As you are no doubt aware, Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps was embarrassed last week when a photo surfaced of him hitting a bong at a party in South Carolina. Phelps has issued an apology, and it appears he will suffer little if any negative repercussions for his choice to use an illicit intoxicant.
However, the consequences of marijuana use in the context of America's ongoing war on drugs can be much more severe. For our story this week, let's compare the Phelps "controversy" to the case of Ryan Frederick, a man who was convicted this week of voluntary manslaughter for killing a police officer during an ill-advised drug raid on his Virginia home. We'll ask the perennial question — why do we still behave as if smoking weed is some kind of grossly immoral act? And how much longer are we going to countenance the tragic consequences of drug prohibition?
The story so far...
Michael Phelps has taken some heat in the last week for the above photo, which appears to show him smoking marijuana. Since Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, he is regarded as something of a role model. So you can imagine that a photo of him engaging in any kind of illegal activity, no matter how inconsequential, is a public relations snafu. A few days after the photo surfaced, Phelps released a statement on his Facebook page, which is reprinted below in its entirety.
I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23-years-old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public — it will not happen again.
The International Olympic Committee pronounced itself satisfied with Phelps' apology, and as of this writing, it doesn't appear as if his endorsement contracts are in jeopardy. It's possible that some of his sponsors will abandon him, but at this time it seems unlikely Phelps will suffer any undue hardship for his decision to smoke pot. (Although some attention-seeking SC sheriff says he intends to charge Phelps with misdemeanor possession of marijuana for his indiscretion.) I can certainly understand why Phelps felt the need to issue a pro-forma apology for engaging in illegal behavior. At the same time, his immediate instinct to apologize is absolutely gutless.
In a perfect world, Phelps wouldn't have apologized, and he would have used the occasion to call attention to the absurdity of the fact that civilized society still criminalizes the use of marijuana. Phelps might have issued a statement along the lines of, "Christ, people — We know for a fact that millions of people all over the world smoke weed recreationally, and yet somehow we've managed to avoid a complete societal breakdown. Some of you folks really need to stop worrying about what adults do in their spare time, and whether or not they're being good examples. It's none of your goddamned business what other people do for amusement as long as it doesn't harm you. There's no reasonable argument that my marijuana use hurts anyone, and frankly, it isn't my job to be a role model to your children. We don't have laws against you being a self-righteous asshole, and we shouldn't have laws prohibiting dope. Suck it, paternalists.
Obviously, Phelps wasn't going to say anything like that, which would have put his endorsement deals in peril. But his pusillanimous apology has the effect of tacitly permitting the ridiculous prohibition of marijuana and other illicit intoxicants, as well as the catastrophic consequences of the preposterous war on drugs. As long as we refuse to speak out against drug prohibition, we are all partly responsible for its insidious results. With that in mind, let's turn now to the case of Ryan Frederick.
In January 2008, Frederick shot and killed Detective Jerrod Shivers when his home was raided by police in search of a marijuana growing operation. Frederick has claimed that he didn't hear police identify themselves when they burst into his home while he has sleeping, and he was concerned for his safety inasmuch as his residence had been burglarized only days before. On Wednesday, Mr. Frederick was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and the jury recommended he serve the maximum sentence of ten years. Because a police officer is dead, the prosecution in this case did its best to secure a conviction against Mr. Frederick on the more serious charge of capital murder, portraying him as a ruthless cop-killing drug dealer. In their zeal to convict Frederick, the state resorted to some highly nuanced tactics.
For example, the raid on Frederick's residence was based on a tip from an informant named Steven Wright. Wright had a personal connection with Frederick, having dated the sister of Frederick's fiancée. Apparently, their relationship soured at some point, and Wright decided to hurt Frederick by breaking into his home to steal some of the marijuana plants Frederick had in his possession (emphasis mine):
Wright told a prosecutor that a city detective told him to go to Frederick's house "to make sure there were marijuana plants still growing there" prior to the raid. He insisted police never instructed him to break in. He admitted breaking a contract with police by burglarizing the garage, though he was never charged...
Wright said he became a police informant after seeking help from a drug dealer in an unrelated case who threatened him. He said police paid him $60 for information that led to the arrest of that dealer.
In other words, police raided Frederick's home based on the word of a man who had a personal grudge against Frederick, and who had some very serious credibility issues. And incidentally, it was Wright's burglary of Frederick's home that made Frederick fear for his life when police burst into his home while he was sleeping. Naturally, none of these facts have caused the police or prosecutors to question if the procedures leading to the raid were improper.
In its effort to characterize Frederick (who had no prior criminal record) as a hardened criminal, the state also employed a jailhouse snitch named Jamal Skeeter, who initially testified that Frederick heard the police identify themselves, and shot Detective Shivers intentionally. But as it turns out, Skeeter also had credibility issues:
Earlier Thursday, defense team members revealed that they just learned that jailhouse informant Jamal Skeeter had proved so unreliable that Portsmouth prosecutors refuse to use him as a witness.
Skeeter is a key witness in the prosecution's case. He has been the only witness to testify that Frederick knew police were outside his house before he shot.
[Frederick's attorney] Broccoletti said in court that Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Earle Mobley contacted him and prosecutors Wednesday night after seeing Skeeter's name in the newspaper.
"Mr. Skeeter is a professional witness and has tried to provide information in several other jurisdictions," Broccoletti said to the judge, referring to what Mobley told him.
In addition, Broccoletti called seven of Frederick's neighbors to stand, all of whom testified that they didn't hear police announce themselves on the night of the raid, although they did hear them break down Frederick's door with a battering ram. To be sure, Ryan Frederick has admitted that he had marijuana plants in his possession, which he claims were for his own personal use. But even if that isn't true, and Frederick was a dope dealer with significant market share, the tactics employed by the state in this case were certainly dubious, possibly criminal.
To review — police conducted their raid based on the word of an untrustworthy informant, who had burglarized Frederick only days earlier, which gave Frederick a reason to be deathly afraid of intruders. During his trial, prosecutors used an untrustworthy jailhouse snitch in an effort to portray Frederick as some kind of hardcore gangsta, even though his friends and family describe him as a decent person. Meanwhile, interviews with Frederick following the raid clearly show a man consumed with guilt after having taken a life, and testimony from his neighbors indicate the real possibility that police didn't properly identify themselves when they broke his door down while he was sleeping. One man is dead and another man will likely have ten years of his life wasted, in addition to the year he's already spent in jail. And it all happened because Frederick had some weed. What a disgrace.
(More detailed information on the Frederick case is available from Reason magazine's Radley Balko, whose reporting was my main source for this article.)
Obviously, the Frederick case is a great deal more serious than the embarrassment of Michael Phelps. But both cases revolve around the same central issue — the prohibition of a harmless intoxicant. Everyone reading this sentence has either tried marijuana or knows someone who has, and it hasn't prevented them from being responsible citizens. Some people reading this use marijuana every day, and they're still able to hold jobs and be good parents. All reasonable people know that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol, and yet we continue to turn a blind eye to the consequences of its prohibition. It's long past time that responsible adults started saying there's nothing innately wrong with smoking weed, and that our laws should be changed to reflect that fact.
Free Ryan Frederick.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: 411mania.com
Author: Enrique
Contact: 411mania.com: The 411
Copyright: 2009 411mania.com
Website: Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Frederick: Comparing Two Experiences of the War on Drugs
However, the consequences of marijuana use in the context of America's ongoing war on drugs can be much more severe. For our story this week, let's compare the Phelps "controversy" to the case of Ryan Frederick, a man who was convicted this week of voluntary manslaughter for killing a police officer during an ill-advised drug raid on his Virginia home. We'll ask the perennial question — why do we still behave as if smoking weed is some kind of grossly immoral act? And how much longer are we going to countenance the tragic consequences of drug prohibition?
The story so far...
Michael Phelps has taken some heat in the last week for the above photo, which appears to show him smoking marijuana. Since Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, he is regarded as something of a role model. So you can imagine that a photo of him engaging in any kind of illegal activity, no matter how inconsequential, is a public relations snafu. A few days after the photo surfaced, Phelps released a statement on his Facebook page, which is reprinted below in its entirety.
I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23-years-old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public — it will not happen again.
The International Olympic Committee pronounced itself satisfied with Phelps' apology, and as of this writing, it doesn't appear as if his endorsement contracts are in jeopardy. It's possible that some of his sponsors will abandon him, but at this time it seems unlikely Phelps will suffer any undue hardship for his decision to smoke pot. (Although some attention-seeking SC sheriff says he intends to charge Phelps with misdemeanor possession of marijuana for his indiscretion.) I can certainly understand why Phelps felt the need to issue a pro-forma apology for engaging in illegal behavior. At the same time, his immediate instinct to apologize is absolutely gutless.
In a perfect world, Phelps wouldn't have apologized, and he would have used the occasion to call attention to the absurdity of the fact that civilized society still criminalizes the use of marijuana. Phelps might have issued a statement along the lines of, "Christ, people — We know for a fact that millions of people all over the world smoke weed recreationally, and yet somehow we've managed to avoid a complete societal breakdown. Some of you folks really need to stop worrying about what adults do in their spare time, and whether or not they're being good examples. It's none of your goddamned business what other people do for amusement as long as it doesn't harm you. There's no reasonable argument that my marijuana use hurts anyone, and frankly, it isn't my job to be a role model to your children. We don't have laws against you being a self-righteous asshole, and we shouldn't have laws prohibiting dope. Suck it, paternalists.
Obviously, Phelps wasn't going to say anything like that, which would have put his endorsement deals in peril. But his pusillanimous apology has the effect of tacitly permitting the ridiculous prohibition of marijuana and other illicit intoxicants, as well as the catastrophic consequences of the preposterous war on drugs. As long as we refuse to speak out against drug prohibition, we are all partly responsible for its insidious results. With that in mind, let's turn now to the case of Ryan Frederick.
In January 2008, Frederick shot and killed Detective Jerrod Shivers when his home was raided by police in search of a marijuana growing operation. Frederick has claimed that he didn't hear police identify themselves when they burst into his home while he has sleeping, and he was concerned for his safety inasmuch as his residence had been burglarized only days before. On Wednesday, Mr. Frederick was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and the jury recommended he serve the maximum sentence of ten years. Because a police officer is dead, the prosecution in this case did its best to secure a conviction against Mr. Frederick on the more serious charge of capital murder, portraying him as a ruthless cop-killing drug dealer. In their zeal to convict Frederick, the state resorted to some highly nuanced tactics.
For example, the raid on Frederick's residence was based on a tip from an informant named Steven Wright. Wright had a personal connection with Frederick, having dated the sister of Frederick's fiancée. Apparently, their relationship soured at some point, and Wright decided to hurt Frederick by breaking into his home to steal some of the marijuana plants Frederick had in his possession (emphasis mine):
Wright told a prosecutor that a city detective told him to go to Frederick's house "to make sure there were marijuana plants still growing there" prior to the raid. He insisted police never instructed him to break in. He admitted breaking a contract with police by burglarizing the garage, though he was never charged...
Wright said he became a police informant after seeking help from a drug dealer in an unrelated case who threatened him. He said police paid him $60 for information that led to the arrest of that dealer.
In other words, police raided Frederick's home based on the word of a man who had a personal grudge against Frederick, and who had some very serious credibility issues. And incidentally, it was Wright's burglary of Frederick's home that made Frederick fear for his life when police burst into his home while he was sleeping. Naturally, none of these facts have caused the police or prosecutors to question if the procedures leading to the raid were improper.
In its effort to characterize Frederick (who had no prior criminal record) as a hardened criminal, the state also employed a jailhouse snitch named Jamal Skeeter, who initially testified that Frederick heard the police identify themselves, and shot Detective Shivers intentionally. But as it turns out, Skeeter also had credibility issues:
Earlier Thursday, defense team members revealed that they just learned that jailhouse informant Jamal Skeeter had proved so unreliable that Portsmouth prosecutors refuse to use him as a witness.
Skeeter is a key witness in the prosecution's case. He has been the only witness to testify that Frederick knew police were outside his house before he shot.
[Frederick's attorney] Broccoletti said in court that Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Earle Mobley contacted him and prosecutors Wednesday night after seeing Skeeter's name in the newspaper.
"Mr. Skeeter is a professional witness and has tried to provide information in several other jurisdictions," Broccoletti said to the judge, referring to what Mobley told him.
In addition, Broccoletti called seven of Frederick's neighbors to stand, all of whom testified that they didn't hear police announce themselves on the night of the raid, although they did hear them break down Frederick's door with a battering ram. To be sure, Ryan Frederick has admitted that he had marijuana plants in his possession, which he claims were for his own personal use. But even if that isn't true, and Frederick was a dope dealer with significant market share, the tactics employed by the state in this case were certainly dubious, possibly criminal.
To review — police conducted their raid based on the word of an untrustworthy informant, who had burglarized Frederick only days earlier, which gave Frederick a reason to be deathly afraid of intruders. During his trial, prosecutors used an untrustworthy jailhouse snitch in an effort to portray Frederick as some kind of hardcore gangsta, even though his friends and family describe him as a decent person. Meanwhile, interviews with Frederick following the raid clearly show a man consumed with guilt after having taken a life, and testimony from his neighbors indicate the real possibility that police didn't properly identify themselves when they broke his door down while he was sleeping. One man is dead and another man will likely have ten years of his life wasted, in addition to the year he's already spent in jail. And it all happened because Frederick had some weed. What a disgrace.
(More detailed information on the Frederick case is available from Reason magazine's Radley Balko, whose reporting was my main source for this article.)
Obviously, the Frederick case is a great deal more serious than the embarrassment of Michael Phelps. But both cases revolve around the same central issue — the prohibition of a harmless intoxicant. Everyone reading this sentence has either tried marijuana or knows someone who has, and it hasn't prevented them from being responsible citizens. Some people reading this use marijuana every day, and they're still able to hold jobs and be good parents. All reasonable people know that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol, and yet we continue to turn a blind eye to the consequences of its prohibition. It's long past time that responsible adults started saying there's nothing innately wrong with smoking weed, and that our laws should be changed to reflect that fact.
Free Ryan Frederick.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: 411mania.com
Author: Enrique
Contact: 411mania.com: The 411
Copyright: 2009 411mania.com
Website: Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Frederick: Comparing Two Experiences of the War on Drugs
