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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1046 -- 11/29/18
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1046

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

Table of Contents:

1. GEORGIA NIGHTMARE: JAILED FOUR MONTHS FOR POSSESSION OF COTTON CANDY [FEATURE]
Cops said their roadside drug test said it was meth. It's far from the
only time the cops or the test has been wrong. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/28/georgia_nightmare_jailed_four

2. WATCH: UNDERCOVER DETROIT NARC SQUADS BRAWL AS THEY TRY TO ARREST
EACH OTHER
It's laughable, but somebody could have gotten killed. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/28/watch_undercover_detroit_narc

3. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Michigan's unlicensed dispensaries get a break, New Jersey is set to
expand its medical marijuana program, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/28/medical_marijuana_update

4. CHRONICLE AM: TRUMP PRESSURES MCCONNELL ON SENTENCING REFORM, NJ
MARIJUANA BILL GETS HEARING, MORE... (11/26/18)
The president wants to see criminal justice reform move in the Senate,
New Jersey lawmakers take up marijuana legalization today, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/26/chronicle_am_trump_pressures

5. CHRONICLE AM: NJ LEGALIZATION BILL ADVANCES, NYC TIMES SQUARE ADS
TARGET GOVERNOR OVER OVERDOSES, MORE... (11/27/18)
New Jersey's marijuana legalization bill is finally moving, activists in
New York City target the governor over safe injection sites, South Korea becomes the first East Asian nation to approve medical marijuana, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/27/chronicle_am_nj_legalization

6. CHRONICLE AM: FIRST STEP ACT FIGHT CONTINUES, MI GETS LEGAL MARIJUANA DECEMBER 6, MORE... (11/28/18)
Senate Republicans are trying to find a way to keep the First Step Act
alive, marijuana use and possession becomes legal in Michigan next week,
and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/28/chronicle_am_first_step_act

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1. GEORGIA NIGHTMARE: JAILED FOUR MONTHS FOR POSSESSION OF COTTON CANDY [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/28/georgia_nightmare_jailed_four

A Georgia woman has filed a federal lawsuit (https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/cotton-candy-or-meth-woman-sues-georga-county-over-false-drug-test-results/67-615294371)
after she spent nearly four months in jail because a roadside drug test administered by untrained police officers falsely identified a bag of
cotton candy as methamphetamine.

Monroe County resident Dasha Fincher filed the lawsuit in mid-November
against Monroe County, the two deputies who arrested her, and the
company that makes the drug test. The lawsuit argues that the Monroe
County Sheriff's Office was reckless and negligent and violated her
civil rights.

According to the lawsuit, the car Fincher was riding in was pulled over
on New Year's Eve 2016 because of a dark window tint, the deputies said,
even though they later admitted the windows were legal. Deputies Cody
Maples and Allen Henderson spotted a large open plastic bag inside the
vehicle, and Fincher explained that it was cotton candy.

The deputies didn't believe Fincher and used a roadside field drug test
which they said indicated there was meth in the bag. She was then
arrested, hauled off to jail, and charged with meth trafficking and
possession of meth with intent to distribute. Her bond was set at $1
million, which she was unable to come up with, so she sat in jail for
the next four months.

In March 2017, Georgia Bureau of Investigation lab test results revealed
that the substance was not an illegal drug, but Fincher sat in jail for
another month before prosecutors finally dropped the charges.

The lawsuit says the drug test is the Nark II, manufactured by North Carolina-based Sirchie Acquisitions. That particular field drug test is
known for producing errant results. In Georgia alone, police using the
Nark II to field test drugs have wrongfully arrested at least 30 people (http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/i-team/innocent-georgians-jailed-over-false-positives-from-drug-field-test-kits),
including a man with breath mints (positive for crack), a teacher with
Goody's Headache Powder (positive for cocaine), and a couple with
vitamins (positive for ecstasy).

In all those cases, as in Fincher's, lab test results from the Bureau of Investigation found no presence of illegal substances. But in all those
cases, the exonerating results came only weeks or months later, after
the harm to innocent Georgians had already been done.

The Nark II is still in wide use in Georgia. The manufacturer, Sirchie,
defends itself by saying: "Our NARK presumptive drug tests are
presumptive only. All samples should be sent to a crime lab for
confirmation." But too many Georgia law enforcement agencies clearly
don't bother to wait for confirmation before making life-changing
arrests. And the state of Georgia doesn't even require police officers
to be trained on how to do the tests. As a result, innocent Georgians
are being wrongfully arrested and jailed. And now, perhaps, at least one
of these law enforcement agencies, will have to pay for its wrongdoing.

This article was produced by Drug Reporter (https://independentmediainstitute.org/drug-reporter/), a project of the Independent Media Institute.

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

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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