LAWYERSCHILE EL MUNDO INTERNACIONAL DEL ABOGADO

Rodrigo González Fernández y un grupo de egresados de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad la Republica en Chile ha decidido poner al alcance de todo el mundo de la profesion legal importantes materias en Ingles para ir practicando el trabajo en materia de Tratados internacionales y que nuestra profesión estará en primera linea. Invitamos a todos a opinar, debatir, participar activamente.Es el primer blog legal en inglés de latinoamerica.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

'USA: The battle over medical marijuana'

'USA: The battle over medical marijuana'
by Hoa Quach

[caption id="attachment_76703" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Photo by Neeta Lind on Flickr"][/caption]

In the United States, 13 states currently allow citizens to use marijuana for medicinal purposesa, but even these limited rights are under threat. In response, many Americans have created blogs to support and extend the legalization of marijuana.

The American debate over legalizing marijuana (cannabis) can be traced back to the early 1900s when people began using it for recreational purposes. More than one hundred years have passed and the debate hasn't loss one ounce of heat.

State vs. federal law in courts

In February, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would no longer raid medical marijuana clubs that abide by state laws. Despite this announcement, those opposing the drug are still fighting the battle. Most recently, a Republican Senator in Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, introduced an amendment to a bill that would force states to abide by the federal government, which has not yet passed a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide. The amendment failed to pass by a narrow vote on May 21.

A blogger for NORML Daily Stash, Dudemaster, quoted from an article on Opposing Views by Americans for Safe Access about the foiled attempt to stop medical marijuana:
"At present, the only way for medical marijuana to be properly evaluated by the FDA is for privately-funded sponsors to conduct FDA-approved clinical trials (like any other drug evaluation). If Senator Coburn's intentions with regard to the medical efficacy of marijuana were genuine, he would consider first removing the monopoly imposed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on licenses for the cultivation of medical-grade cannabis for research purposes. Currently, the DEA exclusively licenses the cultivation of medical-grade cannabis to the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), which primarily investigates only the negative effects of cannabis. This monopoly obstructs any investigation and research in the U.S. into the medical properties of cannabis and thwarts the normal drug approval process.
In California, a longtime legal battle also came to an end earlier this month. Two counties, San Diego and San Bernardino, attempted to overturn a 1996 state law that allows the medical usage of marijuana by bringing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. They lost the case on May 18. Scott Morgan of the Stop the Drug War Organization blogged about the counties' court loss:
"For the hundredth time, conflict with federal law is not an obstacle to passing and implementing state laws that permit medical marijuana. Federal law enforcement can come in and cause trouble, but that doesn't make state laws invalid. Those laws still apply and provide valuable protection against state police, who patients are more likely to come in contact with.

The very idea that federal law somehow cancels out state policies is just some made-up nonsense that enemies of medical marijuana have been spewing in desperation for several years now. Nice try, but you're wrong. Case closed."
[caption id="attachment_76799" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Medical marijuana club in San Francisco, by Thomas Hawk on Flickr"][/caption]

Joe Elford from Americans for Safe Access blogged about his experience in a court room in California on May 26 where he presented an oral argument in favor of medical marijuana. The case concerns a group of cannabis patients who claim to have been harassed by the sheriff's department.
I had an oral argument before the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District, which is a state court in Sacramento. The case is Williams v. Butte County , which involves a small patient collective, which was harassed by the Butte County Sheriff's Office. Specifically, Williams and six other patients pooled their labor and resources to maintain a 41-plant garden on Williams' property. During one of the notorious Butte County sweeps several years ago, Deputy Sheriff Jacob Hancock came to Williams' property without a warrant and required him to tear down all but twelve of the plants upon threat of arrest...
Blogging for marijuana rights

Although medical marijuana is legal in California, only 12 other states have adopted the same policy. This leaves many advocates constantly campaigning to legalize the drug nationwide. Advocates have taken their protest to the blogosphere, often listing the many reasons why marijuana is beneficial.

On the blog of the Marijuana Policy Project, MPP Blog, Bruce Mirken presents a study that shows cannabis can help against colorectal cancer, and insists that medical marijuana "is not just about getting high".

The Stimulist gives five reasons why he think marijuana will be legalized - including the fact that baby boomers are growing older; the decline in the popularity of the drug war; and the economic benefits:
"California's economy is hurting, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking for any way he can to make some money. San Quentin and the L.A. Coliseum are for sale, but the most drastic measure he's taken is calling for a study on legalizing dope. "Creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it," he said earlier this month."
Entire online news communities about marijuana have been created, including maps that show users where to find the nearest cannabis clubs, photo sharing communities and forums.

Despite, its many supporters - opposition is still strong and therefore, a federal law legalizing marijuana may be far down the road.

Deb-HAS-grn blogs at Green Passion about a conversation she had recently with her son.
"I was talking to my son a few months ago about my love of growing and my new place on the internet, Green Passion, I also was saying to him, As I get older my desire to need to see pot legalized grows stronger and stronger. His words responding to that should not of surprised me as I have thought the same myself, but at the time when he said to me, Mom I am sorry to say this but I honestly don't think they will legalize marijuana for many many years to come. It kind of hit me hard hearing those words and thinking I may never see the day that I would be legal to grow and smoke as I please. And I am not talking about the first much needed legalization of medical marijuana in all countries, I am talking about the freedom to do as I please when I please when it comes to weed."

You may view the latest post at
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/05/27/usa-the-battle-over-medical-marijuana/

Fuente:
Difundan libremente este artículo
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Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU

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lawyerschile GPS: A Divorce Lawyer's Best Friend

GPS: A Divorce Lawyer's Best Friend

Let's say that you're a divorce lawyer and you want to help your client figure out whether her spouse is cheating. You could hire an investigator -- but that could get pricey. Or you could try to get your hands on the spouse's automated toll paying service records which would yield information on his whereabouts if he happened to drive through a toll plaza.

These days, a divorce lawyer's best friend in this kind of situation is a GPS (global positioning system), according to the Chicago Sun-Times. A spouse can legally conceal the GPS in the glove compartment or seat pocket, and depending upon the model of the GPS, track his or her partner's whereabouts in real time. With GPS units selling for less than $1,000, they're now regarded by divorce attorneys like Illinois' Enrico J. Mirabelli as "the poor man's investigator."

According to the article, Mirabelli rarely even bothers to subpoena I-Pass reports, because the GPS information is much more detailed. And he claims that GPS trackers have saved him up to 80 percent of the expense of hiring a private investigator who might sit around for 12 hours a day without witnessing any activity.

Because many jurisdictions are "no fault," evidence of infidelity won't affect division of assets. However, evidence generated by a GPS can still be used to demonstrate that a spouse is unfit where custody is an issue.

The GPS sounds like a neat trick, but how long can it work? Seems to me that as word about GPS surveillance gets out, cheating spouses will simply start checking their cars more carefully to see if a GPS is concealed.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on May 27, 2009 at 10:02 AM

lawyerschile: Human Rights Lawyers Threatened in China

Human Rights Lawyers Threatened in China

Nearly 20 lawyers in China stand in jeopardy of losing their livelihood, reports The New York Times. But in contrast to the scores of unemployed American lawyers who are victims of the economy, the lawyers in China are victims of their own government, which is taking retaliatory action to discourage them from handling certain controversial cases.

According to the report, Beijing legal authorities have threatened to hold up or outright deny law licenses of 18 of the city's best known civil rights lawyers, who have handled cases such concerning Tibetan political activism and police brutality matters or the tainted milk lawsuits. While authorities in rural China have taken these types of retaliatory actions in the past, as a general matter the Beijing renewal process has been free of this kind of controversy.

There's additional information from the Associated Press.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on May 27, 2009 at 03:00 PM

lawyerschile: The First 24 Hours: A Sotomayor Roundup

The First 24 Hours: A Sotomayor Roundup

It's been a little over 24 hours since President Obama announced his first nomination for the United States Supreme court, 2nd Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor. And while one day may scarcely give Judge Sotomayor enough time to prepare for the numerous private meetings with Senators that lie ahead, it's more than enough time to give bloggers and commenters enough time to offer opinions and observations. So with that said, here's a topical roundup of some of posts and other commentary on Judge Sotomayor from around the blogosphere and the Web:

Environmental Issues: Alex Kaplun of The New York Times writes that Judge Sotomayor is a popular pick with environmental groups. While on the 2nd Circuit, Sotomayor wrote an opinion agreeing with an environmental group's argument that EPA was required to choose the best technology for a cooling-water intake at a power plant without regard to balancing costs and benefits. Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court disagreed, overturning the 2nd Circuit by a 6-3 vote in Entergy v. EPA.

Sotomayor and Roberts on Tax Law: At Tax Girl, Kelly Erb points out that Justice Roberts criticized a decision by Judge Sotomayor on tax law (specifically, deductibility of adviser fees for management of a trust) as "flying in the face of the statutory language." Still, the Supreme Court upheld Sotomayor's result, for different reasons.

Sotomayor's Experience in Sentencing: Sentencing guru Doug Berman points out in two posts, here and here, that Sotomayor is unique in that she has actually had experience sentencing defendants under federal guidelines, including during the time where the guidelines were mandatory. Berman is not sure how this will impact Sotomayor's decisions, but he notes that "the mere fact that she has a record as a federal sentencing judge sets her apart from every Justice to serve on the Court in my lifetime."

Sotomayor on Baseball: The WSJ Law Blog has a pretty good roundup of news stories on Judge Sotomayor, including a link to a New York Times story on Sotomayor's role in the baseball strike. (Would that mean that she'd have to recuse herself from baseball-related cases at the Court?)

Sotomayor -- Shades of Souter?: An interesting piece from Bloomberg argues that Sotomayor bears some similarity to her predecessor on the Court, Justice Souter. Apart from the obvious superficial commonalities -- he's a bachelor and she's a bachelorette -- the article points out that Souter and Sotomayor support broad application of civil rights to protect minorities, have both voted to limit the right to bear arms and are both somewhat centrist, with left leanings.

Sotomayor and Business: Jonathan Adler at The Volokh Conspiracy considers the pros and cons of a Sotomayor confirmation for business interests, while Walter Olson of Overlawyered examines the same question in a column up at Forbes.

As the confirmation hearings get underway, there's sure to be more news regarding Judge Sotomayor's views, so stay tuned.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on May 27, 2009 at 03:07 PM