Feature Archives

On 4/10 the so-called Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly the RAVE Act) passed both the House and the Senate. Cynically attached as a rider to the AMBER Alert bill, which has nothing to do with drug policy, the act has come under extreme criticism from advocates of free speech and a common sense drug policy. According to the SF Bayview newspaper, the bill would "would also make it where anyone who threw an event at his own home, such as a party or barbecue, in which one or more of the guests used drugs, could potentially face a $500,000 fine and 20 years in federal prison. All it takes is a snitch and a racist prosecutor - and we all know that there is no shortage of either." Read more | SF Bayview article | NoMoreDrugWar.org | Drug Policy Alliance | ACLU

Update: A judge reversed the ruling that would have sent Jones to prison, and instead ordered him to pay nearly $4000 to cover the costs associated with jury re-selection. Read more

Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative executive director Jeff Jones, one of the California medical marijuana movement's most prominent figures, was sentenced on 2/27 to 90 days in prison for distributing leaflets outside a courthouse. Read more | Drug Policy Alliance | Stop the Drug War.org

2/12/2003: As the U.S. continues the acceleration of its War On Drugs, a new voice is organizing to the south. 2/12 marks the beginning of a matched acceleration: that of an America that is fighting back. Narco News has helped organize the first drug legalization summit, “Out From the Shadows,” a forum for activists, indigenous leaders, drug-policy reformists, cocaleros and legislators to speak out and strategize against the corrupt ties between US drug policy and Latin American narco-trafficking. The countdown began on 2/12, with an opening ceremony hosted by Al Giordino, editor-in-chief of Narco News.

Andrés Vásquez de Santiago, at 93, is the elder member of the Indigenous National Congress in México, comprised of 56 of Mexico's 62 indigenous ethnicities, and with Comandanta Ramona of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, one of its founders. More

There are other guests at the summit, as well: 26 journalists from around the world, handpicked by Narco News to learn among peers and mentors, as the news site launches its first “School of Authentic Journalism.” Filmmakers, IMCistas, radio broadcasters, TV hosts and authors from Brazil to Philly are learning first-hand the craft of journalism from such journalistic warriors as Mario Renato Menendez Rodriguez, editor-in-chief of Por Esto!, Mexico’s third largest daily, and Gary Webb, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author of Dark Alliance. These 26 “authentic journalists” will be covering the conference from the ground in Merida, Mexico. Stay tuned to Indymedia and Narco News as they take you into the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatán to hear the voices of those who would speak out for drug legalization and justice for indigenous people. Read more | Reports from Day 1: 1 2 | De Greiff Makes Opening Argument

9/24/2002: In the capital of California, a state whose voters have endorsed medical marijuana and treatment alternatives to incarceration, demonstrators nevertheless found themselves on the streets denouncing he government's actions in its horrific "war on drugs." Hundreds descended upon Sacramento [Photos] to voice their anger and disgust at the so-called Drug Enforcement Agency, which has spent its time raiding medical marijuana clubs at the expense of the sick and terminally ill.

Armed with lies and guns, and claiming that medical marijuana growers and distributors are out solely to make a profit, the DEA raided a cooperative pot-growing farm in Santa Cruz on 9/5. The US government, lest we forget, has historically been one of the biggest suppliers of "illegal" drugs. Santa Cruz IMC | Defiant Santa Cruz Distributes Medical Marijuana | Why I'm Fighting Federal Drug Laws From City Hall

9/6/2002: Federal "anti-drug" agents raided the WAMM medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Cruz on 9/5. Read more | Hear audio | Video

On May 5th 2001, there were over one hundred marches, rallies, & forums planned internationally to contest the on-going destruction of the "Drug War". Global contacts

On 1/31, Ed Rosenthal was convicted for growing medical marijuana despite California's overwhelming support for using the drug to help with a wide variety of ailments.

While he was found guilty of three counts, the most serious related to conspiracy to grow more than a thousand plants, and on that count the jury found that he had conspired to grow more than a hundred but less than a thousand. That leaves his conviction for cultivation of more than a hundred plants as the offense with the stiffest penalty, with a sentencing range of from 5 to 40 years and a fine of up to $2 million dollars.

On Tue 2/4, Judge Breyer will decide whether to take Ed Rosenthal into custody until his Sentencing hearing in June. That morning a rally will be held in opposition to the so-called "War on Drugs." Details | Trial photos