Child, 11, injests heroin, suffers heart attack
Wise up, America! End the war on drugs! Every day we see an article about some “major” drug bust, and yet the flow of poison onto our streets is not slowed by one kilo, or one pill! What a waste of money and police resources!
We continue to read about deaths and disasters, like the one which befell an 11-year-old!
READ – I remember when the system worked well; justice nearly always was the result. Today it is a total train wreck – perhaps the most vivid manifestation is that we are imprisoning hundreds of innocent people every year. This is WHY it is a train wreck!
Excerpts from the Article:
An 11-year-old was hospitalized after unknowingly ingesting heroin received from a school friend earlier in the day, authorities said Friday. The child went into cardiac arrest Monday night at a home in Millsboro and was transported to Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, according to police. The youth’s updated condition was not immediately available Friday.
According to Delaware State Police spokeswoman Master Cpl Melissa Jaffe, arriving troopers found several small bags of heroin in the child’s pocket and 30 bags were located. Police were dispatched to the 2700 block of Pot of Gold Circle at approximately 9:12 p.m.
Investigation determined that the juvenile received an unknown substance at Laurel Elementary School. The friend had located an Altoids container in a vehicle when driven to school by his stepmother, and opened it to find a concealed and unknown substance eventually given to victim, police said.
The vehicle was owned by Gilbert M. Dickerson, whose Little Creek Apartments home was subsequently searched by DSP and Laurel Police, Cpl. Jaffe said. Approximately 65 bags of heroin weighing .455 grams were found, authorities said.
Three children ages 13, 12 and 6 were present in the time, police said. No updated status was immediately available Friday.
Mr. Dickerson was taken to Troop 4 and charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, first-degree reckless endangering (two counts), and allowing a child to remain in a place with dangerous drug activity (three counts).
Following arraignment at Justice of the Peace Court, Mr. Dickerson was released on $10,500 unsecured bond.
School staff was unaware of the exchange at Laurel ES and administrators cooperated fully with police once notified “and helped ensure that this event was an isolated incident,” Cpl. Jaffe said.
Dover Interfaith (DIMH) searching for new home for the homeless … With Letter to Editor
It was my great good fortune to land at DIMH when I was released from prison on 2/2/12. Fortunately, I was a resident there for only 3 months, because my first social security check enabled me to get an apartment. But I volunteered there for months, then I was hired as staff part-time for a couple of years. With all of my other work, I had to give up that part-time staff job, but I still volunteer there and I counsel their residents and former residents every week. Why do I devote time to DIMH? Because it is a fantastic homeless shelter, which makes a huge difference in the lives of those it serves and in Central Delaware!
With the work I do, I have learned much about many homeless shelters and their services, and DIMH truly is the best of its kind “either side of the Mississippi”!
Ms. Jeanine Kleimo and Herb Konowitz, the co-founders, have assembled a top-notch staff to help the homeless in so many ways!
Since my time living there, DIMH has built the Resource Center – it helps the homeless living on the streets, as well as DIMH residents – on the Forest Street property, has 7 transition housing properties, and has purchased a property in Felton to help the homeless who are on the sex offender registry. But now they must relocate the heart of their operations, the Forest Street facilities.
When we help the homeless, we help our communities in many ways. Ms. Kleimo has the statistics to prove that an investment in DIMH yields a ten fold return on investment! So, if you can help them relocate, don’t just sit there! Call them at 302-736-3600 to make a donation or donate your prime piece of land! 🙂
Excerpts from the Article:
The Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing’s lease at its property at 684 Forest St. is scheduled to run out in 2020, which has city of Dover officials and members of the Downtown Dover Partnership keeping their collective eyes open to help find a new home for the nonprofit organization.
The Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing serves as a shelter and transitional home for homeless men. It serves around 36 men year-round and has helped more than 1,000 since the program’s inception in 2008, with more than 700 of them obtaining permanent employment in the community. Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen said it’s a priority for the city to help find a new home for the organization, currently located at the intersection of Forest Street and Railroad Avenue in a building owned by the DDP.
The mayor said there have been serious discussions in bringing a light industrial company to the current site of DIMH, which would bring jobs to the downtown area.
“I think it’s really important for us to continue to work with Interfaith to continue their mission of helping the homeless move to permanent housing and jobs and just to be taken off the street and deal with the issues that they have to deal with,” Mayor Christiansen said. “I think we have a responsibility to participate in their relocation effort because we, as the Downtown Partnership and the city of Dover, granted them a lease for the initial property.
“I think it’s only fair for us to help find them a new place. Their lease ends in 2020, but there are provisions for it to be extended for a year. At this point we’d really like to have something in place and the sooner the better – so all parties know what’s going to happen.”
Mike Harrington, a board member of the DDP, said DIMH has identified three possible sites for relocation. “I think we all recognize the fact that the lease is running out and we’re trying to do everything we can to relocate it,” Mr. Harrington said. “The highlights of what the committee is looking at is one (property) at 630 West Division Street that’s quite a large property that is owned by Crossroads Christian Church. It’s probably too much property for them and it’s probably not the best location (downtown), so they’re not looking at that very much.
“The other two locations are on Walker Road. One is the (former) St. John’s Lutheran School, which is vacant and a very large 6,000 square foot building. Across the street is the Everett Building, at 1151 Walker Road. We have prices on both of those buildings, and we have offered, but we haven’t signed the offer.”
The positives with the two proposed sites off Walker Road are that ancillary services could be located near the locations, which could help move the homeless population away from the downtown area.
Todd Stonesifer asked Mr. Harrington if they have looked outside of the city for a possible new location. “If we expand the footprint of where we’re looking, we might find more possibilities that might be more cost effective,” Mr. Stonesifer said. Mr. Harrington replied that it would be difficult to move the men outside of the city because they need transportation to get to jobs and services.
“We’ve not looked outside the city of Dover,” Mr. Harrington said. “The Interfaith Mission group has purchased some properties outside of the city of Dover, down near Felton. They purchased an abandoned hotel down there and it seems to be working rather well.
“But being sympathetic to the people that occupy (DIMH), they need to have transportation to get food and things like that.”
That is a big concern, considering the volunteer organization is made up of more than 1,000 volunteers who serve 12,000 meals per year at no cost.
The Whole Story:
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Letter to the Editor – Lend a Hand! 10/28/19
It was my great good fortune to land at DIMH when I was released from prison on 2/2/12. Fortunately, I was a resident there for only 3 months, because my first social security check enabled me to get an apartment. But I volunteered there for months, then I was hired as staff part-time for a couple of years. With all of my other work, I had to give up that part-time staff job, but I still volunteer there and I counsel their residents and former residents every week. Why do I devote time to DIMH? Because it is a fantastic homeless shelter, which makes a huge difference in the lives of those it serves and in Central Delaware!
With the work I do, I have learned much about many homeless shelters and their services, and DIMH truly is the best of its kind “either side of the Mississippi”!
Ms. Jeanine Kleimo and Herb Konowitz, the co-founders, have assembled a top-notch staff to help the homeless in so many ways!
Since my time living there, DIMH has built the Resource Center – it helps the homeless living on the streets, as well as DIMH residents – on the Forest Street property, has 7 transition housing properties, and has purchased a property in Felton to help the homeless who are on the sex offender registry. But now they must relocate the heart of their operations, the Forest Street facilities.
When we help the homeless, we help our communities in many ways. Ms. Kleimo has the statistics to prove that an investment in DIMH yields a ten fold return on investment! So, if you can help them relocate, don’t just sit there! Call them at 302-736-3600 to make a donation or donate your prime piece of land!
Ken Abraham, former Deputy Attorney General, founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, Dover, DE 302-423-4067
Meth is most common drug in overdose deaths in chunk of US – Letter to the Editor – Another Reminder! – 10/28/19
You tell me … how is our “war on drugs” going? It is the most costly, clearly cataclysmically failed policy in American history! How much longer will it take to see that the answer is staring us in the face?
Any way you argue it, the harm done by our current drug policies far, far outweighs any benefits! READ http://www.citizensforcriminaljustice.net/the-power-of-advertising-win-the-war-on-dr = The Answer to the Drug Problem … or do you want to continue to waste about a hundred billion dollars a year, and get nowhere?
Excerpts from the Article:
Fentanyl is driving drug overdose deaths in the U.S. overall, but in nearly half of the country, it’s a different story. Meth is the bigger killer, a new government report shows. Nationwide, most deaths still involve opioid drugs like fentanyl and heroin. But in 2017, the stimulant meth was the drug most frequently involved in deaths in four regions that include 19 states west of the Mississippi.
The report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the agency’s first geographic breakdown of deaths by drug. It’s based on 2017 figures when there were more than 70,000 overdose deaths in the U.S., two-thirds of them involving opioids.
Fentanyl was involved in 39% of the deaths that year, followed by heroin, 23%, and cocaine, 21%. Those drugs top the list in the eastern part of the country.
Methamphetamine was No. 4 nationwide, cited in 13% of overdose deaths. But in the four western regions, it was No. 1, at 21% to 38%.
Previous CDC reports have charted meth’s increasing toll, noting that it rose from eighth to fourth in just four years. The new report found dramatic differences in the 10 regions. For example, In New England, fentanyl had the highest adjusted overdose death rate and meth was a distant 10th on the list. In the region that includes the mountain states and the Dakotas, meth was No. 1 and fentanyl was sixth.
Most of the meth in the U.S. is made in Mexico and smuggled across the border — U.S. production has actually been declining in recent years, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Its availability has held at high levels in recent years in areas of the Southwest, and has increased in some areas of the Midwest, the agency’s field offices report.
Final 2018 data has not yet been released, but preliminary figures suggest that overdose deaths involving meth increased. The CDC report is based on a search of overdose death certificates for the name of drugs. In many cases, a person was taking multiple drugs.
New Mexico has seen a shift. For years, black tar heroin was the biggest problem, then prescription painkillers, said Dr. Michael Landen of the state’s health department. State meth deaths went from 150 in 2017 to 194 last year, vaulting meth to the top.
He attributed the surge in meth to its wide availability and low cost, and said he worried it could get worse. While there are programs to deal with fentanyl and heroin overdoses, there’s not much in place to prevent meth deaths, he said.
“I think we’re potentially going to be caught off guard with methamphetamine deaths, and we have to get our act together,” he said.
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Letter to the Editor – Another Reminder! – 10/28/19
You tell me … how is our “war on drugs” going? It is the most costly, clearly cataclysmically failed policy in American history! How much longer will it take to see that the answer is staring us in the face? How many more mothers’ sons and daughters must die before we change course, and take the effective, proven course to save lives?
Fentanyl is driving drug overdose deaths in the U.S. overall, but in nearly half of the country Meth is the bigger killer, a new government report shows. Nationwide, most deaths still involve opioid drugs like fentanyl and heroin. There were more than 70,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. in one year, two-thirds of them involving opioids.
Fentanyl was involved in 39% of the deaths a year, followed by heroin, 23%, and cocaine, 21%. Those drugs top the list in the eastern part of the country. Methamphetamine was No. 4 nationwide, cited in 13% of overdose deaths. But in the four western regions, it was No. 1, at 21% to 38%.
These are some irrefutable facts, but the harm runs deeper than even the deaths: Lives of families and children ruined, phenomenal wasted costs enforcing useless policies of prohibition, and the endless violence in the streets seeking to control the market!
Any way you argue it, the harm done by our current drug policies far, far outweighs any benefits! READ http://www.citizensforcriminaljustice.net/the-power-of-advertising-win-the-war-on-dr = The Answer to the Drug Problem … or do you want to continue to waste about a hundred billion dollars a year, and get nowhere?
Urge politicians to actually help keep us safe, by ending the “war on drugs”!
Ken Abraham, founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, former Deputy Attorney General, Dover, DE 302-423-4067
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I get lots of letters published, and ghost write for others. THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO REACH THOUSANDS OF READERS! The keys to getting your Letter published are:
1. Keep it to 250 words or fewer.
2. Do not make it about “poor little old me”. Describe the problem as one which not only affects the individual, but is a senseless or ineffective measure, policy, or law which also harms communities and society. For example, with reentry, the obstacles make it unnecessarily difficult for the individual, but also harm society by making it hard to become productive, spending money and paying taxes in the community, and they cause increased recidivism = increased crime.
3. Speak from your heart.
4. Google any facts you are not sure about.
5. Do not name-call.
Do what works: Write that Letter!
…………
Letter to Editor – sign name, town, state, and your phone number (they often call to verify that you sent it), and “Member of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE” if you like – shows you are part of a large group.
Send the email to yourself, and put on the “bcc” bar the email addresses for Letters to the Editor for the top ten newspapers in your state and several national ones – The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, U S A Today (google the Letter to Editor email addresses). Any questions, CALL me at 302-423-4067!
GOOGLE THE EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR” FOR THE TOP TEN NEWSPAPERS IN YOUR STATE AND SAVE THAT INFORMATION FOR REPEATED USE – Some papers will print a letter from you every 2 ekke, some every 30 days, some every 90 days. They have varying policies. But if you really want to make a difference shoot them a new letter once a month! I send one out every 2 weeks.
Need a Letter on some criminal justice issue and not a great letter writer? NO EXCUSE! Email me a rough draft and call me and I’ll polish it up! kenabraham3138@gmail.com .
ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME AT 302-423-4067.
Instead of arresting a woman, this police officer got her help
God knows we need more cops like this one!
Excerpts from the Article:
Officer Christopher Samya was getting ready to go home at the end his night shift when a call came over his radio. The 20-year police veteran responded and quickly headed to a nearby gas station where he discovered a disoriented woman, clearly at rock bottom. Samya, who has worked the night shift for more than 10 years, says it’s a common occurrence.
“We’ve worked more heroin overdoses than I can count,” he told CNN.
Sumiton is in Walker County, Alabama, which has the highest rate of drug overdoses in the state. According to a database of Drug Enforcement Administration information compiled by the Washington Post, 66 million prescription opioid pills were prescribed in the county from 2006 to 2012 — more than in any other part of the state during that time.
Instead of slapping handcuffs on the woman and taking her into custody, Samya sat down on the ground next to the woman and they talked. “She had confessed she had been using drugs and that she had been using drugs for quite some time,” Samya said. “And she was going through a tough time in life.
“My instincts told me she needed help more than she needed jail.”
Samya contacted local medical services and, after the woman was treated at a local hospital, she was connected with the Mercy Project — a program created by the Walker County sheriff’s office that provides free services to help any Alabama resident struggling with addiction. The program helps residents get into state or faith-based treatment programs and provides job training and placement once treatment is complete.
The Mercy Project is the brainchild of Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, who had started a drug treatment program a few years earlier when he was police chief in nearby Cordova, Alabama.
“It’s not about just trying to lock people up, but it’s about actually helping that individual, especially in small towns,” explained Deputy TJ Armstrong, a spokesman for the Walker County Sheriff’s Department who manages the program. “To someone who has struggled with addiction, we’re the bad guys. We’re the last people that they want to see.”
“Ultimately, I’m out here to help people,” Samya said. “That’s what I was taught when I was a kid. This is what I was taught when I became a police officer. And that’s how I feel about it in my heart.”
The Whole Story and Watch the Video
Opinion: A conservative case for expunging criminal records
What a train wreck the system is. Changes in expungement laws and procedures are coming much too slowly. It should be a simple process for most crimes, and it certainly should be AUTOMATIC once a person has gotten a pardon! But nooooooo, many of our idiot legislators want to brand people needlessly for life!
Excerpts from the Article:
There are around 70 million Americans with a criminal record. In Michigan, estimates range from 500,000 to 2 million, depending on the type of record. Every year, about 50,000 people are convicted of a felony crime in the Great Lakes State.
Criminal justice issues center around what to do with those people. Society and elected officials wrestle with how to make rules that are fair, just and workable. The difficulty is in figuring out the best way to protect the innocent, punish the guilty and integrate people back into society after they’ve paid the fine or done the time.
For all the seemingly intense and divisive debates about politics, lawmakers, groups and individuals across the political spectrum are in agreement on some of the most significant and important reforms in the criminal justice system. The latest reform deals with expunging criminal records.
Every state has different rules for what shows up during a criminal background check and for how long. Expungement — the process of getting a past criminal offense off or sealed from the public record — has been done in Michigan since 1965. But a new package of bills would make it easier.
Under current law, people with a criminal background can apply to have one felony or two misdemeanors removed. But the limit on which crimes can be removed is overly restrictive, and the process is complicated and often expensive.
The newly proposed laws would automatically expunge some lower-level felonies. They would also open up the process for some crimes not currently eligible for expungement, though murder and criminal sexual conduct would not be expunged from records. Many convictions would go away after 10 years of good behavior for people who have paid restitution.
These reforms would open up more job opportunities and save money. The current reform of expungement laws across the country does not seem to have affected the continued decline in crime rates. It wipes the slate clear for people who’ve shown they can behave, and all of us will gain from it.
Criminal justice reform is a national movement, uniting many people for many reasons.
The amount states spend on corrections peaked more than a decade ago and has been in decline since. Texas and California, the epicenter of “tough on crime” policies decades ago, have both radically reformed their criminal justice policies. And despite these changes — or perhaps because of them — nearly every major category of crime continues to fall.
Every dollar the government spends — whether on roads, prisons or wasteful programs — is one less spent by individuals. Every crime created or regulation enforced is a limitation on freedom. If that money is spent well or enforcement fair and protects the public, it may be worth it.
But, like all public programs, the way Michigan processes people through the criminal system and how it treats them after they get out is subject to scrutiny and reform. And one change that makes sense is putting a limit on how long the government will put a scarlet letter on people wanting to move forward with their lives.
MEDICAL POT ON CAMPUS: COLLEGES SAY NO AND FACE LAWSUITS
You’re in college. You have a medical problem which Pot will greatly alleviate, so you have a medical marijuana permit. Yet you need to deal with this shit! This is yet another reason to take Pot off the federal drug schedule and legalize it. There are oodles of good reasons!
This really is a load of bullshit … needlessly preventing good, smart kids from entering the health care profession!
Excerpts from the Article:
Colleges are becoming a battleground in the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws as students who use medical pot challenge decades-old campus drug policies.
In states where medical marijuana is legal, students disciplined for using it are taking their schools to court. College officials argue they could lose federal funding for failing to follow federal law that labels cannabis an illegal drug with no accepted medical use.
Sheida Assar said she was expelled from GateWay Community College in Phoenix last month for violating the school’s drug policy after she tested positive for marijuana, which she uses to treat chronic pain from polycystic ovary syndrome.
She was studying diagnostic medical sonography, Assar said, and an instructor had told her she wouldn’t have any problems if she presented her Arizona medical marijuana card. She typically uses marijuana to help her sleep and had never been under the influence in class, she said. “They yanked me out of class in the middle of the school day,” said Assar, 31, of Chandler, Arizona. “They escorted me to the administration like I was a … criminal. It’s discrimination, and it also violates my rights under the Arizona medical marijuana law.”
The legal challenges are coming from students studying nursing and other medical specialties who, under school policies, must undergo drug testing.
Assar and other students say they received approval to use medical marijuana from college employees who serve students with health-related needs — only to face discipline from higher-ranking school officials. Asser said she intends to sue GateWay to recoup the $2,000 she spent on tuition and other educational expenses and seek more money in damages. Her lawyer already has been in contact with the school, she said.
A GateWay spokeswoman, Christine Lambrakis, said that she could not confirm Assar’s status at the school and that the college continues to prohibit marijuana use. Asked about an Arizona Supreme Court ruling last year that overturned a 2012 state law that made possession or use of marijuana on college campuses a crime, Lambrakis said the school is in the process of reviewing its policies and will not change them in the meantime.
Thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., allow medical marijuana, and 11 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, creating clashes with federal law that have been playing out in courts, mostly in employment cases that have had mixed results for medical pot.
There don’t appear to be efforts by recreational marijuana users to challenge college drug policies, observers say. That’s likely because states limit recreational use to people 21 and older, excluding most college students, and because there haven’t been successful legal challenges to campus alcohol policies even though state laws allow people 21 and over to drink, they say.
States with medical marijuana laws allow use by people 18 years or older with a doctor’s recommendation, as well as by minors if their parents approve.
Connecticut nursing student Kathryn Magner sued Sacred Heart University last month after she tested positive for marijuana and was barred from attending required clinical medical rounds, according to her lawsuit. She had begun using marijuana legally in her home state of Massachusetts over the summer to treat conditions that were not disclosed in legal documents. Connecticut law allows medical marijuana and forbids public and private colleges from discriminating against students who use it. A judge cited the state’s law in ordering that Magner, 22, from Marlborough, Massachusetts, be allowed to return to the medical rounds. The lawsuit was settled under undisclosed terms. Before the settlement, she stopped using marijuana, passed a drug screening and obtained approval to use medical pot from the Fairfield school’s Office of Student Accessibility to try to salvage her nursing career, her lawsuit said. But nursing school officials wouldn’t budge, her lawsuit said. “Many schools disability services offices are not universally listened to by the university,” said Michael Thad Allen, an attorney for Magner. “It just shows that these kinds of issues will become more common if employers and schools don’t abide by the law.”
Sacred Heart requires students to “obey the law at all times,” but it treats medical marijuana like other disability-related requests and “seeks to provide reasonable accommodation under the law,” school officials said in a statement.
In Florida, Kaitlin McKeon, of Naples, is suing Nova Southeastern University for expelling her from its nursing program in Fort Myers last year after she tested positive for marijuana. She has a state medical marijuana card to take the drug for several conditions. McKeon also said school officials told her there would be no problem with her use of medical marijuana under the provisions of state law. But after she failed the drug test in January 2018, higher-ranking officials moved to expel her, saying she violated the school’s drug policy, her lawsuit says.
“It’s really sad that Nova Southeastern … took this stance on this issue and is really preventing a really good, caring person from entering the nursing field and living out her dream because she chose a medication that’s legal in Florida but not one that they recognize,” said her lawyer, Michael Minardi. Nova Southeastern officials said they cannot comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuits have the potential to set legal precedents on the use of medical marijuana at colleges. In the meantime, advocates say, universities can lighten penalties so students do not face expulsion or suspension for legally using medical marijuana.
“Universities can effectively decriminalize it, de-punish it and make it not something they focus on,” said Jared Moffat, campaigns coordinator for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group for pro-marijuana laws.
In many parts of Mexico, government ceded battle to cartels
As many of you know, I have been calling attention to the futility, the stupidity, and the injustice of the “war on drugs” for more than ten years now. Actually, ever since it got started in a big way in the early ’80s.
My first reaction to this article was “Oh my, bad news that the whole government of Mexico has given up”! But is it such bad news? NO. It is merely the acknowledgement that the “war on drugs” is a total, colossal failure, and that violence only spawns more violence.
Is it so crazy to give up, to end the “war”? For DECADES, we have seen bodies littering the city streets in Mexico. Headless, hung upside down … endless VIOLENCE.
More death, more carnage, more death. Mexico’s government is starting to say “NO MAS!”
As long as we keep demanding drugs, many, many MORE people will die in the bloody streets of Mexico and elsewhere!
READ about the solution to this dilemma! = http://www.citizensforcriminaljustice.net/the-power-of-advertising-win-the-war-on-dr
Excerpts from the Article:
Cities are trying to prevent an armed incursion by Jalisco cartel gunmen. The problem is that the government force is working in coordination with a vigilante group allied with a drug cartel. The vigilantes are posted on a nearby hilltop where they can watch over the highway, armed with .50 caliber sniper rifles.
In Guerrero state, to the east of Michoacan, soldiers and state police man checkpoints between rival gangs of vigilantes, many of which are allied with drug gangs. Soldiers allow vigilantes armed with assault rifles to roam freely, but not to invade each other’s territories.
And in the northern state of Tamaulipas, when the United States began returning asylum seekers to wait for hearings in Mexico, the government knew it couldn’t protect the migrants from the Zetas drug cartel in the border city of Nuevo Laredo and so it simply bused them out of the city. Now known as the Cartel of the Northeast, the former Zetas control Nuevo Laredo so completely that they recently ordered local gas stations to refuse to sell gasoline to army vehicles.
In many regions, cartels enriched by drug profits have held extensive control for at least a decade, buying off or cowing law enforcement and building huge arsenals, along with networks of informants to protect narcotics routes from the government or rivals.
The cartel grip in Tamaulipas was so firm by 2011 that Zetas gunmen were able to kidnap almost 200 people from passing buses and kill them even as the passengers’ unclaimed luggage kept piling up at local bus stations. Nobody reported the crimes for months.
In this context, the government’s decision to release drug lord Ovidio Guzmán – son of imprisoned capo Joaquin Guzmán Loera – after the Culiacan shootouts was striking only because the government so publicly dropped even the pretense of enforcing the law.
“It’s not unprecedented for Mexican authorities to pick up a major capo and then release him; that’s actually unfortunately too common,” said David Shirk, a political science professor at the University of San Diego. “But what’s really unprecedented is to openly acknowledge that the state does not have the capacity or the stomach for keeping a major capo behind bars because of the potential consequences.”
“But what message does it send to people who are under the yoke of criminal organizations all over Mexico?” Shirk asked. “I think the message is, ‘You’re on your own. We’re not going to come in and rescue you because you could get killed in the process.’”
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office less than a year ago, has repeatedly urged military restraint, saying his predecessors’ hardline confrontation strategy in gang-controlled areas “turned this country into a cemetery, and we don’t want that anymore.”
Earlier this year praised a squad of soldiers for restraint after they were kidnapped and forced to return a .50 caliber rifle seized by a previous patrol. He defended the response to the Culiacan uprising by saying, “The capture of one criminal cannot be worth more than the lives of people. … “We do not want deaths. We do not want war.”
Hence, soldiers are likely to avoid taking any initiative, slide into a passive role and do anything to avoid bloodshed.
Average citizens in many zones, meanwhile, can only hope the most benign cartel comes to rule in their town. The problem is that almost all of the cartels promise to respect the local population and not kidnap them or shake them down for protection money. But all of the gangs eventually break that promise.
It thus becomes a question not of fighting the cartels, but accepting whichever seems the least malign at any given moment. And the gangs appear to be picking up on that message, too.
When the Jalisco cartel left the bodies of 19 members of a rival gang scattered on an overpass in the Michoacan in August, they left behind a banner saying “We are not a threat … Beautiful people, go on about your routine.”
On Friday, after the Culiacan gunbattles, José Luis González Meza, a lawyer for the family of Ovidio’s father, the imprisoned drug lord known as “El Chapo,” said the family “apologizes” for the shootouts and pledged, “They will take care (of the expenses) of the wounded and the dead. … However many there were, man, no problem, they will help them economically.”
“In his (Guzman’s) territory … there are no protection payments charged to taxi drivers, or bus drivers,” said González Meza, referring to extortion commonly practiced by other gangs. “Every two weeks, he draws up a list of poor people and sends it to stores, telling them to cancel their debts.”
And the message for the rest of the world? Don’t expect Mexico to help capture or extradite drug lords anymore, as the country did with the elder Guzmán.
“It does send a very sobering signal, I think, to Mexico and arguably to Mexico’s U.S. partners,” said Shirk. “If I were going to write the next State Department advisory for Mexico, I would dramatically increase this number and the number of advisories that I had for different parts of Mexico, because it’s very clear that the federal government is ceding territory … and not just rural territory, but major cities and perhaps even entire states to drug traffickers.”
House Approves Marijuana Banking Bill In Historic Vote – This is HUGE – kra
It has not made it through the Senate, but pray that it does! This Bill will ease many problems in the marijuana industry, which now is an all cash business … with the problems that naturally flow from that. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR IDIOT LEGISLATORS TO DO WHAT IS INEVITABLE? LEGALIZE AND REGULATE POT!
Excerpts from the Article:
The House of Representatives passed a standalone marijuana reform bill for the first time in history on Wednesday. The chamber advanced the legislation—which would protect banks that service the cannabis industry from being penalized by federal regulators—in a vote of 321-103.
All but one Democrat voted in favor of the bill. Republicans were virtually split, with 91 voting for the legislation and 102 opposing it.
For six years, lawmakers have been pushing for the modest reform, which is seen as necessary to increase financial transparency and mitigate risks associated with operating on a largely cash-only basis—something many marijuana businesses must do because banks currently fear federal reprisal for taking them on as clients.
While the House has approved historic cannabis amendments in the past, including one this summer that would protect all state marijuana programs from federal intervention, those have had to be renewed annually. This is the first time a standalone reform bill was approved in the chamber, and the policy will be permanently codified into law if the Senate follows suit and the president signs it.
“If someone wants to oppose the legalization of marijuana, that’s their prerogative, but American voters have spoken and continue to speak and the fact is you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Prohibition is over,” Perlmutter said on the floor. “Our bill is focused solely on taking cash off the streets and making our communities safe and only congress can take these steps to provide this certainty for businesses, employees and financial institutions across the country.”
Americans across the country are voting to approve some level of marijuana use & we need these marijuana businesses & employees to have access to checking accounts, lines of credit & more. #SAFEBanking will improve transparency & reduce the public safety risk in our communities.
Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA) made an impassioned case for the bill, sharing an anecdote about a security guard who worked for a cannabis shop who was killed on the job and emphasizing that the legislation would mitigate the risks of violent crime at these businesses. “You can be agnostic on the underlying policy of whether or not cannabis should be legal for either adult recreational use or to treat seizures, but you cannot be agnostic on the need to improve safety in this area,” he said.
“I have long fought for criminal justice reform and deeply understand the need to fully address the historical racial and social inequities related to the criminalization of marijuana,” Waters said in a press release on Tuesday. “I support legislation that deschedules marijuana federally, requires courts to expunge convictions for marijuana-related offenses, and provides assistance such as job training and reentry services for those who have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.”
“I am proud to bring this legislation to the Floor, but I believe it does not go far enough,” he said. “This must be a first step toward the decriminalization and de-scheduling of marijuana, which has led to the prosecution and incarceration of far too many of our fellow Americans for possession.”
“Today’s vote is a significant first step, but it must not be the last. Much more action will still need to be taken by lawmakers,” NORML Political Director Justin Strekal told Marijuana Moment. “In the Senate, we demand that lawmakers in the Senate Banking Committee hold true to their commitment to move expeditiously in support of similar federal reforms. And in the House, we anticipate additional efforts to move forward and pass comprehensive reform legislation like The MORE Act—which is sponsored by the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee—in order to ultimately comport federal law with the new political and cultural realities surrounding marijuana.”
“This bipartisan legislation is vital to protecting public safety, fostering transparency, and leveling the playing field for small businesses in the growing number of states with successful cannabis programs,” he said.
The Whole Story:
Study on solitary confinement makes a tragic case for restricting it in the U.S. People held in solitary confinement were 127 percent more likely to die from opioid overdose.
I was placed in isolation cells for 1,510 days. I saw many men go mad. “Thank you,God, for my strong spirit”! YOU should read: It’s not about What They Did to Me – Prison Abuse
What these studies don’t tell you is that the isolation cells are used improperly and illegally very often by mean-spirited guards to shut up or punish inmates who try to complain about prison abuse or medical neglect, or try to contact the outside world about the same.
Excerpts from the Article:
In the United States, thousands of prisoners are put in “the hole” for years, and while it’s established the practice of isolating people results in trauma while they are in prison, new research shows solitary confinement is linked with massive costs once prisoners are released.
Scientists reported Friday that people who spent any time in what’s officially known as “restrictive housing” during their incarceration at a North Carolina state prison were “significantly more likely to die of all causes in the first year after release than those who did not.” Furthermore, spending more than 14 days in solitary confinement was linked with a higher risk of death and reincarceration after release from prison.
Their work was published the journal JAMA Open Network, and it examined those prisoners between 2000 to 2015. The data was provided to the team by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, which has expressed interest in reforming how the state approaches solitary confinement.
First author Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, tells Inverse that previous research has shown that solitary confinement can be detrimental to health, but “traditionally it has been very hard to obtain administrative data on time in solitary confinement during incarceration.”
Similarly, it’s been difficult for researchers to establish how many Americans have been placed in solitary confinement. A 2016 study by Yale Law School found that about 66,000 prisoners were in solitary confinement, based on data from 73 percent of the country’s prison population. The study also estimates that if all data was available, that number would rise to 80,000 people.
In the case of this new study, Brinkley-Rubinstein and colleagues were able to use data provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, then matched that data to mortality records. The cohort study included 229,297 people, some who had been placed in restrictive housing and others who had not.
Certain patterns emerged: People who spent any time in restrictive housing were 24 percent more likely to die in the first year of their release. Within this group, 78 percent died from suicide while roughly 54 percent from homicide. These individuals were also 127 percent more likely to die from an opioid overdose in the first two weeks after their release. This was especially true for white individuals.
These individuals were also 127 percent more likely to die from an opioid overdose in the first two weeks after their release.”
While this study shows that exposure to restrictive housing “may be a contributing factor” to risk of death during community reentry, it can’t establish exactly why.
“We know that being incarcerated increases the risk of adverse health outcomes post-release but, what is understudied, is what are the ‘mechanisms of incarceration’ that heighten this risk above and beyond what we already know,” Brinkley-Rubinstein explains.
But testaments of prisoners and psychiatrists point to the mechanisms that are likely at play. To be in restrictive housing means to be within a cell about the size of a king-sized bed for 22 to 24-hours a day. These settings mean social isolation, sensory deprivation, and intense physical idleness. Interviews with prisoners in solitary show indicate that time spent there can induce paranoia, hallucinations, panic attacks, and suicidal intentions among other repercussions. They can lose their ability to interact with other people and to know who they are.
Currently, there is a lawsuit filed against the Virginia Department of Corrections for holding a man named Tyquine Lee in solitary confinement at Red Onion State Prison for more than 600 days. Lee has lost over 30 pounds, as well as his ability to speak and remember his name.
There are movements to reform restrictive housing rules in the United States, but various agencies and advocacy groups differ on when it should be applied. Some consider it torture and advocate for its complete restriction, while others argue for more gradual efforts or alternatives.
In 2016, the Department of Justice argued that in certain occasions “correctional officials have no choice but to segregate inmates from the general population” but “we believe strongly this practice should be used rarely, applied fairly, and subjected to reasonable constraints.” Meanwhile, the nonprofit the Vera Institutes argues it should only be used as a “last resort” and “for the shortest time possible.” While federally there are no restrictions on solitary confinement, as of July 2019 there are eight states that have legislation that limits the use of restrictive housing.
In turn, the authors of this new study argue that their results can be used to “identify people for linkage to trauma-nformed, community-based substance use and mental health treatment, overdose prevention and harm reduction, and wraparound care and services. To Brinkley-Rubinstein, the goal is that the data can ignite change: “I hope that jails and prisons reconsider the use of solitary confinement and restrict its use.”
In 2015, the United Nations instituted the “Mandela Rules,” which state that no one should be put in solitary confinement for more than 15 days. However, the US doesn’t follow those rules.
Conclusions and relevance: This study suggests that exposure to restrictive housing is associated with an increased risk of death during community reentry. These findings are important in the context of ongoing debates about the harms of restrictive housing, indicating a need to find alternatives to its use and flagging restrictive housing as an important risk factor during community reentry.
More Fucking Outrageous Injustice!
Rough day already! Carpe Diem! 10/2/19 … I did not sleep well when my friend, X, told me what happened in court yesterday.
A guy I was helping by phone and email got screwed yesterday. Long story short: He was on trial in MO for the past two days and he had a PD who did NOTHING. He is, in fact innocent, yet was convicted of all 3 charges. He clutched on the stand and did not say what I had advised him to say, and his PD was useless. He was convicted of 1. possession of meth with intent to deliver, 2. poss of pot, 3. poss of paraphernalia – rolling papers.
He was sentenced to 10 years!! TEN YEARS! 🙁
NICE GUY, AGE 32, NO PRIOR RECORD (a couple of pot charges from 4 and 9 years ago, respectively).
I spent at least 10 hours talking with him on the phone and he IS innocent. He was stopped for a traffic charge, the cop saw a joint in the ashtray, and searched the car. He found a scale with meth residue.
Now, X had the scale because he needs it to weigh ingredients for a medicine which he takes. He has never used meth, much less sold it. He had the instructions for the medicine, showing the need for the scale, and he did get that into evidence… over the objection of his idiot PD!
He had lent the scale to a friend the day b4 the stop, and, obviously, that guy used it for meth and did not clean it b4 returning it.
1. What the fuck does it achieve by locking him up for TEN YEARS!?
2. I am going to email the prosecutor this weekend to tell him he’s and asshole. Oh, yes I am! X called me several times yesterday during breaks in the trial, telling me his PD did not believe him, was doing nothing, and the jackass prosecutor objected to nearly every word X said as he tried to tell the truth to the jury. Clearly one of those asshole, idiot, dangerous prosecutors who thinks it’s a numbers game …. how many people can I lock up?!
HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?
- The PD waltzed in on the morning of trial, had never met X nor talked with him b4, and, when X told him why the scale had meth on it, the PD said “Well, I don’t believe that story”! Shoot that asshole! I have interviewed thousands of people charged with crimes, and I can tell when they are lying. THAT’S MY JOB! I spent many, many hours talking with X over the past several months, because he has been so worried about these charges, and, I “cross-examined” him early on… there is no doubt about the real reason he had the scale.
- The arresting officer takes the stand, bedecked in his uniform, and says something like: “I am Sgt. Bozo, with the MO State Police, and I am assigned to the drug unit. I have been there for 15 years, made x thousand drug arrests for all kinds of drugs, … blah blah blah. In my extensive experience (“when I could have been doing some good solving our backlog of unsolved rapes and murders, but, oh shit, that takes real wok!”) if someone has a scale with a drug residue on it they are selling that drug. Never mind that he never saw anyone sell anything, and neither did anyone else. Never mind that X had offered to take a polygraph exam about why he had the scale (they did not give him one and he could not afford a private one … they cost about $600.00). You see, the cop is an “expert” so he can say what he said, and voila!, X, an innocent man, is convicted. This happens EVERY DAY IN OUR FUCKED UP CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM!
READ Beware of “Expert” Witnesses! A funny true story about “experts”.
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