Category Archives: War On Drugs

In an era when it seems Democrats and Republicans can agree on hardly anything, many agree on the need for corrections reform. Its expensive to keep people in prison, and prison itself can have corrosive, lasting effects that are disproportionate to a productive post-prison life, the thinking goes.

So for a while now, at the local, state and national levels, policy makers have taken tentative steps toward imprisoning nonviolent and other low-risk offenders for shorter terms in hopes of lowering costs and improving outcomes without compromising public safety. Michigans state population peaked at over 51,000 in 2007; the following year, a report by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan noted that spending on corrections took 20 percent of the states general fund and employed nearly a third of its workforce, and that the inmate population grew through a period when the crime rate fell by more than 42 percent.

Today, the state prison population is around 43,000, and while the debate on how to control corrections spending continues, bipartisan discussion continues to seek consensus on how these expensive institutions can be safely downsized.

That trend is now being challenged, at least in the federal system, by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In a directive to U.S. attorneys in May, Sessions reversed a course laid in 2013 by his predecessor Eric Holder, which directed U.S. attorneys to refine their charging practices, so as not to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for low-level, nonviolent federal drug offenders.

Sessions move restored the previous policy, which required federal prosecutors to charge the most serious, readily provable offense, many of which trigger long sentences.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that roughly half of all federal prisoners are drug offenders, and Sessions move to reverse the Obama-era policy was widely seen as restarting the governments so-called war on drugs. Sessions, in announcing the change, said drugs and crime go hand-in-hand and drug trafficking is an inherently violent business, where debts are collected by the barrel of a gun. The reversion to previous policy was a key part of President Trumps promise to keep America safe.

In his statement, Sessions told U.S. attorneys they deserve to be unhandcuffed and not micro-managed from Washington. ...It is simply the right and moral thing to do.

A return to the war on drugs, if mimicked here in Michigan, could have wide-reaching impact on the state prison system, and on the taxpayers who pay for it.

Roughly 2.3 million people are behind bars in the U.S., spread among local jails, juvenile and immigration detention, and military, state or federal prisons, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, which advocates against mass incarceration.

In Michigan, the most recent available data, from 2015, reports that about one-third of the states 40,000 prison inmates are incarcerated on drug charges. At a per-capita cost of $35,000, that works out to $116 million per year (though its worth noting that most imprisoned on drug charges have at least another conviction, anything from violent assault to a less-serious property crime).

So what is likely to happen as a result of this new wind blowing through Washington? Whats the result if its duplicated in Michigan?

Maybe not much

Think of the war on drugs as a long train speeding down the track. Holders directive had the effect of pulling back on the throttle, but a train takes a long time to slow down, let alone stop, and the new policy was in place for only about three years.

The language he is using was the language that was in place for all U.S. attorneys offices prior to the Holder policy, said Blanche Cook, a Wayne State University Law School professor and former U.S. Attorney. It not as if this is new. Its not a radical notion.

The most serious, readily provable offense is language that U.S. Attorneys have been following for decades, and federal mandatory minimum sentences go with that, Cook said.

Theyre called mandatory for a reason.

However, she said, federal prosecutors have discretion in how they craft and pursue cases. But they also all know they serve at the pleasure of the president, and no one wants to lose a job because they werent carrying out the chief executives judicial policy to the presidents liking.

You have a lot of latitude, but you dont want to get on the presidents radar for the wrong reason, Cook said.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice in Washington declined comment for this story.

A setback for reformers

Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a national advocacy group, said he was disappointed with the Sessions reversal. He said its clear tough sentencing doesnt reduce crime.

The group was part of the effort to repeal Michigans 650-lifer law, which Ring called one of the worst in the country. The statute, passed in 1973, imposed a mandatory life sentence on individuals arrested with 650 grams or more roughly 1.5 pounds of heroin or cocaine. By the time it was repealed 25 years later, it had snared such high-profile defendants as White Boy Rick Wershe, the focus of clemency efforts for years, and Tim Allen, the actor who today is the voice of the Pure Michigan tourism ad campaign. (Both men cooperated with law enforcement, but Wershe remains behind bars, while Allen served two years in federal prison before being paroled.)

Charging decisions that trigger mandatory minimums are counterproductive to their stated aim, Ring said.

They were (supposed to) reduce crime and drug use. But no study shows it reduces crime; its swiftness and surety of prosecution, not sentences, that does that, Ring said. Michigan and other states, including New York and Rhode Island, have reformed these policies, and crime rates continued to fall.

That question is that rare issue where many on both the left and right are in agreement. None other than the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council has come out against mandatory minimums, along with more traditionally liberal groups like the ACLU.

Which brings up the question of how states are handling the same problem.

Tough on crime, and (probably) running for governor

In Michigan, as divided along partisan lines as any state, corrections reform is a bipartisan issue, or was. In 2015, a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Kurt Heise of Plymouth sought to institute presumptive parole, where low-risk inmates in the state prison system would be paroled at their first available date.

Groups from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (on the right) and the ACLU (on the left) agreed it was a sensible reform that would ease the burden on corrections by releasing inmates at an earlier date than they might be under the old system.

It died in the Senate, after being opposed by Michigan prosecutors and state Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has made a tough-on-crime stance part of his growing public profile. Lately, Schuette has also focused on opioid-related criminal activity, announcing the formation of a new Opioid Trafficking and Interdiction unit that will focus on illegal traffic in legal opioid painkillers, as well as heroin.

And while affairs at the state level are not connected with Sessions reversal, Heise, now supervisor of Plymouth Township, said they are the same problem in a different place.

Whats happening at the federal level is the disconnect we have in Michigan: A tough-on-crime attorney general against a legislature trying to pay the bills, and finding out that increased incarceration doesnt pay off, Heise told Bridge.

Look at the cost of corrections, (and ask) what are we really getting out of increased incarceration? The feds will come to the same conclusion we came to in Michigan, Heise said. Within the party, we will see the same debate and discussion in the Trump Administration.

A Michigan House Fiscal Agency analysis of the bill stated it would save the state money, eventually, by slowing prison population growth over a number of years, roughly 1,300 prison beds, a savings of roughly $30 million annually.

Legalized pot up in smoke?

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Under the Obama administration, a 2009 guidance memo allowed states where voters or legislators chose to legalize it to do so without federal interference. That was one factor enabling marijuana laws to spread to 29 states, either as medicine or a strictly recreational drug.

Sessions memo said nothing about marijuana, but hes said plenty about it in other settings, most notably that good people dont smoke marijuana, and that allowing people to use it in a medical context in lieu of opiates, for example, amounts to trading one life-wrecking dependency for another.

And a letter released in mid-June reveals Sessions is gunning for weed, too, asking Congress to overturn the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, a 2014 law that officially keeps the federal government out of state affairs on this issue.

Sessions argues that the Justice Department needs the authority to combat an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime.

In Michigan, a drive to fully legalize recreational marijuana is in its early stages, aiming for a ballot initiative in November 2018. (An earlier effort failed to reach the ballot due to a dispute over the age of some signatures on petitions.)

Josh Hovey, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, formed to help pass the Michigan ballot measure, said he isnt worried.

The bottom line is, were paying close attention (to the issue), and think theres strong momentum across the country for more responsible marijuana laws, Hovey said. Were hopeful the momentum will carry through to the Administration, and they will think twice before they overturn (state laws).

Polling suggest strong support for fully taxed, legal marijuana in the state, with 58 percent of likely voters saying theyd approve it in one recent poll.

Fuller prisons

Todd Perkins is a criminal defense attorney in Detroit who has seen many clients go through the federal courts both under the old system and after the Holder memo. He sees the change by Sessions as hostile to people of color.

The war on drugs has not been successful, Perkins said. It was predicated on race, and has punished, unfairly, various sectors of society, predominantly African Americans and other minorities.

Besides studies showing sharp racial disparities in drug prosecution, and differences in sentences (since mitigated) for those possessing or selling crack or powder cocaine, Perkins contention is backed up by at least one key admission.

John Ehrlichman was President Nixons domestic policy adviser and a key player in launching the presidents war on drugs, declared in 1971 when Nixon called drug abuse Americas public enemy number one.

In an interview given in the early 90s, but not published until 2016, 17 years after his death, Ehrlichman is quoted as saying the war on drugs was intended to demonize the antiwar left and black people.

After the Holder-led policy change in 2013, Perkins said, his clients in the federal courts who were lower-level, nonviolent offenders still got prison time, but less of it, he said.

Some punishment has to occur, Perkins said. But at the end of the day, we dont need to lock people up for long stretches if they dont deserve it.

The rest is here:

Reviving war on drugs could carry big costs in Michigan - Petoskey News-Review

Left: Keith Humphreys, Right:EkowYankah

Opioid addiction and related deaths disproportionately affect both poor, rural white communities and middle class, suburban white communities. Also, many addicts are introduced to opioids through prescription drugs, which seem to be more socially acceptable than say, crack cocain. Despite the similarities between the spread of opioid addiction and that of crack in the 80s and early 90s, public opinion and public policy in response to the two have been profoundlydifferent.

Todays mostly white opioid addicts are considered part of a public health crisis, and maybe rightly so. But black cocaine addicts in urban ghettos were met with an all out War on Drugs, which is still being waged today with huge social consequences. What is at the root of this double standard, and how does it color our own perceptions ofaddiction?

Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson talks with Keith Humphreys, psychiatry professor at Stanford University and former policy advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He also speaks withEkow Yankah, law professor at the Cardozo School of Lawat Yeshiva University, who says that how we respond to addiction is based on our perceptions of theaddict.

Our intuitions and our empathy in the drug wars is too often tied up with who we imagine the addicted are and what race we imagine them to be, says Yankah. Time will tell if this kind of rhetoric is combined with more humane and more thoughtful drug policy or if we just tie our drug policy ever finer to punishing those we always want to punishanyway.

By those Yankah means marginalized populations who are often associated with drug crimes and abuse. Humphreys echos thissentiment.

If you look at American history, he says, weve had repeated examples where some group that is the target of prejudice has substance use problems and society really cracks down The cultural narrative when its in those groups is that they deserve these problems because theyre immoral, theyre weak, theyre pleasure seeking, and therefore the response of government should be punitive. And we havent seen that with this much more white epidemicWe wouldve repudiated all of them if they were minorities, but because theyre not, people arecompassionate.

To listen to the full show, click the audio player above.

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Opioid Crisis vs. the War on Drugs: A Double Standard? - WDET

Drug dealers remain go-to bad guys in TV and movies. Dating back to David Simon's landmark HBO drama "The Wire" and miniseries "The Corner," though, television has drilled into the hopelessness of law enforcement's efforts -- depicting what amounts to a giant game of Whac-a-Mole, where cutting off from one spigot simply opens another.

The condemnation of the policy, moreover, is often conveyed more poignantly through dramas like "The Wire," which can personalize character arcs and put faces -- even if they're fictional -- on the statistics.

Another series set in that period, Netflix's "Narcos," spent two seasons tracking down Pablo Escobar, only to see new players fill the void once Colombian authorities gunned down the drug kingpin in 1993.

Skepticism about the drug war's efficacy reflects as much of a shift in the playing field for TV drama as politics. Most of the programs cited air on networks that pride themselves on offering more ambitious and nuanced storytelling than, say, standard network crime shows that slap handcuffs on a perpetrator by the hour's end.

A recurring message from such dramas is that as long as demand persists -- and with it, big money peddling contraband -- someone will always be tempted to feed it.

The drug war, of course, goes back further than the Reagan era's "Just say No" campaign. "America's War on Drugs" features President Nixon declaring drug abuse "public enemy No. 1" in the early 1970s. As DEA agent Celerino Castillo explains in the documentary, purging drugs remains an uphill battle because "America is more addicted to drug money than they are addicted to drugs."

Television remains pretty addicted to drug dealing's dramatic possibilities, creating an enticing backdrop for stories filled with money, violence and power. This month brings another in Netflix's "Ozark," starring Jason Bateman as a money manager drawn into laundering cash for a cartel.

Viewed collectively, though, these bold, nuanced dramas have reinforced questions about whether a "drug war" can ever really be won, especially when each new skirmish and declaration feels, in TV terms, like a rerun.

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Drug war fights losing battle in TV dramas - CNN.com - CNN

Americas War on Drugs is an immersive trip through the last five decades, uncovering how the CIA, obsessed with keeping America safe in the fight against communism, allied itself with the mafia and foreign drug traffickers. In exchange for support against foreign enemies, the groups were allowed to grow their drug trade in the United States. The series explores the unintended consequences of when gangsters, war lords, spies, outlaw entrepreneurs, street gangs and politicians vie for power and control of the global black market for narcotics all told through the firsthand accounts of former CIA and DEA officers, major drug traffickers, gang members, noted experts and insiders.

Night one of Americas War on Drugs divulges covert Cold War operations that empowered a generation of drug traffickers and reveals the peculiar details of secret CIA LSD experiments which helped fuel the counter-culture movement, leading to President Nixons crackdown and declaration of a war on drugs. The documentary series then delves into the rise of the cocaine cowboys, a secret island cocaine base, the CIAs connection to the crack epidemic, the history of the cartels and their murderous tactics, the era of Just Say No, the negative effect of NAFTA, and the unlikely career of an almost famous Midwest meth queen.

The final chapter of the series examines how the attacks on September 11th intertwined the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, transforming Afghanistan into a narco-state teeming with corruption. It also explores how American intervention in Mexico helped give rise to El Chapo and the Super Cartels, bringing unprecedented levels of violence and sending even more drugs across Americas borders. Five decades into the War on Drugs, a move to legalize marijuana gains momentum, mega-corporations have become richer and more powerful than any nations drug cartel, and continuing to rise is the demand for heroin and other illegal drugs.

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America's War on Drugs Full Episodes, Video & More | HISTORY

Worthy winner? the National Horseracing Museum. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Marc Atkins / Art Fund 2017

Earlier this year, Tristram Hunt swapped life as an MP for the cushier gig of director of the V&A. Wed speculate that hes rarely regretted his choice; tonight he presents coverage of the 2017 museum of the year ceremony. The finalists are Londons Tate Modern and Sir John Soanes Museum, the Newmarket Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art, Birminghams Lapworth Museum of Geology and the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. Phil Harrison

While Only Connect fans might turn up their noses at it, this revived gameshow is shamelessly traditional and infectiously watchable. Stephen Mulhern hosts as ever, bidding three contestants to guess the familiar phrases concealed in brightly animated clues. The fun is in the sheer frenzy the players work themselves into as the answers dance on the tips of their tongues and 50,000 is up for grabs in the Super Catchphrase round. David Stubbs

What a world it is when pop goddess Kelis and over-enthusiastic music teacher type Gareth Malone coexist on a Saturday night TV show, critiquing the vocal tones of various bouncy choirs. Its like Glee has graduated, found its questionable aunties stash of speed and necked the lot. Now its the fourth heat, where choirs including the Bristol Suspensions, Over the Water and the Savannahs riff for their lives. Guest Seal joins the judges. Hannah Verdier

The blind audition rounds may now be a distant memory, but the under-15s fight for a 30,000 musical bursary (plus a trip to Disneyland Paris) intensifies as the remaining competitors approach a harmonic Hunger Games in the first battle round. The contenders are split into groups of three, each facing further forays on to the stage. Only one singer from each trio can triumph; which young Voicettes will break first? The round concludes on Sunday. Mark Gibbings-Jones

Like live-action Tinder, but with the added humiliation of doing it all in front of a baying studio audience, Paul OGrady invites a new crop of singletons on to the telly for some public matchmaking. Looking for some conscious coupling this week are Manchester-based recruitment consultant Antoni, and Alice, who is seeking a girlfriend who might be willing to look past her obsessive Cline Dion super-fandom in the pursuit of potential romance. Its a big ask, love. Ben Arnold

Hes the Palme dOr winner whos been banned from Cannes; a cackling, self-mythologising put-on merchant, whose divisive films have been accused of misogyny or perhaps should be regarded more, as Nymphomaniac actor Stacy Martin breezily says in this mini-profile, as a premise to conversation. However, collaborator Jean-Marc Barr sums the trickster-provocateur up best when he describes Von Trier as simply a showman. Ali Catterall

Debut of a new series chronicling arguably the most counter-productive conflict of all time the war on drugs, which has cost billions, immiserated millions, and does not appear to have stopped anybody taking drugs. This episode reflects on various shabby attempts by the US government to co-opt the drugs trade for its own purposes. Interesting enough, but the usual US documentary caveats, about annoying soundtrack and pompous voiceover, apply. Andrew Mueller

West (Christian Schwochow, 2014), Saturday, 1.30am, BBC2 This subtly gripping, atmospheric cold war drama about refugees from East Germany has a very contemporary resonance. Based on Julia Francks novel Lagerfeuer, its the story of young mother Nelli (Jrdis Triebel) who, after a humiliating interrogation, is allowed to leave with her son for West Berlin. They are detained in a holding camp, where Nelli finds herself dealing with suspicious officials not so different from the Stasi she left behind. Its an engrossing tale, reminiscent of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarcks more celebrated The Lives of Others. Paul Howlett

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, (Chris Columbus, 2002), 10.20am, ITV

The second entry in the Potter archive is like the first, but darker, with Daniel Radcliffe and pals encountering massive spiders, a flying Ford Anglia, a little comic hero in Dobby the house elf and Kenneth Branagh as dark arts master Gilderoy Lockhart. Plus theres the poignant farewell of Richard Harris as Dumbledore. Paul Howlett

Mea Culpa, (Fred Cavay, 2014), 9pm, BBC4 A fast and furious French policier with stubbly cops in leather jackets, from the director of Point Blank. The stars of those two films are reunited here: when ex-detective Vincent Lindons son is menaced by a gang of violent Serbian drug dealers, he teams up with old partner Gilles Lellouche to deal with them like in the old days. Traditional mayhem ensues on the atmospherically lit streets of Toulon. Paul Howlett

2001: A Space Odyssey, (Stanley Kubrick, 1968), 11.15pm, BBC2 Kubricks coruscating space saga boosted science fiction into a new orbit, the special effects setting the standard for the Star Wars generation. The enigmatic story has an alien monolith overseeing humanitys evolution from ape to star-child, with Keir Dullea the astronaut taking another great leap for mankind. Hal the calculating computer gives the most memorable performance, with menace in its smooth, ever-so-reasonable voice. Paul Howlett

Rugby Union: New Zealand v British & Irish Lions The third and final game from Auckland, with the three-match series tied at one-all. 7.30am, Sky Sports 1

Test Cricket: England v South Africa Day three of the opening game of the series from Lords. 10am, Sky Sports 2

Tennis: Wimbledon The latest mens and womens singles third-round matches. 2017 11am, BBC2

Continued here:

Saturday's best TV: Museum of the Year; Secret War on Drugs - The Guardian

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Class A drugs and cash have been seized by police in Totnes as part of a new operation to tackle the growing problem surrounding drug supply.

As part of 'Operation Applerose', one man was issued with a notice banning him from the town centre for a period of time after an incident on Friday night.

Totnes Police also executed a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act and a quantity of class A drugs and cash were seized.

It comes just days after the police in the town intercepted a woman who had a large quantity of drugs that were bound for the streets of Totnes.

The woman was searched by local officers in Westonfields, and a quantity of heroin, cannabis resin and other illicit pills were found.

Police say that these drugs were bound for the streets of the town and a woman from Totnes is now assisting them with their enquiries.

The police are also warning people that any person behaving in a manner that has caused harassment, alarm and distress in Totnes town centre this weekend will be directed to leave and not return within (a maximum of) 48 hours.

Should that individual return to the area, he/she is liable to be arrested .

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Man banned from town centre as police war on drugs continues across south Devon - Devon Live

Philando Castile (Facebook)

Before Malcolm Shabazz, 28, the grandson of El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X) was assassinated in 2013 in Mexico City, he, like his entire familyand like too many black people in the United States of Americahad been hunted and harassed by law-enforcement officials.

It had gotten so bad that Shabazz spoke about the recipe for public assassinations two months before his death:

The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then be deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out youre not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit and tie, and a badge that says C.I.A. walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.

I immediately thought of young Malcolms words when, on July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was killed in broad daylight by St. Anthony, Minn., Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez. I thought of his words not because I believe that Castile was specifically the target of a CIA plot, but because the public assassination of black humanityand the character of black peoplehas been an ongoing project in this white-settler colonial project that flag wavers call the greatest country on earth.

The way we look, the way we talk, the way we attempt to live free in a country founded on our violent oppression, have all been reasons successfully used to render us killable in the eyes of society and to justify our state-sanctioned lynchings.

Black people are born into this world with targets on our backs and often leave this world the same way. Castile had already been pulled over an estimated 46 times before Yanez claimed that the 32-year-old mans wide-set nose made him look like a criminal suspect. Further, he was a legal gun owner in a nation that weaponizes blackness and steals black lives but loves steel weapons.

In Toni Morrisons 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved, the character Baby Suggs has

When Castile calmly and respectfully explained that he had a gun in the car, the trigger-happy Yanez feared for his life because a black man with a gun has always been viewed as a clear and present danger. This nation assigns us to that category so that state-sanctioned executions will be deemed necessary. And for those scarce times when blackness alone does not give officers a license to kill, marijuana smoke conjures up the rest.

The Washington Post reports:

I thought, I was gonna die, Officer Jeronimo Yanez told investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension fifteen hours after the shooting. And I thought if hes, if he has the, the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the five year old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me. And, I let off the rounds and then after the rounds were off, the little girl was screaming.

A wide-nosed black man in a car that allegedly smelled of marijuana had the audacity to carry a legal gun; that made him an enemy of the state.

Killable.

The war on drugs has been used to escalate a general sense that black people are beasts and that our communities are urban jungles, asha bandele, senior director of Drug Policy Alliance, told The Root.

Throughout so many of these horrific police shootings, drugs have been used to justify the slaughter of innocents, bandele continued. We saw it with Michael Brown, we saw it with Trayvon Martin, we saw it with shootings throughout the country, including that of Philando Castile. All you have to do is raise the specter of drugs, and supposedly no other question is supposed to be asked.

Sometimes when drugs are not the issue itself, the criminalization, the use of drugs, drug selling and drug usea criminalized feature in our nationis used to justify killing, bandele continued.

Killable.

Bandele points out that the war on drugs is a living, breathing manifestation of the hatred this country holds for black people, and a cover for police hypermilitization and the occupation of black and brown communities.

Once you declare something a war, you got to declare someone an enemy, bandele told The Root. The drug war has been used as a justification for police killings of 92-year-old grandmothers in their homes, where all they had to say was, Oops, wrong house. Its been used to justify the killings of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

This declaration of war and the continuous war crimes that shape this war directly led to the lynching of Philando Castile, bandele said.

Bandele, like Malcolm Shabazz, was also clear that sometimes skinfolk are used to weed out members of the black community that some people find disposable.

We need to understand how we contribute to deaths like Philando Castiles when we contribute to stigmatizing people, or determining whos a decent black person and whos not a decent black person, bandele said. We may have, in progressive communities, a broader idea of who matters and who doesnt, but until we accept that every life has value and we see that in our communities, then were almost participating in who they say they can kill, and who they cant.

Killable.

This is why, bandele says, ending the war on drugs, dismantling white supremacy brick by brick and eradicating stigma is the necessary foundational work we need to engage in if we are ever to be free.

If we want to begin to roll back police militarization significantly, we have to work to end the drug war, bandele said. If we want to disrupt a major tool that they can wield against us, in not only killing us, but them not being held accountable for killing us, we have to end the drug war. If we want to begin to disrupt extraordinary levels of black poverty, then we have to begin to end the drug war.

In doing that, bandele continued, we will say, Were not going to spend money on over-incarceration or over-surveillance, or any of the other facets that make up mass criminalization. Were not going to have one more Philando Castile. Not on our watch.

Bandele gets to the root of the matter.

Black people have been shamed for financial poverty in a nation that is morally bankrupt; still, reparations for theft of our land, our labor and our lives is considered too much to ask for.

We are told that our lives come with white supremacist conditions. Young black men, women and gender-nonconforming people are corralled into deep pockets of destitution, then shot to death for trying to hustle their way out to some semblance of security and safety.

The so-called gentler war on drugsa necessary shift from draconian drug policies to something focused on health and humanityis not for us.

We are still under fire from heavy enemy artillary. We are still living in occupied territory. We are still considered warm bodies to fill cold prisons and balance bloated budgets. We are still lynched in broad daylight in front of our children, and the allegation of marijuana smoke is more than enough for killers with badges to walk free.

Because in the United States of America, to lynch a black person, state-sanctioned killers dont need a reason; all they need is an excuse.

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Philando Castile, the War on Drugs and the Lynching of Black Humanity - The Root

President Dutertes bloody drug war may not be a suitable template for Thailand, as the countrys strategy is not to fight drugs with anger but compassion, according to the Thai secretary general of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (Aipa).

After the failure of Thailands own violent crackdown on illegal drugs in the early 2000s, Aipa Secretary General Isra Sunthornvut said his country would now rather focus on rehabilitating drug addicts.

What works in the Philippines might not work in Thailand and what works in Thailand might not work in the Philippines, he told a media briefing early Thursday evening at the close of the meeting of Asean lawmakers in Manila.

Sunthornvut added, however, that Thailand and the Philippines could still learn from each others experiences.

Its a watch-and-learn and well see how it goes, as long as were serious in this fight, as long as there are examples for us to adapt to, he said.

Aipas fact-finding committee, composed of parliamentarians from Aseans 10 member economies, had a meeting in Manila hosted by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and other Philippine lawmakers to discuss regional cooperation to combat the drug menace.

Each country gave a report on its campaign against illegal drugs, as concerns were raised over drug trafficking activities in Southeast Asia. The Philippines boasted a substantial drop in the narcotics trade and the crime rate since the start of the drug war.

Mr. Duterte has waged an aggressive campaign against illegal drugs since his assumption to office last year, leaving thousands of suspected users or pushers dead in police operations and vigilante-style killings and triggering accusations of widespread human rights abuses.

But Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Barbers, chair of the House dangerous drugs committee, said there was no discussion of human rights violations during the Aipa meet.

I dont see any reasons why we should connect the issue of human rights to the campaign of the Duterte administration in the war against drugs, Barbers said at the same briefing.

Sunthornvut acknowledged that his country had gone through a similar phase as the Philippines, launching an all-out offensive against drug dealers and users.

There was a time when [the campaign] was to stand and yell at the drug users. And then they changed that to lets have compassion, lets understand them, he said.

But its always been alongside the policies and ideas like King Rama the Ninth when he said, You cant fight drugs with anger, you have to be compassionate because its your fellow countrymen, so try to find ways to help understand, Sunthornvut said.

Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.

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Thailand won't copy PH style on drug war - Inquirer.net

Whats happening at the federal level is the disconnect we have in Michigan: A tough-on-crime attorney general against a legislature trying to pay the bills, and finding out that increased incarceration doesnt pay off, Heise told Bridge.

Look at the cost of corrections, (and ask) what are we really getting out of increased incarceration? The feds will come to the same conclusion we came to in Michigan, Heise said. Within the party, we will see the same debate and discussion in the Trump Administration.

A Michigan House Fiscal Agency analysis of the bill stated it would save the state money, eventually, by slowing prison population growth over a number of years, roughly 1,300 prison beds, a savings of roughly $30 million annually.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Under the Obama administration, a 2009 guidance memo allowed states where voters or legislators chose to legalize it to do so without federal interference. That was one factor enabling marijuana laws to spread to 29 states, either as medicine or a strictly recreational drug.

Sessions memo said nothing about marijuana, but hes said plenty about it in other settings, most notably that good people dont smoke marijuana, and that allowing people to use it in a medical context in lieu of opiates, for example, amounts to trading one life-wrecking dependency for another.

And a letter released in mid-June reveals Sessions is gunning for weed, too, asking Congress to overturn the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, a 2014 law that officially keeps the federal government out of state affairs on this issue.

Sessions argues that the Justice Department needs the authority to combat an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime.

In Michigan, a drive to fully legalize recreational marijuana is in its early stages, aiming for a ballot initiative in November 2018. (An earlier effort failed to reach the ballot due to a dispute over the age of some signatures on petitions.)

Josh Hovey, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, formed to help pass the Michigan ballot measure, said he isnt worried.

The bottom line is, were paying close attention (to the issue), and think theres strong momentum across the country for more responsible marijuana laws, Hovey said. Were hopeful the momentum will carry through to the Administration, and they will think twice before they overturn (state laws).

Polling suggest strong support for fully taxed, legal marijuana in the state, with 58 percent of likely voters saying theyd approve it in one recent poll.

Todd Perkins is a criminal defense attorney in Detroit who has seen many clients go through the federal courts both under the old system and after the Holder memo. He sees the change by Sessions as hostile to people of color.

The war on drugs has not been successful, Perkins said. It was predicated on race, and has punished, unfairly, various sectors of society, predominantly African Americans and other minorities.

Besides studies showing sharp racial disparities in drug prosecution, and differences in sentences (since mitigated) for those possessing or selling crack or powder cocaine, Perkins contention is backed up by at least one key admission.

John Ehrlichman was President Nixons domestic policy adviser and a key player in launching the presidents war on drugs, declared in 1971 when Nixon called drug abuse Americas public enemy number one. In an interview given in the early 90s, but not published until 2016, 17 years after his death, Ehrlichman is quoted as saying the war on drugs was intended to demonize the antiwar left and black people.

After the Holder-led policy change in 2013, Perkins said, his clients in the federal courts who were lower-level, nonviolent offenders still got prison time, but less of it, he said.

Some punishment has to occur, Perkins said. But at the end of the day, we dont need to lock people up for long stretches if they dont deserve it.

Link:

Reviving war on drugs could carry big costs in Michigan - Bridge Michigan

Marijuana advocates might not expect to find much in common with the political network funded by Charles and David Koch an influential force on the right that bankrolls Republican candidates to turn right-wing ideology into public policy. But every once in a while "the enemy of your enemy is your friend" logic plays out.

Late last month, the Koch network held a three-day retreat at The Broadmoor for big donors to discuss policy and politics. At one point, reports The Denver Post, general counsel for Koch Industries, Mark Holden, declared, "You are never going to win the war on drugs. Drugs won."

The statement was made in reference to the Trump administration's backward stance on federal drug policy. Recall from past reporting in CannaBiz that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is itching for a crackdown on medical marijuana (now legal in more states than not) and to reinstitute mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenders ("Sessions pinned on medical marijuana before slipping through Senate hearing," June 14).

The Post reports Holden criticized Sessions for taking a "failed big government top-down approach ... based on fear and emotion. "The Kochs' political machine, Americans for Prosperity, isn't supporting legalizing drugs, he said, "but I don't think we should criminalize those types of things and we should let the states decide."

Originally posted here:

Koch Industries: "You are never going to win the war on drugs" - Colorado Springs Independent