Apiarius: The Bee Keeper: World Drug Day, DEA, Habersham, Bad Cops, Militarization, Legalization and Decriminalization, Medical Marijuana, Colorado, Prison, Death Penalty, Innocence, Trial and Error, Law and Disorder, Fuzz-y, Recording

World Drug Day

Branson: The War on Drugs Has Failed, So Let's Shut it Down
States Undo Food Stamp Felon Bans—"Two states are taking small steps away from a little-known aspect of the war on drugs."
Reduced sentences urged for non-violent drug offenders
City of Chicago Files Lawsuit Blaming Painkiller Marketing for Prescription Drug Epidemic
Having authoritarian parents increases risk of drug use in adolescents, European study finds
New drug called Snapchat hospitalising users—"Australian police have issued a warning about a new drug called Snapchat, branded with the Snapchat logo and based on bath salts."
Mexican Drug Cartel May Have Penetrated Rural Ohio Town, Police Say

DEA

Is DEA Dazed & Confused Over Industrial Hemp?—"The Department of Agriculture needs hemp seeds for critical research. Why is the DEA trying to stop them?"
Mass. Doctors Say DEA Pressuring Them To Resign From Medical Marijuana Companies—"Several Massachusetts doctors associated with prospective medical marijuana dispensaries are reportedly facing intense pressure from the federal government to cut ties with those companies."
DEA obstructs research into medical marijuana: report—"Study says agency should not be in charge of scheduling drugs or giving access to drugs for medical research."

Habersham

Bad Cops

Jury awards more than $2 million to family of pastor killed by narcotics task force WaPo
Family sues over drug raid of wrong house: San Bruno residents claim multiple violations for June incident
Man angry after police break into and damage his truck over dubious marijuana suspicion
These pot searches by police don't pass the smell test
Seattle police seize more than 2K illegally grown pot plants—"Detectives, however, didn't arrest anyone and said they were only interested in bringing the operation numbers down to the legal limits."
Police Department Sued For Allegedly Seizing Pot Plants—"A group of medical marijuana patients on the Big Island of Hawaii are suing to get back pot plants that were allegedly seized wrongfully by police."
Thousands of Rapists Are Not Behind Bars Because Cops Focus on Marijuana Users

Militarization

Legalization and Decriminalization

Yes, We Cannabis—"Has the legalization of marijuana in America become inevitable?"
Cops Like Me Say Legalize All Drugs. Here's Why.—"Who exactly is prohibition supposed to be helping? After many years of enforcing drug laws as a police officer, my experience with an addicted family member changed my attitude for good."
Attorney says marijuana wrongly classified as dangerous drug, federal prosecution unfair—Separately, the FDA is looking into this.
"Evergreen" reveals the weird lessons of Washington's weed battle—"After Colorado and Washington, we're on the way toward national legalization. But will liberals get left behind?" Salon
Delaware Might Be The Next State To Legalize Marijuana
Texas GOP Won't Pass the Marijuana
Philadelphia City Council Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana—It's a veto-proof vote, not that it will matter to the police.
Jamaica to decriminalize personal marijuana possession
Anti-marijuana candidate loses in Uruguay primary
Pope condemns efforts to legalize marijuana—Booooo.

Medical Marijuana

Florida governor signs law allowing limited medical marijuana use
Sheldon Adelson Bankrolls Anti-Medical Marijuana Push—"Mogul gives $2.5M to Florida referendum opponents."
Families celebrate new Iowa marijuana law—Gov. Terry Branstad signed Senate File 2360, legalizing medical marijuana.
New York Is About to Legalize Medical Marijuana (But With No Smoking Allowed)
Uruguay set to allow doctors to prescribe cannabis

Colorado

Despite dire predictions, Denver crime falls over 10 percent in wake of pot legalization
No Colorado marijuana stores found selling to minors in police checks
Colorado's poster boy for 'stoned driving' was drunk off his gourd—"Earlier media reports played up Keith Kilbey's pot use, made no mention of alcohol." WaPo
After 5 Months of Sales, Colorado Sees the Downside of a Legal High NYT
Hershey's sues Colorado pot candy company

Prison

Unsealed records allege brutality, corruption in Denver Jail & witness intimidation by police
Los Angeles: Ex-Deputy Says He Was Trained To Beat Up Inmates Then Cover It Up
Jurors hear of deputies' attempt to coerce FBI agent—'She told the lies, she testified before a federal grand jury, in an attempt to find out the details of the FBI's civil rights investigation into county jails."
Judge's Decision to Hear Inmates' Case Threatens Practice of Solitary Confinement NYT
Censored and 'Obscene' in Solitary—"After a huge hunger strike to protest the state prison system's inhuman conditions, California is threatening to ban any written material deemed 'oppositional to authority and society.'"
Deaf inmate sues Oregon prison system for not providing sign-language interpreters—Instead, the Department of Corrections "required Mr. VanValkenburg to train inmates to act as interpreters for him, who were unqualified and failed to keep Mr. VanValkenburg's information confidential."
Texas inmates sue over lack of air conditioning
Georgia Police Left Two Teenagers In A Holding Cell With No Lights Or Food For An Entire Weekend
Prisoners freed after cops struggle with new records software—"Officers didn't get enough training on the new system, which went live June 1, according to Dallas's police chief."
Modern-Day Slavery in America's Prison Workforce—"Why can't we embrace the idea that prisoners have labor rights?"
Even America's most liberal states imprison more people than nearly any other country in the world
This Is How Much More States Spend On Prisoners Than On Students

Death Penalty

Is It Legal to Try Executing Someone Twice?—"The Ohio Supreme Court will decide whether Romell Broom should be put to death—again."
Texas execution appeal on drug secrecy grounds rejected by US supreme court—"Robert James Campbell's attorneys had demanded Texas officials disclose the source of drugs intended to execute him."
Autopsy Shows Just How Royally Oklahoma Screwed Up Clayton Lockett's Execution—"Preliminary findings suggest the inmate's executioners had no clue what they were doing."

Innocence

Man who served 26 years in prison in arson case is suing Ionia police, prosecutor—"The lawsuit says the defendants conspired to create a false case ...."
5 Exonerated in Central Park Jogger Case Will Settle Suit for $40 Million—"The five men whose convictions in the brutal 1989 beating and rape of a female jogger in Central Park were later overturned [Salon] have agreed to a settlement of about $40 million from New York City." NYT
Man cleared in '89 NYC killing plans $162M claim—' A man recently exonerated in a 1989 New York City killing that happened while he was visiting Disney World filed papers Tuesday outlining plans to seek $162 million from the city, one of his lawyers said." WSJ
For a Respected Prosecutor, An Unpardonable Failure—"Evidence of a convicted murderer's possible innocence sat buried in a case file for more than two decades. Now, a prosecutor in Brooklyn will have to answer for the mistake."
Proposed Michigan law: Pay exonerated prisoners
When Innocent People Go To Prison, States Pay

Trial and Error

Chemical Reaction—"[T]he high court ruled—in a unanimous exercise of comic power—that the federal government should never have been using an international chemical weapons treaty to prosecute a jealous wife in the first place."
Marshall: The Law Is An Ass—On SCOTUSBlog's press credentials denial.
Ex-U.S. attorney takes stand: 'I don't owe anyone $100 billion'—"Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is no stranger to the inside of a federal courtroom, but on Tuesday he found himself in an unusual position: on the witness stand testifying at a bizarre trial of a sovereign citizen follower who allegedly had tried to place a bogus $100 billion lien on his residence."
More Time Sought for Robber Who Was Homesick for Prison
Man Killed Hours After Jury Accidently Acquits Him—"Unable to reach a verdict, Pearson's jury mistakenly signed a not-guilty form Wednesday — despite the judge later learning jurors had actually deadlocked. After his release, Pearson, 37, went to a relative's house and within hours he was killed in a fight."
Cleveland man collapses, dies outside courtroom after judge issues sentence
Man curses judge and gets 364 days in jail for contempt