Posted on 09/07/2001 9:30:49 AM PDT by fod
On Monday night, 34-year-old Grover Crosslin was shot dead by an FBI agent on his Vandalia, Mich. property. Crosslin had been charged with growing marijuana, felony possession of a firearm and maintaining a drug house. He was also the owner of Rainbow Farm, a campground that had become the home of peaceful gatherings and fundraisers for marijuana decriminalization initiatives and hemp-related causes. By all accounts, he was a kind man, whom friends describe as having “a heart of gold.”
So what caused an otherwise peaceful man to take matters into his own hands and find himself in a four-day standoff with the feds that left four buildings on his property burned and he and a good friend dead?
A number of incidents may have driven Crosslin to act as he did. According to his attorney, after being charged with marijuana violations, he was upset that his foster son had been taken away. Added to this, court rulings had prevented Crosslin from holding his annual festivals at Rainbow Farm because of alleged drug use. Crosslin, a staunch Libertarian, also believed that he had the right to do what he wanted on his own property, given it does not harm others. But his decision to use marijuana was not a choice he could legally make.
So, last Friday, knowing that his property would soon be seized and he would lose everything under civil property forfeiture laws, Crosslin skipped out on his $150,000 bail hearing and began torching his property. Authorities also allege that shots were fired at a local news helicopter that same day, as well as an unmarked police plane on Saturday. Both crafts landed without incident. Four days later, Crosslin was dead, with his friend falling the day after.
In my mind, Crosslin’s actions in resisting drug forfeiture laws were entirely justified on the simple grounds that property seizure amounts to institutionalized stealing. In theory, forfeiture laws are the government’s attempt to reclaim monies earned through illegal activities, though the system is easily abused. And the list of abuses is extensive.
In his book, “A License to Steal,” Leonard Levy chronicles the abuse of this law, including a case in Michigan when a man was caught with his pants down being serviced by a prostitute. He jointly owned the car with his wife, though the wife’s insistence that the state had no right to take the car because she had no knowledge or involvement with the prostitute held no legal water.
Such practices have a long history, though laws allowing the seizure of property because of charges stemming from illegal drug trade in the U.S. were only instituted by Congress in 1978. In 1984 real property (like houses, land, computers, etc.) was included in all forfeiture laws on any applicable charge. It doesn’t matter if a person is found guilty or not, charges alone can justify the permanent seizure of property. This unjust state of affairs becomes even more loathsome when we throw marijuana laws into the mix. Already our prisons are filled with people who smoke a harmless plant for a variety of medical and personal reasons. Now there is yet another martyr from the ranks.
Crosslin is on par with California medical marijuana activist Peter McWilliams, who last year died choking on his own vomit because he was denied the marijuana that helped him keep his potent cocktail of AIDS and cancer drugs down. It’s tragic that Crosslin, in the face of losing everything for something he believed in, felt no other choice but to go out in a blaze of glory.
With the Supreme Court’s recent decision to deny any medical or personal legitimacy to cannabis, the only opportunity is to take matters into our own hands. The only ray of sunshine for Michigan in this long, unnecessary War on Drugs is the Personal Responsibility Amendment, a new citizen-led initiative in the signature-collecting stage. By signing this initiative, registered voters can give Michigan the right to vote on property seizure, the right to grow industrial hemp, the decriminalization of medical marijuana and the personal use of cannabis. If passed, the initiative would end property forfeiture madness by pooling any resources from the non-cannabis-related-sale of seized property into drug education and treatment instead of law enforcement.
Before the tragic outcome of this standoff, Crosslin’s father said, “This is about property rights … It’s enough to cause a war.”
It looks like it already has. Michigan has a new martyr in the Draconian War on Drugs. It is up to us, Michigan, to show the world that we will not tolerate another death in the war to eradicate this plant. Had the Personal Responsibility Amendment been in place, this tragic death would have been avoided.
Visit www.prayes.com for more information.
Josh Wickerham can be reached via e-mail at jwickerh@umich.edu.
And the last thing we need is more stories (like the recent story in Washington state) of men roaming the streets naked and asking police to harvest their marijuana crop.
Libertarians make fools out of themselves when they use their philosophy as a springboard to advocate destructive behavior.
We’re finally on our own
This summer we heard the drummin’
Two dead at Rainbow Farm
When you get down to it
Policemen are gunning us down
Out of control long ago
For smoking reefer
They put you under the ground
How can you run
When you know?
Drug warriors and ninjas coming
We’re finally on our own
This summer we heard the drummin’
Two dead at Rainbow Farm
you are sticking to it, right?
It was one man not "men" and if you think he did this because of the influence of marihuana alone you are sadly mistaken.
Yep Crosslin's Rainbow farm was just a quiet palce where pot festivals never hurt anybody.
Also according to Brown's affidavit, a 17-year-old boy ran a stop sign on April 21 and collided with a school bus, flipping it and killing himself. He wore a festival wristband at the time of the accident. A friend later told police that he and the teen went to a festival the night before at Rainbow Farm, smoked pot and bought "liquid acid" for $5 a hit. The dead teen had three hits, police were told.
The friend saw the teen drive away by himself at 2 a.m
A number of incidents may have driven Crosslin to act as he did. According to his attorney, after being charged with marijuana violations, he was upset that his foster son had been taken away.
Huh? Crosslin was not a foster parent. The boy taken into custody was Crosslin's roommates(Randall Rohm) son, unless Crosslin/Rohm were living together as a gay couple and "Crosslin" considered himself a foster parent. This lawyer is on dope, IMHO.
Family Independence Agency officials had taken Rohm's son from him in May and put him in foster care. Rohm and Crosslin, who lived together on the farm and had a long relationship, were said to be outraged.
Cass County Circuit Judge Susan Dobrich would not release the juvenile court records of Rohm's son Tuesday, citing confidentiality. However, a neglect-and-abuse petition was on file in court
And the last thing we need is more stories (like the recent story in Washington state) of men roaming the streets shooting at British soldiers who are only there to help.
Rebels make fools out of themselves when they use their philosophy as a springboard to advocate destructive behavior.
OK. The fetching may have gone a little far on that, but damn... listen to what you are saying!
Indeed, but where were the parents of this 17 year old and how do they fit in? Shouldn't the onus be on them?
Of course you can get these types of drugs at most any concert, so is it the responsibility of the show promoter to suffer the punishment of intoxicated drivers?
That's a good point - but virtually the only reason we have a drug war is all the loot the jackboots confiscate from people. Talk to some people in law enforcement, especially ones who work with state drug interdiction efforts. Some of the feds think this can still be "won" but the state guys know it's a lost cause.
Well, that certainly didn't cause any problems for XXX42.
No, YOU make a fool of yourself when you support institutionalized murder and theivery! And so do the rest of the DimocRATS and REPUGlickers.
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