As our country mourns the deaths of eight police officers and a series of African-Americans killed during encounters with police, the question we all ask is, how can we stem this horror? One way would be to end the war against nonviolent drug users. More than 1.2 million Americans are arrested every year for simply possessing an illicit substance. It is widely recognized that the war disproportionately punishes African-Americans and is responsible for millions of confrontational interactions between law enforcement and blacks. Many of these anger-producing and potentially violent contacts would not take place without the drug war. [continues 653 words]
CHAPEL HILL - At a recent news conference, Gov. Beverly Perdue rejected the use of marijuana for medical purposes. "I don't see any way I would support medical marijuana," she said. "Right now, every child I look at who's had a problem getting off pot -- I worry about that." As a researcher of illicit drugs, I strongly disagree. Perdue is right that we should not initiate a policy that would cause young people to get hooked on pot, but evidence suggests this is not a problem. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, was told by law enforcement that the medical marijuana programs in Alaska, California, Hawaii and Oregon had not been taken advantage of by adolescents. [continues 561 words]
CHAPEL HILL - Last month San Francisco health officials met with groups that supported the idea of opening a "safe injection" center -- the first in the United States. It would be funded by the city and be limited to intravenous users of heroin, cocaine and other drugs. Addicts would bring their own drugs, receive clean needles and inject themselves under medical supervision instead of shooting up in the streets. Advocates of the proposal believe that the creation of such a facility would reduce fatal drug overdoses and curtail the spread of HIV and hepatitis C caused by the sharing of needles. [continues 731 words]
