Monthly Archives: July 2020

What George Floyd and Breonna Taylor can teach us about the history of the War on Drugs and needed police reforms

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor ignited protests around the nation calling for major police reform. The calls for police reform include many layers, and one important question to rise is the role of policing drug use and the militarized way the War on Drugs has been fought in this country for over 40 years. Using armed police to deal with drug abuse has been one of the most ineffective and costly aspects of the War on Drugs costly in terms of resources and costly in terms of lives. Now is the time to finally change the way we envision our countrys War on Drugs and how we, as a society, handle the effects of drug use and abuse.

Using armed police to deal with drug abuse has been one of the most ineffective and costly aspects of the War on Drugs

The arrest, murder, and original autopsy report for George Floyd reminds us of the long history of deeply rooted stereotypes associating black men with drug use and drug crimes. During Floyds arrest when he was face down on the pavement on a south Minneapolis street corner, Officer Thomas Lane told Officer Derek Chauvin that he was worried about excited delirium. Chauvin responded with thats why we have him on his stomach. A few minutes later George Floyd was dead.

Excited delirium is a controversial diagnosis in which people can become aggressive, incoherent, and exhibit superhuman strength after taking stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine or cocaine. It is important to note that this condition is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association nor the World Health Organization. In fact, critics of this diagnosis often argue it is used to excuse death caused by use of force from police officers. Research shows that in cases of unexpected death associated with the controversial state of excited delirium, the deaths were associated with restraint, with the person in the prone position, and pressure on the neck.

Even more problematic is the fact that excited delirium is disproportionately cited as the cause of death in cases where black and Hispanic men die in the custody of police. There is also ample evidence to suggest that even without the concern of excited delirium, police use more force against people of color than against whites. For example, a recent study after the murder of George Floyd showed that in Minneapolis the police use force against black people 7 times more often than against white people. And recent research shows that at the national level black men are approximately 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by the police. Moreover, there is a substantial amount of research showing black people are more likely than white people to be pulled over and searched while driving, despite the fact that drugs are found more often on white people.

George Floyds death was not caused by excited delirium. Even though the police were not called for a drug-related crime in this case, we must take this opportunity to acknowledge the fear and stereotypes present during Floyds arrest, and be critical of how they may have contributed to his murder at the hands of police.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner autopsy report for George Floyd reported the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death. This prompted many media outlets to highlight this piece of the autopsy report, such as that published by celebrity website TMZ, suggesting somehow Floyd was to blame for his own death.

The mention of drugs in this case conjures an image of the black male drug user that is rooted in a long history of stereotyping black men as drug users who are threatening and criminal. This false narrative is dangerous and is often used to divert conversations from the real consequences of the abuse of power by police. It also works to erase how the War on Drugs has led to the over-policing of drug crimes in black and brown communities.

According to experts in this field and multiple autopsy reports, including the aforementioned report by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Floyds death was not caused by drug use, and we need to be vigilant against letting the presence of drugs in Floyds system distract us from the fact that he was murdered by a police officer. Being a drug user should not be viewed as a justification for murder.

Associating black men with drug use and criminality is nothing new. For example, in 1914, the New York Times published an article by a prominent physician stating cocaine gave black men supernatural powers and made them impervious to bullets. The associations made between black men and drug use and crime contributes to the extreme racial bias in how the War on Drugs continues to play out, targeting poor communities of color.

In 1982 when the War on Drugs was announced, drug use rates were on the decline in the United States. Despite this fact, policing for drug crimes on the street increased substantially, especially in communities of color, and incarceration rates for drug crimes skyrocketed, especially among black men. This all occurred even though black and white people used drugs at essentially the same rates.

Research shows that even though black people represent 12.5% of illicit drug use in the United States, they represent 29% of those arrested for drug offenses and 33% of those incarcerated for drug offenses. Even in an era of states legalizing marijuana around the nation, black people are arrested at higher rates for marijuana possession in every single state despite data showing black people do not use more marijuana than white people. Simply put, the War on Drugs has negatively impacted black and brown lives far more than it has impacted white lives, and it is imperative that we, as a country, finally fight to end the War on Drugs.

We should all be wary of police treating United States citizens as enemies in a war like the one we have seen with the War on Drugs. This was recently demonstrated in the tragic death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed by police during the execution of a no-knock warrant while she was sleeping in her home.

This case, along with George Floyds case, has fueled wide-spread protests around the world. A common demand within these protests has called for defunding the police, arguing that armed police are not the appropriate way to handle many of the reasons people call for help in the first place. Drug use and intoxication is a good example of this. Drug abuse is defined by the American Psychological Association as a mental health condition, and the criminality of drug use lies within the definitions of what drugs are legal to use based on laws that have changed throughout the history of our country and continue to change even today.

For example, all drug use used to be legal in this country, and during the time of prohibition, alcohol was once criminalized and made illegal. Laws related to drug use change as society changes. Police officers, the people charged with enforcing whatever drug laws are on the books at the time, are not experts in drug abuse and mental health. In fact, unlike mental health care providers and social workers who are educated about drugs and their effects and how to handle situations involving drug abuse and intoxication, police are trained to use a continuum of force and arrest authority to manage situations. This may result in the escalation of force, and sometimes deadly force, being used in situations that may have turned out differently if police were not the first to respond, especially considering police training inadequately prepares officers to de-escalate situations. This is an area of public safety that should be deferred to professionals with the expertise and sensitivity to handle these challenging situations, and we are starting to see more focus on this approach due to recent events.

The cost for the War on Drugs has not been shared equally. The increased militarization of police, which coincided with the implementation of the War on Drugs, has not made our communities safer. Instead, the militarized fight of the War on Drugs has been utilized disproportionaley on black and Latino citizens and has contributed to the mass incarceration of our citizens, mainly lower income people of color, and the unjust murders of many civilians, including Breonna Taylor.

The United States now incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation in the world. Research also shows that increased military equipment positively correlates with increased police killings of civilians. Furthermore, in the four decades after the declaration of the War on Drugs and subsequent police militarization, drug use among American citizens has increased.

Clearly, the use of SWAT teams and military weapons to battle drug-related crime has been wholly ineffective at reducing drug use and drug trafficking. Our communities should not be treated as warzones and the people of this country should not be treated as wartime enemies, especially when the militarized tactics do not work to reduce drug use and instead have been shown to be racially biased. Put simply, we should not be treating public health issues, such as drug use and abuse, with militant police responses.

The call for police reform has been around long before the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and recent polls show that nearly 70% of Americans believe the murder of George Floyd represents a broader problem within law enforcement rather than an isolated incident. Now is the time for us to finally take a critical look at law enforcement in our country and reimagine what policing and community safety could look like, including the way we police drug crimes and enforce drug laws. In so doing, we can finally ensure justice, safety, and human dignity are actual priorities in our society.

The demonization and conflation of drug use and blackness in this country has, for far too long, been rationale and justification for murder. Let this moment be an opportunity to change that narrative. The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor should not turn into more cases where we blame black people for the circumstance in which they find themselves. To do so would strip George Floyd and Breonna Taylor of their humanity and betrays the complete and utter lack of humanity shown by the officers in these cases. This is a narrative we have seen play out far too often in our country. George Floyd did not die from drug use. He was murdered at the hands of a police officer who had taken an oath to protect and serve.

Breonna Taylor was not a casualty of war. She was a victim of a decades-long campaign that has proven to be ineffective and damages the fabric of our society by punishing low-income black and brown communities unequally. George Floyds six year-old daughter Gianna Floyd said daddy changed the world. May her words ring true for generations to come and may we finally end the War on Drugs.

Jessica Siegel and Jessica Hodge

Jessica A. Siegel is Associate Professor, Psychology & Neuroscience, at the University of St. Thomas. Her research examines the long-term effects of methamphetamine exposure on the brain and behavior using a mouse model. She is currently exploring the effects of adolescent methamphetamine exposure on brain function and behavior, specifically examining the dopamine transporters in the striatum and serum cortisol levels. She is also interested in how other drugs, such as nicotine, interact with the effects of methamphetamine in the adolescent brain. She teaches Brain & Human Behavior and Drugs & Behavior in the Psychology Department, and Principles of Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology in the Neuroscience Program.

Jessica Hodge is an Associate Professor in the Department of Justice & Society Studies and the Faculty Director with the Center for the Common Good at the University of St. Thomas. Prior to joining the faculty at UST, Dr. Hodge was an Assistant Professor at UMKC where she was also affiliated with the Womens and Gender Studies program. She received a doctorate in Criminology from the University of Delaware, and her primary research interests and publications are related to gender and crime issues, juvenile justice policies and practices, and the development and enforcement of hate crime laws.

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Police Murders and the War on Drugs - LA Progressive

Jos Garza is running for district attorney in Travis County, Texas. (Courtesy of Jos Garza campaign)

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On day one, we will end the prosecution of low-level drug offenses here in Travis County, announced district attorney candidate Jos Garza, at a February forum on criminal justice reform in Austin. We will end the prosecution of possession and sale offenses of a gram or less.Ad Policy

That may have sounded to some like a bold statement, but Garza argued it was the rational response to a broken system.

On Tuesday night, voters in the state capital of Texas and the surrounding county agreed. Garza, a former federal public defender, immigrant rights activist, and executive director of the Texas Workers Defense ProjectProyecto Defensa Laboral, swept to victory over Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore in a closely watched Democratic primary runoff election. And the successful challenger signaled that he is ready to act. We know that 60-percent of all people arrested and charged with drug possession through traffic stops are people of color, he told reporters. So, it is time to end the war on drugs in this community to begin to unwind the racial disparities in our criminal justice system.

Garza won 68 percent of the vote to 32 percent for Moore, who, as The Austin Chronicle noted earlier this year, had been under fire on many fronts for her perceived insufficient commitment to true justice, particularly for women survivors of sexual assault. The Chronicle endorsed Garza as a candidate who would bring to the office a demonstrable commitment to equity. MORE FROM John Nichols

With the party nomination secured in an overwhelmingly Democratic county, Garza is positioned to further demonstrate that commitment as one of the most high-profile members of the emerging class of county prosecutors who are prepared to upend old ways of thinking about law enforcement and the achievement of justice. Hell join Chicagos Kim Foxx, Philadelphias Larry Krasner, and San Franciscos Chesa Boudin as part of a movement to transform how cities and countries across the country address public safety issues. The movement is growing! observed Boudin, as he celebrated the victory by Garza, who ran with strong support from unions, Austin Democratic Socialists of America, the Working Families Party, and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

The Texan summed up the thinking of the movement during the course of a campaign in which he told voters, Our system doesnt have to be broken. We have the power to fix this. And we have a right and a responsibility to demand that it be fixed.

What distinguished Garza is his determination to move quickly and decisively to take on the gravest injustices.Current Issue

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Take his response to questions about capital punishment. The Death Penalty is morally and ethically wrong, does not serve as a deterrent, has proven to be applied arbitrarily at best, and comes at tremendous financial costs, the candidates platform states. As District Attorney, I will not seek a death sentence. I will also review all post-conviction death penalty cases to ensure that there are no forensic, evidentiary, or legal issues that should cause the conviction to be called into question.

Or his response to questions about police violence. Prosecutors must play a key role in holding police accountable and ensuring that officers who commit misconduct are not allowed to continuously harm communities, asserts Garza, who began his list of commitments on the issue by promising, We will never take donations from police organizations. We deserve a DA unbought by those they are responsible for holding accountable.

Or his response to questions about prosecuting the powerfulincluding corporate CEOS. No one should be above the law, no matter how rich they are or just because of their job title. We will use our resources to investigate and prosecute the powerful actors in Travis County who have harmed the publiclandlords who exploit immigrants, police officers accused of misconduct, and corporate heads who take money from the poor will no longer have a free pass in Travis County, reads his platform. Instead, the Travis County District Attorney Office will actively investigate and prosecute powerful actors who have abused their positions.

Garzas vision of the DAs office as a platform for pursuing economic, social, and racial justice was especially profound when it came to stopping the damage done by a war on drugs that for too long has been facilitated by Democratic and Republican prosecutors.

In a set of commitments for how he would run the DAs office in a county where the population is nearing 1.3 million, Garza explained:

The revolving door of justice for people with substance abuse issues is a waste of time, money, and prosecution resources. The latest medical research on addiction suggests that treating drug use as a public health issue, as opposed to a criminal justice issue, is a more effective approach to reducing harm and promoting public safety. Nevertheless, our jails and prisons are filled with people who have done nothing more than suffer from addiction.

As a result, this office will seek to pursue policies that reduce the number of people in jails and prisons for drug-related offenses. We also have a responsibility to prevent deathssafe injection sites and harm reduction programs are key to keeping our most vulnerable alive.

Unless there is evidence that a person poses a danger to the community, I will not prosecute sale or possession of a gram or less of narcotics. For possession or sale of larger amounts of narcotics, my office will consider all appropriate diversion programs so that person may avoid a conviction if they are not a danger to the community.

For decades, politicians of both parties and their amen corners in the media fostered the fantasy that filling prisons would make communities safe. Elected prosecutors mounted reelection campaigns that highlighted their conviction rates and their willingness to pursue the harshest sentences.

Even as evidence of policing abuses, prosecutorial misconduct, systemic racism, and the absolute failure of mass incarceration mounted, too many prosecutors in too many places responded with incremental reforms that changed little.

Too many prosecutors refused to change course and recognize that the system is not working.

Garza knows there is something wrong with a system in which the majority of our resources are spent locking-up people struggling with substance abuse and our DAs office has not reduced the number of people we send to prison. And he knows there are smart alternatives. The research is clear: prisons do not reduce recidivism, says the candidate Travis County voters has just nominated. In fact, rehabilitation programs run outside of prisons consistently outperform those run in prison when it comes to keeping people out of jail.

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Austin, Texas, Just Voted to End the Drug War - The Nation

Good vibrations

Guitar is my life, yknow? That was Adam Granduciel speaking to Guitar Magazine in 2017, following the release of The War On Drugs fourth album. Coming from one of modern rock musics great restless perfectionists, its no empty hyperbole. A Deeper Understanding is Granduciels magnum opus, a luminescent epic and stunning example of obsessive studio craft that betters its predecessor Lost In The Dream a record which itself drove him to the brink of insanity. Granduciel re-recorded the whole of that 2014 album, his attention to microscopic detail almost destroying the entire project as he disappeared so far down the rabbit hole at one point he was reportedly measuring minute speaker vibrations.

A Deeper Understanding, too, involved hundreds of hours of studio time, revealed in its intricate layers of vintage guitars, organs and synths, meandering multi-part solos and dreamy sonics.

While the Philadelphia band is essentially Granduciels project, hes surrounded by an evolving cast of stellar musicians and their major label debut started to emerge while they toured Lost In The Dream. Returning from the tour, the now 41-year-old moved to Los Angeles. The cross-country relocation brought a laser-guided focus to the sessions, the band flying in from the East Coast for a week at a time. Granduciel told Guitar Magazine in 2017: I knew I only had em for a week and I wanted to squeeze everything into that week rehearsal, writing, friendship, barbecues so we did it all at the studio we barbecued at the studio!

The songs themselves are exhilarating widescreen American road trip anthems, indebted to Springsteen, Dylan and Petty and the modulated sonics of the 80s, canyon-deep reverb soaking Granduciels soaring guitar solos. In the hands of a lesser musician, they could drift into the realms of cloying AOR, but Granduciels visionary attention to detail wins out. I spend six, seven, eight months on the same song, he explained to Guitar Magazine. I have all these different melodies going on in the song, and you want to highlight each of them, so its trying to sculpt this thing where, if you put everything in, it would just be a wash, so youre trying to paint this picture, but keep all your favourite elements in.

Of the many guitar highlights on A Deeper Understanding, perhaps the most thrilling arrives as early as the second track, Pain. The song is built around a simple C-E-D progression, which Granduciel plays with a capo at the third fret. It unfurls steadily from a lilting arpeggio, the singer recalling wistfully, I met a man with a broken back/ he had a fear in his eyes that I could understand before he winds up for an epic two-part pentatonic solo that epitomises the War On Drugs celestial appeal. Do yourself a favour and look up one of the online lessons, its a joy to play.

Strangest Thing, Granduciel gazing up at a sky painted in a wash of indigo, houses equally hair-raising guitar moments, including a huge solo and wailing Bigbsy bends that flirt continuously with toppling over the edge into untamed feedback. Granduciels playing never resorts to nebulous, self-fellating noodling, though. The solos on A Deeper Understanding are emotive thunderbolts executed tastefully. Nor is he just an old-fashioned guitar hero.

Granduciels Dylan-like lyricism is poetically evocative throughout A Deeper Understanding. On the more sedate Knocked Down, shrouded in great angular shards of guitar noise and waves of tremolo, he sings enigmatically: Sometimes I can make it rain, diamonds in the night sky/ Im like a child. The albums first single, Nothing To Find, is a freewheeling cousin of Lost In The Dreams supreme lead single Red Eyes, its wailing harmonica and chiming Johnny Marr-like arpeggios propelling a glorious, lovelorn anthem.

Image: Mark Horton / Getty Images

Thinking Of A Place, meanwhile, stretches from its lilting slide guitar opening to 11 minutes, none of them excessive, images of the Missouri river and moonlit beaches flickering in and out of focus. At its mid-point the song breaks down to Granduciel speak-singing hazily, Once I had a dream I was falling from the sky/ Comin down like running water/ Passing by myself alight. Its a sumptuous piece of writing.

The vast, layered sound that cloaks A Deeper Understandings dreamy evocations of endless desert skies and vanishing-point roads is powered by a suitably tasteful array of guitars. Alongside Prophet 6 and Arp Odyssey synths, a Baldwin organ and Wurlitzer electric piano, Granduciel uses a 72 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, a 1980s Japanese Squier Strat, a stunning Gretsch White Falcon, a 66 Gibson SG, a 66 non reverse Firebird and his current live favourite, the most expressive guitar Ive ever played, an American Vintage 65 sunburst Fender Jazzmaster. In the middle position that Jazzmaster, with a chorus pedal its like the brightest, most crystalline thing, Granduciel told us back in 2017.

Trusted effects include an Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man, a Mu-Tron phaser, DigiTech HardWire delay and reverb, a Strymon Flint tremolo and reverb and a Fulltone OCD.

David Hartley of The War On Drugs. Image: Anthony Pidgeon / Redferns

It all amounts to one of the best live guitar sounds youll hear anywhere, and A Deeper Understanding is a scintillating distillation, painstakingly constructed by one of the modern eras most proficient craftsmen. Its a record Granduciel says is about watching yourself move between different versions of yourself and trying to either hold onto or figure out which one youre more comfortable being.

Uncut editor Michael Bonner described A Deeper Understanding as some of the richest, most compelling and least lonely-sounding music of Granduciels career. Laura Snapes wrote in The Guardian of an arcing, shivery slow dance that seems to swirl around a disco ball the size of the moon, while NME described a vision of 80s pop-rock warped through the prism of second-wave shoegaze.

The album topped many critics end-of-year lists and landed the coveted Best Rock Album award at the 2017 Grammys. Adam Granduciels torturous perfectionism had been rewarded. A Deeper Understanding is a masterpiece.

Image: Rich Fury / Getty Images for Coachella

The War On Drugs, A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic, August 2017)

More information about The War On Drugs here. For more features, clickhere.

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The Genius Of The War On Drugs A Deeper Understanding - Guitar.com

Under current law, certain drug offenses in California carry with them mandatory jail and prison sentences. On Monday, Senator Scott Wiener along with co-sponsor Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo announced SB 378, which would grant judges more discretion by repealing laws that were established during the height of the War on Drugs era in 1986which enacted these mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.

For a lot of people in progressive California it is surprising to hear that in 2020, with all of the reforms that weve been working on for years, that there are still mandatory jail or prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses, Senator Wiener explained.

The current law denies judges the discretion to sentence drug offenders to more appropriate terms such as probation or diversion.

But here we are in California, in 2020, with mandatory prison or jail sentences for non-violent drug sentences, he said.

SB 378 would give the judge the ability to decide whether to incarcerate or whether to put someone on probation or diversion.

In California, we tragically were pioneers in the 70s and 80s and 90s in mass incarceration, Senator Wiener said. California led the way in mass incarceration, finding ways to sentence people to longer periods of time for more and more crimes.

Courts eventually found that prison conditions were so overcrowded that they were unconstitutionaland it was unconstitutional despite the fact that we built dozens of new prisons.

We have seen the damage that mass incarceration has caused tearing communities apart, tearing families apart, he said.

Senator Wiener argued that mass incarceration is a public health issue in California, and in the short and long term, he said, we must work to offer non-incarceration options to drug offendersparticularly those struggling with substance use disorderinstead of defaulting to prison or jail time.

Not only is mass incarceration bad for public health, Senator Wiener said, its also a giant expense for California in a time when we face massive budget cuts and a potentially catastrophic recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown. Mass incarceration costs our state unnecessary billions that should be going to things like schools, healthcare, and infrastructure.

Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo and Senator Nancy Skinner have introduced previous versions of this bill in past years, and will co-author SB 378. It is sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance.

Incarcerating non-violent drug offenders is the wrong direction for California, and its time repeal these jail and prison mandates,saidSenator Scott Wiener.

Mass incarceration is deeply harmful to our state part of the structural racism afflicting our entire criminal justice system and we must end it.It makes no sense to force judges to sentence non-violent drug offenders to jail or prison, he said. Californias addiction to over-incarceration tears families and communities apart, doesnt make us safer, and costs taxpayers dearly. California needs to reduce our jail and prison population and begin closing down prisons. Now is the time to take this step toward decarceration.

Assemblymember Carrillo noted, This legislation is important especially as we address issues of institutionalized systemic racism that plagues our communities.

She noted that, under the current law, judges are prohibited from evaluating all of the circumstances and applying their own discretion in sentencing. Instead, judges are forced to incarcerate people who would better be treated and evaluated in their own community.

These minimums disproportionately impact and affect minority communities, she said. Every year mass incarceration impacts our families across our state and consumes billions that California should be investing in education, health and mental health programs.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said, Mandatory minimums for far too long have disproportionately impacted people of color in poor working communities.

He said it is unusual for him to advocate for a law that would strip power away from his office.

Mandatory minimums have been a tremendous power grab by district attorneys from judges, he said. (The) power has been abusedit has led to spiraling incarceration, its led to disproportionate sentencing for people of color.

At the same time, Boudin said, The war on drugs has continued to cost the state of California over $47 billion a year even though we know it is a failureit does not work.

He said it is not an effective or empirically founded response to the very real challenges that our communities face.

Senator Wiener noted that this law would not eliminate maximum punishment in cases where judges deemed it warranted, it simply takes away the mandate.

San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju called this clearly a step in the right direction.

He noted that a lot of the amount that people go to prison for are really tiny amounts that are being sold.

Many of these people are attempting to support addiction or have mental health issues or are housing insecure.

He noted the case of a 40-year-old Black woman, with a documented history of mental health problems. She was in possession of .04 grams of crack4/100ths of a Sweet N Low packet. She sold to an undercover officer who was willing to pay $20 for a crumb that she had just bought for $5.

It is not uncommon for someone in that situation in courtrooms across the state to be sentenced to prison and then to be ineligible for housing or other benefits, he said.

This is expensive injustice, he said. The racial inequalities [exist] because of where law enforcement is choosing to use their resources [to] start.

Nick Stewart-Oaten, speaking for the California Public Defender Association, noted that the bill attempts to address an inequity created from a bill passed in 1986during the heart of the drug war.

The current mandatory minimums that this bill is trying to address are incredibly disproportionate, he explained. Right now if I sell a small amount of drugs Im ineligible for proobation. But if I assault somebody I am eligible for probation.

This kind of discrepancy in the law between nonviolent and violent offenders really needs to be addressed, he said, noting that, with the cost of incarceration at over $80,000 per year and the length of these sentences which often extends to ten years or more, the costs figure to be nearly $1 million for many of these cases.

Mandatory minimums are a remnant of the failed, costly and racist War on Drugs, said Glenn Backes, policy consultant for Drug Policy Alliance. Current law ties the hands of judges, they are powerless. This bill gives the judge the authority to order probation services and supervision, when it makes sense, given local norms and local resources.

In a release from Senator Wieners office, they said, As our country reckons with the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and begins a massive rethinking of our criminal justice system, we must take seriously the ways we can begin to end our system of mass incarceration. The War on Drugs and its disproportionate criminalization of Black and brown communities must end, and SB 378 would repeal one of the eras worst leftover laws.

David M. Greenwald reporting

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Legislation Introduced That Would End Mandatory Incarceration for Nonviolent Drug Offenders - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis

Colombias opposition decided to make politics interesting by introducing a bill that seeks to end the war on drugs by decriminalizing cocaine and regulating its production.

The bill is sponsored by Senators Feliciano Valencia, an indigenous leader, and centrist Senator Ivan Marulanda, and seeks legislation on cocaine similar to American marijuana laws.

The cocaine regulation bill is part of a package introduced by members of the the leftist opposition and the centrist voting block last year to end the so-called war on drugs, and implement effective counternarcotics strategies and policies to curb drug abuse.

The cocaine regulation bill seeks strict state control over the cultivation of coca and the production of cocaine, which is currently controlled by illegal armed groups and drug trafficking organizations.

While the bill does not rule out the legal export of cocaine for scientific purposes, it mainly intends to cut the finances of drug trafficking organizations and illegal armed groups like the ELN, Marulanda told newspaper El Tiempo.

This bill is part of the fight against drug trafficking because it is about getting rid of those mafias that profit from it, destroying the Colombian people along the way.

The senior Green Alliance senator stressed he considers himself a victim of the war on drugs and drug trafficking alike as he lost close political allies like former Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara and Liberal Party dissident Luis Carlos Galan, who were killed by the Medellin Cartel in the 1980s.

The control over coca cultivation and cocaine production by mafias and illegal armed groups exposes Colombian society to all kinds of risks, because they will seek their profit regardless of legal and moral limits.

The state assuming this control would destroy what has become an entire illegal economy and allow the scientific investigation of both coca and cocaine for their medicinal properties both in Colombia and abroad.

To curb cocaine dependency, the bill seeks to regulate the sale of cocaine by allowing adults to register as a consumer and, with the permission of a physician, allow them to buy a gram of cocaine per week from licensed cocaine sellers.

A similar bill introduced last year seeks to decriminalize marijuana and introduce improved access to healthcare for users suffering drug dependency.

Senator Jose Obdulio Gaviria (center top) and late drug lord Pablo Escobar (center bottom)

While there is relatively broad consensus in Colombia that repressive strategies to curb drug use and international drug trafficking have failed, the approval of the bill is likely to cause opposition, both in Colombia and from the United States, which has been able to increase regional influence through the war on drugs.

In Colombia, the fiercest opposition comes from Duques far-right Democratic Center (CD) party, which is led by former President Alvaro Uribe, who has been tied to drug trafficking since the early days of the Medellin Cartel.

According to CD Senator Jose Obdulio Gaviria, a cousin of late drug lord Pablo Escobar, the CD would fully oppose the legalization of cocaine, the drug that partly financed Duques 2018 election, according to evidence investigated by the Supreme Court and the prosecution.

Gaviria told El Tiempo his party would oppose the bill above all for geopolitical reasons. According to Escobars cousin,Colombia cannot become a pariah country.

Senator Rodrigo Lara, the son of the assassinated justice minister, told the newspaper that he did not oppose the decriminalization of cocaine, but considered the proposal nonviable without international support.

This regulation will come at some point, but the problem is that legalizing cocaine cannot be a unilateral decision by Colombia, there should be a factor of diplomatic integration; in the meantime, we have no alternative other than to combat criminal groups.

Influential counternarcotics expert Daniel Rico told El Tiempo that the decriminalization of cocaine would have an impact on organized crime groups finances, but would unlikely deal a major blow to these organizations because of their ability to switch to different criminal activities.

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Colombia to kick off congressional year with cocaine decriminalization bill - Colombia Reports