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On Friday the government’s war on marijuana consumers claimed yet another victim.

In Las Vegas, Nevada, metro police shot and killed a 21-year-old father-to-be while serving a search warrant for marijuana.

Phil Smith at StoptheDrugWar.org has detailed coverage here.

A 21-year-old father-to-be was killed last Friday night by a Las Vegas Police Department narcotics officer serving a search warrant for marijuana. Trevon Cole was shot once in the bathroom of his apartment after he made what police described as “a furtive movement.”

Police have said Cole was not armed. Police said Monday they recovered an unspecified amount of marijuana and a set of digital scales. A person identifying herself as Cole’s fiancée, Sequoia Pearce, in the comments section in the article linked to above said no drugs were found.

Pearce, who is nine months pregnant, shared the apartment with Cole and was present during the raid. “I was coming out, and they told me to get on the floor. I heard a gunshot and was trying to see what was happening and where they had shot him,” Pearce told KTNV-TV.

According to police, they arrived at about 9 p.m. Friday evening at the Mirabella Apartments on East Bonanza Road, and detectives knocked and announced their presence. Receiving no response, detectives knocked the door down and entered the apartment. They found Pearce hiding in a bedroom closet and took her into custody. They then tried to enter a bathroom where Cole was hiding. He made “a furtive movement” toward a detective, who fired a single shot, killing Cole.

… According to Pearce and family members, Cole had no criminal record, had achieved an Associate of Arts degree, and was working as an insurance adjustor while working on a political science degree at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He was not a drug dealer, Pearce said.

“Trevon was a recreational smoker. He smoked weed, marijuana. That’s what he did,” she told KTNV-TV. “They didn’t have to kill him. We were supposed to get married next year, plan a black and white affair,” she said. “He was all I ever knew, we were gonna make it.”

In May, NORML blogged about another sickening case — that one from Columbia, Missouri (you can watch the disturbing and graphic video here) — of ‘cops gone wild’ in the war on weed. But the similarities between the two cases go beyond narcotics officers breaking down the doors of private residences and discharging their weapons.

In both instances, these tragic raids took place in regions of the country that have ‘decriminalized’ marijuana possession. That’s right. In Nevada, lawmakers in 2001 enacted statewide legislation defelonizing minor marijuana possession — making the offense a fine-only misdemeanor. (Separately, Nevada voters in 2000 decided to amend the state’s constitution to exempt medical users from arrest.) And in 2004, some 60 percent of Columbia, Missouri voters approved a local ordinance that sought to prohibit local cops from from arresting anyone for simple marijuana possession.

Yet, as the above tragedies illustrate, neither of these ‘half-a-loaf’ changes in law (decriminalization and medicalization) ultimately corrects the core problem and that is this: Police and politicians still accept the premise that this level of deadly force is appropriate to keep people from using marijuana.

That is why, while on the one hand NORML (obviously) supports cannabis medicalization and decriminalization efforts, we also recognize that these efforts fall woefully short for many Americans. After all, police in Las Vegas, Columbia, and elsewhere are not forcefully entering private homes and terrorizing families while executing search warrants for alcohol. But they are engaging in such behavior in communities that have medicalized and/or decriminalized marijuana. And unfortunately, they will continue to do so.

In short, the only way to fully protect all our citizens from these kinds of abhorrent events is through the legalization and regulation of marijuana for all adults.

Decriminalization and medicalization are first steps — not the end game. Ultimately only legalization and regulation can bring a long overdue end to the brutal war on marijuana consumers.

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My Thoughts:

(P.S) I bolded and under lined the very important, specific details

This is going to sound Korney, but I came close to shedding a tear. Another couple's life, ruined! Because of a Over hyped substance!! I want to see Justice! I want to see that officer be fired! Seriously, the guy was unarmed, so how would he have done serious harm, when surrounded by multiple guys with guns, batons and other weapons!?

I know this stuff is common, but it's just so infuriating, there has to be a better way! We keep saying, Legalization! And they just keep on proudly busting down places and actually ruin people's lives.
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Videos for Marijuana

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CNBC SAYS - MARIJUANA = LARGEST CASH CROP IN CA

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Why it should be legalized, Expert's view

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Joe Rogan on Hemp, Marijuana and DMT

The Truth About Marijuana: When a Good Plant Got a Bad Name

Marijuana is EXTREMELY dangerous!

Our Marijuana Laws Destroy Lives The Rachel Hoffman Tragedy (MPP-TV)

Our Founding Fathers Smoked Marijuana

Videos against Marijuana

Why the Government Says Marijuana Kills Brain Cells...Its all BS

FOX News says Marijuana is dangerous! (Everyone knows, the media is ALWAYS RIGHT...Sarcasm)

Marijuana Debates
former drug czar gets nailed in marijuana debate

Bill O'Reilly on Marijuana / It's Just a Plant

Glenn Beck Legalize Marijuana & Stop The Violence

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To make Marijuana illegal just because it has the potential to cause cancer is not valid enough. Cause if so, we would then need to make Alcohol, Tobacco and junk food illegal. Tobacco is confirmed to cause cancer, Alcohol I believe may cause Liver Cancer and Kidney Stones.



Here is one

Here is number 2

Here is number 3

Here is number 4

Here is number 5

Effects of Fast Food on Children

Junk Food and Colon Cancer

Eating junk food 'can cause depression'

It says in the article that he wasn't a drug dealer though, he was a recreational smoker, that is what most people are in this country. So it's not him who is contributing to bringing the Herb into the country, except maybe purchasing along with the other 100 million or more Americans who do it. Reason I call it a Herb is cause drugs are artificially made or natural things modified and Marijuana that is usually sold is unmodified and in it's natural state, just dried up. I live in Arizona and these Cartels are running a muck and selling their Marjuana at a high price is what is fueling their groups, America is fueling their groups and the only way to fix this is to someone how obliterated Marijuana from Earth(Which is impossible) or Legalize, regulate and tax it. Bring the cost of it down and make the Americans want to purchase it from stores and organizations that don't come out and commit crimes. Did you hear about how my state(Arizona) is under the control in certain areas by the Cartels? Where they can safely and securely sell Marijuana and drugs. Our own country created this mess and we sure as hell can fix this to prevent future stories like this one.

Who said she is doing Marijuana?. Who said he was even smoking anywhere near the mother while she is pregnant? It was the husband's gig not hers. And when the Police barge in with guns, yelling and screaming, your going to panic and hide, especially if you have a illegal substance that SHOULDN'T even be illegal. You know why Marijuana is the #1 use substance, cause it's the most effective way to relieve pains without the risk of getting nasty side effects from man made stuff.

About her story not making sense, can you point them out for me please?

When someone rushes you even when you're holding a gun it can be just as much from being scared as being "trigger happy" that leads to the gun gong off. If someone rushes me and I don't know what they're going to do then I'm sure as hell not going to wait until it's too late to find out.

I swear I was holding my tongue until now, but as former Navy in anti-drug operations and someone forced to do security details myself I take extreme offense to the cops immediately being made out to be the big bad when the man clearly shouldn't have had the substance to begin with.

I think the government can tax it, they are just too lazy to try. Just like the government is too lazy to figure out something with our Border's violence, just like they are too lazy to figure out the oil spill thing till it's way to late. They waited like two months before they even considered using that Kevin guy's machine to filter the oil out from the water.

We use to live in a country of the free. And yet we seem to lose more rights, than gain. I love being a skeptic of our government and I love being a skeptic about our police. It keeps them in line, keeps them on their toes and attempts to keep them focused only when enough people become skeptical about what they think is right and what SHOULD be right.

No offense was meant, honest. My point was meant more in contrast with Valgex's opinion that it (seemed to be) automatically pot's fault that the guy got shot, and I was trying to say I disagreed (personally) with that opinion.

It's hard to pin it on any one cause - as with most things, it's a combination of factors that led to his death, unfortunately.

I live in a country where pot is illegal, but it's common and it's not treated like such a big deal. It's illegal up here, but people smoke it (sometimes quite blatantly), and everyone just gets over it. It's probably why I don't approve of the cop shooting to kill someone who may or may not have been in possession of pot (at the time of the shooting). A "furtive movement" from someone hiding in a bathroom doesn't qualify as something that justifies shooting to kill, IMHO. But, that's just me, and no offense is meant.

She might not have been smoking it. But like I said, second- and third-hand smoke both cause problems too. Do you honestly think he was smoking somewhere other than home, then showering and putting on clean clothes before he came anywhere near her? I doubt it.


The article you posted said the police knocked. Anyone who hides when the police knock is up to no good.


Studies show it may cause a wide variety of health issues. So why exactly should it be legal?


Marijuana does have side effects, lots of them in fact. And I assure you, most people who use marijuana do not do so for any medicinal properties.


Um, yeah, remember the part when she said she didn't do anything wrong yet hid from the police when they knocked?

Are you serious? Did I seriously just read this load of bullcrap right?

Let me get this straight and see if I am understanding you correctly. You're saying that because people chose to ignore laws that they knew damn well were in place, knew that violating those laws would get them shitcanned, and chose to do it anyway, that somehow "T3h Government" is the one at fault? For real?

Maybe if they had taken the time to get the laws changed the right way, instead of doing something illegal, do you really think they'd be in the position that they're in? Hm?