by Bob Adelmann
The New American

 
The conservative think tank Cato Institute has announced its latest effort to hold local police accountable by establishing its National Police Misconduct Reporting Project. Its purpose is to “determine the extent of police misconduct in the United States, identify trends affecting police misconduct, and report on issues about police misconduct in order to enhance public awareness on issues regarding police misconduct in the U.S.”
Its website, www.policemisconduct.net, currently lists an increasing number of incidents involving police officers who have stepped outside the bounds of their duty. One after another, incidents such as “Lanagan, MO police chief, officer indicted, suspended for forgery”; “Denver police officer allegedly sexually assaulted a woman during a traffic stop”; and “Dallas City Council approves $500,000 for settlement for motorcyclist whose beating was caught on police dash-cam” are presented on its website in its attempt to educate citizens about such illegal behavior by the men in blue.
Cato says its purposes are honorable: “Only a small fraction of the 17,000 law enforcement agencies [in the country] actually track their own misconduct … and even when they do, the data … is generic and does not specify what misconduct occurred, who did it, and what the end result was.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/law-enforcement-corruption–abuse-1/the-code-reporting-police-misconduct-to-the-police-.html

 
Christie as in Share Christie, the wife of Roger Christie, who is being held  in the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu on marijuana charges.
Share (maiden name St. Cyr) Christie is a defendant in the case, too, but unlike her husband she is out on bail. (Roger this week was again denied a bail request .)
Share is running on a pro-cannabis, pro-hemp platform. Excerpts:
• It can help to save us from spiritual and mental slavery with it’s holy smoke and vapor.
• It can help to save us from hunger and malnutrition with hempseed foods and juicing the raw leaves.
• It can help to save us from eco-extinction with organic hemp crops verses synthetics and GMO’s.
• It can help to save us from the mentality and destruction of war with the “sacrament of the peace culture.”
http://hawaii.politics.government.blogs.civilbeat.com/post/24559515461/christie-seeks-big-isle-mayoral-seat
 
 
 

Posted by Jay Smoker

 
Great news out of North Dakota as Secretary of State Al Jaeger has approved a ballot measure that would allow people to use marijuana legally for medical reasons.Jaeger’s Monday announcement  allows medical marijuana advocates to begin gathering signatures to put the issue on the 2012 ballot.
The 22-page initiative would make it legal for North Dakota residents to possess up to 2 ½ ounces of marijuana for medical purposes. It allows those who qualify could obtain the medicine from a state-licensed dispensary or grow a limited supply for personal use.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.theweedblog.com/north-dakota-medical-marijuana-ballot-measure-approved/

By JASON KOEBLER

 
It’s long been the argument of law enforcement and anti-medical marijuana advocates that the government-sanctioned pot dispensaries cause an uptick in crime, especially burglary and muggings. The only problem is that argument isn’t necessarily true, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
On its face, the argument makes sense—medical marijuana dispensaries feature large caches of high quality drugs, and its customers overwhelmingly walk in with a huge wad of cash and walk out with a desirable product. But the study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, found that neighborhoods with medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento were no more likely to have crime than other neighborhoods.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/06/06/report-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-not-linked-to-neighborhood-crime

Anthony Gucciardi

 
Launching a lawsuit against the very company that is responsible for a farmer suicide every 30 minutes, 5 million farmers are now suing Monsanto for as much as 6.2 billion euros (around 7.7 billion US dollars). The reason? As with many other cases, such as the ones that led certain farming regions to be known as the ‘suicide belt’, Monsanto has been reportedly taxing the farmers to financial shambles with ridiculous royalty charges. The farmers state that Monsanto has been unfairly gathering exorbitant profits each year on a global scale from “renewal” seed harvests, which are crops planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest.
The practice of using renewal seeds dates back to ancient times, but Monsanto seeks to collect massive royalties and put an end to the practice. Why? Because Monsanto owns the very patent to the genetically modified seed, and is charging the farmers not only for the original crops, but the later harvests as well. Eventually, the royalties compound and many farmers begin to struggle with even keeping their farm afloat. It is for this reason that India slammed Monsanto with groundbreaking ‘biopiracy’ charges in an effort to stop Monsanto from ‘patenting life’.
Read complete article here:
http://naturalsociety.com/5-million-farmers-sue-monsanto-for-7-billion/

Posted by Wayne Harrison

 
DENVER — A California businessman known for big donations to marijuana legalization efforts is planning to hand Colorado’s campaign a $50,000 check Tuesday.
Kevin Bronner of the natural soaps company Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps planned to make the donation in Denver.
Bronner says he wants to see pot legalized because his company imports 20 tons of hemp-seed oil each year from Canada. Hemp cannot be grown legally in this country, and Bronner says legalization could save his company money.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31157113/detail.html

Frank Vinluan

 
Some newborns are testing positive for marijuana exposure and the reason why could surprise you.
Soap and hand wash products, including products commonly used in hospital nurseries, can interfere with urine drug tests of newborns and lead to false positives, according to a new study  from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .
The June issue of Clinical Biochemistry published the study , which was led by Catherine Hammett-Stabler, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at UNC Hospitals. Last year, UNC Hospitals increased use of a urine test to identify tetrahydrocannabinol-delta 9-carboxylic acid, or THC, the main chemical component of marijuana. The screening protocol had been revised to be consistent with the latest recommendations for newborn drug screening.
In the study, Hammett-Stabler said that clinical labs received a call in July 2011 from nurses in the newborn nursery asking about an increase in positive THC results from the drug screens. While urine samples tested positive, samples from the first bowel movement were not. Something was causing the positive test results and it wasn’t marijuana use. The mothers’ and newborns’ drug histories showed no potential agents that could alter a screening test.
Hammett-Stabler concluded that something was getting into the samples and interfering with the tests. After eliminating cotton balls, collection containers and possible dyes in the outer portion of diapers, the team focused on baby wash. A test of commercially available baby washes identified some of the chemicals and detergents that were causing the false positives. But the team does not know the mechanism by which these agents are causing the positive results.
 
Read complete article here:
http://medcitynews.com/2012/06/a-surprising-reason-why-some-newborns-test-positive-for-marijuana/

ADAM MARTIN
 

By Bill Hutchinson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

MIKE GROLL/AP  – In order to cut down on stop-and-frisk arrests, Gov. Cuomo is looking to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
 
GOV. Cuomo plans to ask lawmakers Monday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot in a move to reduce stop-and-frisk arrests, it was reported Sunday night.
“This proposal will bring long overdue consistency and fairness to New York State’s Penal Law and save thousands of New Yorkers, particularly minority youth, from the unnecessary and life-altering trauma of a criminal arrest and, in some cases, prosecution,” an administration official said in an email to The New York Times.
The NYPD made 50,684 arrests last year for possession of a small amount of marijuana, more than for any other offense, according to an analysis of state data by Harry Levine, a sociologist at Queens College.
Read complete article here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gov-cuomo-decriminalize-possession-small-amounts-pot-cut-stop-and-frisk-arrests-article-1.1089427