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Doing It For The Patients

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"Our mission is to assist patients in obtaining the health care and medication they need to improve their quality of life."

Doing It For The Patients was created by patients for patients. Over the last several years the owners noticed several companies saying they were "doing it for the patients" yet their true motive was filling their own pockets. We got tired of seeing patients thrown aside due to these companies only truly caring about themselves. So we decided to start our own and affectionately name it "Doing It For The Patients." As we felt we are one of the few companies out there truly "Doing it for the patients" we felt it was a natural fit. We are here to provide whatever assistance we can to patients in the medical marijuana field while showing compassion, dignity and respect to our patients.

On our site you will find the home page (ADD US AS YOUR HOME PAGE TO GET THE LATEST LINKS TO ALL THE NEWS ARTICLES YOU'LL WANT TO READ!), Our services, Testimonials, patient/caregiver registration (FREE!) and a list of respected companies that we feel comfortable referring you to.

Judge Questions Drug Cop's Story About Hispanic Traffic Stop

Shane Daugherty admitted on the witness stand that part of his job is to make cases that bring in money for his agency.

His agency also has deals with other districts throughout southeast Tennessee. Under those deals, agencies typically get a cut of whatever cash they take that they suspect may be drug money.

"Is it a fair statement that part of the reason that you were up by the Kentucky border at least 100 miles away from your four counties was the fact that it's better hunting grounds up there?"

The Drug Task Force's funding, "is dependent upon your making arrests and seizures because you grab the car; you grab any cash in the car; the contraband, of course, goes. And you sell those items and retain those items, and they become part of your funding."

Source

Judge Questions Drug Cop's Story About Hispanic Traffic Stop

Posted: Jun 08, 2011 3:03 PM

By Phil Williams - Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A federal judge has questioned whether one of Tennessee's top drug agents made up a reason to stop two Hispanic men on the interstate.

Shane Daugherty admitted on the witness stand that part of his job is to make cases that bring in money for his agency. But, in a stern rebuke, the judge suggested that the officer's agency has not done everything it could to ensure those cases are made by the book.

It follows questions raised by NewsChannel 5 Investigates.

"Daugherty's credibility suffered from his demeanor on the stand," U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger wrote in her memorandum issued this week.

"He appeared emotional and nervous at times and admitted to suffering 'sleepless nights' in anticipation of the hearing. Overall, his demeanor and testimony gave the impression that he had an unusually large personal stake in the hearing."

Daugherty has been one of the top-performing interstate interdiction agents in the state. He's also one of the top officers with the International Narcotics Interdiction Association, and he's helped train a number of other interdiction agents across Tennessee.

At issue is a stop last year in Robertson county along Interstate 65. The stop occurred in the southbound lanes where officers might expect to catch drug money headed back to Mexico, but this one resulted in the seizure of more than a half kilogram of heroin.

Daugherty claimed that he stopped the two Hispanic men in an out-of-state vehicle -- not because of how they looked -- but because they were speeding.

The problem, Judge Trauger wrote, is that his story does not match the evidence.

"This case boils down to whether Daugherty saw the ... vehicle speeding," the judge wrote. "If not, the stop was illegal, and any resulting evidence must be suppressed."

But "the only evidence" of that traffic violation, she continued, "is Daugherty's own testimony. The court finds, however, that Daugherty's account is not credible."

Federal prosecutors argued that there was no evidence that Daugherty or another officer with him ever perceived the men's race before pulling them over.

Yet, Trauger questioned that interpretation since the officers claimed to have observed a number of other things inside the vehicle as it passed their location.

"It is likely that, if the officers could see these details, they could also see that both occupants were Hispanic," the judge added. "Moreover, the officers undoubtedly could confirm the occupants' race when they pulled up next to the vehicle, supposedly to see what was in the back seat."

Daugherty did not return NewsChannel 5's phone call.

Yet, just like in other cases discovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, Daugherty was far from home.

The stop occurred in northern Middle Tennessee, just south of the Kentucky border. But Daugherty actually works for the 17th Judicial District Drug Task Force, based in Shelbyville, an hour and a half away in the southern part of the state. He testified that his agency also has deals with other districts throughout southeast Tennessee.

Under those deals, agencies typically get a cut of whatever cash they take that they suspect may be drug money.

"Is it a fair statement that part of the reason that you were up by the Kentucky border at least 100 miles away from your four counties was the fact that it's better hunting grounds up there?" defense attorney Bill Shockley asked Daugherty in a suppression hearing.

Daugherty agreed that the drug-related activity in that area is "better."

Shockley noted that the Drug Task Force's funding, "is dependent upon your making arrests and seizures because you grab the car; you grab any cash in the car; the contraband, of course, goes. And you sell those items and retain those items, and they become part of your funding."

"Fair statement?" the defense attorney asked.

"Yes, sir," Daugherty agreed, "that's correct." Read a second excerpt from Daugherty's testimony

In addition, just like the questionable traffic stops caught by NewsChannel 5 Investigates involving the 23rd Judicial District, west of Nashville, the judge was disturbed that Daugherty's camera was not set to record the traffic violations that make such stops legal. Related story: Questionable Traffic Stops Caught On Camera

"The failure to employ such simple technological means is particularly egregious," Trauger said. "Essentially, all of Daugherty's traffic stops are pretextual attempts to find illegal drugs. If a stop is successful at finding drugs, it is likely that the defendant will challenge the basis for the stop.

"It is difficult to imagine a legitimate reason for not making all reasonable efforts to create objective, documentary evidence of a defendant's initial traffic violation."

Interdiction officers generally oppose having to do that.

Still, critics say the judge's ruling sets the stage for these agencies to be asked in future cases about why they don't have proof that they are not just pulling over minorities because of the way they look.

Judge Trauger threw out the evidence against the two men -- Gerardo Ruiz and Luis Alberto Ruiz -- who were indicted on drug charges.

So far, there's no word from federal prosecutors about whether they'll appeal.

E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com

The drug war is all about money!

Officers patrol that area under a deal where they give a third of any cash they seize to the agency that owns that stretch of road.

State law that lets them seize money simply based on the suspicion that it's linked to drug trafficking.

"Under civil forfeiture you give law enforcement a direct and perverse incentive to go out and try to take [steal] as much property from citizens as possible."

"So if these officers don't come up with cash, then they might lose their jobs? ... Well, it's a possibility, yes" - [Bingo, it's a jobs program for overpaid cops]

Source

Middle Tennessee Police Profiting Off Drug Trade?

Posted: May 13, 2011 2:14 PM

By Phil Williams - Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A major NewsChannel 5 investigation has uncovered serious questions about Tennessee's war on drugs. Among the questions: are some police agencies more concerned about making money off the drugs, than stopping them?

At the center of this months-long investigation are laws that let officers pull driver over looking for cash. Those officers do not even have to file criminal charges against a person to take his/her money.

It turns out, those kind of stops are now happening almost every day in Middle Tennessee.

Case in point: a 2009 stop where a tractor trailer was stopped for a traffic violation, leading to a search and the discovery of large blocks containing almost $200,000 cash -- cash that officers keep on the suspicion that it's drug money.

"What's wrong with having a large amount of cash?" asked Karen Petrosyan, a California businessman who owned the truck.

Petrosyan refuses to admit there's anything suspicious about the stash that police discovered. Officers later released his father, who was driving the truck, without filing a single charge -- and authorities cut a deal that let Petrosyan come to Tennessee to get his big rig back.

"If I am a criminal, if they allege me to be a criminal," Petrosyan told NewsChannel 5 Investigates, "why would they settle? They do not just let criminals go."

District Attorney General Kim Helper said that "in general, it was seized because -- based upon our evidence and probable cause -- it's illegal drug proceeds."

Still, Helper admitted that what makes the Petrosyan case a bit unusual is the location. The traffic stop occurred in Smith County, near the Carthage exit. But the officers work for Helper's 21st Judicial District Drug Task Force out of Franklin -- more than an hour away.

Her officers patrol that area under a deal where they give a third of any cash they seize to the agency that owns that stretch of road. Read the agreement between the 21st and 15th judicial districts

"It's a way to make money ... for your task force?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Helper.

The DA paused.

"Honestly?" we asked, prompting a smile from Helper.

"Well, you know, when you say 'make money,' I guess it is a way for us to continue to fund our operations so that we can put an end to drug trafficking and the drug trade within this district," she responded.

In fact, Interstate 40 has become a major profit center for Tennessee law enforcement -- with officers stopping and often searching out-of-state vehicles. It's because of a state law that lets them seize money simply based on the suspicion that it's linked to drug trafficking.

If an owner does not take legal action to get the money back, the agency gets to keep it all.

"This is really highway shakedowns coming to the U.S.," said Scott Bullock, senior attorney with the Washington-based Institute for Justice.

Last year, the conservative-leaning group issued a report -- "Policing for Profit" -- that gave Tennessee a D-minus for civil forfeiture laws that make that it all possible. Read the "Policing for Profit" report here

"Under civil forfeiture," Bullock said, "you give law enforcement a direct and perverse incentive to go out and try to take as much property from citizens as possible."

Dickson Police Chief Ricky Chandler said, "What we are doing, we're taking advantage of how the laws are, to use the money to be able to put back to fight the drugs."

Chandler heads the board for the 23rd Judicial District Drug Task Force, which has made millions off seizures in its counties -- Humphreys, Dickson and Cheatham. The town of Fairview also provides officers to the Task Force in exchange for a cut of the cash.

Then, three years ago, Chandler and the Dickson County sheriff helped create a second team -- known as Dickson Interdiction Criminal Enforcement, or DICE -- to work the exact same stretches of interstate.

Humphreys County and the town of Kingston Springs provide officers -- and Cheatham County allows DICE to work in its jurisdiction -- in exchange for a share of the money. Read the agreement for the creation of DICE

"Everything's paid through seizures and fines," Chandler said.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "So if these officers out on the interstate don't come up with cash, then they might lose their jobs?"

"Well, it's a possibility, yes," Chandler answered.

Out on I-40, interdiction officers have a choice: Conventional wisdom is that the drugs come in from Mexico on the eastbound side. But the money goes back on the west.

While both agencies have made some big drug cases, we spotted both the 23rd and DICE staging time and time again with their backs to the drug side.

In fact, a review of daily activity sheets kept by the 23rd discovered that, when officers noted the location of their traffic stops, there were 10 times as many stops on the money side. Review activity sheets for 23rd DTF, Oct-Dec 2010 Review summary of 23rd DTF cases, 2009-2010

Both DICE and the 21st Judicial District say they do not keep such daily activity reports.

UPDATE: A review of case summaries supplied by DICE shows that the entire team made one drug seizure -- 602 grams of heroin -- from Interstate 40 in all of 2010. Those officers arrested six people during stops on I-40 during that same 12-month period -- four of them on fugitive warrants, not for drug possession. Most DICE cases were seizures of money in the westbound lanes.

"We want both sides of the road worked," Chandler insisted.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted, "It looks like that they are not concerned about stopping the drugs, they just want the money."

"That's what it looks like," the chief admitted.

Is that the case?

"That shouldn't be the case, but that's what it looks like."

Scott Bullock with the Institute for Justice said that "it shows that the police are really focusing, not on trying to get the drugs, not on trying to enforce the drug laws and stop that flow throughout the country. They're focused on getting the money."

And it can lead to turf wars.

After DICE got a $1 million seizure last fall, police video shows that a DICE officer suddenly found himself being blocked by a unit from the 23rd while watching the westbound lanes. Within minutes, five units from the 23rd were lined up in a show of force.

As a result, the two agencies had to work out a "letter of agreement," specifying who would have priority on the westbound lanes on which days. Read the letter of agreement between the 23rd and DICE

Then, there's a 2008 video where a unit from the 23rd cuts in front of a DICE unit on a stop, prompting this heated exchange:

23rd DTF Officer: "Leave me the f***k alone!"

DICE Officer: "Let me tell you something..."

23rd DTF Officer: "Punk!"

DICE Officer: "You ever come up [on] me and try to wreck me out again, it will be your last time. You understand?"

Chandler called those disputes "ridiculous."

NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted, "You've got two agencies fighting to stop the same cars."

"Competition can be a good thing," the chief said, "as long as you don't violate any person's rights."

But they're competing for the money that they can take off of drivers.

"Well, they are competing to do their jobs is what they are competing for," he insisted.

It's a job that, Bullock said, has lost its way. "Law enforcement is supposed to be about getting the bad guys. It's not supposed to be about making money."

Law enforcement authorities say their goal is to hit the drug traffickers in the pocketbook.

But some people have hired lawyers after their cash was taken and, sometimes after months and months of litigation, judges have ruled that the money that was taken from them really had nothing to do with drug dealing at all.

E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com

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Check out this web site

ij.org/images/pdf_folder/other_pubs/assetforfeituretoemail.pdf

Questionable Traffic Stops Caught On Camera

Source

Questionable Traffic Stops Caught On Camera

Posted: May 18, 2011 6:49 PM Updated: May 18, 2011 10:44 PM CDT

By Phil Williams

Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- NewsChannel 5's cameras caught a police stop in progress, and it is now at the center of an internal police investigation.

It's the result of a NewsChannel 5 investigation into interstate drug agents who stop lots of out-of-state drivers west of Nashville, looking for drugs or -- more often -- drug money.

Now, the head of one of those agencies tells NewsChannel 5 Investigates that he wants to make sure all of those stops are legal.

"It's got to a legitimate, lawful stop," said Dickson Police Chief Ricky Chandler.

Chandler chairs the board of the 23rd Judicial District Drug Task Force and serves on the board of the Dickson Interdiction and Criminal Enforcement (DICE) unit, both of which patrol a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 40 west of Nashville.

For a whole day, NewsChannel 5 Investigates went on patrol with DICE officers, seeing how traffic violations searches that they hope will yield drugs or, like in one case, a stash of more than $200,000 of suspected drug money.

A DICE officer told us that the traffic stop is key.

"We're not allowed to pull over anybody just for the sake of pulling them over," he said. [They need either "probable cause" or "reasonable suspicion" to legally stop a car]

But NewsChannel 5 Investigates was also watching from Sky 5 and had questions about this stop where a supervisor from the 23rd pulled over two Hispanic men in an SUV with Texas plates.

His explanation was caught on his in-car video:

"Hey, the reason why I stopped you was you were coming outside your lane of travel. I don't know if you're getting sleepy or you're not drinking are you?"

Yet, our camera had been tracking that same supervisor and captured the exact moment that he put on his brakes -- just as he was about to pass the Texas vehicle. The video shows that the SUV was squarely between the lines.

For almost two minutes, the interdiction vehicle trailed the Texas SUV. While the officer himself was all over the road, it was another story for the two Hispanic men.

We showed the video to Chief Chandler.

"[On] the tape, it was not weaving. It did not cross the line -- you're right," he said.

"He never weaved once, did he?" we asked.

"No, he stayed within his lane of traffic."

NewsChannel 5 Investigates obtained other videos from that same 23rd Drug Task Force supervisor, where he stopped out-of-state drivers and never even told them that they violated any traffic laws.

"I can't explain," Chandler said. "He should be doing that. He's been trained. He knows how to do that, and he should be doing that."

Still, neither of the agencies operating in the Dickson area have their cameras set to record the traffic violations that make the stops legal.

"From their perspective, I don't know how it would benefit them to record that," said Nashville attorney Dominic Leonardo.

Leonardo said that a defense lawyer could use such video to fight a case. But, without it, it's the out-of-state driver's word against the word of a sworn police officer.

"If you have no other evidence there, then chances are the person who's hearing this case over the seizure of money or the criminal aspect if there [are] criminal charges brought, the police officer is going to win," he added.

Then, after the traffic stop comes the part where, if officers have suspicions about a driver, even if they don't really have a legal reason to search the vehicle, there's nothing to stop them from trying to persuade the person to let them search.

Take, for example, a stop observed from Sky 5 where an out-of-state driver was detained for more than 20 minutes while agents from the 23rd searched his car.

"This is a very fine line between a good stop where there may be a bust to it -- or basically a legit guy and a complaint," that same supervisor told a fellow officer.

He suggested that they use the driver's claim that he has worked with police as an interpreter.

"Play it off like he's one of us. Hey, if you could do us a favor, if I get another search out of the way, I get to go to lunch."

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Chandler if it is "OK to trick people into consenting to searches."

"Power of persuasion and tricking are two different things," the chief answered, "and I think you've got to be able to be persuasive to get searches if you've got hunches."

In another case, the supervisor bluffed the passenger in a car.

"Would there be any reason why we might have received a phone call and been told that this vehicle was transporting a large amount of cash?" he asked.

In fact, it was a lie -- and the search found nothing.

We noted to Chandler that the two agencies are "pulling lots of people off the interstate," applying the same techniques. "Is there any part of that that bothers you?"

"No," he said, "as long as it's a legal traffic stop."

As for the questionable traffic stop caught by Sky 5, "Rest assured, if I can get a copy of this tape it will be looked into.... That doesn't look good at all."

NewsChannel 5 provided Chandler with a copy of the video and posted it online here. (At one point, the Texas SUV moves out of the frame -- except for the left mirror which can be seen tracking the dotted, white line.)

Chandler said he's also looking at other policy changes are needed.

E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com

Legal Marijuana in Arizona?

Legal Marijuana in Arizona? Yes for Buyers, No for Sellers

By MARC LACEY

Published: July 22, 2011

PHOENIX — Marijuana is known to cause red eyes, gales of laughter and the munchies. In Arizona, add another side effect: utter confusion.

At the 2811 Club in Phoenix, one of Arizona's unofficial cannabis clubs. Only people with a state medical marijuana card can join.

Fake marijuana, for decorative purposes only, at the 2811 Club. The real product is kept secure and dispensed in tiny vials.

Voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative last November allowing medical marijuana in the state, but the result has been just the opposite of an orderly system of dispensing cannabis to the truly sick. Rather, police raids, surreptitious money transfers and unofficial pot clubs have followed passage of the new law, creating a chaotic situation not far removed from the black-market system that has always existed.

“There’s confusion,” said Ross Taylor, who owns CannaPatient, a newly formed company that helps patients get the medical certification required to receive state-issued medical marijuana cards. “There are a lot of unsure people, and not just because of what happened to me.”

The police raided Mr. Taylor’s home in June, one of several instances in which the authorities in the state have showed signs of resisting carrying out the new law, which took effect at the start of the year.

Gov. Jan Brewer — who campaigned against the law, then signed it with reluctance — said in May that the state, which has issued more than 7,500 cards to medical marijuana patients, would delay issuing licenses to marijuana dispensaries, as the law requires. Instead, she filed suit in federal court seeking a ruling on whether the state’s medical marijuana law conflicted with federal prohibitions on marijuana. So the patients have their cards permitting them to buy marijuana in Arizona, but no official place to do so.

Arizona is not just another state when it comes to marijuana. More Mexican-grown marijuana enters this state than any other, according to federal government data. On June 8, the authorities recovered more than 1,200 pounds from an S.U.V. that led them on a 20-mile chase through dirt roads near the border.

The police operation that took place the next day in Gilbert, a community outside Phoenix, netted a considerably smaller haul: about two ounces. In that case, the police executed a search warrant on Mr. Taylor’s house after getting a tip from the cable man. The officers, Mr. Taylor said, did not appear interested in his medical marijuana card, which permits him to grow up to a dozen marijuana plants in his home or obtain up to 2.5 ounces from a caregiver or a dispensary.

The police said they were pursuing those taking advantage of the new marijuana law.

The law does not permit the sale of marijuana outside of nonprofit dispensaries. But because the state has yet to approve any such outlets to sell marijuana, other ways of getting the drug are being tried.

Last month, the police raided the offices of a group in Tempe that was growing marijuana and selling it to cardholders. Garry Ferguson, founder of the organization, the Medical Marijuana Advocacy Group, told reporters that he understood the law to allow the sale of marijuana from one cardholder to another.

Unofficial cannabis clubs, not mentioned in the law, are also emerging. They purport to offer free marijuana to cardholders, albeit for a membership fee. For now, they are unregulated.

“In lieu of a regulated industry, we’re now creating an environment in which patients are growing their own with limited oversight, and these private clubs of questionable legality are popping up,” said Joe Yuhas of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, which led the medical marijuana campaign.

Ms. Brewer, a Republican, recently lamented “the dreadful situation” the state now finds itself in with marijuana legal for some.

Marijuana users consider the uncertainty dreadful as well, with some fearful that applying for cards might lead to police scrutiny. “I have friends who are afraid to get cards,” said Brad Scalf, 55, a disabled veteran. “I figured that when I’m smoking out on the back porch and the neighbors complain, I don’t have to worry. It’s like a get out of jail free card.”

The state’s legal case has been assigned to the same federal judge who found parts of Arizona’s immigration law to be unconstitutional. In that dispute, Arizona argued against the idea that the state should be hamstrung by federal immigration law. In this instance, the state seems to be seeking a ruling that federal law ought to prevail.

“The state has been beating the drum on states’ rights, but all of a sudden it has taken a 180-degree turn,” said Ken Frakes, a lawyer for the Rose Law Group, which represents a number of marijuana dispensary applicants.

Ms. Brewer said the decision to go to court was made to protect state employees from prosecution after Dennis K. Burke, the United States attorney for Arizona, sent a letter to state officials warning that the federal government still considered marijuana an illegal drug and would go after those who ran large marijuana production operations. Mr. Burke has subsequently said he had no intention of prosecuting state employees. Related

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey held up carrying out his state’s medical marijuana law, one of 17 across the country, over similar concerns, but he announced this week that he would allow the program to go ahead.

In Arizona, some of the cannabis clubs are operating surreptitiously to avoid the notice of law enforcement. But not the 2811 Club, named for the provision of the law allowing state-approved marijuana patients to share marijuana among themselves.

Allan Sobol, the club’s marketing manager, has invited reporters in and offered instruction on the ins and outs of the new law to a group of Phoenix police officers. Everyone who enters must have a state-issued card, and no smoking is allowed on the premises, to prevent people from driving under the influence.

The dimly lit club offers classes and has computers and books available to research the many plant varieties, and comfortable chairs to enable patients to chat among themselves. It is the marijuana counter, though, that brings people in.

Club members, who pay a $25 application fee, also must pay $75 every time they walk through the door. Once inside, they are entitled to about 3 grams of marijuana, which is grown by other cardholders and donated to the club. Those growers, according to the law, can be compensated only for the cost of their supplies. On a recent afternoon, there were a number of varieties available, including Master Kush, Blue Dream and Granddaddy Purple.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of when you come in,” said Mr. Sobol, who has emerged as a spokesman for the embattled industry, but says he tried marijuana for the first time last week when he ate a salad made with marijuana dressing. “We want people to come in with dignity and get this medicine that is now legal.”

Mr. Sobol said he is convinced that the club, which is planning to expand throughout the Phoenix area, is on solid legal ground. But the club does not comply with the strict regulatory requirements for dispensaries, which has prompted state officials to order an inquiry. Mr. Sobol said that given the uncertainty surrounding the program, he would be foolhardy not to look over his shoulder. “We have to be concerned,” he said. “I have lawyers on call. They may arrest me, but if that day comes and they come barging through the front door, I’m convinced they’ll never convict me.”

Four part series in the LA Times on the "drug war"

Tuesday: The trafficker and the psychic

Wednesday: Clear skies and cocaine

Thursday: Showdown in Sinaloa

Source

Unraveling Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel

By Richard Marosi Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 24, 2011

Reporting from Calexico, Calif.—

Never lose track of the load.

It was drilled into everybody who worked for Carlos “Charlie” Cuevas. His drivers, lookouts, stash house operators, dispatchers -- they all knew. When a shipment was on the move, a pair of eyes had to move with it.

Cuevas had just sent a crew of seven men to the border crossing at Calexico, Calif. The load they were tracking was cocaine, concealed in a custom-made compartment inside a blue 2003 Honda Accord.

The car was still on the Mexican side in a 10-lane crush of vehicles inching toward the U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection station. Amputee beggars worked the queue, along with men in broad-brimmed hats peddling trinkets, tamales and churros.

A lookout watching from a car in a nearby lane reported on the load's progress. Cuevas, juggling cellphones, demanded constant updates. If something went wrong, his boss in Sinaloa, Mexico, would want answers.

The Accord reached the line of inspection booths, and a lookout on the U.S. side picked up the surveillance. He was Roberto Daniel Lopez, an Iraq War veteran, standing near the “Welcome to Calexico” sign.

It was the usual plan: After clearing customs, the driver would head for Los Angeles, shadowed by a third lookout waiting in a car on South Imperial Avenue.

But on this hot summer evening, things were not going according to plan. Lopez called his supervisor to report a complication: The Accord was being directed to a secondary inspection area for a closer look. Drug-sniffing dogs were circling.

Cuevas rarely talked directly to his lookouts or drivers. But after being briefed by the supervisor, he made an exception. He called Lopez.

“What's happening?” he asked.

“The dogs are going crazy,” Lopez replied.

Dots on a map

Cuevas worked for the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's most powerful organized crime group. He was in the transportation side of the business. Drugs were brought from Sinaloa state to Mexicali, Mexico, in bus tires. Cuevas' job was to move the goods across the border and deliver them to distributors in the Los Angeles area, about 200 miles away.

The flow was unceasing, and he employed about 40 drivers, lookouts and coordinators to keep pace.

The canines circling the load car that evening in August 2006 were the least of his problems.

The canines circling the load car that evening in August 2006 were the least of his problems. Eight agents from a Drug Enforcement Administration task force had converged on the border. Not even U.S. customs inspectors knew they were there. The agents had been following Cuevas and tapping his phones for months.

Because he was a key link between U.S. and Mexican drug distributors, his phone chatter was an intelligence gusher. Each call exposed another contact, whose phone was then tapped as well. The new contacts called other associates, leading to more taps. Soon the agents had sketched a vast, connect-the-dots map of the distribution network.

Its branches spanned the U.S. and were believed to lead back to Mexico's drug-trafficking heartland, to Victor Emilio Cazares, said to be a top lieutenant of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the most wanted trafficker in the world. From his mansion outside Culiacan, Cazares allegedly oversaw the network of smugglers, distributors, truckers, pilots and stash house operators.

Other DEA investigations had targeted Mexican cartels, but this one, dubbed Operation Imperial Emperor, was providing the most complete picture of how drugs moved from Sinaloa to U.S. streets.

DEA officials were in no hurry to wrap it up. In fact, they were holding off on arrests so they could continue to study the supply chain and identify new suspects.

Imperial Emperor would eventually result in hundreds of arrests, the seizure of tens of millions of dollars in drugs and money, and the indictment of Cazares.

It would also reveal a disheartening truth: The cartel's U.S. distribution system was bigger and more resilient than anyone had imagined, a spider web connecting dozens of cities, constantly regenerating and expanding.

The guy next door

As a U.S. Marine in Fallouja, Iraq, Lopez had dodged mortar fire, navigated roads mined with explosives and received a commendation for leadership. Back home in El Centro, he couldn't even get work reading meters for the local irrigation district.

But Lopez, who had two children to support, knew another industry was always hiring.

One of the Sinaloa cartel's main pipelines runs through the antiquated U.S. port of entry at Calexico, a favorite of smugglers. The inspection station sits almost directly on the border, without the usual buffer zone of several hundred feet, so inspectors have difficulty examining cars in the approach lanes. Drug-sniffing dogs wilt in summer heat that can reach 115 degrees.

California's southeastern corner, a region of desert dunes and agricultural fields with the highest unemployment rate in the state, offered fertile ground for cartel recruiting.

Smugglers were your next-door neighbor, the guy ringing you up at Wal-Mart, the big tipper at Applebee's, the old friend at your high school reunion.

Lopez was friends with a man named Sergio Kaiser, who had married into his family. Kaiser said he owned a body shop, but his tastes seemed too flamboyant for that. He was building a house with a grand staircase modeled on the mansion in the movie “Scarface.”

Smugglers were your next-door neighbor, the guy ringing you up at Wal-Mart, the big tipper at Applebee’s, the old friend at your high school reunion.

In reality, Kaiser was Cuevas' top lieutenant, and he told Lopez he could help him with his money troubles. There were several possibilities.

For a night's work driving a load car from Mexicali to Los Angeles, a driver shared $5,000 with his recruiter and got to keep the car.

Another entry-level position was as a lookout. One kind of lookout followed the load car from the stash house in Mexicali to the border. Another stood watch at the port of entry and reported when the car had cleared customs. Yet another tailed the load car up the freeway to Los Angeles.

Lopez accepted Kaiser's offer. Being a lookout was harmless, he figured: Just stand there and watch a car cross the border. “[He] didn't say it involved drugs, but I knew,” Lopez said. “I thought, 'What's the big deal?'“

Tricks of the trade

Cuevas owned a large tract home in Calexico and drove a late-model BMW 323. A gold chain dangled from his thick neck. Married with two children, he enjoyed the cliched perks of a smuggler's life. He went through several mistresses, treating them to breast-enhancement surgeries and trips to Disneyland and San Francisco.

He would ride his pricey sand rail in the Baja California dunes, and he always picked up the tab at restaurants or on wild weekends across the border in Mexicali.

When you think of drug cartels, you think violence, guns, killing. This guy was nothing like that.”

At Emmanuel's barber shop, Cuevas would jump the line to get his “fade” haircut, then pay for everybody else's trim. He took care of friends' hospital bills and lent people money, no strings attached.

“When you think of drug cartels, you think violence, guns, killing,” Lopez said in an interview. “This guy was nothing like that.”

He didn't carry weapons or surround himself with enforcers. Constantly juggling phones and buying packaging materials from Costco, he seemed more stressed out than intimidating. Cuevas had a stutter, and it worsened when his boss Cazares called from Sinaloa. He took antacids to calm an anxious stomach.

To get drugs across the border, he deployed a fleet of SUVs and cars with custom-made hidden compartments. He favored Volkswagen Jettas and Chevrolet Avalanches. Both were manufactured in Mexico, and the DEA believes cartel operatives were able to study the designs to identify voids where drugs could be concealed.

Cuevas sent the cars to a mechanic in Compton who outfitted the compartments with elaborate trapdoors. The jobs took two weeks and the mechanic charged as much as $6,500, but it was worth it. Only a complicated series of actions could spring the doors open.

One front-bumper nook could be accessed only by connecting a jumper cable from the positive battery post to the front screw of a headlight. The jolt of electricity would cause the license plate to fall off, revealing the trapdoor.

Cuevas picked his drivers with great care, rejecting people with visible tattoos or serious criminal records and sending those he hired on dry runs to test their nerves. He kept the Calexico border crossing under constant watch, focusing on the mobile X-ray machine that could see inside vehicles. It was used sparingly, and the moment inspectors drove it away, his crew went to work.

Over the years, his cars consistently eluded detection.

“I was great at it. I had never lost a car in the border,” Cuevas said. “Dogs never hit it or nothing.”

In mid-2006, however, he seemed to lose his touch.

In June, authorities had followed one of his drivers to Cudahy, near Los Angeles, and seized 163 pounds of cocaine from a stash house.

A month later, police outside El Centro stopped his best driver, a hot dog vendor from Mexicali, and found $799,000 in a hidden compartment.

Cuevas had to make the cartel whole, either in cash or by working the debt off by supervising shipments without receiving his cut. Hundreds of pounds of cocaine, meanwhile, continued to pour in every week from Sinaloa, and he was under intense pressure to keep the goods moving.

Now, on this August evening, a customs inspector had pulled his load car, the Accord, into the secondary inspection area.

“Dude, I think your guy got busted,” Lopez told Cuevas over the phone. “They've got him in handcuffs.”

Behind the dashboard and in a rear-quarter panel of the Honda, inspectors found 99 pounds of cocaine. The driver was arrested. Everybody else scattered. Lopez drove home, unconcerned. He had spent only 15 minutes at the border crossing and never got near the drugs.

Dude, I think your guy got busted,” Lopez told Cuevas over the phone. “They’ve got him in handcuffs.”

Cuevas ordered his crew to dump their cellphones, in case anyone had been listening in. At the DEA's bunker-like surveillance post in nearby Imperial, the wiretap chatter went silent.

DEA agents had not expected a bust and were not happy about it. The agents had planned to let the driver cross the border and then follow him to his Los Angeles connection. Now they would have to regroup.

Waiting in the dark

Two days later, the agents sat in a van down the street from Cuevas' two-story home in Calexico, waiting for the lights to dim. Cuevas' neighbors in the subdivision of red-tile-roofed tract homes included firefighters, Department of Homeland Security officers and state prison guards.

After months of tailing Cuevas, the agents knew he favored Bud Light beer, burgers at Rally's and tacos at Jack in the Box.

They once pushed the cocaine-filled car of one of his drivers to a gasoline station after the man ran out of fuel on Interstate 5. The driver never suspected that the good Samaritans were helping so they could continue tailing him to his destination.

After midnight outside Cuevas' home, the agents started digging through his garbage cans. They were searching for a notepad, a receipt, a business card, anything with a phone number on it.

There was enough evidence to arrest Cuevas. But the goal was to expand the investigation, and that required resuming the phone surveillance. Agents hoped Cuevas had thrown away the numbers of some -- even one -- of the 30 new cellphones he had just distributed to his crew.

Sifting through trash was always a filthy chore, especially so in this case. Cuevas was the father of a newborn. The agents were elbow-deep in dirty diapers.

Finally, they pulled something from the muck. It was a piece of spiral notebook paper with numbers scrawled on it. Phone numbers.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

Coming Tuesday: The trafficker and the psychic

About this story

For several years, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration put the distribution side of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel under a microscope. This series describes the detailed picture that emerged of how the cartel moves drugs into Southern California and across the United States. Times staff writer Richard Marosi reviewed hundreds of pages of records, including DEA investigative reports, probable-cause affidavits, and transcripts of court testimony and phone surveillance. He also interviewed DEA agents, prosecutors and local law enforcement officers serving on DEA-led task forces, as well as two cartel operatives convicted in the investigation.

San Diego council overturns pot law

San Diego council overturns pot law rather than hold election

July 25, 2011 | 8:41 pm

Rather than put the issue to a vote of the public, the San Diego City Council voted 6 to 2 Monday to rescind an ordinance restricting where medical marijuana dispensaries can be located.

In April the council voted to allow such dispensaries only in industrial zones and require each to receive a conditional use permit from police. Dispensaries could not be located within 600 feet of schools, parks, libraries or churches and had to be nonprofit operations.

Supporters of medical marijuana protested that the ordinance was too severe and would drive many dispensaries out of business. A petition drive gathered enough signatures to force the council to either overturn the ordinance or put it on the ballot.

Faced with an estimated $1-million cost for such an election, the council overturned the ordinance, leaving the issue in limbo.

"I'm not sure what a vote would tell us," said Councilwoman Sherri Lightner, who voted for repeal. "It would be like sending $1 million up in smoke."

Chandler PD robs drug dealers, cuz that's where the money is at!

Source

Chandler detective's death in reverse sting weighs heavy

Loss of Ledesma remains palpable year later

by Laurie Merrill - Jul. 27, 2011 10:15 AM

The Arizona Republic

It was a killing that left Chandler reeling.

Chandler Detective Carlos Ledesma, 34, a beloved officer and family man with a ready smile and penchant for weightlifting, was slain in Phoenix during a drug deal gone wrong. Four bullets pierced him as he sat, unsuspecting, at the scene of a sting that was supposed to culminate with the arrest of suspects and seizure of their cash. [Well in reality it was a robbery, where the cops were trying to steal $100,000 from the drug dealers after offering to sell t hen a few 100 pounds of pot]

Instead, the 10 or more suspected dealers intended to rip off the marijuana, opening fire instead of paying out cash, police said. [Almost sounds fair to me. One set of thieves robs another set of thieves!]

As the smoke cleared from the bullet-ridden south Phoenix house, authorities would learn two other Chandler undercover detectives were wounded, while two suspected dealers were killed and another pair shot. The other two detectives survived.

Now, a year later, the emotions left by Ledesma's death are as raw as ever, said Chandler Lt. John Shearer.

"He is absolutely in the forefront of everybody's thoughts. That has not subsided," said Shearer, in charge of the Special Investigations Section of the Criminal Investigations Bureau. "I am sure he is thought of every day by people who work here."

On the surface, the Chandler Police Department seems relatively unchanged.

But Ledesma's death has affected the way Chandler operates reverse drug stings. Since his death, Chandler officers no longer go undercover to sell drugs, according to numerous reports on drug reversals obtained by The Republic. Confidential informants assume that role. [So cops no longer participate in police robberies, they use paid mercenaries to do the dirty work! ]

Other changes may be coming after officers complete their internal review into the deal that killed Ledesma.

Reverse stings climbing

Reverse stings have continued at a record pace in Chandler, according to records.

In the first half of 2011, Chandler police and informants performed 32 drug reversals, seizing a total of $3.2 million in cash and making 124 arrests. [In politically incorrect terms, the cops stole $3.2 million from drug dealers]

This is higher than all the reversals, arrests and cash seized in 2010, when 24 reversals were conducted, $1.4 million seized and 81 arrested.

Between July 2006 and July 21, 2011, officers have seized $10.5million. [The cops stole $10.5 million!]

"We know the best way to hurt a dope organization is by seizing money," Shearer said. "We don't like anyone to think it is a money grab. The reversals themselves are a really good way to hurt these organizations." [Of course Shearer failed to mention that the police get to keep t he $10.5 million they stole from the drug dealers!]

The department puts the money into state or county interest-bearing accounts administered by the state Attorney General's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said Sgt. Joe Favazzo, a Chandler police spokesman.

The funds come back to Chandler, which has rules on what it can buy.

For example, it can't fund salaries but can pay the fees of informants and the costs of weapons, new technology and a police dog, Favazzo said. More stings in Chandler

Another obvious change in the first half of 2011 is the location of the drug stings, marking the most ever conducted, 21, in Chandler, compared with 11 in Phoenix. In previous years the majority of deals were in Phoenix. In 2010, for example, 19 were in Phoenix and three in Chandler.

"Phoenix was the location of most cases because it is centrally located and specific facilities were used to conduct the transactions," Shearer said.

The department came under some fire for spreading beyond city boundaries. Officers have stressed that crime knows no boundaries, and the drugs they get off the street in one city are also kept off the streets of other cities. [That is a bunch of BS. The cops, like bank robber Willie Sutton, go out side of Chandler because "that's where the money is". If they can steal a $100,000 in cold hard cash from a dope dealer in Phoenix they will go there! And of course they won't notify the Phoenix PD of the pending bust, because they don't want the Phoenix PD to get a cut of the stolen loot!]

"The Valley is my community," Shearer said.

Chandler followed the protocol of alerting Phoenix and a central database system, police have said. [That is a lie! They never notify other agencies, because they don't want to share the money they steal with the other agencies!]

On the deadly night of July 28, 2010, Chandler police told a Phoenix communications employee they were in the city conducting a drug deal in the 2300 block of West Maldonado Drive, according to 911 tapes and dispatch recordings.

But the message didn't get to higher ups, who sounded surprised in the recordings that Chandler police were in Phoenix.

A Chandler sergeant used 911 to urge the Phoenix Fire Department to hurry to care for the injured. The Chandler police chief telephoned Phoenix to determine whether officers were down.

After the confusion of the rapid-fire gunfight, several men fled before the Chandler Special Assignment Unit swooped in.

In all, eight suspects have been arrested, charged and remain in jail on high bonds. Two were captured months later, one in Tennessee and the other in Chicago. Two, Doarnell Jackson and Eldrige Gittens, face the death penalty.

Trial set for 2012

The eight cases are wending their way through the system, with requests for new grand juries and other motions.

"We are working towards trial. The trial is not set until December 2012," said Jerry Cobb, spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. "There are no current plea negotiations."

Alan Tavassoli, attorney for Jackson, who is accused of firing four shots into Ledesma with an AK-47, has many questions about the police version of the case.

He has requested court permission to test the slugs found at the scene, some of which he said are missing, because there may be evidence that Ledesma was shot from different angles and that bullets entered from two different sides.

"These are really important issues," Tavassoli said. He said the evidence might show that Ledesma was accidentally shot at least once by one of the police officers.

The state argues in court papers that the alleged dealers always planned to rob the sellers. A bag of counterfeit money was found at the scene, the state said, that was supposed to represent $250,000 to buy 500 pounds of marijuana.

"Multiple witnesses saw the money (earlier in the day) and it was good," Tavassoli said. "All of a sudden this dummy bag turns up."

He said it was not photographed on the first day of the investigation.

"It's either incredible incompetence or they switched out the money," Tavassoli said of police.

Neither Favazzo nor Cobb commented on Tavassoli's theories. Cobb said that prosecutors don't comment on ongoing cases.

The effect of Ledesma's death, meanwhile, was Valley-wide.

"It was a traumatic event," Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said.

Flying high for the Sinaloa drug cartel

Flying high for the Sinaloa drug cartel

By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times

July 27, 2011, 10:44 a.m.

John Charles Ward would take flight in the half-light before dawn, when he could race down the runway without headlights and ascend into the cloaking embrace of an overcast sky.

Soaring above the crowded California freeways in the single-engine aircraft, he'd relax, pour himself a whiskey and Seven and plan his hopscotch route to Pennsylvania. Inside the plane were 242 pounds of cocaine; outside, nothing but clouds.

"There are no curbs in the sky," Ward said. "There's no place for anybody to pull you over."

Flying shipments for the Sinaloa drug cartel was Ward's best gig in years. No street dealing, packaging or other grubby chores required. He delivered cocaine to a distributor in Pennsylvania and returned with duffel bags stuffed with up to $2.8 million, keeping a few 6-inch stacks of cash for himself.

Taking off from Riverside County's Corona Municipal Airport at dawn, Ward could be back the next day, feeding twenties and hundreds into the counting machine at his home in Carlsbad.

Still, he had some nagging concerns. The Mexican distributors in Pennsylvania were trying to cut costs by hiring immigrant truckers to haul drugs from Southern California. And U.S. agents were keeping a close watch on traffickers in the historic towns of Lancaster County, Pa., a distribution hub.

Ward was an expert at covering his tracks. He usually stayed at a cottage-style motel just off the runway at Smoketown Airport, the self-described "Gateway to Pennsylvania's Amish Country." After midnight he donned black clothing and lugged cocaine-filled gym bags from the plane to his room. He avoided people, paid cash for most purchases and, if anybody asked, said he was an aircraft broker.

"The money never stopped. The product never stopped," he said. "Everything was moving continuously."

Veteran of the trade

By the time President Nixon declared the "war on drugs" in 1971, Ward had been transporting dope to California for years. He grew weed at a farm he owned in Missouri and shipped it by truck. A few years later, responding to demand for better pot, he partnered with marijuana farmers in Mexican villages and hired pilots -- some of them Vietnam War veterans -- to fly the drugs across the border.

But they were unreliable prima donnas. So he decided to get a pilot's license. He went to Hawaii to train in crosswinds, headwinds and on island hops.

"I said to myself: 'I'm going to be the best smuggler there is. I'm going to be the one without an attitude,' " Ward said.

Over three decades, he piloted more than 50 planes, from cramped Beechcraft Musketeer three-seaters to an Aero Commander 500 that he'd jam with 1,500 pounds of marijuana. In the 1970s and '80s, he made short trips to northern Mexico, landing on runways marked by burning tires, and made long flights through the Sierra Madre, where joyous farmers rode alongside his plane on horseback, shooting pistols into the air.

I said to myself: ‘I’m going to be the best smuggler there is. I’m going to be the one without an attitude.’”

Ward was scrappy and resourceful, an adrenaline junkie with a taste for the finer things. His smuggling paid for a desert estate, a sailboat named Romancing and Dom Perignon-fueled parties. He relished the challenges of aerial smuggling and devised ingenious ways to avoid detection.

He'd fly across the border skimming treetops to evade radar. He'd land in the desert, at improvised airstrips where his crews laid generator-powered runway lights. For engine troubles, he packed a tool bag with fuses and wrenches. For human problems, he tucked a 9-millimeter handgun in his waistband.

One step ahead

Federal authorities, who had been aware of Ward's air smuggling since 1975, chased him in the desert sky, bugged his phones and planted tracking devices on his aircraft, some of which he found and kept behind his bar at home to show off to his drinking buddies.

In 1981, customs agents seized three of his planes at airports in Riverside County. He was convicted of drug conspiracy charges as the leader of 13 pilots and ground crew members. He served four years of an eight-year sentence, and took to the skies again.

In 1990, federal agents saw Ward's plane touch down on a landing strip near Death Valley. The ground crew unloaded 500 pounds of marijuana, and Ward flew off into the night. A government pilot gave chase with his lights out but lost him. Agents found the plane later at Banning Municipal Airport. The belly was coated with dirt, the engine still hot. But Ward was gone.

The agents caught his crew members, who fingered Ward. He faced conspiracy charges in that case and another in Riverside County. He was looking at up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

His attorney, Tom George Kontos, a former federal prosecutor from Los Angeles, negotiated a plea agreement that resulted in a year's house arrest.

Ward was forever grateful to the sharp-dressing attorney who he said was skilled at swaying judges. "He could charm the birds out of the trees," Ward said.

Kontos and Ward became close friends, attending each other's weddings and investing in a used-car business. Ward referred several traffickers to Kontos; Kontos sold Ward his house in Carlsbad, paid for with drug money.

Ward named his second son after Kontos. "He described me as the brother he never had," Ward said. "He was my hero."

'Pouring concrete'

Ward and his wife lived in a large, two-story home that backed onto an ocean-fed lagoon in Carlsbad. Neighbors would see him tinkering in his garage where he was designing an airplane-towing device. They rarely got so much as a wave hello, but they figured it was the aloof manner of an eccentric amateur inventor. They had no idea that Ward buried money in his yard or flew drugs across the country.

Ward began flying for the Sinaloa cartel in 2004, teaming with Rafael Dominguez, a racehorse breeder from Riverside County who had connections to drug distributors in Southern California.

When Dominguez had a cocaine load ready for shipment, he'd phone Ward, telling him that he had lined up another job "pouring concrete."

The cocaine was the best Ward had ever tasted, and was believed to come from a drug distribution network headed by Victor Emilio Cazares, allegedly a top cartel lieutenant in Sinaloa. The bricks were labeled with a scorpion logo.

"It was uncut … a pearly color, flaky, with a candy kind of smell to it," Ward said. "People would pull your arms off for that stuff."

Ward could carry nearly 250 pounds of cocaine per flight and he charged $450 per pound, earning about $110,000 per trip, plus $5,000 for expenses.

Truckers, some with spotty records, delivered nearly double that amount for half Ward's fee.

Ward didn't like the cost-cutting and careless behavior of the East Coast distributors to whom he delivered the drugs. He'd had words with one of them, Noe Coronado, who cultivated a Culiacan clubster look -- pompadour and shiny rayon pants -- that stood out in the bluejeans-and-baseball-cap world of Lancaster, Pa.

Ward worried that Coronado's lack of discretion put them both at risk. Nevertheless, it was hard to resist the tug of another deal.

Ward worried that Coronado's lack of discretion put them both at risk. Nevertheless, it was hard to resist the tug of another deal. "It wasn't just a smuggling job. It was my career," Ward said. "I put a lot of thought into it and tried to see where others made mistakes."

When Ward got a call about another shipment, he would drop the tools in his garage, pocket his two-way radio and grab his GPS case and overnight bag. At the door, he would kiss his wife goodbye.

"Don't ask me when I'm coming home. Don't ask me where I'm going…. I'll just see you later," he would say.

Cops down below

Ward always arrived before dawn at Corona Municipal Airport, a dusty compound with a diner and flight school and a double-wide trailer for a manager's office.

He and Dominguez would drive to the plane and throw the duffel bags in the tail-section storage compartment. About 15 minutes before dawn, Ward lifted off alone over the office parks and turned east.

The 1992 Socata, a French-made aircraft, had a cruising speed of 200 mph and an 800-mile range, which meant four refueling stops. Down below, Ward saw highway checkpoints crawling with cops. High above, he could have a drink, maybe smoke a joint or watch some porn on his laptop.

Flying below 18,000 feet he didn't need a flight plan. Most of the airports where he stopped were sleepy municipal or mom-and-pop operations.

Still, Ward didn't take any chances. After taxiing to a refueling stop, he ran through the maintenance checklist like a one-man Nascar pit crew.

"There's not one second wasted," he said. "When you land, you break out your computer as you're gassing your airplane. Getting the weather, you get the quart of oil … grab it, stick it in … throw away the spout, wipe your hands [and] jump in the airplane."

By dusk, he could see the green rolling hills and farmland of southern Pennsylvania. He typically landed at Smoketown, but fearing excessive use would draw attention, he had started using airports in York and Carlisle, both within 60 miles of Lancaster.

Ward had lectured Coronado about his loud clothing. He criticized him once for failing to use the turn signal on their way to dinner and for not keeping his DMV documents current.

Coronado resented Ward's bossy attitude, but Ward wouldn't back down. "I was dressing him and telling him what to do, but I mean it was a disaster," said Ward. "It's no way to fly."

Eventually, the lectures had the desired effect. By the fall of 2006, Coronado had changed his wardrobe, trading his shiny pants for Dockers, and had stopped driving without insurance or with expired registration tags. He had also taken Ward's advice and started a carpet cleaning business as a front.

But Coronado had continued to work with other, less-expensive suppliers, and their loose talk soon caught up with him.

On Jan. 12, 2007, two men drove down from New York to pick up cocaine that Coronado had received by truck. Tipped to the deal, Drug Enforcement Administration agents followed them and pounced on Coronado after the transaction. The agents found $1.8 million at Coronado's home.

Facing a potential 20-year prison term, Coronado was pressured to cooperate. He refused to disclose much about his Mexican connections, fearing retaliation against his family. But he was willing to talk about the cocaine shipments he received by air from California.

One morning in June 2007, Ward walked outside in his bathrobe to get the newspaper and was greeted by squads of police and DEA agents.

Don’t tell these idiots anything!” he yelled to his wife. “These people are not your friends!”

"Don't tell these idiots anything!" he yelled to his wife. "These people are not your friends!"

Ward figured Kontos could cut a deal, as he had in the past. But prosecutors, suspecting that Kontos was laundering drug money, had seized 12 of his properties. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, received a 21-month sentence and agreed to cooperate.

Kontos revealed that Ward had buried drug money in his backyard. Investigators didn't find anything there, but they did find $67,500 in a bag of walnuts in the freezer.

Ward pleaded guilty to drug and money-laundering charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The federal government seized his Carlsbad house, the money in the freezer and his Socata aircraft. His partner, Dominguez, also received a 10-year sentence.

Ward's flying career was over.

Kontos "said he would never represent an informant, and the guy turns out to be one himself," Ward said.

Federal inmate 74505-012 at Northern California's Herlong Correctional Institution works in the kitchen, serving food and sweeping floors. He's four years into his sentence at the minimum-security facility, which has no perimeter fence and feels more like a camp than a prison.

Ward, 64, roams the large yard, takes algebra classes, reads books on American history and enjoys the views of the Sierra Nevada.

He's still alive, even after all the close calls of his extreme smuggling years: mechanical failures at 10,000 feet, days stranded in a sweltering desert, encounters with Alaskan bears, Mexican cops, Colombian guerrillas, shotgun-toting thieves and stingy drug lords.

Some days, he has regrets, but not on this day. After all, a few more years in this relatively genteel setting and he'll be a free man again.

"I'm the absolute luckiest person on Earth," Ward said. "If you're going to put your luck against mine, you haven't got a chance."

richard.marosi@latimes.com

Government nannies want to tell you what to eat?

They will probably do it by taxing the krap out of foods they consider evil. Hey, isn't that how the unconstitutional war on drugs started out?

The first two laws which made drugs illegal at the Federal level were taxes. The "Harrison Narcotic Tax act of 1914" which made heroin and cocaine illegal. And of course the "Marihuana Tax Act of 1937", which made marijuana or pot illegal.

The laws required licenses to sell these drugs, and the Feds then stopped issuing the licenses which made the drugs effectively illegal.

Source

Should the growing weight of nation be put in government's hands?

Public health officials say yes; others say trimming the fat is up to individuals

By Monica Eng, Tribune reporter

July 28, 2011 America undoubtedly has a big obesity problem.

With two-thirds of all U.S. adults classified as obese or overweight, public health officials warn that much of the population is at dangerously high risk of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic and costly illnesses.

But who should be responsible for slimming down the nation?

Several recently released obesity action plans — including one for Illinois — suggest the government can do it through public policy measures ranging from soda taxes, healthier school lunches and mandatory school gym to calorie listings on menus, fitness-friendly infrastructure and restrictions on junk food advertising.

Drawing from other public health successes, they theorize that if taxes and laws can get Americans to wear safety belts and to stop smoking, they can also persuade us to exercise, eat better and, thus, lose weight.

But a growing chorus of critics, including some conservative politicians, say the government has no business — or hope of succeeding — in the weight-loss arena.

"It's the individual's responsibility," said Steve Siebold, author of "Die Fat or Get Tough." "For the majority of us, we need to stop putting the pizza in our mouth, and it's not the government that's going to get us to do that. It's about making a personal decision to make it happen, not letting the nanny state take care of us."

Last fall, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin characterized first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" anti-obesity campaign as an assault on individual rights.

"What she is telling us is that we can't trust parents to make decisions for their families in what we should eat," Palin told radio host Laura Ingraham. "Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician's wife priorities, just leave us alone."

Advocates of anti-obesity policies, however, say the government has a responsibility to intervene when taxpayers pick up much of the nation's obesity-related health care costs, calculated at $147 billion in 2008 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Illinois, obesity results in $3.4 billion a year in additional medical costs, a figure that is projected to rise to $15 billion by 2018 if trends continue, said Elissa Bassler, chief executive of the Illinois Public Health Institute.

"So if you are not even concerned about health and care only about economics, you can still see how this affects the bottom line for employers, the business community and policymakers," she said. "The cost to their pocketbook is just overwhelming."

In response to the state's rising obesity level — which has increased more than 80 percent since 1995, according to the CDC — public and private stakeholders formed the Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity in January 2010. This month the group presented a State Obesity Action Roadmap featuring eight objectives — from making healthy food more accessible to promoting safe and active transportation — aimed at stabilizing state obesity levels by 2015 and reversing the trend by 2018.

But to Paul Campos, author of "The Obesity Myth", such initiatives reflect a refusal to accept the ineffectiveness of populationwide weight reduction programs.

Campos, a University of Colorado law professor, bases much of his pessimism on long-term health interventions by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota that resulted in improved health behaviors but no weight loss. He also notes that the most reliable CDC data show a plateauing of obesity rates over the last decade.

"We don't know how to make fat people thin or how to keep thin people from getting fat on a populationwide basis," Campos said. "This is considered a heretical and anathematizing thing to say in these public policy debates, but it's a critical detail that tends to be ignored by policymakers. They are recommending interventions that have been tested repeatedly and don't work."

Supporters of anti-obesity policies don't deny past problems but note that many of the newer strategies have not yet been tried or at least not for very long.

Among these strategies are calorie labeling requirements at chain restaurants that will go into effect nationally in 2012. New voluntary guidelines on advertising junk food to children were also released last week, to protests by the food industry.

As nutrition policy director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Margo Wootan has been working on both issues for about a decade, and only today is she seeing the first glimmers of results, she said.

"These strategies may take time to create measurable changes in public health," she said. "Preliminary studies on local menu labeling laws have been mixed, but it's still early. Come back in five years and ask me how well menu labeling works."

It has become accepted wisdom in the anti-obesity community that opening full-service grocery stores with fresh produce in areas known as "food deserts" will increase consumption and improve health. But a recent study found that doing so doesn't always translate into healthier eating — especially when fast-food restaurants are around.

"Just making these foods available doesn't mean that people are going to buy them or eat them," said Ruth Kava, a senior fellow at American Council on Science and Health, which is partially funded by the food industry. "Many people are not going to know what to do with them because their family has never used that kind of food. In my mind it boils down to appropriate education."

But Rebecca A. Krukowski, an assistant professor of health behavior at the University of Arkansas, said education may not be enough. People knew it was unhealthy to smoke, she said, "but it was only when we added high tobacco taxes that we saw a difference in quit rates and reducing the initiation of smokers, especially in vulnerable populations like young people or those with low incomes."

Most observers agree that obesity is a more complicated issue than smoking and that prohibitively high taxes on soda and junk food could be hard to pass. Such rules seem "kind of punitive," Kava said. "Simply demonizing one kind of food or beverage is not going to solve the problem."

In Illinois, at least four bills endorsing soda taxes or restricting what items can be bought with food stamps were introduced this year, but all died in legislative committee. State Rep. Mike Zalewski, who introduced a bill to restrict soda purchases with food stamps, said debates on these issues often turn into "a circus."

"You have folks saying we are overregulating industry and being too intrusive, and they question what we are trying to achieve," Zalewski said.

Frank Hu, a professor in the Harvard School of Public Health, said he's a bit weary of debates over government interventions versus individual choice.

"The dichotomy is just not useful," he said. "We are living in a society and an environment where people interact with one another. And our obesogenic environment, to some degree, is the cause of the obesity epidemic. So even if someone has a strong motivation to diet, it becomes extremely difficult."

For example, Krukowski said, a person may be trying to make good choices for dinner only to be thwarted by unhealthful offerings at work or seduced by ads for fast-food restaurants on the way home.

But motivational trainer Siebold said he believes that waiting for the government to transform our environment creates the perception that it's someone else's job to modify our behavior.

The author, who offers a weight-loss coaching plan for free at fatloser.com, says he arrived at his philosophy after finding himself 40 pounds overweight and deciding to make a change.

"The government is creating this learned helplessness by saying that they are going to take care of everything," Siebold said. "I say, 'Grow up and take responsibility and fix it yourself.' But we don't want to hear that because we're so soft and used to being coddled."

Bassler agrees that the success of the State Obesity Action plan will, in the end, rely on hundreds of thousands of individuals changing their lives and deciding to make healthier choices.

"But," she said, "we think that by working on these policies, systems and environments, we can make the healthy choice the easier choice."

meng@tribune.com

Twitter: @monicaeng

Source

Suspicion in Mexico's Sinaloa cartel

By Richard Marosi and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

July 28, 2011

Last of four parts

Reporting from Calexico, Calif., and Badiraguato, Mexico --

The towering iron gates opened onto a palm-lined driveway that led past the family church, a twisting water slide and two man-made lakes, one stocked with fish, the other with jet skis.

With its soaring twin bell towers, each topped by a cross, the estate in the emerald hills outside Culiacan, Mexico, had an almost surreal grandeur. It reminded Carlos "Charlie" Cuevas of Disneyland, without the smiles.

Cuevas, a drug trafficker from Calexico, Calif., had been summoned there by Victor Emilio Cazares, allegedly a top lieutenant in the Sinaloa cartel. Cazares was said to be upset by a rash of recent drug seizures by U.S. authorities.

In one of them, police had raided a stash house in Paramount, southeast of Los Angeles, and confiscated nearly 455 pounds of cocaine, worth about $3.3 million.

Cuevas had come under suspicion, and not only because he handled the shipment. Raised in California, he was an outsider. He couldn't claim Sinaloan roots. The boss and his heavily armed cronies would make fun of his American-accented Spanish and call him a derogatory term for Mexican Americans.

Cuevas' drivers and lookouts were also suspect. He had been ordered to bring them to Mexico for questioning. He hadn't.

Cuevas feared his boss — he'd guzzle Pepto-Bismol for his frequent gut eruptions — but this time he stood firm.

"I'm so sure it's not one of my guys that you can kill me if it's one of them," Cuevas said.

In the shadows

The confrontation reflected the frustrations of a cartel in confusion. Cocaine shipments were being seized all over the U.S.: by New Jersey and New York police, California Highway Patrol officers, Oklahoma state troopers and others. The array of agencies was a cover for the main force behind most of the busts: the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Cazares didn't know it, but he was a top target in one of the largest DEA investigations ever of a Mexican organized crime group. Operation Imperial Emperor was peeling back layers of a drug distribution ring with hundreds of truckers, packers, money couriers and stash house operators across the U.S.

Local police made arrests while DEA agents stayed in the shadows, piecing together evidence and listening to cellphone chatter.

Keeping the DEA's involvement quiet was key.

A major trafficking suspect like Cazares didn't sweat local busts, but a federal investigation would put him on alert. Wiretaps would go silent, evidence would disappear, suspects would flee.

The DEA was allowing the drug pipeline to continue running so agents could expand their target list. There would be busts and seizures of drugs and money, but no knockout punch.

The cocaine economy gushed millions of dollars a week in revenue for a reputed kingpin like Cazares.

The government was trying to bleed the organization to death.

It wouldn't be easy. The cocaine economy gushed millions of dollars a week in revenue for a reputed kingpin like Cazares, whose contacts reached from Colombia to the South Bronx. Cocaine purchased from South American producers for about $3,600 a pound was sold for $7,200 in Los Angeles and $9,000 in New York.

The biggest expense was shipping. Cuevas earned about $250 a pound moving the cocaine across the U.S.-Mexico border to distribution hubs in the Los Angeles area.

Trucking cells charged as little as $250 a pound for shipments to the East Coast. By air, a pilot from Carlsbad, John Charles Ward, charged $450 per pound.

The Sinaloa cartel bosses, unlike the Colombian traffickers of the past, didn't control the entire distribution system. Cazares allegedly partnered with local criminal groups — Orange County gang members, Italian Canadian mobsters, Dominicans in the Northeast — to get the drugs to users.

Profit margins at the wholesale level were staggering: One ton of cocaine, after transportation costs, could yield $5.4 million. Over three years, Cazares had allegedly smuggled an estimated 40 tons into the U.S., generating more than $200 million in profit.

And that created another logistical challenge: getting the money back to Mexico.

That was handled by Cazares' sister, according to federal agents and an indictment filed by Los Angeles County prosecutors. Blanca, a society-page fixture in Culiacan nicknamed "the Empress," allegedly controlled currency-changing houses in Tijuana and other border cities, where drug proceeds sent via courier from Southern California were converted to pesos. The cash was divided into amounts of less than $10,000 and deposited in banks along the border.

Blanca Cazares could withdraw or transfer the funds at will, distributing profits to associates, distributors and her brother.

Gentleman rancher

In the mid-1990s, Victor Cazares was an illegal immigrant with big dreams living in a run-down cottage in the city of Bell, southeast of Los Angeles.

When police arrested him with a baggie of drugs, he said he worked as a $50-a-day landscaper and admitted a fondness for cocaine. He vowed to quit.

"The defendant's plans are to work and become a Christian," his probation officer wrote in his report.

By 2005, Cazares had moved back to his homeland, where he kept one of his promises by building a church on his 25-acre estate in Mexico's historical drug-trafficking heartland of Badiraguato, outside Culiacan. He cultivated a reputation as a generous gentleman rancher, and the Mexican government gave him more than $129,000 in subsidies to raise cattle.

Cazares trucked in locals to harvest his fields of tomato, pepper, eggplant and squash, paying them twice the normal wage.

"He was a good neighbor. He gave people work. He'd pass by, wave a greeting," said Guadalupe Rubio, who lives in a village near the hacienda.

Cazares allegedly was a primary distributor for Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, the Sinaloa cartel's leader and the most wanted trafficker in the world.

Yet in many ways, he acted more like a vice president of shipping for a U.S. manufacturing firm, obsessing over logistics and cost control.

While cartel soldiers waged war in Mexican border cities, killing hundreds of rivals and police officers, workers in the U.S. primed the drug pipeline in anonymity, driving small cars, renting modest houses and leading low-profile, generally peaceful lives.

Spilling blood on U.S. streets was avoided. Disputes were taken care of in Mexico, where discipline or vengeance could be meted out in the lawless countryside outside Culiacan.

Meet Gato

By 2006, the money was pouring in, and Cazares tried to track every penny.

By 2006, the money was pouring in, and Cazares tried to track every penny, the DEA investigation found. He called key associates in the U.S. at all hours and took weekly inventories of cocaine shipments moving across the country.

When authorities intercepted cocaine or money, Cazares demanded that subordinates produce proof of seizure: news clippings, police reports, court documents. If the seizure resulted from good police work, the load was written off as a cost of doing business. If it was deemed the fault of the distributor, Cazares demanded compensation.

Determining fault sometimes required extreme methods, or at least close interrogation. In such cases, Cazares called meetings at his estate, as he did after the March 2006 bust near Los Angeles.

Cuevas had arranged delivery of three cocaine loads from Mexicali to a distribution cell in Paramount. The cell was overseen from Mexico by a man known to his subordinates only as Gato, Spanish for "cat."

A few hours after the delivery, police raided the cell's stash house.

Eligio "Pescado" Rios, who ran the stash house, fled to Mexico to avoid arrest. Once across the border, he was captured by cartel enforcers. Believing he might have caused the bust through carelessness or deliberate betrayal, they tied him to a bed and beat him for several days.

Afterward, Cazares was no closer to understanding why the raid had happened. So Cuevas was summoned for questioning. Perhaps the answers would help determine who should pay for the seized drugs and whether anyone else deserved a beating, or worse.

Walking through Cazares' mansion, Cuevas marveled at the gleaming glass living-room floor that sat over an indoor-outdoor pool. Cazares took special pride in parading his dancing horses, and children could frolic in a playground filled with swing sets and climbing structures.

Cazares and Cuevas were joined by a third man who wasn't introduced and who remained silent.

Cazares began grilling Cuevas about the Paramount bust, suggesting that someone from his cell had been followed or had turned informant.

He said that according to Gato, Cuevas' crew was at fault.

Cuevas blamed Gato.

At which point, Cazares introduced the silent man next to him: Gato.

A heated argument ensued.

Cuevas' drivers had delivered the drugs, but Gato's stash house operator had received the shipment. Neither man wanted to be on the hook for $3.3 million.

Cazares eventually stepped in.

He seemed impressed with Cuevas' mettle. After all, Cuevas had traveled to Sinaloa knowing he might not return, and he'd stood up for his crew, even the ones too frightened to travel with him.

In the end, Cazares decided not to impose any punishment. It was the practical, business-over-bloodshed approach that exemplified the cartel's distribution side. He needed Gato and Cuevas to continue working together, to keep the drugs flowing. And Cuevas still owed him money for past seizures.

Intimidation did have its place, however. Before Cuevas was allowed to go home to California, he was shown the room where Rios had been beaten. The mattress was still bloody.

Time to move

When Cuevas returned to Calexico, the DEA resumed its surveillance of him. For more than a year, the operation had provided valuable intelligence, but now agents worried that their cover had been blown.

A car dealer in San Diego who fixed the brakes on Cuevas' BMW had alerted him that agents had installed a tracking device in his car.

Fearing that Cuevas would flee the country — he had been house-hunting in Culiacan — the task force decided to move in. On the morning of Jan. 20, 2007, a SWAT team broke down Cuevas' back door and arrested him in his underwear. About two dozen members of his crew were arrested that day and in a raid the following month.

A series of sweeps targeted other players in the supply chain, from South Gate to the South Bronx. In all, authorities charged 402 people, seized 18 tons of cocaine and marijuana and $51 million in cash and property during the 20 months of Operation Imperial Emperor.

Cuevas pleaded guilty to drug distribution and conspiracy charges, testified against some of his former associates and was sentenced to 13 years in prison — much less than some other defendants.

As for Cazares, a federal grand jury indicted him in February 2007. Mexican federal agents spotted him and his family in downtown Culiacan later that year. But he was protected by 20 heavily armed bodyguards, and authorities backed off.

Mexican soldiers descended on his estate a few months later, but Cazares apparently had been tipped off. Three men were seen fleeing over a wall. The Mexican government seized the property.

A few months later, officials gave it back for reasons that are unclear.

Still, the agents could take pride in Imperial Emperor's achievements. Their late-night stakeouts, dumpster-diving excursions and tedious phone surveillance, conducted in a bunker-like room littered with takeout menus, had yielded significant results.

They had developed an extraordinarily detailed picture of how the cartel smuggled drugs into and across the U.S. They had disrupted its distribution system and inflicted substantial financial losses. They had laid the groundwork for a follow-up campaign, Operation Xcellerator, which resulted in 755 additional arrests.

But the sense of accomplishment was tempered by the realization that the cartel's regenerative powers could trump even the most vigorous enforcement efforts.

When Cazares' indictment was announced, then-DEA Administrator Karen Tandy said, "Today, we ripped out this empire's U.S. infrastructure … and tossed it into the dustbin of history."

More than four years later, the cartel continues pumping drugs through the Calexico border crossing.

Since Cuevas' arrest, several other smuggling crews have sprung up, and the port is still considered one of the main entry points for cocaine on the Southwest border.

Cazares' whereabouts are unknown. At his estate, the manicured lawns and palm-lined grounds are still carefully tended. Villagers say his mother comes by on occasion and opens the whitewashed church, which is filled with stained-glass windows and decorated with paintings of angels and a serene Jesus.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

No Second Amendment rights for pot smokers. At least that's how the tyrants at the BATF operate.

"The indictment also alleges [Michael James Gesty] is a habitual marijuana user who lied on his federal application by saying he did not use drugs."

Source

Tucson man faces machine-gun charges

by Matt Haldane - Jul. 28, 2011 05:59 PM

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

The U.S. Attorney's Office indicted a man Thursday on suspicion of making and instructing others on how to make fully automatic weapons, authorities said.

Michael James Gesty, 46, was arrested following an investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He is being charged with nine counts of making machine guns, making false statements on an application for a federal firearms license, making false statements during purchase of firearms, failure to keep records of firearm sales and possession of firearms and ammunition by a drug user.

Gesty did business as a federally licensed firearms dealer under the names Spartan Armory and Black Wolf Weapons, according to the Attorney's Office.

The indictment also alleges he is a habitual marijuana user who lied on his federal application by saying he did not use drugs.

Gesty is also suspected of not keeping records required for several firearms sales, according to the Attorney's Office, and he allegedly encouraged others to make false statements in his business records.

The maximum sentence for making machine guns and possession of firearms and ammunition by a drug user is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Gesty could face up to an additional five years and $250,000 fine for making false statements on a federal firearms license application, making false statements during the purchase of firearms and failure to keep records of firearm sales.

Feds read your email and listen to your phone calls? Probably.

First I would like to say hi to all the FBI assholes, Homeland Security thugs and other Federal state, county and local police terrorists who are reading this email. [I hope it isn't a Federal crime to admit that these asshole police officers are spying on us]

The good news is that at least the government terrorists admit to tapping our phones and reading our emails. The bad news is the problem is probably a lot worse then the government nannies are willing to admit.

Source

U.S.: Unknown number were monitored

by Pete Yost - Jul. 29, 2011 12:00 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Like its predecessor, the Obama administration says it cannot count how many people in the U.S. have had their telephone calls and e-mails monitored by government agents in national-security investigations under federal surveillance law.

The national intelligence office said in a letter this week to two Senate Democrats that it was "not reasonably possible to identify the number."

The senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, worry that the government may be monitoring communications of law-abiding citizens with inadequate justification.

"We're not asking these questions to embarrass the administration or make the intelligence community's job more difficult," Wyden said Thursday. "Congress needs to know if the laws it writes are being interpreted and implemented as intended before it is asked to extend them, and failing to assure the public that government agencies aren't violating the rights of law-abiding Americans erodes public confidence and makes it harder for intelligence agencies to do their jobs."

The letter from the office of James Clapper, director of national intelligence, was a response to the senators' requests for information about how the Obama administration is interpreting amendments in 2008 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Wyden and Udall say they are concerned that the administration may be engaging in expansive interpretations of the 2008 law, scheduled to expire late next year.

The 2008 FISA amendments allow the government to obtain from a secret court broad, yearlong intercept orders that target foreign groups and people overseas, raising the prospect that phone calls and e-mails between those foreign targets and innocent Americans in this country will be swept in.

In saying it was unable to provide a number for those in the U.S. whose communications were collected, the administration's letter pointed Wyden and Udall to classified reports provided to Congress that give the number of circulated intelligence reports that refer to at least one person in the U.S. and give the number of collection targets later determined to be in the U.S.

Wyden, however, said it was unacceptable that the administration was saying it cannot give Congress "at least a ballpark estimate."

Jim Dempsey, a privacy expert, said the classified reports to Congress probably mention few people in this country because they deal only with those cases where surveillance was clearly justified.

Feds read your email and listen to your phone calls? Probably.

First I would like to say hi to all the FBI assholes, Homeland Security thugs and other Federal state, county and local police terrorists who are reading this email. [I hope it isn't a Federal crime to admit that these asshole police officers are spying on us]

The good news is that at least the government terrorists admit to tapping our phones and reading our emails. The bad news is the problem is probably a lot worse then the government nannies are willing to admit.

Source

U.S.: Unknown number were monitored

by Pete Yost - Jul. 29, 2011 12:00 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Like its predecessor, the Obama administration says it cannot count how many people in the U.S. have had their telephone calls and e-mails monitored by government agents in national-security investigations under federal surveillance law.

The national intelligence office said in a letter this week to two Senate Democrats that it was "not reasonably possible to identify the number."

The senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, worry that the government may be monitoring communications of law-abiding citizens with inadequate justification.

"We're not asking these questions to embarrass the administration or make the intelligence community's job more difficult," Wyden said Thursday. "Congress needs to know if the laws it writes are being interpreted and implemented as intended before it is asked to extend them, and failing to assure the public that government agencies aren't violating the rights of law-abiding Americans erodes public confidence and makes it harder for intelligence agencies to do their jobs."

The letter from the office of James Clapper, director of national intelligence, was a response to the senators' requests for information about how the Obama administration is interpreting amendments in 2008 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Wyden and Udall say they are concerned that the administration may be engaging in expansive interpretations of the 2008 law, scheduled to expire late next year.

The 2008 FISA amendments allow the government to obtain from a secret court broad, yearlong intercept orders that target foreign groups and people overseas, raising the prospect that phone calls and e-mails between those foreign targets and innocent Americans in this country will be swept in.

In saying it was unable to provide a number for those in the U.S. whose communications were collected, the administration's letter pointed Wyden and Udall to classified reports provided to Congress that give the number of circulated intelligence reports that refer to at least one person in the U.S. and give the number of collection targets later determined to be in the U.S.

Wyden, however, said it was unacceptable that the administration was saying it cannot give Congress "at least a ballpark estimate."

Jim Dempsey, a privacy expert, said the classified reports to Congress probably mention few people in this country because they deal only with those cases where surveillance was clearly justified.

Source

Feds: Arizona's medical marijuana lawsuit has no merit

Posted: Monday, August 1, 2011 5:27 pm

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services East Valley Tribune

Federal attorneys asked a judge on Monday to throw out a lawsuit filed by Gov. Jan Brewer seeking a ruling about the legality of the state’s medical marijuana law.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Scott Risner said there is no legal basis for the lawsuit. Risner told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in legal papers filed in her court that, absent some actual threat of prosecution under federal drug laws by his office, the question is purely academic and therefore not a proper subject for litigation.

But state Attorney General Tom Horne, who filed the lawsuit in May on the governor’s behalf, said Risner is telling only part of the story.

The fight surrounds the decision by Arizona voters last year to set up a system allowing those with a doctor’s recommendation and a state-issued ID card to purchase marijuana from state-regulated dispensaries.

Since that time, several federal prosecutors, including Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, warned that possession and sale of the drug remains illegal under federal law. Brewer then directed Horne to ask a federal court whether Arizona could implement its program anyway.

In the interim, the state health department, at Brewer’s direction, decided not to license any dispensaries, though they have continued to certify patients as medical marijuana users.

Risner said the problem with Horne’s lawsuit is that no state employee involved in issuing licenses — those that Brewer said she was most concerned about — is facing prosecution.

But Horne said that’s not exactly true.

He pointed out that federal prosecutors, in their letters to state officials in Arizona and elsewhere, essentially said that medical marijuana users have nothing to fear. It’s what those letters did not say, Horne said, which amounts to a threat.

“They gave no assurance to state employees, they gave no assurance to dispensaries,’’ he said.

“And they said they were going to vigorously prosecute anyone who is involved in the distribution of marijuana,’’ Horne continued, a category that could include state workers. “What unbelievable hypocrites!’’

Horne also brushed aside Risner’s argument that there can be no risk of prosecution to state health workers since they are neither accepting nor processing applications from those who want to operate dispensaries.

“We asked for the court decision and we said we’ll hold it up until there is a court decision,’’ Horne complained. He called it “sophistry’’ for the Department of Justice to now argue that the state, by putting the license-issuing process on hold, is now not entitled to a ruling on the very issue that is holding up the process in the first place.

Risner did not return a call to his office seeking comment.

It’s not just the Department of Justice trying to have the governor’s lawsuit dismissed. Would-be dispensary operators and the American Civil Liberties Union are making similar arguments in their own legal filings.

Bolton has not set a date for a hearing.

18 years of Sheriff Joe's Gulag Tent Cities

Source

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Tent City turns 18

County's controversial inmate detention center likely will be divisive lawman's lasting legacy

by JJ Hensley - Aug. 3, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

For all the worksite raids, immigration sweeps and animal-cruelty cases that have made Sheriff Joe Arpaio one of the most notorious and popular figures in Arizona history, it likely will be a compound of military-style tents housing more than 1,000 inmates that is his lasting legacy.

The compound in southwest Phoenix has housed more than 500,000 people - including a handful of celebrities and corporate executives in addition to more common criminals - since it opened in the summer of 1993. Arpaio will commemorate its 18th year in operation with a "celebration" today, though few who live there will likely want to join the party.

"This is hard time," said Corrine Welling, a jail inmate who has also served time in the state Department of Corrections' tents.

"You get doors on those tents, you get cable, you get AC," Welling said of the state facilities. Arpaio's facilities are the bare minimum - including no air-conditioning.

"When we're here, it's a deterrent and we say we're not going to come back, but everyone's got their own thing on the outside," Welling said. "You get wrapped up in it again, and you don't think about this."

In many ways, the compound is the ultimate reflection of Arpaio, the controversial five-term county sheriff who is often accused of valuing publicity more than prudent law-enforcement policy. Tent City was a fresh idea when first proposed, bringing with it a combination of austerity and retribution that appealed to Arpaio's supporters. It has since survived riots, inmate deaths, lawsuits and legal challenges as it has come to epitomize Arpaio.

Some of the sheriff's critics can't believe the tent compound is still around, much like the sheriff himself.

"It surprises me it's lasted as long as it has. It's not delivered any of its promises except for publicity," said Phoenix attorney Mike Manning, who has fought numerous legal battles with the Sheriff's Office and won millions in settlements and jury verdicts for former inmates.

"When I've said these types of things before Arpaio is quick to say that I and others want to coddle criminals. The issue isn't that at all. In our country the constitutional and the humane punishment of criminals is to deny them their freedom, imprison them and try to rehabilitate them," Manning said. "There is no entity in our country where it's permitted to punish people by unnecessarily creating pain, and he goes out of his way to unnecessarily create pain and he relishes it. He advertises it. He boasts about it."

The facility might have drawn praise when it opened, but the concept of housing inmates in tents was not without pitfalls.

Hundreds of inmates rioted at the facility in 1996 after a detention officer sprayed an inmate with pepper spray when the inmate used the restroom without permission. The disturbance went on for five hours and left eight sheriffs employees injured and caused more than $100,000 in damage.

Nearly three years later, a similar scenario unfolded when 200 inmates hurled rocks at officers, lit tents on fire and toppled portable toilets.

Arpaio deemed the second event a "disturbance," and says today that only two riots more than a decade ago add up to a positive track record.

"With 1.3 million people (who) come through the jails and I'm supposed to run the toughest jail in the universe, and (so then) where are all the riots?" Arpaio asked. "Big deal. That's a positive thing - only one."

Whether they were riots or disturbances, the events led to changes in Tent City, said Jack MacIntyre, an Arpaio deputy chief who noted that the deputies installed a portable watch tower and an additional fence, and also increased patrols around the tents.

The inmates who live in the tents have all been sentenced to less than one year in jail for their crimes and must be classified as minimum- or medium-security risks.

Everyone in Tent City has to work either on a chain gang, in one of the jail-support facilities such as the kitchen, or at jobs in the community through work-release and furlough programs. Those who choose not to work are housed in traditional jail cells.

For many, the chance to get outside of jail for a few hours a day is enough motivation to suffer through the hot summer months in the tents, where temperatures can reach 145 degrees underneath the canvas.

Lucas Jones, 37, is in the middle of a four-month sentence in the tents, but he goes to Bartlett Lake twice a week with other inmates as part of a program to build fish habitats, a privilege Jones said he cherishes.

"Just to get on a bus and get out of here first thing in the morning, that's wonderful," Jones said.

But with Maricopa County jail populations in the midst of a steep decline - from a high count of more than 10,000 in 2006 to an average population of about 7,500 this year - and the county jail system dotted with vacant cells and mothballed units, the overcrowding that helped launch Tent City has subsided.

Arpaio said the concept of housing inmates in tents still sends a message. He has no intention of moving the inmates to a more climate-controlled environment.

"I'm not going to close the Tent City. Why would I close it?" Arpaio said. "I do know I get a lot of calls from families and people who have served time and they say 'Thank you, sheriff. I hate the tents.' That's music to my ears."

If it makes you feel good the DEA wants to make it illegal.

Just because something is addictive doesn't mean it's should be illegal. Caffeine and nicotine are both just as addictive as heroin, but they are legal. (Of course nicotine, or tobacco probably kills more people worldwide then any illegal drug, followed by alcohol).

Source

Kratom: Some Say the Latest "Legal Drug" Is a Harmless Herbal Tonic. The DEA Says It's Far More Sinister

At first glance, the dark green leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree look no more remarkable than mint leaves. They're large, somewhat oval in shape, and smooth to the touch. The trees are indigenous to Southeast Asia, and their leaves, known as kratom, have been used as a traditional medicine in Thailand and Asian countries for centuries. Kratom made its way to the United States as an herbal medicine decades ago but has become something else in the past few years: the latest popular consumable in the "legal drug" market of the United States.

Unlike previous hot products at head shops, like spice and "bath salts" (which contain synthetic compounds made in labs), kratom is completely organic. It has its share of proponents, who espouse its supposed medicinal benefits, and opponents who say it's a dangerous drug. Kratom is currently legal to buy and sell in the states and won't show up on standard drug tests.

Kratom is sold as raw or crushed leaves that can be smoked or steeped for tea, and also in gel caps. Potencies and strains vary, as do prices (generally $15 to $50 per five-gram packet, or $18 to $25 for about 50 capsules). Doses generally range from two to 10 grams. It's widely available online through sites like thekratomking.com, kratom.pro, Phoenix-based site kratommarket.com, and at various head shops around the Valley and United States.

Though it is currently uncontrolled in the states, kratom has been banned in Bhutan, Australia, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand, where it is reportedly the third most popular drug, behind meth and marijuana.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Diversion Control lists kratom as a "Drug and Chemical of Concern" and says there's no legitimate medical use for kratom in the United States. A DEA report issued in December 2010 says pharmacology studies show that kratom has "opioid-like activity in animals," reducing pain, producing "sedative and euphoric effects," and a host of side effects including nausea, constipation, loss of appetite, and even "psychotic symptoms" in "kratom addicts," including "hallucinations, delusion, and confusion."

Dr. Frank LoVecchio, co-medical director of the Banner Good Samaritan Poison & Drug Information Center based here in Arizona, says he's treated five patients who used kratom and hasn't seen any terrible side effects.

"For every one or two patients I see that come in, there are probably dozens who do it and don't get into trouble," LoVecchio says. "In the few cases I've seen, it doesn't cause crazy symptoms. People get a little sleepy. I'm not sure what would happen if somebody OD'd." (To date, there's never been a reported fatal overdose of kratom.)

So far, there have been only a handful of scientific studies on kratom's effects on mammals. What is known is that there are more than 25 naturally occurring alkaloids in kratom leaves, and the two believed to be most active on opium receptors in the human brain are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. A study by Doctor K.L.R. Jansen and Professor C.J. Prast, published in 1988 in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, reports that kratom showed opiate-like effects (such as analgesia and cough suppression) in animals. These effects were confirmed by recent research at the Universiti Sains Malaysia and the December 2010 report published by the DEA.

Though these alkaloids act on opiate receptors, the chemical structure of mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine in kratom are different from the structure of morphine, which is the most abundant alkaloid in opium. Kratom alkaloids will not cause a false-positive drug test for opiates, according to LoVecchio, provided the kratom used was pure. And as with any unregulated product, that's no guarantee. "I'd be curious if the stuff they're selling on the Internet is actually kratom or crushed-up Percocet or something," he says.

LoVecchio says pure kratom "will be missed on drugs of abuse screen, but . . . we can find this on a urine comprehensive drug screen." But such tests are not always performed, LoVecchio adds, because they're so expensive.

In addition to the risk of buying contaminated kratom products, there's also the matter of potential addiction. A 2004 study on the tolerance and withdrawal effects of kratom in mice conducted jointly by the Josai International University in Japan and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand concluded that tolerance to 7-hydroxymitragynine developed "as occurs to morphine," and there was evidence of cross-tolerance to morphine, as well. Withdrawal symptoms also were observed.

LoVecchio says that two of the kratom users he's treated (both younger men) "said they really wanted to get back on it. The withdrawal is described as similar to opiate withdrawal."

Withdrawal from opiate addiction can be rough, says Lloyd Vacovsky, founder and director of Assisted Recovery Centers of America, who's been treating opiate addicts for more than 15 years. "The detox is what keeps most people addicted," he says, speaking from his Phoenix area office. "The withdrawal with opiates is nasty — it can take two weeks. One minute, you've got diarrhea. The next minute, you're vomiting, and then you've got chills. People crave the opiates, 'just once, to feel normal.' The fear of withdrawal and not feeling normal supersedes the fear of having to go through detox all over again."

Because chemicals in kratom act on opiate receptors in the brain, it has sometimes been used to treat opium dependence. But Vacovsky doesn't see kratom as a viable part of addiction treatment.

He says part of effectively treating opium addiction requires medications that act as "antagonists" (blocking agents) to the opium receptors. The alkaloids in kratom are agonists, which mean they stimulate those receptors.

"You cannot tell me there's any science behind [using kratom to treat opiate addiction]," Vacovsky says. "It's just a substitute. You take it, it releases endorphins, and you feel fine. But then you're addicted to the kratom."

Some users disagree, particularly those at the Kratom Association, a national advocacy network that seeks to preserve the legal status of the herb. One member and moderator for the group, Nathan Wren, told New Times he used kratom daily for months after shattering his femur in a car accident and experienced no withdrawal symptoms when he suddenly stopped. He says he believes "addiction to kratom is purely psychological," and, "If there are any symptoms, it's like how you might feel if one were to take coffee away from you for a time."

Most of the Kratom Association members, Wren says, are people in their 40s to 60s who use kratom for depression and pain management. "Kratom has been a godsend for folks who can't afford healthcare or don't want to be addicted to pain meds," he says. "It's not for a good time."

Shawn Schuman, 24, is a kratom advocate in Pennsylvania. Like many other users, he says he began taking kratom to overcome an addiction to painkillers. "There is no real 'high' to be had," Schuman says. "There is a definite mood elevation, but it does not resemble the high achieved with traditional recreational substances."

But kratom is being marketed and sold as a "legal high" and unregulated novelty drug. And this has already got the attention of the DEA. Ramona Sanchez, spokeswoman for the DEA's Phoenix division, says she thinks kratom could fall under the Federal Analog Act. The act allows substances that are "substantially similar" to controlled substances to be treated the same as the controlled substance.

Sanchez also says that because kratom is not considered a federally controlled substance, any data the DEA has is anecdotal. But she emphasizes that kratom "is nowhere near being good for you. Even though it is not a controlled substance, we would not recommend anybody taking this . . . It is not good at all."

Chandler Police Department continues to raise revenue by selling marijuana

Chandler Police steal $100,000 from marijuana dealers

I guess the title of this article should be "Chandler police steal $100,000 from drug dealers after promising to sell them 260 pounds of marijuana"

Source

Chandler police arrest 3 in pot bust involving almost $100,000

by John Genovese - Aug. 4, 2011 10:34 AM

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

Chandler police arrested two men from Jamaica and one other man Tuesday during a sting involving 260 pounds of marijuana and nearly $100,000 in cash.

Phillip Timoll, 36, Bobby Jones, 34, and Wayne Gayle, 46, were taken into custody after arranging a deal with police informants who were posing as marijuana suppliers.

According to court documents obtained by The Arizona Republic, the men had arranged to purchase the marijuana for approximately $510 per pound.

Police said that during the sting, the three men followed the informants into an undisclosed Chandler building, equipped with "covert video surveillance" and 260 pounds of police-supplied marijuana.

Officials said Timoll acted as the broker, introducing the informants to Jones and Gayle. The suspects analyzed the marijuana and were provided a wrapping table in the facility, supplied by police.

According to court documents, one of the informants asked the three men to see the money for the transaction, at which point Gayle proceeded to remove a bag from the suspect car containing $99,200 dollars in cash.

As the three continued to analyze the marijuana and began counting the money, police raided the building.

Authorities said Jones tried to flee, but was forced to the ground and taken into custody a "short distance" away.

Gayle and Timoll were arrested on scene.

Timoll, armed with a loaded pistol, admitted to investigators that he acted as the broker for the deal, but denied supplying the cash for the transaction. He said he expected to earn between $2,000 and $3,000 dollars for introducing Gayle and Jones to the suppliers, police said.

The 36-year-old is a Jamaican resident, and told police that he regularly works as a self-employed broker of Mercedes car parts, purchasing parts in the United States and reselling them in Jamaica.

According to court documents, Timoll admitted that he administered the deal because he needed the money to take care of his daughter.

Gayle told police he was also a Jamaican resident, and Jones identified himself as a U.S. Citizen, born in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

According to police, Jones has a previous criminal arrest history in Arizona, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Texas using six different aliases, three different birthdates, and two different social security numbers. Jones was also in possession of an Ohio driver's license, identifying him as "Jermaine Levi".

The three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to sell marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, and money laundering. Jones was additionally charged on suspicion of possessing a weapon during a drug offense.

How Many Medical Marijuana Patients Are Fakers?

Source

How Many Medical Marijuana Patients Are Fakers?

Does It Matter?

Jacob Sullum | August 5, 2011

A recent survey of 1,746 patients at nine medical marijuana evaluation clinics in California indicates that "the patient population has evolved from mostly HIV/AIDS and cancer patients to a significantly more diverse array." University of California at Santa Cruz sociologist Craig Reinarman and his colleagues, who report their results in the Journal of Psychoactive Studies, say "this trend toward increasing therapeutic uses is bringing marijuana back to the position it held in the U.S. Pharmacopeia prior to its prohibition in 1937."

Reinarman et al. found that "relief of pain, spasms, headache, and anxiety, as well as to improve sleep and relaxation, were the most common reasons patients cited for using medical marijuana." The top three reasons physicians gave for recommending marijuana were "back/spine/neck pain" (31 percent), "sleep disorders" (16 percent), and "anxiety/depression" (13 percent). Although those may sound like easy-to-fake symptoms, four-fifths of the patients reported trying other, doctor-prescribed medications (most commonly opioids) before marijuana. They could have been malingering then too, of course, and it may be easier to get a recommendation for marijuana than it is to get a prescription for Vicodin or Valium. But on the whole, it does not look like allowing the medical use of marijuana has fundamentally changed the nature of the doctor-patient relationship. Doctors do, after all, commonly prescribe psychoactive pharmaceuticals to treat not only pain but also sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression—all with the government's blessing. If some people find that marijuana works better for these purposes, there is no rational reason to prevent them from using it.

"While it is true that the great majority of our respondents had used marijuana recreationally," Reinarman et al. write, "over two-fifths...reported that they had not been using it recreationally prior to trying it for medicinal purposes." The authors are keenly aware of the widepread impression that a large portion of California's medical marijuana patients are using phony or exaggerated ailments as an excuse to get high. They note that it is hard to measure the extent of such "diversion" and that the phenomenon is not limited to marijuana. More fundamentally, they suggest that the distinction between medical and nonmedical use of drugs is becoming increasingly difficult to draw:

Beyond the spread of [medical marijuana], Prozac and other SSRI-type antidepressants, for example, are often prescribed for patients who do not meet DSM criteria for clinical depression but who simply feel better when taking it. Such "cosmetic psychopharmacology"...is likely to grow as new psychiatric medications come to market. The line between medical and nonmedical drug use has also been blurred by performance enhancing drugs such as steroids, so-called "smart drugs" that combine vitamins with psychoactive ingredients, and herbal remedies like mahuang (ephedra) available in health food stores.

These examples suggest that despite the best intentions of physicians and law makers, much drug use does not fit into two neat boxes, medical and nonmedical, but rather exists on a continuum where one shades into the other as patients' purposes shift to suit situational exigencies in their health and their daily lives. It is not clear where a border line between medical and nonmedical marijuana or other drug use might be drawn nor how it might be effectively policed.

If you believe the government has no business drawing or policing this line, it is hard to get worked up about people who fake their way to a medical marijuana recommendation. But as I argued back in 1993, reformers could pay a price if all the talk about relieving the suffering of cancer and AIDS patients is perceived as a cover for recreational use. Politicians in other states commonly cite the California example as a reason to block medical use or restrict it to a short list of conditions. Then again, the perception that California's current law encourages dishonesty (much as the medical and religious exceptions to alcohol prohibition did) may strengthen support for outright legalization, which last fall attracted support from 46 percent of California voters.

DOJ tells Jan Brewer to take her lawsuit and shove it!

Department of Justice Tells AZ Governor Jan Brewer To Dismiss Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, has been dragging her feet ever since medical marijuana was legalized last year, using a lawsuit against the Department of Justice as an excuse not to authorize the 100 dispensaries that by rights should be up and running in the state. It looks like even the DoJ thinks this is absurd:

A funny thing happened on Monday. The Department of Justice filed a brief regarding state medical marijuana laws in Arizona . . . and it was a good thing, and was met with appreciation from the medical marijuana movement! Seriously. After the disappointments of the vague, not very helpful Cole memo, and the expected but still disappointing DEA denial of marijuana’s medical value, it was great to see the Department of Justice (DoJ) doing the right thing regarding medical marijuana, even if it was only in a limited way.

As you may know, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, last seen promoting states’ rights and vowing to fight on when it comes to illegal immigration, and her Attorney General, Tom Horne, had filed a suit as plaintiffs against the federal government, requesting permission to move ahead with Arizona’s medical marijuana program implementation. This was ridiculous, since no other governor has needed federal permission to move ahead with medical marijuana implementation, even though some others have also tried to use the red herring threat of federal action to slow implementation. Apparently, the DoJ also thinks Brewer’s claims are ridiculous, and it said as much in its withering Motion to Dismiss brief, in which it took apart each of the state of Arizona’s arguments, urging the court to dismiss the case. If the court dismisses the case, Brewer’s logical course of action would be to fully implement Arizona’s medical marijuana law, including licensing more than 100 dispensaries, though given her intransigence, that course of action is sadly not a given.

So will Arizona have medical marijuana soon? If the courts agree with the DoJ, then yes. Whether Brewer and Horne find some other way to drag this out, however, remains to be seen.

BP thugs made smugglers eat marijuana, strip

Prosecutors: AZ border agents made smugglers eat marijuana, strip

Brady McCombs, Arizona Daily Star

Posted: Thursday, August 4, 2011 5:23 pm

Two Border Patrol agents were indicted on Thursday on charges in connection with forcing a group of suspected drug smugglers to eat marijuana, take off their clothes and flee into the cold desert night instead of arresting them.

Agents Dario Castillo, 23, and Ramon Zuniga, 29, both of Maricopa, are charged with conspiracy to deprive people of their civil rights, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Castillo and Zuniga were on duty Nov. 12, 2008, near the village of Pisinimo on the western side of the Tohono O’odham Reservation near the Border Patrol’s Papago Farms camp, shows the indictment.

The agents encountered four Mexican men who were part of larger group of drug smugglers. Instead of apprehending them, the agents forced them to eat marijuana and strip to their underwear. The agents set fire to their belongings and told the men to flee into the remote desert area on a night when temperatures were about 40 degrees, the indictment shows.

Castillo is also charged with tampering with a witness because the indictment says he tried to persuade a witness to not talk in an attempt to avoid being charged with a federal offense.

Castillo and Zuniga face up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine, or both, the news release says.

American expands it's stupid drug war in Mexico?

Both the US and Mexican rulers think existing laws are something they can use for toilet paper and piss on - "Officials on both sides of the border say the new efforts have been devised to get around Mexican laws that prohibit foreign military and police from operating on its soil"

Of course us serfs are expected to obey the same laws to the letter or we will be sent to prison for many years.

Last but not least I suspect America's "War on drugs in Mexico" has killed huge numbers of people that rival the number of people our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have murdered. This article puts that figure at 45,000 compared to the old figure of 30,000 which was quoted a lot in news articles. I am not sure what the low ball estimates for the number of people murdered by the American Empire in Iraq and Afghanistan are, but the high figures are over a million.

Source

U.S. Widens Role in Battle Against Mexican Drug Cartels

By GINGER THOMPSON

Published: August 6, 2011

WASHINGTON — The United States is expanding its role in Mexico’s bloody fight against drug trafficking organizations, sending new C.I.A. operatives and retired military personnel to the country and considering plans to deploy private security contractors in hopes of turning around a multibillion-dollar effort that so far has shown few results.

The United States is assisting Mexican police forces in conducting wiretaps, running informants and interrogating suspects.

In recent weeks, small numbers of C.I.A. operatives and American civilian military employees have been posted at a Mexican military base, where, for the first time, security officials from both countries work side by side in collecting information about drug cartels and helping plan operations. Officials are also looking into embedding a team of American contractors inside a specially vetted Mexican counternarcotics police unit.

Officials on both sides of the border say the new efforts have been devised to get around Mexican laws that prohibit foreign military and police from operating on its soil, and to prevent advanced American surveillance technology from falling under the control of Mexican security agencies with long histories of corruption.

“A sea change has occurred over the past years in how effective Mexico and U.S. intelligence exchanges have become,” said Arturo Sarukhán, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States. “It is underpinned by the understanding that transnational organized crime can only be successfully confronted by working hand in hand, and that the outcome is as simple as it is compelling: we will together succeed or together fail.”

The latest steps come three years after the United States began increasing its security assistance to Mexico with the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative and tens of millions of dollars from the Defense Department. They also come a year before elections in both countries, when President Obama may confront questions about the threat of violence spilling over the border, and President Felipe Calderón’s political party faces a Mexican electorate that is almost certainly going to ask why it should stick with a fight that has left nearly 45,000 people dead.

“The pressure is going to be especially strong in Mexico, where I expect there will be a lot more raids, a lot more arrests and a lot more parading drug traffickers in front of cameras,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a counternarcotics expert at the Brookings Institution. “But I would also expect a lot of questioning of Merida, and some people asking about the way the money is spent, or demanding that the government send it back to the gringos.”

Mexico has become ground zero in the American counternarcotics fight since its cartels have cornered the market and are responsible for more than 80 percent of the drugs that enter the United States. American counternarcotics assistance there has grown faster in recent years than to Afghanistan and Colombia. And in the last three years, officials said, exchanges of intelligence between the United States and Mexico have helped security forces there capture or kill some 30 mid- to high-level drug traffickers, compared with just two such arrests in the previous five years.

The United States has trained nearly 4,500 new federal police agents and assisted in conducting wiretaps, running informants and interrogating suspects. The Pentagon has provided sophisticated equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters, and in recent months it has begun flying unarmed surveillance drones over Mexican soil to track drug kingpins.

Still, it is hard to say much real progress has been made in crippling the brutal cartels or stemming the flow of drugs and guns across the border. Mexico’s justice system remains so weakened by corruption that even the most notorious criminals have not been successfully prosecuted.

“The government has argued that the number of deaths in Mexico is proof positive that the strategy is working and that the cartels are being weakened,” [So if we can increase the number of deaths in the stupid insane drug war from 45,000 to say 100,000, 200,000 or maybe even 300,000 does that mean Uncle Sam and Felipe Calderon have won the drug war?] said Nik Steinberg, a specialist on Mexico at Human Rights Watch. “But the data is indisputable — the violence is increasing, human rights abuses have skyrocketed and accountability both for officials who commit abuses and alleged criminals is at rock bottom.”

Mexican and American officials involved in the fight against organized crime do not see it that way. They say the efforts begun under President Obama are only a few years old, and that it is too soon for final judgments. Dan Restrepo, Mr. Obama’s senior Latin American adviser, refused to talk about operational changes in the security relationship, but said, “I think we are in a fundamentally different place than we were three years ago.”

A senior Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed. “This is the game-changer in degrading transnational organized crime,” he said, adding: “It can’t be a two-, three-, four-, five- or six-year policy. For this policy investment to work, it has to be sustained long-term.” [Translation - we need a long term jobs program for over paid cops and military thugs paid for the American government]

Several Mexican and American security analysts compared the challenges of helping Mexico rebuild its security forces and civil institutions — crippled by more than seven decades under authoritarian rule — to similar tests in Afghanistan. They see the United States fighting alongside a partner it needs but does not completely trust.

Though the new United States ambassador to Mexico was plucked from an assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Obama administration bristles at such comparisons, saying Mexico’s growing economy and functioning, though fragile, institutions put it far ahead of Afghanistan. Instead, administration officials more frequently compare Mexico’s struggle to the one Colombia began some 15 years ago.

Among the most important lessons they have learned, they say, is that in almost any fight against organized crime, things tend to get worse before they get better. [Translation - Expect the death toll in Mexico's war agaist it's own people to climb from 45,000 deaths to 100,000, 200,000 or maybe even 300,000 dead bodies - of course that's great for the politicians because more deaths mean they are winning the war - at least that's what they say]

When violence spiked last year around Mexico’s industrial capital, Monterrey, Mr. Calderón’s government asked the United States for more access to sophisticated surveillance technology and expertise. After months of negotiations, the United States established an intelligence post on a northern Mexican military base, moving Washington beyond its traditional role of sharing information to being more directly involved in gathering it.

American officials declined to provide details about the work being done by the American team of fewer than two dozen Drug Enforcement Administration agents, C.I.A. officials and retired military personnel members from the Pentagon’s Northern Command. For security reasons, they asked The New York Times not to disclose the location of the compound.

But the officials said the compound had been modeled after “fusion intelligence centers” that the United States operates in Iraq and Afghanistan to monitor insurgent groups, and that the United States would strictly play a supporting role.

“The Mexicans are in charge," said one American military official. “It’s their show. We’re all about technical support.” [Maybe, maybe not, but the Americans must have a big say in the action because we are paying millions and probably billions to finance this war against the people of Mexico]

The two countries have worked in lock step on numerous high-profile operations, including the continuing investigation of the February murder of Jaime J. Zapata, an American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Mexico’s federal police chief, Genaro García Luna, put a helicopter in the air within five minutes after receiving a call for help from Mr. Zapata’s partner, the authorities said. Then he invited American officials to the police intelligence center — an underground location known as “the bunker” — to work directly with Mexican security forces in tracking down the suspects.

Mexican officials hand-carried shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting to Washington for forensics tests, allowed American officials to conduct their own autopsy of the agent’s body and shipped the agent’s bullet-battered car to the United States for inspection.

In another operation last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration and a Mexican counternarcotics police unit collaborated on an operation that led to the arrest of José Antonio Hernández Acosta, a suspected drug trafficker. The authorities believe he is responsible for hundreds of deaths in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, including the murders of two Americans employed at the United States Consulate there.

While D.E.A. field officers were not on the scene — the Mexicans still draw the line at that — the Americans helped develop tips and were in contact with the Mexican unit almost every minute of the five-hour manhunt, according to a senior American official in Mexico. The unit, of about 50 officers, is the focus of another potentially ground-breaking plan that has not yet won approval. Several former D.E.A. officials said the two countries were considering a proposal to embed a group of private security contractors — including retired D.E.A. agents and former Special Forces officers — inside the unit to conduct an on-the-job training academy that would offer guidance in conducting operations so that suspects can be successfully taken to court. Mexican prosecutors would also work with the unit, the Americans said.

But a former American law enforcement official familiar with the unit described it as one good apple in a barrel of bad ones. He said it was based on a compound with dozens of other nonvetted officers, who provided a window on the challenges that the Mexican police continue to face.

Some of the officers had not been issued weapons, and those who had guns had not been properly trained to use them. They were required to pay for their helmets and bulletproof vests out of their own pockets. And during an intense gun battle against one of Mexico’s most vicious cartels, they had to communicate with one another on their cellphones because they had not been issued police radios. “It’s sort of shocking,” said Eric Olson of the Woodrow Wilson Center. “Mexico is just now learning how to fight crime in the midst of a major crime wave. It’s like trying to saddle your horse while running the Kentucky Derby.”

Arizona AG asks judge to shut down 'cannabis clubs'

Tom Horne is supposed to be our public servant, but in reality he another King George.

Doesn't Tom Horne have any real criminals to hunt down? You know real criminals like bank robbers, rapists, burglars and murders. Criminals that commit crimes that destroy peoples lives. Not harmless criminals who commit the victimless crime of pot smoking.

Source

Arizona AG asks judge to shut down 'cannabis clubs'

Aug. 8, 2011 02:27 PM

Associated Press

Arizona's attorney general on Monday asked a judge to shut down four so-called cannabis clubs that he said have been illegally providing medical marijuana to patients with cancer and other diseases.

Attorney General Tom Horne's civil action asks a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to issue an opinion on the legality of the clubs' operations and to stop them from giving marijuana to patients for a "membership fee."

Horne says it's illegal under Arizona's medical marijuana law to exchange pot for money, even if it is between approved patients.

The law, narrowly passed by state voters in November, is in disarray after Horne sued the federal government in May to find out whether state employees regulating the program would face prosecution.

That action essentially put the law on hold, although the state still is handing out medical marijuana cards to patients with qualifying diseases for fees of $150 each.

The Arizona Department of Health Services was set to accept the applications of would-be pot shops starting June 1, but Horne's suit stopped that. No marijuana dispensaries have been approved to operate in the state and won't be until the federal court action is decided, which could take months.

Horne told The Associated Press that he could order the cannabis club operators arrested, but he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt because it's a new law that's difficult to understand.

The clubs will be allowed to continue to operate until the Phoenix judge issues an opinion, possibly within the next few weeks.

"Once we get a civil judgment and it becomes clear to everyone, then they would be subject to arrest," Horne said.

A spokesman for one of the clubs said they are excited to finally have a judge to weigh in on the issue.

"We are adamant in our position that this is absolutely legal," said Allan Sobol, a spokesman for The 2811 club in Phoenix. "And we'll prove that in court."

The club's roughly 500 members, who all have medical marijuana cards, exchange pot among themselves without paying each other, he said

Club members pay $75 to use the facilities for the day and have access to various classes, such as those that teach patients how to make marijuana food products, he said.

"They have to pay a club fee to get in the door, but they're not paying for the marijuana," Sobol said. "If that judge tells us we're wrong, we'll close up that day, but I don't believe that's going to happen."

Sobol said Horne and other state officials are effectively stopping Arizona's medical marijuana law from being carried out, while Horne said the clubs simply found a way to skirt the law.

The department so far has approved more than 8,600 patients to have and use medical marijuana. Of those, more than 6,900 have been approved to grow up to 12 plants each.

Most pot smokers are old farts who live in Paradise Valley?

Source

Political insider: Medical-pot-card data surprises

Aug. 7, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the Reunion . . . While battalions of lawyers argue in federal court over whether Arizona's medical-marijuana law conflicts with federal drug statutes (quick Insider tip: It does), Arizonans across the state are busy getting permission to grow and smoke weed to treat chronic health conditions.

But the demographics continue to surprise even those of us who grew up in the '70s. Nearly 40 percent of those who have medical-marijuana ID cards are north of 50 (so lots of them grew up in the '70s, too), and three out of four are men. Most live in the north Phoenix 'burbs, with the busiest area being around Paradise Valley Mall - ohmigawd! - where 310 people have permission to fire up a doobie for health reasons. That's followed by areas directly west (North Mountain and Deer Valley), with Camelback east and Scottsdale right behind. About 80 percent of those with medical-pot cards also have permission to grow it.

As for the famously laid-back Flagstaff? Only about 120 people are state-sanctioned medical-marijuana users in the high country.

The Insider sees potential for a sequel to the iconic California surfer flick, starring middle-aged guys in McCormick Ranch complaining about chronic back pain.

- Does this sound familiar? . . . It's time to once again publicly quibble with Gov. Jan Brewer and her office over her so-called public schedule. Once again, Brewer was out and about, engaged in state business, and the local media types didn't know about it until after the fact. The governor attended a private dinner in Florence on Tuesday night to learn more about a proposed copper-mining project, but it was not included in the schedule of events her staff sends out to the public each week.

When asked about the omission, Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson said the event was deliberately left off because it was "invitation only," meaning that any media who showed up couldn't have gotten into the dinner.

"That is the measuring stick," Benson said. "That's the determining factor to put something on the schedule."

Let's clear something up once and for all: The media doesn't go to these things because we are enamored with rubber chicken. We want an opportunity to interact and ask questions of the governor, even if it has to be done before or after the event on a public sidewalk. So, put this stuff on her schedule already.

- Do you know where your lawmakers are? . . . A lot of them spent part of the week in New Orleans at the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual meeting. And it's likely that lobbyists are picking up the tab. ALEC is a pro-business, limited-government group that is heavily backed by businesses and corporations. According to a review of Arizona lawmakers' annually filed financial disclosure reports, dozens of legislators have used ALEC "scholarships" in past years to help pay for their attendance at the summer conferences where they work with businesses to develop model legislation states can consider.

It's not clear which Arizona lawmakers participated in ALEC's session this year. Spokesmen for the House and Senate majority caucuses said they had no information and referred calls to ALEC. ALEC's communications team refused to release the information and wouldn't even put a number on the size of the delegation, saying only that "Arizona usually makes a good showing."

This year's conference includes guest speakers like former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and features sessions on public pensions, K-12 education reform, state sovereignty and federalism.

- Gimme, gimme, gimme . . . Tommy Cattey, one of the three Mesa residents planning to run against Sen. Russell Pearce in the Nov. 8 recall, is going to put some money in the game after all.

Cattey, an independent, had originally set up his Hire Tommy committee with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office in a way that would have restricted him to raising less than $500. Wednesday, he amended his committee so he can raise as much as he can.

The other individuals who have pulled paperwork to run are Republicans Jerry Lewis and Olivia Cortes. All three still must collect at least 621 signatures from registered voters in District 18 by Sept. 9 to qualify for the ballot.

Compiled by Republic reporters Alia Beard Rau, Mary K. Reinhart, Mary Jo Pitzl, Ginger Rough and Emily Holden. Keep up with the latest in Arizona politics at insider.azcentral.com.

Fresno County bans medical marijuana clinics

Fresno County bans medical marijuana clinics

Associated Press

Posted: 08/10/2011 07:25:49 AM PDT

FRESNO -- Fresno County is banning medical marijuana dispensaries but the pot clinics say they'll sue to fight the new law.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an ordinance that bans the retail sale of pot and limits cultivation to a handful of industrial areas. The estimated 15 pot dispensaries in the county will have six months to shut down.

The Fresno Bee says neighbors of the clinics had complained about increases in crime, traffic and noise.

Attorneys representing pot clinics argued that state law permits the dispensaries and they'll proceed with a lawsuit. Some dispensary owners also said they'll try to get a ballot measure to repeal the ordinance.

Source

Fresno County Supervisors pass flawed medical pot ordinance

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A majority of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved a controversial ordinance that will put severe restrictions on access to medical marijuana. The ordinance restricts marijuana growing to enclosed warehouses in industrial areas of the county, and completely bans the distribution of medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana users and their attorneys spoke out against the ordinance at a public hearing on Tuesday. Many felt the ordinance violates the intent of state law, which allows qualified patients access to medical marijuana. But a majority of the board members said they felt the law was on their side in allowing them to use zoning ordinances to restrict where marijuana can be grown.

The ordinance passed on a 4 to 1 vote. Supervisor Susan Anderson was the only opposition. She told her fellow board members the ordinance; "Would push marijuana growing back into the national forests, and benefit drug cartels." She doubted the measure with withstand legal challenges and said, "While it may look good on paper, and serve political purposes, it is unrealistic."

Board members Debbie Poochigian and Henry Perea described the ordinance as a start. The measure calls for their staff members to get input from the medical marijuana community and come back with possible revisions in three months.

While the ordinance was originally designed to move marijuana growing out of residential areas, Poochigian said, "I don't really have a problem with someone who grows just a few plants in their back yard." But she objects to the interpretation of state law which allows up to 99 plants per person. She indicated a willingness to change the ordinance if the medical marijuana users could come up with some reasonable alternatives.

The ordinance gives the 15 existing medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the county six months to comply, that is, shut down. But the county's legal advisor told the board if they fail to comply they can only be cited for a zoning ordinance violation. Which means they would receive a warning notice, then a citation, and be entitled to a hearing. A process that could drag on for months, if not years.

During their meeting a group of concerned women from the community of Centerville advised the board that a new dispensary was operating within 800 feet of an elementary school. The supervisors were told they would have to go to court and seek an injunction to get it shut down.

Source

Fresno County Supervisors Approve Strict Medical Pot Ordinance

By KSEE News

August 9, 2011 Updated Aug 9, 2011 at 11:08 PM PDT

Despite strong opposition, Fresno County supervisors approved a controversial ordinance. The vote forces 15 medical marijuana dispensaries to shut down within six months. It also bans outdoor marijuana growing at homes, completely. Supervisor Henry Perea voted in favor of the ordinance. He said, "We understand that there's a legitimate need for medical marijuana for some people in Fresno County, but what we experienced in the last two years is a complete abuse of the growing of medical marijuana in Fresno County as well as some of the dispensaries that aren't properly dispensing and are causing problems in our neighborhoods and schools."

Susan Anderson" was the only supervisor that voted against it. She told KSEE 24, "I'm not against an ordinance. I think we need an ordinance, but I think we need an ordinance that makes sense. This ordinance is impossible to enforce."

The board did leave some leg room to discuss possible changes to the ordinance. Supervisors, county officials, law enforcement officials and local dispensary owners will be meeting in 90 days to do that. Dozens of people begged the board to make the ordinance less restrictive.

Debra Linder is an attorney who represents four dispensaries and several patients and growers in Fresno County. She said, "Why adopt an ordinance that's unworkable, undoable, illegal, and is going to create so many problems? They adopted it anyway even though they acknowledged they they have issues with it."

The ordinance will go into effect in 30 days.

California piggies destroy 632,000 marijuana plants

Authorities seize $800M worth of pot in Northern California

Associated Press

Posted: 08/10/2011 07:26:49 AM PDT

UKIAH -- An estimated $800 million worth of marijuana has been seized following a massive raid on illegal grows on public lands deep in Northern California's pot country, authorities said Tuesday.

The three-week effort, known as Operation Full Court Press, to purge the Mendocino National Forest of illegal gardens, seized more than 632,000 marijuana plants. The operation also led to 132 people being arrested as 118 were booked on federal and state charges and 14 were detained on immigration violations.

Several Mexican-based drug trafficking organizations were behind the illegal grows, Department of Justice spokeswoman Michelle Gregory said.

In previous years, officials have blamed Mexican drug cartels for some of the state's largest growing operations, but Gregory stopped short of making that claim.

"We've been looking at all of these groups for several years," Gregory said. "We're continuously trying to figure out who these guys are and their ties."

The nearly $800 million in marijuana plants seized is a conservative estimate, said John Heil, a regional spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. The amount is based on a street value of marijuana being worth about $2,500 per pound, Heil said. [ Wow! That means the cops are claiming that pot sells for $156 and ounce on the street. If you ask me that sounds like 100 percent BS. Here in Phoenix any high school kid can buy an ounce of weed for $50 and ounce. ]

Authorities have said a focus on the Mendocino National Forest this year stemmed from citizen complaints a year ago about an increasing number of confrontations with armed guards protecting pot grows.

The 1,400-square-mile forest covers six counties in a region of mountains and forests known as the Emerald Triangle due to its high concentration of pot farms.

Officials said that the latest raids also seized nearly 2,000 pounds of processed marijuana, 38 guns and 20 vehicles. Agents also removed trash and chemicals as well as about 40 miles of irrigation line that damage forestland and waterways.

"It has been very successful operation for all of the agencies involved," Heil said. "We tried to hit an area that seems to have a significant problem."

The operation conducted by local, state and federal agencies was part of an annual summer effort to eradicate marijuana from public lands across the state. [ I guess that means their annual efforts to eradicate marijuana are a dismal failure! ]

California cities waste millions shaking down pot smokers

"Garden Grove spent about $219,000 during a four-year court battle over 8 grams of marijuana confiscated from Felix Kha"

"Brea has spent about $325,000 in legal fees in an effort to shutter three medical marijuana clinics in that city"

"Lake Forest ... spent $722,644 in legal fees so far [in madical marijuana lawsuits]"

"Dana Point has spent more than $400,000 on legal costs connected to its lawsuits against three pot shops"

Sounds like the drug war is a jobs program for government lawyers and cops.

Source

Garden Grove pot clinics must register by Sept. 23

By DEEPA BHARATH / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

GARDEN GROVE – Medical marijuana dispensaries in the city will have until Sept. 23 to register with the city and pay up a fee of $200.

Council members on Tuesday unanimously approved a second reading of an ordinance, which requires a registration process for all dispensaries in Garden Grove. Officials say a ban of the dispensaries passed by the City Council in 2008 is still in effect, but they hope to streamline and monitor the 30 or so dispensaries that mushroomed in the city after the ban. Article Tab: The 30 or so medical marijuana dispensaries in Garden Grove have until Sept. 23 to register with the city under a new ordinance that was unanimously passed by the City Council Tuesday.

The 30 or so medical marijuana dispensaries in Garden Grove have until Sept. 23 to register with the city under a new ordinance that was unanimously passed by the City Council Tuesday.

More ordinances are coming with regard to the dispensaries, said Community Development Director Susan Emery. The most important one, she said, is a zoning ordinance that would control where the clinics are located.

City officials are hopeful the registration process will help them steer clear of litigation while at the same time helping them regulate the dispensaries.

Last month, the City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance, becoming only the second city in the county behind Laguna Woods to allow existing dispensaries to register instead of going after them in court.

Garden Grove spent about $219,000 during a four-year court battle over 8 grams of marijuana confiscated from Felix Kha. The court ruled in Kha's favor and ordered Garden Grove police to return the marijuana, which Kha claimed was for medical purposes. The case culminated in June 2009 after the city paid $139,000 in attorney's fees to medical marijuana advocates as part of a settlement agreement.

Several other cities have also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in these legal battles involving medical marijuana.

Brea has spent about $325,000 in legal fees in an effort to shutter three medical marijuana clinics in that city.

In Lake Forest, the city has obtained injunctions against 12 dispensaries that remain open – out of an original 20. A judge has upheld the city's contention that the dispensaries violate the city's zoning code. The city has spent $722,644 in legal fees so far.

The city of Anaheim has an ongoing case against The Qualified Patients Association, a medical marijuana dispensary that challenged Anaheim's ban. But in August, a state appellate court sent the case back to the lower court for a new trial. The issue of whether Anaheim can ban these dispensaries still remains unsettled.

Dana Point has spent more than $400,000 on legal costs connected to its lawsuits against three pot shops, which have been closed by judge's orders. Unlike other cities, Dana Point also won about $7 million from the collectives and $138,000 in attorney's fees from one of them so far.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com

Staff writer Erika Ritchie contributed to this report.

Tom Horne ain't got no real criminals to hunt down?

You mean there ain't no REAL criminals for Arizona State Attorney General Tom Horne to hunt down?

Source

Political low blows thwarting medicinal highs

White collar crime has been eradicated in Arizona.

There are zero violations of civil rights.

Not a single consumer in the entire state is being ripped off.

There is no public corruption.

No environmental laws are being broken.

And oh, yes, the border with Mexico is totally and completely secure.

All of this must be so.

Otherwise, State Attorney General Tom Horne (and Gov. Jan Brewer) couldn't spend so much time and energy trying to delay, disrupt and eventually demolish Arizona's medical marijuana law.

Apparently, they have nothing better to do.

This particular law (Proposition 203) was passed by voters in the last election. It sent the message that voters in Arizona, like voters in more than a dozen other states, were willing to challenge federal authority when it came to drug enforcement policy.

Sort of like the message SB1070 sent concerning immigration enforcement policy.

Given that, you'd expect Brewer and Horne, the state's top proponents of “state's rights,” to protect the proposition with every fiber of their beings. [IE: the 10th Amendment makes any Federal laws regulating marijuana unconstitutional because that right should be reserved for the states]

Instead, they're doing just the opposite

If anything, they've sunk to new political lows in order to prevent otherwise regular folks from achieving medicinal highs.

“It's really unfortunate that instead of helping to create a policy that would allow patients to get their marijuana they are trying to come up with ways to stop it,” said Al Sobol, founder of the 2811 Club, which Horne contends is acting as an unlicensed dispensary.

Sobol added, “They have an obligation as government officials to uphold the law. And whether they like it or not, the medical marijuana law is now the law of the land. They should be exercising as much power as they can to make sure that these people have a safe way of acquiring the marijuana and they're doing just the opposite.”

Horne is asking a judge to shut down the handful of clubs like Sobol's that have cropped up recently. The reason that the clubs came into being is that Horne and Brewer are preventing the state's full implementation of the new law, claiming that county and state officials are at risk of being arrested.

The fact that this hasn't happened in any of the other states with medical marijuana laws didn't stop them. The fact that the U.S. Attorney said that he wasn't interested in arresting bureaucrats didn't stop them.

They were against the proposition before the election. They're still against it.

“Another thing that really bothers me is that we asked the courts to review this business model weeks ago,” Sobol said. “Not only that, but we've been totally transparent in this. We've invited the attorney general and governor here and they've ignored us.”

At the 2811 Club members are charged an application fee of $25 and a $75 entry fee for classes and free samples. Sobol believes that as long as patients aren't charged for the marijuana his club isn't a dispensary.

Horne disagrees, saying in a press release, “These people are marketing themselves as being able to lawfully transfer marijuana, and that type of deception and blatantly illegal activity must be stopped.”

Sobol said that he is happy that the issue is in the hands of a judge.

“It's a game that Horne and Brewer are playing,” he said. “They don't like the law.

I welcome this (court challenge). The last thing that I want is for people like Horne or Brewer to make a decision on this. I want the courts to weigh in with their legal opinion. If the courts come back and say we can't do this, I will shut down the same day. But I honestly don't believe that will happen.”

If it does, medical marijuana patients will find themselves, again, in political limbo.

“The politicians call us deceptive when it's just the opposite,” Sobol said. “Here are government officials selling medical marijuana cards to people for $150 then telling them they can't use them. If I did that I'd be in jail.”

Chandler Police routinely rob Jamaican drug dealers

Source

Chandler police: Jamaican drug dealers operating in Valley

by Laurie Merrill - Aug. 11, 2011 11:02 AM

The Arizona Republic

Prominent Jamaican drug dealers have been traveling to Chandler and nearby cities to purchase large quantities of marijuana they often mail back to the Northeast, Chandler police say.

In Chandler, police have arrested more than 130 suspected drug dealers and seized more than $3 million in cash during more than 30 deals this year in which they "supply" marijuana. Police said one trend stands out: A growing number of Jamaicans are getting arrested.

"Many are Jamaicans living in New York," Chandler Lt. John Shearer said. "We believe they are a significant seller of marijuana in the Northeast. To get their marijuana, they come to the Southwest."

The national and international drug trades play out on the streets of Chandler and other Valley communities because marijuana is cheaper closer to the Mexican border than after it is transported to other parts of the country, Shearer said.

"They buy it cut rate," Shearer said of the Mexican-grown drug.

Dealers either drive the contraband cross-country in vehicles or split it into smaller packages and ship it via the U.S. Postal Service and the United Parcel Service, he said.

Chandler police say the soaring number of arrests and seized dollars are hurting major drug organizations, essentially financially.

"There is significant drug trade in this community and in this country," said Shearer, who is in charge of the Special Investigations Section of the Criminal Investigations Bureau. "We will continue to do our job . . . If we weren't taking drugs off the street, would we be inundated to the point of no return?"

Drug reversals, in which Chandler police informants pose as sellers of police-supplied marijuana, make up only about 8 percent of the undercover operations Chandler conducts, Shearer said.

Since July 28, 2010, when Chandler Police Detective Carlos Ledesma was gunned down during a reverse drug sting turned rip-off in Phoenix, Chandler has changed the way reversals are run.

Instead of slowing the pace of reversals, police sped it up.

In dozens of police reports The Republic analyzed, Jamaicans were among suspects playing major roles in many reversals this year.

The most recent was Aug. 2, when three suspected drug dealers were arrested after a reverse sting in which informants were to "sell" 200 pounds of marijuana for $510 a pound in a deal involving two buyers and one middle man. Nearly $100,000 was confiscated.

The suspected middle man, Phillip Timoll, 36, claimed to be a U.S. citizen who was born in Washington D.C. and lives in Jamaica, according to a police report.

Timoll "claimed that he was a self-employed broker of Mercedes parts that he would purchase in the United States and sell in Jamaica," the report said.

One suspected buyer, Anthony Gayle, 46, "claimed to be unemployed and born in Jamaica," documents said.

A third, Bobby Jones, 34, "claimed to be born in the U.S. Islands" and has a criminal arrest history in Arizona, Nebraska, North Carolina and Texas using six aliases, three birthdates and two different Social Security numbers, according to the report.

All three were booked on suspicion of conspiracy to commit marijuana-possession for sale, and Timoll and Gayle were also booked on suspicion of money laundering.

Mexican nationals also appear frequently in the police reports detailing Chandler police reversals. Chandler police on Nov. 18 arrested four accused syndicate-affiliated members, three of whom are illegal Mexican immigrants who had outstanding warrants. The suspects were attempting to buy 270 pounds of marijuana for $125,490, police said.

They were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, marijuana possession for sale, money laundering, and charges relating to a crime syndicate.

By July 21, Chandler police had conducted 32 reversal cases, eight more than all of last year, according to records.

From July 2006 to July 21, 2011, Chandler police conducted 100 reversals, made 398 arrests and confiscated nearly $10.5 million, records said.

Remember the American government is financing much of Mexico's "drug war". And as a result of that Mexico is turning into a police state that resembles the American police state.

Source

Mexican Panel Finds Law Enforcement Violations in Drug War

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 12, 2011

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican soldiers and police officers regularly burst into homes, plant evidence and take people’s possessions, the National Human Rights Commission said Friday, adding that the violations have increased as Mexico’s war against drug gangs has grown more intense.

The actions by the security forces drew renewed attention this week when police officers searching for an accused leader of a drug gang stormed into the home of a gentle poet, breaking windows and doors and emptying closets and drawers.

The government’s human rights commission said that to justify an illegal entry the security forces sometimes planted evidence or cited vague justifications, like having received an anonymous tip or having spotted a person who looked “unusually nervous.”

“Illegal searches have become a common practice in many parts of the country, and they reveal a systematic pattern,” the commission said in a report released on Friday. It said that the security forces “burst into a home looking for illicit objects, they threaten, injure and detain the occupants, they take valuables or money, they alter evidence.”

The poet, Efraín Bartolomé, said that in a predawn raid on Thursday the police ransacked his house in Mexico City and took a watch, a memory stick and cellphones. The police said they were searching for the suspected leader of a brutal drug gang called the Hand With Eyes, who was reported to have confessed to more than 600 murders. He was eventually captured in a nearby neighborhood.

The raid on Mr. Bartolomé’s home drew a rare, immediate apology from city officials, who said that cellphone signals had indicated the suspect was in the area of the home.

But that kind of quick apology is not the rule, the commission noted.

“Authorities use force against the victims, to make them confess to possessing illegal articles,” the commission said in the report, adding that the security forces sometimes threatened people “if they complain about what happened.” Despite such threats, the human rights agency said that the number of complaints about illicit searches increased to 946 in 2008 from 234 in 2006, when President Felipe Calderón began the offensive against drug cartels.

The number of complaints dipped slightly in 2009 to 947 and 826 in 2010, but it increased again to 422 in the first five months of 2011, a pace that would yield more than 1,000 such complaints by the end of this year.

In some cases, the commission said, the authorities pressured or forced people to “voluntarily” agree to searches of their homes.

The commission noted that changes in the law enacted in 2008 made it easier for the police to obtain search warrants, permitting officers to ask judges for them in e-mails or by other electronic means. The commission urged that search warrants be printed out and shown to homeowners.

The human rights group also questioned the army’s use of British-made GT200 bomb detectors, saying that they were of questionable reliability and legality if used without search warrants. The commission also recommended that the police and military establish clear, constitutional rules about searches, obey them and inform the public about their rights during searches.

Source

Deadly Mexican drug war tactics must end: Human Rights Commission

Deborah Dupre , Human Rights Examiner

August 13, 2011

As Mexico's violent rights abuses continue skyrocketing proportional to the partially United States led drug war, its National Human Rights Commission issued a complaint and rare recommendation Friday demanding Mexico end its military police alarming practice of bursting into homes in pre-dawn raids, planting and tampering with evidence, injuring suspects, threatening people if they speak of the abuse, and taking money and other possessions. The drug war has left 40,000 Mexicans dead reported Latin American Herald Friday, while also leaving dozens of human rights workers and reporters dead or disappeared after reporting the related abuses. "Open the door! Open the door, you SOBs!" military police dressed in black, wearing balaclavas yelled as they broke down the door of the home of Efraín Bartolomé, a poet living on south side of Mexico City reported IPS.

Bartolomé, described as gentle and gray-bearded, watched the squad break his windows, doors and empty closets and drawers, renewing human rights defenders' attention this week according to The Washington Post.

Reporting such abuses and atrocities is risky.

"Human rights defenders are in danger, and the organizations are on the alert, reporting incidents, protesting and mobilising," director of the human rights programme at Iberoamerican University, Antonio Ibáñez, told IPS.

Human rights groups report that since 2005, 27 activists have been killed since 2005, 68 reporters have been murdered and at least 13 have disappeared.

Despite fear of threats, injures and disappearances, 3,786 people impacted by military police raids have filed formal complaints between 2006 and May 2011, the Human Rights Commission said.

By reporting violent incidents, "victims become human rights advocates" Catholic bishop Raúl Vera of the diocese of Saltillo in the northern state of Coahuila told Emilio Godoy of IPS.

The bishop, a prominent defender of rights of indigenous people and undocumented Central American migrants passing through Mexico to the United States, said, "We are facing a situation of violence, made possible by the breakdown of the Mexican state."

Dozens of rights defenders have been meeting since Thursday at the "Fourth National Meeting of Human Rights Defenders" under this year's slogan, "The defence of human rights and exercise of journalism: Dangerous work."

Executions, torture, disappearing, detained without charge

State and federal police were so corrupted by drug cartels, President Felipe Calderon militarized the drug war, but rights abuses continue escalating to the point that Friday, the National Human Rights Commission issued the "rare general recommendation" to all Mexican security, military and police agencies.

Mexico’s Rights Commission had reported a year ago that skyrocketing abuse cases included summary executions, torture, suspects disappearing, people detained without any real charges or trial according to and interview by Maureen Cavanaugh of These Days on KPBS News.

"And this – it has become typical. I mean, it’s almost predictable when you have a force that is not subject to the rule of law," Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch had said in June 2010.

The drug war has become even more militarized and brutal since then. It is now noted by the independent rights Commission that security forces are planting evidence to justify illegal entries, citing vague justifications such as receiving an anonymous tip, or spotting individuals who looked “unusually nervous.”

“Illegal searches have become a common practice in many parts of the country, and they reveal a systematic pattern: they (authorities) burst into a home looking for illicit objects, they threaten, injure and detain the occupants, they take valuables or money, they alter evidence,” stated the Commission.

“Authorities use force against the victims, to make them confess to possessing illegal articles ... and threaten them if they complain about what happened,” according to the Commission report.

The Mexican military is using GT200 molecular detectors that the British military quit using due to unreliability noted the panel. The apparatus was designed to detect drugs, weapons and explosives.

“Going into homes based on the results of GT200 , or the seizure of goods or detention of people based on that, should be considered illegal,” the Commission said.

In 2009, complaints decreased slightly to 947 and in 2010, to 826 but, in the fist five months of 2011, rose again to 422. This could mean over 1,000 such complaints this year.

The commission suggested that security agencies establish clear, constitutional rules about searches, obey them and inform people about their rights during searches.

"So I think there’s congressional complicity in this as well."

Roth had noted that just as in the 1980s, when Americans did not want the U.S. government backing the Contras or Salvadoran military abuse, they do not want the U.S. government backing the latest security initiative south of the border, including torture, rape and summary executions.

"We don’t want to be complicit in that kind of abuse," Roth had said, adding that the U.S. State Department and Congress could push back, but have not.

It has recently been revealed that the FBI has been supplying weapons to the drug gangs through its covert operation, Fast and Furious, as reported in July by Dupré:

"In an investigation revealing one of the most damning United States human rights violations in history, one ameliorating Targeted Individuals more daily, a high-level whistleblower's testimony has prompted the Senate Judiciary Committee to deepen its probe into the FBI and other Justice Department agencies allegedly allowing thousands of U.S. weapons to cross the Mexican border, into hands of dangerous members of cartels including Zetas, all part of the U.S. drug- and gun-smuggling operation costing over 35,000 lives.

Roth had told Cavanaugh, "Americans just don’t want to be part of that kind of violent abuse and don’t want their governments funding it."

Source

Mexico Rights Watchdog Worried About Illegal Searches

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s independent National Human Rights Commission on Friday demanded a halt to the “alarming” number of illegal searches of people’s homes by security forces.

A total of 3,786 formal complaints were filed by people affected by the raids between 2006, when President Felipe Calderon took office and militarized the struggle against violent drug cartels, and May 2011, the commission says.

Over that five-year period, the number of cases reported to the rights panel, headed by Raul Plascencia, more than tripled.

The commission on Friday issued a “general recommendation” directed to the federal police, military and law enforcement officials, the Attorney General’s Office and authorities in Mexico’s 32 regional jurisdictions.

Published in the official gazette, it expresses the panel’s “utmost concern” that warrantless searches of homes – in clear violation of Article 16 of the Mexican constitution – have become “common practice” among the security forces.

“In their efforts to fight crime, the military and the different police forces ... frequently resort to illegal searches, which set off a chain of multiple human rights violations,” the commission said.

It added that in most cases “homes are raided in a search for illegal objects, the occupants are threatened, injured and arrested, objects of value and/or money are stolen and evidence is tampered with.”

Authorities often justify their actions by saying that suspects were caught red-handed or that they had responded to an anonymous tip or identified the residence through the use of “instruments such as the GT200 molecular detector,” the panel said.

That apparatus is used to detect drugs, weapons and explosives, the commission said, noting that the British military stopped using a similar device in Iraq and Afghanistan after it was found to be unreliable.

The rights commission called on authorities to eliminate the practice of unconstitutional home raids or intrusions and to modify federal and state laws to improve the legal framework governing property searches.

It also demanded that the Mexican government make it a crime to search a home without a warrant or probable cause and raise awareness among the population about citizens’ right to the inviolability of their residences.

Institutions charged with fighting crime should “adhere to the rule of law and serve as guarantors of legality, due process and respect for the rights of liberty and privacy,” the commission said.

Though non-binding, general recommendations are the most decisive actions the commission can take in cases of human rights violations in Mexico.

The panel’s warning about illegal searches comes in the context of a years-long struggle against heavily armed, well-funded drug cartels, whose turf battles over smuggling routes and clashes with security forces have left more than 40,000 dead during Calderon’s tenure. EFE

Source

Mexican Police Guilty Of Widespread Abuse: Human Rights Commission

By MARK STEVENSON 08/12/11 04:27 PM ET AP

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican police and soldiers regularly burst into homes, plant evidence and take people's possessions, the official National Human Rights Commission complained Friday, and it said the violations have increased as Mexico's war against drug cartels has grown more intense.

The problem drew renewed attention this week when police searching for an alleged drug-gang boss stormed into the home of a gentle, gray-bearded poet, breaking windows and doors and emptying closets and drawers.

In a rare general recommendation to all Mexican security, military and police agencies issued Friday, the governmental commission says security forces sometimes plant evidence to justify an illegal entry, or cite vague justifications such as receiving an anonymous tip or spotting a person who looked "unusually nervous."

"Illegal searches have become a common practice in many parts of the country, and they reveal a systematic pattern: they (authorities) burst into a home looking for illicit objects, they threaten, injure and detain the occupants, they take valuables or money, they alter evidence," the commission said.

A pre-dawn raid Thursday on the Mexico City home of poet Efrain Bartolome drew widespread media attention. He said police ransacked his house and took a watch, a memory stick and cell phones. Police said they were searching for the suspected leader of a brutal drug gang called "The Hand with Eyes" who allegedly confessed to more than 600 murders. He was captured in a nearby neighborhood.

That raid drew a rare, immediate apology from city officials, who said that cell phone signals had indicated the suspect was in the area of Bartolome's home.

But that kind of quick apology is not the rule, the commission noted.

"Authorities use force against the victims, to make them confess to possessing illegal articles ... and threaten them if they complain about what happened," according to the report.

Despite such pressure tactics, the rights agency said the number of complaints about such searches rose from 234 in 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels, to 393 in 2007 and 964 in 2008.

The number of complaints dipped slightly in 2009 to 947 and 826 in 2010, but rose again to an even greater rate of 422 in the first five months of 2011, a pace that would yield more than 1,000 such complaints this year.

In some cases, the commission said, authorities pressure or force people to "voluntarily" agree to searches of their homes.

The commission noted that legal reforms enacted in 2008 made it easier for police to obtain proper search warrants, by asking judges for them in e-mails or other electronic means, and said such warrants should be printed out and shown to homeowners.

The commission also questioned the army's use of British-made GT200 bomb detectors, saying there were of questionable reliability and legality if used without search warrants.

"Going into homes based on the results of GT200, or the seizure of goods or detention of people based on that, should be considered illegal," it said.

The commission issued a nonbinding recommendation that security agencies should establish clear, constitutional rules about searches, obey them and inform the public about their rights during searches.

Speaking of the raid at his house, Bartolome said, "I hope that this error on the part of authorities will serve to help come up with a decent set of procedures for entering peoples' homes."

This GT200 drug and explosives detectors looks like something you could buy from an ad in the National Enquirer. Sadly it is used extensively by the military and police to search for drugs and explosives. Or perhaps better said to give the police and military a lame excuse to claim they have "probable cause" to search for drugs, explosives and anything else they want to search for.

I have only taken snips from the following articles.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

The GT200 is a fraudulent "remote substance detector" that is claimed by its manufacturer, UK-based Global Technical Ltd, to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs. The GT200 and its many iterations (Sniffex, ADE651, HEDD1) have been sold to a number of countries for a cost of up to £22,000 ($36,000) per unit, but the devices have been criticised as little more than a "divining rod" which lack any scientific explanation for why it should work.

The GT200 consists of three main components—a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip, into which sensor cards can be inserted. It requires no battery or other power source and is said to be powered solely by the user's static electricity. The device becomes active when the operator starts moving and detects various substances via "DIA/PARA magnetism".

Promotional material issued about the GT200 claims that it can detect a wide variety of items including ammunition, explosives, drugs, gold, ivory, currency, tobacco and "human bodies" at ranges of up to 700 metres (2,300 ft) on the surface, depths of up to 60 metres (200 ft) underground or under 800 metres (2,600 ft) of water, or even from aircraft at an altitude of up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi).

According to the promotional material, if the device is used correctly, it "can detect substance(s) through walls, (even lead-lined and metal ones), water, (fresh and salted), fresh and frozen food, (fish, fruit, tea, coffee, ice), vacuum flask, containers, petrol and diesel fuel and even buried in the earth" and can detect narcotics for up to two weeks after they have been ingested by a target individual.

The GT200 is "just a new name" for a previous Global Technical product, the MOLE programmable substance detection system. The MOLE was tested in the United States in 2002 by Sandia National Laboratories but was found to perform no better than random chance.

A BBC Newsnight investigation of the GT200 in January 2010 found that the "sensor card" contained merely two sheets of card between which was sandwiched a sheet of paper, white on one side and black on the other, that had been cut off from a larger sheet with a knife or scissors. It contained no electronic components whatsoever.

On February 27th 2011 the British government told BBC Newsnight that it had helped Global Technical sell the GT200 around the world between 2001 and 2004. Royal Engineers sales teams demonstrated the devices at arms fairs and the Uk Department of Trade and Industry helped two companies sell the GT200 and similar products in Mexico and the Philippines.

The device is also widely used in Mexico, where security forces have used it to combat drug traffickers and to search for explosives. The Mexican government has spent over 17 million pesos ($1.3 million) buying GT200s at a cost of 286,000 pesos ($22,000) each.

Source

Mexico Is Warned on Drug Detector

By MARC LACEY

Published: March 15, 2010

MEXICO CITY—The British government has notified Mexico that a handheld device widely used by the Mexican military and police to search for drugs and explosives may be ineffective, British officials said.

Mexico’s National Defense Secretariat has spent more than $10 million to purchase hundreds of the detectors, similar to the “magic wands” in use in Iraq and Afghanistan, for its antidrug fight. Although critics have called them nothing more than divining rods, Mexican defense officials praise the devices as a critical part of their efforts to combat drug traffickers. At the military’s National Drug Museum, one of the devices is on display, with a plaque that describes its success in finding hidden caches of drugs.

Mexican military officials say the black plastic wands, known as the GT 200 and manufactured by the British company Global Technical Ltd., are widely used nationwide at checkpoints to search for contraband inside vehicles as well as to canvass neighborhoods in drug hotspots for drug and weapons stash houses.

As of April 20, 2009, the army had purchased 521 of the GT 200 detectors for just over $20,000 apiece, for a total cost of more than $10 million, according to Mexican government documents. Police agencies across Mexico have made additional purchases, records show.

“We’ve had success with it,” Capt. Jesús Héctor Larios Salazar, an officer with the Mexican Army’s antidrug unit in Culiacán, said recently. “It works with molecules. It functions with the energy of the body.”

But the British government, which is considering legislation to stop exports of the device, notified Mexico and other countries around the world last month that it may not work. That followed reports in The New York Times and on BBC that a similar product used in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ADE 651 manufactured by ATSC Ltd., another British company, was considered ineffective.

“Exports to Mexico have already taken place, and the most urgent task was to warn the Mexican government and military, which we have done,” Katy Reid, a British diplomat in Mexico, said in a statement on Friday. “It is now up to the Mexican authorities to take whatever steps they think appropriate.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington said it did not use the handheld detectors. And the National Explosive Engineering Sciences Security Center at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, which does testing for the Defense Department, has not found such devices to be effective.

Mexican defense officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. E-mail messages and calls to Global Technical and to Segtec, the Mexican-based importer of the GT 200, were not returned.

Controversy over the GT 200 has played out in recent months in Thailand, where the army has said it will continue to use them even though testing by government scientists found them far less effective than specially trained dogs. “I respect the scientific tests, but at this stage there is no banning order by the government, so the army will continue to use it,” Gen. Anupong Paochinda, the Thai Army chief, told reporters. Human Rights Watch issued a statement in February calling on the Thai government to stop arresting people based on evidence gathered using the GT 200, which it said “performs worse than a roll of the dice.”

Informed that Mexico was using the same unit, the human rights group said Friday: “It’s troubling that Mexico is using this ‘magic wand’ technology given the serious doubts that exist about its reliability. And if people are actually being arrested and charged solely on the basis of its readings, that would be outrageous.”

Promotional materials on the Internet describe the GT 200 as a high-tech unit that enables law enforcement agencies to search large areas quickly. Using special cards provided by the manufacturer, the detector can supposedly detect all types of narcotics and explosives by homing in on their molecules from afar.

The device is so sensitive, the manufacturer says, that it can detect not just stockpiles of illegal drugs but people who have used cocaine or heroin as far back as two weeks before. After the critical reviews in Thailand, Global Technical released a statement on its Web site defending the detector. “We can say that previous tests carried out by independent bodies, and the experience of the large number of users of this product all over the world, confirms that the GT 200 is effective and because of this, we would ask that you treat with caution any reports to the contrary,” the company said.

In Culiacán, a city in Sinaloa State where Mexican drug traffickers have a strong presence, the military showed off the GT 200 in December. Canvassing a residential neighborhood, soldiers walked up and down the street with a GT 200 waiting for the antenna to point toward a suspicious residence. There were no discoveries. But the soldier trained to operate the detector walked by one of the army’s armored vehicles and the antenna swung quickly toward the high-caliber machine gun sticking out the top. He took several steps back and walked by again. The antenna pointed again toward the gun. “See?” he said.

But in November, at a checkpoint on the highway leading from Mexico City to Monterrey, the same device pointed at a Volkswagen containing a man, a woman and a child. Soldiers surrounded the vehicle and a search was conducted for illegal drugs. But all they found was a bottle of Tylenol — evidence, the soldier operating the device said, of how sensitive the GT 200 was.

This is a step in the right direction, but the real solution is to legalize all drugs and end the unconstitutional and immoral "drug war".

According to some statistics two thirds of all Americans in prison are there for victimless "drug war" crimes.

Source

Trend to Lighten Harsh Sentences Catches On in Conservative States

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

Published: August 12, 2011

WASHINGTON — Fanned by the financial crisis, a wave of sentencing and parole reforms is gaining force as it sweeps across the United States, reversing a trend of “tough on crime” policies that lasted for decades and drove the nation’s incarceration rate to the highest — and most costly — level in the developed world.

While liberals have long complained that harsh mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses like drug possession are unjust, the push to overhaul penal policies has been increasingly embraced by elected officials in some of the most conservative states in the country. And for a different reason: to save money.

Some early results have been dramatic. In 2007, Texas was facing a projected shortfall of about 17,000 inmate beds by 2012. But instead of building and operating new prison space, the State Legislature decided to steer nonviolent offenders into drug treatment and to expand re-entry programs designed to help recently released inmates avoid returning to custody.

As a result, the Texas prison system is now operating so far under its capacity that this month it is closing a 1,100-bed facility in Sugar Land — the first time in the state’s history that a prison has closed. Texas taxpayers have saved hundreds of millions of dollars, and the changes have coincided with the violent crime rate’s dipping to its lowest level in 30 years.

“In Texas for the last few years we’ve been driving down both the crime rate and the incarceration rate,” said Marc Levin, the director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which helped draft the state’s corrections overhaul. “And it’s not just Texas. South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas and Ohio in the past year or so have done major reforms. These are certainly not liberal states. That is significant.”

More than a dozen states in recent years have taken steps to reduce the costs to taxpayers of keeping so many criminals locked up. As crime rates have steadily declined to 40-year lows, draining the political potency from crime fears, the fiscal crunch has started to prompt a broad rethinking about alternatives to incarceration.

The 1980s and 1990s saw a wave of stiff new sentencing laws, from mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession to California’s three-strikes law imposing an automatic life sentence for a third felony conviction. Partly as a result, the United States, with 5 percent of the world’s population, now accounts for 25 percent of the world’s inmates. Taxpayers are spending about $50 billion a year on state corrections systems — nearly twice as much, in inflation-adjusted terms, as expenditures in 1987, according to the Pew Center on the States.

Even before the financial crisis settled in, a handful of states, including New York, had begun experimenting with softening mandatory sentences for drug crimes, driven by a mix of concerns about effectiveness, fairness and cost. Texas, an early innovator, mandated probation for low-level possession of many drugs in 2003, before enacting its far more sweeping overhaul of incarceration policies in 2007.

But in the past two years, many more states have enacted — or are considering adopting in their 2012 legislative sessions — similar policies, including reducing prison time for low-level drug offenders or diverting them into treatment; granting early release to well-behaved or elderly inmates; expanding job training and re-entry programs; and instituting penalties other than a return to prison for technical violations of parole or probation, like missing a meeting.

At the federal level, Congress last year sharply reduced a steep and racially charged disparity in the sentences handed down for crack cocaine offenses when compared with those for powder cocaine. This summer, the federal Sentencing Commission voted to make some sentence reductions for crack offenses retroactive, allowing about 12,000 federal inmates to apply to a judge to reduce their sentences by an average of three years.

And in May the United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce severe overcrowding in its prisons, pressuring more states to find ways to lock up fewer people if they do not want to pay what it takes to house swelling inmate populations humanely.

“Over the last few years there has been a dramatic shift in the policy and political landscape on the incarceration issues, and momentum is building,” said Adam Gelb, the director of a corrections policy project at the Pew Center on the States.

The movement has attracted the support of several prominent conservatives, including Edwin R. Meese III, the attorney general during the Reagan administration. He is part of a campaign, called “Right on Crime,” which was begun last December to lend weight to what it calls the “conservative case for reform.”

“I’d call it a careful refining of the process,” Mr. Meese said. “Most of us who are involved in this are very much in favor of high incarceration of serious habitual offenders. The whole idea is getting the right people in prison, and for those people for whom there is evidence that chances of recidivism are less, to work with those people.”

Other Republican affiliates of the group include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Grover Norquist, an antitax activist; Asa Hutchinson, a former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration; and William J. Bennett, a former White House “drug czar.”

The movement has seen some reversals. At least three states — Washington, Kansas and Delaware — have cut spending on re-entry programs to help close short-term budget gaps, despite criticism that the cuts could result in higher long-term costs if more parolees returned to prison.

In addition, at least three other states — Illinois, New Jersey and Wisconsin — suspended or revoked programs that allowed well-behaved inmates to earn early parole. Earlier this year, for example, New Jersey repealed such a program after two former inmates who had been released early were charged with murders.

Vanita Gupta, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which published a report this week on the corrections overhaul movement, said that such setbacks showed the fragility of the effort. Ms. Gupta said statistics-based arguments had historically fared poorly in the political arena when countered by anecdotes of specific crimes.

She said it had taken the fiscal crisis to persuade a wider scope of policy makers to set aside such fears and examine the arguments that the United States could incarcerate fewer people without causing crime rates to rise.

“This is the first sustained opportunity we’ve had as a country to look at our incarceration policies, and it could end, so the work is urgent,” Ms. Gupta said.

Arizona drug-surveillance balloon

Arizona drug-surveillance balloon set to take flight again

Aug. 15, 2011 08:31 AM

Associated Press

TUCSON - The Air Force has cleared the way for a drug surveillance balloon to resume flights three months after one crashed in a residential area in southern Arizona.

The Arizona Daily Star reports the Tethered Aerostat Radar System site at Fort Huachuca (wah-CHOO'-kah) has been shut down since early May, when a balloon-like craft broke free of its mooring on a windy day.

It fell apart over a neighborhood in Sierra Vista, about 75 miles southeast of Tucson.

Though the aerostat, used to detect cross-border smuggling, is housed on an Army post, it's part of a Homeland Security mission run by the Air Force.

On Friday, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson announced the aerostat would soon be airborne again, likely within a week.

If you breath your probably a criminal!

Source

Busts of marijuana grow houses are growing in Chicago area

By Lisa Black, Tribune reporter

August 16, 2011

Nothing appeared amiss at the pale green ranch house on South Aldine Street, though oddly, the landlord noted, the electricity bill was enormous.

The young female tenant walked her dog before leaving each morning for her job at a beauty salon. She kept the lawn tidy, chatted occasionally with neighbors and dropped off her rent check, always on time, at Mary Swanson's real estate office.

Only later did Swanson figure out why the utility bill was so high, after police swarmed the Elgin house on a September afternoon.

Her tenant was sheltering a marijuana-growing operation, with hundreds of plants sitting beneath high-power, commercial-grade lamps. Workers had torn out a laundry room, installed custom ventilation and water purification systems and set up insulated "staging areas," where plants were nurtured from seed to harvest, police said.

"I have been a landlord for a long time, and these people pulled the wool over my eyes," said Swanson, 47, whose tenant had blamed her $350 energy bill — three times that of her neighbors — on the air conditioning.

"I hadn't had any issues whatsoever," said Swanson, adding that her tenant's credit and background check came back clean. "I would drive by, and she would be out with her dog."

Elgin police ranked the drug bust as one of their largest, arresting five people after linking three more houses to the operation, all within the same west side neighborhood. Swanson owned two of them, which she said cost $18,000 to restore to their original condition.

Throughout the Chicago area, police have been aware of so-called grow houses and outdoor crops of less potent "ditch weed" for decades. But they are raiding more of the sophisticated indoor operations — with twice as many reported to a federal program in 2010 as in 2005.

Authorities say they believe the number of grow houses is on the rise, though much of their evidence is anecdotal, as there is no uniform method of reporting statistics. They have improved their ability to spot such houses, which manufacture highly potent marijuana that can fetch up to $5,000 per pound, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. That compares to 800 to $1,500 per pound for the more common product transported from Mexico, officials said.

"There is a definite demand for that type of marijuana," said DEA Special Agent Will Taylor, of Chicago. "It is a niche area. … The typical outdoor marijuana will have a low THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content in comparison to the indoor."

Some blame the bad economy for enticing a new breed of entrepreneurs into the pot-production field. Websites provide instructions on hydroponic planting techniques, equipment and nutrients to ensure the best grow. Meanwhile, marijuana for medical use has been legalized in 16 states, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Illinois legislators narrowly rejected a bill calling for the legalization of medical marijuana in May.

Those arrested for harvesting pot do not fit simple stereotypes. In Schaumburg, an exercise physiologist was arrested for growing more than 50 marijuana plants in his crawl space. His case was dismissed on July 28 when a judge ruled that there was insufficient probable cause for the search warrant, his lawyer said.

"This isn't your average street-level drug dealer because it takes such a large initial investment," said Daniel Linn, 28, executive director of NORML's Illinois chapter. "It takes a skill set, as far as the gardening goes. It isn't as simple as planting tomatoes in the backyard and letting rain fall on it."

Cannabis is one of the only drugs whose value has increased over the years, officials said, as buyers seek specific types of marijuana, such as seedless sinsemilla.

In one case, a group operating out of Wisconsin "were cloning their plants," said Sgt. Andrew Douvris with the Cook County Sheriff's Department. "Some of these guys had been doing this for 20 years, and they had a following."

Pot growers often rent homes in moderate to upscale neighborhoods. Most prefer to rent, rather than buy, a home to avoid losing their assets if they are caught, Linn said.

Such growers usually try to avoid scrutiny, keeping the house and lawn maintained and traffic activity minimal, he said. Although they might seem harmless, police say, the grow houses pose hazards to neighbors. Often police find other drugs and weapons during their raids. Offenders, too, will divert or steal electricity, which can be dangerous, according to ComEd.

"A lot of times, the neighbors will call and say, 'Hey this doesn't look right,'" said Sgt. John Koziol, with the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. "A lot of houses we have hit have a lot of visible mold outside the house. Some were $400,000 to $500,000 houses."

Police have started to seek help from code enforcement officers, who might notice tipoffs like strong odors, extra exhaust fans, heavy condensation on the windows or electric meters that appear to have been tampered with. With a search warrant, police can also use a thermal imaging device that, when pointed at a house, can detect heat outdoors that is radiated from the intense lights inside.

At the South Aldine address, neighbors were stunned the afternoon when dozens of police raided the home.

"All night, they were hauling equipment out of the house," said Mark Nelson, who lives across the street.

In a way, he said, he was sorry to see the former tenants leave. He preferred their presence over others, such as a family that raised pit bulls.

"They were the most quiet," Nelson said. "You never saw people coming and going. You'd see her go to work."

Gloria Koller, 52, who lives a few houses away, agreed that she noticed nothing unusual about the house. Children ride their bikes along tree-lined sidewalks outside two- and three-bedroom homes that cost $1,100 to $1,400 a month to rent.

"One day, there was police in front of there," she said. "We heard it had something to do with drugs. We were like, seriously?"

Inside, the tenants had invested in significant changes to the house, said Swanson, the Elgin landlord.

"They ripped out our laundry room, they ripped out plumbing," she said. "After we thought we had the houses back together, we had a main drain issue. They had blocked off one of the drains. One of them, we literally had to dig up the front yard. It never ended."

The tenant had cut a hole in the basement ceiling to make way for a large ventilation tube that helped remove the steamy air because otherwise, "you are going to smell cannabis coming out of the house," Lullo said.

Staging areas separated plants by their size, as they were transplanted from small cups into bigger pots over time. When the plants were ready for harvesting, the caretakers hung them to dry or used screens as drying racks, balanced on upside-down paper cups, police said.

The idea usually is to have the plants in different stages of production at all times, so some are always ready to sell, year-round, police said.

Elgin police declined to say how they learned about the operation. In other cases, informants have tipped off police, who then stake out a house and follow people who come and go. Sometimes, those visitors lead them to other grow houses, as they are hired to go from house to house to water the plants, trim leaves or package and deliver the finished product, investigators say.

Marijuana growers typically don't sell the drugs directly from the grow house in order to avoid traffic and subsequent scrutiny, officials said.

The main tenant of the South Aldine house, Gina Julian, 32, pleaded guilty to production of cannabis in June, according to Kane County court records. Louis Lomber, 63; Mary Friedley, 58; and Christopher Olsen, 36, also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession with intent to deliver, among other charges. Each was sentenced to community service, probation and fines. Another defendant, Michael Russell, 35, still faces charges of producing cannabis and interfering with a utility, according to court records.

In Illinois, it is a felony to own or produce more than five cannabis plants, according to state law. Penalties increase depending on the number of plants. If an offender has no criminal history, the law calls for a sentence of probation.

Friedley declined to comment, and the others could not be reached.

Swanson said she continues to struggle with the fallout from the clandestine growing operation. Police questioned her before determining she was not involved in the illegal activity. She also learned that, because tenants at both houses had tampered with the electric meters, she could be held responsible for stolen electricity.

She said that she had been inside the South Aldine home three months before the police raid and did not see or smell anything unusual. She asked to see the basement but said that Julian told her that her dog was downstairs.

"You don't go looking for trouble when you have someone taking care of your property and they pay their bill on time," Swanson said.

"Ironically, the landscaping hasn't looked as good since they left."

lblack@tribune.com

Don't worry, they are going to start winning that "war on drugs" next year. Or maybe the year after that, or maybe be the year after that. OK, lets face it they are never going to win the war on drugs. But it is a jobs program for all the over paid cops, lawyers, probation officers, judges and prison guards involved in the stupid "drug war".

Source

Drug smuggling tunnel found near Arizona border

Aug. 17, 2011 04:59 PM

Associated Press

NOGALES, Ariz. - Federal authorities say they've shut down a drug smuggling tunnel found in the Arizona border city of Nogales.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents identified the tunnel Tuesday after seizing more than 2,600 pounds of marijuana from three suspected drug smugglers.

The tunnel is approximately 90 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

Authorities say approximately 45 feet of the tunnel is on the Arizona side with an additional 45 feet in Mexico.

They say the tunnel had ventilation tubing, tools and an electrical cord.

Agents say one of the three arrested was an 18-year-old Nogales man. The other two were a 19-year-old man and a juvenile, both from Mexico.

You must be a criminal if your nervous!

If you answer the question too quickly the TSA thug will assume you have something to hide. If you answer the question too slowly the TSA thug will assume you have something to hide.

Of course if you answer the question at the correct speed, the TSA thug will assume you are faking it and have something to hide.

My advice - take the 5th and refuse to talk to these police terrorists. Of course then the TSA thugs will assume that you must be a criminal because you think you have constitutional rights.

Source

TSA launching behavior-detection program at Boston airport

By Andrew Seidman, Washington Bureau

August 17, 2011, 5:40 p.m.

Reporting from Washington— For the next two months at Logan International Airport in Boston, passengers will be casually greeted by Transportation Security Administration officials. But the officers aren't there for a friendly "hello" — they're trying to deter and detect passengers who pose a risk to aviation security.

As part of the TSA's new behavior-detection pilot program that started this week, screeners are engaging each passenger in Terminal A in casual conversation in an effort to detect suspicious behavior. After passengers provide their boarding pass and ID, they have to answer a few questions from TSA officers who have received two weeks of training.

"It's one layer of security that will allow us to provide additional screening and concentrate on passengers who may pose a higher risk," TSA spokesman Greg Soule said.

The program is an evolution of the TSA's Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, Program, which started at Logan in 2003 and has expanded to 160 airports. It has helped arrest 2,000 criminals, but none has been charged with terrorism.

Under the SPOT program, TSA screeners interrogate individuals only after they have been identified as suspicious. Now, at least at Logan, everyone is a target. After 60 days, the TSA will decide whether to expand the program to other airports.

Paul Ekman, professor emeritus at UC San Francisco, who helped develop the SPOT program, said his research indicated that talking to passengers "loosens things up," increasing the chances that they will show signs that they're concealing something. The subject matter of the discussion is irrelevant; all that matters is that the passenger is speaking.

"If all you're doing is watching people standing in line, that's better than doing nothing, and they've had quite a bit of success," Ekman said. "But I would expect that by asking a few fairly innocent questions — 'What's the purpose of your trip?' — that will increase accuracy."

Ekman said that when typical federal employees were asked to detect deception, they failed miserably. That all changes with "an hour's training," he said. Ekman added that the TSA would continue to use a tool developed for the SPOT program that allowed officials to identify "micro-expressions" — facial expressions that occur in 1/25 of a second that are designed to conceal emotion.

Others are skeptical that a run-of-the-mill TSA official can develop the detection techniques necessary to spot suspicious behavior.

Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and an outspoken critic of the TSA, said that although some people were capable of detecting deception, it was much more difficult to teach the art.

"If you're a TSA screener, if you ever meet a terrorist at all, it will be the only one you meet in your whole career," Reynolds said, noting that terrorists are difficult to identify to the untrained eye. In contrast, "if you're a cop on the beach, you deal with drug dealers all the time," making it easier to identify a drug dealer.

Soule said the TSA was working with experts in the field who used behavior detection as part of their job.

It remains unclear whether a short conversation can produce any meaningful information. At Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv in Israel, every passenger is questioned at length before boarding a plane. The difference, Ekman noted, is that 50,000 people board planes in Israel each day, compared with 2 million in the U.S.

"Asking a few questions is better than asking none," Ekman said. "If you could ask many questions, it might be better than a few, but we don't really know that."

andrew.seidman@latimes.com

Peru takes a sane step in the "drug war"

Peru suspends coca eradication program

By Adriana Leon and Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times

August 18, 2011 Reporting from Lima, Peru, and Los Angeles— Peru's new government has suspended the nation's only coca eradication program, to the surprise of an envoy from the United States, which finances the anti-narcotics program.

Ricardo Soberon, new chief of the National Commission for the Development of Life Without Drugs, said Wednesday that the temporary suspension was ordered so the government could "evaluate the policies." Similar suspensions have taken place in Colombia and Afghanistan, where U.S.-backed eradication programs are in progress, he said.

Soberon also told reporters that the government of leftist President Ollanta Humala, who was elected in June, is in the process of negotiating antidrug agreements with the U.S. He said that past counter-narcotics policies have failed, leading to a rise in the cultivation of coca, the base material of cocaine.

U.S. Ambassador Rose M. Likins told reporters as she left the National Assembly building in Lima that she was awaiting an explanation of the government's reasons for the suspension of the manual eradication program, which began in January in the Upper Huallaga Valley region. The U.S. has spent $10 million on the effort this year.

"We are waiting for some communication from the government about the suspension of the coca eradication program," Likins said. The ambassador said she would have appreciated notice, though she understood that a change of government often brings new policies.

"We are in Peru and are working with the authorities," she said.

The suspension was ordered Tuesday by Interior Minister Oscar Valdes, who in a statement Wednesday reiterated Humala's commitment to reducing coca cultivation. He said the suspension was implemented to "complete evaluations and reorient means" with the goal of devising the most effective antidrug policy.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime annual report issued in June, Peru ranks a close second to Colombia among the world's leading coca and cocaine producers. Huallaga Valley is not the country's chief coca growing region. That distinction belongs to the area known as VRAE, the Spanish acronym for the Apurimac Ene River Valley, an area so lawless that the eradication programs are thought to be impractical from a security standpoint.

Humala has sent mixed signals on his commitment to reducing coca crops. At the close of his campaign in May, he promised an audience in the Huallaga Valley town of Tingo Maria, which included people who have been agitating for the right to grow coca because they lack other economic alternatives, that he would reevaluate the government's eradication program in the area.

The program involves about 900 workers in the valley, which is about 180 miles northeast of Lima, the capital. The area is believed to still have about 5,000 acres of coca crops, a small fraction of the 130,000 acres of coca in Peru at the beginning of the year. About 15,000 acres have already been uprooted by workers.

Unlike Colombia, Peru does not permit aerial fumigation of coca, citing health and safety concerns.

Former Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi told journalists Wednesday that the suspension goes against Humala's promises to fight drug trafficking.

"On July 28, [Humala] said he was going to continue with eradication and then yesterday personally gave the order to the interior minister to suspend it," Rospigliosi said.

Special correspondents Leon reported from Lima and Kraul from Los Angeles.

Forced Free Speech?

I am 100 percent against the government forcing tobacco vendors to put warning messages on their tobacco products.

On the other hand I also think that when the tobacco vendors try to sell smoking as a harmless, healthy pastime, which they have done for years, it is also a fraud.

Source

Cigarette label rules: Legitimate warning or 'compelled speech'?

By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots Blog

August 17, 2011, 6:15 p.m.

In choosing a passel of new graphic warning labels that the U.S. government would have cover half of every cigarette package sold, officials of the Food & Drug Administration wrestled with one of the central questions of any public health campaign worth its salt: Would the warnings get a rise out of smokers?

If the reaction of five of the nation's largest manufacturers of tobacco products is any indication, they will. On Tuesday, five of the nation's six largest tobacco manufacturers sued the U.S. government to block the new requirement that graphic warnings cover half of every pack sold by October 2012, calling the ruling a violation of their free-speech rights.

More specifically, the tobacco companies called the requirement an unconstitutional case of "compelled speech" that the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits.

Laws passed by Congress and signed into law in 1965, 1969 and 1984 all required warning labels to appear on cigarette packaging. That's how the message "Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health" came to be printed down the side of the package.

Apparently, there was no "compelled speech" there -- the tobacco companies adopted the warnings with little protest. One possible reason for the tobacco companies' lack of righteous indignation might have been suggested in 1981 by a finding of the Federal Trade Commission: "there is virtually no evidence that the warning statement on cigarette packages has had any significant effect," the FTC found.

On Wednesday, R.J. Reynolds executive vice president and general counsel Martin L. Holton III charged that the graphic warnings called for by the FDA include "nonfactual cartoon images and controversial photographs that have been technologically manipulated to maximize an emotional response from viewers."

The FDA, Holton huffed, is "essentially turning our cigarette packs into mini-billboards for the government's anti-smoking message."

So when the health warnings are ineffective, they're a nuisance. If they draw an "emotional response from viewers" -- say, the sort of emotional response that a 1991 JAMA article found the cartoon image of Joe Camel had on children (they were more likely to recognize Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone) -- they're "compelled speech."

One measure that experts actually use to determine whether a public health campaign will be effective is called "avoidance": Do consumers look away, cover up, turn the channel, rather than look at a public health message? In Canada -- the first country to require cigarette packs to carry graphic warning labels -- a market for cigarette-pack sleeves sprung up overnight. That consumers would be so motivated to cover up the pictures on their cigarette packs was evidence that the message had gotten under their skin.

And for the record, the FDA would likely not contest Holton's characterization of the agency's intent to use half of every cigarette pack as a "mini-billboard" for its message. On June 21, 2011, in unveiling its new images, Dr. Howard Koh, assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the graphic warning labels would make cigarette packages "new mini-billboards for prevention."

Smoke pot? CPS workers want to seize your children!

What's next are these government nannies going to turn you in to CPS and take away your children if they find a beer in your refrigerator? Don't laugh, the government nannies at CPS probably think that would be a great idea. Sure it's harmless, but it would create a few more jobs for the government nannies in CPS!

Source

No Cause for Marijuana Case, but Enough for Child Neglect

By MOSI SECRET

Published: August 17, 2011

The police found about 10 grams of marijuana, or about a third of an ounce, when they searched Penelope Harris’s apartment in the Bronx last year. The amount was below the legal threshold for even a misdemeanor, and prosecutors declined to charge her. But Ms. Harris, a mother whose son and niece were home when she was briefly in custody, could hardly rest easy.

The police had reported her arrest to the state’s child welfare hot line, and city caseworkers quickly arrived and took the children away.

Her son, then 10, spent more than a week in foster care. Her niece, who was 8 and living with her as a foster child, was placed in another home and not returned by the foster care agency for more than a year. Ms. Harris, 31, had to weather a lengthy child neglect inquiry, though she had no criminal record and had never before been investigated by the child welfare authorities, Ms. Harris and her lawyer said.

“I felt like less of a parent, like I had failed my children,” Ms. Harris said. “It tore me up.”

Hundreds of New Yorkers who have been caught with small amounts of marijuana, or who have simply admitted to using it, have become ensnared in civil child neglect cases in recent years, though they did not face even the least of criminal charges, according to city records and defense lawyers. A small number of parents in these cases have even lost custody of their children.

New York City’s child welfare agency said that it was pursuing these cases for appropriate reasons, and that marijuana use by parents could often hint at other serious problems in the way they cared for their children.

As states and localities around the country loosen penalties for marijuana, for both recreational and medical uses, they are increasingly grappling with how to handle its presence in homes with children. California, where the medical marijuana movement has flourished, now requires that child welfare officials demonstrate actual harm to a child from marijuana use in order to bring neglect cases, and defense lawyers there say the authorities are now bringing fewer of them.

But in New York, the child welfare agency has not shied from these cases. For these parents, the child welfare system has become an alternate system of justice, with legal standards on marijuana that appear to be tougher than those of criminal courts or, to some extent, of society at large. In interviews, lawyers from the three legal services groups that the city hires to defend parents said they saw hundreds of marijuana cases each year, most involving recreational users.

The lawyers said they currently had more than a dozen cases on their dockets involving parents who had never faced neglect allegations and whose children were placed in foster care because of marijuana allegations.

Lauren Shapiro, director of the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, which defends most parents facing neglect charges in Family Court in Brooklyn, said more than 90 percent of the cases alleging drug use that her lawyers handle involve marijuana, as opposed to other drugs.

“There is not the same use of crack cocaine as there used to be, so they are filing these cases instead,” Ms. Shapiro said.

Marijuana is the most common illicit drug in New York City: 730,000 people, or 12 percent of people age 12 and older, use the drug at least once annually, according to city health data.

Over all, the rate of marijuana use among whites is twice as high as among blacks and Hispanics in the city, the data show, but defense lawyers said these cases were rarely if ever filed against white parents.

Michael Fagan, a spokesman for the Administration for Children’s Services, said the defense lawyers were offering a simplistic portrayal of these cases.

“Drug use itself is not child abuse or neglect, but it can put children in danger of neglect or abuse,” Mr. Fagan said. “We think the argument that use of cocaine, heroin or marijuana by a parent of young children should not be looked into or should simply be ignored is just plain wrong.”

Mr. Fagan said most of the cases involved additional forms of neglect, like a child who is not going to school or who has been left unattended.

“In other times, we find that admitted marijuana use masks other substance abuse,” Mr. Fagan said.

But lawyers for parents countered that the agency often brought neglect charges based solely on recreational marijuana use, then searched later for other grounds to bolster cases.

“In some cases, there are other allegations, but we think they are add-ons,” said Susan Jacobs, executive director of the Center for Family Representation, which works in Manhattan and Queens. “The reason the person is being brought into Family Court is the marijuana use.”

Ms. Jacobs cited the case of a former client, Jose Gunnell, 23, of Harlem, who lost custody of his 1-year-old daughter in March after an employee at a homeless shelter where he was staying found a $5 bag of marijuana in his room during an inspection.

Mr. Gunnell said in an interview that he stopped smoking marijuana in 2010 but that he used it again in March after having an infected tooth pulled. “The wound wouldn’t close,” he said. “I was getting hungry, but I couldn’t eat. I bought weed.”

The neglect petition that the Administration for Children’s Services filed against Mr. Gunnell shows that he admitted to smoking marijuana to develop an appetite.

The agency’s petition also said that his daughter did not always have adequate clothing, that shelter workers once smelled alcohol on Mr. Gunnell’s breath and that his room was dirty and had an odor.

The agency would not comment on Mr. Gunnell’s case or on others described by defense lawyers, citing confidentiality rules.

Ms. Jacobs acknowledged that the Administration for Children’s Services might at times correctly determine that marijuana use was one of many serious problems in a family, but she contended that those were only a minority of the cases.

State law makes possession of as much as 25 grams of marijuana — enough for 20 or 30 marijuana cigarettes — a violation similar to a traffic offense, punishable by a fine of up to $100. The Administration for Children’s Services does not track the number of parents facing marijuana allegations. It compiles statistics only on the total number of neglect cases for drugs and alcohol, rather than for individual drugs. There were 4,891 such cases in 2010.

State law considers a child neglected if his or her well-being is threatened by a parent who “repeatedly misuses” a drug. But the law does not distinguish marijuana from heroin or other drugs. The law says that if parents have “substantial impairment of judgment,” then there is a presumption of neglect, but it does not refer to quantities of drugs.

Furthermore, the law does not require child welfare authorities to catch parents while they are high or with drugs in their possession. Simply admitting past use to a caseworker is grounds for a neglect case.

In marijuana cases, as in all others, caseworkers have the obligation to remove children who they believe are in imminent danger, but they can recommend that the agency file neglect charges against the parents without removing the children. They can also close cases for unsubstantiated allegations.

Neglect findings, while sometimes allowing parents to keep their children, can have serious repercussions. They prohibit parents from taking jobs around children, like driving a school bus or working in day care, or from being foster care parents or adopting. And they make it easier for Family Court judges to later remove children from their homes.

The findings stay on parents’ records with the Statewide Central Register until their youngest child turns 28.

The policy of the Administration for Children’s Services to pursue marijuana cases is not widely known. But when told of it, some lawmakers said the agency was overstepping its authority.

“I would hope that A.C.S., knowing what a wide-net strategy the N.Y.P.D. is using, would treat marijuana arrests with a grain of salt,” said Brad Lander, a Democratic city councilman from Brooklyn. “A neglect charge should not be leveled.”

Ms. Harris, the woman briefly held in custody in the Bronx, said the police had searched her apartment because they believed drugs were being sold there, an allegation that she denied. She said the small bags of marijuana the police found belonged to her boyfriend and were for his personal use. She tested negative for drugs after she was released.

The Administration for Children’s Services filed neglect charges about a week after Bronx prosecutors declined to press charges. Ms. Harris was represented by the Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to Bronx residents.

In a hearing the next day, the agency agreed to return Ms. Harris’s son on the condition that her boyfriend not return to the home, that she enroll in therapy and submit to random drug screenings, and that caseworkers could make announced and unannounced visits to her home. Ms. Harris’s case was closed in April without a finding of neglect.

Marijuana DNA sequenced, big step forward for medical marijuana

Cannabis DNA sequenced, big step forward for medical marijuana

Here’s what happens when DNA sequencing meets college parties: Cannabis sativa genome was mapped, and the results were published in Amazon’s EC2 public cloud computing service by a young company called Medicinal Genomics, which aims to explore the genomes of therapeutic plants.

However, the company has only posted the raw bits and pieces, so you basically only get 131 billion parts which haven’t been put to the long process of assembly. Also, in case you’re wondering, the cannabis plants were grown, loved, and prepped for sequencing in a laboratory in Amsterdam.

This will undoubtedly contribute to the growth of the medical marijuana branch, which is already growing at an impressive 50% per year.

“It’s going to have to be a fairly regulated market,” he says, “and regulation is going to come through genetics and fingerprinting of which strains are approved.”, says Medicinal Genomics founder Kevin McKernan who is interested not only in THC, but also in other cannabinoids.

Source

Marijuana DNA Sequenced by Startup in Search for Medical Uses

By Meg Tirrell - Aug 17, 2011 9:01 PM MT

Kevin McKernan was leading Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE)’s Ion Torrent DNA-sequencing research when a new business opportunity caught his eye: marijuana.

A year later, McKernan, 38, has quit his job, formed a startup run from his house in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and announced today that the company had sequenced the entire genome of the cannabis plant.

The project, which cost about $200,000, may lead to the development of treatments for cancer, pain and inflammatory diseases, he said. McKernan’s company, Medicinal Genomics, is making the data public using Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s EC2 cloud- computing system. McKernan called the work a “draft assembly,” and it hasn’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.

“This is the beginning of a more scientific approach to the genetics of the species,” Richard Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “This is not really about marijuana; it’s about pharmacology.”

An important step to find a species’ potential utility is to map its DNA, the building block of life, according to Gibbs, who said he has known McKernan for more than 15 years.

McKernan worked on the Human Genome Project from 1996 to 2000, and started a commercial laboratory with his two brothers called Agencourt Bioscience, which was sold to Beckman Coulter Inc. in 2005. A spin-out of Agencourt that made sequencing technology, called Agencourt Personal Genomics, was acquired by Applied Biosystems Inc., which combined with Invitrogen Corp. in 2008 to become Carlsbad, California-based Life Technologies. Life Technologies bought Ion Torrent last year for $375 million in cash and stock.

Open Access

McKernan said his company’s goal is to allow researchers to find ways to maximize the cannabis plant’s therapeutic benefits and minimize its psychoactive effects.

“These pathways can be optimized in the plant or cloned into other hosts for more efficient biologic production,” Medicinal Genomics said in a statement. “It may be possible through genome directed breeding to attenuate the psychoactive effects of cannabis, while enhancing the medicinal aspects.”

The plant makes chemical compounds called cannabinoids, a class that includes tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana. Another such compound called cannabidiol, or CBD, has shown promise in shrinking tumors in rats without the psychoactive effects, McKernan said. Medical Uses

“That one has been predominantly bred out of the plant as it’s been bred for recreational use,” he said. His company’s business model is to develop assays to enable regulators, government agencies or pharmaceutical companies to research cannabis’s gene pathways.

Donald Abrams, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who has done research into medical cannabis since 1997, said scientists have been able to study the plant without knowing the genome.

“We know what the active ingredients of the plant are already,” Abrams, chief of oncology at San Francisco General Hospital, said in a telephone interview. “You don’t need the genome; you need the plant.”

Companies such as GW Pharmaceuticals Plc (GWP), based in Salisbury, England, have developed cannabis-based medicines. GW sells Sativex for muscle spasms related to multiple sclerosis, using THC and CBD.

McKernan said he was initially convinced to pursue the research after seeing papers published in academic journals including Nature on the plant’s tumor-shrinking effects in rats.

“One in three people are going to get cancer, and one in four are going to die with it or from it,” he said. “So any compound, as preliminary as this may be, that’s nontoxic and shows hope there, we should be all over.

“The only way I knew how to do that was to sequence the genome.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Meg Tirrell in New York at mtirrell@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.

Source

Cracking The Marijuana Genome In Search Of Therapeutic Highs

by Eliza Barclay

Stoners and scientists alike may be stoked to learn that a startup biotech company has completed the DNA sequence of Cannabis sativa, or marijuana. But here's something that could ruin a high: The company hopes the data will help scientists breed pot plants without much THC, the mind-altering chemical in the plant. The goal is instead to maximize other compounds that may have therapeutic benefits.

Kevin McKernan, founder and chief executive officer of the startup, called Medicinal Genomics, says Cannabis sativa has 84 other compounds that could fight pain or possibly even shrink tumors. But anti-marijuana laws make it difficult for scientists to breed and study the plant in most countries. That's one reason he decided to publish his data for free on Amazon's EC2, a public data cloud.

McKernan, who has an office in Massachusetts and a lab in the Netherlands where he can legally gather DNA from marijuana plants, has spent most of his career studying tumors in humans. But he tells Shots he had several friends with cancer who asked him about medical marijuana and whether it might do them some good. That got him interested in the emerging medical research on pot's healing properties.

Then he heard about a drug called Sativex, a Cannabis-derived drug developed by a German pharmaceutical company to treat muscle stiffness from multiple sclerosis. Sativex contains THC and another cannabanoid called CBD, which the company says keeps the psychoactive effects of THC in check. The drug is now available in the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany, and is in trials to see if it works for cancer pain.

McKernan says Sativex might just be one of the first in a line of future pharmaceuticals using cannabis compounds for a variety of serious illnesses.

"We know which genes govern CBD and THC, but not the other 83 compounds," McKernan tells Shots. "Now that we've sequenced this genome, we can sequence other strains and then we can tie the differences in DNA to different traits."

Opening up access to the data is especially important for a plant like Cannabis, McKernan says, because many scientists who'd like to study it in the U.S. and other countries can't get a license to grow it.

"A lot of people who want to contribute to this field can't, but now that this information is available a lot of research can get done without growing any plants," McKernan said.

Can we legalize octogenarian potheads?

Can we legalize octogenarian potheads?

Herb would prefer that I not tell you his last name since he smokes a little weed every day and doesn't want to talk about where he gets it.

“It's a ridiculous situation when you think about it because I've paid my $150 to the state to receive my medical marijuana card but I've got no place where I can go and buy it -- legally,” he says. “Not since the politicians have decided to try and shut down everything.”

I've heard from a number of folks like Herb over the past couple of weeks. They're regular, hard-working men and woman with medical conditions ranging from cancer to bad hips who have found that marijuana eases the pain or restores their appetite in ways that other medications haven't.

They thought that their lives would be made a little easier after voters passed (again) a medical marijuana initiative in the last election.

Then, Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne prevented dispensaries from going into operation under the fictitious excuse that state and county workers could be arrested by federal authorities.

This has not happened in any of the other states where medical marijuana is in effect and wouldn't have happened here.

Medical marijuana proponents then set up private “clubs” that allowed patients to receive the product without involving the bureaucrats, and instead of celebrating their ingenuity and protecting their rights Horne took them to court and threatened to arrest them.

“Bunch of hypocrites,” says Herb. “But what do you expect? Really, do they believe that they have anything to worry about from guys like me?”

By which he means men over 80.

“I've got no complaints,” he says. “I've had a really good life, done a lot of interesting things. And I don't mind at all paying the state the $150. But there are some silly requirements attached to the license. For instance, I have to get it renewed every year. Is that really necessary for someone my age? I'd like to see them fix that, assuming we get all this other silliness worked out.”

The governor and the attorney general (along with Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who has joined the state's attempt to gut the medical marijuana proposition) were never in favor of the law.

I understand that.

But these same politicians claim to favor “states rights,” a principle that they proudly assert when it comes to discussing immigration enforcement.

In many ways, the medical marijuana proposition is more of a state's rights issue than SB1070. The marijuana law was passed by voters, not by a select group of politicians.

You'd think that the governor and attorney general would honor the decision of those voters and do everything in their power to see that the law is implemented.

Instead, they're doing just the opposite.

And people like Herb are kicked to the curb for political reasons. It's the same treatment these same politicians have doled out to children, patients needing transplants, the mentally ill and other ailing and vulnerable individuals.

Herb has a bad back due to old injuries that no longer can be repaired by surgery. He is in pain all of the time. Marijuana doesn't alleviate it, but it allows him to deal with it.

“I still feel it but I don't worry too much about it,” he says, laughing.

The pot also has restored some of his appetite, allowing him to put on some of the weight that he'd lost because of the persistent discomfort.

“I was getting so skinny they could have put a flag on my head and stuck me in a hole at the golf course,” Herb says. “Now, I'm a little better off.”

Because of that, he figures that he'll continue to use his “medication,” and to replenish his supply whenever he runs low.

Although, thanks to our illustrious elected officials, he cannot say from where.

Russell Pearce opponent wants to legalize dope?

Source

Pearce recall election: Mesa candidate pushes for change

by Gary Nelson - Aug. 19, 2011 11:23 AM

The Arizona Republic

In Michael Kielsky's ideal world, marijuana would be decriminalized, Senate Bill 1070 would go away, people would stop begging the government for "protection" from illegal immigrants, taxes would be far lower and personal freedom would reign supreme.

The Mesa lawyer is offering himself as a Libertarian alternative to the Republicans who have said they will run in the November election that will decide whether Senate President Russell Pearce keeps representing Mesa in the Legislature.

Those Republicans include Pearce himself; charter-school executive Jerry Lewis; and Olivia Cortes, who has declined to comment on her candidacy.

Whether there actually will be an election remains the subject of legal wrangling. This week the state Supreme Court remanded to the Arizona Court of Appeals an effort by Pearce's legal team to overturn a county judge's ruling that the election can go forward.

The final list of candidates is still a work in progress, too. Sept. 9 is their deadline for gathering 621 valid nominating signatures to get on the ballot.

Lewis planned to submit his nominating petitions to the secretary of state on Thursday.

Kielsky, 46, was a software engineer before he became a lawyer five years ago.

And, he said, he was a Republican until President George H.W. Bush reneged on his "read my lips" anti-tax pledge in the early '90s.

"Politicians from both parties - they say one thing but they don't mean it," Kielsky said. "They don't follow through on their promises."

Whether his candidacy dilutes the anti-Pearce vote in November was not a factor in deciding to run.

"There isn't a candidate that represents what I represent in the race, so I felt it was appropriate" to step up, he said.

Among Kielsky's positions:

- Marijuana: "We gotta at the very least decriminalize marijuana wholesale, across the board . . . There is no moral argument for criminalizing the use and possession of that drug."

- Role of government: "We have a dearth of real, true freedom in this country and it's getting worse and worse because all these individuals that are getting elected tend to be busybodies." Numerous bureaucracies should be eliminated altogether.

- Immigration: "We don't have an illegal immigration problem. We have a welfare state problem." Kielsky said many complaints about illegal immigrants center on their use of government programs; that complaint goes away when the programs are eliminated.

As for the argument that immigrants take jobs from citizens, Kielsky said that's not the government's problem.

"In a way that's also a welfare-state argument: 'I need the government to step in and protect me from these people who offer to do the work for less money.' "

- Senate Bill 1070: Claiming that Pearce's anti-immigration law encourages racial profiling, Kielsky said the measure should be repealed.

"We're creating an internal police ID-check state. In Arizona, you're not required to walk around with government ID. . . . What have we come to? This is America, for God's sake - isn't it?"

Kielsky's legal cases sometimes reflect his Libertarian politics. He represents the owners of Angel Tattoo, whose lawsuit contesting Mesa's denial of an operating permit will be argued next month before the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Kielsky also represented a man who allegedly defied freeway speed cameras by wearing a monkey mask while driving, making it impossible to tell who was actually behind the wheel when pictures were snapped.

Kielsky has run for several offices in the past - once for justice of the peace, once for Congress and twice for county attorney. He is married and has four children.

Arizona declares war on medical marijuana?

I suspect the reason the founders wrote the 2nd Amendment was to protect us from tyrants like Will Humble.

Source

Medical-pot probe flags 8 doctors

Physicians were skirting the rules, state alleges

by Mary K. Reinhart - Aug. 20, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

State health officials have filed complaints against eight physicians who have recommended nearly half of the 10,000 Arizonans certified to use medical marijuana, saying they failed to check patients' prescription-drug histories, as required.

State rules regulating the voter-approved medical-marijuana law require people to obtain a written recommendation from a licensed physician. The doctor must perform a physical exam, review a year's worth of medical records, discuss the risks and benefits of medical marijuana, and review a state database that tracks prescription-drug use.

In one case, a naturopathic physician issued recommendations to about 1,000 people but checked the state Board of Pharmacy's controlled-substances database just 56 times, said Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services.

Because she indicated that she had checked the database on all the patients, Humble wonders what else she was lying about.

"It's obvious that these physicians are not acting on the up and up," Humble said. "To me, it's an indicator of, 'What else aren't you doing?' "

A review of the patient's drug-prescription history can help physicians determine whether medical marijuana is the best option or whether the patient is just looking to get high. The database tracks the log-in for every patient as well as searches for patients who aren't in the system.

Physicians can face a variety of consequences, from a letter of reprimand to suspension of their license, if their regulatory boards find they falsified medical records or are otherwise guilty of unprofessional conduct.

In an effort to prevent doctors from encouraging recreational-marijuana use, Humble asked his staff to pull the names of doctors who had written more than 200 recommendations since the law took effect in mid-April. Ten came up.

When patient records were compared with the state pharmacy database, it showed that eight of those 10 physicians - three allopathic doctors and five naturopaths - failed to review drug histories on many of their patients.

Three doctors had never logged on, although they had checked the box on hundreds of medical-marijuana applications saying they had reviewed the patient's drug history.

The eight physicians account for nearly half of the 10,000 doctor recommendations in Arizona. The number recommended by each doctor ranged from slightly more than 200 to about 1,300.

Humble has no authority over Arizona physicians, but this week, he reported the doctors to their regulatory boards. State law prohibits him from releasing their names, but they will become public if the boards agree to investigate.

Lisa Wynn, executive director of the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners, said a record-keeping violation would be relatively simple to review. A clinical investigation involving patient care, however, would involve hiring an expert in medical-marijuana use to evaluate whether physicians were acting appropriately.

The consultant probably would come from a state that has a longer history with medical pot.

"We don't have a precedent for marijuana cases," Wynn said. "Anytime we have a clinical case, we have a consultant in the same area of practice who reviews everything."

If the board decides to investigate, a review committee will determine what discipline, if any, to recommend. The board can take that recommendation or issue its own, including dismissal of the complaint.

Wynn said the only other medical-marijuana complaints her office has received came from two patients who were distressed because their doctors would not recommend it. That's not grounds for an investigation, she said.

Proposition 203, approved by voters in November, legalized medical-marijuana use for people with certain debilitating conditions and allowed them to designate someone as a "caregiver" to grow or otherwise obtain marijuana for them.

About 80 percent of those issued state ID cards to use medical marijuana also are authorized to grow it.

The state was to begin licensing dispensaries in June, but a federal lawsuit filed by Gov. Jan Brewer put that process on hold, sparking a new round of legal action. Because there are not yet any licensed dispensaries, caregivers and patients are allowed to grow their own pot, up to 12 plants per person.

Jason Reis runs six certification clinics statewide and estimates his physicians have issued thousands of patient certifications. He said he doesn't believe any of the physicians reported by Humble work for him.

Doctors have pharmacy reports and medical records in hand before patients arrive for their exams, said Reis, clinic director for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Certifications Centers.

"Some doctors advertise that no records are needed," he said. "We do not certify any patient without records."

He said physicians refer patients to his clinics instead of recommending medical marijuana themselves because they don't want to bother with the paperwork or possibly jeopardize their practices.

The problem of wayward doctors is an unintended consequence of the state's failure to fully implement the law, said Joe Yuhas of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association.

Yuhas said the hold on dispensaries has led to a shortage of doctors willing to certify patients, giving people fewer options.

"The real solution is to allow the act to move forward and the will of the voters to be respected," Yuhas said.

Humble said he has no quarrel with how many recommendations doctors hand out, but he wants them to follow state rules so patients are protected.

So far, 85 percent of medical-marijuana users report chronic pain, 75 percent are men and 60 percent are older than 40 years old.

"There are recreational users, for sure, in the system," Humble said. "But my job is to protect the medical use as best as we can."

As usual it sounds like there are two sets of rules, one for our government masters and one for us serfs.

I am posting this article to show that our government masters are hypocrites. Not because I agree with them. Personally I am against the death penalty. I also think all drugs should be legalized.

Source

E-mails detail FDA's efforts to avoid responsibility regarding execution drug

by Michael Kiefer - Aug. 20, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

In late September 2010, the Arizona Department of Corrections obtained the drug sodium thiopental from a small pharmaceutical supply house in London to carry out an execution by lethal injection in October.

The supply house was not registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to export the drug, nor was the drug approved by FDA, but FDA officials in Phoenix nonetheless allowed the drug into the country.

Though the Corrections Department fought hard in court to keep the source of the drug secret, days before the October execution was carried out, The Arizona Republic learned that it had been imported from England.

From documents obtained this week from the FDA under the Freedom of Information Act, The Republic has learned that the revelation touched off inquiries into how the drug made it to Arizona and other states that had already been importing it from England and elsewhere.

Then, the FDA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol all consulted with the White House to address questions about the legality of the imports and to justify bending the rules to get it to prisons for executions.

The documents released by the FDA offer an insider's view of an agency struggling to keep itself from being dragged into the national legal debate over drugs used in state executions. Some of the released documents were supposed to be redacted to conceal certain details, but encryption failed.

Those e-mails show, among other things, that the FDA, with the approval of unnamed persons at the White House, shifted responsibility for allowing the drug's import to Customs. That was done to avoid legal liability and to shield the FDA from any appearance of involvement with the death penalty.

One high-placed FDA official wrote on Nov. 2 that even if the agency issued a statement that it had not reviewed the drugs for "safety, efficacy or quality . . . it will insert FDA into the death-penalty cases because attorneys will try to use the statement as a means to open proceedings on the safety of the imported drugs."

By the end of 2010, the FDA officially stated it would "continue to defer to law enforcement on all matters involving lethal injection," and the e-mails show that it had deferred approval of the drug imports to Customs.

When asked for comment, Shelly Burgess, an FDA spokeswoman, said in an e-mail response, "This involves a matter in litigation and the agency does not comment on matters of litigation."

Dale Baich of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to force the FDA to police the drug imports, also received the FDA documents whose redactions were visible. He said he declined to review them because of attorney ethical considerations.

"It is hard for me to say because I have not seen the documents," Baich said. "But it appears that the FDA was concerned, as were we, about how Arizona obtained the drugs. We have alleged the drugs were illegally imported and the FDA fell short in its duty under the law. This information seems to support our claims."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is also suing the FDA for information about thiopental imports, and this week's FOIA release was partly spurred by the ACLU's requests.

The FDA meanwhile, asked the federal public defender, the ACLU and The Republic to return the unredacted materials. The Republic declined.

By May 2010, sodium thiopental was scarce in the United States, and by late September of that year, as Arizona was preparing to execute its first prisoner in two years, the drug was virtually unavailable domestically because the only U.S. manufacturer had ceased production. Arizona, like other states, scrambled to find it overseas.

The first Arizona thiopental shipment cleared FDA approval on Sept. 28. In a timeline prepared months later, the FDA representative in Phoenix told his superiors that he "assumed entry would be legal."

But then the FDA representative found that Dream Pharma, the British supply house, was not authorized to export it to the U.S. Subsequent e-mails confirmed what Baich and others have said from the beginning: The drug was not approved for use in the United States.

The flurry of intra-agency e-mails of concern began Oct. 27, the day after Arizona executed death-row inmate Jeffrey Landrigan with British thiopental, and two days after The Republic revealed the drug's country of origin. FDA officials began tracking shipments to other states that had been allowed into the country.

By Nov. 5, e-mails were referring to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg's request to investigate how to "extricate FDA from the process." On Nov. 9, the e-mails said the White House wanted the FDA to set up a conference to discuss the matter, even while FDA officials were still trying to figure out how to temporarily defuse the situation with Charles Flanagan, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. Flanagan was reportedly "very upset" and insisting that FDA personnel return his phone calls about further thiopental shipments that had been detained.

By Nov. 16, the e-mails asked whether the problem could be deferred to the DEA, and then by Nov. 22, the decision seemed made to "defer entirely to Customs." Into mid-December, the White House was asking for a detailed description of the FDA's plan to exercise enforcement discretion and not police thiopental shipments to prisons.

Then the federal government was forced to curtail the imports for another reason. According to one e-mail, the Georgia Department of Corrections asked the DEA to check if that agency had been authorized to import thiopental. It was not, and the DEA was forced to seize its supply of the drug in March. The e-mail goes on to say that the drug might not have been seized had Georgia not asked the question in the first place.

In late June, DEA officials told the Arizona Department of Corrections not to use thiopental in its execution of inmate Donald Beaty. A different drug was used instead and has been used since. It had almost been foretold in a March 16 memo from an FDA attorney.

"I am trying to test a hunch and that hunch is that between bad publicity, lawsuits, and product seizures, there will be less of a desire to bring this product in," he wrote.

Republic reporters JJ Hensley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this article.

I suspect none of these violations are violations that were in Prop 203.

I suspect that ALL of these violations were violations of silly rules that

Will Humble made up to throw a road block into the implementation of

Arizona Medical marijuana laws or Prop 203.

Source

Arizona health official: Doctors skirting medical marijuana standards

Posted: Friday, August 19, 2011 10:34 pm

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services East Valley Tribune

The state's top health official wants an investigation of eight Arizona doctors who together have written nearly half the nearly 10,000 recommendations for medical marijuana since the program started.

Will Humble said the voter-approved law making medical marijuana legal denies him the legal authority to discipline or even question the doctors. But the state health director said that does not preclude him from turning their names over to the regulatory boards that do have that power.

At this point, he said, it is up to those boards to decide whether the doctors have violated professional standards.

Humble also is legally precluded from making the names public. And officials at both the Arizona Medical Board, which regulates medical doctors, and the Naturopathic Board of Medical Examiners who oversees that specialty said investigations are confidential unless and until there is action against a practitioner.

He was able to say, though, that while some are from the Phoenix area, at least one practices in Tucson.

In an interview with Capitol Media Services, Humble said his staff extracted the names of any doctor who had written at least 200 recommendations in the 100 days since the law took effect.

"I'm not saying that just because you wrote 1,200 certifications in the last 100 days that you weren't doing your job,'' he said.

But what Humble found among that list were eight doctors who were not complying with the requirement of the regulations that they check a statewide database of people who already have prescriptions for controlled substances. That database is designed to help doctors determine if patients are "shopping around'' for drugs.

In fact, Humble said, three of the doctors did not even have a sign-on to access the database.

The other five were registered to use the site but Humble said they rarely, if ever, checked in.

"But in all cases, they attested that they had,'' Humble said.

Humble said he fears that is just an indication of how little attention these eight doctors are paying to their patients.

He pointed out that doctors also are required to attest on the recommendation that they have looked at 12 months' worth of medical records for the patient and that they have talked to the patient about alternative treatments and strategies.

"If you haven't done one thing, what else haven't you done?'' he said.

Humble said while he can't demand doctors produce those records, the regulatory boards can.

Humble said of the eight, five are naturopaths and three are medical doctors. And one of those doctors alone had more than 1,300 recommendations in just 100 days.

He said his decision to seek investigations of the eight doctors is not over some hyper-technical requirement.

"It's about patient safety and making sure that physicians are focusing on the best interests of their patients and not just revenue coming into their clinic,'' he said.

Humble also said he wants to be sure that what the state has is a true medical marijuana program and not simply a thinly disguised method of getting the drug into the hands of "recreational'' users.

"If we were to look the other way ... we really do head down that recreational road because there's no accountability or oversight,'' he said.

The doctors are the focus because, under the voter-approved law, they are the gateway to what Humble called "those little green cards'' which show someone is a state-approved marijuana user.

Only individuals with a state-issued ID card are permitted to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. But to get that card, a patient first needs a doctor to formally recommend, on a form approved by the health department, that the patient needs that particular drug.

The law lists the kinds of medical conditions that would qualify a doctor to recommend marijuana. These range from cancer and Crohn's disease to any condition that causes "severe and chronic pain.''

More than 80 percent of the recommendations fall in that last category, though that figure includes applications with multiple conditions.

But the law gave Humble broad authority to enact rules governing the process. And he came up with the regulations about reviewing medical records, discussing alternatives and checking the controlled substances database.

Joe Yuhas, spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association which crafted the law, said the organization has "no problem with the rules and regulations being enforced.'' He said Humble is correct to act if he believes some doctors are acting improperly.

What the association does object to, Yuhas said, are the rules being enforced selectively.

He pointed out that the law required Humble to enact regulations to set up about 125 state-regulated dispensaries where medical marijuana card holders could legally obtain the drug. But Humble, acting on orders from Gov. Jan Brewer, has refused to accept applications.

Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne said they fear state health officials, in processing the applications, could run afoul of federal laws which make it a crime not only to possess and sell the drug but also to facilitate anyone getting it. Brewer said no applications will be accepted until a federal court rules on a lawsuit they filed seeking clarification of whether the state law provides any sort of shield from prosecution under federal laws.

As far as the doctors go, it could be months before either board acts.

Lisa Wynn, executive director of the Arizona Medical Board, said her members need to review the allegations and decide what course to follow.

She said it could be a relatively simple inquiry if the board decides to look only at the question of false certifications on checking the controlled substances database. But Wynn said the board might have to retain an outside expert in the relatively new field of medical marijuana if the board decides to review the records of doctors to see see if they followed proper medical protocols before recommending the drug.

Arizona tyrant Will Humble isn't the only government nanny that wants to ban medical marijuana.

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Superior Court sides with Anaheim in lawsuit over medical pot ban

By John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times

August 20, 2011

One of California's most-watched medical marijuana cases is headed back to the state Court of Appeal for what could be a crucial ruling on whether cities and counties can ban dispensaries.

In a case that has bounced around the courts for four years, a Superior Court judge in Orange County decided this week that Anaheim's ban on dispensaries does not violate state law.

But Anthony Curiale, attorney for the Qualified Patients Assn., a dispensary that sued Anaheim in 2007, said he will appeal. "Their ordinance is unconstitutional, it's invalid, it conflicts with state law," he said.

After presiding over a trial in May, Judge David Chaffee concluded that neither the groundbreaking medical marijuana initiative passed by voters in 1996 nor the state law that followed seven years later preempt local ordinances intended to regulate the distribution of the drug.

"I think both sides have been watching this case more so than any other," said Paul Chabot, president of the Coalition for a Drug Free California. "We are excited about this. We think it's going to encourage the cities that are on the sidelines to join with the majority of California cities in banning dispensaries."

Chabot's organization says 224 cities and 15 counties have banned dispensaries. Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for medical marijuana, counts 161 city and 17 county bans.

Anaheim isn't the only city whose ban is being challenged. Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access, estimates there are at least 10 other cases. But this suit "remains a good test case," he said.

The lawsuit has already been before the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, but a three-judge panel sent it back to the lower court for a trial. Curiale said he could not predict when the appellate court might rule again. "Oh, God knows," he said. "If I knew that I'd be at the racetrack."

Curiale and Moses W. Johnson IV, the assistant Anaheim city attorney handling the case, both said they would ask the court to expedite its decision.

Anaheim's ban remains in place, but as many as 50 dispensaries now operate in the city, including Qualified Patients. "They're kind of operating under the radar, so to speak," said Johnson, noting that the city has moved to shut down about half a dozen dispensaries. "We've gone after some of the newer ones."

john.hoeffel@latimes.com

Tempe Tyrants want to tax medical marijuana!

Tempe paving way for medical marijuana sales tax

by Dianna M. Náñez - Aug. 23, 2011 11:22 AM

The Arizona Republic

As state attorneys prepare to go to federal court to seek clarification of a law that voters passed last year making medical marijuana legal in Arizona, some cities like Tempe are paving the way to tax the drug.

Last week, the Tempe City Council had its first hearing on the possibility of amending the city's tax code so that those purchasing the drug in Tempe could be charged a 2-percent municipal sales tax.

The final hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8.

Ken Jones, Tempe's finance director, said that despite Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne's opinion that medical marijuana is subject to a sales tax, Tempe must first amend its tax code to tax the drug. Changes would include clarifying that medical-marijuana is not a food, which is taxed at a lower sales-tax rate.

The change comes after the Municipal Tax Code Commission in April approved changes to the Model City Tax Code allowing a city sales tax on medical marijuana. The commission is made up of a representative of the Arizona Department of Revenue and nine mayors or council members of cities or towns that have adopted the Model City Tax Code.

Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said that the commission is charged with maintaining consistent tax code so that taxpayers and businesses are able to easily understand tax structures. While cities must amend their tax code to clarify taxation of medical marijuana, it is up to each city whether they actually tax the drug, he said.

Voters approved Proposition 203 in November, legalizing medical marijuana use for people with certain debilitating conditions, such as cancer or Alzheimer's disease. The state began implementing the law but stopped and filed a lawsuit after a warning from the U.S. government.

Gov. Jan Brewer and Horne filed the lawsuit in late May asking a federal judge to determine whether compliance with the law would leave state employees, dispensary owners and patients open to prosecution for violating federal-drug statutes. The lawsuit came after U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke warned state pot growers and sellers that they could be prosecuted under federal law.

Joe Yuhas, a spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, which led the campaign for Prop. 203, said that piecemeal implementation of the law has confused patients who need the drug, doctors recommending it and businesses involved in the medical-marijuana industry.

His association supports a reasonable tax on medical marijuana but he fears that approving the taxation framework now would send another confusing message.

"I think this is another example of the chaos that the lawsuit initiated by our state leaders has created," he said.

Although some medical-marijuana supporters have argued that it is wrong to tax medical marijuana when other doctor-prescribed drugs are not taxed, Yuhas said his group left the issue of taxation out of the language of Prop. 203.

"We were purposefully silent on that provision to allow state and municipal leaders to take appropriate action, but we obviously don't want to price the product to the point to where it just drives patients back to the black market," he said.

Yuhas said the association supports taxing medical marijuana at the same rates residents would pay for other over-the-counter drugs.

"There are obviously enforcement activities and regulatory activities that are part of the initiative and we think it's fair that revenue be generated to cover the cost of those activities," he said. "The irony here is that our state leaders are preventing that from happening."

More medical marijuana lawsuits

Suit targets rules for medical-marijuana dispensaries

by Mary K. Reinhart - Aug. 25, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

As if medical marijuana wasn't being litigated enough in Arizona, yet another lawsuit takes aim at the rules governing dispensaries.

The special action, among six suits involving the state's fledgling program, claims the rules give unfair advantage to local businesses in violation of federal law and the state and federal constitutions.

Gerald Gaines, CEO of the for-profit Compassion First AZ, had hoped to oversee a string of dispensaries operated by "affiliate" managers who would apply for dispensary permits. Some of those managers, however, fail to meet the criteria because they haven't been Arizona residents for three years, haven't filed three years worth of state income taxes and, in one case, filed personal bankruptcy more than 25 years ago.

Among other things, the rules discriminate against non-residents and new residents, benefit current property owners and violate federal bankruptcy laws by holding past financial problems over someone's head indefinitely, according to the suit, filed last month in Maricopa County Superior Court.

"They're a mess," Gaines said of the rules. "It's hard to believe that someone was making a legitimate effort to write rules that would make the system work."

State health officials said they could not comment on pending litigation, but the state Attorney General's Office has moved to dismiss the case or at least put it on hold pending outcome of a federal lawsuit the state filed in May. Otherwise, attorneys said, judges may become buried in marijuana lawsuits.

"There is limitless potential for filings in state courts from other dispensary applications who have been or will be denied their applications," assistant attorney general Lori Davis wrote. "This could create a further deluge of complaints and special actions inundating the courts with countless cases involving the same subject matter."

The dispensary permit process, set to begin June 1, was put on hold when Gov. Jan Brewer filed the first lawsuit, this one in federal court, asking the court to decide whether compliance with Arizona's voter-approved medical-pot law shields state employees, patients, dispensary owners and others from federal prosecution.

The delay has spawned five more lawsuits, including Gaines' filing and three others challenging the state's failure to accept dispensary applications, as the voter-approved law requires.

The sixth and most recent legal action was filed Aug. 4 by Attorney General Tom Horne to quash "compassion clubs," donation-based hangouts where members with state-issued medical-marijuana IDs can get pot that's been donated by other qualified patients.

Proposition 203, approved by voters in November, allows for legal action in Superior Court if the state fails to implement the law. But the possession, sale and use of marijuana remain illegal under federal law.

Potential dispensary owners argue that the federal Controlled Substances Act allows flexibility for states to adopt their own drug laws, and three appellate cases in California back that argument. Arizona is among 16 states with medical-marijuana laws.

Gaines' lawsuit is the only one so far to challenge the state's medical-marijuana rules.

Many of the same people who pushed the ballot measure worked closely with the state Department of Health Services on the rules. Joe Yuhas of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association said his group advocated several requirements that Gaines and others take issue with, including the residency requirement for primary investors and officers. Colorado also has a residency requirement for dispensary owners, officers and employees.

Yuhas said it's important for the industry, particularly in the early going, to "demonstrate that it has ties to the community - that they are not some distant investor."

"I understand how that can conflict with the business interests of others. But so be it," he said.

But Gaines said his group participated in the rule-making process, too.

Mesa rulers want more drunks downtown, not pot heads

My other question is why the hell should the government in Mesa decide that they need more bars in the downtown area. Let the private sector determine that based on the laws of supply and demand.

Last but not least, while the city of Mesa sounds like they would love to have more drunks visit downtown Mesa they are busy running medical marijuana clinics out of town. They definatelly ain't going to let any medical marijuana clinics locate within 300 feet of a school or church.

Source

Mesa wants to make it easier to find a drink downtown

Posted: Friday, August 26, 2011 5:06 pm

By Garin Groff, Tribune East Valley Tribune

Churches and schools don’t mix with alcohol — at least under Arizona law. But Mesa thinks those things are a good mix in parts of downtown.

The city is working to let restaurants that serve alcohol to open near churches and schools, taking advantage of a 2010 state law that eases liquor restrictions.

Across Arizona, only dry establishments can open within 300 feet of churches and charter schools. But new legislation allows cities to create entertainment districts of up to 1 square mile where that rule doesn’t apply.

Mesa is one of the first cities to take action.

And for good reason, considering the city wants more nightlife. Churches and a few schools dot many corners downtown and create numerous alcohol-free areas.

The interest in bars and restaurants is growing with the planned Metro light-rail extension, said David Short, executive director of the Downtown Mesa Association.

“We have a lot of churches and schools downtown, which is a good thing. But there are some places where it limits what kind of businesses can be near them,” Short said. “I think there’s a perception by some that you can’t have any liquor licenses downtown, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Several microbreweries are scouting downtown. Some already are in Arizona, some are from other states and others are start-ups, Short said. He thinks it’s possible to have one chose Mesa within a year.

The city has just started talking to churches and schools, said Gordon Sheffield, Mesa’s zoning administrator.

“There seems to be an understanding of why we’re going through the process but there hasn’t been a comment pro or con,” he said.

Mesa hasn’t plotted churches or schools on a map to see what footprints are created, Sheffield said. The city anticipates the district could be created by year’s end.

The downtown is exactly a square mile, but Sheffield said Mesa isn’t likely to put the entire area in the district. The city needs to be careful when drawing the lines because the legislation authorizing the districts doesn’t explicitly say the boundaries can be changed, Sheffield said. That could slow down the process.

“You want to get it right,” Sheffield said. “That’s maybe more important than meeting a deadline.”

Sheffield and Short said they weren’t aware of any potential restaurants that were turned away or gave up after discovering a desired location was too close to a church or school. But Short said even before light rail opens in 2016, demand will build for more places that serve alcohol. Likely, some current office or non-retail space that’s close to a church will be desirable to restaurants, he said.

Churches and restaurants could object to a proposed establishment, just as they can today. Under Arizona law, liquor license applications go before a city council only for an advisory vote. The state Liquor Board makes the final decision.

The entertainment district demonstrates Mesa is looking to boost its downtown, said Natalie Lewis, an assistant to the city manager.

“We’re tying to remove some red tape, create some flexibility so diverse uses can really thrive in a vibrant downtown environment,” Lewis said.

Also, the city is working on a downtown events district that lifts restrictions on special events. Now, an individual can only hold four special events a year. Those in the district could host an unlimited number. The proposed district runs roughly from Country Club Drive to Sirrine, and from First Street to First Avenue. The eastern end of the district runs south to Second Avenue.

Short said bars and restaurants often thrive along transit lines because it lets people drink without driving. The entertainment district helps market the city’s efforts to get more establishments that serve alcohol, he said.

“We want to be loud and clear that we want bars and restaurants in downtown Mesa and welcome that element,” Short said. “It’s always been available, but it’s even more available. It’s putting an exclamation point on it.”

• Contact writer: (480) 898-6548 or ggroff@evtrib.com

Drug war sparks exodus of affluent Mexicans

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Drug war sparks exodus of affluent Mexicans

By Mary Beth Sheridan, Published: August 26

SAN ANTONIO — For years, national security experts have warned that Mexico’s drug violence could send a wave of refugees fleeing to the United States. Now, the refugees are arriving — and they are driving BMWs and snapping up half-million-dollar homes.

Tens of thousands of well-off Mexicans have moved north of the border in a quiet exodus over the past few years, according to local officials, border experts and demographers. Unlike the much larger population of illegal immigrants, they are being warmly welcomed.

“It goes counter to the conventional wisdom about the Mexican presence in the United States,” San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said. The influx “is positive, it is entrepreneurial . . . and one of the keys to a very successful growing city like San Antonio.”

Castro estimates that Mexicans own at least 50,000 of the approximately 500,000 homes and apartments in his city of 1.3 million, which has a vibrant Hispanic culture. Many are in gated communities that have sprung up in the city’s sun-baked northern hills. One neighborhood built around a country club has so many residents from the Mexican city of Monterrey that it has been dubbed “Sonterrey.”

“I’ve never seen so many Maseratis and Porsches in my neighborhood,” said Carl Bohn, a businessman who lives in what is formally called Sonterra, a tranquil development of homes with red-tiled roofs, palm trees, colonnaded entrances and backyard pools.

Affluent Mexicans have long visited the United States for business and shopping. What’s different now is that they are coming to stay, fleeing cartel wars that have left more than 37,000 Mexicans dead in four years, according to U.S. and Mexican officials and analysts. The number of investment visas granted to Mexicans has risen sharply over the past five years.

“It’s a very substantial flow; I would say probably the largest since the 1920s, the last great period of upheaval in Mexico,” said Henry Cisneros, a former mayor of San Antonio who served in President Clinton’s Cabinet. “We have whole areas of San Antonio that are being transformed.”

The size of the new wave is difficult to measure, since some of the new arrivals hold dual citizenship or U.S. work visas or already had American vacation homes. One Mexican think tank, the Security and Civic Culture Observatory, estimated last year that 230,000 people had fled the violence-wracked border city of Juarez, with half going across Mexico’s northern border.

But Aaron Terrazas, a policy analyst at the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, found in a recent study that most of those fleeing Juarez appeared to be moving to other parts of Chihuahua state, not the United States. Still, Terrazas said he found a noticeable increase in one segment of those actually leaving Chihuahua: “the highly educated.”

The well-heeled Mexicans are arriving as illegal immigration from Mexico is on the decline, due to the weak U.S. economy, border crime and more opportunities for young Mexicans at home. Illegal immigration has plunged from an estimated half-million Mexicans a year a decade ago to 200,000 or fewer.

Not all the new arrivals are wealthy, of course. There are prominent cases of Mexican journalists, mayors and police chiefs hounded by the cartels who have fled to the United States. Some members of the “Mexodus” — as it was dubbed in a recent study by four U.S. and Mexican universities — simply moved their mom-and-pop restaurants across the border.

“All these businesses are Mexican,” said Alejandro Quiroz, a Mexican-born businessman, sitting outside a Starbucks in Sonterra and gesturing to a bank and gourmet Mexican take-out shop. Women in designer sunglasses and high-heeled shoes left the Starbucks, chatting in Spanish.

“Generally, people come with capital,” Quiroz said. “They buy houses, cars. And then they say, I want to invest in a business.”

In another sign of the influx, private jet flights between San Antonio and Mexico nearly doubled between 2008 and 2010, reaching 3,997 in 2010, according to city officials.

The city’s Mexican Entrepreneurs Association, founded 15 years ago, has grown from a handful of members to 200. On a recent evening, dozens of members and guests sipped red wine and nibbled canapes of smoked salmon and roast beef at a networking event.

A bearded man in a white guayabera dress shirt said he had moved to the city in December after narrowly escaping a kidnapping attempt in Monterrey. Like many of the new arrivals, he commutes to Mexico, flying there for two-week periods to run his cattle-feed firm.

“We can’t dismantle our business in Mexico. People depend on us” for their jobs, said the entrepreneur, who identified himself only as Jose for security reasons.

He feared for the safety of his wife and two college-age daughters in a city where cartel gunmen throw up blockades on busy streets and dangle battered bodies from bridges.

“We were always in danger,” Jose said. “Getting my family here was important.”

They now live in The Dominion, San Antonio’s most exclusive gated community. Jose is looking to set up several businesses in the city and get U.S. work visas through those investments.

“We want to respect the laws,” he said.

The number of investment visas given to Mexicans has risen sharply. A total of 10,512 E-1 and E-2 investment visas were granted to Mexicans from 2006 to 2010, a 73 percent increase over the previous five-year period, according to the State Department. Mexican professionals have obtained tens of thousands of other kinds of visas in recent years. Some complain, however, that the process has gotten more difficult, with increased fees and government scrutiny.

But many of the newcomers don’t need visas. Take Pablo Jacobo “Jack” Suneson. He was born in Laredo, making him a U.S. citizen, although he grew up with his Mexican mother just south of the border. They ran a well-known craft shop, Marti’s, in Nuevo Laredo.

That was back when tourists would throng Nuevo Laredo’s bars and shops. But with the rising drug violence, “a whole industry has evaporated along the northern Mexican border,” he said.

Suneson now operates Marti’s out of a building a few blocks from the Alamo. He sells the finest Mexican crafts — $189 silk scarves by the trendy designers Pineda Covalin and 198 salt-and-pepper shakers by the Taxco silver artist Emilia Castillo.

“This is where the new boom, the new action is. It’s not in Monterrey or Guadalajara, where they should be bringing up a new middle class,” Suneson said. “It really should be happening there.”

If you ask me, the problem isn't the drugs, it's the "war on drugs". Legalize drugs and this senseless violence will stop over night.

Source

Mexico reels from casino attack on civilians

by Katherine Corcoran - Aug. 27, 2011 10:51 AM

Associated Press

MONTERREY, Mexico - Lorena Villareal Elizondo went to meet a friend at the Casino Royale, a popular low-cost lunch spot, when armed men burst through the door shouting: "Get out! Get out! We're going to burn everything!"

It was only 19-year-old Carla Maria Espinoza Vega's second day at work at the casino when the intruders sprinkled accelerant around the front door and set the building on fire.

Both died in the arson attack that killed 52 people, mostly women, in the casino this wealthy northern city.

Friends and family mourned Villareal, a 39-year-old mother of three, at a visitation Friday, while Espinoza's mother filled out paperwork to retrieve her body.

Mexicans have endured plenty of horrific crimes during their country's bloody five-year war against drug gangs.

But Thursday's arson was a macabre milestone in a conflict that's claimed more than 35,000 people since 2006, according to government figures. Others put the toll near 40,000.

The victims this time weren't cartel foot soldiers or migrants resisting forced recruitment by gangs, as were the cases in other attacks. They were workers or customers who liked to lunch or play bingo and slots in the afternoons in an affluent part of town.

"She was my baby," said Espinoza's tearful mother, Guadalupe Vega, as she waited at the morgue.

"She was like my sister," said Villareal's cousin, Guadalupe Elizondo Gracia, outside a giant funeral home that drew hundreds of mourners to a half-dozen visitations Friday night.

In a nationally televised speech, an angry President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning and labeled the attack the worst against civilians in the nation's recent history.

"We are facing true terrorists who have gone beyond all limits," said Calderon, who also announced he is sending more federal forces to the city of 1 million people.

"Today, Mexico is upset and saddened and we have to transform this sadness and this grief into courage and valor to face ... these criminals."

Hours later, he appeared in front of the burned-out casino, where he placed a large wreath and observed a moment of silence.

A surveillance tape released Friday showed eight or nine men arriving in four cars and carrying canisters into the building, which was engulfed in flames in little more than two minutes as people tried to flee in panic.

Calderon offered a $2.4 million reward for information leading to their capture, the same amount offered for the arrest of top drug lords. Authorities had sketches of three of the men based on interviews with 16 survivors of the fire, said Jorge Domene, security spokesman for the state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located.

Domene also said officials had located three of the four vehicles in the video, dumped around various parts of the city. All had been reported stolen.

Authorities said they are still investigating whether the exits were blocked. But many bodies were found in offices and the bathrooms, indicating the victims were expecting a shootout.

"They sought places to protect themselves from firearms," said Jorge Camacho Rincon, civil protection director for the state of Nuevo Leon. "They went running to closed areas."

Most died of smoke inhalation and were found clutching cell phones in their hands, a law-enforcement official who wasn't authorized to be quoted by name told The Associated Press.

In the streets around the casino on Friday, people said the latest violence deepened their sense of vulnerability. In recent years, the city has been ensnared in a turf battle between the Gulf cartel and its offshoot, the Zetas, and is on track for record levels of killings this year.

The U.S. Consulate in Monterrey issued an emergency message for Americans following the attack and warned consular employees and their families to avoid casinos, adult clubs and similar places "that have been targets for violence."

The casino was attacked twice before. In May, gunmen strafed it from the outside. Last month, gunmen killed 20 people at a bar in Monterrey.

"What happened last night was the limit," said a man nursing a Coke at a hamburger stand across from the city's morgue, where families streamed in all night to identify bodies. Like many people, he refused to give his name out of fear.

"We don't know how to protect ourselves or whom we're talking to," he said. "We don't have security right now."

The attack resonated across the country because many of the victims were from the middle class, so far mostly untouched by violence, said Jorge Chabat, an expert in safety and drug trafficking at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics.

"We're talking about an attack on a civilian population of a certain income," he said. "Because who was there was from the middle class, the upper middle class of an important city in Mexico."

Villareal, who had a travel agency near the casino, intended to meet a friend for lunch, but the person had just left by the time she arrived, said Francisco Medina, 41, a close friend and neighbor who attended a visitation packed with people and giant flower wreaths.

"She decided to stay and eat alone when the bad luck came," he said.

I hate to say it but when it comes to solving the problem of the huge amount of crime caused by the drug war that I have a simple solution that neither American President Barak Obama or Mexican President Felipe Calderon have come up with - "Legalize drugs and end the drug war". That would stop the violence and crime overnight.

Of course before the US begin it's "drug war" in 1914 with the passage of the "Harrison Narcotics Tax of 1914" there wasn't any drug war crime.

ReLegalize drugs and we will go back to those same happy days.

Source

Calderon calls on U.S. society to curb its drug use

August 26, 2011 | 7:02 pm

The White House on Friday issued a rare statement by U.S. President Obama on the deadly attack against civilians in a casino in northern Mexico, while President Felipe Calderon of Mexico delivered sharp words on American complicity in the violent conflict that has left tens of thousands dead in his country.

Obama's statement said:

I strongly condemn the barbaric and reprehensible attack in Monterrey, Mexico, yesterday. On behalf of the American people, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this difficult time.

The president called Mexico's campaign against organized crime groups "a brave fight" and said the U.S. "will remain a partner in this fight." The statement renewed a consistent American commitment since President George W. Bush's administration to support Calderon, in office since late 2006, and his government's efforts against powerful drug cartels.

On Friday, Calderon visited the site of the attack that killed more than 50 gamblers and employees at the popular Casino Royale in Mexico's wealthiest city. Calderon again issued a call to the U.S. to do more to tackle the American demand for drugs and the smuggling of weapons into Mexico.

In the prepared remarks released by the president's office, Calderon said the extortion-related attack in Monterrey was due to one primary factor, "the movement and sale of drugs to the United States." Calderon went on:

Part of the tragedy that Mexicans are living has to do with the fact that we are alongside the biggest consumer of drugs in the world, and at the same time, the biggest vendor of weapons in the world, which pays billions of dollars every year to the criminals who supply them with narcotics.

These ... dollars end up arming and organizing the criminals, and places them in their service and against the citizens.

This is why it is my duty, also, to make a call to the society, the Congress, and the government of the United States. I ask them to reflect on this tragedy that we Mexicans and many other countries in Latin America are living, as a consequence, in great part, to the insatiable consumption of drugs in which millions and millions of Americans participate.

Separately, the Obama administration is facing domestic political pressure over the secret gun-tracking program dubbed Fast and Furious, which resulted in hundreds of weapons being "walked" into Mexico and then lost, fueling drug-related violence. Read recent coverage in The Times of Operation Fast and Furious here and here.

Since 2007, when Bush and Calderon negotiated the Merida Initiative, the U.S. has sent almost $1.5 billion in aid to Mexico for its fight against the cartels, a foreign-aid package similar to the $7 billion Plan Colombia that sought to help that South American nation fight drug traffickers and guerrillas.

Yea, sure we can win the worldwide American "war on drugs"

"12 to 41 percent of police recruits test positive for some form of narcotic"

Now if 12 to 41 percent of the cops are doing dope, do you really think they can work at their task of arresting drug criminals like themselves?

How many times do I have to say the only way to win the "war on drugs" is to legalize ALL drugs.

That's about the only interesting thing I found in this article about drug use in Afghanistan.

Source

Few Treatment Options for Afghans as Drug Use Rises

By ALISSA J. RUBIN

Published: August 27, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — Once a river flowed under the low Pul-i-Sokhta bridge here, but now the thin stream is clotted with garbage, the banks are piled with refuse and crowds of heroin and opium addicts huddle in the shadows, some hanging like moths near the bridge’s supports, then slumping in the haze of narcotic smoke.

When outsiders venture in, dozens of the addicts — there are 200 or 300 here on any given day — drift over to see the newcomers. Most of the visitors are health care workers trying to persuade the addicts to visit their clinic for a shower and a medical screening.

“Are you taking names for treatment?” one man asks, his soiled salwar kameez hanging loosely around his thin body. “Put me down, my name is Zainullah.”

This is another of Afghanistan’s afflictions: a growing drug addiction problem and all the ills that come with that, not least H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, which can be transmitted when addicts share needles. There were about 900,000 drug users in Afghanistan in 2010, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, a marked increase from previous years. That means about 7 percent of the adult population of 14 million is using narcotics.

A vast majority take opium-based drugs, which are extraordinarily pure here and very cheap — about $3.50 for enough to get high, addicts say. Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of opium poppy, and the opium produced and sold here and its derivatives, including heroin, are among the most potent on earth. About 150,000 of those using opium-based drugs are injecting heroin, according to the World Health Organization.

A measure of the problem is that surveys show that 12 to 41 percent of police recruits test positive for some form of narcotic — most are hashish smokers — according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. Another indicator of the problem is a recent report by the Ministry of Public Health in partnership with Johns Hopkins University that found H.I.V. present in about 7 percent of drug users, double the figure just three years ago, said Dr. Fahim Paigham, who until recently directed the Ministry of Public Health’s AIDS control program.

Unlike the situation in many countries, where H.I.V. is transmitted primarily through sexual contact, in Afghanistan the primary transmission is through shared needles.

The Pul-i-Sokhta bridge — the name means “burned bridge” — and another bridge nearby are the most recent refuges for many of Kabul’s heroin and opium addicts who used to gather in the ruins of the Russian cultural center on the east side of the city. They were forced out in late 2010; although some remained in the neighborhood, many came to the bridges.

Some come here every day to buy and use narcotics, crouching in the dark corners to shoot up or gathering in small groups to heat the opium powder until it melts into a black liquid and gives off smoke to inhale.

The ground under the bridge is thick with discarded syringes. Six mornings a week a team of former addicts, nurses and a couple of social workers from the French group Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), a nonprofit health care organization, forge ahead into this particular circle of hell, with large plastic disposal jugs in one hand and long-handled pincers in the other to pluck needles from the garbage. It is not uncommon to pick up 160 or 170 needles in a morning. They hand out fresh needles and alcohol swabs, and the nurses treats the addicts’ seeping wounds where they have injected themselves too many times.

Not all the addicts are sure they can tolerate treatment, and some are so high they often make little sense. “I am the Bobby Devil of this town,” said a tall, bony young man in aviator glasses, cargo pants and a plaid cotton shirt, who was sprawled next to a small group smoking heroin, but had propped himself up on his elbows to talk. Bobby Devil is the stage name of an Indian actor well known here for his action movies.

“I’ve been using for four years,” he added. “Last night I went home with money and fresh fruit, and my wife and children told me to go away. They said, ‘You are a drug addict, you are a dog.’ ”

Could he quit? “Well, I can’t decide; both my wife and the drug are strong,” he said and lay back down.

Many of the addicts say they want to stop using, but treatment options are woefully few. The government, through some Afghan nonprofit groups, runs several detoxification centers and is building seven more, but the facilities offer almost no post-detoxification support and have a 92 percent relapse rate, according to the Ministry of Counternarcotics, which is involved in running them. The most efficacious treatment — opiate substitution therapy — has been all but blocked by the ministry despite pleas from the Ministry of Public Health, whose doctors are worried about the rising incidence of H.I.V.

“The results from opiate substitutes like methadone are very positive,” Dr. Paigham said.

“If you stop using heroin, you stop using the needles, and if you stop using the needles there is much less risk of spreading H.I.V.”

Methadone is typically given in syrup form here. However, officials at the Ministry of Counternarcotics are leery of it, perhaps because they have the most experience with detoxification, but also, they say, because the opiate substitutes do not cure addiction.

“It is the view in Afghanistan it is just substituting one addiction for another,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, the deputy minister of counternarcotics.

The ministry undermined the country’s sole opiate substitution effort, a pilot program run by Médecins du Monde that administers methadone to 70 addicts. The program has been strongly endorsed by the World Health Organization as well as by participants, and it has a waiting list. However, the ministry twice blocked the import of the methadone, making it all but impossible for the heavily addicted participants to stick with the program.

For now the pilot program is running, but it has not been permitted to expand.

This year the number of drug addicts is expected to rise. Many Afghans start using narcotics when they seek work in Iran, which has one of the worst drug problems in the region. Increasingly, Iran is expelling addicted Afghans, shipping them back across the border. A few Afghan addicts say they were trying to quit while in Iran, which has a comprehensive system of methadone clinics that provide the drug, but most cannot imagine a way out.

“I started using in Iran from depression and sadness,” said Zainullah, 19, a Hazara man from Ghazni Province. “I was alone. There was no one in Iran from my family. I went there to find work, and I started smoking heroin.”

He returned to his farming village and his nine siblings six months ago, but a month later came to Kabul.

“Nobody likes a drug addict, so my family sent me here to quit,” he said, speaking softly. “Instead, here I am under the bridge, and I have increased my dose since I came.

“If you could help me, please,” he said, raising his thin arms as if beseeching the aid workers. “I don’t know how to stop.”

Source

Officials find more tunnels along Arizona border

by Daniel González - Aug. 29, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Law-enforcement officials called to a house in Douglas last week found an unusual sight: a large hole in the floor of one room and mounds of dirt piled high in other rooms. The hole was the opening of a tunnel that drug smugglers were burrowing from the United States to Mexico.

It was the second tunnel discovered along the Arizona border in less than two weeks. Federal law-enforcement officials are concerned that the discoveries show that smugglers are increasingly using tunnels to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. to evade tighter border security.

This summer, the Border Patrol finished installing new fencing in Nogales that allows agents to see to the other side, making it more difficult for smugglers to avoid detection. The Border Patrol also has installed more than 300 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers along Arizona's border with Mexico in recent years and added hundreds of agents.

"As smuggling organizations have more trouble moving their contraband both between the ports of entry and through the ports of entry due to increased technology and vigilance at the ports, then they will turn to more of these covert measures," said Vincent Picard, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix.

Agents in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona's border with Mexico, discovered eight tunnels through the end of July of this fiscal year. That is three more than the same period last year, said Mario Escalante, a Border Patrol spokesman in Tucson.

The eight do not include the two tunnels discovered in the past two weeks.

The house where the tunnel was found in Douglas is a few yards from the border with Mexico. The tunnel had collapsed, and smugglers were re-excavating it when Douglas police found it on Tuesday, following up on a tip from a resident.

Although the house was filled with dirt excavated from the tunnel, Mexican authorities were unable to find an entrance on the southern side of the border, Picard said.

He said the border tunnel was unusual as criminal organizations usually dig tunnels that start on the Mexican side and come out on the U.S. side because boring tunnels requires costly equipment such as saws, augers, lights, generators and wood to reinforce walls - tools that can be difficult to conceal but that may not draw as much attention in Mexico as in the U.S.

A week earlier, on Aug. 16, officials discovered a sophisticated drug tunnel in Nogales, Ariz., that was 90 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet high. The tunnel, which ran from Nogales, Sonora, into Arizona, was shored up by two-by-fours and plywood, similar to a mining shaft. It also contained ventilation tubing, tools and electrical cords.

The tunnel exited in a parking lot in Nogales, Ariz., near the Morley border gate. Smugglers concealed the opening by plugging the hole with a piece of concrete supported by a large floor jack underneath, Picard said.

The tunnel was discovered after ICE agents monitoring surveillance cameras noticed a white box truck parked in the lot. After the truck pulled away, ICE agents and Nogales police stopped the vehicle and found 2,600 pounds of marijuana inside, Picard said.

ICE and Border Patrol agents determined that the marijuana had been loaded onto the truck while it was parked over the hole leading to the tunnel.

Agents arrested two Nogales residents and a juvenile from Mexico who were inside the truck, Picard said.

He said most tunnels were used to smuggle drugs - not migrants - because smugglers want to draw as little attention to the passageways as possible.

Maricopa County Supervisors say "F*ck Prop 203"

Board of Supervisors won't allow medical-marijuana sites on Maricopa County land

by Michelle Ye Hee Lee - Sept. 1, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday changed county zoning rules to disallow medical-marijuana dispensaries or cultivation sites on county land unless marijuana becomes a federally approved drug.

The county got rid of its zoning definitions for dispensaries and cultivation sites and reclassified them as buildings whose uses must not be in conflict with any federal, state or county law. Marijuana is prohibited under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The change was prompted by County Attorney Bill Montgomery's advice to the board to opt out of the state's medical-marijuana program for fear of a federal backlash against county employees who carry out the law.

Voters approved Proposition 203, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, last November.

But the medical-marijuana program is on hold pending adjudication of a lawsuit seeking clarification from a federal judge on the law's implications for state and local employees.

NYPD - Your Black so you must be a criminal

Source

The Truth Behind Stop-and-Frisk

Published: September 2, 2011

Judge Shira Scheindlin of Federal District Court in New York made the right call when she refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department, which alleged that officers use race as a basis for stopping and frisking citizens, rather than reasonable suspicion. The trial will provide an important opportunity to evaluate this increasingly troubling program, which resulted in 600,000 people being stopped on the streets last year alone.

The stop-and-frisk tactic is as old as policing itself. But it has been a central law enforcement tool in New York since the 1990’s, when the police adopted the “broken windows” approach, clamping down on minor crime and emphasizing preventive measures against lawbreaking.

New York has experienced a dramatic reduction in crime. But as Judge Scheindlin pointed out, there is no conclusive proof that widespread use of stop-and-frisk itself drove down crime. Crime fell in many cities, including those that did not adopt the approach.

There is no dispute that minorities are disproportionately singled out. Blacks and Hispanics make up a little more than half of the city’s population but about 85 percent of the people stopped. Supporters of the program argue that minority men are disproportionately represented among offenders as well. But analyses dating back more than a decade have shown that it is not so simple.

As Judge Scheindlin notes in her opinion, a report by the legal scholar Jeffrey Fagan found that blacks and Latinos were more likely to be stopped at police discretion, not just in high-crime, high-minority areas, but in districts where crime is minimal and populations are mixed.

Police officials say that officers stop people when they have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. An analysis last year by The Times of street stops in one mainly black Brooklyn neighborhood found that officers listed vague reasons in half the stops, including “furtive movement,” a category that can be used to mask harassment.

The Fagan report found that arrests are made in less than 6 percent of all street stops — a lower rate than if the police simply set up random checkpoints. Less than 1 percent of stops turned up weapons. This suggests that hundreds of thousands of people, mostly minorities, have been stopped for no legitimate reason — or worse, because of the color of their skin.

The Police Department says it has a training program that explains proper arrest procedure and warns officers against racial profiling. But Judge Scheindlin was sharply critical of those efforts, noting that numerous officers did not recall ever receiving such training.

In rejecting the city’s request for dismissal, Judge Scheindlin rightly pointed out that the suit, brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights, raises issues of great public concern. New Yorkers need to know whether the Police Department has failed to properly train and monitor its officers to prevent race-based stops.

Prison businesses are big political contributors

Don't think about it as making the streets safer, or getting dangerous criminals off the streets, it's a jobs program for prison bureaucrats and private corporations that run prisons - "[They lobbies for] a "Truth in Sentencing Act" requiring that convicts serve at least 85 percent of any sentence, and 100 percent of a sentence for violent crimes; a "Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Act," imposing longer, mandatory sentences for all drug offenses; a "Third Strike" law mandating a life sentence for a third violent felony conviction; and dozens of other bills that called for violent juveniles to be tried and sentenced as adults, and for longer sentences for child-porn crimes, drunken driving, repeated retail theft and many other crimes"

Jesus, no wonder Jan Brewer and the other elected officials hate the medical marijuana laws, they will reduce the demand for prison, which will also reduce the bribe, opps, I mean campaign contributions they receive from these folks.

Source

Arizona prison businesses are big political contributors

by Bob Ortega - Sept. 4, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Corrections Corp. of America, the country's largest private-prison operator, says it thrives by offering better service at a lower cost than state-run prisons. It's an argument echoed by the three smaller rivals bidding on a 5,000-bed private-prison contract with the state of Arizona.

But when it comes to other ways of winning business, such as employing platoons of lobbyists, doling out campaign contributions and working through political connections, CCA stands head and shoulders above its competitors, in Arizona and across the country.

It isn't easy to disentangle the complicated political and financial connections between a company and the public officials whose policy decisions can help or harm its business. But critics accuse CCA of using its financial might and political connections to influence decision makers and muscle its way to multimillion-dollar deals behind closed doors.

"They spend a lot of money, and clearly, they spend it because it benefits their interest, which is winning contracts," said Bob Libal, a senior organizer at Grassroots Leadership, a Texas group that opposes prison privatization.

The company says its lobbying activities are meant only to educate lawmakers. Critics who argue that putting prisons in private hands creates a perverse incentive for companies to push for tougher prison terms level similar charges against competitors Geo Group Inc., Management and Training Corp., and, to a lesser extent, LaSalle Corrections, the other companies bidding for new Arizona contracts.

Arizona's Department of Corrections plans to award one or more contracts after Sept. 16 for an expansion of private prisons ordered by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last year. This follows a failed effort in 2009 that would have allowed privatization of all but one of Arizona's 10 state-run prisons.

Just before a series of recent community hearings to assess competing bids, Geo and MTC hired additional lobbying and public-relations firms in Arizona. But both are playing catch-up to the efforts of Nashville-based CCA, which has outspent its rivals in campaign contributions and has cultivated more political connections. Political footprint

The nation's largest and oldest corrections company, CCA runs more than 60 prisons and immigrant-detention centers across 19 states and the District of Columbia. It has by far the largest political footprint of the dozen or so companies that operate private prisons in the U.S.

CCA has spent about $17.6 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies over the past decade, according to records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks the effect of money on U.S. politics. The agencies include the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, which contract with private operators such as CCA for immigration-detention centers.

Thirty of CCA's 35 lobbyists on Capitol Hill previously worked for members of Congress or for federal agencies. Two CCA senior executives are former directors of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, including Harley Lappin, whom CCA hired in June as chief corrections officer a week after his retirement from the bureau. CCA is a major bureau contractor. Another CCA vice president, Bart VerHulst, previously worked as chief of staff for then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.

Since 2000, the company has won $3.84 billion in federal contracts, including just under $546 million for federal contracts in Arizona, according to government records. CCA's six prisons in Arizona hold inmates from other states, federal prisoners and immigration detainees. Its bid calls for moving out prisoners from Hawaii and California at its existing Red Rock and La Palma prisons in Eloy and moving in Arizona prisoners.

CCA lobbies heavily on the state level, employing 178 lobbyists in 32 states over the past eight years, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan group that gathers lobbying and campaign-finance data.

In Arizona, the company has cultivated high-level connections. Former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini sits on CCA's board of directors. Perhaps the highest profile among CCA's 22 registered lobbyists in Arizona belongs to Chuck Coughlin, president of HighGround Public Affairs Consultants and a senior political adviser to Gov. Jan Brewer. Besides CCA, HighGround's 23 lobbying clients include Maricopa County and Salt River Project.

Coughlin served as chairman of Brewer's transition team when she took office in 2009 and as her campaign manager in 2010. He also has managed election campaigns for Senate President Russell Pearce.

Other heavy hitters with ties to CCA include Paul Senseman, a lobbyist with Policy Development Group, who served until last fall as Brewer's spokesman and whose wife, Kathryn Senseman, lobbied for that group while he worked for Brewer; and Bradley Regens, who joined CCA in 2007 after nine years as an Arizona legislative staffer, including two years as director of fiscal policy for the state House of Representatives.

Brewer has advocated for privatizing Arizona prisons. But even other privatization supporters say her CCA connections raise red flags.

"I've questioned Brewer's choice of staff in the past for the same reason; she has a lot of contract lobbyists, and I have a problem with that," said Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City. "At the very least it gives the public the appearance that these companies have too much influence, and you have to wonder what's going on when they leave Brewer's office and go right back into lobbying."

Brewer's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Since 2003, CCA employees and affiliates have given nearly $2 million in campaign contributions to state-level candidates and ballot issues across the U.S.

In Arizona, CCA associates and its political-action committee have reported giving about $35,000 in political donations over the past decade to Brewer, Pearce, former House Speaker Kirk Adams, House Speaker Andy Tobin and many others. A big chunk of that, $11,520, was given for last year's election campaigns.

Arizona lobbying firms that represent CCA made about $35,000 in political contributions in the 2010 election cycle. Whatever influence contributions may bring, they are wielded on behalf of many clients.

CCA has spent far more in other states as has its nearest rival, Geo Group.

"They don't have to spend the money here," said Rep. John Kavanagh. "They don't really have to convince us."

In his view, a majority of the state legislators philosophically support the notion of privatizing government services when it makes economic sense. Kavanagh said he believes that Corrections Department studies in recent years showing private-prison beds cost more than state-run prisons "don't properly take into account secondary expenses," such as pensions for state corrections officers and differences in insurance rates. However, several academics who study corrections said Arizona conducts the most thorough cost comparisons of any state. Corporate ties

CCA has other connections with legislators in Arizona and elsewhere, most notably as a longstanding corporate member of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The council describes itself as a nonpartisan national association of state legislators; in fact, it is a partisan vehicle that brings together about 300 large corporations and 2,000 predominantly Republican legislators on task forces that produce model bills that lawmakers can introduce in their state legislatures.

Recent ALEC policy initiatives focused on an anti-regulatory, anti-union, anti-Obama health-care, pro-free-trade agenda.

The council doesn't release corporate or legislative membership lists. But a May 12 e-mail from Rep. Debbie Lesko, ALEC's public-sector Arizona chairwoman, lists 51 current Arizona legislative members, more than half of both the state Senate and state House. There are 50 Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Richard Miranda of Tolleson. Lesko's e-mail, inviting lawmakers to the council's annual meeting in New Orleans, was leaked and posted online by a Tucson blogger; Lesko confirmed its contents.

Corporations, from Walmart and Exxon Mobil to Koch Cos. and Salt River Project, provided 98 percent of the council's funding last year, according to a tax filing obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Lawmakers pay $50 a year to join; corporations pay from $7,000 to $25,000 a year for membership, plus more to sit on task forces, or to sponsor events hosting legislators and, often, their families. Corporations also fund ALEC "scholarships" that pay for lawmakers' travel and lodging.

CCA spokesman Steve Owen said his company left ALEC last year. But for the past two decades, a CCA executive has been a member of the council's Public Safety and Education Task Force as it produced more than 85 model bills and resolutions that required tougher criminal sentencing, expanded immigration enforcement and promoted prison privatization. Laurie Shanblum, CCA's senior director of business development, was the private-sector chair of the task force in the mid- to late '90s, when it produced a series of model bills promoting tough-on-crime measures that would send more people to prison for a longer time.

They included a "Truth in Sentencing Act" requiring that convicts serve at least 85 percent of any sentence, and 100 percent of a sentence for violent crimes; a "Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Act," imposing longer, mandatory sentences for all drug offenses; a "Third Strike" law mandating a life sentence for a third violent felony conviction; and dozens of other bills that called for violent juveniles to be tried and sentenced as adults, and for longer sentences for child-porn crimes, drunken driving, repeated retail theft and many other crimes.

Critics, many with ties to public-union or human-rights groups, have charged that such bills, by sending more people to prison longer, drove up demand for the prison space and services CCA sells.

Starting in the 1990s, the ALEC task force also produced model bills directly promoting prison privatization. These included bills to let private prisons house inmates from other states without permission of local governments, require privatization of prisons and correctional services and encourage contracting for prison labor.

Council members from Arizona, including Pearce, and a long list of former legislators going back to the early 1990s including Wes Marsh, John Verkamp, Jay Tibshraeny and Thayer Verschoor, subsequently introduced bills here that were near-duplicates of the ALEC model bills. Lobbying costs

Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., the country's second-largest private-prison firm, has spent freely in recent years on lobbying and political contributions as it has tried to compete with CCA.

Geo, which is in the running for the new contract, operates 53 correctional and immigration-detention facilities in 17 states, plus an immigration facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Arizona, Geo operates three contract state prisons: the Central Arizona Correctional Facility and Florence West, in Florence, and Phoenix West.

Geo has spent $2.4 million since 2004 lobbying Congress and federal agencies including Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Two of Geo's four federal lobbyists formerly worked on Capitol Hill.

Geo has won $2.69 billion in federal contracts over the last decade, according to government records.

On the state level, Geo Group has used 68 lobbyists in 16 states over the past eight years, according to the National Institute for Money in State Politics. Over that time, Geo employees and affiliates spent more than $2.6 million in campaign contributions at the state level across the country.

In Arizona, Geo has seven registered lobbyists, including three at KRB Consulting Inc., a firm it hired in early July in advance of Department of Corrections hearings on the pending private-prison contract. KRB's Kristen Boilini worked for the Mofford and Symington administrations from 1989 to 1994; the firm's Nick Simonetta is a former state Senate staffer. Geo also recently hired the Arizona publicity firm of Leibowitz Solo. The firm's principal, David Leibowitz, is a former Republic columnist. Another Geo lobbyist is former legislator John Kaites, at Public Policy Partners.

In the 2010 election cycle, Geo Group's lobbyists made about $39,000 in campaign contributions to Brewer, Pearce, Adams, Kavanagh and others. Most of those firms also represented many other clients.

Geo associates and its political-action committee have given more than $28,000 in campaign contributions over the last decade, including at least $7,960 before last year's election. Geo employees focused their 2010 contributions on then-House Speaker Adams and Majority Whip Tobin.

The two leaders, along with Pearce, co-sponsored a bill signed by Brewer in September 2009 that mandated the 5,000 private-prison-bed expansion, the privatization of the Department of Corrections' health-care services, and ordered Corrections to seek potential bidders to take over up to nine of Arizona's 10 state-run prisons.

That last provision was intended to raise at least $100 million, but it failed to attract a qualified bidder and was repealed in March 2010 after some lawmakers had second thoughts when Corrections Director Charles Ryan raised security concerns.

Smaller competitors

In contrast to CCA and Geo, the much smaller and privately held Management and Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, and LaSalle Corrections of Ruston, La., have spent just under $350,000 combined on federal lobbying over the past decade.

LaSalle, the smallest of the bidders, operates 12 prisons in Louisiana and Texas. It is the only company that doesn't hold any Arizona or federal contracts; and there is no record that it has registered lobbyists or made political contributions in this state. LaSalle's managing partner, Billy McConnell, and his family have given just under $59,000 in political contributions in Louisiana since 2000.

MTC's prison operations are a little more than a third the size of Geo's or CCA's. It runs 20 facilities in seven states, including two prisons under contract with Arizona's Department of Corrections, at Kingman and Marana. However, the company, which also runs Job Corps job-training centers for the U.S. Department of Labor, has amassed $3.26 billion in federal contracts since 2000. About $466 million of that amount is corrections-related.

MTC also has spent less than its larger rivals on lobbying and campaign contributions in recent years, though it recently ramped up its efforts. On Aug. 10, MTC hired the Dunn Stewart Group as lobbyists. Terry Stewart, a former Arizona Department of Corrections director under whom current director Ryan served as deputy, represented MTC at recent public hearings in San Luis and Coolidge. MTC also employs former Corrections assistant director Carl Nink.

MTC won the bid in 1993 for Arizona's first private contract prison, at Marana. The idea was championed by then-Rep. Bob Burns, an ALEC leader in the state. The debate over prison privatization in Arizona dates from at least the mid-1980s, when Govs. Bruce Babbitt and Rose Mofford three times vetoed proposals. Throughout the 1990s, privatization supporters in the Arizona Legislature consistently have been affiliated with ALEC.

"You can follow the money and connect the dots and there are a lot of troubling connections," said Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, the House minority leader.

Campbell has asked Brewer to delay any new contracts until the Department of Corrections completes a study, due in January, to provide a comprehensive comparison of private and public prisons. Such biennial studies are required by state law but have not been conducted to date.

"I don't see the governor or legislative leadership complying with the law. . . . I don't see any evidence they're doing the due diligence to make sure this is a good deal for the taxpayers," Campbell said.

Most people in America's prisons are NOT criminals

Source

Lawsuits target fees, charges at Arizona prisons

by Mary Jo Pitzl - Sept. 6, 2011 06:01 PM

The Arizona Republic

If the state wants money for prison repairs, it needs to tap general taxpayer dollars, not pick the pockets of prisoners' families and friends, two lawsuits say.

The cases in Maricopa County Superior Court revolve around two policies lawmakers approved earlier this year in an effort to raise money for prison maintenance and repairs. Since July 20, the state Department of Corrections has been charging a $25 background-check fee for most adults visiting state prisons.

Since that time, the agency also has collected 1 percent of any deposit made to an inmate's prison account.

Because the money is going to general prison repairs, as opposed to covering the cost of doing a background check or running the inmate-banking system, the fees amount to an unconstitutional tax, the suits allege.

The complaints join a string of litigation filed against the state since lawmakers started cutting budgets three years ago.

"We're just tired of prisoner families being used as cash cows," said Donna Leone Hamm, a plaintiff with her husband, James, in the suit challenging the background-check fee. She also is executive director of Middle Ground Prison Reform Inc., which works for inmate rights.

Prisoner David Arner sued over the 1 percent assessment on inmate accounts, arguing, as in the other case, that it's an unconstitutional tax.

Attorneys for Charles Ryan, state prisons director, have challenged those assertions in court. In court filings, the Attorney General's Office says the complaints do not specify a claim against which the state can take action. The state also asks the judges handling the two cases to dismiss them.

The cases are ongoing.

The background-check fee was proposed in January by Gov. Jan Brewer's office. It was originally intended to apply to all visitors, including children, every time they go to a prison, whether it is publicly or privately run.

Lawmakers modified the plan to a one-time $25 fee applicable to anyone age 18 and older. Inmates' attorneys and the foster parents or guardians of inmates' children are exempt.

Hamm said the background fee delays the time between when someone seeks to visit an inmate and when the visit actually takes place.

The surcharge on inmate accounts, like the background fee, attempts to use special fees to replace what should be a general taxpayer obligation, Hamm said.

"It's the responsibility of state government to pay for the maintenance of their state buildings," she said.

No jail for Chicago piggies who murder a pusher

Source

City to pay $1.3 million to settle drug-swallowing wrongful death suit

By Hal Dardick Clout Street

3:33 p.m. CDT, September 7, 2011

A videotape of Chicago police not getting immediate medical help for a suspect who collapsed after swallowing drugs during an arrest last summer likely will lead to a $1.3 million wrongful death settlement against the city.

The case involves John Coleman Jr., 39, who was spotted in July 2010 by officers taking part in an apparent drug sale on the 100 block of West Division Street, a city attorney said Wednesday. Coleman ran, and after being caught, struggled with officers. One used a Taser to subdue him.

Officers put Coleman into a police vehicle for a trip to the 18th District police station at Larrabee and Division streets.

“Officers stop the SUV, exit the SUV, open the door and then see that he’s in distress, but close the door and proceed on to the station house,” Leslie Darling, a top City Hall attorney, told aldermen at a committee hearing. “At the station house, officers removed him from the vehicle. He was unresponsive, and only at that time did they call for medical assistance.”

Before the trip to the station, officers four times told Coleman to open his mouth, and later it was discovered he had swallowed a bag containing packets containing heroin, Darling said. Coleman died, and an autopsy later determined that he died from a heroin and cocaine overdose, she said.

The transport was captured on video.

“The evidence was the videotape, which clearly showed (Coleman) in distress, and so the decision was made to move forward with settlement,” Darling said. “Jury verdicts of up to $5 million have been awarded in comparable cases involving a denial of medical care,” Darling added. “So our interest was to minimize the financial — the potential — and settle this case.”

Daniel O’Brien, an attorney representing Coleman’s mother, Connie, said police procedure required officers to call for medical help after Coleman was Tasered, as well as after he collapsed in the SUV. “They did not take him to an emergency room as they were required to,” O’Brien said.

The City Council Finance Committee endorsed the settlement with minimal dissent Wednesday. The full council is scheduled to vote on it Thursday.

Alexis Zayas and Ronnie Black, two of five officers named in the suit, were relieved of their police powers pending an investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority that will make a discipline recommendation to the police superintendent, Darling said.

The Finance Committee also endorsed paying $300,000 to settle a civil lawsuit filed by a young man who lost his leg as the result of a February 2008 crash caused by a pothole near Kedzie Avenue and West Street.

Linn State Technical College begins drug texts

Mo. technical college begins widespread drug tests

Sept. 7, 2011 03:09 PM

Associated Press

LINN, Mo. - Textbooks? Check. School sweatshirt? Check. Urine specimen cup? Only if you want to stay in school.

A drug-free demand greeted new students Wednesday at Linn State Technical College, a two-year school in central Missouri that has enacted what may be the most far-reaching drug testing policy at a public college or university in the country.

Federal and state courts have consistently upheld more limited drug testing of public high schools students, such as those who play sports, as well as NCAA athletes and students at private colleges. But the move by Linn State to enact widespread drug tests of the general student body appears unprecedented - and no small point of pride for administrators at the state's only technical college.

"It does appear that our program is unique in its scope and breadth," said Kent Brown, a Jefferson City attorney who represents the 1,200-student school, which is located about 100 miles southwest of St. Louis. "But there aren't very many colleges as unique as ours."

School leaders say the tests, which they prefer to call drug screenings, are necessary to ensure student safety at a campus where the coursework includes aircraft maintenance, heavy engine repair, nuclear technology and other dangerous tasks. They surveyed hundreds of local employers, who overwhelmingly supported a requirement those same students will soon encounter in the job market, said Richard Pemberton, associate dean of student affairs.

"They're going to be faced with this as they go into the drug-free workplace," he said. "We want them to be prepared."

All first-year students - including those pursuing general education degrees while studying accounting, communications, math, and social sciences - must comply with the requirement, which began Wednesday, two weeks into the fall semester. So must returning students who took a semester or two off and are seeking a degree or academic certificate at the school's campuses in Linn, Jefferson City and Mexico, Mo. Physical therapy students enrolled in cooperative programs between Linn State and two community colleges in northern and southeastern Missouri also must participate.

The mandatory drug tests are raising the hackles of civil libertarians, who call it a constitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful searches and seizures, an invasion of privacy and a likely lawsuit target.

"I've never heard of any other adult public educational institution that presumes to drug-test all of its students," said Columbia attorney Dan Viets, a member of the Missouri Civil Liberties Association. "They're trying to break some new ground here. I don't think the courts will uphold it."

While Linn State officials say they are working to address the objections by Viets' group, the attorney suggested that a legal challenge was imminent unless the program is halted.

"I don't know why they think they can get away with it," Viets said. "I hope we don't have to go court. But if we have to we will."

Brown, the school's attorney, said Linn State is on firm legal footing. He noted that more narrowly focused drug tests for students who work with heavy machinery, or are in some health professions, are not uncommon.

The tests screen for 11 drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone. Students who test positive can stay in school while on probation but must test clean 45 days later to remain enrolled while also completing an online drug-prevention course or assigned to other, unspecified "appropriate activities," according to the school's written policy.

Students who initially test positive but then test negative a subsequent time will remain on probation for the rest of that semester and also face an unannounced follow-up test. The tests cost $50, a fee paid by students.

"We wanted this to be more of an educational approach," said Pemberton. "What we're doing here is not as strenuous as in the workplace."

"We've been very careful about treading on their rights to privacy," he added. "When you do something that has the potential to violate someone's rights, you have to be cautious."

New and prospective students were advised about the testing program in the spring, as well as during fall orientation.

Viets said his group learned of the new program from Linn State students who were concerned about the drug tests. First-year student Brian Crider, though, said his classmates aren't worried about the requirement.

"I don't think a lot of us are bent out of shape," he said. "I think it's a good idea. It helps us prepare for the real world."

Court Case Asks if ‘Big Brother’ Is Spelled GPS

Court Case Asks if ‘Big Brother’ Is Spelled GPS

By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: September 10, 2011

WASHINGTON — The precedent is novel. More precisely, the precedent is a novel.

In a series of rulings on the use of satellites and cellphones to track criminal suspects, judges around the country have been citing George Orwell’s “1984” to sound an alarm. They say the Fourth Amendment’s promise of protection from government invasion of privacy is in danger of being replaced by the futuristic surveillance state Orwell described.

In April, Judge Diane P. Wood of the federal appeals court in Chicago wrote that surveillance using global positioning system devices would “make the system that George Orwell depicted in his famous novel, ‘1984,’ seem clumsy.” In a similar case last year, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the federal appeals court in San Francisco wrote that “1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it’s here at last.”

Last month, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn turned down a government request for 113 days of location data from cellphone towers, citing “Orwellian intrusion” and saying the courts must “begin to address whether revolutionary changes in technology require changes to existing Fourth Amendment doctrine.”

The Supreme Court is about to do just that. In November, it will hear arguments in United States v. Jones, No. 10-1259, the most important Fourth Amendment case in a decade. The justices will address a question that has divided the lower courts: Do the police need a warrant to attach a GPS device to a suspect’s car and track its movements for weeks at a time?

Their answer will bring Fourth Amendment law into the digital age, addressing how its 18th-century prohibition of “unreasonable searches and seizures” applies to a world in which people’s movements are continuously recorded by devices in their cars, pockets and purses, by toll plazas and by transit systems.

The Jones case will address not only whether the placement of a space-age tracking device on the outside of a vehicle without a warrant qualifies as a search, but also whether the intensive monitoring it allows is different in kind from conventional surveillance by police officers who stake out suspects and tail their cars.

“The Jones case requires the Supreme Court to decide whether modern technology has turned law enforcement into Big Brother, able to monitor and record every move we make outside our homes,” said Susan Freiwald, a law professor at the University of San Francisco.

The case is an appeal from a unanimous decision of a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which said last year that the government was simply seeking too much information.

“Repeated visits to a church, a gym, a bar or a bookie tell a story not told by any single visit, as does one’s not visiting any of those places in the course of a month,” wrote Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg.

He added: “A person who knows all of another’s travel can deduce whether he is a weekly churchgoer, a heavy drinker, a regular at the gym, an unfaithful husband, an outpatient receiving medical treatment, an associate of particular individuals or political groups — and not just one such fact about a person, but all such facts.”

Federal appeals courts in Chicago and San Francisco, on the other hand, have allowed the police to use GPS tracking devices without a warrant. The police are already allowed to tail cars and observe their movements without warrants, those courts said, and the devices merely allow them to do so more efficiently.

Judge Richard A. Posner, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel in the Chicago case, did caution that institutionalized mass surveillance might present a different issue.

Some judges say that world is fast approaching.

“Technology has progressed to the point where a person who wishes to partake in the social, cultural and political affairs of our society has no realistic choice but to expose to others, if not to the public as a whole, a broad range of conduct and communications that would previously have been deemed unquestionably private,” Magistrate Judge James Orenstein of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn wrote last year.

The case to be heard by the Supreme Court arose from the investigation of the owner of a Washington nightclub, Antoine Jones, who was suspected of being part of a cocaine-selling operation. Apparently out of caution, given the unsettled state of the law, prosecutors obtained a warrant allowing the police to place a tracking device on Mr. Jones’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. The warrant required them to do so within 10 days and within the District of Columbia. The police did not install the device until 11 days later, and they did it in Maryland. Now contending that no warrant was required, the authorities tracked Mr. Jones’s travels for a month and used the evidence they gathered to convict him of conspiring to sell cocaine. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The main Supreme Court precedent in the area, United States v. Knotts, is almost 30 years old. It allowed the use of a much more primitive technology, a beeper that sent a signal that grew stronger as the police drew closer and so helped them follow a car over a single 100-mile trip from Minnesota to Wisconsin.

The Supreme Court ruled that no warrant was required but warned that “twenty-four hour surveillance of any citizen of the country” using “dragnet-type law enforcement practices” may violate the Fourth Amendment.

Much of the argument in the Jones case concerns what that passage meant. Did it indicate discomfort with intense and extended scrutiny of a single suspect’s every move? Or did it apply only to mass surveillance?

In the Jones case, the government argued in a brief to the Supreme Court that the Knotts case disapproved of only “widespread searches or seizures that are conducted without individualized suspicion.”

The brief added: “Law enforcement has not abused GPS technology. No evidence exists of widespread, suspicionless GPS monitoring.” On the other hand, the brief said, requiring a warrant to attach a GPS device to a suspect’s car “would seriously impede the government’s ability to investigate leads and tips on drug trafficking, terrorism and other crimes.”

A decade ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the police needed a warrant to use thermal imaging technology to measure heat emanating from a home. The sanctity of the home is at the core of what the Fourth Amendment protects, Justice Antonin Scalia explained, and the technology was not in widespread use.

In general, though, Justice Scalia observed, “it would be foolish to contend that the degree of privacy secured to citizens by the Fourth Amendment has been entirely unaffected by the advance of technology.”

People with depression may not reveal symptoms to their doctor

On the other hand smoking a joint is a lot less damaging on your body then drinking a 6 pack of beer.

Source

People with depression may not reveal symptoms to their doctor

By Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times

September 12, 2011, 5:12 p.m.

People suffering from depression may not bring it up with their doctor for a number of reasons, a study finds. The most common one? They're afraid of getting a recommendation for antidepressants.

Those findings are featured in a study released Monday in the journal Annals of Family Medicine. In it, researchers surveyed 1,054 adults about why they wouldn't tell their primary care physician about depression symptoms, as well as their beliefs about the mental disorder. Depression symptoms, the study authors note, are underreported.

Among the participants, 43% reported one or more reasons why they wouldn't discuss symptoms with a doctor. The most common obstacles to not reporting symptoms were the prospect of being put on medication, the belief that it's not the doctor's job to handle emotional issues, and worries over medical record privacy. At least 10% of the participants said that fear of being referred to a counselor or psychiatrist and being branded a psychiatric patient were stumbling blocks.

Those who had more barriers to talking to their doctors about depression had some things in common: They were likely to be female, Hispanic, with less education and lower income. Other factors included the severity of depression symptoms, having no family history of depression, thinking depression is stigmatizing, and believing that people should be able to control their depression.

"Ironically," the authors wrote, "those who most subscribed to potential reasons for not talking to a primary care physician about their depression tended to be those who had the greatest potential to benefit from such conversations--individuals with moderate to severe depressive symptoms."

Marijuana club's attorney says move to shut them down flouts will of Arizona voters

Marijuana club's attorney says move to shut them down flouts will of Arizona voters

Posted: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 3:14 pm

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

The state cannot try to shut down medical marijuana clubs because Gov. Jan Brewer is ignoring the will of voters, an attorney for one of the clubs is arguing.

Michael Walz said he is not conceding that the clubs, where dues-paying members can get free marijuana, are operating outside the scope of the medical marijuana law approved by voters last year. Walz and lawyers representing other clubs believe their operations fit within an exception. Click here to find out more!

But Walz said that the state has no right to go to court to try to shut the operations down.

“The voters passed Proposition 203 that required the state to set up a number of dispensaries, about 126,” he said Tuesday. Those dispensaries were supposed to be where individuals with certain medical conditions could legally obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of the drug every two weeks.

But Brewer along with state Health Director Will Humble are refusing to even accept applications to run the dispensaries.

The governor said she feared that state employees who would process the forms could be subject to criminal prosecution under federal laws, which make it a crime to even facilitate someone obtaining illegal drugs. And marijuana remains illegal under federal statutes.

Brewer also directed state Attorney General Tom Horne to file suit, asking a federal judge if Arizona can implement its medical marijuana law — including licensing dispensaries — despite the federal laws. But in the meantime, no dispensaries are being licensed even though there already are close to 11,000 Arizonans who have state-issued permits to purchase and use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

“She’s refusing to follow the law without any legal excuse,” said Walz who represents the Arizona Compassion Club. “That’s just not tolerable.”

What it is, however, is a legal opening for Walz to try to have the state’s lawsuit to shutter his client’s club and others thrown out.

“The law recognizes that, in certain situations, that when the government acts improperly, that they can’t get the relief that they are seeking,” he said.

Beyond that, Walz is arguing to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink that it’s the state’s own fault that the clubs have opened their doors.

He said that his client would never have opened up a club in the first place had the state and its officials followed the voter-approved law in the first place.

“If there were 126 registered medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona, all the defendant (club) would have no reason to exist,” he said.

“Medical marijuana patients deserve to have their medicine,” he said. And Walz said members of the club he represents have a “sincere desire” to help those patients.

“This is really the only way to do it,” Walz said.

Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis called Walz’ contention “factually and legally incorrect.”

“The state has implemented the (medical marijuana) law to the extent it can,” she said. And Davis said Brewer “acted responsibly” in refusing to allow state health officials to process applications for dispensaries.

“She really didn’t have a choice,” Davis said, with the possibility that state workers could be prosecuted for violating federal law.

Davis said that, with the exception of licensing dispensaries, Brewer and state officials have complied with every other aspect of the voter-approved law. That includes adopting rules and regulations as well as issuing medical marijuana cards to patients who have a doctor’s recommendation saying that they have a condition which could be treated with the drug.

The argument by the marijuana clubs is that they are simply providing homes for nonprofit organizations that accept the donation of marijuana and seeds by people who grow their own, which is legal under Arizona law. These organizations then give away what they collect.

The state’s lawsuit to shutter the clubs is based on the premise that the marijuana clubs, by charging a membership fee to get inside — where the organizations and their give-away drugs are located — are effectively selling marijuana. Only licensed dispensary operators, of which there are none, can do that.

Phoenix may weigh 'sin taxes' for revenue

Phoenix may weigh 'sin taxes' for revenue

by Lynh Bui - Sept. 14, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Tattoo parlors, strip clubs, escort services and "head shops" that sell items used to smoke marijuana could be the next places Phoenix turns to for revenue if the city rescinds its controversial food tax.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Councilman Tom Simplot asked management to consider what the city can do to raise money by "sin taxes" and other fees if the city considers removing the 2 percent food tax.

Gordon also wants the city to consider taxing false calls to police and fire dispatchers, as well as electronic billboards.

The suggestions came Tuesday as the Phoenix City Council discussed whether the city should move forward with repealing the food tax before its scheduled sunset in 2015.

The food tax, estimated to generate $50 million annually, was approved in February 2010 as Phoenix was facing a $277 million budget shortfall.

Calls to repeal the tax have been popular during the city's competitive elections for mayor and City Council. City Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who was not up for re-election this year, has been vocal about getting rid of the tax to force Phoenix to reduce spending.

Simplot, who also was not up for re-election, said he would consider getting rid of the food tax but wanted to review a "full menu of options" to generate revenue.

"It is important that we measure twice and cut once," Simplot said. "We can't afford to rush into this without knowing the options before us."

Gordon said that while he still supports the food tax, "in the spirit of intellectual curiosity" he wanted staff to study other options.

Some council members want Phoenix to focus on spending reductions, such as cutting layers of management and privatizing more city services. DiCiccio asked management to review how much the city could save if it eliminated employee-pay raises in its next round of labor negotiations. He said replacing one tax with another misses the point.

"They're not talking about eliminating a tax - they're talking about raising more taxes," DiCiccio said.

Thelda Williams, Bill Gates and Jim Waring, who is new to the council after winning the special election Aug. 30 to fill out the District 2 term, also want the tax repealed.

Finance Director Jeff Dewitt said the city already collects revenue from purchases such as pipes from so-called head shops and items from adult bookstores under its general retail sales-tax collections. And the city collects licensing fees from sexually oriented business, but the city doesn't tax services.

"We'll evaluate everything we've heard tonight and see what's feasible and what's not," Dewitt said.

Councilmen Claude Mattox, Michael Nowakowski and Michael Johnson support the food tax and are worried that cutting the revenue would impact city services and quality of life.

Lawyer: Refusal to follow law led to medical-pot clubs

Lawyer: Refusal to follow law led to medical-pot clubs

by Mary K. Reinhart - Sept. 14, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

State officials have created a market for medical-marijuana clubs by failing to license pot dispensaries in violation of the voter-approved law, attorneys told a Maricopa County Superior Court judge Tuesday.

The state filed suit last month to shut down the clubs, which charge a membership fee and provide pot to medical-marijuana cardholders. The state has argued the clubs are taking money in exchange for marijuana in violation of state law.

Several marijuana clubs have cropped up around the Valley since Attorney General Tom Horne filed another suit in late May, this one in federal court, to halt the state regulatory process that was expected to license up to 126 dispensaries statewide by August.

Phoenix attorney Michael Walz, who represents the Arizona Compassion Clubs, told Judge Dean Fink during Tuesday's hearing that the state can't prevent the clubs from operating, since its failure to license dispensaries gave rise to them in the first place.

"If they had followed the law that voters passed," Walz said, "none of us would be here."

Lori Davis, an assistant attorney general, dismissed Walz's argument as "factually and legally inaccurate."

She said the state was obligated to seek clarification in U.S. District Court as to whether the public employees who implement Arizona's law risk federal prosecution.

Arizona and 15 other states have medical-marijuana laws that conflict with federal drug laws, which outlaw the cultivation, sale or use of marijuana.

Fink set another hearing for Oct. 21.

Reach the reporter at maryk.reinhart@arizonarepublic.com.

Lapses by American Leaders Seen in Syphilis Tests

Lapses by American Leaders Seen in Syphilis Tests

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Published: September 14, 2011

The highest medical and legal officials of the American government and experts at Harvard and other top medical schools approved venereal disease experiments on people in the 1940s, which led to the deliberate infection of Guatemalan prisoners and mental patients with syphilis to test penicillin, a White House bioethics panel reported Tuesday.

The experiments were “gross violations of ethics” not just by today’s standards but by those of the time, said the report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. It called the experiments “especially egregious moral wrongs because many of the individuals involved held positions of public institutional responsibility.”

President Obama apologized for the experiments to President Alvaro Colom of Guatemala last year, after they were revealed. [But don't expect Obama to apologize for current American crimes, that will take another 50, 60, or 70 years like this did. Of course as in this case it will be a meaningless act, where the American Empire pretends to be sorry for it's crimes.] The ethical errors were made by a startling array of public health luminaries. The surgeon general, the attorney general, Army and Navy medical officials, the president of the American Medical Association, the president of the National Academy of Sciences and experts from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the Universities of Pennsylvania and Rochester gave advance approval in principle for experiments that deliberately infected people with venereal diseases, though not all those in authority knew exactly whom the researchers would infect.

World War II fervor and the excitement over penicillin, then a scarce, new drug, contributed to the rush to test this promising medicine against venereal diseases that commonly afflicted soldiers. Until mid-1944, the military relied on ineffective 35-year-old prophylaxis, including rubbing on calomel lotion to prevent syphilis and squirting silver proteinate up the urethra to prevent gonorrhea. The latter was painful, and soldiers often refused it.

As the war began, a panel of military doctors estimated that such diseases would put out of action enough fighting men to fill two armored divisions or 10 aircraft carriers; treating them with arsenic drugs then in use, which took up to 18 months, would cost $34 million, the equivalent of $440 million today.

Human experimentation was first debated by a committee of military, academic and government doctors convened in 1942.

While a few participants dissented, the initial consensus was to test prophylaxis on prisoners since they could be given medical care in a controlled setting and kept away from women who might infect them. Experts also argued that prisoners would want to make patriotic contributions to the war effort, and that many inmates had had gonorrhea before anyway.

The first experiments began in 1943 at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. The chief of the federal prison system ruled that prisoners could be paid $100 and recommended for release when they went before their parole board, but not offered freedom. Prisoners were given consent forms in clear English, with words like “the clap” to explain the diseases to be treated during the study.

It was decided to keep the work secret and not use university researchers. The United States Public Health Service formed its own research team, which was unusual.

Dr. John C. Cutler, a 28-year-old former Coast Guard doctor, was put in charge.

The discovery of his papers in the University of Pittsburgh archives by Susan M. Reverby, a medical historian at Wellesley College, led to the public exposure last year of the Terre Haute and Guatemala experiments. Later in his career, Dr. Cutler would help run the infamous Tuskegee study, in which black Alabama sharecroppers with syphilis were left untreated for decades to study how the disease progressed.

In July 1944, the Terre Haute effort was abandoned as a failure; prophylaxis could not be tested because it was impossible to consistently infect prisoners by putting lab-grown gonorrhea on their penises. In the meantime, Dr. Cutler’s superiors had learned that penicillin could cure syphilis in eight days, and the army enthusiastically adopted it as standard treatment in June 1944.

While on a yearlong fellowship on Staten Island with the Public Health Service, Dr. Juan Funes, who had run the main government health clinic for prostitutes in Guatemala City, proposed doing further venereal disease research in Guatemala, according to Dr. Cutler’s papers.

Dr. Cutler embraced this idea and signed agreements with the ministries overseeing Guatemala’s public health service, army and prisons. In return, the country was to get a new laboratory, training for its doctors and access to penicillin, especially for the army. During the experiments, some soldiers, prisoners and guards who had not been infected by researchers were treated. The experimenters also cultivated official favor in Guatemala by importing an unspecified medication for the dying wife of the army’s chief medical officer.

More articles on the evil American Drug War