Global Ganja Report

An investigation by WNYC Radio into the New York Police Department's often illegal and racially discriminatory wave of arrests for misdemeanor cannabis possession finds that the police exploit citizens' ignorance of their rights. Out of the more than 50,000 arrests for possession in New York City last year, almost no one challenged the legality of the manner they were searched. And when the cases were thrown out—as many as 10 to 15 times every day in the Bronx alone—it was usually because police accidentally admitted they violated the rights of the person they searched.

Cornell Hood II got off with probation after three marijuana convictions in New Orleans. But after moving to St. Tammany Parish, a single such conviction landed the 35-year-old in prison for the rest of his life. Louisiana state Judge Raymond S. Childress punished Hood under Louisiana's repeat-offender law in his courtroom in Covington on May 5. A jury on Feb. 15 found Hood guilty of attempting to possess and distribute marijuana at his Slidell home.

As momentum builds for the May 8 protest against violence and impunity in Mexico, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) announced its support for the movement started by poet Javier Sicilia. In a communiqué dated April 28, the EZLN leadership declared it would wholeheartedly support the struggle by conducting a silent march of Zapatista base communities in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas on May 7.

Patients and their supporters rallied at the Justice Department in Washington DC on May 2 to protest increased federal interference in medical marijuana states. More than 200 supporters also rallied in Sacramento for medical marijuana patients Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband Dale Schafer as they surrendered to federal authorities to serve out five-year prison terms. Last week, the DEA raided several distribution centers in Spokane, Wash., as a state bill to license such facilities was vetoed the next day by Gov. Christine Gregoire. The Spokane actions are the latest in a string of more than 100 aggressive SWAT-style federal raids carried out since President Obama took office.

The DEA conducted aggressive SWAT-style raids April 29 on three distribution facilities in Spokane, Wash., that provided medical cannabis to qualified patients. Earlier this month, numerous facilities shut down after US Attorney Michael Ormsby threatened  landlords in Spokane with seizure of their property if they continue to let their tenants provide medical cannabis. These actions come as the state is trying to pass Senate Bill 5073, which modifies its current medical marijuana law to set up a licensed distribution system.

Montana's Gov. Brian Schweitzer said April 29 that he will let a restrictive new medical marijuana bill take law without his signature. With the legislative session about to end, procedure allows unsigned bills to take effect until the new session in 2013. "So I will hold my nose and allow this to be law until the Legislature gets back to session," Schweitzer said. "I'm not going to sign it."

Gov. Brian Schweitzer on April 13 vetoed a bill that would have repealed Montana's medical marijuana law, calling it draconian and contrary to the will of the state voters who approved it in by 62% in 2004. "There were many people out there who said there is a medicine out there that is not currently legal," Schweitzer said at a veto ceremony in the governor's reception room at the Capitol.

Five medical cannabis activists were arrested April 12 in the San Diego City Council chambers protesting the final vote on a local distribution ordinance, which advocates say imposes a citywide de facto ban on collectives. During the hearing, members of the Stop the Ban Campaign—a coalition of over 20 local, state, and national groups spearheaded by Canvass for a Cause and the San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA)—repeatedly chanted "We demand safe access!" The action forced the council to clear the chambers, postponing a critical vote on the ordinance.