Medical Marijuana: A Cure, Not a Crime
Joseph Casias has battled sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor for more than a decade. His condition has required extensive treatment and chemotherapy, interferes with his ability to speak, and is a source of severe and daily pain. The pain re...
Categories: drug law reform, Joseph Casias, medicial marijuana, Wal-Mart Tags:
Big Step Forward: NYPD Orders Officers to Stop Unlawful Marijuana Arrests
In an exciting step forward for justice and common sense, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has issued a directive ordering officers to stop arresting people for misdemeanor marijuana possession when the pot only becomes "public" because an of...
Categories: drug law reform, NYPD, racial profiling Tags:
Told You So: Florida’s New Drug Testing Policy Already Costing Taxpayers More
We've told you a few times about Florida's horrible new law that drug tests all families applying for cash benefit welfare applicants. The law, which went into effect July 1, makes applicants front the cost of the drug test and reimburses individua...
Categories: drug law reform, drug testing, Florida, Howard Simon, welfare Tags:
Smoke Pot, Lose Your Kid (If You’re Black)
I have some friends who grew up in homes where their parents smoked pot. Their parents also loved them, fed them, clothed them, quizzed them for exams, nursed them when they were sick, cheered their accomplishments and sent them off into the world ...
Categories: criminal justice, drug law reform Tags:
This Week in Civil Liberties
The theme this week was "without": combating the spread of AIDS without actual tools and information to combat the spread of AIDS, searches without warrants, protections for business without protections for everybody else, government burea...
Categories: drug law reform, drug sentencing, E-Verify, GPS, HIV/AIDS, medical marijuana, Supreme Court, surveillance, video games, warrantless tracking Tags:
Obama DOJ Leaves Medical Marijuana Patients Sick and Suffering
On Wednesday, the Obama Justice Department issued a new memo to all U.S. Attorneys clarifying the DOJ's position on federal prosecutions of state-sanctioned medical marijuana use. It's not good news. According to Deputy Attorney General James M. Co...
Categories: David Ogden, drug law reform, Eric Holder, James Cole, medical marijuana, medicinal marijuana Tags:
Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights
Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice s...
Categories: California, criminal justice, drug law reform, drug policy, drug sentencing, Elon James White, hunger strike, overincarceration, overincarceration clips, Richard Nixon, solitary confinement Tags:
Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights
Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice s...
Categories: California, criminal justice, drug law reform, drug policy, drug sentencing, Elon James White, hunger strike, overincarceration, overincarceration clips, Richard Nixon, solitary confinement Tags:
Just Say "No" to the War on Drugs
June 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war that has cost roughly a trillion dollars, has produced little to no effect on the supply of demand for drugs in the United Sta...
Categories: drug law reform, drug sentencing, Elon James White, overincarceration, sentencing disparity, sentencing reform, War on Drugs Tags:
Weekly Highlights: News from the War on Drugs
June 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war that has cost roughly a trillion dollars, has produced little to no effect on the supply of demand for drugs in the United States,...