Drugs & Prohibition

D.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

"The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department also waged a war on firearms by creating a special Gun Recovery Unit in 1995. The campaign meant that officers were obliged to spend time searching otherwise law-abiding citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingD.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

D.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

"The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department also waged a war on firearms by creating a special Gun Recovery Unit in 1995. The campaign meant that officers were obliged to spend time searching otherwise law-abiding citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingD.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

Lawsuit Accuses Fired Utah Trooper of Falsifying D.U.I. Arrests

"Corporal Steed was named trooper of the year by her superiors in 2007, her career seemingly heading toward the inevitable promotions. Ms. Steed made a career of pulling over drivers who she claimed were driving drunk or under the influence. There was only one problem. Some of the drivers Ms. Steed arrested had not been drinking, or at least not enough to be reasonably impaired, according to the lawsuit, brought by a group of Utah lawyers on behalf of two plaintiffs. In several cases, those who were arrested did not drink alcohol, said Robert Sykes, one of the lawyers who filed the complaint." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLawsuit Accuses Fired Utah Trooper of Falsifying D.U.I. Arrests

Driving under the influence of NyQuil banned in New Hampshire

"A new law that took effect at the beginning of 2013 bans driving under the influence of not just illegal drugs, alcohol and prescription painkillers, but all over-the-counter drugs as well, along with 'any other chemical substance, natural or synthetic, which impairs a person’s ability to drive.' The bottom line is, if an officer suspects a driver is impaired and that driver admits to taking any kind of drug, an arrest will be made. 'There is no shortage of these drivers out there,' a state police spokesperson told the Tribune. 'We are targeting them aggressively.'" Continue reading →

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Camden, NJ Agrees to Pay $3.5M to Victims of Police Corruption

"The City of Camden has agreed to pay $3.5 million in damages to 88 people whose convictions were overturned because of widespread corruption in the Camden Police Department. The settlement stems from a series of lawsuits filed against Camden Police in federal district court and state superior court over the last two years, after five officers were charged with a number of federal civil rights violations from conduct involving evidence planting, fabrication of reports and evidence, and perjury." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCamden, NJ Agrees to Pay $3.5M to Victims of Police Corruption

San Diego mayor halts local marijuana shop crackdown

"City code enforcement officers and police will no longer target medical marijuana dispensaries under a directive issued Friday by Mayor Bob Filner. Filner, in letters to Kelly Broughton, director of the Development Services Department, which oversees code compliance, and San Diego police Chief William Landsdowne, also directed both of their departments 'to stop sending dispensary code enforcement cases to the City Attorney's Office for prosecution.'" Continue reading →

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Uncle Sam’s Marijuana Patch

"Not many people are aware that the United States government has been dispensing cannabis to several patients across the country for over three decades. The hypocrisy of a government that seizes personal property, locks people in cages and ruins lives for doing exactly what the government has been doing for more than 30 years is simply astounding." Continue reading →

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Plead Guilty or Go to Prison for Life

"The efficient transformation of defendants into prisoners cannot be the standard by which we assess our criminal justice system. If the possibility of sending someone like Chris Williams to prison for the rest of his life is so obviously unfair, why does the law allow it, let alone mandate it?" Continue reading →

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Gun Restrictions Have Always Bred Defiance, Black Markets

"From one country to the next, across barriers of language and culture, government officials in even the most benign, stable democracies that have attempted to disarm their subjects, or to limit the weapons available for legal ownership, or even to do no more than track gun owners and register guns, have run into overwhelming resistance. Mass defiance has crippled registration programs, hobbled confiscations schemes and made a mockery of licensing programs. Given a choice between complying with restrictions on firearms ownership and defying the law, a clear majority of people in most jurisdictions have chosen rebellion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Restrictions Have Always Bred Defiance, Black Markets