15 a.m. near Ray and McQueen roads, Johnson said. The suspects were asleep when the raid began.

Authorities used a no-knock search warrant, which needed court approval, because they felt there was a high risk of violent retaliation from those inside the home, Johnson said.

Weapons were found scattered throughout the house, including an AK-47, an Uzi, and an unspecified projectile launcher, Johnson said. One weapon was found in the pantry of the home.

The raid was part of a long-term investigation that included several federal and local agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chandler Police Department and the Pinal County Narcotics Task Force, according to officials.

Some neighbors described the two arrested as quiet people who kept to themselves. The neighbors also said they never noticed anything suspicious in the peaceful neighborhood.

The DEA was not willing to comment on the investigation because it was still ongoing

Pilot arrested for violating Emperor Obama's air space????

In a similar incident that occurred in Long Beach a plane that violated Emperor Obama's airspace was illegally searched and the pilot was arrested after marijuana was found Source

F-16s intercept plane that strays into Obama's L.A. airspace

By Michael Winter, USA TODAY

For the second time in three months, U.S. fighter jets have intercepted a small plane that strayed into President Obama's airspace during fundraising trips to Los Angeles.

Two F-16s swooped down on the single-engine Piper 28 northeast of Los Angeles about 9:45 a.m. PT (12:45 p.m. ET) and shadowed it to a landing five minutes later, the North American Aerospace Defense Command reports.

The plane landed at the small airport in El Monte, and the pilot was detained and questioned by the Secret Service, police Lt. Dan Burlingham told the Associated Press.

"It appears, as far as we know, that it was just a mistake," he said.

NBC News says the pilot was a student and was released after questioning. But the Los Angeles Times, citing a law enforcement source, said the pilot was arrested.

The intrusion occurred as Obama was about to leave Los Angeles International Airport aboard Air Force One after his record-breaking fundraiser at the Studio City home of actor George Clooney. The president departed at 9:53 a.m. for Reno, where he spoke about the economy.

On Feb. 16, two F-16s were scrambled from March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County after a Cessna 182 entered restricted airspace as the president's helicopter was ferrying him back to LAX. Authorities found 40 pounds of marijuana on the plane when it landed in Long Beach and arrested the pilot.

Pilot who violated Emperor Obama's airspace arrested, sources say

Pilot who violated Obama's airspace arrested, sources say

May 11, 2012 | 12:19 pm

President Barack Obama returns a salute as he steps off the Marine One helicopter prior to boarding Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles.

Two F-16 military fighter jets intercepted a general aviation airplane that violated airspace restrictions as President Obama was leaving Los Angeles on Friday and guided the plane to El Monte Airport.

Law enforcement sources told The Times that Secret Service agents interviewed the pilot at El Monte Airport and that he has been arrested.

The sources said the incident appears to have been unintentional. The pilot's name was not released.

"The fighters responded to a temporary flight restriction violation by a Piper 28 aircraft," the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement. "After intercepting the aircraft, the F-16s followed it until it landed without incident, at approximately [9:50 a.m. PST] where the plane was met by local law enforcement."

Obama arrived at LAX from Cheviot Hills by helicopter, then left LAX on Air Force One at 9:53 a.m. Large parts of L.A.'s airspace were under flight restrictions because of the president's trip.

In February, a small-plane pilot who strayed into Obama’s airspace was also intercepted.

Long Beach police officials said “a large amount of marijuana” was found on board that plane.

Two F-16 fighter jets intercepted the Cessna 182 after air traffic controllers tried to contact the pilot.

The pilot did not respond and eventually landed -– with escorts -- at Long Beach Airport.

Authorities have told The Times that as much as 10 kilograms of marijuana aboard the plane was seized.

Despite concerns about traffic nightmares and possible protests, Obama's fundraiser at the home of actor George Clooney in Studio City went off without a hitch.

People, some cheering, lined the route of Obama's motorcade near Clooney's home. Some noted the president's announcement this week that he supported gay marriage.

Inside, Obama addressed the issue in his remarks at the fundraiser.

"Obviously, yesterday we made some news," he said to applause. "But the truth is it was a logical extension of what America is supposed to be. It grew directly out of this difference in visions. Are we a country that includes everybody and gives everybody a shot and treats everybody fairly, and is that going to make us stronger? Are we welcoming to immigrants? Are we welcoming to people who aren't like us -- does that make us stronger? I believe it does. So that's what's at stake."

Even in the celebrity-laden neighborhood, a presidential motorcade rolling down the street was something special.

About 200 people gathered at the corner of Fryman Canyon Road and Iredell Street to cheer as Obama glided past in a long line of black SUVs, California Highway Patrol motorcycles and other vehicles. The problem was figuring out which one the president was in.

NATO summit turns Chicago into a police state???

Source

Metra NATO plans: Stations closed, baggage checked, limits on what you can carry

By Richard Wronski Tribune reporter

2:39 p.m. CDT, May 11, 2012

Metra plans to close five stations around McCormick Place during the NATO summit May 19-21, and is advising passengers on all its lines they will be subject to screening and baggage checks and severe restrictions on what they can carry on trains those three days.

The stations are the the 47th Street, 27th Street, McCormick Place, 18th Street and 11th Street/Museum Campus stations.

In addition, on Monday May 21, the entire Blue Island branch of Metra Electric line on the Far South Side will be closed so the agency can focus its manpower on other lines.

Metra will close the five close-in Electric District stations during all three days of the NATO summit and a total of 26 stations on Monday alone, including the entire Blue Island branch.

The only Electric District stations that will be open Monday will be three Hyde Park area stations, five on the South Chicago branch, and all mainline suburban stations out to University Park.

Riders on all Metra lines will be subject to screening and baggage checks, with more extensive screening on Electric District trains, which run under McCormick Place where the summit is being held. Metra Electric riders should arrive at stations at least 15 minutes before departure to allow for the extra screening.

During the three days of the summit, all Metra riders will be allowed to carry only one bag and it cannot exceed 15 inches square and 4 inches deep.

Riders will not be able to carry boxes, parcels, luggage, backpacks and bicycles. And liquid and food will be prohibited on all trains.

Also prohibited will be tools, including pipes and stakes, as well as pocket knives and pepper spray.

All law enforcement personnel must identify themselves and present their credentials and any weapons to Metra. Security guards will not be allowed to carry weapons.

Metra said it believes the measures are reasonable, given the security concerns. "We've tried to be sensitive to our customers" Metra CEO Alex Clifford said at a board meeting today.

The Secret Service has given Amtrak, Metra and the South Shore Railroad the OK to run trains under McCormick Place during the summit but had cautioned that passengers will face delays due to "necessary security measures."

Amtrak runs six trains a day on tracks under McCormick Place. Metra's Electric District line has 172 inbound and outbound trains on weekdays and 40 trains on Sundays. The South Shore operates 37 inbound and outbound trains each weekday and 18 on Sundays.

Both Amtrak and Metra police departments have their own canine units. Metra's units have been increasingly visible at Union Station in recent weeks, riders have noted.

Time to apply for your marijuana sellers license???

Applications for medical-marijuana sites open

State plans to approve 126 dispensaries soon

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - May. 13, 2012 08:40 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Arizona Department of Health Services will accept applications for medical-marijuana dispensaries today through 5 p.m. May 25.

Under the voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, the state can have 126 medical-marijuana dispensaries, but the application process had been stalled because of lawsuits and rule making.

Would-be marijuana-dispensary operators must pay a $5,000 fee. [Wow! $4,000 of the fee is NOT refundable] If they are not selected, the state will return $1,000, state health officials said. Applicants must be at least 21 years old and cannot be a law-enforcement officer or a physician who is currently writing certifications for patients. Applicants also cannot have certain felony convictions within the last 10 years. Applicants can operate up to five dispensaries.

The law limits the number of dispensaries that can operate geographically throughout the state, and if there are too many applications in any one area, health officials will award dispensary certifications through a lottery system.

State health officials expect to award dispensary certificates this summer.

If selected, the dispensaries can grow medical marijuana and acquire it from other registered non-profit dispensaries or from registered patients or caregivers.

Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble expects to award fewer than 110 applications, based on public interest so far, and likely between 70 or 80. He doesn't expect Native American tribes to apply for dispensary certificates, based on demographic data the state has collected showing little or no interest in the program.

That same data show that people of all ages and backgrounds -- including the elderly, Baby Boomers and 20- to 30-somethings -- use medical marijuana.

More than 22,200 people have received permission to smoke, eat or otherwise ingest marijuana to ease their ailments. Of those, nearly three-quarters are men, and nearly 85 percent of all patients have requested to grow their own.

Sunny Singh, owner of WeGrow Phoenix, helps medical-marijuana patients and caregivers grow marijuana to target certain ailments. Recently, he's been working with patients and caregivers to help them design grow rooms. He hopes to expand his business and contract with dispensaries.

"We want to change our focus to target the dispensary sites, but there's really been nowhere for us to go" since the dispensary-application process stalled, Singh said. "Being that there can be 126 dispensaries in Arizona, we think we'll be very successful."

Bob Littlefield and Dennis Robbins are are enemies of medical marijuana

The article is at this URL.

It was written by Stephen Lemons on May 10 2012

Drug war brings us 49 headless bodies!!!!!

Source

Drug war's latest toll: 49 headless bodies

May. 14, 2012 09:54 AM AP

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Authorities struggled Monday to identify the 49 people found mutilated and scattered in a pool of blood in a region near the U.S .border where Mexico's two dominant drug cartels are trying to outdo each other in bloodshed while warring over smuggling routes.

The bodies of 43 men and six women with their heads, hands and feet chopped off were dumped at the entrance to the town of San Juan, on a highway that connects the industrial city of Monterrey with Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas.

At the spot where authorities discovered the bodies before dawn Sunday, a white stone arch that normally welcomes visitors to the town was spray-painted with "100% Zeta" in black letters -- an apparent reference to the fearsome Zetas drug cartel that was founded by deserters from the Mexican army's special forces.

Only one couple looking for their missing daughter visited the morgue in Monterrey where autopsies were being performed Sunday, a state police investigator said. Authorities said at least a few of the latest victims had tattoos of the Santa Muerte cult popular among drug traffickers.

The bodies, some of them in plastic garbage bags, were most likely brought to the spot and dropped from the back of a dump truck, Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said.

Domene said the dead would be hard to identify because of the lack of heads, hands and feet, which have not been found. The remains were taken to a Monterrey auditorium for DNA tests.

The victims could have been killed as long as two days ago at another location, then transported to San Juan, a town in the municipality of Cadereyta, about 105 miles (175 kilometers) west-southwest of McAllen, Texas, and 75 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of the Roma, Texas, border crossing, state Attorney General Adrian de la Garza said. San Juan is known as the cradle of baseball in Mexico.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case, said none of the six female bodies matched the missing daughter's description. He said some of the bodies were badly decomposed and some had their whole arms or lower legs missing.

De la Garza said he did not rule out the possibility that the victims were U.S.-bound migrants. Authorities said they also may have been brought from other states, because there had been no recent reports of mass disappearances in in Nuevo Leon state.

The killings appeared to be the latest salvo in a gruesome game of tit-for-tat in fighting between the Zetas and the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.

Mass body dumpings have increased around Mexico in the last six months of escalating fighting between the Zetas and Sinaloa, which is led by fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and its allies, the federal Attorney General's Office said in statement late Sunday.

The two cartels have committed "irrational acts of inhumane and inadmissible violence in their dispute," the office said, reiterating it is offering $2 million rewards for information leading to the arrests of Guzman, Ismael Zambada, another Sinaloa cartel leader, and Zetas' leaders Heriberto Lazacano Lazcano and Miguel Trevino.

Under President Felipe Calderon's nearly six-year offensive against organized crime, the two cartels have emerged as Mexico's two most powerful gangs and are battling over strategic transport routes and territory, including along the northern border with the U.S. and in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Cadereyta has been the scene of escalating drug violence, authorities said Monday. Killings in the municipality stood at 74 through April, compared to 27 over the same period in 2011, and 7 in 2010.

Across Mexico, in less than a month, the mutilated bodies of 14 men were left in a van in downtown Nuevo Laredo, 23 people were found hanged or decapitated in the same border city and 18 dismembered bodied were left near Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara. Nuevo Laredo, like Monterrey, is considered Zeta territory, while Guadalajara has long been controlled by gangs loyal to Sinaloa.

"This is the most definitive of all the cartel wars," said Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

The Zetas are a transient gang without real territory or a secure stream of income, unlike Sinaloa with its lucrative cocaine trade and control of smuggling routes and territory, Benitez said. But the Zetas are heavily armed while Sinaloa has a weak enforcement arm, he said.

The government's success in killing or arresting cartel leaders has fractured other once big cartels into weaker, quarreling bands that in many cases are lining up with either the Zetas or Sinaloa. At least one of those two cartels is present in nearly all of Mexico's 32 states.

A year ago this month, more than two dozen people -- most of them Zetas -- were killed when they tried to infiltrate the Sinaloa's territory in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit.

But their war started in earnest last fall in Veracruz, a strategic smuggling state with a giant Gulf port.

A drug gang allied with Sinaloa left 35 bodies on a main boulevard in the city of Veracruz in September, and police found 32 other bodies, apparently killed by the same gang, a few days after that. The goal apparently was to take over territory that had been dominated by the Zetas.

Twenty-six bodies were found in November in Guadalajara, another territory being disputed by the Zetas and Sinaloa.

Drug violence has killed more than 47,500 people since Calderon launched a stepped-up offensive when he took office in December 2006.

Mexico is now in the midst of presidential race to replace Calderon, who by law can't run for re-election. Drug violence seems to be escalating, but none of the major candidates has referred directly to mass killings. All say they will stop the violence and make Mexico a more secure place, but offer few details on how their plans would differ from Calderon's.

Benitez said the wave of violence has nothing to do with the presidential election.

"It has the dynamic of a war between cartels," he said.

15 chopped up bodies found in Lake Chapala

Source

15 bodies found in vans near Mexican tourist lake

May. 9, 2012 12:52 PM

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY -- At least 15 bodies have been found hacked up and stuffed into two vans near Lake Chapala, an area frequented by tourists just south of the city of Guadalajara in western Jalisco state, police in Mexico said Wednesday.

State Prosecutor said Tomas Coronado said the count is preliminary, because 15 severed human heads were found, meaning that at least that many people, but possibly more, had been cut up and put in the vans.

"The bodies are dismembered," Coronado said in an interview broadcast by the Notisistema radio station.

The two vehicles were found by the side of a highway early Wednesday; the vehicles were towed to government offices to unload the bodies.

The two vehicles were found just a few miles from Lake Chapala, an area popular with tourists and American retirees.

Mexican drug cartels frequently dismember the bodies of their victims or leave them stuffed into vehicles, but there was no immediate evidence of drug gang involvement at the crime scene Wednesday.

The area has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Jalisco New Generation gang and the Zetas drug cartel.

Drug war causes marijuana murders???

Source

Murder warrant issued after teen disappears trying to steal marijuana

By Marc Benajamin

Fresno Bee

Posted: 05/15/2012 09:20:26 AM PDT

A murder warrant has been issued in the disappearance of Sammy Mercado, the Sanger teenager who vanished after attempting to steal marijuana from an outdoor growing site last month, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff's investigators say Ernie Chanmany, 21, of Fresno is wanted on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges.

Chanmany was identified three weeks ago as one of the suspects possibly involved in Mercado's disappearance.

Mercado's body has not been found, sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said.

Mercado, 16, has been missing since April 12 when authorities say he and two friends attempted to steal marijuana from an outdoor grow at Annadale and Willow avenues.

Two men emerged from a hut, and one of them started shooting at Mercado. His two friends drove away, leaving the boy lying on the ground. When they returned, Mercado was gone, but evidence at the scene indicated the teenager might have been shot.

Chanmany is described as Laotian, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 135 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and tattoos of a dragon on his left shoulder, "Chanmany" on his chest, and "01-01-10" on his left wrist.

It's not known where Chanmany is, but his last known address was on South Chance Avenue in Fresno. Chanmany has relatives in Las Vegas and Memphis, Tenn., Curtice said, but it's not known if he is in either city.

Anyone with information on Chanmany's whereabouts is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at (559) 488-3111, or CrimeStoppers at (559) 498-STOP(7867).

5 nanogram marijuana DUI test fails in Colorado

Marijuana DUI standard dies a 3rd time in Colorado

May. 15, 2012 02:24 PM

Associated Press

DENVER -- A marijuana blood limit for drivers was rejected Tuesday for a third time in Colorado, as lawmakers from both parties argued about how to fairly gauge whether someone is too stoned to get behind the wheel.

The bill would have made Colorado the third state in the nation with a blood-level limit for marijuana, much as the nation has a blood-alcohol limit of .08.

Currently, drugged-driving convictions depend on officer observations.

The Colorado Senate fell a single vote short on the bill setting a drivers' blood standard for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The measure failed on a 17-17 tie, one vote short of the number needed to advance it.

Earlier Tuesday, the House signed off again on the bill that would limit drivers to 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.

Marijuana activists and some lawmakers from both parties argued that the blood standard is an unfair measure of driver impairment.

"I don't think it'll make our roads any safer," argued Democratic Sen. Pat Steadman.

Some Republican opposed the bill, too, arguing that prosecutors already succeed in most drugged-driving cases, and the measure considered Tuesday should have targeted more than just marijuana use.

A similar bill failed last year by a single vote in the Senate, and another version died last week when the regular session concluded. Tuesday's Senate vote marks the third time in two years lawmakers have failed to agree on a so-called "D-U-High" standard.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper added drugged driving to a list of measures he asked lawmakers to consider in the special legislative session expected to end Wednesday.

Voters in Washington state will consider a 5 nanogram THC driving limit this fall on a ballot measure about marijuana legalization.

NYPD sued over stop and frisk program

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NY judge gives class-action status to lawsuit challenging NYPD stop-and-frisk practices

By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 10:26 AM

NEW YORK — Finding the city’s attitude “deeply troubling,” a judge granted class action status Wednesday to a 2008 lawsuit accusing the New York Police Department of discriminating against blacks and Hispanics with its stop-and-frisk policies aimed at reducing crime.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said in a written ruling that there was “overwhelming evidence” that a centralized stop-and-frisk program has led to thousands of unlawful stops. She noted that the vast majority of New Yorkers who are unlawfully stopped will never file a lawsuit in response, and she said class-action status was created for just these kinds of court cases.

The lawsuit alleged that the police department purposefully engaged in a widespread practice of concentrating its stop-and-frisk activity on black and Hispanic neighborhoods based on their racial composition rather than legitimate non-racial factors. The lawsuit said officers are pressured to meet quotas as part of the program and they are punished if they do not.

Scheindlin said she found it “disturbing” that the city responded to the lawsuit by saying a court order to stop the practice would amount to “judicial intrusion,” and that no injunction could guarantee that suspicionless stops would never occur or would only occur in a certain percentage of encounters.

“First, suspicionless stops should never occur,” Scheindlin wrote. She said the police department’s “cavalier attitude towards the prospect of a ‘widespread practice of suspicionless stops’ displays a deeply troubling apathy towards New Yorkers’ most fundamental constitutional rights.”

She called it “rather audacious” of the police department to argue that legislators already would have passed necessary laws if it were possible to protect people from unlawful searches and seizures.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly declined to comment.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he couldn’t comment directly on the ruling because he hadn’t seen it, but he did defend the stop and frisk program, saying it had helped the city prevent thousands of deaths — largely of black and Hispanic New Yorkers, who are far more likely to be murder victims than their white counterparts.

“Nobody should ask Ray Kelly to apologize — he’s not going to and neither am I — for saving 5,600 lives. And I think it’s fair to say that stop, question and frisk has been an essential part of the NYPD’s work; it’s taken more than 6,000 guns off the streets in the last eight years, and this year we are on pace to have the lowest number of murders in recorded history. ... We’re not going to do anything that undermines that trend and threatens public safety.”

The city law office said in a statement: “We respectfully disagree with the decision and are reviewing our legal options.”

Darius Charney, who argued the case on behalf of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit legal organization, said: “We’re very pleased. We think she clearly got everything right on the law.”

He said the ruling “reinforces that this is a citywide problem the NYPD needs to address.”

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a release that the ruling “is a wake-up call - and it is time for the city to face the damage done by this divisive policy.”

In 2002, there were 97,296 stops. Last year, there were 685,724 stops, while there were 601,055 in 2010 and 575,304 in 2009.

The Police Department has said it made 203,500 street stops during the first three months of 2012, up from 183,326 in the first three months of 2011.

The RAND Corp. research organization, in a study commissioned by the NYPD and released in 2007, concluded the raw data “distorts the magnitude and, at times, the existence of racially biased policing.”

The study acknowledged that “black pedestrians were stopped at a rate that is 50 percent greater than their representation in the residential census.” But it said using the census as a benchmark was unreliable because it failed to factor in variables such as a higher arrest rate and more crime-suspect descriptions involving minorities.

___

Associated Press writers Tom Hays and Samantha Gross contributed to this story.

Hondurans demand DEA leave after shooting

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Hondurans demand DEA leave after shooting

by Marth Mendoza - May. 17, 2012 07:50 AM

Associated Press

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- People in Honduras' predominantly Indian Mosquito coast region burned down government offices and demanded that U.S. drug agents leave the area, reacting angrily to an anti-drug operation in which they say police gunfire killed four innocent people, including two pregnant women.

The anger is aimed at both Honduran authorities and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which confirmed on Wednesday that some of its agents were on a U.S.-owned helicopter with Honduran police officers when the shooting happened Friday on the Patuca River in northeastern Honduras.

Honduran and U.S. officials said only the police officers on the anti-drug mission fired their weapons, and not until the helicopter was shot at first. The officials said the aircraft was chasing a small boat suspected of carrying drugs on the river.

Local officials said the two men and two pregnant women killed weren't drug smugglers. They said the victims were diving for lobster and shellfish.

"These innocent residents were not involved in the drug problem, were in their boat going about their daily fishing activities ... when they gunned them down from the air," Lucio Vaquedano, mayor of the coastal town of Ahuas, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Recounting the burning of government offices in the northern Gracias a Dios region, Vaquedano said, "Some of the inhabitants reacted with anger at the attack, and sought revenge against the government."

The leaders of the Masta, Diunat, Rayaka, Batiasta and Bamiasta ethnic groups said in a press statement that "the people in that canoe were fishermen, not drug traffickers."

"For centuries we have been a peaceful people who live in harmony with nature, but today we declared these Americans to be persona non grata in our territory," the statement continued.

Ricardo Ramirez, chief of Honduras' national police force, said the operation "was carried out with the support of the DEA," and alleged the occupants of the boat were transporting drugs and fired at the helicopter. Ramirez said an assault rifle was seized at the scene.

DEA officials acknowledged their agents were working with Honduran police aboard the helicopter. "We were there in a support role, working with our counterparts," DEA spokeswoman Dawn Dearden said in Washington.

U.S. government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because their statements had not been authorized, said Honduran law enforcement did not initiate the shooting, but rather returned fire after being attacked. The officials said the DEA agents did not fire.

Another U.S. official speaking on the same condition of anonymity said several helicopters owned by the U.S. State Department were involved in the mission and carried members of Honduras' National Police Tactical Response Team. The official didn't say how many helicopters were on the mission, but said the aircraft were piloted by Guatemalan military officers and outside contractor pilots.

When asked about the shooting, U.S. Embassy official Matthias Mitman in Tegucigalpa provided a written statement saying that "the U.S. assisted Honduran forces with logistical support in this operation" as part of efforts to fight narcotics trafficking.

The State Department says 79 percent of all cocaine smuggling flights leaving South America first land in Honduras, and the U.S .has been working with the Honduran military to stop the drug dealers.

The DEA has a Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team based in Honduras, one of five in the region, according to congressional testimony. By the end of 2011, 42 Honduran law enforcement agents had been vetted to work with the DEA, according to State Department reports.

Last year, with help from the U.S., the Honduran government stopped more than 22 metric tons of cocaine in Honduras and adjacent waters, nearly four times more than 2010, the State Department has said. Although U.S. military helicopters and personnel from Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras have been involved in previous seizures, U.S. Embassy officials said Wednesday that neither troops nor equipment from the base were involved in Friday's incident.

George Withers, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, which promotes human rights and democracy in the region, said his organization is concerned that DEA agents are frequently embedded with police and military throughout Central and South America for counter-drug operations. He said it's disconcerting to have Latin American military forces engaged in police work.

"We have seen over the years that whenever the military interfaces with the populace, incidents of human rights abuses go way up," he said. "We're concerned that the U.S. is encouraging the use of the military for police work."

In a written statement, the Committee of the Families of the Disappeared of Honduras, a human rights organization, said that "the so called Honduran authorities have the ethical and political duty to demand from the U.S. Department of State an explanation and a public apology, and to punish those responsible."

Cancer stricken judge now supports medical marijuana

A Judge’s Plea for Pot

By GUSTIN L. REICHBACH

Published: May 16, 2012

THREE and a half years ago, on my 62nd birthday, doctors discovered a mass on my pancreas. It turned out to be Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I was told I would be dead in four to six months. Today I am in that rare coterie of people who have survived this long with the disease. But I did not foresee that after having dedicated myself for 40 years to a life of the law, including more than two decades as a New York State judge, my quest for ameliorative and palliative care would lead me to marijuana.

My survival has demanded an enormous price, including months of chemotherapy, radiation hell and brutal surgery. For about a year, my cancer disappeared, only to return. About a month ago, I started a new and even more debilitating course of treatment. Every other week, after receiving an IV booster of chemotherapy drugs that takes three hours, I wear a pump that slowly injects more of the drugs over the next 48 hours.

Nausea and pain are constant companions. One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat one problem leads to one or two more drugs to offset its side effects. Pain medication leads to loss of appetite and constipation. Anti-nausea medication raises glucose levels, a serious problem for me with my pancreas so compromised. Sleep, which might bring respite from the miseries of the day, becomes increasingly elusive.

Inhaled marijuana is the only medicine that gives me some relief from nausea, stimulates my appetite, and makes it easier to fall asleep. The oral synthetic substitute, Marinol, prescribed by my doctors, was useless. Rather than watch the agony of my suffering, friends have chosen, at some personal risk, to provide the substance. I find a few puffs of marijuana before dinner gives me ammunition in the battle to eat. A few more puffs at bedtime permits desperately needed sleep.

This is not a law-and-order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue. Being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, I am receiving the absolute gold standard of medical care. But doctors cannot be expected to do what the law prohibits, even when they know it is in the best interests of their patients. When palliative care is understood as a fundamental human and medical right, marijuana for medical use should be beyond controversy.

Sixteen states already permit the legitimate clinical use of marijuana, including our neighbor New Jersey, and Connecticut is on the cusp of becoming No. 17. The New York State Legislature is now debating a bill to recognize marijuana as an effective and legitimate medicinal substance and establish a lawful framework for its use. The Assembly has passed such bills before, but they went nowhere in the State Senate. This year I hope that the outcome will be different. Cancer is a nonpartisan disease, so ubiquitous that it’s impossible to imagine that there are legislators whose families have not also been touched by this scourge. It is to help all who have been affected by cancer, and those who will come after, that I now speak.

Given my position as a sitting judge still hearing cases, well-meaning friends question the wisdom of my coming out on this issue. But I recognize that fellow cancer sufferers may be unable, for a host of reasons, to give voice to our plight. It is another heartbreaking aporia in the world of cancer that the one drug that gives relief without deleterious side effects remains classified as a narcotic with no medicinal value.

Because criminalizing an effective medical technique affects the fair administration of justice, I feel obliged to speak out as both a judge and a cancer patient suffering with a fatal disease. I implore the governor and the Legislature of New York, always considered a leader among states, to join the forward and humane thinking of 16 other states and pass the medical marijuana bill this year. Medical science has not yet found a cure, but it is barbaric to deny us access to one substance that has proved to ameliorate our suffering.

Gustin L. Reichbach is a justice of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

More on those DEA thugs in Honduras

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D.E.A.’s Agents Join Counternarcotics Efforts in Honduras

By CHARLIE SAVAGE and THOM SHANKER

Published: May 16, 2012

WASHINGTON — A commando-style squad of Drug Enforcement Administration agents accompanied the Honduran counternarcotics police during two firefights with cocaine smugglers in the jungles of the Central American country this month, according to officials in both countries who were briefed on the matter. One of the fights, which occurred last week, left as many as four people dead and has set off a backlash against the American presence there.

It remains unclear whether the D.E.A. agents took part in the shooting during either episode, the first in the early hours of May 6 and the second early last Friday. In an initial account of the second episode, the Honduran government told local reporters that two drug traffickers had been killed and a large shipment of cocaine seized; he did not mention any American involvement. Several American officials said the D.E.A. agents did not return fire during the encounter.

But this week, a local mayor and a Honduran lawmaker said that four innocent bystanders had been killed and called for an investigation into what the Honduran news media are now portraying as a botched D.E.A. operation.

Lucio Baquedano, the mayor of Ahuas, a small town near the incident, told El Tiempo, a Honduran newspaper, that a helicopter-borne unit consisting of both Honduran police officers and D.E.A. agents was pursuing a boatload of drug smugglers when it mistakenly opened fire on another boat carrying villagers. Four people died — including two pregnant women — and four others were wounded, he said.

Honduras is a growing focus of American counternarcotics efforts aimed at the drug cartels that have increasingly sought to use its ungoverned spaces as a way point in shipping cocaine from South America to the United States.

But the murky circumstances surrounding the firefights underscore the potential successes and risks in the United States’ escalating efforts to help small Central American governments battle well-armed and financed transnational narcotics smugglers by adapting counterinsurgency techniques honed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The challenge has been to help bolster local security forces without raising a nationalist backlash fueled by memories of interventions by the United States during the cold war.

The American efforts include the use of D.E.A. commando squads — called FAST, or Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team — to train and work along side specially vetted local forces in the Western Hemisphere. This year, the military built three “forward operating bases” in isolated areas of Honduras to prestage helicopter-borne units so they could more quickly respond.

Dawn Dearden, a D.E.A. spokeswoman, confirmed that American agents had been present alongside Honduran counterparts at both episodes. She said the D.E.A. worked “hand in hand with our Honduran counterparts” but were “involved in a supportive role only” during the two operations.

She declined to comment further, citing the delicacy of the matter. But other officials said that government forces in the two operations seized more than a ton of cocaine that had just been flown in on small planes from Venezuela and was probably bound for the United States. They also said door gunners for the helicopters were Honduran.

The episode last Friday began when an American intelligence task force detected a plane from Venezuela headed for a remote airstrip in Honduras. The military sent a Navy P-3 surveillance plane — developed for anti-submarine warfare in the cold war — high over the site, where it detected about 30 people unloading cargo from the plane into a vehicle, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The smugglers, they said, then drove to a nearby river and loaded the materials into a canoe. It is a standard technique for smugglers to ferry their contraband in canoes, which glide under triple-canopy rain forest to the coast, where the cargo is put into fast boats or submersibles for the trip north to the United States.

Meanwhile, helicopters were scrambling from one of several “forward operating bases” that the United States military has recently built, this one at Puerto Castilla on the coast. The helicopters carried a Honduran strike force along with members of a FAST unit.

The helicopters, officials said, landed and seized the boat along with its cargo, about 2,000 pounds of cocaine. American and Honduran officials have said a second boat arrived and opened fire on the government agents, and a brief but intense shootout ensued in which government forces on the ground killed two drug traffickers.

But Mr. Baquedano told El Tiempo that the helicopter was pursuing the drug traffickers when they mistook another boat, filled with villagers and traveling with a light on, for the traffickers, whose boat was unlighted. He said gunners on the helicopter fired on the villagers’ boat, while the smugglers abandoned their boat and escaped. Mr. Baquedan said the four slain villagers were innocent bystanders.

Just as in operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen, it is often difficult to distinguish insurgents from villagers when combating drugs in Central America. One official said it is a common practice for smugglers to pay thousands of dollars to a poor village if its people will help bring a shipment through the jungle to the coast.

The FAST teams were created in 2005 to help Afghan forces go after drug traffickers in the war zone who were helping to finance the Taliban. Most of them were military veterans and received Special Operations-style training from the military. The D.E.A. had a similar program during the 1980s and early 1990s in which agents worked alongside Latin American police and military officials to go after jungle labs and smuggling planes. That program was ended early in the Clinton administration after complaints that it was not having enough of an impact to justify its risks.

Because they are considered law enforcement agents, not soldiers, their presence on another country’s soil may raise fewer sensitivities about sovereignty. The American military personnel deployed in Honduras, for example, are barred from responding with force even if Honduran or D.E.A. agents are in danger. But if their Honduran counterparts come under fire, FAST teams may shoot back. For similar reasons, the helicopters are part of a State Department counternarcotics program — and not military.

A FAST team was involved in a firefight in Honduras in March 2011 in which a Honduran officer was wounded and two drug traffickers were killed. In that case, the presence of the team was fortuitous — it had been on a training exercise with Honduran counterparts nearby when a smuggling plane was detected coming into a remote airstrip. On the May 6 mission, an American intelligence task force identified a plane leaving Venezuela and heading toward Honduras. A surveillance plane spotted the single-engine airplane as it landed in the wilderness of Miskito Indian country of eastern Honduras, and watched as about 100 people unloaded bales of cargo into several vehicles, officials said.

The landing strip was less than 30 miles from one of the new outposts, called Forward Operating Base Mocoron. A joint Honduran-D.E.A. squad arrived on a State Department helicopter as two vehicles were leaving the landing zone. Drug smugglers on the ground, officials said, opened fire on the helicopter, and the government forces returned fire. In that episode, officials said, the drug smugglers fled into the rain forest, and there were no casualties.

Federal judge: Terror law violates 1st Amendment

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Federal judge: Terror law violates 1st Amendment

Associated Press

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Wednesday struck down a portion of a law giving the government wide powers to regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists, saying it left journalists, scholars and political activists facing the prospect of indefinite detention for exercising First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan said in a written ruling that a single page of the law has a "chilling impact on First Amendment rights." She cited testimony by journalists that they feared their association with certain individuals overseas could result in their arrest because a provision of the law subjects to indefinite detention anyone who "substantially" or "directly" provides "support" to forces such as al-Qaida or the Taliban. She said the wording was too vague and encouraged Congress to change it.

"An individual could run the risk of substantially supporting or directly supporting an associated force without even being aware that he or she was doing so," the judge said.

She said the law also gave the government authority to move against individuals who engage in political speech with views that "may be extreme and unpopular as measured against views of an average individual.

"That, however, is precisely what the First Amendment protects," Forrest wrote.

She called the fears of journalists in particular real and reasonable, citing testimony at a March hearing by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Christopher Hedges, who has interviewed al-Qaida members, conversed with members of the Taliban during speaking engagements overseas and reported on 17 groups named on a list prepared by the State Department of known terrorist organizations. He testified that the law has led him to consider altering speeches where members of al-Qaida or the Taliban might be present.

Hedges called Forrest's ruling "a tremendous step forward for the restoration of due process and the rule of law."

He said: "Ever since the law has come out, and because the law is so amorphous, the problem is you're not sure what you can say, what you can do and what context you can have."

Hedges was among seven individuals and one organization that challenged the law with a January lawsuit. The National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law in December, allowing for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism. Wednesday's ruling does not affect another part of the law that enables the United States to indefinitely detain members of terrorist organizations, and the judge said the government has other legal authority it can use to detain those who support terrorists.

A message left Wednesday with a spokeswoman for government lawyers was not immediately returned.

Bruce Afran, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the ruling a "great victory for free speech."

"She's held that the government cannot subject people to indefinite imprisonment for engaging in speech, journalism or advocacy, regardless of how unpopular those ideas might be to some people," he said.

Attorney Carl Mayer, speaking for plaintiffs at oral arguments earlier this year, had noted that even President Barack Obama expressed reservations about certain aspects of the bill when he signed it into law.

After the ruling, Mayer called on the Obama administration to drop its decision to enforce the law. He also called on Congress to change it "to make it the law of the land that U.S. citizens are entitled to trial by jury. They are not subject to military detention, policing and tribunals, all the things we fought a revolution to make sure would never happen in this land."

The government had argued that the law did not change the practices of the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to sue.

In March, the judge seemed sympathetic to the government's arguments until she asked a government attorney if he could assure the plaintiffs that they would not face detention under the law for their work.

She wrote Wednesday that the failure of the government to make such a representation required her to assume that government takes the position that the law covers "a wide swath of expressive and associational conduct."

Phoenix says no liquor licenses for pot smokers!!!

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Phoenix eatery fighting for liquor-license approval

by Michael Clancy - May. 16, 2012 09:58 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Phoenix recommended 245 liquor-license applicants for approval in 2011.

The City Council turned down only 10 -- nine with recommendations for disapproval and one with no recommendation at all. The recommendations go to the Arizona Liquor Board for a final decision.

Not one of them received a stamp of disapproval for the reasons Wendi Kurth and Shogun Restaurant in northeast Phoenix were turned down recently.

The council followed the leadership of Councilman Bill Gates, who believes admitted marijuana smokers should not be permitted to hold licenses to sell liquor. Kurth, who has never been convicted of a drug-related crime, admitted to police investigators that she smokes marijuana daily. She told the council it helps her deal with an unspecified medical condition. [She has a medical marijuana card!!! What's the big stinking deal???]

Shogun, on Tatum Boulevard on the eastern side of Paradise Valley Mall, is located within Gates' district.

Jerry Lewkowitz, an attorney who has represented businesses seeking liquor licenses for almost 40 years, said the council's 7-2 vote was only the second or third time he could remember in which a vote on a license recommendation was not unanimous.

He said that when applicants are denied, it is usually a question of the "reliability, capability and qualifications" of the applicant, a broad category that can include wide-ranging activities.

A report from Phoenix police Detective Eric Breindl noted that Kurth, who is in the process of buying the restaurant, admitted her habit. He also said a plant was found growing in the yard of a home she occupied in 1998 and that her husband was listed in a police report as the primary suspect in the unlawful discharge of a firearm within city limits last year. [So in the police state of Phoenix, Arizona you are assumed guilty till you prove yourself innocent???]

Gates said he had to go along with the officer on this one, although the council has not always done so.

He acknowledged not checking either whether the Kurths had a criminal record or the record of the restaurant, where Kurth has worked for 20 years, most recently as a manager.

No charges were ever filed against Kurth or her husband, and the only violations Shogun has faced were three issues of delinquent taxes, all resolved with fines. Shogun, one of the original sushi bars in the Phoenix area, has been open since the late 1980s. Its liquor license was first issued in July 1991. [Again in the police state of Phoenix, Arizona you are assumed guilty till you prove yourself innocent???]

"This is not a case where the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt," Gates said.

Typically in liquor-license cases, admitted violations of the law in circumstances where no charges have been filed are rare. In 2011, such cases appeared to be non-existent.

Normally, recommendations of denial follow allegations that include hidden assets, secret owners and inability to show where the money to purchase the business and the liquor license came from. Occasionally, one of the applicants has a criminal record.

In one matter in which the council voted no recommendation, the case involved a Circle K store at 24th Avenue and Indian School Road, and a significant group of neighbors and organizations spoke against the license.

In a case involving prominent local chef Aaron May, who wanted a liquor license for Le Ragazze in Ahwatukee Foothills, the recommendation was denied because of five violations at another restaurant he owns -- the Lodge in Scottsdale -- involving failure to check IDs and selling to a minor. He failed to disclose the violations fully, the report said.

May's case also raised several financial concerns, including legal judgments against him and a bankruptcy filing. But May continues to have ownership interest in, and liquor licenses for, several other restaurants, including the Lodge.

Of the 10 that failed to get council approval last year, not a single one of them passed muster with state liquor officials, city records show. Seven applicants dropped their efforts, including Le Ragazze. Three others, including the Circle K, were denied.

Kurth, who told the council that the marijuana plant was not hers and that the gunshot was an accident, said she and her husband now have procured medical-marijuana cards from the Arizona Department of Health Services, but they got them after they spoke to Breindl.

She insisted her marijuana use in no way jeopardizes public safety. [I bet Phoenix Councilman Bill Gate learned everything he knows about marijuana from the movie "Reefer Madness" and thinks smoking one joint will cause a Black man to go out and rape 6 White woman, or in this case cause Kurth, a White woman to go out and rape 6 Black men??? Well that's what I learned in high school when they showed us the movie "Reefer Madness" to teach us about the effects of marijuana!!! Unlike Phoenix Councilman Bill Gates, I know that is just a bunch of government propaganda used to demonize marijuana]

The liquor license is up for renewal because of the pending transfer of ownership from Michael and Nicole Roth to Kurth. Kurth said the sale will be off if she cannot get a license. She did not respond to several phone calls seeking additional comment.

The next liquor board hearing is June 7. The agenda has not been posted yet.

Silly law makes drug tunnels illegal

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House OKs bill on smuggling tunnels

May. 17, 2012 09:27 PM

Associated Press

The U.S. House passed a bill Wednesday aimed at combating a rise in the number of drug-smuggling tunnels under the U.S.-Mexican border.

The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., passed 416-4. It would penalize people who conspire to build tunnels, supplementing a law that punishes those who construct them. The maximum penalty is 20 years in prison. The Senate has passed a similar version, and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law.

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