McCool Comments

Colleen,------------------------------------------------------10/19.2007

I just returned from Los Angeles where I attended the national conference for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana laws, NORML.org.

While there I learned that the DEA was raiding a cannabis dispensary on the edge of downtown LA. I grabbed a taxi and got there in time to see a platoon of about 18 LAPD officers standing guard while the DEA stole the cash and cannabis from this state sanctioned facility.

Thousands of taxpayer dollars were frittered away, LAPD was kept from their real job of protecting us from aberant behavior and after the DEA and the cops left the cannabis club began selling their wares again.

I invite you to peruse a series of videos I produced while in Los Angeles. The videos include a look at the police tactics, a gathering of protesters from Americans for safe access and a look at the wreckage left behind by the DEA. I have also produced 3 other videos from interviews conducted with national and California activists working to end the war on some drugs.

The link to the DEA bust is here:

Cannabis Dispensary video one features Land Use Atty. James Anthony of Green-Aid.com and Cliff Schaffer of MarijuanaBusinessNews.com discuss the burgeoning medical marijuana industry.

Cannabis Dispensary video two features a discussion of cannabis dispensaries by Jeff Jones who runs a dispensary, Steve Dillon, chairman of NORML and Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, author of Why our Drug Laws have Failed, a Judicial Indictment of the war on drugs.

Cannabis Dispensary video three features Dr. Mitch Earleywine, author of Understanding Marijuana and Rebecca Saltzman Chief of Staff of Americans for Safe Access discuss medical marijuana.

I invite you to watch the videos and to realize that the war on marijuana is over for most of California where it is said to be the number one cash crop. California cities and counties have embraced the idea of cannabis dispensaries and willingly accept the taxes generated. The populace sees it as no big deal.

Sincerely,

Dean Becker
Producer - Drug Truth Network
Member - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
713-849-6869

More current letters

Vioxx Reversal Illustrates the Danger of Immunity for Drug Companies
June 10, 2008

Recently the Supreme Court held that any medical device approved by the Food and Drug Administration was immune from lawsuits no matter how badly the product injured the consumer. The Court will soon be hearing a similar case in which the drug companies are also seeking immunity for their products.

In May, a court in New Jersey overturned a jury’s verdict against Merck & Co., the makers of the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, leaving victims of that harmful drug without justice. Like the Supreme Court, the New Jersey court strangely found that FDA approval, no matter how flawed, gave the manufacturer immunity. Results such as this show how harmful this immunity (based on what’s often called ‘federal preemption’) is to victims who are harmed by negligent drug and device manufacturers.

Vioxx was withdrawn from the market after a study showed the drug increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. Merck ignored persistent warnings from its own researchers that Vioxx presented unnecessary dangers to its users yet delayed placing a warning label on the drug because executives calculated the wait would earn the company an extra $229 million. In testimony before the U.S. Congress, an FDA official said that Vioxx was responsible for as many as 55,000 deaths.

Even with all that, by finding “federal preemption” the court was able to ignore the verdict of a jury which, unlike the Supreme Court, heard all the evidence first hand. Complete immunity results in even less incentive for corporations to ensure the safety of their products, because they know they only need to meet the minimum federal safety requirements.

The Senate is planning to hold a hearing in the Judiciary committee on Wednesday, June 11th at 11:00 am, which will examine the Supreme Court’s recent penchant for placing the interests of big business over consumers. Among those testifying will be Bridget Robb who was violently shocked by her malfunctioning

(Continue)

Restore Habeas Corpus -- the fundamental constitutional right that allows citizens to challenge the lawfulness of their imprisonment. President Bush currently has the power to declare anyone, including U.S. citizens, "enemy combatants" and throw them in jail indefinitely without any explanation for their imprisonment.

In October of last year, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), which suspended the right of habeas corpus for the first time since the Civil War.

Without habeas corpus, we've taken the first step on a very slippery slope towards dictatorship. So e-mail your senators today..

Please share this message with anyone you know who cares about saving our Constitution.

Thank you for working to build a better world.

Will Easton, Manager
ActForChange.com/Working Assets

It was the 75th Anniversary of the repeal of alcohol prohibition on December 5th. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition has kicked off the ‘We Can Do It Again’ project, calling for an end to drug prohibition.

Alcohol drug reformers used the slogan, "Save the Children from Prohibition." Support for the federal war on drugs is inconsistent with support for individual freedom, constitutional government and the teachings of Jesus.

In the spirit of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. with our Bible and Constitution always close at hand, "We will overcome," drug abuse with compassion, science based education and treatment.

Allow history to repeat itself, repeal prohibition. Gain better control by regulating all drugs like we do pharmaceuticals, tobacco or alcohol. We tolerate the salesmen of these drug gangs that cause more death annually than all illicit drugs.

Don't delay, send a letter to your members of Congress and state law makers. Please act now and please post or forward this link to as many people as you can! As always, thank you for supporting LEAP.

URGENT ALERT; 10/18, 2007

Bonnie Raitt: There's something happening here. Watch The Video -- Sign The Petition!

Working Assets has joined with musicians Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Ben Harper and Bonnie Raitt on a petition to Congress to prevent a costly bailout of the nuclear power industry.

Please act now to help us remove a clause from a pending Energy Bill that could force taxpayers to underwrite construction of an unknown number of new nuclear power plants. Instead, the bill should fund the renewable and efficiency technologies that can solve global warming, guarantee a secure economy, and create millions of jobs.

Sign the petition to Congress and stop the pending nuclear power industry bailout.

Guantánamo Bay: Help Amnesty tear it down.
You can make Guantánamo Bay disappear –- and help tear down detention camps that have become synonymous with torture, injustice, and an utter betrayal of human rights. Tearitdown.org is a powerful new Amnesty International project dramatically visualizing the commitment of 500,000 people to tear down Guantánamo Bay.

See for yourself. Act right now to tear down a piece of Guantánamo Bay!

Join Amnesty International in this powerful display of commitment to human rights. Strike the final blow to the Administration's failed policies at Guantánamo Bay. Get your pixel today.

More current letters!

Ethan Nadelman letterhead

December 5, 2008

You Can Make a Difference

Dear Colleen,

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Please read my op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, and encourage others to do the same. And if you really like it, then please empower our efforts to reform today’s drug prohibitions.

I’d welcome your thoughts on the piece.

Very truly yours,

Ethan Nadelmann
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance Network

P.S. Follow this link to see my article in today's Wall Street Journal -- you can share it on Facebook, MySpace, Digg, del.icio.us and other sites.

Let's End Drug Prohibition

Most Americans agreed that alcohol suppression was worse than alcohol consumption.

Today is the 75th anniversary of that blessed day in 1933 when Utah became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the 21st amendment, thereby repealing the 18th amendment. This ended the nation's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition.

It's already shaping up as a day of celebration, with parties planned, bars prepping for recession-defying rounds of drinks, and newspapers set to publish cocktail recipes concocted especially for the day.

But let's hope it also serves as a day of reflection. We should consider why our forebears rejoiced at the relegalization of a powerful drug long associated with bountiful pleasure and pain, and consider too the lessons for our time.

The Americans who voted in 1933 to repeal prohibition differed greatly in their reasons for overturning the system. But almost all agreed that the evils of failed suppression far outweighed the evils of alcohol consumption.

The change from just 15 years earlier, when most Americans saw alcohol as the root of the problem and voted to ban it, was dramatic. Prohibition's failure to create an Alcohol Free Society sank in quickly. Booze flowed as readily as before, but now it was illicit, filling criminal coffers at taxpayer expense.

Some opponents of prohibition pointed to Al Capone and increasing crime, violence and corruption. Others were troubled by the labeling of tens of millions of Americans as criminals, overflowing prisons, and the consequent broadening of disrespect for the law. Americans were disquieted by dangerous expansions of federal police powers, encroachments on individual liberties, increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the prohibition laws, and the billions in forgone tax revenues. And still others were disturbed by the specter of so many citizens blinded, paralyzed and killed by poisonous moonshine and industrial alcohol.

Supporters of prohibition blamed the consumers, and some went so far as to argue that those who violated the laws deserved whatever ills befell them. But by 1933, most Americans blamed prohibition itself.

When repeal came, it was not just with the support of those with a taste for alcohol, but also those who disliked and even hated it but could no longer ignore the dreadful consequences of a failed prohibition. They saw what most Americans still fail to see today: That a failed drug prohibition can cause greater harm than the drug it was intended to banish.

Consider the consequences of drug prohibition today: 500,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for nonviolent drug-law violations; 1.8 million drug arrests last year; tens of billions of taxpayer dollars expended annually to fund a drug war that 76% of Americans say has failed; millions now marked for life as former drug felons; many thousands dying each year from drug overdoses that have more to do with prohibitionist policies than the drugs themselves, and tens of thousands more needlessly infected with AIDS and Hepatitis C because those same policies undermine and block responsible public-health policies.

And look abroad. At Afghanistan, where a third or more of the national economy is both beneficiary and victim of the failed global drug prohibition regime. At Mexico, which makes Chicago under Al Capone look like a day in the park. And elsewhere in Latin America, where prohibition-related crime, violence and corruption undermine civil

MPP Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C. - June 11, 2008

Dear Colleen:

The Marijuana Policy Project is thrilled to announce that we are working closely with members of Congress to propel a brand new piece of legislation in Congress this year. The legislation will prohibit
the federal government from prosecuting terminally ill medical marijuana patients.

Dubbed the "terminally ill patients amendment" by MPP and supporters on Capitol Hill, this legislation provides narrower protections than what we would ultimately like to see. However, its effects would be
nationwide and it would protect the most vulnerable members of the medical marijuana community, those with little time to live.

Due to the amendment's narrow scope, it has garnered significant support in Washington, D.C., but we need your help to get it passed. Your member of Congress sits on the Appropriations Committee and will be voting on this legislation next week.

Would you please visit MPP's online action center and send a letter to your member of Congress today?

If you would, please also make a call to your congressperson's office and ask him or her to support this important legislation. You can
reach your member's office through the congressional switchboard at (202) 225-3121. A staff member will answer your call and pass your
message on. You can say: (continue)

Quote of the Day:

"Frankly, it is too easy to pass bills. Bills flow through this body like water."
-- Sen. Jeff Sessions

In our system of government, Senators have longer terms than Representatives. In theory, this gives them freedom to be more far-sighted and more statesmanlike than Representatives, who are constantly seeking re-election. Sometimes, democratic passions cause the House to pass popular but seriously flawed bills, and the framers of the Constitution created the Senate so that cooler heads would prevail. It seemed to work: for generations the Senate was considered the "world's greatest deliberative body."

But today, the Senate passes most bills unread and without any deliberation. In fact, bills are often rushed through without Senators even knowing about them. Their "consent" to a bill is assumed, and this leads to bills being passed by "unanimous consent." It is a process called "hotlining." Paul Jacob has a good column on it this week.

A Senator's office is notified by phone of a bill that both the majority leader and minority leader would like to see passed without debate. The Senator's staff is given a deadline to place a "hold" on the bill. A hold can be placed for any number of reasons - the Senator may want to obstruct passage of the bill, as Sen. Stevens famously tried to obstruct the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act last year. Or, a Senator may place a hold if he or she wants to introduce an amendment. Or maybe the Senator just wants time to read and consider the bill. But there are many occasions when Senators aren't even given a fair chance to place a hold. As Sen. Sessions of Alabama tells it:

"In each Senate office there are three telephones with hotline buttons on them. Most evenings, sometimes after business hours, these phones begin to ring. The calls are from the Republican and the Democratic leaders to each of their Members, asking consent to pass this or that bill--not consider the bill or have debate on the bill but to pass it. Those calls will normally give a deadline. If the staff do not call back in 30 minutes, the bill passes. Boom. It can be 500 pages. In many offices, when staffers do not know anything about the bill, they usually ignore the hotline and let the bill pass without even informing their Senators. If the staff miss the hotline, or do not know about it or were not around, the Senator is deemed to have consented to the passage of some bill which might be quite an important piece of information." Source: Sessions' website

Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma elaborates:
"During the 109th Congress (2005-2006), 341 bills and joint resolutions were passed by the Senate. According to the Congressional Research Service, only 21 of those bills received a roll call vote on the Senate floor. That means 94 percent of law making measures that were passed through the Senate were passed by UC or by voice vote. A large majority of these were hotlined and therefore excluded from full and open debate and the amendment process. In the 109th Congress, 1,408 bills, resolutions, or nominations were attempted to be hotlined, with as many as 40 measures being hotlined in a single day." Source: Coburn's website

No wonder government grows so quickly. A Senator may have a headache and call it a night, and when he returns to his office the next day he finds out he "consented" to several bills he knew nothing about. Calling the Senate a "rubber stamp" is an insult to rubber stamps.

And it is we the people who suffer. We are the ones who must pay for the government's wasteful programs and obey its unnecessary laws. The least we should expect is that our representatatives in Congress read and understand the bills they pass. The least we should expect is that all bills actually come to a floor vote, and are not "passed" via telephone messages. That is why we must pressure Congress to pass the Read the Bills Act.

Tell Congress you are disgusted by procedures such as the Senate's hotlining process. Tell them that they should read and understand every bill they want passed, and that bills should actually be voted on in both chambers. Tell them to pass the Read the Bills Act.

Finally, last week the Senate passed 8 bills amounting to 462 pages of legislation. The House passed 17 bills and 295 pages. Almost all of them are worthy of comment, but we just don't have the time. The list of bills can be found at the bottom of the blog version of this Dispatch.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

Sincerely,

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org

September 15, 2008

Dear Colleen, Be part of history.

This Tuesday, Voters for Peace will be participating in a historic press conference with 19 other national organizations announcing "Million Doors for Peace." Nearly 10,000 people have already signed up to participate in exponentially expanding the peace movement. On September 20, 2008 we all talk to our neighbors and sign them up to tell their elected officials to end the Iraq war and occupation now.

Be part of this effort. We need you to help build a peace movement that cannot be ignored by the next President and Congress. Sign up today.

Million Doors for Peace will be the year's largest anti-war mobilization. It is different from previous anti-war mobilizations because volunteers will be talking to people where they live instead of gathering in one place - such as the National Mall in Washington, D.C. - for a traditional protest. Most Americans oppose the war in Iraq, but have never been directly invited to participate in an anti-war action. By engaging people where they live, neighbor-on-neighbor, Million Doors for Peace will elevate the debate over the war and its costs. We will be asking our neighbors to sign the following petition to Congress:

The five and a half years of war in Iraq has been an exercise of misplaced priorities:

• Draining U.S. taxpayers of at least three trillion dollars which could have gone towards investments that strengthen our economy, such as: health care for our families, ensuring the best education for our children and youth, and addressing the energy crisis.

• Resulting in hundreds of thousands of American and Iraqis dead and wounded.

• And undermining the United States' standing as a worldwide symbol for democracy and justice.

Because of these reasons, the majority of American and Iraqi people want the United States to begin a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as soon as possible, with a date certain for completing that process.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, call on [Rep. / Sen. NAME] to immediately support and pass legislation that will set a specific date to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq within a year.

Voters for Peace Continue

October 21,2007

Dear Colleen and Leonard,

You are right about Ron Paul, man I wish I was out there to help him. He amazes me with his honesty and truthfulness. I'd like to see his campaign catch on. Send info on him if you can. Put my address on the web.

Your friend,

Thomas Thompson*

#1271133 Ellis Unit T/C

1697 FM 980

Huntsville, TX 77343

*Dear Reader, through our years of correspondence I have learned: Thomas is in prison for robbing banks because he became so frustrated by the corruption in law enforcement in the Permian Basin area. He claims he was targeted for his alleged help in busting his cousin, a crooked sheriff. When he found out these same people had made sure he received 75 years for 2 joints and seven pain pills, he ran, living underground around Austin for 19 months pulling bank jobs. He alleges his wife (now deceased) was raped by a member of law enforcement and at one point his probation was revoked for an overdue library book! More Current Letters

JUNE 26, 2008

Sunglasses…beach towel…freedom to take action? Take this summer’s challenge and gain more than just a great suntan.
Bring hope to human rights defenders around the world by writing letters on their behalf.

Dear Colleen,

The extraordinary thing about human rights defenders is just how ordinary their desires are. They want what so many of us take for granted – A safe place to live and work. Free and fair elections. The right to speak out without the fear of arrest or torture. This summer, your mission is to bring hope to human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience around the world.

Recently, a women’s rights group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise! (WOZA) organized a peaceful demonstration to protest the worsening social, economic and human rights conditions in their country. Members of this group frequently report harassment, intimidation and other extreme treatment from police officers. Right now, Jenni Williams and Magadonga Mahlangu, leaders of WOZA, are in prison. Other members of WOZA face charges against their peaceful activities. Send a letter of support to the members of WOZA as a part of our Summer Solidarity Action.

The struggle for human rights continues even during what is for most, a relaxing season – summer. For our summer solidarity action, you can provide moral support to human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, China, Belarus, Mexico, and Libya. Your action can help bring much-needed support and justice to these courageous men and women.

When people ask you what you’re doing for summer vacation this year, tell them you’re bringing hope to where it’s needed most.

Sincerely,

Michael O'Reilly
Campaign Director
Individuals at Risk
Amnesty International USA

More Current Letters

probably difficult for anyone to say, which is one, has the drug war been successful; two, if not should we continue it; and three, given that should we look at legalizing, controlling and taxing drugs and narcotics in the United States?" He says, next week's agenda is likely to include an item calling for the override of the mayor's veto, which would take seven votes by the nine-member council.

President elect Obama offers the surgeon general post to CNN's Sanjay Gupta. The very same, Dr. Gupta who once wrote "Why I Would Vote No on Pot": for TIME Magazine. What happened to changing things for the better? He is sounding more and more like more of the same, as bad as McCain!

The drug war fuels corruption of public officials and injustice in our courts. The statistics reveal that racism is epidemic in the drug war. It's the elephant in the living room being ignored by servants of tyranny.

Problems don't go away just because the government makes them illegal; they just go underground. Then a black market creates worse problems; since sellers cannot rely on police to protect their property, they arm themselves and form gangs. The more despicable sellers recruit minors to sell to their peers, charge monopoly prices and kill the competition. Some buyers steal to pay the high prices.

Based on a 2003 study by addiction researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo, alcohol makes domestic violence 8xs more likely. Marijuana does not.

Cannabis oil is that cure all some of our ancestors used! Thank God, they did not let us all be brain washed into forgetfulness about the wonder of it! Oooops they spilled the beans, in spite of the oppression promoted by medical profiteers. It is a bigger disgrace than sex in the oval office! Take action, now, join the Campaign For Liberty! Dr. Ron Paul says, "We are politicizing pain."

Have you ever done a search for violent crime statistics? Or unsolved child murders? Many violent crimes go unsolved every year!

While we police nonviolent social, medicinal and religious drug use murderers and violent sexual predators roam free. Across the US last year 38.8% of the murders, 60% of the rapes and 45.9% of the aggravated assaults became cold case files! The cumulative effect of this is horrendous.

This policy bordering on insanity obviously is not the best use of our limited resources or making our neighborhoods safer. Get tough on violent offenders, drug warriors don't have to look far for something better to do.

Read the Roll Call article that highlights the lobbying work of NORML, ASA, DPA and MPP. 2008 was one of the most successful years ever for marijuana policy reform.

Obama still claims to want our input. Please take a moment and log onto the Change.gov site to voice your support for questions pertaining to drug policy reform. Most are listed under, "Additional Issues," so click on that link on your left to find them fast.

Dean Becker, Producer - Drug Truth Network went to Victoria Texas recently to see the new movie "Drug Wars - Silver or Lead." He interviewed the director Rusty Fleming, Fred Burton of Stratfor (an anti terrorism organization) as well as two Texas sheriffs from the border region. It is definitely time to reexamine this policy of drug prohibition.

"I want to kill Osama's fattest cash cow, eviscerate the cartels and paramilitary, eliminate the reason for which most violent street gangs exist in the US and take away our children's easy access to drugs. --- anybody who objects is a dang fool." Dean puts in plain enough.

Our man in DC, Howard "Cowboy" Wooldridge (Continue)

Dear Colleen, -------------------------------------------Dec. 14,2007

I was a drug user. My friends, musicians and artists in southern California, were drug users. So I saw firsthand what happens when people who use drugs are denied access to health care and drug education. Two talented, creative people I knew died.

At that time, there was no voice out there advocating for us to have basic harm reduction services—services that would have saved the lives of my friends. I feel passionately about changing that, which is why I work as DPA’s harm reduction coordinator in Los Angeles, implementing a program to provide access to clean syringes in pharmacies, which prevents diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C and saves us all money in health care costs.

When you’ve lived this experience, you can’t ignore it. And that’s why I love DPA. We’re a sane, rational voice working against the de-humanization of drug users and fighting the prejudice systemic to the war on drugs. I believe educating people about harm reduction is one of the first steps in creating change, because until we break down stereotypes and stigmas about people who use drugs, we can’t fully embrace a public health response to drug use.

This is the most meaningful work I’ve ever done, and I feel blessed that I get to do it. I care so much about the value of the life of a person who uses drugs because I walk around every day with the ghosts of people I knew and loved.

But in order to keep doing what I do, I need your help. I have so many ideas—I want to build partnerships with organizations and people who can bring harm reduction messages back to their own communities. I want to do an ad campaign to raise awareness of the fact that a person can be both an injection drug user and a contributing member of society. I want to bring our message to people who don’t already agree with us.

But the only way I can do those things is with the financial support of people who believe in what I do. As you’re deciding on your year-end contributions, please think about my work and make a donation to DPA.

Thank you,

Meghan Ralston
Harm Reduction Coordinator
Drug Policy Alliance Los Angeles

More Current Letters

August 20 ,2008

Dear Colleen,

Question: Who’s safe from the brutal tactics of the zero-tolerance drug war?

Answer: No one, apparently.

A couple weeks ago, a D.C.-area sheriff's office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers in Maryland burst into the house of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo after they saw Calvo take a suspicious package inside. (The package, which contained marijuana, was intended to be intercepted by a drug smuggling ring that exploits unsuspecting addressees.) During the raid, they shot and killed the mayor's two Labrador retrievers.1 In the ensuing investigation, it was discovered that the police did not even possess a "no-knock" warrant for the botched SWAT-style raid.2

In November 2006, the Atlanta area was shocked when 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston was gunned down by narcotics officers who kicked down her door (an incorrect address was supplied by an informant) in another bungled “no-knock” drug raid. Protecting her home from the sudden intrusion, Ms. Johnston fired one round before being shot 39 times by police; they then handcuffed her and, as she lay dying, planted marijuana in her basement to cover up their mistake.3

Each year, SWAT teams across the country conduct an estimated 40,000 raids, many of them directed at people suspected of nonviolent drug law violations.4 These brutal tactics -- heavily armed police in military-style attire breaking down doors and tossing flash-bang grenades -- have become routine. But it’s obvious such tactics are not justified for routine drug raids.

Send a note to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a national organization that unites mayors around policies and goals, and ask them to support an end to these tactics. Now that one of their own has been vicitimized, urge our nation's mayors to start a conversation in their communities about "no-knock" warrants and routine SWAT-style raids for drug investigations.

Take action now. If you are as outraged as we are, please take another moment to forward this request to your friends and family. Thank you so much for your support!

Sincerely,
Bill Piper, Director National Affairs ----Drug Policy Alliance

MPP (continues)

Hello. My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your town, your state]. I understand Representative [last name] is a member of the Appropriations Committee. I wanted to ask him/her to support the
terminally ill patients medical marijuana amendment that will be offered in committee this year.

The amendment will only apply to patients who are terminally ill and who use medical marijuana with their doctor's approval.

Thank you.

Please take action today and help protect terminally ill patients from arrest. These sick and dying people are some of the medical marijuana
community's most vulnerable members. Please help them by taking these simple actions right now.

Sincerely,

Ben Morris
National Field Coordinator
Marijuana Policy Project

We are required by federal law to tell you that any donations you make to MPP may be used for political purposes, such as supporting or opposing candidates for federal office.

More Currant Letters

VotersForPeace Continues

For five years the anti-war community has protested, written letters, sent emails and made phone calls, and we haven't ended the war. We need to grow the anti-war movement, find NEW people who we haven't met yet, and those who haven't already made up their minds.

You'll be provided with a script, talking points and a walk list in your neighborhood. And, you will be part of a coordinated effort to build a peace movement that elected officials will be unable to ignore.

Sincerely,
Kevin B. Zeese
VotersForPeace.US

Take the VotersForPeace Pledge! "I will only vote for or support federal candidates who make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her campaign."

Where does U.S. militarism fit into the General Election?

The military has become much larger and more deeply embedded throughout the federal government. Neither of the establishment party candidates is calling for shrinking the U.S. military indeed, both are calling for expanding the military with tens of thousands of more troops.

What can peace advocates do? No matter whom you are planning to vote for you can take action today. Write to all the candidates Urge them to end the occupation of Iraq and prevent future wars of aggression.

Also, please donate to VotersForPeace today. More Current Letters

Colleen: --------------------------------------------------------------------3/27/2008

The "war on drugs" is a propaganda slogan to divert attention away from the war over who is going to control and profit from the international trade in designer drugs and natural drugs.

I recommend you see a film entitled Amazing Grace, about the slave trade of Western powers of the 17th and 18th centuries. It shows what nations will do for commerce and economic security, only the objects, the commodities of trade change. Look at the arms races of this century and the ideologies and propaganda that created and justified them.

Only the slavishly obedient to our current drug policies buy the idea that there is anything like a war on drugs. The warfare emerges from dividing up the drug trade into the wild west version of "the good drugs" and the "bad drugs" and them going to war over who gets the money.

I send this in the possibility of making the last 100 years of drug scams and protection rackets that sustain such division and destruction comprehensible; and we have a way of seeing the big picture and informing other people who could have that policy and that warfare ended.

How could people who have nothing but propagada to inform themselves be able to be responsible for their own health, safety and well-being?

If you want more information, let me know.

War is a way of having.....

Peace is a way of being....

I also refer you to War Dance, a study of the psychology of way., by Dr. Eric Graham Howe

Russ Shaw, MA, Lt. Col., USAF(Ret)
303-440-7877

More Current Letters

Sherry Nance #544805
TDCJ Murray Unit K-2A-64
1916 N. Highway 36 Bypass
Gatesville, TX 76596

March 29, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Sherry A. Nance, and I am serving a life sentence at the
Murray Unit in Gatesville, TX. Building K where I am currently housed is known as the "Old Ladies Dorm" because it is the dormitory where older women like myself, many of whom have various kinds of chronic illnesses and are disabled, are assigned to sleep. I am appealing to you for help because the Murray Unit has recently started what is the equivalent of a chain gang for elderly women. Until this newest form of state-sponsored torture was introduced, I, like many other older women at the Murray Unit, had a regular prison job inside the facility, but they changed the job assignments for many of us. And we are now being ordered to perform hard manual labor as an outside work gang as well as being forced to work in cold, wet, and unseasonable weather. This came as a total surprise not only to myself but also to the other women that live in the same dorm as I do.

There has been some conflict in Building K between staff and older
inmates who are disabled and can't respond during head count due to
being deaf, legally blind, speech impaired, and mentally challenged. Some older women who are senile were sleeping on each other's

bunks because they couldn't find the bed they were assigned to, and one mental case was sleeping under the bed of another inmate because she was paranoid and afraid to sleep by herself. There was another situation where one mental case was found setting in the shower area playing in her own menstrual blood after repeatedly creating numerous disturbances in the dorm. All these and other things are regular happenings in the so-called "Old Ladies Dorm," but they are incidents that need to be addressed as they apply to the problematic individuals, not to all of us just because certain inmates in here are prone to create problems.

What's happening with the elderly chain gang appears to be that TDCJ decided that all of us older ladies need to be assigned to hard labor so that we will be tired enough to sleep at night and not cause disruptions, but working us like dogs is not the answer to problems concerned with handling deaf, speech impaired, blind, senile and physically challenged inmates. We are being made to pull weeds, allegedly to be used for mulch fertilizer, when mowing would accomplish essentially the same thing. I have a bad back, and my medical profile states that I am not to do heavy lifting, work in a
squatting position, or work bending over for prolonged periods of time. When I told the CO in charge of the work gang about my the physical limitations outlined in my medical records, he told me to set on the cold, damp ground to pull weeds and push myself along on the wet grass. At least four other women I am closely acquainted with who are in their early 60s, and one who is 67-years-old, were told to do the same thing when they told the CO in charge about their various handicaps.

Besides the dire degradation, physical discomfort, ! and total disregard for our medical records, we are not being furnished with gloves and are being forced to pull weeds bare-handed in cold, wet weather. This constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because the elderly women's chain gang that we have been assigned to is apparently designed to punish us for being old, blind, and disabled. It represents nothing less than an attempt at state-sponsored euthanasia, which is a violation of our human rights, and it needs to stop immediately.

I would like to ask each of you to contact the officials whose information is listed below and demand that this abuse of prisoners in their custody stop and that they consider other methods of dealing with the problem of what to do with the growing number of elderly and disabled female inmates other than work us to death in inclement weather. The officials I would like for you to contact and their contact information are as follows:

That's what the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN is about and why I'm asking you for support.

The Truth 08 Campaign -- is a multi-pronged strategy from StoptheDrugWar.org to educate more people about the Drug War and to:

* Expand StoptheDrugWar.org resources so more people can get online, read Drug War Chronicle (the world's leading drug policy newsletter), participate in Speakeasy blogs and take immediate action through our Alerts and Latest News postings.

* Bring more elected officials on board through targeted lobbying efforts.

* Empower more grassroots organizations by giving them the tools, materials and exposure they need to strengthen the drug policy reform movement.

* Reach out to local and national media with the "other" side of the story -- prohibition does more harm than good.

There is no better time to open people's minds than during this election year when almost everyone is focused on change. As people are taking a long, hard look at the policies that are NOTworking in this country, the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN will prove that the Drug War should be included at the top of that list.

Will you please contribute to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN today? Your gift will be used to get the word out to more people, attract more media attention and build greater momentum for policy change. Visit today.

We'll send you a free TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN notepad to show you our appreciation, and so you can spread the word, too. If you send $36 or more, we'll also send you a free padded folder with clasp. And for a gift of $60 or more, you'll also receive a free copy of Dying to Get High, a new book by Wendy Chapkis and Richard J. Webb about the right to use physician-recommended marijuana that will be released, appropriately, on July 4th.

Your help is needed to capitalize on the tremendous progress we've already made getting the TRUTH out: this past year over 140,000 people each month visited StoptheDrugWar.org -- that's a lot of visitors.

Several months the number of visitors topped 180,000 and the trend is continuing upward. We are very excited about the new campaign and the new momentum we're generating.

Colleen, thank you very much for your interest in changing this country's drug policies and for being a part of
StoptheDrugWar.org. And thank you for giving your support to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN. Your contribution has never been more important.

David Borden
Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet)
News & Activism Promoting Sensible Reform

P.S. It's time to stop the senseless tragedies like those experienced by Tim Garon and Rachel Hoffman -- and to bring an end to countless injustices occurring every day. Your donation to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN today will help spread the word to more people than ever and build the momentum we need to change our country's drug policy and end prohibition.
Thank you! More current letters

Prohibition Triggers Violence, Save the Children!

FYI…Below is Joy Strickland's (CEO, Mothers Against Teen Violence) rebuttal to James Capra’s article published in the Dallas Morning News last week. The News informed Joy that they cannot print the rebuttal below since they already published her article two weeks ago.

To read - Joy Strickland: Drug laws fertilize teen violence - the original article:

To read - James Capra: Legalizing pot in no way makes us safe - his rebuttal:

LEGALIZING POT MAKES US SAFER
By Joy Strickland - CEO, Mothers Against Teen Violence - July 29, 2008

James L. Capra, a Dallas Drug Enforcement Agent, asserted in his article last week, “The United States has had tremendous success in our fight against drug use and abuse.” Anyone vaguely familiar with the war on drugs will concede that Mr. Capra holds what is arguably a fantastic notion of success. His agency’s outdated arguments and misleading statistics are self-serving at best. Indeed, a DEA agent promoting the drug war is perhaps less remarkable than a ringmaster promoting the circus. Still, Mr. Capra’s arguments warrant a rebuttal.

Firstly, Mr. Capra refers to the specter of prisons filled with drug users as an “illusion”. Although an entire communtiy of African American men in Tulia, Texas and the Hispanic men victimized by the fake drug scandal here in Dallas could liken their experience to a bad dream, sadly these shameful stories are very real. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) reveal that drug law violations skyrocketed to nearly 2 million in 2006, of which: 82.5% were for possession of a controlled substance; only 17.5% were for the sale or manufacture of a drug; 43.9 per cent were for marijuana; and 39% were for marijuana possession alone, shattering the myth that the drug war primarily targets drug smugglers and king pins. We cannot separate the rise of the prison industrial complex from our outdated an irrational drug laws.

Secondly, Mr. Capra inferred that favoring decriminalization and control could be construed as favoring underage use. Nothing in the original article warrants this disturbing inference. Perhaps the point that Mr. Capra missed can be clarified by posing the following questions: If a youth should exercise poor judgment by using a controlled substance, should he be barred from obtaining a federal loan for college? Should he be incarcerated? If he has a life-threatening reaction, should his friends risk letting him die because they fail to seek medical attention, fearing their own arrest? It must not be that the cure is worse than the ailment.

There is no accounting for those “studies” showing the harmful effects of marihuana on the body, since Mr. Capra cited no sources. There is ample evidence, however, that marijuana is less dangerous (to adults) in many respects than nicotine. In 2006 the largest case-controlled study ever conducted concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer. Donald Tashkin, a pulmonologist at the University of California at Los Angeles has studied marijuana for 30 years. FDA officials have widely used his previous work on marijuana to make the case that the drug is dangerous. Tashkin had hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect," says Tashkin.

Finally, Mr. Capra alluded to the Netherlands as evidence that liberalized drug policies increase rather than reduce crime. A better informed DEA agent would know that marijuana remains illegal in the Netherlands. Large-scale dealing, production, import and export of all illegal substances are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The fact that Dutch policymakers make a distinction between hard drugs and soft drugs is a step in the right direction. This distinction has led to dispensing marijuana in coffee shops because a policy of non-enforcement has become common. The problem is that there is no way for coffee shops to access a legal supply of marijuana. By pursuing a schizophrenic policy coupling non-enforcement with the failure to control cultivation and distribution, the Netherlands has allowed illegal drug trafficking to remain a profitable venture—and that is the source of the criminal activity.

In the information age, drug war opponents and advocants alike could benefit from a public debate based on facts instead of fiction or scare tactics. Anything less is a disservice to the DEA and the citizens it purports to serve and protect.

Resilient Teens, Empowered Parents, Strong Communities

Joy Strickland - CEO, Mothers Against Teen Violence

2904 Floyd Suite F, Dallas, TX 75204

214-565-0422 - 214-565-0504 (FAX)

More current letters

SO WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT: Revenge or

Rehabilitation?

The Frank Councell Story

9/9/08

Colleen, Frank Councell and L. Scott Phillips are happy for you to put up the story as am I. Everyone who reads it is one more who knows what we as a society are doing to ourselves by allowing officers to overstep their bounds.

This is a fairly long and detailed story so I'm only sending you my personal thoughts on the matter. You can read the entire story for yourself at the above link - and I urge you to do so, for this affects everyone.

Once again, the department of 'corrections' has fallen down on it's primary and most important job as stated in it's own mission statement: Safety of the guards, the prisoners AND the public. It really HAS to be all about rehabilitation because if prisoners don't come out better able to fit into society than before, what have we accomplished? Where has our money gone? How are we safer? Yet every prison worker I've ever asked about rehabilitation has responded, "Rehabilitation? That's not my job." I don't understand it, but maybe not; but it is also NOT their job to prevent rehabilitation.

Prison workers must be seriously reminded that the courts, not the guards among them, decide the punishment for people in prison.

The story is specifically about an urgent situation for Frank Councell, but I know that the same guard-games happen in many prisons, and it seriously impacts the prisoners, their loved ones, the prison workers themselves and the entire general public in a very real way. Frank Councell's story has been repeated to me over and over in various forms by many prisoners and their families so I know that guard-revenge happens often enough to make a big difference in our recidivism rates.

Since the current system is apparently not dedicated to improving a prisoner's capabilities, it is up to the individual inmate to be driven enough to rehabilitate himself, yet Frank Councell's story is typical throughout the DoC: An inmate tries to get himself ready for release, officers try to prevent that rehabilitation, for whatever personal reasons they think they have, and the staff ignores it. Can anyone wonder why recidivism rates are so high despite the unGodly amount of money we spend on prisons in the USA?

Every prison worker who doesn't do the job according to the book endangers you and I. Every administrator who won't make them do their jobs professionally steals our future safety. Can you see how important this situation is? If Frank Councell and all the prisoners like him are not allowed to rehabilitate themselves, you, my dear readers, or someone you love will eventually suffer because nobody else is doing the job.

It is in the best interest of the people to insist that the governor, legislators, administrators and staff of correctional facilities utilize the many (and expensive) prisons we have to prepare inmates to return to society as improved and more capable citizens. This is the only way to make our streets safer for us and our children and by God, that's what we pay for.

Sigh... So, where do we go when prison workers are exacting their own revenge, the staff ignores it, and the secretary of the department won't step in? Please, for society's safety, if you have any similar stories, suggestions, any contacts who might care or have influence, email either Mr. L. Scott Phillips, or me, Kay Lee.

Kay Lee, Making The Walls Transparent (MTWT)

The Frank Councell Story

More Current Letters

Retaliation and Intimidation Grow Against Frank Councell 9/16/2008

Dear Friends,

The reason I am writing this is not for a good thing. Frank’s situation is worsening. Please post this update, and ask everyone to write the Secretary of the Florida DOC, Walter McNeil, and the Inspector General, Paul Decker. Frank’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. Thank You, L. Scott Phillips

First, Frank and I thank you for reading Frank’s story, and for the support that you have shown. When I tell him about what people are saying and doing, he draws strength from it. If you would like to read his story, this link will take you directly to it:

Frank is an inmate in Florida at Hardee Correctional Institution. He wants you to know that retaliation, and now intimidation, are growing at an alarming rate. I know the names of all the officers involved, and will expose all of them, when Frank tells me to do it. But for now, I’ll tell you what they are doing.

In the last week alone, Frank has been shaken down FOUR times! Just Frank, no one else. This must stop. Normally, shake downs may happen once a month, and to a whole group of inmates, never just one. These cowardly officers get psychotic pleasure from abusing those who have no power, especially when they think no one is watching.

Last week, Frank was called to medical. Officers handcuffed him, put on a belly chain, and shackled his feet, and was escorted by two officers. They shackled him so tightly that they cut into him, and caused his ankles to bleed. Frank is not in administrative or disciplinary confinement. He goes to work, the chow hall, and the canteen without these precautions. Oh, he was not on the callout for medical, nor he request to go, because he is not sick.

Inmates have access to prison “justice” through filing grievances. In Florida, they are very strict that inmates follow the procedures. Title 33-103 lays them out. Inmates have the right to file a grievance, except Frank. Frank was called to a meeting, attended by two assistant wardens, two classification officers, and a sergeant. The purpose of this meeting was to tell Frank that if he filed one more grievance, he would be put in administrative confinement, where he would sit for a very long time. This is a clear violation of Frank’s rights, and of Title 33. These five officials are complicit in a crime.

Frank runs for exercise and as a way to combat stress. For a few minutes, he closes his mind to the insanity that is around him. But now, this is not a refuge. Officers stand to the side of the track and stare him down. There is even a captain who joins in the mad-dogging. They make their intimidation known to Frank to the point that it is apparent to others the yard. This may seem to be a little thing to you or I, because if someone’s stare makes us feel uncomfortable, we can simply walk away. But Frank cannot do that. Most worrisome is that those who are doing this are those with power over him. Intimidation follows him with every step.

Frank’s area is set up with the phones in a sally port. When an inmate wants to use the phone, an officer in the control room must push a button. Calling me has become a gigantic effort. The officers in the control room look at him standing by the door, and turn away. This can go on anywhere from five to twenty minutes. Last week, he had to wait until the officer pushed the button to let an inmate in the sally port to come in.

Everything he does and anyplace he goes has become a stress-filled ordeal. These petty, hate filled officers are draining the life out of him. He won’t live through two and a half years of this torture. I break down when I think about what he’s going through, and wonder if he will come home to me.

Please help Frank. Please write the Secretary of the DOC, Walter McNeil, and the Inspector General, Paul Decker, and demand that they stop this mistreatment of Frank. You may copy and paste this letter, but please add a personal note. (Click on their names below to send emails.)

Secretary Walter McNeil

Department of Corrections

2601 Blair Stone Road

Tallassee, Florida 32399-2500

(850) 488-7480

More Current Letters

9/26/08

Hi Collen,

Decision time is close. The Day after the Red Mass.

Most people I ask, do not know why marijuana is illegal. I respond by saying What happened to the due process of law? What happened to the rule of law?

I have two cases docketed in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to review the decisions of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 07-1534. http://ursm.us/5.html and the Wyoming Supreme Court, 07-1535.

On September 29th my petitions for writ of certiorari to The Supreme Court of the United States will go to conference. The disposition of a case will be announced on an Orders List that will be released at 10:00 a.m. the following Monday, on October 6, 2008.

The Maine and Wyoming courts are saying none of my rights protected by the 4th and 5th Amendments were affected by the enforcement of the marijuana laws because marijuana is not a fundamental right. Therefore it is rational for the government to have searched and seized my person and my property for violating the marijuana laws.

Reasonable criminal laws are to protect the rights of others from my activities. The private growing and private possession of marijuana does not pose a substantial threat to the rights of other, ie public health and safety.

If the US Supreme denies review, well, what happened to the rule of law?

Michael J. Dee Windham Maine 207-893-0287

Editors note: Check out Michael's picture with the article, "On the Common, they like grass," in the Boston Globe recently. More Current Letters