tagged w/ Will Foster
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Will Foster became a poster boy for drug law reform more than a decade ago, when he was sentenced by an Oklahoma court to a nightmarish 93 years in prison for growing marijuana plants to treat his rheumatoid arthritis. National publicity -- indirectly gained for Foster by StoptheDrugWar.org, publisher of this newsletter -- helped get his sentence reduced to 20 years, and in 2001, he was paroled to California. Now he is back in prison in Oklahoma, charged with violating the terms of his parole, and is likely to remain there until either 2011 or 2015 -- depending on whose interpretation of the state's arcane sentencing laws is followed.Will Foster became a poster boy for drug law reform more than a decade ago, when he... more
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Medical marijuana patient Will Foster is en route to prison in Oklahoma after being picked up Friday by Oklahoma law enforcement officials. He had been held at the Sonoma County Jail in Santa Rosa, California, for the past 15 months as he fought bogus marijuana cultivation charges there--he was a registered patient with a legal grow--and, after the California charges were dropped, on a parole violation warrant from the Sooner State.Medical marijuana patient Will Foster is en route to prison in Oklahoma after being... more
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The weather over most of the United States this week was mostly sunny, summer. It is hot, the first signs of the end of the season with longer nights and nascent buds. The summer sun is still strong, beating down on sun-bleached land. It is a wonderful time of the year.
This is a time of year when I am normally pretty upbeat, optimistic, fun-loving- but there is a personal consideration that hangs on my shoulders like leaden drapes. Will Foster, my friend for more than 15 years, has been in Sonoma County, CA jail awaiting extradition to Oklahoma for more than 18 months, a year and a half.
His crime was growing a 25 square foot (5’ x 5’) medical garden in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was originally sentenced to 93 years, more than the maximum that the law called for. This was later reduced to only 20 years. He was paroled after 4.5 years and exiled from Oklahoma to serve his probation in California. After 3 years of probation, California declared him rehabilitated, but Oklahoma disagreed and wanted back. Not content with one pound of flesh, they want two. Will’s extradition hearing is on August 18, 2009 at 1:30pm at the Sonoma County Courthouse, 600 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa, CA.
It is important that the courtroom is filled, and if you are able, it is important that you are there, not just as a form of moral support for Will but to show the court that you are not satisfied with this kind of injustice, you think that everyone counts in the United States, no judge should enforce cruel and unusual punishment That he knows he is wrong to sentence an innocent person no matter what the law says.The weather over most of the United States this week was mostly sunny, summer. It is... more
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