Drug Policy Question of the Week – 4-4-11

As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 4-4-11. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3331

Question of the Week What is domestic surveillance?

In a 2003 report, the American Civil Liberties Union warned,

“In recent years – in no small part as the result of the failed “war on drugs” – Fourth Amendment principles have been steadily eroding. … The courts have allowed for increased surveillance and searches ….”

The Department of Defense defines “Electronic Surveillance” as,

“Acquisition of a nonpublic communication by electronic means without the consent of a person who is a party to an electronic communication.”

It calls “Domestic Activities” those

“that take place within the United States that do not involve a significant connection with a foreign power, organization, or person.”

and indicates, that

“Information may be collected about a United States person who is reasonably believed to be engaged in international narcotics activities.”

Illicit drugs are often smuggled from other countries.

The American Constitution Society worries that

“There has been a massive shift from surveillance and intelligence-gathering based on a factual predicate—such as specific information or a lead about a suspicious person or event—to surveillance and intelligence-gathering intended to obtain vast troves of data on millions of people.”

The American Civil Liberties Union confirms that

“Data companies collect information from courthouses and other public sources, as well as marketing data – sometimes including extremely personal information [concerning Americans]…”.

Citing Senator Sam Ervin the chief author of the 1974 Privacy Act,

“When the Government knows all of our secrets, we stand naked before official power. Stripped of our privacy, we lose our rights and privileges. The Bill of Rights then becomes just so many words.”

These facts and others like them can be found in the Domestic Surveillance section of the Interdiction of Drugs and Military Participation Chapters of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

Drug Policy Question of the Week – 3-26-11

As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 3-26-11. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3320

Question of the Week: What is naloxone?

A Drug Profile for Naloxone HCl from the Arizona Department of Health Services describes the drug as a

“narcotic (opioid) agonist” marketed under the name Narcan. Its adult dosages come in IV, intra-nasal, and continuous IV infusion forms. As an antidote to opioid overdose, Naloxone “Reverses respiratory depression secondary to narcotics.”

According to a Drexel University Law Review article,

“The drug “blocks the effects of opiates by binding to three types of opioid receptors in the central nervous system. It is standard practice for first responders to inject naloxone when summoned to the scene of drug overdose”

A study in the Canadian Journal for Emergency Medicine, stated,

“Respiratory depression, the primary cause of death in opioid overdose, is due to direct inhibition of the brainstem respiratory centre and decreased responsiveness to carbon dioxide.”

“Heroin [an opioid] is particularly toxic because of high lipid solubility, which allows it to cross the blood–brain barrier within seconds and achieve high brain levels.

“Naloxone is also lipid soluble and enters the brain rapidly. Reversal of respiratory depression is evident 3–4 minutes after IV and 5–6 minutes after subcutaneous administration.”

According to a 2005 article in the Journal of Urban Health,

“Naloxone precipitates acute withdrawal symptoms in opiate-dependent persons, but has no effect on nonopiate users; serious adverse effects are rare and naloxone has no abuse potential.”

The report goes on to say,

“Fatal heroin overdose has become a leading cause of death among injection drug users. Several recent feasibility studies have concluded that naloxone distribution programs for heroin injectors should be implemented to decrease heroin overdose deaths.”

These facts and others like them can be found in the Naloxone section of the Methadone Maintenance & Buprenorphine Chapters of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

Drug Policy Question of the Week – 3-22-11

As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 3-22-11. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3304

Question of the Week: Can people with a drug conviction vote?

Just before the election last fall, the Sentencing Project reported,

“… more than 5 million citizens will be ineligible to vote in the midterm elections in November [2010], including nearly 4 million who reside in the 35 states that still prohibit some combination of persons on probation, parole, and/or people who have completed their sentence from voting.”

The Bureau of Justice Statistics “Prisoners in 2009” report found that by year end 2008, 251,400 inmates were housed in state facilities as a result of a drug conviction. For 95,079 federal prisoners, a drug offense was the most serious offense.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ “Probation and Parole in theUnited States, 2008” calculated a total of 646,493 probationers for which a drug offense was the most serious offense. Similarly, there were 265,634 adults on parole as a result of a drug conviction.

Totaling all of the above numbers computes whopping 1,258,606  adults subject to disenfranchisement or the loss of voting rights for drug convictions in 2008.

The Sentencing Project’s 2011 report Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States states that

“48 states and the District of Columbia prohibit inmates from voting while incarcerated for a felony offense.  Only two states – Maine and Vermont – permit inmates to vote. … Two states deny the right to vote to all persons with felony convictions, even after they have completed their sentences.”

Those states are Iowa and Kentucky. Please check the report to find out where your state stands.

These facts and others like them can be found in the Civil Rights and Prisons and Jails Chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org

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