Victory Stolen - Help Us Get It Back! (Action Alert)
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Last week, in response to a successful SAFER referendum, University of Arkansas administrators adopted and released new guidelines that equalized school penalties for student alcohol and marijuana use. This week, Chancellor Dave Gearhart repealed them.
Last spring, the UA chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) carried out the SAFER campaign, arguing that current penalties that are harsher for marijuana than for alcohol steer students toward drinking and away from using a less harmful substance. After 67 percent of student voters approved the referendum, a board of administrators (including the dean of students and assistant dean for student life) worked with the students to develop new guidelines reflecting the referendum. They then released them on-line and posted them in the residence halls. Yet, once stories about the new guide appeared in the media -- such as this great piece in the campus newspaper -- UA Chancellor Dave Gearhart put the kibosh on the change in guideliness because he and other university officials felt it sent the wrong message.
Please CLICK HEREor visit http://tinyurl.com/367bb97and send Chancellor Gearhart a message urging him to reinstate the new guidelines or explain why he and the university would prefer to continue steering students away from using marijuana and toward using alcohol -- a FAR more harmful substance.
The University of Arkansas has an amazing opportunity to set a positive example for other colleges across the nation, so it is imperative that we hold our ground and stand up to the administration in support of these new guidelines.
Click the image below to watch a news story about this effort that appeared last evening:
SAFER Campuses Initiative • P.O. Box 40332 • Denver, CO 80218 • 303-861-0033 
We Won't Stand For Their Lies (Action Alert)
Show our opponents that their scare tactics aren't fooling anybody!
Dear friends,
We need to fight back.
California's marijuana initiative, Proposition 19, would be the biggest drug law reform in U.S. history. But it's being threatened by opponents who are trotting out the same old drug war misinformation and scare tactics.
Tell the opponents of Proposition 19 that we won’t stand for their lies!
Prop. 19, which would make marijuana legal for adults in California, is a game changer. The special interests that benefit from the drug war know it, and are doing everything they can to scare voters away from reforming the state's failed marijuana laws.
Here are some of the outrageous statements the other side has already made:
• "It's going to cause crime to go up. There will be more drug babies."
• "It gives inmates in our prisons and county jails the right to both possess and smoke marijuana while incarcerated."
• "Next Health Nightmare If Marijuana Legalization Takes Place? Killer Black Mold."
And unless we call them on their ridiculous claims, they’re just going to ratchet up the rhetoric as Election Day draws near. Let's show our opponents that the whole country is watching – and that their scare tactics aren’t fooling anybody!
Sincerely,
Stephen Gutwillig
State Director, California
Drug Policy Alliance
Race & Justice News: Segregation Behind Prison Bars
In This Issue:
- Feature Story » GO
- Putting Faces on Justice » GO
- Segregation Behind Prison Bars » GO
- Upcoming Events » GO
Search our Clearinghouse of over 450 books, articles, and reports on racial disparity in the criminal justice system.
Upcoming Events
Facing Race
"Define Justice and Make Change"
Chicago, IL, September 23-25, 2010
The Facing Race conference will include discussions of hot-button race issues while offering models for change. It will serve as a focal point for organizations and individuals committed to crafting innovative strategies for changing policy and shaping culture to advance real racial justice.
Symposium on Crime and Justice
"The Past and Future of Empirical Sentencing Research"
Albany, NY, September 23-24, 2010
The symposium is based on the premise that new advances in sentencing research will come in part from engaging with other disciplines that focus on sentencing issues, and engaging with ongoing public policy issues like prison overcrowding and risk assessment. The main topics will be the role of race in sentencing outcomes, discretion and decision making, managing the criminal justice population, and risk assessment in the sentencing process.
Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Justice Research and Statistics Association 2010 National Conference
"Using Statistics and "Research to Improve Justice Policies and Practices"
Portland, Maine, October 28-29, 2010
The program includes more than 20 panel sessions on topics, including, corrections, domestic violence, human trafficking, racial disparity, reentry, research using national incident based reporting system (NIBRS) data, sentencing, substance abuse, tribal crime data, and victimization, as well as plenary discussions on current justice issues. There will also be skill building seminars (October 26th, 27th, and 30th) on cost-benefit analysis, evaluation methods, and evidence-based programs and practices.
Contact Us
Do you have a contribution or idea for Race & Justice News? Send an email to The Sentencing Project's research analyst, Valerie Wright.
The Sentencing Project
1705 DeSales Street, NW
8th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20036
September 1, 2010
Race & Justice News
"The biggest crime in the U.S. criminal justice system is that it is a race-based institution where African-Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way than white people. Saying the U.S. criminal justice system is racist may be politically controversial in some circles. But the facts are overwhelming. No real debate about that."
-- Dr. Nancy Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Critical Studies of Race/Ethnicity Program at Saint Catherine University
FEATURED STORY
RACIAL PROFILING PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN BROOKLYN
Allegations of racial profiling have become common in many predominantly black neighborhoods across the country. The New York Times recently reviewed police data provided by the New York Police Department, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the New York Civil Liberties Union on police stops and found that the police made nearly 52,000 stops in an eight-block radius of Brownsville, Brooklyn between January 2006 and March 2010. Overall, 88% of individuals stopped were black or Hispanic. Despite the large number of stops only 1% yielded an arrest over a four-year period. Typically, squad cars with flashing lights cruise along the main avenues and officers use their controversial "Stop, Question, and Frisk" tactic on residents. The encounters are so frequent that they amount to nearly one stop per year for the 14,000 residents over the four-year period.
The Times reports that if police think someone is carrying a weapon or entering a building without a key it is common for them to ask for identification and check to see if the individual has any warrants. In many encounters with police, residents were told that they fit the description of a suspect. However, the data show that less than 9% of stops were made based on "fit description." More often than not, the police listed "furtive movement," a vague category that equates to "other" as the grounds for the stop. This stop-and-frisk strategy has come under intense scrutiny and the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights have filed lawsuits challenging the NYPD's current practices. Click here to read more.
PUTTING FACES ON JUSTICE
VOICES FROM BROOKLYN
Watch and listen to the residents from a public housing community in Brownsville, Brooklyn speak for themselves about how they believe they have been unfairly targeted by police stop-and-frisk tactics. One young man states "If you see cops, they automatically search you." Several other residents say they feel "belittled," "violated" and "degraded" as a result of their contact with police.
SEGREGATION BEHIND PRISON BARS
INMATES STILL HOUSED BY RACE AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING
In a 5-3 decision reached in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court decided that prison officials in California could not rely solely on racial classification when assigning inmate housing. Historically, prison officials in the state have relied on race to separate male inmates. Five years after the ruling, approximately 165,000 inmates in California are still housed by race and critics argue that the state is not responding quickly enough to the ruling. Part of the problem is that the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation does not keep a record of integrated cells and therefore does not know how much change has occurred. In addition, only four of California's 30 prisons have implemented guidelines that consider additional factors such as gang affiliation and offense committed in determining housing location.
One prison spokesman, Lt. Anthony Gentile, asserted that "These boundaries are determined by the inmate population." Another spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, emphasizes that there is no deadline for ending segregation by race in prisons and such changes should be implemented slowly. In addition, she points out that, "The deficit-ridden state also has no money for additional training needed for prison staffers to learn the new ways to assign cellmates." Click here to read more.
The Sentencing Project is a national, nonprofit organization engaged in research and advocacy for criminal justice reform.
Dispensary Ban? Let the Voters Decide!
Share This: 
Sensible Colorado Action Puts Trust in Voters
Dispensary Ban Overturned (for now)
BROOMFIELD, CO -- Last night the Broomfield City Council voted to place a question on the November ballot to allow local voters to decided whether to permit medical marijuana dispensaries. This vote occurred after community members turned in over 1500 signatures opposing a ban on these centers which the City Council enacted in July 2010.
“Hundreds of sick patients who live in Broomfield deserve safe access to their constitutionally protected medicine at centers regulated by the Colorado Department of Revenue,” stated Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado Action which provided funding and strategic support for the local campaign. “Sensible Colorado Action is proud to support the Broomfield citizens who stood up to City Council over the last month and collected the signatures necessary to force the Council to suspend it's ill conceived ban,” continued Vicente.
“Today’s victory for patients’ safe access to medicine should be a warning to other local politicians who think they can infringe upon the constitutional and statutory rights of Colorado’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients,” stated Vicente.
On November 2, 2010, Broomfield voters will decided whether to uphold this suspension of the local ban.
**Interested in helping out with the Broomfield campaign or developing a plan to fight for safe access in your community? Contact Sensible Colorado today. Click here.
Sensible Colorado | PO Box 18768 | Denver CO 80218
Drug Truth 08/30/10
Cultural Baggage * Century of Lies * 4:20 Drug War NEWS * Time 4 Hemp
Cultural Baggage for 08/29/10 29:00 Jaime Felner of Human Rights Watch, Paul Armentano of NORML, Howard Woodridge of COPS, Sandy Moriarty with Cannabis-fruit salad recipe, Dallas Cop Nick Novello for Med Can Univ + Abolitionists Moment
LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3040
TRANSCRIPT: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3040#comments
Century of Lies for 08/29/10 29:00 Russ Jones, 30 years in law enforcement now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition + MJ Borden with Drug War Facts, Philip High with MedCan Univ, Dan Newman for Prop 19
LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3051
TRANSCRIPT: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3051#comments
4:20 Drug War NEWS, 08/30 to 09/05/10 Link at www.drugtruth.net on the right margin -
Sun - Dan Newman for Tax Cannabis
Sat - Philip High, chemist for MedCan Univ.
Fri - Russ Jones, 30 years in law enforcement now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Thu - Jaime Felner of Human Rights Watch re racial disparity in drug war Wed - Howard Wooldridge to ride horse Misty across Calif from N. to S. in support of cannabis legalization Tue - M J Borden of Drug War Facts: "What makes drugs illegal?"
Mon - Sandy Moriarty, cannabis chef at Oaksterdam Univ has recipe for great cannabis/fruit salad
Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston, 90.1 FM. You can Listen Live Online at www.kpft.org
- Cultural Baggage Sun, 7:30 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT, 5:30 PM MT, 4:30 PM PT
- Century of Lies, SUN, 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT & 5 PM PT
Who's Next?": Aaron Houston, Dir Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and now at James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. http://www.bakerinstitute.org
We have potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates. You can tune into both our 1/2 hour programs, live, at 6:30 central time on Pacifica's KPFT at http://www.kpft.org and call in your questions and concerns toll free at 1-877-9-420 420.
The two, 29:00 shows appear along with the seven, daily, 3:00 "4:20 Drug War NEWS" reports each Monday morning at http://www.drugtruth.net . We currently have 74 affiliated, yet independent broadcast stations. With a simple email request to dean@drugtruth.net , your station can join the Drug Truth Network, free of charge.
Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, DTN Producer, 713-462-7981, www.drugtruth.net
We Miss You!
Dear friends,
The last few months, we've told you about the strides we're making to ensure everyone has safe and legal access to their medicine. We told you about the grassroots base we're building, the impact cases we've filed (and won!) and the many, many services we offer to patients across the country. Still, we haven't been able to renew your membership.
Take a moment to watch this video. We hope it inspires you to renew your commitment to our movement and renew your membership to ASA.
We are in a unique political climate that has a window of opportunity we're not likely to see again, and ASA will act on it; but we cannot afford to lose the support of a good friend like you. Click here to renew your membership today.
We really need you with us this year.
Steph Sherer
Executive Director
PS
To learn more about what we're up to federally, and in your area, after you renew, visit us at www.safeaccessnow.org
Americans for Safe Access
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Facebook Censors Marijuana Legalization! (Action Alert)
Dear Friends,
To draw attention to the need for ending marijuana prohibition, SSDP teamed up with Firedoglake for our Just Say Now campaign. The campaign has been gaining international media coverage but just yesterday, Facebook banned our ads that support marijuana legalization.
The social networking site says we can no longer advertise our campaign for marijuana legalization using our Just Say Now logo, because it has a pot leaf.
We need to fight back against Facebook's political censorship. Can you sign our petition protesting Facebook's unfair policy against legalization ads? We'll send the petition to Facebook and tell the media about the site's censorship of this popular political issue.
Share the image to the right and make it your Facebook profile picture.
Facebook's decision is actually a flip-flop: the Just Say Now ads appeared more than 38 million times before Facebook issued a new policy banning them.
Our ads show marijuana leaves as part of a political campaign to change public policy. It's like telling a political candidate for office that it's unacceptable to show the candidate's face in advertising.
Sign our petition to Facebook and protest censorship of marijuana legalization.
Thank you for supporting marijuana legalization and SSDP's work. Please consider making a donationtoday.
Best,
Jonathan Perri
SSDP Associate Director
Drug Truth 08/23/10
Cultural Baggage * Century of Lies * 4:20 Drug War NEWS * Time 4 Hemp
Cultural Baggage for 08/22/10 29:00 Russ Bellville of NORML re forthcoming conference in Portland + Brendan Kiley reports on 70% of US cocaine has dog dewormer as cut & Neill Franklin re National Black Police Association endorsement of CA prop 19 - the legalization of cannabis
LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3030
TRANSCRIPT: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3030#comments
Century of Lies for 08/22/10 29:00 Clarence Walker, writes about "Trillion Dollar Drug War" + Bob Newland of S. Dakota ungagged & Mary Jane Borden of Drug War Facts: "Does Drug Testing Work?" + Winston Francis with Official Govt TruthLINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3037
TRANSCRIPT: Tue
4:20 Drug War NEWS, 08/23 to 08/29/10 Link at www.drugtruth.net on the right margin -
Sun - Dominic Holden a Seattle Journalist re his latest: "Pot Paradox"
Sat - Russ Bellville of NORML re forthcoming conference in Portland Fri - Brendan Kiley reports on 70% of US cocaine has dog dewormer as cut Thu - LEAP Dir Neill Franklin re National Black Police Association endorsement of CA prop 19 - the legalization of cannabis Wed - Bob Newland of S. Dakota, gagged for 1 year by a judge, speaks out against prohibition Tue - Jodi James is a candidate for state Rep in Florida, seeks end to prohibitions Mon - Mary Jane Borden of Drug War Facts: "Does Drug Testing Work?"
Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston, 90.1 FM. You can Listen Live Online at www.kpft.org
- Cultural Baggage Sun, 7:30 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT, 5:30 PM MT, 4:30 PM PT
- Century of Lies, SUN, 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT & 5 PM PT
Who's Next?": Jaime Felner of Human Rights Watch
Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and now at James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. http://www.bakerinstitute.org
We have potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates. You can tune into both our 1/2 hour programs, live, at 6:30 central time on Pacifica's KPFT at http://www.kpft.org and call in your questions and concerns toll free at 1-877-9-420-420.
The two, 29:00 shows appear along with the seven, daily, 3:00 "4:20 Drug War NEWS" reports each Monday morning at http://www.drugtruth.net . We currently have 74 affiliated, yet independent broadcast stations. With a simple email request to dean@drugtruth.net , your station can join the Drug Truth Network, free of charge.
Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, DTN Producer, 713-462-7981, www.drugtruth.net
It Could Happen to You (Action Alert)
Protect your community!Tell Congress to stop supporting
militarized police drug raids.
Email Your Members of Congress
Dear friends,
How would you react if a large group of men in camouflage and combat boots came bursting through your front door with machine guns pointed at you? Helen Pruett, a 76-year-old woman who lives alone in Polk County, GA, suffered a heart attack when her house was mistakenly stormed by about a dozen local and federal agents looking for suspected drug dealers. Militarized police units are used every day to conduct drug raids and it is getting out of control.
Tell Congress to put a stop to these dangerous home invasions.
The Polk County raid is not an isolated incident, and it’s not a result of rogue police officers overstepping their orders. There are more than 100 SWAT raids in America every day, most commonly to serve drug warrants. When police invade homes in riot gear with machine guns and flash bang grenades, they’re following standard procedure.
What’s even more disturbing is that these raids can happen anywhere, to anyone, no matter how minor the offense. Sometimes a crime hasn’t even occurred. Police raid the wrong house or act on information from untrustworthy informants, and completely innocent people wake up in the middle of the night to armed men breaking down their front door.
Congress’s funding of the war on drugs has allowed police excess to escalate out of control.Federal drug war grants for SWAT team equipment and drug task forces create incentives for local police to militarize. Local squads even have access to weapons from the Pentagon’s surplus arms stock.Demand an end to federal funding for this misuse of police resources.
The war on drugs isn’t just an ideological battle. It’s a real war, with real weapons and real casualties, waged against American civilians. These dangerous raid tactics show just how far it’s escalated -- they're the end result of the drug war’s militarization of local law enforcement.
Paramilitary raids should not be happening daily in our neighborhoods. They should not be happening when no threat to public safety exists. Police should be keeping the peace instead of treating our communities like war zones.
It's time to push back on politicians who let these raids continue. Urge your members of Congress to stop supporting SWAT raids for nonviolent drug law violations.
Sincerely,
Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance
National Black Police Association Endorses Marijuana Legalization (Press Release)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2010
CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or media@leap.cc
National Black Police Association Endorses Marijuana Legalization
African American Cops Say California's Prop. 19 Will Protect Civil Rights & Public Safety
SACRAMENTO, CA -- A national organization of African American law enforcement officers has announced its endorsement of Proposition 19, California's initiative to legalize marijuana.
The National Black Police Association (NBPA), which was founded in 1972 and is currently holding its 38th national conference in Sacramento, is urging a yes vote on legalization this November 2.
"When I was a cop in Baltimore, and even before that when I was growing up there, I saw with my own eyes the devastating impact these misguided marijuana laws have on our communities and neighborhoods. But it's not just in Baltimore, or in Los Angeles; prohibition takes a toll on people of color across the country," said Neill Franklin, a 33-year veteran police officer and executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an international group of pro-legalization cops, judges, prosecutors and corrections officials who have been organizing to support Prop. 19. "This November, with the National Black Police Association's help, Californians finally have an opportunity to do something about it by approving the initiative to control and tax marijuana."
On Thursday, Franklin spoke alongside California NAACP president Alice Huffman at the NBPA conference on a panel about criminal justice issues like marijuana legalization.
Many cops and civil rights leaders are now speaking out against marijuana prohibition because it is not only ineffective at reducing marijuana use and results in the arrest and incarceration of people of color at a highly disproportionate rate, but also because making marijuana illegal has created a lucrative black market controlled by violent gangs and cartels. LEAP has organized a group of more than 30 California police officers, judges, prosecutors and other criminal justice professionals who support Prop. 19.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and its 30,000 supporters represent police, prosecutors, judges, FBI/DEA agents and others who want to legalize and regulate drugs after fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and learning firsthand that prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence.
According to NBPA, there are 80,000 black law enforcement officials in the U.S.
For more information, visit http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com or http://www.BlackPolice.org
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