.: Global Justice News

News2020.com for the latest sceptical slant on the 'Drugs War' lunacy. Bringing together the most relevant third party news feeds, we hope you choose to bookmark News2020.com now. Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn:

'cannabis heads'
Abc.net.au
April 2nd 2007

A 60-year-old Traralgon man will face court today charged with a string of drugs offences. Harold Willis was remanded in custody over the weekend after police searched a house in Little Crescent, Traralgon on Friday. It is alleged police found $30,000 in cash and three plastic bags cannabis heads at the house. Police allege the cannabis has a street value of $16,000. The defendant is charged with trafficking, using and possessing drugs and possessing the proceeds of crime. He will face the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court at Morwell today.

The biggest U.S. threat: dying marijuana users
Andy Nicewicz
Rocky Mountain Collegian
March 22nd 20007

Reading The Denver Post last Thursday, I noticed a small blurb about Angel Raich, a 41-year-old mother of two from Oakland, Calif., who suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments. According to her doctor, medical marijuana is the only thing keeping her alive.
Sadly, a federal appeals court ruled last Wednesday that she can still be charged with federal drug charges.
It’s very unfortunate, especially for people who are suffering like Angel Raich, that the government chooses to ignore the evidence that marijuana can actually help people. One study done by the Institute of Medicine in 1999 found that ‘’the accumulated data indicate a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation.'’
Numerous other reputable organizations have also endorsed the use of marijuana for medical purposes (see www.drugwarfacts.org).

Opponents of medical marijuana still claim there hasn’t been enough research on the subject to legitimize making marijuana available to patients. Ironically, this is because marijuana is categorized by the government as a ‘’Schedule I Substance,'’ which defines marijuana as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in the United States and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. It’s sort of a Catch-22. Because marijuana is a Schedule I Substance, many restrictions are placed on research, and because there are these restrictions, it’s exceedingly difficult to provide ‘’sufficient'’ evidence to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category.

At any rate, the federal government has chosen to use its rather limited resources to charge Angel Raich with drug charges. The federal government has many purposes and duties, but investigating, arresting and trying dying mothers using our tax dollars certainly shouldn’t be one of them. Moreover, the federal government’s involvement in medical marijuana cases in California raises questions of Constitutional validity.

The United States was founded as a federal system, meaning that states are granted some manor of autonomy from the national government to make their own laws. In California, where Raich resides, medical marijuana is legal (the same is true in Colorado). However, it is illegal under federal law. Under the U.S. Constitution, the national government only has powers granted to it expressed in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Under the 10th Amendment, all other powers are granted to the States. The federal appeals court involved in this case cited Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Commerce Clause, to justify the national government’s interference in the affairs of California. The Commerce Clause says that the national government has the power to regulate commerce between states, but applying this to a person who gets her cannabis from private care-givers from inside California, as Raich did, is questionable at best.

Whatever the federal government’s reasons for its involvement, this woman is dying, and the government is taking away the thing that can help her live. I remember when Terry Schiavo was going to be taken off life support. There were protests, huge amounts of media coverage, and the involv ement of various elected officials on her behalf, including President Bush.
So where are the religious leaders now, preaching about the sanctity of life and the duty to help those in need? Where are the politicians introducing new legislation and condemning acts of heartlessness? But I suppose in the war on drugs, enemies like Angel Raich pose one of the biggest threats to the United States, right?

The couple’s school-age children were placed in the care of the Ministry of Children and Families...
Nanaimobulletin.com
March 16th 2007

A married couple sought in connection with a marijuana grow-op on Uplands Drive have turned themselves in. A 46-year-old Nanaimo man and his 33-year-old wife both showed up within hours of each other at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment over the night of March 8-9. RCMP are recommending charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and cultivation of cannabis. No names were released.
The two will make their first court appearance June 5. RCMP pulled 265 marijuana plants and a quantity of growing equipment and supplies from their Uplands Drive home March 8. The couple’s school-age children were placed in the care of the Ministry of Children and Families.
It isn’t known whether the children have been reunited with their family – privacy legislation prevents the ministry from commenting on specific cases.

'an illegal drug laboratory'
Abc.net.au
March 8th 2007

Three men have been charged with a string of drug offences after a series of police raids across the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Police swooped on several properties in Kenilworth yesterday and allegedly discovered about 60 cannabis plants, an illegal drug laboratory and items used to produce large quantities of amphetamines. A 27-year-old Kenilworth man and a 40-year-old New Farm man are due to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court today on numerous drug charges. A 19-year-old man was also charged with assaulting police.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Mangalorean.com
March 8th 2007

Pune,India: Five more people were arrested Wednesday in connection with a rave party held near this city over the weekend and a large quantity of prohibited drugs and cash were seized from them.Seven kilograms of cannabis leaves and four kilograms of marijuana, besides Rs.350,000 in cash and five mobile phone handsets, were seized from the three held in Yervada. The prohibited drugs, albeit in a smaller quantity, 10 china clay cigars and two mobile phones were found with the women.
While three of the five accused - Ankush Babiya Singh, Anil Suresh Abhange and Deepak Gaikwad - are residents of Yervada, the two women - Zora Mustaq Sheikh and Ashrafi Fazal Mehboob Sheikh - are slum-dwellers from the Kondva Khurd area in city outskirts.
Singh has already spent 10 years in the Yervada jail after a conviction under the same Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act that he faces again. He apparently took to drug peddling again after his release in 2003, More Psychotropic Substances.....

"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court"
Independent.co.uk
March 7th 2007

A grandmother who advocates cooking with cannabis was found guilty of growing and possessing the drug by a jury who deliberated for just 15 minutes today.
Patricia Tabram, 68, was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when police, acting on a tip-off, found four plants growing in a wardrobe at her bungalow in Humshaugh, Northumberland, in September 2005. They also found powdered cannabis in a jar next to her cooker.
The jury heard Tabram's claims that she used cannabis to ease her depression, as well as aches and pains she still suffers from two car crashes.
The jury of six men and six women came back with unanimous guilty verdicts for the two counts, one of possessing the drug and one of cultivating it. Judge Barbara Forrester postponed sentencing to a later date so reports can be prepared. Tabram, who is defending herself, told the court: "I am old and I am tired, and I am disappointed, not in the result by the jury.
"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court regarding someone my age with my health problems and the way I deal with it. Full Disappointed....

'clearly under the influence of drugs'
Yourguide.com.au
March 8th 2007

A young chap who grew cannabis on his parent's Shelbourne property trafficked 15pounds of the
drug within one year, a court heard yesterday. Daniel Webb, 21, pleaded guilty to nine charges in the Bendigo Magistrates Court, including trafficking, cultivating and possessing cannabis. Police found a hydroponic growing room in a tool shed when they raided his family's Nixons Road property on September 5 last year. Police prosecutor Senior Constable Mark Snell said police found three mature cannabis plants,
They also found seven separate amounts of cannabis, cannabis seeds, scales and tubs of cannabis butter when they searched a unit Webb shared with his brother. It was claimed a variety of weapons, including swords, double-edged knives, a slingshot and baton, were also found.
While police were conducting the search, a man Webb knew arrived at the property and police established he was there for the purpose of purchasing cannabis, said Sen-Constable Snell. The court heard Webb was interviewed at the Bendigo Police Station the following day and was clearly under the influence of drugs...Full Influence....

'it takes about Rs 5,000 to grow 15-20 plants'
Telegraphindia.com
March 5th 2007

Krishnagar, March 5th: Weeks after stumbling upon hundreds of schoolteachers who had cannabis growing on their land, Nadia police have arrested one of them.
Police said Prahlad Mondal of Dhananjaypur Upper Primary School in Nakashipara, 130 km from Calcutta, did not pay any heed to the warnings of the district administration, which has been running an awareness campaign against the cultivation of cannabis.
The Telegraph had reported on February 14 that the police had found cannabis plants in the backyards of at least 500 primary school teachers. Ganja worth over Rs 20 crore has been destroyed during the crackdown launched in January. The cultivation is banned under the Prevention of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Many of the teachers had pleaded ignorance about the crop being cultivated on their land by hired workers or sharecroppers. But the police said many were into it for fast money. A full-grown hemp plant fetches between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. It takes about Rs 5,000 to grow 15-20 plants, Full Grow......

Punjab is emerging as the new hub for smuggling
Zeenews.com
March 6th 2007

New Delhi, Punjab is emerging as the new hub for smuggling drugs into the country, a development attributed by the report of a UN body to the increase in cross-border movement between India and Pakistan.
Most of the drugs, particularly heroin, that are smuggled into India through Punjab are subsequently taken to New Delhi or Mumbai, traditional trafficking hubs, before being ferried further to other countries, the report said.

"Evidence suggests that Punjab has been emerging as a new hub for smuggling drugs into India," the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report for 2006 on drug abuse.
"This recent development appears to be connected with the increase in the licit and illicit cross-border flow of goods and persons between India and Pakistan," INCB, an independent and quasi-judicial body of the UN international drug control committee, said. This accounts for over one-third of India`s total volume of cannabis seizures of 144 tonnes, it said. More Movement..

‘rave’ is to ‘talk wildly, as in delirium.’
Dnaindia.com
March 6th 2007

The dictionary meaning of the word ‘rave’ is to ‘talk wildly, as in delirium.’ For a younger crowd, substitute dance, for talk. Though the rave party concept is old, even prehistoric by today’s standards, since it began in the 1960s, it continues to appeal to the hip youngsters of today for its mixture of a mood of abandon, electronic music and sadly, drugs.

Rave parties are quite common in parts of Goa, and in and around Mumbai too and occasionally, when the police gets to know of them, they get busted, as happened over the weekend. The Pune cops walked in, disguised as party goers, and arrested nearly 300 youngsters from different parts of the country.

It’s interesting to note that the cyber and economic crimes cell of the police picked up information on the party, since the word on the rave had been spread through a website. Even more intriguing is the fact that the party took place on Holi weekend, when Indian revelers traditionally imbibe bhang, a derivative of the cannabis or hemp plant.

As it always tends to happen, whenever a rave party is raided, reports tell us that among those who were arrested were call centre employees, air hostesses and students. The sub-text is clearly that these are the ‘types’ who routinely go in for such degenerate events and take drugs.

Let us look at the big picture here. The main drugs caught were marijuana, hashish, charas and ganja, all derivatives of hemp. A few synthetic party drugs were also found, Full Rave....

.: The News from Drug Policy Central

Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) - Incarceration

No More $$$ = No More Prisons

Amidst the surging debate over our nation's draconian drug policy and general over-reliance on incarceration, there is one important factor that even the most diehard law & order ideologues can't just brush aside?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Michigan officials said Friday that the state is closing three prisons and five prison camps in hopes of narrowing a $1.4 billion budget gap for fiscal 2010.

If you can't afford to maintain giant iron cities full of people that must be fed, clothed and monitored 24-7, then you have to stop building them and start closing down the ones you have. This reality is finally beginning to sink in across the country:
Michigan is not alone in turning to its prison system for savings. Some 25 states cut spending on corrections in fiscal 2009 and another 25 are proposing to do so in fiscal 2010, as they struggle to address massive budget shortfalls.

"It's a trend we'll be seeing more and more of in coming months given the dire revenue situation states are in," said Sujit CanagaRetna, senior fiscal analyst at the Council of State Governments, a research group.

Well, bring it on. This isn't exactly what we had in mind when we started calling for criminal justice reform, but we'll take it.

We should never underestimate the extent to which our hideously bloated prison population owes much of its existence to a reversible pattern of public hysteria and reactionary political idiocy. The number of inmates in U.S. prisons has increased more than five-fold in my lifetime, and I was born in the 80's. It just wasn't all that long ago that our prison population was relatively manageable and there's no real reason we can't return to that. Indeed, we may have no other choice.

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Baltimore City residents share their experiences and hopes for the future

Advocates say new report is "a cautionary tale" for the nation's leaders

Contact: LaWanda Johnson
202-558-7974 x308
202-320-1029

BALTIMORE, MD--Teens spending their free time comforting parents who have lost their own children to violence; a woman fighting to break the cycle of addiction while fighting to keep her family together; a man struggling to keep his job while trying to comply with parole reporting requirements; a formerly incarcerated single mother making her daughter proud by getting her degree; and a woman grappling with the murder of her son and forgiving his assailant. These are some of the people who share their experiences in a new report, Bearing Witness: Baltimore City's residents give voice to what's needed to fix the criminal justice system, released today by the Justice Policy Institute.  In a brilliant blend of narratives and policy recommendations, Bearing Witness lays bare the facts around crime and punishment in Maryland's largest city, while shining a light on the hope and resiliency of those most affected by decades of failed policies. This report was supported by the Open Society Institute.

"Bearing Witness provides a glimpse not only of the impact the criminal justice system has had on communities, but also on the hope and determination of Baltimore City residents," said Shakti Belway, the author of the report.  "Each person's narrative demonstrates their perseverance in the face of incredible obstacles and their willingness to provide support and opportunity for others in similar circumstances."

Compared to the rest of Maryland, Baltimore City faces a concentrated impact of the criminal justice system. Although home to roughly 600,000 people, in 2006 the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center processed nearly 100,000 arrests and detained 44,825 individuals.  In 2008, 61 percent of newly-incarcerated people in Maryland prisons were from Baltimore City.  This intense involvement has taken its toll over the years on people, families, and neighborhoods.

"We felt that it was important for people most affected by the criminal justice system to have their voices heard, and a chance to talk about what they believe should be done to change the system for the better," said Tracy Velázquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. "Their comments and conclusions underscore that more treatment, comprehensive services for families and individuals, and alternatives to incarceration--including those rooted in the principles of restorative justice--benefit people and their communities."

Bearing Witness, a collaborative effort of community members and organizations, not only documents Baltimore City's experiences, it also serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of relying on the criminal justice system to solve social problems.The report identifies five areas that are critical to Baltimore City becoming a safer and healthier community:

For more information about Bearing Witness or to schedule an interview, contact Lawanda Johnson at (202) 558-7974 x308 or ljohnson@justicepolicy.org.
 

The Justice Policy Institute is a non-profit public policy and research institute dedicated to ending society's reliance on incarceration and promoting effective and just solutions to social problems. To learn more about our research and publications visit www.justicepolicy.org

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The Cato Institute is hosting an online debate/discussion on incarceration, featuring posts from experts with diverse perspectives on the issue. I haven't had time to dig into it yet, but Pete Guither has posted some interesting excerpts and reactions.

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American states spent about $52 billion on corrections last year, the vast majority of it on prisons, and that's not smart, the Pew Center on the States said in a report released Monday. As a cost saving measure in a time of fiscal crisis at the statehouses, states should instead emphasize spending on community corrections.

overcrowding at Mule Creek State Prison (cdcr.ca.gov) The study, 1 in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, reported that one in every 31 Americans is in jail or prison or on probation or parole. That's more than 7 million people under state supervision, and that's more than double the rate 25 years ago. The report adds that the real figure may be closer to 8 million because the numbers don't include people under state supervision in pre-trial diversion programs, such as drug courts.

The rates of correctional control vary by race and geography. One in eleven black adults (9.2%) are enjoying the tender mercies of the state, compared to one in 27 Hispanics (3.7%) and one in 45 whites (2.2%). With one of every 13 adults behind bars or on probation or parole, Georgia has the highest percentage of its population under surveillance, followed by Idaho, Texas, Massachusetts, Ohio, and the District of Columbia.

"Violent and career criminals need to be locked up, and for a long time. But our research shows that prisons are housing too many people who can be managed safely and held accountable in the community at far lower cost," said Adam Gelb, director of the Center's Public Safety Performance Project, which produced the report.

But while prisons account for about 90% of the overall correction budget in the states, two-thirds of offenders are on probation or parole, not behind bars. Pressures to cut community corrections spending in the current crisis are penny wise but pound foolish, said the report.

"New community supervision strategies and technologies need to be strengthened and expanded, not scaled back," Gelb argued. "Cutting them may appear to save a few dollars, but it doesn't. It will fuel the cycle of more crime, more victims, more arrests, more prosecutions, and still more imprisonment."

The study recommended that states:

The report did not address the role of drug prohibition in swelling the nation's prison population, nor did it question whether drug offenders should be arrested in the first place, let alone placed under state surveillance or imprisoned.

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Just two weeks ago, the Congress passed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, which included $3.8 billion for law enforcement, much of it destined for continuing the war on drugs. On Monday, the free-spending House Democratic leadership was at it again as it unveiled its fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill, and again there is more money for drug law enforcement.

coca eradication in Plan Colombia (courtesy SF Bay Area IndyMedia) To the undoubted dismay of drug reformers, taxpayer groups, fiscal conservatives, and good governance advocates alike, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program looks to once again get increased funding. The appropriations bill contemplates $2 billion for the Office of Justice Programs, a 16% increase over 2008's $1.679 appropriation. The biggest chunk of that will go to the Byrne JAG grant program.

While the Byrne JAG grants can be used to fund drug courts and drug prevention programs, they are most commonly used to fund multi-jurisdictional anti-drug law enforcement task forces, such as the ones that ran amok in Texas in recent years. Arguing that the spending had not proven effective, the Bush administration attempted to substantially reduce or even zero out Byrne JAG grant funding, but faced constant opposition from "tough on crime" representatives from both parties.

Besides funding the Byrne JAG grant program at higher levels than last year, the appropriations bill includes $550 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which got $1 billion just two weeks ago in the economic stimulus bill. It also includes another $3.2 billion for state and local law enforcement crime prevention grants -- another area where the Bush administration sought and got funding reductions. This grant program was cut from $4.7 billion to $2.7 billion during the Bush years.

anti-Plan Colombia poster (courtesy Colombia IndyMedia) The Drug Enforcement Administration is also a winner, garnering an $84 million increase over 2008 and pushing its annual budget to $1.9 billion. That includes $73 million earmarked "to fight meth including targeted areas in 'hot spots.'"

And so is the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The congressional response to a federal prison system straining under the results of harsh federal drug law enforcement and sentencing laws is to simply increase the prison budget. Under the bill, the BOP budget would jump nearly 10% to $6.2 billion.

There are also drug war spending increases -- and one notable decrease -- in the State Department and foreign operations section of the appropriations bill. The Merida Initiative to assist the Mexican state in its battle against violent drug trafficking organizations would get $405 million. That's on top of a $465 million emergency appropriation already passed. And the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement -- known colloquially as "drugs and thugs" -- is in line for a whopping 35% budget increase, from $557 million in 2008 to $875 million this year.

The one drug war loser in the appropriations bill is Plan Colombia, known as the Andean Counterdrug Program under the Bush administration. With the US having poured more than $5 billion into the program since 1999, only to see coca production increase, House Democrats are moving to shave just a few dollars from that failed program. Instead of the $405 million the Bush administration requested for 2009 or the $320 million that Plan Colombia received in 2008, the new appropriations bill has only $315 million for the Andean drug war.

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The criminal justice system in California is rapidly approaching a breaking point:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled Monday that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding.

The judges said no other solution will improve conditions so poor that inmates die regularly of suicides or lack of proper care.
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"There are simply too many prisoners for the existing capacity," they wrote. "Evidence offered at trial was overwhelmingly to the effect that overcrowding is the primary cause of the unconstitutional conditions that have been found to exist in the California prisons." [AP]

Passing harsh laws, capturing offenders and convicting people of crimes is the easy part. What a lot of people don?t get is that the process doesn?t end there. You have to actually do something with the people you?ve decided to remove from society. Keeping massive populations behind bars for years at a time is phenomenally expensive, even if you do an appallingly poor job of it.

It?s utterly disgusting that our drug laws condemn these people to a living hell, all because drugs are supposedly bad for your physical and emotional health. The treatment of our prisoners is disgraceful and the legions of prison-state profiteers who lobby for more jails and tougher laws seldom receive the recognition they deserve in the hierarchy of scum-sucking subspecies destroying our society.

The prison industry will not stop. These people have already created an unbelievable mess and they will fight for more laws and funding no matter how much worse it gets. When human beings start getting sick and dying in our jails, someone outside the criminal justice industry has to intervene, otherwise nothing will be done about it. It shouldn?t even be necessary for judges to compel better prison conditions, but of course it is.

Fortunately, the one inevitable boundary that exists here is the fact that there is simply nothing left to spend on keeping more people in prison. The incarceration industry can?t print its own money. It?s a shame that we couldn?t stall the escalation of our massive prison population with appeals to logic and compassion, but if it takes bankruptcy to abate this then so be it.

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For more than 35 years, New York state has had the dubious distinction of having some of the country's worst drug laws, the Rockefeller drug laws passed in 1973. While pressure has mounted in the past decade to repeal those draconian laws, the reforms made to them in 2004 and 2005 have proven disappointing. But now, in what could be a perfect storm for reform, all the pieces for doing away with the Rockefeller drug laws appear to be falling into place.

June 2003 ''Countdown to Fairness'' rally against the Rockefeller drug laws, NYC (courtesy 15yearstolife.com) New York is now governed by an African American, David Paterson, who was arrested in an act of civil disobedience against the Rockefeller drug laws and who has vowed to reform them. The Democratic leader of the state Assembly, Sheldon Silver, is on board for serious reforms. And for the first time in years, Democrats also control the state Senate. Add to that mix the budgetary crisis in which the state finds itself, and it would appear that this is the year reform or repeal could actually happen.

But it hasn't happened yet -- no bills have even been filed -- and there is opposition to real reform, mostly from district attorneys, representatives whose upstate districts depend on prisons as a jobs program, and the law enforcement establishment. Those folks may latch onto pseudo-reforms as a means of blocking real reform.

Their handbook could be the State Sentencing Commission report issued this week. That report, commissioned by Gov. Paterson last year, calls for marginal reforms in sentencing and parole, as well as limited judicial discretion, but leaves too much power in the hands of prosecutors, said reform advocates.

"The Sentencing Commission proposal was positive in that it would return some judicial discretion in limited cases," said Caitlin Dunklee, coordinator of the Rockefeller repeal coalition Drop the Rock. "But we hope and will press for more sweeping and meaningful reform of the Rockefeller laws. This report was the product of a commission composed of many prosecutors and corrections people, and it does not go far enough."

"I can't believe at this particular moment that they would put this out," said Gabriel Sayegh of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) New York state office. "Not only does it not include real reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, but it takes a step backward," Sayegh continued. "The commission acted as though the political climate we're in is not happening. It's like they drafted this thing from a cave."

DPA wants judicial discretion and treatment programs, which are included in the Sentencing Commission report, Sayegh said. "The problem is that when you dig into the details of the recommendations, what they are actually saying is that their version of judicial discretion, expanding treatment, and expanding diversion opportunities are all crafted out of the prosecutorial perspective. Prosecutors would maintain their leading roles and their diversion criteria would eliminate half the people from even being considering for it. That's the substance of our objections to the report," Sayegh said.

While Sayegh criticized Gov. Paterson for allowing the commission to "continue with its bumbling," he also took heart from Paterson's non-response to the report's release. "Paterson was going to hold a public event around the release, but that got changed to a press conference, and then even that got cancelled," he noted. "We see that as a good sign, an indication that he will not lend his backing to this report."

Instead, Sayegh said, a much better starting point would be the report issued two weeks ago by Assembly leader Sheldon Silver, Breaking New York's Addiction to Prison: Reforming New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws. In that report, Silver laid out the "principles" of reform:

Partial reforms like those achieved in 2004 and 2005 are not going to cut it, said Caitlan Dunklee. "The reforms in 2004 and 2005 failed across the board... the only positive thing about them was that a few hundred people got to go home to their families, but they failed to address the underlying inequities of the Rockefeller drug laws. Specifically, they failed to return any discretion to judges, perpetuating the one size fits all justice that has led to huge levels of incarceration in New York."

The 2004 and 2005 reforms can be judged by their fruits. According to a Drop the Rock 2008 fact sheet, 5,657 people were sent to prison in 2004 for nonviolent drug offenses. That number increased to 5,835 in 2005, 6,039 in 2006, and 6,148 in 2007. About 40% of drug offenders behind bars in New York, some 5,300 people, are doing time simply for drug possession. And more than half of all drug offenders behind bars are doing time for the lowest level drug felonies, which involve only tiny amount of drugs. For example, it takes only a half-gram of cocaine to be charged with a Class D possession felony. More than 1,200 people are currently locked up for that offense.

So, is 2009 the year that real reform (or outright repeal) of the Rockefeller drug laws will happen? DPA thinks so, and held a conference two weeks ago to help make it happen. New Directions for New York: A Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy brought together numerous drug policy stakeholders in an effort to break the grasp of the criminal justice template on drug policy.

"This was the first time in state history where we had stakeholders ranging from the Medical Society of New York to needle exchange providers to people who actively use injection drugs and do outreach to reduce HIV to academics, prosecutors, and elected officials," said Sayegh. Although New York has good drug policy programs -- harm reduction offices, overdose prevention strategies in place -- the overall discussion is still framed too much by the criminal justice perspective, Sayegh said.

"There is an apparatus in place to lead the charge for more progressive drug policies, but the discussion is framed by the Rockefeller laws," he said. "At this conference, stakeholders who are focused on the Rockefeller laws met with groups who focus on treatment, harm reduction, and medical research. We used the four-pillars approach pioneered by Vancouver, which for many people was a new concept. This allowed them to look at drug policy and reform from a new conceptual perspective, and that's part of what will bring about change."

Sayegh is guardedly optimistic about the prospects for reform this year. "In the past, we hadn't been able to move forward because the prosecutors controlled the language and logic of the debate," he noted. "But now, we can provide the legislature with new language and a new framework, the logic of public health, not criminal justice. This will make the legislature much more willing to move on reform proposals. Who doesn't like public health?"

"I'm very optimistic," said Drop the Rock's Dunklee. "I think we'll see a progressive piece of legislation get passed this year that will include meaningful restoration of judicial discretion in drug cases. Hopefully, it will also include an expansion of funding for alternative to incarceration programs like job training and drug treatment."

Not everyone was so sanguine. "I'm optimistic that something will happen, but I don't think its going to be as profound as everyone would like," said Randy Credico of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, which has been part of the Rockefeller repeal effort for years. "That's because there is no street movement anymore, not a lot of grassroots pressure.

While mobilizations in 2004 and 2005 put tens of thousands of people on the street calling for reform, the minor reforms achieved then took the steam out of the mass movement, Credico argued. "Some people thought incremental change would work then," he said, "but we said it's better to get no loaf than half a loaf. That way, the pressure would remain and build. But we got half a loaf, and four years later, all these guys are still in jail and all the air has gone out of the movement."

"And it's not just the Rockefeller drug laws -- we need to completely overhaul the criminal justice system, from sentencing to the appointment of judges to judge-shopping by prosecutors to racial profiling to banning stop and frisk searches. People need to focus on the overall criminal justice system, or just as many people will be going to prison as we have now."

Drop the Rock's Dunklee begged to differ with Credico over the state of the mass movement for reform. "Drop the Rock is the statewide campaign for repeal, and we haven't gone away," she said. "There is a movement. The 25,000 signatures we've gathered on our petition for repeal is a sign of that. Last year, we took more than 300 people up to Albany, and we will do it again this year."

Still, Dunklee conceded, the partial reforms of 2004 and 2005 did take a lot of air out of the movement. "The media spun that like they were real reforms, and that did weaken the movement," she said. "But in terms of movement building, we still find it easy to organize around this issue because people are so pissed off. I think there is still a lot of energy there."

That energy will be needed in the coming months. While New York's budget mess will occupy legislators for the next few weeks, they will eventually turn to the Rockefeller law reforms. No bills have been filed yet, but they are expected shortly. And hearings are set for May. This year's battle to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws is just getting underway.

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Washington Post has a whole story on Virginia Senator Jim Webb?s thoroughly awesome ideas about criminal justice reform:
This spring, Webb (D-Va.) plans to introduce legislation on a long-standing passion of his: reforming the U.S. prison system. Jails teem with young black men who later struggle to rejoin society, he says. Drug addicts and the mentally ill take up cells that would be better used for violent criminals. And politicians have failed to address this costly problem for fear of being labeled "soft on crime."
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Webb aims much of his criticism at enforcement efforts that he says too often target low-level drug offenders and parole violators, rather than those who perpetrate violence, such as gang members. He also blames policies that strip felons of citizenship rights and can hinder their chances of finding a job after release. He says he believes society can be made safer while making the system more humane and cost-effective.

Sadly, one rarely hears a Washington lawmaker talk about our drug policy priorities in a way that makes any sense. So, fittingly, Washington Post dedicates plenty of space to the theory that Jim Webb?s gonna get massacred for his crazy blasphemous ideas:
"It is a gamble for Webb, a fiery and cerebral Democrat from a staunchly law-and-order state."

"?as the country struggles with two wars overseas and an ailing economy, overflowing prisons are the last thing on many lawmakers' minds."

"?Webb has never been one to rely on polls or political indicators to guide his way."

"Some say Webb's go-it-alone approach could come back to haunt him."

No, it won?t. Just watch as that completely fails to happen. Recent polls show that democrats and republicans agree the drug war has failed and that is just a fact. Too bad it?s fact that completely eluded The Post throughout a lengthy article about the politics of criminal justice reform. They found room to postulate endlessly about the supposedly disastrous political consequences of saying anything bad about our policies, but they couldn?t find a single line to show what the public actually believes.

Of course, to include actual relevant polling data would refute a central point of the article: that there?s something really mavericky and even reckless about Webb?s ideas. There isn?t. Those same ideas didn?t stop Obama from winning Virginia, so this whole political-suicide-by-drug-policy-reform narrative is garbage. Stop trying to recycle it. Just put it where it belongs.

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The number of people in jail or prison in the United States hit another record at the end of last year, according to a report from the US Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics released Thursday. According to the report, Prisoners in 2007, 2,293,157 people were behind bars at the end of last year, roughly two-thirds of them serving prison sentences and one-third doing jail time.

overcrowding at Mule Creek State Prison (from cdcr.ca.gov) Drug offenders made up 19.5% of all people doing time in the states, or roughly 400,000 people. In the federal system, drug offenders account for well over half of the 200,000 prisoners (those numbers are not included in this report), bringing the total number of people sacrificed at the altar of the drug war to more than half a million.

Parole and probation violators accounted for about one-third of all new prison admissions last year. It is unclear how many violations were for drug-related reasons, but that number is undoubtedly substantial.

The imprisoned population continued to grow last year, albeit at a marginally slower rate than the decade as a whole. The number of those imprisoned grew by 1.8% last year, down from 2.8% in 2006, and slightly lower than 2.0% a year average since 2000.

The population behind bars continued to grow at a faster rate than the population as a whole last year. The number of people imprisoned per 100,000 population -- the imprisonment rate -- rose from 501 in 2006 to 506 last year. It was 475 per 100,000 in 2000. Since 2000, the number of people behind bars increased by 15%, while the US population increased by only 6.4%.

The prison populations in 36 states and the District of Columbia increased during 2007. The federal prison population experienced the largest absolute increase of 6,572 prisoners, followed by Florida (up 5,250 prisoners), Kentucky (up 2,457 prisoners) and Arizona (up 1,945 prisoners), resulting in 58.7% of the change in the overall prison population. Kentucky (12.3%), Mississippi (6.5%), Florida (5.6%), West Virginia (5.6%), and Arizona (5.4%) reported the largest percentage increases in their prison populations.

The prison populations in the remaining 14 states decreased. Michigan's (1,344) and California's (1,230) prison populations experienced the greatest absolute decrease, while Vermont (down 3.2%), Montana (down 2.8%), Michigan (down 2.6%), and New Mexico (down 2.6%) prison populations had the largest percent decreases.

America's position as the world's leading jailer, in both absolute and per capita terms, remains unchallenged, and the war on drugs is playing a significant role. Interestingly, the BJS report comes one day after a study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that 43 states face budget shortfalls next year. As for the federal budget deficit, well, who can even keep up with that?

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The United States is infamous for its burgeoning prisons. Are we doing something wrong? What does this mean for our families? Our communities?

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