Saturday 27 August 2011

[BOT] Alaska State Troopers-sponsored study: odor of marijuana leads to marijuana busts - Alaska Dispatch

Alaska State Troopers-sponsored study: odor of marijuana leads to marijuana busts - Alaska Dispatch

Found: Sat Aug 27 20:32:43 2011 PDT
Webpage: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/shoc...
Newshawk: http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/


topical analysis

propaganda analysis

August 27, 2011

In a pickle with Alaska produce

Stephen Harper adds $60 million for Arctic health care

Canada's Northwest Territories plans 'diamond promotion center'

Which Alaska post offices were spared? Stay tuned.

Hurricane Irene death count rises

Hurricane Irene remains major hazard for mid-Atlantic, New England

Rebels negotiate surrender of Libya's oil cities

Hurricane Irene: Public transportation systems shut down

Palin Watch

Rove and Palin, round 2: 'enormous thin skin'

Palin Watch

How much patience do Palin presidential supporters have left?

Palin Watch

Book tour cans Levi's Wasilla mayoral run

Ben Anderson

Shocker: Marijuana odor may indicate presence of marijuana

Arctic

Canada's Northwest Territories plans 'diamond promotion center'

Arctic

Stephen Harper adds $60 million for Arctic health care

Arctic

North Pole sea ice half as thick as 2001

Arctic

Yukon River salmon numbers better than average

Books

Racial politics and the Obama presidency

Travel Guru

Get the Alaska airfare deals while they're hot

Outdoors

Help comes too late for 2 Bristol Bay grizzly cubs

Books

The top 7 classic political novels

Slideshow

Fishing for feeder kings in Alaska

Slideshow

Point Lay walrus haulout

Ted Stevens (1923-2010)

One year after his death, Ted Stevens' legacy looms large over Alaska

Alaska Militias

No bail for Alaska Peacemakers Militia 'Major Barney'

Alaska Militias

Militia co-defendant: We were set up

Alaska Militias

An unusual bail hearing for Alaska Militia 'Major Barney'

Email Facebook Social Twitter Print Single Page

Ben Anderson

Shocker: Marijuana odor may indicate presence of marijuana

Judge rejects Alaska State Trooper's dope-sniffing ability

Small marijuana bust on North Slope raises eyebrows at ACLU

A press release Thursday from the Alaska State Troopers revealed the results of a three-year study that determined the answer to a question that was bothering everyone: Is the odor of marijuana associated with the presence of the drug?

The statement from troopers, titled "Study Finds Marijuana Odors Significantly Associated With Marijuana Grows" was based on research conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center at the request the troopers. Troopers were quick to point out that no tax dollars were use to fund the study -- it was paid for with "federally forfeited illegal drug proceeds," according to troopers, who said the goal was to obtain:

...an empirical estimate of the extent to which AST investigators' detection of marijuana odors served as a reliable indicator of the presence of illegal quantities of marijuana in structures.

The study examined 200 searches for marijuana conducted by troopers between 2006 and 2008. 197 of those 200 searches resulted in the seizure of marijuana. The three cases where no marijuana was seized were not preceded by the detection of marijuana odor.

The study concluded that the likelihood of discovering four ounces or more of marijuana was 2.7 times greater if based on the presence of marijuana odor. In cases where there were 25 or more plants growing and marijuana odor was present, the likelihood of finding marijuana was 2.9 times greater than in cases where no odor was detected, The study said.

Presumably, the study could be used to buttress requests for search warrants in cases where law enforcement officers claim to have smelled marijuana. The courts have proven skeptical of some smell claims.

In April, a U.S. District Court judge rejected the notion that trooper Kyle S. Young, who made a pot bust in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in February, sniffed the weed in question while driving down the street in his trooper vehicle. Young subsequently obtained a search warrant based in significant parts on his sense of smell and made a bust. Questions then arose about the legal justification for the search.

An expert witness testified in court that there was a "zero" chance that Young had initially smelled the marijuana grow operation from the location he claimed to be in when he first sniffed the pot. Due partly to that testimony, the evidence -- the plants and equipment from the grow operation -- used to make the arrest was thrown out, undermining the state's case.

Quetions arose about other cases when it turned out this wasn't the first time Young had made a pot bust based on the claim of smelling cultivating marijuana. The Young case brought to the fore questions about the legitimacy of the scent test in determining the presence of growing marijuana. It's still a nebulous issue, as the case of Alaska State Trooper Kyle S. Young shows.

Despite the obvious implications from troopers that the new study shows that scents emanate from growing marijuana, has the fact that marijuana has a distinct smell ever really been questioned? The report is full of painfully obvious tidbits like this one:

AST investigators discovered four ounces or more of marijuana in 90.7% of the searches that were preceded by the detection of marijuana odors by one or more investigators. In contrast, four or more ounces of marijuana was discovered in 78.7% of searches that were not preceded by the detection of marijuana odors.

And:

...while the detection of growing/green marijuana odor by investigators is not significantly associated with the discovery of "small" amounts of marijuana (aggregate weights of less than four ounces), it does appear to be significantly associated with the discovery of relatively "large" quantities -- that is, four or more ounces and/or 25 more plants -- of marijuana.

* Page:

analysis of article text


prohibitionist hits:0 government drug warrior (prohibition_agency) hits:0 propaganda (drugwar_propaganda) hits:2 legalization hits:0 drug_reformer hits:0 reform_referenda hits:0 cannabis hits:35 stimulant hits:0 narcotic hits:0 hallucinogen hits:0
    prohibitionist     prohibition_agency     drugwar_propaganda     legalization     drug_reformer
    reform_referenda     cannabis     stimulant     narcotic     hallucinogen
                        
                        


propaganda analysis


explicit prohibition propaganda (explicit_propaganda) hits:0 hated group (propaganda_theme1) hits:0 madness, violence, illness (propaganda_theme2) hits:2 survival of society (propaganda_theme3) hits:0 gateway, use is abuse (propaganda_theme4) hits:0 children (propaganda_theme5) hits:0 demonize, war, epidemic (propaganda_theme6) hits:0 total prohibition (propaganda_theme7) hits:0 dissent attacked (propaganda_theme8) hits:0
EXP - explicit prohibition propaganda (explicit_propaganda) GRP - hated group (propaganda_theme1) MAD - madness, violence, illness (propaganda_theme2)
SOC - survival of society (propaganda_theme3) USE - gateway, use is abuse (propaganda_theme4) KID - children (propaganda_theme5)
WAR - demonize, war, epidemic (propaganda_theme6) TOT - total prohibition (propaganda_theme7) DIS - dissent attacked (propaganda_theme8)



conceptevidencehitslinks
 drug of abuse implied / mentioned

drug related
[news] [concept]

illegal drugs  
drugwar_propaganda : a drug war propaganda event, campaign release, slogan, or themepropaganda

drugwar propaganda 70%
[news] [concept]

propaganda theme2 Classic Modern Drug Propaganda
Themes in Chemical Prohibition
Drug War Propaganda (book)
propaganda_theme2 : drug war propaganda theme: madness, violence, illness caused by drugsmadness, violence, illness

propaganda theme2 70%
[news] [concept]

"death"2Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2)
drugwarfacts.org/crime.htm
drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm
Distortion 18: Cannabis and Mental Illness
 drug of abuse

illegal drugs
[news] [concept]

cannabis various illegal drugs  
 drugs 90%
[news] [concept]
various drugs  
 psychoactive plant

plants
[news] [concept]

cannabis erowid.org/plants/pla...
 intoxicant
[news] [concept]
cannabis  
cannabis : cannabis (marijuana) product or usecannabis
[news] [concept]
"Marijuana" "pot" "weed"35Cannabis: Religious and Spiritual Uses
Cannabis-Driving Studies
MAPInc.org Cannabis Link DB
medicalmarijuanaproco...
pot-tv.net
cannabisnews.com/
cannabisculture.com
Schaffer Library: Marijuana
drugwarfacts.org/marijuan...
mapinc.org/pot.htm
 various drugs 90%
[news] [concept]
"drug"2 
 various illegal drugs
[news] [concept]
"illegal drug"1mapinc.org
drugwarfacts.org
DEA's Drugs of Abuse booklet
drugwarfacts.org/drugtest...
 school
[news] [concept]
"University"1ssdp.org/
 aggrandizing government

aggrandizement
[news] [concept]

"expert"1wikipedia: Statolatry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro...
define: Statism
Bought priesthood
The Media As Enablers of Government Lies
Michael Levine, Mainstream Media: The Drug War Shills
explore the idea of: "bureaucratic thrust"
Tyranny of Experts
Thinking Critically about Experts and Authority
 forfeiture 50%
[news] [concept]
"seizure"1forfeiturereform.com/
fear.org

re:0.87 st:0.02 fo:0 s:0.01 d:2.15 c:0 db:0.19 a:0.53 m:0.31 t:10.01 (f)


text of article used for CRITICAL ANALYSIS, under FAIR USE provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, et al.