Feds to issue new medical marijuana policy

The Obama administration announces that they will no longer seek to exercise federal prohibitions against States allowing pot smoking under certain circumstances.

Chalk me up as one more conservative who does not have a problem going green.

Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes, the officials said.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes…

This is a major step forward,” said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality.”

Read the entire story  here.

UPDATE:  Top L.A. Prosecutor Steve Cooley is not listening.

New York Times Editorial on Arkansas Prison Policy

This story illustrates the absurdity that often goes on inside the prison system.

Shawanna Nelson, a nonviolent offender, was 29 years old and six months pregnant when she arrived in Arkansas’s McPherson Unit prison in 2003. When she went into labor, she was taken to a civilian hospital. Although there was no reason to consider her a flight risk, her legs were shackled to a wheelchair, and then, while she went through labor, to the sides of a hospital bed.

Ms. Nelson testified that the shackles prevented her from moving her legs, stretching or changing positions during the most painful part of her labor. She offered evidence that the shackling had caused a permanent hip injury, torn stomach muscles, an umbilical hernia that required an operation and extreme mental anguish.

In a suit against prison officials, Ms. Nelson charged that her Eighth Amendment right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment had been violated. She won an early ruling from the trial court, but a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected her suit. Now the full appeals court has reversed that decision, ruling, with a 6-to-5 vote, that a jury could find that Ms. Nelson’s shackling was unconstitutional. The court relied in part on a 2002 Supreme Court holding that Alabama’s practice of tying prisoners to a hitching post violated the Eighth Amendment.

Read the New York Times article here.

West Memphis business proprietors being sued for $4.1 million

Bank of America is suing two businessmen who ran a West Memphis company in an attempt to collect $4.1 million.

Theodore M. Jenney of Holley, N.Y., and Stanley J. Chiras of Florida are the principals of Diaz Intermediates Corp., which produced chemicals that were supplied to Tetra Industries and other agriculture and pharmaceutical clients.

In September 2002, the company borrowed $6.5 million and eventually went out of business.

But Jenney and Chiras had each signed guarantees for half of the unpaid principal, plus any interest, court costs and other fees if Diaz defaulted on the loan. In January, the bank notified the two businessmen that the loan was in default. In May, BOA told Jenney and Chiras to pay off the loan, but they didn’t.

The bank has sued in U.S. District Court to collect the money.

Possible New Federal Sentencing Guidelines

A federal sentencing commission is considering a decision that could lead to the release of 19,500 federal inmates nationwide.

The move is aimed at resolving what is being viewed as unfair federal cocaine laws and sentencing guidelines, which provide a much greater punishment for crack cocaine than for its powder counterpart, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

The commission has already adopted reduced penalties for new crack cases brought to court, effective Nov. 1.

The current debate is in regards to its plans to make those changes retroactive to inmates already serving time for crack convictions. If passed, it could trim an average of two years off their sentences.

Read the whole story at the Daily Press.

Lunati Pleads to 18 Months in Prison

The Commercial Appeal reports:

Topless nightclub kingpin Ralph Lunati pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiracy to use a facility of interstate commerce to promote prostitution.

He made the plea in exchange for a jail sentence of 18 months and no fine. The judge must approve the sentence.

Lunati, 62, is owner of Platinum Plus at 2514 Mt. Moriah and part-owner of Tunical Cabaret & Resort on U.S. 61 South where 75 employees were indicted in December on charges related to drug sales, prostitution and weapons offenses at the two clubs.

He will forfeit his interests in the clubs and lose the money seized there during raids — more than $207,000 at Platinum Plus and more than $19,000 at Tunica Cabaret.