NORML is growing up--and growing in its advocacy role. See, Pot Advocates Take Cause to Congress

"Nine states have approved the legalization of medicinal marijuana and 12 states have passed laws that decriminalize the responsible possession and consumption of pot — turning what was previously an arrestable offense into a ticketable misdemeanor.

States passing medicinal exceptions include California and Arizona in 1996, Alaska, Washington and Oregon in 1998, Maine in 1999, Colorado and Nevada in 2000, and Hawaii in the last legislative year.

The 12 decriminalized states are California, Arizona, Alaska, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Maine, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado and Mississippi, with bills in the works in Vermont and New Hampshire."

We talked about the Nevada initiative earlier today. The federal bill, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is H.R. 2592. It would end the conflict between state medical marijuana laws and federal regulation.

CORPORATE-FRAUD LAW FORCES LAWYERS TO BE WHISTLE-BLOWERS
by Stephanie Francis Cahill in the ABA Journal Report:

"The corporate responsibility law President Bush signed Tuesday requires in-house and outside lawyers to report evidence of corporate wrongdoing to their client companies' boards of directors. "

Experts believe the new statute will have a chilling effect on client communications.

The law is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It "requires attorneys to report evidence of a material violation of securities law or breach of fiduciary duty to the company’s general counsel or chief executive officer.

If the general counsel or CEO does not appropriately respond to the evidence, the lawyer must report the incident to the company’s board of directors or audit board.

The rule will be administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the law mandates that the agency establish new professional standards for lawyers. "

The bill passed in the House on July 26, with a 423-3 vote. A few hours later, the Senate approved it 99-0.

Turkish legislators approved a proposal to abolish the death penalty except during wartime in a preliminary vote on reforms aimed at boosting the country's bid to join the European Union.

Under the proposal, death sentences would be changed to life-time prison terms and would be exempt from any future amnesty regulations.

Keep your eye on international news stories today as this could become final upon a vote for a larger reform package later today.

Turkey has not carried out a judicial executions since 1984 under a de facto moratorium.

For the first time ever in California, the state supreme court has appointed a guardian ad litem to make crucial decisions for a death row inmate declared incompetent.

Hopefully this will pave the way for arguments that an inmate who is too incompetent to assist his counsel is also too incompetent to be executed -- especially now that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of the retarded.

From the Death Penalty Information Center

Another Innocent Defendant Released From Death Row:

Kentucky Acquits Juvenile, Nation's 102nd Mistake

Larry Osborne became the nation's 102nd exonerated death row inmate since 1973 when he was acquitted of all charges and freed on August 1 in Kentucky. The Kentucky Supreme Court reversed his conviction because the trial court allowed inadmissible hearsay testimony from a witness, Joe Reid. [Commonwealth v. Osborne, 43 S.W.2d 234 (Ky. 2001)] Reid passed away prior to the original trial and, therefore, could not face cross-examination. Osborne was sentenced to death in 1999 following his conviction for the murder of two elderly victims in Whitley County, Ky. Osborne was only 17 at the time of the crime. He is the fourth exonerated death row inmate in the nation this year.

See Louisville Courier-Journal, August 2, 2002.

Read DPIC's Press Release.

See also, Innocence

Nevada may become the first state to make marijuana use legal for any reason--medical or recreational.

On the ballot is a proposat that would eliminate penalties for possessing up to three ounces of marijuana for any reason and direct the state legislature to treat marijuana similarly to tobacco and alcohol by implementing a system that would oversee its growth and sale, and impose taxes thereby creating revenue. Here is site carrying the text of the initiative.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal endorsed the idea in a July 7 editorial, calling it "a promising first step" toward ending "the needless harassment of individuals who peacefully and privately use marijuana."

The law is not without restrictions. It would prohibit selling marijuana to anyone under 21, or in public place such as schools and parks.

A recent poll showed the measure has a 44% appoval rating with 10% undecided.

This is an opportunity for Nevada to shine by becoming the first state to to take the big step and "just say no" to the war on drugs.

With only 112 days left in this campaign, there is not much time to raise the substantial sum of money that is needed to run hard-hitting TV ads at the end of the campaign. Please visit NLRE now to donate $10 or more.

From the Marijuana Policy Project:

Two New Medical Marijuana Studies Seek Patients in San Francisco. One study will evaluate whether smoking marijuana reduces pain in people with HIV-related peripheral neuropathy.

The second study is for cancer patients and will evaluate whether marijuana, when used with MS Contin, will have an effect on pain relief -- and whether marijuana reduces the side effects of MS Contin, which include nausea and/or vomiting. Patients must have certain types of cancer to be eligible.

Russell Birnbaum, the foreman of the Charles Schwarz jury that deadlocked two weeks ago on the most serious charges against former NY cop Charles Scwarz relating to the attack on Abner Louima explains their impasse in Diary of a Juor in this week's New York Observer.

According to Birnbaum, the jurors were 11/1 for conviction on all counts but one woman juror was a holdout from the beginning and wouldn't listen to reason. She was also anti-semitic and had her own agenda, Birnbaum says.

Very little about these jurors was made public, and the jurors themselves did not each other's names. This is the first published account of their deliberations which lasted six days before their deadlock.

The U.S. Attorneys' office has announced plans to try Schwarz for a 4th time. Some are saying it's time for Ron Fischetti, Schwarz's lawyer, to cop a plea. Maybe learning this jury was 11 to 1 for conviction will advance that cause.

As Arizona starts the legislative process of re-writing their death penalty law to conform to recent Supreme Court opinions, the conservative Arizona Republic joins the call to end the death penalty altogether.

"Old arguments for execution won't stand up against evidence of mistakes"

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has some gruesome plans for teens sentenced to the county jail--including burying the dead.

15 to 17 year olds sentenced to the county jail for up to a year will be placed in a juvenile chain gang, bound together at the ankle in groups of five. They will wear traditional black and white prison garb as well as the jail's notorious pink underwear.

The juveniles will be required to pick up trash on public streets and bury the relatives of indigent families at the county cemetery.

The Sheriff calls the plan "Hard Knocks High." We call it disgusting.

UPS worker Butch Traylor tells why he's opposed to Operation Snoops in This Delivery Guy Won't Spy.

"I've always felt it is just a little un-American to pay too much attention to what my customers are doing or receiving. I worry about whose definition of "suspicious" is going to be used.

Now I see that the same people who last summer thwarted an F.B.I. field office investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attack, want to enlist every goober who installs phone lines or delivers pizza to be the next Ace Ventura terrorist detective.

It bothers me that those charged with defending our freedom would so cavalierly foster such an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. It bothers me to think that my postman might be paying more attention to where my mail is coming from than to where it's supposed to go"

The New York Times reports that the prison growth of U.S. inmates is at its Lowest Rate in 3 Decades according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The number of state prison inmates fell, while the total number of inmates rose only 1.1%.

Considering there are still over 2 million people in American prisons, this is hardly something to shout about.