Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Kamala Harris Dragged For Saying No One Should Go To Jail For Smoking Weed

Critics ripped into Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend as video circulated of her claiming that no one should go to jail simply for smoking marijuana.

Harris’ remarks came on the heels of President Joe Biden’s Thursday pronouncement declaring mass pardons for thousands who have past federal convictions on drug charges — and flew in the face of her record as a prosecutor in California.

“And speaking of the system of justice,” Harris began. “We are also changing — y’all might have heard that this week — the federal government’s approach to marijuana.”

As the crowd cheered, Harris continued, “Because the bottom line there is nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”

San Francisco Republican Party Chairman John Dennis — who is challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress — called out the vice president in a tweet, saying, “Shameless. As California Attorney General Harris sent people to jail for …smoking weed.”

“The hypocrisy is staggering,” actor Matthew Marsden added.

U.S. Senate Candidate Mark Meuser (R-CA) pointed out: “Clearly, Kamala has forgotten her legacy in California.”

“REMINDER: Kamala Harris has sent at least 1,560 people to prison for marijuana-related offenses,” Steve Guest, special communications advisor to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said.

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The GOP’s Biggest Narcs Are Predictably Furious About Biden’s Weed Pardons

GOP officials’ takes on President Joe Biden’s surprise weed announcement Thursday ranged from moral outrage to begrudging praise to complete and utter silence. 

Biden, a longtime opponent of legalizing weed, which he called a “gateway drug” as recently as 2019, announced Thursday—after nearly two years of pressure from cannabis and criminal justice reform advocates—that he would pardon all federal simple cannabis-possession convictions. 

Biden also called on governors to pardon simple possession offenses at the state level and said he’d directed Cabinet officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, to begin reviewing cannabis’ Schedule 1 status under federal law, which puts it on the same level as heroin. 

“I’m calling on governors to pardon simple state marijuana possession offenses,” Biden said Thursday. “Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely for possessing marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason either.”

But despite the fact that 19 states and Washington, D.C., have already legalized recreational use of the drug, some Republicans criticized Biden’s announcement. 

“In the midst of a crime wave and on the brink of a recession, Joe Biden is giving blanket pardons to drug offenders—many of whom pled down from more serious charges,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who has repeatedly said he thinks the U.S. has an “under-incarceration problem” despite the fact that the U.S. imprisons more people per capita than any nation on Earth.   

The cannabis advocacy group NORML responded on Twitter: “LOL look at this loser.”

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No Treats, Only Tricks: Republicans Try to Ruin Halloween With Fake Rainbow Fentanyl Threat

A group of Republican senators has released a video warning parents that Mexican drug cartels have begun targeting children by disguising fentanyl as candy, despite actual experts claiming its bogus.

The public service announcement, a portion of which was aired on Fox News Friday morning, said that “by working together and being on high alert this Halloween, we can help put an end to the drug traffickers that are driving addiction.” 

Halloween this year falls exactly 8 days before the November midterms, and what better way is there to drive home your tough-on-crime, war on drugs-electoral messaging than to convince parents that the cartels are in the house down the block and are handing out synthetic opioids to your kid? 

“Rainbow fentanyl comes in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes, including pills powder and blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk,” said Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. “Even just handling these pills or powders…can kill a person,” added Senator Steve Daines (R-Mon.), alluding to the myth that touching fentanyl can cause an overdose. 

Nebraska Senator Deb Fisher warned that “according to the DEA, these pills are a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.”

However, experts, who at this point are exasperated at the “poisoned Halloween candy” myth’s yearly resurgence, are again reiterating that drug dealers are not handing out narcotics to children en masse. In fact, the use of colors is typically a way for producers to distinguish their products from other manufacturers and to make them identifiable to existing consumers, not a way to market them to children. Mariah Francis, a Resource Associate with the National Harm Reduction Coalition, criticized the GOP lawmakers misrepresentation of the ways drugs circulate in communities. “Drug markets are based off profit gain and profit margins,” explained Francis. Drug dealers “are not making money giving free fentanyl tablets […] to small children.”

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Biden to pardon all federal marijuana convictions

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to pardon all federal offenses of marijuana possession, the White House announced. 

The pardons apply to all federal cases of simple marijuana possession as well as convictions in the District of Columbia. At least 6,500 individuals will be immediately impacted by Biden’s pardons. 

“President Biden pardons all prior federal convictions for simple marijuana possession – including under DC law – also directs states to do the same, and asks HHS & AG to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law,” reported Fox News’ White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. 

“Senior admin official says 6500 people w/ federal convictions + thousands more under DC law will benefit… but no individuals are currently in federal prison solely for simple possession of marijuana. Most are @ state level,” Heinrich’s report continued. 

The pardons will not affect anyone convicted of simple marijuana possession in state jurisdictions. 

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Humboldt County, California, Caught Fining Innocent Homeowners $10,000 Per Day for Offenses They Did Not Commit

In 2018, after a wildfire destroyed their Southern California home, Corrine and Doug Thomas did their best to find a silver lining and turn that nightmare into a dream: They packed up their remaining possessions, and—along with one of their two autistic adult sons—bought a modest home nestled in Northern California’s fabled redwood forests. The home, which is perched on a hill over the Avenue of the Giants highway in Humboldt County, was a perfect fit for their family and included a large barn out back for Doug’s workshop. 

Unfortunately, the Thomases’ dream quickly turned into a terrible new nightmare. 

Just six days after moving in, they received a notice from the county fining them $12,000 per day because the previous owners had used the barn to grow cannabis over two years before the Thomases bought it. The county, which requires a lengthy permit process for demolitions, gave them just ten days to tear it down. Panicked, they hired a building engineer, who estimated that the demolition would cost more than $180,000—which was money they don’t have. As of today, they have accrued more than $1 million in fines. 

By the county’s reasoning, anyone with a greenhouse, cleared garden, barn or any other structure that could be used to grow cannabis is assumed to be growing cannabis and fined at least $10,000 per day. Humboldt accuses property owners of cannabis-related offenses without any proof or process. The county rarely bothers to conduct even the most cursory investigation. If the inspector had visited the Thomases’, for instance, he would have found an empty barn with a few tools. But Humboldt’s inspectors have admitted that they frequently rely on satellite images alone to issue fines.

The Thomases, like more than 1,200  other Humboldt property owners, are victims of the county’s so-called “abatement” program, which levies crippling fines based on unfounded, scattershot allegations that property owners are growing cannabis without paying the county for a permit. Once fined, owners face a legal labyrinth to prove their innocence. In the Thomases’ case, for instance, they’ve waited more than a year for the county to schedule a simple hearing to plead their case. Even as the Thomases waited for a hearing, the daily fines continued to accrue.

That is why, today, the Thomases—along with a group of other Humboldt property owners—have partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a class-action lawsuit to put an end to the county’s unconstitutional practice of levying outrageous fines against innocent individuals.

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Delta-8 THC crackdown limits Virginia’s hemp industry

Delta-8 THC is a federally legal way to get high. But now, Virginia’s attorney general is cracking down on Delta-8 THC sales citing health concerns for children. That leaves some of the state’s hemp businesses looking to move out and some are taking their jobs with them.

Some residents of Hillsville, in Carroll County, Virginia, call the town “land wealthy, but limited in income.” Travis Wagoner, who grew up there, hoped to turn things around. He began growing one of the oldest crops known: hemp. He opened a shop specializing in hemp products, Virginia Cultivars.

“We went from having 17 employees working 50 hours a week to less than 10 employees working 30 hours a week,” said Wagoner.

An acre of hemp, nestled in the hill country is where Virginia Cultivars’ products start. Hemp is known for its extremely low levels of THC, a compound that produces a high. Wagoner chemically alters the hemp to create a new form of THC known as Delta-8, which is stronger and legal under the 2018 Federal Farm Bill.

The Delta-8 is infused into products, such as edibles, intended for adults. But now, it’s made its way into copycat items, from unknown manufacturers, that look like popularly branded candies and snacks.

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Study Finds ‘Concerning’ Trend in the Drugging of Foster Care Kids in California As CPS Scandals Grow

A recent study in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology discovered that California foster care kids are being medicated with powerful psychotropic drugs, but the adults in charge of the children are not taking the appropriate steps to ensure that the drugs are safe for the kids. Currently, the Child Protective Services (CPS) system, which feeds young children to foster care, is under massive scrutiny nationwide.

The study, entitled “Antipsychotics in the California Foster Care System: A 10-Year Analysis,” found that drugging of foster kids supposedly became less frequent over the course of a decade in California. However, the system continues to use extremely “concerning” methods to medicate the kids with little regard for their safety from side effects. According to our recent NATIONAL FILE article “Exposed: Dead Children in the CPS System Near Bohemian Grove And Pelosi’s Pedophilia Links,” a teenager named Steven Gavin Unangst Jr. died in the Contra Costa County foster care system after taking prescription drugs, prompting his family to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county.

The study states: “Psychotropic medications are defined as having a primary intended effect on the central nervous system. Among these, antipsychotic medications stand out because of their significant metabolic side effects, including weight gain and predisposition to diabetes mellitus type 2…The risk–benefit ratio for the use of antipsychotics may not be in the best interest of foster youth, particularly when other trauma informed multidisciplinary interventions, such as psychotherapy, may be more effective but are frequently inaccessible to this population…Additional ethical problems may exist when a foster child’s autonomy to decide is compromised by arrangements where housing is dependent on continued medication use…Media reports in California suggested that acceptance and adherence to such medications was used as a condition for continued housing…”

The study states: “Of the 7172 children who received psychotropic medications in 2020, only 5581 (77.8%) had the necessary TAR forms. In addition, of the 1764 children receiving antipsychotics, only 904 (51.2%) underwent appropriate metabolic screening. When considering the youth newly prescribed with antipsychotics, only 150/811 (18.5%) received screening, a decrease in performance compared with 2017 (239/913 screened youth; 26.2%).”

“The most concerning findings from this analysis are related to the proper authorization for using psychotropics and rates of metabolic screening. A significant proportion (22.2%) of California foster youth received psychotropics in 2020 without the necessary authorization incorporated in the CQIP policies. Stricter regulations could further reduce prescription rates, ensure safety, and respect autonomy and decision-making principles,” the study stated.

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