This Didn't Need To Happen

From the NYT:

SAN FRANCISCO — A 23-year-old man died and nearly a dozen other people were hospitalized on Sunday — some with life-threatening symptoms — after apparently ingesting a batch of tainted drugs at a weekend rave party just south of here, the authorities said.

Why would someone die from tainted drugs? Because these drugs are illegal, and when you make drugs illegal, only criminals make drugs. And criminals just aren't as careful about making safe drugs as they could be. They're more concerned with not going to jail.

So here is another name we can add to to the long list of victims of the Drug War. But it doesn't have to be this way. We aren't going to keep people from doing drugs. We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars over 40 years, and people are still using them. Let's legalize them and regulate them and make them safe.

A Police State

Here's a sad example of the War On People Who Use Dugs:



It's hard to think that we live in anything other than a police state. Here is a man who is on flimsy evidence is suspected of being a drug dealer, but who in fact is actually nothing more than than a marijuana user who a police informant happened to have mentioned.

This man had never shown any signs of violence, and is at home sleeping with his family and their dog. And yet the police somehow find it necessary to show up in force-at least seven paramilitary members, in full battle gear including kevlar and machine guns. They knock once, and when there is no immediate answer from the sleeping family, smash through the front door and begin shooting. The family dog is killed, and a second injured by a stray bullet, but that could just as easily have been the young daughter or the parents who were injured or killed.

And for what? They found a small amount of pot and a pipe. This guy could not have been any more harmless, and yet they sent a bunch of amped cops, armed to the teeth, and obviously ready to shoot something or someone into this man's house in the middle of the night.

Please tell me how this is functionally any different from what East German Police or the KGB did. Sure, you can say those people shouldn't smoke pot, but I guess you could have told the East Germans not to get together and talk politics too.

I realize these cops will say they're just doing their jobs, but at some point you have to wonder why they don't resign out of shame. Perhaps they have none.

Update: Mike DeToro has pointed out that the warrant was improperly served. You can read about it here.

Progress Report

We've gotten most of the administrative stuff out of the way. JMR has a website up now; if you're not reading this there, you can find it at www.jacksonmarijuanareform.com.

We're also live on Twitter; if you'd like to follow, look for jxreform.

Our Facebook group is active; you can find that here. Help us out be inviting your friends!

And if you'd like to email us, the address is jacksonmarijuanareform@gmail.com.

The next step is to start collecting signatures. If anyone would like to volunteer, please email us or post an offer on Facebook. Hopefully, the weather will turn nice just as we get out there and get to work!

Breckenridge Marijuana Initiative Passes

From the Huffington Post:

DENVER — The Colorado ski town of Breckenridge has voted overwhelmingly to legalize marijuana.

Early returns Tuesday night showed the proposal winning with 72 percent of the vote. The measure would allow adults over 21 to have up to 1 ounce of marijuana.

The measure is largely symbolic because pot possession remains a state crime for people without medical clearance. But supporters said they wanted to send a message to local law enforcement to stop busting small-time pot smokers.

The vote comes as communities nationwide are struggling with how to enforce pot laws at a time when medical marijuana has surged in popularity.

This initiative passed on Nov 4, 2009. This is basically the same model which we plan to use here in Jackson.


Denver Westward has more on what this will mean for the town of Breckenridge:

​Yesterday, Sensible Breckenridge's Sean McAllister, speaking about the passage of ballot initiative 2F, a marijuana decriminalization measure in his hometown, bristled at a media claim that the action was mostly "symbolic," adding, "The police chief in Breckenridge has said he'll take it as direction about how the voters want to go." Later, he maintained that "all arrests and convictions in the town of Breckenridge will stop. No one can be charged, prosecuted and have a criminal conviction paid for through the taxpayer dollars in Breckenridge. If someone is arrested there, they could be sent over to the county, which is funded by state tax dollars, but we don't expect that to happen."

Let's make this happen in Jackson.