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Colorado Considering A $15,000 Fine For Police Officers Who Violate Recording Rights

After generations of corruption, the crimes committed by police in the line of duty are finally being exposed, now that most people have the ability to record police encounters with their cellphones. This new development has obviously infuriated police, and cops across the US have made many attempts to prevent themselves from being recorded. However, most states now officially recognize a citizen’s right to film the police.

In Colorado, lawmakers are considering a fine for police officers who attempt to stop people from filming, or who attempt to destroy or delete the recording after the fact. A $15,000 fine is being considered for officers who attempt to violate a person’s rights in this way.

The bill is currently filed as HB 15-1290.

“Primarily, it came up as a result of the number of news reports we’ve been seeing about police officers telling people, ‘Give me your camera,’ or taking the data away, and that is unacceptable conduct,” Rep. Joe Salazar, one of the supporters of the bill, recently told reporters.

“It takes a very special person to be a police officer. We want to honor them, but at the same time, we have a few bad apples who need to be aware that their conduct now has major, major consequences,” he added.

The unfortunate thing about this bill is that the money would go right back to the government.

Meanwhile, there are also states in the US where lawmakers are attempting to pass legislation that will actually ban citizens from filming the police. Late last year, Arizona State Senator John Kavanaghintroduced Senate Bill 1054, which would make it effectively illegal to film police. Under the terms of the bill, filming police would only be legal under very specific circumstances, and would require citizens to stop filming if a police officer orders them.

Although the Supreme Court has continued to uphold the right to film police, First Amendment violations seem to be on the increase as cameras become more commonplace. Police chiefs and police unions across the country have been unanimously opposed to citizens filming police, and have blamedYouTube for everything from rising crime rates to terrorism. In fact, police have begun using the term “YouTube effect” to describe the growing mistrust of law enforcement.

However, cameras are simply capturing the reality of police encounters, and showing how officers actually behave when they interact with people.

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John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.

After Year 2 Of Legal Pot In Colorado, ALL Drug-Related Charges Drop Significantly, Record Revenue

Two years have passed since Colorado residents began legally buying cannabis under voter-approved Amendment 64, and the state is seeing enormous benefits on multiple fronts.

First and foremost, thousands of people are not being thrown in a cage for possessing a plant. Charges for possession, cultivation and distribution have dropped more than 80%. Besides sparing people the stigma and financial burden of a cannabis arrest, cops and courts aren’t wasting taxpayer money going after pot smokers.

“It’s heartening to see that tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding Coloradans have been spared the travesty of getting handcuffed or being charged for small amounts of marijuana,” said Art Way, Colorado State Director for the Drug Policy Alliance. “By focusing on public health rather than criminalization, Colorado is better positioned to address the potential harms of marijuana use, while diminishing many of the worst aspects of the war on drugs.”

There is another interesting statistic coming out of Colorado’s legalization of recreational cannabis. According to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), all drug-related charges have dropped by 23% on a judicial district level. It seems that ending pot prohibition can have positive effects in other areas of the war on drugs.

On the issue of tax revenue, Colorado has beaten expectations with a projected $125 million collected in 2015. This is almost three times what the state collected in 2014. Analysts attribute this to a variety of factors, including more dispensaries open, more tourists visiting those pot shops, and more people deciding to try cannabis.

“I attribute it to … more and more people … comfortable with the legalization of marijuana,” said Tyler Henson, president of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce. “They don’t see it as something that’s bad for them.”

The revenue from cannabis tax is used for a variety of purposes, such as improving local public schools, behavioral health programs and youth prevention. For example, the Tony Grampsas Youth Development program, which “provides necessary services to youth at risk likely to be disproportionately targeted by punitive prohibition policies,” will receive $23 million in the 2015/2016 fiscal year.

The overarching message here is that Colorado has embraced a public health approach to cannabis, instead of making pot users into fodder for the criminal justice system. By accepting the reality of cannabis, including its medical benefits, states can be laboratories for research and the development of humane policies.

The Free Thought Project has documented several other good things about Colorado’s cannabis legalization. Cannabis businesses have donated large sums of money to clean up highways, teen cannabis use has declined, prescription drug use is down, and deaths from opiate painkillers have declined dramatically. Highway car accident deaths are at their lowest ever, and even violent crime has significantly decreased. It is more difficult to attribute these last two to legalization, but the trends are nonetheless there.

The best way to validate these statistics is for more states to free their citizens from the shackles of prohibition.

Colorado Just Became the First State Ever to Generate More Taxes from Marijuana than Alcohol

This proves the power and possibilities of legalization!

In the past year, it has become obvious that marijuana is set to become a booming industry on the legal market and recent news from Colorado gives us more evidence of this taking place.

As one of the first states to go legal, the Colorado government has collected more taxes for marijuana than they have for alcohol in the past year. This is the first time that this has ever happened in history and it shows that the market for marijuana may be larger than the market for alcohol.

According to The Colorado Department of Revenue, the state government was able to rob marijuana sellers and users blind, collecting over $70 million in taxes from cannabis sales. Meanwhile, alcohol companies were fleeced for roughly $42 million for alcohol taxes, over the course of a year.
While businesses getting looted by government tax collectors is never anything to celebrate, it is interesting to see how quickly the marijuana market is growing.

Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project recently said that the state was able to collect so much money in taxes that they are getting a break for one day.

“Marijuana taxes have been incredibly productive over the past year, so this tax holiday is a much-deserved day off. This will be the one day out of the year when the state won’t generate significant revenue. Over the other 364 days, it will bring in tens of millions of dollars that will be reinvested in our state,” Tvert said.

According to the figures released this week, the state of Colorado collected $69,898,059 in tax revenue from the marijuana industry this past year.

A study recently published by researchers at the University of Michigan has shown that cannabis use among teens and college students is increasing while alcohol and tobacco use is declining. In fact, for the first time ever, the rate of daily cannabis use has now surpassed the rate of daily cigarette use.
This is a great discovery considering the fact that cigarettes and alcohol kill tens of thousands a year while marijuana kills no one.

John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter-culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work, he organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled “Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance” at bookpatch.com.

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Colorado Considering A $15,000 Fine For Police Officers Who Violate Recording Rights

After Year 2 Of Legal Pot In Colorado, ALL Drug-Related Charges Drop Significantly, Record Revenue

Colorado Just Became the First State Ever to Generate More Taxes from Marijuana than Alcohol