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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1099 -- 6/4/20
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1099

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

Table of Contents:

1. HOUSE PROGRESSIVES FILE RESOLUTION CONDEMNING POLICE BRUTALITY,
RACIAL BIAS, WAR ON DRUGS [FEATURE]
The clamor for fundamental reform of American policing, including the prosecution of the war on drugs, is growing. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jun/03/house_progressives_file

2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Pretty quiet on the medical marijuana front this week, but a Louisiana
medical marijuana expansion bill has made its way through the
legislature, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jun/03/medical_marijuana_update

3. COVID IMPACTS COCAINE TRADE, BOLSTERS DARK WEB DRUG MARKET, MORE... (5/28/20)
ronavirus is having differential impacts on the illicit drug trade,
Michigan groups push to end the state's drug felon foodstamp ban,
Colombian rebels call for a coronavirus ceasefire, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/29/covid_impacts_cocaine_trade

4. CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION CONDEMNS POLICE BRUTALITY AND DRUG WAR, WEST
COAST POT SHOPS TRASHED, MORE... (6/1/20)
West Coast pot shops get trashed in the upheaval gripping the land, a
dozen members of Congress file a resolution calling for an end to police brutality and the war on drugs, the Louisiana legislature has been busy
passing marijuana bills, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jun/01/congressional_resolution

5. AZ POLL BODES WELL FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE, CHINA
ANTI-DRUG CRACKDOWN, MORE... (6/2/20)
An Arizona poll shows strong support for a marijuana legalization
initiative there, a Connecticut panel approves adding two new qualifying conditions for medical marijuana, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jun/02/az_poll_bodes_well_marijuana

6. ACLU REPORT ON RACIAL BIAS IN MARIJUANA ARRESTS, DEA OKAYED TO SPY ON
GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTORS, MORE... (6/3/20)
The ACLU issues a timely report, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International call for reforms of Cambodia's drug detention centers, and
more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jun/03/aclu_report_racial_bias

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1. HOUSE PROGRESSIVES FILE RESOLUTION CONDEMNING POLICE BRUTALITY,
RACIAL BIAS, WAR ON DRUGS [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/jun/03/house_progressives_file

As protests erupted across the country after the killing of George Floyd
by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a dozen progressive
Democratic House members filed a resolution (https://pressley.house.gov/sites/pressley.house.gov/files/A%20Resolution%20Condemning%20Police%20Brutality_0.pdf)
May 29th condemning police brutality not only in the case of Floyd but
also in the case of Breonna Taylor, the black, 26-year-old Louisville
EMT who was gunned down in her own home by cops on a misbegotten
no-knock drug raid.

Those House members leading the resolution are Reps. Karen Bass (D-CA),
Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA.
Additional cosponsors include Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Katherine
Clark (D-MA), Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA), James McGovern (D-MA),
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

"For too long, Black and brown bodies have been profiled, surveilled,
policed, lynched, choked, brutalized and murdered at the hands of police officers," Congresswoman Pressley said in a statement (https://pressley.house.gov/media/press-releases/following-george-floyd-murder-reps-pressley-omar-bass-lee-introduce-house)
announcing the resolution. "We cannot allow these fatal injustices to go unchecked any longer. There can be no justice for George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor, or any of the human beings who have been killed by law
enforcement, for in a just world, they would still be alive. There must, however, be accountability."

"From slavery to lynching to Jim Crow, Black people in this country have
been brutalized and dehumanized for centuries," said (https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/following-george-floyd-murder-reps-omar-pressley-bass-lee-introduce-house)
Congresswoman Omar. "The war on drugs, mass criminalization, and
increasingly militarized police forces have led to the targeting,
torture and murder of countless Americans, disproportionately black and
brown. The murder of George Floyd in my district is not a one-off event.
We cannot fully right these wrongs until we admit we have a problem. As
the People's House, the House of Representatives must acknowledge these historical injustices and call for a comprehensive solution. There are
many steps on the path to justice, but we must begin to take them."

The resolution has broad support from racial and social justice
organizations, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Rights, National Action Network, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, ACLU, ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU of Minnesota, the Justice Collaborative, Color of Change, the National Urban League, Lawyers for
Civil Rights, Black and Pink, Boston Chapter, Center for Popular
Democracy, Moms Rising, the Drug Policy Alliance, New Florida Majority, PolicyLink, the National Black Police Association, and The Vera
Institute of Justice.

The unjustifiable deaths of African-Americans Floyd and Taylor at the
hands of white police are, though, just the tip of an iceberg of
official oppression and heavy-handed, militarized policing whose brunt
is felt most keenly in the country's black and brown communities, but
whose breadth encompasses almost all of us. And while protesters shout
the names of Floyd and Taylor, the demand for unbiased, accountable
policing goes far beyond these latest manifestations of cop culture run
amok.

The prosecution of the war on drugs, with its racially biased arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of people of color and its devastating
impact on minority communities, is a major driver of fear and loathing
for and distrust of police, the resolution cosponsors argued.

"[T]he system of policing in America, and its systemic targeting of and
use of deadly and brutal force against people of color, particularly
Black people, stems from the long legacy of slavery, lynching, Jim Crow
laws, and the War on Drugs in the United States and has been perpetuated
by violent and harmful law enforcement practices," they wrote. "[P]olice brutality and the use of excessive and militarized force are among the
most serious ongoing human rights and civil liberties violations in the
United States and have led to community destabilization, a decrease in
public safety, and the exacerbation of structural inequities."

Contemporary police practice, with its emphasis on low-level enforcement
(such as arresting more than a million people a year for simple drug possession), along with the militarization of police "has led to mass criminalization, heightened violence, and mass incarceration that disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people," they note.

The toll from law enforcement malpractice is staggering, the
representatives argued: "[P]olice brutality and the use of excessive
force have robbed countless communities of precious lives, have
inflicted intergenerational harm and trauma to families, and are
intensifying our Nation's mental health crisis." And, they charge, the
cops are literally getting away with murder: "[P]olice in the United
States, through acts of brutality and the use of excessive force, kill
far more people than police in other comparable nations and have been historically shielded from accountability."

The resolution "condemns all acts of brutality, racial profiling, and
the use of excessive force by law enforcement and calls for the end of militarized policing." It also "supports strengthening efforts to
eliminate instances of excessive use of force, and conduct stringent
oversight and independent investigations into instances of police
brutality, racial profiling, and excessive use of force, and hold
individual law enforcement officers and police departments accountable."

To that end, the resolution calls on the Justice Department to return to
its once proactive role in investigating incidents of police brutality, violence, and racial profiling and police departments that have a
pattern of civil rights violations -- a feature of the Obama
administration Justice Department that was overturned under Trump.

That would include having the DOJ actively challenge courts "to
reconsider decisions that permit unreasonable and excessive police
practices," effectively enforce consent decrees with police departments
that have been caught misbehaving, and establish civilian review boards
that are not mere paper tigers.

"Over the last few months, we have witnessed heightened violent acts of
white supremacy, police brutality and targeted harassment because we
were simply living while Black," said (https://pressley.house.gov/media/press-releases/following-george-floyd-murder-reps-pressley-omar-bass-lee-introduce-house)
Congresswoman Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. "And over
and over again, offenders go unpunished, allowing this vicious cycle to continue with impunity. We cannot move forward as a nation until what
has broken is fixed."

"George Floyd's tragic murder shows how much work we have to fix the relationships between law enforcement and black and brown people," said (https://pressley.house.gov/media/press-releases/following-george-floyd-murder-reps-pressley-omar-bass-lee-introduce-house)
Congresswoman Lee. "We have seen far too many young men and women of
color murdered by police, for as little as driving their car, riding
public transportation, having a cell phone, or just being in their own
homes. Police officers are supposed to defuse violence -- not inflict it
on black and brown communities. While the majority of police officers
approach their job in a professional manner, we cannot allow black and
brown bodies to be targeted, attacked, and killed with impunity. It's
going to take a lot of work and a serious reckoning with our society's ingrained racial biases to stop this violence. We need to restore the
proper role of police in our community -- as public servants who are
here to protect everyone, not just those they deem worthy of protection.
Being Black in America should not be a death sentence."

If the House adopts this resolution, it puts itself squarely on the side
of the growing clamor to rein in out of control police. The resolution
now has a number, House Resolution 988 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/988), and
in the days since it was introduced, the number of cosponsors (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/988/cosponsors) has jumped to 50. That's a start. Now, it's up to the House leadership
to see that it moves -- and to show that Congress is finally beginning
to grapple with an epidemic of racially-biased, drug war-fueled police thuggery.

================
================ ...
___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
Truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
<http://www.leap.cc>
Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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