Having just read about I-STOP/PMP (Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing/Prescription Monitoring Program) in New York State, I thought I would share my view on the very similar system we have in Ontario called the Ontario Narcotics Control Act. This act was implemented sneakily by our provincial government, and has made many people's lives much more difficult than need be. I don't deny that there are those who abuse certain prescription drugs, and they will always be with us no matter how many bills are passed, but the government is now treating pretty much everyone as an addict through this act, and getting and renewing certain opiate painkillers has become an odyssey. If one wishes to go on vacation for a few weeks, getting the required amount of meds can be likened to going through the inquisition. [continues 100 words]
THE Huffington Post, through its widely viewed video service HuffPost Live, is promoting recreational use of marijuana as well as even more troubling nonsense about the medicinal value of hard drugs like ecstasy, acid and other Schedule I substances. When Miley Cyrus smoked a joint on stage at the European Music Awards and at the Art Basel Miami Beach festival, most saw it as reflecting the ills of celebrity culture. But the danger of public acceptance and misuse is much greater when a significant media outlet promotes illicit drugs. [continues 644 words]
New York officials on Thursday proposed regulations for a medical marijuana program expected to start in 2016. The Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo authorized the program under a law signed in July. It authorizes patients with certain diseases to be able to obtain non-smokeable versions of the drug, which can be ingested or vaporized. Conditions include AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's Disease, multiple sclerosis, certain spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathies and Huntington's Disease. "Our goal is to ensure that New Yorkers have access to the treatment they need through a controlled, regulated process," said Dr. Howard Zucker, acting state health commissioner. [continues 193 words]
Regarding the Dec. 7 Viewpoints cover story, when it comes to preventing drug abuse, mass incarceration is a cure worse than the disease. The drug war is not the promoter of family values some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does, too. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in criminal behavior. Prisons transmit violent habits rather than reduce them. Nonviolent drug offenders are eventually released, with dismal job prospects because of criminal records. [continues 71 words]
Yes, you can toke up legally in New York in 2015: That is if the new bill passes. State Senator Liz Krueger will reintroduse a bill known as the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act in 2015. If passed, this will make it legal in New York State to possess up to two ounces of pot and you can buy it at the state liquor store. You will be able to grow six pot plants for personal use. Known as "recreational marijuana" as opposed to medical marijuana, which is already legal, the pot sales will be taxed with the money going into the New York State coffers. [continues 137 words]
U.S. Policy Change Raises Possibility of Legalization The U.S. Justice Department last week said it no longer intends to prosecute federal laws regulating the growing or selling of marijuana on Indian reservations, as long as tribes take steps to control marijuana sales. That memo has left many Indian tribes the Seneca Nation among them wondering if they will be allowed someday to legally grow and sell marijuana on their reservations . It is too early to tell whether the Senecas or any other tribe in New York State will be allowed to start legal marijuana businesses, said Martin E. Seneca Jr., chief counsel for the Seneca Nation. [continues 770 words]
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., might as well call for a $100 million crime wave. That will be the effect of his "heroin surge." Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increases the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime; it fuels crime. Schumer needs to think outside of the drug war box if he is serious about reducing overdose deaths. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than marijuana prohibition states. This research finding has huge implications for states like New York that are grappling with prescription narcotic and heroin overdose deaths. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal marijuana access has the potential to save thousands of lives. Robert Sharpe Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy www.csdp.org [end]
A bold stride in the popular campaign to legalize marijuana - an amendment blocking federal interference with states that allow medical marijuana - has been written into the bipartisan budget spending bill that's now being rushed through Congress. At the same time, this clear victory for the pro-marijuana movement nationally has been coupled with Congress's outrageous rebuff of the will of District of Columbia residents, who voted overwhelmingly last month to join the growing state move to legalize small amounts of recreational marijuana. [continues 267 words]
The Moral and Political Case for Reforming the Criminal Justice System There isn't much room for optimism among progressives these days. President Obama's avenues to legislative achievement in his final two years are narrow and seem mostly to lead to the right toward a corporate tax reform in one instance, and a NAFTA-style trade deal with the Asia-Pacific region in another. But in these dark days, there is, as we are already witnessing, reason for hope in the form of last month's landmark climate change deal with China and Obama's executive action on immigration. And today, increasingly, there are signs that the United States could make greater strides on criminal justice reform than at any time in a generation or more. [continues 815 words]
A retired Buffalo police officer has started an online business that sells hundreds of products made from hemp. A truck driver is thinking about getting into the marijuana industry once he gets too old to stay on the road. And a former cosmetics and fashion executive wants to offer advice to companies making pot-infused skin care and beauty products, or develop the items herself. With more states legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, more people are looking for a way into the marijuana industry. "I want to be the East Coast's largest retailer of hemp products," said Steven M. Kellerman, the retired police officer, who carries his money in a hemp wallet and raves about the durability of goods made from the plant. [continues 1077 words]
ALBANY -- U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed on Monday a $100 million "heroin surge" to combat a sharp rise in heroin addiction and fatal overdoses that some public health officials have characterized as an epidemic. The proposal calls for an additional $100 million emergency appropriation to the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. The money would help battle drug trafficking and heroin production, would bolster law reinforcement efforts and coordinate intelligence-sharing and drug enforcement efforts among local, state, federal and law enforcement agencies. Schumer said the money would aim to disrupt the heroin pipeline into the Capital Region from New York City and Vermont, which comes across the border from Canada. [continues 868 words]
THIS week the New York City Police Department shifted from making arrests to issuing tickets for possessing small amounts of marijuana. The problem is that most people, frankly, do not understand how summons court, which processes such tickets, operates. A key concern is that issuing summonses for marijuana possession will result in an excessive amount of bench warrants for those who fail to appear in court, and the influx of these cases is sure to swell our already overburdened summons-court dockets. [continues 764 words]
Anthony Welfare closely followed this week's news that New York City no longer will bring criminal charges against people who are seen with small amounts of marijuana, as long as they are not smoking it in public. "I find that funny," Mr. Welfare, 28, said. But not hah-hah funny. Not LOL funny. After seven years of steady work, Mr. Welfare automatically lost his job as a school bus driver in August when a police officer swore under oath that he saw a pipe in the center console of a car in which Mr. Welfare was a passenger. The pipe had a residue of marijuana, the officer said. [continues 710 words]
YES, THE speaker of the City Council has tried pot - and she thinks we should legalize it. Council Speak er Melissa Mark-Viverito says she supports legalization of pot, a split from her ally Mayor de Blasio. "It's appropriate at this time," she said. Days after Mayor de Blasio overhauled the city's marijuana policy, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito went further and called for outright legalization of the drug. "It's not something we can just do randomly, but with a thought process, and looking how it's being implemented in other areas. But I do support the legalization of marijuana," she said at City Hall. [continues 445 words]
OF the three jurisdictions where voters approved marijuana legalization last week, Washington, DC, is the smallest but the most symbolically potent. The prospect of legal marijuana in the nation's capital dramatically signals the ongoing collapse of the 77-year-old ban on a much-maligned plant. The passage of Initiative 71, which voters backed by a margin of more than 2 to 1, presents a challenge to the Republicans who will soon control both houses of Congress. Will they respect democracy and local control, or will they insist that Washingtonians toe a prohibitionist line that is steadily disappearing? [continues 582 words]
In late September, the New York Attorney General announced a drug bust in Syracuse resulting from a nine-month long investigation -- 34 people arrested for dealing $1 million worth of heroin and cocaine. Sounded like a big success -- but was it really? It seems more like mowing the grass. As long as there is demand, there will be supply. Taking these 34 people off the streets just means that others will take their places, and the jockeying for position usually means increased violence. The drug trade will go on, with no net effect on prices or availability. [continues 543 words]
To the Editor: Re "Concerns in Criminal Justice System as City Eases Policy on Marijuana Arrests" (news article, Nov. 11): Whatever the results of the new marijuana policing policies outlined in the article, the real issue is selective enforcement. "Stop and frisk" or "broken windows" programs that target those with darker skin color will always have the same results. I suspect that if the police were to conduct marijuana sweeps of college campuses with predominantly white students, they would probably have even higher arrest statistics than they do at present. Why is it that young black and brown men are seen by the police to break the most windows, or need to be most frequently stopped, frisked and arrested on charges of marijuana possession? Brooklyn, Nov. 11, 2014 [end]
While running for office, Bill de Blasio promised that as mayor he would amend the practice of singling out young black and Latino men for unfair and, in some cases, illegal arrests for possessing minuscule amounts of marijuana. Though the charges are often dismissed, the arrests can cost people their jobs and access to housing or the prospect of joining the armed forces. Mayor de Blasio tackled part of this problem on Monday when he announced a new policy under which people found with tiny amounts of marijuana would typically be issued a ticket akin to a traffic summons, instead of being arrested and charged with a crime. [continues 445 words]
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took office promising to reform the Police Department and repair relations with black and Latino communities, on Monday unveiled his plan to change the way the police enforce the law on marijuana possession. Arrests for low-level marijuana possession have had an especially harsh impact on minority communities, and under the change announced on Monday, people found with small amounts of marijuana will typically be given a ticket and cited for a violation instead of being arrested and charged with a crime. [continues 922 words]
Starting Nov. 19, a Person Carrying 25 Grams or Less Will Get a Summons. NEW YORK - Possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana no longer will be grounds for arrest in New York City under a new policy aimed at ending the lifelong stigma that can follow pot users, city officials announced Monday. The new law, which takes effect Nov. 19, marks a substantial shift in policing in the nation's largest city, where arrests for marijuana possession so far this year number more than 24,000. But both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said the policy change was not a sign they favored going the route of Colorado and Washington state, which have legalized some recreational marijuana use. [continues 453 words]
Inside New York
