The federal law barring medical use of marijuana has already cost Mara Lynn Williams her husband, and may now cost her her home as well.

Williams, 56, said she had no idea her husband, Royce, was growing marijuana on their 40-acre property in Chilton County, Alabama until federal authorities raided their land and found 408 plants growing several hundred yards from their house.

Then in May, Royce Williams committed suicide, rather than serve a potentially lengthy prison sentence for the federal drug charges he was facing. His wife, who works as a nurse at a Montgomery hospital, said Royce smoked marijuana because it was the only medication that helped ease the chronic pain he suffered as a result of several surgeries.

Now the Montgomery Advertiser is reporting that the U.S. attorney’s office plans to seize the Williams’ property – including the house still occupied by Mara Lynn, who in 2003 was diagnosed with breast cancer that spread to her liver, lungs and bone, but is now in remission.

“It is not morally right,” the Advertiser quoted Mara Lynn Williams as saying. “My husband paid with his life. What else do they want?”

According to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, “[Royce Williams’] death, which ended the criminal case, had no effect on the ongoing civil case … The bottom line is, we don’t want people to benefit from criminal activity.”

Benefit? I suppose seeing her husband suffer a bit less because of the relief he got from medical marijuana might count as a benefit, but doesn’t driving him to suicide make up for that? Must she be made homeless, too – on top of losing more than $18,000 cash, vehicles, computers and other belongings the Advertiser says were seized by the Feds?

To help us change these cruel laws, go to MPP’s Federal Action Center.

Here’s one for the “Cops Unclear On the Concept” file: The Record-Searchlight in Redding, California is reporting that the town’s police chief, Peter Hansen, has sent a warning letter to local medical marijuana dispensing collectives. Hansen’s letter warns dispensary operators that they are in violation of federal law, that “federal law takes precedence over State law,” and, “Violation of this law is a felony crime that carries with it a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.”

While the chief has every right to dislike California’s medical marijuana law, it is his job to enforce state law, not attack it. That’s something the courts have made unmistakably clear, most notably in a case known as Garden Grove v. Superior Court. In that case, city police had improperly seized medical marijuana from patient Felix Kha, and then insisted they couldn’t return his medicine to him because federal law takes precedence over state law. The state appellate court ordered the return of Kha’s marijuana, stating, “[I]t is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws as such.”

Memo to Chief Hansen: Is there something about the phrase, “it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws” that’s hard for you to comprehend? Is Redding so completely free of robberies, rapes, murders, auto thefts, and other actual crimes that you have nothing else better to do?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had several opportunities to attend Q & A sessions with the Obama administration’s drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske. Increasingly, the audiences are asking him about the cartels in Mexico.

A typical question goes something like this: “Wouldn’t ending marijuana prohibition in the U.S. wipe out the drug cartels like the 21^st amendment wiped out the illegal liquor trade in the 1930s?”

His typical response, which I practically have memorized at this point, goes something like this: “The liquor trade was not wiped out in the 1930s. They might have taken a step back, but the violence and criminal activity persisted. They just moved into other areas like kidnapping and drugs.”

I read an article in Reuters today that got me thinking about his response (Mexico cartels kidnap, kill migrants headed to U.S. -- September, 23). Kerlikowske’s point is that ending prohibition would not solve the cartel problem because they would shift to other illegal activities. But the Reuters article shows that the cartels are already engaged in just about every evil deed imaginable: kidnapping, extortion, murder … you name it! And these behaviors have developed over the last decade under a system of prohibition. So what do we really have to fear from taking away the biggest chunk of their business, marijuana sales in the U.S.?

Another one of Kerlikowske’s favorite lines demonstrates his true motives: “Legalization is not in the president’s vocabulary and it is not in mine.” Why, you might ask, is America’s top drug policy official refusing to even listen to one side of this argument? The answer is in United States Code § 1703 (b)(12), which is a federal law that requires the drug czar to “take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a [Schedule I] substance.” Yes, federal law requires the drug czar to blindly oppose half of the policy arena he oversees. It’s like telling the secretary of state to ignore everything south of the equator.

The argument that ending marijuana prohibition in the U.S. would wipe out the cartels is sound -- marijuana alone makes up 70% of their U.S. profits. The official government response is attenuated and dishonest. As a result, they are losing ground. The more we talk about Mexico, the more people are beginning to see the logic behind our arguments.

So go out there and have this conversation with a friend or family member who doesn’t support legalization. Show them the Reuters article, and ask them if the status quo is worth defending.

MPPNV spokesperson Dave Schwartz appears at a press conference announcing a challenge to Nevada residents. MPP has offered a $10,000 prize to anyone who can disprove three scientifically supported statements that show marijuana is safer than alcohol. This segment was aired KLAS-CBS 8 Las Vegas. 09/23/2009

At a Las Vegas news conference today, the Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada announced details of a $10,000 challenge to the people of Nevada. MPP-NV will pay $10,000 to anyone who can disprove three statements of fact that demonstrate that marijuana is objectively and unquestionably safer than alcohol.

The challenge, announced by MPP-NV manager Dave Schwartz with a large mock check for $10,000,  kicks off a long-term public education campaign regarding the relative harms of marijuana and alcohol, and the harm caused by marijuana prohibition.

MPP-NV is challenging Nevadans to disprove the following three statements:

1. Alcohol is significantly more toxic than marijuana, making death by overdose far more likely with alcohol.

2. The health effects from long-term alcohol consumption cause tens of thousands of more deaths in the U.S. annually than the health effects from the long-term consumption of marijuana.

3. Violent crime committed by individuals intoxicated by alcohol is far more prevalent in the U.S. than violent crime committed by individuals intoxicated by marijuana only.

To receive the $10,000 award, Nevada residents must provide peer-reviewed studies or government statistics that contradict all three of these statements. In a statement issued today, Schwartz said, “We are confident that we won’t need to pay out this $10,000.” That's putting it mildly. Not only is marijuana safer than alcohol, there's evidence that it may even protect against some of the damage caused by binge drinking.

Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and border czar Alan Bersin have dropped out of this week’s Global Public Policy Forum on the U.S. War on Drugs, an event organized by the University of Texas at El Paso.

Organizers were surprised when the two officials backed out of the event. El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles was not:

“I don’t know why you’re all so surprised about the federal government’s unwillingness to address this because, quite frankly, they’ve ignored the problem for years, and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in now.”

El Paso city Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s position on the conference might provide some insight into the administration officials’ decision to back out. He hopes, according to the Newspaper Tree, “for a meaningful public discussion at the conference about legalizing drugs in the face of a failed strategy that has had such a destructive impact on everyday life in Juarez.” Kerlikowske may have sought to avoid addressing this issue, one that’s becoming increasingly difficult for him as border violence and soaring prison populations continue to highlight his untenable position.

Read the full story at NewspaperTree.com.

From the Washington Post, an absolute must-read.

Just two days after the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review proclaimed that the mainstream media are “are acting less childish about pot,” along comes the New York Daily News to prove that childishness is alive and well.

On Wednesday, MPP began airing two new TV ads around New York state in support of medical marijuana legislation. The spots feature real patients talking about the severe pain they suffer every day and how medical marijuana helps them. Amazingly, these serious and sober ads were rejected by three New York City TV stations.

The Daily News found it all quite amusing: "Just say yes! That's the message a national pro-pot group is taking to New York's airwaves," the paper wrote. After quoting me about why we did the campaign, the story concluded, "The city's ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates harshed the group's buzz by declining to run the ads, Mirken added."

Uh, no, I actually didn’t say anything remotely like that. But what I really said wasn’t nearly as cute.

Today, Congressman Mark Souder (R-Ind.) attempted to pass an amendment that would continue to prevent students with even minor drug convictions from receiving financial aid. His amendment was withdrawn, paving the way for students with drug convictions to seek higher education and a better life.

Souder authored a provision in 1998 that for nearly 10 years has blocked students with drug convictions from receiving financial aid. This year, congressional Democrats added language to SAFRA (Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, HR 3221), which fixed the problem created by Souder’s provision. During discussion of the bill today, Souder offered an amendment that would have undone this fix.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), a close ally of MPP, convinced Souder to withdraw his amendment.

Eliminating financial aid for students with drug convictions is one of the most small-minded policies in America’s war on drugs. By preventing these students from seeking opportunities in higher education, the provision locked many students into a cycle of poverty and forced low-income students to bear the brunt of a misguided, prohibitionist mindset. The fix, which would allow students access to aid, will provide hundreds of thousands of students the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

SAFRA is still working its way through the legislative process. MPP will continue to update you on its progress.

Remember that gut-wrenching footage of the wheelchair-bound medical marijuana patient being pulled out of his chair and into the back of a squad car? The victim of this brutality was Rev. Paul Cody, operator of the Hillcrest Compassion Care medical marijuana collective in San Diego.

Paul has told the San Diego City Beat that he's planning on filing a legal complaint for his treatment during the raid on Hillcrest. Paul is paralyzed from the waist down due to a motorcycle accident, and he repeatedly told the police officers that his condition required that he receive special treatment but sadly, the thugs carried on as if terrorizing a man in a wheelchair was just another day at the office.

“I told them again and again, I’m paralyzed, I have to be in the front seat,” he told CityBeat later.

Cody says he told officers repeatedly of his special needs, but they didn’t listen. With his particular injury, he can’t support himself sitting upright, and he has special requirements for how his legs are supposed to be arranged, which mandates that he sit in the front seat of cars. But Cody says cops cuffed him behind his back and shoved him into the back, where he slumped over. He says he has the bruises to show the damage done to him.

Needless to say, MPP wishes Paul the best of luck in his challenge. More importantly, we look forward to the day when local officials everywhere in California finally begin following the state's long-standing, voter-approved medical marijuana law so that people like Paul are no longer victimized by their own government.