In Memoriam:
 Virginia Resner
Drug Policy, Human Rights, and Medical
Marijuana Activist
Virginia Resner, a treasured activist who
worked tirelessly to put a human face on the injustice of the
Drug War, succumbed to a five-and-a half year battle with breast
cancer at age 60 on July 18, 2007.
Virginia first began working for drug policy
reform in 1991. Without her knowledge, companion Steven Faulkner
had agreed on a plan to sell drugs. Her wake-up call? Coming
home to find federal agents in her San Francisco residence on
a warrantless search for evidence to use against him. Through
Faulkner's arrest, prosecution, and 5-year mandatory minimum
sentence as a first-time, non-violent drug offender, she quickly
learned about the excesses of the Drug War.
Virginia discovered Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM)
and volunteered as the nonprofit's California representative
from 1992 to 2002.
She initiated a Women's Project that collected
stories and photos of women serving long sentences for low-level,
non-violent drug offenses and conspiracy charges, to bring attention
to the growing number of women in prison. She was instrumental
in the successful effort to attain an Executive Clemency from
President Bill Clinton in 2000 for Amy Pofahl, who had already
served nine years of a 24-year drug conspiracy sentence.
In 1995, Virginia joined with Mikki Norris
and Chris Conrad of the Family
Council on Drug Awareness to co-create HR95, now the Human
Rights and the Drug War Photo Exhibit project. This compelling
photo exhibit shows the faces and tells stories of non-violent
drug offenders and their families.
The trio co-authored the acclaimed books,
Shattered
Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War and Human
Rights and the US Drug War. These publications have moved
and inspired activists everywhere to take action and get involved
with the drug policy reform movement. It provides images and
text picked up frequently by the local and national press, political
ads, and documentaries.
Virginia was proud to be part of our trio's
efforts when we received a Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement
in the Field of Citizen Action from the Lindesmith Center/Drug
Policy Foundation in 2001.
Virginia's commitment, courage, inner-strength,
warm and generous spirit -- as well as her dignity in her losing
battle with cancer -- have been an inspiration to many who had
the fortune to know her.
Web sites for groups mentioned: www.HR95.org,
www.famm.org,
www.green-aid.com.
 Alva Mae Groves
Prisoner of the War on Drugs
Ms. Groves, featured in our last Razor
Wire in an article on compassionate release, passed away
in August of 2007, still in federal prison. She was 86 years
old.
Alva Mae was sentenced to 24 years in prison
at age 74 for a crack conspiracy that was largely her son's endeavor,
according to her family. Half her family was sentenced under
the same conspiracy.
"My real crime ... was refusing to
testify against my sons, children of my womb, that were conceived,
birthed and raised with love," Groves wrote in a 2001 letter
to November Coalition.
Prison life took a toll on Groves. She
despised the food, a poor substitute for the butter beans and
peas she grew at her North Carolina home, and she quickly "
shrank down to a bag of bones" in prison, her daughter,
Louise Smith, told the Raleigh, NC News and Observer.
"I realize everyone has a day to die;
death is a fate that will not be cheated. But I don't want to
die in prison. I want to die at home surrounded by the love of
what's left of my family." Ms. Groves wrote the Coalition.
Alva Mae was denied even that final dignity.
After repeated attempts by her family and supporters to win her
clemency, on July 19, as her children leaned over her prison
hospital bed and tried to remind her who they were, a prison
official handed them the letter denying Alva Mae's release.
Prison officials advised her in the letter
that " her crime was too grave to allow her to be turned
loose."
The November Coalition extends heartfelt
condolences to her family.
Read more about Alva Mae here.
 Dr. John Beresford
Dr. Beresford died on September 2, 2007
in a hospital in Canada.
British-born John Beresford began his psychedelic
research interests in 1961.
He spent the next several decades working
in psychiatry until 1991, when he resigned and founded the Committee on Unjust Sentencing,
a group focused on the cause of people imprisoned on drug related
charges.
Beresford testified in front of the US Sentencing Commission and
spoke out on his passion in many forums. - Source: Drug
War Chronicle
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