Drug War Chronicle, Issue #551 -- 9/12/08
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/psmith
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden
"News and Activism Supporting Sensible Reform"

Offer: Unique and Important New Book on Medical Marijuana:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/dying_to_get_high_membership_offer

Table of Contents:

1. FEATURE: US SENTENCING COMMISSION TO EXAMINE ALTERNATIVES TO
INCARCERATION
Coming off a summer symposium that brought together experts in
criminal justice and sentencing issues, the US Sentencing
Commission has announced that it is making alternatives to
incarceration one of its priorities for the coming year. With a
record 200,000-plus people in federal prison -- more than half
of them drug offenders -- that is a good thing.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/us_sentencing_commission_to_examine_alte...

2. FEATURE: BATTLE OVER CALIFORNIA'S NONVIOLENT OFFENDER
RECOVERY ACT INITIATIVE BEGINS TO HEAT UP
In November, California residents will vote on a massive,
complicated "treatment not jail" initiative known as the
Nonviolent Offenders Rehabilitation Act (NORA) and appearing on
the ballot as Proposition 5. Battle lines are now being drawn.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/california_NORA_Proposition_5_treatment_...

3. FEATURE: SCHOLARSHIP FUND HONORING 9/11 HERO JOHN W. PERRY
ASSISTS MORE STUDENTS LOSING FINANCIAL AID BECAUSE OF DRUG
CONVICTIONS
The Higher Education Act (HEA) drug provision bars students with
drug convictions from obtaining financial aid for specified
periods. The John W. Perry Fund was created to help some of
those students and to raise awareness of the injustice of the
provision. This year, it is helping two students stay in school.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/john_perry_fund_HEA_drug_provision

4. OFFER: UNIQUE AND IMPORTANT NEW BOOK ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard
Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth
portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical
marijuana collectives.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/dying_to_get_high_membership_offer

5. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
We have cops and prison guards getting into drug war trouble
from coast to coast this week, from San Diego to Chicago and
from Florida to Maryland.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/police_drug_corruption

6. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST GROWER EDDY LEPP
GUILTY IN FEDERAL CULTIVATION CASE, FACES 10 YEARS TO LIFE
California medical marijuana and marijuana legalization activist
Eddy Lepp faces from 10 years to life in prison after being
convicted by a federal jury of growing more 24,000 plants.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/eddy_lepp_convicted_for_marijuana

7. MARIJUANA: IT'S OFFICIAL -- FAYETTEVILLE LOWEST LAW
ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY INITIATIVE MAKES NOVEMBER BALLOT
It's official -- An initiative making adult marijuana possession
offenses the lowest law enforcement priority in Fayetteville,
Arkansas, will be on the November 4 ballot. But local
prosecutors and law enforcement officials say it doesn't matter.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/fayetteville_arkansas_marijuana_lowest_p...

8. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: PTSD VICTIM SUES WEST VIRGINIA PAIN
MANAGEMENT CENTER FOR DISMISSING HIM BECAUSE HE SMOKES MARIJUANA
FOR RELIEF
Medical marijuana users all too frequently run into problems
with medical practitioners who consider them nothing more than
drug abusers. Now, a West Virginia victim of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder is suing the doctor and clinic that dismissed
him because he used pot to alleviate his symptoms.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/medical_marijuana_PTSD_patient_sues_heal...

9. LATIN AMERICA: EMBATTLED MEXICAN PRESIDENT SEEKS MORE MONEY
TO FIGHT CRIME, DRUG GANGS
Mexican President Felipe Calderon staked his political
reputation on doing battle with the drug cartels. Now, with
prohibition-related violence at record levels and violent common
crime also on the rise, he is looking for more money to save his
legacy.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/mexico_president_calderon_budget_drugs_c...

10. LATIN AMERICA: WALTERS CONTINUES US ATTACK ON VENEZUELA
ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS, CALLS CHAVEZ POLICIES "GLOBAL THREAT"
Washington's war of words against Venezuela over its anti-drug
interdiction efforts continued this week, as John Walters called
the country a "global threat" because it does not cooperate in
US anti-drug efforts.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/John_Walters_Venezuela_global_threat_coc...

11. SOUTH ASIA: INDIAN NEWSPAPER CHEERS ON ANTI-DRUG VIGILANTES
Anti-drug vigilantism is not unknown in India or some other
parts of the world, but it's not usually cheered on by the
press. This week, it was in India's Orissa state.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/india_anti_drug_vigilantes

12. EUROPE: IRISH JUDGE BALKS AT UNQUANTIFIED DRUGGED DRIVING
TEST
An Irish judge has dismissed drugged driving charges against a
young man based solely on the presence of marijuana in his
system. That's not sufficient to prove impairment, he ruled.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/irish_judge_dismisses_drugged_driving_ma...

13. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/drug_war_history

14. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Jonathan Caulkins vs. The Boring Drug War Debate," "If Salvia
Isn't Toxic or Addictive, What's the Argument for Banning it?,"
"How to Use Drugs Without Ruining Our Lives," "Jurors Fight Back
Against the War on Medical Marijuana," "Smoke a Joint, Get Your
Boss Fired," "If the Drug War Makes Sense to You, Nothing Else
Will."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/blogging_at_the_speakeasy

15. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle

16. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
FEEDS ON YOUR WEB SITE!
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_no...

17. RESOURCE: DRCNET WEB SITE OFFERS WIDE ARRAY OF RSS FEEDS FOR
YOUR READER
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
Chronicle and more -- is now available.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available

18. RESOURCE: REFORMER'S CALENDAR ACCESSIBLE THROUGH DRCNET WEB
SITE
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to
the events coming up the soonest, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/drug_reform_calendar

(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)

================

1. Feature: US Sentencing Commission to Examine Alternatives to
Incarceration
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/us_sentencing_commission_to_examine_alte...

The US Sentencing Commission, the panel that sets sentencing
guidelines for federal courts, has signaled that it intends to
focus next year on developing alternatives to imprisonment, a
move that is welcomed by reform advocates, but opposed by
conservatives and, likely, the Justice Department. The
commission's intentions were mentioned in a recent filing in the
Federal Register and come as a September 8 deadline for public
comment has just passed.

Created in 1984, the Sentencing Commission consists of seven
presidential appointees who are then confirmed by the Senate
Judiciary Committee. The panel is charged with making sentencing
recommendations which automatically take effect unless Congress
proactively votes to reject them.

While Congress has repeatedly enacted tough new sentences in
bouts of anti-crime or anti-drug hysteria, the Sentencing
Commission is less prone to political passions and more likely
to act as a restraining influence on congressional incarceration
mania. The commission, for example, has for more than a decade
urged reforms of the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparities
that have seen thousands of African-Americans imprisoned for
years for crack while mostly whites holding similar amounts of
powder cocaine do far less time. Last year, the commission
enacted changes in the federal sentencing guidelines to reduce
sentences for crack offenders.

Despite objections from the Justice Department, the commission
then went a step further, making the reductions retroactive so
that some of the thousands of long-serving crack offenders could
get out of prison a few months early.

But with some 2.3 million people behind bars in the US,
including more than 200,000 in the federal system -- more than
half of them drug offenders -- the commission signaled earlier
this year that it wants to see more efforts to reduce those
numbers. This summer, it hosted a two-day symposium on
alternatives to incarceration, and now, with the Federal
Register announcement, it appears the commission will continue
down that path.

"The summer symposium was a really good coming together of
criminal justice experts," said Kara Gotsch, director of
advocacy for the Sentencing Project
(http://www.sentencingproject.org), a Washington, DC-based think
tank. "There were judges, probation and parole people, law
enforcement, academics, and advocates there to talk about what
the states are doing in relation to alternatives to
incarceration. They discussed successful programs that are
diverting people from prison. The commission has demonstrated
its interest in this issue and has said it would distribute
materials from the symposium, so we are hoping the commission
will look to apply some of this to alternatives to incarceration
at the federal level, including expanding the sentencing grid to
include alternatives."

Not everyone was so excited. In a weekend story in the Wall
Street Journal
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122066150828305887.html), the
Justice Department seemed decidedly unimpressed. Spokeswoman
Laura Sweeney said that while the department is interested about
the use of expanded monitoring technologies, "we do not believe
the use of alternatives should be expanded without further
rigorous research showing their effectiveness in promoting
public safety."

Similarly, Michael Rushford of the conservative, victims'
rights-oriented Criminal Justice Legal Foundation warned that
resorting to less mass incarceration could result in rising
crime and violence. "I'm old enough to remember the 1960s and
the sky-high crime and murder rates we had then," he said.
"While there may be a role for diversion for young offenders,
serious felony offenders need to be behind bars."

While it is unclear exactly what the commission might recommend,
the summer symposium heard lots of talk about drug courts,
residential and community corrections, and other alternatives to
incarceration. It does seem clear that the commission wants to
reduce the flow of new inmates before they get to the prison
gates.

"We're going to be looking at what might fit at the starting
point, before somebody is sent to prison," District Court Judge
Ricardo Hinojosa, chairman of the commission, told the Wall
Street Journal. But the commission will move cautiously, he
said.

"The commission's priorities for next year are not yet
finalized," said Gotsch, who is hoping it will also consider
further reforms of crack sentencing and the mandatory minimum
sentencing structure. "But we are encouraged by the symposium
and this announcement. Advocates like us and Families Against
Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) will continue to push for
modifications of the sentencing grid to make including
alternatives to incarceration a priority. The issue is clearly
on their radar, and that's a good thing," she said.

The Sentencing Commission can -- and should -- have an impact on
Congress, Gotsch said. "If we can get them on board for
alternatives to incarceration, that will be huge. When the
commission speaks on a sentencing issue, Congress should
listen."

================

The fruit of drug prohibition in the USA and Mexico is bitter and
sets the teeth on edge as the practitioners of Anslinger's law move down
the path of totalitarianism.

And removing cannabis from the status of illegal drug
is something that would save immense amounts of money for the
American taxpayer which is good thing in this period of severe
inflationary pressures.

<http://www.briancbennett.com/charts/fed-data/costs/costs05.htm>
___________________
It's time to correct the mistake:
truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.