The War against Cannabis is a Bloody War against American Citizens

Let’s face it, the war on Marijuana in this country is a bloody war on the citizens of the United States, many of whom have nothing to do with Marijuana. They are simply caught in the cross fire of oppression and heavy handed tactics by unscrupulous law enforcement and run-away policies fueled by ignorant politicians who don’t really care about their own constituents.

On July 22, 2008 in Berwyn Heights, MD, the mayor of Berwyn Heights and his family were attacked by armed assailants, salaried by the sheriff’s office. They burst into their home, shot their two Labrador retrievers, Chase and Payton, even though these agents of the law knew this family had nothing to do with the Marijuana that was just delivered to their house by an overnight express company. It was part of a larger elaborate scheme they had been aware of for quite some time.

After the incident, the department investigated itself and not surprisingly, had found nothing wrong with breaking in a home that was not complicit with the marijuana deal, with guns drawn and shooting innocent family members. From their paradigm, it’s ethical, moral, and legal to break into someone’s home and shoot them.

On Monday, June 22, the mayor held a press conference and asked the federal government to intervene.

“They’ve said they’ve done nothing wrong,” Calvo said. “I didn’t sign up for this fight, but I think what we have to do now is make changes to how Prince George’s County police and Prince George’s County sheriff’s department operate.”

What happens when you catch a criminal outside of a TV store holding a television in his hand and a gun in his back pocket? He is going to say, “I didn’t do anything wrong”. These agents of the law are nothing more than a bunch of armed redneck wannabe criminals who enjoy busting into people’s houses and shooting their family members for the simple sake of a killer adrenaline rush.

Ronald Reagan said in a speech, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” It’s unfortunate but the Mayor has learned a lesson; We live in a police state where our government, state & federal, are at war with American Citizens.

We live in a country where more than 800,000 citizens were arrested for simple Marijuana possession and more than 20,000,000 Americans toked up last year, and 60,000 people are in prisons in America on marijuana violations only. Politically speaking, more than 70% of the United States is in favor of legalized Medical Marijuana, while outright legalization is supported by more than 40% of the population!! One would believe the United States Government would be more responsive to the wants and needs of the American People and draft legislation approving and regulating a medical Marijuana program on the federal level. I suppose this would be the case if we lived in a free country.

Many of you may very well live in an area like me where the community leaders are adamantly against Marijuana in any form, including conversation. Last August, I wrote my congressman only to have three belligerent police officers knock on my door and threaten me with incarceration for writing his office. What would you do if three armed soldiers came to your door and ordered you to stop writing to your congressman asking for his support on a bill? [If you live in Texas like me, you comply or die; complaints aren't acknowledged.]

The oppression and condemnation against Cannabis users in the United States is based on bigotry and ignorance, at such a level that we generally only see in dictatorships or developing countries. For instance, look across the great pond of the Atlantic Ocean for a moment at Persia (Iran). The citizens of Iran had their election stolen by an tyrant, and when they take the streets to complain, they are beaten and shot by police. Doesn’t their plight sound similar to the plight of American cannabis users in this country? [When I typed the first draft of this blog, I gave it to a friend of mine who sits on the bench of a family court in Texas. He scoffed at my reference to the similarities between Iran and the United States, until I gave him the second draft; he is no longer laughing.]

In this long list below are just a few of the victims of the war on Cannabis, or rather, the War against American Citizens. I hope that you take the time to read each story, note the age and similarities between these people and you and your family. Anyone of these cases could have your name in them. If we, as a nation, don’t take action, then Armed American soldiers will come to your home, beat you, murder your children, lock you up in a cage, and then it will be too late.

Let’s do something about this right now. Take Action by Supporting NORML.

Support ANY organization that helps to stop the systematic murder and incarceration of Cannabis Users! Be brave, be bold, write your congressman, write your senator, write our nation’s new drug Czar, write your Governor, write the president, and most importantly, be safe. There are a number of ways that you can directly support NORML’s effective and longstanding law reform activities:

1.) Join and Support NORML/NORML Foundation
2.) Attorneys: Join NORML’s National Legal Committee
3.) Purchase a NORML-related Product
4.) Tired of anti-marijuana politicians? Consider donating to NORML’s Political Action Committee!

“We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can fly only by embracing each other.” -lucian de crescenzo

Derek Copp - shot by a cop serving a warrant for simple possession. Only little bit of Marijuana was found and Derek was lucky to survive.

John Adams - 64yrs – Shot to death during a SWAT drug raid while watching TV. The house didn’t match the description on the warrant.

Xavier Bennett - 8yrs old – Xavier was accidentally shot to death by officers in a pre-dawn drug raid during a gunfight with one of Xavier’s relatives.

Delbert Bonnar - 57yrs – Shot 8 times by police in drug raid. They were looking for his son.

Rudolfo “Rudy” Cardenas - 43yrs – Rudy was a father of five who was passing by a house targeted by narcotics officers attempting to serve a parole violation warrant and the police mistakenly thought he was the one they were there to arrest. They chased Cardenas, and he fled, apparently afraid of them (they were not uniformed). Cardenas was shot multiple times in the back. Dorothy Duckett, 78, told the Mercury News she looked out her fifth-floor window after hearing one gunshot and saw Cardenas pleading for his life. “I watched him running with his hands in the air. He kept saying, ‘Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot,’” Duckett said. “He had absolutely nothing in his hands.”

Jose Colon - 20yrs – Jose was outside the house where he had come to repay a $20 debt, when a drug raid on the house commenced. He was shot in the head by SWAT.

Troy Davis - 25yrs – During a no-knock raid to find some marijuana plants he was growing, he was shot to death in his living room. There are disputed accounts regarding whether he had a gun.

Anthony Andrew Diotaiuto - 23yrs – Anthony worked two jobs to help pay for the house he lived in with his mother. He had permit for a concealed weapon because of the areas he traveled through for his night job. Sunrise police claimed that he had sold some marijuana, and because they knew he had a legal gun, decided to use SWAT. Neighbors claim that the police did not identify themselves. Police first claimed that Anthony pointed his gun at them, and later changed their story. Regardless, Anthony was dead with 10 bullets in him, and the police found 2 ounces of marijuana.

Annie Rae Dixon - 84yrs – Bedridden with pneumonia during a drug raid. Officer kicked open her bedroom door and accidentally shot her.

Patrick Dorismond - Patrick was a security guard who wanted to become a policeman. He was off-duty and unarmed when he went out with friends. Standing on the street looking for a taxi, he was approached by undercover police who asked to buy some marijuana from him. Patrick was offended by the request (he didn’t use drugs), and a scuffle ensued. Dorismond was then shot to death by the police.

Shirley Dorsey - 56yrs – Rather than being compelled to testify against her 70-year-old boyfriend (Byron Stamate) for cultivating the medicinal cannabis she depended upon to help control her crippling back pain, Shirley Dorsey committed suicide. She saw it as the only way to prevent the forfeiture of their home and property. Despite her suicide, Stamate was sentenced to 9 months prison, and his home, cottage, and $177,000 life savings were seized.

Juan Mendoza Fernandez - 60yrs – Police found a variety of drugs when they raided the Fernandez’ home. However, Juan apparently believed he was the victim of burglars during the raid, and was shot while trying to protect his 11-year-old granddaughter. He and his wife had been married 36 years and had four children and 13 grandchildren.

Curt Ferryman - 24yrs – Undercover agents were attempting to arrest Ferryman, who was in his car and unarmed. A DEA agent walked up to his car and shot him in the head execution style as he sat in the car. No charges were ever filed.

Derek Hale - 25yrs – A medically retired (disabled) Marine Sergeant who served two tours in Iraq, was peacefully sitting on the front stoop of a house, when police in unmarked cars who had him under surveillance (believing based on his acquaintances that he might be part of a narcotics ring) pulled up and tasered him three times, causing him to go into convulsions and throw up. Because he had not gotten his hand free from his jacket quickly enough (while convulsing) an officer then shot him point blank in the chest with three .40 caliber rounds. Hale’s widow has filed a civil lawsuit.

Willie Heard - 46yrs – SWAT conducted a no-knock drug raid, complete with flash-bang grenades. Heard was shot to death in front of his wife and 16-year-old daughter who had cried for help. Fearing home invasion, he was holding an empty rifle. The raid was at the wrong house.

Clayton Helriggle - 23yrs – Clayton was shot to death while coming down the stairs during a surprise raid. He was carrying either a gun or a plastic cup, depending on the report. Less than an ounce of marijuana was found.

Esequiel Hernandez - 18yrs – Hernandez was shot and killed by a Marine sniper in camouflage who was part of a military unit conducting drug interdiction activities near the Mexican border. Esequiel was out herding his family’s goats and had taken a break to shoot at some tin cans with his antique rifle.

John Hirko - 21yrs – An unarmed man with no prior offenses was shot to death in his house by a squad of masked police. In a no-knock raid, they tossed a smoke grenade in through a window, setting the house on fire. Hirko, suspected of dealing small amounts of marijuana and cocaine, was found face down on his stairway, shot in the back while fleeing the burning building. When the fire was finally put out, officers found some marijuana seeds in an unsinged plastic bag. The Town of Bethlehem settled the resulting lawsuit for $7 million+ and an agreement to reform police department procedures and training.

Lynette Gayle Jackson - 29yrs – Shot to death in her bed by SWAT team.

Kathyrn Johnston - 88yrs – Kathryn lived in a rough neighborhood and a relative gave her a gun for protection. When she noticed men breaking through her security bars into her house she fired a shot into the ceiling. They were narcotics officers and fired 39 shots back, killing her. The police had falsified information in order to obtain a no-knock search warrant based on incorrect information from a dealer they had framed. After killing Johnson and realizing that she was completely innocent, they planted some marijuana in the basement. Eventually their stories fell apart federal and state investigations learned the truth. Additional facts have come to light that this was not an isolated incident in the Atlanta police department.

Officer Ron Jones - 29yrs – Officer Jones was in the process of serving a drug warrant, based on an informant tip. While trying to enter the rear of a duplex, he broke into the wrong apartment and was shot by the resident, Corey Maye, who had no prior record and was protecting his daughter. No drugs were found. Maye was charged with capital murder, and sentenced to death. Corey Maye was a Drug War Victim waiting to happen. Fortunately, his death sentence was eventually overturned and he is now serving life in prison.

Tony Martinez - 19yrs – Officers conducted a drug raid on a mobile home in De Valle. Martinez, who was not the target of the raid, was asleep on the couch when the raid commenced. Hearing the front door smashed open, he sat up, and was shot to death in the chest.

Peter McWilliams - 50yrs – Peter was a world-famous author and an advocate of medical marijuana, not only because he believed in it in principle, but because it was keeping him alive (he had AIDS and non-Hodgkins lymphoma). After California passed a law legalizing medical marijuana, Peter helped finance the efforts of Todd McCormick to cultivate marijuana for distribution to those who needed it for medical reasons. Federal agents got wind of his involvement, and Peter was a target for his advocacy. He was arrested, and in federal court was prevented from mentioning his medical condition or California’s law. While he was on bail awaiting sentencing, the prosecutors threatened to take away his mother’s house (used for bail) if he failed a drug test, so he stopped using the marijuana which controlled his nausea from the medications and allowed him to keep them down. He was found dead on the bathroom floor, choked to death on his own vomit.

Ismael Men a – 45yrs – Mena was killed when police barged into his house looking for drugs. They had the wrong address.

Pedro Oregon Navarro - 22yrs – Following up on a tip from a drug suspect, 6 officers crowded into a hallway outside Navarro’s bedroom. When the door opened, one officer shouted that he had a gun. Navarro’s gun was never fired, but officers fired 30 rounds, with 12 of them hitting Pedro. No drugs were found.

Cheryl Noel - 44yrs – Substitute Sunday School Teacher Cheryl Noel possessed a registered handgun, which she kept in her bedroom (9 years earlier, Cheryl has lost her 16-year-old stepdaughter in a shooting murder). On January 19, just before 5 am, police burst into her home using flash-bang grenade and battering ram looking for drugs. Both Cheryl and her husband were asleep in the master bedroom. Suddenly awake and fearing an armed intrusion, Cheryl grabbed her gun. Police kicked in the bedroom door and shot her 3 times.

Mario Paz - 65yrs – Mario was shot twice in the back in his bedroom during a SWAT raid looking for marijuana. No drugs were found.

Charmene Pickering - 27yrs – Charmene was a passenger in a car driven by a drug suspect. State troopers and DEA agents were in the process of arresting the driver when the trooper’s gun went off and hit Charmene in the neck, killing her. Both passenger and driver were unarmed.

Manuel Ramirez - and Officer Arthur P. Parga – At 2 am, police smashed down the door and rushed into the home of Manuel Ramirez, a retired golf course groundskeeper. Ramirez awoke, grabbed a pistol and shot and killed officer Arthur Parga before other officers killed him. Police were raiding the house based on a tip that drugs were on the premises, but they found no drugs.

Deputy Keith Ruiz - 36yrs – Ruiz was a husband and father who was a veteran of numerous SWAT raids. In the process of serving a drug warrant, he was trying to break down the door to a mobile home occupied by painter Edwin Delamora, his wife, and two young children. Confused by the raid at night, Delamora yelled to his wife that they were being robbed and shot through the door, killing Ruiz.

Donald P. Scott - 61yrs – Government agencies were interested in the property of this reclusive millionaire. A warrant was issued based on concocted “evidence” of supposed marijuana plantings, and a major raid was conducted with a 32-man assault team. Scott was shot to death in front of his wife. No drugs were found. A later official report found: “It is the District Attorney’s opinion that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to seize and forfeit the ranch for the government. Based in part upon the possibility of forfeiture, Spencer obtained a search warrant that was not supported by probable cause. This search warrant became Donald Scott’s death warrant.”

Alberto Sepulveda - 11yrs – Alberto was killed by a shotgun blast to the back while following police orders and lying face down on the floor during a SWAT raid. He was a seventh-grader at Prescott Senior Elementary School.

Isaac Singletary - 80yrs – Isaac lived in a rough neighborhood and often brought out his gun to chase off drug dealers. So when he saw a couple of low-lifes conducting transactions on his lawn, he came out with it again and told them to get off his property. Except they were undercover narcotics officers so they shot him. Isaac managed to get a shot or two off in response, but the officers were able to finish him off.

Gary Shepherd - 45yrs – When a Kentucky drug task force came to uproot his marijuana plants in August 1993, pot-grower and Vietnam vet Gary Shepherd told them, “You will have to kill me first,” took out his rifle and sat down on his front porch. That evening he was shot dead in front of his infant son. Despite the fact that Shepherd never fired a shot and his family was pleading with authorities for negotiations, state police sharpshooters appeared from the brush without warning and opened fire when he refused to drop his rifle.

Alberta Spruill - 57yrs – Police, acting on a tip, forced their way into Spruill’s home, setting off flash grenades. She suffered a heart attack and died. It was the wrong address.

Ashley Villareal - 14yrs – Ashley went outside at night with a family friend to move their freshly washed car under shelter. DEA agents, interested in her father, were staking out the house, and believing that her father was driving, shot and killed Ashley. The agents did not have a warrant for her father. Read The Murder of Ashley.

Kenneth B. Walker  - 39yrs – Walker and three companions were pulled over in an SUV by police in a drug investigation. No drugs or weapons were found, but Walker was shot in the head. Walker was a devoted husband and father, a respected member of his church, and a 15-year middle-management employee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Deputy David Glisson, who killed Walker, was fired three months later for failing to cooperate in an investigation into the assassination, but was never charged.

Accelyne Williams - 75yrs – Accelyne was a retired Methodist Minister and substance abuse counselor. After an informant gave police a bad address, a SWAT raid was conducted on the minster’s home. The door was battered down, Williams was tackled to the floor and his hands tied behind his back. He died of a heart attack.

Tarika Wilson - 26yrs – Tarika was a single mother of six. Lima police executed a SWAT raid with guns drawn to arrest her boyfriend on small-time drug dealing charges. Officer Joseph Chavalia was upstairs when the sound of the other officers shooting Wilson’s dogs downstairs startled him. He killed Tarika in an execution style shooting, who was unarmed, on her knees, holding her 14-month-old son and complying with orders to get down on the floor (her son was shot twice but survived). Chavalia was cleared of any wrong-doing.