Mary Lou Seymour is a long-time libertarian activist and author. She lives in South Carolina. CLICK HERE FOR RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS WHY AREN'T YOU A SPONSOR?
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of the Week Though the burning question of the year so far has been "Will the US go to war this week, or next, and where and why the hell are we even thinking about it when the economy is tanking," and many of us have been enthusiastically joining in the debate and actions on this issue, our own "internal war," the War on Drugs, is still churning away relentlessly, arresting and incarcerating our friends and neighbors and destroying their (and their families') lives at an alarming rate. There are now over two million people incarcerated, and with only five percent of the world's population, the U.S. incarcerates a quarter of the world's prisoners. One in four prisoners in the United States is serving time for a drug law violation. In the federal system, these people make up about 60% of the prison population. Last week, the long awaited verdict in the Ed Rosenthal case again brought the issue of medical marijuana to public attention, as well as highlighting the need for public education on jury nullification and fully informed juries as a final "safeguard" against unjust laws. For this week's action, let's mount a "double pronged" campaign on these two issues of vital importance to the freedom movement: opposition to the War on Drugs and the use of the "jury box" to nullify bad laws. The jurors in the Rosenthal case learned too late of the power they really had: 5 jurors have already issued a public apology to Rosenthal and asked for a new trial ("Making a case for jury nullification"). FIJA's editorial "On the Rosenthal case" points out that the government had to 'winnow out' 68 jurors from the jury pool before they could find 12 ignorant enough to convict, and Reason's "Jury Rigging" explains how the power of jury nullification could have overcome the Federal gov'ts unlawful attempt to overide state law in the Rosenthal case. History buffs know that the push for ending Prohibition was spearheaded by the juries of that time routinely aquitting "bootleggers", using their right to judge the law as well as the facts. Let's do our part to ensure that enough of the public is informed of their right to "vote their conscience" in a jury trial that it will be even more difficult for the gov't to find 12 ignorant jurors for the next "Rosenthal trial!" At the same time, let's help highlight the horrors of the War on Drugs. The November Coalition and Common Sense for Drug Policy are organizing a series of "Journeys for Justice" nationwide to highlight the alarming facts about drug war incareceration rates, and demand relief from drug war injustice through a revival of federal parole and/or a dramatic increase in "good-time" eligibility of prisoners in federal custody. Organize or participate in an event in your community, sign an online petition, or download a PDF petition (also available in Spanish). Letters to the editor and op-eds, explaining the relationship of the "jury box" to the War on Drugs are obviously very timely now! You may want to point out how Ed Rosenthal is going to join the huge number of folks already incarcerated because of the War on Drugs simply because his jury didn't know their rights. For info on writing LTEs and Op-Eds, may I recommend Tom Knapp's "Writing the Libertarian Op-Ed ." For more "help" on writing and distributing LTEs, Libertarian Resources has a database of libertarian letters-to-the-editor and articles intended for libertarians to adapt for their own purposes, and, a LIBertarian LETters to the editor email/fax distribution network (LIBLET). You may want to "hit" not only your local papers (and the LIBLET distribution network) with your Drug War/Jury Rights LTEs, but also select newspapers from cities on the Journey to Justice events list. Common Sense for Drug Policy, a great resource for camera ready "anti-drug-war" PSAs in the form of glossy ads which you can download and print, has a wonderful new poster "Will you Act,", on how Federal prosecutors won't permit the jurors to hear testimony concerning why medical marijuana was used. Post your posters wherever you see a public bulletin board ... in the supermarket, laundromat, or, even in the Post Office, or, if you're especially flush with money this month, run as ads in your local newspaper! So, for this week's action, let's combine the "prohibition doesn't work" meme and the "jury nullification" meme and do our part in fighting against the War on Drugs and for fully informed juries! Til next week! Mary Lou ======== |
