It's the same old story, but still a very telling article in Indiana: Drug task force faces audit critical.

The Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force is playing a game of keep away that uses money instead of a ball, and the state of Indiana is the monkey in the middle. Going back to at least 1999, the DTF has ignored a state law requiring cash and proceeds from the sale of other property seized from drug dealers to be deposited in the general fund of the governmental unit employing the DTF officers, according to the State Board of Accounts.

In a nutshell, the state law, set up to avoid the abuse of drug task forces prioritizing law enforcement based on potential seizures, provides that any seizure money must be deposited in the general fund of the city or the county, etc. and then just the specific expenses incurred in the bust being reimbursed to the law enforcement agency, with the remainder used by the city/county/state. But what the task force does is have the courts direct the deposit into the task force account. Then they expense every officer's time and every other cost they possibly can relate to the bust in order to keep the money, including paying the deputy prosecutors who aggressively pursue the forfeiture a percentage of the take. In the rare cases that anything is still left, they kick it back to the feds, who keep 20% and give the law enforcement unit 80%, bypassing the city/county/state education fund. The DTF is downright arrogant about their forfeiture approach, hardly seeming to even realize or care that they have become a mercenary force whose decision-making is driven not be protecting and serving, but by the booty they can grab.

"The DTF can't survive without dope dealers' money," [head of the DTF, Muncie police Sgt. Jess] Neal said. [...] "We've had to make adjustments, be more aggressive with asset forfeitures, more aggressive targeting bank accounts, vehicles, tangible property, things we can sell in auctions," Neal said. [...] Neal can't recall a time that the DTF ever forfeited surplus funds to the state treasurer for deposit in the common school fund. [...] "Their workout room is out of this world," [city Controller Mary Ann] Kratochvil said. "It's a very nice facility." Neal said of the workout room in the basement of city hall: "For its size, it's one of the best in the state. It was purchased by our local dope dealers. We use their money to get in shape so we can chase them around."

Quite a deal they've got going there. And note that they do everything they can to prevent the money from getting in the education fund, but then they use if to give donations to local youth groups, which acts as positive PR for the task force. I've said it before -- drug task forces, as a concept, are a cancer on our society, working to continue the drug war for their own benefit. And even worse are those funded through forfeiture. When law enforcement is motivated by greed, corruption, mismanagement, poor priorities, and even tragedy are likely (see the case of Donald P. Scott).

California -- Medical pot-using patients won a major victory Wednesday when a California appeal court ruled that Garden Grove cops must return the marijuana they confiscated from a Southern California man during a traffic stop. The man's attorney, Joseph Elford, chief counsel for the Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access, was almost breathless from excitement in confirming that the ruling was the first published decision in which a California appellate court ordered the return of doctor-approved medical marijuana.

Onion Radio News

Bismarck, N.D. -- Two North Dakota farmers, who filed a federal lawsuit in June to end the U.S. Drug EnforcementAdministration's (DEA) ban on commercial hemp farming in the United States, had their case dismissed by federal Judge Daniel Hovland yesterday. In a 22-page decision, Judge Hovland wrote that the problem facing state-licensed hemp farmers David Monson and Wayne Hauge needs to be addressed by Congress if they hope to ever grow the versatile crop which is used in everything from food and soap to clothing and auto parts.

Link

Two North Dakota farmers, who filed a federal lawsuit in June to end the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) ban on commercial hemp farming in the United States, had their case dismissed by federal Judge Daniel Hovland yesterday. In a 22-page decision, Judge Hovland wrote that the problem facing state-licensed hemp farmers David Monson and Wayne Hauge needs to be addressed by Congress if they hope to ever grow the versatile crop which is used in everything from food and soap to clothing and auto parts.

They're considering an appeal.

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The 2007 report compiled by the European Observatory on Drugs and Drug
Addiction has put Spain at the top of the list of cannabis and cocaine
use - particularly among young people - in the European Union. It also
ranks high on the list of amphetamine and ecstasy use. The Iberian
peninsular has also been revealed as the main point of entry of cocaine
in Europe.

However, the Observatory’s conclusion is that Europe appears to have
“entered a more stable period” after a decade of drug use increase.
Heroin use has gone down, and cannabis consumption “could be stabilising
after a period of continual growth”. However, these positive figures
have been overshadowed by the increase in cocaine use.

Figures

A total of 4.5 million Europeans (aged between 15 and 64) took cocaine
during the past year, which represents 1.3 per cent of the population.
Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom recorded almost double the
consumption figure. Cocaine use among people in the 15 to 34 age group
in the three above-mentioned countries is more than three per cent, and
way above the the European average of 2.4 per cent.

Drug use among Spanish students aged between 17 and 18 is particularly
worrying. In 2004, 19 per cent of Spanish students admitted to having
tried cocaine at least once. This figure dropped to 11 per cent in 2006,
but the figures are still considerably higher than those recorded in
countries such as Italy (six per cent) and the Netherlands (five per cent).

With regard to cannabis, the Observatory points out that use of the drug
in Spain either stabilised or went down last year. However, Spain
occupies the sixth place (along with Slovakia) on the list of 15 to
34-year-olds who took ecstasy last year (two per cent).

http://www.surinenglish.com/noticias.php?Noticia=11793

Wisconsin: Waukesha County Enacts Pot Decriminalization Ordinance November 29, 2007 - Waukesha, WI, USA Waukesha, WI: Waukesha County supervisors voted 27-4 this week to decriminalize pot possession for first-time offenders.

San Francisco, CA -- "This culture is so afraid of pleasure, of hedonism," said Claire Burch, an 82-year-old filmmaker and author from Berkeley. She has been working to promote the legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use through her documentary work. Burch, along with other marijuana advocates and users, promotes marijuana as a natural and healthy alternative to costly and sometimes dangerous prescription medications.

Colorado -- James Masters quotes Abraham Lincoln Revolutions do not go backwards when speaking about the progress of the medical marijuana movement from inside the PVMC, otherwise known as Poudre Valley Medical Cannabis. The space is, in fact, Northern Colorados first medical marijuana dispensary and since opening its doors in October, James and his wife, Lisa, have sought to emancipate sufferers of cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma by using cannabis to cope with and alleviate their illnesses.

Massachusetts -- There is no sense to be found in the prosecution of individuals for possession of small amounts of marijuana. It clogs up our overburdened criminal-justice system, while achieving absolutely nothing. It also unnecessarily infringes on the civil liberties of those having a harmless toke, and provides a too-easy avenue for law-enforcement personnel to affix a criminal history to an undeserving citizen often a young person who merely looks like trouble to a cop.