No matter who wins the next presidential election, the heavy hand of justice needs to be lightened considerably when it comes to federal prosecutions of marijuana providers.

Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Ruiz Montes ... were convicted of manufacturing marijuana and distributing the drug, as well as operating a continuing criminal enterprise, a felony that carries a mandatory 20-year minimum prison term, with the possibility of life behind bars.

The "continuing criminal enterprise" was the operation of a marijuana dispensary in California. Whether Scarmazzo and Montes complied with the state's medical marijuana law is in dispute, but there should be no dispute that a 20 year mandatory minimum for selling marijuana is outrageous. Just ask the jury.

Jurors deliberated for two days before delivering their verdict. One juror, Craig Will of Tuolumne County, said after the verdict that he expected the two men to get probation or a few months in prison. "I'm really appalled to discover that there's a 20-year mandatory minimum on the continuing criminal enterprise charge," he said.

If the judicial system really trusted juries to act as the democratic institution that the founders intended, juries would be told of the consequences of a conviction before deciding on a verdict. Selling a plant to people who have a medical need for it (or to anyone, for that matter) just isn't conduct that merits a 20 year sentence. The next president should (and if it's a Democrat, probably will) put an end to federal prosecutions that contravene state laws permitting the sale of medical marijuana.

The marijuana reform groups think Barack Obama is going to help them. Here's his latest interview out today on the topic. When asked if he would stop the federal raids on pot dispensaries in states that have legalized marijuana:

“I would because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching criminals and
preventing terrorism.

The way I want to approach the issue of medical marijuana is to base it on science. And if there is sound science that supports the use of medical marijuana and if it is controlled and prescribed in a way that other medicine is prescribed, then it’s something we should consider.” (James Pitkin, > “Six Minutes With Barack,” Willamette Week, 5/14/08)(my emphasis)

Of course, the science is there, the science is sound and has been for years. All he's promising is more studies and to think about it. [More...]

What would happen if marijuana were legal? In the LA Times today, "This Bud's For You."

I always wondered what would happen if marijuana were legalized for anyone over 18. It seems it already has been, and nothing happened.

Except, people still get busted and go to jail.

Which reminds me, NORML founder Keith Stroup's trial for smoking a joint at a press conference in Boston begins Monday. Keith and his codefendant, High Times associate publisher Rick Cusick are challenging the constitutionality of the law criminalizing adult pot possession and use. They also requested a jury nullification instruction. [More...]

I noticed a lot of drug warriors on tv yesterday talking about a bust in San Diego. I'm not sure why that's such big news. What should be news is this drug war outrage in Arkansas.

Via NORML on the death of Timothy Garon:

The medical records will show that he died due to complications associated with massive liver failure. He would have likely survived longer if he received a timely organ transplant but was denied access because he followed his physician’s recommendation, used medical cannabis during his treatments for liver disease, therefore testing positive for THC metabolites and rather than receive the gift of a potentially longer life—instead doctors at the University of Washington deferred to federal prohibition laws and mores, handing Tim a death sentence.

There are no pharmacological or physiological reasons why Tim Garon, or any medical marijuana patient, should logically be denied access to life-saving or life-enhancing organ transplants.

Here's more on Tim Garon’s plight. You can watch this video with a moving news account of Tim and his family.

Here's a prewritten letter you can send Congress in favor of federal legislation that would prevent tragic stories such as these.

A radio segment I taped a few weeks ago on the newly passed Second Chance Act will air tonight at 6:00 pm ET on XM Satellite Radio Channel 169 -- the Power --it's also available now online at (The Urban Journal with Keith Murphy).

The channel is described as "Conversation about social, political, and economic issues from the African American perspective."

The actual audio of the segment is here. It starts about one minute in (after the intro music.)

Mr. Murphy is an excellent host and asked terrific questions.

The Supreme Court today granted cert in a 10th Circuit sentencing guideline case. (Order here, pdf). The case is U.S. v. Garcia-Lara, 499 F.3d 1133 (10th Cir. 2007). It was a terrible decision that held district courts have to find something unusual about the defendant or his case in order to vary from the Guidelines. It's a meth case where the trial court departed below the guidelines to impose 140 months and the 10th Circuit reversed. (See below the fold for facts.)

Not only did the Supreme Court today accept cert on the case, it vacated the opinion and remanded the case for further proceedings in light of Gall v. U.S. The Supreme Court case number is 07-9799.

[Hat tip to the Colorado Federal Defender's office for the information.]

David White Jr., in a Boston Globe op-ed, asks "what is it about our priorities that has us spending more on incarceration than higher education?"

Incarceration rates increased dramatically when the "War on Drugs" was launched in the 1980s. In Massachusetts and elsewhere, strict mandatory minimum sentences were enacted for drug dealing. One of those sentences, for selling any type or quantity of drug within 1,000 feet of a school, annually sends more than 300 people to jail for a mandatory minimum of two years.

What a waste. So is the "zero tolerance" attitude that makes a big deal out of petty crimes.

At the front end of the trial process, the courts are cluttered with the smallest of crimes, such as disturbing the peace or passing a bad check. Because these crimes carry the threat of incarceration, if the defendant is indigent the court must appoint a lawyer at taxpayer expense. If treated instead as civil infractions, with only the risk of fines, the dockets could be cleared, and the legal help could be reserved for more serious matters.

White proposes additional sensible solutions to the mess our criminal justice system has become: (more...)

The U.S. Sentencing Commission says 3,000 crack cocaine sentences have been reduced since the guideline amendment went into effect in March.

There are 19,500 inmates serving time for crack cocaine.

In the 40 or so motions I've seen filed in Colorado (cases in which I had one of many co-defendants) the Government seems to file an objection to every request. It either says the guideline doesn't apply or the court should exercise its discretion and deny the relief.

I've mentioned before that the reductions are small, and only apply to a limited group of defendants. I only have one client out of dozens of crack defendants I've represented who appears to be eligible for relief. Sure enough, the Government is opposing the request.

The Sentencing Commission's report is great news for the 3,000 who have obtained relief so far, but it's a drop in the bucket as to what's needed. Congress needs to change the mandatory minumum sentencing laws. It needs to make the penalties for crack cocaine and powder the same without raising the levels for powder. [More....]

Leave it to Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to come up with yet another shaming punishment. Forcing male inmates to wear pink underwear, and putting teens on chain gangs to bury the dead wasn't enough. Now there's this:

Women inmates in Maricopa County have been on chain gangs since 1996.

Now, 15 of them will wear T-shirts that say "I was a drug addict" as they clean trash from a Phoenix street on Monday.

What's wrong with shaming punishments? Everything. Here's Jonathan Turley in a terrific op-ed on the subject.

As I wrote here,

There are other alternative sentencing solutions out there that should be tried, and if they are lacking, then judges should spend their creative energy coming up with better ones that don't demean and further alienate the offender.

Back in September, I wrote about the arrest of NORML Founder Keith Stroup in Mass. at a rally for smoking a marijuana cigarette.

The case is headed to court Thursday morning. Keith and his co-defendant are challenging the constitutionality of the law criminalizing adult pot possession and use, and are requesting a jury nullification instruction:

[Their motion asks] the trial judge to inform the jury of their right to return a not-guilty verdict if, in their view, the defendants’ actions did not amount to criminal conduct.

This long-held traditional power of a jury — to refuse to convict if its members agree that such a conviction would create an injustice — is fundamental to the jury’s role as the bulwark of American individual liberty.

A copy of their motion to dismiss is available here. There will be a press conference at Boston's Batterymarch Conference Center after the hearing.

ACLU Washington executive director Kathleen Taylor has an op-ed in today's Seattle Times, Let's Talk About Marijuana. It begins:

A College student loses his financial aid because of a youthful indiscretion. A woman coping with the ravages of ovarian cancer lives in fear of being arrested for using what best eases her suffering. Across town, a front door bursts open and police rush in to handcuff a man relaxing in his living room.

These events have one thing in common: marijuana. Whether it is being kicked out of college for a youthful mistake, being denied relief from pain as a cancer patient, or getting arrested for personal use in one's home, marijuana laws have far-reaching consequences.

The consequences greatly outweigh any danger or risk posed by marijuana. [More...]