Officials with the Gwinnett County Police Department said they seized 457 pounds of marijuana and a cache of guns from a Lilburn home
Investigators with the department’s drug task force said they received an anonymous tip from a citizen who was concerned about possible drug activity at the house.
457 pounds of marijuana worth $2,118,293.00 was located and seized, according to police. Five weapons including a M16 and AK 47 assault rifle were also confiscated along with a large amount of ammunition.
I can’t write like Russ so I’m just going to post what I commented on the article and what I’m currently sending to my legislators and all the community and family groups I can find in Atlanta and Georgia:
Wow, this is right here in Atlanta! These people are here in our city, they make pot easy for kids to buy and they bring guns and violence and home invasions right into our communities. It’s only a matter of time before it’s our door that gets kicked in and it’s us who are tied up and brutalized and killed.
What are our legislators doing about it? The police made one lucky catch here but there are many more of these people in our city right now with their pounds of weed and their guns. They’re here to make money. They’re here because the federal prohibition on marijuana has driven the price of pot up so high that these people can come here and get filthy rich selling their weed to anyone with money. And they don’t care how young their customers are or who gets injured or tortured or killed in the process.
We HAVE to take action on this. The prohibition was supposed to keep us safe but it does not. It’s been in place for seventy years and it does NOTHING to reduce the amount of marijuana smoked by teenagers and it does nothing to prevent violent people from coming here and getting rich from selling pot. If the prohibition worked then after seventy years stuff like this wouldn’t be happening!
The prohibition itself is the reason they’re here. They come because there’s no competition for what they’re selling. And every arrest by our police officers, and every bust of every illegal seller just clears the way of competition for new people to come here and do the exact same thing!
The prohibition HAS to go. We have to force these people to leave and we have to prevent new ones like them from wanting to come here. And the ONLY way we can do this is by ending the prohibition and issuing licenses for reputable businesses to legally produce marijuana and sell it to adults with after-tax prices set too low for these people to compete.
That’s what we have to tell our legislators! Senator Chambliss, Senator Isakson, Representatives Price, Kingston, Westmoreland and all the rest. We must write to all our legislators and the candidates running for next year’s elections and tell them that they must act NOW to make our families safe.
Don’t let your kids get arrested for buying pot from these people and don’t leave your family in danger of being beaten or killed by them. Tell our legislators that they have to end the prohibition and take control of the marijuana market, that they have to allow it to be legally produced and sold to adults and that they have to regulate it and tax it. The prohibition is an archaic failure, we must end it before it ends us.
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 12:33 pm | By: Radical Russ
Unfortunately 4/20 is on a Monday this year. However, stoners across the country will be celebrating the weekend prior. I just posted information for the Sweetwater 420 Fest weekend in Atlanta on our Activist’s Agenda. Sounds like fun!
Sweetwater 420 Earth Day Celebration held on April 18th & 19th, 2009 in Historic Candler Park! Please visit Planet 420 on our website to see how you can get involved in making a change.
When:
Saturday, April 18th from Noon to 10 PM
Sunday, April 19th from 12:30 PM to 8 PM
Admission:
Free admission for great live music, activities, and education about how you can be a part of the solution! 21 and up can buy $5 wristband with valid ID. Beer, wine, and other food and beverages will be sold.
Send me your 4/20 events at stash@norml.org and we’ll get them posted for the whole online cannabis community to see.
Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 2:33 pm | By: Radical Russ
We just received this letter at NORML. I’ll reserve my “American Disease Care and Health Insurance Bureaucracy Subsidation” rant for another time on my personal blog, but I will say that my wife used to be a claims manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield and the following story, while infuriating and tragic, is far from the worst health care nightmare this company has created for one of its paying customers:
My name is Walter and my kidney transplant was denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia due to the fact I smoke marijuana.
I was born with reflux disease and required my first kidney transplant in May 1978 at the age of 2 1/2. My older brother gave me one of his kidneys and the transplant was a success.
Now, 31 years later the transplanted kidney is failing. I currently only have 17% of my kidney function.
In January I went to the University of Minnesota/Fairview Transplant Center for an evaluation. In order to be completely honest with all the doctors I made them aware of the fact that I smoke marijuana and have for quite some time. I also made them aware that the use of marijuana has helped me with the decline of my appetite due to end stage of renal disease. With the exception of the hospital shrink, no one seemed to have a problem with it and even commented that my smoking had nothing to do with my kidney.
Blue Cross Blue Shield approved the evaluation but [after] having received the paperwork from Minnesota has declined my transplant, stating “Kidney transplantation has not been shown to be more beneficial than other alternative treatments for patients with ongoing substance abuse. Thus, I recommended denial of kidney transplantation” (Ronald Hunt MD – Medical Director).
I spoke to one of my doctors and they suggested that I contact NORML. It is my understanding most of your lawyers listed on your website are for criminal defense but I was hoping that you may have a lawyer familiar with medical insurance claims in the Atlanta area. Any assistance you can give with the matter will be greatly appreciated.
If you can help Walter in any way, send me an email at stash@norml.org with the subject Help for Walter. We have put out the word to our Georgia-area NORML Legal Committee members and I’ll keep you updated on any progress.
Meanwhile, transplant patients like Walter are being discriminated against for no medically valid reason. We reported on the study showing cannabis use has no impact on survival of liver transplant patients like Tim Garon, who, with two weeks to live, was told by hospital administrators he needed to be 60-days clean from the cannabis medicine he used to treat his pain and nausea before they’d even consider him for a life-saving transplant — this after he was next on the list for a transplant, but like Walter, made the mistake of being honest with his doctor. While the study was on liver transplants, there is no medically logical reason to assume cannabis use would be harmful for kidney transplant patients, either.
NORML Legal Committee attorney Douglas Hiatt in Seattle is now defending a man who, like Walter, is being denied a kidney transplant because of marijuana use, but unlike Walter, this guy lives in a state that has legally recognized his right to use medical marijuana! For many of these transplant patients, their bodies are so weakened they can’t handle powerful pharmaceuticals and the ones they can handle give so many terrible side effects. Especially for the liver patients, their bodies can’t process the toxins of these drugs.
Marijuana is not renatoxic or hepatoxic – it doesn’t harm the kidneys or liver. It treats the side-effects of the pre- and post-transplant anti-rejection drugs and treats the pain and nausea caused by the failing organ itself. This needless cruelty must stop!
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 12:40 pm | By: Radical Russ
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) – A former police officer tearfully apologized Monday for his role in an elderly Atlanta woman’s shooting death during a botched drug raid, and another told a judge he prays daily for the victim.
“I used to think I was a good person,” ex-cop Gregg Junnier said before breaking down on the witness stand during a sentencing hearing in a federal courtroom in Atlanta, CNN affiliate WXIA reported.
Junnier and two other ex-officers, Arthur Tesler and Jason Smith, face prison in connection with the November 2006 drug raid that left 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston dead in a hail of gunfire.
Smith, Junnier and Tesler pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death. Smith and Junnier also pleaded guilty to state charges of voluntary manslaughter and making false statements, and Smith admitted to planting bags of marijuana in Johnston’s house after her death.
Tesler was convicted on one state count of making false statements for filling out an affidavit stating that an informant had purchased crack cocaine at Johnston’s home in a crime-plagued neighborhood near downtown Atlanta. The informant denied having been to Johnston’s home, leading to investigations by local authorities and the FBI, and the breakup and reorganization of the Atlanta police narcotics unit.
Police said Johnston fired at them with an old pistol during the raid, and they shot back in self-defense. Johnston’s one shot went through her front door and over the officers’ heads; they responded with 39 shots, hitting Johnston five times.
“Her death was the foreseeable culmination of a long-standing conspiracy in which the officers violated their oaths of office,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jon-Peter Kelly said, according to CNN affiliate WSB. The officers “regularly swore falsely” to get warrants and make cases, he said.
Federal prosecutors said officers cut corners to make more time for lucrative side jobs providing additional security to businesses, often while on duty and for cash payments.
Excuse me, CNN and other mainstream media outlets – this was no BOTCHED DRUG RAID! That makes it sound as if the police were executing a lawful warrant for a serious crime and, whoopsie, somebody made a typo on the address on the warrant. Kathryn Johnston was shot to death during a premeditated fraudulent raid by crooked cops enabled by drug war corruption.
This is the natural result of domestic militarization of police and the inevitable corruption prohibition generates. Kathryn Johnston is one of many citizens who’ve been killed or had their lives drastically altered from an unnecessary SWAT-style raid. Some are innocent victims, like John Adams, Willie Heard, and Rev. Accelyne Williams, who die in drug raids at honestly mistaken addresses. Some are guilty victims, like Bruce Lavoie, Scott W. Bryant, and Delbert Bonar, whose doors are kicked down by black-body-armor-clad disguised police with automatic weapons throwing flash-bang grenades in the middle of the night, only to find a few grams of marijuana for personal use.
There is no need to kick down citizens’ doors. A suspect can be watched, tailed, and apprehended in broad daylight, away from the suspect’s family. Even if a suspect is known to be armed and dangerous, coming at him full force in his lair just endangers the neighborhood. The only purpose in these no-knock paramilitary drug raids is to instill terror in the population. It’s all about “sending a message” that we’re “tough on drugs” and showing the criminals who control the market that the cops are the baddest gang on the street.
I’m happy to report these low-lifes who found their rent-a-cop moonlighting gigs more important than civil rights and an old woman’s life will be spending the next few months behind bars learning important lessons of respect and empathy:
ATLANTA — A federal judge has sentenced three former Atlanta Police officers to prison terms in connection with a botched drug raid that left a 92-year-old woman dead.
Jason Smith, Gregg Junnier and Arthur Tesler pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death.
U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes sentenced Smith to 10 years in prison, 3 years probation and a $100 fine.
Judge Carnes sentenced Junnier to 6 years in prison, 3 years probation and a $100 fine.
Judge Carnes sentenced Tesler to 5 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release.
The judge also ordered all three men to split the funeral costs of nearly $8200 for Kathryn Johnston, who was killed by police gunfire in the November 2006 raid.
In the sentencing hearing, Judge Carnes said, “The sentence must be tough to send a message to other police and also mend the confidence of the community.” While she indicated the three men did eventually cooperate with authorities, she said “This is a wrenching process for everybody.”
Judge Carnes was also very critical of the Atlanta Police Department and indicated the shooting was due in part to pressure on police officers to make drug arrests.
The U.S. Attorney’s office had recommended that Smith serve about 12 1/2 years in federal prison, and Junnier and Tesler serve about 10 years. Prosecutors recommended that Smith and Junnier receive reduced sentences because they cooperated with authorities.
I’m sad to report these lowlifes will be spending less time behind bars than most federally convicted growers tending large legal medical marijuana crops in California.
Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 3:04 pm | By: Radical Russ
ATLANTA (AP) — An appeals court on Thursday overturned the conviction of a former Atlanta police officer sentenced to prison for lying to FBI agents about the killing of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid.
A Fulton County Superior Court judge sentenced [Arthur] Tesler to 4 1/2 years in prison and six months probation last May. Tesler has also pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges.
Kathryn Johnston was killed by a barrage of bullets fired by officers who stormed into her home in November 2006 with a no-knock warrant.
Police originally said officers had gone to Kathryn Johnston’s northwest Atlanta home in 2006 after an informant bought drugs there. But after finding none, officers tried to cover up the mistake by planting baggies of marijuana, prosecutors said.
Two other officers, Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier, pleaded guilty to state and federal charges. Tesler, who did not fire a shot, faces sentencing next month after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death.
Tesler was in Johnston’s backyard when plainclothes officers burst in through the front door the night of Nov. 21, 2006, using a special “no-knock” warrant to search for drugs. Johnston fired a single shot from a rusty revolver at the intruders, but hit no one, and officers fired 39 bullets, hitting the woman five or six times, prosecutors said.
Does it bother anyone else that police missed at least 33 shots at close range against a 92-year-old woman? Or that cops thought that finding planted weed on a dead elderly woman wouldn’t raise a few eyebrows? Or that cops in Georgia are running around with a couple of baggies of weed on them “just in case”?
I even have a small (very small) degree of sympathy for the officers in this case because their job requires them to serve these no-knock warrants to catch what they believe will be gun-totin’ drug-addled violent thugs. The lying and planting evidence is inexcusable, of course, but treating all drug warrant as if they are taking down Tony Montana is bound to get innocent people and police officers killed (see: Corey Maye).
Why can’t police officers watch a suspect’s home, wait til he leaves the home, and apprehend him, when they can see he’s not armed? I know the no-knock warrants are so a suspect doesn’t have the time to flush the cocaine down the toilet, but why are no-knocks given for marijuana raids? Lights, ballasts, pots, soil, and live plants are not exactly easily disposable, there should be plenty of time for police to knock, identify themselves, and enter calmly.
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
Attorney, Herb Shafer, 88, often outraged, outrageous | ajc.com
[Georgia Defense Attorney Herb Shafer, age 88,] recently was in Rockdale County working himself into a lather as he described a traffic stop that led to a drug bust, one of minuscule proportions. Police spent an hour searching (“ransacking!” he called it) a car, including a baby’s diaper. They found less than 0.01 of a gram of marijuana.
“What did they find? Close your eyes — that’s what they found. Nothing!” he shouted, rolling his thumb and forefinger into a zero for effect. “This seemingly trivial case implicates illegal police misconduct.”
Shafer’s client, Julian Smith, had $12,000 in cash, which was seized and later returned because federal authorities “gagged when they got this [forfeiture] case,” Shafer said. Smith is a music promoter and needs cash for shows, the attorney explained.
“Why is he here?” Shafer said, turning and asking his client to stand up. “That’s why he’s here,” indicating the man’s dreadlocks. Shafer claimed the stop was racial profiling, a charge the county denies.
“If my outrage is startling, I apologize,” he added. “But after 58 years of lawyering, I am outraged.”
“There’s no one who knows the Fourth Amendment better …,” said Atlanta lawyer Don Samuel, who in recent years worked cases with Shafer until they had a falling out. “He’s winning the hand-to-hand drug cases [small-time transactions] like no one else.”
“Herb is one of the most articulate defenders of the Constitution,” echoed defense lawyer Bruce Harvey. “He never lets anyone cross the line. He’s not afraid to call anyone out.”
He mostly works drug cases because those clients more often than not have money. “I do pro bono work, but I like to get paid,” he said.
Herb is just one of thousands of lawyers out there who are defending your Constitutional rights. NORML Legal Committee features hundreds of these lawyers who specialize in handling marijuana cases. Many people feel hesitant to defend their rights, especially when they are carrying their stash. They feel guilty, knowing they are breaking the law, embarrassed that they got caught, and feeling like a criminal. Police are well-trained to exploit those feelings and to leverage their institutional power to help you waive your rights and make their prosecutor’s job of putting you in jail easier.
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Prohibition putting Atlanta families in danger
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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