GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain, maker of the new Cannabis-based Medicine (Sativex®) has published results of its preliminary study of the drug, and finds that it reduces pain in cancer patients. [Via NORML).

Ivan Wright is 69 years old. He went to jail 19 years ago, in 1985, after being sentenced to 25 years to life for selling three ounces of cocaine to an undercover officer. Today he became the first inmate released under the newly revised Rockefeller drug laws.

In releasing Wright today, the Judge said he had paid his debt to society. But how will society repay Mr. Wright for depriving him of his freedom for an unconscionable amount of time, making his 11 year old daughter grow up without her father, miss the birth of his grandchild, and probably so much more?

Dan Markal has an op-ed in USA Today on shaming sanctions as an alternative to imprisonment. I agree with him:

The very goal of shaming is the dehumanization of another person before, and with the participation of, the public. Such punishments are not only ineffective. They are wrong.

[link via Punishment Theory.]

The U.S. is about to extradite a British man for a 20 year old drug offense. Giles Carlyle-Clarke, a British aristocrat, says he is part of a secret deal between the U.S. and Britain in which he is being sacrficed in exchange for the release of the British prisoners at Guantanamo.

Carlyle-Clarke, 47, a furniture importer and former racing yachtsman, will present a 2,000-name petition to the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, this week, to protest against his deportation to Alabama. If convicted he could face 25 years....

Carlyle-Clarke, whose family has owned the ancient Winterborne Clenston estate in Dorset since 1066, told The Observer: 'I am sole parent to an eight-year-old child I have brought up from birth. My over-riding concern is the welfare of Max. There has never been another figure in his life. He has no one else and would be effectively orphaned by my extradition.'

Maryland and New York are the only two states that require ballistic fingerprinting on handguns. A Maryland state police report recomemends repealing the law:

A law requiring Maryland State Police to collect ballistics information from each handgun sold in the state has not aided a single criminal investigation and should be repealed, a state police report has concluded.

About $2.5 million has been spent on the program so far. Col. Thomas E. Hutchins, the state police superintendent, said he would prefer spending the money on proven crime-fighting techniques.

Charles Graner faced 15 years for abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, and was sentenced to ten years.

Air Force cadet Jonathan Belkowitz faced up to 50 years after being found guilty of solicitation to buy and use steroids and making a false statement. He was acquitted of "wrongful use, importation, introduction or distribution."

The judge in Belkowitz' case is recommending dismissal from the Air Force as a sanction for him, but still, why does a drug offense carry up to 50 years while human rights violations and crimes of violence like Graner's carry only 15?

Cocaine has gotten a very bad reputation in the past 25 years. 1n 1976, the year Snowblind was written, it was in its heyday yet still somewhat of a novelty to the general public. Then came the War on Drugs, and it's been downhill for cocaine ever since. British Docmentarian Angus Macqueen (prior films include the Death of Yugoslavia, Gulag, Dancing for Dollars and The Last Peasants) makes a strong case for legalization in his new film, 18 months in the making. It will air in three parts in Great Britain (channel 4) beginning next Sunday. Judging by Macqueen's comments in Sunday's Observer, the film should cause quite a stir.

Celebrated documentary-maker Angus Macqueen spent 18 months on the cocaine trail across Latin America from the dirt-poor valleys of Peru to the shanty towns of Rio. Here he recalls the journey that revolutionised his views and explains why he believes 'the dandruff of the Andes' should be sold in Boots.

It's a really long article, but if you are a drug law reformer at heart, read the whole thing. Here are a few paragraphs that give you a sense of the film, of where MacQueen stood on cocaine when he began filming, and of where he ended up and why. If anyone knows how we can see the film here in the U.S., please e-mail us or leave the information in the comments.

by TChris

There's a new Sheriff in town. Victor Hill was just elected to the post in Clayton County, Georgia, and he's bringing a bit of paranoia with him.

He adds a dimension to the definition of messiah complex; on his first day in office, he abruptly fired more than two dozen employees and posted snipers on the roof of the sheriff's department to make sure none objected too strenuously as they were escorted from the building.

In addition to the snipers, Hill insists on having armed guards at his home and office. He thinks he might be the target of assassins -- a strange fear for a man only recently elected to his job.

Fortunately, a judge ordered Hill to reinstate the fired employees, but the bizarre incident raises a larger question about the usefulness of sheriffs in urban society.

Hill's despotism helps make the case that metropolitan counties have no need for sheriff's offices. They waste taxpayer funds; they duplicate services; and, all too frequently, they give a badge and a gun to people who should have neither.

The Sunday New York Times Magazine has an article, Sentencing by the Numbers, discussing the junk science of predicting future criminality, and how some states, like Virginia, now are using crime statistics for the same purpose in deciding the length of sentences:

In 2002, the Commonwealth of Virginia began putting such data to use: the state encourages its judges to sentence nonviolent offenders the way insurance agents write policies, based on a short list of factors with a proven relationship to future risk. If a young, jobless man is convicted of shoplifting, the state is more likely to recommend prison time than when a middle-aged, employed woman commits the same crime.

....It's not a foregone conclusion that Virginia's method of sentencing is permissible under the Constitution, though no young male offender has brought a court challenge so far. Age and sex are what the law calls ''immutable characteristics,'' and it's a fundamental principle of antidiscrimination law that the government has to tread carefully when it treats people differently because of qualities that are beyond their control. (Being married or holding a job are different, but not entirely so, since these statuses reflect people's opportunities as well as their preferences.)

Grits for Breakfast has more criticism of the policy, warning it could violate equal protection guarantees.

Diane Monson hasn't had a ticket in 15 years--her driving record has been spotless since then. So why is the California Department of Motor Vehicles going after her? Her lawyer says it's because she's a medical pot user with a case before the Supreme Court. He's served a "cease and desist" notice on the DMV.

A new poll by the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) shows that 72% of citizens over age 45 support the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Curiously, though, 74% believed marijuana is addictive. Geography was a factor:

Over all, 72 percent of respondents agreed "adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician recommends it." Those in the Northeast (79 percent) and West (82 percent) were more receptive to the idea than in the Midwest (67 percent) and Southwest (65 percent). In Southern states, 70 percent agreed with the statement.

by TChris

Another person who police officers shot with a Taser gun is dead, although it isn't clear whether the Taser caused his death.

Paramedics had stopped to tend to [Kevin Downing] because they found his van blocking traffic in the middle of the road. They called police after he became unruly. Downing was still belligerent when police arrived, so a female officer used her stun gun to subdue him. "The Taser didn't work on him, so they had to physically subdue him," [police spokesman Carlos] Negron said. Downing was handcuffed and taken to the hospital, where he died.

TalkLeft's coverage of the controversy surrounding Taser use is collected here.