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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #980 -- 7/6/17
Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/980

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director,borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. "SHOCKS THE CONSCIENCE": SOUTH DAKOTA FORCIBLY CATHETERIZES THREE-YEAR OLD IN DRUG WAR [FEATURE]
It's barbaric enough that the benighted state subjects drug suspects to this treatment, but toddlers, too?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/02/shocks_conscience_south_dakota_f

2. LEGAL MARIJUANA IS A JOB CREATION ENGINE
But there are still plenty of people making a living in the black market, too. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/05/legal_marijuana_creates_jobs

3. LEGAL MARIJUANA SALES IN NEVADA: EIGHT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Look out, Denver! There's a new cannabis tourism destination to compete with now.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jun/30/legal_marijuana_sales_nevada_eig

4. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
The past week has been a quiet one on the medical marijuana front, but Montana instituted emergency regs to get its new program up and running, Pennsylvania announced the issuance of dispensary permits, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/05/medical_marijuana_update

5. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
More jail and prison guards gone bad, plus a Border Patrol agent gets nailed in a tricky trafficking scheme.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/05/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

6. CHRONICLE AM: WHO CALLS FOR DRUG DECRIM, NV LEGAL MJ SALES START SATURDAY, MORE... (6/29/17)
Massachusetts pols continue to work on a legalization implementation compromise, Nevada legal marijuana sales begin Saturday, a pair of federal sentencing reform bills get introduced, the World Health Organization calls for global drug decriminalization,
and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jun/29/chronicle_am_who_calls_drug_decr

7. CHRONICLE AM: SD SUED OVER FORCED CATHETERIZATION OF TODDLER FOR DRUG TEST, MORE... (6/30/17)
The ACLU sues South Dakota over the forced drug testing of a toddler, Detroit residents again sue the dope squad for killing dogs in pot raids, Pennsylvania's governor signs an asset forfeiture reform bill, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jun/30/chronicle_am_sd_sued_over_forced

8. CHRONICLE AM: CATALONIA LEGALIZES MARIJUANA, GREECE LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA, MORE... (7/3/17)
Catalonia okays cannabis social clubs, the Greeks give formal final approval to medical marijuana, a Delaware commission will study marijuana legalization and report back in January, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/03/catalonia_marijuana_legalization

9. CHRONICLE AM: GROUPS OPPOSE NEW FED BILL, STILL NO DEA RESEARCH GROW LICENSES, MORE... (7/5/17)
Drug reformers and others are trying to stop a bill that would give Attorney General Sessions new powers to criminalize new drugs and craft new penalties, after a year the DEA still hasn't issued any new marijuana research grow licenses, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/05/chronicle_am_groups_oppose_new_f

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1. "SHOCKS THE CONSCIENCE": SOUTH DAKOTA FORCIBLY CATHETERIZES THREE-YEAR OLD IN DRUG WAR [FEATURE]
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/02/shocks_conscience_south_dakota_f

The state of South Dakota is practicing a form of drug war excess tantamount to torture, according to a pair of federal lawsuits filed by the ACLU on June 28. One suit charges that law enforcement and medical personnel subject drug suspects to forcible
catheterization if they refuse to submit to a drug test.

The second suit charges even more outrageous conduct: State social workers and medical personnel subjecting a screaming toddler to the same treatment.

Let's be clear here: We are talking about a person having a plastic tube painfully inserted in his penis without his consent and with the use of whatever physical force is necessary by agents of the state. In the name of enforcing drug laws.

Law enforcement has an incentive to coerce people into consenting to warrantless drug tests -- with the realistic threat of forced catheterization -- because its state laws punish not just possession of drugs, but having used them. Under the state's "
internal possession" or "unlawful ingestion" statutes, testing positive for illicit drugs is a criminal offense.

"Forcible catheterization is painful, physically and emotionally damaging, and deeply degrading," said ACLU of South Dakota executive director Heather Smith in a statement announcing the filings. "Catheterization isn't the best way to obtain evidence,
but it is absolutely the most humiliating. The authorities ordered the catheterization of our clients to satisfy their own sadistic and authoritarian desires to punish. Subjecting anyone to forcible catheterization, especially a toddler, to collect
evidence when there are less intrusive means available, is unconscionable."

In the case of the toddler, the ACLU is suing on behalf of Kirsten Hunter of Pierre and her thee-year-old son. According to the complaint (https://www.aclusd.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/70629.child_.complaint.stamped.pdf), their ordeal began
on February 23, when police arrived to arrest her live-in boyfriend for failing a probationary drug test. Accompanying the cops was Department of Social Services (DSS) caseworker Matt Opbroeck, who informed Hunter that she and her children would have to
take drug tests, and that if she failed to agree, her two kids would be seized on the spot.

Under such coercion, Hunter agreed to take herself and her kids to St. Mary's Avera Hospital to be tested the next day. Here, in the dry language of the legal filing, is what happened next:

Ms. Hunter was met by [SMA medical staff] and told that she and her children needed to urinate in cups on orders of DSS.

At the time, A.Q., was not toilet-trained and could not produce a sample in a cup.

Even though other methods, such as placing a bag over his penis, would have yielded a urine sample, [SMA medical staff] immediately began to hold him down and to catheterize him.

At the time, [they] did not inform Ms. Hunter of altemative methods of getting a urine sample or explain the risks associated with catheterizing a child.

Ms. Hunter did not know that she could object nor was she given any opportunity to object. Ms. Hunter did not speak with or see a doctor.

A.Q. was catheterized and screamed during the entire procedure.

On information and belief, A.Q. was catheterized with an adult-sized catheter.

Ms. Hunter was humiliated and upset about A.Q.'s catheterization.

A.Q. was injured physically and emotionally.

In the aftermath of the state-sanctioned assault, three days later, A.Q. had to be taken to a hospital emergency room 100 miles away in Huron for constipation and pain and discomfort in his penis, and he had to return again to ASM two days after that,
where he was diagnosed with a staph infection in his penis.

Hunter and the ACLU are suing DSS caseworker Opbroeck, Opbroeck's bosses, Department of Social Services Secretary Lynn Valenti and DSS Division of Child Protective Services Director Virginia Wieseler, and St. Mary's Avera, Registered Nurse Katie Rochelle,
Nurse Practitioner Teresa Cass, and four unnamed SMA medical employees.

The ACLU argues that forcible catheterization of A.Q. violates the Fourth Amendment's proscription against warrantless searches, the Fifth Amendment's right not to be forced to testify against oneself, and the 14th Amendment's due process clause because "
it shocks the conscience, it was not medically necessary, and it was not reviewed by a judge." The lawsuit seeks monetary relief as well as declaration that the procedure is unconstitutional.

"The Fourth Amendment guarantees people the right to be free from unreasonable government searches," said Courtney Bowie, ACLU of South Dakota Legal Director. "There is nothing reasonable about forcibly catheterizing a child. The Constitution's purpose
is to protect people from government intrusions exactly like this."

There is nothing reasonable about forcibly catheterizing drug defendants, either -- especially when the only drug use suspected is of marijuana -- but the second lawsuit (https://www.aclusd.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/70626.complaint.adults.
stamped.pdf) filed by the ACLU alleges the practice is widespread among law enforcement agencies in the state, including repeated allegations of forced catheterizations after the victims have agreed to provide urine samples, the sole reason being that
police involved could "gratify their sadistic desires," the complaint says.

"State agents, including law enforcement officers, in multiple cities and counties in South Dakota have conspired to attempt to rationalize, justify, and illegally forcibly catheterize drug suspects, and illegally coerce drug suspects to provide urine
samples by threatening them with illegal forcible catheterization if they will not voluntarily provide a urine sample," the complaint says.

The conspiracy violates the civil rights not only of those subjected to forced catheterization, but those threatened with, the ACLU argues.

The lawsuit has five plaintiffs, all of whom were subjected to the procedure, and lists 20 unnamed police officers from Pierre, Sisseton, and the Highway Patrol, as well as one named Pierre officer, and the cities of Pierre and Sisseton. The lawsuit
seeks injunctive relief to stop the practice, as well as "compensatory and punitive damages."


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___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
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Cops say legalize drugs--find out
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Stoners are people too: <http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
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