Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.
Undercover Crush Crushes Dreams
On Sunday, Public Radio’s This American Life featured a story of an honors student with a crush on the new girl in school. Though he’d never purchased marijuana before, he did for his newfound crush. She asked him to buy it, pushed him to take her money, and showed her appreciation by revealing her position as an undercover cop and slapping him with a felony charge. Now this honors student won’t be able to join the Air Force. Listen to the full story here.
Promising News in Marijuana Policy
New York City plans to stop marijuana arraignments. As Edward noted yesterday, 2011 saw 660,000 arrests in the U.S. for marijuana possession. Enforcement of federal marijuana laws costs an estimated $5.5 billion each year. The city will back a state effort to treat possession of small amounts of marijuana as a violation instead of a misdemeanor.
ACLU of Maine files Medical Marijuana Suit
The ACLU of Maine and the firm McKee Law, P.A. filed suit on behalf of Brittany Thomas this week. She called us a few months ago because she was denied a job for using medical marijuana in compliance with state law. Said Thomas, “I choose to use medical marijuana to control my pain because it doesn’t have any of the side effects of stronger pain medication, like addiction. The incredible thing is, if I was using a stronger drug, I could have kept my job.”
No Drones in Seattle
Seattle police recently acquired two drones through a federal grant. In response, our affiliate in Washington made folks in the area aware of a lack of public input and published this compelling Op-Ed about drones. As Shankhar Narayan and Doug Honig note, good public policy should keep pace with advancing technology. That’s why the ACLU of Maine and the ACLU of Washington are working on legislation that restricts the police use of surveillance drones.
Participate! Let's Have Early Voting in Maine
There’s been continued coverage of the report from Summers's Commission to Study Election Practices in Maine. This sets the stage for an upcoming hearing on legislation to allow for true early voting. Join us in Augusta this coming Wednesday to show your support for early voting in Maine. For more information, click this link.
