Read William Martin's article in the October Issue of Texas Monthly!

Texas High Ways

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Why the unlikeliest of states—ours—should legalize marijuana.
by William Martin http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2009-10-01/feature4

Drug Arrests Decline Slightly in 2008

Drug War Chronicle - world’s leading drug policy newsletter
Feature: Marijuana Arrests, All Drug Arrests Declined Slightly in 2008, FBI Reports
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from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #601, 9/18/09
The number of people arrested for drug offenses in the United States declined slightly last year, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. And for the first time since 2002, the number of people arrested on marijuana charges also declined. The number of arrests for all drug offenses declined from 1,841,182 in 2007 to 1,702,537 last year, while the number of people arrested on marijuana charges dropped from 872,721 in 2007 to 847,864 last year.
( See the table from http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/arrests/ )
More people were arrested for drug offenses last year than live in the cities of Phoenix (pop. 1.55 million) or Philadelphia (pop. 1.45 million). More people were arrested for marijuana offenses than live in the cities of Jacksonville (pop. 805,000) or San Francisco (pop. 764,000). Based on the overall drug arrest figures, somebody got busted for dope every 18 seconds in 2008, and somebody got busted for pot every 37 seconds.
Last year, marijuana arrests accounted for nearly half -- 49.8% -- of all drug arrests, up slightly from the 47% in 2007. The vast majority of marijuana arrests -- 89% -- were for possession only, meaning that more than three-quarters of a million Americans got busted last year not for drug trafficking or manufacture, but as nothing more than pot consumers. In two regions of the country, the South and the Midwest, simple marijuana possession arrests accounted for more than half of all drug arrests.
Similarly, when all drug arrests are tabulated, possession arrests constituted 83.3% of the total. That means out of the 1.7 million total drug arrests, only about 300,000 were for "drug dealing" or manufacture, and 93,640 of those were for marijuana, which includes people growing even one plant or for medical reasons.
While last year's pot bust numbers represent a 3% decline from 2007, the 2008 numbers are still the second highest annual toll on record. Marijuana arrests stood at about 300,000 in 1991 before climbing sharply during the Clinton administration to more than 700,000 by 2000. During the Bush administration, annual pot arrests continued to climb, but more slowly, going over 800,000 in 2006 and reaching the all-time high of more than 872,000 in 2007.
While the trend over the past two decades has been upwards, this isn't the first year that marijuana arrests have declined over the previous year. Similar blips have happened five times since 1990.
The number of drug arrests in 2008 was about three times the number of people arrested for all violent crimes (595,000) and greater than the number of people arrested for all property crimes (1.68 million).
Defenders of the status quo eager to downplay the consequences of drug prohibition are wont to argue that many arrests aren't really arrests -- some people are ticketed or cited and released -- or that hardly anybody goes to jail, especially for marijuana. There is a small degree of truth in each argument, but being arrested on a drug charge, even a marijuana possession charge, carries serious consequences for the arrestee.
People arrested face legal fees, fines, and, quite possibly, time behind bars, even for marijuana offenses. Upon conviction, they also face a raft of collateral consequences ranging from loss of access to student loans, public housing, and other federal benefits to loss of (or inability to obtain) professional licenses, problems with employment, and loss of children to state child welfare agencies.
The 2008 arrest figures come just days after the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that the number of adult marijuana smokers increased from 22 million in 2007 to 22.5 million last year. The number of Americans over age 12 who admitted ever smoking marijuana was also at an all-time, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of the population. Last year, 41%, or more than 102 million Americans said they had tried marijuana.
Drug reformers were quick to use the arrest figures to call for change. "In our current economic climate, we simply cannot afford to keep arresting more than three people every minute in the failed 'war on drugs,'" said Jack Cole, a retired undercover narcotics detective who now heads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
Cole also warned of the collateral consequences of a drug arrest. "You can get over an addiction, but you will never get over a conviction," he said.
The pot people, revved up by a seeming seismic shift in popular attitudes now underway, were also quick on the attack. "Federal statistics released just last week indicate that larger percentages of Americans are using cannabis at the same time that police are arresting a near-record number of Americans for pot-related offenses," said Allen St. Pierre, head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "Present enforcement policies are costing American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and having no impact on marijuana availability or marijuana use in this country. It is time to end this failed policy and replace prohibition with a policy of marijuana regulation, taxation, and education."
"This slight dip in the number of marijuana arrests provides a small amount of relief to the tens of millions of American marijuana consumers who have been under attack by their own government for decades," said Marijuana Policy Project executive director Rob Kampia. "It's time to stop wasting billions of tax dollars criminalizing responsible Americans for using a substance that's safer than alcohol, and to put an end to policies that simply hand this massive consumer market to unregulated criminals."
Do the slight declines in marijuana arrests or overall drug arrests mean that change is around the corner or that policing policies are becoming more enlightened? The answer is "no," said Eric Sterling, head of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.
"The declines are so slight as to be almost insignificant," said Sterling. "What we do know is that in various law enforcement agencies around the country, they've been laying off cops. Chiefs have been getting orders from mayors and county executives to cut overtime. There are 10,000 different law enforcement agencies, and they're all facing financial trouble. These kinds of pressures reduce the number of police hours that can be devoted to these kinds of cases," he said.
The small declines in drug arrests do not represent any serious policy change, Sterling said. "If there was any significant change in policies, you wouldn't see a minor dip. If we saw a drop of a third, that would tell us there is a change in policy, but anyone who looks at these numbers and thinks they represent change is grasping at straws."
Drug prohibition mindlessly grinds on, chewing up and spitting out more than a million and a half Americans each year. It may have suffered a few hiccups because of the country's financial woes, but there is as yet no sign that anything has really changed.

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Corrupt Cops of the Drug War - one week's worth!

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Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

In Nogales, Arizona, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervisor was arrested last Friday for helping Mexican drug cartels move large quantities of cocaine across the border. Richard Cramer, the former agent once in charge of the Nogales ICE office, faces charges of cocaine trafficking and public corruption. DEA investigators said Cramer used his position to run database checks under the guise of drug investigations when he was really checking to ensure that drug traffickers he worked with were not snitches for law enforcement. He is being extradited to Florida, where federal prosecutors say a majority of his illegal acts occurred.
In Memphis, a Memphis police officer was arrested August 27 by FBI and DEA agents as part of the ongoing Operation Tarnished Blue, which targets corruption within the Memphis Police Department. Officer Lowell Duke, 33, faces federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. He is at least the 34th department officer or civilian employee to be arrested under Tarnished Blue and other investigations since 2003. Charges in those cases have included ticket fixing, robbery, prostitution, extortion and drug conspiracy.
In Tavares, Florida, a Lake County Correctional Institution mental health counselor was arrested September 3 on charges she brought drugs into the prison. Now former prison employee Julia Bedenbaugh, 39, is charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. She went down when an inmate in trouble after being caught with a contraband cell phone snitched her out. Authorities found her name and P.O. Box address on the phone, seized two envelopes from the box and got a positive hit on them from a drug dog. Police then returned the packages to the P.O. Box and arrested Bedenbaugh after she picked up the packages. One contained a cell phone and charger and the other contained two cigar tubes packed with crack and wrapped in electrical tape. She is out on a $20,000 bond.
In Monongahela, Pennsylvania, a Monongahela police officer was arrested last Friday on drug and corruption charges. Officer George Langan is accused of subverting the work of a Washington County drug task force by tipping off dealers and peddling dope himself. He is the fifth Monongahela police officer arrested on corruption charges in the past year-and-a-half in what a local prosecutor called a "culture of corruption." Langan was hit with 11 counts of violating the state drug law and 23 counts of public corruption, including official oppression, evidence tampering and criminal conspiracy. Authorities said Langan had been under investigation by various bodies for the past 10 years. He has been jailed under a $500,000 bond.
In Baltimore, a Baltimore police officer was arrested September 3 for trying to shake down an undercover internal affairs investigator posing as a drug dealer. Officer Michael Sylvester, 29, was arrested after stealing $70 from the investigator. Police later recovered three small bags of cocaine from Sylvester's locker. He had recently been transferred from the Central District's Pennsylvania Avenue task force, working one of the East Coast's largest drug markets, after complaints about him extorting drug dealers surfaced. He will face theft and drug possession charges.
In Pine Bluff, Arkansas, an Arkansas state prison guard was arrested August 29 after marijuana was found in her bra as she reported for duty. Maximum Security Union guard Michelle Anderson, 26, is charged with possession of drugs with intent to deliver and possession of a weapon on prison property. She was arrested after another guard searched her and found more than an ounce of pot in her bra. Officers then searched her vehicle in the parking lot and found a handgun.
In St. Joseph, Michigan, the former head of the Benton Harbor police narcotics unit pleaded guilty Wednesday in a corruption investigation of the Benton Harbor police. Former officer Bernard Hall, 33, conspired with another, already convicted and imprisoned, officer, Andrew Collins, to falsify search warrants, obtain warrants without probable cause, embezzle funds, file false police reports, steal money and personal property, and divert seized drugs. Hall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Benton Harbor residents. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. He has been in custody since his July 17 arrest. No word yet on a sentencing date.
In Bridgeton, New Jersey, a former state prison guard pleaded guilty August 31 to smuggling drugs and a syringe to an inmate at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Cumberland County. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend he do five years. The eight-year veteran will be permanently barred from public employment in the state.
In McAllen, Texas, a former Texas sheriff was sentenced September 3 to more than five years in federal prison for helping Mexican drug traffickers smuggle drugs through his county in return for cash payments. Former Starr County Sheriff Reymundo Guerra. Guerra was one of more than a dozen people indicted by a federal grand jury in Operation Carlito's Weigh, which targeted the Gulf Cartel. He pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute narcotics.
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Mexico Body Count 5000 for 2009 in Drug War

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Drug War Chronicle - world’s leading drug policy newsletter
Latin America: Mexico Drug War Update
from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #600, 9/11/09
by Bernd Debusmann, Jr.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year trafficking illegal drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government. Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed over 12,000 people, with a death toll of over 4,000 so far in 2009. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest of several high-profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever. The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:
Friday , September 4
- Troops arrested three suspected cartel assassins in Ciudad Juarez. The three are thought to be part of La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Juarez cartel. Between them, they are accused of having participated in 70 killings.
- A high ranking police official was gunned down in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. The commander, Ubaldo Dominguez Grijalva, was shot by at least two gunmen outside his house at 6:30 AM. Fifteen days ago, he was involved in an operation in which three suspected cartel hitmen were arrested after a firefight in Los Mochis.
Saturday , September 5
- Mexican troops captured a suspect in the September 2 killing of 17 patients in Ciudad Juarez drug rehabilitation center. The suspect, Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, is a high-ranking member of the Juarez cartel. He is also on the DEA's list of most wanted fugitives on suspicion of being involved in marijuana and cocaine trafficking to the United States.
- A former high ranking official of US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US. The man, Richard P. Kramer, had previously been stationed in Mexico. He was apparently convinced by drug cartel members to retire and begin working for them directly. Kramer is accused of searching for information from law enforcement databases concerning possible informants, and with being involved in a 660 pound cocaine shipment which traveled from Panama to the United States, before being finally seized in Spain in 2007.
Sunday , September 6
- Gunmen killed a state legislative candidate, his wife, and their two children at their home in Tabasco. Authorities originally suspected that the murders were carried out by drug traffickers angered by recent arrests. Jose Francisco Fuentes Esperon, 43, a former university professor, had begun his campaign just one day prior to his murder. Mr.Esperon and his wife were both shot, while the children, ages 8 and 10, were asphyxiated.
Monday, September 7
- An arrest was made in the killing of Juan Francisco Fuentes Esperon, the state legislative candidate murdered over the weekend (see above). Police arrested several young men in what apparently was a burglary gone wrong. Interestingly, however, the Zetas drug trafficking organization took the unusual step of publicly distancing itself from the murders. The Zetas hung a banner in Villahermosa, the state capital, saying they were not involved.
- Seven people were gunned down in several separate incidents in Ciudad Juarez. Four of the victims were killed at a motel, and included an ex-US soldier who lived in El Paso and worked for the Postal Service. The men were drinking when they were attacked by heavily armed gunmen. In another incident, a man was killed and five people wounded when gunmen entered a private party and began shooting.
Tuesday, September 8
- Mexico replaced its attorney general, Eduardo Medina Mora, who had held the position for nine years. President Calderon gave no reason for the move. He is slated to be replaced by Arturo Chavez Chavez, who had previously worked for the state attorney general's office of Chihuahua, of which Ciudad Juarez is capital. He is likely to face a tough nomination battle in Mexico's congress, as the decision has been criticized because of his work in Chihuahua. During his tenure there from 1992-1996, the Juarez cartel became much stronger and the murders of hundreds of women went unsolved.
- In Veracruz, police found a headless body along with a message from drug traffickers attached to it. The body was left in the same location where two bodies (and another message from drug traffickers) were found on August 26. The note left with the body threatened extortionists and kidnappers, and may be the work of vigilante groups supported by drug traffickers or elements of the police.
- In Ciudad Juarez, a body with both arms severed was found dumped on a street. A spokesman for the regional prosecutor's office said that the victim was found with his severed arms crossed and placed on top of a cardboard sign that was left with the body. Additionally, the victim had plastic bags shoved into his mouth and his eyes were taped shut.
On another subject, two journalists from the state of Tabasco were arrested on suspicion of working for the Zetas drug trafficking organization. Newspaper correspondents Roberto Juarez and Lazaro Abreu Tejero Sanchez are accused of taking thousands of dollars from drug traffickers to withhold stories and share information from police sources. Police learned of the payments, which totaled some $4,500 a month, from a captured Zeta lieutenant.
Total reported body count for the week: 239
Total reported body count for the year: 4,955
Read last week's Mexico drug war update here.
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