“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit. . . And while white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates.” Last week President Biden …
Good news! Following floor debates in both chambers of the General Assembly earlier today, a majority of Rhode Island legislators have approved legislation to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis for adults. Governor McKee who has previously indicated he would sign the measure. With the governor’s approval, Rhode Island will become the 19th state to end …
Good for us! In an effort to stem the tide of drug overdoses, Rhode Island has become the first state in the nation to authorize safe injection sites, an approach being used in other countries with great results. Last year, 384 people died of overdoses in Rhode Island. The purpose of the new legislation is …
Could this be the year? The conversation surrounding the legalization of recreational marijuana for adults sounds different this year. Once again, as he has done every year for at least a decade, Senator Josh Miller — along with Senate Majority Leader Michael J. McCaffrey — has introduced a bill that would do just that. According …
So why do we keep trying to arrest our way out of it? An alternate approach is the topic of Nicholas Kristof’s column in the Sunday New York Times: “Seattle has figured out how to end the war on drugs.” The war on drugs has been one of America’s most grievous mistakes, resulting in as …
Condemnation for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s decision to keep marijuana listed as a Schedule I drug has been universal. The DEA defines Schedule I drugs, substances, and chemicals as “. . . drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Those in the medical field have argued that it is …
Three perfect panels yesterday at “Cops, Docs, and Clergy,” a conference featuring speakers from those three areas of expertise who are calling for an end to our war on drugs. All aspects of our failed approach to the drug problem were covered. I was particularly impressed with Major Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement …
‘End The Drug War’ Trifecta — Cops, Docs, And Clergy Read More »
(12.5) We can not arrest our way out of this, and god knows we’ve tried. But public health problems are just not amenable to law enforcement solutions; It’s time for a new approach and on Saturday you can hear what some cops, docs, and clergy have to say about it. Clergy for a New Drug …
Here’s a new wrinkle in the misguided war on drugs. Doctors and dentists have been looking over their shoulders a while now with nothing less than their licenses on the line. Now, in an effort to curb the abuse of prescription painkillers, state regulators want to prohibit doctors and other healthcare practitioners from prescribing opioids …
Fans of forensic police procedurals (and chemistry, and history, and true crime) should check out the PBS show, “The Poisoner’s Handbook,” based on the book of the same name. Case by case we learn how New York City’s first scientifically trained medical examiner and his chief toxicologist turned forensic chemistry into a formidable science and …
“Once a town gets a SWAT Team, you want to use it.” Radley Balko — who writes on criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties for The Washington Post — was speaking to Slate about his recent book “The Rise of the Warrior Cop: the Militarization of America’s Police Forces.” And what happened in …
The images of children crossing into this country through the Mexican border are heartbreaking and the latest tragedy traceable to America’s futile war on drugs. The numbers astonish. According to The New York Times More than 52,000 minors traveling without their parents have been caught crossing the southwest border illegally since October, including 9,000 in …
The U.S. House of Representatives has actually done something . . . something good. I’ll let that sink in for a minute. On Thursday night the House of Representatives passed a bill that prevents the DEA from raiding state-legal marijuana dispensaries. According to the Daily Beast, Just after midnight, the vote won with 219 ayes, …
U.S. House To DEA — Stop Raiding Marijuana Dispensaries Read More »
Since the federal government declared its war on drugs several decades ago the clearance rate of homicides throughout the country has steadily declined. Data available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (based on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports) show that the percentage of homicides “solved” nationwide decreased from 72% in 1980 to 64% in 2008. …
I have a piece in today’s Providence Journal — “Drug war has failed; legalize marijuana” — in which I take the ProJo editorial board to task for their recent opposition to the legalization of marijuana. My advocacy concerning the war on drugs and the reform of marijuana laws is known to regular Dose readers — …
Too bad, because that’s where he does most of his thinking. Former congressman, and outspoken opponent of marijuana reform, Patrick Kennedy is in a snit: Lifespan has backed out of hosting a planned conference in which medical and addiction professionals were apparently prepared to discuss — without irony — the need to sweep marijuana users …