Cannabis Freedom

No word on if charges are pending in this case. As of now the feds have just confiscated his associates' property. Full Story

Chong says agents seized 10,000 DVDs of his documentary. Federal prosecutors may be targeting Chong for trying to profit off his prosecution. "I'm not profiting off the story of my first amendment violation at all," said Chong.

HT: Prison Planet

From KNBC via Stop the Drug War:

In Los Angeles, a former Long Beach police officer was sentenced Monday to eight years and one month in federal prison for participating in a series of home invasion robberies staged to look like legitimate drug raids. Joseph Ferguson, 33, was convicted of three counts in January, including possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Ferguson was part of a ring of Los Angeles and Long Beach police officers who committed more than 30 home invasion robberies, using stolen LAPD vehicles to rob homes where they thought drugs or cash were stored. Of the 19 members of the ring, 15 have pleaded guilty, two are fugitives, and two, Ferguson and his brother, another Long Beach cop, were found guilty at trial.

So when people like Cory Maye or Ryan Fredrick are raided before the crack of dawn, they're not only supposed know that its the cops at their door and not thieves, they must also be able to ascertain that the police are there under legitimate pretenses.

MemphisRap.com has Frayser's own Kia Shine's new single The New Style featuring samples from the Beastie Boys. His newest album is called K.U.S.H. or Krispy Underrated Southern Hustler. Kush is some fancy weed, but they know weed in Frayser.


Rocko's (ATL) latest is Tomorrow. I like the life message, its one of my faves right now.

My hat is off to the students of SDSU. After draconian efforts to rid a California college of a few drugs, the students sprang into action, using their persecution as a platform for their message of harm reduction. The group is called Student's for Sensible Drug policy and they're underwritten by the stand-up guys at the MPP.

On Tuesday, May 6th, the Drug Enforcement Administration swept into San Diego State University and arrested 75 students accused of selling drugs on campus. The news media swarmed on the story, eager to declare victory in San Diego's War on Drugs, but the SDSU chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy wouldn't let that happen. Within 24 hours, SSDP had organized a demonstration and reframed the issue for nearly all the local and national media outlets covering the story, pointing out the futility of drug prohibition, while calling for the school to enact a life-saving Good Samaritan Policy. Click here for SSDP's press release and SDSU SSDP founder Randy Hencken's speech to the press. http://ssdp.org/sdsu/

Watch the news coverage:

I fired up Google Reader with my new Memphis OPML file import. The first post I opened from my new Memphis feeds was the one in the screenshot below. At that instant I had exactly 666 unread messages. The devil is messing with me.
The blog post was apparently intended for someone else. Unless she had a premonition that I was coming. I checked my email. Not me.

In other news: Notice the cool commenting feature they've added to shared items. I might start using it more often. Check the sidebar to the right. I share all the cannabis news I read but don't have time to comment on.

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.