Violent Crime, Not Dope, Keeps Our Prisons Full Drug offenders account for only 19.5 percent of the total state-federal prison population, most of whom, especially in the federal system, were convicted of dealing drugs such as cocaine, heroin and meth, not "smoking marijuana." It seems that no presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African-Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration." [continues 761 words]
No presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration." At the last Republican debate, former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina charged that "two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug-related." Apropos of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's admitted youthful marijuana use, Sen. Rand Paul observed that "there is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to jail for this are poor people, often African Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't." [continues 652 words]
It seems that no presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration." At the last Republican debate, on Sept. 16, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina charged that "two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug-related." Apropos of former Florida governor Jeb Bush's admitted youthful marijuana use, Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky) observed that "there is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to jail for this are poor people, often African Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't." [continues 663 words]
Everybody agrees our prisons are filled with nonviolent drug users, especially pot smokers. But they aren't. The consensus in favor of looser drug laws is just the latest political free lunch. It seems that no presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African-Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration." At the last Republican debate, on Sept. 16, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina charged that "two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug-related." [continues 731 words]
It seems that no presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration." At the last Republican debate, on Sept. 16, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina charged that "two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug-related." Apropos of former Florida governor Jeb Bush's admitted youthful marijuana use, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) observed that "there is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to jail for this are poor people, often African Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't." [continues 662 words]
When is this country going to wake up - really wake up - to the catastrophe that prescription opioid painkillers have caused since they came into widespread use in the early 1990s? Before then, deaths related to prescription opioid overdose were practically unknown. In 2013, though, opioids killed 16,235 people; that's approximately half as many as died in traffic accidents that year, and about 2,000 more than were murdered. Both traffic accidents and murder have been declining for years, however, while painkiller-related deaths quadrupled between 1999 and 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [continues 663 words]
DENVER - LoDo Wellness Center, which calls itself the largest marijuana dispensary in the trendy Lower Downtown ("LoDo") area, is a mellow place, decorated with Oriental rugs, sofas and statues of Buddha. Yet there's a moment of mild tension when you arrive: Staff members politely insist on proof that you are either older than 21 and eligible to shop in the "retail" area or older than 18 with a doctor-approved "red card" for access to the private "medical" area. The latter is on the other side of a door marked "must remain locked at all times." [continues 741 words]
LoDo Wellness Center, which calls itself the largest marijuana dispensary in the trendy Lower Downtown ("LoDo") area, is a mellow place, decorated with Oriental rugs, sofas and statues of Buddha. Yet there's a moment of mild tension when you arrive: Staff members politely insist on proof that you are either older than 21 and eligible to shop in the "retail" area or older than 18 with a doctor approved "red card" for access to the private "medical" area. The latter is on the other side of a door marked "must remain locked at all times." [continues 741 words]
A new conventional wisdom is on the rise: Drug prohibition, or "the war on drugs," is a costly flop. It not only failed to cut drug use and associated social ills significantly but has also imposed additional social costs-or "catastrophic harm," as my colleague Radley Balko put it-far exceeding the benefits. Those costs include violent crime linked to the black-market drug trade as well as the mass arrest and incarceration of small-time users, a disproportionate number of whom are African American. [continues 724 words]
A new conventional wisdom is on the rise: Drug prohibition, or "the war on drugs," is a costly flop. It not only failed to cut drug use and associated social ills significantly but has also imposed additional social costs - or "catastrophic harm," as my colleague Radley Balko put it - far exceeding the benefits. Those costs include violent crime linked to the black-market drug trade as well as the mass arrest and incarceration of small-time users, a disproportionate number of whom are African-American. [continues 726 words]
A new conventional wisdom is on the rise: Drug prohibition, or "the war on drugs," is a costly flop. It not only failed to cut drug use and associated social ills significantly but has also imposed additional social costs - or "catastrophic harm," as my colleague Radley Balko put it - far exceeding the benefits. Those costs include violent crime linked to the black-market drug trade as well as the mass arrest and incarceration of small-time users, a disproportionate number of whom are African American. [continues 726 words]
A 5-4 Majority Cites Perils Of Illegal Drugs In Case Of The 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Banner The Supreme Court yesterday gave public schools new authority to regulate what students say, allowing principals to punish speech or demonstrations that may "reasonably be viewed" as promoting illegal drug use. In its most significant ruling on student speech in almost two decades, the court said that the principal of a high school in Juneau, Alaska, did not violate senior Joseph Frederick's constitutional right to free speech when she suspended him for unfurling a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as students waited for the Olympic torch relay to pass their school in 2002. A bong is a water pipe commonly used to smoke marijuana. [continues 782 words]
'Bong Hits' Dissent Points to Prohibition Justice John Paul Stevens, the third-oldest person ever to sit on the Supreme Court, turned 87 on April 20. If he's still on the court 142 days from now, he'll overtake Roger B. Taney, who died as chief justice in 1864 at the age of 87 years 209 days. Stevens still has a long way to go if he wants to catch Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who was 90 when he retired from the court in 1932. But he has already started invoking his considerable life experience to buttress his opinions. [continues 491 words]
Illegally Collected Evidence Allowed The Constitution does not require the government to forfeit evidence gathered through illegal "no knock" searches, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, in a far-reaching ruling that could encourage police with search warrants to conduct more aggressive raids. The 5 to 4 decision broke with the court's modern tradition of enforcing constitutional limitations on police investigations by keeping improperly obtained evidence out of court. The "exclusionary rule" has been imposed to protect a series of rights, such as the right to remain silent in police custody and the right against warrantless searches. [continues 816 words]
Justices Rehear Case On House-Search Rule WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court held a rare mid-May oral argument Thursday on the power of police to search private homes without knocking first--a major privacy-rights case likely to be decided by the vote of the court's newest member, Justice Samuel Alito. At issue in Hudson vs. Michigan is the "knock and announce" rule rooted in the 4th Amendment to the Constitution and Anglo-American common law. The rule says that, in normal cases, police with a search warrant must first knock and state their purpose, then wait a reasonable period, before forcing their way in. [continues 336 words]
In a Blow to Administration, Ruling Paves Way for Other States to Follow Suit The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's law on physician-assisted suicide yesterday, ruling that the Justice Department may not punish doctors who help terminally ill patients end their lives. By a vote of 6 to 3, the court ruled that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft exceeded his legal authority in 2001 when he threatened to prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled drugs if they authorized lethal doses of the medications under the Oregon Death With Dignity Act. [continues 978 words]
State Laws Are Not Defense, Justices Rule The Supreme Court dealt a blow to the medical marijuana movement yesterday, ruling that the federal government can still ban possession of the drug in states that have eliminated sanctions for its use in treating symptoms of illness. By a vote of 6 to 3, the court ruled that Congress's constitutional authority to regulate the interstate market in drugs, licit or illicit, extends to small, homegrown quantities of doctor-recommended marijuana consumed under California's Compassionate Use Act, which was adopted by an overwhelming majority of voters in 1996. [continues 853 words]
Medical Use Seen As Subject To Regulations Advocates of medical marijuana received a mostly skeptical reception from the Supreme Court yesterday as the court heard oral arguments in a case that will decide whether the federal government can still ban possession of the drug in states that have cut or eliminated sanctions for using it to treat symptoms of illness. At issue is the small, homegrown quantity of marijuana used by two Northern California women at the recommendation of their doctors, as permitted by California's Compassionate Use Act, which was adopted by an overwhelming majority of voters in 1996. [continues 522 words]
Legality of Cultivating Plant for Medical Use Is at Issue Local sheriff's deputies and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents disagreed when they converged on Diane Monson's house in Oroville, Calif., two years ago. The county cops accepted Monson's explanation for growing six marijuana plants: She had a doctor's permission to smoke it for back pain, so the pot was legal under the state's 1996 "medical marijuana" law. But the DEA agents insisted that growing marijuana is still against federal law. They seized the plants and destroyed them. [continues 866 words]
High Court Is Asked to Decide on Legality of Such Searches During Traffic Stops Nothing seemed unusual on the afternoon six years ago when Illinois state trooper Daniel Gillette pulled Roy Caballes over for driving six miles per hour faster than the posted speed limit of 65. Gillette indicated he would let Caballes off with a warning. But as Gillette went through some paperwork, a second trooper arrived with a drug-detection dog and began to stroll around Caballes's car. [continues 770 words]
A possible revolution in the federal criminal justice system will be on the agenda when the Supreme Court opens its new term tomorrow. In a rare two-hour afternoon oral argument session, the justices will consider whether the federal sentencing guidelines -- a manual of 400-plus pages meant to ensure that federal courts give defendants across the country approximately equal punishments for similar crimes - -- can be reconciled with the Constitution. The court is hearing the case on an expedited schedule in response to the uproar and confusion created by a 5 to 4 ruling it issued June 24, just before leaving for summer recess. [continues 1475 words]
A bitterly divided Supreme Court ruled yesterday that only juries, not judges, may increase criminal sentences beyond the maximums suggested by statutory guidelines, a decision that throws into doubt sentencing procedures used by nine states and possibly the federal government. By a vote of 5 to 4, the court said a trial judge in Washington state violated the Constitution when he sentenced a convicted kidnapper to 90 months in prison rather than the 53-month maximum prescribed by state law. The judge was following a provision of the law that permits judges to impose higher sentences when they find that the facts warrant harsher punishment. [continues 837 words]
Use of Drug-Sniffing Dog Led to 12-Year Sentence The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will decide whether the Constitution requires police to have clear reasons for using drug-detection dogs to sniff vehicles they have pulled over for traffic violations. In a brief order, the court said it will hear an appeal by the state of Illinois, which is seeking to overturn an Illinois Supreme Court ruling last year that said the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches means police must have "specific and articulable" facts to justify a canine sniff. [continues 505 words]
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Baltimore County police acted properly four years ago when they arrested all three occupants of a car after the officers discovered drugs and cash inside and everyone denied owning them. By a vote of 9 to 0, the court said that such an arrest was consistent with the constitutional requirement that arrests be based on "probable cause," because under the circumstances it was reasonable to assume that one, some or all of the people in the car were involved in illegal activity. [continues 536 words]
The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will let stand a federal appeals court ruling that bars the federal government from punishing doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients. Without comment, the court refused to hear the Bush administration's challenge of a ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that upheld a federal district court injunction blocking Washington's efforts to prevent doctors from telling patients marijuana might help them. The federal policy violated the constitutional guarantee of free speech, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit court ruled. [continues 634 words]
Supreme Court To Address Free Speech In Housing Suit RICHMOND -- As Kevin Hicks sees them, the tree-shaded streets and sidewalks of the Whitcomb Court public housing development are urban thoroughfares like any other, and he should be free to travel them as he pleases. But city officials see Whitcomb Court differently: as an out-of-control open-air drug market. Six years ago, to protect public housing residents from drug-related crime, the City Council declared the streets and sidewalks in Whitcomb Court and other developments the private property of the housing authority. In turn, the housing authority put up "no trespassing" signs and empowered police to arrest any nonresident who could not demonstrate a "legitimate business or social purpose" for being there. [continues 1642 words]
Rules Intended To Strictly Control Visitors To Richmond Public Housing Project The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will decide whether a tough Richmond anti-drug policy that bans unauthorized visitors from the streets and sidewalks in a public housing project violates the Constitution. The court will hear the case of Kevin L. Hicks, who was convicted of trespassing in 1999 after he tried to visit his girlfriend and their child at the Whitcomb Court apartment complex despite earlier warnings from police to keep out. [continues 519 words]
WASHINGTON -The Supreme Court approved on Thursday random drug testing of public high school students in extracurricular activities. The ruling increases the tools available to 14,700 public school systems to fight illegal drug use. By a vote of 5-4, the court ruled that local school officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can outweigh those students' concerns about privacy. Mandatory drug testing of students in activities such as band, Future Farmers of America and chess does not violate the constitutional prohibition on "unreasonable" searches, the court said. [continues 554 words]
Justices Approve Monitoring Of Participants In All Extracurricular Activities, Not Just Athletics The Supreme Court gave its approval yesterday to the random drug testing of public high school students in extracurricular activities, a ruling that increases the tools available to some 14,700 public school systems to fight illegal drug use. By a vote of 5 to 4, the court ruled that local school officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can outweigh those students' concerns about privacy. Therefore, mandatory drug testing of students in activities such as band, Future Farmers of America and chess does not violate the constitutional prohibition on "unreasonable" searches, the court said. [continues 784 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court gave its approval Thursday to the random drug testing of public high-school students in extracurricular activities, a ruling that increases the tools available to some 14,700 public school systems to fight illegal drug use. By a vote of 5 to 4, the court ruled that local school officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can outweigh those students' concerns about privacy. Therefore, mandatory drug testing of students in activities such as band, Future Farmers of America and chess does not violate the constitutional prohibition on "unreasonable" searches, the court said. [continues 337 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court gave its approval Thursday to the random drug testing of public high school students in extracurricular activities, a ruling that increases the tools available to some 14,700 public school systems to fight illegal drug use. By a vote of 5-4, the court ruled local school officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can outweigh those students' concerns about privacy. Therefore, mandatory drug testing of students in activities such as band, Future Farmers of America and chess does not violate the constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches, the court said. [continues 621 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court gave its approval Thursday to the random drug testing of public high school students in extracurricular activities, a ruling that increases the tools available to some 14,700 public school systems to fight illegal drug use. By a vote of 5-4, the court ruled that local school officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can outweigh those students' concerns about privacy. Therefore, mandatory drug testing of students in activities such as band, Future Farmers of America and chess does not violate the constitutional prohibition on "unreasonable" searches, the court said. [continues 443 words]
WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that judges may stiffen the minimum sentences defendants receive even in cases where the jury did not find the facts upon which the tougher penalty is based. The decision upholds thousands of sentences imposed under state and federal "mandatory minimum" laws. Narrowing the impact of a landmark 2000 ruling that affirmed the right to a jury trial on any fact that could increase a maximum sentence, five justices voted to uphold an N.C. drug dealer's sentence under a federal drug law that assigns more prison time for crimes committed with a gun. [continues 347 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will consider whether a California law that imposes dramatically tougher prison sentences on repeat criminal offenders violates the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. By agreeing to hear the cases of two men who are serving decades in prison for theft under California's law requiring a 25-years-to-life sentence for third felony convictions, the justices have stepped into a mounting national debate over the fairness and efficiency of criminal justice. [continues 789 words]
Justices Agree To Hear Two Cases Under California Sentencing Law The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will consider whether a California law that imposes dramatically tougher prison sentences on repeat criminal offenders violates the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. By agreeing to hear the cases of two men who are serving decades in prison for theft under California's law requiring a 25-years-to-life sentence for third felony convictions, the justices have stepped into a mounting national debate over the fairness and efficiency of criminal justice. [continues 833 words]
WASHINGTON - Upholding the federal government's "one strike and you're out" drug policy for low-income housing projects, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a public housing tenant may be evicted if any family member or guest is caught using illegal drugs - even if the tenant was unaware of the drug use. The case originated in 1998 with a federal lawsuit by four evicted public housing tenants from Oakland, Calif., including Pearlie Rucker, 63, a great-grandmother whose mentally disabled daughter was arrested for crack cocaine possession near their apartment complex. [continues 503 words]
Tenants Had Filed Suit Over Federal Agency's 'One-Strike' Drug Policy WASHINGTON - Upholding the federal government's "one strike and you're out" drug policy for low-income housing projects, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a public housing tenant may be evicted if any member of his or her household, or a guest, is caught using illegal drugs - even if the tenant was unaware of the drug use. The case originated in 1998 with a federal lawsuit by four evicted public housing tenants from Oakland, Calif., including Pearlie Rucker, 63, a great-grandmother whose mentally disabled daughter was arrested for crack cocaine possession near their apartment complex. [end]
WASHINGTON - Upholding the federal government's "one strike and you're out" drug policy for low-income housing projects, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a public housing tenant may be evicted if any member of his or her household, or a guest, is caught using illegal drugs -- even if the tenant was unaware of the drug use. The case originated in 1998 with a federal lawsuit by four evicted public housing tenants from Oakland, Calif., including Pearlie Rucker, 63, a great-grandmother whose mentally disabled daughter was arrested near their apartment complex on charges of possessing crack cocaine. [continues 862 words]
A wary Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in a case that could cast a long shadow of doubt over mandatory minimum sentences handed out to thousands of state and federal defendants across the country. An attorney for North Carolina pawnshop owner William Joseph Harris told the court that his client's seven-year sentence for selling drugs should be thrown out because a judge, employing a lower standard of proof than a jury would have, found that Harris had "brandished" a gun during the drug deal. [continues 577 words]
WASHINGTON - A sharply divided Supreme Court appeared Tuesday to lean toward approving mandatory random drug testing for public school students who take part in certain extracurricular activities, as the justices heard arguments in a case that pits a student's privacy concerns against a school system's tough anti-drug policy. The case, which originated in a rural Oklahoma school district, has attracted attention because it may clarify the rules on drug testing for some 14,700 public school systems around the country. [continues 814 words]
A sharply divided Supreme Court appeared yesterday to lean toward approving mandatory random drug testing for public school students who take part in certain extracurricular activities, as the justices heard arguments in a case that pits a student's privacy concerns against a school system's tough anti-drug policy. The case, which began in a rural Oklahoma school district, has attracted attention because it may clarify the rules on drug testing for 14,700 public school systems nationwide -- with potential consequences both for schools' anti-drug efforts and for students who hope to list extracurricular activities on college applications. [continues 598 words]
Justices to Decide if Choir, Club Members' Privacy, Like Athletes', May Be Breached Lindsey Earls remembers vividly the day in the fall of 1998 when a teacher called her and several other students out of choir class at Tecumseh High School in rural Oklahoma and told them it was time to take a drug test. The girls went to a restroom and urinated in cups while teachers stood outside the stalls listening for sounds of cheating. Afterward, the teachers examined each cup to make sure it contained a liquid of the requisite color and temperature. [continues 899 words]
Justices Also Side With Law Enforcement on Criteria for Search A unanimous Supreme Court yesterday upheld Chicago's rules for deciding whether to grant permits to demonstrators seeking access to public parks, a decision that shores up the authority of local governments to regulate political demonstrations in public places. The court ruled that the city's 13-point guidelines, which include a requirement that groups of more than 50 people prove they have insurance to cover potential damage caused by an event, did not unconstitutionally impede free speech, because they applied equally to all groups, regardless of viewpoint, and were necessary to ensure proper usage of a limited municipal asset. [continues 743 words]
Ruling Could Shut California Distributors WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the federal government can shut down California marijuana cooperatives that distribute the drug to people who say they need it to combat the symptoms of AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. There is no "medical necessity" exception to the federal prohibition on the possession and distribution of marijuana, the court said in an 8-0 opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas. The decision is a major setback to the medical marijuana movement. In 1996, California voters approved a referendum which gave rise to medical marijuana cooperatives in that state, and since then voters in eight other states have passed similar measures. [continues 659 words]
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal law bars the distribution of marijuana even to people who say they must have it to alleviate symptoms of serious illness, dealing a setback to the movement for "medical marijuana" laws and limiting the impact of the state laws already on the books. Ruling 8-0 in a case involving a California "cannabis cooperative" that supplied the drug to patients suffering from cancer, AIDs and other illnesses, the court said that federal anti-drug law allows no "medical necessity" exception to the general prohibition on selling or growing marijuana. [continues 775 words]
In 8-0 Ruling In Oakland Case, U.s. Supreme Court Finds No Exception To Federal Law WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal law bars the distribution of marijuana even to people who say they must have it to alleviate symptoms of serious illness, dealing a setback to the movement for "medical marijuana" laws and limiting the impact of state laws already on the books. Ruling 8-0 in a case involving an Oakland "cannabis cooperative" that supplied the drug to patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and other illnesses, the court said federal anti-drug law allows no "medical necessity" exception to the general prohibition on selling or growing marijuana. [continues 781 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal law bars the distribution of marijuana even to people who say they must have it to alleviate symptoms of serious illness, dealing a setback to the movement for ``medical marijuana'' laws and limiting the impact of the state laws already on the books. Ruling 8-0 in a case involving a California ``cannabis cooperative'' that supplied the drug to patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and other illnesses, the court said that federal law allows no ``medical necessity'' exception to the general prohibition on selling or growing marijuana. [continues 183 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal law bars the distribution of marijuana even to people who say they must have it to alleviate symptoms of serious illness, dealing a setback to the movement for ``medical marijuana'' laws and limiting the impact of the state laws already on the books. Ruling 8-0 in a case involving a California ``cannabis cooperative'' that supplied the drug to patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and other illnesses, the court said that federal law allows no ``medical necessity'' exception to the general prohibition on selling or growing marijuana. [continues 182 words]
