Cannabis Freedom

I blogged a few days ago about Brittany Zimmermann, the young lady who was murdered after a 911 operator failed to follow up on her distress call. Unfortunately, she fell victim to the misconception that government is here to help you. I regret not mentioning Brittany's name in my first post. Victims of tyranny and incompetence need to be remembered as individuals.

The Reason Magazine blog has now mentioned the tragedy. I wonder if the story will get any traction.

The 6th Amendment gives you a right to a fair trial by a jury of your peers. But does it? The legal system does a great job of disenfranchising cannabis users to dilute the pool of activists and advocates that can participate in the system. This way the system can mitigate the risk of jury nullification. Thus, a person brought up on drug charges its only going to face drug warriors on a jury.

In today's news:

Judge Sherman Ross tried to assemble a jury of peers for a woman accused of possession of a marijuana on trial Tuesday.

But authorities say prospective juror Cornelia Mayo might have taken that concept a bit too far after she was caught smoking a joint outside the courthouse during a break.

My question for the Houston Chronicle reporter, "How can you take fundamental rights 'too far'? Would you place such restrictions on the freedom of the press?" Remember, you can't spell Chronicle without "Chronic."

For my Tennessee Readers:
The TN State Constitution Declaration of Rights thought impartial jury trials be so crucial to individual rights that the concept is discussed in Sections 6, 8, and 9.

Today, 96 students got arrested at San Diego State University on drug warrants. The DEA and campus police infiltrated a network of students after a student died of a cocaine overdose last year. What doesn't surprise me is that these weren't a bunch of thugs:

"A sad commentary is that when one of these individuals was arrested, they inquired as to whether or not his arrest and incarceration would have an effect on his becoming a federal law enfocement [sic] officer," Partridge said.

Officials said one of the students arrested on suspicion of selling cocaine was a month away from getting his master's degree in homeland security and another worked as a student community service officer and reported to campus police.

Today 96 young lives ruined because one woman decided voluntarily to put herself in a very dangerous situation.

American Drug War is a documentary film produced by Joe Rogan, of Fear Factor fame, and directed by Kevin Booth. I'll post a full review later, but for now someone has posted the full movie on Google Video. I'm not sure if its authorized so get it while it lasts.

American Drug War - The Last White Hope via Google Video.

You can watch the trailer here.

Congrats to Texas NORML for a fantastic job in organizing this event. It got some great media coverage locally in Austin. The story below from KEYE TV has two news telecasts included if you click the link.

Austin, TX - Hundreds protested for pot on the steps of the capitol today. A "cannabis crusade" came calling on Texas lawmakers Saturday, calling for the legalization of marijuana.

So maybe there's hope for Texas after all.

Update! I just realized I could embed video from the KEYE TV web site.

Slain Student Apparently Dialed 911; Help Not Sent

Madison, WI A college student apparently called 911 from her cell phone shortly before she was killed but a dispatcher hung up, failed to call back and never sent police to investigate, authorities said Thursday.

Spokesbureaucrat Joseph Norwick states, "I don't think there's anything to apologize for at this time." Appalling.

I'm not going to pass judgment here. I was like, "wow." Watch only if you're not at work, it's not lewd, just unsafe.