New York City was the first major city to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession. What could have been a proud history of progressive and rational cannabis laws has become a history of racism, leading to New York City becoming the world capital of marijuana arrests, with the most people going to jail over small amounts of cannabis.

The stop-and-frisk practices that often leads to marijuana arrests and are done disproportionally and routinely on blacks and Hispanics in the city. Police ask citizens during these encounters to empty their pockets, then arrest them, not for having the marijuana, but having it in plain view. Citizens became outraged about the practice, and started protesting the mayor’s house and the police department this summer.

In September, a memorandum from the police commissioner reminded NYC police officers to follow the letter of the law in marijuana cases and only make arrests if they have it in plain view. The highlight on the policy, coupled with the memo has led to arrest rates for small amounts of cannabis to drop significantly. But now that the data is in for 2011, we see that New York City actually increased their arrests for low-level marijuana possession last year.

The number of low-level marijuana criminals has now risen for the seventh straight year. The year-end arrest total for cannabis possession in the city was 50,684, up just a half a percentage point from 2010, but still more arrests than the arrest total from the entire 19 year period from 1978 to 1996. Even with the decline after Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s memo, there was an increase of 6 percent in marijuana arrests during the first eight months of the year, offsetting that decline.

Once again, marijuana arrests were the largest arrest category in New York City, costing the city about $75 million to pursue those arrested in the already-overburdened New York court system. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has faced criticism because the arrests of marijuana criminals under his watch have been a staggering 87 percent black or Hispanic, and only 10 percent of those arrested for marijuana crimes have been white, even though US government studies consistently find that white people’s marijuana use rates are higher than those of minorities. There is a bill in the Senate currently that would lower decriminalize a small step more, by lowering the charge for a small amount of marijuana that is in public view to a violation, punishable only by a fine.

External Links:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/low-level-marijuana-arrests-rise-for-seventh-straight-year/

Chicago Alderman are lining up to support a plan to decriminalize personal possession of marijuana, defined as ten grams (~1/3rd oz).  The proposed ordinance would be replacing arrests and jail with a $200 fine that could raise $7 million a year for the cash-strapped Windy City.

As reported by Associated Press, the proponent of the measure, Chicago Alderman Danny Solis will introduce the ordinance tomorrow.  The idea already has the backing of Alderman Willie Cochran, a former Chicago police officer.

“In these trying times of the economy, we could really use the revenue generated by fines versus Arrests,” Solis said. “And each (arrest) means police officers are spending an inordinate amount of time outside the neighborhoods, inside the district offices doing paperwork.”

“I support it because people are getting arrested, going into court and judges are … dismissing (the cases) and releasing them all anyway,” Cochran said.

According to the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, 87% of misdemeanor possession cases are dismissed at trial.  Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle noted that the city spent $78 million on marijuana arrests.

Hey, Chicago, if you’re looking to make a buck off pot smokers and direct scarce police resources away from marijuana arrests, how about convincing lawmakers in Springfield to legalize marijuana?  Then you can collect a tax on us without having to catch us with pot!

(Chicago Tribune) CHICAGO — Chicago aldermen are wading into the controversy over drug enforcement with a proposal to decriminalize possessing small amounts of marijuana in the city.

Supporters say the ordinance — which Alderman Daniel Solis plans to introduce at next week’s City Council meeting — will raise revenue for the city and free up police to chase more serious criminals.

If the plan passes, people caught in Chicago with 10 grams or less of marijuana would get a $200 ticket and up to 10 hours of community service, instead of facing a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,500 fine.

Chicago police get tied up making about 23,000 arrests each year for marijuana possession, said Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey, a Democrat, who appeared Thursday at a news conference with Solis and other aldermen.

“It is not time to act tough on crime, it is (time) to be smart on crime. We need our resources spent somewhere else,” Fritchey said.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has mentioned the possibility of issuing tickets for marijuana possession as a way to keep his officers on the streets.

My favorite part of this story is one of the alderman explaining how he went to Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, and other music festivals where marijuana is openly smoked and he saw no arrests or problems, noting “If that was an African-American event, the jails would probably be filled up. I think it’s almost a discrimination issue.”

Ya think?

I was a progressive talk radio host during the Bush Administration.  One of the most frustrating issues I had to comment on dealt with embryonic stem cell research.  These proto-cells are the blank slate from which bone, muscle, nerve, and other cells are formed in our body.  They hold amazing promise in the treatment of injuries and illness.  You may remember the late Christopher Reeve fighting for stem cell research to help those paralyzed by spinal injury like he was.

You may also remember Al Gore during that era, warning the world of the Inconvenient Truth of global climate change.  Since the beginning of the industrial era, the pollution we’ve created has led to a global rise in average temperature.  We face a man-made crisis that could threaten our existence on earth.

In each of these cases the Bush Administration opposed moving forward on the research of these issues.  The pressure of religious organizations led Bush to stifle all federal research on stem cells.  The pressure of energy industries led Bush to withhold and censor information on global climate change.  And a majority of Americans, like myself, could not believe we’d be so superstitious and short-sighted as to reject the science that could help us heal our bodies and our planet.

We rejoiced when Barack Obama was elected and early in his administration, issued the following proclamation:

Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public health, protection of the environment, increased efficiency in the use of energy and other resources, mitigation of the threat of climate change, and protection of national security.

The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public policy decisions.  Political officials should not suppress or alter scientific or technological findings and conclusions.  If scientific and technological information is developed and used by the Federal Government, it should ordinarily be made available to the public.

Indeed, Mr. Obama’s commitment to science has been felt on most scientific issues.  He overturned Bush’s ban on funding stem cell research.  He has strongly addressed the issues of global climate change.  However, on one issue of scientific  integrity, Mr. Obama has been no different than his predecessor.  In fact, when it comes to marijuana policy, Mr. Obama may be worse than Mr. Bush.

There are 25 million American adults who will use cannabis this year, 15 million this month, and an estimated 1.5 million Americans using medical marijuana legally under state law.  The federal government even delivers over a half pound of marijuana every month to four Americans who still remain on a 33-year-old federal medical marijuana program.  Nevertheless, as far as the Obama Administration is concerned, marijuana has “no accepted medical value in the United States”.  They admit there are only fourteen researchers approved by the federal government to study cannabis’ effect on humans and the government, to date, has never once surveyed or studied the federal medical marijuana patients.

It’s not as if we don’t have plenty of science to show marijuana’s medicinal effect.  As far back as 1974 the government has known that THC applied to cancer cells in the lab kills them and not the surrounding healthy cells  It’s the “magic bullet” type of cancer treatment that we’ve been looking for!  The government itself has even patented the medicinal effects of cannabinoids.  Despite all this and more, just this year Obama’s DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart (a Bush hold-over) denied yet another petition by legitimate researchers to study the medicinal effects of marijuana, saying, “[T]here are no adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy.”

There are no studies according to Leonhart, so then why stop research that would provide those studies?  The government isn’t even coy about the political reasons they use to justify rejecting the science of marijuana.  The National Institutes on Drug Abuse told the New York Times that “[O]ur focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use. We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana.”  So what exactly are those fourteen approved researchers trying to learn about marijuana?  It’s not that the science has no good news about marijuana, it’s that our government doesn’t want you to hear it.

This isn’t just an issue concerning the narrow medical uses of cannabis.  Every government that has ever studied the social ramifications of marijuana prohibition has agreed that the prohibition does more harm to the user and to society than the marijuana does.  Every study has recommended decriminalization and regulation… and every president since Richard Nixon (except Jimmy Carter) has ignored those recommendations.

Even when real world results show our policies to be ineffective, Mr. Obama continues to uphold the prohibition status quo.  Adults and teens in the Netherlands, where adult use of cannabis is tolerated, have half the use rates of marijuana and other drugs as Americans.  Dutch 15-year-olds are one third as likely to have tried marijuana compared to Americans.  Portugal, which has decriminalized all drugs since 2001, has seen dramatic declines in use, abuse, overdose, and crime.

Yet when asked this week by a student whether he’d look into a policy of decriminalization like Portugal, Mr. Obama flat refused to even consider the possibility, instead retreating into platitudes about “reducing demand” through “treatment and prevention”.  Not much of a reassurance for medical marijuana patients who can’t “reduce demand” and responsible adult users who don’t need “treatment and prevention”.  Since “reduce demand” is not “eliminate demand”, it appears Mr. Obama is content to continue to imprison those who demand drugs (well, drugs without bar codes, that is).

Our politics is infected by a terrible strain of Reefer Madness.  Republicans who shout about states rights, limited government, and individual responsibility seem to have no problem superseding state law, fostering massive bureaucracy, and intruding on the individual if he smokes a joint.  Democrats who shout about government surveillance, racial justice, and environmental protection seem to have no problem spying on people, locking up blacks disproportionately, and rejecting an alternative to trees and oil in order to stop an individual from smoking a joint.  And the president who is a Constitutional law professor, who reveres scientific inquiry, and has some personal experience on the issue seems to have no problem perverting the Bill of Rights, rejecting science, and locking up or forcing into rehab people just like him who smoked a joint.

Apparently there is only one cure: leaving office.

When one of your cities has more Drug War murders than California, it refocuses your attention on ending the Drug War

The marijuana internets are abuzz with the latest headline about world leaders declaring the War on Drugs to be a failure and calling for the legalization of marijuana. Here are a few:

World Leaders: Time to End Marijuana Prohibition

Who’s Who of World Leaders Call Global Drug War a “Failure”

World Leaders Recommend Ending The ‘Failed’ Drug War

These headlines cover the report released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy yesterday.  However, I think the preceding headlines fail to make an important distinction, one that was not lost on the editors at NPR (emphasis mine):

‘Global War On Drugs Has Failed,’ Former World Leaders Say

MEMBERS OF THE GLOBAL COMMISSION ON DRUG POLICY

– Asma Jahangir; human rights activist, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions; Pakistan.
– Carlos Fuentes; writer; Mexico.
– Cesar Gaviria; former president of Colombia.
– Ernesto Zedillo; former president of Mexico.
– Fernando Henrique Cardoso; former president of Brazil.
– George Papandreou; Prime Minister of Greece. [The exception that proves the rule? --"R"R]
– George Shultz; former secretary of state.
– Javier Solana; former European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy; Spain.
– John Whitehead; banker and civil servant, chair of the World Trade Center Memorial; United States.
– Kofi Annan; former secretary general of the United Nations.
– Louise Arbour; former U.N. high commissioner for human rights; Canada.
– Maria Cattaui; member of the board, Petroplus Holdings; former secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce; Switzerland.
– Marion Caspers-Merk; former state secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Health, Germany.
– Mario Vargas Llosa; writer; Peru.
– Michel Kazatchkine; executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; France.
– Paul Volcker; former chairman of the Federal Reserve.
– Richard Branson; entrepreneur; founder of the Virgin Group; U.K.
– Ruth Dreifuss- former president of Switzerland.
– Thorvald Stoltenberg; former minister of foreign affairs and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees; Norway.

It’s rarely current world leaders expressing these sentiments.  They seem to only speak out after they are out of office and lacking the power to help end that “failure”.  I’ve been reporting on the “former leaders” who call for an end to the Drug War since 2008:

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox calls for debate on marijuana legalization

Latin American ex-presidents urge US to decriminalize marijuana, rethink drug war

Former UK Drug Warrior: “What harms society is the illegality of drugs…”

Fortunately a few brave leaders speak out while they are still in office:

Argentine president calls for decriminalization of drug use

Jamaica lawmaker calls for legalizing small amounts of marijuana for private use

And when they succeed in decriminalization of drug use, they get amazing results:

United Nations backs drug decriminalization

The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal

The report itself makes many of the same recommendations NORML has been touting for four decades now.  The former world leaders recommend that we stop ”the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others.”  They point out that “models of legal regulation of drugs” should be instituted by governments to reduce the power of organized crime and protect the health of citizens and that this “applies especially to cannabis.”  They explain that a realistic government drug policy would avoid “simplistic ‘just say no’ messages and ‘zero tolerance’ policies in favor of educational efforts”.  It’s nice to finally have world leaders, even former ones, recognizing we were and are right.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

Unfortunately, it’s the current ones – the ones who have the power to make these changes – we have to convince… and they’re not budging from their “Schedule I dangerous drug what about the children?!?” rhetoric:

(Los Angeles Times) ”Making drugs more available — as this report suggests — will make it harder to keep our communities healthy and safe,” said Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

More available?  Almost 1 in 4  high school kids can get a bag of weed within an hour and say it’s easier to buy than beer and prescription drugs.  Twenty-five million American adults are using cannabis annually and fifteen million use monthly.  Marijuana is already quite available, it’s just a question of who controls and profits from the market – regulated businesses or violent criminals.

“Legalizing dangerous drugs would be a profound mistake, leading to more use, and more harmful consequences,” drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said this year.

Administration officials dispute the idea that nothing can be done to reduce the demand for drugs in the United States. A spokesman for the White House drug agency said U.S. consumption peaked in 1979, when surveys showed that 14% of respondents had used illegal drugs in the previous month. Now that figure has dropped to 7%.

Remember that when Gateway Gil says “drugs”, he means “marijuana”.  Among 12th graders, monthly use of marijuana peaked in 1978, but amphetamines peaked in 1981, cocaine use peaked in 1985, ecstasy use peaked in 2000, hallucinogen use peaked in 1975, heroin use peaked in 2000, and sedative use peaked in 1975.  Since marijuana is far more popular (15 million annual users) than all other drugs combined (6 million annual users), any movement of the marijuana numbers moves the “drugs” numbers.

And since he brought it up, I’d remind Gateway Gil that his claim of that monthly drug use dropped in half since 1979 came as sixteen states passed medical marijuana laws and two states decriminalized marijuana possession.  Your predecessors warned us that if we legalized marijuana, even in those very specific and limited ways, it would be a profound mistake, leading to more use, and more harmful consequences.  It’s understandable, since you and your predecessors are bound by law to oppose any move toward legalization, so you can understand when we completely ignore your Chicken Little warnings about legalization.

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1. Nevada introduces bill to create medical marijuana dispensaries
2. Maine introduces marijuana legalization bill
3. Indiana discovers over 200 mistakes in drug testing cases from 2007-2009
4. Maryland set to pass bill for true affirmative defense for medical marijuana

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• Roots Monday: Kevin O’Grady – “Marijuana Australiana (live in an Irish pub)”

Cannabis Conversations

• Alison Holcomb from ACLU of Washington and Kevin Oliver from Washington NORML on Washington’s SB 5073 to create legal dispensaries and voluntary registry cards

NORML Activism Alerts

• Connecticut judiciary committee set to vote on decriminalization measure tomorrow

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1. Chris Bartkowicz of Denver sentenced to five years plus eight years probation by federal judge
2. Colorado hearings continue on dispensary regulations and privacy
3. Bit player in “Black Tuna Gang” captured in Florida senior community after three decades on the run

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• Rockin’ Friday: Saviours – “Cavern of Mind”

Government at Work

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• Rhode Island Rep. John G. Edwards, sponsor of HB 5031 decriminalization bill

Cultivator’s Corner with High Times’ Sr. Cultivation Editor Danny Danko

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1. Canada’s newly adopted civil asset forfeiture laws netting $15 million in British Columbia
2. Texas lawmakers introduce decriminalization bill for marijuana
3. Fresno man convicted of manslaughter for shooting medical marijuana thief
4. Washington lawmakers introduce bills to protect patients and provide dispensaries

Daily Toker Tunes

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• Irie Wednesday: Pato Banton – “Sensimilla”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

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• Addressing Jared Loughner, the Arizona shooter, and his use of cannabis and whether that contributed to his psychoses

Radical Rant

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• Cliff Kincaid’s Reefer Madness about Jared Loughner, marijuana and schizophrenia, and NORML


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• The Top Ten Drugs in 2010 That Were More Harmful Than Cannabis

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• Irie St. Patrick’s Day: Paddyrasta – “40 Shades of Green”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

• Why does marijuana make you cough? Why, if related to THC, does THC make you cough?
• Why does cannabis makes sex feel better?
• Is it true that pot, in general, will help cancer patients with nausea or is it dependent on the strain? Sometimes I get sicker, depending on what I smoke…
• What is your thought on Rick Simpson, and the results of people put marijuana on cancerous tumors that show major improvement on curing the cancer?
• I have chronic knee pain and my dad is a doctor. He wants to give me tons of pharma drugs, but they make me feel like a zombie. How do I convince him that the herb is better?
• Can cannabis be used to treat cyatic nerve pain associated w/ degenerative discs? Also can cannabis be used to treat anxiety/OCD /depression (I list these disorders together because they are all present)?
• Why do you think the government is ignoring the AMA’s call to reschedule Cannabis?
• Which is better for ingestion, butane extraction or isopropyl alcohol, when one prepares hash oil?

Reefer Madness!

• Christian Science Monitor’s Reefer Madness Redux

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1. Cannabis Cafe for medical marijuana patients opens in Williamston, Michigan
2. New Hampshire decriminalization bill being heard
3. DEA releases new budget request while trumpeting doubling of drug interdiction seizures

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• Irie Wednesday: Clear Conscience – “Cali Weed”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

• According to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2380692 daily alcohol use presented a 400% greater risk of developing a mental disorder than daily marijuana use. That study was from 1990. Is there any other research that can back that up? When people talk about the “dangers” of marijuana, are they really just forgetting to put things into perspective?
• NJ just came out with prelim web page info http://www.state.nj.us/health/med_marijuana.shtml#ir It seems they are opening up the field to its treatment that causes severe or chronic pain, nausea, seizures, and severe and persistent muscle spasms
• Does Dr Mitch see the medical movement as undercutting legalzation movement?
• I wonder what Dr. Mitch thinks if pot being against the law, and punishment and cages is the right response to minors smoking pot
• Does vaporization eliminate the danger of “gritweed” or molds?
• My mom has sleep apnea and she uses this Darth Vader-liker sleeping mask to help with that. Could cannabis replace this mask and the expensive parts you have to replace?
• I’ve heard of people being allergic to cannabis, to the point of causing anaphylaxis. What can you say about that? Can you be allergic to cannabis?
• Dr. Mitch, do you know if cannabis can be used to treat ADHD?
• I want to know how much weed i would have to smoke to overdoes, I’m a 19 year-old-male 6-foot-2 155 pounds
• What do you know about Cannabis Science’s initial cannabis-based pharmaceutical for FDA clinical trials and how do you think acceptance of similar products by FDA is changing with the medical / recreational movements
• Dr. Mitch my father is a diabetic with kidney failure. He states that when he smokes he can urinate a bit more than usual. Does cannabis help this?