Drugs & Prohibitions

CNN’s Sanjay Gupta apologizes for misleading Americans about marijuana

"CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, apologized on Wednesday for publicly opposing marijuana legalization, saying science was clearly on the side of the drug. 'I think we have been terribly and systematically misled in this country for some time, and I did part of that misleading,' he told CNN host Piers Morgan. Though studies on marijuana in the United States tended to focus on the drug’s negative effects, Gupta explained, research from across the world had made marijuana’s positive effects clear. He said there was 'no scientific basis' to claim marijuana had no medical benefits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCNN’s Sanjay Gupta apologizes for misleading Americans about marijuana

IRS secretly used DEA surveillance database to launch investigations

"Details of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration program that feeds tips to federal agents and then instructs them to alter the investigative trail were published in a manual used by agents of the Internal Revenue Service for two years. The practice of recreating the investigative trail, highly criticized by former prosecutors and defense lawyers after Reuters reported it this week, is now under review by the Justice Department. An IRS spokesman had no comment on the entry or on why it was removed from the manual. Reuters recovered the previous editions from the archives of the Westlaw legal database." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS secretly used DEA surveillance database to launch investigations

Marijuana stops child’s severe seizures

"The marijuana strain Charlotte and now 41 other patients use to ease painful symptoms of diseases such as epilepsy and cancer has been named after her. It's called Charlotte's Web. 'I didn't hear her laugh for six months,' Paige said. 'I didn't hear her voice at all, just her crying. I can't imagine that I would be watching her making these gains that she's making, doing the things that she's doing (without the medical marijuana). I don't take it for granted. Every day is a blessing.' Matt added, 'I want to scream it from the rooftops. I want other people, other parents, to know that this is a viable option.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarijuana stops child’s severe seizures

Anaheim & the Feds Use Civil Forfeiture to Subvert State Law

"When IJ client Tony Jalali fled Iran in 1978, he came to America seeking protection of the rule of law, due process, and justice. He never would have imagined that 35 years later he would be battling in federal court to save the small Anaheim, Calif., office building that represents his family’s life savings. Although Tony has never been charged with any crime, the federal government is attempting to use civil forfeiture to take his entire $1.5 million commercial building merely because he used to rent office space to a medical marijuana dispensary that was entirely legal under state law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnaheim & the Feds Use Civil Forfeiture to Subvert State Law

For Smoking Marijuana, the Government Ruined This Man’s Family Forever

"For the simple crime of smoking marijuana, Texas man Joshua Hill’s family is destroyed forever. The government took Hill’s two-year old daughter away from him because he was caught smoking pot while she was asleep. But under the watch of Child Protective Services (CPS), Hill’s child was abused and eventually murdered by foster parents. Was Hill’s 'crime' of smoking marijuana worse than the state’s prescription of removing his child from the home and placing her into a foster system with as much as 10 times higher risk of abuse?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFor Smoking Marijuana, the Government Ruined This Man’s Family Forever

Indiana Appeals Court: Motorist Search Over Expired Tag Disallowed

"A motorist's bag cannot be searched because his car has an expired tag, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled last week. A divided three-judge panel overturned the conviction of Adam Miller, who was pulled over on January 9, 2011 for having an expired sticker on his license plate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndiana Appeals Court: Motorist Search Over Expired Tag Disallowed

Appeals court reverses course and says poker is gambling, not game of skill

"Poker may be a game of skill, but that does not protect a man who hosted games of 'Texas Hold ‘Em' from being prosecuted under an anti-gambling law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a decision last year that said Lawrence DiCristina could not be prosecuted because 'Texas Hold ‘Em' was a game of skill rather than chance. DiCristina was convicted under the law for running games of 'Texas Hold ‘Em' at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, which he publicized by text message and word of mouth. DiCristina faces 10 years in prison." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAppeals court reverses course and says poker is gambling, not game of skill

Kristin Davis, Libertarian Candidate for NYC Comptroller, Arrested By FBI On Drug Charges

"A cooperating witness (the 'CW') was arrested in or about December 2012, and has pled guilty in this district to narcotics conspiracy and distribution offenses. The CW is cooperating with the FBI and the Government in the hope of obtaining leniency with respect to sentencing in the CW’s case. From in or about 2009, up to and including in or about Fall 2011, KRISTIN DAVIS, the defendant, purchased controlled substances, including ecstasy pills, Adderall pills, and Xanax pills, from the CW. DAVIS told the CW that she purchased ecstasy and Adderall pills at least in part to provide them to others at house parties." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKristin Davis, Libertarian Candidate for NYC Comptroller, Arrested By FBI On Drug Charges

Golden trail: Dubai to Chennai via Delhi

"Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths on the trail of 16kg gold boarded the Delhi-Chennai Rajdhani Express when it neared the outskirts of the city and followed the smugglers all the way to city before seizing the contraband and arresting four people, including two Sri Lankans, on Friday. Investigators intercepted the train when it reached Gummidipoondi railway station and boarded it. They identified the smugglers and tailed them to a house at Kodambakkam where they delivered the consignment. This is the second major seizure since March when DRI caught a senior diplomat from the UAE for allegedly smuggling 37kg gold jewellery." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGolden trail: Dubai to Chennai via Delhi

Taken: The Use And Abuse Of Civil Forfeiture

"Hundreds of state and federal laws authorize forfeiture for cockfighting, drag racing, basement gambling, endangered-fish poaching, securities fraud, and countless other misdeeds. In general, you needn’t be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with 'probable cause' is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires that a person be convicted of an offense before his or her property is confiscated, civil forfeiture amounts to a lawsuit filed directly against a possession, regardless of its owner’s guilt or innocence." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTaken: The Use And Abuse Of Civil Forfeiture