• Drug Policy - Law Enforcement & Prisons - Question of the Week

    Changing Prisoner Numbers

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 2-15-12

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 2-15-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3752

    Question of the Week: Why have the counts of drug prisoners changed?

    Government reports are notoriously foggy when it comes to those incarcerated for “drugs.” Divining these elusive numbers requires a spreadsheet and a detailed search of the Bureau of Justice Statistics for numbers buried in some years, but missing from others. Some numbers must simply be computed.

    This is the case with probation and parole, for which two different values are reported. For example, Appendix Table 15 of the “Probation and Parole in the United States 2009” report displays percentages for “Characteristics of adults on parole,” including those for “Drug” as the “Most Serious Offense.”   This table indicates that 36% of parolees had “Drugs” as their most serious offense in 2009. Multiplying the 819,000 total 2009 parolees times this 36% produces a count of 295,000 of parolees with “Drug” offenses. However, the numeric counts of “drug” parolees reported in the report’s Appendix Table 20 produce a lesser percentage of parolees with drug offenses – 32%. The same problem can be found in the probation numbers.

    Further, reports going back to 1990 contain these kinds of percentages, enabling better trending.

    Thus, the new Drug War Facts table that displays the number persons under the control of the U.S. corrections system has been updated with numbers derived from the percentage of total calculations.

    Here’s the bottom line. Over 1.7 million probationers, parolees and state and federal prisoners were under the control of the U.S. corrections in 2009 with “drugs” as their most serious offense. This represents over one quarter of the estimated 7.3 million individuals on probation, parole or in prison that year.

    These facts and others like them in the Prisons & Drug Offenders Chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

  • Announcements - Drug Policy - Hot Off The 'Net

    Changing the Frame: A New Approach to Drug Policy in Canada

    Today, members of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) released their foundational paper on drug policy reform outlining the Coalition’s vision and plans for creating a new drug policy for Canada.

    The paper, Changing the Frame: A New Approach to Drug Policy in Canada, also calls on the Federal Government and the Senate to take a giant step back from Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, and rethink their approach to Canada’s drug policies for the sake of all Canadians.

    “The research is in. It is clear that the ‘war on drugs’ approach of prohibition, criminalization and incarceration does not work to reduce harms associated with substance use in Canada. Bill C-10 will only exacerbate them, taking us further down a failing path. It is time for a principled, evidence-driven, pragmatic and humane reform of our drug laws and policies,” said Donald MacPherson, Director of the Coalition.

    The CDPC is a new national organization of public health officials, researchers, front-line harm reduction and treatment providers, HIV/AIDS service organizations and people who use drugs who are seeking to engage communities to help chart a new direction.

    “We need to acknowledge the limits of the current approach and that the criminal law deflects attention from getting to the heart of why some people use drugs in a way that causes harm to themselves and to their families and communities. The CDPC strives for a more inclusive society,” said Coalition Chair, Lynne Belle-Isle. “We want to engage Canadians in finding new and innovative solutions to a problem that affects us all.”

    The Coalition held its first two of their planned series of cross-country community dialogues in Vancouver and Edmonton in the fall of 2011. The group is urging broad base citizen participation to explore ideas for reform of Canada’s laws and policies on currently illegal drugs.

    Quebec Conservative Senator Pierre Claude Nolin also indicated his support for the work of the Coalition. “The CDPC’s policy paper and leadership on drug policy reform is an important step forward in engaging Canadians in the process of modernizing our drug policies and legislation,” said Nolin. Senator Nolin strongly opposes the passing of the Safe Streets and Communities Act particularly because it supports continued prohibition of cannabis and further criminalization of young cannabis users.

    To read a copy of Changing the Frame: A new approach to drug policy in Canada, please visit our website, www.drugpolicy.ca, follow our coverage of the Crime Bill C-10 Hearings here: www.drugpolicy.ca/blog or join the conversation on our Facebook page and follow the latest related news on Twitter @CanDrugPolicy.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Medical Marijuana Laws Send ‘the Wrong Message’: Don’t Smoke Pot, Kids!

    By Jacob Sullum

    A new study reported in Annals of Epidemiology finds that, contrary to drug czar Gil Kerlikowske’s warnings, passage of medical marijuana laws is not associated with increases in adolescent pot smoking. Analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, researchers at McGill University found that teenagers in states that enact such laws are more apt to smoke pot, but that is because of pre-existing differences. It seems “states with higher use are more likely to enact laws.” The researchers found little evidence that allowing patients to use marijuana as a medicine makes teenagers more likely to use it recreationally. “If anything,” they write, “our estimates suggest that reported adolescent marijuana use may actually decrease after passing MMLs [medical marijuana laws].” They say such an effect “could be plausibly explained by social desirability bias or greater concern about enforcement of recreational marijuana use among adolescents after the passage of laws.” Evidently Kerlikowske is wrong to worry that linking a drug to cancer and AIDS patients makes it seem cooler to the kids.

    These results are consistent with the conclusions of reports from the Marijuana Policy Project and the Institute for the Study of Labor, both of which found no increase in adolescent use attributable to medical marijuana laws. The latter study did, however, find an increase in adult consumption, which was associated with a decline in traffic fatalities.

  • Law Enforcement & Prisons - Question of the Week

    Drug Prisoners

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 2-6-12

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 2-6-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3741

    Question of the Week: How many people are under the control of the U.S. corrections system for drugs?

    Various reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics detail characteristics of the U.S. criminal justice system that includes those housed in federal, state, and local prisons and jails, along with those on probation or parole.

    The “Prisoners” report series represents a good place to start counting. This annual series goes back almost 20 years to the “Prisoners in 1994” report. Remarkably, 8,800 persons were admitted to state prison for drug offenses directly from court in 1980. Fast forward twelve years to 1992 – that number soared by +1155% to 101,000.

    The newly released “Prisoners in 2009” report placed the number of offenders in state prison with “drugs” as their most serious offense at 242,000 in 2009.

    The report quantified the number of federal prisoners with a similar offense at 95,000 in 2009. This represented growth by a whopping +1843 over the 4,900 “drug” federal drug prisoners in 1980.

    The Bureau of Justice Statistics also has a comparable series of annual reports on Probation and Parole. According to the 2009 report by that name, only 3,486 adults were on federal probation with drugs as their most serious offense. However, there were 579,000 state “drug” probationers that year.

    Federal parolees with drug offenses equaled 55,000 in 2009 and state parolees counted 207,000 for similar convictions.

    Thus, over 1.2 million probationers, parolees and state and federal prisoners were under control of the U.S. corrections system in 2009 with “drugs” as their most serious offense.

    These numbers can be found in a new Drug War Facts table along with other Facts like them in the Prisons and Drug Offenders Chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    Low-Level Marijuana Arrests Rise for Seventh Straight Year

    Low-level arrests for marijuana possession in New York City increased for the seventh straight year in 2011, according to a study released Wednesday, despite a September memorandum from the police commissioner that officers should not arrest those with marijuana unless they have the drugs in plain view.

    Though arrests dropped significantly after Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly’s memorandum, an increase of 6 percent during the first eight months of the year more than offset the decline, according to the analysis, conducted by a Queens College sociology professor and released by the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group critical of police marijuana-arrest policies.

    The year-end arrest total was 50,684, up 0.6 percent from 2010, the study found, constituting more arrests than in the entire 19-year period 1978 to 1996. Marijuana possession was once again the largest arrest category in the city last year, and the arrests cost the city about $75 million, said Harry Levine, the sociologist who did the analysis.

  • Question of the Week

    Race and the Drug War

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 1-27-12

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 1-27-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3725

    Question of the Week: What about race and the drug war?

    According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Hispanics comprised 16.3% of the U.S. population. Whites and blacks equaled 72.5% and 12.6% respectively.

    Findings from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that rates of substance abuse or dependence that to be “9.7 percent for Hispanics, 8.9 percent for whites, and 8.2 percent for blacks.”

    According to the Centers for Disease Control, “At the end of 2008, the largest percentage of persons living with a diagnosis of HIV infection —48%— were blacks…. Among the remaining racial/ethnic groups, the percentages were 33%, whites; 17%, Hispanics/Latinos;” Infection by injection drug use is highest among blacks.

    The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that, of the estimated 242,200 prisoners under state jurisdiction sentenced for drug offenses in 2009, 17.3% were Hispanic, 30.4% were white, and 50.5% were black.

    Let’s review the numbers.

    9.7% of Hispanics are drug abusers. Hispanics represent 16.3% of the population, 17% of persons living with HIV and 17% of drug offenders in state prison.

    8.9% of Whites are drug abusers. Whites encompass 72.5% of the population, 33% of those living with HIV and 30.4% of drug offenders in state prison.

    Only 8.2% of Blacks are drug abusers. Blacks equal 12.6% of the population, but 48% all HIV patients and 50.5% of offenders in state prisoners on drug charges.

    As stated by the Cato Institute,

    “If we truly want to get past race in this country, we must be aware that it will never happen until the futile War on Drugs so familiar to us now is a memory.”

    These facts and others like them can be found in the Race and HIV and Drug Usage Chapters of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Why is MMA OK and smoking dope isn’t?

    There seems to be little sense in which risks people find praiseworthy, and which we condemn, writes Dan Gardner

    Last week, a physicians’ group called on governments to make helmets mandatory for both children and adults on ski slopes. Lots of people support that. They feel that skiers should not be permitted to decide for themselves whether to wear a helmet because skiing without one is too dangerous. Two days later, Sarah Burke, a champion “superpipe” skier, died as a result of injuries sustained in competition. Burke was almost universally praised as a courageous and talented athlete who died doing what she loved.

    Does that make sense?

    Maybe it does. I don’t know. The question isn’t rhetorical.

    Risk is everywhere, always, which means we are constantly drawing lines, whether we are aware of it or not. We draw lines between risks that we are willing to personally engage and those we will leave to others. We draw lines between risk-taking that is praiseworthy and that which is foolish, between risks that should be promoted and encouraged and those that should not. We draw lines between what people should be free to decide for themselves and what should be regulated, restricted, or even banned.

    But we seldom compare the lines we draw and ask if, in juxtaposition, they make sense.

  • Law Enforcement & Prisons - Question of the Week

    Private Prisons

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 1-18-12

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 1-18-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3715

    Question of the Week: What are private prisons?

    Last week we talked about the number of people under control of the U.S. criminal justice system. As noted, tables based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the Prisons and Jails chapter of Drug War Facts show about 1.3 million people housed in state facilities in 2010.

    Incarcerating all of those state prisoners cost approximately $51 billion in 2010 according to the National Association of State Budget Officers, almost 20% more than 2005. Further, according to the BJS, in 2010,

    “Nineteen state systems were operating above their highest capacity, with seven states at least 25% over their highest capacity at yearend 2010, led by Alabama at 196% and Illinois at 144%.”

    “… spending growth on corrections has slowed considerably due to widespread revenue shortfalls and limited resources,” said the NASBO.

    What’s a cash-strapped state to do? One answer seems to lie in privately run prisons, now housing about 94,000 state inmates who represent nearly 7% of all state prisoners and an increase in the prisoner count of about 31% over the year 2000.

    The American Civil Liberties Union confirmed that,

    “Private prisons for adults were virtually non-existent until the early 1980s, but the number of prisoners in private prisons increased by approximately 1600% between 1990 and 2009. Today, for-profit companies are responsible for approximately 6% of state prisoners, 16% of federal prisoners, and, according to one report, nearly half of all immigrants detained by the federal government. In 2010, the two largest private prison companies [Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group [then called Wackenhut Corrections Corporation] alone received nearly $3 billion dollars in revenue”

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

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Marc Emery’s Advice for Aspiring Activists

    My wife Jodie Emery and I both receive thousands of letters and inquiries with impassioned pleas that read: “I want to do something to make a difference. I want to legalize marijuana. What can I do? Can you advise or help me start? Where do I begin?” This is a question, without rival, that we hear most often.

    It comes mostly from Americans and Canadians, but I have received the same question from India, Australia, Europe, the Philippines, Japan, and all over the world. It is a universal desire shared by many people in the cannabis culture the planet over.

    If all these millions of people, largely high school and college students, could be harnessed into productive purpose, it would be a huge political force indeed! But most people who consume cannabis and believe in its worth still do nothing to advance our cause in any meaningful way.