“The War on Drugs” is an American term usually applied to the United States government’s campaign of prohibition of drugs, military aid, and military intervention, with the stated aim being to reduce the illegal drug trade.
The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration is refusing to support a bill backed by the Obama administration that would modify mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug crimes, putting her at odds with her boss, Attorney General Holder. He hopes to make the bill, the “Smarter Sentencing Act” a centerpiece of his legacy.
New York’s new Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio ran a significant portion of his election campaign on his promise to end the racialized policing practices of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.
When the Obama administration released its 2013 Drug Control Strategy recently, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called it a “21st century” approach to drug policy. “It should be a public health issue, not just a criminal justice issue,” he said.
“I’ve always loved getting clean,” says Piper Chapman, at the beginning of the first episode of “Orange Is the New Black.”
The GOP-controlled House surprised just about everyone when it voted 218 to 189 for a pro-medical marijuana amendment on Friday. The amendment, tacked onto the much larger criminal justice funding bill (H.R. 4660), would prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using federal taxpayer funds to interfere with medical marijuana laws in 22 states that have passed them.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is formally backing a proposal being considered by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that would shorten the amount of time that federal drug offenders currently behind bars would have to spend in prison.
This article explains how the United States is exporting its model of mass incarceration and social and political control to at least 25 countries.
An awakening is occurring, the U.S. is finally getting on the right path, can we end the war on drugs?
Seven years ago, when I told my mom I wanted to make a film to help end America’s War on Drugs, she asked me, with a look of some concern, whether I was ever going to make a feel good film.
Over the last four decades, the United States has undertaken a national project of over criminalization that has put more than two million people behind bars at any given time, and brought the U.S. incarceration rate far beyond that of any other nation in the world.
Gangs, guns and transnational crime have had a destabilizing impact on the Caribbean. The region has no capacity to manufacture guns but the introduction of lethal hand pistols and high powered rifles have altered the tranquil waters of the Caribbean.
For more than a decade, researchers across multiple disciplines have been issuing reports on the widespread societal and economic damage caused by America’s now-40-year experiment in locking up vast numbers of its citizens.
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