Democracy for New Mexico

ACLU Sues Sheriff’s Deputies to Uphold New Mexico Marijuana Law

I see Sheriff's deputies in Eddy County, acting as part of the so-called Pecos Valley Drug Task Force, have nothing better to do than harrass a disabled individual who is legally allowed to ease his pain under New Mexico's medical marijuana law, which was enacted last year. I wonder who they think they are protecting, and under which state law. Can they possibly believe this is a justified use of taxpayer dollars? Thank goodness the ACLU is standing with the victim of this horrible (and illegal) treatment by law enforcement officials who apparently believe they are above the law and are certainly without compassion or wisdom.

From the American Civil Liberties Union of NM:
CARLSBARD – A paraplegic man is suing Eddy County Sheriff's Deputies for seizing marijuana plants and equipment to grow marijuana, which he uses to control pain resulting from a spinal cord injury.  Leonard French received a license to cultivate and use small quantities of marijuana for medicinal purposes from the State of New Mexico under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, which represents French, says the deputies' actions violated not only that law, but also state forfeiture laws and a constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.

"The New Mexico state legislature, in its wisdom, passed the Compassionate Use Act after carefully considering the benefits the drug provides for people who suffer from uncontrollable pain, and weighing those benefits against the way federal law considers cannabis,” said Peter Simonson, ACLU Executive Director.  “With their actions against Mr. French, Eddy County officials thwarted that humane, sensible law, probably for no other reason than that they believed federal law empowered them to do so."

On September 4, 2007, at least four Eddy County deputies, acting as members of the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force, arrived at French's home in Malaga, New Mexico and announced, "We're here about the marijuana." Thinking that the deputies had arrived to check his compliance with the compassionate use law, French presented the deputies with his state license to grow marijuana, then showed them his hydroponic equipment, including two small marijuana plants and three dead sprouts. The deputies seized the equipment and plants, and later turned them over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. French has not been charged with any violations of federal drug laws. 

A physician prescribed marijuana for French after other medications lost their effectiveness in controlling pain and severe muscle spasms stemming from a 1987 motorcycle accident.

Simonson said, "With the Compassionate Use Act, New Mexico embarked on an innovative project to help people who suffer from painful conditions like Mr. French's.  The law cannot succeed if the threat of arrest by county and local law enforcement hangs over participants in the program.  With this lawsuit, we hope to clear the way for the State to implement a sensible, conservative program to apply a drug that traditionally has been considered illicit for constructive purposes."

The ACLU’s complaint is available online at: online (pdf). For more information about the national ACLU Drug Law Reform Project, visit this page.

Editor's Note: To become a card-carrying member of the ACLU of NM, click here.

ACLU Files Federal Suit Over Shielding of Protestors at Bush Visit to Los Ranchos NM

Albuquerque police car and mounted unit block road to Bush event  in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque on 8/27/07 (Photo by Terry Riley)

From the ACLU:
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Mexico filed a lawsuit in federal court today on behalf of several New Mexico residents and advocacy organizations who were made to stand more than 150 yards away from the site of a fundraiser being attended by the president as they peacefully protested the views of the administration, while a group of people expressing support for President Bush were allowed to stand only a few feet from the fundraiser site.

“People who disagree with the president have as much a right to be heard as those who wish to praise him," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU. “The unequal treatment of the ACLU’s clients violates their constitutional right to free speech.”

On August 27, 2007, President Bush was in New Mexico to attend a fundraiser for Senator Pete Domenici at the home of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Mayor Larry Abraham. In anticipation of the presidential motorcade, several individuals, including the ACLU’s clients, gathered along the street leading to the mayor’s house holding signs expressing their disapproval of the Iraq War.

According to the ACLU’s lawsuit, law enforcement officials forced the peaceful protestors to stand 150 yards away from the motorcade route, on the opposite end of the street from where the president would arrive, where they were blocked from the president’s view by a wall of parked police cars and officers on horseback. A group of people holding a banner reading “God Bless George Bush! We Pray for You!” was allowed to stand only a few feet from the fundraiser site, in plain view of the motorcade.

Demonstrators line up at last summer's protest in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque in the North Valley (Photo by Terry Riley)

“Law enforcement officers gave Bush supporters front row seats and made those who disagreed with the president stand behind a wall of cars and horses,” said Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director. “Officials went to great lengths to shield the president from viewing the people who disagreed with him, which just isn’t how a free society should operate.”

The New Mexico lawsuit comes in the midst of an ongoing challenge by the ACLU to a White House policy that unlawfully excludes individuals perceived to be critical of the administration from public events where President Bush is present. The policy is laid out in the official Presidential Advance Manual, which includes a section called “Preparing for Demonstrators.” In that section, the manual directs members of the presidential advance team working at the site of a presidential appearance to “work with the Secret Service and have them ask the local police department to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route.”

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jeanne Pahls, Rebecca Wilson, Alma Rosa Silva Banuelos, Carter Bundy, Merimee Moffitt, Laura Lawrence, Stuart T. “Terry” Riley, Mary Lou “Mitzi” Kraft, Jason Call, and the organizations Stop the War Machine and CODEPINK Women for Peace, Albuquerque chapter.

Attorneys in the lawsuit are Catherine Crump, Chris Hansen and Josh Hsu of the national ACLU and George Bach of the ACLU of New Mexico. The defendants are the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, the City of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Police Department and certain John/Jane Does.

More Info:

• The ACLU’s complaint is available online here (pdf).

• Click for more information about the ACLU’s work to protect free speech at presidential events and see today's post about the suit on the ACLU blog.

• Check out ChrisWeigant.com for a post about this issue that includes some great photos of CodePink from last summer's protest at Bush's Los Ranchos visit. His report is cross-posted at The Huffington Post, where Chris is a contributor.

• Daily Kos has a diary by the ACLU today on this matter.

• See our previous post on Bush's visit to Los Ranchos with photos from the protest by Terry Riley, as well as links to videos of local TV coverage, newspaper stories and more.

Photo of the Day: Rose Bowl Parade Protests

Protesters advocating impeachment of U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney carry a giant copy of the Constitution as they follow at the end of the 119th annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California January 1, 2008. REUTERS/Mark Avery (UNITED STATES)

Also see these photos of the Rose Bowl protests on Flickr.

New Mexico First to Host Speech by Ret. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

From New Mexico First:
New Mexico First is pleased to invite you to a special presentation by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She will speak about civic engagement and its role in a vibrant democracy. The Justice will also answer questions submitted by the public about her life, her judicial decisions, and citizen participation in government.

Students, members of the community, local leaders, and others are invited and encouraged to attend this civically engaging and educational evening. The special event is free and open to the public; however, tickets are required. To obtain a ticket, individuals must register for the tickets at the New Mexico First home page. The tickets will then be sent to the requester’s email

When: December 13, 2007
Where: Kiva Auditorium, 2nd and Marquette NE, ABQ
Time: Doors open at 6:45 PM; the program is from 7:30-9 PM
Click here to register
Suggest a question for the Justice. You do not have to register for the event to submit a question.

Parking: Give yourself time to park. The Kiva Auditorium is located inside the Greater Albuquerque Convention Center. Parking options include:

• Civic Plaza garage, Marquette & 3rd Street, $6 per vehicle
• Convention Center Garage, Martin Luther King Blvd & Broadway, $6 per vehicle

For more information please contact Jacey Blue Campbell at 505-241-4814 or jaceyc@nmfirst.org.

Co-founded by Senators Pete V. Domenici and Jeff Bingaman in 1986, New Mexico First is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to engaging citizens in policy.

ACLU Sues for Better Safety and Services in NM Juvenile Justice Facilities

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico sued the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) last Tuesday, November 20, 2007, for failing to ensure safe living conditions and essential rehabilitation services for young people in state juvenile justice facilities. The lawsuit charges CYFD with breaching the terms of a contract that it signed with the ACLU in February 2006 requiring the agency to establish minimally adequate mental health services and protect youth from physical assaults and threats of violence. CYFD entered into the 2006 agreement in order to avoid being sued for rights violations at that time.

“This lawsuit seeks to make sure that youth in our juvenile justice system get a fair shot at redirecting their lives and overcoming mistakes they made in their past,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson. “New Mexico puts its most troubled kids in prison because we don’t have adequate mental health services. Kids are unnecessarily incarcerated and our juvenile detention facilities become training grounds for lifelong criminals instead of centers of genuine rehabilitation.”

Filed in Santa Fe District Court, the ACLU’s lawsuit seeks two basic reforms:

1. Establish minimally adequate community mental health services for the 3,000 children and youth on probation or parole due to delinquent acts, in order to avoid the unnecessary incarceration of youth due to their mental illness; and
2. Fundamentally improve the safety, medical care and mental health care provided to the approximately 300 children and youth held in delinquency facilities.

The suit cites several instances of guard-on-youth violence, including a March 2007 incident in which staff at the Santa Fe County Juvenile Detention Center assaulted a 17-year old resident who is developmentally delayed and suffers from auditory hallucinations. Guards picked the youth up by his armpits and repeatedly slammed his head into a metal classroom door. CYFD rejected a complaint that the ACLU filed on the resident’s behalf, except to criticize staff for failing to videotape the ‘take down.’

Simonson said, “Hopefully your children don’t wind up in one of these facilities. But if they do, you want to know that the staff is going to protect them, not brutalize them. You want to know that they’re going to get the tools they need to address emotional problems and make productive behavioral adjustments.”

Representing the ACLU are attorneys Daniel Yohalem and Lee Hunt of Santa Fe, ACLU Co-Legal Director Phil Davis of Albuquerque, and Alice Bussiere and Maria Ramiu of the Youth Law Center of San Francisco. Yohalem is former Legal Director for the Children’s Defense Fund.

Download the legal complaint: www.aclu-nm.org

The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the rights to the franchise, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.

Web: https://www.aclu-nm.org