Quick Hits (page 5)
Appeals Court Rejects DEA bid to Outlaw Hemp Foods
By: David Kravets (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO, California - A federal appeals court has overturned a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ban on the sale of food containing hemp, saying the agency failed to give enough advance warning or allow for public comment before imposing the rule.
The 2-1 ruling by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not decide the constitutionality of a hemp food ban, but merely determined that the government did not follow proper bureaucratic procedure when it announced the ban in October 2001.
In March, the DEA began comporting with the federal Administrative Procedures Act, and has been sued again by the hemp industry in a challenge now pending before the appellate court. The ban has been put on hold pending legal challenges.
In a sharp dissent, Judge Alex Kozinski called the majority's ruling "gratuitous," and predicted the ban will ultimately prevail. "The most likely outcome," he wrote, "is that we will uphold the regulation."
Hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana. Fiber from hemp plants long has been used to make paper, clothing, rope and other products. Its oil is found in body-care products such as lotion, soap and cosmetics and in a host of foods, including energy bars, waffles, milk-free cheese, veggie burgers and bread.
Last year, DEA attorney Daniel Dormont told the appellate court that the agency banned food made with hemp because "there's no way of knowing" whether some products may get consumers high.
Hemp food sellers say their products are full of nutrition, not drugs. They say the food contains such a small amount of the active ingredient in marijuana that it's impossible to get high.
The DEA declared that food products containing even trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol - the psychoactive chemical known as THC that is found in marijuana and sometimes in hemp - were banned under the Controlled Substances Act.
The administration ordered a halt to the production and distribution of all goods containing THC that were intended for human consumption. The DEA also ordered all such products destroyed or removed from the United States, but the 9th Circuit suspended that order pending a decision.
The case is Hemp Industries Association v. Drug Enforcement Administration, 01-71662.
Growin' Our Own (page 5)
Off the Beaten Path, Part 2
By: Robert W.
As you'll remember from last month, I had just arrived at the commune with Lou.
As it was a weekend most of them were there and Lou, being a considerate host, introduced me to all who were present. He then took me around and showed me the place. They had a total of 40 acres in pure heaven. They had a garden and grew their own vegetables. They raised their own beef and pork. They were basically self sufficient. One of the very interesting things about this group was that they were all employed. Half of their individual incomes went to the commune or homestead and the other half was theirs to do with as they so saw fit. Pretty awesome setup if you ask me.
As Lou was explaining the lowdown to me he took out of his shirt pocket a nice fat joint lit it, took a hit and passed it to me. I accepted, not being one to turn down good smoke, and took a deep hit and passed it back. That joint wasn't half gone and I was buzzing. Good stuff I thought. And home grown to boot.
When the smoke was gone, Lou produced another one and we smoked it as well. I was zonkers and enjoying every moment of it. About that time one of the ladies, Carolyn, showed up and asked if I would like to stay for dinner. I told her through the weed induced haze that I would love to.
After she left with a smile on her face I asked Lou the question. Where did he get this good weed. His answer was, matter of factly, they grew their own. More over, they grew enough to sustain them for a year and were able to sell some as well. All I could think was - what a life!
Dinner was finally ready about two hours later. Pork roast, squash, home made mashed potatoes and gravy. Damn it was good. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven. After dinner was over and the dishes were cleaned up, we all sat outside at a picnic table and passed a bong pipe around for awhile. We all got righteously stoned and listened to music of the Grateful Dead and Quick Silver Messenger Service.
Around midnight, I guess, I really had no idea of the time, I told Lou that I really appreciated being at the homestead but it was time for me to leave and get back to my place. Lou said, with a smile, that I could stay or leave, the choice was up to me. I said thank you but I had better get going, I felt like I was taking advantage of their hospitality and I didn't want to do that. Well Carolyn and another lady, Patrica, walked right up to me and took off their tops and asked me if I still wanted to leave. I looked around and saw I was on my own and proceeded to bury my face into tits.
The next day, I had no idea of the time other than it was daytime, I got up and noticed that I was all alone but that Carolyn had left a one word note, welcome.
I stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room and saw Patty. She asked if I had slept well and if I was hungry. I answered yes to both. Coffee and scrambled eggs were the order of the day. After eating, I was hungry, I went outside, coffee cup in hand and sat down at the picnic table. I began pondering what had happened yesterday and how everything was just so cool. The biggest question in my mind was had I, unknowingly, been accepted into this group of truly wonderful people? Yeah, the note said welcome, but I wanted to hear it from a real person, not a piece of paper.
About that time another member, Jack, came up and shook my hand and told me that yes, while I had been accepted, or welcomed, as one of them I could leave any time I wanted. It is what freedom is all about. I was damn near in tears. I loved the lifestyle, the freedom, the responsibility, hell, I loved everything about it. Jack then offered to take me to the weed garden. Lou had not showed me that. We walked for about 15 minutes and came upon seven cultivated weed fields growing between the redwood trees. Damn, it looked like the weed went on forever. I know it didn't, it just looked that way. A small stream that ran about 100 yards away from the crop had been partly diverted for irrigation purposes. The plants were about two feet tall at that time. Jack said that the harvest would occur around mid October. I was drooling. I was looking at more weed than I had ever seen before. Yet, at the same time I did not feel greedy. No, I felt like this is what living is all about - work and share. I could deal with that.
We walked back to the homestead and everyone was there except Lou and Jerry. They were over the hill in San Jose.
The sun was setting when they got back. Having to leave the woods and go to San Jose was probably as much fun as getting a root canal. Both Lou and Jerry were burnt out, you could see it on their faces. But a toke of SC brought them back to life. That and being back in the woods, away from the rat warren of cities.
Dinner was simple, Okie gravy and Okra. Followed, once again, by the bong pipe pass-around. Lou looked at me and asked what my plans were. I told him and everybody else that if they said Ok, I would like to stay. My ears were greeted by applause. I was thrilled! Lou then spoke and told me the two rules. first, don't try to force anything on anybody at the homestead. There must be consent. Second, everyone there has an equal voice. Anything concerning the homestead is voted on. There was no leader. Any member could call for a meeting and a vote on whatever. Too good.
Wow. I was in heaven. I told them all that during my lunch break from work, I would be giving my landlord my 30 days notice and here I was staying. They were happy and so, believe me, was I.
The next two years were some of the best of my life. I continued to work at the VW dealership and lived and worked at the homestead. I primarily helped maintain vehicles and other similar things. I could get stoned whenever I wanted. I could have sex with any member of the homestead if that person or persons consented. Nudity? We all did it and nobody cared. That is how it was. It wasn't a big deal, unlike some of the off the wall stories you hear about.
Our weed patch always produced. We sold what we didn't need. We never, ever, burnt a customer either. They got good weed at a fair price. We were not in business to make a killing. But, if we had excess why not sell it. We also paid our taxes and were left alone.
During my two years at the homestead not once do I recall an argument or a fight. When you think about it, that is pretty amazing. Eleven people working and living as one. Everything was for the whole, the group. None of us used hard drugs either. None of us were fools for that matter. We would smoke our SC and were quite happy. None of us drank. Not that we couldn't, mind you, it's just why bother with booze when you have good pot to enjoy and savor. Weed took care of us without the after effects that booze leaves you with. The other handy thing was that with weed, you don't end up acting like a fool the way alcohol can make some people. It just mellowed us out.
One fine evening, two years later, during our almost ritualistic bong pass-around, I told the group that I was thinking of leaving and traveling to the Philippines Islands and, well, just hanging out there for awhile. After tears were shed by one and all, they each wished me well and wanted to know when I would be leaving and for how long. I told them I'd be hitting the trail in a couple of months and would be back within a year. When I was asked why I wanted to go to the Philippines I didn't have a good answer. I just wanted to go. The whole truth was good enough.
Three months later, the passport took longer than I had planned, I was on a one way North West Orient flight to Manila, the Philippines. Little did I know at that time that I would not return for 21 years.
But that, as the saying goes, is a different story.
Pipeline (page 5)
State Court Blasts Violations of Miranda Rights
By: Maura Dolan (L.A. Times)
SAN FRANCISCO -- In a ruling laced with words such as "misconduct" and "unconscionable," the California Supreme Court made it clear Monday that it no longer will tolerate the practice by some California police agencies of deliberately ignoring suspects' right to remain silent.
In doing so, the justices overturned the conviction of a man who was convicted of killing a 69-year-old who had given him a home.
The defendant confessed, but only after being "badgered" by a detective even after he had asked for a lawyer nine times, the court said. Police not only denied the 18-year-old suspect, Kenneth Ray Neal, access to a lawyer, they locked him up overnight without food, water or a toilet until he asked to speak to a detective and confessed, the justices wrote.
The detective later testified that a supervisor had instructed him to ignore requests for a lawyer in hopes of getting confessions.
For more than a decade, many California police departments have trained officers to ignore a suspect's requests for a lawyer and to continue interrogations in at least some cases.
That practice violates a person's rights under the U.S. Supreme Court's Miranda decision. The Miranda rule requires officers to tell people who have been arrested that they have a right to remain silent and to have an attorney. It prohibits interrogating a suspect who asks for a lawyer until the lawyer is present.
The failure to comply with Miranda means prosecutors cannot directly use the defendant's statements in court. But those statements can still be used for other purposes. Because of that, many police agencies have told detectives to go ahead with interrogations in some cases despite the Miranda rules.
Some departments have stopped the practice in the last few years after lawsuits, but others have continued it. The Los Angeles Police Department, for example, changed its policy after losing a lawsuit in 1999.
In Neal's case, a trial judge allowed the jury to hear his confession on the grounds that he had voluntarily asked to talk with a detective. Neal was then convicted of murdering Donald Collins by choking him with an electrical cord in his home.
Two lower courts upheld Neal's conviction, but the state's highest court disagreed unanimously. The confession cannot be used in any fashion in California courts, the court ruled.
"The consequences of the officer's misconduct - the absolute inability to introduce the confessions at trial - is severe, but is intended to deter other officers from engaging in misconduct of this sort in the future," Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote for the court.
In a separate opinion, Justice Marvin R. Baxter, one of the court's most conservative justices, called the police training to find ways around the Miranda rules "unconscionable."
"Our community should never be subjected to cynical efforts by police agencies, or the supervisors they employ, to exploit perceived legal loopholes by encouraging deliberately improper interrogation tactics," wrote Baxter, who was joined by two other justices. "Such practices tarnish the badge most officers respect and honor."
The justices appeared particularly concerned that the deliberate violation of Miranda was encouraged by police brass.
"Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this fiasco is Martin's admission that he was taught on the job to disregard Miranda in order to obtain statements for use as evidence in criminal cases" Baxter wrote, with Justices Ming W. Chin and Carlos R. Moreno concurring.
The Tulare County District Attorney's office said it would retry Neal.
In doing so, however, the prosecutors will have to present a case without using the statements Neal made to Tulare County Sheriff's Detective Mario Martin.
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