Highlands Ranch med pot grower wants to plead guilty in federal court - The Denver Post

Highlands Ranch med pot grower wants to plead guilty in federal court - The Denver Post

A Highlands Ranch man busted by federal agents after growing medical marijuana in his home is expected to plead guilty to a drug charge, 9Wants to Know has learned.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the home where Chris Bartkowicz, 36, lived near C-470 and University Boulevard last month. Agents say they discovered 224 marijuana plants in various stages of development.

Bartkowicz pleaded not guilty on March 5 to a federal charge of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. That same day, Bartkowicz's attorney filed a notice of disposition telling a judge that the prosecution and defense have reached an agreement in the case and a change of plea proceeding is needed.

"The prosecution and defense are waiting for a judge to set a change of plea hearing date, where (Bartkowicz) will be given an opportunity to plead guilty," U.S. Attorney spokesman Jeff Dorschner told 9Wants to Know.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14641496#ixzz0hixAXZ7m

Walsenburg Struggling With Prison Closure

Pueblo Chieftain
WALSENBURG — With the closure of the town's second-largest employer approaching, town officials are preparing to deal with the loss of almost 200 jobs in an already struggling economy.

  Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates the Huerfano County Correctional Center, announced in January that it will close the prison in April. Officials at the private prison company said this week that the prison officially will close April 2.

  The upcoming closure has cast a pall over the town. Citizens in this community of more than 4,000 already are feeling the pain. The impending prison closure and a prior budget shortfall have forced the town to lay off 10 people with another four layoffs possibly to come.

  "The prison closing and the (loss of) revenue derived from it has added to the burden of an already stressed budget," said Mayor Bruce Quintana.

  "All departments have been affected. I believe that this (town) council is acting to right the ship. It's a difficult job, laying off people in a small community, because many of these people are our friends," Quintana said.

  City Administrator Alan Hein said the town could lose between $250,000 and $300,000 from lost utility sales to the prison, concessions and sales taxes.

  Hein said the budget already was short $300,000 before the closure was announced.

  "We have to restructure our operations to try and accommodate this loss. It's pretty serious when you drop that much on your revenue side in a budget the size that we have," Hein said.

  Hein said he hopes the layoffs will help take care of the original shortfall.

  "I am just not sure. There are a lot of variables here.

  "The worst-case scenario is that we would have to lay off four more people," Hein said.

  Hein said there will be minimal cuts to the police department.

  "We are actually restructuring the whole department and trying to make it more efficient. We are reevaluating the way the department does business and trying to save money," Hein said.

  The town had been in discussions to merge the police department with the Huerfano County Sheriff's Department, but the issue was tabled by the town council last month, Hein said.

  "The council has decided not to discard the proposal, but to put it on the back burner and see if we can do some adjustments within our organization," Hein said.

  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other state officials are phasing out all out-of-state beds, including the use of the Huerfano County prison, where 700 Arizona inmates are housed. The contract with CCA is set to expire Tuesday.

  Allan Cramer, a spokesman for the Huerfano County prison, said inmates will begin leaving Colorado next week by bus and plane.

  "The last ones will be gone by March 22," Cramer said.

the Rainmakers - The Fleecing Of Small Town America

The sleepy town of Hardin, Mont., began its foray into the private prison industry in 2004, an adventure that would eventually saddle it with millions in debt and an empty, 464-bed prison collecting dust at the edge of town.
It all started when James Parkey, the founder, owner and president of Texas-based Corplan Corrections, met with then-Montana Gov. Judy Martz (R) at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport while Martz was en route to the Western Governors Association meeting in Santa Fe, N.M.
Since the 1980s, Parkey’s company has developed 33 private jails or detention centers in New Mexico, Texas, Idaho, Louisiana and Colorado. Corplan’s fortunes, along with those of private-prison giants Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut), date back to the “tough-on-crime” legislation of the ’80s and ’90s, when mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines pushed the U.S. prison population up to about 2.5 million—an 800 percent increase over the number of people incarcerated in 1970, the year before the commencement of Nixon’s War on Drugs.

Safety Is The Issue As Budget Cuts Free Prisoners

NY Times
In the rush to save money in grim budgetary times, states nationwide have trimmed their prison populations by expanding parole programs and early releases. But the result — more convicted felons on the streets, not behind bars — has unleashed a backlash, and state officials now find themselves trying to maneuver between saving money and maintaining the public’s sense of safety.
In February, lawmakers in Oregon temporarily suspended a program they had expanded last year to let prisoners, for good behavior, shorten their sentences (and to save $6 million) after an anticrime group aired radio advertisements portraying the outcomes in alarming tones. “A woman’s asleep in her own apartment,” a narrator said. “Suddenly, she’s attacked by a registered sex offender and convicted burglar.”
In Illinois, Gov. Patrick J. Quinn, a Democrat, described as “a big mistake” an early release program that sent some convicts who had committed violent crimes home from prison in a matter of weeks. Of more than 1,700 prisoners released over three months, more than 50 were soon accused of new violations.
An early release program in Colorado meant to save $19 million has scaled back its ambitions by $14 million after officials found far fewer prisoners than anticipated to be wise release risks. In more than five months, only 264 prisoners were released, though the program was designed to shrink the prison population by 2,600 over two years.

Few on either side happy with proposed medical-marijuana licensing rules - The Denver Post

Few on either side happy with proposed medical-marijuana licensing rules - The Denver Post

Marijuana activists and law enforcement officials sparred Thursday as the bell rang on the fight over medical-marijuana dispensary regulations at the state Capitol.

The first committee hearing on House Bill 1284 — which would require dispensaries to be licensed by both state and local governments and is the more controversial of the two medical-marijuana bills at the Capitol — stretched into the evening. Lawmakers said late Thursday that they would not vote on the measure until another date.

What was most clear in early rounds was that neither the law enforcement community nor large sections of the medical-marijuana community much care for the bill.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14517227#ixzz0hJCp5Iz3

First pot bill nears the Capitol finish line | The Spot

First pot bill nears the Capitol finish line | The Spot

The first of two medical marijuana bills – a plan to more strictly regulate the relationships between doctors and patients – passed the House with just one objection this morning.

Senate Bill 109 would bar doctors from writing recommendations inside dispensaries that sell medical marijuana and requires a full physical exam before recommending marijuana for patients.

House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, favors the legalization of marijuana voted against SB 109, because it required doctors recommending medical marijuana do more than doctors prescribing other pain-killing drugs like Vicodin.

“Why should a doctor have to do a full physical if a patient has a neck injury?” Weissmann asked. “Why should it be different for pot?”

The Senate must agree with a minor amendment to the legislation before it heads to the governor’s desk.

State of Sentencing 2009

The Sentencing Project
With states around the nation experiencing significant fiscal crises,
legislators are increasingly interested in prioritizing available resources as
they affect how states direct scarce correctional dollars. As a result, many
states are rethinking their sentencing policies in order to develop fair and effective
approaches to strengthen public safety. Legislative initiatives to address prison
overcrowding, parole policies and sentencing alternatives are increasingly at the
forefront of state criminal justice agendas.

During 2009 state legislatures in at least 19 states enacted policies that hold the
potential to reduce prison populations and/or promote more effective approaches to
public safety.1 This report examines these initiatives in sentencing reform, death
penalty, probation and parole practices, and juvenile justice. Highlights include:
• Three states scaled back the scope of mandatory minimum drug sentences;
• Seven states amended probation and parole policies to expand good time and
earned time programs resulting in reducing prison sentences;
• Four states improved juvenile justice policies, including eliminating juvenile
life without parole and modifying adult certification procedures;
• Two states created incentive programs for local jurisdictions to reduce
probation revocations;
• New Mexico repealed the death penalty;
• North Carolina permitted persons sentenced to death to challenge their death
sentence by arguing that there is systemic racial bias in the way that capital
punishment is applied;

Boulder DA backs bill to review cases against juveniles charged as adults - Boulder Daily Camera

Boulder DA backs bill to review cases against juveniles charged as adults - Boulder Daily Camera

Boulder Rep. Claire Levy is reviving a bill that was vetoed in 2008 that would require judges to review prosecutors' decisions to charge juveniles as adults.

The Colorado District Attorneys' Council opposes the legislation, because representatives believe charging is a prosecutorial decision that should remain with district attorneys. But Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said he supports the measure, because the decisions to charge juveniles as adults is "life-changing," making them worthy of review.

"I think that it's such an important decision to file on someone as an adult that I have no hesitation saying that when I make the decision, I want that decision to go before and judge and have someone review it," Garnett said.

Colorado law used to require serious juvenile cases to go before a judge before the youths could be charged as adults, but that changed after a summer of gang violence in 1993. Now, juveniles ages 14 and older can be charged as adults based solely on the discretion of the charging district attorney's office. That has led to more juveniles being charged as adults, prosecutors said.

Levy's bill would require a judge to decide on adult charges in cases involving defendants who are 14 or 15. Those who are 16 or 17 still could be charged as adults directly, but the bill would give them an opportunity to have a "reverse-transfer hearing." During that hearing, the teens could petition a judge to return them to the juvenile system, Levy said.

Read more: Boulder DA backs bill to review cases against juveniles charged as adults - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_14500473#ixzz0h7OITows

"Baby Court" A Place For Not Giving Up On Kids

The Denver Post
I return to 191-J. It's the Denver juvenile courtroom with the recent one-day only bargain for those with outstanding judgments or warrants. The reaction to the deal was mixed, with most criticism along the lines of holding people accountable for their behavior. I'd like to observe this courtroom exists precisely due to the void of accountability.
An origin story. About 25 years ago, a city attorney named David Ramirez is hearing from police officers catching kids on minor offenses the district attorney's office won't take because they're penny-ante: Some kid stealing Oreos, kids fist-fighting in the park, a kid wobbling down the street, drunk. Parents might take it seriously. Might not.
None of it rose to the level that'd warrant state charges.
So Ramirez starts talking to community people, probation officers, judges, the district attorney's office and eventually his conversations lead to the creation of 191-J in 1987. It was dedicated to first-time offenders of low-level municipal offenses. It was to be the court where the judge gives kids lectures, then puts them in programs or public service projects where common sense would prevail.
Ramirez had joined the bench by then — and he'd eventually leave amid controversy he was too lenient — but he was 191-J's first judge. From this perch, revelation was only a short time coming: We're just scratching the surface.
"It wasn't just some kid decides to steal or smoke some dope,"

---

---

Ramirez tells me. "It had to do with the parents or the lack of parenting or the lack of resources. We weren't capable of dealing with all the issues. We still aren't." I'm telling all this to Regina Huerter, the executive director of the city's Crime Prevention and Control Commission. The commission has been examining the cases filed in 191-J and whether kids are getting into the right systems and services.
What was conceived as a courtroom for first-time offenders with minor offenses started to see more serious crimes perpetrated by repeat offenders. Kids with a string of J-offenses and the most severe punishment the court can dole out is a couple days in a crisis center or an ankle monitor. The screening has improved, but kids still call it "baby court." 191-J has become too a courtroom where a daily balancing act plays out.
"I did most of that stuff when I was a kid," Huerter says. "It used to be something your parents, the school would say, 'Knock it off.' Now, it's a crime.
"There's a huge fear that by taking official action we are putting kids into the system who shouldn't be there, that we are criminalizing adolescent behavior. At the same time, it does us no good to let kids get away with everything."
Think about it. We have in this city a courtroom born more than 20 years ago into a vacuum. An emptiness left largely by parents who don't know any better or can't do any better or should just plain know better. But it is also the emptiness of political and social expediency, of short-sightedness. 191-J exists as both necessity and indictment.
"The discussion we need to have is not so much about the court," Huerter says. "It's about the accountability of parents, schools, community. It really is about who is raising our children."
I go back to the court because it is a window. From it I see a judge who will not give up on these young defendants, who calls 191-J "a court of hope," who somehow walks this tightrope between criminalization and consequences. I see parents who are not indifferent — though I know they exist and blaming them is so convenient — but who do not know what else to do. A dad fed up with his seventh-grade son's thieving of whatever he can lay his hands on at school, a box of paper clips, a trophy. "I was going to school with him the first three periods, but as soon as I'd leave, he'd change," dad says.
Friday's docket holds cases of young people who also suffer mental illness, several of whom are progressing well at home and in school. But I am left with the image of a 13-year-old girl who stands before the judge, insolent and chewing gum, with a new ticket for shoplifting. Reading glasses, this time.
She blinks not an eye when he reads her statement from the police report. "It's just another ticket. It don't mean nothing." She sneers at her mother who appears stunned when her daughter admits she'd been smoking marijuana. "I try to talk to her, to be her mother," the woman says to the judge, and the girl says, "you don't try to talk to me."
Her bored expression never changes. Not when the judge tells her she needs to change her attitude. Not when he sentences her to a weekend at the Family Crisis Center. Not when a sheriff's deputy cuffs her.
Outside the courtroom, her mom says: "She needs the wake-up call." And she's grateful.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/griego#ixzz0gyIGJQx5

Denver's voter initiative does little to curb marijuana citations - The Denver Post

Denver's voter initiative does little to curb marijuana citations - The Denver Post

More than two years after Denver voters approved a measure making minor marijuana crimes the city's lowest law-enforcement priority, city officials continue to prosecute marijuana cases at a steady clip.

Denver city attorneys last year prosecuted 1,696 cases in which possession of less than an ounce of marijuana was at least one of the charges.

In 2008, 1,658 cases were prosecuted. In 2006 — the year before the initiative was approved — prosecutors handled 1,841 marijuana cases.

Police citations for possession of small amounts of marijuana continue unabated as well. Figures for citations and prosecutions were released last week at a meeting of the city's Marijuana Policy Review Panel.

The continued enforcement has frustrated some members of the panel, which was created by the voter initiative to implement the new law.

"Police should not be spending any time arresting and citing people for marijuana," said Mason Tvert, who runs the pro-marijuana-legalization group SAFER and is a member of the panel. "Voters do not want them to issue those citations."

Denver prosecutors, meanwhile, say their hands are tied in the marijuana cases because they are bound in those cases to follow state law, not local law.

Vince DiCroce, who is the director of the Denver city attorney's prosecution section and a panel member, said city attorneys — who ordinarily prosecute violations of city ordinance — act as special district attorneys when prosecuting marijuana crimes, which are charged as violations of separate state law. Because of that, DiCroce said, prosecutors don't take into account the voter initiative when pursuing cases.

"The local ordinances don't apply to the state laws," DiCroce said.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14489539#ixzz0gvgCn8iv

Suspect's dad laments lack of mental-health care - The Denver Post

Suspect's dad laments lack of mental-health care - The Denver Post

One time when his son was feeling particularly violent, War Eagle Eastwood wrapped his arms tightly around his son's waist as Bruco pummeled him in the head, back and shoulders until exhausted.

It was the only mental health therapy Eastwood believed he could afford for his troubled son, who, he said, sometimes yelled, kicked and swung at imaginary enemies.

Though there is no public record that alleged Deer Creek Middle School gunman Bruco "Bo" Strong Eagle Eastwood has been diagnosed with a mental illness, his father said he has long believed his son struggled with schizophrenia — but the father felt powerless and financially unable to help.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14485435#ixzz0gq7V9ow2

Colorado senator wants tax on medical marijuana - The Denver Post

Colorado senator wants tax on medical marijuana - The Denver Post

A state senator said Thursday he wants to ask voters to impose a special tax on medical marijuana.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said he intends to amend a bill that creates regulations for medical-marijuana dispensaries to include a provision that places an excise tax on medical marijuana, similar to the special excise tax that already exists for alcohol. Because of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, that provision — if first approved by lawmakers — must be put before the voters before the tax could be imposed.

Romer wants to use the resulting revenue — which he hopes to be about $10 million to $15 million annually — to fund drug education programs for teens, substance- abuse treatment centers, and

medical care for veterans and the poor. Romer said he is concerned the state's boom in medical-marijuana use could create a companion boom in recreational marijuana use among young people.

The idea received a cautious reception from medical-marijuana advocates.

Attorney Rob Corry said he's intrigued by the idea but would first need to see more specifics.

"With taxation comes legitimacy," Corry said. "This industry is one of the few that is asking to be taxed and legitimized to join the rest of the business world."

The measure would be inserted into House Bill 1284, which creates new requirements for the state's medical-marijuana dispensaries, and is just one of several changes the bill will likely see when it comes up for its first hearing next week.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14474165#ixzz0gkMJW4lg

Only 11% Of Inmates With Substance Abuse Problems

Treatment For Only 11% Of Inmates With Substance Abuse Problems

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some 85 percent of the U.S. prison and jail inmates either meet the official criteria for substance abuse or addiction, had other substance abuse problems, or committed their offense for money to buy drugs, says the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). The center said only 11 percent of all inmates with substance abuse and addiction disorders receive treatment during their incarceration.

The report said that in 2006, alcohol and other drugs were involved in 78 percent of violent crimes, 83 percent of property crimes, and 77 percent of public order, immigration, or weapon offenses; and probation/parole violations. CASA said that if all inmates who needed treatment and aftercare received such services, the nation would break even in a year if just over 10 percent remained substance and crime free and employed. Thereafter, for each inmate who remained sober, employed, and crime free the U.S. would get an economic benefit of $90,953 per year. "States complain mightily about their rising prison costs; yet they continue to hemorrhage public funds that could be saved if they provided treatment to inmates with alcohol and other drug problems and stepped up use of drug courts and prosecutorial drug treatment alternative programs," said CASA's Susan Foster.

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

Why Growing Numbers of Baby Boomers and the Elderly Are Smoking Pot | Drugs | AlterNet

Why Growing Numbers of Baby Boomers and the Elderly Are Smoking Pot | Drugs | AlterNet

Earlier this week, an AP wire article picked up a lot of buzz in the news-cycle, with a title and premise meant to shock the mainstream: "Marijuana Use by Seniors Goes up as Boomers Age."

The AP article was pegged to a December report released by the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It revealed that the number of Americans over 50 who had reported consuming cannabis in the year prior to the study had gone up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent in the period from 2002 to 2008.

This is supported by earlier polling results. In February 2009, a Zogby poll found that voters aged 50 to 64 were almost equally divided in their support for marijuana legalization at 48 percent. In that same poll, young voters aged 18 to 29 were the cohort who most enthusiastically supported legalization, at 55 percent. But overall support among all ages came in at 44 percent.

So who brought the average down? Don't lay the blame on the elderly. In fact, as early as 2004, an AARP poll found that 72 percent of its members (all 50-plus, with the lion's share over 65) supported marijuana for medical purposes, indicating their understanding of the benefits of legal cannabis availability.

Some expert observers in the marijuana reform movement believe that the bulk of marijuana detractors are made up of 30- and 40-somethings -- adults of parenting age. And as more of the 65-and-over crowd is populated by Baby Boomers, it appears that in the not-too-distant future every age demographic including the elderly will approve of marijuana reform more than Americans in their 30s and 40s.

Prisons operator Cornell's 4Q profit falls; 2010 outlook is below Street view, shares fall - latimes.com

Prisons operator Cornell's 4Q profit falls; 2010 outlook is below Street view, shares fall - latimes.com
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of prison and treatment services operator Cornell Cos. fell Thursday, a day after it posted a fourth-quarter profit decline of 26 percent on higher operating costs and projected first quarter and 2010 profit well below Wall Street's expectations.

For the last three months of 2009, net income available to stockholders was dropped to $5.4 million, or 36 cents per share, from $7.4 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier. The latest results announced Wednesday beat Wall Street's estimate of 35 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll of analysts.

Cornell said its higher operating costs included expenses to open a new prison in Colorado.

Revenue rose 2.5 percent during the quarter to $104.1 million from $101.5 million. Revenue in the latest quarter fell short of the $106.9 million analysts had expected.

Cornell said for 2009 profit rose 11 percent to $24.6 million, or $1.64 per share, from $22.2 million, or $1.49 per share. Revenue rose almost 7 percent to $412.4 million from $386.7 million.


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New El Paso County court puts veterans in therapy, not prison - The Denver Post

New El Paso County court puts veterans in therapy, not prison - The Denver Post

COLORADO SPRINGS — Leonard Smith, who became addicted to drugs after being shot in the leg during Operation Desert Storm, says he'd probably be deep in prison somewhere if it weren't for the El Paso County Veterans' Court that officially opened for business Thursday.

Smith, a 45-year-old veteran of Beirut and Iraq, faces two felony charges for drug abuse and impersonation of a physician for calling in phony prescriptions for himself for Oxycontin, Percocet and other painkillers.

Presiding District Judge Ron Crowder, himself a two-star general in the Colorado National Guard and a combat-decorated paratrooper in Vietnam, on Thursday sent Smith to a halfway house for veterans and ordered him to undergo a year-long regimen of therapy and counseling.

If Smith completes the difficult assignment, his record will be clean and he will avoid prison.

It's a new approach for dealing with veterans who have led relatively clean lives until suffering traumatic disorders in combat.

Many of them return to society with intense stress and emotional problems that lead them either into crimes or behaviors that prison will not cure but that might be corrected with the proper rehabilitation program.

"We've seen a spiral of self-medicating and repeat problems among veterans," Crowder said. "We've set up this court not just because it's the right thing to do for our veterans but to reduce their recidivism rate."

El Paso County District Attorney Dan May called the court part of the cost of freedom.

"As our soldiers come back with needs, some of them are met and some are not. Those whose needs aren't met can end up in the criminal system," he said. "This is a voluntary court that the veterans have to commit to for treatment. They have to volunteer to undergo treatment not for the symptoms but for the underlying issues.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14474248#ixzz0geK91sps

Bill to help drug abusers needs cash commitment - The Denver Post

Bill to help drug abusers needs cash commitment - The Denver Post

The idea is laudable: Cut prison sentences for drug abusers and get them into treatment so they have the tools to stop using.

We support the philosophy embodied in House Bill 1352, but one element of it gives us pause: the money.

The bill directs Colorado legislators to put some of the money saved by reducing prison sentences into a drug treatment fund. Then, the state pays for drug abusers' addiction treatment rather than their costly prison stay.

We wonder though, given the desperate fiscal straits the state cyclically finds itself in, whether the political will to stick to those principles will remain when tough budget decisions need to be made.

It's pretty easy to imagine how the drug treatment fund would be raided — just as other funds have been drained — when the economy goes south and revenues dry up.

We are not suggesting that ironclad constraints be put on the drug treatment fund. To the contrary. Colorado already suffers from too many fiscal mandates that create all kinds of problems.

But a bill such as this one makes the need for state fiscal reform all the more clear. And it would take an ongoing commitment from elected legislators to ensure it has the intended impact.

The bill has one big political plus. It is sponsored by a bipartisan group of legislators, which says to us its aims are less likely to be sacrificed for political purposes.

The bill would significantly decrease penalties for those users possessing small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.

For instance, someone caught possessing between one and four grams of cocaine now would get up to six years in prison. According to the bill, that offender would get a prison term of up to 18 months.

Such a change will save the state money, but the ultimate success of the measure is dependent upon those offenders getting treatment. Otherwise, you have a bill that cuts prison sentences and does nothing to address the root cause of the problem.

It then would dump people with untreated drug problems onto communities that already have seen funding dry up for the services that could put a drug addict on course to a productive life.

Treating the addiction in community-based programs also should reduce recidivism, and slow increasing prison costs. That's undoubtedly in the public interest.

Over the years, corrections costs have consumed an increasing portion of the state budget. In 1980, prison costs comprised less than 3 percent of the general fund. Now it's more like 10 percent. It's a long-term trend Colorado can't afford.

Drug users are better off getting help than occupying an expensive prison bed. It's just disquieting to us that there is such strong potential for only half the bargain being kept.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_14465050#ixzz0gZOpIf3B

Polis wants feds to pull back on med pot raids - The Denver Post

Polis wants feds to pull back on med pot raids - The Denver Post

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, wants "rogue" federal agents to lay off medical marijuana dispensaries after a raid at the home of Highlands Ranch grower on Feb. 12.

Tuesday, Polis sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to instruct agents to abide by the Justice Department's Oct. 19 directive to allow deference to state laws on legalized medical marijuana use, or to clarify the new position.

Polis posted his letter this afternoon on the progressive political website Square State. In a preamble he referred to "rogue agents ... harassing and raiding our medical marijuana dispensaries."

Reached by phone in Washington this evening, Polis also invoked the White House.

"I think President

Obama has clearly stated his position on respecting states that have voted to allow medical marijuana," he said. "I believe the words and action of the agent in charge is in contradiction to the will of the voters of Colorado."

In the letter, he noted a Denver Post story on Feb. 13 that quoted DEA agent Jeffrey Sweetin as saying, "We're still going to continue to investigate and arrest people ... Technically, every dispensary in the state is in blatant violation of federal law."

The grower, Chris Bartkowicz, is free on $10,000 bond after his arrest on a drug-distribution charge. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 224 marijuana plants.

He did not return a call for comment this evening.

Justice Department and DEA spokespeople were not immediately available for comment.

Experts have called the case precedent-setting.

"It strikes fear in the hearts of many medical marijuana patients in Colorado, and that's unfortunate," Polis said in an interview.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14465854#ixzz0gYYCodqb

CCJRC 2010 Legislative Update

Here’s an update on the bills that CCJRC is actively working on. 

We are thrilled to announce that HB 1352, a drug sentencing reform bill, was introduced yesterday by bi-partisan sponsors. This was a bill that CCJRC helped to develop as part of a drug policy task force of the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice. Two of our priority bills, HB 1023 and HB 1112, have already passed the House very strongly. We’ve also been very busy trying to amend or oppose a number of bills that would have created employment barriers for people with criminal records. So far, we have been able to amend one and help kill another. There are still three bills that we know of that will be introduced that related to sentencing or parole reform that we will be supporting. As soon as they are introduced, we will let you know.  When we are ready to have you start contacting legislators we will let you know.  If you are a member of an organization or community group that would like to sign on in support please let me know.

 

NEW HB 1352: Concerning Changes to Crimes Involving Controlled Substances

Sponsors: Representative Mark Waller (R-Colorado Springs) and Senators Pat Steadman (D-Denver) and Shawn Mitchell (R-Broomfield) with cosponsors Representatives Pace (D-Pueblo), Court (D-Denver), Gardner B. (R-Colorado Springs), Gerou (R-Jefferson County), Kagan (D-Denver), King S. (R-Grand Junction), Levy (D-Boulder), Looper (R-El Paso), Massey (R-Poncha Springs), May (R-Douglas)

McCann (D-Denver), Miklosi (D-Denver), Nikkel (R-Loveland), Roberts (R-Durango), Ryden (D-Arapahoe), Stephens (R-Colorado Springs) and Senators M. Carroll (D-Aurora), Hudak (D-Jefferson), Morse (D-Colorado Springs), Newell (D-Littleton), Penry (R-Grand Junction), White (R-Garfield/Eagle).

 

This drug sentencing reform bill is based on recommendations approved by the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice. After reviewing the drug laws, practices, and research, the Commission concluded that drug laws and strategies would be improved by more clearly differentiating between those drug offenders who are primarily users and addicts from the more serious offenders who engage in the crimes of distribution, manufacturing and trafficking of drugs.

 

For those drug offenders who are primarily users and addicts, the Commission determined that intervention and treatment in the community would be a more effective use of resources than the current escalating system of punishment that often results in a prison sentence. For these offenders, it was recognized that the current structure and approach to prosecuting these drug crimes is frequently ineffective in reducing recidivism and curbing addiction and that a primary omission from current law is a means of assuring prompt and effective treatment of drug offenders.

 

The Commission also determined that penalties for several drug distribution offenses should be increased and that two provisions of the special drug offender statute should be clarified. 

 

What the Bill Does:

 

Drug possession offenses

·         Creates a separate statute for the crime of possession of drugs. 

·         Reduces the crime of drug use from a class 6 felony to a misdemeanor.

·         Redefines the quantity of drugs that is considered “simple possession” from 1 gram or less to 4 grams or less of a schedule I or II drug   and 2 grams or less of methamphetamine. “Simple possession” would be a class 6 felony.

·         Standardizes that possession for personal use of amounts greater than “simple possession” quantities is a class 4 felony.

·         Reduces possession of schedule III-V drugs (i.e. prescription drugs) to a misdemeanor.

·         Reduces the penalty for fraud and deceit in connection with controlled substances from a class 5 to a class 6 felony.

·         Requires cost savings from this bill to be evaluated annually by the division of criminal justice and reported to the legislature and that some of the cost savings will be allocated to expand and enhance substance abuse treatment.

If there is evidence that even small quantities of drugs are possessed with the intent to distribute, prosecutors can still file a criminal charge of drug distribution at any quantity of drugs.

 

Offenses related to marijuana

·         Redefines the quantity of marijuana possession that determines crime classifications at various levels including possession of under 2 ounces (petty offense), possession of between 2 – 6 ounces (class 2 misdemeanor), possession of between 6-12 ounces (class 1 misdemeanor), and possession of over 12 ounces (class 6 felony).

·         Redefines the quantity of marijuana concentrate possession that determines crime classification at various levels including possession of under 3 ounces (class 1 misdemeanor) and possession of over 3 ounces (class 6 felony).

·         Creates a graduated penalty for marijuana cultivation including cultivation of less than 6 plants (class 1 misdemeanor), cultivation of between 7-29 plants (class 5 felony) and cultivation of 30 or more plants (class 4 felony).

 

Increasing penalties for drug distribution

·         Creates a new crime of distribution of schedule I or II drugs by an adult to a minor (class 3 felony) and if the adult is more than 2 years older than the minor, imposes a mandatory minimum prison sentence.

·         Increases the crime level to a class 3 felony and imposes a mandatory minimum prison sentence for distribution (even without remuneration) of marijuana or marijuana concentrate by an adult to a minor less than 15 years old.

·         Increases the crime classification for distribution of ketamine (aka “date rape drug”) to a class 3 felony.

 

Clarifies two provisions within the Special Offender drug law (enhanced sentencing 8-48 years)

·         Requires the quantity of drugs to be greater than the “simple possession” amount to be considered importation of drugs into the state.

·         Enhances sentences when a deadly weapon is on a defendant's person or his within immediate reach, when a firearm is within the defendant's or confederate's access in a manner that posed a risk to others or when a firearm is in a vehicle the defendant was occupying.

 

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HB 1023: Concerning Clarifying Civil Liability Regarding Negligent Hiring Practices For An Employer That Hires A Person With A Criminal Record

Sponsors:  Representative Mark Waller (R) and Senator Evie Hudak (D); co-sponsors include Representatives Gagliardi (D), Kagan (D), Kefalas (D), Summers (R) and Senators Boyd (D), Sandoval (D), Scheffel (R), and White (R)

 

CCJRC Position: SUPPORT (priority)

 

Status: HB 1023 was passed unanimously out of the House and will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1, 2010.

 

Description: CCJRC helped develop this bill which was endorsed by the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction task force chaired by Rep. Kefalas. This bill would limit the admissibility of evidence of an employee’s criminal history in a civil action against an employer where the criminal history did not have a direct relationship to the underlying cause of action in the civil case, the criminal record was sealed prior to the acts underlying the cause of action, the criminal history consists of an arrest that did not lead to a criminal conviction, the conviction received a pardon, or the defendant successfully completed a deferred judgment. 

 

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HB 1112: Concerning the “Correctional Education Program Act of 1990”

Sponsors: Representative Miklosi (D) and Senator Newell (D)

 

CCJRC Position: SUPPORT (priority)

 

Status: HB 1112 was passed out of the House of Representatives 50-13 (2 excused) and will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1, 2010.

 

Description:  This bill is the result of a report CCJRC issued in August 2009 that highlighted deficiencies in vocational programs offered in prison. In particular, CCJRC raised concerns that very few people in need of vocational programming actually received it while in prison, that many of the vocational programs offered do not provide training in skills that are marketable in today’s economy, that completion rates are unacceptably low, and that there is inadequate reporting of vocational program performance and cost by the Department of Corrections. This bill sets performance measures for vocational programs to include market-relevant training and mandates an annual report. 

 

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SB 06:  Concerning Reductions in Barriers to Obtaining Identity-Related Documents

Sponsors: Senator Boyd (D) and Representative Summers (R); co-sponsors include Senators Hudak (D), Sandoval (D), White (R) and Representatives Gagliardi (D), Kefalas (D), and Waller (R)

 

CCJRC Position: SUPPORT (priority)

Status: The bill was passed by the Senate on second reading on February 24, 2010 and will be have its third and final vote in the upcoming days. It will then go on to the House.

 

Description: This is another bill that is coming out of the Economic Opportunity & Poverty Reduction Task Force. CCJRC participated in this task force and was able to include some provisions that would impact people who were struggling to get identification documents after release from prison. Among other things, this bill would prohibit the state from charging a fee to obtain a birth certificate if referred by a state agency or county department of social services or human services. The bill would also restore, in limited circumstances, the authority of a district court to allow a person with a criminal record to legally change their name with notification to all necessary parties.

 

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HB 1082: Concerning Disqualification From School Employment For Conviction of Certain Offenses, And, In Connection Therewith, Enacting the “Felon-Free Schools Act of 2010”

Sponsors: Representative McNulty (R) and Senator Penry (R)

 

CCJRC Position: OPPOSE

Status: HB 1082 was killed in House Judiciary on February 22, 2010.

 

Description: This is a similar bill to the one Representative McNulty introduced last year that CCJRC opposed and that was killed in the House Judiciary Committee. This bill would prohibit a school district or public school from employing as a nonlicensed employee a person who has a conviction for certain offenses, including any felony drug offense. The bill also amends existing mandatory disqualifications for licensed educators to include any conviction for a felony drug offense.  

 

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HB 1090: Concerning the Punishment for a Person Who Is Convicted Of Driving A Motor Vehicle With Knowledge That His Or Her Driver’s License Is Under Restraint

Sponsors: Representative Waller (R) and Senator Morse (D)

 

CCJRC Position: SUPPORT

Status: HB 1090 was passed by the House on a vote of 57-6 (2 excused) on February 8, 2010. It will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1, 2010.

 

Description: This bill would eliminate the mandatory 5-day jail sentence for a person who is convicted of driving a motor vehicle or off-highway vehicle upon any highway of the state with knowledge that his other license or privilege to drive is under restraint for any reason other than conviction of driving under the influence (DUI), driving while ability impaired (DWAI), or underage drinking and driving.  

 

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HB 1219: Concerning the Authorization For the Sale of Correctional Facilities Owned by the Department of Corrections

Sponsors: Representative Vaad (R) and Senator Penry (R)

 

CCJRC Position: OPPOSE

Status: The bill was killed in the House Judiciary Committee on February 22, 2010.

 

Description: This bill authorizes the executive director of the Department of Corrections to sell by competitive bid the correctional facilities owned by the state. Under current law, private prisons may only house medium security or lower security inmates. The bill removes that limitation. This bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee but has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

 

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HB 1338: Two-prior felony rule

Sponsors: Representative Beth McCann (D)

 

CCJRC Position: SUPPORT

Status: HB 1338 will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, February 25, 2010.

 

Description: This bill is based on a recommendation from the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice that would only apply the two-prior felony rule if one of the prior convictions or the current charge was for a crime of violence. The two-prior felony rule states the people who have two prior felony convictions cannot be sentenced to probation on a third felony conviction without consent of the district attorney. Under this bill, judicial discretion is restored.

 

Lawmakers Unite Behind New Approach To Drug Offenders

Colorado News Agency
Drug addiction and crime are serving as catalysts to unite some Democratic and Republican, as well as the attorney general and the state Public Defender’s Office, behind what they say is a common goal: reducing sentencing for drug offenders while carving out treatment opportunities from the cost savings. The resulting legislation, House Bill 1352, was introduced in the House today with wide-ranging bipartisan sponsorship.
“It’s a rare day when the Public Defender’s Office and the attorney general appear together to support a bill,” Republican Attorney General John Suthers said at a news conference showcasing the legislation.
The bill creates a distinction between possession of drugs and distribution of drugs by reducing sentences for possession, and it focuses on treatment rather than incarceration for those drug offenders who are primarily addicts.
The primary sponsors of the bill, Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, and Sens. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, and Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, based the bill upon recommendations from the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, whose members hail from different quarters of the criminal justice system.  The premise of the bill that emerged out of the recommendations is that jailing non-violent drug offenders is not the best use of public-safety dollars.
“It’s time to switch our focus from being tough on crime to being smart on crime,” said Waller.  “This bill is about how we can get the best bang for our public-safety dollars.”
Steadman said the state could save money and lives by being smarter.
“Incarceration is really not the right answer.  The real problem with most prisoners is addiction,” said Steadman. “We need to be smarter with public resources by not simply warehousing drug addicts.”
Christie Donner, Executive Director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, said the measure will have far-reaching benefts for children whose parents are incarcerated.
“This change in approach will interrupt the cycle of addiction and involvement in the criminal justice system,” said Donner.  “Families, especially the children, of those caught up in addiction and the criminal justice system, will benefit the most when the cycle is interrupted.”
The sponsors of the bill and its supporters in the criminal justice community say that using state resources for treatment leading to recovery will cut down on recidivism and save the state money in the long run. They say that could help prevent many crimes from being committed in the first place, such as burglary when a criminal is motivated by drug use.
Mesa Count District Attorney Pete Hautzinger implemented a treatment program for methamphetamine addicts in Mesa County, and he said there was a dramatic decline in felonies after the program was put in place.
“If we can get the drug addict ‘unaddicted’ we can prevent all sorts of other crimes,” said Hautzinger.
Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, who is another of the bill’s sponsors and chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where the bill will be vetted first, said she hopes the proposal will be a real turning point in how crime and criminal sentencing are approached.
“I hope this is a beginning of a whole new attitude,” said Levy.