Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Law Enforcement

'This is the kind of dangerous gibberish that used to be posted, in the form of mimeographed bulletins, in Police Dept. locker rooms.

Indeed:

Know your Dope Fiend. Your Life May Depend On It! You will not be able to see his eyes because of Tea-Shades, but his knuckles will be white from inner tension and his pants will be crusted with semen from continuously jacking off when he can't find a rape victim. He will stagger and babble when questioned. He will not respect your badge. The Dope Fiend fears nothing. He will attack, for no reason, with every weapon at his command - including yours. Beware. Any officer apprehending a suspected marijuana addict should use all necessary force immediately. One stitch in time (on him) will actually save nine on you. Good luck.

"The Chief."

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

- Global Commission On Drugs

'There was simply no call, at this conference, for anything but a massive consumption of Downers: reds, grass, and booze, because the whole program had apparently been set up by people who had been in a Seconal stupor since 1964.

Here were more than a thousand top-level cops telling each other "we must come to terms with the drug culture," but they had no idea where to start. They couldn't even find the goddamn thing. There were rumours in the hallways that maybe the Mafia was behind it. Or perhaps the Beatles. At one point somebody in the audience asked Bloomquist if he thought Margaret Mead's "strange behavior," of late, might possibly be explained by a private marijuana addiction.

"I really don't know," Bloomquist replied. "But at her age, if she did smoke grass, she'd have one hell of a trip."

The audience roared with laughter at this remark.'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

“When we get to the scenes of these shootouts, there’s guns and bodies everywhere, and what we find scattered on the ground is marijuana,” said Assistant Chief Crowe of Memphis. “Just this past week, we had a shootout, and there were 20 pounds of marijuana. The marijuana is what spikes our violent crime.”'

- PoliceForum.Org

Law enforcement, i.e. the police and judiciary, had a significant hand in bringing about the prohibition of cannabis world wide. Today, they have a significant hand in keeping cannabis prohibited world wide. This should come as no surprise, since the police and judiciary are, after all, two of the arms of the ruling elites the world over. In 19th century India, the land of ganja, where it all began, the police picked up persons wandering the streets aimlessly, and playing doctor, diagnosed these persons with insanity. Not only that, they put down the cause of insanity as ganja. They did this to escape the wrath of magistrates who pulled them up severely when they presented the arrested persons in court without providing adequate information about the arrested person. This diagnosis by an unqualified policeman, often a junior officer, accompanied the arrested person all the way to the lunatic asylum, until it eventually became a part of the statistics of lunatic asylums. These statistics from lunatic asylums across India, showing ganja as a key cause of insanity, were then published far and wide, and quoted by medical experts and government officials to justify the prohibition of ganja not just in India but world wide. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1895, which investigated this matter, writes in its report that "Over and over again the statistics of Indian asylums have been referred to in official documents or scientific treatises not only in this country, but also in other countries where the use of these drugs has demanded attention. Other alleged effects of the drugs have attracted but little attention compared with their alleged connection with insanity." This practice, by law enforcement, of framing ganja so as to make their own jobs easier, and to avoid doing the work that they are actually meant to do, which started in 19th century India, continues to this day the world over. Law enforcement uses ganja as a means to bloat their performance statistics, obtain large budgets, put away potential troublemakers, extort money, and keep the control that the elites have over the other classes in place. The victims in all these cases are the poor - from the lower classes and castes, minorities, indigenous communities, etc. - who have no , voice, money power or influence to get out of the clutches of law enforcement, like the elites who use ganja always do. This is one of the key reasons why law enforcement is one of the foremost opponents of ganja legalization everywhere in the world.

With the prohibition of cannabis, and its inclusion in the list of banned and restricted drugs, the plant came under the jurisdiction of law enforcement worldwide. When I say law enforcement, let me be clear that I mean not just the police officers who arrest an individual and bring him to trial, I also mean the judicial system with its judges, legal advocates and other officials, as well the the prison system with all its attendant officials. What had been, from mankind's earliest memories, a benign, medicinal, spiritual, agricultural and recreational plant became overnight an illegal dangerous substance. You could go to prison for it, and in some places even face the death penalty. Police, army and drug enforcement agencies were given powers to search, detain, frame charges, and bring to trial any individual found cultivating, selling, using or being in possession of the herb. The judicial system tried and sent to prison millions for possession, based on the cases filed by the police.

This is not a fictional horror story but an ever present reality. Things today are pretty much the same all over the world, after nearly two centuries. Even though a few places have started allowing the growth and possession of cannabis for personal use, in most parts of the world you are likely to be in legal trouble. Some law enforcers are taking a more liberal stance, possibly through exposure to cannabis and its social usage within the community and with a better understanding of the facts and the misinformation that have been spread about the plant by vested interests. Emphasis is shifting in many places, where cannabis is being decriminalized, from arrests for possession of small amounts to arrests only for sale or for possession of amounts above specified limits. Unfortunately these specified limits and the implementation of cannabis laws in most places are subjective, and can entirely depend on the situation, the persons involved and their respective states of mind. This ambiguous implementation of cannabis laws show the whole illegitimacy of the laws itself, labeling a harmless, medicinal, intoxicating plant that grows freely in nature and its users as criminals.

The truth is that law enforcement everywhere uses cannabis arrests to inflate their yearly targets, and achievements, and to secure more resources and budgets. Often, the focus on violent crimes and fraud is diluted due to the low hanging fruit that cannabis-related law enforcement provides. Green Entrepreneur reports that 'Even as people buy weed from legal retailers across the country, police arrest people for marijuana possession in larger numbers than they do those charged with a violent crime. Numbers from the FBI Uniform Crime Report show that in 2019, the latest year available, police across the country made 545,602 arrests for marijuana-related offenses. Of those, 92 percent - or 500,395 arrests - were for possession offenses only. In contrast, a total of 495,871 were arrested for violent crimes. In a news release about the FBI data, NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri noted that a marijuana possession arrest is made every 58 seconds in the U.S.' Prison institutions and drug rehabilitation centers in many places are privately run for profit businesses, for whom showing occupancy is vital for funding. For these places, cannabis users become easy targets. Law enforcement, drug rehabilitation centers and prison institutions work hand in hand to enable this. In many places cannabis usage is an excuse to settle scores and imprison a person who is a political rival, a drug trading rival, a member of a minority community or a rival for cannabis opposition groups. It is quite often used by law enforcement to extort money from those individuals willing to pay to escape legal action. Persons committing serious crimes such as organized violence, financial fraud, environmental crime, etc., have political or financial influence, and they very often use their monetary or political influence to not only evade punishment but also to secure the protection of law enforcement for their activities. Law enforcement thus benefits vastly from playing a major role in sustaining the myth surrounding cannabis and its linkage to crime. Often, law enforcement engages the media and creates so-called awareness campaigns about the harms of cannabis and its evil role in society, in spite of all scientific facts to the contrary and law enforcement's own lack of qualifications to make such statements. The fact of the matter is that law enforcement in most places is woefully ignorant about cannabis and its difference from harmful drugs. Law enforcement actually hires dubious medical experts to educate the police about drugs. The propaganda that these dubious medical experts spread is readily lapped up by aw enforcement since it tallies with the image that law enforcement itself has, or wishes to promote among its ranks. Hunter S. Thompson writes in Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone that 'Here were more than a thousand top-level cops telling each other "we must come to terms with the drug culture," but they had no idea where to start. They couldn't even find the goddamn thing. There were rumours in the hallways that maybe the Mafia was behind it. Or perhaps the Beatles. At one point somebody in the audience asked Bloomquist if he thought Margaret Mead's "strange behavior," of late, might possibly be explained by a private marijuana addiction. "I really don't know," Bloomquist replied. "But at her age, if she did smoke grass, she'd have one hell of a trip." The audience roared with laughter at this remark.'

Law enforcement constantly adds its bit to the anti-cannabis propaganda, especially linking cannabis to crime, even though this myth has been disproved numerous times, including as early as in the 19th century by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95. Here's some examples. Police Forum published the following misinformation on its website - 'Why should marijuana result in violence, when many states and cities have legalized or decriminalized it? Several reasons: First, even in places where you can buy marijuana legally, it’s often much cheaper to buy it illegally. So the illegal markets are thriving; Second, states regulate how potent legal marijuana can be, and many people buy it illegally because they want a stronger product; Third, illegal marijuana sales are often arranged online, rather than by organized criminal gangs, so it’s harder for police to investigate marijuana dealers. “When we get to the scenes of these shootouts, there’s guns and bodies everywhere, and what we find scattered on the ground is marijuana,” said Assistant Chief Crowe of Memphis. “Just this past week, we had a shootout, and there were 20 pounds of marijuana. The marijuana is what spikes our violent crime.”' Penn Live reports that 'As Executive Director of The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and as a former member of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, I would like to express my concerns, and those of many of our membership, about the legalization of marijuana and the relative effects on public safety in or communities. I believe that marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania will pose significant challenges for law enforcement resulting from the unanticipated consequences it has on crime and public safety'.

Law enforcement even tries to overturn public efforts to legalize cannabis by moving the courts. Marijuana Moment reports that in Nebraska 'Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner filed the case on Friday, just one day after Secretary of State Bob Evnen rejected his arguments that the ballot proposal “cases confusion,” “creates doubt about what will be authorized after the election” and violates the state’s single-subject rule for initiatives. That filing was made by a law firm that refused to disclose the sheriff as its client. Now the top county cop has revealed himself in the new lawsuit filing, and the state Supreme Court will take up the dispute, with arguments expected on Thursday. A decision will need to be made in the case by September 11, which is the deadline to certify items for November ballots. Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana submitted nearly 200,000 signatures last month, well beyond the 121,669 required to qualify for the ballot'

According to a report published by New Frontier Data, 'It is estimated that the U.S. federal government spends roughly $33 billion annually prosecuting the war on drugs; state and local governments spend nearly $30 billion to the same end. The expenditures are often described as a “cost to taxpayers”; however, they could just as easily be understood as allocations to federal, state, and local law enforcement budgets. In a competitive budgetary environment, law enforcement demonstrates its efficacy through arrests, seizures of cash and assets, and drug interdictions – all of which both justify and perpetuate the continuing war on drugs. Such actions also serve as the foundation for sustaining or increasing budgets.' This is not just the narrative in the US, but in every single country in the world. Is it any wonder then that law enforcement is one of the most vocal opponents of cannabis legalization everywhere? In the US, it has been found that even in states where cannabis was legalized for recreational use, most often through voter ballots and not through any pro-active action by law makers, between the time that the legalization was decided and the time that it was implemented, law enforcement did not ease up on taking legal action against cannabis users. In some cases, they even stepped up action, as if to make the most of the limited time they had available. Even in the US states that have legalized adult cannabis use, many persons continue to remain in prisons, serving sentences that were imposed before the laws were changed. Special legislation is required to free these persons, as law enforcement seems reluctant to release their prisoners who earn them very good money. A recent report said that in New York City, the average cost of a detainee runs upward of $440,000 per annum. This is basically taxpayer money that flows into the hands of law enforcement through budget allocations.

This biased approach to justice makes law enforcement prey on the cannabis user, grower and seller since these people are largely from the poorer sections of society. Most often the persons arrested are youth, poor persons, ethnic, religious and racial minorities, tribals, indigenous communities, immigrants from other states and countries, etc. This is despite the well known fact that persons from all strata of society, across all demographics, are recreational users of the herb. Thus, we can see that an unjust law, and its ambiguous implementation, has turned into a major tool to curb the freedom and human rights of every single individual worldwide.

The fact of the matter is that law enforcement does not work to protect the public and ensure justice, but rather work for the ruling elites and upper classes in most places. Law enforcement in these places is nothing more than the paid security guards for the rich. As Hunter S Thompson writes in his book , Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson - 'The police are no problem in Palm Beach. We own then and they know it. They work for us, like any other servant, and most of them seem to like it. When we run out of gas in this town, we call the police and they bring it, because it is boring to run out of gas. The rich have special problems, and running out of gas on Ocean Boulevard on the way to an orgy at six o'clock on Sunday morning is one of them. Nobody needs that. Not with naked women and huge bags of cocaine in the car. The rich love music, and we don't want it interrupted. A state trooper was recently arrested in Miami for trying to fuck a drunk woman on the highway, in exchange for dropping all charges. But that would not happen in Palm Beach. Drunk women roam free in this town, and they cause a lot of trouble - but one thing they don't have to worry about, thank God, is the menace of getting pulled over and getting fondled by armed white trash wearing uniforms. We don't pay these people much, but we pay them every week, and if they occasionally forget who really pays their salaries, we have ways of reminding them. The whole west coast of Florida is full of people who get fired from responsible jobs in Palm Beach, if only because they failed to understand the nature of the Social Contract.'

In many places where legalization has happened, law enforcement officers have themselves used and benefited from the recreational and medicinal aspects of the plant, just like everyone else. Cannabis offers to law enforcement personnel the same safe, healthy alternative to alcohol, tobacco, opioids, synthetic cannabinoids and other harmful substances that it offers to any other human being. Law enforcement personnel are known to have similar health issues with PTSD, anxiety, chronic pain, sleep disorders, traumatic brain injuries, depression, etc., that the armed forces experience. It has been found, in places like Canada, where recreational cannabis is legal, police officers also use it after duty to gain its benefits.

It is thus very important that law enforcement, the world over, recognizes that the cannabis laws are incorrect and unjust, and a means to prey on those sections of society who most need the protection and safety that law enforcement is meant to provide. It is important for law enforcement to recognize that the cannabis laws are due for correction, as reason increasingly prevails in the world again. In December 2020, based on the recommendations of the WHO, the UN re-scheduled cannabis from its most restrictive Schedule IV, even though it still retains it in Schedule 1. The 1961 Single Convention Treaty is the basis of all national drug laws world wide. The inclusion of cannabis in this Treaty was primarily done by the US, so as to protect the petrochemical, synthtetic pharmaceutical, alcohol, tobacco, timber-based paper, and other industries. The very same US now faces the inevitable lifting of prohibition, as its own people now rebel against the unjust anti-cannabis laws through grassroots movements that have spread across the nation, movements that are gathering further momentum each day.

It is important for law enforcement to highlight to lawmakers the fallacy of cannabis laws. It is important for law enforcement to focus its resources on the real crimes in society, including violent crimes and financial crimes. It is important that law enforcement does not become an instrument for governments, wealthy persons and politicians for inflicting harm and wrong on the precious plant and the innocent people who use it. It is important for law enforcement to recognize that keeping cannabis illegal has created a thriving black market, that uses mankind's necessity for recreational drugs to sell much more deadly and dangerous drugs like heroin, fentanyl, synthetic cannabinoids, methamphetamine, cocaine and novel psychotropic substances to innocent and vulnerable people and to use this money to scale up global crime cartels that are involved in multiple activities. This is a question of coming up to speed in terms of what is correct, important and vital for all life forms on earth and for justice for all. It is a question of conscience based, positive social justice and evolution.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

'Since 2018, state courts have either expunged or sealed the records of more than two million marijuana-related cases, according to an updated analysis by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

According to publicly available data, state and local courts have taken action on an estimated 2.3 million marijuana-related cases. States that have been most active in providing relief to those with past convictions include California, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws in recent years providing explicit pathways to either expunge, seal, annul, or otherwise set aside the records of those with low-level marijuana convictions. In some jurisdictions — such as California, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, and New Jersey — courts automatically review past records and notify those who meet the state’s criteria for expungement. In other jurisdictions — such as Arizona and Massachusetts — laws require those seeking legal relief to petition the courts to have their records reviewed and vacated.

NORML estimates that state and local police have made more than 29 million marijuana-related arrests since 1965. Of those arrested, some 90 percent were charged with low-level cannabis possession offenses.'

https://norml.org/blog/2024/01/09/updated-norml-report-highlights-over-2-3-million-marijuana-related-expungements/

Drug sniffing dogs provide false alerts approximately seventy-five percent of the time, according to an analysis of ten years of data recently provided to members of the Australian Parliament.

The analysis reviewed over 94,000 searches. The overwhelming majority of those searches failed to identify the presence of illegal substances.

According to reporting in The Sydney Morning Herald, “The worst year for drug-detection dogs was 2014, when only 21 percent of the 14,213 searches resulted in illicit drugs being found; the best was two years later in 2016, where 32.5 percent of the 8746 searches were accurate.”

https://norml.org/news/2023/10/05/analysis-drug-sniffing-dogs-typically-false-alert/

Police seized 1,723 kg of ganja, 55.8 kg of opium, 40 grams of heroin, 1.02 kg of hashish oil, 467 grams of charas, 570 grams of cocaine, 3.19 kg of MDMA, 43 LSD strips, and 572 different types of tablets.

.....

Additionally, under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA), 24 cases were registered for selling tobacco products within a 100-metre radius of educational institutions. A total of 3,588 petty cases have been registered and Rs 5.9 lakh has been collected as fines.

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/bengaluru-crime/bengaluru-police-seize-drugs-worth-rs-18-cr-in-july-487-arrests-1242673.html

'Federal officials in 2022 charged fewer people with marijuana-related offenses than they had in previous years, according to data compiled by the US Sentencing Commission in its latest Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics.

Just over 800 people were charged with violating federal marijuana laws in 2022. Ninety-nine percent of those charged were indicted for drug trafficking. Overall, those charged for marijuana-related violations comprised just four percent of all federal drug offenders.

Those totals represent a significant decrease from a decade ago, when federal officials charged nearly 7,000 people for violating federal marijuana laws. At that time, more people were federally indicted for marijuana offenses than for any other drug-related offense. However, since 2012, the number of people federally prosecuted for marijuana-related violations has fallen steadily.

In total, 32 percent of all people federally prosecuted in 2022 were charged with drug law violations.'

https://norml.org/news/2023/03/30/fewer-federal-offenders-charged-with-marijuana-related-offenses-in-2022/

'Why should marijuana result in violence, when many states and cities have legalized or decriminalized it? Several reasons:

- First, even in places where you can buy marijuana legally, it’s often much cheaper to buy it illegally. So the illegal markets are thriving.
- Second, states regulate how potent legal marijuana can be, and many people buy it illegally because they want a stronger product.
- Third, illegal marijuana sales are often arranged online, rather than by organized criminal gangs, so it’s harder for police to investigate marijuana dealers.

“When we get to the scenes of these shootouts, there’s guns and bodies everywhere, and what we find scattered on the ground is marijuana,” said Assistant Chief Crowe of Memphis. “Just this past week, we had a shootout, and there were 20 pounds of marijuana. The marijuana is what spikes our violent crime.”'

https://www.policeforum.org/trending23oct21

'A proposal to decriminalise various amounts of drugs including cocaine, heroin, acid and MDMA would mean police are “busier” and could see the ACT become a target for organised crime, a parliamentary committee has been told this week.

Speaking at a Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee earlier this week, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the experience of overseas jurisdictions had shown there were many consequences to the decriminalisation of the drugs, including ‘narco-tourism’.'

https://the-riotact.com/drug-decriminalisation-could-make-the-act-a-target-for-organised-crime-afp-commissioner-says/506336

'In blunt remarks, police unions in Germany spoke out Tuesday against plans to legalize the possession and consumption of cannabis in the country.

“There must finally be an end to trivializing the joint,” Oliver Malchow, the head of Germany’s police union (GdP), told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. With “legal but dangerous” alcohol already causing enough trouble, he argued, it made no sense to “open the door to another dangerous and often trivialized drug” like cannabis.'

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-cannabis-legal-coalition-deal-government-police/

'“The McArthur Police Department is not willing to endorse or recommend the passage of this levy,” the chief said. “Society views may think this is no big deal because it’s just marijuana. However, this is only the beginning of a downhill tumble with regards to ILLEGAL drug use. If the penalties continue to be decreased over time, then what chance does society have to combat the ever-growing drug problem facing our Village and Country.”

A response press release sent by NORML Appalachia of Ohio, which has worked to place marijuana decriminalization measures on local ballots in McArthur and other municipalities across the state, said Heaton is “risking his own employment” by engaging in electioneering with taxpayer dollars. The group alleges that he violated the federal Hatch Act as well as Ohio law by using police department letterhead to disseminate “outdated information to influence and intimidate voters.”'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/ohio-police-department-deletes-post-warning-of-downhill-tumble-if-voters-approve-marijuana-decriminalization/

'After recording 545,602 cannabis-related arrests in 2019, police agencies around the United States made 350,150 cannabis-related arrests in 2020. The new data came as part of the annual FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2020.

The good news: Roughly 195,000 more Americans lived their lives free of police harassment, arrest, and incarceration last year, compared to 2019.

The bad news: More than 350,000 Americans were needlessly arrested last year. Cannabis is now legal for all adults in 18 states and Washington, D.C. All but 12 states allow medical marijuana in some form.

Roughly 91 percent of those arrested for cannabis were taken into custody for possession only. So more than 300,000 Americans were arrested for an act (simple possession of a plant) that is legal in 18 states. An estimated 50% of all cannabis arrests occurred in the Northeast.'

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/marijuana-arrests-dropped-36-in-2020-fbi-data-reveal

'In June 2016, Julius Smoot barricaded himself in an apartment and gave Durham police a grim warning: Let him see his wife and son in 10 minutes or he would shoot himself in the upstairs bedroom.

The officers, there to serve an arrest warrant, called the only hostage negotiator on-duty — Sgt. Michael Mole’, who arrived in five minutes.

Mole’ spent two hours talking to Smoot, then 29, trying to keep him alive. During that time, the suspect’s gun fired accidentally.

Finally, Smoot told Mole’ he wanted to smoke a marijuana cigarette, and the officer agreed as long as Smoot gave up. Smoot, while in handcuffs, smoked the “blunt” he kept behind his ear — which ultimately got Mole’ fired from the Durham Police Department.'

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article254770592.html

'At the age of 14, Richard Wershe Jr., aka “White Boy Rick,” became the youngest FBI informant in American history. With his help, the feds took down some of Detroit’s biggest drug gangs. But in 1987, police received a tip that Rick had stashed 18 pounds of cocaine in his neighbor’s yard.

The 17-year-old was arrested and given a life sentence without parole, due to Michigan’s notoriously cruel 650-Lifer Law.

In 1998, that law was revised. As the years went by, the extent to which Wershe was exploited by the FBI and local police came to light. The legend of White Boy Rick began to travel far beyond the confines of Detroit. In 2017, the Netflix documentary White Boy told his story, and the following year the feature film White Boy Rick put his life up on the big screen—while he still languished in prison.

In July 2020, Rick Wershe was finally released. After serving 32 years for a nonviolent drug offense, he got out and found a country that was not only in the midst of a national reckoning with police violence and corruption, but one that had also evolved its attitude towards drugs, especially marijuana.'

https://www.leafly.com/news/industry/white-boy-rick-comes-out-swinging-for-cannabis-and-the-8th-amendment

'The same kind of peremptory behavior was on display when the judge stopped Ms. Orndoff as she was being cross-examined and then jumped to the conclusion that her jittery demeanor on the stand was because she was intoxicated. She acknowledged, under questioning from the judge, that she had smoked marijuana, which is legal in Virginia, earlier that day, but it seems not to have occurred to Judge Fisher that Ms. Orndoff was simply nervous about having to testify about abuse in front of the man who previously had been convicted of hurting her and now was accused of punching her in the face. Police and prosecutors who dealt with Ms. Orndoff did not observe any signs of intoxication and would have said so, but the judge denied them any hearing. A mistrial was declared in the domestic assault case, and Ms. Orndoff served two days of a 10-day sentence before her lawyers were able to get her released on bond. In a statement, Ms. Orndoff said she had “learned that it does no good to report domestic abuse because the system and the courts appear to have no real interest in protecting victims and punishing abusers. The judge has sent me a clear message.”'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/27/loudoun-judge-james-p-fisher-courtroom-rules-justice-norms/

'Previously, prospective employees of the agency could not have used marijuana within the past three years.

But at some point within the last month, FBI set a new, seemingly arbitrary threshold for applicants. Use marijuana up to two dozen times after becoming a legal adult? You might still have what it takes to work at one of the nation’s leading law enforcement agencies. Smoke a joint a 25th time? You’re ineligible.

That said, consumption prior to one’s 18th birthday is “not a disqualifier for FBI employment,” the agency said. Instead, “adjudicative personnel will evaluate the candidate by using the ‘whole-person concept.’”

Why the agency decided to add the new, frequency-related restriction is unclear. But its overall loosening of the rules on prior marijuana use this summer might be more of a practical decision than one that necessarily reflects shifting opinions on cannabis within the agency.'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/fbi-clarifies-that-using-marijuana-more-than-24-times-disqualifies-would-be-agents/

'In the past 12 months, courts across Ontario have withdrawn or stayed 85 per cent of drug possession charges in the system before they ever reached trial, according to public data analyzed by CBC Toronto.

By comparison, 45 per cent of such charges were dropped in 2019, prior to the pandemic.'

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/drug-charges-dropped-unprecedented-rate-ontario-1.6162632

'The number of marijuana-related arrests and summonses plummeted in New York City in the first quarter since the state’s legalization law took effect, data released by NYPD shows.

While it might not seem surprising to see arrests drop following legalization, the decline was far more significant than those seen in other jurisdictions that have previously ended cannabis prohibition—and it likely has to do with a unique aspect of New York’s marijuana law that allows for public smoking.'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/allowing-public-marijuana-smoking-leads-to-bigger-nyc-arrest-decline-than-in-other-legalized-places/

'Justice Department lawyer Daniel Aguilar, who represented the federal government at the oral argument in June, insisted that the court should dismiss the case and allow the group to file their own DEA rescheduling petition.

Judges Paul Watford concurred with the latest ruling, but he did notably say in a concurring opinion that, “in an appropriate case, the Drug Enforcement Administration may well be obliged to initiate a reclassification proceeding for marijuana, given the strength of petitioners’ arguments that the agency has misinterpreted the controlling statute by concluding that marijuana ‘has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.'”'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/court-dismisses-dea-marijuana-rescheduling-case-but-judge-says-cannabis-reclassification-may-be-coming-anyway/

'They conclude: “In the lead up to legalization, professional associations … suggested that legalization posed a threat to public health, advocated for the legal age for cannabis use to be set at a minimum age of 21 or 25, or that Canada should not legalize at all because it would place youth at greater risk of harm. With such categorical fears now shown to be largely unfounded, this should provide the basis to move forward on more nuanced grounds. … [O]n the balance, cannabis legalization – especially when considering the severe adverse social impacts of criminalization, and especially for youth – continues to offer the potential to better protect and achieve consequential net benefits to public health and welfare of cannabis users and society at large.”'

https://norml.org/blog/2021/08/17/analysis-marijuana-legalization-opponents-fears-have-not-come-to-fruition-in-canada/

'Even as people buy weed from legal retailers across the country, police arrest people for marijuana possession in larger numbers than they do those charged with a violent crime.

Numbers from the FBI Uniform Crime Report show that in 2019, the latest year available, police across the country made 545,602 arrests for marijuana-related offenses. Of those, 92 percent - or 500,395 arrests - were for possession offenses only.

In contrast, a total of 495,871 were arrested for violent crimes. In a news release about the FBI data, NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri noted that a marijuana possession arrest is made every 58 seconds in the U.S.'

https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/380322

'According to a new fact sheet issued by the Commission, just over 1,000 people were sentenced federally in 2020 for violating marijuana trafficking laws. That’s down 67 percent since 2016, and over 80 percent since 2012 – when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize and regulate the adult-use marijuana market.

“These trends illustrate the fact that state-legal domestic cannabis production has supplanted the foreign market and that marijuana law enforcement is becoming less of a federal priority in an age where the majority of Americans believe that cannabis ought to be legal,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “It is vital that Congress take action to amend federal law in a manner that comports with this reality.”

Overall, fewer than seven percent of all federal drug trafficking cases in 2020 involved marijuana, the USSC reported.'

https://norml.org/news/2021/07/08/feds-marijuana-trafficking-convictions-have-fallen-dramatically-following-statewide-legalization

'In one of the latest signs that the cannabis reform movement is having a federal impact as more states enact legalization, FBI quietly updated its hiring policies within the past month to make it so candidates are only automatically disqualified from joining the agency if they admit to having used marijuana within one year of applying.

Previously, prospective employees of the agency could not have used cannabis within the past three years.'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/fbi-loosens-marijuana-employment-policy-for-would-be-agents/

'According to The Associated Press, L.A. sheriff’s deputies seized 373,000 marijuana plants and 33,480 pounds of cannabis flower, which have a combined value of about $1.2 billion on the illicit market.

The seizure is the result of a 10-day law enforcement investigation that culminated in search warrants being served June 8 on 200 facilities in the Antelope Valley area, north of Los Angeles.'

https://mjbizdaily.com/california-authorities-seize-1-billion-of-illegal-marijuana/

'In light of Kavanaugh’s Alson opinion, Thomas’ certiorari note and the Mexico Supreme Court ruling seem to offer an alluring alternate legalization track. What if federal legalization came not through Congress but via a US Supreme Court ruling that smashed prohibition once and for all?'

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/mexico-clarence-thomas-marijuana-legalization-dont-bet-on-it

'One of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most conservative justices on Monday wrote in a legal opinion that the federal government’s ongoing prohibition of cannabis may be out of date.

“A prohibition on intrastate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government’s piecemeal approach,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote'

https://mjbizdaily.com/clarence-thomas-us-marijuana-prohibition-may-no-longer-be-necessary/

'Federal marijuana trafficking cases continued to decline in 2020 as more states have moved to legalize, a new analysis from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) shows.

In an updated fact sheet, USSC—which is an independent agency in the judicial branch of the federal government—analyzed the number of drug trafficking convictions and found that there were 1,118 cannabis cases in fiscal year 2020. That’s down 67 percent since 2016—shortly after the first recreational marijuana markets started to mature.

Advocates argue that the year-over-year decline corresponds with the growing number of states that have implemented legalization, and it also reflects a federal deprioritization of pursuing cannabis cases despite ongoing prohibition as the war on marijuana continues to lose voter support.'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/federal-marijuana-trafficking-cases-drop-again-in-2020-as-more-states-legalize/

'Marijuana arrests in Virginia fell by approximately 50 percent in 2020 following the enactment of legislation decriminalizing minor cannabis offenses.

Data provided by the Virginia Department of State Police reports that police made 13,674 marijuana-related arrests in 2020. That’s 48 percent below 2019’s totals, when police made 26,470 marijuana-related arrests.

Among those arrested in 2020, 44 percent were between the ages of 18 and 24.'

https://norml.org/blog/2021/06/07/virginia-marijuana-arrests-fall-dramatically-following-enactment-of-2020-decriminalization-law/

'Black people are 12 times more likely to be prosecuted for cannabis possession than white people, according to new analysis by the Liberal Democrats who are calling for an end to the use of Stop and Search for small amounts.

Brian Paddick, the former police chief who is the party’s home affairs spokesperson in the House of Lords, warned that the focus on canabis possession for personal use is “a waste of police and court time” and “undermines trust and confidence in the police among Black communities”.'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/black-people-cannabis-prosecutions-b1853669.html

'Section 280E of the IRS tax code prohibits marijuana businesses from taking traditional business deductions because the plant is listed as a Schedule 1 drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act.'

https://mjbizdaily.com/doj-official-reiterates-stance-against-marijuana-firms-in-280e-fight/

'I was having my own troubles with police in those years. In the fifth grade I was officially apprehended by the FBI for turning over a U.S. mailbox in front of a bus. Soon after that, I became a frequent detainee in various jails around the South on booze, theft, and violence charges. People called me a criminal, and about half the time they were right. I was a full-bore Juvenile Delinquent, and I had a lot of friends.'

- Hey Rube! I Love You: Eerie Reflections on Fuel, Madness & Music, May 13, 1999, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

As I was walking through Jeevan Bhimanagar on Friday evening, smoking a beedi, a police Hoysala patrol vehicle pulls up next to me with two policemen inside. The officer next to the driver asks me rudely, "Aiy, yennu illi hogge bidthayidhiya" (why are you spewing smoke here), "residentsigge nuisance maaduthayidhiya" (creating a nuisance for the residents). I told him that I this was an open space, and not a public place, and that I was free to smoke on the street if I wished to. He seemed to think otherwise and insisted that it was a public place. I asked the policemen to please update themselves properly on the COPTA rules and continued on my way.

The definition of a public place, as defined in Sec 3 (l) of the COPTA 2003 is as follows - '"public place" means any place to which the public have access, whether as of right or not, and includes auditorium, hospital buildings, railway waiting room, amusement centres, restaurants, public offices, court buildings, educational institutions, libraries, public conveyances, and the like which are visited by the general public but does not include any open space;'

It appears to me that a number of the police and judiciary are themselves ignorant, or deliberately ignore, what the COPTA rules state, and harass smoking members of the public, many of who are also themselves equally ignorant of these rules. The examples of what constitutes a public place, and the specific words 'BUT DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY OPEN SPACE' are part of the Act to specifically prevent harrasment of the smoker by high-handed officials of law enforcement and judiciary, but this is ignored by one and all, and the smoker is being increasingly treated like an untouchable.

If the reduction of tobacco harms to society is the sincere intent of law enforcement and judiciary, then a more stringent focus on the majority of the 33 clauses of the COPTA, which deal with the producer and distributor of tobacco must be the priority, not targeting the final consumer. Even more so, if the reduction of tobacco harms is an aim of society, then the legalization of ganja, and the re-introduction of hemp cigarettes on a mass scale, as that was what India smoked before tobacco was introduced by the colonists about 200 years ago, should be the focus of law makers and law enforcers, not this kind of irritating, rude and ignorant behavior...

Feb 06, 2023 11:07:18am

'The National Commissioner of Police and the Icelandic Medical Association oppose a bill by the Minister of Health on the decriminalization of drug consumption, RÚV reports.

According to the bill, which has majority public support, possession of narcotics and drugs in limited quantities will not be punishable.

The National Commissioner of Police says they cannot support the bill in its current form because it offers different interpretations that may make it more difficult for the police to enforce the law.

The Icelandic Medical Association believes that the way proposed in the bill will increase the “drug problems of Icelandic young people from what it is now”.

The Red Cross celebrates the change.'

https://grapevine.is/news/2021/04/30/doctors-and-national-commissioner-of-police-oppose-decriminalisation-of-drug-consumption/

'Scott, a 26-year-old Black man, was arrested on March 14 on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge in Allen, Texas. Authorities say he had less than 2 ounces of marijuana on him at the time of the arrest. Following his arrest, he was taken to the hospital for acting erratically, police said, and transported to a county jail. He died later that day.

Seven detention officers have now been fired for their alleged involvement in Scott's death. Scott’s family says he had schizophrenia and was experiencing a mental health crisis while in custody. Officers said he began behaving strangely at the jail and they strapped him to a bed, used pepper spray and covered his face with a spit mask. The Collin County medical examiner has yet to release an official cause of death.'

https://abcnews.go.com/US/death-marvin-scott-texas-jail-advocates-point-disparities/story?id=76833227

'The New York Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday sent a memo to officers updating them on new policies for marijuana after the governor signed a legalization bill into law this week.

Among other changes, police can no longer arrest adults 21 and older for simply using marijuana in places where smoking tobacco is permitted—and that includes “on sidewalks, on front stoops and other public places,” the document states. “As a result, smoking marihuana in any of these locations is not a basis for an approach, stop, summons, arrest or search.”'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/cops-cant-arrest-you-for-smoking-marijuana-on-sidewalks-nypd-says-in-post-legalization-memo/

Legalize ganja aka marijuana aka cannabis aka bhang aka hashish. Make it legal for 21 years and above if you're really concerned about the youth who will probably be better off with ganja than with tobacco or alcohol or pharmaceutical drugs. For you money hungry businessmen make it your business and earn beyond your wildest dreams. Researchers and pharma companies, please research the topic, it may make you jobless however as you are probably well aware. The number of people in India facing persecution because of ganja especially young people and poor farmers is terrible. Police and law makers please educate yourself on the subject first and foremost rather than harassing the young and economically weak while the real criminals in their cars, coats and ties are glorified. I suspect that at least half the prisoners and court cases in this country are linked to the useless misdirected expenditure of legal energy towards controlling the herb. Society will be much better off if this energy is directed towards removing and banning all kinds of arms and weaponry from the country. The links below to articles in the media archives shows our general attitude at a time when there is increasing awareness and maturity in the rest of the world. This is ironic considering it is one of our most ancient indigenous herbs and medications. If you think Indians love sex but act in public like its the worst sin then check out the attitude towards ganja... Indian hypocrisy and ignorance at its best..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Cannabis-Marijuana-Ganja

http://www.deccanherald.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-6098511427863223%3A4rvf9i-8j92&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=cannabis&sa=Search&siteurl=www.deccanherald.com%2F&ref=www.google.co.in%2F&ss=3387j2895471j8

http://www.deccanherald.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-6098511427863223%3A4rvf9i-8j92&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ganja&sa=Search&siteurl=www.deccanherald.com%2F&ref=www.google.co.in%2F&ss=1312j583578j5

http://www.deccanherald.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-6098511427863223%3A4rvf9i-8j92&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=marijuana&sa=Search&siteurl=www.deccanherald.com%2F&ref=www.google.co.in%2F&ss=1812j673664j9

http://indianexpress.com/?s=ganja

http://indianexpress.com/?s=cannabis

http://indianexpress.com/?s=marijuana

'State and local police made 20,200 marijuana-related arrests in the Commonwealth in 2020. The total number of arrests for all other substances combined was 17,425.

Chris Goldstein, the NORML Regional Organizer who acquired the data, said, “Cannabis consumers were targeted even during the Covid19 pandemic. This shows just how aggressively prohibition is enforced, despite the unprecedented public health risks in our communities. It’s time to stop marijuana arrests, right now.”

Women and juveniles were arreste more often for cannabis possession than for any other substance. '

https://norml.org/blog/2021/03/18/pennsylvania-police-arrested-20200-adults-for-marijuana-possession-during-pandemic/

'The report notes that since FY 2015, the number of fentanyl offenders reported to the Commission more than doubled each fiscal year, resulting in a 3,592 percent increase, from 24 to 886 offenders. Additionally, since FY 2016, the number of fentanyl analogue offenders increased 5,725 percent, from four to 233 offenders. The report also discusses the harms associated with fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, which account for over three-quarters of all drug trafficking offenders sentenced where the offense of conviction established that death or serious bodily injury resulted from the substance’s use.

Among drug cases, offenses involving methamphetamine were most common, accounting for 45.7 percent of all drug cases.

The average length of imprisonment in methamphetamine cases was unchanged from fiscal year 2019 at 95 months. However, the average sentence imposed decreased across the other major drug types: in crack cocaine cases (from 78 to 74 months), powder cocaine cases (from 70 to 66 months), heroin cases (from 70 to 66 months), and marijuana cases (from 31 to 29 months).'

https://www.ussc.gov/about/annual-report-2020

'Black and Brown New Yorkers were the most impacted by marijuana-related arrests in 2020, NYPD data shows, something the Legal Aid Society is using as a springboard to call for the enactment of the Marijuana Regulation And Taxation Act.

With the data showing that 94% of all arrests relating to weed impacted people of color in the five boroughs, the organization representing the poorest New Yorkers pro bono says the state bill is an opportunity to end what they believe is a racist practice in law enforcement, and give back to these communities.'

https://www.amny.com/news/people-of-color-made-up-94-of-marijuana-arrests-by-nypd-in-2020-data-and-legal-aid-says/

'“It does not seem to me useful the use of limited resources that we have to be pursuing prosecutions in states that have legalized and are regulating the use of marijuana, either medically or otherwise,” Garland said in response to a question posed by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. He added: “I do think we need to be sure that there are no end runs around the state laws that criminal enterprises are doing. That kind of enforcement should be continued. But I don’t think it’s a good use of our resources where states have already authorized, and it only confuses people obviously within the state.”

NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, “These comments ought to be reassuring to those employed by the growing state-regulated cannabis industry and to those millions of Americans who rely upon it. That said, such a ‘hand off’ policy is little more than a short-term band-aid. The long-term solution is for Congress to deschedule cannabis – thereby repealing the failed federal policy of marijuana prohibition and eliminating the existing state/federal conflict.”'

https://norml.org/blog/2021/02/22/ag-nominee-interfering-in-states-with-legal-marijuana-not-a-good-use-of-justice-department-resources/

'The Labour leader’s comments have been met by frustration from drug reform campaigners, who argue that legalising and regulating cannabis would disrupt and eventually force criminals out of the trade, and help those who need support to access it.

The drug reform campaign group LEAP UK described Mr Starmer’s comments as “extremely disappointing” on Twitter.

LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is made up of current and former members of law enforcement, from undercover officers who were involved with policing the drug trade to senior figures such as police chief constables and police and crime commissioners.'

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/read-this/labour-leader-keir-starmer-says-he-doesnt-support-decriminalising-cannabis-but-experts-dont-agree-3142483

'Police across New Jersey have filed more than 6,000 charges for minor marijuana possession in the three months since 2.7 million voters said yes to legalizing weed in the Garden State.

The arrests continue as lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy work on a last-minute compromise for stalled marijuana legalization and decriminalization bills — and as people mistakenly believe that state has already reformed its laws prohibiting marijuana.

Police filed 2,378 charges for possessing less than 50 grams of marijuana during the month of January, according to a report from the state judiciary.'

https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2021/02/nj-cops-have-arrested-6000-people-for-weed-since-voters-passed-ballot-question-to-legalize-marijuana.html

'“Today, the long-term harm of cannabis prohibition in communities of color throughout the country is profound,” the document continues. “As we look to solutions to provide healing, the dangerous policing tactics that were developed to execute the war on marijuana, including no-knock warrants and other aggressive tactics, shock the nation and have led us to historic levels of mistrust. When a large majority of Americans no longer believe cannabis should be illegal, aggressive enforcement tactics quickly lose support. A general pardon of all former and current federal non-violent cannabis offenders would be the kind of grand, ambitious, and impactful action that would effectively signal to marginalized communities that their suffering is seen and that the government seeks to remedy their harms.”'

https://lawandcrime.com/drug-policy/marijuana-and-racial-justice-advocates-call-on-biden-to-issue-categorical-pardon-grants-to-non-violent-cannabis-offenders/

'Paul Burke, CEO of Jamaica’s Ganja Growers and Producers Association, said in a phone interview that people are no longer afraid of being locked up now that the government allows possession of small amounts. He said the stigmatization against ganja has diminished and more people are appreciating its claimed therapeutic and medicinal value during the pandemic.

Burke also said that some traditional small farmers have stopped growing in frustration because they can’t afford to meet requirements for the legal market while police continue to destroy what he described as “good ganja fields.”'

https://apnews.com/article/world-news-jamaica-kingston-coronavirus-pandemic-marijuana-2d9e9c6dbc4d311e7b7085708eca0571

'A spokeswoman said the decision was made jointly by staff at a national and district level.

“With the increased harm in many communities arising from other drugs, particularly methamphetamine, a one-size-fits-all annual aerial national cannabis operation no longer represents the most appropriate deployment of police resources,” she said.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/123986572/police-slash-annual-cannabis-operation-blind-siding-frontline-staff-and-officials

Dear healthcare professional, soldier and policeman,

In gratitude for your support in helping the government use Covid to:

- suppress dissent everywhere
- pass all kinds of harmful laws as ordinances
- collect funds through dubious schemes, electoral bonds and Covid violation fines to fund its election campaigns
- crush the pillars of the economy - the migrant worker, farmer, labourer and small businessman
- target minorities
- destroy education and healthcare
- boost the western medical industry with its pharmaceuticals and medical equipment at the cost of all other medical systems

the Supreme Leader has decided that, as a special privilege, you will be the first to be administered undertested, underdeveloped and experimental Covid vaccines that the government has already ordered in bulk from several favored multinational pharma companies. I am sure you will be very glad to hear this and come out in large numbers to get yourselves stabbed as a part of your national duty. Now, now, why are you running away? We can organize flower showers using helicopters and Rafale jets at your funeral if you like..its free..the taxpayers will pay for all of the above...

Dec 06, 2020 9:22:33pm

'Richard DeLisi was sentenced to 98 years in prison for marijuana trafficking in 1989 at the age of 40, for smuggling cannabis into Florida. He was convicted as part of a law enforcement reverse-sting/entrapment operation and was formerly expected to be released in 2022.

During his time in prison, both of his parents, his wife, and son Stephen passed away. He now has five grandchildren that he has never seen.

As of 2018, more than 70 people were serving life sentences for marijuana convictions that did not include violence. Those imprisoned include elderly inmates like Richard, who suffer from medical conditions that require medical attention.'

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/richard-delisi-free-in-december-2020

'Supporting drug-policy reform is no longer a political risk. Rep. G.K. Butterfield cruised to a ninth term in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District after publicly calling for an end to pot prohibition for the first time in response to a constituent's question during a virtual town-hall meeting. His Republican opponent, businesswoman Sandy Smith, didn't deem that worthy of a swipe amid a last-minute blitz of campaign advertising.

A former trial judge and state Supreme Court justice, Butterfield said he's "evolved over the years on this" and sees possession prosecutions as a waste of the criminal justice system's time.

"I cannot tell you the number of cases I presided over that dealt with one-tenth of one gram of marijuana," he said during the town hall. "I had to sentence people for having drug paraphernalia. For those of you who don't know, that is rolling paper that you get in the 7-Eleven."'

https://www.creators.com/read/corey-friedman/11/20/marijuana-bans-going-up-in-smoke

'The plants police destroyed were below the legal limit of 0.3% THC, according to court documents.

In all, police destroyed 3,000 pounds of hemp worth about $3.45 million, the lawsuit says. Agro Dynamics is based in Sheridan, Wyoming, and seeks unspecified damages.'

https://hempindustrydaily.com/dea-california-police-sued-after-allegedly-destroying-wyoming-companys-hemp-after-mistaking-it-for-marijuana/

'He has presided over hearings leading to officers being dismissed for cannabis and was nicknamed “Sacker” due to the apparent high number fired.

The source added: “He has fired officers for using cannabis. He now accepts he uses the drug, albeit for medical reasons.”

The Met today said the matter is being dealt with as ''gross misconduct' if proven.'

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/6174478/scotland-yard-chief-heads-drug-strategy-uses-cannabis/

'West Midlands, the second largest police force in England and Wales, has become the fifth in the country to stop automatically criminalising people caught with illegal drugs.

The force joins Thames Valley, Avon and Somerset, Durham and North Wales in introducing drug decriminalisation-style policies whereby people caught with small amounts of any drug – including heroin and crack cocaine – are diverted to treatment, support and harm reduction advice instead of being arrested, punished or prosecuted.'

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxgn5/britains-second-largest-police-force-to-stop-criminalising-drug-users

'According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, police made 545,602 arrests for marijuana-related violations in 2019. That total is nine percent higher than the total number of persons arrested for the commission of violent crimes (495,871). Of those arrested for cannabis-related activities, some 92 percent (500,395) were arrested for marijuana possession offenses only.

“Police across America make a marijuana-related arrest every 58 seconds,” NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said. “At a time when the overwhelming majority of Americans want cannabis to be legal and regulated, it is an outrage that many police departments across the country continue to waste tax dollars and limited law enforcement resources on arresting otherwise law-abiding citizens for simple marijuana possession.”'

https://norml.org/news/2020/10/01/fbi-marijuana-arrests-decline-year-over-year-but-still-outpace-arrests-for-all-violent-crimes/

'And so Hunter Thompson lost the Battle of Aspen. But Freak Power would win the war.

In the next election, the entire Aspen City Council was voted out and replaced by Joe Edwards and other counterculture types. Then in 1976 Sheriff Whitmire was removed from his post amid accusations of misappropriating funds from the jail, and an ally of Hunter Thompson took over and enacted many of the Freak Power movement’s proposed reforms.

Aspen (alas, not “Fat City”), a town of just over 7,000 residents, now has seven cannabis dispensaries in its downtown core alone, and last year became the first city in history to have more cannabis sales than alcohol sales in a single year.'

https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/hunter-s-thompson-sheriff-campaign

'Polls show legalization has wide support in New Jersey, and the ballot question in November is very likely to pass.

But then why didn’t Murphy get his way?

Simple—because America’s lawmakers habitually surrender to the wealthy and politically powerful. Which means that while “the people” may widely support legalization (as 66% of Americans do), politicians too often bow to the interests of their campaign donors and other monied interests.

Support for legalization puts them at odds with law enforcement, Big Pharma, and America’s private prison industry. And that’s a trio that—to quote the Wu Tang Clan—ain’t nothing to fuck with.'

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/6-cannabis-elections-that-changed-the-game

'Key aspects of recent tragic events feature prominently in reform efforts. Breonna Taylor was killed in her own home by officers executing a no-knock warrant, and George Floyd died with an officer’s knee on his neck while nearby officers looked on. Bills on track to pass both chambers in Richmond would ban no-knock warrants (which allow police to enter a home without announcing themselves) and neck restraints. They would also require police to intervene when another officer uses excessive force.

These are appropriate, if narrow, responses. Fortunately, lawmakers are also making progress on larger criminal justice reforms. We applaud efforts from both chambers to eliminate searches on the basis of the odor of marijuana alone and to prevent police from using minor traffic violations as a pretext for stops — a practice that often targets motorists of color. We encourage the House of Delegates to embrace a measure, likely to pass the Senate, that would reduce jail time for some incarcerated Virginians who are elderly, permanently disabled or terminally ill'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/virginia-has-made-good-progress-on-police-reform-it-should-finish-strong/2020/09/13/49f05080-f392-11ea-999c-67ff7bf6a9d2_story.html

'Men accounted for 89 percent of all marijuana arrests during the eight-year period. Of those males, 90 percent were Black. Nearly 65 percent of those arrested were between ages 18 and 30.

Before and after legalization, just over 40 percent of the arrests occurred in Wards 7 and 8, which include the District’s poorest and most heavily African American neighborhoods. By contrast, less than 1 percent of all arrests occurred in Ward 3, which encompasses neighborhoods such as Cleveland Park and Friendship Heights, which are predominantly White and among the city’s most prosperous.'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/dc-marijuana-arrest-legal/2020/09/15/65c20348-d01b-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html

'Jason Harwin, from the police council, added: "This is a real live issue, where the police service finds itself stuck in the middle of a situation where individuals should legitimately be able to access their prescribed medication but because of availability and cost they can't and therefore to address their illness rely on having to use illicit cannabis.

"The card isn't a get out of jail free card... it does not give holders the right to carry illicit drugs. It's a flag to us that the person should be accessing medication."'

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/police-chiefs-back-cannabis-card-22653454

'Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner filed the case on Friday, just one day after Secretary of State Bob Evnen rejected his arguments that the ballot proposal “cases confusion,” “creates doubt about what will be authorized after the election” and violates the state’s single-subject rule for initiatives. That filing was made by a law firm that refused to disclose the sheriff as its client.

Now the top county cop has revealed himself in the new lawsuit filing, and the state Supreme Court will take up the dispute, with arguments expected on Thursday. A decision will need to be made in the case by September 11, which is the deadline to certify items for November ballots.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana submitted nearly 200,000 signatures last month, well beyond the 121,669 required to qualify for the ballot'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/sheriff-files-lawsuit-to-keep-medical-marijuana-off-nebraskas-ballot/

'As Executive Director of The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and as a former member of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, I would like to express my concerns, and those of many of our membership, about the legalization of marijuana and the relative effects on public safety in or communities.

I believe that marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania will pose significant challenges for law enforcement resulting from the unanticipated consequences it has on crime and public safety'

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2020/08/legalization-of-marijuana-is-different-from-decriminalization-opinion.html

'Four state attorneys general and about 50 other current and former law enforcement officials sent a letter to congressional leadership on Wednesday endorsing a federal marijuana legalization bill and urging that a vote on the legislation be held on the House floor next month.

...

“Indeed, legalizing, regulating, and controlling marijuana at the federal level is an opportunity to repair and strengthen the relationships between us and the people we serve; to shift public resources toward the most serious crimes; to reduce the size and influence of the illicit market; and to usher in an era of health-centered approaches—rather than criminal punishment—for people who use drugs,” the criminal justice professionals wrote.'

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/top-state-cops-tell-congress-to-legalize-marijuana-as-new-poll-shows-strong-voter-support/

'Among the four main drug types – ATS, cannabis, cocaine and opioids – for which data were reported, cannabis accounted for more than half of those brought into contact with the criminal justice system over the five-year period (reflecting the large global market for the drug), followed by ATS (19 per cent), cocaine (11 per cent) and opioids (7 per cent).'

- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,

https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf

'Hong Kong police, it's said, fear local youth might discover the pleasures of grass, and what is currently a minor problem might mushroom. They quickly grabbed the "killer drug" image of cannabis and tied it to Lee as an anti-drug message. Lee's image, of course, suffered for it.' - The Legend of Bruce Lee by Alex Ben Block, 1974

'Foxx said her office plans to work with Code for America to identify misdemeanor pot cases in Cook County. While she could not yet provide an exact figure, she estimated that thousands of convictions could be wiped out.

“The question is, how far back can we go? How far back does the data go — which will give us what our universe looks like? But we’re in the process of figuring that out,” added Foxx, who said she also intends to work with state officials to determine whether her office can file petitions for expungement on behalf of people with minor pot convictions.'
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/legal-marijuana-kim-foxx-expungement-sales/

'In 1937, weed was placed under the Harrison Narcotics Act. Narcotics authorities claim it is a habit-forming drug, that its use is injurious to mind and body, and that it causes the people who use it to commit crimes. Here are the facts: Weed is positively not habit forming. You can smoke weed for years and you will experience no discomfort if your supply is cut off. I have seen tea heads in jail and none of them showed withdrawal symptoms. I have smoked weed myself off and on for fifteen years, and never missed it when I ran out. There is less habit to weed than there is to tobacco. Weed does not harm the general health. In fact. most users claim it gives you an appetite and acts as a tonic to the system. I do not know of any other agent that gives as definite a boot to the appetite. I can smoke a stick of tea and enjoy a glass of California sherry and a hash house meal.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'The data tracks arrests, not individuals, so there’s no mechanism for winnowing out repeat offenders. Nor does it include arrests for the sale or production of marijuana. But the numbers still illustrate how marijuana enforcement continues to make up a big part of many police agencies’ caseloads.

The findings reflect, in part, a few simple realities: The federal government incentivizes aggressive drug enforcement via funding for drug task forces and generous forfeiture rules that allow agencies to keep cash and other valuables they find in the course of a drug bust. And because marijuana is bulky and pungent relative to other drugs, it’s often easy for police to root out.'
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/04/15/where-war-weed-still-rages/

'We must be lovers, and at once the impossible becomes possible. Our age and history, for these thousand years, has not been the history of kindness, but of selfishness. Our distrust is very expensive. The money we spend for courts and prisons is very ill laid out. We make, by distrust, the thief, and burglar, and incendiary, and by our court and jail we keep him so. An acceptance of the sentiment of love throughout Christendom for a season would bring the felon and the outcast to our side in tears, with the devotion of his faculties to our service.' - Man the Reformer, Emerson, The Basic Writings of America's Sage

I rank the Allahabad High Court, Madras High Court and the Bombay High Court among the better courts in India in terms of judicial performance, with the Allahabad High Court as the top ranker. The Supreme Court I would rank somewhere in the lower half of rankings, closer to or on par with the Delhi High Court. Not that Supreme after all, given its subservience to the central government...

Apr 08, 2021 4:07:29pm

'The new law also amends the classification of offenses involving the use or possession of marijuana in public from a criminal misdemeanor, formerly punishable by up to 90 days in jail, to a fine-only offense. In New York City, police have made over 700,000 arrests for 'public view' violations. Eighty-six percent of those arrested were either Black or Latino.'
https://norml.org/news/2019/08/29/new-york-law-reducing-marijuana-possession-penalties-takes-effect

'But he [William Burroughs] was not the first white man to be busted for weed in my time. No. That was Robert Mitchum, the actor, who was arrested three months earlier in Malibu at the front door of a hideaway beach house for possession of marijuana and suspicion of molesting a teenage girl on August 31, 1948. I remember the photos: Mitchum wearing an undershirt and snarling at the cops with the sea rolling up and the palm trees blowing..'

- Hey Rube! I Love You: Eerie Reflections on Fuel, Madness & Music, May 13, 1999, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson
Apr 06, 2023 9:19:38pm

'After discussing the data limitations of the study, the authors concluded that “it indeed seems to be the case that legalizing the recreational use of marijuana results in fewer marijuana related arrests and court cases” and that while law enforcement sources voiced various concerns, several “indicated that methamphetamine and heroin were much larger problems for their agencies than was marijuana.”

The team “saw no evidence that marijuana legalization had an impact on indicators in border states,” adding that they “found no indications of increases in arrests related to transportation/trafficking offenses.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/study-funded-by-feds-debunks-myths-about-marijuana-legalizations-alleged-harms/

'In Hong Kong however, where there is almost no marijuana use, the drug conjures up images of harder drugs, much as "grass" used to be considered the "devil weed" in the United States before its usage spread in the late 1960s. Police in Hong Kong, even now, tend to pay more attention to hash or grass, it seems, than heroin or opium, simply because the substances are less familiar and have come to be associated with the dreaded "hippie tourist Europeans" (anyone in Hong Kong who is not Chinese, and who has white skin, is called a European, just as all Japanese and Chinese are lumped together in America with Vietnamese and others as Orientals).' - The Legend of Bruce Lee by Alex Ben Block, 1974

'The study, published in the journal Justice Quarterly and funded by the federal National Institute of Justice, found that violent and property crimes rates were not affected in a statistically significant way in the years after Colorado and Washington State became the first in the nation to legalize marijuana for adult use.

“Our results suggest that marijuana legalization and sales have had minimal to no effect on major crimes in Colorado or Washington,” the paper concluded. “We observed no statistically significant long-term effects of recreational cannabis laws or the initiation of retail sales on violent or property crime rates in these states.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-legalization-doesnt-cause-increased-crime-federally-funded-study-finds/

In today's DH report, the Supreme Court says that drug dealers are worse than those accused of murder. People accused of murder only kill one or two persons while drug dealers kill many persons. I totally agree. Pharma companies and their dealers including physicians, chemical pesticide and fertilizer manufacturers and their dealers, petrochemical based non-biodegradable polymer manufacturers and their dealers, are all drug dealers at the apex of the pyramid. They kill hundreds of millions of people every year, along with numerous other life forms and destroy the planet. They, and the governments that support and promote them, must be punished with the utmost severity rather than targeting the inconsequential individuals at the bottom of the pyramid for selling a few grams of heroin or cocaine. What is the Supreme Court doing to address and mitigate this? Can it punish the powerful criminals at the apex for their monumental crimes? Why is cannabis still banned when it provides a safe, sustainable and healthy alternative to synthetic drugs, chemical fertilizer and pesticide based agriculture, petrochemical based products and industries? Can we start with the complete legalization of the plant, a fundamental right to life, instead of meaningless actions that fail to address the root causes of the problems afflicting society? Remove all references to cannabis in any form from the NDPS for starters...

Apr 07, 2021 4:57:17pm

'A searing, on-the-ground look at President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly campaign against suspected drug dealers and users in the Philippines, “On the President’s Orders” is told with unprecedented access to the police themselves. It offers a gripping, visually stunning window into the war on drugs — those carrying it out, and those most impacted by it.'
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/on-the-presidents-orders/

'I used to respect William Burroughs because he was the first white man to be busted for marijuana in my time. William was the Man. He was the victim of an illegal police raid at his home at 500 Wagner Street in Old Algiers, a low-rent suburb across the river from New Orleans, where he was settling in for a while to do some shooting and smoke marijuana.'

- Hey Rube! I Love You: Eerie Reflections on Fuel, Madness & Music, May 13, 1999, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'This system, however - deliberately poisoning our food, then policing the result - is too reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's White Knight who thought of 'a plan to dye one's whiskers green, and always use so large a fan that they could not be seen.' The ultimate answer is to use less toxic chemicals so that the public hazard from their misuse is greatly reduced.' - Silent Spring, Rachel Carson, 1962

'It has also been submitted that while enacting the NDPS Act, the government failed to consider the medicinal benefits of the drug, including its effect as an analgesic, its role in fighting cancer, reducing nausea, and increasing appetite in HIV patients.'
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/delhi-high-court-seeks-centres-take-on-use-of-cannabis-after-a-petition-challenges-ndps-act

'Marijuana activist and poet John Sinclair, although older now at 78, is no less the rebel he was in 1969.

“I knew they were going to be after me, but you can’t let them determine your life,” he said of his 1971 release from prison for possession of two joints.

About 9:49 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, at Arbors Wellness in Ann Arbor with a happy line of hundreds wrapped around the block, Sinclair made what was likely the first-ever licensed recreational retail marijuana sale in Michigan.'
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2019/12/activist-and-poet-john-sinclair-among-first-to-purchase-legal-recreational-marijuana-in-michigan-50-years-after-his-historic-arrest.html

'The question is frequently asked: Why does a man become a drug addict?

The answer is that he usually does not intend to become an addict. You don't wake up one morning and decide to become a drug addict. It takes at least three months' shooting twice a day to get any habit at all. And you don't really know wht junk sickness is until you have had several habits. It took me almost six months to get my first habit, and then the withdrawal symptoms were mild. I think it is no exaggeration to say it takes about a year and several hundred injections to make an addict' - Prologue, Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Since 2011, interceptions of cannabis along U.S. borders have fallen 89%, reflecting the convergence of changing social, economic, and legal developments.
The southern border continues to account for almost all the interceptions (99%), though it has also seen the steepest decline (90%) of them since 2011.
The decrease in southern interceptions is likely attributable to a range of factors: falling demand for illicit cannabis in states with legal medical and adult use programs, less appeal for traditionally lower-quality cannabis from Mexico or other southern countries than for domestically cultivated products, and increased border enforcement efforts raising the risk of interdiction.
Conversely, interceptions at the norther border increased 113% between 2018 and 2019, reflecting Canada’s nationwide adult-use legalization in 2018 and the appeal of its reputed high-quality cannabis.
The data suggest that legalization is having a major disruptive effect on international cannabis smuggling operations aimed at the U.S., and underscores American consumer preference for regulated cannabis products where available and competitively priced'

https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/cannabis-border-interceptions-decreasing/

'More than half of the studies, however, have shown that cannabis and alcohol are substitutes, meaning that the increased use of one substance reduces the use of the other. Other researchers have also suggested that cannabis, especially cannabis for medical use, may serve as a substitute for alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, including prescription drugs.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'Christmas hasn't changed much in twenty-two years, Jann - not even two thousand miles west and eight thousand feet up in the Rockies. It is still a day that only amateurs can love. It is all well and good for children and acid freaks to believe in Santa Claus - but it is still a profoundly morbid day for us working professionals. It is unsettling to know that one our of every twenty people you meet on Xmas will be dead this time next year...Some people can accept this, some can't. That is why God made whiskey, and also why Wild Turkey comes in $300 shaped canisters during most of the Christmas season, and also why criminal shitheads all over New York City will hit you up for $100 tips or they'll twist your windshield wipers into spaghetti and urinate on your door handles.

And that's about it for now, Jann. Christmas in on us and it's all downhill from here on...at least until Groundhog Day, which is soon...So, until then, at least, take my advice, as your family doctor, and don't do anything that might cause either one of us to have to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States. If you know what I'm saying...

Yes. He is Up There, Jann. The Judge. And he will be there for a long time, waiting to gnaw on our skulls...Right. Put that in your leather pocket the next time you feel like jumping on your new motorcycle and screwing it all the way over thru traffic and passing cop cars at 140.

Remember F.X. Leach. He crossed the Judge, and he paid a terrible price...And so will you, if you don't slow down and quit harassing those girls in your office. The Judge is in charge now, and He won't tolerate it. Beware.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'In practice, pushing weed is a headache. To begin with, weed is bulky. You need a full suitcase to realize any money. If the cops start kicking your door in, then you are like with a bale of alfalfa.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Starting in 2014, data on traffic fatalities in Colorado showed a marked increase in the number of traffic deaths in which the driver tested positive for cannabis use. Over the period 2009–2013, there were 53 traffic deaths on average per year in which the driver tested positive for cannabis, a figure that increased to an average of 110 such deaths in the period 2014–2018, and the proportion of fatalities with drivers testing positive for cannabis doubled over the period 2009–2018. However, toxicology analysis has shown that car crashes in which the driver was found to be under the influence of cannabis frequently involved other drugs, in particular alcohol' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'A contentious issue between people who are for and against the legalization of cannabis remains whether it has had an impact on driving under the influence of cannabis and caused fatal car crashes. The evidence remains inconclusive, as within the United States there have been no differences in cannabis- or alcohol-related traffic fatalities between states that have and have not legalized the non-medical use of cannabis. As different research contributions have also shown, it is difficult to quantify the effects of cannabis on road accidents, as cannabis is often used in combination with alcohol, which increases the challenge of determining the influence of cannabis itself on road traffic accidents. Moreover, studies on THC levels and degrees of impairment have found that the level of THC in the blood and the degree of impairment do not appear to be closely related; peak impairment does not occur when THC concentration in the blood is at or near peak levels.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In Washington state, the past-month use of cannabis among high-school students of different grades has generally remained stable, although it increases by grade, with the highest past-month prevalence found among twelfth grade students, as in Colorado. The perception of risk relating to cannabis use among high-school students has also declined since the nonmedical use of cannabis was legalized, with nearly three quarters of twelfth grade students seeing no or low risk in trying cannabis a few times and less than half perceiving no or low risk in the regular use of cannabis in 2018. Similarly, some 38 per cent of twelfth grade students considered that it was fairly easy to get cannabis.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'While the daily or near-daily use of cannabis among high-school students in Colorado has declined, the prevalence of occasional users, that is, those who report having used cannabis one or two times in the past month, has increased since legalization. Nevertheless, 4.7 per cent of high-school students reported using cannabis daily or nearly daily (20 or more times in the past 30 days) in 2017. Moreover, although the share of high-school students smoking cannabis declined from 92 per cent in 2015 to 84 per cent in 2017, there was an increase in the share of those who reported using edibles with high THC content (from 28 per cent in 2015 to 36 per cent in 2017) or “dabbing” cannabis extracts and concentrates (from 28 per cent in 2015 to 34 per cent in 2017) in the past month.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'One concern about legalizing the non-medical use of cannabis for adults (21 years and older) is that its use could also increase access to cannabis and its use among adolescents. Based on national data, cannabis use among high-school students remained stable overall, whereas the risk perception of the occasional use of cannabis declined in the United States over the period 2012–2018. In Colorado, although there has been a decline in daily or near-daily use of cannabis among high-school students, they are now consuming and exposed to cannabis products with far higher THC content than was available or used earlier. In 2017, about 20 per cent of high-school students in Colorado reported non-medical use of cannabis in the past month; that rate is comparable to the national average among high-school students.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'At dawn we drove across the tarmac and pulled up to a seedy-looking office marked Air Jackpot Express Charter Company. "This is it, Judge," I said and slapped him on the back. "This is where you get off." He seemed resigned to his fate until until the woman behind the desk told him there wouldn't be a flight into Elko until lunchtime.

"Where is the pilot?" he demanded.

"I am the pilot," the woman said, " but I can't leave till Debbie gets here to relieve me."

"Fuck this!" the Judge shouted. "Fuck lunchtime. I have to leave now, you bitch."

The woman seemed truly frightened by his mood swing, and when the Judge leaned in and gave her a taste of the long knuckle, she collapsed and began weeping uncontrollably. "There's more where that came from," he told her. "Get up! I have to get out of here now."

He jerked her out of from behind the desk and was dragging her toward the plane when I slipped out the back door. It was daylight now. The car was nearly out of gas, but that wasn't my primary concern. The police would be here in minutes, I thought. I'm doomed. But then, as I pulled onto the highway, I saw a sign that said, We Paint All Night.

As I pulled into the parking lot, the Jackpot Express plane passed overhead. So long, Judge, I thought to myself. You're a brutal hustler and a Warrior and a great copilot, but you know how to get your way. You will go far in the world.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The sale of non-medical cannabis through legal sources represents only a portion of the cannabis market, as it appears that a substantial proportion of users still rely on illegal sources to obtain cannabis (42 per cent in 2019). Moreover, cannabis prices on the illegal market have remained considerably lower (and have been declining) compared with the prices on the legal market. In the second quarter of 2019, based on 236 submissions, the average price per gram of cannabis on the legal market was Can$10.65, compared with Can$5.93 per gram on the illegal market.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In 2019, young people aged 15–24 were more likely than those in older age groups to obtain cannabis from illegal sources, whereas a larger share of older cannabis users relied solely on legal sources; 41 per cent of cannabis users aged 65 or older reported using only legal sources to obtain cannabis, compared with roughly one quarter of the other age groups.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'The transition from the illegal market to legal sources of cannabis has been a gradual one. The proportion of cannabis users sourcing their products from the legal market increased from around 25 per cent in the second and third quarters of 2018 to about 50 per cent one year later, and in 2019 nearly 30 per cent relied solely on the legal market for their cannabis (compared with 10 per cent in 2018). Many users relied on multiple sources to obtain their cannabis, with about 40 per cent of cannabis users still getting their product from illegal sources.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'I once kicked a junk habit with weed. The second day off junk I sat down and ate a full meal. Ordinarily, I can't eat for eight days after kicking a habit.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'I was getting too nervous to continue without chemical assistance. I reached under my seat for my kit bag, which contained five or six capsules of Black Acid. Wonderful, I thought. This is just what I need. I ate one and went back to pondering the map. There was a place called Deeth, just ahead, where a faintly marked side road appeared to wander uphill through the mountains and down along a jagged ridge into Jackpot from behind. Good, I thought, this is it. We could sneak in to Jackpot by dawn.

Just then I felt a blow on the side of my head as the Judge came awake with a screech, flailing his arms around him like he was coming out of a nightmare. "What's happening, goddamn it?" he said. "Where are we? They're after us." He was jabbering in a foreign language that quickly lapsed into English as he tried to aim the gun. "Oh, God," he screamed. "They're right on top of us. Get moving, goddamn it. I'll kill every bastard I see."

He was coming out of a nightmare. I grabbed him by the neck and put him in a headlock until he went limp. I pulled him back up in the seat and handed him a spansule of acid. "Here, Judge, take this," I said. "It'll calm you down."

He swallowed the pill and said nothing as I turned onto the highway and stood heavily on the accelerator. We were up to 115 when a green exit sign that said "Deeth No Services" loomed suddenly out of the rain just in front of us. I swerved hard to the right and tried to hang on. But it was no use. I remember the sound of the Judge screaming as we lost control and went into a full 360-degree curl and then backward at seventy-five or eighty through a fence and into a pasture.

For some reason the near-fatal accident had a calming effect on the Judge. Or maybe it was the acid. I didn't care one way or the other after I took the gun from his hand. He gave it up without a fight.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Drug overdose deaths involving selected drug categories are identified by specific multiple cause-of-death codes. Drug categories presented include: heroin (T40.1); natural opioid analgesics, including morphine and codeine, and semisynthetic opioids, including drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxymorphone (T40.2); methadone, a synthetic opioid (T40.3); synthetic opioid analgesics other than methadone, including drugs such as fentanyl and tramadol (T40.4); cocaine (T40.5); and psychostimulants with abuse potential, which includes methamphetamine (T43.6). Opioid overdose deaths are identified by the presence of any of the following MCOD codes: opium (T40.0); heroin (T40.1); natural opioid analgesics (T40.2); methadone (T40.3); synthetic opioid analgesics other than methadone (T40.4); or other and unspecified narcotics (T40.6).'
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

Racial disparities in legal prosecutions and through inequity in wealth serve as barriers to many Black and Brown entrepreneurs.
Between 2010-2018, despite comparable usage rates Black people were 3.64 times more likely than White people to be arrested for marijuana possession. (ACLU)
In 2015, more than 643,000 people were arrested for cannabis violations; 89% were charged only with possession (Cage-Free Cannabis).
Over the past decade, 15.7 million people have been arrested for marijuana offenses.
In some states, cannabis arrests preclude participation in the legal industry.
In 2016, the average wealth of White families was more than $700,000 higher than that of Black or Hispanic families. (Urban Institute).
In 2017, 81% of business owners/founders in the cannabis industry were White; approximately 4% were Black, and fewer than 6% were Hispanic/Latino. (MJBiz Daily)'

https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/how-systemic-racism-and-wealth-inequality-limit-diversity-in-the-cannabis-industry/

'The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) said that its recommendation is motivated by an interest in reducing overdose deaths and promoting treatment. This announcement comes two years after the organization created a commission tasked with studying decriminalization, the results of which were released in a new report.

“Canada continues to grapple with the fentanyl crisis and a poisoned drug supply that has devastated our communities and taken thousands of lives,” CACP President Adam Palmer said in a press release. “We recommend that enforcement for possession give way to an integrated health-focussed approach that requires partnerships between police, healthcare and all levels of government.“'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/top-canadian-police-association-says-its-time-to-decriminalize-all-drugs/

'The clandestine manufacture of fentanyls within North America is thus not really a new phenomenon and has the potential to increase in importance following the recent control of fentanyls substances in China. Moreover, the clandestine manufacture of fentanyl has already spread beyond North America to neighbouring subregions, as a clandestine fentanyl laboratory was dismantled in the city of Santiago, Dominican Republic, in 2017. At the same time, there is a risk that other countries with a large and thriving pharmaceutical sector may become involved in the clandestine manufacture of fentanyls. In 2018, for example, authorities of India reported two relatively large seizures of fentanyl destined for North America. Furthermore, according to United States authorities, in September 2018, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence of India, in cooperation with DEA of the United States Department of Justice, dismantled the first known illicit fentanyl laboratory in India and seized approximately 11 kg of fentanyl' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'According to United States authorities, most of the fentanyls destined for the North American market have been manufactured in China in recent years, from where they were either shipped directly to the United States, mostly through postal services, or were first shipped to Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Canada and then smuggled into the United States. However, after the introduction by China in May 2019 of drug controls based on generic legislation with regard to the fentanyls, which effectively brought more than 1,400 known fentanyl analogues under national control in China, early signs suggest that fewer fentanyls were smuggled from China to North America. At the same time, attempts to manufacture fentanyl and its analogues inside North America are increasing, notably in Mexico, by means of a method using precursor chemicals smuggled into the subregion from East Asia and South Asia.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'"Good work, Judge,' I said. "They'll never catch us now." He smiled and drank deeply from our Whiskey jug, which he had somehow picked up as we fled...Then he passed it over to me, and I too drank deeply as I whipped the big V-8 into passing gear and we went from forty-five to ninety in four seconds and left the ugliness far behind us in the rain.

I glanced over at the Judge as he loaded five huge bullets into the Magnum. He was very calm and focused, showing no signs of the drug coma that had crippled him just moments before...I was impressed. The man was clearly a Warrior. I slapped him on the back and grinned. "Calm down, Judge," I said. "We're almost home."

I knew better, of course. I was one thousand miles from home, and we were almost certainly doomed. There was no hope of escaping the dragnet that would be put out for us, once those poor fools discovered Leach in a pool of burning blood with the top of his head blown off. The squad car was destroyed - thanks to the shrew instincts of the Judge - but I knew it would not take them long to send out an all-points alarm. Soon there would be angry police roadblocks at every exit between Reno and Salt Lake City...

So what? I thought. There were many side roads, and we had a very fast car. All I had to do was to get the Judge out of his killing frenzy and find a truck stop where I could buy a few cans of Flat Black spray paint. Then we could slither out of the state by dawn and find a place to hide.

But it would not be an easy run. In the quick space of four hours we had destroyed two automobiles and somehow participated in at least one killing - in addition to all the other random, standard-brand crimes like speeding and arson and attempted murder of State Police officers while fleeing the scene of a homicide...'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'When you're sick, music is a great help. Once, in Texas, I kicked a habit on weed, a pint of paregoric and a few Louis Armstrong records.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953 - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'The current crisis of fentanyls appears to be more supply-driven than earlier waves of increases in the use of pharmaceutical opioids or heroin. Fentanyls are being used as an adulterant of heroin, are used to make falsified pharmaceutical opioids, such as falsified oxycodone and hydrocodone – and even falsified benzodiazepines – which are sold to a large and unsuspecting population of users of opioids and other drugs; users are not seeking fentanyl as such.

It seems that some local distributors are not able to distinguish between heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl laced heroin, nor between diverted pharmaceutical opioids and falsified opioids containing fentanyl. A general problem with fentanyls is dosing by nonprofessional “pharmacists”, where small mistakes can lead to lethal results. Furthermore, as the overdose death data suggest, even people using cocaine and psychostimulants, such as methamphetamine, are also exposed – probably unintentionally – to fentanyls or other potent synthetic opioids mixed with those substances' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'There is a great incentive for trafficking organizations to expand the fentanyl market: the large associated revenues. Compared with heroin, the production costs of single-dose fentanyls are substantially lower. For instance, it may cost between $1,400 and $3,500 to synthesize 1 kg of fentanyl, which could bring a return of between $1 million and $1.5 million from street sales. For comparison, 1 kg of heroin purchased from Colombia may cost $5,000 to $7,000,99 around $53,000 at the wholesale level in the United States and around $400,000 at the retail level in the United States. With fentanyls, the logistics for supply are also more flexible because fentanyls can be manufactured anywhere and are not subject to the climatic conditions or the vulnerable conditions required for the largescale cultivation of opium poppy.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'All factors driving fentanyl use converged from 2013 onwards in the United States and Canada, which may explain the unprecedented spread of the fentanyls in those markets: factors such as the diffusion of simpler, more effective methods of manufacture of synthetic opioids and their analogues (primarily fentanyls), assisted by the availability on the Internet of instructions for their manufacture; a shift from preparation by a limited number of skilled chemists to preparation by basic “cooks” who could simply follow the posted instructions; the discovery of ever more fentanyl analogues; a lack of effective control of precursors and oversight of the industry; expanding distribution networks that reduced the risk of detection through the use of postal services and the Internet; and increased licit trade including e-commerce.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In 2018, approximately 10.3 million people (3.7 per cent of the population aged 12 years or older) had misused opioids in the past year in the United States. Most of them, 9.9 million (3.6 per cent of the population aged 12 years and older), reported non-medical use of pharmaceutical opioids, while almost 800,000 reported past-year use of heroin (comprising just 8 per cent of the total population who reported past-year misuse of opioids).' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'The Pigs were nowhere to be seen. They had apparently rushed the place, with guns blazing - hoping to kill Leach before he got away. I jumped into the car and started the engine. The Judge came through the passenger door and reached for the loaded .454 Magnum...I watched in horror as he jerked it out of its holster and ran around to the front of the cop car and fired two shots into the grille.

"Fuck you!" he screamed. "Take this, you Scum! Eat shit and die!" He jumped back as the radiator exploded in a blast of steam and scalding water. Then he fired three more times through the windshield and into the squawking radio, which also exploded.

"Hot damn!" he said as he slid back into the front seat. "Now we have them trapped!" I jammed the car into reverse and lost control in the mud, hitting a structure of some kind and careening sideways at top speed until I got a grip on the thing and aimed it up the ramp to the highway...The Judge was desperately trying to reload the .454, yelling at me to slow down so he could finish the bastards off! His eyes were wild and his voice was unnaturally savage.

I swerved hard left to Elko and hurled him sideways, but he quickly recovered his balance and somehow got off five more thundering shots in the general direction of the burning trailer behind us.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

' Overall, in 2018 overdose deaths attributed to synthetic opioids, comprising mainly fentanyls, accounted for nearly half of the total overdose deaths in the United States. Among the reasons for the high number of overdose deaths attributed to fentanyls are their often small lethal doses relative to other opioids: fentanyl, for example, is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine, and carfentanil may be as much as 10,000 times more potent than morphine for an average user. A lethal dose of carfentanil for a human can be as low as 20 micrograms.

The rapid expansion of fentanyl use in the United States is also visible in the data on seizures and the drug samples analysed, with a considerable increase since 2014 in the number of samples identified as fentanyl. In 2018, fentanyl accounted for 45 per cent of the pharmaceutical opioids that were identified in different samples, while oxycodone accounted for 14 per cent' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'Weed does not inspire anyone to commit crimes. I have never seen anyone get nasty under the influence of weed. Tea heads are a sociable lot. Too sociable for my liking. I cannot understand why the people who claim weed causes crime do not follow through and demand the outlawing of alcohol. Every day, crimes are committed by drunks who would not have committed the crime sober.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Unlike other plant-based drugs, for which cultivation and production is concentrated in only a limited number of countries, cannabis is produced in almost all countries worldwide. The cultivation of cannabis plants was reported by 151 countries in the period 2010–2018 – countries home to 96 per cent of the global population – and was reported through either direct indicators (such as the cultivation or eradication of cannabis plants and the eradication of cannabis-producing sites) or indirect indicators (such as seizures of cannabis plants and the origin of cannabis seizures reported by other Member States).' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'Most countries do not have a comprehensive system in place for monitoring areas under illicit cannabis cultivation. At present, the information available is insufficient to produce scientifically accurate global estimates of the area under illicit cannabis cultivation. In addition, most of the estimates of the areas under illicit cannabis cultivation reported to UNODC do not generally meet scientific standards.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'Globally, outdoor cannabis cultivation continues to be more widespread geographically than is indoor cannabis cultivation. Overall, 88 countries reported outdoor cannabis cultivation, law enforcement activities linked to outdoor cannabis cultivation (eradication, seizures of cannabis plants, seizures of cannabis-producing sites) or trends related to outdoor cannabis cultivation over the period 2012–2018, while only 64 countries reported data for those activities as linked to indoor cultivation. Some countries reported both indoor and outdoor cannabis cultivation.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'The largest quantities of cannabis herb seized in 2018 were those reported in the Americas (61 per cent of the total), with South America alone accounting for 43 per cent of the global total. Of note is the marked decline in the share of seizures made in North America, which had long been the subregion reporting the largest cannabis herb seizures: on average, 50 per cent of the global total over the period 2008–2018, falling to 17 per cent of the global total in 2018, that is, to less than the total for Africa that year (19 per cent). The next largest regional reported seizure totals in 2018 were those for Asia and Europe.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'"Where's your wife?" I asked. "Is she still here?"

"Oh, yes," he said quickly. "She just went out for some cigarettes. She'll be back any minute." He nodded eagerly. "Oh, yes, she's very proud of me. We're almost reconciled. She really loves these dolls."

I smiled, but something about his story made me nervous. "How many do you have?" I asked him.

"Don't worry," he said. "I have all I need." He reached into a nearby broom closet and pulled out another one - a half-inflated Chinese-looking woman with rings in her nipples and two electric cords attached to her head. "This is Ling-Ling," he said. "She screams when I hit her." He whacked the doll's head and it squawked stupidly.

Just then I heard car doors slamming outside the trailer, then loud knocking on the front door and a gruff voice shouting, "Open up! Police!"

Leach grabbed a .44 Magnum out of a shoulder holster inside the bathrobe and fired two shots through the front door. "You bitch!" he screamed. "I should have killed you a long time ago."

He fired two more shots, laughing calmly. Then he turned to face me and out the barrel of his gun in his mouth. He hesitated for a moment, staring directly into my eyes. Then he pulled the trigger and blew off the back of his head.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The quantity of cannabis herb seized in 2018 declined by 16 per cent compared with a year earlier, falling to 4,303 tons, the lowest level since 1999. As compared with 2010, the quantity seized fell by 34 per cent at the global level, largely due to decreases reported in North America (-84 per cent), with marked declines being reported by Mexico, the United States and Canada. Discussions and policies aimed at liberalizing the cannabis markets, including changes in the drug’s legislation in Canada and some jurisdictions of the United States, legalizing the production, distribution and the recreational use of cannabis, seem to have played a key role in this respect. By contrast, the quantities of cannabis herb seized almost doubled in the rest of the world over the period 2010–2018 (South America: +194 per cent; Oceania: +94 per cent; Europe: +73 per cent; Asia: +71 per cent; Africa: +53 per cent). The global cannabis herb trafficking index, based on qualitative information reported by Member States on trends in cannabis herb trafficking, also increased over the same period, although the trend appeared to be stabilizing in 2018.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'In 2018, the largest quantities of cannabis herb seized worldwide continued to be those reported by Paraguay, followed by the United States and India. Cannabis herb produced in Paraguay is reported to have been mainly destined for neighbouring Brazil (77 per cent) and Argentina (20 per cent). Over the period 2008–2018, the largest cannabis herb seizures worldwide took place in the United States, followed by Mexico, Paraguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Morocco, Brazil, India and Egypt' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

Afghanistan and Mexico source the heroin and morphine. Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar and China source the methamphetamine. The Middle East and Eastern Europe sources the amphetamine. The US consumes heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Europe consumes heroin, morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. Asia consumes heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Australia consumes methamphetamine. The Middle East consumes heroin and amphetamine. West Asia consumes heroin and methamphetamine. All countries grow and consume cannabis. Opioids, methamphetamine and amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents to cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamines. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
Jul 10, 2020, 1:14 PM

'After discussing the data limitations of the study, the authors concluded that “it indeed seems to be the case that legalizing the recreational use of marijuana results in fewer marijuana related arrests and court cases” and that while law enforcement sources voiced various concerns, several “indicated that methamphetamine and heroin were much larger problems for their agencies than was marijuana.”

The team “saw no evidence that marijuana legalization had an impact on indicators in border states,” adding that they “found no indications of increases in arrests related to transportation/trafficking offenses.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/study-funded-by-feds-debunks-myths-about-marijuana-legalizations-alleged-harms/

'"Straight ahead," he snapped. "Take a right at the next corner. We'll go see Leach. He owes me twenty-four thousand dollars."

I slowed down and reached for the whiskey. What the hell, I thought. Some days are weirder than others.

Leach is my secret weapon, " the Judge said, "but I have to watch him. He could be violent. The cops are always after him. He lives in a balance of terror. But he has a genius for gambling. We win eight out of ten every week." He nodded solemnly. "That is four out of five, Doc. That is Big. Very big. That is eighty percent of everything." He shook his head sadly and reached for the whiskey. "It's a horrible habit. But I can't give it up. It's like having a money machine."

"That's wonderful," I said. "What are you bitching about?"

"I'm afraid, Doc. Leach is a monster, a criminal hermit who understands nothing in life except point spreads. He should be locked up and castrated."

"So what?" I said. "Where does he live? We are desperate. We have no cash and no plastic. This freak is our only hope."

The Judge slumped into himself, and neither one of us spoke for a minute..."Well," he said finally. "Why not? I cam handle almost anything for twenty-four big ones in a brown bag. What the fuck? Let's do it. It the bastard gets ugly, we'll kill him."

"Come on, Judge," I said. "Get a grip on yourself. This is only a gambling debt."

"Sure," he replied. "That's what they all say."'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'In all, nearly 100 cannabis businesses and individuals are identified in the Weedmaps subpoena, including company employees, officers, various investors and others in the industry.

“The bottom line is the feds are showing they’re not done investigating cannabis, not done prosecuting cannabis,” California attorney Matt Kumin said after reading the subpoena.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/weedmaps-subpoena-underscores-us-government-scrutiny-of-marijuana-industry/

This should be the default human rights policy world wide...but then it's the same world that made cannabis illegal and keeps it so...and if coronavirus is part of the war against cannabis then...

'Beyond deprioritizing marijuana enforcement, the organization said states should also drop existing charges for nonviolent cannabis violations “in order to reduce non-essential interactions,” review and release those currently incarcerated for marijuana convictions and waive pending probation requirements for cannabis-related cases.

“Enforcing marijuana prohibition is in itself unfair and unnecessary. Enforcing marijuana prohibition during a global public health crisis, even more so,” Carly Wolf, state policies coordinator at NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “At a time when stress, anxiety, and uncertainty is at an all time high, no one should have the added fear of arrest or expensive fines as a result of low-level possession of a plant during a time when many are experiencing extreme economic hardship.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/thousands-of-constituents-urge-governors-to-deprioritize-marijuana-enforcement-amid-coronavirus/

'Narcotics agents operate largely with the aid of informers. The usual routine is to grab someone with junk on him, and let him stew in jail until he is good and sick. Then comes the spiel:
"We can get you five years for possession. On the other hand, you can walk out of here right now. The decision is up to you. If you work with us, we can give you a good deal. For one thing, plenty of junk and pocket money. That is, if you deliver. Take a few minutes to think it over." - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

Ha ha ha...

'When asked to provide guidance for agencies in other states that would soon operate in a legalized environment for marijuana, the officers called for broad public educational programs, emphasizing juveniles and drivers, and how the law affects them; more research on the effects of cannabis and impairment from the drug; and expanded officer training, especially on the regulatory rules governing growing cannabis. They also suggested that base pay for officers be increased, given the increasing role they play now that cannabis is legal'
https://news.wsu.edu/2020/05/07/washington-state-law-enforcement-officers-cite-concerns-marijuana-legalization/

'"Don't give me that crap," he barked. "These people are my friends. They're expecting me. Just ring the goddamn room again." The desk clerk muttered something about his explicit instructions not to...

Suddenly the Judge reached across the desk for the house phone, "What's the number?" he snapped. "I'll ring it myself." The clerk moved quickly. He shoved the phone out of the Judge's grasp and simultaneously drew his index finger across his throat. The Judge took one look at the muscle converging on him and changed his stance.

"I want to cash a check," he said calmly.

"A check?" the clerk said. "Sure thing, buster. I'll cash your goddamn check." He seized the Judge by his collar and laughed. "Let's get this Bozo out of here. And put him in jail."

I was moving toward the door, and suddenly the judge was right beside me. "Let's go," he said. We sprinted for the car, but then the Judge stopped in his tracks. He turned and raised his fist in the direction of the hotel. "Fuck you!" he shouted. "I'm the Judge. I'll be back, and I'll bust every one of you bastards. The next time you see me coming, you'd better run."

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'For truly equitable reform, the ACLU recommends that any legalization efforts center racial justice and include the following components:

- Legalization
- Fair fines and fees
- Resentencing, expungement, and clemency
- Elimination of collateral consequences
- Inclusive legal markets
- Exclusion of arrests in performance measures
- Police reform'
https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/our-vision-for-equitable-marijuana-reform/

'According to the Blue Grass Law of Kentucky, any "known user of narcotic drugs can be sentenced to the county jail for one year, with the alternative of taking the cure in Lexington."' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'In this first report of this decade, the Global Commission on Drug Policy outlines how the current international drug control regime works for the benefit of transnational organized crime. It highlights how years of repressive policies targeted at nonviolent drug offenders have resulted in mass incarceration and produced countless adverse impacts on public health, the rule of law, and social cohesion, whilst at the same time reinforcing criminal elites.

The report argues that the top layers of criminal organizations must be disempowered, through policy responses and political will. It provides implementable recommendations for the replacement of the current policy of targeting non-violent drug offenders and resorting to mass incarceration. Law enforcement must focus on the most dangerous and protected actors and primary drivers of the corruption, violence, and chaos around illegal drug markets'
https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/reports/enforcement-of-drug-laws

'The burden of drug policing is overwhelmingly borne by poor communities, young people, and often disadvantaged social and ethnic groups, whereas drug consumption by wealthier communities may evade police attention. Criminal records for low-level, non-violent offenders – often already stigmatized – further exclude them from society and the legitimate economy, and makes it more difficult to access health services. Burdening criminal justice systems with minor crimes such as possession for personal use, especially of cannabis, drains resources from more complex investigations into serious crime.'
https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FINAL-EN_2020report_web.pdf

'The marquee above the front door of the Continental Hotel said:

Welcome: Adult Film Presidents
Studebaker Society
Full Action Casino/Keno in Lounge

"Park right here in front," said the Judge. "Don't worry. I'm well known in this place."

Me too, but I said nothing. I have been well known at the Commercial for many years, from the time I was doing a lot of driving back and forth between Denver and San Francisco - usually for Business reasons, or for Art, and on this particular weekend I was there to meet quietly with a few old friends and business associates from the Board of Directors of the Adult Film Association of America. I had been, after all, the Night Manager of the famous O'Farrell Theatre, in San Francisco - the "Carnegie Hall of Sex in America."

I was the Guest of Honor, in fact - but I saw no point in confiding these things to the Judge, a total stranger with no Personal Identification, no money, and a very aggressive lifestyle. We were on our way to the Commercial Hotel to borrow money from some of his friends in the Adult Film Business.

What the hell? I thought. It's only rock & roll. And he was, after all, a Judge of some kind...Or maybe not. For all I knew he was a criminal pimp with no fingerprints, or a wealthy black shepherd from Spain. But it hardly mattered. He was good company (if you had a taste for the edge work - and I did, in those days. And so, I felt, did the Judge). He had a bent sense of fun, a quick mind and no Fear of anything.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Prison systems in Latin America and the Caribbean have been described as “near-perfect recruiting centers and incubators for crime,” as organized crime groups have come to control drugs economies within prisons and use the facilities as bases by which to control trafficking operations outside. In São Paulo, the prison system gave rise to Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the largest and best-organized criminal group in Brazil. Similarly, prison overcrowding in Indonesia linked to the country’s hardline drugs policy has led to inhumane conditions, a breakdown in prison governance, and the rise of prison-based drug trafficking organizations.'
https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FINAL-EN_2020report_web.pdf

'The Vienna-based member states’ bodies, the CND, and the convention-mandated International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) have been central in promoting the global narrative of “drugs as threat” which has underpinned “war on drugs” policies around the world. The influence of these multilateral bodies is substantial. The CND is the central drug policy-making body within the UN; UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) is the operational agency implementing the mandated role of the UN Secretary-General; and the INCB the semi-judicial body ensuring countries’ compliance with the conventions. However, UN mandates and responses to organized crime cut across the system, with seventy percent or more of UN departments having some mandate or initiative related to organized crime (see figure 4). Despite this, there is no strategic framework or inter-departmental coordination body on organized crime within the UN system as there is, for example, on terrorism.'
https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FINAL-EN_2020report_web.pdf

'About this time an anti-narcotics drive hit the town. The chief of police said, "This drive is going to continue as long as there is a single violator left in the city." The State legislators drew up a law making it a crime to be a drug addict. They did not specify where or when or what they meant by drug addict.
The cops began stopping addicts on the street and examining arms for needle marks. If they found marks, they pressured the addict to sign a statement admitting his condition so he could be charged under the "drug addicts law." The addicts were promised a suspended sentence if they would plead guilty and get the new law started. Addicts ransacked their persons looking for places to shoot in outside the arm area. If the law could find no marks on a man they usually let him go. If they found marks they would hold him for seventy-two hours and try to make him sign a statement.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'"Hey, Judge," I called out. "I never got my card back."

"Don't worry," he said. "It's in my room - come on."

I was right behind him when he opened the door to his room, and I caught a glimpse of a naked woman dancing. As soon as the door opened, the woman lunged for the Judge's throat. She pushed him back outside and slammed the door in his face.

"Forget that credit card - we'll get some cash," the Judge said. "Let's go down to the Commercial Hotel. My friends are there, and they have plenty of money."

We stopped for a six-pack on the way. The Judge went into a sleazy liquor store that turned out to be a front for kinky marital aids. I offered him money for the beer, but he grabbed my whole wallet.

Ten minutes later, the Judge came out with $400 worth of booze and a bagful of triple-X-rated movies. "My buddies will like this stuff," he said. "And don't worry about the money. I told you I'm good for it. These guys carry serious cash."'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Results

Compared to Dauphin, the mean arrest rate for all marijuana-related crimes in Philadelphia declined by 19.9 per 100,000 residents (34.9% reduction), 17.1 per 100,000 residents (43.1% reduction) for possession, and 2.8 per 100,000 resident (15.9% reduction) for sales/manufacturing. Arrest rates also differed by demographic characteristics post-decriminalization. Notably, African Americans had a greater absolute/relative reduction in possession-based arrests than Whites. However, relative reductions for sales/manufacturing-based arrests was nearly 3 times lower for African Americans. Males had greater absolute/relative reduction for possession-based arrests, but lower relative reduction for sales/manufacturing-based arrests compared to females. There were no substantial absolute differences by age; however, youths (vs. adults) experienced higher relative reduction in arrest rates.'
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871620302234

'The Court of Appeal today said there was no evidence from the authorities to prove that marijuana has medicinal properties to treat patients with cancer.

In the written judgement against a “medical marijuana distributor”, Muhammad Lukman bin Mohamad, who was sentenced to death, the court said manufacturing marijuana and its related substances are subject to the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA).

"There is no supportive evidence from any medical bodies or the health ministry to confirm his contention that the drug possesses medicinal properties and is, therefore, beneficial to the public,” said Court of Appeal judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof'
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/05/22/no-evidence-marijuana-can-help-cancer-patients-says-appeals-court/

'The doctor asked a few questions and looked at my arms. Another doctor with a long nose and hairy arms walked up to put in his two cents.
"After all, doctor," he said to his colleague, "there is the moral question. This man should have thought of all this before he started using narcotics."
"Yes, there is the moral question, but there is also a physical question. This man is sick." He turned to a nurse and ordered half a grain of morphine.
As the wagon jolted along on the way back to the precinct, I felt the morphine spread through all my cells. My stomach moved and rumbled. A shot when you are very sick always starts the stomach moving. Normal strength came back to all my muscles. I was hungry and sleepy.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, police made 663,367 arrests for marijuana-related violations in 2018. That is more than 21 percent higher than the total number of persons arrested for the commission of violent crimes (521,103). Of those arrested for cannabis-related activities, some 90 percent (608,776) were arrested for marijuana possession offenses only.

"Police across America make a marijuana-related arrest every 48 seconds," NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said. "At a time when the overwhelming majority of Americans want cannabis to be legal and regulated, it is an outrage that many police departments across the country continue to waste tax dollars and limited law enforcement resources on arresting otherwise law-abiding citizens for simple marijuana possession."'
https://norml.org/news/2019/10/03/fbi-marijuana-arrests-rise-for-third-year-in-a-row-outpace-arrests-for-all-violent-crimes

'Mr. Henry cringed and whimpered. Then he reached out to accept the Card, the thing that would set him free...The Judge was still groping around for it in the lining of his raincoat. "What the fuck?" he muttered. "This thing has too many pockets! I can feel it but I can't find the slit!"

Mr. Henry seemed to believe him, and so did I, for a minute...Why not? He was a Judge with a platinum credit card - a very high roller. You don't find many Judges, these days, who can handle a full case-load in the morning and run wild like a goat in the afternoon. That is a very hard dollar, and very few can handle it...but the Judge was a Special Case.

Suddenly he screamed and fell sideways, ripping and clawing at the lining of his raincoat. "Oh Jesus!" he wailed. "I've lost my wallet! It's gone. I left it out there in the Limo, when we hit the fucking sheep."
"So what?" I said. "We don't need it for this. I have many plastic cards."

He smiled and seemed to relax. "How many?" he said. "We might need more than one."

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

The story is the same globally..minorities, indigenous people, tribals and the poor are the primary targets of marijuana policing...

'Authors wrote, "In every single state, Black people were more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some states, Black people were up to six, eight, or almost ten times more likely to be arrested. In 31 states, racial disparities were actually larger in 2018 than they were in 2010."

In two states, Montana and Kentucky, African Americans were arrested for marijuana possession violations at more than nine times the rate of Caucasians – the highest disparity in the country. Colorado and Alaska, which legalized adult-use marijuana sales in 2012 and 2014 respectively, possessed the lowest disparity in marijuana possession arrest rates'
https://norml.org/news/2020/04/23/aclu-report-racial-disparities-persist-in-marijuana-possession-arrests

'According to a recap of the case’s closing arguments in the Pioneer Press, “Had it not been for Castile’s decision to ‘get stoned’ on marijuana before operating a vehicle while armed with a gun, and further his decision to ‘ignore’ Yanez’s commands not to reach for his firearm, ‘none of this would have happened, [defense attorney Earl] Gray told jurors.”

Yanez was ultimately acquitted.'
https://www.twincities.com/2017/06/21/philando-castile-yanez-smell-of-marijuana-made-him-fear-for-his-life-jeronimo/

'Mr. Henry sagged. "Please, Judge," he said. "Don't do this to me. All I need is your card. Just let me run an imprint. That's all." He moaned and stared more or less at the Judge, but I could see that his eyes were not focused..."They're going to fire me," he whispered. "They want to put me in jail."

"Nonsense!" the Judge snapped. "I would never let that happen. You can always plead." He reached out and gently gripped Mr. Henry's wrist. "Believe me, Bro," he hissed. "You have nothing to worry about. You are cool. They will never lock you up! They will Never take you away! Not out of my courtroom!"

"Thank you," Mr. Henry replied. "But all I need is your card and your signature. That's the problem: I forgot to run it when you checked in."

"So what?" the Judge barked. "I'm good for it. How much do you need?"

"About twenty-two thousand dollars," said Mr. Henry. "Probably twenty-three thousand dollars by now. You've had those suites for nineteen days with total room service."

"What?" the Judge yelled. "You thieving bastards! I'll have you crucified by American Express. You are finished in this business. You will never work again! Not anywhere in the world!" Then he whipped Mr. Henry across the front of his face so fast that I barely saw it. "Stop crying!" he said. "Get a grip on yourself! This is embarrassing!"'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

The American strategy of the 60s is now global strategy to suppress dissent. Today, include Covid (pharma drug abuse wearing a virus mask) as a new strategy to disrupt opposition......was it Trump's advisers who came up with the new idea or Xi's or Modi's or Putin's? Heroin can no longer be associated with blacks because everyone now knows how much the whites like the white powder...Marijuana can still be associated with whichever group you are opposed to - blacks, hippies, anti-war activists, minorities, students...hence another reason to keep it illegal. Covid can also be associated with anybody anywhere globally...what a beauty...the public scream "more testing, more testing"...

'"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt these communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news."

"Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did," he concluded, according to Baum.'
https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/top-nixon-adviser-reveals-the-racist-reason-he-started-the-war-on-drugs-decades-ago/articleshow/70473035.cms

'When I jumped bail and left the States, the heat on junk already looked like something new and special. Initial symptoms of nationwide hysteria were clear. Louisiana passed a law making it a crime to be a drug addict. Since no place or time is specified and the term "addict" is not clearly defined, no proof is necessary or even relevant under a law so formulated. No proof, and consequently, no trial. This is police-state legislation penalizing a state of being. Other states were emulating Louisiana. I saw my chance of escaping conviction dwindle daily as the anti-junk feeling mounted to a paranoid obsession, like anti-Semitism under the Nazis. So I decided to jump bail and live permanently outside the United States.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/hyderabad/200-kg-cannabis-seized-in-aps-krishna-district-2-arrested/videoshow/71562085.cms

'Jesus, I thought. Who are these people?

Who indeed? They seemed not to notice me. The two women fighting in the back seat were hookers. No doubt about that. I had seen them in my headlights as they struggled in the wreckage of the Cadillac, which had killed about sixty sheep. They were desperate with Fear and Confusion, crawling wildly across the sheep...One was a tall black girl in a white minidress...and now she was screaming at the other one, a young blond white woman. They were both drunk. Sounds of a struggle came from the backseat. "Get your hands off me, Bitch!" Then a voice cried out: "Help me, Judge! Help! She's killing me!"

What? I thought. Judge? Then she said it again, and a horrible chill went through me...Judge? No. That would be over the line. Unacceptable.

He lunged over the seat and whacked their heads together. "Shut up!" he screamed. "Where are your fucking manners?"

He went over the seat again. He grabbed one of them by the hair. "God damn you," he screamed. "Don't embarrass this man. He saved our lives. We owe him respect - not this goddamn squalling around like whores."

A shudder ran through me, but I gripped the wheel and stared straight ahead, ignoring this sudden horrible freak show in my car. I lit a cigarette, but I was not calm. Sounds of sobbing and the ripping of cloth came from the backseat. The man they called Judge had straightened himself out and was now resting easily in the front seat, letting out long breaths of air...The silence was terrifying. I quickly turned up the music. It was Los Lobos again - something about "One Time One Night in America," a profoundly morbid tune about Death and Disappointment.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/directorate-of-revenue-intelligence-nabs-seven-with-ganja-worth-of-rs-1-26-crore-in-madhya-pradesh/articleshow/71476255.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/hyderabad/visakhapatnam-40-kg-cannabis-seized-by-police-4-arrested/videoshow/71603314.cms

'Safe in Mexico, I watched the anti-junk campaign. I read about child addicts and Senators demanding the death penalty for dope peddlers. It didn't sound right to me. Who wants kids fr customers? They never have enough money and they always spill under questioning. Parents find out the kid is on junk and go to the law. I figured that either Stateside peddlers have gone simple-minded or the whole child-addict set-up is a propaganda routine to stir up anti-junk sentiment and pass some new laws.
Refugee hipsters trickled into Mexico. "Six months for needle marks under the vag-addict law in California." "Eight years for a dropper in Washington." "Two to ten for selling in New York."' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/shimla/himachal-pradesh-cops-trek-six-hours-to-raid-charas-makers-31-held/articleshow/71887429.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/ganja-worth-rs-1-crore-seized-from-kamrej/articleshow/71962005.cms

'We were able to laugh about it later, but it took a while to calm down. What the hell? It was only an accident. The Judge had murdered some range animals.

So what? Only a racist maniac would run sheep on the highway in a thunderstorm at this hour of the night. "Fuck those people!" he snapped, as I took off toward Elko with him and his two female companions tucked safely into my car, which had suffered major cosmetic damage but nothing serious. "They'll never get away with this Negligence!" he said. "We'll eat them alive in court. Take my word for it. We are about to become joint owners of a huge Nevada sheep ranch."

Wonderful, I thought. But meanwhile we were leaving the scene of a very conspicuous wreck that was sure to be noticed by morning, and the whole front of my car was gummed up with wool and sheep blood. There was no way I could leave it parked on the street in Elko, where I'd planned to stay for the night (maybe two or three nights, for that matter) to visit some old friends who were attending a kind of Appalachian Conference for sex-film distributors at the legendary Commercial Hotel..

Never mind that, I thought. Things have changed. I was suddenly a Victim of Tragedy - injured and on the run, far out in the middle of sheep country - one thousand miles from home with a car full of seriously criminal hitchhikers who were spattered with blood and cursing angrily at each other as we zoomed through the blinding monsoon.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/cops-arrested-5-persons-a-week-for-drugs-this-yr/articleshow/71999120.cms

'Now that the Narcotics Bureau had taken it upon itself to incarcerate every addict in the U.S., they needed more agents to do the work. Not only more agents, but a different type agent. Like during prohibition, when bums and hoodlums flooded the Internal Revenue Department, now addict-agents join the department for free junk and immunity. It is difficult to fake addiction. An addict knows an addict. The addict-agents manage to conceal their addiction, or perhaps, they are tolerated because they get results. An agent who has to connect or go sick will bring a special zeal to his work.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/up-man-nigerian-held-for-possessing-drugs-worth-rs-3l/articleshow/72030061.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/drugs-worth-rs-1081-crore-seized-in-the-last-19-months-rti/articleshow/72075414.cms

'Which brings us back to the story, for good or ill: not everybody who failed to understand the nature of the Social Contract has been terminally banished to the west coast. Some of them still live here - for now, at least - and every once in a while they cause problems that make headlines all over the world.

The strange and terrible case of young Roxanne Pulitzer is one of these, and that is the reason I came to Palm Beach, because I feel a bond with these people that runs deeper and stronger than mere money and orgies and drugs and witchcraft and lesbians and whiskey and red Chrysler convertibles.

Bestiality is the key to it, I think. I have always loved animals. They are different from us, and their brains are not complex, but their hearts are pure and there is usually no fat in their bodies and they will never call the police on you or take you in front of a judge or run off and hide with your money...

Animals don't hire lawyers...'

- A Dog Took My Place, July 21, 1983, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/peddlers-mostly-target-tourists-sp/articleshow/72079064.cms

'What about Roy?" I asked.
"Didn't you hear about him? He went wrong and hanged himself in the Tombs." It seemed the law had Roy on three counts, two larceny, one narcotics. They promised to drop all charges if Roy would set up Eddie Crump, an old-time pusher. Eddie only served people he knew well, and he knew Roy. The law double-crossed Roy after they got Eddie. They dropped the narcotics charge, but not the two larceny charges. So Roy was slated to follow Eddie up to Riker's Island, where Eddie was doing pen indefinite, which is maximum in City Prison. Three years, five months, and six days. Roy hanged himself in the Tombs, where he was awaiting transfer to Riker's.
Roy had always taken an intolerant and puritanical view of pigeons. "I don't see how a pigeon can live with himself," he said to me once.'
- Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/ganja-worth-rs-89l-seized-4-held/articleshow/72090316.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mp-govt-plans-to-promote-hemp-cultivation-bjp-opposes-move/articleshow/72182339.cms

'I came suddenly awake, weeping and jabbering and laughing, like a loon at the ghost on my TV set...Judge Clarence Thomas...Yes, I know him. But that was a long time ago. Many years, in fact, but I still remember him vividly...indeed, it has haunted me like a golem, day and night for many years.

It seemed normal enough, at the time, just another weird rainy night out there on the high desert...What the hell? We were younger then. Me and the Judge. And all the others, for that matter...It was a Different Time. People were Friendly. We trusted each other. Hell, you could afford to get mixed up with wild strangers in those days - without fearing for your life, or your eyes, or your organs, or all of your money, or even getting locked up in a prison forever. There was a sense of possibility. People were not so afraid, as they are now. You could run around naked without getting shot. You could check into a roadside motel on the outskirts of Ely or Winnemucca or Elko when you were lost in a midnight rainstorm - and nobody called the police on you, just to check out on your credit and your employment history and your medical records and how many parking tickets you owed in California.

There were Laws, but they were not feared. There were Rules, but they were not worshipped...Like Laws and Rules and Cops and Informants are feared and worshipped today.

Like I said: it was a different time. And I know the Judge will tell you the same thing, tonight, if he wanted to tell you the Truth, like I do.

The first time I actually met the Judge was a long time ago, for strange reasons, on a dark and rainy night in Elko, Nevada, when we both ended up in the same sleazy roadside Motel, for no good reason at all...Good God! What a night!

I almost forgot about it, until I saw him last week on TV...and then I saw it all over again. The horror! The horror! That night when the road washed out and we all got stuck there - somewhere near Elko in a place just off the highway, called Endicott's Motel - and we almost went really Crazy.'

- Fear and Loathing in Elko, January 23, 1992, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/56-youngsters-detained-in-dcb-raids-on-drug-pockets/articleshow/72191619.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/88-packets-of-cannabis-worth-over-rs-70-lakh-seized-in-tripura-1-held/videoshow/72223469.cms

Officially sponsored myth 1 -'"All drugs are more or less similar and all are habit forming." This myth lumps cocaine, marijuana and junk together. Marijuana is not at all habit forming and its action is almost the direct opposite from junk action. There is no habit to cocaine. You can develop a tremendous craving for cocaine, but you won't be sick if you can't get it. When you have a junk habit, on the other hand, you live in a state of chronic poisoning for which junk itself is the specific antidote. If you don't get the antidote at eight-hour intervals, and enough of it, you develop symptoms of allergic poisoning: yawning, sneezing, watering of the eyes and nose, cramps, vomiting and diarrhea, hot and cold flushes, loss of appetite, insomnia, restlessness and weakness, in some cases circulatory collapse and death from alergic shock....When I say "habit-forming drug" I mean a drug that alters the endocrinal balance of the body in such a way that the body requires that drug in order to function. So far as I know, junk is the only habit forming drug according to this definition.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/700kg-ganja-seized-near-muzaffarpur/articleshow/72265292.cms

Please note the picture of pharmaceutical synthetic drugs while what is being destroyed is a natural medicinal plant...
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/meerut/three-men-caught-with-7kg-drugs-in-anti-drug-drive-that-began-on-nov-1/articleshow/72266374.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/police-seize-10kg-cannabis-in-chhattisgarhs-kondagaon/videoshow/72367737.cms

'The police are no problem in Palm Beach. We own then and they know it. They work for us, like any other servant, and most of them seem to like it. When we run out of gas in this town, we call the police and they bring it, because it is boring to run out of gas.

The rich have special problems, and running out of gas on Ocean Boulevard on the way to an orgy at six o'clock on Sunday morning is one of them. Nobody needs that. Not with naked women and huge bags of cocaine in the car. The rich love music, and we don't want it interrupted.

A state trooper was recently arrested in Miami for trying to fuck a drunk woman on the highway, in exchange for dropping all charges. But that would not happen in Palm Beach. Drunk women roam free in this town, and they cause a lot of trouble - but one thing they don't have to worry about, thank God, is the menace of getting pulled over and getting fondled by armed white trash wearing uniforms. We don't pay these people much, but we pay them every week, and if they occasionally forget who really pays their salaries, we have ways of reminding them.

The whole west coast of Florida is full of people who get fired from responsible jobs in Palm Beach, if only because they failed to understand the nature of the Social Contract.'

- A Dog Took My Place, July 21, 1983, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/break-the-ganja-nexus-sp-instructs-officials/articleshow/72374351.cms

Officially sponsored myth 2 - '"A drug habit is formed instantly, on first use, or at most, after three or four shots." From this notion derive the stories of people becoming addicts after using a few "headache pills" given them by the Sympathetic Stranger. Actually, a non-user would have to take a shot every day for at least a month to get any kind of habit. The Stranger would go broke handing out samples. But a cured addict, even if he has not used it for years, can get a new habit in a few days. He is allergic to junk.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/2-nepalese-women-held-with-4-kg-cannabis/articleshow/74124471.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/agra-woman-in-rajdhani-held-for-smuggling-20-kg-of-cannabis/articleshow/74328809.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/bhopal-minor-made-drug-addict-and-raped/articleshow/73075813.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vijayawada/enforcement-wing-keen-on-rooting-out-cannabis-trade-engg-students-addicted/articleshow/74601270.cms

Officially sponsored myth 6 - '"Addicts want to get others on the stuff." This silly idea seems to be universal. Every time I take a fall the law says to my wife: "It's a wonder he didn't get you on the junk." Why in hell should I? I have enough trouble keeping up my own habit. Of course, a peddling addict wants to get other people on the stuff so he will have more customers.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/cannabis-cultivation-busted-in-botad-farm-owner-arrested/articleshow/72986675.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/indian-super-league/top-stories/chennaiyin-fc-official-held-for-carrying-cannabis-at-isl-match/articleshow/74654700.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/mandrax-cannabis-cocktail-worries-cops/articleshow/71768388.cms

'In the end it was basically a cocaine trial, which it had looked to be from the start. There was no real money at stake: Peter Pulitzer ended up paying more money to lawyers, accountants, "expert witnesses," and other trial-related bozos than Roxanne would have happily settled for if the case had never gone to court in the first place. A few of the reporters covering the trial sat around a gray Formica table in the Alibi Lounge during the lunch breaks and figured out that the trial had cost Pulitzer about a half-million dollars in real money and perhaps a million more down the line, for no good reason at all. Here was a man who normally earned $700,000 a year just by answering his phone a few hours a day and paying a secretary to open his mail - something like $60,000 a month just to mind his own store, as it were - who somehow got himself whopped into such a public frenzy that he didn't even have a bed to sleep in except on his boat for at least a year, and he was spending his time raving crazily at his own lawyers at $150 an hour instead of taking care of his business, which was naturally going to pieces, because all the people who worked for him, from his accountants and psychiatrists all the way down to his gardeners and deckhands, were going made from fear and confusion and constant legal harassment by vicious lawyers and always worried about saying something by accident that might get them either fired or locked up for perjury, and in the midst of all that he let one of his hired dingbats come into court with a financial statement so careless and flagrant that the simple fact of his filing it would have been cause for public outrage almost anywhere else in America except in Palm Beach County. There are a lot of people in this country who spend $1 million a year, and some of them pay no income tax at all. Nelson Rockefeller was one of them, for at least one year in the late Sixties or early Seventies, and there were to other years around that time when he paid less than I did...'

- A Dog Took My Place, July 21, 1983, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-crime-branch-arrests-notorious-drug-dealer-karan-khanna/articleshow/70244892.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/hc-junks-plea-to-legalise-cannabis/articleshow/70402875.cms

Officially sponsored myth 7 - '"There is a clear line between addict and peddler. The authorities pity the addict and are out only to get the peddler."
I have never seen an addict who did not sell, or a street peddler who did not use. There is no line at all. The authorities make no distinction, and the penalty for selling and possession are about the same.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/nihangs-cut-off-hand-of-policeman-after-scuffle-in-vegetable-market/articleshow/75104243.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/five-held-with-narcotics-in-separate-raids/articleshow/74165677.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/man-in-possession-of-cannabis-worth-8l-held/articleshow/73815916.cms

'"Ten pounds," she said. "That's how much I would have to take off." We were talking about the possibility of her doing a nude spread for one of the men's magazines, something on the order of a Rita Jenrette appearance in Playboy, with a little less leg. Dark humor, and it was out of the question, of course, until the trial was over. What would that horny old bastard of a judge say if she suddenly turned up in a naked centerfold in some skin magazine on sale in the courthouse newstand?

What indeed? There is much in the evidence to suggest, in fact, that the judge would not even have blinked. He had seen all he needed to see of Roxanne Pulitzer at that point, and a handful of naked pictures wasn't going to make much of a difference either way. She had already made her personal impression on the court, and it was not one that she and her lawyers had hoped for.

The language of Harper's final judgement in the now infamous Palm Beach divorce case of Pulitzer v. Pulitzer left little doubt that he had taken one long look at Roxanne and concluded that she was a raging slut, a homosexual adultress so addicted to drugs and drink as to pose a direct threat to the welfare of her own children, who were removed at once from her custody.

The decision stripped Roxanne Pulitzer naked in a way that no Playboy or Penthouse photographer would want to put on film. The message was clear: let this be a lesson for all gold diggers.'

- A Dog Took My Place, July 21, 1983, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/mp-dri-seizes-cannabis-worth-rs-3-1-cr-in-chhattisgarh/articleshow/74212523.cms

Officially sponsored myth 8 - '"Peddlers try to get high school children on junk, or marijuana. A recent magazine article depicts peddlers slipping laudanum into the Coca-Cola of teenagers."
This is utterly ridiculous. No peddler wants kids for customers. They never have enough money, they talk too much and they cannot stand up under police questioning. The best customers are the old-timers. They know all the angles and generally have some source of revenue.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/report-flags-pot-cultivation-its-impact-on-kids/articleshow/74358523.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/ncb-arrests-six-with-over-380kg-ganja-in-delhi/articleshow/74426471.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/in-a-1st-government-oks-cannabis-research-in-up-uttarakhand/articleshow/71040612.cms

'In a nut, Herbert "Pete" Pulitzer rented the Best Piece of Ass in Palm Beach for six and a half years at a net cost of about $1,000 a month in alimony, and when it was over, he got the house and the children, along with everything else.

Roxanne was awarded about 10 percent of this, to be paid out over two years or until she remarries. The judge gave her two weeks to get out of the house where she'd been living for seven years, and Herbert took physical custody of the twins immediately.

Judge Harper had run the whole show with an evil glint in his eye, enduring a shitrain of perjury from both sides and day after day of relentless haggling and posturing by teams of Palm Beach lawyers and a circus parade of rich fools, dumb hustlers, and dope fiends who were all getting famous just for being in his courtroom - where smoking was not allowed, except for the judge, who smoked constantly.

That should have been the tip off, but we missed it. The judge had made up his mind early on, and the rest was all show business, a blizzard of strange publicity that amused half the English-speaking world for a few months and in the end meant nothing at all.'

- A Dog Took My Place, July 21, 1983, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/delhi-mumbai-among-worlds-biggest-consumers-of-weed-study/photostory/71148455.cms

Please note the picture of a pharmaceutical synthetic drug while what is being destroyed is a natural medicinal plant...
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/1-held-with-cannabis-worth-rs6-10-lakh/articleshow/74583687.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/shimla/cannabis-crop-destroyed-on-6175-bighas-in-kullu/articleshow/71250688.cms

Officially sponsored myth 10 - '"There is a connection between addiction and crime. Marijuana, especially, is supposed to cause people to commit crimes."
There is no direct connection between crime and drug intoxication that I have ever seen or heard of. The people who talk about drugs causing crime never seem to follow through and take into account the vast number of crimes committed by drunks. Alcohol is a crime-producing drug that outclasses all others. Of course, a lot of junkies steal to keep up their habit. It isn't easy to get up $10-15 per day, which is what the addict has to pay out for a day's supply of junk in the US.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/farmer-growing-cannabis-in-krs-backwaters-held/articleshow/74601643.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/studies-on-cannabis-being-healthy-may-be-more-of-social-media-propaganda/photostory/72936156.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/hc-relief-to-law-student-in-cannabis-on-campus-case/articleshow/75071763.cms

'I shrugged and went back to fondling the goods on the shirt rack. The concept of victimless crime is well understood in Palm Beach, and the logic is hard to argue. No harm, no crime. If a pretty girl from Atlanta can sleep late in the morning, have lunch at the Everglades Club, and make $50,000 tax free a year fucking dogs in rich people's bedrooms on weekends, why should she fear the police? What is the difference between bestiality and common sodomy? Is it better to fuck swine at the Holiday Inn or donkeys in a penthouse on Tarpon Island? And what's wrong with incest, anyway? It takes two hundred years of careful inbreeding to produce a line of beautiful daughters, and only a madman would turn them out to strangers. Feed them cocaine and teach them to love their stepsisters - or even their fathers and brothers, if that's what it takes to keep ugliness out of the family.

Look at the servants. They have warts and fat ankles. Their children are too dumb to learn and too mean to live, and there is no sense of family continuity. There is a lot more to breeding than teaching children good table manners, and a lot more to being rich than just spending money on wearing alligator shirts. The real difference between the Rich and the Others is not just that "they have more money," as Hemingway noted, but that money is not a governing factor in their lives, as it is with people who work for a living. The truly rich are born free, like dolphins, they will never feel hungry, and their credit will never be questioned. Their daughters will be debutantes and their sons will go to prep schools, and if their cousins are junkies and lesbians, so what? The breeding of humans is still an imperfect art, even with all the advantages.

Where are the Aryan thoroughbreds that Hitler bred so carefully in the early days of the Third Reich? Where are the best and brightest children of Bel Air and Palm Beach?

These are awkward questions in some circles, and the answers can be disturbing. Why do the finest flowers of the American Dream so often turn up in asylums, divorce courts, and other grey hallways of the living doomed? What is it about being born free and rich beyond worry that makes people crazy?'

- A Dog Took My Place, July 21, 1983, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/chennai-customs-officials-seize-1-7kg-of-cannabis-sent-from-us/articleshow/75377661.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/chennai/cannabis-worth-rs-9-lakh-seized-from-sleeping-bags-in-chennai/videoshow/75382831.cms

'Any anti-narcotic legislation is considered a good thing by the public. For this reason the field of narcotic legislation has become a testing ground for a type of law new to this country but familiar in police states. In the states of Louisiana and Kentucky it is a crime punishable by imprisonment (La., two to five years; Ky., one year) to be an addict. This is police-state legislation penalizing a condition or state of being. In the Louisiana law, no time or place is specified, nor is the term "addict" defined.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/woman-arrested-for-possession-of-arrack-cannabis-gets-bail/articleshow/75334994.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/21kg-of-cannabis-rs-20-lakh-in-cash-seized-from-vaniyambadi-house/articleshow/75832354.cms

'Except that Richard Nixon got rich from his crimes, and Oscar Acosta got killed. The wheels of Justice grind small and queer in this life, and if they seem occasionally unbalanced or even stupid and capricious in their grinding, my own midnight guess is that they were probably fixed from the start. And any judge who can safely slide into full-pension retirement without having to look back on anything worse in the way of criminal vengeance than a few scorched lawns is a man who got off easy.

There is, after all, considerable work and risk - and even a certain art - to the torching of a half-acre lawn without also destroying the house or exploding every car in the driveway. It would be a lot easier to simply make a funeral pyre of the whole place and leave the lawn for dilettantes.

That's how Oscar viewed arson - anything worth doing is worth doing well - and I'd watched enough of his fiery work to know he was right. If he was a King-Hell Pyromaniac, he was also a gut politician and occasionally a very skilled artist in the style and tone of his teachings.'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/up-3-held-in-noida-with-105-kg-cannabis-sourced-from-odisha/articleshow/73089542.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/man-held-at-new-delhi-railway-station-with-over-90-kg-cannabis/articleshow/73215604.cms

'Federal and state narcotic authorities put every obstacle in the way of addicts who want a cure. No reduction cures are given in city or state institutions. Two hundred dollars is minimum for a ten-day cure in a private sanatorium. Hospitals are forbidden by law to give addicts any junk. I knew an addict who needed an operation for stomach cancer. The hospital could not give him any junk. Sudden withdrawal of junk plus the operation would likely have killed him so he decided to skip the operation.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

This article says that according to the NDPS Act, the leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant are legal, the flowers and nectar/resin is illegal. How absurd is that? One analogy that comes to mind is that a woman as a child is legal, but she becomes illegal once she reaches puberty. Her eggs which she produces once she reaches puberty however are legal while she is not legal anymore...??

'It’s only on January 31 that India’s first medical cannabis clinic opened in Bengaluru. Launched by a Bhubaneswar-based startup, Hempcann Solutions, the clinic has the license to prescribe CBD and THC medication by an ayurvedic doctor. “Patients can then order these medicines online from our website. We are not stocking them in the clinic as of now,” a spokesperson of the company said.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-this-patient-has-pot-in-his-pav-bhaji/articleshow/74240739.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/two-held-for-growing-cannabis/articleshow/72961201.cms

'In an era when the vice president of the United States held court in Washington to accept payoffs from his former vassals in the form of big wads of $100 bills - and when the president himself routinely held secretly tape-recorded meetings with his top aides in the Oval Office to plot illegal wiretaps, political burglaries, and other gross felonies in the name of a "silent majority," it was hard to feel anything more than a flush of high, nervous humor at the sight of some acid-bent lawyer setting fire to a judge's front yard at four o'clock in the morning.

I might even be tempted to justify a thing like that - but of course it would be wrong...And my attorney was Not a Crook, and, to the best of my knowledge, his mother was just as much a "saint" as Richard Nixon's.

Indeed. And now - as an almost perfect tribute to every icepick ever wielded in the name of Justice - I want to enter into the permanent record, at this point, as a strange but unchallenged fact that Oscar Z. Acosta was never disbarred from the practice of law in the state of California - and ex-president Richard Nixon was.

There are some things, apparently, that not even lawyers will tolerate, and in a naturally unjust world where the image of "Justice" is honored for being blind, even a blind pig will find an acorn once in a while.

Or maybe not - because Oscar was eventually hurt far worse by professional ostracism than Nixon was hurt by disbarment. The Great Banshee screamed for both of them at almost the same time - for entirely different reasons, but with ominously similar results.'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/russian-held-for-growing-cannabis-in-goa/articleshow/74427647.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/drug-ring-busted-in-faizabad-cantonment-soldiers-buying-cannabis-under-lens/articleshow/73003241.cms

'Lexington and Forth Worth are the only two public institutions in the U.S. that give reduction cures. Both are usually full. According to bureaucratic regulations, anyone seeking admission to either hospital must send an application (in triplicate, of course) to Washington and wait several months to be admitted. Then he must stay at least six months. In Louisiana a man could be arrested as a drug addict if he applied for the cure.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Judge Thomas Anderle ruled on May 15 that the sheriff’s office had to return the seized property because “the record here shows that a California licensed cannabis operator committed no crime, much less intentionally committed a crime.”

After Santa Barbara sheriff’s deputies raided Arroyo Verde Farms in January and seized the oil and cash, the sheriff’s office tried to persuade Judge Anderle that the assets should be forfeited to them because they were connected to an ongoing criminal investigation into the farm.

Anderle disagreed and ordered the oil released to its owners.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/judge-orders-santa-barbara-county-sheriff-to-return-seized-marijuana-oil-cash/

'Still the numbers are undeniable when it comes to the racially disproportionate arrests.Of those approximate 11,700 arrested for a cannabis charge of some kind, around 10,500 were black. Of those 11,700 arrestees, 709 were white. Of those arrests, 5,987 were for cannabis possession or public consumption arrests were black while 451 were white.

The release of this data is useful for partially understanding where the district falls when it comes to cannabis arrests nationwide. On April 20 of this year, The American Civil Liberties Union released a massive report on racial disparities when it comes to who is arrested for cannabis possession. The report, “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform,” looked at all 50 states’ cannabis possession arrests between 2010-2018 and revealed a national average in which a black person was 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than a white person.'
https://www.outlawreport.com/blog/washington-dc-cannabis-arrests-race

'I was with him one night in L.A. when he decided that the only way to meaningfully communicate with a judge who'd been leaning on him in the courtroom was to drive out to the man's home in Santa Monica and set his whole front lawn on fire after soaking it down with ten gallons of gasoline...and then, instead of fleeing into the night like some common lunatic vandal, Oscar stood in the street and howled through the flames at a face peering out from a shattered upstairs window, delivering one of his Billy Sunday-style sermons on morality and justice.

The nut of his flame-enraged text, as I recall, was this mind-bending chunk of eternal damnation from Luke 11:46 - a direct quote from Jesus Christ:

"And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers, for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers."

The Lawn of Fire was Oscar's answer to the Ku Klux Klan's burning cross, and he derived the same demonic satisfaction from doing it.

'Did you see his face?" he shouted as we screeched off at top speed toward Hollywood. "That corrupt old fool! I know he recognized me, but he'll never admit it! No officer of the court would set a judge's front yard on fire - the whole system would break down if lawyers would get away with crazy shit like this."

I agreed. It is not my wont to disagree with even a criminally insane attorney on questions of basic law. But in truth it never occurred to me that Oscar was either insane or a criminal, given the generally fascist, Nixonian context of those angry years.'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'But this bill fails to fully address issues like police militarization and the use of quick-knock warrants, policing practices that are disproportionately used against people of color in drug investigations. While the bill places restrictions on programs that facilitate the transfer of military equipment to local police departments, it does not outright put an end to such programs. And while this bill prohibits no-knock warrants for drug cases, it does not outlaw quick-knock warrants which can be just as deadly. Moreover, the bill continues to fund police departments and the war on drugs, rather than shift resources to education, housing, harm reduction services, and other infrastructure that strengthens communities and increases public safety. '
https://www.drugpolicy.org/press-release/2020/06/dpa-urges-congress-strengthen-police-reform-bill

'The cops who fatally shot Breonna Taylor, the black EMT who was killed in a no-knock raid in her home in Louisville, Ky., were looking for drugs. The NYPD accused Eric Garner, a black man strangled to death by a policeman in 2014, of having marijuana to justify the extrajudicial killing. After the killing of Sylville Smith by the Milwaukee Police Department, which sparked the 2016 Sherman Park riots, the Department of Justice made a point of mentioning that drugs, including “suspected marijuana,” were found in his car.'
https://shepherdexpress.com/hemp/cannabis/the-war-on-drugs-is-a-war-on-black-americans/

'What finally cracked the Brown Buffalo was the bridge he refused to build between the self-serving elegance of his instincts and the self-destructive carnival of his reality. He was a Baptist missionary at a leper colony in Panama before he was a lawyer in Oakland and East L.A., or a radical-chic author in San Francisco and Beverly Hills...But whenever things got tense or when he had to work close to the bone, he was always a missionary. And that was the governing instinct that ruined him for anything else. He was a preacher in the courtroom, a preacher at the typewriter, and a flat-out awesome preacher when he cranked his head full of acid.

That's LSD-25, folks - a certified "dangerous drug" that is no longer fashionable, due to reasons of extreme and unnatural heaviness. The CIA was right about acid: some of their best and brightest operatives went over the side in the name of Top Secret research on a drug that was finally abandoned as a far too dangerous and unimaginable thing to be used as a public weapon. Not even the sacred minnock of "national security" could justify the hazards of playing with a thing too small to be seen and too big to control. The professional spook mentality was more comfortable with things like nerve gas and neutron bombs.

But not the Brown Buffalo - he ate LSD-25 with a relish that bordered on worship. When his brain felt bogged down in the mundane nuts-and-bolts horrors of the Law or some dead-end manuscript, he would simply take off in his hot rod Mustang for a week on the road and a few days of what he called "walking with the King." Oscar used acid like other lawyers use Valium - a distinctly unprofessional and occasionally nasty habit that shocked even the most liberal of his colleagues and frequently panicked his clients.'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'“People in the high concentration group were much less compromised than we thought they were going to be,” said co-author Kent Hutchison, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder who also studies alcohol addiction. “If we gave people that high a concentration of alcohol it would have been a different story.”

One reason that higher THC blood levels didn’t translate to higher highs could be that the body’s finite number of cannabinoid receptors, which THC molecules bind to, become saturated regardless of whether higher- or lower-THC products are used. Any excess THC in consumers’ blood plasma, in that case, would be metabolized and not contribute to further impairment'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/do-highly-potent-marijuana-concentrates-get-users-more-high-not-exactly-study-finds/

So governments, the pharmaceutical industry and the medical industry cut off the supply of natural intoxicants like cannabis, opium, coca and palm toddy. They create refined and much more potent extracts from these natural materials. They control the supply and stock of these chemical drugs. They use the doctor-pharmacist route to administer these drugs to the public legally and the peddler-narcotics agent-rehabilitation center route to administer these drugs illegally. The individual is not allowed to grow or procure these intoxicants from nature. He must rely on the system to get his intoxicant and pay the maximum price for it. To realize more and more profits the system creates more and more potent chemical intoxicants moving further and further away from natural territory into synthetic chemically constructed territory. As the toxicity and addictive power of these drugs increase, the public gets addicted to an even greater extent and pays even more for any available intoxicant. Profits rise and fuel the growth of the system tremendously. The individual pays for the system, pays for the synthetic drug, pays for the treatment which is further synthetic drugs and eventually pays with his life for the synthetic intoxicant. Legalize all natural drugs - opium, coca, cannabis and toddy to name a few. Most importantly, legalize cannabis, the universal drug of the world...

'Dubiel and another officer approached the teens hanging outside a Parker Ave. home on June 4, claiming they got a call about someone smoking marijuana, according to ABC 6 News.

“Officer walked up talking about ‘we have a call for marijuana,’ but nobody had marijuana on them,'” James Horn, 16, told the television station.

Shaky cellphone video posted on Woodlynne.net shows Dubiel pulling out the pepper spray and firing it directly at one of the teens, who is sitting on the brick railing of the porch. No one appeared to have approached the cop before he fired the chemical.

“So this is what y’all do now to innocent people?” a woman is heard saying in the video.'
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-woodlynne-pepper-spray-police-20200611-igpfc7lfebelzg7krizffavrlq-story.html

'One of his "associates" was usually a well-dressed, well-mannered young Chicano whose only job was to carry at least 100 milligrams of pure speed at all times and feed Oscar whenever he signaled; the other was not so well dressed or mannered; his job was to stay alert and be one step ahead of the bailiffs when they made a move on Oscar - at which point he would reach out and grab any pills, powders, shivs, or other evidence he was handed, then sprint like a human bazooka for the neatest exit.

This strategy worked so well for almost two years that Oscar and his people finally got careless. They had survived another long day in court - on felony arson charges, this time, for trying to burn down the Biltmore Hotel during a speech by then governor Ronald Reagan - and they were driving back home to Oscar's headquarters pad in the barrio (and maybe running sixty or sixty-five in a fifty m.p.h. speed zone, Oscar later admitted) when they were suddenly jammed to a stop by two LAPD cruisers. "They acted like we'd just robbed a bank," said Frank, looking straight down the barrel of a shotgun. "They made us all lie face down on the street and then they searched the car, and - "

Yes. That's when they found the drugs: twenty or thirty white pills that the police quickly identified as "illegal amphetamine tablets, belonging to attorney Oscar Acosta.

The spic for all seasons was jailed once again, this time on what the press called a "high-speed drug bust." Oscar called a press conference in jail and accused the cops of "planting" him - but not even his bodyguards believed him until long after the attendant publicity had done them all so much damage that the whole "Brown Power Movement" was effectively stalled, splintered, and discredited by the time all charges, both arson and drugs, were either dropped or reduced to small print on the back of the blotter.'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'“Cannabis has historically—and continues to be to this day—a tool weaponized against communities of color,” Dr. Rachel Knox, an MCBA board member and chair of the Oregon Cannabis Commission, told Marijuana Moment. “We can go back to the 1970s, to the Controlled Substances Act and to the beginning of the war on drugs, where we saw marijuana being used, being wielded, against communities of color to criminalize them for simple things like possession.”

“It’s really, in my opinion, paradoxical that we are now using the economy of cannabis to fund the very institution that continues to terrorize communities of color and continues to disproportionately police our communities for the enforcement of marijuana laws,” she said.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/portland-lawmakers-vote-to-take-marijuana-tax-money-away-from-police-department/

'The abolition of governments will merely rid us of an unnecessary organization for the commission of violence and for its justification.

'But there will then be no laws, no property, no courts of justice, no police, no popular education', say people who intentionally confuse the use of violence by governments with various social activities.

The abolition of the organization of government formed to do violence does not at all involve the abolition of what is reasonable and good, and therefore not based on violence, in laws or law courts, or in property, or in police regulations, or in financial arrangements, or in popular education. On the contrary, the absence of the brutal power of government which is needed only for its own support, will facilitate a more just and reasonable social organization, needing no violence. Courts of justice, and public affairs, and popular education, will all exist to the extent to which they are really needed by the people, but in a form which will not involve the evils contained in the present form of government. Only that will be destroyed which was evil and hindered the free expression of the people's will.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Data collected by Kraska shows that municipal police and sheriffs’ departments used no-knock or quick-knock warrants about 1,500 times in the early 1980s, but that number rose to about 40,000 times per year by 2000, he said. In 2010, Kraska estimated 60,000-70,000 no-knock or quick-knock raids were conducted by local police annually. The majority of those raids were looking for marijuana, he added.

Currently, Florida and Oregon ban no-knock warrants. Thirteen states have laws explicitly permitting no-knock warrants, and the remaining states issue them based on a judge’s discretion. '
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-war-on-drugs-gave-rise-to-no-knock-warrants-breonna-taylors-death-could-end-them

'Yeah, and so much for the "paranoid Sixties." It's time to end this bent seance - or almost closing time, anyway - but before we get back to raw facts and rude lawyer's humor, I want to make sure that at least one record will show that I tried and totally failed, for at least five years, to convince my allegedly erstwhile Samoan attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, that there was no such thing as paranoia: at least not in that cultural and political war zone called "East L.A." in the late 1960s and especially not for an aggressively radical "Chicano Lawyer" who thought he could stay up all night, every night, eating acid and throwing "Molotov cocktails" with the same people he was going to have to represent in a downtown courtroom the next morning.

There were times - all too often, I felt - when Oscar would show up in front of the courthouse at nine in the morning with a stench of fresh gasoline on his hands and a green crust of charred soap flakes on the toes of his $300 snakeskin cowboy boots. He would pause outside the courtroom just long enough to give the TV press five minutes of crazed rhetoric for the evening news, then he would shepherd his equally crazed "clients" into the courtroom for their daily war-circus with the judge. When you get into bear-baiting on that level, paranoia is just another word for ignorance...They really are out to get you.

The odds on his being dragged off to jail for "contempt" were about fifty-fifty on any given day - which meant that he was always in danger of being seized and booked with a pocket full of "bennies" or "black beauties" at the property desk. After several narrow escapes, he decided it was necessary to work in the courtroom as part of a three-man "defense team."'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The Israeli police is expected to oppose a government-backed bill to fully legalize cannabis, senior officials told Haaretz, ahead of a Sunday ministerial meeting to discuss the proposed legislation.

Police officials have argued in discussions about the proposed move that it would lead to an uptick in drug abuse, encourage youth to use drugs and increase crime organizations' influence over the drug trade. However, the police’s stance is considered only as a professional recommendation and policy makers aren’t bound by it.'
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-police-warns-against-government-backed-reform-to-legalize-cannabis-1.8918341

'If only free men would not rely on what has no power and is never free, that is, external force, but would trust in what is always powerful and free, that is, the truth and its expression!

If only men would boldly and clearly express the truth already manifest to them (of the brotherhood of all nations and the crime of exclusive devotion to one's own) that defunct, false, public opinion on which rests the power of governments and all the evil they produce, would slough off by itself like a dead skin and reveal that new, living, public opinion which now only awaits the shedding of the old husk that has confined it, in order to announce its demands clearly and powerfully and establish new forms of existence in conformity with the conscience of mankind.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2020/06/15/amanpour-david-simon-police-reform.cnn

"I walk in the night rain until the dawn of the new day. I have devised the plan, straightened out the philosophy, and set up the organization. When I have the 1 million Brown Buffaloes on my side I will present the demands for a new nation to the U.S. Government and the United Nations...and then I'll split and write the book. I have no desire to be a politician. I don't want to lead anyone. I have no practical ego. I am not ambitious. I merely want to do what is right. Once in every century comes a man who is chosen to speak for his people. Moses, Mao, and Martin [Luther King Jr.] are examples. Who's to say that I am not such a man? In this day and age the man for all seasons needs many voices. Perhaps that is why the gods have sent me into Riverbank, Panama, San Francisco, Alpine, and Juarez. Perhaps that is why I have been taught so many trades. Who will deny that I am unique?" - Oscar Costa, The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo

Well...not me, old sport. Wherever you are and in whatever shape - dead or alive or even both, eh? That's one thing they can't take away from you...Which is lucky, I think, for the rest of us: because (and, yeah - let's face it, Oscar) you were not really light on your feet in this world, and you were too goddamn heavy for most of the boats you jumped into. One of my greatest regrets in life is that I was not able to introduce you to my old football buddy, Richard Nixon. The main thing he feared in his life - even worse than the Queers and Jews and Mutants - was people who might run amok; he called them "loose cannons on the deck," and he wanted them all put to sleep.

That's one graveyard we never even checked, Oscar, but why not? If your classic "doomed nigger" style of paranoia had any validity at all, you must understand that it was not just Richard Nixon who was out to get you - but all the people who thought like Nixon and all the judges and U.S. attorneys he appointed in those weird years. Were there any of Nixon's friends among all those superior court judges you subpoenaed and mocked and humiliated when you were trying to bust the grand jury selection system in L.A.? How many of those Brown Beret "bodyguards" [in the La Raza Movement] you called "brothers' were deep-cover cops or informants? I recall being seriously worried about that when we were working on that story about the killing of the Chicano journalist Ruben Salazar by an L.A. County sheriff's deputy. How many of those bomb-throwing, trigger-happy freaks who slept on mattresses in your apartment were talking to the sheriff on a chilli-hall pay phone every morning? Or maybe to the judges who kept jailing you for contempt of court, when they didn't have anything else?'

- Fear & Loathing in the Graveyard of the Weird: The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, December 15, 1977, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'In 2018, more than 660,000 U.S. arrests were made for cannabis-related charges, averaging once per 48 seconds.
Since California became the first state to legalize medical cannabis in 1996, nearly 17,000,000 people have been arrested on cannabis charges.
According to the ACLU, blacks in America are nearly 4x likelier than whites to be arrested for cannabis offenses, despite similar rates of use.
Among states reflecting the most racial disparities (e.g., Kentucky and Montana), blacks were nearly 10x times likelier to be arrested.
While legalization has fundamentally reduced overall U.S. drug arrests, it has not mitigated racial disparities in policing, as minorities continue to bear the brunt of cannabis-related policing'

https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/cannabis-injustice-system/

'In 2018, more than 26 million Americans reported their regular consumption of cannabis, marking a 74% increase among the population since 2009. The trend has been fueled by convergence in recognition of the therapeutic value for medical cannabis, greater understanding of cannabis’ comparative health effects relative to alcohol and other drugs, and erosion of the stigma associated with cannabis as more jurisdictions have decriminalized and legalized its use.

Despite the surging usage rates, prohibition enforcement continues apace. In 2018, someone in the U.S. was arrested on average every 48 seconds for a cannabis offense or more than 660,000 times that single year. While arrests rates have fallen from a peak of more than 870,000 in 2007, marijuana continues to make up the largest category of U.S. drug arrests, accounting for upwards of half (45%) of all drug-related charges. Meanwhile, since 1996, nearly 17 million people have been arrested on marijuana offences, a number equivalent to 5% of the overall U.S. population'
https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/racial-disparities-and-cannabis-legalization-in-american-policing/

'The final turn of the screw was another ugly example of crime and degradation in the legal profession, and this time Carter went right to the top. Nixon had just released his own, self-serving version of "the White House tapes," and Carter was shocked when he read the transcripts. "The Constitution charges us with a direct responsibility for determining what our government is and ought to be," he said. And then, after a long pause, he went on: "Well...I have read parts of the embarrassing transcripts, and I've seen the proud statement of a former attorney general who protected his boss, and now brags of the fact that he tiptoed through a minefield and came out...quote, clean, unquote." Another pause, and then: "You know, I can't imagine somebody like Thomas Jefferson tiptoeing through a minefield on the technicalities of the law, and then bragging about being clean afterward..."

Forty-five minutes later, on our way back to Atlanta in the governor's small plane, I told Carter I wanted a transcript of his speech.

"There is no transcript," he said.

I smiled, thinking he was putting me on. The speech had sounded like the product of five or six tortured drafts...But he showed me a page and a half of scrawled notes in his legal pad an said that was all he had.'

- Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '76: Third-Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous, June 3, 1976, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

The war on drugs is morphing into a war on unlicensed retailers now..these unlicensed retailers are most likely from the poorer and minority communities unable to pay the price and qualify for licensed retail. At some point of time, the cannabis plant needs to be recognized as just another plant, requiring as much regulation as, say, spinach. That is when we can say that the plant has been truly normalized. Otherwise, the same crimes against the same people are going to be enacted in a different garb, while the upper classes buy their posh cannabis at exorbitant prices from licensed cannabis shops run by celebrities..
https://mjbizdaily.com/los-angeles-illicit-cannabis-enforcement-suffers-setbacks/

'The power of the governments rests on public opinion and possessing power they can always support the sort of public opinion they require by their whole organization, officials, law courts, schools, the Church, and even the Press. Public opinion produces power , power produces public opinion; and it seems as if there were no escape from this position.

And that would really be the case if public opinion were something fixed and unchanging and if governments could always produce the public opinion they desired.

But fortunately that is not so. In the first place, public opinion is not something constant, unchanging and stagnant, but on the contrary is something continually changing and moving with the movement of mankind. And secondly, public opinion not only cannot be produced at will by governments, but is what produces governments and gives or deprives them of power.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

Stopping cannabis tax money going to the perpetrators of the war on cannabis is definitely essential...

'The budget approved Wednesday will eliminate three PPB specialty units, which many in the community say disproportionately target people of color. This means armed officers will be pulled from schools, Portland police will no longer be used as law enforcement on TriMet, and the Gun Violence Reduction Team will be disbanded. The city will also cut eight positions from the Special Emergency Reaction Team and stop cannabis tax money from going to the police bureau.'
https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-police-budget-15-million-defund-cannabis-council-vote/

'At first I wasn't sure I was hearing him right, and I looked over at Jimmy King. "What the hell did I just hear?" I asked.

King smiled and looked at Paul Kirk, who leaned across the table and whispered, "He said his top two advisers are Bob Dylan and Reinhold Niebuhr."

I nodded and got up to go outside for my tape recorder. I could tell by the rising anger in Carter's voice that we were in for an interesting ride...And by the time I got back, he was whipping on the crowd about judges who took bribes in return for reduced prison sentences, lawyers who deliberately cheated illiterate blacks, and cops who abused people's rights with something they called a "consent warrant."

"I had lunch this week with members of the Judicial Selection Committee, and they were talking about a 'consent search warrant,'" he said. "I didn't know what a consent search warrant was. They said, "Well, that's when two policemen go to a house. One of them goes to the front door and knocks on it, and the other one runs around to the back door and yells 'come in'""

The crowd got a laugh out of that one, but Carter was just warming up, and for the next twenty or thirty minutes, his voice was the only sound in the room. Kennedy was sitting just a few feet to Carter's left, listening carefully but never changing the thoughtful expression on his face as Carter railed and bitched about a system of criminal justice that allows the rich and the privileged to escape punishment for their crimes and sends poor people to prison because they can't afford to bribe the judge...'

- Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '76: Third-Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous, June 3, 1976, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The time for studies and commissions on police reform has long passed: this moment requires action. We cannot continue to make the mistakes of the past and pass meaningless feel-good measures that do nothing but seek to minimize the outrage of the moment—while Black, Latinx and Native American communities continue to lose their lives and suffer through the trauma of living in a police state. We must dramatically rethink the way we view public safety and health, and that requires a sizable shift in how we invest our resources - away from police and back into communities. We call on Congress to turn their attention to improving the Justice in Policing Act.”'
https://www.drugpolicy.org/press-release/2020/06/drug-policy-alliance-statement-tim-scott-senate-police-bill

'The Washington Post feature, entitled, “Marijuana really can be deadly, but not in the way you probably expect,” highlights numerous other incidences where suspected marijuana use was the key factor in police engagements that resulted in civilian murders.

Since Congress classified the cannabis plant as an illicit Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, well over 20 million Americans have been subject to arrest for violating marijuana laws, and untold millions more who have been harassed under the pretense that they may have been in violation of the law. Entire communities have lost generations of citizens to cyclical poverty and incarceration due to the collateral consequences of having a cannabis-related conviction on their record.

These consequences include the loss of access to higher education, the inability to qualify for government-subsidized housing, employment discrimination, the loss of child custody, homelessness, and more. In large part due to the modern War on Drugs, the United States’ prison population has skyrocketed by over 500 percent over the last 40 years, with nearly 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States at the beginning of 2019.'
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/502489-criminalization-that-never-should-have-been-cannabis

'The electorate feels a need to be cleansed, reassured, and revitalized. The underdogs of yesteryear have had their day, and they blew it. The radicals and reformers of the Sixties promised peace, but they turned out to be nothing but incompetent troublemakers. Their plans that had looked so fine on paper led to chaos and disaster when hack politicians tried to implement them. The promise of civil rights turned into the nightmare of busing. The call for law and order led straight to Watergate. And the long struggle between the Hawks and Doves caused violence in the streets and a military disaster in Vietnam. Nobody won, in the end, and when the dust finally settled, "extremists" at both ends of the political spectrum were thoroughly discredited. And by the time the 1976 presidential campaign got underway, the high ground was all in the middle of the road.

Jimmy Carter understands this, and he has tailored his campaign image to fit the new mood almost perfectly...But back in May of '74 when he flew up to Athens to make his "remarks" at the Law Day ceremonies, he was not as concerned with preserving his moderate image as he is now. He was thinking more about all the trouble he'd had with judges, lawyers, lobbyists, and other minions of the Georgia establishment while he was governor - and now, with only six more months in the office, he wanted to have a few words with these people.

There was not much anger in his voice when he started talking, but halfway through the speech it was too obvious for anybody in the room to ignore. But there was no way to cut him short, and he knew it. It was the anger in his voice that first caught my attention, I think, but what sent me out to the trunk to get my tape recorder instead of another drink was the spectacle of a southern politician telling a crowd of southern judges and lawyers that "I'm not qualified to talk to you about law, because in addition to being a peanut farmer, I'm an engineer and nuclear physicist, not a lawyer...But I read a lot and I listen a lot. One of the sources of my understanding about the proper application of criminal justice and the system of equities is from Reinhold Niebuhr. The other source of my understanding about what's right and wrong in this society is from a friend of mine, a poet named Bob Dylan. Listening to his records about 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' and 'Like a Rolling Stone' and 'The Times They Are A-Changin',' I've learned to appreciate the dynamism of change in a modern society.'

- Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '76: Third-Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous, June 3, 1976, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'For a very long time past the power of the governments over the peoples has not rested on force, as it did in the days when one people conquered another and held it in subjection by force of arms, or when the rulers had legions of janissaries, oprichniki, and armed guards amid an unarmed people. For a long time past the power of the government rested on what is called public opinion.

There is a public opinion that patriotism is a great moral sentiment, and that people should consider their own nation and State as the best in the world; and this results in a public opinion that it is right and proper to acknowledge the authority of the government and to submit to it, that it is right and proper to serve in the army and submit to its discipline, that it is right and proper to give one's earnings to the government in the form of taxes, that it is right and proper to accept the decisions of the courts, and that it is right and proper to accept as divine truth whatever the emissaries of the government deliver to us.

And once such a public opinion exists, a mighty power is established, controlling in our days milliards of money, an organized mechanism of administration, the postal service, telegraphy, telephones, disciplined armies, the law courts, the police, a submissive clergy, schools, and even newspapers; and this power maintains among the people the public opinion needed for its own maintenance.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Schwartz and Jahn’s study is the latest of a raft of studies showing that black people in the US are killed by police more often than white people. Young black men are at highest risk. A 2019 study found that black men aged 25-29 were being killed at rates between 2.8 and 4.1 in 100,000.

Neighbourhoods are also a factor. Death rates are highest in poor neighbourhoods and neighbourhoods with high non-white populations, but black people are at higher risk of being killed in white neighbourhoods.

There is evidence that the killings have wide-ranging effects beyond those killed and bereaved. A 2018 study found that the killings had a harmful impact on the mental health of the wider black population.'
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2246987-us-police-kill-up-to-6-times-more-black-people-than-white-people/

'Actually, the agent had put the bag in the trunk on his own, rather than give me the key...But when I sat down at our table in the cafeteria and found that the only beverage available was iced tea, I remembered that one of the things in my satchel was a quart of Wild Turkey, and I wanted it. On the table in front of me - and everybody else - was a tall glass of iced tea that looked to be the same color as bourbon. Each glass had a split slice of lemon on its rim: so I removed the lemon, poured the tea into Paul Kirk's water glass, and asked one of the agents at the next table for the key to the trunk. He hesitated for a moment but one of the law school deans or Judge Crater was already talking into the mike up there at the speakers' table, so the path of least disturbance was to give me the key, which he did...

And I thought nothing of it until I got outside and opened the trunk...

Cazart!

If your life ever gets dull, check out the trunk of the next SS car you happen to see. You won't need a key; they open just as easily as any other trunk when a six-foot whip-steel is properly applied...But open the bugger carefully, because these gentlemen keep about sixty-nine varieties of instant death inside. Jesus, I was literally staggered by the mass of weaponry in the back of that car: there were machine guns, gas masks, hand grenades, cartridge belts, tear gas canisters, ammo boxes, bullet-proof vests, chains, saws, and probably a lot of other things...But all of a sudden I realized that two passing students had stopped right next to me on the sidewalk, and I heard one of them say, "God almighty! Look at that stuff!"

So I quickly filled my glass with Wild Turkey, put the bottle back in the trunk, and slammed it shut just like you'd slam any other trunk...'

- Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '76: Third-Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous, June 3, 1976, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'U.S. Code §280E can result in up to a 70% effective tax rate for cannabis businesses, or 2x what other legal businesses pay. (Source: New Frontier Data)
Between 2000-2013, state and local law enforcement received $4.7 billion from the Department of Justice via its Equitable Sharing Program. (Source: IJ).
The federal government annually spends $33 billion to prosecute the war on drugs, with state governments spending another $30 billion. (Source: Human Rights Foundation)
Lack of reliable banking access increases cash-intensive cannabis businesses’ risk for theft: In 2019, approximately 180 credit unions (3.3% among 5,442 in the U.S.) and 559 banks (10.8% among 5,177 nationwide) served the legal cannabis industry. (Source: New Frontier Data, Statista.com, FDIC)'

https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/law-enforcement-benefits-from-both-cannabis-prohibition-and-regulated-cannabis-businesses/

'The victim is always and ever the deceived, foolish, working folk - those who with blistered hands have built all those ships, fortresses, arsenals, barracks, cannon, harbours, steamers, and moles, and all these palaces, halls, platforms, and triumphal arches; who have set up and printed all these newspapers and pamphlets, and have procured and brought all these pheasants and ortolans, oysters, and wines that are consumed by the men who are fed, brought up, and kept by them, and who are deceiving them and preparing the most fearful calamities for them. It is always the same kindly, foolish folk, who stand open-mouthed like children, showing their healthy white teeth, naively delighted by dressed-up admirals and presidents with flags waving above them, and by fireworks and bands of music; and for whom, before they have time to look around, there will be neither admirals nor presidents nor flags nor bands, but only a desolate battlefield, cold, hunger, and anguish - before them murderous enemies and behind them relentless officers preventing their escape - blood, wounds, suffering, putrefying corpses, and a senseless unnecessary death.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'It is estimated that the U.S. federal government spends roughly $33 billion annually prosecuting the war on drugs; state and local governments spend nearly $30 billion to the same end. The expenditures are often described as a “cost to taxpayers”; however, they could just as easily be understood as allocations to federal, state, and local law enforcement budgets. In a competitive budgetary environment, law enforcement demonstrates its efficacy through arrests, seizures of cash and assets, and drug interdictions – all of which both justify and perpetuate the continuing war on drugs. Such actions also serve as the foundation for sustaining or increasing budgets.

The U.S.’s continued prosecution of the drug war also brings the revenue streams of law enforcement full circle. Some portion of the $63 billion allocated to law enforcement across the U.S. comes from the tax revenue generated by regulated cannabis businesses; a further portion comes from the additional taxes generated by §280E. Some law enforcement budget is supplemented by funds generated from civil asset forfeiture locally, as well as monies from participating in the federal Equitable Sharing Program. Whatever the totality of their operating budgets, law enforcement agencies have positioned themselves to profit from every aspect of the cannabis industry, from legal businesses to unregulated operators.'
https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/catching-cannabis-coming-and-going-how-law-enforcement-profits-from-illicit-and-legalized-marijuana-businesses-alike/

'I looked around the room, and indeed there was no mistaking the nature of the crowd. This was not a bunch of good ol' boys who all happened to be alumni of the University of Georgia Law School, these were the honored alumni, the ranking 150 or so who had earned, stolen, or inherited enough distinction to be culled from the lists and invited to the unveiling of Rusk's portrait, followed by a luncheon with Senator Kennedy, Governor Carter, Judge Crater, and numerous other hyper-distinguished guests whose names I forget...And Jimmy King was right: this was not a natural habitat for anybody wearing dirty white basketball shoes, no tie, and nothing but Rolling Stone to follow his name on the guest list in that space reserved for titles. If it had been a gathering of distinguished alumni from the University of Georgia Medical School, the title space on the guest list would have been in front of the names, and I would have fit right in. Hell, I could even have joined a few conversations and nobody would have given a second thought to any talk about "blood on the hands."

Right. But this was Law Day in Georgia, and I was the only Doctor in the room...So I had to be passed off as some kind of undercover agent, traveling for unknown reasons with Senator Kennedy. Not even the Secret Service agents understood my role in the entourage. All they knew was that I had walked off the plane from Washington with Teddy, and I had been with them ever since. Nobody gets introduced to a Secret Service agent, they are expected to know who everybody is - and if they don't know, they act like they do and hope for the best.

It is not my wont to take undue advantage of the Secret Service. We have gone through some heavy times together, as it were, and ever since I wandered into a room in the Biltmore Hotel in New York one night during the 1972 campaign and found three SS agents smoking a joint, I have felt pretty much at ease around them...So it seemed only natural, down in Georgia, to ask one of the four agents in our detail for the keys to the trunk of his car so I could lock my leather satchel in a safe place, instead of carrying it around with me.'

- Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '76: Third-Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous, June 3, 1976, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Elias, in his testimony, shed light on the extent of the reviews, and how it preoccupied the antitrust division:
- Nine cannabis cases accounted for 29% of the antitrust division’s full-review or second-request merger investigations in fiscal year 2019.
- At one point, cannabis investigations accounted for five of the eight active merger investigations in the office that is responsible for the transportation, energy and agriculture sectors of the U.S. economy. The investigations were so numerous that staff from other offices were pulled in to assist, including employees from the telecommunications, media and technology offices'
https://mjbizdaily.com/doj-whistleblower-attorney-general-barrs-treatment-of-cannabis-industry-tantamount-to-harassment/

'In the video, Officer Erickson can be heard saying, "We gotta find something," and later, can be seen placing loose weed in the cup holder. At the end of the 25-minute clip, the cop's body camera records what the Legal Aid Society contends are additional chunks of weed on the floorboard of the NYPD vehicle.'
https://gothamist.com/news/staten-island-nypd-officers-accused-planting-marijuana-suspect-also-seen-weed-patrol-car-lawyers-say

'Divide up what you possess with others, do not gather riches, do not exalt yourself, do not steal, do not cause suffering, do not kill anyone, do not do to another what you would not have done to yourself, was said not only nineteen hundred years ago but five thousand years ago. And there can be no doubt of the truth of this law, and but for hypocrisy it would be impossible for men - even if they themselves did not conform to it - to fail to recognize at least its necessity, and that he who does not do these things is doing wrong.

But you say that there is a public welfare for the sake of which these rules may and should be infringed: for the public good it is permissible to kill, torture, and rob. You say, as Caiaphas did, that it is better for one man to perish than the whole nation, and you sign the death sentence of a first, a second, and a third man, load your rifles against this man who is to perish for the public welfare, put him in prison, and take his possessions. You say that you do these cruel things because as a member of society and of the State you feel that it is your duty to serve them: as a landowner, judge, emperor, or military man to conform to their laws. But besides belonging to a certain State and having duties arising from that position, you belong also to eternity and to God and have duties arising from that.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Global seizures of cannabis herb fell to their lowest level in two decades in 2018 – a slump driven by declines in North America, where seizures have fallen by 84 per cent in the last 10 years. By contrast, seizures almost doubled in the rest of the world over the same period. The pattern of seizures suggests policies aimed at liberalizing cannabis markets have played a key role in the decline.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_1.pdf

'Sandy likes Mo Uddal, and so do I, for that matter...I also like Jerry Jeff Walker, the Scofflaw King of New Orleans and a lot of other people I don't necessarily believe should be president of the United States. The immense concentration of power in that office is just too goddamn heavy for anybody with good sense to turn his back on. On her back. Or its back...At least not as long as whatever lives in the White House has the power to fill vacancies in the U.S. Supreme Court, because anybody with that kind of power can use it - like Nixon did - to pack-crown the Court of Final Appeal in this country with the same kind of lame, vindictive yo-yos who recently voted to sustain the commonwealth of Virginia's antisodomy statutes...And anybody who thinks that a 6-3 vote against "sodomy" is some kind of abstract legal gibberish that doesn't affect them had better hope they never get busted for anything the Bible or any local vice-squad cop calls an "unnatural sex act." Because "unnatural" is defined by the laws of almost every state in the Union as anything but a quick and dutiful hump in the classic missionary position, for purposes of procreation only. Anything else is a felony crime, and people who commit felony crimes go to prison.

Which won't make much difference to me. I took that fatal dive off the straight and narrow path so long ago that I can't remember when I first became a felon - but I have been one ever since, and it's way too late to change now. In the eyes of The Law, my whole life has been one long and sinful felony. I have sinned repeatedly, as often as possible, and just as soon as I can get away from this goddamn Calvinist typewriter I am going to get right after it again...God knows, I hate it, but I can't help myself after all these criminal years. Like Waylon Jennings says, "The devil made me do it the first time. The second time, I done it on my own."

Right. And the third time I did it because of brain damage...And after that: well, I figured that anybody who was already doomed to a life of crime and sin might as well learn to love it.'

- Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '76: Third-Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous, June 3, 1976, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Cannabis is the drug that most brings people into contact with the criminal justice system, accounting for more than half of all drug law offences cases, based on reports from a total of 69 countries over 2014–2018 The predominance of cannabis-related cases in the statistics reflects the drug's large global market. ATS were the next biggest drug category (responsible for 19 per cent of cases), followed by cocaine (11 per cent) and opioids (7 per cent). Almost 90 per cent of suspects were men.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_1.pdf

'In countries with limited law enforcement capacity, enforcing measures to counter the spread of COVID-19 may divert resources away from counter-narcotics efforts, making drug trafficking and production less risky for organized criminal groups and providing a conducive environment for illicit activities. Moreover, there are indications that drug trafficking groups are adapting their strategies in order to continue their operations and that some have started to exploit the situation so as to enhance their image among the population by providing services, in particular to the vulnerable.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_1.pdf

'Civil forfeiture laws allow local law enforcement to retain possession of seized assets, creating inherent conflicts of interest.
Federal prohibition of cannabis makes people prone to forfeiture laws even in states where it is legally permitted.
Among states which have restrictions on civil forfeiture, those can be bypassed via the federal equitable sharing program.
Using available FY 2019 data, New Frontier Data estimates that $661 million in federally deposited seized funds were linked to cannabis.
Among all drug-related instances, cannabis-related seizures represented the lowest percentage of those for which charges were ultimately filed.
In one locale, though marijuana was the singular trade for which the largest amount of cash was seized, just 29% was tied to actual charges.'

https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/guilty-until-proven-innocent/

'If people tell you that all this is necessary for the maintenance of the existing order of life and that this social order, with its destitution, hunger, prisons, executions, armies and wars, is necessary for society, that still more miseries will ensue were that organization infringed; all that is said only by those who profit by such an organization. Those who suffer from it - and they are ten times as numerous - all think and say the contrary. And in the depth of your soul you yourself know it is untrue, you know that the existing organization of life has outlived its time and must inevitably be reconstructed on new principles, and that therefore there is no need to sacrifice all human feeling to maintain it.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Given the significant number of people whose property is being seized under civil asset forfeiture programs but who are never charged — and particularly since cannabis has been a major driver for the forfeitures at a time when public support for legalization is at an all-time high — reforming civil asset forfeiture laws and ensuring that those whose property has been seized have proper recourse to recover their assets should be key components. Further, having police department budgets funded by property seized from the public creates perverse incentives for law enforcement agencies in budget-constrained communities to be more aggressive in the practice in order to offset budget cuts. At a minimum, having any seized assets allocated toward community programs (or other general fund allocations outside of law enforcement) can eliminate the expectation that police pay hinges on how many assets that officers seize. Additionally, the federal Equitable Sharing Program should be reformed to eliminate the bypassing of such state level restrictions on spending. Barring such changes, the civil asset forfeiture will continue to present significant opportunities for abuses of police power.'
https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/law-enforcements-ill-gotten-gain-civil-asset-forfeiture-laws-v-cannabis/

'Ah...mother of jabbering god, how the hell did I get off on that tangent about teenage street crime? This is supposed to be a deep and political essay about Richard Nixon...

Although maybe that wasn't such a tangent after all. The original point, I think, had to do with the street-punk mentality that caused Nixon to push his luck so far that it was finally almost impossible not to get himself busted. For a while, he had the luck and arrogance of a half-smart amateur. From their base in the White House, Nixon and the L.A. account execs he brought with him treated the old-line Washington power structure with the same kind of contempt that the young burglars casing Georgetown seem to have for the forts of the rich and powerful - or that I had for the poor bastard who owned the gas station in Lexington.

This is a very hard thing for professional cops, journalists, or investigators to cope with. Like doctors and lawyers, most of the best minds in police work have been trained since puberty to think in terms of patterns and precedents; anything original tends to have the same kind of effect on their investigative machinery as a casually mutilated punch card fed into a computer. The immediate result is chaos and false conclusions...But both cops and computers are programmed to know when they've been jammed by a wild card or a joker, and in both cases there are usually enough competent technicians standing by to locate the problems and get the machinery working again pretty quickly.'

- Fear and Loathing in Limbo: The Scum Also Rises, October 10, 1974, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'"Rejecting the analysis of career staff, Attorney General Barr ordered the Antitrust Division to issue Second Request subpoenas," Elias said, referencing the division's most comprehensive type of merger probe. "The rationale for doing so centered not on an antitrust analysis, but because he did not like the nature of their underlying business." '
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/elias-testimony-barr-cannabis-trump-automobile-california/index.html

'In a statement issued last week by District Attorney Glenn Funk, he said that activities involving the possession of up to one-half ounce of cannabis will no longer be prosecuted by county officials. “Marijuana charges do little to promote public health, and even less to promote public safety,” he said.'
https://norml.org/news/2020/07/09/tennessee-davidson-county-district-attorney-ceasing-low-level-marijuana-prosecutions

'By whatever names we dignify ourselves, in whatever apparel we attire ourselves, by whatever and before whatever priest we may be smeared with oil, however many millions we possess, however many special guards are stationed along our route, however many policemen guard our wealth, however many so-called miscreant-revolutionaries and anarchists we may execute, whatever exploits we may ourselves perform, whatever States we may found, whatever fortresses and towers we may erect - from the Tower of Babel to that of Eiffel - we are always all of us confronted by two inevitable conditions of life which destroy its whole meaning. There is first of all death, which may at any moment overtake any of us, and there is the transitoriness of all that we do and that is so quickly destroyed leaving no trace. Whatever we may do - found kingdoms, build palaces and monuments, compose poems and romances - everything is transitory, and soon passes leaving no trace. And therefore, however we may conceal it from ourselves, we cannot help seeing that the meaning of our life can be neither in our personal physical existence, subject to unavoidable sufferings and inevitable death, nor in any worldly institution or organization.

Whoever you may be who read these lines, consider your position and your duties - not the position of landowner, merchant, judge, emperor, president, minister, priest, or soldiers, temporarily attributed to you by men, nor those imaginary duties imposed on you by that position - but your real position in eternity as a creature who by Someone's will has been called out of unconsciousness after an eternity of nonexistence, to which by the same will you may at any moment be recalled. Think of your duties - not your imaginary duties as a landowner to your estate, as a merchant to your capital, as an emperor, minister, official to the State - but those real duties which follow from your real position as a being called to life and endowed with reason and love.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'"Where does the change begin, what does the change look like?” asked DuBois.

“Well, the change has to be the voters start asking for the right things. They start demanding from their district attorneys and their state’s attorneys and their mayors and their county executives the arrest rates for real crime,” said Simon.'
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/07/08/maurice-dubois-david-simon/

'Within hours after Jaworski and Nixon's "Watergate lawyer" James St. Clair had argued the case in a special session of the court, I talked to Pat Buchanan and was surprised to hear that Nixon and his wizards in the White House were confident that the verdict would be five to three in their favor. Even Buchanan, who thinks rationally about 79 percent of the time, apparently believed - less than two weeks before the court ruled unanimously against Nixon - that five of the judges who would have ruled on that question would see no legal objection to ratifying Nixon's demented idea that anything discussed in the president's official office - even a patently criminal conspiracy - was the president's personal property, if he chose to record it on his personal tape-recording machinery.

The possibility that even some of the justices The Boss himself had appointed to the court might not cheerfully endorse a concept of presidential immunity that mocked both the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta had apparently been considered for a moment and then written off as too farfetched and crazy even to worry about by all of Nixon's personal strategists.

It is still a little difficult to believe, in fact, that some of the closest advisers to the president of a constitutional democracy in the year nineteen-hundred and seventy-four might actually expect the highest court in any constitutional democracy to crank up what is possibly the most discredited precedent in the history of Anglo-American jurisprudence - the "divine right of kings" - in order to legalize the notion that a president of the United States or any other would-be democracy is above and beyond "the law."

That Nixon and his personal gestapo actually believed this could happen is a measure of the insanity quotient of the people Nixon took down in the bunker with him when he knew the time had come to get serious.'

- Fear and Loathing in Limbo: The Scum Also Rises, October 10, 1974, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Harm Reduction International monitored prison decongestion measures adopted around the world between March and June 2020 in response to COVID-19, and found evidence of such schemes in 109 countries. We tracked criteria for eligibility and implementation of the measures. Noting that UN experts recommended countries release "those charged for minor and non-violent drug and other offences" in the context of COVID-19, we further focused on how these measures impact on people in prison for drug offences.

Despite a scarcity of official information, we found that around a fourth of countries implementing decongestion schemes explicitly excluded people incarcerated for drug offences; effectively prioritising punitive approaches to drug control over the health of the prison population and the individual'
https://www.hri.global/covid-19-prison-diversion-measures

'" I know," said Flug. "Next time you want to think about appealing a case to the U.S. Supreme Court, just remember who'll be up there.'

"You mean down there." I said. "Along with all the rest of us." I laughed. "Well, there's always smack..."

Flug didn't laugh. He and a lot of others have worked too hard, for the past three years, to derail the kind of nightmare that the Nixon-Mitchell team is ready to ram down our throats. There is not much satisfaction in beating Haynsworth & Carswell, then having to swallow a third-rate yoyo like Powell and a vengeful geek like Rehnquist. What Nixon and Mitchell have done in three years - despite the best efforts of the sharpest and meanest young turks the Democratic opposition could call on - is reduce the U.S. Supreme Court to the level of a piss-poor bowling team in Memphis - and this disastrous, Nazi-bent shift of the federal government's Final Decision-making powers won't even begin to take effect until the spring of '72.

The effects of this takeover are potentially so disastrous - in terms of personal freedom and police power - that there is no point even speculating on the fate of some poor, misguided geek who might want to take his "Illegal Search and Seizure" case all the way up to the top. A helpful hint, however, might be found in the case of the Tallahassee newspaper reporter who went to Canada in 1967 to avoid the draft - and returned to find that he was no longer a citizen of the United States and he now had ninety days to leave the country. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court, but they refused to even hear it.

So now he has to go, but of course he has no passport - an international travel is not real easy without a passport. The federal immigration officials understand this, but - backed up by the Supreme Court - they have given him an ultimatum to vacate, anyway. They don't care where he goes, just get out - and meanwhile Chief Justice Burger has taken to answering his doorbell at night with a big six-shooter in his hand. You never know, he says, who might come crashing in.'

- The Campaign Trail: Is This Trip Necessary?, January 6, 1972, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'However, the conversation on police reform cannot simply start and end with these measures, and it must include a reexamination of our entire criminal justice system. We should be repealing mandatory sentencing and reducing over-policing (which includes finally legalizing adult-use marijuana)'
https://www.poconorecord.com/opinion/20200707/lt-gov-john-fetterman-discretion-and-de-escalation-are-police-officerrsquos-strongest-tools

'Men of our time, availing themselves of the order of things maintained by violence, and at the same time protesting that they love their neigbours very much, and who do not notice that they are doing evil to their neighbours all the time, are like a man who, after a life of robbery, when at last caught with lifted knife in the act of striking a victim who is frantically crying for help, should declare that he did not know that what he was doing was unpleasant to the man he had robbed and was just about to kill. As that robber and murderer could not deny what was evident to everyone, so it would seem impossible for men of our time, living on the sufferings of the oppressed classes, to persuade themselves and others that they desire the welfare of those whom they unceasingly plunder, and that they do not know how the advantages they enjoy are obtained.

We cannot now assert that we do not know of those hundred thousand men in Russia alone who are always confined in prisons and convict settlements fr the security of our tranquility and property, and that we do not know of those trials in which we ourselves take part, and which at our instigation condemn men who have made attempts to our property or security prisons, exile, or convict settlements where men no worse than those who sentence them, perish pr become corrupt. Nor can we pretend that all that we have obtained and is maintained for us by murders and violence. We cannot pretend that we do not see the constable who with a loaded revolver walks in front of our windows defending us while we eat our appetizing dinner or see a new play at the theatre, or that we do not know of those soldiers who set off so promptly with rifles and live cartridges to where our property is in danger of being infringed.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Acid is a relatively complex drug, in its effects, while mescaline is pretty simple and straightforward - but in a scene like this, the difference was academic. There was simply no call, at this conference, for anything but a massive consumption of Downers: reds, grass, and booze, because the whole program had apparently been set up by people who had been in a Seconal stupor since 1964.

Here were more than a thousand top-level cops telling each other "we must come to terms with the drug culture," but they had no idea where to start. They couldn't even find the goddamn thing. There were rumours in the hallways that maybe the Mafia was behind it. Or perhaps the Beatles. At one point somebody in the audience asked Bloomquist if he thought Margaret Mead's "strange behavior," of late, might possibly be explained by a private marijuana addiction.

"I really don't know," Bloomquist replied. "But at her age, if she did smoke grass, she'd have one hell of a trip."

The audience roared with laughter at this remark.'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The probes froze billion-dollar deals in place for months. And while companies waited, the fast-moving industry shifted to the point where deals had to be renegotiated or abandoned, even after they received approval. At least three large acquisitions failed after receiving DOJ requests for vast amounts of extra information that required months to prepare and deliver.

“It was a pain in the ass,” one industry insider at a company that went through the review and asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, told VICE News'
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akzk9b/trumps-war-on-legal-weed

'Social Equity Programs (SEPs) are focused initiatives designed to address inequality in the national cannabis market.
A reported 70% of Americans believe smoking cannabis to be “morally acceptable.”
In 2018, 663,367 people were arrested for marijuana violations — about one per every 48 seconds.
Black people are 3.6x more likely than are whites to be arrested for marijuana possession'

https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/social-equity-in-cannabis/

'Over the past two decades, drug markets have become increasingly complex in terms of variety and combinations of substances used and trafficked, manufacturing processes and the organizational structure of drug trafficking organizations. There has been a rapid emergence of new substances, as well as new mixes of controlled and non-controlled substances, with an increasing misuse of pharmaceuticals, which poses new challenges for both drug demand and supply control efforts at the national, regional and global levels.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'A single execution carried out dispassionately by prosperous and educated men with the approval and participation of Christian minister and presented as something necessary and even just, perverts and brutalizes men more than thousands of murders committed by uneducated working people under the influence of passion. An execution such as Zukhovsky proposed to arrange, which was to arouse in men a sentiment of religious emotion, would have the most depraving influence imaginable.

Every war, even the briefest, with the expenditure usual to war, the destruction of crops, the plundering, the licensed debauchery and murders, the sophisticated excuses as to its necessity and justice, the exaltation and glorification of military exploits, patriotism and devotion to the flag, the feigned solicitude for the wounded, and so on, does more to deprave people in a single year than millions of robberies, arsons, and murders committed in hundreds of years by individual men under the influence of passion.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'In the late 1990s, some 230 psychoactive substances were under international control, of which a handful dominated the global drug markets, most notably cannabis, cocaine, opium, heroin, amphetamines and “ecstasy”. Two decades later, the situation has changed, as there are now far more substances on the market. A number of synthetic NPS (i.e. psychoactive substances that mimic the properties of substances already under international control) emerged on the drug markets in the past decade, including synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, phenethylamines, piperazines and various fentanyl analogues, resulting in a new wave of scheduling of such substances at the international level, with the total number of substances under international control rising from 234 in 2014 to 282 in 2018. At the same time, the number of NPS rose from 166 substances over the period 2005–2009 to 950 substances by the end of 2019. Worldwide, in recent years authorities have identified more than three times as many NPS as there are psychoactive substances under international control' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'"If you don't know, come to learn...if you know, come to teach." - motto on invitations to National DAs convention in Vegas, April 25-29, 1971

The first session - the opening remarks - lasted most of the afternoon. We sat patiently through the first two hours, although it was clear from the start that we weren't going to learn anything, and it was equally clear that we'd be crazy to try any teaching. It was easy enough to sit there with a head full of mescaline and listen to hour after hour of irrelevant gibberish...There was certainly no risk involved. These poor bastards didn't know mescaline from macaroni.

I suspect we could have done the whole thing on acid...except for some of the people; there were faces and bodies in that group who would have been absolutely unendurable on acid. The sight of a 344-pound police chief from Waco, Texas, necking openly with his 290-pound wife (or whatever woman he had with him) when the lights were turned off for a Dope Film was just barely tolerable on mescaline - which is mainly a sensual/surface drug that exaggerates reality, instead of altering it - but with a head full of acid, the sight of two fantastically obese human beings far gone in a public grope while a thousand cops all around them watched a movie about the "dangers of marijuana" would not be emotionally acceptable. The brain would reject it: the medulla would attempt to close itself off from the signals it was getting from the frontal lobes...and the middle-brain, meanwhile, would be trying desperately to put a different interpretation on the scene, before passing it back to the medulla and the risk of physical action.'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Beyond internationally controlled substances, the legal status of many substances in the market differ from country to country, and sometimes within countries. This creates quite complex production and trafficking patterns in which some substances are under national control in some countries but not in others, leaving ample opportunities for producers and traffickers of the substances to select countries depending on the legal status of those substances in the respective jurisdictions, while also quickly adjusting to new controls wherever and whenever they may occur. The multiplicity of substances currently in the market challenges the effectiveness of national and international interventions because the elimination of one substance from the market easily leads to replacement by another.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'The growing complexity of drug markets can be also seen in the manufacturing processes of synthetic drugs. In the past, a limited number of precursor chemicals was used to manufacture synthetic drugs, such as amphetamine (manufactured mostly from P-2-P), methamphetamine (manufactured mostly from ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or from P-2-P in North America) and “ecstasy” (mainly manufactured from 3,4-MDP-2-P). This has changed over the past two decades. As the key precursors mentioned above are all under international control, traffickers have been looking for alternatives. Over the years, different strategies have been adopted by traffickers to overcome controls using as alternative precursors substances that were not equally well controlled in all countries, noncontrolled pre-precursors and so-called “designer precursors”, that is, chemicals specifically designed to circumvent existing precursor control systems. Pharmaceutical preparations containing controlled precursor chemicals have also been used to supply precursors because, although controlled, they are exempt from a number of control mechanisms such as the system of pre-export notifications' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In general, hypocrisy having entered into the flesh and blood of all classes in our time has reached such proportions that nothing of that kind any longer arouses indignation. Not for nothing was "hypocrisy" derived from "acting". And anyone can act, that is, play a part. Such facts as that the representatives of Christ, at divine service, bless ranks of murderers holding loaded rifles in readiness to shoot their fellow men, that ministers of all the Christian sects take part in executions as inevitably as the executioners, by their presence acknowledging murder to be compatible with Christianity (a clergyman officiated in America at the first experiment of murder by electricity), no longer occasion surprise to anyone.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'The growing complexity of drug markets can be also observed in the organizational structure of the actors involved. There has been a general trend over the past two decades towards an increasing fragmentation of the serious and organized crime landscape and the emergence of more groups and looser networks. Organizations based on loose cooperation across criminal networks have proved more resilient to law enforcement interventions than other types, as a network that gets dismantled can, in general, be easily replaced by another. The landscape of the global illicit drug trade has thus become more complex, is rapidly evolving and is facilitated by new technology such as encrypted communications software and the darknet.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'Bloomquist writes like somebody who once bearded Tim Leary in a campus cocktail lounge and paid for all the drinks. And it was probably somebody like Leary who told him with a straight face that sunglasses are known in drug culture as "tea shades."

This is the kind of dangerous gibberish that used to be posted, in the form of mimeographed bulletins, in Police Dept. locker rooms.

Indeed:

Know your Dope Fiend. Your Life May Depend On It! You will not be able to see his eyes because of Tea-Shades, but his knuckles will be white from inner tension and his pants will be crusted with semen from continuously jacking off when he can't find a rape victim. He will stagger and babble when questioned. He will not respect your badge. The Dope Fiend fears nothing. He will attack, for no reason, with every weapon at his command - including yours. Beware. Any officer apprehending a suspected marijuana addict should use all necessary force immediately. One stitch in time (on him) will actually save nine on you. Good luck.

"The Chief."

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The shift away from purely hierarchically organized crime groups, characterized by an extensive division of labour within such organizations, also entails the emergence of new groups engaged in specific activities, covering only limited aspects of drug manufacture and logistics or specific areas such as money-laundering and the investment of drug proceeds. Moreover, a number of new groups have emerged in recent years, bypassing many of the traditional actors, purchasing and selling drugs online through the darknet to end users. They make use of private or public postal services to transport drugs to anonymous post office boxes from which they are collected by the end users. The payment is made in parallel by means of cryptocurrency transactions on the darknet' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'The way drug trafficking organizations operate has been influenced by the growth of licit international trade and by the emergence of new ways of transporting goods. Notably, the use of containers has increased, and GPS devices have helped to retrieve the drug cargo within the multitude of containers. In a few cases, organized crime groups have even succeeded in hacking the computers of shipping companies to have containers redirected to locations where the drugs could be more easily removed from the container. In parallel, technological innovation has also enabled drug trafficking groups to acquire semi-submersibles to transport drugs, such as cocaine, from South America to Central and North America and, more recently, even to Europe, without being easily detectable. Moreover, drones are being used by drug trafficking groups to assist them in the shipment of drugs across borders. Another technological advance that has facilitated the connection of criminal groups is the emergence of encrypted messaging applications for mobile telephones, which have helped drug dealers to stay connected while maintaining a high degree of anonymity' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'Demand-driven dynamics of drug markets are the result of changing patterns of drug use and the desire of users to experiment with new substances, which may lead to an increasing number of users starting a new habit. The establishment of the tramadol market for recreational use in certain regions may have initially been generated by an increased demand based on the supply available for medical use. But once a demand was generated, a new supply-driven phenomenon further expanded the market with illicitly manufactured products that were not part of the medical market' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'But the best technicians available to the National DAs convention in Vegas apparently couldn't handle it. Their sound system looked like something Ulysses S Grant might have rigged up to address his troops during the siege of Vicksburg. The voices from up front crackled with a fuzzy, high-pitched urgency, and the delay was just enough to keep the words disconcertingly out of phase with the speaker's gestures.

"We must come to terms with the Drug Culture in this country...country...country!..." These echoes drifted back to the rear in confused waves. "The reefer butt is called a 'roach' because it resembles a cockroach...cockroach...cockroach..."

"What the fuck are these people talking about?" my attorney whispered. "You'd have to be crazy on acid to think a joint looked like a goddamn cockroach!"

I shrugged. It was clear that we'd stumbled into a prehistoric gathering. The voice of a "drug expert" named Bloomquist crackled out of the nearby speakers"...about these flashbacks, the patient never knows, he thinks it's all over and he gets himself straightened out for six months...and then, darn it, the whole trip comes back to him."'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The ruling classes, having no longer any reasonable justification for the advantageous position they hold, are obliged, in order to keep these positions, to repress their higher rational capacities and their love for their fellow-men, and to hypnotize themselves into the belief that their exceptional positions are necessary. And the lower classes, crushed by toil and intentionally stupefied, live in a continual condition of hypnotization, deliberately and incessantly induced by people of the upper classes.

Only in this way can one explain the amazing contradiction that fills our life, and of which a striking example was presented by those kindly and mild acquaintances whom I met on the 9th of September, who with quiet minds were going to commit the most cruel, senseless, and vile crimes. Had conscience not been stifled in some way in those men, not one of them could have done a one-hundredth part of what they were preparing to do, and very likely will do.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Increases in drug use have at times also been supply driven, as users react to growing supply and the attendant falling prices by increasing their consumption of those drugs. This was the case with cocaine in recent years, among other drugs. Some of the recent changes in drug markets, such as the opioid crisis in North America and the rapid emergence of a synthetic drug market in the Russian Federation and Central Asia, can also be defined as supply driven phenomena. The expansion of the synthetic drugs market in the Russian Federation seems to be mainly linked to the Hydra darknet platform. While there may now be an established user-based demand for synthetic drugs, the initial trigger was new suppliers. The rise of fentanyl in North America was not defined by a new demand either but was the result of opportunities seized by drug suppliers to reduce costs and thus increase profit margins.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In the context of the long-term dynamics of the global drug market, there are many different changes that have affected selected geographical areas. Within the past two decades some regions have seen a gradual transformation of their drug markets: methamphetamine has become the predominant drug in South-East Asia, amphetamine (“captagon’’) in the Middle East, North America has been confronted with the opioid crisis, Africa has seen an expansion of its domestic heroin market, and countries in North and West Africa are now facing a tramadol crisis. More recently, two subregions, the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia and the Russian Federation/ Central Asia, appear to have been affected by rapid changes in their drug markets, with new drugs taking a substantial share of the drug market.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

"On behalf of the prosecuting attorneys of this country, I welcome you."

We sat in the fringe of a crowd of about 1,500 in the main ballroom of the Dunes Hotel. Far up in front of the room, barely visible from the rear, the executive director of the National District Attorneys Association - a middle-aged, well-groomed, successful GOP businessman type name Patrick Healy - was opening their Third National Institute on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. His remarks reached us by way of a big, low-fidelity speaker mounted on a steel pole in our corner. Perhaps a dozen others were spotted around the room, all facing the rear and looming over the crowd...so that no matter where you sat or even tried to hide, you were always looking down the muzzle of a big speaker.

This produced an odd effect. People in each section of the ballroom tended to stare at the neared voice-box, instead of watching the distant figure of whoever was actually talking far up front on the podium. The 1935 style of speaker placement totally depersonalized the room. There was something ominous and authoritarian about it. Whoever set up that sound system was probably some kind of sheriff's auxiliary technician on leave from a drive-in theater in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where the management couldn't afford individual car speakers and relied on ten huge horns, mounted on telephone poles in the parking area.'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The emergence of methamphetamine use in Iraq was reported in 2012, when, on the basis of data from medical and psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clients, health centres, surveys of medial patients and prisoners and law enforcement reports, the primary drugs of concern in Iraq were found to be “captagon”, crystalline methamphetamine and tramadol. A study conducted in 2015 reported that drug users in Iraq thought that cannabis was “very difficult” to obtain while “captagon” and methamphetamine were “very easy” to obtain. Both official and media sources report a recent rapid increase in methamphetamine use in Iraq. Initially, law enforcement sources in Iraq suggested that methamphetamine was mainly smuggled into the country from the neighbouring Islamic Republic of Iran, across the long shared border, being smuggled to Basra in the south in particular. However, there have been reports of the clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine inside Iraq. In November 2016, for example, the Iraqi National Security Agency discovered methamphetamine laboratories in Basra and in the south-eastern province of Maysan.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In just the same way the judges who wrongfully awarded the wood to the landowner, did so only because they considered themselves to be not ordinary men like everybody else and therefore bound to be guided in everything by truth alone, but, under the intoxication of power, imagined themselves to be guardians of official justice and incapable of error. And while under the intoxicating influence of servility they imagined themselves to be men bound to execute certain rules written down in a certain book, called laws. And all the participants in the affair - from the highest representative of authority who signed the report, the marshal of nobility who presided at the recruiting sessions, and the priest who deluded the conscripts, to the lowest soldier now preparing to shoot his fellow-men - under the influence of power or servility considered themselves to be, and represented themselves to others as being, not what they really are but something quite different. They all did what they did, and prepare to do what they still have to do, only because they seem to themselves and to others to be not what they are in reality - men faced with the question whether they ought or ought not to take part in wicked actions which their conscience condemns - but different, conventional characters: one an anointed Tsar, a special being destined to watch over the welfare of a hundred million people; another the representative of the nobility; another a priest who has received special grace by his ordination; another a soldier bound by his oath unreflectingly to do all that he is commanded to do. All these people could only, and can only, act as they do under the influence of intoxication by power or servility, resulting from their imagined positions.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'The desk clerk was friendly. "Don't worry about a thing, sir. Just enjoy your stay here - and if there's anything you need, just call the desk."

I nodded and smiled, half watching the stunned reaction of the cop crowd right next to me. They were stupid with shock. Here they were arguing with every piece of leverage they could command, for a room they'd already paid for - and suddenly their whole act gets sideswiped by some crusty drifter who looks like something out of an upper-Michigan hobo jungle. And he checks in with a handful of credit cards! Jesus! What's happening to the world?

What indeed? The bag boy grinned. The desk clerk grinned. And the cop crowd eyed me nervously. They had just been blown off the track by a style of freak they'd never seen before. I left them there to ponder it, fuming & bitching at the gates of some castle they would never enter.'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'An analysis of the Hydra market, based on webscraping techniques, conducted in February 2019, revealed a total of 13,935 drug listings on the platform in one day, dominated by synthetic cathinones (39 per cent of all listings, notably alpha-PVP and mephedrone), cannabis, mostly marijuana (16 per cent) and hashish (14 per cent), traditional ATS, mostly amphetamine (10 per cent) and methamphetamine (1 per cent), cocaine (4 per cent), psychedelics (3 per cent), dissociatives (2 per cent) and opioids (2 per cent). The analysis also indicated that, partly due to the increasing availability of drugs through the darknet, two thirds of the Russian population were now able to buy drugs instantly. The importance of trafficking ATS through the darknet and/or through web shops is also indirectly reflected in the high proportion of ATS being shipped to end users and local retail traffickers by mail: 80 per cent in 2018 – a higher proportion than for most other drug categories in the Russian Federation' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'From what is known, it is possible to identify common threats and different dynamics in the two opioid crises, in Africa and in North America: • The ease of manufacturing, easy accessibility and low-cost production make the illicit markets for tramadol and fentanyls substantially more profitable for traffickers than are other opioids such as heroin. • The large-scale manufacture of tramadol and fentanyls for the illicit market started in a context of an absence of international regulations on tramadol and many fentanyl analogues or their precursors. • The interchangeability (or substitution) of fentanyl and tramadol within the pharmaceutical and illicit drug markets makes it more difficult to address their misuse. Their non-medical use is also seen in the context of self-medication, and thus carries less stigma or is countered by lesser legal sanctions than is the case with other controlled drugs.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'“The rate of local governments acknowledging the futility of marijuana criminalization has accelerated greatly in the last few years,” Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “But sadistically, many in law enforcement still will seek any justification possible to escalate a confrontation with a civilian that they have made a personal judgement upon—and can still rely on state-level criminalization statutes to do so. While the policy of local decriminalization is a step in the right direction, even in those jurisdictions, many consumers still live under threat by uniformed officers who allegedly are sworn to protect and serve those very communities.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/how-many-americans-can-hold-a-joint-of-marijuana-without-fear-of-going-to-jail/

'But not only do all men involved in the State organization throw the responsibility for their acts on one another - the soldier on the nobleman or merchant who is his officer, and the officer on the nobleman who occupies the post of Governor, and the Governor on the gentleman or son of an official who holds the post of minister, and the minister on the member of the royal family who occupies the position of the Tsar, and the Tsar again on all those officials, nobles, merchants, and peasants - not only do people free themselves in this way from the sense of responsibility for their actions, but they also lose their moral consciousness of responsibility because, being involved in a State organization, they so unceasingly, strenuously, and persistently assure themselves and one another that they are not all equal, but different among themselves "as one star differeth from another", that they begin to really believe this. Thus some are persuaded that they are not simple people like other folk but are special beings who ought to be specially honoured. And it is instilled into others by all possible means that they are inferior creatures, and should therefore uncomplainingly submit to what those above them dictate.

This inequality, this exaltation of some and degradation of others, is the chief cause of men's capacity to ignore the irrationality and cruelty and wickedness of the existing order, as well as the deception practised by some and suffered by others.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'I am concerned that the effort we exert to fight a war on marijuana is hampering our attempts to eradicate the opioid addiction crisis. Our law enforcement agencies have limited resources to fight drug abuse, and yet nearly 25 percent of drug arrests in Kentucky continue to be for marijuana. These arrests, for a substance that is legal in other states, clog our court system and our jails. Both time and money would be more wisely spent battling substances that continue to ruin the lives of more Kentuckians every year. The Legislature and law enforcement leadership should review our drug-enforcement priorities based on the reality of limited resources we have available to us.'
http://nelsoncountygazette.com/?p=37133

'"You dirty little faggot! Call the manager! I'm tired of listening to this dogshit!"

The manager appeared and offered to call a cab. This was obviously the second or maybe even the third act in a cruel drama that had begun long before I showed up. The police chief's wife was crying; the gaggle of friends that he'd mustered for support were too embarrassed to back him up - even now, in this showdown at the desk, with this angry little cop firing his best and final shot. They knew he was beaten; he was going against the RULES, and the people hired to enforce those rules said "no vacancy."

After ten minutes of standing in line behind this noisy little asshole and his friends, I felt the bile rising. Where did this cop - of all people - get the nerve to argue with anybody in terms of Right & Reason? I had been there with these fuzzy little shitheads - and so, I sensed, had the desk clerk. He had the air of a man who'd been fucked around, in his time, by a fairly good cross-section of mean-tempered rule-crazy cops...

So now he was just giving their argument back to them: it doesn't matter who's right or wrong, man...or who's paid his bill & who hasn't...what matters right now is that for the first time in my life I can work out on a pig. "Fuck you, officer, I'm in charge here, and I'm telling you we don't have any room for you."

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'In one of the many surprises from the launch of commercial cannabis sales in California on Jan. 1 was the backstory of the first buyer. A former federal prosecutor turned legal mastermind of the marijuana industry named Henry Wykowski bought the Golden State’s first legal bag of marijuana.'
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2157538-californians-can-now-buy-marijuana-for-recreational-use/

'Roughly half of survey respondents identified law enforcement as the main opposition group, specifically the Texas Sheriff’s Association (TSA). In testimony before the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, members of the TSA argued that legalizing marijuana would “send the wrong message” to youth about the harms of drug use and that legalization in other states has led to increased use among teens. The focus on risks of marijuana reform for youth is a common framing choice among prohibition supporters (see Ferraiolo 2014). Whereas prohibition was once justified by beliefs that marijuana itself was evil and marijuana use immoral, such arguments increasingly strain credibility. Realizing this, marijuana opponents have sought more realistic frames. The message that marijuana is a gateway to further delinquency for youth that harms their health and achievement has resonated with a larger audience than past arguments based solely on morality claims....The TSA represents an organized interest that favors the status quo, and it intends to fight to preserve that status quo'
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0043820017716683

'Our room was at the Flamingo, in the nerve-center of the Strip: right across the street from Caesar's Palace and the Dunes - site of the Drug Conference. The bulk of the conferees were staying at the Dunes, but those of us who had signed up fashionably late were assigned to the Flamingo.

The place was full of cops. I saw this at a glance. Most of them were just standing around trying to look casual, all dressed exactly alike in their cut-rate Vegas casuals: plaid Bermuda shorts, Arnie Palmer gold shirts, and hairless while legs tapering down to rubberized "beach sandals." It was a terrifying scene to walk into - a super stakeout of some kind. If I hadn't known about the conference my mind might have snapped. You get the impression that somebody was going to be gunned down in a blazing crossfire at any moment - maybe the entire Manson Family.'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'But is it possible that people of the upper classes support this order of things only because it is advantageous for them? They cannot but see that this order of things is in itself irrational, no longer corresponds to men's consciousness or even to public opinion, and is full of danger. People of the governing classes - the honest, good, clever people among them - cannot fail to suffer from those inner contradictions and to see the dangers they are exposed to. And is it possible that all of the millions of people of the lower order can with tranquil minds perform all the evidently evil actions - tortures and murders - they are compelled to do, merely because they fear punishment? It cannot be so, and neither the one nor the other could fail to see the unreasonableness of their conduct if the complexity of the state-structure did not conceal from them the irrationality and unnaturalness of what they are doing.

The irrationality is concealed by the fact that when any such action is committed there are so many instigators, accomplices, and abettors, that not one of those concerned in the affair feels himself morally responsible.

Murderers oblige all those who witness murder to strike at the body of the man who has been killed, so that the responsibility may rest on as large a number of people as possible. That same principle, in a more definitely organized form, is applied to the penetration of those crimes without the constant commission of which no governmental organization could exist. Rulers always try to draw as many citizens as possible into as much participation as possible in the crimes they commit and that are necessary for them.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'It may be a poor argument to say we should legalise something because it is as bad as other legal products. But equally it is hard to justify criminalising a substance less harmful than products we can buy in a shop and at some level has medical benefits.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6298989/Is-time-legalise-cannabis-asks-ex-Met-Police-chief-Bernard-Hogan-Howe.html

'Prosecutors should be able to usher in important changes to the criminal “justice” system. If they refuse to, as still seems likely in most cases, they will remain some of the most significant roadblocks to a more humane drug-policy future.'
https://filtermag.org/2018/11/01/exclusive-investigation-the-power-and-prejudice-of-das-on-drugs/

'Would this story hold up?

No. They would place me under arrest, then routinely search the car - and when that happened all kinds of savage hell would break loose. They would never believe all these drugs were necessary to my work; that in truth I was a professional journalist on my way to cover the National District Attorneys Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

"Just samples, officer. I got this stuff off a road man for the Neo-American Church back in Barstow. He started acting funny, so I worked him over."

Would they buy this?

No. They would lock me in some hell-hole of a jail and beat me in the kidneys with big branches - causing me to piss blood for years to come...'

- Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Part II...by Raoul Duke, November 25, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'Civil asset forfeiture -- the practice by which police departments can stop and detain someone, and take their cash and property -- is sometimes used to fund the general operations of police departments, Franklin said.

"This is a financial interest that these police and prosecutors have that they never mention to the public," Wooldridge said. "It's policing for profit."'
https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/11/michigan_police_say_legal_mari.html

'Looming threat' the reporter says...and the official seems to have just managed to process a breakthrough discovery in his mind. When will people realize that stopping a versatile medicinal plant from growing and preventing people from consuming it is the biggest threat to all in addition to the ridiculous waste of precious resources that would be better spent on education, health and the environment?

'“Cannabis is an adaptable plant and can be harvested in three months. It is only a matter of time before organised crime realises the profit potential of home-grown marijuana,” he said.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/the-looming-threat-of-homegrown-cannabis/article5644678.ece

'A judge, a policeman, a governor, or an officer, can keep his position just the same under Boulanger, Pugachev, Catherine, or a republic. But should the existing order which secures him his advantageous position collapse, he would certainly lose that position. And so these people are none of them alarmed as to who will be at the head of the organization of violence - they can adapt themselves to anyone. They only fear the abolition of the organization itself, and that is the reason - though sometimes an unconscious one - why they maintain it.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

Parenting the public...

'“The arrest was made following a complaint by a city resident who found his son wearing T-shirts bearing images of drugs. The complainant said that the representation of drugs on T-shirts were a bad influence on the youth. Some of the people wearing these shirts have also been found to be users of banned narcotic drugs,” said deputy commissioner of police V.M. Muhammed Rafeeque.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/cops-weed-out-drug-pics-on-tees/article5663229.ece

'The inquest ended with a split verdict. Smith's lead paragraph in the October 6 Times read like an obituary: "Monday the inquest into the death of newsman Ruben Salazar ended. The 16-day inquiry, by far the longest and costliest such affair in county history, concluded with a verdict that confuses many, satisfies few and means little. The coroner's jury came up with two verdicts: death was 'at the hands of another person' (four jurors) and death was by 'accident' (three jurors). Thus, inquests might appear to be a waste of time."

A week later, District Attorney Evelle Younger - a staunch Law & Order man - announced that he had reviewed the case and decided that "no criminal charge is justified," despite the unsettling fact two of the three jurors who had voted for the "death by accident" verdict were now saying they had made a mistake.

But by that time nobody really gave a damn. The Chicano community had lost faith in the inquest about midway through the second day, and all the rest of the testimony only reinforced their anger at what most considered an evil whitewash. When the DA announced that no charges would be filed against Wilson, several of the more moderate Chicano spokesmen called for a federal investigation. The militants called for an uprising. And the cops said nothing - at all.'

- Strange Rumblings in Aztlan: The Murder of Ruben Salazar, April 29, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

Legalization of marijuana now at the federal level in both USA and Mexico can enable legal trade between the two countries and reduce illegal importation along both state and national borders...

'“I think Congress should regulate things that harm people, and that is the hard drugs and the like that dramatically hurt citizens, cause violent crime in our communities, and those should be regulated,” he said.

“But not marijuana?” the debate moderator asked.

“For me, I saw the impact of marijuana on our border,” he said, presumably referring to his time as a U.S. attorney. “And if you go to any of the counties in Texas where there’s an illegal importation of marijuana, there’s a tremendous amount of violence.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/where-jeff-sessionss-temporary-replacement-stands-on-marijuana/

'Often when I see not only the levies of recruits, the military exercises and the manoeuvres, but also the policemen with loaded revolvers and the sentries with rifles and fixed bayonets, when for whole days at a time I hear (as I do in the Khamovniki where I live) the whistling and rattle of bullets as they hit the target; and when I see in the city (where any attempt at violence in self-defence is suppressed, where the sale of drugs and ammunition is prohibited, and where rapid driving and treatment by an unlicenced doctor is forbidden) thousands of disciplined men trained to murder and subject to one man's will, I ask myself: How can people who value their safety quietly allow and put up with this? Apart from its harmfulness and immorality, nothing can be more dangerous. What are men - I do not speak of Christians, ministers of religion, humanitarians, and moralists, but simply men who value their own lives, safety, and welfare - what are they thinking about? For this organization will act in the same way in whomsoever's hands it may be. Today, let us say, the power is in the hands of a tolerable ruler, but tomorrow it may be seized by a Biron, an Elizabeth, a Catherine, a Pugachev, a Napoleon I or a Napoleon III. And the man in whose hands the power lies may be tolerable today but tomorrow may become a beast or he may be succeeded by a mad or crazy heir - like the King of Bavaria, or our Paul I.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'The verdict finally hinged on whether or not the jury could believe Wilson's testimony that he fired into the Silver Dollar - at the ceiling - in order to ricochet a tear gas shell into the rear of the bar and force the armed stranger inside to come out the front door. But somehow Ruben Salazar had managed to get his head in the way of that carefully aimed shell. Wilson had never been able to figure out, he said, what went wrong.

Nor could he figure out how Raul Ruiz had managed to "doctor" those photographs that made it look like he and at least one other deputy were aiming their weapons straight into the Silver Dollar, pointing them directly at people's heads. Ruiz had no trouble explaining it. His testimony at the inquest was over, there was nothing in the 2,025 pages of testimony - from 61 witnesses and 204 exhibits - to cast any serious doubt on the "Chicano Eyewitness Report" that Ruiz wrote for La Raza when the sheriff was still maintaining that Salazar had been killed by "errant gunfire" during the violence at Laguna Park.'

- Strange Rumblings in Aztlan: The Murder of Ruben Salazar, April 29, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act Court here issued an arrest warrant against Ramasamy, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, for not appearing in court for hearings. It is learnt that the DSP was with the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau in March 2010 when his team seized 300 kg of marijuana and arrested four persons in Erode district.

The DSP got transferred to Namakkal and did not appeal in court over the last three months, despite repeated summons.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/arrest-warrant-against-dsp/article6173253.ece

Today the market value for the same at Rs 60,000 a kg could be close to Rs 48.66 crores...money lost to farmers, retailers, the economy of the region... the unseen costs such as cost of drug enforcement, cost to health due to non-availability of the plant, cost of loss of marijuana plant diversity, cost of lost tax revenue that could be used for education to name just a few costs could amplify figures multiple times...

'The Narcotics Affairs and Borders (NAB), the special anti-drug cell of police, on Saturday incinerated 8,110 kg of marijuana with the street value of over Rs. 20 lakh. The marijuana packets had been confiscated in a series of raids from 1977 to 2013. The packets were incinerated at Pungdongbam Mamang Ching in Imphal East district.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/police-incinerate-8110-kg-of-ganja/article6159080.ece

'And six months later, when the National Chicano Moratorium Committee felt it was time for another mass rally, they called it to "carry on the spirit of Ruben Salazar."

There is irony in this, because Salazar was nobody's militant. He was a professional journalist with ten years of experience on a variety of assignments for the neo-liberal Los Angeles Times. He was a nationally known reporter, winning prizes for his work in places like Vietnam, Mexico City, and the Dominican Republic. Ruben Salazar was a veteran war correspondent, but he had never shed blood under fire. He was good, and he seemed to like his work. So he must have been slightly bored when the Times called him back from the war-zones, for a raise and a well-deserved rest covering "local affairs."

He focused on the huge barrio just east of city hall. This was a scene he had never really known, despite his Mexican-American heritage. But he locked into it almost instantly. Within months, he had narrowed his work for the times down to a once-a-week column for the newspaper, and signed on as news director for KMEX-TV - the "Mexican-American station," - which he quickly transformed into an energetic, aggressively political voice for the whole Chicano community. His coverage of police activities made the East Los Angeles Sheriff's Department so unhappy that they soon found themselves in a sort of running private argument with this man Salazar, this spic who refused to be reasonable. When Salazar got into a routine story like some worthless kid named Ramirez getting beaten to death in a jail fight, he was likely to come up with almost anything - including a series of hard-hitting news commentaries suggesting that the victim had been beaten to death by the jailers. In the summer of 1970 Ruben Salazar was warned three times, by the cops, to "tone down his coverage." And each time he told them to fuck off.'

- Strange Rumblings in Aztlan: The Murder of Ruben Salazar, April 29, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

This is not something that should be seen only as a success because of the kilograms of each drug seized. It should also be looked at as the amount of effort and resources spent to seize large quantities of a relatively harmless drug and herb, effort that could have been focused on more harmful and deadly drugs and preventing violent crime, rape and murder...legalize it Delhi...

'The quantity of marijuana or ganja seized by the Delhi Police is much higher than all other drugs that they seized in the last two years. While 5,000 kg of ganja was seized in the last two years, the amount of smack seized was 143 kg, charas was 254 kg and opium 109 kg.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/most-smuggled-drug-is-marijuana/article6257071.ece

'All the injustice and cruelties customary in present-day life have become habitual only because there are men always ready to carry out these injustices and cruelties. If it were not for them there would not only be no one to wreak violence on those immense masses of oppressed people, but those who issued the orders would never venture to do so, and would not even dare to dream of the sentences they now confidently pass.

Were it not for these men ready to torture or kill anyone they are commanded to, no one would dare to claim what is confidently claimed by all the non-working landowners, namely that land surrounded by men who are suffering for lack of land, is the property of a man who does not work on it, or that stores of grain collected by trickery ought to be preserved untouched in the midst of a population dying of hunger, because the merchant wants to make a profit. But for the existence of these people, ready at the will of the authorities to torture and kill anyone they are told to, it could never enter the head of a landowner to deprive the peasants of a wood they had grown, or of the officials to consider it proper to receive salaries taken from the famishing people for oppressing them, not to mention executing, imprisoning, or evicting people for exposing falsehood and preaching the truth. In fact all this is demanded and done only because the authorities are all fully convinced that they have always at hand servile people ready to carry out all their demands by means of tortures and killings.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'The only reminder of my other visit was a thing hanging over the cash register that we all noticed immediately. It was a black gas mask, staring blindly out at the room - and behind the gas mask was a stark handprinted sign that said: "In memory of August 29, 1970."

Nothing else, no explanation. But no explanation was necessary - at least not to anybody likely to be found drinking in the Silver Dollar. The customers are locals: Chicanos and barrio people - and every one of them is acutely aware of what happened in the Silver Dollar on August 29, 1970.

That was the day that Ruben, the prominent Mexican-American columnist for the Los Angeles Times and news director for bilingual KMEX-TV, walked into the place and sat down on a stool near the doorway to order a beer he would never drink. Because just about the time the barmaid was sliding his beer across the bar, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy named Tom Wilson fired a tear gas bomb through the front door and blew half of Ruben Salazar's head off. All the other customers escaped out the back exit to the alley, but Salazar never emerged. He died on the floor in a cloud of CS gas - and when his body was finally carried out, hours later, his name was already launched into martyrdom. Within twenty-four hours, the very mention of the name Ruben Salazar was enough to provoke tears and a fist-shaking tirade not only along Whittier Boulevard but all over East L.A.'

- Strange Rumblings in Aztlan: The Murder of Ruben Salazar, April 29, 1971, Fear and Loathing at the Rolling Stone, The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson

'In a state where conservative politicians typically preach about getting tough on crime, Jefferson County’s new sheriff ran and won on an alternative message. He favors decriminalizing marijuana, opposes arming school employees, supports additional jailhouse education programs to reduce recidivism and plans for deputies to go out and talk to people more often, rather than just patrolling.'
https://apnews.com/46328ef44e044ac981a34574ac7713ce

'"We're very busy, we have limited resources as do the courts and police," he said. "Recognizing this is what the people voted for, and moving forward, it didn't seem right to me that we would continue to prosecute these cases knowing the voters have said not to." '
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2018/11/kalamazoo_prosecutor_dismissin.html

'Mr. Chandra Sekhar said that the law empowers the police to forfeit property illegally acquired by those involved in narcotics trade.

Under this provision, the responsibility lies on the accused to prove that the assets he has acquired was not from narcotics trade. By using this provision, the police can act sternly against drug carriers and also those who are the source of such drugs.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/We-will-act-tough-against-drug-peddlers-says-Commissioner/article13987296.ece

'Both those in authority and their subordinates, though they explain the motives of their conduct differently, agree that they act as they do because the existing order is just the order that must and should exist at the present time, and that to support it is therefore each man's sacred duty.

On this acceptance of the necessity and therefore the immutability of the existing order rests also the argument by which those who take part in governmental violence always justify themselves. They say that as the existing order is immutable, the refusal of some one individual to fulfill the duties laid upon him has no real influence on things, but only means that his place will be taken by someone else who may do worse than he; that is, exercise more cruelty and do more harm to the victims.

It is this conviction that the existing order is a necessary and therefore immutable order, to support which is the sacred duty of every man, that makes it possible for good men, of high principles in private life, to take part with more or less untroubled conscience in affairs such as that committed in Orel, and that which the men in the Tula train were going to perpetrate.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

Excise and police playing the roles of agricultural experts and economists on one hand and exercising the iron hand on the other with the adivasis...all this to zealously implement a grave error in the legal system introduced by political callousness, ignorance and maybe greed ...any surprises that so many of these areas are hotbeds for extremism? Legalize the ganja...

'“We not only need to tell them about the consequences but also show alternate crops that would be economically fetching and risk free. The ganja crop has been economically very successful and to dissuade the adivasis from growing it, we need to show a better economic model,” said Mr. Babji Rao.

The action plan also involves stricter enforcement, binding over of old culprits, hefty fine and longer imprisonment, setting up of more checkpoints, destruction of crops and cutting down the link between the middlemen and the farmers.

It also talks of setting up of a special crack force and quick disposal of cases to infuse a sense of fear.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/Action-plan-to-curb-ganja-menace-in-Visakha-Agency/article14412417.ece

The police force needs to come up to speed in terms of which drugs are dangerous and which aren't...prioritization should be based on the lethal nature of a drug not on what is easiest to bust...of course if the prioritization is properly done based on the lethal nature of drugs, alcohol and tobacco could top the list..but then these are legal and used extensively in society and even in the police department...so it's probably heroin, methamphetamine, etc that should top the list...there are studies done regarding this across the world already...the department should do proper groundwork and go through these studies....

'A meeting chaired by Rajesh Dewan, Director General of Police, Headquarters, pointed out that the influx of such potent mind-altering drugs was fraught with dangers for the public.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/Crackdown-on-LSD-a-priority-for-police/article16882071.ece

'The condition of Christian humanity, with its fortresses, cannon, dynamite, rifles, torpedoes, prisons, gallows, churches, factories, custom-house and palaces, is really terrible. But neither the fortresses nor the cannon nor the rifles will attack anyone of themselves, the prisons will not of themselves lock anyone up, the gallows will not of themselves hang anyone, nor will the churches delude anyone or the custom-houses hold anyone back, and the palaces and factories do not build themselves or maintain themselves. All this is done by people. And if they once understand that there is no necessity for all these things, these things will disappear.

And men already begin to understand. If they do not all understand, the leaders among them do - those whom the rest will follow. And what the leaders have once understood they cannot possibly cease to understand. And what the leaders have understood the rest of mankind not only can, but inevitably must, understand too.

So that the prediction that a time will come when men will be taught of God, will cease to learn war any more, and will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks (which translated into our own tongue means that all the prisons, fortresses, barracks, palaces, and churches, will remain empty, and that all the gallows, guns and cannon will remain unused), is no longer a dream but a definite new form of life, to which humanity is approaching with ever-increasing rapidity.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

One of the graphs in this article lists the top 5 drugs in 2016 as Ganja, Cannabis, Heroin, Methaqualone, Cocaine...incorrect laws and ignorant law enforcers make a most deadly combination...legalize ganja in Bengaluru so that law enforcers can address more serious crimes like violent crimes and society can treat drug issues as social issues..

'The city known for its entrepreneurial spirit is also proving to be a lucrative playground for drug peddlers.

In 2016, the police arrested 289 persons for peddling drugs ranging from marijuana to LSD. Of those arrested, 269 were Indians ( see info graph ).'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/Busting-drug-dealers-Police-on-a-high/article16972146.ece

Free education imparted by the uneducated...

'According to Kandhamal Collector Reghu G, members of PRI and WSHG would become major catalysts in the fight against cannabis cultivation.

Usually during raids on illegal cannabis cultivation in remote pockets, the narcotics mafia uses women and children as shields.

“So, we have decided to increase awareness among women against marijuana cultivation by making them realise its ill effects,” the Collector said.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/bid-to-check-illegal-cultivation-of-cannabis/article17915861.ece

'This is what ought to happen wherever violence is used. The officer feels dull. He has nothing to do. He has been put, poor fellow, in a position in which he has to give orders. He is shut off from all rational human existence. He can only look on and give orders, give orders and look on, though nobody needs either his orders or his attention. All our unfortunate rulers, ministers, members of parliament, governors, generals, officers, archbishops, bishops, priests, and even rich men, already find themselves partly, and soon will find themselves completely, in that position. They can do nothing but give orders, and so they make a fuss and send their subordinates about, as that officer sent the gendarme, to interfere with people. And as the people they interfere with ask them not to interfere, they imagine themselves to be quite indispensable men.

But a time is approaching and draws near when it will become perfectly evident to everyone that these people are of no use at all but are merely a hindrance, and those whom they interfere with will say amiably and quietly, like the man in the peasant's coat: "Don't interfere with us, please!" And then all these emissaries, and those who send them, will have to follow the good advice, that is, cease to ride about with an arm akimbo hindering people, and get off their horses, doff their uniforms, listen to what is being said, and join with others in real human work.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

Re-skilling time for K-9s...

'Trooper Jereme Miller said because of the law, he and other K-9 handlers will likely use dogs less when searching vehicles for drugs.

Miller said of the 45 narcotic dogs on the state police force, eight are not trained to detect marijuana. His K-9, Dakota, is trained to detect marijuana, which is now legal to be consumed and possessed in Michigan.'
https://wwmt.com/news/local/michigan-state-police-say-vehicle-search-policy-amended-to-accommodate-new-marijuana-law

'North Dakota’s top law enforcement officer says he will back legislation that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, noting that it would reflect the reality of what’s already happening in state courts.'
https://apnews.com/86204cce78064e6e81a442b533e9ebf4

'According to the release, the consumption of drugs sky rocket during New Year's Eve, just like we all learned from Go Goa Gone (minus the zombies).

Moreover, as per the Delhi Police's official statement, India imports at least six types of ganja from the US. Yes, you read that right. We, the land of the lord of all things green and five-leaved, are importing ganja from Trump country. Shiva Shiva!'
https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/delhi-police-drug-racket-ganja-new-

'Most disturbing about the data, however, is the implication that law enforcement still polices certain neighborhoods and people of a particular hue much tougher than everyone else. This is no surprise to the people living in these communities who have long complained they receive more attention than they care for from the police.'
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0103-african-americans-marijuana-arrests-20190102-story.html

'When all this becomes quite evident to everybody it will be natural for men to ask themselves: "Why should we feed and maintain all these kings, emperors, presidents, and members of various chambers and ministries, since nothing comes of their meetings and talks? Would it not be better, as some humorist has said, to make an India-rubber queen?

And what do we want armies for with their general, and their bands, and cavalry, and drums? What are they wanted for when there is no war and no one wants to conquer anybody? And even if there were a war, other nations would not let us profit by it, and the army will not fire on its own people.

And what are the judges and lawyers for, who in civil cases decide nothing according to justice, and in criminal affairs themselves recognize the uselessness of punishments?

And what are the tax-gatherers for, who exact taxes reluctantly while what is really needed is easily collected without them?

And what is the use of the clergy, who have long since ceased to believe in what they have to preach?

And what use is capital in private hands, if it can be useful only after becoming public property?"

And once they ask themselves these questions, men cannot fail to conclude that they ought not to support all these institutions which have become useless.'
- Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'One of the last senators to question Barr during the first round, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), also brought up cannabis. He asked whether it was fair to characterize the nominee’s statements as essentially imploring Congress to settle the issue, regardless of where he personally stands on marijuana policy.

“That’s generally fair, yes,” Barr said.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/trump-attorney-general-nominee-pledges-not-to-go-after-legal-marijuana-businesses/

'“A sordid history of marijuana prohibition lies in ethnic and racial bigotry,” she wrote. “While racial disparities are evident when considering the manner in which marijuana laws are enforced, the problem is even more compounded when such enforcement produces no demonstrable public safety benefit.”

“[G]iven the legitimate public safety concerns that do exist in our nation’s cities, when resources are expended to address marijuana possession cases (from docketing to finger printing and general processing of those arrested to the ultimate resolution of charges), those same resources are no longer available to address significant criminal activity.

This leaves those communities most affected by serious crime with no punitive, rehabilitative or public safety value gained from the prosecution of marijuana possession cases.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/baltimore-will-stop-prosecuting-marijuana-possession-cases/

'Those who do violence (that is, those who take part in government) and those who profit by violence (that is, the rich) no longer represent as used to be the case the flower of our society and the ideal of all human well-being and grandeur towards which all the violated used formerly to strive. Now very often the oppressed do not strive to gain the position of the oppressors or try to imitate them. On the contrary, users of violence often voluntarily renounce the advantages of their position, choose the condition of the oppressed, and try to resemble them in the simplicity of their life.

Not to speak of the now openly despised duties and occupations - such as those of spies, agents of the secret police, usurers, and publicans - a large number of professions held by users of violence, which used to be considered honourable (such as those of police officials, courtiers, officers of the law, administrative functionaries, the clergy, the military, the monopolists and bankers) are no longer accounted honourable by everyone, but are even condemned by a certain much respected section of people. There are already people who voluntarily abandon these positions which were once accounted irreproachable, and prefer less advantageous positions not connected with violence.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'Interim police chief Gary Tuggle, a former agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said officers will continue to make arrests unless and until state law is changed to make possession of the drug legal. Ms. Mosby said she reached out to Tuggle a couple of weeks before her announcement to get his blessing, but he declined. Mr. Tuggle’s stance is counterproductive and shows how continued lack of collaboration between agencies muddies up crime fighting abilities in the city, where violence still runs rampant. Ms. Mosby explained her decision in part as a matter of allocating resources where they’re most needed, and the same is true for the cops. Arresting people for simple marijuana possession is no better use of officers’ time than taking them to court is of prosecutors’. Now that they cannot lead to a conviction, making these arrests becomes simply cruel — disrupting a person’s life for no reason, landing them in jail and subjecting them to the bureaucratic judicial system knowing the charges will only be dropped. What sense does that make?'
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0203-marilyn-mosby-marijuana-convictions-20190130-story.html

Legalize it India so that people who want to retail the herb can do so as a small scale industry and entrepreneurship. To send a family to jail when the legalization wave is spreading rapidly worldwide speaks of the bizarre ignorance and backwardness of Indian society...

'The police said that the illegal business was being run by Hema and Sanjay. The couple has an 11-month-old son who was sent to jail with his mother. The business was being from the couple’s residence in JJ Colony in Sector 18 for the last ten years. The accused smuggled weed from Ghaziabad and Bihar.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/4-arrested-for-running-drug-factory/article25823807.ece

'When whole nations have sometimes submitted to a new religious creed, and become Christians or Mohammedans, these conversions have been accomplished not because men wielding power rendered them compulsory by violence (on the contrary, violence has more often acted in the contrary direction) but because public opinion made such a change inevitable. Nations forced by violence to accept the faith of their conquerors have always remained antagonistic to it.

And it is the same with savage elements existing in our society. Neither the increase or decrease of the severity of the punishments, nor modifications of the prison system, nor increase of the police, either diminish or increase the quantity of crime. Changes occur only in consequence of changes in the moral standard of society. No severities have eradicated duelling and blood-fueds in certain countries. No matter how many Circassians were executed for robbery, they continued to rob out of bravado because no maiden would marry a young man who had not shown his daring by stealing a horse or at least a sheep. If men cease to fight duels and the Circassians cease to rob, it is not from fear of punishment (indeed that makes the bravado more attractive), but through a change in public opinion. And it is the same with all other crimes. Violence can never destroy what is sanctioned by public opinion. On the contrary, public opinion need only be directly opposed to violence to neutralize its whole effect, as has been shown by all martyrdoms both past and present.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

Importing from the US what grows freely in our backyards? What a sheer waste of the earth's resources including police and legal resources. Legalize it India.

'Two persons have been arrested for allegedly importing marijuana extracts from the USA and selling it in the country, the police said on Monday. The accused had been ordering contraband using the dark web, they said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajiv Ranjan said that the accused have been identified as Sahil Kadiyan (25) and Ridham Gulati (22). A total of 7.05 kg marijuana and 50 g of malana cream charas were seized from their possession.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/two-arrested-for-importing-narcotics-from-united-states/article25875976.ece

'The police arrested a 26-year-old Sudanese national for allegedly selling marijuana seeds to students near Soladevanahalli on Tuesday. They seized 480 g of the seeds from him.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/sudanese-national-held-marijuana-seeds-seized/article26065639.ece

'Mosby, however, said any marijuana possession arrests drain precious resources. In one case, police book and fingerprint the suspect. Prosecutors watch the officer’s body camera video. The lab tests the drugs. The attorneys prepare for trial and pick a jury. The officer comes to testify.

The new marijuana policy aligns Mosby with some of the most progressive prosecutors in the country. Last February, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told his prosecutors to reject charges of marijuana possession regardless of weight.

Last July, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced that he would also stop prosecuting marijuana cases.'
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-mosby-marijuana-meeting-20190226-story.html

Entrepreneurship nipped in the bud....

'The Mico Layout police arrested an MBA graduate and his associate, a diploma student from Vishakapatnam, for allegedly selling marijuana near Madiwala lake on Friday. They recovered 9.6 kg of marijuana from them.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/two-arrested-for-drug-peddling/article25416441.ece

'Officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau on Wednesday arrested three persons from Andhra Pradesh and recovered 223 kg of marijuana. They were reportedly headed to Maharashtra to deliver the drug. Based on a tip-off, a team intercepted the car at Devanahalli toll gate. Upon searching, they found the drug concealed in packets and stuffed in the boot'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/three-held-for-drug-trafficking/article25509647.ece

If ganja was legal for 21 and above, these people could have been traders bringing crop to the market from farmers. Farmers in Tamil Nadu could themselves have cultivated the crop, earned revenue and paid taxes for the crop. The police could have focused on more serious, dangerous crimes. An operation like this was surely more costly than the value of the plant seized. If legalized, the plant would have reached adults rather than being diverted to the youth. One reality now is that because of ganja prohibition, a plant consumed by middle aged or older adults in a mature society as it is in places where the plant is legal, is being diverted to susceptible youth and revenues from it going to illegal networks instead of mainstream society.

'Superintendent of Police, NIB CID Z. Annie Vijaya said , “We have conducted combing operations across twelve police districts of city. The harvest season of ganja has just been completed in the neighbouring State. We have credible information that the contraband may reach Tamil Nadu. To ensure that the substance does not reach youngsters, we conducted this operation and will continue to pursue this case.”'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/drug-cartel-busted-176-kg-of-ganja-seized/article25535073.ece

'The advocates of governmental violence say: " Let the murderers set us the example of abandoning killing, and then we too will give it up"; but the murderers say the same, only with a much better right. They say: "Let those who have undertaken to teach and guide us, set us an example by ceasing to kill people and then we will imitate them." And they say this not in jest but in earnest, for that is actually the state of the case.

"We cannot give up the use of violence because we are surrounded by violent men."

Nothing in our time hinders the forward movement of humanity and the establishment of an organization suitable to its present consciousness, more than this false reasoning.

Those in power are convinced that violence alone guides and controls mankind, and therefore they confidently employ it to support the existing order. Yet the existing system is really maintained not by violence but by public opinion, whose action is impeded by violence.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

Legalize ganja to save the people from the torture of being forced to watch ill-informed films and to save youth from falling into the hands of unscrupulous elements. If educated youth are interested in ganja then have officials considered that these students may be right? Taking up ganja smoking after the age of 18 is one of the smartest things to do for the youth when compared to getting hooked on sex, tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, heroin, smartphones, etc. There are millions of very intelligent and successful people worldwide who have done the same and the numbers are growing. What is immediately required is the correction of one terrible law that has made ganja illegal in the last 34 years and caused widespread havoc across Indian society. Indian society and youth survived just fine in the thousands of years preceding the ban and will do so after the ganja ban is removed as well.

'Meanwhile, the excise officials are planning to make a short film, narrating about the ill-effects of the contraband and the possible repercussions of smuggling activities. It will be based on the case studies of smuggling activities involving educated youth.

“Smuggling ganja can attract jail from two to 20 years under the NDPS Act. We want to create awareness about how involvement in smuggling can affect careers of youth,” said an excise official.

Plans are afoot to screen the short film in theatres across the State, he added.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/why-educated-youngsters-end-up-peddling-ganja/article25542735.ece

Legalize ganja so that tribal farmers can grow it legally and earn revenue through sustainable agriculture. Legalize ganja so that smugglers don't exploit the farmers and pocket the revenue for the crop. Legalize it so that taxpayer's money is not wasted on building expensive infrastructure and staffing to prevent the agriculture and business of one of the most sustainable, useful and healthy crops in the world. Legalize it so that officials can become better informed and focus on what is necessary.

'According to Mr. Babji Rao, the design for the checkposts is under consideration and it will have all modern facilities such as all-weather set-up, VHF connection, detection equipment and RFID readers. It is learnt that for each checkpost the government has sanctioned about Rs 5.8 lakh.

According to him, each checkpost will have at least one inspector, two SI, six constables and one head constable. Apart from enforcement, the Excise Department has roped in all other departments such as horticulture, revenue and police, and begun the exercise of addressing the stakeholders, which include the farmers and opinion leaders such as ZPTC and MPTC members.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/ganja-smuggling-10-permanent-checkposts-to-come-up-in-agency-areas/article24795740.ece

'Armies are needed by all governments first of all to keep their subjects in submission and to exploit their labour. But a government is not alone; besides it there is another government exploiting its subjects by violence in the same way and always ready to rob its neighbour of the toil of its already enslaved subjects. And so every government needs an army not only for use at home but also to protect its booty from neighbouring brigands. Every government is thus involuntarily led to increase its army in rivalry with others, and the increase of army is infectious as Montesquieu already remarked a hundred and fifty years ago.

Every increase of the army in a State, though directed mainly against its own subjects, is dangerous to its neighbours also and evokes an increase of their forces.

The armies have reached their present millions not merely because the governments were threatened by their neighbours, but chiefly from the necessity of subduing any attempt at revolt on the part of their own subjects. The increase of armies arises simultaneously from two causes, each of which reciprocally evokes the other: armies are needed both against enemies at home and to maintain the position of a state against its neigbours. The one conditions the other. The despotism of a government at home increases in proportion to the increase and strengthening of its army and its external successes; and the aggressiveness of governments grows in proportion to the increase of their internal despotism.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays

'The police have given the names of the arrested as Nidish, 29, who worked as a server in a hotel in Kadugodi, and Chinedu Onwarah, 27, from Nigeria.

Their arrest was made following a tip-off. They seized 12 kg of marijuana and 1.8 gm of MDMA, a narcotic substance, that the accused had concealed in a box of apples.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/peddling-drugs-two-arrested/article24814155.ece

Legalize ganja so that it can be grown as an additional crop by farmers.

'The vigilance squad of the Excise Department raided a rose garden in Kammasandra village near Banaswadi and seized 170 kg of marijuana plants that were being grown there.

According to the police, the banned weed was being grown amidst rose and guava trees.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/raid-on-rose-garden-yields-174-kg-of-marijuana/article24825131.ece

'The Srirampura police have arrested four people for possession of four kg of marijuana worth Rs. 1.6 lakh. The accused J. Narayanana, 35, Pratap Kumar Sahu, 25, Noor Ahmed, 32, and Venkatesh, 38, were arrested while they were waiting for their clients in an autorickshaw'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/four-held-for-possession-of-marijuana/article24837101.ece

'The accused Cgukwunanso Ajmanekwe, 42, from Nigeria, and his associate Don K. Thomas, 24, from Kerala were arrested by the police, who recovered 25 g of charas, 25.4 g of 110 MDMA pills, eight LSD papers, weed oil and 1 kg of marijuana from them. '
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/four-including-three-foreigners-arrested-on-charge-of-drug-peddling/article24959238.ece

'The Whitefield police arrested a Sudanese man after seizing 2 kg of marijuana and 1 g of MDMA (ecstasy) from him.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/drug-peddling-foreign-national-arrested/article25085841.ece

Dear "sleuths", Malana Cream is marijuana...

'Prohibition and Excise Department’s Task Force on Tuesday apprehended two three persons and seized from them hallucinogen LSD, MDMA, Malana Cream and marijuana.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-telangana/3-arrested-for-possessing-narcotics/article25174962.ece

Legalize it Maharashtra

'Marijuana weighing 122.60 kg, being smuggled to Maharashtra in a fake 108 ambulance, was seized by the police in the Mathili police station area of Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Wednesday. The contraband was concealed under a white cloth to make it look like a body. Two persons from Maharashtra were also arrested, sources said.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/marijuana-smuggled-in-fake108-ambulance-seized/article24344945.ece

Legalize it.

'The police seized 3.7 kg of marijuana from Goku, who confessed that he would smuggle the banned substance from his hometown once a month. “Goku said he earned more profit selling marijuana than pani puri to his customers, most of whom were employed in the private sector and IT companies in and around Mahadevapura,” said the officer.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/pani-puri-vendor-held-for-selling-marijuana/article24673715.ece

Legalize it.

'The Bellandur police, on Monday, arrested a 20-year-old woman for selling marijuana, on Outer Ring Road. They recovered 500 grams of marijuana worth Rs 15,000 from her.

According to the police, the accused, Ramya Krishna, lives in Banashankari. She would use her one-and-a-half year-old daughter as a cover for her illegal activities. Acting on a tip-off, Constable Kanthamma M. pretended to be a client and arrested Ramya'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/woman-selling-for-arrested-marijuana-on-orr/article24693054.ece

I wonder if the crop was hemp. Legalize marijuana and hemp so that farmers can grow them both as additional crops and police can focus on more serious crimes.

'The police took Bariya around the farm to find the marijuana. “The maize crop were eight-foot tall, so initially we assumed that it would be difficult to find the marijuana. But the accused had sown many marijuana plants along with maize,” said a police official.

Bariya had sown the illegal crop alongside each maize crop. While finding the crops were not difficult, removing them and seizing it turned out to be a difficult task as it weighed 435 kilogram.

Police said that the market value of the crop would be Rs 43.5 lakh.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/panchmahal-farmer-held-for-growing-435kg-marijuana/articleshow/67891376.cms

'According to Ghaziabad police data, over 524 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered in 2018 as compared to 401 in 2017 and 375 in 2016.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ghaziabad/drugs-smuggled-in-via-trucks-and-buses-cops-to-boost-border-checks/articleshow/68277983.cms

'During questioning, Kahar told police that he was selling drugs for last 10 to 15 years. “He said that the stock that was seized from him was given to him by some man from Padra.

We have booked Kahar and the unidentified man under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,” said SOG officials.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/man-held-with-one-kg-marijuana/articleshow/68182870.cms

'The police arrested a drug-peddler with 27kg ganja smuggled from Bihar near Bhadvariya Tola in Haldi area of Ballia district on Friday evening.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/drug-peddler-arrested-with-27kg-marijuana-in-haldi-area-of-ballia/articleshow/68340344.cms

'Further interrogation revealed that accused was growing growing ganja in his backyard for the past several months. A After drying it, he used to sell it in various places. in various places. Police, who have visited the spot, said that his house is close to forest area and none could notice the illegal cultivation of ganja.

A case has been registered under NDPS Act at Uppinangady police station.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangaluru/mangaluru-man-held-for-growing-ganja-in-his-backyard/articleshow/66479820.cms

There is too much of negative association between marijuana and crime in the minds of police officers worldwide. This has to be addressed right from the police selection and training stage where this prejudice is most likely being introduced. It needs to be very strongly emphasized that smoking marijuana does not imply criminal behavior.

'Their idea: Neighborhood groups would designate areas for adults to consume cannabis without risking arrest or run-ins with police, and also avoid exposing children or neighbors to unwanted smoke. The neighborhood would appoint residents to supervise, and police would stop by and ensure it’s being used as promised—that is, for consumption, not for dealing or other criminal activity. “It’s a way to move the drugs in the city to a more controlled area,” Guyton said, as well as a “postponement method, if you will, until the state’s attorney and the [police] commissioner can come together.”

Guyton and Gladden attempted to demonstrate that idea in early February. While residents and media turned out for the demo-protest, police, unsurprisingly, weren’t fans, and suppressed it with a contingent of officers placed across the street'
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/03/marijuana-laws-baltimore-police-weed-arrests-decriminalize/585406/

The California Police Chiefs Association, League of California Cities and United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council have set up a website that depicts wide-eyed children gesturing toward a pot delivery van outside a school. They are asking opponents to sign an online petition.'
https://apnews.com/c96f6fa9657c4b26a04459fe9d13c079/California-police-fight-statewide-marijuana-deliveries

'“From our perspective, we’ll be ready,” Grewal said of ongoing negotiations in Trenton over legalizing recreational marijuana. “We’re increasing training, trying to offer more classes. But it’s an intensive program.”

The program includes about two weeks of course work and a week of field training, he said.

State authorities have also changed how they train drug-sniffing dogs in anticipation of legal weed. The attorney general noted that state K9 units have stopped “imprinting” marijuana smell detection on new police dogs because of constitutional issues that would arise from an animal that can’t distinguish from legal and illegal drugs.'
https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2019/04/nj-still-hasnt-legalized-weed-but-heres-how-cops-are-getting-ready-for-it.html

200g of marijuana with a street price of maybe Rs 6000..does anyone see the cost that the system is incurring by focusing on these sort of issues..not to mention the trauma of the accused locked up for selling a herb which is consumed and worshiped by millions in India and increasingly legal in many parts of the world today...legalize it so that those who want to sell it can sell it to persons aged 21 and above, those who want to buy it can buy it and the law can turn its attention to addressing the more serious crimes affecting society today...

'We tested three easily-reared insect species that are well known for their sensitive detection of volatiles—the grapevine moth, hissing cockroach and western honeybee. The response profiles of isolated antennae presented with a spectrum of illicit drug substances differed in a species-dependent manner, with the honeybee antennae showing the most promising results, i.e. specific responses to the presence of heroin and cocaine but not to the commonly used cutting agent caffeine'
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128528

Self immolation in India...burning up our medicine, our sacred plant...I don't think any other plant has been killed as much as this plant has been...plant genocide...one day people will be tried and punished for this as a crime...

'Illegal marijuana plantations worth around Rs 15 crore were destroyed during joint raids by police and excise department in Kandhamal and Rayagada districts. In Kandhamal district the illegal ganja plantations were located in Phiringia police station area. The narcotics plants had been cultivated near remote villages like Kalipanga, Laijodi, Budadani and Kanidani. According to police sources, around 1.56 lakh mature marijuana plants were burnt down. As per an assessment it was worth around Rs 15 crore.

Apart from the excise and police officials of Kandhamal district, the intelligence wing of the excise department from Berhampur also took part in this raid to unearth illegal marijuana plantations. But no one was arrested.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/marijuana-plantations-worth-rs-15-cr-destroyed/article5366713.ece

It's more or less the same everywhere...it's predominantly minorities and the economically weaker sections associated with marijuana that are targeted to meet drug enforcement performance goals since marijuana is the poor man's refuge and he is perceived to be weak...criminals trade in high end stuff like weapons of war...

'The A.C.L.U. report said that one possible reason that the racial disparity in arrests remained despite shifting state policies toward the drug is that police practices are slow to change.

Federal programmes like the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program continue to provide incentives for racial profiling, the report said, by including arrest numbers in its performance measures when distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to local law enforcement each year.'
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/drug-arrests-that-uncover-the-racial-bias/article4785236.ece

It's time to re-look at the way we approach this. Things to do to address the problem 1) legalize ganja and treat it like any other regular commodity such as rice and vegetables 2) Decriminalize hard and potentially lethal drugs and regulate them like tobacco and alcohol 3) Address hard drug addiction as a social and health issue and move it out of the area of crime and law enforcement 4) Reallocate all existing narcotics control personnel to regular law enforcement, disaster management, fire safety, etc

'Both the NDC and the city police cite staff shortage as hindering efficiency in dealing with narcotics. An NDC official said of the 10 posts in the cell, only three had been filled. “There are no clerical staff. Of the four posts of head constable, only one has been filled. Posts of sub-inspector and constable post are vacant.

Recently, in a raid at Arsikere, the entire cell had to close office and go there,” said an official. For the city police, Commissioner Manish Karbikar said there was a need for dedicated manpower to tackle the “drug menace”. “Apart from IPC cases and law and order duties, the department, which suffers from shortage of staff, has to check for drugs. Specialised teams should be formed for this,” he said.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/are-police-equipped-to-tackle-drug-menace/article4381666.ece

'Saudino yielded to intense political pressure led by the governor himself and resigned shortly before 3 p.m., as did four undersheriffs, George Buono, Robert Colaneri, Brian Smith and Joseph Hornyak. He initially apologized for his remarks and refused to step down, but a 24-hour tidal wave of criticism from Democrats, Republicans and civil rights groups swept him and his top brass out of the Bergen County Sheriff's Office. '
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/2018/09/21/bergen-county-sheriff-michael-saudino-resigns/1382273002/

A wise Narcotics Control Board that's genuinely concerned about public health and not only securing its own position?

'The Narcotics Control Board also suggested the ruling National Council for Peace and Order use Section 44 – which gives the head of government the ability to override existing legislation and issue new laws at will – to create a law legalizing marijuana for medical purposes in Thailand.'
http://www.atimes.com/article/thais-push-to-legalize-marijuana-for-medical-purposes/

'Among the states last year, the maximum opium seizure was made from Punjab at 505.86 kg followed by Rajasthan at 426.95 kg. The maximum amount of heroin was seized in Gujarat at 1,017 kg followed by Punjab at 406 kg.'
https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/punjab-tops-country-in-opium-seizure-second-in-heroin-recovery-ncb-report/story-1BfQ1SX4p0WM4K7UIfE1PI.html

'Instead, the attorney general's office will issue guidance to New Jersey's local, municipal and county prosecutors informing them that while marijuana possession remains illegal, they may exercise discretion and decide not to prosecute some simple possession cases.'
https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/08/ag_will_soon_tell_prosecutors_they_dont_have_to_pr.html

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru...
https://www.deccanherald.com/city/odd-graffiti-house-wall-leads-688561.html

At American rates of 10$ per gram of ganja, that's 2 billion dollars worth seized in 2016. It was probably destroyed or found it's way back into the black market...$2 billion is Rs 14,000 crores per annum at current exchange rates not considering the cost of law enforcement..this is just a small fraction of the money involved, the tip of the iceberg..if ganja is legalized the revenues could be put to much better use for things like healthcare, education, infrastructure and supporting economically backward communities...

'In terms of volume, marijuana or ganja remains the most common drug seized at more than 2 lakh kg, according to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which collected the data on drugs seized across India in 2016 by various law-enforcement agencies.'
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/big-spike-in-use-of-party-drugs-shows-ncb-data/story-Gy99gDCj7Y7XR110iUWVgM.html

'Garneau says as long as they are on domestic flights, Canadians can bring up to 30 grams of marijuana with them once possession for personal use becomes legal.'
https://thestarphoenix.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/dont-take-pot-on-international-flights-transport-minister-warns/wcm/3cb0cc2d-9908-4e77-99d5-4d0f21a4cc3f?

'With regard to heroin, he said there was lot of adulteration. As it was mixed with too many chemicals in India, it was not much prevalent. According to him, it is ganja, heroin, marijuana and cocaine which are the illicit substances in use in the country.

“This is apart from pharmaceutical drugs, regarding which the agency has no idea of how much is being misused.”'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/drug-abuse-on-the-rise/article2137273.ece

After retirement might be a good time for some recreational marijuana ...sniffing out pleasure after work

'Even if marijuana legalization is putting some dogs out of a job, it’s not putting them on the street. Retired dogs typically go home with their handlers and spend the rest of their lives as pets.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/business/marijuana-legalization-police-dogs.html

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