Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Cops Thought They Were Transporting Cocaine for the Cartel, But it Was Actually the FBI

An 11th Circuit panel on Monday unanimously rejected two former Miami police officers’ challenge to their drug-trafficking convictions.

Former officers James Archibald and Kelvin Harris were caught as part of an undercover FBI sting operation designed to root out dirty cops in the Miami Police Department.

Despite proof that the officers actively participated in a fake drug-running conspiracy – even going so far as to activate their police lights to help an agent posing as a drug courier navigate heavy traffic – Archibald and Harris claimed that the evidence was insufficient to convict them.

The Atlanta-based appeals court was unpersuaded.

Writing on behalf of the panel Monday, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus found that the evidence against the men was “ample.”

Along with a third officer, Archibald and Harris participated in three separate operations to protect FBI agents who they believed were drug dealers delivering cocaine to Miami hotels. Harris received a $10,000 cash payment for his efforts and Archibald received $6,500.

Both men were charged with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Harris was also convicted of possessing a firearm during the commission of a drug-trafficking crime.

After a 10-day trial in June 2019, Harris was sentenced to 27 ½ years in prison. Archibald was sentenced to 10 years.

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Now in Effect: Louisiana Decriminalizes Marijuana Possession Despite Federal Prohibition

On Sunday, a Louisiana law decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana went into effect despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition.

Rep. Cedric Glover (D) introduced House Bill 652 (HB652) on April 4. Under the new law, possession of up to 14 grams of marijuana is punishable by a fine of up to $100 with no threat of jail time.

The House passed HB652 by a 68-25 vote. The Senate approved the measure by a 20-17 vote. With Gov. John Bell Edward’s signature, the law went into effect on Aug. 1.

In his signing statement, Bell downplayed the law, saying “contrary to the narrative developed in the press and elsewhere, [HB652] does not decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.” But as Marijuana Moment noted, “replacing the threat of incarceration with a modest fine does fit the definition of decriminalization used by reform advocates.”

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Texas Cops Realized They Raided the Wrong House. They Kept Searching Anyway.

In November of 2018, Lucil Basco of Bexar County, Texas, awoke to a thunderous boom, followed by a parade of eight cops barging through her front door. She was handcuffed, and, with her screaming child, removed from the premises. The officers soon realized they made a mistake: They had the wrong house, based on incorrect information from a confidential informant. Yet they continued the operation anyway.

Three of those Bexar County sheriff’s deputies—James Hancock, Jacob Rodriguez, and Bryan Smith—are not entitled to qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that allows state actors to violate your rights if the precise scenario in question has not yet been ruled unconstitutional in a prior court precedent. They can thus be sued for it, a federal court said this week.

But the case is a crash course in the levers available to the monopoly on state power—from the drug war, to surveillance, to no-knock entries, to botched warrants—and the importance of government accountability in such circumstances.

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Stoned Driving Is Far Safer Than Operating a Vehicle on Prescription Drugs, Study Says

Driving while stoned is far safer than driving under the influence of prescription medications or other legal drugs, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

A team of Australian researchers set out to test the validity of zero tolerance THC driving laws by studying how often Australians involved in traffic accidents tested positive for cannabis, opioids, or other drugs. An analysis of accident data revealed that the risks of driving under the influence of cannabis are considerably lower than for many legal prescription drugs.

Study author Iain McGregor, professor at The Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney, told the Australian Associated Press that the risk of driving under the influence of cannabis is “considerably less than with many medications such as antidepressants, opioids and benzodiazepines.”

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After failing to ban kratom domestically, the FDA is now pushing the UN and the WHO to ban it globally

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on a mission to eliminate all consumer access to the herb mitragyna speciosa, also known as kratom – and your help is needed to stop it.

Back in 2016, the FDA tried, and was almost successful, at getting kratom banned here in the United States. The agency has long argued that kratom is a “dangerous drug” with no benefits that belongs on the Drug Enforcement Agency‘s (DEA) Schedule I list of prohibited substances.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of freedom fighters, the FDA was stopped in its tracks. Now, however, the agency is trying once again to eradicate the natural painkiller from existence – this time globally.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, the FDA is asking for feedback concerning its latest push to have the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) add kratom and its constituents to the international schedule, which would prohibit kratom from being consumed anywhere in the world.

Until Aug. 9, 2021, the FDA is accepting public comments on the matter, which means your help is needed to let the agency know that it has no right trying to prohibit nature from being accessible to the people.

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BIDEN HAS SAID POT PRISONERS SHOULD BE FREE. NOW HE’S POISED TO SEND SOME BACK TO PRISON.

DIANA MARQUEZ HAS spent the last 14 months going on long walks, hitting the treadmill, and cooking with her daughter. She’s gotten to know her grandson, a fourth grader, helping him with his math homework. She has also lived with a weight hanging over her head — and an ankle bracelet strapped to her leg.

Marquez is one of roughly 4,400 people who were released from federal prison to home confinement starting in April 2020 as part of a Department of Justice directive aimed at preventing the transmission of Covid-19 in prison. Normally, the federal government allows people convicted of nonviolent crimes to serve out the last 10 percent or the last six months — whichever is less — of their sentences from home. Their time at home requires strict state scrutiny, including ankle bracelets and daily call-ins. The Department of Justice memorandum, issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, asked the Bureau of Prisons to relax the eligibility standards for home confinement so that people convicted of nonviolent crimes could leave prison despite having served less of their sentences.

The status of these people has been in limbo since December, when Justice Department officials from the outgoing Trump administration issued a memo stating that people whose sentences would outlast the Covid-19 emergency order would be returned to prison.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Biden administration lawyers had concluded that the Trump administration memo correctly interpreted the law — and that thousands of people in home confinement must be returned to prison after the yet-to-be-determined end of the “pandemic emergency period.” About 2,000 people stand to be impacted, with the rest having now completed enough of their sentences to qualify for early release under the standard guidance.

The Biden Justice Department’s position is especially shocking for people like Marquez who are doing time for marijuana-related offenses. President Joe Biden, after all, campaigned on loosening drug laws and said that people with marijuana records — who comprise a relatively small percentage of the federal prison population — should be freed.

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