Regular readers of Navel Gazing already know that of all the cities that have cracked down on marijuana in Southern California, none have been as lame and hypocritical as Long Beach.
First, the city welcomed in pot clubs, offering to provide a chance to obtain a permit to grow and distribute marijuana–in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in lottery fees and other expenses. Then the city took the cash, failed to award any permits, and began raiding clubs that couldn't afford to compete in the lottery. Finally, Long Beach banned cannabis collectives altogether.
Fun times! But not for the people unlucky enough to get busted by the cops, who in a newly updated YouTube video can be seen acting as though they think they're a bunch of Navy SEALS taking out bin Laden.
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The video clip is titled “Marijuana Raids, Machine Guns, the Police, and Obama Telling Jokes” and features an introductory oration by retired LAPD deputy chief Stephen Dowling, a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, who points out that more Americans favor legalizing marijuana than continuing with our nation's failed war against weed. Among other highlights: a clip of Attorney General Eric Holder stating that enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have passed medical-marijuana bills would not be a top priority.
That's when the fun begins: fantastic footage of Long Beach cops acting like complete jerks and, despite trying to destroy cameras with battering rams, being captured on film in activities that have already led to a major lawsuit against the city. Watch it for yourself, enjoy the Hawaii Five-O soundtrack, and note the particularly callous cop who purposefully strides across the back of African-American dispensary worker Dorian Brooks, who has just followed a police order to lie on the ground.
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Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).