Monthly Archives: June 2021

Every 23 seconds, a persons life is ruined for simply possessing drugs. Drug possession remains the most arrested offense in the United States despite the well-known fact that drug criminalization does nothing to help communities, it ruins them. It tears families apart, and causes trauma that can be felt for generations. The drug war has caused mass devastation to Black, Latinx, Indigenous and low-income communities and today we say, Enough is enough! Queen Adesuyi, Policy Manager for the Office of National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance said to the press. We will not be subjugated any longer by an offensive that was created solely with the purpose of disrupting our communities. This bill gives us a way outa chance to reimagine what the next 50 years can be. It allows us to offer people support instead of punishment. And it gives people who have been harmed by these draconian laws a chance to move forward and embrace some semblance of the life they have long been denied.

The DRPA bill also intends to eliminate many of the life-long consequences associated with drug arrests and convictions: denial of employment, public benefits, immigration status, drivers licenses, and voting rights. Furthermore, the bill incentivizes state and local governments to adopt decriminalization policiesif they do not, their eligibility to receive funds in the Byrne and COPS grant programs will be limited.

The United States has not simply failed in how we carried out the War on Drugsthe War on Drugs stands as a stain on our national conscience since its very inception, said Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. Begun in 1972 as a cynical political tactic of the Nixon Administration, the War on Drugs has destroyed the lives of countless Americans and their families. As we work to solve this issue, it is essential that we change tactics in how we address drug use away from the failed punitive approach and towards a health-based and evidence-based approach.

Congressman Cori Bush also shared her thoughts on the bill, relating it to her personal experience: Growing up in St. Louis, I saw the crack-cocaine epidemic rob my community of so many lives. I lived through a malicious marijuana war that saw Black people arrested for possession at three times the rate of their white counterparts, even though usage rates are similar. As a nurse, Ive watched Black families criminalized for heroin use while white families are treated for opioid use. And now, as a Congresswoman, I am seeing the pattern repeat itself with fentanyl, as the DEA presses for an expanded classification that would criminalize possession and use. This punitive approach creates more pain, increases substance use, and leaves millions of people to live in shame and isolation with limited support and healing. Im proud to partner with Congresswoman Watson Coleman on legislation to end criminal penalties for drug possession at the federal level and repair harm in Black and brown communities. Its time to put wellness and compassion ahead of trauma and punishment.

According to a national poll conducted by Bully Pulpit Interactive (BPI) and released by the DPA last week, 66% of American voters were in support of removing criminal penalties for drugs and reinvesting resources into treatment and addiction services. About 65% support ending the war on drugs, and 64% support repealing mandatory minimum sentencing for drug-related crimes.2

A different realityone where we treat people who use drugs with dignity and respect, and one where drugs are no longer an excuse for law enforcement to surveil, harass, assault and even kill Black, Latinx and Indigenous peopleis 100% possible, and these results clearly prove that, said Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance.2

The DPA has consistently advocated for drug decriminalization as a critical first step in ending the war on drugs, as is evident in some of its previous reports.3

In an exclusive quote to Psychiatric TimesTM, Thomas R. Kosten, MD, Jay H. Waggoner Endowed Chair and co-founder at the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, said this on the new bill: "This Drug Policy Reform Act of 2021 is a great contribution to more equitable treatment rather than prosecution of drug users, while preserving some of the deterrence needed for reducing drug trafficking and its black market economy and associated crime. Making substance use a health issue and not a criminal issue is brilliant and long overdue. These actions can also start to empty our over-crowded and often inhumane prisons, which are over-populated with low level drug users and minorities. The Commission process to determine a benchmark amount of each drug type for personal use is another brilliant aspect of this bill. Prohibiting the drug testing of individuals in order to receive or deny federal benefits is long been needed. New initiatives to expand access to treatment provides a well-considered six item list. Overall, there is everything to like about this bill and very little to criticize with an intelligent balance of enforcement needed for public health and evidence based drug education and flexibility for adult drug use."

References

1. Drug Policy Alliance. Summary of the Drug Policy Reform Act (DPRA) of 2021. June 15, 2021. https://drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/dpra_summary_2021.06.11_v2.pdf

2. Sutton M. On 50th anniversary of war on drugs, new poll shows majority of voters support ending criminal penalties for drug possession, think drug war is a failure. June 9, 2021. https://drugpolicy.org/press-release/2021/06/50th-anniversary-war-drugs-new-poll-shows-majority-voters-support-ending

3. Drug Policy Alliance. Its time for the US to decriminalize drug use and possession. July 2017. https://drugpolicy.org/resource/its-time-us-decriminalize-drug-use-and-possession

Excerpt from:

A Bill to End the War on Drugs - Psychiatric Times

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Rafael Medina, [emailprotected], 202.869.0390

WASHINGTON On the 50th anniversary of the War on Drugs, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Funds Vision for Justice campaign launched a series of actions calling for an end to the War on Drugs. The campaign released video vignettes on its Instagram account with powerful personal stories from people who have been affected by the War on Drugs. The campaign also includes LED truck ads demanding an end to the War on Drugs. The truck will drive around Washington, D.C., and park in front of the U.S. Capitol from June 17 to June 18. On June 21, the campaign will also display four different posters in over 30 locations around the city.

The Leadership Conference and its sister organization, The Education Fund, will also hold a four episode arch on their Pod for the Cause, with the first one focused on the War on Drugs.

The criminalization of drug use and users has led to tragic consequences and fueled mass incarceration, with a disproportionate impact on communities of color. We must transform the entire criminal-legal system to eradicate the negative impacts that have emerged from the so-called War on Drugs, said Wade Henderson, interim president and CEO of The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund.

The failed policies of the War on Drugs have shaped a criminal-legal system in which Black Americans are six times more likely to be incarcerated for drug-related offenses than their White counterparts despite equal rates of drug use. The ads underscore why our nation cannot afford another 50 years of biased policies that have led to Black and Brown communities accounting for 70 percent of all people convicted of drug charges. The ads use QR codes to drive viewers to take action, join the campaign, and put an end to the War on Drugs.

The Vision for Justice campaign aims to reimagine a new paradigm for safety and justice in America.

The ads will read as follows:

WE CANT AFFORDANOTHER 50 YEARSOF RACIST POLICIESDEMAND AN ENDTO THE WAR ON DRUGSEND THE WAR ON DRUGS

The ads can be found here.

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The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit http://www.civilrights.org.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for federal and state policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. The Education Funds campaigns empower and mobilize advocates around the country to push for progressive change in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For more information on The Education Fund, visit civilrights.org/edfund/.

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Vision for Justice Campaign Demands an End to the War on Drugs - Civilrights.org

For 50 years, the so-called war on drugs, which President Richard Nixon declared on June 17, 1971, has ravaged entire communities, exacerbated racial inequality, and helped propel the United States to the highest incarceration rate in the world. It is a war that, by any measure, has been lost. Abusive and discriminatory policing tactics, long prison terms, and the myriad collateral consequences of criminal convictions have destroyed lives, while doing nothing to curb addiction or the epidemic of overdose fatalities.

These destructive policies of criminalization are also unpopular.

A new national poll from Data for Progress and The Lab, a policy vertical of The Appeal, found that more than seven in ten voters (71 percent) believe that federal drug policies are not working and that there is a need for reform. Voters no longer want to treat public health issues like drug use and addiction as matters of crime and law enforcementthey support decriminalizing both drug possession (59 percent support) and the distribution of drugs in small quantities (55 percent support), while also shifting regulatory power over drugs from the Drug Enforcement Agency to the Department of Health & Human Services (60 percent support).

Many of these reforms are part of the Drug Policy Reform Act (DPRA), announced yesterday by Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Cori Bush (D-MO). The DPRA would eliminate incarceration as a penalty for possession of any drug, expunge possession convictions retroactively, invest in alternative harm reduction programming, and place drug classification power within DHS.

The DPRA also creates incentives for state and local jurisdictions to decriminalize drug possession and invest in alternatives to incarceration, reflecting momentum toward decriminalization already in full swing at the state and local level. In November 2020, Oregon passed a measure decriminalizing low-level drug possession across the board and four other statesArizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakotavoted to decriminalize marijuana, joining 11 other states and Washington, DC. At the local level, prosecutors in counties like Philadelphia and Austin have policies to dismiss a significant number of possession-related charges.

The DPRA builds upon the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act that would decriminalize marijuana and that the House passed in December 2020, though the Senate has yet to vote on it.

Full Polling Results

We also found that a variety of arguments in support of reforming federal drug policy resonate with voters, including that the war on drugs has led to ineffective, discriminatory policies and counterproductive outcomes:

Polling Methodology

From May 21 to 23, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,250 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

Poll: Abandon The War On Drugs And Decriminalize

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Poll: Abandon The War On Drugs And Decriminalize - The Appeal

Fifty years ago this month, on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a full scale attack on drug use. It was the beginning of the War on Drugs.

Nixon and many presidents since promised the War on Drugs would save lives. Trillions of dollars later, incarceration and preventable overdose deaths have skyrocketed and continue to rise.

After generations of broken lives, broken families, and broken dreams, we must end it now.

Nixons War on Drugs turned out to be a war on people. Once he saw there was no political benefit in drug treatment, he declared an all-out war on the drug menace with a federal Drug Enforcement Agency and stiffer penalties. This helped Nixon target his political enemies.

As White House advisor John Erlichman explained, By getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Erlichman asked. Of course we did.

Nixons tough on crime stance did not save his presidency, but his War on Drugs and its disproportionate impacts on Americas poorest communities continued. Leaders from Ronald Reagan to BIll Clinton and Joe Biden, when he was still a tough-on-crime senator from Delaware, have spent billions on this failed policy, knowing all it buys them is short-term political gain.

The DEAs budget is $3.1 billion today, with many billions more spent on incarceration and military drug enforcement. Yet 2020 was the worst year in history for overdose deaths.

President Biden now tells us he wants to break from the failed policies of the past to improve the lives of regular people. He calls for green jobs and infrastructure, and expanded access to health care. Will he also, finally, call for an end to the War on Drugs, and invest in public health measures to save lives?

There is hope. In February, Bidens Office on National Drug Control Policy announced top priorities including enhancing evidence-based harm reduction efforts and confronting racial equity issues related to drug policy.

This is a historic break from the punish first drug policies that have caused so much heartbreak. It came after Peoples Action, a national grassroots network, led more than 200 drug and health-focused groups to call for an end to the War on Drugs in favor of evidence-based solutions rooted in racial and economic justice and compassion.

But words are not enough. President Biden needs to follow through on his campaign promises to decriminalize drug use and offer treatment to drug users. He should throw his full weight behind the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, so health care providers can prescribe treatments for addiction.

But President Bidens approach to drug policy thus far has been one step forward, two steps back. He says he supports the best solutions, but retreats when he fears a political cost like when he extended the blanket scheduling of fentanyl, which increases overdose deaths and imposes harsh penalties on users.

Does Biden have the courage it will take to truly end the War on Drugs?

Local communities arent waiting for an answer.

Vermont just became the first state to decriminalize small amounts of buprenorphine, a prescription drug that eases addiction. New York State just said it will no longer punish those who carry clean syringes. And in Portsmouth, Ohio, community members defeated their police departments bid to buy a $256,000 armored tank, so that money can go towards saving lives.

But we need leadership from the top. President Biden, its time, once and for all, to end the War on Drugs and invest in the best public health strategies that will save lives. Its up to you.

Ellen Glover is the campaign director for Drug Policy, Harm Reduction, and Criminal Justice for Peoples Action, a national network of grassroots groups with more than a million members.

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50 years later, end the war on drugs | Columns | stardem.com - The Star Democrat

The 300-page recreational cannabis bill is poised to become law with one stroke of Governor Ned Lamonts pen.

HARTFORD, Conn. It was Groundhog Day at the state capitol, but the third time was the charm. On Thursday, the state senate voted to legalize recreational cannabis, yet again. The bill now heads to the Governors desk.

The delays were perhaps, fitting. Thursday marks 50 years to the day since President Nixon declared a war on drugs. Now, Connecticut is closer than ever to making this landmark legislation the law of the land.

The vote was 16-11. "We're Going to have a product that is legal for adults, taxed and regulated," said State Sen. Marty Looney.

The 300-page recreational cannabis bill is poised to become law with one stroke of Governor Ned Lamonts pen. He has indicated he will sign the legislation. "As soon as I can so nobody can change their mind."

Debate on the senate floor lasted only about two hours this time. Republicans went down in defeat. The Democrat backed legislation, they say, puts money before public health and safety and is a reason to pause at the ballot box. "Its just apparent that the Democrats are going to impose this policy because its what they want. The question for Connecticut really is, is it what families think its good for their kids?" remarked State Sen. Kevin Kelly.

But Democrats hail the bill as victory for social equity. Half of all the licenses will be awarded to applicants in local communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. "We made sure in this bill to try to make sure local entrepreneurs have a role in this new enterprise," said Looney.

The bill funnels 25% of the tax revenue to substance abuse prevention and caps THC levels at 30% across all products. "People drank alcohol before prohibition, during prohibition and after prohibition. When people want to use a product, they will find a way to use it whether it is legal or not," added Sen. Looney.

But Sen. Kelly responded, "The Connecticut Medical Society and Hospitals are saying dont do this. We followed the science all through the pandemic, but all of a sudden, were not going to follow the science. We are going to expose our kids to the availability and accessibility of marijuana, which is a drug."

Once the Governor signs the bill, you can possess up to 1.5 ounces of pot legally starting July 1st, but retail sales will take a lot longer. They are expected to begin in May of 2022 at the earliest.

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On anniversary of the war on drugs, CT sends recreational cannabis bill to Gov's desk - FOX 61

After fifteen years of soaring murder rates, corruption inpublic institutions, and human rights violations, the War on Drugs represents an ignominious defeat for the Mexican State. Most importantly, while drug trafficking organizations continue to threaten the country's national security, decisionmakers and researchers still have more questions than certainties on how to tackle this conundrum.

One of the central dilemmas that arose in the early stages of the conflict, was which instruments to use in countering the increasingly powerful drug trafficking organizations. Most police institutions were under the control of 32different governors and more than 1,800 municipalities. Furthermore, the national security force, the Federal Police, had only 6,500 officers for a country of over 100 million people. On the other hand, the government had the military, a centralized and traditional institution with over 200,000 soldiers.

At the crossroads of the early 2000s, the incentives favored a military approach to the drug cartel challenge. Nevertheless, as the levels of violence increased and human rights violations became widespread, domestic and international voices started to oppose the military's involvement in the conflict fiercely. Subsequent governments answered the criticism with attempts atpolice reformwhich had mediocre results. Faced with intense violence and overwhelmed police forces, governments opted to continue using the military as their primary tool to counter the cartels.

The creation of the National Guard (Guardia Nacional) in 2019, under President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador (AMLO), was an attempt to fill the security gap between the police and the military. The idea was to create a hybrid security force capable of countering new threats, but also protecting human rights and conducting criminal intelligence.Paradoxically, two years after its creation, the Armed Forces continue to perform the central role in Mexico's internal security and severalanalysts argue that the creation of the new force has deepened the militaristic approach.

So, has the National Guard effectively decreased the militarization like Lpez Obrador first envisioned? Or, on the contrary, it has worsened an already dysfunctional strategy? With mixed results and many accusations, the National Guard is an ambivalent force in Mexican security.

By the time President Enrique Pea Nieto, took office in 2012, the War on Drugs strategy had submerged the country in the highest levels of violence it had seen since the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The rapid escalation led to several cases that appalled the Mexican public. For instance, in 2011, Los Zetas Cartel sprayed one of Monterrey's largest casinos with gasoline and set it on fire, killing fifty-two innocent people. Moreover, many of the abuses against civilians came from government forces, like the 2011 killing of two studentsby the police in Ayotzinapa. In this context of social exhaustion, Pea Nieto promised a renewed approach to the security crisis based on crime prevention, human rights protection, and the creation of a gendarmerie. However, the new force never really found its place in internal security, taking peripheral roles like tourist safety. Simultaneously, the Army and the Navy continued to cement their power as the central actors in Mexican security. By 2016, the Armed Forces had a presence in twenty-fourstates, more than seventy-fiveof the federation, and the Government had created new security institutions under military command, like the military and naval police.

During the 2018 presidential campaign, the leftist candidate Lpez Obrador promised a drastic shift in Mexico's security approach under the slogan "Abrazos, no balazos" (Hugs, not bullets). After he won the election, he proposed his National Peace and Security Plan. The initiative included many soft power solutions but some hard power ones, primarily, creating a National Guard. This meant a militarized security force of at least 50,000 members enlisted from the Armed Forces, Federal Police, and new recruits. Most importantly, the aim was to displace the military of their role in internal security and move away from the war paradigm and shift towards a peacekeeping one.

The National Guard became operational in June 2019, with the mission of protecting the life, integrity, security, property, and rights of citizens, as well as preserving their freedoms. With its creation, the new force absorbed the existing national civilian security forces and the military security forces. By the end of 2020, its agents numbered almost 100,000 in 32 states and with100 barracks.Seventy percentof their members comefrom the Armed Forces.

Institutionally, the National Guard is commanded by an Army General but under the civilian authority of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSP). Still, the military plays an essential role in supporting the Guards operations and strategy. After decades of militarization, it is no surprise that military commanders have an important voice in the security strategy. However, this ambivalence creates tensions that the Government should address.

Despite the relatively successful creation of the National Guard, the vicissitudes and dynamics of international politics made its implementation much more complicated. In particular, President Trump's pressures for stronger border control in Mexico have significantly impacted the plans for this new intermediate force. As soon as Lpez Obrador took office, Trump threatened via Twitter to imposea five percenttariff onall Mexican goods if border action was not taken. This unexpected move hindered the Government's initial plan of using the Guard as the central instrument to deal with the cartels.

As soon as the National Guard became operational, Lpez Obrador had to deploy 21,000 agents to the northern and southern national borders. The objective was to crack down on the immigration flows going from Central America into the U.S. Even though 2018 marked the highest number of murders since the start of the War on Drugs, Lpez Obrador had to balance Mexico'ssecurity needs with other domestic pressures. Considering that the U.S. buys forty-seven percentof Mexico's total exports, the imposition of tariffs would have had a devastating effect on its productive sector. This new mission limited the capacity of the National Guard to take a leading role in dealing with drug-related violence. Lpez Obrador responded by signing an executive order that allowedthe Armed Forces to continue to perform internal security missions for five more years and to the disappointment of many, the country's demilitarization became less likely in the short term.

But, how do we evaluate what we have seen from the National Guard with a realistic approach? Considering the complexity of the Mexican security crisis, a definitive conclusion about its impact, only two years after its creation, would be incautious. However, an analysis of the available data and trends can help us understand the current situation.

When looking at the major 2020 security statistics, the results are mildly encouraging. Last December, Lpez Obrador announced that the homicide rate for that year had stabilized at 27 per 100,000 with a 0.4% interannual decrease after three years of setting new highs. Additionally, kidnapping and urban insecurity perception also fell. Nonetheless, this is still not enough to jump to conclusions, especially considering that the pandemic affected criminal enterprises across the region. As the Guard continues to operate over the coming years, more data will be generated, facilitating the conditions for analysis.

From an institutional perspective, the results are ambiguous. It is easy to accuse this policy as militaristic when comparing it with the unrealistic campaign promise of "hugs, not bullets." However, it is different if we contextualize it in Mexico's security crisis and the recent experiences with police reform. The creation of a strong and capable National Guard, accompanied by a comprehensive set of social and judicial policies, appears to be the only realistic alternative to using the Armed Forces. Even countries with much lower levels of violence, like Chile with the Carabineros and Argentina with the Gendarmera Nacional, had to resort to similar hybrid forces to address Latin Americas growing security gap.

The National Guard implementation is encountering challenges that should be pointed out by critics and solved by the Government. For instance, 90% of its members have not completed the evaluations necessary to act as security agents in compliance with the National Public Safety Law. Also, the securitization of migration is a big obstacle for the Guard if it wants to take acentral role against Mexico's real threats. Most importantly, Lpez Obrador'srecent statements that they could become a fourth branch of the Armed Forces is contradictory with initial plans for the National Guard andcould definitely end all hopes for a demilitarization process.

Undoubtedly, one organization will not solve a decades-long of security debacle, but based on the domestic and regional experience, its creation was a significant step in the right direction. Mexican decisionmakers should make all the efforts to initiate the force's transition to a completely civilian institution. Simultaneously, the militaryshould progressively retreatfrom policing missions and replace them with security forces. If this happens, the National Guard will likely become a central instrument in the country's pacification. If not, it will end up as a dependentof the Armed Forces with a negligible impact.

Santiago Prevideis a political scientist from Buenos Aires studying at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Hehas previously worked in Argentinas public sector.

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Why Mexico Needs to Demilitarize the "War on Drugs" - The National Interest