Showing posts with label Topic: War on Drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Topic: War on Drugs. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
US Crackdown on Jamaican Artists: Busy Signal Arrested, The New Buju Banton?
Feel free to add additional information or your comments!
Same Message on the Babylon Observer Message Board
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Babylon Observer Video Report: Reefer Madness In The Netherlands Part 2
WWW, October 2011 - Reefer madness in the Netherlands continues as the right-wing minority coalition of the country announced it will label Cannabis products with a THC level higher than 15% as "hard drugs".
The controversial decision has been made without parliamental approval and is already in effect.
The decree is part of a government crack-down on the legendary Dutch tolerance policy towards Cannabis and will affect Coffee Shops and it's owners.
Secretary of "security and justice" Ivo Opstelten announced that police will raid coffee shops in search of the so-called "hard drugs".
Should Cannabis with a THC level above 15% be found, coffee shop owners will be persecuted as hard drug dealers.
Friday, October 7, 2011
DUTCH GOVERNMENT PUTS CANNABIS WITH THC LEVEL HIGHER THAN 15% ON HARD DRUGS LIST
WWW, October 7 2011 - Dutch News Media just reported that the Dutch cabinet is indeed doing what has been rumoured for a while: hashish and ganja with a THC level above 15% is scheduled to be treated as a hard drug instead of a soft drugs. Minister of justice Ivo Opstelten announced today that the police will check the levels of cannabis in the Dutch coffeeshops and when it is found that the products are above 15%, coffeeshops will be closed and coffeeshop owners will be persecuted as hard drugs dealers.
The Babylon Observer will keep you posted about this breaking news in the days to come.
MORE AT THE BABYLON OBSERVER MESSAGE BOARD
The Babylon Observer will keep you posted about this breaking news in the days to come.
MORE AT THE BABYLON OBSERVER MESSAGE BOARD
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Babylon Observer Video Report: Reefer Madness in the Netherlands 2011
REEFER MADNESS IN THE NETHERLANDS 2011
FAR RIGHT-WING ADMINISTRATION CONSIDERING PUTTING STRONG WEED ON HARD DRUGS LIST
WWW, June 24 2011 - A commission to advice the Dutch administration concerning the nation's drugs policy claims that cannabis with over 15% THC should be considered hard drugs in Dutch criminal law.
In interviews with Dutch public TV, the ministers of Health and Justice respond positively as they enter the parliament building to officially receive the advice from the commission.
When the advice is brought into law, this would bring the Netherlands back to the days of Reefer Madness as the world famous Dutch tolerance policy towards Cannabis would de facto end.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Babylon Observer Video Report: Dutch Coffee Shops Under Siege By Right Wing Government
RIGHT-CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO (WMV)
Dutch Coffeeshops Under Siege By Right Wing Government
WWW, May 2011 - The right-wing minority administration of the Netherlands launched a major attack on one of the nation's best known cultural features: the coffee shop. The administration wants to introduce a club pass for the coffee shops, which can only be obtained by local residents. Tourists and other foreigners will no longer have legal entrance into the coffee shops, which will re-introduce street sales.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Buju Banton's Sentencing Date Set At June 16 2011
A jury declared Buju Banton guilty of three out of four charges that the prosecution cooked for him, together with an informer. Extensive coverage and comments can be found at the Babylon Observer Forum.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
JURY TO GATHER THEMSELVES AGAIN IN THE BUJU BANTON COKANE CASE
WWW, February 22 2011 - Today, the American state of Florida knows itself to be once again the scene of a deliberating jury concerning the Buju Banton cokane case. Buju, who was entrapped by a government sponsored "informer" faces up to life in prison if found guilty by this jury.
The Babylon Observer keeps an eye on things.
The Babylon Observer keeps an eye on things.
Emperor of Hemp - The Jack Herer Story
This is the film that the United States government does not want you to see. This is the film that contains the facts about one movement... one man... and one miraculous plant that could revolutionize the world. The best-selling book The Emperor Wears No Clothes blew the lid off the anti-hemp conspiracy and explained all there is to know about an easy-to-grow plant with infinite, non-intoxicating uses.
Why is hemp illegal? The information is in this film, and you won't believe it!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Buju Banton's Trial: The Fifth Day
WWW, February 2011 - Today marks the fifth day of the Buju Banton re-trial. After a jury went undecided, Buju was released on bail only to face another trial with even more charges. The Babylon Observer keeps an eye on things.
CLICK HERE FOR DAY ONE COVERAGE
CLICK HERE FOR DAY TWO COVARAGE
CLICK HERE FOR DAY THREE COVERAGE
CLICK HERE FOR DAY FOUR COVERAGE
CLICK HERE FOR DAY FIVE COVERAGE
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Buju Banton's Trial: The Fourth Day
WWW, February 2011 - As the trial of Buju Banton enters the fourth day, the whole world is watching. The threatening circumstances in which Buju Banton found himself were completely created by an agent provocateur of the US gov't, himself a Colombian who makes his living being a so-called "informer".
This is a case against Reggae Music, against Jamaica(ns), a case against the rule of law even: should Buju be found "guilty", he's not only facing -as some media state- up to life in prison, he will become the symbol for US injustice.
The Babylon Observer keeps a close eye on the runnings:
CLICK HERE FOR DAY ONE COVERAGE
CLICK HERE FOR DAY TWO COVARAGE
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Buju Banton Trial Started Again
WWW, February 2011 - In Florida, the courtcase against Buju Banton in which the US government admittedly and proudly trapped the Reggae vocalist into being confronted with cokane while an informer provoked him into a boasting-game started again.
Just one day after he was awarded with a Grammy for the best Reggae album, just a few weeks after his succesfull concert in which thousands of people expressed their support, the Reggae vocalist once again faces his accusers, a judge and a jury.
The Babylon Observer keeps an eye on the runnings.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The War On Drugs Has Failed!
A Google Tech Talk
August 17, 2010
ABSTRACT
Presented by Stanford "Neill" Franklin, Police (Ret.) Executive Director, LEAP
"It pains me to know that there is a solution for preventing tragedy and nothing is being done because of ignorance, stubbornness, unsubstantiated fear and greed."
Hear Neill Franklin, Executive Director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), speak on the problems and costs of the war on drugs, and the reasons society would be better off if it were ended.
Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs.
Although those who speak publicly for LEAP are people from the law enforcement and criminal justice communities, a large number of our supporting members do not have such experience. You don't have to have law enforcement experience to join us.
By continuing to fight the so-called "War on Drugs", the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical and more effective public policy.
Please consider joining us and helping us to achieve our goals: 1) to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current policies, and 2) to restore the public's respect for police, which respect has been greatly diminished by law enforcement's involvement in enforcing drug prohibition.
Neill Franklin
Major Neill Franklin is a 33-year law enforcement veteran of both the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police forces. His career has not only spanned three decades, but he's been promoted and recruited so many times that he jokes, "Every time I turned around, I was in a new position." He worked the streets. He investigated. He supervised and trained others. Neill oversaw 17 drug task forces, and he instituted and directed the very first Domestic Violence Investigative Units for the Maryland State Police.
Early in his career, Neill served as a narcotics agent with the Maryland State police, focusing on everything from high-level drug dealers in the Washington suburbs to that guy growing one pot plant on his apartment balcony. Neill was proud of his work and proud of the hundreds of arrests he executed. "I had been taught that the people who use and sell drugs are trash, and that we needed to put those people behind bars forever."
Two people permanently changed his steadfast belief in fighting the drug war: the Mayor of Baltimore, and Ed Toatley, one of the best undercover agents the State of Maryland had ever seen.
Sometime in the mid nineties, Kurt Schmoke, the sitting mayor of Baltimore, declared on television that the drug war was not working. "We need to have a discussion about where we go from here," Neill recalls him saying, "because the drug war is not working." Schmoke put forth the reasoning that fighting a war on drugs was not only violent, but also counterproductive to fighting the high rates of AIDS and Hepatitis C in the city.
"I knew instantly," Neill says, "that he had said something profound, and that this deserved some looking into." This was the beginning of Neill's new direction, and it started with researching and evaluating his own experiences in law enforcement. He compared the areas in his jurisdiction with the people and cases that came across his desk.
"We worked in predominantly white areas, but most of our cases and lock ups were minorities. There were only a couple of cases in the outlying areas that involved whites."
Not too long after Schmoke's announcement, Neill's good friend, Corporal Ed Toatley, was killed in Washington, DC, while making a drug deal as an undercover agent.
"When Ed was assassinated in October 2000, that is when I really made the turn. That's when I decided to go public with my views. I even contacted my police commissioner at the time and warned him that I was going to start speaking out on this. I didn't want him to be blindsided."
The institutionalized racism and cost of life to both civilians and police officers are just two of the many unintended consequences of our drug policy that keep Neill Franklin speaking for LEAP.
In July of 2010, Neill became executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Additionally, he volunteers his time by serving on many boards .
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Babylon Observer Video Report: The DEA And The Dutch
WWW, February 2011 - According to documents recently released by Wikileaks, the American DEA is conducting what they call "controlled drugs deliveries" within the country of the Netherlands. The Americans do this without official permission, which they call "unofficial" but could better be called "illegal". The Babylon Observer watches an item from Dutch public TV and in accordance with Fair Use laws, shares his observation...
In the leaked documents, the American ambassador in the Netherlands is complaining how the Dutch Justice department does not want to go into official DEA requests to conduct these "controlled deliveries of drugs". Apparently things changed in the end of 2005, because in the first half of 2006, there were already six of such deliveries conducted on Dutch soil and with cooperation of the Dutch police.
What changed?
A political situation, perhaps... Or something more sinister...
However, the Wikileaks show that the Americans are now very pleased because they found a way to bypass the Dutch Justice department by conducting so-called "police to police information", that is: information from one police unit to another.
As a professor in criminology, very much esteemed in the Netherlands, this is either done illegally by the police who doesn't inform the justice department or it is done illegally by the Justice department itself, because no official request is done in either case.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Buju Banton's Trial Date set at Valentine's Day
WWW, January 2011- After having been released on bail and performing at a well received concert in which the support for the Jamaican vocalist was made visible, the USA have now set a new date in which they want to persecute Buju Banton: it's on Valentine's Day...
Buju's lawyer made a little joke, when he said "we hope the jury will give a little love". However, we've seen already that the ones persecuting the Jamaican Reggae star, whose real name is Mark Myrie, are dead set against Buju and try every trick in the book to make him face a significant portion of his life in the US prison system.
The Babylon Observer is closely watching the events as they come. CLICK HERE to read about this -and subsequent- developments
Buju's lawyer made a little joke, when he said "we hope the jury will give a little love". However, we've seen already that the ones persecuting the Jamaican Reggae star, whose real name is Mark Myrie, are dead set against Buju and try every trick in the book to make him face a significant portion of his life in the US prison system.
The Babylon Observer is closely watching the events as they come. CLICK HERE to read about this -and subsequent- developments
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Impressions from the Buju Banton "Before the Dawn" Performance
Impressions from Buju Banton's "Before The Dawn" performance on january 2011, which was for the most part a solidarity concert to support and draw attention to Buju Banton as he is currently subjected to a trial in which he was entrapped by the DEA.
Extensive covering of the whole case can be found at the Babylon Observer Message Board: CLICK HERE
Saturday, January 15, 2011
'Bush, Reagan let drugs flow free to US from Nicaragua' - ex-dealer
"Freeway" Ricky Ross, a former US street legend, who as a drug dealer was once responsible for flooding California's streets with most of its hard drugs, spoke with RT about his activism against drugs. After making up to US$2 million a day and then spending 20 years in prison, Ross started from scratch and is now trying to make a difference by keeping kids from following into his footsteps.
MORE ABOUT THIS AT THE BABYLON OBSERVER FORUM
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Cokane Import Agency: How the CIA imported cokane, crack, and why
There is a long history of American tax dollars being used to help people get rich off of illicit drug sales. RT's Ramon Galindo talked to one of America's largest drug kingpins and shows us how Los Angeles has been unable to shake the demons of its addiction
The United States government allegedly infused drugs into our inner cities in order to keep minorities down and destabilize world governments. Radio host Alex Jones says it wasn't just about destabilizing inner cities and financing revolutions overseas. It was also about the 100 of billions of dollars laundered in drugs through large western banks, they then lobbied Congress to expand prison complexes they own and sell stock in.
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