Marijuana News

Top Story: Lies Have Consequences: Police Targeted Anti-Prohibitionist Reporter Because They Believed Lies Told By Their Superiors – Who Are Shocked, Of Course.

Posted by Richard Cowan on 2005-02-08 16:20:00

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Posted February 8, 2005 Analysis by Richard Cowan Sponsored by Advanced Nutrients MarijuanaNews usually focuses on the impact of the huge prohibitionist propaganda industry on the victims of cannabis prohibition. See Barbarism In New Zealand: Lies Have Consequences. Severely Handicapped Man Faces Prison for Growing Seven Plants! and Lies Have Consequences. From Prohibitionist Venom to the Harsh Realities of Life and Death for Patients. Swedish Prohibitionists, Canadian Bureaucracy and DEAland Medical Murder. The prohibitionist industry produces a torrent of “anti-drug” – mostly anti-cannabis – material that is ostensibly aimed at children and is called “drug education.” See The Need For Drug Prohibition Education. How Can Parents Tell Their Children The Truth In A Sea Of Lies About Marijuana? In fact, the prohibitionist ideology is centered around “reefer madness” – that is, the demonization of cannabis and all those who advocate its legalization, even – especially? – its medical use. See Learning About Prohibitionism: House Debate on Medical Marijuana Bill Offers New Insight Into Police State Ideology. and The Seemingly Inexhaustible Torrent Of Prohibitionist Propaganda Reminds Me Of The Greek Myth About Hercules And The Stables Of King Augeas. In reality, it is aimed at politicians and newspaper editors and others who suffer from learning disabilities caused by the illusions of power. See Negligent Journalism: Reader Beware or A Right to Expect More? The Drug Czar Says He Is “Subject to the Scrutiny of the Press.” The Significance of the Ultimate Lies. Analysis by Richard Cowan Sometimes it appears to be aimed at the general public, especially when there is an initiative to allow the medical use of cannabis or to lesson penalties for possession. Even then, it is not clear that the real target is the public, because the prohibitionist establishment has made clear its indifference to election results. See We Live In Interesting Times. The Elections and the Cannabis Reform Movement. The Problems With Making Democracy Work Against Prohibitionist Propaganda. However, we should not overlook the impact of this propaganda on the rank and file narks, and law enforcement in general, which extends all the way to the top of the political system, especially in the Bush Administration, but also in Canada and other countries. See It’s The Stupidity, Stupid. How the Prohibitionist Ideology Has Wrecked The Republican Party and Undermined Democracy Everywhere. When Ideology Trumps Reality, The Result is Stupidity. The police subculture – sometimes called the “thin blue line” – is notoriously insular. See The Thin Blue Party Line Against Medical Marijuana; Law Enforcement Lies From Alaska And Oregon – 2 Op-eds One aspect of the police subculture is the common belief that they are in a better position to know “the real facts” about whatever the politicians dump on them. For example, more than once I have heard narks say that the Dutch police are “really” opposed to the Dutch coffee shop system, if one talks to them in private. Ostensibly, that is something that only a visiting nark would be in a position to do. See Canadian Police Association Demonstrates The Role of Ideology in the Maintenance of Marijuana Prohibition. Sweden Ideal While the Dutch Are the Worst. Analysis by Richard Cowan. Consequently, in 1993, on my first trip to Amsterdam when I was national director of NORML I made a point of meeting with the head of the city’s “vice” squad. He made very clear that alcohol was the real problem for the police. Generally, the Dutch police are strong supporters of cannabis legalization, which is why the system is safe, at least for the times being. See Dutch Lessons: Tolerance Works. Prohibition Is Counterproductive. Who Is The Real Threat To Our Freedom and Security? Actually, there are plenty of cops who are opposed to cannabis prohibition, and increasingly to the drug war itself, even in DEAland. See Law Enforcement Against Prohibition However, in the insular and conformist world in which the police are locked, drug war dissenters generally find it advisable to keep their doubts to themselves. In Edmonton, Alberta, this process has been taken to its “logical” conclusion. Seven senior officers took it upon themselves to target a reporter for the Edmonton Sun, who was described as a “critic” of the police. In fact, reporter Kerry Diotte was critical of cannabis prohibition. See Head of 1971 Canadian Commission Recommending Decriminalization of Marijuana "Stands By Report" and Column: Pot Laws Badly Need Debate and Column: Pot Possession Charges Stupid Diotte and Edmonton police commission chairman Martin Ignasiak were attending a Canadian Association of Journalists meeting at an Edmonton bar, and the seven cops had planned on catching them in a DUI roadblock when they left. There were even two cops in the bar watching them. The other cops made the really dumb - and arrogant - mistake of talking about the trap on the police radio. The transcripts of the radio transmission showed their complete contempt for the rights of their targets. (They had even put Diotte’s home under surveillance.) However, their plans went awry when both targets (actually called “T1” and “T2” by the cops) took taxis home. The best laid traps of narks and men… Yesterday, the Edmonton Police Chief Fred Rayner, took “sick leave.” As one politician quipped, “Is it his doctor's advice or his lawyer's advice?” It’s not the crime, but the cover up…. It seems that last week the Chief issued a report that cleared the seven cops of improper action, but then someone leaked the transcripts of their police radio conversations that proved that the Chief was lying. Of course, everyone is professing to being “shocked.” Perhaps even more “shocking” was the statements by Leroy Chahley, who was Edmonton police chief from 1987 to 1990. “It's not so serious that heads should roll,” Chahley said. Seven cops conspire to violate the rights of a journalist and the head of the police commission, but he doesn’t think they should be fired?! I wonder what he would say if they had been caught smoking cannabis. Indeed, his statement illustrates the depth of the problem in the police subculture. “If the police are going to do a sting, someone else should be caught besides the police… But personally, I'm very, very, very disappointed at the things that were said over the police radio that were incredibly inappropriate.” Inappropriate? Actually, I think that, given the history of the Edmonton police, their behavior was entirely “appropriate.” It is also “appropriate” that they targeted an anti-prohibitionist writer for a very prohibitionist tabloid. See Edmonton Superweed Reefer Madness Embarrasses Justice Minister; Local Paper Opposes Even Medical Marijuana and links I am sure that the editors of the Edmonton Sun will do their duty to the Fatherland and regret that they have only one writer to sacrifice for the war on cannabis. They have given uncritical support to exactly the kind of prohibitionist propaganda that leads to the police feeling justified in viewing their “critics” as enemies of the people. A similar process can be seen at work in British Columbia, where many newspapers give Rich Coleman, the province’s Solicitor General a platform for the most obvious lies. Coleman is in charge of all law enforcement in the province, even though his only qualification is that he was once an RCMP officer. He is not even an attorney and has no academic degree. Nonetheless, he is uncritically quoted again and again, especially in the small town papers, as he calls for “American-style penalties” for BC growers. See Canadian Justice Minister Calls for National Debate On Cannabis Policies And Begins It By Debating Himself. Phony Decrim Bill May Be Used As Cover To Increase Penalties for Growing. and The Agenda for the Prohibitionist Counterattack in Canada. Analysis by Richard Cowan February 3rd the Kelowna Daily Courier actually quoted Coleman as saying, “The grow-op business . . . trades kilo for kilo for cocaine in the U.S. It comes back into here as cocaine. It funds the meth labs that we're dealing with; it funds the gun trade… From 1998 see Now USA Today Is Parroting The DEA Line That Canadian Marijuana Is Swapped "Pound For Pound For Cocaine" We know of guns that have been paid for by B.C. marijuana that have been used to shoot at our troops overseas in peacekeeping missions. It's that simple.” See Would BC Have Less Bud if It Had More Prisoners? Lying to Canadians To Support the Cannabis Prohibition. and links That last statement is so bizarre that it defies comprehension, but as with his other lies, it went unquestioned. In this context is it really so “shocking” that the police on the front lines would feel justified in targeting someone who actually criticizes cannabis prohibition? Kerry Diotte said on television yesterday that if something like this can happen to him, the average citizen would have no chance if targeted by vindictive police. Canadians need to realize that their personal freedom and even the sovereignty of Canada is being undermined by the US supported and directed prohibitionist propaganda campaign. I have been trying to document this process for several years. Wake up Canada! See Documenting The Role of Politicized Canadian Police In Maintaining Cannabis Prohibition. Canadian Narks Versus Canadian Freedom. Following the DEA Party Line. The Battle for Canada and Canadian Justice Minister Cites UK Move In Trial Balloon on "Decriminalization." Police Want to Keep "Hammer." Reporting from Haarlem in The Netherlands. and Canadians Need to Examine The Role of the Police In Maintaining Marijuana Prohibition. Paying For Lies That Distort Public Policies and Undermine Sovereignty. Analysis by Richard Cowan and The Royal Canadian Marijuana Police and DARE: Selling a Big-Time Fraud in Small Town Canada. and Police Interference in the Canadian Electoral Process. The Royal Canadian Marijuana Police Disinformation Campaign for Marijuana Prohibition. Analysis by Richard Cowan. and Toronto Police Chief Supports Decrim -- At the Option of The Narks – And "Education Or Treatment Programs" For Marijuana Users. The Therapeutic Police State. -- 2 Articles and As Canadian Senate Gets Ready To Study Prohibition, Canadian Police Push Prohibitionist Propaganda At Taxpayer Expense. 4 Items and Canadian Police Lie to The Canadian Media Who Lie To Their Readers To Justify More Power Over the Canadian People To Please DEAland Narks An Utterly Wretched Piece Of Pseudo-journalism and Toronto Police Union Opposes Decriminalization Of Simple Possession Of Marijuana. Cites "Gateway"