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]
