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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #982 -- 7/20/17

Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/982

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

Table of Contents:

1. JEFF SESSIONS WANTS MORE ASSET FORFEITURE -- ESPECIALLY IN DRUG CASES
The attorney general is really burnishing those drug warrior credentials. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/17/jeff_sessions_wants_more_asset_f

2. DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Meet Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/19/drug_policy_alliance_names_new_e

3. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
A measure that would allow VA docs to issue medical marijuana
recommendations advanced in the Senate, Massachusetts' highest court
rules in favor of a worker fired for using medical marijuana, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/19/medical_marijuana_update

4. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A former Tennessee deputy digs himself a deeper hole, a former Georgia
deputy gets nailed for buying meth on the job, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/19/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

5. CHRONICLE AM: DARK WEB DRUG SALES SITE ALPHABAY BUSTED, OWNER KILLS
SELF IN JAIL, MORE... (7/14/17)
AlphaBay is history, Nevada moves to ease its legal pot shortage, the
White House opioid commission misses a deadline -- again -- and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/14/chronicle_am_dark_web_drug_sales

6. CHRONICLE AM: HOUSTON COPS DROP FAULTY FIELD DRUG TESTS, AK POT CLUBS COMING, MORE... (7/17/17)
Houston police will quit using faulty field drug tests that sent
hundreds of innocents to jail, a Colorado appeals court rules a drug dog
alert on marijuana in a vehicle is not sufficient grounds for a vehicle
search, the Massachusetts high court sides with an employee fired for
medical marijuana use, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/17/chronicle_am_houston_cops_drop_f

7. CHRONICLE AM: MA SOLONS REACH LEGALIZATION ACCORD, SESSIONS WANTS
MORE FORFEITURE, MORE... (7/18/17)
Bay state lawmakers come together on implementing marijuana
legalization, Jeff Sessions signals a ramped up asset forfeiture effort, DanceSafe is offering fentanyl test strips, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/18/chronicle_am_ma_solons_reach_leg

8. CHRONICLE AM: URUGUAY MARIJUANA PHARMACY SALES BEGIN, DPA NAMES NEW
CHIEF, MORE... (7/19/17)
All New England states have now either decriminalized or legalized
marijuana, the Drug Policy Alliance names a new chief, Uruguay begins
legal marijuana sales at pharmacies, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/19/chronicle_am_uruguay_marijuana_p

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1. JEFF SESSIONS WANTS MORE ASSET FORFEITURE -- ESPECIALLY IN DRUG CASES http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/jul/17/jeff_sessions_wants_more_asset_f

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday that the Dept. of Justice
will seek to increase the use of asset forfeiture by state and local
police forces.

Asset forfeiture is a practice in which police seize cash and property.
It has come under sustained criticism in recent years, with critics
arguing that it amounts to policing for profit (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/10/report-in-lean-times-police-start-taking-a-lot-more-stuff-from-people/?utm_term=.1e135b7dc689),
and state legislatures around the country have moved to rein it in. But Attorney General Sessions is headed in the opposite direction.

Sessions said in prepared remarks (https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-delivers-remarks-national-district-attorneys-association)
for the National District Attorney's Association meeting, "We hope to
issue this week a new directive on asset forfeiture -- especially for
drug traffickers. With care and professionalism, we plan to develop
policies to increase forfeitures. No criminal should be allowed to keep
the proceeds of their crime."

But it's not just criminals who fall victim to asset forfeiture. Federal
law and many states allow the seizure of cash or property without
convicting or even charging someone with a crime, a procedure known as
civil asset forfeiture. And some fairly significant chunks of money can
be involved: As The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/17/jeff-sessions-wants-police-to-take-more-cash-from-american-citizens/)
noted, the Justice Department's Inspector General has found that.since
2007, the DEA alone has seized more than $3 billion in cash (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/29/since-2007-the-dea-has-taken-3-2-billion-in-cash-from-people-not-charged-with-a-crime/),
in cases in which the owners were never charged with crimes.

While many states (http://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit/) allow
police to keep the cash they seize, others have enacted legislation
directing that forfeiture funds go to the general fund or some other
specified fund, depriving law enforcement of a revenue stream to which
it had become accustomed. Police in such states evade such laws by
turning over seizures to federal law enforcement, which then returns 80%
of it to the local law enforcement agencies. The feds and the cops get
their money; other state purposes that would have benefited do not.

It's called the Equitable Sharing Program, and that's the "adoptive
forfeiture" Sessions referenced in his speech. He was making clear that
he intends to undo a 2015 Justice Department memo (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-prohibits-federal-agency-adoptions-assets-seized-state-and-local-law)
authorized by then-Attorney General Eric Holder curtailing the practice.

"Adoptive forfeitures are appropriate," Sessions emphasized, "as is
sharing with our partners."

That isn't sitting too well with Robert Everett Johnson, an attorney for
the Institute for Justice (http://www.ij.org), a DC-based nonprofit that describes itself as "the Law Firm for Liberty."

"This is a federalism issue," Johnson told the Post (http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/jeff-sessions-wants-police-to-take-more-cash-from-american-citizens/ar-BBECcJm).
"Any return to federal adoptive forfeitures would circumvent limitations
on civil forfeiture that are imposed by state legislatures… the Department of Justice is saying 'we're going to help state and local law enforcement to get around those reforms.'"

The move is also drawing criticism from at least one Capitol Hill arch-conservative, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). In a statement Monday, he
told Reason (http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/17/sessions-announces-justice-department-wi)
he had serious concerns with a return to aggressive federal asset
forfeiture, and he cited Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's
remarkable dissent (http://reason.com/blog/2017/06/21/clarence-thomas-attacks-civil-asset-forf)
in an asset forfeiture case before the court last month.

"As Justice Thomas has previously said, there are serious constitutional concerns regarding modern civil asset forfeiture practices," Lee said.
"The Department has an obligation to consider due process constraints in crafting its civil asset forfeiture policies."

But Attorney General Sessions gave no indication he's going to be slowed
down by such considerations. Between his embrace of asset forfeiture,
his threatening comments about legal marijuana, and his call for a
return to harsh federal drug sentencing practices, Sessions is turning
out to be just as bad as reformers thought he would be.


================ ...


___________________

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>
___________________

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--
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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