http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/24/1405282/-From-Yesterday-s-NYT-Sandra-Bland-Prosecutor-Inadvertenly-Shows-His-Cards?detail=email
There's an article in yesterday's NYT about a news conference by the Waller Co Prosecutor, Warren Diepraam, who held the event to announce his finding that Sandra Bland hung herself with a plastic garbage bag while being held in a County Jail following a bogus and brutal arrest for failing to signal a lane change.
There are other very sketchy issues in this article that are worthy of close inspection, but I'm only going to focus on the one that jumped out at me when I read it and leave it to others to deal with the rest of the news account.
Here's the passage that screamed "WTF??" at me when I read it just now:
An initial toxicology test also indicated that Ms. Bland had recently smoked or eaten marijuana, Mr. Diepraam said. He noted that because traces of marijuana leave the body quickly, she had to have consumed it not long before she died, and he said it could have been used in the jail.
Inmates near Ms. Bland’s cell did not smell marijuana smoke, and the cell contained no evidence of the drug, he said. He raised the possibility that she could have ingested it right before the traffic stop to avoid being arrested for drug possession. Explaining why the information was relevant, he said, “It is a mood-altering substance and a mood amplifier.”
More extensive drug tests may shed more light on that question later, he said.
The emphases are mine, obviously, but those lines are the ones that screamed at me, for what I assume most of you reading this already know: pot does not leave your body quickly, it stays in your system for up to a month, long after the effects of the high have completely dissipated. That this DA would insert that obvious bit of misinformation into his "finding" would be totally mystifying...if it weren't for the second set of bolded sentences in that blockquote, which can be summed up as:
"We think she killed herself because she was high after eating a bunch of pot during the traffic stop to prevent herself from being busted for drug possession."
Final note: I wonder if this is what the "defective" autopsy thing is all about? Does the Waller Co DA need to have a higher than "trace" amount of pot in Sandra Bland's blood in order for them to bolster their suicide finding with pot as a mood enhancer, the evil weed driving her deeper into depression?also i found the White female prisoner who allegedly heard crying in her cell first how did she know it was her she said she heard not saw. but corroborating an incident that might be perceived as helpful to those under investigation could very well help her situation, just sayin not convincing to me.
this sounds like southern police fishing a Black man out of the river wrapped in chains and commenting "just like them always trying to run off with more than they can carry" misdirection of cause? first time i heard that i laughed that was some 50+ years ago it came to my mind as i read each day a nuance to this story. what about physical appearance wasn't the cop trained to spot users and paraphernalia????? she obviously did not present with any of those signs since only mention was after an autopsy.
Immediate Signs of Weed Use
The most immediate signs of smoking weed are:
bloodshot eyes
increased heart rate,
increased appetite
memory impairment
difficulty paying attention or solving problems.
When monitoring for symptoms of weed use, there may be:
anxiety
fear or panic reactions
Hallucinations
paranoia and delusional behavior (can be symptoms of weed use that is very potent, or consumption of a large amount).
