War on Drugs
Pot vs. Booze
Published August 20, 2009 @ 06:25AM PT
There are countless arguments for the legalization and regulation of marijuana, and you've heard many of them in this space before. There's the cost - in both human lives and dollars - of incarcerating and punishing millions for a victimless crime. It follows from this argument that we can spend the money saved on court and police costs on drug treatment programs to help heavy users change their habits. There are the medicinal benefits of the plant.
And then there's the argument that marijuana can be an alternative to alcohol - and legalization would spark a reduction in alcohol abuse (and therefore a reduction in death, disease and violence). That's the thesis behind a new book: "Marijuana Is Safer, So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?" Co-written by leaders at the Marijuana Policy Project, NORML and SAFER, the book argues that marijuana prohibition has fueled our country's dangerous drinking habit and that legal pot would provide a safe alternative.
Supporters of the book are buying copies en masse today to drive it higher (pardon the pun) in the Amazon rankings. As of this writing, it's #1 in Health Policy and #705 overall. Buy your copy today, you'll help raise the profile of this issue - and I think you'll enjoy the book, too.
The Stimulus and the Drug War
Published August 19, 2009 @ 05:41AM PT
The state of California is under court order to reduce its prison population, but officials can't seem to shake their drug war policythink. The state is actually considering an expansion of local police task forces that have proven effective at making drug arrests, and using federal stimulus money to do it.
The L.A. Times reported yesterday that the state is reviewing a plan to devote $33 million in federal funds to law enforcement groups focused on drug arrests.
"While one side of the government is addressing prison overcrowding, another side seems to be acting directly counter to that goal," said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director of the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance.
...The Drug Policy Alliance estimates that the increase could yield 13,000 arrests during the coming year, resulting in prison time for nearly a quarter of those apprehended, at a cost of $160 million.
One hand of California's government is sending funding to spark drug arrests, while the other cuts deeply from treatment - a proven method of reducing addiction and violence based on drugs. The state has cut more than half of its $120 million budget for drug treatment in the last year. This stimulus money could be much better spent on treatment than expanding incarceration.
In all, the federal government has awarded California $135.6 million in federal stimulus money - more than any other state - under the Justice Assistance Grants program. Download this PDF to find out how much your state got and how it plans to spend the money.
Much of the language in this document shows at least an attempt to divert some federal funding toward positive programs like treatment, prevention, community policing and drug courts. But highlighting rehabilitation when drawing funds is one thing, actually funding the programs is another. California's step toward drug enforcement is a sign that at least one state will be slow to change.
Cops and Snitches: Two New Blogs
Published August 19, 2009 @ 04:29AM PT
Two new blogs have joined the criminal justice reform conversation online, both are worth a look (and adding to your feed reader).
The first is Alexandra Natapoff's new Snitching Blog. Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in L.A., is one of the country's leading experts on the role of snitches and informants in the criminal justice system and I've linked to her research and commentary in this space plenty of times in the past. She posted yesterday on the effects of sanctioned crimes committed by informants while they are working for the government. She wrote:
When law enforcement tolerates crimes committed by cooperating offenders, whether it is drug use, property crimes, or violence, the neighborhoods in which those offenders live have to put up with it.
Brad Pitt and Legal Pot
Published August 16, 2009 @ 11:48AM PT
Bra d Pitt sparked discussion among drug reformers this week - and got the attention of mainstream America - when he said on the Today Show that he supports legalizing and taxing marijuana. And although he threw the statement out as a joke, and it was taken as such, every little bit helps. Celebrities lining up behind this important cause could make an enormous difference.
It's important that celebrities raise this issue, but it's critical that they do it in a serious way. When Bill Maher asked Pitt to elaborate on his support for legalization on Real Time on Friday, the conversation went straight to jokes about Brad's supposed joint-rolling talents, and another opportunity to discuss the real facts of the issue was missed.
Of course, enlisting the help of Hollywood in progressive reform can always be a double-edged sword. Brad Pitt has enormous reach, but we already have a problem with the drug reform movement not being taken seriously. When someone like Brad Pitt joins the cause, it can raise awareness but it may also further alienate the middle-America voters that would need to be onboard before legalization of marijuana could happen. This is a concern, but in my eyes the benefits outweigh the risks.
For a fact-sheet you can share with friends, family, neighbors and your local A-list celebrity before he mentions this issue on national TV, download a helpful fact sheet from the Marijuana Policy Project here. (The link goes straight to the PDF)
A Family on Parole
Published August 08, 2009 @ 05:14AM PT
Photographer Joseph Rodriguez, who has told moving stories through his photos from East L.A. to Kurdistan, turned to multimedia production in 2007 to address the over-incarceration in our population by documenting the lives of former prisoners returning to society. In one of his photo/audio pieces (above and here), Darlene Escalante talks about growing up with both parents in prison, serving time in prison with her mother, and being paroled as a family. It's well worth the six minutes.
Rodriguez recently told Miki Johnson how he came to take on this project:
Last year the Pew Research Center did a study called “One out of a hundred people in prison.” That was kind of the spark to seriously revisit this story and see what I could do about telling it in a different way. I did not want to repeat myself, and I didn’t want to repeat what other photographers have already done with work inside prisons. I wanted to challenge that story somewhat, because I think when you come out of prison, you’re still doing time in many different respects. You may be on parole, you may be an addict, you may have problems getting employment, and you can’t vote — all those different issues that affect many ex-offenders.
Monday Map: The Distribution of Drug Use
Published August 03, 2009 @ 04:46PM PT
Here's your Monday map - a look at the use of illegal substances other than marijuana across the United States.
The map comes via the great map blog The Map Scroll, using data from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Map Scroll went on to post maps by specific drugs here, and makes some interesting observations:
...Another thing that challenges my prejudices is that there doesn't seem to be any correlation between the wealth or human development of states and their level of drug use. Some high-development states, like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have low levels of drug use; and some, like Massachusetts and Colorado, have high levels of drug use. And some low-development states, like Arkansas and Tennessee, have high levels of drug use, while others, like South Carolina and Alabama, have low levels of drug use. There do seem to be some regional trends - especially the high rates of drug use in the non-Mormon West - but a lot of variation within regions as well. All in all it just looks pretty random.
White House Backpedals on Needle Exchange
Published July 10, 2009 @ 06:26AM PT
A group of 26 activists was arrested yesterday in D.C. for protesting the White House's backpedaling on federal funding for needle exchanges. Candidate Obama said he would reverse the federal ban on funding needle exchanges, but the White House's proposed budget continues the ban and President Obama now says he needs to move more slowly.
Needle exchanges prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases among drug users, and banning these programs make about as much sense as George Bush's abstinence-only ridiculousness. The ban on needle exchanges is pure head-in-the-sand drug war policy and I was under the optimistic impression that Obama was ending the drug war. We need to address drug abuse through treatment while still providing the needles that prevent the spread of disease among users.
In the video above, the protesters voices echo off the walls of the capitol: "Clean needles save lives." Kudos to these 26 souls for keeping the issue in the public eye.
