“The Fourth Amendment has been virtually repealed by court decisions,” Yale law professor Steven Duke told Wired magazine in 2000, “most of which involve drug searches.” The rise of no-knock raids and SWAT teams is one example (discussed in part o
DUI is special. Prosecutors aren’t supposed to drop charges. This is a legal rule in addition to a political rule. Many states decided that it is better to put innocent people on trial than risk having prosecutors set guilty people free.
A reduction in federal prison sentences for crack cocaine took effect on Tuesday in a move that could let an estimated 12,000 inmates go free early. The changes reduce federal penalties for more addictive crack cocaine to bring them more in line w
This month, U.S. attorneys representing four districts in California announced that the government would single out landlords and property owners who rent buildings or land where dispensaries sell or cultivators grow marijuana. Now, newspapers and ot
While I have no desire to mess around in Mexican politics, Mexico's rulers have tyrannically misused their power and thus created the sorry mess across the Border. First and foremost they have engaged in political corruption.
Shortly after the release, announced in a video published in Spanish and English, some members of the group were claiming that “OpCartel” had been canceled because it was simply too dangerous. Others insisted the operation would continue, calling it
Host:
Ernest Hancock
Kathy Tee from Phoenix NORML on Delcare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock 10/31/11
PHOENIX - A legal battle is brewing over so-called pot clubs that have popped up in the wake of Arizona's new medical marijuana law.
Shortly after Ayers returned to his car from the ATM, a black Escalade tore into the parking lot. Three police officers, all undercover, got out of the vehicle and raced toward Ayers’s car. The startled pastor started his car and attempted to flee th
Several Windy City councilmen said Thursday they plan to introduce a local law that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in order to cut costs and free up police to handle more serious crimes.
The Seattle Police Department and the mayor's office have repeatedly insisted that marijuana possession, per city law, is the lowest law enforcement priority. They also adhere, they say, to a state law that makes it legal for authorized patients to u
According to a report released by the FBI in September, 1.6 million individuals were arrested on drug-related offenses in 2009. That is an arrest every 19 seconds. The same report indicated that 82 percent of the drug arrests were for drug possession
A leading presidential candidate of Mexico's ruling party said on Wednesday he would break with government policy and withdraw the army from the fight against drug gangs if he wins the election in 2012.
The San Jose Police Department stormed into a Stockton home searching for an accused killer, but they left without him, and left behind a complete mess. “I feel like a war was taken on here, and we lost,” homeowner Joann Rice told CBS13. Almost
At Wolcott High School one morning this week, an urgent announcement crackled over the intercom: a threatening intruder was in the building and students were told to immediately take refuge in classrooms. Doors were locked and police, with dogs, m
Motorists driving on expressways around Flint are getting surprised by a stunning tactic that the Genesee County sheriff has been using to fight the flow of illegal drugs -- one that legal experts said will not withstand a court challenge. At leas
A Brock University professor says he and his wife have suffered "physical, mental and psychological" damage since police raided their home for electricity theft based on faulty information from [hydroponics supplier] Hydro One.
A few victims of the drug war's "standard procedure" are fighting back in court. First, a Colorado Springs woman who suffered a heart attack during a raid has brought a lawsuit...and a New Jersey family who received the nightmarish black-clad gunmen
The idea of Mexican drug cartels cooperating with Iranian plotters to carry out bombings and murders in the United States may be far-fetched. That is because the alleged plan by Iranian-American suspect Manssor Arbabsiar and a co-defendant to use
the investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)'s so-called "Fast and Furious" operation branches out to a case involving grenades. Sources tell her a suspect was left to traffic and manufacture them for Mexican d
As the twilight of his presidency sets in, President Felipe Calderón of Mexico is striving to lock in the militarized approach to drug cartels that has defined his tenure, pushing aside public doubts and pressing lawmakers to adopt strategies he hope
The California Medical Association, the state’s largest doctor group, on Friday adopted a resolution to support the legalization of marijuana for medical uses, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Olympic National Park now designated as US/Canada border? Arbitrary Homeland Security mandates in play- "Supporters of the proposed law said the legislation would put the Border Patrol on a level playing field with drug smugglers and human tr
California legalized medical marijuana for seriously ill patients in 1996 and it is now legal in 16 states and DC. However, the Obama Administration wants to shut down pot dispensaries in California.
A Colorado Springs grandmother who suffered a heart attack when drug agents stormed into her home in 2009 has filed suit claiming the officers’ tactics were “extreme, unreasonable and outrageous.”
This isn't a new problem. Chief Justice William Rehnquist complained as far back as 1989 that the war on drugs was overwhelming the federal judiciary. In 1995, Kathleen F. Brickley, an academic, found that "the Federal system is strained to capacit
Thousands of people in Florida convicted of DUI may not have been drunk at all. They very well may have been under the allowable blood alcohol limit. The problem may have been law enforcement not calibrating the breathalyzer called the Intoxilyzer 80
Stephen Downing, a retired deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, responds to The Times' Oct. 5 Op-Ed article, "Prohibition's real lessons for drug policy.
The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.
This is a complete invasion. The article states: Detectives believe Club 2811, 17233 N. Holmes Blvd., Suite 1615, twisted Arizona’s medical-marijuana law for profit, according to police. Six employees of the business were detained and questioned by p
