'This may be to judge my neighbors harshly, for I believe that many of
them are not aware that they have such an institution as the jail in
their village.'
- Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings
on Nature and Liberty.
'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.”'
“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.”'
- NORML
'Under a government which imprisons any unjustly the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place today, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave and the Mexican prisoner on parole and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race should find them, on that separate, but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her - the only house in a slave state in which a free man can abide with honor. If any think that their influence would be lost there and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person. Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison or to give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose.'
- Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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.'
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.'
- Washington Post
The US has the highest rates of incarceration for cannabis, says a report. You can be sure that other nations worldwide are not too far behind. The UNODC World Drug Report 2020 says "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." In the US, if you are a colored person you are many more times likely to be arrested for cannabis, than if you are a white person. World wide, minorities, tribals, poor and indigenous people are many times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than the wealthy or people belonging to racially dominant groups. Global arrests have landed millions of people in prisons for long periods of time, either awaiting trial without access to bail, as legal systems slowly grind through the mountains of pending cases, or finally being served extremely harsh prison sentences meted out by the legal system based on absurd cannabis laws. In places like Singapore and the Middle East, the death sentence is a likely outcome.
Not only does the use of a traditional medicinal and recreational plant, naturally available worldwide for millions of years until the 19th century, land a person in prison, it also subsequently diminishes the person's chances of finding employment or educational support. The irony in many countries is that once in prison, individuals find that the usage rates of cannabis in prison is nearly the same, or even higher than outside, with active cooperation from prison officials. Sometimes persons with no criminal mindset end up spending long periods of time with hardened criminals, and come out of prison more likely to commit dangerous crimes like assault, murder, theft, extortion and financial fraud than when they went in. According to the Global Commission On Drugs -'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.' Also, quite often persons imprisoned undergo severe trauma, as well as physical and mental health issues.
The imprisoning of millions of persons worldwide for cannabis use, not only represents a gross violation of an individual's human rights, it is also a huge national burden with a country spending massive amounts of taxpayers money in using law enforcement to arrest the individual, bring him or her to trial, using the judicial system to conduct the trial process, and finally imprisoning the individual for long periods of time. Costs of housing, clothing and feeding the individual in prison are addition costs to the cost of the individual not contributing to the country's economic activity. All this is supported by the national exchequer and taxpayer's money. A recent report stated that New York City spent more than $440,000 per detainee in the year 2020. Prison institutions are known to work with law enforcement to keep significant numbers of persons in prisons, so as to get sizeable budget and resource allocations. The utilization of the time and resources of law enforcement, the judicial system and the prison system to punish cannabis users is a diversion of the legal system's focus from, and a delay in, bringing serious crime like violent crime, financial fraud, burglary and environmental crime to justice.
In the land that took cannabis prohibition to the global levels that it currently occupies, there has been a uniform chorus of voices from both Democratic and Republican parties in recent times asking for release of persons imprisoned for cannabis, as well as expungement of their past criminal records. In places where legalization for adult recreational use has been implemented, such as a number of US states, revenue from cannabis sales are being set aside to support these individuals, besides policies to give them first preference when issuing licenses for cannabis businesses. District attorneys in many US districts have started to turn down cannabis cases that in the past would have resulted in imprisonment. All this is, however, still only a small fraction of the total numbers of persons incarcerated for cannabis use. In most places worldwide, the recreational cannabis user, the medical cannabis user, the spiritual cannabis user, the grower and the seller are considered criminals and face serious jail time and a breakdown of normal life, sometimes even death, due to the unjust cannabis laws that exist today. Only when these laws are changed will this gross injustice towards humanity and the plant be corrected.
Not only does the use of a traditional medicinal and recreational plant, naturally available worldwide for millions of years until the 19th century, land a person in prison, it also subsequently diminishes the person's chances of finding employment or educational support. The irony in many countries is that once in prison, individuals find that the usage rates of cannabis in prison is nearly the same, or even higher than outside, with active cooperation from prison officials. Sometimes persons with no criminal mindset end up spending long periods of time with hardened criminals, and come out of prison more likely to commit dangerous crimes like assault, murder, theft, extortion and financial fraud than when they went in. According to the Global Commission On Drugs -'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.' Also, quite often persons imprisoned undergo severe trauma, as well as physical and mental health issues.
The imprisoning of millions of persons worldwide for cannabis use, not only represents a gross violation of an individual's human rights, it is also a huge national burden with a country spending massive amounts of taxpayers money in using law enforcement to arrest the individual, bring him or her to trial, using the judicial system to conduct the trial process, and finally imprisoning the individual for long periods of time. Costs of housing, clothing and feeding the individual in prison are addition costs to the cost of the individual not contributing to the country's economic activity. All this is supported by the national exchequer and taxpayer's money. A recent report stated that New York City spent more than $440,000 per detainee in the year 2020. Prison institutions are known to work with law enforcement to keep significant numbers of persons in prisons, so as to get sizeable budget and resource allocations. The utilization of the time and resources of law enforcement, the judicial system and the prison system to punish cannabis users is a diversion of the legal system's focus from, and a delay in, bringing serious crime like violent crime, financial fraud, burglary and environmental crime to justice.
In the land that took cannabis prohibition to the global levels that it currently occupies, there has been a uniform chorus of voices from both Democratic and Republican parties in recent times asking for release of persons imprisoned for cannabis, as well as expungement of their past criminal records. In places where legalization for adult recreational use has been implemented, such as a number of US states, revenue from cannabis sales are being set aside to support these individuals, besides policies to give them first preference when issuing licenses for cannabis businesses. District attorneys in many US districts have started to turn down cannabis cases that in the past would have resulted in imprisonment. All this is, however, still only a small fraction of the total numbers of persons incarcerated for cannabis use. In most places worldwide, the recreational cannabis user, the medical cannabis user, the spiritual cannabis user, the grower and the seller are considered criminals and face serious jail time and a breakdown of normal life, sometimes even death, due to the unjust cannabis laws that exist today. Only when these laws are changed will this gross injustice towards humanity and the plant be corrected.
Decriminalization of drug use is being discussed in many countries, with the emphasis on creating policies that treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal issue. This may serve the purposes for the users of dangerous synthetic drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. But the usage of cannabis is not even a health issue, let alone a criminal issue. Cannabis is a herb that is part of the culture of many societies world wide, comparable to the drinking of wine or beer or the smoking of a pipe of tobacco. With cannabis, the global drug policy must be complete legalization for all that are associated with it, be it the consumer, grower or seller. It must be treated like other natural herbs such as basil, parsley, etc., and the commonly used recreational drugs beer, wine and tobacco. Only then will it be accorded the correct legal status, and the crimes against the plant and its users end.
In addition to the imprisonment of cannabis users, we find, in many cases, that they are labelled as addicts and sent to rehabilitation centers for treatment, primarily by the law courts who work blindly putting on an appearance of social concern. It has been widely proven that cannabis is not an addictive substance like opioids, alcohol or tobacco, so labeling a cannabis user as an addict, in some cases for even a one time use, is a gross injustice. Far worse is that in a rehabilitation center the so-called cannabis addict is forced to use highly dangerous and addictive synthetic pharmaceutical medications, in the name of treatment, that leaves the person in a very bad state of health, and quite often results in early death. The nexus between law courts and rehabilitation centers for mutual financial benefit is not a rare phenomenon.
The world must work together to correct this global evil of cannabis prohibition, so that hundreds of millions of ordinary law abiding people can be released from prisons, and their convictions can be repealed. Immediate action must be taken by the UN, as well as all national authorities, to change the cannabis related drug laws that continue to perpetrate untold harm on vast numbers of people, and their families, especially the poor, minorities and indigenous people.
Related articles
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.'The Justice Department has published a proposed rule in the US Federal Register to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Cannabis has been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance since the creation of the Controlled Substances Act some 54 years ago. By definition, Schedule I substances possess “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use in treatment,” and “lack accepted safety … under medical supervision.”
The proposed rule seeks to “transfer marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III of the CSA, consistent with the view of the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use as well as HHS’s views about marijuana’s abuse potential and level of physical or psychological dependence.”
He [NORML's Armentano] concluded, “While NORML ultimately favors descheduling rather than rescheduling, we understand that reclassification is associated both symbolic and tangible benefits to the cannabis community, both in the short-term and the long-term.”
According to a slip opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, HHS’s recommendation to reclassify marijuana are not binding upon the US Drug Enforcement Administration. However, the agency “must continue to accord HHS’s scientific and medical determination significant deference” throughout the administrative process.
Historically, the agency has rejected every prior petition that sought to remove marijuana from Schedule I.'
https://norml.org/blog/2024/05/21/justice-department-publishes-proposed-rule-to-reclassify-cannabis-begins-accepting-public-comments/
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “This recommendation validates the experiences of tens of millions of Americans, as well as tens of thousands of physicians, who have long recognized that cannabis possesses legitimate medical utility. But it still falls well short of the changes necessary to bring federal marijuana policy into the 21st century. Specifically, the proposed change fails to harmonize federal marijuana policy with the cannabis laws of most U.S. states, particularly the 24 states that have legalized its use and sale to adults.”
Armentano added: “Nevertheless, as a first step forward, this policy change dramatically shifts the political debate surrounding cannabis. Specifically, it delegitimizes many of the tropes historically exploited by opponents of marijuana policy reform. Claims that cannabis poses unique harms to health, or that it’s not useful for treating chronic pain and other ailments, have now been rejected by the very federal agencies that formerly perpetuated them. Going forward, these specious allegations should be absent from any serious conversations surrounding cannabis and how to best regulate its use.”
NORML has long argued that the cannabis plant should be removed from the Controlled Substances Act altogether, thereby providing state governments — rather than the federal government — the ability to regulate marijuana in the manner they see fit without violating federal law, and allowing the federal government to provide standards and guidelines for regulated cannabis markets.
https://norml.org/blog/2024/05/16/white-house-endorses-marijuana-rescheduling-plan-says-cannabis-placement-as-a-schedule-i-substance-just-doesnt-add-up/
The daily use of 5mg of oral THC is associated with increased survival times in palliative cancer patients, according to data published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
German researchers evaluated the impact of THC dosing in a cohort of 9,419 advanced cancer patients enrolled in Specialized Palliative Outpatient Care (SAPC). SAPC offers team-based home care for patients with advanced and progressive diseases whose life expectancies are limited to days, weeks, or months.
Researchers reported that patients’ daily use of 4.7mg of THC was associated with significantly increased survival time, whereas lower doses were not.
The study’s authors concluded: “The data … show a significant impact of THC on survival in ambulatory palliative care patients [who] … use more than 4.7 mg/day. Median survival time was prolonged by 15 days – from survival time of 25 days without THC therapy to 40 days with a daily THC dose higher than 4.7 mg per day. This prolongation by more than two weeks can be considered substantial. In addition to mere survival, patients [treated] with THC become more mentally and physically active.… The increased activity and improved quality of life might enable the patients to renew social contact with relatives and friends and to settle essential affairs before dying.”
https://norml.org/news/2024/05/09/analysis-thc-dosing-associated-with-increased-survival-time-in-palliative-cancer-patients/
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has made a historic decision—agreeing with the top federal health agency and proposing to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department confirmed on Tuesday.
The decision comes more than 50 years after cannabis was first listed as a strictly prohibited drug, on par with heroin and defined as a substance with no known medical value and a significant abuse potential.
Moving marijuana to Schedule III, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also carries major implications for state-legal cannabis businesses. If it’s ultimately implemented, it will mean that marijuana firms can officially take federal tax deductions that they’ve been barred from under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/dea-agrees-to-reschedule-marijuana-under-federal-law-in-historic-move-following-biden-directed-health-agencys-recommendation/
An international team of investigators surveyed more than 1,000 German patients authorized to use medical cannabis. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as dronabinol, were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017.) Survey respondents obtained lab-tested cannabis flower from regional pharmacies. Potency of the most frequently used chemovar was 22 percent.
The overwhelming majority of patients surveyed reported medical cannabis to be effective at treating their symptoms. Patients reported no significant differences between chemovars, most of which were dominant in THC and low in CBD content. The most commonly reported side effects were dry mouth, increased appetite, and somnolence.
“Patients self-reported very good efficacy and tolerability [to] medical cannabis,” the study’s authors concluded.
Pharmaceutical-grade cannabis flower in Europe, Israel, and elsewhere typically contain THC levels of 20 percent or greater.
The study’s findings push back against claims that cannabis strains higher in THC pose unique risks to health or that there is an absence of research supporting the efficacy of medical cannabis chemovars above 10 percent THC.
https://norml.org/news/2024/04/25/survey-patients-report-improvements-few-serious-side-effects-following-use-of-high-thc-flower/
The FDA findings “reflect HHS’ evaluation of the scientific and medical evidence and its scheduling recommendation” to the Department of Justice, the health agency wrote in a statement on Friday, according to a report from CNN.
The FDA review determined that marijuana meets three criteria that support reclassification under Schedule III, noting that cannabis has a lower potential for abuse than other drugs in Schedule I and II, a medical use currently accepted in the United States and a low or moderate risk of physical dependence among people who use the drug. The National Institute on Drug Abuse agreed with the rescheduling recommendation.
The FDA review found that despite the “high prevalence of nonmedical use” of marijuana, the drug does not result in the significant negative outcomes of other controlled substances including cocaine, heroin and opioids.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2024/01/16/fda-review-finds-marijuana-eligible-for-less-strict-classification/
The U.S. government has released hundreds of pages of documents related to its ongoing review of marijuana’s status under federal law, officially confirming for the first time that health officials have recommended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) place cannabis in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The 252 pages of documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) explain that cannabis “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and has a “potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in Schedules I and II.”
Federal health officials said their review found that more than 30,000 healthcare professionals “across 43 U.S. jurisdictions are authorized to recommend the medical use of marijuana for more than six million registered patients for at least 15 medical conditions.”
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/feds-release-marijuana-documents-confirming-schedule-iii-recommendation-based-on-accepted-medical-use/
President Joe Biden directed the administrative review into marijuana scheduling about a year ago, and HHS spent 11 months carrying out a scientific assessment that ultimately concluded that cannabis should be moved to Schedule III of the CSA. The ball is now fully in DEA’s court, as the health agency’s scientific findings are binding, but the law enforcement agency can still choose to disregard their recommendation.
The former DEA administrators and directors of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said in the letter that DEA should do just that: ignore the scientific conclusions of HHS and refuse to proceed with a Schedule III reclassification.
They said that they are “gravely concerned” about the potential reform, arguing that “there has been no evidence that marijuana’s schedule should change” in the seven years since the federal government last considered a rescheduling petition.
“Schedule I drugs are those with no accepted medical use,” they wrote, adding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “has not approved marijuana for medical use because no double-blind, published studies show safety and efficacy for raw marijuana.”
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-rescheduling-would-supersize-the-industry-former-dea-heads-and-white-house-drug-czars-warn-biden-administration/
NORML declared in an email that "rescheduling is not enough," and in response to the letter, deputy director Paul Armentano said that "it will be very interesting to see how DEA responds to this recommendation, given the agency's historic opposition to any potential change in cannabis' categorization under federal law. Further, for decades, the agency has utilized its own five-factor criteria for assessing cannabis' placement in the CSA—criteria that as recently as 2016, the agency claimed that cannabis failed to meet. Since the agency has final say over any rescheduling decision, it is safe to say that this process still remains far from over."
Armentano argued that "the goal of any federal cannabis policy reform ought to be to address the existing, untenable chasm between federal marijuana policy and the cannabis laws of the majority of U.S. states," and rescheduling "fails to adequately address this conflict."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-marijuana-rescheduling
'In 1965, Timothy Leary (who would go on to be an advocate for psychedelics) was arrested for possession of cannabis while crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Leary argued that the Marihuana Tax Act required him to self-incriminate—registering for the act showed intent to possess marijuana, which would violate the fifth amendment. The US Supreme Court agreed with him in 1969 and struck down the Marihuana Tax Act.
However, with the loss of the Tax Act, President Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, setting up a framework for the federal regulation and criminalization of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act created five categories of drugs and classified cannabis under Schedule I—drugs considered dangerous with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and cocaine.
Nixon appointed former Pennsylvania Republican governor Raymond Shafer as the head of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse—later called “The Shafer Commission”—to review all research and literature on cannabis to correctly classify it in the Controlled Substances Act.
Shafer’s 1972 report debunked damaging myths about marijuana, found that the plant did not threaten society, and recommended decriminalizing the plant. Nixon ignored the report, and the plant stayed on Schedule I, where it remains today. '
https://www.leafly.com/learn/legalization/marijuana-illegal-history
Cannabis has been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance since the creation of the Controlled Substances Act some 54 years ago. By definition, Schedule I substances possess “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use in treatment,” and “lack accepted safety … under medical supervision.”
The proposed rule seeks to “transfer marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III of the CSA, consistent with the view of the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use as well as HHS’s views about marijuana’s abuse potential and level of physical or psychological dependence.”
He [NORML's Armentano] concluded, “While NORML ultimately favors descheduling rather than rescheduling, we understand that reclassification is associated both symbolic and tangible benefits to the cannabis community, both in the short-term and the long-term.”
According to a slip opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, HHS’s recommendation to reclassify marijuana are not binding upon the US Drug Enforcement Administration. However, the agency “must continue to accord HHS’s scientific and medical determination significant deference” throughout the administrative process.
Historically, the agency has rejected every prior petition that sought to remove marijuana from Schedule I.'
https://norml.org/blog/2024/05/21/justice-department-publishes-proposed-rule-to-reclassify-cannabis-begins-accepting-public-comments/
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “This recommendation validates the experiences of tens of millions of Americans, as well as tens of thousands of physicians, who have long recognized that cannabis possesses legitimate medical utility. But it still falls well short of the changes necessary to bring federal marijuana policy into the 21st century. Specifically, the proposed change fails to harmonize federal marijuana policy with the cannabis laws of most U.S. states, particularly the 24 states that have legalized its use and sale to adults.”
Armentano added: “Nevertheless, as a first step forward, this policy change dramatically shifts the political debate surrounding cannabis. Specifically, it delegitimizes many of the tropes historically exploited by opponents of marijuana policy reform. Claims that cannabis poses unique harms to health, or that it’s not useful for treating chronic pain and other ailments, have now been rejected by the very federal agencies that formerly perpetuated them. Going forward, these specious allegations should be absent from any serious conversations surrounding cannabis and how to best regulate its use.”
NORML has long argued that the cannabis plant should be removed from the Controlled Substances Act altogether, thereby providing state governments — rather than the federal government — the ability to regulate marijuana in the manner they see fit without violating federal law, and allowing the federal government to provide standards and guidelines for regulated cannabis markets.
https://norml.org/blog/2024/05/16/white-house-endorses-marijuana-rescheduling-plan-says-cannabis-placement-as-a-schedule-i-substance-just-doesnt-add-up/
The daily use of 5mg of oral THC is associated with increased survival times in palliative cancer patients, according to data published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
German researchers evaluated the impact of THC dosing in a cohort of 9,419 advanced cancer patients enrolled in Specialized Palliative Outpatient Care (SAPC). SAPC offers team-based home care for patients with advanced and progressive diseases whose life expectancies are limited to days, weeks, or months.
Researchers reported that patients’ daily use of 4.7mg of THC was associated with significantly increased survival time, whereas lower doses were not.
The study’s authors concluded: “The data … show a significant impact of THC on survival in ambulatory palliative care patients [who] … use more than 4.7 mg/day. Median survival time was prolonged by 15 days – from survival time of 25 days without THC therapy to 40 days with a daily THC dose higher than 4.7 mg per day. This prolongation by more than two weeks can be considered substantial. In addition to mere survival, patients [treated] with THC become more mentally and physically active.… The increased activity and improved quality of life might enable the patients to renew social contact with relatives and friends and to settle essential affairs before dying.”
https://norml.org/news/2024/05/09/analysis-thc-dosing-associated-with-increased-survival-time-in-palliative-cancer-patients/
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has made a historic decision—agreeing with the top federal health agency and proposing to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department confirmed on Tuesday.
The decision comes more than 50 years after cannabis was first listed as a strictly prohibited drug, on par with heroin and defined as a substance with no known medical value and a significant abuse potential.
Moving marijuana to Schedule III, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also carries major implications for state-legal cannabis businesses. If it’s ultimately implemented, it will mean that marijuana firms can officially take federal tax deductions that they’ve been barred from under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/dea-agrees-to-reschedule-marijuana-under-federal-law-in-historic-move-following-biden-directed-health-agencys-recommendation/
An international team of investigators surveyed more than 1,000 German patients authorized to use medical cannabis. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as dronabinol, were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017.) Survey respondents obtained lab-tested cannabis flower from regional pharmacies. Potency of the most frequently used chemovar was 22 percent.
The overwhelming majority of patients surveyed reported medical cannabis to be effective at treating their symptoms. Patients reported no significant differences between chemovars, most of which were dominant in THC and low in CBD content. The most commonly reported side effects were dry mouth, increased appetite, and somnolence.
“Patients self-reported very good efficacy and tolerability [to] medical cannabis,” the study’s authors concluded.
Pharmaceutical-grade cannabis flower in Europe, Israel, and elsewhere typically contain THC levels of 20 percent or greater.
The study’s findings push back against claims that cannabis strains higher in THC pose unique risks to health or that there is an absence of research supporting the efficacy of medical cannabis chemovars above 10 percent THC.
https://norml.org/news/2024/04/25/survey-patients-report-improvements-few-serious-side-effects-following-use-of-high-thc-flower/
The FDA findings “reflect HHS’ evaluation of the scientific and medical evidence and its scheduling recommendation” to the Department of Justice, the health agency wrote in a statement on Friday, according to a report from CNN.
The FDA review determined that marijuana meets three criteria that support reclassification under Schedule III, noting that cannabis has a lower potential for abuse than other drugs in Schedule I and II, a medical use currently accepted in the United States and a low or moderate risk of physical dependence among people who use the drug. The National Institute on Drug Abuse agreed with the rescheduling recommendation.
The FDA review found that despite the “high prevalence of nonmedical use” of marijuana, the drug does not result in the significant negative outcomes of other controlled substances including cocaine, heroin and opioids.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2024/01/16/fda-review-finds-marijuana-eligible-for-less-strict-classification/
The U.S. government has released hundreds of pages of documents related to its ongoing review of marijuana’s status under federal law, officially confirming for the first time that health officials have recommended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) place cannabis in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The 252 pages of documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) explain that cannabis “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and has a “potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in Schedules I and II.”
Federal health officials said their review found that more than 30,000 healthcare professionals “across 43 U.S. jurisdictions are authorized to recommend the medical use of marijuana for more than six million registered patients for at least 15 medical conditions.”
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/feds-release-marijuana-documents-confirming-schedule-iii-recommendation-based-on-accepted-medical-use/
President Joe Biden directed the administrative review into marijuana scheduling about a year ago, and HHS spent 11 months carrying out a scientific assessment that ultimately concluded that cannabis should be moved to Schedule III of the CSA. The ball is now fully in DEA’s court, as the health agency’s scientific findings are binding, but the law enforcement agency can still choose to disregard their recommendation.
The former DEA administrators and directors of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said in the letter that DEA should do just that: ignore the scientific conclusions of HHS and refuse to proceed with a Schedule III reclassification.
They said that they are “gravely concerned” about the potential reform, arguing that “there has been no evidence that marijuana’s schedule should change” in the seven years since the federal government last considered a rescheduling petition.
“Schedule I drugs are those with no accepted medical use,” they wrote, adding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “has not approved marijuana for medical use because no double-blind, published studies show safety and efficacy for raw marijuana.”
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-rescheduling-would-supersize-the-industry-former-dea-heads-and-white-house-drug-czars-warn-biden-administration/
NORML declared in an email that "rescheduling is not enough," and in response to the letter, deputy director Paul Armentano said that "it will be very interesting to see how DEA responds to this recommendation, given the agency's historic opposition to any potential change in cannabis' categorization under federal law. Further, for decades, the agency has utilized its own five-factor criteria for assessing cannabis' placement in the CSA—criteria that as recently as 2016, the agency claimed that cannabis failed to meet. Since the agency has final say over any rescheduling decision, it is safe to say that this process still remains far from over."
Armentano argued that "the goal of any federal cannabis policy reform ought to be to address the existing, untenable chasm between federal marijuana policy and the cannabis laws of the majority of U.S. states," and rescheduling "fails to adequately address this conflict."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-marijuana-rescheduling
'In 1965, Timothy Leary (who would go on to be an advocate for psychedelics) was arrested for possession of cannabis while crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Leary argued that the Marihuana Tax Act required him to self-incriminate—registering for the act showed intent to possess marijuana, which would violate the fifth amendment. The US Supreme Court agreed with him in 1969 and struck down the Marihuana Tax Act.
However, with the loss of the Tax Act, President Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, setting up a framework for the federal regulation and criminalization of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act created five categories of drugs and classified cannabis under Schedule I—drugs considered dangerous with no medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and cocaine.
Nixon appointed former Pennsylvania Republican governor Raymond Shafer as the head of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse—later called “The Shafer Commission”—to review all research and literature on cannabis to correctly classify it in the Controlled Substances Act.
Shafer’s 1972 report debunked damaging myths about marijuana, found that the plant did not threaten society, and recommended decriminalizing the plant. Nixon ignored the report, and the plant stayed on Schedule I, where it remains today. '
https://www.leafly.com/learn/legalization/marijuana-illegal-history
'Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday voted to decriminalize possession of marijuana for personal use, making the nation one of Latin America’s last to do so, in a move that could reduce its massive prison population.
With final votes cast on Tuesday, a majority of the justices on the 11-person court have voted in favor of decriminalization since deliberations began in 2015.
The justices must still determine the maximum quantity of marijuana that would be characterized as being for personal use and when the ruling will enter into effect. That is expected to finish as early as Wednesday.
All the justices who have voted in favor said decriminalization should be restricted to possession of marijuana in amounts suitable for personal use. Selling drugs will remain illegal.'
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-decriminalize-marijuana-personal-use-2ea6a00be557553df8f45676d960f141
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/
https://norml.org/news/2023/08/03/missouri-county-officials-expunge-over-70000-marijuana-convictions/
With final votes cast on Tuesday, a majority of the justices on the 11-person court have voted in favor of decriminalization since deliberations began in 2015.
The justices must still determine the maximum quantity of marijuana that would be characterized as being for personal use and when the ruling will enter into effect. That is expected to finish as early as Wednesday.
All the justices who have voted in favor said decriminalization should be restricted to possession of marijuana in amounts suitable for personal use. Selling drugs will remain illegal.'
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-decriminalize-marijuana-personal-use-2ea6a00be557553df8f45676d960f141
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/
https://norml.org/news/2023/08/03/missouri-county-officials-expunge-over-70000-marijuana-convictions/
'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/
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/
'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
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
While Biden’s mass pardon covers people who have committed non-violent federal cannabis possession offenses at the federal level and under Washington, D.C. law, it did not free anyone who is currently incarcerated and excludes people who were convicted of selling cannabis, among other groups that advocates would like to see get relief. And despite the president seemingly conflating pardons and expungements in his recent and prior remarks, those are two separate processes.
Cannabis reform activists have also expressed frustration that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has still not yet made available application forms for people who wish to obtain certificates demonstrating that they are covered by the pardon proclamation. Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer said in December that the online application would be posted “very soon,” but that has not yet happened.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/biden-highlights-marijuana-pardons-at-black-history-month-event/
Cannabis reform activists have also expressed frustration that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has still not yet made available application forms for people who wish to obtain certificates demonstrating that they are covered by the pardon proclamation. Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer said in December that the online application would be posted “very soon,” but that has not yet happened.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/biden-highlights-marijuana-pardons-at-black-history-month-event/
'“The absolute reduction in arrests among states with policy reform could have important implications for social equity. As noted, many argue that the severe consequences of possession convictions are more harmful than the health effects of cannabis use. Policy reform would not only reduce or eliminate monetary fines, but reduce court appearances, jail time, and probation, as well as the associated stigma. Further, with policy reform, steps could and should be taken to remedy cases in which individuals are currently serving time in jails or prisons because of possession arrests… Therefore, the short-term and long-term social equity effects of cannabis policy reform are widespread and multiplicative. Importantly, results suggest that these benefits will not be seen among states that do not implement any policy reform, as disparities in these states continue to increase.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/legalizing-marijuana-reduces-race-based-arrests-american-medical-association-study-finds/
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/legalizing-marijuana-reduces-race-based-arrests-american-medical-association-study-finds/
'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
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
'Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that his office will automatically dismiss nearly 60,000 past cannabis convictions, as part of the ongoing effort to remediate the harm done by the War on Drugs.
Gascón’s move follows the first wave of expungements carried out by his predecessor, Jackie Lacey, who dismissed 66,000 marijuana-related convictions last year.
Today’s announcement means that Los Angeles County has dismissed a total of roughly 125,000 past cannabis convictions. The expungements come roughly five years after California voters legalized the adult use of marijuana in Nov. 2016. '
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/los-angeles-county-dismisses-60000-more-cannabis-convictions
Gascón’s move follows the first wave of expungements carried out by his predecessor, Jackie Lacey, who dismissed 66,000 marijuana-related convictions last year.
Today’s announcement means that Los Angeles County has dismissed a total of roughly 125,000 past cannabis convictions. The expungements come roughly five years after California voters legalized the adult use of marijuana in Nov. 2016. '
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/los-angeles-county-dismisses-60000-more-cannabis-convictions
'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 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
'“As more states move toward the sensible policy of legalizing and regulating cannabis, we are seeing a decline in the arrest of non-violent marijuana consumers nationwide,” NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri told Marijuana Moment. “The fight for legalization is a fight for justice. While these numbers represent a historic decline in arrests, even one person being put into handcuffs for the simple possession of marijuana is too many.”
Despite the decline in cannabis busts, the new data shows that American law enforcement still carried out more arrests for marijuana alone last year than for murder, rape, robbery, burglary, fraud and embezzlement combined.'
Despite the decline in cannabis busts, the new data shows that American law enforcement still carried out more arrests for marijuana alone last year than for murder, rape, robbery, burglary, fraud and embezzlement combined.'
'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
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/
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/
'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
'The enactment of state-level, adult-use marijuana legalization laws is not associated with increases in either drug treatment admissions, violent crime, or overdose deaths, according to a comprehensive analysis published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
A team of economists reviewed nationally representative data across all 50 states and the District of Columbia to “comprehensively explore the broader impacts of RMLs [recreational marijuana laws], providing some of the first evidence on how marijuana legalization is affecting illicit drug use, heavy alcohol use, arrests for drug and non-drug offenses, and objectively-measured adverse drug-related events including drug-related overdose deaths and admissions into substance abuse treatment services.”'
https://norml.org/news/2021/07/22/analysis-adult-use-legalization-laws-not-linked-to-increases-in-violent-crime-problematic-substance-abuse
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
'The enactment of state-level, adult-use marijuana legalization laws is not associated with increases in either drug treatment admissions, violent crime, or overdose deaths, according to a comprehensive analysis published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
A team of economists reviewed nationally representative data across all 50 states and the District of Columbia to “comprehensively explore the broader impacts of RMLs [recreational marijuana laws], providing some of the first evidence on how marijuana legalization is affecting illicit drug use, heavy alcohol use, arrests for drug and non-drug offenses, and objectively-measured adverse drug-related events including drug-related overdose deaths and admissions into substance abuse treatment services.”'
https://norml.org/news/2021/07/22/analysis-adult-use-legalization-laws-not-linked-to-increases-in-violent-crime-problematic-substance-abuse
'The nation’s top doctor said on Sunday that it’s time to stop incarcerating people for marijuana use.
“When it comes to decriminalization, I don’t think that there is value to individuals or to society to lock people up for marijuana use,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a CNN appearance. “I don’t think that serves anybody well.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/surgeon-general-says-stop-locking-people-up-for-marijuana/
“When it comes to decriminalization, I don’t think that there is value to individuals or to society to lock people up for marijuana use,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a CNN appearance. “I don’t think that serves anybody well.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/surgeon-general-says-stop-locking-people-up-for-marijuana/
'Nearly 88,000 marijuana convictions and pending cases have been vacated or dismissed since July 1, 2021, the New Jersey Judiciary announced on Monday.
These are the first of up to 360,000 cases and convictions that are eligible for vacation, dismissal and automatic expungement “in the coming months.”
The actions by the courts follow a state Supreme Court order that “provides for the dismissal, vacating, and expungement of certain marijuana and hashish cases involving offenses enumerated in the Marijuana Decriminalization Law” which took effect on July 1.'
https://norml.org/blog/2021/07/13/new-jersey-courts-vacate-almost-88000-marijuana-cases/
'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
These are the first of up to 360,000 cases and convictions that are eligible for vacation, dismissal and automatic expungement “in the coming months.”
The actions by the courts follow a state Supreme Court order that “provides for the dismissal, vacating, and expungement of certain marijuana and hashish cases involving offenses enumerated in the Marijuana Decriminalization Law” which took effect on July 1.'
https://norml.org/blog/2021/07/13/new-jersey-courts-vacate-almost-88000-marijuana-cases/
'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
'With millions of black ex-felons unable to vote because of their marijuana possession convictions, the status quo is rightly called "the New Jim Crow."
Thankfully, in the last few years states are recognizing the built-in racism in this prohibition. They are working to ensure that communities of color, having paid the dearest price for our war on marijuana, are the first to see the benefits of the newly legalized market, and that portions of the tax revenue raised from new cannabis sales are reinvested in the communities most ravaged by our War on Drugs. We also need to clear the records of people with marijuana convictions, something the governors of Illinois and Washington have made a priority. '
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/30/opinions/its-time-to-legalize-marijuana-rick-steves/index.html
Thankfully, in the last few years states are recognizing the built-in racism in this prohibition. They are working to ensure that communities of color, having paid the dearest price for our war on marijuana, are the first to see the benefits of the newly legalized market, and that portions of the tax revenue raised from new cannabis sales are reinvested in the communities most ravaged by our War on Drugs. We also need to clear the records of people with marijuana convictions, something the governors of Illinois and Washington have made a priority. '
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/30/opinions/its-time-to-legalize-marijuana-rick-steves/index.html
'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/
'It was formerly the customs in our village, when a poor debtor came out of jail, for his acquaintances to salute him, looking through their fingers, which were crossed to represent the grating of a jail window, "How do ye do?" My neighbors did not thus salute me, but first looked at me, and then at one another, as if I had returned from a long journey. I was put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let out the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand and, having put on my mended shoe, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour - for the horse was soon tackled - was in the midst of a huckleberry field on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.
This is the whole history of "My Prisons."'
- Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
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/
'It was formerly the customs in our village, when a poor debtor came out of jail, for his acquaintances to salute him, looking through their fingers, which were crossed to represent the grating of a jail window, "How do ye do?" My neighbors did not thus salute me, but first looked at me, and then at one another, as if I had returned from a long journey. I was put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let out the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand and, having put on my mended shoe, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour - for the horse was soon tackled - was in the midst of a huckleberry field on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.
This is the whole history of "My Prisons."'
- Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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/
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
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/
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=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
http://indianexpress.com/?s=ganja
http://indianexpress.com/?s=cannabis
http://indianexpress.com/?s=marijuana
'The reporter pushed back, noting that moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act, as Biden is proposing, wouldn’t facilitate mass clemency given that being convicted for crimes related to drugs in that slightly lower category—which currently includes cocaine—also carries significant penalties.
“It addresses things moving forward, though, which is important and important to many advocates,” Psaki argued.
But advocates don’t really see it that way. For one, they support descheduling marijuana entirely. But when it comes to the relationship between scheduling and sentencing, moving cannabis to Schedule II would in no way fulfill Biden’s 2019 campaign pledge, when he said, “I think everyone—anyone who has a record—should be let out of jail, their records expunged, be completely zeroed out” for marijuana convictions.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/biden-press-secretary-misstates-marijuana-reschedulings-impact-for-federal-prisoners-who-want-clemency/
“It addresses things moving forward, though, which is important and important to many advocates,” Psaki argued.
But advocates don’t really see it that way. For one, they support descheduling marijuana entirely. But when it comes to the relationship between scheduling and sentencing, moving cannabis to Schedule II would in no way fulfill Biden’s 2019 campaign pledge, when he said, “I think everyone—anyone who has a record—should be let out of jail, their records expunged, be completely zeroed out” for marijuana convictions.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/biden-press-secretary-misstates-marijuana-reschedulings-impact-for-federal-prisoners-who-want-clemency/
'“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/
https://lawandcrime.com/drug-policy/marijuana-and-racial-justice-advocates-call-on-biden-to-issue-categorical-pardon-grants-to-non-violent-cannabis-offenders/
'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
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
'Criminal justice reform makes sense and allowing non-violent cannabis charges to be expunged is a good first step. Expungement — the actual deleting of a criminal record — must be automatic to be effective. Federal-only automatic expungement would be nice, but the vast majority of cannabis arrests occur at the state level. Automatic expungement at the federal and state levels must occur. Once it does occur, however, expungement will be a boost to the U.S. economy as a whole. Why is that? Because a lot of people are cut out of jobs because they got arrested for cannabis. More availability in the labor pool is good for the U.S. economy.'
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-markets-cannabis-knowledge-is-flawed-and-post-debate-market-activity-proves-it-2020-10
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-markets-cannabis-knowledge-is-flawed-and-post-debate-market-activity-proves-it-2020-10
'In 1994, he was arrested for selling three pounds of marijuana to an informant. He was charged on two drug dealing charges, as well as three weapons charges related to guns found in his home.
His advocates say some belonged to his wife, one was an antique, and none were on his person at the time of the exchange.
But because Thompson had a prior record, he was not allowed to own guns, and his record also made Thompson subject to Michigan’s “habitual offender” statute. Convicted at the height of the tough-on-crime era of the 1990s, Thompson received a sentence that could stretch across six decades.
He has so far served 23 years of that sentence, which dictated that he would not have been eligible for parole until the year 2038.'
https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/10/michigan-prisoner-serving-40-year-sentence-on-marijuana-related-charges-receives-parole-board-hearing.html
His advocates say some belonged to his wife, one was an antique, and none were on his person at the time of the exchange.
But because Thompson had a prior record, he was not allowed to own guns, and his record also made Thompson subject to Michigan’s “habitual offender” statute. Convicted at the height of the tough-on-crime era of the 1990s, Thompson received a sentence that could stretch across six decades.
He has so far served 23 years of that sentence, which dictated that he would not have been eligible for parole until the year 2038.'
https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/10/michigan-prisoner-serving-40-year-sentence-on-marijuana-related-charges-receives-parole-board-hearing.html
'Results
With just one exception, we find that both Black and Indigenous people are over-represented amongst those arrested for cannabis possession across the five cities examined.
Conclusions
Canadian cannabis legalization lacks measures to redress the racialized harms caused by the war on drugs because the full extent of these harms remains largely unknown. Broader collection and dissemination of disaggregated criminal justice data is needed in the Canadian context in order to inform criminal justice and social policy.'
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395920302760
With just one exception, we find that both Black and Indigenous people are over-represented amongst those arrested for cannabis possession across the five cities examined.
Conclusions
Canadian cannabis legalization lacks measures to redress the racialized harms caused by the war on drugs because the full extent of these harms remains largely unknown. Broader collection and dissemination of disaggregated criminal justice data is needed in the Canadian context in order to inform criminal justice and social policy.'
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395920302760
'As states across the country decriminalize and legalize the use of cannabis, the rapid growth of the cannabis industry is largely enjoyed solely by white Americans. Though cannabis use is similar across race, Black Americans are 3.7 times more likely than white people to be arrested for possession. It is crucial that people who have previously been convicted of a cannabis-related offense also enjoy the benefits afforded by decriminalization.
This toolkit provides three plausible legal routes — expungement, sealing, and vacating — one can take to begin repairing the consequences of marijuana-related records on vulnerable communities.
Varying state laws, immigration consequences, and the expense of record expungement are all things that must be considered when determining the best strategy for either expunging, sealing, or vacating records.
Over the past few years, significant progress has been made to address the expungement of certain cannabis-related convictions. States like Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, and Washington, among others, have voted to authorize record relief for cannabis offenses. New Jersey, Illinois, and New York have authorized automatic processes. We encourage everyone to explore creative options within your own jurisdictions. We also encourage advocates to help uplift the importance of automatic expungement within states. The Expungement Now: A Post-Conviction Toolkit for Attorneys and Advocates, provides messaging tools, facts, sample tweets, and tips for writing and placing an op-ed in a local newspaper to assist local advocates who seek reform.'
https://lawyerscommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Expungement-Now-Toolkit-FINAL.pdf
This toolkit provides three plausible legal routes — expungement, sealing, and vacating — one can take to begin repairing the consequences of marijuana-related records on vulnerable communities.
Varying state laws, immigration consequences, and the expense of record expungement are all things that must be considered when determining the best strategy for either expunging, sealing, or vacating records.
Over the past few years, significant progress has been made to address the expungement of certain cannabis-related convictions. States like Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, and Washington, among others, have voted to authorize record relief for cannabis offenses. New Jersey, Illinois, and New York have authorized automatic processes. We encourage everyone to explore creative options within your own jurisdictions. We also encourage advocates to help uplift the importance of automatic expungement within states. The Expungement Now: A Post-Conviction Toolkit for Attorneys and Advocates, provides messaging tools, facts, sample tweets, and tips for writing and placing an op-ed in a local newspaper to assist local advocates who seek reform.'
https://lawyerscommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Expungement-Now-Toolkit-FINAL.pdf
'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/
“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/
'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
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
'Another interesting Playboy ad featured a caricature of Queen Victoria sitting on a throne, smoking a joint, with the headline “Last year 300,000 Americans were arrested for smoking an herb that Queen Victoria used regularly for menstrual cramps”, an obscure fact that is well documented.'
https://norml.org/blog/2020/08/13/a-founder-looks-at-50-you-bet-i-did-and-i-enjoyed-it/
https://norml.org/blog/2020/08/13/a-founder-looks-at-50-you-bet-i-did-and-i-enjoyed-it/
' - Despite a dramatic nationwide increase in the use and acceptance of cannabis, both federal and state policies have been slow to address long-standing inequities in cannabis regulation.
- Despite 26 million regular cannabis consumers in the U.S. (and 70% of adults reporting cannabis use as morally acceptable), prohibition enforcement continues apace, with over 600,000 annual arrests for cannabis-related offenses.
- Nationally, Blacks are nearly 4x more likely to be arrested as suspects than are Whites.
- Even as total arrests fall drastically in states legalizing adult use (e.g., more than 90% in Colorado) disparities in cannabis-related arrests persist.
- Post-legalization, challenges remain in ensuring equitable participation in the industry.
- Critical lack of access to bank loans means that Black households (which average a net worth 10x lower than that of respective White households) are far less likely to fund business opportunities in the industry.'
https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/weeding-out-injustice/
- Despite 26 million regular cannabis consumers in the U.S. (and 70% of adults reporting cannabis use as morally acceptable), prohibition enforcement continues apace, with over 600,000 annual arrests for cannabis-related offenses.
- Nationally, Blacks are nearly 4x more likely to be arrested as suspects than are Whites.
- Even as total arrests fall drastically in states legalizing adult use (e.g., more than 90% in Colorado) disparities in cannabis-related arrests persist.
- Post-legalization, challenges remain in ensuring equitable participation in the industry.
- Critical lack of access to bank loans means that Black households (which average a net worth 10x lower than that of respective White households) are far less likely to fund business opportunities in the industry.'
https://newfrontierdata.com/cannabis-insights/weeding-out-injustice/
'Upon release, women face stigma in the community because of their drug use and incarceration, resulting in an even greater challenge for them to access the health-care and social services that they need, such as housing and employment services. They may therefore end up in a situation of social isolation and social exclusion, leaving them to continue living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage and inequality. In particular, incarcerated women re-entering the community also need to navigate between both the relationships that put them at risk for either drug use or criminality and the relationships that they will rely on for support after their release. This is complicated by the fact that the only relationships that they may have could have been those contributing, in the first place, to their problems, including drug use, mental health issues or criminality'
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
'"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
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
'Women in prison may also have a long history of abuse and mental health issues. For example, women charged with drug-related offences often suffer from substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders and a history of physical and sexual abuse. Also, research shows that many women arrested for drug-related offences, in particular drug trafficking, have been victims of trafficking in persons or sex trafficking and forced to carry drugs. However, while in prison, few women are provided with the healthcare services necessary to address their drug use disorders, other co-morbidities or reproductive health issues. In addition, women prisoners may suffer particular emotional and mental health consequences resulting from the disruption of family ties, as they are more likely to be incarcerated a greater distance from home than are men, which has a particularly harmful impact on mothers and their prospects of resettlement'
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
'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
'Data show that, after cannabis, the drug for which the most people are brought into contact with the criminal justice system is the drug that dominates the market in a particular region. In Asia in particular, ATS are the major drug group for which people are brought into contact with the criminal justice system, most likely as a result of the wide use and trafficking of methamphetamine in the region. For both males and females, offences related to ATS are predominant among those brought into contact with the criminal justice system for possession for personal use. In the case of trafficking, the data show different patterns for men and women. Among those brought into contact with the criminal justice system for drug trafficking in Asia, for those who are men, ATS, opioids and cannabis account for similar proportions of cases (each drug group accounts for about a third of cases), while for women, ATS account for 60 per cent of cases, followed by opioids (which account for a third). Cocaine-related offences are particularly prevalent in the Americas, reflecting the extent of cocaine supply and trafficking in the region. Among those brought into contact with the criminal justice system for drug trafficking in the Americas, cocaine accounts for about 40 per cent, with similar proportions of men and women.'
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
'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
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_6.pdf
- '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)'
'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
'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/
'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/
“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/
'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/
'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
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
'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
'We also summarise the evidence relating to our current cannabis laws, to show what the impacts of maintaining the status quo might be. For example, the life-long collateral consequences of a drug conviction have detrimental social outcomes on individuals, whanau, and communities. Maori are disproportionately impacted by cannabis-related arrests and convictions and – despite recent changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 that affirm police discretion to take a health-oriented approach – this is unlikely to change while cannabis remains illegal.
The impacts of legalising cannabis are wide-ranging, including changes to social outcomes, public health outcomes and criminal justice. There may be some outcomes people haven’t yet considered, and we hope that having accessible information from trusted sources helps New Zealanders in their decision-making process.'
https://twitter.com/ChiefSciAdvisor/status/1280276739839496192
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
'We also summarise the evidence relating to our current cannabis laws, to show what the impacts of maintaining the status quo might be. For example, the life-long collateral consequences of a drug conviction have detrimental social outcomes on individuals, whanau, and communities. Maori are disproportionately impacted by cannabis-related arrests and convictions and – despite recent changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 that affirm police discretion to take a health-oriented approach – this is unlikely to change while cannabis remains illegal.
The impacts of legalising cannabis are wide-ranging, including changes to social outcomes, public health outcomes and criminal justice. There may be some outcomes people haven’t yet considered, and we hope that having accessible information from trusted sources helps New Zealanders in their decision-making process.'
https://twitter.com/ChiefSciAdvisor/status/1280276739839496192
'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
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
'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
'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/
'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
'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
'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/
“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/
'I meet this American government, or its representative, the state government, directly and face to face once a year - no more - in the person of its taxgatherer; this is the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily meets it; and it then says distinctly, "Recognize me"; and the simplest, most effectual, and, in the present posture of affairs, the indispensablest mode of treating with it on this head, of expressing your little satisfaction with and love for it, is to deny it then. My civil neighbour, the taxgatherer, is the very man I have to deal with - for it is, after all, with men and not with the parchment that I quarrel - and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government. How shall he ever know well what he is and does as an officer of the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether he shall treat me, his neighbour, for whom he has respect, as a neighbour and well-disciplined man or as a maniac and disturber of the peace, and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighbourliness without a ruder and more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action. I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I can name - if ten honest men only - aye, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be; what is once well done is done forever. But we love better to talk about it; that we say is our mission. Reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man. If my esteemed neighbour, the State's ambassador, who will devote his days to the settlement of the question of human rights in the Council Chamber instead of being threatened with the prisons of Carolina, were to sit down the prisoner of Massachusetts, that State which is so anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister - though at present she can discover only an act of inhospitality to be the ground of her quarrel with her - the Legislature would not wholly waive the subject the following winter.' - Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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
'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
'The cure at Lexington is not designed to keep the addicts comfortable. It starts at one-quarter of a grain of M[orphine] three times a day and lasts eight days-the preparation now used is a synthetic morphine called dolophine. After eight days, you get a send-off shot and go over in "population." There you recieve barbiturates for three nights and that is the end of medication.
For a man with a heavy habit, this is a very rough schedule. I was lucky, in that I came in sick, so the amount given in the cure was sufficient to fix me. The sicker you are and the longer you have been without junk, the smaller the amount necessary to fix you.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
'The purpose of this systematic review was to explore available peer-reviewed evidence related to the use of cannabis as a potential alternative to opioids in the treatment of chronic pain. The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice model was used to review 32 peer-reviewed articles published between 2008 and 2018. Findings suggest cannabis as a promising alternative to opioids and supports the medical use of cannabis as a safer first-line pharmacological treatment for chronic pain compared to opioids. The use of cannabis as a safer alternative to opioids can promote social change directly and indirectly across a variety of social and economic dimensions due to increased access to medication at reduced cost, elimination of opioid-related death due to overdose, diminished individual and social harms related to cannabis. A medical alternative to opioids may also lead to a reduction of the inequitable incarceration of cannabis users across demographic categories of ethnicity and race.'
https://search.proquest.com/openview/a69d6774a45ea04c630c10a84ea2cc8e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
'It was like traveling into a far country, such as I had never expected to behold, to lie there for one night. It seemed to me that I never had heard the town clock strike before, nor the evening sounds of the village; for we slept with the windows open, which were inside the grating. It was to see my native village in the light of the Middle Ages, and our Concorde was turned into a Rhine stream, and visions of knights and castles passed before me. They were the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I was an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village inn - a wholly new and rare experience to me. It was a closer view of my native town. I was fairly inside of it. I never had seen its institutions before. This is one of its peculiar institutions; for it is a shire town. I began to comprehend what its inhabitants were about.
In the morning, our breakfasts were put through the hole in the door, in small oblong-square pans, made to fit, and holding a pint of chocolate, with brown bread, and an iron spoon. When they called for the vessels again, I was green enough to return what bread I had left; but my comrade seized it, and said that I should lay that up for lunch or dinner. Soon after he was let out to work at haying in a neighboring field, whither he went every day and would not be back till noon; so he bade me good day, saying that he doubted if he would see me again.' - Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
In the morning, our breakfasts were put through the hole in the door, in small oblong-square pans, made to fit, and holding a pint of chocolate, with brown bread, and an iron spoon. When they called for the vessels again, I was green enough to return what bread I had left; but my comrade seized it, and said that I should lay that up for lunch or dinner. Soon after he was let out to work at haying in a neighboring field, whither he went every day and would not be back till noon; so he bade me good day, saying that he doubted if he would see me again.' - Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'Where data are available, they show a steady decline in the use of NPS in Europe, but such substances have established themselves in some marginalized groups in society, such as the homeless or people in prison, among whom the smoking of synthetic cannabinoids has been identified as a problem. In Europe, the use of NPS in prisons was reported by 22 countries, with synthetic cannabinoids identified as posing the main challenge and health risks (16 countries), whereas the use of synthetic cathinones in prisons was reported by 10 countries, NPS with opioid effects by six, and new benzodiazepines by four countries. In Latvia, the use of synthetic opioids in prisons has also been linked to an increase in overdose cases and in injecting drugs and sharing needles among prisoners who use drugs.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'When I came out of prison - for some one interfered and paid that tax - I did not perceive that great changes had taken place on the common, such as he observed who went in a youth and emerged a tottering and gray-headed man; and yet a change had to my eyes come over the scene - the town and State and country - greater than any that mere time could effect. I saw yet more distinctly the State in which I lived. I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends: that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions, as the Chinamen and Malays are; that in their sacrifices to humanity they ran no risks, not even to their property; that after all they were not so noble but they treated the thief as he had treated them, and hoped, by a certain outward observance and a few prayers and by walking in a particular straight though useless path from time to time, to save their souls. This may be to judge my neighbors harshly, for I believe that many of them are not aware that they have such an institution as the jail in their village.' - Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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
'More than 15,000 people who were convicted for low-level marijuana possession in Nevada have been automatically pardoned under a resolution from the governor that was unanimously approved by the state’s Board of Pardons Commissioners on Wednesday.
The measure extends unconditional clemency to individuals with possession convictions of up to one ounce from January 1986 to January 2017. It was introduced to the board by Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) last week.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/nevada-pardons-more-than-15000-people-with-marijuana-convictions-under-governors-resolution/
'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
'John Knock, now 72 years old, has been in custody and already served 24 years towards his interminable bit of two life sentences plus twenty years for his first offense and involvement in a non-violent marijuana distribution conspiracy. Those draconian sentences were handed down in the year 2000 by the District Court of the Northern District of Florida. Since those harsh sentences were handed down, 33 states have legalized the sale of cannabis in some form and 11 states and the District of Columbia have legalized it’s adult-use.'
https://blog.norml.org/2020/04/02/life-for-pot-why-relief-is-needed-for-incarcerated-cannabis-offenders/
'The upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines during acute stress has, moreover, been observed among the lonelier participants of a study involving healthy adults and breast cancer survivors, implying immune system dysregulation. Loneliness may also predict subsequent depressive symptomatology that cannot be attributed to other parameters. Solitary confinement or disciplinary isolation is a penal tool used in the prison system of the U.S. and other countries against the most violent of the inmates. Segregated individuals display higher levels of mental distress compared to the rest of the general prisoner population and manifest a wide range of psychiatric symptoms ranging from anxiety, panic attacks, and depression, to psychotic symptoms, self-mutilation, or even suicide. Another part of isolated inmates become even more violent after this punitive measure. These detrimental effects of disciplinary segregation have led in the U.S. to calls for the reform of solitary confinement, especially for juvenile offenders, given the irreversible damage that can be caused on their still developing brains. A lack of social support is considered a major risk factor for PTSD following traumatic events, while the presence of social support seems to influence symptom severity and recovery. '
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7139956/
'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
'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
'Cannabis arrests accounted for 43 percent of all drug arrests in 2018, the most recent year the report covers, and an overwhelming majority of those arrests—89.6 percent—were for possession alone.
Overall, black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though usage rates are comparable. The trend toward legalization and decriminalization hasn’t reduced national trends in disparate enforcement—and in some parts of the country, they have worsened.
African Americans are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession in every single state in the country.'
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2020/04/20/on-420-aclu-highlights-racist-marijuana-enforcement-in-new-report/#7b25e6dd7487
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/
'He occupied one window and I the other; and I saw that, if one stayed there long, his principal business would be to look out the window. I had soon read all the tracts that were left there, and examined where former prisoners had broken out, and were a grate had been sawed off, and heard the history of the various occupants of that room; for I found that even here there was a history and a gossip which never circulated beyond the walls of the jail. Probably this is the only house in the town where verses are composed which are afterward printed in a circular form, but not published. I was shown quite a long list of verses which were composed by some young men who had been detected in an attempt to escape, who avenged themselves by singing them.' - Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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
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."
"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
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
'“It is testament to the collaboration between the justice partners in
this county to get the point where the people deserving of this relief
will be able to get it so effectively,” said Geffon.
Two years ago, Californians passed Proposition 64 into law. Under it, the use and cultivation of specified amounts of marijuana are legal. Defendants previously convicted of possession, cultivation, possession for sale, and the sale of marijuana can have their cases wiped from their records.
“For some of these people, their convictions were as old as 50 years. Many of these people have been waiting for years to remove them from their records conducts which is now socially acceptable,” said James Courtman, a representative from the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office.'
https://www.ktvu.com/news/thousands-of-marijuana-convictions-in-santa-clara-county-expunged
'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
Two years ago, Californians passed Proposition 64 into law. Under it, the use and cultivation of specified amounts of marijuana are legal. Defendants previously convicted of possession, cultivation, possession for sale, and the sale of marijuana can have their cases wiped from their records.
“For some of these people, their convictions were as old as 50 years. Many of these people have been waiting for years to remove them from their records conducts which is now socially acceptable,” said James Courtman, a representative from the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office.'
https://www.ktvu.com/news/thousands-of-marijuana-convictions-in-santa-clara-county-expunged
'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
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
'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 night in prison was novel and interesting enough. The prisoners in their shirt sleeves were enjoying a chat and the evening air in the doorway, when I entered. But the jailer said, "Come, boys, it is time to lock up"; and so they dispersed, and I heard the sound of their steps returning into the hollow apartments. My roommate was introduced to me by the jailer as "a first-rate fellow and a clever man." When the door was locked, he showed me where to hang my hat and how he managed matters there. The rooms were whitewashed once a month; and this one, at least, was the whitest, most simply furnished, and probably the neatest apartment in the town. He naturally wanted to know where I came from, and what brought me there; and, when I had told him, I asked him in my turn how he came there, presuming him to be a honest man, of course; and, as the world goes, I believe he was. "Why," said he, "they accuse me of burning a barn; but I never did it." As near as I could discover, he had probably gone to bed in a barn when drunk and smoked his pipe there, and so a barn was burned. He had the reputation of being a clever man, had been there some three months waiting for his trial to come on, and would have to wait as much longer; but he was quite domesticated and contented, since he got his board for nothing and thought that he was well treated.' - Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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
'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
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
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/hyderabad/200-kg-cannabis-seized-in-aps-krishna-district-2-arrested/videoshow/71562085.cms
'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
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/hyderabad/200-kg-cannabis-seized-in-aps-krishna-district-2-arrested/videoshow/71562085.cms
'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
'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
'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
- 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'
'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
Happy Ganja Day to the lovers, friends and supporters of the divine herb. As we celebrate this day, let us not forget the millions who are imprisoned or face criminal action because of their association with the herb and its current worldwide illegal status. Let us not forget the millions who continue to suffer from physical and mental conditions and their lack of access to the medicinal properties of the plant. Let us not forget the millions who are addicted to heroin, methamphetamine, prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, novel psychoactive substances, synthetic cannabinoids and other dangerous substances without access to the natural, recreational herb. Let us hope that the opponents of the herb find reason and understanding in the coming days. Let us also look forward to the fast approaching inevitable day when the herb is finally free once again and available to every living being worldwide as it was always meant to be.
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
Happy Ganja Day to the lovers, friends and supporters of the divine herb. As we celebrate this day, let us not forget the millions who are imprisoned or face criminal action because of their association with the herb and its current worldwide illegal status. Let us not forget the millions who continue to suffer from physical and mental conditions and their lack of access to the medicinal properties of the plant. Let us not forget the millions who are addicted to heroin, methamphetamine, prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, novel psychoactive substances, synthetic cannabinoids and other dangerous substances without access to the natural, recreational herb. Let us hope that the opponents of the herb find reason and understanding in the coming days. Let us also look forward to the fast approaching inevitable day when the herb is finally free once again and available to every living being worldwide as it was always meant to be.
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
'Under a government which imprisons any unjustly the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place today, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave and the Mexican prisoner on parole and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race should find them, on that separate, but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her - the only house in a slave state in which a free man can abide with honor. If any think that their influence would be lost there and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person. Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison or to give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were to not pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peacable revolution, if any such is possible. If the taxgatherer or any other public officer asks me, as one has done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If your really wish to do anything, resign your office." When the subject has refused allegiance and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood should flow. Is there not a sort of bloodshed when the conscience is wounded? Through this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flows out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now.'- Civil Disobedience, Henry D Thoreau, Selected Writings on Nature and Liberty.
'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
'Hypocrisy in our time is supported by two things - pseudo-religion
and pseudo-science - and has reached such colossal dimensions that were
we not living in the midst of it, it would be impossible to believe,
that men could reach such a degree of self-deception. They have now
reached such a strange condition and their hearts are so hardened that
though they have eyes they see not, and having ears they hear not,
neither do they understand.
Men have long been living in antagonism with their conscience. If it were not for hypocrisy they could not continue to do so. Their present arrangement of life in opposition to their conscience only exists because it is masked by hypocrisy.
And the more the divergence between reality and men's conscience increases, the more is that hypocrisy extended. But hypocrisy has its limits. And it seems that in our day those limits have been reached.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays
Men have long been living in antagonism with their conscience. If it were not for hypocrisy they could not continue to do so. Their present arrangement of life in opposition to their conscience only exists because it is masked by hypocrisy.
And the more the divergence between reality and men's conscience increases, the more is that hypocrisy extended. But hypocrisy has its limits. And it seems that in our day those limits have been reached.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/ganja-worth-rs-1-crore-seized-from-kamrej/articleshow/71962005.cms
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/cops-arrested-5-persons-a-week-for-drugs-this-yr/articleshow/71999120.cms
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/up-man-nigerian-held-for-possessing-drugs-worth-rs-3l/articleshow/72030061.cms
'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
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/drugs-worth-rs-1081-crore-seized-in-the-last-19-months-rti/articleshow/72075414.cms
'The question, of course, could be asked: Why did you ever try narcotics? Why did you continue using it long enough to become an addict? You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in any other direction. Junk wins by default. I tried it as a matter of curiosity. I drifted along taking shots when I could score. I ended up hooked. Most addicts I have talked to report a similar experience. They did not start using drugs for any reason they can remember. They just drifted along until they got hooked. If you have never been addicted, you can have no clear idea what it means to need junk with the addict's special need. You don't decide to be an addict. One morning you wake up sick and you're an addict.' - Prologue, Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
'Junk is a cellular equation that teaches the user facts of general validity. I have learned a great deal from using junk: I have seen life measured out in eyedroppers of morphine solution. I experienced the agonizing deprivation of junk sickness, and the pleasure of relief when junk-thirsty cells drank from the needle. Perhaps all pleasure is relief. I have learned the cellular stoicism that junk teaches the user. I have seen a cell full of sick junkies silent and immobile in separate misery. They knew the pointlessness of complaining or moving. They knew that basically no one can help anyone else. There is no key, no secret someone else has that he can give you.' - Prologue, Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/peddlers-mostly-target-tourists-sp/articleshow/72079064.cms
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
'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
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
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
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
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/break-the-ganja-nexus-sp-instructs-officials/articleshow/72374351.cms
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/2-nepalese-women-held-with-4-kg-cannabis/articleshow/74124471.cms
'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
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
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/cannabis-cultivation-busted-in-botad-farm-owner-arrested/articleshow/72986675.cms
'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
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
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
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
'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
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/mp-dri-seizes-cannabis-worth-rs-3-1-cr-in-chhattisgarh/articleshow/74212523.cms
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
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
' - 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/
- 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/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/shimla/cannabis-crop-destroyed-on-6175-bighas-in-kullu/articleshow/71250688.cms
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
'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/
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
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
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/
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
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
'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
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
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/
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
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
'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
https://www.poconorecord.com/opinion/20200707/lt-gov-john-fetterman-discretion-and-de-escalation-are-police-officerrsquos-strongest-tools
'Cannabis arrests accounted for 43 percent of all drug arrests in 2018, the most recent year the report covers, and an overwhelming majority of those arrests—89.6 percent—were for possession alone.
Overall, black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though usage rates are comparable. The trend toward legalization and decriminalization hasn’t reduced national trends in disparate enforcement—and in some parts of the country, they have worsened.
African Americans are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession in every single state in the country.'
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2020/04/20/on-420-aclu-highlights-racist-marijuana-enforcement-in-new-report/#7b25e6dd7487
'The increase in marijuana arrests—659,700 in 2017, compared to 653,249 in 2016—is driven by enforcement against people merely possessing the drug as opposed to selling or growing it, the data shows.'
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/09/24/marijuana-arrests-are-increasing-despite-legalization-new-fbi-data-shows/#77d823764c4b
'New research from New Frontier Data finds that cannabis arrests account for 41.6% of all drug-related arrests, with 15.7 million Americans having been arrested for cannabis (either possession, sales, or manufacturing) from 1997-2016. Yet application of unequal justice finds that black or Hispanic suspects are arrested and convicted at rates more than 9x that of whites. '
https://newfrontierdata.com/marijuana-insights/despite-recognition-injustice-arrest-rates-cannabis-remain-unequal/
https://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/racial-disparity-in-marijuana-arrests
'He found himself in the same situation as hundreds of thousands of others across the country whose prospects for the future were diminished by criminal records for marijuana cultivation or possession.
Now a new movement accompanying the widespread push for pot legalization may give them a second chance and help black and Latino neighborhoods that have been the focus of drug law enforcement. The aim is to wipe records clean and help people put their formerly illicit skills to use in the booming industry of legal cannabis.'
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-marijuana-justice-20181010-story.html
'Adam Vine, co-founder of Cafe-Free Cannabis and an organizer with the campaign, told Marijuana Moment that the campaign is necessary “because millions of Americans have been harmed by the war on drugs and continue to face collateral consequences for convictions that may have happened years ago.”
“These consequences restrict people’s access to employment, housing, education, and social services, so our coalition decided to do something about it,” he said. “We are coordinating these events to provide free legal relief and to say that as states move towards cannabis legalization, expungement needs to be the first priority.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/people-with-marijuana-convictions-should-know-about-national-expungement-week/
'Revoking parole and putting people back behind bars for marijuana use makes little sense now and will make absolutely no sense once marijuana is legal. Ensuring that legalization includes explicit protections for those under government supervision is one small but crucial step in removing the overreach of our carceral state and decreasing its harsh disparities.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/opinion/politics/cuomo-parole-marijuana-legalization-probation.html
'Cannabis reform, alone, stops short. The deeper work is addressing convictions, providing opportunities, and reinvesting in poor and minority communities that have been battered for decades by the “war on drugs.”'
https://thecannabisindustry.org/committee-blog-cannabis-reform-stops-short/
Yep, the war on drugs spares no one..definitely not the poor, aged and needy...the heroin, big money and gun loving boys and girls sitting in their mansions are a different story though...
'According to the police, K. Ayyakannu (83) of Karisalpatti near Karumathur was waiting at Kottaiyur junction around 10.30 a.m. when Chekkanoorani police intercepted him following a tipoff.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/83yearold-drug-peddler-held-at-karumathur/article5561563.ece
'There were still almost more than 1,100 criminal summonses for marijuana possession in September and almost 1,400 in August. And the data shows that racial disparities in summonses were similar to those in arrests.
In 2016 through 2018, 78 percent of summonses for marijuana possession where the race was recorded were issued to people of color — 48 percent were handed out to black people and 30 percent to Hispanic people. In 2017, 86 percent of people arrested were black or Hispanic.
The disproportionate number persists despite research that shows black and whites use marijuana in roughly the same rates.'
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/11/07/marijuana-enforcement-declines-dramatically-in-new-york-city-687362
'In turning his eyes toward the statewide association, Krasner expanded the scope of his broadsides to include other prosecutors' offices and legislative leaders. During his speech, titled "The Urgency of Now," Krasner said, among other things, that he believed some rural leaders were eager to accept — if not encourage — the imprisonment of city residents as a way to create jobs at prisons and help receive other types of government funding.
"We have a motivated bunch of rural counties — motivated — who want to have our Philadelphians, often black and brown Philadelphians, in their jails, because it gives them power, it gives them money," Krasner said.'
http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/crime/philadelphia-da-district-attorney-larry-krasner-withdraws-pdaa-20181116.html
'“On hindsight, I should have probably re-thought my travel route to the conference,” Elliot admitted. “But I can’t lie at the border, so I had to say I was going for a cannabis conference.”
The unidentified man who received a lifetime ban is not the first Canadian involved in the domestic cannabis industry to receive such a sanction. In May, Vancouver-based venture capitalist Sam Znaimer, who was investing in a number of U.S. cannabis startups, was interrogated by border officials about his investments and also barred for life — all in a span of four hours.'
https://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/cannabis-investing/canadian-cannabis-investor-gets-lifetime-ban-from-u-s-as-vegas-conference-goers-face-scrutiny-at-border
'As part of the "Moving on from Marijuana" program, Boulder County Assistant District Attorney Ken Kupfner said the DA's office took a look back through its records and identified about 4,000 marijuana possession convictions since 2008 that would no longer be crimes with the passage of Amendment 64.'
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_32302890/boulder-county-da-looking-dismiss-thousands-past-marijuana
'In Boulder County, the district attorney’s office is going to automatically vacate and seal thousands of low-level marijuana convictions. Denver could take a similar path or simply make it easier for folks to begin the process themselves.
Other jurisdictions across Colorado should take note. It could save everyone — including our strained bureaucracies and court systems — time and money if we can all agree to vacate these convictions automatically. And it could be good for our economy too if people looking for employment find their records clean once more.'
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/12/04/remove-low-level-marijuana-convictions/
Legalize marijuana home growing for personal consumption in India...
'In yet another indication of ganja cultivation moving closer home, the Aluva police on Sunday arrested two migrant labourers from Odisha for growing a couple of cannabis plants in the backyard of their rented house near the Choornikkara village office. The arrested are Munna Singh and Pavithra Shahul.'
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/two-migrant-workers-held-for-growing-ganja/article8379610.ece
Legalize the ganja so that prisoners and prison staff can smoke to relax and de-stress...all these innovative approaches to smuggle in the herb won't be necessary...
'A mosambi (sweet lime) and a biryani packet were used by a trio to smuggle more than 800 grams of marijuana into the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/Mosambis-biryani-packet-used-to-smuggle-ganja-into-prison/article16897450.ece
'Last year, for every one civil case, there were five criminal cases for first time pot possession.
"I think we see those statistic overall as it relates to the high incarceration rates to people in the inner city, African American men being among the highest rate of incarceration in the state," said Tate.'
https://www.tmj4.com/racine-police-directed-not-to-criminally-charge-marijuana-possession
'“Any effort by Governor Cuomo to legalize recreational marijuana must include a plan to expunge low-level marijuana convictions in order to give people the second chance they deserve. Such reform must also seek to address the racial disparities that infect the growing cannabis industry, which is overwhelmingly white, as the cost of licenses operate to exclude vast numbers of poor people and people of color. We may not be able to erase all of the damage that the war on drugs has unleashed on marginalized communities but it is critical that we provide all individuals with low-level marijuana convictions the chance to start anew.”'
https://lawyerscommittee.org/press-release/lawyers-committee-for-civil-rights-under-law-reacts-to-gov-cuomos-call-for-legalized-recreational-marijuana/
'The legislation increases funding for educational and vocational training for prisoners in a bid to reduce recidivism rates. The bill also equalizes sentencing for drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The change is retroactive, meaning it would reduce the sentences for thousands of prisoners currently in jail on crack convictions.'
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/20/house-clears-trump-backed-criminal-justice-bill-1071436
'The attorney general believes the most important aspect in legalizing recreational marijuana in the state is the expungement of existing records.'
https://wcbs880.radio.com/articles/new-jersey-attorney-general-already-preparing-marijuana-legalization
'“Although our voters legalized the use privately of marijuana, we still have an injustice today that thousands of people have on their records a criminal conviction for something that is legal today,” Inslee said.
“This is impairing their ability to reach their dreams and live their lives and raise their children,” he said. “Those convictions sometimes can impair their ability to finance a house, it can impair their ability to get a shot at a good job, it can stop them even sometimes from taking their kids for a field trip. And in itself, having a criminal conviction on your record is just not a healthy thing for people.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/washington-governor-will-pardon-people-with-marijuana-possession-convictions-he-announces/
'By passing Initiative 502 in 2012, Washington voters made it clear that they don’t think possessing small amounts of marijuana should be a crime for those over 21.
Yet statewide, there are about 226,000 misdemeanor convictions for pot possession still weighing down people’s criminal records, even though they were over 21 at the time of the offense. That’s according to a 2017 analysis from the Washington State Patrol. Even though the law has changed, these low-level convictions still show up in common background checks, hindering people’s ability to find housing and land certain jobs.'
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/forgive-more-marijuana-offenses-statewide/
'Opponents of expungment bring up the timing issue as a reason for maintaining accessible criminal records for employers and others. They make the argument that even if cannabis is legal today, it wasn’t before 2016, and the people who knowingly violated the law should not be treated the same as someone who did the same thing under different laws.
That’s true, but the people convicted of marijuana offenses during prohibition were not treated the same. Many went to jail, or paid fines and legal bills. For years – even decades – they have paid the consequences of having a criminal record that has affected their ability to live and work. Letting those consequences continue to bite does not further justice in America.
Times change, and laws need to change with them. Maine voted to put the old marijuana laws behind us, and lawmakers should complete the process.'
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/01/14/our-view-with-cannabis-legal-clear-criminal-records/
'Howard was on probation from a drunk driving arrest when he tested positive for marijuana. He and his girlfriend had shared a marijuana cookie on Valentine's Day. He had never been in trouble with law enforcement before.
He was brought to the Gwinnett County jail after that failed drug test and a few hours later collapsed as his body went into convulsions.'
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/i-team/gwinnett-jail-staff-accused-of-ignoring-seizure-advice-in-death-of-inmate
'Baltimore’s top prosecutor has filed a rarely used legal petition intended to vacate 3,778 convictions for possession of marijuana, arguing an extraordinary legal strategy is necessary to “right an extraordinary wrong.”
In a highly unusual “Maryland v Maryland” filing in state court, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby used a petition called “writ of error coram nobis” that allows a court to reopen cases when substantial error is found that wasn’t apparent in initial judgments. The petition, if granted, could wipe out thousands of pot possession convictions.
Mosby’s arguments are based on what she paints as an opportunity to achieve retroactive justice by acknowledging racial disparities in how pot possession cases over years were policed and prosecuted in Baltimore, a city under a federal oversight program due to discriminatory and unconstitutional policing.'
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/baltimore-prosecutor-files-petition-to-erase-pot-convictions/2019/01/31/6a775fe4-2597-11e9-b5b4-1d18dfb7b084_story.html
'The number of people charged for drug use and possession in Victoria has more than doubled in the past seven years.
Victorian crime statistics show that 24,584 people were charged with drug possession last year, with cannabis possession the most common charge, followed by methamphetamine.
Fewer than 12,000 were charged for possession in 2011.'
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/libertarian-mp-calls-for-drug-possession-to-be-decriminalised-20190205-p50vtc.html
This is a human rights issue that needs to be addressed at the global level by all nations...
'More people are arrested for marijuana than for all other violent crimes combined. Marijuana has long been a driving force for mass incarceration in this country and I’m fighting to end it.'
https://twitter.com/BLeeForCongress/status/1096952417948708864
'The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world and incarcerates African Americans at more than five times the rate of white people. Our job is to end the destructive “war on drugs,” eliminate private prisons and cash bail and bring about major police department reform.'
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1100100241465004033
Please legalize it so that prison officials and prisoners can use this important medicinal herb for their well-being and law and order resources can be utilized more efficiently..
'The Parappana Agrahara police, on Thursday, arrested a 32-year-old physical education instructor employed at the Central Jail.
The accused, Kumaraswamy, allegedly sold marijuana to convicts.A resident of Parappana Agrahara residential complex, Kumaraswamy would come to the prison every day. According to M.V. Boralingaiah, DCP, south east (division), he had been working there for five years. “He would conceal the marijuana in his clothes and hand it over to the convicts in return for cash,” said a police officer.
The racket was busted on August 21 when prison officials, during a random check, caught a convict, Manjunath, with four packets of marijuana.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/prison-instructor-arrested/article25793750.ece
'“Many of those convicted of misdemeanor and felony [cannabis] charges cannot apply for Pell grants, cannot apply for public housing, [in] some states still no SNAP benefits. It’s outrageous.
We have to remove these barriers,” Lee said. “People deserve not only a second chance, but it’s almost an apology for this devastating war on drugs and unjust laws.”'
https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-us-democratic-lawmakers-restorative-justice-cannabis-crimes/
Legalize it so that prisoners and prison officials can benefit from the herb's stress relieving properties instead of prisons funding illegal networks. Ganja could probably be cultivated in prisons to serve as medicine, vocational training and additional source of income for prisoners as well as prison staff. Prisons can potentially move towards self-sustainability through the legalized cultivation of the herb.
'When prison officials conducted a surprise check inside the prison a week ago, they found an inmate in an intoxicated condition. Inquiries revealed that he had taken ganja. The prisoner told the officials that he had given a bribe of Rs 5,000 to Devadoss to get a pack of ganja inside his cell.'
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/vellore-prison-principal-warden-suspended-for-supplying-marijuana-mobile-phones-to-prisoners/articleshow/66668509.cms
Decriminalize the usage of drugs and treat it as a health issue.
'Washington’s Department of Corrections has changed its drug-testing policies after inmates complained they were unfairly punished for false or misleading urinalysis results.
Last week, the DOC stopped testing for cannabis in prisoners just entering the system, as traces of the drug can remain in the body weeks after it is used.'
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/mar/27/washington-prison-system-changes-drug-testing-poli/
'“As the use of medical marijuana has grown and benefits everyone from veterans who have PTSD to those with chronic illness, it was beginning to become a greater issue for individuals who are being supervised,” said Sarah Walker, the state’s deputy commissioner in charge of community corrections. “Ultimately, our decision is pretty simple and makes sense: If you have a prescription from your doctor, just like with any other controlled substance that is prescribed, we are going to monitor it in the same way that we do those other drugs.”'
http://www.startribune.com/state-corrections-department-changes-policy-to-allow-medical-marijuana-while-under-supervision-parole/508020072/
'9,361 marijuana convictions-every single one since 1975 that is eligible pursuant to #Prop64-have officially been dismissed and sealed. Here’s the official court order. #SignedSealedDelivered'
https://twitter.com/georgegascon/status/1113501021882408960?s=11
'An eye opening talk on the socioeconomic repercussions marijuana illegality has had on homeless and minority populations. Kadens explores the potential impact of marijuana legalization.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNO7W86QjKA
The district attorney's office on Wednesday announced it will be retroactively applying Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana in California, and "reviewing, recalling and resentencing up to 4,940 felony marijuana convictions and dismissing and sealing 3,038 misdemeanors which were sentenced prior to the initiative’s passage." The office will look at convictions back to 1975, it said.
Some prison officials allow the use of ganja inside prisons because they understand that it is one of the things that can help an inmate stay sane, handle stress and maintain law and order. So..the action which in many cases results in a person's imprisonment is the same action that is recognised as treatment when the person is in prison...unfortunately the official in this case also became a victim of our society's bizarre rules..
'Changdev Pawar (42), who stays at the jail quarters, was caught during a surprise check on Sunday and ganja, weighing 15 grams, and handsets were recovered from him, they said.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/nagpur-prison-warden-held-with-marijuana/article5087361.ece
'The state DOJ estimates that almost 220,000 cases are eligible for erasure or reduction. The DOJ has until July 1, 2019, to compile the list of eligible cases and forward it to the appropriate district attorney's office.'
https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/california-lawmakers-pass-bill-to-erase-old-pot-convictions
'Security personnel at the Central Prison of Parappana Agrahara caught the first division assistant with the administrative department in the act of handing over four packets of marijuana to Krishna, the leader of the Dandupalya gang and another convict, identified as Manjunath.'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/prison-official-caught-handing-over-marijuana-to-inmates/article25107080.ece
Legalize it so that police resources can be used for better things like containing serious crime?
'The rampant use of marijuana inside the high security prison has always been a problem, and inmates are often one step ahead of the authorities. Earlier, contraband goods were smuggled into the prison through rubber cricket balls that were thrown into the jail premises from outside by associates. The rubber balls were stuffed with ganja and other banned items. In response, the Karnataka Security Industrial Force (KSIF) personnel deployed around the prison premises started making round-the-clock patrols'
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/taking-the-slipper-route-to-slip-in-contraband/article19146710.ece
No comments:
Post a Comment