XPost: alt.drugs, alt.hemp, rec.drugs.misc
XPost: talk.politics.drugs

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #990 -- 9/15/17
Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/990

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

Table of Contents:

1. SURPRISE! HOUSE VOTES TO CURB SESSIONS' ASSET FORFEITURE REVIVAL
It was strange bedfellows as progressive Democrats teamed up with the House Freedom Caucus to slap down the attorney general.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/13/surprise_house_votes_curb

2. WHILE TRUMP MOVES BACKWARD ON DRUG SENTENCING, CALIFORNIA HEADS FOR MORE REFORMS
The federal government may be in the hands of law and order Republicans, but the Golden State goes its own way.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/15/while_trump_moves_backward_drug

3. ROGER STONE YANKED AS CANNABIS CONFERENCE KEYNOTER
Although he's a marijuana legalization advocate, Stone's provocations don't sit well with many in the industry.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/13/roger_stone_yanked_cannabis

4. THE 2017 INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY REFORM CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 11-14, ATLANTA The 2017 International Drug Policy Reform Conference is the major biannual gathering of drug policy reformers from around the world.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/14/2017_reform_conference_atlanta

5. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Medical marijuana is getting some attention in Congress, Arizona PTSD patients are still out of luck, Michigan dispensaries have three months to shut their doors and get licensed, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/13/medical_marijuana_update

6. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
An Illinois DA gets indicted for asset forfeiture abuses, a Boston cop pleads guilty to extorting cocaine from a drug dealer, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/13/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

7. CHRONICLE AM: HOUSE GOP LEADERS BLOCK MEDMJ VOTE, ROGER STONE OUT AT POT EXPOS, MORE... (9/7/17)
It's all marijuana news today, with Delaware and Illinois lawmakers pondering legalization, the Vermont governor setting out a two-year road map to legalization, the House leadership blocking a vote on an amendment protecting medical marijuana, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/07/house_gop_leaders_block_medmj

8. CHRONICLE AM: TROUBLE IN THE PHILLY NARC SQUAD, TN COPS MISUSED SEIZURE FUNDS, MORE... (9/8/17)
We're seeing progress on pot policy in gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota and Virginia, Tennessee cops get scorched for asset forfeiture spending abuses, black Philly narcs charge their bosses are racist and corrupt, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/08/chronicle_am_trouble_philly_narc

9. CHRONICLE AM: ONTARIO GOES WITH STATE-OWNED POT SHOPS, DEA AGENT'S SORDID AFFAIR, MORE... (9/11/17)
Canada's most populous province is going with a state monopoly on legal marijuana sales, the CARERS Act is back, last week's surprise budget deal preserves protections for legal medical marijuana states for a few more months, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/11/chronicle_am_ontario_goes

10. CHRONICLE AM: DEMOCRATIC SENATORS CALL OUT TRUMP ON OPIOID INACTION, MORE... (9/12/17)
Democratic senators want Trump to do more than say pretty words about the opioid epidemic, California's second largest city gets on board with marijuana legalization, Canadian cops seek a delay in rolling out legalization north of the border, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/12/chronicle_am_democratic_senators

11. CHRONICLE AM: HOUSE BLOCKS SESSIONS CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE MOVE, MORE... (9/13/17)
The House votes to defund Attorney General Sessions' newly revived Equitable Sharing asset forfeiture program, Maine lawmakers want a 20% sales tax on weed, Duterte allies in the Philippines vote to defund the country's human rights commission over its
critique of the drug war, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/13/chronicle_am_house_blocks

12. CHRONICLE AM: ORRIN HATCH PUNNINGLY FILES MEDMJ BILL, DOJ #2 SPEAKS OUT ON POT, MORE... (9/14/17)
What got into Orrin Hatch? Plus, Nevada could be the first state to allow pot lounges, the US Deputy AG says DOJ is still pondering marijuana policy, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/14/chronicle_am_hatch_punningly

(Not subscribed? Visithttp://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up today!)

================

1. SURPRISE! HOUSE VOTES TO CURB SESSIONS' ASSET FORFEITURE REVIVAL https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/sep/13/surprise_house_votes_curb

In a surprise move, the House voted virtually unanimously Tuesday to curb federal asset forfeitures (http://reason.com/blog/2017/09/12/house-approves-amendments-to-block-sessi), a slap in the face to Attorney General and former Senator Jeff Sessions.
Sessions had reinstated a federal civil asset forfeiture program that allowed state and local law enforcement to evade state forfeiture restrictions by handing their cases over to the feds, with the feds then returning 80% of the money to the seizing
agency.

In response to a rising clamor over civil forfeiture reform abuses, Obama Attorney General Eric Holder had reined in the program (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2015/jan/16/justice_department_limits_seized), known as Equitable Sharing. Now,
Sessions' attempt to bring it back has been blocked by a congressional coalition of progressives and the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.

The move came in a voice vote on an amendment to the Justice Department appropriations bill, which was sponsored by strange bedfellows Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI), Mark Sanford (R-SC), Raúl Labrador (R-ID), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Don
Beyer (D-VA).

The amendment aims directly at "adoptive forfeiture," the process by which the federal government agrees to take cases brought to it by local law enforcement agencies attempting to skirt state-level restrictions, which can include an outright ban on
civil asset forfeiture (seizure without a criminal conviction) or designating that seized funds are to go the general fund or other designated fund -- not the cops.

Critics of civil asset forfeiture argue that the search for lucre distorts policing priorities, creates perverse incentives, and amounts to policing for profit (http://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit/). Numerous states have moved to end civil asset
forfeiture outright, while others have imposed various restrictions on the practice.

While Sessions claims (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-greenlights-police-to-increase-seizures-of-cash-and-property-from-suspected-criminals/2017/07/19/3522a9ba-6c99-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html) the program is needed
so that criminals "are not allowed to keep the proceeds of their crime," a whopping 87% of federal asset forfeiture cases take place in cases where there has been no criminal conviction.

The House has acted. Now, it's up to the Senate to act. If the Senate fails to pass a similar measure, the amendment could still become law if it gets adopted by the conference committee that will attempt to sort out differences between the two bills. In
the meantime, Sessions has been put on notice that his gift to profit-hungry state and local cops has serious opposition.



================  ...


                                         ___________________

                                          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.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)