Global Ganja Report

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 April 2 in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington that a suspect's Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when he was strip-searched upon entering jail. Albert Florence was arrested in New Jersey after being pulled over, when it was found that there was an outstanding warrant against him for failure to pay a fine—a non-criminal offense in the state. He produced a letter stating that he had paid the fine, but the officer made the arrest anyway. Florence was taken to a local jail where he was forced to strip naked for inspection. He was transferred to another facility a week later, and was again subjected to a strip search.

ThinkProgress notes that over the last 48 hours, there has been a sustained effort to smear Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year old African American shot dead last month in Sanford, FL, by self-appointed "neighborhood watch" vigilante George Zimmerman—who has notoriously still not been arrested. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said, "They killed my son, now they're trying to kill his reputation." Sleazy tricks apparently include circulation of a picture on Michelle Malkin's website Twitchy of a tough-looking kid in baggy pants which was passed off as from Martin's Facebook page (it wasn't—his actual Facebook photo is pictured here). Here are some other dirty tricks documented by ThinkProgress:

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Feb. 23 that mouth swabs may be used to extract DNA samples from any adult arrested on felony charges in California. The 2-1 decision upholds a 2004 voter-enacted provision, Proposition 69, that amends the DNA and Forensic Identification Database and Data Bank Act of 1998, requiring law enforcement officers to collect such samples from all felony arrestees. This mandate was challenged by the plaintiffs as a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Justice Milan Smith, Jr.  affirmed the lower court's denial of plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. (Jurist, Feb. 24)

Fear is growing in Northern California's cannabis hub of Humboldt County over a wave of busts and home break-ins. The Sheriff's Office is searching for four unidentified male suspects after a report of a home invasion robbery in Salmon Creek Feb. 9. Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the residence before 6 AM after a 911 call from the residence reporting that four men with ski-masks and shotguns had forced entry, tied up the caller and his wife, and made off with 30 pounds of cannabis and more than $3,000. Held for about an hour as the assailants searched the premises, the caller managed to free himself after they fled. (Eureka Times-Standard, Feb. 9)

Ramarley Graham, 18, was shot and killed by an NYPD cop in Williamsbridge section of The Bronx Feb. 2 afternoon, after entering an apartment as undercover officers pursued him. Police spokesman Paul J. Browne said there was "no evidence that he was armed" when the narcotics officer shot him once in the upper left chest. Officers found a small bag of cannabis in the toilet at the home he entered after the pursuit. He was killed in the bathroom, apparently while trying to dispose of the stash. Police said they had followed him after witnessing a drug purchase (presumably cannabis), and said they thought he had a gun. 

Ron Paul's popularity, given his history of racism, is troubling. More troubling, however, is the willingness of his supporters, an odd coalition of one-percenter corporatists and anti-war pothead libertarians, to ignore or excuse these views.

Politically and economically multifarious as Ron Paul's posse may be, they almost all share a common trait—that’s their whiteness, which translates into their historical immunity from racist persecution. This is also why their willingness to accept and excuse Ron Paul’s history of racism is particularly revolting.

Police nationwide made 853,838 arrests in 2010 for cannabis-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released late least year. The annual arrest total is among the highest ever reported by the agency. According to the report, cannabis arrests now comprise more than one-half (52%) of all drug arrests in the United States. An estimated 46% of all drug arrests are for offenses related to mere marijuana possession. The near-record totals were nearly identical with those of 2009.

Records show New York City police arrested nearly 50,700 on low-level pot charges last year—despite a drop after officers were instructed not to use tactics that rights groups decried as trickery. State Division of Criminal Justice figures show arrests for the lowest marijuana misdemeanor actually rose slightly in 2011. The Drug Policy Alliance obtained the statistics and provided them to the Associated Press.