Dallas to Vote on Pot Decriminalization, PA Study Finds Racial Profiling Traffic Stops No Longer a Problem, More… (8/15/24)

The Olympia, WA, metropolis council has voted to decriminalize pure psychedelics, the previous head of the British Virgin Islands is headed to a US jail for drug trafficking, and extra. 

Marijuana Coverage

Dallas Metropolis Council Places Marijuana Decriminalization on November Poll. The state’s Republican political institution hates the thought, however Dallas is about to affix a handful of different Texas cities in trying to set its personal, extra progressive marijuana insurance policies. The town council on Tuesday authorized a slate of modifications to town constitution to go earlier than voters in November, together with one that will decriminalize the possession of as much as 4 ounces of weed. 

The transfer comes after organizers with Floor Sport Texas handed in enough numbers of voter petitions to drive the council to reply. The group calls its constitution modification the Dallas Freedom Act. 

The modification directs the Dallas Police to “cease issuing citations or making arrests for Class A or Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession.” It additionally prohibits metropolis funds or personnel from getting used to conduct testing on “any cannabis-related substance” to determine if it meets the authorized definition of marijuana underneath state and federal legal guidelines.

The modification additionally bars police from utilizing the odor of marijuana as possible trigger for a search “besides within the restricted circumstances of a police investigation.” And the proposal says officers could be punished if they’re discovered to be violating the coverage.

Psychedelics

Olympia, Washington, Metropolis Council Passes Decision Decriminalizing Psilocybin, Different Psychedelic Vegetation and Fungi. The town council within the state capital, Olympia, on Tuesday unanimously authorized a decision that decriminalizes the possession of psilocybin and sure different psychedelic crops and fungi. It’s the fourth entity within the state to take action, after the cities of Seattle and Port Townsend, in addition to Jefferson County. 

The town council decision says that “the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anybody participating in entheogen-related actions needs to be among the many metropolis of Olympia’s lowest legislation enforcement priorities.” It additionally expresses help for “full decriminalization of those actions” on the state and federal ranges. And it says that 

“no Metropolis funds or assets needs to be used for investigation, prosecution, or arrest of people possessing or utilizing entheogenic crops or fungi.”

The decision doesn’t checklist all crops and fungi coated by the change, however it says it it’s geared toward substances “together with, however not restricted to” psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca tea, mescaline and iboga.

The change formally takes impact 30 days after passage, stated Councilmember Clark Gilman, who sponsored the measure.

“The Olympia Metropolis Council was very proud to move this decision making psilocybin and plant-based medication the bottom enforcement precedence and to name on state and federal governments to decriminalize,” Gilman stated. “Our determination was formed by highly effective testimonials and data that got here from many group advocates, and we got here to grasp that it’s a medication and one other manner of individuals seeing therapeutic and a greater high quality of life.”

The transfer is backed by the group Decriminalize Nature Olympia, which started advocating for the change in earnest final 12 months.

Prison Justice

Pennsylvania Research Finds Racial Profiling in Visitors Stops No Longer a Downside. An Ohio State College researcher who analyzed Pennsylvania visitors stops as a part of a settlement over allegations of racial profiling in visitors stops has discovered that the issue has largely gone away. The researcher, Robin Engel, analyzed some 450,000 visitors stops and located that drivers of all races and ethnicities have been pulled over at comparable charges. 

“The findings throughout a number of analyses demonstrated no substantive racial and ethnic variations within the preliminary cause for the cease by the Pennsylvania State Police,” Engel stated as he launched the research. 

Researchers additionally discovered that whereas trooper choices on learn how to implement the legislation after visitors stops have been largely based mostly on authorized components—not race or ethnicity—troopers have been barely extra more likely to interact in “discretionary” searches of black drivers than white or Latino ones. 

This report echoes one from final 12 months that discovered racial and ethnic disparities in visitors stops have turn into uncommon, most certainly due to elevated scrutiny and supervision within the discipline, but in addition due to new coaching that emphasizes treating individuals equally. The now widespread use of police physique cameras may additionally be enjoying a task. 

Former British Virgin Islands Premier Sentenced to 11 Years in Federal Jail for Cocaine Trafficking, Cash Laundering. Former British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie has been sentenced to 11 years in federal jail on cocaine trafficking and cash laundering prices. He’s the second former overseas head of state to be convicted of federal drug prices this 12 months, after former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. 

Fahie had been convicted earlier this 12 months of facilitating the secure passage of hundreds of kilos of Colombian cocaine by way of ports within the British Virgin Islands. He was arrested in April 2022 by the DEA after brokers pretending to be Sinaloa Cartel members lured him to the US, the place he agreed to take part in a pretend smuggling scheme. Throughout March and April 2022, Fahie, a BVI ports official and the official’s son participated in a collection of conferences with the purported Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker to dealer the association. Fahie and the 2 others “agreed to safe licenses, defend the cocaine-filled boats whereas in BVI’s ports, and grease the palms of BVI authorities officers and workers,” trial testimony revealed. The group mentioned operating 6,600-pound a great deal of cocaine a few times a month for 4 months. In trade, Faie and the port director would get a minimize of the thousands and thousands in cocaine earnings. 

The British Virgin Islands is an abroad territory of the UK and consists of 4 essential islands and greater than 50 smaller ones east of Puerto Rico. It has a well-documented historical past of being a base for drug smugglers, tax evaders, and cash launderers. A 2022 Transparency Worldwide report discovered “endemic issues” with the BVI because the “vacation spot of alternative for the corrupt and different criminals to cover and launder their ill-gotten beneficial properties.”