Military District of San Bernardino County

February 16, 2009: The government has 45,000 troops and 5,000 police battling several thousand cartel gunmen in 18 states. But most of the action is in a few states along the U.S. border. Two years of violence have left over 8,000 dead. The drug cartels are not strong enough to defeat the government, but they are determined to keep fighting to preserve their lucrative drug business. It’s all about ambition, greed and no inhibitions when it comes to killing. You can’t make this stuff up. The government is apparently going to keep at it until the cartels are destroyed, or adopt a much more low profile way of operating.

February 14, 2009: For the past three months Mexican and U.S. security officials have openly discussed increased U.S. support for Mexico in its war against drug gangs. This is being called, “the Cartel War”. The U.S. is concerned about “spill-over” violence. Politicians in El Paso, Texas, are worried about it, and they are concerned for their Mexican neighbors in Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua state). Both Mexico and the U.S. are pushing “intelligence sharing” (intel on smuggling, drug gangs, weapons, finances, etc). One criticism from some sectors in Mexico is that intel sharing will likely lead to “American contractors” (meaning military or intelligence service companies). This is “contractors” used in a very negative sense, suggesting American mercenaries. Apparently the Mexican government thinks hiring expertise to support Mexican operations is a good option. Are joint operations by the U.S. and Mexico possible? Sure – but as both the U.S. government and Mexican government have stressed, such operations have to be very carefully planned and approved by both governments. At the moment Mexican-U.S. joint military operations are very unlikely, but it is a good bet that planning officers in Mexico and the U.S. are looking at “what can we do for each other” if cartels launch attacks in the U.S., or tried to create a situation where Mexican military units cross the border in the midst of a combat operation. Some joint operations well short of combat and “increased security presence” operations make a lot of sense. Joint communications operations are one example, and “joint liaison teams” manned by experienced military personnel from both countries another. You can bet any joint team will operate on both sides of the border. Political cover is one reason – Mexicans are sensitive to “affronts to sovereignty.” However, a “both sides” joint operation is also common sense since the violence and drug smuggling has transnational effects. Ad hoc arrangements and relationships already exist, but it appears both governments are interested in more formal and permanent cooperation.

February 10, 2009: At least 21 people died in a firefight in Chihuahua state (130 kilometers south of Ciudad Juarez) between Mexican soldiers and cartel gunmen. The confrontation began as a “stand-off” between soldiers and gang members who had kidnapped nine people. The gangsters executed six of the kidnap victims during the battle. Soldiers lost one of their own, and killed 14 gang members.

February 9, 2009: Troops took control of police headquarters in Cancun and arrested the local police commander and 36 policemen. The military announced that it believes the policemen are “connected” to the murder of retired Mexican Army Brigadier General Mauro Enrique Tello in Cancun.

February 5, 2009: Mexican soldiers and federal police participating in Joint Operation Chihuahua raided a drug warehouse in Ciudad Juarez. The police seized around two tons of marijuana.

February 4, 2009: A retired senior Mexican military officer, Brigadier General Mauro Enrique Tello, was murdered in Cancun in what authorities said was likely an assassination by a drug cartel hit team. Two bodyguards were killed along with the general. The murders were “execution-style”?the men were tortured then shot in the head. Tello had retired recently and after his retirement had take charge of a special counter-cartel security force authorized by the mayor of Cancun. Tello had also been in charge of operations in western Mexico in 1997 (Michoacan state) that amounted to a crackdown on drug traffickers and local gangsters – something of a “preview” of the Cartel War. The government is paying close attention to the murders, for several reasons. The Mexican Army plays a central role in the Cartel War – it is the government’s chief counter-cartel organization. Cancun is also an international tourist resort and a source of good jobs. Tourist revenues have declined since violence began increasing. So far the worst violence has been in northern Mexico, though the Acapulco region, which is also a tourist resort, has been plagued by inter-gang “turf wars” and shootouts between the police and drug gangs.

January 30, 2009: Demonstrators gathered in Mexico City to protest a government decision to “freeze” gasoline prices but not freeze prices for diesel. Most of the protestors were farmers who were complaining that the cost of farm machinery (most of the farm machines run on diesel) had increased prohibitively.

January 27, 2009: The government said 22 people were killed in northern Mexico over a 48 hour period. Four of the victims were killed at a PEMEX oil facility. They had “tape over their eyes” and they were shot in the head (more “execution-style” murders). Three more people were murdered in Chihuahua City.

January 24, 2009: The government reported thirteen people were slain in drug violence in the state of Chihuahua. Nine of the 13 were killed in the city of Ciudad Juarez (across the border from El Paso, Texas). A “semi-official” figure for murders in Chihuahua state during 2008 is now making the rounds: 2400. That means about 40 percent of the Cartel War deaths in 2008 occurred in Chihuahua state..

January 20, 2009: The U.S. Marine Corps is implementing new travel policies to Mexico for Marine Corps personnel. Marines stationed in Yuma, Arizona must get command permission before they cross the border (either on leave or off-duty pleasure travel). This is similar to the policies implemented by Ft Bliss, Texas, a U.S. Army post..The State Department has raised its “caution-level” for visiting Matamoros, Monterrey, Nogales, Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, and Ciudad Juarez.

January 16, 2009: Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? The Zetas have roots in the Mexican military and have operated as a para-military force. Now Mexican Army troopers have arrested three drug cartel gang members in Tijuana. The military report said that the gang members had “uniforms” with a patch featuring a skull and crossed crutches. A “gang faction” in the area is run by a gang leader who has the nickname “Muletas” (crutches). The men arrested were identified as being part of the faction’s “special forces.” Uniforms for cartel gunmen isn’t new – police and soldiers have found real military uniforms and modified uniforms in arms caches. “Paramilitary gear” also crops up in news and government reports, and that can refer to clothing as well as tactical gear. But it looks like at least one gang really wants to “play soldier.”

January 15, 2009: The U.S. Homeland Security Department said that it would send Border Patrol SWAT teams and even military units if “drug gangs” (term used in the report) crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and confronted U.S. police. Homeland Security stressed that this is “a contingency plan” only – implying local authorities (police, sheriff, state police) are the first responders to such an incident. The head of Homeland Security repeated this – that this is a plan, not a prediction. A senior official said the contingency plan can be “scaled” to meet the emergency, meaning that if local authorities only needed “back-up” (support) that would be made available, but if the situation escalated a larger rapid reaction force could be organized and sent.

January 14, 2009: The military said it was sending 2000 more army soldiers to Ciudad Juarez.

John McCardell, the former president of Middlebury College, says his time on campus taught him that trying to stop college students from drinking was a fool’s errand. The 1984 federal law raising the minimum drinking age to 21 not only wasn’t working; it was encouraging more reckless consumption.

Two years ago, McCardell started an organization called Choose Responsibility, which waged a national campaign to lower the drinking age to 18. The soft-spoken scholar soon found that many other campus executives felt the same way. In early 2008 he started the Amethyst Initiative, a collective of college presidents urging a public discussion about the drinking age. At press time, the Amethyst Initiative had 130 signatories, including the presidents of Duke, Tufts, Dartmouth, and Johns Hopkins.

See related:

Old enough to fight, old enough to drink

College presidents want lower drinking age

Students ’should be given smart drugs to get better exam results’

Scientists Back Brain Drugs For Healthy People

Senior Editor Radley Balko spoke with McCardell in October.

Q: Why lower the drinking age?

A: We’ve had a law on the books for 24 years now. You don’t need an advanced degree to see that the law has utterly failed. Seventy-five percent of high school seniors have consumed alcohol. Sixty-six percent of high school sophomores have.

The law abridges the age of majority. It hasn’t reduced consumption but has only made it riskier. Finally, it has disenfranchised parents and removed any opportunity for adults to educate or to model responsible behavior about alcohol.

Q: Do you favor setting the federal drinking age at 18 or removing federal involvement altogether?

A: I would defer to the Constitution, which gives the federal government no authority to set a national federal drinking age at all. It’s clearly supposed to be left to the states. So the first thing we need to do is cut out the 10 percent penalty [in federal highway funds to states that refuse to adopt the minimum age of 21], then let the states make their own policies.

Q: Supporters of the law say it has led to a reduction in highway fatalities.

A: If you look at the graphs for about 30 seconds, you might draw that conclusion. There has been a decline in traffic fatalities. But it began in 1982, two years before the law changed. It has basically been flat or inching upward for the last decade.

More interestingly, the decline has come in every age group, not just people between 18 and 21. And if you look at Canada, where the minimum drinking age is 18 or 19 [depending on the province], the trend in highway fatalities has almost exactly paralleled ours. It’s far more likely that the reduction in deaths is due to seat belt use, airbags, and safer cars.

Q: How has Mothers Against Drunk Driving responded to the Amethyst Initiative?

A: MADD’s response has been disappointing and is unbecoming for an organization as revered as they are. They spammed the email boxes of college presidents, called them “shirkers,” and encouraged parents not to send their kids to those colleges. All this for nothing more than a call for discussion. If this question is as settled as they say it is, why such an exaggerated response?

I think their tactics backfired. MADD tried to bully these presidents into removing their names. We lost three presidents as a result, but we gained 20 more. And I think it actually strengthened the resolve of the presidents who stayed on.

Q: MADD and other opponents of your objectives say the college presidents are just trying to pass on their own responsibility to enforce the minimum drinking age. But is it really a college president’s responsibility to enforce criminal law?

A: That’s a great point. It’s about as logical as asking a couple of state troopers to come onto campus to teach calculus.

San Bernardino County is being accused of violating the Brown Act, California’s open-meeting law, as it challenges the state’s medical marijuana user program.

San Bernardino County joined San Diego County three years ago in challenging the program, which requires it to issue medical-marijuana identification cards to patients.

The counties petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case last week. The courts have so far ruled against them, upholding the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 1996.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a national marijuana policy reform organization, said Wednesday that the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has failed to keep the public informed of its decisions to appeal.

HEY! I wanted drugs, not beer…

A beer called Speedball has been criticised amid claims it promotes the drugs mix that killed actors John Belushi and River Phoenix. Speedballing is the name given to combining heroin and cocaine.

A complaint has been upheld against Fraserburgh’s BrewDog under the drinks industry watchdog the Portman Group’s code of practice.

However, a BrewDog spokesman said Speedball was “for those who enjoy a quality beer responsibly”.

David Poley, Portman Group chief executive, said the marketing was grossly irresponsible.

He said: “The blurring of alcohol and illicit drugs fosters unhealthy attitudes to drinking and trivialises drug misuse.

“BrewDog is profiteering from the scourge of illegal drugs, mocking the misery caused by misuse”

But is the beer any good?

President-elect Barack Obama met Monday with Mexican President Felipe Calderón to discuss bilateral issues of major importance for the two countries. In addition to NAFTA and immigration policy, Mexico's ongoing plague of prohibition-related violence was high on the agenda.

More than 5,400 people were killed in the violence last year, and more than 8,000 in the two years since Calderón ratcheted up Mexico's drug war by sending thousands of troops into the fray. The multi-sided conflict pits rival trafficking groups -- the so-called cartels -- against each and the Mexican state, but has also seen pitched battles between rival law enforcement units where one group or the other is in the pay of the traffickers.

The Obama-Calderón meeting comes as the violence in Mexico is creating increasing concern among US policy and defense analysts. Last month, the National Drug Intelligence Center warned in its National Drug Threat Assessment 2009 that "Mexico drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States."

In a December report to the US Military Academy at West Point, former drug czar retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey warned dramatically that even the $1.4 billion, three-year anti-drug assistance plan approved by Congress and the Bush administration last year was barely a drop in the bucket, noting that it was only a tiny fraction of the money spent on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The stakes in Mexico are enormous," McCaffrey warned. "We cannot afford to have a narco state as a neighbor. Mexico is not confronting dangerous criminality -- it is fighting for its survival against narco-terrorism."

The consequences of US failure to act decisively in support of Calderón's drug war would be dire, McCaffrey warned. "A failure by the Mexican political system to curtail lawlessness and violence could result in a surge of millions of refugees crossing the US border to escape the domestic misery of violence ... and the mindless cruelty and injustice of a criminal state."

This week, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff jumped on the bandwagon. In their report, The Joint Operating Environment 2008, which examines global threats to the US, the Joint Chiefs warned that Mexico was one of the two countries most in danger of becoming a failed state. The other was Pakistan.

"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely," the report noted, "but the government, its politicians, police, and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

But for all the dire warnings of doom, the incoming president gave little sign that he would do anything other than stay the course. Nor did he suggest in any way that he would make a radical break with US drug policy on the border. Obama has stated publicly that he supports the Mérida Initiative aid package, and Monday he limited his public remarks to generalities.

Noting the "extraordinary relationship" between the US and Mexico, Obama added: "Not only did we talk about security along the border regions, how the United States can be helpful in Mexico's efforts, we talked about immigration and how we can have a comprehensive and thoughtful strategy that ultimately strengthens both countries."

Despite taking his first meeting with a head of foreign state with President Calderón and pledging renewed cooperation, and despite the chorus of cassandras crying for more action, analysts consulted by the Drug War Chronicle said that given the raft of serious problems, foreign and domestic, facing the Obama administration, Mexico and its drug war are likely to remain second-tier issues. Nor is the Mérida Initiative going to be much help, they suggested.

"Obama is busy with other pressing issues," said Sanho Tree, drug policy analyst for the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington, DC-based think tank. "He just doesn't have the space and will to take on this other fight in Mexico."

On the other hand, the border violence frightening US policy makers is largely "a self-inflicted wound," Tree said. "Mix together high domestic demand here, prohibition economics, and a tough law and order approach, shake vigorously, and you have a disaster cocktail. It's not like we didn't warn them," he said.

Also, Tree noted, despite the rising alarm in Washington, there is little interest in opening a new front on the southern border. "Who has the stomach to take this on right now?" he asked. "Who is clamoring for this outside of institutional actors who want to protect their budgets? There is a lot of war-weariness and budget shock in this city, and that might leave some openings" for reform, he said.

"Probably not much will come of that meeting," said Tomás Ayuso, Mexico analyst for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. "Calderón was pleading for Obama to put Mexico at the top of his list of priorities, but given what Obama is facing, the Mexican drug war is not at the top of his agenda."

Still, the situation in Mexico is serious and could get worse, Ayuso said. "If this isn't addressed now, Mexico could really descend into chaos. The drug cartels have virtually unlimited funding, their coffers are overflowing. The shadow economy in which they operate is booming, their operatives are armed to the teeth, and the next step is to set up a shadow government. It's very easy for them to influence people. They say: 'Accept our bribes or we'll kill you and your family.'" Ayuso said. "It's pretty effective."

"This meeting looked mostly like generalities, but Obama has said repeatedly during the campaign that he supports the Mérida Initiative, and that will most likely continue during his administration," said Maureen Meyer, Mexico analyst for the Washington Office on Latin America. "With more and more reports lately painting Mexico as a security crisis, we are seeing a recognition by the new administration that this is a priority, and it will continue cooperating with Mexico."

But the looming crisis on the border and in Mexico could provide openings for reform, Meyer said. "We hope to have more openings to reopen the debate on US drug policy internationally, and Mexico could give us the opportunity to look at what has and has not worked in the Andean region and Mexico as well," she said.

That debate could include modifications to the Mérida Initiative, which is heavily weighted toward military and law enforcement equipment and training, said Meyer. "Congress has reiterated its support for the Mérida Initiative, but we've also seen a tendency to redirect funding toward arms trafficking going south and demand here in the US. The Congress will also, we hope, start to look away from sending more equipment and toward more support for institutional reforms. Helicopters aren't going to have any impact on Mexico's underlying problems," she said.

The violence in Mexico could help further weaken already eroding support for US drug policy in the hemisphere as a whole, said Ayuso. "In Latin America, where most of the suffering is happening, many countries are asking whether the Washington-led war on drugs is the answer," he said. "That's something Calderón himself has brought up, but Obama is probably not going to budge on that. Still, the chorus is growing. More and more people want to re-evaluate the drug war."

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Wednesday blocked the years-long effort of a University of Massachusetts-Amherst researcher to end the federal government's monopoly on the supply of marijuana available for research. In doing so, the agency overruled its own Administrative Law Judge, Mary Ellen Bittner, who nearly two years ago formally recommended that the project be approved.

http://www.stopthedrugwar.com/files/lylecraker.jpg

Lyle Craker (courtesy aclu.org/drugpolicy/)

UMass-Amherst Professor Lyle Craker initially filed a petition in June 2001 seeking to cultivate research-grade marijuana for use by researchers in Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved studies aimed at developing the plant as legal prescription medicine. Currently, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is the sole source of marijuana for researchers, but that agency has repeatedly refused to make it available for privately-funded, FDA-approved studies seeking to develop smoked or vaporized marijuana into a prescription medication. Researchers have also complained about the quality of the marijuana produced at the federal government's Mississippi pot farm.

From the beginning, Bush administration officials have been unresponsive or sought to delay the proceedings in the Craker case. The DEA first did not respond to Craker's requests for status reports on his request, then told him it had lost his filing. When he submitted a photocopy, the DEA rejected that as improper. It took until 2004 for the agency to get around to rejecting Craker's request, and ever since then for that rejection to go through the administrative appeal process.

It was during that process that DEA Administrative Law Judge Bittner made her formal recommendation supporting Craker's request: "I conclude that granting Respondent's petition would not be inconsistent with the Single Convention, there would be minimal risk of diversion of marijuana..., that there is currently an inadequate supply of marijuana available for research purposes, that competition in the provision of marijuana for such purposes is inadequate, and that the Respondent has complied with applicable laws and has never been convicted of any violation of any law pertaining to controlled substances," Bittner wrote as she weighed the factors involved in her decision. "I find there that Respondent's registration to cultivate marijuana would be in the public interest."

Judge Bittner's recommendation was based largely on the fact that marijuana is the only Schedule I drug that the DEA prohibits from being produced by private laboratories for scientific research, which has resulted in a unique government monopoly that fundamentally obstructs appropriate research and regulatory channels. Other controlled substances, including LSD, MDMA, heroin and cocaine, are available to researchers from DEA-licensed private laboratories.

In contrast, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) remains scientists' sole source of marijuana, despite the agency's repeated refusal to make marijuana available for privately-funded, FDA-approved studies that seek to develop smoked or vaporized marijuana into a legal, prescription medicine.

As Judge Bittner concluded, "NIDA's system for evaluating requests for marijuana has resulted in some researchers who hold DEA registrations and requisite approval from [HHS and FDA] being unable to conduct their research because NIDA has refused to provide them with marijuana. I therefore find that the existing supply is not adequate."

But just as was the case with DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young's famous 1988 recommendation that marijuana was among the safest therapeutically active substances known to man and should be rescheduled, Bittner's recommendation was also ignored by her own agency. In the final decision issued this week, the DEA simply rejected most of Bittner's findings, and rejected Craker's petition.

"I am saddened that the DEA is ignoring the best interests of so many seriously ill people who wish for scientific investigations that could lead to development of the marijuana plant as a prescription medicine," said Professor Craker. "Patients with serious illnesses deserve legitimate research that might establish medical marijuana as a fully legal, FDA-approved treatment. Today, that effort has been dealt a serious blow."

Craker wasn't the only one protesting. The ACLU Drug Law Reform Project, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) all supported Craker's quest, and all blasted the DEA decision.

"It's no surprise that an administration that has rejected science again and again has, as one of its final acts, blocked a critical research project," said MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston. "With the new administration publicly committed to respecting scientific research and valuing data over dogma, this final act of desperation isn't surprising, but the true victims are the millions of patients who might benefit."

"With one foot out the door, the Bush administration has once again found time to undermine scientific freedom," said Allen Hopper, litigation director for the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "In stubbornly retaining the unique government monopoly over the supply of research marijuana over the objections of DEA's own administrative law judge, the Bush administration has effectively blocked the proper regulatory channels that would allow the drug to become a wholly legitimate prescription medication."

"The DEA and NIDA, but not the FDA, are clearly frightened of permitting privately-funded, scientific research into the risks and benefits of the medical uses of marijuana," said Rick Doblin, president of MAPS. "We need the Obama Administration to reverse this egregious suppression of scientific research that the outgoing administration so fears will reveal inconvenient truths."

Despite the DEA rejection, these are the waning days of the Bush administration, and this isn't over yet. Look for another lawsuit or an appeal to the Obama administration, said Doblin.

By Joe Nelson on January 21, 2009 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A marijuana advocay group is alleging the Board of Supervisors violated the state's open meeting law by failing to disclose publicly its decision to appeal its lawsuit challenging California's medical marijuana law to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project maintains that the board, at its Aug. 26 meeting, voted in a closed-door session to appeal its joint lawsuit with San Diego County to the state Supreme Court after a San Diego County judge ruled in favor of the state.

When the board returned to the dais to continue its meeting, it failed to mention its decision to those in attendance, the nonprofit alleges.

If the two counties prevail in their lawsuit, neither would be required to issue identification cards to legitimate medical marijuana patients.

The state Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal, so, the counties' appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which received the case on Jan. 12, county spokesman David Wert said. He said the county expects to learn of the court's decision within 90 days.

Wert said the board did not violate California's open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act. He said when the two counties teamed up in 2006, it was with the understanding that the litigation would be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. No further action was required, Wert said.

"They're assuming . . . that the board took some action in that closed session, and there was no action taken," Wert said.

Since September, the nonprofit has sent two letters to the District Attorney's Office requesting an investigation, said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

The complaints are currently under review.

"If they find enough to look into they'll open up an investigation," said Susan Mickey, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.

If an investigation is launched, the county will be completely vindicated, Wert said.

"The DA's office will quickly find that there was no violation of the Brown Act," Wert said.
In response to allegations that the lawsuit is a waste of time, taxpayer money and county resources, Wert said San Diego County has conducted all the legal research and all the court filings.

"They've gone through all the expense in this case," he said.

joe.nelson@inlandnewspapers.com

By Will Bigham on January 21, 2009 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The bullet tore through his jeans, ricocheted off a marijuana pipe in his pocket, and exited his jeans without hurting him.

That was the testimony Wednesday of one man who was shot during a drive-by shooting in Montclair that killed 20-year-old David Velez and injured one other man.

Wednesday was the third day of testimony at the West Valley Superior Court trial of the alleged gunman, Jose Laguna, 23, who is facing one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder for the June 19, 2004 shooting.

Velez and about a half-dozen other people were socializing shortly after midnight in the front driveway of a home in the 9500 block of Helena Avenue.

A black Jeep Cherokee drove by slowly and opened fire, the witness testified.

Velez was standing on the street when the Jeep passed, and he fell to the ground when the shooting started, the witness testified.

Velez then stood up and walked toward the house, but collapsed near the sidewalk and held his chest.

"He just said, 'I'm shot'," the witness recalled.

Later the witness realized a bullet had struck his leg, shattering a glass marijuana pipe in his pocket but otherwise leaving him unharmed.

The bullet that struck Velez passed through his heart and grazed part of his lung, according to testimony Wednesday from Steven Trenkle, the forensic pathologist who performed Velez's autopsy.

Police arrested Laguna two days after the shooting and found evidence in his black Jeep Cherokee that linked him to the shooting, including the murder weapon, Deputy District Attorney Mike Dowd said during his opening statement last week.

Laguna faces up to 110 years to life in prison if convicted on all counts.

Other people who testified Wednesday include another man present at the house during the shooting, and one of Laguna's friends.

A former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department crime lab employee who performed gunshot-residue tests on the Jeep also testified.

MORE COVERAGE

Video: Assessor Bill Postmus leaving West Valley Detention Center

Photo galleries: Assessor Bill Postmus leaving West Valley Detention Center, The San Bernardino County District Attorney's investigation

Bill Postmus swiftly rose through San Bernardino County political ranks, gaining the confidence of seasoned politicos who admired the energy, ambition and fearlessness they associated with his youth.

Upstart

A booking photo shows Assessor Bill Postmus after his arrest Thursday by San Bernardino County district attorney's investigators on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia for unlawful use. (Courtesy photo)

college students eager to get a foothold in the county political scene flocked to him, attracted by the promise his career held and the pledges he made to bring them within the fold of his elected office.

Until his 7:10 a.m. arrest Thursday at his home on drug charges by district attorney's investigators serving a search warrant, Postmus was seemingly immune to political scandal and initially billed a reformer. It was widely believed that by 40, he might attain a seat in Congress.

But at 37, less than 10 years after launching his first bid for political office, Postmus' political career crashed hard as reports mounted of a methamphetamine addiction and unethical, even criminal, behavior in the elected position he holds as

county assessor.

The disgraced county assessor's political allies are abandoning him. In his personal life, there are few who call him a friend. And business relationships he cultivated on the side have disintegrated. On Dec. 16, the Board of Supervisors launched proceedings to remove Postmus from office.

A yearlong grand jury investigation led to a criminal investigation by the district attorney and the arrest June 30 of Adam Aleman, once Postmus' most trusted confidante and top assistant. Aleman is standing trial on six felonies, from destroying evidence to falsifying documents, in what investigators say was an attempt to mislead the grand jury.

"Put two and two together," said Scott Becker, whose friendship with Postmus reaches back to high school. "Bill was behind him. Adam is a sweet, innocent guy, and he should not be taking the rap."

Many of those interviewed for this story requested anonymity, either because of the ongoing investigation by the district attorney or out of fear that their reputations and careers would be destroyed by any appearance of connection with Postmus. They described a man who is untrustworthy and breaks promises, who attempts to buy his friends by showering them with sports tickets and campaign money, who wins their confidence through the allure of investment deals and high-paying jobs.

One of his closest friends said Postmus' meth addiction stems from the years he has spent hiding his sexual orientation, attempting to resist "carnal pleasures" and cloaking his sexual identity as a gay man from not only voters, but his family, friends and political allies.

Postmus' family moved to the San Bernardino Mountains when he was a child. He graduated from Serrano High School in Phelan, where he had a small circle of friends. He then earned an associate's degree from Victor Valley College, followed by a bachelor's degree from the University of Redlands.

After college, Postmus began climbing the political ladder, working as a legislative assistant for Assemblyman Keith Olberg, a Republican then based in Victorville.

In 1999, at age 28, Postmus burst onto the county political scene when he announced his campaign for a seat on the Board of Supervisors. At the time, he also held some low-profile, yet influential, positions as vice chairman of the county Republican Central Committee and vice chairman of the Victorville Planning Commission.

Within county government that election season, a corruption scandal involving bribery was festering, and Assemblywoman Kathleen Honeycutt presented Postmus with a golden plunger, declaring he was the man to clean up the county.

During this time, Postmus was often attending political conventions and rallies, flanked by young men. In the coming years, he would develop a reputation for hiring twenty-something worshippers who blithely followed him, sources said. Among them was Aleman, then a teenager.

In 2000, Postmus was sworn in on the Board of Supervisors as the representative of the immense 1st District, which encompasses much of the High Desert.

Those who worked closely with Postmus while he was supervisor say he was a hard worker, dedicated to the job.

But over the seven years he served on the board, his career was riddled with controversies and scandal - the most prominent being the secret negotiations Postmus engaged in that led to the $100 million Colonies settlement, which government watchdogs criticized for being excessive and illegal. Postmus and Supervisor Paul Biane reached the settlement with The Colonies Partners LP, a major Upland developer in a closed-door deal after banishing county attorneys from the room.

It was during his term as board chairman that Postmus lost the tenuous control he held over an addiction to pain medication. On July 14, 2006, he embarked on his first trip to rehab, multiple sources said. The timing of Postmus' absence, however, was unfortunate.

The county's top leader could not be reached as the Sawtooth and Millard fires raged across Yucca Valley, threatening lives and homes. The massive wildfires scorched at least 85,000 acres of land.

Treatment for chemical dependency at the Sundown M Ranch in Washington State may have steered Postmus back on course for a while. His struggle with addiction remained out of the public eye, thanks to loyal county staffers, sources said.

"I was led to believe that Mr. Postmus had received the help he needed, and because I saw no signs of the problem in Mr. Postmus' behavior, I believed the issue had been resolved," Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said in a statement. Mitzelfelt served as Postmus' chief of staff from 2000 to 2006 when Postmus left the board and Mitzelfelt was appointed to replace him. "According to county policy, the issue was appropriately handled as a medical, and therefore confidential matter."

But midway through 2007, Postmus returned to rehab, this time at the Pine Ridge Treatment Center in Victorville, multiple sources said.

During 2007, Postmus' career started to fizzle. He was deposed as the chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, after draining Republican party funds and running up an exorbitant tab on a party-issued credit card. He launched a campaign to run for county assessor, an obscure elected position that political insiders say Postmus sought in order to regroup for a run at a Congressional seat.

It is unclear how Postmus transitioned from abusing prescription pain killers to methamphetamine, but those close to him have said they are terrified of the hold the drug has over him, and they fear it may cost him his life. One source said from 2005 on, the soaring highs and desperate crashes brought on by methamphetamine use began to take over Postmus' life.

As fragile control over drug addiction slipped from his grasp, Postmus' routine work habits became erratic, sources say.

After winning the post of county assessor, Postmus rarely showed up for work, instead issuing orders to Aleman by means of his Blackberry, sources said.

Still, despite being embroiled in political turmoil and suffering the ravages of a meth addiction, Postmus has managed to hold onto some close friends.

Dino Defazio, Postmus' business partner and friend, put in considerable effort to find a Russian mail-order bride for Postmus, hoping that a wife would give Postmus' political career more legitimacy and dispel swirling rumors that he was gay, sources said. But Postmus refused to go along with the plan, and Defazio gave up, sources said. When Defazio was married this summer, Postmus stood in as his best man, sources said.

Just as in his personal life, some of Postmus' business relationships have run aground.

It might seem like a conflict of interest for the county assessor, a man tasked with setting property taxes, to have development interests in the High Desert. But that hasn't stopped Postmus. A source familiar with the properties Postmus owns in the desert said only an expert would be able to uncover all of the land interests he holds.

Another business partner who participated in land deals in the High Desert with Postmus described him as a "high roller" who engages in "wheeling and dealing" to the detriment of his business partners.

The business partner said he worries that more innocent investors might be lured into land deals and taken advantage of by Postmus.

The grand jury report released in June chronicled misuse of power in the assessor's office - how Postmus spent $1.2 million to hire under-qualified executive level staff who had little role in the day-to-day operations of the office, how he ordered the transfer of campaign money on county time and engaged in partisan politics during work. The report questioned a $64,000 contract given to political consultant Mike Richman and gave a hefty severance package to former assistant assessor Jim Erwin.

The hard-hitting grand jury inquiry spun off a criminal investigation by the district attorney that culminated Thursday in Postmus' arrest.

Sources confirmed that mere days before the district attorney raided the assessor's office in April and seized documents and computers, Postmus attempted to set up a meeting with District Attorney Michael J. Ramos.

A source said the situation reminded him of "classic Bill," that when he perceives a looming confrontation, he reaches out to that person. Ramos says a meeting never took place.

But on the day of the raid, Postmus made a rare appearance in the office. It was 7 in the morning, sources said.

Ramos said he had only one conversation with Postmus, urging him to comply with the grand jury investigation.

Ramos was a political ally with whom Postmus had traded campaign contributions over the years. In 2006, he endorsed Postmus in his bid to become assessor.

But Ramos says their relationship was not close.

"I had a political acquaintance with him as he was the chairman of the board that oversaw my budget," Ramos said. "It was all business."

Still, Ramos' relationship with Postmus has led some to question why the district attorney was slow to charge Postmus.

Meanwhile, two key witnesses in Aleman's prosecution confirmed they have yet to be interviewed.

Although the grand jury investigation was far reaching, there was one detail it failed to uncover - that among Postmus' reportedly unethical employment practices in the assessor's office was the hiring of Jonathan Stucker, a man with whom he had an intimate relationship, multiple sources said. Stucker left county employment July 7, said David Wert, county spokesman, who declined to disclose the circumstances surrounding Stucker's departure. Stucker did not return calls seeking comment.

Postmus has long sought to keep his sexual orientation out of the public eye, driving to West Hollywood, Palm Springs and Laguna Beach in order to party and get high where he would not be recognized as an elected official, multiple sources said.

Sources also say Postmus has been completely undone by the arrest of Aleman.

"He seems to have shut down from the things that gave him pleasure - politics, sex and drugs," one source said. "His soul mate has been ripped apart from him."

Postmus adored Aleman because he was young, good looking, astute and politically aggressive, the source said.

Postmus had, in a sense, swooped in to rescue Aleman, catapulting him, in the short span of a few years, from manager of an Outback Steakhouse to assistant assessor, the second highest position in the assessor's office.

"Bill would shower Adam with gifts, trips, money," the source said, adding that the two men had traveled together to such destinations as Seattle, China, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Those trips appear to be over. With his political career in tatters and the loss of his most trusted companion, Postmus now seems to be facing an uncertain future, virtually alone.Postmus decline four requests to be interviewed for this story. He could not be reached for comment Thursday. His sister Holly, Defazio and Stucker also declined to be interviewed.

City Editor George Watson contributed reporting.

lauren.mcsherry@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3875

TIMELINE

NOVEMBER 2000: Postmus, 28, defeats 1st District Supervisor Kathy Davis.

DEC. 13, 2000: Postmus crashes into the back of a van on Bear Valley Road, damaging the county vehicle he was driving.

JUNE 2004: Postmus is re-elected.

2005-06: Postmus chairs the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

NOVEMBER 2006: Postmus defeats a 12-year incumbent for county assessor.

NOV. 28, 2006: The Board of Supervisors ends the county's feud with developer Jeff Burum over the Colonies project. Postmus and Supervisor Paul Biane reach a closed-door deal with the development company after banishing the county's lawyers from the room. The Colonies received $102 million.

APRIL 2008: Documents and computers are seized in a raid of the Assessor's Office.

JUNE 2008: The grand jury chronicles mismanagement and a political shop at the Assessor's Office. Postmus' top assistant, Adam Aleman, is charged with six felonies for allegedly destroying or altering evidence.

JULY: Postmus begins a 12-week leave of absence for unspecified medical problems.

OCT. 10: Postmus announces his return to work.

OCT. 23: Postmus declines a request to appear before the supervisors to answer questions about the controversy surrounding his office.

NOVEMBER 2008: County supervisors censure Postmus for failing to appear before them to answer allegations of methamphetamine abuse and unethical conduct.

DEC. 16: Supervisors vote unanimously to begin proceedings to remove Postmus from office.

JAN. 6: Postmus appears before the supervisors, admits he had a substance-abuse problem but had kicked the habit. He said he would not seek re-election.

JAN. 15: Investigators arrest Postmus at his Rancho Cucamonga home on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

- Staff Report

San Diego County filed papers this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase California's medical marijuana law, arguing that federal prohibitions outlawing the substance supersede California's law allowing sick people to use it.

The county is asking the nation's highest court to overturn a state appellate court's July decision upholding the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes.

"You have a conflict here between federal and state law, and we are in the middle," 5th District Supervisor Bill Horn said Friday. "What we have been asking all along is which takes precedence here. We will take it as far as we can take it and get a definitive answer."

Horn's district encompasses much of North County.

County officials sued the state in 2006, arguing that federal law that makes marijuana illegal should trump the 1996 passage of state Proposition 215, which legalized it for patients to use with a prescription. Patients who use marijuana say it helps them treat chronic pain.

In July, California's 4th District Court of Appeal handed medical marijuana users a victory when it rejected the county's contention that the state law flies in the face of federal pot prohibitions. The appellate court found that the purpose of the federal law "is to combat recreational drug use, not to regulate a state's medical practices."

In October, the California Supreme Court rejected the county's request that it review the ruling. That left the county with the option of asking the nation's highest court to step in.

San Diego Deputy County Counsel Tom Bunton said the U.S. Supreme Court might decide by June if it will take the case.

The county's filing was met with a thumbs down but no surprise from Adam Wolf, the lead attorney for medical marijuana patients opposed to the challenge. Wolf on Friday called the county's request "a waste" of taxpayers' money.

"This is an ill-fated and doomed lawsuit," Wolf said. "These are the same recycled arguments that have been rejected by the Superior Court, the Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court.

"With each day that San Diego does not comply with the state's medical marijuana laws, the medical marijuana patients needlessly suffer."

Wolf, with the American Civil Liberties Union, represents the San Diego chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. NORML is a defendant in the county's suit.

San Bernardino County, which has worked with San Diego during the battle, also filed a similar writ.

There also is a battle over a 2003 directive from state legislators calling for counties to create medical marijuana identification cards. Thus far, San Diego County has declined to issue such cards, even though the appellate court said in its July ruling that issuing the state-mandated cards would not put counties in conflict with federal law.

County attorney Bunton said "the state has not established any deadline whereby the counties have to begin issuing the ID cards."

Wolf said that as many as two-thirds of California's counties have started issuing ID cards to medical marijuana patients.

News Hawk- Ganjarden http://www.420Magazine.com
Source: North County Times
Author: Teri Figueroa
Contact: North County Times
Copyright: 2009 North County Times
Website: County Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Erase State's Medical Marijuana Law

__________________
420 Magazine News Team
Creating Cannabis Awareness Since 1993
http://www.420Magazine.com

"Prohibition... goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded"
-Abraham Lincoln

A clinic specializing in medical marijuana treatment has opened in Temecula. This is the first time such a clinic has opened in the Temecula Valley.

On Oct. 11, Alternative Care Clinics ( ACC ), a San Diego-based medical group, opened an office on Enterprise Circle.

The clinic looks like any other medical office except for a statue of Buddha sitting on a shelf in the back of the waiting room. Magazines on alternative healing sit around the reception area.

The doctors who work with ACC aren’t your typical doctors who want to shove pills down your throat,” said Jonathan Arbel, ACC’s director of operations, as he poured himself a cup of tea. “They try to find a more holistic approach.”

The clinic, which operates by appointment only, offers evaluations to explore whether a medical marijuana treatment plan is right for their patients.

The clinic requires its patients to bring in a Californian identification and all medical documentation showing marijuana could benefit them. The doctor goes over the documents and decides whether the patient qualifies.

The patient and doctor then work out what the clinic calls a “treatment plan” and the doctor writes a letter of recommendation in place of a prescription.

The types of conditions that qualify a patient for the use of medical marijuana include cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis and migraines, according to an ACC information packet.

According to Arbel, the term “prescription” does not apply to medical marijuana.

ACC issues a card to their patients as evidence they have a letter of recommendation. The card is designed to assure police the holder has a legal right to possess marijuana.

The card states a phone number police may call to reach ACC’s automated 24-hour confirmation service.

Using this service, a police officer would be able to confirm whether the card holder is a legitimate medical marijuana patient.

California law allows a patient to grow at least six mature cannabis plants – or 12 immature plants – and possess at least eight ounces of dried marijuana, according to an ACC information packet.

ACC goes to court frequently to defend its clients, Arbel said.

We take that responsibility seriously,” he said. “It’s amazing how a letter from a doctor can stop somebody from doing some serious jail time.”

In addition, the clinic educates the patient about the laws regarding marijuana’s medical uses.

The clinic does not sell marijuana or keep any at the office, Arbel said.

Smoking is barred in the clinic as it is in other medical offices, said Arbel. He leaned on his desk and smiled as he talked about what he thinks many people’s assumptions are about ACC clinics.

He speculated some may visualize a smoking den with beaded curtains and lava lamps.

His doctors never encourage a patient to smoke, he said. They encourage patients to use either edible pills or a vaporizer.

He lifted up a vaporizer from next to his desk. It was a stainless steel cone with a loose plastic bag attached to the top.

The user places the marijuana on the top of the cone and puts the bag over it, Arbel explained as he mimicked with his hands.

The vaporizer heats the plant until the THC – marijuana’s active ingredient – evaporates into the plastic bag. The patient then inhales the vapor from the bag.

In fact, said Arbel, the clinic has little to do with the consumption of medical marijuana outside of developing the treatment plan. The clinic is barred by law from even telling the patients where they can get marijuana.

I just recommend the patient Google the words ‘medical marijuana dispensaries,’” Arbel said.

Legal status of cannabis

In 1996, California voters approved an initiative exempting medical marijuana users from criminal liability for possessing and cultivating marijuana, according to department of justice documents.

In 2003, the state legislature enacted additional legislation to ensure police refrained from arresting or otherwise harassing medical marijuana users.

There’s been a lot of mishandling of the patient population,” Arbel said.

On Dec. 1, Americans for Safe Access, an organization dedicated to promoting access to marijuana for medical uses, sent out an e-mail announcing a victory for medical marijuana patients in Southern California.

On Nov. 28, the e-mail stated, a California state court ruled Federal law has no effect on California’s law making marijuana legal for medical use. The decision took the right away from police to arrest medical marijuana users.

On Dec. 1, the US Supreme Court reinforced that decision by refusing to hear an appeal that would undo the California court’s decision.

This ruling came as a blow to San Diego County and San Bernardino County authorities. The two counties had been involved in numerous court battles over the legality of medical marijuana.

In several court cases, county authorities argued the state law was illegal and contradicted federal law. So far, the counties’ arguments have failed to convince each judge to hear their case.

To the medical marijuana-using community, this was a big victory, said Arbel.

This cleared the air and said all state officials are not to enforce federal laws. They’re to enforce state laws,” he said.

For more information on Alternative Care Clinics, visit www.accsocal.com or call ( 866 ) 420-7215.

10:00 PM PST on Sunday, January 18, 2009
MARK MUCKENFUSS

San Bernardino County got off to a rocky political start.

So maybe it's no wonder we find ourselves looking at a long line of officials who have brought, if not disgrace, certainly the continuance of a questionable tradition, upon us in recent years.

Bill "Poster Boy" Postmus is just the latest to step to the fore.

The former county supervisor and current county assessor joins the ranks of such familiar names as Jerry Eaves, Robert Hlawek and Harry Mays.

A little less familiar may be Frank Noyes.

Noyes never actually made it into political life, but he came close. It seems a problem with substance abuse, in this case alcohol, brought an early downfall.

The year was 1855. The county was just two years old. And we all know how terrible that age can be.

The previous state election had, believe it or not, brought the Know-nothings to power -- proving that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Know-nothings actually was the nickname of the American Party, which had outpolled both the Democrats and Republicans. Noyes apparently was happy to align himself with the party of power, for a price.

It seems that Mormon leader Jefferson Hunt, the county's only state representative, wasn't keen to retain his seat in the coming election. Noyes, a recent Mormon convert, had made a name for himself in the San Bernardino community and was being positioned as a successor.

This was at a time when elections consisted of the Mormon leaders issuing a slate of uncontested candidates and allowing the populace to approve it.

Noyes even had traveled to Sacramento to cement a secret deal.

On a return layover in Los Angeles, he reportedly drank himself into a very un-Mormon-like state and boasted that the Know-nothings were paying church leaders in San Bernardino $7,000 to elect him to the Legislature. He, in turn, would vote with the Know-nothings.

Noyes never returned to San Bernardino after his drunken confession. He dropped from sight, reportedly devoting his career to alcohol and living on the streets of Los Angeles.

It's hard to know where Postmus will end up at this point. But things don't look good.

The assessor has been under an ever-darkening cloud of suspicion since August 2007, when prosecutors began looking into questionable campaign activities connected to his office. In June, those offices were searched and his right-hand man was arrested. Shortly after that, Postmus took an unexplained medical leave of nearly 12 weeks amid rampant rumors.

On Jan. 6, he addressed the Board of Supervisors, claiming a "successful struggle" against a "previous battle with substance abuse."

Postmus may have a different idea of success than the rest of us.

On Thursday, officials searched his Rancho Cucamonga apartment and reportedly found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

When Postmus came to the Board of Supervisors as a fast-rising Republican star in 2000, his desert district was plagued with meth lab activity.

Can you blame a guy for trying to represent his constituency?

In 2001, when Supervisor Jerry Eaves was charged with accepting bribes, Postmus joined calls for his resignation, saying, "I think it's time for Mr. Eaves to consider that his presence on the board harms all of San Bernardino."

It's hard to imagine what good Postmus can do at this point. Like Noyes, he might do best to simply fade away.

Reach Mark Muckenfuss at 951-368-9595 or mmuckenfuss@PE.com

From the PE: Investigators searched S.B. county supervisor’s office

It will be interesting to find out what the investigators were looking for that Jim Erwin might have had. Supervisor Derry seems confident that the search involved only the assessor’s activities.

Investigators searched S.B. county supervisor’s office

San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry said this afternoon that his top aide’s office was searched by investigators this morning as part of the investigation into Assessor Bill Postmus.

Jim Erwin, Derry’s chief of staff, is a longtime Postmus ally who served as assistant assessor until late 2007 when the two had a falling-out.

Derry said he was personally notified that the search was going to take place by District Attorney Michael Ramos at 7:05 a.m.

“He wanted to give me a heads-up that this investigation is strictly related to the assessor’s office,” Derry said.

The supervisor said he does not know what investigators were looking for or if they found anything during the 90-minute search.

“I’m pleased that the DA’s office is aggressively pursuing this matter,” he said.

Derry said he did not want to comment on the allegations against Postmus so as not to compromise the board’s recent decision looking into the possible removal of Postmus from his position.

However, Derry said the arrest and any evidence that may come to light as a result could speed up that process if the board decides to go forward.

County Counsel Ruth Stringer told the board that the removal process could be lengthy and expensive, requiring the board to present evidence of wrongdoing against Postmus.

“If it’s very clear and the evidence is on its face evident that laws were broken that would be a different story,” Derry said.

The board may not have to do its own investigation, he said.

Derry noted that Postmus would be removed from office by law if convicted.

06:56 AM PST on Friday, January 16, 2009
By DUANE W. GANG and IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

Survey: Should Bill Postmus resign?

PDF: Read a statement from San Bernardino County Supervisors Chairman Gary Ovitt about the assessor's arrest

PDF: Read statement from the San Bernardino County Assessor's Office about the assessor's arrest

PDF: Read Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt's statement about the assessor's arrest

PDF: Read statement from the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office about the assessor's arrest

Special Section: San Bernardino Co. Assessors Probe

The San Bernardino County district attorney's office arrested Assessor Bill Postmus on suspicion of drug offenses Thursday amid a sweeping inquiry that took investigators to six Southern California cities.

The arrest came as 50 officials from the district attorney's office served search warrants at homes, offices and government buildings throughout the region.

While searching Postmus' Rancho Cucamonga apartment, investigators found what they believe to be methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia and arrested the assessor shortly after sunrise.

As part of a yearlong investigation, prosecutors on Thursday sought documents related to two political action committees, Postmus' election campaign, his ties to a High Desert land-development company and the sale of his former Hesperia home, records show.

Less than two weeks ago, Postmus, 37, appeared before the Board of Supervisors and claimed that he had overcome a battle with drugs and apologized for past mistakes in his office. Postmus said his "successful struggle" did not interfere with his duties and added that he would not seek re-election in 2010.

Word of the arrest rattled county government as supervisors continued researching their options for removing Postmus from office.

"Today's arrest makes it difficult to believe the assessor's illegal and intolerable drug use has stopped," Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, once Postmus' chief of staff, said in a statement.

Supervisors said they were saddened and embarrassed by the morning's events. Supervisor Josie Gonzales said she felt insulted.

"If what the county assessor came and stated on Jan. 6 before the county Board of Supervisors was in fact a lie based on his arrest today, I am outraged. I am thoroughly outraged," Supervisor Josie Gonzales said.

Postmus was arrested at 7:10 a.m. and booked into the West Valley Detention Center at 10:47 a.m. on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor paraphernalia possession.

He left after posting bond on his $11,450 bail, walking out the main exit at 3:30 p.m.

Dressed in slacks and a tucked-in dress shirt, Postmus, once considered one of the most promising politicians in San Bernardino County, walked past a group of reporters without speaking.

He entered a white sedan with three other people inside and left.

It is unclear whether investigators searched Postmus' home specifically looking for illegal drugs. But during the raid at the assessor's home, an unknown quantity of a substance believed to be methamphetamine was found, along with drug paraphernalia, officials said.

Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Mike Ramos, would not say whether investigators served the search warrants as part of a larger investigation not focused on drugs.

She also declined to state the amount of drugs found.

Since Postmus is out of custody, prosecutors don't have a deadline for deciding whether to file charges based on the drug arrest. No arraignment is scheduled.

The Investigation

Postmus and his office have been under a cloud of scrutiny for months.

Prosecutors began looking into the possible misuse of public resources for political activity in August 2007. In April, district attorney investigators raided the assessor's office. In June, Adam Aleman, a top Postmus aide, was arrested on six felony charges of providing false evidence to a grand jury and destroying public records.

By last fall, supervisors began pressing Postmus to explain himself and started researching ways to remove him from office.

In Thursday's searches, investigators carted away boxes of documents from homes, offices and government buildings in Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Highland, Victorville, Apple Valley and Rancho Santa Margarita in Orange County, the district attorney's office said.

They sought financial and banking records, checks and other documents related to Conservatives for a Republican Majority, the Inland Empire Political Action Committee, and the Committee to Elect Bill Postmus, according to one of the search warrants.

In addition, prosecutors sought documents related to Tri-Land Inc., a company he and a partner formed five months after Postmus took office in January 2007, and Postmus' former Sunny Ridge Street home in Hesperia.

Postmus' Tri-Land partner is longtime friend Dino Defazio. Through the company, Postmus has a financial stake in six vacant properties in the Lucerne Valley and west of Adelanto, records show.

Investigators sought information on those six parcels, according to the warrant.

Defazio, who was served with a warrant, said Tri-Land has done nothing wrong.

When first reached by telephone Thursday, Defazio said, "The only thing I can comment on is they were looking for documents pertaining to the sale of his house he owned in Hesperia."

Defazio declined further comment but defended Tri-Land.

"We bought a couple of pieces of property," he said. "It was all done legally. Everything was done up and above board."

Thursday's raids also touched the Board of Supervisors. Investigators served a warrant at the office of Jim Erwin, a former Postmus ally and current chief of staff for Supervisor Neil Derry.

Erwin was Postmus' assistant assessor until late 2007, when he had a falling out with the assessor.

Derry said he was notified by Ramos about the search at 7:05 a.m.

"He wanted to give me a heads-up that this investigation is strictly related to the assessor's office," Derry said.

The supervisor said he does not know what investigators were looking for or if they found anything during the 90-minute search.

"I'm pleased that the DA's office is aggressively pursuing this matter," he said.

Removing Postmus

Supervisors for months have discussed using their power under the county charter to remove Postmus from office. The county has launched a search for a special independent prosecutor to investigate the assessor.

San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Ovitt said Postmus' arrest doesn't necessarily mean the board will hasten its review. The matter comes before the board again on Jan. 27.

"I think it's still important to follow through on the process that's been initiated by the district attorney's office, see that to its conclusion and do what we need to do then," Ovitt said in an interview.

The board must give Postmus a chance to answer the charges in a hearing if it decides to remove him, he said.

Ovitt said he is aware that the case hurts the county's image but said officials can't let that affect their investigation.

"We as a board have to remain independent of that and have to afford the assessor due process," he said.

Supervisor Paul Biane said Postmus appears to still be struggling with drugs and should "devote his full time and attention to overcoming the demons that are apparently continuing to haunt him."

Although all the supervisors expressed dismay about Postmus, they declined to comment extensively, saying they did not want to prejudice themselves should they follow through with a removal vote.

"I must remain impartial as the investigation by the district attorney and county counsel's review for potential removal proceedings are ongoing," Mitzelfelt said.

Staff Writers Richard Brooks, Mike Perrault, Paul LaRocco and Jim Miller contributed to this report.

Reach Duane W. Gang at 951-368-9547 or dgang@PE.com

Reach Imran Ghori at 951-368-9558 or ighori@PE.com

In a follow up to a 2005 story where Florida judge Doug Henderson ruled that breathalyzer evidence in more than 100 drunk driving cases would be inadmissible as evidence at trial, the Second District Court of Appeal and Circuit Court has ruled on Tuesday to uphold the 2005 ruling requiring the manufacturer of the Intoxilyzer 5000, Kentucky-based CMI Inc, to release source code for their breathalyzer equipment to be examined by witnesses for the defense of those standing trial with breathalyzer test result being used as evidence against them. '"The defendant's right to a fair trial outweighed the manufacturer's claim of a trade secret," Henderson said Tuesday. In response to the ruling defense attorney, Mark Lipinski, who represents seven defendants challenging the source codes, said the state likely will be forced to reduce charges — or drop the cases entirely.' ... What this really means is that outside corporations cannot sell equipment to the state of Florida and expect to hide the workings of their machine by saying they are trade secret. It means the state has to give full disclosure concerning important and critical aspects of the case.

Once A Drug Buster, Now A Prominent Critic Of The 'War On Drugs'

When he's hiring new deputies, the test is simple. The sheriff asks them to write their life stories. "Most of this job is writing," Bill Masters says. "If they can't write, they're a constant pain in the ass." So if Masters wrote his own life story, what would he write?

Masters grew up a straight-laced kid in L.A., joined the Coast Guard, kicked around and decided he didn't want to go back to L.A. It was hot there, and you had to wear a tie to job interviews. So he said screw this, "I'm going to Telluride and go ski for a year."

He was a liftie who helped build Lift 7. Then fate intervened. Driving down valley, a rock careened down the hill and smashed the top of his Volkswagen Bug. Crushed the roof. Crushed the groceries. So he hitchhiked. One day, the Telluride Marshal picked him up, and offered him a job. Masters was only 23 years old.

Shortly thereafter, he was named Sheriff. He got along well with the old miners, though they occasionally stole the lights off the top of his cop car and joyrided it down the street. The hippies were less tolerant of the new, short-haired, rednecky sheriff. Telluride was a famous drug spot, and Masters was determined to clean it up. He set up an elaborate sting involving all kinds of Dragnet devices -- wiretapping, undercover police officers, and he arrested some druggies/town board members.

I thought we could arrest our way out of this problem," Masters says.

Pro-druggers organized a party and burned Masters in effigy. Sky Walters, now the undersheriff, worried they'd burn him in person. Masters thought he'd never get re-elected sheriff. Since then, he's won seven elections.

Since those early anti-drug days, Masters has changed his thinking, changed his party -- from Republican to Libertarian, and now to Democrat -- and become one of America's most outspoken and honest critics of the War on Drugs. His 2001 book, "Drug War Addiction," argues that police departments are addicted to the money they get for the War on Drugs, despite all the damage it does to otherwise decent people. He talks about wrestling down heroin addicts with his wife Jill, a paramedic and now a town council member. He also edited a book called "The New Prohibition," which includes Ron Paul and Jesse Ventura. It was well reviewed.

Sheriff of a small county, Masters doesn't make bank. In the old days, for dough, he worked at a gas station. Now, he co-owns an alarm company and works security for the family of Tom Cruise, whom Masters calls "a great guy, great family." Masters, 57, plans to run for sheriff again in 2010. "What else would I do?" Masters laughs. "I'm completely unskilled."

When you write it down on paper, his life story says otherwise.

As much as 65 percent of $1 bills in the Birmingham area could be contaminated with trace amounts of cocaine, according to a set of experiments conducted by forensic science students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The students tested different methods of measuring the amount of cocaine on money. They looked at 40 $1 bills - half collected from a Regions Bank and half from a Wachovia branch - and found that the more effective testing method revealed 65 percent had cocaine on them. Professor Elizabeth Gardner, who oversaw the research, said the figure matches tests other students conducted in her class with individual $1 bills collected from stores and restaurants around the Birmingham area.

More comprehensive data collected in other cities usually finds between 80 and 90 percent contamination, she said, although those studies usually use higher-denomination bills.

"I have talked to people who say that basically 100 percent of currency is contaminated and if you get any negatives, it's in dollar bills," Gardner said.

As far as she knows, she said, this is the first time the tests have been done on money in Birmingham. However, she cautioned that the research, which was printed in UAB's undergraduate journal Inquiro, was done on a small scale and isn't as complete as previously published studies elsewhere.

The paper was written by student Jeremy Felix for an internship in chemistry with a forensic science track and as an independent honors project by student Rena Hammer. Felix plans to present the results at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Gardner also has students in her Justice Science 250 class, titled "Criminalistics: An Overview," conduct similar experiments to trace the amount of cocaine on bills with gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, a technique commonly used in forensics.

"I think this is something I'm going to have my students do every year," she said. "It is great fun and I think the students really enjoy it, and it is good science."

It's one of several "CSI"-style projects she assigns the class. Others include an analysis of rope and a study of how dog hairs could be transferred from a person petting a dog to a crime scene.

Gardner said she came up with the idea for the cocaine test before coming to UAB last year. She never conducted it at her previous school, but did check with authorities there to make sure it wouldn't get anyone in trouble.

Tiny amount:

She emphasized that the amount of cocaine in question is so tiny that it couldn't possibly affect people who handle the money. Researchers suspect most of the cocaine comes from counting machines at banks, which have been shown to have cocaine dust in them. In addition, Gardner said, the paper U.S. currency is made of seems to attract and trap cocaine residue and other contaminants.

"Money is really dirty," she said.

The first way Gardner had the students test the money - by soaking it in a methanol solution to extract all the contaminants - created a brown liquid too filthy to run through the lab's sensitive machines.

So the students tested three other methods - one in which they used chloroform and water to extract the residues, one in which they used chloroform alone, and one in which they used chloroform and an acid/base wash. They found the latter method produced the cleanest sample, but multiple steps meant a loss of some measurable cocaine. Those samples tested 35 percent positive for cocaine.

Psychiatric nurse Bryan Krumm's opinion of the state's medical marijuana program is not an uncommon one. "Until they can keep the federal government out of the program, they are not going to be able to make our program functional."

The Department of Health established regulations regarding the growth and distribution of medical marijuana last week. The department accepting applications from nonprofit businesses interested in producing medical marijuana.

Krumm filed suit against the U.S. attorney and others general in District Court to combat federal interference, and he's using a stipulation in the Controlled Substances Act to do it.

The act is broken into "schedules," which are classifications for various drugs. Marijuana is listed in the most restrictive category, Schedule I. According to the act, these drugs have no medical uses. Cocaine and opiates are listed as Schedule II drugs, because they have medical applications.

Krumm works at Sage Neuroscience Center in Albuquerque. He argues that once California created a medical marijuana program in 1996, cannabis should have been bumped to a less restrictive schedule. "Once it has accepted medical use," says Krumm, "it no longer meets criteria for placement in Schedule I." Krumm says his is the first lawsuit in the country that is using the Controlled Substances Act itself to justify the removal of marijuana from Schedule I.

He tried asking the state to move marijuana to a lower schedule in the state's Controlled Substances Act, but the New Mexico Pharmacy Board refused. "It was just an attempt to get it out of this arbitrary placement," he says. "Right now in the state of New Mexico, it's listed both in Schedule I and Schedule II."

William Harvey, executive director of the Pharmacy Board, says it's not up to the board to move a drug from one schedule to another. It's up the the Legislature, he says."The Legislature has given the board the ability to schedule substances that aren't recognized yet-like there's always chemicals or drugs that are invented. But the board can't take something that's already in a schedule and move it to another one unless the Legislature has given us the authority. And it hasn't."

But Harvey added there's no doubt state law permits medicinal marijuana through the Department of Health. Marijuana is listed in Schedule I under the state's Controlled Substances Act. It's also part of Schedule II, but only for use by certified patients in the state's medical cannabis program. Marinol, which is synthetic THC, is categorized in Schedule III.

Krumm will argue his case against the federal government in a couple of months. If he succeeds in proving the Drug Enforcement Administration has been illegally maintaining Schedule I placement of marijuana, it would open options for people around the country.

Rescheduling would prevent the federal government from saying it's against federal law for these state programs to operate, he says. "There are so many people who are suffering needlessly for lack of a needed medication," Krumm adds. "Marijuana has unique therapeutic value that can't be mimicked by any other class of medication. It's one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."'

The state's Medical Advisory Board will hold a hearing Thursday, Jan. 15, to consider adding illnesses to the list of those that qualify patients for the state's medical cannabis program. Go to Los Griegos Community Center at 1231 Candelaria NW at 9 a.m.

As the Texas Legislature begins its session, a Houston judge is again arguing to end jail time for criminals caught with small amounts of cocaine and crack, but this time he has the support of 15 colleagues.

State District Judge Michael McSpadden on Wednesday sent a letter to the state's top officials and Houston's senators and representatives asking for a change in what he called "draconian" laws.

During the last session, McSpadden stood alone when he asked that charges for possession of a controlled substance of less than 1 gram be reduced from a state jail felony to a misdemeanor. Two years later, judges from both major political parties are joining the Republican who has been on the bench for more than 20 years.

"Sixteen of us feel that it's just unfair to be convicted for a residue amount and be labeled a felon, which changes your whole life," McSpadden said. "We're not talking about legalizing it; we're talking about making it a misdemeanor."

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos said the problem is multifaceted, and she is studying the best ways to solve the problems associated with drug abuse, including pre-trial diversion and residential treatment centers.

She said she was looking at the "big picture" and noted that Class A misdemeanors could still involve jail time, which wouldn't help jail overcrowding, and that small drug arrests lower other crimes in neighborhoods.

Lykos also pointed out that any drug user contributes money to criminal empires, including drug lords in Mexico and terrorists worldwide.

"Anyone who uses illicit drugs has blood on their hands," she said.

In his letter, McSpadden suggested reducing the charge and mandating drug treatment. He also recommended funding misdemeanor drug courts.

McSpadden said 25 percent to 30 percent of Harris County's 22 criminal district court dockets are felony charges for less than 1 gram of a controlled substance.

The change, McSpadden argues, would lower dockets and create uniform enforcement across the state. He noted that Dallas County police and prosecutors place a lower priority on these offenses, leading to disparate treatment between counties.

McSpadden said his concerns come from fielding complaints about the system from juries and residents.

"The 'War on Drugs' isn't working, and we as judges realize it," McSpadden said. "And the public realizes it."

During the last session, the proposal didn't make it out of committee.

Chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, didn't return calls for comment on the proposal late Wednesday.

Judges who signed on with McSpadden include fellow Republicans Debbie Mantooth Stricklin, Jeannine Barr, Vanessa Velasquez, Denise Collins, Marc Carter, Belinda Hill, Joan Campbell and Jim Wallace.

Democrats supporting the initiative, who were all elected in November, include Ruben Guerrero, Shawna Reagin, Kevin Fine, David Mendoza, Randy Roll, Hazel Jones and Maria Jackson.

10:00 PM PST on Monday, January 5, 2009
By CINDY MARTINEZ RHODES
The Press-Enterprise

SAN BERNARDINO - About 20 people from all points of San Bernardino County met in front of a San Bernardino courthouse Monday to cheer one of the last vestiges of the counterculture -- marijuana.

They came to show support for medical marijuana activist Scott Bledsoe, of Crestline, who filed a lawsuit Monday against San Bernardino County for refusing to issue him a medical marijuana card.

Named in the petition writ as respondent is Jim Lindley, director of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. A petition writ such as this only seeks enforcement of a law. It does not ask for financial compensation.

The pull between state law, which allows the sale of prescription marijuana, and federal law that bans it, has muddled the issue throughout the state. Locally, Riverside and Orange counties issue cards, while San Bernardino and San Diego counties do not.

"I'm thrilled. Beyond thrilled," Bledsoe said after filing his lawsuit with his lawyer, J. David Nick. "My phone rings constantly, people thanking me and telling me their stories. My heart breaks. They fear going to jail and in San Bernardino, it's a real possibility."

Nick said the lawsuit has been referred to the Superior Court in Needles and would be assigned a hearing date within the next week.

San Bernardino County is not issuing medical marijuana cards and sheriff's deputies are instructed to arrest people who possess marijuana -- even when the users present marijuana ID cards issued by other counties, sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire said.

In 1996, California voters approved Prop. 215, which allowed individuals to obtain marijuana for medical purposes when approved by a physician. The state Legislature in 2003 approved Senate Bill 420, which provided additional legal guidance to medical marijuana users and led to dispensaries opening around California.

Marijuana has been used in the course of treatment for anything from cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain and glaucoma.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY

Lanny Swerdlow, a registered nurse and director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project in Palm Springs, said he is frustrated with Riverside County as well.

Although he holds a card issued by Riverside County, Swerdlow said there is no place to purchase medical marijuana because cities continue to outlaw stores. In one instance, he said, authorities raided a collective and took all the plants.

Swerdlow said he has been trying to reach the Riverside County district attorney's office for two months, but has not received a response regarding the legal formation of a collective.

Riverside County district attorney's office spokesman John Hall said his office still refers to a 2006 report it issued that says, "The Riverside County District Attorney's Office believes that the cooperatives being considered are illegal and should not be permitted to exist within the county's borders. They are a clear violation of federal and state law, they invite more crime, and they compromise the health and welfare of the citizens of this county."

Reach Cindy Martinez Rhodes at 951-368-9521 or crhodes@PE.com