Mother Jones: This Is Your War On Drugs

Mother Jones

AMONG OUR LEADERS in Washington, who's been the biggest liar? There are all too many contenders, yet one is so floridly surreal that he deserves special attention. Nope, it's not Dick Cheney or Alberto Gonzales or John Yoo. It's a trusted authority figure who's lied for 11 years now, no matter which party held sway. (Nope, it's not Alan Greenspan.) This liar didn't end-run Congress, or bully it, or have its surreptitious blessing at the time only to face its indignation later. No, this liar was ordered by Congress to lie—as a prerequisite for holding the job.

Give up? It's the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a.k.a. the drug czar, who in 1998 was mandated by Congress to oppose legislation that would legalize, decriminalize, or medicalize marijuana, or redirect anti-trafficking funding into treatment. And the drug czar has also—here's where the lying comes in—been prohibited from funding research that might give credence to any of the above. These provisions were crafted by Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and pushed for by then-czar Barry McCaffrey, best remembered for being somewhat comically obsessed with the evils of medical marijuana. A few Dems complained that the bill, which set "hard targets" of an 80 percent drop in the availability of drugs, a 60 percent decrease in street purity, and a 50 percent reduction in drug-related crime and ER visits, all by 2004—whoops!—was "simplistic" and "designed to achieve political advantage." Though the vote count was not recorded for history, it got enough bipartisan support to be signed into law by Bill "Didn't Inhale" Clinton.

Biff America: The Innocence Of Pot

Summit Daily
I'm ready for my close-up and drug test Mr. DeMille

Samples of my urine are available upon request.

It is not that I expect a huge demand — the holidays are long past and, with this economy, who can afford luxuries?

The reason I'm offering up my liquids is I have recently been accused of drug use; even by my friends.

This charge stems from my endorsement of a local ballot initiative that would decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana for those 21 years or older.

To be clear, it would still be illegal to smoke pot, grow or posses large quantities, or to spread peanut butter on Oreo cookies (just kidding about the Oreos).

And of course, like alcohol, underage possession would still be against the law.

I was contacted by members of “Sensible Colorado,” the group promoting this ballot initiative. They asked if I would meet them for coffee. I walked into the local caffeine-den expecting to see Cheech and Chong. Instead I saw two young, clean-cut guys, wearing neck-ties.

Immediately, I became suspicious. Hoping to avoid entrapment I asked, “Are you guys cops?” Turns out they were lawyers.

The group was looking for well-respected, community figures to lend their name to this cause. After much searching they could not find anyone willing, so they asked me. It seems many who were contacted agreed with the mission and even promised to vote for it; but none wanted their name attached to it.

Granted, I have less to lose then many who did not want to be associated with this. I have no children, no real job and after some of the things I have been called, “pot-head” is a compliment.

During America's war on drugs I've been a conscientious objector. Particularly, I've always felt that our nation could make better use of its money, cops and prison-space then to mess with stoners. But before I signed off on the proposed initiative I did a little research and was even more convinced. One statistic that hit home was almost 800,000 pot arrests in 2007 for simple possession. In some states that means jail time. In almost all cases that means a more difficult task of getting jobs, loans, scholarships or even to enlist into the military. Pot prohibition costs $10 billion to $14 billion a year (Jeffrey Milton Harvard economist).

Critical Medical Marijuana Hearing!

WHAT: Board of Health hearing to weaken medical marijuana law and limit patient rights.

WHERE: Turnhalle Room, Tivoli Student Union, Conference Room 250, Auraria Campus,

900 Auraria Parkway, Denver, CO 80204

WHEN: Monday, July 20^th at 8:00 AM

TAKE ACTION: PLEASE ATTEND! This is a formal hearing and we NEED you to dress nice and act in a professional fashion. Signs and banners will not be allowed in the building – so don’t bring them.

You can help by submitting your comments and concerns by July 6 to the Board of Health at linda.shearman@state.co.us. More info and proposed changes at www.sensiblecolorado.org

NY Times: Two Meals and Not Always Square

The New York Times

With budgets tight, states and local governments have been looking at prisons — and prison food — as a place to save money. Three days a week, Georgia now serves inmates only two meals. And across the country, there have been increasing reports of substandard food. This is inhumane. Adequate meals should be a nonnegotiable part of a civilized penal system. It is also bad policy. Researchers have found a connection between poor food quality and discipline problems and violence.

Georgia has nevertheless decided to save on staff costs by serving just two meals on Friday, as it already did on Saturday and Sunday. The state says it gives prisoners the same number of calories on days when one meal is skipped. Even if it does — and some prisoners’ advocates are skeptical — it can be oppressive to go so long without eating.....

.....Cutbacks in food could violate inmates’ constitutional rights, notes Elizabeth Alexander, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, if they create a substantial risk of serious harm — a particular concern for inmates with diabetes and other illnesses.If states and localities want to save money on corrections, they should reduce their prison and jail populations. The United States, which has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, has almost one-quarter of its prisoners. Many are in for nonviolent crimes that could be punished in more constructive, and less costly, ways. If governments decide to put inmates behind bars, they have to give them adequate food — which means no less than three healthy meals a day.

Jena 6 Wraps Up With Plea Deal

The Real Cost Of Prisons

JENA, La. – Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor simple battery and won't serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration.

State District Judge Tom Yeager then sentenced the five, standing quietly surrounded by their lawyers, to seven days unsupervised probation and fined $500. It was a far less severe end to their cases than seemed possible when the six students — all of whom are black — were initially charged with attempted murder in the 2006 attack on Justin Barker, a white classmate. They became known as the "Jena Six," after the central Louisiana town where the beating happened.

Jena 6' beating case wraps up with plea deal…
By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer Mary Foster, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jun 26, 2009

"I just thank God that it's all over," said John Jenkins, father of Carwin Jones. "It's been a long, painful journey for everyone on both sides of this thing."

Barker and his family and friends sat without expression throughout the hearing. Barker's attorney said he graduated and is now an oil field worker. The family did not comment.

As part of the deal, one of the attorneys read a statement from the five defendants in which they said they knew of nothing Barker had done to provoke the attack.

"To be clear, not one of us heard Justin use any slur or say anything that justified Mychal Bell attacking Justin nor did any of us see Justin do anything that would cause Mychal to react," the statement said.

The statement also expressed sympathy for Barker and his family, and acknowledged the past 2 1/2 years had "caused Justin and his parents tremendous pain and suffering, much of which has gone unrecognized."

Barker spent several hours in the emergency room after the attack, but was discharged and attended a school event the next night.

By pleading no contest, the five do not admit guilt but acknowledge prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said in a statement that he could have won convictions but wanted to end the matter for Barker.

The War On Drugs and the Humiliating Ramifications

CNJ Online

It is encouraging that the U.S. Supreme Court so strongly condemned Thursday the decision by officials in an Arizona school district to strip-search a 13-year-old girl because they suspected she might have some Ibuprofen pain reliever in her undergarments.

The amazing thing is that even one justice (Clarence Thomas) dissented, and that the court was not more forceful in condemning the drug-law-induced hysteria that made the possibility of searching a child for a common pain medication even thinkable.

Savana Redding was 13 in 2003 when, in response to a tip from another girl (in trouble for bringing drugs to school) school officials in Safford, Ariz., conducted a strip search to see if she had any Ibuprofen. They found nothing.

Savana’s mother sued, and after losing at trial court, won at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the school district and assistant principal potentially liable for damages.

The Supreme Court agreed, 8-1, the search was unreasonable, affirming that children do not give up all their rights when they are in a government school. It didn’t find the vice principal personally liable (two justices in the majority disagreed with this) and asked a lower court to decide if the school district should be held liable.

Two side issues are worth a comment.

This was the case about which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg remarked that some of her colleagues might not have sufficient empathy to decide the case correctly because they, having never been a 13-year-old girl, could not know how humiliating such a search would be for a girl that age. Fortunately seven white males, based on the facts, the circumstances and the law, were able to make the right call.

This case also highlights the absurd lengths to which hysteria induced by the government’s ill-advised “war on drugs” has led some officials, especially school officials, to travel in making policies and adopting procedures. The drug in question in this case was Ibuprofen, for heaven’s sake. One would be hard-pressed to find an American medicine cabinet that didn’t contain it. It has no particular reputation as a drug of abuse. Yet school officials have not only banned it from school property, but some officials were willing to conduct a strip-search of a young girl, and probably feel self-righteous about it, believing they had protected the student body at large from some grave danger.

It is time for school officials to back away from such silly rules, and for governments at all levels to reconsider the shaky justifications for the larger war on drugs.

Sales Tax Woes In Denver

The Denver Post

Denver officials scrambling to close a projected $70 million budget deficit are considering moves such as creating a fee for trash collection, releasing nonviolent offenders from jail and delaying street repairs.

But a review of sales-tax revenue collected in the first four months of this year shows matters may get even worse.

"We'd have to improve our revenue significantly to keep on pace," said Stephanie Adams, the manager of performance initiatives in the city's budget and management office. "It's very likely we'll have to revise our revenue projections downward again."

The current projected $70 million budget gap covers the next 18 months and is based on a scenario that sees the city collecting 6 percent less in sales-tax revenue this year than it did last year.

The deficit figure also anticipates sales-tax collections stabilizing next year and remaining roughly even with what the city anticipates it will collect this year.

Through the first four months of this year, sales-tax collections actually generated 13 percent less in revenue than they did last year.

That means the pace of consumer spending in the city would have to roughly quadruple through the rest of this year or increase next year instead of remaining flat to meet the current projections.

And the trend so far has not been encouraging.

Sales-tax collections have declined further than expected each month this year, leaving the city on pace to collect the same amount from the sales tax as it did four years ago.

The Misguided War On Drugs

New York Time

Anything goes in the “war on drugs,” or so it seems. Governments around the world have used it as an excuse for unchecked human rights abuse and irrational policies based on knee-jerk reactions rather than scientific evidence. This has caused tremendous human suffering. It also undermines drug control efforts.

That human rights abuses are widespread is no secret. Nor is frivolous rejection by many governments of proven, effective strategies to protect the health of drug users and communities. Both have been well documented.

In 2003, law enforcement officials in Thailand killed more than 2,700 people in the government’s “war on drugs.” More than 30 U.N. member states, including China, Indonesia and Malaysia, retain the death penalty for drug offenses — some as a mandatory sentence — in violation of international law. In Russia, untold thousands of heroin users cannot obtain opioid substitution treatment because the government has banned methadone, despite its proven effectiveness.

In the United States — and many other countries — prisons are overflowing because drug users are routinely incarcerated for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses. These prisoners often have no access to effective drug treatment or basic medical care. In Colombia, Afghanistan and other countries, crop eradication has pushed thousands of poppy and coca farmers and their families deeper into poverty without offering them any alternative livelihood and has damaged their health.

In China, hundreds of thousands of drug users are forced into drug detoxification centers, where they can be detained for up to three years without trial, treatment, or due process. In India people are dying in uncontrolled detoxification programs.v

Commission Recommendations Work Towards Public Safety

Examiner

The Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice was convened by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to conduct a five year study and report, on a yearly basis, its findings and recommendations concerning the criminal and juvenile justice system. The first year is dedicated to reducing recidivism and curbing the costs of corrections.

These issues were given first priority because they are the most critical to enhancing public safety. According to Colorado State Public Defender Douglas K. Wilson, it’s simply not enough to incarcerate people for five to ten years and then let them go. If they aren’t given an alternative to the life style of crime they had before, they will invariably pick up where they left off when they are released.

“What the community seems to have forgotten is that most guys are coming out,” says Wilson. “So you better start working with them as they’re going in to make sure that they don’t go back in, because we cannot continue to pay $30,387 a year per inmate to keep people in prison.

In their report, the commision recommend 66 changes to the judicial system and DOC’s business practices and work processes that are designed to improve the transition from prison to society for ex-offenders and maximize the chances of their success. Eight of these deal specifically with giving them the opportunity to learn a new skill, which includes job training and community college classes while they are still in prison and job placement assistance when they get out.

One might wonder why Colorado taxpayers should pay to educate, and then give jobs to, a group of deviants whom were recently incarcerated for committing crimes against a society they now wish to rejoin.

One reason is it’s simply less expensive in the long run to do business this way. Studies by the commission have shown that strong ties to employment and family reduce recidivism considerably. Less recidivism means less people going back to prison, and less that has to be spent on corrections. It also creates a larger work force, which creates more commerce and a healthier economy.

A more important reason is safety to the community. A well-known adage between convicts is that the only thing they learned in prison was how to be a better criminal. And, as stated earlier, sooner or later, they’re coming out. Do we want an institutionalized thug whose primary concern is who their next victim is? Or do we want someone who is anxious to start a new career and become a productive member of society?

“You can’t look at re-entry from the day the guy gets out,” says Wilson. “You got to look at re-entry the day before the guy goes in. And that’s when re-entry should start. If somebody’s going in, you should start working with them at that point with the idea of a successful reintegration into society.”

Lakewood Cop Shoots Suspect In Back

The Denver Post

An armed man who was killed by an undercover Lakewood officer was shot twice in the back, according to an autopsy report.

Eugene Paul Velarde, 25, was shot after he fled a liquor store at West First Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard on June 10.

Police said Velarde entered the store with a pistol and made threats.

A short time later, two Lakewood Police Department plainclothes officers driving an unmarked Nissan Pathfinder tried to pull over Velarde, who was driving a minivan, but Velarde rammed the sport utility vehicle, police said.

Velarde ran from the crash and was shot twice by a pursuing officer.

Investigators found a pistol near Velarde, but they have not said whether he fired any shots at the officers, who have not been identified.

Velarde had several drugs in his blood system, according to the autopsy report, including cocaine, opiates and amphetamine.

American Nightmare: Oklahoma Justice

I can't believe this story...
Drug War Rant

Will Foster became a poster child for the mindless cruelties of the drug war more than a decade ago. The Tulsa small businessman and medical marijuana user -- he suffers from degenerative arthritis -- was raided by police with a warrant for a methamphetamine lab back in 1993. Police found no meth, but they did find a small marijuana garden. The unfortunate Foster was quickly sentenced to a mind-blowing 93 years in prison.

It took a growing national movement and, ultimately, an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision to get that sentence redressed. After the state high court threw out his sentence, Foster was resentenced to 20 years, twice denied parole, then finally paroled to the more medical marijuana-friendly state of California, where he moved in temporarily with "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal, who had testified in his defense in Oklahoma and then befriended him.

And they all lived happily ever after, right? Wrong. Although Foster settled into a law-abiding life in Northern California, picking up a new family along the way, and successfully completed what the state of California considered an adequate parole period, that wasn't good enough for the state of Oklahoma. Upset that California officials hadn't kept him on parole as long as they would have, Oklahoma parole officials demanded that he return to that benighted state to finish his parole and when he, perhaps understandably, declined, issued a warrant for his arrest for violating the terms of his parole.

Nothing came of that until Foster had his ID checked in a police encounter, but then, the pending Oklahoma warrant popped up, and Foster was jailed in California to be returned to Oklahoma to finish the rest of his sentence. With nothing to lose, Foster fought the warrant by filing a writ of habeas corpus and winning its dismissal in the California courts in 2006.

Once again, Foster was a free man, but Oklahoma still wasn't done with him. Oklahoma parole officials then offered to reinstate him in the interstate compact, which governs the supervision of parolees who parole to states other than the one in which they were sentenced, but then added that they had made a mistake when originally calculating the length of his parole period. His parole didn't end in 2011, but in 2015, they said, demanding he sign a document to that effect. Again, perhaps understandably, Foster declined that offer, and again, the state of Oklahoma issued another warrant for his arrest for violating the terms of his parole.

By then, Foster had moved to Santa Rosa, California, about 50 miles north of San Francisco, and made a home with a local woman, Susie Mueller, and her three daughters. There, he had a medical marijuana grow, all completely legal under state law and county guidelines. But he also had a vindictive ex-girlfriend, who told law enforcement officials he was operating a major marijuana grow operation.

The next thing Foster and Mueller knew, DEA agents and Sonoma County sheriff's deputies were kicking down their door, the couple was arrested on state marijuana cultivation charges, and Mueller's youngest daughter was taken into custody as an endangered child.

"It was terrible," said Mueller. "They did a full-on raid and arrested him over seven mature plants, and they arrested me and took my daughter away. They thought because he knew Ed there was something big going on. They said if I told them where the other grows were, they wouldn't arrest me and take my daughter. I told them that's all there was and that he was within the guidelines, and they said 'take her kid,' and they arrested me."

A hard-nosed Sonoma County prosecutor delayed months before dropping the baseless charges, and Foster sat in the Sonoma County Jail the whole time. But even after the charges were dropped, Foster remains behind bars, fighting the extradition warrant back to Oklahoma. It's now going on 16 months of imprisonment for him.

"In their warrant, they said I violated the terms and conditions of parole in Oklahoma, then fled Oklahoma to escape justice," Foster said Wednesday in a phone call from the jail. "But I haven't been back in Oklahoma since I left in 2001. I successfully finished parole here, I beat back that earlier extradition effort, and they're still coming after me."

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger routinely signed off on the Oklahoma warrant without knowing all the facts, Foster said. "The governor has not been given all the information. Oklahoma didn't tell him I had finished parole, had an earlier extradition attempt thrown out, or that they had tried to extend my parole six years after the fact," he pointed out.

Neither the California nor the Oklahoma governors' offices nor Oklahoma parole officials responded to Chronicle inquiries about the Foster case.

Now, with his options running out, Foster and his supporters are pursuing two strategies, one political and one judicial. The first is aimed at the two governors, urging them to revoke the warrants. The second is to file another writ of habeas corpus, which Foster said he would do at the end of this month.

"I am asking the governor of Oklahoma to recall the warrant and commute my sentence and let me live in peace in California and just leave me alone," he said. "I'm asking Gov. Schwarzenegger to not honor the extradition request. There is case law suggesting that he does not have to grant extradition; he can deny it and recall his warrant."

Ed Rosenthal is leading the campaign to free Foster. On his blog is complete information about how to contact the two governors to ask them to recall the warrants.

Judge Allows Masters' To Press Claim

The Denver Post
DENVER—Lawyers for a man who filed suit against prosecutors and law enforcement after his murder conviction was overturned by DNA evidence can begin taking testimony and gathering evidence after a judge denied a request to delay the case.

U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock said Thursday the claims by Tim Masters "directly implicate our judicial system" and the public has a right to hear how the courts handled his case.

Masters was released from prison in January 2008, nearly 10 years after being arrested and later convicted in the 1987 slaying and sexual mutilation of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins, 50 miles north of Denver. Masters was released after DNA testing failed to place him at the scene and the discovery of evidence that had been withheld from defense attorneys during his trial.

"This whole thing has ruined Tim Masters' life," attorney David Lane told Babcock.

All defendants have denied wrongdoing and claim immunity because they were acting in their official capacity.

Since his release, Masters has been bidding on abandoned storage sheds and selling the contents on eBay Inc., said David Wymore, another attorney for Masters. As a teen, Masters aspired to be a horror fiction writer.

Masters' lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Colorado is one of 23 states that have no law mandating compensation for those who are wrongly imprisoned, according to the New York-based Innocence Project. In states that do offer compensation, the wrongly imprisoned are paid anywhere from $50 per day of imprisonment to $50,000 per year.

Marijuana Dispensary To Open In Breckenridge

Summit Daily

BRECKENRIDGE — Folks with doctor approval for marijuana therapy may soon have easier access through a dispensary in Breckenridge.

Because it would be the town's first such business, town council on Tuesday afternoon put a 90-day moratorium on licensing and location of retail marijuana establishments. Regulations such as operating hours, signage and proximity to such areas as schools are to be decided by the end of the moratorium.

Local attorney Sean McAllister, who represents the party interested in opening a dispensary, said his client is ready to open “as soon as the town authorizes it.”

“Everybody already is open — there are dozens of people in the county that are caregivers,” he said. “It's in peoples' homes, but they want to get it out of their homes because they have children. They want a place people can come that's not in their neighborhood.”

Some 103 Summit County residents are registered for medical marijuana, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

But McAllister said the number of legal, medicinal smokers is likely more in the ballpark of 300 to 500, for registration isn't always necessary.

“People can have recommendations, too,” he said, adding that recommendations must come from a physician with whom one has a relationship.

AG Wants Review Of Cocaine Sentences

The Washington Post

By DEVLIN BARRETT
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 9:04 PM

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder sought support Wednesday for erasing the gap in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine crimes, a disparity that hits black defendants the hardest.

The effort to change federal sentencing laws for cocaine has broad support but may still unravel amid disagreements about how equal the sentences should be, and whether the whole sentencing system needs to be changed.

"One thing is very clear: We must review our federal cocaine sentencing policy," Holder said at a legal discussion sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus.

Under current law, it takes 100 times more powdered cocaine than crack cocaine to trigger the same harsh, mandatory minimum sentences.

"This administration firmly believes that the disparity in crack and powdered cocaine sentences is unwarranted," Holder said. "It must be eliminated."

The law was passed in the 1980s during the spread of crack in American cities, which officials blamed for a rise in violence. Yet in the years since, worries about crack have declined.

The most recent government figures show that 82 percent of crack offenders are African-American, while just 9 percent of them are white.

In remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus event, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who helped craft the sentencing guidelines that now are the subject of so much criticism and debate, urged Congress to focus first on the laws creating mandatory minimums for certain crimes.

"My goodness, those mandatory minimums drive (sentencing) guidelines in 100 different ways," Breyer said.

The justice acknowledged that curtailing mandatory minimums is not politically popular, or easy. "It's very, very hard to explain to people," he said.

The Obama administration wants to change the law to end the 100-to-1 ratio in sentencing, and make it strictly 1-to-1. Some lawmakers also want to change the law but aren't sure it should be reduced that drastically. There also is debate over whether to close the gap by raising the penalty for powder cocaine, in addition to lowering the penalty for crack.

Ritter Gets C- in Race Report Card

Denver Daily News

By GENE DAVIS

Denver Daily News Staff Writer

A new report from the Colorado Progressive Coalition gives Gov. Bill Ritter and the Colorado legislature a “C-” for their efforts in the 2009 session to increase racial equality within Colorado.

The Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity evaluated and graded Ritter and members of the Colorado legislature on their responses to 12 pieces of legislation that the Colorado Progressive Coalition (CPC) said would have created a “more just state for Coloradans of color.” The inaugural report’s goal was to hold elected officials accountable for public policies that result in racial inequality, according to Arthur Way and Carlos Valverde of the CPC.

“Simply put, we must not be silent concerning race,” said Way. “Unfortunately, talking about race is similar to wearing polyester bell bottoms — nobody thinks it’s cool anymore. This does not mean that it’s not necessary.”

The racial equity scorecards for the lawmakers were based on a 100-point scale. Lawmakers got 80 points for voting favorably on the 12 bills that CPC determined would have helped advance racial equity. Lawmakers received an additional 20 points for being the lead sponsor of the bill, and 10 points for being a cosponsor.

Barely passing

Colorado lawmakers in the 2009 session received an average score of 70 on the legislative report card, and lawmakers of color received an average score of 85. While CPC acknowledged that Ritter signed all of the bills that they deemed favorable into law, the nonprofit said the governor’s grade reflects the entire legislative body as a whole, as well as his leadership in preparing for a multiracial future.

Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said he doesn’t agree with the C- grade, but added everyone could agree that more work needs to be done to promote racial equality. Additionally, Dreyer pointed out some the pro-racial equality policies that Ritter has supported —tuition equity, the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act and the Colorado Criminal and Juvenile Justice Commission — that he said proves Ritter’s commitment to increasing racial equality in Colorado.

“Over the past two years, Gov. Ritter has demonstrated an extremely strong commitment to increasing educational, healthcare and job opportunities, as well as fairness in the criminal justice system, for Colorado’s communities of color,” said Dreyer. “This is something that is extremely important to him and is something you can see very clearly in a number of areas and is a commitment that dates back to the three years he spent in Africa providing food and healthcare to some of the most impoverished communities in the world.”

Missed opportunity

The CPC said lawmakers missed an opportunity to advance racial equality in Colorado by not passing SB 286 — which would have reduced sentences for non-violent criminals.

According to the CPC report, people of color in Colorado represent 55 percent of the prison population but only 25 percent of the population. Also, blacks are less than 5 percent of the state population yet constitute 20 percent of the population, they said.

As a result of the high proportion of minorities behind bars, CPC said that SB 286 would have had a positive effect on communities of color. SB 286 did not get passed in the 2009 legislative session because it was introduced so late in the year.

However, a version of SB 286 is expected to come back in the 2010 legislative session.

Factbox; Shrinking State Budgets

Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. states are resorting to some unusual measures to balance budgets as the economic recession decimates their revenue.

States are forbidden from running a deficit, forcing political leaders to resort to spending cuts or tax hikes during times of stress.

Forty-six U.S. states face fiscal 2010 budget deficits totaling at least $130 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. During the current fiscal year, 42 states were hit with mid-year shortfalls of a combined $60 billion, according to the Washington think-tank.

That compares with the $1.8 trillion deficit run up by the federal government, which is allowed to operate with a deficit.

So far this year, 23 states have enacted tax increases and another 13 are considering similar moves.

Here are some of the measures that have been enacted or proposed:

* Prison Cuts

Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina and Washington have closed prisons this year as a cost-cutting measure.

New York State and Kentucky changed sentencing laws and bolstered substance abuse programs to keep more drug offenders out of prison. New York expects its changed regulations to save the state about a quarter of a billion dollars a year.

The U.S. has the world's largest prison population with one in every 31 adults in the corrections system, which includes jail, prison, probation and supervision. States spent a record $51.7 billion on corrections in fiscal 2008.

* "Sin" taxes

Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Florida, Mississippi, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Vermont have increased tobacco taxes.

Wyoming and Maine changed the method for taxing tobacco products to base them on weight.

New York raised taxes on beer, wine and cigars.

Kentucky ended its sales tax exemption on alcoholic beverages.

California is mulling legalizing marijuana and charging a $50-per-ounce tax on it along with the state's sale tax.

The War Against The War On Drugs

The Nation
(The Nation) Sasha Abramsky,a freelance journalist and senior fellow at Demos, is the author, most recently, of Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It.

---

If that old adage still holds true, then the nation may soon see a gradual backpedaling from the criminal justice policies that have led to wholesale incarceration in recent decades.

For the most populous state in the union is on the verge of insolvency--partly because it didn't set aside a rainy-day fund during the boom years; partly because its voters recently rejected a series of initiatives that would have allowed a combination of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing to help stabilize the state's finances during the downturn; partly because it has spent the past quarter-century funneling tens of billions of dollars into an out-of-control correctional system. Now, as California's politicians contemplate emergency cuts to deal with a $24 billion hole in the state budget, old certainties are crumbling.

The state with the toughest three-strikes law in the land and a prison population of more than 150,000 is facing the real possibility of having to release tens of thousands of inmates early in order to pare its $10 billion annual correctional budget. At the same time, an increasing number of the state's political figures are challenging the basic tenets of the "war on drugs," the culprit most responsible for the spike in prison populations over the past thirty years; they argue that the country's harsh drug policies are not financially viable and no longer command majority support among the voting public.

Similar stories are unfolding around the country; in Washington, federal officials are talking about drug-policy reform and, more generally, sentencing reform in a way that has not been heard in the halls of power for more than a generation.

For old-time politicians, who have spent the past three-plus decades navigating the country's roiling tough-on-crime waters, the changes are almost unfathomable. Onetime California governor and current gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown, for example, has spent decades trying to erase the public's memory of his liberal tenure in the 1970s, when California's prison population shrank to well below 30,000. As a part of that remodeling, he has assiduously courted the California Correctional Peace Officers' Association, the trade union representing the state's prison guards. Now, with his war chest flush with CCPOA funds, Brown won't do anything to challenge tough-on-crime

Barney Frank Submits Legalization Bill

Representative Barney Frank introduced a bill last week that would decriminalize the personal possession of marijuana at the federal level in quantities less than 100 grams and would reduce the penalty for using pot in public.

“Criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society,” remarked the Massachusetts representative.

Texas representative Ron Paul and New York representative Maurice Hinchey are co-sponsors of the legislation.

“To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree,” Frank’s statement said. “But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged.”

“I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s,” he continued, “when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else. It’s a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and our prisons are over-crowded. We don’t need to spend our scarce resources prosecuting people who are doing no harm to others.”

Several states, including California, Colorado, New York, Oregon and several others have already reduced penalties on the possession of small quantities of marijuana, making them simple civil fines in some cases.

Frank filed a similar bill last year that failed.

Prisons Must Do More To Prevent Inmate Rape

The Denver Post

Under no circumstances should prison rape be "distressingly common" or "widespread," yet those are two recent assessments of the problem in Colorado and around the country.

A federal study released Tuesday said that in 2007 alone, an estimated 60,500 rapes occurred in the nation's prisons and jails.

That is a despicably high number, and authorities must make inroads in protecting inmates from such abuse at the hands of other prisoners and corrections staff.

Incarcerated people have the same basic rights to safety that others have and it is the government's duty to protect those in custody, regardless of the crimes they've committed.

The problem came to light here in Colorado in a very public way earlier this month when a female state prison inmate was awarded $1.3 million after having been raped by a guard.

The 2006 case was one of "horrific violence," according to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge David Ebel, who went on to observe that the sexual abuse of inmates "remains distressingly common in Colorado prisons."

The female inmate was coerced by a prison sergeant, Leshawn Terrell, to perform sex acts for five months. When she refused to continue, he raped her.

The woman suffered untreated injuries and bleeding for two years following the rape, and finally, after filing a lawsuit, underwent surgery to address her injuries.

Even more dismaying is the paltry criminal penalty the guard received. The Denver District Attorney allowed Terrell to plead to a misdemeanor offense carrying a 60-day term of imprisonment, as opposed to a felony sex-assault charge.

The DA's office said the victim had credibility issues, accepted the deal and did not want to testify. Furthermore, Terrell is now a registered sex offender.

A 60-day sentence hardly seems just punishment for the injuries and intimidation described in the woman's lawsuit.

The prison rape problem was spelled out on a national scale in a report by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, which was established by Congress in 2003.

The report recommends that jails and prisons conduct better staff training, improve screening to identify those who are more likely to be victimized, and conduct more internal monitoring via video cameras and oversight boards.

Those all sound like good ideas, but there also needs to be a a fundamental shift in attitudes among those in criminal justice whereby this sort of abuse is not tolerated.

Most prisoners eventually will be released and expected to get jobs and integrate back into communities, which is difficult under the best circumstances. Prisoners who have been sexually assaulted and likely traumatized have an unconscionably heavier burden to bear.

Prisoners and Cold Cases

The Denver Post

In her perfect world, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigator Cheryl Moore pictures something like this:

A group of inmates is sitting in prison playing poker. The cards they use don't feature kings and queens, but instead portray the victims of cold-case homicides.

The cards spark something in one of the inmates, and he spontaneously confesses knowledge about one of the crimes. A cellmate, seeking a reduced sentence or small reward, then calls the detective. Case closed.

It hasn't happened yet, at least not in Colorado, but the cold-case playing cards have only just started to get wide circulation in the state's prison system.

"Every card has a different cold case featured on it," Moore said.

The Colorado Department of Corrections recently began selling the cards in its prisons for 63 cents a pack, less than half the price of a normal deck, said Katherine Sanguinetti, DOC spokeswoman.

Colorado prisons are the latest to seize on an emerging trend across the country to try to tap the knowledge of people who know the most about unsolved crimes — criminals. Other states using the cards include Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon and Wisconsin

AG's Office Drowing In Appeals

The Denver Post

Colorado's attorney general's office is drowning in appeals cases.

At the end of May, the office's appellate division had 374 cases pending. That's about 150 more than at the same time last year. And, with an expected surge in end-of-the-fiscal-year appeals, the office will likely end June with more cases pending than at any time in its history.

The backlog means the attorney general's office — which handles all post-conviction appeals cases in Colorado — is in triage mode. Some cases get quick responses instead of the in-depth replies the office would prefer. Others take longer to bring to a conclusion.

"Everybody would like to see these cases move through the system more quickly," said Catherine Adkisson, head of the AG's appellate division.

The AG's office could not immediately provide examples of noteworthy cases affected by the delay.

The number of appeals cases coming in month-to-month hasn't changed dramatically from years past, according to state figures.

Instead, the problem, Adkisson said, is one of staffing. The office has fewer attorneys now than it did seven years ago — the result of past economic downturns and budget cuts. Current state budget problems make it unlikely the office will be able to expand anytime soon.

Almost all the cases the office handles are ones where someone has been convicted and is appealing. In those situations, the attorney general's office represents the state, normally arguing that the conviction be upheld.

About a third of the appellants in those cases are represented by the state public defender's office, another third are represented by private attorneys and the last third represent themselves.

Parolees Struggle With Child Support

St. Joseph News

Feeding his crack habit in a known drug house when law officers kicked in the door about two years ago, Kenton McGaughy was swooped up, convicted of possession and sent to prison. He was paroled in March.

Today, he’s escaped the cold walls of a state penitentiary, but there is no escape from paying child support — of which owes more than $27,000. He’s paying it down with a $9-an-hour job as a short-order cook.

Re-entry officials say ex-convicts like Mr. McGaughy emerge from prison facing menial employment, lowered earning power and a policy that may whisk them back to prison for debts built while behind bars. That contrasts with a tough prosecutor in St. Joseph who is unapologetic about recovering child support.

Mr. McGaughy, 46, says he has begun to turn around his life after what he calls a revolving door of prison, an outside world of drugs and alcohol and continually falling behind on his child support payments. He lives in a shelter among homeless to make ends meet. Almost half of his $680 biweekly paycheck goes toward support of his two children and payment to their mothers on arrearages.

“It’s a humbling process. I can’t get ahead with the way the economy is,” he said. “Gotta keep working, man, to keep them off my back.”

Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins is among officials who consider child support a serious enforcement issue and a prison sentence as “voluntary unemployment.” Warrants requested by his office brought Mr. McGaughy from Colorado three times for nonsupport.

“If you are a criminal, you’ve chosen to do time. You should support the child immediately on getting out. That should be your No. 1 priority. And if it’s not, your thinking is still not very straight,” Mr. Scroggins said.

But finding a job upon release, getting substance abuse treatment and making up lost time with family are factors that affect a newly released inmate, said Marcia Miller, a former corrections employee who heads an inmate support program in St. Joseph.

Mexico: Let Up On Users Target Cartels

The Denver Post

MEXICO CITY — Could Mexican cities become Latin Amsterdams, flooded by drug users seeking penalty-free tokes and toots? That is the fear, if somewhat overstated, of some Mexican officials, especially in northern border states that serve as a mecca for underage American drinkers.

The Mexican legislature has voted quietly to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs, an effort that in the past has proved highly controversial.

There has been less protest this time around, in part because there hasn't been much publicity.

Some critics have suggested that easing the punishment on drug possession sends the wrong message at a time when President Felipe Calderon is waging a bloody war on major narcotics traffickers. The battle between law enforcement and drug suspects has resulted in more than 11,000 deaths in the past 2 1/2 years.

But it was Calderon himself who proposed the decriminalization legislation.

His reasoning: It makes sense to distinguish between small-time users and big-time dealers, while retargeting major crime-fighting resources away from the former and toward the latter and their drug-lord bosses.

"The important thing is . . . that consumers are not treated as criminals," said Rafael Ruiz Mena, secretary general of the National Institute of Penal Sciences. "It is a public health problem, not a penal problem."

The legislation was approved at the height of a swine-flu outbreak in Mexico that dominated the public's, and the world's, attention.

Greene: No Second Chance For Jailed Kids

The Denver Post

Bill Ritter must have figured we wouldn't pay attention.

Nearly two years after creating the country's first juvenile clemency board, it appears the panel he packed mostly with law enforcers hasn't recommended a single applicant even for a reduced sentence.

Ritter won praise for promising a shot at a second chance for inmates sentenced as kids to life without parole.

Now his pledge seems as hollow as his promises for sentencing reform. Just a bunch of fair-minded words, he must have reckoned, before we forgot and moved on to his next happy press release.

"I don't think he ever intended to reform anything. What's the point of his board other than to solidify that he thinks everything's OK with a system that locks kids up forever?" says Jennifer Jones of Denver, whose brother was one of the most compelling applicants.

Trevor Jones was 17 when he made the mistake of trying to scam a kid out of $100 by selling him a gun and then taking it back. He fired a single shot — accidentally, he claims — that killed Matthew Foley, 16.

Denver charged Jones with first-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty on a lesser charge of reckless manslaughter. Because Foley died during a robbery, prosecutors won a "felony murder" conviction and mandatory life sentence.

Jones, now 30, has served 13 years without a single prison write-up or disciplinary action. He has taken correspondence courses in Greek, Latin and philosophy. He writes letters urging

Chief Whitman and Activists: Denver Police Profiling

The Denver Post

Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman joined several dozen community activists todayto reaffirm that his department will not tolerate the practice of racial profiling and will continue to prohibit biased policing.

Whitman spoke at a press conference during Denver's Juneteenth celebration in Five Points. He also released a letter on the subject.

"We will continue to look at data to identify those officers who are involved in it," Whitman said. "We will determine patterns, but it can be very difficult in some neighborhoods when people won't talk with us. The community makes us effective," he added.

Denver police and activists have been holding neighborhood talks since 2005 to address perceived problems with the city's "broken-windows" policing strategy, which was created to reduce crime in at-risk areas.

The theory is that stomping out smaller crimes such as vandalism and littering may prevent more serious crimes from taking root.

But residents living in some Denver neighborhoods said all the strategy did was to cause racial profiling. Many said their children were being targeted.

Whitman and activists agreed Saturday that although progress was being made, there still is a lot work to do.

"It's a milestone, but we have to keep the pressure on," said Lisa Calderon, an organizer with the Denver chapter of INCITE!

Sentencing Reform Requires Study

While I appreciate the thoughtfulness...we don't have time to get stuck in the quagmire of study and meetings. There needs to be bold and decisive action and luckily the commission is uniquely poised to do just that. Evidence-based research on sentencing practices has already been done and can be applied to the situation we find ourselves in here. But the DA is correct, there has to be buy in and dollars reprioritized for this to work.
The Coloradoan

Many who have studied Colorado sentencing laws agree: change is needed. Gov. Bill Ritter recognized the importance of sentencing reform when he asked his newly formed multi-disciplinary Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to take a comprehensive look at Colorado sentencing laws.

While there seems to by widespread agreement about the need for modification, we must proceed with a cautious and careful examination of the laws we are proposing to change. As with many laws, we try to remedy problems with quick fixes. As a result, over time we develop convoluted legislation creating unanticipated consequences that produce less than just results. This not only is counterproductive for the victim and the community, but it neither provides the level of punishment expected nor incorporates the necessary rehabilitative aspects needed for the offender.

The large number of inmates in the Colorado Department of Corrections may be worthy of discussion, but that fact alone does not translate into a damaged or broken sentencing scheme. It is a fact that we have seen crime rates drop as the inmate population has increased. Is there a correlation? Those who believe too many are incarcerated will find other reasons for the reduced crime rate. Those who believe there is a correlation advocate that the cost is worth it when compared to the cost of crime on society.

In studying our sentencing structure, it must be comprehensive without a pre-established agenda to merely reduce the prison population. The cost of incarceration is high and the figures presented will vary greatly depending on who is gathering the data, but effective rehabilitation programs are also expensive and many often do not produce results that are any more impressive than straight incarceration.

Therefore, before we consider reducing the prison population as our litmus test for sentencing reform success, we need to be smart, practical, informed and willing to examine best practice methods from around the country and perhaps worldwide. We must also examine the following with good unbiased research:

> The cost of incarceration versus the cost of crime in the community.

> The nature of the offender in the department of corrections and the offense committed.

> The availability of adequate mental health and substance abuse programs.

> The availability of effective offender rehabilitation programs.

> The willingness of the state and communities to fund effective programs with adequate public safety observed.

> The willingness of the citizens to accept the suggested sentence modification.

> Whether prevention programs are established and adequately funded.

> The willingness of courts and prosecutors to follow the legislative sentencing philosophy.

> Ability to identify the sentencing goal: reducing recidivism, punishment, isolation from society or a combination?

DPA Conference

The moment is here: we've officially opened registration for the 2009
International Drug Policy Reform Conference. Secure your place
now to attend this important gathering.
http://dpa.convio.net/site/R?i=nQlFxOIJRY1C3UHNNpohcQ..

There are so many reasons to join us November 12-14 in
Albuquerque. First, as I mentioned in my email last week, this
may be the best opportunity to continue the unprecedented momentum
toward positive change. If you're working in any area of drug
policy reform, or want to be, you have to be part of this
conversation.

Second, there is, simply stated, no better crash course in drug policy
than this three-day event. Many hundreds of people have
described past meetings as transformative experiences in their
lives. This one promises to be the best yet.

And finally, your participation in the conference will ensure the
amazing diversity that makes this meeting what it is. We've also
worked hard to make it affordable for you. We offer members, New
Mexico residents, students and all early-bird registrants a
significant discount off our regular non-member registration rate:

The energy of this gathering is like no other. You will meet
people who challenge you, who inspire you and who could be partners in
your reform efforts. Register now to attend the Reform Conference and
experience all of this in person.
http://dpa.convio.net/site/R?i=6WXYBCbRKdFYwKCmWUDVow..

Thanks for all you do.

Sincerely,

Ethan Nadelmann
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance

P.S. Don't forget to tell your friends to come. The Reform Conference
is a great introduction to the world of drug policy reform, and your
personal invite will help build our movement.

Sentencing Laws Must Change

The Denver Daily News

State can’t afford rising prison costs Independence Institute, Colorado Libertarian Think Tank Friday, June 19, 2009

On June 3, Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Senate Bill 228, repealing a longstanding statutory spending limitation (the Bird-Arveschoug act) that held the annual increase in general fund spending in Colorado to 6 percent. But before anyone gets all teary-eyed — whether from joy or sorrow — because the majority Democrats in the Legislature will finally have the budgetary flexibility to spend as they see fit, take a breath. Recent history shows that prison spending in Colorado, and the sentencing polices that drive that spending, has been constraining state spending for decades, and will continue to do so into the near future.

Penalties doubled

In 1985, the Legislature simply doubled the maximum penalties in Colorado’s presumptive sentencing range for all levels of felony crimes (note that in Colorado, simply being in possession of an amount of illegal drugs weighing less than an American nickel is a felony crime). The average sentence length quickly increased by two-thirds, and Colorado’s inmate population more than doubled in the next five years. It has more than doubled again since.

In an often desperate effort to keep pace with the capacity demands of such unprecedented growth in the prison population, successive legislatures and governors have taken Colorado taxpayers on what can only be described as an extreme prison spending spree that has pushed corrections spending from less than 3 percent to nearly 9 percent of general fund spending.

It is a simple formula, but a dramatic increase in spending for one item as a percentage of the state’s general fund (prisons) necessarily means that other spending items (such as health care and higher education) have had to decrease as a percentage of general fund appropriation.

This year’s Joint Budget Committee budget briefing notes that in the 16 years since Colorado lawmakers implemented the 6 percent spending limit, prison spending has grown “at a compound annual rate of 9.5 percent.” If prison spending had actually been held to the 6 percent growth, then last year’s Department of Corrections operating budget would have been around $430 million, instead it was nearly $677 million.

So the current opportunity cost of Colorado’s extreme prison spending spree is a quarter billion dollars that could have been spent on health care and higher education.

Endless cycle

At the same time that lawmakers were routinely busting spending limitations on prisons, they continued to enact numerous new laws, creating more sentencing enhancements, and even new crimes, perpetuating the need to spend more and more money, with an often less than clear public safety benefit. In 1992, for one example, Colorado lawmakers surrendered their prerogative to write the state’s criminal law and enacted the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, written by drug war bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., and which created both numerous new drug offenses and sentencing enhancements for those offenses. According to the Department of Corrections, some 18 percent of Colorado’s prison population now has a drug offense as their “most serious offense.”

There are as many drug offenders in prison today than the entire prison population 25 years ago when Colorado prisons held around 3,500 inmates. And it is Colorado’s spending limitations at fault for the state’s budget woes?

This year’s budget increased prison spending by around 3 percent, and while this is considerably less than the more than 9 percent increase originally requested by Ritter, it is likely not nearly enough to allow the Department of Corrections to keep pace with the ever growing prison population. Despite a recent slowing trend, projections still estimate thousands more inmates by 2012, which in turn demands many more millions in new prison spending.

Prisoners drive spending

Spending doesn’t drive the prison population; rather, the prison population drives state spending. So regardless of what lawmakers do with the prison budget next session, inmates will keep showing up at the door. The Legislature’s ability to affect prison spending lies in its prerogative to write sentencing law and policy

The fact that the Democrat majority had to take the ax to general fund spending items such as higher education and health care this year had little to do with the 6 percent spending limitation and everything to do with fiscally irresponsible prison spending. An until such time as Colorado lawmakers find the will to make meaningful sentencing law reforms, this will continue to be the case.

Mike Krause directs the Justice Policy Initiative at the Independence Institute, a Golden-based libertarian think tank. The views expressed here are those of the Independence Institute and not necessarily of the Denver Daily News. Respond to this column at editor@thedenverdailynews.com.

Caregivers Names Private

The Denver Post

BOULDER — Because of tight privacy regulations built into Colorado law, few people know the names of medical-marijuana caregivers or how many people are certified to provide the drug in the state.

In fact, the law makes it so difficult to identify the people who can legally provide marijuana that the Boulder County Drug Task Force doesn't know how many certified marijuana caregivers are in the Boulder County region.

That has officers spending considerable time investigating pot-growing operations purporting to be legal; double-checking caregiver certificates and patient cards; and making sure caregivers don't have more than the allowed amount of marijuana, said task force Sgt. Barry Hartkopp.

"We are trying to determine how many we might have and make sure they are all working within the laws in dispensing the marijuana," Hartkopp said. "They are flying under the radar pretty well right now."

For instance, a medical-marijuana distributor in Boulder that was robbed June 16 was unknown to many of the law-enforcement officers who responded to the call for help.

Confidentiality protected

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which certifies caregivers and issues patient cards, the confidentiality of providers and users is protected by law, and "no lists of doctors, patients or caregivers are given to anyone."

Prospective caregivers and users must go through a lengthy state-certification process to provide or use marijuana legally.

The state keeps a registry of users but not of caregivers, said Mark Salley, spokesman for the state public health department.

The law, enacted Nov. 7, 2000, to make it legal for people to use marijuana as medicine, defines a caregiver as a person who is 18 years or older and has "significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient who has a debilitating medical condition."

Warren Edson, a lawyer from Denver who helped co-author the law more than a decade ago and who advises about 20 medical-marijuana dispensaries in the state, said there are three to five legal dispensaries in Boulder and about 30 in Colorado.

Robberies such as the one in Boulder this week are among his greatest fears.

"I'm afraid that what happened (June 16) will become more common," Edson said. "I urge security . . . whether it's video or security guards or whatever. I'm very concerned about this."

Dispensary security tight

At Boulder Alternative Medicine — one of the few "open" medical-marijuana dispensaries that allow anyone with a medical-marijuana card to walk in for treatment — security is tight and the owners are vigilant about how they store the product.

Jay Epstein, co-owner of the medical-marijuana dispensary, said his company is in a "really good location."

"We are a block from a police annex, on a second story," he said.

It also allows only one to two patients in the shop at a time, closely monitors the medicine, uses a camera security system and has panic buttons, Epstein said. And, he said, employees keep only small amounts of marijuana and money in the clinic at any given time.

Restaurant Owner Funded Pot Operations

The Denver Post

The owner of a popular Chinese restaurant in Thornton was charged today in federal court with a felony count of money laundering.

If convicted, Dan Khau Tang, 46, owner of Heaven Dragon, will forfeit his right to title and interest in his properties, including $1.8 million in cash seized, according to a media release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Tang is accused of funding an elaborate marijuana-growing operation and laundering money through his restaurant.

The charge against Tang stems from an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and North Metro Task Force that uncovered a large-scale indoor marijuana cultivation and distribution organization in metro Denver.

"The operation was spearheaded by members of

Dan Tang's immediate family, and employees of Tang's restaurant, the Heaven Dragon," prosecutors said.

Investigators found 25 indoor grow operations, seized 24,056 marijuana plants and more than $3 million, according to the release.

Juvenile Found Dead In Pueblo County Jail

Why do we have children in adult jails?
Pueblo Chieftain

PUEBLO, COLO. -- Updated at 4:40 p.m

Sheriff Kirk M. Taylor has issued a statement in the death of a juvenile inmate who was found dead Monday night at the Pueblo County Detention Center:

“As you are aware, there was a senseless tragedy that occurred last night at the Pueblo County Detention Facility. Unfortunately, a young man’s life ended tragically and by all preliminary indications by his own hand. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Robert Borrego Jr. I believe that in some ways the entire criminal justice system has failed Mr. Borrego as well as many others like him across the nation. Unfortunately, all of the systems and protocols that we put in place cannot protect someone who is determined to harm themselves.

"I have been in constant contact with Undersheriff Hall and my staff in regard to this matter and I assure you, that every aspect of this tragic death will be scrutinized. I have called upon the critical incident team of the 10^th Judicial District to look into this matter in detail.

"I fully understand my duty to protect those individuals within my care. I want to publicly commend my deputies, shift supervisors and medical staff for their diligent efforts in regard to this incident. They showed true professionalism in the face of adversity. I have full faith in Undersheriff Hall and his ability to address any concerns and answer any questions that he can. Once again, I would like to express my sincere regrets to the family and friends of Mr. Borrego for their loss.”

The Situation Of Self Control

Just good food for thought

The Situationist

Meredith F. Small had a very interesting article,”Losing It: Why Self-Control Is Not Natural” in arecent issue of LiveScience.  Here are some excerpts.

* * *

After dinner last night, I lost my usual self-control and ate half a box of cookies. No  wonder. My self-control had been under pressure all day. I righteously refused a muffin at breakfast, didn’t scream at my kid to get out the door although we were late, made a conscious decision not to run over a pedestrian crossing against the light, kept my fist from pounding on the table during a faculty meeting, and resisted the urge to throw an annoying student out of my office.

But by 7 p.m., my self-control mechanism was worn out, and down those cookies went.

The empty box would have been no surprise to Yale University psychologist Joshua Ackerman and colleagues who have discovered that self-control not only wears us down, even thinking about other people’s self-control is too much to handle.

In the latest issue of the journal Psychological Science, the researchers taunted subjects with the story of a waiter who was surrounded by gourmet food but not allowed a taste. Some of the subjects were encouraged to go beyond polite listening and actually imagine this poor waiter, to have real empathy with his situation. And then everybody was shown pictures of expensive stuff. Those who had put themselves in the shoes of the waiter, had suffered all that self-control as he had, wanted that stuff, no matter the price.

In other words, just the thought of someone, anyone, depriving himself eventually makes greedy beasts of all of us.

Apparently, it’s human nature to be out of control. Imagine our early ancestors roaming the savannah looking for food. They might bring down a gazelle, but that meat was probably not enough for some of the group. As soon as they wiped their mouths, those lacking self-control were probably off again on the hunt because they could not deny themselves anything.

Such an attitude was probably adaptive. . . .

The need for self-control must have come much later, and in other spheres than food. Group living, for example, takes great self-control; it takes a lot to live with people day after day and not kill them, and so those more reflective humans who could keep their anger in check probably did well once humans settled into communities.

But that kind of self-control has become so painful in the modern world because there is so much to want, so much to tempt our restraint. We live in busy, complex communities surrounded by desirable goods and fun ideas, and so all day, every day, we hold back. And we see that most everyone else is holding back too. We are hit hard by both our own weary self-control as well as the exhausting empathy we apparently have for everyone else’s self-control.

Panelists Agree That The System Requires Review

The Sentencing Project

Chairman Arlen Specter lead the hearing which assembled a wide ranging panel consisting of Chief William Bratton of the Los Angeles Police Department; Pat Nolan, Vice President of the Prison Fellowship; Professor Charles J. Ogletree of Harvard Law School; and Brian W.Walsh, Senior Legal Research Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Despite the different political leanings of the panel members, they all agreed that the criminal justice system requires a comprehensive review.
Issue Area(s): Sentencing Policy, Incarceration, Racial Disparity, Drug Policy
“Our problems are systemic, widespread, and growing,” said LAPD Chief Bratton. “Only a singularly focused blue ribbon commission comprised of informed practitioners, scholars, policy makers, and civil rights activists can adequately address the calculated formation of intervention and prevention strategies.” Bratton emphasized the need for creative methods for preventing crime, some of which already exist in some cities, and could be expanded with city specific modifications. Professor Ogletree emphasized another point on which there was widespread agreement when he explained that the current criminal justice system is not cost effective, and that a new system which was aimed at that causes of crime would save both Federal and State governments huge amounts of money. One example came out of the state of California where an after school program called L.A.'s BEST was introduced at no cost to parents.  “Students enrolled in LA's BEST are 30 percent less likely to commit juvenile crime than their peers, for every dollar invested in the [program], Los Angeles saves $2.50 in costs associated with crime.” Professor Ogletree and others presented similar examples of programs such as these from all over the country, showing that preemptive measures can be highly effective. Nolan, formerly incarcerated himself, testified about the problems within the prisons which he described as breeding grounds for crime. “I saw that the skills the inmates learned to survive inside prison made them more dangerous when they were released.” When the government puts low-level and non-violent offenders in prison with more serious offenders the result is that upon release, the initially non-violent offenders who have, for the most part, been taught no skills during their sentence other than violence, face a high risk of recidivism. Senator Specter stated the issue most simply when he said, “We call it a correctional system, but we all know that it doesn't correct.” This bill is the first step towards creating a system that not only corrects but also prevents crime, while simultaneously cutting costs to tax payers and ensuring them a higher level of safety in their community.