Monthly Archives: June 2011

Obama Administration Reverses Course on Medical Marijuana

In 2009, a Department of Justice memo instructed U.S. attorneys not to pursue charges against medical marijuana operations that comply with the laws of the states in which they are located. However, as Mike Riggs reports at Reason, that no

Posted in Drug War, federal, states

Funding the Drug War with Drug War Forfeiture Proceeds

As long as the police can self-fund the drug war through asset forfeiture they will never need to reexamine their misplaced priorities in these lean fiscal times. Today’s example comes Mason City, Iowa: The North Central Iowa Narcotics Task Force

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Posted in Drug War, federal, states

Forfeiture Dollars at Work

The McAllen, Texas Police Department just acquired this monstrous vehicle for its SWAT team: This modified Ford F-550 features “11 gun ports, a rotating turret and room for 10 officers.” And just how did the department raise the $150,000 to

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Posted in Drug War

Thoughts from the US Senate hearings on NOAA law enforcement forfeiture abuse

This Monday, June 20th, I attended a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security  at Boston’s famed Faneuil Hall.  The topic was the predatory law

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Posted in federal

Indianapolis Star op-ed advocates more substantive forfeiture reform

The Indianapolis Star today ran an excellent op-ed arguing for more substantive forfeiture reform in Indiana: A system that encourages a deputy prosecutor to simultaneously profit from prosecutions as a private attorney is anything but fair either to defendants or

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Posted in states

Grasping at Straws

The federal government has finally brought charges against Jimmy Tebeau, the musician who owns Camp Zoe, which the government is currently attempting to take through civil forfeiture. The case looks like thin gruel. Saint Louis’ River Front Times reports: The

Posted in Drug War, federal

A Day that Will Live in Infamy

Forty years ago Friday, Richard Nixon announced that “we must wage what I have called total war against public enemy number one in the United States, the problem of dangerous drugs.” It has not gone well. Illicit drugs are easily

Posted in Drug War, federal

Don Boudreaux against civil asset forfeiture

Over at Cafe Hayek, the erstwhile George Mason economics professor speaks: From 1989 through 2009, U.S. District Attorneys alone have seized nearly $14billion dollars worth of assets through civil-asset-forfeiture procedures.  (Data are here; using the Minnesota Fed’s inflation converter, I converted

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Posted in Drug War, federal, states

Calling all Californian forfeiture victims

California Assembly Bill 639, a bill to reform California’s asset forfeiture laws, recently passed the California General Assembly and is due for hearings at some point during the day on Tuesday, June 21 (although the hearings may yet be postponed

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Posted in Uncategorized

“We’re here for your pot and all the cash that you’ve got”

My nomination for music video of the year is this song, from Toronto-based Pete Lindy and published by the good folks at Reason Magazine: Note that 3 of the SWAT raid clips in this music video are brought to you

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Posted in Drug War

Judges should never be paid directly from forfeited funds. Ever.

From SavingSeaFood: In response to a Congressional inquiry last week, NOAA has confirmed that until the current fiscal year, 60% of the funds used to pay for the services of the United States Coast Guard Office of Administrative Law Judges

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Posted in Uncategorized

Sheriff to county: It’s “bullshit” I can’t do what I want

From the Mississippi Sun-Herald: Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara told the Sun Herald he “called bullsh–” to the Board of Supervisors last year when they refused to pick up longevity pay for sheriff’s office employees because they couldn’t afford them

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Posted in Drug War, federal, states

Forfeiture activism (and government censorship of protected speech) on Facebook

While I have been an ardent advocate of reforming America’s draconian asset forfeiture laws since I first wrote on the subject in August 2000, it wasn’t until last year that I realized that others were interested in the subject as

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Posted in Uncategorized

Conor Friedersdorf nails it

From a blog post today at The Atlantic: The Institute for Justice has an excellent report on this subject too. Whether you watch the video from Tennessee, read the Balko article, or read the IJ report, the takeaway is something that

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Posted in Uncategorized

NOLA PD Chief: Cops…like shiny things

From ProjectNOLA: New Orleans Police Chief Ronal Serpas has a new plan to boost morale in the department, but how he went about paying for the superintendent’s new challenge coins raised questions and now the chief is trying to clear

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Posted in federal, states

Texas Senate Bill 316 sent to Gov. Perry

Today’s San Antonio Express-News: Senate Bill 316, now awaiting Gov. Rick Perry’s signature, calls for prohibiting use of the funds to buy certain items, including alcohol, and restricting their use for travel. It also would bolster auditing provisions, empower the

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Posted in federal, states