Because I hate to miss a good internet meme…

Pepper Spray Cop at Seattle Hempfest (click for large version)

You’ve probably seen a lot of populist protests lately in the news, in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, and here in America in good old Madison, Wisconsin and Columbus, Ohio.  The American protests have been peaceful, the protests in the Middle East have had their share of violence.

So you can be forgiven if you were unaware of protests in Oaxaca, Mexico.  The significant difference with Mexican protests, however, is your tax dollars are directly helping the government shoot and injure the teachers who are protesting, all in the name of protecting your teenager from puffing a joint.

(Upside Down World) Mexican Federal Police allegedly shot radio journalist Gilardo Mota Figueroa as he covered a protest last Tuesday against President Felipe Calderón’s visit to Oaxaca City. Mota Figueroa told Crónica de Oaxaca that during clashes with Oaxaca’s teachers union, a Federal Police officer opened fire on the crowd from a distance of about six meters (or about twenty feet). One of the bullets struck Mota Figueroa in the leg. Another 2-4 bullets were embedded in an armored SUV that authorities had left parked on the street.

During the protest, Federal Police also fired teargas canisters directly at demonstrators at point-blank range, severely injuring at least two people. According to the teachers union, middle school teacher Raymundo Servando Santiago Sánchez was hospitalized with a bruised lung after a teargas canister struck him in the chest. Another canister—this one allegedly fired by state police—struck protester Marcelino Coache in the face, fracturing his skull and causing brain trauma. Additionally, two reporters filed charges with the State Attorney General’s Office for physical injuries and damage to their equipment from teargas canisters that struck them during the protest.

Sounds bad, but how does this involve your tax dollars?  Through the Merida Initiative and INCLE aid grants to Mexico supposedly intended to combat the violent Mexican drug cartels.

The day before Federal Police opened fire on protesters and the press in Oaxaca, United States President Barack Obama unveiled his 2012 budget request. The budget includes $291.5 million for Merida Initiative programs in Mexico.

Mexico’s Ministry of Public Security (SSP in its Spanish abbreviation) is in charge of the Federal Police, and it is one of the biggest recipients of Merida Initiative funding. Through the Merida Initiative, the Federal Police receive equipment, training (from US and Colombian police, as well as private contractors), and even Black Hawk helicopters. While Obama’s 2012 budget request reduces Mexico’s Merida funding by about $250 million from the previous year, it increased International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) funding by $500,000. INCLE funding is what funds most—if not all—aid to the Federal Police.

Despite the rampant impunity for security forces’ human rights abuses, Merida’s human rights conditions have not significantly affected the flow of drug war aid to Mexico. The US Congress has symbolically withheld some of the funds, but thus far the human rights conditions haven’t delayed Merida Initiative money for much longer than standard bureaucratic red tape has held up the other 85% of unconditioned funds.

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Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2010-02-22.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. Denver activists protest President Obama’s visit; angry at recent DEA raids on Colorado caregivers
2. Missouri legislators looking at medical marijuana legalization in HB 1670
3. Olympia, Washington Mayor Pro-Tem arrested on suspicion of marijuana trafficking based on confidential informant

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

• Roots Monday: Della Reese – “Games People Play”

Behind the Headlines with NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano

• Discussion of the recent California Senate-commissioned 10-year double-blind, placebo-controlled trials on medical marijuana’s efficacy

Reefer Madness

• Forbes.com article on “Medical Marijuana: An Over-Hyped Medicine”

The ad accompanying the Idaho Falls 420 protest story. Coincidence?

Photo from localnews8.com Idaho Falls

IDAHO FALLS – There have been many protests around the country lately, but the one in Idaho Falls Monday was a little bit different.

Some protesters have been seen around town on street corners trying to pass the knowledge they say they have about marijuana.

They call themselves the 420 Soldiers and they were holding up signs letting drivers know some of the “benefits” of marijuana.

They say legalizing marijuana could help relieve prison populations, give the government another crop to tax and there are many paper uses for hemp.

The group did see some signs of support from a few drivers. Though police were called several times today by drivers thinking they were posing a driving hazard.

Photo by auto-show-girls.blogspot.com

Four hot bikini babes holding handmade signs on the street corner advertising a fund raising car wash, that’s no hazard to safe driving at all.

It’s funny which versions of free speech are driving hazards, isn’t it? (No, the bikini girls weren’t having a car wash in Idaho Falls, I’m just making the point that nobody ever complains about “cheerleader car wash” fund raisers being driving hazards.)

Courtesy of the highly-motivated volunteers at Oregon NORML, protest signs in PDF format scaled to fit the large-size posterboard available at your local print store.  Click the thumbnails for a letter-sized preview, then go to the Oregon NORML Global Cannabis March page to get the full-sized PDF.

Degé Coutee of the Patients Advocacy Network sent in these photos she promised during last Thursday’s interview at the Los Angeles Federal Building, where activists gathered to protest the recent DEA raids on legal medical marijuana providers.

Listen to live audio from Degé Coutee of Patients Advocacy Network at the protest.

Download audio file (Dege%20Coutee%20at%20LA%20DEA%20raid%20protest.mp3)

Gather dozens or hundreds of people at the steps of City Hall or the State Capitol. Prior to the protest, every participant is given a quarter ounce baggie of “Wizard Smoke” – you know, the fake pot that you see advertised in “High Times”? – and a pre-rolled joint of “Wizard Smoke”.  Make sure everyone getting a baggie knows it’s fake pot and that they are breaking no law.

In the press release, point out that one dozen marijuana activists are each bringing a quarter ounce of marijuana to the event and will smoke it openly at 4:20pm to protest the marijuana laws.  Point out that the dozen plan to be arrested by police for their civil disobedience.

Assemble the crowd, give a speech, tell everyone that one dozen brave activists are going to jail today for the simple act of smoking a joint.  At 4:20pm, tell everyone to light them up.  Everybody in the crowd – not just a dozen – whip out baggies of what looks like pot and everybody begins puffing on what look like joints.

Now for the kicker: nobody really has any real pot.  Or maybe only one person has a roach and smokes it to nothing to put the scent in the air.  The point is to show the police wasting their time sifting through a hundred or so baggies of “Wizard Smoke” to try to find those dozen real baggies they think will be there.

So long as you’re not too close to a building to violate an anti-smoking ordinance, should be a good time all around.  I don’t know that they wouldn’t haul everyone down to the station, but once they analyzed the “Wizard Smoke”, what are they going to charge you with?