The political landscape in Washington, DC, is undergoing a dramatic shift as the Democratic tide rolls in, and, after eight years of drug war status quo under the Republicans, drug reformers are no

Tough on crime can still trump smart on crime, if Tuesday's elections results on sentencing initiatives in two of the nation's most progressive states are any indication.

This is a final reminder for folks in California. Vote Yes on Prop. 5 tomorrow to provide treatment instead of incarceration for drug offenders.

With election day little more than a month away, it is time for a round-up of drug policy reform initiatives facing voters in November.

Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP--the drug czar's office) director John Walters headed to California this week to try t

With the November 4 elections now less than two weeks away, most people, drug reformers included, are focused on the near term.

For Immediate Release: October 20, 2008
Contact: Margaret Dooley-Sammuli at (213) 291-4190 or Tommy McDonald at (510) 229-5215

California Society of Addiction Medicine Endorses Proposition 5: Treatment Community Unifying Behind Measure

SACRAMENTO, October 20 – The California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) has endorsed Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act. The association of physicians specializing in addiction treatment will be discussing the measure at their annual gathering in Newport Beach this week. Prop. 5 would significantly expand access to drug treatment for young people, nonviolent offenders and California’s prison and parole populations.

Dr. Judy Martin, president of CSAM, said, “We have tried incarceration as a primary response to addictive illness for decades and it has failed utterly. Prop. 5 marks a historic shift towards a treatment approach for nonviolent drug offenses. Decades of research and experience show that addiction responds very well to treatment. By reducing addictive behavior, treatment also reduces drug-motivated crime. Now is the time for our policies to reflect that fact. Prop. 5 will bring our response to addiction in line with the science, while protecting public safety.”

Dr Martin continued, “Successful addiction treatment holds individuals accountable for their behavior. Prop. 5 gets that right, too, by incorporating sanctions in the community and jail sanctions. Prop. 5 enhances the court’s authority to determine who should and shouldn’t participate in court-supervised treatment and to hold those people accountable during treatment.”

California spends $10 billion each year to operate state prisons, but little of that money goes to treatment or rehabilitation for inmates. According to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, more than 140,000 of the 170,000 people in prison in California have a drug problem.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office calculates that Prop. 5 will lower incarceration costs by $1 billion each year and will cut another $2.5 billion in state costs for prison construction. This doesn’t include savings related to reduced crime, lower social costs (e.g. emergency room visits, child protective services, welfare), and increased individual productivity.

Dr. Martin continued, “California cannot continue with its failed policies toward addiction. Now is the time to invest in what we know works to reduce addiction-motivated crime – drug treatment.”

For more information, visit www.Prop5Yes.org and www.csam-asam.org.

I’ve been severely remiss in failing thus far to cover the very important Prop. 5 in California. The Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA) would save billions in incarceration costs by referring many drug offenders into treatment instead of prison. It’s a significant reform and the vested drug war interests are in full-blown panic mode trying to defeat it.

The drug czar is in California right now campaigning against it, and a who’s who of drug war profiteers have assembled a well-funded No on 5 campaign, branding Prop. 5 as "the drug dealer’s bill of rights." So who exactly is funding opposition to this commonsense drug treatment initiative?

DPA director Ethan Nadelmann explains via email:

Last week the powerful prison guards union contributed $1 million to the opposition campaign.  That's on top of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Indian tribes/casinos with close links to law enforcement as well as $100,000 from the California Beer and Beverage Distributors.

Isn’t it obvious what’s going on here? The prison industry lobbies shamelessly to keep as many people in prison as possible. The alcohol industry defends the interests of the criminal justice infrastructure that protects their monopoly on legal intoxication. And yet the drug czar has the audacity to present George Soros’s support for reform as some kind of shady conspiracy. It’s just amazing, it really is.

It’s not even my style to go around accusing our opposition of unscrupulous drug war profiteering at every turn, but what else is there to say about this? It’s right in front of our face. It’s as transparent as it is hypocritical. And it can’t be allowed to succeed.

If you live in California, please vote YES on Prop. 5 and tell everyone you know to do the same.

Sentencing reform is coming to Pennsylvania.

With election day little more than a month away, it is time for a round-up of drug policy reform initiatives facing voters in November.

Faced with budgetary pressures and a prison population that has quadrupled in the last 25 years because of harsh mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the Pennsylvania Senate voted last week to approv

The US Sentencing Commission, the panel that sets sentencing guidelines for federal courts, has signaled that it intends to focus next year on developing alternatives to imprisonment, a move that i

With election day less than two months away, the battle over California's groundbreaking "treatment not jail" initiative is heating up.

[Courtesy of Angus Reid Strategies]

[VANCOUVER – Jul. 16, 2008] – Canadians are open to the idea of having some non-violent offenders punished with alternative penalties rather than prison, but reject the scheme being applied to cases of credit card fraud, drunk driving and arson, a new Angus Reid Strategies poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample, seven-in-ten respondents (70%) would like to see the justice system using alternative penalties—such as fines, probation, or community service—rather than jail to punish non-violent offences.

Four-in-five respondents (80%) think that personal marijuana use should not be punished with a jail sentence, but rather with an alternative penalty.

However, most respondents disagree with granting this option to persons convicted for other non-violent offences: 62 per cent of respondents oppose using alternative penalties for credit card fraud; 72 per cent oppose this rationale for drunk driving convictions; and 84 per cent oppose it for arson.

Respondents living in Ontario (74%) are more likely to support the idea of sentencing non-violent offenders through alternative reform programs. Ontarians are also the most inclined to support alternative penalties for personal marijuana use (85% compared to 73% in Alberta, the lowest regional level).
Albertans are adamantly opposed to granting alternative penalties to credit card fraud offences (72%), drunk driving (85%) and arson (92%). Conversely, two-in-five respondents in Quebec would support punishing credit-card fraud and drunk driving with sentences other than jail.

Overall support for alternative penalties for non-violent offences is higher among respondents with at least one university degree (78%), those in the middle-income bracket (73%), and those over the age of 55 (74%).

This is the third in a series of four Angus Reid Strategies surveys that look at the way Canadians feel about their justice system.

CONTACT Mario Canseco, Director of Global Studies, 604-647-3570, mario.canseco@angus-reid.com.

For more information, see: http://angusreidstrategies.com/uploads/pages/pdfs/2008.07.16_JusticeIII.....

The United States Sentencing Commission will host a Symposium on Crime and Punishment in the United States: Alternatives to Incarceration on July 14-15, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in W

The US Congress Joint Economic Committee yesterday held a historic hearing on the economic costs of US drug policy.

Clients, graduates and supporters of Proposition 36, California’s treatment-instead-of-incarceration law, will gather at the Capitol to celebrate seven years of the groundbreaking program’s success. Hundreds of rally participants will represent the over 84,000 people who have graduated from the program in the last seven years—and call attention to the over $1.5 billion saved by Prop 36 so far.

[Courtesy of Drug Policy Alliance]

For Immediate Release: April 7, 2008
Contact: Margaret Dooley-Sammuli (213) 291-4190

Hundreds to Celebrate Prop 36 at California Capitol

Third Annual “Prop 36 Works!” Rally Counts Lives and Dollars Saved

Wednesday, 11-1pm: Rally and March in Capitol Park

Sacramento – Clients, graduates and supporters of Proposition 36, California’s treatment-instead-of-incarceration law, will gather at the Capitol on April 9 to celebrate seven years of the groundbreaking program’s success. Hundreds of rally participants will represent the over 84,000 people who have graduated from the program in the last seven years—and call attention to the over $1.5 billion saved by Prop 36 so far.

Many participants at Wednesday’s rally are in recovery rather than jail thanks to Prop 36, and have come from around the state to show their support for the program and for treatment rather than incarceration. After the outdoor rally, the crowd will march and then enter the Capitol Building to leave that message with their legislators.

WHAT: Prop 36 Works! rally
WHEN: Wednesday, April 9, 11a.m. rally ; 1p.m. march.
WHERE: North steps, California Capitol Building, Sacramento.
WHO: Prop 36 graduates from across California, Parent advocates for Prop 36, Formerly incarcerated people
& advocates, Legislators

The Drug Policy Alliance, sponsor of the event, was instrumental in the campaign to pass Prop 36 in 2000 and continues to work to protect the program. Co-sponsors represent the wide support for the program: California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (CAADAC), California Association of Addiction Recovery Resources (CAARR), California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives (CAADPE), California Society of Addiction Medicine, The Effort, & NCADD Sacramento.

Other supporters include: A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing), All of Us or None, Alpha Project, Beacon House Association of San Pedro, California Church IMPACT, Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS), County Alcohol and Drug Programs Administrators Association of California (CADPAAC) & Justice Now.

For more information, visit: www.prop36.org.

California's prison system is in crisis.

Judges in Chicago's main Criminal Court Building at 26th and California hear some 28,000 felony cases a year, with each judge hearing about 800, or about four per judge per work day.