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DRUGWAR.COM
No Freedom of Speech for Ed "NJWeedman"
Forchion
by Preston Peet- for Drugwar.com
Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion
August 20, 2002
Political
candidate and outspoken marijuana legalization proponent Ed “NJWeedman” Forchion
is under arrest again in New Jersey. He was picked up by police at his weekly parole
meeting and booked into the Burlington County Jail sometime between 3
and 11 PM on Monday, August 19, 2002. Apparently the arrest was for violating his parole
agreements by filming a series of pro-marijuana and First Amendment commercials.
Under the terms of his parole, Forchion is not allowed to publicly
discuss marijuana in any way. Ironically, the commercials, which had been slated to run in four counties in New Jersey on the Comcast
Cable Company, were barred by Comcast management before they aired.
At this time
details about his charges are still a bit sketchy, as the Burlington
County jail refuses to divulge any information about the case other
than that he is in the jail, alleging that they are not allowed to
"release any information to civilians.” (The Burlington Co. jail later
amended this statement, telling Drugwar.com that we were entitled to
have this information, but only from the warden, who has not returned
repeated calls.)
Forchion has
a long history of fighting for the right to use marijuana, and of
paying the consequences for battling prohibition. He’d had a couple of
minor brushes with the law over petty offenses in his early years (but
compared to many of the corporate crooks still sitting pretty without
seeing the inside of a jail cell, he’s an angel of propriety). In
November of 1997, having built up a thriving marijuana smuggling
business while working as a truck driver driving his own rig, he was
arrested in a sting operation as he and his brother were trying to pick
up a FedEx package containing 40 pounds of marijuana. This lead to both
brothers, along with a third friend, being the first people tried in
New Jersey under the then-new Omnibus Crime Act, which allows for
anyone convicted of trafficking over 20 pounds of pot, even their first
offence, to do 20 years in prison.
While
awaiting trial, Forchion undertook a campaign to bring marijuana reform
into the public consciousness, as well as the right to Jury Nullification (which is illegal in New Jersey)
running unsuccessfully for office in the US congress and for the office
of Burlington County Freeholder, as the sole member of the Legalize
Marijuana Party. Forchion also undertook civil disobedience, lighting
up joints in the New Jersey State Assembly and at the Liberty Bell,
among a dozen or so very public places. Two years, 15 hearings, and
three judges later, Forchion accepted a plea bargain of 6 months in
jail and 27 months in New Jersey’s Intensive Supervised Parole program, after refusing to
rat out his marijuana connections. Reporting to the Riverfront Prison
in Camden, NJ, on Jan. 12, 2001, (where prison guards immediately found
10 joints secreted within the sole of his sneaker), Forchion was
informed he was not yet eligible for ISP, due to his “extensive”
criminal history. He did 15 months inside before finally getting
released on April 3, 2002 into
ISP. He almost immediately filed an appeal of his sentence, which if he
looses he faces up to 20 years in prison.
“I'm still
fighting this conviction,” Forchion wrote Drugwar.com in an email a few
hours before his arrest Monday. “My parole officer (Tom Bartlett) also
ordered me not to talk to the press. Which I regarded as a illegal order. Because I knew such a order not to talk to the press was illegal I
gave a few interviews anyway. On May 27th, I stood outside the
Burlington County Courthouse and protested my not being able to see my
daughter because of the Religion [Rastafari] I have chosen. I passed
out fliers and was interviewed by the Burlington
County Times and the Trentonian.” On the following day he was
placed under house arrest, then was arrested on June 6 and sat in jail
for four days for speaking to the newspapers.
“I was
livid,” writes Forchion, “this was totally un-American. So I contacted
Peter Christopher of http://www.nextplayvideo.com/
(Activist video) and asked him if he could help me by making a couple
of First Amendment commercials for me. He did, we made three. I went to
Comcast here in Mt Laurel, NJ, and presented them. They (Comcast NJ)
accepted them, had me sign a contract and I gave them a deposit. The
office manager actually liked them.”
“In our
standard advertising contract, there is a paragraph that prohibits
habit forming drugs and illegal products from appearing in advertising
spots. so it is a cut and dried situation
for the company,” said David Shane, Comcast's vice-president of
corporate communications. “The spots clearly violate the agreement that
he signed, so as a result we returned his $100 deposit, and the company
is not running the spots.”
When it was
noted that Comcast takes money from, and airs commercials by both the Office of National
Drug Control Policy’s National Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Shane said, “They
don’t promote the use of habit forming drugs or drug paraphernalia. Let
me read you the contract, the clause in the contract. ‘The following
material is explicitly prohibited. Drugs/illegal products, including
habit forming drugs, drug paraphernalia, or establishments that promote
these products. Also included is advertising for a product of service
which is illegal or has no legitimate use in the country, state, or
municipality where systems franchise area [sic] are located.' So it’s
pretty clear these spots violate that portion of the contract.”
Although it
is clear that marijuana has many different legitimate uses despite
the US
prohibitionist rhetoric and laws to the contrary, and may or may
not be habit forming for some people, Shane stuck to his guns, but did
not mention whether or not pharmaceutical companies which market habit
forming drugs on Comcast have to abide by this same agreement. He did
note that “Anybody who advertises on Comcast signs this standard
advertising contract. Again, anything promoting the use of habit
forming drugs or drug paraphernalia are
prohibited on Comcast.”
“I’m so
fucking mad I could spit,” Peter Christopher told Drugwar.com when
contacted about Comcast‘s decision and Forchion’s subsequent arrest.
“We’re trying to get activists to do stuff like this. Sponsor some
public access, shoot their own video. It
took about 4 hours one afternoon at Ed’s house. I’m almost embarrassed
to tell you how quickly I edited them. We wrote them for 30 seconds
slots, timed them, and tried them. Actually the commercials were
written and edited by a friend of mine. We’re trying to influence
people to come out and work with us. I think they will.” Christopher
points out how the system has really gone after Forchion, because he
represents the counter-culture, he is very loud about his beliefs, and
is not afraid of the repercussions that have resulted for standing up
for what he believes is right.
“These things
go unchallenged every day,” says Christopher. “Guys get tossed around,
nobody does anything about it. Why? I think a lot of it is fear. I’m
going to tell you this, and you think about it. It may have never
occurred to you. The problem is the system has turned too many people.
Four out of five people tell them everything they want to know. How can
you go from that situation to being an activist? How can you look other
people in the face and help them change the laws when you’ve told on
them? Eighty percent of the people arrested tell all. Those are the
statistics, they don’t lie.” But Forchion himself refused to roll over
and tell all.
On Monday
night, Forchion reported for his weekly parole meeting. At the end,
everyone was told they could go except Forchion, according to
Christopher, who spoke at length with Forchion later that night.
Forchion was taken into custody, during which his new commercials were
mentioned as the reason his parole was being violated, then taken to the Burlington County jail where he now sits.
Forchion does
not yet have a lawyer assisting him. He is also seeking help
in obtaining enough money to run the commercials in any venue he can
get them on.
“The War on
Drugs is being fought by two sides, the Government side and the winning
side,” Forchion points out. “Apparently Comcast only wants the
government side’s opinions expressed. This is absolute censorship. Yes,
I had a shirt on with a "weed-leaf". Comcast airs far worst! They aired
my campaign commercials three years ago and in those I had a bong and a
fake weed leaves hanging out my suit jacket pocket. It wasn't the shirt, it was the words they didn't like. I was
questioning the War on Drugs and what it is doing to the principals of
freedom this country was founded on. This is an example."
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BURLINGTON COUNTY TIMES
8/23/2002
MARIJUANA
ADVOCATE JAILED FOR ESPOUSING LEGALIZATION OF DRUG
Marijuana legalization advocate
Ed "njweedman" Forchion
is in trouble with the law again.
Forchion was jailed Monday
night after he violated the terms of the supervisory program in which
he is enrolled, officials said yesterday.
As a result, the Pemberton
Township resident
could be forced to return to prison to serve the remainder of his
10-year sentence on marijuana- related charges.
Tom Bartlett, regional director
for the Intensive Supervision Program, said Forchion violated provisions
of the program by advocating marijuana use.
Participants in the Intensive
Supervision Program are released early from prison but must remain
drug-free and abide by other regulations.
"He agreed he was not going to
promote marijuana use," Bartlett
said. "We tried to get him in compliance and he has not
cooperated."
In a telephone interview from the
Burlington County Jail in Mount
Holly yesterday, Forchion said he was told he
violated the terms of the program by taping three television
commercials in which he advocated the legalization of marijuana.
Forchion said he simply
expressed his opinions on free speech and the nation's war on drugs in
the commercials.
"This is America,"
Forchion
said. "I have every right to say what I want to say. ( Parole officials ) just don't want me to
talk."
Forchion has long maintained
that his First Amendment rights are being violated because he cannot
freely practice his faith as a Rastafarian or state his beliefs.
Forchion was charged with
helping his brother and another man pick up a shipment of 40 pounds of
marijuana at Bellmawr Industrial
Park in Bellmawr, Camden
County, in November
1997. The marijuana was shipped from a supplier in Arizona
via Federal Express.
Forchion was tried on
charges of distributing marijuana and possession of marijuana with
intent to distribute in October 2000 but pleaded guilty to those
charges and two unrelated charges during his trial. He was
sentenced to 10 years in prison in December 2000 and served 16 months
in prison before he was admitted into the Intensive Supervision
Program.
Under the terms of the program, Forchion must refrain from
smoking marijuana and must obtain a job. He also must provide
regular urine samples to demonstrate that he is staying clean.
Forchion also cannot
advocate the legalization of marijuana.
In each of the three, 30-second
commercials that he taped, Forchion
wears a shirt bearing a marijuana leaf and stands in front of an
American flag.
In one of the commercials, he
advocates free speech. In another, he says that marijuana has
medicinal benefits. In the third, he criticizes the government's
war on drugs.
Forchion tried to buy time
from Comcast to televise the commercials, but the cable company
declined to air them.
Comcast spokeswoman Nissa O'Mara said
the commercials violated the company's advertising policy against
promoting drug use.
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THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
9/4/2003
In the Jackpot
Again
The Weedman
lands back in the pokey for questioning pot laws.
JONATHAN VALANIA (jvalania@philadelphiaweekly.com)
Ed Forchion, aka the New
Jersey Weedman, is back behind bars for allegedly violating the terms
of his parole by trying to get a series of anti-drug-war commercials
aired on CNN. As per the terms of his parole--a sort of double secret
probation called Intensive Supervised Parole (ISP)--Forchion is
prohibited from publicly advocating the use or marijuana. Last April
Forchion was released from prison, where he was serving a 10-year
sentence on marijuana distribution and possession charges, and placed
on ISP.
Forchion's latest
incarceration--the second time this summer he's been put behind bars
for speaking to the media or airing his views on drug laws--stems from
his attempt in early August to book airtime with Comcast Cable for a
series of commercial spots that question the constitutionality and
scientific validity of the criminalization of marijuana.
Forchion was hoping to
run the ads locally during CNN's America Remembers--Part 1, a look back at Sept.
11, but the spots never got past Comcast's legal department, which
deemed them in violation of company policy against ads that advocate
drug use.
In the spots, Forchion
never encourages or advocates the recreational use of marijuana.
Instead, he argues that the war on drugs is unconstitutional. In all
three spots, Forchion stands before an American flag, goateed and dreadlocked, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with
marijuana leaves.
Prior to Comcast's
refusal to air the spots, Forchion, who has been effective in advancing
his opinions through the media, told both the Trentonian and
the Burlington County Times that the ads were set to run. It
was through these newspaper stories that Tom Bartlett, regional
director of the ISP program, learned about the commercials and promptly
had Forchion arrested on Aug. 19 and sent to New Jersey's Burlington County
Jail.
"He agreed that he would
not promote marijuana use," Bartlett told the Burlington
County Times. "We tried to get him in compliance, and he has not
cooperated."
An ISP parole hearing is
scheduled for Sept. 17. "This is like Alice in Wonderland:
sentence first, ISP hearing later," says Forchion's attorney, John
Vincent Saykanic, who has filed a motion for bail.
Forchion began a hunger
strike on Aug. 26 and vows to continue it till his release. He told PW
through an intermediary that he's concerned that prison officials will
start force-feeding him.
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TRENTONIAN
8/19/2002
A FEDERAL CASE:
"WEEDMAN" seeks releif
from higher court
The case of Ed "NJWEEDMAN"
Forchion is headed to federal court.
Believing
that he is being held in jail unconstitutionally, Forchion petitioned
the federal district court in Camden for a
"writ of habeas corpus" -- lawyer-speak for a federal judge to
determine whether an inmate is being imprisoned lawfully.
Judge
Joseph Irenas accepted Forchion's petition, and now the state has until
Oct. 28 to explain to the judge why Forchion is sitting in the clink
"The judge
clearly saw something legitimate," said John Furlong, a local lawyer
and expert in these matters. "He [Forchion] made it through the door,
which puts him head and shoulders above everyone else."
Furlong
explained that the federal courts are deluged with writs of habeas
corpus, and very few get accepted.
"He's
moving in the right direction," Furlong said. "He's got a leg up."
Forchion
has been stewing the Burlington County Jail for a month.
He was
arrested Aug. 18 after filming three commercials that the state claims
advocated the use of marijuana.
The
commercials, as seen by The Trentonian, dealt with First Amendment
issues and the war on drugs, and did not explicitly advocate the use of
marijuana.
But that's
what members of the Intensive Supervisory Program said he did.
ISP is a
heightened state of parole Forchion was put into it after 17 months in
prison for transporting 25 pounds of pot into the state.
As part of
Forchion's deal, ISP allegedly forbade him from advocating the use of
marijuana, though Forchion claims no paperwork on such a restriction
exists.
Tom
Bartlett, the South Jersey head of
the ISP, said it would be "inappropriate" to discuss any matter
regarding Forchion when asked the details of Forchion's ISP deal.
On Tuesday,
Forchion was supposed to appear before a three-judge panel in Hunterdon County
Court.
The hearing
was meant to determine if Forchion did in fact break the terms of the
ISP deal.
Witnesses
were in court, Forchion's lawyer was ready to go, and the judges said
they would hold the hearing for last, supposedly so they could get a
firmer handle on the case.
The only
problem with the hearing was that it never took place -- the state
failed to arrange transportation for Forchion from Burlington to
Flemington.
"It was an
honest mix-up," Bartlett told the
judges. "The writ was never sent to the Burlington County Jail. We
tried to make arrangements to get him here, but it's physically
impossible."
No new date
for the ISP hearing was announced.
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DRUGWAR.COM11/20/2002
The Return of the Star
Chamber-
the troubling similarities
between Ed Forchion and William Penn.
by incarcerated US
political prisoner
Edward Forchion,
a.k.a. NJWeedman.com
(photo from NJWeedman.com)
posted at DrugWar.com Nov. 20, 2002
(for background on Forchion's case, please see No Freedom of
Speech for Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion)
Although most Americans don’t
know it, many of the rights we as Americans have were derived as a
result of the English trial in 1670 of William Penn. England
at that time had a “government religion,” the Church of England. Penn
was a Quaker, a member of an illegal religion. Penn was ordered by the
government to not talk about his beliefs and they shut down his church.
When he defiantly spoke of his beliefs anyway he was arrested. Penn
used a tactic called Jury Nullification to be acquitted of the charges. The
jury was tried for acquitting Penn by a court called the Star Chamber,
which couldn’t be appealed.
Eventually,
not only was Penn’s acquittal upheld but the jury was freed and England’s dreaded Star Chamber was outlawed. Citizens were
given the right to religious freedom, to assemble, trial by a jury, a
public trail and the assistance of counsel for defense. These new found
rights were incorporated into English Common Law and later crossed the
Atlantic (Penn established the colony Pennsylvania- Penn's Woods-
having been given Pennsylvania by King Charles II of England in 1681.)
becoming the backbone of the US Bill of Rights. The 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Amendments are direct results of the William Penn
case.
Today in
America the War on Some Drugs and Users has eroded most of these rights.
We now even have illegal
religions. I belong to one, Rastafari. The
4th Amendment is null and void, and the 6th and 7th Amendments are
unrecognizable in the criminal justice system due to forced plea
bargains. The 6th Amendment right to assistance of counsel for defense
has been voided by State appointed lawyers who protect the State from
citizens instead of how they were originally mandated: to protect
citizens from abuse of government. The 6th and 7th Amendment rights to
a speedy trial by a jury of one’s peers are now a rarity.
In my original
trial in 2000, I used
Jury Nullification as a weapon and was successful to a point. I
forced the State to offer me a light sentence, with the threat that my
jury wouldn’t convict me. I was offered 3-6 months in prison, followed
by 16 months in a program called Intensive Supervision Parole. A month
into my 3-6 months, ISP informed me I was ineligible: The State had
pulled a “bait and switch.” I was now stuck in prison with a 10 year
sentence.
From prison I
began fighting for a new trial, trying to withdraw my plea since the
State had renigged on its end of the
so-called bargain. The local press began reacting to my letters from
prison, writing stories based on my claims. Suddenly on April 3, 2002, after serving 17 months, the State released me into
ISP, rather than have me restart my Jury Nullification tactics at
trial.
Immediately
upon getting into ISP, I discovered that instead of using ISP as the
Intensive Supervision Program, the State intended to use it as the
Inmate Silence Program. I was ordered not to talk about my religion,
not to talk to the press, or petition for redress. I felt like a modern
day William Penn. My ISP officer ordered me to dismantle the sanctuary
I had built in my home. I viewed this as akin to William Penn having
his church boarded up the English government. Similar to William Penn I
defiantly refused to shut up, and was rearrested for complaining about
my unconstitutional treatment. I was held for 5 days, from June 6-10,
until I agreed by threat not to espouse my beliefs again publicly.
Upon release
though, I decided to go even more public, similar to how Penn
held a public sermon after being told not to. Following the philosophy
of the Great Rastafarian prophet and reggae singer Bob Marley, who said “stand up for you rights,
don’t give up the fight, keep up the fight,” I made 3 anti-Drug War commercials that didn’t directly
espouse my beliefs but did call for the end of the War on Some Drugs
and Users which makes my
religion as illegal as Quakerism was for William Penn.
When the
Trentonian newspaper conducted an interview with me on August 15-17
about these commercials, I was arrested
again on August 19, 2002
for 1), making the commercials, and 2) for maintaining a website, NJWeedman.com. ISP
officials claimed I was advocating and promoting illegal drug use. So
now I’ve been held in Burlington County Jail for the last 3 months
awaiting an ISP panel hearing. This panel’s decision, like the Star
Chamber of William Penn’s era, cannot be appealed. So now even the
dreaded Star Chamber has re-emerged due to the War on Some Drugs and
Users.
The state is
holding me to prevent me from espousing my beliefs or teaching the
public about Jury Nullification. I have little doubt that today’s Star
Chamber (ISP panel) will send me to prison.
I have filed
a “Writ of
Habeas Corpus” with the Federal Court in Camden, New Jersey, (02-04331) but as yet the federal judge has failed to
free me as the English did William Penn and the jury that acquitted
him. I have just learned that ISP will be hearing my case on December 4th, 2002, in Morris County Superior Court, Morristown, New Jersey.
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STAR-LEDGER
'WEEDMAN' FAILS IN EFFORT TO
GET OUT OF JAIL
by, Matthew Reilly
staff writer
The self-proclaimed "New Jersey Weedman" headed back to jail yesterday
after failing to gain
approval for readmission into a stringent early
parole program.
The three-judge Intensive Supervision
Program panel that met yesterday
adjourned without reaching a
decision in the case of Edward Forchion,
convicted of conspiracy to
possess marijuana with intent to distribute.
The panel did not announce when the matter
would be resumed, but until
then, Forchion will remain in
jail in Burlington County, where he has been
since he was removed from the
program.
Forchion had been admitted to the ISP in
April after serving 16 months of
a 10-year sentence. He was
returned to jail after allegedly violating
terms of his admission into
the program by, among other things, advocating
the legalization of
marijuana. He allegedly filmed several public service
announcements -- which never
aired -- favoring changes in the state's drug
laws and gave interviews to
newspapers on various subjects.
Forchion, accompanied by two lawyers,
public defender Craig Pierson and
attorney John Vincent
Saykanic, chose to represent himself yesterday in a
hearing before the ISP panel
in the Morris County Courthouse.
Thomas Russo, representing the program,
said Forchion was charged with 16
violations of the terms of
his release. In addition to the marijuana
advocacy violations with
which he is charged, Russo said Forchion failed
to make payments of various
fines and court costs, failed to adhere to the
conditions of his home
confinement and failed to be at work when required.
"I dispute the allegations that I violated
numerous conditions of my ISP,"
Forchion told the judges. "I
violated no conditions of the ISP." He said
he has never tested positive
for drugs while in the program.
"I enrolled in the program, I wish to
remain in the program, but the
program has treated me in a
very unconstitutional manner," he said.
Thomas Bartlett, a regional supervisor for
the ISP, said Forchion agreed
not to advocate the use of
marijuana as one of the 30 conditions of his
entry to the program.
In cross-examining Bartlett, Forchion sparred with him over the
difference
between advocating the "use"
of marijuana, which is what he agreed to, and
advocating changes in the
state's drug laws.
Forchion says he never espoused the "use"
of marijuana after his release
into the ISP and asked
whether he has lost his First Amendment rights
because he is a convict.
"Do you believe the First Amendment does
not apply to convicted felons?"
he asked Bartlett.
"I believe you entered a voluntary program
and agreed to abide by the
conditions of that program," Bartlett said.
The New Jersey Chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union has filed a
friend-of-the-court brief
saying ISP officials found Forchion's advocacy
positions were a "substantial
factor" in revoking his ISP status.
Forchion, of Pemberton Township, Burlington
County, pleaded guilty in
September 2000 after he was
charged with helping his brother and another
person pick up 40 pounds of
marijuana that had been shipped via Federal
Express to Camden County in
November 1997. He was sentenced to 10 years as
part of a plea bargain, which
he said he accepted only because he was
promised admission into ISP.
Forchion, who is a Rastafarian, has said he
used marijuana for religious
purposes as well as medicinal
benefits. He says smoking pot alleviates his
asthma, although he hasn't
smoked since he began serving his sentence.
Forchion was once escorted from the New Jersey Assembly and arrested after
he lit up a joint in the
chamber; he also smoked a joint in the office of
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.)
Copyright Newark Morning Ledger Co.
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PRESS RELEASE
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12/04/02 'NJWEEDMAN' fails
in effort to get out of jail
Quote
from Ed concerning his trial, "The trial was a farce
& mockery of justice. The state was allowed
to present 1/2 of its case against me and I do not get a chance
to rebut until the state completes its case. That means on January
17th, if the state takes all day to complete its case I still won't get
to present my case that day. This again is a GROSS VIOLATION of my
right to due process and a speedy trial".
New Trial date set for JANUARY 17th
2003
Be
there and show your support for free speech
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