Police Brutality

Video Shows Violent B.C. Police Takedown

jeremiah — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:19:59 -0700

Police in Abbotsford, B.C., are investigating after a video was posted on YouTube showing an officer stomping on and kicking a drug suspect who is lying face down on the ground, while another officer walks on the back of the suspect's legs.

The incident happened Oct. 9 during a police takedown of three drug-trafficking suspects near a high school, according to a police news release.

Facts and statistics that relate to police priorities

David Malmo-Levine — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:40:05 -0700

I went through the Vancouver Public Library's "Police Brutality" files a while back (I think they have been discontinued by now - budget cuts) and picked out a few quotes ... and rather than have this stuff go to waste in some corner of my archives I thought I would share it with all of you!

KILLING

* Memorial Service for Daniel Possee, the 22 year old son of soccer star Derek Possee, in a drug raid that netted 15 grams and a set of scales.

Vancouver Sun, May 15, 1992 Warrant for Possee Death examined
"…an informant had seen a set of scales and a 'quantity of marijuana'"

Emery Fights Back, DEA expands attack

karlis — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Marc Emery, the cannabis seed seller who is viewed as a drug kingpin by the US government, emerged from jail on August 5 a week after Canadian police acting under orders from the DEA kidnapped him from a public street in Halifax on July 29.
He emerged from jail barred from operating his seed business, which has closed permanently, but greeted as a hero-martyr by a burgeoning marijuana activism community energized by the arrest of Emery, his assistant Marijuana Man, and his close associate Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek.

All three have now been freed from jail.

Emery, global war, & sovereignty

karlis — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700

With cannabis seed entrepreneur and political activist Marc Emery rumored to be on the verge of being let out of jail only a few days after being arrested at the request of the DEA, it's time to take note of US government's tendency to arrest, kidnap, imprison, torture, or kill people, regardless of their nationality or guilt, using a variety of time-tested methods for doing so.

BCMP Decries Loss of Canadian Sovereignty

karlis — Sat, 30 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Imprisoned activist Marc EmeryToday the offices of the BC Marijuana Party, a registered political party in British Columbia, were caught up in a DEA-instigated raid. The raid is a dramatic example of the loss of Canadian sovereignty to the US drug war.

Ending fear

karlis — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Steven McWilliams"I love my country, but I fear my government."

"You'll get my gun when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of it."
Every time I travel to the United States, I see those words on bumper stickers adorning motor vehicles.

Vancouver: The New Cannabis Reality

karlis — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Vancouver, Canada ? home of an expanding network of multi-media reality artists and alternative activist-entrepreneurs who blend wild life with marijuana politics.
Consider a hit television show on the internet network that calls itself "Pot-TV." Originating from a basement studio in downtown Vancouver, the network broadcasts guerilla video about the culture of cannabis, including shows that tell people how to grow the illegal plant.

Boje free ? for now

karlis — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Renee Boje with son ShivaCannabis activist and political refugee Renee Boje surrendered herself to the custody of Canadian authorities Friday morning, June 17, not knowing if a US extradition request would be honored and she would be taken away from her husband, son, and friends in Vancouver where she has lived for nearly eight years.

Renee Boje ordered out of Canada

karlis — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Renee BojeIn the heady days after Californians passed Proposition 215, the precedent-setting medical marijuana law, a young artist named Renee Boje worked on cannabis literature and activism with medical cannabis advocates Peter McWilliams and Todd McCormick in Southern California.
Today, nearly ten years later, Boje is a pawn in the drug war rivalry between the United States and Canada.

Genetic drug war

karlis — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

The early 1900's saw tens of thousands of the mentally ill, physically infirm, racial minorities and pot smokers removed from the gene pool by involuntary surgical sterilization in a program known as "eugenics."

Alabama's pot prisoners

karlis — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Greetings Cannabis Culture readers. Some of you will know me as the President of the US Marijuana Party, and others will recognize me as one-time anchor for Pot TV News. I'm Loretta Nall, and I became involved in drug policy reform in Alabama in September of 2002.

The passion of Corby

karlis — Mon, 30 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Schapelle Corby: languishing in an Indonesian prison over potSchapelle Corby, 27, is a telegenic symbol of the global drug war's ultimate goal: to kill people who use plant drugs, and to kill their plants.

Drug war in Afghanistan

karlis — Thu, 26 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700

AfghanistanWill we ever suck from the hose of an Afghani desert opium hookah?

Will we again see the gooey-black sheen of traditional Afghani hashish, available as it used to be, in Dutch cannabis coffeeshops?

Death for pot

karlis — Mon, 16 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Somewhere in Bali a young Australian woman sits alone in a cold, dark cell, awaiting a decision on her execution.
27-year-old Schapelle Leigh Corby has been charged with smuggling marijuana into the Indonesian island of Bali, and now Indonesian authorities wish to see her murdered, shot to death by a firing squad of 12 men. Corby's life and the lives of those who love her have become a living nightmare.

How hemp could save Afghanistan and the world

karlis — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700

With the world facing unavoidable shortages of water, oil and other natural resources, hemp can save us from widespread poverty, famine and death. Hemp industries proponent Marc Deeley explains how a project he is involved with ? Spirit Aid ? might tip the scales in favour of humankind.

20-acre pot farm raided in California

karlis — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Eddy Lepp: raided for being honestAccording to DEA spokesman Richard Meyer, the sprawling 20-acre farm near Upper Lake, California, contained 20,000 high-grade marijuana plants estimated at a value of $80 million.

Cop killing blamed on cannabis

karlis — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:00:00 -0800

On March 3, a terrible tragedy unfolded when a cop-hating, deranged, reclusive loony with a love of guns and a history of violent behavior killed four RCMP officers and then shot himself. Within hours, police spokespeople and government ministers were blaming the deaths on the killer's grow operation.

Pot and Terrorism in 2005

karlis — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0800

The New Year is generally considered a good time to look back over one's faults and consider changing for the better. Unfortunately, what is good medicine for the middle and lower classes is hardly sweet enough for the rulers of our world, who have been needing a good dose of self criticism since well before 9-11. But let's start there.

Global ganja executions

karlis — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0800

Sadly, Australian Schapelle Corby isn't the only person to be facing the death penalty for marijuana. People are regularly executed for marijuana offences across the globe.
Death in the UAE

In the United Arab Emirates city of Fujairah, a woman named Lisa Tray was sentenced to death in December 2004, after being found guilty of possessing and dealing hashish.

Death for pot in Indonesia

karlis — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0800

Schapelle Leigh Corby awaits decision on executionSomewhere in Bali a young Australian woman sits alone in a cold, dark cell, awaiting a decision on her execution.

Ronald Reagan on drugs

karlis — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Ronald Wilson Reagan ? America's 40th president ? died on June 5, 2004 at the age of 93.
Though some may try to remember him as "the great communicator" or the "vanquisher of communism," Reagan should also be remembered for turning Nixon's drug war rhetoric into an actual war, complete with military involvement against the American people.

Florida cops and hookers

karlis — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0700

A Florida website, www.copsandhookers.com, alleges that Tampa Bay police are also involved in drug and prostitution protection rackets. Club owner James Gallogly created the site after claiming police harassment that led to death threats and the closure of his establishment in the late 90's.

A tradition of terror

karlis — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0700

PART ONE: THE DEATH MERCHANT AND THE NAZI BANKER
"If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched." ? George H W Bush, cited in the June 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter.

1907-1918: Merchant of death

Marc Emery released from prison

karlis — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0700

Marc Emery: free after 62 daysOn Monday, October 18, Canada's Prince of Pot was released from the Saskatoon Correctional Centre after serving 61 days behind bars. He is now once again a free man.

Slaughter of the innocents

karlis — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0700

Brazilian child-killers
On April 17, 2003, four unarmed male teens begged for their lives after being caught in a drug sting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Police shot them all in the back of the head, execution style. At their funerals, unrepentant officers harassed and intimidated the family members of their victims, hoping to scare them from pressing charges.