XPost: alt.hemp, rec.drugs.misc, rec.drugs.psychedelic   
   XPost: talk.politics.drugs   
   From: blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com   
      
   Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1224 -- 9/27/24   
   Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1224   
      
   A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org   
   David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org   
   "Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"   
      
   APPEAL: Help Us Respond to the Opportunities and the Challenges of This   
   Time:   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/help_us_respond   
      
   Table of Contents:   
      
   1. MEDFORD POLICE SUED FOR SPYING ON HARM REDUCTIONISTS, OTHER ACTIVISTS   
   [FEATURE]   
   Are the police in this southern Oregon city protecting public safety, or   
   chilling political expression?   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/or-aclu-sues-medford-police   
   over-spying-harm-reductionists-other-activists-feature   
      
   2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE   
   A Georgia pharmacy challenges the DEA, and more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/medical-marijuana-update-1   
      
   3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES   
   A Virginia prosecutor turns pot peddler, an Illinois cop gets caught   
   with weed, cash, and testosterone, and more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/weeks-corrupt-cops-stories-7   
      
   4. METHADONE RULES TO BE EASED NEXT MONTH, GA PHARMACY BEGINS SELLING   
   MEDMJ DESPITE DEA WARNING, MORE... (9/20/24)   
   The Illinois Supreme Court rules the odor of burnt weed is not probable   
   cause to search a vehicle, Mexico's president says the US shares the   
   blame for cartel violence in Sinaloa, and more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/methadone-rules-be-eased-ne   
   t-month-ga-pharmacy-begins-selling-medmj-despite-dea-warning   
      
   5. DEA INCREASES QUOTAS FOR PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH, SINALOA CARTEL   
   INFIGHTING DEATH TOLL RISES, MORE... (9/23/24)   
   New Hampshire lawmakers are already rolling out marijuana reform   
   proposals for next year, peace has come -- at least for now -- to a   
   troubled Colombian coca-producing province, and more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/dea-increases-quotas-psyche   
   elic-research-sinaloa-cartel-infighting-death-toll-rises-more   
      
   6. PITTSBURGH BARS JOB DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MEDMJ PATIENTS, CZECH   
   MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION DRAFT RELEASED, MORE... (9/24/24)   
   The death toll keeps rising in Sinaloa Cartel factional fighting,   
   Germany's move to legal marijuana commerce is increasingly in doubt, and   
   more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/pittsburgh-bars-job-discrim   
   nation-against-medmj-patients-czech-marijuana-legalization   
      
   7. TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND POT ARRESTS LAST YEAR, CA EMERGENCY HEMP THC BAN   
   NOW IN EFFECT, MORE... (9/25/24)   
   A pair of Democratic senators file a bill to keep fentanyl out of   
   federal prisons, President Biden addresses the Global Coalition to   
   Address Synthetic Drug Threats, and more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/two-hundred-thousand-pot-ar   
   ests-last-year-ca-emergency-hemp-thc-ban-now-effect-more   
      
   8. CA HEMP PRODUCT BAN CHALLENGED, NJ AG SUES HEALTHCARE PROVIDER OVER   
   DRUG TESTING PREGNANT WOMEN, MORE... (9/26/24)   
   Another bill aimed at combatting the fentanyl trade advances in the   
   House, the Florida marijuana legalization initiative campaign is getting   
   very spendy, and more.   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/ca-hemp-product-ban-challen   
   ed-nj-ag-sues-healthcare-provider-over-drug-testing-pregnant   
      
   (Not subscribed? Visit https://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up today!)   
      
   ================   
      
   1. MEDFORD POLICE SUED FOR SPYING ON HARM REDUCTIONISTS, OTHER ACTIVISTS   
   [FEATURE]   
   https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/or-aclu-sues-medford-police   
   over-spying-harm-reductionists-other-activists-feature   
      
   Are the police in this southern Oregon city protecting public safety,   
   or chilling political expression?   
      
   An Oregon state law -- ORS 181A.250   
   (https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_181a.250) -- prohibits police   
   from collecting or maintaining information about the political,   
   religious, or social views, and associations or activities of people   
   who are not reasonably suspected of criminal activity. But in a   
   lawsuit   
   (https://www.aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/240   
   20_complaint_file_stamped64.pdf)   
   filed last month, the ACLU of Oregon accuses police in the Rogue   
   Valley city of Medford of violating that law by conducting social   
   media surveillance on various activists, including a harm reduction   
   group and its locally high-profile founder.   
      
   That statute, enacted by the legislature in the 1980s, came in   
   response to a history of state "law enforcement agencies using their   
   power to monitor, silence and criminalize the protected speech of   
   those whose views they disagree with or find distasteful, unorthodox,   
   or politically inconvenient," the complaint said. That history goes at   
   least as far back as the Portland Police Bureau's "Red Squad," which   
   spent most of the 20th Century monitoring and targeting the   
   constitutionally protected speech and protest activities of people and   
   groups whose viewpoints challenged prevailing political and social   
   norms.   
      
   Thanks to a public records request by the group Information for Public   
   Use   
   (https://info4publicuse.org/2023/11/illegal-spying-medford-police/),   
   the ACLU was able to find numerous records showing MPD employees   
   engaging in monitoring the social media activity of the three   
   plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers, a   
   LGBTQ rights group loudly critical of police misconduct; the Stabbin'   
   Wagon, a harm reduction outfit that has a history of recording   
   conflicts with the MPD; and Stabbin' Wagon founder Melissa Jones, who   
   "works to address racist and classist issues within the war on drugs   
   by advocating for decriminalization, safe supply and safe consumption   
   sites, and social justice work through an equity, equality, and   
   abolition lens."   
      
   MPD wanted to keep an eye on these "troublemakers," but that is   
   against state law, the complaint argues.   
      
   "Documents show the Medford Police Department has systematically   
   violated ORS 181A.250 by targeting civilian activists, advocates, and   
   grassroots organizations -- including Plaintiffs and like-minded   
   people and groups throughout the Rogue Valley -- for covert   
   surveillance and monitoring, outside of any criminal investigation,   
   and based upon the content of their protected political activities,"   
   the complaint reads.   
      
   "Simply put, MPD is abusing its power to spy on activists whose views   
   it dislikes -- and, not only that, building and maintaining files   
   about such people and organizations without any justifiable law   
   enforcement purpose, a blatant violation of Oregon law. The Court's   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)