I'm passing a joint at The Joint and pondering while on pot. Through hazy eyes I watched FoxNews coverage of the armed takeover of a federal building in Oregon, feeling helpless. I've decided to do something about it here in Trenton. I think I'm going to take over the front steps of the Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Building and United States Courthouse located on the next block from The Joint on State Street. Ummm next week or the week after, hum, or when I get off this couch. (In my "Jay and Silent Bob" voice:) Dude... not in solidary with those fools in Oregon, but just the opposite. [continues 1386 words]
The Supreme Court of Canada will soon decide the fate of the mandatory one-year jail sentence for trafficking certain drugs. The mandatory minimum has come under fire by civil liberty groups for constituting cruel and unusual punishment, arbitrary imprisonment and restricting security of the person contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case at issue concerns Ryan Joseph Lloyd, a drug addict in his mid-20s, who lived in Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside. He was found in possession of less than 10 grams of three drugs, enough to be charged with three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. He was eventually convicted and faced no less than 12 months in jail because he had a prior conviction for trafficking within the last 10 years. The British Columbia Court of Appeal sentenced him to 18 months. The appeal of this sentence has reached our top court, in part because it sparked debate over how our courts deal with markers of disadvantage, including addiction, poverty and race. [continues 630 words]
This is in response to John R. Hunt's column The saddest or highest of times which appeared in the Jan. 9 Nugget. To the editor: In the column, John R. Hunt posed the question I'm sure many people are asking themselves: When pot becomes legal, will they try it? As someone who "came down on the side of law and order to resist pot's temptations," It's clear the decision is not weighing very hard on Mr. Hunt's mind. But as he reflects on his 60 years of experience, he comes away with some questions that Canadians really ought to be asking themselves. [continues 309 words]
EARLIER this month, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida opened up on a subject he had once chided reporters for asking about: his daughter, Noelle, who, he said, "was addicted to drugs." In a video released by the campaign, Mr. Bush speaks plainly about his daughter's struggle, her time in jail and drug court, and her recovery. "I can look in people's eyes and I know that they've gone through the same thing that Columba and I have," he said, referring to his wife. [continues 874 words]
Regarding the Dec. 29 letter "Who's to blame for a long sentence?": Lawrence J. Leiser of the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys seems to stand alone in bemoaning President Obama's clemency initiative. Public-interest groups and legislators from the most conservative right to the most liberal left have joined in sponsoring and supporting sentencing reform legislation that would offer relief to prisoners, such as my brother, Weldon Angelos, who would serve essentially life sentences for low-level drug crimes. [continues 159 words]
Five Republican presidential contenders this week addressed a New Hampshire forum concerned with a crisis swamping certain regions of the country, including New England: heroin addiction. The candidates spoke passionately, some sharing personal experiences. Jeb Bush spoke of his family's turmoil as his daughter Noelle, now 38 and in recovery, struggled with an addiction to prescription drugs and cocaine. "What I learned was that the pain that you feel when you have a loved one who has addiction challenges and kind of spirals out of control is something that is shared with a whole lot of people," he said. [continues 571 words]
Was the Drug War Imposed on Black America, or Did Black America Demand It? Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment, by Michael Javen Fortner, Harvard University Press, 368 pages, $29.95 We Sell Drugs: The Alchemy of US Empire, by Suzanna Reiss, University of California Press, 328 pages, $29.95 In 1973 New York's blue-blood governor, Nelson Rockefeller, declared drug treatment programs a failure and called for a newer, tougher approach, including mandatory life in prison for selling any amount of "hard drugs." Later that year, New York lawmakers enacted legislation that, while slightly more lenient than Rockefeller's initial bill, prescribed harsh punishments for drug crimes, including prison terms of 15 years to life for low-level drug sales and possession. In 1973, the state had fewer than 1,500 prisoners doing time for drugs; by 1999, that figure had ballooned to over 20,000. [continues 2351 words]
A man who was busted for hiding heroin in his prosthetic leg has sparked the latest battle between judges and prosecutors - two powerful factions who are fighting over mandatory minimum sentences. Imran Laltaprasad was convicted of possession with intent to distribute heroin and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in July. He hid the heroin in his artificial leg. He had been convicted of the same offenses in the past. Under state law, sentencing should have been easy. The mandatory minimum sentence for the crimes is 3 1/2 years. Prosecutors asked for concurrent sentences of 3 1/2 to five years in state prison. [continues 388 words]
At 9:10 a.m. Friday, the intercom blared at the federal prison here as Weldon Angelos walked the track on this sprawling campus of drab gray buildings in California's Central Valley. The booming voice of a prison official called an inmate to the main office. About 25 minutes later, the official came on the intercom again, summoning another prisoner. Angelos knew exactly what was happening. The prisoners had heard a rumor the night before that President Obama might grant early release to certain drug offenders before he left Washington for the holidays. Angelos was excited, anxious. This was it. The lucky inmates on Obama's list were being called inside to take phone calls from their attorneys, who would tell them the good news. [continues 1532 words]
Third Time This Year Obama Has Commuted Terms Under Initiative President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders Friday, more than double the number he granted this summer, in an effort to give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs. It is the third time this year that Obama has used his unique clemency power to release federal drug offenders, whose harsh sentences have contributed to the phenomenon of mass incarceration. The commutations are a centerpiece of the president's effort to make the most significant changes in the nation's criminal justice system in decades. He and former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. have spoken passionately about the need to fix what they say is a broken system - one they argue has subjected too many nonviolent inmates to decades behind bars, disproportionately hurting minority communities. [continues 1185 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on Friday commuted the sentences of 95 prisoners and pardoned two more, part of a broader effort to rethink a criminal justice system that critics say has resulted in overly harsh and expensive sentences for thousands of drug offenders. The commutations, the most Obama has issued at one time, mostly benefit nonviolent drug offenders - many of whom are serving long sentences for cocaine and crack crimes. Obama is also pardoning an Ohio man sentenced to probation in a counterfeiting case and a Virginia woman sentenced to home detention and supervised release in a bank fraud case. [continues 125 words]
GOP Candidates Move to Treatment Vs. Jail, but Racial Impetus Is Seen. More than 40 years after Republican President Richard M. Nixon coined the phrase "war on drugs," many GOP presidential candidates are calling for an end to one of its central tenets - by agreeing with Democrats to treat low-level drug offenders rather than incarcerate them. The Republicans are selective, however, about who is deserving of their compassion. Several GOP presidential contenders have advocated treating the nation's growing heroin epidemic as a health crisis, not a criminal one. But most stop short of advocating the same approach to other drug laws, notably those involving marijuana and crack cocaine, which disproportionately affect African Americans. [continues 1337 words]
Candidates View 'White' Epidemic As Health Issue, Less So for Pot and Crack More than 40 years after Republican President Richard M. Nixon coined the phrase "war on drugs," many GOP presidential candidates are calling for an end to one of its central tenets - by agreeing with Democrats to treat low-level drug offenders rather than incarcerate them. The Republicans are selective, however, about who is deserving of their compassion. Several GOP presidential contenders have advocated treating the nation's growing heroin epidemic as a health crisis, not a criminal one. But most stop short of advocating the same approach to other drug laws, notably those involving marijuana and crack cocaine, which disproportionately affect African Americans. [continues 1344 words]
Now that Congress is within sight of passing the most significant federal sentencing reforms in a generation, it's worth taking a closer look at where the legislation falls short. The main driver of the federal prison population is, by far, the dramatic increase in the time people spend behind bars - specifically, those convicted of drug offenses, who account for nearly half of the nation's 199,000 federal inmates. From 1988 to 2012, the average time served for drug crimes more than doubled in length, according to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. That increase in the length of drug sentences comes at a great expense: an estimated $1.5 billion each year, based on how much it costs to keep a federal inmate behind bars. [continues 483 words]
SINCE the official beginning of the drug war in 1971, the law-enforcement community in the United States has spent just over $1 trillion. Tens of thousands of citizens have died, sacrificed on the altar of this modern prohibition. Millions have suffered from a drug arrest, which haunts them forever - and the difference on the streets? Federal research shows drugs are cheaper, stronger and more "readily available" to America's youth. As a street cop and detective in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, I had a ringside seat to this unfolding social disaster. [continues 639 words]
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday proposed reclassifying marijuana to make it a less dangerous substance and to encourage more research into its medicinal benefits. At a town hall in Orangeburg, S.C., Clinton said marijuana, classified in the most dangerous category ("Schedule I") of the Controlled Substances Act, should be "Schedule II" so it can be experimented with and implemented for medical use. "I do support the use of medical marijuana," she said at the town hall, hosted by journalist Roland Martin and held at Claflin University. [continues 101 words]
As reported by The Washington Post and reprinted in The New Mexican ("Justice Department about to free 6,000 prisoners," Oct. 6), the Justice Department is prepared to release 6,000 prisoners. That started on Oct. 30 and is the largest one-time release by the feds ever. The U.S. Sentencing Commission retroactively reduced the sentence for drug offenses, which precipitated this response. Everyone from Obama, the American Civil Liberties Union to Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina are in support of further reducing the mandatory-minimum sentences that were set for drug offenses during the sweeping "war on drugs" campaign of the 1980s and 1990s. [continues 177 words]
Action in Response to Eastside Man's 1-Year Sentence A Vancouver man's fate hangs in the balance as two British Columbia groups urge the new Liberal government to repeal mandatory minimum sentences. Joseph Lloyd, a Downtown Eastside resident, convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking after being arrested with less than 10 grams of drugs on him, was supposed to face a mandatory one-year jail term because of legislation enacted by the Conservative government in 2012. However, a provincial court judge declined to impose the mandatory minimum sentence on Lloyd because it could amount to cruel and unusual punishment. [continues 188 words]
Movement May Do More Harm Than Good PORTLAND, Ore. - When the judge entered the wood-paneled courtroom to begin the sentencing hearing this fall, 19-year-old Morgan Brittain was the only one who didn't stand. She remained seated in her wheelchair in the front row. Brittain looked in many ways like the girl she once was: Nike sneakers with hot pink laces, nails painted maroon and silver. She still had the slender frame of the dancer and runner she was before she overdosed two years ago on a half a gram of heroin she split with a friend. [continues 941 words]
Prosecutors Fear Results of Weakening Mandatory Minimums for Drug Convictions Portland, Ore. - When the judge entered the wood-paneled courtroom to begin the sentencing hearing this fall, 19-year-old Morgan Brittain was the only one who didn't stand. She remained seated in her wheelchair in the front row. Brittain looked in many ways like the girl she once was: Nike sneakers with hot pink laces, nails painted maroon and silver. She still had the slender frame of the dancer and runner she was before she overdosed two years ago on a half a gram of heroin she split with a friend. [continues 2383 words]
