Possible Major Speed Bump on the Way to Legal Marijuana | AlterNet

By Stephen Webster, Raw Story. Posted October 11, 2009.

In spite of a law on California books for over a decade allowing sales of pot, L.A. DA Steve Cooley suddenly announces, "The time is right to deal with this problem."

In spite of a law on California books for over a decade which allows the sale of medical cannabis to properly licensed patients, the district attorney in Los Angeles County is preparing an all-out legal assault against the "vast majority" of dispensaries.

"Hundreds of dispensaries operate under a 1996 voter initiative that allowed medical marijuana use, and a state law that allows for collective growing of marijuana," NBC Los Angeles reported. "But based on a state Supreme Court decision last year, [LA County District Attorney Steve] Cooley has concluded that over-the-counter sales are illegal. Most if not all of the dispensaries in the state operate on that basis."

"The vast, vast, vast majority, about 100%, of dispensaries in Los Angeles County and the city are operating illegally, they are dealing marijuana illegally, according to our theory," Cooley said, according to The Los Angeles Times. "The time is right to deal with this problem."

That "problem" -- over the counter sales of marijuana to licensed patients -- accounted for some $18 million in tax revenue for the state last year, reported The Christian Science-Monitor, during a time when California is facing the greatest budgetary challenges in its history.

However, those with prescriptions for marijuana account for roughly 10 percent of the state's marijuana users, according to a California NORML report (PDF link) prepared for the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance.

"In a radio interview on KABC-AM (790), Cooley reiterated his plan to close down many of the 800 to 900 medical marijuana shops believed to be operating in the city of Los Angeles," noted the Contra-Costa Times.

"We will give them fair notice and, hopefully, they will see the light and voluntarily close down," Cooley reportedly said. "We are going to uphold the laws of California."

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a group which advocates the nation-wide legalization of cannabis for adults, strongly disagrees.

"In a radio interview on KABC-AM (790), Cooley reiterated his plan to close down many of the 800 to 900 medical marijuana shops believed to be operating in the city of Los Angeles," noted the Contra-Costa Times.

(Click the link below to read the entire story.)

Possible Major Speed Bump on the Way to Legal Marijuana | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet

Judge Rules: "It's OK To Give Police The Finger"

By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Memo to cops everywhere: You can't cite someone for giving you the finger.

That's essentially what a federal judge ruled yesterday when he said a city police sergeant was wrong to cite a Regent Square man for flipping him off in traffic three years ago.

U.S. District Judge David Cercone granted summary judgment to David Hackbart, who said in a federal suit that Sgt. Brian Elledge violated his constitutional rights by issuing him a citation in 2006.

"Elledge's response to Hackbart's exercise of his First Amendment right was to initiate a traffic stop and issue a citation for disorderly conduct," the judge wrote. "Clearly, Elledge's conduct was an adverse action in response to Hackbart flipping him off."

The case will now proceed to trial in U.S. District Court on the underlying claim that the city doesn't adequately train its officers to know when they're violating someone's rights.

The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that giving someone the finger, even a police officer, is protected free speech.

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Hearing Reveals Out-of-Whack Enforcement Policies

by Ali Noorani, National Immigration Forum
Look no further than Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as the prime example of enforcement priorities that are terribly misguided.

Recent reports, including a Government Accountability Office report released today, have called attention to the program's lack of federal oversight and how the program is being implemented at the local level. The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a nonpartisan pro-immigrant advocacy organization in Washington.

The facts are piling up that 287g agreements are expensive to implement, both in
terms of dollars, and in community trust. As newly released independent and government reports expose, implementation of the 287g agreement by 67 local and state law enforcement agencies has been devoid of appropriate federal oversight, resulting in excessive use of force, civil rights abuses and costly lawsuits.

Look no further than Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as the prime example of enforcement priorities out of whack.

With a stack of 40,000 felony warrants, more than 2,700 civil rights complaints and residents afraid of calling the police to report a crime, he has shamelessly compromised community safety in his search for headlines. In this case, nobody wins -- county law enforcement can't do its job, and there is a lack of trust and communication between immigrants and the police.

A thorough review of the program is urgently needed, and decisions must be made regarding how to limit or end this program. Without a true commitment from Congress and the new administration to reform our immigration system, patchwork enforcement schemes will continue -- and continue to miss the mark. President Barack Obama needs to lead the country forward to a better, safer, more humane immigration system rather than continuing to rely upon the failed policies of the past administration to shore up our broken system.

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